Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Is It God or Is It Us?
Snack for Thought: We are in the age of the unthinkable (Ramo, ’09): terrorists that are willing to die for a cause even if they have as yet to strike us, diseases that can spread quickly by planes, and the clamors for resources to satisfy unbridled consumerism resulting in cataclysmic ecological upsets. If we are still stuck in the mundane struggles with a medieval peasant dictator, how are we to handle these challenges that can even disorient established democracies?
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The other day Janet Museveni thanked God for making her minister of the Karamojong—those naked, clitoris-chopping barbarian cattle thieves. Did she really expect us to believe her? If she did, then may be she thought that, after letting her bo rule us with an iron fist for so long, we are just plain stupid. Is that assessment far from the truth? The last time I saw, the man was walking one step at a time like the rest of us—nothing celestial about him.
Let us come down to earth—in the realm of humans. The appointment was a calculated move to lock the Jong votes comes 2011—plain and simple. And may be, in addition, it was a training ground for bigger things to come. The Lesson: The next time someone ladles to you a toxic brew of politics and religion the way this couple does, grab your voter card and run for the hills—far away as you can. Their intent is to numb your senses and make you dumb and mute to their manipulations. In one hand they have the bible, in the other the sword, and in their mouths loads of your taxes to do with as they please.
Then before we know it, as the Acoli try to find their bearings, one so-called bishop goes about in Acoliland and proclaims: the problems the Acoli face is because they have veered away from God. Come again, bishop—I object.
The Acoli problems run deep. Yes. But God has nothing to do with it. A people fail or succeed based on how they organize themselves. They have to ask themselves: Are our systems—social institutions and cultural values—resilient and adaptive? Can the tree bend and come back to the original form when the gales have passed? The same applies to individuals. If you organize poorly, you get poor results and inability “…to withstand surprises…” or “…to absorb the worst nightmares.” (Ramo, ‘09). If you organize smartly and consciously, your probability of succeeding increases. If you are just wandering about and leaving things to chance, you are at the mercy of chance and those who organize well. It is GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out).
Soon there will be Martyrs Day. Men and women of faith will walk hundreds of miles to Namugongo with serious conviction and devotion to the people who were roasted by a crazy tribal king more than two centuries ago. There will be pageantry and celebrations. Beyond the exciting spectacles, the camaraderie and health benefits of walking many miles, may be every other year we dedicate to mourning in memoriam of the inauspicious beginning of what came to be known as Uganda. In the process, we should leave God and the saints out of it and question ourselves man-to-man, woman-to-woman, clan-to-clan and tribe-to-tribe as to why ever since we have had leaders who abuse us and kill us. When or if we find the answer, may be we can find the solution and free ourselves from oppressions.
What about if we begin by taking to heart the seemingly sappy notion of: I am my brother’s keeper. At least that brought us from the caves amidst scary thunders, lighting and wild beasts from which, in fear, we conjured up the ideas of a god or gods. Thereafter the clever ones amongst us usurped the gods and gained control over our minds and dominion over our physical bodies and resources. And many still do in various guises. We can pray all we want until the cows come home. No can do. It is us and our minds. Add to that a belief in duty to society and pursuing our individual interests in congruence. God has nothing to do with our fates and conditions.
Clarity about causes and effects is another area that can help. We need intellectual honesty. If a person says, for example, that the reason the peasants in Buganda are joined to the hip of Museveni is because of such atrocities as “panda gari” or injustices by some UPC apparatchiks, she is mentally lazy. The periods of contentions with the “Anyanyas,” who purportedly perpetrated these atrocities are very brief in the annals of the 500-year history which Buganda is very proud of, and which formed the Ganda psychic. Besides, the Anyayas were decisively routed. There must, therefore, be something else at play. Could it be that the Museveni rule resembles the autocratic, all-powerful mode a peasant Ganda is more familiar with? The Museveni power touches them up close in the LC system. Big Daddy is watching!
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
The Golden Gal
We would like to heartedly congratulate Ms Nambooze on her win. She is a woman after our hearts. She loves her people, and she is not shy and apologetic about it. And that is how it should be. To love your family is not to hate any other family—that is just the way it is.
When she was haunted by the power that be, our hearts bled. Parliament will give her an opportune forum to shine, and shine we are confident she will. Go, girl!
The Prisoner's Dilemma
In a single combat, if the enemy is less skillful than ourselves, if his rhythm is disorganized, or if he has fallen into evasive or retreating attitudes, we must crush him straightaway, with no concern of his presence and without allowing him space for breath. It is essential to crush him all at once. The primary thing is not to let him recover his position, not even a little.”
(Miyamoto Musashi)
Humans are the champions of cooperation: from hunter-gatherer societies to nation-states, cooperation is the decisive organizing principle of human society. No other life form on Earth is engaged in the same complex games of cooperation and defection.”
(Martin Nowak)
In the hierarchical power-based societies of the chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas, the weak can form coalitions to restrain support, or even drive out over-dominating superior
(Kaplan & Kaplan, 2009)
----------------------------------------
In the days of the Shogun there was no greater samurai than Miyamoto Musashi. He won all of his major sixty battles, and none was more spectacular and finely executed than against the aristocratic Sasaki Kojiro.
Musashi’s first winning strategy was to make Kojiro wait thereby tactically getting him angry. Second, when he arrived by boat in the early morning dawn, he had his back to the rising sun which shone into Kojiro’s eyes.
Musashi exemplifies the essence of the zero-sum games that are germane to certain conflicts and competitions. But what separates him—a cultured, honorable warrior—and the common variety beastlike creatures, is not throwing sand into the opponent’s eyes—that is, he always played fair to the standards of a true samurai of his days. An honorable warrior doesn’t threaten to or closes radio stations (supposedly beneficiaries of his policies) just because he doesn’t want the hapless villagers to hear the other side of the truths of his rule. An honorable warrior doesn’t change the rule of the game midway so that he can always win. In The Last King of Scotland, Idi Amin Dada restrains an underling who was beating him in a staged swimming competition. Is that any different from bribing the legislatures to change the constitution for you? Only a gangster warrior concocts crimes against opponents in his perverted attempts to derail them.
While there are zero-sum games, there are also many occasions for non zero-sum games that call for cooperation. Thus we have coined phrases like: win-win, you scratch my back and I scratch yours, or one good turn deserves another or the Acoli’s “mon nywal ki wadgi” (literally: women can bear children with one another—improbable, but in impossibilities there lie discoveries, and that you could help one another when caught up in the same dire straights). Even zero-sum games may call for elements of cooperation, called, “taking whole.” Thus you do not beat your opponent to a pulp since, once he has learnt his lesson, you can turn him into an ally to achieve more.
A non zero-sum game can be illustrated by the Prisoner’s Dilemma. In its simplest form, if two prisoners cooperate with one another and don’t rat on each another, they have the best chance of getting the least time in jail. If both rat on one another they will both have longer time. If only one rats, he walks free, but the other gets the stiffest sentence. The dilemma is that since the two are isolated and do not know what the other would do, the best rational option—each man for himself— would be to rat. This last option is the behavior you would expect of the common variety goat thief. More sophisticated players would cooperate and follow the first option.
It is not an overstatement to say that the opposition is in a prison of some sort. The various political parties can choose to be capricious and behave lower than bonobos, or choose the path of collective survival against a formidable force.
Bidandi Ssali is not a cause for worry since he will get no more votes than his family and workers at his amusement park can provide. Even then, one would have expected this good man to lend his support to a collective cause. Instead he is just a whimsical prosaic old man buying a sports car and taking on a new bride—a futile middle-age crisis.
Nothing need be said about Mao anymore but watch him in amusement as he prances around with silly hyperboles that he is the most popular of the opposition candidates. We know better.
(Miyamoto Musashi)
Humans are the champions of cooperation: from hunter-gatherer societies to nation-states, cooperation is the decisive organizing principle of human society. No other life form on Earth is engaged in the same complex games of cooperation and defection.”
(Martin Nowak)
In the hierarchical power-based societies of the chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas, the weak can form coalitions to restrain support, or even drive out over-dominating superior
(Kaplan & Kaplan, 2009)
----------------------------------------
In the days of the Shogun there was no greater samurai than Miyamoto Musashi. He won all of his major sixty battles, and none was more spectacular and finely executed than against the aristocratic Sasaki Kojiro.
Musashi’s first winning strategy was to make Kojiro wait thereby tactically getting him angry. Second, when he arrived by boat in the early morning dawn, he had his back to the rising sun which shone into Kojiro’s eyes.
Musashi exemplifies the essence of the zero-sum games that are germane to certain conflicts and competitions. But what separates him—a cultured, honorable warrior—and the common variety beastlike creatures, is not throwing sand into the opponent’s eyes—that is, he always played fair to the standards of a true samurai of his days. An honorable warrior doesn’t threaten to or closes radio stations (supposedly beneficiaries of his policies) just because he doesn’t want the hapless villagers to hear the other side of the truths of his rule. An honorable warrior doesn’t change the rule of the game midway so that he can always win. In The Last King of Scotland, Idi Amin Dada restrains an underling who was beating him in a staged swimming competition. Is that any different from bribing the legislatures to change the constitution for you? Only a gangster warrior concocts crimes against opponents in his perverted attempts to derail them.
While there are zero-sum games, there are also many occasions for non zero-sum games that call for cooperation. Thus we have coined phrases like: win-win, you scratch my back and I scratch yours, or one good turn deserves another or the Acoli’s “mon nywal ki wadgi” (literally: women can bear children with one another—improbable, but in impossibilities there lie discoveries, and that you could help one another when caught up in the same dire straights). Even zero-sum games may call for elements of cooperation, called, “taking whole.” Thus you do not beat your opponent to a pulp since, once he has learnt his lesson, you can turn him into an ally to achieve more.
A non zero-sum game can be illustrated by the Prisoner’s Dilemma. In its simplest form, if two prisoners cooperate with one another and don’t rat on each another, they have the best chance of getting the least time in jail. If both rat on one another they will both have longer time. If only one rats, he walks free, but the other gets the stiffest sentence. The dilemma is that since the two are isolated and do not know what the other would do, the best rational option—each man for himself— would be to rat. This last option is the behavior you would expect of the common variety goat thief. More sophisticated players would cooperate and follow the first option.
It is not an overstatement to say that the opposition is in a prison of some sort. The various political parties can choose to be capricious and behave lower than bonobos, or choose the path of collective survival against a formidable force.
Bidandi Ssali is not a cause for worry since he will get no more votes than his family and workers at his amusement park can provide. Even then, one would have expected this good man to lend his support to a collective cause. Instead he is just a whimsical prosaic old man buying a sports car and taking on a new bride—a futile middle-age crisis.
Nothing need be said about Mao anymore but watch him in amusement as he prances around with silly hyperboles that he is the most popular of the opposition candidates. We know better.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
A Vote for Mao is a Vote for Museveni
For those Northerners who see a Great North Hope in Mao, when will you ever learn? Think again. For the Baganda and others who think a DP led by Mao would deliver them from Beelzebub, don’t be duped. I was once also dazzled by the Mao phenomenon—but no more.
I developed my awareness of Uganda politics in the 90s when Mao’s oratory and writings were legendary. In fact, he never fails to remind others how powerful his class of parliamentarians was in the so-called 6th parliament—the days of no-party and individual merit. But individually what did Mao achieve, and what price did he pay for his stances, if any? For example, Museveni never targets him on the controversial Bujagali dam impasse’. Instead, names of people, like Lukyamuzi comes up, and he paid the political price. Reagan Okumu paid with jail time on some trumped-up charges.
During this period, star struck, in an online chat group, I proposed a Mao Scholarship. In hindsight, I am glad that those who knew better shot the idea down. Later on I collaborated with him on one or two projects. In time I peeled the onion of Mao’s personality and got smatterings in my eyes. It is all slick and slyness, and about Project Mao.
You can see Project Mao heading to Yale for a one-year junket even at the height of great sufferings in his constituency due to the LRA war. Is this the man you would want on your side in times of your greatest need? The Yale experience is a wonderful one, but the timing speaks of the man.
And speaking of the LRA; now he is seen as a champion of the peace process. On the same online group I once asserted that the LRA had already lost and should give up and stop the sufferings. They did not occupy any piece of real estate in Uganda and were venting their anger on the people they alleged to liberate, so I innocently opined. I opened a hornet’s nest. The level of hostilities surprised me, and Mao was no exception. Surprisingly now he gets the credit for bringing peace, while many I know who worked behind the scenes to curb the LRA atrocities are instead vilified.
In parliament Mao was part of a shady “Christian” MPs. A similar group of US state legislators once invited him, and that was where I first met him. He was forceful and assertive with his views. My LRA stance was still in his mind, and he sought to correct me that the LRA was not defeated since theirs was a hit-and-run strategy. Duh! I did not pursue the matter further. To the audience of his host family he lauded his sponsoring of school children in Uganda. What was that about? I left disappointed.
There are many incidences that make me distrust Mao completely.
Some Acoli group had invited him to grace their meeting in Toronto. Instead Mao chose to attend the Banyakigezi function in Washington DC. There is no problem with that; after all he is a Munyankole nephew and aspires to national leadership. How would you have handled it? Even a political novice would have found a solution without spurning one group: a simple drop-in at each venue. Apparently he saw no political leverage with the Acoli group, and he shamelessly did what he did just as he is behaving now.
If Mao and Museveni had their way, Museveni’s concentration camps would have become towns, leaving vacated lands for commercial farming. The idea of consolidating land for large-scale farming was a concept floated by a Museveni’s American advisor. Mao fell in lockstep with the inimical plan that would have made millions destitute.
Who will not remember Museveni’s brother with his schemes for Acoli land? Thanks for the outcries; he is now doing it quietly, and at smaller scales through Acoli sisters who find him attractive. No problem with that. Acoli always believed in strengthening the gene pool from without. We don’t marry cousins. But that is another story.
The original vehicle for land acquisition was Divinity Corporation of which Mao had a role. Mao only resigned when it became public knowledge, and he sensed that, while Acoli could be easily divided in other areas, land was a no-go area.
Appearance and perceptions are important for confidence, or lack thereof, in public service. No politician does anything for nothing. So, if you are an opposition heavyweight, how can your wife be employed by your opponent’s wife, who is also politically active? Mao’s wife is or was employed by Museveni’s wife. What is going on here? Some dark stories are already in the air, and Mao maybe at ransom to do Museveni’s biddings.
And the list goes on. Ugandans, Mao candidature is not about you; it is about himself. He is a spoiler, who is beholden to Museveni: Museveni’s win is his win. Don’t be fooled by his slick language. Kill the Mao Project for your own good--abort it still-born!
I developed my awareness of Uganda politics in the 90s when Mao’s oratory and writings were legendary. In fact, he never fails to remind others how powerful his class of parliamentarians was in the so-called 6th parliament—the days of no-party and individual merit. But individually what did Mao achieve, and what price did he pay for his stances, if any? For example, Museveni never targets him on the controversial Bujagali dam impasse’. Instead, names of people, like Lukyamuzi comes up, and he paid the political price. Reagan Okumu paid with jail time on some trumped-up charges.
During this period, star struck, in an online chat group, I proposed a Mao Scholarship. In hindsight, I am glad that those who knew better shot the idea down. Later on I collaborated with him on one or two projects. In time I peeled the onion of Mao’s personality and got smatterings in my eyes. It is all slick and slyness, and about Project Mao.
You can see Project Mao heading to Yale for a one-year junket even at the height of great sufferings in his constituency due to the LRA war. Is this the man you would want on your side in times of your greatest need? The Yale experience is a wonderful one, but the timing speaks of the man.
And speaking of the LRA; now he is seen as a champion of the peace process. On the same online group I once asserted that the LRA had already lost and should give up and stop the sufferings. They did not occupy any piece of real estate in Uganda and were venting their anger on the people they alleged to liberate, so I innocently opined. I opened a hornet’s nest. The level of hostilities surprised me, and Mao was no exception. Surprisingly now he gets the credit for bringing peace, while many I know who worked behind the scenes to curb the LRA atrocities are instead vilified.
In parliament Mao was part of a shady “Christian” MPs. A similar group of US state legislators once invited him, and that was where I first met him. He was forceful and assertive with his views. My LRA stance was still in his mind, and he sought to correct me that the LRA was not defeated since theirs was a hit-and-run strategy. Duh! I did not pursue the matter further. To the audience of his host family he lauded his sponsoring of school children in Uganda. What was that about? I left disappointed.
There are many incidences that make me distrust Mao completely.
Some Acoli group had invited him to grace their meeting in Toronto. Instead Mao chose to attend the Banyakigezi function in Washington DC. There is no problem with that; after all he is a Munyankole nephew and aspires to national leadership. How would you have handled it? Even a political novice would have found a solution without spurning one group: a simple drop-in at each venue. Apparently he saw no political leverage with the Acoli group, and he shamelessly did what he did just as he is behaving now.
If Mao and Museveni had their way, Museveni’s concentration camps would have become towns, leaving vacated lands for commercial farming. The idea of consolidating land for large-scale farming was a concept floated by a Museveni’s American advisor. Mao fell in lockstep with the inimical plan that would have made millions destitute.
Who will not remember Museveni’s brother with his schemes for Acoli land? Thanks for the outcries; he is now doing it quietly, and at smaller scales through Acoli sisters who find him attractive. No problem with that. Acoli always believed in strengthening the gene pool from without. We don’t marry cousins. But that is another story.
The original vehicle for land acquisition was Divinity Corporation of which Mao had a role. Mao only resigned when it became public knowledge, and he sensed that, while Acoli could be easily divided in other areas, land was a no-go area.
Appearance and perceptions are important for confidence, or lack thereof, in public service. No politician does anything for nothing. So, if you are an opposition heavyweight, how can your wife be employed by your opponent’s wife, who is also politically active? Mao’s wife is or was employed by Museveni’s wife. What is going on here? Some dark stories are already in the air, and Mao maybe at ransom to do Museveni’s biddings.
And the list goes on. Ugandans, Mao candidature is not about you; it is about himself. He is a spoiler, who is beholden to Museveni: Museveni’s win is his win. Don’t be fooled by his slick language. Kill the Mao Project for your own good--abort it still-born!
Sunday, May 16, 2010
A Loser's Game
Chameleon in Cahoots with BeelzebubWhat is DP’s rationale for going solo—a lone ranger? If we are to believe, we are told it is on account of past experiences with coalitions. If DP got the short end in past bargains, whose faults were those? Of course, if you piously proclaim that you are a party of diplomacy, and war is off your table, what do you expect in a neighborhood where muscles garner respect? Deal with what is—not what will be or should be—and you might fair better.
In the playground, after many sleepless nights, little Okello takes on the local bully. It is not a foolhardy gambit sans scheming. Often than not the bully has his nose rubbed in the sand.
So, even if you have only sticks for artillery, you boldly declare: As to war, we keep our options open. That speaks balls rather than the wimpy, wet sissy talk of diplomacy ad infinitum.
Like all constructs of nature, all indications are that the NRM has run its course—has atrophied. All that is left are the gasps of a dying horse. But don’t be fooled—it is still a dangerous, formidable House of Museveni. However, all the talk of the army firmly in his grip should be taken cum grano salis. Of course, the image creates an aura of invincibility that is music to Museveni’s ears. Statistically, the military mirrors the general population, and there is a predictable percentage of service personnel who would be happy to let the dog go.
Most political parties do not seem to have their heads in the clouds. They are realistic, hence the birth of the IPC. They know that the NRM—now House of Museveni—has had a head start, and there are entrenched self-interests inextricably linked to it. For these self-interests, it is not about ideological pursuits, nor any transcendental fidelity to principles for the good of the country. For them it is about their stomachs. Theirs is an existential enterprise, the fruits of which are power, wealth and privilege.
This is a tough nut to crack, and the IPC should be commended and rewarded for cobbling a strategic game plan for ousting Museveni and his cabal. It is not for its sake, but in the interests of saving the country from further ruin.
DP, on the other hand, is full of itself. Blinded by ambition it would rather sacrifice an opportunity. Mao’s signature is written all over the charade. The artifice of consulting with lawyers was a camouflage. We get a glimpse of the preordained stance from a series of speeches Mao made. According to him he is still young, and will still get his chance in future elections cycles. Why not then join the IPC? In his mind, he is the heir apparent to Museveni. In his calculation, even if Museveni could win now, he would be too diminished the next time around and, he, Mao would be a shoe in. On the other hand, an IPC candidate’s win might mean ten more years of waiting, and by that time Mao would be a doddering old man. So, why not urinate on the IPC idea and act as the spoiler?
This fancy Mao footwork might blow up in his face. The reported tenuous support in the North might not hold that much water in votes. The IPC simply need to work to blunt the contrived Mao’s razzle-dazzles. The IPC candidate has a chance to take Buganda considering all the NRM bumbling in the region. Where necessary, the IPC can make informal strategic alliances with the likes of Nambooze, a proven known quantity for goodness. If these scenarios hold, Mao will be a Ralph Nader of Uganda—a spoiler who will be shunned into a nonentity with no forum for his agenda—which is himself.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Tactical Superiority Makes the Difference
• Herod’s Law: You fuck them, or you get fucked.
Let us face it: conflict and competition are the staples of existence. Losing can have dire consequences. While winning can mean having an harem to sire progenies to ensure genetic immortality. So, winning is the only thing that matters—it is everything. Draws are simply wins on both sides, and they may not resolve matters—ultimately one side must win—as per Amin Dada’s “completely, and also.” Caution: this does not mean barbaric destruction and/or humiliation. It is about taking whole.
A master carpenter sets out to make a chair. He has a way to create a masterpiece. Like the carpenter, a master tactician also has a way. His masterpiece is a clear, unequivocal win.
The way of winning is being nimble on one’s feet, using ad hoc tactics from moment to moment as the occasion calls: sometimes offensive; other times defensive; and, at times, it pays to stay put and neutral. All this in the context of a mind that is spacious, rhythmic and orderly flexible, while taking into account a given REACT (Resources, Environment, Attitude, Concentration and Timing). (Krause, 1999).
To the master tactician knowledge is an indispensible resource—it’s worth its weight in gold bullion. Many sage tacticians of antiquity can’t overemphasize enough the importance of knowledge of self and the adversary. Take the case of Museveni who has ruled Uganda for nearly a quarter century: other than the confused multitudes that he manipulates at will, those who want his job have sacks of information to work with. Instead, he is left to frame the debate and set the tone. When he punches, some are left bleeding and react like amateurs.
At every opportunity, Mr. Museveni rails against the opposition, calling them liars, when, in fact, his lying is legendary. With his status, of course, the peasants get to believe authority! It is not too late to start defining him as a liar. There are numerous examples available. Don’t assume that the electorate should know. Constant reminder is the key to getting to them. Of course, as we all know, he is wont to get angry. That is the point: get him angry into reaction modes.
Surprise, fear, deception and disruption are all tools to throw an opponent off his game. So, when an also-running dude says he is compiling a list to use against Museveni, where is the element of surprise? If he meant to threaten and create fear, the man is probably in Memsahib’s boudoir and derisively telling her: Look at this joker! If you are going to praise the man’s contrived National Plan as the said also-running fellow did, why is he then running anyway? Why not call him “Uncle,” and let us go home?
Now, the buzzword is "societal transformation." How many cockamamie high-sounding schemes have been peddled for decades without measurable results? If you cannot point this weakness and offer concrete alternative vision, do not waist anybody’s time.
In the final analysis, it is Herod’s Law: You fuck them, or you get fucked.
Let us face it: conflict and competition are the staples of existence. Losing can have dire consequences. While winning can mean having an harem to sire progenies to ensure genetic immortality. So, winning is the only thing that matters—it is everything. Draws are simply wins on both sides, and they may not resolve matters—ultimately one side must win—as per Amin Dada’s “completely, and also.” Caution: this does not mean barbaric destruction and/or humiliation. It is about taking whole.
A master carpenter sets out to make a chair. He has a way to create a masterpiece. Like the carpenter, a master tactician also has a way. His masterpiece is a clear, unequivocal win.
The way of winning is being nimble on one’s feet, using ad hoc tactics from moment to moment as the occasion calls: sometimes offensive; other times defensive; and, at times, it pays to stay put and neutral. All this in the context of a mind that is spacious, rhythmic and orderly flexible, while taking into account a given REACT (Resources, Environment, Attitude, Concentration and Timing). (Krause, 1999).
To the master tactician knowledge is an indispensible resource—it’s worth its weight in gold bullion. Many sage tacticians of antiquity can’t overemphasize enough the importance of knowledge of self and the adversary. Take the case of Museveni who has ruled Uganda for nearly a quarter century: other than the confused multitudes that he manipulates at will, those who want his job have sacks of information to work with. Instead, he is left to frame the debate and set the tone. When he punches, some are left bleeding and react like amateurs.
At every opportunity, Mr. Museveni rails against the opposition, calling them liars, when, in fact, his lying is legendary. With his status, of course, the peasants get to believe authority! It is not too late to start defining him as a liar. There are numerous examples available. Don’t assume that the electorate should know. Constant reminder is the key to getting to them. Of course, as we all know, he is wont to get angry. That is the point: get him angry into reaction modes.
Surprise, fear, deception and disruption are all tools to throw an opponent off his game. So, when an also-running dude says he is compiling a list to use against Museveni, where is the element of surprise? If he meant to threaten and create fear, the man is probably in Memsahib’s boudoir and derisively telling her: Look at this joker! If you are going to praise the man’s contrived National Plan as the said also-running fellow did, why is he then running anyway? Why not call him “Uncle,” and let us go home?
Now, the buzzword is "societal transformation." How many cockamamie high-sounding schemes have been peddled for decades without measurable results? If you cannot point this weakness and offer concrete alternative vision, do not waist anybody’s time.
In the final analysis, it is Herod’s Law: You fuck them, or you get fucked.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
All the Facts, Miss
Selective perception confirms our prejudice; then selective memories reassure us that this prejudice is consistent with experience—and it flows along automatically, leaving us a clear conscience. Kaplan & Kaplan
Human intellectual progress, such as it has been, results from a long struggle to see things “as they are,” or in the most universally comprehensible way, and not as projections of our own emotions. Ehrenreich
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The other day a lady from West Nile wrote in local daily. She felt that a prospective presidential aspirant was not being completely forthright. He supposedly asked for investigations into some of the murkiest past atrocities which the winners and losers alike get red faces to distance themselves from: You did it. I did not; you did it.
Our fair lady’s problem was that the said aspirant did not mention the traumas of her people in the immediate post- Idi Amin. For example, you could feel her pain as she told of her people going into exile as the winners terrified the people of West Nile. No excuse here. But the lady did not mention the nine years of Idi Amin’s horrors in which some West Nilers are perceived to be culpable. Unfortunately, the wrong-headed dynamics is that a people carry the sins of its sons. All the facts, miss.
Then, comes the recalcitrant ex-FDC lady—she of the federalism crusade. Check out some of what she had to say.
She declared: The problem of Uganda originated with the British ferrying resources to Britain. Now, the unitary Uganda government is doing similarly as it sucks taxes from the regions to the seat of power in Kampala. This sucking will not stop with federalism. In fact, the taxation structures will become more complex: The states and kingdoms will have to exact their pounds of flesh, and the federal government its loot.
Surely, our cotton found its way to Lancaster. Our tea supplemented the Indian tea just as Gandhi was shaking the status quo. Copper was a good conductance required to electrify the imperial palaces. While we are at it, let us not also forget the schools, hospitals, roads and the administrative structures that we all agreed were the best in Africa, South of the Sahara, excepting the Boer’s South Africa. Nothing comes from nothing.
Talking about Uganda’s problems; what about that business of protecting one kingdom from another? That single act came to haunt the newly minted independent nation. Did it not galvanize the 1966 crisis, reverberations of which still linger to today? What is that break-away kingdom within a kingdom? What is its paramilitary training all about? I don’t want to imagine even the potential rivers of blood. What is the craze for districts if not fiefdoms which may create more bad blood?
And don’t forget the loss of self-confidence which sends us in a frenzied search for meaning in all the wrong places. If Creflo Dollar jets into town and peddles his bizarre “Christian” wealth credos, even generals pay homage. We subscribe to the violence of our former colonial masters instead of condemning it as no less barbaric than the rut war of chimpanzees answering to primitive instinct to perpetuate genes. What is to be said about a nation whose parliamentarians are bought on the cheap to change a key tenet of a constitutional mandate?
Our esteem lady goes on to say that the calls to get rid of Museveni is misplaced. She can’t get over being “betrayed” by her former FDC boss. But the question is: Mr. Museveni opposes federalism; why not gang up against him instead of going off in a tangent in a fit of egocentric emotions?
So, ladies, the passions deserve A+ but, for credibility sake, give all the facts and let the chips fall where they may—just the facts, mums!
Human intellectual progress, such as it has been, results from a long struggle to see things “as they are,” or in the most universally comprehensible way, and not as projections of our own emotions. Ehrenreich
------------------------------------
The other day a lady from West Nile wrote in local daily. She felt that a prospective presidential aspirant was not being completely forthright. He supposedly asked for investigations into some of the murkiest past atrocities which the winners and losers alike get red faces to distance themselves from: You did it. I did not; you did it.
Our fair lady’s problem was that the said aspirant did not mention the traumas of her people in the immediate post- Idi Amin. For example, you could feel her pain as she told of her people going into exile as the winners terrified the people of West Nile. No excuse here. But the lady did not mention the nine years of Idi Amin’s horrors in which some West Nilers are perceived to be culpable. Unfortunately, the wrong-headed dynamics is that a people carry the sins of its sons. All the facts, miss.
Then, comes the recalcitrant ex-FDC lady—she of the federalism crusade. Check out some of what she had to say.
She declared: The problem of Uganda originated with the British ferrying resources to Britain. Now, the unitary Uganda government is doing similarly as it sucks taxes from the regions to the seat of power in Kampala. This sucking will not stop with federalism. In fact, the taxation structures will become more complex: The states and kingdoms will have to exact their pounds of flesh, and the federal government its loot.
Surely, our cotton found its way to Lancaster. Our tea supplemented the Indian tea just as Gandhi was shaking the status quo. Copper was a good conductance required to electrify the imperial palaces. While we are at it, let us not also forget the schools, hospitals, roads and the administrative structures that we all agreed were the best in Africa, South of the Sahara, excepting the Boer’s South Africa. Nothing comes from nothing.
Talking about Uganda’s problems; what about that business of protecting one kingdom from another? That single act came to haunt the newly minted independent nation. Did it not galvanize the 1966 crisis, reverberations of which still linger to today? What is that break-away kingdom within a kingdom? What is its paramilitary training all about? I don’t want to imagine even the potential rivers of blood. What is the craze for districts if not fiefdoms which may create more bad blood?
And don’t forget the loss of self-confidence which sends us in a frenzied search for meaning in all the wrong places. If Creflo Dollar jets into town and peddles his bizarre “Christian” wealth credos, even generals pay homage. We subscribe to the violence of our former colonial masters instead of condemning it as no less barbaric than the rut war of chimpanzees answering to primitive instinct to perpetuate genes. What is to be said about a nation whose parliamentarians are bought on the cheap to change a key tenet of a constitutional mandate?
Our esteem lady goes on to say that the calls to get rid of Museveni is misplaced. She can’t get over being “betrayed” by her former FDC boss. But the question is: Mr. Museveni opposes federalism; why not gang up against him instead of going off in a tangent in a fit of egocentric emotions?
So, ladies, the passions deserve A+ but, for credibility sake, give all the facts and let the chips fall where they may—just the facts, mums!
Thursday, May 6, 2010
What Is the Game Plan?
Rwot Acana, who has assumed the created Museveni-era Paramount Chieftainship of the Acoli people, recently announced that Mr. Museveni has given him permission to convene a meeting.( http://www.newvision.co.ug/detail.php?mainNewsCategoryId=8&newsCategoryId=16&newsId=718327)
The envisaged agenda of the meeting is supposedly to review the progress of the reconstruction stipulations agreed upon at the Juba peace talks.
First, let us take a brief overview of the history of Acoli chieftainship. The highest political grouping that Acoli people ever had was the clan. Traditionally each clan was headed by a chief, called rwot (which some claim the word is a derivative of the French language). The rwot succession was meritorious, based on character and skills of sons of the kaal (the chief’s court) generally, but not necessarily. Occasionally, bold and adventurous outsiders so impressed the elders that they were inducted into the clan leadership. The rwot was a position of service—a true servant of the people—rather than a means of amassing wealth. Character and oratory skills were the hallmark of solid citizenship. Relationship with other clans was confederate, based on mutual interests, such as marriage, military defense or offence. Lesser clans were co-opted into the larger clans by their needs rather than through force.
Generally the various clans lived in peace with one another. Beyond light skirmishes, there was never an all-out war for dominance. Arab slave traders may have shaken this idyllic setup, but the most pronounced outside disruption was from British colonialism. Any chief who was over-jealously for his people was replaced by pretenders who were lapdogs, willing to dance to the colonialist whims. Rwot Acana’s grandfather was chief of the Payiira, one of the larger clans. He would not bow to the British pressure, and was exiled to the now Kololo Hill in Kampala—away from his people that he felt honored, privileged and obligated to serve their interests.
Overall there was no desire for a lordship over the whole tribe by a kingly figure. Had Acoli traditional political leadership evolved organically, it seems likely that a stronger confederacy would have been the next outcome. The traumas of the last forty years demonstrated the fault lines, and sentiments of one Acoli nation is gaining currency--if only for survival. If a burning tire necklace knows no bound as long as you are an Acoli, then one might think twice in "looking only for number one" with the hope that the devil you serve will save you.
This brings us to the Paramount Chief. One thing for sure, we all know it is not an organic evolution. Why was it created? To keep up with the Joneses? As another arrow in Museveni’s quiver of political machinery?
The jury is still out on whether Acoli needs a Paramount Chief. Moreover, Museveni himself refuses a king of long tradition in his native Ankole. His motive for this position may be more of a pirate who does not want rivalry for the hearts of the Banyankole rather than for the people’s wishes.
In Acoli, there was once a Laloyo Maber, a creation of Obote I. The institution vanished when the same creator dismantled all kingdoms. Some never forgave him for it, but had the last laugh. No Acoli, however, lost sleep on the demise of the institution of Laloyo Maber.
If Rwot Acana wants to build the institution of the Paramount Chief into the consciousness of his people, he should be cognizant of historical facts. He would loose credibility if he plays the errand boy, in reality and/or perception. If the call for the meeting was initiated by Museveni, a man who was dragged screaming to the negotiation table, then the exercise is a political farce. The reconstruction regime is in the prime minister’s docket. Why couldn’t he call the meeting, and invite Rwot Acana as a participant in the review?
The envisaged agenda of the meeting is supposedly to review the progress of the reconstruction stipulations agreed upon at the Juba peace talks.
First, let us take a brief overview of the history of Acoli chieftainship. The highest political grouping that Acoli people ever had was the clan. Traditionally each clan was headed by a chief, called rwot (which some claim the word is a derivative of the French language). The rwot succession was meritorious, based on character and skills of sons of the kaal (the chief’s court) generally, but not necessarily. Occasionally, bold and adventurous outsiders so impressed the elders that they were inducted into the clan leadership. The rwot was a position of service—a true servant of the people—rather than a means of amassing wealth. Character and oratory skills were the hallmark of solid citizenship. Relationship with other clans was confederate, based on mutual interests, such as marriage, military defense or offence. Lesser clans were co-opted into the larger clans by their needs rather than through force.
Generally the various clans lived in peace with one another. Beyond light skirmishes, there was never an all-out war for dominance. Arab slave traders may have shaken this idyllic setup, but the most pronounced outside disruption was from British colonialism. Any chief who was over-jealously for his people was replaced by pretenders who were lapdogs, willing to dance to the colonialist whims. Rwot Acana’s grandfather was chief of the Payiira, one of the larger clans. He would not bow to the British pressure, and was exiled to the now Kololo Hill in Kampala—away from his people that he felt honored, privileged and obligated to serve their interests.
Overall there was no desire for a lordship over the whole tribe by a kingly figure. Had Acoli traditional political leadership evolved organically, it seems likely that a stronger confederacy would have been the next outcome. The traumas of the last forty years demonstrated the fault lines, and sentiments of one Acoli nation is gaining currency--if only for survival. If a burning tire necklace knows no bound as long as you are an Acoli, then one might think twice in "looking only for number one" with the hope that the devil you serve will save you.
This brings us to the Paramount Chief. One thing for sure, we all know it is not an organic evolution. Why was it created? To keep up with the Joneses? As another arrow in Museveni’s quiver of political machinery?
The jury is still out on whether Acoli needs a Paramount Chief. Moreover, Museveni himself refuses a king of long tradition in his native Ankole. His motive for this position may be more of a pirate who does not want rivalry for the hearts of the Banyankole rather than for the people’s wishes.
In Acoli, there was once a Laloyo Maber, a creation of Obote I. The institution vanished when the same creator dismantled all kingdoms. Some never forgave him for it, but had the last laugh. No Acoli, however, lost sleep on the demise of the institution of Laloyo Maber.
If Rwot Acana wants to build the institution of the Paramount Chief into the consciousness of his people, he should be cognizant of historical facts. He would loose credibility if he plays the errand boy, in reality and/or perception. If the call for the meeting was initiated by Museveni, a man who was dragged screaming to the negotiation table, then the exercise is a political farce. The reconstruction regime is in the prime minister’s docket. Why couldn’t he call the meeting, and invite Rwot Acana as a participant in the review?
Monday, May 3, 2010
Healthcare System, Uganda Style
Obama, after a protracted battle, failing of which would have irrevocably crippled his presidency, finally triumphed amidst the clamoring noises of the Sarah Palens of the American world. Those who have had experiences with the sometimes capricious American healthcare insurance industry may breathe a shy of relief: At last!
In Uganda, to say that the healthcare system is a survival of the fittest (no pun intended) is an understatement. Stories are abound of stolen drugs by medical workers, dilapidated state hospitals, patients sleeping on hospital floors, and unsanitary conditions that could lead to serious disease outbreaks in the same hospitals meant to cure.
Let us get under the hood and take a glimpse of the structure of the system.
The Uganda healthcare begins largely as a bequest bequeathed by the British colonial master. This was a system of state hospitals and clinics distributed throughout the country to which anybody could be treated for free. The Obote I government maintained and improved on it. For modest a fee there were also Catholic missionary hospitals. Asians, and increasingly Africans, had private clinics which served a certain clientele base.
Fast forward to today. The Catholic hospitals have expanded, and served heroically during critical times, especially in the Northern 20-year LRA war of attrition. New private hospitals have been built by entrepreneurial clinicians. There is a vast array of clinics by doctors, some of whom work in government hospitals. The government hospitals, which service the great majority of the population, have regressed with broken infrastructures and poor services.
Here are some experiences that my good friend, we will call him Ojukkwe, had recently.
Ojukkwe hooked up with an old flame. Ojukkwe, like Reagan with the Russians, has the motto of: trust but verify. So he convinced the woman to check if she was “clean” before they got intimate. She, of course being relatively well-heeled, had insurance through her work. She thus walked into a private hospital in the capital city. The waiting room was clean, and the young doctors and orderlies looked efficient. There was not much waiting. She got her results, and they were soon on their way to consummate their pent-up missed opportunities.
Another experience occurred when Ojukkwe was knocked to his rear-end by nonstop partying and needed to extend his stay by a of couple weeks to recuperate. He did not want to pay a penalty for rescheduling his cheap ticket. When in Rome, do what the Romans do. He contacted a London-based doctor friend, who recommended a local doctor to provide Ojukkwe with a sickness note to present to the airline. The local doctor, while working for a public hospital, also had his private clinic in one of the slums that mushroom the city outskirts. When the doctor finally arrived past the appointed time, the nurse assistant ushered Ojukkwe in ahead of the other patients. The doctor was paid far above the requested fee, and the assistant welcomed a surprise tip. That is Ojukkwe, my friend. His other motto is: one good turn deserves another!
It thus seems then that in the present Uganda, if you have the means, your healthcare needs are taken care of without dislocation of resources. For the high-and-mighty you might even get flown out of the country to specialists and better medical technologies—all at taxpayers’ expense, for you are more valuable than they are. What about the teaming millions who have to use state hospitals and clinics? Are they forever cursed with dirty dilapidated buildings, lack of drugs, and poorly paid attendant physicians and orderlies?
The present is a legacy of the NRM government’s priority. Every hospital death that could have been prevented is its responsibilities and has to be accountable. It cannot escape by some futuristic gimmick declaration of transforming society. We all know that much of the 54 trillions transformation budget will go down the dark holes of corruptions.
We need leaders who are genuinely pro-people—not showmen, charlatans and pirates. If we examine the history of Uganda healthcare systems and study how similarly-challenged countries are handling theirs we can customize our solution. For example, Brazil provides basic preventive primary care to all its citizens. Malaysia has individual account system, called Malaysia National Health Accounts Unit that service basic healthcare needs. We cannot transform a society with a sickly population.
In Uganda, to say that the healthcare system is a survival of the fittest (no pun intended) is an understatement. Stories are abound of stolen drugs by medical workers, dilapidated state hospitals, patients sleeping on hospital floors, and unsanitary conditions that could lead to serious disease outbreaks in the same hospitals meant to cure.
Let us get under the hood and take a glimpse of the structure of the system.
The Uganda healthcare begins largely as a bequest bequeathed by the British colonial master. This was a system of state hospitals and clinics distributed throughout the country to which anybody could be treated for free. The Obote I government maintained and improved on it. For modest a fee there were also Catholic missionary hospitals. Asians, and increasingly Africans, had private clinics which served a certain clientele base.
Fast forward to today. The Catholic hospitals have expanded, and served heroically during critical times, especially in the Northern 20-year LRA war of attrition. New private hospitals have been built by entrepreneurial clinicians. There is a vast array of clinics by doctors, some of whom work in government hospitals. The government hospitals, which service the great majority of the population, have regressed with broken infrastructures and poor services.
Here are some experiences that my good friend, we will call him Ojukkwe, had recently.
Ojukkwe hooked up with an old flame. Ojukkwe, like Reagan with the Russians, has the motto of: trust but verify. So he convinced the woman to check if she was “clean” before they got intimate. She, of course being relatively well-heeled, had insurance through her work. She thus walked into a private hospital in the capital city. The waiting room was clean, and the young doctors and orderlies looked efficient. There was not much waiting. She got her results, and they were soon on their way to consummate their pent-up missed opportunities.
Another experience occurred when Ojukkwe was knocked to his rear-end by nonstop partying and needed to extend his stay by a of couple weeks to recuperate. He did not want to pay a penalty for rescheduling his cheap ticket. When in Rome, do what the Romans do. He contacted a London-based doctor friend, who recommended a local doctor to provide Ojukkwe with a sickness note to present to the airline. The local doctor, while working for a public hospital, also had his private clinic in one of the slums that mushroom the city outskirts. When the doctor finally arrived past the appointed time, the nurse assistant ushered Ojukkwe in ahead of the other patients. The doctor was paid far above the requested fee, and the assistant welcomed a surprise tip. That is Ojukkwe, my friend. His other motto is: one good turn deserves another!
It thus seems then that in the present Uganda, if you have the means, your healthcare needs are taken care of without dislocation of resources. For the high-and-mighty you might even get flown out of the country to specialists and better medical technologies—all at taxpayers’ expense, for you are more valuable than they are. What about the teaming millions who have to use state hospitals and clinics? Are they forever cursed with dirty dilapidated buildings, lack of drugs, and poorly paid attendant physicians and orderlies?
The present is a legacy of the NRM government’s priority. Every hospital death that could have been prevented is its responsibilities and has to be accountable. It cannot escape by some futuristic gimmick declaration of transforming society. We all know that much of the 54 trillions transformation budget will go down the dark holes of corruptions.
We need leaders who are genuinely pro-people—not showmen, charlatans and pirates. If we examine the history of Uganda healthcare systems and study how similarly-challenged countries are handling theirs we can customize our solution. For example, Brazil provides basic preventive primary care to all its citizens. Malaysia has individual account system, called Malaysia National Health Accounts Unit that service basic healthcare needs. We cannot transform a society with a sickly population.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
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!
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!
Monday, April 26, 2010
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!
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!
Saturday, April 24, 2010
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.
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.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
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.
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.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
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
“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
Monday, April 19, 2010
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.
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.
Friday, April 16, 2010
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)
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)
Monday, April 12, 2010
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?
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?
Friday, April 9, 2010
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.
Monday, April 5, 2010
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.
Friday, April 2, 2010
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.
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