{UAH} Fwd: Archives Speak: Behind NRM Lines

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Behind NRM Lines

• Referendum: Case of New Dog Vs Old Dog
• Museveni grabs tools of dictatorship
• Partyists fall into trap
• Justice Odoki ordered to drop federo
• They come democrats and leave dictators
Museveni grabs tools of dictatorship

 

Behind NRM Lines by Onyango Odongo:

Referendum: Case of New Dog Vs Old Dog- The Monitor (Kampala) – Tuesday 22 June 1999

http://allafrica.com/stories/199906220103.html

http://www.federo.com/pages/News_1999.htm

In a five-part series Mzee Onyango Odongo, a former director of Information and Mass Mobilization at the NRM Secretariat and President Yoweri Museveni's leading spin-doctor, now turned critic, delves into Uganda's epic ideological battles to show how the 2000 referendum, the blocking of political parties and federo; and manipulation of the 1995 Constitution are part of a grand design for President Yoweri Museveni to "cling" to power.

The referendum due to be held in Uganda next year, ostensibly to choose a democratic political system, is an ingeniously concealed Sword of Damocles to finally eliminate the ailing democracy, already imprisoned under Article 269 of the Uganda Constitution.

And judging from the uncoordinated arguments for and against, it is apparent that the problems which necessitated the writing of the 1995 Uganda Constitution have not been resolved or understood.

When the Uganda Constitutional Commission toured all parts of Uganda and consulted the people on what the main item of the new constitution should be, they were left without any doubt that people of Uganda wanted people's power under the constitution.

This finding actually did tally with the main objective of the constitution making process, namely; to give the people of Uganda a workable political system.

The commission placed the ubiquitous demand of the people for people's power above everything.

Therefore, the first article of the Draft Constitution reads: "Article 1. All power belongs to the people who shall exercise their sovereignty through the democratic institutions of the state in accordance with this Constitution".

This article was perfect because the commission was appointed specifically to establish democratic institutions, or political organs, through which the elected representatives of the people could exercise people's sovereignty on behalf of the people.

Unfortunately the commission did not establish these "democratic institutions" anywhere inside the Constitution because these institutions could only emanate from a political system.

When the commission came face to face with the fundamental task of formulating the political system whose absence from the previous constitutions necessitated the writing of another constitution, they adroitly avoided the responsibility - and failed to give Uganda a democratic constitution. They lamely wrote under Article 94 of their draft as follows:

94 (1) "The political Movement system in this Chapter referred to as "the Movement" which was in existence immediately before the coming into force of this Constitution shall continue in existence subject to the provisions of this Article and of Articles 95, 96 and 98 of this Constitution".

But the fact was that there was no NRM system because there was no constitution of the NRM.

Everything about the NRM was stored in Yoweri Museveni's head. At that time, he would wake up one morning and say: "Let there be 12 directorates at the NRM Secretariat" and proceed to appoint twelve directors. Then he would wake up another morning and declare, "Let the number of directorates at the NRM Secretariat be reduced to four" and proceed to appoint four directors.

Where then did the Constitutional Commission get the Movement system they were talking about?

Since the NRM had no constitution or system of work, the Uganda Constitutional Commission formulated some kind of operational guideline for the Movement to put into the Constitution in Article 94 (2) Clauses (a) - (f).

Any serious critic of social order should be able to see clearly that Clause (2) of Article 94 is the quintessence of the trick used successfully to adulterate the 1995 Constitution itself!

For example, Section (c) states: "It (the Movement) shall be under the control of the people of Uganda". But no mechanism for such control has been provided. Section (f) unequivocally states: "There shall be no constitution or set of rules for the Movement other than as provided for under this Constitution or under any other law consistent with it". But under what Article of the Constitution or any other law can we find provisions for the control of the Movement by the people of Uganda?

Likewise, section (d) states: "All posts in the Movement at all levels shall be accessible to every citizen of Uganda through free and fair elections" and Section (e) states: "The Movement shall operate on democratic principles in all aspects and shall be accountable to the people, transparent in its operation and committed to the defence of human rights and freedoms". Then Section (g) concludes: "The Movement shall conform to the provisions of this Constitution".

Fine, but this Clause (2) was framed like a political manifesto. The commission should have framed a political system in legal language consisting of democratic institutions and created appropriate policy organs to spell out how the sections (a) to (g) would operate.

This would have created the political system to form the nucleus of the new constitution, and establish democratic institutions through which the people of Uganda could exercise their sovereignty.

The Constitution Commission, therefore, did not live up to people's expectations.

Unfortunately the political parties, led by politically impotent men and women who could not think for themselves, did not know why another constitution was being written.

So they did not make any recommendation about the political systems. For this reason, since the terms of reference of the Commissioners stipulated that they should use only the recommendations they collected from the people to frame the constitution, they decided to postpone the formulation of the political system which was the main reason for writing another constitution!

This they did by formulating Article 95 which reads:

"Parliament may by law create organs of the Movement and define their role".

This postponement rendered the exercise of writing a new constitution for Uganda utterly useless.

Still, the NRM leadership knew that there existed men with acute political awareness in Uganda who were likely to raise a strong protest for the failure of the commission to give the people of Uganda real power under a democratic constitution.

The Commissioners were, therefore, asked to lock up the political parties which the protesters were likely to use to raise their demands. This was done under Article 96 which reads:

"During any period when the Movement is in existence, political parties shall not endorse, sponsor, offer a platform to, or in any way campaign for or against a candidate for any public election."

This was, indeed, a very serious onslaught upon liberal democracy which Western donors were likely to disapprove. So the NRM leadership promised to review it after five years!

The promise was put in the Constitution under Article 98 which reads: "98(l) During the fifth year after the assumption of office of the first president-elected under this Constitution, a referendum shall be held to determine whether or not the Movement should continue in existence or whether the system of representation through political parties should be adopted in place of the Movement."

The Movement system, which has not been defined in any law but is stored in the head of Yoweri Museveni, had been juxtaposed with the multi-party democracy which failed during Obote's rule!

The gullible Constituent Assembly delegates were asked to choose one.

They could not and so they left it for the so-called referendum.

As the director of Information and Mass Mobilisation, I was following the constitution making process closely. When I realised that the Uganda Constitutional Commissioners had let the people of Uganda down, I thought it was not enough to just criticise the draft produced by the commission. I produced an alternative draft which was quickly printed by FAD and copies placed at the entrance to the Constituent Assembly for the delegates. I am not sure if they even read it.

When the CA Delegates began to scrutinize the draft of the commission, the first Article was amended as follows:

"Article 1. All power belongs to the people who shall exercise their sovereignty in accordance with this Constitution." The part of the sentence "through democratic institutions of the state" was thrown out!

At the same time the delegates never put any provisions for the exercise of people's sovereignty anywhere in the Constitution. Therefore, the claim that "power belongs to the people" became an empty political slogan.

The when the CADs came to the fundamental task of formulating a political system for the people of Uganda, they also shrank from their responsibility, adopted and modified the draft of the Constitutional Commission as follows:

Article 69 (1)" The people of Uganda shall have the right to choose and adopt a political system of their choice through free and fair elections or referenda. (2) The political system referred to in Clause (1) of this Article include: (a) the Movement political system; (b) the multiparty political system; and (c) any other democratic and representative political system.

At this stage the issue of formulating a political system was already lost.

The argument was no longer the framing of a workable political system but choosing a system between the dubious Movement system and the useless old system adopted from the British colonial rule.

Tomorrow Mzee Onyango Odongo describes the secret deals behind President Museveni's 1980 anti-Obote II guerrilla war and what he sees as Museveni's "grand betrayal".

Behind NRM Lines by Onyango Odongo:

Museveni grabs tools of dictatorship - The Monitor (Kampala) – Wednesday 23 June 1999

http://allafrica.com/stories/199906230123.html

Before President Yoweri Museveni launched his guerrilla war against the Milton Obote II regime, many leading politicians in Uganda had come to realise that people who become heads of government in Uganda would quickly develop into dictators because of the powers conferred upon them by the constitutions.

These powers also made presidents the sole owners of the army, police and civil service which they use to suppress democracy.

Some Ugandans, therefore, thought that if democracy was to flourish in Uganda, a workable political system ought to be established to ensure democratic institutions, or political organs, to which the executive authority of Uganda then vested in the head of government must be transferred.

This would enable the people to exercise the executive authority themselves, through their democratically elected representatives at various levels.

But, as Milton Obote was installed in 1981 as president due to the backing of a sectarian army, it was imperative that the sectarian army should be dismantled by force first.

For this reason, on Jan. 07, 1981; the late Dr Andrew Lutakome Kayiira, Francis Bwengye, Onyango Odongo (this writer), Lt. Sam Magara, Lt. Col. Peter Oboma, George Nkwanga and many others met in a house on the side of the road leading from Makindye to Lake Victoria, to form a united front and begin armed struggles against the army created by some covetous tyrants during the war against Idi Amin.

The meeting chaired by Dr Andrew Kayiira unanimously agreed to form a united front immediately and the declaration was written, but when the representatives of the groups were asked to append their signatures to it, Lt. Sam Magara, who represented Yoweri Museveni said he was not authorised by Museveni to sign any document on behalf of his group.

The meeting dispersed without forming a united front.

Another meeting was organised at Bunamwaya.

Yoweri Museveni attended it in person, but he refused to form a united front with other groups, arguing that he did not want the executive committee of such a front, composed of civilians to control his fighters.

Nevertheless, Dr Kayiira's group (UFM), Museveni's group and the FEDEMO group entered the bush to fight Obote's government separately, not that the 1980 elections were rigged but in order to dismantle the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA), which had then become Obote's private army, so as to level the political ground for orderly introduction of democracy in Uganda.

So the war against the UPC government began during January or February, 1981.

Many Ugandans danced with joy when on Jan. 26, 1986 Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance Army (NRA) successfully drove the Obote II's UNLA out of Kampala and, on Jan. 29, 1986, Museveni was sworn-in as president of Uganda.

However, Museveni suspended only some articles he did not need to use from the 1967 Uganda Constitution.

It would appear that because he wanted absolute power, Museveni kept all the dictatorial provisions intact for his own use.

Yet he knew that the political turmoil which be-devilled Uganda for many years has been engendered and/or nurtured by repeated arbitrary exercise of the despotic power conferred upon the presidents of Uganda by the dictatorial provisions in the constitution.

When the full list of his government ministers was released, many Ugandan critics of social orders were surprised to notice that he installed himself in all key state offices. He was the president of Uganda; chairman of the interim legislature called the National Resistance Council (NRC); Chairman of the National Resistance Movement (NRM); Chairman of the Army High Command and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces; minister of Defence and chairman of the Army Council.

To ensure personal control of the security forces of Uganda, he appointed Elly Tumwine as a nominal army commander without real authority.

Then he appointed a Rwandese Tutsi, Fred Rwigyema, as deputy army commander in-charge of operations, who was answerable directly to the president (who was both Commander-in-Chief and minister of Defence).

This arrangement gave Tumwine no access to operational matters of the Uganda Army (then known as NRA).

As if to keep Ugandans off military secrets, another Rwandese Tutsi officer, Paul Kagame, was appointed director of Military Intelligence, and his office received abnormally large funds under classified accounts which were not subject to audit.

Ugandans with acute political awareness were highly perturbed.

The 1967 Constitution gave Milton Obote and other persons who entered the high office of the head of state of Uganda great powers to flout democracy in Uganda.

But it would appear that the 1995 Uganda Constitution gave even more power to the president of Uganda to violate democracy with impunity.

Ugandans know how President Yoweri Museveni has so far used the executive authority of Uganda vested in him.

I will mention only a few cases.

1. The main instrument of dictatorship in Uganda has been the army. As stated earlier on, Obote and others were able to perpetuate their dictatorial rule in Uganda because they owned the army. But Obote's grip on the army was not so tight. That was why he was toppled by the army twice. But today Museveni alone owns the army and can do anything with it as the deployment of the UPDF deep inside Eastern DR Congo illustrates.

1. This was done without the knowledge or consent of the people of Uganda.
2. Uganda is "rumoured" to be one of the ten most heavily indebted countries, but no representative of the people can tell the exact figure and none knows how these loans were spent.
3. Parastatals like the Railways Corporation, Uganda Transport Corporation, Uganda Development Bank, Uganda Development Corporation were run down through state inspired theft.
4. Some ministers have been censured but that was all. They continue to enjoy life even better because the people of Uganda have no power.
5. Poor persons who went with Yoweri Museveni to the bush with just two pairs of trousers have become millionaires through corruption.

* Tomorrow: Onyango Odongo brings more details on 'Museveni's Bogus Democracy'.

Behind NRM Lines by Onyango Odongo:

Partyists fall into trap - The Monitor (Kampala) – Thursday 24 June 1999

http://www.federo.com/pages/News_1999.htm

This is the third in a series of daily articles: Behind NRM Lines by Mzee Onyango Odongo, a former director of Information and Mass Mobilization at the NRM Secretariat and President Yoweri Museveni's leading spin-doctor, now turned critic, which delve into Uganda's epic ideological battles to show how the 2000 referendum, the blocking of political parties and federo; and manipulation of the 1995 Constitution are part of a grand design for President Yoweri Museveni to "cling" to power:

The absence of a workable political system was the major defect in the 1962 and 1967 Uganda constitutions, which nurtured almost all political upheavals in Uganda right from the dawn of political independence in October 1962.

Bogged down in pursuit of self interest, the early leaders of Uganda could not establish appropriate democratic institutions to allow orderly participation of the people in the management of their own affairs.

The inalienable sovereignty of the people of Uganda, which the covetous tyrants have fraudulently called the "executive authority of Uganda", was exclusively vested in the head of government who also became the sole "owner" of Uganda.

So soon after Yoweri Museveni was on Jan. 29, 1986 sworn-in as president of Uganda, he tactfully released his political manifesto titled "Ten Point Programme" in which democracy was top of the list.

Museveni followed this with the appointment of a Constitutional Commission to draft a new constitution of Uganda.

Although many indicators showed that Yoweri Museveni himself had no serious commitment to democratize Uganda, the Constitutional Commission under the chairmanship of a Supreme Court judge, Justice Benjamin Odoki, laid a very good foundation for the framing of a constitution.

They widely publicised the constitution project, reprinted many copies of the old constitution being replaced and issued elaborate guide-lines for the people of Uganda.

They invited political groups, national institutions, leading scholars and individual citizens to furnish them with written views and recommendations on the kind of constitution the people of Uganda need for their own governance.

The people of Uganda responded to the appeal of the commission with unprecedented alacrity.

They submitted over 30,000 written memoranda and recommendations.

The commissioners also toured all parts of Uganda to consult the people. Wananchi met in their local councils and gave them verbal recommendations.

Unfortunately, although the Uganda Constitutional Commission provided them with reprinted copies of the 1967 Constitution which contained the dictatorial provisions that moulded the presidents of Uganda into dictators and quasi-despots, no political party submitted recommendations which sought to amend those provisions.

UPC supporters regarded the 1967 Constitution as their party's constitution and argued that it was good enough, and there was no need to amend it or write another constitution.

Strangely enough, even supporters of DP who were subjected to great sufferings under the 1967 Constitution could not specifically pin down the dictatorial provisions which were used to violate their human rights. They lamely argued that there was nothing seriously wrong with the 1967 Constitution, only that the persons who ruled Uganda were "bad leaders" who should be blamed.

For this reason, the political parties did not help the commission to frame a better constitution.

To dress up the largely dictatorial Movement in a democratic garment, the Constituent Assembly delegates in 1995 endorsed the empty slogan of NRM stalwarts which reads:

"71 (1) The Movement political system is broad, inclusive and non-partisan and shall conform to the following principles: (a) participatory democracy; (b) democracy, accountability and transparency; (c) accessibility to all positions of leadership by all citizens; (d) individual merit as a basis for election to political offices."

But no provisions were put in the constitution to spell out how people would be involved.

At that time there was no constitution of the Movement to accentuate these principles. When some pro-Movement delegates inquired how the beautiful principles could be activated and upheld, the stalwart movementists vaguely wrote in Section (2) of the same clause: (2) Parliament may: (a) create organs under the Movement political system and define their role; and (b) prescribe from time to time, any other democratic principle of the Movement system, as it may consider necessary.

The Parliament created the Movement Secretariat but the posts in that secretariat were not open to "all citizens".

For example, the Young Parliamentarians wanted Maj. John Kazoora to be the National Political Commissar but there was no way they could float his name. Only Yoweri Museveni could nominate candidates and ask the delegates to vote on such candidates.

The final blow then fell.

The power which Article (I) stated was to belong to the people was ingeniously removed from the people by Article 99 which reads: "99. (1) The Executive Authority of Uganda is vested in the President and shall be exercised in accordance with this constitution and the laws of Uganda. (2) The President shall execute and maintain the constitution and all laws made under or continued in force by the constitution.

It was necessary to write another constitution in 1995 to curb political dictatorship and internal conflicts by creating a workable political system, through which the democratically elected representatives of the people could exercise the sovereignty of the people entrusted to them, to manage the country for the good of all citizens.

Unfortunately, the political system to give the people of Uganda real power and the summum bonum of the new constitution, was never formulated by Justice Benjamin Odoki's Constitutional Commission and put into the 1995 Uganda Constitution.

The problems which arose because of the absence of a political system in Uganda were also never eliminated. In fact, the 1995 Constitution did not bring anything new to Uganda.

For this reason, we still need to formulate a workable political system that would accentuate liberal democracy.

In Behind NRM Lines tomorrow, Onyango Odongo describes how during discussions at the seminars which he organised in all parts of Uganda, in his capacity as the Director of Information and Mass Mobilization at the NRM Secretariat, the people of Uganda particularly from northeast wanted Federo and how Museveni tricked them.

Behind NRM Lines by Onyango Odongo:

Justice Odoki ordered to drop federo - The Monitor (Kampala) – Friday 25 June 1999

http://allafrica.com/stories/199906250179.html

http://www.federo.com/pages/News_1999.htm

This is the fourth in a series of daily articles: Behind NRM Lines by Mzee Onyango Odongo, a former director of Information and Mass Mobilization at the NRM Secretariat and President Yoweri Museveni's leading spin-doctor, now turned critic, which delve into Uganda's epic ideological battles to show how the 2000 referendum, the blocking of political parties and federo; and manipulation of the 1995 Constitution are part of a grand design for President Yoweri Museveni to "cling" to power:

Of all Ugandans who participated at the Uganda Constitutional Conference held in London during September - October, 1961, the late Democratic Party (DP) leader Benedicto Kiwanuka put up the most spirited fight to formulate a genuine democratic political system.

But the British and the Anglican Church persuaded Milton Obote and the Kabaka of Buganda, Sir Edward Muteesa II, who were implacably hostile to each other, to work together to defeat Kiwanuka, a Catholic politician.

The British were frightened and opposed Kiwanuka after he said he would expel all disloyal British civil servants and gave scholarships to 300 Ugandans, to study abroad, in readiness to take over.

Yet after signing the agreement which spelt out the terms of their political cooperation, Milton Obote in paragraph two of a letter which I later found on a File No. AAL/CON/G.7, Folio, 13 of the DP Secretary General who had then become the leader of the opposition in Parliament, Milton Obote proudly wrote in part about the UPC/KY alliance as follows:

"Kabaka Muteesa of Buganda and his blundering advisers have surrendered to us today, bringing with them the mass of misguided Baganda... When time becomes propitious, the moribund Kabakaship will be gallantly liquidated and the opposition DP will be muzzled and made defunct."

This document was widely circulated to warn Ugandans but the intense hatred of Kiwanuka by Muteesa prevented him from seeing Obote's plans to become a dictator.

Only the Katikkiro of Buganda, Ow'ekityibwa Michael Kintu, was able to see clearly that the UPC/KY alliance neatly concealed a time-bomb.

When Kiwanuka became aware of the decision of the British to side with forces of anti-democracy, he threatened to and later walked out of the conference.

Kiwanuka could see that the Uganda Constitutional Conference only prepared the way for transfer of the oppressive British rule to native agents after independence with more brutality towards political opposition.

Sir Edward Muteesa later wrote proudly of his ephemeral victory over the forces of democracy on page 161 of his Desecration Of My Kingdom as follows:

"The talks were successful for us. With Obote's support we obtained a great deal of what we wanted and looked forward to receive the rest later."

The Baganda had also scornfully rejected the proposal for the Prime Minister who inherited the powers of the British Governor to preside over all of independent Uganda.

They wanted the Independence Constitution to spell out clearly that the Kabaka of Buganda was above the Prime Minister of Uganda.

Hence with emotion, as quoted by D. A. Low in his The Mind of Buganda (Heinmann Books, 197 1) page 214, they issued a statement which read:

"As from Ist March, 1962, the seat of the Uganda Prime Minister will be in Buganda at Entebbe, and the National Assembly of Uganda will also be in Buganda in Kampala. We of Kabaka Yekka cannot hesitate to state that if Uganda is ever to be a prosperous and peaceful country,

the Prime Minister must always be subordinate to the Kabaka and other hereditary rulers."

This failure to provide for a head of state who could be universally acceptable to major groups in Uganda was a very serious threat to the unity of Uganda and one of three fundamental political problems created by the British colonialists, and unresolved by the London conference.

Under colonialism, Buganda Kingdom, Ankole, Bunyoro, Busoga or Tooro and Langi, Karimojong or West Nile areas were indirectly linked to British authority as independent entities which had no interdependent socio- economic dealings with one another.

The colonial system, adopted by the framers of the 1962 Constitution, became a fertile ground for inevitable breeding of parochial dictators who wanted direct authority after independence.

This question emerged when the 1995 Constitutional Commission under the chairmanship of a Supreme Court Judge, Justice Benjamin Odoki toured all parts of Uganda.

During discussions at the seminars which I, as the Director of Information and Mass Mobilization, NRM Secretariat, organised in all parts of Uganda, the people of Uganda particularly from northeast complained bitterly about government failure to pay salaries of their teachers and other civil servants; government inability to supply essential drugs to hospitals and dispensaries in rural areas, thereby leaving many peasants in the rural areas to die from curable diseases; and embezzlement of funds intended for the districts by the Government officials with impunity.

Wananchi identified concentration of powers in the hands of "thieves" in Kampala as the main cause of these social evils. The wananchi now wanted to control the funds and other public resources themselves.

The people wanted to establish their own education department, closely supervised by elected officials; they wanted public works departments to take care of development projects within their public sector; medical department to provide health services; the land department to handle land allocations up to granting titles and only forward particulars to the Central Land Registry for registration; to establish a department of agriculture to take full charge of agricultural development in their areas; treasury department; judicial department and local police to enforce law and order.

These demands implied that if the people were to exercise their power systematically, they ought to be set free from the centre and assisted to establish elaborate systems through their democratically elected representatives.

The Uganda Constitutional Commission, in over 30,000 written memoranda and verbal recommendations, was made fully aware that if the people of Uganda were to get genuine political power to manage their own affairs, they must be allowed to establish autonomous state administrations.

But the Commissioners knew that once this happened, these districts would become fully fledged states.

They also knew that if a state emerged in Acholi, and another in Ankole, Bunyoro, Busoga, Buganda and all other districts of Uganda, the only way to bring them together to form a Uganda nation would be to federate.

With the exception of the people of Kapchorwa, Kisoro and Moyo districts, who wanted centralised rule, the people of Uganda wanted a federal system of government in order to be able to take full charge and manage their own local affairs.

This was the best way of giving people genuine power. It would also prevent the grooming of dictators.

The Uganda Constitutional Commission recognized the ubiquitous people's demand for power. But as their draft later indicated, the Commissioners did not interpret this particular wish of the people correctly.

The commission discussed this issue with the NRM leadership and they were ordered to refrain from the idea of federo. But, since the demand of the people for political power could not be ignored, a way had to be found to hood-wink the gullible Ugandans with adulterated power. Hence the idea of decentralisation of the functions of ministries was born.

As the NRM leadership envisaged, the gullible people of Uganda accepted the political trickery as "empowerment of the people".

Behind NRM Lines by Onyango Odongo:

They come democrats and leave dictators - The Monitor (Kampala) – Saturday 26 June 1999

This is the fifth in a series of daily articles: Behind NRM Lines by Mzee Onyango Odongo, a former director of Information and Mass Mobilization at the NRM Secretariat, and now a critical commentator on the Movement. In this part, Odongo traces how leaders have abused the constitution to oppress Ugandans:

Uganda's experience has shown that the concentration of "the executive authority of Uganda" in the hands of the head of government, without appropriate restraining democratic institutions, could groom even the most democratic leader into a dictator……[I could not find the full length article.]

  http://allafrica.com/stories/199906260067.html

 

Behind NRM Lines by Onyango Odongo:

Museveni grabs tools of dictatorship - The Monitor (Kampala) – Monday 28 June 1999

http://www.federo.com/pages/News_1999.htm

This is the last of six daily articles: Behind NRM Lines by Mzee Onyango Odongo, a former director of Information and Mass Mobilization at the NRM Secretariat and President Yoweri Museveni's leading spin-doctor, now turned critic, which delved into Uganda's epic ideological battles to show how the 2000 referendum, the blocking of political parties and federo; and manipulation of the 1995 Constitution are part of a grand design for President Yoweri Museveni to "cling" to power:

When Milton Obote became president of Uganda again in 1980, he forgot his past mistakes and picked up from where he left until Brig. Oyite Ojok died, and Obote appointed another Langi officer, Brig. Smith Opon Acak as Army Chief of Staff. This provoked resentment among soldiers.

Then without any evidence, Obote accused Brig. Bazilio Olara Okello of inciting UNLA soldiers to oppose Opon Acak and, as he had done in the past, Obote proceeded arbitrarily to dismiss Bazilio Olara Okello.

Col. Bazilio Olara Okello, like Idi Amin before, mobilised supporters within the army and kicked him out a second time.

The Obote II regime witnessed gross human-rights violation including the detention without trial of Ambrose Okullu, Onyango Odongo (this writer), Rev. Father Vincent Okot, Galdino Okello, James Otto and Martin Odiya Temgwokke from Acholi, Prof. Yoweri Kyesimira, Alex Waibale and many others from Busoga.

In Luwero, all rural people endured untold suffering when they were moved into unhealthy concentration centres, ostensibly to isolate Museveni's guerilla fighters.

Around this time a soldier called Sgt. Sokolo and a UPC chairman in Luwero, Hajji Musa Sebirumbi, freely committed heinous crimes against innocent citizens.

In Kampala city, a diabolical operation known as panda gari which, in its devilish ingenuity and merciless slaughter of youths, had no parallel in Uganda history, was introduced.

Two opposition MPs, namely Sembatya, Kabarole East MP; lawyer Bamuturaki of the DP, and another man who was drinking at Kamwokya were killed like rats.

But the opposition group led by DP leader, Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere, who were supposed to be the watch-dogs, could not do anything to stop the violation of human rights in Uganda. Why were they so impotent? The answer was clear. The opposition MPs could not act because there was no political system in Uganda under which their role could be clearly defined.

Next year the people of Uganda will hold the referendum stipulated by the 1995 Uganda Constitution, to choose a "political system".

In this referendum, the dubious Movement political system has been juxtaposed with the ambiguous multiparty democracy which has already failed in Uganda under Milton Obote. This juxtaposition has already polarized Ugandans into two political systems i.e Movementists and multipartyists.

While Movementists have one voice: That the referendum must be held and are urging the people to vote for the continuation of the Movement in power, the multipartyists are divided.

One section says they should go to the polls and defeat the Movementists, to restore the old multiparty democracy. The other section strongly argue that holding a referendum to decide whether the people want freedom of association to form political parties, is a violation of their human rights of freedom of association. They argue that the people of Uganda should boycott the referendum.

I say the referendum will not help the people of Uganda to resolve the perennial problem of political instability which Museveni's Movement system has not been able, and is not likely to resolve in future. Keeping the dubious Movement system in power essentially means perpetually keeping Uganda politically unstable.

Likewise, reviving the multiparty system in the form it operated during the second government of Milton Obote will be akin to reviving the political instability experienced since the attainment of independence in 1962.

The fundamental political short-coming which necessitated the writing of the 1995 Constitution was two-fold. Firstly, concentration of powers in the hands of the president and, secondly, the absence of democratic political systems through which the power of the president could be regulated.

But the important task of formulating a suitable political system for inclusion into the 1995 Constitution to form the nucleus of that constitution, has been adroitly dodged. Instead the Movement system is juxtaposed with multiparty system.

The Movement is now in power and every Ugandan is experiencing the buffeting of its nefarious dictatorial fangs. But while other people curse the rule of the Movement, its supporters are determined to cling to power at all costs.

That being the position, there are only two alternatives to remove the Movement from power: Firstly through peaceful voting in the referendum and, secondly, through armed struggles in which blood will be spilled.

Is this what leading Ugandans like Emmanuel Cardinal Wamala, UPC's Cecilia Ogwal, DP's Paul Ssemogerere and many other advocates of boycott want?

The referendum must not be boycotted.

The Movement must be removed from power with informed votes. Ugandans who see themselves as leaders of the opposition groups must come out immediately to guide the masses on the issue of the referendum.

The masses must be well informed about the real issue for which they are going to cast their votes for or against.

It should be remembered that in the 1996 Presidential Elections, the people of Buganda and Busoga voted for President Museveni but not his political programme or policy because Presidential Adviser John Nagenda ably sidelined the issues and, instead, told the Baganda lies that Paul Ssemogerere was not the one who was going to be president of Uganda but Milton Obote.

To scare the gullible Ganda masses away from Ssemogerere, Museveni's "attack dog" John Nagenda produced two pictures to depict Obote's diabolical rule.

One picture was of the bones of people allegedly killed by Obote in Luwero and another picture showing Ssemogerere as president flanked by Cecilia Ogwal, Adoniya Tiberondwa and Rurangaranga. Obote's picture was then put under them as the National Political Commissar. No DP personality was shown anywhere near Ssemogerere. Consequently, the election issue shifted from policy competition to comparison between Museveni and Obote, with Ssemogerere being portrayed as a "bring Obote back" stooge.

Considering what happened in Buganda during Obote's rule, it would be madness to expect simple minded peasants to vote for Ssemogerere. Hence the majority votes went to Museveni. But it must be emphasised that the election of Yoweri Museveni as president of Uganda was not an endorsement of his political programme. Museveni entered the high office through deceit.

My last appeal is don't boycott the referendum. Educate the people of Uganda and mobilise them to defeat the Movement at the polls. Then begin the democratisation of Uganda afresh. God bless.

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