By Kajabago-ka-Rusoke

UGANDA has held several elections, especially after the NRM took over power in 1986. There is a systematic way in which these elections are held. This arrangement is put in place by a commission itself put in place by Parliament.

Parliament is a composition of both a political party which is in power and the opposition parties whose members are also elected by the population but could not make a majority in order to form a government.

Leaders have to notice and note what the people want, then explain how they can solve those people’s problems once elected into power. For one to lead people properly, one must live among them, feel the way they feel and think about things surrounding them. If a person leads people among whom he or she lives, it will enable him or her to express his people’s feelings.

Living with the people would help a leader expose better what is happening in that society and can be improved upon for the betterment of the people he or she is serving. If leadership is foisted or, imposed, on a people, such leadership will be got rid of. The best leadership is one elected by all or the majority.
The idea of the majority electing a leader was first perpetuated by capitalism.

Capitalism ensured employees worked for so many hours daily, but were paid very little money for their labour. This is how the capitalists became richer and richer compared to those who worked for them.

This accumulation of money and wealth led them to open up other enterprises called banks where they could keep their money. This created an alliance between the industries and the banks. Banks began to gain from industries and vice versa.

The banking system developed an administrative system to lend money to enterprises. In modern society this is how businesses are run. In order to start business, one must have capital.

Capitalism as an economic arrangement of society in the hands of a few, it has had a number of stages it has gone through in order to develop. These are as follows:

Underpaying workers from whom they, capitalists, gain a lot of profits which they convert into wealth for themselves.

The establishment of their own banking system allied to their own industrial sectors for the accumulation of further and more profits for themselves.

The formation of certain economic organisations like cartels trusts in order to monopolise the production and distribution of commodities in society.

The export of capital as opposed to the export of commodities.

Finally, the globe is covered by the capitalist classes through a complete network of capitalist cartels and trusts which create an economic empire.

All these stages put together constitute a wider economic arrangement referred to as imperialism — a higher stage of capitalism. Colonialism is an economic approach and a system where a country or a group of countries is bound together by military and political ties for economic purposes and aims by a capitalist class of a foreign country. Here there exists two categories of people, a coloniser and the colonised.

What is important to note is that the colonial socio-economic base expands and, as it does, levels of social consciousness on the part of the colonised enlarge to an extent that finally the colonial population hates being governed by a foreign political force. This is how national liberation movements against colonial socio-economic arrangements started.

A national liberation movement in every colony defeats a colonial authority and puts in place an independent national state.There can never be real national independence minus economic independence. How does this happen?

Part of the post colonial elite, remain attached to the colonial socio-economic dealings in the economic base and superstructure of colonialists. They turn out to be puppets of a former colonial authority.
When business companies want to open up, they give commissions to the post colonial ruling elite for favourable conditions and make them open up bank accounts abroad.
The welfare of the people of the so-called independent state is completely overlooked and neglected. At this stage capitalism would have reached neo-colonialism. This is the highest stage of capitalism — from private ownership, imperialism, colonialism and finally, neo-colonialism.
This is where the question of surveilling an election of a former colony arises as to satisfy the interests of a capitalist country at its stage of imperialism. For former colonies do not surveil elections of their former masters or those of their allies. Why then do the former imperialist powers want to surveil the elections of their former colonies which are presumably independent states?

Conclusion:

Since colonisation is based on economic intentions, its overthrow is highly regretted by the colonisers.

It is, therefore, necessary that whoever occupies the state of a former colony should be an economic ally of the capitalist classes of the world globally.

When, therefore, elections are declared in the former colonies, all capitalist classes of the former colonial empires, plus that of the US will try to make sure that the elite in a former colony are completely pro-capitalist and allies of global capitalism.

Hence the need for surveillance as to whether the population will elect a type of leadership acceptable to the neo-colonial capitalist classes.

This is the very reason why the most powerful capitalist class in the world of imperialism would like to monitor Uganda’s 2011 elections.

This is why they raise questions concerning visits by presidents of Iran and North Korea in Uganda.

This is why they want to know how Uganda’s opposition parties are treated by Uganda’s electoral commission when such a commission is put in place by Parliament.

Imperialism has no permanent friend. It only has and looks for a permanent interest.

Uganda’s concern should be focused on national interests, but not on mere apparent and capricious friends. No way.

The writer is a lecturer of philosophy at the Kyankwanzi Military School