But, then again, everybody looks like a keeper after Idi Amin!

The National Resistance Movement is the current ruling party in Uganda. It and its leader, President Yoweri Mouseveni, have been in power since 1986 Elections will take place next year. This is an excerpt from an issue of The Daily Monitor newspaper, Uganda's "opposition" daily, with my own comments attached in parenthesis. Enjoy, I could be jailed for writing this:

NRM balance sheet 

Achievements

• Per capita income has risen from $264 in 1986 to almost $394 in 2009 (does it really matter if the figures have been adjusted for inflation or not?)
• Country now collects Shs 4trillion ($2.1 billion) in revenue compared to Shs 5billion ($2.63 million) in 1986 
• Total exports of goods are now approximately $1.3billion (neighboring Kenya has a fraction of the rainfall but, aggregate, exports are valued at $4.7 billion per year) of which $1 billion are non coffee exports (credit not diversification--the coffee trade has tanked big time in recent years)
• Number of Ugandans living below the poverty line has reduced to 31% down from 56% in 1988 
• HIV prevalence rates slashed from 32% in 1992 to 6.2% thanks to ABC strategy (this is a legitimate, impressive statistic)
• As of 2007, 7.5million pupils attending Primary school compared to 2.2million in 1997 (makes little difference when per capita income is $394 but school fees at "government subsidized" public schools, the cheapest option, hover around $60 per semester per child. Oh, and every Ugandan woman has 6.77 children)
• Economy growing at an average 6% of GDP (2009 data shows the economy was extremely susceptible to global market fluctuations)
• Inflation has been stable at about 5 per cent per annum until most recently when it shot to 14 percent (last clause makes a lot of the information that preceded it unreliable)
• Relative peace and security around the country with the exception of northern Uganda (and Kampala, and the Rwenzori region on border between Uganda and the DRC, and Eastern Uganda's border with Kenya)

Failures

• Corruption continues to blight his (Mouseveni's) administration
• Over stay in power, failure to groom successors
• Weak infrastructure, hospitals, roads (and Uganda's population growth rate is 3.6% annually, one of the world's highest--median age is 15 years, making "weak" an scary understatement)
• Real power is centred in the presidency, failure to build independent institutions
• Two decades of conflict in northern Uganda 
• Intolerance for democratic opposition (the NRM was the only legal political party until 2005)
• (Average life expectancy 39.5 years)
• (Adult literacy 65%, secondary school enrollment 13%, primary school completion 38%)
• (Development: Uganda is ranked 154 of 177 on the UN Human Development Index)
• (Tribalism still overrides nationalist sentiments)

What should have been included:

• Uganda's art renaissance "embodies a vibrant and vital country redefining its past yet also reaching for a hopeful future"
• Uganda is very safe when compared to other African countries, particularly its East African neighbors
• Over 90% of Ugandans are subsistence farmers or work in agriculture related fields. Deforestation is rampant
• The country is heavily reliant on foreign aid, and is a member of the HIPC and Paris clubs
• The introduced massive (100 kg) Nile perch has decimated local species in Lake Victoria, and efforts to control its impact have only exacerbated the problem. The Nalubaale Dam built last decade was nixed by Makarere's environmental team during th eplanning stages, and the soon-to-be-constructed Bujagali Dam seems it will continue the trend
• Freedom of speech is is guaranteed at most levels, though the conspiracy theorists will quickly remind you of the men who wait and listen in bars or the people that are taken away silently in the night
• Ugandan people are extremely kind and outgoing, despite a troubled past that would normally suggest wariness and reservedness    
• There are substantial natural resources here, including fertile soils, gold, copper, cobalt, and, the newly discovered oil reserves in the western part of the state
• A disastrous, horrific decade under Idi Amin, not much better in the ensuing or preceding decades, has bred a resilient culture that doesn't complain, ever. Even with this not-so-rosy picture I have painted here, the future is bright for Ugandans, who continue to put their head down and work hard

In 2001, Mouseveni "reiterated his commitment" to stepping down after the 2006 elections, adhering the term limits specified in the Uganda Constitution. Lo and behold, NRM's "big man" on the ticket in the upcoming 2011 elections? None other than our friend, Yoweri Mouseveni.