Leaders should involve locals in development projects

A large portion of Uganda’s resource envelope goes into funding administration and paying leaders at various levels. Managers of public office have a duty to guide the led and also serve as role models of development. Real true development takes root when the affluent create opportunities for others to scale the ladder.

By and large, Uganda has the best development policy initiatives. Over time, these have changed form and name but underdevelopment and poverty have remained, which I attribute to absence of exemplary leaders to deepen the prosperity paradigm. As a leader, do you work for the benefit of your people? Have you learnt anything from other countries? Do you internalise President Museveni’s practical examples?

While I am concerned about leaders from the ruling NRM party and government functionaries, I can afford to spare a moment to point a torch at Opposition leaders who earn taxpayers’ money while they earn equally as and sometimes, more than their NRM counterparts. Many of them are sworn to failing government programmes in their pursuit of hurting President Museveni politically. I have all the reason to believe that they are non-performers and saboteurs.

Their interest is earning and feeding the public on propaganda. They cannot contribute land-based development to their communities, nor do they lobby for them since they claim that they don’t want to associate with Mr Museveni or the structures that implement programmes.

These are armchair leaders, flourishing in the media for wrong reasons and feathering their pockets while feeding the public on abstract views that cannot improve their welfare. Isn’t it absurd that the President earns just Shs3.6m while an Opposition MP who claims to be outside of government earns more? Even the Lord Mayor has a fat salary of Shs22million as new listings indicate. That’s why some of these positions are do-or-die affairs yet return for money in form of anchoring government programmes is questionable.

We are trailing in import substitute as we are not producing sufficient quantities-and with quality-to balance our trade balance sheet. Every time the dollar fluctuates, we suffer. It does not require one to have a lot of capital to produce something for the market. President Museveni is a dairy farmer; he markets and exports milk products yet he is the busiest leader with the largest constituency. He makes farming “look cool” for all. His demonstration of best farming practices at various presidential farms and at Rwakitura and Kisozi is legendary but who is implementing such advice?

How can a leader discuss policy on market dynamics and the economy when they cannot personally put any new shilling into the economic cycle? Every leader should run a venture around, which he or she can mobilise constituents to engage in for income generation. MPs, who can earn up to Shs20m in a month, should easily commit a month’s earnings to setting up their own demonstration centres in their constituencies.

If every constituency had at least six major farmers and processors, including community leaders, they would spend more time teaching residents “how to fish”, as they say, than fishing from their own pockets to pay for weddings, funerals and school fees. Doesn’t this make sense or is it true that some leaders wish to impoverish their constituents so as to bribe them with salt and sugar at election time or to keep them as the only elephants in the zone.

We still don’t produce adequate quantities of coffee, cocoa, cereals and other money-making produce yet we are an agricultural nation. Every official can find something suitable within their geographical location to cultivate and bring on the market.

Mass production would drive improvement of infrastructure and other services in remote areas but most importantly, expand tax collection coverage vis-à-vis ever surging demands, including demand for salary increment.

Leaders wish to be paid on time but where will the money come from when they have not contributed anything on the money market yet our Vision 2040 and Middle Income dreams are in their hands?

The author is a private assistant to the President in charge of media management. [email protected]