Tag Archives: and

Man of good ideas, poor implementation

In May 2004, President Musevceni addressed the annual meetings of the African Development Bank (ADB) in Kampala, Uganda. The main features of the address were captured in Omar Ben Yedder’s report which was published in African Business of July 2004. Museveni observed that while Africa had succeeded in decolonization of the continent it had failed to industrialize. To industrialize, Africa needed machines and intellectual power, stressing that Africa will succeed through an intellectual revolution. By selling raw commodities rather than finished products, Africa was receiving only 10 percent of the final price. More than four decades since independence, Africa had failed to transit from third to first world class.

President Museveni attributed Africa’s problems to endogenous and exogenous (external interference) factors. He noted that frustrating private enterprise in Africa had been a major contributor to the continent’s backwardness. The second factor was excessive government intervention like the creation of state monopolies, fixing of exchange rates and imposition of complicated immigration and licensing procedures. Inflation had risen due to uncontrolled spending. Failure to develop human resources had been caused by insufficient or ineffective education and health programs. Because Africa is not economically viable, it had become dependent on foreign aid.

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As I see it – Yoweri Kaguta Museveni

In March 1986, a month after Museveni became president of Uganda, Africa Events magazine published some articles including two by Yusuf Hassan and Yoweri Museveni on Uganda. The two articles are so linked in their messages of hope that they need to be considered together to see the extent to which what they contained has been upheld.

Yusuf Hassan observed that the triumph of the National Resistance Army (NRA) signaled a return to sanity in Uganda, which was ushered in with unlimited joy and jubilation. The NRA conveyed “Its message of a comfortable today and a better tomorrow”. Suddenly there was freedom from fear and instant death. The NRA reintroduced respect for human life, property and democracy. And NRA’s message was loud and clear; “If you kill a citizen, we’ll kill you”. Museveni formed a broad-based government which included all political movements in the country. Hassan concluded by observing that the way the new Ugandan leadership went about its functions bode well for the future of Uganda.

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Impose political conditionality on Uganda and lose a reliable partner

Western powers who created Museveni and depend on him for advancing their economic and political interests in Africa do not know how to handle him and Museveni knows it. The economic and political quagmire unfolding in Uganda has become an embarrassment to donors who praised Uganda sky high in the international media and international conferences as an economic and political success story in a continent mired in poverty, hunger, illiteracy, disease, conflicts, refugees and IDPs. Increasing diseases of poverty, the harassment of political opponents including whipping them in public and accumulation of political, economic and military power by Museven’s family and those close to him have betrayed donors’ quick conclusions about Uganda’s success stories and Museveni’s unparalleled quality of leadership in Uganda and beyond. Because donors needed Museveni they overlooked Uganda’s failures including adherence to IMF recommendations such as the maintenance of a balanced budget. IMF cut off assistance to Obote II regime for failure to adhere to the maintenance of a balanced budget.

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Museveni’s philosophy and mission for Uganda

Yoweri Museveni who is a Nilotic-Muhororo was born in Ntungamo district, some forty miles from Mbarara town in southwest Uganda. Just before becoming president in 1986, Museveni was interviewed by John Nagenda. The interview was published in March 1986 in New African magazine. He articulated his philosophy and mission for Uganda. He has been president for over twenty years and he is running again for re-election to another five-year term starting in 2011.

Yoweri Museveni reported that his movement and army adopted a correct political line based on the philosophy that the people of Uganda are sovereign and anybody who is against the people is an enemy of Uganda. He added that the people of Uganda were united because they have common interests – same problems caused by natural barriers and backwardness due to lack of development hence their desire to act in concert than in conflict. Tribalism and religious conflicts were induced by leadership which pushed artificial interests rather than those of the population.

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Uganda needs harmony between government and the people

Uganda’s history since colonial days is characterized by forceful relations between the government and people – with the government applying instruments of force on the governed to get what it wants. Resistance to colonial rule ended through the use of force and foreign troops. Other examples of force used on Ugandans during colonial rule include the following:

1. Taxes in cash which were imposed to force Ugandans to become migrant laborers in areas growing export crops. 2. Uganda was forced to abandon industries and to grow cotton, coffee, tea and tobacco for export. 3. Labor reserve areas were forced to not grow export crops. 4. Different tribes with very little or nothing in common were forced into administrative units.

5. Indirect rule chiefs and advisers were imposed on the people. 6. Strict law and order was imposed through an elaborate system of police, prisons and the judiciary. 7. Ugandans were forced to abandon their gods and their traditions including medicine and culture. 8. Ugandans were forced to sell their raw produce cheaply to Asians who processed them and enjoyed the benefits of value addition and higher world market prices.

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Poverty and wealth distribution in the Gt. Lakes region is not an act of God

Some years ago I attended a panel discussion on poverty in Geneva, Switzerland. One of the panelists argued that in any community in time and space you will find a group of poor and another of rich people living side by side. This happens, the panelist argued, because those who become rich exploit, marginalize and impoverish those who ultimately become poor. This argument has presented an analytic framework for understanding the co-existence of poverty and wealth in the great lakes region (Burundi, Rwanda and southwest Uganda).

By way of introduction, by and large, in colonial Africa the whites became rich while the Africans became poor because the whites occupied the best land, got the best education and the best jobs and received government assistance in their development efforts. On the other hand, Africans were pushed onto marginal land, prevented from growing export crops, became cheap laborers, lacked good education and could not get good jobs. In areas where Africans as in Uganda were allowed to own land and grow export crops, they obtained low prices and were heavily taxed.

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Bahororo are unfairly and unwisely dominating Uganda politics

Two principles are important for this article. First, prevention is better than cure. Nobody disagrees but in practice cure is more common than prevention. People wait until a catastrophe has hit and then react sometimes too little and too late. Second, former President Nelson Mandela is reported to have remarked that “If there is something bothering you, if you feel you have been treated unfairly [or someone else], you must say so” (Richard Stengel 2010).

To prevent a brewing catastrophe in Uganda politics, we need to address the issue of how Bahororo-led government has unfairly treated the majority of Ugandans in order for Bahororo to consolidate power in Uganda and beyond. The government distanced itself from the agreed agenda and promises made during the bush war and since then. The ten-point program later expanded to fifteen which was essentially based on human security concept: freedom from fear, freedom from want, and freedom to live in dignity was abandoned. The program had captured the main elements in the United Nations Charter and the Convention on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It was a program based on consultations and compromise, on forgiving and moving forward to build a democratic, secure, peaceful, participatory and prosperous country in which all Ugandans would exercise all their rights without infringement whatsoever.

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In politics there is no permanent situation

Reading stories about broken promises between NRM and Buganda that were reached during the bush war in Uganda (1981-86) has reminded me what I learned in international relations classes: in politics there is no permanent situation and the enemy of your enemy is your friend. When the common enemy is gone as Obote did in 1985 the situation changed. And Baganda should have known that and adjusted accordingly.

During the Cold War Mobutu Sese Seko was an enemy of Communism which was the enemy of capitalism. Therefore Mobutu and capitalist Belgium, France and USA became friends throughout the Cold War period because they had one common enemy – Communism. With Communism out of the way in 1990 the situation changed. Mobutu who had been protected twice against rebel attacks and was showered with foreign assistance and diplomatic niceties was left to fend for himself when Angola, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda forces attacked in 1996. Mobutu was defeated, fled the country and died in exile. His own trusted troops attempted to assassinate him at Kinshasa and Gbadolite airports when they realized that the situation which had kept them together had changed. He narrowly escaped in a cargo plane, fled the country and died in exile a few months later.

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The difficulty of applying Malthus essay to Uganda’s population

Uganda’s population challenges enter the development discourse when there are serious economic and social problems. Amin condemned population growth when the economy turned sour and ordered doctors to deal with it through contraception which he had banned a few years earlier. Currently (in 2010) Uganda’s population ‘explosion’ is again at the center of the development debate, invoking Malthus’ idea of population racing ahead of food production.

Malthus stated that population was growing geometrically (1,2,4,8,16 etc) while food production was growing arithmetically (1,2,3,4,5 etc), implying that all the food produced would be consumed in the same country. He concluded that if not checked, the least able to procure food would starve to death. Those able would survive – hence the survival of the fittest concept developed by Charles Darwin based on Malthus’ essay. The essay was written for Europe and North America. He used statistics compiled by Benjamin Franklin whose figures had included migration into America where it has had no application. During the 18th century agricultural productivity had doubled which Malthus ignored when he published his essay on population in 1798. One of the principle recommendations to check population growth was delayed marriage.

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Countries that neglect food and nutrition security are bound to decline

From time immemorial leaders, researchers, advisers and parents have worried about the dangers of food shortages at household, national and international levels. Food is therefore not only the most basic of basic human needs but also a national security issue. Steps including the British Corn Laws, agricultural subsidies in developed countries, the common agricultural policy of the European Union and the introduction of food storage and famine crops like cassava/manioc in developing countries have been implemented to ensure food availability at all times. The danger of population growth exceeding food supplies was expressed in ‘An Essay on the Principle of Population’ by Rev. Thomas Robert Malthus a British economist and Anglican pastor published in 1798. It has remained a standard essay to this day in 2010 even when the world has enough food.

Governments in developed and developing countries are putting more emphasis not only on the amount and frequency of food eaten by their citizens but on the quality as well. In some developed countries the challenge of obesity is being addressed because it is seen as a constraint to human development and national security.

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