Going by the UBOS reports releases mid this year, Busoga’s level of poverty is recorded at 29.2% compared to the national average of 20.3%.
Ever since, H.E, the President of Uganda expressed his dismay about the levels of poverty in Busoga in October this year during a function at Kyando in Mayuge District, we have seen a beehive of meetings taking place reportedly intended to first of all undress the real reasons why there is such rampart and unprecedented poverty in the sub region, and secondly also to try and find solutions to the problem.
As such, the NRM Party Secretariat organized an exploratory interface at the Kyandodo Party offices with the MPs from Buganda and Busoga. This was followed by a week-long workshop in Jinja with again the MPs and selected opinion leaders from both sub regions.
Following those two meetings, the Office of the Presidency also organised a day long meeting wich included all political leaders and civil servants to address the same issue of raising poverty in Busoga.
Currently, it is reported that there are a series of ongoing regional meetings organized under the auspices of the Busoga Consortium and being coordinated by the Third Deputy Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. Rukia Nakadama and facilitated by the Vice President’s office to address the very issue of poverty in Busoga.
Undoubtedly, in all these initiatives undertaken the central concern is the unending rise in the levels of impoverishment, poor government service delivery and low productivity in the Busoga sub region. These efforts must be applauded because poverty in Busoga has become endemic and needs a concerted determined effort if the situation is to be reversed.
Going by the UBOS reports releases mid this year, Busoga’s level of poverty is recorded at 29.2% compared to the national average of 20.3%.
The report goes further to reveal that out of the country’s total population of 43mn people, 8.3mn Ugandans were found to be falling below the poverty line and as such categorize as poor.
Further the report shows that of the total number of 8.3mn recorded as poor people in Uganda, Busoga as a sub region was found to have 1.2mn poor people which translates to the 14% Busoga’s contribution to the national poor people numbers.
Now, this is where the scratching of heads must start for both the politicians of Busoga and the national policy makers if actually the scourge of poverty in Busoga is going to be properly and effectively addressed.
The technocrats from UBOS have severally although studiously pointed out the reasons for poverty in Busoga as being increased population explosion in the sub region.
In their attempt to offer recommendations to fight the increasing poverty in the sub region, the technocrats and many other eminent economists have suggested that there must be a deliberate curb on the ongoing unregulated “manufacturing” of children in the area.
Unfortunately and sadly, although this message has been clearly put and buttressed by the figures offered about the ultimate impact of high population to the overall economic and social situation in Busoga, there seems to be deliberate shyness by those that are organizing the aforementioned meetings on poverty to bring the issue of population explosion in Busoga at the center stage of the discussion in these interactions!
It must be appreciated that there won’t be any realistic, meaningful and sustainable solution to fighting poverty in Busoga if the issue of population explosion is not addressed.
Increased and un-manageable sizes of homestead population does not only exert unrelenting pressure on the available inelastic resources of production such as land, but also serves only to consume up all the meagre potential available income of that particular homestead while stripping it of any chances to commit any income to education, health care, food security, shelter, clothing, transport and any gainful production for household income enhancement.
This is how poverty in a homestead is created and multiplied over years of non meaningful production engagement.
This is the situation in which most of homesteads in Busoga are in.
They continue to have large families which can’t be adequately supported by the already fragmented and over cultivated pieces of land that are subdivided among the many members of the family.
But it is also worth noting that again according to the UBOS report, 55% of the entire population in Busoga sub region is under the age of 15 years of age. This is an age bracket that is not educated and not skilled.
This is a category of people who are non productive but are consumptive and who are just dependants in all forms.
So, by continuing to produce more children, the Basoga are actually only adding more dependants who are non knowledgeable and non skilled thus exercebating the dependence problem.
According to the projections that UBOS has made based on the current 3.4% population growth rate in Busoga, the population of the sub region is estimated to reach 5.6mn by 2030, which is only 8 years from now!
Call to immediate action
It is known that it isn’t fashionable or expeditious in Busoga for anyone to talk or advocate against the siring of many children! In some circles in Busoga it is even categorized as a “cultural taboo” for anyone to talk about family planning in order to reduce on the number of children we produce.
However, I would like to invite the leaders of Busoga including the politicians, the religious and the cultural leaders to recognize the danger the subregion faces if the issue of increasing population is not addressed.
The leaders should stop treating this matter as a no go area. It is time to channel our energies, solidarity and faculties in sensitizing, convincing and advocating against large families. The practice of effective family planning should be reinstated and promoted.
Ofcourse, it will take us some years in order to be able to scale down on our population and even be able to see the real impact, but once we embark on this journey, we should be assured of seeing tangible good results.
Just lamenting about poverty in the sub region won’t get us from the ditch in which we are right now. Any interventions or solutions which don’t include plans for reducing on the trend of population increase in the sub region for sure will be cosmetic, temporary and only massaging the problem.
Our rising population cannot be termed as an economic asset by any measure, because it isn’t productive but rather has increasingly become a liability to not only the homesteads, communities but also to the government whose resource envelope continues to shrink due to various competing national demands and priorities.
