Is the NRM anniversary worth celebrating?

Vincent Nuwagaba

The NRM celebrated twenty six years in power yesterday Thursday 26 January. As the ruling NRM celebrates 26 years in power as a country we need to ask ourselves whether this is the day worth celebrating. Many will agree with me that we can only commemorate the NRM 26th anniversary but not celebrate for there’s so little if any to celebrate. The advent of the NRM was greeted with ecstasy because many Ugandans were disillusioned with the Obote and Amin regimes. The NRM revolution was premised on what was to be known as the NRM blueprint – the ten point programme which contained the following points; 1) restoration of democracy; 2) restoration of security; 3) defending and consolidation of national unity and elimination of all forms of sectarianism; 4) defending and consolidating national independence; 5) building an independent, integrated and self-sustaining national economy; 6) restoration and improvement of social services and rehabilitation of war ravaged areas; 7) elimination of corruption and misuse of power; 8) redressing errors that resulted into the dislocation of some sections of the population; 9) cooperation with other African countries and; 10) adoption of an economic strategy of mixed economy.
Later the NRM added five points to make the fifteen point programme which included; point number 11) the financing of public infrastructure using internal borrowing and creation of employment in the country; 12) focused human resource development and capacity building in the technical and public service sector; 13) preservation and development of our culture; 14) consolidation of programmes which are responsible to gender and marginalised groups; and 15) environmental protection and management.
A proper assessment of the twenty six years of the NRM in power calls for analysis of its blueprints and manifestoes. We commemorate the 26 years of the National Resistance Movement at a time when the country is in a crisis but I must argue that for so long the crisis has been in the country. We have argued over and over again that Ugandans were politically malnourished for the first twenty years of the NRM because of the suspension of political party activities. Accordingly, Ugandans listened to only one political gospel – the gospel according to St Yoweri Museveni that demonised and vilified political parties for Uganda’s mess. Very few Ugandans didn’t know their suffering under Field Marshal Idi Amin Dada had nothing to do with parties. Because of demonisation of parties even after the superficial opening of the political space the hitherto existing political parties notably Democratic Party and Uganda People’s Congress could not gain ground. The Forum for Democratic Change which emerged to be the strongest opposition party since 2005 is an offshoot of the NRM comprising of the hitherto NRM members and supporters that were disillusioned with the NRM leadership.
Assessing the achievements
That NRM has made some remarkable achievements is undisputable. For instance, the military has largely been disciplined to the extent that some civilians can step on the toes of the military men and get away with it. Nevertheless, political scientists will concur that all political parties/organisations aim at capture, consolidation and retention of political power. The NRM had captured power using the gun but their war was largely supported by civilians without whose collaboration they would never have succeeded. The NRM leader President Yoweri Museveni being a good Machiavellian knew quite well that disciplining the military would help him consolidate and retain power. Had he chosen to tolerate undisciplined military, he would have portrayed himself similar to the past regimes. In fact, it is largely because the military have been friendly that many Ugandans are often heard saying, “at least we can sleep”.
The NRM leaders say they have restored democracy through among others holding regular elections. This is an issue that is highly contested. We have had a plethora of elections which are neither free nor fair. In the aftermath of the 1996 presidential elections, President Museveni reportedly said that had he been defeated by DP’s Paulo Kawanga Ssemogerere, he would have gone back to the bush. The NRM mentality is “we either win or they lose”. This is an anti-democratic mentality which defeats the purpose for which elections are held. The Supreme Court rulings for 2001 and 2006 are there for everyone to see. The 2011 in which the NRM “won” with a landslide 68% is the most contentious elections. In the midst of the campaigns, state coffers were raided as you may all recall that a 602billion supplementary budget was passed in the heat of the campaigns, MPs were donated taxpayers’ money in the guise of monitoring government projects at a time when they were busy campaigning, the opposition was denied airtime on a number of upcountry radio stations but also the UBC and New Vision which are state-owned media houses gave a disproportionate coverage to the incumbent at the expense of the other candidates. I aver that virtually all the elections we have always had have been sham only meant for window-dressing purposes. We can assert that we have had electorocracy as opposed to democracy.
Democracy must be concomitant with rule of law, constitutionalism and respect for human rights but the NRM has fallen short on all these ingredients of democracy. The abolition of term limits from our constitution was the genesis of all our problems. The proponents for the removal of term limits argued that Museveni was an indispensable human resource and on his part, the President didn’t hesitate to say he never saw anyone with a vision. Like Lord Acton stated, “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. By opening up for Museveni to vie for presidency as more times as he wanted, we gave him a green light to rule us till he drops dead.
I agree the Local Councils which initially started as Resistance Councils have ensured participatory democracy. But how come they are not funded? While the NRM can argue that Local Councils were started to widen popular participation, one can argue that the LCs were also created as a tool to consolidate and retain the NRM in power. In fact, with the creation of LCs, some Catholics who belonged to the Democratic Party and had not tasted power ascended to leadership positions. They were mesmerized by that development and they have forever remained grateful to the NRM. What they fail to understand is that the Local Councils helped them to gain leadership positions without power as they are not paid. As they are in leadership positions without power, the politicians at the central level and civil servants steal money left, right and centre and impunity has become the order of the day. It’s high time the Local Councils were evaluated properly. In my considered view, real democracy must be accompanied by social justice. This means, social services such as education, health and infrastructure must be provided by the state. Today, our health centres are death traps; our education system is not only disoriented but education is not funded; the state of our roads is so despicable that only last year some citizens organised themselves to campaign against potholes. Yet, ironically Ugandans part with huge sums of money in taxes which are not accounted for.
I need to put particular emphasis on education. The NRM in 1997 introduced what it called “Universal Primary School Education” (UPE) and later in 2007 “Universal Secondary School Education” (USE) was also introduced. How universal these programmes are should be our focus. The government remits a monthly capitation fund worth Sh507 per pupil under UPE. This translates into Sh1521 per term. Parents on the other hand spend not less than Sh15,000 on each child under UPE. Why then should we believe that it is the government that sponsors our children. As for USE, the government remits a paltry Sh41,000 per student. Yet this amount is not even enough for one month’s student’s meals. This is laughable!
The biggest indictment of the NRM is on theft of public resources euphemistically referred to as corruption. As Norbert Mao once said, fish starts rotting from the head. The NRM doesn’t have the ability to fight corruption. I believe that nobody is free from corruption within the NRM ranks. The sale of public parastatals without giving accountability for the proceeds thereof was particularly the worst form of corruption and Ugandans must continue demanding for accountability.
My area Member of Parliament Major General Kahinda Otafire has often stated that leaders don’t lie to the people they lead and that leaders don’t steal from the people they lead. But the NRM leaders have perfected the art of fleecing and lying to Ugandans. In fact the main tools used to retain power have been deception, manipulation, cooption and sometimes coercion. Only in the current renewed term of President Yoweri Museveni we have seen political activists, traders, lawyers, women activists, university lecturers, students and teachers strike all because the government is insensitive about their plight. What we clearly can see is the presence of the state when it comes to collecting taxes and sheer absence of the state when it comes to delivery of services. Sectarianism, cronyism, grand corruption, impunity and privatization of the state have vividly been seen in the past twenty six years. As we commemorate the NRM 26th anniversary, sadness and tension are the major traits characterizing our nation. It’s in the 26th year of NRM that Ugandans are ranked 11th saddest people in the world. In fact, many of us clamour for liberation from the “1986 liberators”. Given the state of affairs, should we celebrate or merely commemorate the NRM anniversary? For God and my country!
The writer is a political scientist cum human rights defender
vnuwagaba@gmail.com