RWANDA IS A REMINDER FOR AFRICA

Last week was set aside to commemorate twenty years since the Rwanda genocide begun.

We all know the background. 

Ethnic tensions fuelled by the Belgian colonialists and carried on as means to retain power by post-colonial governments, flared for what was not the first time but hopefully the last, leaving about 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu dead in a 100-day killing orgy. The trigger for the latest Rwanda genocide was the death of then president Juvenal Habyarimana in a plane crash outside Kigali.

We heard personal testimonies of the terror, we celebrated unsung heroes and our breath was taken away – as it is every year, when we are reminded of the sheer scale of the tragedy. And even after all this time we shake our heads in wonderment at what kind of hatred of one for another, could have driven tens of thousands to turn on their friends and relatives with such bloody abandon.

The commemoration of the genocide should be a continental affair.

"It should serve as a reminder to us that we play on a global field where decisions about our wellbeing can be made thousands of miles away, our lives can be signed off with the stroke of a pen and that we can be at the gates of hell and those with the means to pull us back can look away with pointed indifference...

“Who will guarantee the future of Africans?” President Yoweri Museveni once asked. Israel’s existence is guaranteed by the west, he said, who will guarantee ours.

The Rwanda genocide should be cause for soul searching in all the continent’s capitals.

Jared Diamond asked the question in his book “Guns, Germs & Steel”, why are some parts of the world developed and others (Africa) not?

His conclusion was that for various reasons the west was able to produce a food surplus, allowing them to pay their thinkers and fund standing armies, which could then be used to project their will around the world for their benefit.

In trying to get to the bottom of the same issue Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson in “Why Nations Fail”, discounted this conclusion and suggested that what made the difference was whether the elite in these countries run them for their own personal benefit or for the benefit of the general population. The former nation of course being weaker than the latter and vulnerable to implosion or outside interference and manipulation.

At the heart of the problem is the continent’s leadership but more broadly the elite. Our inability to appreciate that no one will look out for our interests better than ourselves and that we can only do this to the extent that we are strong and organised into credible entities can guarantee our won existence.

Because yes, this is an existential question.

"One view has it that the world cannot provide for all of us if we all consumed at the level of western economies, hence the push for family planning on the continent, essentially to slow the growth in our needs because the west is unwilling to moderate their consumerism. Population growth rates in the west are in decline Africa is the problem. The fewer of us around the better....

Guaranteeing our future does not mean stocking our arsenals for an old fashioned invasion of our coastlines, but means harnessing our vast human and natural resources for our own benefit.

We will do this by having far sighted, inclusive governments working towards erasing the artificial borders that are hampering free movement of goods, capital and people.

That we find it comfortable to remain in our individually unviable nations is no mistake. The diabolical genius of the colonial project was that even after we had got independence we committed to retaining these divisions that would ensure we would continue to remain vulnerable and malleable.

If you went to any border on the continent you would be hard pressed to trace its route as there are no painted lines on the ground, barbed wire fences or concrete walls to separate one country from another.

We have enforced the artificialness of these boundaries as the experience of Rwanda shows. 

Rwanda’s neighbours did not go to its aid when the going got tough even when the bodies floated down our rivers and the refugees streamed across the borders.

"We have got into the habit of laughing out of the room anyone who examines the colonial context of our current predicament, Rwanda should remind us that we do this at our own peril.

KCCA SHUTTING THE BARN DOOR AFTER THE HORSE HAS BOLTED

We woke up on Thursday to the news that the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) was gearing up to move on land lords who had defaulted on their ground rents and contravened their planning permissions.

Chief among the culprits according to KCCA were the proprietors of the Forest Mall in Lugogo who have been faulted on both counts. KCCA says they will be looking into other property owners.

Last year KCCA moved on some property owners in town on the same grounds.

The developments in the area – Forest Mall and Lugogo Mall have attracted their share of controversy, being as they were originally playing grounds and green areas.

On lookers were baffled when mall came up alongside the older Lugogo Mall and it is interesting to discover that the original permissions were for a hotel, which would have maybe made more sense than the acres of empty space in the half complete Forest Mall a few years after it was opened.

Blame it on the 1970s and 1980s, years of instability where self-preservation took precedence over all else and the law was an inconvenience you did not have to follow. The chaos and unplanned expansion of our city is the logical outcome.

So because maybe we do not know better, the authorities are not keen to enforce or we just choose to ignore the law anyway we litter our city, drive like we are in the taxi park and develop our properties with little regard to the law.

That people are planting billion dollar structures where. When and how they please with no fear of censure shows how wrong things have gone bad.

And it is not just the nouveau riche who have made their billions recently and itching to make a statement. One of the encumbrances on a major 14-floor structure in Kampala, recently valued at sh50b, is that it is built on a road reserve. It probably isn’t the only one.

So our businessmen are jeopardising billions of their supposedly hard earned cash on these building of questionable integrity? It just goes to show how much impunity has been built into the system.

No one will argue against KCCA throwing the book against these offenders but one wonders about this delayed reaction.

In the case of Forest Mall KCCA can be forgiven for not knowing what alternative uses the proprietors would put their “hotel” to, but the mall has been in operation for at least two years, so what has prompted action now? Same to all the other developers who have contravened their build permissions?

I will be the first one to cheer when KCCA is bring sanity to our little town but justice has not only to be done but to be seen to be done.

KCCA has built up a lot of good will by beautifying the city, keeping it clean and try its best to return a semblance of sanity to our lives but they run the danger of being seen to be selectively executing their work for whatever reason and jeopardising the goodwill they have built over time.

Our businessmen should not act as if their money is burning a hole in their pants, building wily nilly and making us wonder about the source of their funds. KCCA on the other hand has done well to shed its image as sluggish public agency but clearly there seems to be a lot more work to do in speeding up its processes. KCCA should be more vigilante in calling offenders to order sooner rather than later.

THE MESSY BUSINESS OF BUILDING A DEMOCRACY

The political events since the beginning of the year have our heads spinning.

There has been the succession soap opera of within the NRM, the coming into law of the Anti-Homosexuality Act and the dust kicked up about it, the chaos in neighbouring South Sudan and its effect on the economy and the never ending fight by impeached mayor Erias Lukwago, who last week enjoyed a few hours back in office before the Court of Appeal sent him packing again.

If you are struggling to make head or tail of it all you are not alone.

The doomsayers will have it that the ruling party is sending the country hurtling down a dangerous path – away from democracy and its attendant freedoms towards a dictatorship, which in trying to stem it’s on implosion will become increasingly intolerant of dissent within or without the party.

Others looking through rose-tinted glasses will see everything is alright, that we are better than our neighbours, we have come a long way and at least we have stability, which is not what can be said for some of our neighbours.

Both are right and wrong with the truth lying in a composite of both views.

"If it is a given that the ultimate aim for us all is an increasingly democratic society it may serve as little consolation that things are going to get messier before they gets better....

When Uganda was writing its new constitution almost two decades ago one European diplomat, let down his guard – the Nile Special must have helped, and declared that the last thing Uganda needs is a multi-party democracy.

Using his home city as an example he said that there were two parts of the city, an organised part where the streets are straight, traffic flows and is more orderly and the other side where streets are all over the place, turning this way and that with no apparent rhyme or reason triggering a head splitting traffic jams at the slightest delay.

He said that the neat side was done when there was no democracy and the monarchs would decree that a road would pass through this place or that regardless of whose house was on the way. The other side was designed by committee with numerous, long winded consultations, that went back and forth were required to chart the course of the streets. And even when consensus was reached it could be changed at the drop of a hat. Invariably it cost more to build.

Whereas he was speaking under the influence, his basic message seemed to be that while the eventual goal of a free and democratic society was noble, some things were best done under a benevolent dictatorship (an oxymoron if ever there was one). Essentially that Uganda has a lot to do in setting up the framework under which a democracy can function properly.

Fast forward to now. While on paper we have a beautiful democracy the practice of it seems to get stickier by the day.

And this how it gets worse.

Writing a good democracy into law does not guarantee a perfect practice. If any proof of this was required look at the democracies of western Europe many of which are no longer even separated by borders. They have evolved over centuries to reflect the peculiarities of the people and the political expediencies of the time. To get to the current compromise position they have gone through hellacious genocides, fought apocalyptic wars, lived through and seen off blood thirsty tyrants and been saddled with irredeemably corrupt governments.

"Writing a constitution guarantees nothing, it just sets the broad outlines of a framework under which the society will be run. The people of the day determine how much they stick to the letter of the law...

In 1824 John Quincy Adams became the President of the US without winning either the popular or electoral vote in what is known as the “Corrupt Bargain”. The details of how this came about did not seat well with everybody and fortunately or unfortunately there was no international community at the time to rain down hell and brimstone on Washington. The President was decided by the House of Representatives (parliaments are the same wherever you go?)! But they learnt from the experience and except for a hiccup in 2000 have not come near to a repeat.

It is a process. Unfortunately or fortunately we are right in the middle of it, we don’t have the luxury of being born when our own processes have matured over a centuries.

The more intellectual argue that there is no need to reinvent the wheel, democracy has been around for centuries so we should just copy and paste. But

"democracy is a way of life, which holds when a critical mass of citizens appreciate its value and are willing to uphold and defend it by holding the government of the day accountable....

Of course with the advancements in technology and communications one can reasonably expect that progress will be and is already being made faster, the flip side of course, is that the inevitable relapses may be uglier and more intense than in medieval Europe.

The point is there are no short cuts. US billionaire Warren Buffett once said , 

“No matter how great the talent or efforts, some things just take time. You can't produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.”

He was speaking about investment but could very well be talking about the development of democracy.

INNOVATION IS NOT ONLY FOR SCIENTISTS

In certain circles there is a raging debate about government’s insistence on promoting sciences over arts. 

Understandably many of the opponents of this government, are people who feel they have no aptitude for science and therefore feel shortchanged by the initiative. Government and the proponents of the move say science and technology are the major drivers of innovation, which is what will drive development in this country into the future.

In the history of development, the promotion of science and technology has often made the difference between those who lagged behind and those who shot ahead. While crucial to innovation, innovation can be exercised by anyone and not only scientists.

This week Ugandan Eunice Namirembe, a founding member of the health services provider, Medicine Concierge,  won the Google Africa Connected award for her company’s innovative way of getting health serbices to people in need, using ICT.

Medicine Concierge, uses ICT to provide health tips, first aid advice and coordinate medical services for people in emergencies, out of a single van that doubles as a call center and ambulance.

Namirembe working with a group of health practitioners, thought up and executed the concept, which is unique in its ability to overcome our weaknesses in health service delivery, using communication.

The initiative works around Kampala, but with help from Google maybe rolled out to cover the country, the continent eventually.

Namirembe’s last days before a science teacher may have been in her O-Level, but she has used her interest in computers to find a solution for the issues of the day.

The point is, that we cannot get away from science and technology as a driver of innovation but we need not be scientists to harness this power.

Never in the history of the world has the saying “the world is oyster” had more meaning than today.

The example of Namirembe and her colleagues highlights for me one of the major challenges of service delivery in this country. 

Often times our services are copy-paste templates from more developed economies and do not take our own local peculiarities into account. 

Take the case of medical care not everybody needs to go to the hospital for medical care, a timely first aid intervention can mean the difference between getting up after an incident and a lengthy stay in one of health centers, with their creaky facilities and dubious service.

A large part of the challenge with our health system is that it is overwhelmed by all sorts of minor problems, taking away resources from serious issues.

In the financial sector, believe it or not there was a time when banks were only situated near or on Kampala road, they opened at 10 am, closed for business at one pm, never opened on weekends and for a long time, there was only one ATM machine on Kampala road, which was only used by VISA credit card holders.

Now with mobile money, a concept developed just across the border in Kenya, to serve the unique need of our societies, especially that we still have no fixed addresses – as determined by western models, but we still need to move money around, banking services are changing to back room operators rather than the face of the industry.

Examples abound in whichever industry you care to think about.

The key for us, is having our own people – scientists or not, looking to solve our problems using available technologies to bridge our deficiencies.

Whereas we need not look to government for support in all our endevours, there has to be mechanism put in place to recognise and encourage innovators like Namirembe and her partners. The support need not be in form of cash – government cash has a nasty habit of killing initiative, but maybe as little as giving them an ear and helping them connect with other innovators around the country or around the globe.

Isnt it a scandal that it has taken Google from across the Atlantic to come and showcase this initiative?

WE DON’T FEEL IT YET BUT THINGS ARE HAPPENING

Last week Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) reported that while tax collections have not met pre-set targets they continue to grow compared to the same period in the previous year.

In addition the Authority’s officials that in successive months the difference between the collections and the projections has continued to narrow and while revenues may not fully bridge the deficit by the time we get to the end of the financial year, they expect the trend to continue into the new financial year.

 For the period July-February projected tax collections were sh5,452b but receipts fell short by sh270b coming in sh5,181b. However revenues during the period were 13 percent higher than the collections during the same period on 2012/13 when sh4,573 was collected.

Beyond the numbers there are some interesting details to take away from the latest URA release.

For at least the last two years Richard Kamajugo, Commissioner Customs says, the collections from domestic revenues have outstripped taxes from international trade. This is the final stage of a progression that begun with removal of taxes on exports in in the late 1980s. It’s hard to believe now but export taxes accounted for six in every ten shillings of revenue the government collected in 1986. 

Now we get zero taxes from exports.

And for a long time taxes on imports, particularly petrol dominated our receipts and when there were problems with petrol supplies into the country they would deal a major blow to our tax collections in that year. Now domestic taxes --  income taxes, VAT and withholding taxes, dominate which is not only a healthy thing but how things should be.

This one indicator alone suggests that one, we getting more and more people into the tax net who were not there before but additionally points to growing production locally, we are meeting more and more of our requirements internally.

Another interesting development and very much related to the above is the way VAT has increasingly become a major tax head. In 1996 when it was introduced the Uganda Importers, Exporters & Traders Association (UGIETA) – the precursor to today’s KACITA (Kampala City Traders Association) opposed it, went on strike and lamented how the system was unworkable, would collapse many businesses and they would rather remain with the antiquated sales tax. Two decades down the road and we are still here and the numbers of traders has probably jumped tenfold in the interim. It just goes to show that what is popular is not always right.

A country’s revenue collections tell an interesting tale of whether an economy is on the up or not. Country’s are only as viable as their private sectors, business pays the taxes that finances the public goods – security, infrastructure and social services that not only improve the ease of doing business but also provide the ladders that allow for social climbing by the lesser fortunate.

So in country like Uganda which while well-endowed with natural resources has not exploited them, the fact that revenue collections continue to grow says something about the economy and believe it or not points to growth there even if we don’t feel – yet!

And finally almost mentioned in passing in this report is that fuel volumes into the country jumped by almost a third compared to the same period last year. According to URA this was largely due to the EAC Single Customs Territory clearing procedures which make it easier for fuel merchants to clear their cargo.

Probably an interesting case of our travels increasing to match the new increased volumes of the fuel coming into the country.

A country’s level of economic development can often be judged by its energy requirements per capita. Increasing fuel imports suggests more economic activity.

Our tax collections at 12 percent of GDP remain below the Sub Saharan average of 16 percent but progresses is being made. 

Now if only URA could collect ground rents from the rich and famous in Kololo, Ntinda, Bugolobi and Mutungo ….