M7 is erratic in thought and an intellectual pretender. Incidentally, he shares many traits with the current US president.
Batera emundu, batunga obusingye! Stephen In a message dated 9/29/2003 11:56:39 AM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > Mw. Semakula, > This is from Daily Nation. > > How M7's letter torpedoed Cancun talks > By SUNDAY G. KISANGARA > Reports that President Yoweri Museveni has confirmed sending a letter to the > head of Uganda's delegation at the WTO conference at Cancun, urging them to > support the European and US position rather than that of the developing > countries displays a failure to understand the factors that affect poor > economies in globalisation. > > We know that Museveni wholeheartedly embraced the Agoa Bill when it was being > debated in the US and offered little or no support to the HOPE of Africa Bill > that was floated as an alternative to Agoa. > > I really wonder whether he understood Agoa and its implications and whether he > ever tried to examine the rationale of HOPE. > > Museveni’s arguments against dumping in the African context are rather shallow. > African countries produce primarily agricultural products. They have not dumped > these goods on the US market. On the contrary, the US has dumped agricultural > products ranging from maize to soya, in Africa directly, or indirectly in the > form of aid. > > On the other hand, Asian countries have dumped electronic goods on the African > market, undercutting the expensive Western electronic goods. This Asian dumping > is in Africa's interests, given that we don’t manufacture any electronic goods. > > What African governments should do in the short term is to welcome the cheap > manufactured goods from Asia and draw up a strategy on how to reverse this in > the long term. > > For 18 years, Museveni has not put a long-term strategy in place for the local > manufacturing sector. He is therefore responsible for the Asian dumping of > their manufactures on our market. > > Museveni also fails to understand that the main reasons why African governments > can’t sell their agricultural products in Western markets is because of > artificial restrictions caused by Europeans and US government subsidies that > distort the market, tilting the balance in favour of Western farmers. > > The US legislature passed a Bill authorising massive subsidies to US farmers > just weeks after passing the Agoa Bill. Does Mr Museveni really think this was > intended to promote Agoa? Does he think Africans can ever trade freely and > fairly in an open market without proper reforms? We all know that Museveni is a > strong advocate of Uganda’s reflexive solidarity with the US and EC, something > that is not out of love for his country, but rather, the need to entrench > himself in Uganda's politics. > > These imperialists, out of their national economic interests, have bank-rolled > his regime; turned a blind eye to the chaos in our country; paid no attention > to Museveni's activities in Rwanda; overlooked Uganda’s activities in the DRC, > and remained silent on rampant corruption in the country. > > As a result, he torpedoed the WTO conference in Cancun through his letter, and > the end loser in this game was the poor Ugandan farmer. > > In his letter, Museveni showed a degree of envy for emerging economies like > India and Brazil. The performance of the Indian economy, for example, today > threatens jobs in the developed world, be it in the IT sector where Western > companies have out-sourced their cheap services; in pharmaceutical industries, > and in manufacturing. Now, companies like Rover are engaged in delicate > negotiations with TATA of India. > > We should learn from them and not look at them as threats in international > negotiations that affect the livelihood of 90 per cent of our people. > > We could easily acquire technology from countries like India, Malaysia, Taiwan, > China, Japan, South Korea and Singapore, that is commensurate with our economic > circumstances instead of looking to the Western world. > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Mr Kisangara is a Ugandan journalist resident in the United Kingdom > > \\\\\\\"Always be a first rate version of yourself instead > of a second rate > version of someone else.\\\\\\\\\\\\\" > > Njoki Paul > University of Pretoria -------------------------------------------- This service is hosted on the Infocom network http://www.infocom.co.ug
