Get rich quick mentality wrong for poverty fight

[AlphaCentauri]

By Augustus Nuwagaba

In response to my numerous articles on poverty and the need for improving the plight of the poor, some readers have intimated that I should sign off as a ‘Wealth Creation’ specialist or ‘Better Life’ expert.

I understand the sentiment of my readers because they hold that poverty reduction is probably a negative and derogatory concept. We should, therefore, be seen to improve, hence talk about wealth, not poverty. This is absolutely correct. All of us who are concerned with improving the lives of the poor cannot wait to see the day when poverty in our households will be made history.

However, it is not the wishful thinking that will cause this miracle. As the English say: “if all wishes were horses, beggars would ride.” In the language of poverty reduction, it should be understood that household poverty cannot be addressed as a snapshot action. It is rather a condition that requires strategic and long-term planning. It requires proper budgeting, resource allocation, budget execution, performance measurement and clear and meticulous monitoring of interventions aimed at stumping out that monster called poverty. This is what we are doing for a number of governments in this region.

Unfortunately, all those conditions are missing or grossly inadequate in Uganda. We have nine million people, out of the estimated 30 million Ugandans, wallowing in poverty.

In such a situation, it would be betrayal and naive to claim that we need a rich population or “better life”. Wealth creation or better life would assume that there is already good life. My understanding of the superatives of English language dictates that “bad” improves to “good” and then to “better” and “best”.

Normally, a poor person needs basic necessities such as food, shelter and clothing. Other needs will follow in their pressing order. All of us want to achieve the best, but we must follow scientific laws. That is why a chronically poor person is not interested in getting rich as his first objective. He must first ensure his survival through access to basic needs, and then think of poverty reduction. And this is where some of us, who are really touched by the chronically poor, are focusing. The next stage is “take off” while the last phase is wealth creation.

It is true that we can jump certain steps; from chronic poverty to extreme wealth, but this will have its disadvantages. The means for achieving extreme wealth from extreme poverty have devastating effects. As the recent National Integrity Survey conducted by the Inspectorate of Government has revealed, most people have become wealthy rapidly through mischievous means as corruption has become an acceptable way of life in Uganda. And the sad news is that those who quickly amass wealth are perceived as heroes, while those who work professionally and live modestly are perceived as unsmart, and to a large extent, they are called fools.

We have witnessed extremely rich and sometimes young individuals with mind boggling houses, flashy cars all acquired overnight. The “get rich quick” syndrome has caught up like bush fire. Getting rich quick has actually become a standard for success. We have been told many times that our economy has been growing phenomenally, but the main question has been that most of the Ugandans have been living on the wrong side of the street that can hardly be reached by the wind falls of this growth. As a result, they have remained excluded from this so-called growth.

As I have warned before, it is not the level of poverty that is a problem, but the extreme wealth amidst extreme poverty that should be our concern. In an interconnected country where the wealth of some individuals allegedly exceeds the gross domestic product of the entire country, it would be sheer naivety to be blindfolded that such a society will continue living in harmony. One cannot be guaranteed to think about national goals if our values degenerate to such individualistic levels, where everyone is only thinking about “Njawulo” (difference) he can make for any service given.

As scholar Sachs has counselled, the end of poverty is a road map for security for all as well as the best tool for ensuring nation building. The writing is clear on the wall.

The Writer is a poverty reduction specialist
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/459/665800