Saturday, July 26, 2008

An insult to the conscience of a nation (Cont’d)

After posting my last piece, I got thinking about some of the most callous things that some of our leaders do and get away with; the kind of things that would get them either impeached, sacked or – if they had some humility – to resign.

The most recent and most disturbing case was of Primary Education State Minister, Peter Lokeris, heartlessly telling parents whose children died in the Budo Junior inferno to go and produce more children since they were still young, rather than bothering the government to complete investigations and bring closure to the saga by producing a report on the real cause of the fire.

When a minister, who is supposed to ensure the safety of the children under his ministry, says something so senseless, one wonders whether we have a government committed to serving people or merely being in power and enjoying the privileges that come with it at the expense of the nation.

With Minister Lokeris yet to show any remorse several weeks since he made that statement, one would have expected some reaction from the President or his Prime Minister, who is the leader of government business in Parliament. However, the fact that they do not seem to see anything wrong with such statements is perhaps an indicator of the collective conscience of the government.

After all President Museveni, who has himself lately mastered the art of rubbing Ugandans the wrong way with some of his statements, sometimes doesn’t even need to say anything to show his selfish, heartless side.

When a president, soon after getting a newly spruced multi-billion shilling State House, then asks for a new multi-billion shilling presidential jet, and, as if that is not enough, even wants to keep the entire Old Entebbe Airport for himself, then the citizens are in trouble – especially because all of these demands from the big man come at a time when people in some parts of the country like Karamoja are dying of famine.

With leaders like these, can the long-suffering Uganda really get a worse enemy?