A Short History Lesson on Politics in Uganda

Disclaimer: This was written last week, but the internet at work wasn't working very well for most of last week and then I forgot about it until now. So Naveen and I have done a couple of things since then, like visit the Gaddafi Mosque. Pictures will come, but probably not until after we get back from safari this weekend.

So I thought I should do a blog post about my work, seeing as one of the reasons why I decided to do a blog was to help me with the course I will be taking in the fall about my internship. Plus Naveen and I haven’t travelled for the last couple of weekends.

So I think I’ve mentioned before that Naveen and I have been working on research for a report on multiparty democracy and political pluralism in Uganda.  For me it has honestly been fascinating.  Although I did my undergrad in global political science, I mostly concentrated on Asia and I did very little on Africa because a lot of people took those courses.

Before coming to Uganda I had so little knowledge of their history and political system that it was embarrassing. Everyone knows about Idi Amin, largely due to the film the Last King of Scotland, but I knew so little about what happened after that.  So that I can remind myself later, I thought I could give everyone a short political history lesson on Uganda.  (as a disclaimer, this is all from memory and thus there might be mistakes)

After the fall of Idi Amin, Tanzania was incredibly involved in Ugandan politics because it was the Tanzanian army that was largely responsible  Yusef Lule actually became President immediately post-Amin.  He was part of the international Ugandan human rights movement that was instrumental in bringing about international support for the removal Amin.  Kanyeihamba, who’s interview I wrote about in June, was also a part of this movement.  Under Lule’s government, Museveni (the current President) was head of the military.

However, Lule’s government did not last long as even during the negotiation process with Tanzania in his rise to power, Tanzania was already in talks with Obote and the UPC to return Obote to power.  Thus Tanzania effectively removed Lule from power and inserted Obote.  Obote was already in power before Amin, but this time round he was just as bad as Amin - although many people (back home) may not know this.  

During Obote’s rule, Museveni started the National Resistance Movement (NRM) as a means of overthrowing Obote. It was actually based on what I think are pretty good ideals - that is, it was meant to be a people’s revolution.  It had strong grass-root connections and really relied on the entire population’s support to survive and grow.  So it was about government being based on the people, not a figurehead inserted by someone else.   The NRM came to power in 1986.

The NRM established a one-party system known as the Movement System on the basis that the country was too fragmented due to the turmoil of the last 20 years.  Instead elections would be held  based on merit rather than political affiliation. This was to be in place up until 1995, at which point the most recent Ugandan Constitution was put into place.  This Constitution is actually remarkably progressive and even requires positive action by the government on behalf of minority groups. (however, it is rarely implemented - particularly when it comes to the provisions we have studied for the report)

Under the Constitution, every five years the country would have a referendum as to whether to stay under the Movement System or move to a Multi Party System.  So this first referendum was held in 2000.  However, as Rashid (my co-worker) put it, it seems that new leaders always promise great things, but once they come to power the chair they sit on becomes too sweet - and they don’t want to leave.  You also have to understand that Museveni still retains massive support countrywide - particularly in the rural areas.  This is largely because the method of organizing the NRM undertaken to overthrow Obote focused on the grass-roots level. So when it came to the 2000 referendum, Museveni campaigned hard against a shift to the Multi-Party System.  He ‘won’ the referendum and the Movement System stayed in place.

However when 2005 rolled around, Museveni changed his tune and supported opening up to the Multi-Party System. Based on interviews, people seem to think that this happened for a couple of reasons.  First, there was significant internal pressure from within the NRM as more and more members spoke out against the President. Second, there was significant external pressure from international donors (ie the US and EU) for Uganda to adopt political pluralism.  Third, there are those who think that the Constitutional amendment to switch to multiparty democracy actually provided a vehicle for Museveni to make other amendments.  Most notably, with the shift to multypartyism came the removal of Presidential term limits.  So as it now stands, Museveni is able to stay in power for so long as he is elected.

Now, the Electoral Commision (EC), which is the body in charge of carrying out elections, is chaired by members who were all appointed under the Movement System and are thus NRM cadres.  Furthermore they have no security of tenure, which means the President is able to remove and appoint chairpersons at will.  Thus, as you might imagine, elections are anything but free and fair in Uganda.  And therefore, as it currently stands, Museveni now has the power to stay President for as long as he likes.

SO: on the face of it, politics in Uganda is rather depressing. But I have really enjoyed the opportunity to interview professors, members of the really vibrant civil society, and political party members.  And their answers to my questions and the discussions I get to have shows me that there is room for change and that there are those who are actively pushing for it.

(As a side note: Naveen and I have been taken off interviews for this last week, and probably the one to come, to help finish a report from last year that has yet to be published on the right to fair trial.  So at least we are dealing with something that is tangibly ‘legal’ in nature, but it really sucks not getting go on interviews - I was really starting to enjoy them)

On a lighter note, here are some pics from the last couple of weeks:

A beautiful sunset from my balcony

One of Naveen's funniest boda rides yet.  Devin and I made her ride by herself on this one because the driver has the same ridiculous helmet as she does - and he ended up proposing to her while driving home.

The view of our very rainy Canada day.  It was raining so hard that you could barely see past our back yard (compare to the sunset photo....)

Naveen and Devin all decked out for Canada Day