The Real Impetus Behind the OPM Massive Thefts

Okadon Akwap, a failed journalist,  is a dubious lecturer in a dubious University belonging to one Hassan Hasajjabalaba, one of the scions of the Museveni economy who pockected government funds in the billions in dubious circumstances. Mr. Akwap came up with a fallacious and specious argument that the OPM thieves were somehow mental cases--a consequence of traumatic experiences in the volatile Uganda--and, by deduction, should not be responsible for their misdeeds. (Graft: Causes Could Be Beyond Greed). One wonders wether Mr. Akwap gained this knowledge from personal experience because for those of us who know him know that at one time he borrowed some money and, when asked, he instead challenged the creditor to a physical fight--a fact that borders on the insane side of the mental spectrum.

On the face of the reportings in the news media, one is stunned by the lack of accounting controls in the management of the Peace Recovery and Development Plan for Northern Uganda (PRDP) Funds. For example, what in the world would make a credible organization deposit huge sums of money in the personal accounts of its officials to carry out the organization duties? It is because of the understanding of human nature that is why accounting best practices require separation of duties and approval processes that may require signing off by the top honcho. All these were seemingly lacking and allowed for easy massive thefts because there were no checks and balances that could have flagged any improprieties early on. This is not surprising because that is the culture of this government whose president, in his one-man running of the country, views checks and balances as a handicap. So, when he talks of his NRM cadres detecting and carrying out forensic audits (after the fact), he is testifying to incompetence and a sign that his government is over its head in managing the country. The President may have had revoultionary successes, but it is time to let go and let dedicated and competent managers take over.

Overall, there is a sense that there was an undercurrent of insidous and obnoxious tribalism at play. The physical and mental traumas and broken public facilities in the North that needed rehabilitation were and are real. There is no contest about that--even the skeptic Kalyegire of the Aminism Denial fame will agree! The PRDP Funds were meant to address that in part. But did the managers of these funds appreciate and were they committed to the mission? It seemed not. What they did with the funds give credence to the notion that the sense of the dehumanized Northerners still lingered--a carryover from the days when the president uttered publicly: We massacred them! Just as the president and his ilks could call Northerners "biological substances," it is not far-fetched to think that those who had their hands in the windfall largesse from donors (aka development partners as if this would cleanse the money from beggarhood) had similar mindset and no sense of responsibility because they inoculated themselves from guilt. After all, the supposed beneficiaries were nonhuman. 

The European donors could take a cue from the US in matters of bleeding-heart aid: Give the funds to NGOs, such  as World Vision, which have verifiable track record of service delivery for clearly identified projects with inputs from the locals.