Deo Tumusiime
17 September 2008
opinion
Kampala — Uganda's high population growth rate of about 30 million people should be a concern for the Government and every citizen. This has been a sharp increase from a population of 4.8 million people in 1950.
Latest figures indicate that Uganda's fertility rate is about 6.9 children per woman and few women would want to limit child production to less than three children. This situation has been made worse by the increasing involvement of teenagers in sexual relationships.
It is sad to note that in some cases, children as young as 13 also get pregnant and since abortion is not legal, they must carry on to the end and become child mothers.
One cause for the increasing population has been the laxity by the Government to effectively guide its citizens on the danger of an uncontrolled population. On many occasions, the President has said Uganda still needs more people. This is in contrast to his Prime Minister's recent alarm over the current population trends.
Cultural leaders have also played their role in encouraging their subjects to produce with the selfish ambition to multiply their own clansmen. The Baganda have been encouraging the notion of muzaale mwaale (produce and fill the kingdom). This is despite the fact that the Baganda, like many other tribes in this country, have several of their clansmen who are landless with nowhere to lay their heads.
This is not helped by the old biblical command by God that we should produce and fill the earth. It is sad that many staunch Christians seem to take biblical lessons literally rather than logically. When God created the world, He expected his people to be nice to each other and share the available resources equitably, with a spirit of love. Sadly, the reality is different.
A lot of land is in the hands of few rich citizens and hundreds of people live on less than a dollar a day. It is, therefore, unfair for someone who owns no land or property to have more than six children. How do they plan to feed, clothe and educate them?
Certainly 50 years ago, land was abundantly available. However, increasing population pressure on available land led to quick land monetisation, a move that has left the poor landless. People who acquired land then, are perhaps among the richest citizens today because the value of land has greatly appreciated. But for how long shall people continue to live as squatters in their own country?
Therefore, since there's no yardstick for sharing available resources equally among the existing population, it would be naïve for anyone to continue spreading the gospel of "produce and fill the earth." This is not to say that we are fighting God's command, but we must be realistic while we pray for His intervention to limit or undo our greed to amass wealth at the expense of others.
This country could accommodate 100 million people if the resources were properly distributed to benefit every citizen. However, with so many destitutes sleeping on the streets, many sharing a single room, others going without food, further population growth can only be a liability to Ugandans.
Birth control cannot, therefore, be left in the hands of ordinary citizens given that majority of the people carelessly produce children either out of ignorance of the resultant impact or simply for the pride of it. Others have many children to appease their parents, while some women who repeatedly produce children of the same sex continue giving birth in search for a child of the opposite sex.
Some people cannot comprehend having one or two children for fear that they might die faster, leaving them childless. However, it is evident that whether a couple has one or 10 children, death is in the hands of God, the Creator. We should not facilitate quick death by producing children who will suffer their entire life due to lack of proper care and treatment.
The Government must come up with deliberate control of the situation by establishing a child-birth ceiling that is balanced with the available resources per individual. It must also go beyond such a mere legislation and ensure that every citizen legally lives what can averagely be regarded a decent life.
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