The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Donors made these civil servants their internal surrogates within the state by actively and deliberately bolstering their influence inside government. Whenever government sent these particular civil servants abroad to negotiate for aid money, they came back with signed loans and grants –with generous terms. Since government of Uganda relied heavily on donors’ funding for its fiscal survival, Museveni was quick to see where his bread was being buttered.
Increasingly, if the president needed to promote anyone to a strategic office in the civil service, he picked one who had good relations with donors. Consequently, in all strategic ministries, Museveni began to sideline those of his colleagues who retained their Marxist/leftist leanings in favour of those who embraced the free market ideology. Over time all strategic positions in both the civil service and cabinet were filled with persons with donor promoters.
It is in this context that the local/domestic/national/indigenous business class – in manufacturing, banking, construction etc. – lost out. They had little or no say in policy formulation. Influence favoured international donors with their local allies in the bureaucracy. While local and international bureaucrats who work in the public sector and international organisations may be ideologically convinced about the soundness of these policies, these policies represent the interests of multinational capital; especially finance capital.
Donors began integrating leading voices in the media into this process. These were given scholarships and fellowships at Harvard, Stanford, Oxford and Cambridge where they were indoctrinated into the free market ideology. For always articulating these policies in the press and liberalised airwaves, they were feted at international conferences organised by the IFIs as speakers, invited to dinners and luncheons at local embassies and at IMF and World Bank conferences. This author is one of those Ugandans.
Privatisation and liberalisation progressively displaced and/or stifled the growth of local/domestic/national/indigenous capital. As multinational corporations took over the commanding heights of the economy, they recruited those Ugandans who had graduated from Western universities. Well paid by multinational firms, these also became defenders of multinational capital in the private sector. Here ideological conviction and self-interest merged.
At Makerere University, the World Bank financed the creation of the Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC) to train a cadre of economists of the type they needed to promote its particular policy preferences. They funded NGOs that articulated the policy preferences international donors wanted. Even in politics, being identified with a donor project was a sure ticket to being elected a Member of Parliament (MP), and being in their good books landed you a strategic cabinet post.
Henceforth, from within the state, mass media, academia and “civil society” there were consistent and vitriolic attacks on local capital. Thus, when a local bank got into trouble, there was unanimity of opinion both within the state and in the civic sphere of public debate that such outcomes were because of “bad practices typical of Africans.” The conclusion was inescapable: we should let multinational banks take over. Mutebile once told me point blank in a radio show that he would never licence any Ugandan to own a bank, regardless of the capital they had. Why? They cannot be trusted to behave well with depositors’ money. Colonial prejudices had been recreated in Uganda. We shall finish this next week.
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amwenda@independent.co.ug
1.This article has melted the stone hearted like Rajab and Adhola.
2Anything goes when a nation has had a series of misfortunes and during that critical moment that’s when donors and development partners reap big.
3.It is easy to manage a nation effectively when it has just come out of war coz that’s the period what citizens are timid and obedient currently; the Ugandan elites have become ungovernable in that they have began poising the minds of the peasants therefore affecting implementation of govt polices .A good example is the politicians in the North chasing away investors with their naked bodies.
4.Brain washing the minds of African leaders with the 1st world ideology at times helps for example; in the 1990s’the major reforms like privatization and other economic reforms led to the devaluation of the Ugandan currency(which had Obote’s face) enabled Uganda’s currency to be easily equated to other international currencies.
5.Uganda still has the oligopoly advantage in the region in areas like electricity,minerals,conflict resolution and oil we better utilise it effectively.Yes i said conflict resolution
6What happened to barter trade?it seems old school but it can still work effectively for example, what would happen if we exchanged some few minerals for development of social infrastructure?
1.This article has melted the stone hearted like Rajab and Adhola.
MAYBE RAJAB BUT ADHOLA KNEW ALL ALONG HOW IT IS DONE BECAUSE HE WAS ONCE AND MAYBE STILL IS A CONDUIT OF THE WHITE-MAN’S NONSENSE THAT HAS CAUSED ALL THIS UNTOLD SUFFERING TO EVERYBODY; ADHOLA HIMSELF NOT SPARED
2Anything goes when a nation has had a series of misfortunes and during that critical moment that’s when donors and development partners reap big.
YOU ARE RIGHT IN THAT (LIKE TAMALE MIRUNDI WOULD EXEMPLIFY) IF YOU MEET A WOMAN WHO HAS JUST BEEN CHASED AWAY FROM A HOME AFTER DELIVERING A CHINESE BABY WHEN THE HUSBAND IS A MUKONJO AND SHE HERSELF IS A MUTOORO (BOTH OF BLACK STOCK) WHAT CAN’T SHE CONCEDE TO? ANY AND ALL PROPOSALS ARE AND WILL BE WELCOME. SHE CAN’T GO BACK TO HER FATHER, SHE CAN’T GO TO COURT SO SHE WILL WILLINGLY ACCEPT ANY WOLF.
3.It is easy to manage a nation effectively when it has just come out of war coz that’s the period what citizens are timid and obedient currently; the Ugandan elites have become ungovernable in that they have began poising the minds of the peasants therefore affecting implementation of govt polices .A good example is the politicians in the North chasing away investors with their naked bodies.
WHEN A HATION HAS JUST COME OUT OF WAR, THERE ARE MANY VANQUISHED WHO HAVE COMMITTED WAR CRIMES BUT STILL ROAMING FREE, SO THEY MUST HIDE THEIR HIDEOUS PAST IN CHURCHES,MOSQUES AND OTHER PRETENCES. THERE ARE WOMEN WHO WERE VERY SOCIAL TO UNCOUNTABLE MEN BUT MUST OF NECESSITY BEHAVE AS THOUGH THEY ARE VIRGINS/WIDOWS OR PRETEND THEY DON’T WANT TO SEE A MAN HAVING WITNESSED WHAT MEN DO TO EACH OTHER. THEN THERE ARE VICTORS WHO PLAY gods AND WANT EACH AND EVERYTHING(NOT FORGETTING MISTRESSES) TO THEMSELVES AND TO APPORTION WHAT THEY DON’T NEED TO THEIR INFORMERS. AFTER CIVIL WAR, CIVIL PEACE THAT FOLLOWS IS NEARLY BUT AS BAD AS THE WARTIME ITSELF. THEN THERE ARE THE GULLIBLE IGNORANT SURVIVING PUBLIC WHICH BELIEVES PEACE (ABSENCE OF WAR) ALONE IS THE ONLY HUMAN RIGHT THEY NEED (OTURO) AFTER SOMETIME, A NEWER GENERATION GROWS UP AND STARTS CLAIMING REAL RIGHTS, THEN MAYHEM IS LET LOOSE…JUST WAIT FOR PEOPLE POWER A LITTLE.
4.Brain washing the minds of African leaders with the 1st world ideology at times helps for example; in the 1990s’the major reforms like privatization and other economic reforms led to the devaluation of the Ugandan currency(which had Obote’s face) enabled Uganda’s currency to be easily equated to other international currencies.
IT IS NOT BRAINWASHING…MOST DICTATORS ARRIVE WHEN OLD OR MIDDLE AGE…..A PERIOD IN HUMAN LIFE WHICH HAS ITS BIOLOGICAL PROBLEMS. THEY WANT THE TRAPPINGS OF YOUTH BUT THINGS ARE NO LONGER PALATABLE BECAUSE TASTE BUDS ARE OLD, THEY WANT THE WOMEN BUT DOWNSTAIRS IS DISAPPOINTINGLY IS FRAIL AND FEEBLE, THEY WANT TO BE EVERYWHERE AT THE SAME TIME, A POWER POSSESSED ONLY BY GOD SO THEY USE SPIES (WHO LIE TO THEM) AND ARE CONSEQUENTLY MISLED, MISINFORMED AND MISDIRECTED. THEY USE RELATIVES WHO ARE MOSTLY INEFFICIENTLY UNSATISFACTORY. AS FOR PRIVATISATION, IT DID NOT PRODUCE THE RESULTS INTENDED AND SHOULD HAVE BEEN REVERSED IMMEDIATELY BUT MAYBE SOME OTHER POWER WAS BEHIND IT. VALUE OF CURRENCY DOES NOT DEPEND ON WHOSE PICTURE IS ON THE NOTE BUT WHAT BACKING THE MONEY HAS WHETHER IT IS REDEEMABLE OR JUST PAPER TO DECEIVE THE PEOPLE….OBOTE WAS A VERY DISCIPLINED AND PRINCIPLED MAN BUT HE USED(LIKE Gen LUTWA SAID) THE EARS OF RWAKASISI, THE EYES OF ANOTHER AND THE MIND OF YET ANOTHER HENCHMAN.SO HE ENDED ACTING ON WRONG INFORMATION AND DOING WRONG.
5.Uganda still has the oligopoly advantage in the region in areas like electricity,minerals,conflict resolution and oil we better utilise it effectively.Yes i said conflict resolution
UGANDA HAS AND WILL ALWAYS BE BETTER OFF THAN THE SURROUNDING NEIGHBOURS BECAUSE OF ITS GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION,FERTILITY AND WATER BODIES DISTRIBUTION. HOWEVER, IT HAS LATELY BEEN MANAGED SO BADLY THAT IN THE MIDDLE OF ALL THAT ABUNDANCE, PEOPLE ARE GOING HUNGRY, FOOD IS MORE EXPENSIVE THAN IN NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES’ CITIES….DON’T COUNT SOUTH SUDAN OF COURSE AND PUBLIC SERVICES HAVE DETERIORATED THAT EVEN COSASE WAS RECENTLY BRIBED TO COSMETISE THE SALE OF PRIVATE BANKS BY BOU AS NOT THAT SERIOUS. ONE INCURABLE FATAL DISEASE THAT UGANDA IS NOT GOING TO SURVIVE IS RUNAWAY CORRUPTION. IT IS EVERYWHERE INCLUDING IN THE MOST UNLIKELY PLACES…CHURCHES AND MOSQUES….MOSQUES WHERE THEY PLAN A KIDNAP-FOR-RANSOM IN ORDER TO BUILD FOR ALLAH…..ISN’T THAT DECAY WINNIE?
6.What happened to barter trade?it seems old school but it can still work effectively for example, what would happen if we exchanged some few minerals for development of social infrastructure?
CEASE TO EXPLORE ANY ALTERNATIVE BECAUSE WHENEVER GREED HAS BEEN INSTITUTIONALISED, NOTHING MOVES FORWARD. BARTER, INFRASTRUCTURE,EDUCATION ALL BECOME USELESS….YOU STUDY AND QUALIFY BUT DON’T GET A JOB……YOU BUILD BIG HOUSES BUT NO BUSINESS…………YOU SELL AND THEY DON’T PAY(South Sudan food debts)..you produce and get a bumper harvest but the Rwanda border, which is the only access to Eastern Congo too is closed due to meddlers who support insurgents….etc…
things must be revisited and a route chartered towards where things went wrong else, anarchy may soon reign……police shooting a person going to visit schoolchildren, covering themselves up and newsmen supporting them then…shortly after a totally different opposite picture is displayed…..ISO kills a policeman and hides the body, then people say it is ISO which took him when he was alive, then people start shouting….al this points to a system that is going downhill.
Most of the time I hear the word ideology my mind races to those tattered copies of the ‘ Juche Idea’ and’ the Green book’ which as youths we religiously read in the 1986 and 87 in order to comprehend the liberation that would propel our state to the much admired First world status. Sadly as it is clear to all, we have maintained our position among the poorest nations on earth as it was in the beginning. the fellas in the EPRC in Makerere with a few exceptions like Dr. Fred Muhumuza will teach the best economic theory until they are rewarded with those juicy perks in government offices and all semblance of logic goes south .Sadly what we are facing is not what you would term as a dilemma it is intellectual dishonesty and when this feeds in the political arena we will always get our scapegoats ever ready. Ideology is not ugandan and nothing will ever make it so. Everything revolves about who is eating what. the cronies of Idi Amin. the praise singers of Obote and the sycophants
of Museveni are all well educated men and women.
Kambere, you are still trying to relate theory with the cold hard facts of life and you are terribly disappointed that they don’t tally. You are not the only one.
A country like Uganda can be compared to a beautiful innocent helpless girl. The parents will either be drunks who will pimp her shamelessly to any asian or european in exchange for a little monies and beer or they can be stoic christians who will wait for opportunities or die in poverty but dignified.
Dr Ateenyi should not be bored by my concern about the railway though I come back to it every now and then. What will you tell the descendants when they labour to pay an impossible-to-pay debt for a railway which was uprooted when it was functioning?
As for the theories of book-educated economists, they are just that. In military training they teach soldiers how to kill but not be killed…. same goes for professional soccer coaches. But as an adult you know what takes place when the battle starts……………. nothing goes according to book anymore.
As for the educateds of Museveni government, many other uneducated people who wield the real power undermine them from behind rendering them impotent.