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SPEECH BY MAJOR GEN. (RTD) MUGISHA MUNTU AT THE

OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF THE FDC PARTY AGENDA

UGANDAS LEAP FORWARD

Serena International Conference Centre, Kampala: March, 9, 2015

Your Excellencies

Invited Guests

Ladies and gentlemen in your respective capacities

On behalf of the members and supporters of the Forum for

Democratic Change and many Ugandans across this country who

share the values and aspirations that we stand for, I welcome you to

this historic event when we launch our policy agenda for triggering

Ugandas Leap Forward.

Let me first of all acknowledge with gratitude and respect the

distinguished service of my predecessor Col.(Rtd) Dr. Kizza

Besigye and all of you leaders of our party for your collective and

individual contribution in building our Party.

Party Chairperson, Madam Joyce Sebugwawo, thank you for your

continued leadership and stewardship.

Thank you Madam Secretary General and your team and everybody

else that has worked tirelessly to organize this event.

Yesterday March 8, 2015 was the International Womens Day. As a

Party, we celebrate the great contributions of all Ugandan women.

Those who till our farmlands, those who teach our children, those

who spend sleepless nights looking after the sick, those who serve

in our military, at home and abroad, those who serve in our police,

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prisons and intelligence services and all those running businesses,

or work in our public service and the mothers of the Nation.

The values that I espouse are an outcome of the nurturing of my

mother. I would not be what I am if it was not for the sacrifices and

huge influence that my mother had on shaping my character. A

tough disciplinarian, hard working woman of impeccable values, she

was. May God rest her soul in eternal peace.

Thank you Anna Adeke for honoring this occasion and for your

wonderful speech. There perhaps could be no better way to

celebrate the Ugandan women and our young people than listening

to you share their dreams and aspirations.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN

Today, I am profoundly humbled and honored to present to you our

Party policy agenda for triggering Ugandas Leap Forward.

Ugandas Leap Forward is our contract with you the people. It is a

contract to create a new dispensation and build a new foundation

for creating opportunities for all and bring about boundless

opportunities and shared prosperity.

Todays challenges are clear and we are conscious of the burden

and task before us.

We have had over two decades of jobless growth. Our country is

among the 50 most corrupt countries out of 176 countries ranked in

the Corruption Perception Index.

Our country is ranked as the most corrupt among the partner states

of the East African Community according to the East African Bribery

Index (2012).

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And the Global Integrity Report 2011-12 noted for a second year

running that corruption is the biggest obstacle to doing business in

Uganda.

Parents across this country work very hard and sell the last of their

assets to send their children to school only for them to graduate into

a jobless market.

Official statistics tell us that poverty levels have gone down but out

of every 100 Ugandans, 40 of them live on the edge and stand the

risk of slipping back into poverty.

For over half a century since Independence, we have failed to

restructure our curriculum to respond to the needs of a changing

global economic architecture, the digital age and growing

competitiveness.

The introduction of Universal Primary Education in 1997 has been

hailed as a signature accomplishment of the ruling party. But we

know that out of the 2.1 million children reported to have been

enrolled in Primary One, only 485,703 sat for Primary Leaving

Examinations (PLE). Since then, an average of 1.5 million children

remain unaccounted for every after 7 years.

How is it possible that we keep on congratulating ourselves for

improving education service delivery and yet we cannot provide a

decent learning environment, much less provide a decent meal to

our Nations children?

I can go on and on to highlight the many challenges and failures but

this is not for this moment. Today, we want to share with you a

policy package that will help create a new momentum to grow the

economy, create decent jobs and expand opportunity for every

Ugandan.

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LADIES AND GENTLEMEN

Let me state clearly that we by no means discount the progress that

we have made as a country. And we acknowledge each of our

leaders who have made a contribution towards this progress,

however minimal.

However, we believe that the foundation beneath whatever progress

has been made in the last 52 years is unstable and could give way

when subjected to more stress.

The limits of the current leadership of our country need not be

emphasized. More importantly, the limits of the policies that are

being pursued are quite evident.

Economic growth has slowed down over the last 5 years, income

inequality is on the rise, levels of unemployment are frightening, the

delivery of public services has almost ground to a halt, and we are

experiencing systematic democratic reversals.

As a people, we can choose to remain in a state of denial. However,

the idea that a new leadership with a new set of ideas, a new

commitment and greater discipline is needed cannot be

overemphasized. We need to trigger and sustain a new momentum

to spur inclusive growth, eradicate extreme poverty that is trapping

over 40 percent of our people in perpetual vulnerability and create a

new optimism for our young people.

Today, I am greatly honored to present to you and the people of

Uganda our Four Point Action Plan to trigger Ugandas Leap

Forward to a future of opportunity and shared prosperity.

A plan to invest in our people and expand opportunity for every

Ugandan;

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A plan to re-engineer new sources of growth and create well-

paying and decent jobs for our people;

A plan to strengthen our national security, create a new

leadership and strengthen our public service; and

A plan to build people-centered regional integration and global

partnerships.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN

For the FDC, human development is more than the mere production

of goods and services, or the building of roads, bridges and dams,

or even the rise or fall in gross national revenue and per capita

income.

It is about creating an environment in which citizens can develop

their full potential, lead productive lives in line with their needs,

interests and our collective national aspirations.

This is why our plan to invest in our people and expand opportunity

focuses on:

building a people-centered and resilient economy built around

economic freedom, free enterprise and strong worker and

social protection programmes;

giving every Ugandan child an opportunity to learn, compete

and succeed here and abroad;

building a functional, well-resourced public healthcare services

system and establishing an effective national healthcare

insurance policy that cares for all our citizens; and

a systematic plan to accelerate the formation and retention of

skilled human capital.

(Economic policy)

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The overriding goal of our economic policy is to eradicate extreme

poverty and accelerate the attainment of shared prosperity for all

Ugandans, with particular emphasis on the 40 per cent of our fellow

Ugandans who are at the bottom of our economic strata.

In pursuing this goal, we will guarantee economic freedom as the

basic foundation for innovation and economic justice. Through

appropriate policies and legislation, we will ensure descent

conditions at the work place for Ugandan workers. We undertake to

establish a strong social security safety net that protects every

citizen.

We have outlined a package of policies that will dramatically

improve the investment climate for both nationals and foreign

investors. These include strengthening the rule of law, creating a

skilled workforce, a strong monetary policy and, a systematic and

comprehensive investment programme in transport and energy

infrastructure.

I can promise you fellow Ugandans that Government under FDC will

not stop at complaining about bureaucratic red tape, as is the habit

of the incumbent ruling party. The FDC will promptly and

expeditiously fix the problem, reduce the cost of doing business and

get businesses growing and expanding.

We believe that strong local governments are the foundations for

building local economic and social infrastructure, improving public

service delivery, and increasing demand for accountability and good

governance.

That is why we will dedicate a significant percentage of the national

budget towards local government funding through discretionary

funding mechanisms.

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(Education policy)

We have outlined an education policy that puts emphasis on the

collective responsibility of the state, parents and guardians in

ensuring the delivery of quality and rewarding education for our

children.

Our education policies and measures will tremendously and

systematically transform our Nations education system to create

the next generation of quality human capital needed to trigger

Ugandas Leap Forward, while giving all Ugandan children an

opportunity to fulfill their dreams and contribute to growing our

economy and strengthening our democracy.

FDC led Government will adopt policies and measures that give

honor to our Nations teachers who do a heroic job operating at the

frontline of our education system.

In particular, we are committed to establishing a remuneration and

compensation system that honors the long hours that our teachers

put in, build their pride and reward them for the sacrifice they make

in the classroom every day.

(Health policy)

We have outlined a coherent policy agenda to address our health

challenges including the commitment to revamp our Nations referral

system.

We will invest in inspiring our health workers to create a new

generation of a health workforce that takes pride in patient

satisfaction.

We will realign the health sector governance institutions to remove

duplication of effort, improve intra-system accountability and

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resource local governments to take responsibility for ensuring

effective delivery of health services at the local level.

i) Re-engineering new sources of growth and stimulating job

creation by implementing game-changing initiatives

We have outlined a plan to re-engineer new sources of growth and

stimulate job creation. The policies of the Government under the

ruling party have positioned Uganda as a big, unregulated

consumer market buying almost everything made outside from

tooth picks to textiles and cell phones.

Our economy currently operates like a big supermarket run with a

kiosk mentality.

In sharp contrast, the FDC-led Government will adopt and pursue

game changing policy initiatives to trigger the Leap Forward towards

building an economy that is inclusive, a society of entrepreneurs

and innovators, and a country that operates at the frontlines of the

regional and global economy.

That is why our policies will focus on putting women and the youth

at the heart of our economic transformation agenda. Our policies

will shift women and youth programming from the current patronage

system.

The FDC-led Government will adopt very specific indicators for

measuring the success of our youth and women intervention

programmes.

Our goal is to see that on an annual basis, there is:

Systematic and measurable reduction in youth unemployment;

Increase in youth and women owned enterprises through

credible and affordable credit schemes among others; and

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Creation of business incubation programmes for women and

youth entrepreneurs.

We have outlined a set of policies and actions to boost export

growth by systematically investing in the agricultural sector and

protecting local agribusiness from harmful competition in contrast to

the firefighting policy approach of the ruling party. This will include

fast tracking the establishment of a national bank for agricultural

transformation as the epi-center for agricultural finance delivery.

Consistent with our focus on the agriculture sector, we will adopt

policies that create more responsibility and accountability in the

governance of our natural resources. This will include a transparent

and accountable regime for utilization of revenues from oil and other

mineral resources.

The policies of the NRMO have suffocated our local governments

and defaulted on the grand bargain set out in our Constitution.

Power has been systematically grabbed from them, they are

chronically underfunded but they are blamed for the failures of the

regime.

Our policy package also focuses on strengthening our local

government system and making them the epi-centres of local

economic development and the effective delivery of public services

to Ugandans. .

Our targeted investments in science and technology, the present

and future cities programme and a dedicated National Venture and

Innovation Fund will help create a new momentum and trigger a

new wave of growth that is inclusive and sustainable.

iii) Leadership, National Security and a Commitment to Public

Service

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Thirdly, we have outlined our policy agenda to strengthen our

national security, law and order while building a credible public

service leadership that is patriotic, time conscious and confident.

Our policies will build credible leadership in the public service and

strengthen our national security, law and order. We will focus on

building the institutions of state, securing their autonomy, giving

them the confidence to implement national programmes, rewarding

them for exemplary performance and continuously holding them

accountable for non-performance.

We are conscious of the fact that a full transition of our military into

a fully modernized force subordinate to civilian authority is still

constrained by an incomplete political transition process.

The FDC-led Government will build on the progress made to date

by focusing on strengthening our military in the areas of:

information acquisition and processing,

guidance, energy and materials,

environment, systems and modeling, and

prioritizing the welfare of the men and women in uniform.

I had the honor and privilege to serve in our Nations military and I

salute all our officers and men for their sacrifice in securing our

countries borders and executing missions abroad. Our military has

educated and well trained officers and men who have the capability

to fully professionalize when the right political conditions are in

place.

Government under the FDC will create the political environment in

which the military and political leadership respect each other, and

the military is fully subordinate to civilian authority.

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Military service is the highest form of sacrifice a person can offer for

his or her country. Abusing the military to serving individual interests

is the worst degradation that can be visited on the men and women

in uniform.

The military needs to be honored and as such it is our intention to

create an environment that honors and gives dignity to the men and

women while in service and upon retirement.

Government under the FDC will never tolerate a situation where our

retired service men and women have to trek distances to come to

our parliament as the only means to secure their welfare and a

dignified retirement.

Our defense, security, law and order policy seeks to deal with newly

emerging but also ever changing security threats including terrorism

and its root causes such as widespread unemployment, poverty and

marginalization.

We will establish an independent judicial system that is anchored on

the rule of law, justice and the aspirations of our people. A police

force that works for our people by ensuring the police is properly

resourced and the welfare of police officers is given utmost priority.

Our investments in the judiciary and police seek to align these

institutions to play a frontline role in confronting systemic and

emerging challenges such as corruption, new forms of crime such

as human trafficking, human sacrifice and drug abuse.

iv) Building citizen-centered regional integration and global

partnerships

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Finally, we will refocus Ugandas leadership and engagement at the

regional and international level to be anchored on national interest

and guided by our role as a regional actor. All our foreign missions

will be required to report on their work by reporting on our level of

influence, how capable we are in penetrating regional and global

markets, and how many jobs are created by our actions.

As I conclude, let me point out that going forward, we will have to

continuously and systematically confront the culture of handouts

that has been created by Mr. Musevenis regime survival politics.

This culture is having a negative impact on the National psyche.

While on the surface, his actions may be seen as acts of

magnanimity, underneath, it can only be motivated by evil

intentions.

There is a relationship between self-confidence, productivity and

innovation. Our people have systematically been broken in spirit

and have been turned into beggars in mentality. This dangerous

trend has had direct negative consequences on the productivity of

our people. We have to roll back this mentality if our policies are to

work and our actions to have full meaning.

People need to be given a hand up on the ladder of economic

success rather than handouts. Shortcuts and quick fixes can

never be an engine for sustained, internally generated economic

growth and social progress. It can never create a society that is

affluent and at peace with itself.

Indeed the outcomes of what Mr. Museveni has systemically

created through crushing the spirit of our people is a deep sense of

hopelessness, frustration and steadily boiling anger. This situation

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needs to be defused before it boils over or explodes.

The tragedy of our current leadership is that they measure progress

by the failures of the past rather than the promise of the future. The

challenge of our time is not so much about whether we havent

made progress but that the current regime measures progress in

relation to where we are coming from rather than where we should

be.

For example, we can appreciate that our revenue collection has

increased from US$40 million in 1986 to approximately US$2 billion.

What we should be doing is to measure our progress by what we

have done with this increased revenues and where we should be if

a significant part of it was not stolen or siphoned off through

patronage schemes and corruption.

However, within the same period, countries like Singapore,

Malaysia and Vietnam have made significant leaps in terms of their

GDP. Even Vietnam which had an equally devastating conflict like

our country was able to increase its GDP 9 times to reach US$124

billion compared to Uganda which increased its GDP on 5 times to

reach US$17 billion over the period 1986-2011.

Because of leadership that is too much focused on our past failures

as a measure of success, we are now stuck with two decades of

jobless growth.

Massive unemployment have effectively excluded our young people

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from participating in the economy. Eighty three percent of our young

people remain unemployed.

We have spent billions of taxpayers money to build a network of

health centres but we are unable to staff them and equip or supply

them with drugs.

The introduction of UPE, which is billed as a signature policy

accomplishment of the NRM, has been mishandled. If government

is telling the truth about the enrollment figures, then between 1997

and 2014, at least 16,913,105 children are unaccounted for since

they never registered for PLE; completion rates remain dismal and

the low transition rates are unacceptable.

An estimated 40 percent of our people remain in conditions of

perpetual vulnerability and continuously hang on the cliff facing the

reality of falling into poverty at the slightest shock.

The NRM regime has created a plethora of anti-corruption

institutions and formulated a multitude of anti-corruption policies and

laws but is incapable of implementing them. Institutionalized

corruption, stealing and political corruption are standing in the way

of our progress.

Fellow Ugandans, you know we deserve better than this.

Today, I am asking of each one of you to break out from the box

confining us to the status quo of economic, social and political

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stagnation.

Like we read in the book of Deuteronomy 1:6-8, for eleven months,

the children of Israel had lived at the foot of Mt. Sinai. Eleven

months had led them into a state of complacency. They had grown

accustomed to their surroundings like many Ugandans have grown

accustomed to the ways of the current regime. But of course they

had not reached the Promised Land.

And God told them, You have stayed long enough at this mountain.

Break camp and advance. See I have given you this land. Go in and

take possession

Through this policy agenda, we make a contract with you the people

of Uganda. We will offer a brand of leadership that respects our

citizens, upholds values of honesty and respect for human dignity,

and respect for public office and public property.

Let me assure you that we will be uncompromising in pursuing the

policies and actions outlined in this policy agenda. Most importantly,

we will continuously hold ourselves accountable to all of you

Ugandans as we work together to create the necessary conditions

for Ugandas leap forward.

Fellow countrymen and women, we, like the children of Israel have

been led into a state of complacency for close to 30 years. We

have stayed on this mountain for too long and we must reject the

status quo. Jobless growth; a broken healthcare system; an

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education system that does not prepare our children to compete

regionally and globally; a patronage system that has reduced many

of our people to beggars; and a business environment that is biased

against those who play fair; and a corruption machinery that is

robbing our country to the marrow.

The Forum for Democratic Change is giving you a roadmap to a

future of greater promise, opportunity and shared prosperity. We

have the will, the resolve, the commitment and the discipline to work

for the future that we all deserve.

We have stayed too long at this mountain. This is our time to break

camp and advance to the future of promise and shared prosperity.

God bless you.

For God and my Country