Henry Ochieng
17 July 2004
column
Kampala — For a country that can only raise half of its budgetary needs from tax and non-tax revenue sources, Uganda is a startling contradiction in terms. The country is poor and yet there are silent millionaires quietly putting up luxurious real estate, giving the façade of opulence.
Many of these millionaires work in government as permanent and pensionable civil servants with a salary that would not pay for the plush pads they own. So where does the money come from? It is being siphoned from the public purse, according to the craggy-faced French ambassador here, Mr Jean-Bernard Thiant.
Thiant is right to be angry that government is sitting on its hands while the country is being robbed. His country foots more than 20 percent of the European Development Fund's budget support to Uganda. That is a lot of money which must be accounted for because not only does it sort out the administrative expenses of running government departments, it is supposed to be used in poverty eradication projects.
Instead, as has become common knowledge, such projects are either starved of funds or implemented in shoddy fashion to allow the officials handling them to skim off substantial sums of money.
When the National Resistance Movement administration took power in 1986, one of the promises they made was to get rid of "embezzlement and misappropriation of public funds". There is no denying for the first few years no one was grabbing public property.
But that was before its many cadres developed a taste for the soft life. Before President Museveni dropped his socialist rhetoric and became an unrepentant agent for the captains of industry, which is not a bad thing if it was in the cause of the national interest. But is it?
When the cadres realised you would not suffer a life threatening illness just because you dipped your fingers in the pie, Kampala City experienced dramatic growth. In 1986, Kampala sat on seven hills, today pot-bellied government apologists boast that the city has expanded to more than 21 hills, most of which is posh residential suburbs.
This growth occurred at a time when "air supply" was introduced into the Ugandan lexicon. People in positions of influence began conniving with government accounting officers to win tenders on which they hardly delivered. The moment the cheque was cashed they would split the money and run.
Other officials simply pocketed the money and kept quiet about it.
Nobody was caught and if they were, a phone call to the right person always settled things.
When the depth of graft began to show signs of becoming politically damaging, the President astonished many when he took the line, somewhat in jest, that it was not as bad as it seemed since the money was being ploughed back into Uganda. Certainly, he was right about that because the construction sub-sector was the fastest growth industry for ten years.
Sadly however, this growth was not in factories and other cash-minting enterprises but purely residential or at best retail shops for the wives and mistresses of the noveau riche. The class of 1986 poured their money into the sort of visible housing that Thiant talked about.
Some people believe that the Movement leadership's obsession with the creation of 'middle class', that will provide the critical mass for Uganda's drive to hop from its banana republic mediocrity to developing country status, may explain why little was done to curb this looting.
The opposite view being that there was a political calculation to this apparent conspiracy of silence. This thinking holds that once you had enough suspected embezzlers in your gun sights they would never pose a threat to your hold onto power. This, because the moment they got excited enough to believe that their ill-gotten wealth was the perfect ticket to power, all you had to do was commence a smear campaign against them.
Secondly, such thieves would have a vested interest in retaining the political establishment because at least under it they are guaranteed security and protection from prosecution.
We have seen what is happening in Kenya after the spectacular crumble of the Kanu grip on power. Previously powerful figures like Energy minister Nicholas Biwott, who went by the curious title 'Total Man', are under investigation to explain the source of their wealth.
Former President Daniel arap Moi is himself facing the prospect of appearing before the tribunal investigating the Goldenberg scandal in which his country lost billions of shillings.
We have our own examples of 'total men'. People who have never run a factory, exported a bale of cotton or managed a business of whatever sort. They have been professional politicians these last 20 years. And for that service to country these people own impressive farms in the countryside, have built or bought houses in and around the city on a salary that would make a real industrialist fall over with mirth.
These are the people Thiant must have been referring to. Nothing puzzling there but now the questions are getting more disturbing. Even as the peasants are being whipped into a frenzy to support regime extension, one increasingly hears complaints about biting poverty. And it is telling that he made his remarks on Bastille Day when the oppressed rose up against the bourgeousie in France.
The French ambassador was on the money when he called the discrepancy in wealth ownership unacceptable. But what is to be done in circumstances where the state appears impotent to stem graft. It appears as if the unspoken deal between the thieves and government to politically scratch each others' back is holding even those within the administration, who would have done something, hostage.
A first proposal would be to attempt what happened with the construction of the new Ministry of Health headquarters in Kampala. The World Bank put up the money and directly supervised its construction. It went up in record time. If they had made the mistake of channelling that money through government that structure would still be stuck at foundation level and another official would be owning a housing estate somewhere in Kampala.
The Chinese have reportedly done the same thing with the Foreign Affairs ministry complex they donated to us. It may be expensive but one way the donor community can really help Uganda to set up parallel structures, which would work with government but directly handle the budget support cash they give us. Under this arrangement, the donors would use our ministry officials only as consultants but never let them touch any money.
If this does not scare off the clan of the corrupt they can do what they did to Moi - turn off the taps. That should make things pretty exciting on the political front. Do not be fooled by that chest thumping about us getting by without foreign aid.
At best such shouting can only relate to post-1986 romanticism when political speeches were coached in such high-sounding nonsense like "building an integrated, self-sustaining economy". The commitment to head in that direction has been simply been sapped by a zest for the easy life.
With globalisation tightening its grip on the world economy it has become impossible for any single nation to survive in isolation. You may sneer at the aid money but you will have to sell something to somebody or buy. There are mysterious ways of making it impossible for one to buy or sell once it is decided you are an undesirable quantity.
Thiant and his friends have interesting options at their disposal if they want someone to do something about institutionalised graft that will surely be the enduring legacy of the Movement era. Where is the Inspector General of Government?
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