four simple structures of a functional democracy needed in Uganda

Structure one; Democracy needs citizens:

Structure one is the most important in all democracies. Democracies needs citizens. Citizens do not need democracies. Citizens are the most important people; they are the costumers paying all the dues of who they elect to lead them. They would want the best for their shillings. Citizens accept that their loyalty is to the processes their share must override the loyalty to their own political side. (Kenya) Kenyans leadership understands the idea of “loyal opposition.”  Kenyans have grown to accept the legitimacy of a government run by their opponents, assured that they will have their turn when the time comes.

Citizens should not use political space to destroy the ability of their opponents to operate in peaceful electoral systems. They must accept the lawfulness of dissension, even enthusiastic protests. They must rule out the use of force at all cost for political gains. A country without common citizens is poised on the edge of break up or civil war.

Structure two: democracy needs guardians;

Guardians hold positions of political appointments, (like Judges) Bureaucratic   (ministries,MPs,RDCs, chairpersons, etc) law and order (internal affairs, police) and military power.  What makes them guardians is that they must always be the one to check and keep in check all the aspects of Checks and Balances, and guard the moral law in accordance with objective rules or in favor of the commonweal. Queen Elizbeth is a great example of this. The motive of the guardians should not be to seek power. Although powerful is the appointments. Power follows wealth and Power and wealth are conjoined. Guardians should vet those seeking power to avoid those who just intend on shooting and looting the political systems. Those that come in power by looting and shooting will always loot and shoot; this is no basis for democratic legitimacy and will never be. It is only similar to vote rigging.

Structure three: democracy needs an economy

Okay,

So in Uganda I have noticed that they is a lot of mere talking about turning the country into middle class. Well, if by middle class we mean the abuse of power of the country to turn public into private wealth, as it has happened in so many corners of our countries; so much of this generation builds its wealth on theft are just as illegitimate as the Lords who allow them. A chairman collects a fee for a letter of reference, large percentage on phony land deals etc, and RDC is even worse! ANYWAYS!

          A proper function market, supported by a long plan back boned well function state provides an easier space to do business.  Kenyans are building a market for their citizenship. They wakeup and work. They are not just talking about becoming middle classing! They working to become middle class, they act middle class! They provide service like they are middle class not some luck bush/village boy who got appointment to a big government job and all the powers of tribalism that maybe be. Stable state supported markets are created when prosperity and power meet. This makes it possible for citizens to regard the outcomes of elections as important, but not as matter of life and death. When prosperity and power meet it lowers the temperature of politics from the burning to the bearable.

All democracies need accepted laws,

Laws shape the rules of every society for the systems of democracy to be effective. The law must be enacted and implemented in accordance with accepted procedures. This makes up the political, social and economic face of a nation. The country the lacks the rule of law is on a verge of chaos, tyranny- the unhappy fate of Uganda’s history. Democracy then is about much more than voting and voting rigging. “it is a complex web of rights, obligations, powers, and constraints” Those that win election should never just do as the wish. They should do what’s best for all of the people of the country for those who voted for and against them. Anything short of that is not democracy and it might just be elected dictatorship!

In Uganda, there will be no easy path to complete democracy

In Uganda, there will be no easy path to complete democracy....and democracy as we have come to know it the 21 century is dead.

The answer to the question of if Uganda will ever become a stable liberal democracy is yes. Will this happen under the currently (NRM) regime. The answer to that question. We do not know! We do know that other countries have overcome “elected dictatorships” and reached a destination of complete democracy. We also know as much, that universal suffrage democracy is a faint plant, in its early years like ours here in Uganda. We have many examples to look at, democracies like that of Egypt, Thailand, Ukraine, Kenya, Tanzania or even Russia to underline that truth, because democracy in crucial respects is an unnatural game.

In history of grown-ups, the governed must be provided with their alienable    rights to hold accountable their democratically elected governments. This is what is happening in Uganda, Liberia, Zimbambwe and South Africa. This is the only suitable form of ligament government because all other forms of government treat its citizens like little children. In the past, during colonial times, and the reason why the colonists had such success in ruling Africa was that they turned people against themselves, and created a space where traditional understandings where seen as illiterate. Such paternalism could have been okay, but it can longer be true.

As Ugandans have become more informed and a government that treats them in a “colonial military” way is eventually seen as less acceptable. I expect (or pray) that this seen among those voted to lead the country.

          They are a few underpinnings of a stable and successful democracy. A democracy that requires a double set of limits; among the people (The ruling parties) and between the people (the opposition) and the country (the three branches of government).  These limits can be summed up in four simple structures, which are all important.