Bad leaders are a reflection of our society
By Shelly Nambozo
31st Oct 2011: I am planning to visit the motherland soon. The stories from Africa particularly my beloved Uganda do not make me enthusiastic about the visit. I called home this weekend and my mum said “my dear everything is very expensive, we have had to adjust our lifestyles to cope with the high cost of living”. I say, well, it is the same everywhere even here in Europe. But my Aunt in Mbale argues that we cannot possibly be living like them. “At least those European governments can do something to cushion the effects of the global economic crisis”, she said.
“If not, you can go out and protest about it. Here it is just corruption, corruption, and more corruption”, she added, I really don’t know what we’re going to do”. My friend Rita on the other hand has just had a baby. She is more politically savvy, and is angry that the government cannot respond to the problem, but is very quick to put down anybody who attempts to complain.
“We are starving, yet we are not allowed to complain. The only way of unleashing our frustration would be to protest, but this too has been outlawed”.
Their complaints – particularly my Aunt reminded me of a conversation we had in February this year, soon after the elections. She was one of the people who voted the current government and sang NRM/M7 pakalast. Now she feels there is a problem, but doesn’t feel she has the power to do something about the problem; to challenge the government she says she helped return to power.
This sense of despondency got me wondering about not just Uganda, but Africa. I remember saying after the February elections that people get the leaders they deserve. I kept asking why do we have the leaders we have? Museveni, Mugabe, Biya, Gaddafi, Kagame, Meles, the list goes on. And why do we sit back and accept them, one fraudulent election after another?
It got even worse when I told one of my African friends about it, and he remarked “what do you expect? This is Africa”. I told him that his attitude was one of the biggest obstacles to Africa’s progress. We Africans have decided to set our own poor standards, which we use to justify our underdevelopment, poverty, corruption, bad governance, rigged elections etc.
What is it about our society that breeds poor and selfish leaders?
And why do we Africans agree to live under these so-called “leaders”?
Why don’t we hold our leaders accountable?
Why do we think they have the right over our lives and death, our freedoms and servitude?
Why do we have to plead for our God-given rights?
And then we complain about the government!! I concluded that Africa’s biggest problem is its people. Our bad leaders are a true reflection of our societies! END. Please login to www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.
