NSSF should be made more useful to ordinary Ugandans

Last week, the Minister of Finance reappointed Mr. Godfrey Byarugaba for another term as Managing Director of NSSF, Geraldine Ssali as Deputy MD and a new Corporation Secretary was also appointed. For some of us who are constantly incensed with the political machinations in big government agencies, it was a relief to see a substantive appointment in almost a year.

NSSF has an immense potential to turn around the lives of ordinary Ugandans, but just like any ambitious project government attempts to undertake, the ghosts are quick to maul it down and frustrate it. MPs usually call for endless inquisitions and projects end up stalling or dying literally. Of course we need checks and balances in all systems because Uganda is not a country of angels. In fact our government seems to be infested with some people from hell who seem to have been taught corruption from the time they started school. But having investigated, inquired, probed and proved that there was no reasonable cause not to reappoint a man that has overseen the tremendous growth of NSSF into its multi trillion shillings portfolio, made a sound and profit making investment in UMEME shares and the first MD to have finished his term without going to jail, the Minister made the right choice in Byarugaba.  

However, the great potential at NSSF still stands underutilized and disappointing for a fund that pulls in over Shs 400bn annually. The continuous Inquisitions and investigations into the fund’s dealings almost every year seem to have created a sense of fear for making big investment deals and need to come to an end. Unsubstantiated allegations need to stop as well. Now, more than ever, we need to see NSSF taking Investment and valuable Corporate Social Responsibility seriously. The fund needs to play a leading role in Infrastructure development and value addition. Ugandans are not satisfied with a fund they get to hear about during commissions of Inquiry because having trillions of cash lying idle somewhere is too much a temptation for even the best human species, which partly explains the jail sentences dished out to former MDs. I believe Ugandans would instead prefer to interact regularly with what the fund is using their money for and to enjoy the benefits of their savings outside the increasing interest rates that they can only access after so many years, and for some, never at all.

Buying shares in other commercial entities and investing in real estate is a step in the right direction. But NSSF should do more. The money being borrowed by government to fund some of these infrastructure projects should be sourced from NSSF after a thorough assessment of economic viability, return on Investment and such other calculations. The fund should be championing safe water supply to the Karamoja region for example, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility.

Of course CSR alone doesn’t sustain the growth of any organisation; which is why the fund should also seek lawful, profitable and responsible investments such as leading the cause for low cost housing projects in the greater Kampala region. Such investment decisions must be made purely on business sense. The fund has the potential to stimulate high economic growth through investment in national priorities, basically infrastructure. It should be partnering with Kampala Capital City Authority through debt instruments such as municipal bonds, to provide cash for opening up and reconstructing the blocked drainage system in the city and fixing roads.

NSSF has the cash to fund a state of the art hospital facility in the country based on sound investment terms, in partnership with private players. This culture of Ugandans seeking medical care abroad and some being unfortunate to die there is ridiculous in this day and age. Not when we have trillions stashed away gathering dust in the fund’s accounts. The fund should be exploring and piloting a medical insurance scheme for its subscribers in partnership with the available service providers. This is the kind of day to day interaction with people’s savings that I’m talking about. The kind of value addition into people’s lives that the fund needs to explore besides just paying interest.

If the fund has the cash to finance major infrastructure such as power dams, bridges and roads, why are we borrowing money we don’t need to pay for things we can pay for ourselves?

Our parliament needs to explore the legalities involved and streamline the laws already in place to provide for this cause and put an end to this runaway borrowing that further delays our economic growth. Over to you Madame Speaker and MD Byarugaba.

The Case for Photovoltaic Glass Technology for Curtain Walls on Buildings

Modern building designs are constantly seeking intervention concepts and innovations that meet Environmental Sustainability, Low Life cycle cost, durability, safety, performance (quality) and sometimes reusability. Architects and other professionals in the industry are continuously on the lookout for new technologies that can meet these requirements on both new and existing structures.

Most modern commercial and residential structures springing up in cities across the world consist of Curtain walling facades. This is basically an Aluminium frame in filled with glass, stone, metal or any other suitable material as per the Architect’s desire. Our central focus should be on the usually large expanse of the infill material, be it glass or whatever else. This large surface is usually exposed and should ideally be resistant to adverse weather conditions. But a little curiosity will reveal to you that sometimes it’s not bad to think of the negative side of things.

In a bid to explore what could happen in case the façade was not weather resistant, researchers discovered a fascinating and very brilliant concept. What if the large free surface was instead out to use?  And then Photovoltaic glass technology was born into building industry. Curtain walling has always held a certain fascination with Solar panel manufacturers. The large free surface could be used to generate energy from the sun and use it to power the same buildings or even collect it and export it to the grid. 

Alexander Forbes  Insurance Headquaters, Johannesburg,South Africa. (Cladding in Standing Seam technique)

The world has been advocating for renewable energy technologies since way before the start of this century. This innovation was one of those outstanding achievements by scientists that deserve medals. I mean, take a quick look at all the high-rise buildings in your city and imagine all of them harvesting their own energy and powering their own operations within and outside their premises. Imagine how much money would be saved on power generation projects to satisfy the requirements of people living and working in the cities.

How much money would maintenance managers and building owners save on the life cycle cost of running the buildings during its service life? How much would we save the environment the adverse effects of building power dams on each all-season river in the country?

It’s time to put those high walls and roofs to use. Let’s embrace a comprehensive system of Photovoltaic glass technology for our buildings to increase sustainability in the industry. In fact, let’s also set up solar farms to harvest solar power and connect it to the national grid. It’s a shame that with our climate and the existence of such technologies, countries like my Uganda in this Century still has only 28% of electricity coverage out of a population of nearly 40 Million people. And we dream of being a middle income country in a few years to come. This statistic is one of the deterrences but the technology could be a catalyst.

Credit: Construction Review Magazine 

The Idea of an Apolitical Council of Elders

We are living in very interesting political times here in Uganda. Tabloids have been awash with stories relating to the sacking of former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi by his erstwhile close ally, the President. Reports from the NRM parliamentary caucus meeting on Monday indicate that the president further intends to torpedo Mr. Mbabazi from his Secretary General’s seat at the party as well. Most people who understand the President’s paranoia especially in relation to his power are not surprised by these developments. It was silently understood that it was just a matter of time before Mr. Mbabazi’s perceived or real ambitions would land him on the knife edge.

However, the graceful and calm demeanor with which he has taken the sacking and the series of events that have followed it has left many wondering what the self-proclaimed ‘super Minister’ is made of. Many who have worked with him previously have mentioned calm and calculative to be his quintessential approach to everything. Commentators, analysts and even opposition MPs have spoken favourably about the ‘smart and very intelligent’ former minister who has held many portfolios in cabinet and security agencies. If this is indeed true, then it would be a shame to lose such a man because of his aspirations to be the fountain of honour in this country.

My thinking is that, however much it is the prerogative of the President to appoint and disappoint people in cabinet and many other government agencies at will, some people who have diligently served their country and have a good track record should be retained in advisory capacity as a Statutory Council of Elders to advise the country on certain major issues. Let’s be honest; Intelligence, dedication, hard work and Integrity are not qualities that can be attributed to many in Uganda’s political circles.

So, why do we need this Council?

Uganda has had many good laws, programs, projects and policies that have simply slipped into silent death during implementation stage. (Take a look at NAADS, Bona bagagawale, Railway Projects, PRDP, The valley dam projects et al.) Many reasons could be attributed to this but key among them are the fact that thorough consultations and feasibility studies are not carried out prior to establishment to plug the loopholes, and of course corruption. This council of elders would be charged with assessing the viability of such development programs, reviewing policy frameworks, advising on them during implementation and initiating others that they deem necessary to the country’s development agenda.

How do we choose the members of this council?

There must be specific criteria to be followed in choosing these members. In a bid to avoid political interference, we need an independent nominating agency contracted to dig deep and undertake a thorough process to come up with these members. Candidates must have a track record of hard work and dedicated service in private, public sector, civil society or international bodies. In the event that one is nominated while in public service and they choose to take up the assignment, they would be required to resign their positions. The nominated members must be vetted by the Parliamentary Appointments Committee and approved before they take on their assignments. This would act as a secondary sieve to ensure that we get the finest people to this council.

How long would they serve?

To avoid complacency and ensure continuity in this council, I would suggest that a council member serve a minimum of one five year term and a maximum of two terms. We achieve this by employing the rotational policy of such advisory boards of several fortune 500 companies where the longest serving half of the board is retired and replaced every five years.

Replace the Presidential advisors

Of course with this council, we wouldn’t need the hundreds of presidential advisors meeting once a month to be ‘advised’ instead by the president, driving free cars and taking home millions for either ‘misadvising’ the president or having their advice ignored. The council would take up the role of advising the president, cabinet and government agencies to steer this country forward without all the politics and intrigue that comes with holding a government position to which one is appointed and serves at the mercy of the president. The security of their tenure must be well protected and shielded from political interference.

Who would I choose?

For the council to be effective, it has to consist of a lean number (maybe 20) and much diversified lot. If I was asked to choose off head, I would nominate the following people; Ezra Suruma, Godber Tumushabe, Mugisha Muntu, Fred Muhumuza, Miria Matembe, Winnie Byanyima, James Ogoola, Allen Kagina, Patrick Bitature, Julia Sebutinde, Martin Aliker, Betty Bigombe, Amanya Mushega, Tumusiime Mutebile and the Intelligent Amama Mbabazi. You can add other names to the list.

Let’s face it. To move this country forward, we need more than what we have in our current civil service. Uganda would be losing a lot of brain power, expertise and experience to help in policy formulation and implementation if we keep letting whoever falls out with the regime fade into oblivion. Some of these fine brains need to be fully tapped because, clearly, the ones we are tapping are not helping much.  

How realistic is a Cable Car System in Kampala city?

Some time back, KCCA ran an advert inviting consultants to conduct studies on piloting a cable car system in Kampala city. Media reports indicate that feasibility studies for a pilot cable car system from Kawempe to the new park and to Makindye have been conducted though their results have not been made public yet.

A KCCA Supplement that appeared in the New Vision Newspaper of 30^th April 2014 states that, “The system can be installed easily, provides unique ride experiences to passengers and are reliable”. I would like to respectfully challenge this statement because in my opinion, it is not all true.

First of all, a cable car system requires a huge infrastructure input. This is in relation to installation of access lifts, ramps, vehicles and cables. In addition to the initial cost of this infrastructure, there’s the cost of maintenance of cables on a regular basis as they get worn out fast when used frequently.

Secondly, the reliability of a cable car system is majorly premised on a reliable power supply. Operating cable cars would require a cheap and reliable power supply which unfortunately is not available in Kampala. Our power is neither cheap nor reliable. Uganda ranks among the top countries with the highest cost of electricity and is still grappling with frequent power outages. This means that unless KCCA intends to use power from another service provider other than UMEME, which I don’t think, it is not sustainable to design and install a cable car system in the city when these problems are still apparent. Otherwise passengers may get stranded for hours in the air mid journey due to power outages.

More so, Kampala experiences traffic congestions during peak hours which fall in the morning as people head to work and evening hours as they return home. Normally, during this time, passenger behavior indicates that all people care about is to get to where they are going and to get there fast. The ‘unique riding experience’ that KCCA is hoping to achieve with cable cars is not a priority during these hours.

Cable cars are designed to transport passengers up and down hills and across valleys. Though they can be used in relatively flat and slightly undulating terrain, their efficiency is reduced and they require more traction which might have to be provided by increasing the power supply. This of course has a ripple effect on the cost of running the system.

Furthermore, Cable cars generally have a low capacity carrying up to a maximum of about 8 to 10 passengers at a time in order to avoid too much weight on the suspended cables. Such a mode of transport cannot be a reasonable replacement for 14-seater matatus that KCCA is planning to ban from the city.

Finally, there is the issue of stages and flexibility in route selection. The cable car system requires braking towers at each stage for people to alight and others enter.  Since it is not possible to have these towers constructed in the middle of town where almost every inch of land is occupied by a building, the system may face a challenge of having to drop passengers further away from their destinations which will be an inconvenience to them.

Public transportation planning is a complicated task, especially since over the years many systems have evolved and grown beyond their original designs. New additions to transportation systems are expensive, and building these additions is often disruptive to existing systems and/or city structures. Each new system must be carefully planned. Population density, employment density, prospects for growth, per capita income, car ownership, and life cycle cost are some of the factors that must be considered when planning public transportation systems. Past operating practices and procedures, coverage of the current system, fare prices, land use, street patterns, settlement patterns and availability or possibility of off-street transit should also be taken into account.

However, the overriding aims that the planners should have in mind while planning include maximization of ridership (capacity), efficiency and reliability of operations, potential to foster new residential and commercial developments, cost of construction and maintenance. No simple formula can determine which system to employ or where it should be built but the above factors go a long way towards making the right choice.

While planning for three million people in the city, high capacity modes of public transport should be introduced to solve traffic congestion alongside reasonable regulation of entry of private vehicles into the city.

My thinking is that a rapid bus transport system, speed trains and trams are more realistic options and better suited for Kampala than cable cars.

Let us explore a National Youth Service program in Uganda.

In the early 2000’s, a phrase was coined by some ‘intellectuals’ and it became common place. We were told to be job creators not job seekers. The days of finishing school and getting straight into the work environment or even being recruited while at university were behind us. The capacity of both the public and private sectors to absorb graduates had reduced and kept on a downward spiral. This implied that the competition for jobs was increasing and the chances of every qualified graduate getting employed were reducing significantly. Growth in most productive sectors was either stagnating or reducing. Cooperative societies that had for long driven the agriculture sector were collapsing one by one. The cost of production was increasing yet the returns on investment were not so encouraging. Coffee and cotton exports reduced significantly.

Most Parastatals had just been privatized and many of them were still restructuring and struggling to make profits. Meanwhile, Universities and technical institutions were churning out ever increasing theoretical degree and diploma wielding graduates into a job market that was constantly diminishing and is now almost nonexistent. Economic growth rates were reducing and at best stagnating in the subsequent years. Today, the competition for employment has reached unprecedented levels. To many youth now, graduation marks the start of a very uncertain future. The kind of future that makes them vulnerable and willing to do anything, even criminal, to make ends meet. With a youth unemployment level of about 83 percent, we have a time bomb on our hands. 

Last year, Kenya passed a law that makes it mandatory for all high school graduates to enroll in a National Youth service program as they await university enrollment, aimed at giving young people vocational training, empowerment and instilling patriotism amid economic and security challenges. South Africa, Nigeria and Jamaica are among the other countries with programs of a similar nature. While our ‘genius’ ministers and law makers mull over the idea of passing a law that forces us to be patriotic, other countries are actually doing something that instill it naturally. 

A national youth service program that combines training in specific career skills, re-socialization and work experience to develop positive attitudes and values among participants in the areas of self, work place, community and nation, as well as provide opportunities and orientation for their entrance into the work force is a much more effective tool to instill patriotism than a law that forces it down our throats. This program would be different from internships as it would emphasize community service and civic duty with participants rendered a small stipend to cater for transport and lunch costs. To minimize this cost, participants would be allocated placement in their home districts in organisations and local government departments that match their qualifications and career preferences. 

In Mexico, community service is compulsory for all Mexican university students. These students serve 480 hours of voluntary service during the course of a four year undergraduate education. The aim is to build solidarity among youth and encourage a sense of collaboration in community development. The government sponsored National Youth Commission in South Africa runs a national youth service program that enlists youth to fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS and reduce youth unemployment. In South America, Chile runs a competitive selection civil service program for university graduates with the goal of reducing rural poverty. Lawyers, engineers, medical practitioners and other carefully selected professionals are chosen after graduation to serve in rural areas for a period of 13 months. This approach offers a three pronged solution as the graduates gain the much needed experience, take services to the poor population in hard to reach areas and build working relationships with local people. 

Just like any program, a youth service would require quality control to be effective. Participants would have to be periodically monitored by service coordinators, get involved in career guidance sessions, reinforcement of civic values and prudent work ethos. After a period of one year in this service, the youth would be well equipped with the skills to enter the job market raising the quality of the labour force, and the rest would be enterprising enough to identify a niche and create their own practice.

The last issue would be funding for this program. Most countries that run such programs allocate funding from the consolidated fund. However, a new approach with contributions from the private sector and development partners can be explored to kick start this program in Uganda. Coordination would be conducted within a framework that includes the Ministries of Education, Public Service and the Private Sector Foundation of Uganda. If we are to address the ills of unemployment, avert the damage occasioned by a theoretical education system and drive a skills development agenda in this country, a national youth service program is something we must consider for university and high school graduates.

Can Africa leapfrog the carbon energy age? - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

Julian Popov is a journalist, consultant, and a former environment minister in the last Bulgarian interim government.

Some see Africa as the land of poverty, others as the continent with the fastest economic growth. That growth, and getting out of poverty, need energy. And more energy, common wisdom suggests, means more fossil fuels - coal, oil and gas. This is why climate change policy makers do not look much at Africa when it comes to pushing for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. They assume that in Africa the emissions should go up, and up, and up before they start going down. Look at China, India or Turkey and you get the picture.

There is, however, something that sets Africa apart from China, India or Turkey - its profound energy backwardness. Out of her one billion population, nearly 600 million have no access to an electricity grid. And Africa is the only continent where that number is expected to rise to reach 700 million by 2030.

Africa is also big. Its map can comfortably house the maps of US, India, China, Germany, France, Spain and a few other countries. And it is also sparsely populated. There are fewer people living in the entire African continent than in India, but India is 10 times smaller than Africa. Building electricity grids across such distances to reach families that live on $4-5 a day does not make sense. Getting the power grid to remote communities can be a costly venture and the returns are highly unlikely to justify the investment. For a long time, the poor communities will remain too poor to attract necessary power grid investment.

Something else, however, is happening in Africa that could change all that. Off grid solar energy is rapidly spreading. In the last few years over 7 million off-grid Africans have replaced their kerosene lamps with solar lights. This might be just 1 percent of the off-grid African population, but it is on a scale sufficient to introduce a technology that could disrupt the expected path of development. The reasons are at least four.

First, the change to the family budget that a solar light brings is significant. According to SolarAid, one of the organisations introducing solar lights to Africa, by replacing kerosene with solar power LED light in Tanzania, typically you can save more than a dollar a week. This is a significant amount of money for the 48 percent of the sub-Saharan people that live on less than $1.25 a day.

Second, solar power can be expanded and connected. You can get one panel and you will replace a kerosene lamp. Get two and you will be able to charge your mobile phone. Add another one and you can have a radio. With one more you might have a computer or a TV. In other words, the solar generation could add to your life different consumer products. And you can also team up with a neighbour and build a small local grid.

Third, the technological advances are staggering. The LED light uses five to 10 times less energy than the old incandescent light. Chinese, Spanish and German subsidies have turned photovoltaic panels into a commodity with a rapidly falling price. What looked 10 years ago like a rich government's game now is simply cheap. The cost of solar power is falling below new nuclear or gas generated power and even below coal, if you care to include into the electricity price the cost of all the environmental and health damage that coal causes.

Fourth, solar, and other renewable energy technologies do not need the hugely expensive power infrastructure required to bring the electricity generated by a nuclear reactor or a coal power block 2,000 kilometres to a poor African village.

Put these four reasons together and you will see that the traditional centralised power grid structure will lag far behind the economic and technological development of Africa. In other words, the off-grid electricity network will grow faster than the centralised energy economy. The centralised power grid economy will never be able to catch up with the faster growing off-grid economy.

By the time you secure financing for the 2,000 km grid to a remote village, it will have the LED lights at home and in school, chargers for mobiles phones, power for TVs and computers and mobile access to high quality education through the MOOC (mass online open courses) system.

And carbon free energy by no means stops at photovoltaic generation. Large parts of Africa offer excellent wind conditions. Micro hydro generation can also provide power that does not require a large power grid. There are already countries in Africa, like Rwanda, that are looking at a 100 percent renewable electricity option by 2020. According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, this would be a much more economic option for Rwanda than relaying on fossil fuels.

If we want to help Africa, and the rest of the world, we should support the scaling up of a natural trend that would help Africa to leapfrog the carbon energy age. Last year, US President Barack Obama promised more than $7bn for the Power Africa programme. The money will most likely go into grids and conventional energy projects. Bad choice. But that could not stop Africa moving fast into the carbon free energy world. European political leaders should support the acceleration of this this natural economic development.

Africa never managed to build a proper telephone cable network. And it will never need it. The continent has nearly 500 million mobile connections and only 12 million fixed telephone lines. Something similar could happen with energy.

The Devil lies in the New Journalism Regulations

Just when you think we cannot sink any deeper into the murky waters of politicking, Uganda surprises you with a rude awakening. The introduction of the new fees for Journalists under the Press and Journalists Regulations 2014 is a rather unpleasant reminder of how far this government is willing to go to curtail basic freedoms and rights in order to further entrench itself and impose its presence on us. Under these new regulations, a journalist will be required to pay UgShs.200,000 for a practicing certificate. In addition to that, pay UgShs.50,000 for that certificate to be entered in the register for journalists. That is not all. The practicing certificate will have to be renewed annually at a few of not less than UgShs.100,000 and that excludes the UgShs.30,000 for an enrollment certificate. Now, just how ridiculous is that?

Imagine a young journalist fresh from campus. How is he/she supposed to come up with all that cash to be able to start practicing their profession? Even to the already practicing journalists, these fees are too high considering their salaries which average around UgShs.800,000 in mainstream media.

Leaving the financials aside; onto the rights concerns, these regulations directly jeopardise the freedom of conscience and expression in our Constitution. Article 29(1)(a) states: “Every person shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression which shall include freedom of the press and other media.” The press and media practitioners are what one would call journalists. When these journalists have to seek permission to practice from the government, which government retains the right to grant, deny, revoke and renew such permission every year, I am not sure that will still be termed as ‘freedom of the press and media’.

The media sets the agenda for discussion in the whole country on a daily basis. They search for a story, break it, confirm it, give details and ensure that it gets the necessary attention it requires. Though our media in particular has often been guilty of sensationalizing serious issues and quickly jumping from one story to another without fully exhausting and debating one to any logical conclusion, they are still responsible to a large extent, for keeping the government in check and exposing the excesses committed in the corridors of power. Allowing the government to have power to determine who plays the watchdog role and who doesn’t simply defeats the whole idea of an independent media which is key to democratic governance that we claim to subscribe to. There is no guarantee that journalists deemed critical to government and the ‘big men’ will not be denied practicing certificates and/or even whole media houses gradually incapacitated in a bid to deny a platform to such journalists.

The other proposal of forcing private media houses to dedicate a mandatory amount of time to government programs is also as absurd as can be. Besides the obvious wrongful act of dictating programming in a privatized sector, it could disorganize the viewer-ship/listener-ship who usually get accustomed to a certain set and type of programming. This could have serious implications for the private media houses in terms of tilting the easily impressionable (and easily turned off) listeners and viewers. It is common sense that if you are doing something good, the attention will come naturally. You would not need to seek it. Therefore this vain attempt by the government to regulate media attention goes back to what they are doing (or not doing) especially in the areas of service provision.

The media in this country gives a lot of attention to the key sectors especially health, agriculture and education. The problem is that there are often few or no good stories to report there. Certainly those championed by the government are ever diminishing over the years. These sectors have been left to ‘go to the dogs’ and the role of the media is to report it as it is. So, attempting to force the media to paint a rosy picture or else deny them licenses/certificates is indeed absurd. The government should concentrate on service delivery and they will get all the media attention they deserve.

These new regulations come in as old wine in a new skin. After several efforts to gag the media by threating some journalists into self-censorship, closing down media houses, bribing and enticing them with juicy advertising deals, this is yet a new phase of ensuring control over the media. And it is heading towards dangerous levels.

There is a legislation craze going on in this country. Some of these selfish individuals in government think we should have laws to regulate how we dress, how we sleep and with whom, how we convene in our community groups, and more recently, to demonstrate our ‘love for our country’. Now they are slowly creeping into our professions starting with the journalists. We need to collectively reject these inverted and ill-conceived efforts that can yield no good for us or for the future of this country. Instead of the government defining itself in opposition to media freedom, they can choose to affirm the aspirations they both hold in common. We can stand tall without standing on someone and we can victors without having victims.