Government and donor support to households will get Uganda out of poverty

Human beings are naturally selfish; I heard the other day that capitalism is embedded in people’s blood, heart and soul. Government or company workers will always drive government or company cars so badly simply because they are not theirs.

Carl Marx’s communism has also failed to work simply because it promotes communal work, communal ownership of properties, communal everything.

For instance, communism has failed to develop North Korea, Cuba and many other countries of the former USSR and East Germany. Despite its close proximity to the Asian Economic giants of South Korea, Japan and China, Communist North Korea remains a poor country likewise Cuba, despite its close proximity to the world’s superpower – USA, Fidel’s Castro’s country remains a third world country. The reason is simple,
communist systems do not provide for an extra reward or motivation for an extraordinary work done by an individual.

Communist China saw the light earlier. You can see where it is now – World’s number two economic giant after USA. Trust me people!, China only hides under the guise of communism maybe for propaganda reasons but it is number one capitalist country in the whole world. Recently, China has been in the world spotlight facing criticism for aggressively investing billions of money in many African countries without due regard for their bad records in human rights abuses and governance, the likes of Sudan and Zimbabwe. The reason for China’s aggressiveness is simple; it wants more resources to sustain its high levels of economic growth and development. China’s example is a high level of individualism at a country level.

Did I hear DJ Bush Baby of East Africa TV and radio in one of Uganda’s dailies recently saying that Tanzanians more than all the other people in the five East African countries are still sleeping because of Julius Nyerere’s UJAAMA policy which encouraged communal work and ownership of properties. That thinking will take long to get out of the people’s mind, I think, it is the reason why Tanzanians feared to join the East Africa’s political federation because they feared capitalistic Kenyan and Ugandan business people from taking over their businesses, land, etc and instead make them ‘slaves’ on their own land.

Imagine a hardworking person working on a communal project where some people are sick, some are lazy, some are naturally weak, some are dumb, etc. What will happen to the hardworking person after a day, a week, a month, a year, etc – reduced motivation to work because of no extra motivation like extra payment in recognition of her/his hard
work?

Uganda government, donors are now focusing on supporting group projects because to them, it’s a smart investment with capacity to ensure human economic development. Surely, group support is good when it comes to some issues like monitoring projects because people will easily check each other’s performance, in cases where mobilization of huge capital for big investments is necessary, community security but surprisingly, you will be shocked to find that many group projects fail because of selfish (individualistic) nature of human beings.

I was recently sharing with the Executive Director of a local NGO based in Fort Portal (Engabu Za Tooro) which supports group and individual entrepreneurship projects, he said, “Individual projects are flourishing but many group projects have failed to pick up”. There is a big lesson to learn from this experience? Individual interests are always at play, everyone wants to get something for her/his family at the expense of the sustainability of the group project.

The spirit of individualism coupled with poor administrative systems is the reason why corruption is ripe in Uganda, being a poor country with huge numbers of uneducated people who can’t put their leaders to account for their funds, it will always be easy for a government official to swindle billions of money meant for treating malaria, Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS for millions of people and instead use the money to pay for her/his kids school fees in expensive schools abroad, meet a medical bill of a family member outside the country, buy a posh residence in a developed country, etc.

People have been complaining of the Uganda government controlled National Agricultural advisory services (NAADS) for giving farmers substandard animal and seed breeds which are procured at exorbitant prices by people who get the NAADS contracts. Now, I hear that NAADS has set up a new guideline where money will be channeled directly to the farmers to procure the items.

Very few people can be selfish to themselves; people make many investment mistakes mainly because of ignorance. The new NAADS guideline is a plus to the institution because households will always strive to buy the best animal and crop breeds to improve on their household incomes.

Support to group projects is good but in areas where they can’t work, support to household projects should be a serious option for consideration by donors and government if the country is to get out of poverty. However, such initiatives can make the country a success story in economic growth and development if proper assessment and monitoring mechanisms are instituted.

At the end of the day, a household or family is the smallest administrative unit in the country and there is a popular saying that ‘one by one makes a bundle’ therefore, when families in a country are economically self reliant, the whole country will be economically self-reliant.

Web presence of Uganda districts will open up opportunities and save resources.

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.

My best three songs. These are the ones!

Homecoming by Kanye West


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.'

This is how President Museveni manages the country

I have never worked in state house, never been a presidential assistant, don’t have a friend or a relative working in statehouse and I have never even stepped in any of the two state houses but, who tells you that I should be a priest, bishop, pastor or a religious scholar to write about Jesus.

Managing this country is not as hard as many people might assume, any Ugandan with a sober mind and possessing the required qualifications can manage this country, maybe even better.

As usual, people try to complicate things to threaten the interests of others who want to compete with them just like when we were still journalism interns, senior journalists would surely show you how hard it is to write a feature story. They would never tell you that writing a feature story is as simple as outlining the reasons for the fall of Idi Amin, of course adding some flavor and flow.

Managing this country is as simple as managing your own family, some families might even be harder to manage with so many issues ranging from deadly infighting to witchcraft.

Imagine winning the battle to be the heir of the family and you know that every fight has winners and losers. Losers are always disgruntled people who can react in a dangerous way if not handled carefully. That is how Democratic Party (DP) stalwarts, Kawanga Ssemogerere, John Ssebana Kizito and William Nyakatura and UPC’s Omara Atubo managed to make it to Museveni cabinet after the NRA bush war struggle in a government of national unity.

Some children in the family have bad manners - disrespectful, big headed; so many times you will be forced to punish them to make them upright, the likes of Miria Matembe, Eriya Kategaya, Bidandi Ssali, etc when they opposed the third term for the family head (President Museveni).

Some, after a long and sustained punishment like Eriya Kategaya and Gen. David Tinyefunza reformed and were called back to the family and some who remained with their big headedness were completely chased from the family, the likes of Kasepiki’s Dad - Bidandi Ssali.

Some children are punished heavily to deter others from following suit, the likes of Kiiza Besigye who faced tramped up rape charges and recent whipping by the unpopular Kiboko squad.

Some will be given land very far away from the family headquarters to avoid infecting others with their bad manners and giving headache to their parents. Winnie Byanyima was endorsed by Uganda government to work in United Nations in USA.

Those who are well behaved and dance according to the tunes of the family head are of course rewarded, the likes of the Guinness World Books of Records candidate as alleged by a Ugandan tabloid - James Kakooza who got a state ministerial position for spearheading the 4th term presidential bid.

Actually, the president’s work might even be easier to do than a ministerial post because the president reports to peasants who lack the real intellect to question his work – when he makes them a road, our dear peasants as the president always calls them will always say it’s a favor. For a ministerial work, you will have to report to people who know their rights and how to demand for them, who are educated (parliament, the president and local politicians) who are always challenging to convince (of course, other factors remaining constant like the moral standing of the supervisors – president, parliament and local politicians).

However, the sickness with our African presidents is failure to set up systems due to greed for power. They want to be the custodians of land and national jobs, etc so that whoever dances according to their tunes can get an opportunity to share on the national cake. All this makes the work of the president hard to do, limiting it only to those who are “visionary”.

If everything goes according to plan, I envision a situation where the president has a bunch of people who think and implement things on his behalf, as a president, you wake up in the morning at state house and there is someone whose work is to know that the president is thirsty and needs water, there is someone whose work is to know that the president must visit this town and should say this, there is someone to read the presidents emails and letters and know how to respond to which letter, the Hon. Prime minister is busy managing the cabinet and the president receives reports and takes appropriate measures not this confusion of which cadre should be appointed the ambassador of which country even leaving behind people in the foreign service who can actually do the work better.

In fact, even a young man of below 35 years can rule this country; these old people should not scare you (the youth). I think the people who put the age limit at 35 years for someone to contest for the Uganda presidency; at the back of their mind knew that it was just a fence to stop people who are not experienced, exposed, etc from entering and messing up the country. Because, at the end of the day, it is not actually the age. Joseph Kabila who became president at 29 years of age has managed the country better than his old father – Laurent Kabila (the young man has managed to hold one of DR Congo’s successful elections and reconciled many of the worrying factions), Alexander the Great was in his 20’s when he won battles and conquered
the whole world. Did I hear that Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe is the oldest president in the world? How is he managing his country?

The president only needs to intervene where things have failed to work and give direction to the country.

What millions of African women think of African men?

“You can’t limit the number of wives your husband gets because that is how God created men,” says a lady seated next to me while traveling in a bus on a journey from Uganda’s capital City of Kampala to Western Uganda town of Fort Portal recently.

I once jokingly told my girl friend that we should have a rotational presidency of the family. She said, “No! No! I think a man is supposed to be the head of the family.”

In my village, old women will always advise new wed ladies to take extra care of their husbands like preparing them warm water in the morning for bathing, cleaning their clothes, preparing them food, kneeling when serving them food. Actually, all the above and so many others are taken as divine responsibilities of women. But who tells you that a man can’t prepare food, prepare bathing water for himself, and wash clothes among other family chores!

In the Central Uganda Kingdom of Buganda, there is a common saying that a lady can force laughter when angry, stressed, not in moods of laughing, etc for the sole purpose of making her husband happy.

Funny! Such thinking is still claiming territories in the developed world which always press for women rights in developing countries like Uganda with highly conservative societies. United States of America for instance has never elected a woman president partly, because of a conservative thinking that women can never be strong leaders to defend their country. Madam Hillary Clinton recently faced the wrath of that conservative thinking when he tried to put herself in ‘men’s shoes’

It maybe true, that most women are emotional, soft, etc because society demands them to be like that. If you acted like Semenya (South African athlete), talked with authority like Uganda’s Miria Matembe, played football, approached your dream man and said, “I love you,” ooooh! Many African men will be scared, to them, that behavior is unusual, strange, unwanted – not even sexy. 

But, are there many differences between the two sexes – male and a female? Girls have been on top of boys on so many occasions in so many things for instance in school performance in Uganda. If you doubt this, Namagunga, Gayaza and Nabisunsa girl’s secondary schools will silence you.

You have seen women heads of states performing better than men, can you compare the current president of Liberia, Ellen Johnstone Sirleaf with a brutal and corrupt dictator - Charles Taylor. What about Mwammar Gaddafi’s (Libya president) women escorts – their boss doesn’t seem to complain of loopholes in his personal security. Who in the security circles in Uganda didn’t shake, shiver, etc when the Queen of England – Elizabeth II - landed in Uganda for the Kampala Common Wealth Heads of Government meeting (CHOGM) in 2007? If you want to prove it, pleaseee…. Kindly, ask generals Kaguta, Nyakairima, Tinyefunza and Kayihura.

Gender stereotypes are deeply embedded in African cultural and religious thinking but a change in that thinking is very possible. Who doesn’t want to see his mother, sister, daughter enjoying real equal rights with men?

An ignorant environmental artist

She seems even busy for an interview with Solomon, in her craft factory inside her room in Nankulabye – one of Kampala’s sprawling suburbs. She looks to be in love with the whole craft making activity. She makes her crafts from waste material like banana fibers, waste plastics and waste paper materials just because they are cheap and easy to get. Using waste material is good for the environment but for Namatovu Beatrice, that’s not why she uses them.

“I make necklaces from papers and plastics, table mats, door mats and balls from banana fibers,” says Namatovu a student of business at Makerere Business institute. She says, her business course will help equip her with the required marketing skills for her crafts. 

She gets some of the material like Banana fibers from as far as Mpigi district where her mother comes from. Namatovu gets the waste papers especially expired calendars for making necklaces from friends who work in offices and only buys threads for making table mats.

Namatovu who has helped train many young people to do crafts was inspired by her friend called Nora who even taught her to make crafts and Namatovu has never looked behind. She adds that her background in fine art during her secondary school days gave her an added advantage to learn faster and do better crafts. Besides, getting some income from the craft business, she enjoys what she does.

Although having quite a busy schedule, Namatovu has never failed to get time to do her crafts work, “I have my lecturers from morning to 1pm, I get time for my crafts work in the evening.”

Her efforts for making good quality crafts seems to be paying off because she never fails to get market, “many people buy my crafts like friends, well wishers, tourists and organizations and on a good days sale, I can earn roughly Uganda shillings 50,000 (which is good enough for any Ugandan student’s side activity).”

Namatovu has a number of places to sell her crafts including her home, her friend’s homes or work places and a crafts shop of Joy for Children Uganda – a non governmental organization based in Kampala, which also helps promote the talents of young people. The organization has a display board and visitors especially whites many times get attracted and buy them, says Namatovu.

She also exploits a number of opportunities such as exhibitions like a recent one at the Baptist Church in Kampala, which unfortunately never reaped good fruits because few products were sold. She blamed the poor sales to an abrupt and poor organization of the event and therefore, people were not prepared to buy.
The young and promising craft artist says the only problem with the crafts business is lack of a stable local market because Ugandans aren’t good consumers of craft items and most times, she depends on people from the western world, who rarely come making the craft business very unpredictable.  

As hardworking as always, Namatovu isn’t sleeping and has big plans for the future in line with her craft business, “I expect to buy a plot of land, build a house and start my own big craft shop and recruit more people to make crafts.”