While growing up, we were taught both in schools and at home that the Crested Crane was a very sacred bird in the country because it was the country's national bird symbol.
We were taught that the Crested Crane bird must therefore be protected jelousy and preserved at all times.
This is what was inculcated in all of us and we grew up revering the national bird. It didn't matter whether you came from areas where the bird is common or from areas where the bird was a rare sight like many of us in Busoga. It was a national bird in which we all took pride.
But alas! Things seem to have taken a dramatic change over years. Just as people have stopped caring about government properties and infrastructure so they seem to have turned against the Crested Crane.
These days we often get dreadful reports of vandalisation of government infrastructure such the cutting down of the high tension power lines, the uprooting of railways lines and the removal of road furnishings along all major newly constructed roads.
All this is done because there seems to exist a lucrative scrap metal market for these steel materials.
So, those who have found business in vandalising government infrastructure to earn money are continuing to cause mayhem without regard to the cost in damage that they cause to the country.
The perpetrators of these heinous acts don't get bothered at all of the loss and dangers that their actions plunge the country into, instead they only care of what their personal gains would be.
This is the reason we are now ending up with never ending loans which the government must take on in order to try and fix or replace what was destroyed by the vandals.
Cases in point are many to illustrate this absurdity. Recently, while carrying out her supervisory role at the soon to be commissioned Karuma Power Station, the Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. Nabanjja expressed dismay that the high tension power line that was built and meant to evacuate the generated power at Karuma to the Kawanda Power Regional Sub Station was vandalized by cutting down the power line pyrons.
In effect this means that even though the Karuma Power Station is now ready to generate power, the power turbines cannot be fired up because the power that they would be generating has no means of being transmitted to the national grid via the Kawanda power substation.
This therefore means that although this national asset for which government had to undertake a loan amounting to over $1.5bn to have it constructed is ready to produce its intended output, it can't do it untill the vandalized power line is fixed.
Obviously in order to fix this line, government will have to shop for yet another loan.
The same scenario has happened with the Uganda Railway venture. Under the mortgage contract that government entered in with the Kenyan firm RVR, almost all the country's railway infrastructure asset was removed or lost to vandalism. After the termination of that absurd contract, the government has had to to go in for three separate international loan fundings in order to enable the ongoing partial restoration and refurbishment of the country's railway transport system.
It is a known secret that the vandals on the railway line was done mostly by the Ugandans who considered immediate personal financial benefits as more satisfying than the preservation of a national asset that would benefit the wider community of Ugandans.
It is the spirit and attitude of selfishness that gradually gripped the country to the extent that our national pride in the protection and conservation of our national heritage exhibited in the Crested Crane bird is adversely undermined.
Two days ago, it was reported that at least 11 Crested Crane birds were killed by poisoning in apparently what appeared to be rice gardens in Lwengo District.
What is most disturbing is that this comes on the heels of yet another similar incident. In 2021, it was reported that 60 Crested Crane birds were found dead still in Lwengo District having been poisoned by local farmers.
The ongoing vandalisation of national infrastructure and the killing of the national heritage bird seem to have a common thread of message that must be scrutinized.
The obvious message to be deduced from the vandals is that people no longer value government property because they don't see it as theirs anymore!
The other message that can be derived from the killing of the Crested Crane is that people have ceased to value or see any meaning in being nationalists. They seem to be saying that since now everyone is for oneself, they too as farmers will do whatever it takes to survive even if it means getting rid of the birds that do descend down to eat up their rice gardens because they too actually need to have a living!
Sad as all this may sound, it is becoming the reality of the day!
In a state of affairs where everyone is for oneself and none for us all, the notion of nationalism and patriotism tend to take the back seat in people's hearts, perceptions and actions.
It is doubtful if any of those rice farmers in Lwengo don't know that the Crested Crane is a bird of national symbol to which we all as Ugandans are constitutionally bound to protect and conserve at all times.
It all points to the notion of the need to survive when everything in life becomes a challenge.
We can't forget a similar sad incident that happened five years ago when game poachers in the Queen Elizabeth National Park poisoned 11 Lions to death. It was a big blow to the conservation efforts of the Uganda Wildlife Authority but also to the country's international tourism credentials.
All these absurd things happening in our midst point to a need for serious scrutiny of the pissible root causes and appropriate mitigating interventions undertaken. Mere application of the law in punishing the culprits or perpetrators on its own won't be enough to stem away these actions.
Any intervention must also seek to address the hearts, perceptions and attitudes of the people on how they view these national assets.