The Observer (Kampala)
Morris D. C. Komakech
25 November 2009
opinion
The debate about the overly hyped patriotism or lack thereof, and the millions of shillings channeled therein could only be more salty if Kabajago Ka-Rusoke, the NRM ideologue, were to inject an input. Many of us who have, either by proxy or direct contact, intimated with the economic and political ideas of Ka-Rusoke will attest that there is no such a thing lacking in Uganda's polity as patriotism.
The real problem with this prescriptive patriotism is a grand plan to compel all Ugandans to honour the callous rich and protect their wealth. Accordingly, what significantly lacks in Uganda is the environment to nurture patriotic citizens.
Also, the lack of patriotic acts among the political elite has made it impossible for one to understand what patriotism truly means. Nonetheless, we occasionally hear statements made to the effect that some people love this country so much that they can sacrifice their life for her.
Oscar Wilde, an American poet, once wrote that patriotism is the virtue of the vicious. In the evening of April 7, 1775, a British author and passive politician, Samuel Johnson, made a remark about patriotism, saying it is the last refuge of scoundrels. Although the circumstances which compelled him to make this statement remain unclear, one would rightfully conclude that he retorted at false and prescriptive patriotism of his time.
According to historical sources, in the first (1755) and fourth (1773) editions of his dictionary, Johnson defines "patriot" as "one whose ruling passion is the love of his country." In the fourth edition, Johnson adds: "It is sometimes used for a factious disturber of the government." In his book, The Patriot, he wrote: "a patriot is he whose public conduct is regulated by one single motive, the love of his country; who, as an agent in parliament, has, for himself, neither hope nor fear, neither kindness nor resentment, but refers everything to the common interest."
From these standpoints, whether patriotism is the refuge for scoundrels or virtue of the vicious as described many years before, the situation in Uganda today cannot be described any different.
Because of state inspired corruption, there has been the creation of an arrogant upper class that feeds entirely on the state powers and therefore have mutated into bourgeoisie. This lot loves Uganda because of their accumulated wealth, period!
What then distinguishes this group from the rest of the citizens is their amount of accumulated wealth, loyalty to the emperor, access to state protection and their claim about the future of the country. It is this lot that claims to own bigger stakes in the country and therefore, somehow, have become the benchmark for determining patriotism.
Because the majority of the citizens are impoverished, overtaxed and always robbed of money and opportunities meant to uplift and restore their conditions from the grip of a humiliating predicament, they become the burden on the state and are regarded as lacking patriotism. So, who are the ones that should teach the other patriotism?
The MPs who succumb to a Shs 5 million bribe to remove term limits, those who award themselves remuneration and facilitation monies without any consideration for the public servants who are clearly underpaid; or the ones who are toiling in dust and disease, living a deprived and cheated life?
The problem with prescribed patriotism in Uganda underscores the dutiful demand that citizens must feel to be treated equally and fairly.
When one lives above the self to serve others for the greater good of the majority, then one is seen to be selfless and thus patriotic. Uganda as a nation projects a rabidly corrupted political class that typifies the scoundrels referred to by Samuel Johnson because they have no moral credibility to demand of any citizen such a virtue as patriotism.
According to the NRM doctrine, this widespread feeling of disenfranchisement and apathy towards the regime are valid expectations of the regime's inherent agenda to make us love the upper class.
The author is a Ugandan social critic in Canada.
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