Museveni’s ‘bad language’, oil and foreign interests

President Yoweri Museveni came to Parliament on Thursday to counter what he called “the nefarious and mendacious campaign” of the foreign interests using non-governmental organisations and some lawmakers to cripple the development of the oil sector in Uganda.

The President invoked Article 101 (2) of our Constitution to address Parliament. The last time he addressed the House was on June 7. But this time, the situation was rather different. His fully loaded verbal Russian Kalashnikov rifle, notwithstanding, only three opposition members - all from the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) - came to listen to him.

The rest of the opposition legislators were conspicuously absent, an indication that there is something wrong. He survived the embarrassment of empty seats in the House. The “voting machines” occupied the opposition seats.

In the Press Gallery, the more I listened to President Museveni’s pugnacious two-hour address to Parliament, for the most part, attacking the West, independent minded-legislators and other non-state actors in the oil sector, the more I kept thinking about the intrinsic meaning of Robert Calderisi’s latest book: The Trouble with Africa. In his hard-hitting, brutally honest personal account about what’s holding up African progress, Calderisi, a former World Bank legate in Africa, attempts to explain why foreign aid is not working and most importantly telling why African leaders are looking for excuses.

While many African leaders, including President Museveni, always blame the West for our problems on factors such as unjust international economic system, the slave trade, colonialism, the Cold War, crushing debt burden and even basic geography, Calderisi says on close examination, each of their excuses grows shaky and throws the spotlight back to the leaders themselves. From this scrutiny, it is clear that our leaders jump the gun in blaming the West for our problems.

At the other end of the continent, the editor of the main opposition paper in Ivory Coast and a man of deep conscience, culture and conviction, wrote: “This continent is really cursed. We may even have to accept that Africans are a bad copy of the human race. We always make ourselves look ridiculous in the eyes of others….” This is not self-hatred; it’s a reminder that the cause of our problems is not “foreign interests” - the resonance of a persistent struggle catching its breath is that our leaders must do something about corruption.

The strategic area where the President cannot be faulted is on his priorities for oil money. The President singled out the 40,000 megawatts needed to electrify the whole country, upgrading the railway network, investing in scientific education, boosting road construction, financing local steel industry, stabilising agriculture through irrigation and developing real estate in external markets. Since oil is a finite resource, the President highlighted the dire need to protect our durable resources and environment.

Whether this is lip-service or not time will tell. But for now, the President’s view is that the oil money should not be used for consumption, paying fat salaries and administration. That, spending the oil money on consumptive expenditures such as wines, whiskies, wigs, artificial bums, cars and other luxuries will be a grave mistake.

Having said that, I looked at President Museveni pouring contempt on what he repeatedly called “pessimism” and “maligns” being spread by the “saboteurs” and “quislings” of external interests. I asked colleagues in the Press Gallery whether they understood the context to the President’s attacks on foreign interests, MPs and the NGOs working to ensure that the oil, which is supposed to be a blessing for any country, does not fetch a curse for Uganda.

So, what’s wrong with NGOs working with MPs to ensure that there is transparency, accountability, openness and good governance in the oil sector? Or possibly it’s far-fetched for our “scientists” to think of a curse if full powers were given to a Petroleum Authority manned by compatriots picked by the President with the blessing of Parliament. Again, I doubt whether advocating for precision in the oil sector qualifies the lawmakers to be called “quislings”.

In the same way, one wonders whether it makes sense for our leaders to connive with external forces to steal Uganda’s oil. But as we deliberated on the politics to his bellicose oil speech, one thing came to our attention: That after arm-twisting Parliament to push through The Petroleum Exploration and Development Bill, 2012, it was only fair that the President dissipates public nihilism. Whether his speech, that Deputy Speaker Jacob Oulanyah faulted over “bad language”, for which the President apologised, achieved the intended goal or not, that will be for another day.

But one important aspect in President Museveni’s elaborative oil speech and the planned admonition of Theodore Ssekikubo [NRM, Lwemiyaga], Wilfred Niwagaba [NRM, Ndorwa East] and Abdul Katuntu [FDC, Bugweri] group was not about the NGOs using “mendacity” to influence the direction of our country, in some aspects the hard-talk was about the impending battle over the remaining two contentious oil Bills:

midstream and downstream— The Public Finance Bill, 2012 and The Petroleum (Refining, Gas Processing and Conversion, Transportation and Storage) Bill, 2012.
His iconic intelligence feeds on the workings of NGOs and MPs notwithstanding, the President’s pugnacious lecture on the developments in the oil sector eluded the much-needed promise: that a government with suspected ministers can still be trusted with oil revenues. Now that Parliament has bowed to pressure and given the minister in charge of petroleum full powers to grant and revoke licences, negotiate and endorse agreements, it would have been critical for the President to address the public cynicism on one of his failed quests: The war against corruption.

But in the midst of oil mysteries, the President asked Parliament to “stay tuned” that they should not worry because the corruption in the Office of the Prime Minister, Hassan Basajjabalaba deals, ghost pensioners in Public Service, among other corruption scandals we see in his government, are being discovered by NRM cadres. In this tangled war against corruption, the President forgot to tell MPs that their constituents are suffering because he is calculating which way is safest to jump. After the Christmas break, President is expected to address Parliament again, this time focusing on the widespread corruption in his government: The public enemy number one.

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Flowers: Ministry of health
The Ministry of Health is considering forced HIV/Aids test for all patients. That, anyone who visits a health centre or hospital for treatment will be required to undergo an HIV test so as to curb the increase in HIV prevalence in the country. Compulsory testing is likely to face opposition from civil society and human rights groups but, this is a welcome idea given the fact that the people who know their status are unlikely to engage in risky behaviour. The latest HIV/Aids indicator survey released this year shows that prevention efforts are failing and prevalence rising. This is because 80% of those with the virus don’t know they have it Compulsory testing is the way to go.

Frowns: President museveni
President Museveni is the winner of this week’s ignominy trophy. The Daily Monitor reported that he accepted to use taxpayers’ money to pay back billions of shillings stolen in the Office of the Prime Minister. Ministers told this paper that the President, before he went to Russia, authorised Finance Minister Maria Kiwanuka to withdraw Shs38.8 billion from Consolidated Fund to refund stolen funds to the development partners. This is a dangerous move and the taxpayers are likely to lose this money. What government should have done is to prosecute people who pocketed donor funds and effect recovery.

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