Speech
by President Benjamin William Mkapa at a State Banquet Hosted
in Honour of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda at
the State House, Dar Es Salaam, on 20th September, 1996.
Your Excellency
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni,
President of the Republic of Uganda,
Hon. Prime Minister Frederick Sumaye,
Honourable Ministers,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Allow me to interrupt
your meal - not for too long I hope - for what I consider
to be a supremely worthy purpose. Africans are renowned for
their generosity. We like, and indeed consider it an honour,
to share not only our food but our thoughts as well. It is
for this reason that I should like to share with you what
is in my heart on this auspicious occasion of the visit of
our brothers and sisters from Uganda.
I speak not from
the head but straight from the heart as one should speak to
a brother or sister. In that spirit, I am pleased on behalf
of the Government and People of Tanzania, to welcome you once
again to Dar es Salaam and to Tanzania. Our people have always
considered you, Mr. President, and the People of Uganda as
their brothers and sisters. I am sure I speak for them when
I say: "Karibuni sana na Mjisikie Nyumbani". We
wish you and all members of your delegation a most pleasant
and fruitful stay in our country.
Mr. President,
The affinity that the people of our two countries feel for
each other is not the creation of their present or recent
leaders. It is a fact of history that predates the day the
Europeans met in Berlin over a century ago to draw lines on
the map of Africa that cut across communities they hardly
knew and which had for long considered themselves as one people.
You, Mr. President,
are a more accomplished historian and anthropologist than
myself. I, therefore, made a point of consulting history books
so as to enhance my knowledge of the historical links between
our two countries and peoples in advance of your visit. I
have learnt, for instance, that the Kingdom of BUHAYA obtained
its kings (ABAKAMA) from Ankole. The first such kings were
Omukama Nono for the Karagwe Kingdom; Omukama Kairo for the
Ihangiro Kingdom; Omukama Mate ga Lulinga for the Kihanja
Kingdom; Omukama Magembe for the Kiziba Kingdom and Omukama
Kibunga for the Bukara Kingdom. They all shared a mother called
"NJUNAKI", and each new king had to be installed
in power by the king of Ankole. The Kingdom structures were
also the same with a king (Omukama), his Prime Minister (KATIKIRO)
and Ministers (ABARAMATA). Furthermore, the presence of the
ABAHIMA and ABAHINDA in both countries, and also the BAGANDA-KYAKA
in Tanzania, provides further testimony to these historical
links across our common border.
Mr. President,
Our people have always felt at home on either side of the
border as they undertake together activities in business,
culture, education and health. Mulago used to be a referral
hospital for the people of Bukoba. Kampala was their centre,
not far-off Dar es Salaam. Sometimes we have problems in identifying
the Tanzanians living in Minziro because their vernacular
is Luganda. In this context, the traditional bonds that we
are cementing today have been in existence for ages. We are
only following on the footsteps of our ancestors.
It is also a
happy coincidence that while Your Excellency is a graduate
of the University of Dar es salaam, I am a graduate of Makerere
University. You and I, therefore, stand out as vivid expressions
of the many years of friendship and cooperation between our
two countries. Naturally thus, it is incumbent upon us to
champion the cause of East African Cooperation.
Your visit should
enable us and our two sides to agree on new ways to expand,
deepen and enrich the excellent bilateral relations between
our two Governments, our two countries, our two Peoples, and
the private enterprises in our two countries. I add the private
enterprises out of a firm conviction that they have a critical
role to play in promoting bilateral relations. This is a role
we must encourage, and I am glad that during your visit you
will be meeting our business people as well. When you meet
them please encourage them to be as active as their Ugandan
counterparts.
Mr. President,
On this, your first State Visit to Tanzania since your election,
I should like, on behalf of the Government and the People
of Tanzania, and on my own behalf, to congratulate you once
again for a very impressive and indeed landslide victory that
would make any politician green with envy. HONGERA SANA!!
This victory
is a clear manifestation of the trust and confidence that
the People of Uganda have in you and the policies you stand
for. For the past ten years you have been in office, you have
proved to be a competent, visionary, tolerant, skillful and
uniting leader. It is your proven track record in bringing
peace and stability, as well as social and economic development,
that made the majority of the People of Uganda say: "No
change!!". The celebratory joy I saw on the faces of
the people lining the road from Entebbe to Kampala on 11th
May 1996 as they shouted "No Change!!" will always
remain etched in my mind.
But it is not
only the People of Uganda who are happy with you. The people
of Tanzania likewise have great admiration for you and all
you have done for Uganda. You have set an example that my
people now challenge me to emulate in our country. They wish
to believe that your time at the University of Dar es Salaam
contributed to giving you the intellectual tools that eventually
turned you into a distinguished political leader, economic
reformer, and an African Statesman we all feel proud of. Today,
we hope that in turn some of your magic can rub off on us
that we too can achieve faster social and economic development.
We commend you
for creating a stable macro-economic framework and putting
in place prudent economic policies the results of which have
won accolades for you and Uganda across the world. Economic
growth has averaged 6% if not more; inflation is down to only
2.4%; the size of your GDP has doubled from USD 3 bi. in 1986
to USD 6 bi. today; and revenue collection has risen tremendously.
As a result Uganda is now self-reliant in financing her own
recurrent budget as well as 30% of her development budget.
We in Tanzania who have for long preached the imperative need
for self reliance have a lot to learn from you. Our dignity
as a people and as a nation demands that each year we move
further and further from the shadow of dependency and increase
the scope of our self-reliance.
We also commend
the people of Uganda for undertaking peaceful changes in their
political system and charting out their own democratic system
that truly takes into account their history, common experience
and present circumstances as a people and as a nation. For,
while there are indisputably basic and universal principles
of democracy and good governance, the institutions through
which democracy is exercised, and the actual applications
of democracy, have to be adapted to suit the objective of,
and the obtaining situation in, each particular country.
Mr. President,
The liberation from poverty is a difficult struggle, often
more daunting than the political one. It is a struggle that
demands new strategies and new tools. One such strategy is
regional integration in the spirit of South-South Cooperation.
We have high hopes for the new opportunities for regional
cooperation and development offered by the renewed spirit
of East African Cooperation. This will also increase the scope
for trade, and make East Africa more attractive to foreign
investment. Our three East African countries together with
Burundi and Rwanda constitute an economic space of about 90
million people. This provides a market that can capture the
interest of investors unlike our individual, single economies,
however attractive we try to make them to both domestic and
foreign investors.
Mr. President,
Our three governments clearly have a major facilitating role
to play in the evolving regional cooperation and integration
in East Africa. But it is our business communities that will
be key players and major beneficiaries in the implementation
of our desire for closer cooperation and economic integration.
Our three Governments on their part have the duty to create
an enabling institutional, legal and administrative environment
for the private sector to be able to play this role effectively.
One area that
needs urgent government involvement is in the improvement
of infrastructure. Improved roads, railwaylines, inland water,
maritime and air transport as well as posts and telecommunications
links will greatly enhance intra-regional trade and investment.
I wish to assure you of our unflinching commitment to East
African Co-operation and our desire to cooperate with you
and our Kenyan colleagues to create a conducive environment
for enhanced regional cooperation and integration in East
Africa.
Mr. President,
Tanzania being a littoral state honours her obligation to
provide sea access to landlocked countries. In this regard,
Tanzania has modernized the Dar es Salaam Port and improved
the central railway corridor so as to render better services
to our landlocked neighbours. In this respect, Uganda is invited
to make full use of these modern facilities. I am glad to
note that the volume of Ugandan transit cargo using the Dar
es Salaam port has increased from 50,000 metric tons in 1993/94
to 95,000 metric tons in 1995/96 - an increase of 90% over
this two year period. Yet this welcome development has only
managed to increase the share of Ugandan cargo using the port
of Dar es Salaam from 5% two years ago to 10% now. It is an
increase, but far too low still. We have taken the challenge
to be more efficient and competitive earnestly so as to offer
even better services to you, and hopefully be found worthy
to handle more Ugandan transit goods.
Mr. President,
Allow me to take this opportunity to commend you for your
tireless efforts and firm stand in the search for fair, equitable
and durable solutions to the prevailing conflicts in the Great
Lakes Region, particularly in Burundi. Our two countries,
as well as our colleagues in the Great Lakes Region, have
made it clear that the illegal and unconstitutional change
of Government in Burundi cannot be allowed to stand. Africans
and their leaders must now learn to respect and honour the
verdict returned by the electorate. That is the essence of
democracy, and he cannot claim to stand for democracy anyone
who negates the supremacy of the peoples verdict expressed
in a free and fair election.
Mr. President,
You and I know that we, the leaders of the sub-region, do
not derive any pleasure in imposing economic sanctions against
the military junta in Bujumbura. Certainly we sympathise with
the innocent people who are affected by the economic sanctions.
But we know that the people of Burundi yearn for an end to
the massacres and systematic assassinations going on in that
country and are tired of perpetual political instability,
injustice and bigotry.
Mr. President,
Of late, the military junta in Bujumbura has announced that
they have restored the Parliament and unbanned political parties
and asked us to lift the sanctions. We ask the military authority
in Burundi to go further and address seriously the call by
the Arusha II Summit for them to engage in unconditional negotiations
with all parties in a return to the Mwanza Peace Process.
I am consulting about holding an early Summit Meeting. Let
us hope that by then concrete and verifiable evidence of the
irreversibility of the implementation of these conditions
will have been manifest and a case for a graded lifting of
sanctions can be made.
Mr. President,
I promised not to keep our guests away from their food for
too long. So I should like to end my speech by thanking you
once again for honouring my invitation and for coming to see
your Tanzanian friends, sisters and brothers. I now request
all present to stand up, raise their glasses and join me in
a toast:
- to the continued good health and happiness of H. E. President
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni;
- to the continued
peace and prosperity in Tanzania and Uganda;
- to the continued friendship and co-operation between Tanzania
and Uganda.
Thank you.
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APARC