Museveni, Africa’s progressive leader
Sep 27, 2005
<b>By Sonala Olumhense</b><br><br>My current job sometimes compels me to watch more than my fair share of open meetings at the United Nations. As a result, I have listened to a lot of speeches in the past two weeks. As a citizen of what I call an under-developing country, I have already chosen my
By Sonala Olumhense
My current job sometimes compels me to watch more than my fair share of open meetings at the United Nations. As a result, I have listened to a lot of speeches in the past two weeks. As a citizen of what I call an under-developing country, I have already chosen my favorite speaker and leader.
He is Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, who spoke at the World Summit on September 16. President Museveni's address endeared itself to me because of its clarity and vision. It was specific, pro-Uganda, pro-development and pro-truth. It pandered to no political cliques and development sponsors, and was afraid neither of facts or numbers.
President Museveni sprinkled his presentation liberally with numbers, statistics, and quotations that ranged from the Bible, through Ugandan proverbs to the latest UNDP Human Development Report.
He demonstrated that he was not just reading something that was cobbled together by speechwriters and civil servants and given to him just before he stepped on to the podium, but a subject he understands and a text so important he had written it himself.
In his statement, he lauded the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Contrary to most of the developing countries, however, he described them only as ‘good minimum targets for the human race.’ Uganda, he said, would ‘not only achieve these goals but surpass them...’
He stated that Uganda wanted to lower the numbers of the poor further, not just to 28% by 2015, but 10% by 2017, two years later.
Even at the moment, he said, Uganda had performed ‘beyond the targets’ in the provision of safe drinking water; primary school enrolment and HIV/AIDS. It reduced poverty levels from 56% in 1992 to 34% in 2000. The most impressive thing that President Museveni said was his call for the developing world to break the dependence on foreign aid.
He observed that the scale of funds needed to transform the Third World could not come from the so-called donors. He further stressed: “Aid-led vision has never worked. Vision-led aid can work; but such aid is not always available.â€
In response to those African leaders that hang all their failures on the absence or inadequacy of aid, President Museveni placed the burden where it belongs: “How can you sustainably implement the MDGs just by depending on aid alone? The future of Uganda, and Africa, is our responsibility. It cannot be the responsibility of donors. I do not like this emphasis on donors as if they are the ones who own our countries. We are the ones who own those countries and we are the ones who are to develop them primarily, with assistance from other people.â€
The Ugandan President took a persuasive comparative look at the structure of employment in three economic sectors in the United Kingdom and Uganda. “How shall we sustainably implement the MDGs without creating employment for our people but only depending on the rich countries spending 0.7% of their GDP on aid? How will the spending of the OECD countries of 0.7% of GDP on aid create employment for 65% of Ugandans that are currently engaged in disguised underemployment?â€
President Museveni did not shy away from controversy. He ended his remarks, some of which he could not read because of the five-minute time limit, with a reference to the implications of the huge markets of China and India for Africa raw materials ‘that were previously treated with disdain by an overfed and profligate little aristocracy of the world residing in Western Europe, North America and Japan.’
“What would happen,†he asked, if Black Africa were to take the same route of rapid transformation from the doldrums of the agricultural economies to the vibrant world of industry and modernised services?â€
I have had reason to respect President Museveni in the past. His speech at the World Summit provided further reason to feel that this man should be given the opportunity to head the Africa Union. I find it a matter of regret, as I have written every September for several years that so many African leaders go to the United Nations General Assembly to repeat the same tired speeches while they squander the same resources they claim not to have on estacodes and glamorous New York hotels.
I share President Museveni’s view that foreign aid does not always translate into development. I believe that only a committed leadership can guarantee development because development demands far more than funds.
There are some African countries, such as Niger, that can hardly be expected to survive without significant foreign aid. On the other hand, there are African countries, such as Nigeria, that have made a reputation of squandering massive resources, foreign or domestic. That Nigeria speaks for Africa, is the continent’s worst advertisement.
If African leaders want to be taken seriously, they should listen to more progressive thinkers like Museveni who have demonstrated that they do have a capacity for leadership and can achieve results. What Africa needs are people who understand the concept of leadership in terms of service to the people, not the servicing of their own egos and the stomachs of their greedy inner circle.
What we need are committed people who can think through our problems and seek new solutions. What we need are leaders who believe in their people and are prepared to spare them the patronising preachings of the pulpit.
I consider it an insult, for instance, that given the quality of manpower that Nigeria can call on, any Nigerian leader can talk about a dearth of resources.
Our talent and expertise, were they to be creatively and properly invested and challenged by a committed leader, could rapidly overcome the so-called resource impediment.
Conversely, and regrettably, as we have demonstrated to the world, no volume of resources can change anything when the leadership is devoid of commitment,competence, or integrity.
This explains why 35 years of Nigeria's petroleum and 45 years of foreign aid have failed to quench the greed and graft of our leadership, our participation in multilateral arenas sparks no interest, and we find it impossible to move forward.
The writer is a Nigerian journalist
My current job sometimes compels me to watch more than my fair share of open meetings at the United Nations. As a result, I have listened to a lot of speeches in the past two weeks. As a citizen of what I call an under-developing country, I have already chosen my favorite speaker and leader.
He is Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, who spoke at the World Summit on September 16. President Museveni's address endeared itself to me because of its clarity and vision. It was specific, pro-Uganda, pro-development and pro-truth. It pandered to no political cliques and development sponsors, and was afraid neither of facts or numbers.
President Museveni sprinkled his presentation liberally with numbers, statistics, and quotations that ranged from the Bible, through Ugandan proverbs to the latest UNDP Human Development Report.
He demonstrated that he was not just reading something that was cobbled together by speechwriters and civil servants and given to him just before he stepped on to the podium, but a subject he understands and a text so important he had written it himself.
In his statement, he lauded the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Contrary to most of the developing countries, however, he described them only as ‘good minimum targets for the human race.’ Uganda, he said, would ‘not only achieve these goals but surpass them...’
He stated that Uganda wanted to lower the numbers of the poor further, not just to 28% by 2015, but 10% by 2017, two years later.
Even at the moment, he said, Uganda had performed ‘beyond the targets’ in the provision of safe drinking water; primary school enrolment and HIV/AIDS. It reduced poverty levels from 56% in 1992 to 34% in 2000. The most impressive thing that President Museveni said was his call for the developing world to break the dependence on foreign aid.
He observed that the scale of funds needed to transform the Third World could not come from the so-called donors. He further stressed: “Aid-led vision has never worked. Vision-led aid can work; but such aid is not always available.â€
In response to those African leaders that hang all their failures on the absence or inadequacy of aid, President Museveni placed the burden where it belongs: “How can you sustainably implement the MDGs just by depending on aid alone? The future of Uganda, and Africa, is our responsibility. It cannot be the responsibility of donors. I do not like this emphasis on donors as if they are the ones who own our countries. We are the ones who own those countries and we are the ones who are to develop them primarily, with assistance from other people.â€
The Ugandan President took a persuasive comparative look at the structure of employment in three economic sectors in the United Kingdom and Uganda. “How shall we sustainably implement the MDGs without creating employment for our people but only depending on the rich countries spending 0.7% of their GDP on aid? How will the spending of the OECD countries of 0.7% of GDP on aid create employment for 65% of Ugandans that are currently engaged in disguised underemployment?â€
President Museveni did not shy away from controversy. He ended his remarks, some of which he could not read because of the five-minute time limit, with a reference to the implications of the huge markets of China and India for Africa raw materials ‘that were previously treated with disdain by an overfed and profligate little aristocracy of the world residing in Western Europe, North America and Japan.’
“What would happen,†he asked, if Black Africa were to take the same route of rapid transformation from the doldrums of the agricultural economies to the vibrant world of industry and modernised services?â€
I have had reason to respect President Museveni in the past. His speech at the World Summit provided further reason to feel that this man should be given the opportunity to head the Africa Union. I find it a matter of regret, as I have written every September for several years that so many African leaders go to the United Nations General Assembly to repeat the same tired speeches while they squander the same resources they claim not to have on estacodes and glamorous New York hotels.
I share President Museveni’s view that foreign aid does not always translate into development. I believe that only a committed leadership can guarantee development because development demands far more than funds.
There are some African countries, such as Niger, that can hardly be expected to survive without significant foreign aid. On the other hand, there are African countries, such as Nigeria, that have made a reputation of squandering massive resources, foreign or domestic. That Nigeria speaks for Africa, is the continent’s worst advertisement.
If African leaders want to be taken seriously, they should listen to more progressive thinkers like Museveni who have demonstrated that they do have a capacity for leadership and can achieve results. What Africa needs are people who understand the concept of leadership in terms of service to the people, not the servicing of their own egos and the stomachs of their greedy inner circle.
What we need are committed people who can think through our problems and seek new solutions. What we need are leaders who believe in their people and are prepared to spare them the patronising preachings of the pulpit.
I consider it an insult, for instance, that given the quality of manpower that Nigeria can call on, any Nigerian leader can talk about a dearth of resources.
Our talent and expertise, were they to be creatively and properly invested and challenged by a committed leader, could rapidly overcome the so-called resource impediment.
Conversely, and regrettably, as we have demonstrated to the world, no volume of resources can change anything when the leadership is devoid of commitment,competence, or integrity.
This explains why 35 years of Nigeria's petroleum and 45 years of foreign aid have failed to quench the greed and graft of our leadership, our participation in multilateral arenas sparks no interest, and we find it impossible to move forward.
The writer is a Nigerian journalist