One of the post-independence political concerns in Uganda today is that ethnicity had been detrimental to national unity, democracy and development. There is no doubt that the conflicts in Uganda from 1964 to 1966 when Prime Minister Milton Obote overthrew President Edward Mutesa, have taken on an ethnic expression. The 1971 coup by Idi Amin, the civil war of 1981-86 and the insurgency in the North since 1987 have all had ethnicity as one of the driving factors. The central problem was and has been the politicisation of ethnicity, that is, its use for purposes of group mobilisation in social conflict that also involves the state. As its impacts have spilled over to the present, its roots can be traced as far back as the pre-colonial period. Ethnicity in Uganda, as elsewhere on the African continent, has been historically constructed and subsequently reproduced. While democratisation may be problematic in the face of ethnic consciousness, the paradox is that the best way to reduce ethnic consciousness is more and not less democratisation.…
