Being anti-government is not similar to being pro-democracy

By Joshua Turyatemba

If one were to call for volunteers to supply used tires in city and town centres during this electioneering period, hardly 5% of the silent majority would turn up. On the other hand, one should expect 100% turn up of the criminal minority that pledges allegiance to a particular candidate to turn up with the tires and set them alight even before being told what they are for. This is as close one can get to describing the inclination of two polar sides that are battling for dominance in these elections. One side that would vote to further peace, another side that seems fed up of the muzzling on their criminal intentions. In Uganda's history, it is the NRM leadership stretch perhaps where wielding a gun or machete is not a ticket to achieving whatever you want.

The excessively violent actions of the vicious minority over the past few days are symbolic of the criminal underground that is ever-present amongst us and eager to spring upon any ‘opportunity', no matter how shallow, to exercise their criminal mind as if to reassure that specific malfunction of their brain that it is still active. It may take a special kind of mature human to think that these violent eruptions and the succeeding robberies and extortions from right-minded citizens has anything to do with elections or politics. It is just that elections provide the kind of euphoria and cover for these elements to ‘legally' surface and thrive and any crackdown will be considered political repression. One only needs to lift the lid off those so-called ‘political activists', peel off their garments and they will discover a full-fledged criminal. A criminal action, even in a political season, must be dealt with as such and equitable resources applied, if the interests of the peace-loving majority is to be protected.

Human Rights and other advocates in such circumstances are quick to run to the media and condemn the highhandedness of the security forces in neutralising the anarchy. They are quick to call out state repression upon its citizens. Yet many of us have seen how many innocent people were brutalised and property damaged by criminals under the guise of justifiable and ‘righteous indignation'. So when and why don't these human rights defenders call out the acts of criminal repression even when leaders of such elements and in whose interest they act are well known? Is a NRM supporter donning party colours or a policeman trying to remove barricades, who is battered by peers-in-criminality, less human than the rioter who gets tear gassed for setting fire to tires in the middle of the city?

One has seen many Opposition politicians quickly pointing out and drawing parallels with ‘civilised' nations such as the United Kingdom and suggesting that police and the state should act like them. But let us be keen, for instance, on one of the key components of civilisation. Alongside medicine, technology etc. The aspect of education and knowledge. The two oldest universities in the UK are University of Oxford and University of Cambridge. Established in 1096 and 1209 respectively. Even if these two universities were producing only 10 graduates per year, that is monumental impact that has been achieved over the last more than 800 years by the UK society due to knowledge development and application.

One hundred years ago, we still had some communities in Uganda that had never seen a bicycle, shoe, or cloth. These are the kinds of societies, some lousy politicians want to tell us must be mentally catapulted to match nations with centuries of phased civilisation and growth. Simply because one is called ‘honourable', drives a Toyota VX, is broadcast on TV and eats at KFC doesn't make him or her the embodiment or assessor of civilisation. Civilisation is a mental thing. If anything, some of the leaders that like alluding to western states should ask themselves, ‘if I stood as a MP or Senator, would I be voted and ably lead those civilised peoples?'

This should take us to the second aspect of the externally amplified anarchy which is the concept of democracy. There is a muted and senile belief among some political actors of thinking that simply because a white man has come here and wants to direct how things should be done, he must be ‘Democracy Magdalene'. The places some of these pompous folk come from are much worse in a multi-dimensional aspect. Forget elections and look at racism or abject homelessness amidst prosperity.

What most of these people ply is neo-liberal perspective and not necessarily a democratic one. A country may have as many elections as they can, but as long as they don't support homosexuality for instance, everything else is null and void. The eternal struggle for the spirit of the west has been a sharp divide between conservatism and liberalism. It is these excesses that they are ever itching to export and be bought by gullible African youth. Most of Africa, including Uganda is, however, still and proudly under a traditional conservative reign. Some powers would indeed do anything to hoodwink certain age brackets of the population into riot and rebellion because they know that after any subsequent anarchy succeeds, they can come in as ‘saviours' and have a chance to rewrite the script of Ugandan society. If democracy is indeed what they were interested in, we would see truckloads of Aristotle being freely donated to schools and not malnourished statements about riot suppression.

President Yoweri Museveni's time to go will come. The vultures, however, have been circling restlessly above the Ugandan skies for that moment and are running out of breath. And perhaps seeing the Ugandan people are not yet keen to vote him out, their despair has now reached peak levels. You can almost be certain that if you look keenly at some faces in these current elections, you start perceiving fierce, greedy, bloodthirsty eagle-eyed Caucasian. The only people mentioned in our constitution are Ugandans. If any other nation or people was too important to be ignored, they should have been included in it. And as it is, there are Ugandans who take pride in their nation, its leadership and culture. And they will keep fighting for and defending her soul.

The writer is a Pan African and a Publicist with Operation Wealth Creation