Looking at the way we do things in most aspects of our everyday lives in Uganda, one gets an uncomfortable feeling that unless there is a radical turn, we are not about to realise most of our development dreams.
Discipline eludes us, leaving behind a cacophony of arbitrariness, unpredictability, disorder, losses in time and resources, corruption, and a long list of many inconveniences.
Whereas we are putting much of our focus and energies on raising monies and drawing up activity plans, we ought to realise that without discipline, all these plans can’t move beyond their scripts. This must sound obvious, but why does it escape us?
And what is discipline? It has been said that it is about doing right and avoiding wrong, whether someone is watching us or not. If you are the kind that will only look for a toilet during day’s watch but ease yourself by the roadside without bother in the cover of night, then you are not disciplined.
So is the person who avoids stealing due to fear of being caught. If such fears are removed, that person will most probably steal. John F MacArthur Jr tells us that being disciplined teaches us to operate by principle rather than desire and being able to say no to our impulses, thus being in control of our appetites rather than vice versa.
Certainly, this is a very tall order, one that requires constant efforts by ourselves and others to nurture. And if it must be learned by less coercive means, then it is best nurtured from our childhood. For, as Frederick Douglass puts it, it is easier to build strong children than to repair broken adults.
What shows that many of us in Uganda are broken adults?
One doesn’t have to stretch far over their shoulders to notice our gross indiscipline. At a Zebra crossing, even when we know what it means, pedestrians have to wait until all motorists have passed.
Traffic officers have to station at traffic lights, not only because they break down quite often, but also because those lights often mean nothing to many motorists beyond the fear of consequences of being caught.
When you want to join a busy road, other motorists will try hard to block every slight gap and in utmost enjoyment of their meanness. One will drive contrary to traffic rules at the inconvenience of other road users but with no remorse at all. Instead, they will insult whoever tries to call them to order!
Our propensity to insult has always baffled me. A random check on Facebook comments about things we disagree with gives an impression that our deficit in argumentation skills is covered by verbal artillery. Could it also be an effect of an education system that encourages more cramming than independent thought and reasoning?
Back to the road, how many of us would remind a taxi conductor that they have forgotten to collect the fare from us? How many care how their behaviour may affect others? One’s ringtone is at loudest, and when they pick, it appears that they are trying to be louder than it.
So, the whole taxi is held captive to their phone conversation, paying no regard to the possibility that other passengers may want to communicate too. Add this to the rubbish that we throw through car windows as though everywhere is our dustbin!
At universities where one would perhaps assume highest civility, you get shocked at the conduct in some. A lecturer turns up thirty minutes late and, without apology, feigns illness, gives a handout (sometimes plagiarised from internet), and walks away.
Students, instead, celebrate the break and praise the absentee lecturer for being ‘cool’! Of course this is not so shocking at institutions where some students will only turn up for tests and exams, accumulate retakes, and sometimes bribe their way through. What is shocking is how long we have let this in our midst while other societies progress.
Such things that seem minor have eaten into our society, crippling almost everything we touch – the poor time management, low levels of workplace commitment, corruption, road accidents, traffic jam, professional deficiencies, vandalism, environmental degradation, untidiness, poor customer care, etc.
Building a disciplined society should start in our families and schools. As we complain, we should ask ourselves: how have we raised our children? For the broken adults, change can mainly come from strict laws and policies that are resolutely implemented. I am afraid democracy may not do this, especially considering how deep the majority has sunk.
I agree with Immanuel Kant’s view that human beings must be disciplined, for they are by nature raw and wild. Without this, many public goods will remain a fleeting illusion, to be pursued but never attained.
jsssentongo@gmail.com
The author works with the School of Postgraduate Studies and Research at Uganda Martyrs University, Nkozi.