Is there a stalemate in Uganda’s politics?

Ofwono's Option

By Ofwono Opondo

THIS morning, another in a series of unending political workshops, opens at Hotel Africana, Kampala, this time by the shadow Parliamentary Advocacy Forum (PAFO) chaired by Augustine Ruzindana (MP Ruhama).

The theme is “safeguarding Uganda’s democratisation process,” and President Yoweri Museveni is among the invitees “to participate in this consensus-building process, which is expected to chart the way forward for a peaceful democratic Uganda.”

The wording shows that Ruzindana and PAFO see, expect or even plan turbulence in the run up to multiparty politics if the “transition” is not managed according to their wishes.

After all, MPs Reagan Okumu, Michael Mabikke, Latif Ssebaggala, Ssebuliba Mutumba, Issa Kikungwe and Nsubuga Nsambu have been reported by the media to argue for violence “because it is the language the Movement and Museveni understand.”

These statements are meant to blackmail and intimidate those who disagree with those MPs, but fortunately the Movement is not for hoodlums as it has the tested capacity to handle mischief.

At the centre of all this heat is the proposal to lift the presidential term limit. But let us remember US first president George Washington who suppressed all such attempts by his officers when he stepped down after eight years in office.

Museveni’s last week media article as a leading influence on Uganda’s strategic future ought to adequately confound critics stuck in stale debate.

The letter purporting to invite Museveni was signed by Ruzindana on October 8, but was brought to Museveni’s office as chairperson of the Movement within the same parliamentary building three weeks later!

Those who want to wear the political crown ought not sow the seeds for their own trials and tribulations through the use of underhand methods.

In Ruzindana’s view contained in background papers to today’s workshop, there is a “political stalemate on the road map to multiparty politics in the country.”

As a result, Ruzindana concludes “the content and context of the transition process from the Movement system to multiparty politics currently lacks form and direction. This has led to speculation and uncertainty on the political road map.”

The publication of the “Referendum and Other Provisions Bill 2003” in Parliament by Justice minister Janat Mukwaya, should help the skeptics to be focused than speculative.

It is not clear how today’s main presenters, UHRC chairperson Margaret Sekagya, Eriya Kategaya, Crispus Kiyonga, John Kawanga, Oloka Onyango, Peter Walubiri, Bidandi Ssali and Noble Mayombo can break the stalemate.

All the above have been part of the political process and if there is a stalemate, they may not be the best option for resolving it. They are the ones who caused the “stalemate”, to borrow Ruzindana’s words.

Leadership, particularly in a participatory democracy like the Movement, is a shared responsibility and it would be interesting to know which faults Ruzindana’s group apportion to themselves, and which ones they allocate to “others.”

Analysts may agree that the groups and individuals critical to the Movement as well as Museveni’s current leadership cannot offer a clear and better alternative. It is untenable to argue that John Vorster or Ian Smith were bad, while apartheid and racism were good, as Ruzindana’s group seems to believe with respect to the present Movement.

But apparently Uganda’s political elite have found a new convenient way of getting money from foreign donors under the guise of promoting “democracy”. Frederich Ebert Foundation funds most of PAFO’s seminars.

If one gleans the daily political spectrum, one will discover a myriad of “workshops” apparently engineering politics from air-conditioned rooms with little evidence of results.

Only yesterday, there was a similar “workshop” at the Makerere Law School under the theme, “Recent political and constitutional trends and the future for democracy in Uganda.”

Although these “political talking shops” purport to discuss democracy, both the themes, presenters and participants are usually recycled, producing no convergence or very little if any.

Also they are a forum to get cheap money in form of organisational logistics for the organisers and honoraria for the presenters and main discussants.

The usual are Aggrey Awori, Ofwono-Opondo, Betty Kamya, Ssemogerere, Dr Jean Barya, Oloka Onyango, Mayombo, Muntu, Afuna Adula, Tarsis Kabwegyere, Grace Kaiso, Okumu Reagan, Winnie Byanyima, Walubiri, Nobert Mao and others!

It is should worry Ugandans that a big section of MPs and parties, especially those who describe themselves as “opposition” or “independent” high-priests have been infected by the flu most non-governmental organisations (NGOs) caught decades ago”.

Reform Agenda whose credibility has been compromised by its links with Joseph Kony’s LRA, and the shadow Popular Resistance Army (PRA) rebel groups, have now formed an NGO, called Change Initiative.

The RA goal is to use change initiative to access donor funds for political purposes to avoid sanction, as indeed Winnie Byanyima did in the now defunct Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE) between 1997-2000. Change Initiative is holding a similar workshop this Sunday in Kampala.

Of course, the old DP has been exploiting resources from the German Christian Democrats, through its affiliate the Conrad Adeneur Foundation and their local hunters in the Foundation for African Development (FAD).

Actually FAD is a misnomer because it has miserably failed to “develop,” Paul Ssemogerere’s Democratic Party, let alone Africa.