RESOURCE DISTRIBUTION
In the last two weeks, President Museveni has been in the international media for his unusual act of generosity. The President carried money in a sack worth 250million shillings and gave it away to Busoga youths. The following few weeks, the President was back in Busoga, this time officiating at an inter-city tourism innovation between Jinja and eleven Swedish townships. The picture of the President whitewashing buildings in Jinja was splashed all over the media in Uganda.
The culture of the President giving out cash money to the folks in the countryside is something which is now entrenched in the mainstream politics of Uganda. It is this cowboy-ish conduct by the President which, to a greater sense, amplifies corruption and de-incentivize genuine human indulgence in economic production. The President has used brown envelops often to give out money to individuals disguise as rewarding hard working Ugandans. That the brown envelop is not included in any systematic national program to be distributed on merit, lends credence to the fact that it is a campaign strategy. In my opinion, the President has launching his 2016 Presidential campaign in Busoga.
The flipside of this money-in-the-sack gang-ho heist is a manifestation of the cowboy economy. We all know that Museveni is an avid cattle keeper and many commentators have likened his management of the Ugandan economy and society to the way he manages his cows. More interestingly, the way the money is withdrawn, and from wherever it comes from before getting distributed, reminds me of the cowboy movies of the 60s, 70s and 80s. Most of the cowboy movies depict lawlessness, bank robberies, scramble for minerals and holding of hostages for ransom. All these features are rife in our Uganda today under Museveni.
President Museveni is known for breaking banks (treasury) to withdraw moneyy for military hardware, thereby increasing military spending without due process (parliamentary approvals). It is so characteristic of cowboys to carry money in sacks to distribute to fellow bandits. In Uganda, the secrecy surrounding minerals, mining, such as gold in Karamoja and oil in Bunyoro qualifies this government as a regime of cowboys and bandits. Indeed, the infatuation with guns, coupled with state inspired corruption is symptomatic of the underlying cowboy culture that is so contemptuous of due process.
It is unfortunate that we people do not treasure history. Although some commentators have derided Ugandans for being lazy, disengaged and blinded to the woes of history, the picture of the President whitewashing Jinja town while clad in his traditional cowboy hat told many unforgettable tales.
Jinja town is in ruins today because of the economic policies pursued by the NRM regime in the 90s. Before the NRM regime, Jinja was the economic heartthrob of Uganda. It was a town adored by many and quite attractive to a host of economic activities. Most importantly, Jinja was the economic gateway, the backbone and the economic heart of Busoga and Uganda. It was the industrial hub of Uganda. Because of Jinja’s industrial powers, it sustained the economic life of the entire eastern Uganda. Towns like Tororo, Mbale, Iganga, Kamuli and many others drew their lifeline on the successes of Jinja. Busoga was a content region, with some of the best healthcare facilities, robust railway network and strong workforce. Jinja therefore provided Busoga and Basoga, the worth and pride of a people.
All these glamour were raided by economic cowboys from the NRM “banditry” disguised as agents of structural adjustment. Jinja Nytil fell, the Chillington, the pulp industry, and then every industry followed. Jinja became a ghost town with many investors leaving the vicinity and relocating elsewhere. The poor, uneducated and those without skills remained to chew on the dust from the industrial ruins.
Buildings feel the absence of humans too and they become old quite quickly once uninhabited. The shops in Jinja became empty quite quickly as the uneducated started developing small retail shops that sold mostly imported goods, such as clothe, soap, match sticks, hoe blades, machetes, plastic shoes, body scrubs, slippers…. that were formerly manufactured in Jinja.
For many years, Jinja developed into ghost city. Its only output is electricity from Owens falls damn and votes to the NRM as if in appreciation for its predicaments. The people of Busoga transmitted this decadence in different ways because they were never prepared for the transition through the shocks created by the death of industries. The emergence of potholes, disparate people, increasing crime rates, diseases, jiggers and horrible slum dwellings have become the landmark identity of Jinja.
So, the cowboy approach of carrying bags of money to lavish to the Busoga youths and then whitewashing Jinja town by the President himself herald the underlying attitude the regime has towards Busoga. Basoga youths do not need cowboy money; they need infrastructure to provide them with vocation and institutions to provide accessible services. But this dire lack of effective services, robust youth skills development policy and employment enhancement policies cannot simply get whitewashed.
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