Makerere University – Prime Time Communications

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch: The 2025 money guide to survive Uganda’s high dependency ratios

By Denis Jjuuko The year has kicked off with graduations for thousands of students both at Makerere University and Muteesa I Royal University. Many other universities will be holding similar ceremonies throughout the year. Graduation is one of the major pathways to employment. These ceremonies come at a time when Uganda Bureau of Statistics has just released a report that indicates a high dependence ratio for Ugandan workers. Apparently, the dependency ratio for persons aged 14 to 64 years stands at 83.8 percent. This means that “for every 100 working persons, there were 84 dependents,” according to a media report quoting the study. That is such a huge number. Ugandan workers largely work for dependents and that isn’t about to change. The average pay for a Ugandan worker is a meagre Shs200,000 per a month. So how does one survive in such an environment? There are many things that one would have to do to be able to celebrate another New Year’s Day in one piece. Since the year has just started, here is a 2025 money guide. Hopefully, it helps. Donations – There are a lot of expectations and sometimes entitlement. Some parents and guardians and people who fall in that category will frequently quote the 10 commandments particularly the one on honoring them. You will be expected to look after them, to share some money with them. In the informal sector, they may even demand that they receive the salary on your behalf especially in cases where they helped you get the job. The religious people will quote the Bible for some 10 percent. Many people will expect you to donate something but remember you can only give what you have. But since we are a social lot, set a certain amount to donate every month and live by it. Save and invest – Since you can only give what you have, you will need to save but saving alone won’t do much. You need to invest. That way you may have what to donate or actually nothing much to give. You would have to set aside a standard amount of money whenever you receive an income so that it goes into this. Unlike in the past, there are now many options such as unit trusts and treasury bills and bonds among others that allow you to accumulate money that you may invest elsewhere with time or leave it to grow. If you don’t have the discipline to save, identify five or so friends who are honest and do it together. Bank standing orders may be another solution. Emergency fund – But when saving and investing, remember there will always be some emergencies. You may fall sick or somebody you care about might. An emergency fund helps you not call everyone for a bailout. You draw money outside your main savings and investment account to cater for this. By emergency fund, I don’t mean money to attend a brunch at some hotel on Sunday. Debt payments – One of the advantages of living in a country like Uganda is that debt is many times avoidable. Commercial banks hardly issue out credit cards for all sorts of things like food and clothing. If they do, it is to their high net worth customers, who are very few in Uganda. It is fairly easy to only eat what you can afford. And since many people who pretend to sell designer clothes import fake ones, there is no need to spend money on such. But fintechs have made it easy to borrow using your phone. Only borrow when you can’t avoid it and pay it back as soon as possible to avoid high interest rates over a very long period unless if you are paying for your home or investing in a business. A personal car is great but it doesn’t have to be so expensive. There are lots of broke people selling off their cars, buy from them instead of going to the “bond” in Nakawa or Kyambogo. Skillset improvement – The biggest way to improve your income is through skills. Employers are looking for people with particular skills, who are good or can become good at what they do. By just watching YouTube tutorials, there are lots of things one can learn depending on their chosen profession or career interest. Watch, learn, practice. Be innovative—not by necessarily creating new things rather finding different ways to do something. Date within your means – If you are a man living in Kampala and of average means, you will have to date within your means. Not somebody who wants to drink whiskey by the bottle in Kololo or Bugoloobi bars. Not somebody who is pressurizing you to buy a Subaru, rent a fancy apartment in Kyanja and fund her holiday (read photoshoot) in Dubai. If she is inviting 50 friends for her Kukyala, that is a red flag! The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

January 29, 2025

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