Instituting A Minimum Wage is The Same As Tasking government to Regulate Rent -Both of Which Constitute Direct Interference In The Private Sector

Instituting A Minimum Wage is The Same As Tasking government to Regulate Rent  -Both  of Which Constitute Direct Interference  In The Private Sector

By Fred Daka Kamwada-kamwada

   Since the Labor Day which is usually celebrated around the world on every first of the month of May, there has been a lot of agitation for the institution of a minimum wage.

Last week Hon Mwesigwa Rukutana attended a conference organized by the international labor organization (ILO) and was tasked to explain when his government was going to institute the minimum wage.

At that time he dillydallied and later revealed that by June next year, 2015, the issue of minimum wage will be solved. He also said that a board had been instituted to look at the issue.  

But when you look into the details of the matter, you realize that most of the agitators for the minimum wage are motivated by the fact that it (the minimum wage) will improve the status of the worker.

I have however come to realize that Most of the arguments on the social media and other forums around the country are mostly basing their argument on the ideal rather than the reality.

Yes, it’s true that Uganda first instituted the minimum wage in 1964.  From that time we continued having it set basing on inflation and dynamics related to cost of living.

While many are making that argument of the previous government putting the minimum wage in place, they forget that the circumstances of the time were different.

We have shifted from a nationalized atmosphere where it employed almost the entire workforce. Today we champion a private sector led economy. Therefore determining how much should be paid within the private sector would tantamount to interference in the sector that is naturally regulated by the market forces.

For instance at that time In the 60s when the minimum wage was set , the  government was the sole job provider within the public sector.

Since government was the sole employer, it was easy to institute a minimum wage.

But today government has withdrawn from business related enterprises. Out of 34 million Ugandans, government is only taking less than 0.3m Ugandans mostly in the civil service.

Yet, from the statistics from the ministry of labor show that the Ugandan labor force is around 14 million employed people.

state minister for labor Hon Mwesigwa Rukutana

This means that the effect of government in determining the wages of its citizens has been minimized or diminished altogether since it employs few people.

The emergence of a very powerful private sector has meant that government has little or no influence on how much the worker is paid in the private sector.

Even if government went out of its way to institute the minimum wage as many are agitating, there are no guarantees that it will have the desired effect.

HOW MUCH?

Because first of all there are different opinions about how much constitutes a minimum wage.

Even if you calculate it basing on inflation and cost of living, some people will still criticize it for not being enough.

It’s therefore obvious that we cannot have a concrete consensus on what should constitute a minimum wage because the economy keeps shifting all the time.

For instance, a casual calculation shows that if someone is sleeping in the cheapest accommodation which goes for 70,000 shillings, and eats 5,000 shillings per day ( for lunch and super),  a basic transport allowance of 2,000 per day  without going into the other needs , that alone will take the minimum wage to 280,000 shillings per month.

Now how many employers are going to pay this amount of money as a basic start for the lowest paid worker?

But most of all, the logical question is how many people are ready to pay their maid 280,000 shillings per month?

  In fact if you institute the minimum wage, it might instead have an adverse effect of job losses on the job market.

It means that the employer will employ few people thus leading to the unemployment of so many people who are willing to work for less.

This will certainly lead to adverse joblessness.

Yet in a freewheeling market within the private sector that is dictated by market forces, the employer can be in position to employ two people for the fee that you would regard as minimum wage (0.28m).

And it’s crucial to note the worker will also willingly work for lets say150, 000 shillings paving way for another job opportunity for someone else if it’s done in a laisez fair atmosphere where the worker personally agrees with the employer.

EXPLOITATION

Besides the reality of joblessness associated with the minimum wage, once we have it in place, there is a possibility that the employer will even exploit the worker more than ever.

The exploitation will happen because the worker will be tasked to do jobs which would have done by more than two or more people.

This will be done by the employer in a bid to recover a value for money from the worker.

Another issue which has been taken out of context is the politicization of an issue which is entirely not political at all.

It’s very unrealistic to expect government to determine how much the employer should pay their workers when market forces can deliver the living wage where the worker agrees to offer labor at a given wage.

When you say that the government should determine the wage, it means you are inviting government to also determine how much the landlord’s should charge for the rent of their premises.

Having made all those arguments, I strongly believe that it’s not conducive for government to institute a minimum wage in an economy that is private sector-led.

We should all agree that although Ugandans are not paid enough, some of them are earning a living wage. Besides every worker has the right to negotiate his wages with his employers and also has the right to withdraw labor if it’s not satisfying his or her needs.

I rest my case with high possibility of being completely misunderstood.

Fred Daka Kamwada-kamwada is a journalist, social critical and political commentator. You can get him on kamwadafred@yahoomil.com or 0782480480

The Uganda Times: Joseph Kony Reportedly Stays In A posh Al Salam R...

The Uganda Times: Joseph Kony Reportedly Stays In A posh Al Salam R...: As LRA rebel leader Joseph kony's whereabouts continue to cause constant speculation and consternation, a reliable source has disclosed...

YOUTH AGE SHOCKER:

Casual Research Shows That  80% NRM Youths Are Projected To Be Above 40 years

A Casaul research has revealed that almost 80% of the NRM youth leaders are above 40 years.

According to our sources  , many of them contested for the youth posts when they were just one or two years from the youth category.

The Ugandan constitution describes a youth as someone who is below 35 years of age. But from what we have gathered many of them are now clocking 40 years and above.

president museveni has been meeting many of them in the recent weeks 

It was a spectacle today when the NRM cadres who are mostly known by their portfolios as the NRM youth representatives prostrated and knelt down for president Museveni.

The President has since 2 pm been listening to memoranda of Youth from the different sub regions of Western Uganda at Lake View Hotel Mbarara

In a move that shocked Ugandans, the youths knelt down on their knees and praised president Museveni for having ushered in the prevailing peace and development in the country.

They sang songs and heaped praises at the smiling president Museveni who obviously seemed to enjoy every minute of the moment listening to all sorts of suggestions in their memorandum.  

They also begged him to offer himself for the 2016 elections, a suggestion that is in tandem with the Kyankwanzi resolution that tasked president Museveni to be the sole NRM candidate for the 2016 elections.   

The photos of the kneeling youths representatives has since been a subject of discussion on the social media with many observers insisting that they were engaged on a begging spree while others alleged that the majority of the youths were above the mandated age of youths which is about 35 years.

Posting on her social media account a Ugandan in Diaspora by the names of Alice Ruhindi whom we have established to be the sister of Jacqueline Mbabazi also wife to Amama Mbabazi posted a message which derided president Museveni for turning the Ugandan youths into beggars.

Alice Ruhindi posted that;

 You have reduced our sins and daughters to beggars. May God judge you accordingly. I never thought I'd see this day. I shall cry no more. I shall pray for you instead. To the NRM youths who have allowed themselves to be reduced into mice, you are a disgrace to the nation. To the last person in Uganda, please turn off the lights, gas mains & water supply. The country is doomed. This the level to which President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has reduced Ugandans: his fellow citizens must kneel and prostrate before him in order to get benefits and may be acceptable service delivery. Ssabagabe indeed! I suspect that very soon we shall see him spitting in people's mouths just like all his predecessors (the Ankole Kings) did to their subjects. It's a pity. May God have mercy on us.

Most of the other observers were saying that the youths were far older for the youth posts they hold with the practical age of many of them suspected to be in their 40s.

Namara Resign

Meanwhile the some NRM youths ARE up in arms to agitate for the immediate resignation of the current national NRM youth chairman Mr. Dennis Namara.

The irate youths attacked the NRM party headquarters at Kyadondo road (plot 10) and tasked the secretariat to organize for the election of another national youth chairman. 

Namara is also an advisor of some sorts to president Museveni.

Phil Neville: David Moyes sacking was one of my toughest days in football

When Phil Neville accepted the homecoming invitation, it was always likely to be emotional. Manchester United is his club by birthright and he was never going to turn down the chance to follow David Moyes, as a coach, from Everton to Old Trafford last summer. In his most jolting nightmares, though, Neville never saw it playing out like this.
"I've got to say that walking around the pitch after the last home game of the season against Hull City was probably the emptiest I've ever felt on a football field," Neville said, with a nod towards Tuesday night's end-of-season ritual, in which the appreciation was entirely one-way from the pitch to the stands.
"I took the job at United fully expecting to be walking around after the last home game of the season either challenging for a league title or parading a league title because that's what this club demands. We've got to make sure next season we are doing that."

The inquest into the car crash that has been United's season has evolved to take in the blueprint for the future; to the pursuit of a manager to succeed Moyes, who was sacked after a record scarred by seven home defeats, six of which came in the Premier League; the other in the FA Cup. Louis van Gaal is expected to be confirmed as the man to take over from the caretaker manager Ryan Giggs.
But Neville, who survived the cull of Moyes' assistants, does linger on the dismissal of a man he describes as a friend. The pain is clear. Moyes signed him as a player for Everton in 2005 from United, where he had progressed from the youth ranks to the first-team, and he had wanted Neville to join him on the coaching staff at Goodison Park.
Moyes planted the seed in Neville's mind over the final years of the latter's playing career. But when Neville retired at the end of last season and Moyes was lured to Old Trafford take over from Sir Alex Ferguson, the opportunity knocked for him back in Manchester. Neville had other offers, "some unbelievable options," he said at the time, "one of which was to stay at Everton." But the pull of United was too strong.
"It's been a real difficult season," Neville added. "For a club that should be challenging for league titles to finish sixth or seventh is obviously not good enough. And to see a man who, for the last nine years, has put so much faith in me, giving me a platform either to play or to coach, to see him lose his job was probably one of the toughest days that I've had in football."
Perhaps the blow was heightened by the novelty factor for Neville. The 37-year-old has never previously been at a club where the manager has been sacked. "As a player I never experienced anything like it, apart from maybe with Kevin Keegan at England [in 2000]," he said. "Ferguson and Moyes have been the bedrock of my professional life, so to see him [Moyes] lose his job, it took a while to sink in.
"David has taken the majority of the criticism from outside the club but if you speak to anyone inside the club then we've all got to take collective responsibility – the players, the staff, everybody. Everyone connected to the club will take responsibility because we win together and we lose together. It was really disappointing when David lost his job because I class him as a friend."

United have since lost another home game under Giggs – to Sunderland in the league last Saturday – while the total for the season stands at nine if the Capital One Cup semi-final second-leg penalty shoot-out defeat to Sunderland is included. Moyes' team had won that tie 2-1 on the night at Old Trafford.
"If you ask me for one thing that we've collectively failed on, it's definitely that we have lost nine games at Old Trafford this season," Neville said. "That, for any club in the Premier League, is not acceptable.
"If we played all our games away from home, then we'd be league champions. But we don't and we've lost games at Old Trafford against teams that we should be beating. It has been the biggest single failing. Maybe teams coming to Old Trafford thought that they had a chance."
Neville spoke at the launch of the BBC's World Cup coverage; he will be one of its pundits in Brazil and like his older brother Gary, he will not be afraid of expressing his opinions. But he admitted that he is unsure about his future at United. Van Gaal is expected to retain Giggs as his assistant but it is unclear how many others of the club's "class of 92"graduates will remain.
Giggs has brought Paul Scholes on to his coaching staff while Nicky Butt has worked with the under-21s.
"We do work well together but there has been no real collective plan for us all to stay together," Neville said. "It's just worked out that, more often than not, our paths have taken the same route.
"My remit has been to support Ryan in his job and give my best for the club. But I want to be part of Man United's future. I'm a Man United person. Take the results and what's happened aside, and it's been an incredible learning experience for me this season at a club that I love. I want to be here for the rest of my life. That's my hope."

Obi Mikel Set To Leave Chelsea As Javi Martinez Joins Arsenal for £32m?

F

rank de Boer has been banging on about wanting the Tottenham job again. He's not exactly keeping his cards close to his chest, is he, and he's definitely not worried about coming across as desperate, while he couldn't give two hoots about speaking about a job which is, at the current time of writing, still filled by Tim Sherwood. De Boer will be telling the world that he wants the Mill's job next. It's anarchy out there.
There's been bad news for De Boer, though. Tottenham are looking elsewhere. They want to make Mauricio Pochettino the new Glenn Hoddle and will shortly approach Southampton for permission to speak to their manager. Rupert Lowe's views on the subject will probably be worth listening to. Has anyone got his number?
Time is running out for you to decide whether or not you rate John Obi Mikel. Despite eight years in England, the jury is still out on whether he's a lumbering buffoon who doesn't appear to do anything on the pitch or an intelligent, positionally aware holder who must be good because look at the managers who keep playing him. But we're going to have to make a decision sharpish, because Mikel is set to leave Chelsea and join Internazionale.

Now that Pep Guardiola has ruined German football, everyone wants out of Bayern Munich and that means that Javi Martínez is off to Arsenal, assuming they're willing to part with £32m for a player that they really need. Javi Martinez won't be joining Arsenal, will he.
Manchester United youngster Will Keane is a target for Juventus and Fiorentina after failing to agree terms on a new deal. Van Gaal out!
United also face competition from Manchester City for Cesc Fábregas, Luke Shaw and Adam Lallana. Well, we all know how this is going to play out. Moyes in!

'Today Africa Has Got Only One King', -Presdient Yoweri museveni Tells UK-Uganda Bussines Forum

Ugandan President Yoweri Musevnei has told the Uganda business

forum that 'today 'Africa has got on king' , and that is the consumer.
in a keynote address , the Uganda president made the speech to an audience that had a mixture of Ugandan and British citizens.
below is the unedited speech
Keynote Address to the UK-Uganda Business Forum, 6th April 2014
I have for the last two days been participating in the UK-Uganda Business Forum in London. I did deliver a keynote address to the forum yesterday at Lancaster House in which I brought to the attention of international business leaders and policy makers the many investment and trade opportunities that exist in Uganda. Industrialization will ensure employment for Uganda's youth

The Minister for Africa in the UK, Hon Mark Simmons,
The Chairman of the Commonwealth Business Council,
Lord Marland of Odstock,
Honourable Ministers and Representatives of the
Diplomatic Community in London,
Esteemed Members of the Business Community in
London and Uganda,
Ladies and Gentlemen.

Thank you for inviting me to address such a distinguished
audience. I have confidence that by the end of this forum,
there will be decisions to locate business in Uganda’s
growing and resilient economy.
There are two Kings in the modern world: the entrepreneur
and the consumer. This is as far as business is concerned.
The entrepreneur has got the following three factors:
(i) ability to detect opportunity and how to utilize it in
order to maximize profits and minimize costs;
(ii) savings or ability to raise cost effective funding to
cause the realization of the project or enterprise; and
(iii) ability to acquire the necessary technology to produce
the desired items.
The consumer, on the other hand, has got two
characteristics: need for the concerned product and ability
to pay for it ─ i.e. purchasing power.
The two Kings, however, need five other factors to have a
beneficial relationship. Those factors are:
(i) good infrastructure that ensures that the costs of
doing business in the economy are low so that profits
can be made;
(ii) peace in the country;
(iii) availability of raw-materials;
(iv) a business friendly policy environment; and
(v) a skilled work force that accepts competitive wages.

At the present moment, much of Africa has got one King ─
a capable and growing consumer society ─ as well as the
five facilitating factors. Moreover, the awareness for the
need for the expanding of these five factors is also growing.
There is in fact a growing enlightenment for the need to
generate more electricity, bituminize more roads, build
modern railways, expand education and skill the society as
well as expanding the ICT network.
The collective GDP of Africa is now US$ 1.8 trillion and it
will be US$ 2.6 trillion by 2020. What is crucial is to
remember that this GDP was only US$ 500 billion in 1998.
It has now grown by almost 4 times in the last 16 years.
This growth has been in spite of the historical bottlenecks
such as inadequate electricity, poor roads, no railway
systems, lack of peace in big chunks of the continent, etc.
These bottlenecks notwithstanding, when the rest of the
world was in economic turmoil recently, Sub-Saharan Africa was growing at the rate of 5% per annum. Uganda’s
economy has been growing at the annual average rate of
growth of 6.5% per annum for the last 28 years, the
strategic bottlenecks notwithstanding. With more electricity
supply, improved roads and the modernized railway
system, Uganda’s economy will grow by double digits.
Uganda is rich in natural resources with very good
agricultural potential and history (traditional); a lot of fresh
water resources (Lake Victoria ─ Nalubaale, the River Nile
─ Kiira, the Mountains of the Moon ─ the Rwenzori) are all
found in Uganda; a lot of mineral wealth discovered
recently by the Government (gold, uranium, wolfram,
nickel, iron-ore, limestone, phosphate, vermiculite,
aluminium clays, coltan, tin, copper, cobalt, etc.,);
petroleum and gas; tourism resources; forest resources;
and, of course, the growing, educated human resource of,
presently 37 million people, to grow to 53.7 million by
2025. This human resource has already manufactured proto-types of electric automobiles, industrial machinery
and claims an array of scientific patents.
Uganda is right at the heart of this massive continent ─
11.7 million sq. miles of land ─ that can easily
accommodate China, the USA, India, Western Europe and
Brazil and still remain with some space. The population of
Africa is currently 1.1 billion people and will be 2.4 billion
people by 2050, which will be more than double. The
consumption of this population is growing. If you take
Uganda for instance. By 1986, the per capita consumption
of milk was 16 litres per person per annum. It is now 50
litres per person per capita per annum. The World Health
Organization (WHO) recommendation is that somebody
should consume 200 litres per annum. The meat
consumption was 4.5 kg per person per annum in 1986, it
is now 6.4 kg per person per capita per annum and it
should be 50 kgs per capita per annum according to
(WHO). Similarly, the consumption of all other items is growing and will grow more whether you are talking of:
steel, cement, textiles or fuel.
The only King that is missing is the entrepreneur,
especially the entrepreneur of the manufacturing type. As
far as Real Estate, transport (buses, taxis, etc.), shops,
hair-saloons, agriculture, etc. are concerned, the Ugandan
entrepreneurs are doing very well. The problem is still with
the manufacturing ─ adding value to coffee, cotton,
bananas, fruits, cereals (maize), Irish potatoes and sweet
potatoes, cassava, minerals, timber products, etc. We
have succeeded in getting processors for milk, for tea, for
fresh water fish, for vegetable oils, for palm oil, for cement,
etc. The rest of the areas are still virgin. Our scientists
have the capacity to process and manufacture anything
using our raw materials. They, however, do not have the
money. They end up depending on the Government to fund
their enterprises; yet the Government has got so many
priorities to deal with (the roads; the railways; electricity; 7
piped water; education; health; law and order, defence;
etc.). Therefore, what we need from our partners in the UK
are: (i) entrepreneurs, (ii) tourists and (iii) trade.
The rate of return on investment in the industrial sector in
Uganda is currently 18%. With cheaper electricity, it will
be 25%. The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Africa
have been growing from US$ 47 billion in 2011 to US$ 50
billion in 2012. In Uganda, FDI increased from US$ 894
million in 2011 to US$ 1.2 billion in 2012. With improved
infrastructure, the return to investment will improve from
the current 18% to 32%
The comprehensive list of areas where you can invest is as
follows:
(a) Agro-processing for: coffee, cotton, bananas, potatoes,
maize and other traditional cereals, beef, milk, leather,
fruits, tea, cocoa, vanilla, medicinal herbs, cassava,
rice, wheat, legumes, vegetable oils, palm oil, etc. 8
(b) Minerals:
(i) Iron-ore - more than 200 million metric tonnes
of proven ore;
(ii) Phosphates - 230 million metric tonnes of proven
ore;
(iii) Cement - more than 300 million tonnes of
limestone;
(iv) Aluminium clays - more than 3 billion tonnes of
ore;
(v) Copper - more than 9 million tonnes
(vi) Cobalt - more than 5.5 million tonnes
(vii) Wolfram - more than 800,000 tonnes
(viii) Tin - more than 1 million tonnes
(ix) Gold - more than 8.2 million ounces
(x) Vermiculite - more than 54.9 million tonnes
(xi) Columbite-tantalite (Coltan) 133 million tonnes
(xiv) Rock salt and brine - 22 million tonnes

(c) Tourism:
(i) Nine (9) National Parks and 6 Forests and 12 Wildlife
Reserves. The National Parks are:
- Queen Elizabeth II
- Murchison (Kabaleega) Falls
- Kidepo
- Lake Mbuuro
- Mgahinga (Mountain gorillas)
- Bwindi (Mountain gorillas)
- Mount Elgon (Nature Park)
- Rwenzori (Nature Park) and
- Kibaale (Forest Park and Chimpanzees)
Then you have Ngamba Islands and other Wildlife
Reserves. The forest reserves are the following: Mabira,
Budoongo, Imaramagaambo, Kibaale, Bwindi, Mgahinga
and Kyambura-gorge.
(ii) Water –rafting along the Nile;
(iii) Mountaineering ─ the snow capped Rwenzori peaks
right on the Equator, Mt. Elgon, etc.
(iv) Sailing on Lake Victoria (Nalubaale), Lake Albert
(Mwiitanzigye), etc.
(d) Oil and gas ─ 3.5 billion proven reserves in 40% of the
target area.
(e) The human resource ─ light and heavy engineering,
electronics, etc. ─ limitless.
Our modernization plan includes value addition to our
minerals, agricultural products, fresh water resources and
forest products. There must be a refinery or refineries for
the crude oil, there should be a refinery for gold when
enough tonnage is attained, there must be a vertically
integrated steel industry so that we do not have to build
over priced hydro-dams on account of using imported steel
where we end up paying for freight up to the tune of 15% of
the total price of a tonne of steel. The steel must be alloyed
with cobalt, with nickel, with tungsten, etc. to produce
steel sheets that can be sold to users that need them for
advanced use, etc.

By doing this, not only for minerals but also for
agricultural raw-materials, our economy will multiply by a
factor of 2.45 in 11 years i.e. by 2025. This will earn us
more forex, more value and create more jobs. You can help
us in achieving this mission.
I thank you.