With Kyankwanzi, NRM needs no opposition

By Hon. Nakabale Patrick

ON Sunday February 15, 2015 members of the NRM parliamentary caucus concluded a one-week annual retreat at Kyankwanzi with more substance than controversy.

The retreat was special in that it came after a rebranding of the party with a new team of committed bureaucrats taking the reins and proving that they can organize. And it is also the last before we head for election season.

In the spirit of accountability and self-assessment that NRM is known for, members under the stewardship of President Museveni, our party chairman, reviewed the record of previous resolutions and developments in Uganda over the last one year. Each MP had a story to tell in exhibiting concern for the wellbeing of citizens.

There were several resolutions passed last year to do with service delivery and progress in implementing them has been registered in the general mode of pushing policies to ameliorate how government delivers on its mandate.

At the same time, transforming how government works isn’t the work of NRM alone. Implementation is done by a concert of partners including the civil service, donor community, rival partners and the entire populace.

In that lot are forces which pull this way as NRM is pulling the other. Inefficiency, delays, sabotage, corruption and divergence in ideologies all play a part but NRM has proven that when acting on its own, it achieves.

We had facilitators from Ethiopia, Malaysia and Nigeria and among the key tips they imparted in us was the need to be decisive when it comes to implementation of policies.

At the stage of drafting and debating, wide consultation is advised but at implementation, “there is no time for democracy”; was the point blank assertion leveled. Apparently, that approach has been behind the successes of transformation that have salvaged the respective countries at their level.

Overtime, in a bid to maintain the reputation of mainstreaming democracy, an operation that has been extremely successful, NRM has at times risked “donating” its mandate to unproven elements by way of compromising on viable programmes and projects.

President Museveni has always questioned how foresighted projects such as power dams and other infrastructure have been frustrated by actors without interests of the nation at heart.

Clearly, NRM has been too accommodative at the risk of slowing the pace of movement. Ideas should always be welcome but must be in line what the ruling party has distilled. To be in power means to have power and that power is legitimate and protective.

Some people think or would like to believe that when at Kyankwanzi, MPs are just merrymaking and socializing. On the contrary, it’s more intensive there.

Sessions last from the early morning to the late evening and everybody speaks from the bottom of their heart and top of their brains. All the issues that need to be taken note of in the country are deliberated on in detail, accurately and objectively.

As a family, members are not restrained from pointing out shortfalls and pitfalls. Where something isn’t going right, they say it without fear or favour. Discussions are always bold and eloquent. As the party in power, every member knows that appropriate responses to the nation’s challenges are the lifeline for maintaining favour with the populace.

Among others, resolutions drafted are to do with industrialization and processing of minerals to finished products level possible, streamlining guidelines for the Wealth Creation programme under the refurbished NAADS, promoting innovation with a fund, setting up a new school in each sub county, initiating a Women’s Livelihoods Programme, pursuing infrastructure modernization, extending access to health services through provision of (for example) ambulances, programmes to preserve and protect the environment and extending water for domestic use and production.

Kyankwanzi always proves that NRM knows what to do, is focused but can be derailed by opposition forces lurking all over. External assessment is peripheral for a party with a vibrant internal mechanism for timely review and due diligence.

With internal cohesion sorted, who needs “assistance” from the opposition?

Writer is the Youth MP for Central Region and General Secretary, NRM Parliamentary Caucus