employment – Prime Time Communications

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch Why children shouldn’t be part of your retirement plan

By Denis Jjuuko For every 100 police officers that retire from the force every year, six die by suicide according to a report attributed to a doctor within the police force. Many of these officers, according to the report, once they are asked to “go home”, they realize they have nowhere to go. Going home is euphemism for retirement. So the Police is now conducting mental health clinics to sensitize their officers. Perhaps, it will help reduce this unwanted number. To be honest, retirement isn’t a problem limited to police officers. Many people struggle to cope once retired and unable to earn any meaningful income. Many others may not die by suicide but lack of a sustainable income accelerates their death. The children, once a retirement plan for many parents, are struggling to sustain themselves. So, parents in retirement are left at the mercy of the children. That is why those policemen kill themselves. But we only talk about them because they are easy to track. The number of retirees dying by suicide may be higher and perhaps we need to track them to find a solution. The solution largely lies with the workers themselves. At university or institutions from where we graduate to employment, we are taught all sorts of things but nobody tells students that planning for retirement starts the day they graduate or find a job. It is easier to save little money over a long period of time than saving huge sums for a short period of time. If you start saving at 25 years old, you won’t have to save as much as somebody who is starting to do so in their 40s. This is because if you start saving at 25 and you retire at 60, that is 35 years of saving. The guy who starts at 40, only has 20 years to save. That would require a significant sum than the guy who starts at 25. I understand that most people earn so little and it is easier for people to say that they can’t save but the thing about life is that most people are capable of adjusting once the road gets tough. The issue is how to do it before the road gets tough and probably impassable. Children are the biggest cost to most parents and indeed many people claim that they spend all their lives educating children and therefore left with nothing. Paying school fees is the biggest hurdle most parents face. If school fees is the biggest challenge most adult Ugandans face, how about producing fewer children or those we can ably look after? But if you move across the country, you see children giving birth to children! A policeman sharing a uniport with several families should be on family planning and not giving birth with reckless abandon! It is important that parents enroll their kids into schools they can afford. There was a story sometime back of a parent an international school took to court for defaulting on fees. Why take a child to a school that you can’t afford? Children, if raised well and get some form of education, they will be fine. In fact, children will have to teach themselves a lot of stuff if they are to survive in this century. A good school is great if you can afford it but there is no need to be indebted to the bone so that Junior can be friends with a minister or an ambassador’s son. Rent is the other issue most people talk about as an impediment to saving for retirement. Indeed, failure to own a house was mentioned by the police doctor as a leading cause of death by suicide by the retired police officers. Again, if one has fewer children, they might afford to build themselves a comfortable home that they can use for retirement. But if you are feeding 10 kids at every meal, it will be difficult to save. Remember, this is Africa. There will always be some other children you are looking after or supporting once in a while. I often see young people especially the so-called corporate class failing to build yet they are earning some income. They don’t want to live anywhere beyond Najjeera claiming it is far to buy in Mpigi, Mukono or Ziroobwe. Yet Najjeera was unlivable by the previous corporate types because it was far. By the time they wake up to acquire land in Ziroobwe, it will be unaffordable and they will now be grappling with school fees and servicing car loans. So, if you don’t want to die by suicide a few years after retirement, you have got to save today. Have as few children as you can look after and plan in time where you will live during retirement so that when you are asked to “go home”, you don’t instead look for a rope and the tallest tree to end your life. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

July 5, 2023

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch Career guidance: Become an honest carpenter, tailor or fabricator

Career guidance: Become an honest carpenter, tailor or fabricator By Denis Jjuuko Dominic visited a mutual friend who was finalizing building his house somewhere in Kampala. He found a carpenter who was fixing wardrobes and liked what he saw. Got the carpenter’s contact so he could do similar work at his home. The mutual friend had so far been happy with the work done. Within that week, the carpenter visited Dominic’s residence and quoted for the wardrobes. They bargained for a fee and Dominic made a deposit. After a few weeks, the carpenter delivered some boards and asked for more money to pay for this and that. Dominic made another deposit. It is more than year now since the carpenter last showed up at Dominic’s house. The boards are gathering dust and probably harboring snakes and other scary reptiles. The work at the mutual friend, which was fully paid for has also never been finalized. Half the time, the carpenter’s display shop is closed. Dominic and the mutual friend have committed never to recommend him to anyone. He has completely shut himself out of business to may be a potential 10 or more clientele base these two people would have recommended. But this particular carpenter is not alone. Many people in the crafts industry behave the same way, giving their customers near heart attacks before the work is finalized, if at all. Almost everyone has a story with tailors, metal fabricators, mechanics, electricians, builders and plumbers among others. One of my closet friends says he will never recommend any of such people to anyone. He doesn’t want to be blamed for other people’s failures. I recently withdrew a recommendation of some guy who had worked with friends and relatives for some time. Some of the friends who had worked with him for many years said he was no longer trustworthy. I, like my friend, I didn’t want to run amok. This, however, isn’t new in Uganda. It has been the case for years. Campaigns have been started to streamline work processes in what people consider blue collar jobs. In fact, I first worked on a campaign like this in 2005. What we consider blue collar jobs is the bedrock of many of the world’s biggest economies. Japan, Germany and South Korea have all excelled by having many of their workers in these technical jobs. Norway has the highest amount paid per hour for blue collar workers at US$57.53 followed by Switzerland, Belgium and Denmark (all paying more than US$50 an hour) according to a report by Bloomberg. Germany though has the highest working conditions. Blue collar work has been misunderstood and found unworthy in Uganda and I think largely because of the way the people in these jobs I mentioned above have been behaving —failure to honor their word and in many cases outright theft. All these jobs are due for disruption and have the biggest potential in the market. Look at the automotive industry as an example, there aren’t many Ugandans who aren’t dreaming of buying vehicles. And the vehicles the majority of these Ugandans buy (or can afford) are really old which require constant and high-quality service and maintenance. Many are becoming electric, which requires new skills. I am yet to meet a Ugandan who doesn’t wish to own a house or some property of sorts. Even those who may not wish to own, they still need buildings to live in and operate their businesses. There is a lot of work here. Now that the Primary Leaving Exams (PLE) have been released, parents are looking forward to the secondary ones both for senior four (Uganda Certificate of Education – UCE) and senior six (Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education – UACE). Many times, the finalization of these education levels lead to what careers people will pursue, some of them for a lifetime. Parents, guardians and teachers struggle to advise the children on what careers to pursue. There is an obsession with academic degrees and the so-called white-collar work but there are also a lot of disruptions in this sector with increasingly fewer jobs than ever. A friend, who is a lawyer in Kampala, sent me a message the other day saying that his law firm used to make some money helping people register businesses, get documents registered and all that. The Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) has digitized that process that one can simply register their businesses and do whatever they need with URSB online, cutting out law and audit firms that were providing this service. So, if you are struggling for which career for your child to pursue, why not go for technical education? But ensure that more than the technical skills, it is honesty that will keep them in the job so that people like Dominic don’t wait for years to get their wardrobes fixed. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

April 14, 2023