What partnership role should America play in Uganda

[Tendo Kaluma]

How do you ask a young democracy which inoculations they would rather fore-go during their critical stages of development? Short of a Marshall plan, the Great Lakes Region needs help to get the right escape velocity to make the late journey to come close to rubbing shoulders with the rest of the developed world. I  believe that it is of paramount importance to encourage our governments to live by the written constitutions, while nudging them to better paths of professional governance - such as the delivery of vital services in Education, Health ,Poverty eradication and literacy for all. Bringing in American ingenuity and industrial heft could help us to harness new energy sources and improve capacity with hydro power, construction of hospitals, cities, living space, schools, rail road: transportation infrastructure - road network, if you could partner with us to meet our basic infrastructure needs you will have taken us ahead as a development partner! Our constitution, like the American constitution embodies all the rights and governance structures that are trampled upon by our leadership when there is lack of oversight from the international community! But the metrics that are really irking us persistently - are the ones of youth unemployment - due to a curriculum that is more theoretical than practical; lack of well trained science and engineering teachers - folks who have worked in industry, are needed to spur job growth. American ingenuity is needed in designing a long range growth strategy by partnering with us in programs such as "Work Visa program" - this would allow our youth to see first hand the work ethic required, and the necessary technology transfer needed to get, a country like Uganda into the first world. Locally we need the machinery (low level technology transfer) to improve our crop yield, to turn our minerals into ready products(manufacturing), basic technology to run our public hospitals( heart monitors, vision equipment in all regions), we need help to transform our higher education system- and that will be achieved through an aggressive outreach program in collaboration with government to identify the gaps in Engineering needed to build and maintain our own infrastructure - advice us to do what the Asiatic nations have done, even better provide us with some technology scholarships to schools like MIT and Harvard - to train our instructors in Engineering, Medicine and management. There is an opportunity for many companies to invest in the African infrastructure, places like the DRC, can benefit from an infrastructure and manufacturing partner - and this would not be a hand out, if they are up and running - the region has enough natural resources to pay it all back with profit.
Please, please, please, encourage these governments to take advantage of their well endowed links in the Diaspora!
You could also help us implement technology to rid us of institution corruption - technologies such as electronic ledgers with audit trails with all American funded projects - should include trained project managers to manage the same. It is one thing giving folks money - but without that added assurance of integrity and quality at delivery it becomes a throw away!

Tendo Kaluma

Ugandan in Boston

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 "To ask a dictator to implement democratic measures after 30 years in power is an oxymoron"