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The possibility of hope that the National Resistance Movement (NRM or the Movement) brought to the people of Uganda was perhaps most effectively communicated to them in the Movement’s Ten-Point Program. The coming of the Ten-Point Program to Uganda was like the falling of rain in a parched and thirsty desert. A once proud and majestic people were in state of despair as a result of their brutalization at the hands of Amin’s and Obote’s henchmen. Their souls had been deeply desecrated and wounded; they had been exploited thoroughly and mercilessly by the Amin and Obote regimes, and had been abandoned and left to suffer in silence. Then came the triumphant NRM in January 1986, proclaiming liberty, democracy, and respect for human life. For a people who had, since independence , thirsted for democracy and a governance system based on the rule of law, the arrival of the NRM with its program for transition to democracy was greeted with jubilation.Yet many people took a wait-and-see approach to the NRM’s arrival on the national political scene. After decades of brutalization by military and civilian dictatorships, a certain amount of skepticism was understandable. However, many Ugandans soon changed their attitudes toward the government as the NRM progressively implemented its promised transformation program. Slowly but surely the NRM confronted the despair that had been instilled into the people through intimidation and brutalization by the military. The new government resolved to create an institutional environment within Uganda that gave citizens hope: it created forums for robust civic dialogue, invested heavily in education, and gradually restored the people ’s trust in and respect for government. For the first time since 1971, when 2 A New Paradigm for Governance 7 02-2589-3 CH 2:Cels 2262-5 3/20/14 8:45 PM Page 7 Amin seized power and initiated what would evolve into the most vicious and violent era in Ugandan political history, citizens felt like human beings again—they were no longer “insects” to be squashed by military boots! While restoring confidence in the government was high on the NRM’s agenda, the Movement believed that restructuring and making viable an economy that had been thoroughly plundered and rendered nonfunctional by the Amin regime was the most important item on the reconstruction agenda. Thus the NRM embarked on currency reform, monetary stabilization, development of export markets, and provision of an enabling institutional environment for the reestablishment of what had once been one of the most robust private sectors in the East African Community. The NRM’s new economic growth program was led by residential construction , infrastructure repairs, restoration of the financial services sector, telecommunications, and transport and educational services. The NRM believed very strongly that the new economy it envisioned for Uganda could only be made operational within a democratic system of governance, one that was characterized by social justice and respect for human rights. Hence, while the government provided opportunities for Ugandans to engage in entrepreneurial activities, it also emphasized open dialogue, free expression, and the participation of citizens in governance. The promulgation of the new constitution in 1995 and subsequent general and presidential elections moved the country decisively toward the deepening and institutionalization of democracy. Of course, there were criticisms of the NRM’s adoption of a “no-party” approach to democracy. Most of these criticisms , however, came from external actors, virtually all of whom were not familiar with the dynamics of Ugandan politics, traditions, culture, and customs . What was critical at this time in the country’s history was that the majority of Ugandans welcomed the new governance system and recognized it as significantly more participatory, inclusive, and people driven than those of yesteryear, which had been top down, elite driven, brutal, nonparticipatory, and exploitative. The old system infantilized the people and created a submissive culture of blind obedience to authority. The new government sought to create a governance system in which a robust and viable civil society could evolve, one capable of acting effectively as a check on the exercise of government agency. The significant improvements in Uganda’s political economy, which occurred from 1986 to 2006, can be attributed to the NRM’s emphasis on deepening and institutionalizing democracy within Uganda and its campaign for social justice, especially respect for human rights, as contained in its TenPoint Program (see box 2-1). 8 New Paradigm for Governance 02-2589-3 CH 2:Cels 2262-5 3/20/14 8:45...

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