SAM ORIKUNDA: Work for patriotism not pay

While officiating at the funeral of the late Minister Charles Engola, President Museveni asked challenging and philosophical question to Ugandans. He asked how a child would demand to suckle a mother who is dying. This parable like question simply meant that the economy isn’t doing well because of a number of issues known to at least everyone who has gone to school. Surprisingly it’s the people who are demanding for increments of their salaries and allowances to the extent of even forcing it and calling for sit down strike. When a mother is on the death bed, you give her the Care she needs to survive so that when she gets well Maybe the child can get breastfeeding. It is only an “Idiot” who will demand for breastfeeding from a mother who is on her deathbed, because a sound human being can’t do that. The post Covid 19 pandemic challenges have affected almost every country in the world including the strongest economies and things could even go worse given the fact that some countries are at war with each other and that situation affects all of us because of what they produce. So some of the economic challenges we are facing as country are not for our own making and government could be having nothing much to do about it.

This situation we are in, has ever happened in Uganda and the President explained it well at the funeral of the late Minister Charles Engola. He said that as him and his group struggled in the bush to liberate Uganda, the economy had already crumbled. All they needed at that time was food to survive and maybe medicine which wasn’t available. They kept the morale to achieve what had taken them to the bush. If the combatants he had in the struggle demanded for pay probably they would have been deviated from the course and they would have been defeated hands down. One should ask himself or herself, where was the families of the combatants as the war went on? Who was taking care of their children, feeding them or even paying school fees? How about those who unfortunately lost their lives during the struggle? How would Uganda be if those people did not sacrifice their lives? At the time of the struggle to liberate Uganda how much were the Civil servants and the public servants earning? Was that money important to them at that time or chances to live and see tomorrow?

All answers to these Questions if answered well could tell us why the demand for the increment of salaries and allowances should slow down or never appear anywhere again. There’s no person who demands for increment of salaries during war or times of catastrophe. Like for instance I saw a doctor on television who was complaining that the government prioritizes things like going to DRC to fight when the doctors have no Money.

That doctor simply portrayed to the country that he didn’t know the importance of the stability of the country and it’s neighborhood, perhaps his thinking would have been better if he was treating casualties of the war, maybe that’s when he would understand that the security should be given priority over anything. All the civil servants and the public servants should as of now only demand for what to use to do their work and what to eat to survive so that we all get through this world economic recession then when we get better someone can demand for the increment of their salaries and other privileges they’re entitled to. When the government fails to fulfill at that time when things are better then they can lay down their tools but I’m confident that it has been a norm for the government to accept several demands of it’s workers to make their work better and also motivate them.

As the demand for increment of salaries and allowances continue, some people are known to have been absconding from duty. It has been been a norm for doctors and other health workers to abscond from duty, some give more time to their private clinics than the government facilities where they’re placed and paid. Some have involved themselves in extortion and stealing government drugs.

All those bad practices are to the public and the government is aware but oftentimes when those in authority want to use force over those bad characters we are asked to slow down because we understand that someone can change and be better. That’s why some of the demands for money aren’t justifiable.. We all have a responsibility to pick lessons from the people who liberated this country and emulate them. After all, it should always be about what an individual has done for the country but not what the country has done for the individual, unfortunately in Uganda today we are focusing on the former and this very wrong. We are at risk of exploiting the country until it’s no more or until there’s nothing left to exploit.

Let us realize where we have gone wrong and redirect ourselves to work for patriotism, this shouldn’t be abused however, because it will look like a betrayal when some people are asked to work for patriotism while others are gaining too much in terms of payment, like for instance there are some people who gave themselves a privileges of deciding how much they should be paid.

Those ones are the ones that the President advised to get back the NRM doctrine of working for patriotism and not pay. You can imagine, members of Parliament and ministers demand to be facilitated before doing what they’re supposed to do. Members of Parliament will ask for payment to go their Constituencies to mobilize the public about different government programs. These ones do so at the expense of the rest of the workers who are sacrificing for the country hence abusing sacrifice for patriotism, maybe it could be the reason as to why the doctors and other people are protesting but all of us should change our ways and stop suckling a mother who is about to die.

When the country’s development is put forward before things like salary increment, it makes it possible that at one time it everyone will earn what they’re supposed to eaten and even get More. Like for instance before NRM government came the economy was crumbling and people were earning peanuts while other services were not available, but after several years of putting focus on building the economy and stabilizing the country in terms of security so many people have been recruited in the government and they’re getting better payments, while the services we didn’t have at that time are now available and we shall have more especially if we shift from the subsistence economy to the industrialisation and commercial agriculture and when we redirect what we teach the children in schools and focus more on the patriotism.

The workers who demand for increment should actually ask themselves if everyone was paid basing on what they’ve done on a daily or weekly basis how many would deserve the salary and the allowances they’re earning today perhaps some wouldn’t even deserve a coin because so many people cheat government on time they’re supposed to be at work.

The writer is a deputy RDC Sheema District.