How do you solve puzzle of abundance of qualifications but scarcity of quality

There is a vacant piece of land just a block away from our office. This week, the Kampala Capital City Authority erected signage announcing that the land is its property and that it is not for sale. That can only mean that someone high up is eyeing it.

A few years ago, a friend and I bought land not so far from Kampala. Thankfully it was a legit deal so we didn’t have to suffer the usual wrangles that are synonymous with land purchases. The kinds that know no boundaries and have nearly every government agency and department in court, battling a connected land grabber over one property or another.

The land we had purchased was close to a large tract earmarked for an industrial park – so it was hot property. But as I said, the idea was “to keep money there” because that is what land purchases and investments are really about. Like many unschooled buyers, I didn’t visit the land after we had concluded the purchase – only making about three trips there in five years.

On the third trip, I found something that nearly yanked the life out of me. A grader and about three large trucks, excavating murram for sale. They had been at it for weeks, from the looks of it. So much that the digging was so deep a house would sit and disappear into the excavation site. Shocked, I asked who had given them permission to.

One of the drivers responded that the boss had told them to call him in case anyone ever came asking questions. “Okay then, call him,” I said.

“I don’t have airtime, sir,” he replied.

“Read me the number then,” I said.

As I punched it into my phone, I realized that it had already been saved. It belonged to the LC 1 Chairman. The same man in whose care we had left the land. I was perplexed. He didn’t pick up and wasn’t home even when we decided to visit him, unannounced. However, we ordered the drivers and their machines off the land, threatening police action if they continued.

We did follow through and had the case reported to police – one of whom was kind and unashamed enough to tell how lucky we were to have caught them in the act. The practice had been that the excavators show up at night and disappear in the morning. The police knew this but were helpless to do anything because those involved were “big people”.

The word “Kakistocracy” is interesting because it is one of those that you will very likely not hear used in your lifetime. However, it is also the kind whose meaning you probably interact with every day – in most of Africa.

What does it mean? Basically, it refers to a government run by the least suitable or competent citizens of a state. Ironical on many levels, because if you picked any government on the continent, the people currently serving are also the most highly educated and exposed citizens in Africa’s recorded history. But, for some reason, you wouldn’t find many visible signs of this education and exposure if you looked around you or when you have to interact with government services.

From schools to hospitals, roads, housing, urban planning, electricity, access to justice, financing, and ease-of-doing-business, politics, to security, and whatever else you choose, it is hard to find a functional system.

There are hundreds of thousands of excellent, competent, and qualified public servants who get up, show up and put in a good shift every day. They live and must survive in the same economy as most of us so they, more than most, are committed to making things work. They know they won’t get the credit for it and that’s okay but they just want their country to win – because this is home.

But it is hard to see how they will win – in an environment where whoever has the final say is also probably the least suitable or competent; or one where there are more unsuitable and incompetent officeholders than not.

Realizing that they are out of their depth, they resort to stealing public and private funds and property. When they can’t take the land, at least they will steal the soil. In the end, the qualified and competent people in government and every other citizen spend half the time battling against the kakistocracy instead of making things work.

Mr Rukwengye is the founder, Boundless Minds. @Rukwengye