David Mafabi, a veteran journalist (PHOTO/Courtesy)
Uganda seems to be on a Free Fall, government has failed to help and the opposition parties have radically different ideas, interests about how to save it.
The politics that has evolved since NRM came to power has instead divided the country, denied Ugandans the opportunity to engage in constructive debate or even create room for the emergence of new players to guide the process.
No one has an obviously good answer for how to arrest Uganda’s downward trajectory because Uganda’s established politicians are either incapable of or uninterested in undertaking the reforms necessary for economic rescue.
And yet these same politicians remain solidly in control of the country, having withstood the challenge of opposition for decades.
How to save this country comes down to a few key questions: Can Uganda’s politicians be induced to do what’s necessary for the country, even at the expense of their parochial interests? Or, can Uganda politics produce some new national leadership adequate to the country’s existential crisis?
In the recent index, Uganda was ranked 151st, slightly ahead of collapsed states and devastated economies like Burundi and South Sudan. Among the most corrupt offices that Ugandans have highlighted are the police and courts of law.
Ugandans are now faced by the threat of economic collapse, court orders are disobeyed, land grabbing is at its peak, corruption is everywhere yet the NRM government continues to give the country’s progress a clean bill of health.
With only about three years to the general election [2026], the main opposition parties in parliament apparently are unable to hold the government to account, they are is total disarray, fighting for “dirty Money”, the current trend is worrying.
This country has witnessed so much evil but unfortunately, majority citizens, including the opposition leaders, end up lamenting and directing blame to other quarters but doing nothing about them.
And yet the country has representatives who are expected to interrogate issues because that is their responsibility.
Those in ruling NRM party system are busy approaching the opposition with promises and gifts but the result of all that is the death of the party and the oblivion of its leaders.
Across the devoid there seems to be an accepted way that opposition leaders are looking for ways of getting money “dirty money” from the ruling NRM government and opposition figures seem to have given President Museveni a carte blanche to do as he pleases without any challenge.
True NRM has been unambiguously authoritarian and procedurally democratic but, in practice, seemingly impervious to accountability, reform, and change but who has come out to challenge this?
There seems to be political calm, opposition figures and activists seem to have accepted the NRM as the only party that can be in power instead of launching a fresh systematic challenge to President Yoweri Museveni’s seventh term.
Forum for Democratic Change [FDC] an opposition party in parliament maintains that their goal is getting from a Ugandan society that is divided and controlled by political-sectarian NRM elites to a single Ugandan people under a civil government—this objective is largely shared across opposition groups.
The opposition groups are not necessarily poised to assume power or representative of the Ugandan citizens broadly because the country’s regime seems resilient.
I want to state that those in government must wake up to the fact that government responsibility is enormous and requires concerted efforts from all quarters to contribute ideas and combined actions in order to serve society and build for posterity.
In this case, the opposition becomes crucial in that endeavor as the parliament is representative court of the people.
But take it leave it, one of the most serious and disturbing weaknesses in our political process today is lack of an institutionalised and focused opposition group that can take on the government over its excesses.
Opposition party politics have mostly reverted to familiar tropes: partisan attempts to gain relative advantage, political media gossip, and speculation about great-power intrigue “plus dirty money” from the NRM government.
Even when the opposition parties have been vocal in criticising the government, they have done this in a sporadic and inconsistent manner that has not helped in changing the situation.
The Opposition has not presented itself as a government in waiting by offering policy alternatives but has merely been criticizing the ruling government on democracy, rule of law and corruption.
I want to remind opposition that the success of democracy rests in large part on both the opposition and the government and in order for democracy to operate successfully, ruling government should recognise it as legitimate and give it an institutional form.
For Uganda, I want to blame opposition groups, for the “complexity of crises at various levels” in our country, please as Ugandan citizens, we deserve better.
After 35 years of the country’s ‘mismanagement ‘and years of corruption plus amassing of wealth, roughly 60 percent of eligible voters in Uganda reelected incumbent President Mr Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of NRM with a majority government.
So what went wrong? It’s easier to ask what went right, because the answer is nothing, unless you are President Museveni and in that case, the answer is terrible, opposition parties spend the time fighting one another for second place and criticising president Museveni without providing alternatives.
It is true partly that the political system in Uganda is paralyzed by the manipulation of the electoral process by NRM ruling party and citizens are usually unable to freely exercise basic civil liberties, and corruption is endemic.
And that physical security is tenuous due to violence and human rights abuses committed by government forces but shall we keep crying about this without offering solutions?
This moment requires a step-change in strategy and support and without such momentum, the country faces a democratic setback potentially as serious as the ones already occurring across other African countries.
The ruling government must understand that it has three arms – the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary, likewise, Parliament has two sides: the ruling and the opposition (majority and minority parties).
This makes the opposition a crucial part of an arm of government and that is the reason why decrees in a democracy cannot work and benefit society without consultations between the two sides.
Unfortunately, the citizens’ observations on consultation between the ruling party and opposition in Parliament are that they are skewed towards personal and individual interests.
I want to suggest that the Opposition and civil society should work closely to transform this country into what we want it to be and history offers them vital lessons.
Opposition must act now, at scale, with strategy and build a broad-based, multistranded, prodemocracy movement around a positive vision concretized in locally rooted action and strengthen accountability to reset norms on what behavior is legal and acceptable if our nation is to benefit.
The Opposition and civil society must now change tack on how they engage the government because in the past about 37 years they have not given us desired results.
Every institution seems compromised
In Uganda today; the key institutions created by the Constitution to allow seamless governance are not working as they should.
The Parliament’s oversight role has been compromised, as have the roles of the Executive and the Judiciary to the level that President Museveni stands out alone as a president, prime minister, speaker, Ministers and other government technocrats.
Religious leaders are no longer seen as neutral players who work closely to rescue the country from collapse but are willing to work with government as long as they are given vehicles and money for their programmes.
It is clear that the country lacks strong charismatic leaders to chart this debate because the entire country has not been given a chance to determine their leaders to progressively bring Uganda to where it is supposed to be.
For the sake of this country Uganda, government and opposition players must reform themselves, opposition should put their houses to order and democratise, to allow new players with fresh ideas.
A strong Opposition can force the government to listen and think of the possibility that the 2026 elections might not be a sure win and this might allow issue-based politics to thrive in Uganda and prevent voter apathy.
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