The collapse of the garbage-filling dump at Kiteezi is symptomatic of the wider governance crisis that has engulfed our country. Uganda is in disarray, without a central brain able to direct it anywhere. The aging President Yoweri Museveni is exhausted both physical and mentally. His ability to manage the affairs of state has been greatly diminished. And this has happened at a time when power has not only been greatly concentrated in the presidency but dangerously personalised in his hands. So bad is the situation that he must approve every big and small thing that must happen in the country. This has led to the proliferation of blue letters.
Many people are blaming the administration at KCCA for negligence, corruption and incompetence. Under normal circumstances, this would be a fair and legitimate criticism – and it partly is. The bigger problem, however, is that KCCA is part of the near collapse of administrative effectiveness in the country. True some parts of our state acquired and have over time improved high levels of administrative competences under Museveni. Institutions such as NWSC, NSSF, HFB, URSB, UNRA (which they want to close), etc. are exemplars. But these few islands of efficiency live in a big sea of institutionalised corruption and incompetence.
It is difficult to see how this can be overcome even if Museveni were to retire. Part of the problem is the attitudes that have come to dominate the social consciousness of Ugandans. One such attitude is the ethic of making money as a virtue regardless of how one acquires it. Every rich person is lionised in our media whether he acquired that money through looting the state or working hard. The other problem is the way democracy has evolved in Uganda under Museveni. To hold power, individuals must compete for votes without any regulation on campaign financing in a context of a very poor and desperate electorate. The two reinforce each other.
As part of the neoliberal agenda of “unleashing markets”, Uganda adopted a philosophy that states are inherently corrupt and inefficient. To solve this problem, our country, on the advice of the masters of this world in Washington, London and Paris, adopted a philosophy of free, unrestrained (read unregulated) enterprise. If leaders mismanaged a state enterprise, the argument was that such outcome was inevitable given state ownership. The solution was NOT to punish the culprits and try to improve management. Rather it was to privatise the entity and liberalise the sector to allow competition. These ideas were (in and of themselves) not necessarily wrong. It is the way that the state was demonised that destroyed ethics in the public sector, creating a self-fulfilling prophesy.
When political competition was introduced in a society with such a philosophy and with a desperately poor electorate, it made a bad situation worse. Just like public enterprises were sold in cut-throat markets, votes became fair game. Political contests came to resemble financial competition. With a philosophy that glorifies money, voters could only listen to those candidates who had oodles of cash. Hence, people in public office could misappropriate public funds and carry their loot to their constituencies to buy votes. Elections became contests over money rather than ideas. The marketisation of the economy led to the marketisation of politics.
This system was not dangerously destructive since Museveni held sway over the core elements of the state. With incredible skill and tenacity, the fiddled with, he manipulated and controlled the chaos his economic and political reforms had unleashed. In some cases, he cajoled, in others he bribed while in many he intimidated and coerced obedience. But as he has aged, his ability to retain control over this chaos has significantly diminished. This is because multiple centers of power had proliferated and are vying for influence. Because power is now highly personalised, the struggle for influence has retreated to state house inevitably setting off family feuds.
This is the tragedy of Uganda. The country has lost all sense of the nation with distinct interests independent of Museveni’s. For instance, the interests of Uganda are best served by a functioning city. This is critical because the most skilled citizens with high productivity levels live and work in Kampala and its surrounding Wakiso district. This area produces about 65% of GDP and 75% of tax revenues. Visitors, be they investors and tourists first enter Kampala before visiting other areas. And the impression one gets of the country is when they get into its capital city.
However, Museveni and most of his family members have little contact with the city – its restaurants, streets, bars, night clubs etc. Besides, the president’s bread (votes) is battered from rural constituencies. The city is seen as a scene of resistance to his rule. So, government has starved it of funding. Last financial year, KCCA was allocated only Shs40 billion for infrastructure – roads, drainage, schools, markets, health centers etc. against a national road infrastructure budget of shs 4.1 trillion. Basically, the source of 65% of our GDP and 75% of revenues got less than 1% of the road budget. How is this possible? Well because all decisions are made by one old man who has grown impervious to the crisis in the city.
While Kampala’s infrastructure is collapsing, government is everyday finding money to fund a private sugar factory at Shs500 billion, a private pharmaceutical plant at Shs750 billion, a collapsed road construction company Shs200 billion, and Shs1.3 trillion to build a ghost hospital in Lubowa etc. How is this possible? Because thinking for the country has now taken a back seat. These projects are promoted by family members and other wheeler dealers around the president in the name of national development when in fact they create avenues for personal enrichment.
The money making and vote buying culture that has engulfed our country has progressively eliminated public spirited individuals from public life. It has led to the success of crooks seeking personal gain. This corrosion of the public ethic is rooted in the philosophy that governs our economics and has now captured our politics. Therefore, discussion of Kitezi must be integrated into discussion of the overall management crisis of the country. Kiteezi is not the first and won’t be the last national disaster. Many are going to follow perhaps with worse consequences. I really pray that my analysis and predictions are wrong because future generations of Ugandans will be happy that I was wrong.t to hear when we reopen the doors to new students.
— THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda
