Candidates dangle cash to woo citizens to care for environment

Uganda’s physical environment is under threat. Soil fertility is declining and the crop production has dropped. Unpredictable rain patterns and flash floods disrupt agricultural planning and output while ruining life, livelihoods and infrastructure.
Put another way, Uganda is at war with mother nature through direct human interference or destruction of the planetary ecosystem. The lives of citizens are clinging on the edge due to climate change impact and environmental degradation. The situation is worsened by the increasing urbanisation.

Uganda is urbanising so rapidly that half of its population is projected to be living in urban areas by 2050, according to the country’s June 2017 National Urban Policy.
 Because urban areas are centres of industrialisation and service sector, they constitute the core nodes of development and wealth generation. Conversely, concentrated activities and densification in towns and cities generate mass waste that pollutes most  the environment, air quality, ecosystems and water resources.

Urban demand for charcoal for cooking is met by villagers cutting trees, which destabilises local ecosystems.
Our analysis of the manifestos shows that only six of the 11 presidential candidates agree that there is need to restore forest cover, preserve the remaining wetlands and insulate the country’s ecosystem from factors that threaten mother nature.

The ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party flag bearer Yoweri Museveni, Independents Willy Mayambala and Joseph Kabuleta, National Unity Platform’s Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine, Norbert Mao of the Democratic Party (DP) and Forum for Democratic Change party’s Patrick Oboi Amuriat, all pledge to redeem Uganda’s swamps, forest cover and wetlands.
Under President Museveni’s rule,  forest cover in the country dropped from 24 per cent in 1990 to 12.4 per cent in 2015 and further afterwards. 

Now Mr Museveni, if elected, is promising to distribute free seedlings or give them out at a subsidised rate to increase forest cover from 8.9 per cent to 11.5 per cent in the next five years. He also wants to increase wetlands cover by 2.6 percentage points by 2026 (which is the similar to the forest cover increase plan) while Mr Mayambala and Bobi pledge to use other incentives to restore forest cover.

Mr Mayambala promises Shs50, 000 to every Ugandan that plant and maintain a tree for five years. The tokenism may be the magic wand to get more hands planting trees and greening the country, but the source of the cash or government officials dipping itchy hands in the cookie jar may in detail birth the stubborn demons of graft to impede success.

Relatedly, Mr Kyagulanyi promised to reward whistleblowers that avail information about the persons that encroach on wetlands.
All candidates clearly indicate there has been a lapse in the way organisations entrusted to protect and superintend over the country’s mother nature have executed, rather aptly failed, to execute their mandate.

For instance, the National Environment Management Authority (Nema), the National Forest Authority (NFA) and the Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE) are among others, empowered by law to fight and protect the environment yet the country is being stung by rapid deforestation and widespread encroachment of ecologically fragile areas.
 
In some cases, the unpunished transgressions occur a few kilometres from the headquarters of the environmental watchdogs and perpetrators include prominent government officials, security officers and foreign investors.
For instance, environmentalists and government officials have currently locked horns over suspicions that a planned sugarcane plantation and sugar factory in mid-western Uganda will culminate in the destruction of part of the 68,709-acres Bugoma forest.

In 2007, a riot in the capital Kampala in which some Indian nationals were killed, beat back attempts by President Museveni to dole out part of Mabira forest on the Jinja highway to the Sugar Corporation of Uganda Limited (Scoul).
The State Minister for Environment, Ms Beatrice Anywar, led those demonstrations and was subsequently nick-named Mama Mabira. Now the minister’s voice over environmental issues appears  some what muffled, contrasting her spirited and loud activist disposition on the matter when then in opposition. 
  
Bobi Wine calls the environmental protection agencies toothless and plans to disband Nema, which is a creation of law, and revert its functions to the parent Ministry of Water and Environment. Executing this pledge, if Bobi wins the presidential vote due on January 14, next year, will require amendment of the law establishing Nema. 

Considering that NUP (47)has fielded fewer candidates  for district chairpersons and parliamentary seats than NRM(145) and FDC(55) in the parliamentary contest, enacting such law will likely be a tall order and succeed with alliance, which enjoin a Bobi government to make compromises along the way.
Bobi also plans to audit the activities of NFA and rid the agency of its alleged corrupt officials.  In his political tool box is also an instrument to slap an annual fine against investors who encroach on wetlands and forests, something likely to stir widespread disconcert and rail against foreign interests.

Bobi Wine and Lt Gen (retired) Henry Tumukunde’s Renewed Uganda are cognisant of how the majority of the citizenry is less informed about the issues of climate change. The two therefore plan to popularise the subject so that efforts to implement mitigation activities are easily appreciated at the grassroot levels.
Uganda has in the past decade witnessed a serious of environmental disasters triggered, among others, by human invasion of fragile ecosystems and destruction of the forest cover. 
 
In 2010, mudslides blanketed Nametsi Village on the foot of rocky slopes in the eastern Bududa and buried an estimated 350 people alive. The place has suffered more deadly mudslides, resulting in the relocation of natives and signposting the perils of climate change problems.
Floods have brought similar destructions and misery to populations in Butaleja, Manafwa, Kasese districts and Kampala city.

According to details contained in Third National Development Plan (NDPIII), Uganda’s meteorological department is reeling with old equipment and antiquated technology and is handicapped to provide reliable weather information to inform farming decisions or provide early disaster warnings.
Thus, NRM’s Museveni promises to make Information Communication Technology (ICT) central to weather information processing by equipping weather stations and automating data collection, collation and relay to end users for quick action. It is what his government has failed to do in 34 years and the fact that the manifesto does not specify the timeline to achieve the pledge means its implementation may as well not  be guaranteed.

It is less than a month to the presidential poll, but candidates Maj Gen (rtd) Mugisha Muntu of Alliance for National Transformation (ANT), Willy Mayambala and John Katumba are yet to launch the manifestos, if they ever will. Thus, their concrete policy proposals on urbanisation, climate change and environment remain unknown or a guesswork based on random proclamations on the campaign trail.
In response to our inquiries, Gen Muntu said if elected, he plans to establish a framework of public-private partnerships to incentivise private sector actors to participate in waste management and environmental protection.

Solid waste generation is a big problem for urban authorities as it is costly. Yet, uncollected garbage is unsightly, generates foul odour and attracts flies, and blocks drainage channels, resulting in backflow.  According a Uganda Bureau of Statistics 2020 report, the volume of waste in Kampala has rapidly increased, with rising population.
 To address urban energy demands, and save forests felled to make charcoal, Mr Museveni and Mr Amuriat promise to increase Ugandans’ access to electricity and gas.
Museveni pledges to “remove import duty on both gas and electric cookers.”

The FDC’s Amuriat also promises a similar plan.
“We are going to reduce on the tariffs on electricity and gas. That way, we believe it will be possible for even local people in the villages to use it for cooking,” Mr Amuriat said.
John Katumba could not be reached as our repeated calls and messages to his known telephone number went unanswered.
Much as Ms Nancy Kalembe released her manifesto, it is, however devoid of plans to address issues touching on the environment.

Big misses
Air pollution
Another matter that needs specific attention, but one on the radar of candidates, is the question of the deteriorating air quality in the country.  It is reported in NDP III document that only Kampala is equipped with technology to assess the quality of air, meaning millions of Ugandans may inadvertently be breathing themselves to death.
 Kampala’s air quality is the second worst in Africa, the NDP III document shows, and “concentrations of particulate matter (PM2.5) were three times higher than the World Health Organisation’s air quality guidelines for ambient air.”
The air pollution problem is attributed to emissions from increased traffic and reconditioned motor vehicles, and other anthropogenic activities.

Urbanisation
The question of urbanisation and the way it is handled has direct and indirect effect on the environment and if not properly handled, adverse effects may heavily cost the country.
Growing urbanisation exerts pressure on space and is a driver for reclamation of fringe or ecologically fragile areas for physical development which, if unregulated, result in society paying for the greed of individual profiteers.

It is not all gloom. Uganda ratified the Paris Agreement, developed the national policies, plans and strategies, National Climate Change Policy (2015), National Determined Contributions and National Adaptation Roadmap. In addition, the Uganda Green Growth Development Strategy and the National Climate change Bill, 2020, have been formulated.
So, evidence abounds of a lot of thinking and work at the technical level. It is in implementation that deficit is manifest.

Uganda was to formulate National Determined Contributions (NDC) through which the country would define some of the adaptation and mitigation measures to be undertaken in the bid to preserve environment and minimise the effects of climate change.

It is now close to five years, and Uganda is yet to formulate the NAP, increasing the country’s vulnerability to climate change upsets.
In the 2020 Climate Risk Country Profile for Uganda, the World Bank reveals that “Uganda is the 14th most vulnerable country and the 48th least ready country (in the world) – meaning that it is very vulnerable to, yet unready to address climate change effects.”

And this grim reality is the reason any contender for president should prioritise environmental and climate change issues on planned government agenda.
Ms Christine Mbatuusa, a climate change expert and programme manager at Environment Management for Livelihood Improvement (EMLI), says Uganda’s vulnerability is worsened by over reliance on natural resources by sectors like griculture, water, energy, and fisheries.

“At the local level, you find that the district natural resource officers, [thus the focal point person for climate change issues] don’t have the technical capacity to understand climate change issues,” he said.
When asked why urbanisation seems to attract minimal attention, Ms Mbatuusa attributed the lapse to capacity gaps of the officers charged with implementation of climate change mitigation effects.

“The main issue is they don’t differentiate between climate finance and development finance. For instance, when planning for the construction of roads many don’t know how the climate change plan is going to be affected by that road being constructed. In this, they don’t take into account the issue of floods and droughts,” she added.

pledges
“NRM is also going to improve climate data and information to accurately inform efforts that address vulnerability to the impacts of climate variability and change. This will improve our prediction and readiness to deal with the adverse effects of climate variability and change.”
Extracted from NRM manifesto

“DP Pledges to invest in the quality and sustainability of natural resources to check the declining soil fertility and productivity of land, depletion of fish stocks, wetland encroachment, end reclamation and pollution of water resources as a foundation for sustainable social- economic development.”
Norbert Mao, Democratic Party flag bearer
 
“Communities shall be empowered and encouraged with rewards to blow the whistle on encroachers and officials responsible will be held personally to account …[and we will enhance respect for the environment by including it in the schools’ curriculum.”
Extracted from NUP manifesto

“… climate issues are not localised [but] …shared responsibility… So we are going to start by educating people about climate change … we need to make sure that people understand the effects of climate change are not just affecting local people but the country as a whole.”Arthur Katabalwa, Spokesperson for Henry Tumukunde

“I am also advocating technology that is environmentally friendly and also putting up a scheme that will enable at least every Ugandan to plant a tree on their land. Under that initiative, every Ugandan will be given Shs50, 000 to plant a tree for the next five years.”
Willy Mayambala

“I will enhance protection of gazetted National Parks and Forests in order to conserve wildlife and bird species that are unique to Uganda.”
Joseph Kabuleta

“There are many private sectors handling waste, it is a question of ensuring that people are encouraged to come into the sector and also ensure that people are taught on waste sorting at the stage of collection.”
Mugisha Muntu

“I will stop the encroachment on wetlands and natural forests by effectively enforcing policies and legislation relating to environmental conservation.” 
Fred Mwesigye

“… our policy is that at burials and social events, trees will be planted as a must…We are going to reduce tariffs on electricity and gas; that way, we believe that it will be possible for even local people in the villages to use electricity for cooking and warming.”
Extracted from FDC manifesto.