Ugandans-At-Heart

Since 2006, I have chanced upon many British, Americans and Chinese at Serena, Sheraton, etc who have been talking about Uganda as an air cargo hub. They are ready to build huge air cargo cities outside Kampala. One program they were targetting was Rakai but it got entangled in religious bickering. But they are looking at Rakai, Ntungamo, Soroti and Gulu as air cargo hubs. There are huge Macau casino investors that are also willing to come and I personally met with the Italian Formula 1 team that is interested in Uganda now as their new site outside the Arab world. Uganda is situated in the best place. People, we are the heart of Africa! Take Uganda and you have conquered the African world from Sudan to Libya, Congo to Nigeria, Uganda to Ethiopia, Uganda to South Africa.

Uganda is a sweet cookie for all these people and now we also seem like oil shall be added in the package by 2015. China’s CNOOC would not have paid Tullow so much (which they are trying to shirk taxes for) if they didn’t see Uganda as more than oil.

We are the land of honey and milk right now. So anything that they think will give them excuse to step in, they will take it. Forget about the morality here. They know that in Africa if you say there is a dictatorship with anyone who has been in power for 25 years, all of us African will just say yes and make noise and wait for someone else to come do the dirty job. They are your shoulder to cry on, they are BIG BROTHER.

Look at some members here in Ugandans At Heart (UAH) who are openly asking for assistance to get rid of NRM. These are the people they want to hear from. You are the ones who will lead us to second colonization. But when someone writes here that a government has become so disconnected that they have nothing to live for, then a serious government will take note and try to build bridges.

I was watching Al Jazeera last week and they run a story saying CIA has increased its budget for Twitter and Facebook and has designed software that will allow an agent to manage ten accounts with one ID but all ten showing up with different names. So you will think that all of a sudden many people are with you and you shall gain the courage to come out for peaceful demonstrations. They know that you will not come out for Kizza Besigye, but they know that if they touch upon something that is within your self interest and NOT political interest, you shall rise.

So what do they expect? If you remember the Asian tigers and how they had chased away IMF and World Bank, do you recall what happened there? Their money lost value so quickly. Indonesia under Suharto the dollar in a period of 3 months went from $1=2,500 to $1= 10,000. Income remained constant and you can read about all the other economic triggers. To add insult to injury, Suharto increased taxes for the rich but excluded members of his family who were classified as super rich. It took Suharto 6 months to fall and in the rest of the countries, instability took 6-12 months. These are economic hitmen. And the IMF is back in full force in the Asian Tigers.

In Tanzania, Nyerere was not going to give up power when he did, but after hunger and starvation, he bowed out feeling like a total failure. If you haven’t already been informed, WFP has doubled their budget for your maize, your staple food. The budget is now $100M. Most of our population Bank of Uganda says 75% do not keep their money in formal banks. They hide it under their beds or in informal sectors so we can’t tap it to increse investment yet now WFP is targetting those as their suppliers. WFP is building warehouses upcountry under the guise of efficiency but in reality, they always give the lowest maize price. They are going to mop up all your maize and send it as relief to Sudan and Kenya and other countries that are suffering. We Kampala people who drink porridge and eat posho, the cost of food will go up, but your incomes will remain the same. Hunger and starvation will set in and that is when your self interest shall kick in.

Look at the knock on effects of lack of maize. In Kanungu our villagers are reaping the benefits. The price of rice has risen from 1,800 to 2,500 a kg. Almost close to imported basmati rice. I wonder, hasn’t matooke taken a big banana wilt beating and now the high fuel prices have pushed up a bunch to 15,000. Do you remember a few years ago when we spent 7,000 a bunch? What about potatoes, all food. Is it not true that Uganda’s working class is living off one meal a day? Has anyone seen the transformation at city square at night? If you haven’t please drive and park and see how many people leave their offices in the evening and have a kikomando as their only meal. What they earn, they leave for their children to at least have a cup of beans for food for the day. These are all the effects of economic hit men and Uganda can’t do anything about it unless they start to recognize the signs.

This is what causes revolutions that don’t have leaders, they think they don’t have leaders but most times the psychology is the same creating one mindset. The mindset is the leader. In Egypt they are wise but will take a long time to recover. They pelted El Baradei with stones and he couldn’t vote in the referendum. What the referendum showed, is that Africans don’t care which dictator is in power, they shall move on when the new dictator comes and they shall do so with gladness in their hearts. Case in point Egypt elections December 2010 = 7M voters. Egypt Referendum March 2011 = 14M voters.

So Uganda, Congo, Zimbabwe, etc. Our leaders are sitting ducks. Only the citizenry can save their countries from re-colonization because leaders are generally much unfocused on what is the citizenry’s “self-interest”. This is why unless they connect with you, shall fall like a pack of cards, and Africa won’t skip a heartbeat. It shall move on and the air cargo terminals shall be built and we shall all enjoy colonization for about 25-40 years until we also get tired of their stories. If anyone does not think this is serious please go study a map and look at the strategic location of Libya. American has already appointed an envoy to Benghazi so it doesn’t matter how long the civil war will be on for. Benghazi will be peaceful and they shall build military bases there and prepare for the Ugandan Invasion.

Now look at Tullow oil in today newspaper that doesn’t want to pay tax, takes you to court and then says they are doing you a favour even to pay the little tax that they have paid. And mark you; they are being helped by your black brothers and sisters. Exactly how colonization was in the first place.

Food for thought.