Inter-party cooperation a recipe for chaotic instability
Oct 21, 2009
The current Uganda political scene is reminiscent of many episodes in our history. We are witnessing a rebirth of temporary alliances for purposes of achieving political goals but which goals sooner than later become a mirage.
By Prof. Tarsis Kabwegyere
The current Uganda political scene is reminiscent of many episodes in our history. We are witnessing a rebirth of temporary alliances for purposes of achieving political goals but which goals sooner than later become a mirage.
I recall the Moshi Conference in March 1979 when 88 groups convened in that Tanzanian town with enthusiasm to remove Amin for the Uganda exiles to return with peace, national independence, political unity and economic development.
It took a lot of doing to reduce the number from 88 to 22 temporary groups which finally were represented in the UNLF (Uganda National Liberation Front) unity conference.
As the chief convener of that conference, I recall the pains the organising committee went through to produce a form of a front to confront a “common enemy Idi Amin.â€
The efforts of Tanzania and the stature of Mwalimu Nyerere kept pushing us to come together while Obote was pulling strings behind the scenes to keep us apart since it looked like the unity conference was isolating him from the lead role in his return to Uganda.
Even the choice of Lule as chairman of the UNLF was such a temporary compromise and if it were not for Mwalimu Nyerere, whose national army had entered Uganda and was under pressure to remove the dictator whom he resented, we would not have achieved the temporary unity of the front.
No sooner had we got to Kampala on April 11, 1979, than the alliance and unity of purpose began to clearly disintegrate. In 68 days, Lule was no more and Binaisa came in. By December 1980, the front no longer existed.
It had evaporated like the morning mist. An alliance of sorts was formed between UPC and DP to break up the front as if to do so was to the advantage of each of them. UPC and DP could not be allies for long.
An attempt to capture the Moshi spirit through the formation of the third force, UPM witnessed irreconcilable disagreement that left the core of UPM being FRONASA after the departure of Save Uganda Movement from the meeting at City Hall Kampala.
I was a participant watcher of all this. The removal of Godfrey Binaisa who took over from Yusuf Lule is yet another example of temporary unity as the Military Commission took over with visible cracks.
Muwanga was pulling in one direction as the other members, including Yoweri Museveni, were moving in different directions. Certainly, Oyite Ojok had a different agenda from that of Muwanga or Museveni so much so that by the 1980 elections, there were no traces of the Moshi spirit.
The 1980 elections saw a massive rejection of UPC as people gathered around DP, hoping to repair the damages in both the socio-political and economic health of Uganda. DP failed to protect the victory as UPC succeeded in stealing it in broad daylight, occasioning the move to the bush in 1981.
People like Adoko Nekyon and many others who walked out of UPC to join DP to see a new Uganda, discovered that it was perhaps a miscalculation. Sure enough Nekyon found his way back to UPC later than sooner even though he could not save it from the cascading decline. The DP amalgam failed to mission a new Uganda by lacking the instruments of leadership. UPC, with obviously a smaller following but with Kikosi Malum backing, took power by default much as this is disputed by UPC. It took five years of political and military engineering and engagement in the bushes of the Luweero Triangle to concretise a new force that brought the change that we know as NRM revolution in 1986. NRM picked a national mantle that ignited change that is progressing 23 years after that qualitative change started.
The break away of Besigye and his Reform Agenda left a dent on the NRM but a dent that did not break the bones, a dent nevertheless that threatened the unity of the NRM.
DP tried to ally with Reform Agenda much as DP was inside NRM, almost totally absorbed and digested to an extent that by the time Paul Ssemogerere resigned, he was too weak to present an alternative. From internal affairs to foreign affairs with a possibility of being a vice-president which he failed to see and it was taken over by Mzee Kisekka, his DP was bound to enter oblivion. He walked from centre stage to back stage exit and to oblivion.
It must be said NRM provided the framework of consensus against all odds and divisions before a new era of political parties set in. I have no up-to-date list of registered political parties but they are so many that none of them is confident enough to stand face to face with NRM. They are attempting an amalgamation to create some strength!
What are we, therefore, witnessing now? A replay of temporary allies. The inter-party cooperation which is currently chaired by Ken Lukyamuzi, is a demonstration of courtship between these brides and bridegrooms that are dancing in Uganda political drama, hardly knowing what to do. In Uganda today, there is no single party that is capable of competing successfully against NRM.
DP/UPC have been around with minor scores. It is now assumed that Nobert Mao, Kizza Besigye, Sebaana Kizito, Bidandi Ssali, Ken Lukyamuzi, Olara Otunnu, Miria Kalule Obote, Kibirige Mayanja, name them all are going to form a front with a single candidate to win the presidency and a majority in Parliament to lead Uganda.
I want the reader to imagine a cabinet chaired by Otunnu, Besigye, Bidandi, Lukyamuzi, Kibirige with probably Erias Lukwago and Abdu Katuntu as attorney general.
Ben Wacha, Beti Kamya minister of internal affairs, Beatrice Anywar as minister of forestry and imagine a Uganda moving to prosperity, stability and progress? Is this a workable solution for Uganda? Would this last? This may be a design to remove NRM and Museveni in power, but can it work for Uganda?
I bet if it so happened there would be a war among them that the rest of the country would be covered in dust. Uganda has had stability for the last 23 years, but it has also had a period of instability before that since independence. The temporary alliances are targeted on those that have matured in the last 23 years because they do not know or have very little knowledge of Uganda’s history.
People who are now 30 years were seven years in 1986. How much does a seven-year-old know? So, there is a danger that the young generation may be captured by a group of people who want power almost for its own sake. Should that happen, Uganda’s stability would be dangerously endangered. Can Uganda afford to slide to oblivion again? The answer is no.
Ugandans, therefore, must watch with eyes wide open, observing what undertakers of temporary alliances are doing, otherwise it is easy to organise a riot but not so easy to govern a country of Uganda’s characteristics and history.
I am convinced, on the basis of what I have learnt as a politically active participant on the Ugandan political scene, that a revitalised NRM has the historical duty to carry Uganda forward.
The writer is the Minister for Disaster Preparedness
The current Uganda political scene is reminiscent of many episodes in our history. We are witnessing a rebirth of temporary alliances for purposes of achieving political goals but which goals sooner than later become a mirage.
I recall the Moshi Conference in March 1979 when 88 groups convened in that Tanzanian town with enthusiasm to remove Amin for the Uganda exiles to return with peace, national independence, political unity and economic development.
It took a lot of doing to reduce the number from 88 to 22 temporary groups which finally were represented in the UNLF (Uganda National Liberation Front) unity conference.
As the chief convener of that conference, I recall the pains the organising committee went through to produce a form of a front to confront a “common enemy Idi Amin.â€
The efforts of Tanzania and the stature of Mwalimu Nyerere kept pushing us to come together while Obote was pulling strings behind the scenes to keep us apart since it looked like the unity conference was isolating him from the lead role in his return to Uganda.
Even the choice of Lule as chairman of the UNLF was such a temporary compromise and if it were not for Mwalimu Nyerere, whose national army had entered Uganda and was under pressure to remove the dictator whom he resented, we would not have achieved the temporary unity of the front.
No sooner had we got to Kampala on April 11, 1979, than the alliance and unity of purpose began to clearly disintegrate. In 68 days, Lule was no more and Binaisa came in. By December 1980, the front no longer existed.
It had evaporated like the morning mist. An alliance of sorts was formed between UPC and DP to break up the front as if to do so was to the advantage of each of them. UPC and DP could not be allies for long.
An attempt to capture the Moshi spirit through the formation of the third force, UPM witnessed irreconcilable disagreement that left the core of UPM being FRONASA after the departure of Save Uganda Movement from the meeting at City Hall Kampala.
I was a participant watcher of all this. The removal of Godfrey Binaisa who took over from Yusuf Lule is yet another example of temporary unity as the Military Commission took over with visible cracks.
Muwanga was pulling in one direction as the other members, including Yoweri Museveni, were moving in different directions. Certainly, Oyite Ojok had a different agenda from that of Muwanga or Museveni so much so that by the 1980 elections, there were no traces of the Moshi spirit.
The 1980 elections saw a massive rejection of UPC as people gathered around DP, hoping to repair the damages in both the socio-political and economic health of Uganda. DP failed to protect the victory as UPC succeeded in stealing it in broad daylight, occasioning the move to the bush in 1981.
People like Adoko Nekyon and many others who walked out of UPC to join DP to see a new Uganda, discovered that it was perhaps a miscalculation. Sure enough Nekyon found his way back to UPC later than sooner even though he could not save it from the cascading decline. The DP amalgam failed to mission a new Uganda by lacking the instruments of leadership. UPC, with obviously a smaller following but with Kikosi Malum backing, took power by default much as this is disputed by UPC. It took five years of political and military engineering and engagement in the bushes of the Luweero Triangle to concretise a new force that brought the change that we know as NRM revolution in 1986. NRM picked a national mantle that ignited change that is progressing 23 years after that qualitative change started.
The break away of Besigye and his Reform Agenda left a dent on the NRM but a dent that did not break the bones, a dent nevertheless that threatened the unity of the NRM.
DP tried to ally with Reform Agenda much as DP was inside NRM, almost totally absorbed and digested to an extent that by the time Paul Ssemogerere resigned, he was too weak to present an alternative. From internal affairs to foreign affairs with a possibility of being a vice-president which he failed to see and it was taken over by Mzee Kisekka, his DP was bound to enter oblivion. He walked from centre stage to back stage exit and to oblivion.
It must be said NRM provided the framework of consensus against all odds and divisions before a new era of political parties set in. I have no up-to-date list of registered political parties but they are so many that none of them is confident enough to stand face to face with NRM. They are attempting an amalgamation to create some strength!
What are we, therefore, witnessing now? A replay of temporary allies. The inter-party cooperation which is currently chaired by Ken Lukyamuzi, is a demonstration of courtship between these brides and bridegrooms that are dancing in Uganda political drama, hardly knowing what to do. In Uganda today, there is no single party that is capable of competing successfully against NRM.
DP/UPC have been around with minor scores. It is now assumed that Nobert Mao, Kizza Besigye, Sebaana Kizito, Bidandi Ssali, Ken Lukyamuzi, Olara Otunnu, Miria Kalule Obote, Kibirige Mayanja, name them all are going to form a front with a single candidate to win the presidency and a majority in Parliament to lead Uganda.
I want the reader to imagine a cabinet chaired by Otunnu, Besigye, Bidandi, Lukyamuzi, Kibirige with probably Erias Lukwago and Abdu Katuntu as attorney general.
Ben Wacha, Beti Kamya minister of internal affairs, Beatrice Anywar as minister of forestry and imagine a Uganda moving to prosperity, stability and progress? Is this a workable solution for Uganda? Would this last? This may be a design to remove NRM and Museveni in power, but can it work for Uganda?
I bet if it so happened there would be a war among them that the rest of the country would be covered in dust. Uganda has had stability for the last 23 years, but it has also had a period of instability before that since independence. The temporary alliances are targeted on those that have matured in the last 23 years because they do not know or have very little knowledge of Uganda’s history.
People who are now 30 years were seven years in 1986. How much does a seven-year-old know? So, there is a danger that the young generation may be captured by a group of people who want power almost for its own sake. Should that happen, Uganda’s stability would be dangerously endangered. Can Uganda afford to slide to oblivion again? The answer is no.
Ugandans, therefore, must watch with eyes wide open, observing what undertakers of temporary alliances are doing, otherwise it is easy to organise a riot but not so easy to govern a country of Uganda’s characteristics and history.
I am convinced, on the basis of what I have learnt as a politically active participant on the Ugandan political scene, that a revitalised NRM has the historical duty to carry Uganda forward.
The writer is the Minister for Disaster Preparedness