Is it promises and not action?

* Change, when unqualified, means instability, undermining of institutions which still need growth By Rev. Fr. John Mary Waliggo The coming presidential elections have already created excitement in several sections of our society. Excitement can be a positive thing provided it is done with critical minds. Excitement, which encourages people to think rationally and form mature judgements is what I wish for Ugandans during the forthcoming elections. The slogans of change or no-change appear to be too simplistic to challenge the minds. Change who or what and how and what do you put in place? Change, when unqualified means instability and the undermining of institutions, which are still young and need growth and coming up with something new. Unqualified change creates fear in the minds of many people once the results of change cannot be clearly stated. In the same way, an unqualified no-change creates the impression of being static and unwilling to improve on the current situation. Yet we all know that society is dynamic, its policies are dynamic and people's thinking is dynamic. These two slogans need clear qualification in order to be useful in the coming elections. The ten guiding principles are: l Patriotism Without genuine patriotism, any other commitment is not worth considering. We have a moral duty to care for Uganda, to improve it, to heal its illnesses, and to make its people happy and developmental. No foreign donor will teach us how to love and plan for our country. We must test the patriotism of every presidential candidate to ensure that his or her manifesto and vision is truly patriotic, in the best interests of Uganda and all her peoples. l Strengthening the institutional framework in place What our country has always lacked are strong and effective institutions for democracy. These vital institutions need to be nurtured to grow to the efficiency demanded of them. Such a growth needs time and consistent policies. These institutions include the Presidency, the Executive, Parliament, the Judiciary, the Constitutional bodies, the security forces, the media, the autonomous civil society, the educational, medical and developmental and public or civil service sectors and many others. Any presidential aspirant should be able to show how he or she intends to strengthen them for the achievement of genuine democracy. It is never enough to say that one intends to improve on them. l Strategies for peace building and conflict resolutions It is very easy for a presidential candidate to give hope for perfect and lasting peace in Uganda. What Ugandans need to hear is how that candidate has planned to achieve such peace. Most Ugandans are for peace within the country and with all our neighbours. But they demand to know the strategies, which every presidential candidate has to achieve this peace. It is much easier to state generally that one will bring about total peace in Uganda but more difficult to give practical strategies which to achieve this peace. If in their various manifestos, candidates fail to give convincing strategies for peace, mere statements that they are capable of doing so cannot be taken seriously. l Pro-people and pro-life sustainable economic development, equitably distributed It is not enough to promise economic development. People need to know the proposed policies and strategies to make that happen and the participation of the people in that development. Populist promises targeting the emotions of people can never achieve the expected results in our sophisticated society today. l Commitment to social justice and affirmative action to all marginal groups This commitment began by the NRM Government in 1986, was continued by the Movement Government and since 1995 has become the cornerstone of future governments in Uganda. Women, children, youth, workers, persons with disabilities and the elderly are finding their rightful places in society, through well-thought out policies and laws. Aspiring candidates have to clearly show how they intend to continue this affirmative action to redress the injustices of history, culture and past politics. l Constitutional governance and development The elections will be held under the new Constitution and the winner will swear by it to uphold and protect it in all ways, as the shield and source of all that is planned and done. Any aspiring candidate wanting to amend the Constitution will be required by the citizens to tell them the amendments he/she wants to spearhead and their reasons for doing so. There should be clear commitment that any amendment should be done within the constitutional framework. Five years of the new Constitution appear to be too short to wisely judge the power and impact of that supreme law on our governance and society as a whole. After five years, almost half of the laws, which directly flow from the new Constitution, have not yet been put in place. How then can the entire Constitution be wisely and critically assessed without those laws in place? In my view, all mandated laws should first be made and then a constitutional review put in place. l Commitment to control and eliminate grand corruption Each aspiring candidate may promise to eliminate corruption. Citizens will however want not mere promises but well-exposed policies and strategies to counter this cancer in our society. A lot of thinking has been put into this area and a lot of new institutions established to control and eliminate corruption. Yet corruption continues because of weak moral and ethical education and formation. Dislike for corruption is not the same as ability to eliminate it. The debate on corruption will be listened to very attentively and critically in order to appraise any new strategies advanced and see how different they are from what is in place and how effective they may be on the ground. l A vibrant civil society Since 1986 Uganda has witnessed the emergence and growth of a vibrant and autonomous civil society in several spheres of public life. These organisations of civil society whether religious or cultural, professional or human rights oriented, economic or industrial, for vulnerable groups or for powerful groups of business people are giving great hope for genuine democracy. They need a conducive climate to grow and play their role in society. Presidential aspirants will have to pronounce themselves on this theme and the policies they have to strengthen autonomous civil society. l Centralisation of human rights in governance Since 1986, consciousness on human rights has been created and now in every corner of the country people, young and old, educated and illiterate speak about their God-given rights, their constitutional rights and their legal rights. A human rights culture is beginning to take root. People will want to know in detail how each aspirant to the highest office in the nation is committed to the defence and respect human rights. These rights are civil and political, economic, social and cultural, and group rights for various vulnerable groups. l Commitment to people's basic needs and social services: Basic needs are human rights. Essential social services are human rights. The right to food, clean water, health care, education, adequate shelter, affordable fuel power, accessible roads, social welfare, social security and a clean and healthy environment at home and at work are issues of great importance in any election. People are eager to find these and other basic needs and services addressed by each candidate. Election campaigns must address real issues rather than dwell on personalities or non-issues. We are becoming mature in politics and governance and should be committed to strengthening the institutions established, improve on those which need improvement and move ahead with the confidence that the future of our democratic governance is growing stronger for the better service of all Ugandans. We should completely desist from the politics of the belly and embrace as a nation the politics of genuine service for the people. That is what true patriotism means and demands. For the population, this demands cool heads and critical minds, and not mere emotionalism, or mob thinking and excitement. Ends.