As the election date for Presidential and Parliamentary Elections draws closer, some people are wondering why there has not been major violence incidents during the ongoing campaigns. Many pundits predicted the current campaigns would be violent.

Today it is exactly 23 days to the February 23, 2006 Election Day and the campaigns seem to be generally going on well and peaceful.

However, some people especially in the opposition are wondering why the ruling National Resistance Movement Organization (NRM-O), which was accused of orchestrating violence in the 2001 elections, has not caused violence as yet.

Nation Media group Managing Editor in charge of Convergence and Syndication, Charles Onyango Obbo, says that given the history of NRM-O, it is surprising that more than a month into the Presidential campaigns there has not been any major violence, save for the arrest of Besigye and a few individual incidents where supporters of the different political parties fight or quarrel.

In 2001, there were many organized groups who beat up, maimed, and in some cases killed people in elections related incidents, especially the Kalangala Action Plan led by controversial Maj. Kakooza Mutale.

Onyango while appearing on Kfm Andrew Muwenda live talk show on Thursday said that the government could be employing non-violence as a strategy to dupe the electorate that all is well and that they are free to exercise their power to choose the leaders of their choice.

Many people say that in spite of lack of major violence, there is too much intimidation going on emanating from both the president and his ministers and the political aides.

Some people are quick to point at the display of military hardware and intimidating language as some of the replacement of the violence, which characterized the previous elections held under the movement regime before it became the NRM-O party.

However, other people suspect that the reason for a non-violence campaign period is due to the reduction in the support of NRM-O leaving it with fewer people who are willing to carryout violence. This has made the government to resort to underground methods of manipulating the election.

Johnson Mutumba a political analyst doubts whether the government can prolong the prevailing peaceful campaigns. He says that the massive support the leading opponent (Besigye) is enjoying will definitely force the government to embark on violence and increased intimidation.

Mutumbas prediction could come to pass especially with reports of loss of jobs and arrests of opposition supporters increasing each day that is passing by. Over the weekend, Ben Bogere a boba-boba rider in Mukono district was reportedly arrested for refusing an NRM T-shirt yet the motorcycle he rides was given to him on loan by the NRM government.

At the close of last week, another election related arrest was registered in Lira district of one Abdul Wambedi. Wambendi a driver with Lira hospital was arrested for being seen flashing a V-sign. The V-sign is known to be the campaign symbol for Forum for Democratic Change.

Apart from arrests and loss of employment of opposition supporters, there have also been reports of buying of voters cards from voters of places believed to be strongholds for opposition candidates. Such reports have so far come from Kawempe division in Kampala district and Entebbe in Wakiso district among other areas.

On Saturday, Maj. Kakooze Mutaale brought a halt to all activities in Soroti town when he marched with his KAP troops in Soroti campaigning for President Museveni and threatening anyone who thinks there is any other candidate worth supporting.

Over the weekend police released the first election violence report and put NRM ahead of all parties with over 80 cases followed by FDC with 24 cases and DP with only eight. Though all were minor violence acts, the police report seem to confirm Mutumbas fears that close to election day, parties will swing into action and shower us some violence.

The utterances by some top politicians has added more wonder to Ugandans who have been left with no option but to guess what exactly the ruling NRM is planning. Some analysts say that the government has changed strategy from open arrogance to underground plans to rig the elections or a combination of both.

Last week, Mughisa Mondo, an ardent campaigner of President Yoweri Museveni and NRM-O told a rally in Wakiso district that the NRM will not accept to lose an election. These are the same people in charge of organizing, counting and announcing the votes. The statement left many people worried that amidst all odds, the NRM were going to steal the election. This and other signals according to FDC spokesperson, Wafula Oguttu that the election is already rigged. Such an environment is likely to send many parties to use violent means to influence the outcome of the election.

If you ask many Ugandans right now, many will tell you about their worry that the campaigns and elections are going to be violent, especially given the strong contest between the two former colleagues, President Museveni of NRM-O and Col. Dr. Kizza Besigye. In the same vein, many Ugandans want a free and fair election, which is only possible if there is no violence and intimidation amongst the political parties and the electorate.

I was passing Nakasero Market in Kampala city Centre on Thursday January 19th 2006 when I saw leading male reggae artiste like Bob Wine distributing campaign posters of Erias Lukwago who is contesting for Kampala Central parliamentary seat.

As he reached the center of Nakasero market, traders abandoned their merchandise and surrounded him with a yearning like that of young kids rushing to find out what their dad has brought on his return home. Others stood on top of their parked vehicles to have a glimpse of the celebrated musicians.

He parked his green Land Cruiser in the market-parking yard and walked around the food stalls greeting traders and distributing campaign posters. He told them “onno ye muntu waffe” (this is our candidate). I later learnt Bobi Wine is promoting the Democratic Party. It is then that I remembered what had not become clear yet.

Ugandan’s growing love for music and the popularity Ugandan musicians are gaining is now forcing politicians to target the music industry for political campaigns.

Different political parties and candidates are now paying lots of money to musicians to perform live at their political rallies. Some candidates have even enlisted musicians to compose, sing and record tunes on them meant to woo voters during campaigns.

Also some musicians have independently started releasing musical albums praising some political parties. This is a trend that has been going on for some time as politicians realized the power of music artists to pool crowds on rallies and to woe voters through songs; and the musicians’ realization is that there is money to be made by singing to impress the politicians or even singing songs particularly for them.

It all begun with politicians gracing album launches of some artistes and buying albums in millions of shillings.

In September 2005 when Bebe Cool was launching his Album the Kisanja (meaning another term of office) Defence Minister, Amama Mbabazi paid shs7m for a CD.

Kisanja is the name given to the candidature of the President Yoweri Museveni who is contesting for the third term in office.

When the number one track on this album the Ekisanja is played at National Resistance Movement Organisation rallies, you see ministers and other very important people dancing to the tunes like the best thing in the world has just happened to them.

When NRM-O was launching its campaigns in Eastern Uganda in Soroti, State Minister for Health Mike Mukula donned in the party T-shirt jumped to the stage and showed the crowds his dancing strokes receiving applauds from his supporters.

After Bebe Cool, Kads band also released 12-track album called Kisanja praising Museveni for the achievements he has consolidated for the last twenty years.

Prosy Kankunda who is a band member in her song Tumwongyere Ekisanja talks about women emancipation, improved roads, and increased number of buildings in Kampala brought by President Museveni.

The song also talks about good governance. In this song’s video, Museveni is shown being sworn after capturing power in 1986 and when he was addressing United Nations Conference in New York in the presence of the former United States President Bill Clinton and United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan.

The trend of musicians cashing in on the hot political environment has made music artists expensive and some more popular. Now, hiring a musician to perform at rallies is proving to be more expensive than usual performances because of high demand for their services and their impact on the audience.

You might have heard Musicians like Joseph Mayanja a.k.a Jose Chameleon saying he cannot perform live at any rally below shs2m.

You may think that he is just living in dreams and failing to take the little money when it is available. But the National Resistance Movement Organisation (NRM-O) has promised to pay this amount to Chameleon who was voted Uganda’s best artist for 2003 and 2004.

State Minister Primary education Nyombi Thembo who is also an Executive member of the party is said to have reached an agreement with Chameleon to always perform at their rallies for 2millions shillings.

In October 2005, Chameleon said that the NRM-O and leading opposition group Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) were fighting over him to sing their campaign songs.

Many musicians are not letting this opportunity pass them by and doing all they can to gain the cash they can from political parties. As a matter of fact, almost all candidates from Presidential to parliamentary positions have had songs composed for them as a move to woe voters in their favour.

Never mind whether these musicians will vote for the political parties they sing for or they are just doing business. For now, it seems a working mission and many artists have found a big opportunity in politics.

Some Musicians like Juliana Kanyomozi have not sung any political song for any candidate or political party but their songs continue to rule parties and candidates as they mobiles votes. For example Juliana’s hit song of 2005 Nabikoowa (I’m fed up) is being used by the opposition parties especially FDC to tell Museveni that they fed up of him.

On 14TH November 2005 when FDC was launching its manifesto at Nakivubo stadium, the party officials sung the song to the excitement of the mammoth crowd. It was like a campaign gift sent from heaven.

One of the lyrics in the song says “Wampisa bubi nange nenkukyawa” meaning you treated me badly and then I chucked you but FDC changed it to Museveni watuyisa bubi naffee nitukukyawa– Museveni you treated us badly and we chucked you. And you guessed right, the crowd pulled and danced to the song which is being used by opposition politicians to this day. The Museveni camp has for long been using Geoffrey Lutaaya’s Akyali Mboko (sung in reference to a lady still young and beautiful) to tell Ugandans how Museveni Akyali Mboko and still has a lot to offer.

Ronald Mayinja’s Tuli Kubukenke (we are on tension) is being used by the opposition to tell the world how things are not at their best. Forget that the song is about economic tension due to using borrowed money. The politicians have taken it over and given it a political tinge to work the crowds and their gains are not disappointing.

For now, no music artist seems to be worrying about what will happen after the elections. With the heightened standards and fees they are demanding for their performance and of course singing for candidates who will lose the election, straightening their music and popularity to no political alignments may be hard.

As the February 23rd election date in Uganda nears, political parties are engaged in rigorous battles of wits and maneuvers not only to ensure their presidential candidates win the elections, but to also have the majority members of in next Parliament.

Nominations for Parliamentary candidates were held on Thursday January 12th and Friday January 13th 2006 beginning another platform on which parties have to show their might if they are to ensure they dictate or at least control matters for the next five years.

Presidential Parliamentary and LC5 (district Chairperson) elections will be held on the same day, February 23rd 2006.

All parties are fully aware that while it is important to win the national presidency, it is equally important to have a majority of the Members of Parliament if the elected government is to have its way in the national legislature.

Any lesser achievement than a majority in Parliament will mean the winning government will have a hard time implementing their manifesto and program unless they are to depend on coalitions, which do not have a good history in many African countries, let alone Uganda. Many of you may want to remember the result of the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) and Kabaka Yekka (KY) Alliance of 1965.

So as they campaign to take charge of the country, both the ruling National Resistance Movement Organization (NRM-O), Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) and the Democratic Party are hoping they can get enough Members of Parliament to help them manage the government. Because of the odds against him to win this election, few people, if any, are thinking of how Independent candidate Dr. Abed Bwanika will run the government when he doesnt have a party or stable supporters to help him run the government. Of course the parties are also aware that even if their Presidential candidates lose, their having a good or majority number of Members of Parliament is a good consolation and can always play in their favour, if for nothing else to at least to prepare good ground for the particular majority party to win the next elections.

As a result, the NRM-O Presidential candidate, Yoweri Museveni who is also the current President of Uganda has laboured on almost every rally to call upon party supporters to field only one Parliamentary candidate in any given constituency so that they dont divide votes of the party and hand victories to the opposition candidates. Museveni, who is the Chairman of the NRM-O party, has even threatened to suspend any member who dares to stand as an independent candidate in any constituency. But following the violence and fraudulent allegations that marred NRM-O party elections for who should be the partys flag bearers in the constituencies, many NRM-O faithfuls have gone ahead to contest for Parliamentary seats as independent candidates against their own party members.

Even other parties like DP have been marred by the same scenario where people who felt they were cheated in the party primaries decided to stand against the official DP flag bearers even in DP strongholds like Makindye East where current MP, Michael Mabike is standing against official party candidate, Sarah Ssebagala. This of course has a lot of bearing on what a particular party will achieve on elections day.

One of the strategies that parties are using to ensure their official candidates win is to offer them financial support to beat their rivals. The NRM- O is reported to be giving its official candidates 10million shillings as campaign facilitation. The Democratic Party is reported to be doing the same. The NRM-O party has gone ahead to promise big jobs to losers in primary polls to discourage them from competing against other NRM-O candidates.

The opposition on the other hand is depending on allying or also fielding one candidate per party, but the results are far more satisfactory for NRM-O than any opposition party. The head of international relations in the FDC, Reagan Okumu who is convinced that FDC is going to win with a landslide victory in the Presidential polls on Monday January 16, 2006 said that FDCs first government will be a transition government and will have members of other parties including the ruling NRM in its cabinet.

If you read between the lines, this FDC official is conceding their likely poor performance in Parliamentary elections. The NRM already had 10 seats since their 10 of their MPs have already been returned unopposed.

Okumu however says the reason FDC will not get a landslide in the Parliamentary elections is because they agreed not to field candidates in areas where there are strong opposition members whom they hope would support their programs in the 8th Parliament.

Recently, the National Progressive Alliance Party (PAP) declared that they had reached an understanding with the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) to support their Presidential Candidate Dr. Kizza Besigye in return for FDCs support for PAP Parliamentary candidates in unspecified constituencies.

He also says some FDC candidates preferred to stand as independents for fear of intimidation and harassment from the state agents. This is politics, and anything can be something. But the prospect of an opposition candidate winning the presidential election is being tested by the fact that they will not get enough seats in Parliament to help their government as Museveni has depended on the majority in Parliament of the last 10 years.

That is why between now and February 23rd, 2006, many parties are minding much about who is elected in each constituency as they are about who wins the Presidential elections.

The manifesto is organized in six main themes covering all sectors of the Government of Uganda

• Creating a viable economy.
• Re-establishing security, law and order
• Restoring economic prosperity for all
• Management of Human Resource
• Developing agriculture, fisheries and animal industry
• Management of natural resources
• Development of infrastructure and improving Uganda’s role in world affairs
  (Details Got verbatim from the party)Democracy
  The UPC reiterates its position that the NRM government has never had any intention of creating a truly democratic political environment in Uganda.

  Throughout its 20 years of rule, it spanned a stream of lies and empty promises to justify its continued stay in power every time the nation puts forward pertinent demands for genuine democracy.

  It created an oligarchy in Uganda, a state of rule where policy issues are evolved and pronounced by and around the person of President Museveni.

  The nation has been torn to shreds by civil strife covering a significant portion of the country for most of the 20 years of the NRM rule. Throughout this period, many Ugandans have lived in traumatic conditions in camps that lack the most basic security, social and other services and therefore have no appreciation of the role of government.
  The UPC government will establish a transparent mechanism for the review and enhancement of the electoral systems, the management of justice and the rule of law and good governance. It will specifically address itself to eradicating the existing corruption and lack of accountability.

  It will also take all the necessary steps to end civil strife in the country and to return it to deserving peace, tranquillity and prosperity. We shall immediately put in place a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to bring about speedy reconciliation and an everlasting peace in the country.
  We will redefine and rationalize the roles of all the security agencies, including the army, police, prisons and intelligence organizations; and establish and implement a framework for ensuring their accountability.

  The Economy
  Over the last two decades, the bulk of the Ugandan economy has served only a few high ranking officials in the ethno-centric NRM Government. The status quo has prevailed while the bulk of Ugandans in both the urban and rural areas live in abject poverty. National statistics indicate that the level of poverty has worsened and that currently, nearly 40 percent of Uganda’s population (over 65 percent in northern Uganda) live below the poverty line.

  The per capita Gross Domestic Product has stagnated at approximately $300. Yet over the 20 years of the NRM, Uganda’s external debt burden has risen from $1.2 billion in 1986 to over $ 4.5 billion. It is estimated that, in the same period, Uganda has received grants amounting to $ 16 billion.

  The President’s Office and the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development seem to be responsible for both the planning and implementation of government programs while, the National Planning Authority which according to the Constitution is responsible for planning, has been deliberately starved of resources and has never been effective.

  The result is that government planning and policy formulation and evolution are at best ad hoc and at worst non-existent. The UPC government will re-establish discipline in the evolution and financing of government programs.

  The planning function, which evolves evidence-based development plans, will be empowered and separated from the financial management and implementation functions. Other agencies of Government, including ministries, the Central Bank, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics and Uganda Revenue Authority, will be strengthened to play clearly defined roles.

  The UPC government will also facilitate the private sector to play its business role as a key partner in national development. The government, on its part, will focus mainly on standard setting, regulation, monitoring and evaluation.

  Social Services
  Under the NRM government, the health sector has suffered the most brutal damages. For over 20 years, while the population of Uganda has more than doubled, there has been no increase in infrastructure development necessary to provide services to Ugandans as the last batch of hospitals were built by the UPC government in the 1960s.

  Hospitals lack equipment, sufficient staff and recurrent expenditure to provide services effectively. As a result, there are no drugs; patients sleep on floors and medical staff are demoralized. It is not therefore surprising as political leaders and senior public servants have lost confidence and interest in their own medical services and instead prefer to be flown abroad with their families for medical treatment at taxpayers’ expense.

  The education sector has seen the decline of standards in the government – aided institutions of learning. These institutions have been starved of educational resources and their infrastructure deteriorated forcing teachers to move to greener pastures. The quality of graduates at all levels is not able to effectively service the country.

  The UPC government will strengthen the delivery of health services by providing more resources for the rehabilitation and re-construction of infrastructure required for the medical and education services.

  It will also review the policy environment to clearly articulate the roles and responsibility of government and the private sector.

  The UPC government will confine itself mainly to standard setting, regulation, monitoring and evaluation while empowering the private sector to fully play its role.

The arrest of Dr. Besigye seems to have woken up many Ugandans to Museveni’s stand on who can lead Uganda: only himself.

The Vice Chancellor for Uganda Christian University in Mukono, Rev Canon Dr. John Senyonyi has advised parents to establish a good relationship with their children.

Dr. Senyonyi said that this is because parenting can only be more enjoyable when a positive parent-child relationship is established.

He told Ultimate Media that in parenting a toddler or a teenager, good communication is the key to building self-esteem as well as mutual respect.

Dr. Senyonyi said that the relationship one has with their child determines the quality of communication with them.

The Don, who is said to be one of the successful parents in Uganda, says that children need good parental relationship with both their father and mother. “Although mothers make good boys, fathers make men,” he said to urge fathers to take necessary steps to ensure a good relationship with their children.

Senyonyi says that a relationship with a Father is the greatest influence in the moral formation of a child and that an absentee father affects the child in diverse ways. He said that involvement of fathers is important in the up bringing of a child.