Poverty in Uganda

According to Uganda’s Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP), the “overall strategy for poverty reduction…. is private sector driven industrialisation and export-led growth”. Whilst economic liberalisation has indeed delivered impressive headline growth over many years, the proportion of Ugandans living below the $1 per day benchmark for extreme poverty has not yet fallen significantly below the 2000 level of 34%. The government might counter by pointing out that the latest figure of 31% is already close to the 2015 target for the first of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which aims to halve the 1991 rate of poverty (56%). However, Uganda’s population growth rate of 3.2% pa is one of the highest in the world so that the number of people in extreme poverty has remained unchanged in the vicinity of 9 million throughout the MDG period.

Recognising this effect, the PEAP sets the more demanding target of reducing poverty to 10% by 2017. To achieve this figure, it will be essential first to address the instability in the northern provinces where poverty rates exceed 60% and all human development indicators are critically low.

Computers for Ugandan school © Global Humanitaria

The admired achievement of the Universal Primary Education (UPE) programme also calls for some qualification. Since the UPE introduced free admission in 1997, net enrolment has risen to 84% and entry of girls now matches that of boys. However, the MDG Progress Report published in 2007 warns of a decline in the quality of education as the provision of teachers and facilities has not kept pace with the number of pupils which has more than doubled. It also suggests that poor completion rates may be the consequence of the introduction of fees for certain services.

Health and HIV/AIDS in Uganda

AIDS orphans in Uganda © United Nations Children's Fund

Child and maternal mortality rates remain very high in Uganda, having fallen by less than 20% since 1991; the Progress Report concedes that the relevant MDGs are “unlikely to be achieved”. The Report advocates more emphasis on education for girls and reproductive health care with a view to reducing teenage pregnancies and the high fertility rate of almost 7 children. Despite considerable improvement in the coverage of health facilities and the number of doctors and nurses, less than 50% of children aged 1-2 years have been fully immunised. Access to safe water has more than trebled from the low level of 20% in 1991 and, although this improvement meets the standard MDG target, the government has set an ambitious objective of 100% access by 2015.

From a peak of over 18% in the early 1990s, prevalence of HIV/AIDS has stabilised since 2000 in the range 6-7%, with new infections down to about 130,000 in 2006/07. Uganda claims to have already achieved the MDG to “halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS” but the country report published in 2008 warns of “anecdotal indications….of an apparent increase in HIV prevalence and incidence during the last few years”.

Children at the Nyaka school for AIDS orphans © Nyaka AIDS Orphans School

This comment may reflect concerns about the impact of new prevention strategies in Uganda. At the height of the HIV crisis the country attracted global admiration for raising awareness of high risk behaviours through political commitment and leadership which engaged in promoting the ABC approach of Abstinence, Be faithful and Condom use. However, apparently under pressure from US donors, the government has since 2005 placed greater emphasis on abstinence and restricted the distribution of condoms. A complete U-turn in the school curriculum for HIV/AIDS is the most dramatic and worrying symptom of this policy change.

Although HIV testing is available in all districts, the goal of universal treatment by 2010 remains extremely unlikely as less than a third of 350,000 patients in need are currently receiving antiretroviral treatment (ART). Nevertheless, almost 300 centres providing free treatment for almost all patients have been opened. Funding sustainability may be in doubt as the HIV/AIDS programme is dependent for 94% of its costs on international donors.
Food Security in Uganda

Hunger walk, Uganda © Mbabazi Morgan

With much of the country covered in lush and fertile terrain, Uganda is not normally linked with food insecurity. Yet there is a contradiction between President Museveni’s talk of food surpluses and the reality that the average calorie intake of 68% of the population falls below the recommended minimum level, and that this proportion is increasing rather than falling. The main cause of declining productivity and inefficient food distribution is the low level of government investment in agriculture, which at 4.7% of national budget is below the Maputo Declaration commitment of 10% and which fails to recognise that 87% of the population lives in rural areas.

Reassurances about food surplus and exports overlook other painful realities. There is severe insecurity in the northern provinces where food production meets barely 50% of the needs of 2.3 million people. The semi-arid northeastern province of Karamoja has lost its 2008 harvest to drought and much of its livestock to disease. Acute malnutrition in children exceeds the official emergency level of 15% and almost the entire population of about 1 million depends on food aid.
Climate Change in Uganda

The Uganda Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPA) published at the end of 2007 states unequivocally that “Uganda’s agriculture is subsistent, rain-fed and, therefore, vulnerable to climate variability and climate change”. For example, a UNEP study concluded that a 2 degree rise in temperature would make it almost impossible to grow coffee beans, a commodity on which 5 million people are dependent directly or indirectly.

The NAPA presents extensive evidence that the predictions of climate change science are already occurring in Uganda, particularly in the frequency of drought and intensity of rainfall. In 2007 the east of the country experienced the heaviest rainfall in 35 years with 82,000 homes damaged by floods. Damage to soil caused by flooding is aggravated by the unusually high rate of deforestation, which is the inevitable result of near universal dependence on wood or charcoal for fuel in rural households. Reforestation is therefore identified as the highest priority for Uganda’s adaptation programme.

Health issues are also exposed to climate change. Malaria is already the main cause of death and illness in Uganda and is reported to have spread recently to the traditionally cooler highlands in the southeast where people have no natural immunity. The glaciers of the Rwenzori mountains have retreated by about 40% since 1955, threatening the stability of the water cycle.
The Economy in Uganda

These melting glaciers could even undermine Uganda’s most positive economic development – the discovery of oil reserves in the Semliki river basin along the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Flush with meltwater, the stronger flow of the Semliki has altered parts of its course by erosion, potentially enabling the DRC to claim land on which oil could be extracted. Demarcation of the border is currently the subject of negotiation.

Climate change is also partially responsible for constrained growth in non-food sectors of the economy. Drought and over-extraction have reduced the level of Lake Victoria to its lowest for over 60 years. Hydropower driven from the Lake has fallen below 50% of capacity, creating serious energy shortages which have forced many manufacturers to cut jobs or raise prices. Repeated praise in IMF annual reports for Uganda’s macro-economic management overlooks the limited prospects for development in rural areas where there is no electricity supply.

Uganda has reached the completion point under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC) and its debt situation has been transformed following the relief announced at the July 2005 G8 summit. The international donor community continues to be supportive, funding 40% of the government budget.
Conflict in Uganda

Child soldier, Uganda © World Vision United States

Over the last twenty years thousands of people have been killed in a conflict with the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) which has been characterised by the most appalling atrocities, including the abduction of over 20,000 children to serve as soldiers and sex slaves. Almost the entire population of the region was at one time displaced and living in camps, partly out of fear of the LRA and partly forced to make way for Ugandan army operations against the rebels.

Whilst its aims have never been entirely clear, the LRA originally emerged from Acholi groups overthrown in the 1980s civil war by forces led by the current president Yoweri Museveni. Crucial support provided by the central Sudanese government disappeared with the 2005 Sudan peace settlement which conceded autonomy to Christian groups in the south. Forced to the negotiating table, the LRA withdrew from Uganda and signed a ceasefire in August 2006. Negotiations for a formal settlement have been hosted by the Government of Southern Sudan supported by the UN envoy for LRA-affected areas, former Mozambique president Joaquim Chissano. A series of detailed agreements were endorsed by both sides in preparation for the clinching Final Peace Agreement due to be signed by rebel leader Joseph Kony and the Ugandan president in April 2008.

LRA captive reunited with mother © World Vision United States

In the event, Kony failed to emerge from hiding in the DRC; talks have been abandoned, the ceasefire has not been renewed, and Museveni may again resort to force, having obtained permission from Sudan and the DRC to seek out remaining LRA fighters. A stumbling block remains the indictment of Kony and his fellow leaders by the International Criminal Court (ICC). Although the Ugandans made the original referral to the ICC in 2003, the terms of the LRA agreement envisage trials for the most serious crimes in a special national court, with traditional forms of justice known as mato oput dealing with lesser crimes. Inevitably, international groups are uneasy about any process which bypasses the ICC.

Children in a refugee camp in northern Uganda © Jonathan L. Wiesner / International Rescue Committee

The lull in violence has nevertheless prompted moves towards resettlement of people living in camps. Many families have lost their land and are reluctant to return to devastated villages where law and order remains elusive. By early 2008, about half of the 1.8 million displaced persons had either returned home or moved to one of over 350 transit camps, often within reach of their farmland. The government has drawn up a 3 year Peace, Recovery and Development Plan for Northern Uganda for which it seeks $600 million of funding – the Plan includes the unstable region of Karamoja where the number of people displaced by nomadic clan fighting is unknown.
Politics in Uganda

Yoweri Museveni © allAfrica.com

The current government under President Yoweri Museveni came to power following a civil war in 1986. Until as recently as 2006, Museveni was able to sustain his position within a "no-party" system in which all Ugandans were presumed to be members of his National Resistance Movement (NRM). Parliamentarians stood for election as individuals rather than party members. The president argued that his Movement system neutralised tribal rivalries that often dominate voting patterns in Africa.

However, the international donor community gradually became impatient with what it considered to be slow progress towards multi-party democracy. After a 2005 referendum to approve the process, Parliament amended the constitution to accommodate a multi-party system - whilst simultaneously removing limits on the incumbent's terms of office.

Presidential and parliamentary elections were duly held in 2006 but the transition was marred by the harassment of Museveni’s principal opponent, Dr. Kizza Besigye, leader of the main opposition group, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC). During the election period, Besigye was arrested for treason and rape, obstructing his campaign. The Head of the European observer mission was subsequently critical of the treatment of Mr. Besigye as well as the electoral bias of state media.

After winning the elections Museveni promised zero-tolerance for corruption and a former health minister is due for trial in 2008 for embezzling $4 million from the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation. However, bribery by public officials is an increasing obstacle to everyday life in Uganda, despite the existence of adequate anti-corruption legislation.
Human Rights and Media

Deep-rooted cultural attitudes underpin resistance to criticism of Uganda by international human rights groups. Colonial era laws which impose prison sentences for homosexuality have not been repealed. The government is accused of active harassment of the gay community and of diverting HIV/AIDS programmes which address the high risk category of men having sex with men. A further unnecessary risk of HIV infection is created through the culture of domestic violence against women which has been described as “endemic” in Uganda. No legislation exists to address this problem nor the discrimination over land rights experienced by women.

Independent media flourish in Uganda, especially since the radio sector was liberalised in 1987. There are currently over 130 FM registered radio stations, many of which run call-in shows, which encourage listeners to discuss current affairs. This environment of extensive and vibrant political news is not entirely to the government’s liking and there have been arrests and closures for content deemed to be too critical.



The OneWorld Uganda Guide was first published in July 2005 with a text written by Volunteer Editor Esther Nakkazi

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