All Ugandans are…….
All the Bakhongo (our local tribe) are….. All politicians are …..
In three years of living and working in Uganda I’ve heard
these three sentences many times and
with many different endings, including (in no particular order): good humoured, lazy, good singers and
dancers, very devout, never in their office, sexist, short, dishonest, hospitable, homophobic, tough, hard-working,
corrupt, generous, big eaters, always late etc.
Stereotypes of Ugandans are generally as inaccurate as those
that all British people are stiff-upper-lipped toffs obsessed with the weather,
or the growing opposite stereotype that Brits are promiscuous, Godless, rude and often drunk. When we look at the extreme examples we all
recognise that stereotypes are not only inaccurate, but also often hurtful or
even dangerous. Yet in Kasese there is
one stereotype I hear variations of repeated all the time, which is about
government: “these people are all
dishonest”. “These people have big words
but empty hands”. “They are lizards”
(ie they nod the head vigorously but then do nothing). “These people only care
about us when they need our votes” and sometimes just “These people…EH!” followed by a tut and shake of the head.
Over the last 9 months I’ve had the opportunity to dig
beneath the surface of some of these attitudes as we’ve been seeking some form
of government support for the skills training project in Acholi Quarters,
following the completion of the initial 2 year funding from BMS World Mission.
In August 2013 the New
Vision newspaper provided much fanfare to the announcement of President Museveni’s new 265Bn Shilling Youth
Livelihoods Programme. This fund was
targeted at projects which helped Uganda’s many young and unemployed (half of
Uganda’s population are under 25, and most lack jobs) to be trained and
equipped to start businesses and enter the labour force. Perfect.
Except no-one could tell us any details.
Not the websites of the Ugandan
Parliament, which ratified the fund in September. Not our local MP who had voted for it in parliament,
not the website of the Ministry of Gender, Labour & Social Development
which would administer it, - nor any of their Commissioners, who didn’t answer
their emails. We were referred to
District Government in Rukoki, a few miles from Kasese town, but neither the
Chief Administrative Officer, (CAO) nor the Community Development Officer (CDO)
there could provide the exact details of how to apply for this fund, other than
to tell us that it was designed for projects such as ours that provided skills
to youth, and that we might apply for up to 25Mn Shs (£6,200). They also referred me to the CDO for Kasese
Municipal Government (in Kasese town), a lovely and helpful lady, but she
couldn’t answer our questions
either. These enquiries dragged for months,
during which we completed all the official registration processes for Kasese
Baptist Association of Churches – Development Committee (KBAC-DC) to become an
official Community Based Organisation (CBO
which is like an NGO, but only operates
in one district, and requires slightly less paperwork!) As we planned the final graduation ceremony
for our skills training project, in early December, we deliberately invited as
many senior local government officials as we could. The
Mayor of Kasese Municipality officiated at the graduation where he publicly
promised to support us in the future.
Early in the new year we went to see him and he finally explained to us
that the Youth Livelihood Programme was in fact a programme of revolving loans,
not grants, and therefore of no use to us at all. He told us however, about a different fund
from the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) known as the Luwero-Rwenzori
Development Programme (LRDP), which was created to fund projects which benefit
youth employment in those two regions which were worst affected by the Ugandan bush
wars of the 1980s, following the ousting of Idi Amin in 1979. We had two days from the Mayor informing us
of the existence of this fund to complete a proposal for the 2014/2015
financial year, which we did, applying for 21Million Ugandan Shillings (£5,000). The following week, Pr Alfonse was hauled
into the Mayor’s office to answer questions about the project and to be
informed that the budget had to be re-written as LRDP wouldn’t pay any staff
wages or food costs, but only for capital and material costs. We did this and re-submitted a material
budget for 12M Shs. The Kasese
Municipality CDO assured us that this proposal would have the full backing of
local government as they liked our project and had seen that we “are serious” –
a great compliment here in Uganda. An
answer was expected by late February.
Once February had been and gone, I started visiting various local
govt offices every fortnight to see if any decisions had yet been made. At the end of April we were summoned to the
office of the District Planner in Rukoki.
When he turned up the District Planner was a smart and helpful young man
who explained that he was delighted to inform us that LRDP wanted to help our
tailoring project and would provide us with between 5 and 10 pedal sewing
machines, at a public ceremony to be held soon. We thanked him profusely before politely
enquiring as to why govt was offering us sewing machines but not any money to
fund the running costs of our skills training project – of which the largest
are vitenge (local waxedcloth) for tailoring, and timber for carpentry. He explained that there was great concern
about corruption and that previous govt funded projects had received cash which
had gone missing and therefore that LRDP would only provide capital items,
procured by themselves. LRDP had already
purchased some sewing machines for the 2013/14 financial year for which we
would be eligible. Pedal sewing machines
in particular are very popular here and we didn’t have enough (our partnership
with Tools With A Mission has mostly provided hand sewing machines). However, I suggested to the District Planner
that if they gave us machines but no cash there was a risk that the machines
wouldn’t end up being used as intended if there was no budget to pay for a
teacher or other materials. He
acknowledged this and encouraged us to apply for support from the Community
Driven Development Fund (CDD), which, he assured us, did award cash. CDD is administered by Municipal Govt so we
drove back to Kasese to the CDO’s office.
The ever friendly CDO there explained to us all the criteria for CDD
funding applications up to 5M Shs. We
discussed the various items on our budget that would equate to 5M Shs before
she explained that CDD didn’t actually offer cash but could only buy capital
items up to 5M Shs in value. We
explained that the only capital items we needed were sewing machines, which
LRDP would provide, but that what we really needed was timber and vitenge. “Ah” she replied. “Govt can only purchase items which can be
inspected a year later (such as sewing machines). Anything that would get used up (eg timber,
cloth etc) is not allowed, because otherwise how can we see that you haven’t
eaten it?. Anyway, if you’re receiving
support from LRDP then you can’t also apply to CDD!” She then explained to us that govt rules
prohibit any one organisation from benefitting from two different funds at the
same time, which makes sense, but once again contradicted what other officials
had told us.
Isaiah and I had a discussion over some figures and
concluded that without external support it would be impossible to continue
carpentry training. The cost of timber,
plus varnish, glue, nails etc makes carpentry training cost more than twice as
much per head as tailoring training. We
would use the extra sewing machines to put on a bigger class of tailors. More students would enable us to collect more
student contributions towards the costs of staff wages, materials, food &
fuel, with the balance coming from the remaining 5M Shs from the original BMS
funding, which BMS have generously allowed us to roll forward. Having made a plan, we now had to wait for
the handover ceremony. As there was no
news, I made a point of phoning the District Planner once a week to enquire
after the exact number of sewing machines and the date of the handover. At the end of May, Isaiah received a
confusing call to say that there was political interference from the local MP and
that the machines were being re-allocated.
We were summoned to Rukoki to re-plead our case for the worthiness of
our project. The verdict was, yes we
would still get support from LRDP, but only 3 pedal sewing machines not the
promised 5 – 10, and still no date for the ceremony. We would be eligible to apply again for more
machines (but still no cash) for the following financial year.
One night at 11pm Isaiah got a phone call saying that we
should be at the Municipal Headquarters the following day at 2pm for a handover
ceremony. We gathered at 2pm round the
rows of plastic chairs and young men fiddling with loudspeakers which are the
hallmark of any public function. At 2.30pm
a Municipal dump truck turned up piled high with pedal sewing machines which
were flung down to the workers below, mostly surviving intact. By 3pm there were about 50 sewing machines in
a row and about 40 people patiently sitting on chairs, trying to find some
shade and waiting for something to happen.
The “Big men” appeared in pick-up trucks with armed escorts and
announced that there weren’t enough people present for them to hold the handing
out ceremony. Nonetheless they proceeded
to deliver speeches about how govt aid is too often misused and that too many
people complain that govt never does anything for them, especially in Kasese
which had elected an opposition woman MP in summer 2012 (despite clouds of tear
gas and rubber bullets to try and persuade them otherwise), which is why more
people needed to be present to see this government’s generosity to the people
of Kasese. We were instructed to all
return at 8.30am the following day with larger crowds of members and
supporters. Before we left, the govt’s
MP for Kasese Municipality read out his revised list of beneficiaries, publicly
chiding local officials for having previously used any other lists. The MP’s new list had a significant number of
individuals on it, as well as various civil society groups, such as ours. As we left at about 4pm I sought out a
friendly official who rolled his eyes at how “this has all become politics”,
and clarified that we should aim to bring 10 people the next day. Isaiah and I spent the rest of the afternoon
driving around Acholi Quarter and other parts of Kasese town mobilising some of
our former graduates and our teaching staff.
The following day we kept our word and were there at 8.30
with a dozen project staff or graduates, plus Bethan and Jonah to bulk out the
numbers further! An hour and a half
passed and the numbers were beginning to grow, but then it started to rain
heavily and some people dispersed. The ceremony
eventually started at about 10.45 with more speeches extolling the generosity and
leadership of the President, the national government and Kasese’s local
government, and reminding people, that votes for the opposition are wasted
votes, because “NRM is in power, and people should accept that fact.” The names were all read out again at which
each beneficiary/group had to stand up.
At this point my neighbour explained to me who the individuals were –
Local Counsellors and campaign staff for the MP. There was a big photo taken with the
dignitaries and all the beneficiaries gathered around an array of sewing
machines. Then we all sat down again and
each beneficiary was called forward in order to collect their machine(s) and
then load them onto the car, pick-up, motorbike or bicycle which they had come
with to carry them. It quickly became
apparent that those at the bottom of the list risked getting the machines which
had been damaged in transit, so very soon everyone was on their feet herding
their sewing machines on to their various forms of transport and signing the
contracts with LRDP which guarantee they will be used for their intended
purposes.
I realise this is a long story and you may be wondering at
the point of it. It comes down to trust,
or the lack of it, within Uganda’s political system. It is not for me to allege widespread corruption,
my limited experience is that the majority of the local government officials I’ve
had direct dealings with are trying their best in difficult circumstances. No-one likes delivering bad news, so
sometimes expectations are mismanaged, but most local officials are glad to see
organisations on the ground providing needed services and want to support them. However, they are hamstrung by the corrosive
effects of corruption in other offices or in past times. Transparency International ranks Uganda 140th
out 0f 177 countries in its Corruption Perception Index (Denmark is first,
Somalia is last). Any Ugandan newspaper
on any day will tell you about allegations of corruption by officials at local
or national level. Today’s “Daily
Monitor” headline says the President has decreed that Army Officers will
oversee all agricultural projects administered by NAADS ( a large govt
agricultural department), because “NAADS people have eaten enough money.” Yet the army, although undoubtedly loyal to
the President, also have a shady record with regard to alleged illicit sales of
fuel and rations provided by donor nations for missions in Somalia.
Those who are honest, and I believe that the majority are,
have to work extra hard to prove their innocence in a culture of assumed
guilt. This lack of trust works both
ways. Because the people don’t trust
their leaders their leaders have to go to great efforts, some more legitimate
than others, to make them vote, as many people have become cynical. Because leaders don’t trust the people, or
their subordinates in lower levels of government, they create more and more
rules and procedures to govern the distribution of govt funds. These rules are supposed to prevent corruption
by providing physical accountability, by ensuring that multiple signatories are
required for anything and by requiring any groups that seek government support
to jump through ever increasing bureaucratic hoops to prove their legitimacy. The people who find it hardest to fulfil all
these requirements are often those with the most needs, such as the illiterate
flood-ravaged farmers in Congo Quarter, whom I’ve also been registering for
govt support through NAADS. Yet, as an
official admitted to me, if the rules say govt can provide a tractor, generator
or a sewing machine, which can be physically checked a year later, but don’t
allow any funding to provide for instruction, maintenance or fuel/spare parts,
it is highly likely that within a few years the item bought may no longer be in
use, or even usable. Furthermore, if an
MP can still over-ride decisions made by local government, and award govt
resources to his own supporters, then the system is probably still not
water-tight.
This is not a time for other nations to think we are above
such concerns. As voter turnout continues
to plummet in the countries which first established democratic systems and then
exported them all over the globe, and as scandals such as the UK’s MPs or MEPs
expenses continue to make headlines, we should all be aware of the damage
caused by corroding trust between the people who make decisions and the people
on whose behalf those decisions are supposed to be made.
We are grateful for the sewing machines we have received
from LRDP and will work our hardest to ensure that they are used to best effect
in impacting youth unemployment in Kasese.
We can only pray that others do the same.
