Why I am standing in the Movement

Aug 10, 2015

In the last two months, I have been traversing many districts in western Uganda re-telling the story of the Movement, its ideological foundations, its history, our core values and the challenges we face.

By Odrek Rwabwogo

In the last two months, I have been traversing many districts in western Uganda re-telling the story of the Movement, its ideological foundations, its history, our core values and the challenges we face.

In the process, district leaders and many new young people, walk away with deep learning of the NRM’s key tenets and are inspired to work together to firm-up the gains made in the last 29 years and extend the frontiers of progress. I was, however, rudely interrupted last week, by criticism of this work and my intention to run in the party, by some quarters.

 Here are my three key reasons for this decision to run. If I am given an opportunity to serve, I would like to bring significant thinking and action on these things. I strongly believe this will help shape the kind of future we need for the party.

l First, to begin the process of decentralising certain aspects of authority and responsibility of the party from the top to the districts. We do this because the NRM was born, nursed and raised by the common person. The peasant, a student, a worker all came together and gave it food, equipment, manpower and sheltered it at its weak moments. It is to these that authority and power should always reside.

But the NRM now is heavily concentrated at the top. Almost all decisions and activities are initiated at the top echelons of the party. I can understand that this is a consequence of our history and the need to control the processes at every level in order for the country to return to stability.

Times have, however, changed and we need to deal with this increasing disconnect between the lower structures and the leaders.

With over 25 million more people born after 1986, we need fresh thinking on how to run a party, heal ourselves from the ‘hangover’ of the Movement ‘individual merit thinking’ and position the party to respond to the needs and challenges of our times.

A result of the current centralisation is that a significant number of supporters with new ideas are unable to bring different approaches to solving problems at the grassroots or to test new ideas and solutions.

For example, we all go to the top echelons for everything from holding a local delegates conference to sometimes what type of food we should eat there and who supplies and pays for it. This ‘bottleneck effect’ as it is called in management, clogs up initiative and frustrates growth in new areas.

 When we free the lower echelons of the party to make decisions and initiate actions, we achieve three things:

l Policy making for a government takes place inside the party not in the civil service or even the larger public domain. It is the party that decides priorities and these ideally should come from a continuous, engaging and honest conversation from districts and regions. By doing it this way, we empower the leaders at a lower level to be a little more responsible than they have been.

For example, before the Government taxes the agriculture sector, shouldn’t the civil servants consult district and local party leaders on the effect of this on production in villages? How will the consultation happen when there hasn’t been any engagement between two elections apart within our district structures?

The NRM is a good brand. Brands in the private sector run on engagement even more than the price a brand charges for a product. I would like to return this engagement in the party.

l Party cohesiveness at a lower level is given a shot in the arm and there is influence on the selection of good candidates for leadership. This decision also brings local input to bear on legislation in the five-year term of Parliament. This action would improve intra-party communication and can easily make party policy outcomes at a district level, visible.

l This action can significantly increase the power of the district party leadership bringing this office’s weight to bear on the political process. This will make this seat attractive to a better calibre of leaders. The district party leadership position will cease to be the object of job seekers but a pivotal centre of mobilisation, recruitment, policy advisory and communication.

This will help the party grow roots across generations. It will give the party a large pool of talent and leadership that is locally tested if one has to eventually make decisions to change at the national level.

When we short-circuit this process, we simply have to contend with an imposition and the risk of low credibility of leaders.

l My second reason for seeking the position in the party is to enhance the teaching of the Movement ideology across our structures and a focus on the young generation. Ideology can be likened to a traveller lost in the middle of the night in a forest. When a traveller sees a flicker of light on the horizon, he/she doesn’t spend time cursing the darkness around him. He heads for the light in order to re-orient himself and find where he lost his way. Therefore, when you see evils like intrigue, corruption or even incompetence in a system, one should head back to ideology. The people of Kisoro have a good word for a bean weevil which burrows through a stock of grain and destroy it. They call it Shokondwa.

The above evils I listed are shokondwas in an organisation that you can only attack with sound ideological teaching, beyond the law.

In my opinion, sound ideological teaching by both theory and example, has been grossly weakened over the years. We have tended to do what is convenient to keep the party working rather than what is meaningful and deeply needed for the party to grow roots. As a result, in the minds of a number of youths, the NRM is now more like a landmark and not a beacon of illumination it used to be, when my generation was at university. This is why there is increased indiscipline and disorderliness.

The Greek language tells us that the word ‘discipline’ comes from the same root as the word ‘disciple’. This means one cannot attain any level of discipline unless they are a student/disciple of something higher. That realisation of something higher called the Movement and Uganda can only come by continuous teaching across our structures.

If given an opportunity, I would like to re-engage with the young people, the intellectuals, the business community and key opinion leaders to have new ways and means to teach and impart the NRM ideology.

I would like to lead a radical resistance to the current low-calibre interpretation of the founding principles of the Movement.

The disparaging of our values and core tenets by the young today and the deafening silence from the old leaders is a result of lack of sound teaching at key levels of our society.

The late Indian President, Abdul Kalam, once said: “Dreams is not what you see in sleep. It is the thing which doesn’t let you sleep.” The watering down of the Movement values, keeps me and a number of my colleagues awake at night. I choose to take action rather than complain.

l My third reason for standing is to bring fresh thinking on how to build the financial future of the party. If you walk into any office associated with politics in the NRM today, everybody knows the party gets money from its chairman and that this money doesn’t always need accountability.

As a result, those of us who try to reach out to the structures and teach are bombarded with requests for money. What is worse, in my opinion, no one even asks how this money the party uses comes about. Many are happy to receive and spend but few are asking what we do as a party to make this money! If you have a family with only an expenses list and no income, you are headed for trouble.

 There are no known foras for broad party budgeting, strategic planning and the setting of key priorities and the sources of revenue to be spent.

One would expect some of these foras to be at our districts all the way up in order to inform the top echelons of the party, the core needs and how to find resources creatively.

In business, we know, small pennies lead to bigger amounts, especially with good management, clear financial reporting structures and achievable targets. When the people of the Movement allow me and my generation to define policy on this matter, my team and I will be able to bring new sources of revenue to the party and its structures in a transparent manner that will restore confidence in the party in this key area and return young people to the fold both with their votes and their wallets.

The Bagwere people of eastern Uganda have a beautiful word for the verb to ‘speak’ It is called okutumula. In Ankore, this word has a connotation for speaking out your heart. I deeply feel if we can’t speak out our hearts about the key things we must do for the Movement, we aren’t helpful.

These are three key things I want to focus on in the next five years, if given the chance. The Movement is an old idea beginning with 1961 when the late Mwalimu Nyerere opened his country to liberation movements across Africa and our leaders too picked a seed that later germinated to bring change in our country and across the region.

Every generation, therefore, chooses to apply itself to this idea and advance its progress or fail it. Since 1992 when I was a young university student, I have applied myself to this idea by helping in the beginning of the youth councils, in realigning communication for our country, in teaching ideology and helping find work for young people.

If the NRM allows me to serve, I will use this priceless privilege to advance the revolution for my generation.

The writer is aspiring for NRM national vice-chairperson for western region
 

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