Being a patriot in Uganda is one of the most energy sapping endeavors. It is the quickest shortcut for anyone determined to develop ailments like high blood pressure, broken heart syndrome, hyperglycemia, insomnia, depression, anxiety, hyperalgesia (stress induced pain), inflammation, ulcers, diarrhea among others.
Like a faithful wife being serially cheated on every day, one wakes up to one depressing story after another.
From a boxing perspective, these stories are akin to being given a Jab that lands on your forehead with the knuckles, followed in quick succession by a cross, lead hook and rear hook. As you stagger to regain stability, they move in with a lead uppercut that sends you facing upwards and while you process the ongoing pain in the jaw, a rear uppercut completes the process leaving you sprawling on the ground. (Only Naguru Boys can comprehend this best.)
Facts speak for themselves, failure (scandal) after failure. Off head, we have;
- Lubowa Hospital
- The Akon City Project
- The 31 Billion Shillings Covid Vaccine
- The Naguru-Nakawa Satellite City land heist
- The Rats that cost 8 Million Shillings each
- The long awaited Kiira Motors Electric Vehicles
- The Karamoja iron sheets saga
- CHOGM
- Global Fund
- Temangalo
- The ID Scandal of 2010
- Isimba Dam Saga
- Karuma Dam
- Kiira Motors….
And now, The Satellite De-orbiting that others have termed as deleting.
Deorbiting a satellite simply means bringing a satellite back down to earth after it has completed its useful life. Uganda launched this Cubesat in November 2022 and while it was not meant to last forever in space, we expected it to serve for at least five years.
Upon its launch, there was a lot of fanfare, a typical habit of Ugandan Government officials aimed at justifying uncalled for expenses. I watched the event live and the beaming wide smile of triumph by Minister Dr. Musenero was all over the media.
The team of engineers led by Mr. Bonny Omara was upbeat. It heralded the dawn of a new era. I could feel their exuberant youthful energy reverberate all the way onto Twitter where they kept sharing snippets of the work done.
I am very certain that this team had a lot in mind about where they can lead this country in that regard if and only if they are given the necessary support. However, I guess we are faced with an environment littered with deceptive governance in our lovely country.
The media reports the minister stating that the initiative lacked 5 Billion Shillings to set up the necessary ground infrastructure to support the satellite. This is total balderdash, nonsense and baloney.
For a Government whose Parliament has just spent Billions buying cars for former speakers, one that is going to swallow up over 1.3 Trillion Shillings during its current term, a hastily approved borrowing spree of 7 Trillion Shillings and you tell a sane brain that there was lack of 5 Billion shillings to see this satellite project through?
Who planned this initiative in the first place? How do you procure a car without factoring in where you will park it, how you will repair it, how you expect to fuel it among other things?
This in my view is utter nonsense (with all due respect).
Satellite technology is being made to seem like a very complex game for Ugandans but this should not be the case as we have very brilliant people that can partake of it. This perception is being intentionally perpetuated by individuals that would like to milk as much as they can from such seemingly novel endeavors that are made to look complex.
You have journeymen like Kanye West meeting the president to talk about nothing and maybe partake of a photo opportunity yet there are more sound and nationalistic brains being shielded from educating him about futuristic patriotic initiatives.
In October 2023, someone raised a question directed to the Minister about the lack of our satellite’s signal on various tracking sites. No feedback was forthcoming from her or the ministry. One wonders why yet she had this Teletubby visage a year earlier during the launch.
If there is one disservice this nation is facing, it is the disengaged approach towards doing things. While you have an initiative like the Satellite in place being glorified as the next best thing to happen to the country, deep within the minds of the stake holders, you got the following thought patterns;
The Engineering Team – Getting the country to partake of modern technology in order to facilitate problem solving in one way or another.
Some Government Officials – Seeing how much to overbill this engagement in order to build flats in Kyanja
The Ugandan Layman – Experiencing improved service delivery
Do you see the glaring disconnect in expectations once one digs deeper into the minds of the different stakeholders on any project in Uganda?
A classic example are the COVID 19 rats that were purchased at the cost of a Toyota Vitz each. While appearing before a Parliamentary Committee, the Minister’s team justified this by claiming they were high tech and would be used to reproduce more without the need for additional purchases.
Ask the same team today, years later how many rats we have in place following the planned multiplication and they will start mumbling gibberish claiming that the food budget was inadequate hence leading to their death.
I am one individual who tends to stretch his faith in my country and do face a lot of ridicule as a result. However, I think for the sake of my desire to live a longer life, I might have to join the skeptics.
Now I realise why they say that communication should not be taken prima facie. Always look at the source of the communication, if it grunts like a pig, then it is a pig.
Jim Spire recently made a statement on X (Twitter) where he said, “I asked a Prof friend why the British built strong infrastructure (buildings, dams, railways that still stand) even when it was clear that they were leaving. In his view, it’s not just about hope for neocolonialism, but also because building strong things is part of their culture.”
When shall it be culturally enviable for us to do things that last?
On a side note, I have learnt that the UPDF is training its officers on matters to do with Astronomy and Space endeavors. This is very good to know because we are becoming an interplanetary specie soon and Uganda could lead the way when it comes to the African Union’s need to deploy in Space. Bravo!!!
I look forward to the day we shall have sober brains steering the various initiatives that are birthed in this country.
Happy New Year 2024. May you be better at what you do.
James Wire
X – @wirejames
Threads – @wire_james
The Wire Perspective 