Nansubuga checking on her heep of firewood

In case you have visited Ggaba landing site, you have witnessed how a buzz of activity is especially during the day.

However, one will get to themselves what this landing site is all about, where it is found, what takes place there. This can only come to mind of those who haven’t been there or heard of it, Ggaba landing site is on the shores of Lake Victoria found in the outskirts of Kampala city.

It is frequented by people who go to Ggaba beach which neighbors it. The site has a market where fish and foodstuffs are sold. It also has storage units, a trading point for fish, and offices for Kampala Capital City authority, which supervises the activities on the site. Different activities from fishing, sand mining, selling of fish itself, and firewood selling among others.

Therefore all the above activities exist because of the main activity which is fishing, with fishing, it comes along with sun drying, salting, and smoking, men and women are involved in these daily activities. Not forgetting sand mining

However, one other booming business that attracts your attention before leaving the landing site is fire wood selling. Selling firewood here is way to earn extra money to some people while others it is a main business that has supported their living for a long time.

Interacting with a few people operating this kind of business especially the women, they praised and talked about the good things they have reaped out this business. You might think the firewood is not only sold to the people at the landing site but even to the outside people. So to them it is a quite a wide population consuming this firewood. This becomes an advantage for them make more money as it would limit them if it were only the fish smokers buying it.

Nansubuga walking through the parked firewood

Sarah Nansubuga, a 50 year old trader says she has been in the firewood business for over 10 years. She says she doesn’t regret operating such a business because it has helped her sustain her family in terms of paying fees for her children some of whom have been able to complete university level.

Nansubuga also says she also be  able to pay her hospital bills adding that this  her full job.

“Being an old woman, it is such a tiresome type of business to operate but I  have managed to go along  for all this time because i have benefits out of it,” she says.

Indeed, looking at how they try running this business is quite not an easy task as one would think.  Nansubuga however, says she is still trying to make the best out of it.

“First and foremost, we fetch firewood from different neighboring villages places such as Kyagwe among others. We use different transport means like on water and road using boat, larger trucks, pickups. These carry the logs from wherever they have been bought to the landing site. To make it selling firewood, you have to enjoy the challenge of hard work coupled with  hard weather at times,”Nansubuga says.

Challenges in the firewood business

Like any other business, firewood selling as a business on its own has challenges.

“Ofcourse you will sell firewood to a customer who promises  to pay so soon but will never pay at the end of the  day, but that doesn’t  stop me from going on with the business,” she also added.

Nansubuga walking through her parked firewood

Nansubuga advises that like any other business, a person should always expect  profits or losses at the end of the day and therefore should be prepared.

She says her  journey through the firewood business has been insightful. “I have been paid to play, and it doesn’t get any better than that. The benefits have been physical, psychological, financial, and yes, spiritual. Being in harmony with nature is like that,” Nansubuga adds.

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Ugandan fishermen pushing their boat stuck in water hyacinth at Lake Victoria

When talking about the water hyacinth on Lake Victoria, most people pay much attention to its negative effects on the aquatic and  human life. However, it must be noted the the water hyacinth despite its negative consequences, there are a number of people who derive their livelihood from the plant.

As for Kevin Kawuki, a resident at Ggaba landing site, the green weed has no any noted positive importance for the case of Uganda even when he believes that they are of great importance in European countries.

“For the years I have lived on this landing site, I have never seen or noticed anything useful out of this weed. It just only makes the lake water dirty. I have seen it affecting transport and even prevents people from fetching water as they cover the entire end sides of the lake,” said Kawuki.

However, in many developed countries, many communities have now resorted to looking at how to exploit the advantages of the plant rather than looking at it as a dangerous plant.

Benefits  of the water hyacinth to the community

products are made from water hyacinth (or locally known as water lily)? The water lily stalks are dried, dyed and processed

Even though it is still hard in Uganda, the water hyacinth can actually be used for a number of purposes which among others includes; making paper, ropes, charcoal briquetting and water purification.

According to online information, Bangladesh, Philippines, Indonesia and India are using water hyacinth stems to make paper. Although it cannot stand alone, the water hyacinth fiber is blended with waste paper or jute to make paper.

The fiber can also be used to make rope. The stalk from the plant is shredded length ways to expose the fibers and then left to dry for several days.  The finished rope is treated with chemicals to prevent it from rotting. The stalks can also be properly dried and used to make baskets and matting for domestic use.

hand woven water hyacinth product range in teal blue

Water hyacinth can also be used to aid the process of water purification either for drinking or for liquid effluent from sewage systems.  In agriculture, the root structures of water hyacinth provide a suitable environment for aerobic bacteria to function. Aerobic bacteria feed on nutrients and produce inorganic compounds which produce food for the plants.

The water hyacinth is believed to have come to Africa from South America as an ornamental pond plant due to its beauty. Its broad, thick, glossy, ovate leaves, allows it to rise above the water surface up to a meter high. Being strong and impenetrable, these leaves heavily damage boat engines thereby affecting water transport.

As commonly known, the water lily is considered the most productive plant on earth as it yields more than 200 tons of dry matter per hectare annually under normal conditions. On water containing high concentrations of sewage, it yields up to 657 tons of dry matter per hectare

In East Africa, the water weed is a regional problem affecting all the East African Countries that share Lake Victoria. It has affected fisheries, water supply, human health, transport, hydro power and agriculture on the shores of Victoria making it hard for some people to carry out some human activities.

As fodder for the animals, water hyacinth can be mixed with a variety of vegetable wastes to facilitate weight gain especially in pigs.

However, it has been discovered that feeds containing 30 percent more hyacinths can reduce weight gain by over 90 percent. Therefore water hyacinth should be treated with maximum care when used in animal fodder.

Men clear water hyacinth plants from Lake Victoria, Kisumu, Kenya

Fish feeds from water hyacinth stimulate fast fish growth for instance; the Chinese grass carp is a fast growing fish which eats aquatic plants. It grows at a tremendous rate and reaches sizes of up to 32 kilograms.

Therefore sincerity is human activities that brought about the spread of water hyacinth, why don’t we employ the same activities to get rid of the plant.

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Uganda lake victoria fishery fishermen fishing boat water hyacinth flora aquatic plants floating invasive species environment.

Visiting Lake Victoria, one of the visible features at first sight is the green water hyacinth as some of it forms shapes that can be viewed from a distance stretching towards the islands on the waters.

Water-hyacinth is a floating plant that has clusters of leaves with spongy stalks arising from a base of dark purple feathery roots. The leaf clusters are often linked by smooth horizontal stems- stolon.

Talking to Simon Magezi, one of the elders at Gabba lading site, it is not clear where and when the feature existed on Lake Victoria(Nalubaale).

It is only speculated that the plant is native to South America so it appears to have reached Lake Victoria due to human activity.

“I have lived at this landing site since 194 and this water hyacinth ‘Ekyiddo’ is not something found while growing up. It only came into existence around the time Museveni’s regime came to power and no one should deceive you that he or she knows how it came here but we believe that it must be as a result of nature,” say Magezi.

Water hyacinth at the shores of lake victoria in Ggaba

However, some researchers have it that with its beauty, it might have been brought over as an ornamental for garden ponds. The consensus is that water hyacinth entered Lake Victoria from Rwanda via the river Kagera, probably in the 1980s. The hyacinth has since spread prolifically, as a result of  lack of natural predators, an abundance of space, agreeable temperature conditions, and abundant nutrients, including increasing heavy metal pollution in the lake.

According to Ibrahim Kizito, one of the members of the fishing committee at the site, the beautiful species move all over the lake in favor of the wind movements.

“When the wind blows this side, then the water hyacinth moves and just settles in the end sides of the lake for at least weeks or months until the wind changes direction,” submitted Kizito.

However, he added that in most of the times when it fails to move then the locals together with Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) take up the initiative to remove it and lean the waters.

There are indications that water hyacinths can provide benefits to the Lake Victoria Region in a way that it attempts to purify eutrophicated water. Once established, the plants can also be harvested and used for biogas production, fertilizer, crafts among other things.

However, it affects the Lake Victorian population in many negative ways that among others are;

Sometimes there are economic impacts when the weed blocks boat movements and access. The effects on transportation and fishing are immediately felt. Where the weed is prolific, there is a general increase in several diseases, as the weed creates excellent breeding areas for mosquitoes and other insects.

It can smother aquatic life by de-oxygenating the water, and it reduces nutrients for young fish in sheltered bays. It has blocked supply intakes for the hydroelectric plant, interrupting electrical power for entire cities. The weed also interrupts local subsistence fishing, blocking access to the beaches.

Water hyacinth in Ggaba

Water hyacinths increased rapidly between 1992–1998, were greatly reduced by 2001, and have since resurged to a lesser degree. Management techniques include (hyacinth-eating) insect controls and manual beach cleanup efforts. A water hyacinth infestation is seldom totally eradicated. Instead, it is a situation that must be continually managed.

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The MPs made the remarks while debating the ministerial statement on the water weed on Lake Victoria presented to Parliament by the State Minister for Environment, Mary Goreti Kitutu Kimono.

Margaret Komuhangi right together with the Leader of Opposition Winnie Kizza left.

The MP for Nakasongola district, Margaret Komuhangi, said that this weed has led people to die on water in Nakasongola when it cuts them off while fishing.

MPs that included that for Kyoga County, Anthony Okello, Amolter district Woman MP, Doreen Amule, said that there should be measures to remove this weed from Lake Kyoga so that it does not spread over other water bodies and affect fishing and transport.

In his response the Minister of Agriculture, Vincent Sempijja, assured Parliament and the fishing community that this water weed will be removed as soon as possible since the machines to carry out this work are available .

Part of Lake Kyoga

This new weed has small leaves while in some parts of this lake is known as Nankabirwa weed and it tends to multiply fast.

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President Yoweri Museveni urged elders in the fishing communities of Uganda to take a leading role in protecting the lakes from overfishing and the catching of immature fish because it has led to the depletion of stock and pledged to deploy the army to support them.

“Lake Victoria is here but it’s a dead lake because it has no fish. You need to help us to protect these lakes and we revamp them for the future of the country’s fishing industry. Borrow lessons from the cattle keepers who never eat female calves because they are the future of their herds as they are the ones that will produce and multiply the cattle stock” he said.

The President said that because the indigenous fishing communities had failed to protect the lakes; The Fisheries Ministry resorted to deploying of fisheries protection officers who have worsened the situation by engaging in mass corruption and extortion of fishermen and traders. He appealed to communities that live near the lakes and the water bodies in the country to do away with the negative vices of overfishing and fishing of premature fish which he said pose a great danger to the fishing industry in the country.

The President was addressing a public rally on Sunday at Masafu Sub-County grounds, Buwanda Village in Busia district to promote the Operation Wealth Creation campaign. The campaign is aimed at ensuring that each household engages in enterprises for food security and income generation to fight poverty. Het announced that government plans to gazette Busia as an export promotion zone and said that many industries will be put up in the border district to promote industrial trade. He warned however, that the border town known for its fish trade on Lake Victoria has been affected by overfishing and the catching of immature fish which is economically bad for business.

The President said that government will continue to work on service delivery but urged the population to engage in modern agro production to fight poverty. “Recent research has shown that 83% of families in Busia district are engaged in subsistence agriculture while only 17% are in commercial agriculture. How do you expect to get rid of poverty in the district,” he said.

He cautioned the people against land fragmentation which he said was dangerous for the future of the agricultural sector and warned that with continued fragmentation of land will result into irreversible poverty in Uganda which is largely an agricultural economy.

On health the President said that government had done well in the immunization of children that has seen the country experience rapid population growth under the NRM regime from 14 million in 1986 to 35 million people today. He however said that the population needs to exercise quality hygiene and nutrition to avoid contracting some disease. He also warned them against living reckless life styles such as promiscuity, drug abuse and alcoholism that he said were dangerous for their lives.

He further announced that government will tarmac Torooro-Busia road and Musiita-Majanji road and that more roads will be tarmacked as the government has prioritized and allocated sufficient funds to the road sector. He urged movement supporters to understand the importance of prioritization in the implementation of government programs as all programs can’t be implemented at the same time. “We are now working on several roads with our locally generated revenue and we shall do more but we have to prioritize because if we tackle many programs at the same time we will make no impact and deliver nothing. That Prioritization approach helped us in the bush as we used limited resources but registered many victories,” he said.

On security the President said that the country is peaceful because the National Resistance Movement built a strong army with a national character which is pro-people. He said that the UPDF, unlike the past national armies, was not built on sectarian grounds of either tribes or religion which is the reason the army is strong.

“We had problems in 1960’s because leaders were focused on tribal and religious sectarianism. You leave a good soldier and go for a bad soldier because you are looking for your tribe’s man and you can’t build strong force on those lines” he noted.

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The results of a new study done by FACES (Family AIDS Care and Education Services), a joint program of University of California – San Francisco (UCSF) and the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) has shown that micro clinics cut in half the normal rate of disengagement from care, which was defined as missing a clinic appointment by 90 days or more, when compared to the control group, and reduced the perceived stigma of HIV by 25% within the larger community.

According to Avert, in 2011 there were an estimated 23.5 million people living with HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa which is an increase from 2009, when an estimated 22.5 million people were living with HIV.

A community meeting during a FACES program
Photo credit: Rachel Burger

The study was done on Mfangano Island in Lake Victoria which has a population of about 21,000; 30% of these are HIV infected. FACES researchers and clinicians partnered with Microclinic International and the Organic Health Response to assess whether its social network model would help retain HIV patients in care. Of the situation before the study, co-lead author, Charles R. Salmen, the founding director of Organic Health Response, had this to say “The rural communities on Mfangano Island where we are working have tremendous stores of social capital. People help each other when an individual or family is in need. If someone gets sick or injured, needs help farming or getting together the money for school fees, friends and family pitch in to help. But, that often was not true when the need was due to HIV. For example, a breadwinner became sick with AIDS and everyone knew what was going on, but no one talked about it. He fell through the cracks of his social network, and without support, he was lost to care and did not manage to take his medications faithfully. Eventually, he died of AIDS,”

FACES then got to working within the community using micro clinics which ”redefines the unit of care from an individual to an individual and his/her social network and is a cost effective, scalable initiative that could help governments meet their targets,” according to study co-author, Craig Cohen, UCSF professor of obstetrics, gynaecology and reproductive sciences.

The study’s lead author Matthew D. Hickey notes “Previously, stigma blocked access to social support because patients didn’t disclose. Micro clinics opened up discussion and became the catalyst for destigmatizing HIV. This led to access to support within social networks. Friends and family supported patients in getting to clinic appointments and, in turn, expected appointments to be kept. They supported patients’ taking medications as directed and expected patients to take them. Silence was replaced by active support,”

In their vision 90-90-90 UNAIDS  notes that

• By 2020, 90% of all people living with HIV will know their HIV status.
• By 2020, 90% of all people with diagnosed HIV infection will receive sustained antiretroviral therapy; and
• By 2020, 90% of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy will have viral suppression.

This study goes a long way in making that vision a reality. FACES has been supporting HIV care, treatment and prevention in western Kenya, including the island, in collaboration with the Kenya Ministry of Health since 2004.

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However, the Lands and Environment minister, Miria Mutagamba acknowledges that as an individual she has nothing to do because these investors claim to be having ‘orders’ from above. She was questioning what she should do for the environment if people are receiving orders from above to destroy it.

However she promised to work hand in hand with the local communities and the ministry of lands to stop giving land tittles to areas located in wetlands.

Ends

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The retreat kicked off on March 5^th and closed on March 7^th. It attracted representatives from the Democratic Party, Forum for Democratic Change, Justice Forum, National Resistance Movement, Uganda Peoples Congress and the Conservative Party.

Each of the 40 participants who attended the conference got 500,000 shillings as sitting allowance daily for three days.

The retreat was held under the theme “The role of the National Consultative Forum in supporting political parties copes with challenges in a growing democracy: The Uganda case.”

By James Okello

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The retreat which attracted representatives from the Democratic Party, Forum for Democratic Change, Justice Forum, National Resistance Movement, Uganda Peoples Congress and the Conservative Party kicked off on Monday March 5^th. The secretary general of NRM Amama Mbabazi says that the retreat will end on Wednesday morning. We have heard that the participants in this meeting will each receive 500,000 thousand as sitting allowance.

The retreat has been held under the theme “The role of the National Consultative Forum in supporting political parties copes with challenges in a growing democracy: The Uganda case.”

The retreat has featured presentations and discussions by political party leaders, officials from the South African and Ghanaian election management bodies, Electoral Commission Uganda, representatives ofMakerereUniversity, and key members of the general public.

The post NRM retreat with NRM party leaders to end on Wednesday first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

The retreat which attracted representatives from the Democratic Party, Forum for Democratic Change, Justice Forum, National Resistance Movement, Uganda Peoples Congress and the Conservative Party kicked off on Monday March 5^th. The secretary general of NRM Amama Mbabazi says that the retreat will end on Wednesday morning. We have heard that the participants in this meeting will each receive 500,000 thousand as sitting allowance.

The retreat has been held under the theme “The role of the National Consultative Forum in supporting political parties copes with challenges in a growing democracy: The Uganda case.”

The retreat has featured presentations and discussions by political party leaders, officials from the South African and Ghanaian election management bodies, Electoral Commission Uganda, representatives of Makerere University, and key members of the general public.

The post NRM retreat with NRM party leaders to end on Wednesday first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.