Folk stories

Leopards giving birth. The story goes, if it rains while the sun is shining the Local leopard is giving birth. This is a fairy tale story that we used to hear when were still young. This and other similar stories may be slowly disappearing because of lack of interest in them and the lack of story tellers. But these are indeed interesting stories! I was travelling to Arua last week, and after Karuma falls we hit a very heavy rain down pour as the sun was up there shining with its rays piercing through the rains invoking the memories of these folk stories. One of the people in the vehicle reminded us that the local leopard must be giving birth. This is a story told in many cultures in different parts of Uganda. Normally when it rains it is a dark out in the sky and the rain blocks the sun, on some very rare occasions the sun shines through as it rains. It is this mystery that led to this famous folk story about the leopard giving birth. But there’s a possibility that may be it ever happened, it is possible that somewhere people found a leopard either having or just given birth as it rained while the sun was shining.

My trip to Arua was memorable. The recent rains have turned parts of the country side lash green. What also came to my attention was that the national parks are in trouble, human beings are increasingly invading the parks and humans with their numerous abilities will easily send off the animals I hope we can save these parks.

The still birth of Uganda’s towns

I have been visiting Arua town again and the Arua town is not any different from other towns in Uganda. The old towns had some plans during the colonial government which plans were never realised. Today the towns, including new ones, are struggling to position themselves as towns, contrary to how they are actually developing, are some kind of rural urban slums. The most visible feature of our towns is their disorganistion and the unnecessary crowding despite the available land to meet the growing needs outside the town.

Most of our towns especially the old ones, now have the central commercial districts an industrial area and residential. The commercial area is in the old town and the visible trading units in these towns are supermarkets now largely owned by Indians and Chinese. It is true there are a few sizeable commercial establishments owned by Africans but those in the central commercial district are small businesses or large shops shared by numerous business people. The famous establishment in many of our towns is the lock- up. A lock-up is a progression from the traditional market stall to places where the individual can lock up his goods rather than have the goods in the communal market stalls. In many towns, government has built a large covered market to provide for the growing needs of African businesses. There are such markets for Jinja, Lira, Gulu and other towns.

In Iganga town the beer depot is on the main street defying conventional wisdom of locating such businesses! Here you have large vehicles offloading beer in down town area and smaller lorries loading beers in the process inconveniencing shoppers. But who cares anyway? The tax parks are spread everywhere in towns as taxis load on main roads risking lives of the commuters. When you add the bodaboda traffic you only see chaos on the street and later in the day the markets develop on these streets.

You can imagine the type of town where everything is happening in the same place. Is it that we do not know what to do? Is it there are no rules or there are rules and we have ignored them? We can not modernise our towns if we can not plan these towns. It is also happening in the residential areas of these towns starting from Kampala. The upper end of the market is gone, Kololo, Nakaseero, Bugolobi is now office space!You will also find small stalls selling different things in these areas. People are putting supermarkets in their houses either due to ignorance or defiance of the law.

 Uganda National Roads Authority has put markstones on most of the major roads in the country, even in towns. But the roads in towns are small and can not accommodate the future. In sub-urban areas of most towns roads are pathetic. They are not tarmacked and will not be for the foreseeable future! However, it seems no body is planning space utilization in the towns. It is a little late to save the old towns, they are already condemned into being slums. But there’s an opportunity for those that are expanding think through their space utilization also for those new towns like Mayuge, Luuka that am familiar with to have better plans to build modern towns.

MUBS marks International Women’s day

March 8 was designated as the International Women’s day by the United Nations in 1975. The intention was to create awareness about the gender inequalities in society with a view to removing them. The traditional society has denied women of certain rights that are ordinarily enjoyed by men. Society has tended to believe that women cannot do certain things that are ordinarily done by men and for this reason women have been disadvantaged. It is common that in many African homes women are relegated to the kitchen along with other domestic chores. These include looking after children among others. It has been established that women can perform those tasks that are done by men just as well. As a result, there is an effort to bring women to the table to join men in addressing world problems. This marginalization has resulted into stereotyping. Society now believes that there are certain things that women can and cannot do. This has made women lose confidence in themselves. It has made them look at themselves as incapable of doing certain things and this of course has worsened the problem. MUBS management came up with the concept of the MUBS Women’s Forum as fora for promoting gender equality focusing primarily on students. 

The Forum is supported by three outreach Centres; The Career Guidance Centre, Leadership Centre and Entrepreneurship Centre. There is a monthly forum that causes a discussion of topical gender issues, speakers are invited to address students on topical issues that affect them. These monthly forums culminate into the annual event of the International Women’s day. The day was addressed by a panel of speaker including the current Miss Uganda, Ms Leah Kagasa, Col. Felix Kulaigye and Dr Annet Nabatanzi. It was chaired by Dr Miria Matembe. The Chief Guest on the occasion was the Deputy IGG, Ms Mariam Wagadya who represented the IGG Ms Irene Mulyagonja.

TOURISM IN UGANDA HOW CAN BUSOGA BENEFIT: Nyenda Hill and Bishop Hannington.

Tourism is one area that Uganda has not exploited well and yet it fits well into community that doesn’t want to work hard! I find it odd, but my own feeling is that we as Ugandans love to have money and good things but we would like to receive them free from the rich, donors and government, The government “etuyambe” syndrome. Tourism is simply a story that tourists are told especially if it’s about history. Many tourist sites around the world in Italy, India and other places continue to attract millions of tourists simply because the story about these places is well told and in many cases mythical. Of course there are other tourist attractions that are physical for instance, Grand Canyon in the US, the mountains like Kilimanjaro, these are physical things that one sees and appreciates. But the ingenuity of good tourism comes out of the ability to make tourists excited about what they don't see! 

Busoga was known for coffee, cotton and of course sugar plantations. The Madhvani is also gave the Busoga region its economic muscle. Unfortunately, this is gone! Madhvani is back, but not that exciting one. Busoga is struggling to keep up with its past glory, unfortunately this cannot be easily achieved.

The big population in the Busoga region is leading to more poverty among Abasoga. As people figure out how to make money, the whole country has fallen in the trap of thinking that somebody else will do it for us, if one doesn’t beg, one should steal! This culture has put the entire country on an economic death bed. But tourism is one area that Busoga could capitalize on to revive its future and fortunes with a little efforts and resources. Uganda too, as a country can count it’s blessing through tourism if well managed. 

The Speaker of Uganda Parliament, Hon Rebecca Kadaga along with Hon Edward Balidawa Kafufu, spearheaded a drive for promoting tourism in Busoga. We should thank them for the effort. Unfortunately, the infrastructure that was put in place has now gone to waste and there is no visible gain from that infrastructure. Reason primarily, nobody came out to run what has been put in place as business! The idea of business in my view is still foreign to Africans. Hundreds of years of business in the world, Africa has failed to adapt. A business mind would have initiated business in those locations. 

Nyenda hill in Iganga district, is one of those few tourist attraction sites in Iganga. On this site there is one Karuhanga from Bunyoro who was buried at the site. A grave is marked so. This is a whole exciting story to tell Why was karuhanga buried here? When was he buried? What is the importance of Karuhanga’s journey from Bunyoro to Busoga? There is also a house that was built by some European. This house has a history, when was it built? who built? and for what reason? All these are exciting stories that can attract tourists to the area. The hill has prayer places. There are people who believe that there are some God in this area and when they pray to them they will solve their problems! This is another story that can be told for tourists. It requires a small investment in improving the site, putting the steps, some chairs, and possibly a small restaurant that operates possibly on weekends. The starting point to develop tourism is infrastructure and then to encourage local tourism. Local tourism is school children going to visit these tourist sites and as a number grow infrastructures improves and this springs off businesses in the area. 

The Bishop Hannington memorial site at Kyando in Mayuge district, is also on the same fate as Nyenda hill in Iganga district. Some money was put there to improve it, unfortunately what was done has also a deteriorated. Not because it has been over used, but because it has not been used! Periodically I take my visitors to the place they go and see what the place has to offer. Other than the story there is nothing to see there! But the Hanington story is exciting. How he came, how he lived and where, where he used to read from. I am sure there are better caves and stones elsewhere but this location has a uniqueness about it. A white man coming to an area where there has been no other white man before and doing some activities like preaching that were unique and of course having been killed in the area all adds to this puzzle that defines the place. This did not happen in all other places hence the need to tell the story and attract people to the area. Like Nyenda there is need for some additional improvements at the site. This should be done by the government as part of promoting tourism but should be promoted and managed by the district. I have been at Sezibwa falls they suffer the same problem.

Tourism can turn around various places in the country and improve the economies of different parts of the country and Busoga has all this wealth, source of Nile or other tourist attractions and stories which unfortunately it has not told.!

The Business Professional Associations in MUBS

The MUBS degree programe portfolio includes programmes like Accounting, Finance, Marketing, Transport among others. Most of these programmes or courses have students’ Associations. The students are very proud of these associations and now and again they organize meetings to celebrate some achievement or the other in the profession. On Wednesday February 15, 2017 the MUBS Guild Education Minister Hon. Albert Alinda organized a workshop to discuss the different professions in MUBS. The workshop was addressed by various Heads of Department and Deans of Faculty. These included Dean Freddie Ssemukono and Dean Annet Nabatanzi among others. 

I was invited to address the students and was pleased to share how MUBS staff started acquiring professional qualifications, I recall that way back in the early 1990s I was invited to speak at a seminar organized by professional accountants in Entebbe. This seminar was intended to determine the syllabus for the then upcoming local accountancy profession. I had earlier been involved in making proposals for the establishment of the accounting profession. I was requested by the then Hon. Minister of Finance, the late Kafumbe Mukasa to do so. I travelled to Scotland and met the ACCA, I went to Kenya and met the Certified Public Accountants organisations and I was in Tanzania visiting both Arusha and Dar-salaam to benchmark. I wrote recommendations modelling the Uganda’s Accountant Association on the Kenyan model. I submitted my recommendations to the minister however the minister then made some changes in the recommendations that were not acceptable to the then professionals. Subsequently changes were made and the Association has been up and running.

However what struck me in the meeting where I had been invited was that since I did not have an ACCA, I was locked out of the discussions for the curriculum despite my being a teacher! They had good sense, why should I discuss a syllabus of a profession when I was not a professional myself? I agreed with them and I left the meeting but that gave me a calling. On return to the then Faculty of commerce in Makerere I urged my colleagues to pursue professional courses in their respective areas and as it is always said, the rest is history. Today MUBS has a policy of paying examination fees for those academic staff that successfully pass professional qualifications. This may be ACCA, CPA ICSA, CIPS, CIMA, DMI or any other similar professional qualification in the area of business. Many members of staff have these qualifications now. The spirit of this policy was threefold;

1. To empower our staff to make sure they attain both academic and professional qualifications

2. To support the profession by having academicians who could teach, research, and at the same time profess in the subject matter

3. Improve the teaching in the different professionals

The professions are now being subscribed to early by young students in MUBS. The Students’ Associations highlight the need for the associations and their importance in the economy. There have been attempts by some people at Makerere University to close our degree programmes talking about how these degrees are duplicated! They have argued that there are many similarities in the programmes. We have informed those who have cared to listen that business courses have some essential courses that must necessarily look alike. These courses are found in each and every programme. Unfortunately those who have wanted to kill MUBS never want to listen. The business profession has to be grown and has different various sub- professions in it. You cannot know this unless you are in it! I congratulate the students for their foresight in developing and loving their professions. At one stage Uganda had only 200 qualified Accountants while Kenya had over 2000. The interest in Profession in Uganda has led to tremendous growth in numbers. I need to count how many.

STUDENTS’ GENDER MAIN STREAMING SEMINAR

The Africa Development Bank (AfDB) is supporting higher education in Uganda and has provided funds to improve science and technology in the eight public universities (whenever it does not hurt, MUBS is described as a public university). MUBS has been a beneficiary and a new building was constructed to house the computing faculty. The bank has also funded what is known as cross cutting issues, these include; business incubation, gender main streaming, improving the welfare of the disabled, E-learning, among others. Among these cross cutting issues, gender main streaming has been a key issue, in the last 50 years or so the world has been struggling with the issue of equity among men and women. Women have been marginalized as a result of the differences created among men and women by the biological and physical differences. This has resulted into women not having equal opportunities compared to men. In many societies especially Africa women are denied right to education, women cannot inherit property, there are few women in paid employment, there are few women in top management positions and there are few women in political leadership positions. This denial which is based on gender has disadvantaged women and denied them opportunities to access resources and denied them opportunities to advance their careers and find their rightful positions along the men. There have been solutions to this challenge. These have included: Affirmative action, feminist movements and legal provisions that have supported women inclusion in various activities of the society.

In educational institutions the expectation is that the people are more rational and therefore more inclusive in their decision making and in their actions. Some advances have been made but there are still people with a thinking that is not supportive of promoting equality among men and women. The AfDB has provided funding to support sensitization for both staff and students on this important matter. The first seminar was held for staff in MUBS in December, 2016. A cross section of both male and female staff were invited to participate in the sensitization seminar. The seminar was addressed by Ms Evelyne Nyakoojo, Dr. Sabrina Kitaka and the Director of the MUBS Leadership Centre Ms Regis Namuddu. The MUBS Leadership Centre is the coordinating and implementing unit on the gender activities in MUBS. On Wednesday February 15, 2017 a sensitization seminar for the MUBS students was held in the MUBS new building. The seminar was addressed by Ms Evelyne Nyakoojo, Dr. Annet Nabatanzi, Ms. Racheal Mirembe and the Director of the Leadership Centre Ms Regis Namuddu. My role in these seminars is of course to make opening remarks, to thank participants and the donors for making the event happen and I would also share my experience on the need to support women to succeed. I have found, in working with women that they are more committed to work, better decision makers, more equitable in resolving conflicts and more thoughtful if the conditions are right. MUBS has a large number of women in management positions and has been supporting women to pursue doctoral programs.

I thank AFDB for the financial support and the leadership centre for making things happen, of course I thank the facilitators and the students too.

The footsteps to being a Successful Manager for YPMA

I’ll say that this is the edited version of my address to the YPMA members at their annual retreat in Iganga on January 06, 2017.

About YPMA

The purpose of YPMA is to fast-track the acquisition and development of management skills among aspiring young managers. The idea was mooted by people I had closely worked with and who felt that they could learn from my personal experience given that I taught, practiced and wrote about management. They were also aware of the different management challenges that I had gone through and was going through now and again. They were curious to how I managed and survived. There were big guns that always appeared to want to take me out. They thought that they needed not wait to experience it. But that I could share what I had gone through and also bring them friends who either had similar experiences or knowledge to share with them too.

YPMA success

I noted that from this association, we now had a Permanent Secretary and a Vice Chancellor besides many other people who had ether risen or excelled probably partly as a result of the interaction in the group. I also mentioned that it was not only for serious management work but also took off time to have fun through travel and sports. 

What or why management

I told them management was about bringing resources together to achieve organisational goals. A manager uses people, a very important resource to achieve goals. However, I said that in my experience, many people didn’t know why they joined an organisation, hence the typical answer why people join an organisation is to earn a living. I said this answer is misleading. When you join an organisation, you do so to contribute to the achievement of the goals of that organisation. As you do, you are paid and the payment is a reward that enables you to achieve your personal goals. Many people complained about adequacy of salary without thinking of what they contributed to the organisation.

Work is not about money. Work is about achievement of the set goals of an organisation. Whenever you think about work in terms of money, you may actually end up simply stealing the money and not working. 

While at work, there are two key issues which determine your success. These are: One, performing the task assigned thus getting the results. Two, relating to the people you work with. The key thing in this working environment is this relationship. Most people are recruited into jobs because they have some knowledge either through education and training or through experience. Take an accountant for instance, his job is to prepare the accounts, interpret them and advise other managers. But how he relates to others in the organisation determines not only his effectiveness but also, how he is successful as an accountant.

A successful manager is one who understands and manages interpersonal relationships. Infact this is more important than the actual knowledge of the task to be performed because without harmony in the institution, there is no production. There are no results. There are only a few examples of such people who have become successful without taking care of the feelings of their employees or colleagues. Such managers are good dictators. 

The success in managing interpersonal relationship comes out of the success of managing one’s ego. Ego is said to be somebody’s self-worth. What a person feels is his or her value. What a person feels is his importance in society. Some people think they’re worth more but they actually aren’t. This gives them a feeling of unwarranted importance and hence a huge ego. This naturally leads to arrogance. Huge ego and arrogance make other people feel inferior and this automatically leads to superiority and inferiority complexes and most likely detest and conflict. Under such conditions, the organisations productivity is low. The manager is ineffective.

It is important that managers are able to understand their self-worth so that they are able to control their egos. Controlling ego makes people humble and appreciate others. When you appreciate others, you create conditions that lead to working together successfully achieving both organisational and individual objectives. 

 But to be an excellent manager, you personally must aim high. You must aim at being the best. It’s not easy to be the best. It’s hard work seeking knowledge and perfecting skills. But remember while you want to be the tallest tree in the forest, there are always trees taller than you. There are always people better than you. But work as if there is no other better person.

The Future of Kingdoms/ Obwa Kyabazinga Bwa Busoga

The American President is the most powerful man on earth for very simple reasons, the United states continues to be the richest and biggest economy in the world with twenty-five percent of the world’s GDP. The American President can wake up in the night and order to “kill” somebody anywhere in the world or invade the country or bomb anything, a city, an installation, name it. This audacity comes from the sole power of wealth. From 1871 the US took over from Britain as the largest economy in the world, America has been the policeman of the world, they have the technology, the money and as a result they have largely set the rules on which the world order has been managed. Former presidential candidate John McCain, a respected Senator has confidently talked about why they should bomb Iraq or Afghanistan. Where does he get that courage? Money, money that America has. This is true for most American leaders they don’t mince their words when talking about bombing targets in poor countries. Even their less rich cousins the British, the French or the Germans who are not so wealthy but stand out among the rich countries also now and again raise their voices talking about how they should bomb one country or the other. Of course they all tread carefully when talking about Russia or North Korea or Iran. Since they don’t know what to expect or actually know the resultant chaos, so they impose sanctions!

Wealth gives you power but more important if it is backed up by knowledge. The Saudis have the money but they don’t have the scientific knowledge and as a result they can not sit on the same table with the western countries to talk about how the world order should be shaped. Where is the future of our kingdoms without economic power? 

In the developing countries politicians vie for power through elections or other means but even when they get there, they cannot accumulate the power that an American president has, this is because their countries do not have the wealth that countries like America have. Kingdoms worldwide have been reduced to traditional institutions without any power. They are supported by governments though some live off their earlier accumulated wealth. In some countries you will not even hear of them. They were abolished. Austria, Iran, Libya are examples.

The Kingdoms in Uganda are largely known due to the kind of power they had before the British took over the country. Buganda, Bunyoro, Toro and Ankole are the most known because they were most powerful. These kingdoms had resources at their disposal in their then circumstances. Busoga at that time had much smaller kingdoms which the British herded together to create the Kyabazingaship. A Busoga kingdom as a unified entity did not exist and hence the proper nomenclature is not Busoga kingdom but Obwa Kyabazinga Bwa Busoga (OKBB). I do not know how to translate that in English! As the British established order in Uganda, Semei Kakungulu was the first president in Busoga he was subsequently replaced by Ezekieli, Tenywa Wako. But Wako did not simply become the president of Busoga the British who used existing governing systems to govern brought the eleven small kingdoms of Busoga together to create one Busoga entity. Each of the eleven would take over the chair of the presidency for three months and this would rotate among the eleven kings. As I said when you have money and power you dictate things, the British decided that these are not called Kings and Kingdoms but rather Chiefs and Chiefdoms. Up to date we have accepted this nomenclature! When you are wealthy and powerful they do not dictate to you. Among the eleven kingdoms the Muloki Wako and Nadiope families were the most educated at the time. Wako was a young man among elderly Kings. The kings decided that Wako takes over the management of the Busoga establishment Wako was initially president which was subsequently named Kyabazingaship Wako was President/Kyabazinga for twenty years from 1929-1949. He then requested the kings, who were now no longer known as kings, but abalangira, to replace him. The Balangira now known as Abensikirano or chiefs selected Nadiope to become the next Kyabazinga which he did for about 5 years (1949-1955). The Balangira wanted Wako to return as Kyabazinga thereafter but he said he was tired and gave them his son- Henry Wako Muloki. In the 1961 elections, Nadiope unseated Muloki in the famous ‘agityeimemu’ saga. The Kyabazingaship was abolished by Obote in 1966 and he subsequently imprisoned Sir William Wilberforce Nadiope making all kinds of accusations against him. When the kingdoms were restored in 1993 government agreed that they are not kings but rather they are cultural or traditional leaders. We use the words interchangeably. Since Uganda is “Republic” it cannot have kings and kingdoms! But the fact that these institutions were cherished wherever they existed their restoration was crucial for the stability of the country. In Ankole however, the restoration of the Bugabe would not have created stability like in other areas but rather the opposite. 

Talking about Sir William Wilberforce also reminds me of another Sir- Sir Edward Mutesa this goes to emphasize the issue of wealth, knowledge and power. In the United Kingdom Her Majesty the Queen or if there’s a man His Majesty the King, in recognition of the efforts and service of people, contribution to society, they are knighted and given the title Sir. These are like the medals the government of Uganda now and again gives people to recognize their performance. You can not knight a king except when you are doing so to spite a person! Because of the weakness of the Ugandan kingdoms the queen chose to spite the kings by knighting them. But because we did not know, we proudly refer to our leaders as Sir this, Sir that. The British went further to prevent African kings from using the word Majesty, indeed my Kyabazinga is His Royal Highness and this is applicable to other African Kings elsewhere. 

Kingdoms were the administrative units in the different parts of Africa until when those who had power and money, colonialists came and established a new order. The demands for this new order were that you required education to gain knowledge and you required an economic activity to gain resources. The other way of gaining power and influence was through waiting for the elections or the military coups to gain resources required to be able to take decisions. Today, Africa is known for having nurtured leadership initially through elections subsequently through the military and in the recent years through elections. The indepedence elections were tribal or religious, the western powers had little influence on them though they did influence them. The western powers influenced the coups in Africa most of them planned by the CIA or any other espionage organs from rich countries. These coups were intended to punish those African leaders that were denying business opportunities to the powerful west. In an attempt to improve governance and fit Africa into the new world order coups were stopped and elections restarted. There’s no party in opposition in Africa that is not funded by western powers and there’s no successful government in Africa that is not directly or indirectly influenced by the rich west. This has made governance in Africa a proxy of western interest. 

So what is the fate of kingdoms? They are lame ducks. Not dead but of no consequence unless if they have economic power. This they cannot either. The kingdoms in the western countries were sealed. They are show-biz, highly respected and sold off to the public as national institutions of consequence but they are lame ducks. Fortunately, many of them have wealth accumulated over the years and can afford to look after themselves. Despite this, in some countries government looks after them. 

In many Arab countries like Saudi Arabia, the monarchy is still a political body but they are there because the West says so. If it was not for the strategic and tactical support these kingdoms get, they would be no more. The demand for democracy that has swept the world would have swept them away. But this creates another problem for the West, democracy creates create politicians who can speak against the West and western interests. You will create politicians like those in Iran who condemn the West’s suppression of human and political rights of ordinary people in the moslem world, you will create politicians who can stand up against Israel. So the kingdoms are kingdoms of convenience to serve those political-economic interests of western countries. In some other places kingdoms are no more, the modern political system swept them away and are incognito.

Turning to Uganda, at the time of independence the power of the kingdoms was seen creating a constitution that gave a federal status to the kingdom areas of Buganda, Ankole, Bunyoro, Tooro and Busoga. Indeed, the most powerful Sir Edward Mutesa, became the President of Uganda! And Sir William Wilberforce Nadiope, Kyabazinga of Busoga became Vice President. History was made. The political formation at the time of independence was driven by religion more than anything else. DP a catholic founded party having won the self-governance elections could not be allowed to rule the country by the British. This alliance of UPC with kingdoms that were Anglican gave UPC an edge in the independence elections. But kings are not elected though they have influence and Obote was quick to abolish them four years later in 1966 to enable him assert his authority as a politician. 

Those kingdoms that had property were able to re-start their activities after the restoration of these kingdoms in 1993. Uganda continues to a Republic and therefore has no place for kingdoms! but again these kingdoms were restored but not as kingdoms but as cultural institutions. Buganda which probably had the best administrative system and well organized government before the kingdoms were abolished was able to re-start. But it too is a lame duck. Any form of government that has no power to tax cannot be labelled a government or kingdom. this is also the fate of our local governments, without the authority to collect revenue, they, like those kingdoms are lame ducks.

The Busoga Kingdom has been unique, Kyabazinga who is supposed to be the Busoga King is not hereditary. He is elected from among the 11 who are hereditary. Of course, the issue of these elections has been contentious it is a source of division among the eleven and conflict among different groups of Basoga. To be elected is not any different from how governments worldwide are formed, it is those with the money and ideas that win the day. Among the 11 the Nadiope and Muloki houses have had more resources and more influence. It is not surprising that the two houses have provided the Kyabazingas that we know, Tabingwa has resources unfortunately does not fit into the kyabazinga institution, he’s catholic. Munuulo of Bunya is educated, a lawyer but a moslem! So he too can not fit the office of the Kyabazinga. Having been a ‘Katwikiiro” of the OKBB, I realised that we did not have a kingdom primarily because the majority of our balangila did not have high level of education, not even key members of their family but most important they were poor! They had no resources, the institutional resources that existed by the OKBB were land in Bugembe and the various sub-counties of the Busoga region. Most of this has been turned into local government property. The little that was there especially in Bugembe was stolen, illegally sold to various people who do not contribute to the OKBB as an institution therefore, OKBB has no resources. You will be surprised that the land at the OKBB headquarters in Bugembe which had been demarcated as Bishop Bamwoze park opposite the Alice Muloki library was sold, the land at the Cathedral near the old library was also sold. The land around the stadium was sold including the gate to the stadium. So was the car park outside the stadium. Bugembe stadium used to be the alternative stadium to Nakivubo stadium but today you cannot hold a match there because there’s no parking! The stadium cannot be extended because all the land around it was sold. Out of the several square miles OKBB had, I would be surprised if they have more than 10 acres. 

So what is the future of OKBB? OKBB and Isebantu are symbols of Obusoga. Busoga culture can only preserved by the OKBB. People love their culture and Basoga are indeed proud of their culture. But OKBB like all other kingdoms worldwide are lame ducks. Like it or not, that is the fact. OKBB is dead but it must live. It must live to preserve Obusoga. So what next? OKBB has 3 choices; one is the kyabazinga to continue to be a ceremonial Kyabazinga without resources and therefore without power and influence. He will be propped up by those Basoga who pay allegiance to him and have resources supplemented by some funds from central government now and again. The role of a Kyabazinga will be a symbol of Busoga’s tradition and culture. The second choice is for Basoga to organize themselves define the Kyabazingaship and fund it, the Basoga will then determine what the Kyabazinga will do, the Baganda have experimented with this without success! The etofali campaign did not collect enough money to run a government of the Buganda magnitude, the Baganda love their Kabaka, they are wealthier than the Basoga, am not sure how much can be collected in Busoga to run an OKBB government meaningfully. It will require a budget of Shs 100 billion per year! This is besides the budget of local governments. The third option is to have the kingdoms further institutionalized in the Uganda constitution to enable them secure funding from central government, they will be recognized as part of the governance systems of the country and funded probably based on the population. This will of course reduce the power and influence of the kings but that’s the only way they can survive. 

So how does the current situation in Busoga fit into this? Busoga has a 29-year-old Kyabazinga who has a great future ahead of him. He’s yet to have a family and am sure he would like to have his children study in the best schools as a king he would wish to drive the best car in town. If he were in Kampala, he should stay in Kololo but how does he do this when the OKBB has no resources to support him. The Basoga definitely have no resources to support him, the Basoga then must find a compromise- the Kyabazingaship must be transformed. The compromise must be able to uphold the values and traditions of Busoga while having a modern young Kyabazinga. 

The recent appointment of the Isebantu to the position of Ambassador should be seen in this context, it may not have been appropriate that Isebantu was put on the list for vetting. I believe this was an error and it can be corrected but the less than 30-year-old Kyabazinga needs to be engaged both intellectually and culturally. He needs an activity that is near to a profession where he can put his thoughts and exercise his intellectual abilities. He also needs to perform those cultural activities that are required of him as Isebantu. Of course most of these are supposed to be performed by the Katwikilo and his cabinet. Isebantu has little role in them other than a ceremonial one to agree, open, close, to endorse and such similar activities. While Busoga can choose from the above and other alternatives, it has very little leeway. The region is extremely poor and cannot raise funds on its own. This leaves us little choice but to having a working Kyabazinga one that can tap into national resources without bringing him into direct conflict. 

The decision that must be made by Abasoga is not unique to Busoga only. It is a decision other kingdoms in Uganda or elsewhere in Africa and indeed most African countries must make. African countries have been stunted because they failed to evolve policies appropriate for their development. Even at the micro level, the family, decisions must be made. Many families in Africa continue to be large in number of children and very little land, a prescription for poverty. On that small piece of land, they don’t even use it to produce things that can give them an income. So most families do not have a proper house, do not eat enough calories, have no toilets and they look to government, NGOs, to help them secure the necessities of life.

African countries are not different, they are stuck with policies that will not cause growth and they look out for the nations. African countries must rethink their development strategies. They can continue the way they are and perpetually stay in poverty or develop a different development model. The writing is on the wall for African leaders

Closing schools denies Uganda’s population a chance for education, however Poor

I was watching TV the other day and I noted officials were closing schools that didn’t meet the required standards. I thought that was most unfair for these private sector individuals who try to provide education to Ugandans. There are many government schools that do not have proper classrooms. In many parts of the country, children study under trees. I am sure everybody would like to have their children study in conditions like those of Kampala Parents School. But such is our county, the extremes of poverty and wealth. If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. 

The level of poverty in the country is startling. If you combine illiteracy with poverty, you will reverse Uganda’s development effort. We have UPE and USE. These are very important efforts on behalf of government to address education and development. Society cannot develop without a literate community. The UPE and USE have so far not done well but it’s a good beginning. The country doesn’t have the money to have good programmes in place when coupled with the challenge of corruption which is now endemic in society. You can only agree that the country is a long way in addressing education. When you close schools by those who are simply trying to solve the problem on your behalf it is most unfair. You are prescribing perpetual poverty to these communities. 

They need to answer the following questions, why do people go to such schools, its mainly because there are no other schools and or cannot afford the good ones that exist so the solution is not closure but to support such effort. Uganda needs to overhaul all its systems including the education system. What do we want to achieve as a country, what are we capable of doing in these circumstances, why do we allow such a high population growth rate when we cannot feed the population or when you cannot educate it. There is need for a new thinking in the country. Uganda has to change

The shakeout of UTL in the Market

Uganda Telecom (UTL) the successor of the Uganda Posts and Telecommunication Company (UPTC) is in problems. UPTC as the one time monopoly in the country and by the time the mobile phones hit the country it had only about 40,000 subscribers on the landlines. It had all the investments that government could put in to ensure that these 40,000 people enjoyed phone calls. Celtel entered the market around 1993 as government liberalized the economy allowing private operators to enter the telecom sector. Five years later on, Celtel had only 13,000 subscribers. It failed to reach the UTL had of 40,000. Celtel failed to market its products because of the monopoly it had. It was protected for five years and it ripped off its customers. It was the entry of MTN in 1998 that changed things. MTN had Van Veen Erick who was a marketing genius. In a few months, MTN had over 100,000 customers. MTN destroyed both UTL and Celtel and MTN took leadership in the market which position it has held to date. Today MTN is reported to have approximately 10million subscribers.

Since MTN’s entry, there have been other players Warid Telecom, Roke Telecom, Smile, Vodafone, Africel among others. The telecom sector has entry barriers. You need large amounts of money to get into it. Because of the heavy investments, it is not easy to get out. This is an exit barrier. UTL, MTN and Celtel who were in the market first invested heavily in equipment. It is said that they could have even shared the equipment but their competitive postures told them not to do so thinking they would gain competitive advantage from it. UTL continued to be a government company and therefore suffered from those effects of government ownership. It sold shares to the Libyan government and you now had a company owned by governments competing with companies that were private sector owned. UTL faultered due to management problems. Celtel sold out to Airtel of India who came with a better marketing plan. Warid entered the market very aggressively with a unique product which won them market share. However the positioning in the industry was now made. MTN market leader, Warid one of the market leaders and the rest of the players were marginal players. This included UTL.

The competition in the industry has been very intense unfortunately, they have been competing on price. Uganda is a very small market. Competing on price without volume is futile however the biggest advantage all have had is the prepayment by customers. The UMEME’s, UTL’s had not been performing well primarily because customers paid after usage of the product and this led to poor credit management by these institutions. The marginal players cannot compete on price. They can only survive if they have unique products or have niches where they can charge high prices. This explains the success of Africel primarily known for internet services. To grow in this market substantively, can only happen if one company goggles up the other or if among the leading companies, one makes a strategic mistake. It is not surprising then that Airtel ate up Warid to be able to grow. Airtel came through purchase of Celtel. 

 UTL’s troubles have been there for a long time. It cannot easily close because of the exit barriers and yet it is on its death bed. The two leading service providers MTN and Airtel cannot take it up because it is bad business. But Airtel can be taken by any of the small players only for a song. The strongest contenders who must busy in their boardrooms is Vodafone, the new kid on the block and possibly Africell. Africel can buy UTL to gain access to equipment and some customers but only if the price is right. The right price is a gross undervaluation of UTL. The slow death of UTL is because it is a government company. Tax players never know when they are losing money. Like the telecom sector, the banking sector has been going through similar challenges. Crane Bank could not survive in such a competitive and highly regulated market. Its won methods of operation brought it down. UTL failure started much earlier than that of Crane Bank. True, those companies that are being run like Crane bank was being run, they will definitely go down. That is a good prediction because it is common sense for those who understand markets and strategy. The telecommunication sector like the banking sector is yet to settle. In strategy it is common to say that the culture of the organization will eat your strategy for breakfast.

So long Crane Bank. So long UTL. Victims of their own organisational culture.

Preparing staff for change through training

Organisations that don’t adapt to changing circumstances normally become stagnant. The world today is changing tremendously driven primarily by technology. Individuals need to adopt these technologies but they cannot do so without a change in attitudes and behaviours. We would like to take MUBS to another level to make it perform better. To be able to do so, there is need to create awareness among MUBS staff that they must change. They must adopt new technologies but this can only take place if they are willing to do so. 

Another key factor in improving organisational performance is the ability to ensure organisational harmony while at the same time have some degree of interpersonal competition. You must have knowledge to balance these. To be able to do this and prepare staff to change, create change and manage change, a series of training programmes are being held. At the Support Staff level, the supervisors were initiated into a training on how to become effective leaders. The programme was run for the new employees of MUBS who just joined the institution, preparing them for leadership positions. 

The top management of MUBS has also been encouraged to lead change in their various units. But change creates challenges. It creates conflict in organisations. This needs to be managed. Several leadership development programmes have been taking place in MUBS with a view to initiating, supporting and managing change.

+256 launces Hip Hop scholarship programme

I showed up as Chief Guest at the +256 Hip Hop Scholarship Programme launch. These days when you see young people you expect to see rebels, people who are rebelling against society, who will do those things that society does not want and does not expect. This problem of youth challenge is becoming more and more complex. Growing up as a young person, the number of young people was much less and the family was a very strong institution that disciplined the young people. You only found a few people in society who society expelled who were a mismatch between what society wanted and what they actually did. A small number of young people who did not go to school or dropped out loitered in towns doing odd jobs. It was not common to find them doing drugs as is the practice with a large number of youth today. 

With the increase in population, pressure on land, increasing urbanization, the picture of the youth and the activities is changing. Families have become bigger. There are more children out of wedlock, unwanted pregnancies, more dropouts from school who are finding hardship because there is little formal employment. More urban areas are forming in different parts of the country and the youth who are unemployed are now a key feature of these urban areas. Without a job and an income, young people have found escapism in drugs, alcohol, unwanted love relationships, unwanted babies, robberies and thuggery. Now and again, civil strife. Young people have now found in groups of those rioting and at times they don’t know why they are rioting. Young people are now involved in crime of all sorts. They are working in an environment that is also increasingly becoming hostile.

Besides the absence of jobs, the cost of education is escalating day by day. Corruption in government departments does not give equal opportunity to meritorious. This has exacerbated the challenges the youth face. The youth have responded in many ways as indicated. Many have taken to becoming social deviants, rejecting the accepted community practices. We have the street smart hustlers and those who have decided to do something genuine to find a living. But besides these, there is another group of young people that have decided to address these challenges in society through what is now known as social enterprise. They are undertaking activities supposed to help other youth either to overcome the challenges or to empower them through enabling them to exploit their talents. These youth are also addressing certain social needs through their efforts.

+256 Youth Platform is one such organization. Led by Meddie Mukuuza, an orphan who didn’t grow up with parents, Meddie with his colleagues in +256 is touching the lives of young people. +256 has various activities. These include support for kickboxing and boxing, making reusable pads for school girls, supporting Hip-Hop rappers among other things. +256 has a Centre in Iganga and the Centre is on borrowed land. They have a youth parliament, a gym and a training room. They collect young people who come to learn and share with them. A group of young people have been doing Hip Hop. These are young people from the age 14 to 30. They have been working on their talents as musicians, although some of them have dropped out of school. It was this that motivated Meddie and his colleagues to find money to find a scholarship for these young entertainers.

Society is changing tremendously. To be continued……

The Young Professional Managers Association (YPMA) Breakfast Meeting

After the annual retreat in early January, YPMA members agreed that they should have a monthly breakfast meeting and since Jinja had led in placing the request, they were easily given the opportunity to hold a breakfast meeting. Members descended on Jinja on February 4, 2017 with four major activities, the breakfast mentoring session, a walk to the source of the Nile and a boat ride and lunch. 

Jinja town was once Uganda’s largest towns in the country. It’s possible that economic wise, it may still be the second largest industrial town of the country. This is because of the Madhvani establishment in Kakira. It lost the glitter it had but it still has the good ideas any visitor can listen to and go away happy.

The group had breakfast at Sunset Hotel at which I delivered a short lecture on the 6 habits of successful managers. Despite the drizzle, the group had a three kilometer walk from Sunset Hotel to the Source of the Nile. The source of the Nile is a national asset that is kept like a village well. This is where the Nile begins its 4000 mile journey to the Mediterranean Sea. Many people want to visit it but both Jinja municipality council and the National tourist Board have not figured out the standard they require to make this national treasure indeed a treasure.

The Nile River story is legendary and the place deserves better. It’s a good tourist venue and there are boat ride attractions. It is also possible to have a quiet lunch in one of the restaurants there. We enjoyed the boat ride. It was beautiful. The board had two sitting levels and the level down was occupied by the more youthful people in the group. They danced away the one-and-a-half-hour journey. The journey was ended with lunch at the Jinja City Hotel. The hotel depicted signs of African Entrepreneurship, having TVs to show football as the revelers enjoyed a meal or a drink. Thank you YPMA. Special thanks go to team leader and the new management team and to Ibrah and Gad in Jinja, who volunteered to host the group.

Advising young people who were due to graduate at Multitech Business School

I was invited to address students of Multitech Business School (MBS) who were due to graduate on Friday January 27, 2017. It is always a pleasure for me to share my experience with young people knowing that out of the many you talk to, some will pick your story, learn from it and possibly be a better citizen of the world. Multitech was founded by Mr. Ssemanda who is now Chairman Founders Board. He was one of my MBA students in the 1990s. He was a chief Executive of Celtel in the 1990s. As he invited me to speak, he revealed to the students that he too was my student and Multitech Business School was a result of a project he had been forced to write as part of our MUBS MBA. I remember those days we had Mr. Karmali, a relative of the Mukwanos teaching strategy II while I taught Strategy I. He used to make students write these feasibility studies and Mr. Aloysius Ssemanda confesses that Multitech Business School was a product of that Class. Having been my student and invited to speak to his students, I had to find the time in my own busy schedule. The Current Principal of MBS, Dr Hassan Ssendagire was also my student, he did a BCOM in the 1980s. MBS started off training aspiring accountants to do professional programmes like ACCA and CPA. Subsequently they went into offering diploma programmes and were affiliated to MUBS for some time. Today Multitech awards Degrees, I should mention that MUBS doesn’t award any degrees, don’t be dragged into this politics.

Whenever you are addressing young people you must understand them and what drives them. The main purpose of this presentation was for me to talk about how to start life after graduation, what to expect and how best to position yourself in the world of work. Linkedin the professional social network invited me several years back to write an article on if “I were 22”, I can’t recall remember what is in that article but I know what I wrote about what I would do if I was that age. This is what I felt I should tell these young people. It is difficult to get the attention of young people so to get their attention I requested that we play a song which would arouse their interest in what I was going to say. They played one of the popular local artist songs “Magic” by Winnie Nwagi. Indeed they were aroused. 

I talked to them about the need to set goals in their lives, believe in themselves, be knowledgeable and warned them about the challenges of work, challenges of success. I also told them not to fear failure since life is not a bed of roses. I told them that success came out of having a big picture, working hard, being efficient but most important managing ones ego. I shared my dreams when I was their age, the desire to live by the Lakeside which I do now and I also told them how stubborn I was in my childhood. Like I tell people always, I told them not to focus on money because the money comes as an objective because money comes if you are a good performer. I told them to have integrity and build trust with people, ad vised them to avoid the “Government etuyambe” attitude and get out, go and work. I shared with them the fact that if you have a huge ego which is making yourself feel more worth than what you were, chances are that you will be arrogant and insensitive to others needs. This was a cause of failure. I noted that like many other people today, the students don’t read much, I referred to the book “Alice in Wonderland” and seemed nobody had ever heard of that book, a clear sign that they don’t read much. My last advice to them was that when getting married, boys should have girls who are at least 5 years young but ideally 10. I also requested the boys to support their wives in whatever they did as part of having good families and peace in the home. Lastly I requested them to remember Multitech wherever they went and support it.

Jinja can rise and shine again. ABASOGA BE CHALLENGED

. In the recent months have stayed several nights in Jinja and I normally take a walk in the morning as the sun rises it has given me the opportunity to see different parts of the town and its then you realise Jinja is a shadow of its past but I know and I believe that its possible to make Jinja rise and shine again. The then mighty Jinja was East Africa’s industrial town and Uganda’s second largest town. Jinja continues to be an industrial town but not at the level it was then. Today Jinja is deserted, dirty looking with a village developing inside the city. It is not uncommon to see charcoal stoves around the corner on most streets. This is not very different from the old cities like Mbale, Soroti, Gulu. Jinja is a relic of its past. If you visit other towns you see some improvements. Under the government town rehabilitation programmes, some roads in major towns have been repaired, Jinja has had only Kampala road repaired! Jinja still has some industries probably it is the second largest industrial town in Uganda but clearly there are towns that are better looking and possibly slightly bigger than Jinja. If the Kakira sugar works is added to what exists in Jinja and its immediate surroundings Jinja would continue to be Uganda’s second largest town. Unfortunately Jinja appears not to have received the local investment that has been seen in many other towns including Mbarara, Gulu and Kabale among others. Taking a walk in Jinja, and having known it as a clean town, one is taken back by the state of despair of roads and buildings and the mud that is everywhere in the town. There are iconic buildings and places in Jinja that bring tears to your eyes The infamous Rippon Falls hotel, the Jinja Municipal Council building, especially the hall, the Jinja District Administration buildings, the banks wherever they are located and of course many more buildings that define Jinja. It’s not good to be proud about the past without figuring out what the future should be. This is probably the challenge Jinja has. There’s a false hope that industry will return to Jinja, the old Jinja is dead! The new one must emerge. Abasoga this is food on the table. Jinja has a million possibilities, all it requires is imagination and good leadership to figure out a future and of course the necessary political support from Jinja, from the Busoga area and at national level. Jinja’s location is its biggest advantage, Jinja is located at the Source of the Nile. There is no other town in the world located so! Jinja is located on the shores of Lake Victoria, Jinja is located on the highway between Nairobi and Kampala, Jinja is located in an area where the Madhvanis call home, Jinja is located by a River that has falls and rapids, all these are factors that make Jinja an ideal business center compared to many other towns in Uganda. This gives Jinja a competitive advantage over many other towns in the country. This should be awake up call for the residents of Jinja and Abasoga. One could therefore sell Jinja as a tourist capital of Uganda! Tourists coming to Uganda come for various reasons. Some come to visit the national parks but I believe many of them would want to see the source of the mighty Nile. I have been amazed at how people are keen to tour the sugar cane plantations, tea plantations, look at the coffee plant, look at the jack fruit tree among other agricultural products. All these are within the possibilities of being shown in Jinja. Using tourism as a stepping stone Jinja can also position itself as Uganda’s cultural capital. This is just an imagination that can become true. What does it require to market culture? A theater where traditional dance is performed regularly, the Ndere Troupe type, a centre where Uganda’s different cultures as exhibited! It is possible this can happen in Jinja. Jinja can position itself as an education hub, like culture it could take advantage of being a little centrally located in Uganda away and yet near Kampala, historically multi ethnic city and those other factors that would make Jinja a credible attraction. The low economic activity in Jinja has put off the industrial giant Madhvani from investing in the town. In fact the Madhvanis appear not to have been nurtured to encourage them to put more money in Jinja, I guess the Madhvanis would be the key persons on Jinja’s investment round table, they have ideas, money and experience in business. Jinja has a potential to be Kampala’s residential backyard. With a highway between Jinja and Kampala completed, the travel time can be reduced to an hour or less. I guess on a busy day the residents of Mukono town take more than an hour just to get to Kampala or even get out. With the River Nile, Jinja could host a large number of residents along the river banks this could decongest Kampala and would boost Jinja’s chances of improved economic activity. Kampala is increasingly becoming a big slum, the residential areas of Nakaseero, Kololo, Bugolobi are increasingly becoming office space. Blocks of flats have come up everywhere killing the privacy these residencies once had. The country can regain descent well planned high income residential areas only if Jinja had the foresight to do it.  But then Jinja has its limitations, the first one is a physical one; on the west is river, the south is a lake and a little drive to the east is the Madhvani sugar plantations. Physically therefore Jinja can only move to the north along the river. If there’s no plan to realise this, Jinja too, will become a big slum in the years ahead. The second limitation is leadership. With due respect to present leadership the current political system delivers popular political leaders who cannot do much for fear of not being voted again. Those with vision fail to execute their vision because they fear not being re-elected. In many districts and towns over the country, leaders look for what they can take away as personal benefits and fail to deliver value to the constituencies. It is known that large number of the elected individuals do not do anything that will jeopardise their chances of being re-elected. We all know what is going on in districts and municipalities. That is not for discussion here, the stories are endless. The other constraint Jinja has is political bickering among politicians, this is common country wide but we have something to look to to take leadership, Obwa Kyabazinga Bwa Busoga. We have an institution to galvanise us. I appeal to the Isebantu to cause a meeting of Busoga’s best, we do not have the time to waste. We must address the issues of development to compliment the effort of government Kyabazinga afuvuwe.

National Water and Sewage Corporation. Water leakages on roads

Thank You Dr Mugisha and team for the wonderful job you have done to avail water to towns. With this current dry spell people in urban areas in Uganda would be badly off if there was no supply yourselves. I am writing to draw your attention to some leakages in Bugolobi. There are points outside the MUBS entrance on Farady road, another is Luthuli lane and a new one on Luthuli avenue near the chinese embassy building. The first two have been leaking for over two months ! The one on Luthuli avenue is new. I know you ate stretched and cannot visit every place but may be have a TOLL FREE LINE WHERE USERS AND PUBLIC CAN REPORT SUCH LEAKAGES

The Basoga

I have been irked by various comments about Abasoga that I hear now and again. At times you think that they are made as a joke but in actual sense the majority of those who make them do mean it. Some of these are very popular on WhatsApp and they are demeaning to the people of Busoga. A few examples are; whenever the martyrs ‘day celebrations end, you get satirical message saying the Basoga are in Mabira coming to an event that has ended! The same thing happened when the Pope came to Uganda in 2015. Some de-meaning messages went round indicating that a group of Basoga were on their way to attend events that had already closed! There’s a common joke that to find Amusoga who’s sensible he should be at the age of 45 and above. Today, Swengere the comedian is an entertainer, but I have found people who say that his comedy is real. They say it actually depicts how the Basoga think and act! There are many more alleged negative affirmations about Abasoga. Below are some;

1. That a Musoga was selling pancakes “kabalagala” at old Kampala taxi park and the conductor was calling passengers “Ggaba, Kabalagala, Ggaba, Kabalagala” the Musoga decided to distribute the pancakes to the passengers in the taxi after he went to the conductor “mmaze okugaba kabalagala sasula ssebo”!

2. Supporters of Uganda Cranes from Busoga region are in Nambole waiting for the Match between Uganda vs Ghana! Aye munna Twalumbye

3. Ngobi Alex from Namulesa Busoga bought a new laptop and he got a notification “open windows” so he opens all his windows and waited, he fell asleep only to wake up when the laptop is taken away through the window kiri Busoga.

Abasoga it is time for us to wake up and find the rightful position in the Ugandan society. Indeed Abasoga have many outstanding personalities both present and in the past. They have achieved a lot and made contributions to this country. They deserve better Busoga had an administrative system of kings in different parts of Busoga. It what the British used to rule it. Because the British never wanted anybody from poor countries in Africa and elsewhere to be seen as an equal, they didn’t allow the usage of the word King. Instead it became Chiefs who ruled over chiefdoms rather than kingdoms. We continue to use those words today. We do so with confidence and happily.

Busoga led the way in the country’s educational system putting many outstanding Basoga nearly in all professional positions. With Madhvani establishing the industrial establishment in Kakira, Busoga became Uganda’s economic power house. The decline in the Madhvani fortunes due to the Iddi Amin policies of 70’s led to the economic decline of Busoga. The changing fortunes from coffee and cotton especially cotton also led to the decline of economic prosperity of the Busoga region. The general economic malaise in the country in the 1970’s and 1980’s led to decline of Busoga’s fortunes! The high population density coupled with the increasing growth in the population has increased poverty not only in the country generally but in Busoga in particular. Busoga is now poor and backward!

As the country changes economically, Busoga is failing to match the demand for that change and the growth that is coming out of that change. Consequently Busoga is lagging behind in comparison to other areas of the country. The low level of education and the poor performance in all national examinations and the poverty in the sub-region is hair raising. Given the fact that Busoga is part of the face of Uganda, has a main highway goes through parts of it, it is easy to see the poverty in Busoga because it is visible. It is poverty and low level of education among people in the sub region that is making Busoga laughing stock.

Busoga must rise up and meet this challenge of improving lives of Abasoga. True government is doing something for the entire country but the Basoga need to do something for themselves. Drawing analogy, an individual who wishes to progress can wake up and do something that is productive or can wait for government to do something the government etuyambe syndrome or wait for donors or sit and beg.

Ugandans generally love begging. Many don’t work. Of course now and again when they see those that get things without work they too expect to be in the same position. Unfortunately this cannot work for everybody, there will only be a few people who benefit in that manner, the rest of the people have to work. So Abasoga we have a challenge, we need to get out of work, we are in a better environment than many other parts of Uganda. There’s no excuse for us not to work. I recall a meeting I participated in at Jinja town hall where a national leader asked the Basoga what they wanted. During the meeting I sought an adjournment of the meeting and talked to the group of Basoga that was being addressed saying it’s an opportunity for us to ask for improvement in our infrastructure especially the educational infrastructure, I was booed ‘I cannot forget this’. They said I was preventing them from getting money and taking a kaveera home. I abandoned the meeting and I gather they went away with shs.3000 each. The Chinese proverb teach a man to fish he will eat for life. Give him a fish he will eat only one meal. Looking back, I had wanted us to have a vocational institution and a business incubator in Jinja. It never came to pass’. Such is the nature of our people.

Abasoga have cultural institutions and Kyabazingaship is the only legitimate one that can get things done. Obwa Kyabazinga Bwa Busoga (OKBB) should initiate programmes to mobilise Abasoga to get up and work. It should also use the top brains of Busoga to think through Busoga’s challenges and make recommendations to put where Busoga wants to go to compliment the effort of central government and also the effort of local governments. Busoga can address the following areas either on its own or in partnership with central government. These include family planning, afforestation, town planning, education at different levels, health services among others. A very important area is poverty eradication. OKBB can plan to have Abasoga in schools, plan for training them in production, entrepreneurship so that they can improve their production capacity and address poverty. The effort by government will be complimented by the effort of OKBB.

Dr. Muvawala the ball is in your court.

Visit by Drake University

We have a collaboration with Drake university and every year we staff and students of Drake coming over to Uganda for a study visit as part of their internationalization program. This year, we are marking ten years of the collaboration. I normally host the group for lunch at my residence in Entebbe, however, on this occasion, it so happens that I had a program in Iganga and I requested they were visiting the source of the Nile; I therefore requested that instead of rushing through the traffic back to Kampala and back to Entebbe, why not have lunch at Iganga in our ancestral home. 

It so happened that there was an ongoing activity in our family compound and at the same time, we are hosting a group of Aiesec interns. Weekends are also occasions for the women group under the Balunywa foundation to meet. So we invited all these group to have lunch with the Drake people. It was an exciting afternoon.

Led by their PROVOST, Prof. Sue Mattison, the team arrived at 2PM and in his characteristic way, Ronald Kamweya aka Tush welcomed them and made them comfortable. We were had short reports from different people, the YPMA group, the Aiesec group, the women group and we were entertained by the +256 rappers.

After lunch, the group inspected the ongoing maternity project in memory of the Late Hajat Azena Kitimbo Balunywa and also planted some trees on the hospital project site. The closing function involved watching the maverick Jurncture walk his wire and YPMA offered cake that was distributed among the local community who attended the function.

There were some defining moments as the PROVOST went down in the Kisoga culture to greet old women in the home. The Drake international program has full meaning when somebody of that stature in the Drake hierarchy appreciates a culture and practices it as part of building the good will.

YPMA visits Nyendha hills

The Young Professional Managers Association (YPMA) brings together managers to fast track their management careers. Normally they have retreats to reflect on their activities and also take time off to have fun. They play games and visit possible tourist sites. They're in Iganga now.

Yesterday they visited the Nyendha hills on Iganga Mayuge road. Several years back on their programme when they were to visit this place, they were told they would be going to climb a mountain. There were some Bakiga in the group and when they got there, they complained that they had only seen a big anthill. They reconed that there is no mountain in Busoga. The Bakiga wake up every morning and they go up to dig. After that they go down to fetch water and it is therefore understandable when they don't see the mountains in Iganga.

Nyendha hills is one of the cultural sites of one of the major clans in Busoga. It is associated with Abaise-igaga in their traditional home called Busambira. The clan leader is Kisambira. Climbing the hill, there are three places of interest. Two of them for spiritual affairs. People go there to pray, asking their gods to solve problems for them. The third is the Karuhangas grave, the prince who came from Bunyoro and is believed to have been there and died while visiting the clan. This is one of Busoga's sites but little attention has been paid to to it

The Buveera (polythene bags) Nightmare in Uganda

As the year begins, one of the things on my thoughts is the challenge of plastic bags (buveera) mainly the polythene bags used for packing. Economic development has brought in its wake numerous challenges including global warming with its numerous consequences. A major challenge the world has faced as a result of the industrial development has been the disposal of industrial waste. This is coupled with the actual usage of resources. Today, the world is talking about sustainable development, can we use our resources in such a way that they can be sustained and used in generations? Unfortunately, this does not appear to be so. Developing countries are busy polluting the air. China and the USA are possibly the biggest culprits but the world is talking about it and putting measures to address it. Today there are challenges of air pollution, deforestation, desertification all emerging from industrial development. For the developing countries, while we sign up to international agreements on some of these issues very little translates onto the ground. The issue of polythene bags is one such. The challenge is growing uncontrollably mainly resulting from packaging of goods that we buy from commercial enterprises. Growing up, packaging of goods was mainly in paper bags, this was until business invented the plastic bag but the cost of the plastic bag to the earth is phenomenal. 

It is said that over 100 million tonnes of plastics have entered the oceans! There are also reports that in every square mile of the ocean worldwide, there are approximately one million pieces of plastic debris! Over two million birds and animals die every year due to eating of polythene bags or as a result of chocking. Plastic is choking rivers, tunnels and other water ways. In our poor countries, the tragedy has already happened but it is yet to show its ugly head. The consequences of the plastic bag and there disposal has already damaged most of our society. Some countries that have been wise have banned the usage of high density polythene bags. These include China, India, Bangladesh and Rwanda among others. Uganda’s attempt to ban these plastics was defeated by lobbyists, corruption and weaknesses in implementing the law. In some other countries especially developed countries, they have imposed a surcharge on usage of plastics but because they are more aware of the problem these cause, the disposal methods are strictly enforced. 

Uganda has a major challenge, every town, slum, trading centre is filled with debris of polythene bags. Of course we don’t have records of who has died as a result of swallowing or misusing of these bags. This includes animals and bats but definitely they exist. It is possible some people have died as a result of these two. As a country, we are very good at making policy but very poor at implementing it. There are very many things that we know we should not do but we ignore and do them. People will not get out of forests yet they know it is important to have forest cover to avoid problems of climate change. The plastic bag challenge is one of those things we must address. As a poor country, we cannot afford the costs associated with the hazards that poor disposal of plastic bags cause. We need to have sustainable economic development. We should take care of our forests, wetlands, lakes and rivers. We should sensitize our children in schools about the hazards of deforestation, desertification and global warming among other challenges. But most important, we should sensitize children in schools about disposal of plastic bags. It is a menace and a nightmare. I hope that the 10th Parliament will also take this matter seriously.