Parliament is a continuation of Ugandan weddings

There is furore among Ugandan elites regarding government’s decision to give each MP Shs200m to buy new cars for their five-year term. 

For most incensed people, it’s the timing of this payment. It comes at a time when people are taking very harsh blows from a Covid-19-inspired lockdown. 

Many find themselves unable to work, struggling to find something to coat the walls of their empty bellies. 
As they look at the horizon and see emaciated government support start to limp towards them, they learn that MPs have received baskets of money - to buy cars. It is undoubtedly a tough pill to swallow.

Getting outraged at MPs, however, makes us the proverbial pot calling the kettle black. Believe it or not, government’s decision to give and MPs insistence to receive the car allowance is in line with the values of broader Ugandan society.

To illustrate this, we’ll consider a Ugandan wedding. One can know what a society values by studying what it gives its time, money, or social acclaim, and there are few things we give more importance, time, and money than weddings (or social gatherings in general). 

When it comes to these things, we pull off big fetes without the government’s financial support (the very reason we cite for failing to progress in other endeavours). 

Since the subject is cars, we’ll narrow our analysis to vehicles. In a typical Ugandan wedding, the couple’ tax’ their community and use some of that revenue to hire a fleet of luxury cars, which are above their current (and in most cases, future) economic capacity. This is done to accord the function the respect it deserves (referred to in Luganda as okuwa omukolo ekitiibwa). 

Now, imagine yourself walking into a wedding meeting and suggesting that the couple forego luxury cars and instead donate the money to the less fortunate. 

Notice the disapproving stares? Already, we can see that the mere mentioning of people who ‘are in more need’ is not enough to compel people to abandon alternative uses of money. And it shouldn’t be. 

Adopting such thinking would mean no other endeavours should be undertaken until the last poor person is redeemed. Yet, poverty can’t be eradicated because sometimes, it is self-inflicted. 

Besides, what makes a couple spend money on luxury cars on their special day is not contempt for poor people or starving children. 

Instead, it is a desire to accord their special day ‘the respect it deserves.’ 
Similarly, MPs’ decision to accord themselves money for cars is not informed by callousness per se. 

It may very well be informed by the demands of their industry, which is the exercise of power and influence in the hearts and minds of their voters. Whereas leaders who ride bicycles to work do not raise eyebrows in Europe, they do in Uganda. 

Here, voters will ask, with deep concern moreover, “How can a whole MP ride a bicycle?” The same goes for small cars, for how can a ‘big person’ drive a small car?

So, while a big car might be a luxury in the context of Covid-19 or unnecessary on purely economic grounds, it might be necessary for the exercise of power. And suppose the Ugandan MP already has a big car. 

In that case, they may still clamour for the car allowance if only to settle debts incurred during elections where voters demanded something ‘tangible’. 

In other words, the issue isn’t MPs; it’s our values and our perception of what a leader is—more on that next week.

Mr Kibudde is a socio-political thinker
[email protected]  Twitter: @kkaboggoza