Skip to main content

LET THE UN BASE SAGA BE A LESSON TO US



I have watched with much interest as the issues of the UN base in Entebbe have played out in recent days.

At the beginning of the month it was reported that the UN secretary general Antonio Guterres, had signed off on a new structure, The Global Services Delivery model, that it was suggested would see Uganda losing the Regional Service Center in Entebbe (RCSE) to Nairobi.

Under the new model the UN would have three key centers in Hungary, Kenya and Mexico.

In response to a letter by President Yoweri Museveni, Guterres assured him that the RCSE would remain in Entebbe. Though some functions will be relocated to Nairobi in the short term, in the middle to long term he sees the role of RCSE expanding and growing in importance.

The new development takes effect from 1st July this year.

According to their website the RCSE serves more than 20,000 personnel on the continent, does administration and communications support for thousands more around the world and has an annual budget of $33m (sh122b).

Of course there was a lot of concern for the assumed development and with good reason.

It’s been almost ten years since the base was set up. It has provided employment for more than 400 Ugandans and created numerous economic opportunities for the residents of, the once sleepy town, Entebbe.

Real estate values have jumped, as have rents. Businessmen in the hospitality and transport businesses have thrived. New services in education, health and logistics have sprung up. It is safe to say the lakeside town has received a shot in the arm, to the benefit of its residents and businesses.

The effects of the pull out would have put a lot of livelihoods in jeopardy and nip the town’s economic boom in the bud.

On a much wider level the base’s exit may have affected our currency and weakened our influence in international fora.

But there are some lessons to learn from this event about how the international community operates and our place in the grand scheme of things.

To begin with, while it seems like this development came out of the blue, Guterres in his letter to the President points out that the conceptualisation and implementation of the global services delivery model had been going on for at least six years.

The last minute flurry of activity by our officials if the UN had decided to take our base away would have been a waste of time at best or at worst playing to the gallery – in this case the Ugandan public.
The UN, the world’s biggest bureaucracy, like any other bureaucracy works slowly and once decisions are made, no amount of jumping up and down will change things.

I am loathe to suggest our diplomats were caught napping, but if the UN had decided to take our base away, which they did not, we would have lost it anyway despite our government’s last minute efforts to salvage the situation.

It is clear that we need to be more proactive in fighting for our interests and seeking out new opportunities that may be floating around international corridors. This calls for a beefing up of our diplomatic capacity.

This is important because beyond vying for markets for our goods abroad, there are real and lucrative markets for our services too. The 400 Ugandans working at RCSE are but a fraction of what we can offer to the world, given the tens of thousands we pass out of our universities every year.

There is also the issue of leverage. The RCSE base is not only lucrative but strategic as well. Our commitment to international peace and security that the base represents will always be a card up our sleeves in international discussions. We should not take its importance for granted.

We dodged a bullet this time.  Next time we may not be so lucky. Let us use this incident as a learning opportunity for our government to pay more attention if they are to promote and defend this country’s best interests.

(MAY 2018)

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A SHIFT AWAY FROM AGRICULTURE IS CRITICAL FOR UGANDA

Anyone who has half a stake in this country would be a keen observer of the economy and the direction it is taking. In the last three decades the economy has shown strong growth, only slowing to overcome bad weather, a global financial crisis or unrest in the region. Compared to when I started out in business, it has become a more liberal economy, with individual initiative being rewarded more and more. While the economy is still dominated by the informal sector, the formal sector is growing annually. But the biggest shift in the economy has to be the reduction in agriculture’s share of the economy from more than 80 percent to about 25 percent today. This has happened despite the leap in the production of everything from bananas to coffee or from milk to maize. What has happened is that more of the economy – though not nearly enough, has been taken up by industry, construction and services. This is how it should be and in fact, more work is needed in shifting t...
Post a Comment
Read more

OIL: WE NEED TO GET OUR ACT TOGETHER… YESTERDAY

(Published February, 2017) We are on the cusp of an important period in the history of this country and whether we can derive maximum advantage from this will depend on our capacity to put aside petty rivalries and come together as the business community. Over the next three years at least $20b or almost the size of the entire economy will be spent in readying us for first oil. This money will be spent on building infrastructure in the oil bearing areas of western Uganda, on our side of the oil pipeline to the Tanzanian port of Tanga, on the oil refinery and any number of things that will be needed to support oil production. About $3b (sh11trillion) was spent during the exploration phase of which less than three in every ten shillings   or about sh3trillion went to local contractors and suppliers. But this happened over eight years. This despite our local disorganisation and ignorance of the industry and its dynamics. However we should not be content with t...
Post a Comment
Read more

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR GRADUATION, ITS NOW TIME TO WORK….

Thousands of students will be graduating from their respective universities in coming days and months. Makerere, our country’s oldest university will kick off its ceremonies on January 15th and the other universities will follow. The graduates have already had a taste of the real life, having finished their studies mid last year and tried to get employed. Many know by now that the world can be harsh and unforgiving. I hope many are tightening their belts in readiness for the struggle ahead. Some may have decided to kick the tin down the road by continuing with school. And others may have given up altogether. My prayer is that there are more of the first and less of the last kind. In talking to young people, I find that what is needed is a reorientation of their minds – a mindset change. Let me share with you certain facts to help manage their expectations of the world and how they can fulfil their potential in our context. First of all, the world owes you ...
Post a Comment
Read more

WE NEED A BETTER SOLUTION FOR KAMPALA TRAFFIC

I am sure I am not the only one feeling it. Kampala’s traffic is becoming increasingly unbearable. Even the removal of roundabouts around the city seem to have an opposite effect to the intended purpose of easing traffic flow in the city. Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has an ambitious plan of flyovers, underground tunnels and railway transport, which should help the cause, I hope. The snarl ups that we are coming fast accustomed to, are not only an issue of teeth grinding inconvenience but have a real cost on our economy by hampering and increasing the cost of doing business. A recent World Bank report suggests that as an economy, we are losing about sh3trillion annually due to traffic jams. The losses come in form of delayed deliveries, higher fuel consumption and the health consequences of seating in a smoke filled environment. To put this in perspective this is the combined budget of the health, agriculture and ICT ministries in this year’s budget. Or ...
Post a Comment
Read more

SPORTS AS AN ANALOGY FOR BUSINESS

Like everybody else I know, my spirit was lifted by the success of our athletes at the World Athletics Championships last week. The diminutive Halima Nakaayi showed the heart of a lion, sprinting over the last 100m of the women’s 800m event to snatch victory from a more favoured American runner. It was so uplifting to watch. Subsequent stories about the challenges she has had to overcome to get where she is now were testament to the determination of the woman. Joshua Cheptegei’s victory, while no less inspiring, had a different quality to it. Cheptegei was the man to watch going into the event. He won previously at the Commonwealth Games last year and the in the just concluded Golden League. He was a silver medalist in the 10,000m at the last World Championships in London, pipped to the tape by the now retired Mo Farah. Cheptgei still had to battle the Kenyans and the Ethiopians all the way. But as a favourite he lived up to expectations, which sometimes is more diffic...
Post a Comment
Read more

LOCAL CONTENT IS NOT A DONE DEAL, WE NEED TO DO MORE

This year’s “Oil & Gas Convention & Regional Logistics Expo2017” has just concluded after three days of discussion, exploration and soul searching. First oil in Uganda is expected by 2020 and this Expo among other efforts are targeted at getting our local businessmen ready to take advantage of this historical development. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the discovery and eventual exploitation of our oil resource is one of those once in a generation events, that can transform this nation, not only on a macro level but also in our individual lives. For starters at least $20b will be spent over the next three years in infrastructure development and other things that will ensure we are ready to pipe and refine our oil. During the exploration phase about $3b was spent by the international oil companies, with on three in every ten dollars being retained here. That was an exploration phase and one hopes that we have learnt enough from that period to ...
Post a Comment
Read more