Monthly Archives: June 2010

Relations between the horse and the rider in the lakes region are being rattled

Colonialism and slavery are still alive and well

Those of you who have attended a horse race game have noticed that it is the horse that runs with some lashings at times to make it run faster. When the game is over, it is the rider or the owner of the horse that receives the trophy. You have also seen that when the horse gets tired it rebels, sometimes furiously, demanding a break.

In medieval Europe people accepted their place in society as divine ordinance and asked no questions. Women were told to respect their husbands and do as they were told. Peasants (men and women) were told to labor and not to worry about earthly material things because their rewards were in heaven. However as time passed women and peasants in general began to ask questions and to demand a better place in society on earth. They revolted and liberated themselves.

The women’s struggle for equal rights with men has been recognized internationally and the gender gap is narrowing. But the recognition and support did not come easily. Similarly, small holder farmers (peasants) have received international recognition as productive, efficient, environmentally and community-friendly and are receiving international assistance to improve their quality of life. This too came after many years of struggle.

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The President’s address to the nation omitted vital information

President Museveni should be congratulated for observing Article 101 (1) of Uganda’s Constitution that requires the head of state to address Ugandans through Parliament on the state of the nation. I have had the opportunity to read the president’s annual addresses and other policy statements and have made critical comments on them.

To understand fully the state of the nation, one needs to read the president’s address very carefully to find out what was omitted. The president has mustered the art of summarizing selectively macroeconomic developments such as economic growth, per capita income and inflation control without saying much about their impact on the welfare of Ugandans.

On economic growth, the president has generally given figures higher than other reporters raising questions about his source of information. With an economy growing at the reported average of 8.4 per cent over the last five years, one would have expected the president to also report its positive impact on poverty level and jobs created. The diseases of poverty that cannot be hidden anymore have made it difficult to report on the level of poverty which is omitted. It must be stressed that economic growth is not an end in itself but a means to bring about qualitative improvements in the lives of Ugandans. Regarding mobile phones, questions have been raised about their contribution to investment, capital accumulation and improvement in the quality of life of the majority of users.

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Museveni has become a liability to his sponsors

When Museveni was waging his bloody guerrilla war in the early 1980s he gave the impression that he was a uniter in contrast to his predecessors who had been viewed as dividers along sectarian lines. Consequently many Ugandans across the country sponsored his cause.

When he became president in 1986 he formed a cabinet that truly reflected his determination to unify all the people of Uganda. He even defined an economic policy that reflected accommodation of various interests. Then he announced that only individual merit would determine recruitment, assignment, promotion and awarding of scholarships. He advised that political activities would be suspended until national unity had attained a level that sectarianism would not raise its ugly head in Uganda politics. His popularity at home soared!

In May 1987, Museveni’s government entered into a stabilization and structural adjustment agreement with the International Monetary Fund and later with the World Bank. The government adopted the ‘shock therapy’ version of comprehensive and simultaneous implementation of all the elements in the structural adjustment package that was favored by the donor community. “He [Museveni] quickly became the darling of the West when he embraced the IMF/World Bank prescribed Structural Adjustment Programs, cutting down on civil service and social services expenditure and sacrificing state parastatals on the alter of liberalization” (Business in Africa. April 2001).

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