By Sharon Tibenda

14^th March 2011

A passionately written article published in Uganda Correspondent of 21^st February 2011 [see: How Uganda’s docile elite sold our country] by Shelly Nambozo, a regular contributor in these pages, has sparked a serious debate about the role [or the luck of it] of our so-called elite in national politics.

Part of Nambozo’s argument was that “…the so called Ugandan elite are complicit in the crime of allowing Uganda to go to the dogs”. She also quoted of a friend of hers who said “…isn’t it hilarious that while the rest of Africa dethrones dictators, Ugandans are re-installing one”. Reacting to the article, one Uganda Correspondent readers said:

The Banyankole have a saying, that “even if a hyena gave birth in a kraal, its young would never grow to become cows”. That African proverb resonated in my mind after I read Ms Malcontent ‐ Shelly Nambozo’s ‐ article on “Uganda’s Docile Elite” in which she voiced her frustrations at a section of Ugandan society – crème de la crème ‐ for its docility in the face of a purportedly fraudulent and sham electoral.

According to the OXFORD Advanced Learners Dictionary 9th edition, the “elite” are described as a group of people in a society etc who are powerful and have a lot of influence because they are rich, intelligent, etc. e.g. a member of the ruling, intellectual elite. It goes on to describe “elitism” on the other hand (often disapproving as a way of organizing a system, society so that only a few people (=elite) have power and influence.

A cursory look at the above description, will give us a rude awakening from the idealistic world Shellys Nambozo’s article attempts to paint – that we, ( me and you) belong to an elite segment of Uganda’s society. Please note that the key words in that description are power, influence, wealth and intelligence.

The delusion with the likes of Shelly Nambozo is that they tend to overrate their influence in determining the trajectory in which Uganda is going . Because we (Shelly and us) drive second hand Japanese cars, wear second hand clothes, still pay rent in Kampala’s lower middle class suburbs ‐ even after working for over a decade ‐ have a Face book address and can afford the occasional trip abroad (to see and compare), we think we have now earned our right to drape ourselves in elitist garb and thereby morphing into – rich, intelligent and powerful ‐ individuals capable of meaningfully influencing things in Uganda.

To articulate my argument clearly, I shall use this contennas forum. We are neither wealthy nor powerful ‐ both as individuals and as a forum ‐ to wield any direct power and influence outside our rented houses leave alone in Museveni’s Uganda and I shall tell you why.

A quick look at us will expose our “fake elitist” status. To drive this point home, let me use this very frank but bitter anecdote that we have all experienced. If one of us members or any of our wives or children became deceased now – God forbid ‐ we and them would most likely have to suffer the indignity of being buried at our parents ancestral homes upcountry ‐ our wives would have to conform with being laid to rest at their parents in‐law’s ancestral grounds!!

Now, please don’t get me wrong; am not insinuating in any way that we are lazy and our “elitist airs” have dissuaded us from investing closer to our ancestors spirits in Hoima, Arua, Bushenyi or Kabale; No, fact is, we simply lack the wealth, power and/or the intelligence to do so. It is a fact whose existence is independent of our will, at least until we can afford otherwise. Now gentlemen, if we are so powerless in our ability to determine such an important milestone in the identification and determination of our manhood, how can we possibly even begin to relate with Ms Shelly Nambozo’s article?

What is the difference between most of us –forum members – and the over 84% of unemployed youth in Uganda, other than a job that enables us to get a second hand car purchase loan and rent a house in Najera? Once those jobs are gone, we often have no alternative means of sustenance and end up struggling to find our bearing in society.

Granted, we are able to appreciate and discern Museveni’s election victory more objectively, as compared to say the houseboy that washes our second hand clothes; we can chat on Facebook using our Blackberries and Skype on our laptops; watch the English Premium league on a flat screen TV at home and have an inverter at home to keep Museveni’s load shedding at bay, but make no mistake, that doesn’t make us Uganda’s elite.

David Cameron, current British Prime minister is a first class honors from Oxford and so is Tony Blair, Gordon Brown is a PhD in history from Edinburgh, Barack Obama is Colombia University and Harvard Law,the Bush and Kennedy family dynasties, the ruling Dubai Family‐ Al Maktoum, the Ghandi’s are the individuals me, you and Shelly should be drawing parallels with. Do we match up?

These illustrious global citizens come from a cluster of individuals in their respective countries who form a critical mass of people with commonalities and attributes that make them affiliated to an elite class; pedigree, history, ideology, accessibility to power and power brokers, wealth and knowledge/ information. They are a highly cohesive and structured group bound by a history and often long lineage of common objectives that are closely centred around wealth and power.

Religion, political affiliations, culture, race, history, education, academia, ideology, the military, royalty are some of the areas that bear the signature and footprints of their commonality.

On the flip side our boisterous and fledgling middle class – for lack of a better word – the would be precursors to an elite group, lacks the attributes that characterize elite sections of society.

We are too poor to expend any resources –financial or otherwise‐ outside our fragile comfort zones to have any meaningful bearing on power. We lack historical context, we are weak, fragmented and lack ideological cohesion, key drivers to the formation and sustainability of a viable elite class in any given society.

Our society is still in the throes of primitive transformation from peasant village dwellers to urban socialites. We have simply been caught in the middle of that mosaic of change. Along the way we have managed to benefit from global trends and developments like mobile phones and cars, but we are yet to attain the pedigree and the other hallmarks of an elite group.

So where you have the Kennedy and Bush dynasties handing down real ‐ power, wealth and influence ‐ across generations, bound by common goals, ideology and conviction, in Uganda you have a Shelly Nambozo wrongly affiliating her GPS coordinates to a social status she does not belong to, and with such errors cannot come influence and power to meaningfully impact on society.

For his part, Raymond Arineitwe, another Uganda Correspondent reader said, “…I’m a believer in change, but not just change for the sake of it!!!! Looking at the previously concluded presidential election, I think the opposition didn’t give Ugandans a chance for a better choice!!!

The opposition itself was so disorganised that no Ugandan would want to hand them the presidency! I think first things first; clean up your house and its surroundings then you can move out and advise others on how to clean their act.

All the soldiers deployed, were in reaction to several threats that had been pronounced.  Dr. Besigye had called upon his supporters to riot and cause chaos if they didn’t win (purportedly due to cheating)!! That was very wrong of Dr. Besigye, considering the damage that has been caused in previous “opposition” demonstrations, the government was right to deploy to deter hooligans from taking advantage of any such demonstrations.

There was also the threat of Al-shabaab …… if you think it’s wrong to deploy to deter such terrorist attacks as happened on the day the world cup final was played then I have no words for you!

Overall, I will appreciate if opposition apologists state their arguments without any bias.  Take into consideration all facts on the ground, before you can advocate for change …… you’ve got to weigh the change against the no-change.

Join in the debate below with your questions, views, and comments.  END.  Please log into www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.