Tag Archives: why

Why imposed foreign ideas don’t work

When you force a square peg into an object with a round hole you won’t succeed.

You damage both objects or one gets more damaged than the other. Similarly, when foreign projects or ideas, however altruistic or technically sound, are imposed especially quickly on different cultures, chances are they will not succeed and people in the receiving cultures might get hurt in the process. Foreign ideas such as indirect rule, modern birth control and structural adjustment programs that have been imposed on recipient populations have generally run into difficulties and caused suffering.

More often than not people hesitate to accept new ideas for rational reasons. For example, subsistence farmers are generally hesitant to replace old with new seeds for fear that if something goes wrong they might starve. Peasant farmers hesitate to sell their land and start business in towns for fear that business failure might spell disaster for the entrepreneur and his/her family. Poorly educated workers generally hesitate to look for another job especially during economic hard times because should they fail in the new job, they may not get another one or do so quickly. So they stick with what they have regardless of low pay and/or unsatisfactory working conditions.

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Why has Uganda become a nation of complaints?

On balance Uganda has been plagued by complaints more than anything else. And what is worrying is that the complaints are multiplying and getting louder with the passage of time. This article will record those complaints from 1962 to the present and attempt an explanation. This article is written particularly for the youth, Uganda’s future leaders, who must find solutions to these complaints.

Uganda as a nation had a rocky start caused by religious wars among Catholics, Muslims and Protestants as well as resistance to colonial rule which was very bloody in some places. With these conflicts over, law and order was restored and important decisions were made that laid a solid foundation for economic growth and social development. The construction of the Uganda railway, the wise decision that Uganda belongs to Ugandans, the realization that good nutrition is a vital component in human development, and the determination, in the 1950s, that industrialization is essential to create jobs, transform Uganda’s economic structure and build forward and backward linkages.

In spite of this promising start, rhetoric was not marched by action and most dreams were not met. On the eve of independence in 1962, the then Secretary General of the ruling Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) complained, inter alia, that:

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Why Bahororo were unknown until recently

Since I began writing about Bahororo in Uganda’s history, politics and economics, some people who have visited my blog have asked me to shed some light about why Bahororo were not known until very recently.

Bahororo are Batutsi people from Rwanda who founded Mpororo kingdom in northern Rwanda and parts of southwest Uganda. The kingdom was established around mid-1600 and disintegrated in less than one hundred years from internal causes. The people in Mpororo kingdom were called Bahororo (Bantu people who were already there and Batutsi new comers who founded the kingdom).

After Mpororo disintegrated the parts in what later became Uganda were taken over by Bahima under Bahinda ruling clan. As Chretien observes “After the fall of Mpororo, the take over of the Nkore dynasty on the western highlands was accompanied both by installing armies and by reinforcing the power of Hima [Bahima] lineages over the rest of the population, labeled Bairu” (Jean-Pierre Chretien 2006). According to Speke (1863) Bairu means slaves. Therefore by labeling all the people in former Mpororo kingdom Bairu, former rulers of Mpororo (Batutsi from Rwanda) became Bairu and therefore slaves. To avoid being labeled Bairu, inter alia, Batutsi who remained behind adopted the name of Bahima but deep in their hearts remained Bahororo. According to Samwiri Karugire although Mpororo kingdom disintegrated and went out of use and did not figure on any map of Uganda … “her people, dispersed as they were, have tenaciously remained Bahororo in everything but geographical terminology whose absence does not seem to have made any impression upon them” (Karugire 1980). Bahororo maintained their Nilotic identity because their men do not marry outside of their ethnic group.

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Why Bahororo are contemptuous of Bairu

We are writing these stories on the deteriorating relations between Bahororo and Bairu people because old contemptuous habits are resurfacing. Statements about Bairu inferiority are being made at public rallies, Bairu women’s rights are being violated in many ways, arbitrary decisions are being taken with impunity, canning of Bairu has returned etc. If these developments are not checked, they may lead to unforeseen catastrophes. Those of us who believe in prevention rather than cure are speaking up before the situation gets out of control. The rushed decision by Rukungiri District Council and Uganda Parliament to designate Rukungiri a municipality stripping Bairu of their land without consulting them is the start of troubles that lie ahead.

Bahororo who erroneously still consider themselves white people with a dark pigmentation borrowed their contemptuous behavior from European colonialists based on racism that flourished in Europe in late 19th century. European Social Darwinists who applied Darwin’s evolutionary theory to human societies felt there was a major biological difference between them and other societies. Applying the doctrine of the ‘survival of the fittest’ Social Darwinists saw ‘fitness’ in white skin only. They also used pseudo-scientific studies (phrenology) of bumps on the head to demonstrate that Europeans were more intelligent than other races and therefore destined to rule over them. This sense of racial superiority was expressed in many ways in colonies including dress and social exclusion. However, social exclusion coexisted with relations of a more intimate kind including sexual encounters between Europeans and subject peoples. “Almost all relationships between colonizers and others were saturated with inequalities in power: sexual relations were no different” (M. Pugh 1997).

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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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Why Bairu are encouraged to marry Bahima women

The issue of intermarriage has been in Uganda media for quite some time now and it is increasingly providing vital information following Phionah Kesaasi’s article which appeared in the Observer (Uganda) in April 2010. Kesaasi argued that Bairu men marry Bahima, Batutsi and Bahororo women because they are more beautiful than Bairu women and there was nothing to be ashamed of. Ipso facto, Bahima men do not marry Bairu women because they are less beautiful than Bahima women, implying there was nothing to apologize about. She added that traditionally when a man marries, he favors in-laws than his relatives. These two remarks generated a storm of criticism and many questions.

Earlier Ephraim Kamuhangire had written in response to my article “Why Rujumbura’s Bairu are impoverished” that in Rujumbura Bairu elite had married so many Bahororo women that there was no way a political uprising of Bairu peasants against Bahororo domination would succeed implying that Bairu elite would join their in-laws and crush such attempts. Therefore Bahororo’s indefinite domination of Bairu was very secure. By the way in my article referred to above I never raised the issue of intermarriage. Kamuhangire picked it out of the hat to make a point that Bairu have no chance of ever controlling the political game in Rujumbura. Since that time I have reflected on what he and Kesaasi wrote.

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Why Uganda is implementing a different kind of revolution

The political wing of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) crafted its propaganda message targeting different communities during the bush war. NRM propagandists spoke and wrote about what Baganda and Catholics wanted to hear. They painted the ruling Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) Party led by Obote as a ‘thief’ that had robbed Buganda of its districts during the referendum on the ‘Lost Counties’ and handed them over to Bunyoro. UPC added an injury to Baganda wounds by overthrowing their kingdom. For Catholics who support the Democratic Party (DP) they focused on the ‘rigged’ 1980 elections that robbed DP of its victory.

To bring to NRM camp a large chunk of UPC supporters, the NRM strategists blamed the suffering of Ugandans, during the Obote II regime in the first half of the 1980s, on the government’s adoption of structural adjustment with its harmful economic and social conditionality and maintenance of a colonial economic structure that condemned Uganda to the production and export of cheap raw materials and import of expensive manufactured products which could be easily produced in Uganda, create jobs and increase incomes.

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Why Uganda is in deep trouble

When people engage in human sacrifice, excessive alcohol consumption, unprecedented domestic violence; when men abandon their families, citizens commit suicide, the vulnerable are taken advantage of, security guards arrange to steal property they are guarding, neighbors demand payment to push your car out of a ditch, girls are afraid to go to school for fear of being molested, people attend public functions to steal or cause trouble; when some officials are paid to attend meetings but do not show up in conference halls; officials blame unemployment and poverty on laziness and drunkenness, leaders mislead their people, progress is measured in the number of vehicles in towns, the number of international conferences hosted and officials react to evaluation of their performance by development partners rather than their citizens, then you know there is trouble. I could go on. Uganda has undoubtedly reached this level.

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Why it is hard to forget the ill-treatment of Bairu in Uganda

Some of the readers of my article on “Why Bahima will not marry Bairu women” and Ms. Phionah Kesaasi’s response titled “Bahima-Bairu theory is short on evidence” have advised that we forget Bahima-Bairu antagonism and move on. Others including Kesaasi have wondered “why a highly educated man like Kashambuzi” should spend time on minor issues like intermarriage. Here are some reasons why I have difficulties forgetting the past which has crept into the present.

First, in 1863, John Hanning Speke, a British explorer, wrote that he was told by Bahima (Wahuma) that all the people who occupied their land bordering Victoria Lake were given the name of Wiru (Bairu) or slaves. Bairu had to supply Bahima with food and clothing etc. Speke’s book was reprinted in 2006 and has become a text book in schools and universities around the world.

Because of comprehensive intermarriages (both ways) between Bahima and Bairu in Bunyoro, Toro and Buganda the ethnic differences have disappeared and people in these areas are living in relative peace with one another. Sadly in southwest Uganda (in former Ankole and Rujumbura of Rukungiri district where the limited intermarriage has been one way, the inter-ethnic or inter-tribal antagonism has remained very strong – let us be honest about it.

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Why DRC may disintegrate

During a mission to DRC in January/February 2010, concerns were expressed by people from many walks of life – national and foreign – in formal and informal settings about the possibility of DRC disintegrating. A review of the underlying forces needs to go as far back as the 16th century when hunting for ivory and slaves led to ethnic conflicts and hostile relations. The political, economic and social disruptions that occurred in Central Africa made it easier for Europeans to implement a policy of divide and rule. Weaker communities that had suffered sought European protection while established rivals used European allies against their hostile neighbors.

In Congo, Leopold II and the subsequent colonial government encouraged ethnic isolation or rivalries and hostilities. Some rulers and/or ethnic groups were allowed to exercise hegemony over others. The Luba were favored and enjoyed higher status because they were considered superior to others. These divide and rule tactics created mistrust and antagonism among ethnic groups and weakened national consciousness.

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