Mr Daniel K. Kalinaki
Every so often, arguments break out about how we see and present ourselves to the world. One side argues that Uganda is gifted by nature and has so much going for it that we need to show it to the rest of the world to attract tourists and investment.
The other side counters that there is so much broken that needs to be fixed, not just for the benefit of foreign tourists and investors, but for its citizens and residents. Each poster-worthy photo of a winding mountain road is quickly countered by a potholed ridge used as a road; each scenic photo of a herd of elephants in one of our many national parks is shot down by a photo of a white elephant project.
Much of it is down to relativity. Travel through some of the countries that are even poorer than us and you will long for our dust and dysfunction. Yet land at Entebbe Airport from any half-decent country and you will find the lack of air conditioning stultifying and the chaos at the arrival hall just ridiculous.
Similarly, older Ugandans, recalling the days when basic commodities like sugar, beer and fuel were hard to come by, see mushrooming fuel stations and bulging supermarket shelves as evidence of how far we have come. Younger Ugandans, who are the majority, can’t relate.
They lack cash, not commodities. They are also the most exposed generation of Ugandans. The mobile phone brings the world to their fingertips and shows them the long strides many elsewhere have taken. Their sense of belonging is quickly replaced by a sense of longing, for a life of more, better.
A growing number believe this life can only be built elsewhere. Jobless growth has kept unemployment high. Low or stagnant wages keep many workers living pay cheque-to-pay cheque. Even middle-class folk are one crisis away from losing it all. Renegotiating this social contract is our biggest collective challenge. It is complex but not impossible but it requires a higher level of intelligence than the collective mediocrity that has created this quotidian quagmire.
The first step is to stop shouting at ourselves and start talking to one another. Uganda is not the worst country to live in, but it is certainly dysfunctional. It is telling that most of the attractions we pride ourselves in are naturally occurring landscapes, flora and fauna that we had nothing to do with.
We didn’t put the snow on the top of Mount Rwenzori and are, in fact, doing our very best to ruin the ecosystems around Lake Nalubaale and the various national parks. Countries without a single chimp or even a wild rat attract more tourists and foreign direct investment every year. They leverage physical assets like museums, libraries, monuments, public parks, sports events and facilities among others.
They also leverage intangible assets like safety, good weather, accessible and affordable public transport, hotels – and the vivacity, verve and collective creativity of their people. The intangible assets are perhaps even more important than the former. Hardly anyone goes into the Virunga National Park in DR Congo or climbs Mount Rwenzori on that side of the border yet they probably have more mountain gorillas and the same ice-covered peaks.
To bridge the gap between the praise-singers and the naysayers, and to attract the hallowed tourists and foreign investors, we must invest in a minimum set of things that work. We could start with these three.
First is genuine peace and security. The absence of an armed rebellion is pretty nice, thank you very much, but not any reassuring for a jogger stabbed on a morning run or people pursuing justice and restitution in all manner of civil and criminal cases, The absence of war is not the presence of peace.
Secondly, we need a public health system that works and is affordable, buttressed by health insurance. The benefits of this, again, are self-evident. No one wants to go to a place where medical outcomes are determined by a large dose of luck. Third is a public transport system that is not reliant on half-crazed boda boda riders.
The ability to move from one place to another with a reasonable degree of certainty about travel times, safely, and affordably is something societies should be able to figure out. These small starts – and others we shall revisit in the future – create public goods that are consumed by citizens and visitors.
People with vested interests in the country rather than just the vests on their chests are happier and more likely to love and stand up for their country. To make Uganda attractive to investors and tourists, we must first make it attractive to and loveable by Ugandans.
Mr Kalinaki is a journalist and poor man’s
freedom fighter.
[email protected]; @Kalinaki
