Bobi Wine cannot start with barter trade

The people of Ankole in south-western Uganda and the people of Karamoja in the north-east have very strong pastoral traditions. Their thing is cattle.
So coveted is the cow that stealing cattle was almost a legitimate way of enlarging one’s herd in Karamoja.
The Karimojong thieves, more politely described as cattle rustlers, perceived themselves less as greedy criminals than fearless ‘warriors’.

The Ankole sub-region was not associated with large-scale cattle rustling like Karamoja. But many of Uganda’s post-1986 thieves of land, government and donor funds also perceive themselves as gallant ‘liberators’. Those among them who hail from Ankole have turned some of their loot into grazing fields and bought more cows.
President Museveni so loved the Karimojong that he sent them his only wife as the minister for Karamoja Affairs in the last Cabinet. A person from Ankole was, therefore, a pillar in the redemptive mission of taming the Karimojong.

In an intriguing balancing act, President Museveni appointed a Karimojong, Fr Simon Lokodo, as Uganda’s minister of Ethics and Integrity. In effect, a Karimojong was one of the pillars in the fight against the post-1986 thieves in government.
With the backing of UPDF military force, it has been possible to persuade the Karimojong warriors to more or less abandon cattle rustling.
Without any backing from Karimojong warriors, it has been impossible for Fr Lokodo to persuade Uganda’s liberators and other vampires to abandon the habit of stealing taxpayers’ money.
This habit has virtually killed the very essence of economic policy-making under President Museveni.

Yet the President used to grind a lot of chalk on blackboards, demonstrating to various audiences his mastery of economics.
From the early days, when he thought he could power Uganda’s economy through the mechanisms of barter trade, to the present day, when he seems comfortable with the enormous cost of all his infrastructure constructions and administrative structures vis-à-vis their true benefit, Gen Museveni shows that a cattle background and so much chalk in economics are not enough to lead the majority of citizens to prosperity.
Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe had a string of university degrees, some probably in economics, but he left the country on its knees, without even a proper national currency!

The leadership of a country is less straightforward a matter than operating a livestock farm, which is complex enough in its own right.
A leader sometimes succeeds through the clarity of his goals. Sometimes it is by his humility and the consciousness that he can inspire others to bring out their innovative gifts. Sometimes it is by his insistence on institutional order, discipline of the citizens and sheer hard work. More often, it is by a combination of all those things, with shifting emphasis in different circumstances. And if he sticks around too long, he very likely reverses into failure.

Ill-advised, aiming to belittle his youthful adversary, President Museveni has now recommended that Bobi Wine stick to his music.
A useless cry. Predictably, the President’s critics will retort that at least Bobi Wine is not likely to start his would-be presidency with barter trade. Nor is another ruler likely to be so off his guard (or so negative in his motives?) as to end up with the kind of mess in the banks under Mr Museveni.
They will dare the President that his endless wealth creation stories are not music to their ears in the face of massive unemployment, increasing poverty and horrendous corruption; some of the reasons why people are talking of replacing a cattle-keeper with a musician.

Mr Tacca is a novelist, socio-political commentator.
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