#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

#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

#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