The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Busia, Uganda |THE INDEPENDENT | President Yoweri Museveni has said Uganda’s big population is the country’s most important asset.
Speaking in Busia July 11 as Uganda joined marked the World Population Day, Museveni hailed the NRM government for interventions that have resulted in citizens living healthier and longer lives than ever before.
“As I have said before, it is important that I remind Ugandans on a day like this that the riches of any nation are not in the soil or in the ground, but in its people,” Museveni stressed.
“In fact if you look closely into history, you will find that a number of rich countries don’t have natural resources, but they depend on their own people (human capital) especially if they are educated, skilled, innovative and have entrepreneurial skills. A good example is Japan, but there are also others like South Korea and Singapore.”
The last Census in 2014 indicated that life expectancy in Uganda increased from 43 years in 1991 to 63 years in 2014.
The rapid increase in Uganda’s population has been attributed to a combination of reduced mortality and increased life expectancy . Uganda’s population has grown from 16.7 million people in 1990 to 34.6 million in 2014 and is expected to reach 40 million by next year.
FULL SPEECH BELOW
Uganda President Yoweri Museveni Speech World Population Day July 11, 2017 by The Independent Magazine on Scribd
JUST in todays INDEPENDENT, the great visionary has once again come out to trumpet his long held but greatly misplaced view that a big population is a good thing.
This is only true IF other factors are in place most notable good leadership and planning.At the moment in UGANDA we have none and what this big and uncontrolled population has done is to greatly stretch an already almost non existent system – education, health ………
He cites the examples of other countries like Malaysia which have large populations and have somehow been able to develop.Yes , this fortune ( population) was in the hands of good leaders who were able to use it to transform their countries.
As they say, a fortune in the hands of a fool is a big MISFORTUNE. Uganda’s fortune(large population) is the hands of fools (our rulers) and no doubt is turning out to be a misfortune
A big population serves M7s purposes especially if it is a sick and uneducated.
A big population pays more taxes and since he is under no obligation to provide services, most of the money goes to provide for his lavish lifestyle.
Just like he has gone around with a begging bowl to solve the refugee crisis, which in part he has been responsible for creating, he can go to donors asking for funds to treat his sick and uneducated population.
And naturally you get more money if you are begging for 40 million than if you are begging for 20m.
Our dear President
According to your speech read on the World Population Day marked on the 11th July 2017, you indicated that Uganda’s population is one of its main assets, especially if skilled; this I totally agree. I applaud your efforts that have led to transitions in health (reduction of infectious diseases and increasing life expectancy), demographics (increasing population and urbanisation). It is, however, important to note that each of the transitions attained has consequences that require due attention. Education is and remains a pillar in providing a pivotal point for all the transitions. Our educational institutions have played/are playing a big role and many skilled youths are graduating with different specialities every year. One of the major problems in Uganda, however, is the limitation in possibilities to apply the skills harnessed.
As part of my work, I interact and mentor many youths on a day to day basis. By the time these youths graduate, they have harnessed lots of skills and have potential and zeal to apply the skills attained in the field of work. One of the things that hurt me most, however, is finding these youths later on with faded enthusiasm. Many youths talk about the unending failures to find opportunities to apply their skills due to limited job opportunities, limited start-up capital to start own initiatives, etc. Many also complain that the likely employers have stringent work experience requirements. Those who are lucky to find work are underemployed and in most instances, as has become the norm in Uganda, underpaid. I may not blame the employers who demand experience given that we are in a results-based era where every penny spent counts. No one will want to pay a salary for minimal/no work done, not even the government. As a consequence, many youths remain/have remained less productive. This creates a far bigger burden for the nation which if left unchecked will have far more negative consequences. I know that the government spends billions of shillings offering government study scholarships in our public universities. It bothers knowing that government resources are used to educate the youths but less is done to see that the graduates serve the nation adequately. This is happening despite the low staffing levels in most government sectors and at district local governments. We all understand the resource constraints, but I believe a deliberate move to make it mandatory that all University graduates serve at different levels in the country (in both public and private sector) for a defined period after graduation will be beneficial not only in improving the skills of the graduates and hence improving their employment opportunities (given the highly required experience) but also improve service delivery. Countries like Ghana have national service schemes we can learn from.
Mr President, despite all the economic reasonings, it is easier to contend with a smaller population that has opportunities to apply the different skills, is well paid/facilitated, has adequate access to health, education and social care, and adequate access to other health and lifestyle amenities. Had it been that the increase in our nation’s population was matched with adequate access to health, social and lifestyle opportunities for everyone, there would be far far more jubilation. In the current state, we ought to instead be worried about the population explosion and think of remedies. In the face of increased household sizes and the limited job/employment opportunities as is now in Uganda, there is a high dependency ratio. Compare this to the ever increasing prices for housing, food commodities, education and health services and you will note that household budgets are increasingly getting over-stretched, an issue that predisposes many households to poverty. Having traversed less privileged/affluent settings of/around Kampala, I tell you, that our BIG population is still poor, and some very very poor. Using the words of Amartya Sen, a respected economist, poverty is not a problem of only the poor, it affects both the poor and the rich. We have many examples of this in Uganda and no deliberation is required. To this end, actions to control the population explosion in Uganda and or match the increasing population with increased access to livelihood opportunities need to be exercised.
I am happy, you are personally championing the cause for increasing opportunities for the youths and everyone in Uganda through the drive for industrialisation, agricultural transformation, improved access to financial services and loans, improved infrastructure from areas of production to areas of consumption, improved access to education and health services, better market access and related market infrastructure and ultimately peace and stability with an overall view of making Uganda attain middle-income status. In my view, the major bottleneck to all your efforts remains inefficient utilisation of available funds due to corruption and poor accountability by concerned officials.
Believe me, I trust you have done your best and are still doing your best, more so at the top. Going by the decentralised structure and the system of local governance in Uganda where district local governments plan and execute works or services to the people at the community level, more corruption than you may ever see is happening at these lower levels. It is my hope that the Commissions such as the Land Commission that is currently running will shed light to the rot in district local governments for your immediate action.
CHINA which has and always had a large population had at some point in time to put measures in place to control its population.
It was only after it had done what was required to ensure that it had adequate services in place and after being well on the way to transforming its economy that it relaxed these controls, and even then to a certain point.
In Uganda we seem to be doing things the other way round.
We are letting the population grow out of control and then seemingly praying for some miracle.
We are like the man in the village with 5 wives who keeps getting kids and advocates the large numbers yet 1 out ever 3 die from preventable diseases or malnutrition and the few that are at school are there courtesy of the generosity of relatives.
Like Baganda say, you can not feed a family and here you are you want to own a dog/s!!!!!!