At law, wrong. Economically, wrong. Socially, wrong. Environmentally, wrong. Logically, wrong. In principle, wrong. From a sheer common-sense perspective, wrong. Morally…reprehensible. We could enumerate the wrongs until the cows come home, and we still wouldn’t be done explaining how and why it is wrong to give Nakivubo Channel away! The only domain where this sounds right and is a proper fit is in the politics of plunder. And that is just about the only thing that Uganda’s ruling party has done really well over the 40 years it has been in power. In short, no matter how you look at it, there is absolutely no defence – legitimate and reasonable – that President Museveni could possibly come up with for authorising businessman Ham Kiggundu to take over Nakivubo Channel and build malls over it.
Already, the capital city is reeling from the sad and sorry decision to – unlawfully – allow the same man to build myriads of malls on Nakivubo Stadium land. It effectively turned the city into a pigsty – and I’m even being kind and soft, because every Porky Pig will say I am being rude, given the state of affairs. You can no longer drive to Nakivubo Stadium, park your car, and go enjoy a football game – you have to walk, squeezing yourself through thousands of people, some of them there to shop, others to steal your phone, purse, and everything you got on you. Downtown Kampala is a complete mess: nobody who has seen the civilised world would, after seeing the Kampala mess, think Uganda has a government.
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The excuse that Mr Kiggundu “built” or “rebuilt” the stadium in exchange for taking public land cannot hold water. The State is perfectly capable of building sports facilities all over the country without “help” from anyone. What we are watching is predatory self-interest at play, at the expense of public interest. As a matter of fact, all that public land should be taken back from Mr Kiggundu; he got it wrongly, is using it wrongly, and public interest demands restitution. Patriotic governments excel at creating or producing wealth and preserving it; predatory governments excel at plundering the wealth. Idi Amin, who ruled Uganda from 1971 to 1979, has been called a dictator and an evil ruler.
I agree. But Amin, in spite of his lack of education (chap didn’t even make it through primary school), had a genuine desire to make Uganda a great nation. His main mistake was that any suspected challenge to his hold on power was met forcefully. Sounds familiar? Limited, incompetent, yes, but nobody can accuse the Amin administration of the corruption that we see today under this regime. Certain things could never even cross Amin’s mind: he protected State assets and even created more. Then came the 1986 “revolutionaries”, flashing university degrees and bubbling political ideology, pan-Africanism, and “fundamental change”. And within a flash, most everything that was owned by the State (factories, houses, lands, and more) was in private hands of those close or loyal to the powers that be.
Nothing secretive here – it is all on public record. So, there has indeed been a fundamental change, as President Museveni promised – of the worst possible kind. The President spends billions every year ostensibly to teach Ugandans “patriotism”. It is in times like these that we see those who love the country for what it is, and those whose only passion is to strip it of everything it is worth, for private gain. There has been a steady decline in the quality of decision-making by the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), with many of its orders sending shockwaves across the country; the Nakivubo Channel is only the latest.
The problem here is that the country is officially in military control and, illegitimate though the President’s order is, neither the High Court nor the Constitutional Court will have the fidelity to justice, presence of mind, and audacity of conscience to stop the powers that be. Most of the Bench is scared. Their learned lordships are generally reluctant to risk their promotions and the perks attendant to their offices in the name of doing what is right. Ugandans need to look the President in the eye and tell him point-blank that he is dead wrong on the Nakivubo Channel give-away and is doing the nation a great disservice. What we’re seeing is not how nations are built, it’s how they’re broken and ruined.
What we’re seeing is not how nations are built, it’s how they’re broken.”
Gawaya Tegulle
Objection
Mr Tegulle is an advocate of the High Court of Uganda.
gtegulle@gmail.com
