UGANDA

Mufti wrong on family planning

Ganda Mufti Sheikh Ramadhan Mubajje has urged Muslims to multiply rapidly, warning them against using family planning methods. Citing his personal story, the Mufti says that because he himself has three wives and 20 children, he would have no moral authority to advise other believers to limit the sizes of their families. Of course by virtue of his station, the Mufti can afford to look after such a large family. But the average Muslim and the average Ugandan is much, much poorer than the Mufti, and would therefore be hard-pressed to give a quality life to a large family.

Uganda remains one of the world's poorest countries partly because of uncontrolled population growth. At 3.5% per year, it remains one of the highest, and threatens to negate our otherwise considerable economic growth. At the household level, the pressure is increasing for children to go to school, feed well, stay healthy, dress properly and sleep soundly. This would be hard to achieve, with the average monthly household income of $70. Dividing sh120,000 among 20 mouths every month would leave them deprived, hungry and sick. Those are the very characteristics of developing countries — poverty, hunger and disease. Worse still for the countryside where most Muslims and Ugandans live, a livelihood is only made off the land. Large families imply that the land will be fragmented continually, with the result that productivity will fall with every passing generation.

There is a school of thought that a large population is good for the economy. But this is only true if that population is made up of largely productive people, who would then contribute to a continuous cycle of prosperity. But with Uganda today, we would be risking perpetuating a vicious cycle of poverty. We should be aiming at a quality life of education and adequate resources. Family planning is a good starting point.

9 September 2004
 

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