Developing the Elgon region using innovations

By Clet Wandui Masiga

President Yoweri Museveni made a return visit to Elgon region last week, to push the wealth creation agenda.

Elgon region is unique, compromising of Manafwa, Mbale, Bududa, Sironko, Bulambuli, Namisindwa, Kapchorwa, Kween and Bukwo. The region has its own unique challenges and opportunities, which need unique minds to address them.

As such, we have founded our own think tank in the name of Elgon Mountain Thinkers. Elgon Mountain Thinkers is a think tank or consultancy, policy institute, research institute and an advisory establishment whose mission is to offer policy ideas to support education and learning, reconstruction, development and promotion of sustainable development in the Elgon region that is composed of Bagisu and Sabiny.

According to the 2014 National Population and Housing Census, the Sabiny are a population of 289,456 and the Bagisu are 1,481,309. The focus of the Elgon Mountain Thinkers is to provide technical and advisory service to local governments and communities to take advantage and implement Government programmes for our regional development.

The thinkers focus in the next 10 years will be to support the Elgon region to access and utilise science, technology and innovations in developing the Elgon region inline with the Government development agenda. We will mobilise the best skills from around the world to contribute ideas that can develop the Elgon region. Some of our anticipated key partners include local governments, Bugisu Cultural Institution, Bugisu Co-operative Union, Bagisu institutions in the diaspora and the Government. We will be organising discussion forums during which we invite Elgon leaders and community members to participate in dialogue for the development of the Elgon region.

The discussions are expected to make key resolutions, which we can use to advocate and influence implementation of decisions/policies for the region. Our area of operation is the whole Elgon area, in both Kenya and Uganda.

The key areas of our focus includes support to local political leaders to pass policies that have a direct contribution to the development of our Elgon region, mobilise resources and communities to triple their production and productivity.

We have seven key areas of focus:

1. Support our political leaders to pass policies that have a direct contribution to the development of our Elgon region.

2. Mobilize resources and communities to triple the production and productivity of Coffee, Banana, Maize and Sorghum

3. Mobilise resources and communities to develop sports and music industry for Elgonians.

4. Identify tourism sites and promote tourism in Elgon region as a source of revenue.

5. Build the capacity of Elgon people and support them to construct infrastructure of Elgon region.

6. Organise discussion forums for the politicians and public servants to account for the roles in serving the region.

7. Create a grass root movement of 100,000 Elgon Mountain Thinkers to demand for implementation of policies that will ensure that Elgon people achieve a middle income status by 2030.

Like everything else, we the founding thinkers believe that if we can volunteer and commit to creating awareness that every Elgonian is hold accountable and must involve in at least one of the five crops on a commercial scale. Everyone must have a source of livelihood.to get to a middle income status. We have calculated the estimated cost of production to be approximately one million shillings to get a net profit of 3million shillings every year if each farmer was serious. We will therefore guide the farmers on how. For example, a maize and sorghum farmer will need at least three acres and an investment of 1.5million to get four million from each season planting of Maize and or sorghum. A coffee and Banana farmer will need an investment of two million shillings in a total of three years to start marking a profit of five million and 10 million shillings per year from an acre of Coffee and Banana respectively.

Apart from Agriculture and on-farm commercial enterprises, we believe that there is no logic hiring external experts if we can build capacity of the many idle youth and potential labourers to help in road, railway and bridge construction. We will advocate for the policy or laws which will enable any constructor to hire or recruit 80% of the labour force for any construction project from the local communities. Part of the contract should retool or build capacity of the local community to participate in implementing that project.

For sports and music, we the founding members of Elgon Mountain Thinkers believe that we have the best and we shall rock or lead the world. Our friends in Sebei and the Kenyan side have proved this in athletics. We believe that like any other profession, sport and music career requires dedication, hard work and stamina to be able to succeed. Our research has confirmed that a typical sports and music person should train around 5-6 hours a day 6 days a week. This requires that such a person must have facilitation for feeding, accommodation and other basic needs. With a funding of 2,000,000/= per year per athlete and or musician, we can produce Olympic medallist and holly wood stars.

Finally, Elgon Mountain Thinkers believe that the demand for construction materials, furniture, textile and processed foods will continue to grow. We will work with the Prime Minister's Office; Ministry of Gender, Labour and social development together with the operation wealth creation and support them through research, dissemination, policy influence and advocate for implementation of policies that will help Elgon community to establish factories to manufacture construction materials, furniture, textiles, agrochemicals and processed foods.

This target is achievable and we will need to put pressure on government, political and public servants to support and guide our people to achieve these targets. Therefore, the role of the Elgon Mountain Thinkers will be to volunteer to gathers, analyzes and advocates for the implementation of ideas to develop Elgon Community. As founding members of Elgon thinkers, we believe we are suffering because we are silent with ideas, actions and or financial resources.

The writer is a founding member of the Elgon Mountain Thinkers