Gen Museveni Is In A Catch-Twenty-Two Situation Where He Cannot Openly Oppose the MK project And Terrified Of The Fact That It Pushes Him Out Of Power

 

 The Jajja Omalako Proclamation Is a Direct Counter Force Against the Muhoozi Project In Particular And Mao’s Transition Project In General

 

·        Gen Museveni Is In A Catch-Twenty-Two Situation Where He Cannot Openly Oppose the MK project And Terrified Of  The Fact That It Pushes Him Out Of Power

·        The Jajja Omallako Project Shields President Museveni From The Pressure Of Having To Vacate Power When He Still Needs It For His Personal Benefits.

 

Early this week a group of overzealous NRM supporters converged at a Kampala suburb of Kyambogo and made the proclamation to the effect that president Museveni should continue offering himself for the Ugandan presidency for the 2026 general elections.           

The group code-named itself Jajja Omalako (loosely translated as ‘’ grandpa, you are still fit enough to continue running this country) insisted that there is nobody who can manage this country as well as president Museveni. The Jajja proclamation comes at the heels of Chairman Norbert Mao’s transition project which he has been trying to push around the country.

The DP party president who signed a memorandum of understanding that resulted into him scooping the ministerial docket of justice and constitutional affairs has been convincing the country that his deal with president Museveni involves the idea of transition from the bush war class to another generation and the adoption of a national dialogue. However Mao’s transition project has generated a lot of doubts from the politico class who think it’s just a comical waste of time.

We at the investigator managed to make an informed analysis about this transition talk and clarified that it was foolhardy for Mao to think that president Museveni is stupid enough to transition himself out of power, just like that.

But Chairman Mao has been insisting that he is convinced that the president can consider holding a national dialogue and delivering a peaceful transition as a gift to the country as part of the deal that enabled him to merge his struggling DP into the NRM government.

Interestingly , the only aspect of the deal which has so far been implemented include the jobs that have been scooped by chairman Mao himself who was promptly appointed the minister of justice and constitutional  affairs and his secretary general Dr Siranda who was elected to the East African parliament.

Interestingly, early this week president Museveni threw the spanner in the works when he came out to dispel suggestions that he had agreed a transition and national dialogue with Norbert Mao. 

This means that, as far as the transition talk is concerned, the country has gone back to square one.  It practically means that as far as transition from Museveni is concerned the country has to get back to The Muhoozi project as the only viable option for a transition from president Museveni to another generation. 

 

 For the last five years the Muhoozi project that seeks to make first son General Muhoozi Kainerugaba the next president of this country has been trending as the only option being sold around the country by some young Turks close to the first family.

 It has however been faced with all sorts of polarizing opinions from the politico class. At first the MK project faced stiff resistance from opinion leaders including military officers who have since retired from the army prompting the first son to twit that some senior officers openly hated him.

But with the passing of time, the MK project has gained some currency around the country with open mobilization for Gen Muhoozi to get assembled as the presidential candidate for the next elections.

In fact it (he mk project)has sunk so deep that most Ugandans (including very senior citizens) around the country have been convinced to embrace the project and resorted to seeking audience with Gen Muhoozi to solve their problems. The urban youths who are known to profess opposition politics had also joined the MK bandwagon and had started using HIS portraits to brand their motorcycles and cars.

With the MK phenomenon in full cycle, the president also emphasized that the name (Muhoozi) he gave his son, means revenge. This encouraged some shrewd Ugandans to assemble the mobilization tools at the service of the first son.

 The Ugandan president has however been skeptical about encouraging the MK phenomenon to get to full swing levels. He has sometimes made discouraging moves by removing him from command positions and switching him to lesser demanding assignments as presidential advisor.

At one time he removed from command as commandant of the Special Forces brigade and appointing him as a mere advisor on military affairs before he brought him back to as commander of the land forces.

Then last month the twitting UPDF general made controversial twit that generated a diplomatic backlash between Uganda and neighboring Kenya when he suggested that his UPDF forces could capture Nairobi in just two weeks

This twit led to a keyboard confrontation between Kampala and Nairobi and culminated into the removal of the twitting UPDF General from the docket of land forces and an open apology from the president.

But the Ugandan president went on to promote his twitting son from lieutenant General to full General to perhaps, dispel suggestions that he had lost confidence in his son. Although MK has reached a point where some Ugandans can entrust him with power, it has put his father in a tight corner on what do about it.

Gen Museveni is caught between a hard rock and deep sea predicament because he cannot be seen to be opposed to the MK project but at the same time confronted with the realization that it pushes him out of power.

But some overzealous Ugandans want him to come out and project the way forward for this country.

It was in such circumstances that a group of NRM zealots came up with the Jajja Omallako project which seeks to make it clear that the incumbent should stay put in the seat of power. This Jajja Omallako proclamation also intends to make it clear that no other person, other than president Museveni, should consider to offer himself for the Ugandan presidency In the next elections.

With the emergence of the Jajja Omallako phenomenon, you would expect that it will have the immediate effect of extinguishing Norbert Mao’s transition talk and either postpone or completely undermine the Muhoozi project. In fact it shields president Museveni from the pressure of having to vacate power when he still needs it for his personal benefits.

The author Fred Daka Kamwada is a researcher and policy analyst; kamwadafred@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How President Idi Amin Was Enticed To Declare Himself Life President And Fell Slightly Short Of Forming A Political party.

 

HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF; How President Idi Amin Was Enticed To Declare Himself Life President And Fell Slightly Short Of Forming A Political party.

·       By 1974, The Man Considered To Be A Clown Was Now In Absolute Control Of The Entire Country In The Same Way President Obote Had Been In 1969 When He Declared A One Party State After Dismantling The Entire DP Leadership And Conscripted Them In His Government.

 

In 1977 or somewhere about that time, a group of Kigezi citizens travelled all the 200 miles to meet President Idi Amin at his command post in Kampala and convinced him to declare himself the life president of Uganda!

The Kigezi delegation convinced Amin that he was popular enough to rule the country for the rest his life because he was as popular as Col Muamar Ghadafi, Abdel Nasser, of Egypt, Fidel Castro of Cuba and many others, and therefore deserved ruling without any restraint.

The man, who later came to be regarded as a buffoon by some elements in the western world, enjoyed being lavished with praises and he quickly adopted every title he was bestowed upon and therefore had his avalanche of titles to read as President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hajj Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of all the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea.

It is actually rumored that amongst the Kigezi delegation there was a young law graduate called john Amama Mbabazi who was there to take care of the legal aspects of that Kigezi proclamation.

There is another rumor which also suggests that this Kigezi group advised president Amin to take up the idea of forming a political party which would have the effect of killing off former president Apollo Milton Obote’s UPC party.

Although Gen Amin was enthused by the idea which he likened to his friend Col Muamar Ghadafi’s Jamahiriya political movement in Libya, he was somehow frightened of the real idea of engaging in the vote seeking campaigns in some parts of the country that hated him.

Initially, in the aftermath of the 1971 coup Amin had promised an immediate return to civilian rule which was the first time he was confronted with the idea of forming a political party.

Prof. Mahmood Mamdani wrote in his book, Politics of Class Formation in Uganda that On February 21, the Uganda Army promoted Maj. Gen. Idi Amin to the rank of general, skipping that of lieutenant general.

 “The army also ‘suggested’ that he should be the new president of the second Republic. Amin said he would consult his Cabinet. When he did, the Cabinet unanimously accepted the ‘suggestion’. It was agreed that Idi Amin Dada would be President for at least five years as the country prepared for general elections.”

But this meant that Amin had to form a political party which he had not thought about at that time.

He was particularly aware of the Obote’s UPC political power base which was spread across the country. Although he was known to be one of the vicious dictators the world had ever seen, Amin used to silently consult and seek for advice from his pseudo intellectuals on some sensitive matters.

One of his secret advisors was called Lt Col Obitre Gama who was the only military officer to be named in Amin’s first cabinet and brig Bernabas Killi whom he considered as an expert on matters of policy having acquired some extra education from overseas. Another one was Wanume Kibedi who was also his brother in law and had appointed him as minister of foreign affairs before he defected to exile.  Amin also enjoyed consulting Maj gen Francis Nyangweso on matters of sports development in the country.  Gen Nyangweso was the man who enabled Amin’s regime to achieve so much in the sports sector that saw john Akii Bua win the first Ugandan Olympic gold in 1972 in Munich Germany, the Uganda football team reach the AFCON finals in Accra Ghana in 1978, and Ugandan boxers excel at the global stage. Since they had both been boxers and soldiers in the Ugandan army, Amin loved Brig Nyangweso so much that he never subjected him to any threat like he did with others who had to flee to exile like Gen Moses Ali who was appointed minister of finance but had to flee for his life.

Interestingly Gen Amin never had many advisors on matters of political nature because he reportedly loathed politics and considered himself more of a military man without any political tendencies in him.

But he trusted maj Bernard killi to know something about this life presidency issue because he was the same man who had tipped him about that fantastic idea of expelling Indians out of Uganda in 1972 which he promptly did by unleashing a ninety-day notice for Indians to leave the country.

After some slight consultations about the repercussions of adopting the title of life presidency, Maj killi reasoned that he (Amin) could still be life president without seeking for the mandate of the Ugandans in a political party.  

That was the time when there was no single political force within the country that was openly opposed to Amin’s rule.

Although former president Obote was abundantly active in exile, he never posed a threat to the Amin regime since his rebel networks never held single inch of Ugandan territory. 

  By 1974, the man considered to be a clown by many, was now in absolute control of the entire country in the same way president Obote had been in 1969 when he declared a single party state after dismantling the entire DP leadership and conscripted them in his government.

There are chances that Amin could had made a good politician if he had ventured into elective politics. Why?

 

Because Amin had been a known member of the UPC in the 60s and he seemed to know something about politics and its maneuvers. He was also very good at populist undertakings that could make a very good politician. He had the natural charisma to move crowds, traits that can be very powerful incentives for a politician.

He was also blessed with a very good looking body frame that was not easy to find in any part of the world which could also be translated into an attractive political brand.  Its undeniable that his political posters would have looked very attractive for the voters.

 His economic war polices that saw the expulsion of the Indians in 1972 had endeared him to Ugandans so much that he would have simply swept votes in most parts of the country if he had ventured into elective politics.

 But since he was intellectually short on personal wisdom and acquired no formal education, he couldn’t take advantage of those good traits he possessed to push for what would have become one of the most powerful political brands in the country.

 

 His political weight of the 70s can be measured basing on the fact that even today Amin still remains the most popular Ugandans ever to grace this earth. His photos grace the internet search engines as if they were taken yesterday.

In fact, although he was pushed out of power 43 years ago in 1979 and died nineteen years ago in 2003, he still commands a popular presence in the political discussions about Uganda anywhere in the world to-date.

The reason we have ventured into this discussion is the political phenomenon taking place in the country that continues to extend president Museveni ‘s rule into perpetuity. 

The Ugandan political events are moving in reverse gear as most of what was done way back in the sixties and seventies are being repeated today by people who should know better.

For instance, the kigezi proclamation which we have just analyzed here was what we saw last week at kyambogo when some members of the NRM called on president Museveni NOT to listen to anything related to a political transition.

Tomorrow we shall delve into those political developments where the Jaja omalako group are pushing for a repeat of history which Rtd Major Amanya Mushega suggested that history doesn’t necessarily repeat itself. ‘’but history only repeats itself when complete idiots repeat the mistakes which were committed in the past by fools.

The author Fred Daka Kamwada is a researcher and policy analyst. kamwadafred@gmail.com

 

 

The Computer Misuse Act Duplicates Most Of The Offenses Already Captured In Uganda’s Penal Code

 

The Computer Misuse Act Duplicates Most Of The Offenses Already Captured In Uganda’s Penal Code

·        The Social Media Tax And The Continued Closure Of Facebook All Expose The Negative Spirit In Which The Computer Misuse Act Was enacted  

·        Fortunately, or unfortunately it will be very hard to secure a conviction due to the lacunas and ambiguity contained in this computer misuse act

The late Former Ugandan President Idi Amin is known to have said that anyone was free to enjoy freedom of speech before, but he couldn’t guarantee the freedom of speech after speech for that person trying to exercise that freedom.

In other words, Amin was trying to say that you were only free before you exercised that freedom -which in essence would tantamount to no freedom at all.

Moving forward, last week president Museveni assented to the computer misuse bill in its raw form without any objections to the lacunas and shortcomings contained in it.

The bill which is now an act of parliament seeks to curtail or deter people who have made it a habit to misuse social media platforms by insulting, denigrating or abusing others.

It however appears to be still raw to be effectively implemented its form. Why? Because most of what it intends to curtail or deter is already considered a criminal offence on the Ugandan penal code.

According to the Ugandan penal code, a person whose reputation has been harmed by another person can either file a civil suit or initiate a criminal proceeding against the person. A person can file a civil suit under Section 19 of the Civil Procedure Code, 1908 which includes within it any civil wrong done to a person.

Accordingly, the Ugandan defamation laws deal exactly with the issues which were enacted in the computer misuse act.

For instance, Libel is a method of defamation expressed by print, writing, pictures, signs, effigies, or any communication embodied in physical form that is injurious to a person's reputation, exposes a person to public hatred, contempt or ridicule, or injures a person in his/her business or profession.

The penal code therefore imposes a two-year jail term for the accused.

Now its obvious that what the computer misuse act intends to deter, curb, or regulate is already catered for on the penal code.

The only difference is that it (the computer misuse act) tries to narrow itself on the computer and social media platforms as the medium for committing the crimes. 

That (the duplication of the penal code) aside we need to also look at other aspects of the law that make it shallow, badly scripted and malicious.

THE NEGATIVE SPIRIT

 

One of the fundamental issues about this act is the spirit in which it was designed that seeks to curtail the free use of social media platforms by Ugandans.

Recent history shows that the NRM government has tried to block Ugandans from using social media platforms first by instituting the social media tax which generated a lot of controversy around the country.

The tax meant that anyone who wanted to access any media platforms had to first pay a tax. One wondered how the Ugandan government arrived at the conclusion to tax media platforms which it had not created in the first place.

After realizing the futility of the social media tax, they reversed their decision and scraped it.

Secondly you need to recall that During the 2021 elections the NRM government closed all social media platforms to the extent that even today Facebook is still officially closed to Ugandans.

Facebook can only be used by using the virtual private network applications which are deemed to be illegal in the country. The same VPN was used to frustrate and circumvent the social media tax as users managed to access the social media platforms without paying any mentioned taxes.

It is under such negative conditions that the computer misuse act was legislated and passed into law.

The movers and promulgators of the act insist that there was too much abuse and insults channeled through the social media platforms.

THE LACUNAS

But the question is; is abuse or insults permissible anywhere in the world?

It is certainly not normal for someone to abuse another. We all know that it’s a criminal offence for someone to abuse, insult or portray someone in negative form because it constitutes a crime and its punishable by two-year jail term.

If we have such laws on our penal code, why the do we waste time duplicating them with the enactment of the computer misuse act.

Another area of contention that you need to know is that it’s hard for the prosecution to secure a conviction for this computer misuse act. Why because, first of all the law fails short in many areas.

First of all, when you are designing a law, you need to state and define the offence and the penalty.

Unfortunately, in this law, it doesn’t clearly define the offence of computer misuse. It criminalizes posting of photos without the consent of an individual but doesn’t explain how it constitutes a crime.

 This law is so shallow that it confines itself to the use of a computer use. But what if someone uses another gadget other than a computer?

This means that if someone managed to post your photo without your consent like the law states, then it should only be a criminal offence if he used a computer.

 

THE FINES AND PENALTIES

 When it comes to the penalties which were unleashed for the offenders, then you wonder what was on the minds of the promulgators of this law.

This law states that the person who commits the offence will on conviction, suffer either a fine of Shs16 million, five years in jail or both. Do you need rocket science to deduce that the fines and penalties are too big to be enforced?

Common sense dictates that smaller fines and penalties are easier to enforce than harsh ones. Why? Because the judge will find no justification to sentence someone to five or seven years’ imprisonment for an offense that is negligibly as slight as posting a photo without someone’s consent.

And it will require the prosecution to come up with evidence in regard to who took the photo and posted and clearly state how it violated your rights.

Ok you can easily capture the culprit who took the photo and managed to post it on the social media platforms, but can you easily explain how it violated your rights.

For if someone posts your photo when you are drunk and a public nuisance, how do you challenge your right to behaving in a nuisance manner in courts of law?

Because first of all behaving in a nuisance manner is an offence in its own right. Therefore, capturing the photo of someone posturing in a nuisance manner can only serve as a whistle blowing attempt by a well-intentioned citizen who intends to put a stop on your nonsensical behavior.

 

With all factors held constant, this computer misuse act can easily be challenged in the court of appeal or left to perish on its own due to the lacunas that affect its applicability. It will suffer the same fate that led to the craping of the homosexuality act which was also enacted into law, yet it was already catered for on the Ugandan penal code.

The author Fred Daka Kamwada is a researcher, policy analyst

kamwadafred@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leaked intelligence; How did Mama Fina Get Access To Intelligence Information That Pre-empted President Museveni’s Ebola speech

 

Leaked intelligence; How did Mama Fina Get Access To Intelligence Information That Pre-empted President Museveni’s Ebola speech

·        Mama fiina Can Safely Be Regarded As One Of The Most Powerful Witchdoctors In The World

On Tuesday 12^th October Mama Fina called a press conference in which she categorically warned all traditional healers and native herbalists from claiming to heal Ebola. The lady Supremo of traditional doctors insisted that no single native doctor should even attempt to attend to people infected with the Ebola virus.

A few hours later Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Wednesday re-echoed the same sentiments when he ordered traditional healers to stop treating sick people in a bid to halt the spread of Ebola, which has already claimed the lives of 19 individuals in the impoverished country.

His instructions followed a regional ministerial meeting in Kampala to discuss the emergency response to the outbreak after Uganda last month announced its first fatality from the highly contagious disease since 2019.

What however makes news here is the fact that mama Fiina managed to pre-empt president Museveni’s speech to an extent of   unbelievable accuracy. Did the president call and brief Mama fiina before he delivered the speech in which he also directed security officials to arrest all people suspected of having contracted the often-fatal viral hemorrhagic fever if they refused to go into isolation?

If it’s true, then she is worth of a lengthy discussion on this forum.

 

Mama fiina attracts attention because of the modest upbringing she has gone through to become one of the most popular/influential women in the country.

Her charitable work where she makes donation to the needy has made her one of the biggest attractions in the country.  He humble background of having no formal education and working initially as a maid and the occupational choice of being a renowned traditional medicine woman, who among religious people would be addressed as a “witch doctor” raises eyebrows.

She is a renowned supporter of the ruling party NRM and a very close friend to President Yoweri Museveni. Her proximity to the Ugandan president came to light when her husband the late major kigundu was assassinated by assassins linked to the Islamic fundamentalists.

During that tense moment, a sobbing Mama Fiina shocked Ugandans when she openly called the president on her mobile phone to tell him about the assassination. It was evident that the witchdoctor was in possession of a direct hotline with the head of state. I mean, how many people of her education level can boast of being in possession of a direct hotline with the president?

Even ministers don’t have that hotline. Only a few can easily access the president, anywhere, anytime. If the president indeed managed to first brief her before he addressed the nation, then she can be regarded as a super star of mega proportions.

Sensitive Questions

But if she never got that presidential call, then it raises another matter of a security nature.  Questions arise if the presidential speech is pre-empted; who leaks the presidential secrets? What are the motives of the agent? Is presidential information sold to any willing buyer?  What if that information is sold to a hostile country who has bad intentions?

In that case the president is not safe at all.

It reminds us of an incident when a leader of one neighboring country which is quietly considered to be hostile to the Kampala establishment (after having fought three bloody battles in Congo) revealed to the Ugandan president that some people who were hostile to his country had met him at state house and discussed issues of treasonable nature.

The Ugandan leader was shocked and embarrassed to an extent that he indeed conceded that he had met those particular people but he denied that there was anything conspiratorial about that meeting.  This time there was no doubt that president Museveni’s secrets were being leaked by someone from within his own state house chambers.

But If it turns out that he made the call to pre-empt his own speech, then Mama Fiina can safely be regarded as the most powerful witchdoctors in the world.

Controversial Dimensions

What stokes controversy in this relationship between the president and this witchdoctor Is the fact that the president is known to be deeply inclined to the evangelical movement. His wife, the first lady Janet Kataha Museveni is a staunch born again Christian while One of his daughters, Patience, owns a huge born again church in one of the Kampala suburbs of Bunga.  

With those sentiments in mind, you will wonder how president Museveni does his things. He seems not to be stuck in one enclave. During his early days, he was known Marxist and an atheist who despised religion and its tendencies.

One time he shocked the country when he revealed that during his bush war days, he used the services of a witchdoctor who convinced him to jump a slaughtered sheep to enable him win the war.

On another occasion he told religious leaders that he doesn’t believe in the concept of heaven. By saying so he was diluting the real epicenter of the Christian faith which revolves around HEAVEN as a reward for good conduct on earth while bad behavior is rewarded with fire in hell. In fact, without heaven most faiths cannot stand the test of time. That’s why they extoll the concept of resurrection as fundamental element of the Christian faith.

President Museveni has also managed to alternate his philosophical beliefs by graduating from being a communist throughout his youthful years to a seasoned capitalist. Therefore, hobnobbing with a witchdoctor doesn’t necessarily come as a complete surprise.

The author Fred Daka Kamwada is a researcher, policy analyst and blogger; kamwadafred@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Retrogressive Taxation; How URA Has Destroyed The Poultry Industry Through Its Negative Taxation Policy

 

Retrogressive Taxation; How URA Has Destroyed The Poultry Industry Through Its Negative Taxation Policy

·        It’s a pity that the Ugandan government is pushing for an import substitution strategy before it fulfills its production potential 

Early  this year , the secretary to the national treasury Mr. Ramathan Goobi wrote to all the concerned government agencies a letter in which he implored them to emphasize the BUBU concept of buy Uganda build Uganda.

He was drawing the idea from the national development plan which had insisted that in order to industrialize and build a self sustaining economy, government needed to adopt an import substitution strategy in which goods which were previously imported could be produced from within Uganda.

They pushed this suggestion on sectors like the cotton sector but failed because Uganda couldn’t produce enough cotton that can result into import substitution that would result into eliminating second hand clothes.

Then they staggered onto the idea of eliminating second had cars but they had no industry to produce new cars.

Now they switched to the poultry sector and insisted that most of the chicken feeds consist of ingredients that can be made from within Uganda should be pay taxes with the view of enticing locals to produce them from here.

Some of those feeds include chicken feeds like CONCETRATE and PREMIX..

They argue that since feeds known as CONCETRATE couldn’t be produced from within the country, then they should be exempted from taxation.

 But since PREMIX has elements like soya and maize which were deemed to be abundantly found in the country, then they should be subjected to a tax.

In their wisdom the economic planners argued that there was no reason why they continued to exempt PREMIX feeds from taxation because it could be produced from within the country since the material mentioned are available within the country.

After making their observations, the economic planners crafted a tax on the animal feeds and tasked Uganda revenue authority to start collecting them with immediate effect. The consequence was immediate as the farmers stopped importing the feeds which were essential in mixing poultry feeds.

Chicken farmers who fed tones of this food to chicken that lay eggs and meat immediately got stuck as there was no poultry feeds on the market because the importers had gone on a sit-down strike. They wanted government to reconsider the decision but URA was not relenting.

To make matters even worse, revenue made a silly mistake of calculating how much the importers had made in the previous past years of not paying taxes, so they decided that the importers should pay those taxes as well, jeez! Can you imagine that? They never took into consideration the fact that with the passing of time the economic realities change. In any case, we all know that the law does not work retrospectively but works proactively. This means that you cannot use the law which has just been enacted to a situation that happened in the past.

Now what has comically transpired is that the Uganda revenue authority itself has failed to make the distinction between the PREMIX CHEIKCN FEEDS and the CONCETRATE CHICKEN FEEDS.

They insist that these components are different yet the farmers insist that these are the same things serving the same purpose.

Now the mother of all confusions is that URA seemed to have realized their mistake and made the decision to consult with the experts from the ministry of agriculture which is the mother ministry concerned with these feeds, the ministry of finance which tasked them and the research institutes like Namulonge to assist them in making an informed decision about the fundamental difference between the PREMIX chicken feeds and the CONCETRATE chicken feeds,

By trying to make consultations, URA is exposing its ignorance about what they were rushing to tax.

Their haphazard tax system has had an immediate consequence of hiking the prices of eggs and chicken meat on the market and put the poultry sector into an absolute jeopardy.

What is frustrating is that while URA is hell-bent on taxing the Ugandan farmer, their counterpart neighbors in the region like Kenya and Tanzania have exempted their farmers from paying those taxes to incentivize their poultry industry.

The figures show that while Uganda was the leading exporter of eggs in the region, the negative tax has had the immediate impact of reducing that egg out put to one of the worst in the region.  

First of all they envisaged that since these animal feeds contain maize and soya then it was obviously easy to produce those feeds in the country which was totally wrong. The reality is that Ugandans couldn’t produce those feeds in the exact nature as they were being imported.

For instance take the example of maize. Ugandan famers produced 14 million tones of maize in 2018 but they were faced with a lack of market because of factors beyond them but mostly because the prices had collapsed downwards to less than 2000 shillings per kilogram.

At that time 50% of the maize went to be mixed into the poultry food. As a result of this the Ugandan farmers either stopped or scaled down on the production of maize. But funny enough the next year prices of maize went up when the region was hit by drought in parts of the horn of Africa.

This pushed the prices of maize much higher, yet the farmers had not produced the maize this year. The consequence is that the maize prices have skyrocketed on the local market up to today in the region of 4000-5000 per kilogram.

This together with the taxes of animal feeds has had the net effect of killing off the poultry industry as the maize and soya which are locally produced are also too expensive to make poultry farmers break even.

To add more confusion in the mix, small fish otherwise known as Mukene is one of the local ingredients used to make chicken feeds is also a delicacy eaten by Ugandans! This means that human beings are competing with chicken for food!

And as you read this, farmers have nothing to feed their poultry.

To demonstrate how reckless they were in destroying the poultry sector, the URA has even tasked its lawyers who sit on the Alternative Dispute desk to look into the matter which is evidence enough to show that they were misled by the officials from the national planning authority and the ministry of finance to adopt a strategy without first studying its viability and impact assessment on the poultry sector.

We a-wait what will come out of the research by the experts but I hope you now know why chicken and eggs prices and maize have all skyrocketed.

While president Museveni is eager to enforce the East African market, he has failed to pay attention to production potential of his country which is still too low to cater for the bigger market. This is the same reason which has led to the over fishing of lake Victoria because it’s too small to cater for all the industries he invited to lift the fish sector. This has led to 22 fish industries to close because there are already too many fish industries competing and over fishing the lake. But Museveni is blaming the locals for fishing young fish and even deployed the army to stop them from fishing! Oh dear!

The Way Forward

The government needs to scrap all taxes on the animal feeds as an incentive for them to grow and produce enough for the local market and for imports. This is the only way that will facilitate the import substitution strategy to work.  Remember any tax that kills the growth of a given sector can only be regarded as a retrogressive tax and should be scrapped with immediate effect.

The author Fred Daka Kamwada a researcher, policy analyst and blogger; kamwadafred@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

Since 1986 President Museveni has replicated most of Obote’s mistakes and copied and pasted Amin’s dictatorial tendencies

 

UG AT 60; President Museveni Has Failed To Acknowledge That President Obote Was Superb With Social Services Infrastructure and Gen Idi Amin A Hero For Indigenizing The Economy

Since 1986 President Museveni has replicated most of Obote’s mistakes and copied and pasted Amin’s dictatorial tendencies

 

Yesterday 9^th October 2022, Uganda marked 60 years of independence in ceremony that was celebrated at Kololo independence grounds where Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni delivered a thirty page speech in which he extolled the works of the National Resistance Movement which he described as the best thing that had ever happened to Uganda.

In fact he openly suggested that the first 24 years of Uganda’s independence from 1962 to 1986 should be considered ‘wasted years’ and insisted that the country experienced real progress from 1986 when he took over the reins of power.

He went on to describe the nature of the Ugandan economy starting from the British policies that included the introduction of (the three Cs) cotton, copper and coffee as the bedrock foreign exchange earners of the economy which reverted to the tree Ts of tobacco, tea and tourism before they capsulated into oblivion .

He was categorical in his indictment of the past leaders and the senior economists who he said, have failed to introduce an economic plan that can propagate the country into economic prosperity.

FORENSIC AUDIT

Despite of the lamentations of the Ugandan president, we need to interrogate what has really happened in the last 60 years of our independence and look at the respective contributions of each leader that got the opportunity to rule this country.

  A forensic audit of what each leader has contributed will help us understand where the current NRM leadership stands vis-à-vis the past leaders of the first 24 years of Ugandan independence and what obtains for the future of this country.

And it’s worth noting that although Museveni points accusing fingers to all the past leaders, it’s worth noting each leader managed to make a constructive contributions to the overall good of this country.

There is overwhelming evidence that suggests that president Obote was superb with social services.

When Ugandan got independent in 1962, titular president Frederick Muteesa shared power with executive prime minister Apollo Milton Obote and their reign saw the foundation of social infrastructure upon which major hospitals, schools, banks, housing estates, police stations, prisons, etc were built.

Major physical infrastructure like roads, power lines, water delivery were also laid around the country

During that short time of just four years from 1962 to 1966 when the UPC-Kabaka yekka alliance collapsed, they built major hospitals like Mulago hospital, managed to build the bank of Uganda headquarters, and managed to switch the capital city from Entebbe to Kampala. All these achievements were attained in a period of just four years, and are still influential assets to the country.

When Obote managed to conspire and eventually remove president Muteesa from power in 1966, Ugandan was at the same GDP level as South Korea and Singapore.

President Obote actually deserves credit for having laid the foundation for the cooperatives society that was spread around the whole country and construction of the Uganda commercial bank which had branches throughout the country.

 

 This UCB managed to help farmers to deposit their savings and access credit/loans at low interest rates and managed to ably play its cardinal role as the people’s bank in the country.

 The cooperatives societies were central in helping Ugandan farmers’ access high quality seedlings, high breed animals, veterinary services, storage facilities like granaries, farming tools like hoes and tractors and even assisted in offering transportation and marketing facilities.

Indigenizing the economy    

When president Obote was overthrown by Gen Idi Amin in 1971, Ugandans got the chance to run their own economy when the new president made the decision to expel the Indians in what he termed as the economic war in 1972.

Although this indigenization of the economy had the draw backs of retarding the economy in the first years, it had the long-term effect of introducing Ugandans into the business of running their own economy.  

In fact, it’s fair to say that Amin’s decision to expel the Indians still remains one of the most fundamental economic decisions that has ever been made in the 60 years of Uganda’s independence.

It still remains the pivot around which the Ugandan economy is revolving and remains the foundation upon which the current leadership is trying to anchor its policies.

It’s the one upon which the government can make adjustments to push the citizens from subsistence to commercial farming.

If the Indians were still running the show, it would have been imposable to talk of converting the citizens from the subsistence lifestyle because it’s the Indians who would have been running the commercial sector of the economy.

You can even say that Gen Idi Amin‘s decision makes him a hero because its exactly what the ANC needs to do but has failed to do in south Africa, where the South African economy is still run by the whites while the blacks wallow in abject poverty.

It’s the same predicament that obtains in Kenya where the Kenyan economy is run by whites while the blacks scramble for political power.    What is the use of having political power for some few political elites while the majority of the indigenous Africans are spectators?

If the Indians had remained in charge of the Ugandan economy the GDP would have been high but the net incomes of the indigenous citizens would have been shamefully terrible to warrant a discussion.

 But today, Ugandans can proudly discuss and brainstorm polices because they are the major players in the economy thanks largely to the heroic decision of President Idi Amin dada.

Therefore President Yoweri Museveni needs to acknowledge some of these contributions from the past leaders to the extent that without their decisions Uganda would have been very difficult to transform.

CONTEXT VS PRETEXT

  Of course Museveni is getting an easy ride of trashing the past leaders because of the political events that transpired where Obote abolished multi -party democracy and adopted a one party state that run the country on a pseudo democratic path and Amin was heavily involved the violation of human rights of Ugandans in what has globally come to be known as the worst dictatorship the world has ever seen.

They say that history repeats itself, but it only does so when fools easily forget the repercussions of those mistakes committed in the past.

It’s worth noting that Museveni himself has almost repeated the same political mistakes that Obote committed during his time in power.

For instance in 1966 Obote attacked the Lubiri forcing Muteesa to flee into exile and its exactly Museveni did when he attacked the palace of the Mumbere of the Rwenzururu kingdom and hundreds were butchered to death in Kasese by the UPDF.

Obote thrived through a pseudo democratic dispensation which included suppression of the opposition, embarking on a one-party state and rigging elections.

The Ugandan courts have on two occasions declared that the NRM has rigged elections, and suppressed the rights of the opposition to an extent that Uganda is now a known violator of human rights almost close to Amin’s Uganda.

Therefore president Museveni’s 36 years in power may not necessarily amount to much praise since the good works of the fast 24 years of independence created the foundation upon which the NRM has used to launch its own policies.

 Today the Uganda railway which the Britons built in 1899 is no more, the UCB and cooperatives which were built by Obote are no more, while the economy is reverting into the hands of investors invited by Museveni, a clear contradiction to Amin’s heroic plan to indigenize the economy and place it in the control of Ugandans. 

In fact it’s worth noting that since 1986, President Museveni has replicated most of Obote’s mistakes and copied and pasted Amin’s dictatorial tendencies

 

In our next episode we shall analyze president Museveni’s economic policies and look at their net effect on the Ugandan citizen in the last 36 years.

The author Fred Daka Kamwada is a policy analyst, and researcher; kamwadafred@gmail.com