June 2023 – Prime Time Communications

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch Physical people counting a serious blow to e-government aspirations

By Denis Jjuuko Some people say that Uganda is a movie on a looping reel with one blockbuster after another. But in this rolling movie that is Uganda, something remains constant. Otherwise, how do you explain that in 2023, the government of Uganda is going around the country head counting its employees! Apparently, some Ugandan civil servants create employees that don’t exist and then draw salaries and allowances for them. It all started, at least famously (or infamously) with a one Captain Dan Byakutaaga, an army paymaster who used to move around with sacks of US dollars to pay soldiers that didn’t exist. Some people allege that Byakutaaga was a ghost as well as nobody seems to ever have taken a photo of him. Nobody knows where he disappeared to and no family has ever come out to look for him. But Byakutaaga must have inspired the next generations of civil servants that more than 20 years later, the existence of ghost employees has led to the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) to move around the country counting people, physically. When the “people counters” come to an office to verify whether you exist, they ask for your letter of appointment and then the national identity card. Whether you are sick or on leave or on some life saving assignment, you must be available to be physically counted. The most intriguing requirement needed by the verifiers is the national identity card. With a national ID, one would expect that a smart phone or web-based application could be developed that can automatically link to the database at the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) and automatically verify whether the person exists or not and bring out all the information that the verifiers need. Every employee would simply log in, provide details, attach a PDF or Word Format or JPEG file of their appointment letters and then they are automatically matched with their national ID and other data that the OAG is looking for. The app could also take a photo or fingerprints of the person to ascertain the person submitting the data is human or not (again matching it with the fingerprint data at NIRA). Where there are discrepancies, the person can then be asked for more information or appear in person at a certain office in a given timeframe. Developing this app would actually be more progressive than physical verification of employees. It would be cheaper too and revolutionary. Because, this isn’t the first time government is doing physical verifications. Every few years, they claim there are more kids in public schools than not. A team of people counters is then sent to every school to verify the existence of the pupils. Nobody hears from these people until when another count is being carried out. I expect the OAG to make this counting a routine exercise. Yet technology would sort it out in one go. The app would just need to be updated from time to time cheaply and efficiently. Government can ensure that whoever dies or leaves government employment, the data is updated by instituting severe penalties for accounting officers who don’t do so. The app can be linked to staff registration systems at all government offices. Like in most private sector organisations, staff log in every time they report to work (even where they may not be in a physical office). Physical counting of people is a symptom of poor governance and a significant blow to our e-government aspirations. As we were busy people counting, we learned that the highest institutions of learning are teaching expired academic courses. When the information was first shared, universities competed for space on which one has the most expired courses with one public statement after another. Universities didn’t even know that their courses were either expired or have never been renewed. The National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) didn’t know too. They also didn’t know whether there is even a legal framework under which courses expire. Again, an app can send automatic reminders to academic registrars that their courses are about to expire and they should do something about it. It doesn’t even cost much. Any kid with interest in computers can develop one. Yet all our universities have some computer studies course units of sorts. Free such apps exist as well. Government every once in a while, sings about e-government, ICT, IT or whatever new catchword is easy to roll off their tongues. They even have an authority—NITA—where people are employed to work on these kinds of things but what do we do? We physically count people every few years to establish they aren’t ghosts. We can’t register deaths yet every death is almost announced on public radios and people are largely buried by thousands of people who gather and mourn for days. We need to cut this movie reel and start again. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

June 20, 2023

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch Align university government sponsorship to national development plan

By Denis Jjuuko For decades after its founding, Makerere University admitted students according to their performance. Success for most students (and even parents) meant studying hard to qualify to be admitted. Getting admitted to Makerere on government sponsorship was the holy grail of success. Parents bragged about it. School administrators’ profiles were enhanced. Somebody told me, an entrepreneur even named his school “T-Junction to Makerere Secondary School.” In the 1990s, Makerere started admitting self-sponsored students and government set up other universities. What you needed was money and two principal passes at A-level. Entrepreneurs set up universities too and hostels to offer accomodation. Getting a university degree was demystified even though the percentage of Ugandans with degrees isn’t that high. With all changes that the government made to ensure more people get admitted to universities, one thing remained unchanged — how to get admitted on government sponsorship. The criterion for one to get admitted is solely based on academic performance. Score the highest points in the final national secondary education exams and you get admitted to a public university on government sponsorship. The majority of people who score the highest grades are from premium schools where parents and guardians have been paying a lot of money a year. Of the 1,474 students admitted to Makerere on government sponsorship this year, 346 students representing 23.4% were from schools (Kitende, Buddo, Gayaaza, Mary Hill, Mengo and Namugongo) where annual tuition fees on average is Shs6m. At Makerere, the average annual tuition fees is Shs2.4m. So why give a scholarship to a kid whose parents can afford Shs6m in fees a year in secondary schools? Although they introduced a system that picks highest performing kids per a district, still these are kids attending the most expensive school in that district. There is therefore no need to reward them with government scholarships. They are already privileged. There was even a student from an international school where the average fees is Shs30 million a year that was admitted on government scholarship! It is a mockery! In fact, I know a few who get admitted to Makerere on government scholarships but their parents never send them there as they can afford fees in ivy league universities in America. When I was at graduate school at Rhodes, I saw a few such kids. Others don’t like the courses government admits them to, so they instead opt to pay for themselves as privately sponsored students. The blanket admission of students to universities solely based on their academic performance needs to be rethought by introducing a scholarship program that rewards those who actually need and deserve the government programs. Makerere University already runs the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program for bright but needy students. You only get this scholarship if you really deserve it. To be admitted on the program, the administrators visit your home, talk to the neighborhood, parents, previous school and establish that you truly deserve the scholarship. Makerere and indeed other universities can replicate this. Of course, this would need parliament and government to think beyond the next political election and make this hard decision. Afterall, the majority of people who vote will never have their kids admitted on government scholarship as they won’t afford the secondary school fees where the majority of those admitted on government sponsorships attend. But selling unachievable dreams is big business for politicians. Secondly, government can identify academic courses aligned to the national development plan or Vision 2040 and ensure students on government programs are only admitted to those ones. Let us for example look at the automotive industry which is one of the ways through which industrialization can take place in most countries. We can ringfence government sponsorships to those studying courses to do with the automotive and mobility sectors. That way we can build our capacity for this sector. Electric vehicles are here but what are our universities doing about it? Artificial intelligence (AI) is herald as the next big thing that is changing the world. Are we investing in human capital development for it or we can explain? Thirdly, once anyone is given a government sponsorship, there should be a contract that they will work in the country for a number of years or have to pay back the money with interest. But we sponsor the students to study medicine and they end up working at Aga Khan and Nairobi hospitals in Kenya. The teachers we previously trained ended up in South African schools. Many others we are sponsoring today are ending up in Saudi Arabia and Oman (of all places!). We need to rethink our return on investment when it comes to government sponsorships. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

June 20, 2023

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch The collapse of Katonga bridge is an opportunity to utilize and protect Lake Victoria

#OutToLunch The collapse of Katonga bridge is an opportunity to utilize and protect Lake Victoria By Denis Jjuuko Torrential rains swept away the Katonga bridge along the main road between Kampala and Masaka. In western Uganda, not just roads were destroyed, some people lost their lives too. For centuries, Katonga river has been known to burst its banks leading to a saying among the Baganda that whatever you do, make sure it is done fast (Abaganda mulya, Katonga ajjula!). This was after Katonga had cut off some people from Buganda who had gone to Buddu for an expedition during those territorial wars but instead of returning in time, they sat down and simply enjoyed what Buddu had to offer. In those days, Buddu was part of Bunyoro Kitara and Katonga formed part of the border. Due to its riches, Kabaka Jjunju annexed Buddu in the 1600s. And for centuries after Buddu was annexed to Buganda, Lwera was protected by the Mamba (lungfish) Clan to ensure that their totem doesn’t become extinct but most importantly to protect Lake Victoria. These guys made all these decisions and enforced them without PhDs in environmental studies and related fields. Anyway, the point is that since the 1600s or thereabouts, we have known how Katonga behaves but we managed to build a bridge that was easy to be swept away. We also knew that building factories, establishing rice farming and sand mining businesses would create an environmental disaster but we simply licensed them. We also knew that every December, some part of the road around Lwera collapses but we simply install some culverts and wait for the disaster to happen again the following year. Some sources claim that although we knew about Katonga and its erratic behaviors, we didn’t have money to build the bridge that would last may be 50 years. We went for the easy part and now we are paying for it. To Uganda National Roads Authority or UNRA’s credit, they had worked on a route through Gomba and Ssembabule that motorists could use though it makes the Kampala-Masaka distance longer by nearly 100km. However, the Katonga river still passes through this Gomba route and if torrential rains continue, chances are that this road will also be cut off. Nabajjuzi near Bukalasa in Villa Maria may do the same too. Building roads and bridges is expensive but we should not be constructing them for short term. If the Gomba route had been planned as the alternative one, the bridges or culverts should have been made in a way to last longer. If the Gomba route becomes inaccessible, it will be a disaster of unimaginable levels for Uganda’s economy, which is already suffering from high inflation and rampant unemployment. Goods to south western Uganda and neighboring countries would have to be taken through Fort Portal, Kamwenge to Mbarara. Many people would not be able to afford basics not just in that part of the country but also the capital Kampala. Matooke and other food stuffs would become more expensive. Coffee would remain in stores in Masaka. So as UNRA temporarily fixes the Katonga bridge which will take three weeks according to their official statement, the Katonga disaster is a call to get back to the basics. Factories should not be licensed to establish themselves in wetlands where they easily dump their toxic waste. People shouldn’t be allowed to build in wetlands either. Rice farming and sand mining should be restricted as well. The ecological systems of our water bodies are far more important than growing rice. And like former Vice President Gilbert Bukenya taught us, rice can be grown upland. Factory owners can think of waste disposal beyond doing so in wetlands. Those who want to build residential homes can still find land elsewhere. The challenge with Uganda’s development has been the concentration of every little thing within a radius of about 80km of Kampala and where they are established elsewhere, it is still in wetlands around the major towns like we saw in Mbale. Can’t factories be established in areas that aren’t wetlands? How come factories exist in other countries that were largely deserts before? However, the Masaka-Kampala highway is also getting old even though was constructed less than 20 years ago with many parts especially on the left-hand side as you go to Masaka in need of repair or replacement. This is mainly because of the heavy trucks that use it yet Lake Victoria is underutilized. Goods from Kenya to Masaka or even Rwanda and DRC could be loaded at Kisumu on ferries and transported to Masaka from which trucks can take them. Lake Victoria can also be an alternative route in decongesting the Masaka-Kampala road. Regular scheduled ferries and modern boats can pick people from Port Bell and drop them in Bukakata or even towards the Tanzania border. This would create a water economy. We are underutilizing Lake Victoria while burdening it with our excesses in environmental destruction. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

June 20, 2023

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch Lessons from the British coronation for Uganda Tourism Board

By Denis Jjuuko The British put up a memorable show during King Charles III’s coronation — the first such event in 70 years. Thousands of people lined up the streets while other converged in pubs and restaurants to make merry. Many people traveled to Britain and occupied many hotel rooms. The UK economy gained an estimated UK£ 1 billion on an investment of about UK£130 million. Because they understand the significance of these national events, they put the coronation on a Saturday and made Monday a bank holiday as they call their public holidays. The English Premier League scheduled matches for Monday that start as early as possible. These guys know how to milk every coin from an event. I have argued in these posts before that we need to push our public holidays on either Mondays or Fridays so people can have long weekends, which are good for the economy. But watching some of the events around the coronation reminded me of African tourism. Almost all the countries push for the same stuff — the safari or a visit to the wild. They talk about the big cats and all that. Granted, people want to see these animals but if I see them in South Africa or Kenya, there is no need to visit Uganda. May be only for the mountain gorillas. Yet every country has its unique heritage that they can promote so that if one visits Kenya for its safari, they could come here for our cultural heritage or something else. Look at the Kabakanjagala Road or what is sometimes known as the royal mile between Bulange and the Mengo Palace which has been lined up with sculptures that depict each of the 56 clans. If we promoted them, there would be more people interested in learning about clans and Kiganda culture than waking up early to search for the ever-elusive lions in Queen Elizabeth National Park. This year, Kabaka Mutebi II will mark his 30th coronation anniversary in July. In 1993 when he was crowned 36th Kabaka of Buganda, probably a million people gathered in Buddo and many others watched the event on television. Many visitors came from all over the world to witness this. In 1999, when he decided to get married, similar crowds turned up. All major international media houses sent in teams to cover the event. That shows the interest that people have in culture just like we have seen in Britain, Netherlands, Japan, Thailand every time there is a major event. For CNN to cover our animals in Murchison or gorillas in Bwindi, we have to pay significant amounts of money (remember Gifted by Nature campaign?). For popular cultural events, they come on their own. BBC has even a program that interviews royals all over Africa. Cultural heritage can be a game changer for Uganda tourism. King Oyo of Tooro has had similar interest but also if we marketed the Omukama of Bunyoro, people will turn up. They would want to know the Kingdom of Kabalega. Sometime back, I visited a restaurant in Nairobi that has curated information about kingdoms all over Africa and people go there to learn about them as they dine and sip expensive wines. If you are into movies, you have probably watched Woman King about the Agojie, a unit of female warriors that was responsible for protecting the Dahomey Kingdom in Benin. It generated nearly USD100m when it was released in 2022. Shaka Zulu was even more famous. When are we engaging Hollywood to do one on Kabalega, Mwanga, Muteesa I, Kintu and all the others? Jinja can be a major tourism town (or is it city?) for non-animalized tourism. When people come for the ever-popular Nyege Nyege, we shouldn’t so much focus on who is dancing with who for three days rather on what potential is there for local businesses and tourism. Instead of politicians get hysterical about the alleged immorality, they could instead push for visits to Itanda Falls, Source of the Nile, Kyabazinga Palace and other unique attractions Jinja offers. Most of what we can promote is unique to us unlike zebras and giraffes that are everywhere one turns. But these cultural events can’t be marketed by kingdoms on their own. Many cultural institutions have no meaningful income to do so. The Uganda Tourism Board needs to take them up. They should not look at them as empowering Buganda, Bunyoro, Tooro or Teso rather other areas that can significantly bring in revenue for the economy. When a tourist comes for the Empango event, the hotel owner, transporter and the woman who makes some crafts will make money. They will pay taxes so the country will benefit. In fact, visa fees and the airport economy will be boosted. We need to cast aside our usual parochialism when it comes to culture and look at them with wider progressive nationalistic lens and learn from British King Charles III’s coronation. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

June 19, 2023

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch Uganda health exhibition: Personal responsibility is critical

By Denis Jjuuko Uganda’s healthcare has been in the spotlight after tweeps (people on Twitter) decided to do an exhibition of it — basically highlighting the challenges in our public health facilities. Some of the images and experiences are heart wrenching! Equipment rotting away, patients on the floor, caretakers working in gardens to pay nurses. If you have been to public health facilities (even some private ones), you have probably experienced some sort of trauma after seeing what people go through. Even though the government has tried in some areas such as building some new hospitals, equipping others and all that, there is no doubt that our healthcare is in need of critical care. Uganda aspires to become a middle-income country (and claimed at one stage that it had) but it can only get there if its population is healthy. A healthy population is a harbinger for economic prosperity. The majority of Ugandans are under the age of 35, which means that for the foreseeable future, this is the population segment that will constitute the country’s labour force. It is a matter of time before they start dominating the politics. But there is no country that can improve its healthcare systems unless there is some form of personal responsibility for the people themselves. If you are a regular visitor to Uganda’s public health facilities, you will notice that the majority of patients shouldn’t be there in the first place. Take for example the maternity sections of public health facilities. In many of them, you find teenage girls either giving birth or suffering from effects of abortion or have given birth to babies prematurely. They should never be in maternity wards in the first place. They should be in school. Some years ago, on a trip to Kasese, I met a 30-year-old grandmother. Her 14-year-old daughter had just given birth. If this family cycle continues, she is on course on being a great grandmother at age 45. And she was still planning to give birth to a few more babies herself. If it is not teenagers giving birth or undergoing effects of abortion, it is women like that Kasese grandmother giving birth with reckless abandon. They are in their 30s (although they look like 50-year-olds) with six children and “planning for two more.” They are putting their health at risk and they are crowding public health facilities. Why would a poor woman want eight children today? They can’t look after the six they have and are “planning for two more.” They don’t have mosquito nets so they end up with malaria. When they have mosquito nets, their homes harbour the mosquitos. No government is going to slash your compound or drain it of stagnant water. No government is going to pick you from your home so that you go for antenatal care (ANC) at least six times during your pregnancy. There are village health teams but they can only advise. And due to failure to attend routine ANC sessions, some women end up with conditions such as eclampsia that could have been better managed. If it isn’t the maternity ward, people are in hospitals because of delays to get professional advice. In urban areas like Kampala, there is a pharmacy every few meter’s. We end up diagnosing ourselves and treating ourselves by buying drugs over the counter. By the time we access health facilities, sometimes it is already too late. Should pharmacies sell drugs without prescription? In proper countries, you can’t get drugs over the counter without a prescription. That is for government to enforce but we know our government, as individuals, we have to take some personal responsibility. Today, when you go to primary schools where the elite take their children, you will see kids who are already obese. Because we grow up in villages in poverty, we think that a child consuming sugary carbonated drinks every day is a sign of love. Many parents once they pick the kids from school, they stop by fast foods restaurant so Junior can get some “finger licking sizzling” chicken, chips and burgers. Already the kids aren’t doing any physical exercises. These kids will end up in health facilities when they shouldn’t be there. While at an event, once you go to the toilet, just observe how many people wash their hands and you will be shocked. And then they offer a handshake or a hug to everyone at the event, thereby spreading disease. As adults, how many of us sleep for at least eight hours a day? How often do we get vitamin D from the sun? How often do we do physical exercises, eat healthy and do everything that would stop us from being sick? Kampala bars are full of shisha — some form of piped smoking consumed by sometimes highly educated pregnant women while their men are cheering and ordering for more. They know how bad our hospitals are and they know they are ending up there but what do they do? They consume more shisha and drink excessive alcohol. This isn’t to absolve the government from its ineptness but as individuals we too have some responsibilities. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

June 19, 2023

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch African leaders must think beyond themselves

By Denis Jjuuko There is a chilling thread on Twitter of somebody detailing their experience of freeing the Sudanese capital Khartoum to Egypt to seek refuge as war intensifies in one of Africa’s leading gold exporters and a significant market for Uganda’s coffee and tea. The current crisis in Sudan has been years in making and can be traced to the war in the Darfur region, which led to Omar al Bashir being indicted by the international criminal court. Before Bashir could be arrested to stand trial, civilians tired of three decades of dictatorship rose against him leading to a coup by his generals. In a bid to entrench himself for a life presidency, Bashir had led to the formation of a militia that annihilated people in Darfur that was commonly known as the Janjaweed, a ragtag group of youth with a license to maim and kill. It worked for Bashir for a while but more so for a half-educated camel trader or raider or bandit depending on which reports you read known as Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo alias Hemedti (little Mohammed). As Bashir’s executioner in chief of those who opposed his misrule, Hemedti ended up with a militia of around 170,000 fighters (the Sudanese army is believed to have 120,000 soldiers). For his atrocities, Bashir paid him by handing over some of Sudan’s largest gold mines. With money and Bashir’s backing, Hemedti created a force that has even sent some of it force as mercenaries to wars in Yemen thereby endearing himself to Saudi Arabia and UAE. With access to money and guns, Hemedti forced a vulnerable Bashir to make him a general in the army while keeping the Janjaweed to himself. He would rename them the Rapid Support Force (RSF) in 2013, a paramilitary group at his command. When civilians rose against Bashir in 2019, he expected Hemedti to act as he had always done before. Hemedti instead saw an opportunity for something bigger than he had ever imagined — a chance to lead Sudan. So he teamed up with Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and overthrew his mentor and benefactor and in the meantime have civilians lead. Burhan and Hemedti would soon overthrow the civilians and entrench themselves. Burhan as the leader and Hemedti as his deputy. It was a marriage of convenience. Burhan and the tribes along the Nile River that have traditionally ruled Sudan never trusted Hemedti who is considered an outsider. He is believed to have been born in the mid 1970s in Darfur (though some believe he was born in Chad) in camel trading tribes. Hemedti isn’t a fool. He knew Burhan’s schemes against him and the power struggle led to the escalation of hostilities among the Sudanese army and the RSF. More than 500 civilians have reportedly been killed. A similar story is raging in almost every part of Africa, perhaps the world’s richest continent due to natural resources endowments. Gold in Sudan is now a source of arms that are being used to kill each other instead of eliminating poverty. It is the same story in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Ethiopians don’t trust each other and have been cutting each other’s throats until very recently. Violence erupts at will in South Sudan. In Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, kids can’t be sure they can attend school without Boko Haram kidnapping them. South Africa, the third largest economy on the continent is collapsing under the weight of corruption and now load shedding is the order of the day. In Kenya, civilians burn themselves in the name of stolen elections just like Uganda has been over the years. If there is no violent crackdown on protestors, ministers are stealing cheap iron sheets meant for the poor. Cameroon is led by senile president who lives in Europe. Nigeria just elected another! There is hardly any part of Africa without its troubles or where trouble isn’t brewing because leaders are simply out of touch. Like we have seen with Bashir or Gaddafi before him, African leaders only build patronage systems instead of national institutions. Such systems are so vulnerable that they eventually lead to the turmoils like in Sudan and Libya. Unless you are a charlatan arms dealer, you think twice of investing in Africa. The Sudanese economy had never recovered from the protests of 2019 and Covid-19 and now its sky is filled with smoke from burning human flesh. South Sudan can’t export its crude oil now. Uganda’s coffee will get affected. Airlines flying into East Africa from Europe have already increased the tickets as avoiding the Sudanese airspace means longer journeys leading to increased costs of doing business. Why can’t Africa’s leaders think long term and beyond themselves? Can’t Burhan and Hemedti learn from the experiences of Bashir? That they too can end up in prison and their life presidency dreams curtailed? Should Sudan end with them? How is sharing power or handing it over to civilians be so difficult? To what end will they enjoy their ill-gotten wealth when their country is burning? The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

June 19, 2023

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch Iron sheets: Ministers should not be Members of Parliament

By Denis Jjuuko One of the reasons given by a minister for stealing or diverting iron sheets is the difficulty of running a parliamentary constituency. The expectations of the constituents are so high that they do everything they can to meet them albeit without enough resources to do so. Yet the role of a Member of Parliament (MP) is legislation and not necessarily being the reserve bank, insurance scheme or pension fund for their electorate. In fact, the last parliament periodically ran adverts on radio trying to inform people that MPs aren’t responsible for building roads, hospitals, schools, and burying anyone who dies. Okay, they didn’t say the last part in their ads, but you get the drift! However, MPs don’t help the cause themselves. During campaigns for the office, they not only promise stuff outside of their mandate, they start even to donate them. Almost all MP aspirants buy some ambulance and donate it to the constituency instead of using their offices when elected to demand that government provides them. so the electorate is wired to think that these are the roles of MPs and they simply keep on demanding for these services. To meet the increasing demands by the electorate, MPs spend a lot of time lobbying to become ministers or being put on some ‘lucrative’ parliamentary committees or being appointed parliamentary commissioners. A ministerial post comes with many benefits. A chauffer driven fueled state of the art Land Cruiser, fat salaries and allowances and other perks including, as we have now learnt, getting or diverting iron sheets from the Karamojongs. Because politics in Uganda has been reduced to what is known as eating — the winner gets to earn a big salary and the constituents expect a road or school or employment of their unqualified kin and kith — it will take a generation or two for people to understand the role of their MPs. In fact, where a member of parliament becomes a minister, the expectations are even higher. If running constituencies is very expensive, why not, for now, make some changes where ministers are not directly elected MPs? I know that some ministers are not directly elected MPs but some of them who got involved in getting themselves iron sheets are those who either lost parliamentary elections and are campaigning for 2026 or have their eyes on the next election. So having ministers who aren’t burdened by the demands of parliamentary constituents would perhaps help in ensuring they don’t put their fingers in the public purse. Ideally, a minister would not have to steal or divert iron sheets to their community when they don’t have a constituency to please. And since they would be highly paid, one would think that they would be comfortable to meet their personal needs without stealing. Also, ministers live under the fear of a reshuffle. Ministers spend half their time lobbying and playing politics so that they aren’t dropped. The president has powers to appoint and dismiss ministers whenever he wishes. And he does so without prior warning. That should change where ministers have five-year contracts lasting a presidential term. That way they would know that their jobs are secure and therefore try not to illegally amass wealth as soon as they got into office. Those who misbehave can be asked to resign or dismissed. Uncertainty for how long a minister will stay in office makes things worse. People love what is known as job security. Obviously, those appointed need to be competent and not necessarily because they are popular in their constituencies. Those appointed should be beyond reproach when it comes to their professional conduct. Of course, one could argue that public servants without constituencies still steal public funds to enrich themselves but I think that largely points to lack of systems, poor pay and some form of tolerance to corruption. In the private sector, people steal but they know that the consequences are dire. They know they would lose their highly paying jobs if caught and sometimes end up in prison. Professionally run private firms appoint their staff on merit and hold them to some standards. In public office, it is not uncommon to see those who have stolen public funds being rewarded with other contracts. So government will need to be more intentional when it comes to fighting corruption. But if you want ministers who can work, unburden them from parliamentary constituencies and hold them to account. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

June 19, 2023

Out to Lunch

OutToLunch The importance of financial compatibility for couples

By Denis Jjuuko Usually, the end of lent ushers in the merry season in Uganda and there is nothing merrier than weddings. Huge marques, tulips flown in from abroad, flowing gowns for the bride and fitting tuxedos for the groom. A cake as high as the pyramids. Entertainment like never before. A fashion show for the guests. No stone is left unturned. If you haven’t yet received a message about somebody getting married, you are most likely too young to be invited or nobody thinks you can afford to contribute. You are most likely a student. If not, the message is coming. It is hard to know why people decide to marry the people they do. In the past, families largely decided. A family with a man ready to marry would approach the family of a damsel ready to start a new life. Families avoided those they didn’t consider good enough. The couple itself getting married wasn’t very much involved. Many times, they didn’t know each other. Compatibility was never an issue. You got married and figured it out and tried your best to make it work. Compatibility has come to mean whether two people can live with each other, which is euphemism for tolerating each other’s excesses. It is one of the things that a lot of people getting married focus on. Many people can learn to live with each other. Couples learn that a partner snores or squeezes toothpaste from the middle and talk about such issues or ignore them. The hard part for most people to learn to live with is money, the lack of it or most importantly how to spend it. It is what some experts call financial compatibility. If one is too frugal and another is a spendthrift, that can strain the relationship. Imagine if your partner turns up with fancy designer clothes every time they get paid or books a holiday in the most exotic of places, it can be financially stressful. Also, frugality can strain a relationship. For many couples, signs of financial incompatibility start during the preparations for the wedding. An expensive wedding the couple and their families can’t afford, impressing people who won’t be there past 12.00am of the wedding night. There was a time a bank in Uganda promoted a loan product for the wedding. Imagine being at the wedding reception on Saturday but thinking about a debt collector’s phone call on Monday! I read that financial incompatibility is one of the leading causes of divorce in countries like the United States. Marriage and having children is many times an investment or financial issue. So is divorce. When you are a couple that is financially compatible and both earn some income, a lot of costs are shared together. Rent or mortgage, school fees, medical bills and many other costs could be shouldered together as a couple. Where a couple is not financially compatible, there is always a strain on one person which ends up leading to divorce. This puts the parties involved to lose money. Divorce takes time to be finalized and people who are unhappy at home end up unproductive at work or tend to make wrong decisions due to stress and other factors. Then there are costs of divorce. Lawyer fees, time off to attend to court sessions which sometimes end up as protracted battles especially where there is a lot of money involved. Assets that belong to a couple end up sold, which in many cases set the couple involved back financially. Where people shared bills, such as rent or mortgage, divorce or separation may lead to each meeting these costs separately. If the couple had one car, now two people may each need a car. One person may also be expected to provide more in terms of child support and such other things. This has reminded me of John (not real name) whose businesses seemed to do so well. Whatever he touched seemed to turn into gold. Then we heard they were divorcing. Everything ruffled from there. The couple owned a house in a fancy Kampala suburb, which was sold as part of the settlement. John could no longer offer it to commercial banks to secure loans for his businesses. It has been a downward spiral for the business until today. So if marriage or even dating is on your bucket list this year, are you financially compatible with the person you are in love with? The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

June 19, 2023

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch: Government can replicate model of commercial banks

By Denis Jjuuko Uganda’s commercial banks have over the last few days been releasing their annual results, some registering record profits. One of them led the pack with an annual after-tax profit of US$100 million! It must be great time to be a banker! But then if you’re an ardent reader of Ugandan newspapers, you will notice that some dailies carry at least two pages of properties and assets being advertised on forced sale by auctioneers working for the same banks. On Facebook and Instagram, once you get your way past Ugandan authority access restrictions, you will notice many properties are on sale, coerce-fully. In many suburbs, many properties have been, in the boldest of letters, an declared bank properties and are up for sale. Of course, policy makers argued that government had no business running banks and that banking wasn’t profitable so we quickly sold them off for a song. Just like other industries. The private players who bought them simply reorganized them — sold off the fat such as properties and remained with the lean meat. They became a little bit more efficient, cutting off government fat cats and their relatives that were getting loans and not paying them back. Perhaps, that explains the number of properties that are being advertised for failure to pay back. Nobody should begrudge banks for being able to turn a profit. Like all commercial enterprises, they are in it for profit. Having seen what is possible, government is arguing that they made mistakes and they want to put their right foot back in. I must commend them for seeing the light though they would need to still use the same efficiency or better that commercial banks have deployed that have enabled them to become so successful. And the talk that they want to get back in must end so that we see action. However, they should do more than commercial banks. Since they will be using public money to set up, how can they provide affordable loans so businesses can thrive? The most common way of lending in Uganda is through providing a property as security that is higher in value than the loan amount being advanced. This model ensures that people will do everything to pay back so that they don’t lose their valuable assets. This model doesn’t necessarily put into account the actual situation young entrepreneurs face. Young people and even women rarely have assets to mortgage so they are naturally excluded from accessing capital. They are beaming with ideas and have the energy to work but don’t have the means that can lead them to access capital. Banks also know that it is a high risk to lend in Uganda so the rates are naturally high. They also spend a lot of time trying to avoid lending the money (they make more by lending to government where the risk of non-payment is low). So if private banks are making hundreds of millions of dollars, a government commercial bank can also make that money but invest it in its people affordably. Also, government can invest in sectors where commercial banks may not want to do so. Take an example of Kampala. I don’t think there is any proper city anywhere in the world where the major vehicular form of public transport is a matatu — a 14-seat passenger vehicle (that was previously a cargo van in Japan). Cities use bus transport that can carry at least 90 people. Of course, trains, trams and other means of public transport help to ensure that people move easily. A few private players have tried to introduce buses in Kampala. City, Pioneer, Awakula Ennume and now Tondeka. Kalita has been operating electric buses from Kiira Motors on the northern bypass. Kampala is one of the first cities on the continent to have public fully electric buses but they are just too few and only operating on one part of the city. The cost of an electric bus is higher than a diesel or internal combustion engine (ICE) bus of the same size. That perhaps explains why Tondeka is operating ICE buses. If they approached a commercial bank to lend them money, the bank manager would have the experience of Pioneer and City at the back of their mind. With Pioneer buses being eaten by termites around Namboole, a bank manager would think that public transport is not profitable and then stay away. Yet if you want to develop a country, you have to ensure that its population’s cost of living is low or affordable. It is the same issue farmers face. The rains are here. Can they afford inputs? Agriculture which is touted as the sector that can get Africa out of poverty is left to subsistence farmers, whose activities cannot meaningfully change their fortunes. That is why we cry to Ukraine, a country at war, to continue supplying us food when we are largely peaceful and rains dropping from the sky with reckless abandon. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

June 19, 2023

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch If the youth are lured into homosexuality for financial gain, what about creating real jobs for them?

By Denis Jjuuko A video clip of one of those so-called social media influencers surfaced on Twitter in which he claimed he was being persecuted for being gay. He claimed he was a gay sex worker! The video had the watermark logo of DW— a renowned German news agency. He later claimed that he had been given money by the DW journalists to say whatever he said otherwise he is heterosexual. Before the video went viral over the weekend, he was one of those vocal anti-homosexuality people on Twitter. His claim that he was paid for the video in which he was seen half naked, body smeared with some oil, massaging a fellow man in some dingy room is part of the narrative that homosexuality is being promoted in Uganda. That young people are being paid to be gay by organizations and individuals from western Europe and north America. That was also one of the reasons for the anti-homosexuality bill passed by a united cheering parliament the other day. I don’t know whether there is money to promote homosexuality but let me make the assumption that it is true. That indeed people are being lured into homosexuality in exchange for lots of money and visas to Europe and north America where they could live better lives than here — doing the same jobs they despise here! If that is the case, then the anti-homosexuality crusade is missing a major point — the issue of lack of opportunities for mainly young people which leads to under and unemployment. One of Uganda’s biggest exports today is the externalization of labour to mainly the Arab world where young people go to become domestic workers and do all sort of jobs. At Entebbe airport, most travelers outside of Uganda are young people in abayas and hijabs walking in choreographed formations on their way to the deserts of the middle east. Arab based airliners now send in huge planes and they go back full of passengers on their way to domestic work. The money they are earning isn’t that high but largely better than what they can largely get here. Many wouldn’t want to actually go to become domestic workers but they have not been given a chance at home. When are we going to see parliament in unparalleled bipartisan unity tackling unemployment? When are we going to see our leaders moving from one gathering to another like they are doing now on anti-homosexuality pushing for the creation of real jobs for young people? If people are becoming homosexuals so that they can earn money, then the best way forward to stop them is by creating real jobs for them. But what we usually hear is the condescending of young people for not being job creators by privileged people who have never created any real job. Job creation should never be the responsibility of young people rather that of our leaders. In fact, Ugandans cannot be blamed for lack of trying to create jobs. We are one of the most entrepreneurial countries in the world. Many Ugandans have tried to create jobs for at least themselves. From roadside kiosks, boutiques in arcades to the gig economy. Even those with proper jobs have side hustles—selling handbags, perfumes, or owning a kafunda near their residences. But the majority of these businesses don’t celebrate their fifth birthdays. Capital is too expensive; the market is too small and taxations and all sorts of fees are simply too high. Nowadays, there is a government agency that charges for all sorts of things. Look at tourism for example. A trading license, a vehicle license fee, a procurement annual fee, a local government fee if you are hotel on each night somebody spends in the hotel, a tourism operator fee, and all sorts of things in between. At the end of the day, it becomes difficult to survive and thrive. If young people have resorted to homosexuality to earn a living as Ugandan leaders want us to believe, then the easiest thing is to create alternative sources of jobs for them. But how many real jobs are we creating a year as a country? And it is not only jobs that we need to create. Revamping our education is also crucial so that we train people for jobs that are available on the market. Empower people with skills to adjust to emerging technologies (instead of technologies replacing them). The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

June 19, 2023

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch: What are you doing with the space above your house?

By Denis Jjuuko When I left university, my friends and I rented a three-bedroom house somewhere within a walkable distance of the Kampala central business district. Each of us had a bedroom but we shared the living room, kitchen and bathrooms. We equally shared the costs but also avoided stuff we couldn’t individually afford at the time. One TV set was, for example, enough for all of us. One of our cheeky friends named it Ujamaa house—after Julius Nyerere’s socialist model. I was thinking of a better way we can have ‘Ujamaa’ in Uganda today but at an individual level. As individuals, it is easier to do certain things than always waiting for government to organize us. There is increased pressure on land in Kampala and its surrounding areas due to population pressures and the concentration of meaningful economic activity within the radius of about 80km of Kampala. So many people are buying land further away from the city where it (land) is more affordable largely to build residential houses and even commercial structures. The nearer the land to Kampala city, the more expensive it becomes. Many people with land nearer Kampala struggle either to develop it or sell it. This is because, the tradition has been largely to buy land which is either empty without any structures or taking over the land and its structures. But these expensive areas are full of incomplete structures. It is very common to find somebody who built a house or commercial structure and failed to complete it. Others take years to complete which means tying up capital which would have been used in other ventures. Yet we now have the condominium law which allows multiple ownership of structures on the same piece of land. The most common application of the condominium law has been the construction of apartments where units are sold to different people. However, we can flip this even where we don’t have the resources to build structures with multiple floors and many apartments. Imagine if you bought a plot of land today anywhere in metropolitan Kampala or any major town where you live to build a residential house for your family. It may be a bungalow or even a storied house. But the area in which you are building is increasingly becoming expensive. So, what if you designed a house that can allow you to build for yourself but then sell the space above what you don’t need to somebody else? This would require constructing a storied building with the foundation strong enough to enable other people to build on top. This would have to be planned with the architect and the civil and structural engineers. You build the house you need and as the city expands and the area in which you live becomes more valuable, you sell to somebody else to build their house on top. This would be attractive to people who may not want to live far away from the city and don’t necessarily have the resources to buy an empty plot or a house from scratch. Imagine if you owned a building in Ntinda or Muyenga today that you can sell to somebody and still remain a part owner. There are people who live in expensive neighborhoods today yet without much money and at the same time don’t want to sell and relocate to Ziroobwe or Bujjuuko. This model would enable them have money to cater for their other needs or live their dreams without shifting to a ‘poorer’ neighborhood or living far away from the city, in an area that they may considered beneath their status. Many people can end up owning a high-rise building without each spending so much money to acquire land and all that is required. And each of the owners would have their condominium certificate of title. Friends or families can come and do this together. Each floor of the house built increases the value of the property yet lowering the cost of maintaining the building since such costs are shared by the owners or tenants. Owners of incomplete buildings would be able to release their equity from a single building and avoid the wastage of space for storied buildings like it is in Kampala today. Those who may have been struggling to complete their buildings would now be able to do so while spreading their risk. To be honest, this isn’t even such a novel idea. If you usually watch Asian movies, this model of living is common. Many families end up living on a same plot each with their unit within a single big building. Hotel chains do so as well where they sell rooms to different people and charge a management fee. Each time a hotel room or suite is booked, the owner makes money less taxes and service fee. As individuals, we can plan for this and commercialize the space that we aren’t occupying. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

June 19, 2023

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch: How government of Uganda can solve its motor vehicle problem

By Denis Jjuuko One way to tell that you have arrived at a government of Uganda facility such as a local government district or even ministry headquarters is the sight of motor vehicles rotting away in the compound. The government seems to find it easy to procure new vehicles than maintaining and servicing their existing fleet. Some of these vehicles such as tractors, rollers, excavators and such other equipment cost billions each to buy but even the usual ordinary standard pick-up truck is expensive. One would think that maintaining and servicing these vehicles is cheaper and indeed more prudent than to buy new ones but this is Uganda. This could have prompted the Ministry of Finance to announce that they wouldn’t be a budget for new vehicles for the next financial year. The news articles that announced this revelation didn’t mention whether there will be a budget for maintenance and service! There is perhaps nothing that public servants love than a vehicle that comes with their offices. A car is a status symbol in Uganda for many since the majority of people come from poverty-stricken families. A car announces their arrival. One with the red or even blue license plates puts them on a pedestal they couldn’t probably have imagined while growing up. In the 1990s, a fight erupted among the highest members of the judiciary. One judge was fighting with his superior over an official car — a Mitsubishi Pajero with a turbo engine or known as an Intercooler then. One judge wondered why his car wasn’t an Intercooler and created such a public circus over it. Politicians once appointed in office, the first thing they want to know is which car has been assigned to them and if they can upgrade with the latest version. When the current cabinet was appointed, rumors surfaced that some ministers claimed their predecessors had put juju in the vehicles and therefore needed new ones! I don’t know for how long Ramathan Ggoobi, the finance permanent secretary and secretary to the treasury, will be able to withstand pressure from politicians and public servants who want to buy new vehicles. Admittedly, this isn’t the first such directive government has ever issued. But I don’t remember if this was ever implemented. We shall wait and see. Though the obvious thing if the ministry of finance wants to control its expenditure is by ensuring that its motor vehicle fleet is in good working mechanical conditions. Largely, the government buys these vehicles when they are brand new and if they are serviced well, they should be able to serve beyond five years. I was told that government also doesn’t do comprehensive insurance for its fleet. This means if a car is involved in an accident, there is no compensation for it. So instead of getting insurance companies to replace the vehicle, government simply procures an new one. Buying vehicles all the time is more expensive than insuring them. But does the government need to provide cars for all its officials? In many countries and even companies in Uganda, officers are facilitated to buy their cars. This can be done by providing interest free loans where the officer buys a car that they use for their official duties. The payment is deducted every month until the car has been paid off. The officer is then paid mileage every time they use the car. So the government wouldn’t be involved in maintaining and servicing the vehicle or selling it on the cheap just because the car has done five years. The officer knowing that this is their car, they will handle it with utmost care. Many wouldn’t demand for the expensive SUVs that they use today. To make these cars cheaper, government can do a partnership with some of the vehicle manufacturers to assemble the cars in Uganda. Already, Kiira Motors has a plant nearing completion in Jinja. This would also create millions of jobs and kick off Uganda’s nascent automotive industry. Alternatively, government can do what many organizations are doing. Hiring and leasing vehicles for its officers. Many companies and development organizations don’t own cars even those that are branded with their logos. They simply lease them and once they make about 150,000km on the odometer, they return them to the lessors and get new ones. This minimizes a company’s capital and operational expenditures. Maintenance and service is handled by these companies, freeing the lessee from the hustle of fleet management. Of course, there are vehicles that government may still have to buy such as police and military vehicles and ambulances. But also, it can still lease them. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

June 19, 2023