Imagine how cheap and time saving it would be to get information from the district website for a job seeker, a company looking for tender, an investor looking for investment opportunities and a journalist looking for news.
Which investor can stand the hustle of moving, for instance to the Western Uganda rural district of Bundibugyo traversing through the mountainous poor roads looking for investment opportunities? And if he/she doesn’t go there, who loses?
A simple ‘click’ to a district website, unlocks all its potentials to whoever is interested in just seconds.
A website also provides many online free services a district can utilize to attract investments, fundraise for funds to manage a catastrophe, attract international development organizations, etc which at the end of the day improves on the livelihoods of the people. Google maps is one of them which can help a given district locate the investment needs of particular area complete with contact information. Such information helps an investor get background information and weighs the options first before wasting his/her fuel, time and energy moving to particular area. Through internet searches, some investors can actually land on investment opportunities accidentally in a given district because of a mere web presence.
Of course, many policy makers at the national and district levels are computer illiterate and need a lot of effort to convince them avail funds for such online projects. Even if such funds are availed, many district information officers lack skills in website management, also districts lack funds to employ ICT officers and therefore, they (districts) always seek the services of ICT experts who charge huge sums of money coupled with kick backs which makes it hard to sustain.
As a result of the above, the website becomes almost irrelevant like most government departments websites which are characterized with outdated information. Hahaha! I was sharing with a friend recently who works in a rural district in Western Uganda. His district chairperson was humiliated recently at an international ICT workshop after the district website was opened to the workshop participants with a photo and profile of the previous district boss and his former fierce political opponent as the current district chairperson.
Apart from reducing on the humiliations, timely and accurate information on the internet reduces on the workload for the district staff and saves the environment because car fuel which emits carbon dioxide to the atmosphere causing global warming will not be unnecessarily wasted for someone looking for information related to the district.
Besides, it is another way of safely and permanently keeping records. Records archived on the website are easy to access and face few threats to destruction for instance information regarding a tender
which was advertised four years ago will only be a search away on the district website making it more easy than unpacking boxes of papers to look for it.
God forbid! Think of fire gutting down the office, and destroying ‘a million dollar’ documents with no back up on the internet or being stolen by thieves or corrupt officers who want to hide evidence. Won’t it be a disastrous loss?
A website is also an avenue to ensure that leaders are accountable to the people. If properly updated people will get an opportunity to monitor funds and projects implemented by the district through press
releases, downloads of reports, news, etc. If the district leadership contacts are well posted on the internet, it helps bridge the communication gap between the people and their leaders.
I know what the district technical staff are going through during such an election period as the district politician’s demand for reports to account to the people in return for votes. Imagine, if the reports were well arranged on the district website, how easy it would be for them to account to their electorates. Mind you! A lot of Uganda print and broadcast journalists get information for their stories through online research therefore, online presence would actually simply the work of the politicians and the district technical staff and resources which would otherwise be spent paying for radio programs because from point A, the people would be awash with information regarding the work of the district leadership if the website technical staff consistently uploads press releases and reports for the convenience of both print and broadcast journalists.
As the 2011 Uganda general elections approaches, you have to critically analyze the manifestos of the political candidates, ask them questions and see what they have to offer as regards information dissemination and internet presence and then cast your vote.
Of course, many people in Uganda are computer illiterate and will only vote those who take them for bull roasting, buys them alcohol, soap and sugar without caring much about web presence of their districts and its benefits to them. The educated should think of how a website will help change the lives of their parents, neighbors, relatives, etc after attracting an investor who constructs a processing factory for their tomatoes. That line of thinking will help them sensitize people to enable them make better decisions when casting their votes.
For policy makers, the benefits of increasing funding for ICT’s especially for staff training, paying for internet access, website costs and of course buying computers are enormous. Therefore, this is a humble appeal to the policy makers to do the needful! Wikipedia, news websites, tour and travel companies’ websites and websites of NGO’s have done a good job to avail information regarding particular districts on the internet. But, we should not over depend on them because their interests, NOT the interests of particular districts take first priority.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
My best three songs. These are the ones!
Homecoming by Kanye West
Te Amo by Rihanna
Hey Ya by Outkasts
Te Amo by Rihanna
Hey Ya by Outkasts
Uganda-Western street begging, not so much different!
It is a common scene to see lame and elderly people or children on the streets of Ugandan city, Kampala seated on strategic positions near banks, busy streets, supermarkets and taxi stages holding boxes, plates or cups begging people for anything ranging from money to food. For some its a career, while others, unbearable circumstances force them to beg.
Most people in Uganda beg as a result of their physical disability, poverty and displacements. Displacements are in most cases caused by war and famine.
Street kids, women and the elderly from the famine and drought affected Karamoja region, war hit Northern Uganda and South Sudan are the most common beggars on Kampala streets.
Many people in Uganda have also made a career out of begging, a friend of Solomon called Paul from Eastern Uganda recently told him of a rich beggar - without any physical disabilities - in Mbale town of Eastern Uganda, who has made a fortune out of begging. 'At his level, he has a lot of money because he always helps people with change.'
Although begging can bring happiness to some, after a good days harvest. To others, it can be quite annoying especially, when young beggars especially, street children aggressively follow people and sometimes dirtening their dresses in the process of asking for money.
Its no surprise, that there are beggars too in the rich western countries. A Slovenian friend Gregor Strehovec recently said, there are poor people everywhere in the world, meaning there are beggars everywhere in the World. Slovenia is a country in Western Europe.
However, begging styles are different from country to country basing on the legal framework, technological development and societal norms. Countries like USA where begging is banned or highly restricted in some of its cities like Chicago, San Francisco and Santa Cruz, people have adopted other ways of begging like online begging.
In India, the Hindu religion encourages spiritual people known as Sadhus beg for food to enable them do their spiritual work uninterrupted. They also view begging as a noble practice which promotes humility and gratitude.
In Uganda, grown up street children are adopting new ways of begging because people go on losing sympathy for them as they grow old. Now, they use young children who are always lined up on busy Kampala streets to collect money on their behalf.
In some western cities, people from poor countries are sometimes forced by organized gangs to beg on their behalf.
Srehovec says begging in Europe inst so much different from Uganda, ' like Uganda, European beggars are always strategically positioned in busy city streets wearing dirty clothing, the only difference, European beggars are mostly old people without physical disabilities. A few physically handicapped beggars in Slovenia are mostly, from the war affected parts of Europe like Bosnia.'
Unlike Ugandan beggars, Strehovec says European beggars also earn a lot of money and have organizations to cater for their basic necessities of life, 'in Slovenia beggars can earn up-to over 50 Euros a day, which is a good amount for their survival. There is also an organization called Kings of the street, which provides them with food and clothing.'
Most people in Uganda beg as a result of their physical disability, poverty and displacements. Displacements are in most cases caused by war and famine.
Street kids, women and the elderly from the famine and drought affected Karamoja region, war hit Northern Uganda and South Sudan are the most common beggars on Kampala streets.
Many people in Uganda have also made a career out of begging, a friend of Solomon called Paul from Eastern Uganda recently told him of a rich beggar - without any physical disabilities - in Mbale town of Eastern Uganda, who has made a fortune out of begging. 'At his level, he has a lot of money because he always helps people with change.'
Although begging can bring happiness to some, after a good days harvest. To others, it can be quite annoying especially, when young beggars especially, street children aggressively follow people and sometimes dirtening their dresses in the process of asking for money.
Its no surprise, that there are beggars too in the rich western countries. A Slovenian friend Gregor Strehovec recently said, there are poor people everywhere in the world, meaning there are beggars everywhere in the World. Slovenia is a country in Western Europe.
However, begging styles are different from country to country basing on the legal framework, technological development and societal norms. Countries like USA where begging is banned or highly restricted in some of its cities like Chicago, San Francisco and Santa Cruz, people have adopted other ways of begging like online begging.
In India, the Hindu religion encourages spiritual people known as Sadhus beg for food to enable them do their spiritual work uninterrupted. They also view begging as a noble practice which promotes humility and gratitude.
In Uganda, grown up street children are adopting new ways of begging because people go on losing sympathy for them as they grow old. Now, they use young children who are always lined up on busy Kampala streets to collect money on their behalf.
In some western cities, people from poor countries are sometimes forced by organized gangs to beg on their behalf.
Srehovec says begging in Europe inst so much different from Uganda, ' like Uganda, European beggars are always strategically positioned in busy city streets wearing dirty clothing, the only difference, European beggars are mostly old people without physical disabilities. A few physically handicapped beggars in Slovenia are mostly, from the war affected parts of Europe like Bosnia.'
Unlike Ugandan beggars, Strehovec says European beggars also earn a lot of money and have organizations to cater for their basic necessities of life, 'in Slovenia beggars can earn up-to over 50 Euros a day, which is a good amount for their survival. There is also an organization called Kings of the street, which provides them with food and clothing.'
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