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Home » Special Reports » Nina Mbabazi: Anger in Society is Growing

Nina Mbabazi: Anger in Society is Growing

7 hours ago 1265 Viewed Kim Aine Be the First to Comment
Lenina Mbabazi alias Nina

Lenina Mbabazi has spoken out on the causes of what she termed as
"divisions" and "anger" in Uganda's society, saying a cross section of
people perceives the ruling NRM government members and the party's
supporters as having benefited at the expense of the majority
population.

"I know I had touched on earlier the failings that have caused such
serious divide among us. Those who are perceived to have benefitted
from the NRM as opposed to the rest of the wananchi," said Nina (as
she is fondly known), the daughter of former Prime Minister Amama
Mbabazi.

"Have the failings been a deliberate effort to take away the dignity
of all Ugandans because at the center of all of this what you are
saying to me and all who have defended NRM through the years is; "You
(NRM) have taken all we can give and even taken our dignity that we
are no longer even aware of our basic value as humans!"' she added.

Nina, a regular participant on social media debates, made the comments
on Thursday during a discussion on Facebook.

Amelia

Nina also made remarks on Trade Minister Amelia Kyambadde's crying at
a public event in Mpigi, saying the incident symbolised frustration of
those who have given their all to serve the nation.

"I don't know if what I am saying is coming through though? That
people that believed in this ideology actually, genuinely believed
they were helping. It may have been hijacked by a few individuals but
deep inside Amelia's heart, she believed that she had done a good
job," said Nina.

"Remember this is a cabinet Minister who sits in budget allocations
meetings and sees the billions allocated to the sector. She sees that
what they spend now is far greater than what was being spent in 1985
for example. Her tears are her saying what is wrong with this picture?
Surely you can see it from that perspective. Ministry of Education
gets hundreds of billions in funding. Where does it go? Is it enough?"
she challenged authorities.

"When it was UPC, we all said they failed. When it was Benedicto
Kiwanuka, he faced an uphill task. Right now they all pale in
comparison to NRM. I don't know if you can understand me when I say,
what is our social contract with government?" she added.

Kyambadde last week expressed shock that despite the central
government spending billions of shillings to support local
communities' in the education and health sectors, children remain
hungry and jigger-infested.

Taxation

Nina further stressed the need to restructure Uganda's taxation policy.

"I am in the private sector as are most of you living here. You know
we have been taxed to the limit but the reality is it is Kampala and
Wakiso paying 85 percent taxes of the whole country. Try and imagine
that for a minute? What is wrong with this picture? It is not
someone's tears, perhaps it is that we are built on a wrong
foundation," she noted.

"Some of you think that corruption is the biggest problem but when you
speak with the district officials like some of us do, you see that is
not the problem."

Nina pointed out that the NRM government should not have dropped the
idea of graduated tax.

"Another tactical error of NRM was to succumb to cheap politics and
remove graduated taxes. You remember when Kizza Besigye suggested it
in his manifesto and we jumped on it like a hotcake? Sit with the
district officials and they will tell you that this money used to pay
for recurrent expenditure like wages so a district could employ staff
to do supervision and such. That is not there anymore and districts
are shells. If the Ministry sends money to build schools, who will
supervise that it is not stolen and the classroom is built?" asked
Nina.

"We need to take these tears and turn them into something good. We
must question and demand that this time we build realistic goals. That
is my humble opinion."

President Museveni has equally complained that officials at grassroots
do not properly supervise government programmes to ensure value for
money.

He says this has given birth to unprecedented levels of corruption and
denial of public services especially to the poor.

Nina further described as "a waste of time," the idea of taxing idle land.

"We private sector we are tired. You have drained us of our last
pennies. We have hit rock bottom. We are saying find other solutions.
So, how about we start listening to non-politicians to tell us the
true state of us so that we can suggest how to fix it. Let the
politicians cry. It is a good thing. And let us not forget that this
is not about "us" versus "them". This is not a competition, this is
not even a public flogging, this must be us just wanting to understand
what went wrong," she added.

Community work

Nina also argued that the removal of graduated tax has cultivated a
fertile ground for laxity and laissez faire attitude towards life
among locals.

"When our parents were growing up there was bulungi bwansi. Now Rwanda
is doing it as Umuganda and we all praise them when we started it
first. We complain that the cities are filthy but our parents used to
take cleaning of the community seriously," she noted.

"20 years ago a man in Kabale would not be insulted by another because
he had his graduated tax ticket on him. He would demand answers from
his leaders because he had paid for his ticket. He would demand
accountability. Where is that Kabale man now? He is demanding
accountability of whose money?" asked Nina.

"Before a man struggled to pay school fees. Then government brought
UPE and parents decided to hand over responsibility of their kids to
someone else. No contribution expected from them. But the taxes
collected can only allow for Shs7, 000 per annum per child. How will
the schools buy chalk, books, and food for the child on such
contributions?

"I know of many parents upcountry who came together and decided to at
least help the schools by contributing Shs 10,000 per term. Otherwise
to receive money from them is illegal. And the Shs 10,000 they are
comfortably paying."

Cooperatives

Nina also advocated for the return of cooperative agricultural schemes
to boost household incomes.

"When you were a kid here in Buganda, you remember the flourishing
cooperatives which guaranteed your grandparents an income which they
then planned for and spent wisely. Where are those now? We have not
reached that Damascus moment yet. But maybe the tears are a sign we
are getting there?" she wondered.

Nina's remarks are likely to stir debate on the fate of cooperatives
which many saw as a guarantor of household wealth.

Before Cooperatives collapsed at the hands of the World Bank and IMF
policies, farmers in local areas were always assured of consistent
market and stable prices for their produce thus maintaining a
sustainable source of revenue for their homes.

After NRA seized power, the Cooperative bank collapsed over what was
described as defaulting on $70m worth of loans.

Nina said the "cooperatives were shut down I hear because President
Obote in 1983 gave the cooperatives a loan of $70 million and the
cooperatives said they paid back but there was no evidence on file.
Maybe documentation disappeared between the 1985 scuffles. We don't
know."

She added: "The short story, Bank of Uganda shut it down for default.
So we hear and in one second, with one signature a bunch of misguided
technocrats sent millions into poverty."

Sources say government urgently wanted money to invest in
infrastructural projects to rebuild the economy shattered by years of
war.

The World Bank informed government to remove cooperatives on grounds
that money was being mismanaged.

Yet, millions of people depended on the steady and predictable income
from the cooperatives.

Facing several insurgencies and the need for money to run
stabilisation schemes, government is said to have wholeheartedly
embraced the World Bank policy of scrapping cooperatives.

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