President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni has on June 07 delivered his 2022 State of the Nation Address. Here is what the head-of-state and government told Ugandans:
Your Excellency the Vice President,
Right Honourable Speaker,
His Lordship the Chief Justice
Rt. Hon. Deputy Speaker,
Rt. Hon. Prime Minister,
Rt. Hon. Secretary-General of the NRM,
Hon. Members of Parliament,
Members of the Diplomatic Corp,
Ladies and Gentlemen.
In fulfillment of the Constitutional requirement under Article 101 (1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, I am here to deliver the State of the Nation Address, 2022.
Greetings, to all the Ugandans. On an occasion like this, I am reminded of the parable in the Book of Matthew, Chapter 7 and Verses 24-27. This is the parable of two men – a foolish one and a wise one. The foolish man built his house on sandy ground and when a storm came, the house collapsed.
The wise man built his house on hard ground and even when the storm came, the house withstood the force. The exact quotation goes as follows:
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
Similarly, when the NRM was fighting and when we took power in 1986, we put out the 10 points programme that was later summarized into the four principles of the NRM. Point No. 5 of the NRM 10 points programme, set out to build “an independent, self-sustaining national economy”, by creating backward and forward linkages in our economy. Later on, we summarized the 10 points into the four NRM principles of: patriotism, Pan-Africanism, social-economic transformation and democracy. Some myopic people, thought that this was sandy ground where the NRM had constructed the house of Uganda. However, the onslaughts to which Uganda has been subjected in the last 2 or 3 years, have proven that the Uganda house the NRM has constructed in the last 60 years, including the preparatory years before 1986, has been built on hard ground, indeed.
Remember, the locusts, the rising waters of the Lakes, the floating islands, the landslides, the terrorist bombs, the covid-19 and now the rising commodity prices artificially caused by the Ukrainian war. In spite of all these, the Ugandan economy, by the budget time in the next few days, will be standing at US$ 45.7billion by the exchange rate method and at USD 131.6 billion by the method.
This means that the GDP per capita is now $1046. You remember, the entrance points for the lower middle-income status, is USD 1036. We have now passed that figure. Congratulations. However, to be declared a middle-income country, you need to sustain this for two to three consecutive years. I am confident, we shall over perform, in achieving that.
Remember that our economy expanded in spite of the lockdowns caused by covid-19 and in spite of the ever increasing population; you can see that the size of the economy, when compared to the population that is always growing fast, has continued to grow and we have arrived at the boundary point as far as the middle income status is concerned. Before the global destabilization by the corona-19 and the Ukrainian crises, Uganda was a country of surpluses that were crying out for markets in the form of sugar, maize, milk, chicken, eggs, bananas, cement, mitayimbwa (steel bars), soap, beers etc., etc.
This global crisis actually presents Uganda with plenty of opportunities. I saw on the news, that Malaysia had banned the export of chicken and that India had banned the export of sugar. President Biden was crying for baby formula, etc. Many of these products are the ones that have been in surplus in Uganda. We just need to deal with a few quality and bio-hazard issues. The issue of aflatoxins, will be dealt with by proper harvest and drying methods as well as the method of embracing biotechnology.
The door to our Dairy exports will be opened when we, the cattle owners, vaccinate our cattle twice a year. If the government does not have the money to pay for the vaccines, we the farmers can do it. With 1000 cattle, I would need Ushs15M (fifteen million shillings only) for FMD. Given the lucrative export markets that will become available, like the one of Algeria of USD 1.124 billion, this cost on the farmers, will make sense. The other crucial vaccine, will be the one of CBPP. With 1000 cattle, we need Ush 850,000 (eight hundred fifty thousand shillings only) in a year.
All this capacity that has enabled the house of the wiseman to withstand the force of the storm, is long before the implementation of our Parish Development Model, whose end result is to tap the production capacity of all the 7 million houses in Agriculture, relying on the 7 high-value commodities of: coffee, fruits, dairy products, poultry, pigs, fish-farming and food growing for those of 4 acres and less. The ones with land that is more than 4 acres, can, in addition, grow sugar-cane, cotton, maize, tobacco, tea, cassava, bananas, ranching, etc., because the country needs these products for industry, food or as inputs into the intensive agriculture mentioned earlier – the agriculture of the seven high value activities. The agriculture of the commodities in the latter category, we describe as extensive Agriculture – where you get less money per acre per annum, but because of doing what you are engaged in on a large scale, you get good money. The activities of intensive agriculture, such as poultry, piggery, fish-farming, dairy farming of the zero-grazing type, need animal feeds, fish-meals, etc., that are from maize and other products of the extensive agriculture type.
Moreover, the wise man’s house is currently full of surpluses, without too much use of irrigation or the use of fertilizers. In the coming financial years, we are going to intensify the modest efforts we have already started on, in connection with irrigation. With irrigation, we have worked with the private sector to produce solar-powered water pumps that the rich farmers can buy and engage in mini-irrigation, farm by farm. Once the solar powered irrigation pumps are on the market, the Government will buy them for some of the co-operatives or farming villages, where one pump can be shared by a number of small farmers.
We shall continue also developing the mega-irrigation schemes of the Mobuku type. Currently, 150 solar-powered water pumps have been imported. By the end of next year, 687 solar-powered water pumps will have been imported. Meanwhile, our private sector is building a factory for producing solar-powered water pumps and panels. The factory will be ready by the end of the year and it will produce 160,000 pumps per year. At the same time, we are continuing to repair and expand the old irrigation schemes and also build new ones. As of now, the following irrigation schemes are ready: Wadelai (Pakwach); Mubuku (Kasese); Ngenge (Kween); Doho (Butaleja); Rwengaaju (Kabarole); Agoro (Kitgum); Olweny (Lira); and Tochi (Oyam).
Acomoi in Bukedea and Ataari in the district of Bulambuli and Lopei in the district of Moroto are being worked on. We intend to use the waters of the Kagyera River to support irrigation in Isingiro, the water of Lake Kyoga to support irrigation in Nakasongola district, the water of the Nile to support irrigation in Pakwach, Nebbi, Madi-Okolo and Obongi districts.
The areas of Busoga, Teso, Bukedi and Lango, have got a lot of wetlands, that are now being misused for rice growing or under-used, that will be used as reservoirs for irrigation projects. Irrigation, mega and micro, is in order to enhance and also stabilize agricultural production by immunizing from the negative effects of erratic rainfall. On the side of fertilizers, the Usukuru hills project, has stagnated. We are, however, looking for a solution to that problem. There are a number of offers. Tororo will give us phosphorous, the associated gas that is found with our petroleum in Lake Albert, will give us the nitrogen and Lake Katwe will give us potassium.
With these efforts, you can visualize the magnitude of the agricultural production in Uganda. It will be massive. I can give one example. In the villages, production of bananas per hectare is 5.3 tonnes. However, Dr. Muranga, at Nyaruziinga, with Government support, produces 53 metric tonnes per hectare. This is where our industrial linkage with agriculture comes in.
Our strategy is that anything agricultural that is not consumed fresh, should be processed industrially so that it is preserved to be able to reach distant markets and also to add value to the raw-materials. We have done this for milk, for cotton, for some fruits (e.g. Soroti), for sugar cane (tea-sugar, ethanol and industrial sugar), for some plantation products, for some bananas (wines, flour, sanitizers), for some of the maize (flour, animal feed, later ethanol, industrial alcohol), etc.
This now brings me to the massive theft that has been going on with coffee. Right from 1986, I started the struggle to add value to our coffee because our cadres who were deployed there told me of the value differentials between our coffee sold as beans and what it would get when processed as soluble coffee, or any other type of final coffee, to be consumed. At that time, the kg of beans of coffee would give us USD1, while the same coffee processed would give USD14. Many times in meetings, I would point out that those who say they are donors, are actually donees, because, in every kg, Uganda was giving USD13 dollars to the outside World and also donating jobs. Whose children roast the green beans and grind them to powder in Europe? Are they our children? Whose electricity is used? I have checked the latest figure.
There is a type of robusta coffee that is known as Screen 18. Sold as green coffee, after removing the skin, apparently, our people are being paid USD 3.34 per kg. When a kg is roasted in London and ground, it shrinks to 700grams and packed into packets of 300grams each. Each packet is sold at USD12, which means that 700grammes may fetch about USD30. Therefore, for what Uganda gets USD 3.34, the smart people of UK, get USD30. Each coffee bean that is sold in supermarkets abroad, takes away our phosphorous, our nitrogen, our potassium and other nutrients for 10% of the value at which the final consumer buys the product. 90% of the value of that product from our soils and 100% of the accompanying jobs that go with the roasting, grinding and packaging of the product at that stage, are all donated to the outsiders. The total value of coffee in the World is US$460 billion. However, of this figure, the coffee growing countries only take USD 25 billion. The African coffee growing countries only take USD ……….
Exporters of unprocessed raw-materials, where it is economic to add value, are exploiters. When we de-hust, roast, grind and pack here, Uganda will get more dollars and we shall also pay higher prices to our farmers. The farmers are now cheated because the biggest beneficiaries from our coffee are the external roaster, grinders and packers of coffee.
The story about blending etc. is nonsense. That blending etc. is nonsense. That blending can be done here. We have both Robusta and Arabica. In any case, I hear that our good robusta is used to blend inferior coffees from other areas, but in Europe. It is this centuries-old haemorrhage that the Hon. Abed Bwanika was so passionately supporting here some weeks ago. It is this haemorrhage that the NRM opposed from the beginning in the point 5 of the NRM’s 10 points programme already referred to. We oppose this haemorrhage in all the raw-materials: milk, cotton, skins and hides, timber, iron ore (obutare), copper (ekikomo), gold, tin, lithium, wolfram, petroleum, etc. It is this haemorrhage that is responsible for the stagnation of Africa. The total GDP of Africa is USD 2.7 trillion, smaller than or equal to individual economies of Japan USD 5.06 trillion, that of India is USD2.66 trillion, UK USD 2.67 trillion, France USD 2.63 trillion, Germany is USD 3.85trillion, small South Korea is USD 1.63 trillion, USA USD 20.89 trillion and China USD 14.72trillion. Yet Africa is 12 times the size of India, with a population of 1,406,013,839 billion, that is 4 times that of the USA. The continued export of raw-materials by Africa is the new form of slavery. Export of value in exchange for no value (mirrors, combs for our ignorant chiefs in exchange for slaves) or for little value like now – 10% value of the final product. The export of raw-materials and slaves for the last 600 years is the cause of this stunting (okuningama).
Ever since 1986, I have been trying to get value adders to all our raw-materials. Sometimes I succeeded like with milk (Sameer, Brookside, Pearl, Kagate, etc.), Cotton (Nytil, Fine Spinners), wood (plywood in Katuugo), Palm Oil (Bidco, etc.), sugar (many companies), Petroleum (Refinery), Bananas (Dr. Muranga, Kyamuhangyire etc.), Skins and Hides (Nakyobe), Gold (six refineries), etc. With coffee, I tried so many groups – Nescafe, Nestle, Tata, Bancafe (Banya), Star Coffee (Tz-Bukoba), to no avail. When I met Madame Pinetti, she had no idea about coffee. I, however, could see that she had a wide network of contacts. I asked her to look into coffee. After sometime, she came back with a positive report that it was doable. Therefore, those attacking that project, are supporters of okukenenula, (ekyejwiiso) of Africa – perpetual bleeding. If they were not, they would have responded to our call of 1986 and after, to come forward and add value to coffee and seek government assistance. Instead of attacking the saviour (oyo anataasa), if you are genuine, join the liberation effort. It is criminal for anybody to continue arguing for the continued export of raw-materials in Africa when there is 90% more value in that product that you are giving to outsiders.
Apart from the huge expansion of the agricultural sector and the concomitant expansion of the agro-industrial sector, there are industries that we are promoting based on our minerals: oil and gas (refinery, petro-chemicals, fertilizers); iron-ore (steel – Kabaale); copper (the electrical industries – cables, transformers, electrical appliances); lithium (electrical car batteries); niobium (ingots, bars, billets, rods); tin (tin plates, buckets, cooking utensils); coltan (laptops, medical equipment, smartphones); wolfram(electric filaments, ammunition); etc., etc.
The work in the services sector is familiar to Honourable members in the form of tourism, transport (Airline, the railway, etc.), entertainment, etc.
With the masses, apart from the PDM, there is a programme of Emyooga – the 18 of them as listed here:
Boda Boda SACCO;
Women Entrepreneurs’ SACCO;
Carpenters’ SACCO;
Salon Operators’ SACCO;
Taxi Operators’ SACCO;
Restaurateurs SACCO;
Welders’ SACCO;
Market Vendors’ SACCO;
Youth Leaders’ SACCO;
PWDs’ SACCO;
Produce Dealers’ SACCO;
Mechanics’ SACCO;
Tailors’ SACCO;
Local Elected Leaders SACCO;
Veterans SACCO;
Journalists SACCO;
Performing Artists SACCO;
Fishermen’s SACCO.
The contact point for this effort is at the constituency. As you can see, the spectrum covers most of the modest artisanal skills that produce products for ordinary use.
The four sectors – commercial agriculture – big or small, intensive or extensive; industries – big or small, including SMEs and artisanship; services (transport, tourism, hotels, entertainment, professional services e.g. doctors, etc.); and ICT; if aggressively pushed, will cause massive social-economic transformation. I estimate that commercial agriculture alone, can create 50million jobs if you assume five million households engaged in small scale agriculture of the Rwengaaju type and each household employing 10 people. This would be a transitional situation because the developed economies, have small numbers of employees in agriculture and more numbers in services and industry, while under-developed economies, have many numbers unemployed or in “disguised unemployment” presented as “agriculture” and only few numbers employed in the four sectors: commercial agriculture, industries, services and ICT.
Apart from universal commercial agriculture; industries based on agro-processing, forest products, etc.; services; and ICT; there are industries that are based on the intellect of the human brain. The industries of electric and conventional automobiles (buses, mini-buses, trucks, motorbikes, etc.), the pathogenic economy (vaccines, pharmaceuticals, for humans and livestock), space science, energy (including nuclear energy) etc., have each, at least, a nucleus already laid down, as I speak today.
The Book of Galatians, Chapter 6, Verse 7, in the Bible, tells us that whatever a man sows, that is what he reaps (Buri muntu weena eki abiba, nikyo agyesha). How has the NRM brought Uganda to the door-step (ekisasi) of the middle income status from such a low base and in spite of so many challenges? The following are the reasons:
The correct ideology of the NRM rejecting the sectarian ideas of the past actors, insisting on Patriotism, Pan-Africanism, Social-economic transformation and democracy; this removed oburyaane (disharmony and tension) from the community and the country; that is why Uganda has no refugees living outside Uganda – even when we had Kony and ADF terrorism, we had internally displaced persons, within the country, they never run outside Uganda.
A strong Army that has ensured peace within Uganda, all the challenges notwithstanding.
A strong private sector, encouraged by the correct, pro-private sector policies of the NRM; most of the surpluses referred to above, have been generated by the Private Sector – farmers, manufacturers etc.
The correct Pan-Africanist ideology of the NRM that saw the revival of the East African Community, the creation of COMESA and the Abuja Treaty of 1991, that, eventually, saw the birth of the CFTA (the Continental Free Trade Area). Today, Uganda exports goods and services (2020/2021) worth: USD 1.27143 billion to EAC, USD 1.67271 to COMESA and USD 2.03397 billion to CFTA. Algeria has a market of USD1.124 billion for dairy products that only awaits us to solve the problem of FMD (ejwa) and CBPP (kihaha). Ethiopia has a dairy products market of USD 30.473M that only awaits a reliable road from the Kaabong-Kotido area, to Southern Ethiopia.
The correct NRM policy of emphasizing science in Education and prioritizing the better payment of government scientists if we do not yet have enough money to pay everybody. Africa was colonized and enslaved and People were exterminated, dominated or marginalized, not because they lacked story-tellers, comedians, musicians, witchdoctors and priests, Kings and Queens, soldiers, farmers, etc.; but because they lagged behind in Science and technology. Inability to see this, is a threat to our survival as free people, if not survival at all. Our lagging behind in the technology of gun-powder and guns, for instance, was one of the greatest handicaps. The Private Sector needs scientists, in addition to the managerial cadreship. The state economic and social infrastructure needs scientists– researchers; engineers, for electricity, engineers for water, doctors, vets, etc.
The correct strategy of the NRM developing the infrastructure – the roads, the railway, the electricity, the piped water, the telephones, the internet etc. The crucial roles of infrastructure are to enable (e.g. electricity) and connect (e.g. roads, railways, telephones) the producers of goods and services and their consumers and do so cheaply – so that the product is not overpriced and, therefore, competitive in the market.
We could have achieved much more if it was not for either the confused people or the enemies of Africa, many times, obstructing us. I, for instance, remember the sabotage of Uganda tempo of development by the 6th Parliament of 1999, on the 8th, in the month of November, the year 1999, when they blocked the agreement I had negotiated with AES to produce power at 4.9 American cents and Mr. Chat Chai of Malee Sampran Public Company of Thailand was chased by Parliament, whom I had mobilized with the late Mzee Mulwana to help us with milk processing. Dr. Muranga’s banana project, has been maliciously obstructed many times. Recently, we witnessed the mishandling of the coffee value addition effort. Uganda has made these gigantic steps, such obstructions notwithstanding.
When it comes to the recent high commodity prices, caused, initially, by the re-launch of the world economy after the two years of lockdown and, additionally, by the war in Ukraine, our decision, after careful analysis, is to avoid the traps of tax cuts and subsidies. Instead, we are doing two things. One, is to engage the global actors that have caused these artificial shortages. I have contacted some of the actors. I am glad H.E. Biden is going to Saudi Arabia, to meet the Crown Prince to get OPEC to pump more petroleum out of the ground. That would definitely help. Also, the Chairperson of the AU, H.E. Mack Sall, met H.E. Putin in Sochi, Russia to ask him to assist in getting the wheat of Ukraine out of the Ports of Odessa and he has also talked to the Europeans to stop sanctioning wheat from Russia and fertilizers because Africa needs them. This is one of the correct ways.
The other one, is to get our own substitutes – cassava and banana flour for bread and our own sunflower, soya beans oil as we wait for our more quantities of Palm Oil from Sango Bay, Mayuge, Buvuma, Maruzi, Bundibugyo, etc. Cutting taxes or subsidies, especially on imports, is suicidal because our people may buy carelessly and we end up draining our forex reserves.
Moreover, cutting taxes or subsidizing, means taking away money from planned projects and putting it in consumption – fuel, bread, etc. That means, we stop, for instance, the following roads: Kigumba – Bulima – Kabwoya – Kyenjojo – 235km, Rukungiri-Kihihi-Ishasha/Kanungu (78.5 km), Masindi -Para (through the Murchison Park)(159km), Hoima-Butiaba-Wanseko (111km), Buhimba-Nalweyo-Bulamagi, Bulamagi-Igayaza-Kakumiro (93km), Masindi-Biiso, Hohwa-Nyairongo-Kyarusheesha-Butoole, Kabaale-Kiziranfumbi Roads(97km), Kapchorwa-Suam (73 Km), Atiak – Laropi (66km), Busega – Mpigi Expressway (23.7Km), Muyembe – Nakapiripirit (92km), Najjanakumbi – Busabala Road (11km),Kira-Matugga road and improvement of 5 No. junctions (21km), Rwenkunyu – Apac – Lira –Puranga (191Km), Moroto-Lokitanyala Road (42km), Rehabilitation of Mityana-Mubende Road (86Km), Alwii – Nebbi (33Km); or the following secondary schools: Noble Mayombo Seed Secondary School in Kabarole; Awara Seed Secondary School in Arua; Nairambe Seed Secondary School in Buvuma or Universities like Soroti University, Muni University; or cutting some money from PDM or Emyooga – meaning, money taken away from production to consumption, on account of a temporary problem. Let us maintain our momentum of development; the high commodity prices will be solved in other ways, some of them outlined above.
In foreign affairs, Uganda abstained in the votes in the UN on the issue of Ukraine. You must have heard the arguments of the two sides. We have communicated our views, confidentially, to the two sides – the Western Bloc and Russia. At some stage, we shall give our view publicly.
On the issue of security within the Great Lakes Region, in Regional Conferences like the one we had in Nairobi some weeks ago, we share our history with the African brothers and sisters. Some of the problems never get solved on account of mixing up three issues: armed conflicts for just causes, armed conflicts for reactionary aims and the use of terrorist methods whatever the nature of the conflict – just or unjust. The tendency, which is not correct, is to bunch up all conflicting parties as “negative forces”. Uganda is a good laboratory for all manner of conflicts. We have the just wars like the ones waged between 1971 and 1986, by the different fighting groups, against the regimes of Amin, Obote II and Okello.
Why just? It is because the fight was about the freedom to vote by secret ballot, for all adults above the age of 18, at regular intervals; the struggle against extra – judicial killings; the struggle against sectarianism that was enforced by arms; etc. The last elections were in April, 1962 and we never had any other elections until the 10th of December, 1980 and, even those were contested from the beginning of the process, to the end. We tried to talk to the groups that thought that they had the upper hand to no avail and, worse still, they would kill anybody with a different opinion (Kiwanuka, Bataringaya, Latim, Oryema, Kasura, Sebugwawo, Luttamaguzi, Nkangirwa, etc., etc.). We, therefore, had no alternative, but to fight.
That is why between 1966 and 1986, Uganda was among the top four refugees – generating countries in the World at that time. At one time, Uganda had 500,000 refugees – almost the whole population of West Nile – in exile in Congo and South Sudan. While I do not want to talk about other African Countries, I am sure that I can safely cite at least, two examples: the struggle by the SPLM of Sudan against the Arab-Islamic chauvinist regime of Khartoum which was insisting that the very dark Dinkas, Shilluks, Nuers etc., of South Sudan, were Arabs and had to live under sharia law. How do you resolve that madness? How about the Whites in South Africa who said that the indigenous Africans could not have voting rights in the country of their ancestry? The answer was a just war in each of the above situations. You, then, have unjust wars of either aggression or of a reactionary nature – non – progressive. Take the colonial wars of conquest. Why were the colonialists conquering other countries? What rights did they have to do so? Then you come to ADF, Kony, Lakwena, etc. ADF said that they wanted to make Uganda, Islamic by force. Kony wanted to rule us by some commandments that were to be given by the Holy Spirit. Lakwena wanted “Government megwa” (our Government), by which she meant the Acholi tribal Government over the whole of Uganda. These were aims, all right; but they were wrong aims, oppressive aims, negative, unprogressive aims. They were, therefore, reactionary (kupinga maendeleo) aims and, hence, the wars fought in their implementation were unjust wars, just like the wars of colonial conquest.
Having talked about just and unjust wars, we also clarify the issue of terrorism. It is wrong to say that every armed group, is a terrorist group whether they are fighting a just or unjust war. Take Lakwena, for instance. Although she was fighting an unjust war of Acholi sectarianism, she was definitely not a terrorist because she was not using terrorist methods. Terrorist methods, mean using violence indiscriminately such as attacking non-combatants, killing prisoners of war or torturing them. Lakwena was confused, using the witchcraft of smearing her fighters with the Oil of Moya tree (Shea butter tree) and telling them that they were immune to bullets, but she was not a terrorist, because she was not targeting non-combatants, she was not killing prisoners of war (that is how Major Byensi survived) etc. Kony and ADF were, on the other hand, fighting both an unjust war but also a terrorist one. Why? It is because they were targeting non-combatants, killing prisoners of war etc. (the Atiak massacre, the Barlonyo massacre, the Kichwamba burning of 8 students in the dormitory, the Kiburara Seminary massacre, the abductions of young people to force them to fight for them, the abduction of sex slaves etc.). It is those acts that make a fighter a terrorist. Even if you are fighting for a just cause, if you target non – combatants, use forced recruitment other than conscription by the state, kill prisoners of war, take sex slaves etc., you become a terrorist. Therefore, in the whole of the Great Lakes area, the concerned groups should be audited as to whether they are fighting for a just cause or not and as to whether they are using terrorist methods or not. What is, then, the correct method of resolving such armed conflicts? What is our experience? Our experience and even other good experiences, show that combining both political and military methods, is the correct way. Especially for the non-terrorist armed groups, even when they are fighting for an unjust cause (sectarianism etc.), priority should be given to dialogue, leading to a political solution. Even for the terrorist groups, if they accept dialogue, it should be tried. It is through dialogue combined with military efforts that we reached solutions with Angello Okello, Bamuze, Musa Echweru, Benz, UFM, FEDEMO, etc.
Using force is like using surgery in medicine. Surgery is used as a method of last resort when less violent methods to the body can no longer work. Even, then, it should be used in a very restricted way, affecting only the sick part, not the rest of the body. East Africa under our current Chairman, H.E. Kenyatta, can resolve all these security challenges using appropriate actions – political methods where feasible and force where necessary. Uganda is ready and able to contribute. Congo and Uganda, since November, 30th, 2021, crushed the ADF in Eastern Congo. ADF cannot operate in large groups anymore in the three sectors of: Sector 2 – Ituri, Sector 1 and 2 – North Kivu. The ADF survivors have either gone into hiding or have fled beyond limit of exploitation. However, in small groups, I am told, the ADF is still sneaking back into sector – Mambasa territory and killing some unguarded villagers. There are easy solutions to such a problem that we used to deal with those small groups attacking the soft targets of unguarded wanainchi. We are discussing all this with the Government of Congo.
Within Uganda, we have strengthened security on the whole, including Karamoja and the surrounding districts. We have trained tens of thousands of LDUs that I passed out at Kaweweta, Labwordwong, Olilim, etc., recently and many of them have been absorbed into the divisions to boost manpower. As I have said repeatedly, the cattle – rustlers will soon lose appetite for the gun. However, the cattle rustlers and the other terrorists should be condemned and they should also condemn themselves because of okwetera endobo, bekuba – endobo (hurting one’s shin as you play football). In 1991, we reduced the manpower of the Army from 100,000 to 40,000 to save money by having less infantry so that we can buy better equipment on account of the situation in the Region at that time that had the potential for possible interstate conflicts. You could not fight such conflicts with just infantry (Soldiers just walking on foot). Even counter-insurgency needed some capacity of combined arms. That is how we were able to build the strategic elements of our Defence forces such as Air force, Artillery, tanks, Reconnaissance, etc. That is how we were able to achieve victories and cope with the dangerous security situations in the Region. Having smaller numbers and more equipment was a smart way of building a modern Army able to defend the borders of the country against external serious threats. The modern equipment alone, however, will not handle indisciplined elements, walking on foot, stealing cattle, killing people, raping women, etc. On account of the activities of those confused people, we are now forced to build up the manpower of the Armed Forces, far above the figure of 1991. That means a bigger wage bill, feeding, health, education for the children of the soldiers, accommodation, etc. This is the money we should be spending in Karamoja and other areas on the roads, the schools, the health centres, the PDM, the emyooga.
Indeed, the Karimajong have seen the tarmac road from Soroti to Moroto, from Moroto to Nakapiripirit; the electricity from Opuyo-Moroto, from Moroto to Kotido-Kaabong-Abim; they have seen the schools; they have seen the health centres; etc. It is Government money that has been doing all that. Nevertheless, we are now diverted by our indisciplined cattle rustlers to spend money on more soldiers (infantry). To fight what war and against whom? To fight a war of ignorance and fight against our expanded prosperity. All understanding people, should denounce this sabotage.
With what I have said above, Uganda is on the right path and has been for the last 36 years. We only need to be mindful of three points: the environment, corruption and chauvinism in business. You have seen what can happen to countries when they cannot produce their own food. There is no problem Uganda cannot solve, as I have stated above, as long as we are able to produce most or all of our food. To do this, you need soil and, above all, fresh water. This means environmental protection – protecting the wetlands – all of them, the river banks, the lake shores and the forests and also planting trees even in inhabited areas. I have warned all sub-county and miruka chiefs, as well as CAOs, not to forget the environmental officers, GISOs and DISOs, manning areas where I will discover encroachment on wetlands, will be sacked and, if legally possible, also criminally prosecuted. This is for all areas of Uganda except some areas of Busoga, Bukedi and Kigyezi where, historically, there was misguided Government encouragement of people going into wetlands to grow swamp rice and start dairy farms. Those areas of historical mistakes, will also be recovered by working with the stakeholders to shift to fish farming in the periphery of those wetlands, which activity is much more profitable, so as to allow the wetland regenerate. All the others must unconditionally leave the wetlands because nobody took them there and many of these are recent, which means they are doing it in deliberate defiance of plans to save their country. The swamp of Buseemba, between Kirolo and Kalasa, was the river crossing where machine-gunner Mondo Tumuhairwe used to do a lot of damage to the UNLA.
There was not a single encroacher at that time. It is now invaded and so is Mayanja-Wenkalwe, Wabikokoma, etc. When I flew to Kiwoko, recently, I saw the swamps that feed into Mayanja, Makyebebe, Kizzikibi, etc., being encroached on. This is my last warning to the Local authorities all over Uganda. Damage to our Local water bodies affects 40% of our rainfall. How can we tolerate that? This is a danger to our very own existence. The global mistake – makers are endangering the globe and humanity with the greenhouse gases. Humanity will struggle against them. Why should we reinforce their mistakes with ours?
Another danger to our rapid social-economic transformation is the corruption of political actors and Public servants who do not only steal government money, thereby denying the population the services that money would have provided, but they also parasite on our business people. Business people and investors, do not feel beholden to these parasites. Expose both their requests for bribes and their schemes for frustrating those that do not pay bribes. Action will be taken for the benefit of the business atmosphere in the country.
Finally, on the strategic issues, I must point out the mistake of those who proclaim what they call “indigenous” business people as being more useful to the country than the “foreigners”. Some people even talk of: Factory y’Omuyindi” – an “Indian’s factory”. There are no Indian or Chinese factories etc. in Uganda. Indian and Chinese factories are in India and China respectively. Economics, helped us to understand this problem long ago by providing for us a measurement of the size of the economy with two measurements: GDP and GNP (Gross Domestic Product and Gross National Product). GDP refers to the value of all production of goods and services on our territory whether by our citizens or not. GNP is measurement of the value of the production of goods and services by our citizens whether on our territory or elsewhere. Economies that do not discriminate among wealth creators, prosper. The German Jew, by the names of J. Robert Oppenheimer, who was discriminated by the NAZI in Germany, is the one that helped the USA to develop a nuclear bomb.
The people that should be discriminated are the unrepentant comprador bourgeoisie (the commission agents, the importers of foreign consumer goods that could be made here, the exporters of our unprocessed raw materials at 10% of their eventual value as final products). A foreign manufacturer of goods based in Uganda is more useful to the country than an importer of foreign consumer goods that can be made here who is a citizen of Uganda. However, patriotic importers, do not import perennially (endlessly). I was told that Dangote used to import cement, but graduated and became a cement manufacturer, not only in Nigeria, but in many parts of Africa. I was also told that in 1931, Samsung was importing textiles in South Korea. He graduated from that and became the big producer of electronic gadgets (computers, etc.). Let us stop “okutaha amaizi n’ebyondo”, “mixing water with mud”, by calling bad, “good” and good “bad”. Such countries stagnate. China developed because of the clear vision of Mao Tse Tung and Deng Hsiao Ping. Mao Tse Tung helped China by pointing out the positive alliance of the four classes: National bourgeoisie, Peasants, Proletariat and patriotic petty bourgeoisie against the parasitic comprador (agent) bourgeoisie that were working as foreign agents for other people’s interests.
Therefore, let all the NRM MPs and other positive elements, rally around the patriotic programme of the NRM that has transformed Uganda from the failed state of 1986, with the economy expanding in size 30 times plus in 30 years, in spite of the endless betrayals by certain elements. Those who cause frictions among the NRM fraternity, should be carefully examined. Why can’t you discuss any matter in non -antagonistic ways. Antagonistic ways only work for the enemy.
The bulk of the 11th Parliament have been acting positively. I congratulate everybody, especially the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker. I also congratulate the Vice President and the Rt. Hon. Prime Minister, the latter being leader of government business in Parliament. On account of this positiveness, parliament has passed the following legislations in the last 12 months:
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Some of these are very strategic for further growth of the economy. These include: the Law on the East African Oil Pipeline known as The East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) (Special Provisions) Bill, 2021 and the one that allows Industrial parks to get power direct from generation, bypassing UMEME. I thank and congratulate everybody that was involved.
In the coming year, the government will bring the following bills for legislation:
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Uganda and Africa are unstoppable. Long live Uganda, Long Live East Africa. Long Live Africa. I thank everybody. After overcoming the consequences of covid-19 and the high commodity prices, we shall go back to our other manifesto issues e.g. free education. On corona, however, the public needs to be careful again. Why were people not putting on masks at Namugongo? We now, again, getting two deaths per week from corona. Be alert, again, please.
June 07, 2022 – Kololo Independence Grounds
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