i

It Begins with Us! Voices of Citizens on the Uganda We

Want to see @ 50 and Beyond

Report of Citizens’ Dialogue

August 2013

i

Research Team Overall

Prof. Josephine Ahikire Prof. Samson James Opolot

Dr. Aramanzan Madanda

Team Leaders Dr. David Kibikyo

Dr. Lawyer Kafureeka Dr. Tabitha Mulyampiti

Mr. Mwambutsya Ndebesa Ms. Peace Musiimenta

Dr. Sarah N. Ssali

Researchers Ms. Ann Ninsiima

Ms. Harriet Pamara Ms. Jackline Kirungi Mr. Amon A. Mwiine

Mr. Charles Ndyabawe Ms. Lucy Ebong Akello Mr. Edward Rubanga Ms. Annet Nannungi Mr. Richard Bwanika Pr. Wilson Waiswa

This activity was undertaken with support from the open Society Initiative for East Africa (OSIEA)

ii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

AIDS Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

CBO Community Based Organisation

CBR Centre for Basic Research

FBO Faith Based Organisations

FOWODE Forum of Women in Development

HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus

LC Local Councillors

LRA Lord‟s Resistance Army

MPs Members of Parliament

MSA Multi Stakeholder Approach

NAADS National Agriculture Advisory Services

NGO Non Governmental Organisation

NRA National Resistance Army

NRM National Resistance Movement

NSSF National Social Security Fund

OSIEA Open Society Initiative for East Africa

PTA Parents and Teachers‟ Association

PWD People with Disability

UPE Universal Primary Education

USE Universal Secondary Education

VHTs Voluntary Health Teams

iii

CONTENTS

1.0. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 1 1.1 project objectives ................................................................................................... 2

1.2 Project Rationale, Scope and Coverage .................................................................. 2 1.2.1 Why the shift from the supply side to the demand side? .................................. 2

1.3 Methodology and Process ...................................................................................... 4 1.4 Limitations ............................................................................................................ 5

1.5 Over View of Key Findings ................................................................................... 6 1.5.1 Overall sense of Progress ................................................................................ 6

1.5.2 The Frustrations and Desires for Reform ......................................................... 6 1.5.3 The Citizenship question ................................................................................. 6

1.5.4 Inequality and exclusion.................................................................................. 7 1.5.4 Corruption ...................................................................................................... 7

1.5.5 Violence: ........................................................................................................ 7 1.5.6 Persistent dependence: .................................................................................... 8

1.6 Way Forward ......................................................................................................... 8 1.6.1 Issues of Convergence: ................................................................................... 8

1.6.2 Issues of Divergence: ...................................................................................... 9

2. THE FINDINGS ..................................................................................................... 9

2.1 Key Areas Of Satisfaction With Uganda, Our Country........................................... 9

3. THE CITIZENS’ FRUSTRATIONS .................................................................. 15

3.1 Who Really Cares For Uganda? .......................................................................... 15

4. DECLINING QUALITY OF SERVICE DELIVERY ........................................ 18

5. CHOICELESS VOTERS AND THE UNREPRESENTED CITIZEN ............ 22

6. THE STORY OF THE EMPTIED UGANDAN CITIZENSHIP? ................. 24 6.1 The Woman Citizen ............................................................................................. 26

6.2 Whither The East African Citizenship? ................................................................ 27

7. THE CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTION: RESTORE P RESIDENTIAL TERM LIMITS .......................................................................................................... 28

8. INEQUALITY IN EMOLUMENTS .................................................................... 30

9. SCHOOLING WITHOUT A FUTURE: UNEMPLOYMENT ......................... 30

10. THE VICIOUS CYCL E OF CORRUPTION ................................................... 32

11. THE UGANDA WE WA NT TO SEE: BUILDING A COMMON FUTURE ...................................................................................................................................... 35

12. KEY CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................ 36 12.1 It All Begins With Us: Strategies For Taking Uganda Forward .......................... 37

13. REFERENCES .................................................................................................... 39

1

1.0. INTRODUCTION

The Uganda @ 50 Citizen Voices Report presents findings of a project that employed the

Participatory Public Dialogue Technique to discuss with communities, senior

citizens/experts, members of media, civil society and students about their perception of

their country, Uganda, as it celebrated 50 years of independence on 9 October 2012. The

project on amplifying citizens‟ voices was designed to enable Ugandans to reflect on

their past, present and project a future they would wish to have. Broadly speaking, the

aim of the project was to enable Ugandans reflect on critical questions on the governance

and development directions over the last 50 years and how these could inform future

visions for our country. Some of these questions were: where are we1 as a nation and

where do we want to go? What is or should be the role of the general citizenry in defining

the governance direction of the country? How can the current democratic deficits be

addressed so as to allow for greater state responsiveness to citizens and accountability?

How can the voices of the citizens be captured and effectively articulated and validated in

a manner that will ensure a broader and inclusive definition of Uganda‟s destiny?

The questions were deliberated by a cross section of Ugandans (women, men, youth,

elderly, and students) from diverse socioeconomic standing in rural and urban settings.

The project mainly drew participants from six districts selected from the four major

regions of Uganda – that is Gulu District in for north, Kabale and Hoima Districts for

western, Busia District for eastern and Kampala and Luweero Districts for central

Uganda. The Uganda @ 50 Project was perhaps the first instance that provided citizens

such an opportunity to contribute to such diverse themes on their nation; from citizenship

to democracy and what their own roles should be in shaping the future development of

their country, Uganda. The often highly – emotional attitudes, experiences and reactions

revealed by participants in these sessions serve to illuminate considerable anxiety and

underlying conflicts that deserve careful consideration in framing the current and future

development of Uganda.

Altogether over 650 Ugandans participated in the district dialogues either as rural and

urban communities or senior citizens/experts. An additional 75 participants responded by

call-ins during FM radio talk shows held in each district. Over 500 university students,

participated in the Debates in selected universities; Makerere University, Busitema

University, Kabale University, and Gulu University. As part of the celebration and

reflection, a secondary school essay competition was organised and students were invited

to write essays on the three main areas of the dialogues- the past, present and the Uganda

I want to see.

1 We, in these questions will refer to Uganda and/or Ugandans.

2

While there is significant variation in opinions across the country, many project

participants acknowledge the positive post-independence strides in education, personal

freedoms, transport, army discipline, peace, security, infrastructural development, service

delivery, electoral democracy and governance and visibility of issues to do with interests

groups such as women, people with disabilities (PWDs) and youth. On the downside,

there are deep-seated frustrations with the quality of these very aspects hence pointing to

elements of exclusion, marginalisation, neglect and uneven progress.

1.1 PROJECT OBJECTIVES

The specific project objectives of the project were as follows:

1. Enhance the level of civic competence of the general citizenry by facilitating a

process of self-discovery.

2. Promote active and purposeful political engagement of the populace for greater

responsive governance.

3. Capture and validate citizen‟s voices and aspirations on Uganda‟s governance

experiences.

4. Catalyse a process of developing sustainable strategies for citizen‟s engagement

with democratic processes.

1.2 PROJECT RATIONALE, SCOPE AND COVERAGE

This was an action project that focused on the demand side of governance, the demand-

side of politics in order to facilitate a significant conversation on citizen engagement and

up-scale the citizen‟s voice. It was very important not only to take stock of the position of

citizens in the 50 since independence years but also to begin a conversation on the

question of where we are and where we want to go as a country.

1.2.1 WHY THE SHIFT FROM THE SUPPLY SIDE TO THE DEMAND SIDE?

The supply side analyses of governance have often focused on the leaders and

governance structures, thereby bringing the general citizenry into the equation primarily

at the level of beneficiaries and/or victims. The critique of supply side analyses is among

others inspired by Mamdani (1999) who dubbed it „formalism‟ by which liberal political

science manifests empirically by centring on organisation and leadership. He observed

that, in an underdeveloped country a halo surrounds not an ideology or a party but an

individual who personifies the state. However,

“While bourgeois social science attempts a psychological explanation of the

leaders‟ “qualities of leadership,” his “charisma,” we must ask what historical and social conditions permit the exaggerated importance of an individual, we de-

emphasize the psychological, for we seek to understand the social formation and

not the individual personality, to write history and not biography” (Mamdani, 1999: 4).

3

In this regard the design of the Uganda @ 50 Project avoided framing questions that

would merely deliberate personalities or instrumental institutional developments to enlist

even the structural nuances of citizens‟ views on their polity‟s past, present and future.

Another issue with supply side approaches is the tradition of discussing imposed

governance models at the expense of local specificities. This concern emerged in the

workshop on “Debating Form and Substance of Africa‟s New Governance Models”. In

the keynote address to this workshop, Adebayo Olukoshi noted that, „Africa‟s recent

experience has been characterised by the devotion of a disproportionate amount of energy

to searching for the best models of governance. Yet these models are often derived from a

peculiar reading of the history of Europe and the United States that reduced the practices

that emerged into technocratic formulae with a universal validity rather than the context-

specific and even time-bound products of struggles over the public space that they were‟.

Olukoshi further asserts that:

Conversely, too little attention has been paid to the content of governance with a

view to advancing the democratic project. Any systematic effort at re-thinking

governance in contemporary Africa will need to jettison that approach and

proceed from a conceptualisation of democratic politics as a product of struggles for representation, inclusion, accountability, and development. Seen this way, form

and substance would not be as divergent as they have become. Policy choices

would not be reduced to mere technical and technocratic preferences but would be seen as living questions about the production and allocation of public goods, as

well as the optimality of the allocations for the advancement of society and the

enjoyment by the populace of their freedoms as citizens (Olukoshi, 2007: 24).

Such were the considerations in designing the process and content of Uganda at 50

dialogues with the centrality of the citizens themselves in deliberating meaning, agency

and value of Ugandan citizenship. Indeed, Uganda has had a big challenge with

citizenship and participation as the state increasingly hijacks the people‟s agenda and

ignores popular voices. The militarization of politics has instilled a sense of fear and

resignation thereby curtailing people‟s self-expression. There are several instances where

people‟s agency has been either watered down or pushed to the periphery completely. For

example the demand for political pluralism was acutely watered down while the issues to

do with livelihoods of the majority poor have been distorted to facilitate a corrupt system

leading to massive service delivery deficits.

The above trajectory calls for a different politics - a politics of greater citizen‟s

engagement. It calls for a shift from elite politics to mass engagement, meaning that there

have to be efforts to facilitate a process of self-discovery across the country and to devise

ways in which citizen participation can be enhanced. The project was less about

sensitization which has more or less become a buzz word in development practice, which

constructs people as empty vessels. This project focused more on drawing on the

knowledge that exists in society and using that knowledge to facilitate a discussion of

where we are and where we want to be.

4

A shift of focus from the supply to the demand side illuminates the citizens‟ voice and

puts it out there to influence a future governance agenda of Uganda. This in a sense is to

say that the demand side is a key ingredient for building a genuine democratic culture.

The project fitted in the numerous activities that were going on around the idea of

Uganda at 50 and hoped to influence and at the same time draw on the various activities

by the different actors.

The project was implemented in such a way as to holistically cover a diversity of issues

in the four major regions in Uganda: Northern (Gulu), Western (Hoima/Kabale), Eastern

(Busia) and Central (Luweero and Kampala). Within the major regions there was an

attempt to take care of the diversities such as effects of conflict; gender relations;

rural/urban diversity; resource conflict - land, oil and natural resources; and public

service delivery failure.

1.3 METHODOLOGY AND PROCESS

The project employed participatory community dialogues to deliberate the topic through

a multi-stakeholder approach (MSA). Uganda at 50 as a theme encompasses a range of

actors, including NGOs, CBOs FBOs, political parties, development agencies, clusters of

communities and government. It brings in the idea of a celebration of 50 years of

independence as well as a reflection of where we are and where we want to go. The key

collaborator at national level was the Uganda NGO Forum. The NGO Forum was crucial

in mobilising views from wider civil society and facilitating engagement with relevant

state structures like the police, for example.

The process was designed in such a manner as to capture the citizens‟ agency and at the

same time stimulate a process of engagement with the various governance questions that

relate to their lived reality. The methodology used fitted well into the Uganda at 50

process as a logical way of assessing where we have been and where we are heading. The

orientation of the project was that it took citizens as the entry point in envisioning the

governance question. In this sense the project implementation process was an opportunity

to catalyse dialogue and analysis of the current situation (what is) by the various actors of

the citizenry in order to look to and actively work towards what should be. There was

targeted interface with the media throughout the project, especially the regional FM radio

stations to catalyse issues as well as give them the desired visibility.

Each project activity was both a dialogue and a research process. The activities were

structured in such a way that they focused mainly on illuminating the voices of the

general citizens. The activities are outlined as follows:

Self-discovery Uganda at 50 Community Dialogues: Dialogues involving ordinary

women and men, students, in and out of school youth and community members were

organised in each of the selected project districts. Two dialogues were organised in each

district, one in an urban area and another in a rural sub county – involving about 35

people on average. In total, 12 U@50 community dialogues were conducted. The focus

went beyond the opinion leaders (who constitute mostly the supply side of governance) to

5

effectively capture the voices of as many citizens as possible (the demand side).

Participants ranging from youth to the elderly were engaged in reflection and self-

discovery processes, examining where we are as a nation, where we have come from,

how we have come to where we are, the key hopes and frustrations along the way and

what we want to achieve as different groups of elderly, youth, women, men and

collectively as a nation as well as a reflection on our role as citizens. Emerging issues

from these dialogues were aggregated to guide discussions on local radio talk shows

where some of the voices were replayed. This created a further opportunity for a larger

population to listen and engage with the ideas since the radio stations normally serve

larger geographical areas beyond 3 or more districts.

Expert meetings and discussions: In each of the selected districts, one expert meeting

was held with about 20 to 30 people invited from across the district on the question of

governance. These experts included former political leaders, cultural leaders, researchers,

teachers, academicians and civil society actors to reflect on key past events, the present

and the future of the country, with regard to the governance question.

Debates in educational institutions: Universities were selected as important spaces

because of their historical role as think tanks and also because they are places where the

majority of the population is youth. Debates were organised in Makerere, Gulu, Kabale

and Busitema Universities. To allow for cross-generational voices to be heard, speakers

included senior academic staff as well as students and any members of the University

community. In some cases neighbouring Institutions such as Kabale College of

Commerce, in the case of Kabale University, took part in the debate. For optimal

advocacy reach, media publicity was involved, which also acted as catalyst for more

conversations on emerging issues.

Secondary School Essay Competition: Essay writing was not only to build the civic

competence of the young people in secondary schools but was also to ensure wide

coverage of the ideas. Essay competitions were organised in a way that encouraged

young people to think about Uganda, questions of nationhood and their role in

constructing the future. A total of 190 students participated, majority of them coming

from the Central region (43%) followed by Western region (32%). The North and East

followed with 13% and 12% respectively. There were more students from urban schools

participating compared to their rural counterparts and girls registered 64% compared to

the 36% entries for boys.

1.4 LIMITATIONS

The voices indicated in this report are those of the people talked to, and may thus not

represent all voices of Ugandan citizens in their totality. People reflected on the country

Uganda through the perspective of their own lived realities. Some of the reflections

tended to be very particularistic in orientation. Furthermore, though the selection of

districts was done to allow for regional representation, the regions are so diverse that

there is a likelihood that some issues were either not captured or were relayed in a way

that does not speak exactly to the other areas.

6

Another critical area was that most people tended to narrow the discussions on Uganda,

to the present NRM government hence tending to merely make an evaluation of the

regime as opposed to reflecting on Uganda as a nation. Though the research team tried as

much as possible to broaden the discussions, there was a clear indication of very limited

nationhood. Despite these limitations, it can be argued that the voices indicated herein

represent aspirations of citizens. The dialogues provided a microphone through which

diverse groups of people articulated their aspirations.

1.5 OVER VIEW OF KEY FINDINGS

1.5.1 OVERALL SENSE OF PROGRESS

The bulk of Ugandans appreciated some positive developments under the Uganda @ 50

periods. These mostly hinge on political stability and peace since 1986; restoration of the

economy that has been registering high growth rates during the same period; the

quantitative improvements in services particularly universal schooling in primary and

secondary levels as well as progress in expanding higher education. In the health sector

the enhanced decentralised health system has apparently contributed to making access to

basic health possible; in the area of gender relations, women‟s empowerment is seen to

have reached its highest levels since independence. However there are many concerns

with the direction of our politics, economy and development of Ugandan society as a

whole. There are key points of frustrations as elaborated below:

1.5.2 THE FRUSTRATIONS AND DESIRES FOR REFORM

Presidential term limits: According to voices of especially the young, educated and

urban based participants, good governance would be possible with the respect for

constitutionalism and restoration of term limits for the executive as well as the different

levels of leadership where term limits apply. Ugandans argue that right from the highest

level of the power structure – the presidency - to local council representatives, to head

teachers, staying in the same office endlessly was seen as a root-cause of all forms of

mismanagement and bad governance. Term limits would accordingly eliminate

unnecessary costly struggles for leadership positions.

1.5.3 THE CITIZENSHIP QUESTION

The dialogues across the spectrum of citizens expressed the desire for a more conscious

sense of respect for Ugandan citizenship. Aside from being born in Uganda they argue

for clear articulation of rights, obligations and entitlements of Ugandans more so with

regard to women, children, the poor and minorities; in addition was the anxiety over

when and how to attain East African citizenship. They would like to see leaders that

regularly consult the electorate. As good leaders, there should be room for consultative

meetings in which people present their voices on effective representation and service

delivery. A participatory approach would amplify citizen voices in influencing

7

government policies and service delivery. With improved civic competence, citizens

would have capacity to hold power duty bearers accountable. Citizens desire for a

Uganda, with adequate mechanisms for participation in decision making on how they

want their society to be governed where citizens are consulted and decisions made in the

best interest and wishes of the communities.

1.5.4 INEQUALITY AND EXCLUSION

Students, elders, women and men, all suggest a need for having a sense of equitable

access and enjoyment of national resources which is not the case today with a visibly

growing gap between the rich and poor in general but above all a stinking rich political

class. They suggested for an independent body or organ to take charge of deliberating on

emoluments in Uganda. The views here were that, as it is today, emoluments are arbitrary

and have encouraged a tendency for those in power to continue rewarding themselves at

the expense of the common citizen and key sections of the economy such as teachers and

doctors who earn meagre salaries. Key concerns were raised about the constant

increments of MPs‟ salaries rather than handling similar needs for increments to lowly

paid workers (termed as more worthy).

Various voices craved for more citizen participation in the planning and implementation

of government programs in order to curb excessive individualisation that makes for poor

accountability and lack of transparency.

1.5.4 CORRUPTION

Many people think that Uganda would have been one of the richest countries in Africa if

it was not for unabated corruption. Accordingly, corruption has simply run riot in all

sections of the society right from the executive down to grassroots. However, Ugandans

are aware that it is only with a „corruption free society‟, that Uganda will enjoy

significant and sustainable development. Among others, Ugandans have a strong sense

that the poor quality services, souring unemployment, as well as the impoverishment of

the masses are all products of the vicious circle of corruption. Hence the desire of the

citizens is to see a corruption free society and a government mechanism with a genuine

zero tolerance to the vice.

1.5.5 VIOLENCE:

The women that participated in the Uganda @ 50 dialogues called for a concerted effort

to curb violence, especially violence against women, in the form of domestic violence,

sexual harassment, trafficking, rape and defilement. Gender-based violence is intensified

in conflict – ridden areas, also underscoring the need to include women in conflict

resolution processes and peace building initiatives in conflict prone areas such as

Karamoja. The northern region while having a sense of peace after the guns recently fell

silent still live in fear of insecurity since the perpetrators of violence meted on them like

Joseph Kony still skirts that region. In addition, after the armed insurgency land conflicts

have become the face of domestic and community wide violence.

8

1.5.6 PERSISTENT DEPENDENCE:

There is a sense that the country is still dependent on either the former colonial power or

some other developed countries. Some critical voices were sounded on the fact that this

dependence jeopardises the possibility for making independent national decisions, which

puts the country under neo-colonialism. The challenge with this is that policies and

programs are often detached from the local needs but driven by global imperatives. Real

independence in economic terms is anchored on increasing national income and

minimising foreign influence in making allocations in order to prioritise needs of citizens.

The challenge is the corruption involved in ways leaders negotiate Uganda‟s economic

fortunes with donors and so-called investors with utter disregard for the future

implications on the common Ugandan.

1.6 WAY FORWARD

1.6.1 ISSUES OF CONVERGENCE:

The need to cultivate a sense of love and care for our country Uganda.

Deal firmly with all forms of corruption in Uganda and treat all cases of

corruption equitably.

Restore presidential political term limits.

Improve access and quality of sexual and reproductive health services to improve

child and maternal health.

Improve employment opportunities available on merit for everybody, especially

the youth

Improve access and quality of social services, e.g. health, education, safe water,

rural electricity and roads.

Enforce effective measures for implementation of government policies and

programs and take action whenever there are diversions.

Improve the responses to emergencies such epidemics, famines, floods and influx

of refugees.

Improve the quality of leadership.

Ensure to remove tribalism and nepotism, in all spheres of development.

Consolidate the rights, status and protection of citizenship in Uganda.

Address poverty among vulnerable categories such as people with disability, poor

rural and street women, men and youth.

9

1.6.2 ISSUES OF DIVERGENCE:

While other parts feel Uganda is a safe place, a sense of insecurity remains high in

disaster prone mountainous areas, chaotic Kampala and northern Uganda where

conflicts over land have surfaced after the guns went silent.

Whether the benefits of legislating the rights of children is a positive development

or just spoiling children altogether.

Whether achievements in gender equality have improved the relations of women

and men in development or rather it has just spoilt women‟s social habits.

Whether equitable regional socioeconomic development is possible in Uganda

Oil: is it a blessing or a curse?

On benefits of universal access to social services such Universal Primary

Education (UPE), Universal Secondary Education (USE), and decentralized

health services have been useful when the quality is getting worse.

2. THE FINDINGS

2.1 KEY AREAS OF SATISFACTION WITH UGANDA, OUR COUNTRY

The starting point of the project was to get Ugandans to discuss what they found most

satisfying about Uganda as it made 50 years of independence. The views focused on:

what was positive or working well in Uganda? We start with a summary of the responses

as shown Table 1below:

TABLE NO. 1: WHAT CITIZENS ARE MOST PLEASED ABOUT UGANDA

Category No. of responses %

Good climate 100 14.2

Vibrant economy 61 8.7

Peace & hospitality 153 21.8

Political maturity 44 6.3

Gender equality 29 4.1

Free education 110 15.7

Regular elections 16 2.3

Security 74 10.5

Service delivery 25 3.6

Being born a Ugandan 16 2.3

Communication/infrastructure 32 4.6

Good leadership 23 3.3

God fearing 16 2.3

Democracy 3 .4

TOTAL 702 100

Source: Field work, 2013

10

In the data reflected above, 21.8% of Ugandans said they were happy to have a peaceful

country that is also endowed with hospitality. In second place are those who appreciate

the free education scored (15.7%) followed by the third category that are happy with the

good climate which scored (14.2%). The other significant factor is 10.5% Ugandans

appreciate the existing security in the country.

In terms of the opinions behind the above figures, we start with northern Uganda. The

people of northern Uganda, who have been in civil conflict for over two decades since the

NRM government came to power in 1986 and those of north eastern Uganda that have

suffered insecurity for most of the time were not as satisfied as those from the central and

southern parts of the country, which areas have largely enjoyed peace, security and

relative development since 1986. For example, while contrasting the period from the

1966 crisis, the Amin's era of 1971 to 1989 and the early to mid 1980s, many especially

elderly women and men were satisfied with the economic progress and the state of peace

and security in the country. This was particularly hinged on the current government‟s

ability to contain the discipline of the army and the performance of other armed forces

especially in terms of discipline in relating with civilians.

This view tends to agree with Mutibwa (1992) who observed that NRM‟s greatest

contribution to Uganda has been the building up of a disciplined army:

The standard of integrity and discipline with which the NRA soldiers started off

when it entered Kampala in January 1986 has deteriorated; but generally it has maintained cooperation with the civil population (p.188).

Indeed most of the participants across the majority of the districts visited reported cordial

relations between the army and civilians as well as respect for human rights that in the

view of ordinary citizens signified discipline. For that matter some pointed out that this

discipline explains why the Uganda People Defence Force‟s (UPDF) has frequent roles in

African peace keeping missions such as in Somalia.

While sporadic armed robberies, animal stock thefts and excessive use of force by the

police force on unarmed civilians point to no total security, all over the country, many

project participants noted that today, most people safely travel at night in most parts of

the country, freely transporting merchandise without fear due to the prevailing peace.

This coupled with efforts of other security agents has enabled the general population to

engage in developmental projects such as constructing modern houses as well as

publically owning expensive valuables without fear of being murdered by robbers or

soldiers as it was in the past. However, it was noted that many people that have over

enjoyed „sleep‟ due to „peace and security‟ have for these very reasons sacrificed their

citizen responsibilities of checking the excesses of their leaders. We cite some voices in

support the above analysis. In Gulu a female student of Gulu University observed that:

For Uganda to reach where it is today there has been improvement in the rule of

law since the last 50 years. Currently the civil – military relations are at its best; soldiers do not kill at will. Uganda may not be 100% democratic but there is some

element of democracy since 1996, 2001, 2006 and 2011 there have been elections

held to elect the President into office. There is rule of law and equality in front of

11

the law despite some abuses on the side of government. This is in addition to

improved constitutionalism and respect of human rights.

Most participants noted relative improvements in road transport across the country

despite almost near collapse of the railway transport system. They noted that today, one

is able to travel far flung areas to the capital Kampala in a couple of hours because of the

good roads and because of adequate means of transport with buses that are readily

available departing almost every hour. In the past, a journey that now takes about seven

hours used to take three days. In the past roads connecting towns to villages were almost

non-existent. There are several roads that are basically maintained particularly feeder

roads in the rural areas. In reference to the 1960s, it was noted that children used to walk

over seven kilometres to the nearest school, while hospitals and other facilities required

walking long distances. In Kabale one elder noted:

There was only one road from Kabale to Rubaya that was like a cattle track plied

by only one bus. In Kikagati, we had only one bus plying the Mbarara route. One

had to walk five miles to catch the bus to Mbarara. Upon missing it, they would wait for another weekend (Dialogue, Kabale Town).

Another participant noted:

“It used to take 3-4 days on from Kabale to Kampala but now you can board a bus in the morning reach Kabale and return to Kampala (dialogue, at Rwamucucu,

Kabale).

In addition, it was appreciated that communication particularly by mobile telephone has

greatly improved over the last few years as Ugandans can now easily communicate

locally, nationally and internationally. Telephone communication has eased with many

people owning mobile phone handsets. In almost every village in Uganda there is

presence of mobile telephones. In Luweero District one participant noted that:

“The proliferation of FM radios, TV stations, e-mail, mobile phones and ICT in

general is very good for Ugandans today than in the past because there is

increased awareness but they can also spoil children and women who get bad manners

2.

Associated with increased mobile telephone presence, is mobile money transfer that has

eased payment of school fees for parents who work from distant places as well pay for

other amenities that citizens consider as huge progress. The ease with which people are

able to transfer money was appreciated.

It was observed that there is also the improvement of housing conditions with many

households having iron sheet roofs with walls built of brick and mortar. Improved

housing conditions are attributed to self-help groups that have contributed in mobilizing

savings. The current flourishing self-help groups due to freedom of association. While

2 The social anxiety about women and children is a subject for debate that goes beyond the ambits of this

paper. Throughout the discussions there was a latent fear especially about women going astray or rather

getting out-of-hand. This could mean two things. One it could be that women‟ uptake of rights is beginning

to redefine patriarchal boundaries. It could also mean rising social conservatism and backlash. Either way it

is a question worthy of critical interrogation.

12

properly planned infrastructural development still eludes the country, several housing

structures have been constructed. People feel freer to build houses unlike in Amin‟s time

when such a venture was risky as it would announce one‟s wealth, and apparently invite

robbery. Schools, health centres, universities, and shopping malls have been constructed

in many parts of the country by both government and individuals. Major cities and towns

have expanded rapidly.

In contrast to the period of economic collapse in the 1970s to mid 1980s, essential

commodities such as paraffin, salt, soap, sugar, exercise books and basics like soft drinks

are in abundance everywhere. People no longer have to struggle lining up for them at

designated points to have access. Even the remotest villages have these commodities. In

Kabale, elders recalled times when essential commodities were so scarce that even the

wealthy had to pay “middlemen” to get what they wanted. The young generation that did

not witness this scarcity characterised by hoarding and lining up for essential goods could

not easily make sense of situation.

In Gulu District the return of peace heralded more commercialisation and the commodity

markets are booming. The challenge is that most people cannot afford the prices of these

commodities and yet they are highly luxurious and luring. The other effect is that most

people are selling off foodstuffs for consumer commodities, while those that cannot

produce have resorted to petty crimes like stealing to attain goods of ostentation. The

situation is compounded by the demand for food products coming from South Sudan.

Some of these traders purchase newly planted gardens of crops, which ultimately is

resulting in food insecurity in the long run. In spite the challenges people (people we

talked to in Gulu) remain optimistic and are happy that government of Uganda, has

brought peace and stability which has made these developments possible.

The quantitative expansion of social services was particularly acknowledged. Across the

districts there is recognition of the expansion in health and education services. In terms of

health services, people are aware of the existence of health centres III & IV and how

these have relatively eased the burden of walking long distances. There was general

appreciation of the relative improvement in health service delivery over time evidenced

in improved antenatal care, and eradication of diseases such as polio and measles through

mass immunisation. Health units have been constructed up to parish level and have drugs

for treatment of malaria and other ailments. Groups of people constituted into village

health teams (VHTs) have been formed and trained and trained, and some presence of

ambulances was reported in case of emergency.

Women particularly those in Gulu District observed that the disease burden has reduced

since they were resettled in villages after years in internally displaced people‟s camps.

Especially HIV/AIDS is going down compared to situation in camps. This is a critical

area of recognition since, among others, the war in the north and insecurity in the

northeast were associated with sexual abuses that led to the escalation of HIV/AIDS in

these areas. Commenting on health services, for example, somebody in Kampala raised

some optimism in her contribution during the community dialogue that:

“At least they have constructed some health centres such as the Health Centre IV‟s

at least in every sub-county but there is no medicine in all these centres. The good

13

thing is that am a nurse by profession; those medicine are brought but there is

corruption the medical workers steal the medicine, but it‟s supposed to be there. So there is some improvement because of the construction of these health centres.

And when it comes to HIV at least there is reduction you remember when we

started with a high prevalence rate and how it is now becoming stagnant at 6%

being recorded”.

UPE and USE were cited as government efforts to ensure education access for all school

going age children. This inclusiveness has taken care of gender inequality and

discrimination against people with different abilities or special needs. It was observed

that all children can access education without any hindrance. Further, there are even

funds and programmes specifically targeting these formerly discriminated people. This

inclusiveness has taken care of gender inequality and discrimination against people with

different abilities or special needs.

Increased access to clean water due to provision of protected springs and gravity water

flow schemes was cited in many areas. This is so despite the fact that there are still

complaints that sources of clean water were still far from homes. Rural electrification has

started in some parts of Uganda. Although electricity has not yet been extended to all

rural areas, there is some level of optimism since in some areas electricity poles have

already been delivered.

Furthermore, relative progress was registered in the area of women‟s empowerment. It

was observed that Ugandan women have been uplifted in terms of participation in politics

and other governance matters. There are many Ugandan women who independently do

businesses and are well regarded in society. Women attributed their achievements to

inclusive laws and policies as well as the favourable gender policy environment. There

has been steady progress compared to 50 years ago because today women‟s rights are

recognized. They vote and are voted into power. In politics for example, women are

entitled to 1/3 of the political seats in local government and each district has a women

member of parliament and yet women compete with men in the mainstream positions.

This has increased the number of women in leadership positions and public visibility. To

capture the mood on the sense of the achievements in empowering women in Uganda, we

quote one Stella in a Kampala dialogue who stated:

“Today women we are now on the forefront in politics, one time we had a Vice President who was a women. A girl child in the past used to wash household items

as a boy goes to school but now girls have gone to school, they have masters and

PhDs. Today women were given freedom a man cannot sell land minus a woman‟s consent...”

Accordingly, women are also developing a sense of economic empowerment. In Hoima a

woman in her 40s observed that:

Uganda yo nkomubusiness yakubaire erikulungi, ekizibu; Emisoro!! –Meaning,

“Uganda has progressed especially in business. We have business booming in

Uganda today. However, the major problem is the high taxes. They are discouraging”.

14

Indeed women entrepreneurship is flourishing but not without challenges. Ahikire and

Ampaire (2004) studied women in the informal sector focusing on the genesis, dynamics

and outcomes of these women‟s work as they seek their niche as an emerging business

class in Uganda. By focusing on policy, conditions, and organisational capacity of

business women this study provides some answers to improving women‟s economic

empowerment in Uganda.

There was also appreciation the people with disabilities have attained much recognition

under the current government. People with disabilities who were formerly treated as

outcasts and hidden from the public are presently even allowed to participate in politics

and economic development of their areas. Several people with different abilities have

been mobilized to make crafts and other activities to showcase their potentials. Studies on

the welfare of people with disability in Uganda such as the Disability and Poverty Report

(2008) indicate significant achievements in areas of their economic and social

empowerment, including rights of women therein to access health, HIV/AIDS (Opolot

etal (2009) and education as well as the limitations faced. However they also decry the

unmet need to implement pro-disability infrastructural modifications on roads and

buildings and making special needs education facilities and manpower more accessible

particularly in rural areas.

In addition to inclusion practices, it was revealed that Ugandans are able to express their

views. In comparison to the past and other countries, near and far, a range of participants,

felt they enjoyed greater freedom of speech. The following illustration is worth noting:

For us who witnessed Amin‟s days, there was nobody who could talk about the

president. But today you hear people saying that the president has done this and

that on those talk shows on radios. In Amin‟s time, there was only one president

but today you hear of the mothers‟ union president, the guild president and others (A Male in his late 50s-Kabale Town).

Many a commentator on Uganda during the 1970s decried the suffering at the time. For

example, Griffith and Katalikawe (2003) observed that „Life under Amin was nasty, short

and brutish, and there was no room for constitutional niceties‟. Thus the point raised

above cannot be down played when used as a basis for appreciating the current freedoms

in the country. In Kampala District you also had some optimists but with some

reservations too. A one Olivia stated:

“...for me I see Uganda has reached a stage where there is freedom of speech

every one can say what hurts him or her and it‟s heard. Secondly women, we were very behind but now women can be heard, for example vices are there. We also

have many churches or religions originally there used to be only 3 known

religions, but these days there is freedom of worship. That‟s where we are as Uganda”.

It was noted that people freely talk or debate about any issue on radio and in newspapers.

This according to the participants is commendable because they are able to criticize what

they do not want. Further on freedoms, people felt they had freedom of worship. It was

however noted that currently people were enjoying and even abusing freedom of worship.

15

3. THE CITIZENS’ FRUSTRATIONS

3.1 WHO REALLY CARES FOR UGANDA?

“... Uganda can be compared to a plantation without an identifiable owner Uganda has become „Kabeetemere

3‟” (Comment from Kabale District)

This sentiment of citizen disillusionment with the poor quality of governance was shared

across the country. The overriding concern was that no body, including the leaders really

cares for Uganda. There was a feeling that Uganda had a better past, (even under the

colonial system), but conditions are getting worse by the day. According to the voices

across the spectrum, the extreme apathy for the citizen‟s plight leading to massive

impoverishment and growing socioeconomic inequality. The data in Table 2 from the

questionnaire sums up what Ugandans found most annoying about their country.

3 Kabeetemere is a term in Runyankore /Rukiga that refers to an abandoned banana plantation where any

one can go and pluck out anything at will- be it the miserable bunches of bananas, banana leaves or any

other product.

At a glance: Sources of satisfaction with Uganda

Government policies on education e.g. UPE and USE

Women‟s rights where they are respected. now we can move at night

alone

Improved level of communication e.g. mobile phones and internet

Peace in the country

Expansion of health facilities

Easy transport e.g. Boda Boda, buses, lorries etc

No army patrols on the street

Increased international ties

Relative freedom of speech

Improvement in the agricultural sector, we can sell finished goods

Availability of loans to Ugandans

Gender equality, affirmative action has improved on women‟s lives

16

Table no. 2: Factors that respondents are most frustrated about on Uganda

Category No. responses %

High rate of corruption 144 25.1

Extreme poverty/high inflation 52 9.1

Anti democratic policies 28 4.9

Un-employment 54 9.4

Abuse of offices/rights 55 9.6

Non patriotic moral decay 37 6.5

Tribalism 32 5.6

Leaders overstaying in power 22 3.8

Selfishness 35 6.1

Environment destruction 6 1.0

Poor service delivery 41 7.2

Bad leaders 19 3.3

Opposition walk to work rioting 48 8.4

573 100

Source: Field work, 2013

The finding is that what frustrates or annoys Ugandans most are first and foremost, the

very high rates of corruption (25.1%). The second category was unhappy about the abuse

of offices and rights which scored (9.6%). The third category was unhappy about the high

levels of un- employment which scored (9.4%). The ranking aside, the above constitutes

all the elements the citizens are largely unhappy about. The above list constitutes what

Ugandans see as the „I do not care‟ attitude with which those in positions of power carry

on the management of the country.

One of the participants in Gulu District observed that everything was bad because

Ugandans lack a sense of true nationhood feelings. According to him:

...In a way, we do things as if we are not Ugandans e.g. cheating materials for

roads leading to sub standard roads; leaders struggling only for their own home areas. Even health workers are abusive and lack ethics. Some Ugandans are

accorded more citizen rights than others and this disqualifies unity.

Lack of love for the country was said to be mostly manifested in so much corruption and

disrespect for the constitution when it comes to sensitive issues like respect for political

term limits. With such unabated corruption and abuse of office, the overriding conclusion

of Ugandans was that nobody seems to care for the country. District report after another

recounted concerns with escalating corruption without effective punishment, a laid back

response to citizen‟s concerns as if they do not matter, and poor quality of social services.

Among others these combined with a growing sense of inequitable welfare to inform this

sense of citizens being neglected across the country. In Hoima a man in his late 60s

remarked:

At the moment, there is peace. However, the constitution is no longer recognized.

The constitution is changed to suit the interests of politicians”.

17

An elder in one of the Busia meetings lamented thus:

“If people resurrected now they would say what is this? We see surprises in that

people are not shy from the time of Obote I destroying the constitution, everything

went bad! Bad politics have destroyed the country”.

In Kampala it was argued that in terms of leadership, Uganda has come from better to

worse. A participant observed that in the past we first had the cultural types of leadership

where changing of leadership was easy since it was hereditary, easy and cheap, yet today

looking for a vote is very expensive. It takes time and life – some people put in their life.

One participant put it this way:

“Today though we have developed change of leadership it is still bad, at least the

past way was better. Secondly today‟s citizens do not love their nation. Yet citizens of the past loved their nation.

According to another participant from Gulu:

“It is not clear even now whether political space is opening or receding”

(Gulu Expert meeting)

With regard to the future, most Ugandans yearn for good leadership, which was

predicated mostly on the need for the restoration of presidential terms limits to curb the

tendency of presidents overstaying in power. Over staying in power is associated with

diminishing capabilities to respect aspirations of the citizens and resultant abuse of office

through dictatorial tendencies and mismanagement of public resources. This was

followed by calls to combat corruption most especially where attention has focused on

indicting „small‟ thieves while shielding the „big‟ ones who have strong connections to

the president. In addition, citizens considered Uganda to have very lax rules on the

treatment of citizenship; this has opened up for easy access of foreigners to Ugandan

citizenship and that in some cases, these foreigners enjoy better rights than Ugandans

themselves.

Leaders aside, the project participants called upon their fellow Ugandans to develop the

spirit of nationalism that could add value to their sense of loving, belonging and

attachment to their country and thereby serve it as best as they could rather than abuse it.

It was also argued that Ugandans need to cultivate a good working relationship among

themselves as politicians, civil servants, civil society and the private sector in order to

build a stable and prosperous nation. This could discourage the tendency of disunity, over

policing and sometimes the tendencies of some Ugandans frustrating government

policies/programs.

Environmental degradation was another form of plunder of the country- of the abandoned

plantation. Ugandans were candid on the increasing tendency for dispensing off natural

resources like forests like Mabira and parts of national game parks to what they termed as

the “so-called investors”. In Kampala particularly the alarm was raised about the rate at

which wetlands are being depleted by the same level of insensitivity. Country wide there

was a concern over the future generation.

18

The plight of unemployment or underemployment among in and out of school youth

remains a major concern. It was observed that government should fight corruption head

on, improve controls on environmental degradation and invest in youth development.

Youth and the natural resources and were considered the key factors for the future

development of Uganda.

The demise of traditional cooperatives is another source of citizen frustration with

Uganda. For many of the participants, the need to revive and strengthen traditional

producer and marketing cooperative societies was considered among those reforms that

could economically and politically galvanize development in Uganda. A recent study

conducted by CBR on „The Cooperative Movement and a Challenge for Development‟

found that „Ugandans still feel a sense of loss of their vitality in sustaining the rural

economy and farmer household welfare across the country. Farmers feel abandoned.‟ The

views were that the current approach of establishing savings and credit societies

(SACCOS) has not fully met the role that the traditional cooperatives played before their

demise. To them, most often they are very particularistic or selective in delivering the

finances which are most times often inadequate to meet farmers‟ critical needs.

4. DECLINING QUALITY OF SERVICE DELIVERY

The frustrations regarding poor service delivery were mainly in relation to the declining

quality of services in sectors like education, health and police services. Whereas the

volume of such services have grown significantly particularly with the introduction of

universal primary and secondary education and more institutions of higher learning there

has been a corresponding drop in the quality of services. Besides declining standards in

education, the same is evident in the proliferation of health centres the majority of which

lack drugs and medical staff to treat patients. Thus there was concern about the low

quality of social services across the board. The same is said about lack of attention to

promoting development in the agricultural sector.

While acknowledging the good intentions for UPE and USE education policies, voices

across the country noted inadequate classrooms, high leaner numbers per teacher,

misappropriation of funds and educational materials by those entrusted with

implementation as well as misconceptions about the policy by parents. Participants

observed that many parents have relinquished the responsibility of ensuring that their

children acquire quality education. Voices from both rural and urban areas as well as

from men and women as well as youth indicated that once the parents hold no attachment

to universal education programmes, the children imitate them and similarly do not value

that kind of education. A common view was that the education standards are dismally

low characterised poor quality and uncommitted teachers. Universal education is

constrained by over-crowded classes, which makes it difficult for teachers to pay

attention to individual learners‟ needs. While quantitative progress evidenced in

increasing enrolment of pupils in schools, a reverse diminishing quality of products was

noted. In the dialogues and debates, there was consensus that even though UPE and USE

19

have helped poor households to send their children to school, while there the children are

not getting quality education. There are voices of despair such as:

In the past we used to have people go to school and pass very well and become

doctors or engineers. In the post independence era, no more important people are originating from our area in a very long time. We do not get people who will help

us and in future it will be difficult since very few are making it high up there (Male

Youth – Kabale Rural).

A common argument in dialogues was that the quality of education remains a

contradiction in Uganda. Community members were concerned about the declining

performance of government schools yet working conditions could be better than in the

under resourced private schools. There was general consensus that UPE and USE have

been politicized with leaders who assert that these programmes are superb when they do

not enrol their own children in them. This view was succinctly expressed by one

participant with respect to UPE.

How come those who praise UPE do not send their children there? Can someone

deny his or her children something good and give it to the neighbour‟s child? (Elderly woman – Kabale).

It was expressed as a contradiction that most top civil servants and elites do not enrol

their own children in USE and UPE but in the best private primary and secondary

schools. Poor teaching in government aided schools was also attributed to poor

supervision by the education inspectorate even when teachers in government schools

were paid better than compared to their counterparts in private schools. Therefore those

in government aided schools could have done better than those in private schools, but

instead the reverse is true.

Regional and urban-rural variations in education quality were highlighted. Accordingly,

central Uganda outperforms other regions, while in general urban schools are of better

quality than the rural ones. Some of the reasons for poor performance in school were

attributed to lack of parental support to school going children due to prevailing poverty. It

was noted that although the government and development partners support UPE in terms

of inputs, textbooks, and other materials, the locals, the parents, teachers and other

stakeholders look at such efforts as external and not support them. For example, when the

government releases money to construct classrooms some government officials and

school management teams and sometimes divert the funds. There was an outcry that

some building materials meant for specific projects are diverted which has resulted into

construction of substandard structures. Worse still, the local people who are parents and

guardians of the children in those schools watch as all those substandard school structures

are being put up, which shows the “I don‟t care” attitude, ostensibly pointing to civic

incompetence on the part of the population.

To the very poor people, universal education is a heaven sent gift. The majority of

parents and guardians have been relieved of the burden of paying fees and are not

bothered with the quality of education as long as they see their children going to school.

Others particularly those who have seen Uganda through different episodes of education,

20

felt that there is something wrong with the current education. Weaving through the

several submissions, the major issue was that with massive numbers of pupils enrolled

without commensurate expansion of facilities, increased number of teachers, and

adequate teaching and learning materials, the quality of education has been compromised.

Citizens called for the need for better quality social services at all levels. In this regard,

the need for more vocational training schools was particularly emphasized.

Agriculture was seen as one of the most neglected sectors yet it is rhetorically referred to

as the backbone of the economy. Voices contested the rhetoric of agriculture as the

backbone of the economy when in effect it receives the least attention. Accordingly the

rural economy has collapsed. Again, here we see the unfortunate view that reifies

colonial administration as having been better. There was a common sense that extension

services were more facilitated and accessible to farmers in the past than they are today.

For example in the Kabale expert meeting it was revealed that:

“...The white agricultural officers, school inspectors and teachers were effective

and efficient.

In the specific case of Kigezi, there was a sense that the no body cares orientation has

undermined the observance of best farming practices resulting into low productivity and

disasters such as land slides. One woman commented:

“In Kigezi area one of the best known agricultural practices in Kabale district was

terracing which is now dying out. In the past land productivity was very high with

bumper harvests of beans, potatoes and sorghum”.

Programmes such as NAADs though appreciated as indicators of a semblance of some

efforts towards the agricultural sector they were at the same time castigated on the basis

that they were not able to address the structural problems in the agricultural sector and

were riddled with corruption. Accordingly the rural economy is near collapse because

individual greed has meant diversion of government energy from productive sectors in

general and, in particular, no or half-hearted investment in the agricultural sector.

While people felt unhappy with the quality of education, there was consensus in almost

all districts that the low and frequently delayed pay for teachers greatly compromised

education quality. It was noted that many teachers engage in additional income activities

which diverts their attention for teaching. There were also views to the effect that teacher

shortage is worsened by the fact that many of them and other civil servants who are

trained with Ugandan taxpayers‟ money have migrated to foreign countries in search of

better pay. Government was implored to raise teachers‟ pay if they are expected to

deliver good services.

Views from rural and urban community dialogues, meetings and University debates

attributed low education standards to poor educational policies or absence of

implementation. In particular, views from teachers expressed their weariness with ad hoc

education policies. As one teacher in Kabale noted:

21

As teachers, sometimes we get tired with our ministry of education policies. There

was a time the ministry emphasized studying political education and several teachers studied it. As I speak those who did political education are jobless

because it was silently phased out. Then later it was music and Swahili. Teachers

were trained and before they came out of college, there were no schools for them.

Today it is entrepreneurship and computer. Actually, computer is compulsory in all schools including those that do not own a single computer or even have electricity.

Are there computers that use charcoal? (Middle aged male, Kabale).

The above quote depicts the agony of inconsistent policies. This further contributes to

losing interest in Ugandan education policies and processes. Voices said that

inconsistence in educational policies is not explained and such lack of communication

between the policy makers and implementers has increased teachers disinterest in their

profession in addition to poor remuneration. Similarly, there have been irregularities in

curriculum development and changes. Participants, in particular teachers cited curriculum

reviews where a policy on textbooks is given only to be cancelled shortly. It was noted

that there are several books lying idle at the curriculum development center and in some

government aided schools which became obsolete before they were put to use.

Despite the appreciation noted in the expansion of physical health facilities, there was an

outcry about the deteriorating conditions of facilities and medical professionals in

government hospitals and health centres. While significant developments have been

registered since independence, the increasing population is evidence of the inaccessible

family planning. Capacity of regional referral hospitals has been surpassed by the ever

increasing patient numbers, which has worsened the poor health service delivery with no

medical personnel, no mattresses and other facilities. In particular, participants noted the

following as negatively impacting the quality of health services: drugs that are in short

supply, stolen by health workers or costly for poor women and men; abused or grounded

ambulances that often are dumped in garages, negligence of responsible officers in

handling government property, poor road access to heath units resulting in many patients

dying before they can reach health facilities; gender insensitivity of some health workers;

and shortage of health personnel, equipment and medicines. Also noted was harsh

working conditions for health workers characterised by lack of equipment, poor

remuneration, and poor housing conditions especially in rural areas that explained high

rates of attrition of especially medical doctors who move away in search of better life.

The Uganda Police is an institution that is loved as much as it is hated. A colonial

construct it has been associated with most of ills of society such as brutality, corruption,

being partisan and inefficient, among others. On the sympathetic dimension it was

The sense of frustration with run down services mostly caused by corruption is the

commonly expressed form of frustration with the declining quality of services in

present Uganda. The hopelessness, grievance, fatigue and complaints castigate this

state of affairs over unabated corruption, ill conceived and poorly implemented

policies and programmes. Above all those who waste resources go unpunished!

22

appreciated everywhere that police officers operate under de-motivating terms and

conditions of service. Mostly because of poor pay and lack of housing. Police do not have

a lee way of doing part time to supplement their incomes which leaves them with no

option other than accepting bribes for survival. Participants argued that these and other

civil servants such as health workers and teachers ought to be paid well for effective

service delivery. In general, to improve service delivery participants felt that in addition

to god pay, civil servants have to observe work ethics and citizens have to embrace and

actively participate in government programs and take advantage of locally available

opportunities.

However, while there is considerable sympathy for the working and living conditions of

the police in Uganda, others are concerned about their excesses as well. For example, In

Kampala there was major concern over police brutality that is meted out on people

exercising their rights of assembly particularly during the „walk to work‟ protests which

aim at protesting the increasing loss of democratic space and the rampant corruption in

the country.

5. CHOICELESS VOTERS AND THE UNREPRESENTED CITIZEN

Beishi MP ebibateisa babyeihaga nkahe? (Where do MPs derive their

legislative agenda since they do not consult us? (Elderly women Kabale).

Such is the disappointment of citizens with their members of parliament (MPs). Leaders

can only be accountable to citizens if they acknowledge their contribution in giving them

that power; sometimes it was not with but by using citizens that some MPs got into power

in the first place! Thus one need ask not only what the quality of MPS is but more so the

quality of parliamentary elections in Uganda? How could the nature of elections explain

the apathy of these leaders?

Many people pointed out that citizens can only benefit from their elected government and

services of members of parliament if these MPs effectively represent their views and are

responsive to the needs of the electorate informed by regular consultations on matters of

concern. Unfortunately, interaction of the citizens with MPs in particular and other

leaders was noted as rare – to be precise only active at elections then it fades away - and

people wondered where the MPs get the views they present in parliament when they do

not consult them.

No wonder while MPs are perceived as agents of community development, they were

accused of being selfish and only focused and creative when it came to issues that regard

their remuneration. What else preoccupies them if they have no input from their

electorate anyway? Perverted as they are it was not surprising citizens felt MPs are a

drain on tax payers‟ money. The number of MPs is unnecessarily high, and

overstretching both the tax payers and the economy. Most participants envisioned having

fewer MPs to represent bigger constituencies such as regions that would be represented

23

by few MPs arguing that high numbers has not resulted into good policy making and

implementation. They also recommended a reduction in the number of districts, to cut

down on government expenditure. Apart from demonstrating a hunger for good

governance and representation, there was a feeling that Ugandan citizens should shun bad

leadership and poor governance.

Commenting on MPs, a commentator in Kampala said he was frustrated by

representatives who are into politics for self enrichment. He argued:

Such leaders have stolen money right from global fund, NSSF, they have stolen a

lot. Some have also degraded our wetlands, they have given these wet lands to

companies like Tirupati and they have built in all of them.

This voice particularly echoed a general concern with the abuse of citizen‟s controls in

Uganda that end up exploiting Ugandans and their natural resources to benefit a few

political interests. The citizens are expressing that they are abandoned and nobody cares

or even seems to care.

However part of the problem is that the MPs are products of non-legitimate electoral

processes which disregard genuine citizen participation in choosing their representatives

right from the executive, the legislature and local government levels in Uganda. Broadly

speaking elections in the country have historically been mere formalities devoid of

democratic intent, process and outcomes. This emerges from most readings on such

elections take for example see commentators in Kiiza, Makara and Rakner (Eds.) 2008.

Since the 2001 and 2006 presidential elections, and a glimpse into more recent local

government elections we see the systematic consolidation of mechanisms for election

malpractices aimed at one thing: entrenching the incumbent as of now the “no change”

slogan in favour of the NRM in Uganda. These mechanics range from Balkanizing the

country into small administrative units that favour easy gerrymandering in the name of

decentralisation. Griffiths and Katalikawe (2003) concur that “many argue that new

districts come into being where the President perceives his interests may be served

through the fragmentation of certain ethnic or regional blocs”. Other election mal

practices are the ever growing restrictions on the opposition parties; the restrictions on an

Electoral Commission tightly under the leach of the executive; bribing voters with

impunity; intimidation of the opposition, among others. In this context, most MPs are in

parliament not because of the democratic credentials of the elections they are associated -

or for the respect of the citizens that voted - but by the illegitimate powers they have to

reach parliament that some of them poses. These include low voter education which

perpetuates low levels of citizen civic knowledge such that they are easy to manipulate;

which makes them “vote without seeing”; exploiting endemic poverty to ignore distribute

tokens and corruption rather get voted on merit and outright vote rigging among the

powerful which is on the rise.

There are issues of political inclusion of special groups in elections and politics. For

example the whole question of women‟s participation and outcomes in elections. On one

hand the NRM has been commended for expanding the horizon of women‟s political

visibility in elections that has expanded their numbers as legislators and local leaders

24

(Ssali and Atoo, 2008). However, the modalities for this inclusion had not sought to fully

emancipate women from political exclusion as such but through affirmative action used

women to expand the interest base of the NRM itself. Critical voices such as Ahikire

(2004) and Tripp (2000) have questioned the weight of such political participation by

observing that it simply has an „add on‟ effect, limits women‟s political agency to being

politicians of and for women per se thus restricting their participation, and by furthering

political patronage.

No doubt this state of affairs produced careerist women politicians that were dislocated

from the realities of their constituents; politicians who used the women‟s seat for

personal advancements as opposed to improving the conditions of the masses of down

trodden women in the country. Thus explaining why most Ugandan women remain

choiceless voters and unrepresented citizens!

In the context of such an electoral and political system, citizens were right to ask: how

many MPs really care about effectively representing the interests of Uganda?

6. THE STORY OF THE EMPTIED UGANDAN CITIZENSHIP?

Citizenship is a very emotive topic to Ugandans as judged from the interest demonstrated

in discussing the issue. Indeed one would take this for granted until one interrogates the

deeper meanings and aspirations. In all the districts covered, there was a sense of

knowledge about the legal provisions of who a citizen of Uganda is.

The arguments covered a range of issues for example that citizenship is primarily by

birth, but birth per se was not enough but has to be augmented by evidence of one‟s

extended stay in that country by way of ancestry. Therefore evidence of descent was

taken as more important as some people could be born in areas to which they have no

social and cultural attachment that arises out of a rich ancestry and social heritage.

Examples of views on who is a citizen

A citizen is one born in a country where they live. So those of us born here are all

Acholi Ugandans. For example, Indians born in Uganda before the 1970s are

Ugandan citizens that is why some of them have come back and now own the shops that their fathers had built here in Gulu and other parts of Uganda” (Elderly

woman , Gulu)

“… One is a citizen if their ancestors were born and buried in a country”, (Woman Gulu).

A citizen is a person living in any part of the country even if they are not

necessarily born in Uganda. However they must have been residing in Uganda for

at least 20 years. People with extended stay in a country could become registered citizens of Uganda (Middle aged man, Luweero)

25

However, beyond the statutory status there were concerns about what one gains from that

status in terms of respect for human rights, being able to access quality social services

and being treated with the same integrity regardless of creed. The results show lots of

convergence on the limited respect for citizenship. The voices cited below demonstrate

that Ugandans are not satisfied with the management of citizenship issues in the country.

In one of the dialogues with experts it was observed that:

“...Citizenship in Uganda is not taken seriously. In neighbouring countries like

Kenya, Tanzania, among others, outsiders (sic) are denied certain rights, which is not the case in Uganda where some foreigners (read non-citizens) may enjoy more

rights than nationals” (Gulu).

In Gulu, a Muslim leader in his late 40s stated that: The situation in Uganda is bad. People

are not united because of selfishness. We still work with our tribes, religions and so on. We have

lost the „togetherness‟ that we used to have. Accordingly, being Ugandan seems to be

nobody‟s business outside the specific period when mobilising for elections. The delayed

delivery and the mismanagement involved in the issuance of national identity cards was

another instance cited for the laxity with which Ugandan citizenship was treated. It was

recommended that government should streamline and tighten the issue of controls on

rights to citizenship in Uganda. For example, to date the National Identity Cards

promised Ugandans had not materialised to define who was truly a Ugandan citizen.

One area Ugandans feel abuses the equality in the treatment of Ugandans compared to

foreigners particularly was on issues of tax holidays given to investors. These sometimes

benefit non-Ugandans wholesomely at the expense of Ugandans.

Ugandans also felt the internal regional growth disparities particularly between the north

and other parts of Uganda also creates a sense of „first hand‟ citizens who are Bantu and

„second hand‟ citizens who are mostly northerners. Generally, citizens from poorer

regions north/south or urban/rural feel alienation manifested in the unequal access to

personal wealth, social services and political representation in the powerful echelons of

the country. People from poorer regions have a feeling that they are not given equal

standing as citizens. There is s sense that some few Ugandans in powerful families

related to the first family are getting richer while the majority of Ugandans are becoming

poorer. These inequalities were said to have undermined patriotism and destroyed

nationalism.

As a matter of way forward, it was observed that every Ugandan should love their

country. In Kabale District there was concern that as Ugandans we don‟t know ourselves

as citizens and there is no programme to make us love our Uganda:

We do not realize ourselves as Ugandans. There are no mechanisms for making

Ugandan proud of themselves and their country. We live as strangers or foreigners

in our country or sleeping unaware of what is going on in our country (Elderly women Kabale Town).

It was noted that patriotism cannot be nurtured in a country that is engrossed in

inequality, favouritism and exclusion. However some community members castigated

26

fellow citizens for failure to measure up to what is expected of them. To them, there are

obligations of citizens‟ not just expectations. Community members were accused of

voting incompetent leaders while the youth were singled out as too greedy to serve

national interests. There was a unanimous call for citizens to rise up and challenge greedy

and selfish leaders and for youth to be responsible, to take up any job irrespective of their

educational level to support themselves. However it was noted that citizens should be

patriotic and love their country first and foremost.

6.1 THE WOMAN CITIZEN

Another concern within citizenship was that of gaps in women‟s enjoyment of their

proper rights of equality. As Lister 1997 observed citizenship is a highly gendered terrain

and that is traditionally framed in masculine terms to the detriment of locating women‟s

specific concerns in there. Coming out of the dialogues, for example, one important

discovery is that most of the female participants attached entitlements such as enjoyment

of rights to quality services in education and health as the signifiers to effective

citizenship.

Generally there are clear acknowledgements that albeit progress in reaching out for the

rights of women, that gender oppression still persists in both the domestic and official

relations between women and men.

“Uganda has made tremendous progress towards gender equality over the last 20

years. The country has one of the most gender sensitive constitutions in the world,

has many laws and policies in place to address gender imbalances and women‟s empowerment. The challenge remains at the implementation level. Because many

government bureaucrats do not really appreciate gender issues, planners do not

adequately provide for interventions that specifically address women‟s needs in

sector policies, in sector plans and budgets” (CEWIGO 2011: 52).

Although the constitution guarantees women and men freedoms and other equal rights, in

practice gender equality particularly in marriage and the domestic arena was lagging

behind. Participants cited women‟s rights violations through gender – based violence,

which is validated by a patriarchal society. The women that participated in the Uganda

@ 50 dialogues called for a concerted effort to curb such abuses as they undermine their

wealth, health and ultimately overall productivity as daughters, mothers, wives and

women. This concern is back up by evidence from empirical studies to the effect that:

“Gender-based violence, particularly violence against women (VAW), is widespread in

Uganda and tends to be intensified in conflict – ridden areas (CEWIGO, 2011).

In places like Kabale, instances were cited where women work for their money but often

such money is grabbed by their husbands and or other male relations in the name of being

controllers. In addition, men sell agricultural produce from family gardens and use the

proceeds to consume alcohol and other personal luxuries. Women are therefore

increasingly carrying the burden for domestic obligations including purchasing clothes

and paying school fees for children as men fall back into oblivion. In a discussion at

Rwamucucu, Kabale, some men made a joke that many of the women had decided to live

27

as if they were „widows‟ because men had substantially passed on, though still living in

flesh (abashaija bafeire bemereire).

In Busia District, another elderly lady raised the some concerns over rights to marry men

of their choice without being threatened over their allegiance to Uganda.

I do not feel like a citizen because I am not accessing certain things that a citizen

should be entitled to. When you live in a country where people are not regarded

equal, then some people feel cheated. Some women may chose to marry non

Ugandans and when they marry them it is assumed that they have denounced or ceased to be Ugandans. That alienation can make you feel like not a citizen ( Busia

Town, April 2012).

However, there were considerable divergences of views among women themselves with

some castigating “Ugandan women to have taken women‟s rights too far”. Some women

feel women are becoming more distanced from men and loosening their caring roles in

homes. Others cited copying foreign dress codes for dishonouring our cultures and

cheapening the „cultural‟ value of women. Consider the view below:

“...Women‟s empowerment under Museveni‟s regime means that women can freely

express themselves unlike the experiences in the past but some of the women are

not using these rights positively”(university student, Gulu).

The concern over women misusing their rights was predicated on the fact that „liberated‟

women tend to ignore their cultures by among others „dressing promiscuously, not

cooking for their husbands, being disrespectful and generally not respecting the etiquette

of what an Acholi woman‟ was expected to have. Thus there are gaps in the appreciation

of gender equality and patriarchal dynamics on the part of the general public, which

perpetuate gender inequality and women‟s subordination.

6.2 WHITHER THE EAST AFRICAN CITIZENSHIP?

Ugandans have a feeling that they are the most hospitable nation among the East African

Community (EAC) countries4 and yet they are the most excluded when it come to

accessing the others. Uganda @ 50 commentators observed that the other East African

Community states notably Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda have tight controls on defining and

according rights of access to their services to citizens and non-citizens as manifested in

their strict and if not exclusionary border entry regulations and yet Uganda has the most

porous borders. To Ugandans this has resulted in unequal opportunities for enjoying the

promised formalization of East African citizenship that would come with benefits in

freely tapping the East African Common Market.

4 The East African Community was originally comprised of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania but now also

includes Rwanda and Burundi as well.

28

This was heralded by concerns over the delays in delivering the promised passports under

which willing citizens could at once have dual citizenship by holding their national and

also a regional passport. The holder of the regional passport could navigate the regional

countries for business, family visits or leisure without hindrance. In Busia district for

example, some went as far as to argue that Uganda has lost the opportunity of being the

East African Community (EAC) regional economic power.

“We (Uganda) have lost the leadership of the (EAC) region and now we lag in

terms of development, democracy etc. Politically, we used to share whatever we had to a situation whereby certain groups dominate everything”, (Phillip, EM,

Busia, Community Hall).

Hence Ugandans await the opportunity to widely access the instruments of regional

citizenship with anxiety. Regional citizenship would also deliver democratic dividends

for example, in sharing political experiences, visa free cross border travels in the region;

holding East African passports to ease this process and the promised benefits that would

accrue from regional trade, tourism and multiculturalism as a whole. However these

concerns are not limited to Ugandans but cross-cutting the region as expressed in some of

the voices in emerging literature on political transition in the region would suggest (see

Oloka-Onyango etal 1966, Kanyinga and Okello, 2010).

7. THE CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTION: RESTORE PRESIDENTIAL TERM LIMITS

Across districts, the discussion of poor leadership zeroed on the receding terrain of

Constitutionalism epitomised by the removal of presidential term limits, however over

time this discussion was extended to cover all forms of leadership. Participants suggested

that for efficiency, quality and accountability, all people in positions of power from the

local to the national levels should have term limits.

Much of the critical literature provided views from some commentators who raised their

concerns over the efficacy of the 1995 Constitution given Uganda‟s history of lack of

constitutionalism dating back to colonial times (among others see Oloka-onyango, 1994;

Mamdani, 1994). However, their scepticism aside, not even such critical thinkers could

escape the sense of good times to come with the new constitution which is contained in

arguments such as,

„With the promulgation of the 1995 constitution, the progress of the process of

democratisation under the movement system gained irreversible momentum

(Wapakhabulo, 2000: 87).

Over the years it was clear that the sceptical voices actually had a point. Many

commentators in the Uganda @ 50 study observed that arbitrary constitutional

amendments and particularly the removal of presidential term limits in 2005 was a key

precursor for poor governance. Indeed, participants in the Uganda @ 50 dialogues

pointed out that changing the 1995 Constitution to remove term limits for the President

29

has become a source of social and economic evils: dictatorship, economic

mismanagement, excessive military expenditure, suffocating service delivery and lack of

accountability. In this regard the voice from the Reverend and former policeman in

Hoima District asserted:

We are still debating whether we should remove a president or not! This should not

be debatable! The Constitution should be able to solve this. We are moving backwards.

The voices express one fact. This is to the effect that absence of political term limits and

a clear transition framework creates endless regimes and generates political struggles. It

accordingly perpetuates people in power and does not create room for duty bearers to be

accountable.

Still on the leadership question was the increasing commercialisation of politics. It was

noted that although everyone is potentially political, politics has been left to selfish

individuals. People who win elections are not necessarily performers. Similarly, Leaders

at all levels were accused of failure to perform their duties diligently. Leaders were

mostly preoccupied with satisfying themselves at the expense of the common citizen. To

emphasize the point, it was alleged that leaders have no love for their country, no care for

the teachers, children in schools and many deserving yet brilliant children lacked support

to pursue further education. As such, people are interested in leadership positions to make

money and to not serve, which portrays politics as a dirty game for the greedy and

unscrupulous members of society.

According to some views, many citizens have no faith in voting because of voter

manipulated and bribery of poor voters. This has resulted from the commercialization of

politics leading to election of unscrupulous people with money into offices for which

they are professionally or even ethically unsuited. This links to the concerns over

choiceless voters and unrepresented citizenry we talked about earlier.

It was observed that there is a lot of immature politics in Uganda today, immature politics

also manifesting itself in post election relations among voters. Politics of intrigue was

reported as rife whereby the losers in political contests undermine the winners‟

development programmes. Immature politics was also seen as demonstrated by the way

people vote individuals rather than issues. However, this needs to be seen beyond

blaming the voters. Individualism was created by the NRM to undermine political parties.

The „individual merit‟ system was fluked into the culture of elections in Uganda when it

suited the NRM to impose the „no-party‟ democracy, which was itself a flawed system

bent on undermining party politics until internal and external pressures made it inevitable

to revert to party politics (Barya et al, 2004). Among others, those who assume individual

merit improves democratization ignore the fact whether confronted with individuals or

organisations people vote on embedded cultural grounds, it wrongly assumes individuals

shall be voted by achievement but this itself is another contested ground and finally,

individual merit among „unequal‟ serves the interests of the dominant social group in

society (Sallie Simba, 2007:145).

30

8. INEQUALITY IN EMOLUMENTS

Participants noted that the gap between the wealthy and the poor was getting wider and

deeper. Political leaders such as MPs were noted as earning millions of Uganda shillings

while the teachers, police officers and the health workers are getting meagre emoluments.

Apart from inequalities in earnings of individuals, and whereas there are significant

variations, the north and the eastern parts of the country lag behind the South and

Western regions in infrastructure and service delivery. The voices from all over the

places visited indicate that unless Uganda gets equal distribution of resources, frustrations

will increase that could result into tension or a large proportion of Ugandans living as

slaves in their own country.

The currently noticeable unequal access to government resources was attributed to greed,

tribalism and nepotism. These were noted as taking the nation backwards as the educated

few occupying positions of power and offices exploited and trampled upon those under

them or who they were supposed to serve. As the few exploit the majority, the economic

gains of development are not enjoyed by every Ugandan especially the grassroots women

and men. Unfairness in distribution of resources is exacerbated by public expenditure

indiscipline that is causing Uganda a lot of unnecessary problems. Unequal distribution

of resources is also manifested institutionally.

At the local level, there is an imbalance in the distribution of government allocations

between town councils and rural sub-counties, which is blamed for poor infrastructure

development especially roads. The same reason applied in allocation of human resources.

Community members voiced concerns of having only one prosecutor for entire districts

compared to a situation whereby each sub-county has a Security Officer. Moreover, one

prosecutor is not even fairly facilitated with transport but is expected to traverse the entire

district. In most districts the highly essential structure of agricultural extension services is

as good as dead; agricultural offices, veterinary doctors and their assistants have long

been swallowed into the more paying non-governmental organisations and private sector

where they have little incentive to traverse the rural areas to reach the poor farmers that

sustain the economy of Uganda.

9. SCHOOLING WITHOUT A FUTURE: UNEMPLOYMENT

Unemployment particularly among the youth was identified as a key frustration in

Uganda of today. Many people decried the level of unemployment particularly for

graduates. While this was attributed to Uganda‟s increasing population, there were those

who blamed it on nepotism and injustice. Many participants noted that they are

disappointed with the level of unemployment that is leaving them poor. It was explained

that many people sell land to pay tuition for their children hoping that once they get jobs

they would help them and their siblings. Unfortunately the students complete education

and do not find jobs and some end up going back home to become dependents on their

31

parents. Even if they would have wanted to create jobs through agriculture, they do not

have land because it was sold to get their tuition.

There was consensus that education is becoming a source of poverty in some families.

This highlighted in a comment from a participant in Kabale:

You educate a child using money obtained through loans, and at the end of the

course, there is no job and therefore no money to even buy Vaseline for herself; she continues being dependent instead of assisting in supporting the siblings to acquire

education (Female Elderly-Rwamucucu).

Unemployment among the youth was reported high with many highly educated youth

failing to access jobs due to „lack of connections‟. Connection is used to illustrate some

kind of corruption which is commonly referred to as „technical know-who rather than

technical know-how‟. Others attributed unemployment to government policies. For

example, in the education departments where vacancies for teaching are always available,

recruitment of teachers was at halt. Even those who qualify as teachers and get vacancies

in government aided schools are not put on government payroll. Those who fail to access

government pay roll opt to teach in private schools where they are cheated by proprietors

and others opt to go to other countries to seek for opportunities. In Gulu a youth

confessed frustration as follows:

“The first frustration I have is education wise there UPE, USE, we might even get free university education but there are no jobs! As much as government can‟t

employ all of us the effort to create jobs is very little” (urban dialogues at Sunset

Hotel, Gulu Town).

Elsewhere another study shared similar concerns:

The glaring rate of unemployment in the country has turned Ugandan children into

slaves by the citizen tycoons and foreign investors within their own homeland. Many young men and women must earn a living, at the cost of being abused and

exploited at work ... One imagines what befalls the poor vulnerable, especially the

girls. Besides exploitation at work, many are sexually abused by their bosses

(Munjiya, August 2013)

While unemployment discussion involved blaming the government and other factors,

there were people who insisted that individuals should also share the blame. Others

blamed unemployment and poverty on the people themselves. Other voices blamed the

negative changes in the society. People were known for hard work but there has been

growing laxity in their lifestyles. Community members decried the severe erosion of

cultural values that have in most cases undermined employment creation and local

development. This was especially the case of people demanding rights but shunning

obligations. For example, it was stated that:

Youth also think they have a right to food, education but do not want to contribute

to production. Some women also join men to wake up and go to bars, drink until

they are drunk. Fathers are no longer responsible and often get home late and

32

leave their homes very early for drinking alcohol. The moral fibre of the society

has been eroded (Middle aged Male in the urban dialogue, Kabale).

Another example was cited of women, men and youth who do not want to engage in

“dirty jobs” but want white collar employment. Some creative people have been able to

move out of poverty by tapping into available opportunities in the so-called blue collar

work mostly found in the informal sector.

10. THE VICIOUS CYCLE OF CORRUPTION

“We are conceived in corruption, breastfed on corruption and we shall die in corruption” (Kabale Town, April 2013).

From the dialogues it was clearly expressed and regrettably so, that corruption has

permeated governmental systems, families, education systems and all spheres of life.

Indeed, corruption was found to be cutting across various divides. According to many

project participants, corruption in Uganda has reached what was termed as epidemic

levels and has in turn has affected service delivery in all aspects such as health,

education, infrastructure and justice. Unfortunately, people are aware but turn a blind eye

or where possible wish to join the racket of corruption. On the other hands it may be that

they are powerless well knowing they cannot change anything or have become utterly

cynical about it all?

In very specific ways, grand corruption was seen to have severely disabled the public

sector, where public goods are eaten off by corrupt staff. During the Ugandan @ 50

Dialogues, there was overwhelming concern over escalating corruption that is rampant,

mostly in high offices and handled in a manner that protects the perpetrators. Corruption

is mostly manifest in stealing government funds meant for developments but is also

associated with grabbing poor people‟s land, abuse of natural resources and cheating

materials from projects like roads and others construction works.

At the local levels, corruption was seen to manifest in several ways. For example, Local

Council (LC) Leaders appropriate services and items meant for the common people and

leaders also compromise quality by approving approve shoddy work for private gain. A

woman in her 30s from Hoima District commented that:

“I get frustrated by the way political leaders get involved in corruption. Among

others it is common for them to misuse of tax payers‟ money buying fake choppers, dogs, when teachers are not paid. It is frustrating and of course, hearing other

people being paid 35 or 50 million when a teacher gets 200,000 shillings”.

That corruption pervades the entire society is not questionable. Consider the story below:

33

Black Monday Issue 10, September 2013

The observation in this issue is that the nation is sinking in corruption. Social standards

and norms have gone so low such that corruption is quickly becoming the norm. Owing

to rampant corruption, most Ugandans feel a sense of loss in that socioeconomic and

political conditions have been degenerating 50 years down the road since independence.

The frustration has led to the unfortunate situation where quite a number of people

especially the older generation to even believe and verbalise the fact that colonial

administration was a better choice.

34

In the community dialogue held in Gulu District, most elderly women chorused:

“Ikare acon dakatale nwo tye aber kede jami duc me konyo atwo pe bala kare ni

ame atwoo culo cente me nwongo kony ibot dakatal, jamii bala pama kede gloves

my konyo mon nyawl”! (Meaning that) “In the past health services were very good

e.g. they found gloves and cotton in hospitals but these days it is not the case and to find such facilities for antenatal or reproductive health need of women in health

facilities is rare” (Dialogue in Ogwiny-Ayom village).

According to the elderly in the above discussions, the privatisation of health services has

fomented corruption and lead to poor quality or bad service delivery especially in lower

level health units. Overall, corruption and self aggrandisement were seen as the key vices

which then ultimately undermined the quality of leadership leading to poor governance.

Case One: Growing civic activism against corruption: the case of

Black Monday Movement

The outcry against corruption is not limited to the local levels alone but

has generated considerable activism in different sections at national level.

On its part the growing voice of civil society on the need to curb

corruption in Uganda cannot be ignored. There is growing momentum in

collective citizen‟s voice in the anti-corruption struggles. One such

initiative is the „Black Monday‟ Movement. Which is code named:

“citizen action against theft of our money without shame”. As part of the

activities to rally citizens a monthly newsletter is produced for free

distribution across the country. With a consistent message that:

Wear only black clothes every Monday to show you are tired of theft

Demand political action from the President

Isolate every thief implicated in a theft scandal. Don‟t invite them to

your burials and weddings.

Do not buy goods or services from businesses owned by thieves.

Support Ugandans working honestly to make a living…until all the

thieves have returned our money

These activists hold the view that corruption has become endemic and is

retarding the development of Ugandans. This depth of concern over what

corruption has become or evolved into and the negative implications for

the country are being articulated by civil society in the media, protest

matches, workshops, seminars, etc with valuable results in terms of

raising people‟s consciousness. Therefore, Ugandans are becoming aware

that corruption has become the norm and it has penetrated every aspect of

society to the extent that the corrupt are glorified as hardworking rather

than incarcerated.

35

11. THE UGANDA WE WANT TO SEE: BUILDING A COMMON FUTURE

Participants across Uganda had many convergences on a future they are looking forward

to have for Uganda by recommending various socio-economic and political

changes.214% would like to see Uganda become a democratic nation. This is followed by

those who want a peaceful country (16.6%) and those who want a corrupt free country

(15.8%) but also industrialized (16.4%).

Participants converged at the point that Ugandans as a people need to examine and reflect

upon the direction that the country is to take; there was a general agreement that Uganda

must be seen as going beyond the leaders to take one a more aggressive approach to

changing the country for the better; because leaders come and go while Uganda and its

citizens stay. In this regard the citizens should be empowered to mobilise for change.

The role of the citizen and how the future of the country can be improved upon were

highlighted to include mobilization and sensitization. These were seen as major ways to

improve the civic competence of the masses. Mobilization and sensitization would ensure

that citizens vote out of the office, politicians who do not deliver on their mandate. High

civic competence in the population would ensure that they monitor government programs

and projects and also promote patriotism among the citizens.

Community participation at design and implementation of development programs was

also said to enhance engagement with policies, projects and programs across the cycle

before they get distorted altogether. Improving the rural economy to enhance the welfare

of poor citizens across the country would broaden the scope of renewed citizen activism

as well. People in responsible positions should mobilize the communities in starting up

viable income generating activities and improving the quality of agricultural productivity.

Once communities improve agriculture production, there will be enough food to meet

household needs and the surplus for the market to meet other needs. Above all citizen

activism thrives on them having viable means to make ends meet beyond mere survival.

There was a call to evolve a citizenry that is enlightened on governmental processes of

making policy and procedures of development. This would enhance capabilities of

citizens to make government more accountable in addressing implementation of new

policies in place as well as implement development more effectively and efficiently.

People expressed a wish for a Uganda that promotes vocational studies. It was deemed

appropriate that government builds their own and encourages and supports other

partnerships with private sector, faith based organisations and other not for profit

concerns in the establishment of technical schools that can absorb such group of youth.

36

12. KEY CONCLUSIONS

The Uganda @ 50 Project was an extremely open ended process that generated candid

discussions on the nature and transitions of Uganda since independence in 1962 to date. It

was perhaps the first instance that provided citizens such an opportunity to contribute to

such diverse themes on their nation; from citizenship to democracy and what their own

roles should be in shaping the future development of their country, Uganda. The process

yielded some frank concerns some of which we reiterate in this conclusion.

While citizens espoused genuine appreciation about what has gone down well

particularly in areas of sustainable peace, security and expanded social services, they are

also deeply enraged with the on-going abuses of office in areas of disrespect for the

constitution and unabated corruption, which leads some to conclude that “Uganda is non-

viable country”! Ugandans simply wish to see a more caring leadership in all spheres of

the management of their country. A leadership that is selfless and not built on

personalities and their selfish interests. Citizens are disillusioned by this I don‟t care

attitude that is prevalent these days. Something about the governance of the country must

change.

Among these is the need for good leadership, which was predicated on the need for the

restoration of presidential terms limits to curb the tendency for leaders to over stay in

power, the need to combat corruption most especially where attention has tended to focus

on small thieves while shielding those with connections to the president. The poor

downward accountability of elected leaders was a concern that was partly attributed to

poor electoral processes and the resultant ineffectual legislators and local leaders.

Participants concurred that Uganda government is too lax on the status, entitlements and

controls on the question of citizenship; this they said opened for easy access of foreigners

to Ugandan citizenship and that in some cases, the foreigners enjoyed better rights than

Ugandans themselves. While they raised concern over delayed delivery of citizen insignia

such as the here and not there national identity project, they were equally anxious about

whither the regional citizenship project.

While appreciating growth in access to schools, health centres, water and sanitation,

agriculture services and microfinance, among others, they decried the lack of satisfaction

with the quality. Most of participants were nonetheless concerned about the poor quality

of social services. Poor quality was mainly attributed to corruption which resulted from

and in misallocation of resources intended to deliver such services in the first place but

on the other hand the tendency of the national budget being skewed in favour of meeting

the needs of defence at the expense of basic services such as education and health.

In rural areas participants advocated for the need to revive and strengthen producer

cooperative societies that had economically and politically galvanized Ugandan society in

the past. Hence this project argues that Ugandans, as citizens know what they have been

through, what they are going through and where they want to be but lack civic

37

competence of how to get there. A lot is said about the citizens not knowing what they

want, but this project on Uganda @ 50 shows the reverse is the case. This project thus

kick-started a self-discovery process among the citizens aimed at contributing towards a

future of citizen engagement with issues that concern them.

Participants themselves appreciated that the initiative to amplify citizens‟ voices as a

key process to self recovery, think and analyze the context and vulnerability issues

causing poverty, inequality, and other social injustices. There was a call to more such

initiatives to amplify the citizen voices in different aspects of concerns undermining the

development in the country.

Many project participants demonstrated knowledge of the Uganda they want but a clear

lack of agency to move forward was the problem. The how to change factor remains

elusive. While there are people who hopefully believe they could revamp Uganda, others

portrayed helplessness although their hopes are not completely shattered.

12.1 IT ALL BEGINS WITH US: STRATEGIES FOR TAKING UGANDA FORWARD

“It all begins with us –we must contribute to the development of our country in any way possible, where everyone is involved and cares about what goes on in

his/her country starting with the district or county” (from a community dialogue).

This quote sums up the sense of need for self reliance in mobilising around moving

Uganda forward. These are some of the strategies we could tease out of the many

elements.

Raise citizen‟s consciousness: Participants converged on the point that Ugandans need to

examine and reflect upon the direction that the country by going beyond the current crop

of leaders. Citizens should be empowered with skills to take one a more aggressive

approach to changing the country for the better; because leaders come and go while

Uganda and its citizens stay. In this regard the citizens should be empowered to mobilise

for change.

The role of the citizen and how the future of the country can be improved upon were

highlighted to include mobilization and sensitization. These were seen as major ways to

improve the civic competence of the masses. Mobilization and sensitization would ensure

that citizens vote out of the office, politicians who do not deliver on their mandate. High

civic competence in the population would ensure that they monitor government programs

and projects and also promote patriotism among the citizens.

Organise forums to build capacities for civic actions: Another driver for change

mentioned was to build capacities around civic action on the critical mass of citizens.

Civic action was considered to be critical in moving Uganda forward.

Inculcate the value for community participation: Citizens felt being in the design and

implementation of development programs would enhance their ability to hold

accountable those leaders, policies, projects and programs across the cycle of

38

development before they get distorted altogether. This should be done in ways that

encourages leaders and elite to appreciate that local citizens “know what they want”, or

of not, at least „they know what they do not want”.

Rebuild the rural economy: At the centre are calls for revamping traditional cooperatives

to enhance the quality of citizen spaces for entrenching democratic practices and engage

in increased agriculture productivity in rural areas. A robust rural economy will enhance

the welfare of poor citizens across the country and broaden the scope of renew their

energies for citizen activism as well. In addition, people in responsible positions should

mobilize the communities in starting up viable income generating activities mobilised

around the quality of agricultural productivity. Above all citizen activism thrives on them

having viable means to make ends meet beyond mere survival.

Improve the quality of education and knowledge of government policy: There was a call

to improve quality in UPE and USE as the most accessible sources of formal education

but even more critical evolve a citizenry that is enlightened on governmental processes of

making policy and procedures of development. This would enhance capabilities of

citizens to make technical, civic and governmental leaders more accountable in

addressing designing and implementing new policies more effectively and efficiently.

Promote vocational secondary and tertiary education: Primary seven leavers who cannot

afford to join secondary schools lack alternatives to further their education. It was

deemed appropriate that government builds and supports the establishment of private

technical schools and tertiary institutions that can absorb such group of youth.

Address political apathy in youth: The youths need economic support in terms of

obtaining skills and credit to engage in productive ventures in agriculture, urban and rural

informal self employment to improve their livelihoods. However that aside youth should

be reached out by programs for educating active citizenship, civic actions and above all

how best they can enhance their visibility in public management.

Address gender equality gaps: Albeit significant economic, social, political and cultural

advancements, women are still disempowered. Gaps were acknowledged in the rights of

women that are manifested in persistent violence against women, the limitations in

women attaining economic gains, practices of early marriages among others. These gaps

should be consistently unveiled and addressed in affordable terms. Ugandans suggested

that overall, we should uphold the cultural values that are developmental be re-inculcated

and parents should take responsibility to guide their children on useful cultural practices.

39

13. REFERENCES

Ahikire Josephine (2013), “Women Carry the Heaviest Burden of Grand Theft of Public

Resources”, Black Monday Newsletter, Issue 9, August.

Ahikire, J (2004), “Towards effective participation in electoral processes: a review of the

Ugandan experience”. Feminist Africa: National Politics, Vol. 3, pp. 8-26.

Ahikire Josephine and Ampaire Christine (2004), Vending in the City: a Gendered

Perspective of Policy, Conditions, and Organisational Capacity of Vendors in Kampala,

Uganda, CBR Working Paper No. 87.

Barya, J.J., Opolot, S.J. and Omurangi, Otim P. (2004), “The Limits of „No-party

Democracy: The role of International Assistance in Uganda‟s Democratisation Process”,

Working Paper 28, Netherlands Institute for International Relations (Clingendael).

Bastian Sunil and Luckham Robin, Eds. (2003), Can Democracy be Designed? The

Politics of Institutional Choice in Conflict-torn Societies, London and New York: Zed

Books

Boahen A. Adu (1997), African Perspectives on Colonialism, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins

University Press.

CBR, TUI and Action Aid (2013) “The Cooperative Movement and the Challenge of

Development: A search for Citizens‟ Welfare, Vitality and Wealth Creation approaches

in Uganda”, July.

ECA (2009), African Governance Report II, Economic Commission for Africa, Oxford.

Griffiths Aaron and Katalikawe James (2003), “The Reformulation of Ugandan

Democracy” in Bastian Sunil and Luckham Robin (Eds.) Can Democracy be Designed?

The Politics of Institutional Choice in Conflict-torn Societies, London and New York:

Zed Books

Karuti Kayinga and Okello Duncan, Eds. (2010), Tensions and Reversals in Democratic

Transitions: The Kenya 2007General Elections, Society for International Development

(SID) and Institute of Development Studies, Nairobi, University of Nairobi.

Kiiiza Julius, Makara Sabiti and Rakner Lise, Eds. (2008), Electoral democracy in

Uganda: Understanding the Institutional Processes and Outcomes of the 2006 Multiparty

Elections, Kampala: Fountain Publishers.

Lister Ruth (1997), Citizenship: Feminist Perspectives, New York: New York University

Press.

Mamdani Mahmood (1994), “Pluralism and the Right of Association” in Mahmood

Mamdani and Joe Oloka-Onyango (Eds.), Uganda: Studies in Living Conditions, Popular

Movements and Constitutionalism, Vienna, JEP Books,

Mamdani Mahmood (1999), Politics and Class Formation in Uganda, Kampala-Uganda:

Fountain Publishers

40

Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (2008), Disability and

Poverty in Uganda: Progress and Challenges in PEAP Implementation 1997-2007,

National Report, Kampala.

Mutibwa Phares (1992), Uganda since Independence: A Story of Unfulfilled Hopes, Hurst

and Company, London.

Muyinja K. Edidah Mary (2013), “The Uganda Woman‟s Heart Bleeds: Impact of

Corruption on Women”, Black Monday Newsletter, Issue 9, August.

Oloka-Onyango Joseph, Kivutha Kibwana and Chris Maina Peter, Eds. (1966), Law and

the Struggle for Democracy in East Africa, Nairobi-Kenya: Clari Press.

Oloka-Onyango, J and Muwanga, K. Nansozi, Eds. (2007), Africa‟s New Governance

Models: Debating Form and Substance in Africa‟s New Governance Models, Kampala:

Fountain Publishers

Oloka-Onyango, Joe (1994), “Judicial Power and Constitutionalism in Uganda: A

Historical Perspective” in Mahmood Mamdani and Joe Oloka-Onyango (Eds.), Uganda:

Studies in Living Conditions, Popular Movements and Constitutionalism, Vienna, JEP

Books

Opolot, Samson James (2012), “Militarism, Sexual and Gender Based Violence against

Women: Anecdotal Evidence from Kasese District in Uganda”, published on www.

isis.or.ug/publications/.

Opolot, Samson James (2010), “Policy Inertia and Persistent Conflict in the Karamoja

Cluster – Reflections on the Way Forward”, Kampala International Journal of Political

Economy and Statistics, Vol. 1, No. 1.

Opolot Samson James, Babirye Juliet, Baraza Deus (2009), HIV/AIDS and Disability in

Uganda, Kampala: Action on Disability and Development (ADD) Monograph.

Rubimbwa Robinah and Komurembe Gorett (2011), Monitoring Implementation of

UNSCR 1325 in Uganda, CEWIGO, September.

Sallie, K. Simba (2007), “Electoral Processes in Uganda: From Individual Merit to Multi-

Party Democracy” in Oloka-Onyango, J and Muwanga, K. Nansozi, (Eds.), Africa‟s New

Governance Models: Debating Form and Substance in Africa‟s New Governance

Models, Kampala: Fountain Publishers

Ssali Sarah and Atoo Pamela Clair (2008), “Gender and Women‟s Participation in the

2006 Multiparty Elections in Uganda” in Kiiiza Julius, Makara Sabiti and Rakner Lise,

(Eds.) Electoral democracy in Uganda: Understanding the Institutional Processes and

Outcomes of the 2006 Multiparty Elections, Kampala: Fountain Publishers.

Tripp, A. M (2000), Women and Politics in Uganda, Oxford: James Curray.

The Republic of Uganda (2010), Operational Guidelines for Uganda Conflict Early

Warning and Early Response Unit (CEWERU), Kampala, June.

Uganda Debt Network (2010), “CSBAG holds post budget dialogue”, UDN Newsletter,

May – June.

41

Uganda Debt Network (2010), “The 2010/11 National Budget: Implications for Pro-Poor

and Pro-Growth”, UDN Review Report, July.

Uganda Debt Network (2011), “Public Procurement in Uganda: Challenges and

Opportunities”, UDN Report, September.

Wapakhabulo, James Francis (2000), “Movement Democracy in Uganda: Origins,

Progress, Challenges and Prospects” in Mugaju Justus and Oloka-Onyango, J (Eds.) No-

Party Democracy in Uganda: Myths and Realities, Kampala: Fountain Publishers.