*Dear Hon Jack Sabiti, I want to thank you for the struggle you and FDC mounted in your recent by-election.
And it goes without saying that you won and NRM cheated you/us. That is how they have always operated: criminality and thieving, but worst of all, selling our country for a song to Anglo-Saxon imperialism and the veterans of apartheid's assassination squad ( the so-called Crow-Bar battalion ) who joined British SAS to form so-called Tullow Oil Company. By-elections aside, I cant fail to note, like the headline below, that of late when Dr Kizza Besigye crisscrosses the country, more and more, he is suggesting and articulating policy positions. It is the proper way. For this send our most heartfelt thanks and best wishes to him and his family. The overwhelming number of Ugandans, especially the downtrodden wananchi are going to take note. Ugandans are bound to embrace parties with clarity on issues and policy. We have to keep up the struggle, comrade. Mitayo Potosi ============= Paying teachers better will improve standards* By Augustine Ruzindana (email the author <javascript:void(0);>) Posted Wednesday, April 7 2010 at 00:00 Gen. Kahinda Otafiire recently said paying (primary) teachers Shs400,000 per month, as FDC proposes, “would mean Shs4.4 trillion in a year”. Teachers are already earning Shs200,000 and an additional Shs200,000 would add less than 80 billion, which is nothing compared to 50 per cent of the total budget stolen annually through scams such as Chogm and many others. Remuneration is intrinsically connected with service delivery. There is no way you will retain a teacher in class for a whole day, five days a week at Shs200,000. So standards will continue falling. Plunder through corruption and other budget leakages such as waste and mismanagement can be reduced. For example, the budget of State House can be reduced by 50 per cent without incapacitating a president. This would, however, mean that there would be no money envelopes, there would be no scholarships and no payment for medical treatment abroad by the President. Such expenditures, where necessary, would be handled by the respective line ministry. There can be savings on public administration by eliminating or merging offices such as the CAO and RDC into one office, payments for ghosts and inhumane practices such as “katebe” can also be eliminated and presidential sinecures (innumerable advisers and assistants) can be drastically reduced. The government vehicle fleet can be reduced and only used for official duties. More importantly, if the public sees evidence of better services rendered, they will more readily pay taxes. The tax base is very narrow and there is high evasion of taxes, and rightly so too, since government service delivery is very poor and not free. For many years, tax collection is frozen around 12/13 per cent of GDP whereas the African average is 18 per cent and Kenya collects 21-24 per cent of GDP. Related Stories - Government should send UPE money directly to head teachers<http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/Commentary/-/689364/890568/-/aghcypz/-/index.html> - Increasing teachers’ salary not every region’s priority<http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/Commentary/-/689364/891262/-/aggq13z/-/index.html> - Critical review of UPE, USE programmes welcome<http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/Commentary/-/689364/889664/-/agwm85z/-/index.html> - Namilyango Day: celebrating 108 years of tradition<http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/Commentary/-/689364/882620/-/ah2hk0z/-/index.html> - War games today set children up for bad future<http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/Commentary/-/689364/887934/-/agxxkrz/-/index.html> - The fight against corruption shouldn’t be tribalised<http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/Commentary/-/689364/879306/-/ahj8m3z/-/index.html> In addition, unlike the current practice, all other funds received, such as the $10 million from the sale of the old presidential plane, the contribution by the international community for the Ugandan troops in Somalia and the oil signature bonuses ($300, 000 for Block 3A and $200,000 for Block 2 and other future bonuses) would be reflected in the government budget. By a combination of prudent fiscal and public financial management, a widening of the tax base and serious control of corruption, waste and mismanagement, it is possible to improve public service remuneration and service delivery at the same time. In fact both initiatives are complementary. *** The Sunday Vision of March 28 carried a headline about an opinion poll carried out in 12 districts in which 5,000 respondents were interviewed in 12 days from March 3 to 15. This is unbelievable. Such a large sample with only one question is unusual for opinion polls, even by professional polling companies. The 2008 Afro Barometer poll took about a month and half for only about 2,400 respondents with questions about the quality of democracy and governance, elections and the economy. Even with one question, the Vision poll could at least have ranked opposition leaders against Museveni not exclusively Mao, Besigye, Otunnu against each other. Someone surmised that the poll seemed to be an attempt to disprove Sebaggala’s assertion that Mao cannot defeat Besigye in the north. But why, since it does not matter whether majority votes in the north and Buganda are shared between several opposition candidates as long as it would still deny Museveni a 50 per cent+ win at the first ballot. Whatever the purpose, the New Vision is a public media house and should behave better. *Mr Ruzindana is FDC’s deputy secretary general, policy and research* a_ruzind...@yahoo.com
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