Tag Archives: keep

Uganda’s development needs a different approach

There are things that we shall keep in the media until solutions are found. One of the senior officials at the United Nations in New York replied to a question that conferences on the same subjects will continue to be organized until solutions are found. I agreed with him then, I agree with him now. And that is what I intend to do with Uganda until solutions to the questions raised are found. Ugandans and other readers are urged to make constructive comments on what we write in order to reorient Uganda’s development path. The purpose of development is to end poverty. Economic growth rates while necessary are meaningless unless they lead to poverty reduction. Poverty can only end by addressing dimensions that create it: illiteracy, disease, poor diet, poor housing and clothing, low productivity and value addition etc. Buildings, referenda and constitutions are necessary but not sufficient. Pass or fail depends on how much poverty has been reduced. You may have sufficient revenue and skilled people and yet fail to reduce poverty because of the way resources are used. Why has Uganda with adequate resources and skilled human power failed to address these dimensions that have kept over fifty percent of Ugandans absolutely poor? Here are the principle reasons.

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Museveni lost Uganda’s sovereignty in 1987

When you examine closely what Museveni – and senior officials – says and does you find there are glaring contradictions most of the time. This is because Museveni is torn between two forces – the people of Uganda on the one hand and donors on the other whose interests are different. Museveni speaks a socialist language which is popular with Ugandans but acts in capitalist terms favored by donors and foreign business community that control Uganda mostly through British experts and the business community (most Asians are British citizens). In his speeches Museveni uses socialist/populist language based on the defunct ten-point program (which had been designed to end colonial economic structures of producing and exporting raw materials in exchange for manufactured products) which was replaced in 1987 by structural adjustment program based on capitalist principles borrowed largely from Thatcher’s ideology. At the rhetorical level Ugandans like what they hear only to be disappointed by what Museveni then implements that disproportionately benefits foreigners and Uganda surrogates mostly connected with the first family.

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Silencing victims is double violation of human rights

People tell or write stories to record experiences and draw lessons for others to emulate or to avoid. History is being repeated in parts of Uganda and extended to the rest of the country in subtle ways difficult to understand. Some leaders in the NRM government took advantage of the victory euphoria and introduced laws like anti-sectarian to silence those who had grievances of a sectarian nature, violating their human rights twice (exploiting them and then denying them the right to speak). As Bahororo in the country with their epicenter in Ankole and Rukungiri consolidate their political, economic and military dominance in Uganda, it is important for Ugandans to understand what is in store for them. Those who disagree with the story, feel free to rebut but in a civil manner.

Bahororo are Nilotic people and Batutsi from Rwanda. Their defining characteristic is that they adopt local names and local languages but men do not marry from other tribes so they have remained Nilotic. They avoid marrying women from other tribes principally to keep secrets to themselves. They also fill sensitive and strategic public positions with Bahororo people. Because of their extensive network, they know where these Bahororo are outside of Ankole and Rukungiri and outside of Uganda. Because of careful camouflage, it is difficult to know who Bahororo people are. You have to construct the family tree.

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