Jacob Waiswa,
Peace and
Conflict Program,
Makerere University,
Kampala, Uganda
Regimes
become psychological insecure after making deliberate ‘errors’ in the making of
the constitution for use as a tool to entrench itself in power regardless of
the socioeconomic and sociopolitical defects they present.
That
insecurity exacerbates the status-quo through irrational decisions;
characterized by arbitrary arrests, lack of judicial function, lack
independence of the legislature or none at all, killings and disappearances of
members of the opposition, anarchy, and refugee crisis.
Where
intimidation and fear is structured in the mindsets of the population overtime,
coerced silence takes root and citizens accept to be held behind it, until a
time when the long held violence against them explodes out back into the face
of the regime.
When
the population feels a sense of security around their offices; it never matters
how much damage the regime makes to the economy, it never cares about how many
citizens continue to die of preventable illnesses, and how many unproductive
men and women exist, which themselves are enough of the threats to political
stability. Under such circumstances, the regime is so insecure because of
unlawful actions, only made lawful through corruption structures long set to
meet that need.
The
psychological insecurities prompt them to behave so wildly, very much
inappropriate, and further accelerate erosion of the constitution to worsen the
national crisis. Buying hi-tech weaponry and conducting regular army and police
promotions is another powerful reinforcement to their ‘plundering program.’
Interestingly
or not their actions are not only disastrous to the masses, but health
complications take toll on them, as well. There is evidence that dictators
suffer loss of vision for the country, lose grip, get eaten up by their own
actions, suffer strokes and a range of cancers. Among such are Amin (Uganda),
Mobutu (former Zaire), Mubarrak (Egypt), and now Mutharika (Malawi).
Kanyeihamba
George, the former Chief Justice of Uganda, noted that the long-stay in power
gradually forget and trample upon the principles that brought them in power,
heir anti-people acts and behaviors alienate them from the majority of the
population.
Overtime,
the population may be forced to accept the psychopathological condition, or
support those who stand up to support the change of the regime. There is thus a
mental implication for absence of the rule of law and bad governance.
However,
psychology’s multidisciplinary approach play a critical role in understanding
mental states and behavior complexities of problem parties in conflict
situations, and invokes innovative strategies attained through research to
influence most appropriate ones best to create individual harmony, healthy
relationships within groups, and excellent working relations between nations.
Some
of the interventions found useful are redirection of social behavior towards a
social good, desensitization of wrong behavior by appropriate levels to do so,
and sensitization of masses or a group of problem leaders with positive choices
and the consequences of negative behavior, disregard of behavior, denunciation,
withdraw of support and respect for problem party, isolation, and supervision
of efforts to arrest the isolated fellows, with far no or less risks to life.
It
is rather important to place priority on reforming maladaptive or
conflict-infested socio-political, socio-economic and socio-environment
structural relationships at all levels beginning with families, through
effective service deliveries to national level performances.
Stretching
out to meet international obligations is best done after the domestic situation
of the country indicates very healthy attitudes towards governance, and service
delivery systems. Most successful countries in the world today have followed
that model, especially those in Western Europe.
