"Reform must have constituents and those constituents must be mobilized"

Hello friends! I hope you all are having a lovely week so far! I am going to start this blog post with the story of my extremely amusing taxi ride home today.

I got on my taxi when there were only two other people on it (they sit up to 14 passengers, plus driver and conductor). All of a sudden, this group of four men get on all at once and sit all around me. An older man sat right next to me and looked at me and smiled. I greeted him with "osiibye otyanno, ssebo?" (literally translates to "how did you spend the day?" but is used to tell someone "good afternoon.")

A huge smile spreads across his face and he greets me back, much to the amusement of the other men around me. I say "nsoma luganda" (I am studying luganda) and the men respond "bulungi, bulungi" (good, good) to which I respond "mmanyi katono" (I know a little). This gets huge laughs with the group. The man behind me introduces himself, and I introduce myself. Then the following happens:

Man behind me in traditional Baganda clothing: [lots of very fast, incomprehensible luganda]
Alena: Sentegedde, bambi (I don't understand, sorry)
Everyone: laughter
Man next to me: He says he will find you a plot of land and a husband
Alena: Nedda weebale, ssebo. Maama ne Taata wange mu America tebagala. (No thank you, sir. My mom and dad in America wouldn't like that)
Everyone: riotous laughter and shaking my hand

So apparently, while speaking a word of luganda gets you a thousand friends, knowing a few sentences of luganda gets you land and a husband- who knew? I chatted with the men the rest of the way home- in luganda!- and they all said a warm goodbye when I got off the taxi. So a thoroughly entertaining taxi ride!

So on to the rest of my blog post, which will go in reverse chronological order. Today, we visited the Parliament building after Luganda class and got to tour around the building, including seeing the chamber wher the MPs gather and debate and talking to one of the Women MPs. (Uganda has a rule that every administrative area- which usually consists of a few of Uganda's over 100 districts- must elect a female MP, in addition to the MPs for each district). I learned something very interesting today: In Uganda, laws are not written by the members of parliament. Instead, the laws are written by the executive (practically the minister who oversees the relevant sector) then the bill goes to to Parliament for debate. After the parliament votes on the bill, it goes to the President's desk, who has the ability to "accent" the bill (aka make whatever changes he wants) and then the modified bill goes back to Parliament for a vote.

The Parliament has the ability to vote down the bill, but this has NEVER happened in Uganda's history, since for the entire time there has been a multi-party system, the same party has held the Presidency and the majority in Parliament. So basically, this means that the executive makes laws, and there is really no check on that power. Don't get me wrong, I knew this happened practically, but I had no idea that constitutionally there isn't really an attempt to check executive power. Dang.

But now to the best part of the post. On monday we had a lecture on the media in Uganda from Andrew Mwenda, editor of The Independent, a super awesome news magazine you can check out here. First off, he is the most amazingly impressive person. He was absurdly well educated, referencing ancient Greek histor in one breath, and 19th century American Presidents in the other. Definitely put all of us to shame. He spoke with passion and authority and left all of us supremely impressed.

Second, he said several things that blew my mind. I will share them with you:

1. "The Ugandan political system is more democratic than the American political system."

Um, what did you say, sir? You couldn't possibly be serious. After all, we have heard over and over again about the entrenched corruption of Ugandan politicians, how the current leaders bribe their way into office. How could this be democracy?

He basically started out asking us to imagine the median American voter. He said this person probably has a house with electricity and running water, with a car and a refrigerator and likely a washing machine. This person probably has at least a high school education.

Then, he painted a picture of the median Ugandan voter. This person has 2-3 years of education and lives in a mud house with no clean water or electricity. At best, they get two poor quality meals a day and view sugar and soap as luxuries. Their per capita income is likely $300.

He said the basic interests of these two voting groups is very different: the median American voter's basic existential needs are taken care of and is much more concerned with public policy, while the median Ugandan voter is much more concerned with the provision of private goods. He said the problem with the Ugandan system is that it is too democratic, that politicians appeal to the desires of the the median voter for private goods through basic bribes of sugar and soap, instead of focusing on the public policy concerns of those who have enough food in their stomachs and money in their pocket to care about those things.

2. "Bribes are not seen as wrong."

He said that the political consciousness of Ugandans essentially stems from their agrarian roots. He said that agrarian societies place a lot of emphasis on personal assistance, especially from the rich to the poor. According to these values, a direct payment, in the form of 500shs (20 cents) for a vote, for example, carries a lot more weight than the fact that an MP voted for a certain bill to provide a certain service, which feels distant and intangible.

According to Mr. Mwenda, the rich are expected to extend generosity, so bribes are not seen as wrong. Moreover, bribing people is much less expensive and more efficient than investing in public works, so politicians have no incentive to change the system.

3. "We do not have citizens in Uganda."

Mr. Mwenda stated that there are no citizens in Uganda, only clients who get benefits from their personal connection to elites. He said that, because of the value placed on personal assistance and clientelism, the idea of rights, that all people regardless of connections are due certain things, has not penetrated the Ugandan consciousness.

He stated that "the law in Uganda is like a spider's web: it catches the small flies and lets the large bugs through." Because there is no conception of equality before the law, the law is openly applied inequitably, with people driving nice cars not stopped for traffic violations because they are assumed to be important.

4. "The opposition doesn't want to change the system"

So far, we have heard a lot of lamentations that an opposition party will likely never win an election as long as Museveni is alive, due to the rampant electoral fraud that keeps incumbents in power. However, Mwenda scoffed at this.

"Who does the opposition represent? Ask them what they're for! They'll only tell you what they are against! The opposition doesn't want to change the system, they just want to capture it for their own benefit."

Mwenda stated that the corruption that exists is the natural result of the structure of the political system: The poor electorate values existential needs over public policy, and values the personal delivery of goods over the impersonal delivery of public services. Thus, rampant bribery and corruption is merely the politicians responding to the desires of the median voter. If the structure doesn't change, then it doesn't much matter who is in power.

However, he ended on a positive note. He stated that as Uganda's rapid economic growth continues, the middle class will grow, and a group will emerge that is interested in public policy as their exestential needs are met. He said that if someone can motivate that group, then change can be achieved. That reform in Uganda must have constituents (the middle class) and those constituents must be mobilized.

This is the first person who has suggested a way out of the circle of corruption, that it is not essentially intractible. MIND BLOWN.

Basically, in the course of an hour and half, my entire outlook on Ugandan politics was changed. Pretty incredible. I seriously feel so lucky to listen to these amazing people and I feel like I am learning so much.

Sorry this is super duper long. But I wanted to share all that with everyone! Have an excellent week!