Wednesday, April 25, 2012
PARLIAMENT’S 103M CAR SCHEME SMACKS OF HIGH LEVEL DISHONESTY
By Mutabazi Sam Stewart
The last batch of Members of Parliament received 103 million on their accounts in form of a vehicle grant by the government on 20th February 2012. The first batch had received theirs late last year. The whole scheme had been kept as a top secret because the crafters were aware that the whole issue was bound to arouse public resentment and disapproval in unqualified measure. True to their expectations, there was a lot of public outpouring when the issue was finally made public by one of the parliamentarians who assented that he had indeed already got the money. The whirlwind this issue generated was expected. But also the way the public has once again been left helpless was expected as well due to the fact that civil society in the country is not yet up to the task of holding our political leaders accountable in every way possible.
At a time when Ugandans had started to celebrate that the 9th Parliament was going to rescue them from the executive arm of government that is hell bent on spending public resources on unnecessary expenditures, the legislature compromised its reputation by accepting 103 million as a grant to purchase private vehicles. The news couldn’t have been more shocking as it was maddening. Ugandans braved one of the hardest economic times in recent times last year when the country underwent an untold economic down turn. Members of Parliament from both the ruling party and the opposition identified with the condition and called on government to find lasting solutions to ameliorate the situation. When teachers downed their tools in a nationwide strike to force government to increase their monthly pay, MPS were on the teachers side pleading with government to increase the salaries of these underpaid civil servants. The 9th parliament was in all its initial character a 'peoples parliament' The question on many minds of ugandans is what could have gone wrong with parliamentarians who had been enigmatic in their approach to dealing with national issues.
Politicians have been described world over as people who need not to be trusted but the level of betrayal exhibited by our parliament makes one wonder whether one still needs to vote or not. They all acted in unison to resoundingly chorus the same argument that they rightfully needed the money. Soon after the story had come out, two prominent opposition MPS appeared on a regular radio talk show. Hon. Abdu Katuntu and Hon. Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda fiercely defended the whole saga as if their life depended on the said money. I have personally never been so disappointed. It is painful when the person in whom you have a lot of confidence disappoints you but it is even more painful when that person does so for purely selfish reasons. Hon Semujju reasoned that 'even if I was given one Billion I would take it'. He said that he was entitled to the money and argued that it is MPS representing the army and other groups like ministers who should not be facilitated. This was a clear case of a tragic self seeker who did not have the decency of feeling remorseful about the predicament of millions of Ugandans languishing in poverty at whose expense he wanted to drive an expensive vehicle under the pretense that he was working for their interests and aspirations. On his part, Hon. Abdu Katuntu was even more annoying and quite arrogant, to say the least. Ugandans who know Katuntu can describe him as a thoughtful, resourceful, and intelligent legislator who spares no effort in working for the common good of the masses. On the day he appeared defending the said money, the first time listener of Abdu would have thought that Katuntu was one of the most heartless parliamentarians in the country. Katuntu arrogantly declared to the public that he used to drive a more expensive vehicle before he was a member of parliament. He said that according to the work he is doing in parliament, the said money was in fact not enough to purchase a vehicle of his status and calibre. This statement came like a thunderbolt to my ears. I adjusted the knob of the radio to make sure I was listening to the voice of Hon Katuntu that many have come to associate with compassion and uncommon temperance. I had many questions which I wanted to pause to Abdu but I knew that the greedy nature that had got hold of him would not allow him to answer them in a sober way. I wanted to ask him some of these questions; Was Abdu forced to vie for election in his constituency, why did he leave his job which he still thinks was better paying than being a parliamentarian, when he was campaigning to become an MP, did he want to go to parliament to make money of to serve his people. Did he know that parliament is not supposed to be a place for people who need to accumulate wealth, Does Abdu think he is the only capable person to represent his people in Bugweri constituency? What type of work does an MP do that requires such huge amounts of money as facilitation. Many members of parliament take Ugandans for granted. For an MP to declare that they were getting more money in their jobs and expect to be paid highly is not only detestable but it is nauseating. It smacks of self-seeking behavior in its worst form. When respectable members of parliament cannot hide their true coluors because the issue at hand directly touches on their personal characters. When parliamentarians feel they have nothing to lose when it comes to defending their emoluments, it makes one wonder to whom Ugandans can turn for solace in solving their problems.
Hon Katuntu said on the same talk show, just as many ugandans have been chorussing that the current parliament is quite big and this factor alone renders it ineffective. I am yet to meet a ugandan who genuinely supports a large parliament like ours. A lean parliament would be more efficient and better facilitated than a huge one. It would also enable the system of electioneering to bring only the best persons fit to occupy parliament. Now, it defeats any logic for Ho. Katuntu to say that even before the size of parliament is trimmed, he should be remunerated as though we had a smaller parliament. How I wish that Hon Katuntu together with other likeminded politicians can join hands to bring a motion to reduce the numbers of the current parliament.
In the current circumstances when a medical doctor earns less than one million shillings, a nurse, less than five hundred thousand, a teacher less than five hundred thousand and a police officer less than three hundred thousand, any form of argument in favour of MPS emoluments should be considered both inconsiderate and treacherous. It is a breach of an agreement between the people of Uganda and their representatives, an ultimate price citizens have to pay for because they are represented by representatives who with all intents and purposes seek to join parliament under the pretext that they are going to push for peoples agenda when in actual sense they are doing so for personal selfish motives.
The writer is the Executive Director of Uganda Road Sector Support Initiative (URSSI)
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
WHY UGANDA SHOULD BRACE FOR HIGH PRICES OF FOOD FOR A LONG TIME
By Mutabazi Sam Stewart
The global recession is about to be brought to a successful end thanks to good macro economic policies by the new administration in the United States of America. Economists in developing countries including Uganda waited with abated breath wondering how the credit crunch would affect their fragile economies. Some argued that it would only be a matter of time before the depression would spread to our country while others reasoned that given the fact that a country like Uganda is not yet a highly monetized economy, the impact of the crunch would not have the same shock it had on well developed economies in the Western World. Today we can state with certainty that the credit crunch is waning having had a slight brunt on Uganda’s economy.
Economies world wide react to depressions differently. The world has witnessed various economic slumps during the last one hundred years although the most pronounced have been that of 1920’s and the current one that peaked in 2008. In between these periods however there were intermittent shocks and distresses with varying magnitudes. Some have been handled by technocrats without allowing the world to get to know about their extent.
Although Uganda did not experience the true recession as some people had anticipated, no body in government should claim that the crunch did not happen here because of any preconditioned policies and programmes that shielded us from the depression spank. It is true that the crunch did not affect our financial institutions because very few are engaged in mortgages. It did not affect our industries because most of them do not directly rely on inputs from the developed countries which were experiencing the real chomp.
The direct effect however came in the form of increased prices of food throughout the country brought about by the hike in international oil prices. Analysts are already predicting that the price of food in Uganda may never normalize to the former cost that most of us had been accustomed to for a very long time. Prior to 2008, Uganda perhaps, was one of the few countries in the world with the lowest prices of food. All this has been altered and is likely to remain so for quite a long time. As readers may recall, during peak harvest period, one would buy a bunch of Matooke at as little as 1000 shilling or less especially in villages. As of today, you can not get the same bunch at twice this amount even in the most remote part of western Uganda, the leading Matooke producing area in the country.
This state of affairs is explained by largely two factors; namely the credit crunch and secondly by a general decrease in production of food in the entire country. The former is not as strong a factor as the latter. It is critical that policy makers in government take careful procedures to address the problem of food shortage in Uganda before it gets out of hand. What has happened is that, of late, there is an unprecedented movement of persons from rural areas into towns and cities by young energetic persons. Majority of them are engaged in petty business but mainly in boda boda business. In effect this means that the people who would have provided the much needed labour to produce the food, have instead migrated in search of other jobs which are considered “superior” to farming using the traditional hand hoe.
The little food that is being produced by the few, (moreover old and weak) farmers that remain in the villages can not satisfy the demand from the ever increasing numbers of people in towns. This in itself would not be a problem if there was a premeditated plan by government to encourage people to start large scale mechanized farming that is capable of meeting the food needs of the country both during and out of season. Large scale farming in Uganda is very difficult to implement because of continued land fragmentation that makes it almost impossible to get one whole piece of land that favors such type of agriculture. Indeed, it is hard today to get free land, say of 1000 acres, in the western and central parts of Uganda without human settlement. Therefore, if our agriculture sector no longer has small holder farmers because of rural-urban migration, and at the same time our land tenure system does not support large scale farming, the obvious, which unfortunately has already happened will continue to ensue until the same people who flocked into towns go back to where the came from or government implements a not-so-popular maneuver of pushing people off the land enmass to release it for large scale agriculture and farming. In the meantime, while the credit crunch shall be history in a few months or years to come in the countries like USA, Uganda shall have its share of a serious depression that may last longer and is difficult to deal with because of no other reason than not acting in good time.
The global recession is about to be brought to a successful end thanks to good macro economic policies by the new administration in the United States of America. Economists in developing countries including Uganda waited with abated breath wondering how the credit crunch would affect their fragile economies. Some argued that it would only be a matter of time before the depression would spread to our country while others reasoned that given the fact that a country like Uganda is not yet a highly monetized economy, the impact of the crunch would not have the same shock it had on well developed economies in the Western World. Today we can state with certainty that the credit crunch is waning having had a slight brunt on Uganda’s economy.
Economies world wide react to depressions differently. The world has witnessed various economic slumps during the last one hundred years although the most pronounced have been that of 1920’s and the current one that peaked in 2008. In between these periods however there were intermittent shocks and distresses with varying magnitudes. Some have been handled by technocrats without allowing the world to get to know about their extent.
Although Uganda did not experience the true recession as some people had anticipated, no body in government should claim that the crunch did not happen here because of any preconditioned policies and programmes that shielded us from the depression spank. It is true that the crunch did not affect our financial institutions because very few are engaged in mortgages. It did not affect our industries because most of them do not directly rely on inputs from the developed countries which were experiencing the real chomp.
The direct effect however came in the form of increased prices of food throughout the country brought about by the hike in international oil prices. Analysts are already predicting that the price of food in Uganda may never normalize to the former cost that most of us had been accustomed to for a very long time. Prior to 2008, Uganda perhaps, was one of the few countries in the world with the lowest prices of food. All this has been altered and is likely to remain so for quite a long time. As readers may recall, during peak harvest period, one would buy a bunch of Matooke at as little as 1000 shilling or less especially in villages. As of today, you can not get the same bunch at twice this amount even in the most remote part of western Uganda, the leading Matooke producing area in the country.
This state of affairs is explained by largely two factors; namely the credit crunch and secondly by a general decrease in production of food in the entire country. The former is not as strong a factor as the latter. It is critical that policy makers in government take careful procedures to address the problem of food shortage in Uganda before it gets out of hand. What has happened is that, of late, there is an unprecedented movement of persons from rural areas into towns and cities by young energetic persons. Majority of them are engaged in petty business but mainly in boda boda business. In effect this means that the people who would have provided the much needed labour to produce the food, have instead migrated in search of other jobs which are considered “superior” to farming using the traditional hand hoe.
The little food that is being produced by the few, (moreover old and weak) farmers that remain in the villages can not satisfy the demand from the ever increasing numbers of people in towns. This in itself would not be a problem if there was a premeditated plan by government to encourage people to start large scale mechanized farming that is capable of meeting the food needs of the country both during and out of season. Large scale farming in Uganda is very difficult to implement because of continued land fragmentation that makes it almost impossible to get one whole piece of land that favors such type of agriculture. Indeed, it is hard today to get free land, say of 1000 acres, in the western and central parts of Uganda without human settlement. Therefore, if our agriculture sector no longer has small holder farmers because of rural-urban migration, and at the same time our land tenure system does not support large scale farming, the obvious, which unfortunately has already happened will continue to ensue until the same people who flocked into towns go back to where the came from or government implements a not-so-popular maneuver of pushing people off the land enmass to release it for large scale agriculture and farming. In the meantime, while the credit crunch shall be history in a few months or years to come in the countries like USA, Uganda shall have its share of a serious depression that may last longer and is difficult to deal with because of no other reason than not acting in good time.
Monday, December 12, 2011
THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF PRINT MEDIA IN UGANDA
By Mutabazi Sam Stewart
Uganda’s print media industry has grown tremendously in a relatively short period of time compared to other countries within the region. The New Vision, Uganda’s leading daily sells up to 35,000 copies every day. Its annual turn over is approximately 40 billion shillings. Established in 1986, the New Vision has witnessed a steady growth from a time when it virtually didn’t have any competitor to early 1990’s when the Monitor (now Daily Monitor) entered the market. The Daily Monitor sales are estimated at 25,000-30,000 each day. Print media in Uganda has overtaken that of neighboring Tanzania in terms of quality and content but not in circulation. Uganda’s print media is currently sold in all the five member states of the East African Community (EAC) although the sales outside Uganda are still meager. The New Vision again leads in selling most copies with up to 2000 copies sold in Kenya everyday. Rwanda is the second consumer of Ugandan newspapers after Kenya because of its historical links with Uganda. Burundi buys the least number of newspapers from Uganda among the EAC member countries.
The Daily Nation of Kenya which is the largest circulating newspaper in East Africa selling in excess of 200,000 copies every day has achieved this feat because of among other reasons, its long history having been established in 1958, and continuous improvement in its content, design and innovation. Ugandan newspapers still have a long way to go in spite of the successes so far achieved. According to media analysts the reasons why Uganda’s newspapers sales are still low has been due to small urban elite population that can afford to buy a newspapers plus the high cost of the newspapers. The cost of producing each copy of a newspaper in Uganda is still high compared to the same in developed countries. Although all daily newspapers are printed locally, the quality of printing has not yet reached the standard of Kenya and South Africa.
There are very many newspapers which begin business in Uganda each year. But a few survive beyond their first anniversary. The rate at which newspapers start is possibly higher than the rate at which they close. Some publications do not even stay around long enough to be known by a considerable number of people in Kampala. It takes a lot of planning and determination to keep a publication coming out on the streets as scheduled. Publications (newspapers and magazines) mainly depend on revenue generated from advertisers. But advertisers may not easily choose a medium (read print media) that has not been tested by its track record of consistency. A newspaper that does not coherently address itself to the requirements of both its readers and advertisers may find it challenging to keep in circulation for a long time.
Apart from advertisers, a publication’s survival almost solely depends on its content and how the same is packaged for the public to appreciate and get the confidence that what they get through buying or advertising in such a paper will give them the leverage over other competing publications. The other determining factor of newspaper circulation is the population within a country. China, Japan and India have the largest number of newspapers by average circulation because of their high population density. Yumiuri Shimbum of Japan with an average daily circulation of 14 Million copies is by far the best selling newspaper in the world and has held this position for more than five years now. Of course coupled with big numbers of people is the standard of living in a given country. The higher the standard of living a country enjoys, the more likely its people can afford to buy newspapers and vice versa.
No publication can claim to achieve its audience’s (readers’) expectations all the time. Society’s needs and aspirations are always changing. A newspaper which therefore relies on present circumstances to consider that it has a fair share of readers and advertisers and does less to reinvent itself through well-thought-out innovative ventures may slowly but surely sink over time. Editors of newspapers spend sleepless nights thinking of how they can tell a story as differently as possible and in an interesting mode as it can get. They put a lot of pressure on their reporters and writers which leads to stressful lives for the latter. It is challenging to write a good story. It is even more challenging to write interesting stories consistently. Every publication needs highly motivated writers who are willing to go the extra mile of delivering a message to the public that would leave both the writer and the reader satisfied that the former has done their best while the latter yarns for more pieces that offer good reading.
It is interesting to note that newspaper and magazine editors are well aware when their publication has not lived up to the expectations of the public. For instance there are times when a person buys one of the major dailies in Uganda and gets a sense of betrayal because they feel they did not get the worth of their money. Some newspapers may for example have more of advertisements that news. This is abnormal since readers generally are interested in news than advertisements. A very small percentage of people buy newspapers to read advertisements unless they are advertising job and vacancies or it is the people who placed those advertisements and want to check that they were produced correctly.
The print industry in Uganda is likely to continue growing but will have to put up with the challenge of facing steep competition from radio, internet and television. As more people get access to internet, a good number of them will choose to read the news from the net while others may opt for radio as their major source of information. Newspapers are going to find themselves in an unenviable situation of whether to publish their news on the internet and allow people to read it free of charge or withhold it to force them to buy printed copies which would mean losing out on possible advertisers on the newspaper websites. Whichever trend the print media chooses to take there are likely to be obstacles brought about due to information age and globalization. It is survival for the fittest.
Uganda’s print media industry has grown tremendously in a relatively short period of time compared to other countries within the region. The New Vision, Uganda’s leading daily sells up to 35,000 copies every day. Its annual turn over is approximately 40 billion shillings. Established in 1986, the New Vision has witnessed a steady growth from a time when it virtually didn’t have any competitor to early 1990’s when the Monitor (now Daily Monitor) entered the market. The Daily Monitor sales are estimated at 25,000-30,000 each day. Print media in Uganda has overtaken that of neighboring Tanzania in terms of quality and content but not in circulation. Uganda’s print media is currently sold in all the five member states of the East African Community (EAC) although the sales outside Uganda are still meager. The New Vision again leads in selling most copies with up to 2000 copies sold in Kenya everyday. Rwanda is the second consumer of Ugandan newspapers after Kenya because of its historical links with Uganda. Burundi buys the least number of newspapers from Uganda among the EAC member countries.
The Daily Nation of Kenya which is the largest circulating newspaper in East Africa selling in excess of 200,000 copies every day has achieved this feat because of among other reasons, its long history having been established in 1958, and continuous improvement in its content, design and innovation. Ugandan newspapers still have a long way to go in spite of the successes so far achieved. According to media analysts the reasons why Uganda’s newspapers sales are still low has been due to small urban elite population that can afford to buy a newspapers plus the high cost of the newspapers. The cost of producing each copy of a newspaper in Uganda is still high compared to the same in developed countries. Although all daily newspapers are printed locally, the quality of printing has not yet reached the standard of Kenya and South Africa.
There are very many newspapers which begin business in Uganda each year. But a few survive beyond their first anniversary. The rate at which newspapers start is possibly higher than the rate at which they close. Some publications do not even stay around long enough to be known by a considerable number of people in Kampala. It takes a lot of planning and determination to keep a publication coming out on the streets as scheduled. Publications (newspapers and magazines) mainly depend on revenue generated from advertisers. But advertisers may not easily choose a medium (read print media) that has not been tested by its track record of consistency. A newspaper that does not coherently address itself to the requirements of both its readers and advertisers may find it challenging to keep in circulation for a long time.
Apart from advertisers, a publication’s survival almost solely depends on its content and how the same is packaged for the public to appreciate and get the confidence that what they get through buying or advertising in such a paper will give them the leverage over other competing publications. The other determining factor of newspaper circulation is the population within a country. China, Japan and India have the largest number of newspapers by average circulation because of their high population density. Yumiuri Shimbum of Japan with an average daily circulation of 14 Million copies is by far the best selling newspaper in the world and has held this position for more than five years now. Of course coupled with big numbers of people is the standard of living in a given country. The higher the standard of living a country enjoys, the more likely its people can afford to buy newspapers and vice versa.
No publication can claim to achieve its audience’s (readers’) expectations all the time. Society’s needs and aspirations are always changing. A newspaper which therefore relies on present circumstances to consider that it has a fair share of readers and advertisers and does less to reinvent itself through well-thought-out innovative ventures may slowly but surely sink over time. Editors of newspapers spend sleepless nights thinking of how they can tell a story as differently as possible and in an interesting mode as it can get. They put a lot of pressure on their reporters and writers which leads to stressful lives for the latter. It is challenging to write a good story. It is even more challenging to write interesting stories consistently. Every publication needs highly motivated writers who are willing to go the extra mile of delivering a message to the public that would leave both the writer and the reader satisfied that the former has done their best while the latter yarns for more pieces that offer good reading.
It is interesting to note that newspaper and magazine editors are well aware when their publication has not lived up to the expectations of the public. For instance there are times when a person buys one of the major dailies in Uganda and gets a sense of betrayal because they feel they did not get the worth of their money. Some newspapers may for example have more of advertisements that news. This is abnormal since readers generally are interested in news than advertisements. A very small percentage of people buy newspapers to read advertisements unless they are advertising job and vacancies or it is the people who placed those advertisements and want to check that they were produced correctly.
The print industry in Uganda is likely to continue growing but will have to put up with the challenge of facing steep competition from radio, internet and television. As more people get access to internet, a good number of them will choose to read the news from the net while others may opt for radio as their major source of information. Newspapers are going to find themselves in an unenviable situation of whether to publish their news on the internet and allow people to read it free of charge or withhold it to force them to buy printed copies which would mean losing out on possible advertisers on the newspaper websites. Whichever trend the print media chooses to take there are likely to be obstacles brought about due to information age and globalization. It is survival for the fittest.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
UNRA’S THREE YEAR JOURNEY CARRYING UGANDA’S ROAD BURDEN
By Mutabazi Sam Stewart
UNRA was established by an Act of Parliament as an autonomous entity three years ago with a mandate of managing the national road network on behalf of the government. UNRA’s mandate is not an easy task. The public expects quite a lot from the institution irrespective of the constraints it may face. UNRA is a young institution that faces an enormous assignment of developing and maintaining our roads in a better condition. It inherited a poor road network from the Ministry of Works and Transport which was at that time overwhelmed by the ever increasing criticism from the public about poor performance. As UNRA started on its long journey, skeptics wondered whether it would be up to the task. To address the most pressing challenge at that moment, the government of Uganda allocated 1.1 trillion shilling to the roads sub sector during the financial year 2008/2009. Although inadequate resources were the most significant hindrance at that time it was not the only problem the sector had to deal with. Policy considerations and questions were bound to arise as to whether the new organization had the capacity to absorb the allocated funds and deliver the best job worth the money. UNRA’s capacity has thus greatly been improved in the last three years of its existence with administrative, financial structural and planning systems of the organization already in place. UNRA has improved planning, programming and execution of maintenance works as exemplified by the number of roads it has so far completed and those under consideration.
Uganda has never witnessed the current levels of road construction since independence. There is serious work going on almost in every part of the country. Up to 1000 Km of roads have been constructed in the three years of UNRA’s existence. Old roads have been rehabilitated and maintenance works are being done on schedule unlike before. The challenge will be on whether government will continue to support the sector for a long to guarantee complete recovery of the sub sector. On the flip side, development partners, the public and other interested parties are looking at UNRA to provide an efficient road transport infrastructure. This will however depend on how much funding will consistently be earmarked and actually disbursed to UNRA in a consistent and sustained manner for long term planning commitments and implementation.
New Minister, New Budget
Expectations are high about the new minister of Works & Transport Eng. Abraham Byandala who replaces the long serving Eng. John Nasasira. Hon Byandala brings a lot of experience in the ministry and a lot is expected of him. He is expected to provide the required guidance and support to not only national roads development but also enhancement of District Urban and Community Access Roads (DUCAR) which are currently in a very poor state.
The 2011/2012 budget has once again placed emphasis on interventions in transport infrastructure to enhance an enabling environment for business and improving the effectiveness of government. Government has pledged to continue to consolidate the work undertaken in previous financial years to improve and further develop Uganda’s road network and to reduce the backlog of outstanding works. In accordance with governments continued interest in addressing the critical development challenges that constrain rapid transformation of the economy shillings 1,219.41 billion was allocated towards upgrading key road projects in various parts of the country. The much awaited construction of the second bridge on River Nile in Jinja that is estimated to cost $102 million is to begin during this financial year. The government also promises to embark on a programme for expansion of key highways leading to and from Kampala in an effort to decongest the city.
Why roads are the preferred means of transport
The Ministry of Works & Transport and by extension government has been variously accused of focusing too much on road transport at the expense of other means of transport. This is true and it has a basis. Over 90% of cargo and passengers in Uganda move by road. Road transport accounts for more than 90% of the country’s transport needs. In nominal terms the road network carries an average 40,000 million passenger –km per year compared with 9 million passenger –m by air, 6 million passenger –km by water and non by rail. Therefore road transport is by far the commonest and most readily available means of travel for most Ugandans. Although railway would be a cheaper option especially linking the country to the ort of Mombasa for important export trade purposes, the cost of investment in the same venture quite prohibitive. But even though government was to consider other means of transport, investment in road would be an option that would not be ignored because of its importance and practical advantage.
Cost of Construction of Roads
The cost of constructing a new road has been increasing both locally and internationally. This is an issue that UNRA and government can not ignore. The public is alarmed at the exorbitant rates quoted to deliver a kilometer of paved (tarmacked) road. Strategies must be sought by UNRA to reduce these costs without compromising the quality of the road product. Specifically, UNRA may need to promote appropriate types of technology and undertake research in new technologies in construction and maintenance of roads. UNRA should also be able to become more adaptable to new changes and thus embrace global best practices. The International Road Federation (IRF) has for instance been advising developing countries that they should consider sourcing a significant proportion of imported materials like Fossil Fuel (Bitumen/Asphalt) and cement based products to reduce on scarce foreign exchange resources. UNRA has already had a pilot project of using locally made pavers (instead of bitumen) in construction of one of the roads in central region. Working with development partners UNRA is also commencing the construction of the Mabara-Kikagati road on a Design-and-Build arrangement as a pilot project to avoid inadequacies cited in modes of tendering of works. All these are commendable efforts that should be greatly encouraged.
Entebbe Express Highway
The soon-to-be constructed Entebbe Express Highway promises to be one of the hallmarks in a modern Uganda. UNRA has already assured parliament that it is up to the task of delivering the road in the specified time frame. Although it is to be financed and constructed by the Chinese government, supervision and monitoring will be done by UNRA to ensure value for money and prescribed design attainment. The total cost of the road is expected to be $450 million financed by Exim Bank. Once completed, the road will be one of the most treasured infrastructural assets for Uganda for a long time to come.
Lack of Capacity for local Contractors
The issue of local contractors complaining that most construction jobs are awarded to foreign companies has been raised severally by local companies. They have been alleging that instead of government giving them tenders so that they can develop their capacity; it is always foreign ones that get the tenders. Government was torn between giving work to local companies and risk getting shoddy results or giving it to foreign ones thereby killing the local initiatives. Local private construction companies are still weak and not well developed. They lack the capacity to undertake civil and contractual work on a wide scale. Earth moving equipment and other inputs which are vital in road construction are very expensive on the international market. Very few local contractors can indeed afford to purchase a machine such as Single Drum Hydrostatic Vibratory Roller that costs more that $1 Million at factory price. The Tire Roller costs more than $1.5 Million while the Motor Grader costs up to $2 Million. All these equipments are vital in road construction. Any construction company worth its name would at least have these as the basic equipment for it to win any tender to construct a national road. It should be noted that majority of local contractors do not even possess a Motor Grader or a Pipe Layer.
Road construction is an expensive venture both on the part of the contractor and UNRA. It is upon contractors to ensure that they purchase these critical equipments in order to be considered for major construction work. As the saying goes “a farmer without a basic implement such as a hoe cannot be expected to till their garden” and neither does a road construction company without a basic machine as a Motor Grader. This calls for specific intervention to build the capacity of the contractors so that they can compete on favourable terms with international road contractors and consultants. Good enough, the Cross Roads Programme sponsored by DFID has come in to specifically support local contractors by building their capacity and helping them to access credit from financial institutions. It is hoped that in the medium to long term we shall have local contractors that are reliable in completing works and delivering according to contractual obligations.
According to the National Construction Industry (NCI) Policy government has also committed itself to develop and strengthen the capacity of local Contractors, Consultants, Suppliers and Manufacturers for effective participation in the construction industry. It will also facilitate the setting up of a Plant Hire Pool. Government has most importantly through cabinet approved the principles to establish the Uganda Construction Industry Commission (UCICO) whose mandate is to regulate and coordinate the construction industry in the country. The Road Industry Council (RIC) which is a precursor to UCICO is soon to begin operations and will seek to improve institutional framework and come up with strategies to develop and build the capacity of local construction enterprise.
Road Safety
Road safety remains a sticking issue for road transportation in Uganda. Approximately 2,500 people lose their lives every year in road carnage. Road accidents increased from 18,200 in 2008 to 22,699 in 2009. Some people have argued that the new good roads being constructed are likely to increase accidents. It should be noted that accidents are not caused by good roads but rather by poorly designed roads. For instance on the two leading “killer roads”, of Jinja and Masaka certain notorious spots, dangerous corners and bends have been identified as the major contributor to accidents in addition to the narrowness of these and other roads. Studies have for instance shown that once Kampala-Jinja road is made dual carriageway, the number of accidents on the same road are likely to reduce by over 80%. Hardly will there be any head-on collision on the road because vehicles will not get anywhere into close contact with each other for those moving in either directions. The National Road Safety Authority is soon becoming fully operational and shall spearhead campaigns geared at sensitizing the public on safe usage of roads and coming up with other mechanisms to address the problem.
Bridges
The poor road network in the country in the past years was also manifested in poor maintenance of bridges. Some bridges that were constructed before independence have collapsed while others are in extremely poor conditions. Again because of inadequate resources, it was not possible to remedy the situation. Bridges that were designed for certain axle loads were left to the mercy of motorists who would sometimes load the vehicles with more weight than what the bridge could withstand. When one bridge could collapse an alternative route (which in most cases made the route longer), would be used by motorists. Other times, entire regions could be cut off completely especially when such an area was served by one major road link. Bridges are part of the road network and UNRA has so far rehabilitated several of them including the two famous bridges of Awoja and Aswa that were in poor shape. Routine maintenance of these and other bridges is expected to be done in order not to revert to the old status.
Axle Road Control & Weighbridges
The risk of overloading of heavy vehicles might contribute to pre-mature pavement failure. This was mitigated through construction of weighbridges at strategically important locations to reduce damage to pavements. The transfer of axle load control from MOWT to UNRA put the responsibility under an organ that has direct interest of ensuring that heavy goods vehicles comply with the permissible axle and gross vehicle loads. Axle road control has been an international issue that has been embraced by governments world-wide to prolong the lifespan of roads. Countries without strict axle road control measures suffer road deterioration more than those that strictly enforce the rule. East African Community (EAC) member states including Uganda have embraced the idea and negotiations are in advanced stages to harmonize the axle load such that vehicles that transit across boarders do not have to be subjected to varying axle limits. It is expected that the weighbridges which were at one time suspended by former minister Hon Nasasira because of mismanagement will be reintroduced and a new system of managing them well shall be put in place.
Ferries (Road Bridges)
People who live near lakes and rivers are supposed to connect to other areas neighboring them or to the mainland (for those in Lake Victoria islands) by use of ferries which link to the nearest landing site. Deficiencies and constraints include the fact that shoreline infrastructure has been largely basic and dilapidated. Land and water access to landing sites has often been poor and remote and vessels have been in poor condition and yet overlooked. The short distance road vehicle ferries across rivers and lakes acting as “road bridges” between adjacent parts of the road network and a recently introduced regular shipping service between Nakiwogo (near Entebbe) and Lutoboka on the Ssese Islands. UNRA currently is in charge of eight ferries countrywide. The Obonji Ferry in Adjumani district is one of the latest acquisitions by UNRA which has eased transport means of the residents in this area.
UNRA’s take over of City Roads
The discussion about UNRA taking over and managing Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) roads is not yet concluded. Although government had earlier announced that UNRA would be in charge, this is yet to be officially communicated. Kampala roads remain in a very sorry state and so are the roads in other urban centres in the country. Uganda is fast becoming an urban country because of the rate at which town councils are growing. At the centre of urban development is the notion of urban planning. If UNRA is to manage city roads therefore, it must ensure that it does systematic planning to determine and demarcate current and future road routes. It must also involve other relevant stakeholders including the public in the planning process so as to make it inclusive. A well planned road network for Kampala will also address the problem of traffic jams that are threatening to become endemic in the city.
Conclusion
It is not only government that recognizes the importance of transport sector and specifically roads in the development of this country. Eleven development partners including the European Union (EU) and DFID have agreed to provide budget support for transport infrastructure development in Uganda. They have done this however on condition that that the Ministry of Works develops a Joint Assessment Framework (JAF) that provides indicators and actions against which the sector is assessed on an annual basis. UNRA is supposed to provide information to its mother ministry on its performance on a quarterly and annual basis which should show whether our roads are getting better. UNRA should also be aware that, the general public expects quite a lot from the agency. To a lay person, the resources allocated to UNRA may seem too much. This calls for prudent action by management and staff of UNRA to exhibit the highest levels of transparency and accountability of all funds they receive. Unlike other services provided by other sectors, roads are physical infrastructure thus the public can easily monitor the progress of the actual works and determine the extent of UNRA’s performance. It doesn’t need a technocrat to pronounce a road poor. The public is eagerly waiting for the results and it is the responsibility of UNRA to devise means of proving its worth by delivering on what it has promised Ugandans in accordance with its vision that says “To operate a safe, efficient and well developed national road network” The three years of UNRA so far have however been quite resourceful and we think that things will keep on getting better every passing year.
The writer is the Executive Director of Uganda Road Sector Support Initiative (URSSI)
UNRA was established by an Act of Parliament as an autonomous entity three years ago with a mandate of managing the national road network on behalf of the government. UNRA’s mandate is not an easy task. The public expects quite a lot from the institution irrespective of the constraints it may face. UNRA is a young institution that faces an enormous assignment of developing and maintaining our roads in a better condition. It inherited a poor road network from the Ministry of Works and Transport which was at that time overwhelmed by the ever increasing criticism from the public about poor performance. As UNRA started on its long journey, skeptics wondered whether it would be up to the task. To address the most pressing challenge at that moment, the government of Uganda allocated 1.1 trillion shilling to the roads sub sector during the financial year 2008/2009. Although inadequate resources were the most significant hindrance at that time it was not the only problem the sector had to deal with. Policy considerations and questions were bound to arise as to whether the new organization had the capacity to absorb the allocated funds and deliver the best job worth the money. UNRA’s capacity has thus greatly been improved in the last three years of its existence with administrative, financial structural and planning systems of the organization already in place. UNRA has improved planning, programming and execution of maintenance works as exemplified by the number of roads it has so far completed and those under consideration.
Uganda has never witnessed the current levels of road construction since independence. There is serious work going on almost in every part of the country. Up to 1000 Km of roads have been constructed in the three years of UNRA’s existence. Old roads have been rehabilitated and maintenance works are being done on schedule unlike before. The challenge will be on whether government will continue to support the sector for a long to guarantee complete recovery of the sub sector. On the flip side, development partners, the public and other interested parties are looking at UNRA to provide an efficient road transport infrastructure. This will however depend on how much funding will consistently be earmarked and actually disbursed to UNRA in a consistent and sustained manner for long term planning commitments and implementation.
New Minister, New Budget
Expectations are high about the new minister of Works & Transport Eng. Abraham Byandala who replaces the long serving Eng. John Nasasira. Hon Byandala brings a lot of experience in the ministry and a lot is expected of him. He is expected to provide the required guidance and support to not only national roads development but also enhancement of District Urban and Community Access Roads (DUCAR) which are currently in a very poor state.
The 2011/2012 budget has once again placed emphasis on interventions in transport infrastructure to enhance an enabling environment for business and improving the effectiveness of government. Government has pledged to continue to consolidate the work undertaken in previous financial years to improve and further develop Uganda’s road network and to reduce the backlog of outstanding works. In accordance with governments continued interest in addressing the critical development challenges that constrain rapid transformation of the economy shillings 1,219.41 billion was allocated towards upgrading key road projects in various parts of the country. The much awaited construction of the second bridge on River Nile in Jinja that is estimated to cost $102 million is to begin during this financial year. The government also promises to embark on a programme for expansion of key highways leading to and from Kampala in an effort to decongest the city.
Why roads are the preferred means of transport
The Ministry of Works & Transport and by extension government has been variously accused of focusing too much on road transport at the expense of other means of transport. This is true and it has a basis. Over 90% of cargo and passengers in Uganda move by road. Road transport accounts for more than 90% of the country’s transport needs. In nominal terms the road network carries an average 40,000 million passenger –km per year compared with 9 million passenger –m by air, 6 million passenger –km by water and non by rail. Therefore road transport is by far the commonest and most readily available means of travel for most Ugandans. Although railway would be a cheaper option especially linking the country to the ort of Mombasa for important export trade purposes, the cost of investment in the same venture quite prohibitive. But even though government was to consider other means of transport, investment in road would be an option that would not be ignored because of its importance and practical advantage.
Cost of Construction of Roads
The cost of constructing a new road has been increasing both locally and internationally. This is an issue that UNRA and government can not ignore. The public is alarmed at the exorbitant rates quoted to deliver a kilometer of paved (tarmacked) road. Strategies must be sought by UNRA to reduce these costs without compromising the quality of the road product. Specifically, UNRA may need to promote appropriate types of technology and undertake research in new technologies in construction and maintenance of roads. UNRA should also be able to become more adaptable to new changes and thus embrace global best practices. The International Road Federation (IRF) has for instance been advising developing countries that they should consider sourcing a significant proportion of imported materials like Fossil Fuel (Bitumen/Asphalt) and cement based products to reduce on scarce foreign exchange resources. UNRA has already had a pilot project of using locally made pavers (instead of bitumen) in construction of one of the roads in central region. Working with development partners UNRA is also commencing the construction of the Mabara-Kikagati road on a Design-and-Build arrangement as a pilot project to avoid inadequacies cited in modes of tendering of works. All these are commendable efforts that should be greatly encouraged.
Entebbe Express Highway
The soon-to-be constructed Entebbe Express Highway promises to be one of the hallmarks in a modern Uganda. UNRA has already assured parliament that it is up to the task of delivering the road in the specified time frame. Although it is to be financed and constructed by the Chinese government, supervision and monitoring will be done by UNRA to ensure value for money and prescribed design attainment. The total cost of the road is expected to be $450 million financed by Exim Bank. Once completed, the road will be one of the most treasured infrastructural assets for Uganda for a long time to come.
Lack of Capacity for local Contractors
The issue of local contractors complaining that most construction jobs are awarded to foreign companies has been raised severally by local companies. They have been alleging that instead of government giving them tenders so that they can develop their capacity; it is always foreign ones that get the tenders. Government was torn between giving work to local companies and risk getting shoddy results or giving it to foreign ones thereby killing the local initiatives. Local private construction companies are still weak and not well developed. They lack the capacity to undertake civil and contractual work on a wide scale. Earth moving equipment and other inputs which are vital in road construction are very expensive on the international market. Very few local contractors can indeed afford to purchase a machine such as Single Drum Hydrostatic Vibratory Roller that costs more that $1 Million at factory price. The Tire Roller costs more than $1.5 Million while the Motor Grader costs up to $2 Million. All these equipments are vital in road construction. Any construction company worth its name would at least have these as the basic equipment for it to win any tender to construct a national road. It should be noted that majority of local contractors do not even possess a Motor Grader or a Pipe Layer.
Road construction is an expensive venture both on the part of the contractor and UNRA. It is upon contractors to ensure that they purchase these critical equipments in order to be considered for major construction work. As the saying goes “a farmer without a basic implement such as a hoe cannot be expected to till their garden” and neither does a road construction company without a basic machine as a Motor Grader. This calls for specific intervention to build the capacity of the contractors so that they can compete on favourable terms with international road contractors and consultants. Good enough, the Cross Roads Programme sponsored by DFID has come in to specifically support local contractors by building their capacity and helping them to access credit from financial institutions. It is hoped that in the medium to long term we shall have local contractors that are reliable in completing works and delivering according to contractual obligations.
According to the National Construction Industry (NCI) Policy government has also committed itself to develop and strengthen the capacity of local Contractors, Consultants, Suppliers and Manufacturers for effective participation in the construction industry. It will also facilitate the setting up of a Plant Hire Pool. Government has most importantly through cabinet approved the principles to establish the Uganda Construction Industry Commission (UCICO) whose mandate is to regulate and coordinate the construction industry in the country. The Road Industry Council (RIC) which is a precursor to UCICO is soon to begin operations and will seek to improve institutional framework and come up with strategies to develop and build the capacity of local construction enterprise.
Road Safety
Road safety remains a sticking issue for road transportation in Uganda. Approximately 2,500 people lose their lives every year in road carnage. Road accidents increased from 18,200 in 2008 to 22,699 in 2009. Some people have argued that the new good roads being constructed are likely to increase accidents. It should be noted that accidents are not caused by good roads but rather by poorly designed roads. For instance on the two leading “killer roads”, of Jinja and Masaka certain notorious spots, dangerous corners and bends have been identified as the major contributor to accidents in addition to the narrowness of these and other roads. Studies have for instance shown that once Kampala-Jinja road is made dual carriageway, the number of accidents on the same road are likely to reduce by over 80%. Hardly will there be any head-on collision on the road because vehicles will not get anywhere into close contact with each other for those moving in either directions. The National Road Safety Authority is soon becoming fully operational and shall spearhead campaigns geared at sensitizing the public on safe usage of roads and coming up with other mechanisms to address the problem.
Bridges
The poor road network in the country in the past years was also manifested in poor maintenance of bridges. Some bridges that were constructed before independence have collapsed while others are in extremely poor conditions. Again because of inadequate resources, it was not possible to remedy the situation. Bridges that were designed for certain axle loads were left to the mercy of motorists who would sometimes load the vehicles with more weight than what the bridge could withstand. When one bridge could collapse an alternative route (which in most cases made the route longer), would be used by motorists. Other times, entire regions could be cut off completely especially when such an area was served by one major road link. Bridges are part of the road network and UNRA has so far rehabilitated several of them including the two famous bridges of Awoja and Aswa that were in poor shape. Routine maintenance of these and other bridges is expected to be done in order not to revert to the old status.
Axle Road Control & Weighbridges
The risk of overloading of heavy vehicles might contribute to pre-mature pavement failure. This was mitigated through construction of weighbridges at strategically important locations to reduce damage to pavements. The transfer of axle load control from MOWT to UNRA put the responsibility under an organ that has direct interest of ensuring that heavy goods vehicles comply with the permissible axle and gross vehicle loads. Axle road control has been an international issue that has been embraced by governments world-wide to prolong the lifespan of roads. Countries without strict axle road control measures suffer road deterioration more than those that strictly enforce the rule. East African Community (EAC) member states including Uganda have embraced the idea and negotiations are in advanced stages to harmonize the axle load such that vehicles that transit across boarders do not have to be subjected to varying axle limits. It is expected that the weighbridges which were at one time suspended by former minister Hon Nasasira because of mismanagement will be reintroduced and a new system of managing them well shall be put in place.
Ferries (Road Bridges)
People who live near lakes and rivers are supposed to connect to other areas neighboring them or to the mainland (for those in Lake Victoria islands) by use of ferries which link to the nearest landing site. Deficiencies and constraints include the fact that shoreline infrastructure has been largely basic and dilapidated. Land and water access to landing sites has often been poor and remote and vessels have been in poor condition and yet overlooked. The short distance road vehicle ferries across rivers and lakes acting as “road bridges” between adjacent parts of the road network and a recently introduced regular shipping service between Nakiwogo (near Entebbe) and Lutoboka on the Ssese Islands. UNRA currently is in charge of eight ferries countrywide. The Obonji Ferry in Adjumani district is one of the latest acquisitions by UNRA which has eased transport means of the residents in this area.
UNRA’s take over of City Roads
The discussion about UNRA taking over and managing Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) roads is not yet concluded. Although government had earlier announced that UNRA would be in charge, this is yet to be officially communicated. Kampala roads remain in a very sorry state and so are the roads in other urban centres in the country. Uganda is fast becoming an urban country because of the rate at which town councils are growing. At the centre of urban development is the notion of urban planning. If UNRA is to manage city roads therefore, it must ensure that it does systematic planning to determine and demarcate current and future road routes. It must also involve other relevant stakeholders including the public in the planning process so as to make it inclusive. A well planned road network for Kampala will also address the problem of traffic jams that are threatening to become endemic in the city.
Conclusion
It is not only government that recognizes the importance of transport sector and specifically roads in the development of this country. Eleven development partners including the European Union (EU) and DFID have agreed to provide budget support for transport infrastructure development in Uganda. They have done this however on condition that that the Ministry of Works develops a Joint Assessment Framework (JAF) that provides indicators and actions against which the sector is assessed on an annual basis. UNRA is supposed to provide information to its mother ministry on its performance on a quarterly and annual basis which should show whether our roads are getting better. UNRA should also be aware that, the general public expects quite a lot from the agency. To a lay person, the resources allocated to UNRA may seem too much. This calls for prudent action by management and staff of UNRA to exhibit the highest levels of transparency and accountability of all funds they receive. Unlike other services provided by other sectors, roads are physical infrastructure thus the public can easily monitor the progress of the actual works and determine the extent of UNRA’s performance. It doesn’t need a technocrat to pronounce a road poor. The public is eagerly waiting for the results and it is the responsibility of UNRA to devise means of proving its worth by delivering on what it has promised Ugandans in accordance with its vision that says “To operate a safe, efficient and well developed national road network” The three years of UNRA so far have however been quite resourceful and we think that things will keep on getting better every passing year.
The writer is the Executive Director of Uganda Road Sector Support Initiative (URSSI)
Thursday, May 26, 2011
THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF UGANDA’S POOR ROADS
By Mutabazi Sam Stewart
Roads are an integral part of the transport system. A country’s road network should be efficient in order to maximize economic and social benefits. They play a significant role in achieving national development and contributing to the overall performance and social functioning of the community. It is acknowledged that roads enhance mobility, taking people out of isolation and therefore poverty. In China for instance, the government has popularized this belief by emphasizing that for any economy to develop, transport must start off first which will later stimulate other sectors to develop in an orderly fashion.
Apart from health and education, the next important sector any country should invest the largest chunk of her resources is that of transport. But even within the transport sector government should put more resources in roads because they are the most critical in terms of internal and cross boarder trade and human movement. In contributing to community’s broad economic, social and environmental goals, the principal role of the road system is to facilitate interaction between people and the exchange of goods and services by providing effective equitable land-based accessibility to a wide range of places and by enabling safe reliable mobility of people and transport of goods with efficiency required to compete in the global economy. Road transport remains the most commonly used not to mention cheapest and convenient means of transporting goods and services from one place to another. In addition well, designed and planned roads especially in cities and towns add splendor, beauty and orderliness of the metropolis.
Uganda’s urban development and expansion has consistently been growing at a steadfast rate but without a corresponding rate of growth of roads. As a result, the sprawling urbanization is not easily discernable because of incoherent road infrastructure development. A first time visitor to Kampala may think that Uganda has the worst road infrastructure in both urban and rural areas. But to the contrary, poor roads in Uganda are mainly in urban areas. Rural roads especially those categorized as national roads are not so much in a sorry state as the ones in towns and trading centres. In fact, Uganda’s rural roads are in most cases better than those of our neighbours in the region.
The poor urban road infrastructure in Uganda has been endemic because of lack of consistent and harmonized urban planning and transportation policy. The continuous urban expansion of Kampala city into surrounding areas without regard to road infrastructure enhancement has led to a poor road network characterized by, congestion, narrowness, poor maintenance and road reserve encroachment. The unrelenting rural-urban migration has also put a strain on the already limited road network in Kampala. Kampala in fact, arguably has the worst roads of a capital city in the whole world. It is also one of the filthiest towns at the same time. Some people have jokingly referred to Kampala as the world’s capital (headquarters) of potholes
Infrastructure development including road asset acquisition is not a cheap process. Developed countries have had to dedicate quite a lot of resources to the transport sector to reach where they are. They spend a lot of time planning how they want their towns to look like. They follow these plans with the strictness that is required. They have well defined laws and policies that guide their development. Their citizens do not put up structures without approval from city authorities and in accordance with the larger development plan. There is coordination amongst different stakeholders in the development of cities. For instance the water supply and treatment agency would not dig up a road to lay pipes without due consultation with the city authorities and the agency in charge of roads. The ducts for water, telephone lines, electricity and other services are all provided for during the initial construction stages of the road. There is constant consultation on how the city is supposed to be developed which creates thorough engagement that determines the trend of development of an area in a specified period of time. This is what has been largely lacking in the case of Uganda and in other countries in Africa. The commitment in terms of resource allocation and policy support for our roads has not been forthcoming. The public has always come out to talk about the poor state of roads but this discussion has for a long time failed to generate the required momentum for policy makers to act.
The last three years or so, have however shown an accelerated interest in road infrastructure development than had previously been witnessed in the country. The creation of a government agency, Uganda National Road Authority (UNRA) and Uganda Road Fund (URF) with clear mandate to oversee the transformation of roads in Uganda has heightened the public interest with animated expectations that Uganda’s roads can only be made better. Government, development partners and other players are all showing unrelenting zeal in road development and maintenance with considerable budget allocations that are required to fulfill the need for sustainable financing to enable continuous investment in roads. Civil society which had hitherto showed limited interest in infrastructure development in Uganda has joined the fray, an act that is likely to enrich monitoring, supervision and policy enhancement for this sector. The commitment and dedication already shown by UNRA for instance in its less than three years of existence signifies an important policy shift in favour of road development in Uganda.
Uganda’s current road network comprises of 20,000 km of national roads (managed by UNRA), 13,000Km as district roads, and 30,000 km of community roads. Of these only 4,500 is paved (tarmac). It is estimated that government has been constructing approximately between 100-120 km of new paved roads in the last ten years. This has been due to limiting factors such as lack of capacity on the side of both government and contractors. It is however now envisaged that this capacity is likely to increase given the resoluteness that government’s designated agencies have already exhibited in just a few years of their operation. We may thus see the current low rate of new road construction doubling or even tripling in the coming years. If Uganda national Roads Authority (UNRA) were to target to make up to 800Km of new roads every year, we would have the entire country networked by paved roads within a period of less than ten years. I want to believe that a new dawn has come for our roads to become better because the voices are stronger and the dedication is unwavering both from state and non state actors.
Mutabazi is the Executive Director of Uganda Road Sector Support Initiative (URSSI)
Email: mutasamste@yahoo.com
Tel: 0772-882547
Roads are an integral part of the transport system. A country’s road network should be efficient in order to maximize economic and social benefits. They play a significant role in achieving national development and contributing to the overall performance and social functioning of the community. It is acknowledged that roads enhance mobility, taking people out of isolation and therefore poverty. In China for instance, the government has popularized this belief by emphasizing that for any economy to develop, transport must start off first which will later stimulate other sectors to develop in an orderly fashion.
Apart from health and education, the next important sector any country should invest the largest chunk of her resources is that of transport. But even within the transport sector government should put more resources in roads because they are the most critical in terms of internal and cross boarder trade and human movement. In contributing to community’s broad economic, social and environmental goals, the principal role of the road system is to facilitate interaction between people and the exchange of goods and services by providing effective equitable land-based accessibility to a wide range of places and by enabling safe reliable mobility of people and transport of goods with efficiency required to compete in the global economy. Road transport remains the most commonly used not to mention cheapest and convenient means of transporting goods and services from one place to another. In addition well, designed and planned roads especially in cities and towns add splendor, beauty and orderliness of the metropolis.
Uganda’s urban development and expansion has consistently been growing at a steadfast rate but without a corresponding rate of growth of roads. As a result, the sprawling urbanization is not easily discernable because of incoherent road infrastructure development. A first time visitor to Kampala may think that Uganda has the worst road infrastructure in both urban and rural areas. But to the contrary, poor roads in Uganda are mainly in urban areas. Rural roads especially those categorized as national roads are not so much in a sorry state as the ones in towns and trading centres. In fact, Uganda’s rural roads are in most cases better than those of our neighbours in the region.
The poor urban road infrastructure in Uganda has been endemic because of lack of consistent and harmonized urban planning and transportation policy. The continuous urban expansion of Kampala city into surrounding areas without regard to road infrastructure enhancement has led to a poor road network characterized by, congestion, narrowness, poor maintenance and road reserve encroachment. The unrelenting rural-urban migration has also put a strain on the already limited road network in Kampala. Kampala in fact, arguably has the worst roads of a capital city in the whole world. It is also one of the filthiest towns at the same time. Some people have jokingly referred to Kampala as the world’s capital (headquarters) of potholes
Infrastructure development including road asset acquisition is not a cheap process. Developed countries have had to dedicate quite a lot of resources to the transport sector to reach where they are. They spend a lot of time planning how they want their towns to look like. They follow these plans with the strictness that is required. They have well defined laws and policies that guide their development. Their citizens do not put up structures without approval from city authorities and in accordance with the larger development plan. There is coordination amongst different stakeholders in the development of cities. For instance the water supply and treatment agency would not dig up a road to lay pipes without due consultation with the city authorities and the agency in charge of roads. The ducts for water, telephone lines, electricity and other services are all provided for during the initial construction stages of the road. There is constant consultation on how the city is supposed to be developed which creates thorough engagement that determines the trend of development of an area in a specified period of time. This is what has been largely lacking in the case of Uganda and in other countries in Africa. The commitment in terms of resource allocation and policy support for our roads has not been forthcoming. The public has always come out to talk about the poor state of roads but this discussion has for a long time failed to generate the required momentum for policy makers to act.
The last three years or so, have however shown an accelerated interest in road infrastructure development than had previously been witnessed in the country. The creation of a government agency, Uganda National Road Authority (UNRA) and Uganda Road Fund (URF) with clear mandate to oversee the transformation of roads in Uganda has heightened the public interest with animated expectations that Uganda’s roads can only be made better. Government, development partners and other players are all showing unrelenting zeal in road development and maintenance with considerable budget allocations that are required to fulfill the need for sustainable financing to enable continuous investment in roads. Civil society which had hitherto showed limited interest in infrastructure development in Uganda has joined the fray, an act that is likely to enrich monitoring, supervision and policy enhancement for this sector. The commitment and dedication already shown by UNRA for instance in its less than three years of existence signifies an important policy shift in favour of road development in Uganda.
Uganda’s current road network comprises of 20,000 km of national roads (managed by UNRA), 13,000Km as district roads, and 30,000 km of community roads. Of these only 4,500 is paved (tarmac). It is estimated that government has been constructing approximately between 100-120 km of new paved roads in the last ten years. This has been due to limiting factors such as lack of capacity on the side of both government and contractors. It is however now envisaged that this capacity is likely to increase given the resoluteness that government’s designated agencies have already exhibited in just a few years of their operation. We may thus see the current low rate of new road construction doubling or even tripling in the coming years. If Uganda national Roads Authority (UNRA) were to target to make up to 800Km of new roads every year, we would have the entire country networked by paved roads within a period of less than ten years. I want to believe that a new dawn has come for our roads to become better because the voices are stronger and the dedication is unwavering both from state and non state actors.
Mutabazi is the Executive Director of Uganda Road Sector Support Initiative (URSSI)
Email: mutasamste@yahoo.com
Tel: 0772-882547
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
WHY UGANDA SHOULD BRACE FOR HIGH PRICES OF FOOD FOR A LONG TIME
By Mutabazi Sam Stewart
The global recession is about to be brought to a successful end thanks to good macro economic policies by the new administration in the United States of America. Economists in developing countries including Uganda waited with abated breath wondering how the credit crunch would affect their fragile economies. Some argued that it would only be a matter of time before the depression would spread to our country while others reasoned that given the fact that a country like Uganda is not yet a highly monetized economy, the impact of the crunch would not have the same shock it had on well developed economies in the Western World. Today we can state with certainty that the credit crunch is waning having had a slight brunt on Uganda’s economy.
Economies world wide react to depressions differently. The world has witnessed various economic slumps during the last one hundred years although the most pronounced have been that of 1920’s and the current one that peaked in 2008. In between these periods however there were intermittent shocks and distresses with varying magnitudes. Some have been handled by technocrats without allowing the world to get to know about their extent.
Although Uganda did not experience the true recession as some people had anticipated, no body in government should claim that the crunch did not happen here because of any preconditioned policies and programmes that shielded us from the depression spank. It is true that the crunch did not affect our financial institutions because very few are engaged in mortgages. It did not affect our industries because most of them do not directly rely on inputs from the developed countries which were experiencing the real chomp.
The direct effect however came in the form of increased prices of food throughout the country brought about by the hike in international oil prices. Analysts are already predicting that the price of food in Uganda may never normalize to the former cost that most of us had been accustomed to for a very long time. Prior to 2008, Uganda perhaps, was one of the few countries in the world with the lowest prices of food. All this has been altered and is likely to remain so for quite a long time. As readers may recall, during peak harvest period, one would buy a bunch of Matooke at as little as 1000 shilling or less especially in villages. As of today, you can not get the same bunch at twice this amount even in the most remote part of western Uganda, the leading Matooke producing area in the country.
This state of affairs is explained by largely two factors; namely the credit crunch and secondly by a general decrease in production of food in the entire country. The former is not as strong a factor as the latter. It is critical that policy makers in government take careful procedures to address the problem of food shortage in Uganda before it gets out of hand. What has happened is that, of late, there is an unprecedented movement of persons from rural areas into towns and cities by young energetic persons. Majority of them are engaged in petty business but mainly in boda boda business. In effect this means that the people who would have provided the much needed labour to produce the food, have instead migrated in search of other jobs which are considered “superior” to farming using the traditional hand hoe.
The little food that is being produced by the few, (moreover old and weak) farmers that remain in the villages can not satisfy the demand from the ever increasing numbers of people in towns. This in itself would not be a problem if there was a premeditated plan by government to encourage people to start large scale mechanized farming that is capable of meeting the food needs of the country both during and out of season. Large scale farming in Uganda is very difficult to implement because of continued land fragmentation that makes it almost impossible to get one whole piece of land that favors such type of agriculture. Indeed, it is hard today to get free land, say of 1000 acres, in the western and central parts of Uganda without human settlement. Therefore, if our agriculture sector no longer has small holder farmers because of rural-urban migration, and at the same time our land tenure system does not support large scale farming, the obvious, which unfortunately has already happened will continue to ensue until the same people who flocked into towns go back to where the came from or government implements a not-so-popular maneuver of pushing people off the land enmass to release it for large scale agriculture and farming. In the meantime, while the credit crunch shall be history in a few months or years to come in the countries like USA, Uganda shall have its share of a serious depression that may last longer and is difficult to deal with because of no other reason than not acting in good time.
The global recession is about to be brought to a successful end thanks to good macro economic policies by the new administration in the United States of America. Economists in developing countries including Uganda waited with abated breath wondering how the credit crunch would affect their fragile economies. Some argued that it would only be a matter of time before the depression would spread to our country while others reasoned that given the fact that a country like Uganda is not yet a highly monetized economy, the impact of the crunch would not have the same shock it had on well developed economies in the Western World. Today we can state with certainty that the credit crunch is waning having had a slight brunt on Uganda’s economy.
Economies world wide react to depressions differently. The world has witnessed various economic slumps during the last one hundred years although the most pronounced have been that of 1920’s and the current one that peaked in 2008. In between these periods however there were intermittent shocks and distresses with varying magnitudes. Some have been handled by technocrats without allowing the world to get to know about their extent.
Although Uganda did not experience the true recession as some people had anticipated, no body in government should claim that the crunch did not happen here because of any preconditioned policies and programmes that shielded us from the depression spank. It is true that the crunch did not affect our financial institutions because very few are engaged in mortgages. It did not affect our industries because most of them do not directly rely on inputs from the developed countries which were experiencing the real chomp.
The direct effect however came in the form of increased prices of food throughout the country brought about by the hike in international oil prices. Analysts are already predicting that the price of food in Uganda may never normalize to the former cost that most of us had been accustomed to for a very long time. Prior to 2008, Uganda perhaps, was one of the few countries in the world with the lowest prices of food. All this has been altered and is likely to remain so for quite a long time. As readers may recall, during peak harvest period, one would buy a bunch of Matooke at as little as 1000 shilling or less especially in villages. As of today, you can not get the same bunch at twice this amount even in the most remote part of western Uganda, the leading Matooke producing area in the country.
This state of affairs is explained by largely two factors; namely the credit crunch and secondly by a general decrease in production of food in the entire country. The former is not as strong a factor as the latter. It is critical that policy makers in government take careful procedures to address the problem of food shortage in Uganda before it gets out of hand. What has happened is that, of late, there is an unprecedented movement of persons from rural areas into towns and cities by young energetic persons. Majority of them are engaged in petty business but mainly in boda boda business. In effect this means that the people who would have provided the much needed labour to produce the food, have instead migrated in search of other jobs which are considered “superior” to farming using the traditional hand hoe.
The little food that is being produced by the few, (moreover old and weak) farmers that remain in the villages can not satisfy the demand from the ever increasing numbers of people in towns. This in itself would not be a problem if there was a premeditated plan by government to encourage people to start large scale mechanized farming that is capable of meeting the food needs of the country both during and out of season. Large scale farming in Uganda is very difficult to implement because of continued land fragmentation that makes it almost impossible to get one whole piece of land that favors such type of agriculture. Indeed, it is hard today to get free land, say of 1000 acres, in the western and central parts of Uganda without human settlement. Therefore, if our agriculture sector no longer has small holder farmers because of rural-urban migration, and at the same time our land tenure system does not support large scale farming, the obvious, which unfortunately has already happened will continue to ensue until the same people who flocked into towns go back to where the came from or government implements a not-so-popular maneuver of pushing people off the land enmass to release it for large scale agriculture and farming. In the meantime, while the credit crunch shall be history in a few months or years to come in the countries like USA, Uganda shall have its share of a serious depression that may last longer and is difficult to deal with because of no other reason than not acting in good time.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
SEBAGGALA IS TO KAMPALA WHAT IDI AMIN WAS TO UGANDA
By Mutabazi Sam Stewart
Some people have argued that democracy is not necessarily a prerequisite for society to achieve development. I am not one of those because I believe that development brought about by democracy is more rewarding and sustainable while that without is like smokescreen. Through a democratic election in 2006 people in Kampala overwhelmingly voted Al Hajji Nasser Ntege Sebaggala as their Mayor for a period of five years. Although most of the elites including myself were supporting Sebaggala’s opponent, Peter Ssematimba, because we believed that he would make a better mayor because of his education and exposure, Sebaggala won because his supporters, the urban uneducated poor overwhelmingly gave him the votes. I was skeptical from the beginning about Sebaggala’s promises of making the city better but all the same I gave him my benefit of doubt.
In his last year serving as the mayor of this dusty, muddy city, Sebaggala has occupied that seat with nothing much to show in terms of achievements. The city has become more disorganized with less service delivery than he found it. In fact one can argue that, possibly, the city may have been better without him because he almost adds no value apart from drawing a salary, allowances and being driven in a state of the art vehicles with personalized number plates written on “MAYOR”.
When he recently froze KCC accounts, an action that led to a strike by KCC workers over unpaid salaries, hardly did any thing change in terms of service delivery to city residents. The garbage went uncollected like had been the case before and the state of roads remained in a sorry condition like when the accounts were active. Sebaggala has always complained about inadequate funds that KCC receives from the central government as the reason why he may not deliver the services. He says that government sends him only 15 Billion shilling for roads every year. Although it may be true that this money is not enough to fix the roads in the city as the mayor agues, it is not too little to fix most potholes on some of the major roads in the city. It is very annoying that KCC only fixes the road when it has completely become impassable.
Both Sebaggala and former President Idi Amin share many commonalities but the most outstanding are two - minimum formal education levels and untamable egos. Both have big dreams and luck is on their side most of the time as they tell blatant lies to the people they lead without any recourse. The difference between the two men is that Sebaggala was elected while Amin captured power by force. As one English commentator once said “One wonders how a buffoon like Idi Amin managed to rule Uganda for eight years superintending over some of the best brains in Africa”. The same question can be asked today about how people like Sebaggala with his level of understanding can be able to become mayor of Kampala for all this time with all capable persons around. He is not ashamed because he recently announced that he will be seeking another term in office as mayor!
Idi Amin, at one time thought that his army was too powerful to militarily defeat the armed forces of Israel and possibly capture and occupy the famous Golan Heights. In the same vein, Sebaggala recently made public an artist’s impression of the building he wants to put up in Kampala with fifty floors. The building, he says, shall become the tallest in East and Central Africa. This is not to talk about the three hundred buses he promised to bring to the city when he had just assumed the office of the mayor. One wonders whether the mayor has any sense of guilt. He does not have the word sorry in his vocabulary nor can he know when to shut up. I am sure ten years or so from now, Sebaggala shall be asked about the fifty floor tall building he promised to build this year, he shall have either forgotten or he shall have an excuse why the building shall have not been built. And I can confidently bet on this issue that just like he has reneged on most of his promises Sebaggala shall not put up this building.
The problems of Kampala may not necessarily be solved by the mayor alone, but as the current head of KCC, he solely takes the blame for making Kampala a living hell for us the residents and especially for the people that voted him into office. So did we get the best out of democracy by having Sebaggala as our mayor? One may ask; was the election of Sebaggala as the mayor a breach of democracy or the reverse is true? What will happen to the city when Sebaggala is elected mayor again for another five years? Is it about time for the people of Kampala to put democracy on hold especially for the election of Mayor for the good of the city? Kampala is bleeding the way Uganda was bleeding under Idi Amin and Sebaggala is not about to relent on his dream of occupying that sweet office, doing nothing. God Bless Kampala.
Some people have argued that democracy is not necessarily a prerequisite for society to achieve development. I am not one of those because I believe that development brought about by democracy is more rewarding and sustainable while that without is like smokescreen. Through a democratic election in 2006 people in Kampala overwhelmingly voted Al Hajji Nasser Ntege Sebaggala as their Mayor for a period of five years. Although most of the elites including myself were supporting Sebaggala’s opponent, Peter Ssematimba, because we believed that he would make a better mayor because of his education and exposure, Sebaggala won because his supporters, the urban uneducated poor overwhelmingly gave him the votes. I was skeptical from the beginning about Sebaggala’s promises of making the city better but all the same I gave him my benefit of doubt.
In his last year serving as the mayor of this dusty, muddy city, Sebaggala has occupied that seat with nothing much to show in terms of achievements. The city has become more disorganized with less service delivery than he found it. In fact one can argue that, possibly, the city may have been better without him because he almost adds no value apart from drawing a salary, allowances and being driven in a state of the art vehicles with personalized number plates written on “MAYOR”.
When he recently froze KCC accounts, an action that led to a strike by KCC workers over unpaid salaries, hardly did any thing change in terms of service delivery to city residents. The garbage went uncollected like had been the case before and the state of roads remained in a sorry condition like when the accounts were active. Sebaggala has always complained about inadequate funds that KCC receives from the central government as the reason why he may not deliver the services. He says that government sends him only 15 Billion shilling for roads every year. Although it may be true that this money is not enough to fix the roads in the city as the mayor agues, it is not too little to fix most potholes on some of the major roads in the city. It is very annoying that KCC only fixes the road when it has completely become impassable.
Both Sebaggala and former President Idi Amin share many commonalities but the most outstanding are two - minimum formal education levels and untamable egos. Both have big dreams and luck is on their side most of the time as they tell blatant lies to the people they lead without any recourse. The difference between the two men is that Sebaggala was elected while Amin captured power by force. As one English commentator once said “One wonders how a buffoon like Idi Amin managed to rule Uganda for eight years superintending over some of the best brains in Africa”. The same question can be asked today about how people like Sebaggala with his level of understanding can be able to become mayor of Kampala for all this time with all capable persons around. He is not ashamed because he recently announced that he will be seeking another term in office as mayor!
Idi Amin, at one time thought that his army was too powerful to militarily defeat the armed forces of Israel and possibly capture and occupy the famous Golan Heights. In the same vein, Sebaggala recently made public an artist’s impression of the building he wants to put up in Kampala with fifty floors. The building, he says, shall become the tallest in East and Central Africa. This is not to talk about the three hundred buses he promised to bring to the city when he had just assumed the office of the mayor. One wonders whether the mayor has any sense of guilt. He does not have the word sorry in his vocabulary nor can he know when to shut up. I am sure ten years or so from now, Sebaggala shall be asked about the fifty floor tall building he promised to build this year, he shall have either forgotten or he shall have an excuse why the building shall have not been built. And I can confidently bet on this issue that just like he has reneged on most of his promises Sebaggala shall not put up this building.
The problems of Kampala may not necessarily be solved by the mayor alone, but as the current head of KCC, he solely takes the blame for making Kampala a living hell for us the residents and especially for the people that voted him into office. So did we get the best out of democracy by having Sebaggala as our mayor? One may ask; was the election of Sebaggala as the mayor a breach of democracy or the reverse is true? What will happen to the city when Sebaggala is elected mayor again for another five years? Is it about time for the people of Kampala to put democracy on hold especially for the election of Mayor for the good of the city? Kampala is bleeding the way Uganda was bleeding under Idi Amin and Sebaggala is not about to relent on his dream of occupying that sweet office, doing nothing. God Bless Kampala.
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