UNDERSTANDING;

FOREIGN INFLUENCE IN UGANDA.

When Major Akorimo Kanuti lowered the union jack and hoisted the Ugandan national flag on the midnight of 9th October 1962, many Ugandans from all walks of life knew that this was the beginning of the end of the white man’s influence in the pearl of Africa,. Much is known about neo colonialism on the African continent but in this case we examine its ways and foothold in Uganda. With the emergence of a dominant china, Uganda has now soon become a battlefield among the western powers with the situation made worse by the need to exploit Uganda’s abundant oil reserves in the altertine region by these major powers. Once seen by the western powers as a new breed of African leader by the west, Musenvi has now somewhat changed his tone towards the west repeatedly accusing them of blundering Africa and praising the then Soviet Union and china. And in this game of political chess, if the rumours are to be true, bobi wine or the people power movement could be the wests response. But as we shall discover, it’s not only about the British or Americans and soviets and Chinese in this international chess game they are other forces such as the EU and Israelis and over the years there activities influence in the pearl of Africa has grown to affect every aspect of Ugandan society.

The beginning of the post colonial influence – the first obote era.

it all started with the road to independence, the then chief minister Benicto Kiwanuka was from DP. DP was seen by the British as a unfavourable party to leave behind to rule Uganda. First, it was pro Buganda and hence lacked the unifying factor and secondly it was catholic something protestant Britain couldn’t leave behind as rulers of independent Uganda. With the formation of UPC in 1960, a better alternative emerged. The British then convinced UPC to merge with KY so as to gunner Buganda support. This was like a trick pre planned. Unlike in other British colonies where it was one election towards independence, the British organised another in April 1962. And as the say the rest is history.

After the onset of May 1966, Buganda crisis, it was clear Obote had all the powers he had ever wished for. In 1967, the east African community was formed and it was during this period that Obote become close friends with Nyerere of Tanzania. That very year Nyerere has introduced the Ujama policy that sort of put Tanzania to the socialist system. Then in 1969, Mr Obote introduced the common man’s charter or move to the left, and this at the height of the cold war wasn’t good news to the western powers. This time not only Britain and USA were worried but also the Israelis. The Israelis had a significant presence in Uganda and were the ones training the Uganda army at the time. Uganda by 1970 was like this, the economy was best in the east African region and was comparable to Singapore, the British and Americans did still have a political foothold in the state of affairs, the business was run by the Asians and the army was trained by the Israelis. With Obote socialist stunt on the rise, the same western powers that helped bring him to power by 1962, had a need to eliminate him. Its therefore by no coincidence during the Singapore commonwealth meeting 0f 1971, the British announcer said; they are some of you who are not going back to your countries as head of state. Amin was the right candidate trained by the British, uneducated hence easily manipulated by the British , the west and Israelis had got their man.

Uganda in turmoil 1972-1986

With Amin in office, everything had now gone to plan. Pleased with their man, the British accepted Amins offer of returning Mutessa body back to Uganda from London where he had been buried three years ago. Amin was taken on tour of the western world including the UK, Belgium and France. While in UK. He did that famous stunt of the British men carrying him on their shoulders while he was siited. The British even provided him with intelligence about the 1972 failed invasion. So was rosy, until Tororo 1972, when Amin declared an economic war and expelled the Indians whom most of which held British passports. This definitely cause an influx of refugees in britain and hurt their interests in Uganda. There was a consolidated effort by the British Americans and Canadians to find a compromise with Amin but all this turned futile. Some sources do believe that the relationship really turned sour when Amins request for state of the art arms and aircraft was regretted by the Israelis and the western powers hence it is thought he took his vengeance on the Indian population. But one thing is for sure, the events of the 1972 Indian expulsion changed the relationship between Uganda and the west. This breakdown in relations was even emphasized by a stunt by Amin where he made all western ambassadors kneel down before him and swear allegiance to him. On the onset of the Uganda Tanzania war , the west didn’t want to play a direct role in the removal of Amin mainly because allying with mainly socialist Tanzania wasn’t appeasing and they wanted it to look like a people motivated revolt. But there is evidence that the British, did provide some arms and intelligence to the TPDF during the war. After the removal of Amin and period of Obote, the west sought to use a new way of soft power of the government, its name; foreign aid. By now Obote had pretty much learnt his lesson of being a hard core socialist, and Uganda’s economy was in shatters and who better placed to help than the western powers. Yes during this period there was war being raged in Uganda, but its unclear if the west did play a hand in these rebellions against the Obote regime.

The musenvi regime ; the west vs china and the relationship gone

When Musenvi took over power in 1986, there was a great optimism of change, a sense of a good times ahead and the past errors done no more. His rise to power was welcomed both home and abroad. infact the west was so happy with him, he paid them a visit on invite to the white house in October 1987, to see then president Ronald Reagan. Still at this point the western powers were asserting their soft power of foreign aid and the sort of the government. With the outbreak of Alice lakwena rebellion and LRA, the Uganda government had to purchase arms and financial aid from the western powers rather than considering the other alternatives such as the then declining soviet union. As time went on, around 1992, the IMF and world bank predominately western bodies, urged the Ugandan government now in need of funds to develop the economy to adopt a series of changes, which if analysed properly was meant to eradicate any trace of a communist system in Uganda, such reforms included privatisation of government enterprises, cost sharing and the road to multiparty politics through the establishment of a vibrant democracy. Though all this didn’t happen in one year, but over the years, these changes really changed both the political, social and economic welfare of Ugandans. The adoption of these policies as well as renewal of strong diplomatic relations with the west made Musenvi be loved and praised far and beyond Uganda. It’s for this reason that bill Clinton made an official visit to Uganda in 1998 making him the first us president to do so. Western donations played a big role in the recovery effort in northern Uganda and also USAID and UKAID through the WFP did provide assistance too. Infrastructure wise, the northern by pass one of Uganda’s major transportation projects was awarded to the EU and yes, it has happened to be the last major project awarded to the west by the government. The relationship all rosy until about 2006, by this time, the political spectrum in Uganda was heated up. After a highly contested election, many observers and those in the opposition saw it as a rigged vote. And also by this time, the evil of corruption had really affected the trust between the donors and the government such as the GAVI theft of funds by then health minister Jim Muhwezi. Back in 2005, Uganda held a multi party referendum which changed Uganda from a one party state to a multi party state. Musenvi was opposed to this move but due to western pressure he backed the move with the notion that all those that didn’t subscribe to the party go form their party. The west pushed this through their campaign of democratization of Africa. The relationship between Musenvi and the west reduced as the west now was clearly on the side of the opposition in the 2011 and 2016 elections. The western perspective of Musenvi being viewed as a modern leader changed to modern dictator. Musenvi hit back by aacusing the west as the reason Africa is behind in terms of development and accusing the west of neo colonialism. But Musenvis greatest is his alliance with Beijing. With this alliance, he had hit two stones with one stone, he has got much needed funds with those crazy western conditions and also he has an international ally he can count on. Whether this tactic has worked, seems to be judged on which side u perceive it. But one thing is for sure, Uganda’s great infrastructure drive has mainly been driven by china such isimba and karuma dams, Entebbe express highway etc. and this as the government want to portray , is a great achievement of the NRM regime though at the cost of Chinese investment. Musenvi might have cheated the west in terms of influence and aid in Uganda, but the western powers if rumours are to believed are fighting back by fronting bobi wine as a counter weight to the NRM regime. As I conclude, one thing is for sure, the white man’s influence is not yet over but still continuing and it affects Ugandans of all sides of society.