Why Civil Education is a Necessary Tool??
By Nyombi Mohamood

The recently introduced new family banknotes of 1000, 2000, 5000, 10, 20 and 50,000uganda shillings by the central bank of Uganda which featured in circulation on the 17th day of may 2010 was an economic strategy welcomed by various individuals and financial institutions in the country; that it is going to accelerate the velocity at which financial procedures flow in the country. Good enough. In the same way, however, residents of Bulassana Lwengo municipality Masaka district received this information with bulging surprise: they restricted transactions of any commodity if a potential customer dare come with a new banknote!!!. Their biggest worry, however, was that, fake new banknotes will find their way into their pockets!!. They continued to caution the central bank of Uganda for failure to inform them in time about all these changes, sensitize them on how the new banknotes will look, verifications for valid banknotes and what have you. The saga is underway!!     

If you have been so keen on the recently approved land law, things are still in jeopardy!; the kibanja owners and tenants are doubting their positions for reasons of lack of sufficient information and failure to interpret various legal procedures as laid down in the land law!. Leaving that a side, government officials and generals continue to abuse and misuse their offices in the eyes of the public but “Why”? The reason is just simple fellow country men;, the general public is not aware of how to deal with them to rectify the situation ; and that is lack of sufficient  civil education. Cases of embezzlement of funds by health staff is so rampant and ruining the country. Very few Ugandans in various localities know how to report cases of embezzlement of funds by health staff and if yes whether they will actually report such cases and if so what actions have been taken against the culprits. Kumi district with a population of 72,659 male of which 5,765 male know how to report cases of embezzlement of funds by health staff making it only 7.9% as compared to 66,894 male without knowledge of reporting any single case of embezzlement of funds by health staff making it the whole 92.1% of the male population in Kumi district. Considering the 2008 gender disaggregated data for justice, law and order based on the National Service Delivery survey 2004, respondents were asked if they knew how to report cases of embezzlement of funds by police officials. Most respondents especially female rural residents did not know how to report cases of embezzlement. Slightly about 50% noted that they were green about embezzlement!!. For actions taken against LC II officials as regards their duties to the community as per the baseline survey by justice, law and order 2008 in Kampala district (Ugandan capital).

With a population of 211,630 male only 68,110 know how to report and caution LCII officials for failure to execute their mandate making it only 30.7% as compared to 153,52 male without knowledge of reporting such cases making it the whole 69.3%!! The research further provided that a small portion of 58% was willing to take action and caution their LCII officials if they knew how to do it. This actually sums up to address why most government plans are under way to accomplishment. Government decision makers have refuted the fact that; it is the general public to implement government policies, and ensure smooth running of various sectors of the economy not government officials; whose role is to direct on how a certain policy shall be implemented. It is there fore wrong to deny the public civil education because they are the ones to institute and implement affirmative action measures, monitor and evaluate local government and other programs for their impact on various government  policies.  In wordy, if the government re-assembles her strategies in an ideological manner such that before a policy is passed a meaning full baseline survey including effective civil education is made, all defaults and blames would have been limited.   Frankly, if the public is taught on how to deal with various issues like among others; corrupt police officials, inefficient health staff: who embezzle public funds, accountability on government funds can easily be accounted for. Besides that, various policy procedures and laws approved by the parliament for the public, stand a high chance of delayed implementation as a result of lack of information and inappropriate policy guidelines on how implementation procedures are set. This actually permits us to inform the government that there is a need to institutionalize civil education services with regard to availability, accessibility, and satisfaction of services. The services should also provide indicators to facilitate bottom-up planning through monitoring and evaluation of various sectors in the economy.

The writter is a journalsit, columnist and radio presenter with Ugandan Radio Dotcom,
He can be contacted via E-mail: nyombi@ugandanradio.com
Ugandan Music, Uganda Music DJ Erycom Ugandan Radio



Where Is The Opposition Plan?
By Ugandan Radio Dotcom
With next year’s presidential election looming, President Yoweri Museveni continues to hold the strategic initiative in spite of his diminished credibility. While most of the country is silently hostile to his continued stay in power, there is little enthusiasm for the opposition. Save for a blunder by Museveni, like arresting the Kabaka or the Cardinal, something that would whip up strong identity sentiments, there seems little else to motivate potential opposition voters. Why is this so? One reason is that the opposition up to now lacks organic linkages with vital societal groups like the youths, medical workers, teachers, landless peasants, vendors, students and boda boda riders. Consequently, it has no message that can resonate with the constituencies whose support it desires.

The irony of our politics is that Museveni still comes across as the spokesman of the disenfranchised. For instance, when KCC sought to evict vendors from markets in Nakasero and Kiseka, it is Museveni who defended them. When it tried to impose a tax on boda bodas, Museveni protected them. Where land lords have evicted squatters, Museveni has spearheaded the struggle to give them security of tenure. Even though his positions on these issues have been consistently retrogressive, they are positions nonetheless. The opposition seems to have no position. It becomes extremely difficult therefore for those concerned to look towards it for inspiration. Even in public education, healthcare and infrastructure that are riddled with absenteeism, apathy, corruption, institutionalised incompetence and ghosts (ghost health centres/schools/teachers/pupils/medical workers), potholes and inflated construction bills, Museveni expresses concern and promises a clean-up. Yet we should expect the opposition to exploit these popular grievances to build a political following. We know that Museveni is the grandmaster of all this corruption and incompetence. His hypocrisy and lies notwithstanding, at least he pretends. Even we in the “independent” media have failed to perform our role of holding public officials and institutions to account. For example, the government-run New Vision has been reporting the existence of ghost health centres – more than 100 across the country. Yet the independent press, the opposition (and parliament which pretends to investigate such matters) have all not done any follow-up. It is only when there is a big intra-NRM power struggle that these other bodies get mobilised – largely as instruments of the different factions competing for power within the ruling party. Take Temangalo for example; for four months, it dominated parliamentary work and media coverage. Why? Powerful forces inside NRM wanted to wrestle power from Amama Mbabazi. They had a good chance because NSSF had purchased his land through a process that violated procurement rules. Yet there was little of national significance at stake.

NSSF had secured a handsome investment opportunity with a good rate of return. While the power-struggle against Mbabazi inside NRM was legitimate, the media’s role was misguided. Instead of providing context and promoting the interests of NSSF subscribers which were being ignored in order to fight Mbabazi, the “independent” media acted like a public relations machinery for one faction of the NRM. My attempts to bring context to this debate were attacked with intrigue and political deceit. I was told Mbabazi gave me a bribe of $300,000 to “defend” him, a clever way to fight a powerful argument by diverting attention from the issue to the person making it. Two years later, I have not yet received the cash. So whoever Mbabazi released it to must have cheated me. (Mbabazi, I am still waiting for my bribe!). Most journalists actually took the anti-Temangalo position out of ignorance. However, it does not take long for people to notice who stands in a principled promotion (or defence) of their interests. For instance, even if we admitted – just for arguments’ sake – that Mbabazi and Amos Nzei’s land was overpriced by Shs 8m per acre, the total loss NSSF suffered would be Shs 4 billion. That is peanuts! Yet since November 2008, NSSF has lost over Shs 150 billion as a result of the suspension of its trading and investment plans for seven months by the ministry of finance. Today, its subscribers are being paid negative real interest rates – down from 14%. Not surprisingly, there is not even a whisper in the press, at parliament or among the opposition against this blatant abuse of the public trust. What should NSSF subscribers think of those who faked concern for them only two years ago?

It is the government newspaper, New Vision, always highlighting the presence of ghost hospitals in our country. This is one area of our national political life that affects the vast majority of our citizens. Even if the claim that Temangalo land was overpriced was true, at least NSSF bought land with titles. But when the government spends billions of shillings on non-existence hospitals and the national parliament, mass media and opposition treat it as insignificant, there is a problem. The opposition cannot hope to ride purely on shouting wolf at the scarecrow of the NRM. It is our duty in the media to hold them to account, to challenge them about their agenda for the country: What is their policy on education and health? What is their policy on inflation and interest rates, on housing, power and infrastructure? How do they plan to combat corruption, incompetence and apathy in the public sector? While everyone, including myself, is tired of the corruption, incompetence and nepotism of the Museveni administration, it seems obvious that the opposition are ill-equipped to address the vital challenges facing our nation. Indeed, if they won an election, the best they can do is reproduce Museveni’s system but without his authority and finesse. Most likely, the opposition can produce a worse outcome. As media and as voters, we need to question how the opposition presents itself as a true champion of the interests of key groups within our political life. For instance, even Adolf Hitler and Idi Amin would find the proposed media bill autocratic. As journalists, we have failed to rally and defend our own interest. Secondly, what does the opposition think of it? Thus far, I have only scratched the surface. Let me hope it gets us thinking more seriously.
By Andrew Mwenda - The Independent