Wednesday, November 30, 2011

THE I. D. PROJECT REQUIRES TO GET PHOTOS AFRESH NOT THOSE TAKEN FOR 2001

I cannot demand for an identity card when my photo has never been taken. The deal must have involved taking photos of beneficiaries. it is wrong to use data of the Electoral Commission. These are two exercises. The Electoral Commission has a lot of fraud in it. The information and photos must be collected once again, yet the photos of the Electoral Commission taken for 2001 are more than 10 years old now.
William Kituuka

President Museveni displays the first issued Ugandan national ID earlier this year.
By EMMANUEL GYEZAHO

Posted Wednesday, November 30 2011 at 00:00

In Summary

Foul smell. Equipment stolen or rotting but government wants more money for cards that might not work.
Equipment worth billions of shillings bought to make national identity cards is rotting away or has been stolen but government now wants MPs to approve more than Shs100 billion in extra funding to complete the project.
Details of the extra funding request emerged in Parliament yesterday, a day after this newspaper reported that German firm Mühlbauer Technology Group, hastily contracted in March 2010 outside official procurement methods at the behest of President Museveni, had only produced 400 IDs despite down payments to produce at least 21 million cards.
At a crunch meeting in Parliament yesterday between lawmakers and a team of top government officials running the bungled national ID project, it emerged that the firm has so far received €47m (about Shs161 billion at current exchange rates) out of the €64m project.
It was also revealed that, contrary to earlier reports at the signing of the deal, the German firm was only required to provide equipment, software and training, not to produce the cards.
To actually give Ugandans national ID cards, government will require an extra Shs118 billion within the next three years, on top of Shs58 billion the country owes the German firm, the Executive Director of the National Information Technology Authority, Mr James Saaka told MPs.
This will put the total amount required at about Shs337 billion, more than five times what it cost Kenya and Tanzania to provide ID cards for their larger populations.
That figure could be higher after MPs heard that equipment, including cameras and computers bought to collect bio-data had been rendered obsolete after collecting dust in the warehouses of the Works Ministry in Entebbe, while some had been reported stolen.
The equipment supplied by Mühlbauer was used ahead of the February 2011 polls by the Electoral Commission to collect bio-data for a reported 5.5 million new voters who had been expected to receive the first ID cards.
MPs heard yesterday that at least 30 laptops and 746 cameras have since gone missing. Of 4,065 pieces of equipment, 2,483 were still reported “present and working” while 1,582 were reported as lacking components, according to a report the Internal Affairs Ministry prepared for the MPs.
Mr Saaka’s submission that Mühlbauer was only contracted to supply equipment and not cards prompted MPs to question the authenticity and source of the 400 IDs that have so far been issued out to senior government officials including President Museveni and Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi.
“Those cards are fake,” Kigulu County MP Edward Baliddawa said yesterday. “Let us put the country ahead of all personal interests; what is clear in this whole ID thing is personal interest.”
Although he admitted that the project was behind schedule, Dr Steven Kagoda, the permanent secretary in the Internal Affairs ministry, said the project could be rescued if MPs approved the extra funding.
MPs, however, questioned the call to throw good money after bad, pointing out that the country had not received value for its money.
MPs also accused Mr Kagoda of failing to implement a 2009 presidential directive shifting implementation of the creation of a national population databank, from which personal IDs would be created from Internal Affairs to the ICT Ministry.
The political interference that ring-fenced the tender from competitive bidding is a throwback to an earlier tender that was aborted due to meddling by rent-seeking politicians and is likely to leave the country with a very expensive project which might not be compatible with ID cards from other EAC member states (see box).
egyezaho@ug.nationmedia.com

IF UGANDA STOPS HANDLING THE CORRUPT AS IF THEY WERE DIPLOMATS, THE COUNTRY’S HIV/AIDS FIGHT WILL GO AN EXTRA MILE

As Uganda joins the world in remembering those who have died due to HIV/AIDS, it is of utmost importance that those concerned more so in the judicial service take extra measures in dealing with the corrupt and more so, ensuring that funds stolen are recovered to help among others the people affected and infected by HIV/AIDS.

I am one of those who are not amused to see the former Vice President of Uganda contesting for the Busiro North Parliamentary Seat. This I say on two grounds: Mr. Bukenya Chaired the Cabinet Sub – Committee and his statement as indicated below is self explanatory. He is qualified to stand up for the role he played which led the country to a loss of substantial amounts of money. Some of this money could have helped the people who are affected or infected by HIV/AIDS.


9.1.18 During the 16th Meeting of the Cabinet Sub Committee held on 4th December 2006, the Chairman, H.E. the Vice President Prof. Gilbert Bukenya stated that "The decision on Transport that was taken during the 15th Cabinet Sub Committee on CHOGM was final...All other companies that were coming up with proposals should not be considered.

2ndly, it is common knowledge that one of the biggest irregularities of the 2011 General Elections was the role of voter bribery. Bukenya is contesting in the by election after the courts of law were convinced beyond reasonable doubt that he bribed voters. Uganda is having a constantly depreciating currency, and much of this is attributed to monies poured into the economy to bribe the voters! It is also true that the by election is costing the country money which would have gone on to some other budget say the treatment of people with HIV/AIDS. It is absurd, but anyway, it is Uganda.

On August 24, 2005, after Uganda had got only 12.26% of what it was entitled to from the Global Fund Grants to combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis; that is US$45million out of US$367million, the Global Fund decided to suspend grants to Uganda. This is corruption which hits the victims (those who would benefit from the facility), but what is unfortunate is how we keep praising this type of corrupt people. The moment we as a country get to appreciate the role of corruption, and fight it, we shall have a destiny.

As we remember of brothers and sisters who have been claimed by HIV/AIDS and also express sympathy to those of us who have been diagnosed HIV positive and are on treatment, we must get much more concerned about those relatives and more so, the grand mothers who care for the orphaned children left behind by their dead parents. These need our assistance, and as a nation we ought to come up with some 10% of our earnings or even a bigger fraction to see these children accorded decent lives. A one Benedict Nakayima had her photo in New vision as she sat by the graveside of her children who died of AIDS and left her in charge of 45 grand children! This is the dimension of HIV/AIDS to some households.

The Global Integrity 2006 report on Uganda, it is estimated that more than half the Government’s annual budget amounting to USD 950million each year is lost to corruption. As would be expected, public procurement is one of the sectors most affected by corruption. According to the 2007 African Peer Review Mechanism Report, Uganda loses USD 258.6 million annually through corruption and procurement malfeasance. The report further estimates that if the country could eliminate corruption in public procurement, it would save USD 15.2 million a year. In June 2008, a senior World Bank official stated that high level corruption in procurement deals had been responsible for a loss of USD 300 million since 2005. In summary, Uganda has a challenge to see to it that corruption is not given chance to thrive as it worsens the HIV/AIDS situation. The funds which are eaten by the corrupt can go a long way in bailing those affected and infected with HIV/AIDS.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

IS UGANDA'S POLITICAL GOVERNANCE ENVIRONMENT CONDUCIVE FOR GOOD CORPORATE GOVERNANCE PRACTICES THRIVE?

IT IS A BIG NO!

In Uganda, it is the jungle law at work! Survival for the fittest.

Looking at the way some people steal tax payer funds in Uganda, the advice is that they obtain eternal fire insurance as soon as possible.

In Uganda, massive poverty and obscene inequality are such terrible scourges at a time when the world boasts of progress in virtually every area!

POLITICAL PRESSURE HOLDING ME FROM REIGNING - ONEK

Minister Hilary Onek appears before the Rules Committee in Parliament last week. PHOTO BY GEOFFREY SSERUYANGE
By ISAAC IMAKA

Posted Wednesday, November 30 2011 at 00:00

In Summary

Oil bribe allegations. The minister says he resigned spiritually and blames his woes on top officials in the Energy Ministry.

Internal Affairs Minister Hilary Onek, who is accused of having taken close to five million Euros in oil bribes, yesterday revealed that he has not resigned because of political pressure and that he is holding on for the sake of the NRM party.

Responding to Dokolo Woman MP Cecilia Ogwal during his appearance before the parliamentary committee investigating the oil sector bribes, Minister Onek, said the issue of resignation was no longer a personal matter.

The minister, who had been asked why he has not adhered to the p committee’s request to step aside, also told the committee that he will not be in politics anymore after 2016.
“There are two sides of the coin; we have politics on one side and then Parliament,” he said. “Honestly I even told my boss that I want to resign. But if I move away from these things right now, I would not be fair to them,” he added, although not specifying whom he meant by them.

Mr Onek told the committee that he fully understands the importance of resignation and promised that if the committee gets any speck of truth in the allegations that were made against him in Parliament, he will immediately resign.

“On October 11, 2011, I had literally resigned. If you ask me, I would tell you I spiritually resigned. Inside me, I resigned. It is one thing to have a personal conscience and another to adhere to the politics. In politics, it’s not the individual any more, it is about responsibility. If the banks come up and say those transactions are true, I will step aside,” he said.

Mr Onek blamed his woes on “top officials” in the ministry of energy, whom he said always opposed him whenever he put across an honest opinion during his tenure as the minister of energy and that people conspire against him because he is honest.
Share This Story
23Share

“The law against corruption is genuine, and that’s what I have been doing in all the ministries I have served. It doesn’t make sense that the one who has been chasing the thief is the one who is being chased,” he said.

“I am not a person who is deceitful in life. I cannot smile when I should be angry. When I was a young man, I missed many beautiful girls because I was honest. I have been doing my own business since 1980. Everything I have is a product of what I have done in business. You do not have to steal to achieve in life,” he said.

Defiant Mbabazi

Meanwhile, appearing before the same committee, Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi maintained his stand not to step aside, insisted he is innocent, and asked the MPs to summon the American ambassador whom Wikileaks claims made the allegations against him to testify before the committee.

“I am not likely to step aside because, as the Speaker said, the resolution didn’t target the Prime Minister. But I want to assure you colleagues that I will not interfere with your proceedings in any way,” Mr Mbabazi said.

“To tell you the truth, I do not even spend too much time following what happens in the committee.”

Ministers Onek and Mbabazi are the next prime witnesses to appear before the committee in the oil bribery allegations, after Minister Sam Kutesa.

iimaka@ug.nationmedia.com

Sunday, November 27, 2011

FORCES IN NATURE CAN DEAL WITH DICTATORS

Floods wash away crops, leave 300 families homeless in Nakapiripirit

Mr Lomukol visits affected families in Lukudud village. Heavy rainfall on Thursday left most homesteads submerged and washed away food crops and animals. Photo by Steven Ariong
By Steven Ariong

Posted Sunday, November 27 2011 at 00:00

At least 300 families in Namalu Sub-county in Nakapiripirit District have been displaced and crops destroyed following torrential rainfall that left the area flooded on Thursday.
The worst hit areas are Nakiloro village in Lokatapan Parish and Kokuwam and loperot parishes in Namalu Sub-county. An estimated 50 hectares of cassava gardens, green grams, potatoes and peas in Namalu Sub-county were totally destroyed by floods.
Ms Lucy Nakut of Morugajore village said seven hectares of her cassava gardens in Okudud village were totally destroyed and her hut and chicken were washed away by water torrents.
Ms Nakut has relocated with her three children to Namalu Trading Centre. Mr Mark Logiroi, another victim, said he has always had plenty of food and never been a beggar but the floods, he said, will force him to begin begging.
“What I had harvested and stored in my granary and what I was expecting to harvest have been destroyed and I don’t know where to start from,” he said. Mr Simon Lemukol, the LC3 chairperson of Namalu Sub-county, described the aftermath of the floods in the area as a total loss to the families of Namalu. He said residents of Namalu have never experience such floods.
“We used to have heavy rains and floods but not of this kind, which hits for a single day and displaces a big number of people like this,” Mr Lemukol said. He appealed to government for relief material to the affected families, and urged that the families should be supported to embark on fresh farming if they are to cope with the Thursday loss.
Former Nakapiripirit chairperson John Nangiro appealed to government to provide food and planting materials to help the affected families to cope. He said transport in the area has also been affected by the floods since calvats have been washed away.
Two months ago, torrential rains that battered eastern Uganda for days left Bulambuli, Kween, Kapchorwa, Butaleja, Bukedea and Amuria districts submerged, with the residents counting the cost and relying on relief. The floods also ravaged road network linking Sironko, Bulambuli, Nakapiripirit, Moroto, Kotido districts.

editorial@ug.nationmedia.com


Many people in Uganda are surprised by the turn of things in 2011; a currency depreciating at unprecedented rate, corruption cases unearthed at a magnitude never anticipated, poverty beyond definition, floods leading to the cutting off of some districts of the country, voter bribery of unprecedented levels in Uganda’s history, power shortages at levels never anticipated a development that is getting many out of business to name just a few. Virtually everything has gone wrong. When people fail to get a fair deal from dictators like President Museveni, God has been so good that He sets in motion forces of nature to deal with such. It is common knowledge that the Constitution of Uganda clearly stipulated that a Presidential Term in office is a maximum of 2 consecutive 5 year terms. Where did Museveni get the mandate to extend the term indefinitely? President Museveni keeps telling us about how he fought. I wish to clearly inform him that Uganda would be far in terms of real growth and development if he had not gone to the bush. It is now clear that the Museveni group had a hidden agenda which is throwing Ugandans into unprecedented levels of poverty and deprivation. The country has got huge sums of money to see to the welfare of the people from the donor community, much of this money is corruptly shared, as if Museveni is not aware! Instead of leaving the justice system to deal with the alleged culprits, time and again he comes out with statements which are clearly out of his mandate given the role the judiciary is supposed to play. Much of the country’s resources have been lost. The President is party to wasting taxpayer money with the most recent cases of the purchase of fighter planes which are not productive at all, yet the countrymen are yawning on. The youth have no employment opportunities, instead, Museveni and his Government ‘invest’ into their continued tenure as the country yawns for better allocation of resources which unfortunately Museveni cannot deliver any more to the country. He is so compromised. We shall never forget the patronage which has cost the country a lot of resources that would have been invested productively to benefit the country and its future. He has wasted taxpayer monies into schemes of useless presidential advisers; sub-divided the country into uneconomic districts yet the country has no resources to sustain them.

On behalf of many people of Uganda who wish the country better, our prayer is for the good Lord to change the hardened heart of President Museveni. His government has deliberately sat on monies due to Buganda Government in form of rents due to premises rented by the central government, yet the Buganda Government is trying its best to bail people impoverished by the ill advised and corruptly driven programs of the NRM Government which have left many in dire need. Mr. Museveni should realize that being a President makes him take on the responsibility of seeing the people under him better off, but not impoverished as he maintains grip on power.

In 2006, President Yoweri Museveni announced a policy of zero-tolerance for corruption. However, at the beginning of Museveni’s third term, most governance indicators showed that corruption was perceived as widespread and endemic at all levels of society. The Global Integrity’s 2006 report on the country estimated that more than half the government’s annual budget was lost to corruption each year, amounting to USD 950 million. In 2007, the government circumvented official procurement guidelines to contract Kenlloyd Logistics, to replenish Uganda’s fuel reserves. To-date it is doubtable that value for money in this undertaking has been realized. Public procurement is one of the sectors most affected by corruption in Uganda. According to the 2007 African Peer Review Mechanism Report, Uganda loses USD 258.6 million annually through corruption and procurement malfeasance. The report further estimates that if the country could eliminate corruption in public procurement, it would save USD 15.2 million a year. In the assessment of the country’s Auditor General, procurement accounts for 70% of public spending, of which an estimated 20% is lost via corruption. In June 2008, a senior World Bank official stated that high level corruption in procurement deals had been responsible for a loss of USD 300 million since 2005.

The people of Uganda ought to be told the truth in case there are some who don’t know; that the country needs a new lease of life under different leadership, however, we don’t need another military dictatorship; if civil disobedience cannot deliver change in Uganda, we may have to wait up to 2016; it is true that bribery of voters is a ‘big gun’ for the NRM Party, our prayer is that common sense will prevail among the party members who should be the ones to nominate and thereafter elect a Party President, that this time they will see the light that Museveni as a leader of Uganda has expired and the country can only be salvaged if they get a President who can live within the confines of acceptable principles of Good Governance. And such a one should be ready to leave the people have their thing, that is a Federal System of Local Governance which should yield to The Federal Government of Uganda.
William Kituuka Kiwanuka

Friday, November 25, 2011

HOW SAFE ARE VISITORS TO BWEYA SNAKE PARK?








Can you imagine the distance the lady European visitor/tourist is from the deadly snake?
How safe are the visitors?
Snake management like in the photos requires intervention of authorities to ensure that not only visitors are safe, but even those in the neighbourhood. The snakes in the photos are really deadly. In one of the photos, the tourists are seen at unsafe distance from the deadly snake. What if the snake bits such a one? There is need therefore by those in authority to regularly inspect these places, ensure the visitors are safe as well as those in the immediate neighbouhood.
William Kituuka Kiwanuka

Thursday, November 24, 2011

THE FOURTH HIGH LEVEL FORUM ON AID EFFECTIVENESS

CSOs at Busan HLF4

The upcoming Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF4) on November 29 - December 1, in Busan, South Korea will mark as a milestone for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) as it is the first time CSOs will participate as a full and equal stakeholder in aid effectiveness negotiations alongside governments and donor agencies. Better Aid, which is the international CSO network which has taken a lead in organizing CSOs for the HLF4, had a CSO Sherpa and thus contributed directly to the official Busan document. In addition, several CSO leaders such as Sam Worthington (CEO of InterAction) have been included in official government delegations.
Some 300 CSOs are registered to attend the HLF4 (see list attached) and they are organizing their own preparatory meeting ahead of the HLF4. The Busan Global Civil Society Forum (BCSF) will be held at the Grand Hotel on November 26-28 to make final preparations for HLF4. It is being co-organized by three CSO networks: BetterAid, Korea Civil Society Forum on International Development Cooperation (KoFID) and the Open Forum. The BCSF will consist of a series of plenary meetings, workshops, and strategy sessions geared to mobilizing CSOs around multi-lateral negotiations on aid effectiveness, and producing a common civil society statement to be presented at the HLF4. See the Forum agenda attached.
The aid effectiveness agenda has largely been a positive policy area for Bank – CSO engagement as OPCS and other Bank units have maintained an active and fluid dialogue with CSOs over the past seven years. This began with the Bank advocating for CSO participation in the HLF in Paris in 2005 and active dialogue during the HLF in Accra in 2008. This dialogue has intensified in the last two years, with several joint Bank – CSO policy sessions at the 2011 Spring and Annual Meetings. This will continue in Busan where the Bank is expected to host a reception for CSO leaders and several Bank managers and staff will be on panels sponsored by CSOs.

In the run-up to HLF4, a number of CSOs around the world have released key reports and proposals that they will advocate in HLF4. Some major advocacy CSOs such as Better Aid and Oxfam are also planning to convene various side events and campaigns during the BCSF and HLF4. CSOs have consolidated several key messages and proposals for HLF4:

· establishing democratic ownership principle;
· strengthening rights-based approach to development;
· ensuring CSO participation; and
· promoting inclusive and equitable development cooperation.

Regional and thematic CSOs are also putting forward their own statements that complement these common messages. Some examples are the CONCORD Statement (European CSOs), African CSO Paper, and MENA CSO Statement for HLF4. Most of the CSO positioning papers for Busan do not mention the World Bank specifically. Find below a description of the key CSO statements and planned events at Busan.

INTERNATIONAL CSOs

BETTER AID

Better Aid (an open platform which unites over 1000 global CSOs) will have a large presence in Busan and will hold a press conference on Nov 27. Better Aid also initiated a petition campaign on the web. Along with Open Forum, Better Aid has consolidated the CSO Key Messages and Proposals for HLF4. The key asks include establishing democratic ownership principle, strengthening rights-based approach to development, ensuring CSO participation, promoting inclusive and equitable development cooperation. See full statement below. In addition, the Better Aid Coordinating Group also released a series of position papers on issues including: aid effectiveness in fragile contexts; private sector and development; and aid &trade. See a full list on its website.

ITUC/GLOBAL TRADE UNIONS

The trade union delegation to BCSF and HLF4 comprises 40 trade unionists from 25 different countries. At the BCSF, the ITUC will host a workshop “Development for a Decent World”, focused on the preparation of the trade union delegation to HLF4. At the HLF4, ITUC will host a debate on the role of social dialogue in development cooperation, built upon the best practice of a trade union-led program strengthening the social dialogue structures in East Africa as a contribution to the democratic ownership debate. Trade union representation will be also present at the high-level debates. Wellington Chibebe, the Deputy Secretary General of the ITUC will speak at the Thematic Session on the Rights-Based Approaches on the first day of the HLF4. Jan Dereymaeker, coordinator of the TUDCN will answer press questions at the joint BetterAid press conference on November 28th, the 3rd day of the BCSF.

The issues trade unions focused on include human rights, international relations, inequality and shared responsibilities of the emerging donors, south-south cooperation, as well as the role of private sector in development. Trade unions also share the concerns of the broader civil society about the shrinking space for policy dialogue and CSO activities and calls for the promotion and implementation of an enabling environment for CSOs in development.

CIVICUS

CIVICUS has been one of the founders and one of the most active members of the Better Aid network They sit in the governance and policy groups of both Better Aid and Open Forum, and have been heavily involved in shaping the advocacy agenda and outreach efforts on aid effectivenss. In preparation to Busan, they have taken the lead responsibility in coordinating the Better Aid Communication Strategy.

Particularly, Civicus has been focused on promoting the issue of "Enabling Environment" for CSOs and advancing CSOs Development effectiveness mainly through straightening their accountability mechanisms and norms. They are organizing several major events at both the BCSF and the HLF on enabling environment for civil society, transparency, accountability and verification, and Rio +20 and beyond.

MENA CSOs
20 CSOs signed a statement raising key demands during a regional consultation on CSO Development Effectiveness Preparation to Busan in Lebanon on Nov 15. In the context of historical transformation in the region, MENA CSOs call for alternative development approach which put inclusive growth and democratic transitions at the center of development policies. They also urge donors and international organizations to adjust international aid to support national ownership and regional cooperation.

AFRICAN CSOs
In a consultation document, African CSOs present key messages for African governments, donors, foundations, private sector, and other development actors heading up to Busan. They call on the HLF4 to open a new chapter in the aid architecture that has legitimacy, ensures meaningful inclusion of all development actors especially those from the south.

ASIA PACIFIC CSOs
CSOs from Asia Pacific gathered during the “Regional Conference on Development Models: Promoting a Transformative Agenda on Sustainable Development” in Bangkok, Thailand from August 15- 16, 2011. During the conference, CSO released a statement calling for a development model that would provide enduring solutions to the systemic global crisis. They also stress that HLF4 should usher in a new development cooperation architecture that is inclusive, democratic, equitable, sustainable and truly contribute to eliminating the causes of poverty and promotes people’s sustainable development.

Click here to see a list of regional and thematic CSO statements.

US-BASED CSOs

OXFAM

So far Oxfam will have a delegation of 14 members led by Greg Adams, Director of Aid Effectiveness for Oxfam America. At senior level, the delegation includes Robert Fox, Executive Director of Oxfam Canada, and Mamadou Biteye, West Africa Regional Director for Oxfam GB. Oxfam is playing various roles in several different events. In a side event held by DFID and CGD on Results Based Aid, Mamadou Biteye of Oxfam Great Britain will join vp Joachim von Amsberg on the panel. In a November media brief, Oxfam sets out its key messages on HLF4, which mainly urges donors to improve aid effectiveness.

ONE

ONE is not planning for a large presence or separate events in Busan. However, it has been doing a blog series and policy briefs to raise awareness on Busan. ONE has been working across its international offices to make sure discussions at Busan result in clear and measurable commitments on transparency, accountability and results. Attached is a summary document of ONE’s key asks on HLF4.
(See attached file: ONE_Summary_Pitch_for_Busan FINAL.PDF)

UK-BASED CSOs

A leading group of UK-based CSOs have issued a joint statement ahead of Busan with their recommendations to make aid more effective especially in the contexts of poor governance, conflict and fragility. The CSOs endorsing the note include ActionAid, BOND, CAFOD, CARE, Conciliation Resources, Progressio, TIRI, Saferworld and World Vision.

PUBLISH WHAT YOU FUND (PWYF)

PWYF will have a delegation of several persons, led by Executive Director Karen Christiansen. They will take part in a number of activities. At the BCSF, PWYF will be mainly involved in four activities: Workshop for CSOs on transparency, accountability and verification; priorities for HLF4 and beyond; Event on the 2011 Aid Transparency Index; Aid Transparency & Predictability Thematic Session preparation for CSOs; and in the Transparency Building Block session preparation. At the HLF4 itself, Karen will be a panelist on two sessions: Thematic Session on Predictability on Nov 29, and Session on Make Aid Transparency Campaign on Nov 30.

ACTIONAID UK

In its recent notes on aid effectiveness, ActionAid UK calls for all-party accountability frameworks to increase aid transparency in donor and recipient countries. They provide a set of recommendations for aid donors, recipient countries and the citizenry aiming at increasing aid, transparency and accountability, value for money and to ensuring that aid is used to generate domestic resources. Tax cooperation features significantly in their recommendations

EUROPEAN-BASED CSOs

CONCORD/AIDWATCH

As one of the coordinators of Better Aid, CONCORD supports the Better Aid Position Paper on Aid Effectiveness released in April. CONCORD has produced a number of papers on aid effectiveness on Busan, the latest being “European NGOs Demand Greater Ambitions from EU Member States for Busan - Urgent Call for EU Action”. CONCORD urges the EU to engage further and stronger to enable developing countries to have a better control on aid budgets.
AIDWATCH, a sub group of CONCORD, which produces CONCORD's flagship Aid Watch will also be present at Busan. Aid Watch will organize a workshop on Nov 27 open only to CSOs and a strategy meeting for European CSOs on Nov 28. Aidwatch will blog on its website through HLF4.

OXFAM GB

Oxfam GB's briefing note focus more on the results angle: what are "right" results, how to design and monitor them, need to ensure we don't avoid results that are harder to achieve, how to work towards results that matter for the recipient community, etc.

EURODAD

Eurodad's main contribution to Busan remains its paper “How to Spend it: Smart Procurement for More Effective Aid” launched in September). Eurodad will present this paper at Knowledge and Innovation Space in Busan on Nov 29 to address general procurement issues.

COORDINATION SUD

Coordination SUD (leading network of France-based international organizations) issued a position paper “Document de Position pour le 4ème Forum Sur l’efficacité de l’aide de Busan”, which is structured around the BetterAid platform in order to monitor donors’ commitments as well as to coordinate their participation to the aid efficiency process. In Busan, it will have a delegation of three members from its secretariat.

KEPA

Finland's KEPA are active in the preparations through Better Aid and Open Forum + through the campaign on Make Aid Transparent. KEPA organized a discussion seminar together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in November on "Busan and Beyond - New Global Partnership for Development Effectiveness?". KEPA will have the following presence in Busan: Pauliina Saares (policy), Auli Starck (coordinator), Anna-Sofia Joro (communications). See their English-language site.



________________________
Civil Society Team
The World Bank
phone: (1-202) 473-1840
fax: (1-202) 522-7131
email: civilsociety@worldbank.org
web: http://www.worldbank.org/civilsociety

IT IS ABSURD THAT WE HAVE TO GET VOTE RE-COUNTS TIME AND AGAIN!

The Uganda Electoral Commission should do better work than time and again having to preside over elections where vote re-counts are the order of the day. It is not healthy.
William Kituuka Kiwanuka

Returning officer okays recount of Luweero Woman vote today
Share Bookmark Print Email Rating
By Dan Wandera & Betty Ndagire (email the author)

Posted Thursday, November 24 2011 at 00:00

The police last night beefed up security in Luweero and Wobulenzi towns ahead of today’s planned vote re-count of votes for the Luweero Woman MP by-election.

The exercise kicked off after the Electoral Commission accepted a request by NRM candidate Rebecca Nalwanga to conduct a vote recount, saying the winner, DP’s Brenda Nabukenya, did not win genuinely.

Ms Nalwanga in her application, contested the results declared on Tuesday morning by the district returning officer, Mr Peter Kasozi. The exercise will be conducted at Lukiiko Hall in Luweero District headquarters, starting at 9am.

The application was made in accordance with Section 54 of the Parliamentary Elections Act of 2005, which provides for a mandatory recount if the number of votes of the winning candidate and any other is less by 50.

Ms Nabukenya was declared winner of the by-election, after beating Ms Nalwanga in the 340 polling stations, with FDC flag bearer Ziada Gwokyalya coming third, according to the official results released by the District returning officer, Mr Kasozi.

The district police commander, Mr Samuel Bamuzibire, yesterday told Daily Monitor that the heavy deployment of the police is in line with the security measures and intelligence briefing in cases where activities such as election violence erupts.


Security alert
“We are supposed to secure these areas because we have learnt lessons from the past,” Mr Bamuzibire said. Sources said the security detail was ordered by the President who said the exercise is “sensitive”.
Mr Kasozi, who confirmed the planned vote recount, said the decision was within the law and that all concerned parties have been briefed on what is expected of them and the conditions under which the re-count can be accepted by the Electoral Commission.
“We are prepared for the re-count after consultations were made to ensure that whatever we do is within the law. We have also explained in writing to all the concerned parties on what is expected of them to ensure that we do not create confusion at the district tally centre as the vote re-count is conducted,” Mr Kasozi said.
The NRM party wants the 720 rejected votes scruitinised during the vote re-count. Ms Nabukenya(DP) whose victory is being contested was still in a consultative meeting with her lawyers and the DP party officials by press time.
One of the DP lawyers, Mr Samuel Muyizzi, yesterday said: “As DP, we have applied to the Electoral Commission Tribunal challenging the decision by the returning officer.”
He explained that legally when a returning officer declares and transmits results to EC, he does not have powers to order for a vote recount and that it is only the court that orders the recount.
Mr Muyizzi said the party yesterday went to court seeking an interim order stopping today’s recount but by press time, the application had not been heard.

GREED THE MAJOR DRIVE TO CUT DISTRICTS INTO SMALLER UNJUSTFIABLE UNITS

We have a big problem. Local Governments cannot have enough funding when the greedy politicians keep pressing Government for the so-called extending the services to the people. These in many cases just want services extended near to their stomachs. In modern age technology, it is irrational to keep subdividing districts which can easily be reached given the existing means of communication and transport.
William Kituuka Kiwanuka

LOCAL GOVERNMENT FUNDING NOT ENOUGH
By JOSEPH MITI

Posted Thursday, November 24 2011 at 00:00

Donors have expressed concern over the continued reduction of funds allocated to local governments, saying the move reduces the scope of services provided by to the grassroots.
Mr Klaus Dieter Duxmann, the German Ambassador to Uganda, said development partners are troubled by the declining share of GDP allocated to local government, which dropped to a mere 3.5 per cent in 2011/12 from 4.5 in the 2010/11 budget.
“With high inflation (30.5 per cent) continuing to erode the real value of public expenditure, the continued reduced allocation to local governments is a concern,” Mr Duxmann said.
He was delivering a statement on behalf of six donor countries at the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the government for supporting the second Financial Management and Accountability Programme July 2011 to July 2016, at the Finance ministry.
The medium term plans under the strategy and MoU for a period of three years ending 2014, will require approximately $60 million (about shs15.6b). Donors through a Multi-Donor Basket Fund will contribute 62 per cent, while the World Bank and government will pay 20 per cent and 18 per cent respectively.
The contributors to the Basket Fund include Sweden, the Department for International Development- UK, Norway, Ireland, Germany and European Union.
The donors, however, welcomed the swift action that was taken by government over the mismanagement of the procurement of bicycles by the Local Government ministry.
Finance Minister Maria Kiwanuka, who represented the government, said the programme will strengthen public finance management at all levels of government to ensure effective and efficient use of public resources as a basis for service delivery.
She said the strategy was prepared as part of the governance and economic management pillars of the National Development Plan aimed at improving service delivery in the public sector.
Graduated Tax used to be the main source of revenue for local governments but was abolished in 2005.

jmiti@ug.nationmedia.com

A DECREASE IN THE NUMBER OF INVESTORS WAS EXPECTED


Finance Minister Maria Kiwanuka and Executive Director Uganda Investment Authority Tom Buringuriza address a press conference at the Media Centre in Kampala. PHOTO BY ISAAC KASAMANI
By RISDEL KASASIRA

Posted Thursday, November 24 2011 at 00:00

Uganda has registered 31 per cent decrease in the number of local and foreign investors in the last three months. Ugandan Investment Authority (UIA) attributes the decline to the current global economic meltdown and high investment costs caused by high inflation levels in Uganda.

According to the quarterly investment report from July to September, UIA registered 49 investment projects worth $112 million were registered between July and September compared to 95 which were valued at $210m from April to June.

Struggling economy
“The economy has continued to face challenges arising from a combination of global factors including international financial crisis, economic slowdown and the volatility of commodity markets,” the report said.

The UIA acting Executive Director, Mr Tom Buringuriza, said majority of these registered investment projects are in sectors of real estate, insurance, financial services and agro-processing.

Bureaucracy caused by newly introduced stringent licensing conditions by government like equity from the banks, Uganda Revenue Authority certified paid up tax, targeting quack investors, has also caused a reduction in the number of registered investments in the third quarter, the report said.

New requirements
Previously, the UIA approved investment licences to investors who had proof that their businesses were registered by the company registrar and worth $50,000 for local and $100,000 for foreign investors.
Share This Story
6Share

However, in September, UIA decided that investors must further show proof of their source of funding. Kenya, China, Eritrea and India topped the list of the countries with the highest number of investments in Uganda.

The minister of finance, planning and economic development, Ms Maria Kiwanuka said the bi-annual presidential investors’ round table meeting scheduled for tomorrow, will identify the bottlenecks to private investments in the country.

rkasasira@ug.nationmedia.com

AFTER THE FAILURE OF UPE, SELF HELP GROUPS PROJECT COULD HELP

I am a product of a school currently characterized as a Universal Primary School (UPE) category, but what I have to say, we got quality education and competed for some of the best schools. It is absurd that greed, corruption, and selfishness among other things have killed the good foundation that other Governments had created, and what goes on in most of these schools is simply unbelievable. It has been sad to all the time hear the President talk about other things and ignoring the funding these schools need to the extend of discouraging parents to pay fees! It is absurd, because Museveni's Governance is responsible for the mess we see around. The people are impoverished, many programs do not boost the welfare of the masses. The shilling has deteriorated on. It is simply sad news with Museveni.
What then can the schools do?
I am of the opinion that schools can learn schemes like the Self Help Groups (SHGs)concept and see how they can help themselves. If schools identify areas in which they can generate income, may be this way, their are chances of boosting the schools. Some of these schools ahve land resources, etc. But it is sad that UPE schools are what they are.
William Kituuka Kiwanuka


UPE FAILURE IS A FAILURE OF GOVERNANCE
Press Release
Uganda Peoples Congress
National Secretariat
Plot 8-10 Kampala Road, Uganda House,
P. O. Box 9206, Kampala
phone/Fax:+256-41-236748
01 Apr 2009

In his characteristic style of putting blame on others shoulders instead of accepting responsibility, President Museveni has called for a review of his failed flagship, the Universal Primary Education, (UPE).
While presiding over a fundraising ceremony at St. Charles Lwanga Catholic Church at Namabaale, Masaka, the NRM supreme lamented thus:
“I am going to sit with the district leaders and other stakeholders. We shall find out whether the problem is caused by insufficient funds or whether this money is being misappropriated”.
There is no need for an expensive grand meeting to review the sufficiency of UPE funds. The patriotic NRM Government that affords to buy a new state of the art Presidential jet and to construct a hotel size palace called state house for one sacrificing family worth billions, only spends not more than three thousand shillings per school term of 82 days on each UPE pupil. In his patriotic care for UPE, President Museveni cannot afford the cost of one chicken per pupil per term. No wonder, schools have no basics like books, pens, chalk and paper.
On the misappropriation of the already meager UPE funds, anybody who cares knows that since corruption and graft is the main pillar of NRM governance, the politicians both at the centre and in the districts and the civil servants in the Ministry of Education and in the Districts habitually steal the UPE funds. As corruption and graft have worsened over the years, so has the quality of the UPE.
The NRM government was forced to introduce and implement the UPE haphazardly without any planning for political expediency. It is a political gimmick to tell a massive lie to the poor people of Uganda, that the government has unburdened them from the responsibility to educate their children. Ultimately what UPE offers is not education but a psychological to the deprived people relief. Many parents and pupils of course realize the lie and opt out of the hopeless scheme hence the astronomical drop out rate. In the meantime, the NRM leaders, cadres and those who scavenge on the UPE spoils send their children to private schools where quality education is provided at market rates. The children of the millions, whom the NRM has kept in poverty, remain in UPE to fail even by NRM standards.
The failure of the UPE, which UPC and other Ugandans who know the NRM record predicted, is a failure of the NRM system of governance. The NRM system is based on selfish greed and plunder. It knows no planning and is not people-centered. The NRM which set up a flawed UPE cannot review its own failure. The NRM is incapable of straightening up the UPE because to do so requires straightening up the governance of Uganda. That is suicidal for the NRM!
UPE is an international programme which, in Uganda was first seriously propounded by the UPC in its 1980 manifesto. At page 10 of that manifesto, the UPC was clear. UPC asserted:
EDUCATION AND MANPOWER
For a long time students came from many parts of Africa to our schools and institutions of higher learning as they were among the finest on the continent. In the sixties, the UPC government greatly expanded, diversified, improved and strengthened schools and colleges. Moral and academic standards were high and so was the quality of staff and student life. All have sadly deteriorated.
The UPC is committed to raise moral and academic standards in schools, colleges and all other institutions of learning to vastly improve the environment in which the staff work and the students study, play and contribute to nation building. The UPC government shall cooperate with religious bodies in the national task of building an educational system the products of which would have high moral standards, a sense of humility and dedication to serve fellowmen and the country.
Education, in the view of UPC, is a very important investment to produce men and women who can maintain and advance specific and the sum total of our achievements, and provide solution to our needs. The UPC government will review our education system so as to establish a firm relationship between education and employment in government and para-statal organizations, private industry and commerce and self-employment. The UPC government shall appoint a commission to study and advise on the matter. Private industry and commerce as well as religious bodies shall be asked to provide representation to serve on the commission.
The terms of reference shall include curriculla appropriate at every level in our educational system. The structure of that system, financiang educational institutions and in particular the financing of free-education from primary to university levels; and the role and extent of government contribution in the financing of private schools and other institutions of learning”.
Under the UPC government, salvage operations in the rehabilitation of schools, colleges, training institutes and the university will emphasise:
To actualize the UPE programme, the UPC embarked on the rehabilitation of the economy under the Rehabilitation and Recovery Programme (1982-1984) to lay a firm basis for a vibrant economy capable of generating private and public funds for the planned UPE. UPC took specific care to plan and implement necessary infrastructure in terms of expanding institutions for teacher training, producing text books under the Second IDA Programme, revising the school curriculum and improving remuneration for public sector workers including teachers (do you remember, the 1983/1984 kakobogo budget?). the stage had now been set for implementing the UPE before those who bear arms overthrew the UPC government and handed it over to their ilk in the NRA. That marked the death of the real UPE.
To revive the UPC scheme requires to first free Uganda from the abuse and injustice of Yoweri Museveni’s bondage. General Museveni who is responsible for the death of UPE is a cynical instrument to review his own mess up. The people of Uganda should join the UPC campaign to resque Uganda from the failed state it is now. Only a free Uganda under democratic governance can revive a genuine UPE programme as part and partial of a well conceived “Recovery and Development Plan”. The UPC is working on such a blue print to implement once we are again trusted by the people of Uganda through the ballot to offer the badly needed leadership.

WE ARE TALKING ABOUT UPE FAILURES BUT WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CHILDREN?
Tuesday, 02 November 2010 11:05 by prof. micheal madill
E-mail Print PDF

The debate about universal primary education (UPE) is mired in arguments about statistics and public relations. You only have to pick up a newspaper and read the finely calibrated comments on all sides following the publication of the Uwezo report. We are bickering about literacy rates, numbers of schools built and shillings spent or wasted. But what happened to the children?

In Uganda, around 135 of them die for every 1000 live births. That's one in seven dead before they reach five years old. Ninety per cent “ almost all “ children here grow up in poverty. One of five suffers from chronic hunger. Three hundred die every day from malaria. Measured this way, UPE is a failure because it doesn't matter how many children you enroll or how many schools you build if children are too poor or sick to attend or too hungry to learn. We were told UPE was a cure for these problems. Really, though, it's the other way round.

Universal primary education will only succeed if children learn, and they can only learn well if they are reasonably secure, housed, fed, clothed and supplied with a few tools. These basics won't arrive, though, until families can afford to provide them, and that means jobs and money in the pocket. Education depends on economic development. The President admitted this when he feted teachers at Lugogo but told them not to expect better pay until he had sorted out the roads and power plants.

Where did the money go? The economy is supposed to grow 5.9 per cent and maybe as much as 7.4 per cent this year, but only because of the collapse in food prices amid the global economic crash. Food prices rose almost 3 per cent in September, though, and if they continue they will wipe out the good economic news. The debate over the present year's budget six months ago revealed the government was not collecting revenue at the rate it wanted, making a shortfall of almost 30 billion shillings in one month, or more than 350 billion shillings a year. Then there was the 450 billion shillings gap between budgeted expenditure and estimated revenue. Put these together, and the government needs almost one trillion shillings just to break even in this fiscal year. Some of this money will come from aid and some from other external financing and some will simply not come at all. This will make it hard for the government to respond to problems in UPE once it has paid for roads and can no longer divert attention by criticising statistics and methods in a report it finds unfavourable.

If the economy were a pie, it would be shrinking or at least not getting bigger. Two political consequences of this are more competition for less government money and a decline in the power of people or factions not critical to the security of the regime. Both manifested at International Teachers' Day celebrations, and they are bad news for UPE and bad news for the economy. When teachers are told in an election season that they must forego salary rises and that they need closer government guidance and tests of their patriotism, it's a sign they have become pawns and not partners in education. It's also a hint that money which could be used to help them is being re-allocated to a purpose judged more important. With no money or insufficient political will available to rescue a failed programme, the government is playing for time and trying to shift responsibility for the quality of education to parents and teachers.

Yet that is precisely where responsibility should lie. Parents should play a greater role in teaching children themselves and in monitoring teachers. Parents and teachers should lobby administrators for better run schools and all three together should press government for help in supplying needs and meeting goals determined locally. But in a country where 31 per cent of people live in poverty, where half the population lives in rural areas barely served by government, where at least 50 per cent of children are at risk from nutrition deficiencies and where tens of thousands die annually from malaria and tuberculosis the reality is everyone involved in lacks the time and money to make UPE successful.

Most parents are lucky to meet teachers or school administrators because they are busy working or are one of the 40 per cent who don't have a job at all for long periods each year. Most families can't afford to see their children out of primary school because farm prices or wages are stagnating. So, they look to government to provide resources and ensure quality education. But government is focussing its limited resources on infrastructure, leaving UPE under-funded, guaranteeing more failure. It's no surprise the programme has not fulfilled its purpose even though it has met some statistical targets. That developing infrastructure, addressing food security and rebuilding a public health system are the right policy choices right now only highlights the government's failure to address any of them adequately.

Policy failures and the absence of significant improvements in the economy bite harder in centralised and undemocratic regimes than in others, because governments there can't rely on the private sector to stimulate investment or to take risks. When the government is the only actor capable of delivering a programme and the government runs out of money or has more urgent needs, there is no one to take up the cause or to raise money which might make a difference.

Fixing the economy will increase the long-term chances of success for UPE in ways that bickering over numbers would never do. Lifting people out of poverty makes getting into and staying in school realistic for children in rural or low-income families. When those kids also have enough to eat and a safe home they are more likely to learn and remember what they learn. Then, and only then, will programme indicators like the ones in the Uwezo report or those which issue from the Uganda National Examinations Board and the Ministry of Education mean anything. For now, they are just numbers, and they make it easy to forget that the real losers over UPE are not government or teachers or parents, but children.

mmadill@oakton.edu

Prof. Michael Madill is an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at Oakton Community College, USA

QUANTITY-QUALITY TRADE-OFFS AFTER UPE: PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES OF UNIVERSAL ACCESS IN UGANDA

By Akim Okuni
1. The Context

Uganda, like Tanzania and Kenya, is party to many international conventions and agreements regarding improving the access, equity and quality of (basic) education. The UN Millennium Development Goals declared by world leaders, including the East African Presidents, in September 2000 highlight the firm belief of the international community in the key role of achieving universal primary education (UPE) in the developing countries? efforts to alleviate/eradicate poverty. Poverty can constitute an important impediment to acquiring education and governments have long aimed to increase access to education. Considering the enormous potential of a well-educated nation in achieving economic and social well-being, the attainment of UPE is a priority development target of the Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP) in Uganda, the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) in Tanzania and the Report of the Task Force on Implementation of Free Primary Education in Kenya. Thus it is the UPE campaign which remains at the core of Uganda?s, Tanzania?s and Kenya?s determination to achieve ?education for all? (EFA) and sustainable development. The EFA principles of access, equity and quality for all children underpin many of the policies incorporated into the respective countries? plans for developing primary education.

This paper examines the prospects and challenges of universal access in Uganda after UPE such as: increased access/enrolment (especially of the vulnerable groups), physical facilities and teacher recruitment; extra-large classes, provision/scarcity of teaching materials, sufficient trained teachers, and high teacher attrition; maintaining quality; retaining children throughout the primary cycle/high dropout rates; the attraction of private provision of primary education if UPE schools are overcrowded; etc. The overall purpose of this paper is to assess the extent to which the benefits of EFA are being extended to all Ugandan children and whether the Dakar commitments have a realistic chance of being met by 2015, considering the trade-off between quantity and quality after UPE. In this paper we use UPE, a programme that aimed to improve access, equity and quality, and to eliminate the cost of primary education in Uganda, to explore these questions. UPE in Uganda offers an interesting case study both because it was implemented abruptly and very rapidly, and because, before this initiative, private contributions had made a major contribution to school financing which, therefore, had severely restricted access to, equity and quality of primary education.

2. UPE policy framework in Uganda

A 2025 vision for Uganda?s development formulated in 1997 incorporated a commitment to education as a development priority. The Education Strategic Investment Plan 1998-2003 Framework (ESIP) is the foundation on which this commitment was formulated over the medium term. Universalising primary education (UPE) is the government?s chief education priority. UPE is therefore central to the ESIP and the ESIP framework period (1998-2003) covers the first cycle of UPE.
UPE provides ?free? education to all primary school-going age (6-13 year old) children in Uganda on a cost-sharing arrangement whereby parents are expected to provide exercise books, pens, uniforms plus lunch at school. Originally UPE provided for ?free? primary schooling for only four children per family. The introduction of UPE led enrolment in government-aided primary schools to almost double within a year from 2.3 million in 1996, and total enrolment has continued rising up to approximately 7.3 million in 2002, up from 6.9 million in 2001. Such a huge increase in UPE enrolment has resulted in very high pupil to teacher /classroom / textbook ratios. The ESIP aimed to improve the respective ratios via: good quality and cost-effective teacher training achieved through, among other measures, the Teacher Development and Management System (TDMS) programme and rationalisation of Primary Teachers? Colleges (PTCs) by 2001; classroom building achieved through both completion of partially built classrooms and construction of new ones including improved access design for the disabled by 2003, via parallel investments of government and community utilizing local materials and resources; and ensuring access to required textbooks on a 1-book to 1-pupil basis by 2003 (ESIP 1998:6-12).

3. Prospects of universal access in Uganda

Education statistics in Uganda show that the GER, NER and NIR have risen significantly since 1996 from 80%, 57% and about 33.2% to 140.5%, 125.7% and 71.8%, respectively (see Uganda EFA 2000 Assessment Report; Education Statistical Abstract 2001; Education Sector Fact-file 2002: 1, 4; New Vision, May 12, 2003). Such extent of achievements in total enrolment, GER, NER and NIR show substantial steady progress towards ensuring the attainment of enrolment in and access to primary schooling in Uganda for all eligible children. This is all primarily due to the UPE policy launched in 1997.

Across all 12 districts and 60 sites where a second national participatory poverty assessment study was conducted between 2001-2002 (UPPAP2), UPE was highly appreciated by community members and most especially by the ?poor?, the vulnerable groups (including women, children, disabled, orphans, elderly, widows, youth, etc.), local leaders and key service providers because of improvements in access, equity and quality. Altogether, community members gave ten reasons for their strong appreciation of UPE. These are: increased access/enrolment especially of girls, disabled and the very poor; improvements in school physical facilities; improved teacher motivation; higher savings for secondary education due to reduced household expenditure on primary education; improved ?quality?; improved household hygiene; improved community discipline; reduced child labour; reduced incidence of early marriages; and establishment of more private schools (see Deepening the Understanding of Poverty 2002: 139-40). However, UPE was most deeply appreciated because of two major reasons. As one PTA committee member in Kihagani, Masindi district said, ?UPE has helped us to acquire textbooks and furniture, including desks?. Most significantly, as one poor woman explains, UPE has led to increased access and enrollment especially for the very poor:

?Formerly some of our children used to rear goats while others used to remain at a hill where they would wait to push bicycles of fishmongers and get money, but now they all go to school? (a poor woman in a community meeting in Kakabagyo, Rakai district).

4. Challenges of universal access in Uganda

Despite the success of UPE, UPPAP2 findings (like UPPAP1) raise serious concern about the implementation of the policy in Uganda. Although it is a key policy priority objective to improve considerably the quality of primary education (see ESIP 1998: 5), deterioration in quality of primary education was cited in the majority of sites across all 12 districts as the major negative effect of UPE. Deteriorating UPE quality was most frequently related to the following five negative effects of UPE: overcrowding due to extra-large classes; inadequate training, motivation, commitment and monitoring of teachers; less active and voluntary contribution by parents to primary education; less disciplinary controls and regulation (due also to the June 1997 ban on corporal punishment); and lack of housing for teachers especially in rural areas. As one local leader explained:

?How can a P7 graduate teach P7 pupils and they pass? We cannot have first grades in our schools?.? (a Local Councilor in Kitemba, Mubende district).

UPPAP2 established three major indicators of deterioration in UPE quality in Uganda, namely: the poor/low UPE output and in-puts, and the low system efficiency. The crosscutting indicator of low UPE output most frequently mentioned was the very few or declining number of PLE candidates passing in the first grade/division. However, inability to read and write or speak good English was another indicator of poor UPE output frequently cited. UPE quality was also perceived to be declining because of the many indicators of poor or low inputs, including the inadequate numbers of trained teachers and many untrained teachers, poorly motivated teachers, inadequate textbooks and other teaching aids, lack of UNEB exam centers, inadequate classrooms and desks, etc. There was also widespread concern about the policy of ?automatic promotion? of pupils to higher grades up to PLE coupled to the inability of some pupils to read and write or speak good English. ?Automatic promotion? was said to encourage emphasis on simply doing/sitting exams, and not on passing the exams. Hence, absenteeism was rife during most of the year except during end-of-year promotional exams. And, pupils thus reach PLE when still academically weak as one ?brick-maker? explained below:

?UPE emphasizes promotion rather than efficiency. It is so bad that children in UPE schools can neither read nor write their names, yet they keep on being promoted to higher classes. UPE promotes failures, for example, a child who scores 80 marks out of 400 can take the 12th position out of 600 pupils. These are all failures and yet they are promoted to the next class? (a brick makers? view of UPE quality in Busanzi B, Bugiri district).

The 2002 indicators for GER and GIR in Uganda are 140.5% and 193%, respectively. These figures suggest that there are still many pupils that begin primary schooling when they are older (or younger) than the official starting age of six years, and who repeat grades. The latter is also indicated by the increasing figures for repetition rate between 2001 and 2002 from 9.5% to 11%, and the declining figures for survival rate to the end of primary schooling from 66% to 58% over the same period. These indicate low levels of system efficiency and quality of learning in Uganda (see 2002 EFA Global Monitoring Report: 19). There is also a general sense that, in spite of a programme like UPE that is aimed to eliminate the cost of primary education, government?s effort to increase access have been heavily biased in favour of the rich and failed to make a contribution to enhancing broad and equitable access to education at the primary level (see Deininger 2000:2-3). UPPAP2 findings show that high financial costs were the most frequently cited reason for absenteeism and dropping out. Parents from different backgrounds and livelihoods (e.g. rural, urban, pastoral, fishing, etc.) said they are unhappy with the extra-UPE charges because they stop some children from attending UPE. The categories of children most affected were especially the destitute, those from relatively large but poor households, orphans, and those belonging to the marginal urban poor. For example, one local leader had this to say:

?If some parents cannot provide books and pens to their children, how can they pay such PTA fees? For parents who have 4, 5 or more children at school, how can they afford the building fees per child, all the maize per child and all the milling fees per child? And yet they send our children back home for non-payment of those fees. We have no choice but to keep our children in the village and cut sugarcane? (a male Local Councilor (village) official in a Focus Group Discussion, Lwitamakoli, Jinja district).

And, UPPAP2 findings indicate that community perceptions of the impact of private schools on government-aided UPE schools were mixed. Although the general perception was that private schools have reduced distances to school in some cases, reduced overcrowding in some schools and are offering better quality of schooling/education given the relatively smaller class sizes, better teacher salaries/incentives, and lesser teacher absenteeism, etc., some communities said that the attraction of private provision of primary education has a negative impact on UPE schools (see MoFPED (October 2002), Internal Synthesis Document 3: PPA2 Cycles 1, 2 & 3 Findings (Draft), Kampala, UPPAP, pp. 274-5). Private schools were accused of encouraging theft and illegal sale of textbooks supplied by government in support of UPE to private providers therefore causing perpetual scarcity of textbooks and high pupil per textbook ratio. They were also blamed for the high teacher attrition and/or absenteeism from UPE schools, therefore causing the deterioration of the quality of UPE. Primary teachers, especially in the rural areas, have been abandoning the profession at a rate of 35% over the last three years (2000-2002) (see New Vision May 19, 2003:32).

5. UPE policy analysis and its implications for EFA targets in Uganda

Analysis of the UPE policy in Uganda reveals there is welcome evidence of some success in achieving a key policy priority objective and strategy of improving access, equity and physical facilities expansion at the primary level. The policy shift during 2002 from FOUR children per family, as earlier stipulated when the UPE policy was first launched, to ALL children has made a significant contribution, and partly this strategy may in the long run turn out to be critical to sustaining progress towards and to achieving the UPE goal by 2015. However, the major challenge facing UPE in Uganda is the deteriorating quality mainly due to poor or low inputs especially teachers and teaching materials including textbooks, overcrowding due to extra-large classes and lack of inspection/monitoring of teachers, and due to low system efficiency especially the high rate of absenteeism/dropping out and the widespread practice of ?automatic promotion?.

UPPAP2 found out that inadequate training, motivation, commitment and monitoring of teachers, lack of housing for teachers especially in rural areas, extra-large classes due to few teachers and the negative influence of private schools, among others, were most frequently related to the deteriorating quality of UPE in Uganda. Therefore, motivating teachers to work in public schools, especially in rural and difficult-to-live-in areas, and improving supervision and monitoring by district school inspectors are among the strategies that may prove vital to sustaining progress towards and to achieving the ?quality? EFA goal by 2015. This was also the most frequently mentioned community recommendation to improve UPE quality in Uganda (see Deepening the Understanding of Poverty 2002: 156).

Overcrowding due to extra-large classes has implications for the state of school physical facilities as well. So far, much has already been achieved in the expansion of school physical facilities in Uganda, especially the construction of classrooms. Nevertheless, although some sort of building is necessary for a school to operate effectively, some studies (see, e.g., Fuller 1987; McGinn & Borden 1995:18, 78) show little or no relationship between the quality of buildings and student learning. If pupils learn as much in inexpensive schools, government should build less expensive schools so that saved resources can be used on other relevant aspects of quality including motivating and training/recruiting more teachers. After all, the Classroom Completion Grant (CCG) and School Facility Grant (SFG) funds provided by central government have been the centre of widespread corrupt practices in Uganda including: diversion of funds by local governments and hence delays in remitting UPE grants to schools; irregularities and delays in the tendering process by local governments and urban authorities tender boards; district technocrats and officials conniving with contractors to do shoddy construction work, etc. (see New Vision May 14, 15, 19, 2003: 3, 4, 30-31, respectively). Besides, ESIP stipulates that construction of new classrooms is to be achieved mainly via parallel investments of government and community utilizing local materials and resources. However, UPPAP2 found out that deteriorating UPE quality was also frequently related to the less active and voluntary contribution by parents to primary education following the introduction of UPE. Therefore, government ought to consider seriously re-sensitizing parents/guardians both about their responsibilities under UPE, including the policy requirement that they retain responsibility for the expansion of primary classrooms, and about the overall value of their contribution towards improving UPE quality.

High financial costs were the most frequently cited reason for absenteeism and dropping out. UPE regulations in Uganda prohibit turning away from school children that default on the UPE-related charges and especially uniforms, scholastic materials and lunch at school fees. The Ministry of Education and Sports needs to devise a feasible mechanism for enforcing this regulation because UPPAP2 found that children without scholastic materials and/or uniform were turned way from school in very many cases. Government finds the policy of ?automatic promotion? expedient perhaps because Uganda has both high levels of enrolment and of grade repetition and dropout. However, there is widespread concern about this policy. It is noteworthy that internal efficiency can be symbolically improved by automatic promotion, but a real improvement in quality of learning requires attention to the causes of low learning in school. Remedial work designed to help failing pupils to succeed can be carried out by teachers, or by pupil peers. But remediation requires an adequate understanding of the failing students? learning problems. Therefore, unless a specific policy framework and strategy for implementing automatic promotion is designed and effected, the widespread haphazard practice of automatic promotion in Uganda threatens to undermine the progress made so far or likely to be made in the future towards achieving the quality education goal by 2015.

>>

References

Deininger, K. (July 2000), ?Does cost of schooling affect enrolment by the poor?
Universal Primary Education in Uganda? (Draft Paper), The World Bank.
Fuller, B.W (1987), ?What factors raise achievement in the Third World?? in
Comparative Education Review Vol. No. 30.
Government of Uganda (November 1998), Education Strategic Investment Plan 1998-
2003 (ESIP), Kampala, MoES, pp. 1-19.
McGinn, N.F. & Borden, A.M. (1995), Framing Questions, Constructing Answers:
Linking Research with Education Policy for Developing Countries, Harvard,
Harvard Institute for International Development (Harvard University Press).
Ministry of Finance, Planning & Economic Development (December 2002), Deepening
The Understanding of Poverty (Second PPA Report), Kampala, UPPAP.
UNESCO (2002) Education For All: Is the World on Track? (EFA Global Monitoring
Report 2002), Paris, UNESCO.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

LOOKING FOR WHERE TO PUT MONEY IN UGANDA? TRY SNIFFER DOGS

Given the crime rate in Uganda, one may get some good money if he started business to do exactly what the police dogs do in Uganda. I think people can readily call on such a one to try to find out the criminals.
Kituuka

UGANDA POLICE DOGS UNDER FED
Wednesday, 21 September 2011 09:58
Written by Kevin Masaba
The Uganda Police Force says its budget to feed crime investigation dogs has been over-stretched in the wake of increasing commodity prices.
Dr. Martin Mugume of the Police Canine Unit explains that currently the dog feeding budget can only be met up to 60 percent which leaves the police no option but to under feed the dogs.
Police currently has over 100 dogs including Rottweilers, Labradors, German Shepherds, Belgian Shepherds and Blood hounds which are fed on one kilogram of meat, a kilogram of posho and 300 grams of high energy and protein biscuits bought from Shoprite supermarket.
Dr. Mugume says for the dogs to do their work they must eat and get satisfied. The dogs include sniffer dogs, explosive detection dogs, and tracking dogs. Currently police spends at most 9,000 shillings to feed a dog a day.
According to Dr. Mugume, feeding dogs is becoming more expensive as the unit opens more up country stations to add on the present 31.

WILL UGANDA'S ECONOMY GROW IN 2011?

The way things are, it may be a miracle for Uganda's economy to register real growth in 2011. What is on ground talks volumes. Once more, Uganda simply needs prayers and fasting to get out of the mess in which the NRM leaders have put it.
William Kituuka Kiwanuka

UGANDA'S ECONOMY PROFILE 2011!
Source: IndexMundi
Home > Uganda
Economy - overview

Uganda has substantial natural resources, including fertile soils, regular rainfall, small deposits of copper, gold, and other minerals, and recently discovered oil. Uganda has never conducted a national minerals survey. Agriculture is the most important sector of the economy, employing over 80% of the work force. Coffee accounts for the bulk of export revenues. Since 1986, the government - with the support of foreign countries and international agencies - has acted to rehabilitate and stabilize the economy by undertaking currency reform, raising producer prices on export crops, increasing prices of petroleum products, and improving civil service wages. The policy changes are especially aimed at dampening inflation and boosting production and export earnings. Since 1990 economic reforms ushered in an era of solid economic growth based on continued investment in infrastructure, improved incentives for production and exports, lower inflation, better domestic security, and the return of exiled Indian-Ugandan entrepreneurs. Uganda has received about $2 billion in multilateral and bilateral debt relief. In 2007 Uganda received $10 million for a Millennium Challenge Account Threshold Program. The global economic downturn has hurt Uganda's exports; however, Uganda's GDP growth is still relatively strong due to past reforms and sound management of the downturn. Oil revenues and taxes will become a larger source of government funding as oil comes on line in the next few years. Instability in southern Sudan is the biggest risk for the Ugandan economy in 2011 because Uganda's main export partner is Sudan, and Uganda is a key destination for Sudanese refugees.
GDP (purchasing power parity)

$42.15 billion (2010 est.)
$40.08 billion (2009 est.)
$37.37 billion (2008 est.)
note: data are in 2010 US dollars
GDP (official exchange rate)

$17.01 billion (2010 est.)
GDP - real growth rate

5.2% (2010 est.)
7.2% (2009 est.)
8.7% (2008 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP)

$1,300 (2010 est.)
$1,200 (2009 est.)
$1,200 (2008 est.)
note: data are in 2010 US dollars
GDP - composition by sector

agriculture: 23.6%
industry: 24.5%
services: 51.9% (2010 est.)
Population below poverty line

35% (2001 est.)
Labor force

15.51 million (2010 est.)
Labor force - by occupation

agriculture: 82%
industry: 5%
services: 13% (1999 est.)
Unemployment rate

NA%
Household income or consumption by percentage share

lowest 10%: 2.4%
highest 10%: 36.1% (2009)
Distribution of family income - Gini index

44.3 (2009)
45.7 (2002)
Investment (gross fixed)

20.7% of GDP (2010 est.)
Budget

revenues: $2.444 billion
expenditures: $2.922 billion (2010 est.)
Taxes and other revenues

14.4% of GDP (2010 est.)
Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-)

-2.8% of GDP (2010 est.)
Public debt

21.1% of GDP (2010 est.)
20.5% of GDP (2009 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices)

4% (2010 est.)
13.4% (2009 est.)
Central bank discount rate

9.65% (31 December 2009)
19.42% (31 December 2008)
Commercial bank prime lending rate

20.17% (31 December 2010 est.)
20.96% (31 December 2009 est.)
Stock of narrow money

$2.041 billion (31 December 2010 est.)
$1.881 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
Stock of money

$1.483 billion (31 December 2008)
$1.347 billion (31 December 2007)
Stock of quasi money

$1.485 billion (31 December 2008)
$1.258 billion (31 December 2007)
Stock of broad money

$4.199 billion (31 December 2010 est.)
$3.718 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
Stock of domestic credit

$2.541 billion (31 December 2010 est.)
$1.834 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
Market value of publicly traded shares

$NA (31 December 2010)
$NA (#REF!)
Agriculture - products

coffee, tea, cotton, tobacco, cassava (tapioca), potatoes, corn, millet, pulses, cut flowers; beef, goat meat, milk, poultry
Industries

sugar, brewing, tobacco, cotton textiles; cement, steel production
Industrial production growth rate

6% (2010 est.)
Electricity - production

2.176 billion kWh (2008 est.)
Electricity - production by source

fossil fuel: 0.9%
hydro: 99.1%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (2001)
Electricity - consumption

1.958 billion kWh (2008 est.)
Electricity - exports

82.04 million kWh (2009)
Electricity - imports

82.04 million kWh (2009 est.)
Oil - production

0 bbl/day (2010 est.)
Oil - consumption

14,000 bbl/day (2010 est.)
Oil - exports

0 bbl/day (2009 est.)
Oil - imports

13,770 bbl/day (2009 est.)
Oil - proved reserves

1 billion bbl (1 January 2010 est.)
Natural gas - production

0 cu m (2009 est.)
Natural gas - consumption

0 cu m (2009 est.)
Natural gas - exports

0 cu m (2009 est.)
Natural gas - imports

0 cu m (2009 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves

14.16 billion cu m (1 January 2011 est.)
Current Account Balance

-$729.1 million (2010 est.)
-$451.1 million (2009 est.)
Exports

$2.972 billion (2010 est.)
$2.988 billion (2009 est.)
Exports - commodities

coffee, fish and fish products, tea, cotton, flowers, horticultural products; gold
Exports - partners

Sudan 15.3%, Kenya 10.2%, Rwanda 8.5%, Democratic Republic of the Congo 7.8%, UAE 7.7%, Netherlands 6.4%, Germany 5.4%, Belgium 4.1% (2010)
Imports

$4.247 billion (2010 est.)
$3.787 billion (2009 est.)
Imports - commodities

capital equipment, vehicles, petroleum, medical supplies; cereals
Imports - partners

Kenya 17.1%, UAE 14.1%, China 8.5%, India 8.2%, South Africa 6.2%, Japan 5.9%, Germany 4.3% (2010)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

$2.96 billion (31 December 2010 est.)
$2.995 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
note: excludes gold
Debt - external

$2.854 billion (31 December 2010 est.)
$2.49 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home

$NA
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad

$NA
Exchange rates

Ugandan shillings (UGX) per US dollar -
2,166 (2010)
2,030 (2009)
1,658.1 (2008)
1,685.8 (2007)
1,834.9 (2006)

Monday, November 21, 2011

CONCERN AS KAJJANSI TAXI'S RE-LOCATE TO MARKET PARKING

Mr. Bwanika Sir,
The Operators of Taxi's at Kajjansi have moved away from the road side opposite Pan Clays and instead come to disturb the peace and harmony that has been existing at the parking officially designated for the Kajjansi market. I am not in the know whether this was a directive from your office, but it is a wrong move. You are aware Kajjansi plans for a Town Council have been delayed for over ten years now, and you fail to understand who is in control. The area where the taxis have re-located to is not big enough fr the Kajjansi Market traffic which include the vehicles which offload food and those of simple customers. When taxis keep loading from the market park, the food vehicles will resort back to Nakigalala road and a big mess will come back, which we had tried to fight. Secondly, the junction where the taxi's get out from the market is a wrong place given its nature and surely you can not rule out accidents given vehicles from Muchanga/ Bweya side and those coming from Kampala side wanting to join Nakigalala road.

Dear Sir, Kindly do us a good service and have taxis back to where they have been loading from.
Thank you.
William Kituuka Kiwanuka

UGANDA VOTERS ARE LEARNING A BITTER LESSON FROM MUSEVENI'S SINS

Has Museveni sinned? Yes. Museveni would have long ago left the office of Presidency of Uganda. He has used manipulation to continue, and in the process done a lot of wrong. Museveni is common at denying what he is believed to have okayed earlier! This is a sad development for a Head of State. For him, the assumption is that he is always right, and in the process, he has committed so many errors to the extent that the country is currently a laughing stock. Can you imagine the pressure people who have loan face today when electric power is not there? Last Saturday, Hon . Katuntu while on Capital Gang told the audience that the Parliament Committee had waited for the Ministry of Energy team to explain how the billions they had been given were utilized, but the team up to last Saturday had not shown up? The Question, was the money meant to pay Aggreko instead used in politics? The other day, the Red Pepper wrote a story which exposed some of the most highly paid Chief Executives in Uganda and among these was the CEO of UMEME a loss making company with shs 121,000,000. That is the country over which Museveni presides, and unfortunately he cannot tell Ugandans that he is about to go, instead he keeps on making more mistakes by the day! That is how low Uganda has sunk. People have to pay rents, the land lords will not listen to excuses that there was no power, but those who have got us to the mess are busy enjoying. Uganda is a sad case.
William Kituuka Kiwanuka

MUSEVENI MAKING MANY MISTAKES - MUNTU
Mercy Nalugo

4 October 2011
Former Army Commander Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu yesterday said President Museveni's regime has lost control of the State and is now prone to making endless mistakes that could cost the country dearly.
Speaking in the wake of the jailing of former Vice President Prof. Gilbert Bukenya, Gen. Muntu also warned that if the regime does not change direction, it will collapse in a heap.
"The inevitable is going to happen and there is going to be internal collapse. It is no longer a question of if, but when and how," he said in an interview. He criticised what he called "selective manner" in handling the Chogm prosecutions.
"You have many people who commit the same crime, you pick one whom you suspect and not others, simply because you want to progress your political agenda of regime survival. That is a mistake," he said

Museveni blamed
He added: "You have got national resources being mismanaged, such as the question of the oil that MPs are talking about. Instead of sitting back and pondering on the best way forward, you call all stakeholders and you do not call people to discuss the matter because of regime survival. You want to cut down Mabira because of politics and you are not looking at the long term. That is not sustainable."
Gen. Muntu said Bukenya's punishment should be applied uniformly since the former VP never acted alone.
"When you look at things as single events, you lose sight of the total picture. I think we should look at the total picture.The total picture is that the regime is in a state of free-fall. They have lost central control and they are making one grave mistake after the other. The buildup of all this is total frustration within the population," he said.
Gen. Muntu who was army commander for eight years, but now belongs to the opposition FDC, advised President Museveni to listen to Ugandans carefully.

GRADUATED TAX SHOULD NEVER COME BACK TO UGANDA SCENE

Many people have misused positions in Uganda. The Graduated tax was one area of abuse by some people in the Local Government's in Uganda. I remember a cousin of mine who was clearly suffering from AIDS was mishandled shameless by tax collectors and a few days he passed on. There are many stories to tell. For any one who wants to get money from the people, Graduated tax should be off the list. There are many cases of Human Rights abuses by the locals who were involved in this act and should not be seen again on Uganda scene. Some people drowned into Lake Victoria as they were chased for Graduated tax. It is sad, but real misuse of power.
William Kituuka Kiwanuka

MY SPINE WAS BROKEN BY GRADUATED TAX COLLECTORS
Tom Gwebayanga and Fred Sekanjako

1 October 2011

DAWUDI Diima Nali, 48, will forever regret the events of July 2, 1995, when graduated tax collectors broke his ribs. At night, the tax collectors stormed Nsuube village in Budondo sub-county, Jinja district.
They banged his door and commanded him to get out.
At first, he thought they were robbers. However, when the banging intensified, he realised they were administrators hunting for graduated tax defaulters.
Trembling, he jumped over his wife and headed to the door that was almost giving way. He made his way through and by the time he swung the door open, he had resolved to escape.
He did not want to be locked up in the filthy sub-county jail.

The tax collectors realised his intention and tried to intercept him, resulting in a thorough chase.
The team comprised the sub-county chief, the LC1 chairman and three stick wielding LDU's.
They pursued Nali and logged him and within a minute, he had collapsed bearing broken ribs, a dislocated back and a shattered spinal cord!

Nali narrates ordeal
I had not cleared my graduated tax, but I had told the LC1 chairman, Fred Gwotaisenaye, about my plans to pay.
I still wonder how he dumped me and instead came with LDUs to arrest me. I was beaten like a chicken thief and the injuries inflicted on me have persisted for fifteen years now.
I spent four years in Jinja Hospital, where doctors diagnosed that my back had been broken and the spinal cord destroyed.
Since then, I have never walked on my feet. In hospital, I could neither change position nor move a limb. By the time I was discharged, my legs had gone numb and tiny. Now, I cannot change position without being helped.
I even lost the ability to have sex. My wife ran away and got married another man in Iganga. By then, we had four children. Since then, I have stayed indoors day and night for the last 15 years.
I live on handouts from sympathisers, who bring me some sugar and food.
My body is frail, as I cannot access sunlight that enriches the body with vitamins. My elder brother, Ibrahim Waiswa (52), is my nearest helper who assists me in case I want to relieve myself.
He brings a plastic bucket that he puts below my buttocks and takes the stool to the toilet.
My four children dropped out of school. I could no longer fend for the family, but worse still, politicians have been useless to me.

WHO DISABLED DIIMA?
Although he knows those who assaulted him, Diima did not seek legal redress.
"I cannot waste resources on legal affairs when I live on handouts," he said.
Recently, the Maranatha Ministries in Jinja, led by Betty Musiiro, learnt about his plight.
They have started giving him some assistance like food, sugar and beddings. However, the roof of his grass-thatched hut leaks.
Asked to comment on an MP's recent proposal that graduated tax should be reinstated,
Diima complains that legislators like Frank Nabwiso and Fred Mbagadhi Nkaayi, who have represented his constituency, Kagoma, over the last 15 years have never visited him.
How can anyone think about bringing back graduated tax when he is still in so much pain?
"They should not betray us. I am suffering because of graduated tax," he said. Like Diima, various people have opposed the graduated tax proposal, forcing Mbarara Woman MP Emma Boona to abandon it.

Will graduated tax come back?
Boona, a member of the public service and local governments committee of Parliament, had proposed to the committee that the Government reintroduces graduated tax, saying many people, especially the youth, had given up on working.
Subsequently, the committee called for a meeting to discuss the matter, but majority of the members opposed it, saying the tax was abused.
"I am not considering bringing any motions to have the tax reinstated because majority of the people do not want the tax reinstated. Even if I bring it, it will not receive much support," she said.
Boona, however, has not yet given up totally. She is carrying out further consultations with various stakeholders to find out how to raise the issue in future. Her main argument is that ever since the tax was scrapped, many Ugandans lost interest in working since they do not see any compelling reason why they should work.
The opponents of graduated tax argue that it was collected using crude and expensive methods.
But, Boona argues that if a tax was collected using inappropriate ways and the money spent wrongly, the solution is not to do away with the tax.
"We should only improve the way this tax is collected. People no longer want to work.You go to the villages and find people just gambling in the morning and you get frustrated," she added.
It is now six years since the Government abolished graduated tax in 2005 on the grounds that it was an unfair burden on the poor.
However, local council chairpersons, who want the tax to be reinstated, noted that ever since the tax was scrapped, most of their district activities have been constrained due to inadequate funding from the Government.
Before its abolition, graduated tax was the main source of revenue to many poor districts.