The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
But when it comes to Africa and other societies, the West demands democracy should be an event; there is no journey, no struggle and no politics. Africa should just become democratic in exactly the same manner and extent of the West by copy and paste and in an instant. What this actually means is that the West is asking us to abolish politics; democracy ceases to be a result of political struggle shaped by negotiations and compromise. It is becomes a technical fix.
Thus any and every government in Africa is a dictatorship (primitive and cruel) unless it mimics western systems (then it is modern and humane). To be civilised and humane is to be western; to be barbaric and cruel is to be non-western. There is a racist tinge in this cultural rhetoric that presents the particular as universal. It echoes the spread of Christianity during the colonial encounter: African religions were called satanic. To have faith was to be Christian. Today Democracy is a secular religion.
As Africans we have no identity except as carbon copies of “Western man.” Only the African with a formal education (Western education), who espouses democracy and human rights and the wider language of modernity, is a civilised African. That is the African elite who is respected in western circles; given audience in their media, academia and think tanks in large part because he regurgitates westerns norms without nuance or subtlety
To challenge these dominant assumptions is to be labelled backward, supporting tyranny and corruption. Then such an African is sanctioned, blacklisted, marginalised, ostracised. And these actions are supported in the name of liberalism, democracy and free speech. Freedom must be forced down the throat of every society. All cults: Christian fundamentalism, communism, Islamic extremism, etc. have claimed universality. As normative values they are hostile to each other. But as positive theories they are alike.
Anyone opposing an incumbent “regime” that does not meet procedural standards set by the West can claim to be fighting a dictatorship and will be believed. Western institutions will not pause to examine the social forces propelling such an upstart (they may be anarchic, radical extremist, tribalistic, etc. – as long as they are not Islamic). They will not look at its values, policies and conduct. They will embrace it, as they did the Misrata brigade in Libya, and refer to them as pro democracy activists.
Western governments and foundations also finance a plethora of NGOs and call them civil society. Historically, civil society was composed of membership-based associations. People came together around a shared interest in a voluntary fashion. They created associations to aggregate their interests and place them on the political agenda. They raised money to fund the activities of the association and elected leaders whom they held to account via elections.
Yet today’s NGOs are not membership-based organisations. The beneficiaries of these NGOs are never members of these NGOs. So what they get from the NGO is charity, not rights. They do not fund the NGOs or elect their leaders who “fight” for their interests. So they cannot hold them to account. Instead these NGOs are funded from London, Brussels, Washington and Paris. The funders, not the local beneficiaries, decide what issues are important.
The local managers of these NGOs design proposals to suit the interests and fancies of foreigners and account to these foreign funders. The local beneficiaries have little or no say in it all. Both the ideology and the issues it gives prominence are decided from abroad. How can such foreign funded ideology and issues be democratic?
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“….they are not any different from their colonial ancestors who came here claiming to spread the three Cs – Christianity, Commerce and Civilization ” . Mr Mujuni continues “These efforts to shape us according to their fancies show contempt for our uniqueness. Africa needs to be given space to shape its future”
Just a comprador!!
Mr Mwenda, up until now you don’t seem to have realized how you’ve come full circle in untiringly trying to speak like your god!
You sound so bitter and pretend to really abhor the so-called western colonial three Cs!
Yet you’re, of all people, the most happiest beneficiary of the three “Cs” you so viciously claim to mourn! How?
You have never ever made any slightest attempt to:
A) swear an affidavit to denounce the name Andrew to any other Chwezi name, instead you proudly identify yourself as “Andrew” a purely colonial name (one of the colonial three Cs – Christianity)!;
B) denounced any of your academic papers acquired from schools established by the colonialists, instead you’ve gone ahead to even follow the much despised colonialists up to their homes continents thousands of miles away from your most beloved continent Africa (leaving Mountains of the Moon University in the backyard of beautiful Fort City!) to further acquire more prestigious academic papers, for whatever reasons you know better (second colonial “C” Civilization); and finally
C) Without the benefit of the second ‘C’ which is civilization Mujuni Mwenda wouldn’t have left tending to his father’s goats in the Rwenzori mountains to come to Kampala to engage in modern trade i.e. printing and publishing words to earn a living! The 3rd ”C’ which is Commerce!
So Mr Mwenda you’re a hypocrite eating your own vomit for the sake of pleasing your god M7, but, may be, just may be, you’re unaware because your brain clocked the point of diminishing marginal returns long time ago after you threw your consciousness in exchange for silver coins!
A. What’s in a name? Human interactions are dynamic, which means cultures and societies influence each other. Some of the influences of course come through occupation, like European names through colonialism. And yet its not necessarily the name that is a problem, but the ideology. Thus an Andrew can choose to retain a European name but be an activist against the sins of colonialism.
B. Knowledge has no borders. There’s not a single human being or culture that can claim exclusivity to a specific knowledge system. All knowledge today is built upon the foundations of the very first human beings – whether that was Adam or Zinjathropus.
So formal education as we know it today, is not a European thing. It traces its way from way back in time – Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Great Zimbabwe, Indus Valley, Aztec, early Pacific Islanders, the Bantu pygmies, etc etc.
So every human being has a right to any form of education, without shame.
C. Commerce has existed as long as human beings lived. Different eras called for different systems. And for particular epochs in time, specific commercial systems were superior for that time. Goat herding as a commercial activity, in the right era, is neither inferior nor superior to professional writing in the capitalist era.
1.Its difficult to enforce good practices like Democracy in Africa because of poverty .Can you imagine up to now brands like Colgate(American),Blue band(Denmark) are still being consumed worldwide?
2.The term “Dictator”is soon losing meaning especially when you critically analyze the contribution of M7 towards the development of Africa.
3.Africa for now should focus more on industrialization rather than Democracy.
4.Ugandan officials should not underestimate the threats from the first World for example; why do you think China pleaded with USA and Britain not to cancel Hauwei ‘s expansion?Why did Turkey panic when USA imposed more tariffs on her Steel?Why is there a crisis between UK and the EU over Fish?Uganda is still too backward to begin talking back at the First World.
5.It was so embarasing to see Bobi being manhandled by security forces. My fellow British where wondering what was going on in Uganda so with my heavy British accent i told them that i was also surprised that handsome men like the Two Muhoozis who were incharge of security would accept such crap to happen.
6.To teach the army in Uganda a lesson never to poke their noises in elections;The Judges of the Supreme Court should cancel the Presidential elections held in January just to save face.
7.It is easier to draft paperwork for DGFs coz most of Africa has simillar Politicial,Economic and Social problems.
But who says Africa is mired in poverty? By whose standards?
Let’s do a quick comparative case study – the UK and Uganda.
Both countries are the same size as far as land mass is concerned, though most wrongly assume Uganda is a tiny country and the UK is a big country.
Both countries almost have the same population – 60+ million for the UK and 40+ million for Uganda. Yet some will tell you that Uganda is overpopulated and needs family planning more than the UK (remember both countries have the same land mass and Uganda currently is more self-sufficient food wise than the UK, which imports a bulk 9f its food).
The “typical” Briton (about 70%) earns an average of £30,000 annually. About 70% of the UK population goes to work. As per current living expenses, the minimum salary for a truly decent life in the UK is £50,000; yet the biggest proportion of the working class earn below £21,000.
In other words, the typical Briton today, lives hand to mouth. Are roads tarnacked? Of course. Is the infrastructure superb, definitely. But it’s a mirage.
Now let’s look at the typical Ugandan. Lives rural. Grows their own food. Doesn’t worry about paying mortgage on their abode. Probably has only one pair of shoes. Doesn’t have to worry about having money in the pocket because they grow their food and they pay no rent. Unfortunately, many will call this poverty and say the typical Briton is better off than the typical Ugandan.
There are 14 million Britons in 2021 who struggle to pay for their meals. There’s sections of Ugandans who struggle with food too, but that’s a small proportion, especially in the urban areas. So food is currently not a big problem for Ugandans when compared to Britons.
But wait, how about disease?
Well, just one comparative statistic will suffice: the annualnumber of preventable deaths due to diabetes in the UK is the about the same as for malaria in Uganda. But all you will hear about is death due to infectious disease (eg malaria) and no one asking how a so called rich nation like the UK can have the same number of deaths by a lifestyle disease.
And this is the problem with assuming (and buying into) the wrong notion that when it comes to social systems one size fits all, just Andrew Mwenda points out in the main article.
for once i agree with Andrew, the whole electoral process is designed to give the president legitimacy before the world especially the western world and nothing else.