Uganda Today: Dr SPIRE SENTENGO Aka Cartoonist
In a society that boasts of being embedded in Ubuntu values, where we regularly cite Mbiti proclaiming that “I am because we are”; it is a shame that we have normalised theft of public resources leading to untold suffering of fellow Africans.
We often say that the West is individualistic and we are communitarian, yet those who steal from sick people, from the poorest of the poor, walk around being heavily guarded and chasing everyone else off roads for them to pass. It is a shame that we have been pushed to levels of desperation that we have to call upon foreigners to help us with our larger than life thieves. We would have wished to sort our matters by ourselves. It is a shame that we now have to cheer on foreigners for chasing away our thieves and tormentors from their countries. In any case, keeping our ‘leaders’ in their countries is now a big punishment, like making a child to sleep on a bed they wetted. They want to tour the development elsewhere. They want to shop quality goods elsewhere. They want to access quality healthcare elsewhere. They want better education for their children elsewhere. They want aid… while they abandon their country to the worst. So, when they are chased from everywhere else and made to stay in Uganda, even their massive mansions and huge account balances feel inadequate.
When did Ubuntu start to mean greed and indifference to pains of those under our care!
When did Ubuntu start to mean living large at the expense of others? Ubuntu my foot, plus the grand empty lectures of panAfricanism and patriotism.
So, now that you have disempowered us and made it very difficult/costly for us to tame you, we shall celebrate every cane you receive from the ‘imperialists’. We don’t care what they’re actually beating you for, for as long as you feel some pain too. Don’t explain to us. We’ve painfully learnt that your war is not our war. Your bellies are your primary values. Don’t mobilise us against ‘imperialists’ now. You abandoned us in our everyday life and death struggles. Fight yours. And we will cheer the other side, until our voices matter to our ‘leaders’ again – until our everyday struggles start to matter. And we are not asking for any favours!