It is had been documented that primary school enrollement has trippled since President Museveni took office. I don't subscribe to the thinking of those who say that majority of the students don't complete prmary education, because enrollements in tertiary institutions have balooned in recent years. Right now in Uganda a first degree is becoming like a high school diploma. Poeple don't recognize your educational achievements until you obtain a masters or over. Now to me that is progress. At present there is an achievement crisis because graduating students (particularly from Universities) need jobs and jobs aren't readily available. This is why President Museveni has been talking so much about the need to diversify Uganda's economy, 1) because the work force is available (create jobs) 2) increase Uganda's tax base thereby reducing relayance on foreingn donors, 3) leading to overall economic development. Mr Semakula, do you think those "Agoa girls" would be employable if they didn't have at least a primary education? Who do you think is going to be manning the small/medium sized factories that investors will setup? villagers without any education? I think Uganda under President Museveni, is come now man. I know you don't like President Museveni but at least give praise where praise is due. All that President Museveni has done for Uganda may not be appreciated now but some time in the future it will, i asure that.
I don't understand the argument you are making about Uganda's trade deficit with America vs COMESA. To me a deficit is a deficit irrespective of where it comes from and it is not good. However Uganda can not afford to strangle herself because she is trying to avoid deficits. Unless your argument is that Uganda should have more trade with America than COMESA. Trade Mr. Semekalu is not exclusively government based, Uganda is a democratic, capitalist society, Ugandans are choosing to buy more from COMESA, probably because of proximity and cost, that's my guess. But when it comes to more sophisticated merchandise America is chosen. Deficits must be brought down, but i must stress that such an effort can not be an exclusively government one. Besides most countries have some deficit o another, it is a tight rope walk to have a good trade balance. Even the almight America can't quite get it right.We must also realise that, the whole bussiness of trade and economic growth is not exclusively a government responsibility. Ugandans must be made to realise that they are in competion with the whole world even in their own countries, as globalization becomes more perversive. Let me give you an example to illustrate what i'm talking about:
"According to statistics from the academy, there are at least 2.5 million college students, more than 60 percent of whom are studying science and technology. These well-educated youths are expected to enter the country's labor market incrementally in the coming years. Meanwhile the average labor costs of industries in China are only 5 percent of those in developed countries like the United States, Japan and Germany, said the statistics."No other country can provide such a huge number of cheap educated laborers," noted Lu. Such a "comparative advantage" will last at least two decades and contribute to the country's further economic growth, according to Lu."
The above are some statics from China. Therefore there is no room for complecency, all hands must be on deck in order for Uganda get where it should be with respect to economic development. You see how our President has to go out to virtually beg for investments and markets for Uganda, therefore when the opportunities come Ugandans ought to take advantage. It should also be made clear that lobying for investments is not only done by third world countries even leaders of developed countries do it too, because it doesn't make sense having a capacity to manufacture if you don't have contracts or markets for your goods.
About the instability in Uganda and how it effects development, of course a peacefull Uganda will be a more prosperous Uganda, i don't want to go into who is to blame over the instability in Uganda, because i've more than adequately stated my opinion. Suffice it to say that if Kony can be stopped it will be all the better for Ugandans, because some people seem to believe that the war in the North hurts Museveni, no, the war in the North hurts Ugandans, particularly those in the war zone it'self. That's all i'll say on that.
As for corruption, Mr. Semakula there is corruption everywhere, there was corruption before President Museveni came to power, and there will be corruption after he leaves office. I don't think it is wise to put every activity in Uganda on hold until corruption is "eradicated" that is not realistic anywhere, even in America, Britain, Japan, China etc. The corruption battle is being fought on another front while other activities go on other fronts, that is how it ought to be done. Cheers.
From: "J Ssemakula" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: ugnet_: Museveni in America Date: Thu, 06 Nov 2003 20:27:40 +0000
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--- Begin Message -------Original Message Follows---- From: "emmanuel musaazi" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: ugnet_: Museveni in America Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2003 18:01:57 -0500 Mr. Ssemakula, my view on this is that President Museveni is being pragmatic by trying to make the best of a bad situation. By bad situation i mean Uganda being an under developed country with all the baggage that comes with that. Here is why i have agreed with President Museveni and this will also tie in with Tanzania's decision to pull out of COMESA. Firstly the classification "third world" is a misnomer. For example China, South Korea, India, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and South Africa are classified as third world countries along with Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Lesotho and Kenya. Mean while United States of America has a US$3.3 Billion dollar trade deficit with "third world" China, however "third world" Uganda has (as you stated) a US$20 Million dollar trade deficit with the United States, it is obvious from this example that it would be very difficult in any forum in which third world issues are being discussed, and where Uganda and China sit as equals i.e. "third world" countries, for Uganda's unique situation and economic needs to get catered for, and normally at the end of such meetings communiques are realesed stating what and what has been done for third world countries and what they stand to benefit. The reality is usually, that the upper echelon of the third world pack benefit. Secondly in some other third world fora, there is usually more talk than action and this brings me to the Tanzania/COMESA issue. According to President Mkapa, Tanzania pulled out of COMESA because he felt COMESA was too much of a talk shop "We have a propensity for starting and joining all kinds of organisations," he said. "The result was that we were spending more time in conferences than implementing the decisions.". Those are President Mkapa's own words. Although it has been said that the main reason was because the COMESA region is soon to be a trade free zone which means it will be a tarrif-free zone and according to analysts Tanzania was earning a lot from import duties, than exports so...you put 2 and 2 together. Back to your question, the fore mentioned reasons, plus the post-cold war internationa political environment which makes easier for countries to freely associate, calls for a more pragmatic approach to trade relations. I think President Museveni is aware of this and is trying not to put all Uganda's eggs in one basket. In other wards sometimes it may be in Uganda's interest to have bileteral trade arrangments with some countries, other times it may be in Uganda's interest to be part of a multilateral effort. Other countries have also opted for bileteral arrangements, a case in point is Tanzania. Another good example is OPEC, sometimes some countries decide unilaterally to go above or below their quotas, for their national interest. I have no problem with that, i don't think Uganda should be forced to sink or swim with particular organizations. As for Agriculture, well it is obviously that, that should be the foundation of a strong economy. If you go through the Presidents speech in America, along with other public speeches he has made on Uganda's economic growth, he has always stressed need to diversify the economy i.e. to move it from strictly agriculture based to manufacturing and ultimately to industrial (or a good mix of everything) and so far he has been making some progress in that direction. The AGOA venture was initiated in that spirit. Overall i think the President is leading Uganda on the right path. But it is said that you can lead a horse to a stream but you can't force to drink. Cheers. >From: "J Ssemakula" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: Re: ugnet_: Museveni in America >Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2003 21:20:08 +0000 > _________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your messages with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail << message3.txt >>Mr. Musaazi:
Semantics aside, my points seems to have been lost somewhere.
If you look at the stats that showed a US $20million deficit that Uganda has with USA, you'll notice that the bulk of that deficit is due to imports of 'machinery' & 'equipment'. As for COMESA, our deficit is the neighborhood of US $450million annually. Souldn't we worry about that before bothering with the rest of the world? If other African countries can find a market in Uganda, how come we cannot find a market in those same countries?
(Egypt's COMESAS deficit is monstrous, compared to Uganda, -- but they get $1billion annually from good old USA, as a peace dividend)
Uganda seems to have madeup her mind to persist in exporting low-value 'cash-crops'. It is not America's fault that we have failed to bulidup our manufacturing capacity -- which is what would allow us to add-value to our export by pre-processing them, and to reduce our dependency on foreign manufacturers.
We, Ugandans, have been at the helm for nearly half-a- century but we have yet to get our act together. Let us stop this "kiiso kya mbuzi" attitude: we are responsible for our own fate.
Part of the the capacity comes from man-power planning, which in turn is going to be critically impacted by our education policy. Which factories or service companies rushing out to hire UPE leavers (a great majority do not continue with education for a variety of reasons)? This is not to say that UPE is bad, but rather that it is is a luxury we cannot afford yet. I know that a mercedes is fantastic car and would very much like to have a 500 CLK, but my wallet can only afford a Yugo.
It is the same Mu7 who refuses to negotiate peace with his enemies and would rather spend gobs of our money to 'modernize' the army etc. Who is going to invest in a country where peace is, at best, intermittent, as is power supply, etc.
I am saying that let us first deal with things we can control and then tackle the next task.
Finally, agriculture is good, but I think it is time to re-evaluate our traditional 'cash-crops'. Not long ago, there was famine in Mali. Yet in that same year, Mali's cotton exports went up by at least 5%. None of can eat cotton yet, so it is prudent to invest in growing food. I do know that Mu7 encourages our farmers to grow grains for export. But he cannot seem to control members of his family who are already embroiled in scandals and corruption in this potentially lucrative sector!
Our problems are mostly homegrown, that is the point.
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