Broke Ugandans, borowing from an uncertain future and while wagging thier tongues
lets pile some stats first right!
Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) are a group of 40 developing countries with high levels of poverty and debt overhang which are eligible for special assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank
As of September 2009, the HIPC program had identified 40 countries (29 of which are in Sub-Saharan Africa) as being potentially eligible to receive debt relief. The 35 countries that have so far received full or partial debt relief are:[1]
* Afghanistan
* Benin
* Bolivia
* Burkina Faso
* Cameroon
* Central African Republic
* Chad*
* Republic of the Congo
* Democratic Republic of the Congo*
* Côte d'Ivoire*
* Ethiopia
* Gambia
* Ghana
* Guinea*
* Guinea-Bissau*
* Guyana
* Haiti
* Honduras
* Liberia*
* Madagascar
* Malawi
* Mali
* Mauritania
* Mozambique
* Nicaragua
* Niger
* Rwanda
* São Tomé and Príncipe
* Senegal
* Sierra Leone
* Tanzania
* Togo*
* Uganda
* Zambia
GDP - per capita (PPP): $1,300 (2009 est.)
$1,300 (2008 est.)
$1,200 (2007 est.)
note: data are in 2009 US dollars
Definition: This entry shows GDP on a purchasing power parity basis divided by population as of 1 July for the same year.
Source: CIA World Factbook - Unless otherwise noted, information in this page is accurate as of February 19, 2010
this also means that Uganda is the the 21st on the worlds poorest country list, its only richer than 20 nations.
The discovery of vast oil reserves in Uganda has caused excitement across the country, and more than a touch of anxiety too. Energy companies have recently found more than 700m barrels of commercially viable oil in the pristine Albertine Graben region, representing the first major petroleum strike in east Africa. Tullow Oil, the FTSE 100 company leading the exploration, believes the exploitable deposits could exceed 1.5bn barrels, reserves comparable to Equatorial Guinea and the Republic of Chad .
About Ghana Petroleum: Since 33.1 billion barrels of proven offshore oil was discovered last year in the Gulf of Guinea off Ghana's coast, there has been a flurry of activity between Exxon and the Chinese, to name a few majors in vying for position in the famous Jubilee field. The Ghanaian government's purported share of the discovery is 3.31 billion barrels (10%) over the next several years
from a reliable source Ghana's government has used up to 5 years worth of oil resource capital already without starting the production process yet!
which brings me to the reason why I am here, lat week media reports were rife with speculation that Uganda was on the verge of purchasing.that state-owned arms exporter Rosoboronexport signed two contracts worth $1.2b for the delivery of six fighters to Uganda and another 16 to Algeria.
Of course the natural thing to do like it has become the norm actually was to deny the news excerpts, and quite vehemently the army spokesperson and his Minister did.
Which finally brings me to the gist of the post's title, Ugandans do not quite know their position in society, they do not. They go on letting loose their jaws and starting cold wars without understanding the very fragility of the ground beneath their feet. I am proudly Ugandan but am not going to flex my flabby muscles again e\without the context at play, we cannot go the Ghanaian way because in few years when they have used up all their oil worth they will have nothing to show, thire children will be out begging and no one will come to answer thier cries. we therefore must wait with our fingers crossed until we have oil on our fingers an the money in the bank!
Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) are a group of 40 developing countries with high levels of poverty and debt overhang which are eligible for special assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank
As of September 2009, the HIPC program had identified 40 countries (29 of which are in Sub-Saharan Africa) as being potentially eligible to receive debt relief. The 35 countries that have so far received full or partial debt relief are:[1]
* Afghanistan
* Benin
* Bolivia
* Burkina Faso
* Cameroon
* Central African Republic
* Chad*
* Republic of the Congo
* Democratic Republic of the Congo*
* Côte d'Ivoire*
* Ethiopia
* Gambia
* Ghana
* Guinea*
* Guinea-Bissau*
* Guyana
* Haiti
* Honduras
* Liberia*
* Madagascar
* Malawi
* Mali
* Mauritania
* Mozambique
* Nicaragua
* Niger
* Rwanda
* São Tomé and Príncipe
* Senegal
* Sierra Leone
* Tanzania
* Togo*
* Uganda
* Zambia
GDP - per capita (PPP): $1,300 (2009 est.)
$1,300 (2008 est.)
$1,200 (2007 est.)
note: data are in 2009 US dollars
Definition: This entry shows GDP on a purchasing power parity basis divided by population as of 1 July for the same year.
Source: CIA World Factbook - Unless otherwise noted, information in this page is accurate as of February 19, 2010
this also means that Uganda is the the 21st on the worlds poorest country list, its only richer than 20 nations.
The discovery of vast oil reserves in Uganda has caused excitement across the country, and more than a touch of anxiety too. Energy companies have recently found more than 700m barrels of commercially viable oil in the pristine Albertine Graben region, representing the first major petroleum strike in east Africa. Tullow Oil, the FTSE 100 company leading the exploration, believes the exploitable deposits could exceed 1.5bn barrels, reserves comparable to Equatorial Guinea and the Republic of Chad .
About Ghana Petroleum: Since 33.1 billion barrels of proven offshore oil was discovered last year in the Gulf of Guinea off Ghana's coast, there has been a flurry of activity between Exxon and the Chinese, to name a few majors in vying for position in the famous Jubilee field. The Ghanaian government's purported share of the discovery is 3.31 billion barrels (10%) over the next several years
from a reliable source Ghana's government has used up to 5 years worth of oil resource capital already without starting the production process yet!
which brings me to the reason why I am here, lat week media reports were rife with speculation that Uganda was on the verge of purchasing.that state-owned arms exporter Rosoboronexport signed two contracts worth $1.2b for the delivery of six fighters to Uganda and another 16 to Algeria.
Of course the natural thing to do like it has become the norm actually was to deny the news excerpts, and quite vehemently the army spokesperson and his Minister did.
Which finally brings me to the gist of the post's title, Ugandans do not quite know their position in society, they do not. They go on letting loose their jaws and starting cold wars without understanding the very fragility of the ground beneath their feet. I am proudly Ugandan but am not going to flex my flabby muscles again e\without the context at play, we cannot go the Ghanaian way because in few years when they have used up all their oil worth they will have nothing to show, thire children will be out begging and no one will come to answer thier cries. we therefore must wait with our fingers crossed until we have oil on our fingers an the money in the bank!
we do live in a credit based society, debt is a burden we happily welcome bearing in mind our children will be gleefully bogged down by it. (basically, our leaders are passing on the buck... in a phrase 'no longer our problem!').
ReplyDeleteps... gave u a mention in my last blog post...
No my friend, we do not have to live in such a setting. we have enough problems as it is to think that we cannot fix our roads, hospitals and schools yet we manage to think about investing in completely unnecessary ventures such as those is nothing short of amusing!
ReplyDeletewhat i seek to draw attention to is the need for our dear Republic to attend it's eyes more keenly towards more pressing priorities such as health care, education, transport and energy resources for our young and hopeful nation. we need not spend what we do not even have yet by the way on things that are a least of our worries like becoming a local 'superpower' so to speak.
well my friend... am not advocating for the buying of the jets. but even these pressing issues such as health-care or education are being paid for by IMF loans... so what you are doing is picking the lesser evil (which is pretty fine by me).
ReplyDelete