SO, I MADE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA... (Part 3)

The Discipline of a nation:

"Mr. President, its time for us to leave now", the Head of Protocol just notified me. I was ushered swiftly into the waiting convoy and as swiftly as I was ushered did, we take off toward the Parliamentary precincts, where I was to deliver my Inaugural state of the nation address with my new government. I started to think about the discipline of nations and how it impacts development of nations.

My mind took me to Israel, Iran, Germany, Singapore, South Korea, China, The United States of America, Great Britain and South Africa. All these nations had one thing in common; they were nations built under discipline (never mind what some of their leaders represented to the world). I remembered how Israel moved from being a rag tag bunch of oppressed Jews, whose immediate community turned hostile; oppressed from the world abroad and at home. Once must hear stories like the massacres of the ancient Jewish community at Hebron by their own neighbors with whom they had lived for centuries and the other stories to understand what it meant to be a Jew in a hostile world, home and abroad.

The Jews however, like the proverbial Phoenix had arisen from the ashes of ancient history and now lived on top of our world, a world where any of the enemies of Israel will not dare lurch at them with impunity. How did they get here? one doesn’t have to look far but only understand they way they have run that nation. The young and old each have accepted the reality that they are at war all the time. Young and old, male and female are all trained soldiers and have had a go at national service and protection of their nation. They run a strict regime of discipline for their people at a community level and will not accept indiscipline among them selves.

The Iranian Revolution also known as the Islamic Revolution or the 1979 Revolution, led by the Ayatollahs; they led demonstrations against the Shah whose regime was perceived by many citizens as an oppressive, brutal and corrupt regime. Iran also suffered from some basic functional failures that brought economic bottlenecks, shortages, and inflation. Iran had been rife with corruption before the revolutionaries; a paralyzing kind of corruption where the national services are almost brought on their knees. The formula of these revolutionaries was simple; use religion to bring the nation back to discipline using a theocratic-republican approach.

The Ayatollah team believed that theocratic rule was ultimately more necessary even than prayer and fasting in Islam, as it would eventually eliminate poverty, injustice, and the "plundering" of the nation. Iran GDP/Capita grew from around US$390 in 1979 to over US$5,415.21 per 2017 figures; before then growth of GDP/Capita was flat, and after them it has a clear respectable trend upward. Today no one can dare touch Iran unless you have a death wish. Even by all their enemies they are much respected. They hold their own when it comes to science, independent thought and have made much progress as a nation too.

A lot has been said about Adolf Hitler of Germany, but mostly the gory and negative aspects. But one must wonder how one man got a nation in the heart of Europe to grow so strong so as to terrorize the whole world and sustain to date a national paradigm of achievement orientation and development. It had to take an alliance of nations to bring Germany onto its knees. Hitler understood the importance of mentoring a nation into a paradigm and never underestimated the power of influencing the children. German schools under him spent more time embedding ideas of nationalism and militarism into the children. He also believed that the most effective way to control your nation is controlling mass media. The Nazis took control over culture as well. They banned over 20,000 books during the ‘burning of the books’ to promote German values. “All ‘degenerate’ art was destroyed.

Despite being unethical, Hitler changed the perspective on a whole race. The Nazis leadership philosophy was defined by the "Führerprinzip" German for "leader principle". The ideology of the Führerprinzip sees each organization as a hierarchy of leaders, where every leader has absolute responsibility in his own area, demands absolute obedience from those below him and answers only to his superiors. The supreme leader answered to God and the people. The Führerprinzip paralleled the functionality of military organizations, which continue to use a similar authority structure today. What is clear is that despite the way in which Hitler took advantage of and abused this ideology, he was able to garner a nation around himself, achieve immense gains and build a national paradigm that still exists in present day Germany.

The stories of Singapore, South Korea and China have been told; One must only read the autobiography of Lee Kwan Yew (From Third world to First) to understand that turning around Singapore was a matter of immense national discipline. The leaders were held to account for the principles that they claimed to stand for; Lee Kwan Yew was not an exception to this expectation. He led the way by living a life of immense discipline and accountability. He held himself to a very high standard of living beyond reproach. Not even his very own friends in this "white revolution" were spared the brutal expectation. The nation was also put under similar stead. It took time but soon Singapore was more than just a city state with no resources to talk about; they were leading the world in terms of Economic growth, and that so leveraging their people as their resource. And it worked! Singapore GDP/Capita grew to $64,581.95 in 2018 from $428.06 in 1960, a growth of over 150 times over a 58-year period. What is clear Singapore inspired many of the nations around her, including communist China; one can argue that China owes her current economic growth to Lew Kwan Yews work. But that work too was founded on a foundation of strict discipline, both personal and national.

The United States story has been told countless times. The founding fathers were men of societal stature and incredible personal discipline, that demanded the same of the nation. The group came from a variety of social, economic, and ethnic backgrounds as well as occupations, some with no prior political experience. They believed in the following seven principles that underlie the U.S Constitution:

1) popular sovereignty meaning rule by the people

2) limited government meaning everyone is bound by the US Constitution

3) separation of powers into branches that make, enforce or interpret laws,

4) checks and balances meaning controls (checks) can be made on the other branches

5) judicial review,

6) federalism meaning power is shared between the national and state governments

7) republicanism meaning the right to vote for representatives

Its no wonder that the U.S is referred to as the land of opportunity. It still comes down to discipline of the nation in order to align to the above seven principles.

China's story has not been told much. The Chinese communist party, with more than 74 million members, up from 50 million in the early 1990s, is the largest political party in the world. Between 30% and 50% apply to join the party and recruiters seek those with top grades, leadership potential and youthful idealism.

However, where does all this governance model originate from? In his book "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" Max Weber makes an argument that this begun with reformers like Martin Luther and John Calvin teaching their congregations that whatever we do outside of the four walls of the houses of worship was a vocation. Switzerland was changed from being called the sewer of Europe into one of the best places to live in Europe. He argues that the Protestant work ethic was an important force behind the unplanned and uncoordinated emergence of modern-day European ethic.

The Protestant reformation, according to Weber effectively forbade wastefully using hard earned money and frowned on donation of money to the poor or to charity as it was furthering beggary. This social condition was perceived as laziness, burdening their fellow man, and an affront to God; by not working, one failed to glorify God. Instead the protestant ethic encouraged reinvestment of this money which in turn led to increased wealth.

What is clear is that every great nation had immense discipline at a national level underlying its growth into greatness and success. Uganda would be no different and we would rise to write our own script.

The motorcade was now racing through the traffic that had all pulled to the side to let it pass. It was moving so fast at breakneck speed. The sirens were growing louder and louder to an almost deafening din! "Paul, Paul..." someone was shaking me veraciously. A cacophony of sirens and my name being called all mixed into one sound. The shaking felt like a tremor! "Paul!" I woke up, opened my eyes, and it was my wife Susan sited by my side, in our bed, at home! "You have been delirious all night; speaking in your sleep severally; I failed to sleep as you seemed to be having a really engaging dream". "What time is it?" I asked Susan. "it is 3 a.m; and I need to catch some sleep before the busy day tomorrow. Good night again. Lets catch some real sleep now before day break, OK". 

"What a dream!" I told myself under my breath; "What a dream!".