UgandAshis 72 Quiet X-mas

UgandAshis 72 Quiet X-mas

Kampala, December 21, 2009

It was half way the year when President Museveni declared that the global economical crisis would have and had no effect on Uganda. We are several months further down the path and it seems mzee was wrong. Droughts have lead to famine. This in a country that is so fertile where ever you drop a seed with out any support a plant will grow. Boutiques are not finding customers and have less than half the sales of last year. Advertisements for X-mas are just starting to be rolled out. Business in Flaming chicken a bench mark as a restaurant in a usually thriving Kabalagala is slow. And the worst sign of all nightlife in a ever busy Kampala in the student holiday season seems to be much less than in prior years.

One wonders what bubble the leaders of this nation live in. ‘Droughts are caused due to the lazy nature of certain tribes’ (Minister of Emergency). ‘Business as usual, no deficit in the budget.’ (President Museveni) It is time to make homosexuality a capital crime (certain member of parliament).

While classes of people are graduating from University their chances for jobs seem to diminish each and every year. All around me I am hearing people are struggling to pay school fees (supposedly primary school is free), rent, water and electricity bills. And then there are the ever expanding scandals, government money lost, bribes, big fish absconding, a judiciary that cannot keep up with the case load.

Museveni and his National Resistance Movement came to power on a 10 point program. One of his famous statements was that he should not remain in power for too long. That was in 1986. He is slated to run again in 2011 and likely in 2016. The opposition have managed to form a coalition. Now to find one candidate to represent all those parties. It is said the results of the election in 2011 are already fixed. The Supreme Court ruled that the prior Election Committee had made grave unconstitutional errors yet was reinstalled with one new member (a school teacher and wife to a NRM politician)

In the land of the blind however one eye is king. When I look at the rhetoric of the opposition leaders I see those that wish to come to power so they can fill their pockets. A peasant once told me that he knew the bag of sugar he got every 5 years and the promise to a road to his village was but a small appreciation for a vote. The road has never been built and he knows no other politicians so he might as well vote on the known one of the candidates.

Uganda has such a bright potential - people are really nice and at the same time you wonder how it is that so many people do not manage to finish secondary school (up to 72% estimates). Choice or chance?

Namaskar,

Ashis Brahma