Robert Mugabe..what happened?

Today I attended the Amakula Kampala film festival. This was the very first film festival there ever was in Kampala and I have faithfully attended all their annual outings since their inaugural in 2004.

There was an intriguing film on the programme with an intriguing title and I thought... I should make time for this one. And I was no disappointed,

'Robert Mugabe...what happened?' was the title of the film by Robert Wright,a Zimbabwean film director. Boy! is that such a legitimate question indeed!

Robert Mugabe was considered an independence hero of Zimbabwe for leading a popular struggle for independence from Britain and subsequently against Ian Smith's white supremacist rule in the then Rhodesia. He was imprisoned for eleven years for his efforts and was only released at the height of natives struggle for self-governance with Zimbabwe gaining independence on 1980.

Robert Mugabe was supremely articulate,eloquent and spoke the finest queen's English and he duped many who accepted him as an exceptionally educated leader for Zimbabwe and this persona helped him eclipse other erstwhile contenders such as Joshua Nkomo from a rival ethnic group.

But the Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe's independence struggles wouldn't recognize today's Mugabe.

As his people lost confidence in his leadership, he resorted to desperate measures to keep on his grip on power which became an all- consuming occupation.

With the passage of time and failure to live up to the expectations of his people he lost his legitimacy to lead Zimbabwe and resorted to the most repulsive approaches imaginable to desperately keep state power including rigging elections,seizing white farms,fermenting tribal rivalries, tribal genocide,relying on the military for survival (and not his own people) and a shameless and naked drive to keep power at all costs including human lives.

Robert Mugabe is clearly past is sell-by date (he is shooting 90!)and watching him now gives one a strong impression that his mental faculties have suffered natural waste-the passage of time.

His Zanu-PF party doesnt have any more faith in his leadership but only see him as their assurance of a meal ticket and their continued partake of state largesse such as handouts of white farms to party extremists. In Morgan Tsvingrai's MDC (who actually won the last presidential polls) they have a formidable foe and Robert Mugabe is the only one who can guarantee that they will win an election even when they lose one.

Zimbabwe embodied lots of promise for Africa and could have been a success story if Mugabe hadn't screwed it all up.

To be fair, the question of land tenure justice was one borne out of the colonial history of Zimbabwe and the failure of Britain to come good on its promise to aid efforts for a fairer land re-distribution arrangement in Zimbabwe where black Zimbabweans had a fair stake in owning a piece of the arable land of their homeland is part of the problem of the tragedy of Zimbabwe.

Tanzanians: The reluctant East Africans

In November 2009, I penned an article in 'The Monitor' inspired by a road trip I took from Kampala, through Nairobi, to Arusha in Tanzania.

The article, 'The dream of one East Africa is a distant one', decried the delay in attitudinal change by East Africans in shifting to a 'one East Africa' mentality.

I argued that the idea of one East Africa is clearly one we ought to nurture and realize given the global blocks of the EU,USA, China whose combined populations, market and GDP give them a competitive edge in the global race in which we find ourselves.

I also mentioned that the dream of one East Africa is currently a top-down vision held largely by heads of state which needs to trickle down to the regular East African in Kikuubo, Kariakoo or Kibera.

The doubts on the pace of East African integration in 2009 don’t seem to have gotten any much better despite the numerous announcements of milestones. Only that Tanzanians now seem even more reluctant East Africans. And there is plenty of evidence.

Only two weeks ago, It was reported in our dailies that Tanzania has slapped a 25% tax on Ugandan imports contrary to the recently signed customs union among all East African states that bars taxes on member countries' exports .

Tanzania has declined to sign a defense protocol of all East African countries-a project of the East African community. Tanzania says it doesn't want to be mired in the conflicts common to other East African countries. The defense protocol provides that an attack on one makes it a duty for all the rest to rise up in a mutual defense pact akin to NATO.

The High Court in Tanzania recently ruled against the East African Development bank in favour of a Tanzanian businessman-borrower to the tune of over USD$ 163 million which threatens to effectively bankrupt the bank, a survivor of the earlier East African community of the 1970s. You may say that the Tanzanian executive has no control over the courts but then East African community treaty (which Tanzania signed) says member countries should not allow litigation against East African community assets.

Observers who attended a meeting in Bujumbura at the end of last month at which East African community ministers were supposed to sign an agreement for the establishment of the East African Community Political Federation reported that Tanzania declined to sign the agreement and dramatically left its seat at the meeting.

It was only after hand-wringing that Tanzania finally singed the agreement- days after the rest of the countries had signed on.

Despite an agreement(common market) earlier this year that goods and services should freely move across all borders within East Africa(including human resources),Tanzania still bars other East Africans from getting jobs in Tanzania.

Ugandans in Northern Tanzania tell me once they get a job in Tanzania they are swiftly reported to the authorities under a community whistle-blowing arrangement.

I arrived in Tanzania again earlier this year and the 'visa' stamped in my Ugandan passport showed that I was given 14 days in Tanzania. Even the Americans and British have granted me alot more days in their realms.

At the root of all this is Tanzanian mistrust and suspicion of other East African countries. There is a widespread belief in Tanzania that in an integrated East Africa, Kenyans will take their jobs and Ugandans are a chaotic lot given their turbulent history and lifting of presidential term limits.

And it is not only Tanzania which has fallen short. The East African community recently mooted the idea of a common foreign policy protocol by June 2011 but, to date, not one East African country has come good on that milestone. And the East African common currency? Don't get me started. The Greek tragedy in the EU is a cautionary tale.

'Priceless': A delightfully priceless french movie

Today I watched a delightful french movie. Priceless is a french gem of a romantic comedy.
Being accustomed to Hollywood movies, 'Priceless' is a breadth of fresh air. Its not a recent release at all having come out in 2006. But I chanced on it by sheer chance.

I strolled by Alliance Francaise of Kampala (I did a french beginners course with them) at their Nakasero home in Kampala and a quick scan on their noticeboard showed Thursday was movie nite.
I had planned on jogging around the adjacent soccer field and had stopped to have a quick coffee before a 40 minute work out but abandoned the plans instantly. 'Priceless' was showing and a quick perusal through the plot,I was sold. So, work out was out and movie was in!

The plot is actually a simple but brilliant one. It tells the story of a meeting between a gold digger attractive young woman (AudreyTautou) and an accidental 'rich 'eligible young bachelor (Gad Elemlah) who meet at high-end hotel bar and mistaken identity on the part of the gold digger young woman. It's a comedy of mistaken identities that blooms into an unlikely love story.

Audrey Tautou reminded me of Julia Roberts in 'Pretty Woman'. They are both convincing as women who sale their wares.

Audrey Tautou plays a woman who is about to marry a rich but elderly man for his money and one late evening on her birthday (after a frustrating slumber from her elderly companion) she strolls into a hotel bar and is smitten by a dashing young man sleeping on a couch( the bartender) who she mistakes for a rich patron.

The bartender allows Audrey to continue in her mistaken belief and pass off as a rich young man. From then on, the laughs come fast and furious as the mistaken identity begins to unravel in the most hilarious of ways.

I have watched several french movies and their attraction , for me, was their being the anti-hollywood, not being formulaic not forcing a 'hollywood ending' but Priceless manages to be french and still attain the success of a hollywood formulaic movie- having a clear plot,an intelligent ending and keeping tabs on the clock. It is a delight

Forget AIDS: Tobacco-related diseases are the next big epidemic in Uganda

‘’The Tobacco diseases epidemic is already with us in Africa’’ says Prof Peter Odhiambo, Chairman of Kenya Tobacco Control Board. ‘’Soon you will hear people announcing that the epidemic is coming to Africa. It is already here. I treat the victims of tobacco everyday’’. Prof Odhiambo was speaking at Kampala Serena Hotel on 1^st November 2011 in a public lecture entitled ‘The journey from the Farm to the Lungs: Who gains from Tobacco in Africa?’ at the inauguration of the new regional Centre for Tobacco Control in Africa (CTCA) to be hosted by Uganda.

Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of death in the world today. Tobacco use claims more lives globally than HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and malaria combined. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), unless urgent action is taken, tobacco could kill one billion people during this century. WHO data also shows that in comparison to HIV/AIDS which claimed three million lives globally last year, Tobacco deaths were nearly six million cases.

According to WHO, more than 80% of the world’s tobacco-related deaths will be in low and middle-income countries by 2030.

‘’Tobacco is the only legal product in the world which, when used as intended by the manufacturer, kills half of all the people who use it ’’ says Dr Sheila Ndyanabangi, who is the Tobacco Control focal person in the Ministry of Health.

Tobacco use is also known to cause at least 15 cancers (particularly lung cancer), heart and respiratory diseases and leads to lifelong heath and developmental disorders among exposed children.

In a study conducted at Mulago Hospital, Uganda’s main referral Hospital, 75% of patients with oral cancer had a history of smoking, with the number of years of smoking ranging from 2-33 years, according to a 2008 study report by Fredrick Musoke of Makerere University.

“Tobacco use is the only risk factor associated with all major non communicable Diseases (NCDs) such as lung cancer, cardiovascular diseases, tuberculosis, asthma and pneumonia. It is a risk factor for six out of eight leading causes of death, globally” said Dr Douglas Bettcher, Head of WHO’s Tobacco-Free Initiative at the opening ceremony of a regional Tobacco Control centre in Kasangati, near Kampala.

Dr Bettcher also said that tobacco use in women causes infertility and leads to low birth weight of babies born to tobacco-using mothers. For men, tobacco use can cause low sperm count.

Almost a quarter of Ugandan males (22%) aged between 15 and 49% are smokers while 4% of females are smokers -according to the 2006 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey.

However,the threat posed by second-hand smoking or ‘environmental tobacco smoke’ which is said to affect almost a half of all youths in Uganda and is a much more mainstream public health threat in Uganda. Exposure to second hand smoke increases the risk of heart disease by 25-30% and the lung cancer risk by 20-30%.

Smoking has been banned in public places, including in bars, restaurants and educational institutions, in Uganda since 2004 . But the judicial and political will to enforce this law has been lukewarm. Not a single person has been prosecuted under this law despite smoking in public places, such as bars, being widespread in Kampala and other towns of Uganda.

In August, British American Tobacco (BAT) Uganda, announced that that cigarette sales had gone up by 29% in Uganda compared to a similar period in 2010.

The Ugandan tobacco industry argues that tobacco is economically important to Uganda given that the industry is a leading tax revenue payer and that the livelihoods of 600,000 tobacco farmers, particularly in Arua District in the West Nile region, where BAT runs an out-growers programme, depends on the cash crop. The industry also argues that it is important export crop for the country.

‘’It is not the tobacco companies which pay tobacco taxes, it is the smokers’’ counters Dr Sheila Ndyanabangi, who argues that taxes on tobacco are simply passed on to consumers. Dr Ndyanabangi also maintains that the health care costs of treating tobacco-related diseases, such as lung cancer and heart diseases, far outweighs the economic benefits of the tobacco industry.

Tobacco use poses a heavy burden on the governments of low and middle-income countries, through increased healthcare costs, aggravates environmental degradation through clearing forests to make way for tobacco farms and leads to diversion of agricultural land to tobacco farming since tobacco crops can only be grown alone.

According to Rachel Kitonyo, a Kenyan working with the Africa Tobacco Control Consortium based in Lome in Togo, Uganda is out of step with other East African countries such Tanzania and Kenya which passed a Tobacco control law in 2007.

Uganda is yet to pass a tobacco control law although a Bill has been in the works for the past few years with a draft announced in 2010. The Ugandan parliament is now set to discuss the Bill after being dogged by delays.

The resurrection of the bill was disclosed on 1 November 2011 by Rebecca Kadaga, the Speaker of Parliament, while opening the Centre for Tobacco Control in Africa(CTCA), which is based in Kasangati township, about five kilometers from the Ugandan capital, Kampala. One of the proposals of the bill is a two-month jail sentence for public-smoking offenders.

According to Kadaga, the bill will have its first reading in parliament soon and will be tabled before parliament as a private members’ Bill moved by Dr Chris Baryomunsi, Member of Parliament for Kinkizi West.

In addition to tobacco control law, Dr Joaquim Saweka, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Uganda country representative, calls for an increase of the tax on tobacco in which globally is recognized as the most effective tobacco control measure to deter people from smoking. Increasing tobacco taxes is seen as a win-win option as it means more money in government coffers and a reduction in consumption of tobacco products. A World Bank study shows that a 10% increase in tobacco taxes was followed by an 8% reduction in consumption of tobacco products.

Uganda’s tax on tobacco products has been increasing marginally in the last three years but is still far below the threshold set by the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

Uganda consented to the FCTC in June 2007, which is a set of internationally-agreed strategies for tobacco control that has force of international law. The FCTC calls for a ban on advertising of tobacco products, the display of graphic warnings on cigarette packs, an increase in tobacco taxes and alternatives to tobacco farming. However, Uganda is yet to give full effect to FCTC guidelines such as using graphic warning on cigarette packs.

‘’The size of health warnings on cigarette packs, as a percentage of the surface area of the cigarette packs in Uganda is till small and below FCTC guidelines’’ says Gilbert Muyambi, Secretary General of Uganda National Tobacco Control Association.

An effective tobacco control regulatory regime in developed countries has constrained the operations and profits of big tobacco companies such as Phillip Morris and BAT which has made them consider Africa as a lucrative alternative – an untapped market with weak anti- tobacco laws and policies. Thus tobacco giants have set their sights on Africa as a ‘new’ marketing hope for the tobacco industry.

With multinational tobacco companies switching their attention to African countries, the non-communicable disease epidemic of heart diseases and cancers which, until now, have been more widespread in the west, are certain to shift to African countries which already have high burdens of infectious diseases such as AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis epidemics to contend with.

It is estimated that by 2030 tobacco-related illnesses will be the leading cause of death in the world and 70-80% of these deaths will occur in low and income countries.

“Be wary of multinational companies, which come here and sell you death in the name of freedom. These are merchants of death. The tobacco disease epidemic is already here,” warns Professor Peter Odhiambo.

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The Viva Riva! movie and the promise of African cinema

Last evening I watched the critically acclaimed 'Viva Riva' Congolese feature film that is having a lot of buzz around the world.

It is a film with an African story ,an African director, African actors and but with clear global appeal. You have seen this film before in western cinema.

The film centres around a charming, forty-something protagonist who

Delayed Uganda tobacco control bill set to be tabled before parliament

The Ugandan parliament is set to discuss a proposed new law to curb tobacco use in Uganda.This was disclosed on Tuesday, 1st November 2011, by Rebecca Kadaga, the Speaker of the national assembly of Uganda while launching a regional tobacco control agency-Center for Tobacco Control in Africa(CTCA) at Kasangati township, about 5 kilometers from the Kampala city centre.

The proposed anti-tobacco law known as the Tobacco Control Bill 2010 will be tabled before parliament under a private member's bill to be moved by Dr Chris Baryomunsi, Member of Parliament for Kinkizi constituency in South Western Uganda.

CTCA will be a regional agency for Tobacco control in five countries including Uganda, Kenya, Angola and South Africa and will be mandated to support governments in the region to build and sustain institutional capacity for Tobacco Control in Africa, according to Dr Possy Mugyenyi, the manager of the centre.

'This centre is the first of its kind in the world' said Dr Joaquim Saweka, WHO’s Uganda country representative, at the opening ceremony and 'a dream come true' according to Dr Christine Ondoa, Uganda’s health minister.

The CTCA is funded through a, three year, US$ 3.5 million Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant which was a won through a WHO-mediated competitive grant that attracted 20 competitors from all over Africa.

According to the WHO, tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable deaths worldwide. Globally, it causes more deaths than AIDS, Tuberculosis and malaria combined. Smoking is also estimated to kill half a billion people in the world over the next fifty years.

'' Tobacco use is the only disease that is associated with all major Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) such as Lung cancer, cardiovascular diseases, tuberculosis, asthma, pneumonia'' said Dr Douglas Bettcher, the head of WHO's global tobacco control at Geneva who was present at the opening ceremony.

He also mentioned that tobacco use in women causes infertility and leads to low birth weight among tobacco-using mothers. For men, tobacco use is a risk factor for impotence.

The Tobacco Control Bill 2010 was drafted by tobacco control advocates in Uganda spearheaded by the Uganda National Tobacco Control Association. One of the proposals in the bill is a two-month jail sentence for public-smoking offenders.

Uganda is a signatory to the WHO framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) which is a set of internationally-agreed strategies for Tobacco control and has force of international law. The FCTC calls for a ban on advertising on tobacco products, display of graphic warnings in cigarette packs, increase in tobacco taxes, alternatives to tobacco farming etc.

At the opening ceremony, a theme song for tobacco control was unveiled and was presented by popular musicians who included Keko and Dr Hilderman who made an original composition which should catch on as an anthem for tobacco control advocates in Uganda. 'Smoking is not cool' raps Keko one of the performers at the opening ceremony. Fittingly, the theme song was composed by the younger, hip generation who constitute the 'breeding ground' for the tobacco industry especially young people in Ugandan secondary schools.

Because of an effective tobacco control regulatory regime in western advanced countries which has constrained the operations and profits of tobacco companies such as Phillip Morris and BAT in western countries, Africa is seen as a lucrative alternative, an untapped market with weak anti tobacco laws and regulations and tobacco giants have set their sights on Africa as a the 'new' hope of the tobacco industry.

‘Be wary of multinational companies which come here and sell you death in the name of freedom. These are merchants of death. The tobacco disease epidemic is already here’ said Professor Peter Odhiambo of University of Nairobi in Kenya who delivered a public lecture on tobacco control at Serena Hotel in Kampala in honour of the newly opened Center for Tobacco Control in Africa(CTCA).

Why Libya may miss Gaddafi's dictatorship

The head of Libya's National Transitional Council(NTC) ,on Wednesday(yesterday), formally called for an extension of NATO's Libya mission till the end of the year ' to ensure the security of Libyans from some remnants of Gaddafi's forces which fled into neighbouring countries' reports the BBC.

You may be forgiven for thinking that the NTC is merely appeasing their NATO backers but the NTC will actually need support to hold the country together in the post-Gaddafi era.

For all their failings,dictators are not credited for their masterly in securing national security and the art of ridding their countries of turmoil and anarchy.

After the US invasion of Iraq and ouster of Saddam Hussein in 2003, the US,with that unforgettable image of former president George W Bush on an aircraft carrier, declared 'mission accomplished'. But they spoke too soon. With Saddam Hussein's feared security apparatus all but dismantled, Iraq soon descended into an endless quagmire of home-grown terrorism and occupation-resistance. As we write,Iraq has never recovered its Saddam-era stability.

Closer to home, Somalia which was a stable country albeit with simmering political divisions where 'dictator' Siad Barre was ousted by political opponents. He departed along with the Somalia state as we knew it. 'Strong men' in ethnically-diverse countries or 'dangerous places', to borrow a Paul Collier term, have an uncanny ability of preserving national security.

After 9/11, the U.S. invaded Afghanistan to rid it of state-inspired terrorism and deny Islamic fundamentalists a breeding ground for terrorists. After ten years of US occupation and a trillion-dollar military operation, Afghanistan is yet to return to normal-lacy and the Afghan insurgents are boasting: 'you have the watches but we have the time'.

So, what makes dictators so tick when it comes to preserving national security?

Well, irony of ironies. It is everything we abhor about dictatorships- a secret police,ruthless crack down on dissent,instilling fear of the state within the population, maintaining patronage networks, playing the ethnic politics of divide and rule,repressive laws,,denial of press freedom etc. There is always that classical question. As president of a 'dangerous place',would you rather be feared or loved?

At the moment Libya is a hot favourite to step into the foot steps of Afghanistan and Iraq. The NTC is not on top of things and will have struggle to rein in the 'rats'as we saw with the gruesome extra-judicial murder of Gaddafi. Libya is made of dozens of rival ethnic groups and the idea of a one Libya is a work- in- progress,as it is with most African countries. It is littered with small arms(thanks to the eight-month revolution), there is a high population of 'demobilized' soldiers and security personnel, there are Gaddafi-avengers waiting to pounce-the ingredients of civil anarchy.

Although Gaddafi's was labelled a 'village tyrant' and was chided for playing tribe against tribe, his genius in tribal manoeuvrings is about to be appreciated by the NTC. How do you successfully govern an ethnically diverse and heterogeneous country such as Libya?

The irony is that electoral democracy in the developing world may be an enemy of peace and stability as research by Paul Collier,an Oxford professor have found. The things you deplore in a dictatorship may be the things that precisely hold a culturally-fragmented country together. Pre-colonial societies were rarely homogeneous and an artificial creation put together by band-aid.

Gaddafi and Saddam, who clearly were not beacons of democracy, in crafting a repressive system in their countries, secured stable and peaceful countries and at their ouster, the 'band aid' that holds their countries together tends to unravel.

But dictators such as Saddam and Gaddafi were not being terribly original in the 'dark arts' of statecraft. Colonial Britain in Uganda used the same tactics of 'divide and rule'(Buganda vs Bunyoro), indirect rule(Kakungulu in Bugisu), repressive laws(preventive arrest,sedition) brutal crackdown on political opponents (Mau Mau in Kenya).

So, before you label me a Gaddafi apologist, a tutor of tyrants,an enemy of democracy.. review a brief history of 'regime change' in Iraq and Afghanistan.