Er … we knew that.
The American showman, entertainer and sometime scam artist, Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810 – 1891) was remembered for founding his famous circus and for a number of well-known sayings, such as “there’s no such thing as bad publicity.” I wonder what he would have made of this week’s international spat?
Not to miss out on an opportunity, Ugandans (the media and the private sector at least) had a field day this week on Twitter.
To the indignant declaration “Spain is not Uganda!” we retorted with er, no actually, Uganda is not Spain.
Frankly it’s all academic to me.
Spain may be a wealthy country – but it has huge debt.
Uganda has (comparatively) high growth – but equally huge deficits in terms of infrastructure and skills.
For a fascinating snapshot of Ugandan society (tourists look away now), read this excellent article Yes, Uganda is not Spain, but what do we see when we look in the mirror? from this week’s Monitor. Not all the comments make sense! But debate is alive and well in UG.
If you prefer figures and stats, read this article ‘Even With Its Loads of Problems, Spain Indeed Is Not Uganda.‘
June 17th, 2012
I read the potent article and thought, as the song goes “there could be trouble ahead”.( Not least for the journalist who wrote it?) It may be the only way to right the present wrongs which I have seen for myself and experienced: the fumes and potholes, seen the poverty everywhere. Perhaps Ugandans are still so happy to have got rid of I.A. that they have let their aspirations drop for the sake of peace? But it wont always be so…