By Godwin Angalia Kasigwa

At the time of independence in 1962, Uganda had one of the most vibrant and promising economies in Sub-Saharan Africa (World Bank, 1993b). Favoured with a good climate and fertile soils, the country was self-sufficient in food, and agriculture was the single largest export-earner. However, its potential for growth was curtailed by more than 20 years of civil strife, especially between 1966 and 1986. The resultant economic mismanagement and the civil war made disastrous effects on the once-promising country.

A post-colonial Uganda for the first two decades was largely characterized by political instability which disrupted the national economy and extrajudicial killings of the people mainly the dissidents. It's a considered standard view that in the absence of peace and stability, there can never be anything good to write home about. All Uganda's service sectors, as well as the economy, got disrupted during times of civil wars and political instabilities. The political history of post-colonial Uganda painted a gloomy picture for the country mainly for the period between 1962 to 1986.

At independence, Dr Apollo Milton Obote of the Uganda People's Congress (UPC) became the first Prime Minister and head of the government.

UPC entered into a "marriage of political convenience" with a pro-mornarchy party Kabaka Yekka (KY) whose main aim was to protect the institution of Buganda. However, this alliance was short-lived since both Obote and Mutesa had different agendas.

For instance, in 1964, Obote championed a bill in parliament providing for a referendum for the return to Bunyoro of the lost counties of Buyaga, Bugangaizi, and Buwekula which Buganda had previously forcefully annexed with the help of the British colonial rulers. The referendum saw the two counties of Buyaga and Bugangaizi revert back to the Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom.

By implication, Sir Edward Mutesa II was placed in a tricky position of signing the Bills pertaining to the "lost counties". It was upon accusations of dereliction of duty by the president that Obote suspended the 1962 constitution on the 22nd February 1966 and took over all the state powers thus giving rise to what came to be known as the 1966 Crisis. This marked the beginning of political turmoil in post-colonial Uganda.

On 15 April 1966, in a Parliament surrounded by military troops, Obote introduced without notice a new constitution to be voted upon that very day. It was passed without a debate and he informed Members of Parliament that they would find their copies in their pigeonholes. The constitution among other things, abolished the federal constitutional status of kingdoms and merged the office of Prime Minister with that of the President and all executive powers were vested in the UPC's Obote, and Uganda was effectively declared a Republic.

Incensed by the Obote's actions, the Kabaka and his Mengo establishment refused to recognize the supremacy of the pigeonhole constitution, insisting on the 1962 version. This culminated into the 24th May 1966 storming of Kabaka's palace by the Uganda army under the command of General Idi Amin on the express orders of President Obote and eventually forced Kabaka Mutesa II into exile in Britain where he later died.

In 1967, Obote abolished all the monarchs and Parliament became the Constituent Assembly, and later all political parties were outlawed, except UPC effectively making Uganda a one-party state. It was against this background that Idi Amin the then Army commander led a disgruntled section of the army to overthrow Obote on the 25th of January, 1971.

This coup was met with great jubilation but it also marked the beginning of the eight years of the reign of terror and enormous tribulation for the people of Uganda. The economy rapidly deteriorated during this period between 1971 and 1979. Amin used nationalist, militarist rhetoric and ill-chosen economic policies to eliminate foreign economic interests and build up the military establishment.

In 1972, he expelled the holders of the British passports including approximately 70,000 Asians of Indian and Pakistani descent. Many Asians had been active in agribusiness, manufacturing, and commerce. Firms and factories that had been the backbone of Uganda’s economy were expropriated. This, combined with Amin’s massive military spending sent the economy into free fall. External debt shot up and Uganda’s investor confidence declined significantly.

The fiscal mismanagement and insecurity that followed simply worsened the situation. Over 300,000 Ugandans are estimated to have lost their lives through indiscriminate extra-judicial killings during Idi Amin's regime.

Regional relations deteriorated and the East Africa Community was disbanded in 1977.

In April 1979, a combined force of Ugandan exiles and the Tanzania Peoples Defense Force (TPDF) on the intervention of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere the then President of Tanzania overthrew Amin's regime.

Prof. Yusuf Lule took over as a transitional President after the overthrow of Idi Amin in 1979 and his administration lasted for only 68 days. He was unceremoniously thrown out of power and replaced with Godfrey Lukongwa Binaisa who later also after a brief stint as president, he was thrown out and replaced with Paulo Muwanga who chaired the ruling Military Commission which organised the December 1980 general elections. Just between 1979-1980, Uganda had three heads of state forcefully taking over power from each other and this meant a continued loss of lives and property of the people of Uganda.

Obote's UPC was declared winner of the 1980 elections which are believed to have been marred by irregularities and generally considered rigged. For a second time, Obote became President of Uganda.

In direct protest against the rigged elections of 1980 and in a bid to restore functional democracy, peace, rule of law and to rebuild Uganda's national economy. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the then Vice-Chairman of the Military Commission and President of the Uganda Patriotic Movement together with the 26 compatriots launched a liberation struggle on the 6th of February, 1981.

It's should be noted though that during the early years of Obote II, his government obtained foreign donor support, primarily from the International Monetary Fund ( IMF) by floating the Uganda shilling (USh), removing price controls, increasing agricultural producer prices, and setting strict limits on government expenditures.

In addition, Obote tried to persuade foreign companies to return to their former premises, which had been nationalized under Amin. These recovery initiatives created significant growth in agriculture between 1980 and 1983. It was mainly the lack of foreign exchange that was a major constraint on government efforts and it became a critical problem in 1984 when the IMF ended its support following a disagreement over budget policy.

The Obote II administration quickly lost focus and shifted its priority to hunting down, jailing without trial, and extrajudicial killing of UPC's political opponents. State-inspired insecurity took centre stage and an estimated 500,000 Ugandans lost their lives during these five years of political instability and civil war. The economy was shattered and so was the people's faith in government.

At this point, a faction within UNLF led by Gen. Tito Okello Lutwa overthrew Obote in 1985 in a bid to use this as a negotiating ground with the Museveni-led NRA/M and others.

During this time, the economy slipped almost out of control as civil war extended across the country. The Junta government didn't last long and by January 26, 1986, it had fallen, and shortly after the entire country was under the control of the NRA/M.

After seizing power in January 1986, the new NRA government published its political manifesto summarized as the popular Ten-Point Program and it emphasized the importance of economic development; that an independent, self-sustaining national economy was vital to protect Uganda's interests.

It also set out specific goals for achieving this self-sufficiency: to diversify agricultural exports and develop industries that use local raw materials to manufacture products necessary for development; to improve basic social services, such as water, health care, and housing; to improve literacy skills nationwide; to eliminate corruption, especially in government; to return expropriated land and property to its rightful Ugandan owners; to raise public-sector salaries; to strengthen regional ties and develop markets among East African nations, and to maintain a mixed economy combining private ownership with an active government sector.

The NRM government proposed a major Rehabilitation and Development Plan (RDP) for fiscal years (FY) 1987-88 through 1990-91, with IMF support; it then devalued the shilling and committed itself to budgetary restraint. The four-year plan set out primarily to stabilize the economy and promote economic growth. More specific goals were to reduce Uganda's dependence on external assistance, diversify agricultural exports, and encourage the growth of the private sector through new credit policies.

Setting these priorities helped improve Uganda's credentials with international aid organizations and donor countries of the West, but in the first three years of President Museveni's administration, coffee production remained the only economic activity inside Uganda to display consistent growth and resilience. When coffee-producing nations failed to reach an agreement on prices for coffee exports in 1989, Uganda faced devastating losses in export earnings and sought increased international assistance to stave off economic collapse.

By the time Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and the National Resistance Movement (NRM) took power in 1986, the economy was in deep recession. With International Monetary Fund support, the NRM undertook major economic reforms aimed at encouraging private sector growth and diversifying Uganda’s agricultural exports. Uganda’s over-reliance on a small number of agricultural exports, notably coffee, had left the economy vulnerable to fluctuations in production and swings in global commodity markets.

Under these early reforms, the Ugandan shilling was devalued and budgetary constraints were adopted. Inflation, which had peaked at 190% in 1987, was brought down to 26% by 1991. Additional reforms further limited government spending and borrowing and significantly reduced the size of the civil service and the army. Over the past two decades, Uganda’s economy has developed in important ways - dependence on agricultural exports has eased, the services sector has grown, and regional trade and integration have strengthened.

Uganda under the National Resistance Movement has lately registered positive strides in the manufacturing sector as well as the small and medium-sized enterprises and this explains the improvement in the revenue collections by the URA which currently stands at sh16,751.64b as per the URA revenue collections for the FY 2019/20. The collections were just sh3,592.49b below the target, performing at 82.34%. The Domestic tax collections in the FY 2019/20, were sh10,679.82b, registering a growth of sh605.70b (6.01%) compared to FY 2018/19 (URA website) compared to sh5b in 1986 according to Hon. David Bahati the State Minister for Planning in the MoFPED. This implies that Uganda's net revenue collections have increased by over 3,350 times since 1986 and this is largely due to the peace and stability that the country is enjoying in addition to the robust economic reforms and conducive investment climate that the NRM government has put in place.

As a homegrown liberation group, NRA under the wise leadership of Yoweri Kaguta Museveni had a proper diagnosis of Uganda's leadership problem and thus the correct remedies.

After Yoweri Kaguta Museveni was sworn in as the President of the Republic of Uganda in 1986, he embarked on the arduous task of rebuilding the entire country and its human fabric from scratch. To enable this task, political parties were suspended and Uganda was governed by an all-inclusive Movement system. A lot was to be achieved over the next eight to ten years.

The NRA/M government however continued to face the challenge of reactionary UNLA forces especially in the northern part of the country who were later defeated.

After the defeat of the UNLF, other reactionary forces like the Uganda People's Democratic Army (UPDA), the Uganda People's Army (UPA), and the Holy Spirit Movement (HSM) of Alice Auma Lakwena evolved. These groups wreaked havoc in the northern and eastern parts of Uganda before they were wiped out by the dedicated NRA forces. The defeat of the HSM gave birth to the notorious Lord's Resistance Army rebellion led by Joseph Kony.

This rebel group had its operational bases mainly in northern and eastern Uganda as well as West Nile. With the support of the hostile neighbouring country in the north, the LRA rebels abducted mainly children and conscripted them into the rebel ranks, many people were killed, maimed, and displaced. Hundreds of thousands of people were confined to IDPs for their safety. The service sectors were disrupted and economic activities were brought to a standstill, farming activities were disrupted and many people were faced with hunger and starvation, schools closed, etc. Such are the devastating effects of civil disobedience, insurgencies, and wars.

Other rebel groups that attempted to fight the NRM government and were defeated by the gallant officers and men of the UPDF are the Uganda National Rescue Front (UNRF II) of Gen. Ali Bamuze, the ADF of Jamil Mukulu who was captured and he's now under trial, the Herbert Itongwa group, People's

Redemption Army of the renegade Colonels Kyakabale and Mande etc. All these groups were fought and defeated by our brothers and Sisters in UPDF but they caused a lot of social and economic disruptions.

It's such military campaigns that have distinguished UPDF as a battle-hardened and experienced combat army that's playing a pivotal role in stabilizing the region by keeping the region's hostile forces at bay. UPDF is known for its unmatched discipline, Professional and pro-people ideology has carried out successful military campaigns in other African countries like Somalia, DRC, CAR, South Sudan among others in the spirit of Pan Africanism which is one of the core principles of the NRM government.

As people of Uganda, we should be proud of the UPDF/SFC, UPF, and other government security agencies and be courteous enough to salute the gallant officers and men of Uganda's armed forces for putting their lives online to ensure that the lives and property of the people of Uganda are protected against both the internal and external aggressors.

In 1995, a new constitution was promulgated creating a non-party all-inclusive Movement System of government. Under this system, political parties remained in abeyance. Elections to most political offices were by universal adult suffrage.

For the first time in the history of Uganda, marginalised groups like the women, the disabled, the youth, and workers were given special slots on all administrative units of Government. The military was also given representation in parliament to ensure an all-inclusive participatory representation for sustainable peace and stability of Uganda.

In 1996, Uganda held general elections under the Movement System, and Yoweri Museveni was returned as President of Uganda. By this election, he became the very first Ugandan to be directly elected president by universal adult suffrage. In 2001, he was again returned by popular mandate to the Office of President. In July 2005 a national referendum was held in which the people of Uganda voted to return to multi-party politics. The result of the referendum in effect marked an end to the Movement System of government.

On February 23, 2006, multi-party elections were held for both the office of president and parliament. President Yoweri Museveni of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) won the presidential elections and the NRM took the highest number of seats in parliament.

All these constitutional provisions were made in the spirit of putting in place mechanisms of resolving issues affecting the people of Uganda through peaceful, democratic, and legally acceptable means. The constitution of Uganda puts into perspective the history of the country to avoid any possible scenarios of sliding back to the dark past.

It's therefore very important that all the political actors in Uganda both in the ruling NRM and Opposition should work towards jealously guarding the peace and political stability that a certain generation of revolutionaries under NRA/M risked and staked their lives to bring it about. It's an invaluable sacrifice that they made that happen and we should strive never to betray as citizens of Uganda.

Attempts by some Ugandan politicians to lure the young people into acts of civil disobedience as a desperate way to cause a change of government is totally uncalled for and it must be condemned in the strongest terms possible.

Today, Uganda is lucky to be among the few countries in Africa that have gone past the level of yearning for the minimum peace for a sake of the safety of life to now thinking about economics.

With peace and political stability guaranteed by the NRM government, we can now as citizens of Uganda think more about individual and collective economic empowerment and therefore development. This alone is a historic achievement for the NRM government and the people of Uganda. Never should the people of Uganda ever accept to slide back to the dark past. This would be the most unworthy decision ever to be made in the history of Uganda.

Let all the political, religious, cultural and any other opinion leaders do the most patriotic thing of rallying and mobilizing the young people of Uganda into participating in income-generating activities especially commercial Agriculture by taking advantage of the several government programs like OWC, Emyooga, and lately the Parish model program/ Village model. With proper guidance and positive inspiration by the leaders of all spheres, the young people of Uganda who constitute the largest percentage of the country's population can rewrite the social and economic history of this country. Preach and keep the peace.

The writer is a Pan African, former NUP regional co-ordinator for Bunyoro, and now NRM Cadre