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Monthly Archives: February 2009
Looking back while moving forward in the Great Lakes Region
In
his article in the Wall Street Journal of February 13, 2009, Mart
Laar, former Prime Minister of Estonia, observed that “It is said
that the only thing that people learn from history is that people
learn nothing from history”. It seems that people in the Great
Lakes Region of Africa have learned nothing from the region’s
history.
Yet
to attempt to solve the current formidable political economy
challenges in the region one has to study and draw lessons from the
history of the region if not the history of the entire continent.
According to Marq de Villiers and Sheila Hirtle (1997), “More than
anywhere else, in Africa [and particularly in the Great Lakes
Region], the past poisons the present”.
Against
this background, delving in the racial and ethnic history of the
Great Lakes Region – Burundi, Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC), Rwanda and South West Uganda – should be welcome and not
condemned and dismissed right away as an exercise in sectarianism and
hatred.
Press Release: Uganda’s Development Agenda in the 21st Century & Related Regional Issues
*For Immediate Release**
EDITORS: For review copies or interview requests, contact:
Kimberly Dutour
Tel: 1-812-323-2330; Fax: 1-812-323-2339
Email: [email protected]
(Please provide a shipping address)
Jones Harvest Publishing is honored to introduce Eric Kashambuzi’s Uganda’s Development Agenda in the 21st Century & Related Regional Issues, a landmark work about Uganda’s past, present and future. Uganda’s Development Agenda delves deeply into the challenges facing this turbulent African nation and suggests what needs to be done to improve the country. As the author poignantly notes at the beginning, this book is “Dedicated to Ugandans: Past, Present and Future Generations.”
Uganda’s Development Agenda in the 21st Century & Related Regional Issues is full of hope and Eric Kashambuzi believes in positive change. As he wrote, “The state together with the private and civil society sectors as well as development partners need to pull their resources together to make the necessary changes and bring about the desired results.” Clearly the author’s main focus is to explain to the reader the current situation in Uganda; to illustrate its History, and explain why it is so vulnerable now. He also discusses geographical location as well as food and nutrition, security and structural development issues. Kashambuzi then offers his own vision of what could be done to change Uganda for the better and then provides new development strategies for the 21st century. Quoting from the book’s introduction: “The tenor of the book is more about action to produce tangible results than on visionary speeches.”
Press Release: World Leaders at the UN General Assembly; And What They Said in the General Debate in 2007
**For Immediate Release**
EDITORS: For review copies or interview requests, contact:
Kimberly Dutour
Tel: 1-812-323-2330; Fax: 1-812-323-2339
Email: [email protected]
(Please provide a shipping address)
Jones Harvest Publishing is proud to introduce World Leaders at the UN General Assembly; And What They Said in the General Debate in 2007, by Eric Kashambuzi. This landmark work did for the UN what Bob Woodward did for the White House. World Leaders is about the United Nations, it’s History – its birth and its evolution into the institution we know today. More importantly, Kashambuzi covers the topics the U.N. deals with and their related issues. This work gives us a very detailed account of what they said during last year’s General Debate -in 2007.
These debates occur every year in September in New York City, the headquarters of the United Nations. World leaders from 192 countries -the member states, meet there to discuss global topics. During their debates, the wide range of issues discussed can range from peace and security, to human rights and development, as well as to climate changes. And as a result, the establishment of new international guidelines has been facilitated by what member states have recommended.
Uganda’s export-led growth needs recasting
We
were taught in economics that countries should specialize on one product in
which they have a comparative advantage – or are most cost effective – and
trade surplus to get what they do not produce. That way specialization and
exchange would make everyone better off.
Colonial
administrations in Africa implemented this philosophy with vigor ending
time-tested and sustainable traditional systems of mixed cropping and rotations
which not only ensured crops ripening at different times and guaranteeing food
security but also protecting the environment and fertilizing soils.
World day of social justice
At
the launch of the World Day of Social Justice at the United Nations
Headquarters in
United Nations General Assembly, H. E. Miguel D’escoto Brockman made the
following statement.
“I
am honored that you have invited me to speak to this Commission on Social
Development and participate in the launch of the first World Day of Social
Justice. I understand that this is the first time the President of the General
Assembly addresses this central body within the Economic and Social Council. I
presume that this is because you know that the advancement of social justice
and the inclusion of the socially marginalized have been a focus of my work for
my entire life and are priorities of my tenure here during the 63rd session of the General Assembly.
Barter beware: by leaving markets, food importers make things worse
“Before all else, a government must safeguard the basic needs of its citizens. Yet, from north Africa to China, and from Russia to south Asia, governments have started entering into a secretive web of barter deals as a substitute for global commodity, because the financing for the international food trade is drying up or becoming too expensive. This is a dangerous tend that rich and poor countries must work to reverse.
Support Uganda’s smallholder farmers, not replace them
The modernization and commercialization of
The paradox of hunger and food abundance in Uganda
There is a general consensus that the diversion of food stuffs from direct consumption to other uses – bio-fuels and conversion of grain to meat etc – will cause food prices to rise and stay high in the foreseeable future beyond the means of poor households. There is also an agreement that while trade or barter in food should not be constrained, governments should ensure that their citizens get enough to eat for an active and healthy life first.
The NRM has forgotten what brought them to power
Before
coming to power, the NRM studied and understood very well the nature,
extent and depth of grievances in Uganda. The cadres articulated
these grievances – political, economic, social, religious, ethnic
and tribal, gender, regional and military imbalances – and provided
solutions in their discussions and publications.
They
underscored a commitment to genuine democratic and economic reforms
to address the grievances. They were very aware that prolonged
military rule, overstaying in power, income inequalities, corruption
and broken promises would spell disaster. The 1995 Constitution was
promulgated with these concerns in mind after extensive
consultations.