UGANDA: FUNDAMENTAL REFORMS  ( 7 YEARS LATE):

IT BEGINS WITH THE LEADERSHIP MINDSET

(Matsiko Kahunga)

The English language has the uncanny reputation of being the biggest ‘thief’ among languages. It evolves and enriches itself by acquiring words from other languages. Every year, new borrowed words are incorporated into the latest edition of the English thesaurus. It therefore follows that a number of English words require one to trace their origin (etymology) in order to appreciate and grasp their meaning. And so, it is with this word so casually used without digging deeper into its intrinsic meaning. This word is reform. All current political and civil society talk is spiced with ‘reform’ this, ‘reform’ that, ‘reform’ here, ‘reform’ there…

But what exactly do we mean by reform? One language guru says that reform has its roots in the Greek work metanoiete:  made up of two words, meta (beyond), and nous (mind). Reform therefore in simple terms means going beyond the current mindset. Any meaningful reform must seek a new thinking, a new attitude, a new mentality, a new inside self…a new paradigm. Short of this, all efforts are only superficial, with no visible results and impact, as we have witnessed in Uganda over the last two decades. All attempts at reform have been on the form, but the substance has remained unchanged.

As 2016 attains climax in 2014, reform is the word in vogue, though it is taking two diametrically opposed directions, one side rooting for  electoral reforms, while another  talks of constitutional reforms, to postpone the 2016 elections to 2021.  Superficial in either case. Reform we do need, but it must be meaningful, transformative reform.  Our political leadership must do a genuine inner soul-searching; asking themselves the following questions inter alia;

·        What is my perception of this political office as President, Minister, MP, Councillor, Local Government Chairman, or Mayor?

·        Is this political office a business investment that I must spend hundreds of millions seeking election?

·        Is this office a position of entitlement that I must demand a free car, free iPad, free medicare, free everything?

·        Is this an office for service or lordship?

·        In this office, am I a shepherd or a hireling?

·        Does Uganda owe me a living or I owe her a duty and service?

These and similar questions will inform the type of reforms that Uganda needs, to restore hope to her citizens so that we have reason of being proudly Ugandan. Since I have not interviewed any political leader on the above questions, I will posit here my own understanding of political leadership, thus the type of ideal reforms to undertake.

 

A political leader at every level is a shepherd, who owes patriotic duty and obligation to his/her motherland and countrymen living, departed and unborn. In the current Ugandan context therefore, reforms informed by this leadership mindset must focus on the following key elements:

Constitutional and Administrative Reforms

·        President: we restore presidential term limits to two terms of four years each

·        Vice President : we abolish the office

·        Prime Minister:  shall be elected by parliament from among MPs as their primus/prima inter pares, ‘prefect’, first among equals.  

·        Cabinet: Once elected by parliament, the prime minister shall nominate and submit for nominal appointment to the president, a cabinet team from MPs. The prime minister and cabinet shall be answerable to parliament. An MP appointed minister shall leave parliament. Maximum of 16 ministers, supported by technocrats. No junior ministers.

·        Legislature: a bi-cameral parliament: 

a) National Assembly of 60 MPs representing 60 districts (rationalised from the current 112).

b) Senate of 10 governors heading the 10 Economic Growth Poles (cantons, provinces, poles, or whatever name adopted). These shall replace the current local governments, with each canton made up of the 6 new rationalised districts. 

c) Regional Assemblies: Each canton shall have 18 councillors, 3 from each of the 6 districts. No district councils. No sub-county councils.  Districts and sub-counties shall become production units under the EGPs. Planning is done at EGP level, with districts and sub-counties as levels of service delivery.  No more urban or rural local government classification. All urban centres get administered within the larger canton.

No more interest group representation in legislature at all levels.

 

Electoral Reforms

We already have a precedent in the 1989 NRC Statute, under which the then legislature was expanded. We retrieve that, and elect leaders thus in 2016:

·        Election remains universal adult suffrage but using the RC system: lining up to elect the President, MPs, Governors, and Councillors all on the same day. The candidates’ pictures pinned on large boards, for voters to line up, spaced 10 metres apart.

·        No permanent Electoral Commission: elections to be planned by the Directorate of Civil Governance in the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, with voting supervised by the Chief Administrative Office and its subordinate offices. Voter counting shall be done by school prefects at each polling station.

We cannot afford the luxury of huge political wage bills and other expenditure, all in the name of pursuing strange abstracts of secrecy, enfranchisement, and related catch-words often advanced while promoting such expensive systems as the biometric voter register. It did not work miracles in Kenya. One year in office, the Jubilee government is grappling with meeting its campaign commitments. Salary cuts would not be necessary, had the leaders heeded the wisdom to use the natural biometric system: physical lining up to vote.  What is more biometric than the voter’s physical presence in flesh and blood confirmed or disputed by his/her neighbours?

We cannot squander billions (earned, begged, or otherwise) on elections, while poverty sinks its roots deeper and the national debt is already ensnaring three yet unborn generations.

 It is only through such ‘outlandish’ proposals as these, that reform will make sense. Strategic management calls it Business Unusual. This is what leadership is all about: transforming, not conforming.  Great leaders who have led their nations to prosperity have used this as their secret weapon to success.  Uganda is not short of great leaders.