AMURU – After the Lord Resistance Army (LRA) and Uganda People’s Defense Forces’ (UPDF) insurgency, the biting poverty at the time forced those who had returned from the Internally Displaced Camps (IDPs) to join hands and form Lamogi Cooperative Society Limited (LCSL) where they have been able to learn modern farming methods as well as other skills.
The two decades war in the region displaced more that 1.5 million people into IDPs; tens of thousands lost their lives, and properties were destroyed.
However, upon joining the farmers society, they have learnt better savings skills and modern farming methods according to Okeny Justine, the chairperson of the cooperative.
Since the population was returning to ruined homes, the only solution was to come together in a cooperative so that we can help ourselves, noted Okeny.
“We could not help each other at that time, but we sat and the only solution was to form a group that later saw us having a cooperative in place; and to date we are able to sort out our problems,” he said.
The cooperative has 100 groups, with each group having 30 members.
To date in many homes, people are able to have basics in life ranging from daily meals, medical care, and school fees since most of them have leant better farming methods.
Nyakabale Joyce, one of the beneficiaries says she is able to produce what she takes at the cooperative and also have surplus for domestic consumption.
“Modern farming has been key, many stakeholders reached out to us, taught us how to grow both commercial crops and food crops so that as we look at selling what we produce, our families are also catered for in terms of food production,” said Nyakabale
Olanya Patrick, a member of the cooperative, has been able to acquire better farming practices and also to engage in farming as a business.
“Our eyes have been opened, we have been able to tap grants that have helped us to open land on large scale thus helping in large crop production,” he said.
We have come together and put in place a revolving fund which enables members to save their money and borrow whenever in need at a low interest rate.
Komakech Simon Peter, the Amuru District Agricultural Officer (DAO), said since the members are under an organized group, accessing them has been easy and they have been availed with agriculture inputs that has boosted their production.
Market accessibility has also been an added advantage, they can sell in bulk, get storage facilities and markets have been eased as well.
“I must tell you that dealing with a cooperative is easier than working as an individual, there are government projects that target majorly organized groups in terms of grants and they have been able to benefit,” he said.
In the areas of saving, they have received training from microfinance intuitions, together with district commercial officers.
They have taken them through financial literacy hence boosting their saving culture.
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GULU – Gulu District Local Government (GDLG) has subjected all implementation of the different projects under the Northern Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF) to investigations.
The implementation of the third phase of the program was a five-year World Bank funded project being implemented in the 66 districts across Northern Uganda which ended in June this year.
The program was launched in the early 2000 to help the districts across the region catch up with the rest of Uganda which then in the late 1990 enjoyed economic growth rates between 5 to 7 percent.
The different interventions aimed at fighting poverty using a combination of four factors by building the infrastructures, income generating activities, conflict management and institutional development.
However, NUSAF suffered a tainted image as a result of allegations of corruption where the government officials and the service providers were accused of embezzlement and doing sub-standard work.
With widespread complaints of accountability, the government was skeptical whether to continue with the program but Soroti’s success story became a guarantee for the second and the third phases.
At least 1,795 different projects in the implementing districts of the third phase of the program were targeted in 71,161 households according to the 2020 report by Operation Wealth Creation (OWC).
Gulu District, among other implementing districts, received Shs 9.6 billion for a total of 343 different projects reportedly implemented in the district from 2016 to June 2021.
However, as the program phased off a month ago, some of the projects which received funding had stalled and this drew concerns from the new district leaders.
Among the projects is the community access road of Shs 58 million of Rwot Obilo Health Centre III to Atiaba village and the institutional greening at Zion Nursery and Primary School worth Shs 22.1 million.
With various reports of alleged mismanagement of funds and shoddy work, the District Executive Committee (DEC) recently summoned the technocrats to respond to these allegations.
The Engineering team which was then assigned with the task of approval of the technical works in the implementation of the projects denied the approval of some of the projects but failed to name them.
Opio Ateker Christopher, the District Chairman instructed the Internal Auditor and Chief Finance Officer (CFO) to produce the audit report of the different projects, a matter that was protested by the technocrats.
Okech Goretti, the Community Development Officer (CDO) who doubles as the focal point person says the new projects had achieved their intended objectives and that there was no need for the investigations.
However, at Zion Nursery and Primary School, the fund meant for the institutional greening was diverted to fencing of the school, tree planting with a smaller portion of the compound beautified with flowers.
Okot Peter, the Chairperson Zion Nursery and Primary School Institutional Greening Project told theCooperator in an interview that the diversion of the project followed pressure from the technocrats.
Though he declined to provide more details, Opige Samuel, the secretary of the group revealed that the diversion had reduced the wage allowance of the group members.
He explained that each of the 68 members was to get Shs 82,000 paid at the end of the project but ended up with only Shs 56,000 while 15 percent was remitted to the bank as their revolving fund.
Okia Collin, the Local Councilor II of Atyaba Parish in Bungatira sub-county commended the district leaders for instituting the investigations.
He revealed that Shs 16 million of the funds were meant for the wage allowances which was reduced to less than Shs 6 million, the variation he says needs audit and investigations.
Ongwech Balington P’ Olweny, the Gulu District Secretary Community Services blamed the incident on lack of coordination between the technocrats and the elected leaders.
“There was inflation of budgets and you could clearly see that money has gone into the wrong hands” Olweny alleged.
Preliminary investigations amounted to the arrest of two technocrats in the district and three other group members whose identities were not disclosed.
Twongyeirwe Justus, the Officer in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at Gulu Central Police Station confirmed the arrest but declined to name the suspects.
He noted that the police were yet to open up a general inquiry file to commence the investigations of the alleged mismanagement of funds and corruption into the projects.
The third phase of NUSAF’s implementation was placed directly to contribute to the World Bank strategy of reducing poverty and to share prosperity in the northern districts.
The funds were divided into the four major components of labor-intensive public works and disaster risk financing which was allocated $ 61 million, livelihood investment support of $ 43.50 Million, Safe net mechanisms and project management $ 20.50 million, strengthening of transparency, accountability and anti-corruption was allocated $ 5 million.
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NEBBI – The jobless public transport operators like taxi drivers and brokers operating in Nebbi Municipality have expressed worries over their livelihood ever since the government announced the second lockdown last month on June 18th, 2021.
They said since the government banned public transport to curb the spread of the second wave of Covid19, transport being the only source of their livelihood was greatly affected.
This has left unable to provide the most basic necessities for their families and the situation has rendered them jobless.
One of the taxi drivers in Nebbi Municipality Ugenrowth Denis, who was operating his transport business from Nebbi to Pakwach districts, said he used to get daily savings of Shs 20,000 but he is unable to save due to the ban on public transport which has rendered them vulnerable.
Late last month, the government announced it will use mobile money to deliver cash relief to vulnerable people who are affected by the second Covid19 lockdown.
Ugenrwoth adds that much as the government has a plan to bailout those whose businesses were affected as a result of the lockdown, the money won’t be enough since most of them bought their business vehicles using loans from financial institutions with pending loan arrears to be paid.
“I know our vehicles will be impounded by banks for failing to pay back the borrowed loans so can the government ask banks to reduce the interest on the loans?” Ugenrwoth asked.
Wachal Francis, the Chairperson Nebbi Driver’s Operators Association, also known by stage name Ja-rule said, the lock down has put drivers and brokers in a great litmus test; that they should always plan for a sister business which can support their families in future incase of similar situations.
Nancy Kayeny one of the food vendors on Nebbi -Pakwach taxi stage said her food business that was relying on drivers and brokers is currently counting loses ever since the lockdown was announced.
“I was having a booming food business at Pakwach stage with majority of customers being drivers and brokers but when the lockdown was announced, I’m now failing to service my loan from our Voluntary Savings and Lending Association (VSLA),” Kayeny said.
Ongei Patrick who was one of the brokers at Arua road stage said he had to cross from being a broker to vending boiled eggs for his family to survive the lockdown.
“No condition is permanent, I crossed to boiled eggs vending on streets to keep me busy and I will go back to stage when the government uplifts the lockdown,” Ongei said.
However, Onyango Okol Emma, the Deputy Resident District Commissioner[DRDC], Nebbi district said, the government has started registering those whose businesses were affected during this current lockdown for relief packages whereby taxi operators, brokers, saloons, bar operators among others will be the immediate beneficiaries of the relief packages.
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Hon Goli Ogwal Moses, MP-elect Dokolo North Constituency is leading a campaign to ensure that livestock farmers in Northern Uganda grow cassava on a large scale for animal feeds to improve their livelihoods with assistance from feedlot technology.
Ogwal has pledged to utilize the constituency development fund to create Livestock Feedlot Centers per parish to train farmers and promote supplementary feeding in livestock noting that Northern Uganda has been promoting National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) Cassava (NARO CAS 1 and NARO CAS 2) which has been adopted in Dokolo constituency.
The new MP elect was speaking during the training of livestock beef Farm Managers and Trainers of Trainers (TOTs) from ten districts of the Central and Western Cattle corridor at Robran Holdings Limited (RHL) facility in Buwanuka Wakiso district.
The Nucleus Farm Managers and the TOTs were in Wakiso for the hands-on training on crush construction, fencing and other animal handling facilities for feedlotting animals. The training was held under the auspices of the Promote Supplementary Feeding (SUPPL-F) project.
SUPPL-F project is part of the Developing a Market–oriented and Environmentally Sustainable Beef Meat Industry in Uganda (MOBIP), which is a government of Uganda programme supported by the European Union under the overall supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF).
The project is being implemented by the Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) in partnership with Robran Holdings Limited (RHL), Makerere University College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES), Livestock Development Forum (LDF) and the Green Elephant (TGE).
The affiliates are the PSFU members including the Uganda Women Entrepreneurs Association Limited (UWEAL) and the Uganda Beef Producers Association (UBPA).
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Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) is working with other partners including Makerere University College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES), to implement a project to enhance livestock production funded by the European Union and currently under the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF).
The project referred to as Promote Supplementary Feeding is focusing on farmers’ access to and utilization of supplementary feeds for purposes of enhancing livestock production like fattening animals for the market.
Promote supplementary feeding (SUPPL-F) project is part of a European Union (EU) grant (under the 11th European Development Fund) extended to the government of Uganda to a programme known as “Developing a Market-Oriented and Environmentally Sustainable Beef Meat Industry in Uganda (MOBIP)”.
The implementation of MOBIP lies with Directorate of Animal Resources (DAR) under the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF).
The programme awarded Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) and her six partners to implement a EUR 715,299 Suppl-F project.
The partners include: Robran Holdings Limited, Livestock Development Forum, The Green Elephant –VOF, CAES, Uganda Women Entrepreneurs Association Limited and Uganda Beef Producers Association.
The writer of this article is Jane Anyango, from Makerere University.
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MBARARA – As many people continue feasting on fresh meat, residents of Mbarara City are involuntarily abstaining from meat following the ban on sale over Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) that has paralyzed the cattle corridor in the districts of Lyantonde, Kiruhura, Mbarara, Bushenyi among others.
Dr Nabaasa Robinson, the In-charge of veterinary services in Mbarara City confirmed that the slaughter and sale of meat was banned in the city for 14 days as per temporary measures to contain FMD spread in the cattle corridor.
“We were not all that sick of FMD but because we are the biggest animal market in the region, we had an obligation to protect our neighbors since all those animals slaughtered come from infected areas. Also, to evaluate and reorganize our operations so that we don’t risk other districts,” Nabaasa emphasized.
The meat ban left people in Mbarara City with no other option but to survive on alternative sauces like greens and birds. The prices for greens and birds have since then increased due to increased demands.
“I used to buy fish at Shs 10,000 but now it is Shs 20,000 if you cross to chicken; it’s no longer Shs 30,000 it now goes for Shs 45,000 because there is no more meat at the butcheries” Gilbert Mwesigye, a city dweller decried.
However, poultry farming in Mbarara City and the neighboring districts, the cost of a tray of eggs dropped from Shs 15,000 to Shs 7,000; while a bunch of bananas dropped from Shs 10,000 to Shs 1,000-2,000 depending on its size.
Nimusiima Stephen, the Chairman Rufuura Abattoir says, meat business is no longer normal as it was before Covid19.
“We used to slaughter more than 40 animals a day but currently we slaughter only about 10 animals and even buyers themselves come crying of debts because they will tell you that their businesses are all stuck. Farmers have also used this chance to increase the animal prices” Nimusiima explains.
The 14-day ban ended on Monday and new guidelines have been raised for abattoirs and butcheries to operate normally.
“After the 14-day ban we evaluated ourselves and developed new guidelines on how to operate though some routes were closed and their animals can’t cross to our city especially animals from Kiruhura, Isingiro and Rubaya” says Nabaasa.
“No health certificate, no animal entry into our abattoir and you have to bring animals for slaughter not to stock including observation of Covid19 Standard Operating Procedures [SOPs] because such abattoirs are big factories so we need to ensure that our people remain safe,” he added.
Nabaasa says the resumption of slaughtering animals in Mbarara City doesn’t interfere with the presidential guidelines on closing the weekly cattle markets for 42 days.
“With the presidential directives, he stopped cattle and weekly markets but farmers are allowed to sell direct from their farms. We also have loading sites like those in Kiruhura as he emphasized that agricultural activities should continue” Nabaasa retaliates.
He, however, says the city zone still has a few sick animals in Rwenjueru bordering Kiruhura, Rukindo in Nyakayojo urging traders to observe Covid19 SOPs to avoid risks of total lockdown.
Away from food stuffs, drivers and bus owners are lamenting after the president re-directed closure of every movement of motor vehicles and cycles except for those carrying cargo.
Njoma Aesi, a bus driver at Global Buses says that the business environment has become so harsh that most of the people in the transport sector have returned to their villages for survival.
“Most of our colleagues have gone to the villages while others are wondering in town because they have no alternative job. Remember our children were also sent from school even after paying school dues so the conditions are not good” Njoma explained.
He appealed to the government to at least ease the lockdown such that public transport business can resume.
“I think the government would have eased the lockdown and put some strict measures enabling us to continue working rather than shutting us down” Njoma said
Kihembo Anthony, the General Manager Global buses says the transport ban risks damaging their vehicles and will need repairs.
“Last year we parked almost for a year, but we were forced to do mechanical repairs. The fact that buses are not moving, most parts are vulnerable to breaking down. We purchased some of these buses on loan meaning that parking them, they will not be making money, yet we have to clear the bank loans” Kihembo lamented.
He advised the government to always consult business stakeholders rather than just enforcing strict guidelines.
“Before such measures are put in place, let the government first consult people with experience for guidance but if you take such harsh decisions then they continue to haunt us in the private business”
However, Lt Col. Mwesigye James, the Resident City Commissioner (RCC) Mbarara vowed to implement all directives to save people from massive death.
“People must remain where they are, if you have nothing important to do in town why don’t you stay at home. Those who had come to the markets in big numbers, we have dispersed them, and we are trying so hard to make sure that curfew is implemented” explained Mwesigye.
Our reporter made a close survey in the bus park and all bus offices were locked meaning that no transport business is going on but for boda-bodas, they are continuously seen carrying passengers in and outside Mbarara City.
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Following two decades of concerted investments by both government and the private sector into especially electricity generation, Uganda’s supply now exceeds demand – at least for now. Even in terms of energy security, Uganda has since diversified from over-reliance on hydro. Today, a total of thirty-three (33) power plants currently dispatch power to the national grid. These included four (4) large hydropower plants, nineteen (19) small hydropower plants, two (2) thermal (Heavy Fuel Oil – HFO) power plants, three (3) bagasse-based cogeneration power plants, and five (5) Solar PV power plants. With supply and distribution reliability issues largely resolved, the government has now set upon solving the pertinent issue of affordability. The government is targeting to achieve at least US Cents 5 per KWh, especially for industrial consumers – a price, the government argues, and power companies agree is necessary for the competitiveness of Uganda’s goods and services. In this article, Prof. Samuel Sejjaaka, the Team Leader at MAT Abacus Business School, argues that while affordable power tariffs are mission-critical, any lasting solution should not be imposed and must objectively factor in, both the historical, present, and future economics of efficiently generating, transmitting, distributing and administering the power on one hand as well as stimulating and sustaining efficient demand and access on the other.
In the State of the Nation address of June 04th, 2021, H.E. the President stated that ‘the cost of electricity is distorted by mistakes committed by some of our actors, especially the mistakes of Bujagaali and Umeme, (which) add 55.3% to the cost of electricity per unit. Otherwise, the cost of power from Kiira is US cents 1.19per unit, Nalubaale – US cents 1.119per unit, Isimba – US cents 4.16per unit, Karuma – US cents 4.97 per unit; but Bujagaali US cents 8.30 per unit. Bujagaali, at one time, was US cents13.8 per unit.’
The assertions and concerns of H.E. the President do carry a lot of weight and implications for the economy. These concerns are valid because, without access to cheap energy, our industrial and agricultural production continue to be uncompetitive, and our households continue to use kerosene which is a health hazard. But what has gone wrong and what should we do?
First, it is important to have a historical context to this problem. The Nalubaale HEP station (formerly Owen Falls) was commissioned in 1954 and has a capacity of 180MW. It was not until 1993 that work started on the Kiira HEP station. The latter was commissioned in 2003 and completed in 2007 with a capacity of 200MW. The Kiira HEP Station (also known as the Third Power Project) was financed by GOU, with assistance from the World Bank and International Development Association (IDA) which provides concessional financing for poor countries. These facilities are also largely debt-free, considering that they have been around for quite some time.
In 2002, the Government of Uganda (GOU), undertook a restructuring of the then Uganda Electricity Board (UEB). As a result of this so-called ‘unbundling’ which created three companies UEGCL, UETCL, and UEDCL) the Uganda Electricity Generation Company, a 100 percent parastatal, awarded a 20-year operational, management, and maintenance concession to Eskom Uganda Limited, a subsidiary of Eskom, the South African energy company, to cover both Kiira Power Station and nearby Nalubaale Power Station. Eskom sells the electricity it generates to the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited (UETCL), the authorized single buyer. UETCL resells the power to Umeme, the energy distributor.
A comparison of the unit cost US Cents/KWh between the various power plants, therefore, in the absence of contextualizing the reliability, tariff and funding structure, age and other technical dimensions of the power plants does not on its own provide an accurate basis from which the contribution of the plants towards the economy of Uganda should be compared.
Bujagali was competitively solicited as a privately financed project (a public-private partnership). This means that its method of financing was “non-recourse financing”. This type of financing model means that the project’s lenders were not lending to the Government of Uganda but were lending directly to the project and relying on the project to repay their debt. This meant that the lenders were assuming a higher level of risk than would normally be assumed if lending to a sovereign state because no Government guarantees, or collateral was provided outside the scope of the project’s assets. This also meant that the project absorbed all pre-operation costs including development costs, interest, and financing costs during construction which lasted from 2007 (financial close) to 2012 (commissioning). The total project cost run-up to USD 902 million, of which USD 616 million were engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) costs.
In order for the financing of Bujagali to be secured, the BEL (the PPP) and the government had to enter into a power purchase agreement (PPA) that would guarantee cash flows to repay the debt incurred. There are different forms that these PPA’s take. The simplest are capacity and energy agreements. The former, which GOU and BEL entered into is a guarantee to pay for the full capacity of the power plant, whether power is evacuated or not. The second (the energy PPA) guarantees the power producer that all energy generated will be evacuated and paid for. Other hybrids exist but we need not bother with them here.
Based on the capacity agreement entered into by BEL and GOU, the quoted price of energy becomes a function of how much energy is evacuated by the transmission company, UETCL. The more energy transmitted, the lower the cost per kilowatt-hour. This then is the crux of the Bujagali project. Over time, energy evacuation from Bujagali has averaged about 65 -70% of available capacity, meaning that costs remain high as greater economies are not achieved. If Bujagali’s baseload was being dispatched by UETCL at its full potential, then the cost would be between 5 – 6 US cents/kWh. This is clearly illustrated in the graph below which shows energy supply and demand for April 2020 to April 2021.
Energy Supply and Demand (April 2020- April 2021). Source: UETCL
It is also important to note that whether the energy is generated and transmitted or not, there are operational and maintenance (O&M) costs, and financing costs that have to be paid. These include such inputs as lubricants, insurance, labor, and spares. These costs tend to be insignificant (2 – 4%) with size except for financing costs and the agreed return on investment. Bujagali’s operating and maintenance costs translate to a mere 0.32 US Cents/KWh. But factoring in the full debt service costs results in a much higher unit cost per KWh on the Government and by extension the end-user. What is also not usually articulated in determining the end-user cost is the impact of taxes.
The cost of Isimba of 4.16 US cents/KWh and Karuma of 4.97 US cents/KWh, only takes into consideration the reported energy charges to the sector but does not consider that the capital cost associated with the reported USD 1.93bn of loans (USD1.28bn concessional and USD0.65bn commercial – excluding transmission works) that cannot be serviced through the energy charges will be borne directly by the Government of Uganda, who in turn generate their revenues from taxes paid by the same end users.
If we aggregate the total energy production for the period (April 2020 through to April 2021) in our graph above, we will note that Bujagali contributed 40.4% of the total energy generated from these plants, while Isimba and Owen-falls contributed 25.0% and 34.6% respectively. On the other hand, Karuma has been significantly delayed and is now in its 9th year of construction and the cost of these delays is yet to be quantified. It, therefore, becomes difficult to make the comparisons that H.E the President made without adjusting for the peculiar circumstances of each project. Table 1 below shows the capacity of active stations and dispatch.
Base Load Contribution by BEL, Isimba and Owen Falls HEP Stations, Source: Analysis of UETCL Data
What then are the lessons that need to be learnt from the foregoing?
First is the fact that when the process of structural adjustment was in full gear, GOU was in a poor bargaining position. It did not have the resources to fund the Bujagali HEP construction or rehabilitate the distribution grid, and that is how Umeme Limited was invited, nor could we as a country afford any further delays. This is how some functions were therefore concessioned to the private sector, at private sector terms that among others include guaranteeing returns on investment to the project sponsors. It is now counterintuitive to say that these were bad deals when we negotiated them with open eyes. The correct course of action therefore would be to reduce the costs of energy from Bujagali by ensuring all its production is dispatched through the grid by UETCL. This would reduce the cost to about 5 US cents/kWh.
Secondly, we must note that Uganda did not have the skills to negotiate these deals and the risks of rent-seeking were very high as we saw in the case of AES the parties accused of impropriety were Ugandans and this is a sticking point for us as it led to the eventual collapse of the previous AES effort at Bujagali (10 years with finally no result which necessitated the retendering and eventual award to BEL). Many bad decisions are a result of self-interest rather than national interest. We have seen this in the case of driving permits, national identity cards, and motor vehicle inspections. The elephant in the room was always self-interest for which the protagonists were paid pittances.
The third lesson for us is that infrastructure projects that have a long-term payback, but immense socio-economic impact ought to be funded from our budget’s capital expenditure envelope or on concessionary terms if we have to borrow. The Bujagali HEP station, like many ongoing road projects, have been financed using non-concessional funds. It is therefore absurd to cry ‘wolf’ after signing on the dotted line. A varying view to this, it must be noted, is that even with such projects, when we use non-concessional funds, we must ensure we are able to maximize the utility of such projects so as to reduce the unit costs while increasing the ease of serviceability of our commitments. Indeed, there are many projects for which we have borrowed funds and failed to utilize the said funds while incurring commitment and penalty fees. We need more efficiency in our public investment programs PIP). A world bank report (Economic Update: Managing Uganda’s Public Investment Better Will Bring Higher Returns, 2016) noted that Uganda PIP’s, like most in Sub-Saharan Africa, faced efficiency gaps of up to 30%- in other words, Uganda is losing, on average, US 30 cents per USD 1 invested in her PIPs.
Lastly, we need to note that tariffs are a composition of many things. These include the energy source (fossil, water, solar), capacity, transmission, distribution, administration, pollution, congestion (peak vs. non-peak), and taxes. This then takes back to the unlayering and liberalization of the sector. Did we benefit from liberalizing the energy sector? Yes, because we were able to allow actors with financing to enter the market and compete. We were also able to significantly increase the supply of power and do away with the incessant load shedding. Indeed, our problem has changed from capacity to effective demand (see table 1 above). No, because the delayering of the supply chain increased intermediation costs at the three levels of generation, transmission, and distribution. But then again that is the nature of economic decisions; there will always be an upside and downside. You cannot choose one without the other.
Prof. Samuel Sejjaaka is Team Leader at Mat Abacus Business School. Email samuel.sejjaaka@matabacus.ac.ug
The 250MW Bujagali HydroPower Dam (on top) constructed by largely non-concessional commercial debt and the government-owned 183MW Isimba Hydro Power Dam, constructed using highly concessional government borrowing. Prof. Samuel Sejjaaka argues that while Isimba produces power at a seemingly low 4.16 US cents/KWh, compared to Bujagaali’s US cents 8.30 per unit (it used to be US cents13.8 per unit, before government-led refinancing of the project in 2018), comparing the two is a case of comparing apples to oranges. He argues that while government infrastructure projects with immense socio-economic impact but with long-term payback such as power dams, should have been financed from the government’s capital expenditure resource envelope, in the first place; the role of private sector capital in helping Uganda overcoming the energy crisis of the 2000s and attaining capacity surplus, ought not to be swept under the carpet.
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NEBBI– Farmers in Nebbi district have started counting loses in this first planting season due to the dry spell that has stunted the growth of crops.
They said the affected crops are: maize, beans and groundnuts which have dried up forcing farmers to abandon their fields and others to uproot the withered crops as they wait for rain.
One of the farmers in Oweko parish, Ndhew Sub County in Nebbi district Owachi Ronald said, he planted his maize in the first season hoping to reap in this lockdown but failed to yield due to the dry spell that affected his production.
He adds that in this lockdown, people are committed to farming, but they are being frustrated by the current harsh dry spell which has affected the productivity of their crops.
“I invested heavily all my resources and hoped to reap from farming in this lockdown but my efforts seem not to give me any profits as planned due to the dry spell which has hindered our efforts,” Owachi said.
The LC III Ndhew Sub County Hon Okwai Bosco says, farmers should expect hunger next year since, the first season was wasted due to dry spell which affected the yields of their crops.
Okwai added that farmers should keep close watch on the changing weather pattern by preparing their fields to plant short term crops like sorghum, beans and maize to meet the challenges being faced by farmers.
Okwai said farmers are unable to buy themselves seeds now with the current hardship in this lockdown period which needs government interventions because the livelihood of farmers are affected.
“We should prepare ourselves for hunger next year since our crops are heavily damaged with the current dry spell which have revenged on our farmers,” Okwai said.
However, Piwa Joyce, the Nebbi District Production Officer advised farmers to replant crops damaged by the dry spell to mitigate the prospects of hunger.
She added that at the moment it’s quite hard for the district to respond to the challenges affecting farmers in this dry spell which has hit the district because it largely depends on Operational Wealth Creation (OWC) to supply seeds to farmers which didn’t happen this year.
“The district doesn’t have capacity to supply farmers with seeds but only gives seeds to some few selected farmers in the sub counties for demonstration plots in the district,” Piwa said.
Urombi Emmanuel, the Chairperson Nebbi district has attributed the need for an irrigation scheme for farmers in order to boost their farming but as head of the district on political side, their hands are tied because of the limited resource envelopes to equip farmers with irrigation scheme.
“Our farmers need to calculate weather patterns before they inject a lot of money in agriculture to avoid the unforeseen weather challenges which are more likely to result into serious droughts and also destabilization of livelihoods of farmers at the grass root level”, Urombi said.
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GULU CITY – The construction of 1.5 kilometers drainage channel at Pece Stream in Gulu City has stalled as donor gives an ultimatum to the construction company.
This project funded by Fichtner, a German international organization at the cost of Shs 600 million was meant to widen the stream to avert the outburst of water and floods in the city.
However, a 2017 report by the Ministry of Water and Environment mapped Gulu City among the areas in Northern Uganda that are potentially prone to floods.
Following the development, the former Gulu Municipal Council then recommended widening the water banks at Pece Stream and secured the funding from Fichtner two years ago.
Destiny Construction, a local construction company was awarded a 6 months contract to implement the project since November last year. The timeline for completion of the work has since elapsed by two months.
It is now 8 months since the construction site was commissioned and handed over to the contractor but they have failed to initiate the project.
Towler Robert, the team leader at Fichtner disclosed in a recent interview with Uganda Radio Network that an ultimatum of two weeks was issued to the construction company to complete its work.
Despite the ultimatum, the company has failed to explain the delay in getting the work completed.
In his response, Okwonga Alfred, Gulu City Council Mayor noted that Council has received complaints from the donor over the slow progress of work on the stream.
He revealed that a recent meeting by the Executive Committee of Council (ECC) has recommended that another construction company be contracted to complete the project.
“This is a project we can’t lose and we have asked the donor to review the contract before another company takes over the project” Okwonga disclosed.
When contacted, Gudoi Kenneth, the contractor said the project was wrongly designed even before the project commenced.
According to the physical planning of the project, the location which is below Unifat Primary School and next to former Bardege Division offices is a gazzeted ecological wetland park for a recreational Centre to be constructed along the belt and other public offices.
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https://www.uhuruinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/uhuru-logo-300x218.png00tchttps://www.uhuruinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/uhuru-logo-300x218.pngtc2021-07-02 19:12:212021-07-02 19:12:21Drainage Channel Construction at Pece Stream Stalls.
NEBBI – Fights ensued amongst Nebbi boda-boda riders under their association, Nebbi Municipality Boda-Boda SACCO Limited, over illegal withdrawal of Emyooga cash by the executive members.
Emyooga is one of the government’s initiative that was launched by President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni in August 2019 as part of its strategy to economically transform 68% of Ugandan homesteads from subsistence farming to market-oriented production to eradicate poverty.
According to the government, 18 enterprise categories were identified as having not adequately benefited from the previous wealth creation initiatives, and this included: Journalists, Boda-Boda, women entrepreneurs, carpenters, salon operators, and taxi operators, restaurant owners and welders.
Others are market vendors, youth leaders, Persons with Disabilities [PWDs], produce dealers, mechanics, tailors, performing artistes, army veterans and fishermen but, the money has brought in a lot of chaos among Nebbi Boda-Boda riders because they don’t trust their executive members .
The members revealed that, their executive members illegally withdrew Shs 20 million from the SACCO account and purchased three numberless Bajaj motorcycles from DR-Congo using the Emyooga cash which later sparked off a misunderstanding amongst the members.
According to Parakoch Francis, a member of Nebbi Boda-Boda SACCO Limited; June 10th, 2021, the executive members of the association allegedly used their powers to withdraw Shs 20 million out of the Shs 30 million that was disbursed on the SACCO Centenary Bank account.
“The members were not consulted on the purchase of the motorcycles that’s why there is misunderstanding amongst the Boda-Boda riders,” Parakoch said.
Jakony Cosmas, another group member says three numberless motorcycles were purchased by the executive members at a cost of Shs 3.5 million each totaling to Shs 10.5 million without the consent of the members.
Onegiu Peter, the Chairman Nebbi Boda-Boda SACCO admits that, the idea to purchase three Bajaj motorcycles from DR-Congo was to minimize the cost, since in Uganda the numbered motorcycles Bajaj, are sold at Shs 5 million while in DR-Congo it goes for Shs 3.5 million.
He adds that they bought motorcycles to raise weekly money for the SACCO, which will be deposited on the Boda-Boda account.
However, Onyango Okol Emma, the Nebbi Deputy Resident District Commissioner said it’s a good business idea to buy motorcycles for the Boda-Boda Savings and Credit Cooperative [SACCO], but it was wrong that members were not consulted and called for audit queries of the Commercial Officer who allowed the money to be withdrawn without the guideline of Emyooga.
“We are investigating the motive of Nebbi Municipality Commercial Officer who allowed only the eight executive members of Nebbi Boda-Boda SACCO to withdraw the money and they don’t have their savings,” Onyango said.
Wakwayo Felix, the Commercial Officer Nebbi Municipality, advised members of the Boda-Boda SACCO to use the cooperative and Emyooga principles to help manage their SACCO.
He revealed that so far, four SACCO groups have accessed their money while others are in the pipeline pending verification from Micro Finance Support Centre (MFSC).
“The municipal has 18 SACCOs approved and ready to receive the funds but at the moment only four SACCOs have received their money and using the money,” Wakwayo said.
He further called for good team spirit amongst group members to manage the SACCO.
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