Courtesy of the Western donors, Uganda is childish and impotent

We might lynch a thief who takes off with our phone or side mirror but not one who siphons billions meant for a health project that is supposed to benefit us. This is because we attach more ownership to what is bought out of our pocket and not that given to us by some kind foreigners.

In the late 1980’s and most of the 1990’s there was a strange common argument about foreign aid. Ugandan politicians would tell the critics of the Movement system of government that Uganda, being the number one recipient of foreign aid in sub-Saharan Africa, meant that donors considered it a well-governed country. In other words, whatever other people thought, including Ugandans, was not relevant.

Then a time came when that assistance was not as forthcoming. A humanitarian situation caused by flooding led a Minister for Disaster Preparedness to cry out loud in an interview on BBC that if those affected died, the ‘international community’ would be held responsible! Put differently, we were not expected to cater for our own children.

This tells us how foreign aid has affected our thinking and behaviour as a country. We have become like helpless destitute children looking up to a guardian for everything to keep our skins together and alive.

Politicians give the excuse that the road or bridge in the constituency has not been repaired because the donors have been too slow to deliver on their promise to provide the funds. And this attitude is in almost all the spheres of life. There was a popular institution called the Uganda Society, which used to organise meetings at the Uganda Museum on the country’s history, culture and other matters pertinent to Ugandan society. Ironically, many of the faces there were of White people.

The same applies to most of the health, conservation, and most philanthropic efforts. You find the most successful and passionate attempts being funded and staffed by white people, yet they are on matters concerning indigenous Ugandans.

Our children are immunised courtesy of Unicef/WHO. Most of the HIV/Aids programmes are from out of this country. The heritage sites and national parks are where they are because of, you guessed right, the donors. All the way to agriculture, the main stay of our economy, the foreign element is very prominent and outshines the domestic effort.

Foreign aid has bestowed upon us an overwhelming feeling of impotence and a misguided sense of entitlement. We are sitting in the middle of a great, rich and well-endowed land. But here we are concentrating on receiving free things from the so-called donors. We complain when they are not forthcoming. This feeling and thinking is what has contributed to the ‘I don’t care’ attitude towards the abuse of public finances.

Both the government and the public know deep down that the money is ‘not our money.’
We might lynch a thief who takes off with our phone or side mirror but not one who siphons billions of shillings meant for a health project that is supposed to benefit us. This is because we attach more ownership to what is bought out of our pocket and not that given to us by some kind foreigners.

In the end analysis, we generally attach little or no value to what belongs to the public for it appears not to belong to us. That is what determines the low civic awareness towards public matters.

The government similarly listens more seriously to the complaints of donors over misuse of aid than to the cries of the citizens over the same because they know who owns the money.

Unfortunately, the State also becomes of secondary importance, especially in the rural areas where the most visible providers of social services are the NGO/donor community. People do not take the State or government seriously anymore for it appears as a compliment to the donors.

That is where Uganda finds itself after being on a fat donor diet for over 26 years. We are weaker as a nation. We are ever under threats of withdrawal of donor funds if we do not behave ourselves as the donors want us to.

We cannot decide on most matters independently before we get the approval of the donors. The opposition that is supposed to counter the excesses of the ruling government is funded by the donors. Their effort is then guided by the wishes of donors and appears like is part of a foreign agenda.

That is the bane of depending heavily on the donors. It spoils nations into becoming impotent and childish. That is where Uganda finds itself 50 years after independence.

Mr Sengoba is a commentator on political and social issues.
nicholassengoba@yahoo.com