OF BLUE FLIES, THE MAFIA & UGANDA’S POTENTIAL – 2019

Twelve months, is but a blink of the eye viewed against the vast expanse of history. But in Uganda 12 months can seem an eternity. We pack so much drama in a year that it’s easy to forget what happened  this time last year. At least that is how it seems to me.

To wrap the year I looked back on 12 months of this column. There was plenty to laugh about. Plenty to shake your head about. And quite a bit that would bring higher mortals to tears.

In January, this column took a stroll down memory lane to a bleak Christmas for this author, in Wandegeya.  Not for lack of money, in 1994 I had to settle for a meal in the market in Wandgeya, that I thought were left overs form the night before. But is also where I came to appreciate the perfection of the blue, on the blue fly.

The column was prompted by an uncharacteristic attack on foreign investment – MTN was being wrung through the mud at around this time. I was exploring the fact that as a country which had not and until now, has not, effectively mobilized its internal resources, we have had to rely heavily on foreign direct investment to pull us out of the hole we were in thirty years or so ago.

"Thankfully we have been able to attract enough credible entities that have created jobs, provided goods and services and paid taxes. Unfortunately for them, because they represent “foreign” capital, it can be easy to fan sentiments against them for the most spurious reasons, sometimes none of their making....

They are not doing us any favours being here. They are here because there is money to be made. It is a win-win situation. It would do us some good if we didn’t think of our relationship as a zero sum game – either we win or they lose. We can benefit so much more, in jobs, technological transfer, taxes, goods and services, if we can maintain the enabling environment for them to thrive.

Fast forward to September and this column was totally unamused about the shenanigans surrounding UTL. This is the month the investment minister Evelyn Anite warned that the “mafia” had taken over the government owned telecommunications company, intent on stripping it of its assets and whatever else they could pry from the hinges.

This column argued that UTL, which is technically insolvent, because of the hoolah balooh may very well go for a dollar. Its debts far exceed its assets. Not to mention that to bring it up to speed with other industry players would require a massive outlay that no sane investor would put up. Shut it down we said and be done with it...

But it was not all doom and gloom. In that same month NSSF announced an 11% interest on members’ savings a climb down from 2018’s 15%, but a better rate nevertheless than you would get on the market for your long term savings.

This column was practically drooling at the prospects for NSSF, which if a clause in the new law governing the Fund is passed, allowing for voluntary contributions, NSSF will be well set up to mop up a lot of the billion dollars or so, in remittances from abroad. Under the current law that governs NSSF only members in formal employment can contribute. In the new law the benefits of the fund will be open to those in the informal sector and anyone else wanting to sock away money for the future.

There was still more good news. In October this column stumbled (if one can stumble upon a 13,000 acres agricultural operation), Asili Farms in northern Uganda. The farms together with Joseph Initiatives are owned by Agilis Partners, which has set as its target to unlock Uganda’s potential as the continental food basket...

They grow maize, soya bean and sunflower seed. In the space of less than five years, they logged 25,000 tons of grain exports last season. In addition to their own land holdings, they have mobilized 15,000 farmers in the Bunyoro region to supply them with the grain.

They have gone beyond lip service about Uganda’s agricultural potential. And that will be key in coming years. Seven in ten Ugandans derive their livelihood from farming. Rudimentary farming practices, lack of bargaining power in the market and poor access to those same markets means they are doomed to a second class existence where the economy’s continued growth is just a story.

We keeping our fingers crossed for them and like to see how they have done in five -, ten years’ time.

And then we had the laughable circus of the pallets.

For those who were not around in June (It was that long ago), the story broke of how central bank officials connived with our currency note printers to print extra notes. The figure being bandied around was sh87.5b more.

The story grew legs because in our day to day living we do this kind of thing. We are always looking to cut corners, to win a bargain, to beat the system. So because we do it, somebody must be doing it at the central bank.

"Never mind that the printers have reputation of a few hundred years and would not jeopardise that from some small banana republic. Never mind that the scale of the operation to smuggle from under security – both here and abroad, 350 kgs of notes (a conservative estimate) and hence the ease with which the secret would have leaked, not weeks but hours after the cache had touched down in Uganda.

But yes! This is Uganda!