Uganda to set Sweetpotato Seed Standards

By Esther Nakkazi

Uganda is creating a sweetpotato seed system with standards for inspection and certification.

Under the seed system farmers will buy clean, high quality planting materials from certified suppliers, which will ensure high yields and reduce the spread of pests and diseases.

Sweetpotato is vegetatively propagated where each cropping cycle is started by planting vine cuttings or root sprouts most of them sourced from farmers own fields or their neighbors.

This way there is no check on the quality of vines planted and increases the risk of spreading diseases despite farmers’ efforts to select healthy-looking vines. This also facilitates accumulation of pests and diseases leading to significant decline in yield. But this will change.

“We have developed and piloted seed standards and inspection procedures for sweetpotato so that farmers can access quality planting material of the right varieties and at the right time,” said Dr. Godfrey Asea, the director, National Crops Research Resource Institute (NaCRRI)

The sweetpotato standards have been developed with leadership from Prof Settumba B Mukasa, a plant genetic and lecturer at the school of Agricultural Science Makerere University who is working with the Phytosanitary and Quarantine Services of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAAIF), HarvestPlus, International Potato Center (CIP) and other seed system stakeholders.

“The standards are currently in form of technical guidelines for field inspection primarily based on tolerance levels for visual disease readings, pest incidence varietal mixtures in the seed crop, land use history, source of planting material for the seed crop and laboratory testing,” said Prof Settumba.

As well, the team is also developing inspection instructional materials for sensitizing, training and technically empowering the plant inspectors, seed producers, laboratory operators, and net protected nursery multipliers, said Prof Settumba.

For Uganda and the other sub-Saharan countries that are members of the Sweetpotato for Profit and Health Initiative (SPHI) it is key to have policies that would ensure sustainability of a model of production for delivery of quality planting material.

The SPHI with 11 participating countries ̶ Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Burundi, Uganda̶̶ and Zambia have a target of reaching 10 million households in sub-Saharan Africa by 2020.

To reach this goal, the provision of quality sweetpotato seed or planting material is critical and it requires strong seed systems, said Margaret McEwan, senior project manager for sweetpotato seed systems at International Potato Center.

Participants from SPHI participating countries meeting in Uganda last month under the annual ‘Community of Practise’ get togather exchanged information on how to create and sustain sweetpotato seed systems.

“Scaling up sweetpotato seed systems is not only about the technologies, but also the factors which create an enabling policy environment, the social and behavioural change and new organizational arrangements which are needed, so that farmers can access quality sweetpotato planting material of the right varieties, at the right time,” said Asea.

Prof Settumba emphasised the same issue saying although there are a number of seed classification systems, whatever system is used, standards and guidelines are set by the government.

As well, to maintain sweetpotato seed systems, there is need to identify policy issues that would ensure sustainability of a model of production and delivery of quality planting material,” said Settumba.

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72% decline in sperm count in African men over 50 years

By Esther Nakkazi

A press release from the African Health Sciences says sperm count for African men has declined by 72% over the past 50 years. The data is from a paper published in the African Health Sciences journal of June 2017.

“This is a threat to the procreation of the future generations,” said Dr. Pallav Sengupta, the head of Physiology Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Lincoln University College, Malaysia.

“I was amazed at the magnitude of the problem. 72% decline over time is a dangerous downward trend.This situation is indeed scary,” said Uchenna I Nwagha, Professor of Obstetrics Biology and Reproductive Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology/Physiology College of Medicine, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus.

The current concentration is also very near to the World Health Organisation (WHO) cut-off value of 2010 of 15×106/ml, which is a major issue of concern.

The data is also in line with other studies of other men worldwide.

After a systematic review and meta-analysis that retrieved data following MOOSE guidelines and PRISMA checklist, they found that the major possible causes are poorly treated sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and hormonal abnormalities, consumption of excessive alcohol and tobacco smoking.

Other published articles cited exposure to pesticides and heavy metals as principal triggers of decreased sperm count among African men.

"We have put forth the evidence of the decline and discussed various causative factors over the past 50 years like lifestyle, food habits, disease prevalence and others,” said Dr. Sengupta also the lead author.

“More than one factor is involved in this decreasing trend, correlation with a single factor is difficult to establish. But we are also working on their correlations for our upcoming reports,” said Dr. Sengupta.

In the meta-analysis conducted, the researchers retrieved data from fourteen studies that have been conducted during 1965 and 2015 on altering sperm concentration in the African male. The studies were done in Nigeria, Tunisia, Tanzania, Libya, and Egypt among males aged 19 to 55 years.

After analysis of this data, a time-dependent decline of sperm concentration (r = -0.597, p = 0.02) and an overall 72.6% decrease in mean sperm concentration was noted in the past 50 years.

In 1991, WHO estimated that almost 20-35 million couples were infertile in Africa. Nigeria was suggested to have been suffering from highest infertility problems among the other African countries, the male infertility factor accounting for 40-50%.

“In recent times, in the course of managing infertility in Nigeria, I have observed the apparent decline in sperm count in men and a decrease in ovarian reserve over time in women,” said Prof Nwagha.

Said Prof Nwagha, “Apart from lifestyle and others, one situation in Nigeria is the effect of environmental toxins from generators. Most Nigerians rely on generator sets for electricity as public power is grossly inadequate, unreliable and epileptic, in the face of enormous urbanization and deforestation. The resultant effect of the environmental toxins from generator fumes on the germ cells over time may be a significant contributor to what we are experiencing today.”

“We, therefore, advocate for more epidemiological studies to identify the possible etiological factors to enable us to halt this dangerous trend, and to avoid natural reproductive extinction,” added Prof Nwagha

Other studies have shown a significant decrease in sperm concentration worldwide in men in North America, Europe, and New Zealand. Overall studies show a 57% decline in sperm count worldwide from 1980.

Other researchers in the study included Dr. Emmanuel Izuka from the College of Medicine, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, Nigeria and Dr. Sulagna Dutta of Lincoln University College, Malaysia.

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Pregnant African Women’s Neglected Disease

By Esther Nakkazi

Twenty-two year old Lorriane Akampurira thought she had minor problems with her pregnancy. Her feet were swollen. Later her whole body too. It was her first pregnancy.

“People started saying that it was because I was carrying twins. Others said the baby was big,” said Lorraine. When she started feeling real sick she went to hospital. At that point her whole body was swollen like ‘there was water in it and it could burst anytime.’

Lorraine's husband was worried all the time but had no answers. They are a young couple, newly married and with no experience. “My wife could not sleep at night yet people kept on saying the body swelling was normal. She was in pain all night, very night. I kept on asking myself about this normal swelling?,” said Mr. Akampurira.

When Lorraine arrived at the hospital, one look at her from the doctor was enough. The baby had to be removed immediately in order to save the life of mother and baby. She was diagnosed with Pre-eclampsia.

Pre-eclampsia and eclampsia remain ‘neglected diseases’ among African women.

On 22nd May, the Akampuliras joined the rest of the world to commemorate the inaugural world Pre-eclampsia day. In Uganda, the event was organised by the Health Systems Advocacy Partnership (HSAP) project under the theme; ‘Take the Pre-eclampsia Pledge; know the symptoms. Spread the word.’

Pre-eclampsia is a common pregnancy complication that is characterised by new-onset of hypertension. Studies show that women in the developing world are 300 times more at risk of dying from pre-eclampsia.

In Uganda, 368 women die from pregnancy and childbirth-related causes per 100,000 live births and hypertensive disorder, or pre-eclampsia and eclampsia is the second most common cause of maternal death after postpartum haemorrhage.

The cause of pre-eclampsia is unclear but it has been observed to run in families suggesting that there is a genetic predisposition to it. It is still an unknown disease, with no local language equivalent and no clinically useful screening test. Health workers can detect pre-eclampsia by diagnosing persistent hypertension and the presence of protein in urine.

Dr Annettee Nakimuli, the head of the gynaecology and obstetrics department at Mulago referral hospital said at least 4 women die per day at Mulago due to pre-eclampsia and it is responsible for 8% of admissions of pregnant women at this hospital.

Nakimuli said the condition presents with signs like swelling of the body but generally there is no pain. Because of this many women suffer ignorantly. On top of this, pre-eclampsia is surrounded by myths; some say it is witchcraft, a pregnancy of twins, a baby girl as well it is labelled as ‘a disease of cheating women.’

Nakimuli said all women are at risk but more so those in the extreme age bracket; below 19 or over 40 years of age as well as those who get pregnant through IVF.

When Lorraine’s baby girl was delivered at six months she was assured that the body swelling would stop but it did not. Even as she attended this world pre-eclampsia day, her legs were still swollen. She also suffered from kidney disease and was on her way to hospital for another check up of her heart which could have been damaged.

The Akampurira’s baby lived for only nine days and died. She had breathing problems.

In Uganda, pre-eclampsia is also the leading cause of pre-marital birth. The babies are usually born pre-term, they are small for age and their survival is limited.

“Death is the worst. Women with pre-eclampsia get complications and remain sick forever,” said Nakimuli. Complications include stroke, breathing problems, kidney failure, cardiovascular disease and others.

At Mulago, the gynaecology and obstetrics Unit remits the biggest number of patients for dialysis. “The urologists are always complaining to us because we send them the most patients,” said Nakimuli. 

Efforts to end pre-eclampsia in Uganda;

On 22nd May, the Health Systems Advocacy Partnership (HSAP), a project seeking to bring stronger health systems so people in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly Uganda gain better access to sexual and reproductive health services joined the world to bring attention to pre-eclampsia and other hypertensive disorders.

“Hypertensive disorders are not rare complications of pregnancy,” said Denis Kibira the executive director of HEPS-Uganda. Kibira said the government needs to expand access to proven under utilised interventions and commodities for prevention as well as avail early detection and treatment of pre-eclampsia and eclampsia.

Luckily, Uganda knows what to do with pre-eclampsia but there are still some hurdles along the way.

Dr. Jessica Nsungwa Sabiiti, the commissioner in charge of Reproductive Health at the Ministry of Health said Uganda has a policy that recommends the use of Magnesium Sulphate, for use for women suffering from pre-eclampsia.

Magnesium Sulphate, a cheap drug, is one of the 13 UN Lifesaving Commodities for women and children on the Uganda national essential medicine list. Its overall availability in Uganda health facilities is 77 percent.

Unfortunately, health workers especially nurses and midwives, who are the first contact for mothers with pre-eclampsia are not prescribing the drug, said Nsungwa. “They fear the toxicity so their lack of confidence prevents them from prescribing it.”

As a result of fear to prescribe, the nurses wait for the doctors at the detriment of the mother’s health and yet there are just a few of these in primary health care.

But with the awareness growing and government committed to train health workers there is some light at the end of the tunnel. Let alone the condition getting world recognition.

“I was so excited that there is at last world pre-eclampsia day. It will create awareness. We are on our way to success,” said Nakimuli.

After the event, Akampurira and her husband said they were on their way to pick the ‘heart-health’ results from the hospital. Hopefully, the young couple will have the next baby survive.

ends.

40 years after the first Ebola outbreak are we able to handle the next epidemic?

By Esther Nakkazi

(An edited version of this piece was published in The EastAfrican newspaper (no link) in September 2016. I wrote it when I was a resident Journalist at the Institute of Tropical Medicine. Just uploaded it in light of the recent Ebola outbreak in DRC)

Driven by discoveries over the last 40 years since the first Ebola outbreak, scientists are optimistic that the new tools and data at hand will limit the damage for the next epidemic.

Since September, 1976, in Yambuku, Zaire - now the Democratic Republic of Congo, when the first outbreak of the disease was reported, 25 Ebola outbreaks have happened but the 2014 West African outbreak was unprecedented.

In nearly two years in three countries there were 11,000 deaths. Over Ebola’s existence of 40 years, 30,900 cumulative cases have occurred with12,800 deaths at an annual average death of 322. 

At the 8th International Symposium on Filoviruses in Antwerp, Belgium, hosted by the Antwerp Institute of Tropical Medicine, on 12-15 September 2016, which reviewed global progress against Ebola, scientists said they have enough Ebola arsenal; vaccines, diagnostics, clinical data and therapeutics ready for the next epidemic.

For the academia and researchers, so much has been discovered over the past 40 years. As Micheal Kurilla, the director biodefence research at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said at the symposium, ‘the once one pager on hemorrhagic fever in text books is now being constantly rewritten and updated.’

“The silver lining of the epidemic is that there has been some solid research from epidemiological, social, anthropological, therapeutic and vaccine research,” said Peter Piot the director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK.

Three microbiologists, Professors Peter Piot, Guido van der Groen and Jean-Jacques Muyembe are no strangers to Ebola. The two Belgians received the first ‘unknown’ virus at the Antwerp Institute of Tropical Medicine from the former who sent it from Kisansha and they discovered Ebola.

Top insights on research:

Ebola is not all the time killing it can also save some lives. ITM spearheaded the use of blood and plasma from recovered patients to cure victims although it was not very successful and has since developed diagnostics.

“We have moved relatively quickly, gained a lot of time and learned a lot of things on how to do things better,” said Prof. Dr. Johan Van Griensven who heads the HIV and Neglected Tropical Diseases Unit at ITM.

There is also a general desire to progress Ebola R&D faster through initiatives like the coalition for epidemic preparedness innovations which is creating partnerships and giving incentives to develop vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics where there is no market to contain outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases. This is at the back drop of limited epidemic R&D market incentives.

There are also efforts to share data and not duplicate funding. What happened in the West African outbreak was terrible. Chinese came in just to pick samples, institutions owned data and refused to share it.

Now efforts have been made to share data and to encourage players to play into each other’s comparative advantage, said Dr. Barbara Kerstiens, the deputy Head Fighting Infectious Diseases and Advancing Public Health Unit, DG for Research and Innovation at the European Commission.

Overall, the WHO has also made harmonised clinical trials a blue print plan for action.

Various pharmaceutical companies have also gone ahead to develop vaccines. On 12 September, Johnson & Johnson, announced that its subsidiary Janssen Vaccines & Prevention B.V had submitted its investigational preventive Ebola prime-boost vaccine regimen to the World Health Organisation (WHO) to be used in emergencies.

“If listed for emergency use, the investigational Janssen vaccine regimen could be a vital prevention tool for rapid outbreak response,” said Johan Van Hoof, Global Therapeutic Area Head, Infectious Diseases and Vaccines, Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies.

It would particularly be available for health workers and vulnerable communities on the front-lines who suffer the most in Ebola outbreaks. It has already been tested and passed in animal models and for safety.

Many other vaccines have passed the test for animal models - which do not necessarily represent the pathogenesis - that occurs in humans. For many Ebola vaccines and treatments when scientists caused disease in rodent species they would be mildly affected although it was deadly in humans. Scientists therefore did not know which animal models would be predictive and this limited advancing.

When the outbreak happened in West Africa everything changed. It was a windfall. The unexpected opportunity to test the animal models under real life conditions was presented.

“It gave us an opportunity to advance and focus on the most appropriate animal models so that the future counter measures will have a much higher probability of success in the next outbreak” said Kurilla. “We got a lot of ‘proof of concept’ for interventions although at some point it was less than ideal to move forward.”

Furthermore, there are new lessons to learn from long studies. For instance, 40 years ago it was unknown that the Ebola virus is spread sexually and that it survives in survivors bodies for a long time 

And a lot to learn from research that did not work like the ITM convalescent plasma treatment that had held a lot of hope. “Data should not be undervalued because showing that something does not work is equally as important and has enormous value,” said Kurilla.

It is also new research that age and viral load where key determinants for the survival against Ebola, not necessarily solely supportive care as many thought.

The WestAfrican Ebola outbreak flipped to the usual; a humanitarian emergency having outbreaks to an outbreak becoming a humanitarian emergency. There were also unnecessary delays and a reluctance both government and international community levels to consider it a humanitarian crisis and not just another health problem until gears shifted.

Thus, institutions like World Health Organisation have made reforms. With no historical formal mechanism in countries for managing outbreaks but a clear architecture in the way humanitarian crisis are managed for conflict and natural disasters changes are underway.

“Previously, the humanitarian and outbreak departments were separate but they are now merged,” said Dr. Rick Brennan the Director, Emergency Risk Management and Humanitarian Response at WHO.

WHO is also working to create a system with standard procedures to support a more predictable mechanism with better leadership and coordination especially working to leverage that capacity to manage large scale outbreaks, said Brennan.

“We need more experience of the humanitarian sector, which is dominated by logistics, organisation, coordination that could be more boring and bureaucratic but I believe we need more of that in the first place,” said Piot.

WHO has also linked up with the World Bank for a ‘unified framework for preparedness’ . This will strengthen preparedness at the country level not just for outbreaks but for emergencies.

The reasoning is that every country is prone to emergencies and its capacity to respond to them needs a baseline study to understand the average patterns faced and how they can prepare.

“We have done this because regardless of the event there are some basics that you always need,” said Brennan. These include good medicine management, information capacity, communication capacities, strong logistic.

WHO has also put in place a special procedure to fast track R&D the WHO Emergency Use Assessment and Listing (EUAL) that can be implemented when there is an outbreak with high rates of morbidity and mortality and a lack of treatment or prevention options.

Janssen Vaccines & Prevention B.V has submitted its investigational preventive Ebola prime-boost vaccine regimen for it.

“If the WHO grants an emergency use listing, this will accelerate the availability of Janssen’s investigational vaccine regimen to the international community in the event another Ebola crisis occurs,” said Paul Stoffels, the Chief Scientific Officer, Johnson & Johnson.

The DRC which has recorded seven outbreaks, the highest ever in a single country, also has lessons. At the epic of the West Africa outbreak it had its own.

“The first thing is to detect, report and test. We now have a good surveillance system and we have trained some health workers,” said Prof Muyembe.

Muyembe who leads the national coordinating committee on Ebola in the country and is the director general of the National Institute of Biomedical Research (INRB) said these are key ingredients to control the virus.

In addition, there is strong community engagement and ownership to implement, control and prevent Ebola. For them dialogue is important and only negotiated solutions are implemented. Ebola survivors are used to disseminate information.

“Many people can now identify Ebola. If the outbreak happened right now they would know exactly what to do,” said Muyembe.

“I think that indirectly DRC demonstrates that you can control this epidemic in the absence of a fantastic health system. A strong leadership, experience and an equipped laboratory were able to bring the epidemic under control,” said Piot.

But the environment was also very different. Currently, the urgency has waned. Unless something is done it is back to business as usual.

In 1977, Piot a young doctor, attended his first WHO meeting after visiting Yambuku. At the WHO meeting strong statements were made like ‘we shall invest in epidemic preparedness, support to build health systems and primary health care’ and believed it.

In 2015 Piot travelled with Muyembe back to Yambuku to see what had come of all the promises.

“We arrived at the mission and what we saw was very sad. A nurse survivor who had survived Ebola in 1976 was there. He runs the hospital laboratory of the hospital. He has a decent microscope and some reagents and that is it. No one pays him.”

Except for tonnes of plumpy’nut which is not required in this region that hardly suffers from malnutrition, there were no anti-HIV and malaria drugs.

“We owe it to the people who died in this epidemics to do much better. When the headlines have gone we should continue with the work,” said Piot.

ends

(An edited version of this piece was published in The EastAfrican newspaper in September 2016. I wrote it when I was a resident Journalist at the Institute of Tropical Medicine. Just uploaded it in light of the recent Ebola outbreak in DRC) 

Building Capacity for REDD+ among Academia in East Africa

By Esther Nakkazi

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) is a complex subject and so is having academic research about it.

But a project to build capacity for higher education and research on climate change for improved ecosystem health through reduced greenhouse gas emissions and sustainable livelihoods has managed to do just that in East Africa.

The REDD-EA project is a five-year project (2014 - 2018) that supports masters, Ph.D. and postgraduate studies at Makerere University in Uganda and the University of Dar-es-Salaam (UDS) in Tanzania with short stays at Norwegian University of Life Sciences.

Funded to the tune of $3m by the Norwegian Programme for Capacity Development in Higher Education and Research for Development (NORHED), the project has largely remained on track- meaning they have so far achieved their target.

Prof John Tabuti at the Department of Environment Management Makerere University said the first batch of fellowships is on track at both universities. In total, Uganda will build capacity for 34 and Tanzania 15 students.

But like all REDD+ projects, which remains a complex subject, implementers still think that like any other such to have an impact even the academia need to focus on one issue - community engagement.

Officials say that without doubt, community understanding is at the heart of REDD+ projects to be successful. Why? Most of the projects work with communities. Since REDD+ is defined as a multilateral policy that is meant to reward actions that conserve forests, communities are at the core of their success.

The REDD+EA project overall aims to strengthen the scientific and institutional capacity of academic institutions to deliver quality research on REDD+ and to generate evidence-based results for policy, said Tabuti also the principal investigator of the REDD-EA project.

So far, Uganda has trained 7 PhDs and 24 masters, while the University of Dar-es-Salaam is training 6 PhDs and 6 masters. More students will be recruited this academic year said Tabuti.

In Tanzania, ‘Students are already at various stages of their research and dissertation writing. They are expected to translate their theses into scientific papers as a way of wider dissemination of their findings,’ said Dr. Edmund Mabhuye a faculty member center for climate change studies at the University of Dar-es-Salaam.

The trained students will also ensure that functional and specialized training programs on REDD+ are created within universities, according to the REDD-EA project aims.

Kellen Aganyira a Ph.D. student at Makerere University on the REDD-EA project fellowship said the opportunity for research and capacity building in higher education for REDD+ can only be got from such projects.

“Building our capacity as researchers is important. If we go down there and find out what is happening on the ground we inform policymakers,” said Aganyira.

“Training researchers is one way of reaching many practitioners since one researcher can disseminate knowledge to stakeholders across scales and levels,” said Mabhuye by email.

Doing it differently;

REDD+ is defined as a multilateral policy meant to reward actions that conserve forests. It involves payment through carbon credits. Since it is communities that should conserve forests, their participation and understanding are key for them to consent and protect forests if the projects have to succeed.

But it is a difficult concept to understand. For instance, researchers report farmers asking them how they should pack carbon in order to sell it. Aganyira whose Ph.D. is focussed on community participation in carbon projects agrees that it is a difficult sell.

“Communities do not seem to understand how they arrive at the amounts paid to them,” she said.
And that is not all. The carbon money delays so much that communities loose interest and land policies do not make it any easier. While payments require legal documents of ownership of land most forest land is communally owned.

It was therefore imperative for the REDD-EA project to focus on a deeper understanding of one topic - community engagement. Instead, most REDD-EA fellowships students focussed on a wide range of topics ranging from land tenure, community understanding, carbon in wetlands, carbon credits, REDD+ law, economics and a wide range of other topics.

“The challenge was that we went into many directions. I am a bit unhappy because we have not gone so deep,” said Tabuti. “It should have been narrowed down so that all PhDs focus on one theme to deepen our understanding.”

At Makerere University the next intake promises to be focused. “If I had to do this again I would go for community engagement. At the community you want them to understand and make informed choices,” said Tabuti.

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From Russia With Love; Uganda Nuclear Power Plant

By Esther Nakkazi

On April 19th, the leading Uganda daily newspaper, The New Vision carried on its front page a story ‘Russia to build Nuclear plant for Uganda’. The story went ahead to state that talks about the project are in the final stages.

When I read the story I did not react much but an expat in energy and infrastructure from Holland hung onto the story and was perplexed. He asked me about the Chernobyl disaster and I knew nothing about it but later found time to read about it.

The Chernobyl disaster occurred in April 1986 and is recorded as the most disastrous nuclear plant accident in history. It spilled over the whole of Europe and was costly in terms of cash and casualties. And its still consuming money and causing damage to humans and wildlife.

We could say that the Russians learnt a lot since then and they are the best country to teach us on how to avoid a similar scenario, read- ‘everlasting disaster’ but there are some issues that are so ‘Ugandan’ I do not know that my country can handle nuclear technology, which requires the highest level of safety.

If you travel on Ugandan roads you would be sorry with the level of careless accidents, safety does not exist! If you watch our construction industry you will be alarmed at how buildings collapse half way and kill workers. So you clearly understand that safety is not an issue in Uganda. For the Chernobyl disaster to happen there was among other things an overlap in safety.

If Uganda has to go ahead with this project there some key questions; who will own the nuclear plant? Is it Uganda or Russia?. If it is Uganda do we have the money to sustain it for hundreds of years after the Russians leave? We must be aware that it continues to eat money even when it is generating no money at all. 

The plant will generate radio active waste, which is harmful to people and the environment. Do we have the capacity to handle such waste which causes cancer if it is not well managed?

Where will the it be built? It has to be built near water because it operates with pressurised water, generates steam and needs water for cooling. So I suppose it will be on Lake Victoria or River Nile, all water bodies shared with partner States. The politics of that will be interesting to watch.

Nuclear energy is good so don’t get me wrong. It is the cheapest form of energy and is carbon-dioxide free during production. You can also use its radiation to treat cancer.

But it is also high end technology, requires discipline and I repeat 'maximum level of safety', which at this point I am afraid to say Uganda does not have. So hopefully the Uganda Ministry of Energy officials who are okaying this project have the capacity to question some of these issues and others that I may not mention here before the project takes off.

Stellenbosch University Software Donation troubles Makerere

By Esther Nakkazi

Makerere University will upgrade or all togather overhaul its system responsible for storage of administration, finance and student data, officials said.

The International Tertiary System (ITS) that integrates finance, human resource and academic data was brought in to Makerere from Stellenbosch University about ten years ago. It was a donation costing about $700,000.

However, Makerere University officials say their staff in the academic Registrar’s department who have already been arrested, allegedly tampered with the system which, caused a delay in issuance of transcripts to students who graduated in February this year. But some sources say this is not the case.

The staff also allegedly altered students’s marks and listed some 58 students into the 67th graduation booklet. Makerere administration has been apologising to the affected students and promised quick action.

Now the University wants to upgrade the ITS, which is unique and was tailor-made for Stellenbosch university, and has also since become obsolete.

“We have been operating a system purchased from South Africa but it is now obsolete that is why some unscrupulous staff managed to beat it. So we shall either upgrade it in the medium term or buy a new system,” said Prof Barnabas Nawangwe, the deputy vice chancellor in charge of finance.

Prof Nawangwe explained that either decision would rely on the cost but only if they failed to agree on upgrading the ITS with a new version would they buy a new system.

When Makerere administration realised that there were anomalies on the 67th graduation list, they halted the issuance of transcripts which affected over 14,895 students.

Prof John Ssentamu Ddumba, Makerere University vice chancellor, instructed the IT team to clean up the system and ensure that it is not tampered with again.

In mid March, Mr. Alfred Masikye, the academic registrar wrote to all university stakeholders alerting them on a temporary shut down in processing transcripts which alarmed the recently graduated students who wanted their transcripts for either further studies or to apply for jobs.

According to Masikye’s communication the university management had discovered that names of 58 students had their marks altered and henceforth withdrew them pending further investigations.

Press reports show that as early as 2015, Makerere withheld about 14,000 students’ transcripts until they verified their results. Prior to that incident, in 2008 a meeting had noted that the ITS was insecure and ill functioning.

A source who did not want to be named told this reporter that since inception, the ITS has always had major flaws and was incompatible with Makerere University.

One of the reasons is that the ITS was never configured to Makerere’s requirements but implemented the way it was working at Stellenbosch University, the source said. “It was like do it here as you did it there. It was also a donation and the administrators could not refuse it.”

Stellenbosch University and Makerere University have major variables. As a software that was tailor-made to Stellenbosch, its failures or repairs meant calling someone from South Africa, which was costly, the source said.

She said the two universities with major differences could not be aligned to fit the ITS at Makerere. For instance while the ITS was using the calendar year in Stellenbosch, Makerere uses an academic year so data inout and storage was a challenge.

Makerere university, as its legacy, has always registered students using registration numbers but the ITS system uses a ten-digit student number. When this anomaly was realised the Makerere administration started issuing student numbers on top of the registration numbers to fit the system.

Users at the administration level complained and they requested that one of numbers be dropped but Makerere had to keep its legacy of registration number so both of them were maintained causing more chaos.

The other issue is that the ITS would allow students to register online only after paying at least 60 percent of the tuition fees. The way the ITS was modelled is that it would automate registration with that data input from finance and enable the student to register.

Since Stellenbosch University is a state-subsided most of its students would have no problem with that requirement but Makerere has been in running battles with students to pay their school fees on time. 

However, another source who also preferred anonymity says the students results management system responsible for input, storage and administration of student marks and production of transcripts was locally designed.

He said Makerere is just not saying the truth about the problem and not effectively managing issuing of transcripts to graduated students on time.

Makerere University officials, however said the two were aligned so the locally made system, which was tampered with by its staff was aligned to the ITS and students records would be imported into it. But the matter would soon be resolved.

Ends.