Fair is Fair

A lady on Facebook brought up a pertinent issue that has dogged African males of late: a viper over-dependency of our females on we males. ( Lamara's View) The fact is, this is a new phenomenon. Our grandmothers tilled the land. Our mothers worked in the professions. All were contributing without mine-and-yours. Now, a Ugandan MP claims abuse when the husband wants to know her income. ( Battered over Pay) Mind you, when she didn't have it, the man took care of things. Crazy stuff--figure it out!

No Woman, No Drive

In the tradition of The Liberal Manifesto, we like this message.

2008 Ghana Presidential Elections

The Elephant in da Room

We have heard that a new organization has been formed, headed by the literati of the Diaspora. Mention is also made of the General who ran away and has kept some of us amused and/or wondering for the last few months as he spitted fire against the wily dictator who has ruled Uganda with an iron grip for more than a quarter century. It is all well and good that this organization should be all-inclusive. The question is: how effective will it be in correcting what has gone wrong in Uganda, let alone having the wherewithal to oust the dictator?

Shake Hands with the Devil

The Museveni Tax on International Calls (MTIC)

The Minister of Finance, Ms Kiwanuka's 2013/14 budget proposal included a ding on telephone international calls terminating in the Republic of Uganda. It was dubbed as taxing "foreigners." I would bet that ninety percent of those calls are from Ugandans living abroad. So now, not only is  the diaspora increasing the economic activities in the country by its remittances, it is going to be taxed to fund a corrupt regime. And check this out; there is a proposal to float some diaspora bond to help finance the said government. All the while a legislation for dual citizenship lies idle on Mr. Museveni's desk and there is no facilitation for diaspora voter participation. 

Here is Telcom 101 on voice calls. When you call a wireless or a land line in Uganda, that call is directed to the receiver via a local carrier which charges a fee which is passed on to you by the carrier of origination. The Museveni government saw easy money here. It will add a tax to the termination fee and the local carrier will just write a check to Caesar. What a racket! Now, you will be paying more for your calls, and you thought digitization was going to lower your rates.

In the tax activists' world, taxation without representation is a farce. The rationale being that if you can't vote, you have no voice in influencing what goes on. Mr. Museveni can impose his greedy hands into your pocket and take away what you have so that he can ride his jets, throw sacks of money in bribery left and right, and, if you dare come to Kampala and demonstrate, you will be whipped by his policemen.

The Project

To Northerners the sight of General Tinyefuza brings the heebie jeebies. Some touch their noses as if to ward off a foul bad breath or body odor. Some have attacks of cold sweats—a post-traumatic syndrome which recalls when the man locked the North into the dark ages and when perceived leaders were made to frog-walk, subjected to kangaroo court-whims and put in jail.

So now, when the general made another stir and the power-that-be has yet to make a public response other than harass letter-carriers, what are we to make of it?

Our experience is that to understand President Museveni, the main subject of the General’s allegation, you have to look at his actions, not his bombastic utterances.

In diagnosing political intentions, just as in diagnosing the weather, economic trends or even medical conditions, one has to consider the past and present leading indicators. The past trend with Museveni has been about amassing personal powers. When it suits him, he has no respect for the law. There is no difference between him and the man who once said: L'État, c'est moi! (The State is me).

With regard to his son, the boy has had the best military training our taxes could buy. He has been promoted rapidly and now controls an elite military unit which protects the father and oil fields.

So, some of us in the North, while fidgeting with our noses and/or shivering in cold sweats and swallowing hard, have a nagging feeling that the mustachioed general might have stumbled on some truth.

There are some questions: How will the hand-over from father to son going to be effected? Might all these talks not discourage the project, or will it make the man more determined? There are dark clouds in the horizon.