How I wish Museveni’s friends stole real money

Dear reader, in light of the ongoing pretensions around the iron-sheets thieves—these thieves being Museveni’s ministers—allow me return to an old opinion of mine.

The iron-sheet scandal, also reminded the country about that cringy moment when Mr Museveni publicly cautioned his Inspector General of Government, Ms. Beti Kamya, to go slow on corrupt officials as she risked forcing them out of the country, yet they invested their ill-gotten wealth here.

Recall that former IGG Justice Irene Mulyagonja also told the country that thieves—her investigations discovered a public secret—hid behind the president. But is corruption really the problem? If not, do thieves of public resources actually invest here?

And if they did, why does Uganda look like a stone-age scene? While I do not disagree that corruption is the problem, like journalist Andrew Mwenda, I agree that it is difficult to eradicate corruption completely especially under a capitalist regime of social organising.

As well, Mwenda’s theoretical position that corruption is never the problem is an accurate one. Indeed, despite being bad (as Mwenda agrees but ridicules this as sentimental position), it has not hindered developments elsewhere.

This is because, across the entire world, government officials (themselves personally, or through business associates and corporations) involve in different modes of stealing and accumulation by dispossession.

Holders of power, who tend be normally lawyers and merchants as Karl Marx would tell us, undeniably steal both at home and abroad. They are not even afraid of being violent going about it.

Again, governments across the world fight to protect their thieves—both locally and internationally. In fact, many governments spend entire budgets locating items for their people to steal. Thus, it is not wrong for Museveni to protect his thieves. But why does corruption under Museveni—and across most of Africa— appear to be the problem?

THE PROBLEM WITH MUSEVENI’S THIEVES

There are two related problems with Museveni’s thieves — a problem reproduceable across Africa: firstly, including Museveni himself, their mentalities are poor. They are content with small things. I have called this condition suffering from “small dreams and small pleasures.”

They are content with automobiles, houses, decent meals, shopping, trips to Europe, a small farm (that they’ll see as big with just a thousand heads of cattle, however unproductive).

For the male thieves, a long list of whores and concubines and children makes them content with themselves. I am told, for example, many of Museveni’s thieving associates have sired over 100 children, and that this brings them incredible satisfaction.

The second problem is that in Museveni’s reality, the thieves of substance—those stealing life-changing money—neither live nor invest in Uganda. Thus, in cautioning Beti Kamya, it cannot be true that bwana Museveni is unaware of this reality. He surely knows the major thieves are not even Ugandans.

What is probably truer is that point number one above—small dreams and small pleasures—explains his speech. He seems to appreciate fuel stations, rentals, hotels, malls, a thousand heads of cattle or a bungalow and the like as “investment.” And clearly, this is not Museveni alone, but a malaise of the continent.

WHO AND WHERE ARE THE REAL THIEVES

It is important to note that the real thieves are, despite being present, mostly invisible on the local scene. They are more technocratic and their theft is often enshrined in law and contracts, which are normally negotiated under conditions of violence and corruption (often exploiting the small mentalities of the African elite).

Consider for example the telecom sector, which makes about Shs 30 billion monthly in selling just one of its many products. With some of these products being transacted without regulation—such as Mobile Money—these companies steal millions monthly.

One would ask, how are these companies stealing? Having successfully collapsed Uganda Telecom (whose masts they continued to use), these companies work with their home countries to ensure the Ugandan elite does not change pre-agreed contracts. It is absolute violent behaviour.

This explains why these companies have no credible competitor. Consider, for example, the commercial banks in Uganda, of which over 90 per cent of them are foreign-owned.

Thriving on the ruins of Uganda Commercial Bank (UCB), which their governments harassed the Ugandan elite to collapse, these banks are minting millions from the sweat of Ugandans. Can you imagine, even under the Covid-19 lockdowns, these banks were registering over Shs 200 billion in annual profits.

Ever wondered why they charge 30 per cent interest rates in Africa and cannot go beyond two per cent in Europe? Yes, they are in Africa to steal and this has actually made their operations in Africa the most profitable in the world.

Consider the coffee thieves in some of those foreign-owned companies in Uganda, some of which have killed and dispossessed poor Ugandans off their lands.

These companies might have offices in Uganda but are ostensibly headquartered in Europe and Singapore, where all the sweat of Ugandan farmers is invested. An analysis published in Review of African Economy, “Stealing African Resources” by Angus Elsby, (among many other researches) explicitly shows how these companies mint millions from our coffee.

Ever wondered why there is not a single tycoon who is known to have become wealthy from dealing in coffee—despite coffee being our major export!

I can go on and on citing thieves in electricity, in gold and other minerals, et cetera. These are the real thieves, and they neither live nor invest in Uganda. My problem is not that these companies steal, for this is the nature of the capitalist world.

But that they steal and take out of the country, and I wish our thieves considered securing these projects. These would be thieves who are worth protecting.

yusufkajura@gmail.com

The author is a political theorist based at Makerere University