Government work in Idi Amin's Uganda
Open Access
- 31 August 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in Africa
- Vol. 91 (4), 620-640
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s0001972021000462
Abstract
Under Idi Amin's government, institutions that served the public interest were dramatically under-resourced. An array of self-nominated, self-important, self-righteous people were empowered to take on administrative tasks that, in an earlier dispensation, had been the work of professionals. Businesses and institutions that had formerly been under the regulatory authority of credentialled experts were thrown open all at once for commoners to operate. Everywhere there were campaigns, as the new regime made obscure and technical issues into urgent problems demanding a resolution. Ugandans were called upon to defend cultures, to struggle against imperialism and racism, and to transform the architecture of the economy. That is how people came to see themselves as proprietors of public life. Their work allowed commoners to claim equity over resources and infrastructures. In their investments in the operations of public institutions, people became custodians, proprietors and petty authoritarians. Their proprietary sense of responsibility was a powerful inducement to self-sacrifice. It was also the fuel for demagoguery. Résumé Sous le gouvernement d'Idi Amin, les institutions qui servaient l'intérêt public manquaient cruellement de ressources. Un tas de personnes infatuées et vaniteuses auto-désignées furent autorisées à assumer des tâches administratives qui, sous le régime précédent, étaient assurées par des professionnels. Les portes d'entreprises et d'institutions jusqu'alors placées sous l'autorité réglementaire d'experts accrédités furent tout d'un coup ouvertes à des gens ordinaires. Des campagnes s'organisèrent partout, le nouveau régime faisant de problèmes techniques et obscurs des problèmes urgents à résoudre. Les Ougandais furent appelés à défendre les cultures, à lutter contre l'impérialisme et le racisme, et à transformer l'architecture de l’économie. C'est ainsi que les citoyens en vinrent à se considérer eux-mêmes comme des propriétaires de la vie publique. Leur travail, en bref, autorisa les gens ordinaires à réclamer l’équité des ressources et des infrastructures. Dans leurs investissements dans l'exploitation des institutions publiques, les citoyens devinrent des gardiens, des propriétaires et des petits despotes. Leur sens propriétal de la responsabilité fut une incitation puissante à l'abnégation. Il alimenta aussi la démagogie.Keywords
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