Army has a serious role in Parliament
THE National Resistance Army(NRA), now Uganda People’s Defence Forces(UPDF), is not an army composed of careerist officers and men who could only “fit†in the military service as the only opportunity available.
Lt Col Shaban Bantariza
THE National Resistance Army(NRA), now Uganda People’s Defence Forces(UPDF), is not an army composed of careerist officers and men who could only “fit†in the military service as the only opportunity available.
Many of our serving officers could have joined other careers if only Uganda was capable of sustaining a peaceful choice.
Due to our political history, many of us chose to struggle for and re-establish an environment that could allow choice among the available opportunities.
Many young people in NRA/UPDF abandoned their precious jobs and studies and took to the bush to restore sanity that had for long eluded Uganda.
What happened in 1981 to 1986 is well known to us all. From 1986, a new leaf was turned. Such organs of self-governance as the NRC and the lower RCs, which culminated in the Constituent Assembly that gave us our current Constitution, were born. In the NRA/UPDF, this was an undisputable victory brought about by the strategic relationship of unity of purpose, and cooperation against which no negative forces could survive.
In all this time, NRA/UPDF has been ‘the spear of the nation’, not just to be used once in a while, as deemed convenient, but an equal partners in the political evolution of this country.
Having got this far, however, some sections of Ugandans in cohorts with some foreign forces that do not wish to see Ugandans independent, especially as we get to another turning point of our political maturity, are negating the UPDF-people partnership in our political life right from Parliament up to local councils.
These negators of our recent proud history as a people are ironically using the current flourishing media, which has only been made possible by the people’s progressive relationship with their army.
The UPDF is the custodian of state power in law and in practice, not by default.
To this end, the UPDF should know in letter and spirit, their custodial role of state power and the Constitution, so that they may not feel left out of the processes that lead to strategic national decisions, when they are actually the mid-wife of the current democratic evolution and growth.
Political processes are argaining processes. As such, the special interests that may be particular and peculiar to the forces, can only be better presented and defended by those who are physically, morally, spiritually and organisationally affected.
There are five political fundamentals, which constitute the raison d’etre (reason of being as a force) of the UPDF and about which none of us can be neutral or apolitical as a liberation and defence force:
Dictatorship
People’s power to take charge of their destiny
Our people’s transformation and well-being
National unity
Pan Africanism.
These are constituent parts of our historical mission and we cannot assume neutrality when voting about them. These fundamentals can be perishable depending on how they are handled.
For instance, the fact that we hold free and fair elections today is no guarantee for the same tomorrow, unless there is a combined effort to maintain an environment for it.
The army cannot sit back but participate with other stakeholders in the growth of the current democracy.
There is no guarantee that there will be no more dictators.
The presence of military MPs has created harmony in and outside the House and served as the stabilising factor of the current politics in the country. It is wrong to think that legislation and law perse can guarantee stability; after all when didn’t we have the laws? Laws as regulators of our conduct and interests as a people need to be a product of our contribution, especially as a special interest group.
It is equally wrong to think that the army’s participation in politics has been the cause of political unrest in Uganda. The 1966 crisis was caused by a civilian (Obote) using military (Amin). Yet there was Parliament, which helplessly looked on. In contrast, 20 years of stability is a product of the combined efforts of the military and the civilian.
Professionaling the army does not mean confining it to the barracks. It is the ideological preparation and foundation of any country’s military that serves as their radar through politically hazy circumstances through which societies develop.
That there is still a political haze on our horizon needs no over emphasis and the dichotomy between civilians and soldiers cannot help to steer Uganda forward. UPDF should not be part-time, but full-time participants in our socio-economic and political processes for a more harmonious political life of our country.
Our recent history can only be tackled effectively by a combined effort of democratic strugglers. The UPDF is a liberation struggle force for the above-mentioned fundamental pillars of our survival as a country and to separate the force from its historical mission is to send Uganda on a journey to turbulent seas without radar.
Finally, some people who are still bothered by the form rather than the essence continue to obscure our way forward. Arguing that an officer in Parliament who debates or votes on anything necessarily becomes partisan obscures the following:
In a multiparty system, every sitting president will have been and shall still be a certain party president or leader but he will also be, as per our Constitution, the commander-in-chief of the UPDF, and the chief executive of the government, therefore, the chief of the executive arm of government of which the army is automatically part as per our law. In view of this, should the army be a non-governmental organisation for it not to be seen as partisan?
Any politically sane person knows that while governments are formed from the winning party, they are accountable to all citizens. A government is a national, not a party government.
Similarly, the military should be in Parliament, to participate in the defence and enhancement of national rather than partisan issues. Until such a time when our system has outgrown fragility, and the pillars of our state and politics are guaranteed, anyone who ignores the other will do it at his own peril.
We in the UPDF wish to do all we can to forestall and neutralise such peril for as long as it is within our means, through our participation in the holistic socio-political life of Uganda. Let us stay in Parliament with our allied people’s MPs.
The writer is UPDF spokeman
THE National Resistance Army(NRA), now Uganda People’s Defence Forces(UPDF), is not an army composed of careerist officers and men who could only “fit†in the military service as the only opportunity available.
Many of our serving officers could have joined other careers if only Uganda was capable of sustaining a peaceful choice.
Due to our political history, many of us chose to struggle for and re-establish an environment that could allow choice among the available opportunities.
Many young people in NRA/UPDF abandoned their precious jobs and studies and took to the bush to restore sanity that had for long eluded Uganda.
What happened in 1981 to 1986 is well known to us all. From 1986, a new leaf was turned. Such organs of self-governance as the NRC and the lower RCs, which culminated in the Constituent Assembly that gave us our current Constitution, were born. In the NRA/UPDF, this was an undisputable victory brought about by the strategic relationship of unity of purpose, and cooperation against which no negative forces could survive.
In all this time, NRA/UPDF has been ‘the spear of the nation’, not just to be used once in a while, as deemed convenient, but an equal partners in the political evolution of this country.
Having got this far, however, some sections of Ugandans in cohorts with some foreign forces that do not wish to see Ugandans independent, especially as we get to another turning point of our political maturity, are negating the UPDF-people partnership in our political life right from Parliament up to local councils.
These negators of our recent proud history as a people are ironically using the current flourishing media, which has only been made possible by the people’s progressive relationship with their army.
The UPDF is the custodian of state power in law and in practice, not by default.
To this end, the UPDF should know in letter and spirit, their custodial role of state power and the Constitution, so that they may not feel left out of the processes that lead to strategic national decisions, when they are actually the mid-wife of the current democratic evolution and growth.
Political processes are argaining processes. As such, the special interests that may be particular and peculiar to the forces, can only be better presented and defended by those who are physically, morally, spiritually and organisationally affected.
There are five political fundamentals, which constitute the raison d’etre (reason of being as a force) of the UPDF and about which none of us can be neutral or apolitical as a liberation and defence force:
These are constituent parts of our historical mission and we cannot assume neutrality when voting about them. These fundamentals can be perishable depending on how they are handled.
For instance, the fact that we hold free and fair elections today is no guarantee for the same tomorrow, unless there is a combined effort to maintain an environment for it.
The army cannot sit back but participate with other stakeholders in the growth of the current democracy.
There is no guarantee that there will be no more dictators.
The presence of military MPs has created harmony in and outside the House and served as the stabilising factor of the current politics in the country. It is wrong to think that legislation and law perse can guarantee stability; after all when didn’t we have the laws? Laws as regulators of our conduct and interests as a people need to be a product of our contribution, especially as a special interest group.
It is equally wrong to think that the army’s participation in politics has been the cause of political unrest in Uganda. The 1966 crisis was caused by a civilian (Obote) using military (Amin). Yet there was Parliament, which helplessly looked on. In contrast, 20 years of stability is a product of the combined efforts of the military and the civilian.
Professionaling the army does not mean confining it to the barracks. It is the ideological preparation and foundation of any country’s military that serves as their radar through politically hazy circumstances through which societies develop.
That there is still a political haze on our horizon needs no over emphasis and the dichotomy between civilians and soldiers cannot help to steer Uganda forward. UPDF should not be part-time, but full-time participants in our socio-economic and political processes for a more harmonious political life of our country.
Our recent history can only be tackled effectively by a combined effort of democratic strugglers. The UPDF is a liberation struggle force for the above-mentioned fundamental pillars of our survival as a country and to separate the force from its historical mission is to send Uganda on a journey to turbulent seas without radar.
Finally, some people who are still bothered by the form rather than the essence continue to obscure our way forward. Arguing that an officer in Parliament who debates or votes on anything necessarily becomes partisan obscures the following:
In a multiparty system, every sitting president will have been and shall still be a certain party president or leader but he will also be, as per our Constitution, the commander-in-chief of the UPDF, and the chief executive of the government, therefore, the chief of the executive arm of government of which the army is automatically part as per our law. In view of this, should the army be a non-governmental organisation for it not to be seen as partisan?
Any politically sane person knows that while governments are formed from the winning party, they are accountable to all citizens. A government is a national, not a party government.
Similarly, the military should be in Parliament, to participate in the defence and enhancement of national rather than partisan issues. Until such a time when our system has outgrown fragility, and the pillars of our state and politics are guaranteed, anyone who ignores the other will do it at his own peril.
We in the UPDF wish to do all we can to forestall and neutralise such peril for as long as it is within our means, through our participation in the holistic socio-political life of Uganda. Let us stay in Parliament with our allied people’s MPs.
The writer is UPDF spokeman