The challenge of building a modern democratic state – Part II

Almost 33 years ago, NRA guerrillas stormed Kampala and grabbed power by the barrel of the gun. They told Ugandans that their primary objective and goal was to restore democracy in our country and ensure that elections are never rigged again. Democracy was, not surprisingly, Point No.1 of NRM’s “Ten Point Programme.”

In 1981, NRA leaders went to the bush to wage a bloody and vicious five-year guerrilla war because the 1980 elections, organised by the ruling Military Commission led by Mzee Paulo Muwanga, were allegedly rigged in favour of the Uganda Peoples’ Congress. If the 1980 elections were rigged, contrary to the verdict of the Organisation of African Union (OAU) and Commonwealth Observer Missions, what the NRM regime has done in all subsequent elections has sanitised and thoroughly whitewashed the 1980 exercise. Rigging of elections, both within the NRM organisation and in Uganda, has become so routine that it’s now taken for granted and no longer makes headline news.

In line with the “Ten Point Programme,” NRM’s political ideologues argued in the 1980s that, “the immediate problem of Uganda is not economic, but political. When the political questions were mishandled, the economic problem ensued and unless the political question is amicably resolved, there will be no economic recovery in Uganda.”

Well, it looks as if the current leadership of NRM has either forgotten their own argument or they have conveniently overlooked that valid point, hoping against hope that messing up Uganda’s political questions in the 21st century will have no dire consequences.
The call and popular demand for a national dialogue by Ugandan patriots to urgently address several burning questions in Uganda is an attempt to amicably resolve serious political challenges and problems facing Uganda today. It’s regrettable that the corrupt ruling clique has dismissed the cry of Ugandans for a national dialogue as unnecessary because from their viewpoint, all is well in our beleaguered, deeply divided and very unhappy country.

In this connection, I welcome the debate held in the British Parliament on January 8 on the state of democracy in Uganda. The debate was held in a cordial atmosphere, in the spirit of friendship, human brotherhood and on the basis of the principle of the sovereign equality of states.
Uganda and the United Kingdom have a long historical relationship, are members of the Commonwealth and are equal partners in development. In my opinion, there is absolutely nothing wrong for a close friend of Uganda, such as Britain, to raise legitimate concerns about the precarious state of democracy in our beloved country.

As one who has followed Uganda/UK relations for almost 30 years, I have no doubt whatsoever that UK is a genuine friend of Uganda. When I had the honour and privilege to study, as a Visiting Fellow, at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies of Oxford University in 1987, I was amazed and pleased to learn that of all the British colonies in Africa, Ghana and Uganda were the favourites. It was, therefore, not accidental that Ghana (then Gold Coast) was the first British colony to achieve independence in 1957.

I often got preferential treatment among the 15 Visiting Fellows drawn from several countries in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean which made some of my colleagues envious. We were sponsored by the British Council and I was the first from Uganda.
Make no mistake, democratic rule in Uganda in on shaky ground, if not in turbulent waters and needs emergency assistance to guide the ship of State into calm waters to eventually dock at a safe destination. Political parties are essential building blocks of a modern democracy and must be given full support by African governments and citizens.

Democracy has a long and checkered history. Uganda has a lot to learn from older democracies, but there is a minimum standard for all and it’s as follows: Democracy is a form of government in which the “demos,” i.e. the people, rule and in which political power is held by the many, not by a few or by one man.
In many African countries today, there is real danger of our young democracies degenerating into tyranny.
or what John Stuart Mill calls, “the absolute rule of the head of the executive over a congregation of isolated individuals, all equals but all slaves.”
The struggle for democracy continues!