Uganda at crossroads with the last king of the Bachwezi dynasty

By J. J. Opondo

Tororo | A once-democratic country governed by parliamentary democracy, the Westminster model introduced in 1962, strengthened and safeguarded by the 1967 Republican Constitution of the UPC government, is now led by the geriatric son of the last king of the Bachwezi dynasty.

The dynasty was established in the 1992 Rwakithura resolution, with the last king serving as the titular head of state, though real power, as in most democracies, rests with the people, as stated in Article 1 of the 1995 Constitution as amended.

What would be the supreme law of the land imported and introduced a cancer known as the Movement Political System under Article 69, which is the only political system in place as long as the National Resistance Army Movement Organisation (NRAMO) is in power.

This is a flagrant abuse of the multiparty system’s restoration in 2005, rendering the Political Party and Organisation Act 2005 repugnant.

Anyway, for 38 years, the ex-Luwero warlord, with his ten commandments not cast on a stone tablet, has become a malevolent despot in the sense that he is Western-leaning and anticommunist. He has been supported in his rule by a powerful military and a vicious secret police.

As the social media is awash with nonsensical posts on X  social platform from the First Family members, the country is now able to see a pure description of the kind of successors of the current empire and an ideological dilemma.

We can see what the movement political system has produced: social anxiety, which has succeeded in instilling extreme fear in Ugandans.

Also, it is important to note that the recent diplomatic deportations are inextricably linked to a breakdown not only in diplomatic protocol etiquette on a local and international scale, but also in a nation’s moral fabric on a daily basis.

NRAMO should be prepared for more deportations of its diplomats, as the world has grown weary of the region’s only remaining tyrant. The act that has earned him and his entire system a reputation as a tyrant and a leopard who cannot change its spots.

In other areas, the country should not be distracted from the call for accountability, a return to democracy, term limits, and the amendment of Article 67 of the 1995 Constitution.

Museveni’s government is no longer considered globally significant. Museveni’s achievement over the last 38 years has been the export of sectarian politics, greed, and predatory politics, combined with an unwavering commitment to the sin of theft.

The last and most extreme example I will give you is the CDF’s violent suppression of an anti-corruption crusade. Museveni and his successors have demonstrated a profound lack of empathy and conscience.

The regime has a history of deploying armed forces into dangerous situations, declaring war in South Sudan, Somalia, CAR, and Congo without consulting Parliament.

It signed and ratified several treaties that fundamentally altered Uganda’s legal, economic, and social systems without consulting Parliament.

What we are witnessing in Uganda is due to a lacuna in the Constitution and I do make the following recommendations:

• We must demand that the CDF’s power be limited.
• Amend Articles 67-70 of the Ugandan Constitution to only recognise the multiparty system of governance in Uganda.
• Members of Parliament are reduced to only 270. 
• Ministerial positions are only filled by technical people, and anyone appointed from Parliament, including ministers from other political parties, must resign their seats.
• Structures for regional government are put into place.

The writer is a member of the UPC party. The opinions expressed here are solely his.