Ugandans prefer to keep the peace

The President offers the flimsy excuse that the youth were backed by foreigners and had intentions to do ‘very bad things’.  The Speaker, Ms Anita Among, at whom the anti-corruption ire was directed, continues on undisturbed. She insists all the noise is because of her strong stance against homosexuality.

You are left wondering how such a big and important issue is so simply and casually swatted away. There are two reasons for this;

• Corruption is not actually a big issue in Uganda. 

• The President is handling corruption the ‘Museveni way’.

The ‘Museveni way’ is not to rush to make decisions on the basis of an intelligent report or a single incident or post or criticism. He will always look for ways to turn every situation into his favour. His way is not to eliminate or liquidate opponents but to instead bring them closer and eventually turn them into his diehard apologists.

That is how his once strongest, most vocal critics and now his loudest supporters. Prime examples are Mr Ofwono Opondo - party/national spokesman and  journalist Andrew Mwenda. The Speaker, Ms Anita Among, and her deputy,  Mr Thomas Tayebwa, were also once opposition members but have all been brought to the fold. Ms Beti Kamya and Mr Norbert Mao, both long time critics and opposition ideologues are both on his side now.

It is how he has dealt with the Opposition. The Museveni way is to ‘allow’ them to fight themselves as he watches from the sidelines. Then he stoops and picks out the loot. That is how Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) and Democratic Party (DP) disintegrated. That is how Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) is falling apart and that is the same way National Unity Platform (NUP) is going. It is simply brilliant and “bloodless.”

The Museveni way is grace and magnanimity. Past sins are forgiven or overlooked if you can turn from your ‘errant’ ways and begin to support the president. That is how we have kept the peace in Uganda all these years.

The President will, for example, not visit a government facility and fire the manager on the spot should he find something amiss. Instead, he will consider the situation, ‘remember’ the past contribution of the officer to his cause and act on that. Sometimes the errant officer ends up with a promotion instead of the sack.

So, the president is not going to dismiss anyone caught in corruption, for corruption’s sake. That explains the confidence that the Speaker and others implicated in corruption have.

The Museveni way is to factor in other things in the equation like long-term ‘usefulness’ to him. And as long as one is deemed ‘useful’ (read a vote puller) they are safe.  That is why some corruption is classified as ‘mistakes’ while others are classified as ‘greed’.

But there is a bigger issue with the problem of corruption in Uganda. Which was my first point. Ugandans don’t consider corruption a big problem because everyone is compromised.

 We are all beneficiaries and practitioners of this vice. We complain about corruption in the police but are happy to give out bribes to traffic police officers. We are happy to give ‘envelops’ to get jobs in governments, ‘facilitate’ the judge to pass judgement on our behalf, ‘see’ government officers to move our documents along etc. We don’t mind giving out a ‘chai’  if it suits us. We only complain if it goes against us.

Public money/property is a free thing. There for the taking. That is why we are happy to remove streetlights and road signs and materials. It is government property. It belongs to no one so no one gives a damn.

So, unless and until we as a people begin to change our perceptions to corruption nothing is going to change. We are looking to the president to take the lead on this, but he won’t because of himself. He will work with the corrupt if it suits him and his interests. Similarly, we as a society are happy to practice corruption if it suits us.

The issue of the protests is quite simple. If more youths took to the streets and willingly ‘volunteered’ to be taken to prison, in a matter of days there would be no room at Luzira for them and the government would be forced to listen and address their issues.

But as it is no one is willing or motivated enough to take a stand on corruption. Not the young people. Not you and me. And certainly not the President.

That is Uganda for you. 

Dr Bob Opoka is a medical doctor.

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