14^th Feb 2011

 

For the last 25 years, President Yoweri Museveni has been in charge of Uganda’s stride into the future and he wants to continue.  Uganda Correspondent therefore feels that while the viability of the opposition’s programmes for government must not escape close public scrutiny in this election, it is also fair that the electorate focus their attention on Museveni’s 25 year record.  Mr. Bernard Ddumba, a regular contributor to Uganda Correspondent, gives his personal views below.

The Uganda People’s Defence Force [UPDF]

If ever we [Ugandans] needed to know how a professional national army ought to behave, then the conduct of the Egyptian army in the People’s Revolution that brought down President Hosni Mubarak provides the perfect answer.

We all saw for ourselves the respect and love Egyptians have for their army.  We also know that it wasn’t by accident that the Egyptian army enjoyed wide public support and affection.  As an institution, it “earned” the respect and love of the people by doing its best to remain professional non-partisan at all times.

As the protests to oust Mubarak heated up for example, the Egyptian army refused to intervene on either the protestor’s side or on Mubarak’s side.  They limited their role to keeping peace and security for both sides but allowed legitimate and lawful expressions of dissent to continue.

I am absolutely convinced that the professionalism, and above all impartiality of the Egyptian army, saved Egypt from descending into total chaos and mayhem.  That is the biggest challenge for the UPDF in this election.  Through its actions, it must now openly show the world whether it sides with the people or Museveni the Commander-in-Chief who is trying to hang on to power.  As a people, we have been watching and we are still watching!

Over the last 25 years of Museveni’s rule, the UPDF, and especially its top officers, have been deeply, openly, and unlawfully involved in the ruling NRM’s partisan politics.  By their partisan activities, these UPDF officers have brought the entire UPDF into disrepute.

In fact, many Ugandans now view the UPDF as a brutal NRM militia that doesn’t serve the people but the NRM’s partisan political interests.  Evidence of that brutality is plentiful.  Museveni’s military police has been the most brutal.  We say them attack unarmed Besigye supporters in the 2001 elections; we saw them attack unarmed protestors during the so-called “Buganda Riots”; the UPDF has been operating torture chambers called “Safe Houses”; a fact that President Museveni’s own Adviser on the Media John Nagenda confirmed in Dr. Olive Kobusingye’s book The Correct Line?

In this election, we have the opportunity to say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!  YES WE CAN liberate ourselves through our votes or peaceful protests if the elections are rigged again.

When it comes to welfare, the majority, probably 90% of UPDF soldiers are living in pathetic conditions like their civilian counterparts across the country.  Unconnected ordinary UPDF soldiers are also the worst paid public servants in Uganda; notwithstanding that they have put their lives on the line to defend Uganda.

So I think it’s time for ordinary UPDF soldiers to think very carefully about who they want to vote for in this election.  They either stay in their Mama-Ingia Pole shacks “Pakalast”, or they try their luck with a different Commander-in-Chief.  The choice is entirely theirs.

In this election, we have the opportunity to say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!  YES WE CAN liberate ourselves through our votes or peaceful protests if the elections are rigged again.

The Uganda Police Force [UPF]

Over the last 25 years, the UPF has also fought hard not to be ‘outdone’ by the UPDF in dishing out partisan brutality against unarmed ordinary Ugandans.  General Kayihura’s tenure as Inspector General of Police [IGP] in particular has seen the UPF become an NRM militia force.

Under Kayihura, the “Black Mambas” who raided the High Court of Uganda were allowed to disguise themselves in police uniforms.  Under Kayihura, the UPF allegedly formed or at least turned a blind eye to the “Kiboko Squad” that often beat up opposition supporters with impunity as UPF officers stood by and watched.  I could go on and on if I had the space and time.

The people of Uganda deserve better.  They don’t want a partisan police force.  They want a professional non-partisan UPF.  Like the UPDF, ordinary UPF officers have also suffered immensely in the last 25 years of Museveni’s rule.

We the people of Uganda, including the police officers themselves, can change all that in this election with our protest votes.  If our votes are stolen, then we should peacefully rise up and protest day and night until we liberate ourselves from Museveni’s dictatorship.  YES WE CAN! As we saw in Tunisia and Egypt, no foreigner will do it for us because their interests are only to see “Stability” in Uganda without the fundamental democratic “Freedoms” that they enjoy in their own countries.

The National Infrastructure

When it comes to Museveni’s record on the development of Uganda’s infrastructure, well, the pictures that I have sent to Uganda Correspondent [if published] speak for themselves.  You decide for yourselves.  In this election, we have the opportunity to say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!  YES WE CAN liberate ourselves through our votes or peaceful protests if the elections are rigged again.

The National Health Service

Let me start with the national referral hospital Mulago.  Last week, news broke that patients finally decided to protest against persistent neglect at Mulago hospital.  Frankly speaking, someone should put up a sign at gates of Mulago hospital which says “Enter At Your Own Risk”.

In fact, President Museveni himself, in defending his daughter’s flight aboard the Presidential Jet to give birth in Germany, said he couldn’t risk his family having treatment in Uganda.  Upcountry hospitals and Health Centres are fifty times worse than Mulago.

Why should we ordinary Ugandans continue to risk our lives with a non-existent health service when Museveni’s close friends and relatives fly out AT OUR EXPENSE to get quality treatment?  I really have nothing to add to that except that in this election, we have the opportunity to say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!  YES WE CAN liberate ourselves through our votes or peaceful protests if the elections are rigged again.

Museveni’s Bonna Baggagawale Programme

Let us assume our lives started in 2006.  Bonna Baggagawale [or Prosperity for All] was Museveni’s 2006 [election] flagship economic programme that was supposed to lift Ugandans out of decades of abject poverty.

Today, thousands of Basoga are still dying of jiggers caused by poverty.  I have also travelled the length and breadth of Uganda in the last few years and I can tell you honestly that I have been shocked at the level of poverty in the countryside.  It’s unbelievable.  In Amuru-Gulu district, I came across young boys hunting for rats which they said was for dinner at home.  How can that be right?  Is that Bonna Baggagawale?

Just compare that to the fact that Museveni’s young brother Salim Saleh was reported to have lost hundreds of millions of hard cash [to a domestic servant] in his house.  We have also heard stories of the National Forest Authority official who had 900million shillings [cash] in his house.  In this election, we have the opportunity to say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!  YES WE CAN liberate ourselves through our votes or peaceful protests if the elections are rigged again.

Museveni’s UPE and USE Education Programmes

Granted!  Museveni introduced Universal Primary Education [UPE] and Universal Secondary Education [USE].  However, billions of shillings that were meant for these programmes have been stolen by Museveni’s cronies.  Today, our children study in dilapidated and dangerous classrooms and at best and at worst under trees.

The majority leave UPE schools when they can’t even read and write.  Compare this to the fact that none, absolutely none of Museveni’s grandchildren has ever stepped in a UPE classroom.  They all attend posh private schools that we ordinary Ugandans cannot afford.

How can that be right?  In this election, we have the opportunity to say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!  YES WE CAN liberate ourselves through our votes or peaceful protests if the elections are rigged again.

Unprecedented Corruption Under Museveni’s Rule

UPC party President Dr. Olara Otunnu once said that, “…corruption travels all over the world and goes back to sleep in [Museveni’s] Uganda”. That statement was not without basis.  In fact, Museveni himself has admitted that corruption is a big problem in his government.

Strangely enough, Museveni has miserably and perhaps even deliberately failed to demonstrate sufficient political will to fight corruption.  Indeed, DP party President Norbert Mao once famously said that “…a fish starts rotting from the head”. That was a clear reference to Museveni’s unwillingness to clamp down hard on corruption.  Let us remind ourselves of some of those big corruption scandals.

The Big Corruption Scandals under Museveni:

Junk Helicopters, the procurement of “Chinese” size army uniforms, the sale of UCB, the collapse of Uganda Airlines and the birth of ENHAS, the 5million bribe to MPs to amend article 105[2] to remove presidential term limits, the recent 20million bribe to MPs for which anti-corruption campaigners have been arrested, the CHOGM looting bonanza in which Museveni’s very close relatives and cronies were implicated, the dodgy Temangalo land deal that cost NSSF [taxpayers] billions of shillings, the Global Fund theft, the list is quite simply endless.

The most striking thing about all these scandals is that none of Museveni’s cronies has ever been sent to prison for their alleged roles in the scandals.  On the contrary, some have been rewarded with juicy government jobs.

In this election, we have the opportunity to say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!  YES WE CAN liberate ourselves through our votes or peaceful protests if the elections are rigged again.

Uganda Correspondent welcomes and promises to publish any rebuttal of Mr. Ddumba’s personal views; Editor.  END.  Please log into www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.

bmddumba@yahoo.com