Poverty, development and politics: Which way Busoga?

Busoga politicians turned what was meant to be a memorial for a dead area Member of Parliament into a chest-thumping parade celebrating their successful fight against their colleague who they had managed to pull out of a bigger national position to much a lesser one.

To them, that politician, especially in the position they held, was the one standing between Busoga and prosperity. So, speaker after speaker, they asked the Basoga in attendance to clap, for, a dawn of prosperity and freedom was upon them with the exit of the one who apparently was not allowing them to breathe.

For those who have lived long enough, however, the Kamuli memorial celebrations were simply a repeat of similar happenings close to two decades ago were the politician, now the receiving end of jibes and barbs, led a group of politicians to defenestrate a male colleague out of the region’s influence.

They, too, said their colleague was the problem standing between Busoga and prosperity. Remove him and the yoke of poverty, disease and ignorance in the Busoga region will be solved for good! They reasoned.

Is it true, therefore, that an individual politician from Busoga and whatever position of influence they hold in President Y.K Museveni’s government can be the impediment or the highway to the prosperity of Busoga? Or is the noise usually selfish politicians dressing greed for political positions as genuine concern for the region yet all they be looking for is a chance to replace those they disagree with and attain Lordship over the region?

The latter is true.

Busoga has had a fair share of individual political fights for titles and influence over the years. Even big political titles, like the vice presidency, have come to the region. But how does the report card read?

A tarmacked road here, a teenage mother with her malnourished kid there, a bridge there, land evictions and grabbing here, a seed school there, a revamped but underutilized Kasolwe farm there, and a yearly Ubos report placing Busoga ahead in the poverty pack and the recent time bomb being the region running out of proteins.

Clearly the fascination with big titles, and big (wo)man politics has not given us the best of results and it won’t in the near future. It is time to moult.

Don’t get me wrong. Politics indeed leads to development but only when politicians are strategically deployed to use politics and its power to press the relevant policy and right budget allocation buttons. Doing so implies the private sector, civil society and even the cultural institution can connect and lead both the economics and social development efforts of the community.

The current situation is such that individuals contest for political positions guided by only their gut feelings and assumptions of what ails their communities. The region ends up with thousands of leaders each with their own agenda and shooting in all sorts of direction hence the endless fights for attention and platform.

What should be done, going forward?

Mobilize communities for a common People’s Charter

Bottom-up community mobilization for economic empowerment and social development will help connect economics with the community down to family level. This begins with having a common people’s charter spelling out what is to be achieved and why, setting the region’s irreducible minimums and clearly allocating responsibility to each stakeholder right to the bottom of the pile.

This charter cannot, however, be a product of a few locked in a room. The close to 4 million people living in Busoga should be engaged and have their views captured for them to own it. The politically neutral Kyabazingaship should be proactive and intentional to firmly lead the process. Through the office of the Prime Minister together with the eleven chiefs and the clan structures, Kyabazingaship can take a lead role in mobilizing the region, let the people examine who they are, where they want to go, set key performance indicators for themselves, their leaders both political, business, and cultural; let people set and rejuvenate their own ambition through a common charter. Unity for a purpose message can only hit home when a clear purpose has been set through an all-inclusive process.

With a common people’s charter, anyone seeking political office will know were the region wants to go, the type of social contract he or she will be signing with their constituents and its irreducible minimums. Experience, expertise, ability and willingness to contribute to the achievement of the common people’s charter would replace titles as a source of pride for the regions children in the private and public sector. An Isabirye down in the village will know what is expected of him. We need a situation where the cause is bigger than that of the individual. The enemy should not be who individual politicians and their morale boosters point at but one who seeks to go against the Common people’s charter.

With such arrangement, government projects like the Parish Development Model would find an already set system and ready and responsible community members. However, with the current shoot and aim later approach, the chances of such programs to pass like the monsoon winds without benefitting the people are high because the communities and the region’s system is not organized to absorb them

…on Development

Busoga is largely an agrarian region. Trade and movement of goods and services needs to be eased. As Busoga asks for the return of ebyaiffe fromgovernment, revamping the Busoga Rail line should be top of the agenda or list.

Sample this; If the Parish Development Model is well implemented, it will most likely increase grassroot production of agricultural produce. But where is the market and how will the farmers get there? Most village roads are nearly impassable thanks to Sugarcane ferrying trucks not to mention the high cost of road transport. Isn’t it therefore time to start lobbying for the restoration of the Busoga Railway line?

This could go a long way in easing, and cutting by more than half, the cost of transporting goods across and out of the region from farm to the market.

Currently, a farmer in Kamuli will have to part with around shs300,000 to transport a ton of cabbage from the farm to a market in Kampala. With each of the 1000 cabbages going for shs500, the farmer will get only shs500,000. Imagine if the Busoga Railway Line is revamped and one has to pay say shs50,000 or less to transport the cabbages.

The rail line will also ease movement across Busoga and make people more productive.

On the question of sugarcane growing

With eased transportation of agricultural and other trade produce, the region then needs to consider other cash crops other than sugarcane.

If, indeed, the five sugar factories have caused nothing but poverty in the region, what makes one think that adding a sixth factory will turn around the region’s fortunes?

If the issue is that existing sugar factories are paying less to farmers and landowners take peanuts, what business principles will the Busoga factory employ to pay more for the cane and still profitably compete on the market?

Wouldn’t it have been better to invest in an offshoot factory, say for cane whiskey or sweets, or whatever marketable product, as a direct alternative market for the cane growers?

Or, push for a commercialized diversification of other cash crop production? Busoga used to be known for producing maize, sweet-potatoes and even coffee. Kasolwe Mixed farm revamped using government funds has a commercial maize milling machine lying idle.  Can the region start producing maize flour and sell in the Greatlakes region?

The head at the Nalufenya Regional children’s referral hospital says over 60 percent of the admitted cases are due to malnutrition. To solve this, and the lack of proteins in the region, can we use the maka kumi community approach and organize small holder farm homes, link them to the Kasolwe mixed farm to promote mixed farming for both home consumption but also save some for commercial? The Hamlet Mixed Farm in Kivubuka-Bufuula villages in Butembe Chiefdom together with the Gabula Royal Foundation ran a brief pilot of this and the results showed it is possible.

That is why moves like signing of partnerships with richer economies are good, but one needs to first prepare the people for them to reap better and strategically.

Busoga Consortium has over the years been signing MOUs with cities in China, the latest with Liaoning Province. Population, 43.52 million. GDP of USD $364M. GDP Per Capita, $8546, Total Trade Volume, $94 billion.

Reason for the partnerships? Open opportunities for Busoga.

“I wish to congratulate the people of Busoga…on this registered stride towards building a strategic collaboration that are so important in several aspects such as trade exchanges, human resources development, tourism growth, FDI attractions among others,” a statement from the consortium announcing the partnership reads.

Good move. However, take a random sample across Busoga; ask anyone be it on the streets, in a coffee shop, on a market stall or running a small business ferrying tourists to Busowoko falls about the Consortium and the good partnerships it is striking across China and you will get a blank stare.

What happened? A group of politicians sat in room came up with an idea and said this is the magic bullet to develop this region and off they went to commit to partnerships. But where are the people, where are the small businesses and enterprises on whose behalf you are signing those partnerships? How have they been prepared and organized to reap from the big economies?

You will find all sorts of small businesses in Busoga from agri-business, tourism, arts, and culture to old school trade down in Kazimingi. Efforts should be made to incubate, mentor, and link them to sustainable development focused financial institutions like Uganda Development Bank; let them set the pace of partnerships so that when they come, they know and are prepared to milk the opportunity.

Busoga needs leaders who can and are willing to mobilize its people to achieve a common development goal, who are willing to surrender to region’s set common cause and not politicians who want to sacrifice a region’s cause on the altar of ego and political positions of influence. It is nothing personal. It is strictly Busoga development.

The writer is a former journalist