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Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch: Deputy Speaker’s Mangu Cash experience and the need for an open discussion on interest rates

#OutToLunch: Deputy Speaker’s Mangu Cash experience and the need for an open discussion on interest rates By Denis Jjuuko Somebody I know wanted to capitalize his business and decided to approach one of Uganda’s biggest commercial banks. When his business was booming, he had built some houses in Namugongo, not very far from the famous Uganda martyrs’ shrine. Four houses on about 15 decimals of land. The houses, each two bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen and dining rooms were occupied by tenants each paying Shs1m per a month, totaling a gross income of Shs4m per a month or Shs48m per a year. He was willing to stake it as collateral for the loan. The bank sent their prequalified asset valuer, one of those companies that manage Kampala’s elite malls. The moment he signed the form that authorized the bank to pay their valuer Shs3m for the exercise, they showed up promptly. Within a week or so, the bank called him and handed him the asset valuer’s report. The report indicated that an empty plot of land in the area of the same size was valued at Shs100m. But then something strange happened afterwards. The asset valuer said that the four houses were valued at Shs120m on the open market while putting the forced sale value at Shs80m. He protested the bank valuer’s report and asked if the bank could send another valuer who knows what they were doing. The bank said they trust their valuer with their life and there was no need to send another valuer. He wondered if in their own wisdom they really think the houses that gross Shs4m a month, Shs48m a year could really be worth 20m excluding the land and they said that is what the valuer’s report says. He walked out of the meeting protesting and cursing them for making him lose his Shs3m while enriching an incompetent valuer. He called it a scam. I am not sure it wasn’t. I wouldn’t have believed anything he said had he not turned up with a copy of the report for me to read. May be the bank didn’t want to lend him money or something. It just didn’t make sense. Anyway, two things happened a week or so ago that explain the predicament of Ugandans when it comes to credit. There is a new law that limits interest rates charged by informal money lenders at 2.8% per a month or 33.6% annually. Currently, money lenders charge as much as 12% per a month on loans advanced. Such money lenders include mobile money companies. The money lenders’ association chairman argued Uganda is a free economy and parliament should put such restrictions on money from government. Not on his private money whose source they don’t know. Many people after borrowing this money fail to pay. You have to be a money launderer or thief to borrow money at 10-12% per a month and be able to pay it back but people are desperate. And the money lenders are even more desperate to get their money back. One such desperate lender called the Deputy Speaker of Parliament on Thursday morning and threatened to teach him a lesson if somebody he knew didn’t pay. The Deputy Speaker said on his X social media handle that the caller identified herself as an employee of Mangu Cash, a mobile money lender that advances micro credits to millions of Ugandans via their mobile phones. The Mangu Cash lady said the borrower had listed the Deputy Speaker as his next of kin. He tagged the police chief to do his job and stop such people from harassing Ugandans. The next day, the Deputy Speaker posted about regulation and all sorts of things that he is going to do after realizing that this wasn’t an isolated incident. I don’t know how many times Mangu Cash and a few other such lenders have called me about people I don’t even regularly speak to about their obligations to pay back. I have been blocking whichever such number that calls me since I was never involved in the first place when they were advancing money. Many people have complained about their modus operandi. But I don’t think they are the problem. If regulated credit institutions were not taking clients into circles before lending them like they did to my Namugongo friend (he didn’t actually borrow), the likes of Mangu Cash would not exist. Their existence shows the gap that needs to be filled. If the Deputy Speaker is desirous of doing something about credit in Uganda, he needs to look at the whole picture and find ways through which credit can easily be affordable and accessible to the majority of Ugandans otherwise informal lenders will just go underground and make the situation worse than it already is. An economy where interest rates are as high as they are by even regulated lenders cannot spur sustainable growth The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

January 9, 2025

Out to Lunch

Lasting wealth is through hard work not placing bets

OutToLunch: Lasting wealth is through hard work not placing bets By Denis Jjuuko There is a young man who told me that he had come up with an innovative idea that may change the world but lacked funding to realize it. I told him that I didn’t work in the angel investment space but he was incessant that I listen to him. All that he needed, he argued, was about 30 minutes of my time. If I listen to him, maybe I could talk to some of my “rich” friends and they invest. I was reluctant but I could easily find the 30 minutes. Over time and perhaps through personal experiences, I have increasingly become skeptical of “innovations” and great “ideas.” Many such ideas are hard to pull off in a country like Uganda. Also, in the developed world, very few people come up with great ideas. Most entrepreneurs that succeed do what everyone is doing but a little bit better. However, I also didn’t want to spend the rest of my life regretting. He kept time. Since we are Africans, we asked each other about our respective families, the weather and what is actually “new that side.” The “new” thing on his side was the innovative idea that he had come up with. He said for some time, he has been studying sports betting. Almost every other English premier league football club is sponsored by a betting company. Every other advert on pay TV platforms is of sports betting or some form of betting. Every little nook around Kampala has some form of sports betting shop or another. Somebody told me that many young people have a betting app on their smartphones. Indeed, one day, I was walking behind some guards returning from their night duty. I eavesdropped on their conversation. They were talking about a football match that had taken place in Kazakhstan. Of all places. They had placed some bets on the outcome of match in a league in Kazakhstan! I understood why the young man wanted to pitch his ideas even to people who may not have any capacity to raise any money. Anyway, the young man said that he had spent the last few years involved in sports betting and he thinks he can generate a lot of money. I became attentive, writing down questions at the back of my mind to ask him once he finished his presentation. Eventually, it became clear that he wasn’t looking for money to invest in a sports betting company. His innovative idea was that he had studied the formula of beating the sports betting companies! Wow! He said if he got money and placed his bets strategically, he would be able to beat them and win. He explained how he thought the betting companies work and what one needs to do to beat them. I don’t remember the exact formula he explained but I doubted whether one could beat these companies. I told him that he stood a better chance if he started a betting company instead but he said that is not the best way to make money. Why invest in that when you have realized the formula to beat the “muyindi”? Muyindi in betting language refers to the sports betting companies. I could tell that he was very disappointed that I couldn’t invest or refer him to my so-called “rich” friends and that I didn’t see how his idea would make “us” extremely wealthy. The last time I heard about him, the stories involved police, court and Luzira Prison. Anyway, somebody recently claimed that there are some young people whose job is sports betting. Apparently, one is more likely to become wealthy through it than a regular normal job. My argument was that unless you own the sports betting platform, you can’t be placing bets and expecting to become wealthy. Wealth is through selling goods or services. Gambling has never been known to create lasting wealth for a gambler. How do we stop young people from spending all their time placing bets? We must create sustainable jobs for them while informing them that overnight success only happens in movies. In real life, people sell something in exchange for money. They don’t just place bets on who will score in which minute of a soccer match. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

December 5, 2024

Education

Platform Economy Growth in Uganda: Tackling Gender Gaps and Improving Conditions for Young Workers

Platform Economy Growth in Uganda: Tackling Gender Gaps and Improving Conditions for Young Workers The International Labour Organization (ILO), in partnership with the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, has released an important report highlighting the challenges and opportunities in Uganda’s Platform Economy. Titled “Platform Work in Uganda: Promoting Decent Work for All,” the study, conducted in collaboration with Makerere University, surveyed 647 platform workers across sectors including taxi services, delivery, online freelancing, and e-commerce to understand the landscape of digital labour platforms in Uganda. The report identifies key opportunities, challenges, and gaps in current policies. During the report launch on Wednesday, November 20, 2024, at the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel in Kampala, Raymond Wasukira, Senior Labour Officer, who represented the Permanent Secretary of the the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MGLSD) stated that “the findings of this report will guide us in addressing the gaps in Uganda’s platform economy to ensure that workers benefit from decent and equitable opportunities.” He added that collaboration between government, platforms, and stakeholders is key to achieving this goal. Evans Lwanga, the Chief Technical Adviser for ILO PROSPECTS Uganda, echoed similar sentiments. “This report highlights the need for urgent policy interventions to ensure platform workers in Uganda are not left behind in the digital economy,” he said. Key Findings The report highlights that digital labour platforms have seen consistent growth since 2015, with 18 local and international platforms currently in operation. Although location-based services such as Uber, Bolt, SafeBoda, and Jumia are gaining popularity, the report indicates limited adoption of online freelance platforms due to the digital divide. The report further reveals that that platform workers are predominantly young (ages 28-32) and well-educated, even in traditionally low-skilled sectors. While freelancers earn higher hourly wages compared to conventional workers, significant income insecurity remains, the report notes. Additionally, earnings among platform workers vary considerably by sector and gender, with women earning less than men. A significant gender gap exists within freelance work, with men earning an average of 16,472 shillings (US$4.4) per hour for total work compared with 11,075 shillings (US$3) for women. Women earn almost 35% less than men, and this could partly be due to the occupational segregation of tasks as women are disproportionately concentrated in lower-paying fields like writing and administrative support, while men dominate in tasks such as IT and data analysis. The report notes that while the majority of men (86%) believed that they received fair compensation for their online work, only 57% of women reported the same. This aligns with the findings that men tend to earn more, underscoring a significant pay gap between genders. Long working hours are alarmingly prevalent, with taxi drivers and delivery workers working an average of 75–79 hours per week. The demanding and often unpredictable nature of platform work takes a toll on workers’ well-being, as they are often stressed. According to the report, freelancers work an average of 46 hours per week, with women working slightly more (50 hours) than men (45 hours). However, a significant portion of this time (10 hours) is unpaid, dedicated to activities like searching for tasks (67%), researching clients (38%), unpaid self-study (38%), client communication (29%) and profile-building (24%). The survey findings reveal that the majority of workers transitioned to platform work from other jobs. This is primarily due to a lack of available jobs or a desire for better income and skill development opportunities. This transition from previous jobs is evident in the taxi (81%), and delivery (77%), with a smaller but still significant proportion in online freelancing (43%). While one-third of these workers in the taxi and delivery sectors previously worked in related fields, the remainder transitioned from different sectors. Freelancers typically came from salaried positions in various fields. About 58% of the sellers transitioned to the e-commerce marketplace and social media platforms from other jobs and one-third of them worked in related fields. The challenges outlined in the report include, a lack of social protection for many workers, such as health insurance and pensions, and the prevalence of algorithmic management practices, which restricts workers autonomy and increases stress. Common issues also include account deactivations and unpaid tasks that has an impact on their earnings and livelihoods. Despite the informal support available through social media, there is minimal organised advocacy for worker rights, indicating a need for greater collective action and unionization. Recommendations To ensure decent work conditions for platform workers, the report recommends several policy reforms. Establishing clear legal frameworks to classify workers and define employer responsibilities, guaranteeing the right to organize and engage in collective bargaining, and introducing tailored social security mechanisms for platform work. Addressing occupational safety and health (OSH) risks specific to platforms and enhancing data protection and ensuring transparency in algorithmic processes are the other key recommendations. As Uganda’s digital economy continues to grow, this report accentuates the urgency of implementing fair and inclusive policies. These findings are timely as the ILO gears up for deliberations on promoting decent work within the platform economy during the upcoming 2025 and 2026 International Labor Conferences. About the ILO The International Labour Organization is a UN agency uniting governments, employers, and workers from 187 member states to promote decent work globally. The ILO in Uganda is actively implementing initiatives to harness the potential of the digital economy in creating job opportunities for youth. These efforts focus on developing digital skills and facilitating job matching within the gig economy, including in refugee settlements. Other key activities include awareness-raising training on labour laws in collaboration with Uganda’s workers union apex body, National Organization of Trade Unions (NOTU) and the launch of a new Community of Practice initiative led by the Federation of Uganda Employers, aimed at fostering collaboration and compliance with decent work principles in the digital economy.

December 3, 2024

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch: Beyond Acacia Mall: Why holiday making children should acquire some practical skills

By Denis Jjuuko A big segment of Uganda’s population that one could describe as middle class today grew up in average income families and in rural areas. Their parents were keen to send them to fairly good primary and secondary schools. Many were enrolled into several institutions of higher learning that were located across the country. Makerere was the only university at the time. If one didn’t make it there, they joined other institutions like the colleges of commerce, teacher training schools, nursing schools and a host of other technical institutions. During holidays, many of these children worked for their next academic term’s school fees and other requirements. Holiday time meant working in the coffee gardens or in the courtyard drying and storing coffee or on any activities available on the farm. Computer games and 24-hour a day TV programing were non-existent. Many kids knew that working hard was the only way to make it in life. It still is for most kids not lucky enough to be born with gilded spoons in their mouths. However, as Uganda continues to urbanize at a relatively high rate, many kids in urban homes wake up to watch TV, play computer games and pick carbonated soft drinks from the fridge and hang around the walkway rails of Acacia Mall. In some of the high-end schools where kids go, there is every little service at a fee that you may think of. People who wash the clothes or washing machines were a fee is paid is now common. This may not be necessarily new. Students from poorer family backgrounds used to wash clothes for those from richer families but it wasn’t as institutionalized as it is increasingly becoming today. Of course, technology, for those who can afford it, should make life better and one may wonder why children should wash their clothes when there is a washing machine but the issue is that many children are growing up being pampered and not be prepared to take on the world. As many children start their holidays having finished national and end of term examinations, parents should enroll them into some programs where they could learn a skill or two. There are many safe online programs that urban kids with access to internet and computers can learn. All what parents and guardians need to do is to find them and recommend them to the children. Kids could learn to code, use AI, develop apps or storytelling. Many businesses including those of the parents need apps that would enable them provide a better experience or service. Imagine a parent who owns a car repair garage, a mobile app may enable customers to get updates in real time of the repairs being performed or when the next service or insurance is due. A customer may be reminded that their driver’s license is about to expire and therefore should plan on renewal. The customer would be happy to deal with such a garage. But the child could also fully work in the garage alongside the parent instead of staying at home to watch TV, sleep, eat and do it again for 60-90 days of the holiday or vacation. Parents and guardians must avoid the notion that children working especially in jobs that may be considered ‘dirty’ is making the children suffer. Children should not have any feeling that working on the farm is suffering either. They should look at it as skilling or apprenticeship. In fact, in many parts of Africa, ‘dirty’ jobs are going to be more available than office jobs or cool ones like developing apps (even when I recommend it as one of the skills that kids must learn). Such jobs still exist in developed countries. Who wouldn’t need food or clothing? As Uganda and the rest of the continent continue to urbanize and send a significant number of their populations into the middle class, ‘dirty’ jobs will increasingly become more available and profitable. For example, many people wouldn’t be able to work on their compounds, and they will require the services of a gardener to keep their lawns neat. A child that is trained to look after their parent or guardian’s garden will eventually benefit from acquiring such skills. The child would of course need to get some marketing skills and start hitting the inboxes of their parent’s friends’ phones for similar work. Not before long, that child would be a small business owner with recurring predictable revenue. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com For learning storytelling skills, log onto www.storytellingafrica.com. All courses are online and are for free.

November 21, 2024

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch: Rationalization without efficiency is an exercise in futility

OutToLunch: Rationalization without efficiency is an exercise in futility By Denis Jjuuko The rationalization of some of the government agencies back into their parent ministries has been the talk of town of the last few weeks with the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) carrying the day. See, coffee is the lifeblood of more than two million households in the country. The government has said that that agencies being rationalized are inefficient and incompetent cost centers that bleed the national treasury doing the same work the ministries could do. That duplication is their other silent name. There seems to be no middle ground for those who propose rationalization and the same could be said of those who oppose it. But if efficiency is what government hopes to achieve through rationalization, there is a long way ahead. The work isn’t insurmountable but there is a lot that will have to be done. I think the first one is the issue of payment. We are told that staff of agencies were earning several times their colleagues in the ministries. That could be true. I sometimes see some of the CEOs of the agencies being driven around in powerful SUVs with lead or back up cars and police in black uniforms opening their doors or carrying their handbags. Somebody said that public servants in the ministries were jealousy of the executives in agencies. Maybe they were. If payment is such an issue, there is need to ensure that civil servants are paid salaries equivalent to what they would earn in the private sector and then put in place the same tough requirements in place. Regular assessments should be done and those that fail to meet them should be let go. Performance contracts should replace the method known as permanent and pensionable jobs because if anyone knows that they are assured of their job for life regardless of performance, they will do whatever they want. Performance contracts will end the culture in some government offices where people arrive in the morning, place their jacket on the back of their swivel chairs or place a second pair of their eye glasses on the desk to give the impression that they are around the building whereas they are not. Civil servants that work a few hours a day and enjoy a four-day working week should also be dealt with. Service delivery shouldn’t be just a topic of discussion in seminars and newspaper columns. It must be practiced and lived. That would require that officers are given a certain number of days to have a file in their office before they send it to the next person. Technology is available where each folder or file that goes to somebody’s office is tracked to know how long it has remained in that particular office and then asked why the file is still on their desk. That level of tracking would also reduce on the number of missing files in government offices. Efficiency would ensure that no officer has hundreds of files on their desks for months or even years or unopened emails. So free gmail and yahoo emails should be replaced with official ones that can be tracked. Time management is critical if government is to be efficient. Meetings must start and end on time. There is no reason to give somebody an appointment of 10.00am and make them wait up to 3.00pm and then inform them that you wouldn’t be able to see them or that you didn’t even come to the office. There is no reason why government should take two years to procure a contractor for an infrastructural project like a road or electricity dam and then the contractor takes years to start working and a decade to complete a project that could be done in nine months. Payments to contractors shouldn’t take the same process it would require one to go to heaven! One of the reasons we are so poor is our lack of investments in key social services like education, health and transport. Many Ugandan civil servants have to send their kids in expensive schools and then abroad for university, do annual medical checkups in India, Kenya or Turkey yet they don’t earn well enough to afford them. That leads to corruption. Because of lack of public transport, government officials must have vehicles which are expensive to buy and maintain yet they should be driving their own. Rationalization without being efficient will not improve service delivery and drive the country out of poverty. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

November 15, 2024

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch: Group savings could help young people become homeowners

By Denis Jjuuko For most people, owning a home is the ultimate dream. It is a key component of what constitutes the American dream. In many parts of Africa, a boy only becomes a man if they owned a house. At kwanjula (betrothment) events, you hear spokespersons of the groom to be bragging that the man who is intending to marry already owns a house, when they are mentioning his home address to which the congregation claps incessantly in wonder. It confirms, somewhat, the potential of the man to look after the bride. But like we heard recently as the country marked the World Habitat Day, housing in Uganda is increasingly becoming a pipe dream for the majority of Ugandans. Apparently, 76% of the population won’t be able to afford to build or own a decent home. That is such a huge number. The cost of land and building materials are way too out of reach for the majority of Ugandans. That shouldn’t be very nice for any government to hear. Home ownership is a cornerstone of stability. The biggest asset the majority of people will ever own is a home. And once they own a home, it means that they have a big stake in their country. They will do whatever it means to protect their biggest asset. So, they won’t be involved in burning down a street on which they own a home. There is a lot government can do to ensure that this happens. Ensuring people have sustainable jobs, affordable mortgage rates, social security linked to home ownership, tax deductions on building materials etc. However, sometimes, the government may not do all those things. They may leave individuals to do it on their own. So how can people, especially those that banks may not describe as “high net worth”, be able to afford a decent house? Home ownership in Uganda, at least for the majority, starts with the ability to own land. Land that is affordable is usually far from urban centres without any utilities such as water and electricity. For many young people, living in such an area can be scary so they end up postponing to buy land. By the time they have raised some money to buy land in a place that they consider livable, they are taken to the same place which was extremely rural a few years ago but it is now unaffordable to them. The places they can afford are again so rural. However, they now have school going children which means less money at their disposal. Before they know it, it is retirement time and no house. They now hope that their children would be able to look after them. The poverty cycle continues. How can young people afford to build and own homes affordably? At least those who earn a regular income? They will need to come together either as friends or relatives and save money together consistently for some time. They don’t have to be so many, a maximum of about eight people. When they are too many, so many interests will come up and they may lose focus. They can consistently save money for about 3 years. If each of them saves Shs50,000 per a month, it means that that they will have Shs4.8m by the end of the first year. If they invest this money in a unit trust at about 12% annually, they will have an extra Shs576,000 after one year of investing it. If they invest Shs400,000 every month after their initial investment of Shs4.8m, at the end of the 3-year saving cycle, they will have at least Shs16,197,120 according to an online compound interest calculator. That is why compound interest is sometimes called the 8th wonder of the world. With Shs16.1m, the group of eight can now look for an acre of land to buy at about 15m, which they can now divide among themselves. If eight of you decide to buy land in an area you consider rural, you won’t be scared of living there because you will have the security of your neighbours. Anyaway, each member should be able to get a 50x100ft plot in a well organised estate. With the Shs1.1m balance, they can now employ the services of an architect to design eight houses for them. The houses should look exactly the same and should be of the same size. They should not be fancy storied houses that are too expensive to build. Simple would do it. The dream is to own a home, not a Hollwood-esque home! In the design, there are things they can share, such as septic tanks and a perimeter wall but that can come in later. Now that they are good at saving and investing, they can double their monthly savings to Shs100,000. If they invest Shs9.6m and continue investing Shs800,000 per a month at 12% annually, they would have Shs32,394,240 by the end of 3 years. Depending on the design they choose and materials they use, they could now be able to build a house or two for every member every 3 years. In 12-24 years, each of those members will be able to own a decent mortgage free house. The writer is a communication and visibility consult. djjuuko@gmail.com

November 7, 2024

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch: Scarcity of adult diapers exposes the need for research before imposition of taxes

By Denis Jjuuko If you take care of an elderly person in Uganda today, there are many challenges that you face. You may have to quit your job to look after an elderly person and there is no pay for that or you may have to get the services of a live-in nurse. Both options are expensive and almost out of reach for the majority of people. So the elderly who usually don’t have sufficient sources of income live lives devoid of dignity, many sometimes scavenging for meals and other things that they need in their lives. The politicians who claim to represent the citizens are largely out of touch. The example of the diapers the elderly require to live decent lives is a case in point. Last year, Parliament approved taxes on diapers. The Members of Parliament voted with unprecedented euphoria with many arguing that they were doing so to stop homosexuals from using them. There was no data presented to prove that the majority of adult diapers were being used by homosexuals. But nothing unites politicians in Uganda than homosexuality! Anyone who argued otherwise was labelled a supporter of homosexuality or to having been paid by the “imperialists” in western capitals to corrupt the mind of Ugandans. If you are in care today of an elderly person today, you would have noticed that you are spending a lot of time moving from one shop in Kikuubo to another in search of adult diapers. With increment in taxes, the traders who were stocking them have moved on to more profitable products or closed their businesses all together. Those who bring them increased the costs to cater for the increased taxes but they are also bringing in smaller sizes and somewhat inferior qualities than before the taxes were slapped on them. Those who haven’t moved on, are doing what they are doing to keep their businesses open. Who would blame them? A diaper a size too small is not only uncomfortable, it is also said to lead to bed sores. If you have ever looked after a sick person, bed sores are some of the most painful and stubborn things to treat. Caregivers want to do anything in the world to avoid them but small size diapers the elderly are using today are going to creating a massive healthcare problem. And to make it worse, the traders aren’t bringing in enough quantities. Today, diapers for the elderly are for booking by paying in advance and you can’t be certain when they will bring them in. For some traders, they don’t even allow you to book a lot so that everyone gets some. Of course, the war in the Middle East may also be responsible for delayed shipping of containers but the major reasons Kikuubo traders attribute to the scarcity of adult diapers is the increment in taxes. Who ever knew that because of our lack of research before we increase taxes, the elderly who are lucky enough to afford pampers will have to use ones that are rationed? But that is where we are. Today, those who take care of the elderly are spending more money on shoes as they develop holes in the soles as they look for pampers instead of looking for money to buy them and pay for fees for medical consultancy and prescribed drugs. I think parliament has the power to correct the mistake they made when they argued that adult pampers were promoting homosexuality because some of them realized their mistakes. I remember seeing a clip where a Member of Parliament after failing to secure diapers for her mother admitted to having voted to pass the adult diaper law in error. Since to err is human, we shouldn’t blame the MPs when they admit their mistake and go ahead and correct them. Because that is the right thing to do. But also, such glaring mistakes are avoidable by parliament and all arms of government by being informed by data instead of emotions before making key decisions. It should not be so difficult for the research arm of parliament to find out who buys more adult diapers and for what purpose. The ministries of finance, gender, and health should have this information too. But the right thing to ensure the elderly live with dignity is to remove the increased taxes on diapers while also supporting local manufacturers to make them here. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

November 7, 2024

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch: Resilient coffee farmers will make money regardless of UCDA fate

By Denis Jjuuko Whether on coffee tables, bar tables, parliamentary tables, or presidential tables, the talk has been about coffee following the contentious coffee bill that seeks to amend the National Coffee Act 2021. The main tenet in the bill is the proposed dissolution of the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA). Depending on who you listen to, UCDA is either angelic, demonic or a combination of both. Maybe the debate wouldn’t even have reached its current crescendo had the Speaker of Parliament not caught on a live mic urging her colleagues to do something about the Baganda. Whatever, she meant, the Baganda seemed to be the target. You see, 50% of the coffee grown in Uganda is from Buganda, a source of livelihoods for almost every household in the region. Many kids in Buganda go to school because of the incomes derived from coffee by their parents and guardians. Coffee and of recent, enjoys a demigod status among the people of Buganda. It hasn’t been like that though for the last few years. Many people in Buganda had given up on growing coffee until about 2016 when the kingdom started its famous Emmwanyi Terimba (coffee is profitable) campaign reminding people of the good old days of Mmwanyi Zabaala (another variant of coffee is profitable). Mmwanyi Zabaala was usually a reference to the powerful Bantam motorcycles that people in areas like Masaka massively bought as a result of profits from coffee especially in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Farming is usually not for the fainthearted and prices can significantly fluctuate especially for a product that is largely exported. Prices are many times determined on global markets. Weather changes in Brazil, Colombia or Vietnam, for example, can have a significant impact on Uganda’s coffee. And domestic demands in those larger producer markets can also have impact. Speculators on the futures markets in the global financial capitals can also have an impact. But also, people can simply give up on something by losing hope. Leadership is usually required to restore hope, reminding people that those who “lose a loved one, don’t sleep by the graveside.” Once people are inspired to realize that not every light at the end of the tunnel is of an oncoming train, they could easily wake up and do something for themselves. That is what happened in Buganda circa 2016. With inspiration from the leadership in Buganda, people in the region started growing coffee again. Seeing the uptake in the crop, UCDA sought for a partnership to work together. The end result had been increased exports and increased incomes for the people in the region and indeed elsewhere. A coffee tree lasts about 45 years. So those who had abandoned their trees didn’t all have to plant new ones. Many just did stumping, allowing the coffee to sprout and flourish again. Others planted new ones. Within 2-4 years, they were making money again. I remember a trip to Bukomansimbi about four years ago where I met a man who had been a boda boda rider in Kampala and had decided to return to the village. He had revived his coffee garden and had managed to build himself a decent house and rentals somewhere in Kyengera, just outside Kampala. He regrated the years he had spent in Kampala riding a boda boda and before it, working as a taxi conductor. That was well before the average coffee prices of around Shs13,000 per a kilo of fair average quality. With the prices being offered today, there is real income in the pockets of ordinary Ugandans. And not just ordinary Ugandans, the country’s is benefiting as well as income from coffee exports are topping USD210m per a month. Regardless of what the government of Uganda does, coffee will remain a highly demanded crop across the world. The biggest consumers of coffee in the world don’t grow it and they are not about to give it up. They will continue to demand for it. The traders and the entire value chain is not about to give up coffee. Since the demand is assured, those who are growing coffee should not return to the previous years of feeling pity for themselves. They should instead increase the acreage those who can, look after their coffee trees well and do whatever is necessary to increase production of quality beans. Those that won’t give up, regardless of the prices or scrapping of UCDA would still be better than a farmer that don’t have anything to sell. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

November 7, 2024

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch: Incentives could further switch on West Nile for investment

#OutToLunch: Incentives could further switch on West Nile for investment By Denis Jjuuko On my first visit to Arua in West Nile, many years ago, my colleagues and I decided to unwind by visiting a nightclub or something similar to it. We were young and free. We had made the long trip from Kampala, rested a bit and decided to indulge in the night, enjoy some Lingala and whatever a bustling border town has got to offer. I had seen a huge electricity generator station by the roadside, a few minutes to Arua town but hadn’t paid much attention to it. I had also not done much research about the city’s night life. It was one of those days you jump into a car, drive to a town, get some accommodation and you are ready to go. A journey to discover the unknown. Some people call it adventure. In the nightclub, I noticed something strange. As a self-confessed nocturnal at the time, I had been a ‘happening’ boy by some lousy standards. I had also worked in journalism and the entertainment sector had been part of my beat. At university, I had enjoyed the exuberance of youth through clubbing. Nightclubs, therefore, were not strange to me. In Arua, at that nightclub, everyone had a torch. If you are considered old in Uganda, you remember the silver metallic ones with a red button on the side. Those were for the sophisticated ones. Those who lacked means had plastic ones. The only revelers who didn’t have either a plastic or silver metallic torch, were my colleagues and I. The majority of the people pulling all dance strokes on Lingala music were partly ‘giving us the eye.’ Like in most places, you could tell that people realize you are a foreigner. You don’t understand the rules. I became more cautious and decided not to indulge much and be more of a casual observer, with one eye on the exit door. Sooner than later, I realized why everyone who knew Arua well had a torch. At the peak of people’s enjoyment, electricity was switched off. The entire town went dark and quieter than a cemetery! Again, if you are considered old in Uganda, loadshedding is not something new to you. Electricity was always shared. If you had power today, you didn’t have it tomorrow. Rationing. But loadshedding in most parts of Uganda at the time meant power was switched off in the early evening around 6.00pm and switched back on around 10.00pm. In Arua, power was being switched off after 10.00pm. Strange loadshedding. Once power went off, the nightclub didn’t have a generator powerful enough to enable the rotating multicolor disco lights to be switched on. The nightclub’s standby generator was only big enough to power the sound system. That is why the revelers had torches. They switched them on. Some pressed the red button on the switches which made the torches provide a blinkering light. Others tied them on their waists. As they pulled those rare dancing strokes that are synonymous with Congolese across the border, they provided a spectacular experience akin to that of customized dazzling disco lights. What a spectacle! The ingenuity of the West Nilers. I have made hundreds of trips to Arua since that night and definitely power had become a bit reliable. But it is only the other week that West Nile was switched to the national electricity grid. It is a remarkable achievement or a shame that it has taken this long depending on how you look at it. The region has unbelievable potential given its location at the borders of both the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan, some of Uganda’s biggest trading partners. Both countries are expansive and a big chunk of their populations rely on cities like Arua as the source of their goods and services. I learnt that some of those guys who were rivaling Congolese dancers in that nightclub were actually Congolese who cross the border to enjoy life. Anyway, both countries also suffer regular insecurity which means investors will always keep away apart from those exploiting the countries’ massive natural resources. But the investors could not set up businesses such as factories in Arua, to supply West Nile, DRC and South Sudan and beyond. They would rather set up in Kampala or Jinja where electricity was not such a big challenge. Yet if they set up in West Nile, they would be nearer to the market. Lack of electricity was always the challenge. Now that the problem is sorted, West Nile’s potential should now be fully exploited. West Nile is also very diverse with many different cultures, which can be a bedrock for non-animalized tourism. Even the alleged world’s smallest church is in West Nile! Nang Nang, perhaps the world’s tastiest fish is available in basketfuls. The River Nile cuts through the region, providing near perfect locations for riverside resorts and water sports. Land is still relatively affordable and fertile and some of the major towns are being connected by bituminous standard roads. Small planes can land in Arua. For those who love animals, Murchison National Park is partly in the region. Affordable trainable labour is in abundance. Electricity also means companies like Kiira Motors can now set up shop for electric buses. Or investors can think of electric vehicle chargers. An electric bus trip from Kampala to Arua would cut the cost by more than 50%. Major urban centres like Arua being border towns have populations with some bit of disposable income. But investors will need to be mobilized and incentivized so that they can set up shop. For those responsible for the country’s development, their work is now well cut out. Those selling torches, if they still existed, will have to pivot. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

October 21, 2024

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch: Financial literacy critical for farmers if Uganda is to increase coffee exports

#OutToLunch: Financial literacy critical for farmers if Uganda is to increase coffee exports By Denis Jjuuko Coffee farmers are in a good place these days. Their good fortune is not abating any time soon with fair average quality prices for Robusta still selling above the Shs13,000 mark a kilogram. In July, Uganda exported coffee worth more than USD210 million. If this trend continues, Uganda will earn a whopping USD2.5 billion by the end of the financial year. There has never been a better time to be a coffee farmer. But like all good things, there is a need to manage them. We recently heard a Member of Parliament from greater Masaka, a center of coffee growing in the country, crying out that prostitutes had invaded her area. The area is predominantly rural, where you would not easily expect to find them. The MP said that some coffee farmers, mainly men, had even lost their lives to these ‘invaders.’ The ladies of the night wanted some of this coffee money and they were keen on getting it willy-nilly. It isn’t just people peddling their flesh though responsible for some of these deaths, thieves had also attacked some people who had just sold their coffee. Although security agencies can easily deal with thieves, the challenge of how people manage their newly acquired wealth is always a challenge that needs to be addressed urgently. In Kalangala, at the onset of oil palm growing, farmers faced similar challenges. So this isn’t something that is new. When the campaign to grow coffee in Buganda started in 2016, the fair average quality price for Robusta was Shs5,000 on average. It was considered a good price prompting many people to heed the message being offered by the Kingdom of Buganda to grow coffee through their Mmwanyi Terimba campaign. The price is almost three times now, beating any commercial forecasts that may have been used to push the campaign. Although costs of inputs such as fertilizers and labour have increased over the last eight years, the money farmers are getting is still good. Many farmers are turning a profit. Even those who are not, when they sell their beans, they receive a substantial amount of money for their harvests. Many such farmers have improved their lives. Better houses are being built. Others are changing the types of roofs on their houses and others are expanding them. For many, school fees for their children won’t be a bother anymore (even though some parents have reportedly stopped their children from attending school so they work as labourers). Some have diversified their incomes, starting wholesale and retail shops. And like many Ugandans, some farmers have built rentals to earn that passive income. To ease their transport, they have bought bodas bodas and some pick up trucks. The infrastructure to dry the coffee has also improved. Even with all those investments, coffee farmers are largely still cash liquid. And many lack the skills to manage ‘huge’ sums of money. That is why the MP I mentioned earlier was appealing that prostitutes that had invaded her constituency be roughed up and sent back to the city, where they had come from. That would not solve the problem though. The farmer can simply jump on their newly acquired Bajaj and drive to the city a few kilometres away and “misbehave.” By the time they return to their farms, they would not have money to buy fertilizers and other inputs. The farms would then collapse. It is not one way though. Women with increased incomes could also, like men, abandon their roles of being mothers and wives leading to broken families. However, these may not be as many as men since men overwhelmingly own the means of production. Like all people experiencing a huge somewhat sudden surge in their incomes, there is a need to educate them on how to handle their newly acquired wealth. Financial literacy is largely lacking among some of the farmers yet there is no guarantee the prices will remain this high. The yields may also not always be high especially in these days of fluctuating weather patterns. Farmers need to manage their money better so that they can use the opportunity of these prices to create lasting wealth not just for themselves but also for the generations after them. The Uganda Coffee Development Authority could do this while partnering with other interested parties like the Kingdom of Buganda in the central region and financial institutions among others. The farmers can also collectively use the money to add value to coffee by owning milling plants, roasters or acquiring some of the assets in the coffee value chain. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

October 21, 2024

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch: Irrigation, desilting could solve Ntoroko and Kasese flooding

#OutToLunch: Irrigation, desilting could solve Ntoroko and Kasese flooding By Denis Jjuuko Some parts of Uganda have started experiencing harsh weather events. Flooding is one of them. In the last few weeks, rivers Nyamwamba in Kasese and Semiliki in Ntoroko have burst their banks leading to flooding. The latest incident in Ntoroko displaced more than 24,000 people, submerged 11 schools thereby affecting more than 4,000 learners. Ntoroko leaders say that this is the worst flooding in more than 50 years. The flooding took place in late August after torrential rains in the nearby Democratic Republic of Congo. The rains in Ntoroko are expected between September and November and the place is already flooded! What will happen when the Ntoroko rains start falling? More people will be displaced. Ntoroko is such a low-lying area surrounded by the Rwenzori Mountain ranges, River Semiliki and Lake Albert. Rains in the DRC lead to rising water levels in Lake Albert and River Semiliki hence flooding that not only destroys people’s houses but also entire livelihoods. The people of Ntoroko have three major economic activities — farming, fishing and cattle keeping. The floods affect all those activities. Food gardens and pastures get submerged while roads are cut off. The people then start relying on donated food to survive while living in internally displaced people’s camps. The flooding in Ntoroko is not out of the blue. Given its terrain, flooding is always expected and has intensified since 2019. Nyamwamba in Kasese has been causing havoc for a long time. Some people who claim to know these things say that both Semiliki and Nyamwamba are so silted that the only result is flooding. Although I was in Ntoroko a week ago, I didn’t manage to visit Semiliki but for Nyamwamba, they have a point. Nyamwamba carries big boulders from the mountains into its path. Previously, after it had rained, tractors would remove these boulders so that whenever it rained again in the mountains, there would be space for water and other boulders. Probably this explains why facilities such as Kilembe hospital and residences were built so close to River Nyamwamba. The river was never a threat. People knew what to do. When I was in Kilembe last year, many boulders were not being removed from the river’s path. Given the neglect, Nyamwamba had to find its way. The end result is people losing their lives and properties. Some people will blame it on climate change. The real reason is that we forgot the basics — something as mundane as having a tractor removing the boulders from the river’s path! Most of the disasters affecting our people can be solved. In Ntoroko, flooding is always followed by a prolonged severe drought from December until the next rains around March. The price of a cow during this period falls by 90% if a farmer is lucky to find a buyer. The main reason is because of lack of water and pasture. In a place that was flooding a month or so before. With schools submerged, children are likely to abandon their education and resort to other activities like fishing immature fish. The girls will be married off before they even experience their first menstrual cycle. I heard that those who aren’t being married off are instead being booked by parents and guardians eager to earn a small fee that wouldn’t even enable them to buy a scraggy cow. How difficult is it to dig up valley dams? How difficult is it to create an irrigation scheme so that livelihoods are not lost during the dry season? This would also ensure that kids are kept in school instead of fishing in dangerously rising waters or becoming mothers and wives before age. Money spent on infrastructure like roads, schools and health facilities is always lost due to flooding. Yet there are sustainable measures that the government can put in place to solve these challenges. Some of these measures can be implemented by the communities themselves. Others through entrepreneurship. People who own thousands of heads of cattle need technical advice to find sustainable solutions. And we can also learn from Egypt, a desert that supplies our markets with fruits that we have failed to grow. If you buy oranges from supermarkets, they are probably imported from Egypt that gets its water from the Nile for irrigation. They built the delta barrage that has saved them from flooding while using that water for irrigating their crops. And the delta barrage was constructed nearly 200 years ago. In the 21st century, we should be solving some of these challenges. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

October 21, 2024

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch: Karuma bridge should be rebuilt with tourism in mind

#OutToLunch: Karuma bridge should be rebuilt with tourism in mind By Denis Jjuuko As you read this, the main bridge to northern Uganda has been closed to pave way for repairs. The authority responsible says that they need three months of zero disturbances from vehicular traffic. For some time, the bridge has only been accessible by small vehicles with trucks and buses diverted to other routes. Originally constructed in 1963, the Karuma bridge has since outlived its purpose. It is too narrow for today’s traffic to the region and neighboring South Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Access to the bridge is through winding corners, which could explain why some vehicles have in the past plunged into the river killing many people. The long-term plan for Karuma should be a replacement bridge like what happened in Jinja over the same River Nile. However, Karuma should be different. Recently, King Mswati III of Eswatini was in the country and stopped by the Jinja Nile bridge to take in the beauty of the majestic river and some photos. The bridge design doesn’t seem to have been fully planned for tourism. There was supposed to be a small restaurant on the bridge, a very small car parking area and what looks like a pathway people could stand. Nothing really much. The restaurant has never been opened and hardly anyone stops to take in photos or view the imposing Nile. Like Karuma, the meanest soldiers are usually seen patrolling the bridges. Photography is not even easily permitted. I don’t know if this is to protect them from terrorists but any serious terrorist doesn’t need some photo taken on a smartphone to blow up a bridge. The Jinja bridge is a landmark structure that could have brought in a lot of money if we had not, as usual, missed the chance. Some thinking was needed to turn it into a tourist attraction and not just as a bridge that eases traffic. In many global cities that attract thousands of tourists, such bridges are planned with an eye on tourism. High-altitude walking ways that provide sightseeing are common. Towers with telescopes from which people could view the Nile snaking into Kayunga and beyond would have created magic. Right now, all we offer for anyone who wants to explore the Nile in Jinja is largely a canoe that takes you to the point that is marked the Source of the River Nile. There is no proper marina, accessing the canoes is through a jungle of wooden dilapidated curio shops that make the entire place look like a slum. I don’t know how many tourists want to experience that. Imagine ziplining on the Nile in Jinja for those who love adventure or sightseeing through a cable car. People would be lining up from all over the world to experience this. A proper restaurant that enables you to experience the Nile. I believe many young people would be proposing marriage here. Karuma is even more beautiful than Jinja and could offer more. Imagine walking over a glass bridge that gives you a 360-degree view of the water falls? Imagine a sightseeing elevator that enables you to see River Nile cutting through the thick vegetation of the Murchison Falls National Park? And maybe even catch a few animals in the distance. The Karuma 600MW power dam would even add more attractions to this area and most importantly the electricity required to power cable cars and sightseeing towers and elevators. We know that we now generate more electricity than we consume. It is stuff like these that will enable us consume that electricity while creating millions of sustainable jobs. We are struggling to build another bridge at Katonga on the highway to Masaka, Tanzania, Rwanda and DRC. The NRM claims to have fond memories of Katonga given the battle that eventually led them to capture power in 1986. They went around at one stage and installed an ugly billboard that featured the late Muamar Gaddafi of Libya. Tired of its ugliness and lack of imagination, the termites ate it away! Then the Katonga bridge collapsed. It has been a few years of a temporary bridge since. What about building an iconic bridge with a museum that tells that Katonga battle? Add in the legends of River Katonga from the Baganda who have lived there for hundreds of years and you have a sellable product to international tourists. The guys at the Uganda National Roads Authority and other ministries and agencies particularly responsible for tourism need to work together to see how they can make bridges attract tourists. Money should not be a problem. They can ask Bank of Uganda to issue a bridge bond. It would be oversubscribed. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

October 21, 2024