Monthly Archives: August 2012

Bread – not guns – is the best weapon against instability

From time immemorial people have rebelled or revolted when they are hungry and feel oppressed including through heavy taxation while at the same time they see their neighbors eating more than enough and living in comfort as in Uganda today. Leaders who understand the dangers of hunger make sure food is available and/or keep prices affordable including through subsidies. The British Corn Laws were designed in such a way that farmers and consumers were protected. In other places soup kitchens are provided to feed hungry people and escape protests. After the Second World War, European countries developed a Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to make sure farmers are protected and produce enough food for European consumers at affordable prices. The CAP is heavily subsidized and protected against outside competition.

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Comments on Robert Response on Gt. Lakes developments

I am basically a researcher and writer. In doing so, I provide well researched information as a basis for discussion on the way forward. My focus of research and writing is on the Great Lakes region. As such you cannot avoid writing about inter-ethnic conflicts which have been of a zero-sum game: “I am in power and you are out”. I am trying to create space for dialogue so that we engage in a win-win discussion to permit all people in the Great Lakes region to live in peace, freedom and dignity. And what’s wrong with that?

Apart from 1959 to 1994, the history of Rwanda since the 15th century is one of Tutsi dominating, exploiting, impoverishing and marginalizing Hutu people. When Kayibanda became leader of his Hutu party in the 1950s, he approached Tutsi and suggested power sharing in a win-win arrangement. Tutsis refused because to them power sharing with Hutu is impossible (Kagame dismissed the Hutu president, prime minister and other ministers whom he used when he captured power in 1994 before he was able to control Hutu population).

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Specific comments on cabinet reshuffle

Press statement

Further to my earlier preliminary remarks here are specific observations.

1. The long awaited cabinet reshuffle to put Uganda on the right development trajectory has not occurred. The appointing authority is either not fully aware of the daunting challenges around him or he didn’t have the courage to make revolutionary changes. We have not only ended up with the same faces, but more interestingly with ministers that had been dropped or suspended while investigations in alleged wrongdoing were underway and aren’t completed yet.

2. As noted earlier the vice president should have been given a full ministry to make him visibly active and make savings.

3. The ministry of East African affairs should have been combined with the ministry of foreign affairs and renamed ministry of foreign affairs and regional cooperation with two ministers of state one each for regional cooperation and East African affairs.

4. The post of third deputy prime minister and functions are redundant and should have been deleted.

5. The ministry of security should have been combined with the ministry of internal affairs and renamed ministry of internal affairs, security and immigration with two ministers of state.

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Preliminary remarks on cabinet reshuffle

Press statement

1. Eighty cabinet members: ministers (32) and ministers of state (48) is a luxury Uganda can’t afford. Administrative costs are going to eat deep into development funds leaving insufficient resources for development. The faces or names are the same. This is a cabinet that serves political and not development purposes.

2. To be effective and efficient ministers should be assigned to ministries for which they are qualified. Many of the ministers are qualified and experienced but are in wrong ministries, compromising their performance.

3. The Vice President should have been given a full ministry to engage him visibly and reduce size of the cabinet.

4. At a time when the economy is in trouble, an experienced economist in public and private partnership should have been among the top three. Two lawyers and a political economist or political scientist at the top is not the right mix.

5. Planning and economic development should have been split from finance in view of the Five Year National Development Plan (NDP), leaving finance to mobilize resources to fund the Plan. In the present setting planning is a junior partner to finance.

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Preliminary remarks on cabinet reshuffle

Press statement

1. Eighty cabinet members: ministers (32) and ministers of state (48) is a luxury Uganda can’t afford. Administrative costs are going to eat deep into development funds leaving insufficient resources for development. The faces or names are the same. This is a cabinet that serves political and not development purposes.

2. To be effective and efficient ministers should be assigned to ministries for which they are qualified. Many of the ministers are qualified and experienced but are in wrong ministries, compromising their performance.

3. The Vice President should have been given a full ministry to engage him visibly and reduce size of the cabinet.

4. At a time when the economy is in trouble, an experienced economist in public and private partnership should have been among the top three. Two lawyers and a political economist or political scientist at the top is not the right mix.

5. Planning and economic development should have been split from finance in view of the Five Year National Development Plan (NDP), leaving finance to mobilize resources to fund the Plan. In the present setting planning is a junior partner to finance.

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Congratulations Stephen Kiprotich

Press statement

On behalf of UDU, I extend to you our warm congratulations on the historic performance in the Marathon race during the 30th Olympiad in London, UK. The Gold Medal you earned has made all Ugandans at home and abroad, our friends and well wishers very proud. Friends and colleagues of mine around the globe have asked me to send you their warm congratulations.

What you have done demonstrates that with determination, dedication, hard work and above all discipline the sky is the limit. I trust you will serve as a role model for our youth to emulate what you have just accomplished. UDU has drawn up a National Recovery Plan (NRP) and appointed on its executive committee a member responsible for all affairs including sports related to our young men and women.

We look forward to seeing you and many other Ugandans at the 31st Olympiad which will open on August 5, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

For God and My Country

Eric Kashambuzi

Secretary General & Chief Administrator, UDU

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Batutsi must adjust or the Great Lakes region will burn

Batutsi (from now on used generically to mean Batutsi, Bahima, Bahororo and Banyamulenge) must adjust their centuries-old attitude towards others especially Bantu (Bahutu and Bairu) in the Great Lakes region (which refers to southwest Uganda – former Ankole and Kigezi districts and now being extended to the rest of Uganda under Museveni government), Burundi, Rwanda and Eastern DRC.

As a first step in the adjustment process, Batutsi must drop the idea that they are white people, superior, more intelligent and born to rule. Up to today, Batutsi are still falsely claiming that one Mututsi (singular for Batutsi) is equivalent to say 1000 Bairu or Bahutu people (sometimes they use a weighing scale where you have a small metal [Mutusi] weighed against say thousands of beans [Bahutu or Bairu]). Educated or not a Mututsi still considers himself more intelligent and superior to a well educated Muhutu or a Mwiru. Kagame and Museveni have very low education yet they pose as though they are on top of the intellectual pyramid in the Great Lakes region. Because of this false superiority they think marrying non-Batutsi women would devalue them. Consequently Batutsi men marrying non-Batutsi women is taboo and very much beneath their dignity; even eating/drinking or socializing unless artificially done for political convenience. Batutsi still vow that it is below their dignity to buy a beer for a Muhutu or Mwiru because that is the responsibility of the latter. Batutsi will only buy a few beers for Bahutu/Bairu only if they want something big from them like sending them to parliament to represent Bahutu or Bairu.

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UDU Congratulates Winniefred Kiiza on her election to parliament

Press statement

On behalf of UDU, I congratulate most warmly Hon. Winniefred Kiiza on her election as a Member of Parliament for Kasese district. Your resounding success is testimony to your campaigning skills which hopefully you will transform into debating skills in parliament to benefit the women of Kasese district that gave you a list of what they want you to accomplish for them. Remember that as MP you now represent all women of Kasese district. I wish also to congratulate FDC for supporting Winniefred to an election that is reported to have taken place in a relatively free and fair atmosphere.

UDU also thanks NRM, security forces and electoral commission for providing conditions that facilitated campaigning and casting of ballots, counting and announcing results.

If recent by-elections are any guide, then Uganda is about to join other countries where democracy is taking root and people are given the opportunity to choose their representatives and hold them accountable for their commissions and omissions. What is needed now is to improve on voter registration, creation of an independent electoral commission, standardization of campaign finance and restoration of term limits in preparation for 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections.

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What to do about Uganda

I joined Uganda politics because I was convinced beyond a shadow of doubt that NRM was driving the country in the wrong direction. I also accepted the post of Secretary General in UDU to participate in civic education and diplomatic networking. I was fully aware that the silent, voiceless, powerless and suffering majority of Ugandans needed some people to speak on their behalf. I was equally aware that to do so would involve one in dealing with sensitive issues like sectarianism, corruption and violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms – issues that Uganda’s military dictatorship wouldn’t want discussed.

The hurdle we are facing is that we are dealing with a regime that thinks we are still in the feudal age of lords and serfs or an era of absolute rule and divine right. NRM hasn’t realized that we have entered the Age of Reason (Enlightenment or Intellectual Revolution) that has enabled us to develop a questioning mind and won’t take anything at face value. Charles I of England didn’t accept that change had occurred when he conflicted with British parliament but James II did and allowed the Glorious Revolution to occur. Later on Louis XVI and Czar Nicholas II didn’t understand that there was a wind of change.

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Why Uganda must worry about the future of her children

Writing from the heart and directed by conscience

Those who have read my work since my first book was published in 1997 will have realized that I am writing from my heart with no grudge against anyone. I am not writing to be praised. I am providing information as a basis for debate. My conscience and observations tell me that something is wrong in our country and society under the leadership of Museveni. I see a country that has lost direction and with no prospects for recovery under the current government. To find a solution we must get to the heart of the matter which is corruption, sectarianism and Museveni ambition to create a Tutsi Empire using Uganda as a spring board. I have advocated peaceful means for solving our problems. Force can only be used in self-defense. I call on all Ugandans do discuss these sensitive and controversial topics substantively, constructively and in a civil manner. Furthermore I call on all Ugandans regardless of their profession to work towards finding a peaceful solution so that we create a solid foundation for all our children.

Hidden agenda

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