{UAH} Should we market Uganda home or abroad?

This is not the right time for an MP to reveal that he/she has been away on another foreign trip, especially if that MP attended the recent much-criticized Ugandan North American Association (UNAA) convention in the USA.

The journalism in me, however, has refused to conspire with the inner instinct that is telling me to keep quiet until the waters have settled. I intend, by the way, in a future article to defend MPs and parliament, usually sentenced without being heard. With all their shortcomings, I think parliament and MPs should also be given a fair trial.

I know parliament has let down the country on many critical issues but I still think we need it. Because of our collective failure, I have contemplated early retirement, but I think our tormentors will, instead, celebrate. Today's column is about the September 6 annual Uganda Convention, UK at Troxy in London.

To make sure that politics (governance), where we have the biggest deficit as a country, does not feature, "Why Invest in Uganda Now" was chosen as the theme for what was purely marketed as a trade and investment forum.

I don't know whether pretense is purely Ugandan or is an African tradition. How do you divorce politics from a function presided over by the speaker of parliament and you invite the people's president, Col Kizza Besigye, as one of the speakers plus a host of ministers and MPs, including yours truly?

I think every politician in Uganda has experienced this hypocrisy. You are invited to a mosque or church fundraising and are warned by the master of ceremonies not to talk about politics because the mosque is neutral. Many people, including journalists, hide under neutrality because it is the laziest way of avoiding responsibility.

The truth is that they are fearing a confrontation with the mighty. I think that is why the UK convention, which is much more organized than America's UNAA, is blended this way. The organizers of UNAA Causes in Loss Angeles only gathered courage to let Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago and Leader of Opposition Winnie Kiiza speak after hearing that Besigye had spoken at their competitors' function in Boston.

Willy Mutenza, the convener of the UK convention, had restricted me to speaking about investment opportunities in Kira municipality, although he ended up assigning me another topic: opportunities, challenges and outlook in agriculture, manufacturing, natural resources, tourism and health.

I think dictatorship has penetrated organizers of these events and compromised or scared them away from politics. And I think Col Besigye was only invited to both UNAA and UK conventions to attract more participation.

And you could sense uneasiness when Besigye arrived, first in the room where VIPs had been seated. Some good-mannered NRM MPs joined me and Winnie Kiiza to receive Besigye but others looked the other way, as if nothing had happened.

They equate dignifying Besigye to a crime! And the speaker didn't recognize KB in her introductory remarks. Besigye also reciprocated when he stood up to speak.Before delivering a powerful speech, Besigye noted that "some people are uncomfortable. They think we are going to scare away investors."

When Besigye said Uganda was the best country on earth, NRM MPs, including my friend Godfrey Kiwanda, all clapped. He then skillfully lectured the convention on the role of institutions in a country's development. 

The impression I got from these meetings is that we need to sort governance issues in our country first before we embark on selling it abroad. Of course people with interest in Uganda read about it adequately. It is not one or two presentations at a convention that will attract them! 

http://www.observer.ug/viewpoint/46422-should-we-market-uganda-home-or-abroad

Sincerely,

Brian M. Kwesiga