Author of - The Water Trap – My own Homily
Below is extract of my book as it is on Amazon Kindle
Direct and Create Space. The Water Trap – was first published in Kampala 2009.
And the ‘Second Edition Revised’ whose content is here-under extracted was
Author ‘Self Published’ on Amazon Kindle Direct and Create Space from November
2013.
Since the book initially came out five years ago and, on
Amazon over a year ago, the main subjects of my theme discussions in the book
has gone through tremendous impactful changes – in Gulu’s administration and
beyond. Though my book dwells on the 7th and 8th Parliament
– I am happy for the beneficiary communities - to note that the current 9th
Parliament and Local Government Council has exhibited tremendous achievement in
planning and implementation works visibly… I believe that given another five
more years for the performing Local Councilors – Gulu Municipality is on course
to changing into a modern progressive ‘mini-city’ to be. [I am yet to take a
personal tour of all the sites I cover in my researched essay; especially the Oitino Water
Dam.
However, even if my book did not make for me any royalties…
I am contented that I wrote a ‘Change Maker’! In addition, am more confident of
my brain and sure of my mind as healthy and uninfected – a bigger blow to the
Avian “Kite Spirit” who made formal education difficult for me as a younger
person – having picked on my mind from a tender age. My [resistance] is thus
exhibited in this book. I managed to hold out – walking in the wild; ‘outside
the box’ as it were. I am happy that; as African Authorship of quality, self-published
works picked-up in the first decade of the new Millennium – my non-fiction
researched essay is one among those African books that appeared in that first
decade of the 21 Century. The powerful Avian “Kite Spirit” with all her ferocious
venom hatred can go hang herself on her own Tomato tree – somewhere in her
village! Aha ha…
The Water Trap Sam
Mwaka-karama
Second
Edition Revised
Chapter Three
Pg
42-45 @ Pg 49-52
Amazon
Up till the time I
submitted the first edition of this book to the USAID and later to the
President’s Office, in seeking of funds for organizing that proof-reading edition
for major editing and printing production - local leaders and legislators in
the area had never openly spoken of this particular water project.
Though some speeches emanating from the
(eighth parliament) and Gulu local leaders about ‘Tochi River Project’
eventually materialized much-much later – in discussions there, after ‘The
Water Trap’ was out.
It actually took me a little bit of time
to realize that I shouldn’t have approached USAID with my first edition
(imperfect) book material. I am not saying this because USAID refused to fund
my book – No!
I have in my life read lots of materials
written by ‘deja vu’ characters hating it all... why in the first place they
blundered into America at all. Many foreigners naturalized in the US are
virtually walking around in circles with scarf-bands tied over their eyes...
and mouths stuffed with all manner of the goodies – I think ‘going to America’
is a great concept, but I also think it is a challenge to the individual; why
for instance do people who re-migrate back to their own homeland after
long-life in America, turn bitterly against the US?; it does seem to me that
something often goes all wrong after living in the USA for a while - I have
since resolved to try theoretically to help Africans remove that blind-band
from over their eyes! It is reason enough for me regretting having ever sought
official funding from a US agency – which help was denied me isn’t the issue.
The dire reality is - my type of book are
what the Americans might fight against - because in it there is a Ugandan
African writing language they will never like! To them the good African book
‘must’ be loaded not in the sense mine is, but, in a way of being packaged with
opposition-ism and, attack on incumbent governments or, misguidedly addressing
human rights from the state machinery versus the ordinary wanainchi
point of view. To me that is not our literature!
The Americans want our analysis
perennially quagmire-ed in the 1970s and 1980s perspective that created
Museveni’s resistance - this time around the Americans want us Ugandans -
turning that old garment inside-out and dress ourselves in them... I think that
is the real bull-crap! It is for the center for African studies perhaps... me I
don’t like that packaging! I can’t blindfold Africans with that sort of fancy
crap! We have to visualize our problems from the more realistic point of view –
based on the premise that someday, we won’t need foreign aid and grants
anymore. That is when local government will become the focal-point of our
development everything.
. . . . .
The wrong
traditionalist kraal-home village tyrant mentality – where the elected local
representative – also trapped between certain dubious situations; even if they
had noticed the defunct project, long before my first edition of this book,
would prefer matters to be referred and reported via the political campaign or
security human infrastructure. Just like the old African tyrants used to wait
for all matters brought up forward from below…
So that, information on project matters
(like Tochi) carried forward would have a political voter weight bearing –
where upon the problem might be introduced during a political meeting…
And matters thus carried forward with a
heralding of provider stakeholders, who thus would foot the seminar bills.
And the project matter thus discussed
would as well become a political argument contention-point. Perhaps a challenge
point at the incumbent! Needless to emphasize here, Ugandan oppositions for
example have traditionally developed this overview that the incumbent President
was always the culprit for all blames in his government.
Here a legislator of the modern-day,
would thus, prefer to look at the now politicized ‘project-matter’ from the
standpoint of confrontation with the hitherto ‘unconcerned’ government
authorities - preliminarily over the FM radio.
Instead of the more progressive approach
of perhaps calling the attention of ‘The Parliamentary Group’ in conjunction
with the District Local Councils… over the issue of revival of the Tochi
project – the naïve politicians rumble around over the radio – thereby
misleading the people to imagine that government was malicing the people...
like in “hidden agenda” so that, the failure of the project is ‘blamed’ on
central government – actually the President initially.
I am not in any way suggesting that
central government is not to blame - for what often goes all wrong at local
government level. And yet again seen very closely, central government has
responsibility to a point - the major glitch there is certainly not at policy
level, but more at the technocratic and bureaucratic (rotten-wood)
corruption-able levels - the ‘boom-town
rats and the scrawny country rats’ – characterized by the satirical short
stories as told by the cock and bull political analysts... in the Ugandan
tabloids!
And then the water management corporation
or local engineering officers - have African traditionalist hiccups of their
own.
For example the local decision maker
official might not hail from the district… so what he does is sit on the whole
project till someday he is transferred away.
But then the
legacy (of none-action) he leaves behind, continue to ignore the project, as a
result another concept of traditionalism stayed the project say by yet another
five or ten more years.
Cumulatively as it would, this sort of
mentality offset or cause to be delayed or often binds the matter onto unclear
graying annuls of history - and eventually distorts and causes the loss of
meaning, in particular areas of progress and development.
An element of African ‘bondage to
poverty’ by educated traditionalism would have deferred a vital program from
being either created or accomplished.
Low cost housing projects for up-country
towns for example are not viable at all; in the first place, most councilors
might not understand them and so plan and budget arguments in local council
meets might turn into madness…
Not only that - the amount of water
supply needed to build one
Hundred housing
units are massive, and then amount needed to maintain its occupancy – here; it
is direct element of ignorance that deferred a vital program… so that habitat
development as an organized municipality program is relegated.
Given that on the ground environmentally;
Africa still seriously lack knowledge and skills development in the water and
waste management sector – and that is the base-mark for stimulating growth and
development up country; “create the habitat and you will attract local
developers” and development participants from neighboring districts, the region
and beyond.
This little book is a serious proof of
this unfortunate fact; that as much as the political class generally seem to
think that development is personal to the Executive Head of State; a factor
that wrongfully mislead the opposition thinking straying towards violence… the
actual and real prospects are held at utility services that work!
Even with the vastly widespread
availability of land.
For another example - the national
water and sewage corporation NWSC couldn’t structure a safer and more viable
facility for such a small town like Gulu in this age and times…
Then how would we ever hope to build our
small municipality into a city? Village criers have been shouting of prospects
for ‘Gulu City’ a long time now - evidently in vain, as they lack the leader
cadre-ship! They lack the vision and local government leadership principles!
Pece River that runs south along the
outer rim of Gulu’s east side down to join with Tochi river is sewage
contaminated… and very seriously at that.
All these factors point towards one
direction – that yes! Tochi River water pipeline project was valid, called for
and even timely. Back then.
On the other hand - that it failed was
certainly regrettable, however also now that the actual project has been
rendered non viable - by factors related to impact of tree planting and perhaps
also influences of global warming…
There might be time enough certainly to
update the original water source concept plan. But do we have the ability to
take-on that challenge?
Meaning that the need is seriously there
more than ever, to revive the defunct project but with a different water
source.
Something more realistically difficult
to ascertain.
Considering all these factual ‘bondages
to poverty’ – that are inconsiderate mentalities that bedevils our African
societies and communities.
Our African political
class is rooted in arguments over democratic theories contrived by practical
experiences of the world’s leading first world countries – in ideologies
experienced and written by people whose basic communities and societies were
driven into development not by political personality, but rather by extreme
climatic conditions and harsh environments that more and more destroyed their
citizenry…
Forcing their intellect to contrive
ideas that made life bearable to the citizenry – this meant that the
intellectuals created habitat that were conducive to guaranteed livelihood and
continuity – in return the intellectuals won the (political) right to rule over
the people, since the habitat environment they created called for a orderly,
controlled living by the citizenry.
Most developed world democracies were
cultured along that building
“Masonry” kind of
principles and mentality!
Those who built the conducive habitat environment
got the democratic right to
rule over that
metropolis!
It
is the orderly living – that drove the European intellectuals to develop the
ideologies and, these were ideas that placed control over the life-style of the
citizenry built and developed by the nobles…
What our own African political class learnt
in the classroom and evidently are failing all the time in correctly applying
to our own communities and societies – so that it has become broadly necessary
for foreign governments to expedite their arm into our countries here in Africa
and create and supervise programs directly administered to our local peoples by
their foreign government accredited and deployed NGOs…
What amounts to the passage for foreign
NGOs to part-take in the planning and implementation of African rural
development, and urban slum-dwelling human concern (health, shelter etcetera)
developments and contribute to industrialization by, doing what our own
political class actually fail to do - like in Gulu’s endemic water scarcity.
The challenges to the African academic
and intellect have never been more vivid! Real and glaring.
People looking at themselves as well
learned are beginning to slowly realize how actually ill equipped the African
engineering experts, political legislators and project planners, managers and
developers are.
Projects fail and dilapidate under
their very noses with huge piles of up to five/ten-year-old documents stacked
(as pending etcetera) on their desks, and strewn right down to the floor of
their offices and beyond.
And young University graduates roam the
streets as the jobless or
Hang around
foreign NGOs picking a few thousand shillings as gatherers of research data for
foreign students obviously researching for their own degrees – it is all so
fake!
Another bondage to African poverty.
By absolute lack of open mindedness, at
the top of every office in various areas of local human need...
The absolute inability to fully employ
the use of the younger generation – local governments adamantly refuse to
expand their ancient offices, as a result they maintain the old inadequate
office space and indeed its minimal employment – yet by contemporary
advancements in all fields of humanity, they should be employing five to ten
times the official workers they restrictively maintain...
And the boys and girls are growing,
hardening, and wasting away into un-moldable young people. Five or ten years on
the (dole) jobless list are enough to harden the youthful graduate beyond
molding.
As even more and more are dispensed from
the Universities annually, the youth are cumulatively more and more stranded.
Local governments can’t create larger
project work environments that can absorb them and still stimulate scores into
the informal activities around – to expand Local Government administrative and
management human resources and, enlarge the towns by creating larger
habitats... LC 5 should for example have three deputies responsible for various
areas of administration and that for development projects.
Where these graduates might get absorbed.
Yet there is so much emphasis on national
quality education! This apparently is spot-on.
But then these quality educations don’t
seem to bear the quality fruits – obviously not because of wrong executive head
of state… but simply because the decentralization, now largely in the hands of
the younger people themselves, are trapped in the same legacy left by the older
now departing generations!
Okay, by and large the youth now running
their districts are the ones who are not creating the projects likely to expand
their playing fields.
And the young are not doing it because it
is the ‘norm’ “you don’t re-discover the wheel” - full stop. You follow the
norm!
If an LC 5 chairman and his local
government fail to create the conducive environment for their own government’s
work seat – then how would they ever get expanded? The administrative head
quarters built by colonialism – can’t hold ten times the workforce it was
created for, fifty years down the road. The only logical thing is to collapse
it and build a plush new multi-storied structure on the site.
To plan for and
build the physical capacity [municipality] for reaping even larger revenue… you
would certainly begin by expanding your base – then employing enough human
recourse to tackle the planning mechanism for structuring the estates
development; with ample manpower to handle the district’s expunction projects…
and certainly before you even think of estates, you would have water to tussle
with.
In view of this analysis as a means of
driving-home the understanding that - yes! Uganda’s decentralization is still a
new-born baby of President Museveni! Call it a grandchild!
It is imperative to enlarge the perspective
a little-bit, to create a much larger sound-boarding parameter that pulls in
the central government... those in a hurry will always jump to the conclusion;
that it is the ministers who are night-dancing paka-cini
behind the Ugandans! But then come to
think of it...
There is a whole body of qualified men
and women in the main area of policy implementation, way down below the
minister, the technocratic and bureaucratic levels - why blame the top man - by
falsely and stubbornly insisting that “the fish begins to rot from the head”
when you know very well that, the fleshy part of the fish is what begins to
ferment out of water, if not exposed to either tremendous wind or tremendous
sun-heat to accelerate the beginning of a drying process.
Besides, nobody ever climb the tree from
the top - to go-up the tree you have to scale it carefully up from the root,
the trunk and, eventually you reach the branches and top.
Uganda’s biggest problem is there! Central
government technocracy and the bureaucratic work forces; while everybody attack
the president and the cabinet ministers and, other top officials - most things
get bogged-down at the middle of policy planning and implementation. The real
‘nibblers’ who fail the country are actually well known, popular and very smart
individuals you won’t ever suspect. Because they are also the most likable
people you will meet in Uganda!
∞∞∞
