Monday, July 14, 2003
Ugandans Poorly Housed Despite Official Claims
By GERTRUDE KAMUZE
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
IN SPITE of claims made by the Ministry of Finance that living conditions have improved significantly, evidence on the ground indicates that the situation is still deplorable, with considerable numbers of people living in huts and many others either not employed or under-employed.
Statistics obtained by The EastAfrican show that up to 24 per cent of the country's population lives in grass-thatched houses.
A document from the Ministry of Finance, Background to the Budget, says that even though the number of houses with iron roofs has gone up, a sizeable proportion of the units is of low quality, with up to 41 per cent made of mud and poles. Up to 25 per cent of the houses are mizigo, one-roomed rental houses.
Though the use of toilets has increased, with only eight per cent of the people having no access to them, up to 89 per cent still use pit latrines, and this has implications for the quality of underground water resources.
For the past two years, the Ministry of Finance has been saying that poverty levels have reduced, from highs of 60 per cent in the early 1990s to about 35 per cent by last year.
The Background document gives startling figures about living conditions, casting doubts on the statistics that the proportion of the population living in absolute poverty has gone down to 35 per cent.
It says that relatively high fertility rates are limiting the growth in per capita real income, which remains below the 5 per cent per annum Poverty Eradication Action Plan target, as well as the productivity of women. At present, the per capita income in Uganda is estimated at $340.
Despite improvements in infrastructure, employment opportunities in rural areas remain limited, the ministry says.
James Mulwana, who heads the Private Sector Foundation, says that even in urban areas, high rates of unemployment are to be found, affecting the growth of industries as demand for products remains consistently low.
Two years ago, a Ministry of Labour survey showed that almost half of Uganda's workforce is unemployed.
The low food and cash-crop prices that have been consistently experienced in the country have impoverished farmers, leaving some with no alternative but to get by on one meal a day.
With economic growth rates remaining at under 6 per cent and the rebellion in northern Uganda still on, living conditions are expected to continue being poor.
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