The poverty of our politics

Under normal circumstances we should all mourn the tragic death of our compatriot, Hon Jacob Oulanyah, elected Speaker of Parliament last May yet hardly served in that position.

But we live in rather abnormal times. We have an obnoxious political environment. The quality and calibre of political discourse, both by political actors and ordinary citizens, is depressing and disheartening. The controversies and activities around Mr Oulanyah’s death underline the depths we have sunk.

I was a young and naïve student at Makerere in 2002 when I first met Oulanyah. He was suave and smart, physically and intellectually. Newly elected to Parliament, he became a regular at public debates on campus along with other similarly young, intrepid and astute MPs: Odonga Otto, Betty Amongi, Geoffrey Ekanya, and Reagan Okumu.

Others not particularly young but equally eloquent and articulate included Sebuliba Mutumba, Ken Lukyamuzi, Ogenga Latigo, Kasiano Wadri, Salamu Musumba, to mention but these few. As students, we savoured the moment any of them appeared on campus.

These were MPs of the Seventh Parliament, arguably the last time we had a parliament that exhibited considerable spine and strength in questioning the Executive branch, only bettered by its predecessor – the Sixth Parliament, 1996-2001. Ironically, it was the same Seventh Parliament that initiated the process of burying the Legislative branch. But Parliament then was real.

Today, we really do not have a parliament worth talking about. By allowing themselves to take cheap cash in exchange for amending the Constitution to open the way for life-presidency, MPs in the Seventh Parliament threw the institution in deep waters from where it has never emerged.

Edward Ssekandi was the Speaker then. He rounded up a second term from 2006 to 2011. Now enjoying a generous pension, Ssekandi was as pliant as the real rulers would have wanted.  When Ssekandi’s deputy, Rebecca Kadaga, took over in 2011 she initially carried great promise in attempting to reassert the independence and credibility of an institution otherwise imperilled at the behest of the former. She didn’t go too far though and ended up being little more than an agent for the actual rulers.

One of Kadaga’s biggest legacies was the convenience of keeping away during hot button issues, leaving the Deputy Speaker, Jacob Oulanyah, in the spot. After close to 20 years as Deputy Speaker and Speaker, Kadaga got thrown under the bus last year, promptly replaced by Oulanyah, a UPC stalwart in the Seventh Parliament and an NRM convert in the Ninth Parliament.

Mr Oulanyah lost his Omoro County seat in 2006 on the heels of a dubious role in the 2005 constitutional amendments. It appears that he found himself in the political cold following the 2006 loss, rejected by voters and isolated by the system. Further attempts to get a slot to the East African parliament fell flat.

Soon he marched on to decamp to the corner of the rulers. Fast forward to 2011, quite dramatically, once he won back Omoro the rulers were happy to give him the office of Deputy Speaker.

Early this week, I watched an interview Mr Oulanyah gave to NTV last year. In it, he made some disingenuous claims including that removal of term limits was not a fundamental assault on the Constitution. Actually it was. But he also spoke candidly and courageously.

While Oulanyah ended up at the centre of a rogue system of rule, he was nevertheless a patriotic Ugandan. He held strong views and convictions, was passionate and compassionate. To savage him in death is despicable.

I made caustic comments about him when he was Deputy Speaker and after he was handed the top job in Parliament. But to do so now that he can’t hear me or exercise his right to respond and explain is plain bad manners.

In African culture, bereavement brings people together. In Uganda of Museveni’s rule, however, death of the third most important person in the land sets of vitriolic attacks and offensive arguments.  Worst, the scramble for his job before the man’s remains arrive back in the country speaks to the poverty of the politics superintended by Mr Museveni. The candidate lined-up to succeed Oulanyah lacks the gravitas and standing to head the legislature.

In a strict system of meritocracy and transparency, Hon Anita Among should never have occupied the position of Deputy Speaker, let alone Speaker. But in the current rulership, credibility and competence count for nothing.

Not that a credible and competent Speaker would necessarily make a qualitative difference in the broader scheme of our politics, it is that Mr Museveni would have done Ugandans a small favour of ensuring that at a minimum the person he delegates to serve him as Speaker fits the bill. As it is, Uganda is a very bad place.

Wishing Brother Jacob peace on the other side.

[email protected]