Here is my take on President Museveni’s interview on NBS

In Summary

I am therefore cautioning the President not to think of the sanitary pads project as a standalone. It needs to be repackaged as an integral part of a holistic programme designed to reverse the downturns in girls’ participation in education.

As you may recall, presidential candidate Yoweri Museveni was hosted to a live interview on NBS television on December 12. It was not only intended to be an opportunity for the President to update Ugandans on the progress of his campaign thus far, but also a chance for him to respond to a few questions and other concerns raised by some members in the audience.

Notwithstanding his failure to apologise for his late arrival for the scheduled interview, I was impressed by the overall presidential aura and confidence that he exuded; his penchant for multi-lingual definitions of key concepts; as well as his matter-of-fact and humorous style of responding to the questions. Moreover, the President spiced up his answers with an opportunistic use of some pantomime and a timely invocation of a Kinyankore proverb here and there to drive his point home. In summation, he painted a rosy picture of NRM as a mass party and why, therefore, the results of the 2016 general elections are nearly a foregone conclusion.

However, I felt a little uncomfortable when, in the early stages of their discourse, the President shut up the lady interviewer who had sought to pick his mind on something. He curtly told her that they had not called him to NBS to listen to what they had to say but rather to hear from him! I thought this was somewhat unfair since this was meant to be an interview. An interview is, by its very nature, dialogic and interactive. It is never intended to be a monologue.

I was also dissatisfied with the manner in which the President handled some specific questions/concerns expressed by the citizenry. For example, when asked to explain why Kenya’s deputy president William Ruto was seen openly campaigning for him in parts of Sebei and Bugisu sub-regions, Mr Museveni was dismissive in his response. He denied that Ruto had ever campaigned for him and added that, since he moves with his mouth wherever he goes, he does not need anybody to campaign for him. He can campaign for himself!
And, when asked to qualify his controversial logic of procuring 18 million hand hoes for the electorate (coming as it does against the backdrop of his broader intent to elevate the Ugandan economy into a middle income status); the President’s explanation remained wanting.

While he was correct to say the hand hoe remains an appropriate technology, especially within the context of land fragmentation, it remains unclear how continued reliance on the hand hoe can deliver this country to the middle income status we are aspiring to attain. It is the introduction and use of the walking tractor, simple food processing machinery for value addition, improved drought/disease resistant seed varieties, droplet irrigation, food storage facilities and other appropriate village technologies that have revolutionised the agricultural sectors of countries such as Israel, China, and South Korea.

Therefore, for an agrarian economy such as Uganda to achieve its dream of becoming a middle income economy, a similarly context-relevant mechanisation of agriculture involving a concomitant phase-out of the “primitive” low productivity hand hoe is a prerequisite. We should not fancy the prospect of becoming the first country in the whole world to use the hand hoe technology to trigger-off and sustainably spur on a roaring domestic industrial revolution!

Someone in the audience had also solicited President Museveni’s opinion regarding Tanzanian President John Pombe Magufuli’s management style that espouses zero tolerance to wasteful opulence. The President nonchalantly okayed that kind of “symbolism” and wished Magufuli well!
Finally, the President was tasked to comment on the wisdom of his decision to provide sanitary pads as a strategy for stemming the problems of low school attendance and high drop-out rate, particularly among girls. Museveni said, his decision was based on the expert advice he had received from seasoned educators. Yes, it is true, poor menstrual management is a leading factor that militates against the education of the girl child in, especially rural Uganda.

However, if the provision of sanitary pads is not going to match with the construction of washrooms/changing rooms in schools; provision of enough separate toilets for boys and girls; guaranteed availability of water, wash basins and soap; elimination of negative traditions and practices that promote the “commodification” of girls; significant enhancement of household incomes and other pro-poor interventions, we shall continue to witness under-visibility of females in school enrolments.
I am therefore cautioning the President not to think of the sanitary pads project as a stand alone. It needs to be repackaged as an integral part of a holistic programme designed to reverse the downturns in girls’ participation in education.