Model Village

At the Farm

“If the village perishes India will perish too. It will be no more
India. Her own mission in the world will get lost.” -----M.K. Gandhi

The majority of the people in Uganda live in villages. Technology has changed the entire world in which we live but the villagers and their quality of life has not changed much.
In attempt to transform the villages, we bring you Gandhi’s model homestead approach.
Gandhi had a great vision about an ideal village, which later on became a “model village”. He visualised villages as productive centres, using appropriate technologies and having skilful workers and excellent environment. The villagers would have good health and not be idle or wallow in luxury.
Gandhi said that, “a village unit as conceived by me is as strong as the strongest. My imaginary village consists of one thousand souls. Such a unit can give good account of itself, if it is well organised on a basis of self-sufficiency.”
Till today, such ideal or model villages of Gandhi simply remained in our dream. The National Agricultural Advisory Services, NAADS, and Bonnabagagawale development scenarios indicate that even after 47 years of independence, illiteracy, hunger, unemployment, inadequate infrastructure and medical facilities, poor housing, over population and poverty continued to exist in the rural, tribal and urban areas Uganda.
The basic needs of the people could not be met in spite of the abundant natural resources, foreign funding, cattle wealth, workforce and large pool of technocrats and scientists available in the country.
The rural people still suffer from indigence, ignorance and illiteracy. As Mahatma Gandhi opined that India lives in villages, Uganda too lives in villages. According to statistics from Uganda national bureau of standards, 75% of Ugandans live in villages. These areas face inadequate roads, transportation, communication, health and sanitation facilities.
Inspite of so many developmental schemes and projects introduced by the state, central government and humanitarian agencies, basic needs of villages such as clean water supply, food security, good shelter and clothing are not fulfilled.
A conceptual model village is where the villagers act as decision makers, partners, and beneficiaries with multi-sectorial, ultifunctional and integrated development to achieve the holistic and sustainable development. This is backed up by futuristic and progressive skills leading to higher levels of productivity and improvement in overall quality of life.
A model village is a modern, secular, democratic system empowered with prosperous and harmonious life suffused with human values sublimated with spiritual inspiration.
Model villages should have a self propelling model for ensuring growth with equality and social justice within the participatory framework. The crux and pivot of village development should be a villager who is both a partner and beneficiary simultaneously.
This scenario needs a suitable social and psychological environment to foster a cooperative and voluntary spirit among people; a pragmatic people centered development policy and setting up of appropriate peoples institutions by aiming at knowledge society with effective people’s participation and partnership.
In this context, model villages will play a vital role and transform all the present form of villages into self dependent and supporting units which ultimately augment the overall development of the country.

Go Japan

Roadside;
At first I thought it crazy, when I mentioned it to friends, they laughed, in the bar they applauded. But it’s true. Even CNN has confirmed it.
Japan is sending its workers home early twice a week, as an incentive to encourage them to have more babies. Apparently Japan’s birth rate is so slow, that it may face extinction. Scientists are doing calculations and studies to see when this happens.
In Uganda, the saying is that we are producing at a supersonic rate. I wonder why the Japanese have not yet sent a team to study and then copy how Ugandans are able to produce so many babies, with even little incentives.
Come to think of it; we spend a lot of time stack in traffic jam and meandering potholes, sit on counters draining everything with an alcoholic label, cheer and thereafter analyze European league football on street corners. With all these engagements, we have managed to grow.
I will offer Japan free and unsolicited consultancy. Some of the workers may refuse to go home, trying to earn extra bucks in these predictable (yes) times of slumber.
Therefore, the most honorable thing to do is to ensure a power shut down every evening, for a minimum six hours. Even the shy ones, (Japanese reputation for shyness is well documented) will have no excuse. Then, let their be a prize, I propose a heifer and teddy bear, for the couple that gives birth to twins, triplets or just gives birth more often.
To compound this story, I consulted Mr. NaTanansi Akanywa, a well traveled man, who has traveled as far as the next hill across his father’s homestead. He confirmed that in darkness, there is an increased level of baby production.
“You see in towns, I hear they give birth to few children. That is because they have this light (electricity). But in villages, we give birth to many, because night time is busy as its dark.” He said.
An advice from a well traveled elder is respected.

Baba i, the artist

From the Studio Am now six months old as a promoter of a young, and upcoming musician. He is also my friend. I was appointed when he had already chosen his stage name; Baba i. I’m sketchy why he chose that name.
We (am part of the team now) sing mainly in Runyankole, with interludes of Swahili. So far we have released two songs; Busy, which illustrates the daily hussle of the common youth, as he attempts to put food on the table. The other is Okukunda, a lamentation of a young man for his lover. We are currently in studio, finalizing our third song, that will be out soon.
Baba i is a hit on airwaves in western Uganda. But as all other musicians, fruits of the hard work all enjoyed by the pirates (not from the Somalia coastline) of the industry.
We will be realizing videos of the songs as soon as funds permit.
Baba i is a young and upcoming musician, based in Ibanda district, Western Uganda. In his mid-20s, he is as Raymo says, motivational working with. He has exceptional talent. All the songs are personal written, which gives him a parental link. I now embark on a task, to see to this young man achieve his dream, the road looks bumpy. Very many have slipped along the way. Others have endured. Some have attained cult status.
I will keep you posted.

City on Demand

From the Local Council meeting. Uganda could soon have two more cities, in addition to the ever increasing number of districts, town councils, sub counties and villages.
Gulu Municipality in Northern Uganda, and Mbarara Municipality in Western Uganda, are the two towns that could be elevated to city status if local government officials are satisfied with the field findings.
The other town being evaluated is Mbale in Eastern Uganda.
Mbarara Municipality has three divisions and 30 kilometers of road network. Recently, Mbarara Municipality received 855 million shillings from the Ministry of Works to tarmack the roads, in preparation gaining city status.
Mbarara is the gateway into western Uganda, with transit routes to Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Northern Tanzania.
Entebbe was the administrative and commercial center of Uganda during the colonial times, until just after independence in 1962 when the capital city was moved to Kampala.
Kampala is up to now the only city in Uganda, acting as the administrative, commercial, industrial, political, cultural and educational centre, with a day population estimated to be over three million people.
According to Mbarara Municipality mayor, the town has day time population of over 200,000 people and a night time population of about 100,000. This is far below the required population of 500,000 for a Municipality to be elevated into a city.
This is not the only hurdle facing this town, tension is already high, poor sanitation, problems of solid waste collection and disposal, wrangles over divisions’ border demarcations, and revenue collection are threatening to tear apart the Municipality Council.
According to National Environment Management Authority, Mbarara Municipality leads in garbage collection at 55% and a landfill of 100 acres, the largest in the country. This it accomplishes with four garbage collection trucks.
Gulu town, which is set to celebrate 100 years of operation, is the gateway to Northern Uganda, Southern Sudan and Juba, Eastern Congo and a ‘headquarter’ of Non Governmental Organizations which are operating in Northern Uganda, majority offering humanitarian aid.
This award of city status to Municipalities could become the new trend after the people-driven-district-demand phase.
Already Jinja Municipality council is complaining that they too should be considered for elevation, as they were the first to table a motion to the minister of local government. Soon other municipalities could join in.
Jinja Municipality is based in Eastern Uganda; it is the entry point of goods into Uganda and the neighboring countries, and base station of hydro power dam on River Nile.
The country has witnessed an increase in number of districts under the decentralisation programme of bringing service closer to the people. The decentralization programme was started in 1993.
The number of districts has increased from 15 in 1966, to 38 in 1991, and 77 now. Thirty three districts were created and operationalised between the year 2000 and 2006. Currently there 77 districts, 150 sub counties, 13 municipalities and one city council.
Critics argue that this creation of new districts has increased expenditure on public service at the cost of development. This they add is only intended to score political goals.
Some columnists have claimed that expenditure on public administration grown consistently at an annual rate of 16 percent, from $ 100 million in 1998 to $ 200 million in 2004, while Uganda’s foreign debt is estimated to be $ 5 billion, up from $ 286 million in 1986, despite the continous debt waivers.
The increased expenditure comes in increased people representatives, commissioners and their support staff and utilities.
Once the proposed municipalities are elevated into cities, they will receive more funding from the central government. Already, according to 2007/08 budget of Gulu district, which was 6.6 bn, over 5.5 bn was expected from the central government.
The abolition of graduated tax towards the 2006 presidential elections left local governments with little sources of revenue to run their business, and now turn attention to the central government through the Ministry of Local Government for support. The compensation that was promised is yet to be delivered.
The Annual Assessment of Minimum Conditions and Performance Measures for Local Government 2007 Synthesis Report indicates that most districts did not collect enough money to run their budget.
Some districts like Pallisa in 2006, was reported to have sold off district vehicles so as to raise money to pay outstanding debts.
And now with more cities expected, public expenditure will increase, a move that could spell another political issue for a heated discussion.

Herald new year

From the Edge. We are days old into the new year. Some resolutions for the new year are already broken, while are others are still that; resolutions.
The first of the broken resolution is the government’s suspension of the recovery plan for northern Uganda.
2008 was historic, so was 2007, 2006, …. and so will be 2009.
Here at muheebwa.blogspot, an audit of 2008 will not been done, for the simple reason, not that many fellow writers have done the audit, but because even if we audit, our society has become unresponsive to such involvements.
We shall only do the analysis of 2009 as it grows, not glows.

Word of Counsel

Kyadondo North; In the just concluded by-elections in Kyadondo North constituency, one of the candidates received 25 votes; the second last received 60 votes. And the first runner up lost by 60 votes.
All participants were young men and women, in the quarter a century age bracket. They have ambitions and rolled out their sleeves to redeem their natives.
All of them had campaign teams, have families, relatives and friends.
If you receive 25 votes in your home constituency with a voting capacity of 80,000 voters, despite the fact that only 25% turned up, then as a young enterprising individual, my counsel is; revise your strategy not tragedy.
I listened to the winner of the by-election, irrespective of the means used, on a radio talk show. The description by the FDC fire-woman from Busoga as ‘an amateur’ will be upheld for the moment. The lady even opted to leave the show and instead join a thanks giving party of her sister, the deputy speaker, who is from the other house of rulers.
At a tender age, all contestants seem ambitious and curious. When your ambitions over ride your abilities, then your one step away from real disaster.
Read the results of the by-election one more time.

People & Power

Demand for City Status; A New Phase
Guest Writer from Kampla House. Uganda will soon have two more cities, in addition to the increasing number of districts, town councils, sub counties and villages.
Gulu Municipality in Northern Uganda, and Mbarara Municipality in Western Uganda, are the two towns that will be elevated to city status this November if local government officials are satisfied with the field findings.
The other town thought to being evaluated is Mbale in Eastern Uganda.
Mbarara Municipality has three divisions and 30 kilometers of road network. Recently, Mbarara Municipality received 855 million shillings from the Ministry of Works to tarmack the roads, in preparation gaining city status.
Mbarara is the gateway into Western Uganda, with transit routes to Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Northern Tanzania.
Entebbe was the administrative and commercial center of Uganda during the colonial times, until just after independence in 1962 when the capital city was moved to Kampala.
Kampala is up to now the only city in Uganda, acting as the administrative, commercial, industrial, political, cultural and educational centre, with a day population estimated to be over three million people.
According to Mbarara Municipality mayor, the town has day time population of over 200,000 and a night time population of about 100,000. This is far below the required population of 500,000 for a Municipality to be considered for elevation into a city.
This is not the only hurdle facing this town, tension is already high, poor sanitation, problems of solid waste collection and disposal, wrangles over divisions’ border demarcations, and revenue collection are threatening to tear apart the Municipality Council.
According to National Environment Management Authority, Mbarara Municipality leads in garbage collection at 55% and a landfill of 100 acres, the largest in the country. This it accomplishes with four garbage collection trucks.
The other town under consideration is Gulu.
Gulu town, which is set to celebrate 100 years of operation, is the gateway to Northern Uganda, Southern Sudan and Juba, Eastern Congo and a ‘headquarter’ of Non Governmental Organizations which are operating in Northern Uganda, majority of which offer humanitarian aid to the 20 year-war affected population.
This award of city status to Municipalities could become the new trend after the people-driven-district-demand phase.
Already Jinja Municipality council is raising alarm that they too should be considered for elevation, as they were the first to table a motion to the minister of Local Government. And analysts predict that soon, other municipalities could join in.
Jinja Municipality is based in Eastern Uganda; it is the entry point of goods into Uganda and the neighboring countries, and base station of hydro electric power dam on River Nile.
Mukono town council has also set a by-law against peeing on the radside and walls, in a bid to increase chances of earning a city status, (as if in the city, they don't pee on the walls, roadside and grass). The country has witnessed an increase in number of districts under the decentralisation programme, aimed at bringing services closer to the people. It is common for a homestead, clan or anthill to agitate for a district. All it takes is for one kinsman to munch a fatty rat, wear dead banana leaves and a pronounciation is made. The decentralization programme was started in 1993.
The number of districts has increased from 15 in 1966, to 38 in 1991, and as I write this, am not sure of the number. Thirty three districts were created and operationalised between the year 2000 and 2006. Currently there 77 districts, 150 sub counties, 13 municipalities and one city council.
Critics argue that this creation of new districts has increased expenditure on public service at the cost of development. This they add is only intended to score political goals. Our bar-liamentary committee observed that those against district invetion are those who have failed to eat from them.
Some columnists have claimed that expenditure on public administration has grown consistently at an annual rate of 16 percent, from $ 100 million in 1998 to $ 200 million in 2004, while Uganda’s foreign debt is estimated to be $ 5 billion, up from $ 286 million in 1986, despite the continuous debt waivers. The population has also grown, estimated to currently be nearing the 30 million mark.
The increased expenditure comes in increased people representatives, commissioners and their support staff and utilities.
Once the proposed municipalities are elevated into cities, they will receive more funding from the central government.
Already, according to 2007/08 budget of Gulu district, which was 6.6 bn, over 5.5 bn was expected from the central government.
The abolition of graduated tax towards the 2006 presidential elections left local governments with little sources of revenue to run their business, and now turn attention to the central government through the Ministry of Local Government for support. This attempt has increased laziness, drunkardness and gigger infestation, says an unpublished report by agencies.
The Annual Assessment of Minimum Conditions and Performance Measures for Local Government 2007 Synthesis Report indicates that most districts did not collect enough money to run their budget.
Some districts like Pallisa in 2006, was reported to have sold off district vehicles so as to raise money to pay outstanding debts. A lousy start, I will tackle this another day.
And now with more cities expected, public expenditure will increase, a move that could spell another heated political issue of contention.