Tag Archives: suffering

Uganda health minister should resign

Press release

Reports that a pregnant woman lost her life at Mulago teaching and referral hospital while giving birth to a new life because she didn’t bribe health officials isn’t only a national disgrace but also a crime against humanity. This is a second report that a pregnant woman lost her life this time in the eastern province under similar circumstances. This is a scandal of immense proportions that should be corrected immediately.

In the year 2000 world leaders met in New York City and adopted a Millennium Declaration including Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It was agreed, inter alia, to reduce by three-quarters between 1990 and 2015 maternal mortality ratio and reduce by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015, under-five mortality rate. It was also resolved that the implementation of MDGs should be reviewed every five years: in 2005 and 2010. Uganda was unable to produce a report in time for the 2010 UN General Assembly review.

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Struggle to control riches of DRC and suffering of Gt. Lakes people

The people of DRC especially those in the east need more of our prayers at this hour of intense human suffering. The three K leaders (Kaguta, Kagame and Kabila) with military background and their domestic and foreign backers need to come to their senses and end the suffering of the people. The United Nations too needs to move faster and end the war before it loses its credibility as an institution that was created in 1945 to maintain or restore peace and security in all parts of the world.

The fall of Goma town may sharpen the appetite of victors to want to capture the rest of DRC, Angola, Namibia, Congo and Gabon and then Kenya and Tanzania. Mark my words: if concerted and collective action is not taken that is what will happen. Rwanda and Uganda, the two countries alleged to be causing this instability are too poor to be acting alone. So those supporting them should stop.

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Is it the messenger or the message that has become controversial in Uganda debates?

I embarked on research and writing with the sole purpose of correcting distortions in the Great Lakes political economy with a focus on Uganda. I was fully aware that my findings and solutions would raise much dust and controversy. Before I wrote my first book which came out in 1997 I said a prayer for God’s guidance and protection. I have written ten books since then. Here are some of the issues I have raised and become controversial.

Contraception and population decline

The conventional wisdom is that once women have access to contraception, population growth will decline drastically. I have countered that while contraception is necessary it is not sufficient. I have argued that a combination of contraception, anti-poverty programs, girls’ education and women empowerment is better than contraception alone. Is it the messenger or the message that has become controversial?

The paradox of hunger and abundance

I have criticized the NRM policy of food production for cash than for the stomach. The president has been the champion of this policy. Households have responded and are selling so much food to the extent that there isn’t enough for household consumption and for school lunch. Consequently regions that are food surplus are experiencing severe under-nutrition especially among children and women. I have suggested that for nutritional and moral imperatives, Uganda should only export surplus food over and above domestic requirements. Is it the messenger or the message that has become controversial?

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Baganda must stop blaming Banyankole for their suffering

I am writing this story fully aware of the potential political cost. But the story has to be told in order to identify the cause of Baganda suffering and put the matter to rest for good.

Virtually every weekend you hear someone on Hollywood-based Radio Munansi complaining that Baganda are suffering because of Banyankole and when time comes the latter will pay a heavy price. I heard this narrative again when I was in London for the conference on federalism at the end of October, 2012.

I have written some articles on this subject demonstrating that Banyankole have nothing to do with Baganda marginalization and suffering. The majority of Banyankole are suffering like other exploited Ugandans under the NRM government. We also need to draw a distinction between Banyankole and the ruling Batutsi many of them Rwandese that have settled in Uganda particularly in Buganda (have adopted Luganda names and speak Luganda language) since the 1959 social revolution in Rwanda.

Discussing this subject of Batutsi in Uganda and their direct and indirect wrong doing has been made extremely difficult by anti-sectarian law and accusations of genocide promotion which Batutsi have taken advantage of to entrench themselves in Uganda and are in the process of taking over the country under the guidance of Museveni using most of the time Uganda citizens mostly Baganda in return for favors.

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Banyankole are not responsible for the suffering in Uganda

Accusations have increased in frequency and intensity that Banyankole have primary responsibility for the suffering being experienced in Uganda, implying punitive measures when the time comes. There were reports that after the brutal manner in which the demonstrators were handled in Kampala in 2009 by security forces, some people vowed that Banyankole would pay a commensurate price including innocent ones that had nothing to do with the disproportionate use of force. Anybody coming from southwest Uganda has been defined as a Munyankole and some of them have been assaulted. Banyankole are therefore wondering on which side to stand: with a tiny group of rulers from Ankole who are causing the chaos and suffering in Uganda or those who are opposed but have vowed to punish any Munyankole when the time comes.

Warnings have gone out that those who accuse Banyankole either in their individual capacity or as representatives of groups should check their facts first to avoid harming innocent people. Southwest Uganda has a complex history of rulers and ruled and of immigrants especially since the late 1950s who pose as Banyankole or Bakiga. We therefore need to know who is who from southwest Uganda and who is doing what. Without this disaggregated information innocent Banyankole and Bakiga or their properties may end up in trouble for nothing.

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Banyankole are not responsible for the suffering in Uganda

Accusations have increased in frequency and intensity that Banyankole have sole responsibility for the suffering being experienced in Uganda, implying punitive measures when the time comes. There were reports that after the brutal manner in which the demonstrators were handled in Kampala in 2009 by security forces, some people vowed that Banyankole would pay a commensurate price including innocent ones that had nothing to do with the disproportionate use of force. Anybody coming from southwest Uganda has been defined as a Munyankole and some of them have been assaulted. Banyankole are therefore wondering on which side to stand: with a tiny group of rulers from Ankole who are causing the chaos and suffering in Uganda or those who are opposed but have vowed to punish any Munyankole when the time comes.

Warnings have gone out that those who accuse Banyankole either in their individual capacity or as representative of groups should check their facts first to avoid harming innocent people. Southwest Uganda has a complex history of indigenous and migrant people and of rulers and ruled. Since the late 1950s many immigrants have crossed into southwest Uganda and pose as Banyankole or Bakiga. Some have joined the rulers from Ankole and are contributing to the suffering of the majority of Ugandans. We therefore need to know who is who from southwest Uganda and who is doing what. Without this disaggregated information innocent Banyankole and Bakiga or even immigrants and their properties may come under attack for nothing.

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All Ugandans will live happily ever after

The National Resistance Movement (NRM) engaged in a destructive guerrilla war (1981-85) with the overall objective of ending the long suffering of all Ugandans. This message runs through the articles compiled in “Mission to Freedom: Uganda Resistance News 1981 – 1985”. It is also the main theme in the ten-point program. Ending suffering by NRM would guarantee living happily ever after.

This goal was to be realized largely through forging national unity and good neighborly relations as well as ending corruption and sectarianism, promoting equitable and sustainable economic growth and social services using a mixed economy model.

The outcomes would have included stimulation of effective domestic demand for goods and services which in turn would have stimulated investment, employment and higher incomes and further stimulated effective demand (or raising individual purchasing power) so that everyone has the means to meet the basic needs and end the suffering that Ugandans have experienced for so long.

The goal and means of ending the long suffering of Ugandans contained in the ten point program was abandoned in 1987 and replaced with structural adjustment program (SAP) that focused on the invisible hand of the market forces, laissez faire capitalism and trickledown economics.

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National stability has trampled individual freedom in Uganda

Museveni became president in 1986 with a message of democracy, free and fair elections, freedom and prosperity for all contained in the ten-point program which he dropped in 1987 in favor of structural adjustment program (SAP) with stiff conditions. The unpopularity of SAP which was being experimented in Uganda after some countries like Ghana and Chile had found it costly and adjusted it, and the threat of terrorism in the East Africa region created a pretext for Museveni to introduce measures that have trampled individual freedom. In 2002, an anti-terrorist law came into force with a broad definition of terrorism as the “use of violence or threat of violence with intent to promote or achieve political, religious, economic and cultural or social ends in an unlawful manner”.

Painful structural adjustment at home and Uganda’s intervention in countries of the greater lakes region including alleged genocide of Hutu in DRC and plunder of Congo’s resources made Museveni unpopular, causing him to become authoritarian in order to cling to power because in a free and fair election he would lose.

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Britain has caused too much trouble and suffering in Uganda

Since John Hanning Speke (later described as a patronizing and incompetent man who wrote detailed reports on unfamiliar terrain {H. Hanbury-Tenison 2010}) set foot on what later became Uganda in mid-19th century, Britain has caused too much trouble and suffering to the people of Uganda because of its biased racial, economic, military, ethnic, refugee and political approaches. The following are illustrative highlights of British biased actions.

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Similarities in suffering between Rujumbura’s Bairu and Indigenous peoples

The indigenous peoples from all over the world are meeting (April 2010) at the United Nations headquarters in New York City. For the last six years I have attended their meetings. I have listened carefully to their stories and read their publications. Their common theme has been land that has economic and spiritual value. They are therefore trying to hang on to what is left and to utilize it according to their priorities. But they are facing daunting challenges from global demands. Their stories about the negative impact of losing their land are similar to what Rujumbura’s Bairu are experiencing as they lose more land to newcomers. I will compare the experiences of the two groups, draw conclusions and propose corrective actions.

The story of Indigenous people in the Great Lakes Region

Before Bantu-speaking people arrived in the area some 3000 years ago, the Great Lakes Region was occupied by indigenous people (the term ‘indigenous’ has not been accepted by governments in the region because it is considered divisive and the term ‘Pygmy’ has been rejected by indigenous people because it has derogatory meaning). For the purpose of this article, I will use indigenous people for lack of a better term.

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