As a business owner/ manager, I tend to deal with all sorts of issues and people from the farmer we source vegetables, to the district local council member. Allow me to discuss the latter group of local council officials whose office I personally choose to call an evil in itself.
Now as the year kicked off, I asked my shop manager to follow up on the renewal of the trading license for my Mbale shop by end of week 1 of 2017. Sadly 4 days into the New Year before she could even get the process started, we had visitors from the Mbale municipal council. She was called off to the entrance of the Coffee shop to speak to a lady and gentleman who informed her they were there for shop inspection. When she agreed to let them go about looking at our premises they said they needed an inspection fee before they commenced.
Please note, as these two individuals asked for this inspection fee not one of them moved an inch towards the door even as the shop manager motioned them to the entrance so that she could show them around. I know this because I was sitting about 150 meters from them on a conference call. So the two officials then asked to see the owner and the manager walked towards me and waited for me to get off the phone. I paused my phone conversation and she brought me up to speed. So I asked,
Me: "How much for inspection?’’
Shop manager: ‘’ 70,000.’’
Me: ‘’Ask them to provide identification and a letter of introduction stating that they are authorized to inspect at the given fee mentioned,’’ I said as I got back to my phone call.
The shop manager walked towards them and after a brief conversation, I saw her walk back towards me.
Shop manager: ‘’They say we will be fined for arguing and disrespecting officers from the municipal council.’’
Me: ‘’Asking for proper documentation is not a crime. Ask them to give me 5 minutes and I will come and take them around when their paper work is in order.’’
However, by the time she got to me I saw the lady and gentleman whisper to each other and before I could get up from my seat they had left the shop in such a rush they seemed to have been fleeing from a ghost.
Moral of the story, Ugandan officials in authority, why do we have to be so dishonest? Can we change the mentality and stereotype of what Uganda is? People in authority can we stop frustrating Ugandan owned and ran businesses because these are the businesses providing employment to other Ugandans who need and value their jobs.
Two weeks later after a great deal of back and forth by the shop manager between the municipal council office and the shop, we processed our trading license and certificate of and suitability of premises to prepare and serve food customers.
Now here are a few pictures of the lovely shop that these people wanted to put out of business for a 70,000 bribe.
This story has a happy ending, but it could have ended a whole other way with me paying the bribe, going back to council later and being told that my application had not been processed at all. Sadly, I did not get any names of these fraudsters so I could not follow up on this issue any further which greatly frustrates me because I detest Ugandans who continue to give professional people a bad name because of the vices that are ruining this society and country we live in.
Think of our children, your children; are these are evils that you want them to deal with 10 years from now?
