Chronic Poverty: Is it real?

Jacob Waiswa
Peace and Conflict Center
P.O. Box 7062,
Makerere University
Kampala-Uganda
jwaiswa@arts.mak.ac.ug

Like diseases, poverty can be chronic. Chronic poverty is thus a form of poverty that a person finds himself or herself in characterized by total lack of basic needs of life and means to access them. A person fails to solve even a simplest of a problem –not even prevent it.

Primitive health hazards and preventable environmental disasters besiege them that could otherwise be prevented in such modern times. It is beyond individuals’ conceptualize-able means to rid themselves out of it.

When chronic poverty forms it is tagged with ignorance and illness –all at very extreme levels which the individuals are critically and helplessly tied under. At this level the sufferer cannot even think and respond easily to revival options put forward by experts.

Among the Basoga, in Eastern Uganda, the situation is dire despite decades of overwhelming support to the national resistance government. The so-called leaders rewarded for mobilizing the kind of support have done completely nothing to doctor the situation. It is the famous individual merit at play while the population smells poverty.

The world was only shocked to learn late last year (2010) that Jiggers of the 1800s were eating up people in the region. It was such a public health disaster. The few weeks of vote-bribing by politicians occur only once in five years, less to change the situation. It is a temporary relief –which serves more the politician –who later goes to become millionaire.

The trend continues every election season without socioeconomic change at the grassroots. In the end what is important to politician is the safeguard of his or her position while the electorate continue to live in a mess.

When a given society or family is trapped under chronic poverty, generations after them will inherit the same phenomenon. And in years to come chronic poverty becomes an inter-generation issue, followed by spiritual one.

At spiritual levels individuals begin to look for divine intervention after failing to trust both their own abilities to change the situation and those of fellow men. It is no longer about ‘primitive’ or regressive behaviors common at this level; there will be a tendency to attribute the chronic poverty trap to angry gods or witch-crafts -which must be ‘exorcised’ out of the community.

Indeed chronic poverty can be broken down into several different human afflictions today like political and economic corruption, chronic lack of morals and ethics, deliberate yet chronic disrespect of public laws and the governed, degrading treatment of fellow citizens and denying them the rights of a citizen that a given state must grant, chronic lack of positive ambitions because of the many years of political repression, chronic insensitivity of civilian suffering and demands, total breakdown of community spirit and sense of belonging, persistent disregard for environment protection and senselessly endangering of life systems.

Despite the pressure from the wind of globalization blowing off indigenous knowledge systems, some areas or people are resistant and, instead, spread their own civilization. Such can be neglected by the rest of the world as no-investment zones.

Lack of a coordinated approach towards complimenting or supporting immediate knowledge systems becomes another element of chronic poverty among key global players. Focus, however, should on that knowledge that can stand the test of times.

And, while change, regardless of the benefits it can bring, it is resisted. There are special cases of people who not only fail to notice the benefits of change, but simply find it difficult to adjust to anything new. They are naturally inclined to living in comfort zones; never on their own yield transformational ideas for the society they live by.

As some motivation theorists suggest, it can necessitate use of force to positively transform the lives of individual. That is change that is specially designed to transform the lives of the ‘marginalized’ groups.

However, there may be dire lack of interest from stakeholders or internal players in ventures that require use of constructive force to change the life of a given community. In Somalia, the crisis is so appalling that the Somali people themselves are chronically trapped in the conflict and, uncontrollably, losing life and property.

In spite of critical efforts of the international community to change their situation, they, in turn, have fought such changes. The loss of life and property is also perpetuated by determination of individuals affected by shortfalls in the economy to live above it by any means –including robbery and murders. It is disturbing to note that not even Uganda’s famous system of justice (mob justice) can eliminate anti-social means of escaping chronic poverty.

In Uganda, the chronic poverty looms at the expense of leadership comfort and wishes far above the needs of the population. Weeks after purchase of fighter jets at the cost of shillings 1.2 trillion, members of parliament have worked out their way to receive new expensive cars at the cost of shillings 71.2 billion and are at the verge of increasing their salaries –all at the cost of closed rural health centers, lack of drugs, inflation and meager salaries of public servants.

Behind a very national or community problem is the chronic deficiency of genuine leadership. Until leaders come down and empathize with the grass root people, they can never be in position to finally liberate communities from their troubles.

As the leadership takes shape, families and individuals too begin to discover meaning in life; appropriate life goals and parameters to attaining them. This leadership is provided at different levels: family, community, national, regional and global levels. Inadequacy at any of them slows down efforts to eliminate chronic poverty or make its fight most challenging.