Achilles Byarunga’s article entitled “Mpanga George: Uganda’s ecological gem is going” (New Vision, Thursday, May 22 2008) is one of those that conforms to what is increasingly known as environmental romanticism. No doubt, Achilles raises sound environmental issues but he unfortunately fails to align them with the economic realities of the day.
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) which he bases on to rubbish the proposed development of the 18 mega watt hydro electricity facility at Mpanga falls by South Asia Energy Management Systems, does not give biodiversity precedence over development. It stipulates a strategic balance between conservation and development; a win-win scenario in which none (conservation or development) excludes the other. However, such a win-win scenario is more often than not, a contemplative goal that is untenable – especially in an impoverished country such as Uganda where the underlying impetus is fighting poverty!
Before making an argument for conserving the cycad plants for their tourist value, Achilles should have quantified in economic terms, how much benefit the Banyaruguru and other indigenous communities have obtained from cycad tourism. He should also have first quantified the economic benefit of 18 Mega Watts to determine whether its “paltry” (to borrow his word) compared with the tourism value of cycads.
The question of “who benefits from the cycad plants?” is pertinent in this argument. Achilles indeed mentions that “the first alert to the destruction of cycad was made by tourists…” and that “…now there is a big alarm allover the world about the survival of (what he termed) the Ugandan dinosaur.” He surprisingly does not mention if there are any concerns from the local population with regard to cycad destruction. On the contrary, he points out that “local community activities are a threat to the cycads.” Must Ugandans maintain “amusement parks” for foreign tourists at the expense of our indigenous community needs? It is not a reality that revenues from those concerned tourists are appropriated by UWA away from Banyaruguru and other indigenous communities, and that therefore that’s why UWA is opposed to the power scheme?
Whether the cycad plants at Mpanga are more than 200-300 years old or not is irreverent to the Banyaruguru and other indigenous communities who have not significantly benefited from their existence for all that time. On the other hand, the generation of 18 mega watts of power from that site stands to be a historic change to a whole generation of indigenous communities that have always been living in darkness; or indeed to the rest of the Ugandan population that has been bracing abominable power cuts and load-shedding for many years.
Achilles’ argument about the massive ecological damage arising from roads and other infrastructural investments within the “tourist spinner” landscape should be backed by guidance on alternatives (for roads, clean water, hydro power, etc). It actually reminds me of a similar rhetoric made recently by another senior environmentalist (Mr. Ofuna Adula of Makerere University) that Owen falls dam should be decommissioned because it has outlived its purpose. What then would happen to millions of Ugandans, Kenyans and Rwandans who depend on Owen falls dam for their electricity needs?
My view is that as environmentalists, we are not helping government at all! Rather than criticize government for every development endeavour, I would rather environmentalists thought beyond the typical “non-use” mentality, and set about advising government to tame nature; to use it as an asset for enhancing people’s livelihoods. We need to be part of the solution rather than romanticists; pace setters rather than obscurantists.
The stark truth is that conservation is meaningless if it relegates people’s development opportunities. Cycad plants may have tourist and other ecological values but this will remain meaningless unless it benefits the Banyaruguru and other indigenous communities. We have to accept that.
While I rarely agree with NEMA, Iam inclined to concur that lets have an electricity generation dam at Mpaga falls and identity entry points for mitigating the inevitable ecological alterations – such as the recommended on-farm planting of cycad plants. Achilles calls 18 Mega Watts “paltry,” but the Bakiga have a saying that “otuura okuzimu tagaya mushana” (one who has lived in darkness does not complain about dim light). In truth, 18 mega watts will be a valuable addition to the national electricity grid.
5 June 2008
Where is the 30 Million-plus Ugandans?
Uganda is nation well-known for “creative” reporting. Creative in a sense that official statistics rather than depicting correct scenarios, often serve to meet egoistic (for individuals), or “revolutionary” motives (for government). That’s why senior army officers have been implicated in ghost soldier scandals, which despite imposing an enormous cost on human life and the national economy, have benefited commanding officers at a colossal scale. Most Ugandans must have heard that government failed to defeat the insurgency in the north because there simply weren’t enough fighting forces on ground. Some commanders in charge had among other things inflated the number of officers and men under their charge to make a financial kill.
The extent of these ghost soldier scandals first came into public domain when it was revealed that out-numbered UPDF soldiers guarding 20,000 capacity camps for IDPs in the North were running away without a fight, upon the advance of LRA rebels. Poor souls, those soldiers would always be court-marshaled and convicted for cowardice!
With regard to education, ghost enrollments have been discovered in Universal Primary Education (UPE) Schools. The reported population of the first generation of UPE products could have been inflated by up to 75%, although government preferred to attribute the difference to drop-outs along the P1 – P7 continuum. For obvious reasons, District Local Governments maintain ghost workers on their pay-roll until some “nosy” characters find out.
Even the HIV/AIDS prevalence statistics seem to have magically dropped, from 30% in the early 1990s to about 6% to date. On the other hand, the national economic growth rate that has averaged more than 6% over much of the 20 years of NRM rule is too good for a country whose 75% of its population in some regions (e.g the north) lives under abject poverty!
Several public procurements have been inflated (such as the junk helicopter saga) while others have involved fictitious deals, otherwise known as “air” purchases. In fact, “creative reporting has been so ably institutionalized that some local artists have composed hit songs, such as the “Kiwani” fame.
But of all the controversies relating to official statistics, none catches my imagination like the national population size which is currently projected at 30 million-plus. Who ever has traveled widely around the country will testify that it’s all bush and abyss around the country side. Except the Kigezi, Rwenzori, and some parts of Mt. Elgon highlands, it’s evident that there are scanty human populations in much of the country side – except in townships. Where is that 30 million-plus Ugandans living?
This quandary is augmented by statistics from religious houses: if you visited the Province of the Church of Uganda at Namirembe, you would be informed that there are about 7.5 million protestant Christians in Uganda. Cardinal Emmanuel Wamala would easily confirm that he has nearly 9 million Catholics in his flock. There are also 2 million Pentecostals, roughly 2-3 million Moslems, and not more than 0.5 million Pagans. That would constitute roughly 21-22 million Ugandans. How then, do we account for the remaining 8-9 million-plus people? They all can not possibly be living in the diaspora!
For a country which depends on census information to allocate resources, it would not be strange for Local Governments to inflate the number of their residents – much in the same way that army commanders inflate the number of officers and men under their charge. Iam actually aware of some Local Government (Rwamucucu Sub County, Kabale district) which attempted to have their 2001 population figures revised upwards by UBOS because the figures were lower than what local leaders had expected.
On the other hand, it is possible that the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) – the body charged with collecting, analyzing and relaying statistics on various parameters, including human population, “creatively” projects figures based on fictitious population growth rates to give us junk population statistics.
I do not know whether UBOS is subject to any quality assurance oversight, but the country would do better with an independent audit of census statistics, and indeed all other information that UBOS has released. Until there is such audit, I will remain reluctant to believe that there are actually 30 million-plus of us, living in Uganda!
The extent of these ghost soldier scandals first came into public domain when it was revealed that out-numbered UPDF soldiers guarding 20,000 capacity camps for IDPs in the North were running away without a fight, upon the advance of LRA rebels. Poor souls, those soldiers would always be court-marshaled and convicted for cowardice!
With regard to education, ghost enrollments have been discovered in Universal Primary Education (UPE) Schools. The reported population of the first generation of UPE products could have been inflated by up to 75%, although government preferred to attribute the difference to drop-outs along the P1 – P7 continuum. For obvious reasons, District Local Governments maintain ghost workers on their pay-roll until some “nosy” characters find out.
Even the HIV/AIDS prevalence statistics seem to have magically dropped, from 30% in the early 1990s to about 6% to date. On the other hand, the national economic growth rate that has averaged more than 6% over much of the 20 years of NRM rule is too good for a country whose 75% of its population in some regions (e.g the north) lives under abject poverty!
Several public procurements have been inflated (such as the junk helicopter saga) while others have involved fictitious deals, otherwise known as “air” purchases. In fact, “creative reporting has been so ably institutionalized that some local artists have composed hit songs, such as the “Kiwani” fame.
But of all the controversies relating to official statistics, none catches my imagination like the national population size which is currently projected at 30 million-plus. Who ever has traveled widely around the country will testify that it’s all bush and abyss around the country side. Except the Kigezi, Rwenzori, and some parts of Mt. Elgon highlands, it’s evident that there are scanty human populations in much of the country side – except in townships. Where is that 30 million-plus Ugandans living?
This quandary is augmented by statistics from religious houses: if you visited the Province of the Church of Uganda at Namirembe, you would be informed that there are about 7.5 million protestant Christians in Uganda. Cardinal Emmanuel Wamala would easily confirm that he has nearly 9 million Catholics in his flock. There are also 2 million Pentecostals, roughly 2-3 million Moslems, and not more than 0.5 million Pagans. That would constitute roughly 21-22 million Ugandans. How then, do we account for the remaining 8-9 million-plus people? They all can not possibly be living in the diaspora!
For a country which depends on census information to allocate resources, it would not be strange for Local Governments to inflate the number of their residents – much in the same way that army commanders inflate the number of officers and men under their charge. Iam actually aware of some Local Government (Rwamucucu Sub County, Kabale district) which attempted to have their 2001 population figures revised upwards by UBOS because the figures were lower than what local leaders had expected.
On the other hand, it is possible that the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) – the body charged with collecting, analyzing and relaying statistics on various parameters, including human population, “creatively” projects figures based on fictitious population growth rates to give us junk population statistics.
I do not know whether UBOS is subject to any quality assurance oversight, but the country would do better with an independent audit of census statistics, and indeed all other information that UBOS has released. Until there is such audit, I will remain reluctant to believe that there are actually 30 million-plus of us, living in Uganda!