Political Evolution and Development Policies of Uganda - Essay Example

The Political Evolution and Development Policies (successes and failures) of UGANDA Introduction Uganda has been experiencing political evolution since the 1990’s. Various local, domestic and global issues such as past heritage of colonialism, the founding of political parties and system, political leadership, institutions, national culture and economic reform processes, the global patron community and government authorities have contributed to this evolution (Kaiser & Okumu 2004 p.1). Uganda’s capital, Kampala was taken over by Yoweri Museveni and his National Resistance Army in January 1986. Museveni became the president of Uganda and started to build a proper political system after the bloodshed left over by the corrupt and vicious leaders of the past. He developed a National Resistance Movement (NRM) to vigilantly let free the city and countryside residents without provoking their cultural specialties. In 1994, Museveni’s party along with the NRM managed to get two third majority in the Assembly election. Further he managed to win two no-party presidential elections and legalized the ‘Movement’, however the success of the movement is considered to be doubtful due to the changing political environment (Kaiser & Okumu 2004 p.2-3). Development in Africa – Past and Present According to Johann Kriegler, the expression – developing countries in Africa – is no longer true. This regression is attributed to the worsening rate of child death, life expectancy, per capita Income, GDP and HIV/AIDS. Most of the African countries have nil or negative economic growth. With various religious and other interferences, the basic ethnic beliefs and practices of tribal Africans have been forgotten. To understand the democratic development of African politics, democracy in Africa should be considered as by Africans and for Africans. European Unions and the United States have played a major role in Africa’s development. The author asserts that they should play a more dominant role in the development of the continent and exceed the amount of contributions made thus far. Further Africa should regulate its policies and follow open door systems towards international markets. While kindness is poured by way of truckloads of grains, it would be better to take it from African farmers rather than taking away their livelihood with more supply of grains. Professor Amartya Sen notes that government tactlessness and famine are directly related to poverty. Constitutional rights and liberty create and guarantee prospects of involvement and are essential not only in preventing unbalanced allocation of shortcoming but also in assuring equal economic privileges. These are essential for broader economic growth of any nation. As vigilant and active group of people form a government, they can be ever active, informant and critique and take required remedial actions when ever required. Public health and housing are the next two issues associated with the government of Uganda and it is required to take necessary steps seriously and respond immediately to requirements. Further a democratic reform is required for considerable economic growth. For an economy to prosper, suitable political, legal and moral factors should favor the democracy. Another important favorable factor is willingness to accept and let grow the economic, social and technological changes. Scarcity, illiteracy, disempowerment, famine and ailments are the major factors in Africa that stand against development. Racial discrimination is another important factor, which has hindered economic growth. Economic growth of any country is possible only with international finance or market. This proves correct in the case of Africa where international finance from various organizations is abundant but due to inefficient governments, all these resources are being wasted. Understanding and accepting fundamental human rights is another major factor in economic development. Past rulers were trying to pursue centralized rule and they never gave importance to personal requirements. Wars added to the worsening situation. Formation and development of various special interest groups such as Women’s groups, Trade unions, professional associations, churches, chambers of commerce and youth organizations would improve the current situation. Another reform required for development is the involvement of traditional authorities in local development programs. An example to note poor economic development is the cold attitude towards Indian businessmen irrespective of the movements by Museveni. Similarly many Jews who had been in business, arts and small-scale industries have fled the country following racial discrimination. A positive aspect that has contributed to the development of Uganda is the inflow of some West Africans who have been honest and efficient in their businesses. Small-scale businesses are very important in the overall economic development of any country. Just like a strong foundation is needed for a tall building, the small-scale businesses form the foundation for a country’s economic progress. These said, the fact remains true that in spite of plenty of monetary support from various national and international organizations and government, the overall economy has benefited very little. Since money has not been a problem the situation can be attributed to inefficient governance. This can be made better by more support from the local authorities, applying to the concept of bottom-up development. Getting deeper, self-improvement adds up to a better neighborhood and that in turn adds up to a better society. The funds too should be carefully and effectively utilized to get a positive outcome. Most of the past freedom leaders were more concerned about national independence rather than individual autonomy. The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) has made some remarkable improvement in assuring the quality and governance of local authorities. The political and economic efficiency is counterchecked with the norms set by APRM and required corrective actions are taken to overcome the shortcomings. The major shortcomings of the development policies of Uganda are that it does not take into account the individual’s role in the society, the approach is top-down, it ignores the risk factors involved if the system does not function in the desired manner, it is not transparent, not accountable and does not consider the traditional authorities who can prove to be highly worthy in the overall national development. The only problem with this system is that the processes and means are quite vague. African Democracy and its Future The past showed some improvement in Africa and it seemed as though the country was up for some solid development. But the present conditions make the political and economic experts doubt on the very factor of good or bad development. If the current conditions are analyzed it is very clear that the intended growth has not been achieved, rather, the political and economic conditions are getting worse. Based on these facts, it can only be hoped that the country develops positively though it might be a slow process. The progress will not be steady; it’ll have halts and will not be equal throughout the country. Those states which seems to progress at least a little at present will see improvement in their conditions in a more consistent and quicker manner than those which are either stagnant or have deteriorated. Whatever improvement is expected, will be based on the national and international support provided to the government. They will have to be patient since it might take a decade or two at least to see some more progress (Ndulo, M. 2006. p.11-16). Uganda – The Pearl of Africa Uganda was declared as a British colony in the London Gazette during the 19th century. During this time the residents of Uganda neither knew what London Gazette was nor what it meant to them. This was basically the result of the competition that prevailed amongst Britain, Germany and France to establish their power over Africa and to control the waterways of River Nile. Though its formation was meant for overpowering Africa, Uganda’s path to independence was not violent; rather it was systematic and pleasant. Uganda became independent in 1962 and the authorities invested efficiently in education, healthcare and betterment of public services, which gave a positive outlook to the achievement. In spite of a glorious beginning during which Uganda was called the ‘Pearl of Africa’, the next two decades saw the darkest sides of brutality, fraud, illegal businesses, coercion, human rights abuses, dictatorship, trade and industry fall and civil war. By 1985, Uganda was on the brink of disintegration with various parts of the country being ruled by different groups. Internal and international trade became impossible. Inflation was extensive, salaries became worthless and famine and scarcity of essentials became common. In 1986, the NRM lead National Resistance Army captured Kampala and the situation started to change. With a new government in authority, inflation, which was almost 200% in 1986-87 dropped down to 4% by 2000. The progress has been consistent since then. Infrastructure and academic developments have made astonishing progress and this has contributed highly to the consistency in overall growth. Conflicts in development Though an exceptional and inspirational success story emerged in certain parts of Uganda, there were internal conflicts in many areas. While few parts of the country were progressing, some other parts were completely neglected and this mounted to growing inequality within the country. Large funds were spent on military to avoid further economic loss due to violence and corruption that was experienced in the past decades. Increase in military interference created many regional conflicts. The movement has done less to improve national security and more to increase condemnation. The movement that started with a celebrated image has a much dented shape now. Increase in the number of AID / HIV affected youngsters is another serious problem that surrounds Uganda. Since youngsters form the major productive group of a nation, such conditions make personal and overall national economic loss. Limited export resources are another hindrance to economic development. Uganda’s exports consist mainly of coffee and tobacco. Such limitations in production cut short the international income of the nation. This situation can be improved only by effective government participation by giving special grants / loans to export oriented businesses. To avoid the conflicts and complexities of multi-party governance, the NRM movement came out with a no-party government. While the economically developed part of Uganda supports the movement, the less privileged part was totally against the movement since it worsened their issues. Uganda is a small country with diverse ecological and physical factors. The diversity is due to the heat and humidity attached to the Equator which lies very near to Kampala. Uganda is surrounded by land even though it has about twenty lakes that help to compensate the equatorial neighborhood. For the same reason Uganda exports a good quantity of fish. Uganda is a mix of plateaus, volcanoes, lakes, equatorial mountain forests, mountains, glaciers, snowfields etc. River Nile has an important role to play in Uganda’s life. Papyrus plant used to make paper grows abundantly in the valley of River Nile. Many rare species of birds, as much as thousand in number dwell in Uganda. Fertile and rich land is another asset to the agriculture-oriented country. With vast fertile lands and thick population, it has been divided into smaller kingdoms with local authority over land, of which Buganda is a major kingdom. Another part of Uganda has some extreme climate and dry land where agriculture is not possible. This area is utilized for cattle herding by the less dense population. Instead of big kingdoms, smaller tribal clans are more popular in Uganda. This preserves the ethnicity which otherwise would have been lost. This involves a negative factor also. A majority of the population belonged to such clans and they could control the political patterns. This became a threat in the sense that national integrity became the second interest and clans’ interest enjoyed more importance. This would move the conditions back to racial discrimination, which prevailed during the past and would lead to violence for power. Efficient utilization of natural resources for betterment of living conditions of the public has been another challenge in Uganda till date. With only one major hydroelectric power-generating unit, most of the water resources stay un-utilized. A tense neighborhood implies more refugees pouring in to the country. Uganda’s government has been supporting this flow especially in the case of Sudanese refugees. Such support extended especially to the rebels in Sudan has created conflicts between the two governments. Sudan in turn is giving support to a group of rebels from Uganda who has sought refuge in Sudan for planning terrorism against one part of Uganda for several years now. On other borders also, similar issues have cropped up. Uganda’s involvement in the war in Congo cost huge amount of money, social insecurity and bad reputation that had taken years of effort to build up. Religion has played its own part in worsening the conflicts, which was the case with most countries and this has already reached extreme levels. The already existing diverse tribal clans, introduction of Christianity and Islam has made the current situation a state of total confusion and complex ideologies infused into various groups. The British intervention added to the already existing internal conflicts. When Uganda became independent some of the internal clans / kingdoms were discontented with the concept of handing over the power to a central government. The British policy of divide and rule had created more than enough problems for the post-independent leaders to try and unite these diverse groups. Though considered federal, Buganda continues to enjoy its own local control and has its own government and set of rules. Such issues lead to dissolution of Government within a short period after independence. Uganda after Independence Post-independent Uganda saw many constitutional changes, which involved new foreign policies and alliances. This resulted in some unexpected turn of events. The following years saw the cruel leadership of Idi Amin, throwing out of Asians, economic regression and finally the war against his cruelty. Post-war country witnessed further violence during election and this made many people flee the country and seek refuge in the neighborhood nations. Guerilla wars and attacks by rebels left many without land and food. Un-reasonable military intervention made the public uneasy and they became aware of the Government’s involvement in the devastation. On one hand the internal conflicts kept getting worse and on the other the people’s sense of security, human rights, faith in government, agriculture and economy all suffered due to growing terrorism, violence, corruption and robbery. Families got scattered while seeking refuge or due to acts of terrorism and robbery. The chaos multiplied with the devastating speed with which HIV / AIDS was spreading in Uganda. Controlling the outbreak, creating awareness programs, taking preventive actions needed immediate attention as well as action. Many organizations came forward to fund and volunteer for the cause. Rehabilitation was another aspect the government had to provide for the restoration of its people. Kids who lost their parents to HIV/AIDS had to be provided shelter and most of kids had contracted the disease. In spite of the extensive efforts the government has not been able to effectively control the spread of HIV/AIDS. Anyhow, the integration thus created has improved the overall situation with a commendable decrease in the percentage of newly infected people. With low levels of literacy and high levels of conservative thinking, it is very difficult to create awareness against HIV/AIDS and that itself has been the major challenge faced by the national and international organizations fighting for years. Alien to all these issues are a group of nomads within Uganda who still stick on to their tribal tradition. Being hardcore conservatives, they consider education as a threat to their traditional values. Time after time different authorities have tried to interfere in their affairs but they have been always defensive to development. Moreover, their intrusions to neighboring areas have resulted in tensions. The only form of technology they have accepted has been weapons especially AK 47, which was abandoned by the army during the course of war against Idi Amin. The repeated experiments to educate the tribal have slowly started to show some positive response with few elders understanding the need for education. Uganda’s economy is shaped mainly by export of small-scale agricultural products such as food grains, coffee, bananas, sweet potatoes and cotton. While it was a colony under Britain, the exports confined only to British and after independence it has expanded to the global market. That’s the only difference between pre-independence and post-independence exports of Uganda. Being such a small economy, Uganda has little influence over global prices. As we saw earlier different parts of Uganda comes to term with different economic, climatic and environmental issues. Where one part might have harsh environment another part might be enjoying rich fertile land and emerging economy. Where one part is getting economically poor and another is getting richer. Basically the conditions are such that the richer get richer and the poorer get poorer with passing years. Education is the most important aspect of any child or individual for self-development. Due to the increasing commodity prices and decreasing number of students educational institutions are finding it difficult to operate let alone make profit. Most people in Uganda grow their food. They need to buy some essentials such as sugar, salt, soap etc. and pay tax. In a situation where buying essentials itself is a big problem, education will have to be considered a luxury and many people are not able to send their children to school due to the same reason. This puts the school in trouble and they are forced to further increase their fees, which again forces more students to discontinue. The government tried to make sure every child gets free primary education by forming a policy and fund for universal primary education (UPE). The policy aims at creating 25000 classrooms, providing free textbooks and improving teacher training. This improved the situation tremendously. More students enrolled and the medium of teaching became their mother tongue rather than English. With the spread of education and awareness, recognition of individual rights became important. People began to understand that during elections, individual quality should be the criteria rather than the party (Leggett, I. 2001). Literature, Festivals, Art & Leisure in Uganda Oral literature is the most common form of literature in Uganda due to low levels of literacy and writing being introduced after colonialism. Songs, poems, taboos, wise sayings, proverbs, riddles, tales, legends, fiction and drama are the most popular ways of oral communication. Due to a person’s experience, it can be said that whenever a senior dies along with him a library dies. There are limitations to printed material due to political and economical problems (Otiso, K.M. 2006 p.179). Social and personal celebrations are part of Uganda’s people. Social celebrations like Christmas, Easter, Eid al-Fitr and traditional religious events are celebrated. Personal celebrations include birthdays, anniversaries etc. Apart from these the crucial ages of human life such as birth, puberty, marriage and death are also celebrated. Almost all sorts of celebrations involve music, dance and food apart from the specific rituals. Large gifts exchanged during the festivals convey the status of the giver as well as the receiver. Ugandans are very good at creative and performing arts. Many of them are skilled at weaving, pottery, making ornamental carpets, variety pots, baskets, chairs, shields, bows and arrows and musical instruments especially drums. They are also good at singing and dancing which is an essential part of their festivals. Though there are many formal and informal ways of dancing for different ceremonies, Acholi dancing is very special. It is a communal dance with about 8 different styles of dancing. Storytelling is another form of performing art. Since the Ugandans did not have a written form of language till recently this was the way history and myths were passed on to coming generations. Leisure activities in Uganda depend upon the individual’s financial situation. A common man may not even have basic amenities such as running water and electricity. Such a person would visit their relatives / friends and chat with them or sometimes play traditional games. For the rich, they may engage themselves in listening to radio or watching satellite television. Social gatherings are leisure activity for the poor and may involve entertainers who begin their work by dusk. Storytellers, magicians, tumblers, gymnasts and skilled jugglers carry away the audiences mind. Snake charmers and monkey tricks are other famous crowd pullers. Such entertainers expect some money reward from the gathering. Games are another popular leisure time engagements. Traditional games are altered slightly according to the age group and location and played by kids and youngsters. For the more privileged in the cities, they can opt for movies, swimming pools, soccer stadiums etc. Men go to cafes and bars while women and children go out on their own. Friends and relatives visiting and having food at home is another way of time pass. Even larger towns and cities have nightclubs, discotheques, casinos and movies for the youth. Uganda has produced many sportsmen and sportswomen during the reign of Idi Amin. Soccer, boxing, football, cricket, netball, swimming, tennis, golf, squash, rugby etc. are some of the popular sports practiced in Uganda (Barlas, R. 2000.p.104-107) Summary Uganda, which was once called the Pearl of Africa, saw great development post- independence. This was short-lived due to various political, economic and cultural factors. The diversity was vast and abundant with natural resources and environmental factors. The same diversity became a reason for conflicts within the country and resulted in post-independence internal conflicts. These conflicts along with low literacy and purely traditional way of thinking worsened the conditions and led to internal divisions. A dictator like Idi Amin managed to command power over most regions of Uganda and it led to economic regression, high levels of corruption, robbery and finally the civil war. Post war conditions also did little to improve the situation since by then Uganda was facing another big problem – HID/AIDS. Free education and awareness programs supported by national and international funds have helped improve the conditions. On one side is Uganda’s rich culture – art, festivals, literature and sports and another side has internal conflicts due to diversity in culture and environmental issues. This is one nation, which has proven that money alone cannot improve economic and environmental matters. Education, mutual understandings, government support and individual rights should be given equal importance while drafting policies and its implementation should be combined with follow up policies to maintain political and economic development in a progressive manner. Reference Barlas, R. 2000. Uganda. NewYork: Marshall Cavendish Kaiser, P.J. & Okumu F.W. 2004. Democratic transitions in East Africa. Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. Leggett, I. 2001. Uganda: the background, the issues, the people. Oxford: Oxfam Ndulo, M. 2006. Democratic Reform in Africa: Its Impact on Governance & Poverty Alleviation. London: James Currey Publishers Otiso, K.M. 2006. Culture and Customs of Uganda Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group Annotated Bibliography Uganda is a book written by Robber Barlas on the social and cultural life of the people of Uganda. The book includes attractive photographs and encourages a person to travel to this country. The effects of industrialization and political and economic influences are also compiled in the book. The book unravels in details, the social practices, financial condition of people, basic facilities they have and their leisure. Democratic transitions in East Africa are written by Paul J. Kaiser, F. Wafula Okumu. The book is a brief note about the transition of war torn East African countries with huge number of refugees and genocide and people displaced due to civil war was transformed into systematic political systems with tremendous cost to grassroot communities. The formation of democracy in the East African countries indicate one solid policy that worked towards the restoration of authority and legalize political rule by bringing security and peace to these countries and giving hope for economic development. The book details the aspects that were significant to the construction of democratic political system in the continent of Africa with special emphasis on Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. The transition of these countries was faced with several challenges and serves as a lesson for those countries that aim to transform into a democratic nation. Uganda: the background, the issues, the people is written by Ian Leggett and gives a detailed account of Uganda from the past till the present. Uganda was known as the Pearl of Africa long ago and it has undergone sufferings due to the notorious rule of Idi Amin. His dictatorship has resulted in human rights abuse and economic depression. However, Uganda has reconstructed into an inspirational economy with a vibrant portrait in the continent of Africa. The book provides an account of political and historical background and the steps towards the formation of the present Uganda. The book also accounts the various conflicts in the country and the implementation of educational programs and innovative policies to fight the spread of AIDS/HIV Democratic Reform in Africa: Its Impact on Governance & Poverty Alleviation is written by Muna Ndulo. The book is an overview of the democratic reform in the African nations which has been complex, slow and painful. The amount of progress has not been assessed well to reform their policies to drive economies into better state. This condition is due to poor development policies and the general attitude of African nations towards the implementation of new policies. Racial discrimination has also hindered economic progress of African nations like Uganda. The book states that international aide has not done much good due to poor state governance. The book also suggests some steps to reduce poverty and boost economic development with policy reforms. Culture and Customs of Uganda is a book by Kefa M. Otiso. The book speaks about the political problems and the crisis of AIDS in Uganda after attaining independence in 1962. Culture and Customs have importance in Uganda due to the presence of numerous rustic ethnic groups. The book comments about the traditional culture and the changes made to suit modern culture with respect to gender roles, education, religion, family life, work, marriage, ceremonies, media, arts and the like. The book gives and insight into the rural and urban culture and the culture of the poor and the elite. The book concludes with an explanation of various artistic forms of Uganda. Read More