Together we can fight corruption and build our nation for future generations

As Uganda enters the year 2013 and while we know that we have a long list of national issues to deal with, it is urgent to comprehend that we have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind- corruption.
To fight it, we have to be resolute, focused, and committed. This is because the tempo of graft in Uganda has reached at the level any sane mind cannot tolerate.

Unquestionably, Uganda is today squarely suffering as a result of the evil meted out on it by the corrupt minority.
Whereas this minority is living a luxurious life, there are those who scratch their heads to have at least a meal a day.

The natural environment is paying the price for this poverty as people are continuously cutting down trees to make charcoal for a living. The squabbles between government, opposition politicians and civil society illustrates that something is wrong in the country. Looking at the way national issues, for example, the oil question is being handled, apparently the act of government ignores the fact that Ugandans are not mere spectators at a match, that they have a high stake in the contest, and that egalitarianism means nothing unless they are able and prepared to demonstrate that they are their own masters. Like any other country that has realised opulent growth and development, Uganda should be constructed on trust and honesty so that we can be the country of our dream.

Regardless of these challenges, we must avoid being negative and, believe that together we shall, with patience, build a nation suitable enough for the next generation to inherit. We must, therefore, not be discouraged as a result of the disappointments we have had in the previous years. We should also borrow a leaf from other countries, identify the problems they encountered as a result of greed and secret dealings so that we can avoid revulsion from sabotaging the peace and development of our country.

Experience in African countries shows that autocrats tend to exploit their countries’ wealth to entrench themselves onto power while their citizens are subjected to humiliating poverty. It is, therefore, a moral imperative to make Uganda a country with a difference by allowing participation by all when making and implementing decisions of national importance. No particular group should have the monopoly to determine the direction things should go about our nation. The whole of Uganda must stand up for the defence of each and every aspect of their constitution and prevent any one of them being replaced by a one man hallucination so as to determine their own destiny.

I think in 2013, all Ugandans have to take up their tasks with resilience and optimism while they are certain that their cause will not fail. Let’s all be united to build our motherland, and come what may, we as a nation shall overcome corruption .

Peter Cromwell Okello,
okellopokwei@gmail.com