Yes, test for drugs; but first, establish mental illness
As expected, when Bill Clinton was vying for the US presidency in the 1990s, his character came under scrutiny. His famous defence, that he had smoked but not inhaled, carried more humour than a denial of trying drugs as a young man.
Many years later, I wrote in this column: “Go slow on God; act fast on drugs”.
Our urban centres had joints where hallucinogenic drugs were openly sending many young people ‘high’.
For their part, churches that had mushroomed everywhere were babbling and screaming their weird versions of salvation and promising daily miracles.
The NRM watched, or engineered, this mentally disordered society.
In the intense political heat generated by the appearance of Bobi Wine on the stage where presidential aspirants cross swords, handlers of an increasingly desperate President Museveni are foraging for nasty creatures to frighten Bobi Wine off the stage.
Recently, Cabinet was reported to have found a small monkey. Drugs. In their wisdom as small-time hunters, they are said to believe that this monkey can grow into a seven-headed monster before 2021.
As our masters, African leaders at the very least owe us the kindness of not making us the White man’s laughing stock.
For at least a few hours in a year, think scientifically. And for another few hours a year, think democratically.
Opiates, like many other substances, have the potency to harm or to be remedial. That is why extracts from some narcotics and snake poisons are used in a variety of beneficial medicinal preparations. But of course they are better known for the harm.
During the (1981-86) Bush War, some NRA fighters are alleged to have used narcotic drugs in the face of the extreme psychological demands associated with war.
Moreover, the very act of killing battlefield foes can be as damaging to mental health (even if in different ways) as the consumption of hallucinogenic drugs.
Although these substances are addictive, many bush fighters apparently abandoned their use after the war.
Some of these veterans are now generals in the army. Some have joined competitive politics and won or lost elective offices.
Since the hairy eccentrics of the Flower era, an association between drugs and performers of pop music lingers.
But will Bobi Wine in 2021 act in ways suggesting that he is mentally ill?
Will the (non-musician) candidates show no symptoms of mental illness?
These are legitimate questions, and if illness is professionally established, then the causes can be investigated; but not the other way round. First, scientists find a disorder. Then they look for the causes.
It may after all be found that drugs, or Bush War events, or the extended exercise of power, or all of these things variously damaged the mental health of some, or all, our candidates. Then they should be disqualified.
However, our big politicians do not trust our hospitals.
Moreover, governments like the NRM tend to abuse psychiatry to remove their political opponents. Needless to say, members of the ruling cliques are themselves never subjected to psychiatric investigation. The grandiose sense of limitless power and entitlement; the pathological lying; the callousness and lack of remorse that shape the authoritarian mind; these symptoms greatly interest 21 Century psychiatrists.
To be credible at all, the detailed and lengthy mental examinations implied would have to be conducted by psychiatrists based in countries with sound democratic practices.
Short of that, not to support the NRM candidate could be diagnosed as a mental disorder, with Uganda sliding another mile down the path to naked fascism.
Mr Tacca is a novelist, socio-political commentator.
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