Uganda

Fast Facts

Location: East Africa

Capital: Kampala

Population: 45.75 million (2020)

Government Type: Parliamentary Democracy

Language: Swahili, English, Luganda, various native languages

Climate: Tropical rainforest

Gross Domestic Product: USD $37.37 billion (2020)

Human Development Index Rating: 0.544 (Low-Moderate, 2019)

Overview

Uganda is a country of vast diversity, in both an ecological and demographic sense. There are four main ethnic groups (Bantu, Nilote, Nilo Hamites, and Hamites), with a further 56 distinct ethnic tribes in this country the size of Great Britain. These groups are largely held together by common language and religion - Swahili and Christianity, respectively. In the realm of biodiversity, Uganda ranks as one of the top ten countries for recorded animal species, with nearly 19,000 recorded, of which over 1,200 include butterfly species alone. But for decades, Uganda has (like its neighbours) struggled with extreme poverty, political instability, and warfare that have stopped the country from transforming into an East African success story as neighbouring Rwanda has.

History

A woman stands outdoors in rural Uganda Credit: SocialIncome

Uganda had, since time immemorial, existed as a series of kingdoms by the time of the first European’s arrival. Prior to this era, it had established commercial relationships with the rich merchant Sultanate of Zanzibar, though the Sultan’s influence was rarely able to be exercised. The first Christian missionaries arrived in 1877, but were met with hostility by the locals, with the first bishop being murdered in 1885. By this point, Britain (whom had colonised much of East Africa) agreed to a hands-off approach to governance of the region - until a newly united Germany established a colony in Tanganyika (modern-day Tanzania). The economy remained stunted for much of the early 20th century, with the economy consisting mainly of cotton and coffee production, as well as some commerce run by the Indian community that emigrated there during the existence of the Raj. By the late 1950s, several political parties emerge as young Ugandans become unsatisfied with the idea of loosely-tied feudal kingdoms, and by the early 1960s, independence from Britain is secured. The establishment of a Parliament moves the kabaka (or king) to a ceremonial role - but is soon overthrown by Prime Minister Obote and his army commander, Idi Amin. Amin would later overthrow Obote in a coup, ruling as a terrifying dictator and causing extreme short- and long-term damage onto Uganda. A combined effort between the Tanzanian army and resistance groups within Uganda led to the fall of Amin and his eight year long, brutal reign. In the 1980s, Obote returned to office in a highly controversial election, with his opposition forming a guerrilla group against him. The opposition party, the NRA, came to power in 1986, further guaranteeing security and the protection of human rights. Since then, Uganda has received mixed criticism and praise for interventions throughout Africa, including the DRC, Somalia, and South Sudan.

Economy

As Uganda’s political climate stabilised in the 1990s and 2000s, economic growth increased significantly. It was one of the only countries to receive debt relief in exchange for economic reform in 1997, and has continued to do so ever since. Agriculture, particularly in the country’s southern regions, accounts for a large amount (nearly 25%) of overall GDP. Taking a closer look at GDP, the growth rate has been fairly unsteady, but consistent nonetheless, with growth particularly taking off in the early 2000s.

But challenges facing development remain. Uganda’s HDI ranking of 0.544 is fairly low (a ranking of 159th out of 189 in 2020), with main challenges including poor education quality stunting current and future generations, climate change negatively affecting agriculture and directly threatening lives, and corruption impeding the role of state institutions.

But trends regarding poverty reduction in Uganda are strong and consistent. From 1993 - 2013, the country managed to reduce its poverty rate from 59% to less than 20%. The current National Development Plan (NDP) places a special focus on social institutions, wealth creation, and infrastructure development. Furthermore, the Poverty Alleviation Program (PAP), set up by the President himself, focuses on several key aspects: income generation, food security, home improvement, and more. These will be particularly emphasised in the northern and eastern provinces, where poverty is most acute.

Uganda and COVID-19: A Case Study

Credit: Martin Sanchez

COVID-19 has dominated headlines since approximately February 2020. The virus has flared up in Europe, the United States, China, Iran, and Latin America over the course of the past 30 months. But Sub-Saharan Africa - perhaps the region least equipped to deal with a pandemic - seems to have mostly avoided the worst of the virus’s effects. Taking a closer look at Uganda, there have been less than 200,000 reported cases and under 4,000 deaths. Approximately 25% of the population is vaccinated as well - lowering the possibility that this figure will climb much higher. The world’s poorest region seems to have avoided the worst - but how? The initial explanation may be to point out that Uganda has had less than 200,000 reported cases, and that tens of thousands may have been missed due to a lack of testing. This is a perfectly valid observation, but an incomplete one at best.

A scientific team from South Africa and Madagascar conducted a study that showed that lower connectivity between nations and communities played a large part in preventing widespread infection throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. Intra- and inter-regional travel simply was, and is, not taking place at a level effective enough to spread COVID-19 throughout local societies. The study also helped rule out climate as a factor, as it appears to have had minimal effect on epidemic peaks.

Another key factor is that idea that Sub-Saharan Africa is not, in fact, the region least equipped to deal with pandemics. Past public health emergencies in the region, including Ebola, tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV/AIDS have contributed to an ongoing supply of knowledge, medical staff, communications, community engagement procedures, and infrastructure designed to deal with such outbreaks. In fact, as early as January 2020 (a full month before COVID-19 was detected in Africa), several African governments - including Uganda - had already established dialogue with their local communities to warn them of the virus.

With Uganda in particular, the response to the virus was highly decentralised, and placed in the hands of district leaders. Task forces were set up to monitor their own areas, rather than a bureaucratic office in Kampala doing it for them from hundreds of miles away. These teams would conduct surveillance in their own communities, and become able to act as soon as virus cases were detected, as well as provide a central, familiar contact for locals to get information from in their own language.

Trivia

-Uganda is one of the youngest countries in Africa, with nearly half of the population aged 14 and under, and only 2% over the age of 65.
-Uganda is the second largest landlocked country in the world by population size. The 1st place holder of this title goes to Ethiopia.
-Uganda hosts more refugees than any other country in Africa. Many of them come from South Sudan or the Democratic Republic of Congo.
-Uganda is one of the only countries that the equator runs through.