Only a few NRM historicals have insulted the party

By Ofwono Opondo

ON August, 11, 1989, President Yoweri Museveni gave a lecture to National Resistance Army officers on “The value of political education,” during which he said he had noticed a decline in their political awareness, and as a result there was “a mad rush to acquire wealth through illegal and illegitimate means,” mainly through diversion of army resources such as “money meant for duty, vehicles, supplies or accountants paying for air supply,” for personal use which many would find still very relevant today in the corruption riddled civil service.

Museveni was then quick to add “the NRM is not against the acquisition of wealth by individuals or families because we recognise the principles of using various forms of ownership to develop the country, and among these he enumerated personal and private property like radios and furniture, co-operative property, partnership, and state or public properties, which need due care and diligence.

Therefore, he said, “NRA officers and men can participate in generating personal wealth activities, but, we must also demand that they do so in regular and disciplined ways, following the established laws of society. If anything, NRA soldiers should be exemplary in their behaviour and attitudes. 

Once regular and legal methods are followed, it will not be easy for anyone to amass wealth overnight. Generating wealth using straight means requires a lot of patience and hard work.”

He then posed a question “Why are some NRA soldiers so desperate to become rich that they are willing to use irregular means to do so?” 

Soon thereafter, the same NRA/M officers proposed and passed a proposal to allocate themselves government houses in the posh suburbs of Kampala.

They had all walked into town in rags with no known wealthy backgrounds.

And interestingly, Museveni has never acquired any public building or other properties either in Kampala or any other town to-date, and this can be verified from his declarations made with the Inspectorate of Government as well as Electoral Commission over the years since 1996 presidential election campaigns. 

He bought the ‘famous’ Kisozi ranch from a third party private citizen who initially acquired and failed to run it well.

There have been many un-supported claims that Museveni is either personally corrupt, abets it, or has no will to fight and end corruption which is false. 

Of the original NRM historicals with power, Museveni has demonstrated that he is above pettiness for property and mere fame. 

However, it is his magnanimity and trust to others that have been horrendously abused including by those turn-coats insulting him like Besigye and Kazoora. 

Museveni castigated as being “shortsighted,” for public officers to concentrate on short-term personal problems and gains, because without solving the fundamental problems that keep people backward would not be sustainable. 

He lamented “As soon as we came from the bush, some elements quickly started amassing personal wealth, thinking that by using these often unlawful methods, they were ensuring their future prosperity.

The officer who diverts operational money to his own purposes; the quarter-master who steals supplies and starves soldiers; the soldier at the road-block who extorts money from the travelling public; or the accountant who approves the supply of ‘air’ may think that he is enriching himself. 

Yes, he will be ‘rich’ in the short run, but very soon the unresolved fundamental problems of our society will overtake him and neutralise his very temporary gains”

At the time Museveni listed five possible reasons why NRA officers were stealing public resources among them exposure to pressures and influences of the wider Ugandan society, which was the case before 1986 when the NRA/M captured state power.

According to him these pressures came from businessmen “seeking to use our officers to enhance their own enterprises; criminals using soldiers to advance criminal interests, our extended families using us to gain wealth in the same way the old armies generated money, weaknesses in political education, and the reactionary inclinations of some officers to yield to the temptation to serve their personal interests over and above the interests of society.

And these temptations have been manifesting themselves in various forms of political and economic subversion which include love for soft life, living beyond one’s means, abuse of public office and property, being over ambitious, and often turning to subterranean grumbling and clique formation when they cannot achieve these selfish ends, as is now the common practice. 

Much of the squabbles within the so-called original and new NRM reflect these unprincipled differences now surfacing as political subterfuge.

Writer is the NRM Deputy Spokesperson