Intimidating Ploitical Opponents

From Uganda's Online Daily Monitor News |
Opinion February 9, 2007



Using the State to fight your opponents

Augustine Ruzindana

A government elected through free and fair elections, is given power and resources and paid to deliver services and public goods. When such a government fails to deliver, the mistake can be laid at the door of the voters since they freely voted an incompetent government.



However when you have a regime like the current one that came to power through elections declared by the Supreme Court, by a unanimous decision, not to have been free and fair (the declared reason by President Museveni for going to the bush in 1981), then one would have expected such a regime to try its best to make up to the people by excellent performance.



Because the February 2006 elections did not confer legitimacy to the current regime these days it has again reverted to reference to the military victory of 1986 for the legitimacy of its holding power. This has given the country an autocratic regime, which appears rudderless, moving from error to error, always shirking its responsibility and passing the buck and pointing fingers at others for its failures.



The features of a military/police/security state have become more prominent, lately symbolised by indiscriminate unleashing of teargas at anything described as an assembly. It had been thought that teargas had been imported specifically to control Dr Kizza Besigye and the Forum for Democratic Change, but no, the weapon, so far used “sparingly” according to the Inspector General of Police, is just a precursor for worse.
Futile intimidation

Intimidation will not, however, change the facts on the ground. Whereas it is true that there are many people who are doing well, particularly those connected to the rulers, for the majority of the people poverty is biting with ferocious intensity, irrespective of the glowing tribute by the IMF resident representative.



The truth of the matter is that things are going badly for the regime. That is why there is admission by President Museveni that there is no cohesion in NRM (2003). It cannot be there and it will not be there. When you look at the list of achievements there are none during the present Kisanja period, not even for the last seven years.



He never boasted of having succeeded to amend the constitution and remove the two term limits and retracting the decentralisation achievements, such as returning the CAOs, the district service commissions etc to the central government control; he never even boasted of a decrease in electricity supply (the level of water in Lake Victoria has risen so what is the problem) with massive price increase; he never boasted of selling UCB at a mere US$ 19 million with the headquarters tower and all real estate around the country thrown in, compared to what a much smaller Nile Bank that has been sold for $24 million for only the banking business.



He never boasted of Uganda now needing another reconstruction and rehabilitation programme as the roads are back to the pothole levels of 1986; he never boasted of his deforestation programme ; he never boasted of his numerous attacks on the Judiciary; he never even boasted of having achieved a first by putting his wife in Parliament or making his brother a minister in the Treasury (remember how he used to boast of having no family member in his government- the omission has been corrected).



Rather he boasted of the UPE achievements. What actually are the achievements of UPE? The New Vision of Thursday, December 28, 2006 reported that 15% of school-going age children are out of the school system and that “There are reports of ghost teachers and pupils.



There are also reports of absentee head teachers, misappropriation of UPE grants and collapsing classrooms as a result of shoddy work. About 70% of UPE pupils still drop out of school by the time they reach Primary Seven”.

This is the state of the UPE President Museveni is boasting about.

What improvements?

The President also talked of the welfare of the people having improved.

But, whose welfare with the munching of the Global Fund money for malaria, TB and HIV/Aids; no medicine in government health facilities; no clean water for the majority of the people; a dilapidated state of roads which makes transportation of agricultural produce very expensive, thus reducing the farm price of these products.



He also talked of the constitution as one of the achievements in the same breath as he threatened a crack down on the media for telling allegedly lies and “misusing the licence government gave them”.



He actually thinks that the freedoms enshrined in the constitution (sometimes when it suits him he denies any part in the constitution making) were conferred by him. This illusion, that the rights enjoyed and the improvements in the country are due to the President personally, is repeated by him and many Musevenists so many times, even in defence of his life presidency project that one suspects that perhaps they may genuinely believe in it.



But then how can he use “telling lies” as a pretext for cracking down on the media. Surely, not him. For a man who told lies in writing and by his own word of mouth, many times over and over, that he was asking to be elected for his final term and having been elected he went against his word and engineered the amendment of the constitution to effect the lie.



How on earth can the man complain about lies by the media? What lies have they peddled other than from him asking for a final term, or on the tremendous improvement in the welfare of the people or about knowing nothing about “Black Mamba”; or about seeking indefinite presidency in order to bring about the East African Federation etc.

Let him find some other pretext to persecute the media or anyone else but not lies.

The writer is Deputy Secretary General, Policy and Research, FDC