Tag Archives: food

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.

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There is a leadership crisis in Uganda

That Uganda is in deep crisis is no longer in dispute. There is a political crisis; there is an economic crisis; there is a food crisis; there is a health crisis; there is education crisis; there is moral crisis; there is environmental crisis; there is employment crisis; there is housing crisis etc, etc. These crises are upon us in large part because of poor leadership. How did it happen? We need to examine the leadership style of President Museveni since 1986.

Museveni came to power in 1986 believing that he was the only visionary, the only intellectual and a God send leader born to rule with his tribe’s people. Museveni thought he was on top of the world and would govern Uganda according to his own instincts. He thought running a country was the same as commanding a guerrilla war. But he forgot that he had prepared for the 1981-85 guerrilla war since the 1960s and had accumulated experience. He did not realize nor would he listen that running a country particularly at that difficult moment had different rules. Before becoming president Museveni – according to his own words – had worked for a few months in the office of the president in charge of nomadic people before Obote was overthrown in 1971. So he assumed the presidency without experience in the art of governing a country or managing an organization. Then he made the following blunders which should be avoided by the next administration.

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Has achievement of sound economic fundamentals benefited Uganda?

Although I have written a lot about Uganda’s economy, I continue to get requests from readers to write more and elaborate on issues that remain unclear to some. In doing so there is a risk of repetition. As I have observed before, I am not writing for professional economists but the general public that wish to understand some economic concepts and how they impact on their quality of life. This brings me to the notion of economic growth. In any economy economic growth is necessary but it can have meaning only if it contributes to tackling poverty and improving the standard of living of the population. Thus, economic growth in Uganda or elsewhere is not an end in itself although NRM has treated it as such. As a minimum, growth must meet the basic needs of education, healthcare, food, clothing and housing. So are sound economic fundamentals.

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Has achievement of sound economic fundamentals benefited Uganda?

Although I have written a lot about Uganda’s economy, I continue to get requests from readers to write more and elaborate on issues that remain unclear to some. In doing so there is a risk of repetition. As I have observed before, I am not writing for professional economists but the general public that wish to understand some economic concepts and how they impact on their quality of life. This brings me to the notion of economic growth. In any economy economic growth is necessary but it can have meaning only if it contributes to tackling poverty and improving the standard of living of the population. Thus, economic growth in Uganda or elsewhere is not an end in itself although NRM has treated it as such. As a minimum, growth must meet the basic needs of education, healthcare, food, clothing and housing. So are sound economic fundamentals.

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The people of Uganda are demanding their rights

Enlightenment and dialectics have entered into Uganda’s political economy discourse. They have developed a questioning mind about who is governing them, why our institutions and systems (education, health, nutrition, agriculture, ecology, urban housing etc) are collapsing, why Uganda’s population growth is excluding migrants and focusing on natural growth alone (births minus deaths) which is half the story.

The people of Uganda are beginning to understand their inalienable rights – God-given rights – that no leader can take away. These are not privileges. When a leader denies the people their inalienable rights, they have a right to demand them back. And that is what the people of Uganda are demanding their rights right now. Through disenfranchisement, many Ugandans were denied their right to elect their representatives at the presidential, parliamentary and local levels.

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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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