Speech by H.E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni President of the Republic of Uganda n the ccasion to !

ar" #$ years of the Pan %frican Parlia!ent

Pretoria& South %frica #'th March& ($#).

Your Excellencies,

As I address the Pan African Parliament, I remember two portions from the Christian Scriptures. One is from our Lords Prayer. The rele ant portion I am interested in says! " Thou shall not lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil.# The other one is from the $oo% of Isaiah Chapter && erse '. It says! "the Wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the Leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and fatling together; and a little child shall lead them#. The first (uotation prays that we should not be led into temptation. Africa should also not tempt the )reedy ones by bein) wea%. The second portion tal%s about the *in)dom of hea en in paradise where the wolf will peacefully co+e,ist with the lamb. -nfortunately, we are still here on earth. .e are not yet in paradise. .ol es still eat lambs here. I ha e, therefore, come here today to tal% to you about the wol es and the lambs here on earth.

Africa is a continent of &&./ million s(uare miles or 01 million s(uare %ilometers. It is populated by people who are either similar or lin%ed in terms of lan)ua)e and culture. There are four lin)uistic )roups in Africa. These are! the 2i)er3Con)o )roup of lan)ua)es 4includin) the $antu lan)ua)es and the *wa )roup of lan)ua)es56 the 2ilo+Saharan )roup of lan)ua)es 4Cushitic, 2ilotic and 2ilo+7armitic lan)ua)es56 the Afro+Asiatic lan)ua)es 4Arabic, Ti)rinya and Amharic56 and the *hoisan lan)ua)es. The population of Africa is now &,100 billion 4one billion thirty three million people5. Africa is the ori)in of man 48 million years a)o5, the cradle of ci ili9ation 4:)yptian Ci ili9ation56 and the three founders of the three )reat reli)ions of the .orld 4Christianity, ;udaism and <oslem5 were harboured by Africa in their early li es. These were <oses, ;esus and <ohammed. =et, by &>11, the whole of Africa, e,cept for :thiopia, had been coloni9ed by the $ritish, the ?rench, the $el)ians, the Spanish, the Italians and the Portu)uese. .hy@ It was on account of the political
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fra)mentation Africa found itself in, the fact that her people were either similar or lin%ed notwithstandin). The Chiefdoms and *in)doms that )o erned us at that time were simply too wea% to defend us. In -)anda, for instance, we had A *in)doms and a number of Chiefdoms. The *in)doms were! $unyoro, $u)anda, An%ole and Tooro. There were Chiefdoms in $uso)a, Lan)o, Acholi etc. The $ritish were able to con(uer them one by one, e en usin) one a)ainst the other. It was only towards the end that two of our *in)s 3 *abale)a of $unyoro and <wan)a of $u)anda 3 tried to unite to fi)ht the $ritish. $y that time, it was too late. The $ritish wor%in) with Local traitors and also ta%in) ad anta)e of the brutality of some of these *in)s, )ained the upper hand. *aba%a 4*in)5 <wan)a is the one that %illed a total of A/ 4 forty seven5 youn) Christian con erts, between &BB8 3 &BB/6 the maCority were %illed in &BB' by burnin) them at sta%e 4burnin) them ali e5. .ere our ancestors con(uered on account of )uns only@ I do not thin% so because other people without )uns, but better or)ani9ed, were able to defeat the imperialists. These were the Chinese and the ;apanese. : en the
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:thiopians were able to defeat the Italians at the battle of Adua. It is the scale of the or)anisation and the use of the terrain that mattered. The i)nominious defeat of old Africa was a ote of 2o Confidence in that old Africa. Our Chiefs tried to resist but they were all defeated. The African Peoples are, howe er, a ery resilient people. -nli%e the Ded Indians of America, the A9tecs of <e,ico, the Incas of Peru, the Caribes of the Caribbean or the Abori)ines of Australia, the :uropean in asion did not lead to our e,termination. In spite of the millions that perished in the sla e trade, the millions that died in the colonial wars, or the millions %illed by diseases brou)ht by :uropeans, the Africans sur i ed. $y &>8', Sudan, the first African country to do so, had )ot its independence. 7ow did we achie e this freedom@ .hat were the factors that helped us@ There were three factors that helped us to )et our freedom bac%!

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the continued resistance by the African people, this time led by the African nationalists and not by the tribal chiefs6 the inter 3 :uropean wars + the so called &st and End .orld .ars 3 in effect inter 3 imperialist wars for the re+di ision of the colonial possessions 3 i.e. oursel es6 and

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the support of Socialist Countries 3 the So iet -nion, China, Cuba etc.

It was these three factors that forced the Imperialists to retreat in Asia 4India, Pa%istan, Indonesia, etc.5, Africa and the <iddle :ast. That is how we )ot our Independence, a)ain. Fid we use the Independence to insure oursel es a)ainst future recoloni9ation, mar)inali9ation and arro)ance@ The answer is, unfortunately, no. The former Imperialist countries are still messin) up Africa by promotin) wron) and criminal schemes. In -)anda, they, for instance, helped the coup of Idi Amin in &>/&. That mista%e cost -)andans B11,111 people e,tra+Cudicially %illed between &>/& and &>B'. Lumumba in Con)o was %illed in &>'&. That cost the people of Con)o almost 81 years of turmoil which they are now tryin) to
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conclude. In Dwanda, the meddlin) by e,ternal forces caused the death of & million Africans in &>>A. The meddlin) has not stopped. Furin) the Libyan crisis, a plane carryin) African 7eads of States on the Amission in that crisis, was stopped by 2ATO planes o er African soilGG The African input in the Libyan crisis was totally i)nored. -p to now, Libya is in crisis. There are e en attempts to attac% the core African alues on the family in, for instance, the matter of homose,uals. Indeed, in the .est, they, for instance, criminali9e poly)amy by law. In Africa it is and has always been part of our way of life. =et we do not complain. .hen, howe er, we le)islate a)ainst homose,uals, in response to the pro ocation by .estern sponsored 2HOs vis a vis our traditional alues, we are threatened with sanctions. This is all " tharawu contempt# + as we say in Swahili. .hy is Africa still held in contempt@ It is entirely our fault. .e ha e not yet used our tremendous, une(ualled potential by con ertin) it into

stren)th.

This failure has been on account of failin) to detect &1

strate)ic bottlenec%s. The strate)ic bottlenec%s are the followin)! &. E. 0. A. 8. '. Ideolo)ical disorientation6 Attac%in) the pri ate sector6 Inade(uate infrastructure that causes the cost of doin) business to be e,orbitant6 An underde eloped human resource i.e. an uneducated population which is also in poor health6 Small internal mar%ets that cannot stimulate and sustain lar)e scale production by pro idin) ade(uate demand6 Lac% of industriali9ation and continuin) to e,port unprocessed raw+materials whereby we )et much less money than those who con ert those raw materials into final products and also e,port Cobs to other countries6 /. An unde eloped ser ices sector which phenomenon under+ utili9es our hu)e potential in tourism, transport, ban%in), etc, etc6

B.

-nderde eloped a)riculture 3 in -)anda, throu)h research, we ha e disco ered that farmers can produce 80 tonnes of bananas per hectare instead of the &1 tonnes the peasants ha e been )ettin) 3 in $ra9il they are already )ettin) B1 tonnes of $ananas per hectare per annum6

>. &1.

Lac% of democracy6 Lac% of ideolo)y creatin) a Criminal State 3 a State that, for instance, %ills people e,tra+Cudicially instead of upholdin) the di)nity of the people and their inalienable ri)hts.

On this occasion, I will only comment on Cust fi e of these! ideolo)ical disorientation6 inade(uate infrastructure6 a small internal mar%et6 a criminal state6 and lac% of industriali9ation. Ideolo)ical disorientation is caused by failure to accurately define the interests of the people. In the story of the Hood Samaritan, in the $oo% of Luke (10:25-37), ;esus as%ed his listeners the (uestion you will see in the (uotation below!

nd a Lawyer stood up and put him to the test, saying, Teacher, what shall ! do to inherit eternal life" nd #e said to him, what is written nd #e answered, $ou shall in the Law" #ow does it read to you"

Love your %od with all your heart, and with all your &oul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind' nd your neigbour as yourself' (esus answered; $ou have answered correctly) *o this and you will live

*s. (+. ,ut wishing to -ustify hi!self& he said to .esus& /%nd who is your neigbour01

2he 3ood Sa!aritan !n +s ,- (esus replied and said, man was going down from nd by chance a

(erusalem to (ericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him, half dead' Priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side' Likewise, a 4evite also, when he came to the place
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and saw him, he passed by on the other side' .ut a Sa!aritan& who was on a /ourney, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, and he came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an !nn and took care of him' 0n the ne1t day he took out 2 denarii and gave them to the !nnkeeper and said, take care of him; and whatever more you spend when ! return ! will repay you; 5hich of these three do you thin" proved to be a neigbour to the !an who fell into the robbers6 hands0 nd he said,

the one who showed mercy toward him' Then (esus said to him, %o and do the same'

Similarly, in Africa you find a lot of ideolo)ical ban%ruptcy by )roups that push the line of sectarianism by tribe and reli)ion or by discriminatin) women. These )roups fail to accurately define the interest of the People and push pseudo interests instead. I always li%e to use the e,ample of my tribe the .anyankore of South .estern -)anda. These people are cattle %eepers and farmers. They produce mil%, beef, bananas and coffee. ?armer A produces <il% and
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bananas and so does farmer $. A cannot, therefore, buy from $ and $ cannot buy from A. .hat, then, is the alue of the tribe to either of them@ =ou find that the sa iours of these .anyankore who are stuc% with their products are the other -)andans of *ampala who buy their products. It is not only the -)andans who rescue the .anyankore by buyin) their products6 it is also the other Africans in Tan9ania, *enya, Con)o, Dwanda, $urundi and South Sudan who buy what the $anyan%ore are producin) that ma%es them prosperous. If, therefore, anybody was so narrow+minded as to care only about the .anyankore, heIshe would ha e to first and foremost lo e -)anda, lo e :ast Africa, Lo e Africa in order to lo e the .anyankore. To say that you lo e the .anyankore but you hate or do not care about the other -)andans, is to be bo)us 3 fraudulent. =ou lo e neither the .anyankore nor do you lo e other Africans. =ou only lo e yourself. =ou are a traitor to the interests of the people of Africa. The only way the .anyankore help me as a producer, since they produce similar products, is to a))re)ate bi) olumes so that mar%etin) and processin) are easier. In that way my tribe helps me. In the past the tribal or)anisation also helped us in breedin) stron) people by encoura)in)
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e,o)amous marria)es 3 not marryin) within your clan. Some of these are still rele ant. They should be moderni9ed and used. In our recent IHAF Communi(uJ in Addis, we stron)ly denounced the ban%ruptcy of tribalism and sectarianism. It is the cause of sufferin) of the people in many African countries 3 South Sudan, Central African Depublic 4CAD5, Dwanda and $urundi in the past, as well as -)anda in the past. In Africa we ha e been asleep on the (uestion of infrastructure 3 especially electricity, roads, the railway, ICT and piped water, at least for the towns. .ithout )ood infrastructure, the economy cannot )row and socio 3 economic transformation cannot ta%e place. .hy@ This is because the costs of doin) business in the economy will remain hi)h and, therefore, profitability for companies will be impossible. In some cases, e en costly infrastructure is not a ailable. There is a )ood measurement I li%e to use. This is 3wh per capita. If you loo% at the internet, you will find that the 3wh per capita for the -SA is &A,111 while some of the African countries ha e as low as B. 7ow can Africa )row if we do not sol e this problem@ Instead, of addressin) the problem of infrastructure, you find
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that the African elite is demandin) for hi)her wa)es. Since much of the locally )enerated re enue )oes for wa)es and corruption, infrastructure de elopment is left for the so called "donors#. The "donors# are not seriously interested in African infrastructure. Since independence in the &>'1s, I ha e not seen a sin)le railway proCect these donors ha e supported in the part of Africa near -)anda. =et e erybody %nows that the railway is the second cheapest mode of transport after water transport. A business cannot sustainably produce if somebody does not buy what that business produces. Therefore, the mar%et is the )reatest stimulus for production. =et colonialism had ensured that Africa was bal%ani9ed into 8A states, many of them small. The 2orth American continent has )ot only three countries! the -SA, Canada and <e,ico. =et Africa has )ot 8A states. It was, therefore, correct that our leaders, after independence, saw this dan)er and in &>B1 launched the La)os Action Plan to inte)rate all the African countries into re)ional blocs! :CO.AS, CO<:SA, :AC, SAFF:C, Central African <ar%et, etc. : entually, we hope to

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form the common mar%et of the whole of Africa. This is mo in) in the ri)ht direction. The mista%e of continuin) to e,port raw+materials is a type of modern sla ery for Africa. I always use the e,ample of Coffee. .hen we e,port one %ilo)ram of coffee beans, we may earn one -S dollar. The same %ilo)ram of coffee processed by 2estle in London will brin) the $ritish in -*, -S K &8. That is why I always say that -)anda has been aidin) the -* with, at least, -S K &1 in e ery %ilo)ram of coffee. This is apart from the Cobs that we e,port 3 the Cobs for roastin), the Cobs for )rindin) and pac%in) the processed coffee. .hat is true of coffee is true of cotton, wood products, minerals, petroleum etc. The problem of ideolo)ical disorientation sometimes leads to the criminali9ation of the State. :specially the soldiers en)a)e in e,tra+ Cudicial %illin)s with impunity. This is most dan)erous. If the State does not punish the State a)ents that %ill people, rape women, poach animals in the 2ational Par%s, the State may, e entually, splinter. The State a)ents must be wholly accountable, especially for murder.
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.ithout doin) this, the Ho ernment and the State lose le)itimacy e en if they are elected initially. In -)anda, since &>B', the Courts i.e. Heneral Court <artial, Fi isions Courts <artial and ?ield Courts <artial, ha e condemned to death &A/ soldiers for %illin) people e,tra+ Cudicially and E0 of them ha e been carried out 4e,ecuted5. That is how -)anda has been stabili9ed. .hen we succeed in eliminatin) the &1 strate)ic bottlenec%s, many of the African countries will be in )ood shape. That, howe er, will lea e one strate)ic challen)e 3 that of strate)ic security. =ou saw from the be)innin) of this speech that we were able to re)ain our independence partly because of the support of the socialist $loc 3 The So iet -nion, China etc. As you can see these are ery powerful countries 3 bi) land area, bi) populations and technolo)ically capable. 7owe er, they cannot always be there for us. As they de elop, their priorities chan)e. Furin) the anti+colonial stru))le, they acted as our strate)ic rear. .ho is our strate)ic rear now@ .e should ha e used the freedom of Independence to create that strate)ic base of our own throu)h political inte)ration. That is why in :ast Africa we are always wor%in) for the
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Political federation of :ast Africa. Some of the countries in the .orld are publically sayin) that they want to achie e superiority on land, in the air, at sea and in space 3 the so called four dimensional superiority. .here does that lea e us. That is why we must create our own Centres of )ra ity. The ?ederation of :ast Africa has been the aim of the patriots in that part of Africa led by the late <9ee ;omo *enyatta and <walimu ;ulius 2yerere. It would be one such centre of )ra ity. I cannot end this speech without mentionin) the need for one African lan)ua)e. As I told you, there are four lin)uistic )roups in Africa. These )roups are also lin%ed. This lan)ua)e is not as rich in ?ortunately, our people on the :ast ocabulary as some of the interior African Coast ha e distilled a non+tribal lan)ua)e %nown as &wahili. dialects. That is why they o er borrow from Arabic. 7owe er, its non+ tribal structure can be used ery effecti ely if it is impre)nated with many of the words from all parts of Africa. .e would, then, ha e one of the richest lan)ua)es on earth. -p to now, the &wahili lan)ua)e does

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not ha e, for instance, one word for national anthem. They use two words. "wimbo wa taifa' In our Luo dialects in -)anda, howe er, we ha e the word, Lubaala meanin) anthem. It can be incorporated in Swahili. The potential for Africa is hu)e. The opportunities are plenty. The future is ours if we sort out what needs to be done. Africa should not continue to tempt the )reedy by bein) wea%. -nsurprisin)ly, here on earth wol es still eat lambs. I than% you.

=oweri *. <use eni P E!"#E$% &Bth <arch, E1&A.

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