02/08/2026
ECONOMIC GROWTH, POORER PEOPLE
I have told you before about the story of a book I wrote myself, that got bought by the same person twice from T & T supermarket Entebbe road in Kampala. The same book that I wrote in 2019 is where I have got this little piece of information.
In 2018, Uganda's national television broadcast the news, that " thousands to loose jobs as government merges agencies". In 2019, there came a statement in the national news papers following the recruitment of local defence unit (LDU) officers. This was the statement. "thousands show up at wankulukuku to compete for the 165 LDU slots.
Meanwhile our budgets depict growth every financial year. However, we need over 700,000 new jobs per year if we are to quench unemployment.
Just pause a little, I was talking about 2018/19. Am writing from my bed at 4:24 am, it's a Saturday 1st. Aug. 2026. Unemployment is way higher than 2018.
A jobless growth is literally found in Africa.
Unemployment increases as profit repatriation increases, new buildings, new roads as people's welfare does the opposite. In South Africa, people in a certain village went out of order and started destroying their beautiful roads as they murmured. When the press asked what was wrong, they simply said, that they didn't even know where the roads were heading to. To them, the roads were heading no where. That they didn't need such roads when they couldn't afford the daily demands of life. (that's welfare). All they saw were beautifuly made roads as they got stuck with poor drainage, unemployment, higher taxes, just to mention but a few. Such unreasonable ambiguity is a political design put on by a people so flamboyantly proud enough not to care about their subjects. It looks like from time memorial, this transport system was meant to catalyse work for the few rather than the common man. Before we continue any further, we must prioritise public needs assessment reports. If we don't respond to the pulses of the people, we leave the heart of our economies to die....
On a prominent radio station in in my area, were guests and one called Joyce was challenged when the host told her that her political party too didn't have a comprehensive plan to lead the country forward. She simply said, we have a plan, our boss talked about building roads, fixing education, providing medicine in hospitals.....bla...bla... That's politics anyway. But I want to say that doing those things doesn't mean that you're pursuing a development plan. A plan has a roadmap clearly defined on the best interests of the people according to time and preference.
Roads are good , but its not just about roads, and buildings, good education, and providing medicine in hospitals. They sound so nice. I call it political sugar. Except being the pulse at a time, a plan ensures eco system symbiosis of all sectors of the economy. No perfection needed, but at least there's a reasonable sync. The interplay of Agriculture, education and health, affecting each other and what is needed for each to push the other to another level. We must mastermind on what we need to forego, and when to pause the the best alternative before we continue with the second best choice infrastructure. Choice and priority are golden. That's why I always emphasise that development is not just about tall beautiful buildings and shinning roads. It's about sensible freedom, of which economic freedom is part. Growth and development are not so except they depict in people's pockets. I imagine their president coming into power, and sends for more medicine in hospitals, builds good looking schools with ardent teachers who are paid pretty well, orders building of more roads..... bigger and durable ones let's say, then what? am asking...to what extent are they going to impact the people if we do not have extra considerations clung on them. Different areas have different needs and resources, then tune their education in the same angle. Let that influence their farms..... Match skills with education and see how beautifull the final product will be.
We often talk about investors and also make sure we prepare them the best environment for trade and commerce, forgetting ourselves as a number one priority. Sometimes I wonder how we wait vigil and get excited too, for something that we can do ourselves. Is It me seeing poorly, or something? We have known the informal sector as a billion dollar economy. I totally know that we can mobilize funds there to do major projects per financial year to keep easing the common man's life. We can mobilize funds from the people themselves and use it. If a kingdom can mobilize massive funds from its subjects unknown times, what about a full nation with stronger administrative structures. Being sincere, transparent, and accountable can be a catalyst to capital mobilisation. I talked about the private sector funding in some blog, it can as well be an option as regards to raising funds. Am talking about individuals giving freely to their country. How many people have done successful weddings and introduction ceremonies, birthdays and others just by soliciting from their circles of influence. Now some one will ask, how many times is that formula going to be successful? It doesn't matter. And by the way, It can become a culture. An onus out of impetus so to say. We have seen it work ourselves. Buganda kingdom has collected billions of shillings from people, and are helping in sanitation, free health camps, providing reasonable affordable shelter, just to mention but a few.
Talk about the diaspora. Those people send lots of money back home,.... but wait a little. Of what impact is it to the nation in regards to development except being a shock absorber ( our relief). Relief always leaves us the way we were. It doesn't propel us forward. We haven't found a proper way of mobilising diaspora funds for capital development. Burkina Faso just mobilised some good funds from its diaspora in form of a loan. If am to remember very well, it was over 150 billion francs from its diaspora and citizens during the first phase of its innogural diaspora bond known as "patriotic loan". The fundraising campaign ran from may 6th to June 6th 2026, surpassing it's initial target of 125 billion CFA francs.. How much more to nations which have a bigger diaspora. Those people can give freely to their nations, they can lend, they can be mobilised and administered to establish a number of mega projects, leaving them as investors in their own countries. That's the Africa made of Africans.
Minus corruption and kleptocracy, we can build Africa ourselves. It's the "Africa made in Africa". Instead of waiting for light skinned men to come and do something for us, let's do it ourselves because we can, if we dare. Remember this, when they establish anything here, we get stuck as "labour", as being at the top becomes their culture. We only do that if we want skills from them to create for ourselves. It's okay to leave some of their companies to operate, but none of them should be beyond control or left to meander as though their nations can do the same to our companies in their economies. The same terms should strictly apply. Do me I do you style. They shouldn't enjoy what we don't enjoy in their economies. Mutual benefits, full stop. In fact, we should make living cheaper in order that our people don't yearn to move abroad for jobs that really leave us as inferiors. If we are to move abroad, we must go their to do better jobbing, rather not being maids, cleaners, waiters etc. Anyone wanting to use us for that must be really ready to meet the costs of that, because they will be pretty high.
If we reduce taxes significantly, we mobilize funds from taxes like never before. A bigger threshold equals better cash papper numbers. Today just a few can give taxes because they are high. Most of the money is lost in corruption. Been there many times, seen it my self and got involved not by love but by force because that's how the authorities want it. If you want your business to operate, give the officials something or else they will demand the government tax that you can't even afford. I call that forced corruption.
A strategy to significantly mitigate corruption must be developed. Whether it involves ex*****on, yes, let it be, so as to save the many from the demise.
Africa for Africans is Africa made in Africa. We DIY..(do It Yourself). The more aliens have a bigger share on your investments, the more vulnerable and feeble you become.
Let's give free land to our talented human capital. Aid in establishing structures for them. Aid in research and also let our people become their home market through being protected from allied allien competitors. We should be our number one priority. Then shall we have massive products made by us. Part of development is meeting people's needs and wants cheaply in abundance. Without kleptocracy, the people will enjoy the fruits of the established projects. Every project making life easier leads to more economic efficiency due to labour and capital mobility and convenience. No need to borrow..... In one lower class while doing subtraction, the teacher told us how impossible it was to subtract a bigger digit from a smaller digit only except we borrow. He said , " it's impossible, we have to borrow". Then we did so from the nearest digit. However as we moved to a higher class, we realised that whilst on a numberline, we can actually do it successfully and end up in a negative. At least it was now possible. We were now confident that a negative is okay and correct too and there's no shame about it. In other words, you're simply just on your way to the positives. Today Africa is stuck in the former class and is not thinking of upgrading to the latter. Are we scared of negatives, as a rationale to meaningless borrowing? When shall we upgrade, reset and get set again for the take off? Staff is much better on the numberline, and it's completely okay to use what you can manage to mobilize at the moment rather than getting funds that are meant to drain you.
Now, I saw pathetic Ugandans fighting against the sovereignity bill just because of fears of not receiving money from white funders...., I seriously wondered how we can deal with such a naive generation. The bill was not stopping their money per say,.... (according to the way I understood).... but I literally saw people's nerves together with claws and I sensed readiness for Africans to fight anyone stopping the whites from sending them money. Sovereignity should go first. Africa and Africans first.
We give our enemies priority over ourselves because we are nervous.
We say that the whites are protecting our rights through these organisations, yet it's the money that we don't want to out with. And who gave them the right to protect our rights?. Who was protecting them before?. A beg to end.