Dear Mr Ssengoba of 'The Monitor',
You have to appreciate that we Ugandans living outside miss a certain
perspective on Uganda's daily events.
But at the same time, you inside, miss the telescopic view from a distance.
So, the totality of perspective eludes both sides.
Take the case of this former Kenyan Permanent Secretary in charge of
anti-corruption, John Githongo.
Before Moi left power he gave away Kenya's telecommunication assets to the
British, who gave him a 5% share/cut of the pie.
(This company made a cool one billion dollar profit last year, for which Moi
took his cut of 50 million while Kenya lost 950 million dollars)
Kibaki's men wanted to break this British plunder of their country.
Sensing this, the British wired this Githongo with a recording device to
record inner government discussions about these corrupt deals.
Meanwhile Kibaki's government was being destabilised by the power hungry
Raila Oginga Odinga. (This, at the time when the British High Commissioner
to Kenya was shouting to the whole world insults about Kenyans being so
corrupt that they vomit on their shoes.)
These were times for regime change !!.
Githongo joined this orchestra about "Kibaki's incredible corruption", in an
attempt to bring down Kibaki's regime. God knows what he had been promised.
But Kibaki survived. The High Commissioner was recalled. (Speculation here
in Toronto is that Kibaki was bailed out by the Americans whom he gave
freeway in their hunt for "terrorists" in Kenya - talk to/access Somalis in
Nairobi to hear their woes !! )
Githongo had to run into exile in Britain. But there was British finance
capital still at stake in Kenya.
So, the British did not want Githongo in London, making noise to annoy the
guys back in Kenya. So they sent him to Canada.
The fellow was given a one year research position, not in Toronto, but at
some isolated, red-neck jungle place called Kingston. There as very few
blacks there.
As a "Nigger" he now drinks his beer alone in Kingston, commiserating about
the days when he used to be chauffeur-driven in Nairobi, with banquets open
to him in State House. His sojourn here is a one year research. I hope he
will not end up washing latrines here after that.
They used him and threw him away, like toilet paper. That is what you get
for being a traitor to your country.
May be we Africans will learn. One day.
Who can forget how Onyango-Obbo used to shout himself insane that the Uganda
Commercial Bank should be given away for one dollar? This was a billion
dollar asset mind you!!
Now the same Obbo is in Nairobi praising Kenya Commercial Bank for
generating, yearly, hundreds of millions of dollar profits for Kenyans.
Meanwhile watch Linda Chalker with Uganda's oil.
Lucky, if we don't end up with a mere 0.3% loyalty like the Nigerians, or
zero % like Cameroon, with oil owned between the President and the oil
companies !!
In Bolivia, the wananchi rose up and threw out of office the rascal that had
exchanged their oilfields for imperialism to keep him in Office.
They brought in Evo Morales, who has nationalised the oil.
But why does Africa end up with the likes of our Karoli Ssemogerere, Charles
Onyango-Obbo, Anne Mugisha, etc.... who cheer for wholesale plunder of our
public wealth ?
We have to vehemently reject the heist when they sugar-coat it as
"privatisation", "deregulation", "globalisation" , etc.....
Hey Brother Ssengoba, the man Kaguta was right when he said: " If we are
stupid, we deserve to be enslaved" !!
Mitayo Potosi
=============================================
OPINIONS & COMMENTARIES *MEDIA FREEDOM | *Nicholas Sengoba ...
**
Never put your bet on a new African government *August 14, 2007* Throughout
the post colonial history of the so-called Dark Continent, political
governance and development may easily be described as taking after the
frustrating fashion of two steps forward then four steps back.
So incessant has it been that one may not be considered an insightful sage,
a cynic of the incurable variety or a prophet of doom if they casually
dismissed a newly established government as a failure waiting to happen.
Yet, come to think of it, almost every change of government on the continent
is generally greeted with massive jubilation and optimism.
And it does not matter if the change is instigated by military coups
(bloodless or otherwise,) a mere change of guards, or a "popular protracted
people's revolution."
Better still, through "democratic" elections ranging from the third rate
versions that are only considered "free and fair" when judged by very low
parameters, mockingly termed "African standards," or the ones where the
glaring irregularities are considered "not significant enough" to discredit
the legitimacy of the winner besides the openly rigged.
The wavering from hope to failure back to hope marks the path of failure of
governance on the African continent. Right from the dawn of the independence
era in the early 60s, successive governments on the continent have delivered
a false hope.
>From its inception the typical African government promises prosperity,
freedom, equality, liberty, employment, democracy, equal opportunity and
justice, all characteristically pronounced with revolutionary fervor.
Because more often than not when a new government is replacing one that has
been around for ages and has exposed all the bad habits (corruption,
nepotism, repression, contempt of the law etc) that come with overstaying a
political welcome, the citizens blindly see it as a timely breath of fresh
air.
Then the new government is given the benefit of doubt with every step and
turn it makes. The "donor community" guilty for supplying the aid which
propped up the previous regime that no one will now touch even with a long
stick, cleanses itself and pledges serious money.
The nation throws caution to the wind and calls the new leader the "long
awaited messiah."
Those who highlight the wrongs of the new leaders are shut up and vilified
as suffering from hangovers of the ousted "bad regimes." The press has a
field day with freedoms guaranteed by the new governors who in turn receive
much needed positive publicity.
As time goes on the old habits slowly but steadily creep into the ways of
the new government. There are tales of jobs and tenders for the unqualified
homeboy and the blatant theft of public funds. The donors cut some aid and
put conditions on their money.
The government refuses to bend and instead increases taxes to finance its
activities, raising murmurs amongst taxpayers who are now keener as far as
(mis)use of government revenue is concerned.
Corruption puts pressure on the delivery of public services in the vital
sectors of health and education which deteriorate while the leaders, their
spouses and children opt to access such services in Europe at the taxpayer's
expense.
These trends become so rampant and predictable that they no longer make it
to the front pages of newspapers. The press wakes up to the fact that all
along it has been business as usual, digs in and tells the story.
Media houses are banned, raided and temporarily closed or the editors and
journalists are routinely invited to the police for questioning on matters
pertaining to "publishing news with intent to incite and cause enmity to the
government and the person of the president."
The authorities call for tougher laws and measures to ensure
"responsibility, balanced reporting and ethical practices among the media
fraternity."
We tell this story for the Kenyan journalist friend with whom we lunched on
the 31st of December 2002. Buoyed by the euphoria that engulfed Kenya
following the victory of the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) which ended
the 24-year dreadful reign of Daniel arap Moi, he dismissed the words of
caution drawn from Uganda's history as "irrelevant to Kenya because Kenya
had never witnessed coups or military rule."
Our friend declared that he would go back to his mother's womb if the Narc
government did anything half as bad as what Moi's had done.
Last week an e-mail from him which in part read "can you imagine a
government in the 21st century contemplating enacting a law requiring a
journalist to reveal his source?"
This brought a smile to the face just like previous e-mails blasting the
Narc government for the woes suffered by the exiled anti-corruption Czar
John Githongo, the mysterious Armenian brother's scandal, First Lady Lucy
Kibaki's belligerent visits to the Nation Media newsroom, besides the armed
raid on the Standard newspaper.
Lesson? Be careful with what you stake on the credibility and viability of
an African government new or otherwise, for most certainly you will lose
your deposit.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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