Browsing by Author "Mooka John Mary Kamweri"

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Development ethics: talking to recipients of development funds about vulnerability and human dignity
(Springer International Publishing, 2016) Mooka John Mary Kamweri
The often deplorable stories of corruption, lack of transparency and accountability, raises concern that the ethical foundation for the global development initiative is yet to resonate with some recipients of development funds in Uganda and elsewhere. Ethicists consider the notion of social justice as the appropriate category for articulating the moral demands of promoting development in resource-poor countries. The social justice approach entails acknowledgement of the inviolable dignity and inherent value of a human person. The language of vulnerability is often used in reference to the need to provide those in less developed countries with adequate support for socio-economic development, so as to enhance individual freedoms and dignity. This endeavor draws support from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that regards the principle of human dignity as foundational for freedom, peace, and justice in the human family. However, there is no clear mechanism for relaying this moral discourse to recipients of development funds in rural communities in Uganda. Too often this gap is filled in by human rights activist who are at times prone to human rights reductionism. To maintain high ethical standards a new approach necessitates the articulation of a set of UNESCO’s bioethics principles that include human dignity, respect for human vulnerability and personal integrity, solidarity and cooperation, autonomy and individual responsibility. This presentation demonstrates a strategy of using workshops in rural communities to specify and analyze the substantive and procedure issues involved in the ethical principles that are relevant to socio-economic development.
The Ethical Balance Between Individual and Population Health Interests to Effectively Manage Pandemics and Epidemics
(2013) Mooka John Mary Kamweri
There is no overlapping criterion providing a basis for attaining balance between individual and population oriented ethical concerns generated in the pandemic and the epidemic interventions. The shortfall leads to competing individual and population interests that hamper the effective management of pandemics and epidemics. The libertarian model focuses on advancing individual rights. The epidemiological model focuses upon population health. The social justice model focuses on a broader perspective than individual rights and population health to include universal human rights. This dissertation suggests a Mixed Interests Ethics Model (MIEM) to ethically negotiate a balance between the individual and population interests in pandemics and epidemics. MIEM involves a combination of models (libertarian, epidemiological, andsocial justice) that shed light on substantive ethical principles of each model (e.g. autonomy, solidarity, and common good); which in turn require procedural standards (i.e. necessity, reasonableness, proportionality, and harm avoidance) to negotiate between the principles when they conflict. The UNESCO Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights provides a hermeneutical context for applying MIEM in so far as it places MIEM within the context of promoting rights (individual and human) by considering the general ethical tension between individual and universal rights as explained by the UNESCO Declaration.
Stewards of the Natural Environment Resources:
(Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017) Mooka John Mary Kamweri
Purpose The slogan often used to describe the scenic beauty of Uganda's natural environment is ‘Gifted by Nature.' Rightly so, Uganda is home to Lake Victoria and four other lakes, not to mention crater lakes. Of the 241,550 sq km surface area, 41,743 sq km is covered by water and swamps. Forest cover was estimated at14.95% in 2010. The country receives between 700-3,000 mm/year rainfall, and temperature of 16C-31C. To protect Uganda's environmental resources the government enacted the National Environment Act in 1995 right after the Rio de Janeiro Summit (1992). The Act provided for the formation of National Management Environment Authority (NEMA) mandated with coordinating, monitoring and supervising environment related activities. Twenty years down the road, there are fewer success stories; necessitating rethinking new strategies. Content NEMA's State of the Environment Report of the year 2010 and recent dossiers on the subject cast a worrying trend on the sustainability of the country's natural environment resources. Uganda faces severe soil erosion, decline in soil fertility, deforestation, pollution, loss of biodiversity and depletion of forest cover, fish and water resources. These environmental problems have been evidenced by the recurring Bududa landslides, the near annihilation of wetlands in Kampala Central Division and encroachment on Mabira tropical forest. New strategies for sustainability of Uganda's natural environment resources are needed. Beyond NEMA, the Association of Religious in Uganda has an obligation to engage the communities in a God-given mandate of stewardship of the natural environment resources - to protect and restore. Process Protection of the natural environment requires being good stewards of what counts as a common good. Repairing what is damaged calls for commitment to restorative justice. Outcome Nature harbors a reciprocity principle - we take good care of the natural environment resources, nature takes good care of us