October 25, 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