The guerilla group has since morphed into a political party called the National Resistance Movement Organisation (NRM-O). However, President Yoweri Museveni, who was the chief military commander and political ideologue, has remained in power for the last 36 years. With its firm hold on to power NRM has no excuse for the lack of an integrated economy.

But the undoing of that dream was the wholesome embrace of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF)-sponsored Structural Adjustment programmes (SAPs).

Under the SAPs, government divorced itself from certain core duties and urged the private sector to drive the economy. Ugandans were told; they had no choice but to join the global market. So Uganda, a feather weight, joined the race and sparred with the global heavyweights.

Little wonder then that the country has remained glued to the floor of the ring, reeling from the experienced blows. In that regard, the public-owned companies that were involved in the provision of services and production of goods for both exports and domestic consumption were sold.

We resorted to the “private” sector and foreign investors to build the self-sustaining national economy! Unfortunately, Uganda is running a global economy template, without a clue on how to design it. The outcome has been the economic crunch that Ugandans are experiencing.

Uganda has become a country with no economic leverage. The country cannot produce enough sugar for itself; soap and salt, among other basic commodities, are imported. If one asked, what is the difference between the Covid-19 pandemic and the current fuel and market forces crisis? 

The former was never predicted by the scientists and the economists were caught napping. However, there have been ample signs that Uganda being reliant on fuel imports, among others, was likely to face the current crisis. Trouble is, the state is living large and not bothered with the crisis. The state has failed to trim its appetite nor has it become pragmatic.

We gambled a lot with the Covid-19 crisis and it ebbed away with some casualties, but this fuel crisis is prevalent in every household and this is not good because citizens are turning into destitutes. This crisis is not about to go away.

Question is: is government just going to continue to urge Ugandans to tighten their belts as some privileged few enjoy the apples and milk?

Once President Museveni ridiculed those countries, which could not manufacture safety pins but could afford to buy jets for their presidents to fly to international capitals; are we any better today? Thirty-six years later, Ugandans are wallowing in poverty and self-reliance remains a pipe dream.

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