The president addresses donors to restore aid to Uganda

The president’s speech appealing to the donor community to restore aid suspended as a result of rampant corruption and massive mismanagement of public funds and other ills that have dented NRM image at home and abroad raised important issues many of them with virtually nothing to do with withdrawal of aid. The bulk of the speech gives the impression that he was responding to criticism he has been receiving from opposition groups and individuals. Here are some of these areas.

1. Genocide in the Great Lakes region had been confined to the Rwanda tragedy of 1994. To correct the record, we wrote that genocide in the region goes back to the genocides against Hutu committed by Tutsi in Burundi in 1972, 1988 and 1993. We have also reported on allegations of genocide of Hutu by Tutsi in Eastern DRC contained in UN reports. We give credit to the president for acknowledging that genocide has taken place in Burundi against Hutu by Tutsi.

It’s time to rethink the East African integration and federation project

The Burundi summit of East African heads of state held late in 2011 instructed the East African Community secretariat to issue new guidelines as a basis for further discussions on economic integration and political federation. Prior to the summit many meetings were held at the community headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania and in national capitals to review progress and challenges and forge a common front on the way forward.

The decision to issue new guidelines has therefore provided an opportunity to rethink the entire project by revisiting its history, purpose, benefits and challenges along the way. The idea for closer union goes back to 1899 when Harry Johnston, commissioner to Uganda, visualized unifying Uganda and Kenya under British protection. Lord Delamare and Cecil Rhodes also entertained the idea of unifying white-settler communities in Eastern and Central Africa. From 1905 white settlers held meetings regularly in this regard.

The idea of union gathered momentum after Tanganyika came under British sphere after WWI. East African governors, colonial secretaries such as Churchill, Amery and Lyttleton as well as commissioners including Ormsby-Gore and Young were active participants.