Deliberation and Animosity
Various interpretations of “He Has a Lot on His Mind” referenced in this section wield the song’s lyrics to articulate notions of deliberation and animosity. Among other topics, they discuss greed and selfishness, conflict and consensus, as well as truth and dishonesty. Harriet Kisuule’s interpretation reminds us that when politics devolve into animosity, some politicians might use increasingly deceitful and immoral tactics to come out on top. She suggests that this is the case with the current political scene in Uganda, as we see with her description of some of the methods that politicians use:
There is no truthfulness in politics—it is a dirty game. For a politician to make it to the top, he must be able to lie well and often. Many politicians have no regard for fairness and do not care about people as long as they are able to make it to the top. As a result, there is a lot of hatred and aggressive competition in politics. The politicians’ focus is on maintaining their own position, making the acquisition of a maximum number of votes their top priority. This means that sometimes they enact policies that are either harmful or irrelevant to others. President Museveni, for example, cares mostly about making policies that are helpful to those who are members of the National Resistance Movement, his political party. However, he still pays attention to the feelings of the majority because he needs to ensure he will be able to get through reelection when the time comes. His tactics exemplify how politicians need to be patient and attentive listeners to best gauge public opinion before engaging in the decision-making process. Careful analysis of a situation is necessary before taking any political action.
1Kisuule interview, December 21, 2019.But Kisuule also specifically comments on one of the ways President Museveni has demonstrated his ability to listen to the people, particularly through his various projects and campaigns:
He has devoted efforts to issues such as child education and immunization, educational infrastructure, and healthcare, which he approaches through a combination of reforms and funding. His general focus remains on understanding the struggles of the poor, common man before devising solutions for them. The people whom he helps in turn appreciate his assistance and praise his rule, allowing him to remain popular among the lower class.
2Ibid.Kisuule’s interpretation speaks to the breakdown in the mutual relationship between a leader and his subjects. Whereas this dynamic previously embodied processes of mutuality and reciprocity, the prevalence of manipulation now continuously undermines any attempts to reinstate them. Some leaders no longer consider themselves extensions of the people, instead viewing themselves as separate entities whose primary objective is to gain power that they can use for themselves. Moreover, they advertise their conduct as beneficial to the state, as John Lonsdale observes.
3Lonsdale 1992, 466. These dynamics demonstrate the relevance of “He Has a Lot on His Mind” in the context of today’s politics. The descent into animosity evident in the song’s lyrics comes to represent the deterioration of mutuality between the people and their politicians. At the same time, Kisuule’s commentary differentiates between compassionate and self-serving types of attentiveness. When leaders are only inclined to do the bare minimum as a political strategy that sways the people to their side, it exposes that serving or assisting the people is not the primary goal of their policies. Instead, they are smokescreens to obscure their selfishness as benevolence.
Continuing Kisuule’s description of political tactics, Edward Ssebunnya Kironde expands the discussion to include the methods that more minor, local politicians use as opposed to the major power players like President Museveni. He articulates the problem in politics as a multipronged dilemma, endemic in all political parties as a symptom of the broader system itself:
There is no true democracy in Uganda. The ruling party has violated and changed the constitution on numerous occasions. First, they removed the term limits for presidency, then the age limits. When the opposition produces a sensible policy, the ruling government refuses to implement it on principle, even if it benefits the country. Everyone involved is a wolf in sheep’s clothing and eventually caves to their desire for personal gains. They use the struggles they have faced to pad their campaign. For example, one opposition councilor searching for votes repeatedly leaned on a story of herself protesting and getting tear-gased alongside the opposition leader, Colonel Dr. Kizza Besigye, to craft her image and gain votes. Naturally, these personal struggles, though impressive, are not indicative of whether someone is a capable leader. Regular people go through similar struggles all the time, but none of them tries to use their struggles as an intrinsic justification for political gain. Furthermore, many of those political climbers fail to be effective civil servants. Betty Kamya, for example, a potential presidential candidate for one of the opposition parties, has not made a remarkable impact while in her current post. This demonstrates that self-serving and ineffective behaviors are not just problems limited to the current ruling party; they are endemic among the opposition as well. As a result, the opposition is struggling to make any real headway because the people recognize that they are no different in behavior than those already in power. Additionally, those among the opposition truly invested in improving the country suffer at the hands of those who have adopted self-centered behavior. Politicians like Bobi Wine who are looking to enact real change struggle because the people they depend on are constantly backcrossing them, unable to devote themselves to serving for the common good.
4Kironde interview, December 19, 2019.By criticizing the current government’s opposition candidates, as well as the president himself, Kironde shows us that the problem in Ugandan politics is not limited to the current administration, as even those who challenge it demonstrate a selfish disregard of their responsibilities. This aspect shows how the lyrics of “He Has a Lot on His Mind” might not intend to guide us toward a particular leader but toward a new mode of governance. In this way, the singer’s dedication to the king becomes more than mere calls to switch loyalties from one leader to another but an affirmation of a new way of conducting politics. Rather than pursuing animosity by drumming up support for one side while cultivating dislike for another, the song proposes creating mutual and reciprocal relations between political actors; in other words, a philosophy of consensus where all parties are dedicated to each other rather than themselves. As Kelly Askew suggests, leaders need to recognize that their rhetoric will gain no ground if it fails to resonate with the people. Success of a state relies on the mutuality between the government and the people, meaning that those excluded from or spurned by the state are more likely to dissent. Although the government might like to think otherwise, citizens will not merely accept blind obedience.
5Askew 2002, 12.Having described some of the methods that politicians use to ensure their reelection, Kironde’s analysis of “He Has a Lot on His Mind” also examines the challenges of global and intra-ethnic politics causing further deterioration of the existing political apparatus. She notes that the instances of deterioration that politicians do not directly cause but instead are the result of external or unexpected forces:
Political affairs in Uganda are particularly complicated due to the country’s ethnic diversity. There are more than fifty ethnic groups, all with different names, traditions, and cultures, in a population of less than fifty million people. This is one of the reasons why maintaining political balance in Uganda is difficult. Another reason is that sometimes the masses might better maintain the political balance without a particular person’s leadership. However, that individual, wanting to remain in power, puts his or her own desires before the needs of the country.
6Kironde interview, December 19, 2019.Given Uganda’s diversity, conflicting desires, and intersecting beliefs, it is impossible to avoid disagreement or conflict. However, attaining peace does not mean erasing or ignoring inevitable conflict but instead means finding methods to respectfully reconcile differences in a stable framework. The problem is that this might not be the mindset of Uganda’s current leadership. Kironde is encouraging people to take up an attitude of interactive maintenance rather than rhetorical proliferation. This perspective creates a new meaning from the language that the lyrics of “He Has a Lot on His Mind” use. The bowl lyre is a redeemer not because it erases conflict or failure but wrestles with it, lifts one out of it, eventually allowing one to overcome it. In the same way, the king does not cure conflict but thinks critically about resolutions. He maintains “a lot on his mind” because there is much to deliberate about, much to resolve. However, it is through this crucial process of overcoming political blockages that the agreements and disagreements that have passed through the kingdom might “liberate” themselves.
Peter Kinene reflects in his interpretation that leaders are more concerned about maintaining power than promoting peace. He suggests that if any politician has the choice between maintaining power and giving the masses a joyful rule, in most cases he or she will choose the former, engaging in cutthroat competitions. This mismanagement of conflict primarily results in losses for the people, as they are left stranded while their officials continue to bicker and hatch plots. Kinene cautions, “Though people may think politics is a game, today’s politics are not. They are dangerous and can involve loss.”
7Kironde interview, December 16, 2019. This perspective gives “He Has a Lot on His Mind” fresh relevance by reconstructing the meanings behind animosity and peace outright. It shows us that peace does not only refer to the lack of conflict but also speaks to the priorities of governance and how leaders place the well-being of their people before the well-being of themselves. The descent into animosity reveals a descent into disagreements founded not on an honest desire to help but on a desire to cause difficulties.
Kironde further accounts for the government’s deterioration into animosity. His criticism of the government draws on far larger commentary regarding the circumstances of governance in Uganda. Managing conflicting interests, under ideal leadership, would already be incredibly taxing and barely manageable; however, when one places such responsibilities on the back burner, an already difficult job turns impossible:
Leaders are also constantly on the lookout for betrayal, whether from within or beyond. Treachery is such a prominent feature of rule that many songs mention it. Leaders come to fear hypocrisy and are wary of fully trusting anyone. They must balance the forces within their own internal government as well as broader national and international tensions. For Uganda, that means balancing the Christians and the Muslims, the Baganda and the Banyoro people, alongside other more massive forces such as the United States, China, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the Middle East. Each group wants to have their say, particularly the ethnic groups of Uganda, which have their own ceremonial leaders but lack true independence. To balance out all these needs is no easy feat. Indeed, sometimes the state of the government running our country seems more akin to a television drama than reality. People lose children, experience the effects of natural disasters, or die prematurely. They cry out to the government to help, but often it can be the government itself that is responsible for their troubles. Government officials are the highest criminals of them all.
8Kironde interview, December 19, 2019.Expanding on the idea of disloyalty, Kironde adds,
Leaders fear betrayal. The cutthroat nature of contemporary politics breeds the fear that any wrong move may result in the loss of one’s power or lead to one’s death. Thus, leaders frequently spend time on themselves, shuttling between self-serving actions and avoiding betrayal. Accordingly, they rarely focus their attention on the interests of the people, unless doing so aids their own purposes. Between the many opposing interests, national conflicts can become confused and disorganized chaos, as all parties are aiming for different outcomes with varied motives.
9Ibid.From Kironde’s viewpoint, the notion of deterioration that “He Has a Lot on His Mind” presents is far wider and more daunting in scope than was previously apparent. The animosity that the song describes is allegedly spread throughout both the government’s foundations and its insecurities, leading it to fight against itself.
In addition to detailing the qualities and practices that create a poor and selfish leader, interpreters also articulate the qualities and practices that make a just and helpful one. Jimmy Ssenfuka Kibirige describes an effective leader as one who can handle the many responsibilities expected of them throughout the day by consolidating time and multitasking. Kibirige emphasizes the importance of quick and fluid thinking, making connections off hand even while doing something else, and producing solutions as quickly as problems occur:
Because a leader always “has a lot on his mind,” he should be able to do many things. Being a good leader requires the ability to think critically and multitask. There will always be obligations for a leader to fulfill throughout the day, such as community work or infrastructural projects. With such full schedules, leaders rarely have the time to sit down and think properly about the needs of their people. As a result, they need to be able to multitask and use the information they learn during their time among their people to devise their plans for serving them.
10Kibirige interview, December 18, 2019.This method of adaptable leadership contrasts with that of many contemporary leaders in that the former often become engrossed in a single-minded obsession with their own self-preservation. While they are campaigning for themselves or passing laws to extend their power, they are ignoring their responsibilities to compartmentalize and expedite various actions. In “He Has a Lot on His Mind,” the singer’s love for the king is only possible given the king’s drive and efficacy as a leader. As the lyrics demonstrate, he bears a lot on his mind, constantly thinking of ways to assist. However, he still makes the singer feel noticed and valued while doing so. This process demonstrates a dual relationship between intention and practice, highlighting that leaders must both enact and demonstrate care for their people, something that is allegedly missing in the national government.
Expanding on his previous commentary, Kibirige explores what happens when leaders fail to follow through on their proposed initiatives. This issue arises in the conflict between Buganda and Uganda, but it also occurs within the kingdom. Kibirige describes how some Baganda leaders have failed to follow through on an educational initiative and have instead contradicted their stated goals.
11Ibid. Whether the disconnect is between the government and the people or within a kingdom, the failures to enact policies might reflect the division that people face at an interpersonal level. The consequence of a lack of unity and thoughtfulness is that everyone suffers, as leaders waste resources on ineffective programs.
According to Kibirige’s analysis, the supposed thoughtlessness of some current national government leaders speaks to the fact that the people’s interests now only exist as an afterthought. These leaders seem to only care to the extent that the masses can reelect them, and thus they invest in projects that look and sound good but are wasteful and aimless. Kibirige challenges the claim that some initiatives of the kingship have been successful:
Baganda leaders teach through the Better Education Less Labor project, among other social campaigns. These leaders, however, have yet to take this slogan to heart, as many are still putting their people into nonpaying jobs. They have mobilized the masses to make bricks, a labor-intensive job with poor pay, for instance. These sorts of employment strategies lack any creativity, and it is clear that they have not put much thought into generating a fresh, new solution for the general underemployment problem. There is still a lack of access to education across the country. In Buganda, there is the Kabaka Education Fund. It is a perfect demonstration of how leaders should take the time to create solutions for their people. There is also Muteesa I Royal University, Muteesa II University, Ccwa II Memorial College, and the Buganda at the Peak (Buganda ku Ntikko) project. These projects, which highlight the legacies of previous kings’ reigns, are the result of leaders who think, like the current King Mutebi II, and in turn provide the education that people need to find good jobs. They can find positions that have good pay and clear career opportunities, thanks to these projects.
12Ibid.Here, we see how, despite the smaller amount of power that the kingdom wields, it is allegedly fulfilling its goal of helping the people far more effectively than the national government has. By thinking critically about a creative solution, the kingship has supposedly established a method that might present a lasting solution to the unemployment problem. The king’s program is in no way perfect, but it allegedly still represents a positive shift in the Buganda government caring for civilians compared to the program that the national government produced. The phrase “He has a lot on his mind” becomes more than a description of how busy the king is, instead demonstrating the king’s methodology whereby he does his best to fulfill his role to the extent of his power.
Echoing the sentiments of Kibirige, Kinene’s interpretation expands on the ways a leader should attempt to serve his people. Kinene frames politics as a competition where one must sweat and exert oneself to achieve benefits. However, his interpretation of competition differs from that of other interpreters who have previously described competition negatively, as a cutthroat dynamic that buries the people’s interests under an obsessive focus of winning elections. Kinene describes politics as competitive only in so far as it requires a constant process of exertion and self-overcoming. He therefore understands politics as a competition with oneself and one’s predecessors. According to Kinene, the winner of the competition is the one who benefits the people the most, causing any new leader to be in a battle for growth, always seeking to improve and overcome the past to mark a brighter future:
A good leader plans for his people and is always considering the best ways to transform them. Political activities are a competition; they are not just about sitting around and waiting for things to come to you, which is why leaders need to be planning constantly. As two Kiganda proverbs say,
Ebirungi biva mu ntuuyo (Good things come from sweat) and
Atya omusana; talya bwami (One who fears the scorching sun; does not become a chief). Leaders cannot earn their office without putting in some amount of work. They need to persist to achieve success, particularly within politics. Consider that those who dedicated themselves to serve the interests of the president are now serving as ministers. They were able to profit from their determination. Again, it is persistence that enables individuals to profit from their work.
13Kinene interview, December 16, 2019.In the proverbs referenced, “sweat” refers to hard work, and “scorching sun” represents challenges. Kinene’s interpretation of “He Has a Lot on His Mind” demonstrates the difference between animosity and competition. Where animosity defines the competition between politicians today, it does not necessarily mean that competition itself is an evil. In fact, one can consider healthy competition and hard work as a facet of thoughtful deliberation. In this sense, Uganda’s problem today is not simply a structural issue that the electoral system allegedly creates but a philosophical one that people must wrestle with.
Today many politicians campaign on promises that they do not intend to keep. Like the people that the closing lyric of “He Has a Lot on His Mind” reference when Kabwama sings, “Let them serve us, successors will say their own things” (line 10), these politicians fail to do what others expect of them. Referencing a specific example of this phenomenon from President Museveni’s rule, Kironde highlights how some politicians supposedly rely on dishonesty to achieve reelection and lie about policies to set an artificially improved image of themselves. However, in explaining this practice, Kironde also acknowledges that it is not always so easy to make decisions that benefit people in the long term while also pleasing them in the short term. As he illustrates with the current administration’s decision to restructure the national curriculum, sometimes even a beneficial decision can lead to a great deal of backlash from those it affects. Thus, leaders with moral dilemmas may not have an ideal solution or a solution at all. Kironde elaborates on the idea that the phrase “He has a lot on his mind” (line 5) suggests these problems:
President Museveni must engage in a delicate balancing act with the people. A vote is coming in 2021, so naturally he wants to appeal to the people as much as possible. However, some of the duties involved with being a leader are inherently unpopular among those people. Recently, for example, his government updated the national curriculum for secondary schools. Part of the changes the government made to the system included cuts to the number of subjects taught. The government scrapped some entirely while it merged others, such as commerce and entrepreneurship studies. It is less for the government to deal with, but at the same time it means that one out of every two teachers was cut. Naturally, while the curriculum may be better, it is quite unpopular due to the unemployment it caused. It is difficult to find a balance between long-term priorities and short-term popularity, but it is something that all leaders must grapple with.
14Kironde interview, December 19, 2019.Although Kironde provides us with this more forgiving stance on imperfect leadership, he does not exonerate poor leaders for their failings, affirming that such challenges are ubiquitous in politics. Instead, he is suggesting that a good or bad leader is determined by how well he manages, rather than eliminates, conflict. Kironde also sheds light on how the public often fails to acknowledge the difficulties of leadership, leading to greater stress as leaders are bombarded by criticism from all sides. Consequently, says Kironde, they fail in their duties as they dedicate their energies to overcoming the variety of other challenges they face:
With all these factors to consider and try to balance, leaders always have too much on their mind. However, as soon as they make a single mistake, their subjects still ruthlessly attack them for it. The whole situation is a lot for one person to handle. Political opponents seek to undermine them at every step, and they are constantly in a battle between doing what is best for the country and doing what is most effective in garnering the favor of the people. Because of this, there is a high probability they will be unable to fulfill or will have to go back on several of the promises they made. Brexit sessions highlight the effect that the forementioned constant struggle has on leaders like Prime Minister Boris Johnson. When he appeared before the United Nations, giving a speech about robotic technology and its increasing prevalence, he seemed mentally exhausted and barely made any sense. Having to jump through all the hoops of Brexit really seemed to wear him down. One of the reasons that might have contributed to this stress was the competition he faced from the opposition parties. Democracy in the United Kingdom is quite strong, so unlike in Uganda it was expected that the opposition had a chance to properly challenge the incumbent leader. They have checks and balances that Ugandans do not.
15Ibid.These dynamics further reframe the interpretation of the phrase “He has a lot on his mind.” Kironde’s comments draw a connection between overworked leaders and the deterioration of the government and politics. The former feeds into the latter because leaders become too drained to perform their duties effectively, and thus the government begins to collapse in on itself. At the same time, the latter feeds into the former as the animosity of politics drains leaders in the first place. “He Has a Lot on His Mind” therefore takes on a cyclic meaning, as its lyrics feed back on themselves and reinterpret each other all at once. A highlight of Kironde’s commentary is the specific example he gives of a politician exhausted by the animosity among leaders.