Twenty three years since he came to
power, President Yoweri Museveni shows no plans of leaving. We should not be
surprised by this because Museveni is walking the long-trodden path of other
African dictators of old like Marshal Mobutu of Zaire, Paul Biya of Cameroon,
Omar Bongo of Gabon, Gnassingb Eyadma, of Togo and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.
Whatever motivates him to keep tightening his grip around the nations choking
throat will continue to be a subject of intense debate and speculation. What is
clear, however, is that under his rule (or is it misrule?) Uganda has witnessed
a tragic collapse in the quality of government.
In 1970, our nation boasted of one of
the finest civil service systems in Africa and one of the most efficient state
enterprise sectors in the developing world. The governments of Singapore and
Taiwan would send teams to study Uganda Development Corporation (UDC) as an
exemplar of state-led industrial development. Under Museveni, UDC became a
centre of institutionalised incompetence, was cannibalised, many of its assets
liquidated and others sold at giveaway prices.
In 1970, Makerere University was among
the best 30 universities in the world. Students and scholars came from far and
wide to study and teach there. Yet in 2008, UNESCO rated Kigali Institute of
Technology (established in 1995) and the National University of Rwanda at
Butare as better than Makerere. The fate of Makerere is shared by all of Ugandas
elite secondary schools in which we had a lot of pride like Ntare School,
Busoga College Mwiri, Nyakasura School, St Marys College Kisubi, Trinity
College Nabbingo, Gayaza High School, Namilyango College, etc.
In 1970, Makerere University teaching
hospital at Mulago was among the top 20 teaching hospitals in the world.
Students and patients came from far and wide for specialised medical studies
and treatment. Today, it is a place where only the desperate seek medical
treatment. When he was shot at in 1969, then President Milton Obote was
hospitalised at Mulago, treated and discharged. Museveni has never sought
treatment at Mulago preferring Europe for himself and family.
Makerere and Mulago were major symbols
of our nations pride like Harvard and Yale are to America, Cambridge and Oxford
to Britain. Every nationalist in Uganda grieves over this collapse. What does
Museveni think and feel about them? Whatever his weaknesses as a leader, Obote
understood the national significance of Mulago and Makerere to our nations
image. During his first administration, he worked hard to sustain their image.
Even the buffoonish Idi Amin seemed to admire the two institutions but lacked
the knowledge on how to keep them shining.
Each time I have visited Mulago and
Makerere, I have left with a heavy heart. The visits have made me ponder
Musevenis motivations in ruling our country. Does the president hate Uganda? I
ask myself. It seems to me that Museveni cares about himself and his family
only. Thus, he is happy to have his name sold around the world as a reformist
president or a new breed of an African leader (even though he rules like our
continents dictators of old). He doesnt give a hoot about the rest.
The president recently visited Mulago
and must have seen how destructive his leadership has been. The hospital looks
like an overcrowded refugee camp dirty, murky and smelly. It serves more as a
death trap than a treatment centre. Its fate is shared by other public
hospitals in the country.
Meanwhile, our self-proclaimed anti-colonialist flies
his children to Germany and Spain for world class medical attention at public
expense even when the issue is to deliver babies. He even has audacity to write
in national newspapers about his contempt for Ugandan doctors.
When I visit Rwanda, a country Ugandans
used to consider inferior to ours, I am always intrigued at how President Paul
Kagame has reconstructed a national vision for his country. There is a sense of
purpose that runs through all layers of government. Public officials young and
old, in high and low places wear pride and confidence that they are rebuilding
their country. The streets are clean, the roads paved, public lawns mowed,
public gardens tended to and palm trees watered. At King Faisal Hospital, you
are impressed by the cleanliness of the place.
Patients in Mulago complain that
doctors do not attend to them, nurses sell them drugs they are supposed to get
for free, windows in wards are broken, mosquitoes fly with impunity, patients
have to bring their own mattresses and mosquito nets, the washrooms are smelly,
the floors are dirty, etc. At King Faisal, every bed has a mattress, a mosquito
net and white bed sheets and every patient is given a menu to choose what to
eat or drink eggs, fruits, milk, juice it is like a five-star hotel. Doctors
(many of whom are Ugandans working as expatriates) make regular checks, nurses
care, drugs are in plenty and there is a sense of purpose.
Musevenis behaviour has been
accompanied by the exodus of his lieutenants in cabinet, parliament, army,
security and civil service from public health and education services. These
have been followed by the new-rich in the private sector. Today, everyone who
is anyone send their children to hospitals and schools abroad. Those who cannot
afford send them to private ones in Uganda. Since the most powerful and
articulate citizens no longer use public education and health, these services
have been robbed of voice i.e. those with the capacity to speak out about this
problem in the corridors of power have little stake in doing so.
These failures and dysfunctions have
not gone unnoticed by the public. There is widespread resentment against
government across the country. I spent my last Christmas holidays in Kabarole
District. I held 11 discussions with groups of ordinary citizens (Americans
call them Town Hall meetings). Kabarole has been the bastion of support for
Museveni. I was shocked, but not surprised, at the amount of discontent among
ordinary people. If a Museveni stronghold is this resentful, why is the
opposition to the president weak and divided? It is here that we need to
understand the contradictory nature of Musevenis tenure, a subject I will
return to next week.
amwenda@independent.co.ug
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