WHERE DID WE LOSE OUR INNOCENCE ?

On February 12^th, 2020 somewhere during the middle of the day, news broke on social media about the passing of a great man, a hero of Uganda. General Benon Biraaro had finally passed on to glory! I cannot explain the level of sadness I felt at his passing as it was profound. I last met the General in person a couple of weeks after the last Ugandan presidential elections. He was taking his early morning walk at the Speke Resort Munyonyo. I remember as he passed by where I was standing, I initiated greetings and a few pleasantries passed between us. He thereafter continued with his morning walk. Already by then rumors had it that he was battling cancer. General Biraaro was an excellent product of the National Resistance Army (NRA) and what it represented.

Many stories have been told of the valiant actions of the NRA bush war heroes. In history it is one of the shortest guerrilla wars ever fought from the beginning to its end, and that so rather successfully. One of the hallmarks of the NRA was the uncompromising discipline of its foot soldiers and all in rank and file of this outfit.

Growing up in Uganda, I watched as the Obote II government special forces wrecked violence and intimidation on the population. I speak of the special forces because I observed daily at their permanent station near my home how young men were mistreated. It was common sight for these young men to be brutally beaten, and that so at any hour you passed by the station, which incidentally was right by the roadside. You got a feeling they did it for sport and the fun if it. I remember feeling lucky that at the time that I looked like, and was, an innocent, young lad that they only saw passing by multiple times a day; they did not bother to stop me nor ask me for anything. This is where I learned to walk with my Identity card! Yes, I said Identity card; never mind that I was still in my single digit years. To date the habit stuck with me. I carry all my key identification documents on my body wherever I am, a weird habit some may say.

The men in green were not any better. In fact, my recollection of soldiers in combat fatigues were during the "Panda Gari" days; you woke up at 5 a.m on any given day to chaos; the residential area would have been cordoned off by soldiers and no male above a certain age could leave; it was almost a crime in those days to be youthful and male. The young men and the stronger older men were usually all herded off often to the nearest sports field where they were made to squat in the sun, and made to do all sorts of demeaning exercises as they awaited a further filter. Usually those unfortunate enough to make the filter never made it back. They literally "disappeared" (we heard in those days that forests like Namanve “dissolved” their often-decapitated bodies). 

This "disappearing" thing one day became reality to me. There was this young single mother that had two boys in my class; She seemed to be doing well. I think she was some sort of businesswoman. She drove the latest Fiat Mirafiori at the time, cream in colour. I recall Andrew and Alex coming to school one Monday morning, telling a horror story of how their mother had been rounded up at home by armed men on the Sunday afternoon, bundled off onto a waiting truck and then taken to an unknown destination. Later that week they seem to have found out where she was being kept and only so as managed a glimpse of a hooded her as she was being herded across the compound to a new location; that was the last they ever saw of their mother: what an image to keep of someone that you loved, and that loved you too! I hurt for them; yes, even as a child it still hurt so badly. I kept wondering what had happened to my friends' mum. Sadly, that story's end hasn’t been told to date.

So, you can imagine the anxiety among us when a new rag tag army, wearing bare threads on their back showed up. We had just been through one military coup the year before where the "Anyanya" militia were brought in; the country jumped from frying pan to the fire. Walking on the streets of Kampala then, if one met a soldier you made a beeline for the nearest cover you could find until the guy had safely passed by. Now in-spite of their misfit aura and despite the way they looked, instead there was a huge discipline that the NRA guerrillas carried along with them. These guys treated the citizens with much respect and exercised much restraint in their transactions. There was this one day when I witnessed a young soldier (he looked to be around 17 years of age) arresting a suspect that  he had apparently witnessed killing off his entire family. The Boy soldier was clearly angry and if it were up to him, he would have "finished off" (read "dissolved") this guy on the spot. But that method belonged to the old guards, not to the new dispensation. He had to effect the arrest and carry this elderly criminal to the nearest detention center to begin his journey to justice, and that he did. 

I remember when the guns fell silent in Kampala on 26th January 1986, they really did fall silent. At first it felt weird going through a night without a single gun shot being fired; months down the road we got used to the new normal. Today, there is many kids that have never heard a gunshot being fired. My first time to carry an automatic weapon was in 1986 when I was 13; this belonged to one of those rag-tag army soldiers. I cannot forget that feeling.

So how did the NRA manage to achieve this paradigm shift on discipline of armed forces? History was not playing in their favor at all. In fact for over 15 years before 1986, the narrative of violence dispensed by the Armed forces had been written and its script was clear and being followed to the letter. How did the NRA manage to change that narrative wherever they went? Stories have been told of the bush war, stories of how that same script attempted to make its way into the NRA, and how it faced the brutal reality that the status quo was not accepted there. Listening to these young soldiers I heard stories of how undisciplined NRA combatants had been handled; the firing squad! 

So, what in NRA amounted to indiscipline? How could an army of angry, hungry and ill-dressed young men and women garner so much discipline and order to follow instructions without wavering to the left or to the right? We are told that you did not steal anything as a member of the NRA; you asked politely for it, and if given, you took it back to the bigger team and shared it together. If you asked and you were not given, you graciously accepted the negative response and moved on. You did not steal even when your life depended on it nor did you revenge. You never raided locals’ gardens to uproot tubers or food to eat it. You did not take what never belonged to you. You did not terrorize the locals. All offences to this rule were met by swift judgment by a counsel and then often ended with the offender facing the firing squad. Even non-consensual sex was punishable by death. So, this army learned to govern their appetites and slowly by slowly a brutally disciplined force was born. 

More than anything else, it is this discipline of the NRA that brought people close to them. People gave their lives literally for them, rather than give them away. To date, when General Yoweri Kaguta Museveni visits those villages, he is treated with much respect by the still surviving locals from those days. They love him to the core and would possibly still die for him. 

Lately, I see a lot of self entitled members of the armed forces. I wonder what happened to the NRA discipline! It is a rather worrying trend when one sees the "Wanainci" being treated as second rate citizens by the ones who should be fighting for their rights. It is a scary situation.

About 5 years ago I was involved in a rather unfortunate incident where a very senior member of the armed forces, notorious for his indiscipline and bully tendencies, unilaterally ordered for a tractor to graze over one meter into our family property. This boundary run for about 50 meters in a rather expensive part of town (count the impact on cost); never mind that his directly adjacent property was saved and untouched as he had fenced it off all the way into the existing demarcated access road. I was swiftly constrained by the villagers not to even attempt reaching out to him otherwise I will be met with a barrage of physical abuse from both him and his guards (he had recently clobbered a boda boda guy that had approached him over unruly driving). I eventually advised my self out of the action simply because he had widened the road which we all were using anyway.

On another day recently last year 2019, men in uniform walked onto a private property and wrecked havoc in broad day light. The issue had to do with a land matter that was before competent decision makers for review and realignment. Apparently (not validated) they had instructions to walk onto this property and terrorize whosoever they found; never mind that the property was an established place of residence and work. They beat, they threatened more violence, they kidnapped (for lack of a better word, given that no warrant of arrest had been issued), they destroyed property. Effect of this trespass was that life for these people took a downturn as they could not manage a meaningful existence in such a work environment. 

It is not uncommon lately to see some gun wielding guy bully a citizen out of their way with impunity. And by the way its no longer the senior guys; the juniors and privates have learned very well from their senior colleagues that have led by example. This is when you know that the "cancer" is at Stage 4. This, in the day of the NRA, was totally unthinkable. The culprits would have received swift and decisive justice which would as well be meted out to them in the very community they violated. These individuals however still walk around freely, looking for another weak "mwanainchi" to devour. One wonders what people now think about men in Uniform. What an abuse of this uniform painted in the valor of those who went before them in the NRA; what an abuse meted out on the sacrifice of the gallant men and women that have gone before them in this very uniform.

In recent time, there has been some gruesome stories of the actions of errant men and women of uniform. Some of the stories are so hard to believe, and yet these are true. There is not enough space for me to repeat these stories here, but the results of such abuse of uniform have been told over and over globally, and they are always the same. Nicolae Ceausescu is a great example to follow for anyone given the responsibility of the uniform; pay very close attention to the lessons from that Romanian Revolution. The uniform requires that one frequently retreats and reviews the actions and responsibility that comes with that uniform, and ensure to recommit to those responsibilities with a new vigor.

I remember stories being told (truth not validated) of the late Paulo Muwanga, possibly the most powerful Vice President Uganda has ever seen. He was such a power center and his directives never went unheeded. Deep in one Masaka village where he hailed from, apparently the villagers were staunch DP party supporters (the most powerful opposition part of the time); he on the other hand was a UPC stalwart. He could not hear of anything else other than just what had UPC emblazoned on it. However, in the case of his village, he made a wild exception. Apparently, he never took it lying down if indiscipline happened in his village or to his villagers (he was Minister of Defence). In addition, he ensured that that he often gifted the villagers with things that were in the green and white colors, the official colors of DP. He understood his people, he loved his people, and he knew no matter how high and mighty he was, these were his people; and they loved him so! Not one evil word has ever issued from that village about the late Paulo Muwanga, inspire of the many cries from else where. The key lesson to learn is that East or West, home is best; so, before long one will soon find them selves back home, and how lonely that home will be if all you have done is agitate the people around you.

There is a way in which evil practices easily and quickly get perpetrated into society. It is almost as if they are simply waiting for someone to just give them a tag and they will run themselves into whatever they can. Good, on the other hand, takes time; it takes time to build anything good but just a moment to ruin it. A lot was invested into Uganda's security, and the price paid for it was blood, the blood of both citizenry and of our gallant men and women in Uniform. What I see in cases like those above is a bunch of bad mannered "boys and girls" that have totally lost their way, and now impose themselves onto the very people they should so carefully be protecting from these very evils. This habit quickly catches on and the cost to take it back is staggeringly high.

My word of advice to the leaders and commandants of the men and women in Uniform, lets protect the honor of that Uniform. Let us protect the legacy of the gallant men and women of these armed forces that have laid down their lives in the process of fighting to protect the liberties of their fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, friends and countrymen. Let us remember these sacrifices and let us cut off that cancer before it takes the entire body down with it.

SO, I MADE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA... (Part 3)

The Discipline of a nation:

"Mr. President, its time for us to leave now", the Head of Protocol just notified me. I was ushered swiftly into the waiting convoy and as swiftly as I was ushered did, we take off toward the Parliamentary precincts, where I was to deliver my Inaugural state of the nation address with my new government. I started to think about the discipline of nations and how it impacts development of nations.

My mind took me to Israel, Iran, Germany, Singapore, South Korea, China, The United States of America, Great Britain and South Africa. All these nations had one thing in common; they were nations built under discipline (never mind what some of their leaders represented to the world). I remembered how Israel moved from being a rag tag bunch of oppressed Jews, whose immediate community turned hostile; oppressed from the world abroad and at home. Once must hear stories like the massacres of the ancient Jewish community at Hebron by their own neighbors with whom they had lived for centuries and the other stories to understand what it meant to be a Jew in a hostile world, home and abroad.

The Jews however, like the proverbial Phoenix had arisen from the ashes of ancient history and now lived on top of our world, a world where any of the enemies of Israel will not dare lurch at them with impunity. How did they get here? one doesn’t have to look far but only understand they way they have run that nation. The young and old each have accepted the reality that they are at war all the time. Young and old, male and female are all trained soldiers and have had a go at national service and protection of their nation. They run a strict regime of discipline for their people at a community level and will not accept indiscipline among them selves.

The Iranian Revolution also known as the Islamic Revolution or the 1979 Revolution, led by the Ayatollahs; they led demonstrations against the Shah whose regime was perceived by many citizens as an oppressive, brutal and corrupt regime. Iran also suffered from some basic functional failures that brought economic bottlenecks, shortages, and inflation. Iran had been rife with corruption before the revolutionaries; a paralyzing kind of corruption where the national services are almost brought on their knees. The formula of these revolutionaries was simple; use religion to bring the nation back to discipline using a theocratic-republican approach.

The Ayatollah team believed that theocratic rule was ultimately more necessary even than prayer and fasting in Islam, as it would eventually eliminate poverty, injustice, and the "plundering" of the nation. Iran GDP/Capita grew from around US$390 in 1979 to over US$5,415.21 per 2017 figures; before then growth of GDP/Capita was flat, and after them it has a clear respectable trend upward. Today no one can dare touch Iran unless you have a death wish. Even by all their enemies they are much respected. They hold their own when it comes to science, independent thought and have made much progress as a nation too.

A lot has been said about Adolf Hitler of Germany, but mostly the gory and negative aspects. But one must wonder how one man got a nation in the heart of Europe to grow so strong so as to terrorize the whole world and sustain to date a national paradigm of achievement orientation and development. It had to take an alliance of nations to bring Germany onto its knees. Hitler understood the importance of mentoring a nation into a paradigm and never underestimated the power of influencing the children. German schools under him spent more time embedding ideas of nationalism and militarism into the children. He also believed that the most effective way to control your nation is controlling mass media. The Nazis took control over culture as well. They banned over 20,000 books during the ‘burning of the books’ to promote German values. “All ‘degenerate’ art was destroyed.

Despite being unethical, Hitler changed the perspective on a whole race. The Nazis leadership philosophy was defined by the "Führerprinzip" German for "leader principle". The ideology of the Führerprinzip sees each organization as a hierarchy of leaders, where every leader has absolute responsibility in his own area, demands absolute obedience from those below him and answers only to his superiors. The supreme leader answered to God and the people. The Führerprinzip paralleled the functionality of military organizations, which continue to use a similar authority structure today. What is clear is that despite the way in which Hitler took advantage of and abused this ideology, he was able to garner a nation around himself, achieve immense gains and build a national paradigm that still exists in present day Germany.

The stories of Singapore, South Korea and China have been told; One must only read the autobiography of Lee Kwan Yew (From Third world to First) to understand that turning around Singapore was a matter of immense national discipline. The leaders were held to account for the principles that they claimed to stand for; Lee Kwan Yew was not an exception to this expectation. He led the way by living a life of immense discipline and accountability. He held himself to a very high standard of living beyond reproach. Not even his very own friends in this "white revolution" were spared the brutal expectation. The nation was also put under similar stead. It took time but soon Singapore was more than just a city state with no resources to talk about; they were leading the world in terms of Economic growth, and that so leveraging their people as their resource. And it worked! Singapore GDP/Capita grew to $64,581.95 in 2018 from $428.06 in 1960, a growth of over 150 times over a 58-year period. What is clear Singapore inspired many of the nations around her, including communist China; one can argue that China owes her current economic growth to Lew Kwan Yews work. But that work too was founded on a foundation of strict discipline, both personal and national.

The United States story has been told countless times. The founding fathers were men of societal stature and incredible personal discipline, that demanded the same of the nation. The group came from a variety of social, economic, and ethnic backgrounds as well as occupations, some with no prior political experience. They believed in the following seven principles that underlie the U.S Constitution:

1) popular sovereignty meaning rule by the people

2) limited government meaning everyone is bound by the US Constitution

3) separation of powers into branches that make, enforce or interpret laws,

4) checks and balances meaning controls (checks) can be made on the other branches

5) judicial review,

6) federalism meaning power is shared between the national and state governments

7) republicanism meaning the right to vote for representatives

Its no wonder that the U.S is referred to as the land of opportunity. It still comes down to discipline of the nation in order to align to the above seven principles.

China's story has not been told much. The Chinese communist party, with more than 74 million members, up from 50 million in the early 1990s, is the largest political party in the world. Between 30% and 50% apply to join the party and recruiters seek those with top grades, leadership potential and youthful idealism.

However, where does all this governance model originate from? In his book "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" Max Weber makes an argument that this begun with reformers like Martin Luther and John Calvin teaching their congregations that whatever we do outside of the four walls of the houses of worship was a vocation. Switzerland was changed from being called the sewer of Europe into one of the best places to live in Europe. He argues that the Protestant work ethic was an important force behind the unplanned and uncoordinated emergence of modern-day European ethic.

The Protestant reformation, according to Weber effectively forbade wastefully using hard earned money and frowned on donation of money to the poor or to charity as it was furthering beggary. This social condition was perceived as laziness, burdening their fellow man, and an affront to God; by not working, one failed to glorify God. Instead the protestant ethic encouraged reinvestment of this money which in turn led to increased wealth.

What is clear is that every great nation had immense discipline at a national level underlying its growth into greatness and success. Uganda would be no different and we would rise to write our own script.

The motorcade was now racing through the traffic that had all pulled to the side to let it pass. It was moving so fast at breakneck speed. The sirens were growing louder and louder to an almost deafening din! "Paul, Paul..." someone was shaking me veraciously. A cacophony of sirens and my name being called all mixed into one sound. The shaking felt like a tremor! "Paul!" I woke up, opened my eyes, and it was my wife Susan sited by my side, in our bed, at home! "You have been delirious all night; speaking in your sleep severally; I failed to sleep as you seemed to be having a really engaging dream". "What time is it?" I asked Susan. "it is 3 a.m; and I need to catch some sleep before the busy day tomorrow. Good night again. Lets catch some real sleep now before day break, OK". 

"What a dream!" I told myself under my breath; "What a dream!".

SO, I MADE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA... (Part 2)

So, along the way someone asked about parliament; "Mr. President, since you are talking about cost reduction, how about the many MPs and constituencies we have?". Somehow the same question had bothered me and I resolved early that when the opportunity came up, I would throw this to a national referendum, but not before I have placed my cabinet to the test and showed the nation that it is possible to run the nation better, thinner and leaner. It is important for the people to see the benefits of these drastic changes so that they can believe the words of Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe (1886-1969),"less is more".

My background was in the corporate workplace where we hustled for the next frontier. Working there I learned that you cannot make money or grow wealthy by borrowing and living above your means. It worked there; it can work here as the parallels are simply mind boggling. I kept wondering in the past why no one in government could see this simple logic. I often got arguments around public service and management of public affairs being different and requiring a different model. The arguments are passionate but simply never cut the logic. In fact, more crazy ideas were up for grabs; I had briefed my line Cabinet Secretaries that the civil service was to undergo a major reform to enable this new model. We were to immediately retire everyone, re-advertise and re-interview. The existing persons by default were to be shortlisted, but competition had been opened to everyone else. The civil servants take home packages were to be raised to align to the best in the market, but the numbers were to be dropped and automation employed a lot more. Yes, we were making the civil service more competitive again. In fact, our dream was to make this the employer of choice in every sense of the word. in the words of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, we could not put "old wine in new wine skins", else they would burst. These new jobs would be performance driven and contractual as well. I remember sometime back some government agencies had done very well with similar models, so they proved it worked. Now the model was being adopted full scale.

"How about the corruption" Mr. President, the Prime Minister designate had quipped in on one of those brain storming discussions we had held at our inaugural cabinet retreat; "...how are we gonna deal with it?". My reply was simple but resolute: "We shall set the tone at the top, chief!" I replied, "I hold each one of you twelve secretaries personally and firmly accountable, you hold the next guys down your chain, they hold others, etc". "If we fail to the break the back of this monster then its you guys around this table that have failed". I however noted swiftly that corruption was a now a cultural monster that transcended government offices, was acceptable in schools and in every small little transaction. We resolved that day that one of our core National values that we would promote in our next five years was "DISCIPLINE". "You see Mr. President" one of the cabinet secretaries had observed in a detailed analysis that he gave us; we cannot continue as an undisciplined nation of people and expect to break the back of corruption. "And discipline begins in the basic things and interactions in our homes, schools, churches and mosques and our marketplaces. This must return as a value at that level; like our forefathers once said, it takes a village to raise a child" he submitted to an attentive room. The point had been made; the nation needed to be spurred back to a lifestyle of discipline at the most basic of cores. This would be now one of the ever-increasing songs we would sing. We would drive the discipline mantra into every sphere of our society and bring back societal accountability to the core of all our dealings; and that, we had the power to do. "Let’s see how this monster will respond to this first phase of treatment" I summed up. But I knew this was the biggest huddle we had to fight and raze down. Many had gone before us that had encountered it with the same passion, and they sadly had been eaten by this queer creature; I quietly prayed for my team of twelve. John Maxwell, the foremost of the leadership scholars of our generation had once observed that for one to improve leadership the leadership lid had to be raised up; we have just resolved to do that by holding ourselves as the first and the last person to blame for this failure.

Growing up, I had seen several traumatic leadership experiences, but I had also been privileged enough by God to see the turning where change became a real possibility. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni had come to the helm of leadership with a lot of promise and several things swung back into place and real growth started. Now people could speak freely and exercise liberties in ways previously only seen in our separate dreams. Over the years a lot of events and in some cases, complacency had set in with many of the actors that should have made continuous change possible. Somewhere along the way some of our leaders had started romancing the devil and somehow had picked up on his diabolical ways. But one of the strengths that I grew to appreciate was the resolute security posture the country took. Uganda had grown from being every bullies punch bag to leading the way in emancipating many now mighty African economies. Many stories of these wars where Ugandan blood had been spilled had been told; there were many more in the dark web where some of the heroic dark operatives only told these stories to their little grand children. The thing though was that Uganda had grown into one of the leaders in this security field on the continent. "Security levels cannot be left to drop even an inch" I cautioned my DEFENSE, BORDERS AND SECURITY secretary. "In fact, many think that a civilian president can't lead a previously heavily military nation but lets now show what leadership we have. We cannot forget the lessons previous leaders in Africa made that birthed the mighty blood births across the continent" I added. I knew with confidence that during the Museveni era professionalism had been rebuilt back into the Armed forces. The key for us was to spur it on and well to ensure that these gallant men and women were well taken care of; they were in good hands as I knew the quality of the team, we had to lead them. A lot of what we could achieve was only possible with a very secure nation. And that was the very idea of creating a 360-degree view of it under one control; to have one centre of command for all matter’s security and defence. A few thoughts this would never work, but I knew better.

Now someone had challenged my ideas on all this and called them "crazy and out of this world". I simply told them that only crazy people ever changed the world. All great nations of the world were made by "Crazy". Israel, Iran, Egypt, formerly Lybia, South Africa, South Korea, Singapore; the list is huge. Some would argue that some of the nations in my list above do not deserve to be on the list. I often gently asked them why, and soon they discovered that they only looked at certain aspects. My measure was always what resolve could achieve in such a short time and yet with great impact. "Why has the story of sub-Saharan Africa been different?" I often asked. "Do we have less brains or are we not capable of honour and good?" This is the real issue I knew we needed to address among our leaders. What I called "the Exit Plan mentality". Leaders that never saw their future among their people, and therefore served them what they could not eat. "How come African businessmen like Aliko Dangote have gotten rich right here on the continent?" I often asked in challenge and sometimes in subtle jest. "How come when South Africa was thrown the bitter pill of sanctions they thrived? they made aircraft parts and thereby learned to make airplanes?". "How did the late Muammar Qadhafi build the biggest man-made river in Africa? how did he manage a green revolution in the desert?". "So crazy Iran, how did they manage a science revolution?". I had many questions on how Singapore made it "from third world to First" in the words of Lee Kwan Yew one of their greatest leaders; how South Korea advanced from a third world economy in the 1960s, onto making rickety Hyundai cars (I saw these ugly cars in the 1980s) and now to being technology leaders both soft and hardware ? I could clearly see that our work was cut out for us.

All these thoughts started throwing me into serious thinking. I thought about the possible opportunities we could exploit; the number was staggering. The people, the natural resources, the geographical positioning, the weather, the educational background; these were countless. I realised we needed to start somewhere and that soon and rather urgently. I realised we need to stop the wishful thinking and get to some serious action. I realised we risked being overrun by those that could see what we could not see in terms of our opportunities and what they perceived as threats to their own existence. I knew we needed to act and that so urgently!

(To be continued...)

SO I MADE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA...

By a strange turn of events I wake up and I am the president of The Republic of Uganda. The Parliament had just passed a law giving the Presidency power of decree in cases that were obvious for national transformation. I never imagined the work required to transform Uganda was so immense; now here I was, president! I picked up my list of priorities again and went through them. The State of the nation address was due in the next 3 hours. Uganda was in for a ride. I have been told before that transformation at this speed was impossible and attempting it is simply crazy. My challenge though is that we had already seen enough drama. The people were tired of the corruptions rife in almost every facet of society, both public service and private enterprise. Somehow everyone keeps wondering how we fell into this pit so deep and dark. Anyhow It is not important how I got here, but here I was anyway with a nation on my hands, and the world watching.

On my work list I had laid down several things; these would be my priorities for the nation for the next 5 years. I remembered a quotation from John C. Maxwell, a leadership mentor that I followed quite often; he says, "everything rises and falls on leadership". The sound of the statement reverberated in my heart as I contemplated this crazy plan I was about to announce to the nation. The quotation reminded me that I now had no one else to blame, but myself; I realized I was the ultimate decision maker. I could make or further break Uganda: I could suddenly opt to take a break and slip into the status quo. After all I never participated in bringing us here! But no; John C. Maxwell would not let me go. This had always been my plan in the past that I had carefully written down as I analysed the. But each time I reviewed it, I shut down the document as it felt like a dream that would never be; now here we were about to flip the switch for the roller coaster. I knew it worked, but I had not proof of having ever done it else where. But anyway, who cared; it was now me that everyone was looking at, ready to see if I was "just like them" that had been before me. I finally decided that this was it, the plan had to begin rolling. My priority list was going to be implemented. The bottom line would be to drive Uganda's GDP/Capita to US$3,000 in 10 years. Of course, that had serious implications further down stream where the action happens. It simply meant that it is time for our new government to really work.

The first thing we planned would be to lock down on government expenditure. To be clean, lean and mean as some of the confidants had put it. Why would government be spending like an irresponsible spoilt child? After all nature shows us that you should not spend what you do not have, or what you cannot afford, otherwise you will quickly be making your way to the servants’ quarters of your creditor. Most sane people I know live within their means. So, what will be my strategy on government achieving that? the easiest, and cleanest way to do that anywhere is to cut down on Human resource cost. But if you are going to cut down on resource some compensating factors must apply:

a) Automation must kick in

b) Those that stay must want to stay

c) Those that stay must be paid well

The previous Uganda government had been trying various permutations to solve the problem. "There is simply too much spending and little income" my Prime minister said. "It is not hard to manage a country if you have learned to manage people. People love effective and efficient systems" he added in encouragement. Clearly such a program may take about 3 years of concerted effort to execute, I thought to myself, if so, well orchestrated. It would take resolve to have a leaner governmental system legislated, approved and then implemented. The implementation of this system needs to be closely monitored and followed by a good performance management system that must include good and objective 360-degree feedback mechanisms. It must be setup to be a self healing system that will not tolerate poor workmanship nor poor integrity.

But before we even get there, the cabinet itself had to be lean. I was about to announce to Ugandans the first of those changes; my clean, lean but functional cabinet. I had decided the number would be 12, like the disciplines of Jesus. Some argued that this would never work. However, my view what that this is part of the reasons we never saw much accountability from Cabinet ministers as many hid their non-performance behind others. I also opined that the rest would be setup as departments under each cabinet secretariat. I had my list of 12 cabinet secretaries ready, and below was the list of the Secretariats:

1) DEFENSE, BORDERS AND SECURITY

2) FOREIGN AFFAIRS

3) FOOD SECURITY & INDUSTRY

4) WATER RESOURCES & ENVIRONMENT

5) INFRASTRUCTURE & TECHNOLOGY

6) ICT, E-GOVERNMENT & AUTOMATION

7) FINANCE & TREASURY

8) PRIME MINISTERS OFFICE (INFORMATION & COMMUNICATIONS, NATIONAL GUIDANCE, STRATEGY, INNOVATION & ECONOMIC GROWTH, INVESTMENT)

9) VICE PRESIDENCY (INTERNAL AFFAIRS, GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS (Local Government))

10) JUSTICE & CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

11) HUMAN CAPITAL AFFAIRS - HR, YOUTH, GENDER & CULTURE AFFAIRS

12) PUBLIC HEALTH AFFAIRS

Each of the existing ministries will fit into those positions (discussion for a later time); each Cabinet Secretary will have Agencies under their ministry to drive the various arms of delivery. Meritocracy will also be the order of the day for promotions and career opportunities.

Next, how do we make the GDP/Capita to US$3,000 in 10 years work? Following below are the other progressive Economic drivers that will form my governments priorities:

1) Tourism: It is amazing that Singapore a city state with less to see that our Uganda, gifted by nature, rakes in a whooping over US$5bn a year. Singapore's Tourism Revenue reached 5 USD bn in Jun 2019, compared with US$5bn in the previous quarter, (https://www.ceicdata.com/en/indicator/singapore/tourism-revenue). Uganda can surely do much better as we have so much in nature going for us. This requires only better and focused management to begin raking in the earnings. Many players though to coordinate.

2) Farming: Some of the figures show that in 2016, arable land as a share of land area for Uganda was 34.4 %. Arable land as a share of land area of Uganda increased from 18.9 % in 1967 to 34.4 % in 2016 growing at an average annual rate of 1.25% (https://knoema.com/atlas/Uganda/topics/Land-Use/Area/Arable-land-as-a-share-of-land-area). This only happens in Uganda (maybe Israel as well) where Arable land keeps growing. The demand for food will not be overtaken by the 4th Industrial revolution or any tech advancements currently overriding the world; people need to eat their food and they want it good and fresh.  In fact there is a growing craze for natural, organic and non-GMO food globally. We shall add value and begin to export. This possibly will be one of our key investment and growth areas, but we are determined to earn place next to the garden of Eden.

3) Environment: This will be a key driver for the above two development areas. We cannot grow this crazy if we keep with our current trends on environmental degradation. The trends must stop, and the recovery of the environment program must begin. What is at is stake is much higher: The lakes threatening to dry up, the increased incidences of dirt related diseases, etc. But what is key is that if the lakes dry up, then the rain cycles will be affected and then no meeting our Agric objective. The other thing that happens when the lakes dry up is that even basic food becomes a rarity; So, no water and no food means we have the biggest security issue on our hands. So, environment recovery is a top security agenda as well for my government.

(To be continued...)

THIS IS A SLICE OF AFRICA FOR YOU

A few blogs back I talked about being in the "Rat Race"; this race has taken me to quite a few places, in pursuit of that much sought after "gold". In Africa I have traveled to at least more than 8 countries, but not much else where (just to a few others outside of Africa). The DRC Congo for me was the most amazing place to fly over; until I did, I had no idea one can take over 90 minutes to simply cross a forest flying a jet engine (the Congo Forests are the most amazing I have seen from the air). Before then my previous experience flying over any forest was the Mabira on the Nairobi – Entebbe route. This one is only a 5-minute affair, so imagine what 90 minutes must have felt like. By the way, some have alleged that Africa is by far the largest continent; they claim that the geography we were taught in our schools was deliberately skewed to make it seem otherwise. I am tempted to think this must be true going by the amount of time it takes to fly diagonally from Nairobi to Accra. Anyway, I hated geography in school to the extent that I never read (revised for exams) at all perhaps 4 months before the UCE exams; I managed a credit 4 score. In Ghana, on the streets of Accra, I was met with people that are so amiable and at east (not so on Nairobi streets). I was not afraid to walk on the streets of Accra by myself by my second visit. In fact, I took my self to downtown Accra and was totally at ease among the people there. My highlight in Ghana was attending Sunday church Service at the International Central Gospel Church, pastored by a great African Pastor, Dr. Mensa Otabil. He never disappointed as that day he took us back to the roots in his sermon about wisdom and why its important.

Among the Africans, the Ghanaians and the Malawians come quite close to Ugandans in terms of mannerisms and cultures (my opinion). I once was asked a strange question by a black South African (she was Xhosa) after I had trained with them for over 3 months. This question took me aback and I failed to answer it, considering it was the last thing I expected anyone that I thought of as my friend to ask: at the tea break at one of the training days, Kilebokhile suddenly asked me "why do you come over here to train; don't you have schools over where you come from ?"; never mind I had paid top Dollar to do this course. That same evening as I walked back to my B&B, a white gentleman stopped his car and cordially offered me a lift ( got many such offers, but never from my Black African brothers). Therefore, seeing the xenophobic attacks a few years later never surprised me. I remember in Namilyango College where I did my secondary school seeing a South African guy that used to train hard at the martial arts every evening. The rumors were rife in my Senior 1 class that this guy was a combatant from the ANC; he was 3 classes ahead of us. What I know is that when Nelson Mandela was released from jail, this guy disappeared, and we only heard that he had returned to his home country together with many others like him. I heard that Kaweweta military training school in Singo was actually first opened to train these ANC combatants. It was a breath of fresh air therefore when I saw this video of EFFs Julius Malema rebuking the black South Africans during the most recent attacks in 2019 with these very facts about the sacrifices of other Africans done for their freedom. This conversation brings to mind the Ugandans woes in the South Sudan, where Ugandans are treated like second class citizens...but yet, Ugandan blood flowed in the South Sudan till a nation was birthed there. To date I see South Sudan “brothas” and “sistas” freely roaming the suburbs of Kampala. And no one even takes notice. It makes me wonder why Africans keep doing such terrible things to each other; how soon we forget the goodness of others to us.

AH, I forgot that we were dealing with much lighter matters here; Whilst in Malawi I found Chichewa (a local dialect from Malawi & Zambia) rather cryptic until over a period of 3 months that’s all I had heard; then I started to hear stuff: "Muli bwangi?" translated "are you well ?" sounded a lot like my own "Muli Bulungi?", "Mwatzuka bwangi?" meaning "did you wake up well?" sounded a lot like "Mwazukuse Bulungi?" when directly translated. I hear the Bantu peoples came from the mountains in the Cameroon, run down towards the Congo, curved into East Africa, went South west and further down through Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia and finally South Africa ! I wonder where next had they not been stopped on both sides by two conspiring Oceans, the Indian on the East and the Atlantic on the west. I remember the western Cape for this "Fish Place" we were taken to one evening; we ate fishes of all types and sizes and cuisine ! I never ate any thing fish for 6 months after that day! But in South Africa I cannot say I understood a word by those Bantu except "Amanzi" meaning water. By the way, I taught myself the little Swahili I know, and I surely can get by decently with it; when I traveled to Kenya for the first time I reinforced my ear for it. In 2010 I traveled to Zanzibar for an office retreat; it was beautiful, but I soon found out that humidity is a kill joy; too much of it there. Seychelles is beautiful but I found Mauritius more amazing; it is beautiful and also beautifully manicured and gives us Africans something to think about as we go about moving from third world to first.

The DR Congo is by far the saddest of my travels. I landed at the N'Djili International Airport (Kinshasa Int'l) at about 9 p.m. My first shock was that my luggage never made the carousel. Now, that would be but a small problem except for the fact that I last spoke French in my Senior 2 as I prepared for my exams! I could not communicate much! I was only saved by the bell when my chaperone came through looking for me and eventually, we were able to get things moving. But, that was not the sad thing. That airport looked abandoned, almost as if the building had last been used 5 years before. No new coat of paint had seen this building clearly for many years. The entire episode of 2 hours I spent at the airport allowed me to see more than the average traveler. This is the richest African country, by natural resources and talent, but little about presentation tells that story. Good thing is that Kinshasa is kind of making her way back but still has some way to go. I managed to sneak into the back alleys of Kinshasa (due to the nature of my work) when I now understood where that name "Katanga" was picked from to baptize that place in Wandegeya. I spent about a week in Kinshasa but by the time I was flying out I could manage a few phrases in French! Had I stayed another week I would be speaking entire conversations (I think). I bought some of the best gospel music from Kinshasa on that visit (try listening to Mike Kalambay). I loved Kinshasa and I would not mind travelling there again. Actually my most un pleasant moment on that visit was caused by my own fellow Ugandans, UTL! I remember I had huge credit on my phone worth 1.5 m shillings. I made phone calls not worth more than 1 hour over 3 days and my credit run out! I never reloaded my UTL airtime again to date (the number of course eventually became inactive and is out of use now).

Its amazing how similar most African cultures are, but also amazing is the way we emphasize our differences. I wait to see the day when Africa shall be one.

RELIGION, CHRISTIANITY AND ME

Growing up, my paternal Grandmother frequented our home. We lived about 8 miles apart. Often once a month on a Sunday morning she would be at the gate by 7 a.m. Never mind that at 80 years of age, she braved that journey often without promise of a motor vehicle to give her a lift; she was ready to walk the entire 8 miles at least once a month.  Granny did this for each of her surviving 3 sons with the same energy and frequency. To date I am amazed at how an 80 year old woman would be ready to walk such a distance without complaint. We all called Granny “Jajja Domiso" an acronym of the beginning solfar notes (Do - Mi - So) from the hymn "I heard the voice of Jesus say" written by Horatius Bonar (1808-1889).

Jajja Domiso taught us that hymn and we learned it in Luganda by heart (we learned the solfar notes by heart as well !). So Jajja's practice when she arrived at home was to take a shower, get out her neat Gomesi, take her breakfast, and head off to Mulago hospital to preach to the patients at this referral hospital that needed to hear the words of hope; we stayed in Mulago, near Kalerwe only less  than a kilometer away from this hospital. She was back at home by 2 p.m. of the same day to take her shower, eat her meal and then lead us in singing of hymns, reading of scriptures from the Holy Bible in Luganda (since my first recollection I can recite psalms 23 by heart in Luganda), and then discuss our learnings. After this session, she led in prayer and then immediately set off back to her abode. This time however she took a taxi back to the last 2 miles which she usually walked back all the way. I hated these prayer sessions because they took away my fun (or so I thought) of my play time; she often asked if anyone wanted to accept Jesus as LORD and savior, but none of the naughty "us" cared much for her God. So I anxiously waited for when we could walk her back to her taxi and then rush back home to play. Jajja loved us all and we all loved her too anyway.

My elder brother Ed joined Kings College Buddo straight from boarding school outside the country. I never got to see much of him up to until this point in time. I recall him coming back home after the first term in secondary school was done, preaching about the same God of Jajja Domiso, but this time with a deep conviction carried upon the sound of his words. We loved to hate them. Kind of we wanted his to stop, but at the same time they were captivating. For the first time, in life I felt the urgency to accept Jesus as LORD and savior; else my life was in so much trouble, like Ed had told us. so, for the fear of the Hell Fire, I got born again once every 4 months when he returned home for school holidays. Each time he left to go back after the holidays I relapsed to my old self but this time the words were ringing in my heart for much longer. This time however, I now had the conviction that I needed to urgently change something in my life and give my life to Jesus; I was only 9 years of age when these episodes begun. I wanted to have the "fun" of adolescence and growing up that was fast catching up with me; however it now seemed that both Ed and Jajja had surrounded me. It is almost as if Ed and conspired against us with Jajja and made this "born Again" thing a reality; I thought we had all agreed, albeit silently, that this was a scum not worth our time? But now was Ed, gathering us together every evening, opening scriptures and showing us where these things were written. This time the sermons and scripture readings were in English, the language of instruction at school. I think it now sounded more serious !

At school, in my P7 class, I had a classmate called Peace Ainebyonna. She was a quiet girl that sat somewhere near the front of the class. I went to Buganda road primary school. I now often visited St. Francis Chapel every Sunday (Ed had introduced us there, so we shifted our Sunday activities there). So now, even when he left to go back to school I kept going there alone (I stayed at home alone with mum each school term as all my siblings were whisked off to boarding school). I somehow felt like I had outgrown the Sunday school, so I had started praying in the grown-ups chapel. this particular Sunday on 20th January 1986, this guy that preached spoke with so much conviction and the words pierced me through. I could not hold back when he made the alter call. I remember I walked to the front when he made the invitation for the alter call. I later on realized that only 2 juveniles showed up to the front: myself and Peace Ainebyonna (I wonder where she is today). Up to date I still do not recall the preacher’s names. In fact I think he must have gone back home discouraged that "only" 2 small insignificant kids had showed up after such a sermon to turn many to the LORD! I wish I could recall the preachers name and follow him up to just let him know he sowed an everlasting seed that day! That day was my turning point as I finally made a real commitment to Jesus Christ, one that I have kept to date, through many dangers, toils and snares (in the words of John Newton, 1725-1807).

My walk in Salvation was soon thrown into the maze of learning to “fail forward” in Jesus and getting up to walk again. I joined Namilyango College a year later, a Roman Catholic founded school; it was here that I now finally grew up in faith! Much of this story I will tell at another time. However at the center of it all was a scripture Union fellowship that I found in this college, where we learned to pray, fast and walk as Christians. Here I met my lifelong friend and brother a one Julius Wegoye that now threw another dimension into my path. If there was someone that was "posted" to ensure that I grew in the LORD, this was it. Julius was a no nonsense disciplinarian (never mind we were age mates) that ensured we worked out our salvation with fear and trembling, literally. I am glad for him. Now I know better, as I have grown. Then I needed that tough brotherly love to go down this path. I remember as a House Captain Julius had a separate room that we christened "Miracle Chambers" and we emblazoned the words boldly onto the door to this room. A lot of stories to be told on this at a later time. Much of what I am today was formed in the "Miracle Chambers”. Today, I am part of the pastoral team of a congregation for over 15 years now. A lot of people have gone through ministry the LORD has allowed me to dispense over the time. Some have gone on to minister to tens of thousands in this city, others to operate in giftings' I once thought of as long disappeared. It is amazing what the LORD can do with one life yielded, even when it’s only the life of a child.

As a child at 13 years of age, I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal savior; this is the best decision in life I have made. the deeper I get into the Bible and learn more about God, and get that ever increasing revelation of Him and His ways, I have become a firm believer in the Hebraic roots of Christianity and I think the church struggles with a lot of things including ignorance of the ways of God for want of recognizing this. Over time I have moved away from "religious practices" sometimes only to come back to them after realizing the true roots of them in the word of God. I have come to realize that one has got to walk the walk for themselves to understand God deeper. It’s good to sit in the church pews every Sunday, but it’s even better to get involved both at a personal and a corporate level. Only then do we get that ever increasing revelation of God. Today I can say that I do not live my life for anyone else, but God.

So, imagine what the seed of Jajja Domiso has achieved! She went on to be with the LORD aged 86 in 1986. On a normal day, as was her schedule, she woke up, put her tea pot on the fire and went to her garden to do her daily chores. She returned to her kitchen, as her routine was to make her tea, and that is where she was found collapsed in a coma, and about a week later she rested in her LORD arms finally.

It is hard for one to have such examples and later end up living life in an irresponsible way. Somehow, even when she could not speak the language of our generation, she did her part. Like Paul said in 1 Cor.3 verses 6 "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” Jajja Domiso planted, Ed watered, and God continues to give the increase!

SINCE AM HERE NOW, I GUESS I MIGHT JUST AS WELL START...

Hello friends ! Welcome to my world !

I love to play sports, mostly contact sports though its been a while since I did some real playing. I used to play soccer mostly for the fun of it. I have tried my hand at the martial arts as well and I think they are good for good health. I play table tennis and lawn tennis but have not had a good game in a while, a long while as I lost my way somewhere along this "Rat race" ! but like the Terminator "I'll be back !". I love cars, and I once dreamed of being into motor rallying; the dream eluded me ! I love speed, until Caleb my son came along.I also love board games, both Brainy and naughty ones: Chess, Draughts, scrabble, Ludo, snakes and ladders, and others. I love to study leadership. I love to study the bible too (I did not just say read but rather study). I love History (I watch the channel religiously) yet I hated History in School ! what an oxymoron !

Now, this is my first blog and there will be many more to come. I intend to dump my thoughts right here (hopefully you find them profound). My blog will be about life and its goings on, from my perspective though yours will be welcome here on my turf as well, but I must warn you in advance, do not begin anything you will not carry through to the end, and I only mean discussions here this blog.

Today let me share more about my country. I am privileged to live in a beautiful country; Uganda is my home country. This must have been the great garden of Eden mentioned in the bible. Uganda is such a beautiful country that I fail to finds its equal so far. The climate is well tempered ( I once traveled to Accra, Ghana and even a tree shade would not help cool me down !), the people are great, the soils seem to hold whatever you drop into them and thereafter return abundant harvest; the waters are fresh and the fruit is great. A meal in Uganda is not complete if variety of foods is not served. I honestly haven't found tastier food anywhere else. The food is alive even as you eat it. 

I have lived to see about 3 different kinds of Uganda in my lifetime; the one of H.E Field Marshall Idi Amin CBE, VSC,etc... (just a tiny, winy bit - I was old enough to understand terror), the one of Dr. Apollo Milton Obote 2 regime as its famously often referred to, and the one of Jjajja Yoweri Kaguta Museveni (He has referred to my sons generation as "Bazzukulu" meaning "Grand Children". All these experiences have taught me many things about life, country and leadership. A bit on this; at an early age I learned to take cover (hit the deck as they say) at the sound of any gun fire. I remember this one time in 1984 as I walked back from school, tired and hungry and observing any thing that cared to present itself; all of a sudden, the quiet and lazy pedestrians had their peace disturbed by a bunch of 10 gun wielding special forces officers as they opened a hail of gunfire only just as I approached where they stood ! Apparently they were "looking" for a renegade colleague; never in life have I ever heard a sound so crude. All I can tell you is that my reflexes and muscle memory kicked in as I dove onto the ground, rolled and found my refuge behind a huge tree, until the gunfire ceased (many more stories on this to come). That was rather common in those days; from that to a place where right now it is actually abnormal to heard the sound of gunfire in Uganda.Surely the guns fell silent.

Ugandan people are creative and love fun, perhaps sometimes a bit too much. Ugandans are an extremely competitive people in a rather subtle way and let me elaborate. We have been told often that Ugandans are found to have a rather lacking and non competitive work ethic that makes us rather disregarded in the white collar world. What amazes me is a place called "Kikuubo" (meaning "Long Corridor" after the topography of street where it all started) in Kampala the capital city. For those that don't know, this is the "Dubai" of East Africa. Traders come from near and far to trade from this place; I have met traders from the DR Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, etc all this is one place. There is possibly no other place like it in the Great Lakes region. I have been told stories of extremely wealthy men and women (I mean in millions of US Dollars) that run business in this place. Now this baffles me as it seems to portray a different kind of "serious" Ugandan's can have. It is Ugandans that opened the way for the rest of the Africans in South Sudan and Somalia. Kampala, the capital, is one of those places in Africa where the city does not sleep. Ugandans stay awake up to very late (or rather into the wee hours of the morning); they stay awake to party but also to work. I have been to African cities where people are asleep by 9 p.m. Lately Kampala does not sleep as it is not abnormal to catch a traffic jam in Kampala at 11 p.m. You have to live among Ugandans to understand them, else you miss the point.

The level of artisans work in Uganda is advancing so fast that one only needs to introduce a new type of popular furniture before Ugandan's have replicated it. A friend from Malawi once commented to me about the good quality of our furniture at the Ugandan road side "show rooms". Then there is WAKALIGAWOOD the Ugandan version of Hollywood; these guys are not churning out Ugandan movies on every theme. I recall the music scene in the late 1980's; it is a far cry in quality of production from what Ugandan music right now is. Is it not the Ugandans that led the way in many missions to save the world ? I can mention places we all know about: Somalia, Liberia, Sudan, Rwanda, Iraq etc. 

In 2011, the Ugandan economy was under severe distress; there was hyper inflation and government had to begin some sort of austerity measures to control the runaway economy. Another country I visited around the same time had similar issues. Uganda right now seems to have recovered despite the fact that the tax burden has not been eased but rather increased. It is interesting however to note that the economy seems to have made a turn around to a great extent, a clear testament to the ingenious hard work of the Ugandan men and women hustlers. These are the true champions of our economy. The other African country still struggles to date with worse issues. Show me any place in the world and I will show you a Ugandan. My people are hustlers.

So I am privileged to be Ugandan. I love my country and its people.  I love Uganda !

Happy blogging ! Welcome to my world !