Inflation and Costs of Living in Uganda

For context: The current inflation rate is about 30%.

2011 has not been the best year for Uganda. It marks a year of soaring inflation, load shading (load shedding?), strikes, riots, increased police presence in an attempt to suppress further demonstrations and riots, increasing dissatisfaction with the government and further revelations of continued government corruption (although this last point is not unique to 2011, as I've been told countless times).

Those who lived through the Bush Wars and experienced pre-Museveni governments (times I like to dub from what I've heard about them, "the madness era") don't think it's so bad now. "Sure, there's a lot of corruption in the government. But it's better than what it was like before." That's a common statement I hear. It's all relative, I suppose.

Experiencing Uganda as an Outsider is weird because I can see the potential of the country if the current government perhaps cared as much as they did in the '80s. There's more money in the country than I initially thought -- but billions of shillings are being moved to the offshore accounts of some politicians. "Allegedly".

But true change can only happen "for the people by the people". It's a cliched saying for a reason.