Poverty eradication is everyone’s responsibility

Jan 28, 2010

POVERTY levels are still high throughout the country, especially in east and northern Uganda. This can be attributed to a number of factors like insecurity, which forced many farmers to abandon agriculture, the major source of income for most households.

By Edward Makobore

POVERTY levels are still high throughout the country, especially in east and northern Uganda. This can be attributed to a number of factors like insecurity, which forced many farmers to abandon agriculture, the major source of income for most households.

Other factors include shortage of rainfall, poor farming practices leading to low productivity, low prices for agricultural produce, etc. However, the stark reality is that poverty levels in the entire country are still high with close to one million Ugandans (3%) living below the poverty line. A great proportion live in relative poverty.

It is not doubtable that this is a genuine concern of the Government which is making humble strides towards poverty alleviation. Bonna Bagaggawale, NAADS and the Presidential Initiative Against Poverty, are all government programmes aimed at alleviating poverty. President Yoweri Museveni; the-vice president, Prof. Gilbert Bukenya; and many ministers, especially those in the agriculture ministry, traverse the country promoting and supporting initiatives to alleviate poverty. There are also many non-governmental organisations working hard to alleviate poverty in the rural communities.

The debate of how effective some of the bodies are can be reserved for another day. When stories about the mismanagement of NAADS funds start becoming an everyday feature in the newspapers, one cannot help but doubt how effective these programmes are.
A critical question to ask is: Should the ordinary Ugandan sit back and watch these bodies struggle to eradicate poverty on their own?

Should the policy makers allow a system that allows an individual to hold a portfolio of a few billions without it allowing for the employment of a few people?
Should we not adopt a pro-poor lens in all our activities, investments inclusive, after all, we live in an intertwined community and the backlashes of a hungry and angry society will affect everyone, rich and poor?

These are important questions every Ugandan needs to ask himself. Answering them will open our eyes to the realisation that the fight against poverty is a collective responsibility of every Ugandan, rich or poor. Why should we allow our President to burn out traversing this country to implement the poverty eradication programmes because some official somewhere is not doing his job or does not have the vision for a poverty-free Uganda?
There is a saying that a hungry man is an angry man. The September 2009 riots in Kampala demonstrate this. The riots may have seemed like a demonstration of loyalty to Kabaka, but a critical question to ask is: Who were the majority of the participants? Were they middle class citizens of Uganda or the marginalised sections of society? People who cannot afford a decent living will always jump onto every opportunity to cause chaos. I am sure one would not find a middle-class wage earner in those riots.

There are people who have adopted the pro-poor lens and are actively involved in initiatives to improve the welfare of the poor. Special recognition goes to people like Wavamunno although the list is fairly long.
Wavamunno, Sudhir, Mukwano and Hassan Basajjabalaba, are lucky to have high business acumen and see opportunities where others do not.

These people are some of the highest taxpayers in the country, contributing billions of shillings to the Uganda Revenue Authority resource base. However, with the Government struggling to finance its budget, there is normally very thin distribution of resources, hardly enough to spur development and eradicate poverty as fast as it ought to.

There is need for the business community and individuals to engage more in this noble cause as a way of complementing Government efforts and not build parallel systems — the same way children are taken for private coaching despite them having good teachers at their schools.

However, their interventions might need to be smarter. A blanket to a sick person in Mulago might be helpful at the time, but more well thought through interventions that will cause greater impact could do the trick. The business community could establish a fund to build schools, hospitals and even roads. Programmes to train the rural communities in good agricultural practices can be funded by such sources. These will definitely have greater and longer lasting impact.

Many non-governmental organisations and Government bodies have refined and crafted their interventions to give maximum impact and if there was better collaboration between these bodies and the generous philanthropists, a lot of progress would be achieved.

It is about time this was done, especially now when resources from donor countries are dwindling as a result of the global financial crisis.

The writer resides in Fort Portal

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