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2011 World Hunger and Poverty Facts and Statistics

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Uganda Today
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2011 World Hunger and Poverty Facts and Statistics

World Hunger Education Service

This fact sheet is divided into the following sections:

  • Hunger concepts and definitions
  • Number of hungry people in the world
  • Does the world produce enough food to feed everyone?
  • Causes of hunger
  • Progress in reducing the number of hungry people
  • Micronutrients

Hunger concepts and definitions

Hunger is a term which has three meanings (Oxford English Dictionary 1971)

  • The uneasy or painful sensation caused by want of food; craving appetite. Also the exhausted condition caused by want of food
  • the want or scarcity of food in a country
  • a strong desire or craving

World hunger refers to the second definition, aggregated to the world level. The related technical term (in this case operationalized in medicine) is malnutrition.1

Malnutrition is a general term that indicates a lack of some or all nutritional elements necessary for human health (Medline plus Medical Encyclopaedia).

There are two basic types of malnutrition. The first and most important is protein-energy malnutrition–the lack of enough protein (from meat and other sources) and food that provides energy (measured in calories) which all of the basic food groups provide. This is the type of malnutrition that is referred to when world hunger is discussed. The second type of malnutrition, also very important, is micronutrient (vitamin and mineral) deficiency. This is not the type of malnutrition that is referred to when world hunger is discussed, though it is certainly very important.

[Recently there has also been a move to include obesity as a third form of malnutrition. Considering obesity as malnutrition expands the previous usual meaning of the term which referred to poor nutrition due to lack of food inputs.2 It is poor nutrition, but it is certainly not typically due to a lack of calories, but rather too many (although poor food choices, often due to poverty, are part of the problem). Obesity will not be considered here, although obesity is certainly a health problem and is increasingly considered as a type of malnutrition.]

Protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) is the most lethal form of malnutrition/hunger. It is basically a lack of calories and protein. Food is converted into energy by humans, and the energy contained in food is measured by calories. Protein is necessary for key body functions including provision of essential amino acids and development and maintenance of muscles.

Take a two-question hunger quiz on this section

Number of hungry people in the world

925 million hungry people in 2010

No one really knows how many people are malnourished. The statistic most frequently cited is that of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, which measures ‘under nutrition’. The most recent estimate, released in October 2010 by FAO, says that 925 million people are undernourished. As the figure below shows, the number of hungry people has increased since 1995-97, though the number is down from last year. The increase has been due to three factors: 1) neglect of agriculture relevant to very poor people by governments and international agencies; 2) the current worldwide economic crisis, and 3) the significant increase of food prices in the last several years which have been devastating to those with only a few dollars a day to spend. 925 million people are 13.6 percent of the estimated world population of 6.8 billion. Nearly all of the undernourished are in developing countries.

Number of hungry people, 1969-2010

Source: FAO

In round numbers there are 7 billion people in the world. Thus, with an estimated 925 million hungry people in the world, 13.1 percent, or almost 1 in 7 people are hungry.

The FAO estimate is based on statistical aggregates. The FAO first estimates the total food supply of a country and derives the average per capita daily food intake from that. The distribution of average food intake for people in the country is then estimated from surveys measuring food expenditure. Using this information, and minimum food energy requirements, FAO estimates how many people are likely to receive such a low level of food intake that they are undernourished.3

Under nutrition is a relatively new concept, but is increasingly used. It should be taken as similar to malnutrition. (It should be said as an aside, that the idea of undernourishment, its relationship to malnutrition, and the reasons for its emergence as a concept is not clear to Hunger Notes.)

Children are the most visible victims of under nutrition. Children who are poorly nourished suffer up to 160 days of illness each year. Poor nutrition plays a role in at least half of the 10.9 million child deaths each year–five million deaths. Under nutrition magnifies the effect of every disease, including measles and malaria. The estimated proportions of deaths in which under nutrition is an underlying cause are roughly similar for diarrhoea (61%), malaria (57%), pneumonia (52%), and measles (45%) (Black 2003, Bryce 2005). Malnutrition can also be caused by diseases, such as the diseases that cause diarrhoea, by reducing the body’s ability to convert food into usable nutrients.

According to the most recent estimate that Hunger Notes could find, malnutrition, as measured by stunting, affects 32.5 percent of children in developing countries–one of three (de Onis 2000). Geographically, more than 70 percent of malnourished children live in Asia, 26 percent in Africa and 4 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean. In many cases, their plight began even before birth with a malnourished mother. Under-nutrition among pregnant women in developing countries leads to 1 out of 6 infants born with low birth weight. This is not only a risk factor for neonatal deaths, but also causes learning disabilities, mental, retardation, poor health, blindness and premature death.

Take a three-question hunger quiz on this section

Does the world produce enough food to feed everyone?

The world produces enough food to feed everyone. World agriculture produces 17 percent more calories per person today than it did 30 years ago, despite a 70 percent population increase. This is enough to provide everyone in the world with at least 2,720 kilocalories (kcal) per person per day (FAO 2002, p.9). The principal problem is that many people in the world do not have sufficient land to grow, or income to purchase, enough food.

What are the causes of hunger?

What are the causes of hunger is a fundamental question, with varied answers.

Poverty is the principal cause of hunger. The causes of poverty include poor people’s lack of resources, an extremely unequal income distribution in the world and within specific countries, conflict, and hunger itself. As of 2008 (2005 statistics), the World Bank has estimated that there were an estimated 1,345 million poor people in developing countries who live on $1.25 a day or less.3 This compares to the later FAO estimate of 1.02 billion undernourished people. Extreme poverty remains an alarming problem in the world’s developing regions, despite some progress that reduced “dollar–now $1.25– a day” poverty from (an estimated) 1900 million people in 1981, a reduction of 29 percent over the period. Progress in poverty reduction has been concentrated in Asia, and especially, East Asia, with the major improvement occurring in China. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the number of people in extreme poverty has increased. The statement that ‘poverty is the principal cause of hunger’ is, though correct, unsatisfying. Why then are (so many) people poor? The next section summarizes Hunger Notes answer.

Harmful economic systems are the principal cause of poverty and hunger. Hunger Notes believes that the principal underlying cause of poverty and hunger is the ordinary operation of the economic and political systems in the world. Essentially control over resources and income is based on military, political and economic power that typically ends up in the hands of a minority, who live well, while those at the bottom barely survive, if they do. We have described the operation of this system in more detail in our special section on Harmful economic systems.

Conflict as a cause of hunger and poverty. At the end of 2005, the global number of refugees was at its lowest level in almost a quarter of a century. Despite some large-scale repatriation movements, the last three years have witnessed a significant increase in refugee numbers, due primarily to the violence taking place in Iraq and Somalia. By the end of 2008, the total number of refugees under UNHCR’s mandate exceeded 10 million. The number of conflict-induced internally displaced persons (IDPs) reached some 26 million worldwide at the end of the year. Providing exact figures on the number of stateless people is extremely difficult But, important, (relatively) visible though it is, and anguishing for those involved conflict is less important as poverty (and its causes) as a cause of hunger. (Using the statistics above 1.02 billion people suffer from chronic hunger while 36 million people are displaced [UNHCR 2008])

Hunger is also a cause of poverty, and thus of hunger. By causing poor health, low levels of energy, and even mental impairment, hunger can lead to even greater poverty by reducing people’s ability to work and learn, thus leading to even greater hunger.

Climate change Climate change is increasingly viewed as a current and future cause of hunger and poverty. Increasing drought, flooding, and changing climatic patterns requiring a shift in crops and farming practices that may not be easily accomplished are three key issues. See the Hunger Notes special report: Hunger, the environment, and climate change for further information, especially articles in the section: Climate change, global warming and the effect on poor people such as Global warming causes 300,000 deaths a year, study says and Could food shortages bring down civilization?

Progress in reducing the number of hungry people

The target set at the 1996 World Food Summit was to halve the number of undernourished people by 2015 from their number in 1990-92. (FAO uses three year averages in its calculation of undernourished people.) The (estimated) number of undernourished people in developing countries was 824 million in 1990-92. In 2009, the number had climbed to 1.02 billion people. The WFS goal is a global goal adopted by the nations of the world; the present outcome indicates how marginal the efforts were in face of the real need.

So, overall, the world is not making progress toward the world food summit goal, although there has been progress in Asia, and in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Micronutrients

Quite a few trace elements or micronutrients–vitamins and minerals–are important for health. 1 out of 3 people in developing countries are affected by vitamin and mineral deficiencies, according to the World Health Organization. Three, perhaps the most important in terms of health consequences for poor people in developing countries, are:

Vitamin A Vitamin A deficiency can cause night blindness and reduces the body’s resistance to disease. In children Vitamin A deficiency can also cause growth retardation. Between 100 and 140 million children are vitamin A deficient. An estimated 250,000 to 500 000 vitamin A-deficient children become blind every year, half of them dying within 12 months of losing their sight. (World Health Organization)

Iron Iron deficiency is a principal cause of anaemia. Two billion people—over 30 percent of the world’s population—are anaemic, mainly due to iron deficiency, and, in developing countries, frequently exacerbated by malaria and worm infections. For children, health consequences include premature birth, low birth weight, infections, and elevated risk of death. Later, physical and cognitive development is impaired, resulting in lowered school performance. For pregnant women, anaemia contributes to 20 percent of all maternal deaths (World Health Organization).

Iodine Iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) jeopardize children’s mental health– often their very lives. Serious iodine deficiency during pregnancy may result in stillbirths, abortions and congenital abnormalities such as cretinism, a grave, irreversible form of mental retardation that affects people living in iodine-deficient areas of Africa and Asia. IDD also causes mental impairment that lowers intellectual prowess at home, at school, and at work. IDD affects over 740 million people, 13 percent of the world’s population. Fifty million people have some degree of mental impairment caused by IDD (World Health Organization).

(Updated August 17, 2011)

Footnotes

1. The relation between hunger, malnutrition, and other terms such as under nutrition is not ‘perfectly clear,’ so we have attempted to spell them out briefly in “World Hunger Facts.”

2. For example, the Oxford English Dictionary (1971 edition) has ‘insufficient nutrition’ as the only meaning for malnutrition.

3. For discussions of measuring hunger see Califero 2011, Headey 2011 and Masset, in press.

4. The table used to calculate this number.

Region

% in $1.25 a day poverty

Population (millions)

Pop. in $1 a day poverty (millions)

East Asia and Pacific

16.8

1,884

316

Latin America and the Caribbean

8.2

550

45

South Asia

40.4

1,476

596

Sub-Saharan Africa

50.9

763

388

Total Developing countries

28,8

4673

1345

Europe and Central Asia

0.04

473

17

Middle East and North Africa

0.04

305

11

Total

5451

1372

Source: See World Bank PovcalNet “Replicate the World Bank’s Regional Aggregation” at http://iresearch.worldbank.org/PovcalNet/povDuplic.html (accessed May 7, 2010). Also see World Bank “PovcalNet” at http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTRESEARCH/EXTPROGRAMS/EXTPOVRES/EXTPOVCALNET/0,,contentMDK:21867101~pagePK:64168427~piPK:64168435~theSitePK:5280443,00.html

Bibliography

Black RE, Morris SS, Bryce J. “Where and why are 10 million children dying every year?” Lancet. 2003 Jun 28;361(9376):2226-34.

Black, Robert E, Lindsay H Allen, Zulfiqar A Bhutta, Laura E Caulfield, Mercedes de Onis, Majid Ezzati, Colin Mathers, Juan Rivera, for the Maternal and Child Undernutrition Study Group Maternal and child undernutrition: global and regional exposures and health consequences. (Article access may require registration) The Lancet Vol. 371, Issue 9608, 19 January 2008, 243-260.

Jennifer Bryce, Cynthia Boschi-Pinto, Kenji Shibuya, Robert E. Black, and the WHO Child Health Epidemiology Reference Group. 2005. “WHO estimates of the causes of death in children.” Lancet ; 365: 1147–52.

Cafiero, Carlo and Pietro Gennari. 2011. The FAO indicator of the prevalence of undernourishment FAO

Caulfield LE, de Onis M, Blössner M, Black RE. Undernutrition as an underlying cause of child deaths associated with diarrhea, pneumonia, malaria, and measles. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2004; 80: 193–98.

Shaohua Chen and Martin Ravallion. June 2004. “How have the world’s poorest fared since the early 1980s?” World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3341 Washington: World Bank.

de Onis, Mercedes, Edward A. Frongillo and Monika Blossner. 2000. “Is malnutrition declining? An analysis of changes in levels of child malnutrition since 1980.” Bulletin of the World Health Organization 2000, : 1222–1233.

Food and Agriculture Organization, International Fund for Agricultural Development, World Food Program. 2002 “Reducing Poverty and Hunger, the Critical Role of Financing for Food, Agriculture, and Rural Development.”

Food and Agriculture Organization. 2006. State of World Food Insecurity 2006

Food and Agriculture Organization. 2010. The state of Food Insecurity in the World 2010

Headey, Derek. 2011. “Was the Global Food Crisis Really a Crisis? Simulations versus Self-Reporting”, IFPRI Discussion Paper 01087.

International Food Policy Research Institute. 2010. 2010 Global Hunger Index

Masset, Edoardo. 2011 In Press.A review of hunger indices and methods to monitor country commitment to fighting hunger Food Policy.

Oxford University Press. 1971. Oxford English Dictionary. Definition for malnutrition.

Pelletier DL, Frongillo EA Jr, Schroeder D, Habicht JP. The effects of malnutrition on child mortality in developing countries. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 1995; 73: 443–48.

United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees. 2007. Statistical Yearbook 2006 “Main Findings”

UNHCR 2008 Global Report 2008 “The Year in Review” http://www.unhcr.org/4a2d0b1d2.pdf

World Bank. Understanding Poverty website

World Health Organization Comparative Quantification of Health Risks: Childhood and Maternal Undernutition

The Politics of Sugar

By
Uganda Today
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Sugar has lately become the hottest political issue following a sharp increase in the price of the commodity reported over the past three weeks. The abnormal rise in the price of sugar has brought a fast reaction from the government which on Friday August 6th announced a 100% waiver of all taxes on sugar imports.

Retail sugar prices have in the past month increased from about 2,600 shillings to 6,000 shillings while in some upcountry places, a kilo of sugar is going for as much as 10,000 Uganda shillings. At many shops and supermarkets, traders are rationing sugar, with no one allowed to buy more than two kilograms at once, while sugar queues have been reported at many supermarkets.

The price of a bag of sugar has increased from 125,000 to between 220,000 -310,000 due to inability of the country’s sugar producers to provide enough sugar as demanded by Ugandans. Uganda has three sugar producing companies, Kakira Sugar works (owned by the Mahdvani group), Kinyara Sugar Works (owned by Rai Group and Uganda government) and SCOUL (Sugar Corporation of Lugazi) owned by the Mehta group.

Many Ugandans are wondering whether they can afford sugar especially in this hard time when most of the other commodities including food items are coming at high prices. The country is witnessing the highest inflation in 10 years, currently standing at 18% according to the Uganda National Bureau of Statistics monthly report on inflation for July 2011.

Government swings into action

After a two day cabinet meeting, President Yoweri Museveni announced that the government would allow “controlled sugar imports of up to 40,000 tons for six months to address the current sugar scarcity”. To facilitate this, the government announced a 100% waiver of sugar import taxes.

Mayur Madhvani, the Managing Director of Kakira Sugar Works, Uganda’s leading sugar manufacturer accounting for 50%) said President Museveni has allowed them to import 25,000 tons of sugar for six months while the rest will be imported by Ligazi and Kinyara.

According to Mahdvani, the imports are expected to see a kilogram of sugar costing between 3,500 and 4,000 Uganda shillings. This might calm down some people but it will leave sugar unaffordable or too expensive for many people.

The president had also announced a ban on exportation of sugar which some were blaming for the shortage of the commodity on the local market, but the government backtracked a day later with Trade minister Amelia Kyambadde saying the government has not banned sugar exports, but will undertake “more regulation of the sugar export and import market to ensure adequate supply of sugar in the country”.

Why the sugar shortage?

The first official statements from government indicated that sugar production in Uganda had reduced because of a halt in production at two of the sugar producing factories as they undertake routine maintenance of their sugar production mills.

The sugar producers additionally blame the sugar shortage on the drought experienced in sugar growing areas with some reporting less supplies from sugarcane out growers. But at Kinyara Sugar factory, production has also been affected by the workers strike who burnt more than 10 acres of sugarcane last month.

However, some of the sugar producers are claiming that the high sugar prices are worsened by traders who are hoarding the sugar in order to sell it at high prices. This is a line many government officials including President Museveni and Trade Minister Amelia Kyambadde have also bought, with the President on Friday making every kind of threats against such traders.

In a televised address on Friday, the President threatened arrest to such traders, and later said his NRM will consider setting up a private company to compete with such traders who want to make abnormal profits at the expense of Ugandan consumers.

However, the management of Lugazi and Kakira Sugar works told President Museveni who inspected their factories on Friday that their factory prices have not increased, with Lugazi saying they are selling a kilogram at2, 248 shillings, while Kakira says they are selling a kilogram of sugar at 2,240 shillings.

Sugar export and production capacity issues

But even before these problems, the Minister of industry James Shinyambulo Mutende says that sugar factories in Uganda were producing less sugar than is currently demanded in the local market. “They can only produce about 160,000 metric tons of sugar yet the local market demand stands at 200,000 metric tons creating a deficit of about 40,000 metric tons per year,” he says. Yet the sugar companies are free to export some of the sugar to more lucrative markets in neighbouring countries.

As a matter of fact, some traders in Kampala say the continued exportation of sugar to neighboring countries especially South Sudan by these companies which are protected to produce affordable sugar for Uganda is the main cause of this current sugar shortage.

There are also those who put the blame on the government restriction of the importation of sugar into the country with the aim of protecting the local sugar producing companies . Some people have been expressing concern that all sugar producing companies are not actually local as they are all owned by foreigners, save for Kinyara Sugar where the government has a minority stake.

How sugar prices affect consumers

Whatever the causes, the reality is that many people are now finding sugar unaffordable, or cutting deeper into their already lean disposable income. Other than some families who are now being forced to take less sugar or fore-go sugar completely, the high prices are also affecting a lot of other products and services which are made from raw material that include sugar.

Providers of fresh juice in different restaurants, as well as tea and coffee services earlier this week announced an almost double increase in prices of a glass of juice, cup of tea/coffee respectively. A glass of juice increased from 1,000 to 2000, a cup of plain tea from 400 to 600 shillings due to the hike in sugar prices.

Many of such small scale entrepreneurs complained that customers are no longer drinking their juice and tea, with many worrying of an unprepared journey back to their village because they can no longer make a living in Kampala.

Other products, especially bread that like sugar must be present at many dining tables for breakfast are also being affected since sugar is a key ingredient in baking bread. A bread of one-kilogramme commonly known as family bread is already going for 3, 200 from 2, 800 shillings while the price of half a kilogramme of bread has jumped from 1, 400 to 1, 600 shillings in most Kampala groceries and supermarkets.

But how many Ugandans consume sugar?

However there are those arguing that the increase in prices of sugar are not the most pressing need or issue government must attend to, with some arguing that there are few Ugandans who take sugar and there are more pressing economic and administrative issues the government needs to undertake to ensure the economy is not biting many Ugandans as it is currently.

“Honestly, why the fuss about sugar? Most of the peasants in Uganda or 80% of the population do not consume sugar because they cannot afford and this is since the early 70s. The current government move on sugar is all diversionary. The issue is the economy has been largely messed up by the powers that be,” says Wafula Ogutu, the Spokespeson of the Forum for Democratic Change.

“For years the middle and upper class of this nation, many of them involved in bleeding the country dry, thought they were cushioned from the results of their leeching. Now the chickens have come home to roost. It’s a nice picture seeing the well-to-do drive to Shopritte and queue for a kilo of sugar! There now comes the draw and hopefully it’ll bring a united voice to those calling for a change in the management of Uganda’s affairs,” says Jame Akiror, a teacher in Soroti.

MPs not impressed with government reaction to economic crisis

Several Members of Parliament including those from the ruling NRM Party have come out strongly on the rising prices of sugar and other essential commodities.

Lwemiyaga County Member of Parliament Theodore Sekikubo says that although the government action of removing taxes on sugar imports is welcome, it is not the solution to the current problems being experienced in the economy as whole.

“The gesture is welcome, but the government needs to take serious and sustainable economic strategies to reduce the cost of living for the ordinary poor Ugandan,” Ssekikubo says. He says the government must fight corruption which he (Sekikubo) blames for the high inflation in the country. He says many people (the corrupt) are getting money without producing any products or services, or working for the money, which creates imbalances in the economy.

Rwampara County Member of Parliament Vincent Kyamadidi says the government should in addition also reduce taxes on fuel, reasoning that high prices of fuel are the reason prices of several commodities and services are going up. “Goods have to be transported from one area to another, and people offering services also move to offer the services. Transport costs are now high because of rising fuel prices,” he says.

The Minister of Energy, Irene Muloni has however said the government is not considering reducing prices of fuel. She says scrapping any taxes on fuel will greatly affect government revenue collection and thus the government’s ability to offer social services.

Kyamadidi however says that government needs to refocus its expenditure patterns by putting more money in priority areas like agriculture instead of spending much on public administration.

The government however continues to dismiss such voices. President Museveni has refused to admit there is an economic problem in Uganda, saying the country’s economy is healthy and growing but a few instabilities being experienced are mainly occasioned by factors beyond Uganda’s control. But shouldn’t the government have some control over all issues that affect its citizens?

With the recent walk to work protests, the strikes by traders, teachers and taxi drivers all centered around hard economic times, there is enough warning for the government to look into the issues affecting the people. For now, only sugar has mattered to the politicians managing the country to warrant government intervention.

Ugandan Shilling Hits Greatest Low in 18 Years

By
mike
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The shilling is the worst-performing currency against the dollar in the world so far this year, depreciating to 2,780 per dollar around 4 p.m. today.  Oil importers and telecommunication companies have played a strong role in the demand for U.S. currency, Bloomberg reported.

The shilling is the weakest against the dollar that it has been since July 1993.  The U.S. dollar has been strengthening significantly on the international markets as well, despite the S & P downgrade of the United States, due to international financial turmoil, particularly in the Eurozone.

In June, the shilling traded at sh2735/2750, but a Central Bank intervention strengthened it to sh2400, New Vision reported.

President Museveni spent one-third of the state budget—or 1.3 billion USD—in just the month of January 2011, shortly before the national elections.  $720 million was also spent on buying six Russian fighter jets, the Council on Foreign Relations reported.

Ugandan opposition leaders vowed yesterday to begin protests over the rising cost of living, particularly fuel and food, AFP reported.  Inflation last month reached 18.7 percent.

Kizza Besigye and other opposition politicians pledged to restart the walk-to-work protests at a candlelight vigil in Masaka for a toddler shot by a security officer in April.  Besigye was recently cleared of all charges against him connected to the demonstrations early this year.

As opposition supporters went to lay a wreath at the home where the child was shot, the army and police fired teargas into the crowd.  The Ugandan police spokeswoman Judith Nabakooba said any protest would be stopped for security reasons.

The Minister of Security, Wilson Muruli Mukasa, said that the opposition is using Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube as part of a “grand plan” to topple the government, BBC News reported.  Social media was being used, he said, to “psychologically prepare the people, especially young people, for armed insurrection”.

The government has voiced concerns that Besigye will organise an Egypt-style uprising gain power through the streets after losing elections in February, according to BBC News.

Violence in U.K. Causes Fear In African Immigrant Communities

By
mike
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0

Cities in England suffered a fourth night of violence, causing fear and anxiety in many African immigrant communities in London, Manchester, Salford, Liverpool, Nottingham, and Birmingham.

Uganda’s deputy High Commissioner to London, Isaac Sebulime, told the Daily Monitor that the mission has closely monitored  the impact of the riots on the Ugandan diaspora, but have heard no reports of Ugandans being affected by the violence yet.

Three men from the Asian Muslim community were killed after being hit by a car in Birmingham on Tuesday night as they tried to protect their property, BBC News reported.  ”There are pockets of our society that are not just broken, but are frankly sick,” David Cameron said.

Over 800 people have been arrested, and more than 250 charged so far.  Some London courts are staying open all night to charge people with disorder and burglary.

“They are burning buses and cars- people are having a hard time trying to get to work or move around,” Brenda Atieno, a Kenyan living abroad in West Drayon, told the Nation.

Capital FM reported that many Kenyans in the U.K. were staying inside their homes or taking shelter with their friends to escape the violence.

Nigeria and Ghana also canceled a friendly match, to the disappointment of organizers and spectators, due to the violence in London, the Vanguard reported.

Riots began on Saturday after a peaceful protest in Tottenham after Mark Duggan, 29, was shot and killed by police.

News Round-Up for Diaspora and Friends

By
mike
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0

President Obama approved $105 million for emergency humanitarian relief efforts in the Horn of Africa yesterday, which includes money funds from the president’s Emergency Relief and Migration Assistance Fund.

“Thousands of Somalis are fleeing the famine and seeking refuge in Kenya and Ethiopia, which are also affected by the drought,” said Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, in a press brief yesterday afternoon.  You can click here to watch the video.

The U.S. State Department recently announced new guidelines to give foreign aid workers more flexibility in providing aid to others controlled by Al-Shabaab.

-You may be familiar with social coupon sites like Living Social and Groupon.  Recently, Africa.com launched its own social coupon website for Africans living abroad at deals.africa.com.

After signing up for free with the website, members are offered a weekly, deeply-discounted deal.  If enough members sign up for it, they receive a voucher for it.  For instance, the first deal were deeply discounted tickets between New York and Lagos.

Other deals include discounted airfare to Ghana, South Africa, and other destinations on the continent, as well as social coupons for international phone cards, money transfers, hair styling, and cell phone services.  Vendors who sign up can access the market power of Africans living abroad, who remitted an estimated $40 billion last year collectively, according to the African Development Bank, the Sacramento Bee reported.

-There are more Ethiopian doctors in Washington D.C. than all of Ethiopia, and 60 percent of medical doctors trained in Ghana since the 1980s have gone abroad, according to this New York Times editorial by Josh Ruxin, a Columbia University expert on public health, and founder of Rwanda Works.  Only 3 percent of the world’s health care workers serve the African continent.  However, two Rwandan doctors are teaming up with a New York obstetrician to start a second Rwandan medical school (there is only one medical school right now, housed at the University of Rwanda) to increase the country’s capacity for training.

Graduates of the Kigali Medical University, funded by the Rwanda Development Bank, may still end up working abroad, but the school plans to emphasize education and the need to stay home and serve the country’s medical needs.  Its first class of students will begin this year.

Africans Abroad Rally In New York For Famine Victims

By
mike
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0

NEW YORK (Ugandans Abroad)— More than a hundred African immigrants, as well as friends of Africa, mobilized in Times Square over the weekend to raise awareness of the devastating famine in the Horn of Africa.

United in New York City, participants from Somalia, Sudan, Ghana, Togo, Kenya, India, Uganda, Trinidad, Mali, Nigeria, Spain, United States, and many more held a rally filled with stirring speeches and music.

Peter Kerre, a New Yorker from Kenya known as DJ Xpect, organized the rally with the organization iRelief, a nonprofit that works in New York, Minneapolis, and Nairobi on relief, rights and empowerment.

Kerre spoke about how the African diaspora in the city can raise awareness, volunteer their times at events that help victims of the famine, and donate money.  “There are 12 million people affected by this famine,” he said.  “We have to do something about it.”

Relief partnered with African People Alliance, Inc., Mezesha Entertainment, and FindingMyRoots, among other organizations, as well as the East African diaspora communities and friends of Africa.

Pius Bugembe, the chairman of the Ugandan American Association of Greater New York, as well as a member of the African People Alliance, a Bronx-based advocacy organization, spoke out at the rally.

“We cannot stand by and watch others,” he said.  “We have to take initiative and help our fellow brothers and sisters.”

Bugembe emphasized the importance of the global human family, and recalled the biblical story of the Good Samaritan.  He also pulled out an Endingidi, a one-stringed instrument indigenous to Uganda, and
played a song for the crowd.

“I don’t want anyone walking away from the rally, and saying there was nothing authentically African about it,” Bugembe said.

A Muslim community leader spoke strongly about drawing upon the lessons of Ramadan to help in the Horn of Africa.  Hussein A. Ibrahim, an imam in a Muslim African community in the Bronx, spoke to the crowd about the importance of helping your neighbor.

“It is time to open up our hearts and give to others,” he said.  “It is our responsibility if we believe in God to help others, and we cannot forget our brothers and sisters in the Horn of Africa.”

Djounedou Titikpina, the president of the African People Alliance, told the crowd that it was difficult for him to break the fast of Ramadan after seeing images of hungry children and families on television.  “I had to stop.  I could not continue,” he said.  “We as Africans and friends of Africa have to do something to help others who do not have food to eat,” he told the crowd.

He led the crowd in a call and response, reciting the pledge of his community organization.  He put his left hand over his heart, and his right hand up, and said, “We Are Africans.  One People, one nation, under God.  With God, everything is possible.”

Ole Pertet, a Kenyan community leader, spoke about the need for all Africans and friends of Africa to continue in their efforts to help children affected by the disaster.

Joe Ugochukwu Ofili, an American-born Nigerian that runs an organization called FindingMyRoots that helps second-generation children of African immigrants embrace their parents’ culture, told the crowd that individuals needed to join together and collaborate in this time of need.

Many Africans abroad came to raise awareness of the famine in New York City, such as Joseph Sellman, the secretary of the New York City chapter of Reverend Al Sharpton’s National Action Network.  Bourema Niambele, a Malian native active in the Bronx-based African Advisory Council, also took part, among many other immigrants.

Somi Launches Live Jazz Album in New York City

By
mike
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0

Somi, the New York daughter of Rwanda and Uganda, celebrated the release of her first live jazz album last night  in New York City.

She recorded the album over two nights of performances at a jazz haunt on East 27th and Park Avenue, called the  Jazz Standard.   The live music is based on performances from her last two studio albums, as well as covers of Bob Marley and Abbey Lincoln.

Teju Cole, a Nigerian-American writer who just published her first novel “Open City,” introduced her at the show at (Le) Poisson Rouge, a performance space in Greenwich Village.  The evening was a mix of Somi’s performances, a jazz chamber ensemble, and literary excerpts.

Morley, an American singer and songwriter from Jamaica, Queens, opened the show around 8 p.m.   The lovely muscician works with kids around the world, from Northern Ireland to Rwanda and Southern Sudan, and most of her songs are insipired being around them

Maria Kiwanuka Chief Guest at Ugandan Convention in UK

By
mike
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0

Ugandan figures as diverse as finance minister Maria Kiwanuka, Rebecca Kadaga, Bebe Cool, and Catherine Kusasira will be a part of the diaspora convention in the U.K. at the end of August.

Ugandans in the diaspora will meet up for business opportunities in London.

Ugandans living abroad will gather for a business-focused convention, with an emphasis on trade and investment, on August 27th at the Troxy, a luxury hotel in London’s Shadwell.

Some of the prizes include a free plane ticket to Entebbe from Brussel Airlines, as well as plots of land back home in a raffle by Jomayi Properties.

Kiwanuka will be the guest of honor at the convention. A business delegation from northern Uganda will also discuss investment opportunities in the region, as well as in Southern Sudan. The diaspora will also be presented information on finding employment in Uganda.

Ugandans will gather in London on August 27th.

Experts in banking, trade and industry, real estate, and education and technology will discuss financing for investments, land opportunities for infrastructure, and affordable education back home.

Many of Ugandan artists will also perform, such as Mesach Semakula, Catherine Kusasira, Bebe Cool, and Eddy Kenzo, and a fashion show will be held.

Twenty-five business vendors are also participating, including Kyeyo Radio, Ethnic Supplies, Magenta Dating, Sunlink Travel Adventures, and many others.

Willy Mutzena is the chairman of the convention. He has lived and worked in London for 16 years, and publishes The Promota Magazine, a quarterly publication for Africans in the diaspora.

The executive committee estimates that there are about 210,000 Ugandans living abroad in Europe, and believes that the diaspora should be considered another region of Uganda.

The committee hopes that the diaspora can not just provide welfare for their loved ones, but also use their intellectual and financial capital to work for long-term change.

20 Million Year Old Skull Discovered In Karamoja

By
mike
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0

A 20-million-year-old ape skull was discovered in northeastern Uganda, Discovery News reported today.

The Ugandan and French paleontologists think it can shed light on East Africa’s evolutionary history.

The skull belongs to a remote cousin of today’s great apes, called the Ugandapithecus Major, and is the first skull ever found for this species named in 1950 .

Paleontologists discovered it while they were searching for fossils in an extinct volcano in Karamoja that erupted 20 million years ago, and preserved the fossil. The Daily Monitor reported that it’s the earliest modern-sized ape skull ever found.

Oldesk Skull Discovered in KaramojaA joint team of French and Uganda paleontologists discovered this great exploration in the country’s Karamoja region, in the Northeast. Although it’s still early days in terms of what we can learn about this primate, we do know that it was a tree-climbing herbivore, it was about as big as a chimpanzee but had a smaller brain, and it was about ten years old when it died all those eons ago.

Paleontologist Martin Pickford commented on his team’s discovery:

“This is the first time that the complete skull of an ape of this age has been found … it is a highly important fossil and it will certainly put Uganda on the map in terms of the scientific world.”

To put the primate’s age into some perspective, twenty million years ago long predates when our hominid ancestors became distinct from chimpanzees. Indeed, this primate appears to have lived right in the middle between the divergence of apes from Old World monkeys 25 million years ago, and the split of great apes (humans, chimps, gorillas, orangutans) from lesser apes like gibbons about 15 million years ago.

Agnes Akiror, the state minister for tourism, said in a press conference that the discovery is of “great significance to our country and to all paleontological researchers.”

A cast of the skull will be displayed at a new museum in Moroto that will open in a few months. The skull will be sent to Paris for further study, and then returned to Uganda for preservation in a vault, according to the paleontologist team.

Scientists believe the ape was a tree-climbing herbivore that died at the age of ten, BBC News reported. This is our first, somewhat blurry look at Ugandapithecus major, a primate that lived in ancient Uganda 20 million years ago. It’s one of the oldest primate fossils ever found, and it could hold crucial information about our evolutionary past.

Former DP Spokesman Mwaka Lutukumoi: Why I Defected to NRM

By
Uganda Today
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It is absurd that some people can say that I was lured to the ruling party because of money. Such a comment is demeaning and shallow.

Among the reasons the Uganda opposition gave for their ‘miserable’ performance in the 2011 Presidential elections was the several defections to the National Resistance Movement which the opposition alleged were orchestrated by ruling party mercenaries who were dishing out money and promises of jobs to some opposition leaders and contestants.

The elections ended but the defections have continued, the latest, being flamboyant Democratic Party Spokesperson, Mwaka Emanuel Lutukumoi who officially crossed over to NRM this week. So is the NRM, after winning the elections, still buying off or enticing opposition party leaders to join the ruling party, or are there really good reasons for a politician to cross over to NRM?

What would force a young articulate man like Mwaka who had invested a lot of his political career in Uganda Young Democrats, finally joining the top brass of DP as the party’s spokesperson, now decide to join a party he previously decampaigned ?

Tiberindwa Zakaria caught up with the young politician and had a chat with him concerning his defection to the ruling party and his political career. Here are the excerpts of the conversation.

(Before the interview kicks off Mwaka excuses himself for a while to receive calls, gets back to settle in his seat a few minutes later to face the interview.)

Former DP Spokesman Mwaka Emmanuel Lutukumoi

Tiberindwa: I am sure you are receiving endless calls after you made that decision to join the NRM.

Mwaka: (Nods head in approval) Yes… I receive over 10 calls every two or so hours from people asking me about my defection to the NRM.

Tiberindwa:  So tell us how your life has been since the time you declared that you had joined the NRM.

Mwaka: (Lets down a heavy sigh) Quite a long story but I was glad that I was welcomed in the party. I am rebranding and I have found a new home. It was a very hard and painful decision for me to take but it had a lot to do with my image, philosophies and principles that I built from childhood.

Tiberindwa: Aren’t you afraid of what the people you left in DP will think about you?

Mwaka: I knew people will not understand me… People will be disappointed but I am also aware that I will make them proud when the dust settles.

Tiberindwa: What exactly forced your move from the DP to the ruling NRM party?

Mwaka: I followed Norbert Mao from the time I was a child and was part of the Democratic Party right from the days when I was still a child. We thought the government had no political will in ending the Northern Insurgency and we thought as Northern Uganda we were politically subjugated.

Nonetheless over the years, the government has shown resilience in curbing the northern war through peace talks and other means that the government thought to be prudent in a bid to end that war.

The government has also proved that it still cares for the Northern people through the various programs that it has in the North. Some of these admirable programs include NUSAF and PRDP.

Therefore by doing this, the government exonerated itself from the widely-held view that it was not mindful of the plight of the people of Northern Uganda. And that is why in the recent presidential polls over 50% of people in Northern Uganda voted for the ruling government. In fact if we are to talk about defecting then the people from Northern Uganda defected to the NRM before I did and I am sure that the reason that forced them to give the NRM a bigger vote in the 2011 elections as opposed to the elections prior to that are not very different from reasons that I can give as to why I defected.

Besides… the opposition has failed to set the required standards of what an ultimate opposition in a country like Uganda should be. The opposition in Uganda has failed to provide viable alternative policy measures to those of the NRM which aspect they should be doing.

The opposition does not also have the strong grass root structures. Opposition parties spend most of the time bickering and in protests and only remember about the structures of their parties when it is one year to elections or even a few months to the election period. I am no longer proud to be part of such a kind of opposition.

Tiberindwa: There are claims that your defection to the ruling party could have been influenced by the financial and political benefits that come with defecting to the ruling party?

Mwaka: Everybody is entitled to their opinion. I am financially stable and a largely successful man given that I am a founder of a very successful NGO that deals in youth issues in Northern Uganda. I am not broke. I am paid for my consultancies. I am a scholar and intelligentsia.

DP has resources and it had the capacity to give me satisfactory financial support. Therefore it is absurd that some people can say that I was lured to the ruling party because of money. Such a comment is demeaning and shallow.

Tiberindwa: So you are not like some of the people that are said to have joined the NRM to become RDCs?

Former DP Spokesman Mwaka Emmanuel Lutukumoi

Mwaka: It would show the greatest level of political bankruptcy if I had joined the NRM to become RDC. Nonetheless I will accept any assignment that I am given to serve in the party.  I came to the NRM not because of what I want to get from NRM but because of what I want to give to the NRM.

Tiberindwa: could your departure be attributed to a few dissatisfaction that you had with DP as a party?

Mwaka: I had personal problems with the politics of DP as party. Politics in DP was characterized by intrigue and conflicts that have hurt me personally and DP as a party. During the race for the Gulu Municipality seat, I lost to an FDC candidate because I did not have support from other DP members like Komakech Lyanda whom I had beaten in the primaries. I beat him despite that he had stood as the “official candidate of the senior members of the party”. Such petty conflicts have always bedeviled every little progress that the party tries to make. Unfortunately I brought this issue forward during the National Executive Committee delegate’s conference for the party in Mbale but it was ignored by the party. And such an attitude shows that there were no efforts on the side of the party to solve some of these conflicts.

The party failed to do enough in reconciling the various conflicting parties in the party which has forced people like me to leave the party. We designed strategies to bring all warring factions in the party together but this always remained on paper.

We  organized a get together for this purpose but even then people like Betty Nambooze and Erias Lukwago who were targeted in this regard failed to turn up for that event.

Tiberindwa: So we should say you had lost faith in the party’s ability to resolve issues within the party?

Mwaka: I lost faith in the ability of DP to solve some of these issues or even to put blatantly its ability to capture power.

Tiberindwa: The DP of today and DP of five years back. What is your take? is the party growing stronger or weakening?

Mwaka: Unfortunately I am no longer spokesperson of the Democratic Party and so I am no longer concerned whether it is getting stronger or weaker but what I can say is this. The DP is blessed with a very vibrant president in Nobert Mao but his biggest challenge is whether he will ever be able to unite the party at the end of the day and make it stronger.

Tiberindwa: But then your defection looks like it is a point of no confidence in the President of the Democratic Party?

Mwaka: No. I still respect Nobert Mao. I think he is a very intelligent man though he also has weaknesses as a person.

Tiberindwa: What do you hope to add to the NRM party?

Mwaka: In NRM I am coming with those ideals needed by Ugandans, I will never be a puppet despite that I have defected to the NRM. I will always uphold the values that I cherish in life.

Tiberindwa: Where do you see yourself heading to politically after joining the NRM?

Mwaka: Many critics have written me off because I have joined the NRM party but they will be shocked when I make it big in the NRM party. I am sure that come 2016 I will be able to join the August house as a Member of Parliament on the NRM ticket.

Tiberindwa: What is your take on the idea of defecting from one party to another? Do you think it favors huge political ambitions? Are there people that have defected and turned out to be huge political successes?

Mwaka: To be a pope you have to be a bishop and to be a bishop you have to be a priest. To be a priest you have to be catechist but at the heart of that all is the fact that you have to be a catholic first and foremost. Museveni was in the Obote government before he became president. In Kenya Mwai Kibaki was part of Moi’s government before he became president.

Tiberindwa:  Who are the people that you look up to in politics?

Mwaka: Nobert Mao is my mentor and role model though after some time he forgot that he was my role model. Betty Bigombe who braved the bushes to have peace talks with the Lord’s Resistance Army and outside Uganda it is Nelson Mandela. I have always cherished to be the kind of leader that Nelson Mandela is.

Tiberindwa: What would you say are your strengths and weaknesses in life?

Mwaka: (lightens up) That is a very good question. I am not scared of making bold decisions and I make sober decisions in most of the cases.

But then speaking about my weaknesses, sometimes I am so passionate about what I do that it does not go down well with those with whom I do not share beliefs. When I decide to do something I always do it with all my heart no matter what others think about it.

Tiberindwa: Tell us about the first time you got involved in leadership?

Mwaka: Heading a family as a child since I lost my parents at a tender age was the first time I got involved in leadership. I also at one time led a group of street kids when I was still a street kid. But as a leader in school my first shot at it was in Senior Five at Bombo Senior Secondary School where I ran as the Head Prefect and failed. Later the one that was elected as the Head Prefect was indefinitely suspended from school which then gave me another chance to run as the head prefect of the school. That time I managed to sail through as the head prefect of the school.

Tiberindwa: What are your beliefs in life?

Mwaka: I have an independent mind. I believe in collective responsibility.

Tiberindwa: In a few words, please tell us, who is Mwaka Emmanuel Lutkomoi?

Mwaka: I am a believer in social justice, collective responsibility, resilience and principle.

Tiberindwa: …and anything you would like us to know about your family?

Mwaka: Well… I am married to one wife and I have two daughters.

Tiberindwa: Thank you very much for the time.

Mwaka: Thank you too.

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