“If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done,” is a famous quotation that is often attributed to Thomas Jefferson. This man was one of America’s founding fathers, Principle authors of the Declaration of Independence (1776) and later the third President of the US. No wonder the US went on to become the nation that it is today
In all of the history of the US, there has been an endeavour to do things differently and this is attested by the great number of innovations and patents that come out of that country.

At 50, Uganda’s biggest problem has been stagnation at the national philosophical level. We seem to do the same thing over and over again expecting different results. We have tried so many things at the political level with all of them aimed at one thing, the perpetuation of selfish leaders.
From dictatorship, to all watered down versions of democracy; no party, one party, multi party, etc. The net result has been failure and frustration for the majority of our citizens who are left to the vagaries of empty hospitals, poor schools, bad roads and poverty. It is obvious that we have been very diligent while doing the wrong thing which has given us the same end result –futility.
One of the greatest mistakes that we have made is to overlook the fact that nation building is all about people more than anything else. The quality of the people when put together is the type of nation you get.

Many have told the people only half the story. That they are entitled to various indelible rights which is the easier part. They have cleverly hidden the harder part which is laying emphasis on the responsibility of the individual in a democracy.
If Uganda is going to amount to anything in the next 50 years and beyond, we have to get down to teaching and demanding from the individual the fulfillment of their responsibility to the State and building a viable democracy.

Leaders are sensitive to the people who finance their governments. That is why for most of the last 50 years in Uganda, donors and of late investors, have been revered by those that run the country.

If individuals do not work and pay their taxes, but demand services from the government, which services are financed by donors, then Uganda at 100 will be no different from Uganda at 50.
Secondly, Uganda needs empathetic people. If you want to live in a clean city, you must be clean to begin with. If you desire an environment that is characterised by law and order, you must be law abiding. Charity begins at home and it all starts with you.

The individual must know and implement their responsibility to others. If you do not respect domestic house help or are violent towards those who are in a weaker position than yourself, asking the governors of the State to respect human rights becomes a tall order.
But then for the individual to be a significant actor of use to the State, there is a need to have considerable levels of awareness.

This means intellectual nourishment and development must be taken seriously. People should take being informed on both global and local issues.
One of the reasons why we have had low quality citizens is that the scope of many of us is so limited. Many know very little about the world and are therefore amazed and grateful for the tokens that come out of mediocre leadership.

A poorly done road or bridge will definitely seem like heaven to those who have not seen construction of greater magnitude in countries and cities beyond their village. People, who do not read, write and yearn to know more will always be limited in what they know and want. Thus such people will never demand better.

We shall waste more time and resources in the next 50 years if this aspect of having quality citizens is not taken seriously. After all, democracy is about people. Poor quality people will definitely lead to a poor quality democracy and that is the stuff Banana Republics and failed States are made of.

Mr Sengoba is a commentator on political and social issues. nicholassengoba@yahoo.com

That is why the donors will endure lectures and insults from begging African dictators about their double standards and all ills. The truth is that their eyes are on a goal in future when they will have the last laugh at pay-back time.

We are about to lose count of the number of donors who have cut off aid to Uganda ‘till 2013’ which is just a few days away. By that time, the donors want us to believe that the government will have put systems in place to stop the theft of donor money, recovered what was stolen and put it to its proper use. This is ridiculous.

When one reads critical books on aid such as Lords of Poverty by Graham Hancock, Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins, Dead Aid by Dambisa Moyo, The White Man’s Burden by William Easterly, The Road to Hell: The Ravaging Effects of Foreign Aid and International Charity by Michael Maren and a whole load of others, they will realize what the real purpose of economic aid is. It has very little to do with philanthropy.

Contrary to what many people think, the donors are not the legendary mother goose that spends its life time fending for its young ones. They are in the area of giving as part of a cynical lucrative business.

This is the reason why however much is stolen, or however many conditions are broken or however many donor funded projects fail, the donors will pretend to be angry and sulk for sometime then resume their aid.

Aid, to put it very plainly, is intended to subjugate the recipients. Africa has the ‘misfortune’ of being the most endowed continent in terms of natural resources and mineral wealth. The major donor nations and institutions are fortunate to come from a long line of people who traditionally are long term thinkers and planners.

The aid money being stolen and squandered in Africa today will definitely be paid for by the generations to come with the mineral and other resources that are scattered across the continent. The risk is manageable and that is why they do not seem to care. The more donor money wasted the greater the stake and influence the donor country has on the continent’s wealth.

The more endowed a country is (however failed it is as state,) the more aid is poured into it. That is why the Zaire (present DR Congo) under Mobutu was given so much aid by particularly the US and France even when there was evidence that the money was being shared out by Mobutu and his cronies with almost nothing going to the people of Zaire. That is why the donors can afford to completely cut off aid to a country that does not have significant resources like Zimbabwe, even if its leader is no different from the so called blue eyed boys of the continent.

Now that Uganda has discovered oil, there is no way the donors can risk cutting off aid and walking away. The easiest way for them to exploit that oil in future is by ‘investing’ their money now and putting it in the hands of people who will waste it. The day that money is due for repayment, the borrower will be in a very weak position with little or no bargaining power.

That is why the donors will endure lectures and insults from begging African dictators about their double standards and all ills. The truth is that their eyes are on a goal in future when they will have the last laugh at pay-back time.

The reason why the donors are acting tough at this time is to play to the gallery back home. With most of the economies, particularly in the PIGS nations (Portugal, Italy/Ireland, Greece and Spain) doing so badly. With ridiculous levels of unemployment and despair, the leaders are pretending to show concern regarding foreign aid yet their citizens are eating from the garbage heap and sleeping in the cold.

The truth is that they do not want to lose sight of their long term goal of having a stake on this forlorn but rich continent of ours. They will pretend to be tough for sometime then the money will begin to roll again. That is part of the story of foreign aid. It is supposed to be stolen and wasted.

Mr Sengoba is a commentator on political and social issues.
nicholassengoba@yahoo.com

The ‘healthy sinner’ who goes astray like say Pastor Benny Hinn or Jimmy Swaggart; the men of God who had extra marital affairs, has an opportunity of repenting and going back in the fold of God’s people living on earth.

This piece is not intended for the ultra-moral, super holy and those who are immune to temptation and sin. It will annoy and disappoint them. There are escalating cases of new HIV infections especially among the youth and married people in Uganda. Unprotected sexual intercourse with an infected partner is responsible for most of this trend.

We have the ABC strategy which has now become ABC+, that is; Abstinence, Being faithful, Condom use plus Circumcision.

It is obvious that people are having sex outside marriage without condoms and this is where a lot of emphasis should be. Trouble is that for many, encouraging condom use is equivalent to encouraging adultery, fornication and all sexually immoral vices.

The end result is that people either do not use condoms when the devil tempts them from their high, holy standing or they use them incorrectly due to lack of education. That is why I would suggest that those who oppose condoms from a religious point of view should take a fresh look at the issue.

The Bible tells us somewhere about the thief who like the devil only comes to steal, kill and destroy. HIV/Aids has killed so many, stolen so much from our lives and destroyed homes, careers plus the entire social fabric. Logically it may be called the tool of the devil.

The faithful have human failings that lead them to having sexual intercourse outside marriage. Many times, we have heard at the funeral of someone who has died after a ‘long illness,’ (the euphemism for the Aids condition) that the late accepted Jesus Christ on his death bed and therefore we should rejoice that he is going to heaven.

There is a possibility, that the deceased would have ‘lived in sin,’ (with the use of condoms,) stayed alive and made amends with God giving him the opportunity to live longer.

Many times, the deceased has left a wife and children plus other dependents to face the harsh realities of life. I would think that if it was an open policy to encourage condom use when one is ‘tempted’ and the condoms are distributed openly with the constant message that they are for use when ‘the devil ambushes’ the faithful, we are likely to have less incidences of the disease than we have right now.

The outright dismissal of condoms helps the devil to accomplish his mission of stealing, killing and destroying!

I would rather have a ‘healthy sinner’ on earth than a holy dead body brought about by HIV/Aids infection, leaving behind dependents to suffer humiliation and at times infection from the same condition because they are economically desperate and insecure.

The ‘healthy sinner’ who goes astray like say Pastor Benny Hinn or Jimmy Swaggart; the men of God who had extra marital affairs, has an opportunity of repenting and going back in the fold of God’s people living on earth. This is not true with one who gets infected and dies.

Yes, the condom has its failings, but it is still better than nothing. Encouraging condom use among the faithful is equivalent to fighting the devil on his turf.

We have to be aware that the devil loves to bring down the high and mighty to show that he really is powerful and that is why it makes a lot of news when a Christian catches the disease. Even the media finds more weight in this arrangement by reporting the failings of a religious person ahead of anything else.

That is why if a saved, muganda Principal Accountant steals money, the report would claim that a saved man (not an accountant) has stolen. The point here is that, the faithful are some of the most vulnerable and thus should be prepared with greater emphasis and reality.

Granted, the condom has its failings which include pores and the likelihood of breaking. But it is still better than nothing. So as the men of God hold the holy books in the right hand and proclaim his word, they should point to the condom with the left hand just in case the devil raises his ugly head.

In the late 80s and early 90s, Uganda woke up to the new economic policies of structural adjustment and liberalisation.

The State would leave most economic activities to the market forces of demand and supply. Other services would go into private hands. The government would only put in place the regulatory framework and ensure a sound environment for businesses to flourish.

A large part of the government workforce was laid off. Naturally, all the privileges that came with these jobs like free or subsidised housing and transport were sold off. Suddenly, people found themselves homeless, jobless and on foot. They now had the added responsibility of paying their medical bills and the school plus university tuition under the cost sharing schemes.

Remember that most of these women and men had not yet known what happens after retirement. They were part of the lot that joined public service straight from school at or around independence.

Public servants who built houses in those days did so painstakingly over several years as they neared retirement using their savings and pension. They didn’t have the burden of exorbitant university dues and hospital bills to tie them down economically at a time when they had stopped working.

Retrenchment threw a spanner in the works. Hitherto powerful men and women were ordered out of public housing, which those with political connections bought for a song. Many left for the village or stayed in town with relatives or in ‘demeaning’ housing.

Others put up in their unfinished structures. Their children started going to school on foot or for the lucky ones in matatus. Their wives who were used to picking their groceries at facilities such as Fresh Foods or Foods and Beverages, which were famous government retail outlets now started rubbing shoulders with ‘ordinary’ people in markets or getting credit from kiosks in the neighbourhood. Society wondered how people who had been in high places for many years would ‘stupidly’ end so badly.

The affected public servants were humiliated. Many died of depression-related diseases. Government officials, when selling the above economic policies sponsored by the Bretton Woods institutions, callously claimed that they were weeding out ‘drunkards’ and phasing out ‘dens of thieves’ to create a ‘leaner effective government.’ With this went the social safety net.

These were lessons for those left behind in the public service and those who joined later. You start working for your retirement and social safety net from day one. Secondly, the government would never appreciate the sweat and work of one’s hands. Thirdly, that the public you served honestly and diligently was waiting to ridicule you if you did not ‘prepare for your future and that of your children!’

So much was the money involved that all of a sudden, Kampala, which was famed for being a city built on seven hills, expanded to more than 21. On this journey Kampala went with valleys, forests, road reserves, sports grounds, ‘idle land’ belonging to schools, hospitals, churches and finally wetlands plus protected areas. Cars were bought in similar fashion.

Interestingly, it was mainly public servants with their ‘meagre salaries’ building personal houses, rentals and the now famous apartments. Then came schools, hospitals, office blocks and shopping arcades.

The corruption figures went up exponentially as public servants positioned themselves to make money from every procurement deal and project that crossed their paths. They even grew bolder and created ghost employees, fictitious trips and activities to steal public money.

Government officials took a lot of pride in this manner of ‘progress’, claiming the peace and stability ushered in by the wise leadership of the NRM had brought so much ‘development’ that cars had no space to ride on the packed roads. Any mention of corruption was countered with the argument that at least the corrupt were ‘investing here’, creating employment and helping to build a middle class necessary for the development of democracy and economic take off.

Now there you are. Those involved in the scams in the Prime Minister’s office that is riling the donors may be bad citizens but they are also good students of those retrenched in the 80s and 90s, plus the leaner efficient government that came thereafter!

Mr Sengoba is a commentator on political and social issues.
nicholassengoba@yahoo.com

It does not matter which schools you have been to or how widely you have travelled or if you can speak English with an accent or how sophisticated you are. You shall always be an African, Ugandan and in my case a Muganda, no apologies!

Congratulations to President Museveni, Ms Alice Muhoozi, Prof. Emmanuel Muranga, and Mr Gilbert Gum’oshabe who together authored the 22,000 word thesaurus titled Katondoozi y’Orunyankore/Rukiga.

Katondoozi is an addition to the already existing language treasures like the dictionary; Kashoboorozi y’Orunyankore Rukiga and for Luganda Enkuluze ya Oluganda eya e Makerere by K. B. Kiingi -all published by Fountain Publishers. Of course there are many other commendable efforts to preserve our local languages which have not received publicity.
Like Mr Museveni said, “if we lose indigenous local languages in Africa, the entire humanity would lose. To lose a language would be a crime.”

Those who are following the ‘developments’ in our education sector must have been taken aback when Museveni said these word. It is all ironical that there is a policy in the pipeline to stop the teaching and examining of indigenous languages in favour of Chinese and other “international languages which will grant them better opportunities and global competitiveness.”

I was one of those who were punished at school for speaking ‘vernacular.’ Now here I am speaking and writing good English but cannot take up the opportunity of writing columns in Luganda because my written Luganda is full of mistakes. That has not increased my competitiveness or given me greater opportunities.

To say the least, this is the height of confusion, madness and lack of imagination. The Chinese, Indians, Koreans and Japanese whom we want to emulate have all progressed because they treasure their indigenous language, history and culture and preserve them as well.

Languages conceal history and culture. For instance, in English one cannot understand the expression ‘a Trojan horse’ unless one knows the history of the war in which this ‘horse’ was used.

What the world has lost by these silly policies that stifle the development of indigenous languages is a lot of knowledge regarding traditional/ herbal medicine, farming techniques, character building and matters to do with marriage and sexuality, etc. Ask yourself if cancer, tuberculosis and malaria did not exist before the colonialists came to Africa? How were these ailments treated? Didn’t God exist before the missionaries landed here? So did all the Africans who died before Speke and Grant plus all the other Arab and European explorers (exploiters) go to hell?

The biggest problem that ‘modern’ Africa has suffered is the lack of serious analysis when attempting to find a solution to a problem -that is how we keep adopting wholesale; World Bank and IMF strategies and then cry about lost decades.

We just jump on the next ‘in thing’ and move on until we hit a dead end. Many in Europe and US are studying Chinese and the languages of the Far East to understand the culture and counter the growing tigers and dragons that threaten their pole position. But they have not stopped the teaching of English!

When the colonialists came to Africa, they attempted to ‘civilise’ us by teaching us their ways. That is how we adopted English names as ‘first’ names as meaningless as they are. The same applies to worship, marriage (which now includes same sex unions) and of course language.

Now we think by learning the languages of those who are making speedy progress, we too shall progress. Nonsense! Baganda have been the greatest critics of this language policy because Luganda is the most common indigenous language which has been taught and examined at all levels for the longest time in our history and are unnecessarily threatening court action.

There is an opportunity here. Like the Nabageraka, Lady Sylvia Naginda whose Kisakate initiative is already in place, all nationalities should arrange holiday classes to teach young people not only their language but also culture (music, food, medicine and etiquette). Our illiterate grandparents passed on this knowledge by word of mouth around the fire place. Now we have phones and computers where we can transmit lessons, far and wide yet we are still pleading with the government.

Take the initiative by starting with your own children. It does not matter which schools you have been to or how widely you have travelled or if you can speak English with an accent or how sophisticated you are. You shall always be an African, Ugandan and in my case a Muganda, no apologies!

Mr Sengoba is a commentator on political and social issues. nicholassengoba@yahoo.com

Being a Muganda girl from the provinces of Kayunga, she definitely has visited the bushes to pick firewood and fetch water. This invaluable experience teaches one to have a basic instinct - the sort that Nantaba displayed during the showdown with her detractors.

Finally, Ms Idah Erios Nantaba was sworn in as Minister of State for Lands. It is very long since a nominee for a Cabinet post received so much resistance, especially from the ruling party MPs.

It is even harder to remember when a nomination was surrounded with so much salacious gossip like this particular one. The whispering was premised on the fact that never has the President been so tenacious and unrelenting when his nominees were rejected in the past (the Hajji Sebagalas, Saleh Kambas, James Kakoozas), etc., as he did with this case of a young beautiful Muganda single mother from Kayunga.

At times being a columnist puts you in a privileged position to receive information from people who think they can influence you to put their view and stories across. They calculate that since you have ever called the President an ‘autocrat’, you can easily say what gross things they have heard on the grapevine. In the Nantaba affair, I have heard so much gossip to last me a life time. But whatever is said, Nantaba’s ministerial position works very well for Mr Museveni.

First, by bringing in this sort of young blood, the President is saying what he does not say in word. This is mainly that the time to go is inevitable but that if there is to be a ‘useful’ change, the one who takes over from him should ‘tower’ above those (s)he shall lead with.

If, for instance, as it is variously said, his son Muhoozi succeeds him, the ones who he leads with must be younger, less experienced and sophisticated than he is.

This group will look at the one who succeeds Museveni as a father and teacher and thankfully at Museveni as grandfather and headmaster. This is unlike what would happen if Museveni’s colleagues from the bush days were to work under a much younger person – they would not view him with reverence.

Then on the question of loyalty. When a relatively new comer and outsider is appointed, it makes those who thought they were very close to the President very uncomfortable and even depresses them.

In the end you have two likely scenarios. One, they fight the new comer as is the case of Nantaba and also fight so hard to catch the attention of the appointing authority.
Here the Machiavellian side of President Museveni is served so well as the focus on sensitive matters like the succession is blurred and becomes more perplexing.

Also, from the way she has come in with the visible protective hand of the appointing authority, Nantaba is likely to be a more audacious minister than those we have seen before. The most important person in her work plan will be the President who put everything, including his reputation on the line to ensure that she became a minister.

This, coupled with the fact that from the way she speaks and behaves she is like a person who has absorbed power right from its source and in the process received the sort of complete charge that runs from the feet, through the legs right up to the head.

Being a Muganda girl from the provinces of Kayunga, she definitely has visited the bushes to pick firewood and fetch water. This invaluable experience teaches one to have a basic instinct - the sort that Nantaba displayed during the showdown with her detractors. Such a person can be very zealous, enthusiastic and passionate.

With these characteristics, in Nantaba, President Museveni will enjoy having a minister who can be deployed to fearlessly fight all sorts of wars with friends and foes alike, especially those that touch the sensitive area of land. He may then come in to put in the finishing touches; to provide arbitration or consolation depending on what serves him for the sake of patronage.

So, whichever way one looks at it, by having Nantaba in the Cabinet, President Museveni is hitting more than one cow with his stick.

Mr Sengoba is a commentator on political and social issues. nicholassengoba@yahoo.com