Short speeches should ignite real action

One time a British columnist who writes for a local newspaper in Uganda once said that the key thing at a Ugandan wedding was the opportunity to get the microphone and say something. This observation can be attributed to many other cultures around East Africa. I was at a wedding last weekend and I found myself witnessing the same. People literally line up to speak and once they get the microphone they then find it hard to conclude their ‘brief’ remarks. We have therefore grown accustomed to this kind of treatment. It is usually worse when the person with the microphone is a politician. These ones can go on for hours saying nothing really much. You know most politicians assume that they are orators simply because they get called to speak at several occasions. This is why it was refreshing to listen to two brief speeches at a time when many had anticipated long speeches. Last year while giving a State of The Nation address before members of parliament, Pres. Museveni spoke for so long that some media houses ended up focusing on the ministers that opted to take a nap than what he was actually saying. However last week, he gave a very short speech and left those anticipating nice shots of sleeping politicians with very little to show. At the end of the day, reactions were limited to the substance of his speech. In a similar twist, Pres. Paul Kagame delivered an even much shorter speech at the parliament buildings during the swearing in ceremony for newly appointed ministers. The president simply advised the country’s leaders to work with dedication and involve citizens in resolving their problems. Both Kagame and Museveni talked of challenges that require solutions in their speeches. But the fact that the speeches were brief could be a good indicator that maybe we should all cut down on our talking and do more action if we are to see some real development. I was watching a video clip where a Kenyan politician was swearing that a railway line will be built soon. And I thought to myself, have I heard that line way too many times. How about we stay silent and get on with laying the tracks. We have had so much talk about so many things but very little action. Every single time we have been told about how a railway line connecting point A to point B is to be built only for years to pass without a single track laid. It is almost coming to 10 years since we heard talk of a pipeline from Eldoret going all the way to Bujumbura via Kampala and Kigali. Check again and see if even the land where it is supposed to pass has been cleared. And yet we use fuel products each day. When it comes to the East African Community, from the day Pres. Museveni met with Daniel Arap Moi and Benjamin Mkapa to revive the community, we are still fantasising about the Utopia of a region where movement of goods and people is hassle-free. Every year we talk about removing Non-Tariff Barriers but goods have not travelled any faster. And we keep hearing of our traders complaining about the bottlenecks. As if that is not enough, the region’s primary port Mombasa is always in the news concerning delays on moving cargo. The other time it is in the news is when someone is promising that there is a plan to reduce the congestion and increase the speeds of operations. It is always just short. How about the talk we have heard for years concerning the harmonisation of this or that in order to speed up the integration of the region. Education is one key area. Every year people will meet somewhere and talk about how it is important to harmonise the education sector. At the end of the day there is no East African country that has gone beyond telling students that there is this good thing called the EAC. Plans to harmonise have never left the drawing table. Actually each country’s reforms show little intention to harmonise with the neighbours. Well you can say I am also talking too much now but I have to give my editor a complete article at the end of the day. Away from that, the region needs more actors and less talkers. Blog: www.ssenyonga.wordpress.comTwitter: @ssojo81