“By Sam Okello Uganda is one of the smallest east African countries. It is a land locked country. Its neighbouring countries are Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Zaire and Sudan. Uganda was once known as the “Pearl of Africa’’ because it has potentially fertile soil and an excellent cli- mate. There is an abundace of water and power supplies. There is also considerable mineral wealth such as copper, cobalt, tin and wolfram. Uganda has great tourist possibilities; and, above all, a clever, educated people. There are several reasons why Uganda is not regarded as one of the wealthy nations in the world. The major reason is that pea- sants in Uganda have been ex- ploited. Looking back at the colonial legacy, there were two major forms of integration of peasants into the colonial im- Perialist economy of Uggnada. In every region of Uganda, there was an area which was turned into a cheap labour reserve. This. meant the migrant labour system, whereby the wife remained a pea- sant at home producing food in the village. The husband migrated

= as a worker to a plantation. He ‘was employed only part-time. The rest of the year, he returned to his home in the village. At home, he lived off the food cultivated by the wife.

There is no magical formula. But ther are jobs out there. The knowledgeable job hunter is infinitely more likely to be the one who finds those jobs than the ignorant job hunter. The more’ you know about the job-hunt and how it functions the more you increase your chances,

Are your really ready to take

job-hunting seriously? Are you a _

persistent enthusiastic job hunter?

The enthusiastic job-hunter is in- finitely more likely to be the one who finds a job than the matter- of-fact job hunter. The more you've identified a job you'd really love to do, and know what things are your great enthusiasms, the more you increase you chances of finding a job — particularly when jobs are scarce.

@ It is always good to have both

a Plan A and a Plan B.

@ Work and leisure cannot be kept entirely separate and od influence one another. Post-secondary education or a degree do not guarantee you _ajob. ,

@ A <‘career” is not something

. March 27, 1986,

Peasants in Uganda.

The other form of integration was whereby an area was turned into a reserve of cheap raw materials. Considering the above system, this meant that the wife would produce cheap food while the husband would go out to look for cheap labour. Whatever labour the peasant produced, it was regarded as cheap. Because the wife produced food and the husband produced an export crop, there was a cheap raw material reserve. It was cheap because the family produced its ‘own food. The cash which the family got from selling cotton or coffee was used only to pay tax and to buy a few manufactured necessities. This lead to an ex- ploitation of peasants. It also caused poverty, sorrow and misery.

Unfortunately, the whole sys- tem of cheap raw material pro- duction has been going onto the present day. This system has two conditions. First, the labour meets a substantial part of its own food cost. Second, the labour remain the major input production, or to put it a different way, that the technological base still remains low.

As a result, there has been exploitation of peasants in Uganda. The peasant is essentially trapped in two main types of exploitation. First, he is expoited through un- equal market relations where he

sells cheap and buys expensive. This is monopoly exploitation, whether by state or private agencies. For instance, Millet, a staple food in Uganda, is sold cheaply in the village. The same Millet is sold Kampala, the capital city, at sky rocket prices. The peasant, who is in this case the Millet producer in the village, gets barely a quarter of the final price. According to my own observation the cash which the peasant gets per day is approximately $10.

Likewise, the coffee plantation owner in southern Uganda gets a small amount from the coffee trade compared to what the government gets in the world mar- ket for the same coffee. The cof- fee producer is exploited too. This is why a simple shift from export crop (Coffee) to food crop (Mil- let) production does not mean a major difference to the peasant. In Uganda it is easy to predict the climate but it is very difficult to predict the market for cheap labour. Therefore, the small pro- ducer sees the market as more unpredictable and less friendly than the climate.

However, the first type of ex-

“ ploitation of the peasant is in-

direct. This is a result of the dull compulsion of economic forces. The second type of exploitation is direct through the use of force by the state or the church. For example, in eastern Uganda,

Employment Centre

only professionals have.

Skills are ‘something every- body has 700 of”’.

Aptitude and interest tests only give you more informa- tion — they will not tell you what you should be doing. There is no ‘‘one’’ perfect job for each person and no gua- rantee that the job will con- tinue to be perfect for their lifetime.

Adults don’t always know exactly either what they want by the time they finish school, turn 21, get married, etc.

You will not like a certain Occupation just because a friend or relative does.

In a true sense, everyone “creates’’ their own job.

All a job rejection means is that that particular employer did not need your particular skills at that particular time. It is not a rejection of you as a person.

Use as many different methods as you can.

As much as you physically can g0 face-to-face with people

e

rather than inserting a piece of paper between you and them. All you learn from your mis- takes is what NOT to do. They don’t necessarily tell you what todo.

@ A new career, correctly plan- ned, will use more of your recognized talents and skills enabling you to do a better job and be worth more to your employer.

A career is not built on what’s good out there, but on what’s good in you.

No one can tell you what you should do. Only YOU can make the proper career de- cision.

Far more people are hired because the interviewer liked them rather than because they are best qualified. Purposefulness is more power- ful than aggressiveness. Resumes don’t get people jobs; people get jobs. No one ever hired a piece of paper. The appearance of a resume says a lot more about you than what it says.

people are urged by the govern- ment to grow coffee (a cash crop) although most of them may be unwilling to produce Coffee be- cause of the low income that they get out of it. This forced labour amounts to as much as a quarter of the peasant’s total labour in certain villages. This form of forced crop production is usually meant for export by the govern- ment. There are also forced cash contributions to the party or the church,

As a result, the peasant operates with a permanent handicap be- cause his surplus product is re- gularly siphoned off. His cash income is hardly enough to meet immediate requirements such. as paying taxes, replacing a hoe or buying some salt or medicine. It is expensive for peasants to buy essential commodities like sugar, salt and soap.

There is no way for a peasant’s life to be improved under the present system. There are always limitations because a peasant is forced to begin the production cycle each time with roughly the same or even a worse technical base than the previous time around.

Peasant exploitation has been in Uganda since the colonial period. It has continued through government, the Amin period and the present regime, This has led the peasant to regard changes in

@ The primary purpose of per- sonnel departments is to screen you, not hire you. Only your prospective supervisor can really do that.

Be prepared to spend as much time job-hunting as you would if you were employed. That is, at least 40 hours a week or eve more.

CHOOSE YOUR WORK — don’t let the job choose you. @ There are lots of people look- ing for a job, but very few looking for WORK!

You must realize that no one owes you a job.

Your skills (and the results) are the KEY to your employ- ability.

Ps

People hire people they know. Employers only “go outside” to newspapers, etc. when they can’t hire someone they al- ready know and trust.

The good jobs go to the good people before the general pulbic ever knows about them .. if, indeed, they ever know about them.

regimes as storms in the political sky, yet the hard realities on the ground remain unchanged.

Uganda is no longer the “pearl of Africa’. The government is taking away most of the money from the peasant. This has lead to an exploitation of the peasants. People are poor.

In my opinion, a peasant in Uganda must :be protected from exploitation. Labour should not be maimed and shackled by ad- ministrative coercion. The peasant should be provided with better technology. This will improve the Gross National Product. The pea- sant should be paid adequate money for his labour. The peasant will then be able to meet basic demands such as soap, salt, sugar,

medicine; to mention only a few. Uganda needs better economic planners. It also needs competent rulers who are willing to work for the better interests of its people. If all this is achieved, there will be prosperity. There will be better economic development. The land will be filled with ‘‘milk and honey” and it will shine. Uganda will be once again called the “Pearl of Africa.’”

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