News analysis
Health
Business
POA’s token of appreciaton
WHO lists snake bites amongst top 20 killers
Bale for telecom market
Issue No. 533 Aug Aug 10 - 16, 2018
Firms lose land in industrial parks
Ushs 5,000,Kshs 200, RwF 1,500, SDP 8
Fresh storm at Fresh Bank of Uganda Mutebile, Kasekende ght cited in Mobile Money tax saga Finance summons Mutebile Staff up in arms over mess in hiring process
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INBOX
Issue No. 533 Aug 10 - 16, 2018 News analysis
Business
Health
Arts
Motoring
Struggling
Smile Quitting
Vodafone
Cover story
Fresh storm at BoU 4
The Week
39 Comments
Mnangagwa in talks with Chamisa after narrow win
9
Funding Family Planning: Pallisa district should be commended
The Last Word
Uganda’s incompetence paradox II: How Uganda performs well in spite of corruption and incompetence and what it teaches us 14
Analysis
36 Health WHO lists Snake bites amongst top 20 killers: In Uganda, many antivenoms do not work, all snakebite rst aid information is wrong
Search for Abiriga successor takes shape: Politics of tribe and religion in Arua Municipality by-election
39 Arts & Culture 29
Business Bale for telecom market:
Bigger rms choke smaller and new telcos
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Regional Heads of State Sta te (L ( L-R) President Uhuru Kenyatta, of Kenya, President Museveni of Uganda and President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan witnessing the South Sudan Peace agreement signing ceremony in Khartoum on August Aug ust 5.
Anslem Ansle m Wand Wandega ega,, the the country director for Build Afric Af ricaa talki talking ng to jou journa rnalis lists ts at Grand Imperial Hotel on Augus Au gustt 2 after rele releasi asing ng a report titled: Improving UPE through social accountability approaches –experiences from Build Africa Uganda Model. He urged government to strengthen monitoring of teachers as a measure of preventing teacher’s absenteeism in schools. INDEPENDENT/
“We may disagree politically but the association we have is not affected. This is what I call maturity in leadership.”Amama leadership.”Amama Mbabazi, former Prime Minister during the giveaway ceremony of his niece
“When we begin to break the rules of the game, abrogating the constitution even before we get into power, then there is a lot to be desired.”Winnie desired.”Winnie Kiiza, Leader of Opposition in Parliament
JIMMY SIYA
President Museveni,(M) with Ashanti King, Asantehene Asant ehene Otumfo Otumfouu Nana Osei Tutu Tutu II from Ghana, the Kabaka of Buganda Ronald Muwenda Mutebi at Sta te House, Entebbe Entebbe on August 1. Asantehene visited Uganda in honor of the 25th coronatio coronation n anniversary of the Kabaka.
23
Trafc commanders who were reshufed by the Inspector General of Police Okoth Ochola
900
The rst batch of CCTV cameras to be used for security in Kampala
“I hope that this time, the respective parties in South Sudan are serious and they do not use the ceasefire as tactical instruments of preparing for war”President war” President Museveni on the new peace deal for South Sudan
15000
Community health extension workers the government is going to recruit
WEEK
Museveni wins global peace award President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni was on Aug.02 awarded a Global Peace Prize for his work in ensuring the return of peace in countries of the great lakes region. Handing him the award during a conference held at Speke Resort in Munyonyo, the President of the Global Peace Foundation, Dr. Moon Hyun Jin thanked the President for taking part in the reconciliation talks in the neighboring South Sudan and also the contribution he continues
President Museveni with the award
to make in Somalia where the army has been deployed under the peace keeping mission – AMISOM. Museveni addressed
delegates on the drivers of conflict in Africa and the World where he pointed out that greed for natural resources like minerals and
Mnangagwa in talks with Chamisa after narrow win The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission announced on Aug.03 that Emmerson Mnangagwa, Robert Mugabe’s former condant who then ousted him, had Emme mers rson on Mna Mnang ngag agwa wa Nelso Nelson n Chamisa won the presidential Em race by a slim margin of 50.8% of the he wrote. vote. Immediately after Supporters of his the announcement came close competitor Nelson through, Mnangagwa Chamisa of the Movement took to his twier to for Democratic Change thank his voters and also party had started call for calm. “Though we protesting the results on may have been divided at the streets citing electoral the polls, we are united fraud and the fact that in our dreams. This is a the commission had new beginning. Let us delayed to announce the join hands, in peace, unity results. Even though the & love, & together build commission had up to a new Zimbabwe for all”, ve days according to
the law to release the results, the opposition was caused about why presidential results were counted rst but were being released last after the parliamentary ones. However, Mnangagwa told journalists that he was in constant communication with Chamisa to forge away forward for the return of peace especially in the capital Harare where some protesting people were shot at by soldiers, something that has been condemned by human rights activists as one of the acts that characterized characteriz ed the fallen government of Robert Mugabe.
oil as the leading cause of war. He also s aid Africa has been a target by greedy elements because of its approach of sitting back other than defending what belong bel ongss to t o them t hem.. The sixth Global Peace Leadership Conference (GPLC) held under the theme, “Moral and Innovative Leadership, New Models for Sustainable Peace and Development” was aimed at promoting innovative values-based approach to peace building.
Rwabogo’s tormentor Isiko released Brain Isiko, Kabarole woman MP Sylivia Rwabogo’s tormentor was released from prison on Aug.03 after court granted him bail. bai l. He had been in pri prison son for 28 day dayss after court him of cyber harassment and oensive communication. Justic Jus ticee Jane Jane Fra Franci nciss Abo Abodo do ord ordere ered d him him to pay cash Shs500, 000 and Shs5million non cash for his two sureties. He was then asked to report to the Deputy Registrar of the High court every third Friday of the month starting from August 17, 2018 and to never contact MP Rwabwogo. Isiko a student of YMCA was arrested after the MP run to court complaining of the 25 year old sexually harassing her and causing her emotional torture by sending her endless love messages and videos on social media. His bail comes after intervention of several organizations and individuals who left his two years sentence was too harsh. But, according to court, the bail was granted on grounds that he is a rst oendoend er and presented substantial sureties.
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WEEK
Dealers petition speaker over new regulations on drug shops Drug shop owners in the country have petitioned the Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga to prevail over National Drug Authority Authority (NDA) in regard to the planned phasing out of drug shops. Under their umbrella National Drug Shop Advocacy Initiative-NDSAI, the owners who convened meeting on Aug.02 unanimously opposed the recently issued guidelines by NDA on streamlining regulation of drug shops. According to the guidelines issued last month, all drug shops
are required to comply with regulation nine of the National Drug Policy and Authori Authority ty (Licensing) Regulations, Statuary instrument No. 35 of 2014, with eect from January 1, 2019. The regulation directs that any drug shop located in a distance not less than 1.5Kms from a pharmacy shall be required to either apply for a license to operate a pharmacy – meaning they have fulll all requirements for operoper ating a pharmacy or relocate the busine bus iness ss to an und unders erserv erved ed loc locaation. In their petition, petition, the drug
shop owners state that through the national drug policy, drug shops and pharmacies were both designed to serve Ugandans and eliminating one will be oppressing none other than the locals. Denis Ssenyonjo, the NDSAI chairperson, says the regulations are intended to see them out of business busi ness.. He He expl explain ainss that that dru drug g shops are easily accessed and the cost of drugs is aordable. Currently, there are over 9,000 licensed drug shops and 1398 licensed pharmacies across the country.
US spent Shs3.6trillion on Uganda in 2017-report A report released on Aug.02 at the US embassy shows that the biggest bunch of US funding to Uganda goes to health. Dubbed, report to the Ugandan people, it shows of the Shs3.6trillion that they spent on Uganda, Shs1.9trillion went to health, Shs1.3trillion to security, sh215.7b to promote a prosperous Uganda, sh48.8b to enhance a just and democratic Uganda and sh72.5b to promote an inclusive, educated and empowered Uganda. “We
produced this book to once again explain to Ugandans what the U.S. government does in Uganda, why we do it, and how it improves the lives of Ugandan” said Ambassador Deborah Malac at the launch noting that the report also contains stories of people whose lives have been improved by the US programmes. According to the report, more than 993,000 people living with HIV were provided with Anti-Retroviral (ARV) drugs through the
President’s Emergency Plan for AIDs Relief (PEPFAR) programme where up to 60% of the people have achieved viral suppression, a thing that shows they have taken their drugs sustainably and have now reduced the chances of transmission by 96%. However, Malac said Uganda faces some major challenges that will continue for the foreseeable future. “Uganda’s people and government will chart their own destiny”, she said.
Nambooze asks for more time to rest after treatment On a wheel chair, Mukono municipality legislator Bey Nambooze Bakireke was wheeled out of Entebbe airport on Aug.04. Aug.04. She had just returned from a month long treatment at India’s Manipal hospital. Nambooze who could hardly walk without support told journalists that she had been given strict recommendation to have enough rest if she is to recover fully. The MP who has been suering back problems which were worsened when she was arrested to help in investigations into the death of Arua Municipality legislator Ibrahim Abiriga returned when they had just appointed her representative of Uganda to the Common Wealth Parliamentary Association in a reshue of opposition leadership in parliament.
Uganda on notice after another Ebola outbreak in Congo An Aug.01 announcement by the government of Democratic Republic of Congo that four people had tested positive for the Ebola Viral hemorrhagic fever has Uganda on guard. Following this outbreak, Health Minister in charge of General Duties Sarah Opendi said they are refreshing the 46 health workers at the national isolation center and the 55 members of the national
rapid response team on how to manage cases. She warned people living along the border bor der to bew beware are and imm immedi ediate ately ly repo report rt any suspected cases as the province of North Kivu where the cases have been detected is along the border and is among the most populated with up to eight million people. So far, nine suspected ebola patients have been isolated at a facility in Beni
territory, North Kivu province. Since the beginning of the epidemic early this year, 26 cases have been reported including 4 conrmed and 20 community deaths. This however is happening when the country is experiencing a measles and cholera outbreak, where some people have been repo reporte rted d to to have have spr spread ead it – chol cholera era to Uganda especially in the refugee camps.
WEEK
Chaos marred Bryan White’s antipoverty fund launch On Aug.03, Aug.03, the police used teargas and live bullets to disperse a group of youths who had gathered at Arua Hill Grounds in west Nile for the launch of an anti- poverty fund after they turned rowdy. The group that had been invited by city socialite Brian Kirumira commonly known as Bryan White for the event started hurling insults and stones at each other at the time of money distribution as they demanded that each one of them gets an equal share. Amidst the chaos, Bryan White who had planned for a one week tour in Arua was whisked away to an unknown destination. Though Bryan White has been popularly known for helping musicians with money, he in 2016 established a foundation funding activities in the eld of agriculagricul ture, education and health. For the projects in Arua, the foundation announced they would fund activities to the tunes of Shs7billion that will include extending interest free loans to organized youth and women groups.
South Sudan foes sign final power-sharing deal South Sudanese arch-foes signed a nal power-sharing deal Sunday as President Salva Kiir called for unity in a country torn by a civi civill war war tha thatt has has killed tens of thousands of people. Kiir and his bier rival Riek Machar were Riek Machar Salva Kiir in neighbouring Sudan to sign the deal, under which with foreign diplomats. the rebel leader is set to return Once a nal peace deal to a unity government as the is signed, the foes will have rst of ve vice presidents, three months to form a an AFP correspondent at the transitional government signing ceremony said. The which will then hold power deal, which paves the way to for three years. The talks a nal peace accord aimed at come as part of a regional ending the war in the world’s push aimed at achieving youngest country, was signed peace in South Sudan, which in the presence of Sudanese plunged into a devastating President Omar al-Bashir and conict just two years after its his counterparts from Kenya, independence from Sudan. Uganda and Djibouti, along “The agreement we have
just signed just signed tod today ay mus mustt map map the end of conict and war in our country,” Kiir said in a speech in English after signing the deal. “We should … rededicate ourselves to unite our people and work for peaceful transfer of power through the ballot boxes box es rath rather er tha than n thro through ugh bullet bul lets.” s.” Machar urged the regional east African bloc Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which is pushing the latest peace talks, to ensure that the deal is implemented. “I would urge … IGAD to focus after this on the implementation of the agreement,” Machar said in his address. “Somebody said that the devil sometimes is embedded in the implementation.” AFP.
Ugandan scoops region’s top job to fight gender based violence The International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) has appointed Nathan Mwesigye Byamukama as the Regional Director for the Kampala-based Regional Training Facility on Prevention and Suppression of Sexual and Gender Based Violence in the Great Lakes Region. His appointment was directed by Ministers of Foreign Aairs from the 12 Member states of ICGLR. The Executive Secretary of ICGLR, Amb. Zachary Muburi-Muita will formally appoint Byamukama, who
has been acting in that position for more than four years, as Regional Director. The member states of ICGLR are Angola, Burundi, CAR, DRC, Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The Ugandan delegation was headed by Philemon Mateke, the Minister of State for Regional Cooperation representing Minister Sam Kutesa, Minister of Foreign aairs. The mandate of the ICGLR-RTF is to train and sensitize judicial ocers,
social workers, medical oo cers, police units and all those individuals handling cases of sexual violence in the Great Lakes Region. It is established in line with ICGLR Protocol on Prevention and suppression of Sexual and Gender based base d Viol Violence ence aga agains instt Women and Children in the Great Lakes Region (2006) and the Kampala Declaration on Sexual Violence of 2011 which passed a decision for Uganda to host the ICGLRRTFand the Center has been in existence since 2014.
Humour
Did you know?
Did you know an egg contains all vitamins except vitamin C? Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe’s ruling party ZANU-PF was declared winner of the first f irst post-Robert Mugabe elections
The Sheema North Nort h MP Elioda Tumwesigye Tumwesigye is also the Member of Parliament–elect for Sheema Municipality. Municipality.
The Age Limit battle has gone to the Supreme Court with six opposition members of parliament listing 11 grounds to support their appeal. a ppeal.
This is one of the many questions we usually ask ourselves every day. It is true that eggs have a high cholesterol content that is compared with other foods, but not all the cholesterol we eat affects the levels of cholesterol in our blood. What really increases the cholesterol in the blood is the consumption of saturated fats, and this type of fats is found mostly in the masses used in confec tionery such as margarines or hydrogenated vegetable oils. Anothe Ano therr thin t hing g to t o cons c onsidider is that, each person processes cholesterol differently. People with genetic disorders, such as familial hypercholesterolemia or a type of gene called ApoE4, should minimize or avoid eggs altogether.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s son, Andile, and his Ugandan fiancée, Bridget Birungi, recieve a gift from President Yoweri Museveni at their traditional marriage ceremony known as
The Last Word
OPINION
Uganda’s incompetence paradox II By Andrew M. Mwenda
How Uganda performs well in spite of corruption and incompetence and what it teaches us
I
n 2013 I wrote an article with exactly this headline, the reason this is named “II". It was about how the state in Uganda exhibits gross corruption and incompetence and yet in many aspects the country performs well. What explains this? I want to suggest that the state in Uganda has been successful in large part because it divested itself of the responsibility to do many things leaving individuals in our society the freedom to pursue their talents in the market. I argued in this column last week that the main factor behind economically successful countries is the rate of growth in the value of their exports relative to the rate of growth in the cost of her imports – or what economists call “terms of trade”. Uganda still has a huge trade decit. However, the decit has been declining in relative terms even though the absolute gure has grown over the years. In 1991, Uganda exported goods worth $184m. In 2017, it was $3.35 billion i.e. it had grown 18 fold at an annual average rate of 65%, an impressive performance by historic standards. Meanwhile, in 1991 Uganda’s import bill was $522m. In 2017 it was $5 billio bil lion. n. So our imp import ortss have have gro grown wn 10 fol fold d at an annual average rate 33%. Uganda’s export earnings have grown twice as fast as her import bill. Until I researched this, I thought the reverse was the case. To appreciate Uganda’s success we need to remember that the biggest challenge poor countries have historically faced is reliance on a few products for a huge share of their export earnings. Thus, whenever there was a sudden fall in the price of this single commodity, the country’s economy would buckle. In 2015, this is exactly what happened to Nigeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Chad, which depend on oil for a huge share of their export earnings (as Zambia does on copper): international prices of oil and copper fell causing huge revenue losses. I used to think, on the basis of a large body bod y of of devel developme opment nt eco economi nomics cs lit litera era-ture, that the only eective way a country can successfully diversity her exports, is through manufacturing. Over the last 25 years, Uganda has remained a producer and exporter of unprocessed products. However, in spite of this, it has successfully
diversied her exports across a large basket of goods. For example, in 1990 coee was the leading foreign exchange earner and contributed 80.3% of total export receipts. Today coee is still the leading foreign exchange earner but in 2017 it contributed only 15% of total export receipts, followed by gol gold d at at 13%. 13%. Non Nonee of of the the oth other er exp export ort commodities contributes more than 4% of our export revenue. This means that the prices of individual commodities in the basket of our exports can fall without inicting any signicant harm on our overall export earnings. This export performance is most manifest in Uganda’s trade with her neighbors. In 1995, Uganda exported goods worth $16m to Kenya and imported goods worth $280m from there. In 2016, this gure was $483m to $485m. In twenty years, Uganda has closed her trade decit with Kenya that was 18 times larger. In 1996, Uganda exported $38m to DRC, $24m to Rwanda, $4.5m to Tanzania Tanz ania and $23.3m to Sudan. Then Th en things went bad. By 2003, Uganda’s exports to Kenya had grown to $78m, for f or Tanzania Tanzania stagnated at $5m, while they declined for Rwanda to $20m, DRC to $12m and Sudan to $13m. I do not recall government of Uganda doing anything to reverse this trend. However, in 2016, Uganda exported goods worth $400m to DRC, $226m to Rwanda (down from $270m in 2014), $112m to Tanzania, $281m to South Sudan (down from $400m in 2014). In 2016, Uganda imported goods worth $72m from Ta Tanzania, nzania, $22m from DRC, $12.6m from Rwanda and $157,000 from South Sudan. Thus, Uganda has cut her trade decit with Kenya to a miniscule $2m and enjoys a trade surplus with the rest of her neigh bors. bor s. Act Actual ually ly in rea reall term termss (aft (after er adj adjust usting ing to ination), Kenya has grown her exports to Uganda by only 4% in 23 years, while Uganda has grown hers to Kenya by 1,800% over the same period. Many Ugandan elites believe Uganda is grossly mismanaged! I share this sentiment. But facts like these only show that our sentiments are wrong. So why are Ugandans angry with a government that outperforms her peers? Some of my friends argue that Ugandans are frustrated because they
are not informed. They claim that this is becausee gov becaus govern ernment ment and Pre Presid sident ent Yow oweri eri Museveni make no eort to publicize their achievements. I am inclined to believe that this is a small part of a bigger story. I meet many Uganda government ocials and share these success stories with them. However, hardly anyone feels proud of them including ocials of the ministry of trade who should claim the credit. Often they express disbelief and move on. Why is this the case? I think the answer lies in how Uganda has achieved its export performance. Government liberalized trade and for the most part did very lile else. And this may be a good thing – to do nothing. Where a particular government regulation obstructs them, busine bus inesspe sspeopl oplee just just bri bribe be the their ir wa way y out out of it. So ocials in government are right not to be ela elated ted by Ugan Uganda’ da’ss expor exportt perf perform ormanc ancee becaus bec ausee they they hav havee done done not nothin hing g to to faci facilit litate ate it. Ugandans are frustrated perhaps because they do not see their government doing much to promote trade. However, they are wrong to think such hando approach is a wrong policy. It is a winner. There is an even bigger argument to make regarding Uganda’s aitude towards her international trade. For example, Kampala has recently developed a frosty relationship with Kigali over issues we should devote our best diplomatic eorts to solve. Why? Rwanda is the 4th largest destination for our exports and we enjoy a trade surplus with her worth $212m. It is, therefore, in our interests to consistently court Kigali as any busine bus inessma ssman n woul would d his his goo good d cust customer omer.. Yet I often meet Ugandan ocials who argue that Rwanda should be fought or ignored, an aitude that is destructiv destructivee to our national interest. It should be the policy of Kampala to ensure Kigali never turns her gaze towards Tanzania and/or elsewhere for her imports because that would hurt our country. I suspect we do not value trade with Rwanda because our exports to it have not grown out of our hard work whose benets we would be careful not to undermine.
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COVER STORY
Fresh storm at BoU Mutebile, Kasekende ght cited in Mobile Money tax saga Finance summons Mutebile Staff up in arms over mess in hiring process
BOU POWER STRUCTURE
DEPUTY GOVERNOR
GOVERNOR
Executive Director Research & Policy
Director Economic Research
Director Statistics
Executive Director Supervision
Personal Assistant to Governor
Executive Director IT
Executive Director Administration
Executive Director Finance
Executive Director Operations
Bank Secretary
Director Commercial Banking
Economic Advisor to Governor
Director Operations & Infrastructure
Director Human Resource
Chief Accountant
Director Banking
Director Legal Affairs
Director NonBank Financial Institutions
Director Petroleum Investment Fund
Director Financial Stability
Director Procurement and Disposal
Director Business Automation
Director Administrative Services Director Security
Director National Payment Systems
Director Currency
Director Financial Markets
Director Communications
Director Board Affairs
COVER STORY
By Haggai Matsiko
O
n Aug.3, at exactly 8:45am, Central Bank Governor, Emmanuel Tumusiime Tumusii me Mutebile arrived at the Finance Ministry, where he had been summoned for a meeting at exactly 9:00am. Finance Minister, Matia Kasaija, had asked him to come and explain why his team had criticized the mobile money tax on Aug.1 while appearing before parliament’s nance commiee. Bank of Uganda’s Dr. Charles Abuka, the Director, Statistics Department, had told the parliamentary commiee that the tax on mobile money was “discriminative”, “unfair”, and a threat to growth of nancial inclusion. Aomu Mackay, the Director National Payments, Ivan Setimba, Deputy Director, National Payments in charge of nancial inclusion, and Christine Namanya, the deputy director research escorted Abuka to parliament. Abuka’s statements sparked outrage in some quarters at BoU, the Finance Ministry and State House. The comments appeared a major slap in the face of ocials at Finance and President Museveni who have intensively labored to explain and get Ugandans to accept the tax. As part of the budget, the Finance Ministry levied a one percent tax on the value of mobile money transactions but following intense public backlash, the president directed that it be whiled down to 0.5 percent. Telecom companies and mobile money dealers have been lobbying to have the tax scrapped or reduced again. Instead of making a case for government, Abuka appeared to bat for the other side. Enraged, President Museveni called
Mutebile expressing concerns about the statements, sources at State House told The Independent. The following day, Kasaija summoned Mutebile. Mutebile was also furious. He had already ordered Abuka to explain his statements at parliament. Later, the Governor’s oce informed the ocials that they had been summoned by Finance because of the remarks they had made. While the governor arrived at Finance 15 minutes to 9:00 am, Abuka and his team arrived late—several minutes past 9:00 am, sources at the Finance Ministry told The Independent. State Minister for Planning, David Bahati chaired the meeting, which took place in the Minister’s Boardroom. At the meeting Bahati asked Mutebile to explain why the BoU team while in parliament had criticised the mobile money tax yet they (BoU) had been part of a string of meetings that had agreed that the tax was critical for government to fund the budget—the mobile money tax was expected to raise some Shs. 115 billion. Mutebile responded that his oce had communicated the BoU position to the team that appeared in parliament, however, he did not know where they got the position they presented. He said he had not cleared that position and that it was not the BoU position. Then the Governor turned to Dr. Charles Abuka and asked him to explain where the position he presented had come from. Abuka also distanced himself from his own position, according to sources at the Finance Ministry, who are knowledgeable about what transpired. Abuka said that the media had misquoted him. They only reported the bit where he was discussing elements that make a good tax and how the tax aected nancial inclusion. The media, he said, just picked that.
However, Abuka later apologized. At one point, the Secretary to the Treasury, Keith Muhakanizi, who also aended the meeting, came to Abuka’s rescue. He said that when some of these civil servants go to parliament, they get intimidated and end up saying what they are not supposed to say. What Muhakanizi did not know is that when Abuka made the remarks in parliament, they kicked o an informal investigation within the walls of BoU. How could these ocials present a position contrary to that of the Governor? Ocials wondered. Phone calls were made. Then word started circulating that Abuka passed by the Deputy Governor’s oce before he went to parliament. The conclusion was that the position changed between the Governor’s oce and that of his deputy. At the central bank, Abuka’s position was seen as part of the simmering institutional politics, which some say are aimed at undermining the authority of the Governor. In the past, The Independent has reported about a power struggle between the Governor and his deputy. When The Independent revealed this in a series of articles early this year, the Governor dismissed the reports. The two ocials have even had lunch dates to try and bury the hatchet. But tensions have remained mostly amongst their proxies. The central bank is divided into two camps—those loyal to Kasekende and those loyal to Mutebile. While Mutebile heads the bank, the way his roles and those of his deputy are structured give the laer immense powers. Most importantly, as Deputy Governor, Kasekende is directly in charge of Finance and Administration, and by extension the day to day running of the bank. This has given him a vantage
COVER STORY
point and inuence over many senior ocials at the bank. As Governor, Mutebile mostly keeps tabs on Banking supervision and Research. He was was nicknamed “policy” because he deals mainly with policy. Mutebile is also not known to be a micro-manager and as result had ceded many of the day to day activities to senior management headed by Kasekende. Indeed, the mobile money crisis emerged at the time Kasekende was dealing with other crises under his docket. For over a week, the bank’s power system had been facing challenges. Almost on a daily basis, electricity was going o—aecting bank operations. Several years ago, the bank spent hundreds of millions procuring two power lines, from dierent directions. The idea was to ensure that if one of the lines was o, the other one would be on to ensure that bank systems kept working. However, it has been discovered that the two lines, in fact, were from the same source—the reason they have all been going o at the same time. Even the bank’s Uninterruptible Power Source (UPS), which is supposed to provide emergency power in case of an outage, is faulty. Initially, ocials thought the power outage was a usual problem. However, suspicions of sabotage emerged when they decided to use the generator. Those in charge left the generator running. However, insiders say, at about 6:00 am in the morning, the generator was switched o too, plunging the bank’s system into darkness. This was baing. Fuel was not the problem— the bank has a steady reserve. As a result, many felt that someone had intentionally switched it o. With power o, critical bank operations are hindered. Systems that rely on the Internet cannot function. The bank has systems ocials
use to communicate with local and international banks. Without power and the Internet, these systems cannot work. Even the email system has been on and o. To get to the boom of the crisis, Kasekende chaired several re-ghting meetings. The situation was too bad that in one of these meetings, he said; “Me and you our jobs are on the line if this power problem is not resolved,” Kasekende said referring to Solomon Oketcho, the Executive Director for Administration. A source in intelligence told The Independent that State House heard already learnt about these incidents and was not amused. BoU Ranks
process, has stirred another storm.
Creating new problems Isaac Bonny Teko, the deputy legal counsel, in a scathing memo to the Chairperson Interviewing Commiee, Richard Mayebo, raised concerns about the interviews held on July 27 at the level 7 Boardroom. The interviews were meant for the bank to hire a legal clerk. In Teko’s view, while all candidates had performed excellently well, one of them stood out. Yet one of the interviewers gave him a very poor and highly suspicious score. “I have conscientiously decided to withdraw my signature from the interview Some of the staff seconded to the DPF
Executive Director Director Deputy Director/ Assistant Director Senior Banking officer Principal Banking Officer Senior Banking Officer I
Moses Apell Odongo, was a Senior Principal Banking Officer but was seconded as an Assistant Director Moses Tamale, was a Senior Banking Officer I but was seconded as a Principal Banking Officer Ja mes Mbanda Byamukama, James Byamukama, was a Senior Banking Officer but was seconded as an Assistant Director
Senior Banking Officer II Banking Officer I Banking Officer II
Part of the reason there are suspicions of sabotage is that since the Governor made a sta reshue on Feb.7, there has been a cold war between two camps. Some of those opposed to the new team have been trying to expose them as incompetent or trying to sabotage them, insiders say. Meanwhile, the new team, which is keen to be conrmed, has been going out of its way to expose the rot left behind by the old team. An ocial jokingly told The Independent that the bank had become some sort of “theatre of war”. Amidst all this, a new controversial recruitment
Justine Komukama, a Senior Banking Officer II, was seconded as a Principal Banking Officer
results for legal clerks,” Teko wrote, “I don’t want to be party to an overt injury to an innocent person. We keep creating new problems from the debris of old problems. We have postponed taking courageous steps to restore honour to our systems.” It was not just Teko. Another panelist refused to append his signature on what he described as an “embarrassment”. As The Independent went to press, BoU’s internal audit department was already investigating the maer. Yet this is not all. Another controversy has emerged over another recruitment process. The bank was recruiting for
13 positions in the currency department. In an October 20 memo, Jan Tibamwenda, the Director HR advertised the jobs internally. When the names of the shortlisted candidates emerged this July, it nearly sparked a revolt. Of the 23 shortlisted candidates, 8 have been security ocers and over four have been serving as secretaries at the bank. The minimum rank for these positions was Banking Ocer II (BOII) and two years of experience at the bank. However, on Oct.24, the Executive Director Administration, Solomon Oketcho, opened the process to support sta, who had the requisite qualications, under an arrangement called conversion. The bank’s policy for conversion notes that support sta can only be converted to BOII. The advertised jobs were at the level of Senior Banking Ocer II (SBOII), which is a higher rank. “How can you convert a security guard/note examiner/oce aendant/ secretary to handle work they have never handled before in such a sensitive department?” wondered one ocial at BoU. “How can senior secretaries compete with security guards for the same jobs? Some of the senior secretaries even have second degrees.” Questions also emerged about why senior secretaries earning over Shs. 10 million were applying for jobs where the salary is Shs. 5 million. Concerns emerged that once the secretaries got these jobs, they would maintain their salaries. As a result, they would be earning much more than most of their bosses. Despite concerns both Kasekende and Oketcho approved the process. Oended ocials petitioned the bank’s internal audit oce and the Governor. By press time, The Independent learnt that the internal audit oce had punched holes in the process. The Governor was also expected to follow suit. This particular recruitment
COVER STORY
process exposes a major crisis at the Bank. A former BoU ocial, who has since retired from the bank told The Independent that in the past, BoU always recruited 20 sta every year, who would enter the bank at the lowest rank. This was meant to ensure that whoever the bank recruited started from scratch and acquired requisite experience as they went up in ranks. This system always ensured that the bank had a solid foundation of sta and also oered continuity and a proper succession mechanism. However, along the way, this mechanism was abandoned and the chaos started. The chaos is not just with in the bank, those in charge have spread it to the newly established Deposit Protection Fund. This is a fund to which commercial banks contribute one percent of customers’ deposits. As its name suggests, the fund is insurance for customer deposits should a bank ban k fold fold.. As of Jun Junee 2017 2017,, the the fun fund d was was valued at Shs. 460bn. While it has always been bee n part part of BoU BoU,, recen recently tly,, the the ban bank’s k’s management took a decision to have it managed independently. The fund is still housed at BoU but now has separate management headed by Julia Clare Olima Oyet. Because it is still new, BoU seconded its sta to occupy some of the positions at the fund before a formal process of recruiting sta for it starts. “This is to inform you that after consultations with the respective Heads of Department and Directorates as well as the Deputy Governor, the following sta members have been identied for secondment to the DPF,” EDA Oketcho wrote to Governor Mutebile on Jan. 13. Following this, BoU has since seconded some eleven sta to DPF. However, ocials outed the laws guiding secondment. According to the Bank’s policy on secondment, only employees at the rank of Principal Banking Ocer (PBO) may be available for secondment. However four of those seconded were below the rank of PBO. One particular one skipped two ranks to become PBO. All the others except one were promoted contrary to the law. And as a result, their salaries increased. Again, BoU policy notes that during secondment, the salary and all the benets of the concerned sta shall be frozen frozen.. But But all all the the seconde seconded d sta sta have have beneted bene ted from from sala salary ry incre increments. ments. This development has sparked intense anger at the Bank amongst sta. To make maers worse, because some the beneciar bene ciaries ies lack the requi requisite site skil skills ls for for the jobs they have been assigned, insiders claim. As already noted, this is not the rst time botched up recruitments are happening at BoU. Mid-last year, sta raised concerns
President Museveni
David Bahati
about several appointments and petitioned Mutebile and the board of directors. While the board, which had participated in interviewing these appointees, ignored the complaints, Mutebile paid aention, ordered an investigation investigation and on the basiss of its conc basi conclusi lusions, ons, canc cancelle elled d the appointments. The appointments Mutebile cancelled had been done and approved by Oketcho, Kasekende and the board. Mutebile had had not been been around. When he returned, he found a tonne of complaints about the entire process. The board had also been petitioned but had ignored the complaints. Mutebile was concerned that he had not been consulted. Owing to the controversy surrounding the process, the governor declined to ratify the appointment of assistant directors. He instead directed that the Internal Audit Audit investigate the entire process. The Chief Internal Auditor, Auditor, Deborah Kabahweza, now Executive Director Finance, concluded that the process had issues and called for its termination. But the Executive Director Administration, Oketcho advised Mutebile to ignore the recommendations, go ahead and approve the appointments. “We have to respect internal audit and
cancel,” Mutebile insisted. Amidst all this, on July 28, Mutebile wrote to the Oketcho asking him to propose a rotation and transfter schedule for sta from the rank of Assistant Director to Executive Directors by Aug. 4. “Please note that in future, the transfer and rotation of sta in the category mentioned above shall be approved by me,” Mutebile wrote in a leer copied to Kasekende. Insiders say by this directive, the governor had cut o Kasekende who had been overseeing the rotations while working with the EDA. The EDA, Solomon Oketcho had not replied by Aug.4. He replied on Aug.6. In his reply, Oketcho proposed rotation and transfer of sta for Assistant Director and Director. He aached a list of only 22 sta. But even amongst these, Oketcho proposed that many are not transferred because either; they had been in the position for “below ve years”, there was “no one to swap with”, “on-going Crane Bank issues” or “newly transferred”. “It is proposed that the transfer of Executive Directors be stayed because of the on-going Crane Bank legal issues,” Oketcho wrote, “transfers aecting this category might be misinterpreted.” In eect, insiders say, Oketcho proposed no changes at all. Some insiders saw this as a move intended to keep people in certain jobs. However, between September 2017 and January this year, Mutebile came up with a fresh list and in a Feb.7 memo announced changes. Oketcho, Kasekende and some board members opposed these changes. One of the board members even petitioned the Inspector General of Government to investigate the changes— sparking a war of words between the laer and the Governor. To sele the crisis, President Museveni in a March 26 meeting asked the IGG to back o insisting that sta rotation was was an internal maer under the dominion of the Governor. The president also appointed a commiee led by Abdu Katuntu, the former chairman for parliament’s commiee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities Aut horities and State Enterprises (COSASE) to probe the maer. The commiee concluded its investigations at the end of July. But even as investigations went, one of the board members, Judy Obitre-Gama, had insisted that none of the new appointees appears before the board to make any presentations. The new controversies show that the mess in BoU’s recruitment process still needs serious aention.
NEWS ANALYSIS
Search for Abiriga successor takes shape Politics of tribe and religion in Arua Municipality by-election By Flavia Nassaka
H
ospital Road, in Arua town, is a heavily canvassed street. The residents of the street are used to endless processions of supporters walking on foot and others in trucks using loud public address systems convincing voters to vote for particular politicians. In June, the street was the center of chaos when the body of slain Arua Municipality Member of Parliament Col. Ibrahim Abiriga arrived from Kampala. Now, as locals prepare to vote for his replacement in parliament, in a by-election scheduled for Aug.15, the street is witnessing another round of intense electioneering action as 12 candidates compete for the slot. Apart from four candidates standing as ag bearers for political parties – NRM, JEEMA, JEEM A, FDC and DP, the res restt are are Ind Indeependents. FDC has two strong candidates – Bruce Mudhar Musema the ag bearer who came second in the 2016 race and former Terego County MP Kasiano Wadri Wadri,, who lost his seat in 2016. There are fears this might divide the opposition vote come Wednesday. However, for the acting chairman of the FDC Electoral Commission, Hajji Abdul Hakim Moli, this is ‘a minor issue’ in the politics of Arua. What shapes politics here, Moli says, are always tribe and religion and recently the politics of the elite and the illiterates. “Most of the candidates have set their campaign basing on tribe”, he said. For instance, he says that when Kasiano arrived here, other than coming to the party, he called a meeting of Terego leaders across the political divide. Apparently, the Terego have some good population in the municipality. Other candidates are following the same trend. When The Independent asked Musema about his plan for victory, he was quick to mention that he has already won the race since he is a son of the land. “I am an Aringa. I have so many supporters here. These others come from the neighboring constituencies, Koboko, Terego,” Musema said referring to the NRM candidate Nusra Tiperu and Kasiano, his biggest competitors.
A campaign procession along hospital road in Arua Town Town
INDEPENDENT/FLAVIA NASSAKA
NEWS ANALYSIS
When The Independent asked Independent candidate Robert Ejuku and Tiperu the same question, the response was quite similar. “We cannot let other people come here and tell us what is good for us”, Ejuku said. “I am campaigning among my people. I am an Aringa. My family has lived here for over 30 years,” Tiperu said. The Aringa tribe is the majority in the municipality and most of them are Muslim. Observers say the same reasons partly explain Abiriga’s win in 2016 as voters combined this with his generosity and the reputation he created while still Resident District Commissioner (RDC). Moli who is also Abiriga’s relative said the deceased was a unique politician who garnered votes from across the political divide because during his time as RDC, he helped every one irrespective of their political aliations and religion. According to him, even as many especially the political elite despised him as a joker, jok er, he bec became ame West Nil Nile’s e’s most in inuen uen-tial politician belonging to the NRM party. Before him, Arua Municipality was largely an opposition stronghold with the likes of imprisoned FDC strongman Hussein Akbar Godi representing the constituency in parliament. Even at the level level of RDC, Abiriga scored highly. He was the longest serving having aained oce in 2007. Those who came before him only lasted one or two years before being frustrated or kicked out. People knowledgeable about Arua politics say it would be a blunder for Tiperu to bank ban k on on Abi Abirig riga’s a’s leg legacy acy as the NRM ag bearer bea rer as one of her str strate ategies gies to win thi thiss vote. Mustafa Agotre, a 54-year old old supporter of Musema, who does pey business along Hospital Road, told The Independent that in this poll, there is nothing like a sympathy vote because the two individuals – Tiperu and the late Abiriga are the exact opposite. He voted for Abiriga in 2016. “Abiriga treated us as people. p eople. He was a practicing Muslim and was our own. He understood us,” Agotre said. Like Agotre, a lot of people in this municipality are engaged in pey trade. Analysts say the voters of Arua are divided into two categories – the auent and the low-end illiterates, the likes of Agotre. Wadri Sam Nyakua, the district’s LC5 chairperson agrees. He says understanding and strategizing on which side to focus on as a candidate will earn you victory or make you lose the election. Already he says the NRM, which he belongs to, is winning on this front. His candidate is focusing on improving people’s livelihoods just as has been bee n the the foc focus us of the pre previo vious us can candid didate ates. s. Abiriga is said to have introduced this strategy into the politics of Arua, which is now seen to be hiing the local political elite hard. To win over this group, Tiperu started
with visiting Abiriga’s widow at their home in Anyayo and then started assuring supsupporters at rallies that she would ensure that government investigates their darling’s assassination until they nd the criminals. This, however, seems to have not wowed many. After her visit, Moli said, the family held a meeting and resolved that they will not involve themselves fully in this election in as far as campaigning for a particular candidate is concerned. “The death was too painful. When Tiperu came home, people were not happy. We have even talked to the widow not to involve herself,” Moli said, “According to Sharia, she has to be away from the public for four months and ten days. It was wrong for her to speak and we have advised her not to do that again”. But, Tiperu is still counting on the Abiriga vote. When we spoke on Aug.02, she said one of her biggest tasks when she gets to parliament is ensuring that the women Abiriga had mobilized into groups to do projects for economic development keep having access to credit. She spoke of many other unnunn ished businesses of her slain colleague that she will nish once voted including pushpush ing for the district to be connected on the national electricity grid. Currently, they get power from a small dam in Zombo district that is not reliable. Other candidates are also campaigning on the same. Musema, for instance, told the Independent that Abiriga had lobbied for power to the extent that president Museveni went there and ociated at a false launch. He said he now wants to carry on from where Abiriga stopped and ensure that the municipality gets consistent power. “Denying us power is declaring an economic war on us. We would would be having factories. Businesses like ozuu enterprises would be booming”, Musema who was Abiriga’s closest competitor said. In the 2016 polls, he garnered 7227 votes against Abiriga’s 8000, a win he protested up to the Appeals court from where his petition was thrown out. He believes he would have won the 2016 if there were not irregularities at some polling stations. He now says it is time for him to win because he ticks most of the boxes of winning an election in Arua – being Aringa and a Muslim and most recently understanding the lines between the elite and the illiterates. Moli says the victorious candidate will come from the two Muslims – Musema and Tiperu and the two Christians – Wadri and Ejuku. He however adds that in Arua, it is the last two days of an election that determine the winner. “You “Y ou either win or lose in the last two days to voting”.
NEWS ANALYSIS
FDC President Patrick Amuria t at t he party delegates conference in November 2017. 2017.
INDEPENDENT/JIMMY SIYA
POA’s token of appreciation FDC changes in parliament spark fury in Muntu’s camp By Ian Katusiime and Flavia Nassaka
O
f all the reasons Patrick Oboi Amuriat, the president of Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), has given to explain the changes he has made with the opposition leadership in parliament, one is most believable at least according to party insiders. “The changes were informed by a num ber of fac factor torss incl includi uding ng loy loyalt alty y to to the the par party ty and contribution to the party nancially,” Amuriat told The Independent. In these changes, Bey Aol Ochan, emerged the new Leader of Opposition, Francis Mwijukye, Buhweju County MP, a parliamentary Commissioner, Roland Kaginda, a former deputy LOP became a mem ber of the glo global bal Int Inter er Pa Parli rliame amenta ntary ry Uni Union on (IPU), Mubarak Munyagwa, the Kawempe
South MP, the new chairman Commiee on Statutory Authorities and State Entreprises (COSASE), and Moses Kasibante, the Lubaga North MP, his vice. Budadiri West MP Nandala Mafabi bounce bou nced d back back at the Pub Public lic Acc Accoun ounts ts Com Com-miee (PAC), William Nzoghu, Busongora County North, a representative in the PanAfrican Parliament, Franka Akello, Agago Woman MP, the new head of the commiee on Local Government, Gilbert Olanya of Kilak South, became her deputy and Kaps Hassan Fungaroo, Obongi County MP, the new head of the Government Assurances commiee. Ibrahim Semujju of Kira Municipality became bec ame the Opp Opposi ositio tion n Chie Chieff Whip Whip.. That That Nganda was on the list surprised many given that unlike all the other appointees, he is a supporter of the organization camp,
which pays allegiance to former party president Mugisha Muntu, who lost the presidency to Amuriat. Generally, Amuriat’s changes are being seen as a token of appreciation to his loyalists and a purge of those that are loyal to the rival group. Some insiders say these changes might be the nal push that kicks Muntu’s camp out of FDC. Most notably, Amuriat red Winnie Kiiza, who was the LOP and Abdu Katuntu, who headed COSASE. This was not surprising. Amuriat’s camp, the deance camp, has been criticized for being bei ng hig highly hly int intole oleran rant. t. Ind Indeed eed,, when when Amuriat said that he was guided by party loyalty in picking the new group, some interpreted his statement to mean that he didn’t consider those he red loyal to the party.
NEWS ANALYSIS
Even this might not be far from the truth from where Amuriat sits especially given that the group he red has not participated actively in his activities and have continued to stand with Muntu whom he defeated late last year. On nancial contributions, the group he red has contributed more towards Muntu’s countrywide consultations than they have towards Amuriat’s day to day running of the party. Given the fact that FDC has limited resources, every coin matters. And given the opportunity to appoint a LoP, few politicians in Amuriat’s position would hesitate to appoint their own. Muntu did it when he appointed Wafula Oguu as LoP after defeating Mafabi in 2012. But later, he replaced him with his supporter, Winnie Kizza and appointed Katuntu, his campaign manager, as the head of COSASE. The main dierence between Muntu’s appointments and those of Amuriat is that some of the laer’s appointments can be questioned on grounds of competence. Many critics have singled out the appointment of Munyagwa and Kasi bante ban te as mer merely ely dri driven ven by toke tokenis nism. m. Thi Thiss is Munyagwa’s rst term in parliament and he hadn’t headed a single commiee. Kasibante is serving his second term but has never headed a commiee and yet they have now been handed COSASE, a critical commiee scrutinizes the work of statutory authorities and state enterprises. Maers are not helped by the fact that COSASE was right in the middle of one of the most important investigations in many years— the investigation of Bank of Uganda. But Amuriat doesn’t buy any of this. The former Kumi County MP said all members of parliament qualify to head commiees becaus bec ausee they they hav havee acad academic emic qua quali licat cation ionss that made them make it to parliament. He particularly passionately defended his appointment of Munyagwa, who is known for his comic antics than legislative performance. “Munyagwa is an honest person,” he said, “He was a chairman of a division in the city for ve years. He is an intelligent man. The public is being unfair to him by judgin jud ging g him him eve even n befor beforee seein seeing g what what he can do. Let’s give him time.” Amuriat says the only quality of a chairperson is to play a stewardship role and adds that the chairperson is not the alpha and omega of the commiee.. “People are aaching emotions to this but if I was was a reac reactio tionar nary y lead leader er I shou should ld have caused change in December when members said you can do what you want. I understood that they were acting because of the political injury they had just suered,” he hits back. Commenting on Ochan’s appointment as new Leader of Opposition, Amuriat says his own story tells a lot about how useless the
notion of ‘lile known’ is. “Recently I was being referred to as a villager. They did not know whether I can express myself but here I am. The party is running eectively. We are aracting people from other groups to the FDC,” Amuriat adds. Amuriat says Ochan made her name at the time of Reform Agenda, the precursor to FDC. “She is in her third term in parliament” the FDC president explains, “I have condence of the people I have appointed. This team can push our agenda in parliament.” Amuriat also says those angered by his decision should know that change is inevitable.
Muba Mu bara rakk Muny Munyag agwa wa
Changes illegal
Ogen Og enga ga Lati Latigo go
However, some FDC members say some of the changes he has made are illegal. Prof. Ogenga Latigo, Agago County MP, and a former Leader of Opposition told The Independent that his team is on notice and will take action. “The LOP is not a party leader,” Latigo noted, “He or she is a leader of those in parliament. As the rst LOP, I was elected because we contested.” He adds: “We are going to raise the issue of LOP. We cannot accuse NRM of commiing illegalities illegalities and then we do the same. This appointment is illegal.” However, by press time, Latigo had told The Independent that his team had not received any ocial communication for them to go ahead and examine the rules of procedure of parliament. “We do not have anything like minority leader in the laws of Uganda,” Latigo noted, “That is meaningless communication.” As one of the moderates in FDC, Latigo nonetheless summed up his frustration with the changes. “Any change which is intended not to improve the situation but a reaction to the existing circumstances is unfortunate,” he told The Independent in a phone interview on Aug.6. “For every action,” he warned, “there is an equal and opposite reaction. So we will not take this lying down.”
Role of committee chairperson
According to Hippo Twebaze, who has researched parliament over the years, heading a commiee requires the chairperson to have substantive knowledge to be able to scrutinize government business as some of the reports are wrien in the language that an ordinary MP may not understand. He also says that an MP who is not knowledgeable is likely to underperform becaus bec ausee some some of of the the acco account untabi abilit lity y requ require iress one to do extensive research and investigations into maers. According to Twebaze, while there is an argument that commiees have technical sta who are supposed to research and enable MPs understand the issues, it is not enough because a leader must be able to understand things at a dierent level. He says the inability of MPs to understand issues explains why some MPs choose to discontinue ongoing investigations that are already before commiee simply because the chairperson has the liberty to lose interest in an issue. Twebaze also says it would be a good thing if leaders were chosen from commiees where they have been members, so that they do not start from scratch. Apart from this, Twebaze commended the outgoing LoP, Winnie Kiiza for succeeding in coordinating the opposition MPs and articulating issues on the oor of parlia parlia-ment. Despite this, he noted that one you cannot analyze the performance of LOP as an individual. “It always has to do with the collective performance of all members of the opposition,” Twebaze noted, “However good a LOP may be, his/her eort may not be eas easily ily rec recogn ognize ized d if if ther theree is is no no coop coopera era-tion with other members of the team.” For observers, however, the biggest issue for Amuriat might not be over the performance of his new appointees but over the impact his decision might have over the party. Muntu who came before him was able to contain the rifts within the party by tolerating the group opposed to him. By ring the group opposed to him, Amuriat might have conrmed concerns that his group is not keen on working with those with divergent views. Outside the FDC, some say, Amuriat might have done himself a favour by looking at how President Museveni has continued to reach out to those opposed to him and even appointed some like Bey Amongi, the wife of Jimmy Akena, the party president of Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) and the son of his erstwhile foe, former President Apollo Milton Obote. However, the same way only Amuriat knows what stakes he was dealing with by the time he chose to make the controversial changes, only time will tell whether he was right or wrong.
NEWS ANALYSIS
Former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi hands over the daughter to the family of the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa.
Andile and Birungi Birungi in a group photo photo with
Glamour and pomp Ramaphosa son marries Amama Mbabazi’s niece By Ronald Musoke
G
lamour, pomp, colour and a seamless fusion of two African traditions were on show as South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s son, Andile, got introduced by his Ugandan ancée, Bridget Birungi, at a traditional marriage ceremony known as “Kuhingira “Kuhingira”” on Aug.4 in Kampala. The ceremony aended by high-prole guests was held at the residence of the bride’s uncle, John Patrick Amama Mbabazi, a former Prime Minister of Uganda in the leafy upscale Kololo suburb. Birungi was born to the late Shadrack Rwakairu and Peace Ruhindi but Amama took over the raising of Birungi after her father’s death in the early 1980s. Political rivalries were shoved aside as President Yoweri Museveni and his longterm friend-cum-political rival; Amama Mbabazi met and reminisced about the
good times. Museveni’s wife, Janet and Mbabazi sat next to each other and chaed away as the ceremony went on, occasionally smiling and nodding. The guest list read like a “who is who” of Uganda’s political aristocracy. Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile, the Bank of Uganda Governor, Chief Justice Bart Katureebe and former information minister, Jim Muhwezi, as well as business moguls, Gordon Wavamunno Wavamunno and Sudhir Ruparelia, were some of the guests. Other high-prole dignitaries included; the Archbishop Stanley Ntagali, Prince Kassim Nakibinge, businessman Martin Aliker, former FDC President Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu and Buganda Katikkiro, Charles Peter Mayiga. Amos Nzeyi, Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda, Mathew Rukikaire, Hope Mwesigye and Brig. Timothy Mutebile, the brother to the BoU
Governor were part of the insiders organizing the function. Not even the early morning gloomy weather could dampen the thrilling ceremony which normally precedes the wedding in western Ugandan tradition. As the day grew on and the overcast clouds cleared, business and public transport got interrupted, security tightened and some roads were closed as a 150 strong Ramaphosa-led entourage and host, President Yoweri Museveni, made way to Amama Mbabazi’s home to aend the traditional ceremony. Ex-wife, Hope and First Lady, Dr. Tshepo Ramaphosa, escorted the South African president. Ramaphosa’s son, Andile, had been to Mbabazi’s home in May this year when Bridget introduced him for the rst time. But that ceremony is usually low key as it only serves to make the man’s intentions known to the girl’s parents. That ceremony also gives both families to negotiate the bride price.
NEWS ANALYSIS
t heir fa milies and other guests.
This time round, it became clear Ramaphosa’s entourage had nally been accepted into the Mbabazi household, when the leader of their entourage, a middle-aged lady was oered a drink. She had a gulp of the traditional beer served from a long-necked gourd as a cacophony of drums, traditional music and the vigorous Kigezi dance engulfed the home. Andile and Bridget, both in their late thirties, reportedly met in China while studying at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Andile currently works with Blue Crane, a Johannesburg based nancial advisory and investment rm. “We met almost ten years ago. I was in Beijing where I worked as an expert while she was nishing her studies in engineering. Then she went on to do her Masters. We went on to live in South Africa.,” said Andile. Mbabazi who handed over Birungi to the father of the groom, expressed joy that Ramaphosa’s family had met all the set conditions. “We are very happy to fulll part of the handing over to you the hand of our daughter, Bridget Birungi,” Mbabazi said. On receiving his daughter-in-law, Ramaphosa said, “We accept her as our
President Ra ma phosa gives a spe ech a t t he ceremony
daughter rstly and we also accept her as our son’s beloved wife and I can assure you that the two of them are deeply in love.” Ramaphosa challenged his daughterin-law to hold tight to her husband. “Many girls in South Africa are envious e nvious of you, even on social media, they were saying, why did he go so far when we are here?” “They don’t know that you fell in love in China. Hold onto your man and never let him go.” Ramaphosa also said weddings are a consolidation of relationships not only between families but also people and communities. “In this case, we believe it is a consolidation of the relations between South Africa and Uganda and this is going to cement us even more.” Ramaphosa had touched down at Entebbe International Airport a day earlier, on Aug. Aug. 3, and held a brief meeting with his counterpart, Yoweri Museveni, at State House Entebbe. Museveni and Ramaphosa discussed issues related to the socio-economic and political aairs aecting the two sister countries and Africa at large. Ramaphosa applauded the leadership of Uganda for making the relationship meaningful and supporting South Africa in its earlier days of the struggle against Apartheid.
On his part, Museveni welcomed Ramaphosa who he described as a freedom ghter and sharp businessman. He also applauded him for being appreciative of the African heritage. This was in reference to Ramaphosa’s visit to one of Museveni’s farms, years back, where he reportedly picked interest in the long-horned Ankole cale. He would later return and acquire 43 of them for his farm. At the function, both men talked about the cale and Museveni joked that Rwamaphosa under paid him for the cale. Ramaphosa said the cale had since multiplied into a huge herd both in Kenya and South Africa. Ramaphosa also revealed that he had since become the president of the South African Ankole Cale Association. The ceremony presented an opportunity for Mbabazi to catch-up with his erstwhile colleagues in the ruling NRM government where he served in various capacities for decades until he was red three years ago. Mbabazi went on to contest against Museveni in the 2016 presidential election, emerged third and unsuccessfully challenged the results in the Supreme Court. He has since kept a low prole.
FEATURE
By Amy Hawkins
D
aily life in China is gated by security technology, from the body scanners and X-ray machines at every urban metro station to the demand for ID numbers on social media platforms so that dangerous speech can be traced and punished. Technologies once seen as potentially empowering the public have become tools for an increasingly dictatorial government—tools that Beijing is now determined to sell to the developing world. In 2015, the Chinese government launched its Made in China 2025 plan to dominate cutting-edge
China’s Big Brother tech for Africa Developing countries to be used as Developing laboratory to improve its surveillance technological industries. This was followed up last year for plans for the country to be a world leader in the field of artificial intelligence by 2030 and to build a $150 billion industry. The developing world is a big part of
these ambitions. But China doesn’t jus t want just wa nt to d omi ominat natee thes t hes e mark m arkets ets.. It wants to use developing countries as a laboratory to imp rove its own surveillance technologies. Many parts of Africa are now
FEATURE
CloudWalk provides facial recognition technologies to the Chinese police
essentially reliant on Chinese companies for their telecoms and digital services. Transsion Holdings, a Shenzhen-based company, was the No. 1 smartphone company in Africa in 2017. ZTE, a Chinese telecoms giant, provides the infrastructure for the Ethiopian government to monitor its citizens’ communications. Hikvision, the world’s leading surveillance camera manufacturer, has just opened an office in Johannesburg. The latest is CloudWalk Technology, a Guangzhou-based start-up that has signed a deal with the Zimbabwean government to provide a mass facial recognition program. The agreement was put on hold until after Zimbabwe’s elections on July 30.
But if it goes through, it will enable Zimbabwe, a country with a bleak record on human rights, to replicate parts of the surveillance infrastructure that have made freedoms so limited in China. And by gaining access to a population with a racial mix far different from China’s, CloudWalk will be better able to train racial biases out of its facial recognition systems— a problem that has beleaguered facial recognition companies around the world and which could give China a vital edge. The CloudWalk deal is built on the back of a longlo ng- sta standi nding ng rela tion shi ship p between bet ween for former mer Zim Zimbab babwean wean President Robert Mugabe’s regime, seen by China as an ideological ally, and Beijing. His successor, President Emmerson Mnangagwa was sworn into office in November 2017 after a military coup forced Mugabe to resign after 37 years of increasingly repressive rule. Activists feared that Mnangagwa, Mugabe’s former consigliere, would continue the patterns of his predecessor, es pecially if his regime is backed up with new security technology. The deal b etween CloudWalk and the Zimbabwean government will not cover just CCTV cameras. According to a report in the Chinese state newspaper Science and Technology Daily, smart financial systems, airport, railway, and bus station security, and a national facial database will all b e part of the project. The deal—along with dozens of other cooperation agreements between Harare and Chinese technology and biotech firms—was signed in April. Like every
other foreign deal done by a Chinese firm of late, it has been wrapped into China’s increasingly all-encompassing Belt and Road Initiative. The CloudWalk deal is the first Chinese AI project in Africa. Google is opening its first Africa AI research center in Ghana this year, but Eric Olander, founder of the China Africa Project—a podcast and online res ource that examines the relationship betwee bet ween n Ch ina and A fri frica—n ca—n ote oted d that many Western companies “aren’t willing to make that step that the Chinese are willing to do. … (The Chinese) are willing to make an investment in a market as volatile as Zimbabwe, where companies from other countries are not.” Indeed, with massive state and private backing for AI projects— according to a CB Insights report, nearly half of global investment in AI went to Chinese start-ups last year, surpassing the United States f or the first time—Chinese companies can afford to take risks . CloudWalk itself was the recipient of a $301 million grant from the G uangzhou municipal government. “We are concerned about the deal, given how CloudW CloudWalk alk provides facial recognition technologies to the Chinese police,” said Maya Wang, a senior China researcher for Human Rights Watch. “We have p reviously documented (the Chinese) Ministry of Public Security’s use of AI-enabled technologies for mass surveillance that targets particular social groups, such as ethnic minorities and those who pose political threats to the government.” Some Zimbabweans are concerned about how their data will fare in China. Andy, who asked that only his first name be used, is s tudying for a Ph.D. at Beijing Normal University. For him, “the question is what the Chinese company will do with our identities. … It sounds like a spy game.” He also says that he “know(s) for a fact” that “the Zimbabwe government will use this tech to try and control people’s freedom.” In Zimbabwe, freedom of expression has long been curtailed or monitored by vario us mea means. ns. In 2015 , Mugab Mu gab e accepted a gift of cybersurveillance software from the Iranian government, including IMSI catchers, which are used to eavesdrop on telephone conversations. In 2016, he cited China as an example of social media regulation that he hoped Zimbabwe could emulate. Source: FP magazine
FEATURE
Japanese-funded water facility saves lives in Rubirizi Shs240m water pump aids 3000 households in 3 sub counties By Ian Katusiime
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ubirizi is a lile known district located in western Uganda with rolling hills and 32 crater lakes. Part of the district has sections of the famous Queen Elizabeth National Park. Away Away from these aractive features, however, is a dark past. Rubirizi has grappled with a water crisis and lost lives over the years as residents struggled to fetch water from Lake Kako, one of the many crater lakes in the area. Residents of Ryeru Sub-County drowned in the lake uncontrollably. “What hurt us most is that these people were dying of something preventable,” says John Mubangizi, the vice chairman of Rubirizi district. “On average, six people were dying per year especially women and children.” The steep to Lake Kako is 500metres long, which made the entire exercise of fetching water more arduous. The acute water shortage also spread dysentery, cholera and had other undesirable eects such as children reporting late to school. After so much agony and helplessness, Mubangizi and residents brainstormed on how to nd a lasting solution to the tragedy. They wrote to so many donors requesting that they fund a water project and luckily, the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), heard their plea and donated Shs.241million. As a result, Mushumba water production project was established. Construction started in 2011 and ended in 2013. Later, the Ugandan government provided Shs145million for completion of the works. The government was initially skeptical on the viability of the project in spite of the pressing need for safe water use. Water production in Mushumba village is a community eort where residents dug trenches, constructed access roads and is managed through water use commiees, which are made up of three women and two men. The production facility comprises a pump house, reservoir tanks, and a sand ltration system. “There is a user fee of Shs100,” says Mubangizi, now the coordinator of the project. The fee is for maintenance such as the diesel-powered pump. Water has now been extended further and there are 30 distribution points in total that serve 3000 households. When
Journalists at the water pump in Mushumba village in Rubirizi on July 26.
The Independent visited Independent visited Mushumba village on July 26 as part of a press tour organised by JIC JICA A for for its pro projec jects ts in wes wester tern n Ugan Uganda, da, residents could not hide the excitement brough bro ughtt by by the the wa water ter fac facili ility. ty. It wa wass a far cry from when they could not even have a boreho bor ehole le bec becaus ausee the the roc rocks ks in in the the are areaa are are permeable.
Irrigation boosts Kasese farmers
Nyabubale Community Irrigation scheme in Kasandaara sub-county, Kasese is another venture where the government of Japan is involved in livelihood improvement in Uganda. Teaming up with Save The Children, an international NGO focused on children’s rights, and the local government of Kasese, JICA has enabled 100 farmers to graduate from just growing maize to take on high value crops like water melons, onions and tomatoes. Sam Kahiigwa is one of the farmers reaping from the irrigation scheme. When The Independent visited Independent visited his farm on July 26, he said he would be selling o two full trucks of water melon in two weeks’ time. His farm is on 14 acres and is responsible for the new lease of life Kahiigwa and others have got. He has built a two bedroomed house and says he is comfortable knowing he can support the education of his children. “The environment of the child is the focus,” says Vian Musika, the Program Manager of Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation at Save The Children in Kasese.
COURTESY PHOTO
As a result, the organization empowers parents so they can take care of their children. “Previously the farmers were depending on rain-fed agriculture and now they can plant o- season thanks to irrigation,” Musika adds. He says most climate change eorts are aimed at tree planting but the one by Save The Children is aimed at livelihood improvement. After it conducted vulnerability assessments with the Kasese district local government, Save The Children decided to help “last mile farmers” in Kasese. The farmers are referred to as such because they hardly receive any focus yet they are aected by disasters like ash oods, landslides and prolonged dry spells. The aim of the scheme is to strengthen the resilience of the communities through good agronomical practices. A poor parent means the child will lack basic needs, Musika explains. Other interventions by JICA in western Uganda include a girls’ dormitory built for Kahinju Secondary School in Kabarole district. The dormitory contains 200 beds with maresses and will be opened for the third term, which starts in September. Lillian Asiimwe Olimi, the head teacher of Kahinju SS, says 25 girls dropped out of the school this year due to walking long distances among other challenges associated with staying away from school. The dormitory appears a major step at preventing such situations.
RWANDA
Searching for new markets Rwanda explores new apparel markets as US suspends duty-free benets under AGOA By John Mbaraga and Daniel C. Ntwari
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overnment is now focusing on exporting its textiles to Europe after U.S. President Donald Trump issued a decree suspending Rwanda from exporting apparels to the US market duty-free under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) scheme. The ban was announced in a statement released last week by U.S.’s deputy trade representative, C.J. Mahoney. The move is a reaction to Rwanda’s stand against importation of secondhand clothes and shoes into the country. The Rwandan government imposed an import levy on secondhand garments of $4 per kilogramme this scal year, up from $2.5 last year and a $5 per kilo on used shoes, up from $0.4, last year to support it nascent textiles and leather industries. The country earned $1.5 million in 2017 from apparel and shoe exports to the US, which accounts for only about 3% of Rwanda’s total exports to the country. Rwanda remains eligible to export non-apparel products under AGOA despite this suspension.
Rwanda to enter new markets But Rwandan government says it will not be bullied into reversing its position on secondhand clothes, opting to seek new markets in Europe, Asia and within the region. Speaking to The Independent, Minister of Trade and Industry Vincent Munyeshyaka said that the companies, which used to export apparel and footwear products under the AGOA arrangement have already started entering new international markets. “For example, C&H Garments has a secure market in the United Kingdom and German,” he said, adding that the rm and other textile makers are being encouraged to explore the big opportunities in the local market. Munyeshyaka assured sector players of government’s support in case the ban aects production and threatens jobs. “In case industries reduce or stop production and people lose jobs, government will decide on some kind of intervention to support them,” he said. The minister said that the $1.5 million from apparel and footwear exports recorded last year under AGOA was by the eight companies that have been exporting apparel and footwear products to the US market,
C&H Garments workers at the firm's Kigali Special Economic Zone plant
with C&H Garments contributing 90%. Munyeshyaka explained that other Rwandan products would enter the US market under other agreements like Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) that is also tax exempt. He explained that Rwanda could, however, export apparels to the US subject to taxation. “We were not banned from exporting apparel and footwear products to the US, we were only denied duty-free exportation,” he claried. EAC countries had all proposed to gradually ban importation of secondhand clothes and shoes, but later other countries – Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania - balked under heavy pressure from US. A 2017 petition by the Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles Association (SMART), to the US government asserting that the EAC’s decision undermined the AGOA criteria and their investments, sparked o the suspension. While commenting on the suspension last week, Rwanda Development Board (RDB) chief executive ocer Clare Akamanzi said the decision on who benets from AGOA is up to the United States government. Akamanzi said some companies had already sent product samples to some European countries as the suspension loomed over the past many months. “We have a plan to maintain people who have been employed in those companies; I
think the impact is not something we can not manage” she said. “We expect some Rwandan companies to be ae aecte cted d and and we hav havee a pla plan n for for them. them. We have engaged them and we will be helping with the transition to new markets.”
Textilee sector players speak out Textil As local textile players wait to see this assistance, Rwanda Clothing’s production manager, Antoinee Tw Twaagirayesu, says that the rm is focusing on growing locally, adding that it already serves a growing clientele from US and Europe who order for the clothes directly. Twagirayesu Tw agirayesu said; “We are going to focus on promoting Made-in-Rwanda clothing, which still has huge growth potential.”
Expert commends Rwanda’s decision Amir Ben Yahmed, the chief executive ocer of the Africa CEO Forum, hailed Rwanda’s decision, saying that the suspension “should not be regarded as a business issue but as politically p olitically motivated”. “Africans should be proud of the decision taken by Rwanda,” Amir said, “No country in the World should accept secondhand clothes at the expense of its own industries.” Africa CEO Forum organizes the annual meeting of African CEOs and business leaders to nd ways to address the continent’s challenge and enable it to achieve target development and economic prosperity.
RWANDA
President Kagame , the Prime Minister and the speakers of senate and Parliament pose for a group photo with the recently appointed judges
Timely justice for Rwandans New Court of Appeal raises hope for faster case handling, President Kagame calls for judicial independence By Francis Byaruhanga
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mpartiality, independence and ensuring that citizens get justice in shortest time possible should be cardinal principles of the judicial system, President Paul Kagame has said. President Kagame made the comments while presiding over the swearing in ceremony of 17 judges of the newly established Court of Appeal. “This is what Rwandans want our justice system to be dened by because we know that justice delayed is justice denied,” President Kagame said. The establishment of this court means that some of the cases from the High court, which were hitherto handled by the Sup Suprem remee Cour Court, t, wil willl now now inst instead ead go to the Court of Appeal. Among the cases to proceed to Supreme Court are those related to the applications of review on grounds of injustices, those involving high ranking oo cials, jurisdiction on the constitutionality of the organic laws and decisions on the precedents and presidential election petitions. The new judges sworn in by the President include; Cyanzayire Aloysie, the president of the Supreme Court, Aimé KarimunKarimun da Muyoboke, the president of the Court of Appeal, Xavier Ndahayo, president of the High Court, who is deputized by Bernadee Kanzayire, and Angeline Rutazana, the vice-president of the Commercial High Court. The establishment of the new appellant court has created optimism and enthusiasm among the public, civil society and experts.
Many say that it will improve delivery of justicee as justic as griev grieved ed par partie tiess now now hav havee more more options to seek justice.
Experts, Rwandans welcome the court
Prof. Dennis Bikesha, the dean of School of Law at University of Rwanda, said these reforms in the judicial system are crucial to “stardandise the country’s judiciary”. He said in other countries, the Supreme Court not only handle cases but also gives legal advice to the government, explaining that the top court will be counseling the state on the maers concerning the judici jud iciary ary.“ .“As a resu result, lt, the Cou Court rt of Appe Appeal al will now handle most of the cases that used to go to the last appellant court,” Prof. Bikesha told The Independent. Tom Mulisa, the executive director of the Great Lakes Initiative for Development, a non-prot organization that advocates for the rights of the unprivileged, said the Court of Appeal, will help justice to be served faster compared to previous period. Silver Mugabo, a resident in Kigali, said the judicial restructuring is for the “beer functioning and delivery of justice to the Rwandan people”. Mugabo also added that the court will ease the load that remained pending in the Supreme Court for a long time. Harrison Mutabazi, the spokesperson of the judiciary, explained that the judicial reform is aimed at impacting eciency of the judicial services in Rwanda. “Before cases would begin from intermediate courts to Supreme Court, but
now they will stop at the Court of Appeal, which will reduce the case backlog and the delays in the delivery of justice,” Mutabazi explained. Mutabazi noted that before the establishment of the court, it would take up to three years for the litigants to get the nal court decision from the Supreme Court. Cases, he explained, will now be heard quickly in reasonable time instead of taking years. Mutabazi also added that due to the single judge system that will be applied in the Court of Appeal, cases are going to be handled faster compared to the duo system in the Supreme Court, which has also been blamed bla med for del delays ays.. As recently as 2012, it would take at least 66 months for a case to start being heard in the Supreme Court. This has since been reduced to 20 months. In the High Court, this has dropped from 11 months to three months in the same period, as a result of judici jud icial al ref reform orms. s. According to this year’s judicial report, 1,038 cases were pending at the beginning of April 2018 but these had dropped to only 723 by the end of April. Berth Murora, the secretary general of the Supreme Court told The Independent that although gaps remain, the court has put in place mechanisms that have helped reduce the backlog. The Court of Appeal, she said will also help. Murora also explained that while the restructuri restructuring ng of courts started in the primary courts this year, the establishment of the court of appeal was the major target.
RWANDA
Improving public transport Challenges persist but city authorities and operators remain optimistic By Emmanuel R. Karake
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wizeyimana, a resident of Remera in Gasabo district is a regular user of commuter buses that ply dierdier ent roads in Kigali city. But many times, he says, he has had to wait in long queues for up to 30 minutes at both Remera and city bus terminals for buses. Because of this, he often delays to aend to critical busine bus iness ss com commit mitment ments. s. Long queues for buses are a common sight mostly during the rush hours in the mornings and evenings. Yet when the City of Kigali and Rwanda Utility Regulatory Agency (RURA) awarded three rms contracts to companies to operate public transport in Kigali in August, 2013, that was expected to put an end to the long queues. Kigali Bus Services (KBS), Rwanda Federation of Transport Cooperatives (RFTC) and Royal Express, which won the contracts, were supposed to operate from 5am to 11pm, migrate from of 18-seater to 30-seater omnibuses, and then to big buses of 50-seaters for mass transport. This was was envisaged to reduce waiting time at bus stops to around ve minutes. The move was also expected to eliminate the tendency of abandoning passengers before bef ore rea reachi ching ng thei theirr dest destina inatio tion n and and eas easee on the trac jam as it would deal away with smaller omnibuses, which were about 800. One city bus has capacity to replace three omnibuses. Generally, according to Rwagatore Etienne, a public transport inspection ocer, the major target was to “bring eciency in the sector to improve service delivery”. But users like Uwizeyimana are yet to see this eciency.
Public transport operators speak out Part of the reason is that migration from smaller to bigger buses delayed. Some bus companies acquired bigger buses only a few months ago, when their contracts are about to expire. In 2013, only KBS owned big city buses. bus es. “There are two problems,” says Nilla Murenzi, the manager of Royal Express, “One, buses are not enough currently. The other issue is that the City of Kigali is upgrading most of the main city roads, which causes diversion of trac and, in turn, leads to delays with passengers waiting for long periods at bus stops. But this is temporary.”
Murenzi explains that the delay to transition to the bigger buses was partly occasioned by the nature of the contracts. “The contracts are very short,” Murenzi says, “Five years is a short time. Remember we acquire buses through bank loans and we do not get tax breaks from government like other investments do. Today, one city bus cos costs ts aro around und 100 mil millio lion. n. Thi Thiss is is not not a small capital outlay.” The other challenge, he said, is depreciation of the franc against dollar. “In 2013, one dollar was equivalent to Rwf520, today it’s at 881, almost 63% increase,” Murenzi says. Despite these challenges, there has been signicant improvement. When the companies got the contracts in 2013, omnibuses of 18-seater capacity were servicing 99% of the public transport system in Kigali. Today, 70% of Murenzi’s company buses are high capacity. Sources say, RFTC, the biggest operator has only 20 big buses, brought in sometime late year and around January 2018. RFTC plies routes like Zindiro-KimironkoNyabugogo; Kimironko-Kigali; Nyabugogo-Kinamba-Gisozi; Nyabugogo-Batsinda, andRemera-Kigali, among others, and intra roads. Deo Muvunyi, the manager of Kigali Bus Services, says some of the challenges are infrastructural in nature. For instance, he explains that the promised special lanes for buses bus es are are not yet est establ ablishe ished, d, add adding ing tha thatt this will take time “because expansion of roads is a costly and takes time”. He also remains positive noting that apart from these challenges, there have been improvements.
Government scrapped taxes on importation of big buses in the current budget and now importation of buses with capacity to transport 50 passengers and above is zerorated compared to 25% previously. However, those importing 25-seater buses will pay 10% tax down from 25%.
What sector regulator says about delays According to Aaron Ndagijimana, the deputy of transport at sector regulator, Rwanda Regulatory Agency, the waiting time did not reduce to the targeted level “because improved city transport has encouraged many people to opt for public means of transport, thus demand has surpassed supply”. Ndagijimana explains that the number of passengers doubled compared to when the system was rollout ve years ago. “Today, we are talking of 420,000 passengers against 200,000 in 2013. We want to balance demand and supply,” he says. However, this increase in the number of commuters could also be aributed to the growth in Rwanda’s and the city’s population. Government gures indicate that population size of Rwanda was 10.5 million in 2012, just a year before the reforms, and is presently at over 12.08 million. Ndagijimana adds that there are ongoing discussions to nd ways of addressing increasing trac jam in Kigali, including expansion of city roads that is ongoing and discouraging use of private cars.
RWANDA
Showgoers at the expo
Rwanda trade fair exhibitors hit 400 Innovations dominate as over 23 countries showcase By Stephen Nuwagira
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he annual Rwanda International Trade Fair (RITF) organised by the Private Sector Federation (PSF) and the Ministry of Trade and Industry is this year bigger and better. The event organized at Gikondo Showgrounds in Kicukiro district will this year run for three weeks compared to two weeks previously from July 26 to August 15. The event has also grown from 80 exhibitors in 1997 to over 400 companies this year.
Participants are from 23 countries from all corners of the globe; including Asia, Africa, and Europe. They are from dierent sectors; including construction and housing, ICT, textile, tourism, mining, banking, agriculture and agroprocessing, and general trade among others. Countries like The Gambia, Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Japan, Nepal, Togo and the Republic of Congo are participating participati ng for the rst time.
Cashless entrance fees Meanwhile, the trade fair has gone digital with visitor paying entrance fees
using Tap & Go cards. This is a shift from the paper money payments during the previously expos. Sharon Munyana, the marketing manager at AC Group, the tech startup behind the Tap & Go payment innovation, innovatio n, says the move supports government push to use digital facilities in all sectors of the economy. Munyana says that of the 1.8 million people with Tap & Go cards, 80% are potential expo-goers. “This was the biggest motivatio motivation n for us to venture into this cashless mode of paying expo entrance charges. So, we approached PSF and they agreed to
RWANDA
PM Ngirente (second left) examines shoes made by Kigali Leather Leat her Ltd. By Stephen Nuwagira.
partner with us,” she adds. Tap Ta p & Go is the firm behind beh ind the e-p aym ent of bus far fares es in the City of Kigali, and show goers use the same cards to enter the trade fair. To enter the fair, a person must have a Tap & Go card loaded with at least Rwf500 and then tap it on one of th e card readers mounted at the showgrounds entry points. The innovation has been hailed for reducing the long queues that characterised previous shows. Speaking during the official opening on July 27, Rwanda’s Prime Minister;Dr. Edouard Ngirente, advised Rwandan manufacturers to use the fair to create new market linkages and partnerships that will build their capacities and produce
bes t quali q uality ty to driv drivee expo e xport rt growth. He said the fair also gives local manufacturers a huge opportunity to learn best practices from other exhibitors which will support their growth and competitiveness. Ngirente said that manufacturers and exporters of different products must work harder to drive up export volumes of Rwandan brands if government is to achieve its targets. He said although Rwanda’s exports earnings have been increasing over the past decade, government targets a 17% annual growth rate by 2022 and this must be driven by exp expand anding ing mar market ketss of of Made-in-Rwanda products. He challenged PSF and
manufacturers to improve quality of local products. “This is the only way to be competitive and penetrate new markets. Government is behind you and will support you,” Ngirente said. Rwanda has already scrapped taxes on imported raw materials and industrial equipment to support local manufacturers. Raw materials needed by the country’s nascent textiles and leather sectors are now zero rated from 25% taxes in the last fiscal year 2017/18. During the period January Jan uary -Ma -March rch 2018 , exports increased by 20% on account of the Madein-Rwanda drive, while imports rose 17%. Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of the fair,
Robert Bafakulera; the chairman of Rwanda’s Private Sector Federation (PSF), said it will support the Made-in-Rwanda initiative by helping local manufacturers to network and find new markets. “This also gives us a great opportunity to evaluate products against those of foreign exhibitors, besides networking and forming linkages and partnerships that could ease market entry and spur Rwanda’s exports and, therefore, reduce the country’s trade decit,” he said. He adds that is the only way that Rwanda can reduce dependence on imports as well as improve its balance of trade, and create the muchneeded jobs for young people. Kigali Leather is one of the Rwandan rms anxious to enter into more regional markets. The rm currently exports some of leather products, mainly shoes, to Tanzania Ta nzania but is eyeing other East African Community (EAC) countries, according to Wang Yuan, the rm’s manager. He says a supportive tax regime in EAC could ease their entry into new regional markets. But even rms Santra Rwanda which makes versatile roong materials, among others, for the local market say they want support. Boris Shema, a marketing ocer says their products are important as they are designed to help cut on the import bill as Rwandans can now get them locally. Trade fairs typically facilitate rms to showcase their products and play a big role in the marketi mark eting ng of products as they bring sellers and buyers together under one roof trade. They also create avenues for firms to reach new clients and form rewarding partnerships. According to Bafakulera, however, the Kigali fair is also a job mak maker. er. The fai fairr is is expec expected ted to aract close to 400,000 showgoers over the three week of the annual event.
RWANDA
Tea pickers at worker w orker.. The beverage bev erage raked ra ked in Rwf77 Rwf7 7.4 billion billio n last fiscal fi scal year yea r
Rwanda’s tea export revenue rises rise s to Rwf77 Rwf77.4b .4b By Elias Hakizimana
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wanda’s tea exports rose by 15 percent during the nancial year 2017/18 on the back of increased Rwanda Tea brand promotional activities, experts say. Issa Nkurunziza, the head of the tea division at the National Agriculture Export Board (NAEB), says that Rwanda exported 27,824 tonnes of tea during the period under review generating $88 million (about Rwf77.4 billion), billio n), which is higher h igher than what was recorded in the previous year. The country shipped out 25,128 tonnes of tea during scal year 2016/17. Nkurunziza said that the decision to market the tea under the “Rwanda Tea, a Natural Reawakening” brand that was launched last year was now paying dividends. He noted that the campaign has boosted the interest and aracted
the aention of tea buyers locally and on the regional and global markets. NAEB projects the country to fetch $92 million from a targeted 21,000 metric tonnes of tea exports this scal year. Dierent teas are marketed under the Rwanda Tea brand, including black tea, green tea, organic tea and spicy teas. The NAEB ocial said that 75% of Rwanda’s tea was sold through the Mombasa auction, while between 23 and 24% was bought through the export body’s memoranda of understanding with buyers, and only 1.7% was sold on the local market. The beverage is sold to 48 countries in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe, according to NAEB. The tea sector supports 42,840 farmers in Rwanda’s 12 districts, mainly from Northern, Western and Southern provinces, and whole tea value chain
employs 69,811 workers including; casual and permanent sta.
Support Tour du Rwanda Rwanda Tea is in one of the sponsors of the annual Tour du Rwanda. Amb. George William Kayonga, the chief executive ocer of NAEB, says that the event provides NAEB an opportunity to further market Rwanda’s tea to the world. “We are happy to work with Rwanda Cycling Federation in making this competition. Apart from the competition, the participants will be able to enjoy Rwanda’s breathtaking greenery, including tea plantations and other tourism aractions,” Kayonga said on August 4. The brand will reward the best combative rider at each stage. The international cycling competition started on August 5 and ends this weekend.
Incumbents
MTN
Airtel
Challengers
Africell
UTL
Struggling
Smile
Smart
Quitting
Vodafone Telecom market race
Battle for telecom market Bigger rms choke smaller and new telcos By Julius Businge
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few days to implementation of the social media tax, commonly referred to as Over the Top (OTT) on July 1, 2018, three largest telecom rms – MTN, Airtel and Africell issued a joint statement to guide its customers on how to pay the levy. The statement that carried a rather plain message signaled the changing dynamics in the telecom sector that had seven telecom rms prior to the recent exit of Vodafone Uganda Limited. Vodafone, which started operations in 2015, was the latest entrant in the country’s telecom industry. Other telecoms such as Smart, owned by the the Aga Aga Kha Khan n Development Network ( AKDN AKDN ) and Smile Telecom, were forced to drop voice service to concentrate on data. K2 on the other hand, which launched
operations in 2012, has been closed twice over tax arrears. On July 27, it announced that it had signed a brand endorsement agreement with Airtel where its customers would access all telecommunication services on the laer’s infrastructure. The government owned Uganda Telecom, and one of the oldest telecom rms in the country, is currently under statutory management and continues to grapple with old infrastructure and the hustle of nding investors to jump-start its operations. This scenario has reignited debate on the future of the sector that seems to be slowly going into the hands of a few players. This, to some analysts could easily see these players form cartels – which would distort the market. In addition, the disappearance of small players means less competition in the sector, loss of jobs and related economic opportunities.
The Independent sought Independent sought views from sector experts, telecom rms and the regulator in regards to the current fears and likely future performance of the sector. “In the beginning the market was all about voice, it is now data and next it might be serv service ices,” s,” Bad Badru ru Nte Ntege, ge, the cha chairm irman an of the East African Science and Technology Commission (EASTECO) and group CEO of consultancy rm, NFT told The on August 07. Independent on Independent He said the legal regime that allows incumbents (Airtel and MTN) to rent out infrastructure only enriches big players and makes small ones uncompetitive. But Godfrey Mutabazi, the executive director at Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), the regulator, told The on August 06 that failure of Independent on Independent small players in the market is not because of the current legal regime. First, he said, Uganda is a liberalised economy and that the sector has terms and
BUSINESS
K2 CEO Godfrey Kisekka (L), Katikkiro Peter Mayiga (M) and Airtel MD V.G V.G Somashekar display partnership agreements a t Bulange, Mengo on July 27. INDEPENDENT/JULIUS BUSINGE
conditions before a company is licensed to oer services. He said most small players entered the country’s telecom market at a time when the big players, which he referred to as incumbents, had moved on, invested a lot in infrastructure and captured many customers thus making it dicult for new players to snatch some from them. Mutabazi said some players like Africell have survived because they bought an already existing player and have tried to establish its niche market – data. With regard to possibilities of the big three rms forming a cartel, Mutabazi said: “The law is clear. We do a lot of studies to ensure there is fair competition; we have systems in place to monitor each and every transaction taking place in telecom companies.”
K2, Airtel partnership The Buganda Kingdom-owned telecom rm prior to its problems last year and some parts of this year had close to 100,000 customers but had failed to break-even. Ocials at the two rms (Airtel and K2) said K2 customers would buy lines and use the 0708 code instead of the old 0730 and that they would be registered as K2 customers. The rms will share revenue accruing from the transactions, Godfrey Kisekka, K2’s chief executive ocer said. V.G Somashekar, the managing director of Airtel told The Independent in an email response that the partnership reects Airtel’s commitment to Uganda and its willingness
to invest more. “This one is respect for relationship; collaboration with competitors and nding meaningful and purposeful partnerships creating win-win solutions,” Somashekar said. He said the the Airtel-K2 partnership is not a takeover but a ‘brand endorsement deal.’ Commenting on what it means for being one of the dominant players, Somashekar said as the telecom sector matures, it leads to industry consolidation and that the consumer benets from higher investment, modernised networks and aordable products and services. “We are investing ahead of the curve in Uganda,” he said adding, “That assures consumers will get unmatched coverage and high speed internet everywhere.” He, however, said growth and penetration remains a big challenge. He said the introduction of the new OTT tax is a barrier to digital inclusion and access to internet for all to achieve socio economic transformation. Similarly, Kisekka (K2’s CEO) who previously worked at Africell as Chief Technicall Ocer said the local excise duty Technica (12% on airtime) and value added tax (18%) is already too high and that adding the new OTT (Shs200 per day) and 0.5% on mobile money transactions makes the situation even worse for uptake of telecom services. Charles Abuka, the director for statistics at the Bank of Uganda told Parliament recently that: “…the value of Mobile Money transactions declined by Shs672 billion in the rst two weeks of July 2018, compared
to the rst two weeks of June 2018, in part, following the announcement of the Excise Duty Amendment Act, 2018.” Olivier Prentout, the chief marketing ocer at MTN told The Independent in Independent in an email response on August August 06 that competition in the telecom sector will always see bigger companies that constantly invest in improving the coverage and quality of their network innovating more on their services, aggressively acquiring new sales and distribution channels and further investing in their brand to survive and grow. “It requires a countrywide network to break bre ak eve even n and and rem remain ain in bus busine iness ss plus plus a strong leadership and well thought out strategy,” Prentout said. He said the telecoms that bridge the digital world will continue to do so to keep up pace with the needs of customers. Prentout said all industries and consumers are now using internet and that 40% of the new jobs related to the digital economy envisaged in the next 10 years are not yet created. Amidst these reports, the sector remains protable for the big players. Last year, MTN Uganda recorded a 10.7% growth in revenue from Shs 1.5trillion in 2016 to Shs 1.68 trillion in 2017, supported by grow growth th in dema demand nd for dat dataa and and dig digita itall services. The data revenue increased by 41.4% underpinned by an increase in data trac and good growth in data bundle adoption, the company reported. Similarly, digital revenue increased by 16.1 16.1% % suppor supported ted mai mainly nly by Mob Mobile ile Financial Services (MFS). MFS contributed 23% of the company’s total revenue, with the mobile money customers increasing by 27.6% to 5.2million. MTN had 10.7million subscribers as at the end of the rst quarter of 2018. This was 700,000 more customer subscribers compared with its closest rival, Airtel that had 10 million in a market of about 23 million subscribers. The rest of the customers were shared by Africell and Uganda Telecom.
Going forward Mutabazi said new players that intend to enter the country’s telecom industry would require heavy investments in infrastructure and promotional campaigns to aract customers to their network. He also said focusing on data service which many players players are doing, might not be eco econom nomica ically lly via viable ble giv given en tha thatt it it is is a narrow market and very competitive. For a country with 40 million people like Uganda, Mutabazi said it is normal to have at least a maximum of 3-4 players “beyond that it would be a waste of time and cannot be sust sustain ainabl ablee for for smal smalll play players ers.” .”
BUSINESS
Drug production at Quality Chemicals in Luzira.
INDEPENDENT/JIMMY SIYA
Cipla to list on USE Analysts anticipate some buzz on market that last had listing in 2012 By Julius Businge
U
ganda’s Securities Exchange market is set to experience some new buzzz agai buz again n as as the the long long aw await aited ed drug maker, Cipla Quality Chemical Industries Ltd (CiplaQCIL), makes an Initial Public Oering this month. The company said in a statement dated August 02 that its shareholders will be reducing their stake as part of its growth strategy. “Each of the shareholders will be selling a minority of their stakes to enable sucient free oat and liquidity; Cipla Group, rep resented through a subsidiary will retain a majority stake,” the notice reads in part. The Indian-based Cipla Group owns a 62.3% stake in the company, followed up with Capital Works Investment Partners and TLG Capital that owns 14.4% and 12.5% respectively. Local investors – Emmanuel Katongole, Frederick Mutebi Kitaka and George Baguma – hold a stake of 3.6% each. The company said the listing has received relevant approvals required and that it plans to provide further details soon. Though the company could not divulge further details of the planned IPO, available information indicates that it plans to sell
31% stake through the sale of 657million shares. This is intended to raise at least Shs100bn. Renowned market rms, Renaissance Capital is acting as the lead transaction advisor and book runner while Crested Capital (Uganda) is the lead sponsoring stockbroker to the listing. This announcement comes amidst several calls amongst market experts to have a carefully designed campaign aimed at sensitising members of the public and investors on the benets of listing and trading in comcom pany shares. It also comes at a time, the capital markets regulator, the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) current master plan is recommending to government to engage companies in key sectors of oil and gas and services sector to list so that Ugandans can have a share in them in addition to having them aract high prole investors from oversees to benben et the entire economy. Currently the USE has 16 local and regional companies listed and few counters record market activity during days of trading. Power distributor Umeme Limited was the last to list on the market in 2012.
Company strength
Market analysts are not predicting yet on whether or not the company would be a good buy with many waiting to look at the performance of the company detailed in a technical document referred to as a prospectus. However, available information shows that the company that started in 2005, with more than US$200million worth of investment, sits on 12 acres of land with a factory area of 11,800 square meters. The company focuses on the production of World Health Organisation (WHO) pre-qualied antimalarials, anti-retrovirals and Hepatitis B drugs for the Sub-Saharan African region including Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Namibia, Ivory Coast, Zambia, Zim babwe, bab we, Mal Malawi awi,, Nami Namibia bia,, Moza Mozambi mbique que,, Ghana, Ethiopia, Angola and South Sudan. Although the company has the capacity to produce 70 million tablets a month, it is currently producing at 65-70 % capacity due to instability in demand for drugs. The Capital Markets Authority remained tight lipped on the planned oer. USE Chief Executive Ocer, Paul Bwiso, said, “ It is an exciting time for the Uganda capital markets that last had an IPO in 2012 and we applaud CiplaQCIL for taking this important step in its growth story.” Joseph Kibuuka, Kibuuka, the the head of investinvestment banking at Crested Capital told The Independenton Independent on Aug. 04 that he was not authorised to talk about the transaction but said, said, any new new listing listing that is is of good good quality on the USE is a good addition and would boost market activity. He said there is need to run aggressive sensitisation campaigns with messages on the benets of investors taking part in the capital markets.
BUSINESS
Namanve industrial park.
INDEPENDENT/JIMMY SIYA
By Isaac Khisa
U
ganda Investment Authority has withdrawn land allocated to 164 rms in the industrial and busibusi ness parks over the last ve years due to non-compliance to the set terms. The Authority’s Acting Executive Director, Basil Ajer, told The Independent in an interview that the rms lost land for failure to develop it within the stipulated period. “Once a rm has been allocated land in these industrial parks, there are activities that need to be carried out to show that it is commied to its goal,” he said. “The rm, for instance, should ensure that the allocated land has been surveyed, plans approved, perimeter walls constructed, among others within 18 months. However, this was not fullled.” This comes exactly a year since the UIA gave rms that had been allocated land in the seven industrial parks up to 18 months to prove that they are able to develop the land or lose it. Last year, the investment promotion agency revealed that it withdrew 52.4 acres from 10 companies that failed to utilise their land in the Kampala Business and Industrial Park, Namanve, while 7.5 acres were repossessed from four companies in Soroti Industrial & Business Park. The government has in the past years courted prospective local and foreign investors especially those in manufacturing to set up investments in the industrial parks. However, a section of investors have been reluctant to set investments there citing limited extension of utilities such as water, roads and electricity. Meanwhile, UIA released a report on the level of investment licenced last year, with
Firms lose land in industrial parks Limited access to water, electricity & roads remains a big headache in these parks statistics indicating a more than 50% drop in licenced projects from 512 during the FY 2016/17 to 247 during the FY 2017/18 citing a drop in Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs). “The way we aract FDI is not unique from other countries, so if the global trends are declining, you expect that we shall aract less,” said Joseph Kiggundu, a concon sultant director at UIA. Available Av ailable data shows that FDI inow declined from US$1.05million during 2016/17 to US$701.76million last nancial year. In terms of sector contribution, manufacturing sector registered the biggest number of licenced projects (125), accounting for over 50% of all the licenced projects in 20217/18. This is aributed to the government polpol icy towards value addition and incentives such as free land in Namamve and the 10 year tax holiday for foreign investors. This was followed up closely with the mining and quarrying sector that accounted for 11%, nance, insurance, real estate and busine bus iness ss serv service icess at at 9.3% 9.3% and ele electr ctrici icity, ty, gas and water account for 9.1%
The sectors that registered the lowest number licenced rm included wholesale & retail, catering & accommodation services that recorded only 1% followed up with transport, storage and communication as well as community and social services that each registered 3%. Central region registered the highest number of licenced projects (201), representing 81% of all the licenced projects in 2017/18. This has been driven by economic infrastructure, nancial services, markets and skilled manpower which are abundant in this region. Eastern and western region accounted for 8.1% each for the licenced rms and the rest taken up by the northern region.
Current status A total of 33 industries are currently in operation within the Namamve, directly employing 15,000 Ugandans within the park, 87 commenced constructions whereas 121 companies are still in the pre-stage – surveying, processing of title deed plans and titles, environmental impact assessment among others.
BUSINESS
Kampala’s surging residential proper properties ties Supply of residential apartments in prime suburbs could exceed demand over the next two years By Isaac Khisa
D
emand for residential properties in the secondary residential surburbs of greater Kampala has risen up on the back of increased stock of newly constructed properties, according to the latest report from the property agency Knight Frank. The 2018 half year report shows that demand for residential properties in the middle income segment grew by 9% parparticularly in Kira, Najjera, Kyanja, Namugongo and Naalya, Naalya, with selling and renting ranging between Shs 100m –Shs 200 million and Shs 400,000 – Shs 800,000 per month, respectively. “It is also interesting to note that approximately 80% of the new stocks of apartment blocks blo cks av avail ailabl ablee on on the the mar market ket in the these se area areass were sold during rst half of 2018,” the report says. There has also been a 5% year on year increase in occupancy rates for prime residential suburbs of Nakasero, Kololo, Naguru and Bugolobi owed to the completion of pipeline projects in the second half of last year. The government, which has brought forward its nal investment decision for a planned 1,445-kilometer (900-mile) crudeexport pipeline to the end of 2018 from June 2019 via Tanzania, plans to start oil produc tion by 2022, two years later than earlier planned. The report, however, projects that the supply of residential apartments in the prime suburbs of Nakasero, Kololo, Naguru and Bugolobi could exceed demand over the next two years, if the existing and newly completed developments are not absorbed by the mar market ket ov over er the nex nextt six six mon months ths.. This was the same trend with the oce space. Demand for oce space registered an increase, with Grade A oce space over the last 12 months currently standing at 92% compared with Grade B space at 78%. This is a 2% year on year growth in Grade A occupancy compared to the 90% recorded in the rst half of 2017. Currently, there’s limited vacant Grade A space in the core Central Business District and secondary oce locations available on the market.
National Housing Estate Naalya
Demand for Grade B office space decline On the contrary, the Grade B oce space saw occupancy rates register a 7% decline during the rst half of 2018 from 85% recorded during the same period last year as organisations moved either to acquire their properties or relocated to properties with beer facilities and amenities. This has in turn increased the available stock of Grade B space by approximately 2%. This increase in space of older Grade B stock coupled with the relatively low demand for the same has put further downward pressure on rental rates with Grade B gross rents (excl. taxes) now ranging betwee bet ween n $10 $10 and $12 per squ square are met metre re per month depending on the specic aributes of the properties. On the same note, the industrial property sector saw a 10% decline in demand for space over the rst half of 2018 in line with the slowdown in economic activity with some corporate organizations and private busine bus inesses sses dow downsiz nsizing ing,, and and opt opting ing to tak takee up smaller and or cheaper warehouses. There was also a lot of speculative development of logistics and storage facilities on the back of anticipated demand from the oil and gas sector, but this has not quite materialized. “It is also likely that the oil and gas sector will have specic needs and requirements which will have to be built to suit and not speculative,” the report states. The traditional industrial areas, (1st – 8th
Street), Ntinda, Nakawa and Luzira Industrial areas continue to remain the preferred locations for businesses requiring only storage space as opposed to the manufacturers who have built owner occupied premises in the Namanve Industrial Park and or along Jinja Jin ja Roa Road. d. Likewise, a lot of the older stock in the traditional industrial areas is being extensively renovated or plots redeveloped with more modern storage and showroom space. This trend, the report says, will continue as owner occupiers relocate to designated industrial and business parks. This new development comes at the time the Bank of Uganda projects the economic growth prospects to remain favourable in the medium term buoyed by multiplier eects of public infrastructure investments, higher agricultural productivity, increase in household consumption and the overall strengthening of the global economy.
Outlook Looking forward, the supply gap in Grade A oce space is expected to narrow in the medium term given the number of good quality developments in the pipeline. “Approximately 65,000 m2 of Grade A space is expected on the market during the next 12 months with at least 50% of it being built bui lt for own owner er occ occupa upatio tion n by by orga organiz nizati ations ons such as law rms and government parastatparastat als,” the report says.
BUSINESS
CSR
BANKING
Coca-Cola’s Kampala festival set
UBA to unveil mobile, agent banking
O
n August19, Ugandans will enjoy their favorite rolex combos at the Coca-Cola sponsored 2018 Kampala Rolex Festival. The festival that returns for a third edition will be held at The Uganda Museum. The festive is organised by the Rolex initiative together with the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities. Coca-cola ocials said the fesfes tival is just another example of the company’s continued association with food and celebrated rituals among families and friends. In addition, the festival presents a unique opportunity for Ugandan rolex vendors, consumers, corporate companies and tourism institutions to celebrate Uganda’s most popular dining oering and the country’s rich and original food culture. CocaCola Uganda’s Brand Manager, Miriam Limo said: “This festival gives us an opportunity to oer our consumers a unique moment and experience of pairing their favorite rolex with an ice cold Coca-Cola. We remain commied to oering our consumers unique moments and experiences.”
P
an-African lender, United Bank for Africa, plans to roll out its mobile banking platform mid this month and later agent banking to facilitate customer convenience and also tap into the unbanked population. UBA Uganda CEO Johnson Agoreyo said the lender is in the nal stage of preparations and testing of the system.“We are currently testing the platform and should be up running in the mid of this month,” he told media at the Kampala Serena Hotel on August 02.
“We have also made progress with the agent banking bankin g and and you sho should uld be abl ablee to to see see some some-thing at the end of this month.” Launching the two services will put the Nigerian-owned lender into the par with a section of other banks such as Stanbic, Centenary and Equity that have already done so. The Nigerian-owned lender, which entered Uganda’s banking industry in 2008, made its rst prot in 2016. The bank recorded a modest net prot of Shs 2.6bn in 2016 from a net loss of Shs 4.3bn in 2015.
BANKING
Equity Bank enters Church House
Equity Bank officials welcome Deputy Governor for BoU, Louis Kasekende
E
quity Bank has relocated its Uganda’s head oce from Katwe to Church House in the middle of city on Kampala Road as it marked 10 years of operation. The bank funded the construction of the Shs US$17million building and will recoup its
investment through rent reconciliations with Church of Uganda, the owner of the building. Church House is a 16 oor commercial oce buildi bui lding, ng, wit with h Equi Equity ty Ban Bank k occu occupyin pying g thre threee oors. “This magnicent building is testimony of what partnerships can give you,” said James Mwangi, the Equity Group managing director and CEO. The Deputy Governor, Bank of Uganda, Louis Kasekende applauded Equity and Church of Uganda for puing up the building. He said that Equity bank’s business model of reaching out to large and small consumers through digital tools and agency banking was critical in promoting nancial inclusion and eco nomic development.
BANKING
ECONOMY
NC Bank launches its first Visa Debit Card
PMI signals successive improvement in business conditions
Officials addressing the media during the Visa launch
N
C Bank Uganda Limited has launched its rst Visa enabled debit Card. Launching the product on Aug.02, Aug.02, the Bank’s Managing Director, Sam Ntulume, said the card
would give its customers convenient payment solutions across the world. “This launch marks an important step for NC Bank as we continue to oer our customers a wide-range of services,”
Ntulume said. He said that the Bank is constantly looking for solutions to ease the nancial services oeroering and would go ahead to roll out more new products. He said a cashless economy and technological advancement is encouraging more people to seek easier ways of making payments without necessarily visiting banking halls. Cardholders will be able able to acces accesss money internation internationally ally with comprehensive security and protection with its chip and pin technology. Customers can also shop online using the card.
T
he private sector has continued to register positive growth with the eighteenth successive improvement in business conditions, according to the latest Purchase Managers Index (PMI) for July. At 53.2 recorded in July, the private sector maintained the same positive performance score card that was seen in June and remaining above the average since the survey began in June 2016. The latest statistics released for July, shows that there was a further improvement in business conditions across the Ugandan private sector, reectreect ing ongoing expansions in output and new orders amid reports of strengthening client demand. Commenting on July’s survey ndings, Jibran Qureishi, Regional Economist E.A at Stanbic Bank said: “Private sector activity remains solid and could further benet from the ongoing public investment in infrastructure, in addition to the government’s intentions to clear domestic arrears over the course of the scal year.”
BUSINESS
Over-regulation could Over-regulation suppress bancassurance By Independent staff
O
Badru Kiggundu, the presidential adviser on infrastructure touring Roofing Rolling Mills Namanve during the engineers visit of the plant on August 4. Kiggundu urged the engineers in uganda to be innovative in order to address challenges of steel production in Uganda. INDEPENDENT/JIMMY SIYA
Cissy Kagaba, t he Executive Director of t he Anti- Corruption Coalition Uganda (ACCU) addressing addressing the press af ter the r elease of a validation report on environmental audit on forestry activities in Uganda for 2017 at Hotel Africana on August 2. INDEPENDENT/JIMMY SIYA
ver regulation of bancassurance services in Uganda could limit the growth of the segment, according to the Julia Shisia, executive director at the Nairobi-based Stanbic Insurance Agency. Shisia, who spoke during the fourth Bancassurance Annual Forum in Kampala on August 01 said designing relaxed regulation like it is in Kenya could stir growth of the bancassurance. “For instance, in Kenya, a bank ban k is is allo allowed wed to be an age agent nt for all insurance rms and it is not necessarily that one must have a certicate of procient to sale insurance,” he said. “I believe Uganda’s insurance industry can also use this model to grow the bancassurance business segment.” She said insurance rms can carry out advertisement for a specic bancassurance product jointl joi ntly y with with a comme commerci rcial al ban bank. k. This came in the wake that commercial banks in Uganda are allowed to partner with a
maximum of four insurance rms to sale insurance. Also, an individual willing to sale insurance should possess a certicate of prociency. Bernard Obel, the acting director, supervision at the Insurance Regulatory Authority of Uganda, said the regulator will look into the guidelines and possibly made possible readjustments. IRA-U started issuing bancassurance licences to commercial banks in December last year, a step intended to boost boo st the cou countr ntry’s y’s ins insura urance nce penetration now lowest in East Africa. So far, 12 banks have been given ago a head to be insurance agents. Uganda’s insurance penetration currently stands at 0.73 % compared with Rwanda’s 1% and Ta Tanzania’s nzania’s 2.3%. Kenya has the highest insurance penetration at 3.4%. Last year, the country’s insurance industry recorded a 16% growth in insurance premiums to Shs737billion last year, up from Shs 634billion 2016. In 2015 premiums were recorded at Shs611billion.
Weekly share price movement (August 06) Security
Vivo Energy Uganda MD Gilbert Assi (R), listening to the Minister of State for Environment Mary Goret Gorettiti Kitutu during the launch of an environment campaign dubbed “Tuve Ku Kaveera” in partnership with NEMA at Shell Bugolobi on August 3. INDEPENDENT/JIMMY SIYA
August 06
July 31
Movement
BATU
30,000
30000
00
BOBU
140
140
00
CENT
1,253
1,218
2.9
DFCU EABL
900 8,440
950 8,307
5.3 1.6
EBL
1,815
1,846
3.0
JHL
18,577
18,460
0.6
KA
366
374
2.1
KCB
1,769
1,753
0.9
NIC
17
17
00
NMG
3,335
3,304
0.9
NVL SBU
450 32
450 32
00 00
UCHM
51
64
20.3
UCL
21
23
8.7
UMEME ALSI
320 --
330 --
3.1 --
By Flavia Nassaka
I
n 2002, James Ntulume developed a keen interest in snakes. Then an owner of a farm – Snakes Uganda— located in an upscale Kampala suburb, Muyenga, Ntulume immersed himself into studying the reptiles. By 2015, he had completed sets of short courses in handling and conserving the reptiles. Last year, he abandoned his full time IT job and ocially registered a charity that now oers snake rescue services, sensitization and guides tourists who go deep in forests searching for snakes. Given his reputation, it was only a maer of time that people started reporting to him with festering snakebites. “Many times people call me that they have been bien by a snake and do not know what to do,” Ntulume told The Independent, “Others come here. They come weeks or months after failed treatments”. While at a conference in South Africa, Ntulume was given some antivenom – a chemical that reverse or neutralize the eects of a snakes’ poison. He oers these free of charge. He told The Independent that the antivenom is manufactured in South Africa and works well for Ugandan snakebites. According to experts, antivenoms work depending on the type of snake that bit you and where it is found. The science of producing antivenom, according to experts, involves extracting venom from snakes and injecting it into animals, such as horses. The injected animals’ immune systems produce antibodies that neutralize the venom. These can be extracted and stored for later use on human victims who are bien bi en by tha thatt part particu icular lar sna snake ke speci species. es. Currently however, the most popular antivenom in Uganda is from India and, therefore, supposed to treat injuries caused by Ind Indian ian sna snakes. kes. “You “Y ou just can’t have Indian Antivenom in the hospital. There is a lot of ignorance in treatment here”, said Royjan Taylor Taylor an expert from the Kenya based James Ashe Antivenom Trust, an entity set up to help snake bite victims. Like Uganda, he says Kenya has a number of venomous snakes like the Pu adder, the East African Gaboon viper, Black mamba, the forest cobra and the Egyptian Cobra, among others, which health workers should be aware of in order to oer eective treatments. “To be able to help, health workers need
WHO lists Snake bites amongst top 20 killers In Uganda, many antivenoms do not work, all snakebite rst aid information is wrong to know what snake bit a person depending on the symptoms that they show. We are not telling them to go to the jungle and start searching for snakes,” he says,” but they need to know that for some bites you do not need any treatment because it was a dry bite or they are just not poisonous”. Meanwhile, snakebite envenoming is becomi bec oming ng a maj major or thr threat eat.. Whil Whilee the the Wor World ld Health Organisation (WHO) had in 2013 removed it from the list of the priority Neglected Tropical Diseases(NTDs), it has now put it back as one of the top 20 diseases claiming many lives especially in the subSaharan Africa. At the World Health Assembly meeting held in May a resolution was passed for the organization to develop a comprehensive plan to support countries in implementing measures for increased access to eective treatment by people who get bien by venomous snakes. It is estimated that 2.7million bites happen annually, a fth of these in SubSaharan Africa. Apart from this, a quarter of the world’s 400,000 bite-related fatalities occur in the region. These gures are likely conservative as a few snakebite victims make it to statistic-reporting hospitals. In fact, gures by an NGO – Health Action International (HAI)—show that 70% of the cases go unreported. At the Ministry of Health, for instance, snakebites are not categorized in the Health Management
Information System (HMIS), which captures data collected during provision of health services at health facilities across the country. It is only now after WHO put it on the list of priority diseases that ocials are considering geing a focal point person to cater for issues associated with envenoming. Bey Nabae of the Vector Control Division at the ministry says that while the 2016 clinical guidelines give guidance on how to deal with cases, many health workers are not trained on how to deliver treatments. “The rst aid tips they give are wrong,” she told The Independent, “For instance, they tell people to tie the bien area which is wrong. The black stone that they say sips out the venom is also a lie.” Nabae added that the ministry is now planning to ensure government procures antivenom through the National Medical Stores (NMS). Results of the study conducted local NGO – Coalition for Health Promotion and Social Development (HEPs Uganda)— between betw een Oct Octobe oberr last last yea yearr and and Mar March, ch, showed that only 4 percent of the 144 health facilities studied, stock antivenom even as they recorded 593 cases of envenoming within the six months. They also found that in 92% of the facilities, health workers were not trained in delivering treatment. According to Sophie Von Bernus, a Programme Ocer, Snakebite at HAI,
COMMENT
that is not the only challenge. The biggest problem with Uganda, she said, is these gures are just estimates. Most of the cases are treated from home or run to traditional healers for help, she explained adding that even though, some would have chosen to go the health facilities; they would be cut o by the high costs of treatment. Treatment with the Indian antivenom costs up to Shs400, 000 yet the more eective South African vail dose, which is able to treat bites bit es by seve several ral sna snake ke spec species ies in Afri Africa ca goes for Shs800, 000 in private health facilities. Yet, this does not even include the cost for supportive treatment that complements it. The patient will need other treatment interventions like wound care, pain relief and, in extreme cases, reconstructive surgery because beca use sna snake ke veno venom m tends tends to kil killl tissu tissuee cells whose only treatment is amputating the limb. There is another catch. The South African brand, bra nd, whi which ch is the best on the mar market ket now requires a cold chain and yet the Indian one that doesn’t require that is not eective. Royjan who is also a self -taught snake handler and snake farm owner, says that while some countries have monovalent antivenoms which treat bites by a specic snake species, the best option for countries like Uganda who have many cases, many snake species and yet with lile resources, are the polyvalent antivenoms, which treat a number of snake bites with one antivenom cocktail. “Research is also ongoing to develop rapid diagnostic tests to quickly identify which kind of snake aacked someone,” Royjan told The Independent, “When this is done, we will be able to provide treatments quickly.” But before this happens, Royjan says, people should try as much as possible to avoid bites rst by changing their aitude of aacking and killing snakes when they spot them. He explains that most of the snakes, even the most poisonous, are peaceful and will not strike unless disturbed. He recommends that people move away once they spot a snake. If it spits venom in one’s eyes, he adds, they should be rinsed immediately with water. He says once bien, all tight items on one’s body should be removed and the wounded area left alone. Then, he adds, the patient should also be made to lay on the ground with the side that has not been beaten to limit movement of the aected area. He warns against lying on the back or use of traditional unsafe treatments. Protecting against bites according to him is as simple as closing all holes in one’s house, cuing grass around the house and watching your steps when in the bush. For Sophie, however, with comprehensive sensitization, most of the injuries caused by snakes will be avoided.
By Kilande Esther Joan
Funding Family Family Planning Pallisa district should be commended
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or the first time, Pallisa district Local Government gave a budget-line to Family Planning (FP) services in its annual budget for Financial Year (FY) 2018/2019 to reduce the high teenage pregnancies and FP unmet need. This is commendable and the rest of the districts should borrow a leaf if we, as a country are to make strides in improving FP services, achieving the FP2020 global targets and Uganda’s Development Vision 2040. Pallisa has a Total Fertility Rate ( TFR) estimated at six to seven children per woman (6.1), teenage pregnancy at 25%, contraceptive prevalence at 31%; FP use among married women at 20%; and the unmet need at 69%. This is mainly attributed to persistent stock-outs of FP commodities as well as lack of information on sexual reproductive health among the young population in Pallisa district (L ot Quality Assurance Sample - LQS results - 2015). At national level, contraceptive prevalence (modern and traditional methods) stands at 39% among married women, and at 51% among sexually active unmarried women; the unmet need f or FP stands at 28%; while the TFR is as high as 5.4 (Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), 2017 and Uganda Health and Demographic Survey 2016). Nearly one in five married women and two in four teenagers do not want to have a child but are not using contraceptives. It is against this backgr bac kgroun ound d that t hat the dis distri trict ct a lloc ated 2% of the Primary Health Care (PHC) funding to FP programming. This means that all health facilities will have FP activities in the FY2018/19. The district further allocated UG X10 million to training of health workers on FP service provision. This was achieved through the development of an Extended Family
Planning Working Group that advocated for FP programing at district level. Coalition for Health Promotion and Social Development (HEPS-Uganda) a local NGO supported the district using a modeling tool known as ImpactNow to predict the short-term future health and economic benefits of FP investments on behalf of the dis trict. Through the evidence gathered, the district leaders were convinced that the status quo of the district is bound to change if investment is made in FP services. Ensuring universal access to F amily Planning (FP) has been identified as a key priority for realizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), achieving the FP2020 global targets and Uganda’s Development Vision 2040. High quality FP can help curb rapid population growth, improve health, and d rive development. Uganda recognizes universal access to Family Planning (FP) as a key priority for realizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), achieving the FP2020 global targets and Uganda’s Development Vision 2040 and as a country, Uganda has made significant progress towards fulfilling the right to family planning, funding is however, not enough. There is need for a concerted approach such as that of Pallisa to improve quality of family planning services. If all districts are commied to increase funding to family planning just like Pallisa has done, the country will move faster in achieving the FP2020 goals and Vision 2020 set targets.
COMMENT
By Yoga Adhola
The 1966 revolution and the Constitution
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n an article published under the title, “Court has sanctioned the return of violent Constitutionalism in Uganda”, Professor Onyango-Oloka asserts that the Constitutional Court that sat in Mbale has “…plunged our constitutional regime into a quagmire not seen since the infamous decision in the case of ex parte Matovu”. “Decided in 1966, Matovu’s decision armed that the judiciary would look aside when the Executive arm of government (in that case the government of President Apollo Milton Obote) used force to change the Constitution”. Far from creating a constitutional quagmire, the events of 1966 actually removed a constitutional quagmire, which had obtained in the federal constitution of 1962. The 1962 contained the following clause: “7(1) Subject to provisions of the Constitution of Uganda (including the provisions of the Constitutions of Buganda included therein), the Legislature of Uganda and the Legislature of Buganda shall have concurrent power to make laws for the peace.” This provision became a serious quagmire when it came to dealing with Edward Mutesa’s transgression. Mutesa once went to ‘the lost counties’ and shot people dead. Professor Mamdani tells us on page 244 of his book, “Politics and Class formation” that: “One Sunday, Edward Mutesa went on an expedition to the lost counties with 8,000 ex-servicemen, demonstrated his royal prerogative of being above the law by one morning shooting nine Banyoro peasants gathered in a market place...” This was murder, which would have required his trial; however, one could not take him to court as long as he was head of state. Secondly, none other than Professor Mutibwa, himself a Muganda, a member of the 1995 Constitutional Commission and a retired professor of history, has wrien in his book, “Uganda since Independence: a story of unfullled hopes.” thus: «The political dispute between Obote and Ibingira and his supporters centered around the control of UPC and ultimately the very leadership of the country in terms of the political and economic ideologies that were to be followed. Obote claimed - not without justi jus ticat cation ion - that that Ibi Ibingi ngira’ ra’ss group group,, whic which, h, included the President, Sir Edward Mutesa, and the Buganda government at Mengo and which also counted on the support
and assistance of the Army Commander, Brigadier Opolot, wanted to remove him from power and that plans to this end were in an advanced stage by the end of 1965. No one, let alone Ibingira and his supsup porters, has denied that they wanted to see Milton Obote and those who believed in socialist philosophies removed. Their only regret is that they failed.” Mutesa’s involvement in plots to illegally overthrow the government was of course treason for which he should have been prosecuted in a court of law. However, Mutesa was a siing president of the country with immunity against prosecution. To prosecute him would have required that he be impeached. As provided for in the 1962 concon stitution, such a move by Parliament would have required concurrence with a vote of two thirds of the Lukiiko (parliament) of Buganda. There is no way such a move would have been bee n appr approve oved d by by the the Luk Lukiik iiko. o. It wa wass to to resolve this constitutional contradiction that Binaisa, the Aorney General at the time advised Obote, the Prime Minister to abrogate the 1962 Constitution and replace it with the 1966 Constitution. The validity of this constitution was to become bec ome an issu issuee when when on Sept Septembe emberr 6, 6, 1966, Michael Matovu led, through his advocate, a writ of habeas corpus under Section 349 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Uganda. Following the revolution, there was some resistance, and some of those who were leading the resistance got arrested. Among those who were arrested was Michael Matovu, the Saza Chief of Buddu in Buganda. Matovu was detained on May 26 1966. Matovu’s application for a writ of habeas corpus led to various questions requiring constitutional interpretation and so the presiding judge, Jereys Jones, J, referred the maer to a 3-member bench of the High Court (Udo Udoma, Chief Justice; Sheridan and Jereys Jones, JJ) for hearing and deterdetermination of the Constitutional questions (not the application for the writ of habeas corpus per se). The issues for determination revolved around the constitutional validity of the emergency powers laws by which Matovu was detained and therefore by extension, the constitutionality or legal validity of Michael Matovu’s detention. The most
important issue, however, and the core of this precedent, turned out to be the question of the 1966 Constitution’s validity. No doubt, the roots of this 1966 ConstituConstitu tion lay in an extra-constitutional act to wit, revolution carried out by Apollo Milton Obote when he seized all powers of government on 22nd February 1966. The Aorney General submied that under International Law, an independent and sovereign nation may have its government or Constitution changed by way of a revolution, where an abrupt political change destroys a pre-existing legal order and eectively replaces it in a manner that pre-existing legal order did not itself contemplate. It was thus argued that the suspension of the 1962 Constitution and seizure of all powers of government by Apollo Milton Obote in February 1962 constituted a revorevo lution. It was put to the Court that a revolution had occurred in Uganda, destroying the legal order underlying the 1962 ConstiConsti tution and establishing the new legal order under which the 1966 Constitution was validly established. Further reliance was sought from the Pakistani Supreme Court decision of the state v. Dosso where the Kelsen theory was applied in a similar circumstance. circumstance. In the case of Pakistan, the declaration of martial law by President Iskandar Mirza on October 7th 1958 abrogated the 1956 Constitution. Kelsen theorized: ″No jurist would mainmain tain that even after a successful revolution the old constitution and the laws based thereupon remain in force, on the ground that they have not been nullied in a manner anticipated by the old order itself. Every jurist will presume that the old order – to which no political reality any longer corresponds – has ceased to be valid, and that all norms, which are valid within the new order, receive their validity exclusively from the new constitution. It follows that, from this juristic point of view the norms of the old order can no longer be recognized as valid norms.″ The three member bench (in ex parte Matovu) concluded that the Kelsenian principle was equally applicable in the Uganda case and held that the 1966 Constitution was thus valid because it was the product of a successful revolution which had led to a new legal order, ousting that of the 1962 Constitution.
ART | BOOKS | SOCIETY | TRAVEL | CULTURE CULTURE
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he creative sector in the East African region is undoubtedly still struggling. The sector employs many youth but government has made noticeable eorts to streamline it. It is against this backdrop backdrop that Dr. Andrew Burton and a team of academics from Newcastle University and Makerere University art school have been conducting workshops at 32⁰ East to enhance careers and livelihoods of artists working on the Kampala art scene. The workshops are part of the KLA ART 018 program. Dominic Muwanguzi talked to him to nd more about these workshops.
Livelihoods Live lihoods for artists artists Ensuring sustainable careers in the creative sector
What are these workshops you’re conducting in Uganda about? The workshops are part of a bigger project that seeks to address the issues of sustainable careers and decent livelihoods in the creative sector. We appreciate that the creative industries are key areas of growth in East Africa, but lile investment in the creative sector has been bee n made made by loc local al gov govern ernment mentss in in the the region to achieve the desired development. More so, the creative sector has been identied as the biggest employer of the youth who form a greater percentage of the overall population of the East African region. Ironically, there’s already the East African community Creative and Cultural Industries Bill 2015, intended to boost opportunities for artists but so far lile has been bee n hear heard d from from it. Thes Thesee work worksho shops ps serv servee as an “intervention” in this pursuit, through engaging art managers, art organizations and artists to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge to improve on their artistic practice.
What skills and knowledge are you passing on to your audience? The workshops seek to identify those key areas that can benet artists and all stakeholders in the creative industry to develop their artistic practice like networking, which is crucial in building a sustainable art career and livelihood; entrepreneurship skills for artists and art managers in order for them to compete favourably in the growing art market within the region; opportunities oered by new mod modes es art art pro produc ductio tion, n, pot potent ential ial benet ben etss for for col collab labora oratio tions ns and pro profess fession ional al development in form of writing portfolio and C.Vs for their art.
How sustainable are these workshops? Through this engagement, we are not concerned with sustainability of workshops becaus bec ausee we we are are not try trying ing to impo impose se a particular model or system on the local art community. The approach for these workshops is to work collaboratively with local institutions to identify what works for artists. Is it professional development or networking? In Nairobi-Kenya, where we had the rst workshop, the rst publication on Kenya contemporary art scene, Nairobi Contemporary, was launched recently and it is an artist-led publication. Similarly, to achieve local ownership of any possible outcome of these workshops, we are working with a team of local art managers and institutions like Margaret Trowel School of Industrial and Fine Art and 32⁰ East who have the experience to work with artists and understandably know what they need.
You Y ou ar aree bu builildi ding ng an in inst stal alla lati tion on to be
set up at Makerere Art gallery, tell me more about this? The installation is my personal idea and not connected to this project. I have always felt the need to construct installations that respond to the social or economic landscape of the places I visit. I have done this in dierent countries like India, China and Korea where I have been inspired to work with available material in the community (found objects) to build artworks that respond or reect to the nature of environment they are constructed. This installation I am working on at Makerere Art School “The Pop-up Petrol station” is a response to the many petrol stations that are found in Kampala, There is a petrol station for every 100 metres and this has both negative and positive connotations for the population. The project is funded by Arts Humanities Research Council, the British Institute East Africa and Margaret Trowel School of Industrial and Fine Art. Images courtesy of Joell Tuga Joe Tugaine ineyo. yo.
British Airways Air ways staff fired for having ‘girly’ ‘girly’ hair A British Airways worker has accused the airline of sexism after he was sacked for having a ‘man bun.’ Sid Ouared, 26, claims his contract was terminated after bosses demanded he cut his locks becaus bec ausee it it brea breache ched d unif uniform orm policy. The former Heathrow customer service worker said
New Zealand, Australia bicker over flag Winston Peters, New Zealand’s acting prime minister has claimed Australia Australia stole New Zealand’s design saying his country “got there rst.” New Zealand adopted its ag in 1902, while Australia’s Australia’s was not ocially recognised until 1954. The two countries’ ags are both dark blue with the Union Jack emblem in the top left corner. The only distinct variation is that the Australian version also has six white stars, while New Zealand’s has a constellation of four red stars. Peters who is temporarily leading the country while Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is on maternity leave raised the issue recently and complained: “We got there rst with this design.” “We designed it and they borrowed it and if we wanted to clear the maer up they should change their ag.” “It must be patently obvious that all over the world people are confused. I’ve been in places like Turkey and elsewhere where they’ve confused our countries on the basis of those ags. It’s not helpful.” But Opposition leader, Simon Bridges, mocked Peters’ ag pre-occupation, accusing him of populism and labeling him “a poor man’s Donald Trump.”
one of his bosses even pulled him aside and told him: “Your “Y our hair is like a girl’s hair.” Ouared said: “They basically said, ‘cut it, put it in a turban like a Sikh, or turn it into dreadlocks like a Rastafarian’. I am not any of those things and I can’t believe that they would make me wear my
hair like something that I am not.” The Londoner, who had his contract terminated last month after just two weeks in the job, criticized British Airways for being “stuck in the 1970s.””So because I’m not a female, I wasn’t permied to have my hair in that style. It was absolute sexism.”
Romanian court rejects man’s claim that he is, in fact, alive After more than 20 years of working as a cook in Turkey, 63-year-old Constantin Reliu returned home to Romania to discover that his wife had had him ocially registered as dead. Apparently, she wanted to remarry and now lives in Italy. Reliu has since been living a legalistic nightmare of trying to prove to authorities that he is, in fact, alive. A court in the northeastern city of Vaslui refused to overturn his death certicate because his request
was led “too late.”The decideci sion, the court said, is nal. “I am a living ghost,” said Reliu, “I am ocially dead, although I’m alive,” he told The Associated Press early Press early this year, “I have no income and because I am listed as dead, I can’t do anything.” Reliu explained that he rst went to work in Turkey in 1992 and returned in 1995 to the rst big shock of his marriage — his wife’s indelity. In 1999, he decided to return to Turkey for good. But
in December, last year, Turkish authorities detained him over expired papers and in January deported him to Romania. Upon landing at Bucharest airport, he was informed by border bor der oc ocial ialss that that he had bee been n ocially declared dead and underwent six hours of questioning and tests. Reliu said he has been banned for life from returning to Turkey but would like to write to Tur Turkish kish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to appeal the decision.
Bermuda Triangle mystery solved?
East Fife 4, Forfar 5 soccer result finally happens For many years, the late British comedian, Eric Morecambe (pictured) dreamt mt (pictured) , , drea of this tongue-twister of a Scoish League football result happening. Morecambe used the tongue-twister East Fife 4, Forfar 5, as a greeting to his friend James Alexander Gordon, who read the classied football results on BBC radio for 40 years.”Whenever I saw him over a 20-year period, he would say ‘East Fife 4, Forfar 5’. I’ve got a tape of that.” And nally “East Fife 4, Forfar 5” came to pass on July 22, this year. The teams were locked at 1-1 during their match triggering a penalty shootout. East 4, Forfar 5 is regarded by some as the perfect football scoreline due to its rhyming nature and rhythmic intonation when spoken out load.
It appears the reason behind the Ber behind Bermud mudaa TriTriangle’s threatening powers to sailors may be down to the rocks underwater, according to a new documentary. The Bermuda Triangle is a large area of the North Atlantic Ocean betwee bet ween n Berm Bermuda uda,, Flor Florida ida and Puerto-Rico. It is covered in shipping lanes as large vessels cross ports in the Americas, Europe and the Caribbean. The area also known as “Devil’s Triangle,” has been linked with several unexplainable incidents over the years. But the reason for these disappearances may be lurking beneath the surface. Rocks which form the bed of the Atla tlanti nticc Ocea Ocean n may have interfered with captains’ compasses, sending them in the wrong direction. Footage from Channel 5’s documen-
tary, called “Secrets of the Bermuda Triangle,” explains why this could happen. Nick Hutchings a mineral prospector suggests the geology of Bermuda is unusual. “Bermuda’s basically a sea mountain – it’s an underwater volcano,” says Nick. “30 million years ago, it was sticking up above sea level. It has now eroded away and we’re we’re left with the top of a volcano,” he said, “We have a few core samples, which have magnetite in them. It’s the most magnetic naturally occurring material on Earth.”
You can drive safely You in heavy rains Simple tips to beat harsh weather on bad roads By Agencies
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he rainy season is underway and since roads in Kampala and the rest of the country tend to have potholes, driving can be a tricky exercise. Since some of the roads are not tarmacked, it may be helpful to follow a few rules since the rainy season will go on for the next four months. In addition to the potentially poor visibility that accompanies most heavy rain, drivers should be ready to protect themselves against hydroplaning. Hydroplaning can occur when a vehicle is traveling too fast in heavy rain conditions, causing the vehicle’s tires to travel on a thin layer of water rather than grip the surface of the road. This has the potential to make steering and braking dicult and could even lead to losing control of your vehicle. These are additional tips to help you.
Take your time. Slowing down is the only way to keep your vehicle from hydroplaning. Also remember that one of the most dangerous times to drive is soon after it begins to rain, as oils on roadway make for slick conditions. Waiting Waiti ng a few minutes, rather than rushing to your destination, can be a safer plan when it is raining. Turn your lights on. Turn your headlights on to help other vehicles see you. Many states require the use of headlights during rain, even in broad daylight. space. Add Give other vehicles more space. 1-2 extra seconds of following time in the rain, which gives you and the cars behind behi nd you mor moree time time to rea react ct to tra trac. c. 4 Driving in the rain can be both scary and dangerous, and it’s important to take wet weather seriously when you’re on the road. There are lots of things you
can do to make driving in the rain safer, including being prepared by making sure your car is ready and ensuring you can always see properly. But most importantly, you have to drive according to the conditions, and adjust a few of your habits to avoid sliding, skidding, or being involved in a collision. Keep your windows clean and clear. Being able to see properly is key to driving safely any time, especially when visibility is already reduced because of rain. To improve your visibility. Clean the inside and outside of the windows regularly to remove dirt, dust, mud, smoke, ngerprints, grime, and other materials. If your windows fog up, turn on the air conditioning or cold air in the car and aim the vents at the windows. Turn on the rear defroster, and open the windows if necessary to increase the airow.
Profle
Justine Nabbosa on Nabbosa on her miraculous musical journey By Agnes E Nantaba
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ustine Nabbosa is a renowned gospel artiste, lead worshiper and copastor with Wilson Bugembe at the Worship House. The vocal dynamo is also president of Next Girl Champion, an annual conference that empowers girls and women in Uganda. Many in the gospel music circles rst knew her as a back-up voice in Wilson Bugembe’s music. Although it remains the podium that brought her to the limelight, her rst album featuring ‘Oli Katonda’ has since its release in 2016, broken barriers and performed beyond her expectations. “I am grateful to God for the far he has brough bro ughtt me me with with tha thatt song, song,”” Nabb Nabbosa osa says, “I realized that it was time for me to shine and no one could stop me”. Featuring in Bugembe’s music made her voice popular and the audience started demanding for solo music but Nabbosa was not about to take on a solo career. Three years ago, she emerged out of the comfort zone and started singing compositions by dierent people starting her solo music journey. The start of the journe jou rney y woul would d seem seem tou tough gh as her rs rstt songs were scarcely received not until she released ‘Oli Katonda’ that shook airwaves. Perhaps her music journey has not been a tough one since it is where her passion lies but also because she never saw music as a source of income but as a part from ministry work. Bugembe, who she considers to be the right person, has always been her stepping-stone, she says. “Backing him made my voice popular and came with so many favours of recording for free so by the time I chose to go solo,” Nabbosa says, “the industry was ready and willing to take on my music.” She recalls meeting Bugembe in 2002 during her Senior Four long holiday at his rst concert. She was only a visitor at Christian Life Church in Bwaise, while she stayed at her uncle’s home in Kampala. On the fateful day, Nabbosa landed on a poster announcing Bugembe’s forthcoming concert to which she vowed to aend even when her pockets wouldn’t support the urge. She would later make it inside the performance room, which opportunity,
she says, remains one of her happiest in life. It was not long before she made headway to stay and study in Kampala at Lubiri Secondary School. This opened more doors to meet and interact with Bugembe through the school exchange fellowship meetings. About the same time, Bugembe spoed the singing talent in her and when he chose to start a church in Nansana, Nabbosa was made one of the founder members. “I started singing with pastor Bugembe on his third album of ‘Kani’ and God used me miraculously to touch lives of many people,” she says. On April 24, 2017, Nabbosa held her maiden solo concert and has since travelled the world ministering thorough music. She is the middle child of the nine children of James and Tappi Kiyingi born bor n and and rai raised sed in Kam Kamuli uli-Eastern Uganda. She is a graduate of Industrial and Organizational Organizati onal Psychology from Makerere University with several awards in the ministry. She is yet to get married to the love of her life.
Q&A Q& A
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Justine Nabbosa’s Liteside Any three things that we do not know about you? onesty is me. I love God and always trust in him for my next move. I love to serve him and the best thing that has ever happened to me is for God to let me serve Him. It is only God that has brought me thus far. I am also a smiley person who loves laughing and being bei ng arou nd hap happy py people.
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What is your idea of perfect happines happiness? s? Honestly, I don’t know of another thing that brin gs joy and hap pin piness ess other than to serve God and be in His presence always. I draw my perfe ct happiness from serving God. What is your greatest fear? In the presence of God, I am fearless. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? Sometimes, I procrastinate. But also, being bei ng a smil s miley ey and sim simple ple person often, its gets hard to prove to people around me when I am serious about an issue. As for my patience, some people misuse it and take me for granted. What is the trait you most deplore in others? Being too serious about life. Which living person do you most admire? I admire Osinachi Kalu Joseph Jos eph aka ‘Sin ach ach’’ th e gospel music singer and worship leader. I love her passion for God and that is my dream. I aim
to be an international worshipper and keep in that space to my grave. What is your greatest extravagance? I feel tempted all the time to buy more shoes and clothes even when I may not need them. What is the greatest thing you have ever done? Releasing my solo music. What is your current state of mind? I am happy. What do you consider the most overrated virtue? I think we waste more time talking than taking action. The leaders and the followers talk too much with little or nothing being put to action. What does being powerful mean to you? I know that money can never bring joy and power to someone but the peace in God does. The ultimate happiness and power comes from God. On what occasion do you lie? I am not a liar. What do you most dislike about your appearance? I struggle to keep in shape because I gain a lot of weight easily. Which living person do you most despise? I don’t despise God’s creations. What is the quality you most like in a woman? Every straight human being should be prayerful.
What is the quality you most like in a man? We should all be prayerful. What or who is the greatest love of your life? I love my pastor, my parents and Jean Peace When and where were you happiest? There have been so many happy moments in my life but the most recent one was being given a Visa to USA. I had tried several times and was denied until recently when God answered my prayers. I was very happy the day I me t Pastor Wilson Bugembe in 2002 for the first time. I was also happy singing in the presence of thousands of Christians in 77 days of Glory and being bei ng app apprec reciate iate d with w ith Shs5million. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Sometimes I am slow to act, which not only both ers othe r pe ople around me but also myself. I would love to be faster. Where would you most like to live? Here is home though I believe that it’s a team effort to make it better. What is your most treasured possession? I love my bible; it is the bible that I have read over time and made myself familiar with it. It is the first thing that I take along with me everywhere. It is something that I can get hold of anywhere and
keep encouraged. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? My heart really goes out to women who don’t have children and yet they desire to have. What is your favorite occupation? I am very passionate about ministering through music. What do you most value in your friends? I make friends with different people for different reasons but I get along so fast with people who serve God and pray endlessly. I also love those who think big. Who are your favorite writers? I am attracted to content not writers. Which historical figure do you most identify with? Billy Graham lived a test of time and left a legacy. He preached the word of God all over the world and is one person who died respectfully of old age. I want to live like him. What is your greatest regret? Not any that I can recall at the moment. How would you like to die? Naturally, in old age while in the middle of service to God. What is your motto? Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understating.
GLOBAL COMMENT
By Joseph E. Stiglit
The US is at risk of losing tra t rad de war with Chi hin na
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hat was at rst a trade skirmish – with US President Donald Trump imposing taris on steel and aluminum – appears to be quickly morphing into a full-scale trade war with China. If the truce agreed by Europe and the US holds, the US will be doing bale mainly with China, rather than the world (of course, the trade conict with Canada and Mexico will continue to simmer, given US demands that neither country can or should accept). Beyond the true, but by now platitudinous, assertion that everyone will lose, what can we say about the possible outcomes of Trump’s trade war? First, macro-economics always prevails: if the United States’ domestic investment continues to exceed its savings, it will have to import capital and have a large trade decit. Worse, because of the tax cuts enacted at the end of last year, the US scal decit is reaching new records – recently projected to exceed $1 trillion by 2020 – which means that the trade decit almost surely will increase, whatever the outcome of the trade warr. The only way that won’t happen is if wa Trump leads the US into a recession, with incomes declining so much that investment and imports plummet. The US might sell more natural gas to China and buy fewer washing machines; but it wil willl sell sell les lesss natu natural ral gas to oth other er cou counntries and buy washing machines or something else from Thailand or another country that has avoided the irascible Trump’s wrath. But, because the US interfered with the market, it will be paying more for its imports and geing less for its exports than otherwise would have been the case. In short, the best outcome means that the US will be worse o than it is today. The US has a problem, but it’s not with China. It’s at home: America has been saving too lile. Trump, like so many of his compatriots, is immensely shortsighted. If he had a whit of understanding of economics and a long-term vision, he would have done what he could to increase national savings. That would have reduced the multilateral trade decit. There are obvious quick xes: China could buy mor moree Amer America ican n oil oil and then sel selll it it on on to to others. This would not make an iota of dif-
ference, beyond perhaps a slight increase in transaction costs. But Trump could trumpet that he had eliminated the bilateral trade decit. In fact, signicantly reducing the bilateral trade decit in a meaningful way will prove dicult. As demand for Chinese goods decreases, the renminbi ’s exchange rate will renminbi’s weaken – even without any government intervention. This will partly oset the eect of US tartar is; at the same time, it will increase China’s competitiveness with other countries—and this will be true even if China doesn’t use other instruments in its possession, like wage and price controls, or push strongly for productivity increases. China’s overall trade balance, like that of the US, is determined by its macro-economics. If China intervenes more actively and retaliates more aggressively, the change in the US-China trade balance could be even smaller. The relative pain each will inict on the other is dicult to ascertain. China has more control of its economy, and has wanted to shift toward a growth model based bas ed on dom domest estic ic dema demand nd rat rather her tha than n investment and exports. The US is simply helping China do what it has already been trying to do. On the other hand, US actions come at a time when China is trying to manage excess leverage and excess capacity; at least in some sectors, the US will make these tasks all the more dicult. This much is clear: if Trump’s objective is to stop China from pursuing its “Made in China 2025” policy – adopted in 2015 to further its 40-year goal of narrowing the income gap between China and the advanced countries – he will almost surely fail. On the contrary, Trump’s actions will only strengthen Chinese leaders’ resolve to boost boo st inn innov ovati ation on and ach achiev ievee tech technol nologi ogical cal supremacy, as they realize that they can’t rely on others, and that the US is actively hostile. If a country enters a war, trade or otherwise, it should be sure that good generals – with clearly dened objectives, a viable strategy, and popular support – are in charge. It is here that the dierences betwee bet ween n Chin Chinaa and and the US appea appearr so so grea great. t. No country could have a more unqualied economic team than Trump’s, and a
majority of Americans are not behind the trade war. Public support will wane even further as Americans realize that they lose doubly from this war: jobs will disappear, not only becaus bec ausee of of Chin China’s a’s ret retali aliato atory ry mea measur sures, es, but also because US taris increase the price of US exports and make them less competitive; and the prices of the goods they buy will rise. This may force the dollar’s exchange rate to fall, increasing ination in the US even more – giving rise to still more opposition. The Fed is likely then to raise interest rates, leading to weaker investment and growth and more unemployment. Trump has shown how he responds when his lies are exposed or his policies are failing: he doubles down. China has repeatedly oered face-saving ways for Trump to leave the baleeld and declare victory. But he refuses to take them up. Perhaps hope can be found in three of his other traits: his focus on appearance over substance, his unpredictability, and his love of “big man” politics. Perhaps in a grand meeting with President Xi Jinping, he can declare the problem solved, with some minor adjustments of taris here and there, and some new gesges ture toward market opening that China had already planned to announce, and everyone can go home happy. In this scenario, Trump will have “solved,” imperfectly, a problem that he created. But the world following his foolish trade war will still be dierent: more uncer uncer-tain, less condent in the international rule of law, and with harder borders. Trump has changed the world, permanently, for the worse. Even with the best possible outcomes, the only winner is Trump – with his outsize ego pumped up justt a li jus lile le mor more. e.
Joseph E. Sti Joseph Stigli gli, , a Nobe Nobell laur laureat eatee in in economics, is University Professor at Columbia University and Chief Economist at the Roosevelt Institute. His most recent book is Globaliza Globalization tion and Its Discontents Revisited: Anti-Globalization Anti-Globalization in the Era of Trump.
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