Uganda at 58: Post Colonialism into Neo-colonialism.

Hello blogtheren,

Happy 58^th Independence Day to my Ugandan people! We’re almost reaching the retirement age according to our laws. I wonder if we’ll be given pension benefits 2 years from now. *joke’sonme*

A few months ago, I blogged about what I thought the Ugandan independence day looked like from a fictional but present perspective and it was all merry when we were given our first 1962 Constitution that was more British than could have ever been. 58 years down the road, they’ve been over four Constitutions of the land, the most recent having had two amendments, all from the first that was passed down from the colonizers.

The years of colonialism were filled with so much oppression and slavery that when the wave of independence hit the African continent in the 1950’s, as a result of all the African elite coming onto the scene, our hearts were jam-packed with elation and hope for the future that was to come. If our fore fathers had warned us that post colonialism would be worse with all the civil war and struggle for leadership by these elite, then we’d have stayed in our African Communist society governed by cultural norms and customs, rather than subject ourselves to death by the white man’s law and standard.

From the Ugandan paradigm, every Independence Day makes me think about how far we’ve come as a country and how much farther we need to go to fully break off the chains of colonialism. And my arguments will be hinged on the two most important aspects of independence: Culture and the economy, but before I get to that, let’s first understand what the terms independence and neo-colonialism means.

Independence refers to many things but the recurring theme of this is the direction of one’s own affairs without interruption from others. (Oxford dictionary)

Neo colonialism refers to the control or domination by a powerful country over weaker ones, especially the former colonies by the use of economic pressure, political suppression and cultural dominance. (Oxford dictionary)

We say we’re autonomous and are celebrating 58 years of liberation but why is it that 43% of the Ugandan budget in the financial year 2020/2021 is directed towards debt repayment? Projections from the Ministry of Finance show that the 2021/2022 budget will have a projected debt of 51% of the country’s economy. Majority of the debts collected from the Western block, international organisations and the Asians is conditional.

Conditional upon adopting a new law or policy that is contrary to the African customs and culture; conditional upon giving back half of the economy to them and conditional upon letting them in, to squander our resources and deplete them.

Sometimes I wonder if our leaders ever read our history. The history that ought to remind them how the Europeans used the carrot stick policy to infiltrate our lands and steal our humanity and resources from us. That’s the equivalence of the debts being collected. Our whole economy is dedicated to paying back these debts and the simple tax payer is subjected to exorbitant taxes, all with the intention of paying back a debt that our children and children’s children in the 23^rd century will still be paying.

I’ve always been a believer in the Kwame Nkrumah agenda:

Unify the continent as a single pan-Africanist political entity to get a union of African States because with political Union, Africa will be able to compete economically with the advanced and industrialized countries of the world.

Kwame Nkruma, 1963.

With the unity of the African countries and pool of resources from all regions, Africa will definitely live up to the true meaning of independence that it celebrates every year. Until then, I must say that we are still being neo-colonised by the Western block.

The second aspect is our culture. Sometimes when my dad decides to tell me stories of the 1940’s and 50’s, I’m envious of the community that they had. The oneness and Ubuntu that flowed through the veins of all Ugandans in our grass thatched houses and the festivity of the harvest every new moon. These are the days I wish to have grown up in.

We’re being subjected to a highly westernised educational system and language with the dress code of the culture that we think is more superior to ours and we succumb to it so religiously without questioning its relevance. We have been taught to think that speaking vernacular and putting on decently is a rudimentary and ‘local’ mode of communication and dressing.

The moral decadence that emanated from the new age after colonialism disgusts me every time I watch a series or observe girls strolling past me on the streets of Kampala.

I think what I’m trying to say in short, is that independence is not only economic, social and cultural liberation but also a mind-set emancipation.

This is a call to all my fellow Ugandans, embrace the Ugandaness in you! Embrace the beauty of your skin, accent, and dress code. Don’t let the history of your country men from the 1800’s slide through the western education of Napoleon and Metternich. Know your history, don’t forget it and use it as a stepping stone into the future that we want as a country.

Be unapologetically Ugandan!

Happy Independence Day and cheers.

Ps: SO to the beautiful Mercy Sabiti that allowed me use her pictures for the blog.