World Food Programme: Hunger in West Africa reaches record high in a decade as the region faces an unprecedented crisis exacerbated by Russia-Ukraine conflict (08.04.2022)

Needs are escalating much faster than we are currently able to respond – this in an immensely complex and volatile operational environment.

DAKAR, Senegal, April 8, 2022 – The number of women, men and children affected by a food and nutrition crisis in West and Central Africa is expected to reach a new record high in June 2022 – quadrupling in just three years from 10.7 million in 2019 to 41 million in 2022 – unless appropriate measures are urgently taken, reveals the Cadre Harmonisé food security analysis released in March 2022.

Following the high-level conference in Paris on food security and nutrition situation in West Africa, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) are calling for longer-term political and financial commitments to address the worst food security and nutrition crisis to strike the region in ten years.

“The situation is spiralling out of control. Needs are escalating much faster than we are currently able to respond – this in an immensely complex and volatile operational environment,” said Chris Nikoi, WFP’s Regional Director for West Africa.

“Both governments and partners need a step-change in tackling the underlying drivers of hunger and malnutrition. Bold and rigorous political actions are needed now, including lifting barriers to the regional trade and ensuring the most acute needs are met during a lean season that is projected to be extremely challenging in the region” Nikoi added.

There is a high risk that the food and nutrition crisis will be further aggravated due to persistent insecurity that continues to trigger massive population displacement, the impact of the climate crisis, disrupted food systems, limited food production, barriers to regional trade and the socioeconomic fallout from the pandemic which has devastated national economies. Furthermore, the ongoing conflict in Ukraine is violently disrupting the global trade of food, fertilisers and oil products, with the already high prices of agricultural products reaching record highs not seen in the region since 2011.

While the increase in staple food prices has been steady in all countries in the region, a staggering 40 percent jump from the 5-year average has been witnessed in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Togo, Niger, Mali and Mauritania – pushing basic meals out of reach for millions of women, men and children.

“This unprecedented food crisis the region is facing offers an opportunity for us to address the root causes of food insecurity in the sub-region by developing food and agricultural systems that are less dependent on external shocks, and a more productive and efficient local agriculture with a particular emphasis on the consumption of local food products” said Dr Gouantoueu Robert Guei, Sub-Regional Coordinator for West Africa and FAO representative in Senegal.

The nutritional situation also remains a grave concern in the region, particularly in the Sahelian countries such as Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Chad where an estimated six million children under five are likely to suffer from acute malnutrition in 2022. Nutritional analyses conducted across the Sahel and in Nigeria point to a crisis or emergency situation in several locations in Chad, Burkina Faso, Mali and Nigeria.

“Africa has the largest untapped potential of arable land, yet most of these countries import food. Governments need to support long-term agriculture plans for the next generation, including investments in developing agriculture, livestock and fisheries to achieve food security”, said Benoit Thierry, IFAD Regional representative in West Africa.

The March 2022 Cadre Harmonisé projections suggest that in coastal countries, the number of food insecure people has doubled since 2020, rising from 3 million people in the June-August 2020 period to over 6 million in June-August 2022. This includes nearly 110,000 people facing Emergency (Phase 4) levels of food insecurity. The coastal region is likely to experience further increases in food prices and disruptions in the supply of agricultural products (especially fertilizers), due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

“Acute food insecurity is no longer restricted to the Sahel; it is expanding into Costal countries. We need to respond in a way that is sustainable, at the right scale, and that tackles the multifaceted socio-political and socio-economic elements of the crises the region faces. This will only be achieved through enhanced collaboration, coordination mechanisms at national and regional levels, and leadership at all levels, including from governments, donors, and UN agencies” Nikoi added.

Opinion: Took 34 years to ensure food security

“The time is right for Uganda’s leadership and technocrats to take heed and ensure a transformed food system which responds to all the four dimensions of food security and nutrition” – Justine Kasule Lumumba on the 16^th October 2020 (Farooq Kasule – ‘NRM secretariat champions food security’’, New Vision, 17.10.2020).

The National Resistance Movement (NRM) is proving why there are on a due date. Their deadline of being in power should be passed the expiration date. Since, they are still in power over all this years. You would think they had fixed the basics. Alas, that is not the case.

The NRM who are always praising their track-record and achievements since 1986. It is really brilliant, that a government of this calibre is still not succeeding in the basics. To ensure the citizens and the grand public having food. That is an issue for all governments since the early beginnings of man kind. This why even in Roman time, the tyrants ran the regime with bread and circus. Giving the public food and entertainment. So, they the elite could enjoy the spoils of the empire.

The NRM is surely lacking, when its time to fix this issue now. Food security should have been ensured long time ago. The party has had decades to fix this, have safety nets and ensured the public had food during crisis. However, the multi-nationals and UN Organizations are feeding the system. So, that the NRM can be lazy for years, because they are covering for their misgivings. They are coming with funds and logistics to pick up the slack of the state. This shouldn’t be shocking, because that is the sad reality.

If it wasn’t for donors and others, the pressure would have much stronger to fix this. The NRM can lean on them and anticipate them to cover it. That is why it has taken this long. Still, it is shows their lack of care and concern. Since, this has been an issue since 1986 and not fixed by the year of 2020.

The President, the whole regime should be horrified of themselves. That they haven’t been able to secure all citizens. This is sort of the backbone, the thing that keeps people alive. The same with lack of shelter and water. All of these basics are the sort of thing this state haven’t properly prioritized. Since, there is always a war to cover, an election and new police units to use funds upon. If not another prestige project of the regime, which will not cover the needs of society in general.

That is why yesterday’s statement from the Secretary General of the NRM is insulting, infuriating, but also showing lack of care of the citizens. This isn’t just a regime who started to rule last year. No, they started mid-80s and still haven’t fixed this. That is how little concerned they are about this. Why?

Because, someone else is always footing the bill and taking over for the slack of state. There is always some happy go-lucky CSO/NGO/UN Organization who can patch the hurt. They will come anyway and will have budgets, logistics and the needed expertise to run the operation. Not only in the middle of a crisis, but in ordinary life too.

The NRM should know better, they have had all the tools, the time and the capital, if they cared about this. However, there has always been some other priority, which isn’t about the basics to spend the fortunes on. Peace.

A quick look into Mzee’s Speech on World Population Day 2020

There are sometimes level to this. Sometimes there are some sort of way things goes. That President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has hold speeches like this forever. He follows a pattern and trying to overlook certain things, but now and then he slips off. In this speech he did one big bummer. Which proves his neglect. For a man that has always praised the capacity and abilities of the Republic to be self-sufficient and produce food.

It is amazing that one of his first points was this:

“We in Uganda have also realized that food security is key for the population during a crisis like this pandemic but also in any other crisis, be it locusts, floods, etc” (Museveni, 11.07.2020).

I don’t know if this was his Freudian slip. That this was his moment of clarity, but for a man praising the farming, the agriculture and the growth of this sector. For a man professing to the importance of this field. It is really special that he said this. In the sense, that this means the state isn’t prepared. The state doesn’t have the means or the systems to safeguard food. To have warehouses, storage or ensure capacity in a sudden crisis. That means, the state needs to make this happen. From a man who has had all his grown up life. From about his mid-30 or mid-40s in power to secure this and ensure the public. However, that haven’t been a priority.

One thing a population always needs is food and it needs shelter. To basic things. That the state needs to provide to the ones in need and he has clearly failed the first one.

And in typical fashion, the Republic was hell-on-earth before he took power:

“Ugandans will recall that when NRM came to power, we had many unfavorable indicators within the population. However, since then, we have turned things round and we have made a number of gains. For examples; Before 1986, there was low immunization, poor hygiene, high rates of malnutrition, infectious diseases, limited access to health services. All these led to high levels of sickness and death” (Museveni, 11.07.2020).

When you gloss over the facts of the civil war, the tyranny and the weak state after the independence. There are reasons why things wasn’t great before 1986. Not like the state has a perfect health care system. That’s why all high ranking officials, MPs and whatnot tries to get health care abroad. Even the daughters of the President tries to give birth in Germany or abroad. That’s just the system of the state.

So to praise his own game is a bit far fetched. The mortality rates are still high. The lack of capacity. The lack of places of treatment. The private insurance costs of private hospitals and the system at large isn’t for the population, but a small elite. The same elite before COVID-19 would fly many hours for treatment elsewhere. There been gains, but forgetting to mention this fact is beyond me. It is like glossing over the problems. Looking back in time and always ending up on top. Every nation will look better most likely statistically, than how they looked during a civil war. That should be easy Math, not like it was a priority to save children of measles. When two forces was battling out in the Luweero triangle.

Let me end with the last slip of the tongue of His Excellency:

“the challenge we are now addressing is the 68% of households which are still stuck in the subsistence economy” (Museveni, 11.07.2020).

It is really showing the neglect. That if over half of the population or near ¾ of them is struggling in subsistence. That says you have not delivered. Your work haven’t been proper or done well. The President is saying his policies, legislation and monetary plans haven’t worked. The man has used three decades in power and still saying close to 70% isn’t part of the economy. That’s why they are in a subsistence. If that isn’t saying something about his track-record. He has had the time to challenge this, but part of me thinks he never wanted this to go. If it went away and such. He wouldn’t get free donor-money to development projects. It is easier to eat money from others, than the money earned from domestic revenue. That is just a sad reality.

If the President thought this was a good look. It wasn’t. The numbers game he drops has been done so many times. That I don’t even care. Its his ego boost of the week. Enough nonsense. Peace.

Malawi: Government to distribute over 430,000 bags of maize to food-insecure households (22.09.2018)

The Government of Malawi, through the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA), will from the month of September 2018, undertake a once-off maize distribution exercise targeting acute food-insecure households in 26 districts of the country, pending the final Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee (MVAC) report and development of the 2018/2019 Food Insecurity Response Plan.

Speaking in Blantyre when he presided over the launch of the once-off distribution, Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Joseph Mwanamvekha said a total of 432,729 bags of maize [21,636.5 tonnes] will be distributed to 432,729 food-insecure households in 26 districts of the country.

“Each food-insecure household will receive a 50kg bag of maize and this will be followed by the MVAC response,” said Mwanamvekha.

The once-off distribution comes after the country experienced prolonged dry spells and a severe outbreak of Fall Army Worms, which rendered many households food-insecure.

The relief maize will be distributed to households in Blantyre, Neno, Chiradzulu, Mulanje, Thyolo, Phalombe, Mwanza, Machinga, Mangochi, Balaka, Zomba, Chikwawa, Nsanje, Karonga, Mzimba, Rumphi, Chitipa, Dowa, Mchinji, Kasungu, Ntchisi, Dedza, Ntcheu, Lilongwe, Nkhotakota and Salima.

Katakwi district farmers protest as they are tired of a decade old unfulfilled promise!

“If you don’t eat mangos that fall on the ground, be sure to be strong enough to pick ones on the tree” – Proverb

Yesterday, a reaction to the disarray of the state of the Republic, as the state of promises going back in time. Over a decade of promises of a Soroti Fruit Factory, a factory where the farmers in Katakwi District could deliver their fruits. This would be a massive investment for the Teso Region. However, it has not seen light of day, but for three campaigns in the region, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. Have continued to promise roads, development and factory for their produce. To make juice and generate more added-value on their produce. However, that hasn’t happen, because the National Resistance Movement and the President doesn’t really care about it.

This factory has been talked about being finished many times, many times talk of funds set-up for it, but really not materialized. It has happen every time the President visits. Kinda like a slogan and empty promise. He could for all the farmers care, promise heaven and all the pleasures existing to man. However, they know he will not deliver on it. Museveni doesn’t care about Soroti or the struggle of the farmers in Katakwi.

The MP since 2012, Proscovia Alengot Oromait, who was elected at the age of 19 years old. Who is now 25 years old. For being the MP of the area, she has really not made an impact on the issue. Therefore, the public shouldn’t trust her motivation, as this has been the giant promise in the Teso Region and the NRM has not delivered.

It is 2018, the first big pledge of the Soroti Fruit Factory was in 2008. That is a decade of empty promises, saying there are money for building and planning the factory. In 2017, when in the area, President said together with his team, that its nearly done. This is a district that has fallen behind and that has been through a lot of issues over the years. As the drought and lack of food hit the region last year.

This is just Katakwi District promise, which also entails Soroti District itself, where the factory was supposed to be set-up. Therefore, he has had empty promises in both districts. Katakwi farmers are tired, that is why they just left the mangoes on the street. Instead of taking it to the market, they couldn’t get transport to sell it, even as the state has promised factories to produce juice. Which never appears. It is a government ghost, a government mirage.

Yet, another empty promise from Mzee and the NRM. The farmers are tired of empty, pathetic lies and deception. Big eloquent words from a life president who doesn’t care and has no interest of keeping promises.

No Remedy Mentioned aka NRM or Not Reassured by Museveni aka NRM. Peace.

Malawi: Banned entry of Malema and Chishimba, because the DPP fears the TA Conference!

That the Transformation Alliance are planning to become a Political Party seems to stressful for the Republic of Malawi. This can be said, since the Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security, Hon. Grace Obama Chiumia ordered that two foreign speakers to a TA Conference we’re banned from the Republic. This is the Zambian politician Saviour Chishimba and the South African politician Julius Malema. TA must really upset the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the President Peter Mutharika, who is struggling in with the Cash-Gate and the Maize-Scandal, that has run the Republic.

The Malawian ruling party and President Mutharika must fear the possible TA becoming a single political party instead of a political pressure group. Since the pressure group has enough power to get two foreign high-level politicians to its conference. They would question the corruption and the problematic institutions lacking procedures to secure food storage. Just take a look!

“BLANTYRE – Transformation Alliance (TA), a political pressure group, has announced that it has invited South African and Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema, and controversial Zambian politician Saviour Chishimba, to its first national conference end of August ahead of the 2019 elections” (…) “Chishimba is a darling to Malawians for being a whistle blower of the controversial maize deal between state grain trader, Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc), Zambia Cooperative Federation (ZCF), a government agency, and private company Kaloswe Commuter and Courier Ltd” (Kamanga, 2017).

“Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) have threatened to take action to force the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) pay back the money it received from councils and parastatals during the blue night fundraising dinner held at Kamuzu Palace. According to reports, DPP solicited money from Blantyre City Council (BCC), Mzuzu City Council (MCC) and Lilongwe Water Board (LWB) totalling K13.5 million. Gift Trapence: The reports sparked anger among CSOs who demanded that DPP must pay back the money it got from the institutions” (…) “As Civil Society Organizations we are not going to allow having that impunity and we are warning the ruling party it will return that money come rain come sunshine,” said Trapence. He further urged President Peter Mutharika not to allow party members to be “insulting” the citizenry when they demand answers on issues of national interest” (Bisani, 2017).

“Chakwera will join Julius Malema a well -known politician in South Africa, a firebrand agitator who is revered and disliked in equal measure as another speaker will be Zambia’s leader of United Party (UP), Saviour Chishimba and that he has already confirmed his attendance. TA spokesman, Leonard Chimbanga could not confirm or deny about Chakwera attending the conference late alone making a keynote address, but confirmed that the leader of opposition has been invited to attend the conference. “He has been invited since we share similar views on matters of national interests,” he said. Meanwhile, some officials within the alliance have told Nyasa Times that the pressure group is working on turning into a political party ahead of 2019 elections apart from working underground to forge an alliance with other political groupings including Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and Peoples Party (PP)” (Malawi Voice Reporter, 2017).

Clearly, the Malawian government are afraid of the TA. They fear what the opposition pressure group TA can gain from this conference. That is why they have banned the Zambian politician UP Chishimba and South African EFF Malema is barred from entering the country. This proves the problems Malawi government has with it’s opposition. Peace.

Reference:

Bisani, Luke – ‘CSOs threaten demos over blue night donations’ (16.08.2017) link: https://malawi24.com/2017/08/16/csos-threaten-demos-blue-night-donations/

Kamanga, Penelope Paliani – ‘Malawi’s pressure group invites Malema and Zambia’s Chishimba’ (14.08.2017) link: https://southernafrican.news/2017/08/14/malawis-pressure-group-invites-malema-and-zambias-chishimba/

Malawi Voice Reporter – ‘Kunkuyu’s Transformation Alliance Party Teams-Up With MCP Ahead Of 2019 Polls’ (16.08.2017) link: http://www.malawivoice.com/kunkuyus-transformation-alliance-party-teams-up-with-mcp-ahead-of-2019-polls/

Uganda: Major National Review Recommends Ways of Ending Hunger in Uganda (27.07.2017)

Bukedea district: NRM Government neglect to another level, they are stealing from their starving citizens!

“Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.” – Harry Truman (Special Message to the Congress on the Internal Security of the United States, August 8, 1950).

Certainly, the National Resistance Movement and their government doesn’t seem to care how they look. None of their pledges or even written letters to the Local Government matters. Not even in the midst of famine and starvation. You would think that a government and their agencies had sense of keeping their promises to the ones who needs the most basic in life – as their plates are empty after droughts and bad governance. Therefore, the NRM has no sense, when the Bukedea district are reacting that their promised food relief is less; than promised from the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) Dr. Ruhakana Ruganda and his department. Certainly, this is disrespecting the people and the citizens of Bukedea. Take a look!

“Mike Okwii, the district secretary for health and social services wants the matter investigated expeditiously before they can distribute what they have received. “According to the letter signed by the commissioner of disaster and preparedness, Bukedea was supposed to get 800 bags of posho and 400 bags of beans. But the district has received only 400 bags of posho and 50 bags of beans, which is shocking. So for us at the district leadership, we have decided not to distribute this food. Not until when OPM delivers all the food items”, he said. Okwii confirmed that as of now, nobody has given them any response as to why the Office of the Prime Minister delivered consignments that have fewer supplies that what was declared. “Nobody has given us the right answer why they delivered less food compared to what is on the delivery note. The minister for Teso Affairs is going to follow the matter because you can imagine the minister came to Bukedea to allocate food to the sub-counties. Little did she know that she allocated food which is not even there”, he added (URN, 2017).

The reason for the disrespect is staggering as the reports of termites and insects to survive, proves the lacking governance and upkeep of institutions. Also, the agricultural sector has been left behind, as the irrigation and thinking of how use water in farming. Certainly, the food relief is a way of making sure the people eat while they wait for next season and possible time to start farming again. These in regions that has been hard hit and the government had been warned by FAO and FEWSNET, so these reports should have forewarned them.

“Food is required besides the medication. If someone is sick, the first treatment is food; medicine works well on a well fed body,” said Dr. Chebitai” (New Vision, 2017). Therefore, with the knowledge that the state still has the capacity to not deliver what so needed and necessary is not only a theft, but taken food of the plates of those who starve. That the NRM has the audacity to this proves how they can easily neglect their citizens. Even taking away their first treatment, that is the level of disappointment, the ruling regime can to do their own. Peace.

Reference:

New Vision – ‘Parliament staff donate food items to Teso’ (07.05.2017) link:http://www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1453187/parliament-staff-donate-food-items-teso

In the Teso Region they are eating termites to survive the famine!

There are something deeply wrong, so sincerely wrong when the citizens doesn’t get needed food relief and have to eat termites and insects to survive. This is the state of the famine now in Teso Region, in Katakwi, Amuria, Bukedea and Kaberamaido district.

“Mr Robert Okitoi, the Amuria District council chairperson, said “The situation is bad, people are now eating termites. I think the government should just declare a state of emergency for the regions of Teso, Karamoja and Lango.” (NTV Uganda, 01.06.2017). On the 26^th April 2017 the Parliament has passed a motion to declare ‘State of Emergency’ in Uganda, but the President and the State House has not done anything about it.

Still, a local farmer wrote a piece to the Chimp Reports that has some valuable assessments:

“The current hunger in Teso has largely been attributed to drought, while this assertion may hold some truths; there is increasingly evidence that the Ministry of Teso Affairs has not done its part. Hunger in Teso is as a result of both internal and external factors. For many years, the region has been experiencing declining productivity and this was recently worsened by drought. For districts like Ngora, Bukedia and Kumi, land fragmentation has heavily affected productivity” (…) “Clearly besides drought, Teso food systems are in a crisis and our expectation was that the Ministry of Teso affairs working with other stakeholders would work to address this problem. Our view is that hunger should be among the ‘affairs’ that Ministry of Teso Affairs should be engaged in.Agriculture remains a major livelihood for our people in Teso and therefore we require urgent response from Ministry of Teso Affairs on its plans to help our people get out of the current hunger crisis”(Akorikin, 2017).

This here proves that the drought is just the last piece of the straw in a bigger problem, that even the State Ministry has not been in-charge and had the oversight of the Teso Region. There are lacking the support they need. Still, the government still have done something now and then. Like this one relief to Kaberamaido district: “Kaberamaido district has finally received 12, 000 kilograms of relief food from government valued at Shillings 33 million. Kaberamaido is among the districts battling a severe food crisis resulting from crop failure due to prolonged drought. The most affected areas in the district are Ochero, Bululu, Kobulubulu, Kaberamaido, and Apapai sub counties. With over 5,000 households facing starvation representing about half of the total population in the district, the 12,000 kilograms of flour delivered is far from solving the food crisis” (Odongo, 2017). That means on the 30^th April 2017, the government delivered 12.000kgs of flour that is estimated to be 231,000 citizens in the district alone. Therefore, you don’t have to be rocket scientist to know that this food relief to the one district isn’t enough…

“The minister for Relief and Disaster Preparedness, Hilary Onek, has offered a bit of advice to the hunger-stricken; stop selling the little food you have left. Onek said the weather has become so unreliable for Ugandans to hold on to the little hope for better yields. “They should consider family needs first before selling all the food. Districts like Lira had a lot of food but it [food] was sold to traders from Kenya, South Sudan and even Rwanda because people want money,” he said in an interview. Asked whether government would consider banning the sale of food to outsiders, Onek said they wouldn’t, in the spirit of the East African Community. “That is not an option we will consider; we only want people to behave responsibly to take care of their family needs before they sell all the food,” he said” (UMDF, 2017).

So now the Minister Onek gives advice to the impoverished citizens, so that they are careful with their food stocks, as the relief of the districts are not up-to par. Therefore, that they didn’t stock the extra foods and now they tell the families to take of it. The government could have used their resources and built food-stocks, instead of living hand to mouth. The small-time farmers in the Teso-Region certainly, needs more than fear of selling what they don’t have, they need support and food relief.

The state also has to facilitate the farmers, not in Operation Wealth Creation or Jerry-Can irrigation, but real projects, storage of food-stocks and recreate farmers Co-Ops in the districts and sub-counties to collectively earn and work together to get better yields and also productivity in general. But that isn’t a scheme and way the National Resistance Movement can corrupt or thieve the funds from. Therefore, that will not happen and is the reason why the similar institutions are gone during the decades of President Museveni.

The Teso Region and these district needs help, the man-made famine together with the drought that has worsen it. So the Government has to charge and actually make a difference, not just thieve monies away from Kampala. Peace.

Reference:

Akorikin, Francis – ‘OPINION: Government Should Review the Relevance of Ministry of Teso Affairs’ (05.05.2017) link: https://www.chimpreports.com/opinion-government-should-review-the-relevance-of-ministry-of-teso-affairs/

Odongo, Ronald – ‘Kaberamaido Receives 12,000 KGs of Food Relief’ (30.04.2017) link: https://ugandaradionetwork.com/story/govt-delivers-12000-kilograms-of-posho-worth-ugx-33m-to-famine-hit-residents

Uganda Media Development Foundation (UMDF) – ‘HILARY ONEK TO HUNGER VICTIMS: DON’T SELL FOOD’ (01.05.2017) link: https://www.umdf.or.ug/?q=content/hilary-onek-hunger-victims-don%E2%80%99t-sell-food

The Wonderful Dictator Museveni says to his starving citizens: “that they are eating their state services!”

“A dictator who is elected 5 times. That must be a wonderful dictator. That must be a special one” – President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni (Al Jazeera Interview on the Talk to Al Jazeera, 29.04.2017).

First of President Museveni isn’t in his 5^th Term, rewriting the history as they have deleted the coup d’etat in 1986 as well, as the period into the first election of 1996. Therefore, he has decade most people tries to forget, where he was “unelected” and power-grabbing. If you then count on the time and such, the right amount of terms would be that he is currently in his 7^th !

Well, enough of the sadness of how many terms the 31 year long ruling and wonderful dictator has, today he had to cast his spell on the Labor Day and show his fury of his lazy citizens. Not that he is that hardworking himself, as he eats of the plate himself and empty the state reserves to buy private planes. But that is another discussion!

Therefore, here is the key parts of the speech that is important for me to discuss!

“On the issue of the shortage of food in some areas that hit us last season, my advice is to use relief very carefully for two reasons. The first reason is that relief can kuremaza (disorient) our people away from production to, instead, get in the habit of waiting for relief. Secondly, Ugandans should know that when we are eating relief food, we should know that we are chewing a road, a school or a health centre. Therefore, relief should only be for the really unavoidable situations. It should not be used by politicians for cheap popularity or frivolously (let us take the government food since it is available) or even for corruption by government officials (get the food for selling claiming that it is for relief). Finally, I would like to say that work is the only way to get people out of poverty. I, therefore, urge all Ugandans to develop a positive attitude to work. The NRM government will continue to provide an enabling environment for establishing businesses and creation of employment” (Museveni, 2017).

That he has problem that people are asking and needing food relief is beyond me. Secondly calling them disoriented because of the lacking yields, the burning fire of the sun and the result of the El Nino. But that is just me. That the State and Government could have made sure the rainwater was saved and have more structure so they wasn’t starving in the first place. But then again, Mr. President is never at fault, always casting blame on someone else. Therefore, the citizens is to blame for lacking rains and yields, and also lacking government policies and will to implement some sort agency that support the farmers.

The popularity he speaks of it the ones that want the President to act and declare an emergency, as the volatile and dire situation, as so many people in the hurt districts are eating less a meal a day! Still, he claims people are trading and selling the food without giving it away for relief. Like they sometimes do with clothes, the secondhand rule that some is given, but other is traded away for profits on the secondhand markets. If it was so, shouldn’t the president set his standard and authority to stop this men and woman from thieving the food from the ones in need? I guess he is lazy and disoriented, eating of the licensed roads and royalties of oil prospects instead of really feeding the ones in need.

This isn’t about poverty itself, it is the core mismanagement of his 7^th term government, the lack of institution and the lack agricultural oversight, as the jerrycans into prosperity is a lie. That the starvation and famine is about attitude and not about lacking government oversight. If it was the latter and not the first, he was to blame; since he is the kingpin on the top and should have acted before the famine occur, but that had happen if he was legitimate leader. Nevertheless, he is self-made, self-righteous, individual who doesn’t care how ruthless and inconsiderate he is. This wasn’t words uttered for the betterment of the Republic of Uganda, it was to wash to hands of his sins and walk away from the problems. That because the famine and the food insecurity was made of lazy Ugandans and not because of drought…

Well, the wonderful dictator has hands in the state reserves and dislike that he cannot expand his ranch as much usual, pay of his daughters travels expenses or Lady Janet luxurious footwear. Who knows where all the confidential funds go, but certainly not drip-drop/bottle irrigation scheme. Certainly, this President isn’t worried about district roads, which is nearly impossible to travel through in Abletong on anywhere else for that matter. So when he says that the public is eating of roads and other infrastructure projects when they are starving during droughts and famines. Shows little mercy, this little despot with no empathy… it is gone with all the souls he has captured and stolen their future from by staying in power, I guess.

That President Museveni trying to put a spell on the people for trying to survive in hard-times, in times of tribulations and drought, as the state as struggling to give them a decent food relief. The man in charge is saying they are the reason for lacking roads and infrastructure projects because of that! Than, he also says the ones who stands firm in Parliament, asking for him to humble himself and stand down. To beg for mercy and help, to gain extra support and tell that he has mismanaged the Republic with a “State of Emergency” proves true leadership. They want their leader to take responsibility!

If he was truly elected 5 times, wouldn’t he offer more to the ones that he needed their support? Alas, it isn’t so, because he knows he rigs and put fear into the public… instead of having their real support and getting their votes. If he had so, he might have showed some flair and said he would help them because it was his duty. Not that the people are eating of the infrastructure budget.

Me translating so anyone really understand what he is understating in his speech today:“You lazy bastards are eating of government money because you are starving, you should be able to dig roots and eat rats, not eat of the state reserves. The sun didn’t burn that hard and you didn’t collect enough water with your bare hands. While I am driving 30 cars convoys and flying overseas to be a VIP. How dare you insult these foreign investors by eating my road money, aye?”. That is what you can take from the speech of this wonderful President and wonderful dictator Museveni! Peace.

Reference:

Museveni, Yoweri Kaguta – ‘SPEECH ON THE OCCASION TO MARK INTERNATIONAL LABOUR DAY’ (01.05.2017) link: https://www.yowerikmuseveni.com/speech-occasion-mark-international-labour-day