{UAH} Japan’s calmness in crisis and tale of an inept Museveni govt

Japan's calmness in crisis and tale of an inept Museveni govt

SUNDAY MAY 02 2021

Summary

• That was 2001 and in the build up to that period, Japan had experienced political turbulence and frequent changes of and in government which, had it been in Uganda, would have meant a complete shutdown of the country and a dramatic meltdown of the socio-economic order.

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By Gawaya Tegulle

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How do you Japanese manage to stay so calm with all these upheavals in your government?" I asked the head of the Foreign Press Centre in Tokyo, my eyes betraying genuine wonder.

That was 2001 and in the build up to that period, Japan had experienced political turbulence and frequent changes of and in government which, had it been in Uganda, would have meant a complete shutdown of the country and a dramatic meltdown of the socio-economic order. I was amazed that the average Japanese went about their business like nothing had happened.

"Young man," said the elderly gentleman, adjusting his glasses. "Japan is not run by politicians; it is run by the people." It was a revelation as brief as it was astounding and sent me into deep reflection on what topped my list of research questions of the press fellowship that had taken me to the Far East. It was a lesson in statecraft for me who hailed from a country where the gunmen who had forcefully taken power 15 years earlier, religiously fed citizens on the propaganda that any change of government would send the nation into the abyss. I could see the difference between what amounted to a developed nation on the one hand and an elaborately backward, ideologically bankrupt regime on the other. But first a music lesson.
 
When offering instruction to instrumentalists, I always caution that the finest musicians are not those that play the most sophisticated sounds. Far from it! The crème de la crème are the ones who have mastered the power and significance of silence when they are improvising on the piano, guitar or saxophone.

It shows they appreciate the song or the chord progression, have thought through it, and know when to play a sound and when to "play" a silence. When you listen to their solos, they are simply divine! The ones who are very rampant, moving from note to note might be very good; but quite often, far from being a sign of strength, it is evidence of weakness being masked in a thousand sounds.

It often suggests they do not know the song, or they haven't thought through it enough to know what improvisation will suit the circumstances; or they are panicking – by playing every scale they know all over the place.

Or that they lack the maturity and skill to know that good improvisation is a blend of sounds and most importantly, silences (reflected as rests in music notation) - knowing when to pause and let the back-up instrumentalists roll on, then gently and sweetly picking up later. It causes tension in the music that is sweet and infectious.

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Same thing with development. The Museveni administration has been throwing around images of construction marvels – as evidence they are developing the country. What remains unsaid though, is the football fields, public spaces, nature reserves being hijacked by regime apologists to "develop" them.

Result? The cities can no longer breathe, our children have nowhere to play and people have nowhere to sit and relax, because there are buildings everywhere. We are losing generations of children because the lack of space to play and relax creates mental maladjustment manifested through resorting to drug abuse, early sex, crime and the like.

Just like too many notes by an instrumentalist are signs of incompetence and immaturity, creating concrete jungles everywhere is evidence of an inept government that has no idea what it is doing. When you go to serious countries – like Japan - you appreciate the beauty of their cities – planned development, with lots of space that no one can touch.

Like the Japanese, our redemption will not be guaranteed by a government too strong to be removed; but a people too strong to be shaken. We need Ugandans everywhere in this country to take charge of our destiny.

For starters, we need people to volunteer space as a public good which will save our children as well as our environment – and add to the beauty thereof. Because one thing is for sure, the criminal enterprise that runs this country doesn't give a hoot about the future of Uganda or our children. John 10:10 aptly describes them.

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