African Insights Blog - Newsletter – October-2008

Uganda to ban Mini-Skirts?  Major cause of Ugandan Traffic Accidents?

The Minister of Ethics and Integrity, The Honorable Mr. James Nsaba Buturo has finally indentified the reason for the many accidents that take place in Uganda.  No, it is not the Boda-Boda Motorcycle drivers, 90% of whom do not even have a license according to police statements, it is not the reckless Taxi-Van or Matatu Drivers who obey no rules whatsoever and create, it is not the men in big imported SUV'S who speed down city roads built for 25 mile an hour traffic at 60.  According the Minister of Ethics and Integrity, the real reason for the many accidents is “women in mini-skirts” who seduce drivers into running their cars into each other. I wonder where Mr. Buturo went to on his fact finding mission, it seems the only road in Kampala where one finds women affecting traffic is on Speke Road where prostitutes stand along the road and in some cases slow down traffic. Has Minister Butoro taken that road lately?  Only he knows?

Thanks to Mr. Buturo, the reckless drivers who have an accident in Uganda have someone to blame.  It’s the woman in a miniskirt that made me do it. 

It seems even Adam used that one in the Garden…when he blamed Eve and said to God ”it was the woman you gave me.” 

I can hear it now, “Yes, Ssebo Traffic Policeman, I was just minding my own business. Just driving carefully, minding traffic. Out of nowhere there came this woman in a miniskirt and the next thing I knew, I had hit the car coming at me, it was the woman who made me do it, she was wearing a miniskirt and yes Ssebo you probably know what Minister Buturo said about women in miniskirt and how dangerous they are.”

I have driven all over Uganda and along the way have seen my share of accidents, of bodies lying along the road, never have I seen the accused culprit of Uganda’s road carnage standing there in a mini case.  In most of Uganda women in miniskirts are a rarity and if you so see one, most often she will be wearing leggings.

The Ministry of Ethics and Integrity was established to address the issues of corruption and mismanagement in government.  Just last week Uganda has gone even higher on the list of the most corrupt countries in the world.  The country is being rocked by a land sale scandal where the National Social Security Fund bought some land from an insider, from a distance it seems like a good old boys deal. The land in question contains large areas of what can only be called swamps, there are squatters on it and procurement rules were not followed.  The irony of this whole thing is, that the of the most outraged and outspoken official is himself being investigated and going to court for misappropriation of funds when he was in the ministry of Health. 

With all these allegations of corruption, of misappropriation of funds (There are many more besides the ones I listed) you would think that the Honorable Minister Buturo would have some other things to do besides his recent findings regarding women in miniskirts being the cause of accidents…but then when someone shouts about some things maybe it is a problem that he has to deal with…just maybe he is quite distracted when he sees a woman in a miniskirt in Uganda…for my part…I just drive to survive…jon

PS:  In all fairness, just recently I washed Minister Buturo on a local Kampala station and he came across as very sincere man who wanted to deal with the issue of complex and called for a paradigm shift at every level.  He spoke like he has just read "The Purpose Driven Live."  I actually enjoyed listening to him and agreed with his well articulated view.  Just maybe, the above was a moment of madness, like we all just might have.