NRM Cannot oust Corruption: Why fight its DNA?

By McPius Ssekatawa S

For these past three weeks, we have been treated to a hypocritical presentation of the leading party, the National Resistance Movement, as it puts on a false semblance of a plastic fight against corruption. These weeks have made us watch not only a goat preach vegetarianism but also a thief give a lecture on honesty. The irony in this move is palpable: a party that has corruption as its DNA is trying to convince the public of its sincerity by annihilating the very core that makes its existence. Amidst the numerous efforts to purify the stinking house, the terrible odour persists, consequently posing the fundamental question: Can NRM truly oust corruption, a habit that apparently forms its essence.

From its onset in 1986, NRM promised heaven and earth, declaring to fight the mischiefs of its predecessors. However, as time went by, the agenda shifted gradually from the promise, with corruption as the preventive shadow. From grand-scale commercialized corruption in the top offices to the daily petty and trivial scandals in the underdogs, it became clear that the vice was inevitable, but our companion on the path to state disorder.

Despite numerous efforts to curb this menace, the party’s record remains tainted by the pervasive practice. The committees and campaigns geared toward the anti-corruption cause appear to be a mere show as the corruption whirlwind continues to blow at will, unabated. Is it possible to keep your milk with a cat? Isn’t that a stage for entertainment other than real impact? To make matters worse, the watchdogs are stained by the very vice they aim at erasing, and as such, the story continues in a cyclic movement.

The party in question has consciously benefited from corruption; it has not only survived but thrived. By way of this vice, the party has received abnormal financial enrichment and consolidated its political influence. It is not news to our ears that poverty-stricken opposition little guys are bought off by handshakes, a way of co-opting potential rivals. Thus, it has maintained its power and enhanced its social status. Through political nepotism and favoritism, the party seems to be immune, as many of the key institutions like parliament, the judiciary, and the police, among others, have political relatives or family members of the leading class as heads. As such, the party stands with a strong immunity from accountability and prosecution. As important a rolex is to a hungry Ugandan is corruption to the NRM government.

It is laughable that we continue to expect change from a party deeply rooted in this vice. Are we eternal optimists or just gluttons for punishment? By that fact, we should not be surprised when we hear the likes of Kinyamatama and the speaker vindicate for the remanded legislators of whose corruption scandals the president has perfect assurance. The controversial statements were a public endorsement of the vice. Should you be shocked when your child, who has grown up seeing you steal banana bunches from the neighbor’s plantation, does the same? In addition, why punish her when he learnt the vice from her dad? I am actually surprised by the Ugandans who were knocked for six by those statements uttered from Lwengo. It is only visitors to this country who must act shocked.

As the prophetic saying goes, “there will always be signs.” Such are the indicators that corruption cannot be erased from the face of this government. Can a leopard change its spots? It is actually better if we make it part of the informal sector. In fact, the vice itself is the foundation of the government. I think it is better we stop calling this vice “corruption” but a “strategy.” It is seemingly deliberate, not a mistake. The saddest part of the story is how this “strategy” has been formalized and legalized. From exorbitant and indiscrete budget allocations, allowances, unclear funding among others, it gets clear for any critical observer to conclude that it is the leadership’s modus operandi, and as such, any serious attempt to erase it will mark the beginning of the actualization of the NRM’s fall. It has benefited the party before everything else. Had the government been serious about fighting this menace, it would have done so in its early days, but currently, we are injecting a dead body with painkillers, something very senseless, and attempting to change its definition after accepting it for close to four decades.

We should not immediately stand up to clap at this teaser. This has always been the case of exciting us like atoms, and after the excitement period, we get back to the dogs. Isn’t this excitement in view of the coming election environment? You do not need spiritual eyes to see that. Sympathetically or else pathetically, I look at the president, the film star in this movie, who knows very well how futile his efforts are. By that very fact, the film star may die in his own movie.