Monthly Archives: August 2014

People who have followed my debates and publications consistently and impartially know that I am flexible within the confines of my principles. I believe all human beings are born free and equal in rights and dignity as specified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

I believe in democracy and good governance. Democracy means people must decide freely who should govern them on the basis of promises made by the leaders. When leaders fail to deliver they should be recalled or rejected at the next elections.

Good governance means that public officials must act in a transparent manner, must include all citizens in decisions that affect their lives and must be held accountable for their commissions or omissions.

Nobody should escape accountability on account of resigning from government after they have participated in criminal activities. Therefore Musevenism designed to hold Museveni and his family alone for all wrongs in Uganda since 1981 and possibly earlier should be rejected forthwith. This is a matter of justice, not apologizing for Museveni and his family.

Since I joined Uganda politics, I have been driven by the same mission, same vision and same values.

Full name: Eric Michael Kashambuzi

Place of birth:

Nyarurambi village, Rwentondo parish, Kagunga County, Rukungiri district in South West Uganda

Father: Rev/Canon Samwiri Kashambuzi served the Anglican Church of Uganda attaining the rank of Archdeacon;

Marital status;

I have been married to Gertrude Kashambuzi for over forty years.

Education:

1. Nyakaina (Buyanja), Kashenyi (Ruhinda) primary school from grade 1 to grade 4 in Rukungiri district;

2. Kinyasano (Kagunga) primary school (grade 4 to grade 6) and secondary education from grade 7 to grade 8) in Rukungiri district;

3. Senior secondary (O Level) at Butobere School in Kigezi district and (A Level) at Ntare School in Ankole;

4. Undergraduate (University of East Africa: Nairobi campus) studied Geography, History and Economics in first year. Did Geography in second and third years (a 3:1:1 combination for honors students) and earned Upper Second Honors Degree;

5. Graduate (University of California, Berkeley campus) studied concurrently and graduated in Economics and Demography;

6. Post graduate (University of Lusaka Zambia) International Law and International Relations/Diplomacy

7. Self-trained in World History beyond first year as undergraduate student

Work experience:

When a country and its society are faced with difficulties like Uganda is currently going through and there is a possibility of major changes, many ideas float around. A section of Baganda has boldly come up with the idea that a Baganda alone independent state be created through armed struggle, should that become necessary. They are regularly calling for non-Baganda to quit Buganda soil and return to their homes because they are impoverishing Baganda and grabbing their properties especially land and polluting their culture. You have heard these stories on Radio Munansi, among others. So this is not a secret.

Secession, however, raises many serious questions for Buganda that need to be considered very carefully.

1. Buganda rose from a small entity of three counties to a large state by military conquest, surrender or colonization initially with the help of guns supplied by Arab traders in exchange for slaves and ivory captured from conquered territories and peoples. When Britain arrived on the scene Buganda was still in the process of consolidating what it had acquired that gave Buganda ten counties. Without British support, Buganda would probably have lost some territories as Bunyoro was regaining what it had lost.

Ugandans and non-Ugandans who have followed my writings and speeches about the NRM government and President Museveni know that I have been constructive with a view to helping steer the government in the right direction. I have avoided personal attacks of individuals and their family members. I have written personal messages to the president; prime minister; speaker of parliament; minister and minister of state for finance, planning and economic development; permanent secretary of the ministry of foreign affairs and Uganda ambassador to the United Nations in New York giving them my honest views about Uganda’s political economy since 1986.

I fully supported the ten-point program because it was relevant and home-grown. But Museveni dropped it in exchange for the Washington Consensus or structural adjustment that I did not agree with. While in Kampala or when Ugandan officials came to New York where I reside I discussed with them what I thought was wrong. But they did not listen so I went public. Those who want to know what I have written about NRM government visit www.kashambuzi.com. It’s all there and comment on them constructively if you wish.

The First World War which many believe should not have happened began in 1914, a hundred years ago. It is being commemorated this week.

Despite the suffering Uganda has gone through with wars since 1966, and the devastating evidence from wars elsewhere, there are still some Ugandans including Sejusa, Kafero, Amii Otunnu and Kuloba who are still insisting that the only way to unseat NRM regime is through another war. These people have no mandate and cannot individually or with a handful of supporters declare war on Uganda. They have formed dubious organizations to hoodwink Ugandans that they have a sizeable number of followers and therefore can declare war. We need to know what these organizations are and who runs and supports them.

The devastation of World War I outlined below will hopefully change the mind of those Ugandans still preparing for an unjust war.

WWI expected to last a short time in victory lasted nearly five years and ended up ripping Europe asunder and slaughtering nearly the entire generation and the brightest. Nearly everyone lost a family member or a friend. The political, economic and social fabric was destroyed. The catastrophe was of unbelievable proportions.

It simply means that war might, in certain circumstances, be both politically necessary and morally justifiable. A just war is based on two concepts: jus ad bellum resort to war and jus in bello conduct of war.

Before a just war begins some conditions must be fulfilled:

1. There must be a just cause or right intention. The purpose of a war must be to right a wrong which has been committed (self-defense against unlawful aggression would be considered just), and the ultimate objective must be peace;

2. The use of armed force must always be considered a last resort;

3. The resort to war is the preserve of legitimate authority – an arbitrary act of an individual cannot be considered just;

4. There must be good prospects, no matter what the grievance , if war is likely to be a wasted effort, it should not be undertaken;

5. There should always be a sense of proportion between ends and means. That is the good to be achieved through war must outweigh the damage and harm to be endured (Richard Holmes 2001).

There is almost a consensus that the First World War should not have occurred. And we should learn a lesson from this war. It was very costly and led into the Second World War. Here are the costs.

“More than ten million men were killed in the war [when you add civilians killed or died of causes related to the war the number is higher], a whole generation wiped out. In a single day, the British lost 60,000 in the battle of the Somme. … In the siege of Verdun, the two sides had 1.2 million killed. Worldwide, the Spanish influenza epidemic took more lives than even the war, an estimated 20 million. Genocide such as the slaughter of the Armenians, while not directly connected to the war, took millions more.

Besides the dead, 21 million were wounded in the war; 7.5 million were taken prisoner or missing in action. Shipping losses totaled 15 million tons, of which 9 million were British.

All the belligerents mobilized 63 million. The total gross cost of the war was estimated by E.R.A. Seligman at more than $232 trillion during the fiscal years of combat. The daily expenditure by all belligerents was $164 million”(Chronicle of the 20^th Century 1987).

When Ugandans in the diaspora sensed that the Amin administration was about to collapse with no clear successor government, everyone rushed to fill the gap. At that time I was living in Lusaka, Zambia, the second hub of Uganda refugees after Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. People who were not talking to one another in the same town, people who could not agree to attend the same reception, people who had not contacted one another for years began forming groups overnight overwhelmingly along sectarian lines to form the next government.

As Kampala was about to fall, the Tanzanian government hurriedly organized a meeting of Ugandans in the diaspora at Moshi to form a transitional government. Debates ensued about who should or should not be invited. In the process Obote, Binaisa, Tiberondwa, among others, were left out.

Mozambique after independence which was very costly in human lives, infrastructures and institutions suffered a 16-year post-independence guerrilla war. Here is what Mozambique lost during the guerrilla war without counting those who lost their lives directly from the war.

1. 490,000 children died from war-related causes;

2. 200,000 children were orphaned or abandoned by adults;

3. At least 100,000 children served as soldiers during the conflict;

4. Over 40 percent of schools were destroyed or forced to close;

5. Over 40 percent of health centers were destroyed;

6. Economic losses totaled $15 billion, equal to four times the country’s 1988 GDP;

7. Industries were so damaged that post-war production equaled only 20 to 40 of prewar capacity (Carnegie Commission on Preventing Conflict, 1997).

We appeal to those who have information about human and material losses in Uganda starting in 1966 to make it available. Uganda has experienced many wars in 1966, 1979, 1981 to 1986 in the Luwero Triangle and in the Northern, Western and Eastern regions since 1986 to the present (the most recent in western Uganda).

This information is provided by the person who participated in designing and implementing structural adjustment program in Russia. It failed:

1. The crisis in the Russian economy at the end of the twentieth century was the result of the unsuccessful reforms implemented by the democrats who had come to power;

2. The reason for those failures was the choice (“with the prompting of the IMF and other such agencies”) of “shock therapy” financial stabilization, and privatization;

3. The consequence of those failures and mistakes was the catastrophic decline in production, which led to the impoverishment of the nation;

Apply these lessons to Uganda and you will see parallels. Uganda was influenced in its structural adjustment program design and implementation by the same institutions that advised Russia.

The economic growth in Russia of recent years is the result of the regime’s new course – that is, of the correction of the mistakes made by the democrats (Yegor Gaidar 2012).

To get out of the economic mess, Uganda like Russia needs a new regime to correct NRM policy mistakes and failures. This will require professional and experienced leadership, not the one to learn on the job as NRM did.