Prime
It’s tough being a Ugandan!
Brian Mukalazi
What you need to know:
- For so many years, with the economic hardships not-withstanding, Ugandans have always been resilient people, hanging onto one of life’s most precious assets - ‘Hope’. I mean, hope in our leaders, hope in the process; and hope that tomorrow will be better. But I think this hope is now wearing thin.
When the Ministry of Health and the Uganda Counselling Association reported in May that nearly 14 million Ugandans are mentally sick, personally, I was not surprised. With our current economic, social and political circumstances, it’s practically impossible to stay sober. These circumstances have wrecked human lives.
For so many years, with the economic hardships not-withstanding, Ugandans have always been resilient people, hanging onto one of life’s most precious assets - ‘Hope’. I mean, hope in our leaders, hope in the process; and hope that tomorrow will be better. But I think this hope is now wearing thin.
Ugandans are currently suffering from all sorts of crises and are desperately looking for answers from their leaders. But imagine getting this for an answer with respect to the on-going fuel crisis: “The prices at the pumps today are relatively okay. The situation has not reached a level where we must intervene”.
These unfortunate words were said by the Assistant Commissioner in charge of Petroleum supply in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development in a recent interview with NTV. I couldn’t believe my ears!
As our economy continues to crumble, Ugandans are struggling to find the incentives to save, invest and innovate. Income is failing, unemployment is rising and the country has accumulated a massive unsustainable external debt, which currently stands at 54 percent.
No wonder, 2,000 young, innocent Ugandans are willing to risk it all on a monthly basis by leaving their motherland to go and work as maids in the Middle East. Worryingly, the majority of these young people are well aware of the poor working conditions in those countries but their desire to make a buck offers them no other options. It’s tough!
For both internal and external on-lookers, Uganda is a perplexing country. A couple of days back, our Parliament approved the proposed government purchase of shares in Roko Construction Limited worth Shs207 billion. In the first place, the money is not readily available and the government will have to borrow it. Does it make financial sense? Someone argued: “Imagine if only 2,000 SMEs trying to stay above board were each given a concessional loan of Shs100 million for 10 years with this money, the net impact would be great. Or if just 200 SMEs were given Shs1 billion each at a 5 percent interest rate for 10 years on condition each has to have 20 permanent employees on their books”.
Yes, it’s tough being a Ugandan in these times. But in a different way, life is even tougher for our brothers and sisters in Karamoja. Plagued by a multitude of unending problems, Karamoja appears to be trapped in some sort of a vicious circle.
But what is mind-boggling is that throughout the last five or so decades, hundreds of billions of shillings have been poured into Karamoja from the government, international organisations such as the United Nations, and NGOs of different ilk. However, much of these resources have been wasted in overhead costs, corruption and meeting own agendas.
Our security minister was recently quoted saying the newly introduced Parish Development Model programme will end poverty in the country in a period of three years. I love the optimism, but this will remain a mere wish if we do not take the necessary efforts to break the cycle of failure that appears to be repeating itself over and over again.
Poverty, coupled with remarkable income inequality between the rich and poor, has become endemic in large swaths of the country. This needs to be tackled urgently. Otherwise, soon, the poor will have nothing to eat but the rich!
Mr Mukalazi is a Ugandan Executive and
Socio-Economic Thinker. [email protected]
