HIS MAJESTY THE KABAKA OF BUGANDA OPENING THE 4th REAL ESTATE AND HOMES EXPO IS IN LINE WITH HARNESSING URBANIZATION TO ACHIEVE MDGs

"Real Estates and Homes Expo 2013: 2nd - 5th May 2013”

Today, May 2, 2013, all roads lead to Bulange Mengo the seat of Buganda Government as His Majesty the Kabaka of Buganda opens the 4^th Real Estate and Homes Expo 2013.  It is important to focus on this event as one that brings together players who are critical in the urbanization efforts which can be positively harnessed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Uganda.  

The Global Monitoring Report (GMR) that has been released says that developing countries need to harness urbanization to achieve the MDGs.  Urbanization helps pull people out of poverty and advances progress towards the Millennium Development Goals, but, if not managed well, can also lead to burgeoning growth of slums, pollution, and crime, says the Global Monitoring Report (GMR) 2013, released by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.  Urbanization has been a major force behind poverty reduction and progress towards other MDGs. With over 80 percent of global goods and services produced in cities, countries with relatively higher levels of urbanization, such as China, and many others in East Asia and Latin America, have played a major role in lowering extreme poverty worldwide. In contrast, the two least urbanized regions, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, have significantly higher rates of poverty and continue to lag behind on most MDGs.

Real Estate and Homes Expo

The real estate and homes expo is held every year at Bulange Gardens, with the aim of creating an interface among the various actors in the real estate industry. The themes selected each year rotate around ideas that reflect trends in real estate sector in the region. The Real Estate and Homes Expo is organized in partnership with the Ministry of Lands Housing and Urban Development.

This event brings together a broad spectrum of real estate service providers and customers to a consolidated platform to discuss and share insights on real estate and homes.

This annual event sets out to attract leading Real estate developers, Land planners , Government Institutions , building material suppliers , financing agencies, letting agents, professional bodies, prospective home owners and other regional industry players for discussions that will drive the direction of the industry as well as meet the region's future real estate and homes development needs.

It is a unique platform to showcase the latest products and developments in the real estate and homes sector with a view to facilitate exchange of information and enhance knowledge to existing and prospective customers under one roof. This will enable the participants to access relevant information for growing their businesses. The service providers can also suitably modify their offerings to match the requirements of their customers.

The Background to the Millennium Development Goals

In September 2000, the United Nations (UN) held a Millennium Summit where 189 states of the United Nations made a commitment to work toward a world in which the elimination of poverty and sustained development would have the highest priority. The Millennium Declaration was signed by 147 heads of state and passed unanimously by the members of the UN General Assembly. The resulting Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) grew out of that declaration and the agreements and resolutions at world conferences organized by the United Nations during the 1990s.

At the Millennium Summit, the largest gathering of World leaders in history adopted the UN Millennium Declaration, committing their nations to a new global partnership to reduce poverty, improve health, and promote peace, human rights, gender equality, and environmental sustainability.  This unprecedented joint commitment was not a one-off affair.  The partnership between rich and poor countries was reaffirmed at the November 2001 launch of the Doha Round on international trade.  Soon after, world leaders met again at the March 2002 international conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey, Mexico, establishing a land mark framework for global development partnership in which developed and developing countries agreed to take joint actions for poverty reduction.  Later that same year, UN member states gathered at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, where they reaffirmed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as the world’s time bound development targets.

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are the world’s time – bound and quantified targets for addressing extreme poverty in its many dimensions – income poverty, hunger, disease, lack of adequate shelter, and exclusion – while promoting gender equality, education, and environmental sustainability.  They are also basic human rights – the rights of each person on the planet to health, education, shelter, and security as pledged in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Millennium Declaration.

The MDGs focus the efforts of the world community on achieving significant, measurable improvements in people's lives by the year 2015. They establish targets and yardsticks for measuring results—not just for developing countries but for the rich countries that help fund development programs and for the multilateral institutions that help countries implement them.

The eight MDGs listed below guide the efforts of virtually all organizations working in development and have been commonly accepted as a framework for measuring development progress:

• Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
• Achieve universal primary education
• Promote gender equality and empower women
• Reduce child mortality
• Improve maternal health
• Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
• Ensure environmental sustainability
• Develop a Global Partnership for Development

10 Recommendations to Meet the Millennium Development Goals

Recommendation 1

Developing country governments should adopt development strategies bold enough to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets for 2015.  We term them MDG-based poverty reduction strategies. To meet the 2015 deadline, we recommend that all countries have these strategies in place by 2006. Where Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) already exist, those should be aligned with the MDGs.

Recommendation 2

The MDG-based poverty reduction strategies should anchor the scaling up of public investments, capacity building, domestic resource mobilization, and official development assistance. They should also provide a framework for strengthening governance, promoting human rights, engaging civil society, and promoting the private sector. The MDG-based poverty reduction strategies should:

• Be based on an assessment of investments and policies needed to reach the Goals by 2015.

• Spell out the detailed national investments, policies, and budgets for the coming three to five years.

• Focus on rural productivity, urban productivity, health, education, gender equality, water and sanitation, environmental sustainability, and science, technology, and innovation.

• Focus on women's and girls' health (including reproductive health) and education outcomes, access to economic and political opportunities, right to control assets, and freedom from violence.

• Promote mechanisms for transparent and decentralized governance.

• Include operational strategies for scale-up, such as training and retaining skilled workers.

• Involve civil society organizations in decision-making and service delivery, and provide resources for monitoring and evaluation.

• Outline a private sector promotion strategy and an income generation strategy for poor people.

• Be tailored, as appropriate, to the special needs of landlocked, small island developing, least developed, and fragile states.

• Mobilize increased domestic resources by up to four percentage points of GNP by 2015.

• Calculate the need for official development assistance.

• Describe an "exit strategy" to end aid dependency, appropriate to the country's situation.

Recommendation 3

Developing country governments should craft and implement the MDG-based poverty reduction strategies in transparent and inclusive processes, working closely with civil society organizations, the domestic private sector, and international partners.

• Civil society organizations should contribute actively to designing policies, delivering services, and monitoring progress.

• Private sector firms and organizations should contribute actively to policy design, transparency initiatives and, where appropriate, public-private partnerships.

Recommendation 4

International donors should identify at least a dozen MDG "fast-track" countries for a rapid scale-up of official development assistance (ODA) in 2005, recognizing that many countries are already in a position for a massive scale-up on the basis of their good governance and absorptive capacity.

Recommendation 5

Developed and developing countries should jointly launch, in 2005, a group of Quick Win actions to save and improve millions of lives and to promote economic growth. They should also launch a massive effort to build expertise at the community level.

The Quick Wins include but are not limited to:

• Free mass distribution of malaria bed-nets and effective anti-malaria medicines for all children in regions of malaria transmission by the end of 2007.

• Ending user fees for primary schools and essential health services, compensated by increased donor aid as necessary, no later than the end of 2006.

• Successful completion of the 3 by 5 campaign to bring 3 million AIDS patients in developing countries onto antiretroviral treatment by the end of 2005.

• Expansion of school meals programs to cover all children in hunger hotspots using locally produced foods by no later than the end of 2006.

• A massive replenishment of soil nutrients for smallholder farmers on lands with nutrient-depleted soils, through free or subsidized distribution of chemical fertilizers and agro-forestry, by no later than the end of 2006

The massive training program of community-based workers should aim to ensure, by 2015, that each local community has:

• Expertise in health, education, agriculture, nutrition, infrastructure, water supply and sanitation, and environmental management.

• Expertise in public sector management.

• Appropriate training to promote gender equality and participation.

Recommendation 6

Developing country governments should align national strategies with such regional initiatives as the New Partnership for Africa's Development and the Caribbean Community (and Common Market), and regional groups should receive increased direct donor support for regional projects. Regional development groups should:

• Be supported to identify, plan, and implement high-priority cross- border infrastructure projects (roads, railways, watershed management).

• Receive direct donor support to implement cross-border projects.

• Be encouraged to introduce and implement peer-review mechanisms to promote best practices and good governance.

Recommendation 7

High-income countries should increase official development assistance (ODA) from .0.25 percent of donor GNP in 2003 to around 0.44 percent in 2006 and 0.54 percent in 2015 to support the Millennium Development Goals, particularly in low-income countries, with improved ODA quality (including aid that is harmonized, predictable, and largely in the form of grants-based budget support). Each donor should reach 0.7 percent no later than 2015 to support the Goals and other development assistance priorities. Debt relief should be more extensive and generous.

• ODA should be based on actual needs to meet the Millennium Development Goals and on countries' readiness to use the ODA effectively.

• Criteria for evaluating the sustainability of a country's debt burden must be consistent with the achievement of the Goals.

• Aid should be oriented to support the MDG-based poverty reduction strategy, rather than to support donor-driven projects.

• Donors should measure and report the share of their ODA that supports the actual scale-up of MDG-related investments.

• Middle-income countries should also seek opportunities to become providers of ODA and give technical support to low-income countries.

Recommendation 8

High-income countries should open their markets to developing country exports through the Doha trade round and help Least Developed Countries raise export competitiveness through investments in critical trade-related infrastructure, including electricity, roads, and ports. The Doha Development Agenda should be fulfilled and the Doha Round completed no later than 2006.

Recommendation 9

International donors should mobilize support for global scientific research and development to address special needs of the poor in areas of health, agriculture, natural resource and environmental management, energy, and climate. We estimate the total needs to rise to approximately $7 billion a year by 2015.

Recommendation 10

The United Nations Secretary-General and the UN Development Group should strengthen the coordination of UN agencies, funds, and programs to support the MDGs, at headquarters and country level. The UN Country Teams should be strengthened and should work closely with the international financial institutions to support the Goals.

• The UN Country Teams should be properly trained, staffed, and funded to support program countries to achieve the Goals.

• The UN Country Team and the international financial institutions (World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and regional development banks) should work closely at country level to improve the quality of technical advice.

Reasons for Short falls in achieving the MDGs

1)   Poor Governance marked by corruption;

2)   Poor economic policy choices;

3)   Denial of Human Rights;

4)   A poverty trap with local and national economies too poor to make the needed investments;

5)   Sometimes progress is made in one part of the country but not in others, hence persistence of sizeable pockets of poverty.

To achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), huge new investments and, in many cases, better policies and institutions are needed to implement the practical measures that are known to work.

For developing countries struck in a poverty trap, it is recommended that the MDG based frameworks to meet the 2015 target should be designed around seven broad ‘clusters’ of public investments and policies:

1)   Promoting vibrant rural communities, by increasing food productivity of smaller farmers, raising rural incomes, and expanding rural access to essential public services and infrastructure,

2)   Promoting vibrant urban areas, by encouraging job creation in internationally competitive manufactures and services, upgrading slums, and providing alternatives to slum formation,

3)   Ensuring universal access to essential health services in a well functioning health system,

4)   Ensuring universal enrollment and completion of primary education and greatly expanded access to post primary and higher education,

5)   Overcoming pervasive gender bias,

6)   Improving environmental management,

7)   Building national capacities in Science, technology, and innovation.  

GLOBAL Monitoring Report (GMR) 2013:

Rural-Urban Dynamics and the Millennium Development Goals   Starkly compares the well-being in the countryside versus the city. Urban infant mortality rates range from 8-9 percentage points lower than the rural rates in Latin America and Central Asia; to 10-16 percentage points in the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa and highest in East Asia (21 percentage points).

In South Asia, 60 percent of urban dwellers have access to sanitation facilities, compared with 28 percent in rural areas. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 42 percent of the urban population has access, compared with 23 percent of rural residents. Access to safe water in urban areas in developing countries was almost complete in 2010, with 96 percent coverage, compared with 81 percent of the rural population having access.

“The rural-urban divide is quite evident. Megacities and large cities are the richest and have far better access to basic public services; smaller towns, secondary cities, and areas on the perimeter of urban centers are less rich; and rural areas are the poorest,” said Kaushik Basu, the World Bank’s Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for Development Economics. “But this does not mean unfettered urbanization is a cure-all – the urban poor in many places urgently need better services as well as infrastructure that will keep them connected to schools, jobs and decent health care.”

The GMR, which is also an annual report card on MDG attainment, finds that progress continues to lag on reducing maternal and child mortality and providing sanitation facilities, targets which will not be met by the MDGs 2015 deadline. However, progress has been stellar on reducing extreme poverty, providing access to safe drinking water and eliminating gender disparity in primary education, with these targets already achieved several years ahead of the MDGs deadline.

Though extreme poverty has declined rapidly in many countries, the World Bank estimates that by 2015 there will be 970 million people living on $1.25 a day. Therefore, continued concerted efforts to get extreme poverty as close to zero as possible are needed.

“Emerging market and developing countries are growing robustly notwithstanding slow growth in advanced economies. Sustaining this growth – by continuing to maintain prudent macro policies and strengthening the capacity to manage risks, including through a rebuilding of depleted policy buffers – is key to continued progress in poverty reduction as we approach 2015,” said Hugh Bredenkamp, Deputy Director of the IMF’s Strategy, Policy and Review Department.

As the report points out, the challenge of fighting poverty and improving the living conditions of the poor, lies in both urban and rural areas.

Large cities and smaller towns are fast becoming home to the world’s largest slums, with Asia home to 61 percent of the world’s 828 million slum dwellers, Africa 25.5 percent and Latin America 13.4 percent. The developing world’s urban centers are expected to burgeon, drawing 96 percent of the additional 1.4 billion people by 2030. To cope with urban growth, a coordinated package of essential infrastructure and services is needed. Only by meeting essential needs related to transportation, housing, water and sanitation as well as education and healthcare can cities avoid becoming hubs of poverty and squalor, the report says.

“Agglomeration, or the clustering of people and economic activity, is an important driver of development and evidence suggests that it can have high pay offs, particularly for countries on the lower rungs of development,” said Lynge Nielsen, Senior Economist in IMF’s Strategy, Policy and Review Department and co-author of the GMR.

At the same time, stepped up efforts are also needed to improve development in rural areas, where 76 percent of the developing world’s 1.2 billion poor live, with inadequate access to the basic amenities defined by the MDGs.

Rural poverty rates far exceed those of urban areas across all regions of the world. The report further finds that rural women are hurt the most by poor infrastructure, because they perform most of the domestic chores and often walk long distances to have access to clean water, and lower levels of education attainment.

Although tackling rural development challenges will not be easy, it can be done with complementary rural-urban development policies and actions by governments to facilitate a healthy move toward cities without short-changing rural areas, says the report.

“Urbanization does matter. However, in order to harness the economic and social benefits of urbanization, policy-makers must plan for efficient land-use, match population densities with the required needs for transport, housing and other infrastructure, and arrange the financing needed for such urban development programs,” said Jos Verbeek, Lead Economist at the World Bank and lead author of the GMR.

Sub-Saharan Africa: Rural-Urban Dynamics and the Millennium Development Goals

The MDGs Report Card

•  In 1990, with poverty rates of about 55 percent, Sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia were at the same starting position for MDG 1a – to halve the number of people in extreme poverty. By 2010, East Asia made spectacular progress and reduced extreme poverty rate to 12 percent compared to Sub-Saharan Africa which still had a poverty rate of 48percent. According to projections, in 2015, Sub-Saharan Africa’s rate for extreme poverty will be 42 percent, or 408 million of the world’s 970 million people living in extreme poverty.

•  As a region, Sub-Saharan Africa will miss all 9 MDGs by a significant margin (Figure 1). It is lagging most on the MDGs related with halving extreme poverty and access to sanitation.

•  In a set of 46 countries, the poverty profiles of individual countries indicate varied progress. Between 9-18 countries have met or have made sufficient progress to reach the MDG targets related with halving extreme poverty, primary completion and gender parity in primary and secondary education (Table 1). With accelerated implementation, 5 more countries can reach the poverty reduction and gender parity targets, and 12 more countries can achieve the primary completion target by 2015.

•  Sub-Saharan Africa has made least progress in achieving the MDGs related with reducing infant and maternal mortality, and access to sanitation. Acceleration can help at most 4-5 countries to achieve the health targets, but can only help Botswana to reach the sanitation target by 2015.

Rural-Urban Disparities

In Sub-Saharan Africa, poverty is concentrated in rural areas where 75 percent of the poor reside. Unlike other regions where the urban poor are concentrated in smaller towns, in Sub-Saharan Africa, the urban poor and poverty are concentrated in the capital and large cities. Compared to rural areas, urban areas have lower poverty and better access to basic amenities. Rural-urban disparities are large.

•  In 2008, the region had the highest poverty rates of all regions – 46 percent of rural compared to 34 percent of the urban population lived in extreme poverty. For each poor person in an urban area, there were 2.5 as many in rural areas.

•  Primary education and its quality are equally important for reducing poverty. In 2007, only 57 percent of rural compared to 75 percent of urban grade 6 students achieved competency in reading. Only 18 percent of rural relative to 24 percent of the urban children achieved competency in mathematics. Urban-rural literacy differentials were as high as 40 percent.

•  The infant mortality rate is 65 (per 1,000 live births) in urban relative to 80 in rural areas. The urban-rural child mortality differentials range between 2.5 – 40 percent.

•  In 2010, 49 percent of rural compared to 83 percent of urban residents had access to safe water. Only 23 percent of rural and 42 percent of urban residents have access to sanitation services.

TRAFFIC POLICE DON'T DO ENOUGH INVESTIGATIONS REGARDING VEHICLE ACCIDENTS

The police officers to do with traffic unfortunately don't do enough home work when motor accidents take place.  However, it is a fact that some accidents are just induced, in which case, they are planned, or happen after some developments.  Cases in point is when there is money in a vehicle and the vehicle is made to have an accident by some other party in a different vehicle.

If traffic officers took interest in the history prior to some accidents more so  when heavy vehicles are involved with small ones they would be surprised.  

It is therefore important that traffic officers follow up information communication, go to the deceased's home and chances of finding bigger tips why the accident happened are likely.

William Kituuka Kiwanuka

IT IS SAD AS A POOR WOMAN DIES IN KIGO PRISON OVER BORROWED MONEY

As Ugandans and the international community celebrate the labour day, for Maama Jovia, it is her burial day!  She has been part of the enterprising women and in the process helped a number of people get finance for various undertakings, unfortunately, she became a victim of debt and in the course of last year, she was sentenced to Kigo prison for failure to make good of her obligations!  Maama Jovia is no more and her body has been taken for burial in Mukono district after succumbing to sickness while in prison!

May the Almighty grant her soul eternal peace.

William Kituuka Kiwanuka  

I HAVE ALL THE TIME WONDERED WHETHER A MINIMUM WAGE CAN MAKE SENSE IN CURRENT UGANDA

The unemployment levels in Uganda cannot favour the enforcement of a minimum wage legislation.  What Government can do is advise on a worthy pay to employees, short of that, the employer would remain open to peace talks with a prospect employee over what the employer imagines he can afford at the end of month.  In the circumstances, enforcement of the minimum wage can only be a ritual.

William Kituuka Kiwanuka

Minimum Wage: Good Cause Or Economic Pariah?

Lauded by progressives and rejected by most economists, minimum wage laws are somewhat of a hot button topic. Does the social cause of fighting for a livable wage make up for the negative impact that economic theory states minimum wage imposes?

TUTORIAL: Economic Indicators

A Brief History
It can be beneficial to understand the origins of minimum wage laws. Federal minimum wage laws have been around for over a hundred years. New Zealand and Australia were the first countries to enact a national minimum wage, followed in the early 20th century by Britain and the United States.

In the U.S., President Franklin Roosevelt spearheaded the federal charge for the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that was passed in 1938. The law mandated a minimum 25-cent-per-hour wage, in addition to setting the maximum amount of hours most employees could work per week at 44. Interestingly enough, the Supreme Court struck down a Washington, D.C. minimum wage law in 1923. The court decided it was actually unfair to workers since they would not be able to set a value for their own labor.

Many countries have minimum wage laws, and some have historically relied on binding collective bargaining, rather than legislation. Over time, labor unions have been one of the strongest proponents of fighting for increases in the minimum wage.

Having been woven into the fabric of modern society, minimum wage impacts a large percentage of the workforce. As of early 2012, about 70% of the 1.4 million minimum wage earners in the U.S. are full-time workers, according to the Economic Policy Institute. The first U.S. minimum wage increase in over a decade was passed in 2007, raising the minimum wage from $5.25 to the current rate of $7.25 per hour. (For more on increases done by other countries, check out 7 Years Raising The Minimum Wage.)

The Case for Minimum Wage
Advocates support the minimum wage primarily because of market mechanisms that produce drastic income inequality and the social motive to help those that need it the most. Specifically, minimum wage is seen as a tool to fight poverty and provide a way for workers in low-earning jobs to have a self-sustainable standard of living.

Additionally, it is believed that a sustainable minimum wage reduces the cost of social welfare programs that might otherwise have to assist low-income workers, and that these individuals are dissuaded from potentially engaging in illegal activities (theft, selling drugs) that reduce aggregate economic progress.

It can also be argued that setting a labor wage floor also enhances work ethic, because employers demand greater productivity from employees who cost more than the market would pay for their labor in the absence of minimum wage laws. Productivity is seen as being augmented even further because some low-paying jobs are eliminated, forcing the low-income workforce to train for more skilled, higher-paying positions.

The Argument Against Minimum Wage
The moral cause for minimum wage is strong. Yet many economists believe that minimum wage mandates are actually harmful to workers. They believe that artificial wage setting prevents market mechanisms from finding equilibrium, and that influences total employment, wages and productivity.

The economics for this case is actually rather simple. By placing a floor below the equilibrium wage (the rate that would naturally be set by market forces), the supply of labor increases (more workers want the higher pay) while the demand for labor decreases (fewer employers can pay the higher rate, and so they offer less jobs). Total employment is effectively reduced.

Another argument against minimum wage is that several other inefficiencies are created, such as:

• Large businesses are able to absorb higher wage costs better than small businesses, creating an uneven playing field.
• It excludes low-skilled labor and young, inexperienced youth from joining the workforce.
• A firm's ability to weather downturns by lowering costs (e.g. labor) is marginalized.
• Inflationary pressures may increase as producers try to pass through higher costs.
• The potential for more unemployment increases governmental expenditures (welfare programs). This may increase tax rates needed to fund the additional welfare costs. Higher tax rates have their own unique economic consequences.

The net result is that potential economic activity is reduced. This disproportionately impacts low-income workers, the very same group that minimum wage laws are designed to protect. Moreover, some argue that other methods, such as the earned income tax credit, are more effective at fighting poverty. (To read more on the cases for and against minimum wage, see The Minimum Wage: Does It Matter?)

The Bottom Line
Despite the established economic theory, there is still some active debate regarding the consequences of minimum wage laws. The rate at which the minimum wage is set is another controversial aspect. Obviously, those who oppose it believe minimum wage should not be in place at all. On the other hand, proponents believe it is so low that these workers cannot earn a sustainable living.

Setting a rate that provides workers with a sustainable wage, while minimizing the impact on unemployment, requires a delicate balancing act. Key indicators used in establishing the rate include historical wage rates within the country, relevant standards of living, GDP, inflation expectations, the supply and demand for labor, labor costs and other operating costs.

At the end of the day, it is almost certainly not politically viable for minimum wage opponents to successful advocate the legislative removal of the minimum wage. The practical debate is whether the current rate should be maintained or increased. During his election campaign, President Obama pledged to fight for a minimum wage increase to $9.50 an hour by 2011, index it to inflation and increase the Earned Income Tax Credit. We can safely assume that most Republicans candidates running for President support such a measure. Where do you stand?

What is Minimum Wage?

Minimum wage is the lowest amount a worker can be legally paid for his/her work. Most countries have a nation-wide minimum wage that all workers must be paid.

President’s views

President Museveni has consistently cautioned trade unions against intimidating investors over workers’ minimum wage and unionisation. 

The President has asked the unions to encourage more investment to create more employment opportunities. 

“The MPs and trade unions should attract investors and not chase them away. Workers MPs should help me attract factories and stop those slogans of minimum wage…”

What does Vision 2040 say about job creation

Uganda has a big challenge of a labour force that is largely unemployed. Despite this huge unemployed labour force, the Ugandan economy has a big shortage of appropriately skilled workers which means that the education system has failed to tailor its outputs to the needs of the economy.

The result has been a large number of unemployed youth who are becoming a social and economic threat. The failure to match the skills needed in the economy creates a gap in the human capital which is critical for economic and social transformation.

Vision 2040 says Uganda with its low wage; natural-resource will develop labour-intensive industries, creating much needed jobs. Labour-intensive manufacturing industries not only offer the potential to absorb surplus labour from the rural subsistence sector, but the development of such industries can also pave the way through continuous upgrading to higher value added industries.

How workers benefit from the Bill Lack of a minimum wage has often resulted into a lot of exploitation of the Ugandan workers. If the Bill is passed into law, the productivity of workers is expected to increase and rural-urban migration will be checked. NOTU Chairman said the long-held argument that fixing a minimum wage would scare away investors and shrink employment opportunities for Ugandans is mere propaganda.

According to MP Rwakajara, a minimum wage commensurate with the cost of living would assist workers cope with the current difficult financial situation and go a long way to improve the general welfare of Ugandan workers and their families.

Unemployment figures

As the world celebrates Labour Day today, latest government figures on the state of unemployment and poverty in the country indicate that at least 8.4 million Ugandans are stuck in abject poverty and many remain unemployed.

Statistics from the labour department show that out of the 400,000 students who graduate from various tertiary institutions across the country each year, only 8,000 have a chance of being gainfully employed.

Figures from Finance ministry

It is estimated that about 480,000 students leave the education system per annum and some 36,000 with university degrees. It is however estimated that over two million literate youths are jobless and a further two million are underemployed. Only 20% (80,000) of the school leavers get jobs.

Workplaces

It is estimated that there are over 1,000,000 workplaces in Uganda as per the definition in this Act. The Occupational Safety and Health (Workplace Registration Fees) Rules, 2009 Statutory Instrument – S.I 2009 No 48, spells out the amount of fees to be paid by individual workplaces depending on the nature of work, level of risk they pose or the number of workers they are employing.

Occupational safety issues

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates that two million women and men die as a result of occupational accidents and work-related diseases each year. In Uganda for example fire outbreaks at workplaces, collapse of buildings; road accidents have claimed a number of lives and destroyed properties worth billions of shillings.

Poor working conditions

Currently Uganda’s labour productivity is the lowest in East Africa due to poor working conditions as one of the factors identified by Social Development Sector Investment Plan II 2011/12 to 2015/16. It is also interesting to note that the value added per worker in Uganda is 68% lower than that in India and 96% lower than that in China.

Facts about the Bill

Shs10m fine 

Employer who fail to comply faces a fine of Shs10 million and hefty compensation fees to the affected workers.

Shs6,000 per month 

Uganda last set a minimum wage of Shs6,000 per month in 1984 during Milton Obote II regime. The decree has remained in force to this day.

11,000 graduate to 83% joblessness

Posted by ABDU KIYAGA

on  Tuesday, January 17  2012 at  00:00

KAMPALA

As the first batch of 11,022 students graduated at Makerere University yesterday, the hostile economic environment that offers no immediate prospects for jobs was upper most in the minds of many.

Save for years when the country was facing civil conflicts, not many graduates have emerged from the awards ceremony to a stressed economy where jobs are as depressed as this year.

International pressures that saw the global economy shrink starting from 2008 and domestic factors have conspired to create possibly the worst conditions for fresh job seekers trying to enter the market.

With down-town traders on strike and those who graduated before them but unable to find jobs, graduates wondered what the world out there holds for them. “Most of us don’t have rich parents to take us to their offices to work as their assistants so we don’t know when we will land our first jobs but we will keep trying hard because we know that it is better trying than never,” said Zaidi Tebazaalwa, who graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Zoology. He hopes to work at least as a research assistant for his first job.

While Isaac Kirabwa was more direct in his appreciation of the situation. “This is just the beginning,” he said. “And as you know Uganda’s jobs, it is always difficult to find one and when many people find it, it is always hard for them to leave such jobs leaving the young people like us to be on the streets.”

And these fears are not misplaced. The Africa Development Indicators report released by the World Bank placed youth unemployment in Uganda at 83 per cent. Youth here being people between 15 and 24 years.

Presiding over the graduation of about 3,000 students on Day One of the week-long event that will see a total of 11,000 students graduate, Makerere University Chancellor, Prof. Mondo Kagonyera, asked President Museveni to “provide a special desk to help keep on the lookout for and coordinate the funding of students’ innovations.

“Innovation is an essential component of any nation’s long-term growth strategy and any funding devoted towards helping turn these creative ideas into successful, economically-viable projects will greatly ease the current strife faced by our graduates who search for jobs for years on end,” said Prof. Kagonyera.

There are no accurate unemployment figures in Uganda but estimates indicate that only a fraction of graduates with some form of qualification get absorbed in the limited formal job market. At least 400,000 graduate each year but projects registered by the Uganda Investment Authority indicate a potential to create only 150,000 jobs annually, leaving an estimated 350,000 on the street. 

PARTICULARS OF WHAT PRESIDENT MUSEVENI AGREED TO COMPENSATE BASSAJJABALABA

Basajjabalaba: The merchant of trouble 

 Saturday, 10 September 2011 14:31  By Eriasa Mukiibi Sserunjogi 

Source: http://www.independent.co.ug/cover-story/4591-basajjabalaba-the-merchant-of-trouble

How Museveni pushed ministers, Bank of Uganda to give him billions over market deals 

City businessman Hassan Basajjabalaba’s hold on President Yoweri must be quite strong. In two years, the president has written numerous letters, chaired meetings, and ordered various officials to pay him billions of shillings in compensation for income he allegedly lost when the government cancelled his tenders for Kampala city markets. 

The President wrote a letter on June 16, 2009, he wrote another on November 24, 2009 and another on Feb. 24, 2010 ordering the Basajjabalaba be paid.

It has now emerged that on June 16, acting on instructions from the Minister of Finance, Maria Kiwanuka, the Governor of Bank of Uganda, Dr Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile wrote to four banks guaranteeing credit to Basajjabalaba of US$65.35 (Approx. Shs 186 billion at a rate of Shs 2800 for a dollar). In financial terms, a central bank guarantee is equivalent to cash. This means that in effect, the government has compensated Basajjabalaba that amount.

But KPMG, the international audit firm hired by the auditor general for the government to assess the deal says the payments to Basajjabalaba should not have been made at all and are not legally enforceable.

Surprisingly, days after reports surfaced that the central bank had given Basajja the hefty US$65.35 guarantee,  the government controlled newspaper, The New Vision, ran a story that Museveni had directed Finance Minister Maria Kiwanuka to investigate the payment.

As a result, the Communications Director of the Central Bank, Elliot Mwebya, is to try and recover the monies already passed on to Basajja by several commercial banks under the US$65.35 guarantee.

What is going on? Did Basajja deserve compensation? Can Bank of Uganda recover the money he has already taken?

To answer some of these questions one needs to go back to June 16, 2009. On that day, Museveni wrote then-minister of Justice and Attorney General reminding him about decisions of a meeting he chaired at State House on March 25, 2009 on Basajja’s compensation claim.

In March 2007, following numerous riots by vendors over Basajja’s management contracts over three Kampala City Council (KCC) markets, the government cancelled them.

Subsequently, Basajjabalaba petitioned Museveni over the cancellation and demanded compensation.

Bassajjabalaba’s claims were made by his HABA Group on behalf of his companies – First Merchant Trading Company Ltd (FMTC), which was running Shauriyako Market; Victoria International Trade Company (VITC), which was in charge of St. Balikuddembe Market (Owino); Sheila Investments Ltd (SIL), which was managing Nakasero Market and Yudaya Investments Ltd (YIL), which was supposed to redevelop the Constitution Square.

HABA Group initially hired an accounting consultancy firm, D. Craven & Associates, to prepare the official claim for the Shs 146 billion.  When D. Craven & Associations, basing on documents Basajjabalaba provided, lowered the compensation claim to Shs131 billion, he rejected its report.

But on October 4, 2010, about a year after Museveni’s order for expeditious disposal of HABA’s compensation, the Attorney General and Basajjabalaba agreed on the Shs142.7 billion in a consent judgement signed by both sides before the High Court registrar.

Financial experts have told The Independent that demands for compensation for loss of income in such cases is not illegal. “They are the trigger for negotiation of an out of court settlement,” one of them said. Therefore, Basajjabala is entitled to demand compensation if government took away what lawfully belonged to him.

It is perhaps in this spirit that the meeting of March 25, 2009 that Museveni referred to on June 16, 2009 sat. At the meeting at State House, which the Attorney General and ministers of Finance and Local Government attended, Museveni and his ministry officials agreed that an inter-ministerial committee chaired by the Attorney General be set up to look into the issues. The Attorney General was asked to resolve the matter within 60 days and Basajjabalaba would withdraw a case he had filed against the government.

Dubious claims?

When the compensation was not forthcoming, Basajjabalaba went back to Museveni. That is when Museveni wrote to the Attorney General reminding him of the resolutions of the State House meeting. Again the government officials refused to pay. Basajjabalaba again complained to the President and on November 24, 2009, Museveni wrote another letter to the Attorney General.

Under the subject: Compensation to HABA Group, Museveni wrote: “Reference is made to the above matter and my previous directives on the same. HABA Group has petitioned me…. I hereby direct you to conclusively resolve all the issues raised in the petition. In particular to ensure fairness, the same methodology or formula that was used in evaluating other markets ought to be used in reviewing HABA’s claim. Please handle this matter expeditiously and give HABA a quick response.” It was an order.

But most officials in Bank of Uganda and the ministry of Finance who Museveni ordered to pay Basajjabalaba had resisted the President’s instructions. Until former Finance Minister Syda Bbumba came into the picture, they all treated Basajjabalaba’s claims as dubious.

On Feb. 24, Bbumba, acting on Museveni’s orders, wrote to Mutebile informing him of her earlier reminder, of December 3, 2010, to pay Basajjabalaba.

She said Basajjabalaba had written to her seeking payment of claims in order to repay loans he had borrowed from financial institutions. But before dispatching the letter, Bbumba sent a copy to the Secretary to the Treasury/Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Finance Chris Kassami seeking his advice. In the original letter, Bbumba had written telling Mutebile: “I now write to authorise you to sort out repayment with the said institutions.” By the word “authorise” Bbumba was telling the central bank to pay Basajjabalaba’s creditors off his outstanding compensation money. Bbumba’s statement was in violation of Article 162 (2) of the Uganda constitution which states: “In performing its functions, the Bank of Uganda shall conform to this Constitution but shall not be subject to the direction or control of any person or authority.”

Realising this constitutional hitch, Kassami, writing by hand, amended Bbumba’s statement to Mutebile to read: “in accordance with their (Basajjabalaba] correspondence, this is to request you to sort out repayment with the said financial institutions.”

On the letter to Bbumba, Kassami wrote by hand: “Since an earlier correspondence was made, it is inevitable that the governor has to meet the obligations.”

In a follow-up letter to Mutebile a month later on March 22, Bbumba confirmed her commitment to pay Basajjabalaba. She wrote: “Further to my letters, this is to confirm that you can repay proceeds of the earlier programmes with the banks. As soon as the budgetary arrangements allow, I will authorise repayments to the HABA Group through the Bank of Uganda from which payments you can deduct the extra money to pay the banks the extra loans you will have arranged for HABA Group.”

According to The New Vision, Museveni has directed Finance minister Maria Kiwanuka to investigate how Basajjabalaba was compensated “before it is too late”. The New Vision said Museveni gave the directive on May 8. Does that mean Maria Kiwanuka had not got the letter when she ordered Basajjabalaba paid in June? Or does it mean that she and Mutebile defied Museveni when they paid Basajjabalaba? Or does it point to deliberately blowing the whistle when the looter has got away?

Alibaba’s deals

However, more pertinent to the issue is how Basajjabala actually came to “own” all three big markets in Uganda’s capital city and the country’s treasured Constitution Square.

A letter by then-chairman Kampala District Tender Board, Joje Waddimba to then-mayor Ssebaana Kizito regarding the handling of city markets tender awards to Basajja’s companies sheds some light.

On October 7, 2002, Waddimba wrote to Ssebaana that he was concerned that on September 22, 2002 his board had voted to give Nakasero Market to Basajjabalaba’s SIL.

Waddimba said he was writing to protect himself (and the Board) from aspersions of “undue influence”, “underhand practices”, “favouritism”, or worse”.

Revealing that he was the only one who voted against the award of the tender to SIL, Waddimba wrote:  “The Board is now required to decide on the tender of St. Balikuddembe; and once again, we face the same difficulty as we did with Nakasero. I am fully convinced that the bidder recommended by the Technical Evaluation Team (Basajjabalaba’s VIL) violates Clause 7.2 of the Board’s guidelines, and that this violation undermines the basis for fair competition among the bidders.”

Waddimba informed Ssebaana that he had found out that SIL and VIL Were owned by the same person.

“Finally,” Waddimba wrote, “there are widespread rumours and unsubstantiated allegations that funds have been disbursed by at least one of the bidders in order to influence the decision of the board.”

Other members of the KCC tender board were Lydia Waddimba, John ssebuwufu, and Joyce Kikomeko.

When asked about the letter recently, Ssebaana told The Independent that he was “too sick to speak’.

But a recent Auditor General’s report to Parliament appears to support Waddimba’s fears. The report says the government has lost billions in compensation for “loss of business opportunity” to companies that had “irregularly” acquired city markets and other public places like the Constitutional Square and taxi parks.

Enter KPMG

The foggy nature of Basajja’s dealing is the basis for the international audit firm, KPMG, which was hired by the Auditor General to investigate the validity of his initial Shs142.7 billion compensation claim, trashing it.

KPMG, in a confidential report to the auditor general, questions the reasonability of the ‘consent judgement’ to pay Basajjabalaba as based on “unsubstantiated and unenforceable claims” in law and fact.

It says Basajjabalaba’s claim is based on either invalid documents, expired or non-existing documents and contracts, the totality of which would render his compensation null and void.

The KPMG further recommends that former Kampala Town Clerk James Sseggane be investigated for possible culpability and complicity after he admitted to extending Basajjabalaba’s contracts without authority.

The audit firm says Basajjabalaba, in fact owed the government Shs994 million by the time his contracts were cancelled in March 2007.

The KPMG audit report addresses each compensation claim by Basajjabalaba. It says that SIL claimed a refund of Shs1.7 billion it purportedly paid to Nakasero Market vendors as compensation under the Operator/vendor Reconciliation understanding agreed on in June 2007. SIL reportedly also contracted a law firm, Legal Wise Associates, to compensate the Nakasero Market sitting tenants on its behalf. The FMITC claimed Shs750m for the same purpose in respect of Shauriyako Market.

KPMG says these claims have no merit because by the time his contracts were revoked in March 2007, the original contract periods had expired and the extensions were granted arbitrarily, contrary to the law.

Then-Town Clerk Sseggane admitted to KPMG that a contract signed by the Council could only be amended or extended by a Council resolution, which Basajjabalaba’s contract extensions did not have.

KPMG observed that once a document or contract does not bear the signatures of both the Mayor and Town Clerk as the officers authorised to bind KCC to a contractual relationship, “it is void”.

According to KPMG, former Kampala Town Clerk Ssegane admitted that he signed the letters dated December 9, 2005 and May 4, 2006 extending Basajjabalaba’s contracts for St. Balikuddembe and Nakasero markets respectively, without the prior approval of the Council or the tender board as the “two bodies were no longer holding sessions due to the impending elections”.

The KPMG also noted that Ssegane violated the Council requirements by extending the contract of SIL yet the company was in arrears.

“We recommend that Ssegane be investigated under section 42 of the Public Finance and Accountability Act of 2003 for failing to comply with the PPDA in respect of the renewal of the management contracts over St Balikuddembe and Nakasero markets and section 13(3) of the Leadership Code Act for allowing the aforesaid markets being public property entrusted to his care to be misused, abused or left unprotected,” the KPMG auditors say.

KPMG says its conclusion was informed by opinions obtained from the legal department of the Auditor General’s office and a private law firm, Henry-Oryem & Co. Advocates.

In regard to Shauriyako, KPMG concluded that Basajjabalaba’s FMITC had no sub-lease over the market land registered in its favour or contract and therefore his claims had no merit.

In the case of redevelopment of the Constitutional Square, which was stopped by former Local Government Minister Bidandi Ssali in 2001 before the contract was signed, YIL claimed compensation of US$200,444 for plans allegedly drawn for the developments to be carried out on the Square.

The KPMG auditors say that although they were provided with an agreement between YIL and ID Forum for the preparation of structural drawings and plans, the plans were drawn by ID Forum for KCC and not YIL. “Since we were not provided with plans drawn by ID Forum for YIL, we concluded that the claim was not adequately supported,” the KPMG report states.

KPMG said they were not given any evidence of payment to prove that SIL, FMITCL or Legal Wise Associates compensated the vendors. Neither is there evidence to show that the vendors had a right to the land for which they were supposed to be compensated.

According to the KPMG report, Basajjabalaba based his claims on three grounds; politics, law and financial considerations.

On the political front, Basajjabalaba’s HABA Group argued that their claim had already been evaluated “following a directive from the President that the legal basis of compensation to Hassan Basajjabalaba be looked into”. HABA argued further that the recommendation on compensation by the government’s evaluation committee was “relied on by URA to make an assessment of their claim and thus other government bodies are precluded from reviewing or otherwise dealing with the matter”.

HABA also relied on consent judgements with the Attorney General, and in some cases with KCC and the registrar of titles, which KPMG found wanting, to support its claims.

The KPMG says Basajjabalaba presented to them a copy of ‘consent judgement’ of various civil suits HABA Group filed against the Attorney General but could not trace any file relating to the said cases in court.

“We conducted searches at the registry and could not find the files related to the above cases save for civil suit no 21 of 2006. We noted that the only consent judgement filed at the registry was dated February 1, 2008 and was in favour of KCC against VITCL,” KPGM observes.

The ‘consent judgement’ Basajjabalaba presented to KPMG dated October 4, 2010 and a copy of which The Independent has obtained, indicates that the government accepted to pay Basajjabalaba Shs 142.77 billion. The copy is signed by counsel for the defendant, plaintiff and registrar. Basajjabalaba insists the consent judgement is genuine.

KPMG concludes that the payments to Basajjabalaba should not have been made at all and that his claims are not legally enforceable.

Not enough

But Basajjabalaba told The Independent that based on the dollar exchange rate at the time when President Yoweri Museveni agreed to compensate him, he demands an equivalent of US$30 million for Nakasero Market, US$30 million for Constitution Square, $12 million for Shauriyako Market and US$10 million for Nakawa Market, which translates into US$82m. He wants to be paid at the prevailing dollar rate, which would translate into about Shs234 billion if the rate is Shs2850 per dollar as in early September. This also means you have not heard the last of Basajjabalaba’s claims for compensation over the markets.

Those tasked to recover the monies already passed on to Basajjabalaba face a tough job.  On November 4, 2005, basing on similar guarantees and on orders of President Museveni, Bank of Uganda paid Basajjabalaba’s tax obligations to the tune of Shs134 billion to the Uganda Revenue Authority. The money has never been recovered. As the chairman of the Investment Committee of President Museveni’s NRM party, Basajjabalaba is a powerful man. That much, is obvious now.