Thankfully, Uganda has entered the Enlightenment phase of development. Enlightenment is characterized by reason: asking questions and demanding convincing answers. Therefore, Ugandans are no longer taking things for granted. The divine right of leaders is over! Anyone who enters public life must expect to be scrutinized. Ugandans have a right to know the history, ancestry, education and work experience of those seeking public office or already there. Therefore family members, relatives and friends of public figures should stop complaining when their fathers or mothers are scrutinized. If they do not want their parents or relatives to be undressed in public they should advise them to stay away from politics. You cannot have your cake and eat it too!
The National Resistance Movement (NRM) government under the leadership of President Museveni has been in power for 25 years. Since 1987, following the signing of agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) major developments have taken place and some of them have raised questions that need to be answered by the government. Below are some of them.
1. Uganda has experienced a reasonable rate of economic growth officially set at an average rate of 6 percent per annum far in excess of population growth averaging 3 per cent per annum. Why has poverty remained very high (over 50 percent according to the 2010 UNDP’s Human Development Report)?
2. The Poverty Reduction Action Plan (PEAP) was launched in 1997 with massive donor funding. It has been revised several times to address the challenges that emerged in the implementation process. In the foreword to the 2004 revised Plan the president noted that the challenges to be addressed included (a) improving regional equity; (b) restoring sustainable growth in the incomes of the poor; (c) building strong social and economic infrastructure; (d) enhancing human development; and (d) using public resources more efficiently. The record in 2010 shows that these challenges have got worse. The spreading diseases of poverty, collapsing health and education systems, rising unemployment, rising food insecurity’ rising school dropout and rising crime demonstrate a worsening of human conditions. Ugandans need to know what has gone wrong at least since 2004 and what concrete steps are being taken to address the situation.
3. The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) of which Uganda is an active member adopted a resolution urging member states to implement school lunches (using locally produced foodstuffs to improve farmers’ incomes) because they improve attendance and performance especially of girls. Evidence from developed and developing countries where school lunches have been provided shows that they work so there is no need for Uganda government to commission a study by the World Bank to determine the value of school lunches. They work! Given Uganda’s high school dropout rate especially among girls and poor performance (in large part because they are hungry as illustrations from Kabale district have confirmed), why has the government of Uganda been unable or unwilling to provide or facilitate the provision of school lunches? Early school drop out of students leads to early marriage and high fertility rate. Keeping them in school reduces birth rate which is worrying Ugandans and non-Ugandans alike.
4. Since the 1970s, Uganda has gone through political, economic, social, environmental and pandemic turbulence: the guerrilla war in 1981-85, the civil war in northern and eastern Uganda that lasted over 20 years, HIV and AIDS pandemic; malnutrition and communicable diseases plus an increase in contraceptive prevalence rate from 15 to 23 percent that has reduced fertility from 7.1 to 6.5 children per woman. These changes should have reduced Uganda’s population growth. Yet Uganda’s population is reported to be growing at an ‘explosive’ rate of over 3 percent per annum. Something that has contributed to rapid population growth has not been explained. Uganda’s population growth is a function of natural growth (births – deaths) plus net migration (in-migrants – out-migrants). The impact of net migration appears to have been excluded, yet Uganda has been a magnet since the 1920s attracting foreign workers mostly from neighboring countries and supplemented by refugees since 1959 following the Social Revolution in Rwanda. By 1986 there were areas in Uganda where migrants were as high as 65 percent of total population (Sathyamurthy 1986) and the inflow has probably increased since then because of Uganda’s liberal immigration policy. Ugandans therefore need to know the impact of migration on Uganda’s population growth as this dimension is useful in determining population policy.
5. Of late some Ugandans have been pushing for scaled up family planning or birth control through contraception (prevention of conception). Yet very little, if at all, has been mentioned about lack of facilities, trained and experienced manpower and above all severe side effects of birth control methods that include loss of sexual interest that has contributed to domestic violence. It would be helpful to get an idea about what the government is doing or planning to do to address this challenge within the political, religious, ethnic, class and cultural context.
6. The privatization of Uganda’s public assets was designed to generate revenue to be used in improving infrastructure and institutions. What we are witnessing is a worsening of the situation. Ugandans need to know how much revenue was generated and to what use it has been put.
7. Dividing Uganda into many districts was designed to bring services closer to the people and to enhance their full participation in matters that affect their lives. It has turned out that the districts that have been demarcated more or less along tribal lines have undermined national unity efforts and have become economically unviable (because most of them are too small and lack adequate human and financial resources) and cannot deliver services as expected. The expansion of municipalities without consultations as in the case of Rukungiri has created potential problems that could result in landlessness of a particular group. Given these unfavorable developments what corrective plans does the government have?
8. In pursuit of export-led economic growth and macroeconomic stability as advised by the World Bank and IMF, the government ignored development (transformation of economic structures and improved welfare through employment, education and healthcare, food security and nutrition etc) and environmental sustainability. Unemployment of Uganda’s youth (15-24 years) stands at over 80 percent and environmental degradation is so alarming that FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) has reported that if corrective measures are not taken immediately Uganda could turn into a desert within 100 years which is a very short time. Uganda’s dry climate has become hotter and longer; rainfall has become irregular in timing, amount and duration; perennial rivers have disappeared or become seasonal; water tables have dropped; lakes have shrunk and spring wells are disappearing very fast; and wetlands have been replaced by buildings or ranches. Consequently Uganda is now defined by massive de-vegetation, soil erosion, droughts and floods. The Pearl of Africa as Churchill described Uganda is gone. Ugandans are keen to know what concrete corrective plans have been put in place.
9. While the East African integration and political federation are noble ideas, Ugandans would want to know in concrete terms what net (positive) benefits they will enjoy. They would particularly want to know what will happen to land ownership and jobs as East Africans move and settle freely and are employed anywhere in East Africa. Given that some neighboring countries have an acute shortage of land and some have more skilled manpower than Uganda, the issues of land and jobs need to be discussed transparently and in a fully participatory manner at all levels and in all districts. In doing so lessons from EU and NAFTA need to be taken into full consideration.
10. Since the issues outlined above fall within the mandate of the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, we are asking the Minister to respond. A copy of this note has been sent to her.