Why Ugandans are asking many questions

When students ask questions or make comments or readers/audience seek more information, it means that they are following the story under discussion but need more information before drawing conclusions.

As more Ugandans read my stories largely on Ugandans at Heart Forum and on www.kashambuzi.com, I am getting more questions or requests for more information. Sometimes I am asked to comment on articles written by others. And that is good news for Ugandans and our country because knowledge is power.

Questions I have received relate mostly to why Ugandans have remained poor in spite of abundant natural resources, generous donations from development partners, remittances from Ugandans in the diaspora and foreign exchange earnings from our diversified exports.

As you know, I have been a constant critic of NRM policies since 1987 not because I want to give the government a headache but because I am convinced that the government is driving Ugandans on a wrong bus in a wrong direction. With all the resources and revenue at our disposal, Uganda should have enough money to get everyone out of abject poverty and the associated ills. Instead human conditions are getting worse. When people eat one meal of maize or cassava a day or in two days or when households reduce eating meat from three times to once a week that is regression. And that is what is happening in many homes in Uganda. It has been reported that some mothers give their children warm water for dinner because there is no food! The poor are getting poorer and the rich richer.

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”.