Transparency: "The Great Absent" of our Society.

Our society is so familiar with titles. We have gotten so used to attaching titles to people, to places, countries, certain years, to things, situations, and so forth. We have heard of John Paul the Great Pope, Alexander the Great Ruler, Uganda the pearl of Africa, the great kings in history, the great City of Rome, Justice – the mother of all virtues, the “man of God”, the “man of all season”, among others. In this disquisition, I wish to unmask another title bestowed upon this age-old pro-moral principle – Transparency – The Great Absent.

At the beginning of this article, I wish to adduce as pertinent to the topic in question, the words of the former Mother General of the Missionary Sisters of Mary Mother of the Church (MSMMC), Sr. Sophia Asiimwe. In her public lecture of April 2021 to a group of young men preparing to join the formation to the priesthood in the diocese of Lira, Northern Uganda. The crux of her message was epitomized in the following lines: “In this contemporary world overshadowed with egoism and darkened by the wave of relativism, being transparent; honest and sincere can be a tough thing, yet at the same time, it is truly the only known means by which people can see through you.” This message is not just a word for a religious group of young adults, but, actually, a guide for people of all walks of life. In fact, it becomes more relevant to reflect upon at a time like this, a time when the rottenness of our country’s political system is evidently undoubtable. It is a time where probably even the blind might have caught a glimpse of it; the deaf must have sensed the echoes of its veranda talks as Ugandans laments the looming decay of a once conscientious country’s political and moral integrity. We have lost it all, not only in the political and administrative domain, but in fact, in all spheres of life! Both the elders and the youngsters have slowly come to embrace it as the new normal. They simply say: This is Uganda! This is the modern world!  Even those remnants who condemn this decay only do so in moments of financial deficiency, give them money and they will go into slumber, they will disappear from the scene at once, and from behind the curtain, they will enjoy and dance to the melodies of this civilized symphony of moral decadence. Maybe I am from the old school, or rather, I come from the bush and this new civilization is too alien to me. But we are quite aware of what transpires in the cultural institutions of this country, in the civil society, families and political landscape, let alone the religious institutions. Besides, how shall we convince the future generation to believe that our courts of judicature and houses of justice are not operative on the basis of who-do-you-know, and yet they are under the watchmanship of a whole ministry of Justice and constitutional affairs? Does the judiciary and its constitution still dispense justice or they went for a holiday? Shall we say that this country’s parliament is still a house of legislation or in a bid to cope up with civilization, has transformed into a national theatre, where jokes are endlessly cracked to the amazement of the citizens, who at the end praise the best joke makers for scoring the highest rating marks?

For God and my country, we ought to perform over and above this mediocre yardstick. Who can deny the fact that our country has been ravaged by the vices of corruption and injustice in all spheres of life? In fact, I must say at once that the power of accountability lies in saying “No!” to impunity and “Yes!” to transparency and justice, but unfortunately, this has quickly become a mere talk of the past. Greed, corruption, abuse of power, nepotism, disloyalty, envy, incontinence, all forms of injustice and the politics of give-me-I-give-you has finally arrived in full force!

Fellow countrymen and countrywomen, what happened to our once incredibly transparent society? How shall we rediscover this forgotten treasure? If we must realize the desired moral change our world today thirsts for, that the Ugandan society direly yearns for, trekking this old path of transparency shall surely be inevitable, so much so that we should in effect, be the change we desire, because, ultimately, it all begins with us and within us.

Though its contemporary conceptualization has no firm grounding in moral philosophy, transparency is closely related to the Aristotelian virtue of justice, the philosophical concept of truth, and the biblical Truth, and no explanation can ever be enough to prove otherwise.  Taking recourse to philosophy, Aristotle, in the De Anima, defines the transparent as “that which is visible, though not visible in itself, but owing its visibility to the colour of another thing” (De Anima ii. 7 418b4-6). It therefore, follows that the transparent is the medium between the perceiver and the objects of perception. It is no different in our case, each of us, members of the human family, and particularly, citizens of this country, must be visible enough, though owing our visibility to God – the most visible. The transparency demanded of us is that of being a medium through which other people, the society can look through in times of hardships and see hope – a reason to keep going (because as the apostle Paul tells us in Romans 5:5, hope never disappoints,) in times of weakness and encounter strength, of confusion and find direction, of sorrow and meet consolation.

Dear reader(s), at the apex of our daily struggles, should sit enthroned the need of becoming better persons, so transparent that people see through us. Analogously, in my own conviction, the life of every human person, ought to be like a glass of water, that people are able to see through, that though shaken, is certain of resettling in purity. As a country, as the human race, and as individual persons, we need this radical conversion of mindset and character. Consequently, we ought to be able to radiate this revolution and inspire love, hope, courage, justice, prudence, good governance, altruism, and all virtues to all we encounter and in all our dealings by the witness of our transparent lives, fully blended with virtues in a kind of an idiosyncrasy which transforms us into transparent glasses, through which the society can see light. By this, our country and our world may hope to one day dispel this darkness that have devouringly engulfed us.

As I make my discourse, I am quite aware that our lives may indeed not be perfect, and yet our quest for holiness and becoming better, more virtuous persons, must never cease. And so, qualities like resilience, self-control, positive thinking, life of purpose, competence, creativity and the likes must surely be part of the deal. But most significantly, at all stages of life, in all places and at all times, this forgotten treasure: transparency, which our contemporary world seems to have labelled as old-fashioned, forgetting the fact that old is gold, must take the center stage. While traversing this quickly changing world, rejuvenating this pro-ethical principle of Transparency which has now become The Great Absent in our society should be our full-time business, and, our being at the forefront of its revival amidst all oppositions is, but a sign of possibilities, a reason to hope for a better world, free from corruption, immorality and injustice, then we shall be able to resound this motto again with sincere hearts: For God and my Country