October 2022 – Prime Time Communications

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch Lift ban on Facebook to enable small businesses access markets

#OutToLunch Lift ban on Facebook to enable small businesses access markets By Denis Jjuuko Last week, the world commemorated the International Day of the Girl for the 10th year since the United Nations started marking this day. The theme for this year is “Our time is now —our rights, our future.” The future for most of these girls and young women will increasingly be through easy and affordable access to technology either for their education or businesses. As the world was commemorating this day, the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) was also indicating that it has started charging 18% VAT to companies like Facebook for any advert paid for by people in Uganda. Nothing wrong with URA collecting more taxes but Facebook at the moment is banned and only used illegally by people using Virtual Private Networks or VPNs. Yet if you speak to these people including the entrepreneurial young women, the majority of their sales come from platforms like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, all products owned by Meta. The WhatsApp Status is a great marketing tool. Reels on Instagram and Facebook provide a wonderful avenue through which small businesses can advertise almost at no cost. For those who are creative with videos, TikTok’s rise over the last few years is providing brand exposure that you can’t even begin to imagine. Media houses have their job well cut out. Anyway, the revenue collections have dwindled as the economy suffers from the effects of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine among others. Inflation is rising at the speed of a formula one car! Posho, a foodstuff once considered for the poor can now only be afforded by the middle class. Delays in payment of salaries are the order of the day with even district administrative officers writing letters to their staff announcing delays to receive money from the treasury. So if the government itself is struggling to pay recurrent expenses such as salaries, imagine the challenges small businesses face. Many people will simply be laid off. Now, imagine what young women who own these small businesses who already face many barriers that hinder their entrepreneurial journeys are going through. Many of them started businesses not really because they wanted to but because of failure to access quality education due to many reasons including teenage pregnancy. Many young people finishing school today are turning to self-employment as traditional jobs have increasingly become difficult to find yet the hardest work one can ever do is starting their own businesses. Forget the glamour that some entrepreneurs talk about. The hustle of sustaining a business is not for the faint hearted. That is why the majority of businesses that are started in a year, don’t live long enough to celebrate their 5th birthday. Yet these are the businesses that have the potential to employ the majority of people. Today, many young people are working as influencers on social media platforms earning a living to push brands, events and even some causes. Others have started shows on Twitter Spaces and YouTube, enabling them to earn. Many of these influencers are young women. The cost of data is expensive and I have heard VPNs make it more expensive on top of draining the batteries, thereby requiring more money to pay to access electricity. So unbanning companies like Facebook might not be an issue that massages our ego but it is the right thing to do. That way we can enable young women have access to a platform that enables them to make sales through which URA would actually collect more taxes. I believe URA would collect more taxes from small businesses growing because they have access to technology than charging VAT on small transactions that people pay to Facebook (that doesn’t mean Facebook shouldn’t be taxed). So if technology is the future for young people, issues of access must be dealt with. Affordable devices such as tablets and smartphones, availability of high-speed internet and the cost of data itself must be addressed. Data bundles that are affordable and aren’t pegged to a number of days are important if girls and young women are to consider this as their time and future. Companies like Facebook, Amazon, Twitter and Google among others that provide easy access to markets shouldn’t be banned because of some political shenanigans rather reprimanded. Europe has never banned Google or Microsoft for their law breaches because it knows their role in enabling businesses, it simply heavy fines them. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

October 25, 2022

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch Uganda at 60: What if Uganda was a human being

#OutToLunch Uganda at 60: What if Uganda was a human being By Denis Jjuuko On Sunday, Uganda turned 60 years old having received its independence from the British on 9 October 1962. Had Uganda been a person, he would have received his full NSSF pay out five years earlier. If he worked in the Uganda public service, he would either be retired or on contract depending on the agency that employed him. He would have seen a few of his children graduate from university, start marriages and dropping off grandchildren over the weekend or as often as they needed a willing nanny at no pay! And like most Ugandans, he would be begging his children that haven’t given birth to hurry up so he could have a chance to see some of his grandchildren before he dies. And again like most Ugandans he would be considering relocating to his country home, leaving the city to the young and furious. Had he made some money, he would have set up a home somewhere else, and rent out the other house in preparation for retirement where once in a while he would invite friends for drinks and reminisce about the good old days. He would start a farm somewhere and plant a few trees. Build some rentals and join a few boards as a non-executive director. Life would be good. He would be proud of his accomplishments, the policies and project he initiated. And how they changed the world even though those achievements may be invisible to many others. He would be quick to mention where his children are especially those who live and work in London, Johannesburg or Boston, those practicing as doctors and engineers or on their post graduate courses in elite universities. But there is also a Ugandan who would be calling everyone they know right now, as he turns 60, and facing retirement contemplating on what to do to remain on the job. A letter to his superior to extend his stay on the job or copying the former Chief Justice by swearing an affidavit to lower his age would be on the cards. Another Ugandan would become captive to his children who are now his ‘retirement investment.’ The children will decide when he sees a doctor or whether the young offspring he got with his mistress would go to school. He would feel abandoned and terrified and only name dropping the bigwigs he used to chill out with in the cities but who no longer answer their phones whenever he calls pretending to be too busy. He would mention the flight to New York or Tokyo for a conference and how good life was in Toronto when he visited. Unable to buy waragi for his new friends, their attention would quickly turn to the young man preparing for his 2026 bid for parliament. He can after all buy beer. And for those below 60, parliament and elective office has become one of the most lucrative forms of employment competing at the same time with those who retired. If they don’t fight over votes in parliament to represent the country in the East African assembly, they are laying out strategies to become councilors at all levels. Not to be like their retiring parents, those in employment, spend all their time looking for every possible way to have rental income. Buildings are going up in all sorts of suburbs but on salaries that can barely pay school fees for just one child in an average school. Those who aren’t ‘lucky’ enough to be building rentals are surviving by the grace of God having mortgaged themselves to the bones. Salary advance is the order of the day. Those who had invested in businesses, Covid-19 disrupted their plans. The restructured loans have matured again and banks are foreclosing on them. As Uganda celebrates its 60th anniversary, 12,000 schools according to the government owned newspaper are on forced sale. It is plausible that in the next few years, nobody will be investing in schools anymore. So where will those who will be 60 in the year 2082 have studied? Without a functioning education system that is affordable for all, even the poorest of policies wouldn’t be put on the table for debate. There will be no debate actualy. Everyone will be for themselves. So if government wants to create impact for the next 60 years, it must start by fixing the education system—a catalyst for growth of all the other sectors. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

October 25, 2022

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch Banning steel timber concrete construction method is counterproductive

#OutToLunch Banning steel timber concrete construction method is counterproductive By Denis Jjuuko In a country with a shortage of approximately 2.4 million housing units and growing by 200,000 units annually, the cost of housing is always a constant issue on people’s lips. Owning home is one of those new year’s resolutions for most people in Uganda. Also, owning rentals is one of the top investment decisions for most people. Rent income is considered safe for many people which doesn’t require much effort once the construction is complete. To prepare for retirement or any eventualities, many people invest in buildings for rent. But the cost of building is always a constant thought for how far people could go. Any method that one may consider cheaper, they would go for it. That perhaps explains the recent craze for the steel-timber concrete composite method where wood was used as major material for reinforced slabs for storied buildings. If you live or work in greater Kampala, you have seen these buildings using steel beams or even pipes instead of concrete pillars. Two weeks ago, an image went viral on social media of such a building that had collapsed while under construction prompting a debate on the safety of such methods. The Minister of Works and Transport was swift in issuing a statutory instrument prohibiting their use. The minister’s document said that “the use of steel-timber concrete composite building method is not safe and is prohibited in any building operation.” Many people welcomed the decisions as a right one to safeguard people’s lives and their investments. Although the decision could have been the popular one, it also kills innovation and doesn’t help in making houses in Uganda more affordable. If you go to Kikuubo or any part of the country where old storied buildings are being demolished for new ones, you will notice that the slabs were solid so they didn’t use clay maxpans or free spans that are so common today and considered safe. Maxpans which originally where concrete became clay when companies like Uganda Clays started making them. They have lowered the cost of making suspended floors by reducing on the weight of the building as well as the number of steel bars and mesh and such other materials necessary. Because of the reduction in cost due to innovations by maxpans, many people have been able to construct storied buildings. To further reduce the cost of reinforced slabs, some companies have come up with what they call waffles which are concrete but use less materials compared to the current preferred method of maxpans. So the steel timber concrete composite building method should not have been prohibited at the moment but rather more studies should have been done to ensure that it is safe. There are more steel timber concrete composite buildings collapsing today under construction than those of steel timber composite method. What happens to those people who have already put up their buildings? Are they going to be all condemned? The minister’s notice was silent on this. In countries like India, bamboo is used instead of steel bars in concrete pillars for storied buildings. In California, timber is used in building storied houses and buildings up to 18 floors. Prohibiting innovative building methods is akin to throwing away a baby with the bathwater. What is needed are proper guidelines to use such methods because steel timber concrete composite methods could succeed, build capacity of workers and reduce the shortage of housing units. If we had banned the use of maxpans in the 1980s, the cost of building storied buildings wouldn’t have been at the level they are today. The prohibition of the steel timber concrete composite building was made in consultations with the National Building Review Board (NBRB) which is said to have done a study and recommended that the method is dangerous according to a report in the Daily Monitor. The same study could have recommended the best way to use the steel timber concrete composite method. For example, what kind of steel should be used, what is the recommended spacing, recommended welding methods, height of the building, estimated number of users for the building and what type of wood among others should have been part of the recommendations for those who prefer to use this method. Institutions such as Makerere University and indeed NBRB and the various engineers’ associations could have started short term refresher courses for workers involved in this so that only those certified would carry out the construction. The local governments that supervise the construction of buildings would then ensure that anybody who is using this method has the competence to do so. In a few years, the country would have built capacity thereby further reducing the cost of construction just like maxpans did a few years ago. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

October 25, 2022

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch EACOP: Africa must exploit its natural resources

#OutToLunch EACOP: Africa must exploit its natural resources By Denis Jjuuko In the 1990s, a debate raged whether Uganda should build an electricity dam at Bujagali Falls along the River Nile near the old industrial town of Jinja. At the time, if you lived in an urban area, you knew that if you had electricity today, you wouldn’t have it tomorrow. They called it loadshedding. The biggest argument against the dam was that its installation would kill the beauty of the falls and deny some Europeans and Americans a venue to enjoy their holidays while white water rafting and kayaking. They said the country would miss some revenue. Perhaps true but how much was it losing due to persistent scheduled loadshedding? Can a country develop without electricity? Anyway, a similar debate is raging over the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project — a nearly 1500km project from Uganda’s Albertine region to the port of Tanga in Tanzania. The pipeline would be able to transport Uganda’s crude oil to the port for further shipment to wherever its customers are — mainly in the west. But the west through its European parliament and few ambulance chasers are arguing that the project will destroy the region’s fauna and flora among other stuff. The implementers of the project are arguing that environmental impact assessments have been made and all the necessary procedures have been put in place to safeguard the environment and the project affected people. They also argue that more than 80,000 people will get jobs from the US$4 billion project. The European parliament’s arguments opposing the project were relayed to the world perhaps using electricity generated from re-opened coal plants or similar pipelines from Russia and other parts of the world. Europe and its north American cousins are the largest environmental polluters in the world and largely responsible for a warming planet. Africa with its poor investments in almost anything contributes only about 2-3% to global climate change according to the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP). Yet “it stands out disproportionately as the most vulnerable region in the world. This vulnerability is driven by the prevailing low levels of socioeconomic growth in the continent,” says UNEP. Even when EACOP is implemented, it will not significantly change Africa’s contribution to climate change or even to the destruction of the environment that Europe and north America bestow on the world in a single day. EACOP should be about empowering communities socioeconomically and that is where Europe should put more emphasis. However, there are things EACOP must do such as ensuring that they stick to the terms as agreed upon in the environmental impact assessments and such other protocols. This is where the European parliament needs to put emphasis not just to stop the project or its funding because it isn’t happy with something. There is no project that can be done without some consequences. If you are building an Expressway to Entebbe or Mpigi, there will be some issues. A clan whose ancestral grounds that would be destroyed. A Nambigirwa swamp that will be tempered with. If you are constructing a European parliamentary building, some cement will be used, known for its heavy toll on the environment. If the issue is human rights, then would not funding the EACOP stop the abuses? Certainly not. What is important is that some measures are put in place. And what has Europe now put in place to stem these abuses or to ensure that EACOP implementers don’t abscond from their responsibilities? Uganda didn’t just discover oil. It has been in the ground for decades. And that is where Africa’s problem is. The continent is so endowed with natural resources but hasn’t been able to exploit them. The European parliament is in Brussels, the world’s biggest trading hub for precious minerals. Belgium doesn’t have a single mine. African dictators stash their loot in Europe and some even live there and only return to Africa to open parliament a few times a year but the Europeans never complain. They simply roll out the red carpet for them. If EACOP is to create 80,000 jobs in two countries where the majority of people live in abject poverty, that is something that should be encouraged albeit with strict observance to issues that protect the environment and project affected persons. The proceeds from the project should be used to develop the countries and not banked in Swiss banks. That way Europe won’t have to close their borders to immigrants running away from poverty in Africa or sending them back to the same countries they are running away from. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

October 25, 2022

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch Let us have coffee over affordable housing

#OutToLunch Let us have coffee over affordable housing By Denis Jjuuko There are skits on social media of a landlady called Nakayiza. She can visit her tenants at any time and if she finds them eating chicken or meat, she wonders how they can be enjoying expensive foods while still renting. She castigates them for being such poor planners who enjoy life’s excesses instead of becoming landlords like herself. But if the tenant made a mistake of not inviting her to partake in the meal and/or giving her a drumstick and gizzard, they would be in trouble. She would grab the saucepan and go with it telling them to report her to whoever they want and see if they would still live in her houses. She always strikes at meal time. Nakayiza is hilariously brutal to her tenants especially those who may be in arrears. Nakayiza may be drama and she excels at it but her script writers know exactly what happens in the communities especially informal settlements where the majority of urban dwellers live in Uganda. Like Nakayiza, tenants in real life face such dehumanizing landlords every day. Yet as Uganda’s population continues to grow, so is the need for decent housing especially in urban areas. Uganda is one of the most urbanizing countries on the continent thereby putting pressure on already strained housing facilities. The country has a deficit of about 2.3 million housing units and growing by about 200,000 annually. Lack of proper housing leads to diseases and increases household poverty. A person fearing when Nakayiza would strike wouldn’t be able to have a decent meal at home. One time she complained of a family eating avocado yet a necessary food for children’s growth. But also, one wouldn’t be able to concentrate at anything because they spend all their time fearing when Nakayiza would strike. This calls for more investment in affordable decent housing. By affordable I mean a house the majority of people would be able to own over a long period of time say 10 to 30 years. People would consider that they have a stake in the country and will work hard to ensure they can own the property at one stage in their lifetime thereby leading to economic growth. I recently came up a report titled “A Ladder Up: The construction sector’s role in creating jobs and rebuilding emerging market economies,” commissioned by Habitat for Humanity and it had some interesting findings. For “every US$1 million in construction output creates an average of 97 jobs across countries ranging from 43 jobs per US$1 million in Mexico to 182 jobs per US$1 million in India,” the report reads. I believe in Uganda, one US$1m invested in housing could create as many as 500 jobs. From informal workers such as porters and bricklayers to professional workers such as architects and engineers. No need to mention indirect workers at steel factories and the entire value chain and money paid to government for permits and such other things. According to Habitat for Humanity Uganda, a two-bedroom affordable house in an urban area cost approximately Shs35m or US$9,000 (doesn’t include the cost of land). So, with US$1m, one can be able to build at least 100 houses in an urban area. In a not so urban area, the cost is Shs25m. These numbers could go further down if the government lowered taxes on construction materials and there were massive projects planned so that they could enjoy economies of scale. Banks could be incentivized to provide affordable financing. Residential construction has a lot of potential. “Investment in residential construction, in particular, represents a potential win-win for low- to middle-income countries, as it creates quality jobs while filling a massive void in affordable housing,” the report mentioned above further reads. An investment of just US$1m in a community would change it forever. Once people aren’t worried of returning home during the rainy season when the landlord has removed one of the iron sheets, they would be able to push their other dreams. As we have seen with Nakayiza and landlords like her, commercial tenants don’t go through the humiliation that residential tenants face. When a commercial tenant defaults, the landlord simply locks up the premises. The tenant’s family isn’t dehumanized. So residential housing for the country’s development is where we should put much more emphasis. It is high time we seriously had coffee on affordable housing. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

October 25, 2022

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch What if 40,000 runners owned a cancer treatment centre

#OutToLunch What if 40,000 runners owned a cancer treatment centre By Denis Jjuuko At the end of this year’s Rotary Cancer Run, I sat down to wind down. I started reflecting on the run. This was the 11th time we have been running with 40,000 people participating this year in more than 30 towns across the country and 11 cities all over the world. It is remarkable the work that Rotary does, volunteering to address challenges of our time. This year, Jennifer Jones, the first woman in Rotary’s 117-year history to be elected Rotary International President, was in the country and duly participated in the run. The money raised during the run will go towards the ongoing construction of bunkers for linear accelerator treatment machines at Nsambya Hospital. The run came at the time when cancer is in the news for lack of facilities at the Uganda Cancer Institute in Mulago. For the majority of Ugandans, once they have been suspected of having cancer, they would have to come to Mulago as there are no facilities in local health centres. With Mulago full to the brims, one can understand the frustrations of most Ugandans in need for this treatment. We have run for 11 years now and the journey is still long to get where we need to be. The entire project is about US$4 million or approximately Shs15 billion. Rotary has less than US$1m which is being used to build the bunkers so it will take many runs to get the project completed. But even if Rotary raised all the money needed today and completed the construction of the bunkers and installation of the linear accelerators, there would still be need for more cancer centres, at least one at every regional hospital or major town. And indeed that is Rotary’s long term plan. However, there is need for more training of oncologists and nurses and all the medical people that a cancer centre must have so it is a very long journey ahead. Rotary is a volunteer organization and has no public mandate to build or equip hospitals. The idea of the organization’s involvement is to help everyone in need of treatment to get it here at home affordably. The government people and the rich class already have their cancer centres in Nairobi, India or any other country of their fancy. For us, to speak like a Uganda, we are on our own! We must run and run to get any glimmer of hope. Or pray that the Lubowa specialized hospital construction can go beyond the plinth wall! But imagine if 40,000 people who managed to run on Sunday each contributed just US$100 over 12 months, we would be able to raise US$4m in one year and have the centre completed. The following year using the same model, we would be able to buy the land and even build another centre which could be private but providing an affordable service. After the construction, we would be able to do the same and raise another US$4m which would be used to train medical workers and pay their salaries for at least a year. The 40,000 people would all be shareholders in this cancer treatment centre and their dividend would be affordable treatment here at home. The numbers could even be more because the average number of people who can participate is higher than 40,000. But to ensure that all the 40,000 committed shareholders get treated affordably, they would be encouraged to start an insurance scheme through which those who become sick can get treated without affecting the operations of the hospital. Because not all the 40,000 people will use the scheme or even need cancer treatment, other Ugandans who aren’t shareholders would be able to benefit because treatment would be very affordable. Is this even remotely possible to pull off? It is hard but not impossible. The money held by investment clubs and firms is much more than the numbers being proposed here. Some of this money is actually idle and not bringing much regular returns. If you drive around greater Kampala, you will see signposts indicating which employee benefits scheme owns which land. Yet once people retire from their jobs, what they need isn’t necessarily land harboring squirrels. They need affordable treatment. There aren’t many families today in Uganda where people aren’t struggling with medical bills of their retired aging parents and relatives. With technology such as payment apps, people can be mobilized to contribute money for a cancer hospital in which they own shares. I know this may never be possible under Rotary but entrepreneurs wishing to change the world could do it. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

October 24, 2022

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch: Lessons for Uganda from Ghana’s ambulance system

#OutToLunch: Lessons for Uganda from Ghana’s ambulance system By Denis Jjuuko While at a hotel in Accra for lunch, I saw three people on a table of four dressed in smart uniforms, looking quasi military. I had seen them or their colleagues all week and I wanted to find out whether they were guarding some notables. I asked if I could join them and they agreed. As I sat down, I saw that they were paramedics specifically at the hotel to ensure that if any of us needed first aid or urgent medical care they would be at hand to provide it. They were the guys manning the ambulance that was outside the hotel reception. I was intrigued and wanted to find out more. Were they a private company? Are they always at every hotel in the city? How do they work? They told me they were at the hotel at the request of the organizers of the meeting I was attending otherwise they have stations across Ghana. They told me that in Accra alone, they have 11 stations. Each station has at least three ambulances. That is at least 33 ambulances. They are public servants. Once any Accra resident needs emergency medical care, they simply dial 112 on their cellphones and the call is routed to the nearby station. The paramedics then rush to the scene to provide that care and then drop somebody to the nearby hospital if need be. They work in shifts to ensure that there is a team always on standby to rescue anybody in need. I was mesmerized. Bewildered. Thoughts running back to Kampala where I don’t know of any such service. Some Members of Parliament have bought some cargo vans, embossed them with the word ambulance and fixed some siren and lights on top from Kisekka Market. Usually such ‘ambulances’ have only a driver who you must give money for fuel to rescue you. There is also a private ambulance company I usually see but I think they work more with hospitals that may not want to run their own ambulance service. The paramedics told me that sometimes they receive false calls from children playing on the phone but they only get to know when they reach there. I asked them whether they don’t get lost while trying to get to the scene given that many parts of Africa don’t have clearly marked streets. Accra is home to some informal settlements, just like all African cities. They said usually once they put on the siren and the lights and get to an area, the community already knows where a problem is and easily direct them. In Kampala, when you hear a siren, it is mostly somebody who knows somebody big in government and recently bought a third hand 15-year-old SUV from Japan trying to announce their arrival, driving everyone off the road so he can have some drinks with his heavily bleached damsel. Accra is a city of about 2.3 million people and has 33 ambulances rescuing whoever calls. Kampala with nearly 4 million people has no ambulance system that I know of. Accident victims are dropped at Mulago Hospital on either boda boda by good Samaritans or on the back of a police pick-up truck. We don’t have any trained team in emergency medical care that can ensure somebody lives to see another day. Many people end up announced dead on arrival at hospitals because there is no efficient way professional medical care can get to people as fast as possible. Since Ugandan public servants like benchmarking trips, they should make one to Accra. A direct flight from Nairobi is approximately six hours and there is no need for a visa. Within a week, they would have learnt a lot. In just an hour over lunch with junior paramedics stationed at a hotel to provide a service to visiting delegates, I learned a lot about the ambulance system in Ghana. So a meeting with the high hierarchy that runs the service would do wonders. Uganda could even hire a consultant from Ghana to run this. We did this for URA in its early days, we can do the same for our lives. Of course, I know that a benchmarking trip is not sufficient (it may even have taken place already). Government must be willing to do it. Alternatively, government can support the private sector to do it by guaranteeing interest free loans on ambulances and training paramedics and paying them a salary while the private sector pays their allowances among others. That could actually decongest public hospitals so that only people who need to be in hospitals are admitted there. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

October 24, 2022

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch Africa can boost their economies by removing visas between countries

#OutToLunch Africa can boost their economies by removing visas between countries By Denis Jjuuko One Saturday evening, I received a message asking me whether I could be in Accra in Ghana by Wednesday afternoon. I could make the trip subject to availability of a flight from Entebbe that doesn’t have to take me around the world and most importantly the visa, or so I thought. I checked for flights and found several but the most convenient for me was the one leaving Entebbe on Wednesday morning around 4.00am in order to be in Accra by Wednesday afternoon (Uganda is three hours ahead). I then thought about the visa process. Can I get a visa by Tuesday afternoon? Where do they get the visa from? I was about to google when I remembered a friend who had just returned from Ghana and gave her a call. She said as a Uganda passport holder, I don’t need any visa to visit Accra. I immediately booked the flight. I was to visit Accra for the very first time. On arrival at Kotoka International Airport, the immigration officer simply asked me how Uganda was and like with most Africans, we chatted about the weather and I invited him to visit so he could enjoy our hospitality. He argued that they are the best when it comes to being hospitable and said I will have a pleasant stay in his country. With a broad smile, he stamped my passport and waved me off. And he didn’t lie! But had I needed a lengthy visa process, I wouldn’t have made it. Whoever manages Entebbe International Airport long term car park would have lost some revenue. The airport itself wouldn’t have lost some revenue too. There are chaps who wrap bags at the airport who would have lost Shs30,000. The forex bureau would have lost some money because I had to make a last-minute exchange whereas the restaurant where I grabbed a quick drink wouldn’t have made an extra buck. The airline would have missed money which means the government of Uganda wouldn’t have made some money either in terms of taxes. There is another young man who I tipped for helping me carry my luggage. He also offered to wash my car on the outside while it was parked at the airport at a small fee. The Entebbe Expressway would have lost Shs10,000 (round trip). On arrival in Accra, the car hire guys would not have made money and so is the hotel where I stayed. On my return, I bought a few souvenirs and such other things. By just being in Accra for a few days, a lot of money exchanged hands. The invitation to Accra reminded me of some African country where I applied for a visa and got it after the event had ended. The visa was also for the exact days of the event, which meant arriving after the event had started and leaving before it had ended. So apart from the country making money off me in visa fees, their airline which I was to use didn’t get paid. The hotel where I was to stay, the duty free shops, cab drivers, and all the people in that value chain didn’t make money from me. How much such money are they losing every day? How many jobs are lost? If they fear that people will remain in their country illegally, they can have other ways to ensure those who visit don’t over stay their visas. African countries must open up their borders like Ghana is to Ugandans and I believe other countries. The economies will grow more and there will be more opportunities to trade with each other. Airlines and other transporters would make more money which would enable the collection of more taxes. While in Accra, I listened to young woman who roasts coffee and she said she had made several learning trips to Uganda because of our coffee. She established contacts with some coffee people here and as her start up grows, you never know the collaborations she will have. If she had to go through a strenuous exercise to get a visa, she would have spent her money in another country. Yet for most of these African countries that restrict movement between themselves enable Americans and Europeans to simply fly in, pay US$50 dollars at the point of entry and they are allowed in. Open borders for goods and services and people will enable the continent grow. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is a good start and needs to be fast tracked. Africa’s population is approximately 1.4 billion people which is the same size as China. This is a huge market which can be easily tapped if we removed all barriers that inhibit trade amongst ourselves. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

October 24, 2022

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch You don’t have to drop out of university to become a social media influencer

#OutToLunch You don’t have to drop out of university to become a social media influencer By Denis Jjuuko On a recent trip to west Africa, some young people argued that to get opportunities is very difficult as they have to write proposals for funding, jobs etc. yet they don’t have the skills to do so. Somebody shot back that it is easier to fill an application form than walking the breadth of the Sahara in order to be loaded on a rickety boat to cross into poor Europe. Then Twitter erupted when somebody said the majority of degree holders were unemployed. Referencing himself, he said he dropped out of his engineering course at Makerere University to concentrate on being a YouTuber. He argued that unlike in the past, people today can learn skills by just watching YouTube videos and such other things. He didn’t, however, say how much he was earning from YouTube and social media influencing. The debate on whether one should continue with their academic education or simply drop out is always a long one usually punctuated with examples of a few examples of successful entrepreneurs. Successful entrepreneurs whether holding academic degrees or not are usually few in any economy. The debate is also usually devoid of many other factors. People usually point out the founders of Facebook and Microsoft as examples of successful entrepreneurs who dropped out of university to concentrate on their ideas. They usually don’t mention the type of universities and colleges they attended before and most significantly the resources at their disposal. The parents’ garage, free accommodation, meals and all other paid for expenses are usually not mentioned. Connections and interest free loans (grants is much more appropriate) from parents and relatives are never mentioned. The YouTuber who created the latest debate on Twitter, people argued, spent approximately US$4,000 (about Shs16m) on an idea of making the biggest Rolex in the world, which he achieved in a second attempt. People said that he was speaking from a position of privilege. In Uganda, most entrepreneurs who dropped out of school and made it big had an ecosystem that enabled them to become so successful. They were largely children of successful traders so they had somebody to learn from and even capital that enabled them pick critical lessons while failing. If you are a student whose dream is to build your parents a two roomed iron roof house in the village at one stage in your life, you don’t have many choices in dropping out of school to become a social media influencer. The only way for most African youth to make it in life is by excelling academically or finishing their education. For most of these youths, it is through education that they get invited to the table. People say many organisations don’t care what you studied and that may be true but they will ask if you did attend any schools. In most cases, those with an academic degree stand a far better chance of earning a sustainable income over their lifetime. Without education, you start at the very lower bottom and in many cases, you have to work thrice as hard. Skills like YouTubing and social influencing may be great today but are they sustainable as somebody ages? Can somebody do this for 20 or 30 years? How many digital influencers today who are in their 20s will be influencing just 15 years from now? The jury is still out there. Many university students in Uganda have a lot of time on their hands as they only attend class a few hours a day or even a week. They can do digital influencing without necessarily dropping out of school. Many already do more strenuous jobs than creating content on YouTube or Instagram and still manage to succeed academically. That is the route students grappling with ideas of whether to continue with their education or concentrate on entrepreneurship should take. Of course, many degree holders have no jobs but I believe if you get 100,000 people who have academic degrees and 100,000 youth who dropped out of school in secondary or primary school, those with degrees, diplomas and certificates most likely earn sustainably and live far better lives than those who didn’t. There is evidence to back this up. A World Bank study says that for every additional year of school, a youth in Africa or Asia earns 18-25% more. So keep in school but get skilled. You don’t know when you will need that degree. I hear even for Members of Parliament, the qualification may be raised from Senior Six to a bachelor degree. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

October 24, 2022

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch Secondary education could be the difference for African youth

#OutToLunch Secondary education could be the difference for African youth By Denis Jjuuko A young man, let us call him John, recently came to one of our businesses looking for work. He told me he stopped in senior four somewhere in Kisoro and had moved to Kampala to find work. He was an acquittance with some of our workers. He told me he could do security guarding so that he earns a regular salary or like young people always say “any job available.” He said he was earning a living today as a gardener but generally working as a freelancer hence the desire for a job that could give him regular predictable income. I didn’t have the kind of stability John was looking for but I told him he could come home and help us cut down a royal palm tree of which I could pay him a one-off fee. The tree had been planted near the perimeter wall fence and some of our neighbours were becoming uncomfortable whenever its giant leaves fell down. So he visited our home, inspecting the tree to be removed. He left a note at home of his bill. I had also promised him that I would keep my ear to the ground for any job opportunities. The promises for him to cut a tree at my home and helping him secure some job would soon become a nightmare for me. John would beep me about 20 to 30 times a day. I had almost decided because of his incessant beeps not to give him the work. He was irritating. But I also thought I should help him do this job maybe it can help him solve an immediate problem. So I called him to inform him that he could come and do the job on any day of his choice. At about 4.00am, my phone rang. Deep in sleep I wondered why would anyone be looking for me on a Monday morning. I am neither firefighter nor medical personnel. I don’t work in security either so why would anyone be looking for me at 4.00am, on a Monday morning? Half asleep, without even checking who was calling, I answered the phone. John was on the other end, to inform me that he would be coming to cut down the damn tree in the morning. I couldn’t believe it but I remained calm. I left his money at home and went about my work. John came with a few people and they cut down the giant tree. I then received a phone call that John and his team had not uprooted the trunk and they were asking to be paid. They put John on the phone and he said the “deal was to cut the tree, not to uproot the trunk” and therefore if I need the trunk uprooted, that would be at another cost. Palm trees are generally easy to uproot and don’t have those deep tap roots but now John had the upper hand. So I told my people at home to pay him and he goes. On a lazy Sunday morning, I can do the uprooting myself. John’s behaviour reminded me of a report from the Mastercard Foundation titled Secondary Education in Africa: Preparing Youth for the Future Work. If you are a regular reader of this column, you have certainly heard about it. I am only referencing it again because it talks about these issues, about people like John. He dropped out of school in senior four and he hasn’t been prepared whatsoever for the future of work. So John doesn’t know what time to call a client. He doesn’t know that to have repeat clients, you need to go an extra mile. Surely, we never talked about removing the trunk, I thought it was standard and I was wrong but it wasn’t a lot of work either he could have done easily than giving me payment ultimatums. Yet the highest level of education most African youth will ever attain is secondary education but like John, the education they are receiving doesn’t talk about work and how they will manage. John isn’t an isolated case. I receive many phone calls from young people who don’t even introduce themselves. Don’t even tell you where they work. You have to ask them who they are, which organisations they represent and all that. Sometimes, you have to greet them! Secondary education must help these youth with 21st century skills such as digital marketing, using emails as well as other communication skills. That way John would know when to call. African policy makers, therefore, need to create secondary education systems that give people like John some of the skills they need once they are out of school trying to survive in this unforgiving world. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com 8 Comments

October 24, 2022

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch We must prepare for harsh weather events

#OutToLunch We must prepare for harsh weather events By Denis Jjuuko Young men perched on the rails of an overloaded truck shout at the top of their voices in the dusty potholed suburb near Kampala where I live. They are calling out for potential customers for a product that is used in all parts of urban Uganda. Unlike their counterparts who sell vegetables and foodstuffs and even herbal drugs, these guys on the truck haven’t yet acquired some cheap speakers that can play recorded messages about their goods on a loop. May be their elevated points at the top of the lorry enable them to be heard without artificial amplification. Or it is because the product they are selling is used by millions of households in Uganda and therefore don’t need to go all the way. Charcoal is the second most used source of energy after firewood in Uganda. Many households depend on either of those products or both. In urban areas, charcoal is much more used than in rural areas where firewood is the main source of energy. As Uganda increasingly urbanizes, the dependency on charcoal increases by the day. Charcoal just like firewood is a byproduct of trees, which have been cut across the country so people can eat steamed Mattooke or well mingled maize meal. Obviously, this is contributing to the severe dry spell that we have been experiencing for the past three months or so. The drought has left many people dead in Karamoja while in some other parts of the country, Ugandans are on the brink of starvation. Our agriculture is largely subsistence where people only grow food for domestic consumption using the same methods as their great grandparents centuries ago. Agriculture is largely dependent on rainfall. When the rains are expected like this September (start of the second annual wet season), people start preparing their gardens for planting crops. If the rains don’t come, then a disaster like we are experiencing today looms large on the horizon for most families. And if they come early, a crisis ensues. We must embrace technology not only in farming but also in other areas. We need a paradigm shift in our energy consumption. Should we continue depending on firewood and charcoal or protect our forests by relying on other sources of fuel such as electricity and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)? The move by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development to distribute one million LPG cylinders is the right move. Previously, the same ministry had created a system where units of electricity for cooking have been subsidized. We need to see more of such initiatives but also make it expensive for people especially in the urban areas to use charcoal. Charcoal distributors can be licensed for sustainable management of forests but also increase taxation on them while reducing on those involved in clean technologies such as briquettes. Regulating this trade is key. A campaign to discourage use of charcoal is also important for urban dwellers. The argument that charcoal is cheaper than electricity or even LPG is a myth that needs to be debunked. Most times, once the cooking is done, lit charcoal remains unused leading to wastage. It is cumbersome to use and dirty and many times, traders like those boys on the truck that frequent my suburb sell sacks that are full of other materials that aren’t necessarily usable charcoal. Protecting our forests and putting in place other measures that protect the environment will reduce on the frequency of harsh weather events so that when the rains come like they did over the weekend, they don’t cause as much havoc as they did in Mbale over the weekend and other parts of eastern Uganda. Appropriate technology must be embraced to improve our yields as well in case of prolonged dry spells. In Kampala, dairy products were not being stocked at the level they usually do just because cows didn’t have enough grass and water. An image even circulating on social media claimed that in some supermarkets, milk was being restricted to two litres per a customer! A prolonged dry spell is the worst worry for farmers including those you would expect to be deploying technologies for irrigation. This comes at the time when there is already shortage of food particularly wheat from Europe amidst a global inflation crisis partly attributed to the after effects of Covid-19 and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. We must embrace new ways if we are to avoid the repeat of the disaster in Mbale and Karamoja. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

October 24, 2022

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch Kabaka’s refurbished Rolls Royce shows Uganda’s automotive potential

#OutToLunch Kabaka’s refurbished Rolls Royce shows Uganda’s automotive potential By Denis Jjuuko One Sunday morning a few weeks ago, Kabaka Ronald Mutebi, clad in a kanzu turned up at his palace in Mengo to celebrate his belated 67th birthday. On 13 April, the actual day of the celebration, the Kabaka was away in Europe. So the celebration was postponed until after his return. For the first few years of Charles Peter Mayiga’s Katikkiroship, the kingdom always wanted to celebrate the birthday with a big milestone. At one stage it was the completion of the Masengere building that stands besides Bulange in Mengo which had remained incomplete for nearly 40 years, the Nnamasole Nalule building at Lubiri High School in Buloba or the Mulondo House at the kingdom’s technical and vocational institute in Lubaga among others. This time round, it was Kabaka’s famed Rolls Royce Phantom V Cloud — one previously used by his father before the attack on the palace in 1966. The car had been severely damaged and ransacked of some of its vital parts and eventually kept at the Uganda Museum where I have no doubt was an unwanted eye sore to the management and the visitors who turned up. It must have been a relief to the managers when the vehicle was taken away. It was in a bad shape. Scrap metal dealers must have been smarting themselves for the day it would be considered for auction. Yet the kingdom wanted it back not for its scrap metal value but to refurbish it and use it as a ceremonial vehicle whenever the Kabaka wishes. The government of Uganda had no qualms about it — after all it was a scrap metal in every sense of the word. The kingdom embarked on refurbishing it setting up a committee led by Kampala businessman John Kiyimba Freeman. Refurbishing a car that is almost 60 years old is a daunting task as spare parts are not usually available. Even just today repairing a Corolla DX or Toyota Stout is challenging yet these are cars of the 1990s. The kingdom managed to raise the money to enable it put the car back on the road — glittering like a lizard that has just been dipped in fresh milk to use the late musician Mowzey Radio’s famous lyrics. It is a remarkable achievement that saw Kabaka Mutebi smiling through his face mask and like most times when he is happy, whispering to a number of his most senior officials in his company. Besides the symbolism of the kingdom reconstructing its history for its heritage, the refurbishment of the vehicle talks to our increasing capacity in the automotive sector. The automotive industry is a catalyst for overall development due to the practical skills that people adopt. A car on average has 30,000 parts made by many different smaller companies in the automotive value chain. Wherever a vehicle plant is set up, many other industries that employ far more people thrive. Banks, supermarkets, recreation facilities, insurance and real estate among others set up. The automotive industry creates millions of jobs directly and indirectly. The guys who worked on Kabaka’s Rolls Royce’s seats, for example, can work on seats of any vehicle so are the people who fit seats in Uganda’s taxis that are largely cargo vans prior to shipment from Japan. Looking at the trim of Kabaka’s limousine and the painting job executed shows how skilled these people are. But also to turn a car that hasn’t been on the road in almost 60 years up and running is not for the faint hearted. The Kabaka’s Rolls Royce had an automatic gearbox and power windows as well as an air conditioning that was only designed to keep the occupants warm. Today, one needs a car with an air conditioner for all weather patterns. So the mechanics, all Ugandans, figured out a way to upgrade the air conditioning so that it could also provide cool air after all we live in tropics. These guys have practical skills necessary in today’s world and which are crucial in having our automotive industry off the ground. In many countries that have developed, the automotive industry has been a key player in creating not only sustainable decent jobs but also in spurring the growth of other sectors. If there is any evidence needed of how much potential our automotive industry has got, the Kabaka’s Rolls Royce story provides a perfect example. It is time to accelerate the automotive industry in Uganda to catapult us into the middle-income category without any world bank doubting us. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com 2 Comments

October 24, 2022