The week-long All Africa Bishops Conference closed yesterday, with the prelates condemning corruption.
“Our political leaders are urged to have a hard look at the style of leadership that has so far engendered corruption, poverty, insecurity and underdevelopment,” the prelates said in a five-page resolution.
The communiqué was read to journalists by the chairperson of the Coalition of African Prelates Association, Ian Ernest, at a briefing attended by other archbishops at the Kampala Serena Conference Centre.
Part of the problem lies in historic Ugandan culture. Several Ugandans have pointed out to me that while an Ugandan would never think of stealing from tribe or clan member, money or good which enter the country from outside (ie the rest of the world) is traditionally ownerless in a moral sense. If one encounters ‘muzungu money’ floating though the economic stream, it’s no ethical crime to pick it up, since it doesn’t really belong to anyone. Merely criminalizing what basically everyone understands is an ok thing to do maybe makes donors feel better, but it doesn’t change reality. That can be done only through a cultural shift. The idea that what belongs to everybody belongs to nobody has to morph into an understanding that “what belongs to everybody also belongs to my clan and tribe as well” is necessary.
Strange, I don’t find that quote in the official communique from CAPA posted on Baby Blue’s blog.