AFRICA: Museveni backtracks on Magufuli 'symbolism'

MUSEVENI BACKTRACKS ON MAGUFULI'S 'SYMBOLISM'

CHANGE OF GUARDS - During an interview with NBS Television at State House in December 2015 Miseveni was asked for a comment on the progress of the newly elected Tanzanian President John Pombe Mgufuli whose cost cutting policies had taken the continent by storm.
Museveni however, summed up the neighboring colleague’s actions as ‘symbolism’
“It’s good that Magufuli has got that approach. That is symbolism. I see him doing push-ups to show people that he is strong. I wish him good luck,” said Museveni.
From the tone of Museveni's comment, it can be inferred that he did not expected Magufuli's approach to make headway.

Symbolism is the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities, by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal sense. Symbolism can take different forms. Generally, it is an object representing another, to give an entirely different meaning that is much deeper and more significant. Sometimes, however, an action, an event or a word spoken by someone may have a symbolic value. For instance, “smile” is a symbol of friendship. Similarly, the action of someone smiling at you may stand as a symbol of the feeling of affection which that person has for you.

Symbols do shift their meanings depending on the context they are used in. “A chain,” for example, may stand for “union” as well as “imprisonment”. Thus, symbolic meaning of an object or an action is understood by when, where, and how it is used. It also depends on who reads the work.

In our daily life, we can easily identify objects that can be taken as examples of symbolism, such as the following:
The dove is a symbol of peace.
A red rose, or the color red, stands for love or romance .
Black is a symbol that represents evil or death. A ladder may stand as a symbol for a connection between heaven and earth. A broken mirror may symbolize separation.

However, three years later, yesterday while addressing the Africa Now conference in Kampala he hailed Magufuli's initiative.
“We need to learn from President Magufuli. He has stopped wastage of money in things such as travel abroad. That’s why you hear that he’s able to build the standard gauge railway without borrowing. He’s now going to build a new dam without borrowing.”

Museveni's change of attitude must have been dictated by the desire to seek the attention of Magufuli more especially at this time when his relations with Rwanda's Kagame are flaky by the hour. Kagame was in Tanzania last week. Ugandans are fond of comparing Museveni's failures with Kagame's success.

INFORMATION IS POWER AND THE PROBLEM OF UGANDA IS MUSEVENISM