The Ugandan society has never been in such dire straits as it is today in 2024.
Daily, we hear of once revered public servants caught with their hand in the till and made an example of by the State House Anti-Corruption Unit. Laboratory technicians nabbed at the gates of the hospitals they work for trying to make away with expensively purchased medical equipment meant to diagnose and save the lives of millions of Ugandans.
Politicians who rode into office on the wave of being pro-people are continually unearthed in parliament only to enrich themselves with service emoluments that make no sense elsewhere. They shamelessly defend the billions they allocated themselves from the public kitty and a despairing public knows they will probably get away with the loot once the furore has died down.
You would hope that while the adults are too far gone for saving, at least the children would still be safe from the rot seems to have taken hold of Ugandan society. But they don’t seem to be because a previously innocent and fairly straightforward activity like voting for a school prefect has become as riddled with underhand dealings as it takes to choose a national leader.
It is no longer uncommon to find that a child who wishes to become a leader in school proceeds on that journey with a spending budget that rivals how much they pay in tuition to be in that very school. Is our society doomed then? No!
Far from it, we have in our midst the very tools we need to begin healing it, if we wish to. One of those tools that we have had for over 100 years is scouting which was introduced in the country in 1915. Before there were Rotaract clubs, patriotism clubs or prayer warrior cells, scouting existed in our school systems and survives to this day.
I believe scouting holds one of the keys to reviving Ugandan society because it espouses the exact tenents that any successful, tolerant society can model itself on. The global movement pioneered by Englishman Lord Baden-Powell argues for all the values that we seem to have lost sight of in Uganda in 2024.
Scouting calls for honesty, challenging anyone who takes the scout oath to always be trustworthy in their dealings with the rest of humanity. What could we do with most in Uganda today? A revival of trust in each other and abandoning the mantra of “nfunirwa wa” (translation: how does this benefit me?) that permeates any action in the public sphere.
We have become a suspicious society that believes the other fellow has an angle and is trying to exploit us in some hidden way. Scouting urges us all to be loyal to each other, to the movement, to the country and society we find ourselves born into. Isn’t this patriotism or nationalism by another name?
I firmly believe it is what is most needed if we are to be able to stop seeing government as a foreign, preying entity and as each and every one of us. That is the only way we can be loyal to it. Scouting leads the way. As a people and a continent, we are currently living through some of the most challenging times in human history.
Every day we wake up seemingly closer to a global conflagration that will explode into a world war and drag Africa and Uganda into it whether we like it or not. As the big dogs of the USA, NATO, Russia and China square up for influence. Scouting teaches us that men and women of character are best formed in difficulties.
We show our best character when we are being tested, at least we should; in not repudiating what we value or believe in. Have courage in difficulties, scouting teaches. This is a time when it is most needed.
Apart from the invaluable aspect of having self-respect and respect for others, scouting urges members young and old to always make the best of the time they have. Africa and Uganda are sometimes said to be at least 1,000 years behind the most developed countries.
That does not have to be our eternal fate if we begin to use our time wisely and speedily. All this has been with us since Canon H.M Grace taught scouting in Uganda in 1915. We would do well to remember that teaching and apply it nationally to save ourselves and future generations.
The writer is a scout and member of the Dream Team Uganda Scouts Association. He has been a scout for more than ten years and remains active