What if Chilean miners had been Ugandan?
By Shelly Nambozo
18th Oct 2010
It has been described as an extraordinary story of endurance, hope, courage, guts and team work. The Chilean miners whose story gripped the world are now reunited with their loved ones after spending over two months trapped underground.
As I watched the sixth miner being pulled out of what one of them described as “hell”, I couldn’t help wondering what would have become of the Chilean miners had they been Ugandan miners in Uganda?
Would the authorities have even bothered to find out whether the men were still alive? Or would they have simply concluded they must be dead? After all, it had been several days and nothing had been heard from the Chilean miners.
Secondly, would our government have committed the enormous resources for the rescue operation? Or would it have said “we don’t have enough resources to dig through tough granite rock to rescue a mere 33 miners”.
A friend posted a similar question on her facebook page and it sparked an interesting debate. One Ugandan said “…the authorities would have been quick to announce a day of national mourning even before the men are confirmed dead, with a mass funeral at the site, which the President would have attended dressed in full military fatigues, gun strapped on shoulder (just in case) and promised to look after the children of the fallen miners”.
Another one said “…if the miners were lucky and among them was a relative of an influential government minister, then the government would have attempted to rescue them. But given the corruption in Uganda, the authorities would then decide who comes out first, with the relative of the minister likely to top the order of rescue”.
One added, that “…not only would they be squabbling over who comes out first, but which tribe to pull out first, just in case the capsule failed to complete its duties because some engineer will have taken his “cut” off the fuel money”.
Another one asked: “…what about the drilling contract? Who would the government have awarded it to? It would have been awarded to some government official’s company at an inflated price”.
“But this is Uganda”, added another comment. “…we all want a cut and are always looking out for that extra dime. So we end up cutting corners. We’d hire sub-standard equipment claiming we can do the job and then half way through the contract apologise that the equipment is not effective and therefore cannot complete the job/operation”.
In desperation, the poor relatives would resort to paying anyone they think has the power to bring the men to the surface. Some witchdoctors would be asking for children to be sacrificed while the pastors would be investing in brand new four wheel drive vehicles. “My husband and I concluded” said one of the writers “…that the miners would be dead if they were Ugandan. It is sad but true”.
President Museveni would then order a commission of inquiry to establish what exactly went wrong. Donors would finance inquiry but the money would be misappropriated. In the unlikely event that the commission completes its work, its findings would never be known. Therefore the same mistakes would be repeated over and over again.
I remembered the people of Bududa during the recent landslides. I particularly remembered the story of one woman who was buried alive somewhere but had kept in touch via mobile telephone with her friends. After a day or so, her phone was unreachable. That was the end of her.
I remembered the Kanungu massacre. Who were they? What happened to them? Can it ever be prevented again? What about the fires in schools and markets around the country? What a coincidence? Aren’t there any lessons from all the preceding tragedies?
And then I remembered the sad story of a young man, a victim of the 11/7 bomb attacks. Wounded, he tried to call his family, asking them to rescue him. Before they could find out his location, his phone went off.
His family spent the night moving from hospital to hospital looking for him. Then, with all hope fading the next day, they reluctantly decided to check out the city mortuary. And there lay their son among other victims of the blasts. His body was still warm at around lunch time on Monday 12th July 2010. The doctor said “…he must have died within that hour”.
He was unfortunate. With no trained emergency teams in Uganda, he ended up being dumped in the mortuary with the dead. After failing to find help, he peacefully slipped into the dark world that his “roommates” were already in.
In Chile, the situation was very different. In a televised address to the nation at the mine entrance, the Chilean President Sebastian Piner, in casual civilian clothes and with no gun, said “…what ended up as a real blessing from God started as a possible tragedy. But the unity, the faith, the compromise, the honesty, the solidarity of the Chileans in those 69 days makes us very proud”.
Do Ugandans still hold such values? Honesty and solidarity!
Here is the other difference: The Chilean President immediately announced that the government would review the country’s mining legislation to ensure the safety of all mine workers so that an accident like that does not happen again.
Why didn’t our president take such a move after several buildings collapsed in Kampala and buried scores of construction workers? Why can’t we ever learn from our past experiences? END. If it’s Monday, it’s Uganda Correspondent. Never miss out again!
