How Uganda’s ‘plan for the future’ usually ends in tears

Also, most of our investments are never professionally managed. When the owner of the wealth passes on, so do the secrets of how the wealth is managed.

I bumped into a gentleman whose father did so well in the 1960s through to the 1990s. He farmed a lot of land, herded animals, invested in transport and put up several buildings.

When the old man passed on he left a lot of wealth for his children. These children had been put through good schools. In Ugandan speak; the old man had done everything to ‘plan for his children’.

Now this gentleman, the heir, literally lives on alms. When the old man passed on, he ‘fell into things’. But farming proved too tedious and sweaty for this university graduate, so he delegated and tried to till the land on phone from Kampala. The animals and crops soon slowly died and the land became idle.

He borrowed money to revive the farm. The houses in Kampala were taken over by banks and money lenders. He sold part of the farm land and tried to invest in things that bring ‘quick money’ so that he would strengthen his cash flow. He ended up with a fleet of taxis, boda bodas, a bar with several pool tables, etc. Accidents, thefts and dishonest drivers crashed his dream.

He turned to God and a pastor tricked him into ‘sowing’ part of the estate in order to reap the gigantic fruits of the Kingdom of Heaven. That was the last he saw of his money yet he needed it more than ever now that he had acquired great tests in wine and women.

He fathered a couple of children with different women who moved on when they saw no more of the money, some leaving behind young children. Sadly he also contracted HIV.

This is a very ubiquitous Ugandan story that has seen the failure of sustaining family businesses. It is very rare to find families owning and growing old money, property and other forms of wealth, then passing it on to the next generation.

One of our major pitfalls is summarised in the words of Epictetus, a Greek sage and philosopher who cautions thus, “be careful to leave your sons well instructed rather than rich, for the hopes of the instructed are better than the wealth of the ignorant.”

Most of our children know absolutely nothing about the wealth they inherit, how it was acquired, how to protect and grow it. They are simply handed everything on a silver platter.

But also parents, besides sending children to a good school, never find it worthwhile to impart important life skills like attentiveness, gratefulness, generosity, forgiveness, integrity, frugality, hard work, diligence, faithfulness, humility, patience and hope, among others.

The other problem we have is that most of our wealth is in the form of tangible ‘solid’ property - houses, cars and farm animals - which helps us ‘prove’ that we have money. Trouble is that these are vulnerable to physical destruction and easily abused or sold.

Yet, if our children are seriously trained and equipped with what are regarded as ‘menial’ trades like carpentry, painting, building, etc., they can utilise these skills for a lifetime.

Also, most of our investments are never professionally managed. When the owner of the wealth passes on, so do the secrets of how the wealth is managed.

The culture of induction, apprenticeship and on the job training is not practiced to take a future owner of the wealth through the paces in order to understand his responsibility in the future.

It is even worse if the sources of the wealth are illegitimate. The string of corruption may break with the demise of the owner of the wealth and cut supply to the growth of the wealth.

Then because of the way the family is structured in most African societies, the wealth is likely to be divided among the family other than keeping it as a unit. It weakens the original owner’s plan for the children since each share becomes financially smaller to make a sensible business investment.

But we cannot ignore the fact that to a great extent, the fortunes of an individual depend a lot on the general health of the economy in which they operate. Uganda’s economy, despite the glorious growth figure, has had serious challenges detrimental for anyone who intends to run a genuine business and see their assets grow.

Mr Sengoba is a commentator on political and social issues.

nicholassengoba@yahoo.com