Youth have a role in the NRM revolution

By Duncan Abigaba 

Tomorrow, June 9, 2018, the Government will commemorate Heroes Day at Birembo Primary School Grounds in Kakumiro District. According to the NRM/NRA records, Birembo is an historic place in the NRM/NRA struggle.

In December, 1984, the NRA succeeded in assaulting Kabamba barracks and made away with a substantial loot of weapons and ammunitions, after two unsuccessful attempts in 1981 and 1983. When the NRA fled with their loot, they were pursued by UNLA soldiers until they camped in the valley at Birembo.

According to Kizza Besigye's biography, Uganda's unfinished revolution, there was heavy shelling by the government soldiers and one of the mortars landed exactly on the spot where the NRA leader, Yoweri Museveni was.

Fortunately, the rebel leader had dug a hideout trench and the mortar narrowly missed him. Therefore, owing to this symbolism, it is important that the NRM and UPDF are now going back to this momentous spot. 

This was four years into the liberation struggle, a struggle that was dominated by the youth of the day. To mention but a few; the NRM/NRA leader was aged 40, the commander of NRA, Elly Tumwiine was 30 years, and Caleb Akandwanaho (Salim Saleh) who had led the Kabamba operation was 24 years old.

The politics and socio-economic direction of our country has always been influenced and shaped by the youth. At our independence, the Prime Minister was only 38 years while John Kakonge, the UPC Secretary General and Minister for Agriculture was 25. 

Quoting the great Martinique philosopher, Frantz Omar Fanon, every generation must out of its relative obscurity discover its mission, either realize it or betray it. The Museveni generation realised their mission; need to end extra judicial killings, impunity by the undisciplined army, gross corruption, shallow sectarianism based on tribalism and gender chauvinism, as well as lack of fundamental human rights and democracy in Uganda.

If we are to measure the performance of the NRM against the challenges of the day in regard to their blue print, the ten point programme, their performance has been satisfactory. A story is told of a senior officer in the Idi Amin government who shot a just married couple at Wandegeya because they had inconvenienced him on the road. Such was the impunity and moral break down of the armed forces.

Since 1986, the military have remained subordinate to the civil authority. The country is enjoying democracy and rule of law enforced by various institutions such as Inspectorate of Government, Directorate of Public Prosecutions, Courts of judicature etc.  
There has been progress on other fronts of socio-economic development; to highlight but a few; Ugandans can now drive across the country in every direction on tarmac. The NRM has added 3,300 Km of tarmac road, there is expansion of the Entebbe International Airport and preliminary works on the new International Airport in Hoima have started.

Preliminary works on the $2.3b Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) are also going on; 98% right of way has been acquired and 40% of the Project Affected Persons (PAPs) have been compensated.  Power generation has increased to 942 MW, from 60 MW in 1986, and for the first time, the country has surplus electricity.

Nwoya, Kabong and Buvuma are the only districts out of 122 which aren't connected to the national grid. In the same sector, the Government is investing $3.5b into the 1,445 km oil pipeline from Hoima to Tanga Port. The Government has also awarded a $4b oil refinery to the American-Italian consortium, Albertine Graben Refinery Consortium (AGRC) for construction. 

The current generation has a great task of upholding and consolidating these achievements. ICT represents the aspirations of the future and that is where the focus of our generation should turn.

A friend who visited South Korea recently intimated to me that in Seoul, there were test trials of 5G internet and one is able to conclude business online within seconds. In May, Uganda hosted the Global Block Chain Technology Conference, the first to be held in Africa, which brought into the country several global ICT actors with immense opportunities in terms of incubation, innovation and training, and there are government efforts so far to support the sector for example, the allocation of $4m annually as innovation fund under the Ministry ICT and there is some other support through the Ministry of Science and Technology. 

The writer is the manager of the Government Citizen Interaction Centre of the ministry of ICT and National Guidance