Tag Archives: information

If you re-elect Museveni you will lose your land

Let me clear two things upfront: (1) we Ugandans must stop the deceptive habit of pleading ignorance when things go wrong and (2) we Ugandans must know that Museveni derives his mandate and instructions to govern Uganda from external sources.

I meet Uganda ministers, MPs and officials regularly. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard them deceive us that they did not know that Museveni would do such and such a thing. They would argue that if they had had advance information they would definitely have advised him against such commission. But when you probe them, more often than not, you discover that they knew but did not have the courage to confront Museveni lest they lose their jobs.

Most MPs are there to protect their jobs and get Museveni’s backing for reelection and are not going to risk all that for the sake of defending their constituents’ interests – they are not there for that! So Ugandans do not rely on your MPs to present and defend your interests. Do not return MPs that have done a poor job. That way you send a message to the new MPs that if they do not work for you they will suffer the same consequences like the ones before them who lost re-election bid.

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Museveni came to power by default, has stayed by hiding vital information

By and large a decision taken when one is angry, frustrated, tired or in a hurry is likely to be wrong. In 1981, Baganda and Catholics (no offense) with backing of some western powers led by Britain decided to wage a guerrilla war because they were angry, frustrated, tired and in a hurry that Obote had returned to power. Without proper scrutiny of each other, two ideologically opposed groups: Popular Resistance Army (PRA) and Uganda Freedom Fighters (UFF) formed the National Resistance Movement (NRM) with Yusuf Lule (RIP) as chairman and Museveni as vice chairman and also chairman of the high command of its armed wing, the National Resistance Army (NRA). This became a clear case of enemy’s enemy is a friend. What was common between the two groups is that they were both enemies (opponents to use a milder word) of Obote and UPC. What both wanted was to remove Obote and sort out their differences later, if any.

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The President’s address to the nation omitted vital information

President Museveni should be congratulated for observing Article 101 (1) of Uganda’s Constitution that requires the head of state to address Ugandans through Parliament on the state of the nation. I have had the opportunity to read the president’s annual addresses and other policy statements and have made critical comments on them.

To understand fully the state of the nation, one needs to read the president’s address very carefully to find out what was omitted. The president has mustered the art of summarizing selectively macroeconomic developments such as economic growth, per capita income and inflation control without saying much about their impact on the welfare of Ugandans.

On economic growth, the president has generally given figures higher than other reporters raising questions about his source of information. With an economy growing at the reported average of 8.4 per cent over the last five years, one would have expected the president to also report its positive impact on poverty level and jobs created. The diseases of poverty that cannot be hidden anymore have made it difficult to report on the level of poverty which is omitted. It must be stressed that economic growth is not an end in itself but a means to bring about qualitative improvements in the lives of Ugandans. Regarding mobile phones, questions have been raised about their contribution to investment, capital accumulation and improvement in the quality of life of the majority of users.

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