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An African Perspective....
A blog of Solomon Akugizibwe
Tuesday, December 26, 2023
Friday, July 17, 2020
Memory of Solomon Akugizibwe in Holland
Hague city |
When I got a job in Fort Portal doing
development work, I was this adventurous young man who had a lot of appetite to
tour the world. I used to apply for any travel opportunity available. I vividly
remember in a very short period of time, I had toured Kenya, Ethiopia,
Tanzania, South Africa, Holland and Sweden.
Touring those countries was a very
exciting experience because I was able to make new friends, meet new people,
see new great cities, and experience new cultures. The adventurism also
radicalized my opposition against the Uganda dictatorship because I went to
countries where governance institutions were working. You could see no traffic
jams in cities far bigger than Kampala.
While travelling to Holland for a two
weeks (16th
– 27th September 2013) training in journalism at RNTC, I made an arrangement to meet a Dutch lady I had heard of
from friends in Uganda called Ms. Marije Boot to discuss more on the projects
she is implementing in Uganda. Fortunately, when I was in Holland, I kept in
contact with the Dutch lady. I remember, I had no phone in Holland, after class
I sent the Dutch lady a message that I was going to board a train from Hilversum
to Utrecht where the Dutch lady was.
Utrecht city |
In Hilversum I boarded a train to
Utrecht, I wasn’t even sure of reaching since I had never travelled to Utrecht.
I found the Dutch lady waiting for me at the train station in Utrecht. She was
really happy, I was also very happy meeting her for the first time. I remember
seeing her giving five Euros to a homeless person at the train station.
She took me to a storied house in
Utrecht built in the 14th century. Again, we went to a restaurant
next to a canal and had a nice dinner. I remember we also went to a bar where I
took hot water and a beer because it was very cold.
Utrecht city had a lively night life
because the city has many universities and always full with university students.
Utrecht had many canals and highly organized just like most cities in Holland
which made the city’s scenery much more beautiful.
Amsterdam city |
I had never been to Europe before and
Holland was the first European country I stepped in and stayed there for two
weeks. I was staying in a hotel next to Bussum Nord Railway Station in
Hilversum and I was chauffeured to the hotel in a state of the art Mercedes
Benz chauffeured by a white gentleman. In Uganda, I have never seen such a
Mercedes Benz being used as a special hire taxi. I was staying in a community
of internationals from Nepal, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Nigeria,
Tanzania, Peru, Kenya, India, Mozambique, Pakistan, Netherlands and South
Africa among others.
I remember my first day to fully visit
Amsterdam & Hague was when our school organized a tour of the two cities.
In Amsterdam we travelled almost the whole city via the so many canals. I saw
landmark buildings, the red-light district (legal prostitution areas), the coffee
shops (legal marijuana shops) which was an interesting experience.
Hilversum city |
In Holland, I had many colleagues with
diverse cultures because they were coming from different countries across the
world which was interesting for me because, I would always learn something new.
Even the rich, superstars, politicians
ride bicycles in Holland. I think this bicycle riding culture was created by
the geography because the whole country is flat and swampy. In the whole
country, there are only one or two very tiny hills which people are so much
proud of.
Dutch people are always fast in
everything except responding to emails because they walk very fast, do work
fast and on time. The Dutch society looks like a nonsense society and I think
that partly explains why it’s a developed society.
I
will soon be publishing a memoir titled, "From Holland to Uganda."
Sunday, December 27, 2015
Why I will still vote for Dr. Besigye in the 2016 Uganda Elections
I have
been supporting Dr. Kiizza Besigye ever since 2001 when he started contesting
for the Uganda Presidential Elections. I never liked him because he is was a
Medical Doctor, Westerner like me or because he was a high ranking military
official at the rank of a Colonel. My reason for liking him is very simple, “he
is terribly a honest man” and has the best vision for Uganda manifested through
his consistent political actions over the years.
Dr Kiiza
Besigye comes from a very wealthy family, his father [Kifefe] was a very rich
business man in Rukungiri District during those days [owning a petrol station
in Rukungiri Town]. In addition, Besigye was one of the bright minds at the
time who went on to pursue a Bachelors Degree of Medicine & Surgery at the
prestigious Makerere University, Kampala [by that time - even today - medicine
was for the brightest minds in the country].
After
his studies, Besigye went to work as a medical Doctor at Agha Khan Hospital in
Nairobi, Kenya which is one of the best health facilities in the world at a
time when medical education was highly prized and medical Doctors were in short
supply.
He never
stopped at that, he left the comfort of his well paying job at Agha Khan
Hospital in Nairobi in the early 1980’s to join Yoweri Kaguta Museveni in the
Bush and liberate the country from a dictatorship of Obote II.
In 1999,
as a high ranking military official, he openly broke ranks with president
Museveni for diverting from the core objectives that took them to the gruelling
5 year bush war that left an enormous destruction on people’s property and
caused an enormous loss of life to the country. Since then, he has sustained the struggle against
the Museveni dictatorship, not on personal hatred as some people would like to
assume but on principle.
Despite
his status, he has constantly suffered enormous public humiliations at the
hands of a brutal regime through constant arrests and torture but remained on
track. I had spent long without meeting him physically, but recently on his
campaign trail in Western Uganda, I had an opportunity to have a long chat with
him at Travelers Inn Hotel, Fort Portal on 15th December, 2015 at
night.
Together,
with the District Executive headed by Ms. Nyakato Rusoke and the national FDC campaign
team including FDC President, Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu, Ms. Ingrid Turinawe,
Hon. Nzou Stephen (MP) and the Rukungiri Municipality MP among others we
discussed wide ranging issues like the progress of the 2016 campaign, FDC
manifesto among others.
Dr.
Besigye was still the same person I met in 2011 with the same zeal and
determination to liberate the country from dictatorship and create
opportunities for Ugandans.
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
A centre where Uganda youth get friendly health services
I
felt touched, shocked and sympathy finding many young pregnant girls and many
young people unwell because of suffering caused by STDs like HIV/AIDs which are
preventable and manageable although considered a curse in many of our
communities. The interesting things were also quite many.
This
was during a visit to Naguru Teenage and Information Centre (NTIC) in
Kampala, Uganda with other African journalists from countries like Nigeria,
Zambia, Uganda, etc on Monday, 19th May 2015. The Centre is located
in an upscale Kampala area of Bugolobi.
However,
on the other hand, the visit was interesting and quite surprising because it
was new to me since I come from a rural area finding many entertaining
activities like games for many young Uganda girls and boys in a health
facility.
In
many health facilities especially in the rural areas where I come from, many
health workers are not friendly and the environment looks intimidating in
addition to lack of adequate facilities like drugs which was not the case at
NTIC.
The
many entertaining activities are aimed at making them feel at home when
accessing the health services according to one of the staff we found at the
reception.
Naguru Teenage Information Centre |
We
were ushered in the centre by the centre coordinator called Martin Byamugisha who
was very friendly. I noticed many interesting things which are youth friendly
like a TV screen playing the latest movies, many indoor games like darts, a big
hall capable of accommodating between 50 – 70 people at a time.
The
centre is also well located in a hideout just behind Kiswa Health Centre III to
ensure the privacy of the young people when accessing health services.
Another
interesting observation was the many condom boxes which were pinned on the
notice board of the centre for the youth accessing the centre to use for free
whenever they needed them.
I
also found the darts board very interesting because it had all the information
about the centre and the services that it offers to the youth meaning that you
would ‘kill two birds with one stone’ by playing darts at the same time
understanding the many services offered by the centre.
Also,
most of the walls at the centre were covered with posters with great pictures
of celebrities like Bobi Wine taking about sexual reproductive health, like HIV/AIDS,
teenage pregnancy, condoms, etc.
Amazed
by the interesting services offered by the centre, I decided to venture further
and had a discussion about the centre with one of the beneficiary who had come
to access treatment.
“They
have good treatment for many diseases and communicate well with us, besides, I
don’t need to pay any money to access services.” Said one of the Teenagers
called John, not his real name
John
adds, “I fear to tell my parents when suffering some diseases like gonorrhoea because
they will think I play sex. However, I don’t fear sharing my problems with the
staff at the centre.”
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Tangible actions needed to uplift the livelihoods of the minority communities
The 1995 Uganda constitution (Chapter 4) clearly defines
and protects the rights of the marginalized and minority population groups
because inclusion of the minorities in governance is a fundamental requirement
for any democratic society.
Article 36 of the 1995 Uganda constitution goes ahead to
clearly state, “Minorities have a right
to participate in decision making processes and their views and interests shall
be taken into account in the making of the national plans and programmes.”
The Basongora cultural leader. |
However, no clear affirmative action has been instituted
by both the local and central governments to ensure effective participation of
the minority groups evidenced by earmarking specific resources for particular
marginalised/minority communities, having representatives of the minority
communities in the local government planning, budgeting and decision making
processes, etc.
The Uganda Local Government Act (1997) which aims at
decentralising power from the central government to the local grassroots to
ensure good governance and democratic participation doesn’t provide any
position in the district or Sub County councils for a representative of the
minority community.
In many cases, since the minority communities remain
outside the mainstream governance institutions at both local and central
governments, they have remained poor, are landless and ignorant and hence not
organised to lobby for any fruitful action from the government.
The dominant communities have even tried to forcefully
grab their communal land for the benefit of their own kinsmen for instance in
Kasese District conflicts have been widespread between the Basongora indigenous
minority tribe and Bakonjo dominant tribe over the later tribe trying to grab
communal land for the Basongora tribe.
Such conflicts have even claimed the lives of people and
have led to the invasion of an environmentally sensitive area like the Queen
Elizabeth National Park. Elective politics has worsened the situation in a
country where politics are mostly based on tribal affiliations.
Government has not made any effort to ‘ring fence’ certain positions for the minority communities like
it has done for women, youth and the disabled. For instance in Budibugyo
District both Sub County councils and the district councils are not represented
by the minority Batwa Communities.
In kasese district, the Banyabindi are not also
represented at all on both the District and Sub County Councils. Still in
Kasese, in a district council of over 50 councilors, the Basongora are only
represented by one person whose impact is almost negligible in a council where
voting on vital service delivery and other governance decisions is based on
numbers.
Since government provides all the necessary services
necessary for improved well-being of its population, areas with the highest
concentration of the minority tribes have been suffocated of basic service
delivery like roads, schools, health centers, safe water, etc. There have been
so many instances in Kasese district where health units, roads, water points,
etc are constructed in areas with the highest concentration of the dominant
community suffocating areas settled by the minority tribes of vital service
delivery.
Surprisingly, the minority communities especially in
Kasese (Basongora, Banyabindi, Banyanyanja and Bakingwe) faced both colonial
and post-colonial injustices because their ancestral lands used for communal
grazing were taken up by the government to set up Queen Elizabeth National
Park, Mubuku
and Ibuga Prison Farms, Ibuga Refugee Settlement Scheme, Hima Army Production Farm, Mubuku Irrigation Scheme, Hima Cement Factory among others.
The indigenous minority communities were displaced from their ancestral
lands without compensation and prior preparation to enable them tap on the
projects/initiatives which were set up by the government of the day.
All the above injustices which were against both national and
international legal minority rights frameworks for minority communities rights
like the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples and the Universal Declaration on Human Rights which Uganda
is a signatory and the Uganda Constitution (1995). The above injustices have also rendered the minority communities poor, illiterate and hence
vulnerable to more governance injustices.
To uplift the livelihoods of the minority communities, there is need
for an affirmative action to ensure minorities are included in all the
democratic engagements at both local and central governments. This can be done
through ‘ring fencing’ some political and maybe civil service positions for the
minorities similar to what Tanzania has done for the Albino community.
Monday, August 20, 2012
Negligence of Uganda medical workers causing thousands of deaths, government needs to improve on their motivation.
Like all young ladies who are giving birth for their first time, in the month of June, 2012, Nancy Kabanyoro shifted from her place of work in Masindi district to the comfort of her mother in Kabarole District to give birth. She wasn’t aware that the journey was the beginning of her end.
She finally managed to
give birth after an operation at Virika Hospital, Fort Portal. However, the
operation was the actual beginning of her end because it was done badly due to
negligence of some health workers at the hospital. Virika is a private hospital
owned by the Catholic Church but partially supported by the Uganda Government.
Nancy Kabanyoro |
After a long struggle
for over 2 months as a result of bad operation, she had her last breathe on the
night of 15th, August, 2012. On Friday, 17th June, 2012,
we laid her to rest at her ancestral home in Kibiito Sub County, Kabarole
District.
Actually, rumor which
has not yet been confirmed has it that she was actually operated on by an
intern student without proper supervision and the family is gathering more
information to sue the hospital for such negligence. Five more other operations
were conducted at Nsambya Hospital but it was too late to save a life of a 29
year old lady who was just starting a family. Fortunately, the baby is well and
healthy.
This case is just a tip
of an iceberg and portrays a true picture of the state of Uganda health sector;
there are thousands of such cases in many Ugandan Hospitals and health centers
causing thousands of deaths every month. Stories of a nurse leaving a patient on
a drip, patients bleeding to death as a result of medical workers negligence
among others are very common in the Ugandan media today? Mind you, it is not
only negligence of medical, many are much more committed even with the little
pay but lack basic facilities to enable them do their work.
For the record, I was
born at Virika Hospital during Obote II and the stories I hear from people who
are much older than me say that the hospital services especially the care were
quite better compared to now. Health workers were much more committed to their
work than today, their attitude towards patients and work was also much better.
Even during the first ten years of President Museveni government, you could
really see the commitment; you could feel much more care in such public health
facilities like Virika Hospital.
Today, you can really
see negligence by health workers in almost all public health facilities, I was
not surprised when Bidandi Ssali appealed for medical help from government to
allow him go abroad for treatment because he has been in government and is much
aware of the state of the health sector, he can’t trust his life with Ugandan
Doctors and Nurses because he knows they are not happy with the meager pay and
funding to the health sector.
Ugandan leaders have no
care because they are sure of better services abroad, everyone has been
complaining of brain drain of Ugandan medical workers even to countries like
Rwanda. Those who have remained in Uganda actually spend 80 percent of their
time in private health facilities trying to make ends meet which leaves them
exhausted with no time to concentrate and make proper prescriptions, treatment
and even basic surgeries.
In addition to meager
pay for medical workers by the government, Ugandan health facilities lack even
the basic facilities to enable mothers deliver comfortably like surgical kits.
The American diplomats were not stupid to question the impact of the $ 400
million the US government donates to the Ugandan health sector since the
country’s health sector remains in a deplorable state.
Young mothers like Nancy
are the future of this country, they have a lot to contribute to the
development of this country but they are not well connected and have no
resources to access better medical treatment and care from abroad.
The Uganda government
therefore needs to wake up and increase on the national resource allocation to
the health sector, improve on the salaries and other welfare of medical workers
to avoid young mothers like Nancy who are bread winners to their families die
at such productive years and as a result of negligence by medical workers due
to lack of motivation as a result of a meager salary and limited resource
allocation to the health sector to enable it properly function.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
How rich is Sam Kuteesa?
Sam Kuteesa |
However, his recent oil scandals have made a very convincing defense for The Red Pepper’s claims. Everyone can now believe that the man is a super thief and mega rich.
Imagine! In a period of 4 months, Sam Kuteesa had received a bribe of 17.5 million Euros an equivalent of 64 billion Uganda shillings from Tullow oil for oil exploration and production contracts.
This is enough money to pay 22 million Ugandan primary school teachers for a whole year at a salary of 250,000 per month. Uganda doesn’t even have 22 million primary school teachers.
It is enough money to fully fund the Uganda ICT ministry for 5 years. It is enough money to fund Mulago referral hospital for 2 years. It is enough money to fund all the district hospitals for 12 years.
Since joining this government, Sam Kuteesa has been involved in every corruption scandal starting from privatization, Chogm and now oil.
This is the man who even failed Uganda Airlines for his own personal interests. He now has a monopoly called Entebbe Handling services (ENHAS) which makes millions of profits everyday.
If you want to know Kuteesa’s monetary worth, count his ‘salary’ and the number of years he has been in government as an influential figure.
For further information to help you in your calculations, the recent oil scandals has proved that Kuteesa earns a ‘salary’ of 64 billions every 4 months and he has been in government as a highly influential and senior figure for more than a decade - The day his daughter married the first son – Col. Muhoozi Keinerugaba.
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