A tale of Africa and its Political Leadership

Africa; a continent abundantly gifted by nature, beautiful and resourceful with deep and thick history. Africa is said to be the cradle of humanity, besides, it is a generous and dear motherland to more than billion people.

A people; hard working, dependable with far reaching aspirations but who unfortunately are surrounded by excruciating levels of poverty and unending conflicts as if to suggest that there exists acute shortage of resources, aspiration and later on leadership on the continent. Surprisingly Africa has got all the required potential except that it lacks the right political leadership that is dependable, accountable and focused.

I have no doubt in my mind that leadership is a dominant culprit in as far as the African predicament of slow progress is concerned. Political leadership in most African countries has proved to be a nightmare of all times. The political leaders have failed miserably in the noble duty to organize and plan optimal use of the abundant resources available in their counties for the benefit of their people. This failure in itself should be bad enough to call for maximum indictment on part of the leaders and therefore put to question their credibility and caliber and probably raise the consciousness that things have got to change. Alas! This is not happening, it is business as usual and misery among the masses is increasing as much as the population figures.

For all intents and purposes, the concept of leadership is meant for the common good and for the sake of focused progress. Leadership in actual fact presupposes the notion of good leadership. Although, the reality in Africa has come to prove that bad leadership is leadership after all; provided that it is packaged in one crafty way or the other and as long as it can be forced on to the populace by any means. Many governments of the day are willing to go out of the way to suppress any popular discontent to maintain the status quo however unaccountable it may be. They will always sing the contemporary song of democracy although they are never willing to put the democratic lyrics in good practice, even when they try the process most likely will be manipulated and the genuine objective will not be achieved.

It should be such a SHAME, to the African elite who to a large extent are occupying most of the influential leadership positions in the many autonomous governments across the continent. Other than concentrate on solving the existing numerous problems they are busy solidifying them and creating more through selfish and manipulative tendencies.

Without necessarily pointing an accusing finger to any particular government, a mere mention of bad leadership will lead to the inevitable fact that almost every government on the continent will feel being touched in the eye, unfortunately most have lost the sense of responsibility and therefore cannot even feel the guilt. I know this would apply to many other leaders in governments across other continents but most especially in the so called ‘third world’.

Whereas it is true that there are many other factors responsible for slow progress on the African continent. It is only fair that each of these factors is diagnosed squarely and independently only then will it possible to administer the appropriate dosage and due attention. There is no doubt; Africa has full potential to progress faster economically and politically if the leaders choose to be honest and commit to enforce accountability through the echelons of government.

Time is now, for the African citizenry to reposition and stand on a high ground; look straight into the eyes of those who are entrusted with the responsibility of leadership and ask for accountability. The cobweb of political deceit which has thrived for long among leaders and those aspiring should be stopped. The complacency and hopelessness among the citizenry too should be overturned without delay.

It is not a crime to demand for better from leaders and later on to detest the bad practices of manipulation, corruption, oppression and bribery through which political and sectarian patronage networks are financed and maintained. The selfish attitude of ‘every man for himself and god for us all’ is simply not sustainable. The responsibility is ours and so is the choice to decide on whether we maintain the status quo or seek to overturn it and redeem our image as a people with ambition to succeed.

‘A luta continua’

Ugandans deserve Peaceful, Free and Fair Elections in 2011

The political tempo in the country is steadily heating up as we move closer to the 2011 general elections. Political parties have been busy electing and selecting their flag bearers. The observable signs from party primary elections paint a grim picture which may as well be a mirror image of the upcoming national elections. I think as Ugandans we deserve better, and I hope the managers at EC have been closely watching and learning lessons.

The EC recently announced a package of new improvements. The New Vision newspaper issue of Thursday, 19th August 2010 carried a story titled; “EC to Relay Election results instantly” apparently” apparently the Electoral Commission is said to be in the process of procuring computers for this purpose. The same newspaper of Sunday, 22nd August, 2010 carried another story titled “Uganda voters register now online” although it is ‘text only version’ without pictures.

This is somewhat good and welcome news and I take the opportunity to congratulate the Electoral Commission of Uganda on these very useful developments. However, I wish to quickly point out that the above good developments do not provide an end in themselves. They are simply additional ‘drops’ in the operational toolkit of the EC. If utilized honestly and competently they will go a long way to improve the quality of elections in Uganda. Let us not forget that lack of honesty in their implementation can lead into a sophisticated abuse which would water down the very essence for which they are installed. Otherwise the ultimate objective, I think should be about increasing EC’s operational and technical capacity aimed at delivering Free and Fair Elections conducted in transparent manner and in a peaceful environment.

Whereas I appreciate the effort of the EC that has resulted in the above reported improvements, I remain one of those NOT yet optimistic that Ugandans will witness a Free and Fair Election come 2011. I have well founded fear based on various and obvious factors which include; questionable commitment of government, lack of civic education, widespread political corruption and manipulation tendencies, dishonesty of politicians, wholesale and sheer readiness of the public to succumb to manipulation and bribery, unprofessional behavior of security stakeholders but most importantly the consistent failure on part of the EC to function as a truly independent institution. It should be noted that all the above vices have been steadily taking hold, simply because the EC has failed to operate as a truly independent Institution, besides its ineptness and that of government to administer punitive measures at their disposal which would serve as a deterrent of such dishonesty in successive elections.

The trend of events in regard to conduct of elections in Uganda is rather very disturbing, the more we have held elections the more the quality of election has degenerated. As a result the democratization process in Uganda has been getting more corrupted and weaker by the time, instead of maturing and growing stronger. True democracy goes much beyond the simplistic notion of majority versus minority; it is actually about practicing accountability, taking responsibility and candidness. That is why elected leaders in mature democracies would opt to resign from their positions once they are doubted even though they may still enjoy popular support among their constituents.

Ugandans should therefore not be under illusion that elections are automatically headed in the right direction simply because of the hi-tech improvements being installed by the Electoral Commission. The formula is very simple; what is fed in the computer is what will come out. It is obvious that technology will improve efficiency if competently used. There have been long standing allegations that the EC is infiltrated by security operatives in its voter and data processing department who are tasked to serve partisan interests. My sincere hope is that these allegations should never be true because if they ever turn out to be true the consequences are simply beyond imagination.

Fellow Ugandans, time to act honestly and responsibly is now. We cannot keep demanding better from others when ourselves are busy planning to circumvent the standards out of sheer selfishness, it is simply not sustainable. Although, as a matter of responsibility and necessity we must ever demand for better from our leaders and never expect less from them for the privileges they enjoy are purely for service of the people and not employment for their self enrichment. This should however, remind us all that as we demand for better today our kids expect better from us tomorrow. It is only and after we have ensured this trait that we can proudly enjoy and celebrate the cause of humanity and our very being as Ugandans.

Please! Eng. Badru Kiggundu and company we deserve better.

For God and My country