I am a life long student of President @KagutaMuseveni.
I have a deep understanding of his thinking and @AndrewMwenda says I cut him some slack because of the compromises he has to make to keep Uganda going.
I disagree.
Anyway- for the first time, I have serious questions about Mzee’s grasp of what Uganda’s young people are saying.
You can’t tell them that “we are wealth creators and you should either join us or get out of our way”
They want to create wealth too. They are desperate to join. But they feel unseen, unheard and generally disregarded.
They don’t feel like that they have a stake in the country.
And to tell them that they are playing with fire is to miss the point.
They don’t care. They don’t fear violence.
Talk to them about opportunities.
Expand ideas of production beyond farming and animal husbandry.
Talk to them about innovation and monetisation of content creation.
Give them grants to explore creativity. Our software developers are world class. Need I add that Musk, Gates and Bezos are software developers?
Show them opportunities that AI and machine learning present.
They are already integrated. Way ahead of political integration. As I type this, I’m helping young people in Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya make sense of an idea they are collaborating on.
Unless the substance and the tone of conversations with young people changes, the disconnect will continue.
And we don’t need to look too far for examples of potential outcomes.
Do you have a story in your community or an opinion to share with us: Email us at editorial@watchdoguganda.com
