Dear Aggrey, You have made my day. Thanks alot for such a brilliant argument. Facts are bitter, we either swallow them or we vomit them out.
Good day. Christine On Thu, Feb 3, 2011 at 1:17 PM, aggrey adrale <[email protected]>wrote: > Dear JohnAJackson, > > Thank you for your article.It could have been spot on but there are still > some gaps here and there. > > I would like to bring some thing out here that apart from organizations > like the Red Cross and the Red Crescent Societies, the Rotary Clubs, the > Lions Clubs, some Churches and Business entities a good number of NGOs, > World Vision inclusive are actually rendering services using funds from > governments in the so called G8 countries. Governments in those countries > have demonstrated their effectiveness by providing some funds through > completitive means for the activities of the NGOs. World Vison, CARE, CRS, > Save the Children, etc are big time beneficiaries of USAID, DFID, CIDA, > SIDA, the Japanese and the Deutch development funds for example. These are > tax payer monies deliberately budgeted by the home governments of those > countries to foster 'development' and some of these monies are dispensed > through the NGOs because the caring governments achnowledge their > inefficiencies in some context! > > It may also be interesting to note that for the role played by the > entreprenuers, corporate and so on there are quite appreciable incentives > and/or benefits such as tax and other concessions accorded by the G8 and > other developed governments to such people. There is therefore a deliberate > effort by the governments in the such countries to encourage the private > sector participation in development. Actually to put it in a nutshell, a lot > of the seemingly goodwill gestures extended to us by the entrepreneurs and > the NGOs in the developed countires are by far to promote markets, profits, > employment, and obtain leverage on certain otherwise stringent policies in > those countries. > > In Uganda as noted by some of our forum members we have skewed policies, > which tend to favour foreigners and certain regions of the country. when > people say that either we have skewed policies or the way the policies are > implemented are skewed they have a reason. > > One simple example of a skewed policy or skewed implementation of policies > is the travel restrictions on our roads. I travelled by bus from Kampala to > Rwanda on a couple of occasions last year; the only checkpoint or > restriction I got was at Katuna border post at the cross over. Similarly I > have travelled a couple of times from Kampala to Bukoba and it's only at > Mutukula border post that we had some restriction. Take the road from > Kampala to Nebbi, Paidha, Arua, Koboko, Yumbe how much inconveniences does > one meet on the way as an ordinary traveller yet one is not crossing the > border. What can these inconveniences translate into in the ordinary sence > and in business? The location of West Nile is almost similar to that of the > south-western enclave; all bordering with three countries. Help me to > understand why the restrictions. > > It is not simply a blame game but some bare facts people are bringing out. > I agree with you when you wrote that we may not have money, but we have > lots of highly educated people. We have highly skilled human resources that > we need to effectively use. It is in this context that we regard our PHD > holders and other highly skilled folks as persons who could help us > understand our problems and generate sustainable solutions that we could tap > from, be it at a fee or whatever cost. > > It is true, we need to unite our efforts, focus our attention on changing > things we can change, lobby the government, HE, Government Officials where > they are serving in order to change things that we cannot handle. Therefore > the lamentations of the folks in this forum are by far not blame but a > memorandum from which our leaders who care could pick some facts to start or > strengthen lobbying. Our weakness perhaps lies in failing to bring out > clearly and educate our communities on the things that we could do or change > within our potential means. > > The last thing I would like to write is a 'take it or leave it' message, > not for you Jackson but for all of us. If ones intelligence cannot translate > into practical solutions to manipulate or improve ones environment then the > intelligence is vanity. This is the basic reason for descibing man as the > most intelligent creature. PHD holders, entrepreneurs, folks and all other > stakeholders let's partake of understanding problems and/or generating > solutions or both; one may not do all but one can do something. Let's do > what each one of us can just do for the sake of that one perceives can > render continuous improvement to one's self and society; encourage our rural > folks to do just the same within their potentials. > > Mr. Jackson, there are some areas where I may have chosen to diverge in > opinion but I think there are many common grounds where we agreed that we > need to do more in our indiviual capacities and collective efforts and lobby > for that we have inadequate resources for. > > Thank you. > > Aggrey Adrale > > > --- On Wed, 2/2/11, JohnAJackson <[email protected]> wrote: > > > From: JohnAJackson <[email protected]> > Subject: [WestNileNet] Role, Value and responsibility of NGOs in Nation > Building > To: [email protected] > Date: Wednesday, 2 February, 2011, 21:40 > > > > While NGOs' do not substitute the role and responsibility of Government, > we should realize that NGOs have have been integral part of development in > the world for many centuries. There are thousands of NGOs in the G8 > countries performing various tasks in the nation building for instance: Red > Crosss, Rotary Clubs, Kiwanis, World Vision, Churches, every sector of human > endeavour. > > While the role of NGOs is simply emerging and maturing in Africa, G8 > countries have thrived side by side with NGOs for many centuries. Does it > mean that these governments are in effective? First of all, governments > cannot provide every human need. NGOs and business people fill these un > met gaps. > > What we need most is effective Enterprenuers and NGOs that are serious > about their business. AS many of you have seen, Enterprenuers and NGOs come > and go. Well managed businesses and NGO continue to thrive and survive > despite the economic odds. > > If we simply continue with the blame game, our situation will never change > or take a very long time to change. We should encourage ourselves, empower > ourselves to be problem solvers rather than problem watchers. > > Let me give you one example. In USA, many African Americans have been > trapped in blamming the Whites for enslaving them nearly two-three centuries > ago. Many successful African Americans have taken up the challenge, they > work as hard as the white folks, many are millionares or billionares. > People who love blamming still remain where their great grand papas.mama's > or parents where hundredes of years ago. They still live in santy towns > known as ghetos. > > Ladies and gentlemen, negativity has no purpose in life. We may not have > money, but we have lots of highly educated people. We have highly skilled > human resources that we have never effectively used. We need to unite our > efforts, focus our attention on changing things we can change. Let's lobby > the government, HE, government Officials where they are leading to change > what we cannot handle. > > It's ordinary people like you or me who can change the world and not > necessarily PhD holder. Have you ever come across some PhD holders who > cannot even teach when put infornt of a class? I am sure you have seen many > when you were in college or universities? Even their TA were far better. How > many African PhD holders have published two or three academic books? Very > few? > > Does it mean that someone with PhD is a great problem solver? They may be > very intelligent in their academic discipline but can they really solve > every problem? > -- > This message has been scanned for viruses and > dangerous content by MailScanner, and is > believed to be clean. > -----Inline Attachment Follows----- > > > _______________________________________________ > WestNileNet mailing list > [email protected] > http://orion.kym.net/mailman/listinfo/westnilenet > > WestNileNet is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ > > All Archives can be found at > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > > 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 > [email protected] > http://orion.kym.net/mailman/listinfo/westnilenet > > WestNileNet is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ > > All Archives can be found at > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > > 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. > _______________________________________________ > > -- > This message has been scanned for viruses and > dangerous content by MailScanner, and is > believed to be clean. > > -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.
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