I am not being an alarmist or a sadist; I am simply stating the facts. Look around, order from above, and Strongman syndrome has killed everything. Rest in peace government institutions; rest in peace service delivery. There are many worries about whether it is the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end to the order from above syndrome in Uganda.
The order from above syndrome originates from the times of the biblical Moses and Abraham, where these would receive unquestionable orders on behalf of others from the most high and most powerful God, the creator of heaven and earth, of which these orders were not to be disobeyed against.
Today, due to manipulation of institutional powers and the rise of strongman politics, institutions have kept vulnerability to manipulation by politically powerful or wealthy individuals to coerce the core roles of these institutions. This has eventually led to the weakening of these institutions and the collapse of some.
Every time, everywhere, everyone is looking for connections to link him up to a strongman to either get a job, attain justice at police, get medical care, etc. This clearly shows that the public institutions that are meant to offer services to the population have been weakened or are dead completely to the extent of being manipulated time and again by strongmen.
In a delightful way, every institution is supposed to be independent of every single element of interference, coercion, or manipulation from any one or any authority, as any act of such a kind despises institutional immunities of impartiality, transparency, and universality.
This continued interference of institutions has resulted in high corruption tendencies as the powerful use their powers or orders to evade taxes, to get jobs or contract awards, or justice, etc., resulting in the collapse of service delivery and a defunct public sector.
For example, in the previous weeks, several publications, including print and online media, for example, the Daily Monitor, New Vision, chimp reports, Nile Post, etc., wrote stories about ongoing investigations about the mass linkage of classified statehouse documents, and the investigations indicate that one of the arrested persons, Michael Ayeranga, was purportedly using ‘false orders from above’ through ‘forged signatures’ of the president to direct government agencies and ministries to award government contracts or jobs to different people or companies. How did we reach here?
Institutions are meant to be independent of any interference, be it from the president, politicians, or powerful army Generals, the elite, or the business community, among others.
More so, there are legal and institutional legal frameworks to always be followed whenever dealing or acting with every government institution. These directives given by either politicians or anybody, including the president, are meant to follow the laws; as the saying always goes, ‘……..nobody is above the law……’ Also, presidents are not above the law; they just have immunity against prosecution and litigation but not immunity to act outside the law.
On several occasions, politicians or even the president, army officers, and others have been spotted giving orders to government institutions, and some of these orders or directives turn out to be contrary to institutional legal frameworks (illegal). Look at what RDCs and some dwarf ministers are doing every day.
In an equitable society, everyone should have equal access to these government institutions to allow equal competition but to also limit interference with these institutions.
Equity goes hand in hand with democracy; there cannot be democracy without equity, not all. The three arms of government should revisit the drawing board to open up a resistance against the order from above syndrome. The society seems to be suffocating from this order from above syndrome.
Is it the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end to the order from above syndrome in Uganda?
Richard Bard Byamukama is a lawyer and also a security studies expert.
