Understanding the Ugandan ‘Gen Z’ protests
https://observer.ug/index.php/viewpoint/81957-understanding-the-ugandan-gen-z-protests
Written by DR BUSINGYE KABUMBA
I write
this column on a wet Tuesday morning, the 23rd of July 2024, at a time
when the national mood is similarly damp and dreary.
The young people of Uganda, like their
neighbours in Kenya and elsewhere, are tired – and they are tired of
being tired. They are also frustrated, anxious, demoralized and
increasingly hopeless. They were sold a dream in which education was
supposed to be the key to success in life.
They were
told to study hard, finish secondary school and make it to university or
other institutions of higher learning. Having done their part, they
were made to believe that the system would then do its own part. There
would be jobs which would allow hardworking and honest individuals the
opportunity to make a decent living for themselves and their families.
The young people of Uganda did their
part. They read hard, excelled in their studies and emerged from the
Ugandan education system to find a country with no room for them. The
public sector jobs that had been available to their parents were mostly
phased out in the Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) of the 1990s.
Those that now remain – in the
Ministries, District Service Commissions and other government agencies
are invariably going to a few well connected persons. In the Uganda of
2024, academic papers do not matter. One’s name, and connections, do.
The private sector is similarly
difficult – with a shrinking economy, crippling taxes and overregulation
(ask anyone about the requirements to register and run a business).
And so,
young Ugandans realize that all they obtained from those many years of
education was a fairly good command of English (alongside a strangely
intimate knowledge of the Canadian prairies and such other random
things). Invariably, many Ugandans in their late 20s and early 30s find
themselves still living at home with their parents.
They simply cannot afford to move out –
especially in the context of an inordinately high cost of living. The
young people of Uganda – and their parents – were sold great
expectations. Instead, they found great disappointment. At the same
time, they cannot help but notice that there is another class of young
Ugandans who seem to have ‘made it’.
Certainly, some of these are the lucky
few who through either above average intelligence or uncommon industry –
or both – managed to beat the odds and can now maintain a tolerably
good standard of living. I went to school with some of these, and their
success is legitimate and unassailable.
On the other hand, the vast majority of
these nouveau riche are the children of those whose who have literally
stolen the building blocks (and iron sheets!) of what was meant to be
the Ugandan dream. Those whose parents have converted funds meant for
public roads, public housing, public health, public education and other
public goods into grotesque private mansions, gaudy private cars,
outlandish private holidays and even private treasuries composed of
rooms stacked high with bundles of cash.
These
particular ones are very difficult to miss. They do not hide their
illegitimate wealth – they flaunt it. Incidentally, those who have
painstakingly worked for, and achieved, success in this jungle of a
country are often still traumatized by the memories of their poor or
lower to upper middle class backgrounds.
While we might now have some money in
the bank, and afford a bit of the good life, we are still haunted by,
and conscious of, the vagaries and vulnerabilities of life. The children
of the corrupt have none of these memories, and exhibit none of the
restraint that comes with such consciousness.
It is these young people – the offspring
of the plundering class – who regularly run up night club tabs ranging
from Ugx 15 to 60m in one night, and flippantly share these exploits on
social media. There are, indeed, two (perhaps even more) Ugandas. One in
which Ugx 60m (my annual salary as a lecturer at Makerere University)
can be casually spent in one night over wines and spirits whose names I
would struggle to pronounce; and another where life itself has little or
no value.
In this
other Uganda, young people and their parents struggle to afford the bare
necessities of life – shelter, medicine and even food. While in one
Uganda the children of the corrupt do not even need to go to work; in
the other, young Ugandans are forced to travel to the Middle East and
other places in a bid to eke a living. It was the British-Somali poet
Warsan Shire who in a famous 2009 poem wrote: ‘No one leaves home unless
home is the mouth of a shark’.
Uganda today is the mouth of a shark –
and ageing gerontocrat who has run out of ideas and, increasingly,
threats. A few nights ago, this old and greying dictator warned the
young Ugandans planning the July 23rd march to Parliament that they
would be ‘playing with fire’. In the past, these words might have been
menacing. In 2024, they are the hollow words of a tired autocrat – out
of solutions and out of threats.
I do not know how today’s march will
turn out. However, I have no doubt that the tide has irrevocably turned.
I saw many young people post on X (formerly Twitter) messages for their
parents and loved ones in case they did not return alive from the
march, and felt unexpectedly emotional – but also hopeful.
The young people of Uganda are as tired
of threats as they are of being tired of the hopelessness of their life
in this republic. Many of them, in their ‘In case I do not return’
posts, noted that they had nothing to lose – no jobs, no housing, no
medical insurance, no income – nothing. How can you threaten someone who
has nothing to lose?
Evidently,
those playing with fire are those who fail to read the changed times.
Those who fail to recognize that – as the disaffected youth have
emphatically stated – they are neither your children nor your bazzukulu.
They know their real parents, and grandparents. And they fully
understand the suffering and frustrations of their parents,
grandparents, siblings, relatives and friends.
Importantly, this critical moment has
also exposed the inadequacy, and in some cases outright complicity, of a
number of actors who ordinarily would have been expected to support the
democratic rights of the protesting youth. The Inter-Religious Council
of Uganda (IRCU), for instance, issued a strange and prevaricating
statement regarding the planned march, which justifiably drew the ire of
young Ugandans on Twitter and elsewhere.
Similarly, the now infamous Uganda Human
Rights Commission (UHRC) conjured up a Twitter post which placed
emphasis on the limitation of human rights, with little said about the
important limits - laid down in Article 43 (2) of the Constitution – on
any purported restriction of rights.
Indeed, so obvious was the UHRC’s bias
that one human rights lawyer, Geoffrey Obbo, was compelled to observe
that the Commission should, going forward, change its name to the
‘Uganda Human Rights Limitation Commission (UHLC)’. Equally disingenuous
‘information’ – which emphasized clause (1) of Article 43 but said
nothing of clause (2) – was issued by the Government Citizen Interaction
Centre (GCIC) clearly exposing it more as a propaganda machine rather
an any genuine ‘Interaction’ facility.
A number of media houses too – the
Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (and some prominent ‘quasi-private’
outfits) – were also clearly skewed in terms of what they reported, and
what they did not.
For their part, the police have, true to
form, similarly issued threats against the protestors – taking their
cue from Museveni’s own ill-advised and ill-informed remarks regarding
the constitutional right to assemble and demonstrate.
In addition, those arrested during the
protests – and they are already quite a number – will soon be produced
before courts. Unfortunately, again, many judicial officers will find a
number of technical reasons to keep the accused persons behind bars, in
the face of the constitutional rights to liberty under Article 23.
This can only be in the knowledge that
such actions – in the Uganda of July 2024 – are the quickest means of
catching the eye of the powers that be, and obtaining quick promotion
through the ranks of an increasingly discredited judicial branch.
The Ugandan youth protests clearly
signal that the time has come for a new national compact – a new Ugandan
understanding ultimately to be reduced into a fresh Constitution. One
truly arising from the sovereign will of free Ugandan people, rather
than that (the 1995 one) supervised, superintended and ultimately
controlled by Yoweri Museveni and the guns of his National Resistance
Army (which is today dressed up as the ‘Uganda Peoples’ Defence
Forces’).
Only then can we achieve a truly
democratic Uganda - one in which the Uganda Human Rights Commission is
truly a Human Rights Commission, rather than a Human Rights Limitation
Commission; where the Government Citizen Interaction Centre actually
understands its role as being to inform the public rather than misinform
them; where the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation and other media houses
can be trusted to convey the news without bias; where the Uganda Police
Force respects rather than constrains the liberties of Ugandans; where
the Judiciary truly understands itself to administer justice in the name
of the people of Uganda rather than on behalf of Museveni’s relatives,
friends and in-laws; and where the Parliament and all other political
actors understand their role as being to create a Uganda which truly
promises – and delivers – equality of opportunity to all its citizens.
The writer is senior lecturer and
acting director of the Human Rights and Peace Centre (HURIPEC) at the
School of Law, Makerere University, where he teaches Constitutional Law
and Legal Philosophy.
104 arrested in five days over anti-corruption protests in Uganda
Written by URN
Over 104 anti-corruption protesters were arrested in five days this week according to Uganda Police Force.
Police alongside Uganda People's Defence
Forces (UPDF) and Joint Anti-Terrorism Taskforce (JATT) have since
Sunday last week occupied Kampala city streets in a bid to thwart
protests against speaker of parliament Annet Anita Among in particular
and other government officials.
The heavy deployment followed
days of mobilizing people mostly on social media to participate in
anti-corruption protests dubbed #March2Parliament. The forces perceived
the anti-corruption protests to be a copycat of what is transpiring in
neighbouring Kenya where the youth dubbed Gen Z have put President
William Ruto’s government on tenterhooks. Ruto has since sacked his
cabinet and backed down on some new taxation policies.
Police
spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke says the protests expected to be held every
Tuesday and Thursday like is happening in Kenya led to the arrest of
104.
Rusoke said the 104 protestors were arrested between July 22
and July 25. On July 22, nine individuals were arrested and charged
with common nuisance and traffic regulation violations, all of whom were
taken to court.
“On July 23, a total of 75 suspects were
apprehended; 74 were subsequently taken to court, while one remains in
police custody. On July 24, three individuals were arrested and charged
with common nuisance offences, all of whom were taken to court,” Rusoke
said.
Security says explained that on July 25, a further sixteen
people were arrested, of which 13 were taken to court, and three are
still in police security.
“Overall, 104 individuals have been
arrested during this period, with 100 already taken to court. Among
those arrested, 13 had prior criminal charges,” Rusoke added.
President
Yoweri Museveni has since dubbed the anti-corruption protests as being
bankrolled by foreigners to destabilize Uganda. He said if the
anti-corruption protests had not had hidden intentions, he would have
also participated
According to Museveni, anti-corruption
protesters are playing with fire as his regime and security agencies
won’t allow anyone to throw the country into anarchy. Police said
mobilization placards that called upon Ugandans to occupy all streets in
Kampala as part of their march to parliament was going to result in
significant traffic congestion, disruption of trade, and disturbances to
public order.
The heavy deployment followed days of mobilizing people mostly on social media to participate in anti-corruption protests dubbed #March2Parliament. The forces perceived the anti-corruption protests to be a copycat of what is transpiring in neighbouring Kenya where the youth dubbed Gen Z have put President William Ruto’s government on tenterhooks. Ruto has since sacked his cabinet and backed down on some new taxation policies.
Police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke says the protests expected to be held every Tuesday and Thursday like is happening in Kenya led to the arrest of 104.
Rusoke said the 104 protestors were arrested between July 22 and July 25. On July 22, nine individuals were arrested and charged with common nuisance and traffic regulation violations, all of whom were taken to court.
“On July 23, a total of 75 suspects were apprehended; 74 were subsequently taken to court, while one remains in police custody. On July 24, three individuals were arrested and charged with common nuisance offences, all of whom were taken to court,” Rusoke said.
Security says explained that on July 25, a further sixteen people were arrested, of which 13 were taken to court, and three are still in police security.
President Yoweri Museveni has since dubbed the anti-corruption protests as being bankrolled by foreigners to destabilize Uganda. He said if the anti-corruption protests had not had hidden intentions, he would have also participated
According to Museveni, anti-corruption protesters are playing with fire as his regime and security agencies won’t allow anyone to throw the country into anarchy. Police said mobilization placards that called upon Ugandans to occupy all streets in Kampala as part of their march to parliament was going to result in significant traffic congestion, disruption of trade, and disturbances to public order.
