By Robert Obol

17^th January 2011

If President Museveni loses the coming elections, it will be because of his policies of indiscriminate privatization that he pursued in the 90s.  The other issue will be neglecting the development of the economic infrastructure in Uganda.

While he may rightfully boast of the 25yrs that he has been in power, boast of the increased revenue collection, throughout his re-election campaign, and in all corners of the country, he has been meeting Ugandans who live in very poor social and economic conditions.

He has met Ugandans who eat one meal a day; others who can’t afford medical treatment; and many more who are hard working farmers but their sweat cannot lift them out of the poverty they are in; partly because of the poor road conditions which mean that farmers can’t get their produce to markets.

What has been most fascinating for me and most Ugandans is when Museveni is confronted with some of those issues.  When the people of Western Uganda complained about poor social services, Museveni asked his audience not to focus on social infrastructure but rather on household incomes.  The question I would put to him is this:  How can he improve the lives of Ugandans when there are no basic social services like hospitals?  Even in areas where they are available, they are either too far, or too expensive to afford.

When he was faced with the issue of the lack of drugs in the hospitals, Museveni chose to blame the numerous private clinics in the country instead of providing the nation with his plans for stocking the hospitals with drugs and providing the necessary staffing.

Interestingly, in Busoga, he evaded the issue of jiggers completely.  The best that his area MP Rebecca Kadaga could recommend to her fellow Basoga was that they should bath with soap and water.  I think that this is an insult to the intelligence of the Basoga and Ugandans. For a start, Busoga is the source of both the River Nile and Lake Victoria.  So there can be no shortage of water there.

The truth of the matter is that the jigger problem epitomises poverty and failed government policies to uplift the people economically.  Most people don’t have beds to sleep on and cannot afford bathing with soap daily.  I believe the economic predicaments of our country are a result of the short sighted privatization economic policies that Museveni forcefully pushed into place in the 90s.

Essential national economic institutions that were the bedrock for upward mobility in Uganda disappeared.  For example, Uganda Commercial Bank that was privatized was a profit making company at the time it was sold. It was a bank which had one goal at the time it was founded, and that was to improve the economic and social livelihoods of Ugandans after the lessons that had been learnt before independence.

Today, as a result of Museveni’s ill conceived privatization, many sectors of the economy are supported by foreign banks whose primary goals are to make profit by charging high interest rates.  While these banks may have increased the tax base, corruption is Museveni’s government has also ensured that citizens continue to wallow in poverty.

Ugandans from every corner and village own cell phones today.  But while cell phone companies should provide an essential service to the citizens, they instead bring scandalously high charges.  It is precisely to that reason that most Ugandans cannot afford to call but resort to sending text messages.

Some of the exorbitant charges by mobile phone companies today could have been curbed if the government had desisted from a boneheaded approach to privatization.  Uganda Post and Telecommunications for example would have provided competition to foreign companies to keep charges low.

Even the United States, considered to be the mother of capitalism, the Obama administration still passed a health care bill into law to make sure the government does not place the citizens at the mercy of private corporations.  Let us look at our neighbour Kenya which has a larger economy than our own.  The government there still controls large sections of the economy.

For example, Kenya Airways is still run by the State. On our part, Uganda Airlines which was a national symbol and a source of pride was sold under unclear circumstances.  Today, Uganda Airline’s lucrative handling services have become a family business belonging to someone with very close links to the State House.

Furthermore, under Museveni, we have witnessed the neglect and collapse of the Cooperative Unions through which farmers could come together and bargain for better prices for their produce, earn good money, and improve their livelihoods.  Now, Bugisu Cooperative Union, the only surviving one, is also facing political interference from the regime.

It is therefore not a surprise that as Museveni campaigns across the country, he is seeing rampant poverty all over the place.  And if he were to be defeated in this election, then it will be because Ugandans have realized that his economic policies have totally failed to improve their lives.

Finally, I am convinced that having failed to improve our lives even after 25 years in power, it will not happen even if he were to be given another term.  That is why I think Uganda is ripe and ready to elect a new leader who will put our economy back on a course.

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robertnyekoobol@yahoo.co.uk