Prime
Prodigal Son and why the British should have stayed much longer
Author, Gawaya Tegulle. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- Our politicians simply jumped on to the “we want freedom” bandwagon. Copycat politics.
When the Prodigal Son told his father that he felt he was now of age and wanted his inheritance so that he could go live on his own, his father, instead of issuing several choice slaps across the face of the insolent puppy, unfortunately gave him half of the family wealth and bid him go. Costly mistake!
No sooner had he left his father’s house than he began squandering the wealth on wine, women and song. Within a few years the silly puppy that had eagerly jumped onto a premature, badly planned, not-prepared-for and altogether ill-advised frolic was a weather-beaten, sullen-faced, booze-soaked, money-free idiot that nobody wanted; only able to keep company with pigs and eat the food of pigs. Transition without preparedness for the next phase is asking for trouble. That is why timing is important; because it often speaks to readiness, or in this case, the lack thereof.
It is imperative to recognise foolishness as soon as it crops up; and equally imperative, to deal with it firmly and with finality. That is what the British should have done decades ago, when Ugandans started clamouring for “independence”. Costly mistake! Martin Luther King Jr had a lot up his sleeve when he said, “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together like fools.”
No sooner had Her Majesty the Queen turned her back than the natives who had, quite clearly, never appreciated the wisdom of Martin Luther King Jr, began wasting their country. I’d pay a million or two, to know what the British – especially the Queen – felt, watching the fools that we surely were, working hard to decimate each other!
Scandal after scandal, loot after loot, bloodshed after bloodshed, coup after coup, war after war; and, of course, the inevitable political and economic decline that set in.
People like to condemn colonialists wholesale; but now, nearly six decades since they let us steer the ship, it is time to ask whether they didn’t surrender the steering wheel too early. You tell a tree by its fruits! The British were strategic thinkers; and the foundations they laid for a new country called Uganda were impeccable.
Everything they did was elaborately considered, documented and then executed for the long term benefit. You can see the level of organisation they left behind. Schools and hospitals properly built and evenly distributed all over the country; towns properly planned, a public transport system – bus and train, working very well. Cash crops, cooperative societies, several key industries, most of them based in Jinja.
More importantly, they left a civil service that was built on merit, integrity and diligence; where work was work – and ethical ballast was impeccable. The hand of government in anything meant excellence. If a building was nicely built, you knew it was a government facility. We are talking about a country that had taken off and had begun gaining altitude …but just then the prodigals came in with all their youthful exuberance, claiming they were ready for self-government. The plane crash was inevitable. You can see what the British built: Kololo, Nakasero, Bugolobi, Naguru. Then you can see what we have done for ourselves: Katanga, Bwaise, Kalerwe…! The better parts of Kampala, Entebbe, Jinja, Mbale, Tororo and the like are British legacy. The slums and disorganisation are our handiwork. These days, if a school or health facility or whatever, is poorly built, and is corrupt and inefficient, you can (safely) bet your kid, job and all, it belongs to government.
The tendency has always been that each leader who accesses power has no intention of leaving until death steps. The saddest bit is that Mr Yoweri Museveni, who seems to have made an accurate diagnosis of part of the problem – unwillingness to hand over power peacefully – ironically and quite comically decided to make the same mistake. He is the poorest performing leader ever to grace State House; for he had more and knew better.
This craze about independence is nothing to be celebrated. Our politicians simply jumped on to the “we want freedom” bandwagon. Copycat politics. Nothing original.
If only the British had stayed two decades longer, Uganda would be at a different level today.
Mr Tegulle is an advocate of the High Court of Uganda [email protected]
