Uganda can do better on reporting social delivery




Three
years ago, I had a conversation with a fellow Ugandan on the health of our
economy, society and the environment. He confidently reported how happy he was
with the government whose policies had worked wonders – inflation had been
tamed, export performance had reached record levels, GDP and per capita income
were improving, Kampala city was experiencing tremendous growth, cell phone
users were up and growing, the housing industry was doing exceptionally well
and donors’ approval rating was high – no mention of Ugandan’s approval rating
was made. On rural housing, he observed
that most houses had corrugated iron roofing thanks to earnings particularly
from coffee and other commodities. He even referred to a World Bank report
which had revealed that the share of iron-roofed houses in total residential
houses had increased from 38 percent in 1991 to 48 percent by 1996, reflecting
increases in disposable income. Another Ugandan who had travelled through my village
in south west Uganda confirmed this development.

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Is Uganda a democratic country?




The
purpose of this article is to outline what constitutes a true democracy and to
request Ugandans and their friends to judge the extent to which Uganda has a
democratic government and to offer suggestions for improvement, if any.

Democracy
comes from the Greek word demos, meaning
people, and kratos, meaning rule hence rule by the people and
implying some form of equality among the people. According to Abraham Lincoln democracy
is a ‘government of the people, by the people, for the people’. Democracy also
refers to a country that has a democratic form of government. Since it is
impossible for all the people to meet in one place – direct or pure democracy
which was practiced in ancient Athens – most countries are representative or liberal democracies. People elect
representatives who make decisions such as laws on their behalf. Democracies recognize
that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and in rights as
contained in article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

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The dark side of Uganda’s economic growth




The
NRM government launched an economic policy in the early 1990s following
agreements with major donors that focused on economic growth and export
diversification.
Uganda being an agricultural country, export diversification meant tapping
into non-traditional exports of foodstuffs previously grown for domestic
consumption such as beans. Peasants were encouraged to grow for cash, not for
the stomach. It soon became apparent that the policy was damaging ecological conditions
at an alarming rate as more land was cleared, trees felled and fish caught for
the export market and malnutrition was spreading and deepening.

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Causes and consequences of revolutions and rebellions




Many
kinds of revolutions and rebellions have occurred in time and space since
ancient times. We shall examine political revolutions such as American and
French since the 18th century which have been based on faith in
progress and enlightenment. However,
there are skeptics who reason that revolutions are neither necessary nor
progressive but costly.

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Prevention is better than cure




In
responding to my article titled “How Rujumbura’s Bairu got impoverished”, The
Weekly Observer December 4-10, 2008, Dr. Ephraim R. Kamuhangire raised issues
such as social classes which, when closely analyzed, are reminiscent of some factors
that contributed to the French Revolution of 1789. By analyzing these factors,
lessons could be drawn for corrective and preventive action.

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The status of intermarriages in the Great Lakes Region

While commenting on my article titled “How Rujumbura’s Bairu got impoverished” in The Weekly Observer, December 4 – 10, 2008, Dr. Ephraim R. Kamuhangire brought up the issue of intermarriage in a manner that requires clarification in a larger context – the Great Lakes Region – which offers useful lessons. More information is available in chapter 8 of my new book “Uganda’s Development Agenda in the 21st Century and Related Regional Issues” (2008) available at www.jonesharvest.com.
The Great Lakes Region covers Uganda south of the Nile, North West Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda and Eastern DRC.  The area is peopled by two major groups who entered the region from different directions. Bantu speaking people originated from the Cameroon/Nigeria border and entered Uganda some 3000 years ago through South West corner with short-horn cattle, goats and sheep (R. O. Collins, 2006). The Luo-speaking Nilotic pastoral people entered Uganda about 1400 with long-horn cattle from Southern Sudan (R. O. Collins and J. M. Burns, 2007, R. Y. Pelton, 2003 and B. A. Ogot, 1999).

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