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The good, the bad, the ugly
Dr. Ian Clarke
UGANDA is a land of contrasts; very little is nondescript or grey and life in general is in glorious Technicolor. It is a country where we have the best and the worst of everything — the good the bad and the ugly. There are some Ugandans who become offended if one says anything bad about Uganda, while there are others who appear to see almost nothing good — especially when it comes to the government.
What is puzzling is that we often put up with the bad, praise the corrupt, adopt unworthy role models and ignore the good. Why should we defend bad habits, bad manners, bad practice, bad planning, corruption and mediocrity with the argument — “This is Uganda”, when Ugandans are demonstrably capable of so much more?
This is the week of Christmas parties and I was invited to the Christmas party of the Paediatric Infectious Disease Clinic (PIDC). This is a project in Mulago Hospital which treats about 6,000 children infected with HIV and gets involved with the whole family; they have also recently been awarded a large grant to roll out their programme countrywide.
Mulago Hospital, as an institution, comes in for much criticism, but we should recognise that within Mulago, there are a number of centres of excellence, doing sterling work — PIDC being one of them.
One thing I noticed during their party, was that the boss of the project is a woman — Dr. Adeodata Kekitiinwa (Addy). Addy is a senior consultant, who has worked in Mulago Hospital for many years and is a natural leader. People like Addy are the true heroes of Uganda, they understand what it is to struggle in this society and come through as leaders making a difference.
Another person who was there was Dr. Philipa Musoke, who was the head of paediatrics in Mulago and has now resigned to continue with other research projects. Dr. Philipa is top in her field in mother-to-child transmission of HIV and paediatric AIDS, not just in Uganda, but in the world.
Both of these women have brought up families, both live and work in Uganda, both have risen to the top of their professions. I would estimate that both of them are paid a reasonable salary, but are probably not highly paid. They both run projects which make a huge difference to people’s lives, but you don’t read much about them in the newspapers or hear much about them. It is people like these who should be our role models and by whom we should set our standards.
I don’t know why we tolerate and even defend mediocrity, when many excellent people exist right among us. So why are we defending what is substandard? My columns are social commentary and I write what I want — no one directs me, or edits. Often I am critical of what I see around me and I am sure that some people wish I would quit whining — so why do I bother?
I write because I know we can do better, but we allow ourselves to take the lowest common denominator as our norm. There are many Ugandans who are demonstrating how we can make this a better society — we need to pay more attention to them. So why are we making excuses for ourselves? Why accept corruption and bad practice as the norm? Probably because this is the easier path.
Every society has its share of the good, the bad and the ugly, but we can decide what predominates and which bits we allow to come to the top.
In Uganda’s history, we have had our share of being dominated by the bad and the ugly — the scum was allowed to float to the top. Today we must ensure that the good are facilitated to rise to the top.
Published on: Saturday, 15th December, 2007
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