WORKING TOGETHER FOR ENHANCED LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION: LESSONS FROM KARAMOJA

"The life of the Karimojong depend on animals. If their animals die, they will also die!". This statement was made by Mr. John Lorot, the Chairman L.C.5 Nakapiripirit District while stressing a point on the need to prioritise and strengthen animal disease control in the sub-region. This was during a broad stakeholder consultation meeting, the first one of its kind that brought Karamoja district leaders at various levels (CAOs, RDCs, Chairmen); Members of Parliament, officials from the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM); District Veterinary Officers; The Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries; the Minister of State for Animal Industry and other officials from their ministry; FAO; NGOs notably Dan Church Aid and C&D; Makerere University Vet School and the Uganda Veterinary Association.

I have never seen such a meeting for any region of this country in which central and local government leaders, NGOs, legislators and technical experts sit in one room and soberly yet candidly discuss the direction of livestock farming in the region. Moreover they left with a common position on broad strategies some of which included: improvement of production through breed improvement; appropriate choice of agricultural priorities for the region, enhancing security of stock; community education on zoonotic diseases and methods of their control; enhanced livestock disease surveillance and control; involvement of all levels of stakeholders in the implementation of the electronic branding process; the need to improve numbers of veterinary professionals in the region, among others.

This meeting was organized by C&D within the Dan Church Aid (DCA)-led consortium with ECHO funds. This consortium works on, among others, livestock-related issues in the Karamoja sub-region. The leadership of Dan Church Aid is commendable. The consortium has, over the years, convened quarterly meetings in Moroto in Karamoja to plan livestock production and livestock health. The difference between those meetings and the Karamoja National Stakeholders meeting which was held on 24 September 2012 at Serena Lake Victoria Hotel in Kajansi is that the Moroto meetings did not involve Members of Parliament and Ministers (but all the other categories participated).

The Minister of State for Animal Industry, Hon. Col. (Rtd) Bright Rwamirama, could not hide his excitement about the Karamoja leaders' wish for breed improvement and promised his ministry's commitment to provide all the support possible for this to happen.

While this initiative is excellent, it could still be improved by considering the following:

• For purposes of sustainability, the district leaders and their technical teams should get themselves in the driving seat of this initiative, only getting the much needed initial support from the central government and NGOs.
• There must be active involvement of kraal-level leaders in these joint activities as this also helps with buy-in of new initiatives, ownership of projects/programmes and importantly sustainability of development efforts.

Because of its benefits, other regions ought to emulate this effort that will definitely yield positive results. The OPM could initially implement/pilot this through offices of its various State Ministers.

The benefits of this wider stakeholder involvement include but are not limited to the following: prompt information sharing; provides opportunity for joint envisioning, goal setting, planning and implementation of development projects; encourages accountability and transparency; builds trust among stakeholders and eliminates unproductive conflicts among stakeholders.

With adoption and consistent implementation of the right strategies, the vision of Karamoja becoming a big source of high quality animals and high value animal products for the country and regional markets will surely come to pass. I think Henry Ford's words provide useful guidance in this situation: "Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success". Kudos to the Karamoja leaders (political, technical and development partners) for this initiative but if it is to achieve some success continuing to work together will be key. Ayakau kapei erai ngikup (unity is strength).

(A very slightly modified version of this article was published in the New Vision Newspaper of 7th May 2013)

Understanding the EAC Common Market - Part I

I was involved in two major meetings about the EAC within 14 days, one in Kampala (Uganda) and one in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania). The Kampala one seemed straight forward as it was a meeting for reviewing a draft livestock policy for the region. The second one was a little more 'interesting' and expectedly so because it brought together (rightfully) a wide cross section of business people, professionals and agencies that support the integration process. The subject of discussion was 'free movement of services' and inevitably the movement of persons (service providers and workers) across borders of partner states.

The private sector players shared lots of bad experiences they have so far gone through with reference to movement of service providers and workers across borders of partner states. Some of the issues the private sector players lamented about are: the difficulty of obtaining work permits timely; disparities in work permit fees; getting the right people for the right jobs on time (obtaining from across borders of the partner states); discriminatory tax treatment; etc. The more dicey one, to me, is the need to recognize the contribution of non-certified, non-accredited skilled persons and to allow them move freely across the borders of EAC partner states. I will dwell on this particular issue in one of the subsequent posts.

More later. Watch this space.

Lango Conference 2012

The Lango people from the Lango sub-region in Northern Uganda have taken time off to reflect on their past and present and design guiding strategies for the future. A three-day conference dubbed 'Lango Conference 2012' has been organized for this purpose. It started today 27 December 2012 and ends 29 December 2012. At the end of day three resolutions and recommendations will be presented, discussed and agreed to by representatives of the community. I will be one of them and I am excited about it because I am proud to be a member of this community. I will be twitting so please follow me @sgokech.

Some 10 points for the professionals to consider about the East African Community Common Market Protocol

One of the milestones on the road to the East African Community (EAC) federation is the Common Market Protocol (CMP) which came into force in July 2010. Its spirit, I believe is to make trade operations for both goods and services easier, faster and better across members' borders.

Based on my ('little') understanding of the CMP, I deduce from it some implications for a professional service provider. I will not delve into details of the CMP and will also steer clear of its components that deal with free movement of goods and instead concentrate on free movement of professionals (persons who deliver professional services).

1. Professionals should take it upon themselves to clearly define who a professional is and which organisations qualify to be referred to as professional bodies (association or regulatory) with reference to their respective professions. This does not only contribute towards limiting and subsequently eliminating quacks thereby protecting the consumer and profession but also helps other players correctly identify which bodies to work with in regard to a given profession.

   In simple terms, a professional should be one who has acquired and demonstrates applied skills, knowledge, attributes and behaviours (competence and competency) obtained through formal professional training to the benefit of his/her clients and holds certification to this effect from an accredited recognised training institution. In a few instances they even take an oath - Hippocratic oath in the medical/veterinary field - but in all cases must be registered by the profession's regulatory authority, a legal and professional requirement to practice in a given jurisdiction. At the earliest possible opportunity professionals should candidly and without fear emphasize the fact that business bodies/associations are not necessarily professional bodies/associations.

2. Quality assurance will be a vital area of concern in movement of professionals (services). The professional service provider must be qualified to offer the demanded service and must offer the optimal or the best service and must do it within the law of the country where the service is offered. This therefore calls for professional regulatory authorities and their associated enforcement units to ensure that no consumer is lured into consuming 'fake' or inferior services ('imported' from a member state). I love to provocatively refer to 'fake service' as 'counterfeit' to the amusement of many who are used to the current common definition of 'counterfeit' being restricted to goods. The alternative and more common word in services is "quack" but this may not immediately sound as catchy and terrifying as the word 'counterfeit' hence the perceived misuse of the word. A person who labels themselves a professional when they are not and yet tricks consumers into requesting for and consuming his fake services (carefully disguised as the true service) is, to me, offering a 'counterfeit service'. Spare me the debate on semantics and instead follow the drift.

   A loud warning must be sounded as well to some misguided professionals who seem to have put greed for money ahead of professionalism thereby not religiously observing professional ethics as defined by professional practice guidelines. Thanks to competition; these acts will hopefully soon be exposed and the consumers will get enlightened and liberated from this "hostility".

3. Every professional should participate actively through their professional associations and regulatory bodies in the negotiation of and implementation of the Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs) that should define guidelines that facilitate and enable registration of professionals and professional practices across borders of the five member countries. The MRAs should especially define bounds but ensuring that it does not cause unnecessary encumbrances. The interest here is to make it easier and yet within professional and legal bounds for an EAC national/citizen to freely move and practice in a member state. Professionals should not delegate the role of designing and negotiating MRAs to parties that do not effectively represent their professional interests. In my opinion, this a shared role between professional associations and professional regulatory authorities. They should also take interest, in among others, immigration requirements associated with movement of persons so as to contribute towards designing processes that facilitate efficiency of the operations.

4. While professionals should appreciate their guidance, they should resist the temptation of being ‘crowded out’ in decision-making fora by Government officials, trade and business specialists (not of their professional leaning) who can derail professional focus on issues related to the CMP. Professionals should therefore not worry about holding minority opinion in such fora for as long as that represents the position and practice in their profession - preferring "professional correctness" over "political correctness" during such meetings. Be bold and loud even if you are a lone voice; stand for your profession without shame; nobody else cares about it except you.

5. Professionals should work together with their respective mother Government Ministries and the Ministries responsible for the East African Community affairs in their respective countries to provide a clear roadmap complete with realistic targets and demand that the ministries work towards it.

6. The free movement of professionals will bring with it competition which will largely be based on professional performance hence it calls for a high level of professionalism. This implies that if any professional does not keep themselves polished, they will soon be out of service/business because the consumers' "catchment area" and choices will expand. One example is that should any professional take Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programmes lightly, their progressive irrelevance and incompetence will soon be exposed to their detriment. The majority of professions in the member countries now renew registration based on credit points accumulated from CPDs over a defined period of time. A professional should therefore raise their bar. Are you acceptable in the neighboring country? Is it possible that a colleague from a neighboring country will be preferred to you in your own backyard?

7. A loud warning must be sounded as well to some misguided professionals who seem to have put greed for money ahead of professionalism thereby not religiously observing professional ethics. Thanks to competition; these acts will soon be exposed and the consumers will get enlightened and liberated from this "hostility".

8. It is important for professionals to take interest in understanding their respective profession's regulatory law(s) in the partner states not just to ensure they operate within the law but also for them to identify and propose areas of harmonization.

9. Furthermore, the professional should acquaint themselves with the prevailing trade laws (for both goods and services) in the various EAC member countries.

10. Professionals should consider establishing smart partnerships with their counterparts in the EAC member states to facilitate movement of service even without physical movement of the professional in some cases.

The CMP brings with it opportunities which can only be effectively harnessed by a prepared professional. Long live EAC, long live professionals, long live consumers of professional services.

Click here to download a pdf version of the EAC CMP.

This piece was sent to some media houses in the region but none has so far found it worth an inch of space in their pages. Thanks to personal blogs.

The Ghana Experience I: should women preach in church?

As promised in an earlier post, I share below just one of several things I experienced while in Ghana 28 May to 2 June 2008. Akwaaba! (that means 'welcome' in Twe, one of the many native languages spoken in Ghana).

I arrived in Accra on Wednesday 28 May and left on Saturday 31 May 2008 and relocated to another town, Tema, thanks to a Christian couple who are friends of mine. While in Tema, I visited many places including a progressive veterinary practice, a wonderful home (address, environment and people) and obviously a church.

I visited this Baptist church on 1 June 2008. Something worth mentioning about the church is its Sunday programme. It was unique and very interesting. I think I missed some session(s) because I got there a little late. When I got there, a guided congregation prayer session was in progress. After the prayer, the congregation split up into groups - I saw three on that Sunday: the English speaking adults, the non-English speaking adults and the kids.

I will dwell on what transpired in my group. I did, obviously, go to the English speaking adults group. In my group, a moderated discussion was held aimed at answering some questions that had been asked the previous Sunday by some members of the congregation. The questions were the familiar ones with some grey areas: How should a Christian dress? What constitutes tithe - 10% of net or 10% of gross payment? Should women preach in church?

As expected these are questions that can generate lots of debate which is capable of becoming quite heated up. Well, all I can say is that it was a lively debate that was brought to a close before ideas, opinion and Bible quotations related to those subjects were exhausted. The issue of tithe was settled much more easily and seemingly satisfactorily (my perception) than those of dress code (especially for women) and women preaching in church.

Some interesting questions were asked e.g. "If my wife came to church wearing a trouser, would she be accepted or thrown out?"; "What was Ghanaians' original dress code (men and women) - are they acceptable in the community / church today?".

After the group activities, the various categories of worshippers rejoined to form one congregation and the main service started. It was a wonderful service.

Why do I share this? It is mainly to draw your attention and hopefully interest you in thinking about the questions and giving your own position on them as you see fit or feel convicted or as told to you in your church or any other place of worship.

So, what is your position regarding the above questions?

Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever

It was named Ebola, after the Ebola river in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Ebola river flows through an area where the disease is alleged to have first been identified (in 1976).

The current outbreak is the second in Uganda in about 7 years. On both occasions, it's origin is tracked to the Democratic Republic of Congo and consumption of infected animal carcasses have been alleged on both occasions.

Since the disease has no known treatment, prevention is vital in its control. Lots of information is available on Ebola. Getting the population to know the facts is, but just one, significant step in controlling the disease.

I provide the following sources for readers of this blog:
1. Information packet from CDC.
2. A fact sheet from DHPE
3. Q&A from msnbc

I am back

After a period of silence (on this site), I return with quite a bit of energy to share lots that happened while I was away. I promise that I will be writing more regularly on diverse subjects as I have so far done. I provide a buffet and the reader chooses what to consume to their fill, and return for more.

The subject line above reminds me of our Ugandan politics. It was once written in a Newspaper headline in Kampala that, "Bad news; Akena Adoko is Back". Several years later on, in another paper, somebody rephrased it as, "Good news, Akena Adoko is back". The said Dr. Akena Adoko was in the helm of leadership in Uganda in the 60s and early 80s. He got exiled several times: in the early to late 70s, then in late 80s and again in the early 90s. He currently lives in the UK. Each time he returned to Uganda he hit the headlines. There are some interesting writings about the life of Dr. N. Akena Adoko e.g. Simon Regan's "Scandals in Justice" and in "NHS Exposed".

For my case, please consider it good news that I am back to the blog. Welcome aboard.

Lango Community Thanksgiving Service, Kampala 8 Sept 2007

Theme: "....in all things, give thanks...."



Church, community and political leaders prepare to cut the cake as one of the activities during the thanksgiving interdenominational service.

"....how good and pleasant it is for brothers to live together in unity"

"....and they met .... and shared bread"