allAfrica.com: Uganda: Independence - Country Divided At Heart (Page 1 of 1)

Kampala

Forty-six years after the British colonialists transferred political power to Ugandans, there is much talk today about what indigenous leaders failed to achieve or mismanaged than how their stewardship empowered nationals to achieve the dreams envisaged under self-rule.

The promises by pro-independence fighters of economic prosperity for all through elimination of ignorance and disease has failed, as an estimated 9.3 million Ugandans remain stuck in poverty, making it difficult for parents to feed, clothe and house families.

Much of the country's basic infrastructure - road, rail and bridges, including the Owen Falls dam overpass connecting the vital eastern import/export trade route through Kenya - are in shambles and so blighted are public health facilities, among them Mulago National Referral Hospital, a colonial relic.

In a public debate on the eve of the 46th Independence celebrations, academics and political analysts gave a divided opinion on the dividends of independence thus far, while agreeing, in unison, that ending the White man's authoritarian, sometimes dehumanising rule, was in the first place a good deed.

Mr Ndebesa Mwambutsya, a political historian at Makerere University, said the public hullabaloo and disdain over independence observance, was a result of varying definitions and interpretations of the 1962 transition, which has rewarded sections of the population while disadvantaging others.

"A peasant will celebrate independence as having the freedom to sleep in his house; an intellectual will consider it in terms of how fair the governance system is, in relation to regional balance and the transition of power from one government to another," he argued.

This was a pointed statement. Peaceful transition of State power has eluded Uganda to this day, and all the eight presidents from Sir Edward Mutesa to Gen. Tito Okello Lutwa, whom President Yoweri Museveni toppled in 1986, were kicked out forcibly.

It is a failing blamed on greed for power and declining patriotism marked by tribalism and massive official corruption, where even health workers steal drugs from government medical facilities, which they then sell for personal enrichment in private clinics.

The Uganda Governance Monitoring Platform, a civil society organisation, aimed to strike a consensus on the actual meaning of Independence and how Ugandans could use the day to demand greater freedoms and justice during the Hotel Africana debate. It never did. Instead the outcome of the October 8 discussion was a cocktail of inclusive opinions, which mirrored the varied interests of the participants and discussants.

Mr Adolf Mwesige, the Minister of State for General Duties in the Office of the Prime Minister, said Independence for Uganda only gained meaning when the ruling government came to power 22 years ago. That way, the minister appears to be badly editing the country's illustrious and equally torturous post-independence historical detail.

Mr Mwesige said the NRM government has built more schools and health centres at sub- county levels, tarmacked more roads and introduced regular elections for democratic choice of leaders - thus empowering citizens to actively engage in governance of their country.

These achievements, he said, were true manifestations of liberty for which President Museveni should be credited after past leaders such as Milton Obote and Idi Amin misruled the country, shattering its economy and terrorised the citizens.

"The NRM government liberalised the economy; introduced reforms in education, developed infrastructure, and (encouraged direct foreign) investment, which has brought employment. Uganda has truly undergone socio-economic and political transformation," the minister said. Not many agreed. Dr Frank Nabwiso of the Opposition Forum for Democratic Change party criticised the governance and electoral system as weak, giving the incumbent President opportunity to rig elections and entrench his rule. This way, he said, people's legitimate choices are not gauged and respected.

To him, the Electoral Commission acts in favour of the NRM government and has been registering President Museveni as a candidate under different identities since the 1996 elections."In 1996, the President was registered as Kaguta Yoweri Museveni. In 2001, he was registered as Museveni Yoweri Kaguta, and in 2006, he was Yoweri Kaguta Museveni," Dr Nabwiso said, adding, "Is this one and the same man that Ugandans have been voting or they are three different people?"

Even when the debaters disagreed on the fundamentals of governance, including whether or not independence should be celebrated anymore, one thing which so surprisingly united them across the political divide was the soaring cases of corruption.

In the end, it appears, each Ugandan divested from national interests of patriotism, will interpret independence based on personal convenience, if not confusion.

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