from the press

New Vision (Kampala)
22 July 2008Posted to the web 23 July 2008
Joshua Masinde: Kampala
MANY farmers have become self-reliant and their productivity has increased, thanks to the Agricultural Productivity Enhancement Programme (APEP).
The five-year USAID-funded project was launched in November 2003. It aims at expanding rural economic opportunities and increasing household income in the agricultural sector by increasing food and cash crop productivity and marketing.
Speaking at a workshop at Serena Hotel in Kampala recently, Charles Mpawulo, a farmer from Kamuli district, said: "We used to sell our produce to middlemen and our income was very low. But since 2004 when APEP came to our area, our livelihoods have changed. We now use ox ploughs and buy farm inputs."
To help farmers shift from subsistence to commercial farming, APEP, through its countrywide network, trains farmers on how to enhance their productivity and helps them find market for their produce.
Another farmer, Jackson Ndapweing, from Kabarole district, said APEP helped farmers in Rwimi village increase upland rice yields.
"Within two years, farmers' groups sold 878 metric tonnes of rice, worth sh400m."
Ambassador Phillip Idro urged farmers to embrace APEP financing to develop.

THE Chancellor of Makerere University has officially launched the Academic Fair to be held by Makerere University at the Freedom Square. The Fair, which showcases different achievements by the different faculties at the university, is taking place alongside the ongoing 5th edition of the All Africa University Games at the institution.
Speaking at the official opening of the Academic Fair, Prof. Mondo Kagonyera, who was represented by the chairman of the Makerere University Appointments Committee, Stephen Maloba acknowledged that the institution has a track record in research and innovations, especially in the area of Science.
"Among the innovations realised at Makerere are, the discovery that the Nevirapine drug prevents the transmission of HIV/AIDS from mother to child," he said.
"Our students from the Faculty of Technology were selected from five African universities to represent the continent on an international team of twelve universities of high repute working on the development of a modern car, projected to be the cheapest in the world and environmentally friendly," he added.
He also noted that Makerere University recognises the need for academic institutions to meaningfully partner not only with the Public Sector but also with the Private Sector.
"The synergy achieved in the partnership has a positive effect on national development. It is thus no surprise that the exhibition has drawn not only the academia but also the corporate world."
The launch comes at a time when Medical Laboratory Observer Magazine in the USA ranked Makerere University and John Hopkins University Core laboratory in Medical school the best in medical laboratory in 2008. It is one of the three laboratories in Africa to be accredited by the College of American Pathologists.

Joshua Masinde (Opinion in The New Vision Editorial)
Wednesday, 9th July, 2008

Last week, a New Vision journalist was abducted and tortured from where he had gone to cover a function in the course of his normal duty. Sebide Kiryowa was blindfolded, beaten up and his money was stolen by goons who either seemed to have a score to settle with him for what The New Vision had published against him or to intimidate him not to write what might embarrass them or put them in trouble.
A week earlier, the offices of The Red Pepper in Namanve had been burned in what appeared to be a highly organised operation. Journalists have often been intimidated, roughed up and sometimes, their cameras or notes confiscated. These incidents should not be looked at in isolation. They seem to demonstrate a deep-seated phobia and hatred for the media.
Has Uganda become so backward that the best way to resolve issues is to revert to criminal and unorthodox methods instead of appealing to the law of the land? It is more beneficial to be a friend rather than an opponent or outright enemy of the media.
The media is a messenger who should not be punished for carrying an unpleasant message. But it is more than a messenger. It is a mirror before which the public should be able to appraise themselves. That is why the media is called a gatekeeper or a watchdog. It checks the excesses of society, extols virtue and condemns vice. It is through the media that the public gets to know and hear what they might not have otherwise known.
However, this is not to say the media does no wrong. There are instances where the aggrieved parties have taken media houses to court for redress.
It is, therefore, cowardly and uncouth to attack a journalist for a story that one does not like. Media houses are governed by the regulations of the Media Council which can call to order any media house that steps out of line.

New Vision (Kampala)
Sunday, 6 July, 2008
Joshua Masinde
Many Ugandan and Nigerian doctors in the United Kingdom and India are unemployed despite being qualified and the numerous job opportunities there.
Dr. Ceppie Merry, the head of Clinical Pharmacology Department at Mulago Medical School, said this was because they do not know how to answer interview questions and write curriculum vitae (CVs).
“You get a job by knowing how to present yourself and how to answer interview questions, besides your qualifications,” she said.
Most doctors, she added, are not updated about the job market overseas. Ceppie, who also teaches at Trinity College in Dublin, was addressing medical students on career management at Mulago Medical School on Friday.
She said the advances in technology have also led to the fear that many doctors would be unemployed in 10 years.
“Tele-medicine will be available in every village. This might render many doctors jobless,” Ceppie pointed out. She advised the medics to stay up-to-date and look for opportunities in the health and medical world.

New Vision (Kampala)
By Joshua Masinde
THE rapid increase in population is a threat to security, the chairman of the National Bio-security Committee has said.
Prof. John Opuda-Asibo noted that people were not aware that biological threats like global warming and environmental degradation were a threat to security.
“People think that only physical insecurities like wars and the gun are a threat to their lives.”
He said the biological threats were caused by increase in population.
Opuda-Asibo, who was on Monday speaking at a seminar in Kampala, also blamed the increase in diseases on the rising population. Bio-security comprises the policies and measures taken to protect people from biological harm.
It encompasses the prevention and mitigation from pests and diseases.
Prof. John David Kabaasa, the dean of the faculty of veterinary medicine of Makerere University, said a rapid rise in population would cause food insecurity and natural calamities.
“In 2000, the urban population was 47% of the world population.
“Now it is 60%. We are faced with many threats like high temperatures, melting of Rwenzori and Kilimanjaro mountain caps, more mosquitoes and tse tse flies.
“While we are also driving towards industrialisation and globalisation, floods are coming in.”
Kabaasa suggested that nutrition and environmental protection be included on the school syllabus.
Dr. Lawrence Mugisha, the operations director of Ngamba Island, a premier gorilla tourism destination camp, noted that in a crowded world where people travelled a lot, the emergence of complex diseases was common.
“Human activities are the most potent factors driving the emergence of diseases.”

New Vision (Kampala)
BOOK REVIEW: 3 July 2008
Joshua Masinde: Kampala
Title: Footprints of The Outsider
Author: Julius Ocwinyo
Publisher: Fountain Publishers
THE opening of a cotton ginnery in Teboke village by two Indians sets off a series of events, one of which is the birth of Abudu Olwit. Olwit is born out of wedlock in a hut. Olwit's father who comes from Bugisu is one of the employees in the ginnery.
The Indians employ labour from other parts of the country, Sudan and the Congo. Olwit and his father are considered outsiders, just like the two Indians.
Olwit's father abandons him with his mother, Alicinora, a drunkard and irresponsible woman who does little for her son. In pursuit of a better future,
Olwit, who is considered as an illegitimate son of an outsider, struggles against the odds to get education.
However, after graduating from university, Olwit's life does not change much. He is not content with the occasional teaching jobs he gets.
He then asks a minister for a government job.
The minister frustrates him, but Olwit later lands himself a job as an assistant superintendent of prisons.
The minister becomes uncomfortable with Olwit's fame and he connives to imprison him. The book brings out the dirty side of politics.
Footprints of the Outsider is a historical and socio-political account of society. Much of the events reflect Uganda's political history from the 1960s to the 1980s.
Apart from its political backdrop, Footprints of the Outsider explores issues of family life, religion and cultural beliefs.
The novel is skilfully woven with wit, suspense, flashbacks, songs and conversations.