I recently read Joseph Ocieno’s assumptions portrayed in his article published by Sunday monitor of 12.12.2021 page 30.
He quotes findings of the Uganda National Academy of Sciences findings titled Trust in Our Nation: Building Effective Governance and Partnership systems for Uganda’s development.
He bragged about how he has travelled and lived around the world and the good things he has enjoyed which he stresses that it would never happen in Uganda at the time he was a teenager.
He talks of the other week’s unfortunate incident when some of the luggage of the passengers on Uganda airlines from South Africa was missing.
He adds that a boda boda rider is more likely to gain his trust than a national carrier that is allegedly in crisis.
He says now the answer lies in leadership which he describes as bold, national-political leadership consciously and deliberately committed to national dialogue, national cohesion and genuine strategic national interest and renewal.
To put the record clear, in a press statement issued on December 6, the airline said there was a “temporary delay of passenger baggage” because most travelers were returning for the festive season and have a lot of luggage due to the coming holidays.
The airline management however explained that it was “working round the clock to mitigate the effects with the support of partners in the industry to alleviate this challenge adding that affected passengers would be contacted as soon as their baggage arrives in the country.
Other than this explanation, the rest from Ocieno is shallow assumptions that must of course be ignored.
Back to the question of trust, it is true trust is the foundation for the legitimacy of public institutions and a functioning democratic system. It is crucial for maintaining political participation and social cohesion. It is the same trust the people of Uganda have in the NRM government that they have managed to vote it into power for the last 30 years and will continue to trust it even beyond.
One wonders where Mr. Ocieno will get such leadership he is talking about bearing in mind that political leaders are elected every five years. These elected leaders come from a variety of political parties, religions and tribes.
Opposition committees in parliament like Public Accounts Committee, COSASE and other committees in relevant NRM and opposition led districts all face corruption challenges.
Many opposition leaders have been seen undermining their country in the guise of fighting the president whom they call a dictator.
They commonly tell lies, falsehoods, distort facts, fake situations against their lives for the sake of fighting the head of state.
Despite all the above, Ugandans haven’t trusted the opposition as much as the party in power (NRM) and aren’t seen as a viable alternative to the dominant ruling party.
