The 2016 Ugandan presidential elections are in just over two weeks and we’ve somehow timed our site visits perfectly with some presidential rallies happening in a few small towns in Central Uganda. After a long day at the field, we returned to our hotel to see a campaign handing out cold hard cash for votes.
How much do you think it costs to buy a vote? Let’s play! Price is right rules. Answer to come in my next post! Bonus points to those who want to comment about how much it costs to buy an American vote these days… In the meantime, I thought I’d share some other cost of living snippets of life so far here in Uganda. Rent: $100-500 per bedroom per month
Plastic soda bottle: 60 cents
Curious about other costs? Let me know! My general observations is that “stuff” isn’t as cheap as you might think, probably because most of it is imported. However, food and then time / labor costs are pretty low. An example of this is that taxis and private hires all charge only on distance and not time. Given the Kampala traffic, this was surprising to me. A short, cheap ride could last 5 minutes or 20 minutes depending on the time of day, but it’d cost you the same amount. The culture here is very relaxed when it comes to time. Meetings unapologetically start or end late…or just get cancelled after you’ve already arrived. We once told data collectors to come pick up their money and materials for field visits and then due to some bank delays made them wait around THREE hours before we starting handing things out. While I was anxious and embarrassed leaving them to sit around the office waiting, I don’t think we got one complaint or question about when things would get started. That was insane to me and I’ve realized I place such a high value on time – both my own but also respecting others’ time. This probably stems from all the hours I “wasted” sitting alone waiting at the Millbrae BART station…just kidding Mom. 5/13/2017 01:09:18 pm
It is surely a cheap way to buy a vote but glad people in Uganda some how know how to use the vote and if someone wants to buy their vote how to cash it out. In our country here, it is so much easy to buy a vote, might just cost you only Rs. 100 Comments are closed.
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AuthorI'm eager to learn about the world around me and find that travel (and food) is one of my favorite ways in which to do so. Archives
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