Prime
When chaos in education teaches Ugandans a lesson
Author: Alan Tacca. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- Ugandans must now shut up. Mr Museveni is not their servant.
There was enough time for Ugandans to hear, to reflect, to discuss, and to make informed decisions regarding President Museveni’s NRM government.
Several months before the 2021 general election, in a fit of frustration over issues he had failed to resolve, or anger with his critics, or both, Mr Museveni made that famous declaration that he was not a servant of the citizens; that he was a freedom fighter working for himself and his family.
It was a crushing declaration. Every serious person who heard it felt their heart sink.
It was so counter-rationalist, so cynical that many of our serious people preferred not to deal with it in depth after the initial shock. It was extremely difficult to deal with that utterance without appearing to disparage the President.
As usual, our less serious people, like frivolous people elsewhere, laughed. To them, this was just another joke added to the huge catalogue of ‘jokes’ generated by NRM bigwigs over the years.
In a working democracy, the President’s declaration would shake foundations. Its implications were far more troubling than those of a British prime minister who violates Covid-19 restrictions prescribed by his government.
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A sitting ruler who overtly denies his service contract with the citizens and in the same breath asserts his exclusive commitment to his person and family, has in effect virtually captured and mocked the Constitution.
The impunity with which he can do that reflects the condition of a country’s democracy.
However, we can give Mr Museveni the benefit of the doubt. Let us suppose his declaration was a joke, or at least an outburst not to be taken literally. Then it is the actions of his government that testify whether the interests of the citizens engage him as intimately as those of his circle and the elementary goal of retaining power.
By the February 2021 general election, Ugandans had seen 35 years of Mr Museveni’s government, and the ‘no-servant’ declaration had alerted them in time to double their scrutiny of the regime.
Yes, of course, the country’s Electoral Commission is a permanent scandal of sorts. And the otherwise simple mathematics by which vote tallies are supposedly made always seems to degenerate into a mysterious art form in the case of Mr Museveni’s victories. So, no sensible observer can swear by the official presidential result as the true count. A considered guess can be closer to the truth than a wild official figure.
Given that reality, disregard the 50 percent-plus-one-vote rule. Also, compensate for all the acts of darkness that distort the exercise. Mr Museveni may have ‘won’ with about 40 percent of the vote.
In short, of every 100 Ugandans, about 40 (freely) voted for Mr Museveni.
Furthermore, an overwhelming number (perhaps 70 percent) voted for NRM MPs, fully aware that Mr Museveni would use the NRM Caucus and that majority to levy taxes and do whatever he wants with the money.
The current circus in the management of education; the neither-here nor-there ‘pro-parent’ proclamations against fees hikes; the wild and arbitrary salary increments for science teachers; the double delusion that you can separate the school system from the shenanigans of the vampire State and also isolate it from an inflationary environment; these are the pains for which about 40 percent (for President) and 70 percent (for Parliament) Ugandans voted.
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By about those percentages, Ugandans must now shut up. Mr Museveni is not their servant. And, to his credit, he told them several months before the election.
Mr Tacca is a novelist, socio-political commentator.
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