A Simple Illustration Of The Ignorance Of Ugandans!
By far the biggest threat to Uganda is ignorance. There is probably more ignorance in Uganda than any other place in Africa, and it is mostly the root of all our problems -- not bad leaders. A bad leader can be reasoned with, motivated by logic, especially if rewards can be realized. An ignorant person, on the other hand, requires understanding to overcome thoughtless self-injurious decisions. Ignorance leads to fear, fear leads to the dark side. Its not easy to solve problems such as poverty, diseases, and corruption with an uninformed population. It is also quite easy for any leader to become a dictator if majority of the population are ignorant.
Most Ugandans will own big TVs but no libraries in their homes. The only book they have is the one telling them to pray and believe to solve problems. Very few encourage each other to read as many books as possible. On social media, posts about sex, insults and other strange behaviours attract our attention than educative ones.
Ignorance has destroyed local businesses. We have normalized certain things as Ugandans, like the poor customer service in the restaurant industry and elsewhere. Last time, I was in Wandegeya, Kampala, I visited a restaurant there, the waitress approached our table with a non-smiling face, ‘What do you want?’ she asked. In my experience of working in the hospitality a few years ago, black customers were less likely to complain more than other races. Other races would complain about minor things and they would normally get what they want. Even those who are serving black customers, subconsciously, do not expect them to complain. A complaining black customer is more frown upon than other races. People running businesses are rarely taught about emotional labour—they just care about profits and losses.
A lot of our Ugandan brothers and sisters are using people’s ignorance to enrich themselves. For instance, I recently watched a video of a one pastor Ronnie telling a couple where a man had erectile dysfunction, that the man’s ex-wife was doing witchcraft on him. This behaviour of taking advantage of the poor in Africa was started by the missionaries who were sent to our country with religious dogmas to steal or take the resources under the pretence of spreading Christianity. This is well documented in the King Leopold’s letter of 1883 to the missionaries. But what hurts most is that our own brothers are the ones who are the perpetuators of such great evil. Not believing in God is ignorance itself, but misusing God’s message is awful!
In Uganda, most people would believe a lie told about someone without asking any questions. If ignorance is bliss, majority of Ugandans in their 20s must be orgasmic. They feigned ignorance (or maybe they were not feigning at all) when Bobi Wine’s group started telling them that Dr. Kiiza Besigye is a mole and he (Bobi) is the only true opposition. The great irony here, however, is that Bobi, unlike every person in his People Power Movement (now NUP party), knew that Besigye was/is a genuine opposition leader but he kept quite over it for two consecutive years- simply to promote his political career— and that makes him a hypocrite in my book, and a guy who cannot be trusted by anybody.
As if Bobi has not done enough damage within the opposition; he is continuing to distract the efforts of the coronavirus public health promotion team. Last year the pandemic broke out in China, by December, most Ugandans were mocking the Chinese with statements such as,’ they eat rats, dogs, bats- that's why they are sick, it is a Chinese disease.’
Fast forward February 2020, when the virus is spreading like wildfire, most of them began saying, "It is only affecting people who are white.’ Then, Black Americans started testing positive, and the message changed to, “Someone has paid them, they are acting up, those guys are actors, a black man is immune to the virus because of the Melanin in their skin, even Chinese doctors said so, etc."
Then, more cases started being reported in Africa, especially in the north. Eventually, President Museveni put Uganda under lockdown, and what do Ugandans say? "We can't afford the lockdown, we are unemployed, there’s no Covid here; patients in quarantine are dancing, how are we going to put food on the table? ...blah blah.”
Now, as the country prepares for the 2021 elections, the Electoral Commission produced a road map which includes banning rallies and public gatherings. Guess what? Bobi pops up again with his selfishness and said, ‘’It’s time we begin disregarding all those restrictions and let’s start now: Whoever arrests or questions you as to why you aren’t complying with the same, tell them it’s President Robert Kyagulanyi Sentamu who directed us to. And then we see what they can do to you.”
I can’t believe he’s being allowed to take advantage of our ill-informed people to the extent of risking their lives into something as useless as election rallies—after all, the winner of the forthcoming elections is already known. And if Museveni puts the country under lockdown again, you will find people lamenting again. Yes, there is no doubt that Museveni has profited greatly from Covid-19, but the level of misinformation and disinformation displayed by the population and some leaders is worrying.
Marcus Garvey once said: ‘Never forget that intelligence rules the world and ignorance carries the burden.’ Therefore, my people need to wake up. Our ignorance is the main thing pulling us back!