The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
The other potential explanation can arise from the political economy perspective. By examining the characteristic of Uganda’s economy, one clearly observes that government has withdrawn from nearly all its public responsibilities except in security.
In developing countries that are steadily moving into middle-income category, education and health are decommodified. In our economy, we have commodified those and made them very inaccessible to the masses. In this era of HIV/AIDS and growing chronic diseases, try to look at the concentration and distribution in both healthcare and education services across the country.
You see a glaring pattern where 80% of high quality services are concentrated in urban and peri-urban centres where roughly 20% of the population resides. The rural communities have to contend with near absence of government, or a crude form of government represented by low-end services and decay in public facilities.
There is some optimism that Ugandans must adapt to the liberal economy and make good of the available markets. It is a promising market when properly managed. The point of pessimism is that, while this market demands deregulation, the state has not adhered to this rule. The interference in the private enterprises is notable where private and public institutions operate as if they belong to the state owners. The state’s continued monitoring and extorting from private enterprises has sustained distortions seen in the form of corruption and inefficiency. A failure for public servants to organise strong unions across the country therefore, makes them disposable and non-competitive as private sector players. As for government’s continued interference, it drives potential talent away from public to private sectors.
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Morris Komakech is a Ugandan social and political Analyst based in Canada. Can contact via moordust_26@yahoo.ca
