Will Secession Tear Uganda Apart?

Uganda is full of contradictions and controversies. Our newspapers are always awash with corruption, child sacrifice, murder, nepotism and marginalisation stories among others. Some pundits now think the once pearl of Africa is now a dud of Africa. Currently the Members of Parliament from the greater North comprising of West Nile, Karamoja, Lango, Teso and Acholi sub-regions are making calls for secession.Secession calls haven’t been exclusive to the people from the greater North. Honourable Hussein Kyanjo has at one time made spirited calls for secession of Buganda, citing marginalisation. 

Uganda Flag                 Photo:AE Graphics

Sadly, some Ugandans have opted to vilify and demonise those calling for secession. Personally, I think that those calling for secession are using this either as a bargaining tool or as a tool to express their discontent. Thus, rather than scold them, we should exhort  the government to treat all citizens equally. Surprisingly,  the Uganda government hates talk about secession yet it has failed to address the concerns raised. Should the greater North people remain in subjugation?  All they need is an assurance that they are not second-rate citizens.  All of us would like to live in a country where we are treated with dignity.

The government’s act of recalling Ambassador Onen from the East African Community secretariat was just a trigger. Even if Ambassador Onen had not been recalled, he wouldn’t be a solution to the greater North in as far as marginalisation is concerned. Clearly NRM has radically ignored its blueprint, the ten point programme whose point number three and seven were consolidation of national unity and elimination of all forms of sectarianism, corruption and misuse of power.

Sectarianism is one of the highest forms of corruption that we are witnessing in this country. It has led to misallocation of resources, undermined institutions (as office bearers pay more allegiance to their political godfathers at the expense of institutions) and is both inimical and antithetical to patriotism. Those raising the secession voices are simply showing that something is amiss. We must applaud them for demanding a fair share of the national cake.

What I find disagreeable however is their firm conviction that individuals in western Uganda  are benefiting. Marginalisation is not exclusive to the North. It doesn’t mean that because my area Member of Parliament is a minister, I am benefiting if I have no job, if there are no drugs in our health centres and if our roads are in a sorry state. We have five counties and five ministers in Bushenyi district but only one Member of Parliament who incidentally is a backbencher has registered visible success through an organisation known as Integrated Community Based Initiative.

Ironically, there are many people from western Uganda who are frustrated given the adverse atmosphere of unemployment, poverty, and poor service delivery among others. They are caught between the devil and  the deep blue sea.

In Kampala, the talk is that Westerners are in the thing. When you go to the West, the talk is that the Banyankole are eating; if you go to Ankole, the talk is that the Bahiima are eating and possibly among the Bahiima the talk is that it is the Basiita who are eating. This is a pointer that each region and ethnic group feels some level of discontent and marginalisation. The difference is only in the magnitude with some regions feeling that they are more marginalised while others are less marginalised.

The  Uganda government ought to embrace meritocracy and in the allocation of public resources as opposed to patronage basis. All Ugandans, without exception, pay taxes and have a right to benefit from their taxes. Virtually all Ugandans are faced with more or less similar problems and should adopt similar means to solve them. 

By Vincent Nuwagaba
Political Scientist and Human Rights Activist

Labour Unions in Uganda, a Threat to Workers’ Rights

Uganda does not suffer the dearth of instruments highlighting democracy and human rights. Our constitution is called a human rights constitution. The whole of chapter four addresses human rights, a situation that has led many people to dub it: the Ugandan bill of rights. Many rights enshrined in the international bill of rights are replicated therein. We also have numerous Acts of parliament aimed at promoting and protecting the rights of different social groups.  

Despite the fact that Uganda has ratified 31 ILO Conventions including all the eight core conventions, observance of these rights has drastically eluded us. The country is seething with high levels of unemployment and underemployment, worst forms of child labour,  sordid working conditions for workers, squalid accommodation for the police force, miserable wages, high levels of hire and fire of the employees, absence of employment policy, sectarianism, nepotism and corruption among others.  All these deal a hard blow to our workers. 

One of the most contentious areas is social security or social protection. The government uses (some believe it misuses and abuses) the National Social Security Fund the way it wants without due regard to the workers who in an actual sense are the owners of the money. The government proposes that the National Health Insurance scheme be funded by workers and employers in addition to the contribution made to the National Social Security Fund. This follows the Local Service Tax which is being paid already. Workers now feel that the government is bent on encroaching on their meager earnings to fund its activities without due regard to their plight.  

The right to social security is born out of convention 102 on minimum standards. The ILO Convention provides for nine forms of benefits which include among others medical care benefits and health insurance benefits. Uganda seems to have adamantly refused to ratify convention 102 so that it could be bound by the provisions therein. Uganda has ratified the tripartite consultation convention (convention 144) yet it continues to sideline the other two partners in matters of concern to them. Experience has shown that the government in a number of cases calls workers and employers to give them lectures and not for consultation.  

On 30th June 2007, Hon Otafiire on KFM stated that he wouldn’t agree with workers on local service tax unless they showed him an alternative source of funding. Dr Francis Runumi, commissioner of Planning in the ministry of health said the National Health Insurance must be passed. One therefore wonders whether the Ugandan workers are not punching bags.

It is possible that workers in Uganda are taken for granted because of the absence of a strong trade union movement. In countries like Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Zambia, and South Africa and neighbouring Kenya, trade unions are a force to reckon with. The trade unions are so influential in these countries that they can determine who should be in power or not. In South Africa, the role of COSATU in the ANC government cannot be underrated. In Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai got all the clout he has partly because of his leadership in Zimbabwe Congress of Free Trade Unions.  

On the other hand, here in Uganda, trade unions are preoccupied with internal squabbles. They have hardly mobilized and recruited members and are appendages to the National Resistance Movement (NRM) government. If you are deemed not to be an NRM, you are thrown out of the trade union leadership. In fact the entire Workers’ MPs stood on the NRM ticket. Are  they NRM or Workers’ MPs?  In the run-up to the 2006 elections, Central Organisation of Free Trade Unions (COFTU) broke off from National Organisation of Trade Unions (NOTU) following the elections in NOTU in which Dr Sam Lyomoki and Mr Kahirita emerged losers. It could be possible they never viewed the exercise as free and fair.  

Another labour centre, Confederation of Labour Unions (COLU) has been formed following the elections in NOTU that were reportedly marred by irregularities which threw out the outspoken former Vice Chairman, Irene Kaboole, whose passion for workers’ rights has remained unswerving.  The total number of unionized workers is less than 1,000,000 (1 million) in Uganda. Some union leaders occupy two fulltime positions. For example, two Members of Parliament are at the same time General Secretaries of their Union positions that entitles them to two salaries. This smacks of greed.  

The leadership of some unions is comprised of semi-illiterates whose main preoccupation is not the betterment of workers’ welfare but self aggrandizement. In many Unions, if you are a university graduate, that is enough to disqualify you from getting a job there. The leaders and some staff members fear that you might catch the eye of the donors hence blocking them from the spoils or that you may use that as a platform to contest as a workers’ Member of Parliament. This intrigue has cost our unions talented and skilled potential employees who would authoritatively advocate workers’ rights in Uganda.  

This intrigue has also affected other labour rights civil society organizations as unions try blocking them from accessing funds from International Labour Organisation. It is prudent that since all workers’ MPs are from Labour Unions, the unions address all the workers’ concerns whether unionized or not. But apparently, unions seem to be impotent.  From the foregoing, one may ask the following questions: are Labour unions in Uganda as they are now qualified to represent Ugandan workers? Can Ugandan workers count on the Labour Unions to effectively articulate their interests?  

Labour Unions should neither be anti-NRM nor pro-NRM but pro-workers, regardless of their political inclinations. That is their raison d’etre.  

By Vincent Nuwabaga

The writer is a human rights defender and was a HUGGO-Danida Intern at the National Organisation of Trade Unions (NOTU).vnuwagaba@gmail.com

Museveni on Patriotism: Drinking Water or Wine?

I wish to add my voice to those that have responded to the President’s countrywide tours in which he has been preaching patriotism to the teachers. The secondary school teachers are already patriotic enough that they don’t merit any patriotism lectures.

Museveni; President of Uganda Photo:Courtesy

Since 1997 or thereabout, there has been a ban on the recruitment of secondary school teachers. This is despite the government’s introduction of Universal Secondary Education (USE) of course for expediency. It is my firm belief that USE was and is still a vote winning scheme. This is not to say that it is a bad policy. I think it is a good policy that was not properly thought out.If introduced at the right time for right reasons, USE would be an engine for societal transformation.

The Ugandan teachers fall into the category of the working poor; they are the wretched of the earth to borrow Franz Fanon’s phrase. Most secondary school teachers who work in private schools work for as little as 150,000 shillings. But also, there are those in government aided schools and have never been on the payroll. I wonder why we have teachers in government-aided schools that for quite long cannot access the payroll yet state funds are pilfered by unscrupulous politicians and civil servants day in day out. 

One wonders then why the President who lives in glamour and has a high propensity to profligate spending should spend extra taxpayers’ money preaching patriotism to these innocent yet unfortunate patriotic Ugandans. I am sure if teachers were not patriotic most of them would have run away to Iraq or elsewhere.

I also wonder whether the President is the most qualified to preach patriotism. In my view, the President is only patriotic in words and not in action. That is but ostentation. That explains why he abhors those who talk about sectarianism. Consolidation of national unity and elimination of all forms of sectarianism was ironically the third point on the ten point programme. The practice however, has shown that the president detests talk about sectarianism and not the practice of the same. I shudder at the level at which sectarianism has been perfected during President Museveni’s tenure and I believe it is inimical to patriotism.

Patriotism is not confined to saying you love your country. You should not only love your country but you should be seen in action. To be the best teacher of patriotism, you should be a firm believer in patriotism and you should not do the antithesis of patriotism.

The government should equip our health centres with drugs and pay our medical practitioners handsomely so that we cease witnessing the doctors migrating to look for greener pastures. The government should improve the standards of our schools and remunerate teachers well for like the former Russian President Nikita Krushchev said; incentives are what get people working harder.

We should see an end to harassment of political opponents; criticism should not be regarded as sabotage and opposition as treason. There should be more efforts to ensure that thousands of graduates churned out by our universities get jobs on the basis of merit and not nepotism.

The president needs to revisit the NRM Ten Point Programme and stop tinkering with our sacrosanct provisions in the constitution to perpetuate himself in power. There are so many flaws in our society that our president should concentrate on rectifying. In fact on 21st March, when the Ekimezza programme of Radio One debated patriotism, one participant in the audience asked why waste people’s time discussing such a subject. That was a pointer to me that the president has wasted taxpayers' money preaching patriotism.

Patriotism lectures in my opinion are intended to conscript teachers into the recruitment drive for the NRM which is unfortunate because teachers are not supposed to be involved in partisan politics. No wonder, it has been reported before that the NRM intends to recruit even children into the party.

At the end of the day there will be no difference between patriotism lectures and Mchaka Mchaka which many political pundits say were meant to indoctrinate and brainwash the masses by hoodwinking them that the ugly past is solely attributable to political parties. Mr. President, please don’t preach water and drink wine at the same time.

Vincent Nuwagaba

The author is a human rights activist.

Power Sharing: A Threat to Africa’s Democracy

Kenya's Power-Sharing Deal

Africa has embarked on a rough journey of power-sharing where election losers retain their seats while winners are prevailed upon to become premiers. This has been witnessed in Kenya and Zimbabwe. The Kenyan situation involved mediation by the highest diplomat Africa has ever produced, His Excellency Kofi Annan. For Zimbabwe, former South African president, Thabo Mbeki, is still at the centre of negotiations. 

The power sharing trend is quite unfortunate. It renders the whole exercise of elections meaningless. In Kenya, Raila Odinga is the executive prime minister. In Zimbabwe, if the talks do not stall, Morgan Tsvangirai is destined to become the prime minister. Remember in both countries, the electoral process was extremely violent and cost the lives of innocent citizens.

What does power sharing help the ordinary Zimbabwean or Kenyan who wakes up early to vote for a socio-political and economic turnaround? If I may give an example of Uganda where majority of the peasants’ children cannot access jobs or quality education; where the people of northern Uganda for two decades have lived in sordid conditions partly because of the government’s indifference; where roads lead to miscarriages because of potholes; where university graduates work for less than $250 dollars a month if they are lucky to get a job and where jobs and scholarships are given on the basis of who knows who and who comes from where. I wonder whether power sharing is the ideal.

True, the contenders in the race may benefit because of the ministerial appointments, but how far will they influence governance? Politicians are policy makers but the policies are implemented by bureaucrats. How will Tsvangirai or Raila for instance influence the trend of job allocation? If there is any Ugandan politician who intends to share power come 2011 in case Museveni loses, please help us.

Voters don’t cast their votes because they love the aspirants. It is  because they feel there is need for change in the status quo.  If I have been jobless for the last ten years courtesy of poor governance, what will I benefit, if the candidate I vote embraces a power-sharing deal?

How come in the United Kingdom or the USA, there is no Labour- Conservative party and Republican-Democratic power-sharing? Yet, with the developed countries people largely get jobs on the basis of meritocracy as opposed to patronage. Assuming, all African countries followed suit, what will happen to the Ugandan workers who fall in the category of the working poor and believe in the political elites and employers to keep them in the wretched conditions? What about the street children who the government in power has no policy to help? What happens to the citizens who wallow in extreme poverty because of misallocation of state resources?  What of the politicians and bureaucrats who embrace corruption as a way of life and the head of state supports them as long as they don’t threaten his stay in power?

Zimbabwe Power-sharing Deal

It is apparent that power-sharing deals cannot change the socio-economic lives of the states in which the hitherto opponents agree to form government. If the country had been embroiled in corruption, poverty, disease, potholes, lack of drugs in health centres, poor education systems, military involvement in elections and mainstream politics, militarization of the police, sale of government assets without accountability, high levels of unemployment among others, power-sharing cannot be a cure. It is a travesty  and an affront to democracy.

Power sharing is first aid but not a remedy for the malady that characterizes African states. It is only a pointer that those who contest elections are also human and cannot resist greed. Those who share power start enjoying the state delicacies while their supporters remain in misery.

Until I am convinced that sharing power can lead to the total overhaul of defective state institutions and structures, I remain dismayed by the notion of power-sharing. In Uganda, politicians are dipping their hands in the workers’ till as the head of state looks on. What would happen to the culprits if Dr. Besigye or Hon. Mao shared power with the current clique of leaders? Will they change the status quo? No. On the contrary, they will be bound by collective responsibility and keep quiet to avoid being seen as dissenting voices against the president’s or cabinet position.

Democracy denotes that there must be losers and winners. And in a democracy, losers lose graciously and winners serve all and sundry regardless of whether or not one supported them.

Vincent Nuwagaba
Political Scientist and Human Rights defender

Museveni Must Walk the 'Industrialisation' Talk

Yoweri Museveni

On Sunday April 6, 2008. I was hosted on Uganda Broadcasting Television (UBC) together with Uganda’s Minister of State for sports and education, Hon. Bakabulindi who doubles as a member of parliament (MP) representing workers. The theme of discussion was Job-creation and protection of workers’ rights as a strategy for economic growth. In his presentation, the MP lauded the government for attracting investors who were creating jobs for Ugandans. I hastened to remind the MP that the Ugandan government not only hobnobs with these pseudo investors to trample on the rights of the workers, but also, there is no evidence to show that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has created jobs for Ugandans.

Passing through the Ministry of Education  on 27^th March 2008, I picked a fruitful conversation with one technical officer in the ministry on unemployment and corruption. She believes that government has no responsibility at all for corruption and unemployment in this country, but blames the ordinary citizens. For example, an engineer who does shoddy work upon winning a tender or contract from the government is responsible for the potholes which break vehicles, cost extra fuel consumption and waste time.

Sadly, she is starkly wrong. Cases abound where fake companies have been given contracts by the government. On the issue of attitude, Chinua Achebe in one of his novels observes that when mother cow is chewing grass, the young ones keep watching the mouth. Surely, do we have models in government with moral authority to tell us corruption is a cancer?  It is corruption on the part of the government if it fails to supervise the people it awards   tenders and contracts. Supervision ensures accountability which is a critical tenet of good governance.

On the question of unemployment, the officer told me how there are many kids who don’t go to school because of the long distance they have to cover to reach school yet many teachers who benefited from government grants but have not been absorbed seat idle. She suggests that these teachers should do voluntarily  teach these children as a form of not only paying back to government which invested in them but also as a form retaining their skills. She went further to to ask how much  they spend as they do nothing but wait for absorption.

A radio talk show  moderator once asked me: " What  have you done for Uganda?"  I did respond that I pay my taxes. What more should I do for the government apart from asking it to account for my taxes?

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, 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.

The struggle against corruption and unemployment is a struggle that all of us must embrace. If  you are like the Commissioner for Uganda who reportedly earns a salary of 28 Million Uganda Shillings ( about US $16,000) but have fifty relatives and say twenty friends who are rendered depend on you, you will hardly make any savings or investments. Assuming you have accumulated savings and investments, can you and your property be secure in a situation where many people are unemployed? We must all raise the bar of thought and creativelt seek ways to eradicate unemployment.

By Vincent Nuwagaba
Political Scientist and Human Rights Activist

Uganda: The Battle for Democracy Continues

President Yoweri Museveni

For two decades, Uganda has operated without political parties. These were suspended when President Museveni captured state power, creating a no-party system or no-party democracy, later called the 'movement.' Although the proponents of this system argue that political parties are synonymous with mayhem and thus it is in the best interest of the country to do away with them, I think their stand was meant to entrench the new leaders who were not credible enough after being rejected in the 1980 election – an election that was followed by a protracted bush war that brought Museveni to power.

The crusade to hold a referendum to revert to a multiparty dispensation was ironically championed (under donor pressure) by one who had hitherto demonized and vilified political parties. His argument was: “let’s get rid of them (tubegyeko) and let them go (mubaleke bagende.)” Initially, the movement was not meant to become a political party but to get rid of “pig-headed” dissenters so that it could remain “pure.”  The reintroduction of political parties was not out of principle but expediency.  The president has never been comfortable with parties. He prefers calling the NRM an organization.

Changed System; Same Players and Operation

The July 28 2005 referendum ushered in a new era of multiparty politics. Multiparty politics calls for fair competition which sadly has not been the case. The police are still directly controlled by the president and have assumed unlimited powers to grant permission to political parties on whether or not to hold meetings. President Museveni still has a patronizing attitude. Shortly after the 2006 elections, he invited the other parties that participated in the 2006 elections for talks. When Forum for Democratic Change refused, the president said he had saved his tea. One wonders whether the president was using his personal monies to run the talks or not. 

The new Boss or the extension of the old Boss?

For more than two decades, President Museveni has remained the key actor in the politics of Uganda despite the cosmetic change of the political system. He has made it clear that he is not about to let go of state power as he is the only person with the vision. Since 1986, the country has been undergoing a transition. Although Museveni promised that he would pave way for multiparty democracy after four years of his rule, it has taken twenty years.The shift from the “movement” to the “multiparty” political dispensation was a trade-off for Museveni’s kisanja (third term). Many Museveni adherents argued that Museveni is an indispensable resource in a new political dispensation.

Symbol of the National Resistance Movement party

During Museveni's tenure, Uganda has had two referenda on political systems in 2000 and  2005. The multiparty activists boycotted both referenda on grounds that political parties are avenues via which fundamental freedoms and rights are exercised and enjoyed and should never be a referendum on one’s rights. In regard to the above argument, former Gulu Municipality Member of Parliament Norbert Mao said that “Fundamental human rights are enjoyed not because you are many but because you are human.”  Surprisingly though, the 2000 referendum was largely rigged even when the movement was practically running against itself.

President Museveni is partly responsible for the current dilemma (intra-party wrangles) within the old political parties- Democratic Party (DP), Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) and the Conservative Party (CP). As soon as he captured power, he vilified them, demonized them and embarked on politicization and brainwashing programmes.

Whereas I don’t support the discriminative nature of the Democratic Party and Uganda People’s Congress, I wish to aver that the political parties were far less discriminative compared to the Movement. This is because even though parties were largely founded on the basis of religion that cut across the entire nation, the movement was largely dominated by the “freedom fighters”, friends and relatives. At the end of the day, one region and one ethnic group dominated. The system that was meant to be inclusive became exclusive. Ironically, the person who used to bash political parties because of discrimination presided over the largely discriminative movement. Consequently, many would be movement pillars had to jump off the movement boat: Bidandi Ssali, Kiiza Besigye, Augustine Ruzindana, Eriya Kategaya (although he later made a round turn), Mugisha Muntu, Winnie Byanyima, Amanya Mushega, Richard  Kaijuka, Salaam Musumba, David Pulkol, Henry Tumukunde, the list is endless.

The president has personalised all the critical state institutions (the Police, the Judiciary, the Electoral Commission, the Uganda Human Rights Commission) and political parties. The movement and the National Resistance Movement (NRM) now revolve around the personality of Museveni. This has had a spillover onto other parties such as Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) which revolves around the personality of Dr. Besigye and Uganda People’s congress that revolves around the Obote family. Political parties are not electric switches that one can put on and off at will. They are indispensable institutions in the democratic process. They are engines through which fundamental freedoms of expression, association, assembly, choice and so forth are enjoyed.

What should be the role of opposition parties in critical institutions like the judiciary, electoral commission, and the police and human rights commission in a multiparty setting? Won’t the ruling party dominate these institutions to the disadvantage of other parties? How should political party activities be funded? If they are to be funded by the government, won’t the ruling wish to set a pace for these parties? If parties are to be funded by the government won’t this compromise their independence? If that be the case, what does such a situation portend for our fledgling democracy?

Conclusion

Results of a past political rally

Although we profess a multi-party democracy, the practice on the ground shows otherwise. Political parties are not free to hold rallies, demonstrations and/ or political meetings without let or hindrance from the police. Tear gas has remained a tool of taming the stubborn opposition akin to how it used to be prior to the July 2005 referendum. The struggle for democracy and human rights continues and all of us must join it.

By Vincent Nuwagaba
Political Scientist and Human Rights Activist


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Makerere: A University for the Rich? Open letter to the President of The Republic of Uganda

Makerere University   Photo courtesy

The sudden and unprecedented tuition increment has shocked very many of us although I may be among the few that have gathered the guts to write to you. I write to you not because you are the alpha and omega in Uganda, but because you have portrayed this image. Everyone with even the simplest problem is consequently running to you. We have seen MUASA running to you whenever they have deep concerns regarding their welfare; trade unionists and many other social groups also run to you.

When the university council wanted a fee increment, they ran to you. As far as my understanding is concerned, you never gave a nod to their request on the premise that our people are poor and they cannot afford paying exorbitant fares. How come all of a sudden, there has been a heartless tuition fee increment? A Bachelor of Laws course whose tuition has been 600,000 Uganda shillings has been hiked to 1,260,000 shillings. If one adds the functional fees of 546, 500 Uganda shillings, the whole figure comes to 1,806,500 Uganda shillings away from 1,146,500 Uganda shillings for day private day students and 1,116,500 Uganda shillings for evening. This is morally repugnant and politically imprudent. As citizens, we vehemently oppose this scheme. Any increment at a time when students are already admitted must be opposed by any sound Ugandan.

Graduation ceremony   Photo courtesy

What is more perturbing is the fact that the university administration has gone ahead to set stringent rules. For instance, they say that every privately sponsored student is obliged to pay all the functional fees before he/she can be registered, allowed to attend classes and be issued with an identity card. They further warn that if one fails to pay within three weeks, their place will be forfeited to another candidate. Further, the university council reserves the right to vary fees chargeable any time with or without prior notice. This begs the question that I asked in 2006 during the convocation elections: whose institution is Makerere University?

Although I got two degrees from Makerere University, I have been forced to enrol for a bachelors degree in Law for two reasons- to offer pro bono legal services to the indigent who normally fall prey to the decadent institutions we have in Uganda, notably the police, paramilitary organisations and mental hospitals and to be self-employed in my own chambers since the talk from you Mr President has always been self-employment.

Mr President, the unprecedented tuition increment could be a pointer that the centre can no longer hold and things have fallen apart. Otherwise, I wish to let you know that the increment hurts the peasants more than anybody else. Ironically, peasants are and have been the bedrock of your support. As a politician, you should be in position to decipher and discern the implications of such a decision.

Mr President, you have always demonised and vilified the past leaders by calling them swine. But those “swine”  made education accessible, built hospitals including Itojo and Kitagata from our home area; hospitals that are better than Mulago when it comes to services. Although, the state parastatals were less effective, the leaders who held the parastatals in trust for Ugandans never gave them away. Paradoxically, for you, a leader with a monopoly of the vision have either sold, given away or taken these parastatals without giving accountability of the proceeds thereof.

Mr President, going back to the gist of this letter, you must reign in the University council to reverse their position because that position is not sacrosanct and the rescinding thereof shall not tantamount to abrogation of the constitution.

How then will the university get money?

Makerere University is a public university. Like any other public institutions, it MUST be funded by the government. I don’t believe that the military and state house should always get supplementary funding in addition to the one provided by the budget while Makerere University is starved of funds. The money that Makerere University always demands is not the president’s money. It is taxpayers’ money. No patriotic tax payer would complain if Makerere University was given adequate funds.

My former professor in the department of political science says, “bamwe omubebembezi beitu beinire Makerere University enugu ahabwokuba bakaremwa kushomerayo, ekizibu nobu bagiire omu bwebembezi bakaremwa kumanya ngu enugu egyo eshemereire kuhwa” this literally means that “some of our leaders are envious of Makerere University because it rejected them. Sadly, even after capturing power, they failed to outlive that envy”. I tend to agree with my former don and mentor in political science and I think your Excellency are duty-bound to dispel that notion which is held by many elites.

You may naively think the elites have no impact on your project of retaining power (since you have effectively manipulated the peasants typical of all Machiavellian politicians) but as Professor Mamdani argues in his book “Imperialism and Fascism in Uganda” the livelihood of the peasants is rooted on the soil and they depend on the voices from the cities to explain reality around them. Accordingly, once the elites get fully disenchanted with you, they will mobilise the peasants against you.

If you are against peasants remaining in their peasantry, how would you explain an increment of tuition by more than 100% for a course like law and this excludes accommodation, meals and other scholastic needs? In a semester, students of law will part with not less than 4 million Uganda shillings.

I beg, Mr President, that you order Major General Kale Kayihura to respect and protect us as we exercise our constitutional right and not to oppress us. I also wish to state that should he choose the latter option (oppression and repression), I will not hesitate to drag your government to the courts of law.

Mr President, I wish to bring your attention the Runyakitara saying which goes, “ku oteera abaana obateera boona.” Please, prevail on the University Council and Parliament to rescind their position in the interest of the common good. The timing of the increment is ill and is bound to boomerang on your government with drastic results. It is illogical and heartless to increase tuition when students have already been admitted and are in the final preparations to report for studies. If the increment was to be made, it should have been before application so that the applicants know how much they are to pay for which course. 

The University Council members and Members of Parliament should not drop the ladders they have used when climbing because they feel those ladders are no longer relevant to them. They must be guided by the Ubuntu philosophy which embraces compassion, selflessness and respect for human dignity. If the stringent measures they are calling for were in place, few of them, if any, would have attained university education. Let us realise that the university’s primary role is knowledge production, reproduction, synthesis and dissemination. Makerere University is not for the rich but for everyone. Ultimately, if the poor are locked out, education will be exclusive to the rich who may be academic dwarfs and intellectual peasants.

Mr President, the rich have already had enough and the poor need to be assured that they too are citizens with rights. Majority of the rich in Uganda are top politicians and politically connected businessmen and women. The former pilfer tax payers’ money and other public resources entrusted to them and the latter get favours from the government through tenders, contracts, tax rebates, and exemptions among others. I know of many businesses that don’t pay taxes. I have learnt from a top official in Uganda Revenue Authority that Protea Hotel doesn’t pay taxes.

I call upon government not to starve the University of research funding. This has led to declining of standards, making lecturers to opt for consultancy research which is inimical to academic advancement. Remember, Makerere University is a pace setter. If it sneezes, the rest of the academic institutions catch a cold. Therefore, your government must redeem Makerere University if it believes in prosperity for all, health for all, education for all and wealth for all.

Finally, Mr President, Remember education is a right and not a favour and all human rights instruments enjoin all the state parties to make elementary education free and higher education easily accessible. The Makerere question involves everyone without exception because if one is not a student, he or she is a parent or guardian. If one is neither a student nor parent, he/she has a sibling there or a friend. And if you have neither sibling nor friend, you are a potential student there or your brothers, sisters, friends or relatives are potential students in the institution.

By Vincent Nuwagaba

Mr Vincent Nuwagaba studied Political Science and holds a Masters degree in Human Rights from Makerere University and can be reached on mpvessynuwagaba@gmail.com or +256702843552

Uganda Mocks ILO Conventions

As Uganda joined the rest of the world to celebrate the international Labour Day on Friday, it is amazing but also perturbing that the Minister in charge of labour said that it would take forty years before the minimum wage is set for Uganda’s workers. Whereas what Ugandan workers need is not the minimum wage but the living wage, a minimum wage would set a benchmark upon which workers would begin negotiations for the living wage.  

It is not surprising though that Mr. Otaala has said that. He is re-echoing what the government position has always been. On May 1st 2007, the Daily Monitor quoted Hon James Kinobe as having said “there is no immediate plan for the minimum wage and that our people are not yet ready for it”. What he meant by our people is a paradox: did he mean employers -as if employees are not our people - or he meant Ugandans generally are opposed to the minimum wage?  

Uganda has ratified 31 ILO Conventions among which is Convention 26 which is the Minimum Wage Fixing Machinery Convention ratified on 4th June 1967. The country also ratified Convention 122, Employment Policy Convention, on 23rd June 1963. The country has also ratified all the eight core conventions namely, C87: Freedom of Association and Protection of the right to organize, on 2nd June 2005, C98: Right to organize and Collective Bargaining, C29: Forced Labour Convention and C105: Abolition of Forced Labour ratified on 4th June 1963, ILO C100, C111: Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention ratified on 2nd June 2005, C 138: Minimum Age Convention ratified on 25th March 2003 and C 182: Worst Forms of Child Labour ratified on 21st June 2001. 

By ratifying the aforementioned instruments, the country committed itself to respecting them. It is a principle in international law that treaties once ratified have to be observed, that is the principle of pacta sund servanda expressed in Article 26 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of treaties. What the Minister in charge of labour is quoted to have said is an antithesis of the government commitment in ratifying these vital instruments. Uganda is enjoined to observe the international labour instruments. 

The government’s alibi that setting the minimum wage is untenable and will drive away investors is unscientific. Uganda does not top other countries that have the minimum wage in foreign direct investment. Uganda cannot claim to be a more liberal economy than Kenya for instance. It may be true that “investors” flock to this country because of lack of the minimum wage which means workers are paid peanuts and are at the mercy of the employers. But, do we want exploitation of our workers? It is common knowledge that many Ugandan workers fall into the category of the working poor.  

The Philadelphia Declaration of 1944 states that poverty anywhere is a danger to prosperity everywhere and that Labour is not a commodity. Accordingly, the reward for labour which is a wage cannot be determined by the forces of demand and supply. We would only be heartless to be proponents of market forces in terms of wages. This is a clear message to the NRM government whose election manifesto was premised on Prosperity for All Catchword. It is not the skilled workers who need the minimum wage but the semiskilled and unskilled.  

In the NRM Manifesto of 2006, it is explicitly stated on page 5 that “NRM shall support workers through organizations of workers and shall take all possible measures to create employment for all. The NRM shall ensure the protection of workers’ rights”.  From the foregoing, I wish to stress two observations;  

1. The use of the word shall means it is mandatory that the NRM government must do what it committed itself to do: create employment for all and ensure the protection of workers’ rights.  

2. That workers’ rights were put in bold accentuates the value of these rights. The demand for the minimum wage is a matter of workers’ rights which the government vowed in black and white to protect, it is not a favour.  

Human rights are not requested; they are demanded and asserted. Human rights are never given on a silver platter. I don’t think that workers’ representatives should only focus on easier wins like compulsory medical insurance, National Social Security Fund remittances and the establishment of courts to resolve labour disputes like the 1st May Daily Monitor editorial suggested. To me that is a very small fraction of what workers’ representatives should do. And it will be difficult for workers’ representatives to convince their constituents that they are relevant if they are fainthearted and sweep the demand for the minimum wage under the carpet. Negotiation for fair wages is one of the most important raison d’etre for the workers’ representatives and labour unions. 

Wages are a very crucial ingredient in the workers’ welfare. In fact, the Uganda Human Rights Commission Report of 2003 stressed the importance of the minimum wage as a basis upon which negotiations for the living wage could be made. For the minister to tell workers to wait until 2050 for the minimum wage is a pointer that the government is obsessed with the protection of investors and not Ugandan workers! Workers’ rights ought not to be observed on a piecemeal basis but holistically. 

By Vincent Nuwagaba

A human rights defender with keen interest in socio-economic rights. vnuwagaba@gmail.com   +256772843552

Legislators' Sacco: Uganda Must Excercise Prudence

I was intrigued by press reports that president Museveni of Uganda has given former legislators U Shs 1 billion to buy buses. The story reported that the money was part of  UShs 2 billion pledge he made to their Sacco to improve their welfare.  

While it is alright to get concerned about the former MPs’ welfare, we need to ask a number of questions: did the President draw that money from his personal account or it was drawn from state coffers? If he drew it from his personal account, how does he intend to recoup it? Is it only the former legislators whose welfare needs to be improved or the other citizens also? The president and his lieutenants have vowed to crush corruption; is it possible when he is busy dishing out patronage to his clients?  

Our country has suffered a great haemorrhage of funds. Only a few days ago, the state owned newspaper The New Vision reported that U Shs 370 billion was spent on CHOGM. Prior to the summit, I questioned on air what an ordinary Ugandan would benefit from CHOGM. The skeptics are now being vindicated. It is coming to light that CHOGM cost us more money than we were told.  

Ugandans are dying of famine; higher education has been reduced to a preserve of a few as fees in public institutions have been over-hiked and our country is being turned into a man-eat-man society. It is ironical that those who were preaching Marxism before capturing power have now turned into far rightists hell bent on promoting individual welfare instead of the common good.  

Ugandans must stop complacency and begin asking tough questions such as: do we benefit from our taxes? Why have leaders who preached frugality become wanton big spenders? Ugandan elites must keep reminding our dear president of his 1986 inaugural speech and his book, “What is Africa’s Problem?” As my area MP Honourable Otafiire has always said, ebibagamba nibanyuka tibyo bagamba nibataha (what they say while making local brew is different from what they do while drawing it), but our leaders need to be told that not all Ugandans are too daft.  

Uganda has a miniscule number of university graduates yet most of them have no jobs. The government is always telling them to create their own jobs. Why couldn’t former MPs who were earning huge sums of money fail to create their own jobs - that they have to continue sucking the state coffers?

Could the money dished to former MPs be a reward for having struck out the constitutional provision which limited the president to two five year terms hence giving Museveni green light to rule the country ad infinitum? Assuming, many lost because of no-performance, should the president continue rewarding non-performers?  

I know of many first class and second upper graduates who fail to get jobs because jobs are given on patronage and the unfortunate graduates have no godparents. These people have chosen to write course works for others in order to make ends meet. Others have chosen to do printing business and are busy forging O level, A level and university documents. The NRM government on the other hand deludes itself that it is fighting corruption!  

On 6th April 2008, when I was hosted on UBC TV with Hon Charles Bakabulindi, I said that the government was seated on a time bomb because of graduate unemployment. Now the government, which always learns the hard way, has seen it. I doubt whether they would have deciphered that had it not been the events of 10th to 12th September 2009 which claimed the lives of more than 20 people. The government now knows that unemployment can push people into frustration, hopelessness and wave of criminality.  

We have a minute number of genuine university graduates but we have too many people with academic papers. I have advised the NRM government to verify all employee documents; the government has chosen to keep a deaf ear. Could it be behind the forgery?   

Uganda's opposition parties must shape up and address critical issues. I wish they had think tanks and research desks to help them address critical national issues. Only then shall we look at them as viable alternatives.  

Uganda has a new generation of voters who shall not be fed on deception and manipulation.This generation wants assurance that the country belongs to them.

By Vincent Nuwagaba. 

Mr. Vincent Nuwagaba is a political scientist cum human rights defender and can be reached via mpvessynuwagaba@gmail.com

Anti Corruption Bill: Will Uganda Walk the Talk?

  Anti Corruption Bill: Will Uganda Walk the Talk?

I read with a sigh of relief the front page of  Sunday Vision (9th March, 2008) story that government of Uganda wants 14 years in jail for corrupt officials in a new law it is proposing. I am however skeptical that the present government will actually implement it given the level of corruption in the very government officials. Today the corrupt are glorified and hailed as smart and hardworking.

But also, assuming for argument’s sake that the anti-corruption law is passed, who would be the very first victims? I hope there would not be selective application of the law since all Ugandans are supposed to be equal before the law.

Unless we separate form from substance, the anti-corruption bill will never see the light of the day. Even if it is passed, it will never be enforced. I have taught political science in a university and the subject I enjoy most is constitutionalism and political stability.I have always told my students that a constitution and constitutionalism are related but the former is useless if it doesn’t lead to the latter. At best it remains a paper document merely for window dressing purposes. I strongly feel that law enforcement has eluded our country Uganda.

My emphasis is on political corruption which by definition is abuse of office by public officials, not because I condone corruption in private offices but because space is limited, and it is public offices that should account to me given that they directly use my taxes. I also make the direct link between what one would call deliberate unemployment and corruption. And I say deliberate because there is no political will to fight unemployment.

Corruption can also mean any form of abuse and any aberration or moral decadence- sectarianism, cronyism, influence-peddling, forgery, perjury, vote-buying, bribery, marginalisation, foul play even in politics including Machiavellianism. Machiavellianism connotes a principle of the end justifies the means. If you use depraved means to attain an end whether or not that end is good, that is simply corruption. I think it should be the purity of means to justify the end.

But corruption should be broadened to cover the entire society because corruption is not exclusive to office bearers. There are many people forging Makerere university transcripts, would anyone say they are not corrupt? What of the unemployed bright Ugandans who do course works for students in order to survive? Unless, the root causes of the cancer are addressed, the minister’s bill won’t go a long way.

What explanation can the government give for the high unemployment rates when people with university degrees are less than 0.5% of the country’s population yet government departments alone employ around 500,000 according to the figures from the Labour Market Information Bulletin from the Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development? I have told my students a degree is intrinsic within the person, it is the knowledge attained in the course of study.

If you have course works done for you, you forge documents, or cheat exams you get a certificate which is a mere paper and not a degree. I have never had a full time job ever since I finished Makerere University with very good grades in 2004 purely because of political corruption; because the offices some of us would occupy on merit are often given on know-who and come-from-where basis. It is prudent, therefore to argue that the patronage embraced by the government constitutes high level corruption. And this is the basis of my skepticism about this government fighting corruption.

I know of a family in this country from Kisoro where virtually all children upon completion of their studies are recruited into the police and they become District Police Commanders in a blink of an eye. The problem of corruption in this country is structural. The government can hire me as a consultant if it genuinely wants to fight the monster. The bible says what you sow is what you reap. 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?

But also, if one was brilliant but failed to get a job because of corruption like what happened in the recent police recruitment what would stop them from pursuing the end using any possible means? Finally, if one has 100 relatives or friends on the streets who would be employed purely depending on one person, what would stop them from stealing public funds to meet their family or social obligations? The government must do a thorough examination of itself. Otherwise, it will find it very difficult if not impossible to fight corruption. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Corruption simply reproduces and reinforces itself.

By Vincent Nuwagaba
Political Scientist and Human Rights Activist

RE: MY PEACEFUL HUNGER STRIKE AT THE CONSTITUTIONAL SQUARE

The IGP, General Edward Kale-Kayihura Dear Sir RE: MY PEACEFUL HUNGER STRIKE AT THE CONSTITUTIONAL SQUARE I hereby write to inform you that I am holding a non-violent hunger strike at the named venue. The major issue to highlight is the appalling welfare of the police officers ranging from horrible accommodation – many officers sleep in a tent right behind CPS, others share a unipot between four families while others including high ranking officers sleep in asbestos houses contrary to ILO Asbestos Convention. Their pay is too meager to afford them basics yet they work for almost eighteen hours. The dysfunctional healthcare system, disoriented education system and exorbitant university fees which in 2009 were hiked up to 26% in public universities doesn’t spare the police. Consequently, they have been brutalised psychologically, are hopeless, normless and frustrated. They have thus turned their frustration against innocent civilians asserting their rights akin to a woman who turns her anger against children when her husband mistreats her. I informed you through your PA and informed AIGP Kawesi and nobody seems to care. But also I have informed Prof Mushemeza and other people including media houses and human rights defenders. There is no better time than now when the IPU conference is being hosted here. The purpose of the letter, therefore, is not to seek permission but to demand for security since the constitutional square is guarded by military police – red top. I am a Ugandan with a right to exercise my God-given rights. I accordingly demand justice or death. Yours, Vincent Nuwagaba Human Rights Defender Email: vnuwagaba@gmail.com

Makerere shouldn’t be producing mediocre graduates

Guest Writers Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:18 Written by Vincent Nuwagaba 8 Comments We claim to be knowledgeable because we have accessed Western education. But we have failed, or deliberately refused, to use our knowledge to solve our problems. Ultimately, we have allowed mediocrity to flourish. Makerere University is in the process of searching for a substantive vice chancellor, with Professor Venansius Baryamureeba’s tenure having ended. Here is what the university should focus on: Some Makerere University lecturers (certainly not all of them) solicit money from students in exchange for marks, just as some students solicit marks from lecturers in exchange for money. Some staff in the senate, who enter students’ marks also solicit money from students in exchange for better grades, just as some students solicit better grades in exchange for money. I am at pains to reveal this grim reality, as many people are aware, but have not had the wherewithal to have this information published. But like Norbert Mao says, “you cannot treat a cancer with Vaseline”: we cannot solve problems without tackling their root causes. I reveal this not because I hate Makerere University, which is my alma mater, but because I love the institution dearly and I fell in love with its motto “We build for the future” when I joined it. The press has reported about cases of sex in exchange for marks in the same institution before and these reports cannot just be dismissed. While appearing on a UBC TV show on March 6, 2008, I stated that because the job market favours the mediocre, the philosopher kings, if I can borrow from Plato, were busy working as coursework mercenaries, running coursework bureaus in Wandegeya and around Kikoni and Nakulabye, and I was vindicated a few weeks ago when Sunday Vision ran a comprehensive feature on coursework mercenaries. This is happening, not because the ‘academic giants’, as Dr Simba Kayunga used to call them, have no integrity, but because for them to survive in Kampala where virtually only the dirty thrive, they have to break some moral rules and trash their values. Corruption begets corruption and if one cheats in the exams, or hires mercenaries to do coursework for them, they ‘earn’ a certificate not a degree. I should add that those who buy marks usually pose around with Makerere University papers but they do not have degrees. A degree is intrinsic. It is not just a transcript or a certificate. And alas, this problem is not confined to Makerere University. During our school days, some students in relatively good schools also used to access UNEB exam papers beforehand, and they used to call it akasasi in Runyankore-Rukiga parlance. If a Law student cheats exams to be admitted to the Law programme, buys marks at LDC and he or she ends up enrolling as an advocate, what sort of advocate will he/she be? What will stop such a person from being compromised with bribes? If such a person is ultimately appointed as a magistrate or judge, what sort of justice will they dispense since from their formative stages, they will have been corrupted? Those retained as teaching assistants are selected basing on their Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA). Now, if one coughs money to get good grades, what sort of lecturers are we getting for our children? If Makerere, which churns out professionals of all kinds, is promoting mediocrity, why should we be surprised that we have mediocre lawyers, teachers, physicians, pastors, and politicians? Why should we be surprised to find journalists who practise yellow journalism and do public relations instead of sticking to principles of accuracy, objectivity, impartiality, balance and attention to detail? Of course, what happens at Makerere is replicated in other institutions. If anything, in other universities it could even be worse. I remember in one of the ACODE breakfast meetings, economist Bernard Tayebwa stated that Ugandans survive through kuyiiya (cutting corners). This explains the dubious deals many Ugandans engage in. It is absurd that today, people with integrity are shunned and labelled failures while the crooks are glorified. Makerere can only build for the future by embracing integrity and leading by example. The author is a human rights defender. vnuwagaba@gmail.com < Prev Next > inShare Comments +1 #1 Betty Long Cap 2012-04-19 23:06 Vincent Nuwagaba, Uganda must be encouraged corruption of the academic community offends a youth so much he cannot remain silent. The gains of cheating and bribery are short-lived. In whose eyes a vile person is despised, But he honors those who fear the Lord; He who swears to his own hurt and does not change; He who does not put out his money at usury, Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved. Psalm 154:4-5 Quote 0 #2 Jalmoro Benard 2012-04-20 00:07 No wonder we have the likes of Mirundi if atall he attained a University degree. Quote +1 #3 julius 2012-04-20 17:34 i was in kyambogo university from 2008 to 2011, students who never attended lectures, danced every night in all kampala dancing clubs, graduated with 1st class simply b`se they were friendz to lecturers, gave money or sex. we had STM (sexually transmitted marks) in KYU in uganda its who knows to pass exams, get a job, get promotion at work or any lets Quote +1 #4 melody 2012-04-20 20:23 It is so sad that everty institution in Uganda is rotten! Please do not look at the universities alone, the grass roots are the high schools.I have a friend who sat for exams from a middle class school in masaka..(please note it is not one of the best performing ones, she confessed that all the 4 subjects question papers she did at A level were brought prior to her sitting them to the extent that during the practicals, their teacher sent out the invigilators and showed them what to do. They definitely passed with flying colours at no cost.Their headmistress did all the bribery coz she wanted to keep her post.So think about all those little known schools you see as top schools in the papers!!! where is our countty going at this rate? Quote +2 #5 MIKI 2012-04-20 21:42 Acting Vice Chancellor Baryamureba allegely cheated his way into professorship. So did many other professors and head of departments at this university. With teaches like this what do you expect? Makerere went to the dogs during Amin's time. It rolled off to the pig sty during Museveni's time. Just like everything in Uganda. Destruction of all institutions in the country will be Museveni's enduring legacy. Quote 0 #6 Mubiru 2012-04-21 15:28 Nuwagaba you have courageously spoken for all of us who got our qualifications on merit rather than monetary or sexual favours. We studied at night (burning candles as we called the night episode) while others were sleeping "under their beds". During my time, no one could ever imagine forging educational qualification to get a job or enter parliament as it is today. Can you imagine being treated by a quack medical doctor whose only qualification was to buy marks or offer sex to the so called lecturers or professors? (with a small "l and p" to define their criminality) Experience, supported by Nuwagaba's revalations forces me to despise many of the so called "learned" Uganda lawyers. Once in court my friend's lawyer had to be lectured by the Magistrate on how to present his client's case and not to utter irrelevancies before the court. No wonder the legal trade in Uganda is crammed by whoever wears a suit in Kampala streets. Quote 0 #7 denis 2012-04-22 12:03 what do you expect ,in uganda everything is possible because of coruption .its the only country where buses are being driven on the roads without road licences,insura nce and registration number plates.what a shame ??? coruption is killing every thing even to get a job you have to bribe your way.what of a country is uganda?? Quote 0 #8 Joseph obo 2012-04-22 19:06 Betty if 'short-lived' is 40 years then may be that is why many grasp evil with both hands. Besides a 1st class does not guarantee one a job or the employer a first rate employee. But if the human resource departments are always asking for applicants with certification then so be it whether they are forged or not, we will produce them after all that is what is demanded for one to get a job.