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Rejoice, for the Ugandan ghosts will soon have nowhere to hide, Joachim Buwembo

Published

2 years ago

May 14, 2023

The end of an epidemic or entrenched pests can come when we even give up hope of ever being free from it. That seems to be happening in Uganda, where ghosts had become endemic in public affairs. It has taken the emergence of a much bigger problem of global proportions to render our continued romance with ghosts untenable.

Remember how Ebola and Covid made handwashing with soap a life-and-death matter, whose unintended consequence was the elimination of many diseases of poor hygiene? Climate change is now flushing out our ghosts.

The reproduction and multiplication of ghosts for stealing public funds can be traced back to the civilian administrations that came after the 1979 fall of the military government. Before that, it was risky to mess with the ruling soldiers’ dwindling budget.

The earliest form Uganda’s ghosts took was schools. A policy to establish many secondary schools arose, and these were duly registered. The designated head teachers erected signposts on the land where the school was meant to be but, more importantly, got allocated an Indian TATA lorry each to ferry (non-existent) students for co-curricular trips. The head teachers then spent all their time in Kampala deploying their truck for commercial cargo transport. Their ghost institutions thus came to be known as TATA Secondary Schools.

Ghost teachers

In the succeeding years, ghost teachers emerged and their salaries made district education officers rich. The public service also started multiplying civil servants like rabbits. Things were getting out of hand when the president ordered the charging of the top military commander in the court martial for maintaining ghost soldiers on the army payroll 20 ago.

Since then there have been head counts in different services and ghosts in the public sector seem to have been weakened, but not before the country’s top learning institution, Makerere University, was also found to have had a few thousand ghost students. But the fleeing ghosts apparently found a home in the private sector and started taking non-human forms, like trees.

So, as Ugandans became aware of the climate change threat and that deforestation removes the carbon sinks the ghosts found tree cover a safe haven. As tree planting was encouraged, companies overplayed that tired phrase – corporate social responsibility – by planting trees. Sorry, they started planting ghost trees. But huge budgets (passed on to their consumers) to plant “one million trees” could have had less to do with re-afforestation.

Finally, last October, the onslaught on Uganda’s ghosts was launched where they were born – in the schools. The TATA schools are no more, having either become real schools or their land having been grabbed altogether. But the remaining schools are now the real theatre of war against climate change.

The war was launched last October by Education Minister and also First Lady Janet Museveni. Her campaign for greening the schools goes hand-in-hand with fighting the grabbing of school lands. The ministry is handling more than 100 cases of schools that have had their land grabbed.

The irony is that many grabbed school lands in and near towns were turned into car washing bays and petrol stations – the very top agents of air pollution that fuels climate change.

Deforestation rate

Currently, the deforestation rate is at 122,000 hectares per year, in this small country 240,000 square kilometres, a fifth of which is open water. Uganda is projected to become water stressed in less than 20 years.

The havoc climate change unleashes on Uganda includes landslides, hastened by cutting of trees in hilly areas. We started this month by losing lives to landslides in the southwest of the country, already an annual tragedy in the hilly eastern areas.

Launching the fight against climate change in schools kills several birds with one stone. Besides the beauty of inculcating the culture of tree planting and maintenance in the children, who are our future, the school communities are encouraged to protect the restored tree cover. Schools have been a cause of deforestation, as they buy tonnes upon tonnes of firewood for cooking.

If the school greening is sustained, Ugandan ghosts will at least have no hiding place in non-human hosts. Good things are happening as our environment gets better.

Buwembo is a Kampala-based journalist. E-mail:buwembo@gmail.com

Related Topics:Featured Joachim Buwembo opinion strictly personal

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1,172 Nigerians killed, over 1,000 kidnapped in nine months— NHRC

Published

15 hours ago

November 14, 2024

Isaac Dachen

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has put the figures of Nigerians killed and kidnapped by non-state actors from January to September 2024, at 1,172 and 1,463 respectively.

A new data released on Wednesday by the organization reveal that the month of May saw the 298 persons killed, making it the highest, while March recorded the highest number of abductions with 499 kidnappings.

These data which was presented at a workshop on the state of human rights in Nigeria by the commission and the European Union, in Abuja, attributed the rise in kidnappings, killings and child abandonment in Nigeria to the negligence and failure of the state to protect its citizens.

While presenting the data, NHRC Senior Human Rights Adviser, Hillary Ogbonna, gave a breakdown of what he described as the alarming rise in human rights abuses, including kidnappings, killings and child abandonment.

“By January 2024, we already had 150 kidnappings and 55 killings associated mainly with non-state actors. What has become the norm is the killing of law enforcement officers,” Ogbonna said.

“We started with seven policemen killed in January. From victims’ perspectives, we had quite a number of victims for human rights violations for January.”

Also speaking at the event, the NHRC Executive Secretary in Nigeria, Tony Ojukwu, said:

“In recent years, we have witnessed alarming trends and threats against those who dare to speak the truth to power.

“It serves as a stark reminder that the protection of human rights is an ongoing struggle that requires continuous vigilance, action and cooperation from all sectors of the society,” Ojukwu said.

A delegation from the EU which also made a presentation, reiterated its commitment to support Nigeria to overcome these challenges, while urging the Federal Government to work with the armed forces to end this trend.

“The European Union will continue to work around the world through diplomacy,” the Head of EU Delegation, Zissimos Vergos, said.h

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Dangote: Deregulation doesn’t excuse low-quality oil blends

Published

1 week ago

November 6, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

In Nigeria, Dangote Petroleum Refinery has warned Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited and other oil marketers that the country’s national interests should not be undermined by substandard imported petroleum products because of the deregulation of the downstream oil industry.

In reaction to comments made by Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited’s CEO, Robert Dickerman, regarding the importation and mixing of petroleum products, which the Pinnacle boss placed within the framework of a “deregulated commodity market,” the refinery issued this statement on Tuesday.

The company was confronted by the Dangote refinery on Sunday for establishing a blending unit near its Lagos facility to offer Nigerians inferior petroleum products.

Dickerman, the company’s CEO, denied the allegation. Still, the Dangote refinery said that his defence of a deregulated market could not mask the grave consequences of his actions, which it said endangered the welfare of Nigerians and the integrity of the country’s energy sector.

Dangote reiterated its support for industrialisation and deregulation but underlined that this support is based on a dedication to the nation’s economic sustainability and the defence of its citizens against exploitation. The refinery reaffirmed that the pursuit of profit should never come at the expense of Nigerians’ health and safety.

“The Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals Company has long been an advocate for deregulation and industrialisation in Nigeria, but our support is rooted in a commitment to the sustainable growth of the country’s economy and the protection of its people from any exploitation.

“Unlike Dickerman’s view, deregulation should not be a licence for the importation and distribution of off-spec products or the subversion of national interests,” it said.

The business added that Dickerman should be well aware of how his nation safeguards its industry as he is an American.

To emphasise the argument, it cited several recent American examples. As an illustration of protectionism that puts the interests of the country’s economy before of immediate financial gain, US President Joe Biden recently rejected the sale of US Steel to Japan’s Nippon Steel, emphasising the value of preserving robust American steel businesses backed by American workers.

According to the refinery, the US has also taken steps to limit the use of cranes manufactured in China in its ports, citing national security concerns.

To further show its commitment to defending home industries, the US has now placed a 50% levy on medical equipment imported from China and a 100% tariff on electric vehicles.

Concerns about national security and the need for economic self-sufficiency have also prompted the United States to step up efforts to increase its manufacturing of computer chips and medical supplies.