Tag Archives: regions

“Why have you turned against Batutsi?”

While in London to attend the federal conference in late October 2012 where I presented two papers and prepared a summary report of the conference, I bumped into a compatriot on Oxford Street. We discussed a wide range of issues pertaining to the sad situation in Uganda. He thanked me for writing a book on “Uganda’s Development Agenda in the 21st Century” including a chapter in which I praised Batutsi for the help they extended to me. He paused as if he was trying to say something that didn’t fit into the trend of the discussion thus far. He looked around and finally said “Why then have you turned against Batutsi?”

I told him I was not against Batutsi as human beings. I was against the destructive policies of the current generation of Batutsi in power in Uganda. And I am doing so to help them refocus the trajectory onto the right development path.

For easy reference (and against my principle of refraining from mentioning names), I am listing some Batutsi people in Rujumbura County of Rukungiri district who helped me (a Mwiru) while I was growing up. Some or their relatives are still alive and you can ask them to confirm or deny my story.

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Certainly the future of Uganda will get bleaker

To fully understand Uganda’s current problems which will get worse in the foreseeable future, we must revisit the country’s colonial history and geographical location, corruption and the new notion of ignorance.

At the start of the colonial rule, Uganda was an industrialized and food self-sufficient country. Under the guise of static comparative advantage Uganda was converted into a producer of raw materials and foodstuffs to serve British industries and feed British people respectively. Uganda became an agricultural country and an importer of manufactured products. Uganda’s industries disappeared and hunger shifted from famine to endemic with serious under-nutrition and stunted growth among children.

Globalization has retained the status quo and in fact increased export of traditional crops of cotton, coffee, tea and tobacco and encouraged diversification into non-traditional exports dominated by foodstuffs. Consequently, Uganda has become even more dependent on raw materials and become hungrier. Some ten million people or roughly one in three Ugandans are believed to be going to bed hungry especially mothers and children. Hunger reduces productivity and increases susceptibility to disease and both of them increase abject poverty. Poverty in turn leads to hunger, sickness and low productivity, creating a vicious cycle. This bleak trajectory will certainly continue.

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Uganda: Rich country, impoverished people

In many ways, Uganda is like the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It is a country that was created by the British for ruthless exploitation to benefit the mother country. Following Lord Frederick Lugard’s and Winston Churchill’s visits to Uganda and their appreciation not only of the beauty of the country, fertility of soils, plenty of rainfall and abundance of water in rivers and lakes, moderate climate, a unique biodiversity system and above all, it’s dynamic and innovative people – ‘the Chinese and Japanese of Africa’ – a decision was taken that Uganda would become a center for producing tropical commodities that would feed Britain and the rest of the world.

Reports from travelers, missionaries and explorers are unanimous about communities that later formed Uganda in 1894. They produced a wide range of food crops, herded livestock (cows, goats and sheep) and kept poultry, manufactured a wide range of products of good quality and traded surplus in local and regional markets in eastern and central Africa. Specialization according to ecological comparative advantage (fisheries, herding, manufacturing and crop cultivation) increased productivity and total production. At family level, there was a complementary division of labor. Men cleared fields, hunted for game meat, tended livestock, built houses, carried crops from the field to the homestead and defended the family while women sowed, weeded and harvested crops, cooked, cared for the home and tended to children. Domestic foodstuffs were supplemented by a wide range of wild fruits and vegetables and wild game. These pre-colonial communities enjoyed a comfortable standard of living and accumulated capital. All this changed after Uganda became a British territory through destructive ‘pacification wars’ especially in Bunyoro Kingdom.

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Why Uganda’s social and cultural fabric has crashed

Contrary to popular belief that Museveni and his National Resistance Movement (NRM) came to power to end the long suffering of Ugandans, the truth of the matter is that the long suffering has been used as a tool to keep NRM government in power indefinitely. This may sound cruel and unkind or even incredible but sadly it is true.

Museveni, his government and NRM members of parliament soon realized that it is easier to govern poor and vulnerable people because they are helpless and voiceless and can easily be manipulated through persuasion or intimidation or both. Museveni and his group also realized that Uganda elites and donors cannot be easily manipulated or intimidated because they have a voice. Therefore according to Museveni and his team the two groups needed to be accommodated and integrated fully into government actions so that they share credibility for success or responsibility for failure. To stay in power indefinitely two things have happened.

First, in 1986 Museveni created a government of national unity including representatives from all regions, all parties and all faiths. He created a political space for all categories of Ugandans including women, youth, disabled and the private sector etc. The big shots that could not be included in the cabinet, Museveni appointed them as his advisers or gave them other lucrative jobs.

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