Alcohol Consumption
The scotching weather in Kitgum is
one which can make life very difficult. However, for the people here, heat is
not as much as discomforting as the chronic and persistent poverty that
confront them on the daily basis. Fortunately, for Kitgum’s middle class,
artisans and business fraternity, life appears to be vibrant. Kitgum is a small
town, humbly laid in valleys and interlaced with River Pager which gives it the
vein to wash away its filth and to others, the water to feed its living
systems.
Walking on the streets, I hear that
this year, Kitgum’s simsim harvest has been remarkable. The sight of heavily
loaded Dyna trucks ferrying sacks of simsim away reaffirms this prospect. With
simsim giving the people a good harvest, many would hope that the livelihood
here would dramatically transform. The fact is, much of the proceeds from a
good harvest go to drinking alcohol.
The truth be said, Kitgum was voted
the dirtiest town in Uganda recently by the New Vision panel of experts.
Walking through the dusty streets, it is obvious that Kitgum town’s main
streets have never seen tarmac since independence. The traces ofTarmac built
during colonial rule have faced enormous wear and tear, causing terrible unease
for travelers. The dusty roads and the rather flat landscape give the city a
naturally dirty appearance.
And yet, beneath its entire
neglected infrastructure, Kitgum has probably the most resilient population in
the entire Uganda. Here, boda-boda and wheelbarrow pushers are still trusted
with your valuables; you hardly hear of petty thefts, like phone stealing,
night time robbery or such under-class mannerism which afflicts most of the sprawling
urban centres elsewhere.
The humble life in Kitgum town also
reveals the tragedy of the NRM’s desire for social transformation to dependence.
In the last two years, the District budget shows that the population only
contributes about 1.5% to its total budget. The rest of the tab is picked by
central government and donors. This also signifies persistent and chronic
poverty.
But this city has also been gifted
with hard working city bureaucrats who toil day and night to make ends meet
with the meager resources at hand. Maybe someday, they will bring tarmac to
this city’s main roads.
However, it is the low productivity
and high alcohol consumption which challenges the economic recovery of this
district. The harsh hot weather and the exhausted soils due to environmental
degradation presents a fear for a rough future of this place transforming into
semi-arid land.
Social transformation comes with
re-alignment and a shift in collective consciousness of a people. If a place
like Kitgum is to reinvent itself to a post conflict modern city, then the force
to compel it forward must come from within. The over two decades of war has
made the residents of Kitgum suspicious of foreign influences. Coupled with the
many NGOs that had flooded this place, people had become dependent on hand-outs
but the lull created by the subsequent withdrawal of NGOs has also driven the
people to their gardens, to grow Simsim and other food crops.
The dilemma of this place now is
alcoholism. Alcoholism has redefined the collective consciousness of this town,
just as it has usurped the growth of other districts in this region.
I heard saddening stories in social
places such as morning devotions that people are selling their harvests to buy
alcohol. Unlike in the south and other parts of the country where youths sell
off their lands to buy boda boda cycles, here, people have the proclivity to
dispose-off valuable assets for alcohol. The situation has reached a pandemic
level and yet the societal response is minimal if not timid. One would get the
impression that the churches and local authorities have already been defeated. Even
the prospect of near death cannot can not deter alcohol consumption.
END
No comments:
Post a Comment