Anne Mugisha
6 January 2003
opinion
Kampala — President Yoweri Museveni's New Year address was another sample of what we have become accustomed to over the last decade and a half.
This consists mainly of giving a glowing account of achievements using positive statistics particularly on economic growth, HIV/AIDS and Universal Primary Education, followed by identifying Africa's problems and suggesting solutions, many of which have evaded his administration for his entire rule.
Then he finds the people to blame for all the failures. These often include the Police, civil servants and of course he never forgets to patronize the elite who fail to grasp the challenges that he can so easily identify. This year he has dealt a major blow to the 'biased', 'corrupt' judiciary and Movement cadres who have failed to propagate his message on the strategic challenges facing Uganda.
But what struck me was what he omitted to mention either because he refuses to address these issues or he is completely alienated from the current affairs affecting the people he leads.
If following public debate gives a fair picture of what is on the minds of the people of Uganda, then we all expected to hear some other important matters raised in the President's New Year, State of the Nation address at least I had hoped he would say the following:
Taking a cue from events in Kenya the preceding weekend, we would have liked to hear his plans for re-election or transition in 2006 and his vision on the re-introduction and inclusion of political parties in the governance of the country.
Corruption has just led to the humiliating defeat of a ruling party next door. I expected the President to tell us what this year's strategy would be to ensure that he does not suffer a fate worse than Moi's.
In that regard he would have scored highly if he upheld the recommendations of the Lady Justice Julie Sebutinde's report on junk helicopter's, apologized for his role and announced his intention to urge the prosecution of Lt. Gen. Salim Saleh under the Corruption Act.
He could also have expressed shock at the current mind-boggling revelations being made before the commission of inquiry investigating of malpractices in Uganda Revenue Authority. This may have earned him some respite from donors and the electorate.
By the way, donors are waking up slowly but surely to graft and misuse of public funds in Uganda.
The United States has for example omitted Uganda from the current list of countries to benefit from the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) because we do not meet the stringent requirements in the areas of corruption, transparency and rule of law among others.
Last November, Ari Fleischer the White House spokesman had this to say about the MCA:
"The President (George Bush) wanted to have a focus on aid that would reward countries and provide greater contributions as incentives to countries that follow transparency, rule of law, vigorously fought corruption. The idea being that aid programs would not pour money into nations where the money didn't go to the people who needed it, and went instead to rulers of those countries."
Predictably President Museveni chose to ignore the issues raised by his main challenger, Col. Dr. Kizza Besigye in his recent missive on the causes and possible solutions for war in the country. He chose instead to warn the retired colonel against destabilizing the country.
It is rather disappointing that the President chose to list Ugandans he had killed recently and reveal plans to allow more Ugandan deaths for the dubious cause of protecting Ugandan sovereignty and the constitution. Of course the constitution is already under a different type of threat by 'bonus term' advocates but these are not the kind of threats that the president seems to take seriously.
It has been said that the rivalry between Museveni and Besigye is very personal and runs too deep for anyone to contemplate them ever engaging in any kind of compromise talks. I refuse to buy into that close-ended argument because what is at stake is bigger than the combined egos of both men. What is at stake is the peace and stability of a country and the future of its people.
While Besigye has continuously made himself available to make peace, the president missed yet another opportunity for showing magnanimity and exploring peaceful solutions for his mounting political problems. While he extended a hand of peace to terrorists he refused once again to extend the same hand to his biggest political competitor.
The president did not come up with new specific strategies for curbing increasing unemployment. The last I heard the president was seeking Internet based jobs for graduates while others were advised to become bar tenders. Increasing tax collection, market size, purchasing power, demand for goods and services and foreign direct investment are all so closely dependant on a stable enabling environment. That is why it would have been worthwhile taking more convincing action on corruption and on finding peaceful solutions to political problems.
The president could have touched on the thorny issue of the privatization of Kinyara Sugar Works. The cane out growers of Bunyoro are concerned that government advisors, at the instigation of State House are about to snatch the corporation from their reach and hand it over to yet another investor. Mind you the government spent millions to get sound advice from experts on the best way to divest the corporation and the advisors favored public floatation.
The usual 'Privatization Police' that used to patrol the happenings at the Ministry of Finance seem to be fatigued, having failed to halt the divestiture of Uganda Commercial Bank; that they seem to be resigned to ignoring what is happening in the sale of Kinyara Sugar Works. The president missed an opportunity to enlighten the public on why it would be a whole lot better to have a core investor as the majority shareholder at Kinyara.
A comment from the head of state could have eased the tension arising out of the fracas in Church of Uganda, Kisoro. Separation of the Church and State is an important principle over which wars have been fought but we also know that Museveni has used his office to settle disputes between Muftis. The situation in Kisoro is actually threatening the security and lives of Church leaders and it would have been good to hear the President's take on finding a solution to this explosive dispute between the Bishops and the laity.
Finally the President did not reveal to us when he intended to return to Nakasero to deal with the business of running the country out of military fatigues now that there are only 500 rebels left to chase around. I am skeptical about the long-term usefulness of his physical presence in trouble spots. He may have noticed that having left the area, the Karimojong are at it again!
Happy New Year!
The author is a member of the political pressure group Reform Agenda.
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