Why the Coalition of the Willing is no longer the winning team
Tuesday January 04 2022
You remember how Uganda spent resources and lives for years to liberate South Sudan? Once Independence came, a better prepared Kenya moved in to do the serious business while most Ugandan expatriates in Juba were market women selling foodstuff. ILLUSTRATION | JOHN NYAGA
The year 2021 is over and the reviews have been done. It could have been more useful to review the decade, and certainly more interesting in the context of the East African Community.
Remember the time when Uhuru Kenyatta was the new bride in the EAC and the not-even-old Jakaya Kikwete seemed to be so tired? I am trying to find a polite way to remind you about how Kampala, Kigali and Nairobi conceived the Coalition of the Willing (CoW). The three were frowning on Tanzania, which seemed to be unexcited about their clever ideas like the single tourist visa.
Uhuru’s energy then seemed to be unlimited, as he chased the Kenya Customs boss from Nairobi to go sit in Mombasa, where his work was, and indeed the turnaround time for cargo to Uganda and beyond was reduced several times over. It looked like the EAC was about to break, leaving the “sluggish” Tanzania alone with Burundi as the three-headed CoW raced ahead.
Along the way, the EAC got a new bride, who suddenly made Uhuru look like a limping old man. The “Bulldozer” John Pombe Magufuli came and went as fast — RIP — after shaking the sleepy (not sleeping) giant into a gallop, doing things that restored Tanzania’s manhood that had gone limp. The “Bulldozer” was replaced by a real bride, East Africa’s first lady Commander-in-Chief, meaning Tanzania has started a possible 15 years without a first lady.
Will Mama Samia make Tanzania the Germany of Africa à la Angela Merkel, who came in quietly and reigned that long?
Samia has already become the fastest president East Africa has ever had. She has signed multibillion-dollar deals with all the member states, including DR Congo, which is just about to join the EAC. She doesn’t bulldoze like her predecessor, she charms.
So, whence went the CoW? We closed 2021 with Uganda and Kenya at each other’s economic throats. In fact, after the brief CoW romance, the two have spent the last half decade fighting over sugar, milk, chicken and eggs.
As for Uganda and Rwanda, even God cannot understand our bizarre relationship; only the devil can. In fact, the worst mistake a serviceman from either country originating from near the border can do is go home (where families from both countries mingle) for leave; as s/he risks being captured “in action” and taken prisoner of war.
Since no living person seems to understand the Uganda-Rwanda issue (the humorous Angolans staged a brief comedy of mediating the quarrel, whose cause is unknown), let us stick to the fight between Uganda and Kenya.
As things stand and have stood over the decade, Uganda has little chance of winning the trade spat with Kenya. The thing is that Uganda’s management of its resources is at best funny. So while the two have more or less the same population size, same age (Uganda being 14 months older), Kenya’s GDP is three times bigger than Uganda’s, although Uganda has many times more natural resources than Kenya.
Having had a headstart with Western education/training, you would expect Uganda to be economically more advanced than Kenya, with more vibrant manufacturing and commercial service sectors.
For some reason this is not the case, giving Uganda a smaller fighting chance in the economic race. Uganda has neglected all its factors of production but, most critically, the labour factor.
We mouth clichés like “skilling the youth” and enact policies and programmes for them but ignore the aspect of attitude. The only sector where we emphasise attitude is the house servants export market to the Middle East. The girls and boys (who go to be guards and porters) are taught one great work ethic, “never question an Arab boss”.
So with the nation’s youth being encouraged to go out to be domestic servants, what are the chances of nationals becoming key players in harnessing Uganda’s vast resources? It is good for earning some money but what useful skills will they bring back to enable Uganda produce high quality goods to compete with Kenyan products on Uganda’s market and beyond in Congo and South Sudan.
You remember how Uganda spent resources and lives for years to liberate South Sudan? Once Independence came, a better prepared Kenya moved in to do the serious business while most Ugandan expatriates in Juba were market women selling foodstuff.
Joachim Buwembo is a Kampala-based journalist. E-mail: [email protected]