Back to the Future with Warrior President Museveni

Here is the story of Uganda's past, when the warrior president had a cavalier attitude about children serving in his rebel army. I wonder which Africans he is talking about—I never heard of my elders talk about children going to any war front.

Now when he wants Uganda to be selected to the Security Council of the United Nations, does it mean he has renounced use of child soldiers in his next war adventure? The Huffington Post says NO. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/georgianne-nienaber/uganda-does-not-deserve-s_b_130853.html

Tonite--It is SALSA!

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Week-End Special: Nico Kassanda - Bougie Ya Motema

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Where is Uganda Going?

President George Bush, Jr. recently described Museveni as a strong leader, and state house was quick to laud the sentiment as if Ugandans would go gaga on it. Few were impressed. Incidentally, by strong did he mean a dictator? But then again, who really cares about what Bush says? He is a loser who is reviled by his countrymen and across the globe.

And talking about Museveni; where has he brought Uganda, and where is Uganda heading under his watch?—or is it his ownership?

No matter what the merits and the demerits of how he acquired ownership, we should all agree that we were accomplishes by our commission or omission. Since we all have vested interest in this property, called Uganda, let us take a check at the property as any conscientious property owner would do from time to time.

Governance

What was and what is?

1. NRA well received as they marched triumphantly on Kampala
2. NRA coalition government of sorts with good-natured people who thought they were dealing with well-meaning characters
3. NRA umbrella government where the true darkness begins to show
4. NRA Third-Term Project & Multi-party democracy fakery with the gloves off

What the future holds

It is no secret that 2011 is on many Ugandans’ minds—especially the political class who must of survival necessity be neurotic about the future. Here are some scenarios on how it could play out.

1. ANC-Style ejection of TOP DOG. The ouster of Mbeki of South Africa’s ANC says a lot about the mettle of the men and women of that country. Are there men and women like that in the NRA, aka NRM? We hear of rebel MPs and power-brokers who speak boldly. But do they have what it takes to engineer a bloodless coup? Can they tell the Top Dog to his face to step down?

2. Coalition a la Kenya and Zimbabwe. The last time Top Dog only garnered 59% of the popular vote in spite of the enormous government resources at his disposal to intimidate and rig. That number is important because it is the threshold when elections become competitive. Hence, the frantic gimmicks of Land Bill, Prosperity-for-all, or up-country premature political campaign tours. So, 2011 will be bloody and messy.

3. Self coup or a military coup. If the man who wants that “sweet-chair” with everything he has got sees no avenue to succeed himself through the ballot and, if the population says “enough is enough,” blood will again spill on the streets and the bush.

4. Top Dog is defeated. He hands over to successor and goes peacefully to Rwakitura to attend to his cattle that ruin the environment by adding tones of methane gas to the atmosphere

The Economy, Stupid

New buildings are everywhere in Kampala and around the country. As a good friend observed; there are now 70 hills instead of the seven filled with mansions. Let alone that most seems unplanned and ghetto like. In Gulu swamp lands have been drained and skyscrapers are rising and a once beautiful golf course has been parceled out to who-is-who of the town. If you know how to go about it, credit facilities are available for new enterprises, and many have prospered. Others have used the public coffer as an easy access to wealth and prosperity. Still others have used internal and external conflicts to enrich themselves.

In the midst of all these many have been left behind, and power, roads, and social services have gone to the dogs.

What was and what is?

1. NRA finds economy not yet recovered from the Amin’s 70s and further ruined by its bush war. The only way was but up
2. NRA Barter trade was a dud—nobody wanted it
3. NRA Marxist turned ravenous gun-totting Friedman capitalists

What the future holds

1. Continue with the invisible hand of the unfettered free market. It is unlikely that the wealth of the few will trickle down sufficiently to grease the pangs of sufferings and discontents of the many. And such disaffections that ensue can only be controlled by force. So, rather than bringing freedom as the IMF and World Bank would have us believe, we end up being oppressed and hungry.
2. Like many Asian countries, reject the IMF prescriptions and do some massive public works, public-private enterprises, encouraging particular areas of private endeavors, and impose high taxes on many consumer imports to allow local industries to grow.

Is America on its Last Death Bed?

Following the debacle on Wall Street a Uganda journalist opined that America is on its last death bed . Is it?

Any country’s direction and leadership is a reflection of the psyche of its general population. And so what spawned George Bush, uncalled-for war, and the debacle on Wall Street is a consequence of who has dominated the conversation in America for the last 20+ years. By the same token Ugandans should ask themselves why they have their kind of leadership, a de facto police state, a dilapidated infrastructure, and obscene poverty alongside obscene wealth.

In my view the Internet and Bill Gates have been the most recent spectacular gifts to the world, and their influence will continue to bring changes to the world for a long time. Another person that I think has had a recent profound effect on American conversation, which has extended to the rest of the world—courtesy of globalisation—, is a little Jew, called Milton Freidman.

It is now a fact that unbridled free market alone will not solve the economic and social woes of a society. But for over twenty years Friedman converts—mainly Right Wing Republicans—have sung: no new taxes, lower taxes, deregulation and privatization of even the military space. With the backlash in the southern states against Lyndon B Johnson’s Great Society policies, which were perceived as benefiting people they considered as less than humans—blacks—, white south soon left the Democratic Party in droves and found home in the Republican Party even if it was (and is) often against their economic interests. A new winning coalition was coddled up with Friedmantists—aka, fiscal conservatives—and evangelicals—aka social conservatives bent on saving the world from homosexuals, abortionists, or un-American religions and other unsavory lifestyles carryover from the sixties and seventies.

So, armed with conservative radio talk-show hosts like Rush Limbaugh, who has just signed an obscene contract running in the hundreds of millions, the messages of greed, intolerant and xenophobia have been pumped into the American heads. What happened in Rwanda when similar messages were pumped into Rwandese heads fourteen years ago?

Even if, unbelievably, a George Bush could rule America, the elections are often very close. This means close to 50% of the population, whose candidate lost, do not subscribe to the ethos of the winning side. All they need is to gain control of the conversation and win, and all will be well with America.

The Chinese and others will always play pivotal roles in the world for some time to come. I put my money on America to be a leading player for many years because it has the capacity to adopt and renew itself.

Here are some not so salient characteristics of America that are the real foundations of its strengths which many don’t see, ignore or take for granted:

1. Volunteerism. This is big on my list of a viable and strong community. Americans volunteer by the thousands in hospitals, public libraries, schools, soup kitchens for the poor, political campaigns, neighborhood activities, etc.

2. Giving. When they don’t have time to volunteer, or in addition, Americans give money and their assets by the billions every year.

3. Mortar & Iron Infrastructures. When I come from Europe and Africa I am each time hit by the sensation of large and well-paved roads and streets. It gets me each time, and I know I am in a different place. As I wait for almost 30 minutes at a railway-crossing to allow a mile-long cargo train with stacks of containers to speed by, I am overwhelmed with envy.

4. Diversity. The diversity of America provides it with a gene pool unmatched by any country in the world. This means talents that can ensure its survival are abounded.

5. A Living & Renewable Constitution. Freedom for the individual and free speech give real meaning to ownership of the country by everyone. While these may have been tempered with of late, America will learn to reconcile the new threats with its most cherished values just as it continues to refine its race relations.

6. Powerful and Responsive Local Governments. The city is probably the most powerful government that an individual comes in contact with everyday. It is efficient and manned by very bright people who get things done—potholes, garbage, water, police, etc.

7. Receptivity to and Owning of Alien Ideas. The irony of America is that, while it may be rigid in some ways—the only country that still operates in inches, miles, and pounds—it is receptive to exotic ideas and things. And so you find Eastern religions and foods in nearly every community in the country.

8. Efficient Processes. Everywhere you go you generally find well-choreographed processes and systems that provide for efficiencies, increased productivity, and livability.

9. Open Society. Beyond illegal activities, you can choose to live any way you want in America. This is important because it allows for creativity and a sense of individual worth.

Friedmantism Spawned the NSSF Saga

Privatization, deregulation, and cuts in social services are the mantras of the University of Chicago’s late Milton Friedman’s unfettered radical capitalism which has been in the vanguard of economics thought and practice in the last twenty plus years. When Keynesian and Developmentalist economics ruled the known world outside of the Soviet Union, Red China and other communist wanabe countries, Milton Friedman, his mentor Friedrich Hayek and their associates were in the Siberia of ideas.

Keynes’ mixed economy ethos created such safety nets as free medical benefits, public transpotation and social security in the developed world. These were good then and are good now.

Uganda’s developmentalism, which called for government participation in social services and economic activities of production, created UDC, well-serviced hospitals, well-run and funded government schools, East African Airlines—just to name a few of the collective wealth that uplifted a great percentage of the population. Unfortunately, while these were good then, they are no longer there.

As we all know radical fundamentalism--be it of the Nazi variety or of the religious kind-- succeeds best in chaos, terror and trauma of the population. And this atmosphere was created in Chile in early 70s, in which Friedman and his University of Chicago Latin acolytes were active participants. Soon the gains of a growing middle class achieved by Allende’s developmentalism were wiped out as inflation skyrocketed and local businesses were overwhelmed by imports. In the midst of all this a few people became filthy rich. This scenario repeated itself in the neighboring Argentina and Brazil, and became the standard too for neocolonialism and post-Soviet New World Order. If you see any resemblance to the Uganda of today, you may be right.

When Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan swashbuckled into the world scene and owned it, Milton Friedman was at last home, and his commandments became standard recipe’ for IMF and World Bank loans. Uganda, traumatized by war and a collapsed economy was the kind of candidate for Friedman’s experiment of unfettered capitalism —privatization, deregulation and cuts in social services—that would bring prosperity and freedom. Are you having a vertigo experience yet?

Soon when he took over the government by means of terror, Museveni toyed with the primitive barter trade. Before the population could blink, the one-time Marxist became an adherent of the IMF-World Bank-Friedmantism. Having a Mulokole family background —Uganda’s version of Christian Fundamentalism—the fanatic exactitude of extreme capitalism was a perfect fit in his mental process--free market will solve all the economic woes--accept Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Developmentalist assets were sold on the cheap giving rise to a new breed of super rich. Buildings sprouted in Kampala in a chaotic mish-mash. Meanwhile government schools, hospitals and roads became rat holes. While the economy supposedly grew at a clip of 6% or more, extreme capitalism has bred extreme poverty that is evidenced by beggars on the streets of Kampala.

It is in this milieu that the NSSF operates. The managers are bold enough to fib with processes, and a powerful man takes advantage because they don’t see any workers’ threat. Instead of this brand of capitalism bringing freedom, it can only be sustained by a police state that can arrest a workers’ MP out to organize his constituency. I bet, if the more than one million workers that contribute to NSSF were to organize a march of demonstration, they would be shot at or beaten. This is extreme capitalism, suckers—get used to it.


* The theme is culled from The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism—Naomi Klein

The Chickens Have Come Home to Roost on Wall Street

It is simple, yet complex. Stocks, bonds, and some of their sometime bastardized creations—mutual funds, hedge funds, options and derivatives—are the staples of Wall Street and its equivalents worldwide. Humans have always pooled their resources for the common good and prosperity of individuals. However, nothing has had such a profound effect on human fortunes—collectively as well as individually—than the concept of stocks and bonds.

It is simple. For a piece of paper, or now paperless “ownership on street name” you can get money to carry out your idea into production. If the idea succeeds, the contributors make a killing as the value of their contributions should rise as the widget sells. From time to time the widget maker may need additional long-term capital not readily available from banks. He can issue another piece of paper for money he promises to repay in a few years. Thus bonds were created. And governments use the bond tool, backed by taxation, to finance public projects.

Even when it remained that simple, there were already problems in paradise. The whole idea hinges on trust and public confidence. Since man is in a state of samsara, we are burdened with the delusion of greed. So we got the 1929 Stock Market Crash, the 1987 Black Monday and, now the 2008 Bush Depression.

In my younger days I happened to have worked, as a stockbroker, for almost four years at a branch of Merrill Lynch—now taken over by Bank of America. It was an experience far removed from the cattle herd-boy days in the grasslands of Acholiland. As a recruit I had to gather assets—meaning, bring in as much money as you can by all kinds of arcane investment products. It entailed contacting and playing with the well-offs. Once you gathered the assets, you moved them hither and thither—that is how a retail broker makes the big commissions. It was exciting, and it was fun when it lasted. But I lost sleep, became cocky, and was very unhappy.

The question some may be asking: Why were investment bankers like Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, and Merrill Lynch doing in the mortgage industry space, when it has been the province of regular banks like Bank of America? Blame Milton Friedman, head of the University of Chicago high priests of unfettered fundamentalist capitalism. The Friedmantists, in their Taliban-like zeal, influenced the deregulation in the financial industry that released the floodgate of Wall Street greed. Mortgage big daddies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac chopped the mortgage loans and represented them in stocks to be bought and sold by sweet-talking brokers. The Investment banker cowboys entered the mortgage-lending frenzy because they wanted the lucrative securitized mortgage products. When the subprime loans, funded by the Chinese and petro-dollars, tanked, the mortage-backed secuirities followed suit. What happened to you if you had billions of these junk stocks? Bankruptcy.

So, my prescription for the current credit and Wall Street debacle: keep it simple and keep it regulated because man is inherently evil.

Afrikan Super-Predators

(A small comment I made on this topic in The Monitor On-line was delected .So, I write this on the basis of that motivation!) This is what I had posted:

[The man—Mbabazi—is a typical cold-hearted Afrikan super-predator at the top of the food chain. He doesn’t give a damn if NSSF dumped workers’ money in a shell investment. Let them eat grass in their retirement years. Procurement law—what procurement law? If any was breached, blame NSSF, not him, so he says. This kind of arrogance, if unchecked, builds resentments.

One only has to look at the history of the man to understand that he is a cut-throat operator. Remember what happened in Kinkizi West in 2001. James Muzinguzi went to the High Court on complaints for violence and ballot-rigging. He won, and did the same at the appeal. Why then did he withdraw from the fresh by-election and allow Mbabazi to win by default? There is something dark and sinister about this Mbabazi.]


Super Minister, Amama Mbabazi

While their people mire in abject poverty there is a cabal of Afrikans at the top of the food chain who gorge on the available public resources without any conscience. Take the case of one Amama Mbabazi, the super Minister of Security in Uganda. He recently sold a piece of land for almost $7,000,000 to the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) , the US equivalent Social Security Administration. Many workers in Uganda rely on their contributions to the fund for part of their retirement livelihood. Unlike the US’ SSA, the Uganda’s NSSF can invest in the open market, and is known to take some risky moves.
An ex-minister, one Zoe Bakoko Bakoru is alleged to have fled Uganda on allegation of fraudulent NSSF housing development project

Any public official can do private personal business with a public entity in Uganda. While this is a serious weakness in the Uganda’s mode of capitalism, there are some tepid controls that the public entity has to follow in its transactions. This sale was done without a bid, contrary to the NSSF’s requirement. This is a first red flag. Secondly, a meeting memo alleges that a board member voiced reservations in the deal because of the status of the seller. And the CEO of the body advised the seller to name an agent to act on his behalf to alley any suggestion of impropriety. In then comes an alleged partner, Mr. Nzeyi who supposedly conducted the business of one Arma Ltd., the corporation of—you guessed right—Mr. Amama Mbabazi. It gets even worse: some of the land was found to be occupied by tenants, and some of it was swampy.

Let us cut to the chase. Pure and simple—this is influence peddling. The man sold his land to NSSF because he was a minister—a powerful one at that. The explanation of willing buyer willing seller doesn’t even arise. Knowing that he was selling an occupied and swampy land, which availability for its development by NSSF would be fraught with challenges, was cold-hearted and cynical of the interests of the workers of Uganda. Consider this: President Museveni, in the mean time, is raving like a Tasmanian devil in his quest to enact a bill that would make it illegal to evict a tenant from any land. This will, therefore, make it difficult for NSSF to develop the Mbabazi land by tying valuable capital in long legal battle with the tenants. Additionally, tree-huggers may have environmental issue with the swampy part of the land.

This kind of hard-nosed behavior doesn’t come out of the blue—it is not a flash in the pan. Few people change fundamentally—a leopard does not change its spots. One incident that should send chills down the spine of Ugandans is the 2001 election in Kinkizi West—Mbabazi’s constituency. It is alleged that it was marred by violence and ballot-rigging. James Muzinguzi , Mbabazi's opponent, went to the High Court and won. On appeal he also won. By the time of fresh by-election Mr. Mbabazi was already a Security Minister, and it is alleged that he dispatched 7000 military personnel to the constituency area. That was enough to persuade Mr. Muzinguzi to withdraw, thereby allowing Mbabazi to win by default.

These kinds of things create resentments. The nature of this man is dark and sinister. I shudder as I see him jockeying to replace another scary guy at the helm of Uganda. What if we just take a little and give a little so that all have a chance to prosper? What world will it be? After all, whether we like or not, we end up in only six feet by two piece of real estate to be consumed by maggots—that is, if we are lucky. Others' remains have been munched by wild boars in Ituri Forests or the grasslands of Acoli and Sudan.

Lipstick on a Pig

Here States side, “lipstick on a pig” has become the whining battle cry of the Republicans. Obama had made a statement to the effect that however McCain-Palin dress itself, it is still more of a continuation of the Bush admin. —i.e., even if you put a lipstick on a pig, it still remains a pig. McCain had used the same phrase in describing Hillary Clinton's health plan. But the wily Republicans latched on to that, corrupting it as a negative attack on Palin, who had earlier described herself as a ferocious pitbull (dog) hockey mom with lipstick. Come on! Give me a break.
Get back to the program people—health care, the tanking economy, tarnished reputation abroad, disaster capitalism, etc, etc.

To Sista Beti Kamya: It should Not be Personal

I am not associated with FDC other than being an admirer of Besigye’s courage to take on the man Ugandans are scared of. It was amazing reading Beti Kamya’s latest cat fight with FDC which borders on an ego trip. The fight is about her position in FDC, which she has not advanced any better by the public mud wrestling. Instead she may have scared off even would-be suitors from other parties. Life is not fair. If, for the time being, she is not getting what she wants, a professional would lick her wounds and either gets out of the party or gets to work to gain favor in the party. If, for example, she delivered Buganda to FDC, the power that be within FDC would be licking her feet,

There is some wisdom in what Museveni says about “talking in the wrong forum,” –however, with the caveat that it should only be limited to the workings of a party or an organization. Fundamental policy and philosophical differences have no forum restrictions because they are in the national interests at large. If Beti Kamya has any such differences, she can shout to the top of Mt. Rwenjori. As it is now, she is being infantile and a loser.

The Palin Factor

Is she a game changer? For McCain, it has given his campaign a new verve. The right wing is all fired up. For Obama, it has become trickier. How do you handle a feisty woman who is on your tail and you don’t want to alienate the sisterhood? This is no time for scratching your head, brother--you either get it right or you will be rising for her from the Senate floor before you know it and wished you had done something about her calling you a mere "community organizer."

She learned well from Hillary. When the media is rightly doing their job of probing and disseminating information, accuse it of gender bias. That often works for the cowardly ones, but I like it when one female journalist declared that the media has an obligation to find out more about this woman who could potentially be the president of the US of A. She has been thrust on the national scene and, within sixty days we have to make a choice based on what. I say: go media—dig and dig.

And then this family thing; is it fair play or no-go area? Well, her beautiful family and her idea of family values are the ones being touted. Since that is the case, don’t we have an obligation to know more? So, Todd, beware the media hounds are coming.

And then Hillary, Hillary, Hillary, the ever calculating opportunistic political animal. She is not going to be anybody’s attack dog on Palin—so she says. What is your use then, Hillary? She is probably tickling all over with the prospect of competing against her in 2012.

Sarah Who?

The timing was a fighter-pilot tactician at his best. Surprise! Kaboom! But then; what a cynical dude! It has worked for so-called evangelicals. Will it work with the Clinton women who were partly the likely target?

She is a member of the NRA, which means she is against Gun Control. She is anti-abortion, which means she opposses the so-called women's rights to their reproductive bodies. She is a conservative family-value advocate who had her daughter knocked out by a hockey stud. All these we hear are very appealing to the conservative right-wing republicans. Is it the same with the Clinton women?

My other question is: can this Sarah Palin even point at a world map and identify where Uganda is? She might even ask where Amin is now. Let alone Uganda, can she gain respect from Putin just in case Old McCain croaks? That is, if he ever wins.

We sure are living in interesting times, with more drama to come.