Month: September 2010

Since July 11 when Al shabaab killed 74 people in twin bomb attacks in Kampala, President Yoweri Museveni has been writing about the need for Uganda and other African countries to stay in Somalia. In fact Uganda has increased its troops in Mogadishu.

Today an embedded Daily Monitor journalist quoted one of the commanders  Maj. David Matua, who is based at the Somali parliament, saying

If we had enough troops, it would not take us weeks to flush them out of those positions because to render them useless, we must secure places under our control

Generally there has been propaganda that more troops will bring peace in Somalia.

But today Uganda finds itself backtracking on the mission in the face of a UN report due to be published about the crimes committed by our forces in DRC.

The UN report – into conflicts in the DR Congo between 1993 and 2003 – is expected to be published on Friday and is said to detail crimes never previously documented.

The draft version alleges that the Ugandan army committed war crimes and crimes against humanity when it backed Congolese rebels who overthrew President Mobuto Sese Seko in 1997 and went on to occupy parts of the east of the country.

The BBC quoted Ugandan Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa

Such sinister tactics undermine Uganda’s resolve to continue contributing to, and participating in, various regional and international peacekeeping operations.

This is the same tactic earlier deployed by Rwanda which is also implicated in the report. Rwanda’s threats saw the UN Secretary General Ban Ki moon visit Rwanda a few days ago.

What calls for more questioning in Uganda’s case , which has said the report is a pack of lies, is that they have always argued that their involvement in the mission is for the safety of Uganda, at least when addressing Ugandan.

They have been drumming up support from the international community saying ‘our’ presence in Mogadishu is the most important for regional safety. And for a country which saw terror attacks and whose commanders have been saying staying in Somalia is the only option of keeping Uganda safe, such Kutesa’s threats can only be theatrical.

Kutesa’s comments show that either Uganda can pull out of Somalia and not be threatened or the government is willing to sacrifice Uganda’s safety to save themselves from scrutiny of their actions in the Congo.

This is not the first time Uganda has been implicated in the  Congo case.  Uganda lost so many soldiers in their clashes with Rwandan troops in Kisangani over control of areas. So one must ask, did those areas have no Congolese civilians?  Not forgetting that we backed some militia groups who committed their a good deal of crimes. Of course other things like the stealing of the timber is general knowledge in Uganda and our share of the bloody minerals is well documented in our export figures.

For now we can only watch how this performance of the East African governments ends. And what’s the price to pay once our government is implicated? Will the UN dare come after another African president? Well, I don’t see much the UN will do beyond mentioning that these crimes were committed but really what intrigues me is this open performance of our governments.

Just this month two Ugandan journalists were killed in two different incidents. Paul Kiggundu working for Top TV was killed by Boda Boda cyclists as he was covering their demonstration; the other Dickson Ssentongo was killed by unknown assailants on his way to work at Prime Radio in Mukono. Boda cyclists accused Kiggundu of spying for the police while much is yet to be known about who was behind Ssentongo’s murder. These are not only worrying trends but also show that the price of being a journalist in Uganda is once again going higher.

So when I read on a friend’s facebook wall last week about a new form issued by the National Resistance Movement (NRM), President Yoweri Museveni’s party to journalists who want to cover their presidential election campaign I was appalled. The status read:

“To cover the president’s 2011 campaigns I have to tell them who my grandparents are, my children, spouse, my village of origin.”

I may be too young not to know of the 1970s hunt down of people’s relatives that government deemed enemies but for something this message sent a chill down my spine.

On facebook, I tried to highlight this to understand from journalists and other friends what they thought of it and the comments ranged from this being a measure to protect the president in the face of increased terrorism threats to trying to ensure journalists do their job well.

The NRM recently held their primaries and they were largely marred by violence, bribery and mudslinging. There were reports of journalists being paid about Shs 50,000 for the coverage of different NRM cmaps. One of the comments I saw indicated that the NRM could be using these forms as a plot to exclude journalists who could be critical in their reporting of the coming campaigns. They have excluded such journalists in the past.

That would be bad but worse still I am concerned about the safety of journalists. A party collecting vital information that is not even kept by government departments worries me a lot. So I went ahead and looked for the form.

I was told this form has been circulated to all newsrooms by the Uganda Media Center, which should be doing government work but also largely benefits the ruling party in the spread of information. The center said whoever is going to cover President Museveni’s 2011 elections must fill it.

I was told New Vision “made it a MUST” for all journalists to put their particulars down whether they cover politics or not. And there was no room for rejecting the idea. I am also told that other private media houses have rejected the form. In what seems to be a tactical move may be to avoid foreign media outrage, foreign journalists have not been asked to fill in this form.

If reporters indeed hand in this information to the NRM party which is not right at all, it could be used by anyone for anything not excluding blackmailing journalists or hunting down your relatives if someone, even without the knowledge of the party heads, doesn’t agree with the reporter’s coverage.

The request of these details about reporters’ parents, home addresses, spouses and the parents of their spouses, their occupation, village, children and journalists’ close associates/ friends cannot be for any good.

This is not an issue that reporters should take in lightly.  For all of these details have nothing to do with how a journalist covers the country’s most important political process. This information can also be used way beyond the election period so therefore we cannot take the journalists safety for granted especially at time a when political events are becoming more polarized than before in the last 20 years.

Below is the form that I strongly believe puts a journalist at the mercy of the ruling party.

Below is the form that journalists are dreading.

PERSONAL PARTICULARS

Surname…………………………………………First name……………………………………………

Other names……………………………………………………………………………………………

Sex………………………………………………Marital status………………………………………..

Nationality………………………………………Permit No……………………………………………

Date of Birth…………………………………………………………………………………………….

a. Place of birth.Zone……………………………………………………………………………………

b.LC 1 Village…………………………………………………Chairman……………………………

c.LC 11……………………………………………………… …Chairman…………………………..

d.LC111…………………………………………………………Chairman…………………………

e.District…………………………………………………………LC V Chairman………………….

Present physical address

a. Zone………………………………………………………………………………………………

b.LC1 village……………………………………………………..Chairman…………………………

c.LC 11……………………………………………………………Chairman………………………..

d.LC111……………………………………………………………Chairman………………………

e.District………………………………………………………….LC V Chairman…………………..

f.Personal Tel.No………………………………………………………………………………………

B.FAMILY PARTICULARS

Father’s Name…………………………………………………………………………………………

Occupation…………………………………………………………………………………………….

Nationality……………………………………………………………………………………………

Place of birth…………………………………………………………………………………………

Village………………………………………………………………….Parish………………………

Sub county……………………………………………………………County………………………

District………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Mother’s Name…………………………………………………………………………………………

Occupation………………………………………………………………………………………………

Nationality ………………………………………………………………………………………………

Place of birth……………………………………………………………………………………………

Village…………………………………………………………… Parish……………………………..

Sub county…………………………………………………………County……………………………

District………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Respondents Signature…………………………………………….Date………………………………

C.SPOUSES (Wife/Husband)

Spouses Name…………………………………………………………………………………………

Occupation ………………………………………………………………………………………………

Nationality………………………………………………………………………………………………

Place of birth……………………………………………………………………………………………

Village…………………………………………………………………..Parish………………………

Sub county……………………………………………………………County…………………………

District………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Father’s Name…………………………………………………………………………………………

Occupation………………………………………………………Nationality………………………….

Village……………………………………………………………Parish……………………………….

Sub county………………………………………………………County………………………………

District…………………………………………………………………………………………………

Mothers Name…………………………………………………………………………………………

Occupation………………………………………………………………………………………………

Village…………………………………………………………Parish………………………………….

Sub county ……………………………………………………County………………………………. ..

District………………………………………………………………………………………………….

D.CLOSE ASSOCIATES/FRIENDS

a. Name…………………………………………………………………………………………………

LC1………………………………………………………….Chairman………………………………

LC11…………………………………………………………Chairman………………………………

LC111………………………………………………………..Chairman……………………………….

District…………………………………………………………………………………………………..

b.Name…………………………………………………………………………………………………

LC1…………………………………………………………Chairman……………………………….

LC11………………………………………………………..Chairman……………………………….

LC111………………………………………………………Chairman……………………………….

District…………………………………………………………………………………………………

Respondents signature………………………………………Date…………………………………….

E.EMPLOYMENT RECORD.

Employers                                      location                         Date            Appointment   held

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Are you or have you ever been a staff of any security-intelligence organization in Uganda

Answer Yes or No……………………………………………………………………………………

Name of Organization…………………………………………………………………………………

Date of joining…………………………………………………………………………………………

Title/Appointment………………………………………………………………………………………

Period served and dates…………………………………………………………………………………

Respondents signature………………………………………………….Date………………………….

Supervised by…………………………………………………………Date………………………….

Developing countries cannot achieve the target of Millennium Development Goals unless they address discrimination of indigenous peoples. In a paper presented at the high level plenary meeting of the General Assembly Millennium Development Goals Summit, representative of indigenous communities noted that many them were left out by country interventions.

Lucy Mulenkei from the Indigenous Information Network in Kenya said indigenous peoples still don’t have a voice in national programs.

“Indigenous Peoples have historically faced social exclusion and marginalization.  They are disproportionately represented among the poor, their levels of access to adequate health and education services are well below national averages,” she said. “If the Millennium Development Goals are to be met, states need to give attention to the situation of Indigenous Peoples.”

While they constitute approximately 5% of the world’s population, Indigenous Peoples make up 15% of the world’s poor.   Indeginous Peoples also make up about one third of the world’s 900 million extremely poor rural people.

Mulenkei gave an example in Uganda where the Batwa have largely been left out of everything that it was only two years ago when the first person joined high school. The Batwa are among other minority hunter gathers in Africa and are found in Uganda, DRC, Rwanda and Burundi.

“If the Millennium Development Goals are to be reached by 2015, they must be underpinned by a human rights-based approach to development that emphasizes universality, equality, participation and accountability. ”

Often in countries like Uganda interventions are made for those who have the big political muscle and have representation. Batwa people and other fruit gathers are not even represented at local district councils which are often in charge of monitoring interventions.

Last year I visited Karamoja, where the tribes still live a nomadic life.  A Karimojong doctor told me many women in the region refused to give birth in the hospital because they are forced to deliver laying on their backs something totally different to their culture.

Mulenkei said working with Indigenous Peoples on the MDGs requires a culturally sensitive approach, based on respect for and inclusion of indigenous peoples’ world-views, perspectives, experiences, and concepts of development.

Mulenkei and other activist gathered in New York said  that government must recognize that indigenous peoples as distinct peoples and therefore be respected for their individual and collective human rights by and therefore avail them culturally-sensitive social services.

Many environmental programs have left indigenous people out of their lands with no alternative source of livelihood and therefore exacerbating the poverty levels among these groups.

Activists called for governments to incorporate indigenous people especially women in decision-making and in political participation at all levels of representation; community local and national levels.

They called for creation of quotas not only in political participation but in all organizational forms. Mulenkei said economic empowerment of communities especially women through n small grants, micro credit facilities would help a lot to bring these communities closer to the national indicators.

I took a few minutes of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to talk about the continent’s performance and what her country will embark on in the next five years.

Q: Ten years after Africa endorsed the Millennium Development  Goals, what’s there to show the world?

Ans: As of now we cannot say that any African country will achieve all eight of the MDGs by the target date

But 11 of the 20 cnoutries that have made progress on the several of them are found in Africa. So what we need to do now is to see how we can each country and collectively as African countries begin to target the areas where we think we can achieve and put all our efforts behind that.

Q: What would be the area that we should put the effort?

Ans: Each country will differ depending on their own institutions and their own capabilities in case of Liberia we are going to child mortality, women empowerment, partnerships, HIV/AIDS and maternal mortality

Other countries might go for poverty because it cuts across all sectors we all trying to find ways how we can achieve the targets but differently.

In Liberia maternal mortality is one of our biggest challenges we are going to be far from reaching the goal.

African nations lack the political will to provide access to primary education to all children, according to the Global Campaign for Education (GCE), a coalition of organisations in 100 countries.

In most countries on the continent, achieving basic education remains a far-off dream, the coalition stated in a report titled, “Back to School? The worst places in the world to be a school child in 2010”, which was launched during the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Summit in New York, where world leaders are gathering to evaluate their countries’ progress five years ahead of the 2015 deadline. Read more

Lucy Chesire, a nutritionist from Eldoret Kenya is  HIV positive and she had to have three surgeries and spend seven months in hospital due to TB.

Only 4.1 percent of people living with HIV worldwide have been screened for Tuberculosis. TB is one of the most neglected diseases despite being in existence for the last 100 years.

Nearly 25 percent of people with HIV eventually die from TB because they are not tested. Also in Uganda most people learn of their HIV status when their TB has gone to late stages.

According to the WHO 2009 Global TB control report of the about one million Ugandans with HIV, only 16,110 had been screened for TB.

Singer Craig David is the UN ambassador for TB, today at the UN Week Digital

Media Lounge he called for increased funding for TB and promotion of educational programs to deal with stigma surrounding TB.

Cherise said most people with HIV end up developing drug resistant TB due to low awareness in communities about treatment. She said it takes about USD 25,000 to cure drug resistant TB which many patients can’t afford and they end up dying.

She said many TB patients in Africa must walk many miles a day to get TB injections and also endure over 40 pills a day. Many have lost their jobs because of the lengthy treatment.

According to a new report by Global Campaign for Education (GCE), a coalition of organizations in 100 countries in the world calling for increase in provision of education for children, achieving basic education for many African countries remains far from reality. The report titled; Back to School? The worst places in the world to be a school child in 2010, looked at population without access to universal basic education, political will, quality and equal opportunities for education.

Of the sixty developing countries with education gaps, Uganda was in the 46^th position, Rwanda 25, Kenya 11, Tanzania and Burundi both at 37.

In the East African community, Kenya and Rwanda are doing fairly better than Uganda, Burundi and Tanzania and the reason has been put as existence of political will to achieve basic education for all.

In Burundi 38 percent of children as of 2008 had not complete primary education while 93 percent had no secondary education.

For Uganda, 43 of children had not acquired primary education while for 78 percent secondary education remains an elusive dream.

Tanzania had better indicators for primary school having only 13 percent not completing primary education but its commitment to education is questioned with 92 of its children having not made it to post primary education.

The report shows that while there has been progress in primary education, only one country in Africa has more than 50 percent of its children in secondary school.

Uganda had the lowest public expenditure on education in the region.

Rwanda and Kenya were shown to have made tremendous progress. Rwanda commits about 20 percent of its annual budget to education.

The report looked at political will in terms of how much of the total government expenditure between 2007-8 was spent on education and also supplementary but essential interventions like free school meals for children.

In Uganda, in June, the country was shocked to learn that about Ushs.16 billion  allocated to the education ministry had been untouched for a year due to lack of systems in districts and bureaucracy.

Even though the budget allocation for education has increased over the last four years sh633.43b in 2005/2006 financial year to sh1.1trillion this year, there is still lack of support for children especially the girl child which has led to high school dropout rate.

Government in Uganda passed the Education Act in 2008 which makes primary education compulsory but enforcement remains a challenge.

The report puts Somalia as the worst place in the world to be school child further highlighting the impact of conflict on education.

In most of Northern Uganda where the communities are emerging out of conflict, children do not stay at school for long due to hunger and many girls are pulled out of school to carry out farming to support families at worst they are married off.

The report was released at a meeting on the sidelines of the UN Millennium Development Goals Summit in New York

Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown:

“We should work to fast track education initiatives so that in places with conflicts education is available to the young at the frontiers in the same way as medicine is available. We have to make sure that the two million teachers that are missing are actually educated and trained for the task that lies ahead.”

Although development aid has more than doubled since 2000 when the MDG goals were endorsed, aid levels especially to support basic education in sub Saharan Africa are still far below the estimated needs.

Much as the activist this week will mount pressure on developed countries to honour their aid pledges, the report calls recommends that developing countries must also commit 20 percent of their annual budget to education in order to achieve basic education for all.

And for Africa where the campaign found to have most troubling education in indicators, the education for all target will be one hard to beat.

The report also notes progress in countries like Tanzania, Mozambique and Rwanda.

Yvonne Chaka Chaka, South African singer and activist has a new film out about her work as UN Millennium Development Goals Africa envoy. The Motherland Tour- A journey of African Women features lives of four African women. The first screening was in London last week. The film has also been featured on French Television.

I had a chance to meet up with Yvonne and her advisor Louis da Gama ahead of the event. Check it out.

On Saturday July 31, 2010, a 30 year-old woman was brutally murdered by a brother in-law in Ogan village, Pajule, Pader district northern Uganda. Susan Adong–who had three children, was seven months pregnant.

According to the police report, Adong was murdered because the family held her responsible for her husband’s death. Adong’s husband died in a prison after he was remanded over several cases of physical abuse against Adong.

After her husband’s death, Adong was chased away from her marital home and sought refuge at her parents’ home. On the fateful day Adong had gone to collect a few of her belongings, she was brutally axed several times to death.

Adong is just one of hundreds of women in Uganda who lose their lives in domestic violence.

Domestic violence has been steadily increasing over the last five years that finally the Ugandan parliament has enacted a law this year. The new law brings tough penalties for offenders, and grants power to low level authorities to tackle domestic violence while re-emphasizing women’s rights to resources. Read more here.