Opposition kicks are those of a dying horse
May 10, 2011
ON May 10th the President addressed journalists about the desperate nature of the opposition in Uganda at his home in Rwakitura. He said: “Whatever a man sows, that is what he reaps†– Galatians, Chapter 6 Verse 7, below is his speech in full.
ON May 10th the President addressed journalists about the desperate nature of the opposition in Uganda at his home in Rwakitura. He said: “Whatever a man sows, that is what he reaps†– Galatians, Chapter 6 Verse 7, below is his speech in full.
The politics of Uganda has been characterised by reactionary ideology (not progressive, not patriotic) before colonialism, during colonialism and after colonialism. Before colonialism, following the collapse of the Bachwezi Empire around 1500 AD, this area was being dominated by small kingdoms and chiefdoms: Bunyoro, Buganda, Ankole, Tooro, Rwanda, Burundi, Karagwe, the chiefdoms of Buhaya, Busoga, Lango, Alur, etc.
This area is occupied by African people divided in four groups: the Bantus, the Nilotics (Luo), the Nilo-Hamitic and the Sudanic (Lugbara, Madi, etc). These are either similar people or they are people with linkages. The interlacustrine Bantus are people with, more or less, a common language; a language that is mutually intelligible, the different dialects notwithstanding. The Nilotics also speak, more or less, one language with different dialects.
The Nilo-Hamitic (Itesot, Karimojong, etc.) speak the same language with different local dialects; so do the Sudanic.
Nevertheless, these languages are also linked with either borrowed words or words that indicate a common origin in the distant past. Take the Lugbara word for syphilis – ‘oya’. In Runyankore, syphilis is ‘ebihooya’!! Take the Luo word ‘wang-kac’, meaning a gate.
In the Kabaka’s palace, you find one of the gates is called precisely that – wang-kac. The Iteso word ‘aicha’ which means being bright (day light coming).
In Runyankore, the word kutsya means the time the morning mist clears. Bwankya, in Runyoro-Rutooro means tomorrow. The Luo word for daughter is nyara. In Runyankore kunyaara means both to urinate and to sperm. See the closeness of these words.
In one of the Nubian words — mboro — means daughter. You know what mboro means in Bantu dialects of this area and also in Swahili. You can see the closeness of these words.
Nevertheless, these similar or linked people were governed by different tribal kings or chiefs. They were never governed together.
However, trade among these units was extensive. Textiles (cotton, etc.) were coming from the Coast, all the way to the Great Lakes. Cowrie shells (ensimbi) were coming from the Coast and so were the guns (embundu, ebyaatsi). The interior was exporting ivory, mainly, to the Coast. Copper (ebikomo) and brass (emiringa) were coming from Congo (Buleega). This trade was inconvenienced by the extortion of the chiefs along the way.
There was, for instance, a notorious Ruswaruura of Bujinja (Biharamuro – Tanzania) who was a great extortionist according to Hannington Speke and Stanley. On the other hand, there was the affable and benevolent Rumanyika of Karagwe who helped traders and travellers who went through his kingdom.
What is amazing about these kings and chiefs is that Vasco Da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1498. Hannington Speke did not come to Uganda until 1862. That is a gap of about 364 years. These self important kings and chiefs were aware that a new group of people using the powerful technology of guns and gun-powder had arrived at the East African Coast. Yet, for almost 400 years, these kings never took steps to strengthen themselves by learning this technology or by creating alliances to improve their unity. Instead, they were promoting war and greed among themselves. They were continuing to perpetuate the divisions among people who were similar or linked as I have already pointed out.
The colonialists, having improved their technology of guns in the 1880s (Congress of Berlin 1884/5), parceled up a hopelessly divided Africa among themselves.
Once the colonialists took over Africa, they continued to promote these divisions among the tribes. They killed the indigenous trade among the Africans and, instead, brought their own hoes (enfuka, enkumbi, etc.), pangas (emihoro, jambia, etc), axes (empango), clay-pots (enyungu), plates (entatika, enyabya), from outside. Africa became a market for their products as well as a source of cheap raw materials for their industries.
On top of the tribal divisions, they added new divisions – religious divisions. The Africans who had been converted into Christianity and Islam were soon fighting a ‘civil war’ on behalf of God. Some confused elite groups emerged (priests and, later on, some politicians) pushing these disoriented ideas of sectarianism.
These wrongly polarised groups paralysed inter-community interaction during much of the colonial era. Fortunately, for the Africans, colonialism did not lead to our extermination as happened to the Red Indians, the Incas, the Aztecs and the Aborigines. This was due to our strong genes that evolved because of our advanced agriculture that involved the domestication of animals.
These domestic animals have got zoonotic diseases that also affect human beings. These domestic animals, therefore, inoculated us against many of the European diseases.
There is a Professor called Jared Diamond who has written a book titled: Guns, germs and steel (2005) — showing how the Europeans used these (guns, germs and steel) to exterminate, dominate and enslave peoples of the world.
The Africans survived the germs, but were enslaved by the gun and steel. The Africans used steel, but for rudimentary purposes — spears, swords, knives, pangas, axes, hammers, etc; but they did not make machines.
Africans, eventually, regained their independence. We were assisted by three factors to regain our independence: the Communist Revolutions in Russia and China; the inter-imperialist wars of 1914-18 and 1939-45 that weakened those marauders; and the anti-colonial struggles of the African peoples.
Even with independence, many of the political groups did not cure themselves of the bankrupt ideology of sectarianism born out of opportunism and failure to capture the legitimate interests of the people. That is why Africa has stagnated even 50 years after independence it is still backward. Many countries in Africa are still least developed; even those that have been peaceful all the time are still less developed. I like to use the measurement of the kilo watt hour (kWh) per capita to highlight this. Refer to the table of a sample of some countries in the world.
This is due to the problem of ideological disorientation among the elite of Africa. They do not know what is primary and what is secondary. They are spurred on in this mistaken thinking by the Western countries which either do not know what Africa needs or do not care. The NRM has always fought these erroneous tendencies. We believe in industrialisation. You cannot talk of industrialisation without talking about electricity.
When we were still fully depending on donor support we could not address decisively this issue. Now that we have got our own money, we are beginning to address it.
Our kWh per capita is now 70. Next year, after commissioning Bujagali and other mini-hydro stations, our kWh per capita will be about 100. By 2016, after Karuma, Isimba, Ayago and the use of oil and gas our kWh per capita will be about 500.
On the ideological side, we hold in total disdain sectarianism of any type. We promote patriotism and the authentic interests of the people.
As a Munyankore, I have told you that my Banyankore neighbours, who produce milk, beef and matooke as I do, only help me in accumulating big volumes which is important by making it easy for traders and processors to get the quantities they need. Beyond that, I am assisted by the Ugandans in Kampala to buy what I produce.
Therefore, my prosperity is supported, mainly, by the Ugandans of Kampala and other East Africans who buy what I produce.
Therefore, for somebody to promote Bunyankoreism without subordinating it clearly to the Ugandaness of Uganda and Pan-Africanism is to act against my legitimate interests. It is to act against the interests of the producers and to work for the interests of the parasites.
Since 1965, we have been fighting this war – the ideological war against those who push parochialism, sectarianism and gender chauvinism. The victory of NRM in the last elections represents the final victory against opportunism, obscurantism and parasitism of the reactionaries in Uganda; hence, the desperation of the opposition groups. In the Bible, from the Gospel of St. Matthew, 7:24-27, it says:
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.â€
Those who built a house on sand, that house collapsed when the wind blew hard. However, he who built his house on firm ground (NRM), it survived the force of the blizzard (eihunga). This ‘walk-to-work’ and other antics of the opposition are kicks of a dying horse.
The NRM is getting much stronger, not least, because we have our own money to build our economy. Recently, I commissioned the Mpanga min-hydro dam in Kamwengye. It produces about 18 mgws – (10% of the Nalubaale power station). The dam and the power station were built by the Srilankan investors together with some Ugandan investors.
The transmission infrastructure (i.e. a transmission line, rural electrification and sub-station at Kawunde) was built by the Uganda Government at the cost of $12.5m (sh30b). The Srilankan investors spent $26 million on the power station and dam. The opportunists have no more room in Uganda if they persist with their betrayal. As far as the little issue of ‘walk-to-work’, those who want to walk can do so provided they inform the Police so that other people’s interests are not harmed. That is all.
In conclusion, Uganda is headed to transitioning to a middle income country by 2016.
Nobody will stop us. We are going to ensure discipline. I will put before the in-coming Parliament, an amendment to the Constitution prohibiting bail for the following cases: murder, treason, rape, defilement, child sacrifice, rioting and economic sabotage except if the six months are exceeded. I will also seek to put in the Penal Code a section on economic sabotage.
With discipline, Uganda is unstoppable. You saw the road you came on — Kampala-Masaka. That road is being done by the Central Government using our own money. Busega-Miyana road is also being done by the Central Government using our own money.
The electricity lines to Karamoja from Katakwi to Moroto and Mbale to Moroto are funded by Uganda Government. Very many roads and electricity lines are being executed using our own money.
Thank you.
The politics of Uganda has been characterised by reactionary ideology (not progressive, not patriotic) before colonialism, during colonialism and after colonialism. Before colonialism, following the collapse of the Bachwezi Empire around 1500 AD, this area was being dominated by small kingdoms and chiefdoms: Bunyoro, Buganda, Ankole, Tooro, Rwanda, Burundi, Karagwe, the chiefdoms of Buhaya, Busoga, Lango, Alur, etc.
This area is occupied by African people divided in four groups: the Bantus, the Nilotics (Luo), the Nilo-Hamitic and the Sudanic (Lugbara, Madi, etc). These are either similar people or they are people with linkages. The interlacustrine Bantus are people with, more or less, a common language; a language that is mutually intelligible, the different dialects notwithstanding. The Nilotics also speak, more or less, one language with different dialects.
The Nilo-Hamitic (Itesot, Karimojong, etc.) speak the same language with different local dialects; so do the Sudanic.
Nevertheless, these languages are also linked with either borrowed words or words that indicate a common origin in the distant past. Take the Lugbara word for syphilis – ‘oya’. In Runyankore, syphilis is ‘ebihooya’!! Take the Luo word ‘wang-kac’, meaning a gate.
In the Kabaka’s palace, you find one of the gates is called precisely that – wang-kac. The Iteso word ‘aicha’ which means being bright (day light coming).
In Runyankore, the word kutsya means the time the morning mist clears. Bwankya, in Runyoro-Rutooro means tomorrow. The Luo word for daughter is nyara. In Runyankore kunyaara means both to urinate and to sperm. See the closeness of these words.
In one of the Nubian words — mboro — means daughter. You know what mboro means in Bantu dialects of this area and also in Swahili. You can see the closeness of these words.
Nevertheless, these similar or linked people were governed by different tribal kings or chiefs. They were never governed together.
However, trade among these units was extensive. Textiles (cotton, etc.) were coming from the Coast, all the way to the Great Lakes. Cowrie shells (ensimbi) were coming from the Coast and so were the guns (embundu, ebyaatsi). The interior was exporting ivory, mainly, to the Coast. Copper (ebikomo) and brass (emiringa) were coming from Congo (Buleega). This trade was inconvenienced by the extortion of the chiefs along the way.
There was, for instance, a notorious Ruswaruura of Bujinja (Biharamuro – Tanzania) who was a great extortionist according to Hannington Speke and Stanley. On the other hand, there was the affable and benevolent Rumanyika of Karagwe who helped traders and travellers who went through his kingdom.
What is amazing about these kings and chiefs is that Vasco Da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1498. Hannington Speke did not come to Uganda until 1862. That is a gap of about 364 years. These self important kings and chiefs were aware that a new group of people using the powerful technology of guns and gun-powder had arrived at the East African Coast. Yet, for almost 400 years, these kings never took steps to strengthen themselves by learning this technology or by creating alliances to improve their unity. Instead, they were promoting war and greed among themselves. They were continuing to perpetuate the divisions among people who were similar or linked as I have already pointed out.
The colonialists, having improved their technology of guns in the 1880s (Congress of Berlin 1884/5), parceled up a hopelessly divided Africa among themselves.
Once the colonialists took over Africa, they continued to promote these divisions among the tribes. They killed the indigenous trade among the Africans and, instead, brought their own hoes (enfuka, enkumbi, etc.), pangas (emihoro, jambia, etc), axes (empango), clay-pots (enyungu), plates (entatika, enyabya), from outside. Africa became a market for their products as well as a source of cheap raw materials for their industries.
On top of the tribal divisions, they added new divisions – religious divisions. The Africans who had been converted into Christianity and Islam were soon fighting a ‘civil war’ on behalf of God. Some confused elite groups emerged (priests and, later on, some politicians) pushing these disoriented ideas of sectarianism.
These wrongly polarised groups paralysed inter-community interaction during much of the colonial era. Fortunately, for the Africans, colonialism did not lead to our extermination as happened to the Red Indians, the Incas, the Aztecs and the Aborigines. This was due to our strong genes that evolved because of our advanced agriculture that involved the domestication of animals.
These domestic animals have got zoonotic diseases that also affect human beings. These domestic animals, therefore, inoculated us against many of the European diseases.
There is a Professor called Jared Diamond who has written a book titled: Guns, germs and steel (2005) — showing how the Europeans used these (guns, germs and steel) to exterminate, dominate and enslave peoples of the world.
The Africans survived the germs, but were enslaved by the gun and steel. The Africans used steel, but for rudimentary purposes — spears, swords, knives, pangas, axes, hammers, etc; but they did not make machines.
Africans, eventually, regained their independence. We were assisted by three factors to regain our independence: the Communist Revolutions in Russia and China; the inter-imperialist wars of 1914-18 and 1939-45 that weakened those marauders; and the anti-colonial struggles of the African peoples.
Even with independence, many of the political groups did not cure themselves of the bankrupt ideology of sectarianism born out of opportunism and failure to capture the legitimate interests of the people. That is why Africa has stagnated even 50 years after independence it is still backward. Many countries in Africa are still least developed; even those that have been peaceful all the time are still less developed. I like to use the measurement of the kilo watt hour (kWh) per capita to highlight this. Refer to the table of a sample of some countries in the world.
This is due to the problem of ideological disorientation among the elite of Africa. They do not know what is primary and what is secondary. They are spurred on in this mistaken thinking by the Western countries which either do not know what Africa needs or do not care. The NRM has always fought these erroneous tendencies. We believe in industrialisation. You cannot talk of industrialisation without talking about electricity.
When we were still fully depending on donor support we could not address decisively this issue. Now that we have got our own money, we are beginning to address it.
Our kWh per capita is now 70. Next year, after commissioning Bujagali and other mini-hydro stations, our kWh per capita will be about 100. By 2016, after Karuma, Isimba, Ayago and the use of oil and gas our kWh per capita will be about 500.
On the ideological side, we hold in total disdain sectarianism of any type. We promote patriotism and the authentic interests of the people.
As a Munyankore, I have told you that my Banyankore neighbours, who produce milk, beef and matooke as I do, only help me in accumulating big volumes which is important by making it easy for traders and processors to get the quantities they need. Beyond that, I am assisted by the Ugandans in Kampala to buy what I produce.
Therefore, my prosperity is supported, mainly, by the Ugandans of Kampala and other East Africans who buy what I produce.
Therefore, for somebody to promote Bunyankoreism without subordinating it clearly to the Ugandaness of Uganda and Pan-Africanism is to act against my legitimate interests. It is to act against the interests of the producers and to work for the interests of the parasites.
Since 1965, we have been fighting this war – the ideological war against those who push parochialism, sectarianism and gender chauvinism. The victory of NRM in the last elections represents the final victory against opportunism, obscurantism and parasitism of the reactionaries in Uganda; hence, the desperation of the opposition groups. In the Bible, from the Gospel of St. Matthew, 7:24-27, it says:
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.â€
Those who built a house on sand, that house collapsed when the wind blew hard. However, he who built his house on firm ground (NRM), it survived the force of the blizzard (eihunga). This ‘walk-to-work’ and other antics of the opposition are kicks of a dying horse.
The NRM is getting much stronger, not least, because we have our own money to build our economy. Recently, I commissioned the Mpanga min-hydro dam in Kamwengye. It produces about 18 mgws – (10% of the Nalubaale power station). The dam and the power station were built by the Srilankan investors together with some Ugandan investors.
The transmission infrastructure (i.e. a transmission line, rural electrification and sub-station at Kawunde) was built by the Uganda Government at the cost of $12.5m (sh30b). The Srilankan investors spent $26 million on the power station and dam. The opportunists have no more room in Uganda if they persist with their betrayal. As far as the little issue of ‘walk-to-work’, those who want to walk can do so provided they inform the Police so that other people’s interests are not harmed. That is all.
In conclusion, Uganda is headed to transitioning to a middle income country by 2016.
Nobody will stop us. We are going to ensure discipline. I will put before the in-coming Parliament, an amendment to the Constitution prohibiting bail for the following cases: murder, treason, rape, defilement, child sacrifice, rioting and economic sabotage except if the six months are exceeded. I will also seek to put in the Penal Code a section on economic sabotage.
With discipline, Uganda is unstoppable. You saw the road you came on — Kampala-Masaka. That road is being done by the Central Government using our own money. Busega-Miyana road is also being done by the Central Government using our own money.
The electricity lines to Karamoja from Katakwi to Moroto and Mbale to Moroto are funded by Uganda Government. Very many roads and electricity lines are being executed using our own money.
Thank you.