FALSE PROMISE
There is an interesting insect in Acholi called Ojot-jot. This insect is seasonal, and it is one of the easiest to dupe into a trap. What one has to do is to simply mimic the sound it makes with the tongue, and the insect will unquestioningly advance towards the sound, thereby falling in traps.
The post conflict Acholi society appears so easy to ensnare like the Ojot-jot insect for President Museveni. Recently, while campaigning in Gulu, Mr. Museveni pledged to transform Gulu into an industrial hub if given a fifth term mandate.
I am not sure that anyone believed President Museveni. Because I didn’t. I don’t. If some people believed that, then they are as easy to ensnare as the Ojot-jot insect. President Museveni has previously stated that Northerners are like insects trapped in the bottle, busy eating themselves up during the war. While campaigning in the region, Mr. Museveni could have forgotten that he is the chief instigator of wars and violence in Uganda. He apparently, and without remorse, demanded loyalty from the Acholi for ending the LRA war. What an irony!
Many misguided youths are running around the streets misleading the voters that Museveni brought peace in Northern Uganda. For the record, the reverse is true, and it is only unfair to credit Museveni with the prevailing peace in Acholi without duly crediting the Acholi Religious Leaders and MPs such as Hon. Mao, Okumu, Okello Okello et cetra, who pressed hard for a peacefully negotiated end to the war. Museveni had by design, transformed Northern Uganda into a war theatre, and resisted any idea of peaceful negotiations, which set the entire region for annihilation.
The unforgettable squalor in internment camps was not by choice, rather by design. Its everlasting impacts are evident and there is nothing to celebrate about peace. The “peace” that Mr. Museveni is talking about is relative, in fact partial. The society is pretty deeply injured, physically and spiritually. There are widespread cases of un-diagnosed post-traumatic stress syndrome. All the chaos have sunk into the household levels where brothers are killing each other over trivial issues; domestic violence and drunkenness are widespread social problem that attests to an interstitial instability eating up our society, subtly. It is far from Uhuru in Northern Uganda!
Therefore, to speak of industrialization, the President needed to show a National Policy, a strong credential of having industrialized any district in Uganda, and a budget to support that pledge. To me, that pledge was incredibly hollow and imprudent.
The bare truth, the inconvenient truth, is that the President lacks in credentials in industrializing anything – in fact, his tract record is clear, and it is that of de-industrialization.
Look, this government ran down Jinja inits first 10 years in power. Jinja, the now ghostly industrial hub of Uganda, sits at the source of R. Nile, where our major Hydro-electricity has been generated since 1950s.
In 30 years, the President has failed to transform Uganda from a pre-industrial to industrial nation. He has even failed to mechanize agriculture. He is now offering hoes and pangas. Look, Jinja had a factory for hoes and pangas, and it was run down, too.
The post conflict Acholi is a vulnerable society that the NRM has easily duped and fooled like the insect, Ojot-jot. This is what the NRM is good at. They pry on vulnerable minds, moments and a population with packs of empty promises and distortions as ideologies. The promise to industrialize Gulu is one of those baits - hollow pledge. In 30 years, there is no track record anywhere, in any district or Municipality which has industrialized, there are no policies where government is involved in setting up industries since they liberalized the economy. What magic wand would they use to industrialize Gulu?
I find President Museveni’s pledges in this campaign generally to be deceptive. He is committing to nothing concrete if you paid much attention to his speeches.
END
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