The answer is NO. It was cheap for Musaazi to use this 1996 article deliberately out of context and without shame.
Ochan
At 03:18 PM 3/13/2004 +0000, you wrote:
Ochan,
I remember this article well when Otto first posted it. Does he still hold this view?
rgds
Gook
�The strategy of the guerilla struggle was to cause maximum chaos and destruction in order to render the government of the day very unpopular�
Lt. Gen. Kaguta Museveni (Leader of the NRA guerilla army in Luwero)
----Original Message Follows----
From: Ochan Otim
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: ugnet_: interesting view of a northern Ugandan
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 2004 12:17:13 -0800
Notice that this posting avoids - deliberately or not - giving the date when this old material was written and first made public!! To me it tells a lot about the intention of the messenger.
Ochan Otim
At 02:54 PM 3/12/2004 -0500, you wrote:
>Underdevelopment in NorthernUganda
>George Otto
>Fellow Ugandans,
>
>I once more thank all of you who have continued to show interest in
>the recent events in the northern part of our country.
>
>I have noticed in some recent postings that the issue of
>underdevelopment in Northern Uganda keeps recurring. It has been
>given as one of the possible reasons for the insurgency in northern
>Uganda. I have chosen to once again "stick out my neck" and share
>with my fellow Ugandans my views about this subject.
>
>There is no doubt that Gulu and Kitgum districts have not enjoyed
>the same level of economic progress like some other regions of
>Uganda have ever since independence; and probably before.
>
>While there are many reasons for this, I want to submit to you all
>that in my opinion, the single largest reason for this sorry state
>of affairs over the last ten years is the INSECURITY IN THE REGION.
>Attempts to assist economic development in both the public and
>private sectors have either failed or stalled because of insecurity
>in the region. The following examples illustrate this point.
>
>PUBLIC SECTOR
>
>A few years ago, the present government of Uganda initiated the
>Northern Uganda Reconstruction Programme (NURP). This was to to be
>the la rgest single public reconstruction project ever in Ugand
>Funding was secured from the donor community to the tune of about
>100 million US $. An Acholi professional (Dr. Okech) was appointed
>to be the Director of this programme. The plan was to rehabilitate
>roads, water supply, electricity, hospitals, health centres and
>dispensaries, schools, etc.
>
>When Dr. Okech (who had been recruited from outside Uganda) went to
>take up his office in Gulu, he was scared by the activities of the
>rebels. He therefore decided to set up office in Kampala
>temporarily. They are still bogged down in Kampala; unable to start
>the real work in Gulu because of the persistent insecurity.
>
>Many people in Uganda, including some in cabinet, have been saying
>that if the north cannot get their act together, then the project
>should be re-assigned to other areas. I am told that the Presid ent
>is refusing to reassign the project to other regions. I am sure that
>if he were to do so, he would be accused of diverting development
>elsewhere.
>
>In this case, those of Kony are the ones who have up to now
>prevented this programme from taking off. In their minds and that of
>their supporters, they are proud to have embarrassed the Government
>of Uganda. What they do not realise is that they have denied a whole
>region some economic hope. Then they turn around and blame the
>government for marginalising their people, for taking development
>elsewhere,etc. In this case, who has really hurt the people of
>northern Uganda?
>
>In spite of all these, some things have been done. The roads have
>been repaired in both Gulu and Kitgum districts. For example, the
>road from Gulu to Moroto, which had deteriorated in the eighties ,
>has been repaired. Bus serv ice from Gulu to Moroto is now possible.
>In my own village, we now have more water than we have ever had. A
t;new health centre is under construction; financed partly privately
>and partly by Government. Even communication has improved. In the
>trading centres, you can now go and make a radio call to Kampala
>(for a fee) and contact your relatives in Kampala, Jinja, etc.
>Recently the TV transmitter in Lira was repaired after 17 years; the
>people of Lira can now receive Uganda Television. Electricity from
>Jinja is being extended from Lira to Kitgum. The railway line to
>Gulu and Pakwach is operational. Telephone service to Gulu has been
>improved so that one can phone Gulu easily. A public fax in Gulu
>allows people there to send faxes and receive faxes worlwide. A new
>University for Agriculture and Food Sciences is to open in Gulu soon
>with the help of American funding.
> < BR>>PRIVATE SECTOR
>
>In the new Uganda, the stimulus and engine of economic growth is
>private-sector investment. As you know, Government is trying to get
>out of doing business; something which in my opinion is long
>overdue.
>
>The economic growth that the southern and western parts of the
>country have experienced in the last ten years have mostly been as a
>result of private investments. Contrary to what some people believe,
>the majority of the investments have been from Ugandans. If you look
>at the list of projects that have been licensed by the Uganda
>Investment Authority and are operational in Uganda today, the
>majority are Ugandan owned. The factories and buildings are
>definitely not government owned.The government did not give these
>buildings and factories to people in the south and west. These
>people worked hard and built them. Incidentally, so me of these
>factories in the south are owned by northerners like Cecilia Ogwal,
>the UPC iron-lady.
>
>The question then arises as to why Northern Uganda h not attracted
>as many private investors as Kampala, Jinja, Mukono, Entebbe,
>Mbarara etc.?
>
>One of the major reasons is the insecurity which has plagued our
>region for the past decade. This is in spite of some incentives that
>the Uganda Investment Authority has put in place to encourage
>development in the north. For example, if you set up a factory in
>northern Uganda, you get a bigger tax break, you get subsidised
>interest rates (if you borrow some of the money).
>
>The same incentives apply to Mbarara, Kabale, Fort Portal etc. So it
>is not correct to say that the Government has favoured other areas
>more than others. It is the private investors who have chosen to
>invest their money in safer areas. The chairman of Northern Uganda
>Manufacurers' Association , for example, has built his factory in
>Kampala instead of the north to avoid the insecurity.
>
>Even when patriotic northerners have attempted to invest in the
>north, they have had to pull out because of the same problem of
>insecurity.
>
>The case of Vitafoam Uganda Limited illustrates the point I'm making
>above. Vitafoam, based in Jinja, is the largest and oldest
>manufacturer of foam mattresses in Uganda. The owners are from Gulu
>and Kitgum districts. A few years ago they decided to set up another
>factory in Gulu to try and take development home. Funding was
>obtained and the factory installed in Gulu. Soon after the factory
>started manufacturing in Gulu, Kony an his predecessors started
>terrorising the district. Mattresses could not be delivered to other
>parts of the country relia bly. There were so many problems as a
>result of the insecurity that the owners decided to uproot the
>factory and put it in Jinja. Today, the two factoies run side by
>side in Jinja.
>
>Now if even northerners wh have the money to invest are afraid to
>invest there, how can we expect people from other parts of Uganda to
>go and invest their hard-earned money there? We cannot surely expect
>the Government to force investors to come to northern Uganda.
>
>On a smaller scale, there are many northerners who have in the last
>few years built houses in the Kampala area because they are scared
>of building at home. I happen to be one of them. It is not the
>government that diverted us from building in the north; it is Kony
>and his followers. Then they turn around and say that the government
>is developing the south at the expense of the north. The government
>did not g ive us these houses.
>
>In spite of all the problems with the insecurity, people have made a
>good effort to develop their area. Both Gulu and Kitgum have new
>buildings. A new 3 star hotel has opened in Kitgum; better and
>bigger than Government-owned Hilltop Hotel. Agricultural production
>is on the increase. Gulu district today produces quite a bit of
>rice. As well the production of simsim (sesame) has gone up so much.
>Recently one Canadian company imported a million kilos of simsim
>from northern Uganda; after paying the farmers cash for their
>produce. The production of cotton in Kitgum district has gone up
>since the prices were de-regulated. Public transportation in the
>region had also improved until the recent insurgency. You can take a
>bus from Gulu to Kampala and back to Gulu in one day. All these are
>private efforts. The government did not give these buses or
>buildings to people in Lira, Gulu or Kitgum.
>
>The way insecurity adversely affects development is perhaps most
>clearly illustrated if one compares the recent growth of Gulu and
>Kitgum to that of Lira and Apac; both towns in northern Uganda. The
>Langi in Apac and Lira istricts may well prefer that Obote was
>still the President of Uganda, but they are smart and pragmatic
>enough to realise that it is unlikely to happen soon. When the
>so-called rebels from Acholi tried to pass through there in 1987,
>they immediately chased them. They knew that no war could bring them
>peace and development. Instead, they embarked on doing their best to
>develop their region. Lira town has enjoyed a higher rate of growth
>than even Mbarara in the last few years. As one of the
>industrialists from there told me last year, "we cannot afford to
>wait for Obote to come back before we try a nd develop our area". He
>told me that if Obote were to visit Lira today, he would get lost
>because of the number of new buildings in the town.The growth in
>Lira has been a result of peace and private-sector investment. The
>government of Uganda did not give the people of Lira money to put up
>those buildings.
>
>Gulu and Kitgum districts, however, have faced one form of
>insecurity or another ever since 1986. As I mentioned earlier, the
>majority of people in the district do not support the LRA and its
>predecessors. It is the remnants of the UNLA and some of their
>political masters who have plunged our region into this darkness.
>These are soldiers who were so used to looting at roadblocks that
>the thought of living in a lawful society where law and order
>prevails was too much for them to bear. Some of their political
>leaders were so used to looting the national t reasury that the
>thought of holding regular jobs and earning a living like their
>fellow Ugandans was too much to bear. They are used to being paid
>for getting an allocation of sugar, beer, foreign exchange, etc.
>They are used to being paid for allocation papers for lorries,
>pickups, buses, etc. They are used to throwing people in dete ion;
>then asking relatives to pay a bribe to have them released.
>
>They cannot now claim that they so care about the welfare of the
>common man in the village that they are willing to fight and die for
>it. During Obote II, the people in the village were just as poor.
>Why did they not do something about it while they had national
>power? They were so drunk with power that they could not see the
>suffering of their own people. Now they want to try and convince the
>people in the village that if they get national power, they will
>del iver heaven to the north! In the meantime, they are trying to
>deliver hell to the north by their acts of brutality.
>
>Many of their so-called leaders are simply trying to find a
>bargaining tool so that Museveni offers them something. We have
>already seen this happen before. Those who preceded Kony and caused
>so much grief in the north subsequently settled for as little as
>$6,000 US; plus or minus a plane ticket. They now live in Kampala,
>afraid to visit the beloved homeland in the north that they fought
>so hard for. This is how cheap these people think the lives of their
>brothers and sisters in the north are. I do not want to get
>personal, but enough is enough. If any of their supporters doubt
>this, I will name some former senior Obote II/ Tito Okello officials
>who have settled for petty amounts of money and now live peacefully
>in Kampala after causing our people so much grief. No wonder those
>of Kony want to join them.
>
>I want to finish by suggesting that we from the north take some of
>the responsibility for the lack of progress in our area, instead of
>always blaming the government. We must undertake to work hard and
>develop our own area before we can expect investors, local or
>foreign, to come and invest in our area. We should stop trying t
>look at the central government as our only source of development.
>Let us stop thinking that the only way to develop our area is to
>seize control of the national government. If anything, the
>experience of Obote II and Tito Okello has shown that having leaders
>like those from our region is a hazard to economic development. Even
>the few who thought they benefited in 1981-1986 have nothing to show
>for it today; except bitterness towards the people who chased them
>away from power. In stead of resenting the development in other
>areas, let us learn from them and develop our own area. After all,
>we are blessed with plenty of fertile land. Now that government does
>not control prices of produce, and products can be sold worldwide,
>let us get to work as soon as possible. Let us not allow the few
>disgraced OboteII/Tito Okello officials to ride on our backs and
>lives to get big jobs and some money from President Museveni. Let us
>refuse to be misled, and let us hope peace prevails in northern
>Uganda. Our people more than deserve it.
>
>_________________________________________________________________
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Ochan Otim
NB: I hope you will find time to read and sign a petition to stop the Northern Uganda carnage at: http://www.petitiononline.com/savacoli/petition.html
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This service is hosted on the Infocom network
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NB: I hope you will find time to read and sign a petition to stop the Northern Uganda carnage at: http://www.petitiononline.com/savacoli/petition.html
