The Death of Democracy in Uganda....
Welcome to Jeremy Jjemba Blogs... this is a continuation of a series of blogs that I have been posting for awhile on "term limits in Uganda,"....
The motion today is: Should the Ugandan government reinstate presidential term limits in the constitution and is democracy dead in Uganda...
The recent ban on all media from covering opposition events in the country is a sign that freedom of expression is dead in the country and it confirms partly with the motion that democracy is dead is Uganda.....
In the 1980's, way before I was made, a young rebel leader rose up and fought against injustice and lead a group of young lads into the bushes of Luwero, a district in Uganda and waged a massive civil war to overthrow Uganda's government.
Nearly half a million people died and about forty years later, those rebels are now today's leaders.
The reasons to wage war were many and all legit in the eyes of the rebels... among the major ones' was the issue of rigged elections back then in the election of 1980, before the majority of Ugandans wee born.
The young rebel leader and this armed men along with the support of many in the country carried out a military coup; took the oaths of office and thirty years down the road, not a single meaningful change in the political leadership of Uganda.
The same men still belong to "National Resistance Movements," making a nigga likaaa me wonder what the hell are they still resisting from all these years.
According to some of them, these men are trying to solve Uganda's most pressing problem. They even brag of almost bringing Uganda to almost middle income status thirty years later.
However much they have done, however credit you give all Uganda's political leaders, collectively they have failed.
The same issues that led young men to stage a coup still exists in our country.
Ours is a politics of bribery, impunity, tribilalism, nepotism, scar-tactics, abuse of the constitution, of changing political maps.
Ours is a politics where every single political position has one single individual who is entitled to it.
A radical in the believe system of the ruling party, "abaali mu Kintu."
For example, our current speaker of parliament feels that because she is a woman and because she come from a certain region of the country and because her predecessor was there ten years.... she has to be there ten years.
Her crudentials include small achievement for the country and bend only towards the continuation of the status quo of "abaali mukintu!"
The opposition is not spared from the same syndrome, producing the same candidacy for every election held is also questionable.
It paints the same picture where one big man is looked up and is the only one with a vision.
The syndrome goes on from national leaders to local ones.
Where I grew up on my village for example, the same man has been chairman of the local council of my life time; though he recently died as of last year.
This is where the pundits would call me out and say that well, the, "people vote for their leaders," they will say, "the systems are fair😂😂😂😂kubanga, "bebaali mukintu,".. Bambi they forgot that.....🇺🇬🇺🇬🇺🇬🇺🇬🇺🇬.... back then, they would say, the problem was, "leaders who overstayed in power,..
And indeed it is beginning to feel the same way now....all in favor of the 'ones in the system'..."baali mukintu" ..
Even the Greeks, who invented the idea of full democracy are turning up in their graves as new governments like Uganda's struggle with the idea of 'actual democracy'.
Because since the Greek knew that in their forms of government, emotional appeal, not reason, moves the instruments of governments and political fields.
Take as an example; the people on the side of government, judges, the police and the army collectively make decisions in Uganda based on their emotional appeals and not reasonable appeals whatsoever....the judiciary can use some repair.
And the same goes to all government institutions.
I don't blame the police; tough job for sure with small pay but I believe the idea of municipal policing would work better than a national policing. I also believe that commanding officers should have higher qualification, not just promoting within.
The Army, I dared not say anything negative; and I have nothing negative to say. However, I would question General Katumba Wamala on how recruiting is done....
The Ugandan Consititution has merit and should be respected by those in position of authority.
Ministers for presidencies can throw the constitution to the side only to feed the egocentric beings of their emotional selves.
Members of parliament, same way. Parliament is broken and it needs to be fixed. First by cutting the numbers of representatives.
With only about forty million people, Uganda's parliament is as big as India's a country that has a much larger populate.
The members can be bought for anything. They are easily impressed. A pork dine over "matoke" can easily impress them to pass a bill.
A beer, a smart phone, a randomly given allowance can have them pass any bill quickly than you and I can blink or squeeze or pass gas!
Let's be a little honest, if our parliamentary representatives were prostitutes, ours will be the cheapest in the whole fucking world.
The people is the opposition are the he same...they bank on the current emotion of their popularity not reasonable solutions to bring themselves and government on the table.
Greeks like Plato believed that, "Popular acclaim will attend on the man who tells the people what they truly want to hear rather than what truly benefits them."
That saying is what defines leaderships in Uganda in both the ruling political class and the opposition.
Opposition and ruling class have both cornered a section of Uganda to their yard side and are telling themselves everything they want to hear leaving the country empty of actual democracy; therefore, that alone explains the montion which is clearly stated that, "democracy is dead"...
Thirty or more years later, the same people who came fighting are now splitting into sections and fighting again.
And soon it is going to get worse judging by all factors on the ground...because the opposition side is indeed good at making the ruling side act out in the worse way possible. Ways which the ruling class only talks as ways of past leaders.
"Abaali mukintu" would say that past government oppressed them. That they killed or jailed inoccent people. But if i look around, my young self can only see history repeating itself.
To name a few things, arresting a responsible citizen like me for aplenty being "lawlessly and idlenes" is impunity.
To hold many people is jail cells for longer than what the constitution requires for small crime is impunity.
To suppress the media, to favor tribes are all things that should be of the past...you shouldn't be speaker because you are from Busoga.
You should be speaker because you are from Busoga and because you are the most qualified person to handle Uganda's political family at bay. Hence, you wouldn't be so partisan. Or tribal.
They opposition knows how to paint a picture of the absence of democracy in Uganda without doing much work.
Aboluuda lwa government, "ensoyi bazifuula busunggu.".. they would go to the highest means of roughness to silence the opposition.
They could tear gas up a school if a member of the opposition is passing by without their permission.
The opposition leaders are usually and consitstly arrested, in their homes or in government jails for small things like holding a rally.
Why not let them hold their rallies and prevent them from leaving the venues... Ummm like you did during elections.
Bills have been passed in the country in bad faith and with government buy ins.
For example, a few years ago, on the direction of the ruling side, the not-good-cheap-spiritless members of parliament passed, "the public management order bill," in very bad faith.
Among many negatives about the bill, including stopping anyone from gathering in public without the approval of Uganda Police hindered the advancements of democracy.
Unless Uganda is an undercover police state...
The bill gave police the authority to refuse opposition members the right to do any political meetings without the approval of police.
This includes activities even on their political party headquarters. Not even simple prayers or poetry nights.
Greeks like Plato believed that, "excessive desire for liberty at the expense of everything else is what undermines democracy and leads to the demand for tyranny. A democratic society in its thirst for liberty may fall under the influence of bad leaders;".....
Of course, let's first acknowledge that Plato was an "elitist" and was in favor of society/governments being chooses by a chosen few!
The same way our leaders believe in Uganda.
This bleed of Ugandan leaders believes that they are the only ones who can be speakers because of their gender or ethnicity.
Schocking!
I bet I would be considered a chivalrous if I said so.
The same way Ugandans leaders in any position of authority feel like they have to rule with an iron fist.
The idea of there being a separations of powers between the "popular vote" and the "power structure," is at the bedrock of every democratic institution, but not ours.
The solution to our political turmoil is presidential term limits. For God and My Country.....I am Jeremy Jjemba
See you on Twitter @Jjjemba
