The creation of modern day Gomorrah

CORRUPTION SOCIETY

 

For many years, the public has endured increasing levels of corruptions in Uganda. By international standards, Uganda has one of the most elaborate anti-corruption laws but this has not deterred corruption. This article reiterates that corruption is the very function of the NRM regime but distinguishes old forms of corrupt practices from organized crime that has transformed Uganda into modern day Gomorrah!

The 2009 Anti-Corruption law may as well have become an instrument not worth the paper on which it was written on. Corruption is widely defined to include the tolerance or acceptance of influence, let it be material, monetary or otherwise, for personal gratification, that may lead to acts of or omission of the duty for which one is an authority (Anti-corruption Act 2009 Part II: 2(A)(a-i). Ugandans know the simple, basic and functional definition of corruption, as “the lack of opportunity for have-nots”. In this sense, most Ugandans look at those with money, power and guns as those who are corrupt. The 2009 Anti-corruption Act does not describe moral corruption, an aspect that makes corruption pervasive in our society. To an extent, corruption has become a sub-culture in every society.

This article argues that Ugandan’s problem is no longer corruption but organized economic crime. Corruption has transformed itself from the infinite to the finite and it manifests in every walk of life. It embodies the very opposites of what society should be. The government which should act as mediator for distribution of public good, under the influence of corruption, has become the agent provocateur of widespread inequalities. Ugandans no longer experience the life of sanity; they thrive under insanity like it was in Gomorrah. Uganda has become a state equal in stature and character as the Biblical Gomorrah with some components of “Soddom” in it!

Every day one opens the online version of the Ugandan Dailies; there must be a stunning revelation about new acts of embezzlement. Each story which appears on the subject out compete the previous one in the amounts and the sophistication of rubbery of taxpayer’s money. Corruption has now grown to full maturity and has become organized crime. What we read now in the media about Pension scum, Prime Minister’s office siphoning of billions through network of technocrats and others, have in character outcompeted what we knew already in Gavi and Global Fund, which in turn, had outcompeted previous scums involving government agents.

So, how did we reach here and where are we headed? The transformation of what would have passed as sheer negligence of duty into fully blown corruption was facilitated by the NRM ideologies. In the early 90s when Parliament fought corruption, Museveni complained that Parliament was on vendetta against his Ministers and his economic plans. His cadres went on radio to argue that the rampant corruption acts were indicators of economic growth. The establishment treated anti-corruption agencies, groups and experts as enemies of the state and members of the opposition who were inclined at diverting their revolution’s pathways.

Not long after that, the men who came broke from the Bushes of Luwero started appearing in the media for wealth accumulation as super rich. All of the NRM top cadres and so-called “governors of state affairs” had embarked on primitive accumulation of wealth at the expense of the so-called liberated. Through their wealth, they were certain that they had enough to procure significant portion of the public will to govern. In combination with the use of state instruments of coercion to secure the rest of they will, they became too insensitive, arrogant and indifferent to the plight of the ordinary Ugandans. Assured of their strength, they returned Uganda to Multi-party elective politics. Ever since then, corruption and coercion have become the two most famed methods of securing tenure for the President and his henchmen.

Today, this corruption has entrenched its roots into the very soul of the system like the grasp of the weed called Wondering-Jew. Because, at the nucleus of this organized crime is situated the Ugandan political class as enablers and profiteers. This is also the reason that Museveni may be an astute tactician in guerilla warfare, but the war on corruption is one which he cannot defeat without self capitulation. President Museveni has tolerated corruption for so many years as a beneficiary, whether directly or indirectly. After all, the most corrupt people are members of the ruling elite or of the First Family.

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How transportation system contributes to maternal death

TRANSPORT & MATERNAL-CHILD HEALTH

In my previous elicitation I argued that Uganda’s healthcare system is one that could be fixed with political will to enforce intersectoral collaboration at governmental levels. I educed that the healthcare system requires leadership, ideology and funding. This article is a continuation of the articulation of the Delay Factors responsible for high maternal-child mortality in Uganda.  It is premised that the persistent failures of the healthcare system is attributable to general system wide failures in public the public transportation that impede access. In evaluating the efficacy and efficiency of the public healthcare system we must include the contribution of other functions of governments that provide social security and enhances equity. The healthcare system is part of the fabrics of what constitute social services and a driving force for a robust economy that does not function in isolation.

The health of pregnant women and children largely depends on mobility potential. One of the delay factors that lead to the death of pregnant women and children is the delay to reach healthcare facility. The World Health Organization estimates that 40-60 percent of the people living in developing countries live more than 8kms from healthcare facilities. Poor roads and mobility resources including high transportation costs are the key delay factors that facilitate mortality among vulnerable children and pregnant mothers. When a pregnant woman experiences complications, she has between 6-12 hours before she can access qualified emergency care and yet most perinatal deaths occur during labor and delivery or within the first 48hrs.

The timely access of healthcare services is predicated on availability of emergency means of transportation, good acess roads and ready reception at the point of care. Transportation facilitates access to health care facility and determines well-being of maternal child dyad. Moreover, one’s ability to be mobile comes with power and prestige. The World Bank recognizes that mobility, power and well-being are closely link to gender inequalities. The ability of the male to own and control modes of transportation also controls the mobility of members of the family and that determines the health of that family.

No matter how well resourced a healthcare facility is, if it is not accessible the people will not use it. There grows apathy and sense of alienation between the people and the facility. This is why most hospitals operate ambulance services at a minimal access fee, to consolidate community connection and bridge the service gap. The Millennium Development Goal recognizes that a robust healthcare system is a critical and fundamental social service necessary for the attainment of economic goals. However, the slow trends in achieving MDGs in sub-Sahara Africa are premised majorly on access to healthcare facilities.

Further, a robust healthcare system is key driving force to any economy and therefore integral to the very functions of the state. Healthcare system’s failure is then not the organic dysfunction of the system itself, but the capitulation it faces from the mainstream - that is how well integrated it is, in the economy. To appraise Uganda’s healthcare system we must pay due regards to issues of access, public health policies, government funding priorities, leadership and underlying ideology. There is need to appraise the healthcare system within the performance context of the incumbent regime.  A failed healthcare system signifies failures on the part of that administration as a whole, not of the system per se.

There are crucial areas that a twenty-first century healthcare system can fail; when the system adheres strictly to outdated biomedical models which views health as the interplay between infirmities or lack thereof and; when the system selects downstream approaches to healthcare and neglects the fundamental upstream aspects. Investment in public health systems and deliberate focus on social determinants of health poses the greatest opportunity for strengthening the healthcare system in Uganda and lessens the burden of downstream biomedical care.

To improve healthcare service delivery to the population, the government must enforce and encourage all sectors to place health thinking in its planning agenda. When building roads, the driving force is not how much to be made in profits per kilometer, but rather, how useful the road will be in facilitating access to nearby social services. The obsession for highways and superhighways underscores the needs for rural access and at local levels. There must be increased mapping of mobility entitlements and accessibility patterns as recommended by the WB. Improvement of information technology in the meantime could tremendously fill gaps poised by distance.

I have established that there is a strong relationship between transportation and maternal-child mortality in Uganda and by extension in sub-Sahara Africa. The world over, governments have invested in infrastructure to kill “distances” and to avert from “womb to tomb” episodes that characterize the experiences of reproductive women in Uganda.  Healthcare is integral and primal aspect of the functionalities of the government. Its failures reflect the failure of the system as a whole.

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