For the fourth time, the Forum for Democratic Change Paul Mwiru won the seat in Jinja East By-Election today. Earlier in the day it was dark, it was bleak, not because he lacks public support. The rallies has been packed and the support of the citizens been there. The police and the army was all out, they were doing the work of the National Resistance Movement (NRM). It would have expected to move it in favor of the NRM Candidate Nathan Igeme Nabeta. By the standard of things, the Electoral Commission would cook the numbers together with the pre-ticked ballots and proclaim Nabeta the winner. Because that would fit President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. However, the social media, the CCEDU presence and the people questioning the ill-behavior stopped the madness.
Even if the streets was filled with soldiers, even massive scores of soldiers at the polling stations. FDC activists and leaders detained. Even in the days before and today, the Deputy Secretary General Harold Kajja was detained today. We could have expected also Secretary General Patrick Amuriat Oboi too, who posted pictures with ballots earlier in the day, but Kajja wasn’t that fortunate. There are still many of the FDC activists, the ones meeting at the FDC Office after the final rally on the 13th March 2018. They are still not released. The NRM are not forgiving and has no problem with acting against the law, when coming to detaining political prisoners. This is not new in the Republic, but yet another election with this sort of intimidation and harassment of fellow citizens who is naturally loyal to the Movement.
So, the incumbent had his joys, even as the NRM used all their force, all the government extravagance and even the President rallying for his NRM Candidate. The same candidate that Mwiru has challenged since before 2011. With similar numbers as today. The state hasn’t sufficient support for their man in Jinja East, they are trying the same lingo, but dropping the spoiled goods every time. They have now called for new elections in between 2011 and now, therefore, he has been elected four times. We understand that Museveni wants his own guy, but Jinja East doesn’t support Nabeta that much.
Museveni can send the army, pre-ticket ballots counting 8000, when the total tally of counted ballots today was 12,103. That means with the numbers Nabeta got, he would have gotten today 5,043 + 8000 is totally 13043. If that had been so, it would have been more voters than possible. That meaning the EC was planning big scale locally cooking of the numbers to get Nabeta in Parliament. You should wrinkle your mind there. When considering that Paul Mwiru got 6,654 votes today. Which was significantly enough to beat Nabeta with the government backing.
The state even with soldiers, police force active in partisan politics and the machinery ready to move the rigging affair too. If it wasn’t for mobile phones and civil activist for electoral codes in CCEDU. The picture might have been a affair where the NRM had gotten their way. They had intimidated and shut it down in favor of Museveni’s man. Even if the population of Jinja East wants Mwiru again. Because, Museveni doesn’t get that. That is why they exposed all the madness, why the FDC camped there to secure it and not let it go.
It is good to see NRM loose, but it is costly, since they use all vile force, they doesn’t spare the security organizations, they use intimidation and tactics that isn’t favor of a free and fair election. It is so messed up and the ones who follow knows this. It shouldn’t be this hard to get an opposition Member of Parliament elected to the 10th Parliament. However it is, and it says everything about the NRM and Musveni at this point. Peace.
Nathan Igeme Nabeta voting at Main Street Primary School in Jinja town.
You know that your candidate sucks, when you have to send the army into the streets of Jinja East. That is at least the evidence found for the National Resistance Movement Member of Parliament Candidate Nathan Igeme Nabeta. Who can sleep and get sick as a future MP, because he will naturally work for the agenda and causes President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni wants him too.
This Jinja East By-Election is just a proof, that the NRM regime are doing whatever they can to stop any independent mind or opposition MP into the Parliament. They use all venues, they arrest FDC personnel, the arrests their activists and their people on the ground. Just this week after the final rally for the FDC candidate Paul Mwiru, the state went to FDC Offices in Jinja and detained 51 of them. Without no hesitation, just to hurt the final stages of the campaign.
This just shows again, that the Uganda Police Force, is more political motivated, than being an actual crime-fighter brigade. Because they are working in favour of the president and his will. They do anything, not just to secure the voters get to vote in peace, but to intimidate, as usual. That is why tear-gas vans and other mambas has driving down the streets. It is insane, but only natural in the republic, which Museveni resides.
There are 47 polling stations, but considering the amounts of police and army personnel, you would not think this was not a by-election, but a hostile takeover. That someone was invading Jinja East and making sure, they did the right thing. In this regard, vote for the future sleepyhead Nabeta. I do not even know if he had a message during his campaign, because all that came out of his rallies. Was the standing and words of the President!
I do not know if that was by accident, but clearly, we cannot mistake that. Just like the clips and photos of the police beating anyone who they think might vote for Mwiru. If you think this democratic, if it is justified, you are wrong. This is just a vicious attempt of taking control of the seat in Parliament.
At this point, the NRM owns the Parliament and has the advantage anyhow, so I do not see it. Nevertheless, Museveni must conspire something out of his sleeve or back pocket. Because he has sent the irons, the blades and the tricks of his trade to the Jinja East.
At this point, the results does not matter, because the rigging, the anticipation for a fair result is gone. This is the sort of staged affair. That should be cancelled and new re-run with serious contending parties and no partial policing in the district, I know that is a dream, but that is if the ruling regime would fair. Which is not and never intend to be.
We know now that Nabeta is a sucky candidate, a candidate not worth writing about, as the popularity is in the hands of previous winner Mwiru of the FDC. However, the NRM and the Police wants it otherwise. I should care about the result, but it’s hard to do so, when the Police and the army is used in this fashion. It is petty politics, where the Commander-in-Chief, where the President sends his forces to teach his people a lesson. This isn’t an election. At this point, it is a Presidential Selection. Peace.
“Even if the NRM MP is sick and sleepy, he’s still better than an acting opposition MP who’s very active. He might be inactive in other things but if he seconds the issues of govt, then he has contributed a brick to the peace of the country” – President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni at a Campaign Rally (13.03.2018)
It is time to for President Museveni to stop his mixed messages. Because today during a By-Election Campaign Rally, he said there was no issues if a National Resistance Movement (NRM) Member of Parliament is sleeping. Why I am revealed by that, is that he is initially telling the crowds. Just elect my stooges, my cronies, I decide anyway, it is all my agenda. All that is done is on my time and my watch. The NRM MPs can be sick and can sleep. You shouldn’t mind them. Because they are just voting when I need them, the rest of the time, they are just lackeys that I have to take care off. So it’s good that the President is telling the truth. Because that is what he did.
However, sleeping was a problem 24 hours ago. Therefore, it is okay for his lackeys, but not for people in general: “President Museveni has said Ugandans, and Africans more generally, are poor because they spend too much time sleeping. “Africa is so rich because we have got water, land, minerals, good weather. So, how does this (poverty) come about? It is because of nino (Langi for sleeping),” Mr Museveni said. In Africa, he noted, there is also a lot of “oversleeping”” (Oketch, 2018)
Shouldn’t there be a coherent message, that sleep for NRM MPs is good because it fixes my agenda and my life as President. But the citizens has to awake and work? How come? Why them and not the representatives? It doesn’t add up?
Well, if the riches, the cronies can get away with sleep, why shouldn’t the people of Gulu and Arua sleep? Why should they stress collecting, hustling and doing whatever, when their NRM representative is always sleeping the few times they have to show up for Plenary Session in Parliament. What gives?
Museveni is showing his lack of well-thought thinking. One day saying sleeping is bad, the next day it’s good. Africa and Uganda is poor because people sleep. However, his cronies and lackeys they can sleep all they want. They don’t have to work, because Museveni makes the agenda. When they are representing the people, aren’t it okay that the people also sleep? If they have sleepy-face in parliament, cannot the constituents be sleepy in alley and the valley? Why not?
I know that you have to awake to able to work. You have to enough sleep to be productive, that is the same for a farmer, as much as for an MP. Unless the MP get instruction and just have to vote “yay” and the day is done. While the farmer still needs energy to toil the soil and make sure the seedlings grow. So an MP needs less. That is natural, but still the MP should be the most eager, since the delivery of the MP is for his constituents and for the Republic.
That is lost in all of this, because Museveni wants people to sleep and not see his double-standard. Peace.
It feels deliberate, that Eduardo Kukan dropped a statement on the 8th March 2018 as the General Election in Uganda was in February 2016. That is two years after, this is the Follow-Up Mission to the Electoral Observation Mission, that is long finished and didn’t deliver anything of significance. The whole thing ended up being a charade and mockery of the principals the EU is supposed to stand for. The rigging, the spending and buying votes, the inside deals and pre-ticked ballots should all say that the re-election to a fifth official term and unofficially 7th shouldn’t be legitimized by any entity. This is the same fellas that left Kololo, because the President’s stance on the ICC. Like they didn’t know?
So, we are in March 2018 and its two years and a month since the entered the port and all of the containers are left, all produce is eaten, all parts of the products is sold, stolen or gone. Therefore, there is very little to regard about the process. Very little the EU can do, because they are beholden to the man they validated. They validated the Supreme Court ruling, they validated the Mbabazi petition, they accepted the stolen votes from Besigye and the obvious lies of the Kiggundu Electoral Commission in favor of Museveni.
The EU should have pushed for the reforms in 1995-1996 if they we’re serious. While the President still looked like he cared a little bit and was a donor-friendly guy, now he despise anyone questioning him and his authority. He is always right, and the rest of you is wrong or can be bought. That is President Museveni now. They could have had a short in 2000-2001, even 2005-2006. Even as the term-limits was deposed at the time. When the true reality was that Museveni had no place of really retiring and spend time with his cows. The EU could have pushed for reforms in 2010-2011, even as the Walk to Work demonstrations (W2W) and the Activists 4 Change (A4C) who both challenged the Presidency. Clearly, the EU could have done more as an outside entity, if they cared about the Electoral Reforms.
So now, that the last election went through, the syncopates, the technocrats and cronies of Museveni is elected, appointed as advisors and whatnot. The EU is asking and begging for changes, since suddenly now is the time. Like Museveni would care about the plight of the Follow-Up Mission in 2018, when he just gotten his carrot in December 2017, the Life Presidency. Did the EU miss that charade? Did they sleep in Brussels and eating Belgian waffles? That is how it seems to me.
That the President that has centralized most of the power around him and his State House would now care about the EU, is to say bluntly naive. That the EU comes with recommendations now will not be listened too. Unless, they are dropping bunch of external funds and juicing the rabbit a little bit. Because Museveni is eating, his cronies is too and there is nothing you can tell him.
So when the EU stated this on the 8th of March 2018, its not hard to understand, why it is like this: “ The EU EFM has been heartened to find that the recommendations of the EU EOM have been disseminated across several institutions of State and that many interlocutors were familiar with the content of the recommendations. While there has been virtually no progress on implementation of the recommendations to date, awareness of proposals, and the grounds thereof, is a crucial first step in the achievement of the recommendations. Similarly, there is widespread awareness of the directives of the Supreme Court” (Eduardo Kukan – ‘EU Election Follow-up Mission to Uganda urges Authorities to take positive steps to improve electoral process’ 08.03.2018).
Like did you think the man, that has been running since a coup in 1986 would give in and change to a more democratic structure, the one who house-arrest his biggest threat without any jurisdiction or right by laws? Do you think the man who has all the state coffers, has all the bidders at his feet, will finally give way to your advice? Do you think the man who has used the guns to silence opposition and does it will kind of acronyms too.
I hate to say it to you Kukan, but your late to the party. The party-goers have left, they have their whiskey, their Waragin, their vodka and their Nile Brew, but are not interested in your anecdotes. They would have mattered some time ago, when the fire was burning, when Usher and Radio & Weasel was banging on the stereo. But now, the party has died down, the only left is the straws and the memories of the late night charade.
Kukan, you should have acted swiftly, you should have cared about the implications, but your entity and others validated Museveni. Just like you have done in the past. You let him of the hook and this here, will be a stain, but not something that covers the obvious. The theft of February 2016. That you accepted and did for selfish reasons beyond me.
You could have, you should have, but you never did. Peace.
“Those criminals can be arrested only that Police had been infiltrated by a “bean weevil” that was now removed, we shall now get them” – Yoweri Kaguta Museveni on the 8th March 2018 in Mityana.
President Museveni is his own kind, just days after sacking Inspector General of Police Edward Kale Kayihura and appointing someone else. He is addressing his own Police Chief as an insect who infested the bean. The bean-bag must be the Police Force, as IGP Kayihura over his 13 years in control of the Police.
To prove what a weevil is, the dictionary of Merriam Webster defines that as: “any of a superfamily (Curculionoidea) of beetles which have the head prolonged into a more or less distinct snout and which include many that are destructive especially as larvae to nuts, fruit, and grain or to living plants; especially: any of a family (Curculionidae) having a well-developed snout curved downward with the jaws at the tip and clubbed usually elbowed antennae” (Merriam Webster – ‘Weevil’ 28.02.2018). So the President are mentioning him in this fashion. To deflect the narrative that Museveni has ordered, put forward the laws Kayihura had to abide too, and also the direct orders from him. That is known, as Kayihura said his loyalty was to Museveni and his wishes. It had to be, because that is the only reason for the longevity of Kayihura as the IGP. Kayihura was able to be the IGP for 13 years. Over that time, he followed orders and made own. Which also became his fall.
However, to blame it all on him is an understatement. Kayihura did a lot wrong and followed his guts in the is political will and his achievements of monitoring politicians and using the police in oppression of the opposition. This has been done with the blessings of the State House. If it wasn’t for the will of Museveni, Kayihura wouldn’t have acted. Some things he did on his own, like the ICT Corruption Scandal within the UPF. The mission of using Crime Preventers, but that was also blessed by the almighty himself. It was okay to use Boda Boda 2010, when it was to intimidate the opposition and intimidate them. Now that it became a problem and their crimes became an issue, the squabble with Gen. Tukumunde, was the final nail in the coffin. Museveni couldn’t have it this way.
Clearly, the little bug, the little insect that he hired again and again. He had 4 terms of 3 years. That is twelve years, before given his 5th last year. So it wasn’t like Museveni didn’t trust him and used his services as a punching bag and as the IGP. In November 2016, Kayihura was awarded by the State as the “Exemplary Uganda’s Civil Servant”. A little over a year later, he is sacked because he isn’t that good, but he was good enough in Mbale in November 2016.
Now, after the bustle between Kayihura and Tumukunde, while the insecurity has been rising, while murders being unsolved and the crime not taken care of by the Police. They squabble between them destroyed the credibility of both of them even more as the Muslim Clerical murders, Entebbe Woman murders and the list goes on. Even the high profile assassination of Andrew Kaweesi hasn’t been solved. There are to many plots and acts who hasn’t been looked into or afraid to do, because it might reveal who is on the top of the food-chain and who ordered the killings.
So with that in mind, calling min a weevil or an insect days after his sacking is beneath any president, but it is in fashion when it comes to Museveni. He has called people similar in the past, but this is what he says about someone who has been loyal to him, like forever. Kayihura had been his cadre, his comrade in crime, the one who did his dirty work and followed orders. Kayihura just worked in the interest of Museveni. Now days after Museveni shows how much he values his work.
If it had been opposition, they would have the right to name him in bad fashion, since he has crashed them, detained them, house-arrested them and tried to destroy their lives. Because they were opposition and against his master Museveni.
The President shows his own personal agenda, it is always washing his hands of his dirt. Always making sure that he himself get left unscratched by the actions and orders he delivered. That is why this demeaning to Kayihura and his work. Kayihura was acting vile and was a monster, he was someone who acted as a IGP in command under Museveni. He would not act like that if the President didn’t order him too. Some he would do on his own, but the rest is orders from the President and his will.
So if IGP is an insect, he was the President own personal insect. So now he used pesticides and got rid of it. That is what the President said today. He took him away with Raid sprayed the crap out of the Police and now gotten rid of the weevil. Now that the insect is gone, the Police will catch the criminals. However, I doubt that, because the system and rules, the orders came all from Museveni.
Kayihura was the man Museveni made, even if he don’t like the results now, it was his making. Museveni made the organization, accepted the short-comings of him and his use of Police Force. Police Force became like it is, because Museveni made it possible. I don’t say that to defend Kayihura, because I don’t want to defend the man. He deserves to be in bracelets himself for breaches of the Constitution and misuse of power. However, that will not happen.
Mr. President when you are saying things like this, your proving that loyalty to you and following your words is worthless, because you will destroy them the moment you can in your own favor. Peace.
Today, two loyalists of the President has gotten fired, this was sudden and was not anticipated. Today on the 4th March 2018, the Inspector General of the Police Edward Kale Kayihura and the Director General of Internal Security Organization (ISO) General Henry Tumukunde. Both have been dropped suddenly after the recent leaks of lacking policing and rising crime in Uganda. There been reported of only 5% rate of murders being solved in the recent year.
“A statement signed by the President and dated 4th March, 2018, reads as follows: In the Exercise of the powers vested in the President by Articles 113 (1) and 213 (2) of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, I hereby appoint General Elly Tumwiine as Minister for Security, Mr. Okoth Ochola as the Inspector-General of Police and Brigadier Sabiiti Muzeei as the Deputy Inspector General of Police”.
So the President has actually acted on the worse state of the Police and the public perception, as the police has been more focused on opposition politicians, than actually fighting crime. I don’t think the Police Force will stop doing that and also ban Besigye from dinners and public gatherings. However, this is proof that the President acts. Even if he is late to the party, since he should known that the Police have had gangs working for them and intimidated them. It isn’t like the President did this while the Muslim Cleric died or the woman at Entebbe died last year. Not that the Police leadership changed when the AIGP Andrew Kaweesi was killed. Therefore, the Boda Boda 2010 and the Crime Preventers issues must have really hurt some pride. Since, the change happens now. As the ISO is investigating Police Force and the Police Force was starting to investigate agents who did kidnap civilians and also did dirty work. Clearly, the President maybe wanted to stop that sort of acts. Since both actions make it look stupid and also looks like to different criminal groups, which is sanctioned from the state.
So now the NRM goes back to the NRA days, as they are hiring Tumwiine, as the Daily Monitor reports: “The new security minister Gen Elly Tumwine served as Commander of the National Resistance Army from 1984 to 1987. Gen Tumwine who also sits on the UPDF High Command fired the first shot in the National Resistance war. He replaces Gen Henry Tumukunde” (Daily Monitor, 04.03.2018).
So Tumukunde loses ISO and Ministry of Security, the battle between Kayihura made them both lose. Even as Kayihura wasn’t long ago promised a new tenure and term. Therefore, his contract got taken back and now he lost his job on a Sunday. It was on 2nd May 2017 that Kayihura for a new three year term. Now the Deputy IGP John Martins Okoth Ochola takes over becomes the IGP. J.M. Okoth Ochola is what you call a traditional Police Officer, if he will implement that, instead of the military attitude of Kayihura is to be seen. As he has worked for years under Kayihura.
All of this might change the faces of the Police Force and the Ministry of Security, however, it is the same President and the same party behind it. If the Parliament, the President and the Security Organization wants change, the procedures and institutional polices has to change. The accountability and the organization has to change. The Police Force isn’t make the nation safe, neither was ISO or the UPDF. The Special Forces Command or any other organization created to secure the public. That is why people is murdered and there are no signs of proper investigations, even criminals who just get away with their crimes.
This change might happen because of the United States new Travel Advisory on the 10th January 2018 said: “Exercise increased caution in Uganda due to crime. Violent crime, such as armed robbery, home invasion, and sexual assault, is common, especially in larger cities including Kampala and Entebbe. Local police lack the resources to respond effectively to serious crime” (Travel.State.Gov, 10.01.2018).
So they are have started to worry about the state of the police in Uganda. When they are warning their tourists. It says a lot about how they know about the current state of policing in Uganda. This must have gotten into the ears of Museveni and that is why he fires both of them. As the squabble between Kayihura and Tumukunde, has been fought in public. As the ISO has gone after proxy organizations of the Police Force. They have taken people connected with Kayihura and now he didn’t just lose, but Tumukunde got sacked too. When you play high, the rewards might be high, but fall might be worse.
People despise Kayihura for his actions and his defense of the NRM, the political driven police force, who has bankrupt the Force and also extended the mandate because of the Public Order Management Act of 2010. The POMA clearly made the Police Force focused on policing and monitoring opposition, more than collecting evidence and actually solving crimes. The Police Work has been left behind, they have used fear and used gangs to stop people. It has been strange, but it was sanctioned and accepted until now.
President Museveni suddenly acted swiftly, as he wanted to save face, even if the barren organization, the bankrupt system is still there. The scandals and the lack of morals are there. The ISO and UPF are still two security organizations without trust in the public, because they are more into politics, than fighting crimes. They are no bipartisan, but a visible hand of the NRM.
The insecurity and the lack of policing is something that has occurred over time. It wasn’t created in a vacuum of Kayihura or Tumukunde. This was done by President and with his orders. Kayihura has said his been a loyal man who just follows orders. He will continue to say that to clean his hands of dirt, as he has done his vicious and malicious acts against the citizens. Kayihura knows this and he knows he has made political prisoners and done so as ordered from the State House. That is where the big problem is, it is the State House. The organizations, the institutions and the insecurity has been made from there.
It is the lack of transparency, oversight and accountability of the Security Organizations, it is the lack of resources and the maladministration. It is the whole structure and the orders from the President, who promise and pledge, but doesn’t invest. Museveni has created this, but it is easier to sack someone, than actually destroy something and rebuild. Right now the Police Force isn’t professional, neither is ISO. The lack of protocol, procedure and training, is the reason for this mess. The lack of actual officers who do their duty and has no reason to even do so.
We should also worry about Gen. Tumwine, the former NRA and rebel whose been loyal to Museveni, don’t expect ISO and Ministry of Security to be nice and smooth. The malicious acts of the Ministry will continue, as the vicious crackdown of 2001 was in the hands of the general. Who while in charge made sure dissidents entered Kigo Prison, which was leaked in 2005 and 2006. Therefore, the world knows that he tortured lawyer, human rights activists and also opposition activists there. Therefore, Tumwine, might do similar things now that he has power in service of Museveni. So he goes from the UPDF General Court Martial, where he has stated in the powers. That previous trials and charges on Besigye was ordered and not made on legal basis. Therefore, he is brave enough to speak up against Museveni. But if he will do more than speaking is likely, since Museveni has made him general and made him Minister again.
We just have to see how this goes. Surprised today, yes and not so worried about the battle between Okoth Ochola and Tumwine. But if they will rock-the-boat, I doubt it and if they will reform their institutions and their organizations. I doubt that too. They will be figureheads who are loyal to Museveni and await orders from the State House. We will just see if their leadership roles, can stop the insecurity and the problematic state the Police has no in society.
The top chef, the one who has created this dish is in the State House. It is the President who is in-charge and let all of this happen. It is Museveni who didn’t act and made it possible for the Police to investigate and make sure the Police could solve the crimes done, the murders and all other activity. Clearly, that hasn’t been possible.
“President Yoweri Museveni has implored parents who are financially sound to give their children a better education to guarantee a better future even it means taking them to Private schools” (NTV Uganda, 04.03.2018).
The pledges of yesterday is losing value for President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the process and the service delivery doesn’t matter, if it ever did. The Universal Primary Education was one of the brilliant moves he did and also got much more donor funding in the beginning of his Presidency. He introduced UPE in January 1997, as the time went the Government of Uganda invested more into the schools. As the Overseas Development Institute in February 2006, which stated: “The UPE programme has required a significant increase in public expenditure devoted to primary education. Total education expenditure increased from 2.1% GDP in 1995 to 4.8% of GDP in 2000, while the share of the education sector in the national budget increased from 13.7% in 1990 to 24.7% in 1998” (ODI – Policy Brief 10, Feb 2006). So the DFID sponsored brief are really explaining how the National Resistance Movement and President Museveni really used funds into the schools to make it happen. However, down the line the investments hasn’t continued and the progress of the policy has lost value. Since they have not continued or hold into that standard.
“The President clarified that parents should feed their children and those who can’t afford should take their children to Universal Education Schools which he insisted should not charge fees, while the capable ones can pay in private schools or ‘big government schools’. “Universal Education Schools should not charge fees and parents must provide a meal for their children, called ‘entanda’. Government has provided UPE and USE for poor parents and here it is free. Those who can afford can take their children to other government schools and private schools where they pay but no child should be withdrawn from school” he emphasized” (Opio, 2018).
When you hear the man who is the leader, whose been the President since 1986, been there 32 years. Saying if you want to give your kid a good education, send them to private schools. The ones who are poor can send their kids to government schools. Therefore, if you have money, you will care more about the future for your kids. Because we as a state has given up the Universal Primary Schools.
This financial year the state is using 10,87 % of the national budget in 2018/19, that is down 11,37% in 2017/18. Both years are really proving how little it is concerning how it was when the UPE was booming around the millennium. In those years the state used about 20% or more on Education. Meaning the means to build and upgrade schools where there, also for more staff and more equipment was there. This has been forgotten and deemed unnecessary by the state.
Already in 2006, the UBOS Statistical abstract stated this: “However, the education facilities including classrooms, teachers’ houses and libraries have not matched the upsurge in the number of pupils. In 2004, provision of classroom space remained an enormous challenge. Table 2.2.2 shows that, only about half of the pupils had adequate sitting space” (UBOS, 2006). So the problems we are seeing today, is systemic from the mushrooming of schools and districts who built-up schools after the announcement of the UPE in 1997. I am not saying it is easy to keep the upkeep after the surge of schools, but if the state wanted them as a priority. They would have allocated funds to it over time.
Clearly, that part has gotten wasted and the state hasn’t figured out that buildings needs upkeep, schools needs equipment and teachers needs salaries. I know all of that seems basic, but the deep understanding of that seems lost somewhere.
Since if you are seeing the numbers, the Education Ministry got 24,7% in 1998 and now in 2018 it get’s 10,87 % of the National Budget. The schools has surged then and the budget is smaller, that meaning the more schools and teachers are getting significantly less funds for their operations. This is clearly the will of the state, as they are prioritizing other parts of government and not the schools. So the pledge before the 1996 Election is now being abandoned, the Ten Point Program point is being dismissed and the State showing disregard for its own system, as the rich can have their own. The poor can have lesser quality and the ones who care about their future can got to the private ones. Because of this I want to go back to 1996, because it says a lot, about why its like this today.
So, we are not going back to 1986 today, but 1996, when this happen:
“Given his earlier opposition to the idea, President Museveni’s decision in March 1996 to make universal primary education part of his manifesto for the upcoming presidential election campaign represented a sharp break with existing policy. In a radio speech delivered on 27 March, Museveni promised that, if re-elected, he would implement a plan giving four children per family access to free primary education (the plan would also apply to orphans) (Radio Uganda 27.3.1996). This education promise was, however, just one part of an overall election manifesto that included pledges concerning liberalisation of the economy, road building, defence, and renewed East African cooperation. In fact, improvement in education was listed as only the fifth of seven bullet points on the back of Museveni’s
published manifesto (Museveni 1996). Though free primary education was only one small part of President Museveni’s initial election manifesto, during the course of the campaign it soon became clear that the promise to abolish school fees was striking a chord with the electorate. Ugandan officials from the period recall that several of Museveni’s close advisors repeatedly sent messages to the Ministry of Finance after campaign meetings in order to emphasise how the UPE promise had been well received” (Stasavage, 2006).
We could see it was his own initiative, as the President knew what would strike a chord, making sure the kids was educated and had a better future. The same resonates today, but the state has forgotten that. They are not caring, they build a giant program, a big school system of Primary Schools, but not allocated or planned the upkeep of them. That is why the state of the schools are going down and the level of poor public schools is rampant. The districts and sub-counties are not getting enough to keep the schools in functions or even the buildings up. That is why we can find pictures of schools falling apart and looking like they we’re forgotten the day after they finished building it.
From a report from the Ministry of Education and Sports in 1999 said this: “Uganda spent only US$8 per pupil in the early 1980s, and in financial year 1997/98 US$32.50 was spent per pupil” (…) “ UPE is one of the surest means that will lead Uganda to the attainment of the Jomtien Conference (1990) pledge of providing basic education to our primary school going population. As we provide that ìminimum package of knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes required by every person to enable him or her live as an independent, productive and effective citizen in a societyî the individual is empowered to meet her or his daily needs and aspirations, those of the community and the nation, which are focused on modernisation. Uganda is confident that by the target year 2003, Universal Primary Education will have been achieved for all its children” (Ministry of Education and Sports, P: 19, 21, 1999).
So in 1999, the State was hopeful, today in 2018, UPE is not for all children. Not if you listens to the words and the statement from Museveni. It’s Private Schools for the wealthy and the UPE for the POOR. Therefore, Museveni is claiming to classes and two system, which is really demeaning to the ones going to the UPE schools. This is his fault that the schools are bad. He introduced the system, he made it and built it. However, he forgot to the upkeep. He forgot the pledges of the past, even the goals of his own ministry in 1999. It is nearly 20 years since or 19 years ago. Therefore, if Museveni has forgotten it is natural, I don’t remember what I wrote a year ago. However, he promised this and used his Presidency to promote this. The UPE is one of the few grand achievements of Museveni. Even I can say that. But now its rotting and that is because the State has stopped funding it. It is their own decisions not upgrading or even maintenance of the buildings. It is weird that the NRM went into this, build this giant school program and had no plans for maintenance of the Schools or the Salaries of the teachers.
It is easy to start something, but when it continues, you needs to allocate, secure and also funds for day-to-day business. That is forgotten and today, Museveni has given it up. If not he doesn’t care about the UPE he introduced officially in 1997 and pledged during the 1996 Campaign. I say that because, well they have gone from using over 20% of the yearly budget in the 1998 to around 2000, but now the state has allocated as little as 10%. So it the Primary Schools are neglected, because the State has decided to neglect them. It is because the state has built a lot of them, but not funds to maintenance of them. Museveni knows this, but doesn’t say it. That is why the schools are for the poor, because the President even keeps the Government Primary Schools poor themselves.
I just have to ask the President, you used years and your time in the beginning of your time as President to build up the Universal Primary Education, have you officially given it up? Should the Ugandan population give it up too?
If you I can put the whole situation into one simple explanation: Museveni wanted to give the public a giant castle, he pledged to give the public that giant castle. He actually built the giant caste and made sure the public could use the castle. However, with time he didn’t have the funds or the money to maintain the castle. The walls and barricades are failing, the walls are weaker, the structure needs fixing. The servants, the people who are inside the castle are not getting paid and even educated to keep the walls steady. So, the stones and the building are looking more like a ghost-town than a castle. Museveni could have had a castle, instead he has a rundown ghost-town.
There are too many UPE schools that are rundown without proper buildings, which has been neglected. The same has the teachers and the pupils, who them all are living through it. Their future is depending on it and they are forgotten. Now the President tells, the ones who can afford it should go to the Private Schools instead. The poor has enough with the UPE schools. That just shows how he has given up the 1990s project.
Isn’t this a sign that you as a leader should have retired, since you have actually given up one of your achievements?