{UAH} Pojim/WBK: Another orgy of looting, this time in God’s name? Let’s pray not! - Comment

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Another-orgy-of-looting--this-time-in-God-s-name-/-/434750/2887084/-/1rb0fsz/-/index.html

Another orgy of looting, this time in God's name? Let's pray not!

Any time now we shall start counting the damage caused by the predicted El Nino rains. And as sure as night follows day, we shall blame everyone and anyone for not planning for the expected rain havoc.

We shall of course blame the government because its Ministry for Disaster Preparedness will be caught napping. We shall also blame the affected communities for not planning their land use according to the official advice they are repeatedly given to cultivate across instead of along the slope.

We shall blame the local leaders and administration for not taking care of the drainage. And as we rant away on social media, we shall use tired, annoying examples like people who borrow money for Christmas shopping as if they did not know from last year that the following December 25 would be another Christmas. 

We shall get it wrong. Our people do not fail to plan. They just avoid planning. It is a smart, energy saving strategy that yields easier profits than planning.

If you plan meticulously for the El Nino rains and the ensuing floods don't affect you, will anybody give you free food, blankets and tents? Will TV cameras come to your village, with the possible bonus of a presidential visit? If you relocate from weak mountain slopes to where there are no landslides, who will even know that you exist?

But the clever refusal to plan is even more profitable at higher levels, especially in government. Examples of the profitability of avoiding planning are legion.

The poor Queen of England may not know for example that her 2007 visit to Uganda for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting is mostly remembered for the massive looting of the national treasury that it caused.

Although the government knew four years in advance that Uganda would host the CHOGM, planning was avoided so that procurement was done in emergency mode and the official procurement procedures consequently set aside. We are here talking of about $300million spent recklessly.

So massive was the looting that even Ugandans were shocked, and a vice president spent a week in jail and three Cabinet ministers were prosecuted. All four were acquitted. The word CHOGM in Uganda today is still synonymous with massive looting — the result of cleverly refusing to plan.

And in November, we are expecting to host the Holy Father, as in Baba Mtakatifu himself. This is a religious mission, a spiritual expedition, a Pontifical assignment, an Apostolic journey. In normal language, it is a church function. But as expected, the various civil works are behind schedule and at some stage, emergency procurement will come in. And then the benefits of not planning will be reaped by somebody.

My fervent prayer is that the Holy visit does not cause another orgy of looting. But media editors are offering up a different prayer. They are anticipating juicy stories after November of the thefts that will be committed In God's Name!

Pope Francis may have distinguished himself for his modesty and Spartan lifestyle. But unless someone powerful enough in Kampala insists that the organisers start planning now, to rule out emergency procurements for the November visit, his Holy name will grace financial scandal stories for months to come.

Another orgy of looting, this time in God's name? Let's pray not! - Comment

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Another-orgy-of-looting--this-time-in-God-s-name-/-/434750/2887084/-/1rb0fsz/-/index.html

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