For God and my Country. Oh Uganda!

A few days back, after the storm that destroyed lots of property in schools and people’s homes, an academic friend of mine asked me why this does happen to Uganda and argued that God did not love us. I told her that “shut up” because God loves us. We are a beautiful country, wonderful soils, wonderful climate but we have systematically destroyed it. God has given us the knowledge to manage our society and it is entirely upon us to decide how to use that knowledge. Resource poor Japan is today one of the wealthiest countries while America is rich. There are many people in the United States. When you meet Japanese, you see wealth around them. The way they speak, dress, even the civility by which they conduct themselves, you see society that is wealthy, organized and progressing. Japan is the peninsular that is susceptible to all kinds of natural disaster, earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons name them. Japan has over 100 million people on this peninsular however 70% of its land is planted with forest. If there were not forests, the occurrence of these storms would be much higher and much more destroyed.

Many other countries have an afforestation programme. This is a plan to make sure that the countries forest endowment is replenished periodically. But what is happening to Uganda? We have cut all the trees down in most parts of Uganda and the rate at which we are planting are not sustaining our demand for timber.  It is not surprising therefore that when we have these minor storms since our land is exposed, we end up with these disasters that we see. Whoever is in charge of afforestation of the country needs to tell us what the problem is. But it may be surprising that we have all these wonderful plans and nothing happens on the ground.

Interesting Article

This is an article that appeared in the Newspapers., I found it interesting

Mubs paralyzed by top dogs row

Tuesday 07 January 2014

New Vision

What began as a quiet power fight between the principal of Makerere University Business School, Waswa Balunywa, and his deputy, Dr Samuel Ssejjaaka, has come to a head with an investigation that reveals interesting findings.

In August 2012, Balunywa was out of the country. Consequently, his deputy Ssejjaaka was in charge.

Dr Ssejjaaka, who is ordinarily in charge of academics at Mubs, was keen to improve capacity among a number of staff who had earned PhDs.

He made some promotions and among those promoted was Dr Moses Muhwezi, called on to become director for Quality Assurance.

On his return, an angry Prof Balunywa reversed the promotions, arguing that they had been made without sufficient consultation.

The decision was humiliating for Ssejjaaka. He was left an angry man, realising that his authority had been violated. Many employees at Mubs were also taken aback by Balunywa’s decision.

“If you are not a very strong person, it can leave you with a bruised ego, and you even fail in your work here,” an employee said. The matter simply ignited what is now a long-running wrangle between the two men.

Officials at Mubs say Balunywa and Ssejjaaka have since been engaged in a cold war, including trading angry letters. Ironically, they had been close friends and worked well together to establish Mubs.

Alarmed at the sudden hostility between the two, the former chairman of the Mubs Council, Dr Colin Sentongo and his deputy Dr Frank Ssebowa intervened. Both spoke to the two men on two separate occasions but failed to reunite them.

Committee report

After this intervention failed, the Mubs council sat on October 14, 2013 and set up a three-person committee. It was composed of Dr John Kiyaga-Nsubuga as chairman and Victoria S Byoma and Steven Kasangaki as members.

The committee studied correspondences between Balunywa and Ssejjaaka and interviewed the two feuding officials as well as other staff. The committee wrote its report on November 12, 2013 and presented it to the Mubs council for consideration.

The council has since asked Balunywa and Ssejjaaka to write, explaining what they intend to do about the report’s findings.

Committee findings

According to a copy of the report that The Observer has seen, Balunywa accuses Ssejjaaka of underperforming in his duties, which include supervising academic programmes. On the other hand, Ssejjaaka complains that although the two are peers, Balunywa treats him like a junior partner and does not respect him.

He also complains that Balunywa routinely reverses the deputy principal’s decisions “with little regard to the humiliation and loss of face that this causes him.”

The committee concluded that the conflict resulted from flaws in the institution’s structure, which was previously overlooked because the two were friends.

“The deputy principal is supposed to be in charge of academic affairs, but the deans do not report to him. They report to the principal,” reads the report in part.

The report adds that the principal has too much power and influence at the institution.

“With the exception of the internal auditor, who reports to the Audit Committee of Council, all the other 15 senior staff report to the principal,” the report reads.

The committee concluded that this would mean that the principal is swamped with administrative duties without enough time for strategic issues, while the deputy principal relies on work delegated to him by the principal.

Recommendation

The committee recommends that Balunywa and Ssejjaaka should work to repair their relationship either by themselves or through a mediator, suggesting Prof John C. Munene, another senior member of staff. The committee also suggests a revision of the institution’s structure to put academic affairs directly under the deputy principal’s ambit, to make the office holder’s support to the principal and Mubs more clear cut.

The committee further tasked Mubs to comply with their obligation to give the deputy principal a car or compensate him accordingly.

“The fact that the school has not been able to buy him a vehicle due to financial constraints does not remove his entitlement,” the report concludes.

Meanwhile, Muhwezi, whose appointment was revoked by Balunywa, has since been promoted by the principal to dean of the faculty of Entrepreneurship and Business Administration.

Other view

A long-serving Mubs  staffer has told us on condition of anonymity that the real feud between the two men was caused by the knowledge that Ssejjaaka’s contract expires in July.

“Balunywa may be privately hoping that Ssejjaaka is not popular with council, the appointing authority, which would make it easier to dispense with the deputy principal,” the staffer said.

Another staffer added that Balunywa might have his eye on another employee becoming deputy principal.

“In the past Ssejjaaka did not raise a finger when others were being shown the exit, his time has come – that is how things are here.”

Why foreigners will not develop Uganda

President Museveni has been the biggest enthusiast for the development in the country and in all his speeches and efforts is to see the country transform. Realizing that the entrepreneurial class in Uganda was missing, he pushed for foreign investment and his enthusiasm has brought all and sundry in the country. We have have companies like BIDCO that have transformed Kalangala, the oil company that are prospecting for oil in the Bunyoro region (I do not know why we have an English name for this region which I now I can’t even remember and yet that is the intention) and many other genuine companies that are doing business in Uganda.

On the other hand, there are thousands of briefcase investors who are operating in Kikuubo in Kampala and have gone to all small towns in Uganda to do what the small vulnerable ordinary business man should be doing, petty trade. This process of attracting investors has brought mixed results. Every action that the president takes attracts criticism. This is normal, if you are not criticized, you never know the basis of your decisions neither do you review or reflect what you have done.

Business is business. It is about giving shareholders value by giving them a good return of investment. Any business that doesn’t do that is not worthy being called a business. Therefore foreign investors in a country know what they want. They come to make money in the best way possible and they must take their capital back along with the profits that comes from that investment. For the country where they are, they produce product or a service for the market or for the export. They also create jobs and in some other cases, they even have a multiplier effect. This is good for the country where the investment is made. It is even better if the investment is expanded especially through generated profits. The smart countries that attract these investments, watch these investments and learn from them. They also try establishing competing businesses.  The country as a result generates more jobs and more wealth. However there are those who do not make any investments in the country, they come to the country and trade. Trade gives very quick profits unlike productive investments which take longer because of the gestation period.

Investors who come to trade are not good for the country. The most undesirable investor is one who asks for a guarantee. I remember years back, one of my first exposures to business was some European “gentleman” who got a guarantee from Uganda government when supplying tyres to one of the government companies. The gentleman allegedly shipped the tyres which got lost in Mombasa. Why do I have to do anything it government can pay me just like that. This is one of the biggest problems with government loans and guarantees. Invariably, government pays for nothing being done.

Below is a case where the President donated land to a computer assembly plant that was never built instead the fellows sold the land and made money and walked away. What needs to be done is to foster entrepreneurship in Uganda. It is not a simple thing to do that. While I hate government companies because I believe government cannot do business. I note Europe is full of them. The control you need in government companies is to ensure that there is accountability, transparency in the management of these companies and the political will to fire those who mess up with public funds. Uganda needs to re-evaluate its position on public enterprises but only if and only if the country can develop excellent management skills that is accountable and transparent and that there is the political will to do what it takes to safeguard such public assets. No foreign investor is going to do this for Uganda

Museveni duped into giving away 50 acres for ‘ghost’ computer factory

President Museveni got a raw deal after giving free land to an investor to build a computer factory that never was. Read More

The begging culture: Why other people will not develop our countries

On several occasions, Uganda has been threatened by aids cut by the international community. We must thank the international community who have given us budget support for endless years. There have also been grants for numerous things other than budget support. This is besides the loans that we get from the World Bank, IMF and other multilateral institutions.

I remember three major incidents when Uganda was Uganda was threatened with aid cuts. The current one is over the homosexuality bill. Sometime back, OPM scandal was also a basis for cutting aid. The other occasion was when the aids funds were misused. I have had some personal experience. There was an article in the newspapers about me instigated by those who wanted to replace me as Principal and they said I was being investigated for fraud. We have been working with the Norwegians on starting an energy management degree that would lead to several PhDs, research and mainstreaming women into oil and management studies in the country. The Norwegians indicated that they were uncomfortable giving us money. The investigations are not over but what I have seen is personal humiliation.

Admittedly the Norwegian tax payer would not want to give his money to a corrupt African. And I would agree with that 100% but what I have been subjected to as an individual, to me is something I had never experienced in my life before. If the Norwegians are satisfied that they are likely to lose their money, they will not give us the grant.

At the national level, it is more or less the same thing. The threat over the homosexuality bill to withdraw aid is humiliating a country. In the other two cases where the money was clearly embezzled, the donor has a case to withdraw the money. My feeling is that this money should not have been given in the first place. There is research and many publications about effectiveness of foreign aid. Nathan Andrews (2009) writing in the journal of African studies and development, examines the ineffectiveness of foreign aid in Africa. Like many other articles published, aid especially in grant form will not help Africa achieve its development dreams.

Unfortunately this begging problem is widespread at different levels in different countries. Most people in Uganda and I must say in Africa, have come to believe that some white person out there will give them something to enable them live their lives well. The Chinese proverb, “give a man fish and he will eat for that day, teach him how to fish and he will eat forever” demonstrates the challenge with begging. If you start right from the villages, people expect somebody to meet their day to day demands, they expect aid to build schools, hospitals and other facilities for them. All schools and hospitals in the country expect a donation from somebody. The other day somewhere in Eastern Uganda, people got donation of houses to live in. at the national level, we expect donations in education and health and other activities. The other day members of parliament said they were broke and wanted some donation from the President. Universities and all other public institutions expect donations or grants from somebody. It is even interesting that business people are looking at government to give them some grants.

Development comes out of productive work. There are some rare occasions when people inherit a fortune and continue to enjoy that wealth. Those are minor exceptions. But no individual, family, community or nation is going to grow basing on grants received from others. if we are going to grow as a country, we must rethink the issue of grants to us. We must develop a business model that involves productive activities and be able to sell goods and services in a competitive environment. Begging removes your dignity from you. You get humiliated if you do not get what you want.

We need to mobilize people to work rather than beg. Institutions should tailor their needs to what they can generate. A country should plan better. Of course corruption is a challenge if what we collect from local taxes is stolen. It is a leakage on the resources that we have and becomes a barrier to growth.

We must style up, develop a business model that does not allow the powerful countries to intimidate us. Wealthy people and indeed wealthy nations will call the tune. Malaysia and Singapore were able to generate wealth using their own models. They have never been fully admitted to the club of wealthy nations but they are given some respect. While Russia is not particularly poor, its business model is different from that of the west. Once in a while, there is an attempt to order it around but it cannot be bullied. The main reason is it cannot be bullied. The reason is simple, their production capacity and technology makes them sit on the same table with the international community. The poor African countries will definitely be bullied but they will not lose their dignity if they do not beg.

Uganda's Education System

Uganda’s education system is said to have been a product of colonial government in their bid to create people to serve the colonial government as clerks and possibly as officers in government. Indeed many of the graduates in the university would get a job in government, a house and a car. This has continued but only as a dream as thousands of young graduates expect a job in government or big established companies. On some occasions, I have met my former students who when asked what they do, they say nothing. But they are quick to add “I am temporary working as an accountant in some private firm” when you say that is work, they say to you, it is not. They expect a job from government.

In this global setting, our education system should give us capacity to exploit the resources that we have and use them and give us a livelihood. Vocational skills are crucial for a small country like Uganda with no resources to fund big technological ideas. Vocational skills would give thousands of people jobs and would power the economy. Unfortunately the education system is such that to join these vocational institutions, you must be a failure in the mainstream education system. It is those who fail P7, S4 and S6 who go to the vocational institutions. These must change.

The lack of emphasis in learning and emphasis on simply passing is also another challenge.  In universities you still see students who you expect to be given notes. This is something, Paul emphasizes. If we do not learn through inquiry, there is no way we shall break away from the cycle of poverty.

Unemployment Series

Betting is quickly catching on especially among the youth as they try to find money in places they are not. This picture tells you about why we shall continue to be poor because a group of youth is out here looking at the screens anticipating to win some money. I guess another group is in the “bibanda” watching football or quick action movies. Another group is on the pool tables and a number of them p[laying “matatu”. We shall not address poverty unless if we have some productive work. The countries that live on speculation especially in financial markets churn out tremendous new technologies which give them lots of money when transformed into goods and services. This enables people to speculate on the financial markets. It is your responsibility as a person reading this to convince young people to do some productive work however small it is. This will be our role in ending poverty.