Vincent Nuwagaba
President Museveni has declared war against the anti-Mabira giveaway crusaders. His 2007 attempt to give the said forest to Mehta was confronted with stiff resistance from the opposition and civil society activists. However, Mr Museveni seems to have learnt nothing and forgotten nothing from the 2007 April Mabira protests. If indeed power belongs to the people as the constitution says why doesn’t Museveni organise a referendum on whether or not Mabira should be given away. I am awaiting the opposition response to the war threats by the president against those opposed to his unholy schemes of giving away the natural forests.
I know that some anti-Mabira giveaway activists risk losing their lives. But I must say killing someone at the forefront of the struggle doesn’t kill the struggle. Uganda Martyrs were burnt but Christianity continued to blossom. A bean cannot reproduce itself unless it has been buried into the soil; one cannot resurrect unless they first die. And I believe that if one lost their life on the struggle, although physically dead their souls never die. Jesus Christ was crucified but is now alive; Martin Luther King Jr, Mahatma Gandhi, and Sr. Mother Theresa, St Francis of Assisi inter alia didn’t die for their names have lived centuries after their bodily demise.
We, the Pan African club members debated Mabira on Friday August 19, 2011. Denis Twahika, an NRM cadre argued that let Mabira go after all, health, education, cooperative societies and many others are gone. People who think like Twahika are resigned into frustration and frustrated into resignation. They think they cannot do anything to salvage their nation. To me, it is not only about Mabira. My major concern is the abuse and misuse of power by people who claim to have gone to the bush to liberate us. I read in the press that Mehta doesn’t care what parliament says, all he wants is Mabira forest. This is sheer contempt! Beggars don’t give orders.
We are in a free enterprise economy not a command economy. Accordingly, the government will not fix price for Mehta’s sugar, why then does he want free land? What will Ugandans benefit if Mehta is given free land? If we can make a written agreement with him that he will sell a Kg of sugar at Shs1,000 we can give him land but still not our valuable forest. If not, he should be told in no uncertain terms that he should get money and buy land. But maybe he has paid for the land in which case we demand that the President gives accountability to Ugandans. President Museveni is averse to dissent which is a pointer of outright dictatorship.
Meanwhile, Makerere University students reported for their 2011/2012 academic year on Saturday August 20 and the lectures are supposed to go on this week. However, it is not yet clear whether lecturers will be ready to teach given that they are demanding a 100 percent salary increment to match the rising costs of living. While I believe the lecturers’ demand is a modest demand, it will have a domino effect on other sectors. With each sector demanding 100 per cent salary increment, President Museveni will find it difficult if not impossible to enjoy the statehouse delicacies. As the lecturers make their demands, students still demand to have tuition fees slashed down to the figures prior to 2009/2010 academic year and to have students’ loans as promised by President Museveni on his campaign trail.
By 1960, Uganda was at the same economic footing with the Asian Tigers. We are now 49 years old as an independent state and President Museveni has been in power for 26 years. As opposed to Milton Obote and Idi Amin, Museveni is a political science and economics graduate. Why he failed to replicate the Asian Tiger Miracle here, he alone knows. If we are to attain genuine transformation, we must: - identify brilliant Ugandans on meritocracy basis; invest in their education; deploy them in our bureaucracies and pay them handsomely. This is impossible if prestigious degree courses remain a preserve of the rich not the bright. Mr President, we need sustainable development.
Mr Nuwagaba is a human rights defender
mpvessynuwagaba@gmail.com
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