Museveni’s letter to Kyagulanyi: What are the real issues? Part II
After re-reading the letter I found that President Museveni raised nine points not eight as earlier pointed out. In this last part, I deal with the remaining five points.
(5) “Where was the former glory of our country when people had no salt, no sugar, no paraffin, and no security of life or property?”
In 1984 President Museveni, then a guerrilla leader, wrote that: “The guerrilla forces concentrate on the disruption of communication, the economy and the administrative structure.”
In other words, Museveni’s war victories against Idi Amin (1971-1979) and Milton Obote/ Gen Tito Okello (1981-1986) targeted the collapse of the economy. As a result, exchange rate has sky rocketed from Shs8.5 per dollar during Amin’s regime to Shs3,600, meaning that while Shs3,600 bought $423 during Amin’s years it now buys just $1.
In 1962, the allocation to education was 27 per cent of the Budget. It is now only 3 per cent.
This is what Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi calls “our country’s former glory is all gone”. The scarcity of sugar, salt, paraffin and insecurity of life and property was mainly as a result of Museveni’s successful wars against those regimes for 15 years (1971-1986).
In 1984, the IMF abandoned their programmes under Obote II on account of Museveni’s successful disruption of the economy. The so-called revival of the economy means that Museveni has largely repaired what he had successful destroyed in the first place.
(6) “True, there has been a spate of murders but crime is not the same as war.”
In 1984 Museveni wrote that the NRA had killed 4,000 of Obote’s soldiers (1981-1984).
Today police annual reports on people killed in the whole country is closer to 4,000 every year. So what is the difference between those killed in war and those killed in their homes?
(7) “Yes, there is unemployment, but the NRM long ago laid out the way to resolve it through the four sectors: agriculture, industries, services, and ICT. As of today commercial agriculture employs 9.6 million people.
Industries employ 1.2 million people, services employ 4.6 million people, ICT employs 30,000, and public sector employs 416,000.”
Look underneath the flowery story and you find an economic serpent of slavery wage.
It was high wage economy which made Britain inch ahead of other European countries like Germany and the Netherlands which were at the same development level with Britain in 1800.
Similarly, it was high wage economy which enabled USA to develop ahead of many other countries. That is why the 15.8 million industrial slaves add very little to the economic development of Uganda.
(8) “Bobi Wine talks of public debts that have made us slaves. False, we are careful with the level of borrowing.
The debt level does not exceed 41.7 per cent of the GDP. The danger level is 50 per cent of the GDP.”
It is not the level of debt as percentage of GDP which counts, but the ability to pay the debt. If a country like Uganda borrows in currencies it does not print or collect in taxes or earn in exports, it cannot pay back. The end result is frequent rogation for debt forgiveness. European countries can borrow as much as they wish because they borrow domestically and when time comes for payment they just print the currency and pay their domestic debts.
According to the IMF, Japan’s public debt as per cent of GDP was 243.2 per cent in 2013, Italy 135.5 per cent (2016) USA 104.2 per cent (2016), France 98.2 per cent (2016) UK 89.1 per cent (2016) and Germany 70.1 per cent (2016).
(9) “Bobi Wine talks about the sale of public assets probably referring to privatization. It was good it injected a lot of efficiency in the economy.”
In 1972, public transport to Masaka was just Shs2.5. It is now Shs15,000, meaning that while Shs15,000 transported 6,000 people in 1972 it now transports only one person! Before privatization, Uganda Commercial Bank offered loans at only 12 per cent interest rate. It is now at 24 per cent. Is that efficiency or robbery?
Mr Sseezi-Cheeye is a journalist
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