Commonwealth Day Speech for 2007
2007-03-15

Statement By

H.E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni
President of the Republic of Uganda

On the Commonwealth Day


We are gathered here today to mark the Commonwealth Day. It is a day of unique importance. It signifies the common desire of a significant portion of humanity to rise above history and celebrate the oneness, commonality of interests and shared values that as of right should unite humankind. The Commonwealth, to which the 53 countries belong, is an organization which through the times has come to symbolize the historical bond not only of the language which we use, but of values that are essential to the furtherance of international peace and security. From its diversity, a strong organization was born to pursue the global agenda of development, justice and true peace based on the elimination of poverty; and strengthening common understanding and respect for diversity.

Whenever we celebrate this day, we come together to advance the aims and ideals of the Commonwealth. This aim is always symbolized by the theme we adopt to be the mantra of our celebrations.

Today’s theme, “The Commonwealth: Respecting Difference and Promoting Understanding”, is underlined by the presence among our membership of the smallest and most isolated Island states and those disadvantaged by being landlocked. We also have the first industrialized country in the World – the United Kingdom; and a pioneer Asian Tiger – Singapore. To this category we can add the rapidly industrializing states of Malaysia and Mauritius.

Our diversity is not only limited to economics and geography; it also extends to other areas such as politics and race. We have parliamentary monarchies, national monarchies and Republican democracies. Indeed, so entrenched are some of our shared values that it is in the Commonwealth that we have the World’s largest democracy – India. Racially, we are as diverse an organization as we are when it comes to religion. It is a hallmark of our organization that all major global religions co-exist harmoniously within the Commonwealth countries. We are, indeed, proud of the fact that the extremism that afflicts many parts of the World hardly originates from our midst; although unfortunately, as members of the wider international community we have not been insulated from it as victims.

As we celebrate this day under the theme of Respecting difference and Promoting Understanding; highlighting our achievements in tolerance and harmony that characterize our membership; we need to further rededicate ourselves to the shared values and the enforcement mechanisms that we have evolved over time. From the historical 1971 Singapore Declaration that laid down the common purpose of the Commonwealth; through the 1991 Harare Declaration that embodied the ideals of good governance; to the 1995 Millbrook Programme; we have shown ourselves as a people devoted to common understanding and unity of purpose in search of global peace, security and development.

While the rest of the World still grapples with definitions of what constitutes good governance, tolerance and respect for human rights, we in the Commonwealth have codified these values and shown steadfast commitment to them. The racial and religious harmony that is prevalent in our countries is a clear testimony to this achievement. We have shown the wider international community that you do not have to be a homogeneous society, or indeed, an organization of homogeneous membership, to achieve such lofty objectives. The challenge we face today is to consolidate this record. Each one of us here today has a role to play. Please do your part.

In November this year, Uganda will be hosting the bi-annual Commonwealth Heads of State Meeting (CHOGM). By hosting this meeting, Uganda is underlining her continued commitment to the values of the Commonwealth. She is further emphasizing her determination to engage constructively in international affairs. The theme for this year’s meeting will be “Transforming Commonwealth Societies to achieve Political, Economic and Human Development”.

We selected this theme because part of the problem in the world is the difference between the societies that have gone through social metamorphosis in the last 500 years and those that have not. There are those that have gone through that social metamorphosis, like, in the case of the Commonwealth, the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Now you have Singapore, Malaysia; India is slowly becoming transformed; and yet you have others which have not gone through this social metamorphosis.

Metamorphosis is a biological process where the butterfly goes through various stages of growth: first an egg, then a caterpillar, then a pupa, then a mature butterfly. The societies, likewise, metamorphose. A country like UK was in the Middle Ages a feudal peasant society; it is now, and has been for some time now, a middleclass – skilled working class society. You no longer have peasants in UK, they ‘expired’ long ago. You even no longer have feudalists in the real sense of the word, although there are Lords, Baronesses etc. They carry feudal titles but they are not feudalists anymore, because the society has metamorphosed.

That is what we want to happen in all parts of the Commonwealth; and that is why we chose this theme. If you look at Uganda now, for instance, the peasants are still 80% of the population. We do not want a Commonwealth of peasants. We do not want to continue with that Commonwealth of half peasants half middle class. We want a Commonwealth of a middle class and a skilled working class -- that is when the shared values will be really shared; shared in practice, not by aspiration.

This theme was chosen to mark and emphasize the common desire of the Commonwealth, through her leadership and people, to be the vanguard in the struggle of the international community to create a better world for all. We have in the past led the way on global issues of importance such as the debt and disarmament. In the evolving global agenda the Commonwealth has been in the lead.

It is in continuation of this tradition that we intend to use the opportunity offered by CHOGM 2007 in Kampala to lead the debate on the burning issue of development and transformation. We are insisting on that word ‘transformation’, because development without transformation is not sustainable. We cannot have ‘sustainable childhood’, that somebody is a child continuously. A child must transition into teenage; from a teenager to an adolescent. The Commonwealth societies must all of them transform themselves from pre-industrial societies to industrial societies. They must transition from peasant societies, especially in Africa, where the majority of them are, to a middleclass-skilled working class society. In the case of Uganda we are doing it; with or without Commonwealth we shall do it. However, it is better if we could all define it together so that we can move on.

That is why we have introduced universal education, which is one of the instruments of transforming society. All these people we are sending through schools – Universal Primary Education, Secondary Education –will no longer be the same. However if we can do it at a pan-Commonwealth level, it will be much easier for all of us. We shall all be able to support education; we shall also be able to support trade, which is another instrument of stimulating transformation. If you buy what I produce; for instance, if my neighbours buy my milk day after day, then I will not have peasants near me because they will get money, which they will invest and become middle class. Education, trade and industrialization are the instruments for transforming societies.

Drawing from our diversity and unity, as a group we have enough experience within our midst to help define a new way forward on issues of the transforming of societies and development. Composed of Developed, Least Developed, Developing and Small Island States, there is more than enough experience to draw from to map out a new and more effective way to realize what has eluded us for long. It is our aim as leaders to be vanguards in this effort.

Even the so called small Islands states, are not so small, because normally a small Island is in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by 12 miles of territorial waters and 200 nautical miles of economic zone. These Islands have small pieces of land but they have got a lot of water around, which has got wealth in it. Kuna samaki ndani (There is a lot of fish in the water). It is, therefore, really amazing how people miss opportunities. Many of those small Islands are really potentially very rich from fish; with education they can have ICT there, computer and electronic industries. They do not have the same problems as we the landlocked countries do; transport is easy, if they have got good ports. They are, therefore, not all that disadvantaged. I would want the Commonwealth to work together to develop the infrastructure for these Commonwealth states.

When we were in Malta, there was quite a heated exchange mainly from the Caribbean countries about bananas and sugar. Many of them were growing bananas and when the European Union abolished the preference they were giving to the Caribbean Islands. Their economies had a lot of problems. There are, however, other ways those countries could have the modern life, for instance through tourism.

It is our aim as leaders to be vanguards in this effort. I believe that my colleagues and I will at the end of our meeting in Kampala provide the Commonwealth and the wider world with leadership on that issue. As citizens of the Commonwealth you have a role to play in this regard. Each of you in your individual and collective capacities can positively contribute to the process that will make this possible. I appeal to you to bring forward your ideas and engage in activities that will contribute to the successful holding of the CHOGM in Uganda.

In this short statement I have outlined the significance of the day we are celebrating today. I have noted the values that make the Commonwealth a vibrant organization, an organization to which many wish to belong, one in which we are proud members; members whose pride is predicated on the strong values that are the bedrock of our shared commitment to the common humanity. We respect differences and diversity among ourselves; as it is from these that we draw our strength.

When I attended the first CHOGM, in 1987, I passed through London and I called on Her Majesty the Queen. And I told her that the Commonwealth is the only International organization where I do not have to use earphones, listening to interpreters. They are very irritating! We speak in different accents, and sometimes it is not all that easy to pick what somebody is saying. However, we all understand each other – Indians, people from the pacific, those Tongas the Canadians etc. It is quite interesting. We speak directly to each other. I think, therefore, this is an advantage.

Of course, we have got our other policy objectives. We have our internal politics here, which comes first before anything else. We have the East African Community, we have Africa. However on the international scene, the Commonwealth is highest on our agenda. That is why I have been attending those meetings. I only missed two: Langkawi and Oakland, because I was busy. It is a very useful organization.

I am not an English man, you know my clan -- the cow clan. We have our heritage which we are protecting and developing; but it is good for the human race to have a way of linking. This is a good linkage which I recommend and I think it should be strengthened. I, therefore, recommend that more support should be given to the Commonwealth. There is, in particular, a group called CPTM (Commonwealth Partnership for Technology Management), a very good group, headquartered in London. We are trying to make it into a Think Tank, because the world is suffering from ‘poverty’ in Think Tanking. That is why you find that small problems become very big problems; you do not have a group of people who are Think Tanking, who are processing the information available collectively in order to get solutions. We hope that this CPTM becomes a Think Tank. We are normally there with Sir Ketumile Masire, the former President of Botswana, with Dr. Martin Mohammed, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia and many scholars from the Commonwealth. It is quite a good grouping.

We respect differences and diversity among ourselves as it is from these that we could draw our strength. This idea of the Commonwealth actually started among our tribes here in the Great Lakes, even before we knew this British Commonwealth. Some years ago, I read in the papers that some Muslims in Kawempe had rioted because somebody in the neighbourhood was eating pork. I said: “Okay”. The Hon. Kategaya was then Minister of Internal Affairs. I wrote to him, charging him, as Minister of Internal Affairs, that I did not want to hear any Ugandan rioting because somebody else has eaten food of their choice. Imagine the stupidity! Somebody else has eaten pork, with his own teeth, swallowed it himself and you are rioting!
“Why are you rioting; what is your problem? Has he put it in your mouth?”
“No, he has eaten it and I am angry on his behalf”.
Imagine!
In the letter which I wrote to Kategaya, I told him I did not eat fish. Up to today, I Yoweri Museveni, do not eat fish. I had started eating chicken but now I have withdrawn, because of this Bird flu which has come. I do not eat mutton. I do not eat all those things because in my tribe we do not. My father is now 90 years but he has never eaten all those things. However, some of our neighbouring tribes were eating some of those things, like chicken. The Banyankore would keep chicken for religious purposes. We were not eating the chicken, but we would keep it so that you slaughter it, study the arrangement of the intestines and then the intestines would tell you what God is planning. That was our religion. However, if a neighbour came whom you knew ate chicken, you would tell him:
“You take my chicken and eat it, because I know you eat it. I do not eat it, but I know you do.”
The idea of respecting differences, therefore, is engraved in the tribes of the Great Lakes region of Africa. The Commonwealth, therefore, have more recently adopted Commonwealth idea that started here.

We were doing business with those differences. The Banyoro would specialize in making hoes, and salt; the Baganda, especially the Bakooki, would specialize in making bark cloth; the Banyankore would specialize in their cattle products; the people from Congo, from the forest, would specialize in ivory products like bangles (engoro) and copper bangles (emiringa). These people would then exchange their products; you are different, but you relate. This was our idea, which is now being espoused by the Commonwealth. This is the idea we should recommend to the Middle East, who are fighting over who has eaten what, for instance pork. What is wrong with eating pork? Let him eat it!

Once I was attending the Namibian Independence, and we were seated at the same table with General Bashir of Sudan. He saw me drinking Fanta and asked:
“Are you a Muslim?”
I said:
“No, I am not a Muslim; it is purely for health reasons that I am not drinking alcohol”.
Live and let live. Do not interfere with other people’s lives; just mind your business! You will then see that there will be no problem!

I do not think that any of you knew that I do not eat fish, because I am the one who is promoting fish exports. I promote growing of Tobacco, never mind that I do not smoke. I promote piggery, on behalf of my people who like it. What is the problem? Why should the world turn upside down by people who are just full of idiotic ideas in their heads? You think your idea is the one which is right. No! Just do your own things and leave me alone. This is the commonwealth idea; but more importantly, this is the idea of the Great Lakes region, before we got this ‘nonsense’ from other places. Our tribes here were different, but cooperating.

If on this day, each one of us can reflect on respect for difference and promotion of understanding as a cornerstone for peace and prosperity, we shall have made an invaluable contribution to further concretize the basic ideals of the Commonwealth and making our world a better place for all.

Finally, I present to you the Logo and Web Portal www.chogm2007.ug for CHOGM 2007 Uganda.

Through this Web Portal, we present to the world at large the lofty principles of Commonwealth, and herald the transformation of this, our Uganda, from the glorious Nation it is now, to new heights in all form of human endeavors.

I thank you.


Kampala,
12th March 2007

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