02/04/2023
MUSEVENI AND THE FAILURE OF AFRICAN LEADERSHIP
Uganda is a military dictatorship ruled by Yoweri Museveni and his family.
The country operates under the guise of a ‘democracy', yet state institutions had been co-opted by that country to muzzle any dissent.
We just have to look at the opposition leader, Bobby Wine's treatment and the injustices meted out against him and his followers to grasp the dangers posed by a leader who wants to lecture everyone else on morality, yet his hands and that of his regime are stained by the blood of his own citizens.
The howls of the dead, the disappeared and persecuted must torment Museveni, yet he wants to claim the moral high ground.
This man who received millions from his fellow dictator, the crazed Ghadafi whom he later betrayed to the West. Where was his moral superiority then?
The reality is that corruption in Uganda accounts for 1/5 of government expenditure and mainly benefits the President, his family and those in their patronage.
Enforcement agencies often benefit from corruption ,and are therefore unmotivated to take action against it or are prevented from doing so by the government.
Cultural factors in Uganda mean that corruption is socially acceptable in many cases and is common throughout the country.
Foreign aid props up corrupt government expenditure because funding comes from an external source, and thus, the government feels less accountable to its citizens. Once again, the President is at the forefront of this sleaze.
This state of affairs had resulted in poor service delivery because money is diverted away from important institutions such as hospitals and schools to those with nefarious intent.
The President’s corruption has also hindered economic growth because it keeps firms from being able to compete fairly in markets.
Additionally, corruption had largely diminished the trust between the government and its citizens, as it undermines the rule of law, yet opposition protests in Uganda had virtually stopped. Opposition has disappeared as people are too afraid due to Museveni’s penchant for brutality against his own people.
Like most weak and authoritarian leaders who had nothing new to offer their constituents and clung to power for far too long, Museveni fears persecution should he ever step down. Remember what Mugabe tried to do with ungracious Grace in Zimbabwe?
Well, Museveni attempted to subvert the already subverted Ugandan Constitution even more which would have enabled dynastic succession by his son. These plans were derailed by the military.
You won’t hear the muzzled Ugandan press report on it, but independent Ugandan journalists had.
That brings me to my next question.
What has Museveni done for Uganda?
Is Uganda better off under his despotic rule?
The fact remains that Uganda languishes at the lowest ebb of human development (166 out of 190 countries), despite recorded successes.
Where could Uganda have been had the President and his cohorts not stolen resources for their own benefit.
Why does he and other African leaders not display the same vigor to rid the downtrodden masses of their countries from the triple threat of poverty, unemployment and inequality, as he does with his unjustified, immoral and unAfrican persecution of LGBTIQ people.
Will we also hear of the religious corruption by American right-wing so-called Christians of Ugandan society.
It is a known fact that Uganda never bothered LGBTIQ people. LGBTIQ people only became a lightning rod when these false prophets from America imported their hate to many vulnerable African states such as Malawi, Uganda and Sierra Leone, to name but a few.
African countries have now become implementing agents of hateful policies imported by American religious zealots willingly. So much for national sovereignty.
We, as Africans do not have the monopoly over morality, not when we have become complicit in keeping corrupt regimes in power. We have aided and abetted ignorance, prejudice and discrimination.Our continent is still bondaged to disease,crime,sexual violence against women, underdevelopment and poverty.
How can we be morally superior, when we have compromised our own morality.
It is immoral to scapegoat vulnerable people just to entrench your despotic, corrupt and nepotistic rule that is schooled in the Art of Malfeasance.
Fellow Africans, we have a choice to make about whether we want to continue being agents of African moral hypocrisy when we demand civic liberties for ourselves, yet want to deny others theirs.
We have to question the motives of out-of-touch leaders like Museveni.
We see what he is doing, and are not fooled by him.
I call on Ugandans to open their eyes and reject being hoodwinked by a charlatan that is leading them down a dangerous path.
Aluta Continua!
Lindsay Alexander Louis-Windsor
The Pink Diplomat
The Pink Diplomat's Citizen Corner
