Saturday 14 May 2011





Sitting in my room this school holiday, yours truly while making an evaluation of his high school students realized a striking semblance of the conditions of 1789 France with the current events in Uganda so much so that the adage that History repeats itself seemed somewhat almost as true as never before. As High school professors we are always encouraged to keep abreast with current events to avail our learners with a clear understanding of the issues we share with them.

It has been mantained that the occurrence of the French revolution was majorly attributed to issues relating to the economy but mostly important being the regime's insensitivity to the plight of its citizens against a background of high-handedness and corruption. Museveni's Uganda is a fine description of Louis ancien regime in 2011.

My motive here will be to highlight the conditions which offset the French revolution of which many of us maybe aware of and contrasting them with the conditions in Uganda today.

Louis government engaged in unnecessary wars creating an impetus for the increase of the defense budget much to the chagrin of the French people. Uganda's defence bugdet today is a shock as compared to that of the Education Ministry or even that of Agriculture which absorbs over 70 percent of Museveni's so loved peasants.

In this situation the middleclass became concerned about the economic situation in France, the state had run bankrupt due to exaggerated expenditure on loyalties and pomp. The King's partying and other extravagancies became insulting as peasants were taxed to finance these much in the same way as holding us at ransom for a billion shillings swearing in ceremony. As Marie Antionette prided in her idle pursuits and extravagant spending so has been our rulers always asking us to finance a new copter project or even having us finance their children's health abroad.

As the ancien regime weakened ofcourse due to the excesses of corruption, a need to curtail civil liberties was found in the lattre de catche, arrest warrant. Censorship of the media became pronounced and it became treasonous to claim dissent against established order. The King's wish became law just as someone's desire to chew his opponents like a pizza has resulted into anarchy. As the doctrine of the rule of divine rights became the standard of the King's oppression of his subjects has the idea of the 1986 revolution sunk Uganda this deep.

Our rulers today have sought legitimacy from their role in deposing bad rulers and vowing to protect this achievement at all costs even when it means overwriting the same achievement. In the situation even the royalists soon turned against the Monarchy.

But there were always some sober-minded heads to help the ruler avert the chaos, such Men like Turgot and Necker had made excellent reforms that would have seen Louis protect the throne but the infighting at the court coupled by the Firstlady's influences meant that the King had no choice but to do away with such men. Bidandi Ssali, Ssebaana Kizito, Kizza Besigye name them had brought good reforms, Besigye even authored a document to revamp the regime system but hardliners read cadres discarded this as a diatribe against the chief.

But the actual spark to the revolution was the poor weather conditions of 1789 to which i wish to sum this note. As the conditions deteriorated both in the countryside and in the cities, the masses became disillusioned. A people will always remain sangfroid until they have no food. The severe winter conditions of 1789 led to a scarcity of food items as ports froze and farms became destroyed. The costs of food increased and so did the cost of other basic items. Despite all these the regime remained insensitive urging the people to work harder while the nobles took to their idle and extravagant pursuits.

The formation of the famous Paris Mob had roots in a desire by the people to walk to the Capital to meet the king and express their grieviances. These were youths not different from those trekking today from Kasangati , Nakulabye, Mbale, Kaleerwe to Kampala. They were not idle marijuana imbued elements but rather concerned nationals seeking for redress from their leaders. The walk to work protests have exemplified the Paris Mobs. In this situation of give and take the leaders remained defiant, sticking to their age-long mental pre-occupations that the masses were idle loud-mouths.

Marie Antionette when responding to women who were marching in protest of the conditions recommended them to eat cakes if bread had became expensive in an extra-ordinary show of contempt and insensitivity only matched by Uganda Minister for Karamoja's recent newspaper article which showed that the conditions in Uganda were far better than we should ask for. It is this insensitivity that drove people to riot to overthrow the regime. But we need to remember that the French people had always prided in their monarchy and had protecting it despite all its excesses. It was only until when they realized that the rulers were insensitive that they did away with it.