*Yes Brother Ojara, The struggle for Democratisation is meaningless unless economic democratisation for our people is the centre of focus!!
The tragedy is that for too long Uganda's columnists have been been spewing this nonsense of giving away Uganda Commercial Bank for one dollar. Bujagali electricity has been given to Agha-Khan for free together with US$100 million of NSSF money. The oilfields have been grabbed by mercenaries of Executive Outcomes (formerly the Assassins battalion of apartheid's South Africa Defense forces __ they work together with Sandline......... Thank you brother Brother Ojara for your clarity !! ================================================* Local elite should control the economy to reduce corruption I want to comment on corruption. While various views have been expressed on how to tackle the corruption evil, no one seems to be anywhere near offering a lasting solution to the evil. When US President Barack Obama visited Ghana recently, he made an ear-bashing speech on the issue of corruption. But I see it differently. I feel like the elite in our country have been excluded from participating in major economic and business activities. As a result, they have resorted to indulging in corruption for survival and personal wealth accumulation. And for the people who can’t get on the corruption train, some of them have either gone or are working hard to ensure that they leave for kyeyo (odd jobs) abroad. Unless we manage well the economy, corruption is unlikely to reduce. Allowing citizens to control major government investment projects or contracts gives citizens the incentive to invest and save. Today, many of the items we consume – from cars to clothes or beer to shoes – are either produced abroad or by foreign-owned companies operating in the country. We even prefer our accounts to be audited by foreign or foreign-owned firms. We give contracts to foreign construction firms to build or repair our roads - the list is endless. Yet for a democracy to be successful, citizens should be able to take charge not only of the political process but also the economic and investment activities/opportunities in their country. Currently, as Ugandan citizens, we are getting a raw deal. This though is not a problem unique to Uganda. The entire sub-Saharan Africa is affected. I have met highly qualified Ugandans and other Africans doing kyeyo in the UK and this embarrasses me so much as an African. Our leaders should make the tough choice between continuing to please the greedy free trade imperialists/donors, or work in the interest of their people. I believe African governments should start recognising citizens’ abilities like the West. Of course a backlash should be expected from masters such as the so-called multi-national corporations that have a strong lobby and influence. However, any negative reaction might be minimal because of the current global credit crunch and lessons from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. There has never been a better time to begin empowering the black man across Africa than today. Fred Ojara [email protected]
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