In this article I contend that any fight against corruption in Uganda cannot be successful unless we redefined the social contract between state actors and the masses by changing the NRM regime which lacks the legitimacy in fighting corruption. Corruption has increasingly redefined human relations thereby undermining the very tenets upon which a credible authority is established in society like Uganda.
Social contracts exists when society when morality exists in politics. When politics is deprived of the ingredient of morality, what we see is havoc because by nature man is an insatiable beast. Political theorists will concur that Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau have given this concept sufficient exposition and defense by emphasizing that a person’s moral and political obligations must be dependent on the social contract between them and the society they live in.
The postmodern phislosopher John Rawl took a liking for Emmanuel Kant’s theory known as “Kantianism” and gave it a modern revamp in his 1972 “The theory of Justice” by arguing that each one of us (man) has the capacity to reason from a universal point of view, which in turn means that we have the particular moral capacity of judging principles from an impartial standpoint. In other words, Rawl argues that our moral and political points of views are mostly attained via impartiality.
The postmodern phislosopher John Rawl took a liking for Emmanuel Kant’s theory known as “Kantianism” and gave it a modern revamp in his 1972 “The theory of Justice” by arguing that each one of us (man) has the capacity to reason from a universal point of view, which in turn means that we have the particular moral capacity of judging principles from an impartial standpoint. In other words, Rawl argues that our moral and political points of views are mostly attained via impartiality.
The above texts help to illuminate a number of disparities in our fights against corruption. First, that either the social contract that exists between public figures that plunder our resources lacks moral component. Second, that society largely condones and is tolerant to corruptions. Third, that we exist in a largely remote society where we are unconscious of the numerous shapes and forms associated with corruption and how it impacts on our very being as society. Finally, that justice could never be exacted on the corrupt on behalf of society because we lack impartial authority to do that!
Our infantile democracy is always tainted with fraud and malpractices such as voter bribery. When we cheat in election, we basically manufacture consent from the masses through fraudulent means, including coercion. This greatly undermines the power of the people in constituting credible government. Our election processes are therefore illegitimate and immoral in that sense and only helps propel individual greed above common good. This makes the fight against corruption a difficult task because the product of an immoral or illegal transaction breeds equally illegal product - corruption.
The implication is that because most of those elected are guilty of partaking in an immoral process to attaining political power, they cannot be impartial to acts of corruption. Thus, they lack the political will and the fundamentals – the morals to decisively fight against corruption, thus the gerrymandering in Parliament and within the executives including IGG institution.
Whether our society tolerates corruption and corrupt tendencies, we can only see this in the way corruption and influence peddling has been handled in Uganda. The recent case of CHOGM involving the former Vice President, Gilbert Bukenya only speaks for itself. The many scandals associated with current Prime Minister, Rt. Hon J.P. Amama Mbabazi is another. The revelations by three ministers and two statehouse employees that the President authorized illegal payments to businessman Bassajjabalaba are another. But the most glaring is the subsequent denial of oversight involving the Bassajjabalaba scandalous payment by the President himself. Who is committing perjury?
There is a trail and track of corruption that link each and every NRM leaders inextricably. In the crime involving huge illegal money, sex and drugs, just follow the money trail and you will catch a Whiteman at the end. In Uganda, it is true; everyone in politics is corrupt, either by association, omission or commission.
One only needed to recognize this when Prime Minister succinctly stated that any fight against corruption that targets him, is intended to overthrow Museveni. Such statements help buttress the corrupt in power, legitimize and normalize the vice and make Museveni loyalists, prime agents of corruption.
Our society has long accepted that corruption was a quicker way of accumulating wealth since Ugandan assets were disposed off fraudulently in the 90s.
Finally, the failure in the fight against corruption is visible when people accused of corruption are carried shoulder high by the taxpayers who have been fleeced. It is even branded as state function when corrupt people are mandated through the ballot to continue in their plunder of the economy unabated!
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Great and thought provoking article. Even though I concur with alot of what you present because of where I stand, I do not agree on your overall conclusion of human beings being insatiable creatures; this is tantamount to saying all humans are having poverty seeking mentality. I would like to think of humans as being rationale to various levels eg. If certain basic requirements are not met by those who are to provide these requirements then humans then start to want for those requirements that were not met..and...and for some humans, the holding on to the “grudge” situation makes everyday of the lack of this requirement accumulate such that at the imagined start line, some humans seem to want way more than others while some seem to be quite satisfied with what they get for the day including promise for the morrow.
ReplyDeletePerhaps we go to the root cause of what we think is the problem – and that is our need to want to westernize within impossible time frames. Western countries got to where they are over several centuries and yet they expect us to achieve westernization in less than 5 decades. Once we accept where our start point is, we may then be able to achieve the so desired westernization or perhaps mature into what we want with the info and knowledge that we have imagined to acquire from the west to make us into what we imagine we want to be.
Human need(s) is a complex concept that is constantly evolving. Because human environment also evolves constantly, the quest for survival becomes a constant endevour a swe transcend to new hiatus. It is this ever evolving survival need, intrinsic or otherwise, that largely makes the organism called humans have insatiable needs. Thanks for your insightful analogy
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