Letters
Tuesday, October 14, 2003
President Museveni is letting Uganda and Africa down
Subsequent events, for instance, his invasion of the Democratic Republic of Congo, chilled the optimism.
It seems President Museveni's progressive leadership has reverted to the more familiar form of autocratic one-man rule.
In Museveni, the US has found a true godson. Godsons, by all accounts, are people with unlimited avarice. The godsons are those who believe that you cannot rely on the people to win democratic elections. The godfather, in return, gets post-dated cheques to exploit the country's resources and to get away with the structural global injustices it perpetrates.
President Museveni came on the scene as a brilliant and charismatic leader keen on giving Ugandans a lifeline after many years of war and stagnation.
Today, the man is given to expansive personal discussions, war-mongering and egotistical outpouring. Like Kenya's former President Moi, Mr Museveni has been quietly using money, executive fiat and the trappings of the presidency to maintain control over every aspect of Uganda's national life.
Africa has always produced leaders of questionable integrity. Kenya's Moi was adroit at winning friends, turning scholars into supplicants, splitting the opposition by creating alternative centres of power, and fooling the people into believing him. Kenyans will remember him for the depth of poverty into which they plunged them.
President Museveni's unilateralist approach to regional and global issues is a big blow to African unity. While each country should take full responsibility for its well-being, it might be a fatal mistake to think it has complete control of its destiny.
Museveni is keen on introducing genetically modified crops into Uganda. What is ironical is that some Ugandan farmers are trying to gain access to the $20 billion organic foods market in the US.
Besides frustrating a united front for developing nations at the failed World Trade Organisation talks in Mexico, President Museveni is contemplating arming Karamojong warriors to fight the rebel, Kony. This will imperil regional security.
Unless Africa acts with greater cohesion, it will continue to be ignored by the richer countries and its voice will not be heard in the global economy. Continental unity is crucial in addressing the wall of protection erected by rich countries in this era of liberalisation.
Africa, acting as a bloc has the power to correct global structural injustices which have effectively mired millions in poverty, to demand fair terms of trade, protect its natural resources and biodiversity, foster industrial development and give voice to its concern in the global arena.
The African Union risks becoming a talking shop just like its predecessor, the Organisation of African Unity. What we have been seeing since its formation is episodic unity and incessant rhetoric about the need for pan-African unity. Yet when matters of self-interest crop up, the leaders abandon the quest for this unity.
With a subterranean campaign to win an unconstitutional third term, President Museveni lacks the political commitment and moral standing to speak for Africa.
EMONG'OR EKISA,
Amagoro.
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