Uganda: self-reliant progress, but next, that "election thing"

By Sam Kauffmann

Global Beat Syndicate

BOSTON--I just returned from a seven-month stint as a senior Fulbright Scholar in Uganda. I was teaching at Makerere University, long considered one of Africa's finest universities--until Idi Amin destroyed it. I can say with conviction that Makerere is making a strong comeback, and my impressions of the country are that it is making a comeback as well, and one that may well serve as a model for other African countries in several ways.

I lived in South Africa for two years and have traveled through many African countries; and I have spent months in Europe and Central America. Without doubt, Ugandans are the friendliest people I've met. Although still a poor country, it has an improving infrastructure, ample hydro-electricity, abundant arable land, a good network of roads (most in need of repair), and an indigenous population that is capable of running the country without relying heavily on outside expertise. Simply put, it currently has an active democracy and a solid, functioning government and other institutions, all run by black Africans--white faces on the streets of the capital are few and far between--and he Ugandans have come this far on their own.

You do not have to scratch too deeply to find that the scourge of AIDS has affected all Ugandans. Everyone has a close relative who is HIV positive or has died of AIDS. Fortunately, President Yoweri Museveni, unlike his South African counterpart, Thabo Mbeki, has made combating HIV/AIDS a top priority and antiretrovirals are getting more than token distribution.

The war against the Lord's Resistance Army in the north of Uganda is finally showing progress, and when its rebel leader, Joseph Kony, gives up or is captured, the military's large share of the budget will be more productively spent. Government corruption is nowhere near Nigerian levels, but it is an ever-present problem throughout Africa. Unfortunately, Museveni does not see it as a problem worth tackling right now, given the war in the north, the fight against AIDS, and other economic issues.

Most Ugandans, even professionals, can be classified as "working poor" because the wages are so low. Everyone you meet has two jobs to pay their bills. Sometimes the salaried primary job (teacher, university lecturer, nurse or doctor) has to take a back seat to the informal secondary job because it makes the difference between paying for important things like children's school fees. Despite the poverty, there is little crime. My wife, two children and I traveled all over the country and we never felt threatened or unsafe. My students and I carried expensive film and video equipment all over the capital city, Kampala, and we never lost so much as a cable.

Politically, there are some difficult days ahead and ominous potential threats to a nascent democracy, still in its formative stages. Just when the country is poised to move from a one-party system to a multi-party state, President Museveni has let it be known he wants a third term--in direct conflict with the Ugandan constitution's two-term presidential limit. Museveni has not groomed a successor, so there is no one in his National Resistance Movement who can win in a multi-party race. And the bloated ministries, full of party loyalists, are pushing him hard to run again so they can keep their gravy train rolling.

Given the track record of African leaders (Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe is a handy example), most Ugandans are uncomfortable with a third term. But Museveni controls the army and the majority of the voters will grudgingly give him a third term just to keep the army from turning weapons on them. Put another way, no one wants to lift the constitutional ban on a third term, but if Museveni wants a third term in 2006, Ugandans are willing go along with it to prevent the kind of chaos they have had in the past.

As with a lot of developing countries, Uganda has tremendous potential. Now if it could just get "the election thing" right.

But Ugandans are quick to remind you, using Florida as their trump card, who are we to talk?