From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Mon Jul 20 2009 - 07:58:36 EDT
"The other pressing issue is the deployment of UPDF troops in Somalia after
its supply of arms to one belligerent side has been exposed. Is this part of
the AU mandate? If so why is Eritrea condemned for supporting another side?"
OPINION
Jul 17, 2009 - 12:30:52 AM
Why is there no mobilisation in aid of famine victims?
Augustine Ruzindana
Most of June, my Infocom e-mail connection was cut off and I thought there
must have been a serious technical problem since my subscription was valid
up to the end of June.
This week I went to their offices near Hotel Africana and found out that
there was a cumulative unpaid amount of $3.47resulting from amounts in
shillings and that service was automatically disconnected because of that. I
asked why I was not billed for the amount or why it could not be deducted
from my subscription which was still running but I have no answer up to now.
I also asked whether I would be credited with the amount for the period I
had received no service and there is no answer. Infocom bills are
denominated in dollars and converted at some arbitrary rate. At the time I
paid, it was Shs100 above the prevailing rate. This kind of service has
caused the collapse of lots of household name businesses in the Western
world.
They assume a monopolistic situation where a customer is of no significance.
In the past few weeks, the famine situation in many parts of the country has
come to the attention of the public. Although the government was already
aware of it, it has adopted a callous attitude. Last week, I watched a
programme on NTV featuring, among other people, minister Ecweru in whose
remit famine relief falls.
The minister asserted that they have sent a lot of food to famine-stricken
areas and as evidence; several lorries were shown being loaded with bags of
flour at food stores in Kampala. But is loading in Kampala evidence that
these items arrived at the intended destinations?
Had he shown these lorries being offloaded in Soroti or Arua and food being
distributed, this would have been credible. If you go to the Ministry of
Health, you will be shown records of drugs destined to various places but go
to the recorded places of these drugs and you will find nothing. If
salaries, pensions do not reach the beneficiaries, Gavi, Global Fund
intended for immunisation of children, treatment of HIV/Aids, malaria and
tuberculosis disappear, would it be surprising if food for starving people
does not reach them?
Not surprisingly, one of the principles of the NRM new fangled patriotism is
“love yourself” and in the process of people loving themselves, relief food,
drugs and pensions do not reach the intended beneficiaries.
The other angle is that most of these areas did not support the President in
the last elections.
In Arua, one of the affected areas, the President announced sometime back
that his working principle is that those areas which do not support him
should not expect much from him. Could this account for the government’s
attitude that there is no crisis when more than 2 million people in those
areas are in danger of starvation and also for the relief provision of a
paltry Shs10 billion (Shs5,000 per person)?
Could it also account for the lack of any effort to mobilise the
international community to come to the aid of the country to manage the
famine? There is even no attempt to mobilise internally.
The other pressing issue is the deployment of UPDF troops in Somalia after
its supply of arms to one belligerent side has been exposed. Is this part of
the AU mandate? If so why is Eritrea condemned for supporting another side?
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