Inequality breeds Insecurity
Uganda continues to grapple with warring Inequalities. According to World Bank (2016), Uganda’s economic growth has stagnated due to stagnant house hold incomes and growing inequality. Uganda’s growth is not inclusive. According to the Private Sector Development Strategy 2015/16 – 2019/20, there is rising inequality among Ugandans, which means that the emerging opportunities are poorly distributed. For example, Central Uganda and Greater Kampala host 66 percent of Uganda’s GDP, while northern Uganda takes only 7 percent, East (13 percent) and West (14 percent). Further, Uganda's Economy has grown at a slow pace reducing its impact on poverty. For example, in 2011, average growth rate was about 4.5% which was a decline from 7%the years below (2007,2008, 2009, 2010). It is therefore very evident that the gap between the rich and the poor widens everyday despite various efforts. Unfortunately, this gap grows everyday and seems to be immune from the several mitigation measures and it is not known whether the mitigation measures offer long term solutions or a simply sweeping a dusty courtyard! What this has created is two categories of society-each worried and defensive of the other.
The rich have spent all they can in protecting themselves from nothing else-but the poor. I have had the benefit to interact with re-known economists and one of them summarizes inequality in Uganda this way; that we have a sleepless Country. This is because the Rich are guarding themselves from the poor-they hire armed guards, buy dogs, CCTV Cameras, and build perimeter walls with electric razer wire, burglarproof all their doors, buy emotional sensor lights and others even have weapons inside their house. Their nights are interrupted by their car alarms that go off severally either because of wind, falling leaf or a “thief” (poor) who is trying to get hold of a side mirror or an indicator so they can buy food. In the end, the rich are not sleeping because the poor are awake and thus the whole country is not sleeping. This is what inequality means in simple terms.
Of course to many, it is not their business that some people lack food, shelter and the very basics of life-and yet it is their business when the hungry come to invest their (rich) investment which they (rich) guard expensively. Further, no one should ever condone such acts in any society but it is equally important to think about the root cause of all these things. The day we ignore and isolate these criminal acts and fail to plot them against the deep rooted issues, we shall lose the fight against insecurity.
It is no longer debatable that inequality breeds insecurity and therefore, we need concerted efforts to ensure we fight inequality. The Sustainable development goals (SDGs) emphasize ending inequalities all forms and as such, states and none state actors should fight it to the latter in order to promote a harmonious society. As a country, we need deliberate economic reforms that address this enigma and without such, we shall be spending much on security while ignoring the deep root cause-Inequality.
The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things seem equal; unfortunately, this is what we are locked in as a country! Let us work to improve our society and our posterity.
By Michael Aboneka Jr
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