Hi MrAdibo Gilbert, I find it tempting to repsond to your submission the articles by Jckson and Lee on unempleyment and poverty in West Nile. To begin with, i thank you for you usually very intelligent arguements. I also appreciate your ability to provoke further arguement on issues. That is how we can engage our brains to function! Broadly speaking i would like to agree with you that the people of West Nile are historically known for being hard working in Uganda and beyond. While is true i must contest that the youth of taday are largely lazy and have no purpose in life, at least as far as the way they conduct themslves is concerned. Indeed, West Nile is what it is like today largely because of the efforts of the people of West Nile but the youth who are the primary focus of this debate have not contributed much to the development process in West Nile. I started digging before i went to school and even when i went to school i loved to spend my holidays with my parents in the bushes of Rhino Camp growing simsim for my school fees. These days my siblings prefer to stay with me in Kampala waiting for me to look for school fees books, pens, pocket money, name it, while the gardens are unattended to. I agree with you Gilbert, that the infrasture in the region requires some serious attention to facilitate free flow of goods and services in the regional markets but i also believe that there is alot we can do for ourselves without waiting for some body's political will over which we have limitted control. While we demand our fair share of the national cake we must keep helping ourselves with some "kabalagalas" or "otilikpakia" lest we die of hunger waiting for the national cake. While you we need to target the regional markets to sale our foodstuffs, I belive we have not even supplied the internal market. People are sleeping hungry in the villages because of acute shortage of food! West Nile has one of the highest population growth rates which in itself is a potential market especially for food items if we have the means and purchasing power. Besides, we do not always have to transport our products to Congo or Sudan or Kampala. People should come to us to get what we want. As long as it is discovered that we have surplus production the middlemen will be the ones to come to us for our products. The cost of transport on the bad roads will be born by the middlemen and consumer whom they suppy although we shall may not avoid the cost of factor inputs. Gilbert, you said you used to grow "marungi" and you still have some "marungi" gardens if i may ask, did you use eat the marungi you grow and do you stiil eat marungi. If not why would you think it was bad for you and must be good for the young people lotering the streets. I am told that one of the reasons why the young people are eating "marungi" is to become clever. Surely, do you believe such stuff? Should encourage our young people to continue to believe these kinds of lies. Otherwise, i thank you for injecting more thought into the discussions and hope others will add their voices so that our understanding of the real issues is enriched. Thanks Sam Andema
--- On Mon, 18/5/09, Gilbert Adibo <adibo2...@gmail.com> wrote: From: Gilbert Adibo <adibo2...@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [WestNileNet] Unemployment and Poverty To: "A Virtual Network for friends of West Nile" <westnilenet@kym.net> Date: Monday, 18 May, 2009, 9:21 AM Dear Jackson and Lee, I salute the brilliant articulations you two and others have advanced here in pursuit of lasting solutions to our problems vis first class poverty, unemployment, lack of information etc. I would however like to add that our people per se are not lazy people. At times my people(West Nile) amaze me by the zeal they have often shown in going against all odds to ensure West Nile is what it looks today despite the political neglect in terms of Infrastracture development. Our people could very easily diversify into more environmentally friendly Agricultural prouductivity, but where is the Market for these produce for large scale production?? Kampala, yes; DRC, yes; Sudan, yes; East Africa, yes- but the question is, what is the infrastacture state in our region to enable a cost effective movement of food supplies intra West Nile region and within the boundaries of the greater East African region including DRC and Sudan. I vividly remember occassions when some of our farmers would dispose of produce such as tomatoes, Avocados etc because of failure to be able to complete Sell of such perishable produce from Vurra, Maracha or Riiki and yet he or she can not carry the same on his bicycle or her head and walk all those daunting, dusty kms back to Vurra and then return to Arua town and resale the following day!! What is the next option, dump the damn balance and buy paraffin, match box, salt, tea leaves( though Ejiku plays with it now) and small sacket of brown sugar and simply goes back home because these are the simple basics that they need in the village(farm homestaed). What is the impact of all these, frustration of our farmers and people look for alternative cheaper sources of survival where there is minimal dispensation of energy and time, Marungi growing comes in handy men. I grew Marungi before and I still have the garden that is sustaining some peoples livelihood. I do not condone misuse of any consumable, "Marungi" inclusive. What is the difference between an abuser of Marungi and Bell Beer????? The point I would like to drive here is that there are bigger issues at stake that need to be solved first in order for any of our efforts to yield SIGNIFICANT dividends. Proper Infrastructure development in our region to enable cost effective movement of Produce, labour, Capital, Information so that our people can meaningfully change to environmentally friendly Agricultural productivity supported by the growth of other sectors as well. This needs Political WILL which is conspicuously absent. Jackson and Lee, do you guys think if I had my USD 50M and wanted to establsih a serious commercial rice farming in Yumbe wherein I construct Olewa in Terego to supply power to my farm, I would be Cleared by the Uganda political powerholders?? Just asking. Were it not for the hard work of our people, Arua and West Nile would not be what it is today, though we really deserve better, which is the central reason this forum has made us come together. Jackson and Lee, why are we exchanging ideas here despite not knowing each other, its because we all mean GOOD for our region. I hope we shall come up lasting workable solutions for all these crucial issues debated on this forum. Our people are doing their BEST amid all odds prevailing now with historical neglect backlog still haunting them. Brethren, we are doing Catch up with the rest of the Country and I salute all your contributions. Regards, Gilbert A On 17/05/2009, oguzu lee <oguzu...@yahoo.com> wrote: Jackson, You've always made us win even it sometimes means slowing down your journey. The decision to deal with poverty is long awaited. Many at times people fail or fear to discuss this topic for fear of their frame of reference (how rich they are to talk about poverty). So what happens if someone asks them how rich they are to discuss such issues? To me poverty is relative. Without fear of being prejudiced, one of the issues we've got to deal with in our endeavor is apathy; a feeling of being unable, incapable, and doing nothing about one's situation. Many people are doing nothing about their situation. Our culture of helping (extending olive leaf to those who do not deserve) seemed to have bred phenomenal laziness and promoted the spirit of receiving free things. I think its time we changed our empowerment approach from one that breeds dependence to one that rewards hard work. History tells us, Europe was once in the same mess we are in today but what they did was to start giving to those who work. People later got to realize that only hard work pays. Decent life can only be led after working. This was however done with respect for the rights of the sick, elderly, and others genuinely incapacitated. The second thing we've got to deal with is the information poverty. Globally, info is now power yet many of our rural poor do not have access to information which can enhance their productivity, employability, etc. Such people have dwindled chances of ever making informed decisions? Sam raised also a serious issue and I wish to state the following in regard. Marungi is now one of the cash crops grown in Arua with its nucleus in Kijomoro, Maracha County. Many people have looked at marungi with complexity/mixture of feelings. The sad fact is: it’s a source of living to some people but also number one cause of idleness and other problems. Someone joked whether people would still be alive in kijomoro if Marungi plantations were destroyed. While on a tour in Maracha, president also told the people marungi is a mild drug–a statement that went well with the population. People have now neglected food production preferring to buy food from marungi proceeds. The youth are heavily involved in nothing else except chewing marungi. Politicians fear to talk against marungi for fear of loosing votes. Members, without jeopardizing livelihood of some people and blessing the dangers of Marungi, how do we strike a deal? In addition to Marungi, we've got to deal with excessive drinking. Amb. Phillip Idro once told me our poverty is now first-class poverty and he said excessive drinking is an attempt to catch up with what was missed. He also said that people in first class poverty spend all their earnings trying to catch up with what they missed in the past--meaning they do not invest or savet. With no savings/investment, such people find themselves in what Robert Kyoshaki called 'rat race' and this is typical of most of our tobacco farmers. Year in, year out, they are in fruitless production. Unless the little money they get is finished they will never go home. There are cases where people have ended up filling their drinking water pots with beer to catch up with what they missed. Others swift from drinking ‘Okarito’ to beer until tobacco money is exhausted. How then can such people eliminate poverty? This is really the magnitude of the problem we face. The challenge is really enormous. At times, the problem is so contagious. In trying to help, one could catch the disease but I'm confident we can all do our part to create the kind of society that guarantees hope for the next generation. Regards, Denis Lee Oguzu --- On Fri, 5/15/09, JohnAJackson <javud...@gmail.com> wrote: From: JohnAJackson <javud...@gmail.com> Subject: [WestNileNet] Hot Topics for discussion To: westnilenet@kym.net Date: Friday, May 15, 2009, 8:41 AM This is a reminder about the issues & Hot Topics for discussion:* > ** > 1) Closure of Primary School in Koboko District---------Done > 2) Migration of Walalu Pastoralist in Wet Nile > 3) Barifa Forest demarcation for development-----------Done 4) Derfoestation of West Nile Region----------------------Done > 5) Relocation of Arua Prison out of the City or Town > 6) Matego District Issue > 7) Electiricity & Power development > 8) Poor Performance in Schools in West Nile, Task Force (TF) = Waiting for > report > 9) High Unempolyment & Poverty in the West Nile Region > 10) Other Business ( Add more issues as you please) May suggest that to members of this forum that High unemployment and Poverty in the West Nile Region be discussed for the next two(2) weeks Please look at root cause & solutions/proposals I have attached two PDF docs about the summary points on the recent dicussions. -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ WestNileNet mailing list WestNileNet@kym.net http://orion.kym.net/mailman/listinfo/westnilenet % WestNileNet is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way. _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ WestNileNet mailing list WestNileNet@kym.net http://orion.kym.net/mailman/listinfo/westnilenet % WestNileNet is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way. _______________________________________________ -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ WestNileNet mailing list WestNileNet@kym.net http://orion.kym.net/mailman/listinfo/westnilenet % WestNileNet is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way. _______________________________________________
_______________________________________________ WestNileNet mailing list WestNileNet@kym.net http://orion.kym.net/mailman/listinfo/westnilenet % WestNileNet is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way. _______________________________________________
