Thursday, September 26, 2013
Relegation of Socio-economic Rights in Uganda: A prelude to Ugandan Protests?[1]
VINCENT
NUWAGABA*
Abstract
Why
the aftermath of Uganda’s 2011 elections, and the subsequent hike in fuel and
commodity prices, have resulted into repeated protests by opposition political
groups and other sectional groups is the import of this paper. To address this
issue, this paper counter-argues the two assumptions: post-election inflation
was a global phenomenon over which developing economies have limited, if at
all, control; and that political groups in Uganda were politically
disillusioned after miserably “losing” the 2011 elections. The paper advances
two immediate and deep-seated politico-economic bases of these protests: first,
the state has failed to prioritise and provide political goods by protecting
its citizens from hyper-inflation brought about by global ultra-capitalism.
Second, and related, the total ideological shift of the National Resistance
Movement leadership from left-wing political ideology to neoliberal capitalist
approaches to economic management, following the imposition of Structural
Adjustment Programs, alienated the state from its citizens as the state
relegated socio-economic rights. These combinations have bred socio-economic
conditions that give credence to the protests by the opposition, civil society,
teachers, traders, lectures and many other categories. Ultra capitalism has
created “first class” and “second class citizens”. “First class citizens” - top
politicians who are simultaneously involved in lucrative businesses, and other
top businesspersons whose businesses are bailed from state coffers often
directed by the top political leadership – loom over an impoverished majority
of both rural and urban poor (the Second Class). This has led to the
government’s abdication of its responsibility to provide what Robert Rotberg
(2003) calls political goods, creating, instead, a patronage class instantiated
by a bloated cabinet and parliament. The paper concludes by highlighting the
indivisibility of services-based human rights. It makes a strong case for
promoting socio-economic rights in order to forestall the resultant violations
of civil liberties and political rights.
1.0 Introduction
“Human Rights may seem distant ideals if your family is starving, if you
cannot protect yourself or them from preventable illnesses or provide your
children with basic education. Yet it is in circumstances of crisis and extreme
deprivation that human rights assume their greatest importance”[2]
The Ugandan “walk to
work” campaign which started in the wake of rising fuel, food and other
commodity prices was a reaction to the election that had gone badly for the
opposition. The 2011 general elections were won with 69 per cent by the ruling
National Resistance Movement (NRM) party at the presidential level. However,
critically, the credibility of these elections is disputed. The electoral
commission was nominated by the ruling NRM and all state institutions directly
involved in the management of elections such as the courts and police were also
heavily tilted in favour of the
incumbent president to whom they owe their allegiance. In fact, in the
aftermath of the elections during the walk-to-work campaigns, the president
openly revealed what many knew – that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and
some other police commander were loyal NRM cadres. Accordingly, while the NRM
called the opposition political parties bad losers, the opposition political
parties saw no reason as to why they should have embraced the results of the 2011
elections.
A number of
developments ensued during the campaigns. The ruling National Resistance
Movement is believed to have used state funds[3] to
run the NRM presidential and parliamentary campaigns. Ultimately, the
legitimacy and credibility of the elections was heavily questioned.
The rising commodity
and fuel prices were just a pretext that the opposition would exploit to launch
their protests against President Yoweri Museveni and the NRM. The actual cause
of the walk-to-walk protests was the fact that the 2011 elections were believed
to have been rigged by the ruling National Resistance Movement yet the lead rival
to the NRM’s Yoweri Museveni, Dr Kizza Besigye had vowed never to go back to
the courts. It is vital to note that rigging is a process that starts way
before the actual date of casting votes. For the case of Uganda’s 2011
elections the reappointment of the Electoral Managing Body without the input of
the opposition provokes more questions; this was compounded by the staffing of
other critical institutions with personnel loyal to the ruling party. Key of
these institutions is the Uganda Police Force headed by a military general named
Kale-Kayihura. General Kayihura is a “blue-eyed boy” to the president and was
once his personal aide. In the wake of the outbreak of the “walk-to-work”
campaign, president Museveni praised Kale-Kayihura alongside some other police
officer Moses Kafeero as loyal NRM cadres.[4]
While the president was disclosing what very many Ugandans already knew, it
confirmed the opposition’s claims that the elections could not have been free
and fair because the state institutions including the police were there to
protect the incumbent.
While the motivation
for “walk-to-work” protests on the part of the opposition was the botched
elections, the ordinary participants also had their own disillusionments that
had nothing to do with the elections. To an ordinary Ugandan, it matters less
or nothing at all who becomes president or Member of Parliament if he or she
can get the basics of life – education, health, food, shelter and employment.
Because the government rarely provides for the services which Robert Rotberg[5]
calls political goods, some disillusioned citizens joined the fray of opposition
protesters to express their disenchantment.
Relegation of
socio-economic rights stands out as the prelude to Uganda’s protests. The core
human rights principles of non-discrimination and equality in access to
state-provided facilities is violated by the ruling NRM party. Discrimination,
inequality, deprivation, exclusion and dispossession are common features of the
Ugandan state. And these were underlying causes for the post-election protests.
Nonetheless, what ought to be noted is that the election gone bad on the side
of the opposition and the eventual commodity price hike acted as triggers and catalysts
for the protest campaigns. Even when the opposition-led protests reduced, the
level of disenchantment surely increases and is certainly not reducing. Like
the situation was prior to the 1789 French Revolution, there is dissatisfaction
in virtually all the social groups of the Ugandan society. Just like King Louis
the XIV used to say, L’etat c’est Moi, Museveni in Uganda has also
clearly shown that he is the state and the state is him. It is important to
note that the walk-to-work campaign provided a platform for the expression of
grievances by different social groups in Uganda.
1.1 Evolution of socio-economic rights
and how they relate with other rights
According to Steiner
and Alston (2000), virtually all religions stress the importance of human
rights by getting concerned with the plight of the poor, the oppressed and
those who cannot provide for themselves. From political and philosophical
perspectives, theories of among others, Karl Marx, Immanuel Kant, Thomas Paine
and John Rawls have provided an input to the ideas of socio-economic rights.[6]
In international law,
the foremost body to institutionalize socio-economic rights was the International
Labour Organisation with its primary goal being to ensure workers’ rights by
ensuring just and humane working conditions. The United Nations Charter, the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights are also vital instruments in the
evolution of socio-economic rights. These rights are also provided for under
the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights especially articles 14 to 16
which guarantee property rights, right to work under equitable and satisfactory
conditions and equal pay for equal work and the right to enjoy the best attainable
state of physical and mental health.
Socio-economic rights
and other rights especially civil liberties and political rights are
inextricably linked. Civil and political rights can only be meaningfully
enjoyed if socio-economic rights are met. Socio-economic rights address the
most fundamental freedom – freedom from want. One cannot enjoy civil and
political rights unless they are healthy, well-fed and have a source of
livelihood. Socio-economic rights are survival-based rights.
1.2 Catalogue of relegated
socio-economic rights
The United Nations Fact
Sheet 33 which outlines the frequently asked questions on economic, social and
cultural rights points out the socio-economic rights to include workers’ rights,
the right to social security and social protection, protection and assistance
to the family which includes the rights to marriage by free consent, the rights
to maternity and paternity protection and the right to protection of children
from economic exploitation, then the right to an adequate standard of living
which includes the right to adequate food and freedom from hunger, the right to
adequate housing, the right to water and clothing; then the right to health
which includes access to health facilities, goods and services, the right to
occupational safety and health and protection from hazardous environment among
others; then the right to education which includes the right to free and
compulsory primary education and accessibility to secondary and higher
education on the basis of merit.
The socio-economic
rights are also succinctly outlined by the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural rights whose
Articles 6 to 15 recognize the rights to work (art. 6); to the enjoyment of
just and favourable conditions of work (art. 7); to form and join trade unions
(art. 8); to social security, including social insurance (art. 9); to the
widest possible protection and assistance for the family, especially mothers,
children and young persons (art. 10); to an adequate standard of living
(art. 11); to the enjoyment of the
highest attainable standard of physical and mental health (art. 12); and the
right to education (arts. 13 and 14).
1.3 Socio-economic
rights in Uganda during Museveni’s regime
According to Rotberg (2003) Nation-states exist to
provide political goods – health services, security, and education, economic
opportunity ... and fundamental requirements such as roads and communication
facilities. Barya (2007) argues that soon after capture of state power,
Museveni ruled the country with a leftwing-cum-socialist ideology. After only
three years into power, however, the regime moved considerably to the right and
wholeheartedly supported the SAPs and economic liberalism generally. This was
later to lead to the denial of socio-economic rights. This was in spite of the
fact that the civil and political rights continued to be touted by the 1995
Constitution, save for the right of political parties to operate. This
situation has rendered Ugandan workers miserable and kept them in poverty as
the president is the number one proponent of market forces even in terms of
wages. This renders labour as a commodity contrary to the Philadelphia
Declaration (1944), which stressed that labour is not a commodity. Barya’s
argument about SAPs (Barya, 2007) dovetails with Lwanga (1997) who asserts that
the SAPs in Uganda have created losers and winners. The losers in this case happen to be the
Ugandan workers, their dependants and those that ordinarily would be dependants
on the state. We are clearly seeing the absence of the state as it has virtually
withdrawn from the provision of critical services such as education, health,
employment opportunities and all other socio-economic rights.
While one might be tempted to think that it is the
culture of all African leaders not to fulfil positive rights, right in the
neighbourhood, Rwanda is steadily moving forward in terms of fulfilment of socio-economic
rights[7]
although the enjoyment of civil and political rights is said to be greatly
curtailed.
The dearth of
explicit provisions on socio-economic rights in the Constitution of Uganda
shows how much the state relegates them. Like Oloka-Onyango (2006) clearly
observes, the confinement of these rights to the National Objectives and
Directive Principles of State Policy shows the state is not keen on promoting
socio-economic rights. Surprisingly, it is not only the state that relegates
socio-economic rights. Oloka-Onyango (2006) quotes a survey of Ugandan human
rights and development organisations which was published in 2002 as having
catalogued 245 organisations of which 56 asserted they were working on human
rights – ranging from prisoners to disabilities. Of those, he argues, fewer
than 10 could be said to focus on socio-economic rights in a serious and
consistent manner. This explains why
human rights NGOs rarely broach the right to education, the right to health,
the right to have a job and so forth. Kyambogo University was, in 2008 closed
for six months but no single human rights organisation even issued a press
conference to advocate the rights of the students and parents who were losing
out.
Oloka- Onyango (2007)
argues that the situation in Uganda is compounded by the fact that the levels
of patronage, graft and outright corruption in Uganda are excessively high,
while the scourge of presidentialism[8] is
particularly acute. Oloka-Onyango further states that the issue of
presidentialism has numerous implications for the struggle for the realization
of human rights in the country—civil and political, and economic, social and
cultural arguing that President Museveni has become the Alpha and Omega and
akin to what the situation was in France prior to the 1789 revolution one can
rightly argue that l’etat c’est M7. Museveni has
accordingly become an obstacle to the realization of human rights and is at the
centre of donating the state to “investors”.
1.4 The NRM regime and
the right to education
While there is a widely
held view especially by the elites that Museveni’s reign has been successful in
terms of economic growth; that many Ugandans have grown richer, that many
Ugandans have attained higher education and, therefore, that the quality of
life now is better, the benefits of the Museveni regime have largely remained
skewed. The truth is that the rich have now grown richer and the poor are
sinking deeper into excruciating poverty.
In the past, in Uganda, education used to be an equalizer because those
who would attain higher education were the best as universities could be
accessed on merit. In today’s Uganda, higher education is there to continue
widening the gap between the rich and the poor. Accordingly, while the right to
education is provided for in Article 30 of Uganda’s Constitution, accessibility
to higher education has remained a preserve of the rich not of the brainy. Government
sponsorship in public universities notwithstanding, virtually all the government
sponsorship slots are filled by the children of the rich who study from the
topnotch schools. Ultimately, we have witnessed a situation where the poor are
taxed to subsidise the rich. It is clear that there are some wealthy
politically-connected businessmen who pay no taxes. Sadly, even when there are
any opportunities – for example scholarships, their children are the first to
get these opportunities.
In the seventies and early
eighties, the best university programmes were a preserve of the best brains.
Today, with the privatization of higher education, the best programmes have
become a preserve of those with the highest amounts of money. One wonders what
quality of graduates and professionals our universities churn out.
The right to education
is a fundamental human right provided not only in the Ugandan constitution but
also in a number of human rights instruments to which Uganda is a signatory.
The right to education is enshrined in
Article 30 of the 1995 Uganda constitution. But also the international human
rights instruments that Uganda has ratified stress the right to education and
emphasise that elementary education shall be compulsory while stating that higher
education shall be accessible on the basis of merit. These include inter alia Article 26 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1948), Article 13 of the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR, 1966), Article 17(1)
of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR, 1981), Articles 28
and 29 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, 1989), Article 11 of
the African Charter on the Right and Welfare of the Child, 1990, Article 10 of
the Convention on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW, 1979),
Articles 1, 2 and 5 of the International Covenant on Elimination of All forms
of Racial Discrimination (ICERD, 1969) and UNESCO Convention Against
Discrimination in Education.
Primary
and secondary school education in Uganda is not that universal as it is often touted.
Government remits less than $1 for each pupil under Universal Primary Education[9] and
a paltry shillings 41,000 for each student under Universal Secondary education.[10]
That is about $15 and it cannot even finance thirty percent of the student’s
requirement. Accordingly, schools implementing Universal secondary education
are incurring losses and many have applied to withdraw from USE but the
government has refused.
According
to Nuwagaba (2011), President Museveni spends his energies and state resources
fighting non-productive battles rather than fighting the real battles that have
rocked Uganda as a country. Nuwagaba argues thus:
I
would be comfortable if Mr. Museveni waged his war against theft that is now
synonymous with the NRM (remember while in Rwanda recently the President said
Ugandans are thieves), I would be happy if Mr Museveni funded education. It’s
amazing that the government remits less than Shs2,000 for each pupil under UPE
and a paltry Shs41,000 for each student under USE yet schools spend around
Shs120,000 on each student.[11]
1.5
The right to work and working conditions
In
Uganda, decent work has been reduced to a preserve of a few. Thousands of
University graduates roam the streets without jobs. The money that would
ordinarily be used to create jobs is lost through corruption and priority
misplacement. Very few graduates are
recruited into the mainstream civil service and the forces – the Uganda Police
Force (UPF) and the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF). There are officers who are deployed in wet
areas while others are deployed in dry ones. Those who are deployed in wet
areas[12]
must be very loyal to the Inspector General of Police and by extension loyal to
the president. They must even exhibit blind loyalty. In other words, they must
prove that they are not serving the state but the regime. The president has
openly confirmed what many Ugandans informally knew – that the Inspector
General of Police is a ruling party cadre.[13]
As a cadre, General Kayihura’s primary preoccupation is to serve the interests
of the regime and not the state. Because the IGP is a cadre the police force at
a top level is also full of cadres. We have witnessed arbitrary promotions not
based on any known criterion but loyalty to the president and the regime and
not necessarily the state.
While
the constitution defines the role of the police as keeping law and order, the
police have on the other hand become orchestrators of lawlessness and as I have
stated elsewhere, today the IGP has turned the Inspector General of
Provocation, the Uganda Police Force is a Uganda provocation force and the
police officers are provocation officers.[14]
The
police and military aside, when one looks critically at other state
institutions, access to a well-paying job in a state agency is largely not
determined by merit but by connections. The press has recently reported that
Members of Parliament appoint their relatives to secure jobs in Parliament
contrary to the recommended procedures[15]. Because
of this arbitrary manner of recruitment in public sector jobs, the level of
performance is highly wanting and the level of pilferage is alarming. If people
are given jobs not because of their technical competencies but because of
patronage and nepotism, definitely one has to expect so little in terms of
performance. In regard to the manner of recruitment for public sector jobs,
Nuwagaba (2008) had this to say,
“If fake people are the ones hired what stops them from
perpetuating the system that saw them enter office? If one forged papers or
cheated exams what would stop them from stealing public funds?”[16]
Because
of patronage[17]
and nepotism in job allocation, we have university graduates languishing on the
streets with very good grades but just a handful get jobs. The jobs are instead
given to the mediocre and semi-literate people because of political or other
connections. We have printing bureaus in Kampala along Nasser and Nkrumah Roads
which have specialised in forging academic documents which are used to get
jobs. Rotberg (2003) argues that “failed states provide unparalleled economic
opportunity but only for a privileged few. Those closer to the ruler or the
ruling oligarchy grow richer while their less fortunate brethren starve”. Rotberg’s
observation is prevalent in the current Uganda.
Those
who occupy influential civil service positions have had the latitude to steal
public funds[18]
and the president is less bothered as they do not threaten his stay in power.
Otherwise, how would one explain the fact that given their meager salaries,
civil servants are the ones with housing estates in and around Kampala? How
would one explain the fact that civil servants own farms and pay school fees
for many children given that in Uganda and Africa generally we have extended
families?
While
graduate unemployment is alarming, it is not uncommon to find that some people
especially from specific ethnic groups and regions are working while they are
pursuing their degree courses. The ruling party creates certain offices which
their people occupy in acting capacity as they pursue education to gain the
requisite credentials for the office, after graduation, a post is advertised
and the occupant applies for formality – to show accountability that the job
was advertised.
Nuwagaba (2008) argued that President
Museveni has fundamentally failed to transform the Ugandan society through
industrialisation, employment and education. This explains why the Ugandan population
is still largely peasantry. In Uganda, Nuwagaba argues, the highly educated are
highly redundant. People without formal education are comfortably doing their
jobs as shoe shiners, boda boda
(motorcycle) riders, barbers, wheel barrow pushers, and doughnut bakers among
others.[19]
1.6
The situation of Ugandan workers
Workers rights are
provided for under Article 40 of the Ugandan Constitution we reproduce in full
hereunder:
(1) Parliament shall enact laws—
(a)
to provide for the right of persons to work under satisfactory, safe and healthy
conditions; (b) to ensure equal payment for equal work without discrimination;
and (c) to ensure that every worker is
accorded rest and reasonable working hours and periods of holidays with pay, as
well as remuneration for public holidays.
(2)
Every person in Uganda has the right to practise his or her profession and to
carry on any lawful occupation, trade or business.
(3)
Every worker has a right—
(a)
to form or join a trade union of his or her choice for the promotion and
protection of his or her economic and social interests; (b) to collective
bargaining and representation; and (c) to withdraw his or her labour according
to law.
(4)
The employer of every woman worker shall accord her protection during pregnancy
and after birth, in accordance with the law.
While
many educated Ugandans are yearning for jobs, those who are formally employed
but have no informal means of using their jobs or offices to make extra money
are disappointingly disillusioned. While a university lecturer earns around
Shillings 1,400,000 (one million four hundred thousand shillings), which is less
than USD600. Many Ugandan workers do not earn a living wage, leave alone a
minimum wage. Disillusionment is clearly written on the faces of many Ugandans.
While one may be shocked that the highly educated people, university lecturers
are paid peanuts, the situation with other workers especially mainstream civil
servants is appalling. When one looks at the situation of Ugandan teachers,
policemen, prison warders and soldiers, one can only pity them. With the ever
increasing commodity prices, these categories of workers whose monthly salary
stands at Uganda Shillings 250,000 continue to plunge into poverty. To make
matters worse, their living conditions are deplorable. The policemen and prison
warders sleep in shared unipots while others sleep in tents. The police
barracks are condemned. The horrible conditions compounded with poor pay led to
protests by the police officers’ spouses.
In
relation to the protests, the policemen who are psychologically brutalized partly
because of their squalid conditions and poor pay face the protestors when they
cannot ably reason because of the psychological disturbance they are subjected
to. They transfer the anger onto peaceful protestors and quell the protests
with brute force. Because the protestors have also been pushed against the wall
because of harsh socio-economic conditions, they are radicalised. This explains
the cause and the continuation of the protests which by the way have now
metamorphosed into traders’, taxi drivers and operators’, teachers’ and
lecturers’ strikes that followed the walk to work campaigns. The continuous
protests are avenues for expression of dissent in the manner in which the state
is managed.
The
problem of worker’s rights has been compounded by what Oloka-Onyango has called
presidentialism.[20]
Government violates ILO
Core Conventions and most importantly the Equal Remuneration Convention,
convention 100 which Uganda ratified on June 2, 2005 and provides for equal pay
for equal value of work. Ultimately, our society despises the hard-working but least
paid as lazy, stupid and hopeless. This
has put equally educated Ugandans with the similar output at different pedestal
footing financially. The wage differentials partly constitute underlying support
for the protests.
1.6.1 The right to employment is at the core
of workers’ rights.
Uganda suffers acute
levels of graduate unemployment. Yet the truth is that we have very few
graduates[21]
but ironically many of the few do not get jobs. And the reason is that while we
have very few people that toil to get a degree or diploma, there are many
Nasser Road graduates who are politically connected and they are the ones who
get technical jobs. That’s why the performance in government departments is
very poor if not negative.
Today, the irony is
that the higher the levels of education, the higher the chances of condemning
oneself to eternal unemployment. While as a country we are faced with
unemployment, it doesn’t affect all classes. We are faced with graduate
unemployment. By graduate unemployment I mean a situation whereby people with
degrees, diplomas and tertiary certificates have no jobs. The less educated are
happily employed in their odd jobs – as barbers, boda-boda cyclists, shoe
shiners, wheelbarrow pushers, among others. And they are seriously minting money
by the way. Some of them earn far better than formal government employees. My
inference, therefore, is that we are deliberately faced with the problem of
graduate unemployment. I state confidently, authoritatively and emphatically
that if we can crack a whip on people who use forged academic credentials to
get jobs, it will take us ages to be faced with graduate unemployment problem
and poor remunerations. Those who use forged credentials will accept any wages
but use the illegitimately attained offices for primitive accumulation of
wealth/capital. We are not about to reach the level of Nigeria in terms of
education. In fact, we are suffering from an education deficit. And as long as
the question of graduate unemployment is not addressed, we are better off
keeping quiet about workers’ rights. This is because with unemployment biting
so hard many young people are willing to work under any conditions and for any
pay just for survival. Forget about decent work, equal pay for equal value of
work, maternity and paternity leave, social protection and occupational safety
and health among others.
The rights to work and
respect for workers rights have a bearing on all other socio-economic rights
but also on civil and political rights. People who often have no adequate food
in Uganda especially in northern and north eastern Uganda are often people who
have no stable jobs and no steady source of income. And while Uganda generally
has water, we don’t have enough clean water for all our people. People who
sleep in the city slums of Katanga, Kivuru and Bwaise sometimes take sewage for
water. This is horrible.
1.7
The right to health
Although the
Ugandan constitution doesn’t have an explicit provision on the right to health,
it provides for a clean and health environment under Article 39 and safe and
healthy conditions of work under Article 40.
But also
objective XIV is explicit on General
social and economic objectives. It states that, “The State shall endeavour
to fulfill the fundamental rights of all Ugandans to social justice and
economic development and shall, in particular, ensure that—
(a)
all developmental efforts are directed at ensuring the maximum social and cultural
well-being of the people; and (b) all Ugandans enjoy rights and opportunities
and access to education, health services, clean and safe water, work, decent
shelter, adequate clothing, food security and pension and retirement benefits”.
However,
the state of our health centres and hospitals is so alarming that they have
clearly turned into death traps. Mulago Hospital now has private wings and
public wings. Private wings are for those who can afford to pay for the
services while the public wings are for those who cannot afford to pay. Sadly,
those who cannot afford to pay can spend weeks without being attended to.
Clearly the poor in Uganda are living by God’s providence. According to
Oloka-Onyango (2006), the fact that the right to health is not explicitly
provided for in the constitution shows that the state places little emphasis on
health as a human right. But also, the state takes health to be a non-justiciable right.
1.8
Where is the wastage that manifests into misplaced priorities?
Colossal sums of money
are approved by MPs for community barazas
and patriotism clubs yet the claim is that there is no money for salary
enhancement for all civil servants. We need to define the concept patriotism.
Who actually is a patriot? Is it an MP who earns Shilling 21 Million a month;
IGP who uses huge sums of money to quell a civil protest when the rank and file
of the police earn Shs 260,000, sleep in unipots while some other senior police
officers sleep in asbestos thatched houses in police barracks which are
condemned contrary to ILO convention 162 (Asbestos Convention) which was
ratified by the NRM government on March 27, 1990?
Is a patriot a political
leader whose daughter gives birth from a first world country using huge sums of
taxpayers’ money when women in labour at Mulago Hospital corridors hardly find
gloves, cotton wool, surgical blade and spirit to enable them deliver babies? Is
it a minister whose children study from international schools but blackmails
teachers with sacking when they demand a modest pay raise of Shs250, 000; is it
a presidential advisor who pockets millions of money including air conditioned
Vehicles and security guards when they never meet the president only to see him
on TV yet medical doctors are paid a meager Shilling 700,000? Is patriotism a
preserve of young men and women of one particular political inclination?
Where can the money be
found? Where is the waste? Hereunder is where a lot of government revenue is
wasted:
There is a tendency to
duplicate government institutions
especially ministries by the creation of various semi-autonomous authorities
like Kampala Capital City Authority, Uganda Revenue Authority, National Drug
Authority, Uganda National Roads Authority, National Planning Authority, Uganda
Investment Authority, Civil Aviation Authority, National Forestry Authority,
Uganda Wildlife Authority, among others. There are other semi-autonomous
agencies such as National Water and Sewerage Corporation, National Social
Security Fund, National Housing, Administrator General, etc. The roles played
by these agencies could ably be fulfilled by civil servants in their line
ministries.
Besides, we have semi-autonomous Commissions
almost independent of their line ministries. Workers in these agencies and
commissions earn far higher than the conventional civil servants. Ultimately,
the mainstream civil servants spend virtually all their energies thinking of
how to and how much they can steal to bridge the gap that exists between them
and their counterparts in the named authorities. For example a fresh university
graduate who enters public service starts from salary scale U4 and his/her take
home is around Sh470,000. A similar fresh graduate who enters Uganda Revenue Authority
or National Planning Authority earns between Sh1.5 to 3 Million. If one wants
to move at the same pace with their contemporaries they therefore spend
virtually all the time devising means of “cutting deals” and the service
delivery at the workplace is poor if not negative. Mainstream civil servants
are government employees and so are workers in authorities, commissions and
other agencies. Why then can’t we have a uniform salary structure for all
government employees so that people with similar qualifications working in
different government offices can be paid the same amount of wages? The
principle of non-discrimination is a core principle of human rights which is
sadly violated by the above practice.
Look at the big size of
cabinet and parliament whose members earn fat emoluments and the flowery title
of honourable. To ascend to these positions, the academic requirement is a mere
equivalent of Advanced Level. Shockingly, MPs and ministers delude themselves
that they make a bigger contribution than teachers, police, Medical Workers and
without any shame university professors. Interestingly, the quality of these
“Honourable” members is wanting as some MPs may take their entire term without
contributing to debate. No wonder, nowadays the abbreviation MP to some Ugandans
stands for Money Parasite.
The elevation of
counties into districts and proliferation of sub counties for political
expediency while duping the masses that they would bring or take services
closer to the people is another pointer of priority misplacement. Instead these
have ended up increasing the burden on taxpayers due to the huge costs of
public administration to cater for new Councils, Resident District Commissioners,
District Internal Security Officers, Departments, vehicles and non-productive
structures such as buildings. While the argument that the proliferation of
districts and sub counties was meant to enhance service delivery, government
health centres are devoid of essential drugs and equipment; government aided
schools’ poor performance is alarming; UPE and USE are just in name for we
neither have universal primary or secondary school education because the UPE remittance
for each pupil is less than Sh 2000 while USE remittance for each student is Sh41,000.
In upcountry primary schools I have visited in Mitooma district parents are
compelled to pay about Shillings 15,000 for each child under while in secondary
schools parents pay Sh78,000 for each student under USE. One wonders if a
parent pays 15,000 for his/her child and government tops up 1,300 or 1,500 why
should government talk of Universal primary or secondary school education. A
poor man who cannot raise Sh15,000 or 78,000 for his child in primary school or
secondary school respectively cannot have his child in school in which case the
use of the word universal becomes misplaced.
Doesn’t government have
the money? The argument that government has no money is a hoax. There are too
many taxes paid by Ugandans and URA collects huge sums of money on a daily
basis. However, the problem is largely abuse and misuse of these monies through
priority misplacement and imbalances in the allocation. These imbalances are
largely responsible for the misappropriation and embezzlement of public funds
as we highlighted in the foregoing. Our society has enough to satisfy all our
needs but doesn’t have enough to satisfy our greed.
We have businessmen who
pay no taxes. These happen to be direct or indirect business associates with
the politicians or the powers that be. Because they don’t pay taxes, if a
genuine businessman imports or exports they are heavily taxed. That professors
can hardly sponsor their children in universities where they teach is a sad
reality. On the whole, there is something fundamentally flawed in our society
and the bigger blame goes to the political leadership. Many Ugandans under the
NRM reign are devoid of Ubuntu which manifests in humaneness,
empathy and we are fast sliding into a moral downturn.
Although, there are
many pundits who believe that the political leadership has spurred economic
growth, if the benefits of growth are not equitably distributed the situation
remains tense. As MacNamara once remarked:
Increases in national
income – essential as they are – will not benefit the poor unless they reach
the poor. They have not reached the poor to any significant degree in most
developing countries in the past, and this in spite of historically
unprecedented average rates of growth throughout the sixties.[22]
1.9 Inhuman Capitalism
stands at the centre of Uganda’s protests
The National Resistance
Movement started as a pan African political organisation that embraced a
left-wing political ideology. Barya (2007).Upon capture of state power,
Museveni came with a political programme couched in what was to be known as the
ten point programme. The ten point programme included as its points 1)
restoration of democracy, 2) restoration of security, 3) 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 have resulted in the dislocation
of some sections of the population, 9) cooperation with other African
countries, 10) following an economic strategy of a mixed economy.
The ten point programme
was later expanded to make fifteen points and the following points were thus,
added onto the original ten point: 11) 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 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.
From the foregoing, it
can be noted that the initial expressed programme of the NRM was very good.
Even today, when president Museveni and some other NRM ideologues are speaking
one might be convinced that they care for the people. Disappointingly, that has
only remained in words and has not been translated into action. In fact, there
are many political commentators who have always argued that if the Museveni of
1986 met the current Museveni, the two Musevenis would begin a serious fight.
This is because the current situation is fundamentally different from what was
promised at the time of the capture of state power. Museveni despised peasantry
and strongly condemned the notion that a head of state could import furniture
and other household items; travel first class and compare himself with
Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan when their citizens were walking barefooted[23]. Today,
some Ugandans don’t only walk barefooted but they also suffer from jiggers. Only
recently, Busoga sub-region was strongly infested by jiggers and this is
attributed to excruciating poverty that has hit that place. Busoga is home to
Jinja which used to be an industrial city, home to the source of River Nile and
Owen Falls dam from which the country generates electricity. However, today,
Jinja is more less a ghost of its former self and the Basoga have the nostalgia
for the good olden days.
The citizens’ support
for the protests, therefore, was to sound an alarm bell to the ruling party to
do what it has for the past decades preached.
Museveni and many of
his NRM cadres have since the constituent assembly elections used a combination
of deception, manipulation, cooption and outright intimidation to hold onto
power. Yoweri Museveni has for all the time found it cheaper to dupe the masses
with empty promises which he never keeps; co-opt the elites who would criticise
him – hence eating with them; manipulate others with cash inducements and
intimidate those who continue to oppose him. Service delivery has not been an
option that Museveni’s government uses to hold onto power. However, with the
continued evolution of the Ugandan society from illiteracy to literacy and
rural-urban migrations there has grown a sizeable number of citizens who are
utterly fed up and are ready to face the establishment and express their
disillusionment and disenchantment at any cost. This explains why we have had
the walk-to- work protests. We must also note that the protests in Uganda
didn’t start with the walk-to-work. In April 2007, there was a huge protest
against the proposed giveaway of Mabira Rain Forest. In the 2007 protest the
protesters showed their disenchantment by targeting the Asian Community where some
Indian died. The September 2009 Kayunga protests should also be borne in mind.
While some people might be tempted to think that the September 2009 were as a
result of the strong love that the Baganda have for their King, we must know
that virtually all if not all people who
participated in the protests which some erroneously call riots were unemployed
and redundant youths. Unemployment and redundancy lead to poverty, miserly,
hopelessness and frustration. As a matter of fact, a frustrated person can do
anything even if it may claim his/her life. People who have been pushed into
frustration are the ones that participate in demonstrations even when they are
well aware that they may turn bloody. They think they have little to lose and
everything to gain in such scenarios.
There are people who protest
not because they are directly affected by the status quo but because they look
at a protest as an opportunity to grab anything as a result of the confusion,
chaos and mayhem that ensues after the protest.
While in April 2011
when the “walk-to-work” protests were launched the fuel and commodity prices
were high, they were not high enough as to warrant the rage that the population
developed. The argument that inflation was a global phenomenon fell on deep ears
and all signs are clear that the campaign was intended to galvanise support
which would ultimately lead to the change of a political establishment albeit
using non-violent means after the hopes to remove Museveni and the NRM from
power through elections were quashed. In his own words, Norbert Mao the
President of the Democratic Party said,
“The high fuel and food prices are
symptoms of an uncaring government whose foundations are greed, corruption and
incompetence. If you have free and fair elections, then you’re responsive to
the needs of the people”.[24]
The fact of the matter is that at the beginning of
the walk-to-work campaign, inflation was not as biting as it is it became
several months later and while the pinch was felt, it was not as biting as it
became later. Yet, ironically even when the opposition stopped calling people
for protests, the protests took place spontaneously with traders closing their
shops, teachers laying down their tools in September 2011 and lecturers going
on strike.
While I may not argue that all social groups that go
on protests want the overthrow of the regime, what is clear is that the socio-economic
conditions for ordinary citizens are tough. In fact they get tougher as days
pass. At the beginning of the walk-to-work campaigns, public service employees such
as teachers possibly saw no reason for their participation. With time, however,
the conditions have become austere and adverse so they participate without even
being reminded by the opposition. In fact, that the wives of the police also went
on street protests shows exactly that the problem stretched beyond the
opposition.
What is clear, though, is that the government has
relegated the provision of socio-economic rights. Some scholars and politicians
mistakenly call these rights second generation rights. This classification is
misleading and is responsible for the relegation of these rights.
While human
rights are interdependent, interrelated and indivisible, it is clear that the
masses’ support for the Ugandan protests was not as a result of the state’s
infraction of civil liberties and political rights. Rather, it was as a direct
result of the state’s deliberate refusal to provide for what Rotberg calls
political goods which in the human rights parlance largely constitute positive
rights which are essentially social and economic in nature. The relegation of
positive rights is understandable because they are economically-tagged. The
state has to spend money to provide for education, health, roads, electricity,
water and food relief in the case of famine. Nevertheless, that these rights
are financially-tagged is no justification for their denial especially for the
case of Uganda. Ugandans pay huge taxes – 30 percent and 18 percent in pay as
you earn and value added tax respectively. Uganda Revenue Authority also
collects lots of revenue in form of countless taxes such as trading licences,
land rent, ground rent, local service tax, import duties, export duties,
customs duties and so forth. Accordingly, the argument that there is no money
to provide for the basic goods and services by the state doesn’t arise. What is
clear is that the money that we have as a country is abused and misused by
those in power for their selfish aggrandisement – consolidation and retention
of power.
2.0 Conclusion
This paper raises two
critical issues. One that the relegation of socio-economic rights has led to incessant
protests that were initially dubbed walk-to-work but have given rise to several
other protests by different social groups. Although the opposition politicians
were at the forefront of the walk-to-work protests, the support they garnered
from the masses had little to do, if at all with the elections. While the
opposition exploited the circumstances to express their displeasure about the
election gone bad, the masses participated purely because of the austere
socio-economic conditions brought about by failure by the state to provide
political goods. The second point is that the citizens rarely feel the presence
of the state when it comes to addressing their socio-economic needs. Rather,
many Ugandans now look at the state as a predator aiming at exploiting the
masses for the benefit of a few. It is my firm belief in this paper that the
Ugandan protests were as a result of the failure by the state to provide for
socio-economic rights, namely – the right to education, the right to health,
the right to employment and the stark violation of workers’ rights. Many
disillusioned Ugandans definitely will embrace any undertaking that promises to
address their precarious situation.
The neglect of health,
education, infrastructure and power sectors by the state can only act as a
harbinger to civil and sometimes violent protests. The wholehearted embracement
of structural adjustment programmes and the eventual individualism as a result
of exploitative capitalism stands at the centre of the protests. It is ironic
that we witness the heavy presence of the state while collecting taxes from the
masses yet witness the absence of the state in service provision. Shockingly,
while ordinarily in social welfare states it is the rich who are taxed to
ensure wealth redistribution, in Uganda the poor are taxed and some of the rich
do business without paying taxes; some of the rich have their children study on
state house scholarships and they are the ones who take the most lucrative jobs
regardless of whether or not they merit them or not. Uganda is fast becoming
impossible for the poor to survive.
We need to note that
the classification of economic, social and cultural rights as second generation
rights is irrelevant and misleading. It does not make them second rate rights.
In fact given the indivisibility, interrelatedness, interdependence and
interconnectedness of human rights, economic, social and cultural rights must
be simultaneously promoted and observed together with civil liberties and
political rights. In any case, it is impossible to enjoy civil and political
rights if you cannot enjoy socio-economic rights because they are
survival-based rights. If one was to ask me to choose between civil and
political rights on one hand and socio-economic rights on the other, I would
definitely go for the latter. Not because the former are useless but because
the socio-economic rights give life.
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Daily Monitor, Several
Issues
New
Vision, Several Issues
The
Independent, Several Issues
[1] Draft Paper
prepared as a writing sample as part of the requirements for the admission onto
an interdisciplinary PhD in Social Studies at the Makerere Institute of Social
Research
* Human
Rights Defender; Former Research Affiliate, Centre for Basic Research, Kampala,
UGANDA.
[2] Bertrand Ramcharan,
United Nations Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights, in his Foreword to the Human Rights and
Poverty Reduction, A Conceptual Framework, UN OHCHR, 2004.
[4] Richard Wanambwa and
John Njoroge, “Museveni declares Besigye will not walk” in The Daily Monitor, Thursday 21, April 2011
[5] See, Rotberg, Robert
(2002) “The New Nature of Nation-State Failure” in The Washington Quarterly,
Summer 2002. See also Rotberg (2003) , “Nation-State Faulire: A Recurring
Phenomenon?”
[6] See, for instance
Karin Kjellin (2007), Socio-economic Rights; What Relevancy in an Era of
Globalisation? Master Thesis International Law, Stockholm University
[7] See Vincent Nuwagaba
(2009) “Rwandan Nation’s Leadership is an embodiment of genuine democracy” in The
New Times
[8] Oloka-Onyango defines
“presidentialism” as the phenomenon of the inordinate influence of the person
of the president over all matters of governance – economic, social and
political – to the extent of eclipsing other state agencies.
[10] Interview with Tayebwa
Bazil, Deputy Head teacher Kigarama Senior Secondary School on 15th
July 2012
[11] See, Vincent Nuwagaba, Let’s all demand social justice in
Daily Monitor, Friday September 2, 2011
[12] The concept wet and dry areas has been coined by Makerere
University academics referring to rich faculties that generate money from
private sponsored students as wet while those that don’t have private students
are referred to as dry faculties. See also, “Mamdani speaks out on Makerere” in
New Vision Wednesday, 7th September, 2011. I therefore, borrow the concept to
mean lucrative deployments in the article.
[13] Richard Wanambwa &
John Njoroge , “Museveni declares Besigye will not walk” in The Daily Monitor, Thursday April 21,
2011
[14] See, Vincent Nuwagaba, (2011)“Dear MPs, passing a bad law is akin
to riding a tiger” in Daily Monitor, Wednesday 25, May 2011
[16] See Vincent Nuwagaba (2008), “Graft begets Graft” in Sunday
Monitor, March 16, 2008
[17] See for example Bernard Tabaire & Jackie Okao (2010), “Politics
of Patronage and Religion in Uganda” in ACODE Policy Dialogue Series No.
13, 2010
[18] Cases of civil
servants involvement in corruption scandals abound. Geoffrey Kazinda’s case is
the most recent that tells the extent to which civil servants pilfer public
funds.
[19] See Vincent Nuwagaba, “Museveni Must walk the Industrialisation
Talk” in The African Executive, 23-30 April 2008.
[20] Oloka-Onyango (2007)The Problematique of
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Globalised Uganda: A Conceptual review.
HURIPEC
[21] Various Media outlets
have often published inaccurate reports that the country produces between
300,00 to 400,000 ye.t even the number of students who sit O and A level is far
lower than that
[22] Robert MacNamara,
Address to the Board of Governors of the World Bank, Washington, DC, 25
September, 1972, p.8
[24] See Mubangizi Michael,
(2011), “Mao reveals walk secrets” in Observer, Thursday May 19 – Sunday 21,
2011
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