What Transforming Society?

At the core of Mr. Museveni’s National Plan is an ambitious dream of transforming Uganda society. Transforming to what? Supposedly it is tripling the per capita income (GDP/PPP?) to $900 by 2015.

Nothing is wrong with that, except the archaic top-down process of coming out with the plan. We cannot even guess the elements that were taken into considerations. Since you have not consulted widely you miss out important elements—besides the effects of the unknown Heisenberg uncertainty principle in play—and rendering the outcomes unpredictable if not rejected. The whole thing seems Newtonian linear thinking: Input these and you get these formulated results.

As I stated before, others have tried along the same lines. Believe it or not, Museveni himself has tried various schemes, which were effectively national plans. It is telling that none of them has worked beyond the catchy initial grandiose pronouncements. In a photo op the man was seen carrying AGOA shirts for exports to the US. If anybody has seen Uganda shirts in US stores, shout! Did I hear somebody just picked up a Kenyan pair of trousers from a US department store?!

Humans are complex, and Ugandans are no exception—even more so if you consider regional differences and aspirations. In addition, there is the mix of the endemic cultural confusion in the sense of self: What is the essence, if any, of being a Ugandan? So, without being sympathetic to complexities, any policy is dead ab initio.

Material well-being is a good thing. But focusing only on increasing ability to consume is really not transforming society's sustainably. It may end up creating a nation of desperate automatons, full of anger, lust, resentment, fear and depression with no sense of honor and community. And you heven't seen nothing yet of the lethal alienation of blighted forests of slums.

The universal traditional Uganda begins in the village. There is where a sense of honor and community can begin to be instilled and nurtured to translate into the whole country of Uganda—a bottom-up strategy. Anybody who can conjure up ideas about strengthening the spiritual (not necessarily religious) and material well-being of the village will transform Uganda for the better. This would be in accord with scientific evolutionary evidence of how man has managed to survive for millennia in the face of all manners of odds. If the village unit is strong and vibrant, the nation will be strong and vibrant. Chances are families will also be strong—raising strong children. It is so simple, it hurts!

Way to Go, Otunnu!

The last few weeks Mr. Otunnu has ported himself very favorably. That is how some of us wanted to see him put his considerable gifts and opportunities to good use.

The call to investigate the Luweero war sent a general into a tailspin of mental masturbation. Fuming, with sweats oozing from his armpits, the general warned Otunnu to cease and desist. Mr. Otunnu would have none of it.

Other than the bizarrely contrarian ex-FDC girl, most Ugandans would want the air cleared on who did what in Luweero and the post-Luweero taming of the North.

Before the embers died, another lady from West Nile felt that Otunnu has amnesia about what his kin did in West Nile on the heels of Idi Amin’s hasty exit. She, however, neglected to mention the nine years of horror inflicted on Uganda by her fellow West Nilers. That too need clarification since doubts have been peddled on what really happened.

While the President was concluding his early election campaign tour, dubbed as spreading the word on his Get-Rich something, Otunnu lobbed another grenade: Museveni was in cahoots with the LRA strongman, the enigmatic Joseph Kony, to destabilize the North. What of the funds that the president frequently sent to the bush rat? Mr. Museveni saw stars, and ordered police investigations into the utterances on MP Ogong’s radio station. The ambassador refused to oblige and challenged the constitutionality and interpretation of the law. Now, he walks out of that dump  to have a breather— police injunction or not. That is the man!

Dark days are here, and they open up vistas of opportunities. Those with intestinal fortitude will become heroes and save us from ourselves.

Not bad. Not bad, Mr. Otunnu. Way to go!

Fire & Brimstone v Diplomacy & Discussion

"How long before Mugisha Muntu returns to NRM?," Gawaya Tegulle asks rhetorically. He answers himself: Soon. Why? Mr. Muntu handles situations with “diplomacy and discussion,” and implicitly, since birds of the same feathers flock together, he would therefore be joining the paragon of said “diplomacy and discussion,” the NRM, a.k.a. Museveni, with whom he did not burn bridges.

I have nothing against Mugisha Muntu. And I have said so in "Who is Mugisha Muntu?" at http://odiyatalks.9hz.com/  He is a good man. If he believed that, by “diplomacy and discussion” he would have brought the NRM into the 21st century governance, why did he leave in the first instance?

Mr. Tegulle goes on in some strange and twisted logic: Mugisha Muntu’s father was a good friend of the late Obote. His son chose undiplomatic and [undiscussion] mode of behavior to unseat his father’s friend. Duh! In the process he probably killed a few people. Wasn’t he the “bandit” who was treated at Mulago Hospital, under the noses of the Obote government?

If this guy is not a sly cat, then I would suspect that the locus of Mr. Muntu’s personality, his modus vivendi, is about fair play, which extends to good governance with all its enlightened accouterments. From what we know by experience, would the NRM then be his natural affinity? Tegulle thinks so, and gives us a glimpse of his politics and intentions.

Gawaya Tegulle is an honorable man. His website is full of interesting insights. In this particular article, however, he has a cocky disdain for Dr. Besigye’s supporters who are caught up in his "lowbrow" tack of “fire and brimstone.” The fact that they might have rationally concluded that Museveni’s modus operandi is “my way or the high road” is just hooey.

Let us be clear: Mr. Tegulle may be culturally amenable to tail-between-the-legs disposition. But he should also know that those who face reality head on know that one can soft-peddle with Museveni until the cows come home to no avail. His language of “diplomacy and discussion” is: entreat me and brown nose and we can talk on my terms—heads, I win; tails, you lose. The man only understands the projections of strength. Kagame and his boys showed him in Kisangani. If it weren’t for Dr. Besigye’s “fire and brimstone,” the political space would have been more restricted than it currently is. Black Mambas would have visited some people by now.

What Goes Up Must Come Down

There comes a time when we reach peak performance, abundance or incomparable power. We are at the top of our game however mundane or lowbrow. If we are lucky, we recognize this zenith, act skillfully and enjoy and extend this period. Only for a time, however. Even a snake shades its old skin. Sooner than later, decline sets in, and we must let go, handling the downward slope with equanimity for the benefits of all concerned, or be forced to let go.

When the sun reaches the center, it begins to set. When the moon becomes full, it begins to wane. (Karcher, 2009). In arrogance and/or delusion, we often fail to read or ignore the natural flow. The drunken old man goes bar hopping. What a pitiful sight! Once we brought Fundamental Change and demolished the old. Now, we say: No Change, We are It! What about that!

Mr. Museveni peaked ten years ago. Now he is the drunken old man trying to carouse with the youth of ideas. He is the old hunter insisting that he still has it. Put him under stress, and you will know what he is made of. He will lash out, but the natural forces will prevail.

Wisdom should have informed him to consolidate the rule of law, good intentions and fairness that would have been equally beneficial to him as he staggers to his grave. Instead of accepting natural change, he is spooked and grips tightly. The consequence is a country “—full of distrust, intrigue, hidden motives and general air of darkness.” (Wu Wei, 95). We are back to where we came from: Free speech is muzzled, presidency for life, rule by the gun, and sections of society are hurt and are angered.

Give it days, months or a few more years, it will all unravel. What concerned Ugandans need to be thinking is how to repair post-Museveni era. And Einstein would tell us: Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Whose National Plan Is It Anyway?

Mr. Museveni unveiled his version of a Five-Year National Plan. What does that mean? He finally admitted that the wild-wild-west IMF/World Bank imposed prescription wasn’t delivering. He might have realized that, despite claims to rosy growth rates, many of the population of Uganda have been left in the dust and the infrastructures continue to go to the dogs.
“Adam Smith’s idea that self-seeking behavior of individuals would add up to the general welfare ----” has not worked. (Ehrenreich, 2009).

This is not the first Uganda plan. Obote I had his Common Man’s Charter and Move-to-the-Left, which Museveni now despises even when he might have welcomed it in his UPC youth-winger days. The swaggering early NRM had its Ten-Point Program, which has long been shelved.

So, today we have another plan which seems proprietary, designed more to score points for the coming elections. Mr. Big Man, the All-Wise Visionary One will just shove it down our throats. It will go down the way of the dodo, not unlike other similarly constructed prior plans.

The concept of a national plan sounds sexy, but the process of coming up with a plan is also a plan itself. There is a need for wide and inclusive involvement to garner emotional buy-ins: Has the question of environmental sustainability been considered with inputs from related experts and concerned civil society? What about the general national health of the population? Was regional equity factored into the equation? What about the messy urbanization with filthy slums?

There are numerous examples of planning processes on the Internet. Portland, a mid-sized US city is undergoing a 25-year plan exercise. Various local entities have been co-opted as Plan Partners. Residents participate through neighborhood meetings and surveys. The city’s last plan cycle produced a light-rail system that other cities are emulating, neighborhood associations, a quasi-government development commission, etc. Check it out at: http://www.pdxplan.com/ or
http://www.portlandonline.com/portlandplan/index.cfm?c=47906

The Hyenas Are Here

Senegalese Djibril D. Manibety’s portrayal in the Hyenas might as well have dramatized the present Uganda. In the movie a young girl who was violated by a now-local-celebrity comes back, physically broken but a millionairess, to the town of Colobane. The town has lost its former glory and is poverty stricken. The millionairess, who is richer than the World Bank, offers to rehabilitate the town on one condition.

Well, in the present Uganda you can just about buy anybody, village, town or even the country. Take the case of the Dutchman who asked some villagers to adopt his name for the price of pigs. Recently, a deputy speaker asked the Chinese to build for the country a new parliament building. Did she think these Chinese are fools to give anything for free? Then there is the case of MP Ogong: He is the Lango joker who made a show of competing against Museveni for the NRM flag honcho. Recently he had to kneel and beg Museveni not to shut his radio station for hosting Mr. Otunnu, the president’s virulent critic. Were the Ugandan MPs not bought for merely $5,000 to vote overturning a vital clause in the constitution?

If you lived abroad for a while, come home and sample the nature of people. It is assumed that you have money, and people will do anything to gain your favor. Some will narrate how much you loved them before you escaped your own demons. They don’t tell you they love you—probably hedging their bets. Once you seem not to deliver, all bets are off: you will begin to hear vicious rumors. The rumormongers are not at fault since they never said they loved you—you loved them and now you betrayed them!

Beware of the women. They will confess to loving you the first time you meet even before you open your mouth. Horny white guys are especially vulnerable. Our girls meet them on the Internet and lure them to Kampala. Did you hear of the Dutchman who was taken to the village and shown the grave site of his “son?” Apparently after a vacation of sizzling hot sex, he went back home. The lady who gave him a memorable Mandingo good time called to say that she was “pregnant” and would appreciate his financial support. The poor white boy was happy to oblige.

You want to be a king of your clan, don’t you? All you have to do is convince Museveni that your clan will be nothing but NRM territory and, viola; you have a district or a kingdom if you are so inclined. Now, you will be elected area MP for many election cycles to come. If your stars are well aligned, the appointing authority might even make you an assistant minister—or rather state minister. What is the difference? A minister is a minister to the clansmen. You are now a big man among big men. You might even enter the rarefied kitchen cabinet—the gang of untouchables who have the ears of the king of kings, and who might afford to be naughty jerks without consequences. Now, the villagers can dream of development that will be promised over and over at every election cycle. No problem—the masses can live on hope alone. Didn’t the king of kings tell you to stay alive and healthy for oil moneys will soon come gushing in?

The road from Kalingi to Zambala is full of lake-like potholes and is an amalgam of red muddy porridge when it rains. Send a delegation to Rwakitura to tell the president that you will not vote NRM if your important access to civilization is not paved. Suddenly, money will appear out of thin air—thanks to classified military and state-house budgets. And don’t forget the creative accounting that will go into projects up North. You have your shiny Kalingi-Zambala road.

If you are not yet amazed, check out the packs of super hyenas. These are the lots who tear to shreds moneys donated for treatments of Aids, malaria and tuberculosis. When the super hyenas loot and share the CHOGM heist amongst themselves, they dare anyone to question them about the thievery. Some have no qualm about looting workers’ life savings. Worse still, the hapless workers can do nothing about it because they are not organized. Instead they make it hard on us, the wanainchi: we have to grease their scaly palms at licensing offices; we are harassed by policemen unless we give them chai; and security personnel shoot at us for no apparent reason. Name it; we are the butt of every miserable worker’s angst. 

The Days of the Cauldron is Nigh

In his usual self-adulations, many a time Museveni described the NRM government, a.k.a. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, as propped by a set of tri-cooking stones—the military being one of them. He has not disappointed himself after twenty four years in power. He wants more even as the food coming out of the pot is stale. Besides, cooking stones can often be unstable. What if one of them rolls? Guess what?

Not to worry. The nature of the Universe is change. After Winter comes Spring. After the Dry season, comes the Rainy season. After the revolution expels the old, a new order follows which must be tied to heaven and earth, must be solid and stable, must serve all people, and must be guided by the enlightened. If not, then the primitive cooking stones must be replaced by the ding, the ancient Chinese version of the cooking cauldron.

In ancient Chinese civilization the ding was a cast bronze cauldron with three legs and high loop handles cast into a rim. It stood directly over fire for cooking, and its handle allowed it to be lifted to and from the fire.

The ding symbolized the ideal person (akin to Confucius’ superior person), tempered by fire, standing solid and stable with food (his spirit) inside transformed for all to share in his noble courage and enlightened leadership. In today’s Uganda who more exemplifies this ideal than Dr. Besigye? He is the Uganda’s cooking ding. He has and continues to endure Museveni’s flames.
(Deng, 2006)

Unity Is Far Beyond the Horizon

It is interesting to see the Arusha East African legislatures taking themselves seriously about the East African Union. Whether they are emotionally rather than intellectually committed to that realisation is another matter. Or are they just going through the motion for the relatively lucrative paychecks? One also wonders whether the citizens of the various nations are as excited about the prospects of a union. What does it mean to them? Is it a life changer they can visualize?

One motivation of an East African government comes partly from a nostalgia of what used to be the East African Community. In its early heydays it was quite elegant, and could have been ahead of the EU. The EAC fell apart—thanks to Idi Amin and the ravenous Kenyatta’s Kenya. Have things changed such that strains and upheavals in one member state would not set the dream structure crumbling?

Another impetus to the East African government is the success of the European Union. This is a false hope, not unlike the fall of the Berlin Wall that initiated democratic movements across the globe but seems to bypass Africa. The EU did not come about out of thin air. The Europeans pulverized one another in primitive orgasmic violence for centuries. Exhaustion and cultural evolutions finally allowed them to see the follies of their ways, hence the trust and unity that spawned the union.

In the East African milieu there is the turn-coat Marxist Museveni who has become a champion of market economy. Market, market, market. All our problems will be solved and we will reach nirvana if only we could have more markets. Forget that trade beyond selling lagalagala (pancakes) can only thrive on trusts. There is no chasm between the Jaluos and Kikuyus of Kenya, and there is no potential powder keg. The Tutsis and Hutus in Rwanda and Burundi are love-struck with one another even if Kagame, the Tutsi dictator is gone. In Uganda Mr. Museveni peddles his get-rich scheme and the water is clear and all will be well even as he guns down his own citizens and is paranoid about the opposition, especially the daring Dr. Besigye.

What we have in East Africa are serious risks, not uncertainty that accompanies any progressive free-enterprise economy. In complex systems, which include the economy, the parts can self-organize randomly into an entity amidst uncertainty—the so-called “invisible hand.” However, there must be a stable global structure and, in the case of nations coming together, that structure comprises common generally accepted standards of behavior. Do these countries slated for the EA union have any common standards they subscribe to? If not, then let us go slow. Jointly building a fast train system traversing the prospective member states could be a good start to fire the imagination of the masses. What about an East African football league championed by the leaders?

True to Character

A dog always goes back to its own vomit and, so Museveni characteristically bared his ugly fangs. That he would go native against his perennial nemesis, Dr. Besigye, was expected. But even the teeming millions of peasants wished he had graduated to some semblance of a statesman that would be worthy of a future historical figure of pride. Instead, we are seeing what is turning into a demon before our very eyes. Can we have a genuine civilized debate rather than the banal chicanery and abuse of power?

Pity those who are burdened with investigating the doctor for utterances they know quite well are spins out of context for political machination. He is panicking not unlike when he went physically to orchestrate the doctor’s arrest on his triumphal campaign march on Kampala. Now, instead of explaining the rationale for selling lakes, which his minister has confirmed, he resorts to obscurantism and underhanded tactics—symptoms of moral cowardice and depravity, sold as strength to the gullible.

Let us get back to the dilapidated infrastructures, deplorable health services, the millions who are left in the cold in the NRM “economic boom,” and the rampant corruptions and abuse of power. Who has been there at the helm for all these years and has not figured out how to run the country other than by intrigue and malevolent quest for self-perpetuation? Who, on the other hand, has shown unsurpassed courage in the face of a diabolical, maniacal dictatorship? Who gives a promise of changing the course of Uganda’s history?

This time around it is going to be different. In a rematch of the two titans, the choice is unequivocal. It would have been easier to succumb to exhaustion and despondency after what he has faced, but it is heart-warming to see Dr. Besigye staking his life upon his conviction for a more just Uganda society anchored on policies that would bring up the lot of the many.

Soko's Must-Read Pick

• Begged water does not quench thirst---Probably a Kiganda saying
R Dowden, Africa

• Then most damaging effect of colonialism was psychological: Africans have been so deeply scarred by white imperialism that they had lost their pride, their self-respect.---Until they stoop up, proud of being black and African, they would always be or make themselves victims.
Frantz Fannon in R Dowden, Africa

• In the end, the greatest impact of European imperialism in Africa may have been neither political nor economic. It may have been psychological: the destruction of the African self-belief
RD, Africa

• Some African empires in pre-colonial times had elements of totalitarian dictatorship. In the Zulu empire in Southern Africa, the Ashanti in West Africa and the Buganda Kingdom, the kings were virtual gods. But these empires were the exceptions rather than the rule. Most pre-colonial political systems contained strong democratic elements.
---------Although few African societies were pure democracies, some, like the Igbo of Nigeria, and the Acholi in Uganda, were almost egalitarian, at least among men.
R. Dowden, Africa, Pg. 71

• We imagine corruption to be like a tick on a dog. There are some places in Africa where the tick is bigger than the dog.
John Robertson in RD’s Africa
------------------------------------
Richard Dowden’s Africa is written for his fellow westerners who have little clues about the realities of Africa. Having not travelled far and wide in Africa, many Africans could learn from some pointers and nuggets of insights. Moreover, Chinua Achebe endorsed the book.

Mr. Dowden first came to Africa as a teacher in Buganda. Thereafter, he became a journalist and travelled widely throughout the Black Continent. Here is a sample of some pointers and questions that one might not have thought of or asked:

• Why is Somalia so dysfunctional despite having one language and one Sunni Moslem religion? Even more intriguing, in the milieu of chaos, they can build cellular networks that allow money transfers outside the common western networks many of us are familiar with? Why and how do they do it?

• Who are the Angolans (other than being MPLAs) that Savimbi fought? How were western oil companies able to operate during the Cold War when the MPLA was a communist outfit propped militarily by Cuba?

• What happened to Nkomo and the Ndebele after Mugabe’s Gukurahundi?

• Did you know that Southern Sudan could have become a French territory had the French not blinked at Fashoda?

• Why did Mbeki, a highly educated man, fail and was toppled by a street-smart hoodlum? So much about our preoccupation with mere book education.

• So, you thought Africans, even in the Diaspora, are so distrustful of one another that they are unable to do anything substantial. Find out about a Senegalese group with an amazing world-wide network.

• Did you know that there is an emerging crop of African managers who are as disciplined, ethical and sophisticated as any in New York, London or Tokyo?
Etc, etc, etc.

Who Has Benefited from Debt Forgiveness: Museveni or Ugandans?

In the movie, Bamako, African lawyers and administrators, supported by a western liberal, make the case of the onerous national debts of the least developed countries. A western bank official responds by attacking the mismanagement by these countries’ leaders. Who is right?

When the debt forgiveness was being debated in Washington some US legislators questioned the purchase of a very expensive private jet by Museveni at the same time as Uganda’s debt forgiveness was being debated. Museveni’s supporters, led by the Black Caucaus, faught off any attempt to derail the purchase. Thanks to expensive lobbying with Uganda’s taxpayers’ moneys. Uganda’s debt was forgiven, and American taxpayers footed the bill. It means now Uganda had money available it could use for purposes other than paying the principle and interests.

The motivation behind the debt forgiveness was that these countries could now have resources to improve the quality of life for their people. What has happened in Uganda since then?

First, Mr. Museveni purchased for himself a sleek jet, with operation costs running in the millions as he jets around the world. He has now retired the old one, and upgraded. Questions are abound as to what has been done with money from sale of the old jet.

Next, Museveni boldly defied the so-called development partners who bankroll his national budget to the tune of nearly 50%. He would not limit his military expenditure. He even created himself a well-armed battalion, headed by his son, for his personal protection.

The state house in Kampala was no longer good enough for him. He renovated the colonial government residence in Entebbe to the tune of billions of shillings. This is his new presidential palace.

Now there is talk of building a high-rise tower for himself and his prime minister.

All these expenditures and others would not have been possible without debt forgiveness. At the same time the healthcare system is a figment of what the British left and the Obote I government improved on. The roads improved for CHOGM are again falling apart.