Income, Infrastructure And Institutionalism Under President Museveni In Uganda: What if Questions Are Stated Differently?

President Museveni has been in power for over 30 years. To stay long in power is not necessarily the root of all wrongs in Uganda. After all, Uganda is home to a Constitutional monarchies where rulers stay in power for life. However, talk doing the rounds in Uganda today, is that social, political, legal and financial power concentrated in the central government has led to a tendency for many to align themselves with those in power at all cost. 

Prebendalism is extensive and that being around or within the inner circle of President Museveni is guarantee for social mobility, economic and political power gain. But, is this the case? If so how far true is it? Even for those who have benefited financially what factors have they put in place to ensure the assets and finances will be held perpetually? There may be mustard seeds of truth in some cases but Uganda has so much more to offer to disprove this. Granted, some of the multi-million economic deals made on behalf of Uganda end up lining the pockets of a handful of connected people. But, even with a scenario like this, what if questions were stated differently?

Disparity in income has many other causes. An analysis of those causes requires understanding certain conditions or mechanisms. There has to be individuals, interests, incomes, infrastructure and a willingness for institutionalism in place. Individuals who are charismatic, role models and are able to galvanize people toward social development objectives are necessary. There have to be interests such as nation building, entrepreneurship, middle class building, rule of law, aspirations for order and a belief in a legacy of institutions. There has to be conditions in place to make money which can translate into income base of a given nation. Lastly, there has to be a readiness to build,  maintain and respect institutions such as the army, judiciary, legislature, media, religion, public and private sectors. 

A critical mass of elites or middle class in Uganda has repercussions ranging from patriotic motivation, civil buy-in, large consumer-base, ability to decipher unfriendly disposition and negotiate amicably with other states.These are conditions that can make Uganda willingly go into mega-million dollar deals, negotiate conditions making it so easier for Uganda to fulfill. The advantages that accrue from this scenario are many and  range from critical number of skilled human resource, liberty, freedoms, good governance, accountability, good living standards and beneficial trade agreements. The opposite gives rise to cult tendencies, economic deals with predatory outcomes, authoritarianism, minority elites, disparities, disenchantment, dissatisfaction and conditions that break down a state and apparatus through which the state is run.

It should be noted that there has to be a critical number of people who earn money in Uganda working in varied fields ranging from service, technology, research and development sectors. There has to be a willingness to avoid situations where those who are skilled are able to get employed not because of they are connected but because they are qualified. This also means that those in power must not fear for their lives or insecure. There has to be an atmosphere of mutual trust and a readiness to deliver. Guarantees for pensionable retirement and security of tenure have to be in place. Having said that there are other conditions that have to prevail in Uganda.

Development in Uganda is both state and private sector driven. This attracts different categories of salaried employees.  Whereas Western or Asian Tiger models of development are an arsenal from which Uganda can pick up lessons, one should not dismiss forces at play that may make one rush to conclusions about the  disappointing levels of development. One may miss the point why Uganda still lags behind as a whole. 

Uganda has some unique best-practices and examples of financial success. There are individuals below 48 years whose worth is $50,000-1,000,000. What Uganda needs to have are conditions making this applicable to many other citizens too who are pooled from a working population of 2 to 3 million people. However, this only applies to 200 or so elites working in sensitive positions in the Uganda government while others are in private sector. Many may have acquired their money as honestly deserved salaries. But, there are others who did so because of political advantages. There institutions thriving in Uganda e.g., Cab Hailing Industry (Uber Boda), ENHAS, tax collecting institution (URA), Army, entertainment industry, Buganda Kingdom, the Protestant Church, the Islamic Association, the Catholic Church, Kampala Capital City Authority, the fishing industry, State House, New Vision Group, Mukwano Industries, Mehta Industries, Madhvani Industries, and Makerere University. 

For development to be applied as an analysis tool, one has to appreciate that the word needs to be broken down. Taken at its teleological level, what comes to mind are mostly, Western norms, values and beliefs used to initiate development. One way development can take off is through ensuring skilled human resource is facilitated to conduct policy, programming and planning as transparently as possible, without political interferences and economic insecurities. Development of this kind has its outcomes. But, it should be noted that development has different outcomes as well. 

Modernization cycles are organized differently. Uganda’s public works is not so sophisticated. Perhaps priority is elsewhere. Development must take self-reliance in perspective and when this is not so it misses out on demography types, skill-sets, and world-time differences. This is why some initiatives are doing well or are failing. A casual analysis of programmes in Uganda will bear this out such as Operation Wealth creation, NAADS and or other well meaning initiatives under the government or private sector. 

Some forms of development processes snow-ball and are linked with other conditions. Uganda is not highly industrialized, it cannot make high-quality machinery electronics or appliances out of its raw-materials. So, it exports large amounts of raw materials and manufacturing takes place in other countries such as Germany, UK, USA or Canada. Oil and other mineral resources are some examples of raw materials that come to mind. This means that most of the income from these raw materials stays in the countries that make manufactured goods. The rest then is paid to workers in Uganda of which there is not a big number.  In the event of this income market linkage may tilt more on the side of the ones who are able to make quality goods.

When talking about outcomes of modernization, one has to have development policy in mind. It should be noted that 'not all development policy is geared at development outcomes.'  Modernization theory analysis points to this. Modernization, can mean many contexts such as presidency, democracy, rule of law and development. One has to look into political, social and economical levels that make up the engine of modernity (aka development). This means one is talking about the formerly employed human resource in these sectors who get regular salaries. This is not the case of, say, farmers who rely on harvests. Many of the people in Uganda earn their money from agriculture. Other elites are employed in health, education standards as well as social development. 

The country’s institutional structures for economic development at raw material, industrial and service levels contribute to incomes. This context means a given number of people earning money at political level, those involved in ensuring democratization principles are in place, freedom to bargain collectively, protection of individual rights/civil liberties, how people are allowed to associate, speak, seek recourse to laws and enforcement of law and order. 

There are levels of analysis one has to have in mind. The processes of development prevailing in Uganda go hand in hand in form of incomes, infrastructure and institutionalism.  One or the other must be in such amounts for there to be minimal limiting factors. Is Uganda at the traditional society level? Precondition for take off level? At take-off level? Drive to maturity? Or is it at high mass consumption? These processes geared at modernization should allow incomes, infrastructure and institutions in Uganda. With these processes in mind, one needs to be realistic about the question of income disparity in Uganda because it does not occur in isolation without infrastructure and institutionalism.  No one president (as an individual) is to blame but what is to blame is the lack of a culture of “distributive modernity” or “institutionalism” for that matter. 

President Museveni may have little to do with the conditions prevailing in Uganda. He deserves a break! We need to put our gaze elsewhere. What makes it necessary for critical incomes, infrastructure and institutionalism to prevail in Uganda? That should be the question.

President Of Uganda: H.E.Yoweri Kaguta Museveni

Source: Google