Fellow Ugandans and, especially, the Bazzukulu.
Greetings.
I need to advise you not to be overly concerned by the recent actions by the American government in discouraging their companies from investing in Uganda and removing Uganda from the AGOA list.
Some of these actors in the Western world overestimate themselves and underestimate the freedom fighters of Africa. On account of some of the freedom fighters making mistakes of philosophy, ideology, and strategy, some of the foreign actors erroneously think that African countries cannot move forward without their support.
Certainly, as far as Uganda is concerned, we have the capacity to achieve our growth and transformation targets, even if some of the actors do not support us.
It is the eight points that I outlined for you at our recent Independence celebrations that are decisive. The eight points are: patriotism—not following politics of identity but following politics of interests; supporting the private sector; economic infrastructure development to lower the costs of doing business in the economy; regional integration to create big markets that can absorb our products; working with foreigners who respect us; eliminating corruption; social infrastructure to develop the human resource through universal education and health; and protecting the environment that controls our water and our rain.
It is good that the American government avoided the mistake of de-funding the procurement of HIV drugs for our 1.4 million people on those drugs. However, all our people on the ARVs and all the Ugandans need to know that we had a contingency plan to fully fund the procurement of those drugs if ever the external funders were unable to fund them.
These pressures from outside are joogo (dharau—looking down upon somebody—underrating somebody) towards the Africans and must be rejected.
I am told that some of the Arab countries have similar laws. Why don’t these actors put similar pressure on them?
In 1963, the OAU was founded in Addis Ababa. Only 36 African countries were independent at that time, and they were the ones that attended. Almost another 20 countries were not yet independent.
That OAU meeting, then, demanded that all African countries, must be independent, either by peace or by war. The “jogooists” (the arrogant) of the world mocked us. What can Africans do? In 1964, Frelimo launched the Armed struggle against the Portuguese Army in Mozambique, joining the MPLA that had launched an uprising earlier.
By 1994, the whole of Africa had been liberated by the force of the Africans, supported by the Socialist Countries of the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, etc. Africa has all the ingredients to succeed if we use them correctly.
Uganda, under the NRM, is and will succeed, regardless of what some of the external actors and internal detractors do.
The further good news is that not all Western countries’ actors have the same arrogant attitude. Many, actually, either agree with us or believe in the correct principles of live and let live.
Even in colonial times, some Western actors supported our anti-colonial struggle. People like Fenner Brockway, Dingle Foot, Olof Palme, etc., supported us.
Signed:
Yoweri K. Museveni
Gen (Rtd)
Ssaabalwayni
