Africa must tackle energy, transport bottlenecks â€" Museveni
Oct 08, 2008
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has said Africa needs to address the problems of energy and transport if the continent is to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
By Raymond Baguma
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has said Africa needs to address the problems of energy and transport if the continent is to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The UN under the MDGs committed itself to halve world poverty, guarantee universal primary education and control maternal and child mortality by 2015.
Speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast at Hotel Africana yesterday, Museveni criticised those who talked about good governance instead of focussing on infrastructure development.
“Instead of attending to energy and transport, you find a multiplicity of groups dealing with things such as good governance, which are not an essential. I fought for freedom and I am a lecturer in governance. How can some people teach me about governance?â€
The President, who was accompanied by his wife, Mrs. Janet Museveni, noted that if the energy needs are addressed, the poor would stop cooking with wood fuels which are damaging the environment. He noted that 40 billion cubic metres of wood are destroyed every year in Uganda to produce firewood and clear land for cultivation.
The President reiterated that the construction of a railway line would lower the cost of transport on the continent.
He narrated that he attended a meeting in the US where donors said the MDGs would not be achieved because most rich countries had not fulfilled their pledges to contribute 0.7% of their annual GDP to development aid.
“I said this is not true. It is mainly because of wrong vision.â€
He further noted that ideological dependence was a problem in Africa as foreigners accentuate the already existing confusion on the continent.
Referring to the story in the Bible where Israelites spent 40 years wandering in the desert, the President said most African countries have been lost since independence because they continue to rely on donor assistance and do not know how to be free.
Museveni observed that Africans were colonised partly because of their own weaknesses which have not been addressed up to now. He cited bankrupt leadership, greed and lack of vision which have led to fragmentation and backwardness.
He called on the people of Africa to always promote what unites them rather than what causes divisions. He further informed the audience of his disagreement with wrongdoers, adding that he stands firmly by the righteous.
The function, held under the theme ‘Unity in Diversity’, was attended by legislators from Uganda and Kenya as well as guests from Rwanda, the UK, Sudan, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Burundi, the US and Ecuador.
The participants watched a documentary on Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and her experience when she attended Norway’s National Prayer Breakfast. They also listened to a testimony from Ugandan athlete Dorcus Inzikuru.
There were also musical performances by the Watoto Choir and renowned gospel artiste Judith Babirye. The Parliament Choir, which included Gen. Elly Tumwine, sang the ‘Amazing Grace’ hymn for the guests.
The guest speaker at the function, Prof. Vincent Arniegbogu, who is also the President of Atlanta-based JC Quality Management Group, said African politics had become ‘ethnic entrepreneurship’ and a route to wealth for those in power and their tribe mates.
He said the negative impact of colonialism had disintegrated African cultures. He also observed that the politics in post-independence Africa were characterised by ethnicity, and that governments were run by ‘Kingship Corporations’.
Ethics minister Nsaba Buturo said the function was organised to renew and strenghten the ties of brotherhood with other countries.
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has said Africa needs to address the problems of energy and transport if the continent is to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The UN under the MDGs committed itself to halve world poverty, guarantee universal primary education and control maternal and child mortality by 2015.
Speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast at Hotel Africana yesterday, Museveni criticised those who talked about good governance instead of focussing on infrastructure development.
“Instead of attending to energy and transport, you find a multiplicity of groups dealing with things such as good governance, which are not an essential. I fought for freedom and I am a lecturer in governance. How can some people teach me about governance?â€
The President, who was accompanied by his wife, Mrs. Janet Museveni, noted that if the energy needs are addressed, the poor would stop cooking with wood fuels which are damaging the environment. He noted that 40 billion cubic metres of wood are destroyed every year in Uganda to produce firewood and clear land for cultivation.
The President reiterated that the construction of a railway line would lower the cost of transport on the continent.
He narrated that he attended a meeting in the US where donors said the MDGs would not be achieved because most rich countries had not fulfilled their pledges to contribute 0.7% of their annual GDP to development aid.
“I said this is not true. It is mainly because of wrong vision.â€
He further noted that ideological dependence was a problem in Africa as foreigners accentuate the already existing confusion on the continent.
Referring to the story in the Bible where Israelites spent 40 years wandering in the desert, the President said most African countries have been lost since independence because they continue to rely on donor assistance and do not know how to be free.
Museveni observed that Africans were colonised partly because of their own weaknesses which have not been addressed up to now. He cited bankrupt leadership, greed and lack of vision which have led to fragmentation and backwardness.
He called on the people of Africa to always promote what unites them rather than what causes divisions. He further informed the audience of his disagreement with wrongdoers, adding that he stands firmly by the righteous.
The function, held under the theme ‘Unity in Diversity’, was attended by legislators from Uganda and Kenya as well as guests from Rwanda, the UK, Sudan, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Burundi, the US and Ecuador.
The participants watched a documentary on Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and her experience when she attended Norway’s National Prayer Breakfast. They also listened to a testimony from Ugandan athlete Dorcus Inzikuru.
There were also musical performances by the Watoto Choir and renowned gospel artiste Judith Babirye. The Parliament Choir, which included Gen. Elly Tumwine, sang the ‘Amazing Grace’ hymn for the guests.
The guest speaker at the function, Prof. Vincent Arniegbogu, who is also the President of Atlanta-based JC Quality Management Group, said African politics had become ‘ethnic entrepreneurship’ and a route to wealth for those in power and their tribe mates.
He said the negative impact of colonialism had disintegrated African cultures. He also observed that the politics in post-independence Africa were characterised by ethnicity, and that governments were run by ‘Kingship Corporations’.
Ethics minister Nsaba Buturo said the function was organised to renew and strenghten the ties of brotherhood with other countries.