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DIA Notes Third Edition 2

2012-03-02T09:39:00.000-08:00

DIA Notes Third Edition 3

2012-03-02T09:34:00.000-08:00

DIA Notes Third Edition 4

2012-03-02T09:32:00.000-08:00

DIA Notes Third Edition 5

2012-03-02T09:29:00.000-08:00

DIA Notes Third Edition 6

2012-03-02T09:25:00.000-08:00

DIA Notes Third Edition 7

2012-03-02T09:22:00.000-08:00

2012-02-16T09:11:00.001-08:00

2012-02-16T09:00:00.001-08:00

2012-02-16T08:57:00.001-08:00

2012-02-16T08:53:00.001-08:00

2012-02-16T08:50:00.001-08:00

2012-02-16T08:43:00.001-08:00

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2012-02-16T08:30:00.001-08:00

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2012-02-15T03:09:00.001-08:00

Authoritarianism in the Uganda Media

2012-02-10T10:51:00.001-08:00

PART ONE

Trace History of The Press in Uganda to Justify the View that the Press has been largely authoritarian.

The history of the Press dates back to the early 1900's. It was sparked off by the coming of the early missionaries, catholic and Protestants.

The first missionaries, the church missionary society (CMS) arrived in 1877 headed by Rev.Mackay in the Kings Muteesa's palace in Mengo. Having been advised by stanley in his letter he wrote in the daily telegram the church Missionary society were ready with gifts like mirrors , cloth and many other foreign elements all aimed at capturing the acceptance fo the Kabaka. Kabaka Muteesa's Zest for civilisation encouraged Rev.Mackay a woodworker and engineer to put their foreign skills at the disposal of the Kabaka.

The first huddle of being accepted by the Kabaka of Buganda was accomplished so, the next huddle was making the Kabaka and the people of Buganda accept christian teachings, which were mostly against the African ways of life like polygamy, subordination of women in a family and mostly against prayer and sacrifice to "small gods". It is at this stage that the missionaries saw the need for a Newsletter, to educate the people about Christianity and also coordinate the movements of the missionaries.

The second factor for publishing Newsletters by the church missionary society was the arrival of the catholic white fathers from France in 1879. Therefore a need for many coverts to both the Catholics and Protestants was imperative. It is against this background that the first church missionary society newsletter, Mengo notes was published in 1900. It was written in English for purposes of spreading the protestant faith and the English language.

The struggle for establishment between the Catholics and Protestants saw yet another Newsletter, MUNNO, a catholic printed paper in circulation, it was written purposely to spread Catholicism and also counter the protestant propanda. It was first published in 1911.

The colonial government also had its own ambitions of spreading boundaries past Buganda to reach the rest of Uganda. Therefore an instrument to spread the strategies of the colonial government like; infrastructure development, encouraging cash crop growing and the development of government institutions was needed. In this respect free newspapers were published in a number of languages to serve the purpose of the protectorate goverment in 1939. Some of the papers included Khodeyo , written in Lusoga, Bushesiire written in Runyankole and many other papers written in Iteso, Luganda and Luo.

Closely related was publication of foreign owned planter's News lette;, Uganda Herald in 1912. It was written in English to help the white and Asian business communities. The last and most vocal category of the newspapers published were the black people privately owned Newspapers. The growth of the elite black community especially in Buganda saw the use of the press as an important weapon in agitating for political space and condemning social, political and economic injustices.

Some of the most notable Newspapers were Ssekanolya 1920, Munyoyozi (Explainer) 1922, Nyubba Ebireesse 1923, Mattalis 1924 a sister paper to the Uganda Herald, Gambuuze and Ddobozi lya Buganda, 1928.

All these papers championed the struggle against unjust colonial tendencies like the Luwaro (Forced Labour) Kasanvu ("Seven thousand" compulsory cheap paid labour ), Busuulu (Land rent) and other grievances against Buganda chiefs were boldly addressed. "Evunjjo", which was tax paid to the chiefs after a peasant yielded crops. This tax was customary and therefore generally accepted by the people of the land, but unfortunately with time the chiefs abused the custom tax by sending people who did not pay to prison, taxes that strained the local people with time. In one case,a farmer complained to have borrowed 150 pounds of seed to plant about 150 yards of land, which yielded 100 pouds harvest due to poor weather. All the farmer's yields and efforts were then paid as tax to the chief. This was to pay back the initial 150 seed loan and was left with 50 pounds to pay the next harvest, and yet the farmer still had to borrow from the Chief more seed for the next season. With time these tendencies could not be accepted by the communities, hence revolting against the chiefs.

The activities of private "black" owned News papers amidst antagonism between catholics, protestants, Moslems , traditionalist’s, colonialists and the elite class, which had no political power but ideas, necessitated to check and balance the press in all sectors. Though it is unfortunate that those in power, the protectorate government and the chiefs used their political might to crash freedom of the press by arresting, fining, deporting and confiscating the press machinery of activists. Daudi Basudde editor of Ssekanolya 1920 and Munyonyozi 1922, Mr. J.N. Luyima editor of Gambuuze, J.W.Kiwanuka editor of Uganda posts, 1951 and others like peter Ssali editor of the Uganda Mirror,1951 were all arrested and heftly fined at one point in their career.

Bassudde, editor of Munyonyozi was critical of corruption practiced by chiefs. In one of his editorials Bassudde commented that, it was time the chiefs put a stop to the acquisition of wealth through corrupt ways and also apologised to the public. He was later charged with spreading malicious information about the Buganda treasurer and fined five hundred shillings for this publication.

Another vocal editor J. W. Kiwanuka vehemently criticized the Ministers for the slow progress towards independence from the whites. He further argued that the Ministers' being undeducated denied them professional administrative skills and emphasized the poor administration policies of the Katiikiro Paulo Kavuma. He was arrested and charged for violating the custom of the land, by writting offensive articles against the Katikiro. He paid a fine of one thousand shillings.

The sending of Kabaka in exile 1953 sparked off bitterness from the press especially the pro Buganda Newspapers like Ugand empya, Uganda eyogera which lamented that "Uganda will not be peaceful unless the Kabaka is returned to Uganda". Kiwanuka was arrested again and charged under the emergency laws of Publishing material intended to bring confusion in Uganda;. He was released after paying a fine of one thousand five shillings.

Paulo Muwanga and Damulira Mukiibi editors of the Emamba Esaze aslo faced the colonial authoritarian wrath, when they wrote in the editorial, warning the Ugandans about Britain being the enemy because it was braking down the Traditional hierarchy into nothing but puppets. They were arrested and charged with publishing seditious information about the colonial government.

By the end of the 1940's most of the Black owned Newspapers had closed downed, especially during the Second World War. Black owned newspapers were critical of Ugandans that were forced to fight on behalf of the British. Such papers like Munyonyozi and Gambuuze were banned under the emergency regulations and press censorship and correction ordinance No.13 of 1984.

The Banning of the early papers saw yet new vehement and vocal papers coming back on the scene among which were Uganda express, Uganda star, Uganda mirror and Uganda post edited by Kiwanuka. These papers were more ambitious and addressed issues relating to independence.

The colonialists were determined to stay and hence used the already institutionalized rules and regulations to close down most of the Newspapers.

On January 10, 1954 Kiwanuka was arrested under section 6 of the emergency regulations and press censorship of 1953. On May 31,1954 the colonial regime banned Uganda post, Uganda express and Uganda Eyogera. Peter Ssali of Uganda mirror and Musa of dobozi lya Buganda were arrested on June 14, 1954.

To curtail any further publication of Newspapers by the agitated Ugandans the colonial regime resorted to confiscation of press machinery.

It should be noted that some of the newspapers were already at the verge of closure due to the constant fines that were imposed on them. The papers were left incapacitated to continue in the publication of further articles.

It is against this background that the Uganda press turned out to be largely authoritarian. The growth of an educated black community with out jobs, and any hope of getting jobs had nothing to loose but all to gain in antagonizing the colonialists and the old school. Traditional leaders, who still wanted the stratification of society according to classes of bakopi and Balangira couldn't survive the wrath of the new energized elite class. This tendency among the traditional leaders was pulling the development of the country backward therefore the educated young men opened war on some primitive exploitative tendencies by the chiefs, Ministers and the kabaka.

While this educated class grew, the colonialists and the traditional leaders started using all available means to counter the demands of the new class of Ugandans. Therefore censorship of the press, fines and many other means were employed to see to it that, the elite operated in the boundaries of the governing body.

It should however be noted that, it is the activities of the press that ignited worker's strikes in the past , therefore the colonial regime and the business white community could not afford having a liberal press during such times.

Censorship of the press was therefore pushed into Ugandan's constitution due to the antagonism that had been sown between the warring partying; colonialists, Traditional Leaders and a new and vibrant elite class that was anxiously waiting on taking over from the white men. Some of the political parties that were formed like the Democratic Party, Uganda national congress and later Uganda people’s congress were soaked in religious rivalries.

The two political groups were later nick named (Dinni ya Papa), DP meaning Popes religion. and UPC, United People of Canterbury. Basing on the religious conflicts that were beginning to take root, the incumbent ruling political parties welcomed press censorship as a blessing in the name of staying in power. (DP), stands for Democratic Party while UPC, Uganda People's Congress.

After 1962 Independence, the newspaper and publications ordinance Number 3 of 1961 was amended and enacted in the 1963 constitution. This act included among other subsections, a fine of five thousand shillings for any publication of false information and one year arrest, Newspapers were supposed to be registered hence issued an operating license. Section18 provided for arrest and a fine for any unregistered newspaper. Finally a police officer under section 21(1) was mandated to confiscate and ban a book, magazine News papers which he or she reasonably thought was published in contravention of the News paper and publication ordinance of 1963 act.

The year 1979 was a direct repetition of press suffocation or even worse. It was a period of dictatorship under the rule of Idi Amin Dada. During this period jolly joe Kiwanuka , an editor of various newspapers, James Bwogi a television presenter and jimmy P. a photo journalists were murdered for their strong professional beliefs.

During this time Amin passed a decree against the press in 1972 which provided that " The ministry may, if he is satisfied that it is in the public interest to do so by statutory order, prohibit the publication of any Newspapers for a specified period or indefinite period" (Section 21)

This period saw the closure of most Newspapers, for example Munno was banned from 12 August to 31st December 1976. Uganda star closed during this period and Uganda Argus ceased publication after being taken over by the government. Uganda Argus changed name to "Voice of Uganda".

The movement system has been claiming every now and then to be democratic and yet it has not done much in respect to article 29 (1). This article states that every person shall have the right to;

a) Freedom of speech and expression which shall include freedom of the press and other media.

"ironically the same constitution has enacted impediments to the media such as " The press and journalist statute, 1993, the electronic media statute and the ambiguous penal codes laws on sedition sections; 36, 37, 38, 39, 40,41,42,43,44,45 and 50" Such laws which, I will not discuss in detail under these sections contradicts article 29 of the same constitution.

Authoritarianism was by far planted into our democracy by the colonial legacy. It is against this background that most political leaders in Uganda have used this weapon to consolidate themselves in power.

It should also be noted that in a country with poor civic education, Politicians could easily use institutionalized laws to hinder freedom of expression and speech largely due to the ignorance of the people about their rights and responsibilities, and this has been the case in Uganda.

PART TWO

Updates of Authoritarianism in the Media from 2001 To 2012

The passing of the press and journalists Act, access to information Act and Communication Act. (I will discussion the Press and journalist act)

Political discussion and campaign has over the years pushed the government to engage in easing some of its policies on media practices. The Press and Journalist Act was passed in July 1995 with aim of regulating Mass media in Uganda. The act is an instrument to enforce Article 29 (1) of Uganda's Constitution; Every person shall have the right to freedom of Speech and expression which includes freedom of the Press and other Media. In order to meet its mandate a 13 member media committee was established that includes experts, technocrats and bureaucrats. The Act also provides for a National institute of journalists (NIJU) a professional body that was charged with uniting and ensuring professional standards within the media fraternity. However critics of this statute claim it was designed to enshrine the government into power and not given the power it deserves to engage the state and concerned media publics. The 13 member media council is charged with the responsibility of arbitrating disputes between the state and media, complainants against persons of the media and individual or groups of people from the general public. However from the time of its passing in 1995, a number of cases shall be discussed below that have been resolved by the high court in Uganda and other legal institutions rather than the media committee, as such rendering the committee inefficient. Several cases of unprofessional conduct and practices still remain unabated and yet the National Institute of journalism as stipulated in the act is responsible for ensuring professional standards in the media.

While at the policy level efforts are being made to streamline media practices in accordance with international media standards, the same government has used its state apparatus to clamp down descent. This case by case study tells the story;-

I will briefly highlight some of the major media cases that stand to show authoritarian media practices between 2001 to date. While I discuss the cases below, It is important to note the time lag between each case of charging and that of acquittal, I will call it "Time theft, imprisonment". In my view any professional would be incapacitated when charged with cases that drag on for years.

In May 1999 during the second Congo War, (Mr) Onyango Obbo along with counterparts, Wafula Ogutu and David Ouma Balikowa were arrested and charged with sedition in a story they covered showing a photograph of a Naked woman being shaven with a pair of scissors on her genitals by two soldiers, purportdly Ugandan. November 9, the trial of three journalists opened in Kampala's Magistrates court, case was adjourned December 14, after an unknown assailant hitherto never been caught, fired at and wounded the journalist's lawyer James Nangwala, It was further adjourned to January, 25 2000. They were later released from police custody after paying fines. The government argued that the soldiers in the picture could have been Congolese or Zimbabweans who were also in the Congo at the time. One of the witness Kandida Lakony, a woman claiming to have been in the picture was charged for providing false information and sent to prison for one year. She was released in June 2000 and passed away later in the year.

August 11, 2005 KFM Radio, a subsidiary of Monitor Publication was closed down, its equipment confiscated by security agencies on charges of sedition after a debate between Movement Senior Presidential Advisor on Political Affairs Moses Byaruhanga with Andrew Mwenda, who claimed The government of Uganda's security incompetence led to the sudden accidental death of SPLA Leader John Garang. In an interview Andrew Mwenda maintained that the helicopter that was given to Sudanese leader was a junk helicopter, Garang was flagged off at night and Imatong hills where the accident happened was known to be a Lords Resistance Army (LRA) area of operation. The government responded by closing down the media house and summoning the editors to Court, the producer Angelo was sacked. The station reopened on 18th August.

27 April 2008, Andrew Mwenda arrested by an assortment of security agencies that included Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI), Joint anti Terrorism Task force (JATT) the Black Mamba that also raided his publication house the Independent Magazine. Andrew Mwenda was on his way to attend Capital Gang a house favorite talk show hosted by Capital FM radio. His equipment that included phones, flash disks and computers were confiscated by the police.

10 September 2009, Security agencies raid and close a household favorite radio station, Central Broadcasting Service (CBS). Its equipment confiscated, staff forced to leave work and the editors arrested. The government later charged the radio station of inciting violence that culminated in the killing of 27 people, in a stand off between Buganda Kingdom in particular the Kabaka of Buganda and Uganda government over land issues and the Kabaka's insistence on visiting his controversial lands in Kayunga district. High Court Judge Vicent Zehurikize ruled against the government's saying that the authority lies with the Media council to penalize media houses hence dropping all charges against Central Broadcasting Services (CBS) on 20th August 2010.

25 May 2001, Security agencies raid and close a vernacular daily "Gwanga” on grounds of publishing libelous information. The Managing editor Alex Lubwama was later arrested and his equipment confiscated.

The above case by case study reaffirms and shows the enshrinement of authoritarianism in the Uganda political structure, I have ignored to quotes authoritarian and what some may describe as reckless and careless utterances by leading politicians against the media not befitting of our times. Though most of the time media houses have ended up winning the cases, the psychological effects, the will to continue in journalism, the financial strain and loss of data is immeasurable.

A number of journalist have over the years either changed profession to Public relations, advertising, Corporate Management, Marketing, Development communication specialists for NGOs or moved countries and write and work outside of Uganda. Of course, it is important to note that a journalist working in the same media house over the years bears a financial strain that is unbearable in comparison to the skills, fame and opportunities outside mainstream journalism; such also remains the fate of journalism in Uganda.

While some journalists have maintained a lethal attack on government, civil society and the army hence playing the watchdog role, notably over the years a number of journalists have yielded to government offices, which is not wrong or professionally inappropriate, however the twist in these cases is the easy fall out and disgrace that is associated with journalists that join government and later end up on either corruption charges or dismissal. Such has been the case with renown and celebrated investigative and economic journalist Teddy Ssezi Chei former editor of Uganda Confidential.

I will lastly discuss the conduct and use of negative media campaign as a political strategy against especially opposition figure heads. While negative media campaigns are an acceptable political campaign and lobbying strategy, its use in Uganda media defiles the odds.

On several occasions political figures have been stripped of all their respect, decency and ridiculed in the media sphere through constant engagement and scuffles with security agencies, some arrests turn into real ugly fights in front of the media. A case in point was political figure Dr.Kizza Besigye who was practically beaten, roughed up like any other taut, thrown underneath a pickup van and driven off to police during his participation in the walk to work campaign. These scenes have been a repeated sight for a number of opposition figures; women have not escaped the wrath. Woman Member of Parliament Nabila Ssempala Nagayi was equally beaten, dragged and almost stripped before the media by police, on one particular occasion. Woman Member of Parliament Kitgum Beatrice Atim Anywa was equally roughed up and dragged before the media by security agencies during her walk to work demonstration. Two demeaning issues arise out of these acts in the mind of the general public. While there is no threatening message written and officially sent out by government to all would be opposition political contestants, the gruesome treatment and physical suffering inflicted upon politicians is enough to send chills to any political candidate planning to oppose the status quo. Secondly the psychological strain on politicians, after engaging in such scuffles is immeasurable; treating political diplomats like common thieves and touts drastically diminishes the politicians' diplomatic appeal. I will further explore this assertion in a paper discussing Presidential campaigns.

You might ask how this relates to authoritarianism in the media? Well, the media in this case, is used as a driving force or enforcer of political ill will, and publicizing of fear. While, a News editor might tip the photographer who took that clear picture of a police man thumping a Presidential candidate, the effect in undermining the politician has far reaching consequences.

I will conclude by saying that, authoritarianism has been rooted in the political structuring of Uganda from independence to date, the penal code still remains, a challenge and a hindrance to a fully fledged free media in the country. Government should be credited for instituting the press and journalist’s statute that is a step towards empowering the media, the challenge remains for government to recognize and respect the policy instrument. As history has taught us, media houses today are shut down and recover not like in the past.

The Media today, enjoys a host of talks, late 1990's and early 2000 saw an increase in the number of talk shows, call in shows etc and later on citizen round table discussions popularly known as "Ebimezza" aired on both radio and Television stations. This was greatly attributed to governments opening up of media space, the high number of investments in radio and television stations and most importantly the influence and contribution of telecommunication companies that used these talk shows to boost revenues and advertisements. Currently FM stations have spread more than any other media channel and still remain one of the strongest political debate and development communication platforms. Over.119 privately owned FM and 22 Television stations and 17 internet providers had been registered in 2003 by the Uganda Communication commission.

It is worthy noting that journalists today are arrested and charged under a particular law, representation by legal officials is guaranteed. In spite of these achievements in opening up of media space, the following criticisms remain; Government security agencies have been used as instruments of oppression against descent and clamping down media houses. While in other countries civil society organs are used in carrying out the processes of closure or summoning of journalists to court, In Uganda heavily armed security agencies are used and sometimes even go to greater lengths of firing ammunition. The procedures of arrests are in themselves inhuman and gruesome not befitting any professional, sometimes the arrests culminate into physical abuse as earlier discussed.

The business of Media, heavily relies on advertising and being on air 24 hours, 7 days a week, as such cannot afford a day or even hours off airwaves, otherwise you loose clients. However once the media houses are closed the massive loss of revenue is not accounted for, and reimbursed by government. In the long run the quality and revenues of media houses have dwindled and in some cases closed down. In the same spirit the journalists that are usually charged, stay on probation for months or even years as such affecting or interfering with the quality of their work. The case by case study above shows the time lag between charges and acquittals. The financial, psychological strain and effects on ones life, friends and family is some times overwhelming. I have not heard of a journalist suing government for such burdens and yet as journalists these are daily realities when arrests are made.

It is also important to mention the unlevelled justice system, once arrested, a journalist is guilty until proven otherwise or innocent and the burden of proof lies with the journalist. These are two difficult legal grounds for media practitioners, especially when it comes to the financial aspect of collecting evidence to prove one's innocence.

It is important to note that when media houses are closed down or 'Raided" as usually called, a number of equipment are confiscated and usually the process involves, breaking or mishandling of expensive and sensitive media gadgets. Some gadgets are destroyed in the process, and usually equipment is lost during the process, once again bearing a dent on the media house's infrastructure. A procedure of closure needs to be instituted that includes a clear check list of equipment confiscated and retained, packaged according to level of sensitivity and signed off by both parties. Or perhaps defined what qualifies for confiscation and what does not.
Colleagues in the legal sector have also argued against the frivolous use of "sedition" and "Treason" as a charge. A number of cases have been filed against media houses and practitioners on these grounds, but are eventually dismissed by the magistrate or high court on failure to prove the sedious/treasonous effect of a particular media output. Therefore legal experts have argued that the definition of sedition and treason remains a point of exploitation by government and needs legal redress. Other criticism remain in access to information act and the challenges practitioners face, I will however limit my self to the press and journalist statute.

I will close this paper by this quote:

"Censorship on social and cultural grounds is absolutely justified, whereas on political grounds, it is simply primitive, obvious and unacceptable in a civilized society" (Robert L. Sterenson, 1988)

Disclaimer:

The Use of "Black" to refer to indigenous black People and "Whites" to refer to foreign colonialists is in context of the time and should not be misunderstood as racist language in any way. The terms are used to define the categorical groups of people at the time. Same goes with other terms such as "Bakopi" referring to slaves.

Reference:

'Adigun, Agbbaje, Freedom of the Press and Party politics in Nigeria.

Karugire, Roots of instability

The Uganda constitution, 1995

Scott, James (1973), The first African Press in East Africa; Protest and nationalism in Uganda in 1920's in " The International journal of African Historical studies" VI,2

Gariyo Zie, “The Press and Democratic struggles in Uganda 1900 - 1962"

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Written and Edited By:

Walter Edgar Byaruhanga
Communication/Public Relations Expert
Executive Director
Development Initiatives Africa
United Nations Civil Military Coordinator, from a humanitarian perspective
Commodities, Forex and stock day trader.
+256 (0)75 1836972
+256(0)78 7459373
edgarbyaruhanga@yahoo.com

Commentary of Uganda Presidential Election 2001 to 2011, and Change as Campaign Strategy

2012-02-10T09:14:00.000-08:00

PART ONE

COMMENTARY ON PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS Campaign Strategies 2001 to Date and “CHANGE” as a Campaign strategy.

(Special attention will be paid to President Yoweri Museveni and Dr.Kizza Besigye)

WHERE DID THE OPPOSITION TO MUSEVENI GO WRONG?

March 12, 2001 People of Uganda went to poll for a Presidential candidate of their choice.

Six Candidates contested for the presidential elections namely (Mr.) Kizza Besigye, Yoweri Museveni, Aggrey Awori, Mayanja Kibirige, Francis Bwengye and Chappa Karuhanga.

Retired Conel Kizza Besigye, was the strongest opponent to incumbent President Yoweri Museveni in 2001, actually the urban elite described the election as to close to call but alas Museveni won the day with such a big margin contrary to analysis made by the urban elite. Therefore some questions remain unanswered; who are the better analysts of the political situation in Uganda? Are they the elite or the populace? Is the Movement system Democratic? What do the people of Uganda want from Politicians? And what are the strong holds of the incumbent leader over his rival opponents? And Finally is CHANGE a workable political strategy.

Whether the Movement systems is democratic?, is an interesting questions the international community has been asking for a long time and only the people of Uganda can answer this question. I think the just concluded elections have answered most of these questions including that of whether the movement is Democratic or not.

It should be noted that for the second time President Museveni has won elections with quite a big margin. In 1996 President Museveni won the election with 76% of the total votes cast leaving peanuts for other candidates to share amongst themselves, Ssemogerere from Democratic Party being in the biggest contender.

In 2001, with quite an organized opposition conglomerate of multi parties, urban disgruntled and representative Nasser Ssebagala and the soon to be declared splinter group of the movement system, led by Iron lady Winnie Byanyima put up quite a challenge, to the movement political system, lowering its scores to 69% of the total votes cast. This was still good enough for the incumbent to show the whole world his popularity amongst Ugandans.

The real celebration for the movement political system is not President Museveni winning the polls but the strength of the Movement type of democracy that has taken route in our country.

Retired Colonel Kizza Besigye has served the bigger purpose of manifesting the democratic practices of the movement system rather than him being an opposition. Him, contesting on individual merit, is a clear manifestation that the election under the Movement system was in line with the constitution, which was promulgated in 1995. Secondly these elections have showed that the population of Uganda has the capacity to elect a politician of their choice based on manifestos and most importantly what one stands for.

Besigye was expected to win the polls because the movement has massive support in our country, but the electorate has politically matured in that, it is no longer about the movement, multipartyism or even ethnicity like it has always been in African cases. The electorate has shown that ones' manifesto, confidence for security in a leader and the political ideals one stands for, plays a very big role in winning the election.

As a democracy, the people of Uganda polled for a candidate of their choice without state intimidation, as claimed by the opposition, and yet, International observers refuted these allegations against the government thus declaring election free and fair. Counting of votes was done in the open, with participation of political representative, police was in charge of arresting malpractices, and not the army as the opposition had propagated during their campaign.

The Electoral commission was impartial, though they have showed a few structural weaknesses like, late deliveries of the polling material and a poor electoral register, which must be addressed. Finally the army, together with police and other security organs were in charge of state security, as it has always been the back born of Uganda's democracy.

One of the opposition's strong arguments was that; Museveni has ruled for a longer time than was expected, therefore, it was time for him to go. This idea won the opposition quite a lot of support from the urban elite, especially those who analyzed our political situation depending on political elitists philosophy, and some of those comparing Ugandan politics to the first and second world countries.

Not to my surprise, this strategy did not sale in rural areas because it represented a new form of guerilla war against President Museveni their son. He has proven more than worth a son to the rural people by providing them with universal primary education (UPE), Health centers, Modern roads, Electricity, Immunization and most of all peace defended by a disciplined army, Uganda People's Defense Force (UPDF).

The idea of "Change" as a campaign strategy should be clearly understood in its self. What is Change? According to the concise oxford dictionary Change means. Change1:- Making or becoming different; Substitution of one for another, arrival at fresh phrase etc. Change 2: Take or use another instead of; become different; become new etc. I will also pick some bits and pieces from Management and organisation theory scholars; Lewin's three stage model that was later adapted by Edgar Schein (1964) comprises of the following steps: 1. Unfreezing existing behavior (ie gaining acceptance for change) 2. Changing Behavior (adopting new attitudes) which requires a prolific Change agent. 3. Refreezing new behavior (Reinforce new patterns of thinking). Also refer to Phillp Kotner change theory and its stages.

Based on these definitions the opposition did not clearly define the two distinctive features of the two political alternatives ie the Movement system headed by President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and Opposition groups headed by Dr. Kizza Besigye. The features that were supposed to be changed from what they were to some thing a new were also not clear to the electorate. For resistance, change in what type of democratic type of governance to what? clearly campaigning to show the different features.

Changes in economic initiatives such as investment, taxation, budget allocation, poverty eradication strategies, microeconomic activities from what? To .......???. Change in civil society mobilization, health, education, media and governance organisation from Legislature, Judiciary and executive from what type? To what?.

Change in Military institutionalism from what type ? to ....??.These processes would clearly define the aspect of change and distinctively be understood by the populace. Therefore "Change as a campaign strategy was not really conceptualized and clearly disseminated to the electorate.

However in all the campaigns, I have had the opposition stick to showing improprieties without juxtaposing the improprieties with the alternative for the electorate to understand. Comparative academics such as Sartori have argued that standard and precise definitions of various concepts in politics is problematic, calling it conceptual stretching. Could this have been the problem faced by the opposition in fielding "Change as a campaign strategy? What about the qualities of the change agent?. Can we argue that Dr. Kizza Besigye as the main agent of change lacked the qualities that the electorate were looking for in a Leader?. We shall explore this point.

On the whole this strategy of change backfired at the opposition, because they made Museveni seem like an enemy, which sparked off sentiments from the Museveni supporters, making them adamant to listening to any issues of importance from the opposition. It was more like an anti - opposition immunization dosage the opposition was providing on behalf of President Museveni.

Political philosopher Machiavelli wrote in his book the "The Prince" Men always want change for the sake of it and when it comes, they complain and wish they hadn't changed".

History has shown that the elite is always in need of change from the status quo. Contemporary scholars argue that some of the biggest revolutions like the French revolutions in Europe were all sowed by the elite who rarely participated in the struggle to achieve what they had sowed. Therefore can we say that the urban elite community were the wrong reinforcing agents of change, as such Dr. Kizza Besigye backed on the wrong tree.

It is against this background that Bismark came up with his famous statement, “The Great questions of the day shall not be answered by speeches and resolutions but by Blood and Iron" Bismark realized that the elite waste time in endless dogmatic debates.

Unfortunately the elite have been retired Col. Kizza Besigye's strong hold let alone the fact that they are the minority in our country, around 10% actually vote of whom other candidates have a share of the vote. The opposition further made a mistake by trying to explain the complicated theories of what pure democracy should be in comparison to the movement system in the short period of campaigns. Some of these issues were mind boggling.

The opposition failed to identify and package the issues. As such playing right in the hands of President Museveni because he was able to counter defend and substantiate whatever issue the opposition raised against the government by using simple examples to explain his points and achievements. For example he usually spoke of, the increase in the number of cemented houses as a sign of economic growth, he broke down figures into large numbers such as, we shall give Ug Shs.. 4,000 million instead of 2.5 billion shillings etc. for health etc...or sometimes would joke that this money given to one of you can be used to build a three storied house with hard notes. The calculated use of these figures strategically worked on the minds of the electorate. A strategy that was ignored by opposition in especially building their cases on corruption.

On Women's day 2001 The president sighted the use charcoal stoves as one of the achievement of women under the movement political system, in his manifesto he talked about sanitary pads and many other simple essentials things easy for an ordinary person to understand and identify with. While the opposition spoke of building car industries and many Utopian promises not applicable to our country at the time.

The opposition also focused on becoming the mouth piece for the urban unemployed, disgruntled and uneducated a campaign strategy launched by former Mayor Nasser Ssebagala. It was virtually clear this group backed Dr. Kizza Besigye, they even created a song’ Hajji a tugambye tuwee Besigye obululu" meaning Haji Nasser Ssebagala has asked us to vote for Kizza Besigye'. This song was very popular among the urban areas. Opposition Urban supporters spread like a wild fire blurring the vision of the opposition. After being deceived by this chantery group, Dr. Besigye and his group became complacent that the victory was theirs. But where did they go wrong with this group?

First and foremost the elite group that raised thumbs up high on Dr. Besigye’s decision to contest for presidency strongly criticized his move of allying with former convict Nasser Ntegge Ssebaggala. To some elite it was luck of clear political principles and vision to identify with a former United states of America convict, actually, If I may put it rightly, the urban elite described this group as Bayaye (touts). Therefore Dr.Besigye lost support on grounds of credibility.

The Museveni National Task force did not ignore this opportunity, so they filled the media with propaganda against the chaotic alliance.

Comments made by members of parliament for Rubaga South Ken Lukyamuzi and Haji Nasser Ssebaggala, inciting people to cut foreigners with machetes, confirmed the anarchy in stock from the opposition., the two stood as evidence for chaos from the opposition's side, which was well exploited by President Museveni’s campaign team in the Mass Media.

Meanwhile the opposition tried to maximize propaganda against the army as instigators of violence. President Museveni countered the hullabaloo about the army and instead deployed the army with other security agencies to maintain law and order, which they did quite well. As such President Museveni proved his control over the state security organs castigating the issue of the army being divided.

Regarding the issue of graduated tax, the opposition did more of educating the public about the principles of taxation such as " The expenses incurred in tax collection should be minimal to enable tax collectors accrue revenue' than actually showing how they are going to change it. Like I said earlier on, such complicated technicalities did not move the ordinary people let alone be understood by them, a task that was supposed to be clarified by the opposition in a lengthy campaign strategy.

The President knowing the people he is dealing with, responded by simply promising not to charge over three (Shs. 3000) for the economically handicapped, abolished women taxation and taxation on all people above sixty years of age and this was enough to counter Dr. Kizza Besigye's issues on taxation.

On the whole the opposition had poor campaigns strategies, which were susceptible to manipulation by the President's campaigns team. Even some of the good issues they had were not clearly articulated to fit the ordinary person's level of understanding.

The degree of complacence within Dr. Kizza Besigye's task force also betrayed them. They were deceived by massive turn ups of people on rallies not considering the fact that people in rural areas and small towns are usually idle and redundant due to low economic activities. The rural communities usually used rallies as "time killers", as such could not be used as a direct representations of support one had.

Museveni National task force knew this fact, therefore in each area the president made a rally, a group of people known as Kakuyege (door to door campaigners) were left in these areas to intensively campaign during the nights and day. Their duty was to reinforce the Presidents campaign messages and prevent it from being distorted by opposition groups.

Therefore, in future all those planning to contest for political offices, should watch out for the use of "CHANGE" as a basis for contesting. We have learnt that incumbents can easily manipulate issues raised within this spectrum to serve their purpose.

CHANGE, is a phenomenon brought about by time in any particular aspect. In our case, Ugandans needed some more time to develop a basic level of intellectual and political awareness of state matters to enable them make conscience and rational political judgments upon issues raised by politicians. It is not until this time that elite arguments on issues like corruption, democracy, multipartism that will hold enough water to gain an ordinary person's support. Therefore, the idea of one person bringing about change, without considering the political conscience of the people is ludicrous and an irrational assessment of ones capability.

PART TWO

Brief Assessments of political developments since 2001 to Date. (18th January - February 7, 2012)

President Museveni has gone ahead and won election consistently in 2005 and 2010. I will not have any other political judgments but maintain the above mentioned factors were repeated in the campaign strategies.

The Opposition however had a strong point of corruption in the army and other political sectors in 2005, however were countered by the Presidents ability to introduce education for all incentives and further opened the political space to multiparytism a phenomenon that cultivated political cohesion within the movement system.

2011, was a smooth sail for the Movement system due to the same technical issues however, the case of corruption was strategically countered in President's Museveni's term, the president strategically ensured that corruption cases both small and big covered the media from 2005 to 2010. Some officials were arrested, and a new phenomenon sprung up; endless parliamentary public accounts committees and continuous probing of government officials in the media, some of the cases were strategic movement maneuvers. These efforts were enough to maintain conversation in media and public debate. At least every eligible ordinary, non political elite voter had the opportunity to hear one thing or two, about a public political official that has been implicated in a corruptions scandal or sent to prison. These efforts were enough to rest the electorates’ doubts about the governments' effort in tackling corruption. Corruption is, however on the increase and yet remains the opposition’s strongest "punch" against the incumbent government. A punch they have not yet mastered and developed the tact to deliver.

The case of policing has further grown since 2005 to date; to a point that community oriented policing strategies have been adopted and strong public relations campaigns. The media today refers to Police heads as "Boss". Maybe it is a new title from policing training centers.

The incumbency has further distanced its self from liability to political improprieties and placed the burden on the police. Strategically the opposition has further been out maneuvered by constantly finding itself engaged with police and other security organs. In a way, political activitists are finding a growing gap between them and Movement representatives and especially with the Executive due to the constant interaction with security agencies. A strategy that is being employed by the government.

The incumbency raises its iron and soft hand to the police and warring party depending on the situation. It has therefore remained a catch twenty two for security agencies found in these situations; further strengthen the incumbency's strength over political descent.

In 2011, security organs further streaped most of the presidential candidates of their presidential and diplomatic dignity by practically beating them, dragging them on the ground, throwing them onto the back of police trucks like thieves or touts, some of these scenes are unheard of, in the field of political diplomacy. These scenes were degrading in themselves but further undermined the candidates before the populace. Graphically put, a political candidate who polled over 2 million votes, in that particular incident of being dragged and trumped upon was streaped of his dignity. It practically meant that over 2 million Ugandans that voted for this candidate were also being trumped upon.

Technically the opposition has equally been out maneuver in the use of the forth estate, the Media. The media has constantly been active at reporting improprieties in governance and corruption but this has been stream lined to a particular area of concern, while the Movement has been tactical in raising issues and shining light on improprieties or cases that are a problem now but has planned for, or is in the process of solving, military scientist call this tact psychological operation or "Psycho Ops" (Black and White Ops). The opposition parties have time and again fallen in the same trap of also raising and participating in these discussions, at their own peril. The media heats up these same issues, and finally the incumbency responds to its electorate by resolving the issue at hand and the opposition is once again left playing in the hands of the opposition. Some political analysts have characterized this as "hood winking" the public.

Political Mergers

It is important to note, the drama that ensues amalgamation of political parties, I will avoid the details of this strategy but, I will question the timing of opposition groups political mergers. The mergers in all the political campaigns have come during the time of Political office races. According to my assessment the political disagreements of the mergers has always covered about 50% of the media discussion at the time when the opposition parties should be focusing on their main rival President Yoweri Museveni. The parties have always gone on with one candidate refusing to contest unless given leadership; some popular candidates decide to stand as independents etc... This process usually fills the media and attracts more political discussion than the issues that are finally raised in their Presidential race manifestos. I do therefore find many loopholes that are exploitated by the incumbency in this political strategy. In my opinion these mergers should come earlier before the Presidential campaigns, unless otherwise intended to maintain the status quo.

Military

The Incumbency has further attained political milleage from the Military achievements over the years. The high level of discipline that the army has maintained and distance from politics, The President himself also retired from the army giving him credibility as a civilian leader. The military further pursued the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) that was under the leadership of Kony and restored peace in Northern Uganda, hence giving the incumbency political strength, a one time daunting area for the movement system. Cattle rustling in the Teso and Karamojong region were equally fought by the military and other successful international military ventures in Somalia. These developments have legitimized and increased the professional standard of the military. Therefore before the electorate, the incumbency has got it right with the military. However the opposition is challenged to show the need for change of leadership with such glaring military successes.

Electoral commission

The Electoral Commission has technically developed; it has over the years improved the electoral processes in terms of facilities, professionalism, technology and increased its independence. As such, the one time political mileage for the opposition has over the years narrowed in this sector.

Poverty.

Ravaging poverty and income inequalities by far remains one of the strongest political arguments against the Movement system. I still find the lingual, characterization and packaging of this problem by the opposition still weak, same goes for the messaging of the campaign material used in articulating these issues. Poverty continues to bite on Ugandans and that is a fact.

Use of the Media

Any communication specialist who watched Dr. Kizza Besigye's Television visual campaigns and those of President Yoweri Museveni will tell the difference in quality, positioning, calmness of crowds, airtime and most importantly the exact visibility time of the candidates in their Television campaign trails.

I will highlight some of the media flaws in Dr. Kizza Besigye's use of media, while for instance he went on campaigns trails along with musicians and comedians to converse votes, which was not a bad strategy. Technically this strategy was not well managed, he was usually blurred and always with at least two, three or more people on the campaign platform at any one time, when he was delivering his message. The music artists are very popular in these communities, therefore competed with him for attention hence loosing votes in most of the communities in which he traveled due to public relation errs. The opposition campaign should have found a clear communication strategy around this point.

In this regard therefore, his Image was not strong and outstanding in the minds of the electorate, as such when it came to casting votes some times the people did not clearly know whom to vote for on the ballot paper.

Comparing to President Museveni, he always stood clearly visually visible and eminent on a podium alone. He always stood out of the crowd and never shared his podium with a number of people, as such was clearly visible and appealing to the electorate. It is not a mistake that totalitarian systems have their leaders curved in stone and metals and stand tall in almost all corners of their countries, this strengthens their presence. This strategy gave President Museveni an edge in the media along with other factors. I can not ignore the role of the "Hut" which was a symbol that created a strong identity for the president.

President Museveni has developed the skin for adapting with time; the 2010 booming music industry did not leave him behind. While Ugandans had enough of his Ranches and Milk discussions. He introduced himself as an artist, which I must say, he has always been especially in regard to his art of public speaking. He launched his own Urban music Song, a traditional folk tale packaged to the taste of today’s music sound beat. Once again out maneuvering the oppositions' use of Music artist along the campaign trail. On the whole, his use of the media was a masterpiece that the opposition took for granted.

Passive campaign messages used by Dr. Kizza Besigye. He stood at a podium in the Busoga region and Shouted out... (Muwunya Obwaavu, mujjudde envuzza, muli baavu), .....etc meaning (You are stinking poverty, you are full of jiggers, you are poor...) and then went on to deliver his political message... Such messages in the long run were associatated with him and were easily washed away by President Museveni's promises of "honey" ; In the next budget we shall construct Your main road, We shall build more health centers, We shall provide free secondary Education etc. In a way the opposition and the Movement were playing a sort of "Good Corp, Bad corp" with the electorate. Besigye on his campaign trail would paint a bleak picture and President Museveni would come and paint an opposite optimistic picture. Logically, Who would be more appealing? and what message would stick most? That is a question for you to answer. Would you vote a person who has just told you about your woes and troubles OR Vote for a candidate that has promised to create a better future for you? Unless the strategy was designed to maintain the status quo.

If I were to graphically demonstrate this scenario for a young man or woman who has only witnessed one type of political system, The concept of "changing" a type of governance would be like changing a girl into a boy or vice versa, such was the task for the opposition to prove to the electorate.

President Museveni gained points, by continuously highlighting successes in the strength of the economy, Increased education, health facilities, increased modern road networks, Small and medium enterprises initiatives such as SACCO (Government funded financial clusters groups), North Uganda Social action fund (NUSAF) increased numbers of modern housing facilities and opened markets with our neighbors through a number regional co operations, Increased use of telecommunication facilities such as MTN, WARID, AIRTEL, ORANGE etc... Radio and Television stations and a number of print media and Internet facilities.

Finally in 2010 the Incumbency delivered a blow of more "honey" to the populace that the opposition continues to struggle with;- The new promise of "Oil", that was discovered in the albertain region. Movement party political strategists campaigned in the media and small town discussion and explored all possible ways through which the ordinary person will benefit from this newly found black Gold. The promise of a new wealth ahead was enough to send the electorate into hibernation or "sleep" and rest all the desires for change, as such countering almost all arguments of poverty raised by the opposition.

Finally has CHANGE worked, it has worked worldwide and will continue to work, in the latest years we have seen what has been dubbed the "Arab Spring" changes in leadership through revolutions, in Arab countries such as Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain and Yemen, etc.. Political leaders have been changed and policies required to meet the needs of people in today's time have been changed in countries such Saudi Arabia, Syria. The factors that have led to these changes are beyond the scope of this paper however change has taken place and methods have equally varied depending on the countries.

American President, Barack Obama Democratic party representative was ushered into Presidency on the ticket of change. Equally the same social, economic and political elitism of Americans is incomparable to Uganda; however these are historical political presidencies/grounds for CHANGE as a political campaign platform. Political change agents should study these cases for them to put up a credible political fight.

This paper sums up my analysis and update. This paper was written as an academic paper in 2001 for the department of Mass communication.

PART THREE

Update (February 7)

In the Event of writing this paper President Museveni delivered a report to the parliament of Uganda in a special secession about the state of Oil exploration.

In a spirited statement he said: I now feel that the Movement has the right ammunition to take over Kampala, sending a huge applause from Parliamentarians. "This is how I feel now"

The Movement has regained the initiative due to having the development pillars in place. We have an educated society, We have energy, We have the right security apparatus and now Oil , he said. This parliamentary secession was televised on Uganda Broadcasting Channel. (UBC).

2011 Pole Result Declared

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has been declared winner of the just concluded Presidential elections that took place Friday 18th February 2011. The electoral commission chairman engineer Badru Kiggundu made the announcement on Sunday 20th February 2011. The poll results are as follows;-

1. President Yoweri Museveni (NRM) won by 68.38%. getting 5,428,369 votes out of 8,272,760 total votes.

2. Dr. Kizza Besigye (IPC) second in with 26% getting 2, 064, 963 votes.

3. Mr. Norbert Maot Democratic Party’s Norbert Mao is in third position having polled 147, 708 votes.

4. Mr. Olara Otunnu (Uganda People's Congress (UPC)

5.Ms. Betty Olive Kamya ( Uganda Federal alliance)

6.Mr. Abed Bwankia People’s Development Party

7.Mr. Jaberi Bidandi Ssali People’s Progressive Party

8.Mr. Samuel Walter Lubega Independent candidate.

Written and Edited By:

Byaruhanga Edgar Walter
Communication/Public Relations Expert
Executive Director
Development Initiatives Africa
United Nations Civil Military Coordinator, from a humanitarian perspective
Commodities, Forex and stock trader.
+256 (0) 75 1836972
+256 (0) 78 7459373
edgarbyaruhanga@yahoo.com
edgarbyaruhanga@gmail.com

THE MEDIA MACHINERY

2012-01-24T06:11:00.000-08:00

Paper showing how technological changes have affected the performance, Ownership and control of the Media. Specific reference shall be drawn from Journalism.

PART 1

Edited Version of Academic paper written in 2001.

Political and social philosophers have attributed a number of names to the media such include and not limited to, Gate keepers, Eyes and ears of society and Mirror of society. These attributions have been built around the notion that the media is the 4th estate of a state after, the Government (Judiciary, legislature, Executive) , The Army, Civil society (includes NGOs, interest groups and Police).

Technological advancements have affected in a number of ways the performance, ownership and control of the media. The performance of the media has shifted from the traditional method of News reporting, as the early media started. Technology has improved proximity, timeliness, diversity, quality and quantity of information. In Brief this paper will show how some of the changing trends have affected theoretical foundation of media products. The basic concepts of media products stemming from diversity, the basic foundation of News and Objectivity and its effects, Public space and its theoretical foundations, and the guiding principles of control and regulations that govern the media today. I will explore the assertion of an information age, which according to Denis McQuail "refers to a society in which there is a high dependence of individuals and institutions on information and communication in order to be able to function effectively in almost every sphere of activity"

To contextualize the case studies in this paper some of the following basics theories should be understood in defining the media sphere. Public interest;-, is important to evaluate and define parameters of public Interest.

According to International encyclopedia of the social sciences (Sills, 1968) says that the notion of public interest is elastic and relative and has no apriori content waiting to be revealed, it assumes the existence of a common interest, although specific manifestation cannot be agreed upon. In practice, there is no a priori way of distinguishing valid from invalid claim. Downs (1962:3),specifies three ways in which public interest in a democratic society can be useful as to maintain dialogue between government and its people, to curtail use of "common good" to serve individual interest and finally used as a guide to check actions of governments and its people. Classical economists furthered the debate by defining public goods from which telecommunication and transport facilities were defined as such. I will however stick to the basic arguments as put forward by (Held, 1970). 1. prepondence theory: which presupposes the sum of individual interests is held to be paramount, as such the will of the people rules, however one would be on the "losing Side" if contrary to the demands of the majority. 2. Common Interest theory presupposes all members share similar interest, as such agree on things like shared transportation network, water, governance, monetary systems etc and Public Space qualifies as such, the third and last is the unitary theory that assumes an absolute normative principle which is derived from a larger social order or theory. It is basically built on the foundation of governance type, ideology or doctrine to which all subscribe, in effect what is correct for one is for all, also popular in communists, socialists and totalitarian societies. Aquinas, Hegel, Marx, Plato, and Aristotle shared this ideology.

The discussion that follows is based on the current trends and some case studies that have developed in ownership and control of the media as a result of technological changes;

The war between Iraq and the coalition forces was followed worldwide due to high quality of News reporters at the scenes day in and day out. Technology improved the level of proximity between events and the public.

Due to the improved technological changes, it is important to note that journalists are able to create a series of News reports and events out of one story or event. A vivid example of a story about Amina Lawal ( Nigerian adulterous woman 2001, who was condemned to death by stoning), this story led to the cancelation of the World Beauty Pageant from being held in Nigeria.

This factor introduces yet another factor of Marshal McLuhan, who wrote in his book Understanding the media, 1964. "Media technology has killed time and space and converted the world into a small Village."

Technology has indeed killed time of event outbreak and news transfer by improving the timeliness within which News reaches the rest of the World. Television channels use news bars and split screen technique to show exact time changing trading partners in the stock markets, weather and News outbreaks. This would not be achieved without technological advancements. It is important to note that the news bar with running text on split screens combine the visual aspect of TV with the traditional narrative aspect of print media.

Traditional roles, functions and types of media for Journalism, information, education, surveillance, advertising, Public relations, entertainment for Print, Broadcasting and alternative media have advanced. Today the media has combined all the skills required of the above type of media practitioner into one. A vivid example is International media channels such as CNN, BBC TV/Radio. DWD, CNBC, Reuters, AP, RT, CCTV, Aljazeera, France 24,NTV Uganda, UBC, WBS etc. News is shown with a background of journalists on computers, moving up and down to signify the currency of the News, contrary to traditional broadcast news coverage of having a plain wall behind the News reader. Media agencies further tell News through pictures of the event being reported, and on spot reports at the point of occurrence, hence creating approximate proximity between the audience and the news occurrence. While this is going on flashes of adverts, Surveillance in Stock market, weather changes and breaking new events are running on a split screen.

Obviously newspapers and magazines are no longer the traditional "Print Media”. It was widely believed that radio and television are none permanent - as compared to print media (Newspapers, Magazines, etc.) because once they are transmitted; it is not possible to view them again. However, the invention and ease of recording gadgets has made the difference. It is now possible to record any television program at any time and watch it at one's convenience, similarly print medium considered being more permanent than the "ethereal” TV and radio service has improved, it is now possible to download and take hard copy and this again makes both into permanent medium. The biggest change however has come through the marriage of different technologies. A case study of developments in media permanence will be discussed in the 2012 updates.

The greatest contribution has come from the computer, through which the communication process is complete (ie. Encode/Decode/Feedback: Communicators – Channel – Transmitter – Receivers – Feedback). Therefore huge systems of communications such as sound bites or pictures, are communicated by a sender through gadgets such as microphones, Sound equipment, phones and recorded through gadget such as cameras, sound recorders videos later transmitted through micro waves, Internet, Print, Radio waves, fibreoptics and satellite transmission to a Receiver, who in turn receives information and goes through the same process to send feedback. This process has largely been facilitated by computer innovations that act as a meeting point for these technologies to function effectively hence one stream of information. A day is probably not far when television will become obsolete because most of its functions would have been taken over by the computer technology through internet.

Media diversity has equally advanced, Environment, religious, Sports, Film, Music and many other interest channels are on the increase. Self-censorship is now possible and the concept of choice realized. The devices used are able to censor the material on especially Television, but also one has the choice of switching stations. The public is left the moral obligation of choosing what is fit for their consumption. One could switch by a click of a button to either watch a sports, religious, news, movie or Music channel etc. The field of media censorship and initiatives currently in place remains a big sphere of study beyond scope of this paper.

The globe has indeed become a small village due to technological advancements, as predicted by Marshall McLuhan due to the birth of internet, which combines all the traditional media in one. Television and radio channels now run their well updated and rich in content websites on internet making access and permanence easy. One can search the archives for some of the well updated websites and access content published 1- 3- 10 years ago. Music, film and any other media content is easily downloadable.

The Internet is an interactive new type of media; many people can communicate to a number of people at the same time compared to the old media, where one person only communicated to many. The interactiveness of Internet has given it an edge over the rest of media, such developments as Skype, email services, photo transfer services, facebook, youtube, twitter, Yahoo messenger, Google + can now enable one to communicate by phone, or through a web camera to another person using the same service in any part of the world.

Media ownership has advanced due to technological developments that have seen the growth of conglomerates and the rise of media moguls such as Rupert Murdock owner of News Corp, Ted Turner, largest shareholder of Warner group of companies.

Media conglomerates have redefined the roles and responsibilities of media and journalists at large. mergers (2001) between big conglomerates like Internet leader American online (AOL)and Time Warner that is worth over $360 billion. Controlling the content of such media organization has become practically impossible to governments. The two companies merged with AOL contributing $200 while Time warner Contributing $160. Time warner owns, HBO, Warner brother, parent company of CNN, Time and Fortune Magazine.

The music and movie industry is facing a fall in revenues due to the uncontrollable "Internet monster". Napster one of the internet music providers was closed down after a heavy court case. However that was just a tip of the ice berg, today there are over a million internet music and film providers that offer free downloadable material therefore the industry is bound to see further falls in revenue unless changes are made.

Controlling piracy in countries where the law is flexible on internet is a bigger problem. If Napster started another music provider in Uganda, where the law is flexible it would continue without control unless certain global regulations of Internet are developed. The widening range of market needs will see new developments such as the "teletext television" (Combines internet and Television)

At the local level ownership of media is motivated by profit therefore packaging of information is directed towards attraction of large audience. Therefore what attracts small audiences is least considered, as such a number of important programs slip through the cracks. In Uganda today, television station are casting a barrage' of South American soaps, Riviera, Passion etc because they are crowd pullers.

The argument of having the public as a commodity the media sales to advertisers, has influenced media direction internationally. It is imperative to note that without advertisers the media does not function adequately, God forbid Ngoma Newspaper by Buganda Kingdom could not survive in the market. However the question of control at the end of the day has been left to individual journalists serving business oriented media houses, It is up to individual journalist to cover human interest stories.

The upgrading of technology which is driven by market demand is leading to further development of the media industry, the other questions raising out of this is who is liable to practice in this dynamic sphere and what type of training is expected for media practitioners .

PART II

UPDATE OF MEDIA DEVELOPMENT 2O01 TO 2012

Extract written to follow up on the academic assertion made about the Media in 2001
Social Media

The rise of social media Twitter, MySpace, dude, YouTube, badoo, Wordpress,Facebook, Wikipedia, Google+, etc.

• Wikipedia Launched on 15 January 2001 by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger current in 283 languages

• Facebook launched in February 2004

• Google Earth released as Google Earth in 2005

• Twitter Launched in 2006, created by Jack Dorsey

• Alibaba group Launched Taoboa online shopping in 2003

• Youtube formed February 2005

• Badoo Launched November 2006

• Megaupload Launched 2005

• Word Press May 27, 2003

• Bingi launched June 2009

• Google+ Launched June 28,2011

• Dudu.com

2001 - to date has seen the growth of a number of social media platforms sprouting all over the continent. Many of these platforms started out as nonprofit institutions but have later on adapted to profit making due to high public subscription. Some of these products include, You tube, Twitter, Facebook, twitter,Wikipedia, WordPress Blogs, search engines, Google that has been in service for over 12 years has developed many other products such as Google +, Google earth that can enable you access information, geographical and map of any place in the world, Google villages etc.

Facebook social network has subscription that is close to 1 billion people worldwide. Currently with a share capital of about $ 4billion and expected to raise over $10 billion IPO. Among some of its products such as video game maker zynga, maker of Farmville, floated on the stock markets raised about $1.2 billion. The company has about 60 million active users daily. This IPO is next to Google’s largest web based August 19, 2004 IPO of $2.7 billion that settled at $1.67 billion then. Currently (111:30 Jan 13) trading at $624.99 per share.

As such performance, ownership and control has largely been influenced by the number of "public capital" in terms of number of users, financial business potential, and eventually the shareholding which is driven by the proprietors, private public and public investment shareholdings.

Boundaries between markets, services and consumers have further been dissolved by internet. Services such as ebay.com Amazon.com and PayPal are making it is easy for one to purchase products through the web and have them transferred to a place of one's choice anywhere in the world. As discussed in 2001 about permanency of media content in broadcast media, technology has tremendously advanced media development in this aspect. Radio Channels such as BBC Radio1,2,3,4 and Extra provide downloadable podcasts for their information and radio programs and educative archived documentaries in both audial and print. Therefore one can easily access past DJ. Presentations from internet and download them.

Web based markets such as eBay, alibaba,yuppiechef , services, publication houses such as lulu.com, Word press etc have equally dissolved market boundaries beyond one's imagination. iTunes has made access and purchase of music, videos and other alternatives easy and accessible. Further apple products such as the iPod, ipad, iPhones have made access software and hardware purposefully built to access its web based services, creating a direct link between consumers with the web based market. Blackberry uses the same market strategy.

Africa as an emerging E-commerce market has registered a number of e-commerce websites in the last 10 years, this is attributed to the growth of Telecommunication firms on the continent. The following are some of the few big ecommerce websites in Africa. 1. YuppieChef, a South African online Kitchen tools online store. 2. Kalahari.co.ke an online market for books and other domestic technologies subsidiary of Kalahari.net. 3. Takealot.com an online shopping store started in 2002 based in South Africa. 4 e-pesa is a Kenyan based online payment services. 5. TrueBranches, a Nigerian/USA based ecommerce saling African products. 6. MallforAfrica, a Nigerian/USA based providing market for African products 7.Mukatale, a Uganda online markets enabling buying and selling of products. A number of other websites providing e-commerce businesses in Africa.

Music and Film earnings have continued to fall since Napsters' music download service was introduced in 1999 largely due to 1000s of similar websites cropping up. The Recording Association of America (RIAA) reported that sales figures dropped from $14.6 Billion in 1999 to 6. 9 billion in 2010.

According to the International music industry body, the music earnings have never recovered from the blow. The following earning figure tell the story;- Recorded music sales fell by $1.45 billion to $15.9 billion in 2011, Physical recorded music that include things like CDs, Cassettes fell by 14.2% Year on Year (YoY) to $10.4billion, overall physical sales fell by 14.2% to $10.4 billion. The most performing sector was digital revenues that fell by 5.3% yoy accounting for $ 4.6billion which represented 29% of all music recorded revenues. However European countries such as France, Germany and Italy registered significant high revenues. Sales were up by 21.6% in Europe. The same goes for South Korea up by 11.7%, India up by 16.5%, Mexico up by 0.9% and Taiwan. High music sales in France, S.Korea and Taiwan have been attributed to newly introduced tough internet regulations.

It is important to note that telecommunication firms have further taken on the role of providers of information and equally crossed the traditional boundaries of media ownership, today communication firms such as MTN, AT&T, Uganda Telecom, Airtel, Orascom, Vivendi, etc , do manufacture their tele/mobile phone gadgets. They have diversified into transfer of money, also act as providers of News and control production of derivatives such as movies, radio, music and video games. These diversifications have also been made possible by development in technology hence the cross cutting synergies. These developments and synergies have therefore equally made training and skills that are required to work in the media diversified and competitive.

The contribution of social media in starting revolutions:

The media played a big role in the Arab spring a case in point, in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Syria. It was used as a stepping stone for the revolutionist ideals, to a point that the incumbent governments closed most of the media houses, However the closure of media houses did not deter mass movements as they turned to social networks such as , Facebook, YouTube, twitter, Blogs, dudu.com,.skype, Google, and emails services (Internet explore, Mozila, Firefox etc) hence citizen journalism has been credited with contribution to political and social change in a number of countries. Since 2001 to date most of the countries that were faced with conflict had to force or censor the content of media houses. Aljazeera in breaking the Egyptian revolution was closed down and lost some of its journalists, same goes for a number of other media agencies, however due to alternative use of technology, these channels were able to broadcast some of the stories accessed through citizens by playing clips recorded by digital cameras, phones, computers, Iphones, blackberries etc.

Case studies of Media Moguls:

The contribution of technological advancement cetrisparibas led to the growth of Media moguls such as Australian born Rupert Murdock Chief Executive Officer News Corp, parent company of News International that run hitherto closed UK based News of the World, SkyNews,The Sun, The times etc and In America owning Wall street journal, , 20th Century Fox, New York Post, News America marketing, The daily, Fox Television with its subsidiary channels Fox News, Sport, Business etc, In Australia owning; The Australian, The daily Telegraph, Weekly times, The Courier Mail, The Mercury, Herald Sun etc other European media houses include Sky Italia, 39% shares in BskyB, Sky Deutschland Investments in social networks such as MySpace that he acquired in 2005 for $580 million. His estimate net worth is about 7.6 billion.

These media houses have been enabled by technological advancements that can easily mobilize the "publics" in various parts of the world. Fox television one of the most watch channels in USA has the capacity to run the same program at exactly the same time through cable network in a number of states. It also produces Television series, movies and other derivatives. This in the long run has created and given power to media mogul Rupert Murdock that crosses boundaries.

The Merger between AOL and Time Warner broke up in 2009 following the Internet bubble burst during the time registering losses for both companies.

Ted turner who launched CNN in Atlanta 1980 and resigned from Time Warner board in 2006 and now concentrates on his philanthropic interests, the Turner foundation (Environment), United Nations Foundation and Nuclear threat Initiative among other initiatives still wills a lot of power in media as his counterparts. In a later paper I will publish “Media and War” I will explore the contribution of media channels such as CNN in International conflicts.

We cannot ignore the role played by the media in institutionalizing regimes in Power, North Korea, China and a number of African countries that have a hold on the media have maintained state efficacy and control largely due to managing and controlling media. In Italy Media mogul Silvio Berlusconi former Prime Minister who controls large media stake in the country, was able to manage and maintain state power through use of his media machinery, beyond which the state could not take and 2011, honorably resigned from office. Self-made entrepreneur has built a family fortune of $9 billion through diverse investments in Media (eg.Media set and Mondadori publishing), advertising, insurance and other investments. In United States of America Total Advert expenditure in 2008 was $587,167,414 incumbent Democratic Party President Barack Obama spent $310,144,381 airing 570,963 adverts while Republic representative John McCain spent $134,792,293 airing 274,737 adverts in the presidential race. In total the Democratic Party spent $325,128,855 and Republicans spent $190,584,441 (Source of Ad figures CNN). Therefore as for these figures, it is important to note that the success or failure of a candidate is measured by how much is spent in the media.

These three case studies of media ownership and ownership stand to show the strength and power that is willed by controlling media. Media owners have the capacity to influence international business, politics, policies and even the capacity to make or break a product/service and any other social idea.

Media policies and regulations do influence the multinational media investments; Australian born Julianne Assange and head of WikiLeaks opened and manages wikiLeaks servers in Sweden due to the conducive legal policies governing media management. WikiLeaks that leaked a number of government, military, corporate and diplomatic correspondences that by definition in some countries were not cleared for public consumption, has sparked off debate about how much information should be at the disposal of the media. The Military personnel, Bradley manning is due for court martial in USA for aiding and leaking this information to the media and could face life imprisonment.

Changing Media regulations and Policies:

The massive power willed by the media, has opened governments to debate media practices and regulations that govern it. A case study of the News of the world, leading News daily in the United Kingdom was closed due to professional improprieties that were not limited to eavesdropping on the Royal family but on a number of other people. News Corp bid to own UK's largest cable channels BSkyB was equally jeopardized, which would have given Rupert Murdock majority control of UK media. Unprofessional media conduct has opened debate about media practices, the Lord Justice handling News of the world scandal indicated that there will be a complete overhaul of the media and at the same time Prime Minister James Cameron ordered for a judicial inquiry in media practices.

Hungary passed new media regulations in January 1, 2011 that require media registration, self-regulation, media authority and council empowered with control, however some of the proposed new policies have been met with resistance and international criticism.

United States of America (USA) the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) is proposing to ease regulations on how many TVs and Radio stations that a corporate can own in a single market and also easing on cross ownership of other digital media, proposing a media watchdog to back its services., other policy initiatives such as Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA) have been tabled in the house, as a deterrence on piracy acts. Critics however argue that the FCC changes are motivated by the struggle for media space that is either dominated by republicans or democrats in various states.

China that recently joined World Trade organization (WTO), is struggling to comply with WTO media requirements and its media policy which hitherto is in control of media content.

North Korea's main Communist newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, 13 Jan 2012 launched its first ever English-language website as a step to open up its country to the outside world.

Brazil equally proposed and reviewed its media regulatory frame work in 2011 due to, its high rapid media development since 2001. The country has over 460 daily Newspapers, 2,020 nondaily Newspapers with advert receipts amounting to $1,490 Million, About 138 Television stations, 36,500,000 Television sets, About 2,334,580 subscribers to cable TV, about 1,195,000 subscribers to satellite and about 1,822 Radio stations, about 75,000,000 users of computers.

South Africa Press council endorsed Media self-regulation on 18, August 2011. Regulations mainly aimed at improving media professional relations with its various publics.

Saudi Arabia like a number of other Arab countries has maintained censorship of media content on internet premised on its strong religious inclination. The Internet services Unit is charged with the responsibility of blocking some of the websites that are recommended by the council of Ministers Resolution. The content and material that is banned has been outlined by the council of ministers resolution such content include;- Anything published that infringes the sanctity of Islam and breaching public decency, Anything liable to promote or incite crime, Not to engage in financial transactions over internet unless licensed, information considered a threat to state security, false information ascribed to state officials liable to cause them harm or damage their integrity and many other digital regulations.

In a nutshell, most of the media regulations and policies framework case studies discussed above are premised on maintaining financial, political efficacy and control , in conformity with some of the basic philosophical foundation of media space. Later we shall understand the attribute of polity in media.

A number of law suits and policy charges world, surround communication gadgets companies and the policies that govern them. Several legal cases have been filed against companies such as;- apple, Samsung,Sony, Nokia, Microsoft, Google, all of which have faced either monopoly charges or patent right abuse in several countries where they operate.

It is important to note the effects of media conglomerates on small firms that cannot compete in terms of product development, quality, efficiency and diversity of media products. A number of them have been alienated and squeezed out of the market. The number of Newspapers that have closed down from 2001 to date is uncountable. These examples tell the story The RockmountainNews, AnnarborNews, and many others that continue to register falling revenues and cut back on staff. Print media is one of the most affected as, broadcast and Internet continue to grow in usability. This has led to the development of new trends such as subscription for newspapers over the internet, paying for news stories before access through internet and other creative money making ventures that have been adopted by the media to enable sustainable revenues.

Developments in the Gadget sectors

The high market demand for superior and much efficient telecommunication equipment and gadgets has led to an explosion and diversification in gadget development, as such research in this sector from 2001 to date has seen an enormous explosion in versions, functionality of media gadgets such as cameras, satellite equipment, sound equipment, recording, transmission, storage and archiving, Computers and speed of computers and other hardware and software equipment . A basic case is Sony’s cyber shot camera that has grown year on year with one version replacing another with efficient qualities. It started with 1 Megapixel and moved to , 2, 5, 10, 12,15 megapixel with improvements in other features.

Sony is currently along with Google TV, now promoting its new innovation of Television combined with internet that I earlier discussed in 2001.

Contribution of the Energy sector

Though I have briefly discussed developments in the communication hardware industry, it is important to sight the role played by developments in the energy sector. Today energy alternatives are far beyond what they were years ago. A community in South Africa will be able to access information from a radio station, Television or even phone being powered by a solar energy battery or any other alternative source. Inventions of the dry battery cell, solar energy, electricity, Nuclear energy, Oil, generators etc have enabled mass media. Other inventions that foster the transfer of information through micro waves, laser beams, Fiber optics, satellite transmissions, Bluetooth etc. have tremendously contributed to the building of the media machinery.

Inventor and Entrepreneur

Bill Gates (Billionaire and Philanthropist) Founder of Microsoft, that was initially developing computer office software has equally diversified into, Internet based services such as Skype, yahoo, Search engines Bing, Provision of computerized car technology, investing in Television, Video games, Information surveillance and also running the Bill and Melinda gates foundation a philosophic organization.

Stephen Jobs (deceased) Founder of Apple that developed the iPod and later the iPhone, a combination of iPod (a music audio and visual gadget) to iPhone that combines the IPod functions with the phone and internet. It has furthered its development with its versions of I pads (a computer tablet). Same goes for other gadget developers such as Samsung, HP, Lenovo, Sony, and Motorola that have invested in tablets etc.

Current research in satellite development has seen products such as satellite that are the size of a battery be developed by surrey satellite technology, as alternatives to the large and heavy equipped traditional satellites, these developments will lower the costs of satellite gadgets, to a point where an institute like a University, hospital or even government department could manage its one satellite. These developments have been driven by the increasing demand and usability of digital media.

The growth of media conglomerates has led to a thin line between Publications companies for books, Novels, memoirs, screen writers, scripters , music producers, music writers, video games developers, photographers, designers and other media related industries. Such is the case with the Movie industry where for example the conceptualization of a movie idea, scripting, production, casting, filming, promotion and advertising and eventually distribution is all managed by one conglomerate through its subsidiary subsectors. This is further passed on to its derivatives such as video games, books, and all these are still managed by one conglomerate. Some of the products have crossed boundaries from movies and furthered the products into the music industry therefore an ever increasing thin line between various types of media.

Education

A number of Education initiatives have developed since 2001 to date UK launched an Education programs where live and exact time class room teaching programs are aired on television. Other Initiatives in developing countries like Uganda, where teachers have taken on teaching a whole subject syllabus on television and other education programs and channels have been on the increase worldwide. The internet now hosts several online bookstores and libraries, online education institutions.

Media and Sports

The sports community and types of sports activities have gained popularity worldwide due to media, from the beginning of Muhammad Ali's, fight that popularized Television. Sports tournaments have gained viewership worldwide. Tournaments such as the Premier league, UEFA Championship, Cricket, African cup of nations, Euro league,Bundesliga, Tennis, NBA, Boxing, Wrestling, Martial Arts, skateboarding , Board games and many other tournaments have all been popularized and attracted investment and viewership due to mass media.
Viewers Worldwide watch and listen to sports activities in exact time of the game. An example is the premiership and UEFA Championship that sends shock waves in the city, when some of the most popular teams such as Arsenal, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich,Real Madrid, Chelsea, PSG, Liverpool, Manchester city etc are playing. The applause from bars, hotels, homes and drinking pubs that are showing the match sends shock waves in the city when a goal is scored.

It is however important to note that viewership alone is not the basic attribute but the enormous revenues that are generated by the media from Sports activities through promotions, licensing, advertisements, memorabilia sales, betting and sailing viewer ship figures as a product to corporate agencies. These changes would not be possible without technological advancements.

Media surveillance such as weather focusing has become efficient. A number of satellites, weather stations with much more sophisticated telecommunication equipment have been developed, the accurate warning signals and trucking of the patterns has been made possible hence enabling International travel and business move smoothly. The fastest computers in the world in currently in the United States and Japan are employed by Weather departments.

Media and stock Markets

Lastly, I will discuss in detail the influence media has practically had on world economies through stock, features, forex and commodities markets. Currently over and above 3 trillion dollars is traded in the markets daily through web based trading platforms. These trading platforms managed by brokerage and investment firms provide real time information of what is going on in the features markets, commodities, stock and currency and other bank products. Therefore products that are registered on any international features markets such as the Nasdaq, Dow Jones, S&P, Nikkei 225, Hang Seng, FTSE, NYSE, Dax, Shanghai composite, Strait times etc...can be traded in exact time by an investor in any part of the world through accessing internet.

Stock Markets:

The influence of Stock markets on the media is immeasurable. Television channels, newspapers, internet websites and radio stations that are specialized in offering stock market information have sprung up in a number of countries. News channels such as Bloomberg.com/TV,CCTV, Dailyfx .com, forexpro.com etc provide just in time information of proceeds in markets, financial information, bank products and information, financial policy directives, money trends, jobs statistics, Consumer data, Manufacturing data, Industrial data, Production data, IPOs and other monetary changes such as interest rates, interbank interests on loans etc. Other media channels have these financial reports detailed in their business reports. It is therefore imperative to note that the media has acted as a link between the cooperates community, financial institutions, policy framework and the general public (investors) and enabled business transactions. Short selling is one of the most used trading strategies by investors through web based trading platforms. It basically refers to selling of asset/securities,features,commodities or currencies by a trader commonly know as “ trader, or day trader” borrowed from a brokerage firm at high market price that is profitable to the trader and later buy the same assets or currencies traded at a lower market price. The difference between the Sale and buy is registered either as the profit or loss to either parties (Trading details out of paper scope). Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel on March 19, 2011 prohibited naked short- selling and speculation on European government bonds with credit-default swaps in an effort to calm the regions financial markets a move that affected over 10 banks and insurers. This among many other efforts worldwide to control internet based trades signifies the power of media in today’s business environment.

Conclusion

In conclusion, with such enormous power willed by media houses, the proprietors that control it, variances in legal structures and policies governing media from one part the world to another, non-controlled or regulated areas such as space which hosts satellites, the high demand for media products, High levels of innovation and inventions of gadgets, increasing demand of diversity from various interest groups, the influence of profit, thin line between media products, operating in a changing world that is being brought closer in terms of political structures, financial systems, Disaster management systems, social structures, religion and beliefs, elites, democratization and acceptance of international protocol such as human rights conventions and clarity of cultures, arts and traditions of diverse societies. These factors have stretched media functionality and given it immeasurable power and influence in society.

Like any other profession media practitioners are guided by ethical foundations, though they may vary in perspective from one set of profession to another, the underlying moral principles remain the same. The journalists, Advertisers, Public Relations Managers and Entertainers employed by the media industry abide to these ethical foundations. I will briefly discuss a few ethical philosophies that have guided the media fraternity. According to Ethics, case and Moral reasoning: Ethics may be understood as the liberal arts discipline that appraises voluntary human conduct in so far as it can be judged right or wrong in reference to determinative principles. from Greek eethos basically meaning a starting point or basis. On the hand morals from latin origin meaning a way, manner or customary behavior. Having understood these two basic foundations, it is important to relate the “media machinery” if I may term it that way and whether or not it does conform to ethical and moral dispositions.

“The Golden Mean”, by Aristotle emphasizes moral virtue to be a measure between two extremes i.e. excess and deficiency. Cardinal virtues such as Courage, Wisdom, Temperance and Justice were identified by Plato. Therefore in application of Aristotle mean theory, Courage is a mean between Cowardice and temerity, Excellence, a mean between excess and defect etc. Therefore Media practitioners do have the prerogative to publish/broadcast information based on the measure of extremes. Should one balance a story or not, in advertising should one advertise the advantageous part of a product only or should one also show the harmful aspect. Such has been the dilemma faced by Cigarette companies.

Kant’s Categorical imperative, “Act on that Maxim which you will to become a universal a law” Immanuel Kant asserted that act on what is good for one is good for all, as such can be universalized if it may. His argues there are truths that are inborn or innate as such characteristic of all human beings and cannot be defined by time or policies and regulation. This foundation has guided media practice in many parts of the world hence basic truths such as Freedom of speech and expression upon which freedom of press is derived, is written a fundamental right in many countries.

Mill’s principle of utility “seek the greatest happiness for the greatest number” . This argument asserts that media practitioner’s do that will yield the best consequences for the welfare of human beings and restrain that is evil, a such promote pleasures and happiness and prevent pain. Interpreted later on by a number of philosophers this principle seeks from media practitioners to balance between that which will promote the interests of the majority and at the expense of the minority, when faced with such a dilemma. This principle has guided the diversity of media programs such as sports, Music, Pornography, Religious, War, Family stories and channels all aimed at serving the interests of the various segments of society. However the media is faced with a dilemma of choosing what is appropriate and what is not for a particular public and the imperative to know what is the majorities’ desire. If the majority of a particular community prefer pornography, Violence, explicit language and nudity as a form of entertainment say Film and Music; does this then qualify these acts as good? and the later who disregard these acts as immoral bad.

Rawls’s Veil of Ignorance: “Justice emerges when negotiating without social differentiations”. Rawl advocates for equal liberty and protection for the weaker parties and be fair in distribution of social resources of wealth, power and income to benefit the worst off in society. He therefore asserts that, in a situation when one needs to make judgment on a social issue that is between opposing alternatives or groups of people. One needs to step back in a “veil of ignorance” and discard all social definitions such as social roles, race, class, sex and interests but regard all men as equal. Rawl’s principle therefore guides media practitioners to be fair and especially look out for the interests of vulnerable groups in society. President Barack Obama has used this argument in the effort to redistribute resources such is the “Buffet Rule” being debate in United State of America, aimed at increasing taxes on the rich and subsidizing the poor. The demand on media practitioners is therefore to define the weaker social groups without losing sight of truth and objectivity.

Judeo-Christian principle that states as written in the Bible ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself” advocates equal treatment of men.
The "polity" (Political structure, type of governance or decision making agency) through which claims or advocates of interest groups are made are diverse; as such the rules and regulations that govern media in one part of the world are different from another part in the world. The "agents of preference" or those who argue for media performance is numerous and constantly engaged in competition such include the state that, by virtual of its authority defines media structure and parameters. Other groups such a as political parties, interest groups, non- governmental Organizations, academic researchers, security agencies, International super/sub structures and media professional. All these groups maintain their own expectations, agenda and prescription of how media should function. (Refer to state media regulations institutions discussed)

It has therefore seen the birth of various types of media practices and many of which have deviated from traditional framework of pursuit of truth, objectivity, diversity, service to a 'great good' and many other traditional ethical structures, on which media has been established. Media ethical practices have therefore been redefined. Questions of interference in private space, Piracy, Corporate espionage, propaganda, partisanship, Piracy, Distortion of truths, monopoly, mockery and extreme sensationalized, sexing up of information and products among other tactics that being employed by practitioners are being asked at various polity levels. At the same time media freedom advocates continue to push for opening up of media space in various countries, thus far media freedom remains a measurement of countries democratic practices

PART III

NOTE: (Between JANUARY 3 – 21ST, 2012)

In the event of writing this paper the following events occurred that are pertinent to the topic of discussion.

1. STOP ONLINE PIRACY ACT in USA was table as a bill in congress
2. PROTECT IP ACT was table as bill in congress
3. North Korea's main Communist newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, this week launched an English-language website website as a step to open up its country to the outside world.
4. Demonstration by leading web based service providers such as Wikipedia, Megaupload, Reddit, Word press, along with over 10,000 websites demonstrated against the bill.
5. Wikipedia Black out to protest the bill closing services for 24 hours..
6. Statements from Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg

7. Google demonstrated by having a petition signed by over 7 million people against the two bills

8. Leading Media Personnel Rupert Murdock in support of the policy and said in a tweet: So Obama has thrown in his lot with Silicon Valley paymasters who threaten all software creators with piracy, plain thievery," Murdoch tweeted over the weekend. Went on to tweet that ….. Piracy leader is Google who streams movies free, sells adverts around them. No wonder pouring millions into lobbying. Film making risky as hell. This has to lead to less, hurting writers, actors, all concerned.

9. Megaupload. The site was shut down by the U.S. Justice Department on January 19, 2012, during an investigation into alleged copyright infringement,[2][3][4] leading to what activist group Anonymous calls "the single largest Internet attack in its history"Megaupload The company services included a one-click hosting service known as MegaUpload, image hosting and video hosting services known as Megavideo, Megalive, Megapix and Megabox as well as CUM.com (formerly Megaporn, Megarotic, and Sexuploader) which specialized in hosting pornographic contents. (Megaupload itself also allows such content). Other services included Megaclick, Megafund, Megakey and Megapay, all of which were advertisement and financial services. Two additional web sevices, Megabackup and Megamovie, were in development before their closure. (source Wikimedia)

10. “We welcome the Administration's clear statement that legislation is needed to stop foreign based thieves from stealing the hard work and creativity of millions of American workers” Statement from Motion Picture Association of America.

11. Political sponsors of the Bills withdrew: PIPA co-sponsor Florida Sen.

Marco Rubio pulled his name from the bill Wednesday, and SOPA co-sponsor Arizona Rep. Ben Quayle pulled his name Tuesday.

12. White House Responds to Petition:

“While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response,” said the note, “we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet.

13. Hollywood Media Moguls threaten not to contribute donation to President Obama’s campaign if the Bill is shelved and not appropriated to protect them.
These developments provide vivid examples of media trends and the current challenges that the Internet, I defined as the “Internet Monster” in 2001 is posing. The users, service providers’, traditional media on one hand and the polity on the hand trying to find the best way how to use this resource without harming each other’s interests.

First extract written as an academic paper in 2001, I would like to recognize the Mass communication Department, Makerere University Kampala that allowed me to use a computer to write my exams due to my ineligible handwriting, hence pioneering the use of computer technology in writing exams alongside other handwritten exams in the University in 2000. Also recognize former internship, Swiss Procurement Company (SWIPCO) workplace that provided me laptops and other necessities.

References:

1. Media by Mcquil
2. Media Ethics, Illinois University
3. Wikipedia
4. Assortment of Media reports over the years.

Written and Edits By:

Byaruhanga Edgar Walter
Executive Director

Development Initiatives Africa
Communication and Public Relations Expert
United Nations Civil Military Coordinator, From a Humanitarian Perspective
Stock/Currencies Trader

edgarbyaruhanga@yahoo.com
edgarbyaruhanga@gmail.com
256751836972
256787459373

Environment Advocacy Card

2011-02-07T00:25:00.001-08:00

Child Participation

2011-01-27T05:19:00.001-08:00

Environment Watch Advocacy Card

2011-01-25T01:53:00.000-08:00

Promotion of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises through Financial Institutions

2010-04-21T06:36:00.001-07:00

PROMOTION OF MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES THROUGH FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

Introduction

This paper will focus on developments in the finance sector in Uganda, that have contributed or will enhance the development of a Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises policy framework from a finance perspective.

Micro Enterprises, small and medium enterprises are defined by basing on three main characteristics; these include number of employees, capital invested and annual turnover. Micro Enterprises are defined as enterprises that employ at least 4 people, with assets worth and annual turnover of 12 million Uganda shillings. Small Enterprises are defined as those enterprises that employ at least 50 people, with annual turnover of 360 million ($34,000) and Medium enterprise is defined as an enterprise that employs over and above 50 people with capital investment of over 360 million and turnover of 360 million.

Uganda’s economic development programs have been guided and built on the Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP) that was initiated by the government in 2005 as a cornerstone for guiding economic development in Uganda. “Economic Development” will be used in this paper to refer to increased production of goods and services that encompasses improved quality of life for all Ugandans. As such the following pillars were identified as a basis for implementing and evaluation of Uganda’s strategic development goals.

 Pillar 1: Economic Management
 Pillar 2: Enhancing Production, competitiveness and Incomes
 Pillar 3: Security, Conflict resolution and Disaster Management
 Pillar4: Good Governance
 Pillar 5:Human Development

These are the basic fundamentals pillars on which the MSMEs has found its basis to be established in the country as shall be discussed in details ahead. The government of Uganda has further developed a monetary policy that is used to guide the banking and micro finance sector. This policy has further been support by the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) SMES policy
Upon this pillar the government of Uganda set up the Uganda Investment Authority to coordinate all investment in the country for MSMEs and also large scale investments. The government has further setup a Ministry of Micro finance to coordinate and setup policies governing micro finance in the country. The government has further setup the association of Micro finance institutions in Uganda to implement and coordinate the activities of Micro finance providers in the country.

On 19th April 2010 the government of Uganda replaced the PEAP with a new 54 trillion shillings National Development Plan. Development Initiatives Africa has therefore not based this paper on its key foundations; however in the future we might consider aligning our propositions after a careful study of the document.

2. Profile of the Republic of Uganda

Geography

Uganda covers an area: 241,040 sq. km. (93,070 sq. Kampala being centrally located in town with a total population of about 31 million people. The largest parts of the country are covered by forest of about 70%, terrain covering 18%, national parks and game reserves covering 12%.
Uganda’s climate is suitable for agriculture production through at least 8 months of the year with some patches of Semi arid vegetation in North Eastern Uganda, rainfall in these parts is less than 50 cm (20in), In Southwestern Uganda, rainfall of 130 cm in south western Uganda. The country mainly experience two dry seasons between December to February and June – July however due to global climatic changes these patterns have changed.

The largest Ethnic groups are the Baganda , that mainly occupy central parts of Uganda and settled around lake Victoria, Banyankole, Bahima, Bakiga, Banyarwanda that mainly occupy South Western Uganda also settle around hilly and fertile regions, Banyoro, Batoro the western parts around mountain Rwenzori, Langi, Acholi, Lugbara Northern Uganda with semi arid vegetation and fertile soils, Karamojong, Basoga, Bagisu settled in Eastern Uganda. Karamoja and some parts of Teso being arid and semi arid.
Uganda as of 2007 was composed of 12% Muslims, 85% Christians and other groups such as atheist and believers in traditional Gods making 2%.

The official language is English, having got our independence from the British in 1962; historically English was adopted as the national language for administration of Uganda. Among the most spoken languages Luganda is the most popular for two main reasons. The Baganda ethnic group is the largest in the country and secondly the national administration structures and capital city are located in Buganda as such making it the most spoken local languages in the country.
The Gross Domestic Product as of last year was about $13 Billion and an annual growth rate of 8.7% , and inflation rate of about 7% and those below the poverty line or leave on less than two dollars a day are about 31% this has tremendously gone down , compared to the previous years that were 60% and above. Uganda’s has a wealth of natural resources with Agricultural cash crops leading export earners. Among the Agricultural exports are coffee, tea, cotton, tobacco, sugar cane, cut flowers, vanilla. Food crops--bananas, corn, cassava, potatoes, millet, pulses. Livestock and fisheries--beef, goat meat. Natural resources: Copper, cobalt, limestone, phosphate, oil. In the last five years, Uganda has heavily invested in Oil and discoveries of more oil rich areas are going on.

The main trade exports are agricultural products and coffee fetching 70% of the total agricultural exports. Trade Exports total to (2008 est.)--$1.72 billion: coffee, fish and fish products, tea, electricity, horticultural products, vanilla, cut flowers, and remittances from abroad. The Major markets for Uganda are the European Union (EU), Kenya, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Rwanda and U.K . Other big contributors to were earnings from nationals outside of Uganda uganda
The countries total Imports were (2008 est.) $4.5 billion: capital equipment, vehicles, petroleum, medical supplies, metals, cereals and these were mainly supplied by--U.A.E., Kenya, EU, India, South Africa, China, U.S.
In this financial year Uganda Investment Authority reported Investments worth $1.34 billion. A total of 62 companies licensed with planned jobs at about 23,848.

3. Objectives

The Objective of this paper will focus on the promotion of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises through financial institutions. However to have a logical framework through which we can develop the same sector, the following key objectives will be focused on:
• Development and writing of a MSME national guiding policy framework
• Provision for a board of directorate or National MSME governing authority
• Provision for an MSME Banking institution
• Provision for a government subsidies/concessions/grant to MSMEs mechanism
• Provision for structured grants service to facilitate MSMEs
• Increase finance access through telecommunication services.

4. Lessons Learnt from programs in India

Based on India’s experience and presentation from members from over 16 countries, the lessons learned shall be structured according to the objectives. India has had a developed MSME structures that has evolved over the years from 1948/60 to 2010. On 6th April 1948, all industries in handlooms, handicrafts, coir, silk and Khadi village industries were grouped into small scale sector. 6th January 1955, A unit employing less than 50 persons and capital assets not exceeding Rs 5 Laks were also grouped under the small scales sector. 1962 on wards Rs 5 lakhs(Five hundred thousand shillings) for (Small Scale Industries) SSI and Rs 10 Lakhs (One million Uganda Shillings) for ancillary units. In 1977- 1988 the concept of “Tiny” was introduced as a definition for MSMEs in towns and villages with a population of less than 50,000 and investment of one hundred thousand. Small Scale Industries (SSI) by definition was raised from 10 lakhs (I million UG shillings) to 20 lakhs (2 million UG shillings) and ancillary manufacturers increased from 15 lakhs ( 1.5 UG shillings) to 25 lakhs (2.5 UG shillings). The investment ceiling was increased from Rs 60 lakhs ( six Million Shillings) to Rs 75 lakhs ( Seven million five hundred thousand shillings), If the Unit exports 100% of its’ production, special incentives were Given and the investment ceiling was considered up to Rs 100 lakhs ( 10 million Uganda Shillings). In 2000 – 2004 an industrial undertaking in which the investment plant and machinery held ownership on hire purchase or lease does not exceed Rs 100 lakhs ( 10 million Uganda shillings) was the new definition for Small Scale Industries. Tiny Enterprises was redefined to any undertaking of more than 25 lakhs ( 2.5 Ug Shillings) irrespective of the location. A Small Scale Industrial Unit/ industry related service or business enterprise managed by one or more women entrepreneurs in proprietary concerns, or in which she/they individually or jointly have a share capital of not less than 51% as partners /share holders / Directors of private limited companies /members of co-operative societies. This initiative was added to promote Women entrepreneurs in the MSME sector. The above trends provide a basis for the evolving definition and parameter of defining small scale industries, Tiny Enterprises and to date definition of Micro, Small and Medium enterprises.
The government of India recognized the contribution of the Micro, Small and Medium enterprises thus from 1948- 1991 invested in policy reforms that would benefit those engaged in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises access Bank Credit, reserve products lines for only MSMEs, reserved products for exclusive purchase by government, a state financial cooperation was setup, district industrial centers were setup for single window assistance, established training institute for entrepreneurship development and relief on excise for small scale units, testing centers were setup for quality certification. A Small Industries Bank was created to accelerate finance, Technology development fund was created to provide services to SME entrepreneurs and a scheme was launched to set mini industrial estates for SMEs. After further review and realization for the economic benefits of the MSME sector in 1999 – 2000 new policies were announced to address the persisting problems relating to credit, infrastructure, technology and Marketing. Among the most notable ones were the promotions of export oriented production, where subsidies are provided to entrepreneurs to participate in International trade fairs, credit linked subsidy schemes and to modernize traditional technology. The government support initiatives in IT based developments and provided for 15% subsidy for technological up gradation. Introduction of testing centers to encourage innovation and standards in the SME sector, establishment of Industrial parks and incubation centers, establishment of credit guarantee schemes for loans up to 50 lakhas (five Million Shillings) for especially first generation entrepreneurs, Development of agro processing in rural and Peri urban areas. In order to institutionalize all these factors, an act was enacted on 23rd June 2006 and its implementation started in October of the same year with an aim of promoting the development and enhancing competitiveness the MSME sector. The policy is implemented, monitored and guided by the national board for Micro, small and medium enterprises.

5. Assessment of Uganda SME Sector per objective

Based on the lessons learned as clearly stipulated above, I will make the attempt to assess Uganda MSME sector also relying on secondary information provide through documentation by Ministry of Economic planning and Development and other relevant economic policy authorities in Uganda in line with international trade instruments and protocols. This will guide the recommendation herein.
OBJECTIVE 1
Development and writing of a MSME national guiding policy framework.
While efforts have been made to develop and account for Micro, Small and Medium enterprises in Uganda, there is need for a comprehensive National SME policy frame work. Currently the government is depending on the Uganda investment authority framework which in my opinion does clearly set the right parameter or mechanisms for a fully functional SME sector. The relevance of this policy in reference to finance and credit institutions would be a confidence in providing financing to MSMEs as stipulated in the policy and clear mechanisms through which recovery and provision of support to appropriately well defined MSME institutions in accordance with the law.

Objective 2

National SME Board

As we have learned from the case of India the policy would require a national board that is composed of an assortment of stakeholders to ensure guarantee in all sectors for the success of the MSMEs, this will in the long run make it easy for MSME to access finance from banks and also in turn lower the rate of defaults. The assumption of course is on ground that this board will be structured from the central, district, Sub County, parish and village level. The national SME board will be mandated in accordance with the law to ensure a systematic approach to selection of beneficiaries for grants, loans and access to any other financial services available based on standard criteria. This will increase confidence in banking institutions to provide finance to MSMEs but and also reduce the financial sectors costs of follow up on defaulter largely because the committees will be in operation. This proposal is contrary to the current situation because banks are still dealing directly with MSMEs on individual basis and many of the commercial banks that are mostly centrally located may not have the appropriate instruments in serving the MSME sector in rural areas.

Objective 3

Establishment for MSME Development Bank.

In order to maintain and coordinate appropriate finance instruments to the MSME sector it is paramount that the government of Uganda sets up a National MSME Bank that is solely responsible for providing services to this sector. Currently this sector is coordinate through the Bank of Uganda, Uganda development bank and association of micro finance however it is a matter of policy and development to separate the sector to grow. The current government efforts that have been put in place to support MSME sector such as National agricultural advisory authority,North Uganda Social action Funds (NUSAF) Bonabagawale, Business Development Services ( a private sector foundation initiative), UNIDO Master crafts man program, Jua Kali initiatives, Entandikwa and cluster financing to SACCOs.
All these well thought out efforts are appropriate and rightly fitting for Uganda’s economy however coordination of their finances and financing mechanisms used to select beneficiaries, to monitor and provide for access to finances are not uniform and in some cases against all ethics of financial management. This has therefore led to loss of finances to this sector but also made it difficult to monitor and evaluate the financial progress of MSEMEs and mechanisms of disbarment of funds some of which are purely grunts. It is also clear that because of having no national SME Bank some parts of the country where commercial banks are nonexistent are missing out accessing financial services. Many of the same programs have also been marred with political interference.

A case of Micro finance institutions and Commercial Banks

It would be unfair to conclude on the establishment of a SME bank without evaluating the role of micro finance institutions, money lenders and Commercials Banks that are currently the main financial backers of the MSME in the private sector. Micro Finance institutions have played a leading role in supporting MSMEs among which to mention but a few are FINCA, PRIDE Micro finance Limited (MDI), Faulu, Brac Uganda, Centenary Rural development Bank and Equity bank and other Micro finance Deposit taking institutions and Savings and Credit cooperatives. However these institutions are limited in capacity and many of them operate in towns and very few reach out to rural areas through village banking. A technical assessment of their growth annually or over a period of five years would reveal that they don’t expand as much to rural areas, but maintain circulation in nearby areas to the capital. Further to this the Micro finance institutions are guided by various mandates and operate as independent entities as such are not legally bound to implement or take on government strategic key areas to provide finance or limit finance as may be deemed appropriate by the government. The MFIs have so far been able to provide and absorb less than 2 million people, however compared to over 80% of Uganda’s entire population in nonfarm activities of the private sector that are employed by SMEs, this is a drop in the ocean therefore a structured well distributed Bank would serve more people in the country.
Commercial banks both national and international are mostly centrally located and also operate in accordance to their international policies, only a few commercial banks eg. CERUDEB are offering financial or have wide reach to the rural communities. Currently the government has licensed 23 Banking institutions with about 400 branches in the country. In total commercial banks are providing financial services to about 5 million people with bank accounts in a population of 31 million, leaving a huge part of the population without savings accounts. Further to this commercial banks are mainly profit making financial institutions therefore will only provide financial services to stable and profitable sectors, it should be noted that 80% of Ugandans are employed in the agricultural sector, and about 70% in the informal sector. It is upon these views that I see the need for a national bank solely dedicated to MSME spread throughout the country. Banks in countries such as Bolivia and Bangladesh have products such as Village bank providers (retailers). These are individual that are given minimal training in banking, equipped with simple and effective equipment and work as bank retailer representatives in various communities through a well coordinated telecommunication system.

Objective 5

Setting up Credit reference bureau and Credit Audit bureau

Credit Reference Bureau

The current interest rates on loans according to Ministry of finance report 2008/2009 is averaging 20% for accessing loans from commercial banks, though some rates have gone as far as 30% ( some of the highest interest rates in the World) while interest rates on savings accounts in Uganda shilling and dollars is about 2.0% to 2.1% respectively. These high interest rates have been attributed to high levels of defaults on loan across the board in many of the commercial banks, therefore causing banks to raise the interest rates to cover for their loses. This phenomenon has thus made it difficult for MSMEs to access loans to finance their business due to the high interest rates. The Bank of Uganda realized this effect and has established a credit reference bureau through which all individuals trying to access fund will be scrutinized for their debt burden hence reducing defaults in the future, which will in turn bring down interest rates other factors constant.

Credit Schemes

While the credit reference bureau is in the offing in Uganda, there is need for a bureau that will check the credit worthy of businesses as well, this will help in providing a clear picture to commercial banks and other lending institutions of the actual debt burden or credit worthy of an organization. This scheme has been effective in India as such made the work of Small industries development bank (SIDBI) easy. The organization should be an independent firm that plays the role of checking and providing certification of the credit worthiness of an organization to the banks before they access any finance services.

1. Objective 6

Increased access to Financial Services through Telecommunication services
While the number of savings accounts in Uganda is still low, and the spread of commercial banks to the rural areas still leaves a lot to be desired. New innovations in the Market such as Mobile money transfer systems have seen an increased usage of banking services. Pioneered by MTN, several communication services such as ZAIN, UTL and Standard Chattered bank and Crane Bank have all joined to this concept of extending financial services through mobile phones. According to the current statics (Uganda Communication Commission, 2009) there are over 9,801,173 Mobile subscribers and the tele density by March 2009 had grown from 29. 4% in 2008 to 32.6% in 2009, the population coverage for mobile usage is 100% while the geographical coverage is 65% of the country while internet connection through brand retailers have increase to about 22,600 unit connections. Innovations of such nature can further be improved to reach the rural MSME producers in places. It is clear from these figures that the rate of growth is higher in the telecommunication sector as such this opportunity should be strategically harnessed by the state and private sector.

Objective

Provision for a government subsidy

Based on the case of India and Bangladesh it has shown that once the right infrastructure is in place, financial services provided for and Markets opened up for MSMEs they raise to the challenge and access finance and equally pay back. The success story of a developed financial culture from the initial stages that includes, community leaders, NGOs and banking institutions has enable a financially discipline MSME sector in India, as a result the government set up a credit scheme guarantee for would be investors and this has successfully worked through providing guarantee schemes to youths and those that have a business plan that requires funding.

Provision of credit guarantee scheme in Uganda may be a costly venture and unattainable as the financial management culture is just growing, however it can be adopted in a systematic manner by providing guarantee schemes to nationals engaged in a given sector. This program can be monitored over the years and improved accordingly, a selected group cluster that is evenly distributed across the country could be considered for a study case.

Credit schemes through Non government Organizations and Business Enterprises.
This credit scheme can also be adopted by leading enterprise organization and Non government organizations, in a study by Ministry of Finance, planning and economic development it was clear that the leading Enterprise development organization are centered and focused in provision of workshops, capacity building, networking, trainings and very few or even non at all provide the necessary financial support that is required by its members. It is against this background that we do recommend non government organizations to take on the initiative of providing credit schemes to their members; this can be done by allowing individuals to be grunted securities guarantees that can be used by banks. An example would be Enterprise Uganda working with a cluster group by facilitating it with a credit guarantee certificate for them to access funds from financial institutions or co – invest in the project of a particular cluster and still access funding from financial institutions based on their credibility. A model that has been adopted and very successful by an association of Lady Entrepreneurs of Andra Pradesh (ALEAP) that furnishes credit guarantee certificates or co invests in the projects of its women member entrepreneurs as such making it easy for entrepreneurs to access finance from financial institutions.

2. Access of finance through a cluster approach.

Based on lessons learned from other parts of the world and especially India,Bolivia, Bangladesh and the Uganda SACCO approach, there is still great opportunity for clusters to acquire funding through clusters, while the Uganda SACCOs are unique cooperatives and able to acquire funds through micro finance institutions and the government. It’s been clear that the SACCOs are still facing challenges in their initial stages among which are access to finance after, their initial capital investment of resources, technological inadequacies , low market, proper management of resources, political interference, inadequate standard procedures across the board etc. It is upon this background that, I would suggest that we cluster producers of particular products into single units these units will be able to access finance on the basis of their strength. This would be direct support to increased productivity of each clustered sector. The government of India furthered this support to even provision of raw materials to producers of some particular MSME sector producers and also buys a certain percentage from them, as such providing market. The economic logic in this is the state, is able to indirectly create livelihoods, increase productivity, innovations but also cut its down on its costs of imports or dependence on external products. Tridad and Tobago has gone ahead to provide for cooperative unions through which the SMEs are clustered but also able to access funds and provided the necessary buffer support mechanisms.

Recommendations

Having discussed the above objectives, we shall make brief recommendations as discussed;
• Formation of a national MSME policy
• Formation of a national MSME Board that is structured according to Uganda’s administrative structure.
• Establishment of national SME Bank.
• Establishment of a credit reference bureau and agency Bureau
• Increase access to Finance through Telecommunication services
• Provide for access to finance through the cluster approach.

6. CONCLUSION

In conclusion, I do acknowledge the Uganda government effort in setting up mechanisms for improved growth of the MSME sector. However it is clear that there is need for a framework through which all MSME, activities are coordinated. However since am focusing on the financial aspect of MSME, the coordination should begin with a policy document that clearly identifies and provides for minimum financial instruments and guide lines that should be adopted by all financial institutions providing services to MSME. The government will therefore need a key financial MSME coordination mechanism such as a National SME Bank to enforce this policy. This frame work should be broken down to the last level of Uganda’s administration structures. Continuing with the current model of MSME development in Uganda will cost the country a lot of resources through corruption, and non uniform financial policies, lack of or inadequate data and information in monitoring of this sector, and a financial support system that is governed by cooperate and profit interests that may not necessarily model the appropriate key or strategic development sectors of Uganda.

Acknowledgement

I take this opportunity to extend my sincere gratitude to the government of Uganda in conjunction with Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development for giving me the opportunity and participate in the international program on promotion of Micro, small and medium enterprises from 20th January to 20th March 2010, at the national institute for micro, Small and Medium enterprises (ni – msme) Hyderabad, India.
I also extend my sincere gratitude to Dr. NR Prasad Reddy the program director and my fellow participants from various countries respectively for there support accorded to me up to the compilation of this report.

Not forgetting the special common wealth Africa assistance Plan (SCAAP) through the ministry of External affairs India. I also extend my sincere gratitude to Hon. Okello Oryem Minister of state Internal affairs, Ministry of Foreign affairs government of Uganda, Dr. Maggie Kigozi( Uganda Investment Authority)for accepting an improptal discussion and recognise a detailed technical discussion with my Friend, Edgar Kagumba Bakadde (FINCA). Thank you all.

8. References

1. Enhancing Competitiveness of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) in Uganda.
2. Uganda’s Economic and Financial Overview 2007/2008
3. Gender targeting of rural financial services, FINCA Uganda.
4. Poverty Eradication Action Plan 2005
5. Small and Medium Enterprises Business Guide, Uganda Investment Authority
6. Uganda Communication Commission Telecommunication report March 2009
7. Media stories
8.Media Center website.

8. Input and thank you note to Delegates from , Bhutane, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Iraq,Maritius, Yemen, Trinidad and Tobago, Kenya, Burundi, South Africa, Ecuador, Senegal,Mynammar, Syria and Zambia.

Written and compiled by Byaruhanga Edgar Walter (status of paper is Policy Research)

Tax Extract

2009-06-04T02:33:00.001-07:00

Development Initiatives Africa as earlier communicated will not be able to write an extra on tax policy due to conflicting information and strategies being adopted by various institutions and countries in response to the current economic crisis, our expertise and reach in this respect is not in position to comprehensively analyze the tax landscape overall.

We would like to note a few lessons learned in the Ugandan context, much as the recession has had an impact on our economy, in our opinion we are witnessing a transforming taxation body in Uganda that has been vigilant in increasing tax collection strategies, institutionalization of systems in terms of administration and technological advancement that are meant to control leakages at the collection points. We have seen vigilance in reporting and monthly accounting to the public through media and overall training of stake holders; we have seen the taxation body open up the taxation records to the legislature. These steps are unprecedented and deserving notable in the changes that have taken place in the management of Uganda Revenue Authority.

We have seen an increase in tax awareness and participation in terms of consultation by interest groups such as importers, exporters, traders, construction workers, employees, and agriculturalist in the taxation policy reform debate. We must also not the role of the media that has taken major steps in reporting and covering issues concerning taxation in the country, we have made a summary of all media reports since last June of issues covered in the media on taxation and it is clear there has been an increase in taxation reports however, it should be noted that the media can do more in terms of investigative journalism on issues such as double taxation, tax incidences, leakages etc..

We have also noted an increase in availing of information and reporting of challenges faced by URA. A case in point, the government that is meant to check the taxation body has unpaid taxes to the institution. This is a double edge sword in that, the government ministries cannot raise their fingers on issues of taxes to Uganda Revenue Authority at the same time the tax body can escape with some improprieties because the governing ministries are equally indebted. A plus for the revenue authority is the involvement of Parliamentarians in pressuring the ministries and government structures to meet their dues is worth noting.

Having briefly made our analysis of the trends, it is worth noting that political institutions usually adopt a strategy of providing satisfactory explanations or even raising the same complaints that the populace and advocacy groups would raise thus satisfying their urge to question or even prescribe more solutions. This therefore calls for those in the media and pressure groups to identify these trickery but also follow them up, if it is true that an institution is facing challenges in terms of efficiency etc, it should be therefore in position to provide to the public measures that are being taken to address the challenges and this should be equally followed up.

Investors

We have also seen an increasing demand from Investors to have more tax holidays of up to even 10 years for them to establish competitive and viable business enterprises. I believe Developing economies should be able to give tax holidays to investors based on some basic fundamentals, number of people the project is hiring locally, amount and cost of raw material being bought from the economy, amounts of energy being consumed and of course the tax expected from the organization once the business enterprise has stabilized. However there are institutions that use almost 60% of their raw material and expertise from outside the governing economy and still request for tax holidays as those enterprises that purely dependent on the governing economy from its raw material to the finished product. There is an inconsistence between these two kinds of investors. Rousseau a social and political theorist was opposed to taxation and prescribed that people should actually work for the state and be exempt from taxes. Therefore countrymen should dedicate their resources and abilities in making a state functional, however with a large state and in the current definition of today’s state this prescription is not possible. However I find one particular issue that is probably important and can be picked up by developing economies from Rousseau’s argument.

If the policy is to exempt Investments from taxations then they should meet the demands of some social amenities such as construction of schools, hospitals, waste management systems, water and environment management systems. This is very important for developing economies because most of its budget goes to meet such costs. An example of the Madhavani group or Mukwano group, The Madhavani group constructed an entire village in Jinja with schools, Hospitals, clinics, Roads etc that are benefiting these communities to date, I believe this kind of investment plan is a clear example of community social responsibility, Of course not all investors have the same capital but they can meet some basic social amenities for communities as needs arise rather than being totally exempted from taxes without meeting any community needs.

Investors of course would argue that it is not their mandate to develop these kinds of services but clearly in the long run, investors will establish brand loyalty but also cultivate or grow a consumer society of their products, of course there other ways of developing a consumer societies based on marketing strategies and advertisement of the 5 P’s (Product, Price,Packaging,Place etc )however these are all based or founded on the producer’s perspective a reverse of this would benefit enterprises more. However if a consumer group was cultivated and grown, then it would actually participate or even partake in the development of the product. Borrow from politicians, they actually depend more on the populace for their growth in terms of systems, ideas and so forth. This is because they institute basics fundamentals and ideals in communities that enable free will and loyalty to their ideals.

Written and Compiled by Edgar Walter Byaruhanga, Exec Director Development Initiative Africa.

Research Materials: 1.Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler
2. Business Development:

Infrastructure and Community Financing

2008-06-11T11:44:00.000-07:00

INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNITY FINANCING

Part: One …….Infrastructure Development and Community Financing

The responsibility to provide infrastructure to support production of any kind is upon the government is the classical school of thought for developing economies. However this school of thought has tested time and some countries in the world, communities have carried their own mantle and taken on developing their own infrastructure.

While economies all over the world have developed based in on national savings, borrowing funds remains the biggest source of funding for national projects that require substantial.

Low technological advancement and high costs associated with technological transfer basically have encouraged reliance on poor technologies hence increasing the cost of production among other factors. In the long run we have economies producing low quality products at very high costs hence not competing internationally. While these internal bottlenecks to production still linger in frustrating developing economies, the costs of money are equally extremely high for both states and local people in African countries. Funds from international development agencies are sometimes difficult to follow up on.

The least interest cost according to a survey carried out by Development Initiatives Africa in Uganda is 2% per month according to micro finance Institutions but these institutions require atleast 30% to 40% deposits and securities such as car log books, Land titles, buildings titles etc before giving monies to ordinary people, some of these securities are not easy to come by for the ordinary person. DIA shall discuss in future government led Micro finance initiatives in Africa and how they are affecting lives in communities. A case study of Uganda.

The security requirements for commercial banks are not any better and have practically also made it difficult for community development. Sectors that need high initial investments such as fish farming and Hoticulture have not really made an impact based on commercial bank funding and yet some of these areas are key sectors in which developing economies have comparative advantage. There is need for reevaluation of these financial sectors in regard to community financing.

Does government have a role to play? Or should it be left to the forces of demand and supply?

Governments in developing economies have to realize that apart from the internal bottlenecks in the supply and demand chain factors outside African economies are becoming more visible and having much more impact at a comparative scale with internal bottlenecks on production in agriculture and Technology. Some of these include, Fuel prices, changes in global currencies in which most African economies have their reserves, Costs of Food and increasing natural devastations due to climate change. Such challenges are enough to trickle down and shut down businesses on the continent, if governments don’t provide incentives and response mechanisms (plan for) such outside factors. It is quite unfortunate that many a time developing economies make no effort of response to such changes or just wait for the situation to change, a cost on the ordinary people that is immeasurable.

This therefore calls for financial creativeness from government and opening more channels for communities to access finances. Corporate institutions are continuously growing towards support of community and individual livelihoods initiatives in the Uganda Economy, research has shown that corporate institutions are resorting to use of competitions and give a ways as market promotions of their products solely for profit gains. This direction is an appropriate direction, not only as an end in its self but in also stimulating individuals to think and take steps in establishing business and bringing to life ingenuity.

Such steps are a real source of development for they are thought out in the spectrum of the opportunities and challenges within community environments, therefore even in terms of growth and advancement of products. They would respond to community growth. Some may call this a slow process as the rate of growth and advancement of some communities is slow. However the rate of consumption is growing due to the increasing population.

Development Initiatives Africa carried out research in Areas of Kabarole, Masaka, Mbarara and Kasese in Uganda some of the leading matooke (Banana) producing areas in the country, our research has shown that the cost of production of the staple food on average is actually with in the means of most communities, however the challenge is the cost of transportation from the real production points to the markets.

Road construction is one of the biggest infrastructural cost for most countries in developing economies coupled with costs of monies borrowed from International Development banks, the debt trap in which developing economies find themselves is overwhelming. The cost of food according to our research is basically forty percent built by the transportation cost.

Government officials argue that there is inadequate budget allocations to infrastructure development, while this is a fair argument the energy and creativeness put forth to access funds is not commensurate to the challenge.

Development initiatives Africa proposes some of the following avenues that could be available for research and exploration for specific infrastructure Development.

Bonds for Infrastructure Development

The classical approach is that bonds should be bought in favourably larges sums for easy management. However this approach limits access to these bonds and information about bonds, treasury bills etc are inadequate or not even available to ordinary people. Very few people are aware of these instruments.

Developing economies would actually make direct appeals to the populace through saling of bonds to communities on issues pertaining development of Infrastructure, this would reduce the money in circulation but increase the ability to consume in the long run, as investors shall be earning interests on their investments. This would also increase the ability for communities to save money that should probably be consumed. Projects that generate income such as Dams, Railway networks, oil pipelines etc. should be sold in form of bonds to communities in African economy. It should be noted that we have continuously referred to nationals as community in reference to the most ordinary income earner in a small village.

This initiative would ascertain accountability because this money would be coming directly from the communities rather than funds from development partners that are some times tied with strings, and people would be directly expectant on their investments hence pressuring governments to institute proper accountability systems.

Therefore governments in developing economies need to revise and break down bonds into small manageable funds, which ordinary people in communities can buy and also use as securities, clearly the advantages of this initiative is immense but most importantly is the promotion of the savings culture in communities and a growing culture of self reliance on the part of African Economies.

Case Study: Construction of the Erie Canal

The construction of the Erie canal from New York in the 1820, this canal was constructed from Albany to Buffalo a 363 mile distance. The canal connected lake Erie to the Atlantic Ocean. This canal enabled private businessmen to access the interior from Atlantic Ocean all the way to Minnesota. The uniqueness of this project was that president Jefferson at the time refused to fund this project, however private business men led by New York bought bonds to fund the project from which they earned interests once the canal was opened. In 9 years the state had recovered the $7 million investment and 1.5 million interests for private investors who had bought canal bonds.

The initiative of public funding would also foster good governance as it shall reduce the tie between politics and infrastructure development, a point that is easily exploitated by politicians in developing economies. Communities will have more independence in terms of political inclinations and shall be able to expect standards from those in power to manage public resources. It has been a leading trend for political institutions in Africa to strongly rely on infrastructure development and provision of services to communities as bargaining chips for votes. A vivid example is the case of Zimbabwe where some communities have been denied Food Aid on the basis of their political Inclination.

Some may argue why not turn to taxation?. Why not provide tax holidays to investments, like Uganda Revenue Authority has done in Uganda, and in the long run have a big stable taxable base. Why not hold governments in African economies accountable to taxes they collected?, why not continue relying on Aid?.The case of taxation is beyond the scope of this paper., it shall be discussed in our next commentary.

Capital and stock Markets

The development of capital markets is equally as important, consumers would accrue value in paying for products that they consider as investment. Very few companies have sold shares to the private sector hence, giving back very little to consumers. The founders of most developed economies realized this aspect and by law encouraged many private entities to sale a given percentage of shares to publics. This would also act as a direct control on some of the “quack” investors that use developing economies as testing grounds through conniving with technocrats and politicians.

Part Two: Social Cohesion and Development

Development Initiatives Africa considers public funding, an appropriate direction for research for some of these huge investments that African countries are under taking. It should be noted that international financial institutions are benefiting in terms of earning from such investments as opposed to nationals, opportunity should be given to Nationals to part take in their national development of especially infrastructure.

This strategy shall also reduce the debt burden of African economies in the long run and also provide ground for social cohesion. It important to note that distance between communities and huge capital investments has sometimes led to social unrest due to lack of ownership of the projects. Nigeria Oil drilling companies have suffered this lash due to deliberate sabotage from communities of the industry because they are not directly benefiting. In the faith of understanding the dynamics that foster social cohesion, this strategy requires research.

In the long run countries in developing economies are creating consumer societies rather than producers, as the ability, potential, ingenuity, initiative and capacity to produce, is not comparatively developed or not as equally competitive with the available products on the international market. In conclusion involving ordinary people to invest in their social economic infrastructure is to empower communities to be able to follow up and acquire knowledge of the technological advancements in the market, in the long run, just as ordinary men have learned to diagnose particular diseases and dangers that they face in their natural environment, Communities will adapt to diagnosing their own needs and find solutions without or minimal external help, even when challenges are beyond the scope of their knowledge or level of education.

By: Edgar Walter Byaruhanga, Exec Director DIA

Research Materials:

A concise history of the United States of America by Paula Baker.

Education and Practice Review

2007-12-24T06:55:00.000-08:00

Education and Practice

Part One and Part two

In order to improve the quality of life for individuals, Education programs have been undertaken some of which include Universal Education for All and many other informal education systems in areas of health, HIV/AIDs, Livelihoods and Business Development. The responsibility to provide affordable, quality education for the youth in a country is upon the government.

While assessments and research have shown that education is inclined towards theory rather than practical work in many developing economies, efforts to change this trend is also lacking. The Education for All (EFA) report by UNESCO

Research by experts in child development have further revealed that practical stimulation in early childhood development significantly develops individual abilities for creativity and innovation of children (Christian Children’s Fund Community Based Approach to Early Childhood Development)

Development Initiatives Africa research has further shown that creative solutions can be implemented to harmonise the existing balance of graduate unemployed and also gradually create a more entrepreneurship graduate population. Some of the best Education institutions in the world such as Harvard and Westminster have focused on both the theoretical but more importantly the practical part of the education. (Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)/BBC) Finland with the best education system in the world according to OECD children begin education at the age of 7 years, teachers - parent relations are very strong and all teachers are educated to masters’ level.

Learn at school and Practice at home. Education would be much more relevant if the ground for practice is as wide as the ground for studying. While youth in Uganda spend almost 18 years on average in school the ground to practice and also be responsible with the challenges of adulthood is small. Therefore research in improving the learning and practice environment is imperative to curtail the challenge that the country is likely to face. This proposal shall further be discussed in the second part of education and family.

It will however be impossible to achieve a proper and successful education program if the cycle of education is not considered for review and scrutiny. The cycle that we are referring to include: Schools, homes, communities and policy makers.

Education at School (Primary, secondary, university, vacation instns, literature in libraries, teachers)

Education at Home (family Member’s Influence)

Education in Community (Employers, media, local authorities, Banks, churches, Artists)

Education by Government/ Leadershipip (Local leaders, ministers, cultural leaders, policy makers)

Schools:

Instructional Materials

According to EFA Monitoring report 2008 access to instructional materials and text books is still very low in sub Saharan Africa. The report shows that over half of the children in countries like Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania do not have access to books and 25% to 45% of teachers do not posses instructional books or guides for teaching.

Access to instructional materials is one part of the story however the most important part is the applicability of these materials. Instructional materials would be much more relevant if they have more of practical guides to facilitate learning. Gender and HIV/AIDs streamlining in instructional materials is underway and some countries such Uganda have succeeded in reaching out to communities on such issues.

Teachers

It is important to note that teachers in sub-Saharan Africa spend at least 30% the time with those students attending school; this therefore means that a lot of knowledge, practices and abilities are nurtured by the teachers in junior, advanced and university education.

The quality of teachers is therefore of relevance for one to produce quality students at all levels. The foundation stage where children have to learn basics in reading, writing, arithmetic and English is particularly important. According to EFA report the median percentage for trained teachers in sub-Saharan Africa is less than 80%, and yet some countries like Uganda, Mozambique have also gone ahead to lower the level of entry for primary teachers. This has been done to lower the gap of student – teacher ratio. In reality a skilled and well trained teacher can produce a better student.

Proposed Research Question?

What is the impact of family, community and government policy on unleashing the potential of youth in communities?
How can the Education sector streamline vocational theory and practice in conventional Education structures in Uganda?
Does the Education system have an impact on the creativity/innovativeness of a society or individuals that are benefiting from it?
What is the comparative advantage of Education systems of some Africa Countries?

Conclusion

Great emphasis has been put on attracting capital in form of foreign investment for developing economies. This therefore has created a phenomenon of training labour to work in these Enterprises. It is imperative to review the multiplier effect. More value would accrue to an economy if only its labour would translate their skills into capital (Human Capital). Countries that are profiting from this are countries such as China, India and Nigeria in Africa.
The Education sector in developing economies should put in perspective the global trends. Developed countries constantly review their education system to meet the current global challenges. Countries in several European and American countries are position their education system to the increasing demand for commodities and trade opportunities in china. Many schools and institutions are teaching Chinese languages and cultures to students. Other Global concerns such as international peace, Environmental concerns are being gradually streamlined in all scientific and social discipline in many developed economies. Therefore if Individual Entrepreneurship and innovation is one of Africa’s desired strategic directions and weakness now, then the education sector should be reviewed to meet this goal because the current education intake in Africa has increased.

Capital investment would be much more relevant if it were initiated by a skilled labour force, the burden of accountability would be upon the labour force as opposed to government hence reducing leakages through corruption/misappropriation.

However a skilled labour force with research and innovation abilities to initiate products is required for the above proposal to happen other factors constant. This can be achieved if the education system deliberately focuses on creating innovators/Entrepreneurs from the onset of education.

PART TWO

Community and Education

It is important to look at family as the basic function of society but also the smallest production unit in any society. Some countries and societies that have settled in foreign lands managed to exploit this potential beyond circumstances that surrounded them. Such include the Jewish communities in Europe and America, the Indian community in Africa and especially Uganda and the early settlers of America.

History in America has shown that the family unit was a fundamental production unit before the growth of major industries. The early settlers of America depended on the fathers for political, economic direction, and security, and young men were from an early age trained and skilled in arts of debate and use of instruments such as pianos etc. Women took on the role of inspiring country men; they taught etiquette and virtues and engaged in cottage production. Based on this background, families like the Rockefeller, Carnegie and new age families managed to build industrial empires.

Developing economies are still challenged with the teacher to student ratio where the latter is higher. With such a trend, the quality of education can not necessarily be guaranteed and is likely to continue for some more years. Therefore it would be strategic to mobilise the abilities of the community numbers by directly engaging them in the education sector. The ratio of parents that send children to school is by far larger than the number of teachers in any economy.

Upon this background several NGOs and Education interventions in some countries have been based on family structures. Leading theories in protection base the responsibility to protect and develop children on the strength of family as a priority.

Development Initiatives Africa (DIA) therefore proposes to explore the potential of family in participating in the education sector but most importantly in building a competitive and productive individual.

In our previous paper we explored some possibilities in streamlining vocational skills in the education sector. We would like to further this discussion paper on the possibilities of families’ contribution to skills development.

Multiple skills

The transfer of skills from guardians/parents to youths in communities is one of the ways in which a country can develop multi skilled youth in communities. Research has shown that most youth in Indian communities are able to undertake the tasks of their guardian or parents much as they may be skilled and employed in other sectors. This ability to transfer skills in family is fundamental for developing human capital. Upon that background Silicon Valley will continue shopping for brilliant minds from China and India because they have been able to capitalise in developing their IT human capital.

Curriculum Development

The development of school curriculum is an opportunity for directly involving communities in the education of their children. Some schools in Uganda take this as an important step, therefore call on parents and guardians to participate in curriculum discussions. The score in this practice is that the student is accountable to the teacher and guardian/ parent at home making a measure of progress easy to monitor.

Some countries have gone ahead and developed curriculum or guidelines for parents. This practice for instance in the State of Alberta, Canada has succeeded in fully engaging parents in the education system of their children. We therefore propose that the education sector mobilises the potential of parents by either developing guidelines for them or engaging the parent community, students and teachers occasionally in several activities.

Community involvement in curriculum development would also spread a wide understanding of the student capacities therefore parents would be in position to constantly engage youth in practical activities that are responsive to their education level.

Before we conclude this paper we propose some of the following questions that might require research

What is the influence of family in contributing to skills development in developing economies and how can this unit be developed to meet national Education strategies?
How can developing economies cope with the current white/collar education out put to ensure comparative advantage over other economies?
What are possible incentives to keep skilled staff in Africa?

Conclusion

In order to nurture talent and develop skills of the youths, conversion and daily activities that parents or communities engage in with their children would be better focused if only parents or guardian had an understanding of the school activities that the youth are engaged in. If communities had an understanding of their children’s potential, then alignment in terms of chores, curricular activities would be designed to boost the capacity of the children.

Some Education systems go ahead to design different teaching programmes for the best performing students in schools to maximise their full potential, though discussion on this practice is wide in the sphere of education.

. Written and compiled by Edgar Walter Byaruhanga Exec Director Development Initiatives Africa. DIA Recognizes Input from

George Bogere:

Makerere University Institute for Social Research

Philp Nabyama:

DIA Associate, Uganda

Development initiatives would like to inform you, that this commentary is based on secondary research. Questions posed for research in this commentary are beyond the scope of this paper and require technical expertise.

Discussion on funding Development initiatives in research can be done through request by email on developmentinitiativesafrica@gmail.com or edgarbyaruhanga@yahoo.com

Research Based on: A concise history of the United States of America by Paula Baker.
48 Laws of Power: Robert Greene
From third World to First World, Singapore; President Lee kuan Yew

UNAA Convention(San Francisco California)

2007-09-05T10:04:00.000-07:00

Development Initiatives Africa(D.I.A) took part in the summit that was held in San francisco over the weekend i.e 31st Aug - 2nd Sept 2007; Quite a number of issues were tackled pertaining to the development of Ugandan and African communities at large.

Represented by Mr.Kiggundu Steven/Kid Fox one of the Directors,D.I.A contributed to the meeting and amongst the points/means/solutions aired was the communicative approach to development,an artistic/creative means of empowering the communities with necessary life skills for better livelihood which is one of the core/basic means upon which D.I.A operates.

Its very apparent in Uganda/Africa today that the every day person/lay man is now more familiar and attracted to simple,friendly and more personal approaches to issues as opposed to the long time non effective political/government policies if i may say;

Case study of Uganda today shows that the every day person is so much driven by the artistic activities around and the messages they portray;for instance the Music Industry in Uganda which is also growing at a very first pace has got a Magnificent Influence on the locals like nothing else today...

If such is/are utilized appropriately,a great deal of sensitization and empowerment to the communities shall be achieved/done.

Good example is of writing really nice Songs,Plays e.t.c on important issues such as Sanitation,Savings,Job Creation among others,or personally confronting the locals by way of organizing conferences to teach and empower them with a number of skills backed by entertainment thus the statement INFOTAINMENT,which D.I.A is already doing...
Written and Compiled by Kiggundu Steven (KidFox), Inputs by Edgar Byaruhanga.

Reach out to Communities

2007-08-21T04:15:00.000-07:00

Reaching out to Communities.

Communication in developing economies has been along thematic areas like Education, Health and Security, normally these sectors take the larger part of the budgets and unfortunately some communities are organized around political inclinations. Development workers are challenged to look beyond these social groups that could blur other important social groups that need attention.

Challenge for Development partners and policy makers

The case of Uganda is interesting with a population estimate of 31 million, Total fertility rate of 6.7 births per woman. About 24% estimated to be using family planning methods and infant mortality at 76 per 1000 live births (Uganda Bureau of Statistics). Planners and policy makers are left with the challenge of devising appropriate communication strategies to reach the populace.

Some of the social segments that I would like to focus on are:
Those attending School
Formerly employed and informally employed
Employed in industry and those in Agriculture.
Those involved in Small and Medium Enterprises

I will focus on development communication techniques for these groups that policy makers don’t pay attention to. Development workers should package their policies and communicate them through these already existing channels. These channels have been created by the same environment as such share more commonalities and are easy to mobilize into functional units.

Experience in working with communities in Western, Eastern and Northern Uganda has shown that women and youth groups are strong and clear in knowing their roles in communities. These groups have gradually learnt to advocate for themselves and directly engaging policy makers in dialogue.

Emerging strong social groups (Women and Youth)

It is evident in all communities where NGOs are operating women and Youth Groups are increasingly pushing for their voices to be heard. These two categories always proudly identify themselves, clearly state their achievements, needs and challenges in the community. It however leaves me wondering why these two social groups have managed to develop such a strong identity in developing countries. The answer lies in our daily work as NGOs, UN and Grass root Campaigns by Politicians. Another reason would probably be that these social groups are dubbed “vulnerable” in developing countries as such partners channel resources to these social segments. However this does not explain their increasing awareness of themselves and their increased vigilance in development. I would personally attribute this awareness to the repetitive messages that are focusing on the youth and women that have over time been used in development programs.

I would also think that these two categories are probably very progressive in African social development interventions. Experience in working with communities in Kasese, Kyenjojo, Kibale, Kaberamaido and Kabale districts has shown that women and youth groups were evidently progressive in terms of Knowledge, attitude and Practices on issues concerning social development. It should however be noted that the ability to change behaviour is also influenced by the person’s self efficacy (Skills, abilities and motivation) which is a major influence to behaviour change.

Against that background knowing in detail the characteristics of social groups and strategically framing (framing refers to the construct of communication—its language, visuals, and messengers—and the way it signals to the listener or observer-) would yield better results in development communication as a strategy.

Based on Research by Development communication Experts, Knowledge, awareness, and attitudes are not enough to effect behavior change. Research has shown some of the strong predictors of behavior are emotions and moral convictions (Myers, 2003:7).- Marian Farrior

A growing economy like Uganda that has over 65% of its population uneducated is likely to maintain this structure of population for some more years, as such, communicating development issues should consider this fact and package information through those existing channels like Educated, uneducated, those involved in agriculture, industry etc.
While profit making companies have continuously identified and repetitively bombarded their market Segments with the same message thus creating public/individual identity and reinforcing individuals Convictions in consuming the same products, policy makers in development have not prioritized this technique in selling development ideas to communities.

Appeal to Emotions

Case study 1: Coca Cola continues to grow in sales due to mainly focusing its resources in targeting the younger generation; this is deliberately done through not only reinforcing adverts but creating a “young generation culture”. The company has been able to generally identifying the Values possessed the young Generation thus using them as channel (Pathways) for huge market campaigns. E.g. “Stay Bambuucha…”, or this adverts use the individual interests/ emotions as a drive way for marketing the products.

Appeal to Patriotism

Case study 2: On several occasions Politicians have encouraged communities to engage in Development initiatives in order for them to contribute to national development/ modernizations. - ‘Appeal to Patriotism’. Experience has however shown that usually the motivating factor for communities to pickup messages and act upon them is largely attributed to the credibility of the source. Sources such as Presidents, Ministers, and local authorities, Credible NGOs or Academicians in particular fields easily appeal to communities in developing countries.
Therefore arguments that are constructed to foster development by appealing to patriotism (National Development) may need to be backed by the source or rather be packaged to appeal to the values of the community. The question of Values is beyond the scope of this discussion paper. However development workers need to put in perspective that individual and community values are the easiest pathway to communicating development issues.

Conclusion

In conclusion if social groups are identified and deliberately targeted with consistent information but also packaged into an identity group. This strategy would reduce the cost of resources used in development campaigns because the individual abilities and motivation of these groups would come to play.

It should be clear that the social segments I am referring to largely depend on the structure of the population. These range from, Educated, non Educated, Sex, Agriculturalist, industrialists, those above or below a particular age, etc… what social segment to use as a driving force for a development campaign should be based on an assessment and after studying the character of population structure. After selecting the social segment to use a communication strategy should then be selected.

Compiled and Written by Edgar Walter Byaruhanga, Executive Director (DIA)

1. Research Materials; Human arrangments,An introduction to sociology Allan G Johnson
2. Psychology and You: McGraw - Hill
2.

Let The Figures Speak!!!

2007-08-18T04:56:00.000-07:00

Do you need a good reason for land Reforms?
Do you need a good reason to develop the informal sector?
Do you need a good reason to support Research and Innovations at the community level?
Do you need a good reason to attract Huge Investment?

AND

Do you need more Schools, Teachers and Hospitals?

LOOK AT THE FIGURES, THEY TELL AN INTERESTING STORY…….

“I am Yumbe District, I housed 99,794 People in 1991 and in 2006 my population is projected to 338,200 People. I must say that my land has not increased and services have not changed much………….but my population is increasing daily.”

STORY FROM YUMBE DISTRICT 2006

Compiled and Written by Edgar Walter Byaruhanga Exec Director Development Initiatives Africa

2007-08-18T04:42:00.000-07:00

FOOD SECURITY or WHAT???

Communities in Uganda have built these Granneries as a food security intervention based on their traditional knowledge.

I wonder What Materials are Used to build these huge food granneries?

This practice basically thrives on the environment of the community. They use Reeds, Cowdung, dry grass and mud,to plaster the walls.

Is it important?

Talking to experts in livelihood this culture promoted a number of economic initiatives in African Communities that you cant find now.

They were are store for food, This would ensure the scurity of the family irespective of the size.

It was relevant especially in times of drought

The women who have been traditionally marginalised in most communities were safe and less dependant on the daily income of the men to sustain their children.

These Baskets have also been a store for indegnous seeds

Commmunity Pyschology experts say that this culture of saving food in the granneries prepaired all families to plan for their families, in a way this culture promoted planning for families and prepaired communities for possible flactuations in harvests.

Child protection experts would certainly say that access to food is imperative in the development process of a child.

Granneries in a Modern perspective

Development theriorists have argued that this practice is at odds with growing consumerism Culture . Some of the remotest communities with vast fertile chunks of land have amassed small retail shops that sale food to the same geographically located communities at low prices. This trend also presposes granneries to be a backward method of food storage.
Environmental Implication
This practice poses a threat to the environment however to a minimal extent.
The other implication is that communities after all these years of civilisation have not developed or advanced this food storage technique to another form. This therefore encourages dependency on the Environment for sustainability of communities.

Security for Indegenous Seeds

The current world Challenge of extinction of indegenous seeds is largely due to the brakedown of this tradition in several communitie of the world. The growth of multi nationals such as mosantos, etc. and the increasing Droughts, Disasters and the ever increasing populations in the world is threatening the seed security.
My thoughts on this would be that Governments and Development partners should do more research about this practice. The Micro level activities of each community certainily affect the Macro Economy of the country.
A detailed discussion on restoration of Traditional Food security mechanism and the effect it has on the quality of the people of a given community would be an interesting one.

HOW TO Communicate this Information????

The other major challenge that development workers and governments are facing is how to communicate some of these Development Concerns.
In a discussion with some of my partners: They asked me to link "granneries" to Development concerns such as Child protection , economic Development.

Complex information to be digestable and well packaged for the mental faculties of several Developing communitie might require alot of thought, resources and creativity that is un limitted.
This calls for creative methods and understanding the micro level habits of each commuinity to actually benefit them or even attempt to engage them in dialogue.

Each Development Concern poses a new challenge that requires creative methods of capturing the attention and the minds of the various communities.

Written by Edgar Walter Byaruhanga Exec Director Development Initiatives Africa(DIA)

Livelihood initiatives

2007-08-18T04:39:00.000-07:00

LIVELIHOODS

Based on personal experiences, and research. Development initiatives is currently working with Artist to produce and deliver a livelihood song to encourage youths and the Ugandan population to save for the future. A song that shall be translated in two in English and Luganda to reach Several Youths shall be launched in Kampala.

By Edgar Walter Byaruhanga Exec Director DIA