BIDCO is owned by Moi family not Museveni’s

December 21, 2009 at 9:36 pm (2009 -2011 elections, Corruption, Finance)
Tags:

People:

BIDCO is owned by Nicholas Biwott and Mois’ family. They moved to Uganda at the time when some within NARC were eager to go after their assets which were acquired with stolen funds.

That move also split NARC when Moi’s big money lured Mr Raila and Mr Musyoka to defect from NARC to form ODM. Their defection all but saved Moi’s ill gotten wealth from KACC. But Kenyan politics is always dynamic. Now the same forces Mr Raila gave voice or cover have all but abandoned him. Why? Because they have managed to move some of their wealth to Uganda and are sort of secure with the ruling elite

Biwott and Moi also now own Kinyara sugar through a little known company by the name of Rai Plywood based in Eldoret. Ask yourself, how could a timber related firm come to beat out Booker which used to manage Kinyara. Privatization in Uganda was ridden with dealing in insider information for obvious reasons; kitu kukuwba.

Further, privatization by giving away public assets to South African firms was a ploy to enrich a few at the expense of many. How come it was always Boer dominated firms that were succesful? Why South African firm anyways?

When UCB was given to the South Africans, okay STANBIC they quickly sold the UCB Towers to you guesed it, super crook Sudhir.  Whether he still owns it or flipped it to make a killing I do not know. Remember there is no capital gains in Uganda so they selll to their cronies cheap, and the cronies then turn around and sell high.

And now STANBIC must deducat billions from its revenue as rent and other expenses to further rip off the treasury.  They certainly figured that their depreciation expenses on the building were lower than their rental expenses at Crested Towers. That is free lunch for the crooks who are getting richer by the day. But why not given that they pay zero taxes on their wealth.

Yet for some reason these questionable deals never attracted the attention of the opposition in Uganda? Why is that so?

Of course the crooks use foreigners to cover their bases. Biwott also uses his sons in law to run the second largest oil company in terms of market share in Kenya. The firm also operates in Uganda.

The Malaysians are a just cover up. But the real owners in terms of majority ownership in BIDOCO are believed to be Biwott and Moi. They also own Kinyara sugar. Kinyara was actually very profitable and well run by Bookers but the govt gave it away.  That is why Malaysia is also the place of choice for African crooks to bank their loot.

Let me be blunt:  President Museveni and Mr Moi’s families have one thing in common: greed for money.  Because of that greed and the shady dealings they turn to Malaysians and others to manage their interests.

In Mr Moi’s case it was him, his favourite son, Gedion Moi, and the semi-illiterate Kalenjins who did errands for him. But Mr Moi had no qualms appointing them as Chairmen of banks and other corporations.

In Uganda’s case the corruption seems to come from the President’s wife and her family side and of course one son-in-law.  I was hoping that the Professor who is writing about religion in Uganda will tackle that question head on: how come people who profess to be followers of Jesus are so corrupt? How do they reconcile their naked greed for money with the humble biblical teachings?

About UCB Towers, what difference is there between Karim Hirji and Sudhir? They are both crooks although they give the impression that they are in competition.  Is Karim Hirji the one who stayed in Uganda even under Amin?

No, it will not be difficult to figure out which assets are owned by members the ruling elite in Uganda, educated as they may be.  Their problem is that they go for everything and anything.  One could have expected them to restrict themselves to high value investments. But wapi.

I recall reading in the papers that one Bahekanira who also owned a mall are the owners of the hotel at Bwebajja. Part of it collapsed and killed workers.  The same Bahekanira is fighting bankruptcy charges from Barclays Bank, he took their money for the mal, but diverted it to the Hotel and now the mall is bankrupt. Barclays is going after him hard.  The hotel is not off limits.

WBK

UAH forumist

http://www.ugandarecord.co.ug/index.php?issue=40&article=524&seo=2009%20in%20review:%20The%20Museveni%20family%20ownership%20of%20Uganda

5 Comments

Envy and Jealousy not New In Uganda

November 21, 2009 at 6:55 pm (Finance, History, Social issues)
Tags:

Dear Ugandans at heart,

In the late fifties, Indians were the object and target of envy because of their business economic successes. A boycott was organized by one Kamya (RIP killed by Amin) against Indian businesses in an effort to stifle their success. Kamya called for a boycott–which was wildly sucessful–becaue (1) Africans were not being permitted (by Abazungu) to get loans to run large-scale businesses as the Indians were. Therefore, chances for black people to grow on a national level were miniscule ( with minor exceptions) (2) the Indians treated Africans like dirt, even though they relied on the same Africans for their businesses to survive

The Northerners were envied in the 60’s because of their ascendancy into top echelons of political and military positions in Uganda.

In Buganda during the 60’s, BanaMasaka were envied because of their economic successes as a result of coffee growing. Many used to ride motorcycles nicknamed “Mwaanyi zabaala”. Their financial succesess enabled them to educate their kids who eventually dominated and still dominate the civil service sector.

Troubles in Uganda in the 60s and 70s were centered mostly in Buganda.
This stifled growth in Buganda. Meanwhile, Western Uganda has always been peaceful and such they experienced a surge in agricultural produce. Western Uganda eventually became the major supplier of matooke and other produce. This sustained stability enabled the westerners to educate their children in the same manner as banaMasaka did. As such, their succeeses are becoming the source of jealousy/envy in the same manner as banaMasaka experienced being called mwaanyi zaabala, and now we call westerners ‘Twaarire”.

Sam Musoke

UAH forumist

Leave a Comment

Let all Ugandans pay taxes

June 16, 2009 at 10:29 pm (Finance, POLITICS)
Tags:

The clarion call for the American war of independence was “No representation, no taxation”.  That is the very dictum that is being turned on its head in Uganda when populism blinkers the political elite into abolishing poll tax.  Paternalistic abolition of tax is an automatic dissolution of civil society.  Once a population is lulled into not paying tax, it is automatically unsubscribed from membership to civil society. 

 Our political elite can now easily proclaim: “No taxation, no representation”.  Indeed, this is what we see as an extreme case in countries that are completely devoid of a fiscal contract between the masses and the elite, particularly those that depend on oil for revenue.  In Bahrain and Qatar, income tax is 0%, there is Zero parliament.  Parliament is the venue for parley.  If you do not bankroll me, what parley, or bargain do I have to exercise with you?

 That is when even the notion of “accountability” which some people deploy becomes a mere bumper sticker and tedious cliche.  Simply a sterile jargon.  Accountability is a reciprocal process.  It is a two way process.  I am accountable to you if you owe me a living.  If I depend on aid or oil, I am unlike an elite that depends on excise duties, export duties, import duties, income taxes and all other forms of revenue that create symbiosis between productive populations and the political class.

 Institutions per se will not help Uganda. Ugandans must have a stake in their country. How can they become effective stakeholders? You and I argue that through some form of direct taxation.  That may not be popular but is the best way.

 Today, the very few taxpayers in Uganda are well facilitated. They are actually happy.  Those who do not pay direct taxes are also happy so who is going to fight for what us-the elite-treasure.

 I am watching the situation in Iran with interest.  Things may boil over in that Persian country.

 But the folks in the media who are always urging the opposition to unite should re-think their message. Instead they should urge Ugandans to embrace direct taxation if they expect to make progress. From my angle, a country or people who do not pay taxes cannot aspire for great things including democratization, decent health care services, housing, social services, education, and yes accountability, running water, police services etc.

 Institutions can only be the icing on the cake.  The cake is taxation: the nuts and bolts of democracy. 

 

WBK and Otto

UAH forumists

Leave a Comment

Museveni has destroyed Uganda embassies abroad

April 23, 2009 at 1:50 am (Finance, POLITICS)
Tags:

Ugandas at Heart,

Uganda has been known internationally for being an African state with the state of the art embassies. All Uganda embassies you would visit you would not believe that this is a Uganda property for Uganda is a very small country. Through nationalists especially Obote we moved from renting embassy properties to buying them and in cash. And we bought in only Porsche areas.

In UK for example we bought on Trafalgar square. Do you know who else had an embassy on Trafalgar Square? Canada and United States. And the crane for a very long time was flying right between the stripes and stars and the Maple Leaf. And than is the Uganda the nationalists built for you. Go to Moscow you will be surprised at the property we own. Paris, Ottawa, Copenhagen on and on,

 In fact it was Iddi Amin who raised the bar way high, he came to Manhattan and instructed a construction company to build a Uganda house, and they did. But all wood to be used had to come from Uganda and so the Omugenzi Uganda Air Lines was instructed to turn one air craft into a convertible air craft to be used both as a cargo and a passenger flight. Ugandans constructed the doors and all wood amenities in Kampala and loaded them to head to Manhattan. The wood in this building is Mvule tree. When Uganda House was finished it was a state of the art, and The UN took it immediately to be used as their head quarters. In fact Uganda house has housed the UN headquarters until when you lunatics came to power and failed to maintain the building that the UN decided to build its own head quarters near by Uganda house.

Try Havana you will love it, Nairobi is bought as well, I think that was even bought in Obote two if my memory is good. And yet we didn’t only purchase the office premises but we went into the most expensive properties and we bought the residencies of the ambassadors. Uganda owned/Owns, and I must use those two terms for some of them are being sold as we speak to no Ugandan’s knowledge, the embassy with the managers residencies and offices of all Coffee Marketing Board chair men or call them representatives, as in Morocco, New York, London and so on. All these created the stock of Uganda’s foreign property. And that is what sells the Uganda state internationally for it has a damn crane on a mast.

When the Movement came to power tragedy struck. All properties were abandoned yet monies were allocated to maintain them, Manhattan started to see bulbs and doors being sold off for the foreign workers were not getting salary from Kampala. The current Uganda ambassador in Rwanda who I think is a member of the ‘UAH’ forum was one of the people that were selling off those bulbs. And I do not blame the man for he reached a point to be a security guard on a mall for he was not getting salaries from Kampala. We destroyed our own property. But in Kampala they were busy trying to sell it off, in fact I have at two times blocked the sell of that building by simply getting a lawyer and registering a debt on the property. If you are in New York go to a real estate agent and ask the history of than property you will see the block I registered on it. If they manage to sell it today it will be for we as Ugandans have simply given up but the days we are comming from we are glad for we have saved some of the Uganda properties out here from the Rwandese in Kampala that see any and every thing as for sell.

The city of London has threatened many times to sell off Trafalgar Square for we are not maintaining it and we are not paying city bills, France has been threatened, Moscow has been threatened, I visited the embassy in Ottawa and I swore to never ever go into it for it looks terrible, they turned it into half rental units and I saw burnt cooking pots in a room next to the ambassador’s office it was unbelievable sight. The one that made me chuckle was the Paris one for we stood opposite it and I took a time to look at our flag and this flag I think had taken 5 years with out comming down so the cloth stood between green. black and brown, but the wind had torn it in half that when you looked at the crane on the flag, the head would swing to the left when the ass is swinging to the right. Man I stood and bowed to the Gods that created the Movement. they are powerful Gods.

But this is the most important paragraph I want you to read. Even those embassies that are still running, embassies like London and Manhattan they are directly funded by Rwandese government. If you pull the Rwandese government from those embassies today, Uganda’s foreign service will stall. They pay the maintenance and the bills for example when Uganda was paying the bills London many times lost heating in winter, but today they are heated thanks to Kigali. Transportation is Kigali, you see when we buy cars in these embassies, foreign officers come here and use them and they instruct the vehicles to be shipped to Kampala to be used for they look good. I remember a foreign officer that instructed an old Mercedes Benz to be shipped from new York to Kampala, this was an old car that he would even get at cheaper price in Kampala than the money used to ship it.

The government some of us are looking for is a government that must start by taking some very tough decisions. the building of Uganda must start from home not from abroad. The time when we needed those properties were UPC times when we had a developing country, for example Luganda books were stalked into Paris embassy library you would go in and read, but if we cannot even get them from Kampala what is the use, so we do not need all these properties.

 This is what the new government must do. Register all Uganda foreign properties and hand them to a reputable real estate agency to be rented out to public. use the money from those rentals to maintain the buildings but to pay for our foreign service as well. You still will get more money handed to Bank of Uganda as un-used funds. Hold those buildings with two options, re using them as embassies if we can raise Uganda from the dead at a later time or prepare our selves to sell them off. But close thousands of embassies, honestly why do we need an embassy in Kigali ,Nairobi, Bujumbura Kinshasa? You do not need those embassies for every thing they do can be done by a single powerful ministry of regional cooperation or tell me why you need a minister of regional cooperation and another for foreign affairs. Close the embassy in Ottawa and Manhattan and use Washington to cover the entire North and South America including the UN. Close all European embassies except UK France and Germany. The one in China must take all Asia Australia NewZealand included. We have the technology and communication is simple why don’t we get a staff that can travel across Europe in mere hours?

 But do two things as well, when you close these embassies create business centers for example in Toronto and Vancouver to coordinate with Washington embassy. Business centers are ran by Uganda friends, a friend establishes an office at his place of work and puts in a phone line fax line and email dress only committed to Uganda affairs. Campbell did that for Canada in Uganda Bata many years, we have Lukabyo I think is the name in Canberra that is a friend to Uganda and runs Uganda affairs.

In other words all embassies and locations must prove that they are economically viable to raise the money for Uganda that covers their being operational I do not want to see any embassy getting money from Kampala so the services you gain for Uganda must be calculated into monetary form to pay your existence or Uganda does not need you in that city as a representative and good bye. I am going to write a piece of a great need of small scale industries in Uganda thus we need an embassy in Japan China India and Singapore to target those little technologies. If we start good I would start by opening up one in Germany as well but not for now. Joshua Kato I have just demonstrated the failures of this incompetent government, I have posted you the solution and an immediate solution. Respond by posting how the movement has improved the state at home or internationally. Let us kindly put into perspective the wider picture, at home and internationally.

EDWARD MULINDWA

Toronto

2 Comments

Creating jobs can never be started from high end but from a lower end

April 12, 2009 at 5:48 pm (Finance, Money matters, POLITICS)
Tags:

Ugandans,

Mr.Tendo message below is pointing at a very problem we have in Uganda and about Uganda. Number one he is calling my project an “a just grow eggs” project. This project was to employ a minimum at least 800 Ugandans in Kiwoko. If I can get good paying jobs to 800 Ugandans not in Kampala but in Kiwoko I will have created a market for whatever you as a biochemist will be doing in Uganda, for it all has to come back to the market of Ugandans.

Creating jobs can never be started from high end but from a lower end. You cannot create jobs in Uganda paying 15 dollars an hour, there is no way you can do that. Yes you can do them in the line you are talking about but you will be taking very minimal Ugandans to have those jobs and that is not my target. I need jobs created at a lower end a people with jobs that require a minimum of education for they are massive and running all over the place. So kindly do not laugh at my project for trust me your Drs and directors have failed to work in Uganda because the government does not support those initiatives. Do you know why? Because they know that if that initiative would have worked they would have taken it up already any ways. The road to South Juba is being made today not to the advantage of Ugandans but to the advantages of Uganda governors that have hundreds of trailers that go to South Sudan, if the Movement had done a road with a purpose of helping Ugandans, surely we have hundreds of roads where trucks bringing in Matoke or other agriculture products find it hard to drive through, why not those roads but Juba road?

Uganda’s economy has been abandoned for very long and we must be very careful that we do not start this society from researching how to split up atoms. How can we start those industries when we cannot even assess the environmental problems that come with them. In the end we will start seeing a whole lot of diseases for a one doctor started Bio-manufacturing when other sectors that can monitor those industries are not anywhere in Uganda. Look there are things we manufacture in Canada but we need to send samples to the states or vice versa for these labs are so expensive to even start them all over the place. How much ground work has Uganda done to prepare for this high end jobs? Even a poultry farm of this size has environmental problems it can create that had to be considered yet it looks very basic plan.

So we need to slow down and start with things we can have a control on based on a simple fact that Uganda has been sleeping for thirty years under Museveni and Obote 2, and we start with sectors that can create basic jobs and jobs that can be monitored. And here is another one you are going to laugh at.

I want you to look closely at the transportation sector, all Great Lakes trailers go through Uganda to Mombassa every day and every night. What if we repair the railway system so that we have a very dependable freight train running from Mombassa to Kampala and Kasese twice a week? So a massive train departs Mombasa and it loads everything going to Uganda Rwanda, Burundi, DRC and South Sudan. It reaches Kampala and off loads everything to Uganda then it heads straight through into Kasese. Now we go to Kasese and we build a massive transportation hub that can accommodate all trailers coming from and going to all the listed countries. So a container going to Kigali is picked from Kasese as a one to Burundi and South Sudan. By building that hub you have done several things {a} you have taken all trailers off Uganda roads from Busia/Malaba to Western Uganda. You have made the roads safer and saved lives but you can transfer the funds that have been repairing these roads every two months to another project, a hospital a power supply something but I have just taken the monster of repairing the roads and accidents off the government hands. {b} A government now has a right to declare all roads in Buganda trailer less. {c} You have created an enormous numbers of jobs in Kasese to feed on this one hub, for they will need custom officers, clearing agents, transporters, loaders and off loaders from both the train and the trailers, you need motels for these people to live in, restaurants to eat in and so on. The spin off jobs I have just created in Kasese are in thousands that your so called bio chemists will not create in ten years. And how do I maintain Kasese with infrastructure? By introducing a fee of 100 dollars as a Kasese Town Council fee on every container leaving or coming into Kasese, and all cars imported there in.

But here is the best part. Some Banyoro will move to Kasese from Kampala to build themselves a chain of hotels to be used by these foreigners coming to take their containers. Many of our politicians become professional politicians for they have nothing to do with their time. A very reason Museveni collected them and took them to Chakamuchaka. REDUNDANCY.

Uganda’s problem is very large and we cannot attack it by reasoning as the Movementists, for anyone to think today that you can take a bio chemist in Uganda to create jobs, must be thinking as a Movementist that decides to create a barter trade without thinking about the ramifications. And by the way many Ugandans of that class have gone to Uganda started to work and have either ran out in the night or they have joined to steal things in Uganda. The guy that destroyed the post office corporation communication came from Toronto.

We need to think yes, but we need to think critically.

EM
Toronto

Leave a Comment

Professional conference can help on Ugandan’s employment problem

April 12, 2009 at 5:33 pm (Finance, Money matters, PRESIDENCY)
Tags:

Dear Ugandans,

The way I look at things now, since we have squandered many opportunities to generate real jobs for Ugandans, I mean jobs that could have payed well over $15/hr; we have got to think bigger than the chicken and the egg as proposed by Mr.Mulindwa below.This goes to all political parties and our legislatures.

Here is my plan, I have my brother David Abe , who is the best plastics Engineer in the United states, brother Joel Kamya who is the best CEO we have in the USA, sister Kyazike who has worked in all stages of bio manufacturing, DR. Alex Asea leading researcher in biotechnology not to mention Dr .kakoma though I’m told he is not doing well leading Vet/Bio researcher. There is a fellow who works for Phillips from Uganda-who is the lead engineer in manufacturing optical computing buses, Dr. Bala who is the micro-array guru at Berkley for about $250K he could setup a new lab.


With folks like these in your arsenal, why would you still want to just grow eggs? other than for their nutritional value. We need a serious professional conference, sponsored by the government, inviting all these Gurus with paid tickets and accommodation to squarely look at the employment problem. Let us use some of that money given to useless lobbyists to bring real patriots that could get ugandans employed in Biotechnology, in electronics, in micro-fluidics, one such pill as viagra comming from a small country like Uganda could make a big difference.

Now you see why I talk about squandered opportunities here. A few years ago we visited one of the leading institutes of plastics here at UMASS-Lowell, we were given a red carpet treatment and tour by the head of the plastics institute, who told us that for about a three years salary to Rosa Whittaker, they could start a viable plastics program at one of our Universities-with training of instructors and a product that could employ thousands and bring revenue as well.

Like all Ugandans abroad, we got excited about the prospect of helping folks at home. We sent the proposal with an emissary to president Museveni, I personally called then the office of the leading plastics company to tell them of the deal and no one called back or responded. You all know how that story ends-the pretty face won! This lack of bite on any viable bait that we have put out there to create jobs over the years is so deflating to these serious well meaning -patriotic folks. If I were NRMO supporters like Egwea, I would ask my boss for just a few millions, good security, housing and other incentives to excite these professional folks to bring the bread home.

With that, I have to remember my Church Misionary Society roots and go to church.

On another note, with the eggs perhaps we could introduce to Ugandans this concept of the Easter Bunny, I might get some of your eggs sold off that way-good marketing ploy.

Tendo Kaluma

Ugandan residing in USA

Leave a Comment

Create jobs in Uganda to create market for goods?

April 12, 2009 at 5:14 pm (Finance, Money matters, POLITICS)
Tags:

Creating jobs in Uganda is what Uganda needs to focus on for those jobs will create a market in Uganda so that Ugandans buy those goods. We have a population of 30 plus million people, of what value are they if you cannot turn them into a market and then manufacture shirts to sell in the US? Ugandans create a company in Uganda to manufacture commodities that you can sell locally, and you do not have to raise the income of the people to a huge income but be able to sell at minimum 25 cents Canadian of worth to every Ugandan every month, you have a monthly income of 7.5 million dollars as an income. That is three Canadian dollars a year per Ugandan, that is all I am looking for.  Now I am comming to Uganda for I have some thing sensible to do.

I told this story in another forum but let me repeat it just to drive my point home about the vitality of a home market.

Few years ago as we were talking with one of my friends here, we decided to tap into Uganda, we looked at its weather and we loved it we looked at the clean water supply we looked at the population and we decided to go for it. We flew to Uganda to investigate what we were going to do, and the best option we saw was to start a poultry farm. We came home and wrote a proposal to a Canadian bank to finance the investment we wanted to do in Uganda. All numbers and projections looked good, for we  wanted a  farm that had the ability to manufacture its own materials. The bank approved a very massive loan to be given to us in phases. So because the loan was huge we wanted them to deliver it depending on how progressing was the investment. And they were fine with that.  A first phase of money was released by the bank and we were ready to go.

But here was the problem.  When you get a loan from the bank you have put your name on the doted line and a credit is a very important thing in this society, so you must be ready to repay the bank or you will be doomed for life. We left the money into the bank and we flew to Uganda again. We needed a secondary study just to make sure this thing is not going to burry us. If I am to fly out of Canada to come and stay in Uganda for an investment, we had to have a farm to produce a minimum of 50,000 eggs a day. That gives us a minimum of 350,000 eggs a week or 1.4 million eggs a month. And the question became very basic, can Ugandans consume 1.4 million eggs a month? And that is only an egg for a  million and a half of the population of 30 million, a month. The answer is no they cannot do so for they are too poor to buy it. Most of those 30 million people have kids that get an egg as a medication for she is coughing but not for a break fast. Yes we can get the money yes we can get institutions to help us yes we can fly in even our own veterinary doctor who will come with all his medication yes we can buy our own land and build our own farm yes we can fly in the damn chicks, I can get a cargo 747 to fly in the chicks at a phone call. But what do you do with a million eggs a month? And yet when you look at that project it is very enticing for I can increase the eggs production and use some of them to a different by product so in essence I am looking at expanding from eggs production to another final product, but all these expansions need a market. And I was not willing to use Uganda for its cheap labor but sell the eggs out of Uganda no I might as well become white and abuse the population, this is a diet Ugandans need why not produce it and sell it to them?

We flew out of Uganda and crawled back to the bank manager apologized to her for her time we so wasted and begged her to retract the money from our accounts with out a penalty.

AGOA was started in Uganda to manufacture clothes and sell them to North America. Tendo China Korea and India are manufacturing shirts and selling them in Toronto long sleeves at 5 dollars Canadian, and at that price you get a shirt with a tie. How the hell will an AGOA shirt sell in Toronto? I love pants of Alex by Daniel, why? I have no clue but that is what I wear and they are now sold at 35 dollars a piece if you are buying many you can get them at even 25 dollars. A bed sheet of 800 threads you can get at 25 dollars. Just know where you are going to buy and you will laugh. How will AGOA produce clothes to sell in North America when North American stores and factories are closing? It is as silly a proposal as thinking that you can send out beans to Ghana and get out blankets, no you cannot do a barter trade in Uganda for Uganda government per say does not have huge farms to produce those beans and you cannot make international deals based on Mwami Mulindwa might grow a sack today and two sacks next season. Ugandans do not grow food to get foreign exchange they grow it to get local money, and when Uganda government started to collect the beans from people, Bateso changed from growing beans to millet, you see they can use millet to make Ajono and get cash. Think people and critically !!!

Ugandans, this is where you and I must beg the NRMO supporters of today to understand some very basic things, those 30 million people need an income, we must create jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs and with those jobs a Ugandan can live in Amuru but be able to eat an egg,  for that will mean I can come to Uganda set up a poultry farm in Kiwoko, but get several trailers to supply the Gulu location which will sell the egg to the Ugandan in Amuru. Now when I set up the farm in Kiwoko that is when I will need the road of Kiwoko Luwero bitumized for I will be paying the taxes to maintain it.

We need to start to think critically !!

Edward Mulindwa
Ugandan residing in Toronto/UAH forumist

Leave a Comment

Ugandans abroad shouldn’t undermind each other’s jobs

March 25, 2009 at 1:18 pm (Finance, Social issues)
Tags: ,

Dear Ugandans abroad,

Africans don’t control the means of production so they really don’t have any choice when it comes to employment. That is why many Africans abroad are buried in the world of academia. You find them in Universities, mostly studying, from one area of discipline to the next, or doing research, if not taking some part-time teaching, or teaching assistant - full-time. There are really not much choices out there for Africans.

Quite often you find Africans who claim to have good jobs. But if you do a bit of investigations, you may find that the so called good jobs are not even good jobs, or that they have compromised too much to even get the good jobs and keep them. One cannot be all cool and relaxed under such circumstances.

Worse still, even back home, the few jobs available are never guaranteed because people who support the institutions, from government to you name it, are the so called foreign movers and shakers. They finance our governments, including all the institutions in a country. This they do because they basically take our natural resources at give away prices. Without their finances, even semblance of an institution of government would not exist in Africa. With productivities almost none existent, chances are, we would be fighting like savages yet again, hiding under the cloak of degenerate Kingdoms and Chieftaincies.

So, quite frankly, they, the foreign movers and shakers, are our government employees’ employers. We are therefore dependent on them all through and through; no choice.

We should all humble ourselves when it comes to employment; because we are all beggars for it.

The only Africans who can be proud of who they are and what they do are the peasants because they make their living. They choose what time to do what they do and how to do it. The only problem is, rapid economic development cannot be realised without organised peasant productivities. Until then, even our presidents are slaves whose lives and times depend on some peoples else letting them be; otherwise their breathings can, individually, be stopped.

That is the dilemma of not controlling anything. You are more or less disposable goods.

Jobs do not matter .It is whether you get some income or not. Lazy people resort to guns to terrorise communities to earn a living by stealing. In New York, foreign doctors, lawyers, pilots , nurses, are cleaners, cab drivers  and at the end of the week they get paid. Being a blue or white collar worker  does not matter as long as people know what they are doing and what they want in life.I do not think some people should look down on other people’s jobs. What is important is survival.


OpaA

1 Comment

Weaker pound sterling good for Ugandans?

January 4, 2009 at 4:56 pm (Finance)
Tags:

A weaker pound means a strong Uganda shilling.  For those in the UK it is good because they can get more shillings from the pounds they send to Uganda.  So Ugandans in the UK in particular win. Winners too are their families/friends /relatives who receive funds from the UK.

Other winners are UK exporters and Ugandan importers (due to identity relationship). UK exporters are winners because it is cheaper to send they products to Uganda. Ugandan importers win because it is relatively cheaper to import goods from the UK now that the it takes fewer shillings to buy pounds. Now is the time for Ugandan importers to purchases their dream products from the UK.  Ugandan tourists/visitors-those lucky enough to get visas-to the UK are also big time winners.

But there are also losers. The biggest losers are Ugandan exporters in that Ugandan products are now more expensive in the UK due to a weaker pound. UK importers and travelers are also losers because it is now more expensive to import stuff into the UK or travel abroad because the pound fetches less of other currency.

Overall, it is hard to say whether Uganda is  better off with a strong shilling/weaker pound. Why? Because it depends on whether Uganda has more exporters and visitors to the UK or more importers and tourists/visitors from the UK.  But a stronger shilling is not in Uganda’s long term economic interest. The value of the currency should reflect overal economy wide fundamentals. It is hard to tell for Uganda. Yes, the macro economic fundamentals are okay, but the micro aspects are not that good.

This may account for the disparity you allude too on the ground in Uganda.  But for the folks who travel to Uganda, it is certainly cheaper if you bought the tickets in Uganda.

Why is there still a huge disparity between the pound and the Euro? Because there are interest rate differentials between UK and the EU.  The EU has cut further than the UK. That should be the fundamental factor.  For those investors seeking for some relief, they are pouring their money into the UK and fleeing the Euro zone.

In Uganda too the pound is better known-more in use-than the Euro so it may have to do with sentimentality and the overal fundamentals of the Ugandan economy.

WBK

Leave a Comment