ICT: Ugandan Leaders Need to Step Up and Lead

I love my country, Uganda, to bits. I get worked up when people get cynical about it and use other countries to bash mine. One darling of the cynical Ugandans is Rwanda. However, with regard to embracing modern information technology to interact with their citizens and the world at large, Uganda's leaders trail Rwanda's by universes. Uganda's leadership is almost non-existent on the Internet on a personal level. When they are there, it is usually as part of a news strory.

Modern communication has taken on a very vital aspect of the process of communicating - feedback and therefore interactivity - thanks to the internet. During the campaigns for this year's general elections, a new medium was employed in Uganda - mobile phone auto text and voice messaging. While these have the personal touch, very useful for deeper effect, there is hardly any way for the recipient to give feedback. The ability for feedback makes parties in the communication process feel a valued part of whatever is being communicated. The internet, through email and social networking media, has the advantage of people being able to give feedback on communication if and when they feel like it. Some feedback will be abrasive, but at least the communicator got the opportunity to vent.

Which brings me back to my disappointment that we don't have a strong presence of our leaders on, especially, internet social networking media. The government's own spokesperson, Minister of Information and National Guidance and veteran communicator, Mary Karooro Okurut, is 'personally' absent on the internet. The Uganda Media Centre, which is under her and should be advising her, has a Twitter account but last 'tweeted' anything on 20th April ... 2010! The ministers of ICT, education, health and agriculture, who should be moving us towards modernity are themselves absent on social networking media. The disappointment continues in the autonomous departments that should be cutting through the red tape of the public service machinery including National Information Technology Authority and Uganda Communications Commission. Our own parliament, which is supposed to promote open governance has a Twitter account that is 'protected'. What have they got to hide - bills?

Our leaders will be very vital in the promotion of modern technology in the country only if they understand it well. They don't have to be proficient, which I think is what the older ones are afraid of. The more the populace know that they can interact with their leaders, the better their quality and the easier it is to mobilise them. The need to use the internet to communicate with their leaders will also greatly improve literacy and, therefore, the quality of our human resource. This will attract more investment.

[This this was post written, the Prime Minister of Uganda has opened a Twitter account - @am_mba]

Eat your hearts out, Bashers

Surprise, surprise. HH the Agha Khan's newspaper, the Daily Monitor, is can doubt that people can take part in a position sympathetic for the Movement government on their own free will but they sure that the 'walk-to-work' is an innocent selfless venture.

A group claiming to represent genuine concerns of Ugandans in the ongoing protests against high cost of living has started gathering views from the public.

Mwoyo gwa Gwanga (Spirit of Nationalism), as the group calls itself, claims to be interested in defusing the confusion that has ensued following the launch of the walk-to-work protests.

The group’s vice chairperson Usher Owere, said they are interested in gathering people’s concerns, compile them and hand it over to Parliament, opposition leaders and the President before the end of the August House, which will be dissolved Wednesday.

The group started its first public gathering on Friday at Bat Valley Primary school in Kampala with people ferried from all parts of Kampala, Entebbe and Mukono to attend.

Mr Owere denied theirs is a hired crowd to hoodwink the public, saying they have the cries of the people at heart.

This paper could not ascertain who paid taxi fares for their members who came from as far as Luweero since those interviewed declined to be quoted.

Keeping track of Besigye's lies

The Basher Media Legion, many of whose politcal preferrences were clearly known during the presidential campaigns, have taken the moral high ground in the recent stepping up of efforts to remove Yoweri Museveni from Uganda's presidency. They are calling him Idi Amin and a liar. They systematically bashed him openly and clandestinely personally, in print, on air and online before, during and, now, after the elections. They are continuing to systematiclally prop up his main opponent, Kizza Besigye, to the effect that the lies he has been telling the nation of Uganda and the world are being covered up. The reason and aim are unmistakeably meant to cause a coup in Kampala.

IN an interview with the Sunday Vision of May 10, Dr. Kizza Besigye said that Museveni didn’t fire a single shot during the NRM bush war. Below, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni responds.

AGAIN it is my duty to enlighten the readers about the lies Dr. Besigye gave in the interview he had with the Sunday Vision of May 10. Dr. Besigye says: “Everyone who did something for the struggle, contributed to its success.” That is correct. Where did I say that only firing guns was the only contribution to the struggle?

Nevertheless, when political arguments cannot be resolved peacefully and enter the armed phase, then the military struggle becomes the main form of struggle. If you do not execute it correctly, the revolution will fail. The cooks, the doctors, and the supporters would have laboured in vain.

I am pleased to inform the readers, especially the young ones, that the National Resistance Army (NRA) executed their mission brilliantly. It is one of two or three revolutionary armies in the world that executed a protracted armed struggle and won victory without significant external support or a rear base in the crucial phases of the struggle. I can only think of the Cuban Revolution and the Red Army.

If it is true that a struggle is a “collective” effort, then where did Dr. Besigye get the arrogance to say that he, as an individual, put the NRM or myself into power? Why would it be difficult for him to simply say that he was one of those who contributed to the struggle? That revolutionary struggle has and still has its structures: the High Command, National Executive Committee and others. These are the bodies to speak for that struggle.

After the multiparty politics was introduced, a separation took place between the army, the UPDF, on the one hand and the NRM party on the other hand. Nevertheless, the UPDF has got its authorities and the NRM has got its authorities. Dr. Besigye detached himself from both and created his party, Forum for Democratic Change (FDC). How, then, does he become the spokesman of UPDF, NRM or the historical NRA?

Dr. Besigye and a few other people thought they could hijack the NRM — they miscalculated. NRM represents the best that has ever manifested itself in Uganda — patriotism, sacrifice, determination and heroism. It could not be hijacked. Eventually, they formed FDC. Let them speak for FDC, then, but not for NRM — historical or current.

Dr. Besigye, again, confirmed that he was a late-comer in the struggle, who did not bother to learn about the organisation he joined when he had the audacity, nay the ridiculousness, of saying that Museveni “never fired a single shot in the war”. It is not my job to say what Museveni did for the struggle for the people of Uganda. Even Dr. Besigye said in the same interview that Museveni contributed “tremendously”.

Coming to the specific issue of whether Museveni fired his personal gun in combat, let the reader be informed that that gentleman (Museveni) had plenty of the unpleasant opportunity to do that, such as in 1972 in Mbarara, in 1973 in Mbale, in Bunya.

That was when our resistance was young. The head of the resistance fought as a platoon commander, or a squad leader. At this time everybody is likely to fire his personal weapon — the rifle — in a section, a platoon or a company attack. This was because we were few. Although I was the leader, doing the combat planning, the diplomacy, the fundraising, I also had to fight as a leader of a platoon (30-40 people) and a squad (three people).
By 1979, our force had grown to 9,000. At this stage, although I was always leading combat, I would not have to fire my personal weapon unlike before. I was now firing through orders.

After the UPC betrayed us in 1980 and we had to resume the resistance in 1981, we, again, started small. In fact, when we attacked Kabamba, we were only 27 armed people. Again I was a platoon commander. When we attacked Kakiri on April 6, 1981, I was a platoon commander. Section commanders were Magara, Tumwine, Mucunguzi and Mugabi.

On that occasion we were only 43 armed people. We overran a much bigger force and captured equipment. We were surrounded by the Tanzanians with armoured personnel carriers for the whole day in the forest. We broke through their attempted encirclement at dusk and successfully took back to the base all the 20 captured rifles, a heavy machine gun and other weaponry.

This was the first assault mission after Kabamba and I led it myself to show the young commanders how to do it and to ensure that no mistakes were made. It was a total success. We did not even have a casualty on our side.

It was so tiresome, having to carry the captured weapons and fight at the same time. That is when we took the important decision of always attaching unarmed companies to the armed ones — so that the former carry the captured materials while the latter concentrate on the fighting. The unarmed fighters were called, jokingly, “commandos” — meaning they were so tough that they went into battle unarmed. It is because we did not have the weapons to give them.

Having shown the young commanders how to reconnoitre an enemy target, plan how to attack it, approach the target stealthily, attack it, overwhelm it and, then, withdraw safely back to base, I now left it to them to do many of the subsequent missions. Thereafter, as far as the offensive operations were concerned, I concentrated on co-ordinating the reconnaissance and the planning. However, in order to maximise the force, I would, sometimes go with the whole force like when we attacked Kabamba the second time in January 1985.

It should, therefore, be clear to the readers and young people that Dr. Besigye’s problem is that being a late-comer, he does not know the real beginnings of NRA/NRM.

He came into the struggle when the NRA was already a big force of several battalions: Mondlane, Lutta, Kabalega, Nkrumah, Ngoma Unit, the Mobile Brigade and Abdul Nasser (Black Bomber). This was in August 1982. We had, by that time, thousands of fighters although we did not have enough weapons for them yet.

By 1984, February, we had addressed these shortcomings by attacking places like Kiboga, Luwero and Masindi, from which operations we had raised almost 1,000 rifles which created a situation of strategic equilibrium between us and the opposite side.

With this level of organisation, it is no longer necessary, desirable or efficient for the commander to use his personal weapon in combat. This is because, both in defensive and offensive operations, he is in the middle of the fighting force, with forces to the front and rear.

By the time the commander of the whole force fires his personal weapon, it would mean that the enemy has overpowered the forces to the front or rear and he is now attacking the headquarter element where the commander is. I was always ready to do that but, unfortunately, I never got a chance to do so because we were always either winning or disengaging in good order. The former example was Garamba; the latter Birembo, Kirema and Kyajinja.

When I am commanding a force that overruns the enemy’s defence or repulses the enemy while we are in defence, whom do I fire at? Do I fire at my own troops, my body guards? That phase of my service had long passed before Besigye joined the struggle. Again, these are the ridiculous statements that Besigye regularly makes.

I do not talk about how Rwanda is run in respect of general development vis-a-vis public service wages. It is not correct or necessary. FDC, Besigye’s party, has got MPs in Parliament. They know the priorities of the budget and that is what they should talk about.

The Presidential jet is a security asset and not a luxury asset. Given the historical struggles that have been going on in this part of Africa, it is only somebody with questionable motives that would fail to see this point or pretend that he does not see it. It is a one-time expenditure and the plane will be here for years.

Regarding State House, we are very proud that instead of the dilapidated colonial building the NRM found at Entebbe, the people of Uganda now have a national headquarter that is strong and modern. State visitors use it now. We do not have to hire hotel rooms for functions.

It is not just a State House we built. We have also built 762 health centre IIIs and 165 Health Centre IVs; 35,603 classrooms for UPE, with a target of an additional 793 classrooms for this financial year; 61 seed secondary schools; 1,000 km of new tarmac roads with 308km under construction. In addition1,159km of tarmac roads have been rehabilitated and constructed, while 575 tarmac roads are still under rehabilitation and reconstruction. NRM is a builder of buildings, institutions and people.

Dr. Besigye misinformed the readers by saying that there is no health unit in Dokolo District. I checked with the people in the area. There is a very good Health Centre IV. Remember Dokolo is a new district. We have not had time to build a hospital. It is only 20km from Lira where there is a hospital. There are also private and mission hospitals in the area, such as Amai Hospital in Amolatar District, Pope Johns Hospital Atapara in Aber Sub-county, Oyam District and Lwala Hospital in Kaberamaido.

However, Dr. Besigye, especially being a doctor, should remind himself that the greatest form of health care is prevention: immunisation, hygiene, nutrition and HIV/AIDS awareness. These account for over 80% of the sicknesses in Uganda. How does Dr. Besigye assess NRM performance in this vital area? Why is he ever silent on this; and yet he is always commenting on health and on education topics.

The infant mortality rate is now 76 out of 1,000 live births compared to 122 out of 1,000 in 1986. Average life expectancy has now climbed to 51 from a very low level of 39.6 years in 1997 according to the UNDP Human Development Report 1999.

Yes, we still have problems with the maternal mortality rate and the curative side, on account of the pilferage of drugs by health workers which we are determined to control by arresting the thieves.

Even in the area of pilferage prevention, Besigye has no credibility because his party, FDC, as well as the opposition managed, through rigging, lies and intimidation, in partnership with Kony, to win in some districts. They, therefore, control some district governments. How is their performance in fighting corruption or stealing of drugs?

The record of the districts controlled by some of the opposition groups is most deplorable. A number of them are in court over the embezzlement of the massive money we sent to them without fail. In fact the opposition-controlled areas are the worst in corruption.

There are a number of yardsticks I use to say this. One of them was the misuse of NAADS and NUSAF money. The NRM chairmen of a number of districts, such as Kiruhuura and Mbarara, alerted me first about this wastage of money.

Besides, when I move around, I notice that some of the NRM district chairmen, not all of them by any means, seem to be using the unconditional grants well. I have seen this with Kyeyune in Wakiso, Byaruhanga in Isingiro, the Kamugira-Yaguma group in Mbarara, Kyenjojo and Ntungamo although there were cases of corruption there recently. What impressed me was how these chairmen have used the unconditional grants to build district headquarters. Some of them are quite impressive.

It is quite ridiculous to utilise so much space and paper dealing with these lies. However, the Banyankole say: “Rufu kweba etagizire nshoni, omuziiki tabwerabweera” – literally: “If death is not ashamed to kill a person, the undertakers should have no reason to fear to bury the dead man.” If Besigye is not ashamed to tell lies, I will not be shy to shoot those lies down.

The writer is the President of the Republic of Uganda

Will media pay attention to Besigye's lies?

Kiiza Besigye, the president of FDC, which is the flagship brand of IPC, has been quoted on the BBC as saying, from Nairobi, that the 'walk-to-work' protests are not led by political leaders but rather by ordinary Ugandans. The 'walk-to-work' campaign is spearheaded by Activists for Change (A4C). This contradicts Besigye's assertion mentioned above:

FORMER Mengo youth minister and Masaka Municipality MP elect Mathias Mpuuga is the chairperson of Activists For Change (A4C), a group of politicians spearheading the walk-to-work and walk-to-pray campaign aimed at calling for the Government’s intervention regarding the high cost of living.

 It get's better; Mpuuga responds to a question in an interview:

Ssuubi remains an integral part of the IPC, whose arrangement has never been disbanded. We still believe the only way we can have change is by having a joint front for the opposition parties. There is no single party that has the capacity to defeat the NRM. There is need for the opposition forces to come together and we shall continue pursuing that path so that even the other parties which had boycotted join the IPC. We only need to build more confidence and respect for each other.

Now, the question is: will our Basher Media Legion call out Besigye's lie? Don't hold your breath. 

An account of Besigye April 28 arrest

By Vision Reporter

ON Thursday, April 28, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) president, Dr. Kizza Besigye was arrested. From video, photography and from talking to the Police officers on the scene, a New Vision team reconstructs the incident. Below are the events as they unfolded;

7:30am: The Police received information that Besigye was hitting the road from his house, in the walk-to-work demonstration. The demonstration is illegal and security had outlawed it. Besigye has previously been blocked from walking. The law specifies that if it is an assembly of more than three people, the Police must be notified.

8:00am: It is a drizzly morning. Besigye leaves his home in Kasangati after clashing with the Police led by James Ruhweza, who compel him to use his vehicle instead of walking to the city centre. After a verbal exchange with the Police, Besigye departs in his vehicle with a motorcade of seven other vehicles.

8:10am: As he drives through the Mpererwe areas, his motorcade reduces speed and Besigye emerges from his seat to the open roof and waves at bystanders and returns to his car seat.

8:15am: He arrives at Kalerwe. His motorcade slows down further. Besigye emerges and waves. His vehicle drives towards the roundabout at Kubbiri. Boda boda riders join in and start hooting as they mob his vehicle. He stands from his open-roof SUV and flashes the FDC V-sign. He then briefly addresses journalists from his vehicle. He proceeds to the Kubbiri Roundabout.

8:17am: Besigye returns to his car seat with the windows drown up. Within a minute, a Police vehicle approaches him with the Commander of Kampala Metropolitan Police, Grace Turyagumanawe.

Crowds are attracted to the area by Besigye’s vehicle which remains in the middle of the road as the crowd continues to swell. Police halts Besigye’s advance to the city centre via the Makerere-Kavule route.

8:25am: The Police disperse crowds to avoid accompanying the motorcade. The crowds comprising of mainly youth begin to pelt the Police with stones as well as blocking the road with boulders and sticks while chanting FDC party slogans.

8:31am: Turyagumanawe approaches Besigye whom he talks to. He (Besigye) is advised to use Mulago Hill Road to Yusuf Lule Road, link to the Mukwano Road, to Queensway and to the FDC office in Najjanankumbi.

Besigye insists that he cannot go by the Police directive which he considers unlawful. Turyagumanawe tells Besigye that it is the duty of the Police to protect life and property of the people of Uganda. Besigye insists that he is going to his bank in Wandegeya.

Turyagumanawe tells Besigye that he cannot proceed to the bank with crowds, let alone to Wandegeya, because security cannot ascertain the intentions of the crowd in the Central Business District.

He also tells Besigye that the alternative route is cleared for him and that the Police was empowered to give him directions.

Turyagumanawe tells Besigye that the situation was going out of hand and that they had to move. Besigye yields. The Police direct the motorcade to the Mulago Hill Road, instead of the earlier planned route of Makerere-Kavule.

As the motorcade moves, Besigye waves to the people from his open-roof. The crowd swells further as he approaches the Mulago Roundabout.

8:43am: At the Mulago Roundabout, a traffic Police officer waves Besigye’s motorcade to a halt and directs the vehicles towards the Yusuf Lule Road instead of continuing to Wandegeya centre. An exchange ensues between Besigye and the Police, attracting more crowds. Besigye insists he cannot go by the Police directions and has to go to Wandegeya to the bank.

The verbal duel lasts close to two hours, drawing in more crowds who chant FDC slogans and hurl insults at the Police.

The Police restrains from using tear gas to disperse the crowd that threatens to be riotous. At this point, the flow of traffic is disrupted for some minutes since the car in which Besigye is travelling, is in the middle of the road.

The Police, however, manage to secure passage for vehicles coming from Mulago and Kamwokya directions, which use one of the lanes. The human traffic keeps on flowing to the scene to witness the exchange between Besigye and the Police.

10: 25am: The standoff continues but takes on a different tempo. Plain-clothes Police officers move in to arrest Besigye. But the move is forestalled by a group of FDC youth who mount onto the vehicle and kick at the Police.

The youth are overpowered by the Police and are arrested. At the end of the violent encounter, Besigye’s car window screens are cracked.

10:36am: From within his car, Besigye is seen holding a hammer and he begins screaming at a man in a blue jacket similar to that of the Police, accusing him of attempting to smash his car window using the hammer. Besigye talks to journalists while photographers and videos capture the exchange.

10:37am: In another scene, a policeman is pulled away by colleagues from the scene with covered eyes. It later emerges that he had been sprayed with pepper.

10:39am: A man in civilian clothes emerges with a pistol. He swiftly moves to the passenger right-hand side of Besigye’s SUV and smashes the window with the butt of a pistol. Besigye is sprayed with pepper.

10:40am: It happens so fast. Besigye emerges from the vehicle wearing goggles and a nose mask to ward off the stinging pepper sprayed at him. His aides who include Francis Mwijukye as well as the driver only identified as Kato, come out of the vehicle and are led to a waiting police van.

10:41am: The plain-clothes security officer holds Besigye by the shirt-sleeve and leads him onto a waiting Police pick-up truck. He is then pushed under the seats and whisked away together with his aides Francis Mwijukye inclusive.

Sevo goes toe-to-toe with one of the Media Basher Legion

Imagine the cheek of the Bashers. They are celebrating that they managed to make Sevo show his anger in the interview with Basher Media Legion member, NTV Kenya's Linus Kaikai. What arrongant children they are: Sevo is supposed to keep his reactions in check while a Basher has every right not to resist the urge to bash. Well, he's met Sevo and he now knows that he's doesn't take crap and can take as much as they give.

Now 25 years in power and counting but trying times are beckoning for President Museveni. The opposition’s walk-to-work campaign is not only bringing out the worst of Ugandan security agencies but also ironically putting on the spot the man credited for pulling Uganda out of years of oppression and misrule. So is the President losing the shine? We bring you an edited version of his interview with NTV Kenya’s Linus Kaikai.

Interview starts with a video clip of Dr Besigye attempting to walk to work and the subsequent brutal arrest and torture by state agents.

Mr President, many people have compared what we have just seen in the video clip with what used to happen during the years of former President Idi Amin Dada. How does it make you feel when comparisons are made between your style of rule and that of Amin?
Well, it just shows that you are not serious, you [Kaikai], who is reporting all this [pointing at the screen showing Besigye being tortured].
You did not show when people were stoning the police or when they were attacking vehicles. Cars were destroyed in Kampala, damaged, but you do not show it there. That is a partial story. But even if it is a partial story, why should a civilised leader resist the police. If they say come with us, why do you resist? Why don’t you go along with them and see what they want to do?

We have not seen any resistance Mr President in that clip. We have seen policemen breaking windows of the vehicle of the leader of opposition?
No no no! First of all Besigye was walking, the police blocked him, they said you come with us. He should have cooperated with them. That’s what civilised people do. But he didn’t.

Talking of civility Mr President, was it civilised for police to behave in the way they did?
Yes, there could be some mistakes but the original mistake is for a mature person, a leader, not to be exemplary in following the law. These young people can make their own mistakes but how about me? I should be an example.
I am a mature person if I have a point of view and these young policemen say come with us, and I cooperate with them. But not to struggle with these young people, because they could make mistakes.

You call them young people but they are the police and security agencies of Uganda. Are you concerned with what their actions will do to your personal image?
Ah, my image will not be touched by this [pointing at the screen] because my image is based on substance.
Mr President I want to quote you in 1987 a year after you came to power. You said Uganda had gone through a traumatic period because Idi Amin and Milton Obote didn’t respect the rule of law. What do you say to critics who today say the same of you?
[Toughing the tone] That gentleman, Besigye, who was being arrested, was being taken to court. Do you know what Amin used to do? Murder them and throw them in River Nile for the crocodiles. I have not heard of Besigye’s body floating for the crocodiles to eat.

What about the manner of his arrest?
[Visibly annoyed]: That may have its own problem but also how about his conduct? Why don’t you talk about that?

Mr President, Kizza Besigye is the ace of the Ugandan Political opposition. Would you say the government of Uganda has treated the Opposition in Uganda the way civilised and democracies should treat the opposition?
Yes. The opposition should be civilised. First of all he didn’t inform the police. Yes, you have the freedom to demonstrate but the police have got powers to regulate public assembly.
If you want to demonstrate but I am selling tomatoes where you want to pass and the third party comes in to mediate our interests, that is how civilised societies are organised.

Three or four times we have seen Dr Besigye trying to make this walk to work and in all of those incidents we have not detected any violations. You are talking about planning to step on tomatoes?
That’s what they were planning. Because the police has intelligence, they know that this walk is supposed to attract a group which will then start looting. But if I ask you a question, you the evangelist of civilisation; What is so hard with a civilised political leader coordinating with the police? After all, we were doing it during the just-concluded elections. All of us were under the Electoral Commission [EC]. I could not hold a rally without informing the EC.

Your government has not allowed public demonstrations since the elections?
Because they do not inform the people they are supposed to inform [repeats it].

In a few days, you will be sworn in for a new term. What is your agenda this coming term considering the events of the past few days? We look at the mandate you got during the elections and it was quite high but looking at the mood in the country now, there is a bit of a gap between the mandate you commanded in the February polls and the state you find yourself in politically today.
Well, I do not see the gap. The gap is that when we voted, about five million voters supported us. There are those who didn’t vote for us, about two million voters, so there is no gap. Our programme is to deal with the foundation. This hotel in which you are smartly dressed is because of the foundation. Without a foundation there is no way this house can be here.

It’s been 25 years Mr President and the foundation has not been completed yet?
Well, you did not hear what the foundation is. The foundation has a number of items. Electricity is one of them, roads, railway, education. There are many elements. In the past 25 years we have dealt with some elements.

Would basic freedoms be part of that foundation; would freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, democratic practice and expansion of political space be part of that foundation we are talking about?
It so happens that those are the things I fought for. That’s what I fought for. We fought for those freedoms. But they must be exercised with discipline. I am now dialoguing with you but if you step on me, then the dialogue will have to be stopped. But why do you have to step on me? Why don’t you regulate your behaviour as I regulate mine? Maybe there is a neutral regulator who regulates us such as the police, the electoral commission, the courts. Why don’t you respect those regulators?

All the three regulators that you have mentioned, the police, the EC and the courts, your critics feel are 100 per cent in your hands. They are not exactly free to pay umpires.
Oh! That must be new information now. Because the only body which we disbanded when we won the civil war was the army. We inherited all the other institutions; the civil service, even this police.

Talking of the foundation and these institution that you do mention; we do remember that you had beginnings by fighting a liberation war when your were young and leading the NRA; and it would have been expected that after many years, 25, we would see the de-politicisation of the army but we see and what we witnessed during the elections was the continued politicisation of the army. The army continues to play a very big role in Ugandan politics. When is this going to end?

What did they do in politics?
They are very visible. They are in polling stations, they are almost a very active player.
No, they are not in polling stations. Each polling station is manned by one [police] constable. The army is only in the zone not in the polling station, they back up the police in case somebody wants to cause trouble.
There are still parliamentary seats reserved for the army.
Yes. There is no harm in that because the army was responsible for the liberation of the people of Uganda. All development we have is because of the work of the army. There is no harm in having 10 seats out of 340, I think, such a huge number. But the army is there and they engage in discussions when there are national issues of great importance otherwise, they just keep quiet and watch what’s happening.

We would like to hear your own broad assessment of the state of democracy in Uganda considering that you came from a single party system, [Movement] now to a multi-party system. Where is Uganda?
Uganda may be, I suspect maybe the most democratic country in the world [opens his eyes wide open] because we have 238 directly-elected seats which are competed for on merit by parties. We have 112 special seats for women, five seats for people with disabilities, five seats for youth and five for workers. I have not heard many systems in the world which take into account those interest groups. So if I were to give a lecture on democracy I think I would have good credentials to do so.

Was it a positive move that the presidential term limits were removed?
Yes. We removed the Presidential term limits because the problem of Africa is not term limits. The problem of Africa is the fundamentals which I was talking about: electricity, roads, and education.
Another challenge is integration; making countries of Africa to come together so that we have viable economic units. If people are voting and they want to vote this candidate or vote out the other one; that is there choice and that is the benchmark. That’s the lowest common multiple to determine whether a system is democratic or not.
About these term limits, that is according to individual countries. Many countries do not have that term limits.

So the persistent question would be when would you leave office?
When my party decides to have another candidate because it is the party which puts forward another candidate or when I decide not to present myself.
The struggle which we have been engaged in for the last 45 years to bring up Uganda and if possible also bring up Africa, is the one which guides our choices whether I should participate or not.

But are you concerned with some of the turns that have attended to similar examples where we have limitless terms. In Egypt, Hosni Mubarak was there for very many years, same to Ben Ali of Tunisia. Are you concerned that this sort of resentment can eventually catch up with President Museveni of Uganda?
Well I do not know the system in Egypt or Tunisia. I don’t know how competitive they were. Were they competitive systems? I do not know.

They had no term limits
There are no term limits in the UK, France or Israel. I do not know whether its there in Germany. Have you done the census to know how many countries have term limits or not? Therefore, the crucial thing is the competitiveness in the political system. Was the system in Egypt competitive enough? I do not know. How about the one in Tunisia?
But as far as Uganda is concerned the system in very competitive. There is no limit on the number of parties, no limit on who can contest.

Uganda is the only country in the East African Community without term limits. Does that make you feel like you are the odd one out?
No. That is our system. And when we form the East African Federation, we shall see how to harmonise. If the rest want term limits then I will support them. But work on the Federation through your radio. In addition to talking all these little things you keep taking about, talk about the East African Federation. Okay?

We thank you very much Mr President.
Thank you.

What the urbanite elite will hate to hear

The Movement electoral machine rolls on.

JUST three days to the voting day, the race for Okoro county parliamentary election in Zombo district is getting tougher.

Three candidates have stepped down in favour of Stanley Omwonya (NRM).Robert Ogen (Uganda Federal Alliance), Stephen Okwairwoth (PPP) and Collins Kumakech (UPC). In a phone interview on Monday, Kumakech said they had stepped down in favour of Omwonya.

“We urge our supporters to give our votes to him,” Kumakech said. He said NRM has support in the district basing on President Yoweri Museveni’s performance of 70% votes in the February presidential elections.

He said they agreed that it would be wise to send someone who could work closely with the President to develop the constituency.

Richard Nsube, the district returning officer, confirmed receiving a copy of the letter detailing the stepping down of the three candidates.

The Electoral Commission (EC) called off the elections one week to the February 18 general elections following the death of Thomas Acamfua, the then FDC flagbearer.

The EC set May 5 for the residual elections.

The decision by the three candidates to step down leaves Benson Oyulu (FDC), Tony Junior Rugete (Independent, Stanley Omwonya (NRM) and Alex Koi (Independent) in the race.

Oyulu described the decision of his colleagues to step down as cowardice and political stupidity.

“I am not surprised by the decision. These are boys who have not matured in politics,” Oyulu said.

Movement blunder

This should not be happening with a government that is facing a major onslaught in the PR war:

 PEOPLE who were injured in last week’s city riots have appealed to the Government for support.

The victims, who are admitted at Mulago Hospital, said they are required to spend a lot of money daily to buy the medicine yet they do not have the money.“We are spending a lot of money to buy the medicine on a daily basis, yet most of us are innocent and we were shot while in our houses,” said one of the victims.

Okay, so the above has happened but to be followed by that deputy premier, Eriya Kategaya's family recieved condolence money at the funeral of his late father shows that Sevo needs new blood around him.

The chief mourner, Prime Minister Apolo Nsibambi, praised him for educating his children into dignified callings.

“He was disciplined, his love and care for cattle was a source of economic sustainability,” Nsibambi, who represented the Government, said.

He delivered President Yoweri Museveni’s contribution of sh5m and another sh8.6m from the Government towards the funeral expenses.

 

The Kind of Progress Bashers Hate

While the Bashers continued their cry-babying over the poor results of their sinister regime-change tool, the so-called walk-to-work campaign, particularly Dr Kiiza Besigye's hospitalisation in Nairobi, a momentous milestone was being achieved by the common Ugandans of the rural Kamwenge District. Sevo opened a mini-hydro power plant at Mpanga. This will help in increasing the energy production in the country and advance rural electrification. For the self-absorbed urbanite, middle-class elite and the 'Diasporado', this is a plus for their victim (Sevo) that they want to hush up quickly. One Basher on a social network played the classic shifting of goal-posts, which has been typical of these coup-plotters, by commenting: "... do not tell us what you're going to do, tell us what you've done ...".  Of course the achievements of the Movement are known, but the Bashers believe that if they just keep denying them, they will go away and leave them with the victory most important to them: PR.

THE Government will subsidise the connection to the national electricity grid to give more people in rural and semi-urban areas electricity.

This was disclosed by President Yoweri Museveni on Friday while commissioning the 18MW Mpanga hydro-power project in Kamwenge district.

In 2005 when the country experienced acute power shortages, Museveni said short, medium and long-term measures were involved which included thermal power and small dams like Mpanga.

He added that the Government would soon commission more projects like the 6.5 MW Ishasha in Kanungu, the 9MW Buseruka in Hoima, the 3.5MW Nyagak in Nebbi, and the 6.8MW Kinyara-Bagasse project.

“This means by the end of this year, our renewable energy generation from non-Nile sources will be 80MW as compared to less than 20MW four years ago,” he said.

He listed the construction of the 14MW Kikagate in Isingiro, the 25MW Sipi in Kapchorwa and the 14MW Nyamwamba in Kasese due to start early next year, all by private companies, as the projects now in the pipeline.

“The advantage these projects have is that due to their minimal environmental impact, they do not attract much attention from our development partners and from environmental groups who normally create delays by demanding rigorous and unrealistic mitigation measures,” he said.

The Government’s major plan for sustainable supply, however, remains building big projects on the Nile like the soon to be commissioned 50MW of the 250MW Bujagali project, giving a total of 878MW. This, Museveni added, is 14 times the capacity of the then Owen falls dam in place since 1986.

Other dams to be built are Karuma, solely on government funds, which will provide above demand and help export power to Southern Sudan and Eastern Congo.