The National Resistance Movement (NRM) engaged in a destructive guerrilla war (1981-85) with the overall objective of ending the long suffering of all Ugandans. This message runs through the articles compiled in “Mission to Freedom: Uganda Resistance News 1981 – 1985”. It is also the main theme in the ten-point program. Ending suffering by NRM would guarantee living happily ever after.
This goal was to be realized largely through forging national unity and good neighborly relations as well as ending corruption and sectarianism, promoting equitable and sustainable economic growth and social services using a mixed economy model.
The outcomes would have included stimulation of effective domestic demand for goods and services which in turn would have stimulated investment, employment and higher incomes and further stimulated effective demand (or raising individual purchasing power) so that everyone has the means to meet the basic needs and end the suffering that Ugandans have experienced for so long.
The goal and means of ending the long suffering of Ugandans contained in the ten point program was abandoned in 1987 and replaced with structural adjustment program (SAP) that focused on the invisible hand of the market forces, laissez faire capitalism and trickledown economics.
Instead of stimulating agriculture and rural development and associated industries and investing in infrastructure especially roads and energy and social services to increase productivity, structural adjustment ended up focusing on the relatively capital intensive services concentrated largely in the nation’s capital and surrounding areas generating some 70 percent of Gross National Income (GNI) but with a population of two million out of the total population of 33 million in 2011.
Herein lies the crux of the problem because the development scenario pursued since 1987 has failed to distribute income by classes and regions through trickle down mechanism. Therefore domestic demand has not been sufficiently generated to stimulate consumption and commensurate investment.
Instead of refocusing policy and strategy to stimulate domestic demand of 33 million Ugandans, the NRM government chose to increase and diversify exports to neighboring countries and beyond to stimulate economic growth and foreign currency accumulation.
However, export of raw materials and food stuffs has not generated sufficient resources to invest in the domestic economy. Much of the scarce resources generated through domestic taxation, external trade and aid has been either and/or transferred abroad mostly illegally, wasted through corruption and mismanagement due to lack of experienced managers who have been urged to migrate to greener pastures abroad and remit foreign currency back home. This is largely a political and not an economic game to keep competent Ugandans out of the country so that they do not cause trouble to a dictatorial and unpopular regime.
Consequently Uganda continues to have insufficient domestic demand and a large pool of people unable to afford basic human needs and too powerless and voiceless to fight for their civil, political and economic rights.
The best time to assess the extent of human suffering in Uganda is during the end of year holiday season – from Christmas to the New Year. Under relatively normal economic circumstances as in the 1960s, Ugandans would buy new clothes including shoes, paint and decorate their homes and gardens and churches, repair roads, travel from their work places to their villages, buy meat, tea, sugar, bread, soft and hard drinks and invite relatives and friends for end of year celebrations.
The situation has since changed dramatically and is getting worse under the NRM government. To confirm that things are bad all you need to do is visit on 24th December places where meat is being sold. You see buyers going for the cheapest cuts and buying insufficient quantities of meat say two kilos or less for a family of seven people.
Those at the bottom of the economic ladder can only afford to buy part of the cow hide to serve as meat on Christmas day! Some households cannot afford meat at all. Economic and social suffering cannot get worse than that.
I have witnessed this suffering on many occasions in my home village in Rukungiri district of southwest Uganda which has been grossly neglected although the district has had some of the most powerful politicians and ministers and civil servants in all regimes since independence in 1962.
The next place to witness the extent of suffering amidst plenty is in places of worship on Christmas day. That is when you see those few families who are filthy rich driving four wheel vehicles, packed with family members and a few friends all dressed expensively, with ladies wearing expensive perfumes and hair neatly fixed.
On the other hand you have the bulk of church attendees wearing used clothes with patches or even torn, short hair easy to maintain and walking to church without shoes.
Discrimination does not end there. You enter the church and you will get a shock if you are an emotional person who does not like injustice. You will notice that the wealthy sit in front and the poor masses in used or torn attire are packed in the back. You will further notice that they are mostly children and elder women. Men have virtually abandoned service because they do not have decent clothes to wear. The little money was spent on buying used clothes for their children and wives.
Young women and men sing at night when darkness hides the poor state of their clothes. They stay at home on Christmas day under the pretext they are sleepy when the real reason is that they do not have decent clothes.
The rich then particularly politicians distinguish themselves from the poor masses by organizing separate church services for thanks giving with the poor in attendance. They donate generously and the pastor announces the donation to help meet church expenses like fixing a leaking roof or cracking walls or paying salaries for church workers etc and the poor in attendance applaud wildly with or without the urging of the pastor.
In donating generously, the politicians are indirectly preparing the poor for support in the next elections. When the election time comes the politician and pastor or church warden will remind the poor of the generous donation the candidate made which reduced church expenses the poor would have covered from their meager resources. In return, the poor are asked or coerced to support the generous candidate whether he will support their cause in parliament or not. Potentially good candidate(s) who for various reasons did not donate to the church on Christmas day or has not done so during the campaign loses to the incompetent but wealthy candidate.
After the thanksgiving service, expensive parties are organized by politicians in their homes for invited guests all of them elite and opinion leaders who can mobilize the masses for the next elections.
The poor who were invited for thanks giving services are then forgotten. They walk back home barefoot, hungry, thirsty, penniless and possibly angry for not being invited to the feast. That is the Uganda NRM has created or aggravated.
So measuring success in Museveni’s Uganda in economic growth, per capita incomes or the number of four wheel drive vehicles Uganda has imported does not help those trapped in absolute poverty to the extent that they cannot afford a kilo of meat on Christmas day.
To cover up this divide, authorities argue that there are no differences among Ugandans because they live on the same hill (conveniently overlooking the fact that the rich live on top and the poor at the bottom of the hill where the filth gathers), speak the same language, have the same culture and practice the same faith. In reality there is a world of difference and the social divide is getting wider with 20 percent in the lowest income bracket getting poorer since NRM came to power in 1986.
These are the facts which explain the increasing voices demanding new leadership in Uganda that is patriotic, has compassion and is caring for the poor and vulnerable.
The opposition in and out of parliament has not been able to coordinate and use this mood to mobilize for regime change, notwithstanding the dictatorial circumstances Uganda finds itself in.
In the developed country where I reside politicians do things differently. On thanksgiving and/or Christmas Eve they distribute turkeys and other foodstuffs to the poor who cannot afford or feed them on those two occasions. They visit nursing homes and hospitals and give gifts. This is what compassion and caring for others especially for those in need are all about – and not to blame them as being responsible for their suffering.
Uganda leadership present and in the future needs to learn and apply this lesson rather than showing off their riches much of it possibly looted from public funds.
As I conclude, let me revisit the issue of effective domestic demand. It depends largely on the purchasing power the population has. Numbers per se while necessary are not sufficient to raise consumer demand and commensurate investment that drive the economy into middle income category and beyond.
Therefore NRM’s rush into the East African integration in pursuit of large population and market will not stimulate Uganda’s economic growth and trade if the large population is poor which it largely is in the East African context.
Thus, East African integration efforts need to be combined with policies and strategies that raise effective domestic demand in Uganda. This can be achieved through a conscious effort through public and private partnership and promotion of sectors that empower people to be more productive, earn better incomes and improve their effective domestic demand for goods and services which in turn attract investments.
These critical sectors should include social services in health, food and nutrition security, housing and education as well as infrastructure and institutions such as roads, energy, research and development, extension services and technology. Together these investments will boost and sustain economic growth provided it is environmentally sound, increase productivity, create jobs and raise incomes that in turn help stimulate domestic demand for consumer and productive goods and related services.
This scenario of boosting effective domestic demand through public and private partnership has been accorded pride of place in the National Recovery Plan (NRP) that has been prepared by the United Democratic Ugandans (UDU) and is accessible at www.udugandans.org.
Those with comments or seek clarification and/or elaboration please send them to or contact Eric Kashambuzi at [email protected] or visit www.kashambuzi.com.
If this NRP is implemented as designed by patriotic, caring and bold leadership in a participatory and location specific environment at local, district and regional levels with a sufficient external helping hand, it will contribute significantly to effective domestic demand through job creation and decent incomes and subsequently reduce the suffering of Ugandans and finally contribute to the realization of the much talked about dream of living happily ever after.