Foreign Goods pre-shipping Inspection...

Foreign Goods pre-shipping Inspection 

and the looming impact of ‘Industrial Abomination’

Sam Mwaka-karama

Ancient industrial cartoon junkyard animators, once upon a time, dreamt of the ultimate automated industrial abomination of all times - as the enormous Himalayan sort-of junk-heap manglement of worldly industrial complexity where massive Portland iron smelters - with thick smoke billowing from huge chimneys - characteristically smog the sprawl of urban cosmopolitans, busy city production and consumerism atmosphere; with industrious manufacturing-craft mania, iron mongery, crap-metallurgy and foundry, fabrications, design, finishing, packing and unto the world maritime shipping, road and rail transportations to the final consumer - would become such endless and still unending nightmare - where the 'iron men' would - by the very repetitiveness of their robotic 'dawn to dusk' and 'dusk to dawn' capitalist restlessness - become spider-webbed in this bizarre whirlwind 'megalomania' – the ultimate industrial abomination.

What the cartoon junkyard artist did not bother-with, was the 'off-springs' of these huge pulsating "Theta and Entheta" of this new-world fired-up by worldly consumerism, need and insatiable hunger, quest, fashion, competitiveness and famished want.

The off-springs of these 'iron men' and 'iron women' of the unending industrial revolutions, wars and growths - are the metaphorical ‘Gulliver’ inch-man 'gnomes' - who climb all over the tired sleepy Swartz… Western 'ironman of capitalism' of the modern day.

The invincible industrial Inch-men Gnomes roped an incredible network - in perpetual process of product output; replications, copycat-ism, jinx-craftsmanship, counterfeits, fake-ism and sub-standardization of all types of goods... like tiny colony-ants, they flood the world’s busiest ports with uncontrollable surge of millions upon millions of container tonnage... most noticeably always targeting Eastern African Countries [being conveniently just across the Indian Ocean] where currently governments are evidently overwhelmed! There is already a revolution in ship-building abroad; designers of cargo liners are phasing in new mammoth size ships; ports are threatened with impossible complex congestions; warehousemen are fighting for huge chunks of land for miles and miles of Go downs.

In Uganda, government is moved into [a not so clear state of] consumer protection. And protectionism is a new phenomenon - by and large on average a little less than ten years in practice in the EAC - the protection Schemas could appropriately be defined as embryo in East Africa…

Couple of years ago several Vehicles were tracked-down and impounded in Kampala and other parts of the East African Region - purportedly as having been stolen from Japan – today Monday, July 22^nd, 2013 one of Uganda’s leading daily has a funny front page; …something about ‘58 vehicles impounded by the Police’ – as having been ‘stolen from London’. At the Uganda Media Centre recently, I personally asked the Hon Minister Amelia Kyambadde about the [stolen Japan Cars impounding incident] – she quibbled; “that happened at a time we had temporarily suspended PVoC scheme for evaluation purposes”.   

"Pre-Export Verification of Conformity to Standards" – PVoC  

PVoC - founded under the ‘UNBS Act’ and regulated by the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Cooperatives collaborating with UNBS bureaucracy - had a number of false-starts and on and offs – including the time the “Ministry suspended this program in order to further review its status on 19th June 2013” as explained by Hon Amelia Kyambadde, Minister - in a Press briefing on resumption of the scheme recently – factor triggered by the vast need to get closer to the consumers via the press and [newly formed committee; UNBS, KACITA,UNCCI, MTIC, and PSFU] and generate ideas for defining PVoC functions - which seem to perennially hang in an unclear haze of conflicting desire to work in contract with foreign Inspection and Verification Companies or perhaps work independently [and on the home ground] as PVoC - in a manner likely to duplicate the foreign Inspectors work – somehow; though PVoC's mandate was clearly spelt-out in a six point program-objective lay-out (Ref: UNBS Press Release 1st June 2013). The real magnitude of the problem is beyond the political policy, administrative principles, UNBS guidelines or PVoC mandates… there is just simply an immoral and abominable state of industrial production emanating from some parts of the world!  

PVoC's problem however seems to emanate from simple fact that despite the presence of six International Inspection Agencies: for general goods [SGS – INTERTEK and Bureau Veritas] – while for used motor vehicle [JEVIC - JKAM - EAAS] – based in Japan and UAE and probably operating in most ports of origin in the major exporter countries doing business with Uganda; China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Korea, India, Pakistan, Turkey, EU, Britain and many others – even then sub-standard products [apparently including stolen vehicles] still come openly into the Country...

Meaning that over the next five to ten years; the states of industrial productivity output abomination in the manufacturing and Exporting countries of the far East might go-up five fold – guessing from the new design cargo liners sizes set to be floated on the maritime shipping markets in the not so far away future.

Dramatic increase in the ‘Gulliver’ inch man ‘gnomes’ activities in the Far East over the past decade or so... progressively shift consumerism downwards towards the 'bottom of the pyramid' as it were; spurring the younger generation to work-harder for the sub-standard goods – aggressively sold to the unsuspecting eager and fast spending consumer… it is a haven for the ‘gnomes’... what if it went-up five fold in the next ten years?

Who is the culprit; between the manufacturer, exporter and importer of the fake substandard [& stolen?] goods?

While government seem to think that the culprit in this situation was the 'careless' Ugandan importer... who 'blindly' buys the fake [& stolen] or substandard [and fake] goods from abroad and so should be penalized and also charged to pay stiffly for the internal PVoC inspections system - on the contrary arguably - the Ugandan local importers [I don’t know about the foreigners] were just profit driven business people, keen on meeting their financial transfer obligations to have their consignments delivered on time.

If the foreign manufacturers and exporters were rooted in sub-standardization, even theft - to them, the local importers - those were highly technical policy-matters that should be debated and resolved between Uganda and the foreign countries’ business policy makers.

And if [for example] - the manufacturers’ [standardization] weren't regulated by their own governments - then Uganda officials and business leaders should go out there and table their disquiet... instead of penalizing the importers at home or duplicating the costly inspection process. Or even impounding goods already paid for in foreign exchange – and very much in advance – as having been stolen: Then how did the foreign Ports of discharge fail to verify the [stolen vehicle] particulars; [chassis number, engine number, plate numbers, insurance stickers for five years etcetera] – how will they [foreign ports of discharge] ever inspect anything over the next five to ten years; when finally the industrial abomination blows-up out of proportions with more than five times the tonnage currently passing through their ports; aren’t the foreign inspection and verification companies actually already overwhelmed?    

At best - PVoC should more appropriately become yet another expeditionary work-group [like those in Somalia - etcetera] – if need be to inspect and verify the goods before they were discharged from the port of export. Goods inspection and verifications are apparently becoming a nightmare – considering mushrooming industrial out-put abomination abroad; some manufacturing countries might even pay for local consumer ‘inspectors’ to be stationed abroad in their countries; so that goods get verified before shipping – even then, there is still a bizarre overwhelming factor... inspecting thousands of 12ft, 20ft, 40ft containers in detail everyday of the week, month; how do you even conceptualize such an operation plan? Who is actually the culprit in this Industrial Abomination?

The Author is an Independent Thinker, Writer and Blogger.

mwakarama@gmail.com     

 

Friendship…

    Friendship…

Developing the simple Thinking perception

With Sam Mwaka-karama

Question and Answer

What is friendship?

Friendship is closeness between two people [or more] with liking of each-other as the binding element that keeps them close.

Can friendship also harbor love between the two [or more] people?

Yes! Friendship can also harbor love (like a ship docks at the port) but the [love] becomes a third party; because friendship between two persons [or among people] who like each-other has enough binding element.

That makes [the import of love] third party… because with or without it friendship can still survive and goes-on between the two [or more people].

So what is a harbored [or docked] third party love then?

Harbored [or docked] love becomes the ‘innocent attraction’ factor; like the flower was there and the butterfly got attracted to it! Or the nectar was there and the bee got attracted to it (that is love! Which is different from; [the milk was there and the fly landed on it] that is not love! Because much as the milk which is the fundamental product and substance of love [the fly who is always attracted to milk – does not represent or produce substances of love… like a bee or butterfly].

Now if friendship between two [or more] people “has enough binding element” to it – which automatically relegates [innocent attraction] to third party love, then where does that leave ‘God love’?

‘God love’ is inspirational feeling! It has or represents no physical substantive element… so that [God love] is actually [housed] in celibacy of the mind and soul – parental love.

How so - explain?

‘God love’ is here equitable to ‘parental love’ because it is expressed to the child in a depreciative manner… it is intense at birth and progressively depreciates as the kids grow-up, become adult and eventually a parent... Parents are supposed to progressively and slowly change their love [of their own children] so that it become liking of their children as they grow older; which is why if you [a child] went wrong, your parent told you that it was wrong to do this or that – but her/his words becomes progressively harder [with the use of sticks or cane or insult] as the children grow bigger and older.

Why must ‘parental love’ [God love] eventually change as the children grow older?

Because a child growing older [in the physical world] needs strength [faith] to eventually be cast-off his/her parents to survive on their own – and maintain a distant but [faithful and constantly linked] relationship with their aging parents [you]; you are physically [cast-off your parents] and gain attraction [friendship and maybe love] and attachment [by faith or maybe love] to your partner/spouse where you are supposed to be survived also by another generation [kids of your own].

Your responsibility to your kids is giving them cultural [language] teachings, sense of direction, education and attachment to their roots [before demise of the grand-parents]. That is the norm worldwide.

A parent who betrays his/her partner/spouse creates disability in this process: Better a family thrown asunder by an act of war or natural disaster, than a family torn-apart by the misdirection of a jilted parent’s teachings…      

So when is a person really free – if you must maintain link with your parents at the same time?

“Freedom” per-say does not actually exist… but your attachment to your kind is your life heritage – which is why birds of the same feathers flock together – but then crossing the cultural [or racial] line is also a natural aspect of life, but it might become a [curse] if it causes you to [hate] your parents or shun your roots… living in [self] curse is the problem.

If you crossed the racial line and discovered that your partner/spouse [hates your kind, parents or your roots] then you risk becoming a [slave] locked-up inside an open sourly, infective and eventually festering ‘concentration camp’! If it is your destiny to live that sort of life… then it is your misfortune! Your Karma!

But there is also an element of personality [rooted in faith… “I leave you my faith”] should tell you that; you can pull yourself out of that open prison and seek adventure instead of the cocoon-ism of slavery; you always have a choice. But then again; ‘choice’ is also often subjugated by fear [and ignorance].

No! It is not that you [don’t like this] or [you don’t like that] - it is ‘fear’ and outright ‘ignorance’ that defeated [you].

The writer is an Independent Thinker, Author and Blogger

mwakarama@gmail.com            

Neo-Imperialism and the future Africa

Sam Mwaka-karama

Initially this article was written for World Press Freedom day – I had been thinking of what to share on that fine day. Fine day because it reminds us especially we Africans living on the mother continent; that freedom needs be guarded! Your freedom is valid only as far as you were free to practice in whatever you did without undue state control, all comer hindrances and worst;  peddled malicious foreign ‘influences’ that drag your thinking and actions contra to your legitimate  African journey… was to me the sort of banter to guard against.

In the process of wanting that fairer moments, waiting for what befitting topical moments that never came, I had shelved this article… and did not want to publish its original version because [press freedom day had passed] amid too much chaff and  gamely repartee coming off our parliament (with the four NRM rebel MPs) making the waters of debate even murkier and dialectic with over simplification and gross misunderstanding… the level of reason had suddenly dropped – this article would not blend but instead stick-out or some newspaper editor friends of mine won’t run it either, so I held back on my article, and later re-wrote it for my blog.    

The wider world media thinking was largely developed on the theory that the Press and the media at large watch-dogged upon activities of the state; reported on political, economic, security and generally national issues and happenings with the premise that the State was the leading villainous player and often the culprit… the lopsided debate on ‘freedom of the press’ would therefore be therein anchored. It is syndicated reason; press freedom was from the state - full stop.

However little was often considered when the press encountered hindrances that weren’t exactly state triggered – there are organizations for example that often threaten or even take the press or individual members of the press to court, or even dish-out covert silent sub-terrarium punishment to journalists and editors; or taking advantage of the ‘Libel’ legislature to subdue press objectivity or using other sinister covert means. The difficulty and deprivation of individual pressmen often too, emanate from the free corporate world.

In Uganda this has reached a point where the press is largely endowed with everything tilted to rubbishing the state and government, while creating high-profile imagery of the largely foreign organizations in play: my typical example is; the Oil companies that have been on the front pages of Uganda’s newspapers like Tallow, were still respectably nibbled by the press… even as they [talked of then apologized] for ‘attempting to induce’ a whole presidency for a token… this though was the only time a little bit of teeth showed from the Ugandan press towards a corporate – a softly little bit of teeth – not the sort our press offensive that often chewed-up the state!

What I believe is in the stoical horizon though is the ‘menacing and growling’ of the Neo-Imperial types impatiently waiting for the older generation Africans to depart:  imagine the Mandelas, Mugabes, Musevenis, and Kagames generation of African leaders gone… the younger generation of our sons and daughters obviously won’t manage! At least the stakes are getting stacked too-high against younger generation leadership…

We the older generation now mellowing  have created room for the imperialists in our countries and these fellows love chaos, challenges and wrangle  – it is already evident for example that the many-many NGOs focused on child-everything are here to develop all these “Watotos” for their future control of Africa.

A much larger area of the future of Africa is already occupied by an infant generation they have created out of Africa’s war displacements, orphans, and disadvantaged they have already picked and established contact with... I don’t want to talk about the ones they are preempting; ‘nodding disease’ types and the premature departed who are all victims of queer-ism and devious sex-clinico-mal-practices. Even the Viagra teenage [emergency] red-sex-pest-stampede…

We were celebrating ‘World Press Freedom’ and we were all of the thinking that the freedom was ‘all about love’ –  but then more and more that ‘love’ seem alien even remote; either it is love of religion [God], love in the corporate sense [which is corrosive and often corruptible] or love of imported views and theories. It is not! It is all about objectivity and owning one’s own mind, and not selling your soul.  

Being yourself. Respecting foreigners at harms-length. Jealously guarding your economy and good institutions and generally being aware and on-guard… much as the Walk-to-Work and other elements of the greater reform agenda battled the teargas canisters [for example] – it was wiser to go it several steps shorter than the levels of the Arab Springs. We are Ugandans and we do have our own characteristics – there is a point over which we won’t go on our streets.

Now barely two years down the road… from spring one, the sudden removal of Mohammad Morsi in Egypt so soon after his election confirms that ‘spring revolution’ usurps national power once and for all – the spring-crowd will stone their way into removing any leaders after leaders - once it succeeds a country becomes paralyzed and permanently vulnerable. That crowd is the ultimate mob – whatever it’s religious, political or economic group thinking - its actions once established will recur, again and again. Look at Egypt now [July 2013], so soon after the first spring, the mob came back and ejected Morsi.    

I was recently walking into the Oasis Mall in Kampala – and there was a lone white man about 36 seated with African Ugandan kids; one boy and three girls (12-14/15) – everything about the children was village, actually up country village. Shortly, a waiter arrived with massive plates of grilled chicken and chips, and smiling she looked plain stricken placing the plates on table: to me her point of embarrassment was; these were not the usual children of well-to-do Kampalans - these kids were plain and very much village.

In the 1970s/80s – white Europeans and American tourists did the same in the [Tourist Marrakesh markets] of North Africa. The Marrakesh Market kids are energetic young men today, they are the brothers or other groups – but a child impressed at an early age won’t ever forget… is this another psychological element of Neo-Imperialism? Are we seeing a future being snatched away – and actually we are aiding the process…?

The Author is an Independent Thinker, Writer and Blogger

mwakarama@gmail.com