E.A. Brett

In 1966 Uganda's Constitution was torn up, the army moved centre
stage and political structures, bureaucracies, parastatals and coopera-
tives soon became instruments of plunder. By 1986 roads were
impassable, hospitals lacked water and drugs, factories stood idle and the
countryside was ravaged by war. Uganda had validated Hobbes' predic-
tion -- without political order society had become a 'warre of every man
against every man' and life 'solitary, poore, nasty, brutish and short'. ¹

Reconstruction now requires institutional reforms that will guarantee
personal freedom and autonomy, enforce economic efficiency and
impose effective constraints on the use of political and military power.
'Institutional reforms at every level of government' and 'measures to
foster private sector and non-governmental organizations' in every
sphere are essential, as the government and donors now recognize. ²
Some countries create effective mechanisms to enforce accountability
and efficiency, others -- like Uganda during the dark years -- do not.
Institutional reforms incorporate systems of rewards and sanctions that
induce their members to behave in certain ways. In Uganda the key
institutions in the state and private sector rewarded ruthlessness, mis-
appropriation and nepotism and thus allowed, even encouraged, the
transition to the politics of plunder. This must now change.

The past four years have been concerned with pacification, macro-
economic adjustment and rehabilitation, and the prime concern has been
to make existing structures work better, liberalize the regulatory system
and rationalize prices. This will continue, but now with an increased
recognition of the need to reorganize the key structures through which
services are delivered and order maintained -- political authorities,
bureaucracies, firms, and voluntary organizations. A Constitutional
Commission is working on political reform, a Public Service Commis-
sion is looking at the public sector and also at its relationship to the
private sector; an intensive re-evaluation of the regulations and struc-
ture of the private sector is taking place. The NRM has restored
economic growth and almost eliminated insurgency but has now reached
another critical turning point; to consolidate these gains and create a

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