Uganda is Next After Libya-Nina Mbabazi





Uganda is a sweet cookie for all these people and now we also seem like oil shall be added in the package by 2015. China’s CNOOC would not have paid Tullow so much (which they are trying to shirk taxes for) if they didn’t see Uganda as more than oil.

We are the land of honey and milk right now. So anything that they think will give them excuse to step in, they will take it. Forget about the morality here. They know that in Africa if you say there is a dictatorship with anyone who has been in power for 25 years, all of us African will just say yes and make noise and wait for someone else to come do the dirty job. They are your shoulder to cry on, they are BIG BROTHER.

Look at some members here in Ugandans At Heart (UAH) who are openly asking for assistance to get rid of NRM. These are the people they want to hear from. You are the ones who will lead us to second colonization. But when someone writes here that a government has become so disconnected that they have nothing to live for, then a serious government will take note and try to build bridges.

I was watching Al Jazeera last week and they run a story saying CIA has increased its budget for Twitter and Facebook and has designed software that will allow an agent to manage ten accounts with one ID but all ten showing up with different names. So you will think that all of a sudden many people are with you and you shall gain the courage to come out for peaceful demonstrations. They know that you will not come out for Kizza Besigye, but they know that if they touch upon something that is within your self interest and NOT political interest, you shall rise.

So what do they expect? If you remember the Asian tigers and how they had chased away IMF and World Bank, do you recall what happened there? Their money lost value so quickly. Indonesia under Suharto the dollar in a period of 3 months went from $1=2,500 to $1= 10,000. Income remained constant and you can read about all the other economic triggers. To add insult to injury, Suharto increased taxes for the rich but excluded members of his family who were classified as super rich. It took Suharto 6 months to fall and in the rest of the countries, instability took 6-12 months. These are economic hitmen. And the IMF is back in full force in the Asian Tigers.

In Tanzania, Nyerere was not going to give up power when he did, but after hunger and starvation, he bowed out feeling like a total failure. If you haven’t already been informed, WFP has doubled their budget for your maize, your staple food. The budget is now $100M. Most of our population Bank of Uganda says 75% do not keep their money in formal banks. They hide it under their beds or in informal sectors so we can’t tap it to increse investment yet now WFP is targetting those as their suppliers. WFP is building warehouses upcountry under the guise of efficiency but in reality, they always give the lowest maize price. They are going to mop up all your maize and send it as relief to Sudan and Kenya and other countries that are suffering. We Kampala people who drink porridge and eat posho, the cost of food will go up, but your incomes will remain the same. Hunger and starvation will set in and that is when your self interest shall kick in.

Look at the knock on effects of lack of maize. In Kanungu our villagers are reaping the benefits. The price of rice has risen from 1,800 to 2,500 a kg. Almost close to imported basmati rice. I wonder, hasn’t matooke taken a big banana wilt beating and now the high fuel prices have pushed up a bunch to 15,000. Do you remember a few years ago when we spent 7,000 a bunch? What about potatoes, all food. Is it not true that Uganda’s working class is living off one meal a day? Has anyone seen the transformation at city square at night? If you haven’t please drive and park and see how many people leave their offices in the evening and have a kikomando as their only meal. What they earn, they leave for their children to at least have a cup of beans for food for the day. These are all the effects of economic hit men and Uganda can’t do anything about it unless they start to recognize the signs.

This is what causes revolutions that don’t have leaders, they think they don’t have leaders but most times the psychology is the same creating one mindset. The mindset is the leader. In Egypt they are wise but will take a long time to recover. They pelted El Baradei with stones and he couldn’t vote in the referendum. What the referendum showed, is that Africans don’t care which dictator is in power, they shall move on when the new dictator comes and they shall do so with gladness in their hearts. Case in point Egypt elections December 2010 = 7M voters. Egypt Referendum March 2011 = 14M voters.

So Uganda, Congo, Zimbabwe, etc. Our leaders are sitting ducks. Only the citizenry can save their countries from re-colonization because leaders are generally much unfocused on what is the citizenry’s “self-interest”. This is why unless they connect with you, shall fall like a pack of cards, and Africa won’t skip a heartbeat. It shall move on and the air cargo terminals shall be built and we shall all enjoy colonization for about 25-40 years until we also get tired of their stories. If anyone does not think this is serious please go study a map and look at the strategic location of Libya. American has already appointed an envoy to Benghazi so it doesn’t matter how long the civil war will be on for. Benghazi will be peaceful and they shall build military bases there and prepare for the Ugandan Invasion.

Now look at Tullow oil in today newspaper that doesn’t want to pay tax, takes you to court and then says they are doing you a favour even to pay the little tax that they have paid. And mark you; they are being helped by your black brothers and sisters. Exactly how colonization was in the first place.

Food for thought.

Nina Rukikaire Mbabazi



13 Comments so far. Leave a comment below.
  1. Odomaro,

    I am yet to be convinced that an African leader who rules his country for over 20 years has the interests of his people at heart. There is continued clamour that Africa is up for grabs with the new wave of protests that began in Arab North Africa. Why are we quick to dismiss the fact that protests were sparked off by tyrannical regimes that were plundering national resources including foreign aid from the so called colonialists? Can we honestly not call the plunder of African resources by our very leaders who then hide the booty in Western banks (or other African banks), internal scrumble and colonialism? The case of Ivory Coast is invoked as well–didn’t the AU disown Bagbo when he refused to hand over power to his opponent Ouattara who won the elections? The worst scrumble is when our own African leaders fail to respect commonly held principles of democracy and cling to power by all means necessary arguing that democracy is a foreign concept. If that were the case, how come we have some countries such as Botswana, South Africa, Ghana and Mauritius, that are governed by standard norms for democracy? And more importantly, why do our African countries accept to be part of the UN system that holds countries accountable according to known standard norms for running decent states, if they were not convinced of those norms? Recall that once Libya was holding the chair of the UN’s Human Rights Comission (even as some coutnries were protesting this position). To now begin labelling humanitarian intervention a form of scrumble is a diversion from the governance deficit that most African countries are facing. The masses have woken up from their slumber. To refer to Obama as a son of a Luo Kenya father is to miss the point and attack the person. Some African leaders were calling for an African solution–so we have it!


  2. WB Kyijomanyi,

    Ms Nina Rukikaire:

    In 1884 they met at the Berlin Conference; in 2011 it is at the London conference for the new scramble of Africa..So Mr Obama the son of a luo Kenya father would be the one to preside over the second scramble for Africa”. And make no mistake, what is going on between European ledaers and the USA is just that: figure out how to share Africa’s resources. They have been helped by African elite-hello UAH cheerleaders-who sorry, suffer from a false sense of consciousness. In their thinking they see the bombing as good for democratization. many want the West to bomb Ivory Coast to install their puppet. Ladies and gentlemen that is the clearest example of false consciousness.

    This heading has touched a raw nerve but it is the truth. I am not in the business of sugar coating tragedy. I can tell you that a lot of this bombing of African countries has a lot to do with the choices African countries now have especially with China. Mark you China was never at Berlin in 1884. BTW, have you ever wondered how these countries developed? Well they developed by under developing other countries.

    People are not wiling to accept but the truth is that what you see is another scramble for Africa. That is the truth. It has nothing to do with bad rule or democratization. That thought is only entertained by those who suffer from false sense of consciousness and it turns out they are a bundle.

    Well, you write that Uganda, Congo and Zimbabwe are sitting ducks. Congo yes. Zimbawe perhaps after Mr. Mugabe-whom I applaud for tackling land and giving it to the people because Chimurenga was about land. ow compare that with Uganda where the reverse is underway: giving land to kabulus at the expense of wanainchi. In Congo it is the recsource curse at play. “Dirty” networks are all over the country.

    I hope you agree but one leader who gave the West the finger is Mr Mwai Kibaki-I know UAH cheerleaders of imperialism claim he rigged, wapi.. That is why the West engineered those killings. There is overwhelming evidence but will not reveal here. That is why you have the Ocampo Six. FYI, the Ocampo six can and will shape the presidential campaign.

    The West thought that by singling out the Ocampo six they were doing their man a favour. No. The odds against him hardened and the election in 2012 will not even be close. Interestingly it is likely to coincide with trails in the Hague which will whip up ethnic emotions in Kenya and influence the voting almost to person. Expect anyone who says a bad word against Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta and Mr. Muthaura in GEMA land to be swept aside by the emotional Tsunami.

    The same applie s to Rift valley. To be tagged anti Ruto is a curse of death. But give it to the idiots in the West and there are many, who deluded themselves that, their man can win by exclusion. May be in Uganda, but not in Kenya. Kenyan voters vote well and vote as a group. Right now 2 of the Ocampo six are addressing huge rallies in their backgrounds before they report to The Hague next week or so. Do not take my word for it, ask around. This is relevant to the topic because ICC is the other tool they have identified and give to African elite: they can be cheerleaders. What happened to critical thought-thank you Mr Alimmadi and your paper?

    Now Ms Nina Rukikaire, on Tullow, I hope you can help me. Ms Kessasi shied away from it: under what law does Tullow owe Uganda taxes? What taxes are we talking about? Do you know under whose orders the exemption was made in the income tax act targeting gains from oil? Do you know whether that exemption has been rescinded by another gazette? The point is this: firms do not just pay taxes because they made a killing. No. They pay taxes because there are taxes owed. What I am saying and said it here before is this: Tullow does not owe any capital gains to URA or Uganda. Why? Because URA/MOF published an exemption which is still the law. May be you can ask around who authorized it? Get to the truth of this matter because at the end of the day, Uganda is the loser not because Tallow is greedy but because someone higher up created the exemption in the Income Tax Act. Who is he or she?

    But it was nice to see Mr. Karuhanga looking very young and loaded. Did I hear some say he tried to sabotage the NRA struggle? Kweli? How come he is the man eating big money?


  3. Robert Ssenkindu,

    If it happens to Uganda tomorrow, I will be one those Benghazi rebels unless the current situation were changed. Let us learn to live like humans and see if your so called ‘imperialists’ will have any case against us. Qaddafi is going no matter what!!

  4. Barney,


  5. Banda,

    Nina, thank you indeed. Me and my friends share most of your views because they are reliable, well articulated, un-biased and realistic. Imperialism is like a chameleon – it keeps changing. We wish all Ugandan and other Africans were alert like you. Webale nnyo nyabbo!

  6. Michael,

    Thank you Nina for the best, well thought, unbiased article coming out of people with in the echelons of power.You have put your analytical mind to the best use to our country.
    You are one of the right people to help in the transformation of this Nation(Uganda).
    We need a new breed of leaders up there that will think for this nation.
    However if the following are not checked then the imperialists as you called them are going to take advantage of them.these are:
    high levels of Impunity;
    high levels of unemployment among both educated and uneducated Youth;
    Poor Social Service Delivery;
    Poor Quality of Education in country;
    Lack and Poor infrastructural Development;
    Selective implementation of the law and lack of rule of law;
    Tribalism and Divisive politics;
    Widening gap between the rich and Very poor in villages.

    Lastly i think we should not blame the west for our own governments committing atrocities against their own people as in the case of Libya.
    Gadaffi is one of the best social Economic performing and Patriotic Presidents in Africa, much as his good governance was wanting.
    His only demise is OVERSTAYING IN POWER.And that is why imperialist as you called them took advantage of this, and with there own interests(OIL) in mind they are “implementing a No fly Zone”.

  7. kiranda,

    Nina actually what we have is truly a new way of colonization but the masses will accept it .do you know why?Its because African leaders have failed to support the common man and are only focused on bending the constitution to stay longer in power.86% OF UGANDANS in 1990 wanted Museveni to stay on and in 2010 about 24% forget the votes.Look at the 1.7trillion shilling spent on jet fighters when in actual sense people are dying of jiggers in busoga,today it rained and a wall fell on kids because there are no drainage systems.If the president spent that same amount on drainage in kampala,hospitals ,Market resourcing for agricultural goods, a serious transport and housing system to mention a few don’t you think it would make a difference.If the western powers allied behind the Kabaka of Buganda now,Don’t you think it would be a serious problem for the president.president and Uganda at large .
    Now the question is What do we do?
    I think for the love of this country ,the president should retrace his steps back to 1986…. and also fall in love with his people once again the way he did before.

  8. Ronald,

    Colonization or not,Our leaders have to start caring for the common man not cliques around themselves which unfortunately I dont see happening .Its just a matter of time , they will follow Gaddafi.

  9. Japtheth Tebikunde,

    This is self-serving nonsense. When have we ever been free? Who is responsible for ruining the economy? The so-called economic hitmen who have been propping up your dad’s boss for the last 25 years or your dad and his boss who have been misappropriating the money the hitmen bring in as “aid”? What has M7 done to save the eceonomy from the foreigners? What was privatisation about? The wholesale foreignisation of the Ugandan economy with your dada and his boss creaming off tidy little profits! Now you have the audacity of crying that the foreigners are coming?!! Who has been preparing the way for them all this time? Take a look at yourself in the mirror and whip out your wedding photographs – you will see the people responsible for the re-colonisation of Uganda.

    For my part, it is better to be colonised and oppressed by people with some ethics than by you blood sucking and hypocritical lot! The British colonialists created the country, built the schools, constructed the infrastructure and built hospitals. You people have done nothing but steal the money the Bazungu send here as “aid”. You have bled us dry while pretendiong to protect our interests.

    Nothing will save you. We shall not rise up to protect this regime. We are not going to ruise up for Besigye but we are definitely NOT going to lift a finger to save Museveni. So you had better advise your daddy to do what Moussa Kusa of Libya did. Abandon ship all ye rats because it is surely sinking.

  10. Tukamushaba,

    Africans create the conditions for the “Imperialists” to come in.
    Human beings by nature hate monotony. How do you expect people to tolerate one President for 30 or 40 years. This is not marriage, even in marriage that is why they put safe guards like vows and rings in church to hold the couple together for years but sometimes the marriage fails. What strong ties does a common Ugandan have with the President? For him he would like to cling there for ever because of the money we common men pool and put at his disposal to use as he wishes.
    You mentioned the WFP building ware houses all over, why cant our government build food stores, buy food from the population and then negotiate a better price with the WFP? If our rulers (not leaders) fail to care about us, the outsiders will have a chance to come in. It is like a husband neglecting his wife; other men will take the advantage.
    Nina, look at the roads that lead to your home district , Kanungu; whether from Kabale of from Rukungiri. Is it the Imperialist that have made the Govenment to forget about them? Even in Amins Government Lorries used to move food from Kihihi market to Kabale Town; Kihihi was Kabale food basket; presently the road is impassable. If WFP builds a warehouse in Kihihi and pays the Banyabutumbi cheaply for their food, whom should we blame. We need to organise our house before we blame outsiders.

  11. The Struggle on Fascists has just began

  12. Colin Agabalinda,


    You are spot on. I cannot agree less….amazing work



    To me it is just abegging, but it could be better if they attack government with force but not even protesting. how can you use 4billions just for swearing in and yet people in the country are sufering with poverty,no medicine in hospitals,high prices to some extent inflation

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