Uganda’s real struggle is not removing Museveni

Kaboggoza Kibudde

What you need to know:

  • Regarding excellence, we can’t achieve it by standing on the side-lines and merely criticising others. Instead, we must step up and subject ourselves to perpetual self-improvement, endeavouring to achieve our goals first before denigrating others. 

Frantz Fanon once said, “Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it.” The question is, what is the mission of Uganda’s young generation? Political actors such as Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine, insist it is “removing President Museveni,” but why should we craft our historic mission around a mortal man called Museveni? If we do, what would constitute the substance of our politics after Museveni is gone? 
The truth is, our historic mission is something much harder.

Centuries ago, a technologically superior civilisation from Europe landed on the coasts of the Americas, Australia, and Africa with more advanced weapons. For a while, this civilisation was restricted to coastal areas, giving natives in the hinterlands a false sense of security. For whereas these natives knew about the superiority of the visitors, they did nothing about it. Instead, they continued to focus on much simpler domestic issues, a lapse in judgment they soon came to rue.

Natives in the Americas almost got eradicated while those in Australia were overrun and pushed to the fringes. In Africa, we got lucky and survived, albeit with mental injuries that persist to this day.
That was then. Today, that advanced civilisation and its offshoots are in the skies trying to leave this planet. In their arsenal are superior weapons capable of wiping us out. Once again, we are looking on, getting drunk on more superficial domestic issues, and enjoying a false sense of security.

Our inability to readily perceive this existential threat lies in the fact that, by and large, White people have been very kind to us. This kindness may go on for long, but the hearts of men and women can change, and they will change. At some point, a fascist group will emerge in the West and use that power to our detriment if we are incapable of defending ourselves.
Therefore, the historic mission of our generation is to help build internal capacity to guard against aggression from technologically advanced civilisations.
First, we must recognise our nakedness and stop taking it for granted that we are capable. Then, we must quickly put our affairs in order for we are behind time. 

To this end, we need to create two things in parallel. One is nationhood so that people have something that draws them back to serve their country. The other is infrastructure and an environment for a scientific community that leads innovation. With these two, our remaining problem would be a lack of geniuses (not infrastructure or effort). 
The most important thing here is not capturing state power. Instead, it is building a critical mass of people who think differently, that is, Afro-centric Africans who pursue excellence for its own sake.  

To be clear, being Afro-centric does not mean being oblivious to what’s happening elsewhere (that would be naïve). It means putting Africa’s stories and existence at the centre and looking at issues (local and global) through an African reality, not through the prism of Western literature.
Regarding excellence, we can’t achieve it by standing on the side-lines and merely criticising others. Instead, we must step up and subject ourselves to perpetual self-improvement, endeavouring to achieve our goals first before denigrating others. 

So, rather than blame and criticise the generations that came before us, let us pursue our historic mission by building on what they have achieved so far, that is, peace and stability, a more capable state, and a backbone for economic development. We don’t have the luxury of getting drunk on simple issues.

Mr Kibudde is a socio-political thinker
[email protected]  Twitter: @kkaboggoza