Aid dependency; cutting our legs with your good intentions…

First, let’s put English in its proper perspective. Dependence is the opposite of independence. It means reliance of something or someone or group of persons on something or someone else. But dependency has a more sinister connotation. It leans more towards enslavement to some condition or person due to a need which will have become a craving. This dependency syndrome, it seems, is at the centre of underdevelopment in Africa. Scenario 1: Upcountry transport from Kigali is almost, always, wonderfully well organised. This is especially true of transport to the Southern Province. Buses leave every half an hour without delay, like a clockwork! What’s more, when they come to our home town, upon arrival they can take you closer to your destination. Final destinations tend to be a little far from the town. Typically, the buses also come around to the neighborhoods to provide ‘courtesy rides’ for their customers. Now since ‘customer’ is not emblazoned on our foreheads, everyone gets on.It is no big deal, really. Before this ‘courtesy bus business came, we were going about our business on foot, to and from, our little town (which is 2-3km away), unperturbed and with dignity. When the ‘courtesy bus’ service came, the natural thing was to hop in. After all, we all want to go about our errands faster, no? The only problem is that now everyone waits for the bus, sometimes for close to an hour and won’t go about their duties till one comes along. And when one finally comes, we all run pushing and shoving. Everyone struggles like their life depends on it. It is quite disheartening to see a young man shoving away an old man just to make the short bus ride. In fact the other day, a bride forgot her groom as they were going for a civil wedding ceremony. There she was running all adorned with flower garlands around the head and neck! After wasting our time waiting we lose our dignity. It is just wrong.Scenario 2: Somewhere in Central Tanzania is a village in Singida. One fine day, a sanitation-focused NGO came and dug them a demonstration pit latrine as a way of combating cholera and other waterborne diseases that had bedeviled the village as a result of using the ‘natural bathrooms’ in the bushes that spread diseases when it rained by sweeping everything to the village water source when it rained. Later, another group came to evaluate the progress of the village with regard to this area of sanitation. They found that awareness in hygiene had grown very much and the villagers were quite happy with the latrine. The village headman had only one complaint; the government had not constructed for them another toilet and the one that they had was not enough for the whole village! The village had about 50 strong young men who could have quite easily put up 10 other pit latrines in three months.It just never occurred to the villagers that they could and should do things for themselves…they were waiting for someone else to do it for them. That is dependency. Scenario 3: A capacity building training is organised and participants are invited. Attendance is very good, especially because the training sponsors took care and in their thoughtfulness ensured that the participants were paid per diem for food and transport even though they come from the neighborhood. This goes on and eventually, the money for per diem runs out. It is presumed that by this time, the trainees will have appreciated the training enough to, maybe, even pay for themselves. Interest in the training wanes. Another victory of form over substance.The problem with freebies is that they are not free. They discourage us from realizing our full potential and create in us a dependency… slavery. They cut our feet with their love. Foreign aid has the same effect on us as a nation…only on a grander scale! Sam Kebongo is a lecturer at RTUC