The very practice he condemns is exactly what he did by taking oil documents to Museveni

As the Parliamentary Ad-hoc Committee continues its investigation into the Oil Industry that has been shrouded in secrecy, public debate on the subject is still spirited as it were in the aftermath of Gerald Karuhanga, Western Youth MP, tabling documents of allegations before the House that ministers Hillary Onek, Sam Kutesa and Premier Amama Mbabazi received bribes. Andrew Mwenda, the Strategy and Editorial Director of The Independent Magazine, in the last edition of the same publication (November 18-24, 2011), rubbished the “Karuhanga documents”, rebuked Uganda’s elite class on being “shallow” in debate and analysis. He further highlighted the historic perspective on how MPs have abused parliamentary privilege before in 1966 and the current power struggles in NRM for possible succession to President Museveni.

In many forums before, Mwenda has decried the state of corruption in this country, demise of functional institutionalism and blatant abuse of office by politicians and public servants. He has indicated how poorly paid civil servants now own fancy apartments and big businesses in Kampala through corruption. President Museveni has presided over this rot in the public service. Instead of comprehensively reforming and re-structuring the civil service towards better performance, he has used it to build a stronghold on political power. Mwenda has indicated before that by creating opportunities for the elites and civil servants to profiteer from corruption through creating unnecessary administrative units like districts, semi-autonomous bodies, Museveni has co-opted these elites into the eating circle and thus entrenched his political power. It is clear that Museveni does not have the political will to fight corruption. I find it bizarre that Mwenda, the man who says that “Corruption is the way the system works not the way it fails”, can be the same man to believe that Museveni can fight corruption when it forms the foundation for his plan to build more political power. Mwenda has gone on to conclude before that “President Museveni is not corrupt in the sense of gaining wealth. He is corrupt in a sense of using money to attain his political power interests.” Mwenda should have known better that he could not get any credible or worthy results with the oil documents the moment he took them to President Museveni.

Another interesting aspect in his arguments is insistence to take the documents to President Museveni. This is testimony to the death of institutionalism in this country. Mwenda has always condemned the death of institutionalism in Uganda- where every interest group such as women, tomato vendors, cattle herders, market traders, etc all want to take their grievances to the President. Mwenda, as a preacher of institutionalism, should have probably taken the documents to the Uganda Police or Director of Public Prosecutions, IGG or Parliament. The very practice that he condemns is exactly what he did. It is clear he was not being any different from the women groups and market vendors who always seek audience with the President even on the most trivial of matters. And that brings us to probably the reason Mwenda sought audience with the President only. He knows if these documents were tabled before Police or IGG, these institutions don’t have capacity to investigate and conclude them. It is a sad irony that we can’t find resources to build capacity for various government agencies to perform better but we can afford to hire international investigation firms to verify documents. Mwenda should at least be lobbying for capacity building in Police, IGG, DPP so that they can competently investigate such cases. The collapse of institutionalism in the last two decades under Museveni’s reign is the reason Mwenda could not trust Police or IGG’s office to do a good job with the oil documents.

Mwenda further intimates that at the heart of this oil debate is a power struggle to succeed Museveni within the NRM, and it is the reason some individuals within the party and parliament are hell bent on bringing Mbabazi down. Whereas this may be true, we don’t do ourselves any good when we don’t reflect on why this is so. Museveni has mentioned before how only he has the vision for this country and has not made any effort for his party to freely discuss succession in the party. There is a widely held view that only Museveni can deliver the presidency to NRM. If the NRM made clear its succession plans and allowed free discussion, there would be less power struggles in the party. Mwenda, as an insider, should be tipping the President to make a clear succession plan so that the party has less intrigue. It is absurd that Mbabazi, the man perceived to be Museveni’s choice for successor, is also hesitant to firmly but respectfully declare his vision to lead the country. In the latest media reports, Mbabazi makes a reserved and cautious expression of interest in the top seat. It is clear he doesn’t want to be “misunderstood” by the President.

Finally, Mwenda’s constant attack and rebuke of Uganda and Africa’s elite class as being shallow in debate and analysis of issues is reckless and unfair in equal dimension. He divorces the context from his argument and conclusion. He knows that with the liberalisation of the education sector, academic excellence in exams and papers has taken precedence and killed off avenues for students to read and learn material outside the examinable curriculum. So this elite class is a product of the education system that was not supported by the NRM government for the last two decades.

Mwenda knows the government’s UPE and USE are more of quantitative than qualitative educational programmes. The government project to lay fiber optic cable to boost access to faster internet has delayed for over two years. He rightly credits President Kagame for investing heavily in information technology and internet access in Rwanda to the extent that even children in rural schools have access to computers, laptops and internet. This is alien to Uganda even in districts like Iganga that are on a major route to the coast. Despite Museveni’s dreams to develop Uganda into a middle income economy, he is not the man to lead us to this promised land. He has done his contribution to this cause. It is only prudent that every time Mwenda gets his audience, he advises him to allow a stable change of leadership. The current oil saga and wanton corruption in both the public and private sectors are symptoms of a dysfunctional system Museveni continues to preside over. It is futile to call on him to reform it.

www.rugaba-agaba.blogspot.com

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