By Stephen Lwetutte
LONDON-UNITED KINGDOM/NEWSDAY:
First it was the prolonged pandemic lockdown, but in actual fact a disguised state of emergency neatly timed to manage the widespread public disquiet and control the resurgent opposition against the Museveni regime before, during and after the die or do January 2021 general elections. Now reckless, unreasonable and unaffordable requirements are being imposed all under the guise of controlling the spread of Covid-19. The current fuel crisis is a direct consequence of incompetent and insensitive decisions that are not only costing lives of Ugandans, but also causing colossal economic loss estimated in billions of shillings. And after the scandal, it will be business as usual with no-one being held accountable for this situation.
Uganda, during the COVID-19 pandemic, has recorded a few superlatives, including becoming the country where schools have been closed longest in the world. It would have been funny if it was absurd, and we would probably be able to live with such spontaneous, poorly informed or uninformed decisions, if there was something to show for it, like having very much lower infections than those countries that were more lax or didn’t make similar sacrifices. As it is, there is no evidence to suggest that countries like Tanzania that didn’t lockdown are much worse off than we are. In fact, Tanzania achieved its middle income economy status milestone in the middle of the pandemic.
We do not hear reports of Tanzanians dropping dead in their hundreds because they didn’t lock down. Whilst a lot was still unknown at the beginning about the spread and consequences of uncontrolled Covid-19 contagion and it was reasonable to err on the side if caution, a lot more has been found out and learnt about the flu in the intervening period. There is therefore, no excuse for imposing knee-jerk measures as those that are responsible for the current fuel crisis, even after repeated warnings and protestations to that effect.
If the government in Kenya was running a policy involving free and speedy tests to facilitate the smooth passage of cargo and traffic to avoid precisely the kind of situation that has sadly been caused by the Ugandan government, why fail even to take a leaf and at least to copy how best run things if you lack the competence? Copying is free and should be allowed in such situations. Nevertheless, the vainly intransigent Uganda technocrats persisted in their folly until the situation had gone out of hand and they were compelled to make a humiliating climb-down and started to allow in traffic with even less checks than they should have been doing.
The domino effect on the flow of fuel tanks, whose delays is said to have reached close to 100kms at one stage, will be felt for days. It doesn’t help that the country didn’t seem to have sufficient reserves to draw on, otherwise why would the price spike be that sharp in a matter of days caused by severe nationwide shortages?
As if that wasn’t bad enough, the new Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Dr Ramathan Goobi, comes out to dismiss the crisis as one resulting from exogenous factors having nothing to do with Economic policy. To say that his statement is a disappointment, coming as it does from a seasoned and accomplished technocrat, is to understate the problem: since when have tariff and non-tariff barriers been implemented outside economic policies? Or how can the lack and absence of contingency supply measures been exogenous to economic policy?
As it is, the common people and businesses are having to bear the brunt from arbitrary and incompetent decisions for which likely no-one will be answerable. The congestion crowding, shortages and losses created to neighbouring countries is another problem they will have to grapple with and aptly demonstrates the occupational hazards of being a neighbour to a country where impunity and poor governance are accepted as normal.
This crisis serves as a good example, as if one was needed, of how the country is run under Museveni. No remorse, no apology, no regret and only justification, to say nothing about damages and compensation for the loss occasioned. If some countries thought they were badly off, they should be glad they don’t live in Uganda and bear a thought for those unfortunate enough to live under Museveni’s regime.
The writer is a Multilingual Human Rights Practitioner, formerly at the International Secretariat of Amnesty International in London for over 20 years and now Legal and Human Rights Consultant.
Do you want to share a story, comment or opinion regarding this story or others, Email us at newsdayuganda@gmail.com Tel/WhatsApp........0726054858
Discussion about this post