Professor Venansius Barymureeba’s
Presidential Bid is Very Welcome But suffers from A lack Of a Sense of
Perspective And Misplacement of Priorities
By Fred Daka Kamwada-Kamwada
Former Makerere vice chancellor Prof
Venansius Baryamureeba recently announced his intentions to run for the Ugandan
the presidency.
Given the apathy that Ugandan
intellectuals have showed for elective politics-in the recent years-, the bold
move by Prof Barya has been greeted with a welcoming spirit by some of us who believe
diversity of ideas.
Given the current political terrain
where most members of the opposition are either resigned or not physically fit
due to health reasons, there is an obvious vacuum in the opposition that must
be filled.
According to the recent
developments, the biggest percentage of the opposition leaders has health
issues to deal with.
A quick sample of sick
opposition leaders include DP president Norbert Mao who was honest enough to
seek for medical leave, Hon Betty Kamya, Hon Bidandi Ssali, Hon Hussein Kyanjo
(who is actually bedridden), Dr Kiiza Besigye (whose health condition was an
issue of concern as far back as 2001), and others not mentioned here,.
We therefore expected more
Ugandans to fill the gap (on the alternative political side ) and provide
alternative policies for this country due in part to the reason that a
government without opposition is like a driver without a navigator.
And in that regard many of us warmly
welcomed professor Baryamureeba’s presidential bid with the additional hope of
seeing others join him because we expected him to add value to the political process.
Ideology versus Emotions
But having said all that,-, it’s
almost a-given that anyone who wishes to run for the presidency must have ideas
which are realistic, relevant to the current situation and relevant to the
people of Uganda.
How realistic and relevant are
professor Barya’s ideas?
Do they fit with the trends in the
country or they are simply utopian dreams?
Without simply judging the
professor, on mere assumptions I have been trying to find out what is contained
in his manifesto, to make a value judgment on the sustainability of his presidential
bid.
And I eventually got the chance to
listen to him when he was hosted on NTV hot seat talk show on Thursday 28th
may 2015.
But it turned out that the host of
the show Patrick Kamara looked as baffled as some of us (the viewers) with the
way the professor was articulating the pertinent issues that affect this
country.
You could obviously see that the
former vice chancellor was struggling to get to grip with the priorities of
this country.
For instance when asked how he would
budget for the country, he said that he faults president Museveni for
dedicating a lot of money into roads and energy! Phew!
“So where do you want to put that
money” kamara asked him.
Getting
Priorities Wrong
And the good professor answered that
for him he thinks the critical pillars of the society are education, and
health.
And he thinks he would withdraw some
money from roads and energy and invest it in those two sectors because he
believes that the human resource of a country determines everything.
Well, I managed to turn uncomfortably
in my seat with the realization that Prof Barya was not conversant with the
office he wants to takeover.
While he may be right about
prioritizing the quality of the human resource, he also ought to know that
there are other sectors which practically contribute to a very vibrant human
resource.
Energy, for instance, is very
crucial for a country because it has a direct contribution to education and
health. You cannot have hospitals or schools without energy.
While drugs are a direct incentive
for a healthy population, hospitals need energy to be effective in dealing with
the treatment of the citizens.
And it was insensitive of him to
denounce president Museveni’s decision to pump more money in the energy sector
because he knows very well that the technology used by the scientists cannot be
effective without power.
Without energy, the process of
social transformation cannot succeed because energy is very central in the
industrialization and practical social transformation of the country.
In other words, energy almost
affects the entire system that contributes to the social transformation of a
given society.
So any sensitive government needs to
prioritize energy production so that issues like value addition and other
processes of industrialization can take place.
Once you achieve optimal energy
production, you can be assured on the other challenges like employment, service
delivery etc.
And by the way , remember that professor
Baryamureeba is a known expert on information technology but cannot comprehend
that IT field is entirely dependent on energy.
Basic
Infrastructure
i was also practically amazed
that Professor Baryamureeba also doesn’t see why president Museveni continues
to prioritizes roads infrastructure.
So he believes that schools need the
money more than roads!!! Oh dear me!.
The good Professor should know that
Uganda has got schools in every part of the country. What is required is to
make these schools accessible with good tarmacked roads.
For instance, the professor should
know that during the exams, some schools cannot do exams in time because of the
poor road network.
When you have a poor road network,
so many things cannot move. Famers cannot access the market. Even
democracy cannot be functional because the electoral commission cannot access
and move the ballot papers across the country.
So downplaying the crucial role of
the roads exposed professor Baryamureeba’s lack of perspective on the
priorities of his country.
Software
And Hardware
In a country like Uganda anyone aspiring
to become president must be able to distinguish between the software and the
hardware.
The construction of roads, railways
and the building of power dams for production of energy are the hardware.
The software includes the generation
of policies like the tax regime , regulation of the economy , fixing of the
health and education sector and others.
In this case, when you elect
professor Barya as president of Uganda, he will abandon the hardware and insist
on the software aspect of the economy.
Yet in a realistic political setting
both the hardware and software move hand in hand.
In that regard its obvious
that professor Baryamureeba and anyone else who wants to run for the Ugandan
presidency must have a sense of perspective on the challenges affecting this
country. But most important of all, he needs t have his priorities right.
Conclusion
Although I have dwelt with just
a small aspect of what challenges should be tackled , the small interaction (
on Tv) with professor Bayramuureba has
simply put him in light-weight category of presidential contenders.
Ugandans expect to raise the bar in
regard to generating solutions for challenges affecting this country.
I rest my case with the hope
that professor readjusts and makes himself relevant , and realistic in his next
engagements with the media.
\
Fred Daka Kamwada Kamwada is a journalist
and political commentator and can be reached at kamwadafred@yahoo.com
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