Elections: Story of hunters and gatherers

As such, anything defined as a pillar implies the whole won’t stand for long if one is removed, weakened, or neglected. Therefore, the electoral roadmap concerns us. Elections form a key social pillar where prospective policymakers express their will to propel sustainable development. 

The activities are tied with a budget, implying the economic aspect at the basis of comprehension, while the environment tends to be the pawn of play as the physical resources and infrastructure such as roads and wells get highlighted as success or promises.

During this period, forest and wetland encroachers pull strings against eviction, while the oil and gas industry will be an interesting field as well.

Uganda continues to be revered as a regional food, probably, and water basket. Our country’s geographical scale is also still the same, although our internal administrative procedures have changed over time. So far, we have about 136 districts, several municipalities, towns, and cities.

Governance representation has equally grown to more than 600 + constituency representation at the national assembly/Parliament. 

Mindful of known and or unknown intent, it is easy to interpret the country’s development path and approach as mostly social governance. To benefit from this, however, we need to continue improving governance, while making it work for business, science and innovation.

Our context is still riddled with more challenges. For instance, the larger part of northern Uganda’s food security situation, according to recent reports is categorised as ‘stressed or in crisis’ (FEWSNET, 2022), and anyone visiting the urban markets in Kampala also knows how costly eating has become, let alone, living. 

More than 70 percent of countrymen and women are mostly engaged in small-scale farming and related businesses, trying to survive the effects of climate change, rampant environmental degradation, and the weak value chains and markets. This situation ought to be managed through the adoption of  ‘agroecology’, a move from the current practices, to ensure short and long-term sustainability. 

About 38 of the estimated 48 million Ugandans have access to safe drinking water and 63 percent have access to improved sanitation (Our World in Data & Worldometer 2020;2023). We are based in the Great Lakes region of Africa and stand a chance at rapidly improving the water and sanitation situation. As the fossil industry and business future continue being debated, we have an opportunity to chart a greener resource development path. 

Our energy battles are still as affordable as eliminating destructive charcoal burning, enforcing sustainable avenues, and making alternative energy sources for households affordable. Let’s make resource-rich communities such as those with minerals, look the value, think through the welfare and employment situation, roll back retrogressive laws, and continue supporting migrant communities.   

There are indeed more demands in each coming election cycle. What is additionally clear also is that the solutions are centralised and increasingly regulated, and the would-be social power is less aligned. Individuals seeking electoral positions must, therefore, be able to hunt and or gather for the country and the local units they represent.

Juliet Katusiime Zizinga(PhD) is an environmental sustainability researcher and advocate