Injustice

Last night as I sat at the communal dining room table with Tom and Vanessa, two other people that live on the compound with me, we watched the dining room light flicker incessantly, on and then off…on, off, on….off; the result a nauseating strobe light effect. An image formed in my mind of President Museveni sitting in a large, overstuffed chair in his well-lit home flipping on and off a light switch labeled “Northern Uganda” while puffing on a cigar. All the while I imagine him getting complete joy and entertainment out of this game. This image is representative of how I feel the president is running the country. It’s a dictatorship masked by the title “democracy.” This dictatorship is complete with ongoing marginalization of the entire Northern Region.

When elected president, Museveni declared, “The problems of Africa, and Uganda in particular, are caused by leaders who overstay in power, which breeds impunity, corruption and promotes patronage. How can someone stay in Power for over 10 years?!” This same man has now been president for 27 years and counting. Some democracy, eh? In addition, while President Museveni has been in office there have been continual allegations of corruption. In 2003 there was an investigation of “ghost soldiers” on the army of Uganda’s payroll. Estimates suggested there was a total of 29,000 ghost soldiers on the payroll of the Ugandan Army. Also, past investigations have found the purchase of air, junk helicopters and defunct bullets with the defense budget. Between 2004 and 2007 over 54 million dollars was spent to renovate the State House where the president lives to expand it from 1,584 square meters to 17,472 square meters. In June 2011 the office of the British Prime Minister allegedly accused Pres. Museveni of misusing 30 million pounds worth of British poverty eradication and development aid money to buy himself a GULF STREAM JET! These are only a few examples of his horrible job as president and an empathetic human being.

It’s disgusting when any leader behaves this way, but what makes it even worse is the state that Uganda is in. Uganda is among the forty eight countries ranked by the United Nations as one of the poorest least developed countries of 2012. As of 2009 38% of the country lives on 1ess than $1.25 a day. The majority of impoverished people live in the marginalized North and East Regions. A 2008 study showed that only 27% of the South and West Regions combined were living in poverty, whereas 63% of the North was and 46% of the East was. Often times when there’s a scandal of aid money being stolen it’s aid money that is to help the development in the North. You don’t often hear about aid money for the South disappearing.

It is so strange and foreign to me to have to worry about the power going out on such a regular basis and for such a long period of time. When I think, “Oh, I’ll just pack in the morning,” or “I’ll take a shower later…” It’s usually followed by, “Eh, better do it now in case it rains and there’s no power.” What’s even stranger to me is that there are sooooo many people in the world that have no idea that people are living this way with power going in and out, water coming and going. Of course there are also the many people who live in the villages that don’t have either and have to use candles and flashlights, and fetch their water.

I’m extremely humbled by this experience and I truly wish every single person in the world could experience this way of life at least for a short period of time. I say “this way of life” as if they had a choice. That’s the worst part about it; they don’t have to live this way, but are being forced to because the government is spending all the money that’s supposed to be used to develop the North. It’s infuriating, not because I have to deal with it for three months, but because I know these people wouldn't be living with such poor conditions if they had a real leader that genuinely cared about their well-being. Being here has really shined light on the injustices in the world.