No one ever wants to start or get involved in an argument in the midst of a prime time news bulletin but I allowed myself get soaked by an argument I didn’t see coming last week.
After a long day of waxing lyrical about current affairs with many people one would ideally want to mull over the trending topics making the news without any disturbance.
President Museveni’s government is constantly coming up with ways of showing why it is in power and why we should still have faith in it but that faith is dashed when one reflects on the unfulfilled promises.
I could not help it but put my focus on the news on hold as I tried to understand why my siblings could not come to terms with the idea that the ban on polythene bags in Uganda could come to pass for once, and for all, and that it would succeed.
They were hell bent on the fact that years after the continued existence of polythene bags, even when the buveera were banned, the status quo would not change.
This was only a ploy to make news and would also pass with time just like the storm when it was announced that polythene bags were no longer fit for Uganda and thereby banned.
Here I was, thinking this is something that has taken a while to effect but yes, it has not grown so stale that it cannot be possible after only six years (polythene bags were banned in 2009).
If Christians are still faithfully waiting for Christ to “come again” after centuries why is it hard to have faith that this government still has the capacity to come clean on its promise.
Their reason was only but one, ours is a forgetful government and above all a tired government.
Whatever it is that is discussed is only for the moment. Once the moment is long gone, it’s all new business.
One of my siblings went a step further with a crisp elaboration; the government is just like an elderly parent at the end of a hard day’s work. “While his children will be allowed to present their needs to him, he will only remember those needs in that moment.
It is only days or weeks after when the needs are re-tabled when the parent’s exclamation will evidently show he forgot about his promise to deliver whatever it was.
And, if you’re lucky, that parent will then deliver as promised the following day but in many a case, the reminder will be met with another promise.
A much more sumptuous promise that will all but quell the child’s concern’s in hope that better things are coming the child’s way.”
I simply laid my argument to rest with that statement not in the interest of watching the rest of the news without disturbance but with a view of reflecting on it later on.
Its only today (before I wrote this article) that I fully understood what the zinger that flew my way fully meant.
[related_posts]Every other day, there is s brilliant idea in the news coming from the corridors of power –there is a new bill tabled that gives one hope the situation in the country is going to change.
Some of the bills successfully make it past the corridors of parliament and become laws. But surprisingly, the new laws are partially implemented.
A few years down the road, a report surfaces in the news about an agency that has been tasked with the implementation of the said law.
That too makes a few headlines and then we are back to business as usual after a few months. I hope the zero tolerance for driving without wearing a seatbelt rings a bell here.
Of course every now and then, there is a moment that reminds us that such and such a law is fully being effected when one faces off with an astute custodian of the law.
And, it is not just a case for our laws. The promises made to Ugandans by those in service also seem to follow a similar trend.
It is no secret the president has many unfulfilled pledges he has made across the country since he assumed power.
While the president may run out of words when talking about how many kilometers of tarmac have been laid across Uganda once he has promised, he may also want to bury his head in his hands if he were ever to review how many of these promises are still pending.
Yet there are many more that will be added to the list when he kicks off his next campaign trail as he seeks re-election in 2016.
You can then understand why a Ugandan has a right to be pessimistic.
In as much as the government is constantly coming up with ways of showing why it is in power and why we should still have faith in the current NRM government, that faith is dashed whence one reflects on the unfulfilled promises.
There is still hope but only after seeing promises materialize and a law fully get effected.
In other words Ugandans are more or less taken on doubting Thomas’ nature.
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