After Gaddafi, Museveni will remain a ‘barking dog’
By Abbey K. Semuwemba
24th Oct 2011: The US government’s decision to send its troops to Uganda to help hunt down Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army [LRA] rebels has not generated big headlines around the world. It has been done very quietly and I am very suspicious about it.
My only worry is that there seems to be no visible political reforms in Uganda. Things are no longer looking good in Uganda. When a situation is as bad as it is right now, the government becomes paranoid and starts killing and imprisoning its own citizens openly, especially those that criticise it regularly.
Americans always side with the side that will make them look good back home. But if there is no revolution, they will always side with the people in power or government. In this case, it is therefore arguable that they are in Uganda to help President Museveni but not the people of Uganda.
When someone has been President for a long time, they tend to think they are different from other human beings. But the fact is that one day Museveni will not be President of Uganda. Mbabazi will not be Prime Minister or anywhere near government. Another set of tribes will be dominating the economic and political sector other than Banyankole and Baganda.
Society always evolves whether leaders like it or not. For instance, if it was true that killing a dictator or a murderer gives positive results, then states with a death penalty would have lower murder rates than states without a death penalty. That is not the case.
Gaddafi: Dictators never change behaviour
In Libya’s case, Brother Gaddafi (RIP) was a dictator but his execution [if that is what it was – Ed] isn’t going to deter other dictators from doing what they have been doing. Dictators don’t change behaviour because another dictator has been killed. They will feel his death for a while and probably shade some tears in their bedrooms but they will go back to feeling like ‘Napoleon’.
President Museveni will remain a ‘barking dog’ despite what has happened to Gaddafi. He is probably going to issue a statement in a few days time calling Westerners all sorts of names and scaring Ugandans, like Gaddafi (RIP) did. But he won’t change an iota, trust me on this. I challenge anyone to list the dictators who have changed after another dictator has been deposed and executed.
Bukenya & behavioural change theories
Bandura’s social learning theory (SLT) explains a lot about people’s behaviour. Bandura argues that an individual learns by observation, imitation, and modelling. For instance, I recently watched a video of Bukenya after he was released from prison and I was astonished to see him still rolling his eyes like Museveni.
Similarly, I think dictators just learn to be dictators. Nobody is born a monster. My lovely wife however disagrees with me. She believes that bad behaviour is inherited and because of that, some people don’t deserve to live in this world because they are monsters. END. Please login to www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.
