‘Achieving’ middle- income status an insult to wananchi

It just takes a microsecond to look around and see the reality on the ground. Some months ago, hundreds of people died of famine in the Karamoja Sub-region and other parts of the country.

This publication reported that Karamoja locals had turned to leaves and nuts as hunger struck. The core issue of food security is yet to be addressed in this country.  

The healthcare mess still hangs in the balance. Some public hospitals are operating without medicine. No wonder, the IGG this week launched an investigation at the National Medical Stores, which is mandated to distribute drugs. Uganda has the highest out-of-pocket expenditure on health in the region, standing at more than 37 percent compared to Rwanda at 10 percent, Kenya and South Sudan jointly at 23 percent, Tanzania at 24 percent, and Burundi at 30 percent. 

The rising cost of living and people grappling with the economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic still manifests. The timing of middle-income status triumph is completely off, unfortunately. But the majority of the policy clients or decision makers who happen to be “political investors” in this country are no longer living in reality, “jjangu ku ground” and feel that reality is the cry for the majority, Ugandans.

Corruption remains the cancer of Uganda’s economy, the vice has flourished and keeps tainting the image and gains of the 37 years Mr Museveni’s government has been in power. It’s obvious that we will keep in the “bush” if the President’s soft approach towards the vice keeps manifesting. 

The Karamoja iron sheets scandal is just one of the many examples of Museveni’s lukewarm approach to fighting graft. The corruption saga that implicated Museveni’s top leadership brass is slowly fading off the public eye, but just as the English say, justice delayed is justice denied. The head of State must act swiftly and punish those who misused the taxpayers’ money or many Ugandans will keep staring at the middle-income status with oblivion. 

According to the 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index reported by Transparency International, Uganda is the 142 least corrupt nation out of 180 countries. As a pedagogue who interacts with young citizens almost on a daily basis, the majority of the young stars are now inspired to join either politics or strategic government positions where they can get access to public resources and steal money rather than join professions such as medicine, teaching, and entrepreneurship. 

In conclusion, for Ugandans to achieve and feel middle-income status, corruption must be fought with an iron-fist hand. The culprits have to pay back the loot and get punished. Meritocracy has to be embraced as opposed to political and social appointments. 

Uganda’s public choice mechanism must be reshaped to produce high-quality policy clients or decision makers or political leaders rather than political investors. We must ensure fiscal discipline, rational budget resource allocation, a shared and sustainable economic growth rate of at least 7 percent for the next five years, and finally run Uganda’s economy based on an optimal model. 

Until the common man walks with a face reflecting better access to social services, the middle-income status will remain paperwork on the shelves.

Francis Muhire is an economist and lecturer at Makerere University Business                       @FRANCISMUHIRE