Nasty foreign interests are all over, have you not seen them?

Just about anyone critical of the NRM government is a traitor working for evil foreign interests.

There are evil foreign interests, of course. Once upon a time, a very knowledgeable source told me that one of the roles of a permanent secretary in a neighbouring country was to scare away the Chinese from investing in Uganda’s oil sector.

If the Chines came to Uganda, they stood to lose the already lucrative infrastructure deals they had or were planning to have in that country.

The said PS’s malign works never led to anything significant. CNOOC is busy at work in Uganda. Many other Chinese state-controlled companies have since set up shop here.

But, who knows, the said PS’s hostile stance toward Uganda may have been aided by some Ugandans “on the ground”. Such Ugandans, probably, would be fit to be called traitors. I got no idea. (Full disclosure: My source about the PS was a foreigner — an academic from the UK, precisely. How do these foreigners get all the access?)

No matter, what concerns me is that from President Museveni on down, NRM leaders and some government officials invoke the foreign interest accusation as a club with which to strike critics into silence.

You wonder, who is more of a threat to the fatherland: a small NGO chief whose organisation is funded by some Western philanthropy and happens to make dissenting noises about good governance, or an elected government that is mortgaging our future through bottomless indebtedness to foreigners? Moreover the debt continues to deliver little or no value-for money.

Apparently, only the people in government know what is good for all Ugandans. The wananchi, most being unwashed, can never ask questions. They should stay in their place and let those with the divine right to rule do so until kingdom come.

Besides, if one is said to work for dangerous foreign interests, the government must name that person or organisation, provide the evidence, and sue him or her. Blanket statements aimed at cowing civil society and the media smell of pettiness.

These are statements meant to forestall scrutiny. They are disingenuous and are made in bad faith. Where there is merit, things are exaggerated to deflect attention from State failures.

It could well be that the government spends a lot of time chasing after mostly imaginary foreign enemies and forgetting the real home-grown ones. Home-grown by policies that just aren’t delivering jobs and wealth and opportunity fast enough. Home-grown by policies that have birthed big-time cronyism and corruption. Home-grown by policies that have delivered a life presidency.

If the authorities worked hard to ensure a better life for Ugandans, I suspect those malign foreigners would have no ready recruits. Instead the potential recruits would be imbued by a strong sense of patriotism that they would turn on any foreigner trying to use them to destabilise the glorious republic.

But instead of doing the right thing, the government led by the President himself goes for an easy cop-out. Find a bogey called foreigner and blame him or her for everything. Imperialists and bloodsuckers are out to get a well-meaning government out of power.

And they are using clueless Ugandans. Maybe those Ugandans are not clueless traitors but rather pragmatists who will stop at nothing to see change for the better in their country.

So, someone should be asking himself: why are Ugandans turning on their government, or country for that matter? An honest search for an answer may be clarifying. Then what? I don’t know. Do you?

Bernard Tabaire is a media trainer and commentator on public affairs based in Kampala.
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Twitter:@btabaire