Details of the economic programme UPC inherited from the Colonialists in 1962.

Financial Assistance

House of Commons Debate 01 March 1962 Hansard Vol 654 cc175-6W 175W

Dr. Bennett

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will make 176W a statement about his recent financial discussions with a delegation from the Uganda Government.

§ Mr. Maudling

Yes. Her Majesty's Government have reviewed with the Uganda Government the financial resources which are likely to be available to that Government over the next few years for recurrent and capital expenditure, particularly in respect of the five-year Development Plan which began on the 1st July, 1961, and the Compensation Scheme for designated officers. Her Majesty's Government have agreed, subject as necessary to the approval of Parliament, to give the following assistance to Uganda:

(1) The Colonial Development and Welfare moneys already promised to Uganda and un-issued at the 1st July, 1961, amounted to £1.85 million. To the extent that any balance remains unspent at independence, this sum will continue to be available after independence in the form of grants for purposes to be agreed with the Uganda Government.

(2) A special grant towards the Development Plan of £1½ million, available to be drawn evenly between the date of independence and 30th June. 1964.

(3) The Exchequer loan of £2.75 million already promised, to be provided under Section 2 of the Colonial Development and Welfare Act, will be made available towards the Development Plan before independence.

(4) A Commonwealth Assistance loan of £2.4 million towards the Development Plan, available to be drawn evenly between the date of independence and 30th June, 1964.

(5) An interest free loan of £4.25 million, with a grace period on repayment, to assist the Uganda Government to meet its share of the compensation scheme for overseas officers.

(6) A loan of £1.75 million on the normal terms for Commonwealth Assistance loans to assist the Uganda Government in respect of the commutation of pensions of officers retiring from the service.

(7) Her Majesty's Government will continue to meet the costs of Uganda's military forces in the period following independence until the 31st March. 1963. up to about £200,000; and will provide the £50,000 required in that period to complete capital works at Jinja barracks.

(8) Her Majesty's Government will also be happy to enter into a Technical Assistance Agreement with the Government of Uganda after independence

Source=  www.bl.uk, hansard.

Federalism will not end corruption in Uganda

For the first five of her years, Uganda was run as a federal state.  By the time the Federal constitution became thoroughly unmanageable, a cultural head of one of the federal units (and ironically President of the country) was telling the government to remove itself from that unit's soil.  You remember?  So, when you say, "...why not do something and fail so that we learn our lessons...", you leave me wondering unless I misunderstood you.  

In fact Unitarism came into the picture when federalism was about to precipitate the demise of the country as we know it.

On the assertion that corruption comes from the centre etc, some of you seem to be saying that when you translocate a hyena from a game park to a cage in a zoo it becomes an angel.  I say no to that!  It still remains the same old hyena, and even a more desperate, voracious and dangerous one!  When who is she, er, Kabakumba is made chief whip of Bunyoro, she will still pilfer hardware.  She will be so desperate that she will even personalise kingdom silver!

The elite of a society which is still scrounging for initial capital will carry out primitive accumulation where ever you place them within the country.  That makes the debate over federal/unitarism a sterile whistle in the wind.  Corruption results from another kind of logic that has nothing to do with the system of government. 

The fact is that our elite back home do not have other nations to enslave or to colonise to get initial capital, unlike the elite of the earlier modernisers.  Ours have to do all their primitive accumulation from within the borders of Uganda.....that is my guess...a corporal's guess...on the political economy of corruption in Uganda.  Chances are that I am wrong. 

I specifically refer to the political elite and these are not 34 million (which would make it every Ugandan).  The elite are 2.7361 million.  

Still using the hyena analogy, may be some of you are misreading the Nyoro saying that "Empisi y'owanyu ekulya nekukumakuma"...that the local hyena in your village devours you gently.  May be that is the the argument those conflating corruption with unitarism can advance.  But alas, gentle or otherwise, the hyena will still have eaten you!  Its table manners will ultimately not matter!   

Some of you talk of the list of the corrupt.  Of those 2.7 million elite not (yet) making it to the list of the corrupt, I use the hyena metaphor again.  A shortage of prey or lack of access to goats does not turn a hyena into a herbivore.  It will still be the same old hyena except this time it will be desperately hungry, waiting for the chance to also make it on the list.  Get any of those not making it to the list because they have no access (yet), put them in the right place and they will show you their true colours! 

On the problems between Mr Mutesa and Mr Obote, do I read that Mr Obote was merely being paranoid? He may as well have been that and other worse things, but let us face the facts.  Assume he was paranoid, is it not foolish to play in the hands of a paranoid creature?  Was it probably not a case of paranoia vs paranoia?

Those who have always claimed that Mr Obote was paranoid have in fact already been let down by none other than Mr Mutesa himself.  The other day I grabbed a copy of his "Desecration of My kingdom" from a binyebwa seller on Luwum Street for 1,000/= (she was using the book's pages to wrap njugu for customers).  On page 186, on Mr Obote's claim that Mr Mutesa was plotting a coup with foreign embassies, Mutesa admits that he 'sounded out' (Wa la la la!...nduulu) a certain European embassy and a selection of African ones for military assistance. 

To show what he really thought about Obote, Mutesa later contradicts the motive of the above action by stating that, 'though I would have liked to see him destroyed, I took no part...perhaps I was foolish not to do so.'  So, either man was baying for the other's blood and it was a question of who pounced first.

Recall that by that time, Mutesa, the President had attempt to flagarantly subvert the referendum of 1964, refused to sign the subsequent referendum bill as was required by the constitution, he refused to open parliament after the referendum, once again as required by constitution.  I hear people saying that Obote abrogated the constitution!  He merely put the last nail in the coffin.  President Mutesa, by way his unconstitutional acts killed the constitution and Obote cremated it.

Remember also the uncoordinated troop movement (3 battalions) ordered by President Mutesa at 13:52 Hrs on 19 Feb 1966 when Obote was in Nairobi for some meeting.  That was a few hours after the contacts with those embassies......and Brig Opolot's visit to Mutesa around that time etc etc...with plans for "kujjula" on 22 Feb...

With all that, if Affande Jesus had been in Obote's shoes, I do not know what he would have avoided doing to save Mutesa!

Mr. Otto Patrick
UAH forumist in London

UPDF is certainly better than Obote and Amin’s armies

Fellow Ugandans,

Gen. Yoweri K. Museveni and Gen. Salim Saleh are retired. Gen. David Tinyefuza hails from Ssembabule District, Buganda region other than Ankole sub region. There was a time when the Army Commander was Al Haji Lt. Gen. Abubaker Jeje Odong and Inspector General of Police was Cossy Odomel and nobody raised a finger. Ankole in particular and Western Uganda in general is not one tribe or ethnicity. Ankole is a product of 1001 Agreement. Prior to that it was made up of kingdoms of Nkore (Kaarokarungi or present day Mbarara, Nyabushozi, including Kazo, and Kashaari. Other kingdoms were Igara, Shema, Buhweju and even Mporororo where President Museveni and Col.Kizza Besigye come from. In all these kingdoms, there were Bahima pastoralists and Bairu cultivators, and a few others. Banyaruguru just like Batagwenda in Tooro, were originally Baganda. Bukanga county is predominantly Baganda especially Bakooki. Isingiro and Kajara also have a reasonable number of Baganda. By 1991 census, Mbarara Distirct including Ibanda, Isingiro and Kiruhura, had 100,000 Baganda.

Then Kigezi is predominantly Bakiga, Bahororo, Bafumbira. Rwenzoori is of Batooro, Bakonjo, Bamba, Banyabindi, Basongora etc..Bunyoro; Banyoro, Bagungu, Bacope, Bahuma, Bakiga, Baganda etc….That is your Ankole or Western Uganda.

However in my view, offices like Chief of Defence Forces, Deputy Chief of Defence Forces, Commander of Land Forces, Commander of Air Force, Chief of Marines, Inspector General of Police, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Commissioner General of Prisons, Deputy Commissioner General of prisons, have been politicized just like cabinet ministers and RDCs.

They should be regionally balanced. But it should be gradual. Obote l had Opolot as CDF, Amin as Army Chief of Staff, Oryema as IGP and Okurut as Prisons C.G. They were all coming from the North and North East.

Amin had Maj. Francis Nyangwezo, Brig. Malera, Mustafa Adrisi, Isac Lumago and Yusuf Gowon as Army Chiefs of Staff. Other than Nyangweso, the rest hailed from his home region of West Nile. He had Colt. Toko and Brig.Guweddeko as Air Force Chief. Toko was from West Nuile and Guweddeko from Buganda, he later killed him. The Inspector General of Police was Luke Ofingi and later Kassim Obura. Commissioner General of Prisons was Kiyonga, from my home Mawogola county, whom he later killed, and replaced him with the late Gyagenda, who was formerly Commissioner of Buganda Prisons.

During UNLF days of Lule , Binaisa and Muwanga, people raised why both the Army Commander and the Chief of Staff were from the North. They were told that those were the ones who pioneered the nati Amin struggle. When Oyite Ojok died in a rush in 1983, he was replaced by Smith Opon Acaka, who served Uganda Army until 1977. The Acholis were not happy. When Binaisa tried to get another Chief of Staff, he had brought in Sam Nnyumba. But that was short lived.

When Olara Otunu’s Junta came in, the CDF was Lt.Gen.Bazilio Olara Okello as the Commander in Chief was Gen. Tito Okello Lutwa. The Army Chief of Staff was Maj. Gen. Zeddy Maruru.

NRA had Ahmed Sseeguya and Magara in the bush, and Elly Tumwone, Salim Saleh, Mugisha muntu, Jeje Odong, James Kaziini and Aronda in peace times. The deputies included Fred Rwigyema, Brig.Joram Mugume and Lt. Gen.Ivan Koreta, a FRONASA veteran. Chiefs of Staff include Fredrick Oketcho, Sam Nannyumba, Fred Tolit, Cheif Ali, Nakabius Lakra, James Kaziini, among others.

Amin’s Commissioner General was Kigoonya from Kikoma, in Mawogola not Kiyonga. Kigoonya family had a Mailo land estate in Mawogola which is still in existance. He was suspected to have collaborated with guerillas based in Tanzania and was not given a fair trial, like other Amin’s victims.

Had UFM won the war, the CDF or Army Chief of Staff would have been Maj. Oboma, their original Chief of Staff, had he not been killed by his fellow Acholis in UNLA, or a Pakistani Sajjad Sorri, and his successors whom l don’t remember as by 1985 UFM was no more but in name. Then if it was FEDEMU, lT. Lt. Col. George Nkwanga and probably Brig. Kasirye Gwanga. If it was UNRF. It would have been Maj.Amin Onzi. If it was FUNA, major generals Isaac Lumago, Yusuf Gowon.

Fortunately all those forces were integrated into NRA now UPDF including former rebels, UPDM/UPDA, HSM, UPA, NALU, LRA, UNRF II, WNBF, ADF etc……

The President be given time to make a regional balance on what l regard as politicized but not technical positions.

In my view, technical offices are those like Joint Chief of Staff, Land Forces Chief of Staff, Chief of Air Staff etc…..The president can arrest the situation before it is politicized further.

Ahmed Katerega

UAH forumist/journalist

http://ugandansatheart.org/2009/08/25/updf-is-certainly-better-than-obote-and-amins-armies/