Monthly Archives: January 2009

Africa has plenty of fertile land than originally thought

The end of WW II has witnessed rapid population growth in the developing world – over-breeding the population in the developed countries – thanks to improved conditions including better nutrition, hygiene and healthcare. However, rapid population growth raised the fear that these Third World countries would soon face food shortages, famines and instability because population was growing faster than food production and development in general. Land shortage would constrain shifting cultivation and contribute to reduced soil fertility which together with inadequate rainfall would reduce food production further.

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Uganda needs a Keynesian model of economic development

The end-of-year (2008) stories have removed any lingering doubt about the depth and extent of poverty in Uganda.  Reports in Weekly Observer January 14, 2009 regarding an increase in child sacrifice have underscored absolute poverty as the single most important factor.
Since 1987 Uganda has pursued a development policy of neo-liberalism with a focus on inflation control through a combination of high interest rates and reduced quantity of money in the economy – a job that the central bank has executed pretty well.
However, high interest rates have made it very difficult for small and medium-scale enterprises to borrow and invest in labor-intensive enterprises.

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Explaining Uganda’s deteriorating food consumption




End-of-year
reports have confirmed that 2008 was one of the worst years in the last quarter
century. Traffic accidents, alcohol consumption, human sacrifice, violence and
crime, political and economic corruption, environmental degradation and oil
crisis – all went up. The food situation – the focus of the article – exhibited
the same upward trend. We explain the main cause of hunger in a country known
for food self-sufficiency.

Commentators
continue to give the impression that Uganda is food self-sufficient with huge surpluses for export.
At the World Food Summit in Rome,
President Museveni reported that “Uganda is one of the nine African countries that is food
sufficient. We not only produce enough food for ourselves, we also have plenty
for export.

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The role of historians in conflict resolution




Historians
record and analyze what they know through reading and/or oral inquiry.
Therefore history is an account of events, in sequence of time and why they
happened. Besides, history must always be checked for mistakes.

When
I wrote the story about “How Rujumbura’s Bairu got impoverished” in Weekly
Observer of December, 2008, I used evidence of what I had experienced, read and
collected through oral accounts. I wrote the story as truthfully as I know it
covering the period of Bashambu rule from 1800 to the start of colonial
administration; from colonial administration to independence (when Bashambu continued
their role under British indirect rule but responsibility for commission or
omission shifted to the British) and from independence to the present (when Bashambu
did not have a direct role).

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The “Pearl of Africa” is falling again



At the start of the
20th century, Winston Churchill baptized Uganda as the
“Pearl of Africa” because of its fertile soils, great system of
lakes and waterways, green topography, mild weather and the
entrepreneurial quality and beauty of its people. He was struck by
the vitality, eagerness and intelligence of Ugandans. British
visitors to Africa were urged to stop in Uganda to enjoy its
ecological and human beauty.

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Rampant corruption is undermining Uganda’s development efforts



The National
Resistance Movement (NRM) government launched a ten-point program
when it came to power in 1986. Point number seven called for the
elimination of corruption and misuse of power once and for all to
enable Ugandans tackle the challenges of backwardness. Down the road
elimination of corruption fell by the wayside. What Uganda is
witnessing now (2009) is corruption – the abuse of public roles or
resources for private benefit – on a massive scale that has become
rampant and is suffocating political and economic development
efforts.

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Is Uganda a failing or a failed state?



Voices are
increasingly being heard that Uganda is a failing or failed state.
What is not in dispute is that Uganda is no longer a country of hope
but of despair. The economy which grew at 10 percent in the mid-1990s
has slid to an average of 6 percent below the minimum level of 7
percent required to meet the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
Twenty percent of the population is reported to have got worse. Food
and nutrition insecurity, mental instability, violence, alcoholism
that has put Uganda in the world’s top ten, unemployment and crime,
human sacrifice, human rights violations, political instability,
massive brain drain, crumbling health and education systems,
corruption and environmental decay are all rising.

To give readers a
chance to draw their own conclusions we shall offer elements that
define a failing or failed state.

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Addressing the challenges of international migration



From time immemorial
people have involuntarily moved from their home countries to
neighboring ones and beyond because of political and economic hard
times. Some obtain asylum as refugees or work permit status but many
stay illegally.

The current massive
illegal migrations by Africans into Europe and Latin Americans and
Haitians into the United States of America are creating serious
political, economic, social and cultural problems.

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Understanding reproductive rights, health and family planning




Rev.
Thomas Robert Malthus argued in 1798 that when unchecked population tends to
grow faster than food supplies. To balance the two, population growth should be
controlled.

Women
acted on the understanding that fertility control which affects their bodies
and health is their responsibility which was formalized into a concept of
reproductive rights fairly recently.

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Uganda’s glory needs urgent repair




Uganda’s glory has suffered major setbacks because of
political and economic shortfalls. Europeans admired achievements in
communities that later formed Uganda.
Commendable political, economic and administrative arrangements in Buganda, vibrant industrial and agricultural
activities and commercial networks, entrepreneurial and hard working Ugandans
and admirable ecological conditions marked Uganda as a uniquely positioned country
to play a prominence role on the international stage. Within a short time into
colonial rule, Uganda generated
enough revenue from domestic resources and graduated from London’s donations.

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