NEC missed good opportunity

The difficulty of discussing the late 2001 Kyankwanzi NRM National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting lies in the discreet manner that surrounded its very conduct. This left non-participants to rely mainly on third party sources, including the print media, whose quality vastly varied. This problem resulted from the organisers having deliberately opted not to set up an adequate information dissemination mechanism.The core of the debate at Kyankwanzi centred around the twin issues of whether or not political parties should be freed to operate and the 2006 succession to President Museveni. Although debating these issues was bound to occur, they were in this instance triggered off by leading NRM stalwarts, Bidandi Ssali and Eriya Kategaya coming out publically to debate these issues openly, based on the need to create an orderly and peaceful transfer of power.The hard stance President Museveni took at Kyankwanzi in essence led to the postponing of this debate in the NRM through the gagging of its leadership. Museveni’s objective was aimed towards uniting the NRM behind him while concurrently seizing the initiative at this juncture. It is healthy and heartening that the NRM at least resolved its differences through discussion. Previously, in the mid 1960’s, Dr. Obote opted to expel, leading members of the UPC’s left, including Bidandi Ssali, Kintu Musoke and Dani Nabudere, from this party due to differences in ideological outlook! In 1966 he arrested, during a Cabinet meeting, five senior cabinet ministers and party members, including Grace Ibingira, then party Secretary General, for question how he was conducting State matters! In Kyankwanzi, extra constitutionalism was avoided.Having noted the above NEC decision at President Museveni’s insistence is most likely bound to result into procrastination and hence the loss of an opportunity to resolve crucial national questions, the NRM leadership now risks the possibility of losing the initiative on these debates which they had gained when Bidandi and Kategaya had originally come out for open debate.For the overall national good it is crucial that the NRM leadership engage in this debate for three main reasons, they are in control of state power and all that this implies in our setting! Secondly, the NRM is still the most popular political organisation in the country, based on the results of the 2000 Referendum on the choice of a political system, and the 2001 Presidential Parliamentary and Local Government elections. The third reason the NRM leadership should engage in public debate on the country’s future lies in the fact that in society, leaders are there to guide their supporters. The nature of their positions, training, networks and exposure render them to be much better informed than the rest. In an organised society, participation is never a haphazard process akin to an ‘every man for himself and God for us all’ scenario!In a society like ours characterised by high levels of illiteracy and gross structural information gaps, to expect the nomad in Nshenyi or Kabong or the peasant in Bukomero or Kiryandongo to be adequately informed on the 20 complex issues spelt out in the Terms of Reference of the Constitutional Review Commission and hence be in the position to make an informed contribution to the process of constitutional review, will be to expect too much! Even where people are better informed, as for instance in South Africa, Europe or North America, political leaders do come up and inform their supporters when similar processes are being implemented. Put differently the NRM leadership should not abdicate its leadership role. It should come out and civically educate the people through public debate and discussion on the issues concerned with constitutional review.Moreover, the gagging of the NRM leadership from participating in debate, is bound to lead to a situation that breeds mutual suspicion amongst these same people. This would be a regrettable and unhealthy development. Kintu Nyago, (Chairperson: Forum for Promoting Democratic Constitutionalism)E-mail addressnkintu@cbr-ug.org