I wish to give Ugandan civil servants some advice. Most of them, especially teachers, toil a lot for money. Everyone fights for a job to improve one’s financial position and live a better life.
However, merely getting a job is not enough to achieve this goal. It is therefore incumbent upon an individual to plan strategically in retirement and avoid the curse of working for money instead of money work for him! The madness of going to streets to demonstrate about financial unfairness will not help this country. Uganda is a developing country with a lot of economic potholes. We should learn to keep something aside for a rainy day.
We should learn to purchase only assets that we can afford and avoid purchasing liabilities that we cannot afford to maintain.
For instance, I would not expect a primary school teacher with his meagre salary to buy a nokia 6220 phone instead of an ox, marry a second wife instead of building a house for the first and only wife. It is rational that one begins planning for retirement the very day one gets employed.
Doing this will enable even the young to get jobs. As one begins to earn, one should strive to create more on his asset column and less or nothing on the liability column so that when time for retirement comes, he already has a ‘tree’ to give him enough fruits and shade.
Robert Kyosaki’s novel Rich Dad Poor Dad puts this advice more clearly. Please read it.
Robert Emmanuel Owiny Makerere University
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