By Timothy Kalyegira
From a political and societal point of view, the biggest challenge that Ugandans will face in 2023 will be the same that the country has
battled with over the past 30 years: Corruption. Uganda has the climate, food supply and resources to provide a relatively decent life for the citizens. The only problem is in the way these resources are distributed or how the opportunities are granted; the mismanagement of these resources that harbour corrupt tendencies.
To start with, corruption is not simply a moral question. It saps and embitters the population’s spirit. It feels so unfair that some people can get ahead of others because they used an unjust and illegal process. Many who have joined this league of violating of regulations have done so, not because they feel it right but because they feel that circumstances have left them with no choice.
The government Most national attention throughout the year tends to focus on the government of the day. From it are expected social services, law enforcement, jobs, new infrastructure or repair of damaged infrastructure, free and fair elections and political guidance — what in Uganda is usually termed “government programmes.” The failure to deliver on these public services and obligations is the main topic of discussion on radio, TV, local communities and at Church activities. The NRM government in 2022 appeared to be stretched to the maximum in how much it could reform the corrupted national culture that it helped establish. This question of culture requires a separate article on its own but in brief, once a culture settles into place, it can be very difficult to dismantle or uproot. Corruption creates its own logic, culture, networks and systems.
A corrupted system, therefore, cannot reform itself mainly because it benefits from the rot. Just as an honest and efficient system works best and is most stable running that way, a corrupted system has its own stability and in a sense, efficiency.
Attempting to fix the present Ugandan political and social corruption would have the same disrupting effect on society as dismantling an honest system.
Too many people, companies, political groups, cartels, operatives and even respectable families would be greatly affected if the present corrupt system were done away with. In other words, this is the reason why every effort to clamp down on corruption has so far failed. Free and fair elections will not solve the problem but rather replace the current leadership with another set of leaders rooted in the same corrupted system. The only hope for Uganda will have to come from elsewhere outside the present political and social system. The Catholic Church The single largest religious denomination in Uganda is the Roman Catholic faith, accounting for about 45 percent of the
population. This, under normal circumstances, should see the Church play a significant role in national affairs. For context, there are nearly twice
as many Catholics in Uganda as there are Baganda. Buganda’s influence on the country is well known, which raises all the more just how influential the Catholic Church could potentially be. Unfortunately, it has not happened since independence, sixty years ago. The Catholic Church’s influence has tended to be implied and mostly felt in the background. During major feast days like Easter Sunday and Christmas, the Catholic clergy tend to remind the government of its economic obligations and denounce the rampant corruption in the country. Rather than see that the upholding of moral and cultural values is the primary task of religious and entities, Uganda’s clergy and much of Africa delegate the role
to the government. It should be to the Church, not the government, that most of these questions are put. Institutions like the Catholic
Church, the Anglican Church and the Buganda kingdom exert a much
“The Church has more
opportunities to shape
the minds of Ugandans
from the earliest age than
anyone but the nuclear
family. For three decades,
it has underestimated this
critical role and left it to
the government.”
greater influence on the minds of the majority of the Ugandan population than the central government. The fact that corruption continues
to run rampant suggests that these important institutions either have not done their work or do not yet realise the crucial role they can and
should play in solving the problem. If anything, the new Evengelical or Pentecostal Churches mushrooming all over Uganda and sub-Saharan
Africa have done more to put ethical and moral teachings emphatically at the centre of their work than the traditional Anglican and Catholic
Churches.
The Evengelical Churches act with more direct conviction by the word of God in word, if not always in deed, than the establishment of
denominations. The media The third, true branch of Ugandan society is the news media. It shapes the thoughts, tastes and habits of
the society more powerfully than the government or the Church. It provides more daily information and perspectives than any other entity
in Uganda. This might explain why media personalities enjoy a name recognition greater than most other sections of public life. It is fair to say that the media has played its role in the fight against this social blight of corruption than any other institution in the country, in spite of the fact that it is also nearly as guilty of being part of the corruption that it condemns. It has investigated, published and discussed government corruption and other scandals, a reason why it is so feared. This, then, is the agenda for 2023. The Church has more opportunities to shape the minds of Ugandans from the earliest age than anyone but the nuclear family. For three decades, it has underestimated this critical role and left it to the government. It is time, in 2023, for the Church to take its role more serious, and the media will come in handy.
