Contemporary Uganda has three certainties in 3 Ds: Debt, Dishonesty and (environmental) Degradation. Indeed, in his State Of the Nation Address last week, President Yoweri Museveni said evidence of corruption is now available. As for Debt, another American saying attributed to President John Adams goes: “There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation — one is by sword, the other is by debt.” Uganda’s debt is a statistical fact requiring no argument and now equals half of the country’s GDP, claiming an unhealthy chunk of the government’s revenue to service it, thus limiting the capacity to deliver essential services. There is a linkage through the perpetuation of Uganda’s three certainties of Dishonesty, Debt and Degradation, but the solution also lies in linkage, not treatment in isolation. Debt and corruption go hand-in-hand.

Source: Daily Nation June 17, 2024 05:57 UTC