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Tuesday, Feb 28, 2012 1:01AM / Members only
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What (not) to do when an electric pole falls on your house.
Friday, Jan 20, 2012 6:43PM / Members only
Here are some presumptions…wherethere is smoke there is fire as sure as when an electric pole rots ittopples over and if it is situated in a densely populated area, said pole and accompanying power lineswill collapse on a house or two or threewhich will be destroyed in the ensuing blaze. The least of your worries will bethe property losses if this occurs at night, there may be fatalities. Howeverif it occurs at say 2pm mid afternoon on a working day, you will only becounting the cost of possessions lost inthe fire.The only music that plays whenthe roof is on fire are the sirens of the fire truck that arrives to put thefire out. In the ensuing commotion its easy for you to lose your head. In thisevent this is a series of blog posts offering advice on what (not) to do, frompersonal experience.
@the sceneStatements to PolicePicture the scene, TV news cameracrews, smoke billowing, babies crying , neighbours in their multitude offeringa helping hand either putting out the fire or rescuing what’s left of your possessions.The fire truck arrives, uniformed police are at the scene and they want tospeak to you.You answer their questions as they write down your responses. Thisis what they call a statement. However this is not enough in Uganda, because ofour peculiar circumstances. The fire brigade is a division of the police but itis not the police therefore it is a mistake to think that one statement will dofor all. The statement you make at the scene is invariably a statement to thefire brigade. They all look and dressalike, true but they are not alike. Therefore, you must head to the areapolice station as soon as possible and make an official statement.PS: It can’t be stressed enoughhow important it is to get the names of the officers at the scene, the police in Uganda, wear their names on theirshirts and invariably have mobile phones, so take their names and numbersdown. That also goes for any representative of the power company, in our caseUMEME, who makes it to the scene.Photographic EvidenceThis means taking pictures of the scene. Officers fromthe police and fire department as well as from UMEME will take pictures at thescene to put in their reports. It’s also important that you take pictures of your own because thepolice, fire department and UMEME will not give theirs to you. Also if thecause of the fire is a falling power line, then its not your fault but thepower company’s fault and the pictures are evidence in any case of negligenceyou may or may not bring against UMEME. More importantly if you are going toclaim compensation from UMEME you need pictures to show the extent of thedamage you suffered that must be compensated.PS: If you don’t have a camera,use the one on your phone or call any one you know that has a camera and ask him/herto the scene to take pictures and pay for these services, they are essential.
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The Yellow Bus on Entropy Drive
Monday, Jan 9, 2012 10:53PM / Members only
The yellow bus of yore that favoured symbol of populist campaign rhetoric or the cost of education, appropriate for a country that has embracedUniversal Primary School Education like ours thanks in no small part to debt relief and the shrewdness of the donor community is at a cross roads. The discoveryof oil and natural gas in Uganda along the Albertine Basin from Rhino Camp inArua to the Semiliki, is that fork in the road.Before this discovery it was alright for the driver and theoccupants of the bus to meander along in a general direction since theassumption was that what lay head could not be any worse than what they wereleaving behind. However all that changed when oil was struck. It is no longerassumed but it is for certain now that what lies ahead is promising. Now thedriver and his passengers have a choice to make whether to continue on the samecourse or plot a different course.Staying on course leads our intrepid travelers to Entropy Drivethis route has no demands and even fewer changes of scenery since it’s the familiarroute, for both driver and passenger. Off course that is the road away fromEntropy Drive, is unfamiliar to both passenger and driver so each must learn torely on the other in order to get to where they are going.The National Oil and Gas Policy hints at how revenue fromoil will be shared with the objective being to create lasting value for the entirenation. A petroleum fund is necessary, where revenues from taxes and explorationpermits are invested, it should have a significant portion that is ring fencedfor education. If nothing else is achieved more Ugandans should go to schoolfrom elementary to tertiary level without worrying about tuition, lunch andstationery all these requirements are to be met by the government from itsPetroleum Fund.I don’tknow about you but I would rather be in the bus turning off Entropy Drive andsetting off on a different course but then I will have to trust my fellowpassengers and the driver who better be learned. This in my humble opinion isthe measure of the success of Uganda’s National Oil and Gas Policy that is howmany Ugandans get educated and are learned to an international standard
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Zuka Students' Film Festival: I heard the voice of God on a taxi
Wednesday, Jan 4, 2012 9:04PM / Members only
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A rooster takes credit for the dawn
Thursday, Dec 22, 2011 9:58PM / Members only
Time check, 10 seconds to midnight, 31 December 1999,countdown beginswith baitedbreath and ends…..nothing happened…there is two ways to look at it …having heeded allthe warnings about the Y2K bug …forearmed we, together, took action and apotential catastrophe was averted…or the whole thing was a hoax..fast forwardto 31,December,2050, global warming by all available,known measures is averted. Willwe be able to say for sure it took humanintervention to reverse the trend or was it part of a larger trend unaffectedby human intervention, that is to say, a part of life on a living planet?Part of life in Uganda today isincessant power cuts that can last at least 12 hours a day in response to thismore folks are turning to alternative sources of electricity and heat for theirdaily needs such as cooking, lighting, phone charging, Barefoot Power Uganda offerssome affordable solutions to this end. The goal of 100% renewable energy by2050 is of no consequence to ordinary folks looking to keep the lights on afterthe latest delay in Bujjagali coinciding with the GoU falling behind on itspayments to electricity suppliers making load shedding necessary.Inadvertently foil thatplan(100% renewable energy by 2050) or enable it…but then how can anyone claim credit or apportion blame? Its easy tosay that the developed nations, US&Europe,the old world if you will and the developing nations, the BRICcountries,Brazil,Russia,India and China failed to agree on what collectiveaction to take to combat climate change at the recent UN climate summit in Durban, South Africa, therefore impending disaster looms for all, as the news mediatells it.In criminal law, intenttrumps motive in a murder case, in other words, what one's intentions aredetermine guilt rather than why? This is why euthanasia is a crime, Dr JackKervokian pleaded in his defense that hekilled his patient to put him out of his misery for he was terminally illand in agony. The judge sentenced him to 10-25 years in prison for murder notbecause the good doctor wanted to kill his patient's pain but because he killed him, onpurpose.Idealism kills the deal,in the words of Gordon Gekko, what has, my need to warm my food, boil water todrink, turn the light on to do my homework at night;got to do with saving theworld? So I need charcoal for my stove, if it proves too expensive I will lookfor a stove that doesn't use charcoal, maybe gas or invent one. I don't knowand don't care for the world except mine.
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