war against graft...what a joke

Uganda’s fight against graft has received a huge body blow. Tingey county MP Herbert Sabila was convicted of corruption after offering a magistrate a bribe of UGX700,000 to have case against an associate of his dropped. he was not sentenced to any jail time, but got off with a laughable fine of 4 million shillings because it was deemed the amount he is said to have offered is not a significant enough amount to have a bearing on national interests. come on guys. if a thief steals a sweet or a car the fact remains they are a thief and should face the full wrath of the law. wether Sabila offered 500 shillings of 1 billion the fact remains he broke the law. the courts of law have confirmed that but where the problem lies is in the lenient punishment that Sabila is facing. there thousands of petty criminals who are serving time in jail. why should this guy get away with this crime. if we are saying as nation that corruption should be tackled head on then why not set the biggest example by getting a “big fish” and showing that no one, no matter which office they hold or which political party they belong to, will be punished if they are corrupt. this sentence now sets a very bad precedent for future corruption cases because future convicts will argue that they should also be let off with a fine. what i still find the hardest to fathom about this whole story is that Sabila has the audacity to attend parliamentary sessions...amazing has he no shame?

Second chances

Yesterday (March 2, 2010) Eastern Uganda was yet again the location for another humanitarian disaster. At least 50 people have been confirmed dead in a mudslide that swept away and submerged three villages. Some 300 people are missing and feared dead.

The Eastern part of the country is prone to flooding and other rainfall hazards as evidenced by the destruction caused by El Nino flood waters a few years back. The effects of heavy rainfall have always wreaked havoc on the agricultural activity of the area and thus impacting on food security.

Last year, villagers in the East faced starvation due to low food output as a result of crops being destroyed by the rainfall. How ironic, that life giving water can be the cause of the loss of life…

The Government’s response to the crisis was farcical. The Minister responsible, Tarsis Kabwegyere, gained notoriety by making insensitive statements about the situation and plight of the starving masses. What was clearly evident was that the Ugandan Government was ill-prepared to address the effects of that disaster, this despite having a dedicated ministry responsible for Disaster preparedness.

As the tragedy in Bududa now unfolds the spotlight will be yet again trained on Government and its capacity to meet the needs of the survivors and those who are still at risk. Governments repot card during its last test was an embarrassing failure, let us hope they can do a lot better this time round. Here are a few thoughts

1.     1. A string of Government ministries have been requesting supplementary budgets. How about we use that money which was supposed to fund some of these requests (including the one for defence to chase down and finish of LRA) to help the villagers in the east who are still at risk and those who have lost their loved ones and livelihoods

 

2.    2. How about all the resources and efforts that are being wasted on campaigning for the Anti homosexuality bill being redirected to assisting the affected families and communities and those who still remain vulnerable.

May God be with the people of Bududa at this most trying time. 

This is Africa :(

I am now convinced that government offices across the African continent are all the same. Remember how it felt waking up at the most ungodly hours to queue up at Harare’s passport or birth certificate office? Remember how rude and uncooperative those civil servants were? I know countless stories of people having their paper work dropped instantly because “it’s tea-time” or “lunch time”. Absolutely amazing how inconsiderate some of these people were. Whatever happened to empathy?

Anyway back to my point. Over the past four weeks I have been trying to help a friend process an identity document for their daughter who happens to have been born in Uganda to Zimbabwean parents. Now the parents wish to return to Zimbabwe and need a one-way travel document for their daughter. Simple enough??? I wish.

What was supposed to take 48 hours and cost 15USd has ended up in a month long ordeal involving multiple visits to multiple offices at the immigration offices, several investigations and all at a grand total cost of USD215! All through this we have had to deal with the most uncooperative people. If I thought I had left the typical civil service mentality in Zimbabwe, I was wrong. On many occasions I made appointments with people who either came late or did not even turn up. The most frustrating was the day before the end of the ordeal. The counsel who was representing us was not in the office when we arrived at about 10am. We were told he had gone for prayers. All well and good.

I enquired how long he would be away for I was told “I am not one of them (his fellowship) so I don’t know. Try after 2 hours” I went away and returned after the prescribed two hours. The counsel was still out. I was advised to wait and dutifully did so in the sweltering heat, competing for space under a makeshift tent with many others (at least they are considerate enough to provide this given the punishing sunshine in Uganda). Needless to say an hour later and the man I wanted to see was yet to appear. Still at prayers????

By this time it was approaching lunchtime and from previous experience I was wise enough to know that nothing constructive can take place during this “sacred” hour. So I left and returned at 2:30pm. Still no counsel. He eventually arrived (from prayers) at 3:00pm and because I did not have a piece of paper (there were many I have had to carry around lately) I would have to come back and see him the following day. Absolutely brilliant!

What I still can't figure out is what sort of prayers take place from 10 am to 3:30pm. And what sort of employer, regardless how God fearing, would allow you to be away from work for that long. I wonder how things get done in Africa when we spend so much time on tea breaks, having lunch, in prayers, at burials or in traffic jams (my experiences in traffic jams is a story for another day and what a story it is!)

Eventually as I said we did get the document. Thankfully!