By Samuel Oduny
THE NRM Government is now 27 years in power. On January 26, 1986 a contingent of troops of National Resistance Army, NRA entered Kampala under the Command of Yoweri Museveni and assumed power after overpowering the six months military junta of Tito Okello which had earlier overthrown the Government of UPC in 1985, which the NRA had started to fight right in 1981.
When the 27 Ugandans decided to go the bush, many people thought it was a mere joke. The number of people who first went to the bush increased to thousands, which strengthened their position in the bush.
The people demonstrated their power by supporting the struggle of the NRA because people were not free under the UPC government.
The NRM came and restored democracy. Before the NRM came into power, democracy in the country was like sugar coated cloroquine.
What demonstrated the return of democracy was the idea of writing a new constitution for Uganda.
The 1995 constitution strengthened the democracy of Uganda by allowing the general election to take place in 1996, which gave power to Ugandans to elect the president they liked most for the first time since Ugandan achieved Independence. These were followed by election of Members of Parliament and district councilors.
The coming in of the NRM brought in a new atmosphere of democracy to Ugandans. We are also grateful that the period of NRM in power has shown a good development in the country. Without any shame, there are a number of schools built all over the rural places in the country.
The NRM has also opened quite number of public universities, which are situated in all the regions of Uganda.
There are of course some challenges which have affected the NRM at a later stage now. This is the current rampant corruption in the country. These corrupt and negative people who are at the same time against the positive work of the NRM did for the last 26 years.
The corrupt Ugandans are those who do not care and think of how and why the NRM came into popularity in the country.
As we celebrate the 27 years of NRM in power, we should be proud of what transpired in Uganda. We should also be grateful to the few Ugandan who dared to go to the bush to wage war in 1981 to bring in NRM. The Liberation struggle yielded fruit in 1986 which all Ugandans are enjoying .
Writer is a former UNLA soldier
