One of the funniest sounds coming out of Uganda these days is of political leaders talking of the need to nurture a savings culture. It is funny because of who is talking.

Calling for saving is already common these days, with Pentecostals preaching the prosperity gospel and making congregations repeat several times daily: “I shall no longer borrow, but instead I shall become a lender of nations.”

To keep up with the times, secular leaders harp on the same message, but by prescribing what is in the hands of the listeners – that to become a lender of nations, you must first be a saver. Look who’s talking!

Last month, the World Bank suspended lending to Uganda because of our failure to utilise dizzying figures borrowed due to lack of absorption capacity. Bad? Not bad enough, apparently. After the announcement, the finance minister jumped on the next plane to Washington to go and beg Bank officials to forgive us and release the loans (which we cannot utilise but pay punitive interest on).

Being patriotic, I call it funny. The less patriotic say “pathetic!” What is not in doubt is that the country’s debt problem has been misdiagnosed by everybody including the well-meaning Oxfam who campaigned so hard a decade ago to get our debt forgiven.

Had they known that a few years later we would have accumulated a bigger debt what was written off, they would have spent their lobbying energies on a worthy campaign like creating a World Cup soccer team for alcoholism survivors. Incidentally, nobody seems to know exactly what the country’s debt stands at. There are committed amounts, disbursed amounts, repaid but not retired amounts, disputed debts, yet to be determined debts, estimated debts and so on.

So what is the nature of Uganda’s debt problem? It is simply an addiction. Stupid. Nothing else can explain it. Addiction is disorder involving dependence on a substance or an activity which you know is harmful. Like gambling. Borrowing by government is addictive because the supply is almost unlimited.

The worst part of addiction is that the more you consume or engage, the more you need to abuse in order to get the same kick. If you needed one cigarette yesterday, today you need two and a full pack at the end of the year to get the same kick.

A government that needed one million dollars in loans a year to fix budgetary problems at Independence needed 10 million dollars 10 years later, and 50 years later needs a billion. It forgets options like saving, discipline and curbing corruption. Even when lenders openly tell you to stop borrowing as you obviously no longer even understand why you borrow because you cannot even use the loan, you just beg to be allowed to borrow more.

Trying to discuss Uganda’s debt without first understanding the science of addiction is a waste of time. And the best way to kick a habit is to replace it with another.

Let Ugandans cultivate the habit of cultivating. We have enough land to keep us busy for the next many, many years. Enough to lead us out of temptation.

Joachim Buwembo is a social and political commentator based in Kampala. E-mail: [email protected]