A Letter to the Nostalgic

The State of the Nation address is something any citizen will always pay attention to. Whether you are from North America or Africa, if the Head of State is talking about the state of your country, there will always be a hint of interest. Whether you like it or not, you will want to know how well your nation is doing. You will want to hear about the highs and lows of your country over the past 300 or so days.

So when my president (an old grandfather that loves his hat) walked into Kampala Serena Conference Centre (Not the Houses of Parliament) I was more than very interested in what he had to say. You see Uganda had its worst year in my opinion. Nothing seems to be going right, even up to this day. There is youth unemployment, poor service delivery, low export potential, famine and the ever-increasing scourge of corruption.

It was my biggest prayer that His Excellency did not take us back in history to try to paint a rosy picture. He has that knack of trying to make Ugandans realise that they are in a better place than they were in a few years. It is a fact that Uganda is in a much better place than when he took over power.

But if he insists on bringing up the past, there will be people who will point out the stagnation that is in Uganda. Let us look at the late 60’s and early 70’s. Uganda was what you would call a booming country. In fact a learned and informed friend of mine once said majority of the things the NRM takes credit for were in place before the chaos of the later Amin years.

Kenya is celebrating the SGR, Uganda is just getting its house sorted more out of the shame it feels that Kenya is moving at a terrific pace with its part of the SGR. But just the other day someone asked me, why we are putting so much emphasis on the SGR. It is not like Uganda getting a railway line is something new. The Indian coolies came in 1900 and constructed the current dilapidated line.

The joy of the SGR is like a Liverpool fan that keeps talking about the 5 European Cup trophies they have, when they are clearly underperforming.

Anyway, back to my main point. The State of the Nation address which in my honest opinion was not perfect and not nonsense like some opposition people say. In truth the main problem I found with the address was the president’s referral to the past. I want to tell our dear nostalgic president that we are grateful for all he has done to bring us out of the doldrums of chaos, but the past is the past.

Even his time shall soon be labelled the past. He has to start thinking about today and today’s problems. A friend told me that she no longer bothers with the President’s comments because for the last 10 years he has been spouting the same nostalgic nonsense. According to her the man thinks Ugandans of today are fools. She further states that she waits for the time Mr. Museveni decides to talk about the real issues afflicting our country.

Maybe she is right and the president is also right in referring to the past. We have a lot to learn from the past most especially at this critical juncture of Uganda’s life.

But a word of caution to the ever nostalgic president and those in his corner. Nostalgia hides the truth from you. Constantly comparing the past to now is a big mistake because even yesterday is the past and right now Uganda’s problems are not of 30 years ago, but of yesterday.