Uganda youth robbed of its future by NRM

Yoweri Museveni who has a medieval mentality of lords, knights and serfs the latter to remain un-empowered in order to labor for the lords and knights has been able to implement that ideology by adhering rigidly to the elements in structural adjustment program (SAP) that focused on economic theories of market forces and trickle down mechanism even after SAP was abandoned in 2009. Structural adjustment had three principal components that have hurt the future of Uganda youth – export of food, poor education focusing on primary education and labor flexibility. The youth can still recover its robbed future. It needs to understand how it was robbed in the first place. In this article, we shall focus on food and nutrition insecurity since 1987. As they say, life begins with breakfast.

Food and nutrition security: Until NRM government came to power in 1986, parents, governments and religious-based organizations paid attention to the value of food and nutrition security.

During the colonial administration, malnutrition largely through lack of sufficient protein intake was addressed through the development of fisheries including fish ponds to provide affordable source of protein. The government also set up nutrition facilities such as Mwanamugimu at Mulago Hospital to treat malnourished people especially children and train women in how to prepare balanced meals and serve them in a safe environment that included safe drinking water and good general hygiene such as washing hands before cooking and eating.

Uganda needs a new development path for security and prosperity

Ugandans need to take stock of what has gone wrong in the economic area since NRM came to power in 1986 and to decide what development path they need to take since the Washington Consensus (WC) which the NRM government adopted lock, stock and barrel in 1987 has failed to deliver as expected and was abandoned in 2009. No credible alternative model has been developed by NRM regime.

To craft an appropriate alternative to WC we need to understand its major characteristics. Washington Consensus replaced Uganda’s mixed economy model with laissez-faire capitalism and the invisible hand of market forces that served as the engine of economic growth. The role of the state in the economy was reduced significantly.

Trade and financial liberalization, privatization of public enterprises, export diversification, macroeconomic stability and balanced budgets formed the new development paradigm. The equitable distribution of economic growth benefits was to be effected through a trickle down mechanism. The state was primarily concerned with maintenance of law and order, enforcement of contracts and protection of property rights. Uganda pursued economic activities in which it has the so-called comparative advantage namely production and export of agricultural raw materials. By 2009 it was concluded that the model had not worked as expected as shown below: