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!
