What Is Africa’s Problem

6. The State of the Nation in 1989

SIX The State of the Nation in 1989 I congratulate you all on your election as members of the National Resistance Council. I hope all of us agree that, by and large, the recent electoral exercise was free and fair. I have, however, heard that in a few cases, there were instances of the old practices of sectarianism and other manipulations taking advantage of the ignorance of the population. In spite of that, however, there is a general consensus that this was the fairest and most peaceful electoral exercisein the history of our country. We should now be able to tackle the fundamentalquestions affecting the future of our country. I am sure the prophets of doom will again be proved wrong as we successfully tackle Uganda's long-standing problems . I am very proud to see that one of my long-held wishes—to see the emergence in Uganda of a reasonable measure of national consensus, as well as a nonsectarian forum— is at last beginning to be realized. When we launched the armed struggle against Amin in 1971, which was itself a successor to previous political struggles against Obote's bad politics, our aim was to build a new order. In spite of many tribulations and a zigzag course, the people of Uganda are at last able to stand back from the ignominious and shameful politics of the past two decades. It was a great shame that at the time we took power in 1986,Uganda was the poorest country in Eastern and Central Africa. Before I recapitulate the situation that obtained in Uganda before 1986,1 wish to give Address at the state opening of the first session of the expanded National Resistance Council, April 11,1989. 31 32 The State of the Nation in1989 you a resume of the evolution of the general African condition so that we can put Uganda's situation in a proper context. The Most BackwardContinent Currently, Africa is one of the most backward continents in the whole world. Elsewhere, I have defined backwardness as the absence of a reasonable degree of development. I have also defined development as man's ability to tame his environment and utilize its natural laws for his own benefit. I am using the word "reasonable" because man's mastery of nature— even for the advanced countries—is still only relative. Nevertheless, there are those who have reasonably mastered certain aspects of nature and have, consequently, improved their lot on earth. If one, therefore, takes "development" and "backwardness" as defined above, you will agree that Africa is one of the most backward continents. If you look at Africa's social statistics, you will discover the following : whereas in the developed countries 13children out of every 1,000 in 1987 died before they were five years old, in the developing countries 60 children out of 1,000 died in that year, and in the case of Uganda, 172children out of 1,000 died before they werefive.Apart from the conditions affecting children, the adult population in developing countries has a life expectancy of 61 compared to 76 years in the industrialized developed countries. In Uganda, life expectancy is only 48. These figures reflect poor and inadequate health facilities. In the developed countries, for instance, for every 500 people there is at least one doctor available to treat them. The average for developing countries is one doctor for 6,590 people. In Uganda, we have one doctor for over 21,000 people. In the rural areas the ratio is much higher. If you look at the economic performance data, you will discover the following situation: whereas the average per capita income in industrialized countries is about $13,000 (U.S.), that of sub-Saharan Africa is $370, while Uganda's is $230 per capita, ninety-ninth in the world income ranking. Uganda's economy is a typical dependent economy dominated by one main export crop— coffee—which contributes over 90 percent of our foreign exchange earnings. The manufacturing sector contributes only 6 percent of total GDP and employs only 6 percent of The State of the Nation in 1989 33 the labor force. Despite a large resource base, the economy is distorted and heavily dependent on imported inputs that have no linkage to the rest of the economy. As a result, more than 86percent of the rural population is engaged in peasant agriculture, with low levels of productivity...