Integration

We are currently exploring how the partners on the different programmes can work with the same beneficiaries to provide a more complete package of assistance and avoid some unintended consequences. For example if a women is given a goat to provide milk for the family and increase income then there may be an unintended increase in domestic violence if the husband hasn't been involved in the planning. A family who have been helped to prove their ownership of a piece of land need to learn how to farm to provide food and an income from planting crops on the land.

So a large team spent the first part of the week in Soroti exploring the options with partner organisations based in the area. It also gave me the opportunity to follow up on work I did last time I was in Soroti at the end of January. Not surprisingly it rained heavily on Tuesday night. A member of staff at the partner tells me I'm a blessing, as it always rains when I visit!

On the way back to Mbale we passed several yoked oxen ploughing fields in teams of 2 or 4. Our rather bemused driver helpfully stopped so I could take a picture.

It's not so unusual in Uganda, although I have never seen so many teams in one stretch of countryside. But it is like taking a step back in time in the UK where now ploughing is all done by machinery.

We are also at the start of the mango season again and the roadside stalls between Mbale and Jinja were piled high.

One of the big boxes containing around 10 mangos costs between 75p and £1 at the moment dropping to 50p at the height of the season.

I spent the rest of the work working with partners to agree budgets for the next year. We are working with partners to bring direct costs up to 70% of the total. Still quite generous when I remember some of the grants in York where even 10% of indirect costs had to be defended.

Yesterday we went back to the Ba'hi temple in northern Kampala and had a short walk around the grounds. It is very peaceful and beautiful with fabulous views out over Kampala.

A Small Portion!

I spent last week in Lira and Gulu, travelling to Lira last Sunday and back to Kampala on Friday. There was quite a sizeable team travelling with 5 of us in the car including the driver.

As usual on these trips I ate a mixture of local food, mainly at lunchtime with the rest of the team, and more European hotel food. Generally in Uganda people tend to eat one large meal, either at lunchtime or in the evening and a lighter snack of chapati or fruit. The one main meal is enough and you really don't want a second meal in the evening.

A meal in a local food restaurant consists of a choice of meat or vegetable dish with a range of carbohydrates, usually referred to as 'food' to go with it. There are rarely menus as what is available changes on a daily basis. The waitress just lists today's menu, fresh fish, smoked fish, pasted beef, chicken, goat stew, boyo, beans etc. and you make your choice. Then you choose the 'food' from a range available, typically, matoke, rice, posho, cassava, chapati, potato (sweet potato) and Irish (plain boiled potatoes). It is usual to choose 2 or 3 of the carbohydrates.

After 18 months I'm quite used to eating in local restaurants and the food arrives very quickly. But the portions are huge. You get a large plateful of carbohydrates together with a large bowl with your choice of chicken etc. If you choose fresh fish it is not unusual to be served a whole fish including the head and tail in a bowl of 'soup', basically a stock of tomatoes and vegetables. It's impossible to finish the plateful.

A bowl of Boyo, a green leafy vegetable, a bit like spinach, mixed into a peanut sauce.

On Tuesday we were eating at a very good local restaurant in Lira before heading onto Gulu. I thought my colleague asked for a small portion so I did the same in the hope of getting a manageable plateful. A couple of minutes later the food arrived and my plate included a large dollop of posho, a mix of cornflour and water. My colleague had asked for 'a small posho' and I had the same!

On Thursday in Gulu I had decided on chicken when another colleague asked if the 'beef' came from a cow! The answer should be obvious but apparently not, in this case it was from 'some wild animal'. Not surprisingly my colleague also decided on the chicken!

When I'm away from Kampala I enjoy the opportunity to meet up with other volunteers around Uganda and we usually go out for a meal together. This week I was in both Lira and Gulu so I had 2 opportunities. On Monday night I had a fabulous meal at the flat of a volunteer from India and on Wednesday joined 5 other volunteers and staff at an Indian restaurant in Gulu.

I have a favourite stopping place on the road north about halfway to Gulu called the Kabalega Diner. It has good coffee and a reasonable menu of sandwiches and treats such as brownies.

Easter in Kampala

Easter brought a welcome 4 day break from work. We decided not to go away this time but to use the opportunity to holiday in Kampala. In York we have a 'Residents First' weekend, usually at the end of January, when residents are invited to visit the tourist attractions in their home city. We decided to apply the same principle to Kampala. 

We did still have the same chores to do, washing, cleaning and shopping and we also invited the volunteers in Kampala over the Easter weekend to a get together in our flat on Monday evening. So our tourist activities were a little curtailed. We also had the background of a major security alert in Kampala at the moment. However, you can't spend your life in the flat just in case so we carried on but with caution. 

We started with pizza on Thursday evening to celebrate the start of the Easter holiday. Then on Friday we had coffee on the terrace by the pool at the Golf Course hotel then went to the Uganda Museum. 

The museum was an interesting insight into Ugandan history and culture. It had a very 1960's feel to it with rows of display cases full of exhibits. It was good to go after having spent some time in Uganda as we were able to fill in some gaps in our knowledge. There were areas covering the history of the area, including the development of the current day Ugandan borders and the geological development of the Rift valley. There was a display of traditional musical instruments. Then there was a science and technology room which was a strange mixture of information on the Bujagali hydroelectric dam, malaria and posters and photos of Ugandan teams at the Olympics. 

On Saturday we finally found some chocolate Easter eggs! These have been surprisingly difficult to find in Kampala. We bought ourselves an Easter bunny to share.

On Saturday evening we went to the Biryani House restaurant on Acacia Avenue for an Indian meal. We enjoyed a very good chicken biryani, butter chicken and naan bread but the restaurant was nearly empty. Kampala was quiet over the weekend, probably a combination of people returning to their villages for the Easter break and the security alert, but I would expect more than 3 couples in a large city centre restaurant on Easter Saturday. 

On Sunday we met up with one of our companions from the trip to Murchison Falls last Easter and had a very leisurely Sunday lunch in Cafe Roma. This has to be one of our favourite restaurants in Kampala and has the advantage of being within walking distance from the flat. 

Monday was a busy day doing the final shopping, cooking and preparation for our evening get together. It was great to see everyone and hear how they had all spent Easter. Later the guitars came out and we all sang along. 

Two years in Uganda and two very different but enjoyable Easter weekends. But we are also looking forward to returning to our traditional Easter at home including the village church services and a family lunch of roast lamb and lemon meringue pie. 

A Taxing Time

A few days ago I attended a 2 day course on Ugandan tax run by KPMG Uganda in one of the smart hotels in the centre of Kampala.

I have been struggling to find comprehensive and coherent advice on the tax system in Uganda since I arrived 18 months ago so the course was really useful.

I wasn't too surprised to find that a lot of the Ugandan tax system is based on the UK law and practice. But there are important differences. Much of what was said was very familiar, which made it much easier to spot and note the differences. There were even references to UK tax cases used to define terms used in Ugandan law but not defined here.

Generally the rates are much higher than in the UK. The main income tax rate is 30% instead of 20% and starts with earnings of just £100 pm. The top rate of 40% applies on earnings of more than £2,500 pm. There is no system of tax codes making tax for people with more than one job difficult to manage.

The rules are complicated and not well understood, with the result that often they are not followed properly. On top of that there is a large informal economy of small shops and market stalls that seem to fall outside the system. I do get the feeling that if tax compliance in Uganda was at the level it is in the UK then the level of services that could be funded would increase dramatically.

The Ugandan Revenue Authority do carry out audits and are trying to increase the tax take. If an organisation, commercial or charitable, is audited and found to have been calculating tax wrongly then the level of interest and penalties charged can be very high. Unpaid tax of $1,000 turned into a bill of $30,000 in one case mentioned.

If the art of taxation is to extract the maximum number of feathers from the goose with the minimum amount of hissing then I'm not convinced that the Ugandan authorities are taking the best approach. I would look to do a lot more education to enable people to calculate their tax correctly.

All in all a very interesting and useful 2 days. I will be using the information to produce several tax fact sheets on different aspects from basic PAYE and NSSF to more advanced VAT and Company tax so that these can be provided for the partner organisations. I also plan a series of training courses for partners in different locations or on different programmes and for staff members.