As young Ugandans we anticipated that politics would be the field where ideas find their true market, and Uganda’s best minds would give rise to values and systems.
We expected Parliament to be a national calling, and the debates there to give life to policies for better social, economic and governance improvements for the benefit of the people.
But the NRM regime interests in the last 30 years have turned the people who once had fire in the bellies, to now people with bellies! No more ideas, other than sitting idly in the benches as treacherous bills are handed over to them by the party heads, to self serve their interests.
Its almost psychological, how the NRM party turns its members into surrogate workers of the party, doing the bidding of the party heads as their full time job, rather than representing interests of the people.
Development in leadership of the regime is now down to a stand still; there is no thinking work going. It has attracted people like Anite, Abiriga, double dealers, legislators for cash and the ilk. Their job is to have fake interest in the matters of their people, and full service to the party leadership. An army of half-baked politicians who are ready to be bribed. They pass whatever the party leadership needed, without thought.
This has reduced NRM legislators to employees of the party leaders, therefore forfeiting representative of society. They represent the individuals who hold executive power in the regime – Otafiire, a minister of justice in the regime, made the statement that his constituency is Rwakitura, the village home of the president. That gives a good estimation of the state of thinking of an NRM leader.
When Abiriga, one of the surrogate MPs for party leader’ interest to remove the Age Limit from the constitution, was yesterday filmed urinating on the ministry of finance building,
It seems from the initial stages of candidate selection, political training, money, military threat, the regime conditions its picks for leadership not to think their own thoughts, but follow, repeat after and pass what the leaders say. It ends with the party heads effectively usurping the individuals’ powers, and the collective power of their people. By having their dirty, treacherous interests done by these non-thinking MPs, and the leaders seek another source of political power.
It has exposed NRM ideology to its true purpose, the continued existence of its party single leader, even when the country doesn’t need him anymore.
The word Country isn’t meaningful to NRM legislators anymore; it takes a far lesser position compared with individual gains and narrow political interests. It is the age of legislators work for the party leader not for the people.
