Aspiring leaders should be exemplary and civil

More than 12 districts and constituencies were mapped out as hotspots during the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party polls that took place yesterday. However, the violence that rocked the party primaries prior to the polls will remain a subject of public debate.

The chaos and violence seen is symptomatic and a microcosm of what we should expect when we go for the general election early next year. So what precedent are we setting?

The UPDF has even warned politicians who have army guards to refrain from involving the soldiers in partisan political campaigns. We have seen situations degenerating into chaos and violent scenes, with candidates or their supporters getting involved in bloody clashes to the extent that the party electoral commission chairperson, Mr Tanga Odoi, threatened to suspend the exercise in certain hotspots.

The NRM is the ruling party and should have led by example, well knowing they monopolise the instruments of power, including the State machinery capable of subduing anyone who exhibits traits of aggression or threatening violence.

It should not have allowed its candidates to engage in fist fights like it has been witnessed, a spectre not deserving.
The army publicist, Maj Gen Flavia Byekwaso, in no uncertain terms warned the soldiers being used in partisan activities, saying they are acting in violation of their professional code of conduct and military discipline.

“This is contrary to the reason they were assigned and is likely to involve them in compromising yet unnecessary and unavoidable violence between the contending political groups,” she warned. And this is precisely it.

Political party primaries across board should be conducted in an atmosphere of peace, mutual respect and under controlled acrimony. Elections are momentary yet life is to be lived past the polls that have seen us tear ourselves apart.

Politics is associated with the governance of an area, and having and holding power. When violence is invited in deciding who governs and holds power, this feeling will cascade through the entire body politic and at the end, violence will beget violence, which will degenerate into anarchy and absence of good governance.

We implore the contenders in both party politics and general election to maintain a modicum of civility since they are aspiring to become leaders who are expected to be exemplary and civil in character.

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