INFLUENCE OF MAKERERE UNIVERSITY TO THE SURROUNDING AREAS

ACASE STUDY OF KATANGA AND BWAISE SLUMS

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 Introduction

This section includes the background of the study, objectives of the study, area of study and scope of the study.

1.0 Background of the study

Poverty is one of the major problems facing human kind today. Poverty has been associated with suffering, diseases, and deaths (Seimenis, 2012). There are more than three billion people in the world living under extreme poverty and majority of these people are in developing countries especially sub-Saharan Africa and some parts of Asia, United Nations (2012). Although the challenge of poverty has been dominant in both developed and developing countries, it is more common in sub-Saharan Africa (Gafar, Adeyani & Raheem 2009, Human Development Report, 2012). Based on $1.25 per day poverty line, about 65% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population was said to be living in poverty in 2011 (World Bank, 2011).

In 2015, about 736 million people about 10 percent of the global population were living in extreme poverty. Though considerable progress has been made over the last three decades in reducing extreme poverty and overall poverty, the welfare level of those who have remained at the bottom of the income or consumption distribution has stayed the same, (Gavrilovic, et al., 2016).  Makerere University, Kampala (MUK) is Uganda‘s largest and third-oldest institution of higher learning; Today, Makerere University is composed of nine colleges and one school offering programmes for about 36,000 undergraduates and 4,000 postgraduates.

Objectives of the study

1. To examine the cause of poverty in the slums of Katanga and Bwaise.
2. To suggest possible solutions to poverty in Katanga and Bwaise.

Area of study

The study was carried out in Bwaise and Katanga.  Bwaise is bordered by kawempe to the north, kyebando to the East Mulago to the southeast, Makerere to the south and Kasubi to the southwest and it is located 5 kilometers from Kampala central business district.  Katanga, Katanga Slum is a settlement located in the valley between  Mulago and Makerere University in Uganda’s capital city Kampala.

Scope of the study

This section included; content scope, Geographical scope and time scope.

Content scope

The study will include; the cause of poverty in the slums of Katanga and Bwaise and possible solutions to poverty in Katanga and Bwaise.

Geographical scope

The study will be carried out in Bwaise and Katanga slums. This is because these are the slums which close to Makerere University however the residents are very poor.

Time scope

The time period will be for one month.

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 Introduction

This section will describe the causes of poverty in the slums of Katanga and Bwaise and will suggest possible solutions to poverty in Katanga and Bwaise.

2.1 The cause of poverty in the slums of Katanga and Bwaise.

Though Makerere University is one of the leading universities in Africa and globally most of the slums areas around it like Katanga and Bwaise have very poor people. This has been unbelievable to many experts as to what could be the cause and as a result this study seeks to investigate into the influence of Makerere University on the surrounding areas.

The following are some of the causes of poverty in the slums of Katanga and Bwaise

Unemployment

Despite Makerere University being the oldest university in East Africa it has failed to provide skills to the graduates which can help them in the creation of their own jobs. This has worsened unemployment to the graduates and therefore they have settled in slums due to lack of jobs. Youth unemployment stands at between 64% and 70%, and about 400,000 youths are released annually into the job market to compete for approximately 9,000 available jobs. About 30% of the youths who are institutionally qualified in Uganda are unable to find jobs, and the situation is even worse for semiskilled and unskilled youths (Alfonsi, et al, 2017). Youths who remain unemployed or underemployed and do not exploit their full potential, are often associated with high incidences of drug abuse and gambling. Due to lack of jobs and income they are forced to stay in slum areas of Bwaise, Katanga, Kalerwe, Mulago and Kikoni.

Photograph taken by the researcher

According to the statement by Miss Mary and the mother they have no formal job and therefore she earns a living washing clothes where she earns two thousand shilling per day.

Figure 1: One of the residents who earns a living washing clothes in Bwaise

Residents of Katanga who earn a living by making Bathing sponges.

In an encounter with Mr. Moses Sali he stated that he graduated from Makerere University with a degree in community but failed to get a job and therefore he decided to partner with his friends and start up a business of making bathing sponges.

Figure 2: Unemployed former Makerere University graduates have started their own business in katanga

Poor housing facilities

Poor housing facilities in slums near Makerere University have worsened the level of poverty in the areas of Katanga and Bwaise areas. This has led to suffering among the people in Bwaise slum. This factor therefore is in sharp contrast to Makerere University which has fine buildings of global standards.

The slums have very few housing units for the residents with an estimated population of 90,000 (MoF, 2014) Majoritty of the residents in Bwaise donot sleep in temporary houses they sleep out side. This factor therefore justifies the level of lack of housing in these areas.Poor housing units facilities are also evident in the other slum of Katanga which is very close to Makerere University.

Figure 3: Showing poor housing facilities in Katanga

The government has failed to come up with specific program that could enable people in the slum areas to sleep in proper houses. This has forced the slum dwellers of Katanga to sleep in muddy and temporary houses. This living condition has increased on the poverty levels of the people in the area.

High population density

The heavy population density of the people in Bwaise have led to the growth of slums in the areas. Due to rural urban migration there is high population density in Bwaise and katanga leading to competition for few resources like water, electricity and housing . The statiscs shows that Bwaise alone has more than 90,000 people in a very small area. The high population density in the slum areaa of katanga and Bwaise has increased on generational poverty among most families who live in these areas. High population density has been associated with poverty globally as it has been evidenced that the places which have high population density like nigeria and some places in india the living conditions in these areas has been very poor.

The level of illiteracy

Though Makerere University is a centre of Excellency the slum areas around like Bwaise and Katanga consist of majority of people who have not gone to school. The level of illiteracy in these areas is one of the highest across the country. Illiteracy has led to poverty in the areas of Bwaise this has led to the growth of Bwaise slum and increased criminal activities like theft, murder and prostitution. Uganda has an adult literacy rate of 70.2%. While the male literacy rate is 79.12%, for females is 61.97%, showing a big gap between the sexes (UNESCO, 2018). Uganda adult illiteracy was at level of 5.31 million in 2015, down from 5.36 million in 2012, this is a change of 1.04 %.

However though the national average is not so alarming for a country like Uganda the level of illiteracy in  the slums of Bwaise is higher than the national average this has thus affected the ability of the people in this are to be able to get well paying jobs.

Environmental Degradation

The level of environmental degradation around Kampala has increased on poverty in slums around Makerere University. Due to environmental degradation people of Bwaise are faced with poverty. According to (Warner et al., 2010), Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems; habitat destruction; the extinction of wildlife; and pollution. It is defined as any change or disturbance to the environment perceived to be deleterious or undesirable.

Source: primary data

The results from the study findings indicates that in Bwaise the level of environment degredation is high this has led to the high levels of poverty in Bwaise slum. Enviornmental degredation has made it difficult for the residents to be able to engage in meanigfull business activity this has thus worsened poverty levels in the areas near makerere university.

Poor Governance

The growth of the slum areas in uganda is a sighn  of high levels of poor governance which has been maginfied by corruption from the government top officials. Uganda is one of the most corrutpt countries globally this has thus affeacted the ability of the country to be able to provide the necessary items needed to fight poverty to its citizens.

Most of the leaders donot have the love for their country since they govern the country with absolutely poor character.

Corruption

Corruption is attracting a lot of attention all around the world and more so in Africa. In June 2007, the OECD, European Union especially the European Council, the United Nations and many others realized the danger of corruption on societies. And of course, corruption has different forms and dimensions which threatened societies and governments to their way of development. (European Union, 2007). Kaufmann ( 1997) defines “corruption” as Illegal behavior (misused power) especially by people in official positions, or any person related to responsibility in the public sector which leads misallocation of resources and hence diminishes social welfare and common development of the society. Cited by(DONG, 2011)

In Uganda, the World Bank reports that about one in six companies cite the court system as a major constraint to their ability to do business. As pertains the public sector, about a quarter of businesses report that they are expected to offer gifts to public officials ‘to get things done (ES 2013). Likewise, businesses cite bribery is very common where their obtaining public utilities is concerned (GCR 2015-2016).Transparency International reports that in 2015, nearly half of Uganda‟s citizens believed tax officials to be corrupt (GCB 2015).

METHODOLOGY

Method of data collection

The researcher collected data using observation and interviewing of the respondents this led to complete understanding of the situation on the ground. During the observation process the researcher was able to take photographs and get first hand information into the causes of poverty in Bwaise slum.

Findings

• The study was conducted in the slums around Makerere University, Specifically in katanga and bwaise. The study discovered that although Makerere University is a centre of excellence it is surrounded by slums areas experiencing high levels of poverty because of the following reasons;
• Makerere university does not have powers to determine the government policies this has thus rendered the institution unable to positively influence the areas around it.
• The politics of Uganda have a very big effect on the economy this therefore indicates that Makerere University does not have an influence on the way the areas are run.
• High levels of unemployment is one of the causes of poverty in these areas this has mainly been because Makerere University has failed to provide the necessary technical knowledge that could enable the graduates of the university to become self employed.
• Lack of practical knowledge and technical skills by most of the residents of these slums
• Poor housing facilities.
• Environmental degradation
• High levels of illiteracy and Lack of government support to the slum areas

Conclusion of the findings

The study concludes that Makerere university should start up a skilling project to skill all the youths in these slum areas with specific knowledge in areas which are practical and can enable them be self employed this will help in enhancing the quality of life among the people in these slum areas. Key areas of skilling the youth should be in areas of machinery, brick making, baking, hair dressing or all the vocational skills that will enable the youths to be self employed.

The study also concludes that the government of Uganda should have proper laws on improvement of slum areas. The study further concludes that if possible the government should start a full ministry who should be responsible for the development of slums in Kampala and other district.

The study concludes that the government should start up projects in the villages so that people are encouraged to stay in the villages this will help in reducing the number of people who move from villages to towns and thereby will hinder the growth of slums.

The government should start up housing projects in the slum areas so as to prevent the development of slums in the areas in Kampala. The government needs to start up a program for adult education so that the people who do not know how to read and write are given educated this will help in fighting poverty in the slum areas of Bwaise.

References

Warner, K., Hamza, M., Oliver-Smith, A., Renaud, F., & Julca, A. (2010). Climate change, environmental degradation and migration. Natural Hazards, 55(3), 689-715.

Alfonsi, L., Bandiera, O., Bassi, V., Burgess, R., Rasul, I., Sulaiman, M., & Vitali, A. (2017). Tackling youth unemployment: Evidence from a labor market experiment in Uganda. STICERD-Development Economics Papers.

Gavrilovic, M., Knowles, M., Pozarny, P., Davis, B., & Calcagnini, G. (2016). Strengthening coherence between agriculture and social protection to combat poverty and hunger in Africa: Framework for analysis and action.

Uganda Bureau of Statistics. (2014). National population and housing census 2014.

Dong, B. (2011). The causes and consequences of corruption (Doctoral dissertation, Queensland University of Technology).

Kaufmann, D. (1997). Corruption: the facts. FOREIGN POLICY-WASHINGTON-, 114-131.

Warner, C. (2007). The best system money can buy: corruption in the European Union. Cornell University Press.

MAP OF BWAISE