NRM government is deliberately impoverishing Ugandans

It is not a secret that the NRM party and its government under the leadership of Museveni is primarily interested in retaining power indefinitely. Impoverishing Ugandans is seen as one way of doing so. There are four principle ways of making a country strong and prosperous or weak and poor. They are adequate food and nutrition security, quality and relevant education, good preventive and curative health care and remunerative full employment in decent work conditions. On these four areas NRM’s performance has been deliberately poor. Stabilization and structural adjustment imposed by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) gave the government an excuse to impoverish Ugandans and get away with it. But before outlining how impoverishment is proceeding, let us review the 20th century record by way of introduction.

There is sufficient record that before colonial rule Ugandans ate well, although they suffered from famines when the rains failed or pests or warfare destroyed crops and granaries. The young were orally trained, learned on the job from parents and obtained additional knowledge through interaction with relatives and neighbors. Traditional medicines handled local diseases pretty well. The introduction of foreign diseases required new medicines. There was no unemployment as gender specialization of labor kept everyone busy.

What would be his legacy if M7 retired today?

When the president came to power in 1986, Museveni had a clear vision for Uganda and he conveyed it with a simple message. He wanted his presidency to be remembered inter alia by the eradication of poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, subsistence agriculture, dependency on foreign aid and raw material exports, sectarianism and corruption. Above all he wanted to eradicate Obote’s record by performing better. This vision was conveyed in his speeches delivered at home and abroad. I have read most of his major speeches and heard his statements delivered at the United Nations General Assembly Hall in New York.

President Museveni was convinced that he would eradicate poverty in Uganda because the country has what is necessary to do the job – fertile soils, good rainfall, natural resources and resilient people. With good leadership and a clean government the job would be easy. Since he was convinced he would eradicate poverty, Museveni refused to use the word “reduction”.