It has taken a little over a week for me to become upset. I am now upset. Before arriving in Uganda, I knew that I’d have my work cut out for me. But only yesterday did I realize how important of an issue police corruption is here, how pervasive of a problem it is, and how it seeps into every element of life. We cannot help people unless we figure out a way to address police corruption (or at least, perhaps, to avoid any need for using the police).
I don’t know if this blog comes up in a google search. I don’t know if the government here monitors foreign tourists’ blogs. This might be a dangerous post, and perhaps I should keep all of this to myself. But I’ve always believed that giving people information is the best way to bring about change. Hiding bad information only prolongs the problem. Besides, I'm not important enough for anyone to be snooping, and everybody here talks openly about police corruption, so it isn’t as though I am divulging any secrets.
I went to an outreach meeting yesterday, where we spoke with young community leaders (men and women in their early twenties) who wanted to understand how they could help people in their communities. We taught them basic information about their inherent legal rights, the rights guaranteed to them by the constitution and the laws here. But, one guy in the audience stood up. He was angry. He used the word “confused” to describe his anger. He is a young civic leader, but one with no power. A frustrated leader. (This all took place in English by the way.) The young twenty-something said, “If I wake up in the morning and beat someone, the cops will come and take me away. But, I can be home 1 hour later if I pay the cops 10,000 shillings ($5 USD). What rights are you talking about? Those rights are being abused. I tell my landlord that I get paid on the 5th of the month and so won’t be able to pay rent until then. He tells me ok. When I come home from work on the first, the landlord has thrown all my stuff out because I didn’t pay rent. I tell him we had an agreement. He doesn’t care. I go to the police, but the landlord bribes the police and they beat me up, and I now have nothing. I go to the chairman (the head of the local government, called the local council), but the landlord is the secretary of the local council. The chairman does nothing. Are these rights? Is this right? You told me about the laws, about my rights, but you aren’t answering my question. What can we do?”
I stood up and told him, “What you are saying is that you don’t, you can’t trust the police. You can’t and don’t trust the local government. Is there anyone with power that you do trust? Anyone?” But he had no response. I asked if any of his relatives had friends in the police force, if he had friends with relatives in the police force, anybody he knew, some starting point of trustworthiness. But there was none. He had none.
This entire exchange really bothered me. Others spoke, explained similar problems. It all came down to the same thing.
How can I help develop a legal aid program here if there is no enforcement mechanism, if the enforcement mechanism is the problem itself? Is going to court here meaningless because there is no force behind any rulings? I've got a lot to learn. I know I can’t change Uganda. I’m sure others have tried to address this problem from the inside and out. I don’t know what to do. But, I better figure out something.
I don’t know if this blog comes up in a google search. I don’t know if the government here monitors foreign tourists’ blogs. This might be a dangerous post, and perhaps I should keep all of this to myself. But I’ve always believed that giving people information is the best way to bring about change. Hiding bad information only prolongs the problem. Besides, I'm not important enough for anyone to be snooping, and everybody here talks openly about police corruption, so it isn’t as though I am divulging any secrets.
I went to an outreach meeting yesterday, where we spoke with young community leaders (men and women in their early twenties) who wanted to understand how they could help people in their communities. We taught them basic information about their inherent legal rights, the rights guaranteed to them by the constitution and the laws here. But, one guy in the audience stood up. He was angry. He used the word “confused” to describe his anger. He is a young civic leader, but one with no power. A frustrated leader. (This all took place in English by the way.) The young twenty-something said, “If I wake up in the morning and beat someone, the cops will come and take me away. But, I can be home 1 hour later if I pay the cops 10,000 shillings ($5 USD). What rights are you talking about? Those rights are being abused. I tell my landlord that I get paid on the 5th of the month and so won’t be able to pay rent until then. He tells me ok. When I come home from work on the first, the landlord has thrown all my stuff out because I didn’t pay rent. I tell him we had an agreement. He doesn’t care. I go to the police, but the landlord bribes the police and they beat me up, and I now have nothing. I go to the chairman (the head of the local government, called the local council), but the landlord is the secretary of the local council. The chairman does nothing. Are these rights? Is this right? You told me about the laws, about my rights, but you aren’t answering my question. What can we do?”
I stood up and told him, “What you are saying is that you don’t, you can’t trust the police. You can’t and don’t trust the local government. Is there anyone with power that you do trust? Anyone?” But he had no response. I asked if any of his relatives had friends in the police force, if he had friends with relatives in the police force, anybody he knew, some starting point of trustworthiness. But there was none. He had none.
This entire exchange really bothered me. Others spoke, explained similar problems. It all came down to the same thing.
How can I help develop a legal aid program here if there is no enforcement mechanism, if the enforcement mechanism is the problem itself? Is going to court here meaningless because there is no force behind any rulings? I've got a lot to learn. I know I can’t change Uganda. I’m sure others have tried to address this problem from the inside and out. I don’t know what to do. But, I better figure out something.
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