President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has revealed that Africa’s biggest original sin was poor political organization.
He said this on Friday in Abuja, Nigeria, where he was invited as chief guest at the National Defence College’s inauguration of its 26th class.
The President delivered a lecture at the National Defence College soon after arrival. His lecture focused on integration, prosperity and African strategic security.
The officers at the National Defence College sang Museveni a birthday song before the lecture and later gave me a birthday gift.
“This (poor political organization) is what enabled colonialists to conquer Africa. We were fragmented into clans and tribes and it was easy to attack us one by one. Gradually, a continent which was the cradle of man, origin of civilization and saviour of modern religions has become the last in development,” Museveni said.
He noted that the cure for this malaise lies in three key things. First is integration for markets.
“We must expand our markets. For example, Uganda’s excess 1.2 billion litres of milk and three million tonnes of maize is consumed by our neighbours. China’s GDP at 1978 before it opened up was only $218 billion. Today, it is $11,202 billion, largely driven by trade with external markets,” Museveni said, adding that the second concern is integration for strategic security. Prosperity alone is not enough.
“In World War II, the first victims were the rich but weak countries like Holland, Belgium & France. We must find a strategic security anchor and that only lies in both out political and economic integration,” he said.
He added that Africa “must consider our human resource as our key asset. It comes above mineral resources. We should therefore desist from dividing our people on identity lines, instead pushing for their interests.”
