Inequality breeds insecurity

Uganda continues to grapple with worrying inequalities. According to World Bank (2016), Uganda’s economic growth has stagnated due to static household incomes and growing inequality. Uganda’s growth is not inclusive. According to the Private Sector Development Strategy 2015/16 – 2019/20, there is rising inequality among Ugandans, which means that the emerging opportunities are poorly distributed. For example, central Uganda and greater Kampala host 66 per cent of Uganda’s GDP, while northern Uganda takes only 7 per cent, east (13 per cent) and west (14 per cent).

Further, Uganda’s economy has grown at a slow pace hence reducing its impact on poverty. For example, in 2011, the average growth rate was about 4.5 per cent, which was a decline from 7 per cent the years below (2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010). It is, therefore, very evident that the gap between the rich and the poor widens everyday despite various efforts.

Unfortunately, this gap grows everyday and seems to be immune from the several mitigation measures. It is not clear whether the mitigation measures offer long-term solutions or simply sweeping a dusty courtyard! What this has created is two categories of society with each worried and defensive of the other.

The rich have spent all they can in protecting themselves from nothing else, but the poor. I have had the benefit to interacting with re-known economists and one of them summarises inequality in Uganda this way; that we have a sleepless country. This is because the rich are guarding themselves against the poor. They hire armed guards, buy dogs, CCTV cameras, and build perimeter walls with electric razer wire, burglarproof all their doors, and buy emotional sensor lights and others.

They even have weapons inside their house. Their nights are interrupted by their car alarms that go off severally either because of wind, falling leaf or a “thief”, who is trying to get hold of a side mirror or an indicator so that they can sell and buy food. In the end, the rich are not sleeping because the poor are awake and thus the whole country is not sleeping.

This is what inequality means in simple terms. I have also seen that we are installing CCTV cameras on the streets worth billions of shillings and yet street children are going without food and shelter. Further, there is a call for massive recruitment of Local Defence Unit in a bid to beef up security. What about hunger and poor sanitation, among others, what is the plan?

Of course, to many, it is not an issue that some people lack food, shelter and the very basics of life yet it is their business when the hungry come to invade their (rich) investment, which they (rich) guard expensively. It is no longer debatable that inequality breeds insecurity and, therefore, we need concerted efforts to ensure we fight inequality.

Michael Aboneka,
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