UGANDA: Behind Museveni's looming militarisation of public service (PHOTOS)

BEHIND MUSEVENI'S LOOMING MILITARISATION OF PUBLIC SERVICE

By CHANGE OF GUARDS

"There is no way the NRM can fail to defeat corruption. The NRA/UPDF promptly stopped extortion on road blocks, extra-judicial killings by the army, sectarianism, poaching of wildlife in the National Parks and the brutalizing of the wanainchi.  The NRA/UPDF cadres have not been involved directly in this fight against corruption.  We have been relying on the officers from the institutions we inherited in 1986 ─ the Civil Service, the Judiciary, etc. In 1986, we could not have done much on this issue. First of all, we did not have enough educated man power to man agencies that needed high levels of education.  Secondly, however, even if we had had manpower, it would not have been wise to displace the old civil servants and replace them with our own cadres. We would have been unfair to the incumbents. It is good that we gave them enough time to expose themselves. They know they can no longer blackmail us. Unlike in the past when they had public sympathy, today they are hated by most Ugandans and therefore easy to fire.  Fortunately, on account of the massive education programmes we have rolled out, we have a very large number of educated people that are ready to replace corrupt officials.  I can sack 10,000 civil servants and replace them the same day.”

      Museveni's recent rhetorics on alleged corruption in the public service.

It is not true that when Museveni took over power in 1986 corruption was at its peak.  He found a vibrantly functioning public service apparatus whose service delivery was superb.  Access to public service jobs was based on merit.  Some soldiers and to some extent some UPC Youth Wingers manning security roadblocks would steal small money to buy cigarettes and local beer.  Errant soldiers would sneak out of barracks to rob radio cassettes, watches, TVs and small cash in the neighborhoods.

He sidelined the traditional public service structure more especially in the local government because he perceived it to be aligned to the ousted UPC.  He introduced Resistance Council leadership at all levels of local government.  At district level he introduced the Special District Administrators (SDA) who later came to be known as Central Government Representatives (CGR) and later renamed the present Resident District Commissioners (RDC).

The political indoctrination centre dubbed school of Political Education that transformed into the present National Leadership Institute (NALI) at Kyankwanzi attracted and produced the best brains called Cadres.  Under the powerful office of National Political Commissar (NPC), the offices of the RDCs supervised these Cadres who were later renamed Political Moblisers.  The same Cadres were posted to other government agencies, departments and Ministries. These cadres had the task of acting as the eyes and ears of the regime in as far as implementation of its hoax Ten Point Program was concerned.  As the likes of Fagil Mande, David Pulkol and other corners Cadres.

Even within the army, the Political School under the Political Commissariat  department headed by the Chief Political Commissar (CPC) was also grooming its own military cadres.  The two categories of Cadres had a similar task of ensuring the success of the revolution as they were commonly referred to as the VANGUARDS OF THE REVOLUTION.  The sytematic  harassment into exile of some office holders perceived to be loyal to UPC and moreso those from the northern and eastern regions, created room for these Cadres to asume those positions.  Coupled by retrenchment of civil servants while at the same time creation of several parallel agencies, the cadres came to dominate the public service.

The first Cadres to get compromised were those in the military which is the cradle of corruption, abuse of office, sectarianism and nepotism.  Once it became a public secret that the men in uniform were leading the way in illegal accumulation of wealth, the civilian cadres joined the fray and the situation ran out of hand.   Museveni's security officers have excelled in theft of public resources and outright armed robberies.  Unlike past armies that stole radios, watches and small money at roadblocks to buy cigarettes, Museveni's soldiers steal in billions of shillings from public coffers.  For the first time in the history of Uganda senior army officers stage armed robberies to rob banks, forex bureaus, and cash in transit.  They aid smuggling, drug trafficking and steal ivory from government strong rooms with trillions.  They arrest, forcefully reverce court decisions, torture, extort, detain civilians without trial in military barracks, maim and summarily execute in hundreds.

Therefore, by bashing the army as corrupt free, Museveni is simply trying to dupe Ugandans.  He is trying to psychologically prepare Ugandans for a massive deployment of soldiers into the mainstream public service.  Otherwise, let him tell Ugandans what happened to the Cadres of the late 80s and 90s.  The militarisation agenda has been ongoing;  in 2010 Parliament stood its ground and forced Gen. Jeje Odong to retire from the army before he could take up his appointment as a cabinet Minister.

In 2013 the same Parliament was coerced by Museveni to approve the appointment of Gen. Aronda as Minister without retiring.  The court petition is still pending determination.  Again in 2017 Museveni coerced Parliament to rubber stamp the appointment of Gen. Katumba Wamala to a ministerial position.  This is not to mention the appointment of several serving soldiers to several public service positions in different agencies.  Deployment of soldiers in Parliament, ISO, Police, Local Government (RDCs), revenue collection, Fisheries, Forestry, OWC, wildlife, National ID project, Tourism and other sectors have not helped.  The latest being the recent takeover of the anti-corruption crushade and immigration services.

He is simply trying to bring to his grip the traditional public service by placing it under the full control of his cohorts who will further his Musevenism agenda.  That way, the appointed cohorts will paint a picture of normalcy while the situation will grow from bad to worse.

INFORMATION IS POWER AND THE PROBLEM OF UGANDA IS MUSEVENISM