Are Ugandans biting much more than they can chew?
Jun 16, 2009
A friend from Cameroon once told me that for every Cameroonian working, it is a mandatory social obligation to save more than 50% of their income. In Uganda most of us are poor by choice.<br>We live an exaggerated life promoted by the media. Ugandans are
Richard Todwong
A friend from Cameroon once told me that for every Cameroonian working, it is a mandatory social obligation to save more than 50% of their income. In Uganda most of us are poor by choice.
We live an exaggerated life promoted by the media. Ugandans are one of the most extravagant people.
I was once the chairman of an organisation’s staff union and one of the many cases I arbitrated between staff and management, was the continued demand for staff loans by my colleagues. I can effectively translate my colleagues’ behaviour into how communities in Uganda behave.
A Ugandan who is earning an average of sh800,000 net pay per month will rent a house of about sh300,000 to sh400,000 per month.
Most organisations do not provide transport and meals to staff.
Workers have to fend for themselves, meet medical, clothing, school fees, recreation and family upkeep bills.
The cost of living is increasingly rising while income of civil servants and public officers is static. In the private sector the story is not different.
In view of this, the primary financial adjustments should be at household levels. Consumption should be adjusted to cater for basic needs and luxury ought to be regulated by those who might not have enough disposable income.
The problem most Ugandan employees are faced with is the need to maintain artificial expenditures on static incomes. We are always under pressure to dishonestly look for ‘other’ ways of acquiring extra income and this is the main source of corruption.
From the beginning of the month to the end, there are people who live on credit because most have mortgaged their salaries for loans and the banks reduce their salaries for loans repayment.
Ugandans want expensive cars which consume a lot of fuel yet most of these cars are purchased on salary loans. Such people have to struggle to go back home with milk and bread for the children and keep some money for beer, pork and the sauna.
The media keep reporting about lifestyles which are far beyond African realities and Africans want to live Western lifestyles to pretend to be modern. We borrow from banks, micro-finance and from money launders to live a life of constant debt.
Self-discipline is key to a meaningful living. In his book Rediscovering the American Values, Dick Devos observes that without self-discipline, the Americans could hardly resist life’s temptations to lie, cheat and take credit where it is not due.
Luxury and pleasure are leakages to savings. A simple life without debts and with little saving is much better than a flamboyant life full of debts. The latter only serves to make you a slave.
Indians are maximising profits in Uganda because they are investing in services that easily attract expenditure from Ugandans. Nigerians have found a fertile ground for conning Ugandans of their money because we want quick and easy money.
Long-term savings in terms of National Social Security Fund and pension for civil servants are the only safety cushions to the future of many workers.
Out of pressure, there are Ugandans who are demanding that access to long-term social savings be made easier.
We need to consult widely before such a decision is made because other than those few who might invest such savings meaningfully, I am afraid the majority might waste it and later become a burden to the Government in their old age.
Whereas to the Government, the spending on beers and luxury cars by citizens is good for taxes, to the individuals they are a liability.
Europe, America and some Asian countries banned the importation of luxury commodities when they were still developing.
According to Ha-Joon Chang in his book Kicking Away the Ladder, the developed countries, while still underdeveloped, had policies that directed the consumption pattern in their countries while guarding their national interest.
The Americans practised the isolation policy because they never wanted influence and competition for their products by rivals.
In the early 19th century and the early 20th century, both Britain and America heavily taxed the importation of luxury goods to their countries. India still does it to date. They encouraged all kinds of methods to safe-guard their infant industries.
Foreign technology acquisition, apprenticeships and sometimes illegal measures, such as support to industrial espionage, smuggling of contraband machinery and lowering import duties on raw materials for manufacturing.
In most African countries, we totally open up to Western influence and as a result, we fail to tap the basic that we need for our industries.
In the end, we find ourselves concentrating on the social interactions with the West, which have over-shadowed the economic and political engagements.
The writer is the presidential advisor on northern Uganda
A friend from Cameroon once told me that for every Cameroonian working, it is a mandatory social obligation to save more than 50% of their income. In Uganda most of us are poor by choice.
We live an exaggerated life promoted by the media. Ugandans are one of the most extravagant people.
I was once the chairman of an organisation’s staff union and one of the many cases I arbitrated between staff and management, was the continued demand for staff loans by my colleagues. I can effectively translate my colleagues’ behaviour into how communities in Uganda behave.
A Ugandan who is earning an average of sh800,000 net pay per month will rent a house of about sh300,000 to sh400,000 per month.
Most organisations do not provide transport and meals to staff.
Workers have to fend for themselves, meet medical, clothing, school fees, recreation and family upkeep bills.
The cost of living is increasingly rising while income of civil servants and public officers is static. In the private sector the story is not different.
In view of this, the primary financial adjustments should be at household levels. Consumption should be adjusted to cater for basic needs and luxury ought to be regulated by those who might not have enough disposable income.
The problem most Ugandan employees are faced with is the need to maintain artificial expenditures on static incomes. We are always under pressure to dishonestly look for ‘other’ ways of acquiring extra income and this is the main source of corruption.
From the beginning of the month to the end, there are people who live on credit because most have mortgaged their salaries for loans and the banks reduce their salaries for loans repayment.
Ugandans want expensive cars which consume a lot of fuel yet most of these cars are purchased on salary loans. Such people have to struggle to go back home with milk and bread for the children and keep some money for beer, pork and the sauna.
The media keep reporting about lifestyles which are far beyond African realities and Africans want to live Western lifestyles to pretend to be modern. We borrow from banks, micro-finance and from money launders to live a life of constant debt.
Self-discipline is key to a meaningful living. In his book Rediscovering the American Values, Dick Devos observes that without self-discipline, the Americans could hardly resist life’s temptations to lie, cheat and take credit where it is not due.
Luxury and pleasure are leakages to savings. A simple life without debts and with little saving is much better than a flamboyant life full of debts. The latter only serves to make you a slave.
Indians are maximising profits in Uganda because they are investing in services that easily attract expenditure from Ugandans. Nigerians have found a fertile ground for conning Ugandans of their money because we want quick and easy money.
Long-term savings in terms of National Social Security Fund and pension for civil servants are the only safety cushions to the future of many workers.
Out of pressure, there are Ugandans who are demanding that access to long-term social savings be made easier.
We need to consult widely before such a decision is made because other than those few who might invest such savings meaningfully, I am afraid the majority might waste it and later become a burden to the Government in their old age.
Whereas to the Government, the spending on beers and luxury cars by citizens is good for taxes, to the individuals they are a liability.
Europe, America and some Asian countries banned the importation of luxury commodities when they were still developing.
According to Ha-Joon Chang in his book Kicking Away the Ladder, the developed countries, while still underdeveloped, had policies that directed the consumption pattern in their countries while guarding their national interest.
The Americans practised the isolation policy because they never wanted influence and competition for their products by rivals.
In the early 19th century and the early 20th century, both Britain and America heavily taxed the importation of luxury goods to their countries. India still does it to date. They encouraged all kinds of methods to safe-guard their infant industries.
Foreign technology acquisition, apprenticeships and sometimes illegal measures, such as support to industrial espionage, smuggling of contraband machinery and lowering import duties on raw materials for manufacturing.
In most African countries, we totally open up to Western influence and as a result, we fail to tap the basic that we need for our industries.
In the end, we find ourselves concentrating on the social interactions with the West, which have over-shadowed the economic and political engagements.
The writer is the presidential advisor on northern Uganda