Museveni’s 35 years in power have been a betrayal of ideals and that’s why most citizens of Uganda lost interest in celebrating Uganda’s independence.
Most sober citizens did not have any single reason to celebrate Uganda’s Independence on 9th October 2020. Hitherto, Mr Museveni has been treating Ugandans like second class citizens in their own country. As a comparison, you need to open up your eyes, to see how Kenyans and Tanzania have power over teasily buy any plot of land in Tanzania and Kenya.
It’s different in Uganda. Non-citizens who come in can get square miles of land today, based on the amount of money they have to bribe government officials. The best example is at Mubende District where in 2001, the Uganda People’s Defense Force evicted natives to secure square miles of land only to give it to the western based EU company to establish kaweri coffee plantation to grow coffee with citizens in the area turned into weeders, harvesters etc that earn less than a dollar a day.
The question is; can’t Ugandans grow such crops and sell them to those foreign companies So as to empower the citizens? The people whose land was grabbed with the help of the Uganda people’s defense forces went to court, secured judgment in their favour after 14 years in 2014, however as a delay tactic to stay execution, the judgment was appealed by the company with the help of the government.
When Mr Museveni took power in 1986, he privatized over 142 state revenue generating assets then which he either sold to foreigners or gave as rewards to his tribesmen, relatives and loyal military Commanders, example he gave Uganda Commercial Bank and all its assets to his brother General Salim Saleh.
The most income generating multi-million companies such Airtel repatriate profits to India, MTN to South Africa, Stanbic Bank to South Africa. The electricity currently generated in Uganda is in excess and more than enough to be sold cheaply to Ugandans, but currently most of it is exported to neighborhood. Uganda Electricity board (UEB) was broken up and some functions of distribution by way of concession agreements were sold to UMEME, who have now hiked the cost of power and made it very expressive and making matters worse, they repatriate the profits they make to South Africa. Ugandans are left with nothing.
We have a president who goes to parliament every day to approve loans, supplementary budgets and manipulating tax on commodities for the citizens. Time will come when Ugandans will realize that Dr Apollo Milton Obote was a good leader because he didn’t sell any state assets to any foreigner, that Field Marshal Amin Dada was the best President because he chased away Asians and give their assets to Ugandans.
Why does Mr Museveni badly want to construct roads that costs billions of Shillings using tax payer’s money in the Democratic Republic of Congo? What you need to know is that Mr Museveni is currently in bad terms with his counterpart heads of states in the EAC and is getting isolated by, for example, the monster of his own creation H.E Paul Kagame of Rwanda, and Kenya after their government realizing that the milk products from Uganda to Kenya was sabotaging the markets for Kenya’s similar products, government of Kenya decided to levy some tariff barrier on Mr Museveni’s milk products to help boost market for their local product, In Sudan basing on the nature of the environment being unstable security wise, it appears risky for business.
The road project he is badly wants to construct using Uganda’s tax payers money at whatever cost in DRC is not going to be of any benefit to a common Ugandan. Mr Museveni is working for the whites because they are his only threat. This road is going to benefit those white Warlords that help western based companies steal and loot minerals like gold, diamonds and other resources from Congo, since their exportation are easier through the Eastern side via Uganda than through Western side which takes through the capital of Congo. It’s always said Uganda is one of one of the best exporter of Gold in EAC, where are we getting the gold from and who is in charge of that project? Museveni claims that the road will boost trade, but what guarantee do we have, yet we haven’t made any clear legally binding agreement on what Uganda is getting in return?. At least Chinese government made an agreement that they will construct roads in Congo but in return for minerals.
The greed of some political opposition party leaders have really costed a common citizen of Uganda. We currently have over 30 candidates vying for Uganda Presidential race against Mr Museveni with some running independent are state funded candidates to counteract any attempt for boycotting elections while others are flag bearers for their parties. They have seemingly shown to Ugandans that it’s near to almost impossible for them to agree on one potential candidate probably Robert Ssentamu Kyagulanyi against Mr Museveni and his dictator regime, or even if they are to unite later, it might be too late for them to achieve the purpose of the then alliance.
Am afraid that if we in the opposition that have seemingly similar vision of changing power by democratically overwhelming the junta Museveni and his dictatorial government to reclaim Uganda back to Ugandans, do not change our strategies and begin revamping on voter sensitization and Mobilisations to make them fully understand the importance of purpose for voting in the coming elections, we might have a very low voter’s turn up in the 2021 general elections, because of the mess created by Mr Byabakama and his team working not according to the law, but because they are working under instructions and close supervision of the Army and Mr Museveni who appointed them.
They have tampered with and distorted the voter’s registers where by on the voting day, People shouldn’t be surprised to finding out that their voting stations have been changed from the usual ones to another different station which could be probably further.
All Opposition political parties must be given some resources to run their day today activities like Mobilisation, basing on the number of the legislators under their party in Parliament.
Government deliberately delayed the resource remittance process to frustrate their efforts. The best example is what happened in FDC. To make matters worse, the contract of printing ballot papers and producing voters verification machine have been intentionally given to a German company own by an in-law of Mr Museveni.
What do you expect? These Presdential candidates are going to be given only two months to traverse the entire country in the names of campaigning. Mr Museveni will use government chopper bought with tax payer’s money, while others opposition candidates are going to use cars to move all over the country. Remember we already have poor roads almost everywhere and whats more alarming is in northern Uganda. A presidential candidate might each need about 1 trillion Shillings for campaigns because Mr Museveni has intentionally commercialized the politics in Uganda and has played a very big role in demobilizing voters by using one tribe against the other.
Where will they get the money?
Fellow Ugandans, our independence day was supposed to be one of Uganda’s best holiday, both for what we celebrate and how we celebrate it. It’s easy however to take liberty for granted and to misconstrue just how difficult it was to gain our freedom after over 68years.
Fellow Ugandans, our independence day was supposed to be one of Uganda’s best holiday, both for what we celebrate and how we celebrate it. It’s easy however to take liberty for granted and to misconstrue just how difficult it was to gain our freedom after over 68years. The ideologies of those who championed the struggle was to ensure that our country have three unspeakably precious things; freedom of speech, freedom of conscience and the Prudence never to practice either of them. But the question is, have we up to date guided ourselves by these principals or not? In my opinion, the only way to deal with the unfree world is to become absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion. Honestly, freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.
We don’t pass it to our children in blood stream, it must be fought for, protected and handed on for them to do the same, because; if freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter. Liberty has never come from government. It has always come from subjects of it, for the history of liberty is resistance. For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chain but rather to live in a way that respects and enhance the freedom of others.
