When To "Sell" A Political Party

Greetings. Last week, on 21^st July, Norbert Mao, the president of the Democratic Party and the president of Uganda Yoweri Museveni held a press briefing. The pair signed "an agreement of cooperation" between the country's oldest party and the government. In the evening, a photo of a letter appointing Mao as Minister of Justice was circulating on social media. The authenticity of the appointment letter was beyond doubt as it bore the President's seal. The following day Parliament approved Mao's appointment. The sheer speed with which the party president moved from opposition to government left many question marks. A lot has been written exploring Mao's gradual shift towards Museveni/NRM.

The 2022 DP-NRM agreement is not the first time a party has joined the ruling party. However, it's significance is more pronounced considering the part DP has played in shaping opposition politics since independence. 

To the economist however, when is the optimal point at which one should "sell" a political party?

The First Party System

The Democratic Party and the Uganda People's Congress are remnants of the first party system in Uganda. The Uganda National Congress (UNC) was the first party formed in Uganda. The absence of well-defined goals and a clear ideology were major drawbacks for the party. Louis Tyaaba, a clerk in the Dean of Arts Office at Makerere University, sought to establish a party with clearly defined goals among which was fast tracking Uganda towards independence. In 1954, he met with 7 other members and they established the Democratic Party. These were predominantly Catholic and from the Central region and none held a position in the Legislative Council at the time.

As the UNC weakened, a faction emerged around Apollo Milton Obote, the LEGCO representative of Lango. This faction's merger with Uganda People's Union birthed the Uganda People's Congress (UPC) in 1960. Whereas DP was founded by non-members of the legislature, UPC was founded by members of the LEGCO including WW Nadiope and CJ Obwangor.

Benedicto Kiwanuka was elected the third DP president in 1958, and in 1961 he led the party to victory in the 1961 General Election. Kiwanuka became the Chief Minister of Uganda, and when the country was granted self-governance in March 1962, he became the first Prime Minister. At the next general election in April that year, the party lost its Parliamentary majority, and the UPC/KY Alliance came into power. Thus, begun the party's long tenure in the opposition.

The First "Transfer Window"

Nine months after the granting of Independence, six MPs of the Kabaka Yekka party joined the UPC. The significance of the move was that it granted UPC a majority (43 out of 82 seats), and rendered the coalition meaningless.

After the 1962 DP presidential election, there was a rift in the party between the Kiwanuka faction and the Basil Bataringaya faction. Basil was an MP and Leader of Opposition who believed the party should be led by an MP. He lost the party presidency election to Kiwanuka, and in 1964 he joined UPC along with 5 MPs from his party. As his reward, he was appointed Minister of Internal Affairs.

The 1963 and 1964 defections by MPs to UPC provide some insights on the payoffs to transfers. For the ruling party, it gets to grow its majority and smooth their legislative agenda. For the individual MP, the reward of a ministerial position and its perks (salary and allowances) was something worth the transfer. Bataringaya was appointed a Minister of Internal Affairs, in which capacity he constantly sanctioned the arrests of his former Opposition Colleagues. It is not entirely a positive sum game as the party that suffers defection has to contend with reigning in the loyalties of the remaining members.

Therefore, the incentives to transfer from an opposition party to the governing party are well established.

The Market for Political Parties

The current regime's political ideology had no room for a plural political system. From the beginning they favoured a "Movement System" with Parliament operating in the absence of political parties. In 2005, they relented and through a referendum restored the Multiparty system. In the 2006 election, Norbert Mao ran successfully on the DP ticket as Chairman of Gulu District, and DP collected 8 seats in Parliament with FDC garnering 37 seats and thus emerging as the main opposition party.

Between 2006 and 2021, FDC emerged as the main opposition party, averaging 35 seats. However, this pushed DP further to the periphery of Uganda politics. In the three elections before 2021, DP won a total of 27 seats, way below the lowest return of FDC in any parliamentary election during that run (34 in 2011).

DP reached their maximum share of Opposition seats (in modern times at least) in the 2016 parliamentary elections, with 15 seats (26.32% share of the opposition). In neoclassical economic parlance, there's a tendency for economic agents to make decisions at optimisation points. For instance, individuals seeking to maximise utility or firms producing at a point where their costs are minimised/ profits maximised.

For the market of political parties, when DP maximised its share of the opposition Mao turned to the sole "buyer" in this market. The rise of the National Unity Platform (NUP) meant the influence of DP in opposition politics was well and truly over, at least for now. Mao found it imperative to cash out and bargain for a ministerial position.

Now with the market having one buyer, he retains a lot of power in terms of price and the party he chooses to buy. The ruling party might be anti-opposition but they are not willing to merge with any political party that is open to working with them. Share of opposition is the price mechanism in this case.

There is obvious concern when one ponders the gradual decline of DP. One wonders whether NUP would at a future date seek a "cooperation deal" after maximising its share of the opposition. Irrespective of the likelihood of this happening or not, Hon. Joel Ssenyonyi (Nakawa West/NUP), provided some important wisdom when pressed about the matter,

"Even if Ugandans woke up and all of us opposition leaders have crossed to NRM, it doesn't matter because the challenges of Ugandans remain. Ugandans will form new leadership among themselves. When an opposition leader crosses to NRM, there can be a dent, but there can never be a [power] vacuum."

Ceteris. Paribus.

References

Bagala, A., (22^nd July 2022). "The making of Mao-Museveni marriage," The Daily Monitor.

Lwanga-Lunyiigo, S., (2015). A History of the Democratic Party of Uganda: The First Thirty Years (1954-1984). Kampala, Fountain Publishers.

My Father ...

Greetings. As we celebrate father's day this year, I share below quotes of some famous people talking about their fathers.

Isaiah Okafo Achebe

The most powerful memories of my father are the ones of him working as a catechist and teacher. He read constantly and had a small library. My father also had a number of collages and maps hanging on the walls, and books that he encouraged his children to read. He would often walk us through the house telling stories linked to each prized possession. It was from him that I was exposed to the magic in the mere title of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and to an Igbo translation of John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress.

Education was so important to my father that he often would sponsor a bright child from an underprivileged background, reminding us that he too, as an orphan, had received providence's benefaction.

My father's great gift to me was his love of education and his recognition that whether we look at one human family or we look at human society in general, growth can come only incrementally. 

As described by Chinua Achebe, in There Was A Country: A Personal History of Biafra

Sir Daudi Chwa

My father was very fond of his children. He could probably have told how many of us there were at any given moment and he might have been able to ascribe names accurately, though I think ages would have been beyond him. But I do not remember ever playing a game with him. Like everyone else, we would kneel to him and not sit on a chair in his presence unless expressly given permission. I went to boarding school when I was five and spent the holidays staying with various chiefs, with perhaps only a few days at the palace in between. My father was a very large man and a King, and we were in great awe.

As described by Sir Edward Mutesa II in Desecration of My Kingdom

Jahmale Carney Johnson

Outside work my father was a worldly man who spent much of his personal time away from the family and out on the town. He was goodlooking and quite stylish, full of vigor and vim, and he had many, many friends. He also chased women with great enthusiasm and energy.

It was important to my father that we children remain connected to our indigenous roots, and for this I am grateful, because it might so easily have been otherwise. My father might have sought to disappear into the elite settler class, which had, on the surface, accepted him, taking upon himself the settlers’ disdain for country people and tribal languages. He might have played the city life and embraced Americo-Liberian hegemony. He might have taken the hand of my mother — who was very fair and did not much look like an African anyway — and together they might have simply walked away from their rural backgrounds. Many did. My parents did not.

As described by Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, in This Child Will Be Great

Ras Makonnen Wolde Mikael

Apart from the great service he has rendered as a military leader and as an envoy of goodwill who has secured many friends for Our country, His Highness Ras Makonnen was a kind and sympathetic administrator and a great lover of truth and justice. He paid particular attention to Us from childhood so that this love of truth and justice has been instilled in Our mind, an element which has been a fountain of inspiration for Our own self-discipline and for leading Our people towards their destiny, thus permitting the memory of his priceless service to remain perpetually vivid. 

His Highness Ras Makonnen, besides taking the keenest interest in Our education in Ethiopian literature and other exotic disciplines, showed signal farsightedness in the educational field and sent a number of Ethiopian youth abroad for higher education.

As described by Haile Selassie, in Selected Speeches of His Imperial Majesty

Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa 

My father was a tall, dark-skinned man with a straight and stately posture, which I like to think I inherited. He had a tuft of white hair just above his forehead, and as a boy, I would take white ash and rub it into my hair in imitation of him. My father had a stern manner and did not spare the rod when disciplining his children. He could be exceedingly stubborn, another trait that may unfortunately have been passed down from father to son.

He was an acknowledged custodian of Xhosa history, and it was partially for that reason that he was valued as an adviser. My own interest in history had early roots and was encouraged by my father. Although my father could neither read nor write, he was reputed to be an excellent orator who captivated his audiences by entertaining them as well as teaching them.

My father, and a few other influential chiefs, had the great respect for education that is often present in those who are uneducated.

As described by Nelson R. Mandela, in Long Walk to Freedom

My Mother ...

Greetings. As we commemorate Mother's Day this year, it is the Afrocentric nature of this blog to share some famous Africans' thoughts on their mothers, and motherhood in general.

Cecilia Dunbar

I looked around and saw the lives of so many Liberian women, all of these incredibly hardworking market women and housewives and mothers, and what I saw was that their lives were drudgery, a simple trudging from day to day to day. I did not want that; that was not the life for me. My own mother had struggled and beat the odds, clawing her way up from the unrelenting grind of rural African poverty, and I was not about to fall back into the hole.

As described by Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, This Child Will Be Great, pp. 33

Veronica Katongole

As a peasant single mother, only depending on subsistence agriculture, my mother was faced with hard decisions. She valued education, although she never had any.

I had lost my father and my sisters, but my mother, that paragon of a woman was still alive. I was therefore going to live for her. My achievements were her achievements, and although she could not forget the pain of losing a husband and three daughters, I would do everything in my power to make her happy. I wanted to give her the life of a queen. I was also determined to be a responsible Ugandan and make a contribution to society and my country as a whole.

I thank God that when she passed on, she had not only seen me as an accomplished citizen of this lovely country, but she had also received a beautiful daughter-in-law and four wonderful grandchildren from me. Veronica Emily, the last of our four children, is named after her and indeed, one of our Investments, Vero Food Industries Ltd carries her name, Vero from Veronica. part of the proceeds from my shareholding go to charity in her honour.

As described by Emmanuel Katongole, The Gift of Service Above Self, pp. 3, 7-8

Nosekeni Fanny

After games such as these, I would return to my mother’s kraal where she was preparing supper. Whereas my father once told stories of historic battles and heroic Xhosa warriors, my mother would enchant us with Xhosa legends and fables that had come down from numberless generations. These tales stimulated my childish imagination, and usually contained some moral lesson. I recall one story my mother told us about a traveller who was approached by an old woman with terrible cataracts on her eyes. The woman asked the traveller for help, and the man averted his eyes. Then another man came along and was approached by the old woman. She asked him to clean her eyes, and even though he found the task unpleasant, he did as she asked. Then, miraculously, the scales fell from the old woman’s eyes and she became young and beautiful. The man married her and became wealthy and prosperous. It is a simple tale, but its message is an enduring one: virtue and generosity will be rewarded in ways that one cannot know.

As described by Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, pp. 22-23

The Labour Market For Noise-Makers

Greetings. It is two years since the advent of Covid-19. The pandemic swept the globe and changed the way we work, consume, and travel, among other things. In the entertainment sphere, bars and night clubs were closed for extensive periods, resulting in a revision of the way night life was conducted. On this Labour Day, I move to examine some aspects of the labour market in the entertainment industry.

Unemployment in Uganda

With a population of 45.7 million, Uganda's labour force stands at 16.497 million people according to the World Bank data. Therefore, the economy has a 70.94% labour participation rate - the proportion of the labour force that is working or actively looking for productive work. Comparing across the region, Uganda is two percentage points above the sub-Saharan African average, and behind four of it's six neighbours. Despite a relatively high participation rate, wages remain low as well as limited benefits and social protection from employment.

COUNTRY	POPULATION	LABOUR FORCE	PARTICIPATION RATE (%)
Uganda	45.741	16.497	70.94
Burundi	11.890	5.089	80.00
D.R. Congo	89.561	31.465	64.07
Kenya	53.771	24.134	74.56
Rwanda	12.952	6.440	84.08
Tanzania	59.734	28.002	84.52
Sub-Saharan Africa	1,136.046	430.661	68.37

The government has long posited that encouraging "job-creators" rather than "job-seekers" goes a long way in curbing unemployment, particularly youth unemployment. Not entirely wrong, for I believe focusing on non-traditional professions can reduce on the number of job-seekers. If youths can find opportunities in fields like sports and entertainment, then the pressure on those knocking on the door in both formal and informal employment will simmer down. An added bonus is the fact that in these fields the workers are more likely to be getting paid for doing something they love.

Pension in the Noise-Making Industry?

"Noise-making", or work in the entertainment industry is something people can be very effective at during their youth. The conveyor belt keeps refreshing the faces in the industry with particular preference for young people. Therefore, the "forcible" retirement age in the entertainment industry is way below that of the civil servants and private sector employees. Planning for a life after work becomes more pressing for people in the entertainment industry. Given there are limited formal contracts, it is safe to say there is no pension plan in the entertainment industry, and each one individually has to carve out one for themselves. The Covid-19 pandemic more than any other factor brought this to light.

Long before the pandemic, Hon. Kyagulanyi had set up his One Love Beach in Busaabala as a recreation centre that can generate him income outside of music. As a former Member of Parliament, he is guaranteed to receive a stipend from the Parliamentary Pension Scheme.

The emergence of Kyagulanyi on the political scene cast an eye on the entertainment industry. It is important to note that entertainers had ventured into politics before him, i.e., Kato Lubwama defeated seasoned politician Ken Lukyamuzi to represent Rubaga South. However, whereas Lubwama was a comedian and radio host, Kyagulanyi's music had evolved from pure entertainment to educational, and he was pulling big crowds mainly made up of the youths. For the PR machine of NRM, it made sense to bring artists to the NRM fold in a bid to sway some of that youth support their way. 

Unfortunately, the method of distributing cash transfers to some of the artists has made them dependent on the largesse of NRM rather than curtailing Kyagulanyi's support. Begging the government for handouts as a pension plan for the entertainment industry has risen to an art form! One week the artists were travelling to Gulu to request for patronage from the president's brother, another week there was a comedian's association seeking to make contact with Balaam and Mama Fina, and then the DJs were calling out for support not long after!

With the full reopening of the market, the entertainment industry is envisaged to return to its former highs. For an industry that has the potential to provide alternative sources of income to many, it is important the lessons from Covid-19 are taken into consideration on an individual basis. 

Ceteris. Paribus.

References

Batambuze, C., (23rd October 2021). "What artistes, Saleh, reaped from Gulu gold rush," in The Daily Monitor. Retrieved 14th April 2022.

Owiny, T.J., & P. Kalokwera, (14th August 2021). "Gen.Saleh enters music industry, sparks off fights," in The Daily Monitor. Retrieved 14th April 2022.

Blaming The Baganda

Greetings. A week ago, the Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo publicly apologised for his attacks on the Baganda and the Kabaka. Justice Owiny-Dollo had made claims that the protests outside Hon. Jacob Oulanya's hospital were organised by Buganda. This new wave of Buganda bashing has been led by Norbert Mao, who feels the National Unity Platform (NUP) party and the People Power movement are Buganda loyalist factions aimed at perpetuating the interests of the ancient kingdom. Both Mao and Owiny-Dollo are of Acholi descent, and their criticism of Baganda is a continuation of accusations of tribalism levelled against the Baganda, which the president has also contributed to. Are there lessons to be gleaned from the recent Buganda bashing?

The "First" Autocrat

As with most ethnic societies, the origin story of Buganda is wrapped up in legend and myth. But quite often myths have a root in actual historical events. Records on Ganda history agree on five original clans, Bannansangwawo, which were Ffumbe, Lugave, Ngeye, Nyonyi Nyange, and Njaza. Each clan was headed by a Mutaka. Some Bataka would prove to be militarily stronger than the rest and thus emerge as a assort of primus inter pares. However, as it so happens in some cases a powerful leader would turn into a despot. Bemba was such a leader at the time of Kintu's migration to Buganda.

Bemba was a ruthless ruler and one of the legends portrays him as a snake! Desirous of change, the subjects chose to align with Kintu's forces to put an end to Bemba's reign. Kintu would be elevated as Kabaka and establish the governance system that would build Buganda.

Much as Buganda patriotism portrays an unbroken dynasty from Kintu to the present king, there are at least three dynastic eras. The Kintu dynasty  ended with the death of his son, whose heir, Kalemeera, had been exiled in Bunyoro. Kimera, son of Kalemeera, migrated to Buganda and established a new dynasty. The third dynasty is hinted upon by MSM Kiwanuka, who posits that "the most important result of Nakibinge's death was that it seems to have ended the previous dynasty and thereby created a succession crisis for Buganda". Mulondo, who succeeded Nakibinge, began the current dynasty.

Nevertheless, all this proves that even prior to the advent of western-style democracy, the Baganda were well-versed with the revolving door on dynastic rule.

The Modern Day

In 2021, upon clinching his latest term, the President wasted no time in asserting that tribalism had a bearing on the outcome of the election (which he had just won). His argument ignored the fact that NUP fielded two candidates with roots outside Buganda for Kampala seats (Shamim Malende and Derrick Nyeko) and swept those seats, or the fact that NUP won seats in Busoga as well. The Buganda region voted overwhelmingly for NUP, ousting NRM bigwigs like Chrysostom Miyingo, Vincent Ssempijja, Judith Nabakooba, Edward Sekandi and Amelia Kyambadde, with the latter two ending their political careers as a result.

If one can just rig votes in the rest of the regions, it begs a question of why would one be bothered with one's dwindling support in the central region? 

For one, the Buganda Kingdom structures provide an interesting parallel to their central government counterparts.  When one is appointed Minister in the Kabaka's government or Omwami ow'e Saza, it is an honour to serve their king. For the central government appointments on the other hand, it is your time to eat! The kingdom structures might have their challenges but no other traditional society has managed to mobilise its people and resources on a similar scale, with other cultural leaders waiting on handouts from the central government. The example set by the Baganda brings to light the benefits of a more decentralised outlook on government, which is antithetic to those who believe power should be vested in one authority. In reality, what we are blaming Buganda for is proving that there is an alternative way of doing things.

Furthermore, the Baganda have come to serve as a memory bank, especially on aggressive rule. They witnessed the ruthlessness of Bemba. The 16th century wars against Olimi I of Bunyoro nearly brought the kingdom to an end but they rose from the ashes and expanded to annex Buddu, Kyaggwe and Kooki. From colonialism through all the post-independence regimes, the Baganda (and Ugandans at large) have lived through those difficult times. When you map out a 40-year reign across a 1000-year history, that's barely 5% of the life time of the kingdom. Understandably when that reign ends they won't remember it fondly, and no amount of PR will hide that fact. 

In contrast to Gaius Caesar's Veni, Vidi, Vici maxim, autocrats in Uganda come, Baganda see them, and they (despots) leave! They did survive Bemba after all. 

Buganda ku ntiko. Kati nga silaba wofudde?! 😕 https://t.co/n919pqixeZ

— MITTI 🛌 (@michealjamesM) March 12, 2022

Ceteris. Paribus.

References

Kitakule, D.W. ‘Basekabaka Abataano Abasooka Kintu’ [The five pre-Kintu Kings], Ebifa (1907-10).

Kizito, Tobi W. ‘The History of the Pre-Kintu Period, and the origins of Kintu’ in Munno, 1915 and 1916

Kiwanuka, M. S. (1972). A History of Buganda from the Foundation of the Kingdom to 1900. Holmes & Meier Pub. Chapter 4: The Expansion of Buganda

Onyango-Obbo, C. ‘Buganda's Political 'sins' and its punishment’ in The Daily Monitor, 30th March 2022.

How (Not) To Approach Women

Greetings. 

The annual feast day of St. Valentine is upon us. There are about eleven saints in the Roman Catholic church named Valentine. However, the clergyman who was martyred on 14th February 269 is the eponym of the feast day commemorating courtly love. He is the patron saint of love, happy marriages, affianced couples, beekeepers, and epilepsy! In memory of his patronage of courtly love, I purport to provide some not so bad advice on how to woo the fairer sex, extracted from various texts - non-fictional and otherwise.

Does it rain at your school?

Girls from Gayaza High School had been invited to Namilyango College for a debate by the Junior Debating Society. As a leader I had the privilege of opening the dance, which followed the debate, with a girl of my choice. The problem, however, was that I had never danced, and I knew next to nothing about this kind of exercise. After I stepped on her toes more than three times, I decided to start a conversation. Maybe this would calm my nerves and eventually I would flow with her. Yet again, I did not know what a person is supposed to say to such a girl. Our conversation went as follows;

"Do you also eat posho (maize meal) at your school?"

"Sometimes."

"Does it rain at your school?"

"Yes."

"Are there many students in your school?"

"Can't you ask better questions?" Obviously she was irritated, and that marked the beginning and end of my dancing days. 

From Emmanuel Katongole's Service Above Self. Chapter 1

Handle Cutlery Like A Gentleman

When I first arrived in Mqhekezweni I was regarded by some of my peers as a yokel who was hopelessly unequipped to exist in the rarefied atmosphere of the Great Place. As young men will, I did my best to appear suave and sophisticated. In church one day, I had noticed a lovely young woman who was one of the daughters of the Reverend Matyolo. Her name was Winnie, and I asked her out and she accepted. She was keen on me, but her eldest sister, nomaMpondo, regarded me as hopelessly backward. She told her sister that I was a barbarian who was not good enough for the daughter of Reverend Matyolo. To prove to her younger sister how uncivilized I was, she invited me to the rectory for lunch. I was still used to eating at home, where we did not use knife and fork. At the family table, this mischievous older sister handed me a plate that contained a single chicken wing. But the wing, instead of being soft and tender, was a bit tough, so the meat did not fall easily off the bone. 

I watched the others using their knives and forks with ease and slowly picked up mine. I observed the others for a few moments, and then attempted to carve my little wing. At first I just moved it around the plate, hoping that the flesh would fall from the bone. Then I tried in vain to pin the thing down, and cut it, but it eluded me, and in my frustration I was clanking my knife on the plate. I tried this repeatedly and then noticed that the older sister was smiling at me and looking knowingly at the younger sister as if to say, “I told you so.” I struggled and struggled and became wet with perspiration, but I did not want to admit defeat and pick the infernal thing up with my hands. I did not eat much chicken that day at luncheon. 

Afterward the older sister told the younger, “You will waste your whole life if you fall in love with such a backward boy,” but I am happy to say the young lady did not listen — she loved me, as backward as I was.

From Nelson Mandela's The Long Walk To Freedom. Part I, Chapter 3

... In the End, Location Matters

As they stood there together, Ekwefi's mind went back to the days when they were young. She had married Anene because Okonkwo was too poor then to marry. Two years after her marriage to Anene she could bear it no longer and she ran away to Okonkwo. It had been early in the morning. The moon was shining. She was going to the stream to fetch water. Okonkwo's house was on the way to the stream. She went in and knocked at his door and he came out. Even in those days he was not a man of many words. He just carried her into his bed and in the darkness began to feel around her waist for the loose end of her cloth.

From Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. Chapter 11

Ceteris. Paribus.

The Myth of CCM

Greetings. This week, the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party will be commemorating 36 years since it came into power. Proponents for their continued grip on power urge the public to concentrate on their deliverables rather than their duration in power. In the previous year's general election, the party's Secretary General was wont to assert that the party intended to stay in power for as long as Chama Cha Mapinduzi, Tanzania's ruling party that has held power since 1970. Parties that have stayed long in power have a penchant for poor governance, economic mismanagement and a poor human rights record. 

These parties' continued stay in power despite a poor report card brings to mind a mythological character cursed to perform a futile task for eternity.

The Myth of Sisyphus

Sisyphus is a wily figure in Greek mythology, who cheated death twice. His punishment was to roll a huge rock endlessly up a steep hill. 

"… Sisyphus at his endless task raising his prodigious stone with both his hands. With hands and feet, he tried to roll it up to the top of the hill, but always, just before he could roll it over on to the other side, its weight would be too much for him, and the pitiless stone would come thundering down again on to the plain. Then he would begin trying to push it up hill again …" 

The gods displayed their own trickery by enchanting the stone to roll away from Sisyphus when he reached the top. This consigned him to this fruitless labour and frustration for eternity.

The Myth of CCM

Time and again, parties in Africa take up power only to resort to the same methods that lead to a path of aggressively protecting their interests at any cost, much to the detriment of the rest of the population. First, it was the one-party states. Gamal Nasser in Egypt led the way with a declaration of the National Democratic Party as the sole legal party in the country in 1956. By the time, Nyerere declared Chama Cha Mapinduzi the sole legal party in Tanzania in 1977, 34 countries on the continent  had taken that path before (including Uganda in 1969). In total, there have been 63 one-party state declarations in Africa, with Sahrawi and Eritrea the only countries still practising single-party politics on the continent.

Despite a move away from the formation of one-party states, ruling parties have continued to assert their dominance even under the multi-party system. They tend to employ the same methods across countries and time to maintain their grip on power. Reports of voter suppression, clamping down on freedom of press, jailing of dissenting views are commonplace in all African countries with a dominant political power. And when a new party comes into power, the same script is repeated; Sisyphus returning to the bottom of the hill to carry the burdensome rock (oppressive methods) up to the hill afresh. And worst of all, the larger population's rock refers to the same paces of corruption, economic mismanagement, voter suppression, having their social services neglected, which they have to go through time and time again.

The Franco-Algerian author, Albert Camus had a different interpretation of the Sisyphian myth altogether. In his Le Myth de Sisyphe, he considered Sisyphe an absurd hero. Despite his endless effort, Sisyphus is actually triumphant over the gods. 

"His scorn of the gods, his hatred of death, and his passion for life won him that unspeakable penalty in which the whole being is exerted toward accomplishing nothing. This is the price that must be paid for the passions of this earth"

Individuals can continue to live conscious of their despicable condition, and yet continue to face it on a daily basis. Why else would citizens put up with questionable governance for 36 years? There is a sense the rock will come tumbling down the hill, and they will have to pick it up again.

But the people in power could share Camus' interpretation. They could view it as their own triumph taking up a task of governing the people in the same oppressive way in perpetuity.

Happy NRM Day!

Ceteris. Paribus.

References

Butler, S. (1900). The Odyssey. Longmans, Green, and Company.

Camus, A. (1955). The Myth of Sisyphus. 1942. Trans. Justin O’Brien

O'Gorman, Melanie (26 April 2012). "Why the CCM won't lose: the roots of single-party dominance in Tanzania". Journal of Contemporary African Studies. 30 (2): 313–333