{UAH} We need liberation from the liberators

We need liberation from the liberators

Columnists

WEDNESDAY, 29 JANUARY 2014 06:34

WRITTEN BY JACQUELINE ASIIMWE

2 COMMENTS

Twenty-eight years ago, when the rag-tag army of the National Resistance Movement entered Kampala, there was a sense of euphoria, as we all anticipated the change that we so desperately needed as a country.

Ugandans had experienced serious birth pangs in the effort to bring forth a nation and the birth itself had been difficult, resulting into a sort of deformed Uganda, where anarchy and misrule were the order of the day. Twenty-eight years ago, a glimmer of hope was born.

Twenty-eight years later, one can indeed see some visible signs of progress.

The economy has grown, the population has grown, big business is booming alongside small business, there is relative calm in most parts of the country, we promulgated a new constitution, we hold elections periodically, primary school enrollment has gone up, and sometimes crime comes down.

If you look on the surface, there is a happy veneer that many do not want to disturb. But bubbling beneath the surface is a growing urge for something more and something better for the motherland.

The glossy exterior of our current existence does not take away from the deep-seated issues that we still must grapple with as a nation.

Yes, we hold elections every five years, but we have never seen or settled the issue of peaceful transition from one president to another, and going by all indications, we won’t see this happen in the 2016 polls. Yes, we conduct elections, but it is mostly form and little substance.

While the present government went to the bush ostensibly because elections were rigged, it has been accused of the same, if not worse rigging,
with each successive election. Elections have become more commercialised than ever, and the vote goes to the highest bidder, and not to the best leader.

The Electoral Commission itself is suffering a huge crisis of confidence yet it soldiers on under the misguided belief that doing more of the same thing will somehow make us trust them. One of the highlights of the NRM rule was the 1995 Constitution, a largely progressive constitution by all accounts.

However, the very administration that birthed it, is now consistently committing what Prof Joe Oloka recently called a ‘constitucide,’ the deliberate killing of the Constitution. The first abrogation of the Constitution was in 1996, when the president increased the size of cabinet. And the rest has been downhill since.

The liberators rode on the promise of fundamental change and while we acknowledge the changes made over the years, on the critical political questions,
nothing has changed fundamentally. Where Ugandans wanted to be free to express themselves, the liberators have gradually narrowed the space for speech that they do not like.

They have closed media houses at will, harassed and arrested journalists, banned ebimeeza which were citizen-initiated forums that were spaces for vibrant discussions about the issues of the day. Where Ugandans wanted freedom to associate, parties were muzzled and we, like cattle, were all herded into the Movement kraal.

When that didn’t work, the liberators opened up space for parties through a highly-restrictive law - the Political Parties and Organizations Act. Through the Act and subsequent government actions, political parties are allowed to exist and operate on a very short leash.

For all intents and purposes, it is still unpopular and many times dangerous to align with or belong to the opposition in Uganda. Where Ugandans wanted freedom to pursue their highest potential through quality education, the liberators gave us what my good friend Godber Tumushabe describes as an 18th century education that cannot address 21st century challenges.

Where Ugandans wanted freedom of assembly, they have to seek permission to assemble and more often than not, protesters have been beaten and tear-gassed off the streets, while the issues they raise persist unaddressed by the establishment.

When all is said and done, the liberators have slowly turned full circle into oppressors of liberty, and we are now in dire need of liberation from the liberators.

And this is by no means a call to arms. Rather, it is a call to all Ugandan citizens to be fully engaged in crafting a truly free and peaceful country. 
We can no longer subcontract liberation to others to do for us. We have to do it ourselves.

Twitter: @asiimwe4justice 
jacqueline.asiimwe@gmail.com 

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Gwokto La'Kitgum

"Even a small dog can piss on a tall Building", Jim Hightower