Uganda's xenophilia and fundamental changes

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By Charles Okecha

Uganda is a xenophilic country, where xeno means foreign and philia means brotherly love. Our country is a safe haven to refugees from Congo, Burundi, Kenya and Somalia.

The 1972 expulsion of Asians and expatriates was a product of Amin’s night dream not pressure from the people he governed to evict them. Foreigners who set foot on our soil marvel at the freedom they enjoy.

The exodus unleashed a haze of economic hardships but it is now exciting to find innumerable local brands of bread; semi-illiterate men fabricating spare parts, ovens etc. Patience and learning from industrialists has earned us all these. Much gratitude goes to our leaders who woo foreign investments.

We hope our ambassadors are involved in creating these links otherwise their appointments deserve to be revoked.

Fundamental change was the catch phrase of NRM/NRA when it took over power. But it seems to date back to April 11, 1979 (a day no longer celebrated) when Ugandan exiles ousted Idi Amin courtesy of Julius Nyerere’s forces. Amin fell sooner than expected, and the exiles appointed Professor Yusuf Lule and Godfrey Binaisa to prepare the road to democracy.

Like Noah’s raven they conflicted with the Military Commission and National Consultative Council when they made arbitrary changes targeting Lt Col Oyite Ojok (Army Chief of Staff) and Yoweri Museveni (Minister of Defence and Vice Chairman of Military Commission). After their short spell of leadership Milton Obote returned. The subsequent elections and the ensuing chaos quickly brought NRM to power.

Tanzania which trained a number of today’s generals at Munduli, was disappointed by exiles who became foes. UPC and DP revived another episode of rivalry along sectarian lines. After Obote’s overthrow by his own forces, bands of militias camped in hotels of Kampala’s hills.

By the time Kampala fell to NRA there were no decent hotels for hosting international guests or summits. Apollo Hotel was quickly renovated by Sheraton Hotels Ltd, Imperial, Nile Hotel and conference centre were also refurbished.

The NRA fought prolonged battles with insurgent groups – UPA, FOBA, Alice Lakwena’s Holy Spirit Movement, LRA and ADF. By reconciling and integrating some dissident groups, the army was strengthened the more.

Arrow Boys Militia of Soroti and Amuka of Lango helped counter Kony’s LRA advance towards the slopes of Mount Elgon. Kony was defeated and lurks in jungles of Sudan, DR Congo and Central African Republic where his forces keep surrendering to UPDF. No foreign boots liberated our country, our troops were seasoned to tackle war zones and prompted a sarcastic remark from one party “Ugandans are good fighters but thieves”.

Government now re-constructs roads weakened/damaged by tanks, towing trucks, APCs of Tanzanian Forces and creates new ones e.g. Mbale Tirinyi road, Kapchorwa Road and Karamoja Sub Region, West Nile, Central (Entebbe express highway) and Western regions. In these roads people travel without roadblocks except for big commercial vehicles and traffic offenders.

Prominent women lead Kampala City Authority, Roads Authority, Revenue Authority, Energy Ministry, among others speak volumes about women emancipation and the roles they play in development. There are district Women MPs and rural women no longer suffer in silent slavery but have a voice. Youth have regional MPs and children’s education is given priority.

UBC’s monopoly of TV and radio broadcasting has been broken but as an independent country rural viewers deserve access to local programmes in languages they can understand and do not actually need the plethora digital TV brings.

Just as no country can determine the way we eat or dress, the same should apply to TV programmes we watch!

The writer works with St. Paul’s College, Mbale