President Yoweri Museveni has said his government has tried to fight the problem of corruption which features high among the hindrances to Uganda’s development since colonial times While addressing the National Resistance Movement (NRM) National Conference held at Namboole stadium Monday afternoon, President Museveni said his government inherited civil servants from past governments thus prolonging the problem “We could not have dismissed the public servants we found in place without causing a big political crisis,” he pointed out He said fighting corruption is not an emotional venture where you simply abhor corruption and it goes away “It is both abhorrence (which I have in plenty) but also upright professionals, whose professional processing has a long gestation period (unlike an army officer who needed just a year after O-level in the past) and also a long working experience.” “Do not forget that these inherited anti-corruption warriors are not political appointees,” he added pointing out the PS, the CAO, the Town Clerk, the Gombolola chief, the magistrate, the judge, the auditor, the accountant, the investigator and the prosecutor “I do not agree with those who say that public servants should be easily dismissed,” he observed Here is his full speech: I greet all of you the delegates of the National Executive Committee. I extend condolences to all of us for those of our members who, since the last conference, are no longer with us on this earth. One of those who left us is the Rt. Hon. Eriya Kategaya, one of the Executive Committee Members of FRONASA in 1971 When we talk of political organisations, if we are to do so meaningfully and profitably, we must talk about three words: ideology, progressive politics which means applied ideology and organizational work which means the forms of political organisation and the methods used in the process Let us start with ideology. Ideology is the sum total of both the diagnosis of societal problems and the prescription for their cure. I do not have to protract this discussion by quoting the writings of the various cardinal historic thinkers and actors over the ages such as Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Lenin, Maynard Keynes, Mao Tse Tung, Mwalimu Nyerere or Samora Machel. They were all grappling with these two aspects: the diagnosis of society’s problems and the prescriptions for the cure of those problems When the diagnosis is accurate like when Adam Smith said in his book, “the Wealth of Nations”, that “Industrialised production is admirably suited to the application of the division of labour, whereas agriculture, by its very nature, resists specialization,” then society is able to move forward until it meets a new obstacle that needs fresh diagnosis. He gave the example of a pin which, though small, had 18 specialised operations His pointing out of the importance of the division of labour and specialisation was a historic understanding to the struggle of producing more wealth. Of no less importance, was his pointing out, at that time in 1776, that while agriculture was important, it is manufacturing that made countries richer He wrote on page 13 of his book, “The Wealth of Nations”, as follows: “The most opulent Nations, indeed, generally excel all their neighbours in agriculture as well as manufactures; but they are commonly more distinguished by their superiority in the latter (Manufacturing) than in the former (Agriculture)” Society, guided by that insight, will progress until it meets a new obstacle that needs fresh diagnosis and prescription. He also helped to understand the role of self interest (private enterprise) in creating wealth One of his famous quotes on this issue goes like this: “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner but from their regard for their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love.” In other words, the butcher, the brewer and the baker work so hard in order to serve us, not out of their altruism and love for us, but out of their self-love. If, on the other hand, the diagnosis is inaccurate like in the case of the bullionists who held that wealth is measured by the amount of precious metals owned, society will stagnate like Portugal and Spain, who excelled in stealing gold and silver from South America and killing the Red Indians, did In the case of the NRM, after many years of scrutiny, we discovered two useful words and targets. The two words were: Prosperity and Security. The question we had to answer was: “What are the factors that can lead our society, our tribes, our clans, our families, to prosperity in the context of the modern world characterised as it is by the money nexus? What are the factors that can lead these component parts of society to security? The two words: Prosperity and Security What does prosperity mean in the modern context? It means that each of our individual families has sufficient income to live a good life, the family members are educated and they are healthy. Where will the income come from? The income can only come from any one of the 5 sectors: commercial agriculture, industries (manufacturing, processing ─ big and small), services (shops, transport, hotels, professional services, etc), ICT (ebyuuma bya kalimagezi) and Public Service. Family members who are old enough to engage in gainful employment can participate in four of the above sectors either as entrepreneurs or workers. The four are: commercial agriculture, industries, services and ICT As far as the fifth one, Public Service, is concerned, people can, of course, only participate in the form of employees of the central government, local governments, municipal council governments or government parastatals and agencies What, then, are the factors that can stimulate, sustain and cause the thriving of the four sectors to guarantee the prosperity of our families? There are three major factors These are a critical mass of the buyers and consumers of the goods and services produced by our families and communities; infrastructure to support production and exchange of those goods and services (electricity, roads, the railways, ICT, etc., etc.) and security of person and property (in other words, peace in the country) There are other subsidiary and supplementary factors such as regulatory framework, etc. However, in my opinion, the three are the basic and cardinal ones: market (buyers of goods and services); infrastructure; and peace ─ security of person and property It was this understanding that helped the NRM to de-fog the ideological and political situation that we confronted in the 1960s, 70s and early 80s. The question we had to answer was: “If the prosperity of families and communities was dependent on markets to buy their goods and services, on good infrastructure and on peace, what, then, should be the ideological principles of a political organisation that could have the capacity to provide a solution to the predicament of the people? This is why I always like to descend to the lowest rung (level) of the ladder, the family and the community (the latter commonly referred to as the tribe). Who buys the goods and services of a given community? Most often those goods and services are not bought within the tribe. Why not? It is, mainly, because many of the tribes or sub-tribes produce similar products as already pointed out. Hence, A in that tribe cannot buy from B or vice-versa because they are producing similar products I always like to give the example of the Banyankore who specialise in producing milk, beef, bananas, coffee and tea. As far as the first three products are concerned, they rarely buy from one another on account of producing similar products. Who, then, are the rescuers of the Banyankore in the form of buying their products? It is the people of Kampala, the people of Uganda who buy their products. Hence, the prosperity of the Banyankore is not, mainly, based on the Banyankore but on the rest of Ugandans Coffee and tea are bought by the international community; but, of course, they are conveyed to the coast through the non-Banyankore parts of Uganda and other parts of East Africa. Even in these, the Banyankore are dependent on the other Ugandans and East Africans for prosperity Even in the pre-colonial, pre-capitalist times, barter trade existed throughout the whole length and breadth of East and Central Africa ─ between Bunyoro and Buganda, between the interior and the coast. Banyoro, for instance, used to specialise in hoes manufacture, Kooki and Buhaya in bark-cloth, etc. Unfortunately, the tribal kings would foment endless troubles through inter-tribal wars which would, somehow, interfere with this trade It is this realization that galvanized our abhorrence to the sectarian ideology of tribes or religion, the chauvinism against women and the marginalisation of the disabled, the youth, etc. It enabled us to firmly and scientifically distil the first principle of NRM from the fog of perceptions that were abundant in Uganda at that time. This is the principle of patriotism or nationalism as it is sometimes described. It, therefore, became the first ideological principle of the NRM In order to guarantee the prosperity of the families and the communities, we have, however, already seen that the internal Ugandan market is not enough ─ first of all, the coffee and the tea of the Banyankore are consumed mainly outside Uganda and conveyed to the coast through the other parts of East Africa Besides, even for the products consumed in Uganda ─ milk, beef, bananas, etc. ─ the internal market is not enough. Our prosperity will be better if our regional partners in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, Congo, etc. buy from us as they are doing. You all have seen the impact of those markets on our economy and prosperity. This need for the Ugandan market and the regional market is necessary for all the tribes of Uganda, not just for the Banyankore Hence, our second principle became Pan-Africanism It is not only patriotism that will guarantee our prosperity but also Pan-Africanism Then, the NRM identified the third principle of socio-economic transformation that is indispensable for our society to move from a peasant society based on subsistence farming to a middle class, skilled working class society as has happened in Europe in the last 500 years. It is a shame that Africa is, at least, 200 years behind Europe in social metamorphosis Two stimuli are crucial here. One is education for all. That is why we, in 1996, introduced UPE (Universal Primary Education) and, later on, added USE (Universal Secondary Education). An educated person has more chances, by no means automatic, of social mobility from the peasantry to either the middle-class or the skilled working class The other channel of mobility from peasantry is that provided by money making activities. As already alluded to above, the sectors that have those channels are: commercial agriculture, industry, services, ICT and public service. The public service has got limited jobs, standing at a figure of 350,000 only It is, therefore, the other four that offer us opportunities for how one can move from peasantry to middle-class and skilled working class. The two means of sustenance of the middle-class and the skilled working class are: profit ─ the difference between the input costs and the price of the end product; and wages for labour offered by the employer to the employee in any of the five sectors mentioned above. In the census of 2002, only 32% of the homesteads had joined the money economy. 68% of the households were still in subsistence economy This is where the problems of Uganda and Africa lie. It is the pre-capitalist nature of much of the sustenance means and activities of the Uganda population, of the African population. The lack of the total monetisation of the Ugandan economy, the lack of the total eradication of the traditional, non-monetary modes of production (e.g. traditional cattle-keeping, traditional crop husbandry, subsistence farming, etc.) are the mainstay of the under-development of the Ugandan population The recent census has not yet processed the updated figures on these parameters. We shall inform you when they are computed. The pre-capitalist modes of production ─ feudal relations , bibanja and busuulu, subsistence farming, etc. ─ are inefficient and non-rewarding. Moreover, they are characterised by drudgery and back-breaking labour mainly dependent on manual labour ─ based on human muscle-power; sometimes, in a few places like Kapchorwa, on animal power (the donkey) You can, therefore, say that of the traditional modes of production, the people of Kapchorwa who use the donkey to carry loads and the people of Teso, Lango, etc., who use the oxen to plough, had slightly more advanced implements of production. Much of the rest of the country were using the raw-muscle-power of the human being ─ using the hand-hoe, carrying loads on the head, etc., etc We must move from the human muscle-power labour, the labour of the donkey and the oxen to intellectual labour. It is the human intellect that produced machines ─ the tractor, the motor-cycle, the pick-up truck for loads and locomotion, the calculator, etc, etc. We have already moved in some cases. By using the mobile phone, it is no longer necessary to shout across the valleys when calling somebody or sending runners to carry the message to the distant village. Let us cover the whole spectrum of shifting away from manual, muscle-based labour to the use of the products of intellectual labour All these immediately mentioned above are what constitutes socio-economic transformation. Therefore, socio-economic transformation, from the pre-capitalist feudal or traditional society to the middle-class, skilled working class society, became the third principle of NRM. The fourth principle of the NRM was democracy This is clear enough. In the case of the NRM, we created a very powerful structure of village-based committees covering all the 57,792 villages of Uganda. There are 30 NRM leaders in each of those villages. The weakness that this Conference must cure is that these village NRM Committees and also the Local Government LCIs must be fully engaged and taken advantage of to improve the welfare of everybody in our society The NRM, therefore, did not only provide the diagnosis and possible therapy for the problems of Uganda but also created a massive structure that could help the leadership to more easily explain and implement that vision. In the bush, these 4 principles were divided into 10 points (hence, the 10 points programme) and, later, into the 15 points programme These four principles have already helped us to successfully form student study groups in the 1960s, to form a politico-military organisation that helped us to successfully prosecute the two wars of resistance, the resistance wars culminated in the capture of power in 1986, helped us to bring total peace in the whole of Uganda for the first time in the last 120 years (since 1894 when the British colonised Uganda) and enabled Uganda to start on the long march to economic recovery and modernisation The economy has expanded from US$ 1.5 billion in 1986 to now almost US$ 28 billion. The GDP per capita is now US$788. The Ugandan exports of goods and services ever since 1962 are listed here below in terms of value in US dollars theinsider.ug/museveni-firing-corrupt-officials-can-stir-crisis/
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 02:20:47 +0000
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