On the 12th of May, President Yoweri Museveni was sworn in for the seventh term of office in a colourful ceremony at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds. The function that was attended by many heads of states and delegations across the world was befitting indeed for the man who has been steering the ship of Uganda's leadership for the last 40 years.
Uganda's consistent multiparty dispensation is only 20 years now, i.e., from 2006-2026. After we gained independence from the British in 1962, the country experienced short spells of multiparty dispensation, i.e., 1962 and 1980.
At the onset of independence, Uganda sought self-governance under a multiparty system. However, the early experiences with multiparty democracy in Uganda were rather disillusioning, and the several challenges experienced made it inevitable for that first attempt at political pluralism to fail. In retrospect, these negative experiences remind us of the fragility of an open and competitive political system and its reliance on committed, responsible and credible actors on all sides and at all levels.
Of course, the few political elites of the time selfishly manipulated the rather primitive Ugandans into terrible traps along religion and tribes to access political power. Like I said earlier, we only reaped coups and political chaos based on tribes, ethnicities and religion.
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After taking over power, the NRM brought in place the movement system of governance. In the movement system of governance there was no political party participation, but there was open contest for the various political posts in government based on individual merit.
In the movement system, the resistance councils were the core element of the NRM's concept of grassroots participatory democratization.
The political parties as such were not completely banned, but all political activities by the parties were prohibited. They were allowed to continue in existence, but not allowed to hold meetings, to campaign or to take part in elections. The prominent justification for the system was a strong rejection of multiparty systems as not being appropriate for the Ugandan context, especially considering the negative experiences of the past.
The ideological underpinnings of no-party politics were provided by an interpretation of Uganda's post-independence history as a spiral of violent conflicts prompted by ethnically and religiously based political parties.
The 1995 Constitution established major political institutions. It adopted a presidential system, an electoral system according to majority vote and - temporarily - the continuation of the movement system.
This description was complemented by four structural principles, which are participatory democracy; transparency; access to political leadership positions; and individual merit, as criteria for being elected.
Two presidential and parliamentary elections were held under the movement system. That is in 1996 and 2001.
It was only in 2005 that the system finally changed and Uganda formally introduced a multiparty system. The NRM - now officially transformed into a party - was still able to maintain its superiority over other parties and stay in power.
Following the regulations laid down in the 1995 Constitution, the first referendum about Uganda's future political system was held in 2000. With over 90 percent of the poll, the vast majority of Ugandans voted for the Movement.
Quite surprisingly, the situation changed during the years that followed. An internal debate that started after the 2001 elections led to the decision of the NRM in 2003 to open up the political system and transform the Movement into a political party. In 2005 a second referendum was held, with Museveni himself spearheading the campaign in favour of multipartyism.
This time, the vast majority of voters - again, more than 90 per cent - opted for the introduction of a multiparty system. In February 2006, the first elections under the new multiparty system took place and brought a decisive victory for Museveni.
On a very general level, one would expect an enhanced process of democratization as a result of the reintroduction of multipartyism in Uganda. Indeed, Uganda has made a big improvement concerning at least the formal guarantee of basic democratic standards, and the element of party competition has entered Ugandan politics.
However, this competition still does not appear to be taking place among Ugandans. To some reasonable levels, political actors tend to manipulate the voters with archaic messages that tend to polarize our people along tribal and religious cocoons.
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Of course, it has to be taken into consideration that the multiparty system in Uganda is extremely young and, therefore, still developing. It will remain interesting and relevant to see what shape it will take in the future.
The opposition parties in Uganda are weak and lack unity, professionalism, strong structures and internal wrangles. No doubt, under the NRM Uganda has made tremendous progress and continues to experience years of peace, stability and socioeconomic development. The NRM facilitated the making of a pro-people constitution, maintained the rule of law, restored democracy, and put up a tradition of holding free and fair regular elections.
Over and above, as a country, we need to continuously build our electoral democracy to be able to achieve a perfect and vibrant multiparty system of governance. However, like I said, we need time free of selfish and parasitic condescending external players to nurture our democracy to maturity; until that time, it will produce or function perfectly, minus suffering a miscarriage like it did in 1962 or 1980.
