African Sunset or Sunrise?

Uganda changes health warning sign on cigarettes

2010-09-11T08:50:00.000+01:00

Uganda has begun enforcing compulsory requirements for cigarette manufacturers and importers to label packets with a stronger warning about the health risks of smoking.

This is aimed to warn the public on the public health risks that are linked to tobacco use, and in particular cigarette smoking. Uganda now becomes the second East African country after Kenya to implement such a requirement.

Under the new requirements issued by the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS), the new health warning on cigarette packets should read, “Cigarette Smoking Causes Lung Cancer, Heart Diseases and Death.” The warning should have a Swahili translation that reads, “Uvutaji Wa Sigara Husababisha Saratani ya Mapafu, Magonjwa ya Moto na Kifo.”

Effective 1st September 2010, it became illegal to manufacture or import tobacco products into Uganda that do not bear these requirements. The new warning must cover 30% the packet and must be displayed in bold print. Also, the cigarette packet should indicate the number of cigarettes contained including the tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide content as well as the name and address of manufacturer.

The new warning on cigarettes is a culmination of two years of negotiation between the tobacco companies and UNBS to change the warnings that were considered inadequate and did not explain risks of tobacco use.

Anti-smoking activists have view the new requirement for health warnings as a positive development. The anti-tobacco lobby The Environmental Action Network (TEAN) spokesperson Phillip Karugaba on Sunday described it as “welcome news.”

From the cigarette manufacturing companies, BAT which possesses over 80% of the market share in Uganda says that the new requirements are feasible. Eric Kiniti, the BAT Regulatory Affairs Manager for East Africa said they have already started printing new packaging labels which should be in the market soon.

“British American Tobacco Uganda will not import any tobacco products that are not compliant with the new requirements. As you are aware, BAT Uganda products are imported from our sister company in Kenya. We are committed to comply fully with these requirements,” Kiniti said in a statement.

But a quick browse through various cigarette retail points in Kampala city over the weekend revealed that the sale of cigarettes with the old packet warnings continued. But BAT said there are old stocks still within the supply chain by distributors, stockists and retailers. The company aims to run this stock down before products with new packaging are introduced.

“The regulations are focussing on products that are being imported or leaving a local factory, in the case of importers and local manufacturers respectively, after 1st of September 2010. We shall therefore expect them to run out as normal as we introduce the products with the new packaging,” he added. Detailed data on health effects of tobacco use in Uganda is scare. But a study by Mulago Hospital indicates that most patients admitted with oral cancer are previously smokers.

Also, BAT the leading tobacco company does not readily reveal information of quantities of cigarettes consumed by Ugandans. However, experts closely monitoring the industry reveal that Ugandans smoke a total of 1.7 billion cigarette sticks every year. This includes illicit cigarettes and genuine products. The cigarette sticks consumed by Ugandans are processed from only 1million kilos of tobacco leaf; out of 20-25 million kilos leaf grown by Ugandan tobacco farmers.

Karugaba said the new health warnings will lead to a fall in smoking in the country. This is based on evidence of a study that was done in South Africa. The study showed that in developing countries that generally lack information on the health effects of smoking, warning labels can inform people about the dangers of tobacco. Also, another 2007 study done in the UK showed that with prominent health warnings, smokers considered quitting smoking, thought about the associated health risks and cut down on smoking.

But Kiniti said, “It is still difficult to anticipate the effects of the requirements on cigarette sales before the products with the new health warnings are introduced to the market.” Uganda is signatory to the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and has enacted polices regulating smoking in public places. The FCTC is the world’s first public health treaty on tobacco control.

But while the new warnings remain welcome, they fall short of meeting the FCTC standards on size and pictorial warning labels on cigarettes. Article 11 of the Convention sets standards to reduce demand for tobacco use. The Article calls for rotation of warning messages, use of colour picture warnings and graphics. Also, the words of the warning should be 50% or more of the principal display areas on the packet; but not less than 30%. This shows that Uganda has opted for the minimum standard of display. But activists are positive that despite not achieving the FCTC standards, it is just the start of the process.

The implementation of new health warnings against tobacco comes ahead of the fourth conference of FCTC parties due in November in Uruguayan city of Punta del Este. The latest requirement for health warnings will most receive commendation from anti-tobacco activists during the meeting in Uruguay.

In March 2004, government issued a statutory instrument banning smoking at work and in public places such as restaurants, education institutions and bars. Also, owners of public places are required to place prescribed “No Smoking” signs and designate smoking areas. However, there are concerns the enforcement of this ban by National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) remains inadequate. Compliance remains voluntary and only enforced at airports, hospitals, and some hotels. However, it is neglected in homes, public places such as night clubs, streets, and in homes. Ends…

Circumcision to fight HIV misses point in Africa

2010-07-30T14:32:00.005+01:00

In my African society we are bashful about HIV/AIDS and at funerals, mourners never openly reveal what killed men of honour. There will be muffled whispers and death certificates safely identify the cause of death as ‘pneumonia’ rather than ‘AIDS.’

I am from Sub-Sahara Africa which was heavily influenced by the Church Missionary Society and White Fathers. With such Christian influence, while growing up we knew that AIDS is a divine punishment for man’s sensual indulgences. The solution to HIV prevention was in the 10 commandments and fidelity.

This same solution of fidelity was carried by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni who emphasised the popular ‘zero-grazing.’ This is an indigenous metaphor where a herbivore tethered on a rope feeds on only the pasture within its reach. That meant that a man would remain faithful to his wife.

Since then HIV prevention campaigns have included the male condom. But even still, there has been a rise in infections. Now, the most recent HIV prevention innovation is circumcision which was found to limit the spread of the virus by more than a half in men.

At the International AIDS Conference in Vienna 2010 it was revealed that 38 million circumcisions will be performed on men and boys in the next 5 years to halt HIV/AIDS spread in East and Southern Africa.

Africa may well be on its way to setting a world record of the highest number of surgical procedures. But will circumcision address the HIV problem?

In Uganda , we previously viewed male circumcision as a religious rite for the Mohammedans. Also, it is a biennial cultural rite marked by drums and dance for the mountain communities of Eastern Uganda , where boys face the knife without anaesthesia to prove their bravery and virility.

A continent with the world’s highest AIDS burden, Africa could be easily be likened to a huge laboratory for medical researchers and their sponsors to prove their guesses. In Africa , we have discussed different ways to deal with HIV prevention. At the height of the epidemic, frantic politicians suggested the radical proposal to quarantine people living with HIV/AIDS in camps.

Male circumcision is the latest finding yet studies show that it does not reduce the transmission of the HIV virus from men to their female sex partners. Heterosexual relationships are the biggest driver of HIV infections in Africa . In Uganda , there is a surge in HIV among married people. To emphasise the male ‘cut’ is to ignore women in such marriages. The disempowered African woman cannot negotiate for safe sex in an unfaithful marriage.

I think to promote male circumcision is to blame the foreskin rather than men’s souls – the core of which prompts them to have multiple partners. The circumcision drive is only a proof that we have failed to promote fidelity which remains the cheapest and most cost-effective HIV prevention method. Don’t bring me your surgical blade.

The Times newspaper and the future of journalism

2010-07-01T19:21:00.002+01:00

I have been at The Times newspaper in London for nearly a month now on a David Astor Journalism Awards Trust (DAJAT) work placement. While here, I have witnessed two major developments in The Times that could influence the UK media industry in the near future.

Firstly, The Times launched its ipad edition (I am posing with the first issue in the photograph on the left). This is the first time ever that the newspaper has appeared on anything other than paper, in its over 200 years of existence.

This a first for the newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch's New International. By the end of last week, 7,500 people had subscribed to the ipad edition while a further 107,000 people have registered for the online subscription as the newspaper readies to start charging for online content.

The UK has a long tradition of print journalism, and The Times newspaper, established in the 1780's, has become a brand in journalism, lent its name to newspapers around the world such as The New York Times, and originated the "Times Roman" typeface that is used in computers today.

In journalism, information cannot be exclusively owned. This is often the argument advanced when newspapers attempt to charge for access to online content. But according to me, The Times newspaper looks certain to survive because of the time-tested brand name, and loyalty from readers.

The newspaper has been long considered to be UK's newspaper of record, with its high standards of journalism and can rely on this to charge for content access. Readers - who are voluntary buyers of newspapers - only buy what suits their taste. In order for a newspaper to survive in a period of dwindling newspaper circulation figures and low advertising, high standards of journalism should be upheld.

With tough press laws, who will tell Africa’s story from Uganda?

2010-06-15T16:34:00.003+01:00

Africa’s hosting the soccer world cup this year demonstrates how the continent is emerging as an important player on the world stage. This is regardless of whether African teams win or lose. Yet Africa is a continent where optimism and pessimism for the future exist side by side.

A continent with much-needed natural resources, yet progress is stymied by lack of infrastructure, poverty, lack of good investment policies, land clashes, violence, political and economic inequalities.

Lord Mark Malloch-Brown the former UK Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, during a recent lecture at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London said that this creates a less happy story for Africa.

He spoke at a kind of event that we need to see more in Africa, where people freely express themselves without fear of harassment. He added that for Africa’s story to have a good ending, sufficient conditions must exist on the continent with the respect for human rights and freedom of speech.

Uganda comes in the picture in light of proposed amendments to the Press and Journalist Act of 1995 where Government plans to introduce conditions for newspapers to have licenses. Other proposals include empowering the Media Council to close newspapers, penalties against publishing considered prejudicial to national security, and injurious to Uganda’s foreign relations.

Politicians have justified that the laws are needed for Uganda’s young media which does not know what constitutes national interest.

But it is interesting to note how African politicians complain of negative coverage of Africa issues in Western media, yet quickly stifle their local media that could have told their stories. While I earnestly think Ugandan leaders desire to improve coverage of Ugandan issues, the proposed law is a contradiction.

A senior editor at a leading newspaper in the UK who has also worked in Africa, says that before opening bureaus in African countries, foreign media consider existence of vibrant and free press with non-restrictive laws. Other considerations also include availability of communication facilities.

Global media organisations with interest in Africa region could find it increasingly difficult to be present in Uganda. Yet Uganda today, more than ever, needs a vibrant media – both local and foreign. With the opening up of Uganda’s economy for private sector players in the natural resources sectors, our media will needs empowerment to investigate the excesses of unethical businesses to improve corporate performance. However, the local media cannot do investigative journalism. This has an implication that the budding serious journalism that focuses on investigating scandals is threatened.

Government should not look at the press as a political adversary; but to remember that in the wider national interests, politics is only ephemeral. Equally, journalists should not claim to be sacrosanct and must uphold the journalistic tenets and remain responsible.
One suggestion for the Ugandan government and journalists is to emulate best practices from countries such as UK with vibrant, self-regulating media that has enabled it to maintain a global presence.

The solution may not be in amending the media laws. Rather, journalists need to be helped to cope with emerging trends such as new media technologies in order to be globally competitive. Not curtailment. Also, it is important to bear in mind that with technologies such as internet, mobile telephony, it is increasingly getting hard to control information flow and freedom of expression.

The opportunity to have Uganda’s story told is for the Ugandan government to lose. Statutory controls may have limitations and affect the telling of the African story to the rest of the world. Western press will not prioritise African issues if Africans do not do it themselves.

Uganda: Media freedom without free access to media

2010-02-02T16:42:00.000Z

Uganda's political games seem to have began. The Daily Monitor newspaper of Uganda reported on Monday February 1, that the political opposition member Col. Dr. Kizza Besigye is facing problems with accessing media houses to have his views aired.

Well, according to the newspaper, Besigye was set to Luo FM in Pader District on Saturday abruptly cancelled Dr Besigye’s scheduled 8-10pm talkshow, citing “orders from above”.

What is happening in Ivory Coast can be used to draw comparisons with what Besigye is facing in Uganda. Recently, thousands of Ivorians marched through the streets of Abidjan protesting against state media coverage ahead of the country's national elections. The protesters claimed that President Laurent Gbagbo has a stranglehold over state media.

They also demanded that opposition parties be given equal access to the state media. The demonstration was organised by the youth wing of the Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace, a coalition that unites the parties of former president Henri Konan Bedie and of ex-prime minister Alassane Ouattara.

This is not the first time this is happening. And if it is a sign of what is yet to come when the election period kicks off officially, it is also a test on the Ugandan government's capacity to accomodate alternative political views. Read the full story by clicking on: The Daily Monitor

Why ex-Senator John Edwards is not African

2010-01-23T15:08:00.007Z

This past week, the US media was awash with a report of former senator John Edwards admission to fathering a baby with his ex-mistress, Rielle Hunter.
The story seems to draw parallels with what takes place in African politics, including my homeland Uganda where our leaders have had a fair share of adulterous scandals. It involves high ranking politicians in national and continental politics from Presidents, Vice Presidents as well as African Kings.

For instance, the Ugandan media in the recent past reported of the Vice President Prof. Gilbert Bukenya involvement in an adulterous affair with a woman Jamillah Nakku.

South African President Jacob Zuma is no stranger to polygamy and extra-marital affairs. Remember the inquest into his affair with an HIV infected woman?

Then in Kenya, President Mwai Kibaki was reported in 2004 to been customarily married to Mary Wambui with who he has a daughter, Wangui Mwai. A Kenyan cabinet minister one day offended the publicly-known Kenyan First Lady Lucy, when he addressed her as 'Second Lady' at a State cocktail.

With such a brief list, no African leader in their right mind would resign from holding public office because of an extra-marital relationship. The continent is littered with many. Others are not mentioned, especially for Cabinet ministers who abandon their unofficial families and refuse to provide for the children. Not on a continent where polygamy and extra-marital relationships seem to be glorified.

An African politician's career cannot be threatened by reports of extra-marital affairs, or even be threatened with impeachment like it happened for President Bill Clinton. A true African leader's unofficial offsprings are usually discovered at the death of either the child or the father.

A presidential candidate's chances of winning the presidency, or their continued hold onto power cannot be threatened by reports of an extra-marital affair. That is why Johnny Ried 'John' Edwards is too decent to be African. Meanwhile, I wait to read Edward's campaign aide Andrew Young book that will be released next month.

President Benjamin Mkapa's address to Makerere University Alumni

2009-12-04T15:25:00.003Z

Editor's Note: This was an address delivered by the ex-Tanzanian President Benjamin William Mkapa during a lecture at the inaugural Makerere University Grand Alumni Re-Union, on Saturday 28 November 2009

THE ROLE OF THE ALUMNI IN GOVERNANCE AND INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Let me begin by thanking the government of Uganda and the Makerere University community for welcoming me so warmly and for the honor you have bestowed upon me to speak on behalf of my fellow alumni on a very important subject, on a very important day and a very propitious occasion.

It is always a great pleasure to return to Makerere, and today is no exception. Indeed, today is an historical home-coming not only for me but I am sure for all my fellow alumni. Thank you for welcoming us back.

I want to thank and congratulate the University Convocation and authorities for the idea to convene this grand alumni re-union. With the support of all of us, which by being here we promise, I am sure this re-union will be a great success and a rewarding experience to everyone. Working together we can give our beloved Alma Mater new energy, new vision and new direction.

In a special way I want to thank the Vice-President for that most gracious oratory, which I am not sure if I entirely deserve. Thank you all the same, and thank you Mr. Chancellor as well for your very kind words.

As part of these celebrations I have been asked to speak on, “The Role of the Alumni in Governance and Institutional Development.”

But before I do so I want us to step back and look again at the context in which we assembled here, and others like us across sub-Saharan Africa, received the higher education that lies at the heart of who we have since become. It is a very profound thought.

I came to Makerere in the nineteen fifties aged 19. Makerere was at that time a University College affiliated to the University of London. It was a small institution then; enrollement was in the hundreds not thousands. There were four halls of residence, three for males and one for female students. Staff was predominantly British and a touch South African. Local, i.e. African, staff could be counted on the fingers of two hands.

Then graduating from Makerere was a great achievement. One felt immensely privileged not only because entry was acutely competitive, but also because jobs were assured. Employers would visit to sample prospective graduates. Remuneration for these jobs was quite high. But more importantly was the prospect of high standing in public office, in the professions and the administration. Being an ex-Makekererian gave one enormous social status. It may have bred a little Elitism but this was tempered by the call for social and political responsibility.

The University College had, for its Vision and Mission this statement on its Coat of Arms: “Pro Future Aedificamus,” which we translated into: “We are building for the future” I notice that the motto has been retained on Makerere University’s logo: “We Build for the Future. “Why the Latin text was abandoned I look forward to learning this afternoon.

Statistics from UNESCO show that in 2007, on average, only six percent of tertiary education cohort in sub-Saharan Africa was enrolled in colleges and universities. And this is considered a huge improvement considering where we came from.

In the time of my matriculation, I believe the ratio was less than one percent. In Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere’s time it was nothing short of scandalous, and our former colonial masters need to hang their heads in shame. In Mwalimu’s own words, when he sat for the then Makerere College entrance examination in the early 1940s, there were only three schools in the whole of the then Tanganyika which could send students here at Makerere, the only such institution of higher learning at that time in the whole of this region.

In 1949 and 1950, five, yes five only, African students from Tanganyika, Mwalimu Nyerere being one of them, received scholarships to study in the United Kingdom. According to him no other scholarships were given for more than five years.

What does this mean? It means two things. The first is that the former colonial powers did not consider it a priority to prepare Africans for leadership, for good governance and for institution building. And, as we all know, their own form of colonial administration was the antithesis of democratic good governance.

The second point is that the post independence alumni have a two-pronged responsibility beyond their own transformation through education. They have to realize that the responsibility to build democratic political dispensations, and to develop governance systems and build institutions of governance and regulation needed for economic and social transformation lies not with anyone else but with them. They cannot and must not have the luxury of being unaccountable spectators as the continent grapples with these profound challenges.

Their other responsibility is to be role models and positive mentors of new generations of educated Africans. Again, let us step back, and consider our ways, wherever we may be, and whatever we are doing. Have we been good role models, and have we mentored new generations of educated Africans in the right direction? What have they learnt from us--not from our words, but from our actions--and what will they learn from successive generations of alumni? Have we built the foundations of good governance and strong institutions that can outlive us, or are we passing on the buck to the next generation?

But above all, those proportionally very few of us who receive or have received higher education in postcolonial Africa have to realize how privileged we are, and that with that privilege comes responsibility.

An alumnus of Makerere, Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere, put the expectations that society has in those privileged to be educated in the following terms:

“Those who receive this privilege, therefore, have a duty to repay the sacrifice which others have made. They are like the man who has been given all the food available in a starving village in order that he might have the strength to bring supplies from a distant place. If he takes this food and does not bring help to his brothers, he is a traitor. Similarly, if any of the young men and women who are given an education by the people of this republic adopt attitudes of superiority, or fail to use their knowledge to help the development of this country, then they are betraying our union.”

Mr Chancellor,
Ladies and Gentlemen:

These are without doubt very strong words; but they need to be said from time to time because they are a useful compass to all of us privileged to have had a good education at a critical time for the development of our countries, their governance systems and institutions.
In my time here we had a very friendly Catholic Chaplain, an English Dominican named Paul Foster O.P. It is not for his preaching, which was unquestionably inspiring and mercifully short, that I recall him now. Rather I recall him for a long and contentious conversation we had about that University College motto. What kind of future were we building? How were we building it? He thought it exemplified well the British penchant for obfuscation or equivocation in order to make everyone feel good!!

I have revisited Makerere a few times. It has grown a great deal in terms of physical intrastructures, academic disciplines and the sizes of the annual enrollment and graduands. There is a lot to be proud of and to congratulate ourselves upon. I hope that the reunion gives us the opportunity to look back, reflect and renew our spirits.

When I was given the invitation to make these remarks I decided to ask the alumni, but especially the graduating classes of the nineteen sixties, my contemporaries. What kind of a future have we built? How have we lived to our education motto’s injuction?

The independence movement was reaching its climax as we graduated. We entered the political and labour market. Thus we have helped build independence from colonial rule. Have we built a sense of nationhood? We have helped to build, indeed others would say to shape, the civil service. Is it a dedicated, faithful and loyal civil service? We have been instrumental in building up an array of professional associations. How professionally ethical are they?

The Alumni and Their Alma Mater:
But let me now turn to the relationship between the alumni and their Alma Mater, and the role that I see for the alumni in institutional governance and development. You see, the relationship between an alumnus or alumnae with his or her Alma Mater is kind of like the relationship between a child and its parents. We can grow up as children, and then move out to chart our own paths and begin our own families. Sometimes we may have strained relationships with our parents, some quite serious. But nothing on earth can change the fact that they are, and will forever remain, our parents.

In a family, what unites the offspring is their organic relationship with the parents. Likewise, what unites all of us in this alumni re-union is the relationship that each one of us has with Makerere. We have a duty to support our parents; and we have a duty to support our Alma Mater. Both made us what we are today, and both need and deserve our support. But just as they have the right to expect support, they equally have to be open to our views and opinions. As much as possible the alumni have to feel they are welcome to contribute to issues of governance and institution building in this university.

There is the story of an honest young boy and an old man:

Old gentleman: You’re an honest boy. But it was a ten dollar-note not ten ones that I lost.

Small boy: I know, mister, it was a ten-dollar note I picked up. But the last time I found one, the man who owned it didn’t have any change.
Sometimes it takes the wisdom of a child to get something out of a man!

If the alumni are remembered only for fundraising purposes, important as it is, the relationship will never be as strong and the role of the alumni never as robust as one would have liked. As alumni, we care deeply about this university. The collective professional and personal experiences we hold are a huge resource for the university. Keep the alumni informed and connected--with Makerere and with each other. And I truly appreciate what I have learnt since coming here about your commendable efforts in this very direction. Please keep it up; you have our support and encouragement. We are your product, we are the living proof of your excellence in learning, and we shall always be your loudest cheerleaders.

In that spirit, let me raise a few issues that I think are critical in the governance and institutional development of this and other institutions of higher learning in sub-Saharan Africa.
The Paradox of Scope: The African Scene:

A few years ago, Prof. David J. Collis of the Harvard Business School wrote a piece titled “The Paradox of Scope: A Challenge to the Governance of Higher Education”. Although the discourse clearly had in mind universities in the West, in particular the United States of America, some of his points are equally relevant to our circumstances in Africa and elsewhere and provide a good entry point for some of my arguments.

In short, the concept of “paradox of scope” refers to the inherent friction between the core (conservative, if you like) values and mission of an institution on the one hand, and the demands imposed on it by a kaleidoscopic (radical, if you like) periphery and external environment that can threaten the very relevance and sustainability of an institution. Universities are believed to be conservative in nature; but they now have to learn to adapt to new situations. In the words of

Prof. Collis: “Circumstances today are conspiring to expose the inherent weaknesses in the governance of higher education. The external environment of universities and colleges is undergoing profound change: globalization, technology, the massification of tertiary education, the emergence of the knowledge economy, and the intrusion of market forces into the sector, among other forces and trends, all threaten to disrupt the hallowed halls of academia in ways not experienced before. If universities and colleges are to successfully adapt to these unavoidable societal trends, they must develop, communicate, and implement clear and concise strategies. The hallmark of those strategies will be a willingness to make difficult choices among very different alternatives”

Across the world, the dynamics of social, economic and technological changes, and the demands placed on tertiary education institutions, require a continuous re-evaluation of academic governance and institutional building. For African universities the challenges are even more formidable. Makerere cannot be an exception.

My experience, not just as President of Tanzania, but immediately before that as Minister for Higher Education, Science and Technology, is that among the governance challenges that typically confront African universities are the following:

· Funding and Accountability.
· Student enrollment, retention and graduation rates.
· Responding to the special needs of “non-traditional” students, including distance and adult learning.
· The pressure to make governance more inclusive and responsive to the often competing needs of a much wider array of stakeholders, including alumni, business sector, parents, student bodies, government, and others, all of whom seek an opportunity to determine how tertiary education is designed and managed.
· Dealing with the high expectations and volatility of faculty, including issues of remuneration, tenure and career development, and hence the issue of brain drain;
· Working and interpersonal relationships between faculty and administrators, and hence the question whether traditional institutions of academic governance can resolve emerging frictions and chart a common vision and strategy;
· Curriculum development and adaptation;
· Relevance and competitiveness and hence issues of quality versus quantity of output.

I should like to address some of these issues in greater detail.
Enrolment, Retention and Graduation Rates:
We all know that education, and certainly higher education, is a sine qua non for personal and societal development and adaptability. That is why all countries, without exception, including the most advanced ones, invest more and more in increasing enrolment, retention and graduation rates in their tertiary education institutions. As H.G. Wells summed up the challenge ninety years ago, “Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe”.

The risk of such catastrophe in sub-Saharan Africa is real. Most of our countries have no more than 50 years of independence. Yet, we cannot escape from being held, by our own people and by the outside world, to the highest standards of governance and institutional competence, whether in government, in academia or in the private sector.

A recent UNESCO report captures four decades of “explosive growth” in tertiary enrolment in Africa. In 1970, it says, there were fewer than 200,000 students enrolled in tertiary institutions in sub-Saharan Africa. By 2007, this number had increased more than twenty-fold to 4 million. Enrolment over this period of time increased by 8.6 percent annually on average, compared to a global average of 4.6 percent over the same period. More recently, between 2000 and 2005, the average annual growth rate reached 10 percent.

Should we pat ourselves on the back? Definitely no!
On the one hand, this phenomenal growth has had huge implications for governance and institution-building in our colleges and universities. The political desire to expand enrolment was not always backed by a corresponding increase in budgetary allocation. As a result, over time, quality of instruction and output began to suffer, motivation declined and on campus tensions increased.

On the other hand, pressure for increased enrolment continues unabated, especially as secondary school expansion creates an ever-increasing wellspring of young men and women looking for matriculation in the few tertiary education institutions we have. And, at 3.1 percent, Africa has the fastest growth of the tertiary education cohort population, compared to a global average of only 1.7 percent.

We cannot, unfortunately, ignore or wish away this escalating demand for expansion of enrolment. I mentioned earlier that in 2007, only 6 percent of the tertiary education cohort in sub-Saharan Africa was enrolled in tertiary education institutions. This should be seen against a global average of 26 percent. In North America and Western Europe the rate was 71 percent that same year; in Central and Eastern Europe it was 62 percent; in Latin America and the Caribbean it was 34 percent; in Central Asia it was 31 percent; in East Asia and the Pacific it was 26 percent; in Arab States it was 23 percent; in South and West Asia it was 11 percent; and in sweet home sub-Saharan Africa it was only 6 percent. A huge improvement from where the colonialists left us, but still only 6 percent! Even South Africa, the best performer among us, had a gross enrolment ratio of only 15.4 percent.

So, much as I sympathize with our colleges and universities, there is no way the pressure to expand enrolment will abate for many years to come. These pressures also bring to the fore the challenges of retention and graduation rates. Some privately sponsored students drop out when poverty or bereavement disconnects the lifeline to continued university participation. Social tensions that can partly be explained by declining resources can also disrupt classes or precipitate rustication, temporarily or permanently.

Then, of course, there is the issue of gender parity in tertiary education that is becoming more involving with each passing year. Nobody believes these days the Hausa saying that, “the strength of woman is nothing but talk”. On average, sub-Saharan African counties have made commendable progress in, raising the ratio of women in tertiary education from 22 percent in 1970 to 40 percent in 2007. It should be noted, however, that the commendable achievement of a few African countries tend to obscure the serious challenges that remain in other countries. The leading success stories include Botswana (50%), Swaziland (50%), Mauritius (53%), Cape Verde (55%), Lesotho (55%), and South Africa (55%). But these should not eclipse the challenges in Chad (13%), Guinea (21%), Central African Republic (22%), Ethiopia (25%) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (26%).

A road accident involving a man and a woman occurred one day, and the ensuing conversation went as follows:
Female driver: But I insist it was all my fault.
Male driver: No, my lady, it WAS my fault. I could tell your car was driven by a woman at least half a mile away, and I could easily have driven into the field and avoided this!
Believe me; it will take some time to get rid of some of the outrageous prejudices against women.
Funding and Accountability:
The persistent pressure for expansion of enrolment, retention and graduation comes against a background of shrinking resource envelops for tertiary education relative to the rate of expansion. This is so even when per capita expenditure per tertiary student relative to GDP is exceedingly high. According to UNESCO, Benin, Burundi, Ethiopia and Togo have per capita higher education expenditure levels in excess of 100 percent of GDP per capita. In Niger it is 371 percent!

Across the world, funding university education continues to be a major challenge, even among the wealthy countries. The challenge of governance in those countries, as in ours, is not simply to fold our arms and bemoan declining or inadequate public funding, but how to diversify sources of funding in a way that is consistent with our goals and strategies. This balancing act, however, becomes increasingly difficult to maintain especially as universities rely more and more on outside funding sources, each with its own interests, goals and strategies. Again this is a huge challenge of governance.

Among sources of funding that universities across the world have resorted to are the alumni, private sector, consultancy, partnerships with business, research funding, increasing tuition fees, various endowments, donations and grants, introduction of student loans, and in the case of developing countries, donor support. Others make businesslike investments, on their own or in joint venture with external entities. The University of Dar es Salaam, for instance, used part of their land to attract investors in shopping malls, hotels and apartments. I am sure Makerere and others do likewise.

But, again, I have to repeat. While new revenue streams can assuage the thirst for funding, they bring with them new demands on the governance of universities which may prove challenging. Managing and meeting the needs and standards of diverse sources of revenue is a sufficient challenge. But added to this is that each new player, some of them very peripheral to the core mission of the university, may want to play a part in setting the direction towards which the university will move.

Another way to deal with funding shortfalls is to downsize the wide array of activities that universities have to deal with. Increasingly, in business, in academia and even in government, the trend has been to outsource non-core, or even some core, functions to entities with greater capacity to deal with them at lower costs. These may include activities such as:
· academic services, such as admissions, media and video conferencing, and testing;
· administrative services;
· advertising and marketing;
· athletics/sports;
· auxiliary services such as bookstores, vending machines, laundry, and housing;
· computer facilities and information systems;
· development and public relations, including fundraising, printing, and institutional research; distributors and wholesalers for commercial and industrial equipment and supplies;
· financial aid-related services;
· accounting, financial and investment services;
· legal services;
· library resources;
· personnel services, including benefits administration, retirement programs, and executive recruitment; plant services, such as maintenance, building design, and security; and,
· student services, such as substance abuse programs and medical services.

Some of these measures could help save real money.
Let me now say a few words about tuition fees. Unfortunately, across the world, the trend has been to increase tuition and other fees that students are charged in an effort to balance the books. But for poor countries like ours this can be counterproductive if the fees are so high as to defeat the goal of increasing enrolment. That is why more African countries have to design and implement effective student loan programs. This is the only way to build capacity to expand enrolment, without turning universities into places for the elite in each society.
An idea worth pursuing is to ask the donor community to create a capital fund to underwrite student loans for needy students in sub-Saharan Africa.

Governments cannot totally abdicate responsibility to fund higher education. But, having been in government, I realize that people want to see more results for each shilling invested in higher education. Perhaps the time has come for institutions of higher learning to be asked to develop and sign performance contracts, with clear deliverables, quantitative and qualitative, in exchange for public funding.

Governments on their part must create mechanisms to provide incentives for private companies, individuals and charitable organizations to help finance higher education. An example that quickly comes to mind is the provision of some form of tax allowances for such donations.

To encourage research, governments could also create a legal framework that allows universities to own and, therefore, to earn money from intellectual property rights. Governments and the business sector could also be encouraged to outsource research and development activities to universities.

These ideas constitute a menu of some of the things that can be done to increase funding for higher education. The only problem is that this, in the end, complicates governance. The more the donors, the more complex the task of assuring everyone that funds are properly used for the intended purposes, that procurement regulations are followed and that value for money is attained. So, in terms of governance, universities have to get used to more evaluations, more financial audits, and more reports.

Issues of Quality, Relevance and Competitiveness:
As we enter into an increasingly knowledge-based economy and a regionally and globally more competitive environment, quality education becomes more important than ever. This poses a huge challenge to sub-Saharan African countries and their higher learning institutions.
Former President of Rice University in Houston, Texas, Prof. Malcolm Gillis, could not have described this challenge better than when, in February 1999, he opined as follows:

“Today, more than ever before in human history, the wealth – or poverty – of nations depends on the quality of higher education. Those with a larger repertoire of skills and a greater capacity for learning can look forward to lifetimes of unprecedented economic fulfillment. But in the coming decades the poorly educated face little better than the dreary prospects of lives of quiet desperation”.

So, where does Africa stand on this score? One indicator that can be used in measuring where we stand is the amount of new knowledge we create in our universities. Since researchers do conceive and create new knowledge, their numbers can be a useful indicator of our capacity to create a repertoire of competitive and skilled individuals who can lead us to economic fulfillment.

Estimates issued by UNESCO Institute for Statistics two months ago show that between 2002 and 2007 Asia as a whole increased its share of world researchers from 35.7 percent to 41.4 percent, mostly at the expense of Europe and North America. In 2002, Africa had only 2.3 percent of researchers, and that share had not changed in 2007. For sub-Saharan Africa, if we exclude South Africa, we had only 0.6 percent of researchers in 2002 and still the same 0.6 percent in 2007. The phenomenal increase in Asia is to a large extent accounted for by China which had its share of world researchers increase from 14.0 percent in 2002 to 20.1 percent in 2007, putting it almost at par with the United States of America. Between them, the United States, China, European Union and Japan have 70 percent of all researchers in the world.

So what does this tell us? It provides pointers as to who will dominate the 21st century, if not beyond. But it also shows how much we risk being completely irrelevant except for our oil, mineral resources and agricultural commodities they need from us. We veritably risk being irrelevant in determining the course of human history and achievement. And, as Prof. Gillis said, we risk facing “little better than the dreary prospects of lives of quiet desperation”.

I give these statistics not to lead us into despondence, but as a wakeup call for governments, and for tertiary education institutions. We just have to produce more people who generate more new knowledge, not just those who use and recycle existing knowledge.

We can no longer procrastinate on the question of relevance of African higher education to the challenges confronting Africa today, and the kind of challenges we can already foresee for the future. Higher education is an extremely expensive investment made by the present poor African generation for the future. Such an investment, and the opportunity cost it entails with regard to other pressing demands on national treasuries, can only be justified by equally robust returns in terms of quality and relevance of output from our universities. And there are, in my view, four aspects of such quality and relevance:

· First, our young people must get the kind of university education that enables them to understand the present and future challenges of our countries in their broadest sense. In Tanzania, when I listen to, or read what is written by some university students or even some dons, I do not get the comfort that they have such an understanding, grounded in reality.

· Second, our young people must get the kind of university education that prepares them attitudinally and professionally to integrate with their society, not to be alienated from it. An elitist education that becomes a vehicle for the alienation of those we prepare for leadership would be a waste of scarce resources against competing demands, and a great tragedy.

· Third, the university education we give our young people must prepare them – again intellectually, attitudinally and professionally – to be agents and catalysts for positive change. We want them to graduate with inquiring sharpened minds, minds that thrive in original thinking, not ones that simply recycle western notions, ideas and prejudices.

· Fourth, university education must prepare our youth to be innovative and competitive, whether in public service or private sector – nationally, regionally and internationally – in a globalizing and competitive market for skills and jobs.

This brings me to the question of curricula. I have the hunch that our curricula are still too academic, too theoretical, with minimal applied science. Change has begun to come, it needs to come faster.

Textbooks are outdated, and we cannot always afford new editions or new publications. One way around this problem is to make increasing use of free but trusted online educational resources. Computing and internet access can provide relevant and current course material. In East Africa, we have just launched the first submarine optical fiber cable providing international bandwidth along the East Coast of Africa linking Southern and East Africa, Europe and South Asia.
As a matter of priority, African universities have to hook up to the global learning community.

We should also now ask our development partners to support the infrastructural investment needed to make full use of the optic fiber bandwidth for research and learning, among other things. We on the African continent should also increase pressure to have more knowledge in the public domain through open access to research, including scientific, medical and engineering journals and data bases.

Alumni members of professional bodies have a unique opportunity to contibute to corriculum development at the University. Our world is witnessing vast and fast changes. Their own practice in the professions, in medicine or law, in agricultural extension or public policy research, in political governnance or social welfare delivery, uncovers new areas of interest and concern lacking in existing manuals and ways of doing things. Through dialogue and exchanges they can input into remarkable curriculum improvements that will strengthen academic competitiveness and raise international image.

But practicing professionals can also provide for short term or part time staff needs, just as academics can benefit from brief attachments to ongoing successful enterprises. This is the practice overseas; it is seldom if ever seen here. Yet the benefits that can accrue are worth the money they would cost. More importantly such exchanges would go a long way to nurture the town-grown partnership in learning and working. Theory is moderated by practice, and excessive industriousness is restrained by theorty. Let us give it a try.

African universities also have to learn how to cope with non-traditional students. Lifelong learning is the best way to prepare people for the increasing vagaries of the labor market, and ensure they remain employable and competitive. Universities must increasingly position themselves to meet their needs.

Coping with Brain Drain:
Many graduates emigrate. More than ten percent of African graduates overall emigrate. In technical and medical fields, the rate is much higher. It is said that 90 percent of all Zambian doctors trained in the last 30 years work abroad. It is also estimated that such brain drain costs sub-Saharan Africa close to $ 1 billion a year in educational investment made in their people. This is twice the amount of U.S. aid to the continent.

In the context of universal human rights and freedoms, it is difficult to issue a fiat against emigration. However, brain drain need not be a total loss. With more aggressiveness in the African side, and more understanding in richer countries, it is possible to turn brain drain into some kind of brain gain.

If Western countries are as concerned about brain drain in Africa as they claim to be, let them agree to put in place mechanisms to compensate Africa for this huge loss. With the advent and march of technology, solutions are now available to engage the African Diaspora, including alumni of African universities, in continuing to make contributions to capacity building and institutional development in Africa. Through telemedicine, African doctors in Western countries can take part in diagnosis, prescription and even surgery of patients in Africa. Through e-learning and the leveraging of the wide array of ICT capabilities and tools including things like tele-presence and other video capabilities, African academics in Western countries can continue to have classes in their Alma Mater or other universities, and they can continue to set and mark exams, or supervise the theses of post-graduate students from wherever they are. If they really want to, and if we on the African side press them, Western countries can make the resources available to get all this and more done.

Thanks to the presence of two formidable Nigerian ladies at the World Bank, Managing Director Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Vice-President for Africa Obiageli Ezekwesili, a program to engage the Diaspora in African development has been established in the Bank. The challenge now is for African governments, and specifically African universities, to engage the World Bank early on with clear strategies and plans on engaging the Diaspora in governance, institution building and service delivery for Africa’s social and economic development.

Another way to ensure the brain drain in Africa is not a total loss for the continent is to proceed from a simple logic. One of the reasons African graduates end up working in developed countries is that employers in western countries need and value them. The solution to brain drain, therefore, is not to try to stop Africans from going to work abroad, but to give African universities and governments the capacity to train more people. One mechanism is to ask employers in the west to reimburse the costs incurred by African countries to train every one of those alumni of our universities working abroad. And, for them, this will be quite a steal. In most African countries, it would take less than $50,000 to train a medical doctor, assuming 5 years of instruction and one year of internship. In a place like the United States, that amount is enough for only one academic year! By employing our alumni, they concede that we trained them well, and cost-effectively. We can do it repeatedly. Why do they not give African universities the capacity to train more, and better, and we can share the output?
Western employers, and even other employers in developing countries can in the very least, pay back the outstanding student loans owed by those they employ.

Engage, not Disengage:
One request I have for the alumni, especially those in the Diaspora, is for them to do much more to promote and encourage faculty and student exchanges with colleges and universities in the countries they reside in.

One of the most memorable characteristic of the Makerere of my time was its East Africanness. At that time it was the only university college in the four East African countries. Kenya, Uganda, Zanzibar and Tanzania were administered by the British, even if they were titularly identified as a colony, a protectorate and a trust territory respecitvely. The student community was a variety of tribal ethnicities and racial make up. There were a few students from Malawi and Zambia and from abroad.

Despite this wide diversity of origins we were a pretty united student community. We were united in our common aspiration to see our countries independent of British rule. There were individual country political groupings. But were reached to each other during important events in the political agenda of transition. We recognised the diversity of cultural traditions, but we were possionately East African. Happenings at East Africa House in London where diaspora fellow students would gather to discuss our region’s future strengthened or embrace at home.
At independence we had the East African High Commission which we later turned into the East African Community. It represented for many of us the precursor of what should have been an integrated East Africa, politically and economically. We decided to part ways in 1977. The rest is history, and in particular the harmful impact the breakdown has had on regional development.
But now a spirit of integration is resurging, and I would like to see Makerere alumni drive this surge. I ask that they renew the East Africanness which historically and inherently characterizes Makerere, to step up the momentum towards East African integration.

When four years ago the leaders of the re-born East African Community agreed on a Common Customs Union the defeatists loudly forecast sharp declines on state revenues. The opposite has traspired and they have been proven wrong. Revenues went up in all three states.
Last week, in Arusha, the five leaders of an enlarged East African Community signed the Protocol for the establishment of an East African Common Market, a great economic leap forward. Again the decision has not lacked its detractors. I ask alumni to take up the cudgels in defense of the Protocol. The Secretariat has illustrated how member states stand to gain with the Common Market. I must ask alumni again to be upfront in advocating its establishment. It is incredible and inexcusable that, in the midst of a global economic crtisis, while developed countries move faster towards their own integration, such as in the EU, poor countries, such as those in our community, should prevaricate and equivocate!!.

International Cooperation in Education
Most western countries have reduced their support to African higher education, including scholarship programs for post-graduate studies abroad on the pretext that they wanted to help us meet the MDG target for basic education. This is a fallacy. No country was ever built by people with only basic education. Governance and institution building, and even entrepreneurship, requires people with higher education and specialized knowledge and skills.
A study conducted to show cross-country correlations between higher education and good governance showed a clear positive and significant correlation between higher education and each of the following indicators of good governance: corruption in government; rule of law; bureaucratic quality; ethnic tensions; repudiation of contracts by government; and risk of expropriation.

Furthermore, the study showed a clear correlation between higher education and entrepreneurial activity. Individuals with higher levels of education have higher levels of entrepreneurial activity.

There is no doubt, therefore, that higher education is absolutely necessary in building strong and capable institutions in our countries, in developing the capacity to compete in the global knowledge economy, and in meeting our development goals. Knowledge has, and will continue to surpass physical capital as a source of wealth. As the 1998-99 World Development Report put it:
“Knowledge is like light. Weightless and intangible, it can
easily travel the world, enlightening the lives of people
everywhere. Yet billions of people still live in the darkness
of poverty-- unnecessarily”.

Education at all levels, including higher education, is the switch to turn on the light. People talk of the “green revolution”. The time has come to talk about an “intellectual revolution”. Our universities must not only develop capacity to deliver relevant curricula to more traditional and non-traditional students, but they have to be strong enough financially and in terms of faculty to do more research, and to develop capacity to acquire, absorb and internalize knowledge from the rest of the world.

It is our educated young people who will provide the capacity “to run more effective governments, develop the business of the future, and build the health and educational systems that make such a difference to the quality of life”.

We may not all be like Stanford University in California that developed the series of technology and entrepreneurship mentoring that produced the Silicon Valley, transforming the world. Nevertheless, we can, still make our own small contribution.

There is a Yoruba proverb: “However far the stream flows, it never forgets its source”. So it is with us, alumni. The education we were privileged to get here launched us into various orbits of life experiences and achievement. But we cannot forget Makerere. Today we have the opportunity to show—in both word and deed--that we have not forgotten you, Makerere.

I came here to provoke a debate, not to provide readymade solutions to governance and institutional challenges that Makerere and other universities in Africa face. And having hopefully provoked you sufficiently, I will leave you with the ten most powerful two-letter words in the English language: IF IT IS TO BE, IT IS UP TO ME.

From our diverse origins we have converged here to pay homage and to support our Alma Mater. Together we can do it, and it is up to us. For, as the Archbishop of Canterbury said in Shakespeare’s King Henry V, Act I, sc. 2: As many arrows, loosed several ways,Come to one mark; as many ways meet in one town;As many fresh streams meet in one salt sea;As many lines close in the dial's centre;So may a thousand actions, once afoot.End in one purpose, and be all well borne Without defeat…

One purpose, well borne, without defeat. May fortune recover her eyesight and be just in the distribution of her favours. I thank you for your kind attention.

Obama Grocery and Uganda's shopping experience

2009-11-26T16:41:00.009Z

Not far from my home in Kampala, there is a grocery, who owner was never left out in the Obama charm that swept the world early this year.

Initially, the owner (I do not know who) operated their business from this decrepit structure that has withstood the years of political turbulence that Uganda has witnessed.

Then comes in Obama, and the owner decided to place wooden signpost bearing the wordings "Welcome to Obama Grocery" ushering you to their tacky premises at the street corner.
I have bought a cluster of sweet bananas from this grocery at US$1, after winning the bargain from the lady attendant.

Then not far from President Obama's grocery is another grocery called "Good Price Supermarket" with neon lights to beam the business at night (never mind if the prices are not good). From here, I have bought UHT milk and sausages a couple of times. Good Price is bigger than Obama, but cannot outgrow Tesco chains anywhere in the world's large capitals.

On the downside, you can never bargain in Good Price since all the prices as fixed. One unusual issue about Good Price is that the management has plenty of ingenuity. A thick polythene hangs at the grocery's entrance and exit areas. Onto this polythene, the managers always pin up pictures of souls caught red-handed while shoplifting. The suspects are made to pose with their booty. My prayer has always been that I never see a familiar face on this polythene.

Upon purchase of any item, the Ugandan shopper will be issued a receipt with the footnote, "Goods once sold are not Returnable." One lesson I have learnt is to always look out when buying stuff from any Ugandan shopping centre, supermarket, market stall, vendor or hawker. To watch they genuineness of the change I am given, to watch out for the rotten tomatoes that I may be hoodwinked to buy.

But of late the arrival of South African giants of Shoprite, Game Stores as well as the Kenyan Nakumatt and Uchumi has changed the Ugandan shopping experience. These outlets say: "If you buy and do not like it, Return it and we can get your money back."

Wealth of tragedy; and tragedy of wealth

2009-10-23T19:24:00.008+01:00

I took a while without blogging because I experienced a personal tragedy and needed time to recover. On 20th September, my favourite paternal Uncle and friend, David Kiiza Amooti passed away.

He was a serving officer in the Ugandan army, at the rank of Major and was commanding officer of the tank unit in the Artillery and Air Defence Division.

He used to phone me and I would familiarly respond, "Sir! Yes Sir!" before he would burst out laughing on the other end of the line. I recall growing up and when I would accompany him on travels, he would hand me his pistol to hold. I was young and I set my destiny was the military. But somehow, ambitions change.

Sure, ambitions change especially in a country where we have poor diligent workers, dubious smugglers, tax-evading merchants, landed heirs and heiresses, smart corporate executives, corrupt civil servants, to the pilferers of workers' money.

So, living in a low income country like ours, we swim in a sea of poverty, where souls strive to reach the shore by all means available. I have seen souls wallow in deplorable conditions with no hope; while others have swam ashore and kicked up their heels in joy like this man in the photo on the left.

Others are still lost at sea, hanging onto splinter woods, trusting providence. Growing up, I was drowned in childhood story books and imagined myself to be a character in Mark Twain or Robert Stevenson's books. Daily, I dreamed of chancing upon hidden gold on Treasure Island.

Maybe that moment will come. But while I wait for it, the picture on the left was taken sometime in April this year. The person appearing prominently with arms spread is a businessman who owns commercial property in Kampala's ramshackle tropical charm.

He is one of the lucky few Ugandans who has swam ashore; and that night, he held bundles of cash. Without care, he scattered some of the money to the ground... Yet it is highly probable, that while this chubby chap frolicked that night, somewhere in the north of Uganda, a toddler went without dinner waiting for World Vision to provide the next meal.

Accidental Wealth in Uganda

2009-09-06T15:06:00.005+01:00

In my African culture, death is sacred. When a person dies, however young they were, they become ancestors and live on in spirit form to protect the living. I have watched Nigerians movies where African spiritualists make incantations and pray to dead ancestors for protection, guidance and wealth. Beyond the movie cameras, I have grown up seeing people seek the intercession from their ancestors for health and wealth. But as a deeply devout Born-again Christian, it is all balderdash.

In my native Uganda, a deceased person's death wish should always be respected to avoid being haunted by the spirit. For instance, it is un-African to bury the dead in public cemeteries. Africans have their ancestral burial grounds. A number of cemeteries in my native Uganda are resting places for World War fighters, which makes them more monumental. Also, cemeteries in Uganda are reserved for British colonial administrators who willed to be buried in Africa, the Islamic and Hindu communities.

I always think that if Michael Jackson had had the chance (or mischance) of being born in his ancestral Africa, he would have gotten his death wish of being buried at his place of choice that Forrest Lawn cemetery. Also, our culture dictates that if ever you come across a body at the roadside, you are supposed to pluck a piece of fresh grass nearby and drop it on the body to avoid having nightmares. But in Africa, we experience worse daylight "nightmares" in form of human suffering. Be it emaciated infants in Niger, a mother giving birth in flood-hit Madagascar, a child soldiers in Chad or a motor accident in which an African family breadwinner dies in Kampala.

With this, we seem to have become immune to human suffering and reverence for our dead, judging from what happens at accident scenes in Uganda. While an accident may lie in their own blood, groaning in pain, a would-be rescuer will always first ransack the victim for valuables like as that Swiss watch on the left arm, the wallet in the back pocket, and that blood-stained pair of black shoes on the victim's shattered legs. A tale is told of a looter who fled with a victim's amputated leg simply because he wanted to have the victim's lovely pair of shoes.

However, macabre an accident scene may be, people who arrive first at the scene, will most likely steal the motor parts from the car wreckage. They will take away items like the car battery, side mirrors, headlights, windscreens while other people come with cans to fetch the leaking fuel and later sell it. Some of the looters have been unfortunate and have also met their deaths during such risky undertakings. In Uganda and Kenya, hundreds of people have in different incidents been burnt alive as they tried to siphon fuel from fuel tankers at crash scenes.

The high frequency of motor accidents on African roads, has converted our vehicles into suicide boxes. Besides, the vehicles on Ugandan roads are usually in poor mechanical condition.

I imagine that it is because of the pervading poverty in Uganda that most people have acquired vulture traits to ransack accident victims. So, when in Uganda, one should always bear in mind that at accident scenes, not all crowds gather to rescue the victims. Most of them turn up to carry away valuables. I wonder where this reverence for our dead has gone.

Of course these seemingly heartless scoundrels have dependants at home and it is because of the need to provide for families, that they make a profit from other people's misery. So, next time maybe you could be inquisitive to establish where your friend bought that ill-fitting wrist-watch.

Fortune-seekers in the dating game

2009-07-25T18:08:00.005+01:00

I always knew the conventional way of dating was to approach a girl and chat her up. If you were impressive, you won her heart. Then came the internet with online dating, which has revolutionalised the dating game.

This, according to me, was never the African way of playing the dating game or wooing potential suitors. In some communities betrothed children at an early age, while in others, marriages were arranged, with village belles striving to impress the best youth warrior in the land.

I recall when growing up, my elder sisters cajoled me into professing love for a girl called Joan. But surely, what genuinity was there in the love professions of a 5-year-old me?

Today, Ugandan newspapers often have varied sections that go by various names to link up love seekers with possible suitors. The sections often go by the names of "Lonely Hearts," or "Meeting Point," depending on the newspaper.

Reading through some of these sections in Ugandan media, I have figured out that they are filled up with seeminlgy harmless fortune-seekers especially young men and often beatiful girls. One common characteristic is that the young men often search for elderly lovers.

It is common to find an advert that reads, "20-year-old Johnny seeks a 45-year-old woman for a relationship. I will give her sex and she will yearn for more." While a 19-year-old nubile girl would apply for, "A sugar-day (old man in Ugandan speak) to spend cash on me."

There is a conception in Uganda that foreigners, especially Europeans and Americans are wealthy, with bank accounts laden with dollars and euros. So, other applicants will seek for "European ladies to love." while the girls insist on "White men only." If you are African, do not bother to apply." And often, a number of them are looking for someone to sponsor their studies.

Others elaborately lay down the qualities of potential suitors which include phrasings such as; "He must have money and willing to spend it; must be tall, light-skinned, smart, must own a car with a well-paying job."

But if truth be told, what is the probability that a girl will chance on such a man, who is not already married or engaged? In our Ugandan economy, how many such men with cars and well-paying jobs could there be?

Why Uganda cannot arrest Bashir

2009-07-18T19:30:00.000+01:00

I am reminded of a common African proverb that goes, "Let the guest come so that the hosts may benefit." It is a belief that guests bring blessings to those who welcome them warmly. The arrival of a very important guest is often accompanied with slaughtering of chicken, goats or a cow. Also, a special meal is prepared and accompanied with drink and dance.

In Uganda, growing up in Iganga during the 1980s, at home, we considered it politeness to sacrifice the best for the guests. If the guest is to spend a night at the host's home, the host could offer to sleep on the floor in order to make the guest comfortable. Of course this hosptiality only lasts for as long as the guest does not overstay.

At home, I recall one chilly evening when guests arrived up as we took tea and bread to kill off the coldness. As chidlren, we knew and respected the rule. We readily left our sugary, ginger-flavoured, hot tea and buttered bread to children in the visiting party. This was because the tea pot was already empty; and preparing more tea would delay the guests' departure.

I say this against the background of the impending arrest of Sudanese President Omar el Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity if he steps in Uganda. The ICC accuses Bashir of organising attacks on civilians in the Darfur region of Sudan. The news of the impending arrest was quick and eventually, it has been decided that Bashir will not attend the SMART Partnership conference in Kampala this week (on July 26th).

The Uganda government has spoken out that they would love to avoid a “diplomatic incident.” But this should not be interpreted that Uganda is not brave enough. This was a clash of cultures. This is what makes ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis-Moreno Ocampo's western society different from the African society of Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni.

If anything, Uganda has an axe to grind with the Sudanese leader who is known to have supported the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels for long. While Uganda may be signatory to the Rome Statute that brought the International Criminal Court into existence and bound by all the provisions, Uganda is also governed by people who rever their culture and cannot take advantage of a guest, who moreover is a Head of State. Now, how would it be possible for Uganda to turn a sumptous State dinner, into a moment of betrayal?

It is because of the African culture, that it may be hard to arrest Bashir in any African country while he is still a serving President. It makes me think that if the Ugandan government had all intent to assist in arresting President Bashir, all they would have done would be to keep quiet without announcing, and he is arrested upon arrival. He would be let to fly into the snare at Entebbe.

No one puts it better than Uganda's state minister for regional cooperation Isaac Musumba who said, “While we are mindful of our international obligations, we at the same time wish to avoid a possible diplomatic incident that may arise as a result.”

Obama and African Hospitality

2009-07-11T14:28:00.006+01:00

The American President Barack Obama today was in Ghana. The frenzy that often precedes such visits of US Presidents, did not spare Africa this time round. In Ghana, local singers and rap artists produced a video of a welcome song and uploaded it on YouTube, though I am yet to watch it.

While Kenya was disconcerted for having been omitted from the trip, in Uganda, I shudder to imagine the euphoria that would have preceded if stopping in Kampala was part of the itinerary. In the Subsahara African way of welcoming visitors, governments often start preparing six months in advance. Even if the guest will stay for only a day.

We as Africans should not be blamed. This is our traditional way of welcoming guests. A visiting Head of State to Subsahara Africa means that it is the only moment the city council will clean up the blocked drainage channels. Oh, how we yearn to make impressions on our guests even when the true picture maybe different. So, by choosing to visit Ghana, Obama made a wise choice because Ghanaians did exactly what Ugandans would have done. And for the next few weeks, the streets of Accra will be cleaner. Congratulations the Land of Gold!

In Uganda, it means special budgetary allocation to organise for the visit, followed by the re-filling of potholes and planting grass. Now, during this July sunshine, special sprinklers would be provided to water the grass. Even Cabinet ministers would be absent from office to inspect the progress of preparatory works.

Of course the long hours in the field often mean more allowances for the officials carrying out the clean up exercise. With such flurry of activities, one would think Uganda was a setting for Nikolay Gogol's The Government Inspector.

Such scenes would be more or less a replay of what happened before Uganda hosted the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in 2007. Police would get new uniform, beggars and idlers taken off the streets in midnight and daylight operations,

A special programme featuring Uganda ahead of the visit, would possibly have been aired on CNN, to highlight the government's achievements under the most enticing catchword, "Uganda: A Beauty in the Sun" all in the name of polishing Uganda's image.

Of course it was necessary and justified for the Ghana authorities to deploy some 10,000 security forces during the visit to deal with anyone who would have nursed plans to mar the visit. In Uganda, we would have deployed more officers and men, including vigilante groups wielding wooden clubs (kibokos).

Events like this often replay in my mind. I recall when former President Bill Clinton visited Uganda. The Monica Lewinsky case hang over his head, when the American went to a church in South Africa. He received Holy Communion and even the church's was hushed in questioning whether it was fitting.

In Uganda President Clinton was treated to the generosity of African women. He left a baby boy in Kisowera, Mukono district! It happened after the toddler's mother renamed her child 'Clinton.' Why? It was because the American had carried the baby in his arms. In the Entebbe hotel where Clinton spent the nights, the suite has since been renamed, "Clinton suite."

Then I am told that our Ghanaian brothers named a road after George Walker Bush to recognize his contribution towards the country's development.

I wondered if there was no nameless road in the vast US that could be named after any great African. After all, didn't Africa contribute to American development during the Trans Atlantic slave trade? Maybe one day the Americans will reciprocate and rename any of their hotels, or streets, after any of our great African leaders.

Buveera have no problem. It is we Ugandans

2009-07-02T18:00:00.005+01:00

During the rainy season in Uganda, women who cannot afford umbrellas often choose to use plastic polythene bags (aka buveera) to cover their plaited hair to protect it from being soaked.

Now that government recently banned buveera, my neighbour Phiona may never get anymore buveera to cover her hair. She will have to save enough money to buy an umbrella. Alternatively, she should consider stocking enough buveera for the rainy day in future.

When the rain clouds disappear, Fifi - as we prefer to call her - dumps the kaveera on the streets, not caring where it could end up. And when the rains return, the flowing rain water always sweeps the dumped buveera into the water drainage channels.

Ugandans complained that the channels get blocked with rubbish, which causes flooding especially in the low-lying areas of Kampala, such as Bwaise. Then to address the problem Government moved to ban the use of buveera.

But if buveera would talk, they would accuse the Ugandans such as Fifi, of lacking discipline and manners. There are no demarcated dumping sites in Kampala, so, plastic rubbish is usually dumped on the street pavements, including the bio-degradable rubbish such as banana peelings. This is a sanitation challenge in our country.

The manufacturers of buveera are too engrossed in profits, to care about playing a role in sanitation. They could have established centres for collection of dumped plastic bags. This would ease the collection of recyclable plastics. The ban means that the 15 polythene manufacturing firms in the country will lose business, and with them hundreds of Ugandans will be unemployed.
But, on the other hand, several of Uganda's imports come wrapped in buveera. And I am wondering how government will enforce such a regulation to prevent the importation of good wrapped in buveera?

What should instead have been done is to place buveera bins to sort the rubbish. What could complicate the matter for recylcing the plastics is that these bags usually serve more purposes than what the manufacturers initially intended for them.

Slum dwellers use the plastic bags for toilets. This complicates recycling. This is why I think that buveera are not the problem. It is the Ugandans who have no culture of waste dumping. Then when we fail, we turn all the blame on the buveera. There are probably more buveera used in European countries such as France or UK. Ugandans could emulate this.

Kampala's Street-names, Plot Numbers and Burglars

2009-06-18T18:06:00.006+01:00

The hardest thing to do in Uganda is to direct a friend or a visitor to your home or office. Take the example of the medical service provider who has asked us to provide directions to our homes. This is done so that in the event of an emergency, the ambulance can easily make an evacuation.

But when I got to that section, I failed to get an actual direction. It is common in Ugandanese, to direct someone by saying, "When you reach the Mvule tree, simply look to your right and follow the path. At the end, you will see a green-painted gate. Behind the gate, is a tiled house. Voila!"

A number of posh houses are located in neighbourhoods that bear no markings. If the neighbourhoods have any plot numbers, then they are known to only the owner and city authorities.

This is a problem that has been carried on from the past. During the days of insecurity before 1986, it was dangerous to have your property bearing a plot number. This would make it easy for burglars to easily trace their prey.

So, people found is appropriate to remove the plot markings. At least, this would provide ample safety. In the event that your locality has been traced, by the time the burglars are able to identify your plot number, it provides you opportunity to escape.

Lately, people have learnt to have closes to their residences. There are many unmarked roads, streets, lanes and avenues in the city centre. Even these roads have names, it is hard to know the street name. Often, it is only known to the city council authorities. In the event of a fire outbreak or housebreaking in the night, it would be hard for the victims to direct the Police Fire Brigade to come to the rescue.

Also, the same street could appear with different spellings of its name. While a person could decide to identify a road in their own name, without the city council approval. This has created names such as "Nabunya Close." While some people are so vain to name roads against after themselves as long as it leads to their houses. Also, another trend is the naming of roads after fallen African dictators such as Siad Barre Road, or British imperialists such as Speke, Burton, Hannington, and other least unknowns.

France seeks to strengthen ties with Africa

2009-06-16T19:42:00.001+01:00

France is opening new channels to improve cooperation and strengthen already existing bilateral ties with African countries, politically and economically. France is in the process of redefining its policies under a general review, in order to increase effectiveness.

The February 2008 visit by President Nicolas Sarkozy to South Africa has formed a basis for reference about the foreign policy of France in Africa. Senior French government officials have since re-echoed President Sarkozy’s statement. Is this the moment for France to take Africa as a true partner at the level like that of US, Russian, Latin America? This could be a long term process.

Defence agreements and military cooperation
France wants the military cooperation in Africa to be in line with initiatives such as the African network for peace and security as well as the African standby force at continental and regional level. This is addressed in the government White Paper on defence and security. France is moving to a multilateral path so that its defence missions are part of the African continental bodies.

France will revisit military agreements with its 8 former colonies of Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Togo, Gabon, Central African Republic and Djibouti. Initially, the agreements specified that French troops would compulsorily intervene to defend governments in former colonies, in the event of armed aggression. Under the new agreements, French troop involvement should be on case-by-case basis; with no involvement in domestic conflicts. Also, the French military bases will be reduced to 3 out of the initial five bases on the continent.

Currently, France supports the African Union peacekeeping mission (AMISOM) in Somalia which comprises of Burundian and Ugandan soldiers. The mission is a positive action whose efficiency is comparable to any other mission of the United Nations.
France has also agreed to train Somalia troops, police and judiciary starting September. They will train 500 servicemen at as cost of €1million in neighbouring Djibouti.

France has the ambition to bring in the European Union as the first partner of Africa in peace and security. This has succeeded in the field of aid under EU through which France channels its aid to Africa. France is a major contributor of financial support to African countries. France is one of the 27 member states of the EU and bilateral support to Africa under the Agency for Development totals to more than €7billlion. Franc support accounts for 25% of the aid from EU, coming second only after UK, the main donor.

Security:
Africa in the next 15 years will be a priority for France in the conflict prevention strategy. Prevention of conflicts in Africa is one of the priorities in the French foreign policy. This involves the monitoring and control of small arms under the Kimberley Instructions to avoid illegal provision of arms. France also intervenes in crises and supports classical diplomacy and negotiation efforts. Otherwise, the deployment of military means could also be considered.

Africa is a field of crises; but there have been positive elements lately. For instance, some of the conflicts e.g. in Kenya have been resolved. Also, on the whole, conflicts in Africa are on a lower scale than 15 years ago. Although France has supported missions in African countries, there is an increasing role of the EU to which France is a member. This continental body should take over ownership of security issues of African countries.

Also, there are mechanisms in place to assess fragile states, which are monitored to assess potentially dangerous situations. There is a scale that is used to determine the level of political stability. The politically fragile countries are not listed to avoid stigma. However, this helps those concerned to have forward planning.

Democracy:
France also keenly follows events in Africa, especially the Great Lakes region on issues of good governance. France is however cautious in its diplomacy. The does not give lessons on democracy and there is full respect of the sovereignty of partner African states. Political governance is much more complicated because France is cautious not to enforce its own model.

France does not deliver messages based on moral values. For instance, in tackling corruption it is easy to tell African governments that corruption is bad because it is against their interests to attract investors. This is easier approach that condemning African governments for corruption.

France-Africa Summits:
One prominent forum to advance France’s relations with Africa is the France-Africa Summit, which was initiated in 1973 by the then French President Pompidou. During these summits, issues discussed range from international affairs and conflicts. These summits reflect France’s willingness to engage Africa. Also, at such forums, leaders of non-French speaking African countries such as Uganda are invited.

The meetings have been criticised though for having no particular agenda. This denies critics information to know what was discussed. Often, a statement is issued at the end, but no commitments are made by the leaders. This is why the summit has been viewed as a presidential cocktail. But it is President Nicolas Sarkozy’s intention to have these summits take place under improved arrangements.

Economy:
There is growing economic interest of French companies in Africa, particularly the Great Lakes region. However, the region remains politically volatile, which discourages investments. Uganda is one of the countries experiencing dynamic development and it is hard to keep away from the potential that lies in the region. Uganda is marketing itself as an investment destination through its foreign mission in France. There is French interest in infrastructure development, energy, sustainable protection of forests and agriculture sectors.

France has identified need to involve the private sector and discuss commerce and trade between Africa and France. France recognises the private sector as a main trigger to economic development in Africa. There is need to promote partnerships between the private sector in France and Africa. There is also a need to support the civil society organisations.

At the end of September, a delegation of investors will visit Kampala to hold discussions with the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) about potential investments and partnerships in Uganda. Already, there are a number of French companies that are operating in Uganda.

There is ongoing negotiation with the EAC and the EU on the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). However, the EA region is split between many regional blocs, which make negotiation difficult. France under the EU Commission aims to complete all negotiations before the end of this year. Under the setup of the French polity and systems of governance: there is involvement of many institutions which oversee interactions internally and externally.

Rwanda:
In the Great Lakes Region, France has links with Uganda, Burundi, and DR Congo. It is also seeking to mend the relations with Rwanda. They also closely monitor the situation in the region and have commended the existing cooperation between Rwanda and DRC to jointly fight rebel elements in the two countries. There is urgent need to control the illicit trade in natural resources within the region, which fuels conflicts.

France was proactive in solving the problem of Rwanda. The country made efforts by supporting the peace talks in the East African regional capital of Arusha between the then rebels of the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) with the government of the slain President Juvenal Habyarimana. However, the efforts were jeopardised by Habyarimana’s assassination. Other sectors that France supports include cultural cooperation as well as education.

Peace: France wants LRA out

2009-06-09T22:14:00.006+01:00

The French government will not support further dialogue between the LRA and the Ugandan Government and is ready to support a military offensive against the rebels.

The pronouncement comes after a Bill, calling on US President Barack Obama to support Uganda fight the LRA, was presented in the US Senate last month.

The Bill, if passed, could lead to the launch of a second joint military offensive against the LRA. It also follows the collapse of the Juba talks last year, when LRA leader Joseph Kony failed to turn up for the signing of the final peace agreement.

“The solution to the LRA is to eradicate it. We do not believe any longer in negotiations. There have been attempts in that direction but it has not been supported by LRA leader Joseph Kony,” a senior government official communicated France’s position.

A number of French government officials, including Stéphane Gompertz, the director for Africa at the French foreign ministry, addressed a group of six African journalists who are attending a seminar in Paris on peace and security processes in the Great Lakes region.

The officials called the LRA a criminal group that kidnaps, kills, rapes and abducts. “The LRA is headed by a dangerous person who is completely paranoid and insane. What can we do in such a case? We are trying to locate Kony but it has not been an easy task.”

They called for the launch of a new joint offensive, in which intelligence information should be shared. During such military operation, the abducted children within the LRA ranks must be spared, they said.

France through the EU has been a major financier of the Juba peace talks. Paris withdrew its support, however, after seeing no prospect of reaching an agreement with Kony.

How Africans perceive France

2009-06-08T14:26:00.005+01:00

Our group of visiting journalists includes: Vincent Nkeshimana, Corneille Libaruta both from the Republic of Burundi. Tshieke Bukassa and Malou Mbela from DR Congo. Tabu Butagira and Raymond Baguma from Uganda.

In the photo with the journalists is Mme Louise Avon, the ambassador incharge of the mission on the Improvement of the France-Africa Summits

This morning, our first visit was to the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. Monsieur Faycal BEY, the interpreter picked us from the hotel at 09:10hrs for the first meeting with Monsieur Roman NADAL, sous-directeur de la presse.

French officials interested themselves in knowing the Africans' perception of France. And here were some of the candid views from the publics which the journalists had:

The average DR Congo national thinks that every French speaker on the streets is from Belgium. To the public, the French speakers from France only interact at a higher level.
France is known for its culture, organising and partaking in activities such as the EU day as well as celebrations of the July 14th National Day. In Uganda, this has demystified officialdom and related France to the ordinary public.
France supports programmes in education, health, water and sanitation in Uganda, Burundi.
France is a great footballing nation. But rarely does France come out openly to comment on African issues in areas such as political development, as US and UK have often done.
France is perceived as having complicity in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The consequent arrest of a Rwandan government official has not made the situation better. This is because Rwanda shares close cultural and historical ties with Uganda despite previous differences between the two Presidents. The ruling RPF in Rwanda was born in Uganda.
All in all, there is largely a disconnect between ordinary Africans in Burundi, Uganda and DR Congo, with France.

The journey so far...

2009-06-08T13:26:00.006+01:00

This is a part I had not narrated to you before. It wa typed but not published yet. Anyway, since arriving on Saturday morning, the journey from Addis Ababa took us 7 hours (Francis, am I right?) At least I know that it was the longest I have spent in the air so far.

This excluded a 4 hour wait at Addis Airport, 1 hour of which was inexplicable, (an airline official perfunctorily told us the Captain was switched from the flight).

In the 10 degrees, at 7:30am Paris time, we "hit the tarmac" on the runway at Charles De Gaulle airport, with a slight drizzle. Our hosts had dispatched a AVIS staff to pick us from the airport.

But because of the delay in flight, there was a glitch in linking up with the AVIS Monsieur Monand TAYA. But the other Burundian journalists, Corneille and Vincent, we think for knowlege of French, were already in the waiting car. There was a bomb scare at CDG.

Monsieur TAYA said that they receive a bomb alert nearly every month and they turn out false. It seems to me that this has become so routine that waiting crowds at the airport are never so alarmed.

This scare was proved false, but security was at hand to do its work and did not take it lightly. Arriving at the hotel, which we will call home for the next seven days, Francis is checked into room 319, while I am in room 416 on the 4th floor.

In the week ahead starting Monday 8th June, there will be little luxury to walk around the city. So, on arrival and after a few minutes of rest, we walk around Paris city in the windry afternoon as far as our legs could carry us.

The sun set at nearly midnight on Sunday night but this could not deter me from enjoying my second night in Paris. The bed was comfortable with no mosquito bites! I had a Facebook chat with friends in Uganda as well as UK did some email correspondences before I went into slumberland.

Earlier in the day though, Billie Kadameri, a Ugandan journalist based in Paris with Radio France International phoned l'hotel Cayre. We agreed to meet at 2:30pm. But before the minute hand would click 31, Billie was at the hotel reception. Not an hour late, or a minute more!

We boarded the Paris underground train for the first time to travel to another part of the city for lunch. Francis, Billie and I ate chicken pitta, poulet, and riz at an Indian restaurant in another part of the city.

Indians are such business savvy people that one will find them even some of the remotest parts of the world (even Uganda), doing business. I admire their spirit of adventure and business acumen.

Over the lunch, our chat centred around journalism in Uganda and as well as practicing journalism in France for Billie. The staff at RFI, where Billie works are on strike. Reason is that the French government unveiled plans to scrap some radio services broadcasting in various European languages. This is part of a grand plan to introduce other language services such as Swahili and the widening of the African section at RFI.

This plan to scrap some language services means job cuts for over 200 staff, including journalists. This has made the plan so unpopular that there is an ongoing strike at the radio. The sad thing is that intially, it had been programmed for us to visit RFI. But because of the ongoing strike, the visit was cancelled.

Paris Day One

2009-06-07T10:36:00.005+01:00

The lessons so far?
The week I will spend in Paris may be insufficient to know everything. But it is sufficient to learn something:

Firstly, do not blush when an amorous couple kiss on the train. It is the French way and the elderly do it too. (I do not know how our Ethics minister Dr. Nsaba Buturo would handle this one).
Culture is important for a national identity; and practise should not be discarded in pursuit of development goals.
Though I speak better French than the American tourists residing at l'hotel Cayre, my French is in need of thorough polishing. It will take me days to improve my accent; I had to tell Monsieur Monand YATA, our chauffer from Charles de Gaulle Airport, "Pourriez-vous parler lentenment?"
Dusk in France sets in at 22:00hrs during June.
The Ugandan rules of crossing the road do not work in Paris where motorists keep right. I have discarded the childhood rule of "Look left, then right, then left again; and then cross."
It is safe to drink tap water in Paris.
It took me a minute to learn to use the lock to my hotel room.
At the Shell outlet next to the hotel, I wanted a phone card to call Africa cheaply, but the attendant for sold me an airtime card!
The vibrations of the ground in Paris are not earthquakes about to happen. It is the underground train.
An organised transport system with buses is possible. Also, potholes, Boda bodas, and mosquitoes can be got rid of.
Not everyone you ask for direction in Paris, is familiar with the places. Some are even in more need of assistance. I asked a lady for the location of McDonald's along Rue de Rennes. She didnot know the place and was in need of 2 euros. I give her the coin and she disappears without saying, "merci."
The French system of sockets is not compartible with the universal plug of my laptop. Fortunately, the gentleman at the concierge has a number of universal plugs and it is sent to chambre 416, my current physical address

March's national political gaffe

2009-04-19T13:58:00.005+01:00

The Ugandan state minister for planning Prof. Ephraim Kamuntu was recently quoted in the Ugandan media (read The New Vision) that the high population growth rate in Uganda was due to the electricity shortage, which compels to go to bed early.

I recall his statement on that Monday morning at the Colline Hotel in Mukono and how it threw the participants into rancorous laughter. Funny? Not to me. To others? Maybe. Especially those Ugandans who have the priviledge of accessing electricity. You see in Uganda, only nine percent of the country is lit by hydroelectricity from the Jinja dam. The people who filled the conference room that day were mainly civil servants who can afford to pay the monthly electricity bills.

To the other Ugandans who cannot afford, or who live in darkness at night, I thought the minister's statements quite insulting , especially those who have small families and live in the countryside.

If the minister had asked himself the co-relation between polygamy and electricity in Uganda, and why the Domestic Relations Bill has still failed to be passed in the Parliament. I for one, know a number of wealthy Ugandan men who have substantially contributed to the country's population, yet they have 24hour access to electricity.

Then, if the government programme for rural electrification ever attains its target of lighting 10percent of the country, will the population growth ever drop? Maybe we Ugandans are inherently sexual beings.

The minister seems to assume that with access to electricity, Ugandans will work in double shift and the country will develop. Is that right? No, presumptuous. How come those in Kampala City who have access to power do not work any harder?

Maybe it could mean that there will be more night clubs, video shacks to enable Ugandan fans of European Soccer to watch the Premiership, FA Cups, the French League, and the Spanish La liga. Because of the time difference between Africa and Europe, most of these matches are watched at night. Could that be the Ugandan version of night shift?

Already in some rural areas in the country that have benefited under the rural electrification programme, the power to households has been disconnected for failure to pay the electricity bills. This makes me wonder whether electricity is what Ugandan households need.

Is it not empowering Ugandans with income generating projects to enable them meet the monthly bills? This is why a number of enterprising youth have gone ahead to buy low kv generators to operate saloon business and video halls in the countryside. A saloon operating bloke will earn a shilling and use the money to woo the village belles and have a string of girls friends, with promises to trim their hair for free in exchange for affection. The result of this is pre-marital pregnancies. And is this related to lack of electricity?

Currently Uganda has an estimated population of 30 million people with a growth rate of 3.4 percent and measures 236,040 sq km. The UK has a population of 61million with a growth rate of 0.6 percent per year. At 244,820 sq km, the UK is slightly larger than Uganda.

Maybe it is was not for UK's high abortion rates, the UK would be having a population larger than 61million. So, would Kamuntu argue that UK has a power shortages or the night working shifts compel the English folks to abstain? Of course his statements were media fodder, but Kamuntu should not lift up his collar.

The Ugandan Bourgeoisie class

2009-03-08T14:09:00.003Z

Today I read The Sunday Vision lead story of Kampala's rich class. The writer talks about an exclusive club of Ugandan billionaires who are worth sh1 trillion. According to the news article, members of this Kwagalana (Brotherly) group, as it is known are engaged in real estate, owning buildings all over the city. By observation, this group draws membership from people who were (or are) part of the country's informal sector.

A close examination of individual tycoons' profiles makes interesting read. A number of their stories reveal them as formerly dealing in secondhand clothes, shopkeepers, general merchandise. Other stories could have gory backgrounds.

With this, it would be easy to tell how such people amassed such wealth. To work in a largely unregulated informal sector that is difficult to tax; yet it has a taxable potential. Their chairman Godfrey Kirumira is an importer and dealer in used clothes, general merchandise, owning several buildings in Kampala, fuel stations as well as schools.

They are men and women of little education and their only area of employment lay in the informal sector; yet the more educated colleagues find it easier to get employment in the formal sector.

But later, with their enterpreneural minds, the tables of fortune are turned in favour of the less educated as they work their way to the top and eventually, they are able to create job opportunities to their more educated colleagues such as accountants, auditors, engineers, and lawyers, to run the businesses for them.

This is a class of indigenous African businessmen and businesswomen whose combined incomes, according to the article, can support the country's education sector for nearly a year. Yet by standards of wealth with the region, they do

Ofcourse, while we acknowledge their riches, truth be told that it is partly because of their little education that few of them could venture into the more technical industrial sector such as cement, brewing, steel, mining, sugar production and manufacturing. Or even venturing into agricultural value addition or processing.

One of the Kwagalana club members has ventured into construction sector with a road construction company that is now notorious for delayed contract completion, than doing standard work. But it is everyone's prayer that in that contract limping, eventually, the construction company will find its stable footing.

The smiling assasin

2009-03-06T10:13:00.002Z

Col Thomas Kwoyelo is a pint-sized fellow, of small build. But I would imagine that when he held a gun, he would transform into an ogre. When I came face-to-face with him at the army airbase, I was in the company of soldiers as well as other fellow journalists.

As he was assisted to disembark from the plane by two soldiers, one soldier propped him to avoid him triping over the steep stairway on the Antanov cargo plane. Another soldier held the water drip. Seeing the little body, it was difficult for some soldiers to believe that the tiny fellow had challenged them in running battles in Pader district in about 2005.

Kwoyelo smiled nervously, as his captors acknowlegded his high rank as an LRA commander. Some in the party insisted that he be photographed with his military pips. Only that the pips had been forgotten in Garamba.

All the while, I wonder how this small man who appear to be no less than 35 years joined the LRA. The insurgency itself is on 23 years old, having started in 1986. Maybe he was one of the many abductees who never said goodbye to their kith and kin as they were hounded off by LRA during midnight raids in the north. Having undergone the ritual induction into the LRA, he had killed his friends and family, and smeared their blood on his little body.

From then on, he was counted among the child abductees. But when he held the gun, he became a legal target. His fierceness on the battle front must have earned him some of the beautiful girl abductees to whom he was allocated. I would imagine he has left behind a harlem of them behind in Garamba.

Today, after massive defections and deaths in the camps, a leadership vaccum has seen him rise to become the number four in LRA hierarchy, until his capture in Ukwa, Garamba. As his wounds recover in either Mbuya or Bombo military hospital, he will be subjected to interrogations to which he is expected to cooperate. Who knows what happens to him next?

The nipped bud

2009-03-01T14:07:00.001Z

IN him, all his mother's hopes lay. Isaac Bunkedeko was quiet young man who lived in Jinja Karoli, in Kawempe on the outskirts of Kampala. It was the area he had grown in as a child. It was never affluent and is known to nurture a section of society's riff-raff. The furthest he ever ventured out of his mother's place was a nearby Ffenne tree. Otherwise, he prefered to stay home and help out his mother with the chores - a ideal son.

With a father who loved beer more than his wife, Isaac provided all the consolation his hairdresse mum needed in a man. She had met the father of her husband, a habitual drunkard who works at Mailo Biri towards Bwaise.

Last year, Isaac sat for his senior six. He emerge the best in his school Namilyango Secondary School. But before he would know his results, his lifeless body lay in a wooden box. He was dead and with him, his mother's dreams, hopes and plans were buried.

A would-be lawyer who did not live to enjoy the fruits of his hard work. He died on Friday – a day after the Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) results were released. He had scored AAAB in History, Economics Geography and Fine Art with a distinction 2 in General Paper. His ambition was to study law at Makerere University.

His story is representative of Uganda's buried dreams that are unachieved because of a poor health care system. The country has lost a lawyer because his parents were too poor to take him to a better hospital for treatment. We have lost a lawyer because the doctors could not treat his sinuses. A lawyer who would have uplifted his family and built his mum a nice house to retire in.

He always suffered from headaches; but he was a strong willed boy. His mum, Joyce Mudondo, fainted in shock, according to relatives. Even after burial, she was yesterday still too devastated.

Speaking to the New Vision, Ms Mudondo said that she had sacrificed her meagre earnings from the hairdressing in order to educate her eldest child, and only son. “My son was my hope and he always reassured me that our situation would change after school. He wanted to be a lawyer and promised to provide me all the good things and build me a house,” mourned Mudondo who is a hairdresser at Kawempe Market.

The deceased boy’s father is a carpenter at Mailo Bbiri, at Makerere Kavule near the Bwaise Roundabout. According to the family, on Wednesday last week, Bunkedeko got a headache attack from their home in Jinja-Karoli in Kawempe Division. He was taken to a nearby clinic where he was given medication, which eased the headaches.

Later, his condition worsened and he was rushed to Mulago Hospital on Thursday where he died at around 1 a.m. on Friday morning. A post-mortem report said that he died of sinuses.
“He had not yet known his results. His teachers from school phoned us to let us know about his excellent performance; but he was too ill and he later died,” his mother tearfully said.

The deceased’s other siblings, both girls study from city schools in senior three and senior five.
He was buried on Saturday at his father’s ancestral home in Tukutwe along Gayaza Road, Wakiso district.

The deceased’s former head teacher Hajjat Hajara Walusimbi said Bunkedeko was a quiet, disciplined boy and not talkative. His performance in class was average and nobody had expected him to perform exceptionally well. His parents were not wealthy and the school authorities were patient whenever he failed to pay the school fees in time. He was a bud nipped before it ever reached maturity.