Discrimination has stunted Uganda’s development efforts
Uganda has begun the next fifty years of independence on a sad political, diplomatic and socio-economic note marked by political instability within the NRM and between it and opposition groups, corruption scandals, diplomatic deficit to handle the UN report on alleged Uganda involvement in DRC and deepening and spreading poverty.
Ugandans therefore need to take stock and understand why with all the abundant natural and human resources and generous foreign aid Uganda has continued to perform far below expectation. One of the reasons is discrimination at individual and group levels. The history of communities that were later compressed into Uganda at the start of the 20th century is full of illustrations about how discrimination has stunted individual and group performance and ultimately adversely impacted Uganda’s development.
Bantu speaking people entered what later became Uganda with a wide range of skills including livestock herding of short horn cattle, goats, sheep and poultry keeping, knowledge of manufacturing a wide range of products especially iron and crop cultivation. Later they specialized according to their comparative advantage (manufacturing, herding, crop cultivation, fishing, hunting and gathering wild fruits and vegetables which they traded in local markets). This diversification and exchange enabled households to consume adequate and balanced diets that enabled them to develop immunity against diseases.