Patriotism: We stand to miss the point

It is still a sombre mood following the demise of Col (rtd) Charles Okello Engola, whose life was cut shot by his own bodyguard, Pte Wilson Sabiiti, a day after Labour Day. 
The fallen soldier’s death attracted mixed reactions from different platforms: Some had kind words whereas others seized the opportunity to vent their deepest dislike for the government, not necessarily the deceased.

 We have observed similar trends following the death of top government and military officials, especially those associated with the top echelons of political power and the ruling NRM.  Such behaviour has, however, been condemned and criticised by many who eulogised the fallen statesman. Speaker of Parliament Anita Among referred to such practice as “inhuman, uncultured and immoral” whereas Lt Gen James Mugira, the UPDF representative in Parliament, found it “insensitive, merciless and provocative…”

Indubitably, it is uncultured to jubilate the demise or misery of another person. In fact, we as Africans are culturally expected to express sympathy to the bereaved. This then raises an existential question: What is the problem?  Why are people behaving anti-socially? Is it because they are uncultured? If they were, we could probably notice similar behaviour when wanainchi pass away! 

One of Africa’s finest storytellers, Ugochukwu Agballah, comes to mind. He wrote a story reflecting on the question, “ Where did the rain start beating us?” It is a fundamental one because those who do not know where the rain started beating them from will not know where it stopped. May be it is a call for us to transcend the negative sentiments that awash the virtual space of social media and read into them other than react? 
On the occasion of paying the last respects to the fallen statesman in Parliament, Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Robert Mao remarked: “It is our responsibility as leaders to respond to the outrage being expressed whenever the reasonable expectations of the masses are ignored.” In this simple statement lies the underlying reason(s) that [may] explain the anti-social behaviour exuded on social media and in isolated parts of the public square. 

As a society, we are asymptomatic of negative peace. This is a situation where there is no direct violence: It is a semblance of a peaceful environ where folks find means of going about their work and yet their problems remain unaddressed.
 The local populace is unable to find solutions to their challenges and neither are they empowered to better their lives and livelihoods because of limited access to resources. Such situations are volatile because overtime, protracted grievances gravitate into violent conflict. This is exacerbated when there is barely credible evidence of  government efforts. 

Our airspace is filled with so much negativity that one can barely find positive casual street talk about our politics. I have many a time struggled to reconcile NRM’s claim of patriotism as a major pillar that informs its ethos and doctrine because of the weighty contradiction demonstrated by the actions and inactions of its own leadership. This is the sound of the river on social media; whose tempo seems to increase at any given opportunity of a sad eventuality that befalls government officials. 
Much has been suggested across various fora on way forward. Just to add, over and above the much-needed regime change, where most of our hope for a better society rest, we ought to task ourselves to adequately prepare to propel our country in the desired direction. 

In his recent Sunday Monitor article, Timothy Kalyegira traces the root cause of Uganda’s post-Independence problems to unmatched inadequacy in careful planning, budgeting, and producing of progress reports. I believe that this revelation is a good start. The best approach of resuscitating patriotism [which should ideally be innate, rather than taught. This requires well intentioned people with a vision powered by virtue, good will and common good. Are we ready for this task? 

Augustine Bahemuka is a commentator on peace, religion and society. 
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