We live in an era of popularist politics, the politics of the gut. This has been enabled by both internal and external forces – basically the unsustainable use old customs in a capitalist information driven world on our part as Ugandans, and the economic recession in the capitalist west.
On 8th February 2019 the Commander in Chief, as is traditional in Uganda, promoted more than 2,000 officers and as expected, the opposition was up in arms. Media in Uganda is generally a popularist. Facts are too hard to read and comprehended; after all even Ugandan University students (the next generation as they love to be called) spend more time on strike, and seeking marriage partners than reading.
We tend to employ our feelings rather than intellect, needing to believe for instance that a particular section of the population is stealing from the rest of us because obviously we are poor and thus someone else has the wealth. This simple explanation becomes the word on the street and then the FDC as the main opposition party adopts it, then the media promotes it as a fact.
The question is “Is the President specifically promoting young officers from only the SFC as the Observer (Vol 14. Issue 007) claims in its headline story? The other part of the Nation Media Group’s print holdings specifically the Daily Monitor decided to get cover for the report on such News by engaging the opposition party FDC (remember the FDC has 23 MPs in Parliament only and thus represents only 2 % of Uganda’s population) to make judgment. What happened to the News Value of Fairness and Balancing of the stories?
The FDC leadership being politically bankrupt looked for a plausible response to the News of the massive promotions list. It questioned the criteria used for promoting officers in Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF), citing imbalance. Party President Patrick Amuriat said last week’s massive promotion of more than 2,000 officers was not regionally representative, particularly at the top ranks, as dictated by the Constitution.
The president recently said that foreign owned betting companies with need to operate in Uganda must have majority shareholdings by Ugandans. In my own opinion the President needs to also direct the Aga Khan since NMG is trying to influence our politics yet it is majorly manned and managed by Kenyans and other foreigners. Their editorial policy is biased, which is the worst short coming a media house can have.
They are many “News websites” trying to sell to us the idea that the promotions especially those of the Generals’ clout, Brigadier to General were based on how closely related one is the president and his family.
All these media outlets (including the Print media) seem to have forgotten that for the better part of 2000 – 2010 decade as well as the decade before that basically starting in 1986, it is this army that has fought the rebellions that sprung up because of the colonial history.
Rebellions did not start in Uganda because Museveni was a bad President, they started because the British had told the Luo speaking tribes that they were the Marshals of Uganda and thus the Acholi cultural leaders could believe that a western had come to master the gun and thus encouraged Joseph Kony to start a rebellion.
Well that war was fought by the “young officers” (or as the Observer put it – officers who had a stint in the Special Forces Command) and by the Officers the President is always able to inspire to fight for him. The so called “Defense Watchers” the NMG uses (shouting match participants with no military or defense experience) to analyze the Army promotions.
During the LRA war in Gulu, the president changed the tactical doctrine of combat seeking to better combine the little air power with the mechanized units that would harass the rebels on foot. The tactics worked so well that Kony’s boys began dropping their loot which usually included abductees.
It amazes me that one forgets that most of those promoted have honed their skills fighting Joseph Kony’s LRA in the North and Central Africa Republic, the ADF in the Rwenzori region and of the senior Officers in the UPDF today were some of Kony’s most efficient commanders – like Maj. Gen Otema – whom the President seeing them as fellow Ugandans encouraged to join the UPDF and now fight against their former masters.
The Media should help the public to understand the grounds on which soldiers are promoted instead of steering them to contempt. I have not seen a balanced story about these promotions and I challenge the media houses in Uganda to interview the leaders of the UPDF appointments board who are in charge of Army Promotions.