NRM’s big numbers

Rights Initiative (FHRI) and member of the Uganda Governance Monitoring Platform (UGMP), an entity that monitors the coun- try’s governance trends describes a situation akin to a tyranny of numbers.

“The NRM majority in parliament has adversely affected governance and has been used to the detriment on public policy. The majoritarian principle as advocated for in a democracy has been misunderstood to mean that they can pass anything even when it is unpopular yet in a democracy promoting the will of the people is key.” He cites the Public Order Management Act (POMA), the age limit amendment and the NGO Act as some of the laws that have been passed just because NRM enjoys a majority and adds that the ruling party is in a lame duck position.

“Now that the NRM has reached a point where they have nothing much to offer, the NRM caucus instead of working to promote wellbeing and good governance, their sole preoccupation now is how the regime survives longer in power.” The NRM is marking its 32nd anniversary on the back of a major legislative achievement- amending the constitution to enable its founder and longtime leader, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, run for president for as long as he lives. The amendment was considered a gift to Museveni who signed it on Dec. 27, a week after its passing. The party won a hard fought campaign last year over the amendment as some NRM MPs even faced humiliation as their constituents warned them publicly against voting for the amendment.

Critics and those in the opposition say NRM has regressed and turned on many of its founding principles but some of its members hail this as a mark of the party’s popularity. Francis Babu, a former NRM MP for Kampala Central, is irked when people say NRM has used its big numbers to pass oppressive laws, specifically the POMA and the recent constitutional amendment on the presidential age limit. “That is a cheap shot,” he says. POMA requires anyone willing to hold a public assembly to notify the Inspector General of Police or an authorised officer three days before the event. The law was heavily criticised by activists and those in opposition. Babu says it was inevitable for a law like POMA to pass due to the trend opposition politics had taken in recent years. “These people would go and hold rallies in the middle of Luwuum Street and people’s property would be looted. But anyway every country has a way it manages its public spaces whether you go to the UK or South Africa, you cannot just go causing insecurity and you expect a government to look on.

” Babu says, however, to assess the NRM’s legislative record, all Bills passed in parliament need to be considered. “How many Bills have been passed?” he asks, “And how many of those have been good for the progress of the country?” He says progressive Bills have been passed over the years in agriculture, liberalization of the market and economy and other sectors. The 9th parliament (2011- 2016), which passed the POMA, also passed another 90 Bills. “You can’t just pick out the POMA because you do not like it,” Babu says. But Mwambutsya Ndebesa who teaches political history at Makerere University, says NRM‘s majority is a result of ‘manufactured numbers’ which are bought for political expediency and that this has added to commercialization of politics and helped Museveni strengthen his grip on power. “Even with the numbers, the fact is Museveni and his NRM MPs are now very unpopular. Because they can’t do anything about it, that’s why you see Ugandans are now resigned and don’t care what happens because there is nothing much they can change as long as Museveni controls this vital group,” he says.

“Democracy is a good thing but this majority thing has shown that it can actually have a bad taste. Now the opposition has no purpose in our parliament. They can never pass anything however good the issue is.” He says NRM has used its numbers to subvert democracy and breed impunity. He says the voice of the people is no longer listened to as government knows that what it wants will easily sail through parliament even when it is unpopular among the public.