REMOVING MUSEVENI FROM POWER WILL NOT SOLVE UGANDA’S CHRONIC PROBLEMS When President Yoweri Museveni came to power in 1986, in his naivety he said Africa’s problems is caused by leaders who stay long in power. In fact the converse is true. Kenya, Tanzania and lately Rwanda whose first leaders stayed long in power have made faster strides in development than Uganda. Libya that had Muammar Gadaffi 1969-2011 is now in tatters because of one chronic genetic disease – power struggle. South Sudan like Uganda is unfortunate to have contracted that chronic disease at birth. From the very outset after Uganda’s independence in 1962 there was power struggle between KabakaMutesa who was declared president and Milton Obote the elected prime minister which led to the 1966 crisis that ousted the Kabaka. Obote was at tenterhooks and the 1969 assassination attempt on his life must have coerced him to find solace in elevating those from the east, north and western Uganda. Obote’s opponents thought Amin being uneducated would topple him and give them opportunity to conduct elections which they would win with a landslide victory. They were digging their graves, in fact only graves are dug from top to bottom. Not to be mistaken for being a UPC activist, let me strike other spots. Amin was insecure and immediately hunted and killed those he feared would topple him. Foreigners were immediately evicted from the country. Some were killed but most, especially the Asian business community departed empty handed, leaving factories and parastatals in the hands of unskilled Ugandans. Subsequently came the mafuta-mingi era, smuggling, wars and more chaos. Like a newborn child infected with HIV, there are many other secondary infections that we shall discover as responsible for Uganda’s persistent underdevelopment. Amin’s pursuit of educated and industrious Ugandans has set a wrong precedent that of late manifested its secondary symptom in the killing of Mr. Kasiwukira a renown Kampala businessman. Fortunately though, he was not killed by state operatives which gives us hope of reaching the end of the dark tunnel of lawlessness. He was not killed by petty thugs who target cash and property but greedy fellows within the business domain. Way back in 1993 conflict over tender to supply pipes for the construction of Namboole Stadium nearly took the life of the Water Manager for Kampala Area. This should take masks over our faces regarding facts about patriotism. Loving your country does not mean loving its plants, birds and animals but its people. If people who can afford all the basic necessities of life cannot love each other then we have a problem which the NRM government alone cannot solve. It is the work of religious leaders to teach love, and the task should be easier now because we have freedom of worship unlike the times when bishops fled the country. But like Balaam they take the chalice of fat offerings from corruption. After the overthrow of Amin in 1979, problems compounded which caused the late Julius Nyerere to marvel why Ugandans hated peace despite Tanzanias sacrifice for their freedom. During that era of liberators, two of Mulago’s dental surgeons were killed sent shock waves among medics about the never ending insecurity in Uganda. They have continued to move out of the country primarily because of poor working conditions but those who were willing to stay were scarred by death. The suffer from Post Independence Trauma (PIT) and fear to return home, and only politicians flown out for treatment can tap their services! Insecurity continued throughout and in our family for example, we abandoned the permanent house each night to sleep elsewhere and return in the morning because of robbers. Those robbers were former UNLA soldiers or those that acquired guns and uniforms during times of regime change. Life in some villages is not good either due to conflicts about land, witchcraft and some people choose to stay in towns till death do them part. Recently the CEO of TOTAL was killed in a plane crash in a Moscow airport. All the airport officials have been fired. How many of our industrious people perish in accidents because of our own recklessness- speed, overloading, bad driving? What do we expect the police to do when we tempt them with money in order to escape justice? Will dead bodies resurrect when carried in ambulances from the accident scenes? For Uganda’s case, airport officials would have concocted a report about the accident or perhaps some people from one part of the country would be fired and the others left. Our press that scavenges rumours would never delve to expose the truth. Let me pray that they don’t shelve this article. Africans have either refused knowledge or just slow learners. In America, the educated middle class is the breeding ground for entrepreneurs, but in Uganda the less educated are more creative. After getting white collar jobs in the civil service or government, the rest is history - wait for tax payers’/donors’ money to buy cars, fuel, pay guards etc…as you wine and dine dawn to dusk. Staying longer in government is a symptom of fear and insecurity. It can be due to fear for your own future or the future of others. For the majority apparently it is individual economic insecurity due to self-imposed debts. Uganda has been let down by politicians who spice the word ‘change’ with many adjectives and superlatives. Once they get to the top their vision is blurred by fear about their future. There is no more zest in politics, perhaps among village folks who celebrate to welcome free liquor seasons. No politician has satisfactorily diagnosed our problems but they keep blaming past leaders yet the very or worst things happen during their tenure. Without proper diagnosis we celebrate when we should mourn, we sleep when we should work , we steal when we should give and kill when we should help and protect. Make no mistake, I have traveled with Americans and they have this one philosophy- if you seek help and don’t work to help others you are a dummy not a human being. Our reproach is not about our colour because Kiprotich was never denied his medal for being black. What I say to Ugandans, I say to all Africans, let’s arise and shake off our dependence reproach. Lets love and care for one another and stop playing jungle games. Charles Okecha St. Paul’s College – Mbale Uganda.
Posted on: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 06:39:24 +0000
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