Uganda 5: December 24, 2003

What do I do all day?

A question put to me by my mother, of all people.

Well, what does an economic/commercial officer do at a relatively small US Embassy in sub-Saharan Africa? I'm the only economic officer, so I do a bit of everything. Along with normal economic and commercial responsibilities, I also cover the environment, science, and technology plus a few other things that no one else is sure what do to with. Because I am my own section, I have some flexibility in what I do, though I often have to respond to taskings from Washington asking that we demarche the Ugandan government on a host of issues, some of which actually have little relevance for Uganda (I tend to fax those over rather than appear in person).

Uganda is a poor country with an economy overwhelmingly tied to agriculture -- typically subsistence farming. However, it is very fertile and grows a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, herbs and non-food products. Thus, I track the agriculture sector (along with my counterparts at USAID who work hand in hand with Ugandans to help promote Ugandan exports) to see how it is performing, where Uganda is exporting, and whether there are any commercial opportunities for the US. I've reported on the fisheries sector, attempts to drill for oil in western Uganda, a large hydroelectric project that fell through (corruption, the bane of African development), and civil aviation liberalization.

A few years ago, Congress passed the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, which eased some tariffs and import restrictions for African exports. Uganda's President was an early and vocal supporter of the legislation and I monitor Uganda's efforts to take advantage of AGOA (few successes so far, but they're trying). Where I can (our job description does not technically include promoting the success of the Ugandan economy), I provide Ugandan officials and exporters with information about the US market or about possible partners. In the past week, I met with some folks at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss Uganda's desire to participate in Iraqi reconstruction and I am putting together a report on whether new Ugandan health and safety standards create unfair technical barriers to the import of used clothes from the US (America's largest export to Uganda). Like many countries, Uganda has a weak enforcement regime to protect intellectual property rights and the Ambassador and I recently called on the Attorney General on behalf of a US company seeking the prosecution of a blatant case of smuggling counterfeit goods. I arrived a bit early and the Attorney General invited me into his office. He sat at his desk and read the newspaper while I reviewed my notes. Five minutes later, the Ambassador entered and the meeting began.

On the commercial side I try to promote US exports. This can be tough as most Ugandans can't afford US consumer goods and South Africa and Europe can export products with much lower transport costs. However, the market for US farm equipment and other machinery has some potential, and as Uganda moves up the value-added chain for its agricultural products, there might be a market for US expertise. Due to Congressional fears of losing jobs overseas, by law, I am permitted to support, not promote US investment in Uganda (fairly minimal anyway, and the few US companies that do invest in Uganda typically do so via South African subsidiaries). We're holding a regional franchise seminar next February to enourage African businesspeople to look at American franchises and for American franchisors to look at sub-Saharan Africa. South Africa has taken the lead here and we'd like to catch up a little. Unfortunately, a large percentage of the Americans who contact me about business opportunities in Uganda either are scam artists or getting scammed. One group came in to discuss purchasing gold from Congo (a big no no) and another wanted to build an airport out in the Ugandan bush to support US military efforts (which efforts, they weren't so sure).

I also recently spent 6 weeks in the consular dungeon as our regular consular officer was on home leave. Like Thais, Ugandan visa applicants typically are very polite. Unfortunately, many have little chance of a visa and its sad telling them no. Unlike Thailand, in which many visa applicants wanted to go to the US on vacation, most Ugandans seem to want to travel to participate in religious events. Evangelism is very powerful in Uganda and most Ugandan churches have some sort of relationship with an American congregation. Plus, many Ugandans sign up to attend giant American spiritual convocations. They're usually very poor with no jobs. Few get visas. We also see a fair amount of fraud, most of it pretty obvious -- fake bank statements and job letters, new passports with minor changes in biographical data used to hide prior visa refusals, and poorly executed doctored photos. We process Sudanese and Somali refugee and asylee cases and those are tough -- no one has any documents (certainly no legitimate documents). Many of the women come in full burkha, with hennaed hands and darkened eyes all that is visible. We now ask for DNA testing for most of those cases. Surprisingly, we have a decent sized American community. Many missionaries and folks working with NGOs, so we get a small, but steady stream of requests for extra passport pages, notarizations etc. But, Uganda also attracts a few ne'er-do-wells. Remarkably, I had to arrange 3 repatriations to the States in my first three weeks down there. Fortunately, no deaths.

In mid-December, Embassy Kampala hosted a huge delegation headed by HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson. We expected them for 2 days, but got an additional 2 days (with 10 hours notice) when most of the delegation didn't go to Nairobi after the most recent travel advisory. Secretary Thompson's group, made up of high-ranking CDC, HHS, and NIH officials, along with several corporate CEOs, was traveling through Africa to study HIV/AIDS programs. At a small Embassy like ours, a visit like this sucks up all our resources. Liz was drafted and had to get up at 4 am two days in a row to work with the group. The delegation toured the homes of rural AIDS patients, visited a new AIDS treatment center and studied some of Uganda's progress in fighting the disease. I think they left impressed, though drained. Its a long way to travel to see some very sad (though perhaps increasingly hopeful) stories.

Uganda celebrates some of the Muslim holidays, including Idd al Feitr, the end of Ramadan. The exact date of the holiday can only be determined upon the sighting of the new moon and so we found out we had a Wednesday off at 9 pm on Tuesday. Uganda Muslim population totals about 15 percent of the total populace and many were out celebrating with parties. We could hear prayers and chanting from Kibuli mosque all night.

Christmas is coming up. While most Ugandans are Christian, the simple fact is most are too poor to display much holiday decoration. However, a few of the more upscale areas have some Christmas hangings and lights. Much like Thailand, it's odd seeing Santa's sleigh in a mall surrounded by palm trees. As many Kampalans get ready to go upcountry to see their family in rural villages, the roadsides are packed with men, women and children in their Sunday best lugging their baggage towards buses and taxis heading out of town. Uganda follows the British tradition, so we all get Dec. 26 off for Boxing Day. Liz and I are taking advantage of the days off to travel to Brussels and then meet Marisa and Todd in London. I had to borrow a jacket so that I won't freeze during my first winter experience in 3 years.

At Liz's urging, I agreed to join her in a 10K race. We got up at 6 am to trudge out of town to run through largely rural areas south of Kampala. Like an episode of Star Trek, some sort of disturbance in the time/space continuum enabled the run to go straight uphill for all 10 kilometers despite the fact that we started and stopped at the same point. On the rare occasions I could look up when not gasping for breath or trying to avoid slipping of the muddy trail, I could look out at Lake Victoria or watch local residents in their best outfits heading to Sunday services. Others worked the fields, pausing to look in wonder at these crazy (largely) muzungus running around under the hot sun. Crowds of little children followed us and cheered us on reminiscent perhaps of a Roman throng hailing a returning Emperor, except a rough translation of these cheers would have been "run slow white person." At times, I wasn't sure that I maintained forward progress, my legs kept moving but the scenery didn't change. However, Liz and I did finish (I have pictures), though the Ambassador kicked our butts.

Happy Holidays!