Forced Choice Questions – Kasese Dilemmas

Forced Choice Questions – Kasese Dilemmas


“It is better to have free schooling for our children
Even if the quality of education is low”
Bearing in mind the agenda
Of the underlying assumptions

“Is it better for everyone to have a job
Even if it means average wages are low”
So why not ask people who earn US$1 a day
And ask them how they do it

“In order to develop the country
The government should have the power
To seize property without compensation”
If you were given the choice
Would you sabotage the future

“Since elections sometimes produce bad results
We should adopt other methods
For choosing this country’s leaders”
Just start imagining some of the choices

“Political parties create division
It is therefore unnecessary
To have many political parties in Uganda”
“Since the president represents all of us
He should pass laws without worrying
What the parliament thinks”

All we need is a patriotic media

Willy Bach © 2002

Footnote:
Written in Kasese at the time of the organizing of the Baseline Survey for the EU Civic Education Programme. Quoted lines are from the questionnaire document.

Photo by Willy Bach, November 2002, Kasese, Major General James Kazini’s hotel under construction, funded from his ‘business’ dealings in Ituri Province, DRC. This photo was taken with a telephoto lens from the town after having my film confiscated from me at gunpoint on the site. The hotel sits ‘gouged’ into a foothill of the Rwenzori Mountains.