For economic reasons, the Government decided to have a low-key celebration that will feature only the annual police parade and speeches at Lawson Tama.
The annual National Trade and Cultural Show, which normally coincides with independence anniversary, had been set aside this year.
At 32, the nation had grown of age. But we still have a long way to go.
In fact, we are yet to live a truly independent nation. We rely heavily still on donors to support our development aspirations.
This is despite the billions of dollars in aid assistance being poured into the country in the last 32 years.
We failed miserably to turn these billions of aid assistance to our advantage. We squandered them instead and continue to beg for more.
Now we live the life of a beggar. Every year, we beg the donor community to fund our development budget.
How long are we going to live like this?
We boast of having plenty of natural resources. But we failed as a nation to fully exploit them for the benefit of all.
Instead, we allow unscrupulous foreigners to come in and rape our forests and our waters, taking all the meat with them and living us the bones.
How long are we going to live like this? Are we going to be beggars for the rest of our lives?
Thirty-two years of begging is enough. Yes, let’s all agree enough is enough. We now should be living and operating as a truly independent nation.
The August 4 national election provides us the opportunity to turn the situation around.
We do that by electing good leaders – those with the brain to think of new and innovative ideas to get us out of the aid-dependency syndrome.
We cannot afford to maintain the status quo whereby we elect only those we know and those who gave us $100 the day before election.
The future of this nation and that of our children is at stake.
If we continue to make poor decisions now, it is our children who will suffer the consequences.
Let’s think and behave like a mature and responsible 32-year-old person by putting the interest of our nation and its future first before anything else.
Now’s the time to do it.
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