Vincent Nuwagaba
June 27, 2011
Right Honourable Speaker,
Parliament of Uganda
Petition about Misplaced Priorities by the Ruling Party
Right Honourable Speaker, I with utmost humility petition your office on serious national issues. I am a humble Ugandan who is concerned that the offices to which God has given the political leaders are being flagrantly misused and abused. Allow me humbly remind the house that their primary allegiance is to the state not the parties to which they belong. I understand the word parliament means parler which means to speak. The parliament is meant to be a mouthpiece for the ordinary people. My reason for this petition and very many other petitions is to redirect parliament to do God’s work. God’s work is highlighted in the Bible reproduced in international and regional human rights standards and our own constitution whose chapter four is the bill of rights. Accordingly, I petition your office on the following grounds:
1. Our country has drifted from Godly principles and descended into wickedness. These are not my own words but God’s words. Personally, I am a messenger. In fact, for so long the First Lady Honourable Janet Museveni has always stated that we are suffering from spiritual doom. She has rightly diagnosed the problem but has not told us the cause and therefore she cannot give a solution. In this petition God has helped me identify the cause of the problem and give a right prescription.
2. We have mocked God and abused his holy book the bible which we use to swear in. we have also mocked God for so long by abusing our national anthem and our motto which say for God and my country. Our national anthem is a prayer which has not been answered because people in power make that prayer for wrong reasons. The president has for instance often times condoned witchcraft and I have watched him on Television parading with wizards. He has stated that witchcraft works and that’s why he has chosen the path of witchcraft instead of working for the common good.
3. In 2009 I led students and we submitted a petition against undemocratic, inhuman and senseless fees hike in public universities up to 126%. The petition was initially submitted into your office as Deputy Speaker then but later ended up in the then Speaker’s office. While the Speaker acknowledged receipt and promised the relevant committee will handle it, we have never received a report. What I received is untold torment from the Kangaroo corrupt court at city Hall presided over by Grade II Magistrate James Wambaya. Wambaya convicted me when the trial was still on-going after I had questioned his competence. I have learnt that he was ordered to convict me and open fresh charges and convict me even without taking plea by the Magistrate Grade I.
4. After my successful appeal on 13th August 2010, no remedy was offered to me even when it was proved that I was not prosecuted but persecuted. I demand that parliament invokes its oversight powers to investigate the independence of the judiciary and order for the dismissal and prosecution of Mr. Wambaya.
5. The Inspector General of Police is a ruling party cadre whose preoccupation is to use his office to persecute and destroy the opposition and torment human rights defenders and all that demand for justice. It is bad enough to appoint a cadre in a state not regime institution but it is unacceptable for him to use taxpayers’ money to brutalise them and torture them. We don’t pay them our taxes so that they can use them to torture us.
6. The walk-to-work protests were an opportunity for the ruling party to focus on the welfare of Ugandans. Unfortunately, typical of the wicked-possessed leadership, the regime shamelessly killed innocent Ugandans and persecuted and tortured the leaders who were genuinely concerned about their welfare.
7. Impunity has become the order of the day. It has become a method of work and this is a sign of people who have totally divorced their conscience. Personally, I find it very difficult to address some of the Members of Parliament as honourable. To qualify to be addressed as honourable, you must not do dishonourable things. Where does the IGG derive the mandate to absolve Mr. Amama Mbabazi in the Chogm scandal? Why can’t he step aside and undergo prosecution like Bukenya is doing. What is the mandate of the IGG and what is the mandate of the IGG? The IGG is himself corrupt in his method of work. So, who checks the IGG’s conduct.
8. We never had an election and therefore we have no government. Government must derive its legitimacy from a free, fair and competitive electoral process. The ruling Party raided state coffers and Microfinance Support Centre and used money for Museveni and the NRM campaign.
9. Museveni lies us that we have UPE and USE. What a pity! Government pays only 41,000 shillings for USE students and around shillings 1600 for UPE. The government is shameless! This is meant to kill schools and kill our future our children meanwhile using taxpayers’ money to educate their children in topnotch schools. Ultimately we have genetically modified intellectuals and that’s why they prescribe no solutions to our problems.
10. Government departments such as UBOS either don’t know their mandate or their mandate is to poison us with distorted figures. These distortions are deliberately meant to divert the public from asking the government of their mistakes.
11. Basajjabalaba and some other businessmen have often used our money to run Museveni’s businesses. Otherwise, he should refund all the public money that has been extended to him
12. Jobs are given to Nasser Road graduates on spoils system basis and that’s why we have first class and super second upper graduates dying on the streets. This is a country whose best brains are condemned to perpetual poverty and unemployment
13. Conmen and coursework mercenaries in universities are people who are well educated yet the dwarf ruling party cadres are placed in state institutions. the ruling party cannot distinguish between state institutions and the ruling party
14. The ruling party virus has affected some sections of the opposition and that’s why some of them can succumb to bribery
15. I have interviewed children and all the children I have interviewed can make better leaders than the current batch of leadership. Some of them have told me they hate corruption and child sacrifice, others hate the police because they use bullets and teargas to torment people who genuinely express themselves
16. The ruling party has chosen to use the police to alienate the constitutional square from the people. What does that mean?
17. The NRM has lost all sense of shame and now our children role model are the thieves who are euphemistically called the corrupt. Meanwhile chicken thieves and many innocent people are locked in Luzira because of the breakdown in spirituality, morality and ultimately the justice system
18. The paragons of virtue such as Professors, John-Jean Barya, Prof Oloka Onyango, Prof Kanyeihamba, among others are deemed saboteurs yet the thieves are honoured. This explains why Kakoza who uses another person’s documents can be appointed minister. Remember Kakoza was rewarded for donning yellow shirts with the label MMM meaning Movement, Museveni and Me.
19. The NRM argues the recently found oil is a national resource yet the national resources are a preserve of a few connected people either by blood, marriage or cronyism
20. Museveni has never stopped saying he is the only person with a vision. That is blasphemy to God because He gives wisdom generously to everyone who prays him. Museveni cannot combine witchcraft with the fear of the Lord
21. All national prayers have been held to mock God. When I hear Kayihura saying Olara Otunnu needs God I wonder whether Kayihura himself has God
22. On Saturday 25th June I was stopped from airing my views on a national television and humiliated by Kulayigye. Where does the moderator derive the right to stop me from expressing my views however unpalatable they may be? How can Kulayigye a man whom I think went to school order that I go to police to make a statement because I told him that the NRM walked on human blood to statehouse? How can you apply a wrong formula and expect to get a right answer.
23. The NRM has produced shark s everywhere; shark ministers, shark MPs, shark intellectuals and shark everything. I only sympathise with my very own Anite Evelyn and Ronald Kibule minister for youth and children affairs. I must keep praying for them because I want them to be part of the healing process and not the destruction process. For Ronald Kibule, Anite Evelyn, Amongin Jacqueline, Monica Amoding, and all those that have been with me, I pray for you.
24. Every leadership comes from God. Both bad and good leaders come from God and the reason for bad leaders is to test whether God’s people can have the guts to strongly oppose bad leaders. We are the children of God who must do Godly things.
25. The issues of concern are so huge that we need parliament to convene a national conference comprising of civil society organisations, academia, persecuted armless citizens such as Vincent Nuwagaba and children because I have understood that they are more patriotic than the ruling party cabal. We need to change the constitution to allow children stand for parliament. Accordingly, the education credentials are not the most important thing but character. We must shun and ostracise criminals. I expect parliament to consider these views or leave them at their own peril. If you do, I expect Kale-Kayihura, Superintendent of Police Bahimbise, ASP Mission, Magistrate James Wambaya and Justice Kibuka Musoke who dismissed my case without my lawyer’s knowledge, my knowledge when I expected ex parte judgement to resign and go to Luzira. Otherwise, Luzira should never be used as an extention of torture chambers.
Immediately address the question of fees increment in all public universities because the poor also have a right to education. Education cannot be a preserve of the sharks who abuse and misuse public resources. Let me state that I have no presidential ambitions but Museveni must step down and be prosecuted. Our God is a mighty God! Those who love me shouldn’t be scared about me. I first and foremost have a right to express my discontent over the manner in which the state is abused; I want to see statehouse scholarships stop and I have a right to a leader who is not arrogant; I need a leader who listens and works on his citizens’ plight. With due respect I don’t think if Museveni is genuine he would have appointed my student as minister and leave me out. His servants – notably Kayihura have always tormented me but they will never conquer me in the name of the living God. If nothing is done I will go straight and sit in the office Kayihura sits in because I am better qualified to run the police in a professional manner than him. The spirits of the innocent Ugandans that have perished under this regime are haunting it.
They have labeled me a PUM before only for the so-called experts to say my problem is that I am excessively bright. And this is the report I got from a senior police officer who was called to bar me from entering Butabika a place that has been turned into another torture chamber.
The time for truth and justice to reign has come! Uganda must be in the hands of God-fearing people not those who feast on national wealth when others die because of lack of panadol.
Vincent Nuwagaba
God’s Servant
CC: All human rights organisations
CC: Diplomatic Missions
CC: leader of opposition
CC: media houses
Monday, June 27, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
The 9th Parliament must criminalise torture
By Vincent Nuwagaba (email the author)
First Published by Daily Monitor, Tuesday, June 21 2011
The whole of this week, various activities will be held in preparation for the UN Day in Support of Torture Victims. The Coalition against Torture, a network of human rights NGOs and individuals under the stewardship of African Centre for Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture Victims (ACTV), is working round the clock to have a law against torture passed by the 9th Parliament.
The Coalition against Torture was started in 2004/2005 by Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI) before the mantle was passed over to ACTV. A number of human rights activists from various human rights organisations and the government human rights watchdog - the Uganda Human Rights Commission were trained as torture monitors. This means there has been a vigorous campaign against torture in Uganda by the human rights fraternity for close to a decade now.
By the time the 8th Parliament closed, there was a Bill – The Prohibition and Prevention of Torture Bill, 2009. While we were worried that since the 8th Parliament came to a close before the Bill was passed into law, we were likely to go back to square one, the Speaker of the 9th Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga gave us a ray of hope when she was hosted on NTV recently. Hon Kadaga said the Bills which were not concluded by the 8th Parliament such as the Marriage and Divorce Bill, among others, could proceed from where they stopped.
Related Stories
* This Parliament will need a lot of prayers
* Has 9th Parliament put money first and nation last?
* Fellow legislators should reject costly vehicles
* Kadaga can make or break Ninth Parliament
* Kadaga should drive critical gender issues
* It doesn’t make sense to use oil money for power dams
The United Nations Convention against Torture was adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 10, 1984, and was ratified by Uganda on June 26, 1987. Good enough, it was ratified by the National Resistance Movement. The Convention spells out clearly that no circumstances whatsoever warrant the use of torture, be it a state of emergency or war or political instability.
And I guess this is among other reasons why the framers of our Constitution made freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment an absolute right. Therefore, as we move to commemorate the UN Day in support of Torture Victims on June 26, the Ugandan Parliament is enjoined to pass a law on torture. While last year’s theme was No more impunity: Pass the Anti-torture Bill; this year’s theme is “Act Now, Criminalise Torture”.
First, since the Ugandan government ratified the UN Convention against Torture, it is enjoined to take it in good faith. It is a principle in international law that treaties, once ratified, are binding upon the parties to them and must be performed in good faith. Second, nobody is immune from torture –not even MPs or the President.
In fact, a law on torture is good for the opposition politicians, including MPs as it is good for the ruling party politicians. We wouldn’t like a situation where those currently in government are tortured when they are in the opposition tomorrow. Third, we must not mock our Constitution which provides that freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment is a non-derogable right. Thus, it is in the country’s best interest that MPs pass a law criminalising torture.
The Bill that was presented in the 8th Parliament was meticulously crafted to include various forms of torture. I must state that a threat against one person is indirectly a threat against all. Let’s remember Martin Luther King’s words, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”.
Mr Nuwagaba is a human rights defender
vnuwagaba@gmail.com
First Published by Daily Monitor, Tuesday, June 21 2011
The whole of this week, various activities will be held in preparation for the UN Day in Support of Torture Victims. The Coalition against Torture, a network of human rights NGOs and individuals under the stewardship of African Centre for Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture Victims (ACTV), is working round the clock to have a law against torture passed by the 9th Parliament.
The Coalition against Torture was started in 2004/2005 by Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI) before the mantle was passed over to ACTV. A number of human rights activists from various human rights organisations and the government human rights watchdog - the Uganda Human Rights Commission were trained as torture monitors. This means there has been a vigorous campaign against torture in Uganda by the human rights fraternity for close to a decade now.
By the time the 8th Parliament closed, there was a Bill – The Prohibition and Prevention of Torture Bill, 2009. While we were worried that since the 8th Parliament came to a close before the Bill was passed into law, we were likely to go back to square one, the Speaker of the 9th Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga gave us a ray of hope when she was hosted on NTV recently. Hon Kadaga said the Bills which were not concluded by the 8th Parliament such as the Marriage and Divorce Bill, among others, could proceed from where they stopped.
Related Stories
* This Parliament will need a lot of prayers
* Has 9th Parliament put money first and nation last?
* Fellow legislators should reject costly vehicles
* Kadaga can make or break Ninth Parliament
* Kadaga should drive critical gender issues
* It doesn’t make sense to use oil money for power dams
The United Nations Convention against Torture was adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 10, 1984, and was ratified by Uganda on June 26, 1987. Good enough, it was ratified by the National Resistance Movement. The Convention spells out clearly that no circumstances whatsoever warrant the use of torture, be it a state of emergency or war or political instability.
And I guess this is among other reasons why the framers of our Constitution made freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment an absolute right. Therefore, as we move to commemorate the UN Day in support of Torture Victims on June 26, the Ugandan Parliament is enjoined to pass a law on torture. While last year’s theme was No more impunity: Pass the Anti-torture Bill; this year’s theme is “Act Now, Criminalise Torture”.
First, since the Ugandan government ratified the UN Convention against Torture, it is enjoined to take it in good faith. It is a principle in international law that treaties, once ratified, are binding upon the parties to them and must be performed in good faith. Second, nobody is immune from torture –not even MPs or the President.
In fact, a law on torture is good for the opposition politicians, including MPs as it is good for the ruling party politicians. We wouldn’t like a situation where those currently in government are tortured when they are in the opposition tomorrow. Third, we must not mock our Constitution which provides that freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment is a non-derogable right. Thus, it is in the country’s best interest that MPs pass a law criminalising torture.
The Bill that was presented in the 8th Parliament was meticulously crafted to include various forms of torture. I must state that a threat against one person is indirectly a threat against all. Let’s remember Martin Luther King’s words, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”.
Mr Nuwagaba is a human rights defender
vnuwagaba@gmail.com
THE BEST PRACTICES IN THE PROTECTION AND PROMOTION OF PRISONERS’ RIGHTS
This paper was authored by the blog owner, Vincent Nuwagaba for Mr JK Zirabamuzale
THE BEST PRACTICES IN THE PROTECTION AND PROMOTION OF PRISONERS’ RIGHTS
AT THE FORUM TO DISCUSS THE RIGHTS OF DETAINEES
PRESENTED BY UGANDA PRISONERS’ AID FOUNDATION AT THE FORUM ORGANISED BY UGANDA HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
ON TUESDAY 21ST JUNE 2011 AT MOSA COURTS
PRESENTED BY
JK ZIRABAMUZALE
Chairman UPAF
Best Practices in the Protection and Promotion of Prisoners’ Rights
The chairperson,
Distinguished guests,
Workshop Participants
Ladies and gentlemen,
All protocol observed.
1.0 Introduction
I feel honoured to have been invited to address this distinguished forum to present the “Best Practices in the protection and promotion of prisoners’ rights”. I appreciate the invitation and extend my sincere gratitude to UHRC.
The topic for which I have been invited to talk about is designed to elicit the experience which has been gained in the process of rehabilitating and defending prisoners and ex-prisoners. The expectation is that Uganda Prisoners’ Aid Foundation’s input would impact perfectly on the topic. True, the Foundation can do justice to the topic as given because of the lessons learnt, and challenges faced in the course of conducting her objectives; what it takes in terms of resources - material, technical, financial, and human to do the work.
In my presentation, I use the words prisoners, inmates and detainees interchangeably.
From the outset, let me state that the Foundation has a lot to say with permission from our sources especially the practice at home (Uganda).
• How do we arrest?
• How do we prosecute?
• How do we imprison?
• How do we rehabilitate prisoners?
• How do we reintegrate ex-prisoners?
In cases that are or look political, we all know we arrest, prosecute and sentence at the same time. Personally, I don’t remember which video footage I watched on TV – whether that of my uncle by then in the ministry of internal affairs or that of the private media. And I don’t know which one was edited. The point, however, is that I saw on TV; a person arrested, prosecuted and sentenced to Nairobi Hospital.
These remarks now bring me to the history of the efforts to promote and protect the rights of the prisoners. The UN took the lead in calling for cooperation when it stipulated in Article 1(3) of the charter that one of its major purposes was to achieve international cooperation ……..in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and the fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion.
The African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) which came into effect in 1986 enjoins the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights to cooperate with other African and international institutions concerned with the promotion and protection of human and people’s rights.
In Uganda, we are used to a situation where people cite the constitution selectively and deliberately avoid the comprehensive provisions of the constitution. The article often selectively cited is article 43 and I found it prudent to reproduce it here in full:
Article 43 General limitation on fundamental and other human rights and freedoms.
(1) In the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms prescribed in this Chapter, no
person shall prejudice the fundamental or other human rights and freedoms of
others or the public interest.
(2) Public interest under this article shall not permit
(a) political persecution;
(b) detention without trial,
(c) any limitation of the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms prescribed by this Chapter beyond what is acceptable and demonstrably justifiable in a free and democratic society, or what is provided in this Constitution.
1.1 Background
Krieglar (1993) defined imprisonment as the admission, locking up and detention of a person in a prescribed place mostly prison but also police cells until he/she is lawfully released.
A person may be imprisoned as a sentence imposed by court, as a suspect before trial or for a civil debt in countries where it is allowed by law (under the Civil Procedure Act and the rules of Uganda it is allowed).
The purpose and justification of the sentence of imprisonment is ultimately to protect society against crime and rehabilitation of the offender. This end can only be achieved if the period of imprisonment is used to ensure so far as possible that upon return to society, an offender is not only willing but also able to lead a law-abiding and self-supporting life. Thus, this requires, the prison authorities to utilise all remedial, educational, moral, spiritual and other forms of assistance which are appropriate and available and should seek to apply them accordingly to the treatment of individual needs of prisoners and ensure that they reform. It is thus, desirable that before completion of sentence, to the convicted prisoners, the necessary steps be taken to ensure gradual return of the prisoner to life in society.
1.2 The International Legal Regime on the Protection of Prisoners’ Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) provides in its preamble that recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.
The declaration in its article 1 and 2 provides that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights and that everyone is entitled to all rights and freedoms set forth in the declaration without distinction of any kind such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, birth or other status.
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights also recognises the fact that human rights derive from the inherent dignity of the human person. In its article 9, the covenant provides that everyone has the right, liberty and security of person and that anyone arrested shall be promptly informed of any charges against him and shall be taken before the court of law as soon as possible. Article 10 provides that all persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.
The UN Convention against Torture, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and other instruments also give provisions for the protection and promotion of the prisoners’ rights. The legal/human rights instruments are in no way exhaustive in my presentation.
It is worth noting that once a country has ratified and domesticated these instruments which Uganda has done, it is bound by the provisions thereof and therefore, its citizens are entitled to those rights.
1.3 The Domestic Legal Regime for the Promotion and Protection of Prisoners’ Rights
The foremost domestic instrument is the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, 1995 (as amended). The Constitution is a supreme law of the land and provides for the bill of rights in chapter 4. The bill of rights contains the rights of every person and is against discrimination. Objective XXVIII of the Constitution provides that Uganda’s foreign policy shall be based on the principle of respect for international law and treaty obligations. Accordingly, Uganda should conform to the international human rights standards in the treatment of prisoners.
Article 23 of the Constitution provides for the protection of personal liberty. It requires a person arrested to be kept in a place authorized by law, to be informed immediately in the language he understands, the reasons for his arrest and to be brought before the court of law within 48 hours from the time of his/her arrest and to have the right to apply to be released on bail.
These constitutional guarantees together with other laws such as the Prisons Act and the Police Act provide for the rights of detainees but the only problem has been lack of implementation and enforcement of these rights.
1.4 Best Practices in the Protection and Promotion of Prisoners’ Rights
Like we have stated in the foregoing, we don’t suffer a dearth of human rights or legal instruments for the protection and promotion of prisoners’ rights. Rather, it is the enforcement and implementation that have eluded us. The best practices are the practices that conform to the international standards in the promotion and protection of the rights of prisoners and we point out some hereunder.
Prisoners’ right to health and provision of medical care: The right to health and medical care is provided for in article 25 of the UDHR and several other international human rights standards. The prisoners especially in rural prisons in Uganda are denied this fundamental right and this has always led to the death of many prisoners especially those on the prison sentence. There is need to ensure that prisoners have regular access to doctors to treat their illnesses and most importantly those with HIV/AIDS should be provided with free anti-retroviral therapy (ART). This is the practice in South Africa where the court recently stated that it is a violation of prisoners’ right to life to deny them the right to medical care and ART merely on economic grounds.
The practice in Uganda is that many prisoners like any other Ugandans die out of neglect. There is one prison referral hospital in Murchison Bay Prison (and if there is any other referral Hospital I stand to be corrected) and a number of patients who are referred there on medical grounds die. I have learnt that there happen to be prisoners with complicated diseases such as cardiovascular ailments who suffer from prisons and government doesn’t do a lot to help them.
Avoiding solitary confinement of prisoners as a punishment: The best practices require that the use of solitary confinement of prisoners as a form of punishment should be avoided as it violates the rights of the prisoners unless the conditions make it necessary. The practice here in Uganda is that we have “safe houses”, how safe they are, I don’t know. Some people call them torture chambers. I have also learnt that in prisons there are solitary cells wherein sometimes the prisons’ authorities lock some prisoners. This is an affront on human dignity which is the bedrock of human rights.
Freedom from Torture, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment: Article 24 of the Constitution clearly spells out that nobody shall be subjected to torture, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment. Article 44 makes freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment a non-derogable (absolute) right. However, what is on ground is that right from the time of arrest; pretrial detainees are tortured by the low-ranking intelligence and police officers in an attempt to extract confession. Torture is also highly pronounced in the prison farms. Examples of ex-prisoners who have been tortured and ended up losing their limbs abound. The Police cells have also been turned into torture chambers. In fact with the police it is worse. We have reported in our Prisoner Magazine about cases where the police illegally arrest people; detain them incommunicado for a number of days, subject them to untold suffering which include physical, psychological and mental torture and later instead of taking them to court they send them to a mental hospital – Butabika to subject them to further pharmacological torture. In such a case, the right to a fair hearing is violated; the right to the writ of habeas corpus is violated; the right of the detainee to access a counsel and his family is violated; the right to freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment is also violated. We need to note that the right to a fair hearing; freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment and the right to the writ of habeas corpus are ABSOLUTE RIGHTS. Shockingly, they are flagrantly violated with impunity. Uganda should abide by the UN Convention against Torture which it signed and ratified.
Convicted prisoners should be confined in different facilities from the remands and remands should be allowed to wear their own clothes or dress differently from the convicts. This promotes the presumption of innocence enshrined in article 28 of our constitution. The practice is that when you enter any prison facility, it becomes difficult to distinguish between the remands and convicts.
Speedy and fair trial should be promoted in order to avoid the long pretrial detention. The judicial institutions should be strengthened in order to handle criminal cases faster and this will help to reduce congestion in prisons that have the effect of leading to the high rate of disease outbreak in prison facilities.
Congestion in prisons is also another issue. The prison facilities often have the numbers far beyond their carrying capacities. In a bid to reduce on congestion, community service as a sentence has been introduced but it needs to be strongly emphasized. Many offenders charged with misdemeanors could be sentenced to community service and not custodial sentences.
Right to a clean and healthy environment: This right should be promoted. This right is guaranteed by the constitution and the fact of imprisonment shouldn’t take away this right. Most of the prisons and police cells across the country especially upcountry prisons and police cells are in a deplorable state.
Efforts should be made to enable the prisoners to undertake meaningful remunerable employment which will facilitate their reintegration into the country’s labour market and permit them to contribute to their own financial support.
The right to bail should be promoted and respected. Once the mandatory period of pretrial detention elapses, the prisoners should be granted automatic bail pending the hearing of their cases. The practice on the ground is that many pretrial detainees languish in jail way beyond their maximum pretrial period. This is a clear violation of the prisoners’ rights and should be castigated. In fact, there are magistrates who have turned it into a business to offer bail in exchange for money. Where that one leaves the poor is food for thought.
The right of prisoners to regularly consult with their legal counsel should be promoted and protected. In some cases, detainees are denied this right especially in what police often calls sensitive cases and this undermines the principles of democracy that promotes the rule of law and observance of human rights.
Juvenile offenders are in many cases detained in the police cells for many days and sometimes they are even taken to prisons. One wonders how juveniles end up in prisons when the prisons receive their clients from the courts of law. There are reports about juveniles who in the recent past have been kept in Murchison Bay prison. This is a clear violation of the standard minimum rules for the protection of juvenile offenders.
Female inmates should be accorded special protection. They should only be supervised by female officers and their reproductive rights should be upheld. Special assistance should be accorded to pregnant and breastfeeding mothers and special care ought to be extended to the babies. We are yet to know whether there is any special care given in this regard.
1.5 Conclusion
The fact that we are doing poorly in terms of the respect for prisoners’ rights is evident. Many human rights groups including the Uganda Human Rights Commission may however, not be aware of the gravity of this situation. This is partly because human rights groups don’t make impromptu visits to the prisons, police cells and prison farms. As we talk about prisoners’ rights right now, you may be shocked to find that there are inmates who have spent a month or two months in police cells without any charges preferred against them. The worst human rights violations are perpetrated by the police. As soon as a suspect is arrested, he/she is deprived of his/her phone. Ultimately cases of incommunicado detention, detention without trial, denial of the right to a fair hearing, denial of the writ of habeas corpus, violation of the right to freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment are all rife. This doesn’t happen because the police are not trained in human rights. In fact, there are various booklets that have been developed for the police but they choose to disregard them. What is clear is that the culture of impunity has developed in Uganda and it’s highly pronounced among the police officers.
While we have the laws in place that provide for the observance of the rights of the prisoners, there is a mismatch between the laws and the practice. I know the Police Force has a Professional Standards’ Unit in place. But I have learnt of various cases where people report their ordeals to the Professional Standards’ Unit only to be disappointed further. We have a multitude of laws and institutions but their efficacy is wanting.
1.6 Way forward
In order to have the rights of prisoners protected and promoted, there’s need for stronger ties between the judiciary, the prison authorities and civil society to promote awareness of these rights.
There’s need to repeal domestic laws that could be a stumbling block to prisoners’ rights and domesticate all international laws that promote prisoners’ rights.
Continuous sensitization of the prison authorities and police is needed to promote awareness of prisoners’ rights. It should be emphasized that prisoners are first and foremost human beings with inherent rights to human dignity.
Prisoners also need to be sensitised about their rights and equipped with tools to defend them. This is what the UHRC can do in concert with human rights Civil Society Organisations. We thank the Judicial Service Commission for the countrywide awareness programmes to the prisoners about their rights but more efforts are still needed.
Prisoners should be empowered to report to the judiciary cases of the violation of their rights and the principle of confidentiality should be observed by those people they report to. Culprits should also be expeditiously punished to avoid the culture of impunity.
The prison authorities should be adequately facilitated to ensure the prisoners reach courts of law in time. Sometimes suspects fail to reach courts in time because of logistical challenges. The prisons’ welfare department should be given priority in as far as financing is concerned to enrich the would be activities in prison meant for rehabilitation and reintegration of prisoners.
Finally, we are gravely concerned about the mismatch between what the heads of institutions say and what they do. The IGP goes on radio and television and pronounces that he has stopped the use of teargas; yet the following day we see tear gas being used. What exactly does that mean? As long as long as institutions we have don’t develop the political will to respect the laws we have, prisoners’ rights and human rights generally will remain a far cry on paper.
Allow me to end with the Foundation motto, “We are all potential prisoners”. For God and my country.
THE BEST PRACTICES IN THE PROTECTION AND PROMOTION OF PRISONERS’ RIGHTS
AT THE FORUM TO DISCUSS THE RIGHTS OF DETAINEES
PRESENTED BY UGANDA PRISONERS’ AID FOUNDATION AT THE FORUM ORGANISED BY UGANDA HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
ON TUESDAY 21ST JUNE 2011 AT MOSA COURTS
PRESENTED BY
JK ZIRABAMUZALE
Chairman UPAF
Best Practices in the Protection and Promotion of Prisoners’ Rights
The chairperson,
Distinguished guests,
Workshop Participants
Ladies and gentlemen,
All protocol observed.
1.0 Introduction
I feel honoured to have been invited to address this distinguished forum to present the “Best Practices in the protection and promotion of prisoners’ rights”. I appreciate the invitation and extend my sincere gratitude to UHRC.
The topic for which I have been invited to talk about is designed to elicit the experience which has been gained in the process of rehabilitating and defending prisoners and ex-prisoners. The expectation is that Uganda Prisoners’ Aid Foundation’s input would impact perfectly on the topic. True, the Foundation can do justice to the topic as given because of the lessons learnt, and challenges faced in the course of conducting her objectives; what it takes in terms of resources - material, technical, financial, and human to do the work.
In my presentation, I use the words prisoners, inmates and detainees interchangeably.
From the outset, let me state that the Foundation has a lot to say with permission from our sources especially the practice at home (Uganda).
• How do we arrest?
• How do we prosecute?
• How do we imprison?
• How do we rehabilitate prisoners?
• How do we reintegrate ex-prisoners?
In cases that are or look political, we all know we arrest, prosecute and sentence at the same time. Personally, I don’t remember which video footage I watched on TV – whether that of my uncle by then in the ministry of internal affairs or that of the private media. And I don’t know which one was edited. The point, however, is that I saw on TV; a person arrested, prosecuted and sentenced to Nairobi Hospital.
These remarks now bring me to the history of the efforts to promote and protect the rights of the prisoners. The UN took the lead in calling for cooperation when it stipulated in Article 1(3) of the charter that one of its major purposes was to achieve international cooperation ……..in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and the fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion.
The African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) which came into effect in 1986 enjoins the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights to cooperate with other African and international institutions concerned with the promotion and protection of human and people’s rights.
In Uganda, we are used to a situation where people cite the constitution selectively and deliberately avoid the comprehensive provisions of the constitution. The article often selectively cited is article 43 and I found it prudent to reproduce it here in full:
Article 43 General limitation on fundamental and other human rights and freedoms.
(1) In the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms prescribed in this Chapter, no
person shall prejudice the fundamental or other human rights and freedoms of
others or the public interest.
(2) Public interest under this article shall not permit
(a) political persecution;
(b) detention without trial,
(c) any limitation of the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms prescribed by this Chapter beyond what is acceptable and demonstrably justifiable in a free and democratic society, or what is provided in this Constitution.
1.1 Background
Krieglar (1993) defined imprisonment as the admission, locking up and detention of a person in a prescribed place mostly prison but also police cells until he/she is lawfully released.
A person may be imprisoned as a sentence imposed by court, as a suspect before trial or for a civil debt in countries where it is allowed by law (under the Civil Procedure Act and the rules of Uganda it is allowed).
The purpose and justification of the sentence of imprisonment is ultimately to protect society against crime and rehabilitation of the offender. This end can only be achieved if the period of imprisonment is used to ensure so far as possible that upon return to society, an offender is not only willing but also able to lead a law-abiding and self-supporting life. Thus, this requires, the prison authorities to utilise all remedial, educational, moral, spiritual and other forms of assistance which are appropriate and available and should seek to apply them accordingly to the treatment of individual needs of prisoners and ensure that they reform. It is thus, desirable that before completion of sentence, to the convicted prisoners, the necessary steps be taken to ensure gradual return of the prisoner to life in society.
1.2 The International Legal Regime on the Protection of Prisoners’ Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) provides in its preamble that recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.
The declaration in its article 1 and 2 provides that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights and that everyone is entitled to all rights and freedoms set forth in the declaration without distinction of any kind such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, birth or other status.
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights also recognises the fact that human rights derive from the inherent dignity of the human person. In its article 9, the covenant provides that everyone has the right, liberty and security of person and that anyone arrested shall be promptly informed of any charges against him and shall be taken before the court of law as soon as possible. Article 10 provides that all persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.
The UN Convention against Torture, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and other instruments also give provisions for the protection and promotion of the prisoners’ rights. The legal/human rights instruments are in no way exhaustive in my presentation.
It is worth noting that once a country has ratified and domesticated these instruments which Uganda has done, it is bound by the provisions thereof and therefore, its citizens are entitled to those rights.
1.3 The Domestic Legal Regime for the Promotion and Protection of Prisoners’ Rights
The foremost domestic instrument is the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, 1995 (as amended). The Constitution is a supreme law of the land and provides for the bill of rights in chapter 4. The bill of rights contains the rights of every person and is against discrimination. Objective XXVIII of the Constitution provides that Uganda’s foreign policy shall be based on the principle of respect for international law and treaty obligations. Accordingly, Uganda should conform to the international human rights standards in the treatment of prisoners.
Article 23 of the Constitution provides for the protection of personal liberty. It requires a person arrested to be kept in a place authorized by law, to be informed immediately in the language he understands, the reasons for his arrest and to be brought before the court of law within 48 hours from the time of his/her arrest and to have the right to apply to be released on bail.
These constitutional guarantees together with other laws such as the Prisons Act and the Police Act provide for the rights of detainees but the only problem has been lack of implementation and enforcement of these rights.
1.4 Best Practices in the Protection and Promotion of Prisoners’ Rights
Like we have stated in the foregoing, we don’t suffer a dearth of human rights or legal instruments for the protection and promotion of prisoners’ rights. Rather, it is the enforcement and implementation that have eluded us. The best practices are the practices that conform to the international standards in the promotion and protection of the rights of prisoners and we point out some hereunder.
Prisoners’ right to health and provision of medical care: The right to health and medical care is provided for in article 25 of the UDHR and several other international human rights standards. The prisoners especially in rural prisons in Uganda are denied this fundamental right and this has always led to the death of many prisoners especially those on the prison sentence. There is need to ensure that prisoners have regular access to doctors to treat their illnesses and most importantly those with HIV/AIDS should be provided with free anti-retroviral therapy (ART). This is the practice in South Africa where the court recently stated that it is a violation of prisoners’ right to life to deny them the right to medical care and ART merely on economic grounds.
The practice in Uganda is that many prisoners like any other Ugandans die out of neglect. There is one prison referral hospital in Murchison Bay Prison (and if there is any other referral Hospital I stand to be corrected) and a number of patients who are referred there on medical grounds die. I have learnt that there happen to be prisoners with complicated diseases such as cardiovascular ailments who suffer from prisons and government doesn’t do a lot to help them.
Avoiding solitary confinement of prisoners as a punishment: The best practices require that the use of solitary confinement of prisoners as a form of punishment should be avoided as it violates the rights of the prisoners unless the conditions make it necessary. The practice here in Uganda is that we have “safe houses”, how safe they are, I don’t know. Some people call them torture chambers. I have also learnt that in prisons there are solitary cells wherein sometimes the prisons’ authorities lock some prisoners. This is an affront on human dignity which is the bedrock of human rights.
Freedom from Torture, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment: Article 24 of the Constitution clearly spells out that nobody shall be subjected to torture, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment. Article 44 makes freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment a non-derogable (absolute) right. However, what is on ground is that right from the time of arrest; pretrial detainees are tortured by the low-ranking intelligence and police officers in an attempt to extract confession. Torture is also highly pronounced in the prison farms. Examples of ex-prisoners who have been tortured and ended up losing their limbs abound. The Police cells have also been turned into torture chambers. In fact with the police it is worse. We have reported in our Prisoner Magazine about cases where the police illegally arrest people; detain them incommunicado for a number of days, subject them to untold suffering which include physical, psychological and mental torture and later instead of taking them to court they send them to a mental hospital – Butabika to subject them to further pharmacological torture. In such a case, the right to a fair hearing is violated; the right to the writ of habeas corpus is violated; the right of the detainee to access a counsel and his family is violated; the right to freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment is also violated. We need to note that the right to a fair hearing; freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment and the right to the writ of habeas corpus are ABSOLUTE RIGHTS. Shockingly, they are flagrantly violated with impunity. Uganda should abide by the UN Convention against Torture which it signed and ratified.
Convicted prisoners should be confined in different facilities from the remands and remands should be allowed to wear their own clothes or dress differently from the convicts. This promotes the presumption of innocence enshrined in article 28 of our constitution. The practice is that when you enter any prison facility, it becomes difficult to distinguish between the remands and convicts.
Speedy and fair trial should be promoted in order to avoid the long pretrial detention. The judicial institutions should be strengthened in order to handle criminal cases faster and this will help to reduce congestion in prisons that have the effect of leading to the high rate of disease outbreak in prison facilities.
Congestion in prisons is also another issue. The prison facilities often have the numbers far beyond their carrying capacities. In a bid to reduce on congestion, community service as a sentence has been introduced but it needs to be strongly emphasized. Many offenders charged with misdemeanors could be sentenced to community service and not custodial sentences.
Right to a clean and healthy environment: This right should be promoted. This right is guaranteed by the constitution and the fact of imprisonment shouldn’t take away this right. Most of the prisons and police cells across the country especially upcountry prisons and police cells are in a deplorable state.
Efforts should be made to enable the prisoners to undertake meaningful remunerable employment which will facilitate their reintegration into the country’s labour market and permit them to contribute to their own financial support.
The right to bail should be promoted and respected. Once the mandatory period of pretrial detention elapses, the prisoners should be granted automatic bail pending the hearing of their cases. The practice on the ground is that many pretrial detainees languish in jail way beyond their maximum pretrial period. This is a clear violation of the prisoners’ rights and should be castigated. In fact, there are magistrates who have turned it into a business to offer bail in exchange for money. Where that one leaves the poor is food for thought.
The right of prisoners to regularly consult with their legal counsel should be promoted and protected. In some cases, detainees are denied this right especially in what police often calls sensitive cases and this undermines the principles of democracy that promotes the rule of law and observance of human rights.
Juvenile offenders are in many cases detained in the police cells for many days and sometimes they are even taken to prisons. One wonders how juveniles end up in prisons when the prisons receive their clients from the courts of law. There are reports about juveniles who in the recent past have been kept in Murchison Bay prison. This is a clear violation of the standard minimum rules for the protection of juvenile offenders.
Female inmates should be accorded special protection. They should only be supervised by female officers and their reproductive rights should be upheld. Special assistance should be accorded to pregnant and breastfeeding mothers and special care ought to be extended to the babies. We are yet to know whether there is any special care given in this regard.
1.5 Conclusion
The fact that we are doing poorly in terms of the respect for prisoners’ rights is evident. Many human rights groups including the Uganda Human Rights Commission may however, not be aware of the gravity of this situation. This is partly because human rights groups don’t make impromptu visits to the prisons, police cells and prison farms. As we talk about prisoners’ rights right now, you may be shocked to find that there are inmates who have spent a month or two months in police cells without any charges preferred against them. The worst human rights violations are perpetrated by the police. As soon as a suspect is arrested, he/she is deprived of his/her phone. Ultimately cases of incommunicado detention, detention without trial, denial of the right to a fair hearing, denial of the writ of habeas corpus, violation of the right to freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment are all rife. This doesn’t happen because the police are not trained in human rights. In fact, there are various booklets that have been developed for the police but they choose to disregard them. What is clear is that the culture of impunity has developed in Uganda and it’s highly pronounced among the police officers.
While we have the laws in place that provide for the observance of the rights of the prisoners, there is a mismatch between the laws and the practice. I know the Police Force has a Professional Standards’ Unit in place. But I have learnt of various cases where people report their ordeals to the Professional Standards’ Unit only to be disappointed further. We have a multitude of laws and institutions but their efficacy is wanting.
1.6 Way forward
In order to have the rights of prisoners protected and promoted, there’s need for stronger ties between the judiciary, the prison authorities and civil society to promote awareness of these rights.
There’s need to repeal domestic laws that could be a stumbling block to prisoners’ rights and domesticate all international laws that promote prisoners’ rights.
Continuous sensitization of the prison authorities and police is needed to promote awareness of prisoners’ rights. It should be emphasized that prisoners are first and foremost human beings with inherent rights to human dignity.
Prisoners also need to be sensitised about their rights and equipped with tools to defend them. This is what the UHRC can do in concert with human rights Civil Society Organisations. We thank the Judicial Service Commission for the countrywide awareness programmes to the prisoners about their rights but more efforts are still needed.
Prisoners should be empowered to report to the judiciary cases of the violation of their rights and the principle of confidentiality should be observed by those people they report to. Culprits should also be expeditiously punished to avoid the culture of impunity.
The prison authorities should be adequately facilitated to ensure the prisoners reach courts of law in time. Sometimes suspects fail to reach courts in time because of logistical challenges. The prisons’ welfare department should be given priority in as far as financing is concerned to enrich the would be activities in prison meant for rehabilitation and reintegration of prisoners.
Finally, we are gravely concerned about the mismatch between what the heads of institutions say and what they do. The IGP goes on radio and television and pronounces that he has stopped the use of teargas; yet the following day we see tear gas being used. What exactly does that mean? As long as long as institutions we have don’t develop the political will to respect the laws we have, prisoners’ rights and human rights generally will remain a far cry on paper.
Allow me to end with the Foundation motto, “We are all potential prisoners”. For God and my country.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
NRM using UPE and USE to mock Ugandans
By Vincent Nuwagaba
First published by 256news.com on 18 June 2011.
Uganda is an interesting country. Interesting in a sense that many Ugandans are docile and have chosen to adopt an I don’t care attitude even when they pay taxes through the nose. They have chosen to leave Museveni and his cronies mismanage their country. The political leaders who ordinarily are supposed to be servants have turned themselves into masters and the other citizens who ordinarily are supposed to be masters have been turned into subjects.
One of the reasons why I like my area MP Maj. Gen Kahinda Otafire is because he has no pretence. He tells exactly what is on the ground. On the popular KFM Hot-seat hosted by Charles Mwanguhya, I listened to Otafire sing praises for the NRM regime over Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE). Through the host, I informed the General that government remits less than Shs 2000 for each pupil under UPE and that parents top up not less than Shs 10,000 and that government again remits a paltry Shs 41,000 for a student under USE and I added, this is foolery. In response, Gen Otafire said, “If that gentleman has money, let him take his children to private schools”. He said, UPE and USE were introduced to help those who cannot afford. The General further said, there was a time when government didn’t pay a penny for USE and UPE crowning his argument with the common cliché “half a loaf is better than none at all”.
First, for the information of Otafire and his ilk, Obote II regime used to give free exercise and textbooks, pens, pencils, mathematical sets and chalk all of them labeled “Property of the Government of Uganda, Not for Sale”. All we have seen with the current regime is mere lip service to the education sector – be it primary education, secondary education or higher education.
When the host asked him whether they were not creating an aristocracy, he asked whether the Queen takes her children to the same schools with the commoners. This is exactly why I like Otafire. If UPE and USE work, let the ministers take their children to the UPE and USE schools. Otherwise the truth of the matter is UPE and UPE schemes are Bona bakone. True, Ugandans have become intellectually stunted with UPE and USE. In fact, a senior lecturer in one of Ugandan universities said, University students cannot express themselves in English.
As we moan and groan UPE and USE, it has emerged that Primary Teachers Colleges have been closed because the government has not disbursed operational funds to these colleges. Who are the losers? Ordinary Ugandans. Why is the money to sponsor students on the statehouse scholarship scheme always available? Who qualifies for the statehouse scholarship scheme? If Ugandans don’t wake up from their slumber and demand what rightfully belongs to them, then we are destined for doom.
Why, in a multiparty dispensation, should one party use taxpayers’ money to build capacity for the political party cadres through statehouse scholarship schemes? To make matters worse, not all NRM card-holding members have access to such opportunities. Ultimately, you find that the beneficiaries are from the same party, same region, same ethnic group and sometimes same district or same clan. I am quite sure that speaking about these issues raises many people’s body hairs but as the Anglican Common Book of Prayer says, we are enjoined to constantly speak the truth, boldly rebuke vice and patiently suffer for the truths’ sake.
The right to education is enshrined in Article 30 of the 1995 Uganda constitution. But also the international human rights instruments that Uganda has ratified stress the right to education and emphasise that higher education shall be accessible on the basis of merit. These include inter alia Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1948), Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR, 1966), Articles 28 and 29 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, 1989), Article 10 of the Convention on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW, 1979), Articles 1, 2 and 5 of the International Covenant on Elimination of All forms of Racial Discrimination, 1969) and UNESCO Convention Against Discrimination in Education.
It is understood that the international human rights instruments stipulate that elementary education shall be free and higher education accessible on the basis of merit. Today, merit doesn’t work. Museveni is building a plutocracy other than a democracy. With UPE and USE, the NRM is simply mocking Ugandans.
Meanwhile, I have learnt that after failing to exterminate me physically through all the dirty tricks they have used against me in the past since 2008, the NRM is determined to frustrate me by even denying me employment opportunities including in the private sector. But I have told them that if that happens, I will go to the village, start a retail shop, start a community-based organisation and study properly the problems the people on the grassroots suffer. This will actually broaden my relevance because I will step into the people’s shoes and under no circumstances shall I be gagged. Whether I am in Kampala or upcountry, I will continue speaking and writing. The most precious asset I have is my conscience and I state without any fear of contradiction that I would rather die than divorce my conscience.
vnuwagaba@gmail.com
First published by 256news.com on 18 June 2011.
Uganda is an interesting country. Interesting in a sense that many Ugandans are docile and have chosen to adopt an I don’t care attitude even when they pay taxes through the nose. They have chosen to leave Museveni and his cronies mismanage their country. The political leaders who ordinarily are supposed to be servants have turned themselves into masters and the other citizens who ordinarily are supposed to be masters have been turned into subjects.
One of the reasons why I like my area MP Maj. Gen Kahinda Otafire is because he has no pretence. He tells exactly what is on the ground. On the popular KFM Hot-seat hosted by Charles Mwanguhya, I listened to Otafire sing praises for the NRM regime over Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE). Through the host, I informed the General that government remits less than Shs 2000 for each pupil under UPE and that parents top up not less than Shs 10,000 and that government again remits a paltry Shs 41,000 for a student under USE and I added, this is foolery. In response, Gen Otafire said, “If that gentleman has money, let him take his children to private schools”. He said, UPE and USE were introduced to help those who cannot afford. The General further said, there was a time when government didn’t pay a penny for USE and UPE crowning his argument with the common cliché “half a loaf is better than none at all”.
First, for the information of Otafire and his ilk, Obote II regime used to give free exercise and textbooks, pens, pencils, mathematical sets and chalk all of them labeled “Property of the Government of Uganda, Not for Sale”. All we have seen with the current regime is mere lip service to the education sector – be it primary education, secondary education or higher education.
When the host asked him whether they were not creating an aristocracy, he asked whether the Queen takes her children to the same schools with the commoners. This is exactly why I like Otafire. If UPE and USE work, let the ministers take their children to the UPE and USE schools. Otherwise the truth of the matter is UPE and UPE schemes are Bona bakone. True, Ugandans have become intellectually stunted with UPE and USE. In fact, a senior lecturer in one of Ugandan universities said, University students cannot express themselves in English.
As we moan and groan UPE and USE, it has emerged that Primary Teachers Colleges have been closed because the government has not disbursed operational funds to these colleges. Who are the losers? Ordinary Ugandans. Why is the money to sponsor students on the statehouse scholarship scheme always available? Who qualifies for the statehouse scholarship scheme? If Ugandans don’t wake up from their slumber and demand what rightfully belongs to them, then we are destined for doom.
Why, in a multiparty dispensation, should one party use taxpayers’ money to build capacity for the political party cadres through statehouse scholarship schemes? To make matters worse, not all NRM card-holding members have access to such opportunities. Ultimately, you find that the beneficiaries are from the same party, same region, same ethnic group and sometimes same district or same clan. I am quite sure that speaking about these issues raises many people’s body hairs but as the Anglican Common Book of Prayer says, we are enjoined to constantly speak the truth, boldly rebuke vice and patiently suffer for the truths’ sake.
The right to education is enshrined in Article 30 of the 1995 Uganda constitution. But also the international human rights instruments that Uganda has ratified stress the right to education and emphasise that higher education shall be accessible on the basis of merit. These include inter alia Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1948), Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR, 1966), Articles 28 and 29 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, 1989), Article 10 of the Convention on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW, 1979), Articles 1, 2 and 5 of the International Covenant on Elimination of All forms of Racial Discrimination, 1969) and UNESCO Convention Against Discrimination in Education.
It is understood that the international human rights instruments stipulate that elementary education shall be free and higher education accessible on the basis of merit. Today, merit doesn’t work. Museveni is building a plutocracy other than a democracy. With UPE and USE, the NRM is simply mocking Ugandans.
Meanwhile, I have learnt that after failing to exterminate me physically through all the dirty tricks they have used against me in the past since 2008, the NRM is determined to frustrate me by even denying me employment opportunities including in the private sector. But I have told them that if that happens, I will go to the village, start a retail shop, start a community-based organisation and study properly the problems the people on the grassroots suffer. This will actually broaden my relevance because I will step into the people’s shoes and under no circumstances shall I be gagged. Whether I am in Kampala or upcountry, I will continue speaking and writing. The most precious asset I have is my conscience and I state without any fear of contradiction that I would rather die than divorce my conscience.
vnuwagaba@gmail.com
Thursday, June 16, 2011
JETS SCANDAL
Jets: Government can get money secretly
Posted Monitor Thursday, June 16 2011 at 00:00
The State House spokesman yesterday said the government does not need parliamentary approval to withdraw funds from Bank of Uganda (BoU), for security reasons.
Mr Tamale Mirundi, President Museveni’s press secretary, told Daily Monitor that the security of a country supersedes other national issues and there was no need for the President to seek approval from the Parliament to authorise the withdraw of the funds from the central bank to buy fighter jets.
“Political hygiene requires that you follow procedure. Buying defence equipment doesn’t follow procedure. What if you delay in debating the issue and the enemy infiltrates Parliament? You could be attacked,” Mr Mirundi said in an interview.
He was responding to questions about Mr Mutebile’s views on the way President Museveni is running the economy, as reported on Tuesday by the Financial Times (FT) a United Kingdom-based newspaper.
Reuters News Agency yesterday reported that the Ugandan shilling, rattled by criticisms of the President by the central bank chief and undermined by heavy dollar demand from the oil sector plunged record lows against the dollar falling through the previous low of 2,424/2,429 hit on March 15.
The central bank said it would sell hard currency in the local foreign exchange market, market players said but could not confirm how much.
The shilling has fallen by 3.8 per cent against the greenback this year, Reuters reported, mirroring a depreciating trend in local currencies across East Africa.
Mr Mutebile, who has been central bank governor since 2001, told the FT that he had disagreed with Mr Museveni over the decision to withdraw $400 (Shs960 billion) for the jets, which depleted the national reserves from six to four months of import cover.
The governor is quoted to have said he was still “fighting” that kind of indiscipline.
But Mr Mirundi yesterday said there was no way the governor can fight the President over national matters. “No one can fight President Museveni. If you disagree with the President you can write to him…and if the disagreement is fundamental then you resign,” he said in an interview.
Mr Keith Muhakanizi, the deputy secretary to the treasury, said: “The Constitution says Bank of Uganda is independent,” reaffirming a generally known position that seems to be under threat.
Minister speaks
According to the Minister of Finance, Ms Maria Kiwanuka, Uganda’s Foreign Exchange Reserves are projected at $2.2 billion by end June 2011, equivalent to four months of import cover, compared to about $2.5 billion in June 2010.
Foreign exchange reserves are used by nations for contingency purposes, stabilising the foreign exchange rate and buying imports for country in case of a crisis. The reduction in reserves means that the government’s capacity to carry out the above functions has been weakened. Withdrawal of the funds requires parliamentary approval.
Earlier this year, the Public Accounts Committee wrote to the central bank governor seeking an explanation over the release of the jet funds without prior parliamentary approval.
But on March 24, President Museveni met MPs from the ruling National Resistance Movement party and asked them to rubberstamp the purchase of the jets under a classified vote. The President told the MPs that the jets were necessary for Uganda’s defence now that the country has confirmed oil reserves.
The FT article also revealed that Mr Mutebile had found it “very, very humiliating” after Uganda failed an International Monetary Fund review earlier this year following the record Shs650b supplementary budgets requested for by the government.
Most of the money is said have gone to election-related expenses. Analysts have partly attributed Uganda’s current economic difficulties to government’s financial indiscipline.
Posted Monitor Thursday, June 16 2011 at 00:00
The State House spokesman yesterday said the government does not need parliamentary approval to withdraw funds from Bank of Uganda (BoU), for security reasons.
Mr Tamale Mirundi, President Museveni’s press secretary, told Daily Monitor that the security of a country supersedes other national issues and there was no need for the President to seek approval from the Parliament to authorise the withdraw of the funds from the central bank to buy fighter jets.
“Political hygiene requires that you follow procedure. Buying defence equipment doesn’t follow procedure. What if you delay in debating the issue and the enemy infiltrates Parliament? You could be attacked,” Mr Mirundi said in an interview.
He was responding to questions about Mr Mutebile’s views on the way President Museveni is running the economy, as reported on Tuesday by the Financial Times (FT) a United Kingdom-based newspaper.
Reuters News Agency yesterday reported that the Ugandan shilling, rattled by criticisms of the President by the central bank chief and undermined by heavy dollar demand from the oil sector plunged record lows against the dollar falling through the previous low of 2,424/2,429 hit on March 15.
The central bank said it would sell hard currency in the local foreign exchange market, market players said but could not confirm how much.
The shilling has fallen by 3.8 per cent against the greenback this year, Reuters reported, mirroring a depreciating trend in local currencies across East Africa.
Mr Mutebile, who has been central bank governor since 2001, told the FT that he had disagreed with Mr Museveni over the decision to withdraw $400 (Shs960 billion) for the jets, which depleted the national reserves from six to four months of import cover.
The governor is quoted to have said he was still “fighting” that kind of indiscipline.
But Mr Mirundi yesterday said there was no way the governor can fight the President over national matters. “No one can fight President Museveni. If you disagree with the President you can write to him…and if the disagreement is fundamental then you resign,” he said in an interview.
Mr Keith Muhakanizi, the deputy secretary to the treasury, said: “The Constitution says Bank of Uganda is independent,” reaffirming a generally known position that seems to be under threat.
Minister speaks
According to the Minister of Finance, Ms Maria Kiwanuka, Uganda’s Foreign Exchange Reserves are projected at $2.2 billion by end June 2011, equivalent to four months of import cover, compared to about $2.5 billion in June 2010.
Foreign exchange reserves are used by nations for contingency purposes, stabilising the foreign exchange rate and buying imports for country in case of a crisis. The reduction in reserves means that the government’s capacity to carry out the above functions has been weakened. Withdrawal of the funds requires parliamentary approval.
Earlier this year, the Public Accounts Committee wrote to the central bank governor seeking an explanation over the release of the jet funds without prior parliamentary approval.
But on March 24, President Museveni met MPs from the ruling National Resistance Movement party and asked them to rubberstamp the purchase of the jets under a classified vote. The President told the MPs that the jets were necessary for Uganda’s defence now that the country has confirmed oil reserves.
The FT article also revealed that Mr Mutebile had found it “very, very humiliating” after Uganda failed an International Monetary Fund review earlier this year following the record Shs650b supplementary budgets requested for by the government.
Most of the money is said have gone to election-related expenses. Analysts have partly attributed Uganda’s current economic difficulties to government’s financial indiscipline.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
PETITION AGAINST UNIVERSITY TUITION INCREMENT
30th September 2009
Honourable Speaker,
Parliament of Uganda.
RE: PETITION AGAINST UNIVERSITY TUITION INCREMENT
Honourable Speaker, we students of Makerere University, appalled by the recent phenomenal, unprecedented and uncalled for fees increment, do hereby petition you on the subject matter on the following grounds;
1. The increment was made abruptly hence leading many admitted students to drop out of the courses they had hitherto been admitted to and were sure they would pay for by the time of application and admission.
2. The increment was too huge to the magnitude of more than 100% for some courses. For instance, Bachelor of Law tuition was hiked from 600,000 (six hundred thousand) shillings to 1,260,000 (one million two hundred sixty thousand) shillings, hence an increment of 126%! If one added functional fees and bank charges the total amount paid comes to 1,808,500 (one million eight hundred eight thousand five hundred) shillings per semester. Thus, although the media have always reported 40%, that is misleading, 40% applies to the courses whose tuition was least hiked. Honourable Speaker, even if the increment was 40%, it is still too much.
3. With the 40% increment, courses such as Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, Bachelor of Pharmacy, Bachelor of Dental Surgery, Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Bachelor of Science in Medical Radiography have had their tuition hiked to the tune of 1,344,000 per semester. If one added the functional fees and bank charges, the whole figure comes to 1,893,000 (one million eight hundred ninety three thousand) shillings per semester. For a course like Bachelor of Science in Speech and Language Therapy, although there was no increment, 1.5m tuition alone for one semester is too much because added to functional fees; the whole figure comes to 2,549,000 (two million, five hundred fourty nine thousand) shillings per semester. These figures exclude accommodation, meals, transport and many other scholastic needs such as photocopying, typing, printing, textbooks, exercise books, pens, among others. If one is to lead a peasantry lifestyle, he/she will spend not less than 3,000,000 (3 million) per semester on a Bachelor of Law course. For Medicine and Pharmacy courses, the figure is far beyond this. With this increment, the government will find it difficult to convince many that it indeed is interested in promoting courses that are critical to national development. We know for a fact that our country has inadequate doctors as most of the few trained run out for greener pastures. It is interesting to find out that the government is putting in place disincentives through hiked fees. The courses mentioned herein are just a tip of the iceberg. Otherwise all courses are unaffordable at least to the poor and middle income earners.
4. The increment is not uniform across all public universities. Whereas the least hiked course attracted a 40% increment while some other courses attracted a more than 100% increment for Makerere University, in other public universities, the increment is more or less negligible.
5. The inflation argument doesn’t hold water because functional fees were not increased and it is only tuition that was increased. But also, assuming the issue was inflation that has accumulated over the years, it makes no sense that students that were admitted in 2009-2010 academic year should bear that huge burden. Logically, there should have been a gradual increment of not more than five percent over the years.
6. The increment affects everyone directly or indirectly including Honourable Members of Parliament and Ministers. If one is not a student, they are parents or guardians. If not, they have siblings, neighbours or relatives and if one has none, they are potential students or guardians to the university. Therefore, this is a national issue not merely the concern of a few people.
7. We have reliably learnt that the President sanctioned the increment because somebody duped him that fees increment will curb the problem of Lecturers’ strikes. We know it will instead aggravate the problem because majority of Makerere University Lecturers are Pan Africanists who embrace the Ubuntu philosophy which entails selflessness, compassion, sympathy, empathy and social justice. But also they value education so much because they know it is the surest means of societal transformation. Accordingly, many Lecturers if not all of them have many dependants including their biological children. In fact, Lecturers that we have talked to are planning to demand a 200% increment of their remuneration in order to meet the mind boggling hiked fees fares of up to 126%. Otherwise, it will be pitiable and despicable if Makerere University Professors fail to sponsor their children for the courses of their dream. Thus, the solution to Lecturers’ strikes lies in government increasing their salaries and remitting adequate funds to the university to make academia an attractive profession. Otherwise, what is the justification of paying millions to project officers in ministries and directors in parastatals and pay university Lecturers pea nuts? In fact, don’t get shocked when you see our Lecturers running to juicy government bodies such as National Planning Authority (NPA), Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), Uganda Investment Authority (UIA), and National Social Security Fund (NSSF) among others. Remember, the directors in these agencies are not in any way better qualified than University dons. Government is duty bound to ensure better standards for Lecturers and indeed all other workers but doesn’t have to raise fees to do that for it hurts the peasants which for years the NRM government has purported to protect and liberate out of their poverty.
8. Although we are students, our guardians and parents are workers in the private or public sectors while others are subsistence farmers. Accordingly, the phenomenal tuition increment must necessarily lead to a commensurate increment in salaries and wages and agricultural products across the board. It is ironic that government in the current budget increased civil service salaries by a paltry 5% and went ahead to increase tuition to that magnitude as if civil servants’ children shouldn’t access higher education!
9. Honourable Speaker, we are pretty sure that most of the brainy students that were admitted dropped out because they couldn’t raise the new hiked fees. This in the very short run will deny our country the talents that would transform this country because they are unable to raise high education fares. For a course whose tuition is 1260,000, if one added functional fees and bank charges the total amount paid comes to 1808500 (one million eight hundred eight thousand five hundred) shillings. This figure excludes accommodation, meals, transport and many other scholastic needs such as photocopying, typing, printing, textbooks, exercise books, pens, among others. If one is to lead a peasantry lifestyle, he/she will spend not less than 3,000,000 (3 million) per semester on a course. Otherwise, ordinarily even 4million may not suffice!
10. How many of Uganda’s teachers, policemen, prison warders and indeed public servants have the wherewithal to raise these colossal fees for their children?
11. The right to education is enshrined in Article 30 of the 1995 Uganda constitution. But also the international human rights instruments that Uganda has ratified stress the right to education and emphasise that higher education shall be accessible on the basis of merit. These include inter alia Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1948), Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR, 1966), Articles 28 and 29 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, 1989), Article 10 of the Convention on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW, 1979), Articles 1, 2 and 5 of the International Covenant on Elimination of All forms of Racial Discrimination, 1969) and UNESCO Convention Against Discrimination in Education.
Accordingly, education is a fundamental human right but also that it is a critical tool for social transformation is axiomatic. Thus, as the adage goes, “those who are born in gutters don’t die in gutters”, the poor need to be assured that they too are citizens and not subjects in this country. This assurance can only be through ensuring that sons and daughters of peasants are not locked out of higher education as only and only education can put the poor and the rich at an equal footing.
12. It is clear that government sponsorship is virtually a preserve of the children of the rich who go through first world schools. But never be deceived that they are more brilliant and more potentially useful than their counterparts from third world and rural schools. Accordingly, fees increment exposes the poor to double tragedy and reinforces the vicious cycle of poverty. Surprisingly, the government says it is committed to prosperity for all whose components are health for all, wealth for all and education for all! We pray that government puts its money where its mouth is.
13. The solution to Lecturers’ strikes and the Universities’ financial and academic woes cannot and will never be solved by inhuman and heartless fees hikes. Rather, the practical solution lies in government remitting adequate funds to the universities including research funds. And the question of lack of funds is neither here nor there because we have seen non priority sectors such as Ministry of Defence and State House get supplementary funding. In fact, the reason as to why the once “Harvard of Africa” is declining academically is largely because lecturers have been pushed into consultancy research in order to make ends meet. If the government was remitting funds to the University for Research and paying Lecturers well they would concentrate on academic research and not consultancy research which is inimical to academic advancement.
14. Fees hike will inevitably widen the already existing regional imbalances. It is clear that although there are some regions which are economic power houses, there are also regions that are wallowing in despicable levels of poverty. The irony is that the economic power houses almost monopolise government scholarships because they have ability to sponsor their children in the grade A schools. With tuition hike they will still have the monopoly of access to the revered university education!
15. The heartless and inhuman tuition hike has already vindicated Professor Mamdani’s book titled “Scholars in the Market Place”. It has surely portrayed Makerere University as a commercial centre and not a place of knowledge generation, knowledge synthesis, knowledge reproduction and knowledge dissemination. Yet these are the touchstones of any University worth its salt.
16. Finally, this position is not sacrosanct and we pray that it is reversed in the interest of the common good and the good of our country. Those who have already paid will top up next semester. We must take note that public universities are state institutions which must be run by the state and not money generated from peasants majority of whom form the bulk of the parents and are the wretched of the earth to use Franz Fanon’s coinage. Remember we are citizens and not subjects in this country and to our members of parliament, take note that we are voters, our parents are, our neighbours and relatives are. The prohibitive fares for all the courses are antithetical to the prosperity for all slogan of the National Resistance Movement Party/government and they are a harbinger for deeper poverty in the long run. Whoever is at the centre of blocking the poor but intelligent the right to access education is an architect of underdevelopment. You never can tell, the people denied access to education would be vanguards of fighting moral poverty which has tied us and prevented us from moving forward and in our view manifests in all sorts of corruption hence reproducing more poverty. As we build for the future! For God and our country!
CC: President of the Republic of Uganda
CC: Chairperson, Social Affairs Committee
CC: Leader of opposition
CC: Minister of Education
CC: Uganda Human Rights Commission
CC: Vice Chancellor, Makerere University
CC: Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
CC: Human Rights Network (Uganda)
CC: Academic Registrar, Makerere University
CC: Makerere University Students Guild
CC: Media Houses
Honourable Speaker,
Parliament of Uganda.
RE: PETITION AGAINST UNIVERSITY TUITION INCREMENT
Honourable Speaker, we students of Makerere University, appalled by the recent phenomenal, unprecedented and uncalled for fees increment, do hereby petition you on the subject matter on the following grounds;
1. The increment was made abruptly hence leading many admitted students to drop out of the courses they had hitherto been admitted to and were sure they would pay for by the time of application and admission.
2. The increment was too huge to the magnitude of more than 100% for some courses. For instance, Bachelor of Law tuition was hiked from 600,000 (six hundred thousand) shillings to 1,260,000 (one million two hundred sixty thousand) shillings, hence an increment of 126%! If one added functional fees and bank charges the total amount paid comes to 1,808,500 (one million eight hundred eight thousand five hundred) shillings per semester. Thus, although the media have always reported 40%, that is misleading, 40% applies to the courses whose tuition was least hiked. Honourable Speaker, even if the increment was 40%, it is still too much.
3. With the 40% increment, courses such as Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, Bachelor of Pharmacy, Bachelor of Dental Surgery, Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Bachelor of Science in Medical Radiography have had their tuition hiked to the tune of 1,344,000 per semester. If one added the functional fees and bank charges, the whole figure comes to 1,893,000 (one million eight hundred ninety three thousand) shillings per semester. For a course like Bachelor of Science in Speech and Language Therapy, although there was no increment, 1.5m tuition alone for one semester is too much because added to functional fees; the whole figure comes to 2,549,000 (two million, five hundred fourty nine thousand) shillings per semester. These figures exclude accommodation, meals, transport and many other scholastic needs such as photocopying, typing, printing, textbooks, exercise books, pens, among others. If one is to lead a peasantry lifestyle, he/she will spend not less than 3,000,000 (3 million) per semester on a Bachelor of Law course. For Medicine and Pharmacy courses, the figure is far beyond this. With this increment, the government will find it difficult to convince many that it indeed is interested in promoting courses that are critical to national development. We know for a fact that our country has inadequate doctors as most of the few trained run out for greener pastures. It is interesting to find out that the government is putting in place disincentives through hiked fees. The courses mentioned herein are just a tip of the iceberg. Otherwise all courses are unaffordable at least to the poor and middle income earners.
4. The increment is not uniform across all public universities. Whereas the least hiked course attracted a 40% increment while some other courses attracted a more than 100% increment for Makerere University, in other public universities, the increment is more or less negligible.
5. The inflation argument doesn’t hold water because functional fees were not increased and it is only tuition that was increased. But also, assuming the issue was inflation that has accumulated over the years, it makes no sense that students that were admitted in 2009-2010 academic year should bear that huge burden. Logically, there should have been a gradual increment of not more than five percent over the years.
6. The increment affects everyone directly or indirectly including Honourable Members of Parliament and Ministers. If one is not a student, they are parents or guardians. If not, they have siblings, neighbours or relatives and if one has none, they are potential students or guardians to the university. Therefore, this is a national issue not merely the concern of a few people.
7. We have reliably learnt that the President sanctioned the increment because somebody duped him that fees increment will curb the problem of Lecturers’ strikes. We know it will instead aggravate the problem because majority of Makerere University Lecturers are Pan Africanists who embrace the Ubuntu philosophy which entails selflessness, compassion, sympathy, empathy and social justice. But also they value education so much because they know it is the surest means of societal transformation. Accordingly, many Lecturers if not all of them have many dependants including their biological children. In fact, Lecturers that we have talked to are planning to demand a 200% increment of their remuneration in order to meet the mind boggling hiked fees fares of up to 126%. Otherwise, it will be pitiable and despicable if Makerere University Professors fail to sponsor their children for the courses of their dream. Thus, the solution to Lecturers’ strikes lies in government increasing their salaries and remitting adequate funds to the university to make academia an attractive profession. Otherwise, what is the justification of paying millions to project officers in ministries and directors in parastatals and pay university Lecturers pea nuts? In fact, don’t get shocked when you see our Lecturers running to juicy government bodies such as National Planning Authority (NPA), Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), Uganda Investment Authority (UIA), and National Social Security Fund (NSSF) among others. Remember, the directors in these agencies are not in any way better qualified than University dons. Government is duty bound to ensure better standards for Lecturers and indeed all other workers but doesn’t have to raise fees to do that for it hurts the peasants which for years the NRM government has purported to protect and liberate out of their poverty.
8. Although we are students, our guardians and parents are workers in the private or public sectors while others are subsistence farmers. Accordingly, the phenomenal tuition increment must necessarily lead to a commensurate increment in salaries and wages and agricultural products across the board. It is ironic that government in the current budget increased civil service salaries by a paltry 5% and went ahead to increase tuition to that magnitude as if civil servants’ children shouldn’t access higher education!
9. Honourable Speaker, we are pretty sure that most of the brainy students that were admitted dropped out because they couldn’t raise the new hiked fees. This in the very short run will deny our country the talents that would transform this country because they are unable to raise high education fares. For a course whose tuition is 1260,000, if one added functional fees and bank charges the total amount paid comes to 1808500 (one million eight hundred eight thousand five hundred) shillings. This figure excludes accommodation, meals, transport and many other scholastic needs such as photocopying, typing, printing, textbooks, exercise books, pens, among others. If one is to lead a peasantry lifestyle, he/she will spend not less than 3,000,000 (3 million) per semester on a course. Otherwise, ordinarily even 4million may not suffice!
10. How many of Uganda’s teachers, policemen, prison warders and indeed public servants have the wherewithal to raise these colossal fees for their children?
11. The right to education is enshrined in Article 30 of the 1995 Uganda constitution. But also the international human rights instruments that Uganda has ratified stress the right to education and emphasise that higher education shall be accessible on the basis of merit. These include inter alia Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1948), Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR, 1966), Articles 28 and 29 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, 1989), Article 10 of the Convention on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW, 1979), Articles 1, 2 and 5 of the International Covenant on Elimination of All forms of Racial Discrimination, 1969) and UNESCO Convention Against Discrimination in Education.
Accordingly, education is a fundamental human right but also that it is a critical tool for social transformation is axiomatic. Thus, as the adage goes, “those who are born in gutters don’t die in gutters”, the poor need to be assured that they too are citizens and not subjects in this country. This assurance can only be through ensuring that sons and daughters of peasants are not locked out of higher education as only and only education can put the poor and the rich at an equal footing.
12. It is clear that government sponsorship is virtually a preserve of the children of the rich who go through first world schools. But never be deceived that they are more brilliant and more potentially useful than their counterparts from third world and rural schools. Accordingly, fees increment exposes the poor to double tragedy and reinforces the vicious cycle of poverty. Surprisingly, the government says it is committed to prosperity for all whose components are health for all, wealth for all and education for all! We pray that government puts its money where its mouth is.
13. The solution to Lecturers’ strikes and the Universities’ financial and academic woes cannot and will never be solved by inhuman and heartless fees hikes. Rather, the practical solution lies in government remitting adequate funds to the universities including research funds. And the question of lack of funds is neither here nor there because we have seen non priority sectors such as Ministry of Defence and State House get supplementary funding. In fact, the reason as to why the once “Harvard of Africa” is declining academically is largely because lecturers have been pushed into consultancy research in order to make ends meet. If the government was remitting funds to the University for Research and paying Lecturers well they would concentrate on academic research and not consultancy research which is inimical to academic advancement.
14. Fees hike will inevitably widen the already existing regional imbalances. It is clear that although there are some regions which are economic power houses, there are also regions that are wallowing in despicable levels of poverty. The irony is that the economic power houses almost monopolise government scholarships because they have ability to sponsor their children in the grade A schools. With tuition hike they will still have the monopoly of access to the revered university education!
15. The heartless and inhuman tuition hike has already vindicated Professor Mamdani’s book titled “Scholars in the Market Place”. It has surely portrayed Makerere University as a commercial centre and not a place of knowledge generation, knowledge synthesis, knowledge reproduction and knowledge dissemination. Yet these are the touchstones of any University worth its salt.
16. Finally, this position is not sacrosanct and we pray that it is reversed in the interest of the common good and the good of our country. Those who have already paid will top up next semester. We must take note that public universities are state institutions which must be run by the state and not money generated from peasants majority of whom form the bulk of the parents and are the wretched of the earth to use Franz Fanon’s coinage. Remember we are citizens and not subjects in this country and to our members of parliament, take note that we are voters, our parents are, our neighbours and relatives are. The prohibitive fares for all the courses are antithetical to the prosperity for all slogan of the National Resistance Movement Party/government and they are a harbinger for deeper poverty in the long run. Whoever is at the centre of blocking the poor but intelligent the right to access education is an architect of underdevelopment. You never can tell, the people denied access to education would be vanguards of fighting moral poverty which has tied us and prevented us from moving forward and in our view manifests in all sorts of corruption hence reproducing more poverty. As we build for the future! For God and our country!
CC: President of the Republic of Uganda
CC: Chairperson, Social Affairs Committee
CC: Leader of opposition
CC: Minister of Education
CC: Uganda Human Rights Commission
CC: Vice Chancellor, Makerere University
CC: Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
CC: Human Rights Network (Uganda)
CC: Academic Registrar, Makerere University
CC: Makerere University Students Guild
CC: Media Houses
Funding proposals
Contents:
* Top
* Introduction
* Plan
* Project Structure
* Title
* Background
* Goals & Objectives
* Beneficiaries
* Targets
* Schedule
* Organization
* Costs & Benefits
* Monitoring
* Reporting
* Appendices
* Budget
* Abstract
* Comments
* Bottom
Contents:
* Top
* Introduction
* Plan
* Project Structure
* Title
* Background
* Goals & Objectives
* Beneficiaries
* Targets
* Schedule
* Organization
* Costs & Benefits
* Monitoring
* Reporting
* Appendices
* Budget
* Abstract
* Comments
* Bottom
Contents:
* Top
* Introduction
* Plan
* Project Structure
* Title
* Background
* Goals & Objectives
* Beneficiaries
* Targets
* Schedule
* Organization
* Costs & Benefits
* Monitoring
* Reporting
* Appendices
* Budget
* Abstract
* Comments
* Bottom
Contents:
* Top
* Introduction
* Plan
* Project Structure
* Title
* Background
* Goals & Objectives
* Beneficiaries
* Targets
* Schedule
* Organization
* Costs & Benefits
* Monitoring
* Reporting
* Appendices
* Budget
* Abstract
* Comments
* Bottom
Contents:
* Top
* Introduction
* Plan
* Project Structure
* Title
* Background
* Goals & Objectives
* Beneficiaries
* Targets
* Schedule
* Organization
* Costs & Benefits
* Monitoring
* Reporting
* Appendices
* Budget
* Abstract
* Comments
* Bottom
Contents:
* Top
* Introduction
* Plan
* Project Structure
* Title
* Background
* Goals & Objectives
* Beneficiaries
* Targets
* Schedule
* Organization
* Costs & Benefits
* Monitoring
* Reporting
* Appendices
* Budget
* Abstract
* Comments
* Bottom
Contents:
* Top
* Introduction
* Plan
* Project Structure
* Title
* Background
* Goals & Objectives
* Beneficiaries
* Targets
* Schedule
* Organization
* Costs & Benefits
* Monitoring
* Reporting
* Appendices
* Budget
* Abstract
* Comments
* Bottom
Contents:
* Top
* Introduction
* Plan
* Project Structure
* Title
* Background
* Goals & Objectives
* Beneficiaries
* Targets
* Schedule
* Organization
* Costs & Benefits
* Monitoring
* Reporting
* Appendices
* Budget
* Abstract
* Comments
* Bottom
PROPOSALS FOR FUNDING
by Phil Bartle, PhD
Reference Document
How to get money out of donor organizations
1. Introduction:
A proposal is a request for financial assistance to implement a project. For a community project, it may be used to seek approval from the community members (the community itself being the most important donor). You may use these guidelines to seek project funding from any donor. We recommend that you aim for multiple sources of funding. If you have only one source of funding, you may become dependent upon that one source.
A proposal is not just a "shopping list" of things you want. A proposal must justify each item in the list of things you want, so that a donor agency can decide if it wants to provide some or all of those things. You must know (and be able to communicate) exactly what you want to do with these things, and that is why you should design a project to carry out what you want to achieve.
It is important to carefully formulate and design your project. It is equally important to write a proposal which will attract the necessary funding. Proposal writing is a skill which requires some knowledge and practice.
Your project proposal should be an honest "sales" document. It's job is to inform and to convince. It is not a place to preach, boast or to deceive. If you are convinced it is a good idea and should be supported, your project proposal should honestly report it to decision makers who weigh its merits against other donation commitments. It should clearly indicate how and when the project will end, or become self supporting. Proposals should be neat and tidy, preferably typewritten, and without any extraneous or unnecessary information.
How elaborate your proposal is should depend upon the amount of resources being requested and how big the total project is. Modify these guidelines to fit the project and proposed donor.
The project proposal must reflect the background work you have already done and should be logically set out. It is not enough to write a letter stating your request. You have to demonstrate the need and prove that the project is worthy of funding. Remember that there will be many other organizations and individuals competing for the funds.
Use clear concise and simple language which says exactly what is meant. If necessary use diagrams or charts to illustrate key points. Use appendices to avoid crowding the body of the proposal and the flow of the narrative. Tailor your presentation to the agency approached. Express a willingness to be interviewed personally by the funding agency once they receive and read your proposal request.
And, especially . . .
Do not be discouraged if your proposal is not accepted. Find out why, and try another agency.
2. Plan Your Project (Practical Vision):
Perhaps you and your associates have many ideas of things you want to do; you see a need to reduce illiteracy, to reduce poverty, to provide safe drinking water, to improve the level of health, to provide training for disabled persons, and many other things. You must, however, choose a project that is very specific, limit your goal to a single desired solution to the highest priority problem.
Involve the whole community. In choosing your project, call a meeting and do not neglect to include the people who have been often neglected in the past, women, disabled, the very poor, those who have no voice in the way things are decided in the community. Make sure that the people who are supposed to benefiting your project feel that this is their project, for their benefit, and that they may contribute to it because it is theirs.
It is not enough, however, to choose your goal. Good planning is needed, identifying your available or potential resources, generating several strategies and choosing the most viable one, deciding how you are going to monitor (watch) the project to ensure that it stays on track (ie it continues to be consistent with your original desires) , ensuring that the accounting is both transparent and accurate, and deciding what is to be done when (a schedule) . A bit of research about the location, the population characteristics, the situation, the existing facilities, is needed in order to objectively describe the background to the project. Involving the community and the beneficiaries in this research is the best way to ensure that it is valid.
With the community or target group, use Brainstorming Principles and Procedures to outline a Plan or Project Design. Without allowing criticism, ask group members to contribute to each step of a brainstorming group process: what is the priority problem (list all, even the foolish statements; then rank them in order of priority) , facilitate the group to understand, therefore, that the goal is the solution to that identified problem. Help them to generate objectives (finite, verifiable, specific) from that general goal. Identify resources and constraints, then generate several alternative solutions, choosing the most viable. Other documents are available to explain the brainstorming process in more detail but this was a brief sketch.
With your background work behind you, you will want to start drafting your proposal. We highly recommend that you obtain resources (funds) from several sources. Do not let your organization or group become dependent upon a single donor.
Before you begin to write your proposal, keep in mind the following points:
* It is necessary to find out in advance what sources of funding are available, through governments, United Nations agencies, some international NGOs or private foundations.
* Most donors look for the degree of local initiative in the project proposal, the utilization of the available resources within the country itself and the plans for the project to be self-supporting once the initial funding has been spent.
* Your project should be practical, not too costly, and have the potential for being repeated in other situations.
* Increasingly, funding agencies are looking for integrated approaches to development projects. This means that you will want to see to what extent your project supports and supplements existing activities, and is designed to overcome identified problems.
* Almost all UN and government agencies, foundations and private voluntary agencies have their own proposal format, that they will want you to follow. If you are not in contact with a local or regional representative, write a letter requesting information as to proper procedures, application format and funding requirements. While format varies, the same information is asked for by all agencies and foundations.
* Find out the budgeting cycle of the agency, whether annual, quarterly or ongoing. Check to see if there is a closing date for application.
3. Project Structure (Outline of Your Proposal):
These (structure) guidelines are not intended to tell you what to write, but rather how to write the proposal. If you are responsible for writing the proposal, then it is because you are the "expert" (in the best sense of the word). If you are responsible, then you know what you want to achieve and the best way to achieve it. In any event, don't panic at the prospect and don't be put off by the technical jargon that unfortunately is frequently used.
Do not try to write the proposal by yourself. Ask for help from your friends and colleagues, programmer, manager, staff and those who can assist in either concepts or in style. Think of preparing a proposal as a written form of "dialogue" in which each successive draft is a continuation of the process.
The chapters of your proposal do not necessarily have to be written in the order presented here, but what is written in each chapter must relate in specific ways to what is written in the other chapters. Make sure that you put the right content in the right chapter. Make sure that each topic relates to the others and to the proposal as a whole.
4. Title Page (Cover):
This is a single page; the front cover of the proposal. It should include:
* Date;
* Project title;
* Locations of the project;
* Name of the organization; and
* Any other necessary single line information.
The abstract or executive summary follows the title page, but the proposers should not think about that now, read on about the other sections of the proposal first.
5. Background (Causes of the Problem):
This section is expected to answer why your project is needed. Here you will want to give a description of the situation and focus on factors which prompted the formulation of your proposed project. Tell how the need for this project was identified and who was involved in developing the project. Explain your project's origin or context.
It is most advisable to involve the whole community in identifying priority problems; that is called "participatory research."
The first thing the background does is to identify the problem. That means it must name the problem and locate the problem. It indicates the target group (beneficiaries), the sector, the magnitude, and other actors who are working to solve that problem. It also indicates the extent to which the problem has been solved by the other actors, and what has been so far accomplished by your group.
While examining the problem(s) to be addressed, several questions should arise here. What is the condition of the target group to justify the donor donating money and perhaps seconded staff? A history of the community, your group, or the project is not essential, but a brief outline can be useful. More importantly, what conditions, or what changes in conditions, are envisaged that would lead to any donor agreeing to fund your project?
You may wish to include:
* Project area (Issues and problems, not descriptions);
* Reasons for making this proposal;
* Circumstances leading up to the project; and
* Broader plans or strategies of which it is a part.
If yours is a project that is not starting fresh, the background will also indicate any changes in your project since it began.
Remember that the background chapter describes the factors leading to the problem that your project intends to solve. Everything in this section should be justification to approve the project and the requested funding assistance. Long histories and analyses would be detrimental here.
6. Goals & Objectives (Solution = Output):
The goal of your project should be to solve the problem or problems described in the background. Goals and objectives must relate to the previous chapter, by stating what is the solution to those above problems. You need a set of (general) goals, and sets of (specific) objectives.
Start with "goals" which are general, long term, broad desires. From those goals generate specific "objectives" which are verifiable, measurable, finite, and have specific dates of achievement. For example: "To reduce illiteracy," is a goal; while "To teach basic literacy skills to 20 clients by March 2," is an objective.
You will want to be as specific as possible in stating the objectives of your project. They should be written in terms of the end results you expect in the project, not how you will achieve these results. Those results must be verifiable (ie. you can clearly show that they have been achieved, and they can be confirmed by outside observers) .
When selecting the goals and objectives for the project, remember the nature of the donor you ask; what kinds of solutions are sought? The donor does not want to contribute to dependency, so is not interested in funding charitable services which may take the pressure of obligation off those authorities who should look after the rights of the local people. Most donors are not simply a source of funds for carrying out routine "operations." They are interested in supporting activities which highlight the needs of the most vulnerable and distressed, and promote self reliance, ethnic harmony and development.
7. Beneficiaries (Target Group):
In this chapter you describe the beneficiaries or target groups in some detail. You may also add indirect or secondary beneficiaries (eg people trained to help the primary beneficiaries). This can be an expansion of the topic mentioned in your background section; indicate their number, characteristics, reasons for vulnerability, locations, and so on.
Most donor agencies will be more predisposed towards your project if you can demonstrate that the beneficiaries have participated in the choice and design of the project. (An appendix can list meetings of beneficiaries, listing details such as dates, locations, times, topics discussed, speakers, and lists of beneficiary group members who attended. Refer to the appendix in this chapter; do not include it here; put it at the end of your proposal).
8. Targets and Activities (Inputs):
This chapter identifies the inputs in your project, ie what resources (cash, personnel and actions) will be put into your project.
First, start with examining possible strategies to reach the objectives mentioned above. In each case you have to link with the previous chapter. The best project proposal lists two, three or four different strategies and discards or rejects all but one of these, and says why. Then it goes on to say, "Given the objectives and strategies, what activities must be implemented or started to use that strategy and reach the objectives?"
Target means, "How much, to whom, where and by whom?" – In other words, "Who does what?" For example, what kind of training will you provide, for how long, and how many people will be involved? What specific skills will be taught and what kind of follow up activities are planned?
Indicate what kinds of jobs are being done in the project. Refer to your appendix for key job descriptions. Always refer those activities to how they will achieve the objectives mentioned above. Even the activities of the support staff must be justified in that they must be employed so as to allow the operational staff to reach their targets.
9. The Schedule (Each Action When):
In this section you describe in sequence the activities you plan in order to achieve your objectives.
If you can be so specific as to give dates, even if approximate, all the better. You may wish to use a diagram or bar chart to mark out the calendar events.
Include in the work plan the phasing of the project; how one stage of the project leads to the next.
How long will support be needed?
(When will the project end, or when will the project be locally self supporting? )
10. The Organization (Profile):
This section describes the (perhaps changing) organization and management structure needed to carry out the activities described above. The "O" in "CBO." Diagrams are very useful in this.
Describe briefly your organization's goals and activities. Be specific about its experience in working with problems of a similar nature, what its capabilities and resources are in undertaking a project of this nature.
The abilities and experience of your organization's members, your human resources, may well be your greatest asset. Indicate the kind of assistance your organization expects to receive from possible collaborating agencies. Attach additional organizational information, such as an annual report, if available.
Explain:
* How will it be done?
* Who is responsible for the project?
* Who will implement (who will do it)? and
* Who will direct the implementation of the project?
Who runs the project? Who is in charge of the overall organization? Who is responsible for its overall implementation (in contrast with responsibility for its design and its monitoring, and in contrast with the separate actors, separate agencies, and separate locations) ? Will that change? These can be spelled out in the proposal. See Organizing byTraining for participatory methods of developing the organization.
Do not overlook the activities (labour) of volunteers who contribute to the project. Although they might not be paid staff, they are resources, and contribute resources to the project.
11. Costs & Benefits (Analysis):
In a proposal, the chapter called costs and benefits is not the same thing as a line by line budget with numbers indicating amounts of money. (The line by line budget should be put as an appendix at the end of the document, not in the text).
Here in the text of your project proposal, the chapter on costs and benefits should be analytical and narrative, and relate to the previous chapters. It should discuss those budget lines that may need explanation (eg purchases, expenses or needs which are not immediately apparent or self explanatory).
You should try to make a cost benefit analysis, ie relate the quantity of the objectives reached, to the total costs, and calculate a per unit cost (eg the total cost divided by the number of children taught literacy will be the per unit cost of teaching literacy) .
Summaries or totals of the following information may help some donors to decide:
* local costs;
* external costs;
* methods of financing;
* local versus foreign exchange needed;
* all non-financial contributions by the local community (each costed with a money equivalent);
* methods to obtain supplies (where and how purchased); and
* proportion of total costs requested in this proposal.
As well as the costs (including the amounts asked for in the proposal), you should make some comparison between the costs (inputs) and the value of benefits (outputs). The following could be answered:
* Who benefits?
* How do they benefit?
* Justifications for the project?
* What are the specific outputs of the project?
* What is the average total cost per beneficiary?
* Will value of benefits exceed costs of inputs (or vice versa)? By how much?
When the objectives are qualitatively different from each other (eg number of new parent committees formed and the number of children taught literacy) , then some arbitrary but reasonable division of "per unit" cost must be calculated.
The budget totals should be indicated in this section, then refer to appendix for the detailed budget. Other sources (donors and the amounts) must be mentioned. The total amount requested should appear here in narrative text.
12. Monitoring (Observing):
Monitoring should be done by:
* the affected community, represented by the local committee;
* Your agency or organization (specify who in it) ; and
* Your donors.
How will achievements be measured?
How will they be verified?
Monitoring and follow-up should be built into the project activities. Part should be continuous self evaluation by you (the implementing agency).
The monitoring and receiving of reports from the project to the donor must be worked out and put into your project proposal. The monthly reports should be designed and reviewed as to usefulness to the donor for its ongoing planning and programming for the whole country.
One thing is for sure; there should be emphasis in reporting the results, or outputs, ie the effects of the project on the target group or beneficiaries. There is no harm in also reporting activities if the reports are brief. The reporting of achieved results, as compared to planned objectives as defined in your project proposal, is essential.
See Monitoring
13. Reporting (Communicating the Observations):
In any agency-funded project, accounting and accountability are very important. This applies to most donor agencies, UN, governmental or NGO.
In your proposal, your reporting procedures should describe: "how often, to whom, including what?" You may want to discuss this with the prospective funding agency since reporting and evaluation requirements vary among agencies, and are dependent upon type of project.
Evaluating your own project while it is under way will help you and your donors see your progress and accomplishments and the choices available for future action. Careful reporting of your project in progress is an invaluable resource for others who attempt projects of a similar nature.
Your proposal should indicate what reports will be submitted. These include regular ongoing reports, and a final report. Short, frequent reports (eg weekly sitreps) may include only events and activities. Longer reports should indicate the results of the project activities (not just activities) , an evaluation or assessment of how far the objectives were reached, reasons why they were not, and the impact or effect on the beneficiaries (target group) .
Reports should be prepared and submitted optimally every month. The proposal should indicate what reports are to be submitted and with what frequency and content. Each project (if your group is proposing more than one project) requires a separate report (two or three pages of text plus needed appendices).
A detailed monthly narrative report should include how far each of the intended objectives has been reached, what were the reasons they were not fully reached, and suggestions and reasons about changing the objectives if they were found to need changing. The narrative report can include information about events and inputs (what actions were undertaken, see below) , but should emphasize outputs (the results of those actions in so much as they lead to achieving the stated objectives) . Attention should be paid to the number and location of beneficiaries. The monthly report would best be organized into sections corresponding to the sections of your proposal.
A detailed monthly financial report should include what moneys were received and from where, what moneys were expended, listed line by line according to the budget categories in the proposal, reasons for over- or under- spending, and an assessment of how well the expenditures contributed to reaching the stated objectives of the project.
The final report should include the same topics as the monthly reports, plus a section called "Lessons Learned," and a section indicating the impact of the project on the target community and surrounding areas. The report should be concise (brief but complete).
The reports should be honestly self critical and analytical. See the module on Report Writing.
The same principles and guidelines for narrative reports should apply to the financial reports. The monthly budget outcomes of the project are as important to programming as the statements are to the accounting. Explanations of deviations from planned expenditures should accompany the budget outcomes.
14. Appendices (Attachments):
The text of your proposal should be a single, brief yet complete argument from beginning to end ─ easy to read. Because many important details will make the text too convoluted and difficult to read, they should be put into appendixes at the end.
Typical of documents to put in appendices are:
* lists;
* diagrams;
* detailed budget;
* job descriptions; and
* any other necessary detailed documents.
When you have written your first draft of the project proposal, go through it and look for any descriptions of details in your text that may draw the reader away from the smooth flow of the argument. Move them to an appendix, and in their place put a brief note about them and ask the reader to look in the appendix for the details.
Now read the document again. With those details tucked away in an appendix, does the flow of argument become smoother, yet not weakened by their absence in the text? Yes? Good! You've just found another way to make use of the appendices.
Appendices can include any other material that will allow officers of donor agencies to decide whether or not to approve funds. The purpose of the appendices is to be able to include all the necessary and important details (which the meticulous reader will examine) , but not in the text of your document where you want a smooth flowing, brief argument. It tucks those details away for use when wanted.
15. Detailed Budget:
The line-by-line budget should be put in an appendix. Each line on your detailed budget should have the total costs for one budget category. The lines should be grouped into similar kinds of costs (eg salaries, vehicles, communications, fuels, transport).
If you can, distinguish between non expendable items (ie equipment that can be used again later) and expendable (ie supplies that get used up).
The budget should be a realistic estimate of all costs involved in implementing and operating the project. If possible demonstrate the potential for eventual self support, or support from other resources other than the one to which you are applying. Costs estimates should be broken down in to logical categories (line items) such as: salaries; supplies and materials; equipment; travel and per diem; rent; telephone.
Voluntary contributions made to the project by you and members of your organization should be listed and estimated as closely as possible in cash terms, or shown as "no charge." Specify physical facilities that are available or, are to be made available for the project. Specify your organization's existing equipment and supplies that will be used for this project. Include any other inputs to be used for this project from government or from other organizations.
Often, funding agencies prefer to match grants, or assist with part of the total budget rather than give the entire sum. Therefore it is suggested that you show the total budget when applying, and indicate when you expect or hope to get other funding assistance.
16. Abstract (Executive Summary):
Write this part last. This is the section on which a potential donor will read and make that vital preliminary decision: whether or not to seriously consider assisting.
This should not be written, or even contemplated, until all above sections are written. Avoid writing it as an introduction. Think of it as a concise summary and conclusion.
The optimum size is half a page; the absolute maximum size is one page. Any longer and it is in danger of not being read or considered. It should summarize only the key recommendations and be written for busy board members or executives who may read up to fifty of them and may not initially read anything more than the executive summary for each proposed project.
Ironically, while you write the abstract last, you then put it directly after the front or title page of your proposal.
and when you finish writing it: . . .
Now that you have written your draft proposal, hand it around for comments and suggestions. View the proposal critically and be prepared to do some rewriting and rethinking if necessary.
17. Some Final Guidelines Comments:
The most likely projects to be funded will be rapid, sustainable, small scale, low budget interventions for the most pressing needs identified by the communities.
Often proposals will be evaluated as to how they will contribute to wider, integrated sustainable development of the geographical area.
Active participation of women in identification, implementation and monitoring of a proposed project should be encouraged. The proposal should clearly describe the number of women involved in project design and implementation, and as beneficiaries.
Any projects that are part of larger or longer term plans must indicate other (preferably secured) funding sources to ensure continuity and sustainability.
Projects which are developmental, promote self reliance, and are ultimately locally sustainable have a higher chance of being funded. Your estimate of when the project could be self sustaining should be indicated in your proposal.
The success of projects requires the co-operation of all segments of the target community. There must be a sense of community "ownership" of the projects (including both local residents and displaced persons affected) . That means there should be some initial activity of "community development mobilization," "social animation" or similar community facilitation to ensure all members of the affected community participate in decisions concerning the proposed project. Active participation of the community as a whole (all members) in identification, assessment and implementation of the project is usually a prerequisite for approval.
A good project should be replicable. That means it should be possible to implement the same project in other communities.
Accounting and accountability are very important.
Many of the resources of those beneficiaries can be hidden by the concern we may have for their plight, but this can be deceptive. The hidden resources of your target group usually include skills and wisdom, and surprisingly many material resources, both capital and supplies. Your objective as a mobilizer and trainer should be to stimulate a process of uncovering hidden resources among the beneficiaries and encourage a social process of reducing dependencies and increasing self reliance.
Good Luck! Do not get discouraged!
––»«––
* Top
* Introduction
* Plan
* Project Structure
* Title
* Background
* Goals & Objectives
* Beneficiaries
* Targets
* Schedule
* Organization
* Costs & Benefits
* Monitoring
* Reporting
* Appendices
* Budget
* Abstract
* Comments
* Bottom
Contents:
* Top
* Introduction
* Plan
* Project Structure
* Title
* Background
* Goals & Objectives
* Beneficiaries
* Targets
* Schedule
* Organization
* Costs & Benefits
* Monitoring
* Reporting
* Appendices
* Budget
* Abstract
* Comments
* Bottom
Contents:
* Top
* Introduction
* Plan
* Project Structure
* Title
* Background
* Goals & Objectives
* Beneficiaries
* Targets
* Schedule
* Organization
* Costs & Benefits
* Monitoring
* Reporting
* Appendices
* Budget
* Abstract
* Comments
* Bottom
Contents:
* Top
* Introduction
* Plan
* Project Structure
* Title
* Background
* Goals & Objectives
* Beneficiaries
* Targets
* Schedule
* Organization
* Costs & Benefits
* Monitoring
* Reporting
* Appendices
* Budget
* Abstract
* Comments
* Bottom
Contents:
* Top
* Introduction
* Plan
* Project Structure
* Title
* Background
* Goals & Objectives
* Beneficiaries
* Targets
* Schedule
* Organization
* Costs & Benefits
* Monitoring
* Reporting
* Appendices
* Budget
* Abstract
* Comments
* Bottom
Contents:
* Top
* Introduction
* Plan
* Project Structure
* Title
* Background
* Goals & Objectives
* Beneficiaries
* Targets
* Schedule
* Organization
* Costs & Benefits
* Monitoring
* Reporting
* Appendices
* Budget
* Abstract
* Comments
* Bottom
Contents:
* Top
* Introduction
* Plan
* Project Structure
* Title
* Background
* Goals & Objectives
* Beneficiaries
* Targets
* Schedule
* Organization
* Costs & Benefits
* Monitoring
* Reporting
* Appendices
* Budget
* Abstract
* Comments
* Bottom
Contents:
* Top
* Introduction
* Plan
* Project Structure
* Title
* Background
* Goals & Objectives
* Beneficiaries
* Targets
* Schedule
* Organization
* Costs & Benefits
* Monitoring
* Reporting
* Appendices
* Budget
* Abstract
* Comments
* Bottom
PROPOSALS FOR FUNDING
by Phil Bartle, PhD
Reference Document
How to get money out of donor organizations
1. Introduction:
A proposal is a request for financial assistance to implement a project. For a community project, it may be used to seek approval from the community members (the community itself being the most important donor). You may use these guidelines to seek project funding from any donor. We recommend that you aim for multiple sources of funding. If you have only one source of funding, you may become dependent upon that one source.
A proposal is not just a "shopping list" of things you want. A proposal must justify each item in the list of things you want, so that a donor agency can decide if it wants to provide some or all of those things. You must know (and be able to communicate) exactly what you want to do with these things, and that is why you should design a project to carry out what you want to achieve.
It is important to carefully formulate and design your project. It is equally important to write a proposal which will attract the necessary funding. Proposal writing is a skill which requires some knowledge and practice.
Your project proposal should be an honest "sales" document. It's job is to inform and to convince. It is not a place to preach, boast or to deceive. If you are convinced it is a good idea and should be supported, your project proposal should honestly report it to decision makers who weigh its merits against other donation commitments. It should clearly indicate how and when the project will end, or become self supporting. Proposals should be neat and tidy, preferably typewritten, and without any extraneous or unnecessary information.
How elaborate your proposal is should depend upon the amount of resources being requested and how big the total project is. Modify these guidelines to fit the project and proposed donor.
The project proposal must reflect the background work you have already done and should be logically set out. It is not enough to write a letter stating your request. You have to demonstrate the need and prove that the project is worthy of funding. Remember that there will be many other organizations and individuals competing for the funds.
Use clear concise and simple language which says exactly what is meant. If necessary use diagrams or charts to illustrate key points. Use appendices to avoid crowding the body of the proposal and the flow of the narrative. Tailor your presentation to the agency approached. Express a willingness to be interviewed personally by the funding agency once they receive and read your proposal request.
And, especially . . .
Do not be discouraged if your proposal is not accepted. Find out why, and try another agency.
2. Plan Your Project (Practical Vision):
Perhaps you and your associates have many ideas of things you want to do; you see a need to reduce illiteracy, to reduce poverty, to provide safe drinking water, to improve the level of health, to provide training for disabled persons, and many other things. You must, however, choose a project that is very specific, limit your goal to a single desired solution to the highest priority problem.
Involve the whole community. In choosing your project, call a meeting and do not neglect to include the people who have been often neglected in the past, women, disabled, the very poor, those who have no voice in the way things are decided in the community. Make sure that the people who are supposed to benefiting your project feel that this is their project, for their benefit, and that they may contribute to it because it is theirs.
It is not enough, however, to choose your goal. Good planning is needed, identifying your available or potential resources, generating several strategies and choosing the most viable one, deciding how you are going to monitor (watch) the project to ensure that it stays on track (ie it continues to be consistent with your original desires) , ensuring that the accounting is both transparent and accurate, and deciding what is to be done when (a schedule) . A bit of research about the location, the population characteristics, the situation, the existing facilities, is needed in order to objectively describe the background to the project. Involving the community and the beneficiaries in this research is the best way to ensure that it is valid.
With the community or target group, use Brainstorming Principles and Procedures to outline a Plan or Project Design. Without allowing criticism, ask group members to contribute to each step of a brainstorming group process: what is the priority problem (list all, even the foolish statements; then rank them in order of priority) , facilitate the group to understand, therefore, that the goal is the solution to that identified problem. Help them to generate objectives (finite, verifiable, specific) from that general goal. Identify resources and constraints, then generate several alternative solutions, choosing the most viable. Other documents are available to explain the brainstorming process in more detail but this was a brief sketch.
With your background work behind you, you will want to start drafting your proposal. We highly recommend that you obtain resources (funds) from several sources. Do not let your organization or group become dependent upon a single donor.
Before you begin to write your proposal, keep in mind the following points:
* It is necessary to find out in advance what sources of funding are available, through governments, United Nations agencies, some international NGOs or private foundations.
* Most donors look for the degree of local initiative in the project proposal, the utilization of the available resources within the country itself and the plans for the project to be self-supporting once the initial funding has been spent.
* Your project should be practical, not too costly, and have the potential for being repeated in other situations.
* Increasingly, funding agencies are looking for integrated approaches to development projects. This means that you will want to see to what extent your project supports and supplements existing activities, and is designed to overcome identified problems.
* Almost all UN and government agencies, foundations and private voluntary agencies have their own proposal format, that they will want you to follow. If you are not in contact with a local or regional representative, write a letter requesting information as to proper procedures, application format and funding requirements. While format varies, the same information is asked for by all agencies and foundations.
* Find out the budgeting cycle of the agency, whether annual, quarterly or ongoing. Check to see if there is a closing date for application.
3. Project Structure (Outline of Your Proposal):
These (structure) guidelines are not intended to tell you what to write, but rather how to write the proposal. If you are responsible for writing the proposal, then it is because you are the "expert" (in the best sense of the word). If you are responsible, then you know what you want to achieve and the best way to achieve it. In any event, don't panic at the prospect and don't be put off by the technical jargon that unfortunately is frequently used.
Do not try to write the proposal by yourself. Ask for help from your friends and colleagues, programmer, manager, staff and those who can assist in either concepts or in style. Think of preparing a proposal as a written form of "dialogue" in which each successive draft is a continuation of the process.
The chapters of your proposal do not necessarily have to be written in the order presented here, but what is written in each chapter must relate in specific ways to what is written in the other chapters. Make sure that you put the right content in the right chapter. Make sure that each topic relates to the others and to the proposal as a whole.
4. Title Page (Cover):
This is a single page; the front cover of the proposal. It should include:
* Date;
* Project title;
* Locations of the project;
* Name of the organization; and
* Any other necessary single line information.
The abstract or executive summary follows the title page, but the proposers should not think about that now, read on about the other sections of the proposal first.
5. Background (Causes of the Problem):
This section is expected to answer why your project is needed. Here you will want to give a description of the situation and focus on factors which prompted the formulation of your proposed project. Tell how the need for this project was identified and who was involved in developing the project. Explain your project's origin or context.
It is most advisable to involve the whole community in identifying priority problems; that is called "participatory research."
The first thing the background does is to identify the problem. That means it must name the problem and locate the problem. It indicates the target group (beneficiaries), the sector, the magnitude, and other actors who are working to solve that problem. It also indicates the extent to which the problem has been solved by the other actors, and what has been so far accomplished by your group.
While examining the problem(s) to be addressed, several questions should arise here. What is the condition of the target group to justify the donor donating money and perhaps seconded staff? A history of the community, your group, or the project is not essential, but a brief outline can be useful. More importantly, what conditions, or what changes in conditions, are envisaged that would lead to any donor agreeing to fund your project?
You may wish to include:
* Project area (Issues and problems, not descriptions);
* Reasons for making this proposal;
* Circumstances leading up to the project; and
* Broader plans or strategies of which it is a part.
If yours is a project that is not starting fresh, the background will also indicate any changes in your project since it began.
Remember that the background chapter describes the factors leading to the problem that your project intends to solve. Everything in this section should be justification to approve the project and the requested funding assistance. Long histories and analyses would be detrimental here.
6. Goals & Objectives (Solution = Output):
The goal of your project should be to solve the problem or problems described in the background. Goals and objectives must relate to the previous chapter, by stating what is the solution to those above problems. You need a set of (general) goals, and sets of (specific) objectives.
Start with "goals" which are general, long term, broad desires. From those goals generate specific "objectives" which are verifiable, measurable, finite, and have specific dates of achievement. For example: "To reduce illiteracy," is a goal; while "To teach basic literacy skills to 20 clients by March 2," is an objective.
You will want to be as specific as possible in stating the objectives of your project. They should be written in terms of the end results you expect in the project, not how you will achieve these results. Those results must be verifiable (ie. you can clearly show that they have been achieved, and they can be confirmed by outside observers) .
When selecting the goals and objectives for the project, remember the nature of the donor you ask; what kinds of solutions are sought? The donor does not want to contribute to dependency, so is not interested in funding charitable services which may take the pressure of obligation off those authorities who should look after the rights of the local people. Most donors are not simply a source of funds for carrying out routine "operations." They are interested in supporting activities which highlight the needs of the most vulnerable and distressed, and promote self reliance, ethnic harmony and development.
7. Beneficiaries (Target Group):
In this chapter you describe the beneficiaries or target groups in some detail. You may also add indirect or secondary beneficiaries (eg people trained to help the primary beneficiaries). This can be an expansion of the topic mentioned in your background section; indicate their number, characteristics, reasons for vulnerability, locations, and so on.
Most donor agencies will be more predisposed towards your project if you can demonstrate that the beneficiaries have participated in the choice and design of the project. (An appendix can list meetings of beneficiaries, listing details such as dates, locations, times, topics discussed, speakers, and lists of beneficiary group members who attended. Refer to the appendix in this chapter; do not include it here; put it at the end of your proposal).
8. Targets and Activities (Inputs):
This chapter identifies the inputs in your project, ie what resources (cash, personnel and actions) will be put into your project.
First, start with examining possible strategies to reach the objectives mentioned above. In each case you have to link with the previous chapter. The best project proposal lists two, three or four different strategies and discards or rejects all but one of these, and says why. Then it goes on to say, "Given the objectives and strategies, what activities must be implemented or started to use that strategy and reach the objectives?"
Target means, "How much, to whom, where and by whom?" – In other words, "Who does what?" For example, what kind of training will you provide, for how long, and how many people will be involved? What specific skills will be taught and what kind of follow up activities are planned?
Indicate what kinds of jobs are being done in the project. Refer to your appendix for key job descriptions. Always refer those activities to how they will achieve the objectives mentioned above. Even the activities of the support staff must be justified in that they must be employed so as to allow the operational staff to reach their targets.
9. The Schedule (Each Action When):
In this section you describe in sequence the activities you plan in order to achieve your objectives.
If you can be so specific as to give dates, even if approximate, all the better. You may wish to use a diagram or bar chart to mark out the calendar events.
Include in the work plan the phasing of the project; how one stage of the project leads to the next.
How long will support be needed?
(When will the project end, or when will the project be locally self supporting? )
10. The Organization (Profile):
This section describes the (perhaps changing) organization and management structure needed to carry out the activities described above. The "O" in "CBO." Diagrams are very useful in this.
Describe briefly your organization's goals and activities. Be specific about its experience in working with problems of a similar nature, what its capabilities and resources are in undertaking a project of this nature.
The abilities and experience of your organization's members, your human resources, may well be your greatest asset. Indicate the kind of assistance your organization expects to receive from possible collaborating agencies. Attach additional organizational information, such as an annual report, if available.
Explain:
* How will it be done?
* Who is responsible for the project?
* Who will implement (who will do it)? and
* Who will direct the implementation of the project?
Who runs the project? Who is in charge of the overall organization? Who is responsible for its overall implementation (in contrast with responsibility for its design and its monitoring, and in contrast with the separate actors, separate agencies, and separate locations) ? Will that change? These can be spelled out in the proposal. See Organizing byTraining for participatory methods of developing the organization.
Do not overlook the activities (labour) of volunteers who contribute to the project. Although they might not be paid staff, they are resources, and contribute resources to the project.
11. Costs & Benefits (Analysis):
In a proposal, the chapter called costs and benefits is not the same thing as a line by line budget with numbers indicating amounts of money. (The line by line budget should be put as an appendix at the end of the document, not in the text).
Here in the text of your project proposal, the chapter on costs and benefits should be analytical and narrative, and relate to the previous chapters. It should discuss those budget lines that may need explanation (eg purchases, expenses or needs which are not immediately apparent or self explanatory).
You should try to make a cost benefit analysis, ie relate the quantity of the objectives reached, to the total costs, and calculate a per unit cost (eg the total cost divided by the number of children taught literacy will be the per unit cost of teaching literacy) .
Summaries or totals of the following information may help some donors to decide:
* local costs;
* external costs;
* methods of financing;
* local versus foreign exchange needed;
* all non-financial contributions by the local community (each costed with a money equivalent);
* methods to obtain supplies (where and how purchased); and
* proportion of total costs requested in this proposal.
As well as the costs (including the amounts asked for in the proposal), you should make some comparison between the costs (inputs) and the value of benefits (outputs). The following could be answered:
* Who benefits?
* How do they benefit?
* Justifications for the project?
* What are the specific outputs of the project?
* What is the average total cost per beneficiary?
* Will value of benefits exceed costs of inputs (or vice versa)? By how much?
When the objectives are qualitatively different from each other (eg number of new parent committees formed and the number of children taught literacy) , then some arbitrary but reasonable division of "per unit" cost must be calculated.
The budget totals should be indicated in this section, then refer to appendix for the detailed budget. Other sources (donors and the amounts) must be mentioned. The total amount requested should appear here in narrative text.
12. Monitoring (Observing):
Monitoring should be done by:
* the affected community, represented by the local committee;
* Your agency or organization (specify who in it) ; and
* Your donors.
How will achievements be measured?
How will they be verified?
Monitoring and follow-up should be built into the project activities. Part should be continuous self evaluation by you (the implementing agency).
The monitoring and receiving of reports from the project to the donor must be worked out and put into your project proposal. The monthly reports should be designed and reviewed as to usefulness to the donor for its ongoing planning and programming for the whole country.
One thing is for sure; there should be emphasis in reporting the results, or outputs, ie the effects of the project on the target group or beneficiaries. There is no harm in also reporting activities if the reports are brief. The reporting of achieved results, as compared to planned objectives as defined in your project proposal, is essential.
See Monitoring
13. Reporting (Communicating the Observations):
In any agency-funded project, accounting and accountability are very important. This applies to most donor agencies, UN, governmental or NGO.
In your proposal, your reporting procedures should describe: "how often, to whom, including what?" You may want to discuss this with the prospective funding agency since reporting and evaluation requirements vary among agencies, and are dependent upon type of project.
Evaluating your own project while it is under way will help you and your donors see your progress and accomplishments and the choices available for future action. Careful reporting of your project in progress is an invaluable resource for others who attempt projects of a similar nature.
Your proposal should indicate what reports will be submitted. These include regular ongoing reports, and a final report. Short, frequent reports (eg weekly sitreps) may include only events and activities. Longer reports should indicate the results of the project activities (not just activities) , an evaluation or assessment of how far the objectives were reached, reasons why they were not, and the impact or effect on the beneficiaries (target group) .
Reports should be prepared and submitted optimally every month. The proposal should indicate what reports are to be submitted and with what frequency and content. Each project (if your group is proposing more than one project) requires a separate report (two or three pages of text plus needed appendices).
A detailed monthly narrative report should include how far each of the intended objectives has been reached, what were the reasons they were not fully reached, and suggestions and reasons about changing the objectives if they were found to need changing. The narrative report can include information about events and inputs (what actions were undertaken, see below) , but should emphasize outputs (the results of those actions in so much as they lead to achieving the stated objectives) . Attention should be paid to the number and location of beneficiaries. The monthly report would best be organized into sections corresponding to the sections of your proposal.
A detailed monthly financial report should include what moneys were received and from where, what moneys were expended, listed line by line according to the budget categories in the proposal, reasons for over- or under- spending, and an assessment of how well the expenditures contributed to reaching the stated objectives of the project.
The final report should include the same topics as the monthly reports, plus a section called "Lessons Learned," and a section indicating the impact of the project on the target community and surrounding areas. The report should be concise (brief but complete).
The reports should be honestly self critical and analytical. See the module on Report Writing.
The same principles and guidelines for narrative reports should apply to the financial reports. The monthly budget outcomes of the project are as important to programming as the statements are to the accounting. Explanations of deviations from planned expenditures should accompany the budget outcomes.
14. Appendices (Attachments):
The text of your proposal should be a single, brief yet complete argument from beginning to end ─ easy to read. Because many important details will make the text too convoluted and difficult to read, they should be put into appendixes at the end.
Typical of documents to put in appendices are:
* lists;
* diagrams;
* detailed budget;
* job descriptions; and
* any other necessary detailed documents.
When you have written your first draft of the project proposal, go through it and look for any descriptions of details in your text that may draw the reader away from the smooth flow of the argument. Move them to an appendix, and in their place put a brief note about them and ask the reader to look in the appendix for the details.
Now read the document again. With those details tucked away in an appendix, does the flow of argument become smoother, yet not weakened by their absence in the text? Yes? Good! You've just found another way to make use of the appendices.
Appendices can include any other material that will allow officers of donor agencies to decide whether or not to approve funds. The purpose of the appendices is to be able to include all the necessary and important details (which the meticulous reader will examine) , but not in the text of your document where you want a smooth flowing, brief argument. It tucks those details away for use when wanted.
15. Detailed Budget:
The line-by-line budget should be put in an appendix. Each line on your detailed budget should have the total costs for one budget category. The lines should be grouped into similar kinds of costs (eg salaries, vehicles, communications, fuels, transport).
If you can, distinguish between non expendable items (ie equipment that can be used again later) and expendable (ie supplies that get used up).
The budget should be a realistic estimate of all costs involved in implementing and operating the project. If possible demonstrate the potential for eventual self support, or support from other resources other than the one to which you are applying. Costs estimates should be broken down in to logical categories (line items) such as: salaries; supplies and materials; equipment; travel and per diem; rent; telephone.
Voluntary contributions made to the project by you and members of your organization should be listed and estimated as closely as possible in cash terms, or shown as "no charge." Specify physical facilities that are available or, are to be made available for the project. Specify your organization's existing equipment and supplies that will be used for this project. Include any other inputs to be used for this project from government or from other organizations.
Often, funding agencies prefer to match grants, or assist with part of the total budget rather than give the entire sum. Therefore it is suggested that you show the total budget when applying, and indicate when you expect or hope to get other funding assistance.
16. Abstract (Executive Summary):
Write this part last. This is the section on which a potential donor will read and make that vital preliminary decision: whether or not to seriously consider assisting.
This should not be written, or even contemplated, until all above sections are written. Avoid writing it as an introduction. Think of it as a concise summary and conclusion.
The optimum size is half a page; the absolute maximum size is one page. Any longer and it is in danger of not being read or considered. It should summarize only the key recommendations and be written for busy board members or executives who may read up to fifty of them and may not initially read anything more than the executive summary for each proposed project.
Ironically, while you write the abstract last, you then put it directly after the front or title page of your proposal.
and when you finish writing it: . . .
Now that you have written your draft proposal, hand it around for comments and suggestions. View the proposal critically and be prepared to do some rewriting and rethinking if necessary.
17. Some Final Guidelines Comments:
The most likely projects to be funded will be rapid, sustainable, small scale, low budget interventions for the most pressing needs identified by the communities.
Often proposals will be evaluated as to how they will contribute to wider, integrated sustainable development of the geographical area.
Active participation of women in identification, implementation and monitoring of a proposed project should be encouraged. The proposal should clearly describe the number of women involved in project design and implementation, and as beneficiaries.
Any projects that are part of larger or longer term plans must indicate other (preferably secured) funding sources to ensure continuity and sustainability.
Projects which are developmental, promote self reliance, and are ultimately locally sustainable have a higher chance of being funded. Your estimate of when the project could be self sustaining should be indicated in your proposal.
The success of projects requires the co-operation of all segments of the target community. There must be a sense of community "ownership" of the projects (including both local residents and displaced persons affected) . That means there should be some initial activity of "community development mobilization," "social animation" or similar community facilitation to ensure all members of the affected community participate in decisions concerning the proposed project. Active participation of the community as a whole (all members) in identification, assessment and implementation of the project is usually a prerequisite for approval.
A good project should be replicable. That means it should be possible to implement the same project in other communities.
Accounting and accountability are very important.
Many of the resources of those beneficiaries can be hidden by the concern we may have for their plight, but this can be deceptive. The hidden resources of your target group usually include skills and wisdom, and surprisingly many material resources, both capital and supplies. Your objective as a mobilizer and trainer should be to stimulate a process of uncovering hidden resources among the beneficiaries and encourage a social process of reducing dependencies and increasing self reliance.
Good Luck! Do not get discouraged!
––»«––
VOICE OF THE VOICELESS
By Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Submitted 7 May 1998 by Michael Shaw
So many gods, so many creeds,
So many paths that wind and wind,
While just the art of being kind
Is all the sad world needs.
I am the voice of the voiceless:
Through me, the dumb shall speak;
Till the deaf world’s ear be made to hear
The cry of the wordless weak.
From street, from cage and from kennel,
From jungle, and stall, the wail
Of my tortured kin proclaims the sin
Of the mighty against the frail
For love is the true religion,
And love is the law sublime;
And all is wrought, where love is not
Will die at the touch of time.
Oh shame on the mothers of mortals
Who have not stopped to teach
Of the sorrow that lies in dear, dumb eyes,
The sorrow that has no speech.
The same Power formed the sparrow
That fashioned man-the King;
The God of the whole gave a living soul
To furred and to feathered thing.
And I am my brother’s keeper,
And I will fight his fight;
And speak the word for beast and bird
Till the world shall set things right.
Submitted 7 May 1998 by Michael Shaw
So many gods, so many creeds,
So many paths that wind and wind,
While just the art of being kind
Is all the sad world needs.
I am the voice of the voiceless:
Through me, the dumb shall speak;
Till the deaf world’s ear be made to hear
The cry of the wordless weak.
From street, from cage and from kennel,
From jungle, and stall, the wail
Of my tortured kin proclaims the sin
Of the mighty against the frail
For love is the true religion,
And love is the law sublime;
And all is wrought, where love is not
Will die at the touch of time.
Oh shame on the mothers of mortals
Who have not stopped to teach
Of the sorrow that lies in dear, dumb eyes,
The sorrow that has no speech.
The same Power formed the sparrow
That fashioned man-the King;
The God of the whole gave a living soul
To furred and to feathered thing.
And I am my brother’s keeper,
And I will fight his fight;
And speak the word for beast and bird
Till the world shall set things right.
Museveni, Mutebile clash over jets cash
Daily Monitor Wednesday, June 15 2011 at 00:00
Kampala
The Governor of the Central Bank says President Museveni’s erratic policies and the government’s fiscal indiscipline have led to higher inflation and declining foreign reserves, a UK-based newspaper reported yesterday.
Major contention
Mr Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile told the Financial Times newspaper that he had disagreed with Mr Museveni over the decision to spend $740 million on jet fighters, which has pushed reserves down from six to four months of import cover. “He gave me some promises which he has not kept – like a way to redress the reserves,” Mr Mutebile told the FT. “I am still fighting with him.”
The Ministry of Defence, under President Museveni’s directive, withdrew a reported $400 million (Shs960 billion) from the Central Bank to pay for the fighter jets without parliamentary approval.
On March 24, President Museveni met MPs from his ruling NRM party and asked them to rubberstamp the purchase under a classified vote. The President told the MPs that the jets were necessary for Uganda’s defence now that the country has confirmed oil reserves.
Seeking explanation
The Public Accounts Committee of the Eighth Parliament wrote to the Central Bank governor seeking an explanation over the release of the funds without prior parliamentary approval. It is not clear whether this was provided but it now appears that the money was drawn out of the country’s foreign reserves.
Mr Mutebile rarely makes public statements and his comments suggest how deeply concerned technocrats are about the state of the economy. Although the economy is expected to grow by about six per cent in the 2011/12 financial year, widespread unemployment and the highest inflation rate in 17 years has caused concern and public protests over the rising cost of living. Despite being “very courageous”, Mr Museveni’s continued embrace of “elements of Marxism” was undermining the economy, Mr Mutebile told the FT. He reportedly cited several factors that were causing problems between him and the President, the FT reported, including a planned $2.2b hydropower plant at Karuma, which government says it will build with or without external funding and dodgy tax exemptions to regime cronies.
Others include poor agricultural productivity and the government’s policies, which tend to favour a large population, despite Uganda having one of the youngest populations in the world.
The newspaper also reported that the governor is dismayed by an unexplained collapse in fuel reserves, which has led to volatile and rising prices at the pump, and a lack of progress in modernising agriculture. “Our output is heaven-made, but it should be man-made,” he told the newspaper.
Failed review
The newspaper article also revealed that Mr Mutebile had found it “very, very humiliating” after Uganda failed an International Monetary Fund review earlier this year over the record Shs650 billion supplementary budget, most of which went to election-related expenses.
Mr Thomas Richardson, the IMF resident representative, told the FT: “(Government) passed a supplementary budget which was inconsistent with the programme that we had just agreed, right before the election.”
Mr Mutebile, who has been central bank governor since 2001, is partly credited for the free-market policies that have led to sustained economic growth, and bringing inflation down from triple to single digits.
The FT said the governor, whose five-year contract was renewed in 2006 and late last year, and the President are increasingly at loggerheads as “erratic policy” undermines the fiscal discipline that underlined the country’s economic growth.
However, Mr Mutebile told the newspaper that despite his concerns about the President’s actions, Mr Museveni had shown courage in choosing not to introduce export controls and that there was “no alternative” to Mr Museveni in “this economy”.
Mr Mutebile was unavailable for comment yesterday as was the President’s spokesperson Tamale Mirundi. Donors have also cut or withheld budget support citing, among others, entrenched corruption and fiscal indiscipline.
Kampala
The Governor of the Central Bank says President Museveni’s erratic policies and the government’s fiscal indiscipline have led to higher inflation and declining foreign reserves, a UK-based newspaper reported yesterday.
Major contention
Mr Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile told the Financial Times newspaper that he had disagreed with Mr Museveni over the decision to spend $740 million on jet fighters, which has pushed reserves down from six to four months of import cover. “He gave me some promises which he has not kept – like a way to redress the reserves,” Mr Mutebile told the FT. “I am still fighting with him.”
The Ministry of Defence, under President Museveni’s directive, withdrew a reported $400 million (Shs960 billion) from the Central Bank to pay for the fighter jets without parliamentary approval.
On March 24, President Museveni met MPs from his ruling NRM party and asked them to rubberstamp the purchase under a classified vote. The President told the MPs that the jets were necessary for Uganda’s defence now that the country has confirmed oil reserves.
Seeking explanation
The Public Accounts Committee of the Eighth Parliament wrote to the Central Bank governor seeking an explanation over the release of the funds without prior parliamentary approval. It is not clear whether this was provided but it now appears that the money was drawn out of the country’s foreign reserves.
Mr Mutebile rarely makes public statements and his comments suggest how deeply concerned technocrats are about the state of the economy. Although the economy is expected to grow by about six per cent in the 2011/12 financial year, widespread unemployment and the highest inflation rate in 17 years has caused concern and public protests over the rising cost of living. Despite being “very courageous”, Mr Museveni’s continued embrace of “elements of Marxism” was undermining the economy, Mr Mutebile told the FT. He reportedly cited several factors that were causing problems between him and the President, the FT reported, including a planned $2.2b hydropower plant at Karuma, which government says it will build with or without external funding and dodgy tax exemptions to regime cronies.
Others include poor agricultural productivity and the government’s policies, which tend to favour a large population, despite Uganda having one of the youngest populations in the world.
The newspaper also reported that the governor is dismayed by an unexplained collapse in fuel reserves, which has led to volatile and rising prices at the pump, and a lack of progress in modernising agriculture. “Our output is heaven-made, but it should be man-made,” he told the newspaper.
Failed review
The newspaper article also revealed that Mr Mutebile had found it “very, very humiliating” after Uganda failed an International Monetary Fund review earlier this year over the record Shs650 billion supplementary budget, most of which went to election-related expenses.
Mr Thomas Richardson, the IMF resident representative, told the FT: “(Government) passed a supplementary budget which was inconsistent with the programme that we had just agreed, right before the election.”
Mr Mutebile, who has been central bank governor since 2001, is partly credited for the free-market policies that have led to sustained economic growth, and bringing inflation down from triple to single digits.
The FT said the governor, whose five-year contract was renewed in 2006 and late last year, and the President are increasingly at loggerheads as “erratic policy” undermines the fiscal discipline that underlined the country’s economic growth.
However, Mr Mutebile told the newspaper that despite his concerns about the President’s actions, Mr Museveni had shown courage in choosing not to introduce export controls and that there was “no alternative” to Mr Museveni in “this economy”.
Mr Mutebile was unavailable for comment yesterday as was the President’s spokesperson Tamale Mirundi. Donors have also cut or withheld budget support citing, among others, entrenched corruption and fiscal indiscipline.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Musumba’s directive to permanent secretaries props up corruption
By Vincent Nuwagaba
First published by 256news.com under The Mouthpiece Column on 24 November 2009
I was caught by shock and consternation after reading the press reports that Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) witnesses were ordered to shut up. See Daily Monitor Tuesday 24 November 2009. “In an October 16 letter, Mr Isaac Musumba, the Minister of State for Regional Cooperation, asked all Permanent Secretaries not to answer some questions from MPs on the Public Accounts Committee, who are investigating the alleged misuse the funds meant for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting held in Kampala in November 2007”.
The order from Mr. Musumba is tantamount to propping up corruption and waters down the government’s resolve to fight corruption. It also tells us that maybe Mr. Musumba got the directives from the president. If that is not the case, I expect the president to sack Hon Musumba for he is sabotaging the president’s efforts to fight corruption.
I am one of the very few people who protested the hosting of Chogm here in Uganda arguing that given the economic quagmire and quandary we are in, we were not in position to spend Shs 30 billion to host Chogm delegates for only one week. I asked what would my mother benefit from the hosting of Chogm and many people said I was antidevelopment because Chogm was going to open so many opportunities for the country. From what we were told before hosting the event, we have learnt from the state owned newspaper The New Vision that Shs 370 billion was spent on hosting the event. It is possible that the country could have spent 400 or 500 billion on the event.
Our country is seething with high levels of graduate unemployment. Yet our leaders always tell us to create our own jobs. I am sure that money could have built a number of factories to absorb our unemployed graduates. That money could also be enough to subsidise university education which is becoming inaccessible to the majority poor. Only four months ago, my mother was suffering from fibroids and when I took her for a surgical operation at Mulago I was asked Shs 3million. How many Ugandans can afford 3 or 2 million for medication? When you go to Mulago now there are two wings; the private wing and the general ward. In the general ward, doctors will tell you, a patient can spend three weeks without being attended to. Within that period, a patient can meet the creator before being attended to.
When I took my mother, a gynecologist told me, “I used to treat such cases from Naguru Health Centre IV but now Naguru is no more” When I asked him why, he told me, “Don’t ask me many questions, let us leave the Naguru issue” before adding that, “it is our system that has betrayed us”.
From the foregoing, we can infer that Chogm was not a priority in the first place but we need not cry over spilt milk. What we must do is to ensure that those who made a fortune out of the taxpayers’ money don’t only give accountability papers but refund that money in addition to being sent to the University of understanding. I know the president often develops cold feet while fighting corruption when his loyalists are implicated but this time he must show seriously that he is ready to fight corruption. I know that he fears that dealing with the corrupt will cost him electoral fortunes but he ought to pick a leaf from President Paul Kagame.
All of us must realise that corruption is a cancer that must be fought collectively. We need to learn that corruption causes unemployment, poverty, illiteracy, poor roads, and poor health services, widens the gap between the rich and the poor and breeds conflict and criminality. Corruption compromises criminality and whoever shields the corrupt is a societal danger. In fact the web of criminality that we are entrapped in is a direct or indirect consequence of corruption. Like I have always argued corruption begets corruption.
The civil society stands between the state and the citizens and accordingly, civil society is the voice of the citizens. Civil society activists ought to come out openly and decry Musumba’s order. I reiterate my call upon the president to relieve Musumba of his duties because Ugandans cannot stand corrupt ministers anymore at a time when the president has vowed to fight the corruption monster.
Ugandan politicians who have become synonymous with corruption ought to realise that pushing the people against the wall is unacceptable. My campus friend Paul Musamali used to tell me that the corrupt politicians need to be ostracised and I used to think that we can reform them. Now I strongly agree with him that leaders who have pursued self-aggrandisement at the expense of the majority who have been turned into the wretched of the earth must be shunned. We need to shun their functions; we shun their political gatherings and even their social functions such as weddings. We must make the cost of corruption very high; even if they slaughter cows and buy lots of drinks for us, we need to reach a time when we should say, we cannot come. I remember Mzee Boniface Byanyima refused money for condolence from one of the topmost personalities in this country saying it may be part of global fund.
For God and my country!
Vincent Nuwagaba is a human rights defender and can be reached via vnuwagaba@gmail.com or +256702 843 552
First published by 256news.com under The Mouthpiece Column on 24 November 2009
I was caught by shock and consternation after reading the press reports that Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) witnesses were ordered to shut up. See Daily Monitor Tuesday 24 November 2009. “In an October 16 letter, Mr Isaac Musumba, the Minister of State for Regional Cooperation, asked all Permanent Secretaries not to answer some questions from MPs on the Public Accounts Committee, who are investigating the alleged misuse the funds meant for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting held in Kampala in November 2007”.
The order from Mr. Musumba is tantamount to propping up corruption and waters down the government’s resolve to fight corruption. It also tells us that maybe Mr. Musumba got the directives from the president. If that is not the case, I expect the president to sack Hon Musumba for he is sabotaging the president’s efforts to fight corruption.
I am one of the very few people who protested the hosting of Chogm here in Uganda arguing that given the economic quagmire and quandary we are in, we were not in position to spend Shs 30 billion to host Chogm delegates for only one week. I asked what would my mother benefit from the hosting of Chogm and many people said I was antidevelopment because Chogm was going to open so many opportunities for the country. From what we were told before hosting the event, we have learnt from the state owned newspaper The New Vision that Shs 370 billion was spent on hosting the event. It is possible that the country could have spent 400 or 500 billion on the event.
Our country is seething with high levels of graduate unemployment. Yet our leaders always tell us to create our own jobs. I am sure that money could have built a number of factories to absorb our unemployed graduates. That money could also be enough to subsidise university education which is becoming inaccessible to the majority poor. Only four months ago, my mother was suffering from fibroids and when I took her for a surgical operation at Mulago I was asked Shs 3million. How many Ugandans can afford 3 or 2 million for medication? When you go to Mulago now there are two wings; the private wing and the general ward. In the general ward, doctors will tell you, a patient can spend three weeks without being attended to. Within that period, a patient can meet the creator before being attended to.
When I took my mother, a gynecologist told me, “I used to treat such cases from Naguru Health Centre IV but now Naguru is no more” When I asked him why, he told me, “Don’t ask me many questions, let us leave the Naguru issue” before adding that, “it is our system that has betrayed us”.
From the foregoing, we can infer that Chogm was not a priority in the first place but we need not cry over spilt milk. What we must do is to ensure that those who made a fortune out of the taxpayers’ money don’t only give accountability papers but refund that money in addition to being sent to the University of understanding. I know the president often develops cold feet while fighting corruption when his loyalists are implicated but this time he must show seriously that he is ready to fight corruption. I know that he fears that dealing with the corrupt will cost him electoral fortunes but he ought to pick a leaf from President Paul Kagame.
All of us must realise that corruption is a cancer that must be fought collectively. We need to learn that corruption causes unemployment, poverty, illiteracy, poor roads, and poor health services, widens the gap between the rich and the poor and breeds conflict and criminality. Corruption compromises criminality and whoever shields the corrupt is a societal danger. In fact the web of criminality that we are entrapped in is a direct or indirect consequence of corruption. Like I have always argued corruption begets corruption.
The civil society stands between the state and the citizens and accordingly, civil society is the voice of the citizens. Civil society activists ought to come out openly and decry Musumba’s order. I reiterate my call upon the president to relieve Musumba of his duties because Ugandans cannot stand corrupt ministers anymore at a time when the president has vowed to fight the corruption monster.
Ugandan politicians who have become synonymous with corruption ought to realise that pushing the people against the wall is unacceptable. My campus friend Paul Musamali used to tell me that the corrupt politicians need to be ostracised and I used to think that we can reform them. Now I strongly agree with him that leaders who have pursued self-aggrandisement at the expense of the majority who have been turned into the wretched of the earth must be shunned. We need to shun their functions; we shun their political gatherings and even their social functions such as weddings. We must make the cost of corruption very high; even if they slaughter cows and buy lots of drinks for us, we need to reach a time when we should say, we cannot come. I remember Mzee Boniface Byanyima refused money for condolence from one of the topmost personalities in this country saying it may be part of global fund.
For God and my country!
Vincent Nuwagaba is a human rights defender and can be reached via vnuwagaba@gmail.com or +256702 843 552
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