Sinister plot: Museveni builds Burundi, DRC roads

Museveni, sworn-in for an ominous sixth term just over a week ago, is deluding himself if he thinks Ugandans - and neighbours - are fools to believe he has good intentions.

There is something sinister about Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni's scheme to build roads in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and lately, Burundi, in the name of boosting trade links with neighbouring countries yet the state of roads in his country generally remains deplorable.

Museveni, sworn-in for an ominous sixth term just over a week ago, is deluding himself if he thinks Ugandans - and neighbours - are fools to believe he has good intentions. His earlier offer to upgrade hundreds of kilometres of dirt roads in the east of the DRC, to bitumen, raised eyebrows.

Critics rightly pointed out that he should improve Uganda's roads instead of doing so in a foreign country. But a defiant Museveni said improved roads in DRC will facilitate trade between the two countries and that larger trade earnings will, in turn, avail more revenues to build better roads in Uganda.

Critics have pointed out that Museveni should focus on improving Uganda's very poor roads instead of spending tax payers' money on foreign countries' roads

"MPs insulted me over these roads to DRC but I was not moved," Museveni told Ugandans last December. For years now, all Ugandans who care know that Museveni has invested so much money, time and energy into sabotaging neighbouring Rwanda's development trajectory because, by and large, Rwandan leader Paul Kagame's development achievements just embarrass him.

Among others, Museveni's deadly scheme became more public when, over five years ago, he opted to prioritise the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project to South Sudan instead of continuing to Rwanda as initially agreed.

Lately, reports indicate that Burundi President Évariste Ndayishimiye, or any other senior officials from Gitega, is expected in Uganda next week to sign an agreement to build a road linking Uganda to Burundi through Tanzania, signaling Museveni's determination to undermine and isolate Rwanda.

In Kampala alone, 75 percent of the 600km of paved road network has outlived its design life. The poor state of the roads has caused unqualified losses to the city, its dwellers and those transiting through it. About $800m is lost annually in vehicle maintenance.  Close to $1.5m a day is lost in travel time and traffic delays while another to $100 to $200m is lost by businesses and damage to property across the city each year.

Ugandan media has reported  that Uganda and Burundi are finalising plans to build a new road to promote trade and commerce and circumvent a barrier presented by Rwanda’s closure of the Gatuna border in early 2019. What is often highlighted, as has been the case ever since relations between the two neighbours deteriorated, was "Rwanda’s closure of the Gatuna border." Such headlines continue to mislead those not in the know as the root causes of the conflict between Uganda and Rwanda are always ignored.

The real issues are the former's continued economic sabotage, kidnapping, torture and killing of Rwandans as well as habouring of negative forces or terrorist groups intent on destabilising Rwanda. At some point in the recent past when he could not bury the evidence of his conspiracy, Museveni admitted meeting anti-Rwanda terror group's senior officials like Charlotte Mukankunsi and Eugene Gasana.

According to recent reports, the project of a new road through northern Tanzania up to Burundi’s Kobero border was agreed upon during a meeting between Museveni and Ndayishimiye during the latter’s May 13-14 state visit, after he attended Museveni's inauguration on May 12. Museveni, the schemer, of course, used the occasion to full advantage. He rolled a charm offensive which, among other things, entails disrupting any hope of a rapprochement between Burundi and Rwanda. Let's not forget that Museveni has, for long, been working behind the scenes to spoil the two countries' relations.

No one denies the fact that large infrastructure projects and increased trading lead to improved security and social welfare.  But the unanswered question is: how, really, is Museveni thinking out of the box in terms of promoting regional collaboration and integration in a practical way when he continues to harbour and support terrorist groups intent on militarily attacking Rwanda?

Another more ominous question is whether the East African Community - the most rapidly integrating regional economic bloc on the continent - will, for a second time, survive the upheavals that saw it come crashing down in 1977. Museveni's stance on Rwanda, if unchecked, might cause the disintegration of EAC in the long term.