BONNA BALONDE
For people watching the political developments in
Uganda today, the scenario for the 2011 elections is being created. This maybe unknown to us every day mortals. On one hand the ruling party is house cleaning as the president traverses the country side on meet the people, oversee wealth for all visits. What meets the eye however, is a subtle electioneering in progress.
The opposition parties took the clue and recently coalesced to form a colossus to challenge NRM. Even though the Democratic Party is sitting on the fence at the moment , six parties are in on forming the colossus. However, it is the ruling party that is working on a winning strategy.
The local leaderships all over the country, apt at catching the president’s eye are organizing their peoples in droves that are beseeching the president for a fourth term. Very interesting, is it not. I thought the local mandarins would give the president the status of the programmes in their districts in respect of his manifesto; through which the president’s electability for 2011 would be assured.
While at it, did the last parliament not remove the obstacle for another term by amending article 105 of the 1995 constitution? Surely it is a forgone conclusion that a sitting president can seek as many terms as he deems fit until he attains the mandatory retirement age.
As the local NRM leaders are prostrating at the president, they should rather focus their energies on implementing the president’s manifesto and leave it to the people on election day to determine if His Excellence deserves another term.
Well, it may not be up to the local leaders to behave like cheer leaders. Uganda is a country that is over politicized. Politics is the one single pastime of the people. Naturally, money is made in politics. From the bloated cabinet, the innumerable presidential appointees, the unceasing districts with its vast councils, to the debates in our media; it is all politics.
Did someone asks about business? Our business is also politics; to make money, you need to have a good grounding in politics. That is a clue that foreign investors should understand. The president once complained that the investments institutions were frustrating investors. To stop this anomaly, he required of foreign investors to reach him directly.
Back to 2011, I bet NRM will win another election. The route to deliver that historic win is being cleared. In parliament last year, the Minister of Lands, the Hon. Omara Atubo tabled a bill, the land bill. In the words of Dr.Specioza Wandira Kazibwe, former vice president and agricultural minister, we need a land use policy to enhance productivity in the country.
So the new bill would correct distortions in land use and create an important resource for accelerated agricultural development and indeed the delivery of Uganda to a middle income status. We need an industrialized country. We need a vibrant middle class, and a middle class is built on land (sic).
But the scenario in Buganda is that land ownership is the preserve of absentee land lords. Yet squatters, or tenants are omnipresent, making land development cumbersome. Therefore to have a policy that corrects this problem is a welcome solution.
Remember, this is a politicized country. The Buganda government and Buganda generally see this land bill differently. They see it as another government ingratitude to the important role Mmengo played in securing victory in 1986; by killing the very existence of the kingdom (sic). As the politics intensified in the media with growing opposition to this bill by Mmengo and sections of the clergy,etcetera, the stage is set to roll out AGENDA 2011.
Naturally, this is a welcome soap opera with protagonists playing captivating roles to our enjoyment. Until, tragedy struck. Two Mmengo ministers and the head of a civic education program are arrested and treated to a rendition. A new genre in this business where a suspect is roved thoroughly until their spirit is broken.
As the suspects are treated to rendition, the mood is somber in the country and the bill can sail smoothly; at least without a peevish attention from Mmengo. But the bill needs opposition so that another dimension can be added to it to steady the ship to 2011. Enter a pressure group to support the peasants from eviction (sic). Save the peasant Association we shall call it or Bonna Balonde (Universal voting) for now who will form a powerful platform for NRM to use to deliver agenda 2011.
Remember to win a presidential election in Uganda, you need to win Buganda. With hysterical peasants on your side the scenario for 2011 is likely to be a NO CHANGE. We are ofcourse accustomed to a package of ideas of how an election can be won. The Bona Balonde is another master stroke to steel the ship while the president’s visits upcountry is really a sideshow; meant to clean the trophy for display.
