Posts

Why it is important to define Tax justice as a human rights issue

On the 10th December 2018, Uganda celebrated the 70th anniversary of the universal declaration of human rights, a commitment that gave birth to the human rights movement. Uganda is a signatory to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights (ICESR), the International Covenant on Political and Civil rights and the International covenant on the Rights of a child, the African charter on human and people’s rights, African Charter on the rights and welfare of the child, among others and has a bill of rights in its constitution to guarantee these rights. Almost all these treaties and constitution impose an obligation on the state to ‘undertake measures’ for the implementation of these rights, Al Since 1948, a lot of progress has been made on many a fronts (like creation of Human Rights Bodies(Human Rights Commission, Equal opportunities Commission, etc), Courts, watch dogs, etc) when it comes to attainment and enjoyment of these human rights. However, a lot still needs

Is my TAX accounted for...?!

TAX remission is age old, but many of us seldom interact to discuss it. Many more hardly ever interrogate where the TAX that we pay ends up on purchase simplistic items such as a match box, a candle or a bar of soap but on the flip side, Tax Justice is a fairly new concept that is slowly taking root in Africa following cross country calls by citizens, CSOs and development partners for Governments to account for the taxes that are collected and to provide quality services on time. To guarantee ownership, commitment and sustainability, the concept of Tax Justice Campaign front loads the  “common citizen”  in all its engagements. In-depth understanding by practitioners and successful application by actual tax payers is strongly hinged on the three pillars of Human Rights Based Approach – empowerment, solidarity and campaigns. While there are various ways of collecting taxes, most African states generate most of their local revenue from the realms of the informal rather than the formal sec

Get it done, right now!

I should do a disclaimer; if you are a procrastinator this is going to be a very stressful reading. You will be amazed at so many people in the world today who think things that they don’t do. Meant to do it, never got it done. It’s hard to bring something from thought life to action. Not just work, not just goals, not just careers…even good things.  You will be surprised the good things that men think about girlfriend but they don’t tell them. The little things that women do that has men saying, “that’s why I love you, right there…that thing right there, that there…that’s why I love you”. But they don’t say a word about it. In an attempt to be present at the moment, I am challenging myself to be more verbal even about compliments. I can’t exactly explain why men don’t’ say anything and sometimes they say it about you but not to you. You can’t spend love that does not reach you. So even though they have it for you if they don’t give it to, you can’t enjoy the benefit from it an

... My Conscious is clear!

What has been said of me is true. I offer no arguments nor dispute to the simple facts, but they hardly begin to cover the scope of my true crimes. Honor requires more than admition, so I offer a full confession and the whole truth. For far too long I have failed to recognize my own hypocrisy, I ignored my own cowardice conveniently hiding behind a position of political compromise, and for what? To retain the meager wealth and rank than men desire. So I come before you a condemned man for having finally stood up to injustice. My shame and regret is that I failed to do so before it arrived in my own court. We supply the armies, we build the roads, and we employ the nation. Still we remain silent while our coffers are emptied and our freedoms eroded. There will be times where we are powerless to injustice but there must never be a time where we fail to protest. This being, known as individualism is a cancer growing and the only proper thing to do is to cut it out. You all know what I

Foreign aid eroding Kenya's fabric!

There is a fundamental mistake in the understanding of the issues of foreign policy by the government of Kenya. We can not continue making policies on the basis of support that Kenya gets from the developed Nations. It is not sustainable, effective and beyond that, can not work. Our responsibility as a Nation is to charter a path on how we can develop our Nation. President Thomas Sankara did it jointly with the people of Bukinabe (now, Bukina Faso). It is a sorry state to have a Country like Kenya which is an East African power house with a leading economy having more than half its budget being funded by the foreign states while what is collected locally is mismanaged, and stolen - shamelessly. By now, Kenya SHOULD be in a position to finance its basic needs, if its going to be on course to achieve the 17 SDGs and the Country’s blue print of 2030. If we are going to look at the next fifty or so years to be a mid or second world economy, we can not co

What is Capacity Building?

Capacity building is perhaps one of the most fashionable, yet least understood term in the non‐profit sector. There is a lack of shared definition and understanding around its features and essential elements. Funders tend to talk about capacity building programs, while capacity builders might refer to capacity building engagements, yet organizations may refer to it as a set of activities or processes that accomplish a specific goal.  In essence, this is the process by which individuals, groups, organizations, and communities increase their abilities to:  Perform core functions, solve problems, define and achieve objectives; and  Understand and deal with their development needs in a broad context and in a sustainable manner.” Organizational capacity building seeks to strengthen the ability of an organization or agency to achieve a desired outcome. Capacity building in this area can be defined as: “Supporting organizations to build and maintain the skills, infrastructure, and r