Open letter to President Museveni

Dear President Museveni,

I read the letter you wrote on July 22 under the heading, ‘Continuous wrong turns at historical road junctions’ to DP president and minister of Justice, Norbert Mao, on the occasion of his thanks giving and home coming, with amazement.

In the letter, Your Excellency chronicled and traced historical events that have stagnated the progress of Uganda and Africa, broadly, to lack of unity.

Furthermore, your missive attributed the causes of disunity largely to tribal chauvinism, religious sectarianism and political fragmentation. Your diagnosis, Mr President, may be correct, but your prescriptions have abysmally failed, over the years. 

Your rule has abated the same weaknesses in Uganda’s politics. Therefore, you and the NRM have also missed the right turn at the junction of history. You have learnt nothing and forgotten nothing from our history. To capture the sad state of affairs in our country from independence (largest chunk of the time lived under NRM hegemony) to date, I wrote an article in the Sunday Monitor of October 17, 2021, titled ‘State of Uganda 59 years later’. Let me reproduce an abridged version here.

“We are a broken nation, with no morals to talk about. Our rulers at the top most level of government openly blaspheme God by worshipping other gods. The leaderships of our religious groups are factionalised and are constantly fighting with each other. Our rulers steal public resources with reckless abandon. Service delivery and meritocracy are alien to our civil service. Consequently, our civil service is incompetent and self-serving. 

“Key social services such as health and education are only accessible to those who have amassed wealth through theft of public resources. The common man and woman wallow in abject poverty, with no access to medical care, education or justice. Unscrupulous regime functionaries, with dirty wealth, blatantly abuse the rights of Ugandans and grab their property with impunity. 

“Our politics is polarising and exclusionist. Political parties do not have space to meaningfully engage with the NRM regime to chart a common future and direction for our country. For purely political expediency’s sake, the NRM regime co-opts Opposition political parties and actors in unprincipled and shady alliances that only serve the partisan and parochial interests of the regime. 

“Communities that for centuries, lived in harmony, no longer see eye to eye. The examples are many: the Jopadhola and the Iteso in Tororo; the Baganda and the Baruli in Nakasongola; the Banyoro and Bakiga in Hoima; the Acholi and Madi in Apaa, etc. 

“The rule of law and constitutionalism which are supposed to anchor democratic governance, are ailing. The Constitution was expediently amended and key safeguards against authoritarian tendencies were removed. Thus, the hope for a peaceful transition has diminished. The security forces are partisan, they abuse the civil liberties of the Opposition without remorse.

“State institutions are incompetent, decadent and beholden to Your Excellency. The economy is limping with many businesses, local and foreign, shutting down. Young people are shipped abroad to slavery, owing to unspeakable unemployment.” 

Mr President, our country needs a new beginning; a new national consensus to forge a new future for our people. This can only be achieved through a genuine and inclusive national dialogue process that will engender a new dispensation that guarantees a peaceful transition from your rule to another. I beseech you to give the people of Uganda that solemn gift in 2026.

Robert Mugabe is a politician, trainer and writer [email protected]