Uganda 10/30/1993 Meeting With The President Highlight Of Day's Activities

Tour Of Ranch Of Vice President
By Bob Van Leer

(ENTEBBE, UGANDA, EAST AFRICA - OCT. 30,1993) - The highlight of today's activities was a meeting with Yoweri Museveni, president of Uganda, at the State House, the official residence. Museveni is intelligent, articulate and educated and has what the military refers to as "command presence". This partly explains why he was able to take a force of 27 men, built it to a guerrilla force of about 20,000 and finally take over the country from the corrupt regime of Tito Okello.

  Museveni told us the country is now in the process of electing an assembly to draw up a constitution for Uganda. He said the constitutional assembly is different from the West. Uganda is a pre-industrial society. It doesn't have the productive middle class. He said the West sometimes thinks all societies can be managed the same way. He said a search is being done of all forms of government including the U. S. He said, "The model we choose must be approved by one man - one vote". Museveni said it is essential Uganda have free elections, free press and suppression of powers of government. He said it is up to the people whether it be a presidential or parliamentary form of government. People will be elected to debate what form and then there will be a general election.

  As for himself, he said he would be willing to serve one more term of five years, but no more than that. Museveni said there is a conference underway right now in Kampala on a Preferential Trade Area. He said during the conference they are going to sign a "common market" treaty for East Africa. Musaveni said the press is influential in a modern state "if responsible and enlightened". He said in the long run the press is an important component of a free society. He likened the press to a mirror and said, "If the mirror shows your hair is messy, you don't break the mirror - you comb your hair". Museveni said he wants to emphasize trade and investments, not aid. He said Uganda is becoming a nuisance by begging and borrowing from abroad. A stock exchange is in the process of forming to gather capital.

  He said there is a small savings in every home. If the people have confidence these savings can be put together and used to build the country. Factors in Uganda's favor he said included: with irrigation, crops can be grown all year around - four crops per year with irrigation, two without. The currency is fully convertible and there are no restrictions on taking money out. In response to a question, he said Uganda is a den of corruption which the country is battling. He said there are two causes, inadequate remuneration for government employees which requires more pay. And because they think they won't be caught. He said laws and investigation must be strengthened to stop this. He sees relations with the U. S. beneficial to both with the U. S. in the northern hemisphere and Uganda on the equator.

  Museveni said of AIDS, ignorance was a factor in the past but a campaign underway has slowed down new infections. He said AIDS is easy to prevent and called it a "disease of choice". He said malaria and other diseases ere much more widespread. After our meeting with Museveni we checked in to the Lake Victoria Hotel in Entebbe, a first-class hotel and the first place on this trip where we had air conditioning. We arrived in Entebbe this morning just in time for our presidential meeting after a four hour drive from Mbarara. As we got closer to Entebbe it became obvious we were short of time and our drivers put on a performance worthy of race drivers, but with more risk. The highway is a fairly narrow two lanes and these roads are lined with pedestrians. Everyone seems to know the rules and there were no casualties. But our driver was hitting over 80 miles per hour and passing pedestrians with sometimes only inches to spare. Several times he made a three-lane road out of a two-lane.

  After the meeting with the president we went first to the Uganda International Conference Center. It is a showplace the president was proud of and so was our guide. It is a first-class center but we would question whether the money might not have been better spent upgrading the life of the people. At a shopping arcade we met a store proprietor who, after identifying us as Americans, shook all of our hands and said the U. S. was responsible for his being able to go to Howard University in Washington, D. C., and he appreciated it. He said his son was now attending school in Wisconsin.

  From there we went to visit the ranch of Dr. Samson Kisekka, vice president of Uganda and former prime minister. Kisekka is a man of 81 but is still active and his ranch is a showplace of innovation in agriculture. His philosophy is to lead by example. His ranch includes growing nursery stock, a dairy, a fish farm, and reforestation. Manure from the cows is digested for methane gas for the kitchen. The solids are used for fertilizer and for food for algae which then feed the fish. Water from the fish pond is high in nutrients and used for fertilizing pastures. Kisekka said he will not serve another term in government. He said he is satisfied with what has been done in the seven years since the new regime took over. In 1986 roads were in bad shape. He said then the 21 mile drive from Kampala to Entebbe took two hours. Now it is less than half of that. One problem is the huge debt left by the previous governments - $2.5 billion which the country is paying off. This is our last day in Uganda and tomorrow we are to fly Air Tanzania to Tanzania. It will be interesting to see how the flight goes. It had been scheduled to stop at Burundi, a neighboring country that is still feeling the effects of an attempted, but failed, coup in which the president and other officers were murdered.