Notes from the Field 2009

Those are the words from an experienced Ugandan Development Professional that I will call John, this is not his name but he asked to not be identified. He felt that exposing his name could be harmful to his career.

Corruption is a leech. Incessantly and quietly it insidiously and maliciously sucks the resources from those who need it most. Jeffery Sachs and I are in disagreement because I believe corruption is one of the hindermost problems for development. The problem with corruption, in general, are that the issues that surround it cannot always be labeled as good or bad, right or wrong, or black or white, but, corruption from the top down can be easily be given the label of stupidity.

"I do not think there is a word for evil in Buddhism. I think this is something you must ask real Buddhist scholars. But we speak of ill will, we speak of ignorance, we speak of greed, but we don't speak of evil as such. There is no evil, just stupidity." - Aung San Suu Kyi

The news papers are lathered with stories about corruption in Uganda. Just yesterday there were headline articles about the selling of the Entebbe airport from the government of Uganda to a Ugandan governmental minister. A separate headline in a different paper explained how many of the government staff have brand new overly elegant vehicles but none of these government officials seem to know where the money came from to purchase the cars. These depressing situations are a norm here, laced into society like an addictive drug.

John told me that President Museveni surrounds himself with his relatives and close family from his origins. Chief justice, tax collections, and revenue authority positions have been magically filled by those closest to Museveni. Let's not fail to mention that Museveni has been in control since the 1980s and is responsible for ridding of presidential term limits. The list continues to stretch.

In the 2007/2008 fiscal year John explained how there was 1.3 trillion Ugandan Shillings available to fix and construct new roads. I can safely tell you that that did not happen (check out my transportation and public health post). The roads here are a death trap. Another newspaper that I saw yesterday had a bloody and grotesque photo of a car accident that killed a number of people. This is infuriating. If the money was placed correctly and responsibly Uganda could have a wonderful road system like Rwanda, its neighbor to the south.

That money could have been used to pave new roads, fix the potholes in the presently paved roads that make everything appear as if it had been bombed, employ more traffic police, install more traffic signs and lights, and more. Instead the alternative exists where people die stupidly every day. It is stupid that the government misuses aid money designated to provide treatments for individuals living with HIV/AIDS, it is stupid that the salaries are so low here that people are often forced into corruption, it is stupid that Museveni is one of the richest leaders in the world while there is Famine in the north of his own country, it is stupid that girls of low SES here have to resort to prostitution just to get an education while government staff have new cars. I'm going to put it as simple as I can, corruption kills.

Corruption does not only exist in the government here, it is on all scales, as explained by John. Local police, headmasters of schools, NGOs, and more have all been known to harness the hands of corruption. The problem starts from the top because it sinks from the top. It sinks into all reaches and no one is immune. In Nigeria the slang term for corruption is dashing and in Swahili it is kitu kidogo. We have it in the USA and so does every country and corner of the world. The discussion can go on for ages but the question should be where does a country, such as Uganda, go from here?

Well not everything here is sinking or stupid. Even the government has performed well in certain cases. For example, Uganda has generally low rates of HIV/AIDs compared to its neighbors because the government took an active role in confronting the virus when it first appeared (Google the ABC program of Uganda). There are also many wonderful individuals and NGOs working to make a fix. John is one of those individuals. When I asked him what needs to changed here is the list he said, "People need to adhere to rules, no one can be above the law, people need to be reprimanded equally, and leadership is supposed to be exemplary." With people like John in the country there is hope for change. Maybe our roll should then be to make sure that people like John are supported and allowed to set the example, and not the stupid people that make society sink.