Tracking NRM's 25-year political journey

Written by Bwire Stephen Thursday, 27 January 2011 13:39

In his first address after being sworn in as president at the steps of parliament on January 29, 1986, the then frail guerrilla Marxist revolutionary asserted that theirs was not a "mere change of guard but a fundamental change in the politics of Uganda".

That statement defined the NRM's journey towards the restoration of democracy, peace and security, as outlined in the original Ten-Point-Programme.

In the same address, President Yoweri Museveni castigated African leaders who over-stayed in power, and those who flew expensive jets as their subjects were immersed in abject poverty.

While opening the first session of the National Resistance Council (NRC), which acted as the national parliament, on April 11, 1989, Museveni was elated to see that one of his long-held wishes had come true-- to see the emergence of a measure of political consensus in Uganda; a system where Ugandans were free to participate in the democratic process of choosing their leaders.

Towards one-party state
This was the beginning of real democracy, where aspirants for the various elective offices got their mandate from the masses under one-man-one vote system, or individual merit as opposed to multipartyism.

President Museveni had had a long-held disgust for multipartyism on the mantra that parties fomented sectarianism and divisionism among the citizens of the country, and that they were the number one reason as to why Uganda had been trapped into anarchy. He said that they had better put parties in abeyance until such a time as when Uganda was prepared for multipartyism.

This set the pace for a one-party state under the all-inclusive Movement system, the National Resistance Movement (NRM), which was a broad-based system bringing together members who subscribed to the various political parties. Until the opening up of the political space in July 2005, all Ugandans, by law, belonged to the Movement system.

Road to constitutionalism
The road to constitutionalism began in 1990, when President Museveni, who was meant to step down that year, as per the schedule of the transitional government (1986-1990), sought the mandate of the NRC to add him more five years (1990-1995) to see through the process of birthing a new supreme law for Uganda.

Thus the transitioning of the NRC to the Constituent Assembly (CA) in 1994 to pave way for the new constitution, a process that saw various politicians seek the people's mandate through elections of one-man-one vote to set foot in the CA.  It was this delegation that debated and promulgated the constitution in 1995; the first constitution in which the citizens of Uganda were consulted on the various issues.

The 1995 constitution replaced the 1966 abrogated constitution of Apollo Milton Obote that had been hastily drafted after the bitter fallout between Obote and the then Kabaka of Buganda, Sir Edward Mutesa, also President at the time.

Uganda's 'first free democratic elections'
With the new constitution, Ugandans, for the first time, elected their leaders in what was dubbed the first democratic elections in which President Museveni offered himself up for elections alongside his first interior minister Paul Kawanga Semogerere and Mohammed Kibirige Mayanja, who stood on the platform of JEEMA. Museveni was over overwhelmingly voted by Ugandans garnering over 75% of the popular vote under the universal adult suffrage to begin his new and "first" [as stipulated in the new constitution] five-year- tenure of office.

The landmark of the NRM's democratic process was the inclusion of special interest groups such as women, youths, workers, the army and persons with disabilities (PWDs), of whom some like women are elected under universal adult suffrage. The workers, army and PWDs are elected through electoral colleges.

Indeed, women have been accorded more space in politics and other leadership roles in government.  Currently women comprise 25% of the overall representation in parliament.

Real test to Museveni's rule
The real test to Museveni's rule was in 2001 when he contested for his second and supposedly last term of office. Former ally and personal bush war physician, Rtd. Col. Dr. Kizza Besigye, pulled-off surprises of all surprises as to run for presidency after the incriminating dossier he wrote in 1999 criticising the NRM government of straying from the initial vision of building a democratic system of governance.

The contest pitted President Museveni, who still stood under the umbrella of the Movement system, Kizza Besigye under Reform Agenda- a political pressure group-, Aggrey Awori Siryoyi who later on defected to the NRM and is now a minister and Kibirige Mayanja, still under JEEMA.

These elections were marred by violence, harassment of opposition supporters, ballot stuffing and widespread election malpractice as the Supreme Court would later attest.
After the stormy elections, President Museveni was re-elected having scored 69% of the popular vote against Besigye's 27%. This was supposed to be Museveni's second and last tenure.

Life Presidency sets in
Midway through Museveni's last term, debate ensued on presidential term limits, sparking off the journey to another constitutional amendment. Government established a constitutional review commission that was headed by Prof. Fredrick Ssempebwa to collect people's views on the proposed constitutional amendments. Sticky issues of amendment were the presidential term limits, and the return to multipartyism.

various people, including some ministers and officials in Museveni's circle, rejected the proposed constitutional provision to scrap presidential term limits off the constitution.  

To solve the impasse, Shs 5million was dished to the honourable members of the 7th parliament to allegedly play ball with President Museveni and allow him reign for unlimited terms of office.

Those against term limits in the constitution were to argue that Museveni was not the intended beneficiary of the process, but, rather, all presidents who would come after him.

President Museveni  finally stood for elections against his erstwhile rival Kizza Besigye of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC),  and this time round, Miria Kalule Obote of Uganda People's Congress (UPC), Ssebana Kizito of Democratic Party (DP), Abed Bwanika, an independent and among others.

Museveni scored 59% of the vote while Besigye came second with 37%, an improvement from the previous 27%, factoring in that the latter had spent most of his campaign time in court answering to charges of treason and rape. 

Parties unlocked
The same constitutional amendment saw the opening up of political space with various parties both new and old dotting the political horizon.  The original NRM morphosed into National Resistance Movement Organisation (NRM-O).

Today, there are more than 100,000 registered political parties and organisations in Uganda. But much as the NRM government has allowed parties to operate, there are still concerns that parties are not allowed to freely operate, infringing on the fundamental right to assembly and expression or to belong.

Buganda a thorn in NRM flesh
Buganda remains a thorn in the flesh of the NRM government. It was the NRM that restored cultural institutions including the Kabakaship in 1993. Ostensibly, Museveni wanted to appease the Baganda and secure their support as he sought to entrench his regime in power.

As time has proved, the romance between Mengo, the seat of Buganda Kingdom, and NRM government has been losing steam at an appalling rate. Government has more often than not had to cave in to Mengo's demands until it couldn't cave in anymore. Issues of concern have been the granting of federalism to Buganda, the return of the Kingdom's 9000 sq. miles of land including other expropriated properties, and granting the Kabaka more powers to collect taxes in his jurisdiction.

The ultimate in the stand-off was witnessed in 2009 when the government barred the Kabaka from visiting Kayunga, a melee that calumniated into the death of a dozen innocent civilians. Before the dust could settle, Buganda's most revered cultural heritage, the Kasubi Tombs were torched to ashes and some officials at Mengo were quick to point fingers at Government.

It's these and other sets of acrimony between Buganda Kingdom and the NRM government that have resulted into the Cultural Institutions and Leaders Bill, which is about to be passed into law, seen by critics as a move by Government to curtail the powers and influence of the Kabaka.