{UAH} WESTERN UGANDA HAS BENEFITTED EQUALLY LIKE OTHER REGIONS
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There is this talk doing rounds in some nooks and crevices, spreading
the notion that the Western part of Uganda has benefitted most during
NRM and President Museveni's reign.Others personify it to add insult
saying "Westerners have eaten more",others "Banyankole have eaten
more" and so on.
The notion above and the freewheel proliferation of the same had best
be dust binned if the propagators aren't ready to apply scientific
case by case study to reach a "21st century conclusion". If anything,
such talk is one of the failures that NRM should be held accountable
for.
After 29 years, how can we have citizens who still reason with such a
mindset? It's not like their mouths should be "padlocked" but the 1986
"new guard" have to mind that nobody interprets what they stood/stand
for on twisted terms.
To go specific, the complaint targeted at "Westerners" is the hobby of
regime opponents, whose mind informs them that by shading Museveni's
NRM as sectarian, the rest of the population will take drastic
measures to bring the regime to an end. Unfortunately, their
presentation is wrong.
Their miscalculation stems from two major factors; one, that such a
claim alienates support from people hailing from the West who take
such speak as a direct target on their own right to being Ugandans and
inciting non-Westerners to bring harm to them. In essence, purveyors
send a message of what their intentions would be in case they attained
authority and that doesn't sound well in concerned ears and yet some
are humble citizens struggling to survive day by day on their own with
no "godfathers".
Two, Uganda has over time evolved into one fluid shape with no strict
demarcation of which ethnic group lives where and nor is there a
freeze on who interacts with whomever. The country is edging towards
near "single ethnicity" status because of the freedom and will for
people to intermix and co-operate. It's almost impossible to tell who
looks exactly how, in the interim.
To mark out Westerners, in such a scenario, appears a far-fetched and
desperate attempt to use people and concurrently hurts the interests
of "allies" who have joined up in the general struggle for development
and prosperity without considering such untidy things as ethnic
background. It can get provocative and infuriating!
The part which is most used to raise the anti-Westerner claim is that
of employment opportunities in government. Sometimes figures and
records are provided to back-up the talkback, covering somedepartments
and stations- and that is used to conclude that some are favoured
against others.
Forget that the name-based methodology is erroneous; somebody's name
doesn't unequivocally indicate where they come from. I know of Osand
SSs who aren't who they are commonly taken to be and the same with
Bya-somethings from another direction. Some names are even shared or
"universal"; one like Mwesigwa from Busoga and Ankole or Kabugo from
Buganda and Bukonzo, while others are adopted on a whim.
In job distribution in Uganda, as in most other countries, there is no
statutory chart stating exactly "who gets what". Recruitment is run on
an open system based on competitiveness where the only discrimination
is against absence of qualifications and/or experience.
Depending on the nature of the job, gender may be included. There is
no policy document stating that only a certain side must be favoured.
Unless someone has specific queries on a particular case, which they
can raise before a court of law or tribunal and get redress, most
complaints are speculative and short on all-round consideration.
Many a time, the fact that the top office in the land (Presidency) is
held by someone from the West, it is used to insinuate that Museveni
is a god for and on all his "tribes mates" and that before him they
were nothing and that so shall it be after him.This cannot be farthest
from absurd.
The top most opposition figures are "village mates" of Museveni. Why
are they dissatisfied with the state of affairs? Why wouldn't they all
be reveling in absolute comfort and abundance? Are they just shedding
crocodile tears or lobbying for the interests of "foreigners" only?
And if Westerners are so skin-to-skin among and for themselves, why
aren't they all members of the same political party or religion, for
instance?
It's because their "enemies" look only at the so-called juicy sectors
and think in terms of consumption (employment perks), never
considering the tasks accompanying those positions. Otherwise, they
(odd opinion leaders) would have pursued that those positions be
scrapped if they were exclusively about "eating" and no duties
attached.
Elsewhere, Western Uganda has always been a traditional producer of
highly marketable agricultural products like milk, cattle, bananas,
potatoes, cassava and millet which are sold all over, on top of
hosting tourist attractions and amazing cultural sites and artifacts.
People were already toiling for fair livelihoods from way back and
they maintain attachment to their cultural heritage-land-which they
seldom trade off.
They have steadily been able to develop their areas from old
vocations. And many of these have no connection with formal structures
at all-neither relatives nor friends- and neither does Museveni know
them.
All they have are the general overhead services and conditions in
place like security, infrastructure, ICT and their own informal
networks to which everyone has a right to market themselves, plus
working jobs like everyone else. Anyone can benefit from these and
that's going to remain the national outlook against wishes of people
whose goal is to use one people against another in turns. Their scheme
must come to an end forthwith!
Robert Atuhairwe
Published in Red Pepper of Saturday January 31, 2015
--
"TRY TO GROW UP!" "EVERY BULLET THAT MISSES A SOLDIER CATCHES A
CIVILIAN" "OKWANGALI IS A NINCOMPOOP!" "TRIBALISM IS NOT A DEED,
EXCEPT OF SPEECH!" "A GENERAL WITHOUT AMBITION IS A CORPORAL" "A
GENERAL WITH TOO MUCH AMBITION IS AN INSURGENT" "GIVE MUSEVENI A
MICROPHONE AND YOU HAVE GIVEN HIM AN ENTIRE ARSENAL!"
MEMBER OF THE VISIONARIES CLUB, THIRD AXIS
--
Disclaimer:Everyone posting to this Forum bears the sole responsibility for any legal consequences of his or her postings, and hence statements and facts must be presented responsibly. Your continued membership signifies that you agree to this disclaimer and pledge to abide by our Rules and Guidelines.To unsubscribe from this group, send email to: ugandans-at-heart+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com or Abbey Semuwemba at: abbeysemuwemba@gmail.com.
the notion that the Western part of Uganda has benefitted most during
NRM and President Museveni's reign.Others personify it to add insult
saying "Westerners have eaten more",others "Banyankole have eaten
more" and so on.
The notion above and the freewheel proliferation of the same had best
be dust binned if the propagators aren't ready to apply scientific
case by case study to reach a "21st century conclusion". If anything,
such talk is one of the failures that NRM should be held accountable
for.
After 29 years, how can we have citizens who still reason with such a
mindset? It's not like their mouths should be "padlocked" but the 1986
"new guard" have to mind that nobody interprets what they stood/stand
for on twisted terms.
To go specific, the complaint targeted at "Westerners" is the hobby of
regime opponents, whose mind informs them that by shading Museveni's
NRM as sectarian, the rest of the population will take drastic
measures to bring the regime to an end. Unfortunately, their
presentation is wrong.
Their miscalculation stems from two major factors; one, that such a
claim alienates support from people hailing from the West who take
such speak as a direct target on their own right to being Ugandans and
inciting non-Westerners to bring harm to them. In essence, purveyors
send a message of what their intentions would be in case they attained
authority and that doesn't sound well in concerned ears and yet some
are humble citizens struggling to survive day by day on their own with
no "godfathers".
Two, Uganda has over time evolved into one fluid shape with no strict
demarcation of which ethnic group lives where and nor is there a
freeze on who interacts with whomever. The country is edging towards
near "single ethnicity" status because of the freedom and will for
people to intermix and co-operate. It's almost impossible to tell who
looks exactly how, in the interim.
To mark out Westerners, in such a scenario, appears a far-fetched and
desperate attempt to use people and concurrently hurts the interests
of "allies" who have joined up in the general struggle for development
and prosperity without considering such untidy things as ethnic
background. It can get provocative and infuriating!
The part which is most used to raise the anti-Westerner claim is that
of employment opportunities in government. Sometimes figures and
records are provided to back-up the talkback, covering somedepartments
and stations- and that is used to conclude that some are favoured
against others.
Forget that the name-based methodology is erroneous; somebody's name
doesn't unequivocally indicate where they come from. I know of Osand
SSs who aren't who they are commonly taken to be and the same with
Bya-somethings from another direction. Some names are even shared or
"universal"; one like Mwesigwa from Busoga and Ankole or Kabugo from
Buganda and Bukonzo, while others are adopted on a whim.
In job distribution in Uganda, as in most other countries, there is no
statutory chart stating exactly "who gets what". Recruitment is run on
an open system based on competitiveness where the only discrimination
is against absence of qualifications and/or experience.
Depending on the nature of the job, gender may be included. There is
no policy document stating that only a certain side must be favoured.
Unless someone has specific queries on a particular case, which they
can raise before a court of law or tribunal and get redress, most
complaints are speculative and short on all-round consideration.
Many a time, the fact that the top office in the land (Presidency) is
held by someone from the West, it is used to insinuate that Museveni
is a god for and on all his "tribes mates" and that before him they
were nothing and that so shall it be after him.This cannot be farthest
from absurd.
The top most opposition figures are "village mates" of Museveni. Why
are they dissatisfied with the state of affairs? Why wouldn't they all
be reveling in absolute comfort and abundance? Are they just shedding
crocodile tears or lobbying for the interests of "foreigners" only?
And if Westerners are so skin-to-skin among and for themselves, why
aren't they all members of the same political party or religion, for
instance?
It's because their "enemies" look only at the so-called juicy sectors
and think in terms of consumption (employment perks), never
considering the tasks accompanying those positions. Otherwise, they
(odd opinion leaders) would have pursued that those positions be
scrapped if they were exclusively about "eating" and no duties
attached.
Elsewhere, Western Uganda has always been a traditional producer of
highly marketable agricultural products like milk, cattle, bananas,
potatoes, cassava and millet which are sold all over, on top of
hosting tourist attractions and amazing cultural sites and artifacts.
People were already toiling for fair livelihoods from way back and
they maintain attachment to their cultural heritage-land-which they
seldom trade off.
They have steadily been able to develop their areas from old
vocations. And many of these have no connection with formal structures
at all-neither relatives nor friends- and neither does Museveni know
them.
All they have are the general overhead services and conditions in
place like security, infrastructure, ICT and their own informal
networks to which everyone has a right to market themselves, plus
working jobs like everyone else. Anyone can benefit from these and
that's going to remain the national outlook against wishes of people
whose goal is to use one people against another in turns. Their scheme
must come to an end forthwith!
Robert Atuhairwe
Published in Red Pepper of Saturday January 31, 2015
--
"TRY TO GROW UP!" "EVERY BULLET THAT MISSES A SOLDIER CATCHES A
CIVILIAN" "OKWANGALI IS A NINCOMPOOP!" "TRIBALISM IS NOT A DEED,
EXCEPT OF SPEECH!" "A GENERAL WITHOUT AMBITION IS A CORPORAL" "A
GENERAL WITH TOO MUCH AMBITION IS AN INSURGENT" "GIVE MUSEVENI A
MICROPHONE AND YOU HAVE GIVEN HIM AN ENTIRE ARSENAL!"
MEMBER OF THE VISIONARIES CLUB, THIRD AXIS
--
Disclaimer:Everyone posting to this Forum bears the sole responsibility for any legal consequences of his or her postings, and hence statements and facts must be presented responsibly. Your continued membership signifies that you agree to this disclaimer and pledge to abide by our Rules and Guidelines.To unsubscribe from this group, send email to: ugandans-at-heart+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com or Abbey Semuwemba at: abbeysemuwemba@gmail.com.
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