My country, My pain

It’s quite painful to watch a scene in a movie and if directly juxtaposed to the situation in my country it’s all the same. Blood sucking vampires in the movies feed on human blood of course there are those that seem to have an antidote that prevents them from feeding on human blood.

My country has played some of the games Lehman Brothers or even Enron used to take investors money and give themselves huge bonuses. They made huge financial losses but this never reflected in their balanced sheets. Has my country’s government taken the citizens and gambled on the tax payers’ money also? Just recently a supplementary budget was passed with ease (approx Ushs605b). Extra money for the government to spend to on I don’t know what since I am not employed by the government. Of course there is the economic question of our time that the more the government spends, the more the money that trickles down to the people. This places more money to the people and means they can spend it. The more the people spend, the greater the taxes the government will get through Value Added Tax.

This sporadic spending however will however less likely trickle down to the people who need it the most. It has taken the Ministry of Health over two weeks to bring a Yellow Fever Vaccine. Really!!! And a press conference is called to announce the arrival of the vaccine.

But why? Isn’t there like preparation for breakouts of such “common diseases.” So then how come some ministries are able to return money to the treasury like the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA). How come the Office of the President always gets money from the supplementary budget? This time they got Ushs547b. What is it that they spend on?

The traditional leaders bill that has made the headlines on our local tv channels and the front pages of our newspapers is not going to improve service delivery despite it being passed or not. Should this be the focus of the country?

Questioning government on issues of service delivery has become increasingly tasking and it has begun to sip into society. Do the people put the government to task to deliver basic social services? If they did they we would probably have different MP’s in our parliament. It has become like a cycle. I know there are people out there who tend to distance themselves of issues and as long as they live their lives that’s it. This is not a bad thing but atleast feel some pain for the country.

Think critically of something other than yourself. Take concern of what happens in the society and try to say something (Taking note that we have different ways of showing concern). The Church, the businesses, the leaders and the young seem to be tuned into a mode of being self centred. It’s painful to watch a society gliding into different extremes yet something can be done.

It may also be too painful that some people realised that no matter what they do, a government will always turn a deaf ear. So what does that pain do? I grab a fiction novel, pluck earphones into my ears and scroll down my ipod and listen to the latest music, check my Facebook and Twitter account all in the name of wanting to be me. Like the whirlwind rises dust, my pain does the same. The pain of being a Ugandan at this time.