“There isn’t anything we can’t solve” – Museveni

Let me begin with this statement to clear the air hopefully once and for all. The purpose of my many years of research and writing especially about Uganda is not to undermine NRM’s efforts – as some have suggested – but to draw lessons about what has gone right and wrong so that appropriate adjustments can be made. Before I started publishing I had communicated my concerns regularly since 1986 with senior government officials in the cabinet, public service and public sector. So they knew my thinking but chose to ignore it. I have focused on President Museveni – not as a person – but as a policy maker who has dominated and served as spokesperson on Uganda’s political economy affairs (I have also commented on statements by the First Lady – not as a person – but as a public official. Ugandans should understand that when you become a public servant, you should expect that what you say and write will be commented upon, hopefully constructively. So when you get comments that make you uncomfortable don’t complain or use surrogates to do it for you which they don’t even do well. When the heat becomes unbearable, the best thing to do is to step down).

Success will not come to Uganda on a silver platter

For an individual, group or nation lasting success does not come easily. It has to be earned. Throughout my adult life I have observed that those who succeed work very hard, have determination and resilience and usually want to change the status quo: overcome poverty or end autocratic regime etc. They innovate, sacrifice and take risks. Those who take it easy usually don’t get very far. For example, students who miss classes, don’t do home work, complain about teachers all the time have no chance of success. During my school days children from poor families were urged to work very hard and break the chains of poverty and vulnerability. I have also noticed that those who are favored at work fall by the wayside soon after those who favored them leave the scene.

Why integration and federation are not easy projects

Regional integration and federation are not new concepts. However, they are not easy to realize because they involve heavy costs including psychological ones. The Central African federation of Northern and Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland was unceremoniously abandoned after only ten years (1953 -63) because white settler Southern Rhodesia would benefit disproportionately. So the Africans in Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland rejected the project.

In East Africa the idea of a federation was mooted in the 1950s but the three territories were not comfortable with it. When it came up after independence with strong support of Nyerere the federation project failed to take off in 1963 because Uganda did not get on board (Chidzero and Gauher 1986). The cost of federation is very high. The nation-state such as Uganda is likely to be obliterated. Regarding Europe, it has been observed “That new Europe will abolish what Europe has been. Diversity has been the essence of Europe, but the EU abolishes all diversity that matters… [with Europe becoming] a purely geographical expression”(Judd 2005).

Uganda’s problems are relatively easy to fix

Studies of improving well-being in urban and rural areas have underscored the importance of ethics, morality and spirituality. Some commentators have observed that sustainable moral rules which are nearly universal as rules of the game date from hunter-gatherers experience. These rules have been undermined by demands of modernity including the profit motive. The destruction of ecosystems has raised the moral issue and how we can reclaim those moral rules for the benefit of present and future generations.

Deforestation has been used as an example of the need to return to moral rules. When we cut a tree, the wood is used for many purposes including charcoal, housing construction etc. But the price we get from cutting down the tree is small compared to the value of the tree in respect of the environment. In the name of becoming rich we are felling large swathes of trees, leaving the ground bare and subject to soil erosion by rain water and wind. “We know that once nature shows its skeleton, the earth is gone, and it will take centuries to renew the forest…

Uganda’s problems are relatively easy to solve

Studies of improving well-being in urban and rural areas have underscored the importance of ethics, morality and spirituality. Some commentators have observed that sustainable moral rules which are nearly universal as rules of the game date from hunter-gatherers experience. These rules have been undermined by demands of modernity including the profit motive. The destruction of ecosystems has raised the moral issue and how we can reclaim those moral rules for the benefit of present and future generations.

Deforestation has been used as an example of the need to return to moral rules. When we cut a tree, the wood is used for many purposes including charcoal, housing construction etc. But the price we get from cutting down the tree is small compared to the value of the tree in respect of the environment. In the name of becoming rich we are felling large swathes of trees, leaving the ground bare and subject to soil erosion by rain water and wind. “We know that once nature shows its skeleton, the earth is gone, and it will take centuries to renew the forest…