Getting Busoga out of Poverty

The Busoga sub region is said to be one of the poorest in the country. Possibly this is true, we need to look at the census to be able to make judgment about it. Unfortunately, the 10 yearly that was due in 2011 has not been done. About 30% of Uganda's 34 million, approximately 10 million live below the poverty line. This is serious statistic that needs to be addressed. It is possible that there are other parts that are as poor as Busoga region. I can't say but we need to lift the veil on poverty especially its causes and how to address it to be able to speak with authority even prescribe some solutions. We should not only lament and condemn others. My presentation is a simple thesis of the issues the way i see them given the knowledge that i have. In recent weeks, Busoga's leaders have met with the President several times and all the time people want more government jobs others want more government money for SACCOs. Others simply want the President to give them cash. It is in order for different people to ask for more government jobs. This called sharing the national cake. Such jobs may bring additional jobs to the region since your own people are on the decision making process. Some bit of national asset, it is true that if you are a minister you are able to influence establishment of schools, boreholes, health centres and other things for your region. However, that is not a solution to alleviating poverty. Today in parts of the country, people have got schools, sewing machines, cows, bicycles, gifts from politicians but the people are still poor. Poverty is not simply addressed by people receiving things, poverty is addressed by the productive capacity of an individual and the value of what that individual produces. I will in my next posting introduce the Misery Index. Without incomes and with inability to acquire what you want from the income that you have, you are in misery. My Busoga colleagues, we need to address development differently. We need to address development at two levels namely empowering people to produce and empowering them to produce the right products that create value and exchange things with others produced with a similar measure of effort. In supporting productive capacity in Busoga and indeed in any other part of Uganda we must realize that not everybody will be able to plan the process of production competently and efficiently. These are called entrepreneurs. In Uganda given the GEM studies this is only three out of ten the others can only be employed. These three have to identified and empowered those will create the multiplier effect needed in the economy to produce the jobs and goods that we want. The second aspect involves what to produce. In the Busoga environment and indeed Uganda we need to assure ourselves of full security. We therefore need to produce sufficient food for ourselves but we have also seen Uganda's capacity to produce food for our neighbors, Kenya, Sudan, Congo it is possible to add Ethopia, Eriteria however the problem with this is that food is a low value product interestingly imported food is expensive. While this will put money on the table of peasant farmers, that money by international standards is worthless. A Toyota Land Cruiser costs about 100,000 dollars, how much human effort is required to produce that? Given a number of days it possibly requires 10 people for 10 days to produce something like that. What can 10 people for 10 days produce in value in our typical agricultural products? This is what is meant by poverty. We are poor because we do not produce goods or a value capable of being exchanged for other products that we need. Imagine all the road construction equipment that government recently imported. How much people and for how long are required to produce maize to be able to pay for that maize. Since we can't raise the money, our big brothers in the western countries give us loans to be repaid over years, meaning take longer to produce more maize with more men to be able to pay us. The tendency is for these poor countries to default. So my fellow Abasoga lets first conceptualize poverty in our minds, let us think about modernization that includes urbanization for better planning, let us empower our people to produce but more important to produce the right products. These right products are going to come out of exploitation science.