Inspiring Individual Liberty & Prosperity: Key Take Aways from the Africa Liberty Camp 2024

Individual liberty simply means living your life on your own terms. In libertarianism, it means the opportunity for individuals to live as they choose without coercion, usually from the state, provided they don’t infringe upon the rights of others.

Unfortunately, most citizens of this world gave up their individual liberty; we are all trying to live for others (for politicians, for your relatives, for your pastor – not your God, for your colleagues, for the state) except for ourselves.

A few are truly living for themselves. As such, people aren’t living but surviving. However, during the 2024 Africa Liberty Camp, Ugandans, especially the youth tried to sip on its essence and explored ways and means of achieving it.

As already highted in my first article, African Liberty Camp is a yearly 3-day event usually organized by ALED in partnership with other organizations that are passionate about liberty, leadership, and economic prosperity. ALC2024 is the 9th of such events. Notably, Miklah Life officially partnered with a number of organizations for this year’s event, which took place at Nile Nest, Jinja from 13th to 16th June 2024.

In this brief article, I will highlight the key take aways from the camp, including fun moments. Note that, as part of the core organizers, I didn’t get the opportunity to follow up with everything like I always do, for I was sometimes at the back end together with other partners, ensuring the smooth running of activities.

Nevertheless, I managed to capture at least 80% of everything. This article must be enough for you to grasp all that matters!

Day 1: Arrival, Registration, Campfire, & Networking

Just like that! Yes, the first day was about arrival, registration, eating, campfire, and networking. This year’s arrival was in style! A bus was organized for participants. In other words, all participants boarded one bus from Entebbe, Kampala, and everywhere else to the venue in Jinja.

Along the way, there was a lot of fun; chats and connections, music & dance, eating the street foods and chicken, and more. You can really imagine a bus full of ‘crazy’ libertarians; it must have been fun!

See it all in the short video below:

The arrival was at about 6pm. I and a few colleagues had arrived a day before so as to prepare for the camp participants. Indeed, we had tried. Most things, including foods, tents, and others were in place. We welcomed the participants, provided for their registration, meals, and other amenities.

The night’s campfire was a mixture of music and little talks here and there. People slept a little earlier, at about twelve midnight.

Day 2: Individual Liberty & Other Principles of Libertarianism

Day two opened up with a bang! According to the camp’s program (download here), it opened up with physical exercise. I tried to lead the exercise with a self-regulated T25 Cardio Workout by Shaun T. I was exposed to this workout during my 2019 Total Startupper of the Year Bootcamp under Coach Phil of Intelligence Performance. So, yeah, I influenced the camp participants to warm up with it. It’s the best that I know!

See the workout:

What followed were refreshing, breakfast, settling in, and getting ready for sessions.

The first session involved a panel discussion on ‘Inspiring freedom, innovation, and creativity’. I missed this session, for the reasons that you already know!

Another amazing presenter on this 2nd day of the camp was Professor Christopher Lingle. I won’t describe who he is, for the details per each of the presenters are covered in my first Africa Liberty Camp 2024 article here. In my view, Lingle has really taken his time in exploring and understanding free market capitalism, and he equally knows how to present this topic.

In his presentation, Lingle emphasized two foundational needs for capitalism: 1. Scarcity of resource; 2. Incentives for any action. According to Lingle (or market rules), resources are scarce. As such, it is automatic that individuals want to exchange resources or value, giving away what is of less value or imporant for what is more important to them at the moment or per given context. This is because they can’t have it all!

Additionally, Lingle added, for any human action to happen, there must be incentives (or rewards). As such, he emphasized, humans are naturally driven to be and do that which pays them in one way or the other. In some contexts, this is called self-interests; everyone is seeking their self-interests.

In my earlier writings on self-interest, I had already argued that everyone you know (you and God inclusive) is driven by self-interest. This, according to Lingle, automatically calls for free market capitalism, for it is the only system that aligns with individual’s desires to meet their own interests.

Lastly, Professor Lingle shot at the ‘state’. In general, libertarianism advocates for ‘limited government’ interventions in free markets. In support of this, suggested Lingle, the state is mostly a thief. According to Lingle, the state, forcefully and in opposition to individual liberty, snatches resources from people (workers, capitalists, and consumers alike) and redistributes it to special groups and people we (the tax payers) have not agreed upon. Mostly, these are the unnecessary Government workers and politicians.

In my view, this redistribution propaganda of the Government becomes even worse in countries like Uganda where corruption and misuse of public money is at the peak. In other words, the Government takes money from us in the name of redistributing it to the ‘needy,’ only to give it to its politicians and programs aimed at enhancing its power and authority. By this measure, taxation could as well be theft (read here and here). What do you think?

The third session involved a presentation from Elem Rodney. Rodney touched on many things, so many that I can’t remember any; I am kidding!

Well, he insisted that the Government was doing enough, and people have to do theirs, especially through utilizing research and data to diagnose our current needs and the appropriate strategies to address them. Elem emphasized that capitalism, just like socialism or communism, also has its issues and the struggle to balance its extremes with its benefits is an ‘everlasting’ one!

The session that followed involved Li Zhao Schoolland. Again, I have already written about this lady in my first 2024 liberty camp article here. Li’s talk was simply inspirational. Basing on her life experiences while living in China’s terrible communism times of Mao Zedong, Li encouraged participants to undress themselves from the spirit or feelings of victims and embrace the attitude of a survivor.

She narrated how allowing Governments to be in control of people’s destinies is a dangerous thought. Everywhere, the state doesn’t care, she narrated. In her words, ‘the most expensive things in life are free things, supposedly from the government’.

She philosophically explored the concept of ‘rich and poor’ and insisted that these two conditions are deeper than the usual materially-oriented definitions we know. On this, she called upon Ugandans to embrace knowledge, skills, and entrepreneurial work so as to meet their own needs.

As a Christian, she borrowed illustrations from the Biblical book of Exodus and shed light on the possibility of remaining in slavery (or not) in a free and prosperous society (or not). She insisted that freedom should begin with our mind and the soul, and then broaden into the outside world.

She cited Indians and Chinese as some of the successful entrepreneurs who have identified possibilities of individual liberty and prosperity in Uganda, and Ugandan youth should just emulate them.

The last action on this same day was a panel discussion on ‘How African youth can lead the charge in shaping the continent’s economic future’. It happened in the after lunch hours. I was part of this discussion. Mugabi John Socrates was the moderator.

This discussion explored opportunities and challenges of African youth leading the change they want. As such, it touched entrepreneurship, politics and leadership, and other aspects. During the discussion, issues around demographic dividend, skilling, and entrepreneurship in volatile environments like Uganda were explored. Questions regarding youth participation in leadership and politics were also explored, with some panel members sharing practical experiences in this area.

In general, the panel ended up calling upon campers to realize and embrace the pillars of demographic dividend. Uganda is largely made up of youth, and they are the true agents of socioeconomic development. As such, young people must ensure they are healthy, educated and skilled, entrepreneurial, and always fighting for a just society.

It is when these pillars are met that a youth-led socioeconomic transformation is possible. I have written about demographic dividend in my earlier articles (read here and here).

The challentines & the night of fun!

The second night of the camp was the most amazing one! Towards the end of the day’s sessions, Kenneth Kabuye of Mtindo network did something; he asked participants to form pairs. The paired participants (mostly a female and male) would call each other a ‘challentine’. So we got ourselves challentines. Some got two challentines! Individual liberty at the peak!

At the night’s campfire, each pair of challentines was asked to introduce one another. This happened in the most funny way, creating memories. Some participants used poetry to describe their challentines. Some used music to portray their care. And others just used silence, lol.

Your ‘partner’ or challentine’s job is one; to keep you in line with libertarian discussions, particularly ensuring that one returns for the 10th Africa Liberty Camp 2025. That was the basic purpose. However, as always, youth had to jokingly take it further and make fun and other assumptions regarding the arrangements. How all of this will later play out is just a matter of time. My challentine is or was Malaika!

The night ended on a good note. And we all disappeared into our tents, and waited for the next day!

Day 3: Green entrepreneurship & Principles of Libertarianism

The third day opened, not with a bang, but confusion!

First, while physical exercise was scheduled at 6am, we did not wake up until it was about 6:20am. Secondly, most of those who had participated in the previous day’s exercise did not show up. Thirdly, when I had just began with the ‘T25 Cardio Workout’, other members insisted there were other better ‘aerobics’ programs. As such, we terminated T25 workout prematurely, tried to embrace the new aerobic videos, which we also failed. In brief, we failed at aerobics.

Refreshing, breakfast, and settling in all happened successfully.

The first session of day 3 was my own’s ‘embracing sustainability without compromising economic growth (3Ps)’, a presentation that I have so far presented in three conferences, including the famous UNFCCC’s COP28 in Dubai, UAE. In this session, I simply called upon participants to be conscious of the environmental and societal needs as they execute their capitalistic enterprizes.

In my presentation, I relied on my experience in sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation at Miklah Life, policy negotiation and diplomatic experience within the UN processes (both via UNEP and UNFCCC), and professional knowledge and experience at Mulago Hospital and IIHAS and re-affirmed that efforts and investments in social and environmental sustainability are meant for economic growth, and not against it.

I shared evidence-based sustainable business models, 18 benefits for going sustainable, and the easy 5-step procedure of incorporating sustainability in our enterprizes.

It must have been one of the best sessions during the camp. Yeah, this is self-appraisal. It is true, though!

Another session that I managed to attend and grasp on this same day was the panel discussion on ’embracing authenticity, creativity, and innovation’. This panel was led by females only. In this session, participating women entrepreneurs, leaders, and activists managed to explore what it means to stay true to one’s self, express honest and genuineness, and innovation.

Participants included a lady called Linda (2nd, from the right) who shared her experience with Uganda’s taxation of startups that led to the closure of her business. In her submission, she insisted that startups should also get tax exemptions just like the Government does for foreign investors.

Doris (3rd, from either side), a climate activist from Kenya insisted that we need to embrace failure as part of the journey. Relying on her experience in photography, she insisted that the only way to prove that we can do something or not is to actually go out and try it.

Proscovia (1st, from the right), a young ‘wastepreneur’ from Eastern Uganda emphasized that there are many opportunities for entrepreneurship. She narrated her entrepreneurial journey in an inspiring way, motivating participants in embracing getting started without fear, shame, or paying attention to negative comments from others.

I must confess: It was an amazing panel discussion. These young ladies proved beyond doubt that they are beautiful both in their physical bodies and in their minds.

This day concluded with breakout sessions on the principles of libertarianism: Individualism, Free market capitalism, the rule of law, and the limited government. We were organized into four different groups, each discussing and summarizing one of the principles. I belonged to the ‘free market capitalism’ group, which was led by Prof. Lingle.

In our free market capitalism group, we explored the historical roots of modern capitalism as championed by Adam Smith, deeply explored Carl Marx’s indignations with this economic system (aleniation and exploitation), and carefully pointed out the flaws in Marxism. According to Prof. Lingle, Marx’s ideas were simply foundless concepts that sounded sweet and liberating, but their practicability was impossible.

Additionally, insisted Lingle, Marx was arguing against (capitalists) and for (laborers) people he didn’t know about. He was neither a worker nor a pure capitalist and he practically knew nothing about the pains and pleasures that both capitalists and laborers go through to make things happen. What!

I decided to do a research on this thought. Guess what I found: ‘Karl Marx was a parasite. What sort of man can watch his children go hungry and bury four of them but refuse to work in order to provide for them? The money he received from Engels was never enough to raise the Marx family out of poverty. Certainly their circumstances were worse than those of the factory workers. And Marx was an educated man. He certainly could have found work had he wanted to.’ – SHEILA B. at Hubpages.

I went ahead and asked Google’s Gemini why Carl Marx was poor, below are the reasons:

Personally, I wouldn’t agree that Marx wasn’t a worker. Researching, writing, and actively leading and participating in the organizations, newspapers, and political movements he did start or supervise was work, much harder than what most capitalists could brag about.

Instead, we could as well argue that, capitalism was too shallow to recognize and reward such work. Indeed, being a materially-driven concept, capitalism is likely to have no time for abstract philosophy. Is this something we should celebrate or it is a flaw?

On Carl Marx being a worker or not, see more for yourself here, here, and here.

After seeing all of this, who else would want to be Carl Marx? Slow down!

In my view, there are still positive lessons to draw from his life. Capitalism can indeed push us from living to surviving. He gave up on his welfare for sake of his ideas. This is not neglect; it’s what he treasured the most.

Additionally, again this is my view, while the laborer is said to be at liberty to choose not to work, various circumstances, some of which are natural, may leave us with no alternatives but to keep up with work for survival, even when the working conditions are inhumane. In other words, while capitalism claims to foster individual liberty, it may take away our internal and spiritual liberties, forcing us to embrace the mere material or physical liberties for our own survival at the expense of our souls or conscience.

Note this: Capitalists will argue that our continous stay proves the alternatives are worse, and they are right. However, I believe you have seen my point.

A good and positive biography of Carl Marx is one by Allan Wood at The Communist Red.

Back to the point of what transpired on the day 3 of the #AfricaLibertyCamp2024, we closed it off with presentations from each of the four groups. Each group’s presentation was done by two representatives. I and Charles Oriokot represented our group and were later joined and supported by Prof. Lingle. I don’t remember well who represented other groups. For the group of individualism, Joy Asiimwe and her colleague, Proscovia, did the presentation. For the one on the rule of law, Counsel Katushabe and his colleague, probably Raheem or Elem did the presentation.

The 3rd day’s night was music and dance!

In my view, the dance was partially successful.

First, the playlist wasn’t up-to-date and was boring. I can’t count how many times I remained standing, stranded, and unable to dance simply because the music tune wasn’t ‘moving’. Secondly, few traces of uncooperativeness happened. For example, while a music DJ was formally invited to play for the participants, a few other participants took on their liberty to play their own music. In other words, in the same environment, there were two DJs with their ‘music speakers’, each playing different music. Thirdly, probably due to the above causes, participants left the dance flow earlier than expected. Specifically, most ladies left the dance early, making it boring.

Nevertheless, I personally danced my life out and gave up at around 2am. I was one of the few ‘last men standing’. Others included Odong Arthur, Elem Rodney, Denis Oscar, and Mugabi John Socrates.

Day 4: Breastfast, Boat cruise, and Departure

For me, day 4 (16th June 2024; Sunday) opened up with a mood I can’t explain. I had no interest in anything, not in the early morning aerobics, not in my challentine (kidding!), definetely not in the boat cruize. As such, I slept to almost 7am. When I woke up, I began on this article.

Most participants did the same. Some woke up at 8am. What transpired most was breakfast and preparing ourselves for departure. Most participants participated in a boat cruize that happened between 10 am and 12md. I am sure they had fun!

Our expected departure time was overthrown, for the bus that was to transport us delayed for hours. It actually arrived late in the afternoon at about 2:30pm. Most participants were hungry, angry, and tired. However, a few others still had the excitement and you could only see triumph in their eyes.

We left the venue and the whole town of Jinja at around 3pm and most of us were back in our homes between 6pm and 7pm that same day. WhatsApp chats of ‘safe arrivals’ were full of hope, excitement, and gratefulness. In general, it was a very successful camp. More than 50 campers had participated, learnt, and celebrated principles of libertarianism together. This was a success.

Wait! Could you still be unsure of what it’s all about? Let this summarized 13-minutes video help you:

To be continued………in many ways!

Other photos;