be warry of authority without responsibility and accountability
BE WARY OF AUTHORITY
EXCERCISED WITHOUT RESPONSIBILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY
If
there is anybody in this country who wishes that Ugandan citizens die, it is
politicians of all shades, colors and tribes. Let us agree from the on-set that
burial ceremonies are not a forum for articulating political ambitions as
Ugandan politicians of all “ilk” would like us to believe. Nor are they forums
for self exaltation, showing off wealth (both material and financial), where
“mourners” passively congregate to witness lavishness sit in the hot sun and
clap as the show goes on albeit sometimes in a strange language. Burial
ceremonies have been turned into episodes where politicians show off their
power/authority with little consideration of their day to day responsibility
and accountability to us the spectators of the tragedy that has engulfed us and
continues to do so in leaps and bounds. They
are gatherings where lies are regurgitated without regard to those who know
that such lies have been said before but because the lies have been said
several times before, the liars think the lies will convert into truths.
Let’s
take a journey into authority, responsibility and accountability and gauge
whether our political elite and their technocrats have anything to offer
Ugandans who toil to provide them with the luxuries of their lives and the
lives of their children, relatives, friends, concubines, and partners in crime.
Authority
Authority is the right to decide what should be done and the
right to do it or to require someone else to do it.
While politicians have
authority, they also have responsibility under the law, and to the Ugandans, to
ensure that authority is exercised in a manner which serves the best interests
of all Ugandans no matter their tribe, political affiliation, their color,
their height and whatever other metrics we may love to use. Authority is not about
politicians and their technocrats robbing us neat and them showing us how they
can rob us with impunity. This “robbery” has not only been confined to
politicians, but even the technocrats in the districts that are purported to
have brought services nearer to us the spectators of this drama. The
technocrats see politicians “pick pocketing” whatever their hands can land on
and can be pick pocketed and they say hey let’s join the picnic and join the
picnic they have. After all there is no one to follow anyone who fall foul in
action to the state. The law on political and government officials’ bad
behavior went to sleep and died in its sleep long ago.
After the ““robbery””, the only
place these “robbers” can drop some of their looted crumbs is at burials where
they come waving UGX 20,000, UGX 50,000, UGX 100,000, UGX 200,000, UGX 500,000
and such other multiples depending on the “political size/affiliation” of the
Ugandan who has passed away. The “larger” the “gone” Ugandan the larger the
crumb. And they make sure that the crumbs they contribute towards the burial of
the “gone” Ugandan are announced loud on the now ubiquitous microphones hired
at the burial ceremonies to both entertain the mourners and make inaudible
voices better audible.
Long ago when the dead were
respected, such drama was totally unknown. Burial ceremonies were occasions for
grief and giving last respect of the departed person/s. May be because death
was shocking then unlike nowadays where it is very normal thanks to a dead
health care system. I guess the health care system has been left to die
deliberately so that the political elite have a resource facility where they
can easily access Ugandans to woo votes from the latter. In my constituency, I
have never seen any politician call their electorate to collect their views on
an impending law or the amendment of any law or articulate development issues
affecting the community. An invitation to them to attend a community meeting is
met by flimsy excuses of no fuel, attending an important meeting, attending a
burial and the like. Even where they are “facilitated” to through the taxes
Ugandans pay, they may at best collect a few relatives and a handful of party
diehards whom they have confidence and are likely not to question them adequately
on issues affecting their lives like other Ugandans with Uganda at heart would.
I wonder who then will ensure civility after those responsible for ensuring
proper working of the state have become part and parcel of the machinery
responsible for dismantling it.
Responsibility
Responsibility
is the obligation of an individual politician or government technocrat to
perform assigned functions to the best of their ability in accordance with
directions received from the people of Uganda.
In
practice, the government of Uganda is run by three arms of government: the
Parliament, The Judiciary and the Executive. The executive is responsible for
taking care of the day-to-day operations of the state. Actions of the executive
are communicated to the nationals of Uganda through elected members of
parliament so that Ugandans can discern chaff from grain. In other words while
the executive performs the “Prime
Decision Centre Function”1[i]
that is coordinating the affairs of the whole country it is responsible for
its actions to Ugandans and parliament is supposed to ensure that this
responsibility to the people of Uganda is fulfilled.
All
Ugandans cannot partake in the day to day running of the affairs of Uganda. And
as a modern state, Ugandans have delegated this responsibility through their
“votes” to the president. So although the president has considerable
responsibility to match the authority delegated to him, parliament another
layer of government system directly elected by Ugandans is responsible to
ensure that the president and his technocrats are responsible in equal measure
for their actions to the state and therefore to the people of Uganda, this
irrespective of whether Ugandans subscribe to NRM, DP, UPC, FDC, People’s Power
and any other shade of political identity.
As
it is now, responsibility to Ugandans has been kipped into responsibility for
self. You see this clearly when parliamentarians who are supposed to check the
executive arm clamor for unrealistic privileges’ (going by our poverty levels)
instead of laying a solid foundation for all Ugandans and the coming
generations of Ugandans. Reason has been thrown out of the window and the door
has been left open for senseless demands on Ugandan tax payers. Our leaders and
their technocrats are doing their thing as if there is no tomorrow (tomorrow
will take care of itself in Ugandan speak).
Accountability
Accountability is the requirement of answering for one’s performance.
We
have seen from the foregoing sections that authority is delegated from and
responsibility is created by a superior source (the Ugandans state) in our
context. Accountability on the other hand involves answering for performance/actions
to a superior source (the Ugandan state). Individually and collectively
parliamentarians and parliament remain accountable for ensuring that Uganda is
functioning according to the wishes of Ugandans as expressed in the national
law (Constitution of Uganda) and other subordinated laws of the country.
Ugandans have elected parliament to act in trust of all Ugandans. This trustee
role cannot be subordinated to personal interests (there is no “passing the
buck” according to American speak). Parliamentarians and parliament are
accountable to Uganda, East African, Africa and the international community in
general. When things go wrong, the effects are not only felt by Ugandans, all
those layers of the international community get to pick the pieces. Upholding
the Constitution and laws of Uganda is a direct responsibility of parliament.
One
way to drive poverty out of Ugandan is for elected officials, the executive and
the judiciary to perform a trustee function to the letter on behalf of the
state and not on behalf of individuals charged with performing functions of the
state.
As I end my thoughts let me quote Bryant Myers, a leading Christian development
thinker:
“Poverty is the result of
relationships that do not work; that are not just; that are not for life; that
are not harmonious or enjoyable. Poverty is the absence of shalom in all its
meanings”. Indeed we are poor
because our relations ceased working long ago, there is an insurmountable
injustice in the country, we see Uganda not through a state lens but rather
through (what is in it for me_ WIFM) lens and harmony is coerced and not
individually nurtured as a value to cherish. Indeed absence of shalom in all
its meaning.
My thoughts
Comments
Post a Comment