News analysis

Behind Constitutional Court decision

to remove age limit, annul 7 year term

Issue No. 532 Aug 03 - 09, 2018 Ushs 5,000,Kshs 200, RwF 1,500, SDP 8

Did Kayihura
kill Kaweesi?
Details of murder investigations report
Museveni refuses to
meet Kayihura
Former IGP accused of
plotting to kill Muhoozi
Findings: allegations
baseless
Recommendation:
Release Kayihura men

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INBOX

Issue No. 532 Aug 03 - 09, 2018

News analysis Business Health Arts Motoring

Cover story
Inside Kayihura investigations

4 The Week
29 Comments
Observers report high turnout
in first post Mugabe polls Judges without substance: The
Judges should have taken into
consideration the recent L.C 1 and
9 The Last Word
Women Councils elections which
Africa over the last 30 years: NRM won
Why the claim that our continent’s
problems are caused by “poor 33 Health
governance” is a lot of baloney
Face-to-face with medicine smugglers
of the DR Congo: Uncovering the
16 Analysis underworld of how Uganda’s marked
Paying more to avoid a tax: medicines are stolen and sold
What reactions to social media
tax reveals about attitudes
35 Arts & Culture
23 Business
Nkole’s 5 minutes of history
Uganda Airlines and the ‘orphaned’ Airbus And its monument gaining
A300-800 neo: Aircraft might be difficult to international significance
maintain, finance or resell

STRATEGY & EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: Andrew M. Mwenda
MANAGING EDITOR: Joseph Were
INVESTIGATIONS EDITOR: Haggai Matsiko
BUSINESS EDITOR: Isaac Khisa
PHOTOGRAPHER: Jimmy Siya
WRITERS:Ronald Musoke, Flavia Nassaka, Ian Katusiime,
Agnes Nantaba, Julius Businge.
DESIGN/LAYOUT: Sarah Ngororano
CARTOONIST: Harriet Jamwa

PUBLISHER: Independent Publications Limited, Plot 82/84, Kanjokya Street, P. O. Box 3304, Kampala, Uganda
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2 Aug 03 - 09, 2018

 Offline

President Museveni
with Narendra Modi,
the Prime Minister
of India. after
addressing members
of Parliament on
July 25.
“Therefore, I find that the action of
the Police and the army in forcefully
evicting MPs from the chambers and
arresting them after manhandling
them violates the constitution.” Justice
Kenneth Kakuru in his ruling on the age limit
petition

Rebecca Kadaga, (L) the

speaker of Parliament (L)
officially unveiling Pats
journal a project website on
Albinism by Source of the
Nile Union of Persons with
Albinism IN Jinja on July
25. Looking on is singer “The problem is that people think
Jenneth Prischa (2R) . FDC is JEEMA. We are political parties
and we can compete at any point. We
are going to compete against each
other in Arua by-election where our
own, Kassiano Wadri is running as
an independent.”Ibrahim Semujju, FDC
Spokesperson

Sarah Oprndi, Minister

of Health posing next
to the mammography
van that was donated to
Uganda Cancer Institute
by the Honorary consul
of the Republic of India
Madhusdan Agrawal on
July 25.   INDEPENDENT/ “I am happy with the court ruling.
JIMMY SIYA It is a victory for Ugandans. Now
all the arms of government
have pronounced themselves on
the matter and their verdict is
known.”Raphael Magyezi, Igara West
MP and mover of motion to amend
presidential age limit

Friesian cows residents

19 50 19 100
Ugandan women Years Mbrara-
based Radio of Kalungu district
who are trafficked
West is marking revived from Operation
daily- police report
Wealth Creation

Aug 03 - 09, 2018 3

week
Zimbabwe’s opposition leader Nelson Chamisa casts his vote.
Observers report high turnout in first post Mugabe polls
International observers have
reported a high voter turnout
in the July30 vote in Zimba-
bwe. The vote which saw 22
candidates competing had
people lining up at polling
stations before sunrise.
Liberia’s former President
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who is
monitoring the poll on behalf
of the US-based National
Democratic Institute, told
the BBC that the long queues
showed that Zimbabweans
were enthusiastic about vot-
ing, without any kind of
repression.
Also, the European Union
was among the observers.
The US and the EU have not
observed elections in the
country for 16 years and it’s
also the first election to be
held in over 30 years without
President Robert Mugabe on
the ballot. However, he came
out a day before to say that he
wouldn’t participate. He had
been president of Zimbabwe
since 1980 when he was forced
out of office in November last
year by the military.
No vaccine derived
polio outbreak,
Ministry
Following media reports that
there’s an outbreak of vaccine
deprived polio, the Ministry
of Health said on July27 that
despite the fact that there has
been an outbreak in the neigh-
boring Democratic Republic of
Congo, Uganda has not regis-
tered a case since 2010.
This strain is rare and emerges
after prolonged multiplication
of attenuated strains of the virus
contained in the oral polio vac-
cine (OPV) in the guts of chil-
dren with immunodeficiency
or in populations with very
low immunity. After prolonged
multiplication, this vaccine virus
derived strain changes and
reverts to a form that can cause
paralysis in humans.
The vaccine – OPV is on the
ministry of health schedule and
is given thrice before a child
makes a year. The Ministry says
the vaccine is safe and is in use
in over 190 countries.

Somalia, Eritrea restore ties

After close to 15 years, Somalia and
Eritrea announced on July 30 that they
had restored their diplomatic ties and that
embassies will soon open in their capitals.
The decision was reached during a sum-
mit in Asmara, Eritrea, where Somalia
President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo
was in the country for three days from
July28 on invitation of President Isaias
Afwerki.
Eritrea’s information minister shared
the joint statement on Twitter where the
two presidents were calling upon the UN
to lift the embargo it had put on Eritrea.
“Eritrea & Somalia will work in unison
to foster regional peace, stability & eco-
nomic integration. Eritrea strongly sup-
ports the political independence, sover-
eignty & territorial integrity of Somalia”,
it read.
At the summit a number of issues were
discussed including regional security and
changing relations among Horn of Africa
countries.

*terms and conditions apply

4 Aug 03 - 09, 2018


Hope as a
donation of two
cancer machines
is announced
Mbarara and Gulu hospitals
will soon start offering
radiation services after the
country got a donation of
two Cobalt 60 Radiotherapy
machines from India. The
donation announced at a press
briefing on July 30 was one
of the donations including a
mobile mammography van for
breast cancer screening that
were unveiled during the visit
of the India Prime Minister
Narendra Modi.
Dr. Jackson Orem, the
Executive Director at the
Uganda Cancer Institute said
to decongest the Mulago based
radiotherapy division and to
take services to the country
side they have resolved to
have the new machines in the
West and Northern region.
Once they arrive, the country
will have a total of three
which will in turn increase
access to treatment. Now,
with the only machine in the
country delivering up to 180
radiotherapy sessions every
day, many of the hundreds of
people requiring this treatment
are left out where some die as
a result. Since January when
the services resumed, Orem
says, 31000 sessions have
been delivered. This machine
replaced an old one that was
installed more than 22 years ago
before it crashed in March 2016.
Sheema North MP seat falls vacant after Tumwesigye win
Dr. Elioda Tumwesigye in yellow
For the first time in the
country, a sitting member
of parliament was cleared
to contest for the same post
in another constituency.
Dr. Elioda Tumwesigye
who doubles as Minister
Chaos in Nebbi as NRM candidate is declared winner
There was chaos after the
NRM party candidate, Hashim
Sulaiman was declared win-
ner for the Nebbi Municipality
MP seat on July27. Sulaiman
defeated his closest rival Robert
Onega of the FDC party with
4483 against Onega’s 4159
votes. The chaos at the tally
centre started when Obongi
County MP, Kaps Hussein Fun-
garoo, complained about the
disparity of votes at Tata polling
station. He said that the votes
for MP exceeded those of the
Mayor and the directly elected
councillor by over 100 votes.
for Science, Technology and
Innovation was representing
Sheema North Constituency
until last month when he
contested in a newly created
Sheema municipality and won
the seat in a poll held on July
However, no sooner had
Fungaroo and other opposition
supporters started raising their
complaints to the media, police
and other security personnel
roughed up Journalists and
opposition supporters, forcing
them out of the tally centre.
After being forced out, the Neb-
bi Returning Officer Raymond
Kasirale declared Suleiman the
winner.
However, this did not go on
well with Suleiman’s support-
ers who tried to force their way
into the tally centre. The police
and the army were forced to fire
Aug 03 - 09, 2018
Week
27.
“I’m the first person in the
whole of Africa to be chairman
of the party at district
level, minister and again
represent two constituencies
in parliament at once, I will
settle down and I write a
book about myself because
this is un usual”, he spoke to
his supporters shortly after
being announced winner of
the highly competitive poll
in which he garnered 13,
590 votes against the 11,489
garnered by his closest rival
of the opposition’s Forum for
Democratic Change (FDC)
party.
He said he would soon
vacate the Sheema North post.
This means, soon, the Electoral
Commission will organize a
by-election to fill the vacuum.
live bullets and tear gas to dis-
perse the rowdy supporters.
Earlier in the evening, oppo-
sition members accused police
of using its regional medical
service vehicle to carry pre-
ticked ballot papers, an allega-
tion that was denied by the RPC
West Nile Jonathan Musinguzi.
Other candidates in the race
included Patrick Okumu Ringa
who polled 1,270 votes, Opio
Enrico 143, Betty Odongo
Pacutho 46 and Berocan Okuro-
cal 59 votes, all independent
candidates.
5
Week

Correction Asantehene at Kabaka’s coronation anniversary

In our Independent Maga-
zine issue No. 513 March 23-29,
2018, we ran an article entitled
“Exposed: Dirty secrets of
200bn Crane Bank Sale” where-
in, we reported that “in just
a few months the three firms
MMAKS, Bowmans and Sebalu
& Lule Advocates had earned
an estimated UGX 5.4 Billion
from BOU”. While is it true
that all the three mentioned
law firms (including Sebalu &
Lule Advocates) appeared in
court to represent Crane Bank
Limited in Receivership (Bank
of Uganda as Receivers) in the
suit against Sudhir Ruparelia
and Meera Investments lim-
ited, Subalu & Lule Advocates
were not beneficiaries of the
initial UGX 5.4 Billion payment
referred to in our article. We
would like to correct the record Ghana’s cultural leader, can cathedral in Namirembe Just like Buganda, the Ashan-
and state that the UGX 5.4 Bil- Asantehene Otumfour Nana where they prayed for God’s ti Empire has a history of being
lion referred to in our above- Osei Tutu II arrived in the coun- guidance as the kabaka contin- fierce and a conqueror as they
mentioned article, was paid by try on July29 two days before ues to provide leadership in the acquired vast lands during the
Bank of Uganda to MMAKS the 25th coronation anniversary country’s biggest kingdom. pre-colonial era in West Africa.
Advocates and Bowmans (AF celebrations of Kabaka Ronald On July31, King Tutu who Also, like Buganda Asganti
Mpanga Advocates). Any Mutebi. was coroneted in 1999 officiated kings fell out with colonialists
inconvenience the error might The two cultural leaders had as a chief guest at the Jubilee where two of their kings were
have caused Sebalu & Lule dinner together and attended a celebrations held at the King’s forced into exile.
Advocates is highly regretted. prayer ceremony at the Angli- palace in Mengo.

Women activists call for a sexual offenses bill as Rwabogo tormenter appeals sentence
Brain Isiko, a student of YMCA Jinja he on July30 petitioned court to appeal avenues like blocking his phone numbers
campus became popular recently espe- this sentence. Isiko’s sentence had caused and social media didn’t help.
cially on social media after Kabarole uproar in July where several people Following this, women activists are
district woman Member of Parliament blamed the legislator for dragging a now calling for the enactment of a sexual
Sylivia Rwabogo wept in court where 25 year old to prison over mere sexual offenses law so that it becomes clear of
she had dragged him for torturing her advances but came out to defend herself what punishments are given to people
with love advances. Isiko was sentenced that she feared for her life as the tor- who engage in such sexual harassment
to two years in prison for the offence but ture went on for months and yet other acts.

6 Aug 03 - 09, 2018

Humour Did you know?

The sun is
changing shape
According to a new paper in The
Astrophysical Journal, the Sun
grows and shrinks every 11 years
Ministry of Finance has promised to sack any accounting officer implicated in abuse of public funds by 1 to 2 kilometers (0.6-1.2 miles).
Colloquially, you could very well
say that it breathes, albeit very
slowly.
It’s a very faint “inhale” and
“exhale” though, with those extra
kilometers increasing the radius of
the Sun by just 0.00029 percent at
most. With that in mind, then, it’s
incredible that the team from the
New Jersey Institute of Technology
and the University of Cote d’Azur
managed to detect it at all. So how
did they?
As with several recent studies,
the team zeroed in on the plasma
streams escaping and returning
to the solar surface – highly
energetic ionized gas strands.
Turns out that the frequencies of
the plasma waves that slosh across
the star aren’t too dissimilar from
the sound waves given off by a
A report about governance indicates people’s inadequate awareness of institutions that dispense musical instrument.
justice, with more Ugandans indicating a preference for Local Council when seeking justice
Say you’ve got a saxophone,
because you fancy some jazz. You
play a note, noise comes out, and
all’s well. Now, if the tubing inside
the saxophone suddenly expanded
outwards, the pitch of that note
would drop. Squeeze it all in, and
the pitch would be higher.
The Sun’s a bit like a magical
saxophone in that sense. The
frequencies of those waves change
depending on how sizeable the Sun
is, and this can be measured rather
precisely by scientists on Earth.
It wasn’t easy, though; after all it
did take 21 years of observations
using two separate NASA space
telescopes to make this discovery.
Eagle-eyed solar science types
among you may have already
guessed what the “breathing” is
On 30 July, general elections were held in Zimbabwe to elect related to, and you’d be right: it’s
the president and members of both houses of parliament to do with the solar cycle.

Aug 03 - 09, 2018 7

The Kabaka’s 25th Coronation anniversary
marked with pomp on July 31.

Africa over the last 30 years
By Andrew M. Mwenda
Why the claim that our continent’s problems are
caused by “poor governance” is a lot of baloney
I
have just re-read the 1989 report of the
World Bank titled “Sub Saharan Africa:
From Crisis to Sustainable Develop-
ment.” It is a rich document in terms of
the data it gives about Sub Saharan Africa
(hereinafter called Africa). It is also in this
report that the World Bank introduced (for
the first time) the argument that one of the
powerful causes of Africa’s poor economic
performance was “governance.” The report
itself did use the expression “good gover-
nance”. That was in the Foreword by the
World Bank president.
However, in subsequent documents,
the World Bank began to use the expres-
sion “good governance”. Since then, it has
entered the modern political lexicon as
almost the singular explanation for every-
thing that has gone wrong with Africa.
Everywhere you turn – African elites,
academics, journalists, politicians, and
“experts,” – all attribute all failure in Africa
to a lack of “good governance.” While the
Bank presented this as one among other
causes of Africa’s decline, over time it has
been transformed into “the only” explana-
tion.
The 322 pages report gives a grim but
insightful account of where Africa had
sunk. It says our region enjoyed a brief
period of economic growth in the 1960s,
entered a period of stagnation in the 1970s
and began rapid economic decline in the
1980s. By 1987 with 450 million people
(double the population at independence)
Africa was as poor as (or even worse than)
the early 1960s. The report further says that
the region’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
of $136 billion was almost equal to that of
tiny Belgium with only 10 million people.
To maintain investment amidst declining
growth, governments in Africa had bor-
rowed heavily from abroad. By 1988 foreign
debt was 100% of the region’s GDP. Con-
sequently, debt service obligations were
47% of total foreign exchange earnings and
only half were being paid. To contain this
problem, the IMF and World Bank had
negotiated over 100 debt-rescheduling yet
arrears were accumulating.
Looking back 30 years later, one can say
Africa made a turn for the better. Its GDP
has grown from $136 billion (or $276 bil-
lion in 2018 dollars) in 1988 to $1.645 trillion
today, the population from 450 million to
The Last Word
1.014 billion today. Therefore, even after
adjusting for inflation, our region’s GDP
has expanded six fold thereby tripling per
capita income. Better still, only four out of
the region’s 46 countries have a debt to GDP
ratio above 100%, the average is 50%. Of
course Africa’s economic performance is not
as dramatic as what we have seen in China
but it is fairly good nonetheless.
Even when we use Belgium as our refer-
ence point (as the World Bank did), there is
some smell of good air compared to 1988.
Belgium’s population has grown from 10
million people in 1988 to 11.4 million people
in 2018 while its GDP has less than doubled
from $276 to $500 billion today and so has
been its per capita income which has grown
from $28,000 to $48,000. It seems Africa
has since the gloomy 1980s taken a turn for
the better. But what explains the region’s
change of course from economic decline to
sustained growth?
The IMF and World Bank would say that
“good governance” (the quality of institu-
tions) has significantly improved and that
economic policies are better. Governments
in Africa have since began to respect central
bank independence, introduced more dem-
ocratic governance etc. Countries have since
reformed the civil service, privatised public
enterprises, liberalised the economies, con-
trolled inflation, etc. This is only partly true
but I don’t think it has been fundamental. I
am more inclined to believe that governance
has improved due to sustained economic
growth, not vice versa. Why?
Countries that have exhibited rapid
growth over the years have widely differing
governance systems. Some are seen as being
fairly democratic (Ghana, Zambia, Sen-
egal), others are categorised authoritarian
(Ethiopia, Rwanda, Equatorial Guinea,
Angola) while many are referred to as high-
breed (Uganda, Tanzania). Some are civilian
others are military; some have long serving
leaders others short lived ones. Some have
withdrawn the state from business entirely
(Uganda, Zambia,) while others have
retained a strong role (Kenya, Rwanda and
Ethiopia). Some have accepted central bank
independence while others have not.
However, regardless of regime type, the
quality of institutions and the mix of poli-
cies, the region has been de-industrialising
i.e. ratio of manufacturing to GDP has
Opinion
remained stagnant or even declined. This
means there has been little or no structural
transformation i.e. a shift in most people’s
livelihoods from depending on agriculture
to industry and services. Growth has been
sustained by export of primary commodi-
ties like minerals and agricultural produce.
I am inclined to believe that more than
improved governance, the biggest driver
of growth in Africa over the last 30 years
has the rapid growth of China. This has
increased the demand for the raw materials
Africa produces, thereby increasing their
value on the international market. Indeed
the recent decline in growth in China has
led to a significant decline in the rate of
growth of Africa.
In the 1960s, Africa grew rapidly because
the economies of Western Europe were
growing rapidly and demanding a lot of
our raw materials for their reconstruction
after World War Two. As the West entered
a period of slow growth precipitated by
the oil shocks of 1973 and 1979, Africa’s
economies also began to decline. This led to
shrinking state revenues, which led to poor
public sector wages. I believe this is what
worsened governance in Africa.
As already noted, Africa’s growth is not
driven by innovation but China buying our
raw materials. Our economies continue to
depend on nature’s (or God’s) bounty for
export revenues. Economic history shows
that it does not really matter how a country
is governed: whether it is a democracy or a
dictatorship, has an honest or corrupt gov-
ernment. For as long as it has appreciating
terms of trade (what it sells abroad brings in
more money than what it buys from there),
such a country will prosper.
This explains why Equatorial Guinea with
vast oil revenues but horrible governance
has had the fastest growing economy in the
world over the last 30 years. Today it has
one of the highest per capita incomes in the
world – $35,000 at purchasing power parity.
The debate on the economic development
of Africa has been focused on peripheral
issues (“good governance”, corruption, etc.).
This has obscured fundamental ones like
the dominance of multi national capital in
our nations and poor terms of trade.
amwenda@independent.co.ug
Aug 03 - 09, 2018 9
cover story

Inside
T
By Haggai Matsiko

he committee investigating
former Inspector General of

Kayihura
Police, Gen. Kale Kayihura,
for allegedly killing his for-
mer deputy, AIGP Andrew
Felix Kawesi, has found that
the allegations are baseless. According to
well-placed sources at State House, the joint

investigations
investigations committee handed over their
report to President Yoweri Museveni last
week on July 27.
The Independent has learnt that the joint
investigations committee made up of four
police officers and two officers from the
Internal Security Organisation (ISO) and

Museveni refused to
another two from the Chieftaincy of Mili-
tary Intelligence (CMI) finished their report
last week.
According to contents of the report, parts
of which have been seen by The Indepen-
dent, the joint investigations committee
meet Kayihura
recommended that all the officers close to
Kayihura arrested over alleged involvement
in the murder of Kawesi should be released
forthwith. The fate of Joseph Baroza, the
Former IGP accused of
former Kayihura ADC who escaped arrest
and went into hiding was not handled in
the report.
plotting to kill Muhoozi
Findings: allegations a
In a related development, The Inde-
pendent has reliably learnt that following
his arrest, Kayihura requested the Chief
of Defence Forces (CDF), Gen. David
Muhoozi, to secure an appointment for him
to meet Museveni.
hoax
According to a highly placed source
at State House, Muhoozi presented this
request to Museveni during a meeting of
senior army officers with the president.
Recommendation:
Insiders say Museveni declined to see
Kayihura. He told the army officers that he Release Kayihura men
preferred to keep emotional distance. He
said that if he met Kayihura personally, he
could be swayed by kindness and emotion
towards him.
In their heydays, Museveni always
praised Kayihura as a loyal cadre, and it
appeared understandable that he felt seeing
Kayihura could affect him that way. The
statement also revealed that Museveni was
taking the investigations against Kayihura
seriously.
Sources further told The Independent
that even before Kayihura was removed
as IGP, Muhoozi had led a team of army
officers to meet Museveni where they
expressed concern regarding the position
of the IGP whose powers had been signifi-
cantly trimmed.
A source at State House told The Inde-
pendent that Museveni took time to explain Brig. Abel Kandiho Grace Akullo, Col. Kaka Bagyenda,
to the officers that he considered Kayihura
a good cadre who had transformed the – and then as an afterthought added: “and had killed Kawesi in order to forestall a pos-
police from an anti-NRM institution into a foreigners.” sibility of the latter becoming a successor.
“progressive force.” However, Museveni Later in June, the Director General of ISO, According to an impeccable source at State
added that Kayihura’s problem was that he Kaka Bagyenda, presented a report to the House, the report had an audio recording,
had allowed criminals to infiltrate the police president, which claimed that Kayihura which appeared to prove this accusation.

10 Aug 03 - 09, 2018


Some of this “evidence” was openly
put to Kayihura on June 13 after Deputy
Chief of Defence Forces, Lt. Gen. Wilson
Mbandi, and the head of CMI; Brig. Abel
Kandiho, arrested him from his farmhouse
in Kashagama, Lyantonde District, and flew
him to Entebbe in helicopter and immedi-
ately drove him to Makyindye Military Bar-
racks, where he remains detained.
After his arrest, Museveni instructed that
a joint investigations team comprising of
police, ISO and CMI be set up to handle
the matter. Initially it comprised 12 officers
who were later reduced to eight to make the
work faster.
Those from police are Grace Akullo, the
Director Criminal Investigations and Intel-
ligence Department (CIID), who also chairs
the team, her deputy; Senior Commissioner
of Police (SCP) Elly Womanya, and two
other police detectives. From ISO, it is Lt.
Churchill Mutatina and another, and from
CMI, it is the Joint Anti-Terrorism Task
Force (JATT) Director, Charles Asiimwe,
and another agent.
Fake evidence
According to sources close to the investi-
gations, the team has found that all the evi-
dence against Kayihura and his associates
was fabricated. These associates include;
Richard Ndaboine, the former head of cyber
intelligence, Col. Ndahura Atwooki, the
former head crime intelligence, and Herbert
Muhangi, the former head of Flying Squad,
among others. CMI picked up these offi-
cers around the same time Kayihura was
arrested.
The Independent understands that most
of the evidence, the investigating team
was relying on was supplied by ISO led
by Col. Kaka Bagyenda. The Independent
also understands that CMI’s Abel Kandiho
and Police’s Akullo are furious that ISO got
them involved in a scheme largely driven
by fabricated evidence.
The evidence involved about four ele-
ments; a recording in which Kayihura was
said to be talking to the killer of Kawesi,
witnesses who claim to have driven the
assassin to the scene of crime, and a meeting
at which the murder was allegedly planned,
among others.
ISO agent Simon Peter Odongo, who
recently led a raid on telecom giant, MTN
Uganda and carried away some servers, is
said to have been the source of the record-
ing. In the recording Kale is said to be talk-
ing to Herbert Muhangi, the former Com-
mandant of the defunct Flying Squad in the
recording.
“Kaweesi is dead, the mission has been
accomplished,” Muhangi allegedly says in
the recording.
“Thank you very much,” Kale replies.
Initially, those involved in the investiga-
tions appeared to believe the recording as
Kaweesi murder scene
had Museveni. In fact, sources say it was
this recording that led Museveni to order
the arrest and detention of Kayihura. But
when the recording was taken to Makerere
University’s digital laboratory to check its
authenticity, they found a lot of issues.
The recording was found to comprise
three different pieces of communication
that were edited to sound as one. The first
bit was of Muhangi telling Kayihura that
Kawesi is dead. The second part of “the
mission has been accomplished” was from
Muhangi to Kayihura but many months
before the Kaweesi murder. The last bit of
Kayihura saying, “thank you very much”
was picked from his closing statements at a
press conference.
Apparently, ISO operatives had gotten
different voices from different times and
occasions and creatively fabricated evidence
to pin Kayihura. The Makerere software,
however, is able to establish the date when
any voice or image was recorded or taken.
This is exactly what happened when the
audio was taken to Makerere University
digital lab for proper authentication and
factual verification. That is how the record-
ing collapsed.
But ISO still had its two alleged key wit-
nesses. One of them, Rwoga-omugatyarize
Kiiza aka Rasta, claimed that he had been
at a meeting at Kati Kati Restaurant along
Lugogo bypass with senior police officers
who planned and executed the murder.
Apart from Muhangi, this witness claimed
that others were; former Kampala Metro-
politan Police Commander, Frank Mwesig-
wa, Col. Ndahura Atwooki, the former head
crime intelligence, Muhangi and Christine
Mbabazi, who is said to have been Kaw-
eesi’s girlfriend.
This witness claimed that Mwesigwa was
the strategist of the murder and Muhangi
executed it.
The said witness claimed he rode
Muhangi on the bike and the latter shot and
murdered Kaweesi. However, when they
took him to Kati Kati to point to the place
where the meeting took place, he showed
them the bar counter. The investigators
cover story
found it hard to believe that such a sensitive
murder could have been discussed at a bar
counter. They began to develop suspicions.
The investigators also learnt that ISO’s
Kaka called Mbabazi for a meeting at a
hotel in Kampala and asked her to impli-
cate Kayihura. Mbabazi said Kaweesi had
told her that there had been people trailing
him and his relationship with Kale was not
good.
When Kaka brought the same witness
who claimed to have been in the meeting at
Kati Kati, in handcuffs, to another meeting
to identify Mbabazi, the witness started yell-
ing at Mbabazi; “You don’t know me? You
don’t know me?” Mbabazi said she didn’t
know him.
The other witness, a one Kimbowa,
also claimed he had been riding the other
shooter—a one Sergeant Abel Tumukunde.
But when pressed, he confessed that they
coached him to claim that he rode a bike on
which the alleged second shooter was.
Witnesses unmasked
Apart from this, from his phone call
records, the committee found that the first
witness was in Mubende at the time of the
shooting of Kaweesi. He had left Kampala
at 7am and reached Mubende at 9:00am.
Kaweesi was shot at 9:15am. When pressed
further, he even confessed that he had met
and talked to Kaka.
The Independent has learnt that all the
witnesses confessed that they had been
coached. Who was couching them?
It turns out that it was all the work of one
Paddy Sserunjogi aka Sobi, a self-confessed
criminal turned ISO operative, and a one Lt.
Abdul Juuko Serwanga, a former Wembley
Operation operative, who had been fired
from ISO only to be re-hired by Kaka.
Last year, Sobi, confessed on camera to be
the leader of the notorious Kifeesi criminal
gang. At a meeting attended by the then
police commandant for Kampala East, Siraje
Bakaleke and Kampala Metropolitan Police
commander Frank Mwesigwa, the Kifeesi
criminal gang agreed to work with police.
However, following public backlash, Sobi
Aug 03 - 09, 2018 11
cover story
was arrested and detained in Nalufenya,
the defunct notorious torture centre. Insid-
ers say Sobi was arrested at about 10:00am
and had already been released by 5:00pm.
According to an impeccable source, Musev-
eni called Kayihura and ordered him to
release Sobi.
Sobi had earlier on told journalists that he
wanted to give up crime earlier and tried to
work with police but was disappointed to
find even more criminals in police. He later
met a general who convinced him to aban-
don criminality and get his colleagues to do
the same, Sobi claimed.
When Museveni ordered Kayihura to
release Sobi, the then IGP obliged and
handed him over to ISO. Upon his release,
Sobi was driven away from Nalufenya like a
VIP in two heavily armed military vehicles
allegedely provided by a general who was
also a cabinet miniser.
When Kale appeared before parliament,
MPs asked him why he released Sobi.
Kayihura said he had not released him but
handed him over to ISO adding,"He still
has files with us but there is a sister security
agency that has issues to either question
him (about) or work with him and that is
how we work,” Kayihura told parliament,
“Perhaps they want to interrogate him or
work with him, it might be an intelligence
operation and they requested us (for him)
and we handed him over”. This was true.
It later emerged that Sobi had stopped
working with police months ago and had
joined ISO. He had worked with police for
years following his release from Luzira pris-
on where he had spent years on remand.
At ISO, insiders say Sobi is a real heavy-
weight; he is driven in an SUV and even has
an escort pickup with soldiers that guard
him.
Juuko, on the other hand, was in ISO
during Elly Kayanja time. But in the early
2000s, according to court records, while an
ISO agent, Juuko was remanded on charges
of assisting a Pakistan drug trafficker, Nisar
Ahmed, found in possession of 2.103kg
of heroin valued at Shs113 million, escape
arrest.
Amos Makumbi and Brig. Ronnie Balya,
who succeeded Kayanja later, did not toler-
ate him. During their tenures, they refused
to work with him and kept him away from
the institution. When Kaka came into ISO,
Kayanja, who is a close friend of Kaka,
introduced Juuko to the new DG who he
re-hired him.
Today, Juuko runs the Kyengera safe
house where ISO allegedly tortures people.
The safe house is called Value Addition. A
squad commanded by Juuko controls it.
They arrest people there, torture then and
extort money from them, sources in security
claim.
The witnesses confessed that Sobi and
Juuko were the ones coaching them. Appar-
ently, Sobi had told one of the witnesses
12 Aug 03 - 09, 2018
that this was a Shs4 billion deal. He bragged
that he had been recruited into ISO, has a
double cabin pickup complete with body-
guards.
The witnesses mentioned Sobi in their
statements, which are both video recorded
and written. Insiders say that Kaka thought
that if he worked with criminals, he would
apprehend all criminals in the city.
Away from the Kaweesi case, one of
the witnesses also claimed that Kayihura
had hired him to kill the President’s son,
Maj. Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba at a bar
in Kololo. He added, however, that when
they reached there, they found it had CCTV
surveillance cameras and Muhangi ordered
them to abort the mission.
ISO’s Kaka under fire
Having interrogated these witnesses,
all the members of the committee came
to a conclusion that these allegations are
mere fabrications. Why did Kaka allow this
investigation clearly knowing ISO did not
Kale Kayihura
have any evidence to prove Kayihura was
involved in the murder of Kawesi?
Insiders suspect that Kaka had thought
that these would be desk investigators. But
when committee members began going to
the crime scene, gather large volumes of
technical evidence, and visit many other
places, Kaka’s allegations were quashed.
Investigators discovered that it was all a
hoax. Insiders say he has been briefed and is
under intense stress.
Akullo, who was heading the team, insid-
ers say, was upset about the fabrications.
Every witness was video recorded, so they
cannot claim they did not say those things.
Apart from this, one of the suspects,
Abbey Kitagenda, the former Commandant
Flying Squad in charge of Kampala North,
who had been arrested with other police
officers, was released because the Court
Martial did not find any evidence against
him.
According to highly places sources
inside ISO, he was taken to Serene Suites
in Mutundwe where he met Kaka and the
businessman cum musician Daniel Kazi-
bwe aka Ragga Dee. Ragga Dee, who ran
for Kampala Mayor was a key contact of
former Security Minister, Lt. Gen. Henry
Tumukunde. He had helped in the fight
against Boda Boda 2010. Together they
were fronting another boda boda associa-
tion called Century to rival boda boda 2010.
Ragga Dee was its patron and they wanted
to neutralise Kale politically in Kampala.
In Mutundwe, Kaka and Ragga Dee
asked Kitagenda to collaborate with them
and implicate Kayihura in the murder of
Kaweesi. When he refused, he was arrested
for about two months.
While in ISO detention, Kitagenda was
not able to show up for his bail. As a result,
they took him to Makindye and said he was
jumping bail and military police put him
back in jail.
As the investigations began to close in on
the entire hoax, Kaka got jittery at ISO and
tried to salvage it. In the last frantic effort,
insiders say, ISO’s Simon Peter Odongo
raided MTN and confiscated their servers.
According to sources deep inside ISO, the
aim was to try and manipulate call data so
as to place the witnessed and the accused
at the crime scenes in order to validate the
allegations.
Odongo raided MTN together with other
operatives together with whom they work
with Kaka. Unknown to them, the wit-
nesses had already made confessions to the
joint investigations committee regarding the
places they were at the time of the murder
of Kawesi, which rendered all evidence
valueless.
This is not the first time ISO is generat-
ing what critics call fake intelligence. For
instance, in May last year, The Independent
reported how Museveni had been told that
senior government officials had hacked the
central bank system and stolen some $38
million.
After reading this report, Museveni is
said to have met the agents behind these
reports. Odongo was one of these agents.
One of them told Museveni that he was
involved in transporting huge sums of
money for officials looking to sponsor rebel
activity. The agent also claimed he had
dropped US$ 1.5 million in Mbarara at Agip
Motel, US$ 1 million in Masaka and another
US$ 1.5 million in Mbale to coordinate rebel
activity.
When the President probed further,
Odongo said he had given the money to
someone at Agip Motel in Mbarara. But it
seemed suspicious that an agent would just
hand US$ 1.5 million to someone they did
not know just like that.
The central bank governor, Emmanuel
Tumusiime-Mutebile, would also later
report to President Museveni that these
allegations were a hoax as no such money
had been stolen from the bank. In this case,
Museveni just ignored the matter. It remains
to be seen how he will react to ISO’s intel-
ligence in the Kale case

The coram of Judges; (L-R) Barashaki, Kasule, DCJ Dollo, Kakuru, and Musoke.   FILE /PHOTO
Courts of fear
Behind Constitutional Court decision to
remove age limit, annul 7 year term
T
By Agather Atuhaire
wo days before the July 26
decision of the Constitutional
Court to uphold the constitu-
tional amendment by parlia-
ment to remove the Presiden-
tial age limit and quash the
amendment for a seven-year term for MPs
and return of presidential term limits, word
circulated that President Yoweri Museveni
was calling some of the judges on the coram
– to ensure a favourable decision.
Nothing unusual there. As far back as
2012, one of Uganda’s top justices, George
Kanyeihamba who has been involved in
similar decisions had, in his book `The
Blessings and Joy of Being who You Are’,
written about President Museveni calling
judges just before important rulings are
made.
Kanyeihamba, who was on the coram
that heard the election petition by opposi-
tion candidate Kizza Besigye against Presi-
dent Yoweri Museveni’s win in 2006 writes
that similar rumours of the President calling
judges circulated.
Kanyeihamba writes: “It was said that the
Chief Justice had been summoned by the
highest political authority, which controlled
the then prevailing constitutional order of
governance, and told in no uncertain terms
that the authority could not be trusted to
contain possible actions by the Uganda
Defence Forces when rejecting any orders
allowing the petition.”
Kanyeihamba writes that all seven judges
on the coram, including then-Chief Justice
Benjamin Odoki, denied they had been
called. But he reveals on page 386, that a
year or two later, Odoki –in a judicial slip
of tongue - revealed that the President had
summoned him and warned him of the
possible consequences of their 2006 verdict.
He says it was later confirmed by several
soldiers on the army high command.
But the word that circulated two days
to the Mbale Constitutional Court deci-
sion had an unusual twist; it alleged that
one of the judges on the coram had told off
news analysis
Museveni. This twist added more anticipa-
tion of a judgment tough on Museveni. But
it was proved wrong.
The day’s grapevine had another tale;
that the coram of five justices would allow
the removal of age limits but disallow the
extension of the term of members of parlia-
ment from five years to seven. This was
proved right.
But even this had another twist; that
the court would rule that a referendum be
conducted to determine whether to change
the length of terms. The court discussed the
referendum issue but did not rule on it.
Finally the word had it that the justices
would rule 3:2 in favour of lifting the age
limit and retaining the five year terms and
return of presidential term limits. This was
also proved wrong. The justices ruled 4:1 on
the former and 5:0 on the latter two.
Sitting on a time bomb
Those happy with this decision cel-
ebrated.
But many others said the judges exhib-
Aug 03 - 09, 2018 13
news analysis
ited double standards in finding that some
parts of the same law are null and void
while others are legitimate. They appeared
unconvinced by the argument of the justices
that, under the severability doctrine, some
sections of a law that are unconstitutional
can be severed and those that are not are
saved.
The analysts say the justices had a perfect
opportunity to forestall a looming political
crisis surrounding Museveni’s continued
clinging to power and missed it.
“What their decision means is life presi-
dency and that means no peaceful transfer
of power which means we are sitting on a
time bomb,” said Wandera Ogalo, the law-
yer for the petitioners, in an interview with
the Independent.
The Citizens Coalition for Electoral
Democracy in Uganda (CCEDU) Coordina-
tor, Crispin Kaheru, also says the decision of
the court spells doom for democracy.
“The judgment may have substantially
and inadvertently reversed the country
from a multi-party political dispensation to
an individual-based political system,” he
said, “The fear to hurt the interests of Presi-
dent Museveni could have compromised
the objectivity of the judges.”
For the purveyors of the grapevine drivel,
all the detail was of little consequence, it is
the substance that mattered.
To them it was enough confirmation of
the rumours that four out of the five justices
of the court held that the constitutional
amendment Act, which was passed amid
controversy and police and army brutal-
ity; including the invasion of parliament
and battery and detention of some MPs in
December last year, was valid. Clearly, the
justices were determined to allow Museveni
to run for presidency for the sixth time in
2021 when he will have been 35 years in
power.
So how did it happen?
The turning point appears to have been
reached at Justice Remmy Kasule’s verdict.
He ruled that the framers of the 1995 Con-
stitution did not put the article on presiden-
tial age limits among articles that require a
referendum to change. They left that to Par-
liament which, in his view, was within its
powers to amend them together with those
of District Chairpersons.
Kasule cited the Odoki Constitutional
Commission Report proposing that only
proposed minimum age limit of 40 years for
one standing for the office of President and
never put a maximum age limit of the Presi-
dent, reasoning that:
“Since we have proposed the minimum
age, we are of the view that there is no need
to fix the maximum age; the electorate will
decide on the appropriate candidate.”
So why were many surprised by Kasule’s
decision?
Partly, it must have been because Kasule,
14 Aug 03 - 09, 2018
as a once renowned member of the opposi-
tion Democratic Party (DP) was expected to
“fear” to challenge Museveni.
70-year old Kasule’s views carry weight
as he is also the current Chairman of the
Uganda Law Council and, as he is due to
retire this year; he was expected to want to
go out with a bang.
Kasule and Museveni also have a check-
ered history. When he ascended to the
Court of Appeal in 2011 many recalled that
his name had been first nominated in 2002
but rejected by Museveni who preferred
the outgoing Deputy Chief Justice Steven
Kavuma.
Even when Museveni accepted Kasule
in 2011, many of his advisors said he was
misadvised. And they appeared vindicated
when Kasule was only one of the five jus-
tices of the Court that ruled in favor of the
rebel MPs when NRM sought to throw
them out of Parliament after their expulsion
Kenneth Kakuru
from the party.
In an elaborate dissenting judgment,
Kasule said that expulsion from a party
does not mean an MP automatically loses
the seat in Parliament. The rebel MPs based
on his ruling to challenge the decision of
the majority in the Supreme Court which
confirmed Kasule’s judgment. Many of
those that sought dissenting voices in the
Mbale ruling based on such rulings and
his pedigree in the opposition DP to bet on
him. They lost.
Counting on Kakuru
That left Justice Kenneth Kakuru as the
lone demolisher of the amendment remov-
ing the presidential age limit from the con-
stitution.
Kakuru, of all the justices, sought to con-
textualise his ruling on Uganda’s turbulent
political history and the spirit and intent of
the framers of the 1995 national constitution.
“The history of the country and the leg-
islative history of the Constitution is also
relevant and a useful guide in constitutional
interpretation,” he said adding that, in the
preamble to the constitutional, the people
of Uganda emphasised the country’s his-
tory, acknowledging sadly that it has been
characterised by political and constitutional
instability.
“Lest we forget,” he said, “My attempts
to recount the constitutional history was to
re-echo the people’s cry, in the preamble to
the Constitution. We must always recall our
history. “Lest we forget.”
He added, regarding the motive behind
the lifting of the presidential age limit which
the other justices fudged: “Born in 1944
President Museveni will not have been
qualified for election as President under the
Constitution as it stood in 2017, as he would
have attained the age of 75 years in 2019, the
next General Elections being due in 2021.”
And Kakuru went a step further.
He invoked the Basic Structure Doctrine;
a legal principle originating from India that
says that national constitutions have funda-
mental features that go to the very root of
the constitution and should never be altered
through a parliamentary amendment
because that would amount to destroying
the foundation and structure of the constitu-
tion.
Kakuru stated that there are provisions of
the Constitution which parliament does not
have power to alter even if it followed all
the required procedures of amendment.
“Parliament, in my view, has no power
to amend alter or in any way abridge or
remove any of the above pillars or struc-
tures of the Constitution, as doing so would
amount to its abrogation,” he said.
He added: “In this regard therefore, I find
that the basic structure doctrine applies to
Uganda’s Constitutional order having been
deliberately enshrined in the Constitution
by the people themselves.”
Kakuru ruled that MPs have no power,
including legislating on extending their
term from five to seven years.
“The power to legislate belongs to the
people of Uganda, who every five years del-
egate it to some amongst themselves under
Article 1 of the Constitution. This power
therefore delegated as it is very limited in
both in time and scope.”
He concluded that the contravention
of several articles of the Constitution and
omission defeated the whole amendment.
He ruled: “The entire Constitution
(Amendment) Act 1 of 2018 is unconstitu-

tional and is therefore null and void. All its
provisions ought to be expunged from the
Constitution of Uganda.” But Kakuru was
outnumbered 4:1.
In the end, several renowned constitu-
tional lawyers say the judgment reached
was technically unimpeachable not substan-
tially unconvincing.
Shallow interpretation of
constitutionalism
Prof. Oloka Onyango of Makerere
University Kampala whose latest book
is `When Courts Do Politics’, says on the
technical questions, it is hard to fault the
judges because whether the age limit can be
removed or not is not a legal issue.
“In the black letter of the law, there was
no problem with the removal of age limit,”
he told The Independent in an interview
“Article 102 (b) is an article like any other
which can be amended by parliament.” But,
he added “You need to contextualise it.”
“The age limit is not an event,” he said,
“it had to be put into context.”
He says the Justices by their decision cre-
ated a life presidency.
“In a country where you have never had
a free and fair election, where there has nev-
er been peaceful transfer of power, where
there are no functional institutions, you can-
not afford to create a life presidency.”
He says the Judges should have based
their decision on the context within which
Uganda finds itself and the implications of a
life presidency. Instead, he says, the court’s
decision depicted the justice’s shallow inter-
pretation of constitutionalism.
“A constitution is not a statute,” he
said, “You cannot interpret a constitution
as just a legal document. It is a political
document, a social document, a cultural
document.”
He says Judges needed to refer
to Uganda’s history of coups and
militarism, the flawed elections, and the
malfunctioning institutions. He says such
a context renders the judges’ unanimous
condemnation of the extension of terms for
MPs and local government leaders while
promoting a life presidency inconceivable.
He attributes the decision of the justices
to fear.
“What we are seeing in this country
is structural fear,” he says. “People have
lived in a context of a dictatorship and
have gotten accustomed to not questioning
anything. That is why the Judges can
challenge life MPs but not life presidency.”
Oloka calls this a structural fear which,
he says, is not only in politics but even in
the social life of Ugandans.
Lead lawyer for the petitioners, Wandera
Ogalo, agrees with Oloka that the Judges
needed to show what they understand will
be the impact of their decision on a country
that is yearning for a peaceful transfer of
Wandera Ogalo (L) and petitioner Male Mabirizi
power and elections with meaning.
“The judges know very well that there
is a problem with the election process,” he
told The Independent in an interview and
reeled off a list of recent flawed election.
He cited the Rukungiri Municipality
by-election where President Museveni
sought to influence the vote by splashing
over Shs5 billion worth of freebies to voters
with a stern warning: you either vote
the NRM candidate or you will not get
government services.
“Term limits and age limit are a
conscious process to ensure democracy in
Uganda because these other institutions,
for instance the Electoral Commission are
too weak,” Ogalo said. He says the Judges
should have pronounced themselves on
the implications of the removal of age limit
in Uganda’s context.
But even Justice Kakuru, the lone
remover of the age limit did so without
pronouncing himself on the issues Ogalo
and Oloka wanted addressed.
And it appears, Kakuru anticipated the
Ogalo and Oloka challenge.
He ruled: “I have found nothing to
suggest, let alone prove that Parliament
cannot, through the established
constitutional process, vary the
qualifications of the President or that of the
District Chairperson. The qualifications of
the President and those of Chairpersons
District local governments do not in my
view form part of the basic structure of the
Constitution which I set out earlier in this
Judgment.
“The people of Uganda, through their
Constitution, should be able to freely,
whenever it is absolutely necessary to do so,
vary the qualification of their leaders. These
news analysis
qualifications include but are not limited
to citizenship, age, and 10 academic quali-
fications. The same ought to apply to the
disqualifications of the same leaders. It may
be, for example, found necessary in future
to require every Presidential candidate to be
computer literate, fluent in both English and
Swahili and at least two local languages the
list is endless”.
So, it appears Ogalo and Oloka might not
have convinced Kakuru on that one.
Still, Ogala says removing age limit is
disastrous for democracy in Uganda. But
he says the Mbale Judgment is good for the
growth of constitutionalism and enrichment
of jurisprudence.
“The Judgment, particularly of Justice
Kakuru and Remmy Kasule which delved
into our history was good,” he says.
Ogalo is happy that the Basic structure
Doctrine has been introduced in Uganda’s
law.
But Oloka says the reference to the Basic
Structure doctrine by the justices was point-
less if in the end they upheld an amend-
ment that completely violates all the tenets
of the doctrine.
Ogalo disagrees. He says if the Judges
had applied the doctrine to the present
dispute, there would be a risk of it being
struck out by the Supreme Court on
appeal.
“That is why I didn’t even argue it,” he
says, “I feared it because it was rubbished
in Tanzania but Lukwago (Erias) argued
it.
“Even though they did not apply it to
the present facts”, he adds, “I am more
than happy that it is now part of our
law and that to me was a plus.” And the
debate goes on.
Aug 03 - 09, 2018 15
rwanda
RDB chief tourism officer Belise Kariza cut ribbon tocommission the houses.   Courtesy/ PHOTO
Gains from protecting wildlife
Villagers get new houses, mobile clinics, solar systems
By Independent Reporter
S
upporting and engaging in
wildlife conservation pays. But
for communities living on the
fringes of national game parks
this is always a hard choice. For close to
50 people in Kitabi sector, Nyamagabe
district, the conservation choice is
paying off.
On July 27 the Rwanda Development
Board (RDB) handled them keys to 10
modern housing units valued at Rwf36
million. This is under the government’s
revenue sharing programme, where
communities bordering parks get a
share of monies raised from the game
park. The current beneficiary families
had all previously lived in the buffer
zone of Nyungwe National Park,
according to RDB.
The modern houses will
accommodate 48 occupants, including
children, a statement from RDB shows.
The donation is the first community
project of the Kwita Izina 2018 activities.
The second donation of a mobile clinic,
solar lighting systems and solar water
pumps will be given to residents of
Karambi and Sangano villages in Ndego
sector, Kayonza District on Sept. 05.
Speaking at handover event, the chief
tourism officer at RDB, Belise Kariza,
said the programmes funded by the
16 Aug 03 - 09, 2018
Revenue Share Programme are about
improving people’s lives.
“This project is one of a kind.
It demonstrates our commitment
to preserving biodiversity while
contributing to improving the
livelihoods of people living adjacent
to our national parks and the overall
development of the country,” she said.
Marie Rose Mureshyankwano, the
governor of Southern Province, who
presided over the function, noted that
good housing was essential for the
development of the family. “Our future
depends on the stability of family
institution and it is, therefore, important
that we continue to protect the general
welfare of families, especially children,”
she said.
Initiated in 2005 by the government,
the revenue sharing programme
aims to guide investment in the
areas surrounding the various
national parks in Rwanda in order to
enhance awareness of importance of
conservation to communities living
around national parks. Following a
Cabinet decision in 2017, the funds
available to support the revenue sharing
programme were increased from 5% to
10% of all tourism revenues in 2018.
2018 Kwita Izina
The theme of this year’s Kwita Izina
event is ‘Conservation is Life’ and the
naming ceremony will take place in
Kinigi, Northern Province on Sept.07. In
addition to the launch of the Kwita Izina
community projects, the ‘Conversation
on Conservation’ (CoC) Forum that will
take place alongside it on Sept.04-05
will focus on conservation trends and
practices.
It will bring together tourism
and conservation partners from
Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania to showcase
conservation efforts and avail
educational materials to the general
public and global conservation leaders.
It will provide a unique platform
linking conservation with sustainable
tourism by embracing all layers of the
value chain.
As a result of conservation efforts
such as Kwita Izina, the population of
the endangered mountain gorilla has
increased to 604 in 2016 in the Virunga
Massif compared to 480 in 2010. The
Virunga Massif is comprised Mikeno
Sector of Virunga National Park in
the Democratic Republic of Congo,
Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda
and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in
Uganda. Mountain gorilla numbers in
the entire area had fallen to a low of 242
in 1981.

By Julius Businge
A
ndela, a global engineering firm
based in New York, has raised
US$80million in venture funding
to mentor software developers
in the four African countries where it
operates; Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and
Nigeria.
The firm invests in Africa’s most talented
software developers and pairs them with
engineering firms around the world.
Officials say the goal is to solve the tech
talent shortage by accelerating the growth
of tech ecosystems on the continent.
Four days after launching its operations
in Uganda on July 19, Andela issued a
notice on July 24 announcing its entry
into the Rwandan market where it aims to
establish a pan-African technology hub.
Andela’s co-founder and Chief
Exectuve Officer, Jeremy Johnson
said they are partnering with the
Government of Rwanda through the
Rwanda Development Board (RDB), an
organisation responsible for transforming
the country into a dynamic global hub for
business, investment and innovation.
Kigali was chosen due to its strong
existing infrastructure and ease of doing
business and access for developers across
the continent.
Jeremy said that through the
partnership, RDB will support Andela’s
efforts to build a pan-African workforce
and support the development of Rwandan
and other African talent.
He added that this will catalyse
Andela’s mission to invest in Africa’s most
promising talent and build the continent’s
future technology leaders, adding to
over 700 Andela developers based in the
company’s existing locations in Lagos,
Nairobi, and Kampala.
“We are thrilled to have found a partner
in the Government of Rwanda whose
mission is so closely aligned with our own
which is to grow and sustain a pan-African
elite tech workforce,” he said.
Jeremy said in Kigali, they found a
location that makes travel to-and-from
other African countries seamless and
also has the modern and connected
infrastructure they require to collaborate
with a global workforce.
Seni Sulyman, Andela’s vice president
in charge of global operations described
Kigali as a 4G African city that continues
to push towards ICT excellence and is fast
becoming one of East Africa’s key tech
hubs.
“Connecting talent with opportunity on
a global scale is Andela’s ethos, and with
the opening of our Kigali hub, we expect
to extend opportunities to thousands
more software engineers from across the
continent that will make their mark on the
global tech scene via Kigali,”Sulyman said.
RDB partners with
global IT firm, Andela
US$80million available for
specialists in 4 African countries
Jackie Ochola, Andela’s country director for Uganda
Through Andela’s distributed model of
work, developers gain global experience
with the world’s top technology firms
while working remotely from an Andela
campus.
Sulyman said this enables them to
actively contribute to the growth of their
local tech ecosystems by leading developer
groups, mentoring junior technologists,
and serving as an example of how local
developers can compete on a global level.
Clare Akamanzi, the RDB chief
executive officer said the partnership with
Andela will help Rwanda build the next
generation of technology leaders who will
lead innovation in Kigali and beyond.
“Through partnerships, such as the
one we are announcing today, we are
accelerating Kigali’s growth as a global
technology hub while also advancing
skills development and employment
opportunities for young, talented
Africans,”Akamanzi said.
Four years ago, Andela first launched
operations in Nigeria and has since
mentored slightly over 500 software
developers.
In the three markets (Nigeria, Kenya,
rwanda
Uganda), the company has mentored more
than 700 software engineers across the
continent that collectively help power the
technology teams of more than 150 global
companies including Viacom, GitHub,
Pluralsight and more.
Speaking to The Independent on the
sidelines of Andela’s inaugural developer
conference at its new hub in Kampala,
Jackie Ochola, the firm’s country director
for Uganda, said that when one joins and
finishes Andela’s four year fellowship,
their human potential will have advanced
a lot faster than it would anywhere else.
She said after the fellowship,
beneficiaries could become tech-
entrepreneurs or join world class
companies in senior level roles.
Speaking at the official opening of
Andela’s operations in Kampala on July
19, Micheal Niyitegeka, an IT expert
based in Kampala said, Andela’s coming
into the market will positively impact
on the general ICT sector through skills
development.
He said retooling and skills
development of IT specialists is important
because of the changing dynamics of the
entire sector. He said trainees must be
eager to learn and practice what they learn
if they are to move things.
Indeed trainees of Andela appears to be
ready to show what they have and benefit
from the gains of the sector.
Nickson Kamugisha, a third year
student of computer science at Uganda
Christian University (UCU) told The
Independent that he joined the Andela
fraternity in 2016 and he hopes to benefit a
lot from it.
Kamugisha wants to develop mobile
apps and other desktop applications in the
near future.
“So far they are already training us and
we do expect to enhance our skills that
we do get from schools and colleges,”
Kamugisha said. The entire fellowship
programme lasts for four years.
Going forward, Andela targets to mentor
100,000 software developers by 2024 in the
four markets of Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya
and Nigeria.
Aug 03 - 09, 2018 17
RWANDA
Indian PM Modi and President Ka game.   COURTESY/ PHOTO
After Indian PM Modi’s visit
Opportunities open but challenges
loom for Rwanda businesses
By Stephen Nuwagira
J
ust days after the July 23-24 visit to
Rwanda of Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, there is already
increased interest in the country
among Indian business people.
Modi’s two-day state visit was the first
by an Indian Prime Minister despite the
long-standing cordial relations between
the leaders of the two countries.
“In Rwanda, every window of
opportunity leads to another window
of opportunity, which leads to a palace
of opportunity,” Modi told the Indian
18 Aug 03 - 09, 2018
business community during the India-
Rwanda Business Forum in Kigali on
July 24.
Now, Clarence Fernandes, the
chairman Rwanda Renaissance,
which markets Rwanda in India, says
following this, Indian business people
are increasingly exploring opportunities
in trade, tourism, and other investment
areas in ICT, healthcare, manufacturing
and finance.
Modi visited Rwanda with a high
powered delegation of 100 business
leaders and Clarence Fernandes says
the country should be gearing up for
a marked increase in Indian visitor
arrivals.
The official, who is also co-chair of
the Travel, Tourism and Hospitality
Committee at the IMC Chamber of
Commerce and Industry, said Indian
investors are attracted by Rwanda’s
impressive credentials in good
governance, ease of doing business and
the country’s policy on zero tolerance to
corruption, coupled with high levels of
safety and security.
Indians already in Rwanda
According to Rwanda’s Private Sector
 RWANDA
Federation (PSF) chairman, Robert countries and the rapid socio-economic be competitive on the local regional and
Bafakulera, 197 investors from India transformation that we both seek”. global markets,” he says.
have opened shop over the past six years, He said direct flights to Mumbai by He said poor quality and lack of
mainly in health, education, ICT, and the national carrier, RwandAir, were proper packaging have been some of
agro-processing. already facilitating travel and business. the main challenges which have affected
Dr. Jatin Uppadhyay, an academic Kagame said a pledge by Modi to market entry of local manufacturers and
cum businessman in Rwanda, is typical. open an Indian embassy in Rwanda SMEs over the years.
He has been in Rwanda for over 10 years soon will further strengthen the existing He said, however, he is confident that
and has invested in the hospitality sector. good bilateral relationship between the with support from Rwanda Standards
He mentions incentives for Indian two nations. Presently, the Indian High Board, issues of quality will soon
investors; including the government Commission in Kampala is also in charge be addressed through certification;
willingness to support investors to setup of Kigali. particularly products and firms targeting
in the country by requiring no security The President added that the the export market.
deposit or guarantee except for the RDB African Continental Free Trade Area The business leader says the
requirements, the use ICT in all areas of provides even greater opportunities for government has subsidised standard
business registration, tax filing or paying
taxes using mobile money.
“All these make it easy and cost
effective to do business in Rwanda,” he
told The Independent.
Clarence Fernandes added that
Indians who want to open businesses
in Rwanda are happy to easily get a
visa as long as they meet the minimum
requirements.
He, however, wants immigration to
clarify on how SMEs can recruit workers;
especially for skills that might not be
available in the local market
And Modi’s visit is being seen as a
trigger to greater trade relations between
Rwanda and India, and easing of
restrictions on local businesses exporting
to the vast Asian country, according to
the local private sector body.
“The visit marked a new dawn for
Rwanda,” says Bafakulera. “After the PM
Modi’s visit, we expect this number to
increase significantly.”
He says also expected are more Indian
tourists to Rwanda in coming years.
Bafulera says in meetings with
their counterparts from India who
accompanied the PM, they agreed
on future interactions with them and
how entry into the huge Indian market
could be eased from what it has been
previously.
Bafakulera says the private sector Indian Prime Minister Modi is entertained at Girika ceremony where he donated 200 head of cattle.
will take advantage of the growing
relations between Rwanda and India to
export more local products; especially investment and trade between Africa and certification charges for SMEs by 50%
agricultural produce and minerals. India in the years ahead. to encourage and enable more small-
Speaking at the business forum, and-medium enterprises to meet quality
President Paul Kagame said that as Determined to succeed requirements of export markets.
the country implements the Made-in- But as many local producers, This, Bafakulera says, will go a long
Rwanda initiative, it welcomes Indian particularly from Small and Medium way in helping the government to realise
investment, especially in manufacturing, Enterprises (SMEs) gearing to enter the its goal of increasing Rwanda’s exports
where India has great experience and Indian market, Bafakulera says they are by 17% by 2022.
know-how. struggling to meet quality standards. Meanwhile, the Indian Prime Minister
“Rwanda is keen to learn from the “There is now no option but to took off time to tour Rweru Model
renowned `Made-in-India’ experience, as improve production processes and Village in Bugesera District, Eastern
we implement our own Made-in-Rwanda product quality as well as packaging Province during the visit, where he
policy, particularly in the manufacturing, to benefit from markets like India that donated 200 cows to residents as part
construction and ICT sectors,” he boasts of 1.2 billion people,” he said. of his country’s support to the Girinka
said, “We are eager to get going and “We are working hard to ensure that programme. He was accompanied by
to maximise these opportunities for manufacturers and SMEs acquire the President Kagame.
the benefit of the people of our two necessary standards and quality for us to

Aug 03 - 09, 2018 19

news analysis
Paying more to avoid a tax
What reactions to social media tax reveals about attitudes
By Ronald Musoke
F
rank Tumwebaze, the Minister
of ICT and National Guidance
is puzzled by the current
resistance to the social media
tax which his government recently
introduced.
“Why don’t you want to contribute
to your economy?” says Minister
Tumwebaze, “Ask yourself how much
you are spending on data for you to
download VPN to enable you bypass
capacity. If you are really a committed
Ugandan and want services from your
government, why are you motivated
to contribute money 30 times higher
than the OTT tax to the innovator of
the VPN?”
Tumwebaze was on July 17 reacting
to the evasion with which most
Ugandans have reacted to a Shs200
(approx. 5 U.S. cents) daily tax on
the use of social media platforms like
Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Viber, and
LinkedIn.
The government also imposed a 1%
20 Aug 03 - 09, 2018
levy on mobile money deposits and
withdrawals. Although this attracted
fewer furors, President Yoweri
Museveni ordered the tax rate down
to 0.5% and only on mobile money
withdrawals.
The government expects to collect
between Shs 400bn and Shs 1.4bn
every year from the social media tax
according to finance minister’s 2018/19
budget speech of June 14.
But many Ugandans are resisting
the new tax and some have resorted
to using the Virtual Private Network
(VPN) which remains out of reach
of the government. Many of those
opposed claim the tax is double
taxation that also infringes on their
lifestyles.
Supporters of OTT tax say it is an
opportunity for the government to
raise money internally and avoid
borrowing and reliance on donor aid.
“We have a budget of Shs 33 trillion
and we are only collecting Shs 16
trillion – the rest we borrow,” says
Lawrence Bategeka, an economist and
MP for Hoima Municipality, adding
that new taxes are needed if the
country is to develop.
Compared to other EAC countries,
Uganda’s tax to GDP ratio is one of
the lowest at around 14%; Kenya’s
stood at 20%, Rwanda’s at 14.7%, and
Tanzania’s at 21.0% as per 2013/14
figures.
Bategeka says Ugandans have a bad
attitude to paying taxes.
“We have a culture of not wanting
to pay taxes and (yet) the same people
want to live a good life,” he says, “If
Ugandans don’t want to pay taxes,
then we need to have a discussion and
find an alternative, and in this case,
that alternative is to downgrade our
ambitions as a country.”
But Albert Mucunguzi, the
chairperson of the ICT Association of
Uganda says Ugandans do not have
poor attitude to paying taxes. Rather,
they rushed to install VPNs as a form
of protest and to make a point to the
government.
Days before the government

introduced the social media tax, the
Makerere Institute of Social Research
(MISR) weighed in on the debate with
a panel discussion on: “Tax Fairness:
How do government’s new tax
measures advance tax fairness?”
Dr. Grace-Edward Galabuzi, a senior
research fellow at the institute argued
that tax fairness is one of the attributes
of a good policy because it plays a
good role in tax reporting behaviour.
“If a tax system is perceived to be
unfair or inequitable, it can breed tax
evasion and turn out less successful
and illegitimate,” he said, “Tax
payers who are not satisfied with the
treatment from the tax authorities and
also from the government in terms
of return on taxes may seek ways of
evading those taxes.”
“Levying taxes on social media for
instance may represent a real revenue
boon, but is it fair or is it seen to be
fair? Are there alternatives that may
be better sources of revenue that the
government desperately needs?”
Dr. Galabuzi said if tax payers are
given voice and allowed to contribute
to the process of decision making, it
would suggest tax payers are valued
and respected by the authorities and
the government.
At the same discourse, Dr. Fred
Muhumuza, a development economist
said a tax regime begins to be unfair
if the government brings taxes that
are not pegged on the logic of fairness
but only inclined on one argument of
revenue collection.
But for many others, like Adventino
Bajwa, a graduate student at the
Makerere Institute of Social Research
(MISR) in Kampala, the issue is clear;
taxation should go hand in hand with
the state’s role of providing public
goods such as good quality education,
health and security.
Bajwa says currently, while the
government has privatized many of
these public goods, it continues to
demand taxes. He says that is unfair.
“At a time when former public goods
are going private full scale and we
are yet to pay for roads in Uganda, it
is perplexing that the debate around
taxation proceeds as though the state
has not changed a single bit since the
colonial days.
“More than ever before in our
history, the most urgent debate today
is not on whether taxes are fair or not
but whether there is still need to pay
taxes,” he says.
Bajwa’s views may be more extreme
than most and he may have spoken
before the recent taxes, yet his
insistence on a link between the low
government service delivery and the
attitudes of Ugandans to being taxed,
and their low compliance rates is
widely shared.
Julius Kapwepwe, the director for
programmes at the Uganda Debt
Network says at this moment in time
“Ugandans cannot afford to have a
state whose role is to cross its legs on
the other side, watch citizens suffer
day and night to earn an income and
then simply come to pick taxes”.
“It is high time the state made its
Frank Tumwebaze
Lawrence Bategeka
fair share of investment upon which
it earns its own income and then
it can ask the rest of us to make a
contribution.”
Their views fit in with the findings
of a recent study on taxation in
Uganda by the Southern and Eastern
Africa Trade Information and
Negotiations Institute (SEATINI)
that Uganda lacks such fiscal
contract between the people and
the government. The researchers
concluded that as a result, tax morale
is either non-existent or very low.
Instead, the researchers said,
high levels of corruption and
mismanagement of tax revenues,
uncertainty and a lack of
communication about the use of
tax revenues, and poor delivery of
public services, contribute to citizens’
unwillingness to pay taxes.
news analysis
A 2013 Afrobarometer paper titled,
`To Pay or not to Pay? Citizens’
Attitudes towards taxation in Kenya,
Tanzania, Uganda and South Africa’
also noted that tax compliance attitude
is positively correlated with the
provision of public services in the four
countries.
The researchers said attempts to
broaden the tax base should build on
insights into how citizens experience
and perceive the tax administration
and enforcement, and whether and
how their tax behaviour is correlated
with their perceptions.
The researchers noted that tax
compliance is influenced by the
extent to which citizens trust their
government. The researchers defined
legitimacy as “belief or trust in the
authorities, institutions and social
arrangements to be appropriate, just,
and work for the common good.”
The link between tax compliance
attitude and public service provision
depends on the specific service in
question. For instance, while access
to infrastructure such as roads and
electricity encourage tax compliant
attitude in Kenya, respondents
in Tanzania and Uganda refer to
education and health services as key
to their tax compliance.
A 2013 OECD policy paper on tax
and development also notes that
citizens are more likely to perceive
tax obligations more favourably when
their government is seen to be acting
in a trustworthy manner.
“A government seen to be making
good use of tax revenue is associated
with higher levels of trust and tax
morale,” the OECD paper states in
part, “Tax morale is at the heart of
state building and the citizen-state
relationship.”
Minister Tumwebaze also sees the
link between taxes and the services
from the government. But he insists
Ugandans should pay the tax first if
they want to demand services from the
government.
As the debate rages, however, some
officials say the government’s next
move will be to block the VPN.
Godfrey Mutabazi, the
executive director of the Uganda
Communications Commission (UCC)
which regulates social media says
the government already has the
required software. Mutabazi adds
that individuals who circumvented
the Over the Top (OTT) services tax
system could also be penalized with
surcharges. To this camp, it appears,
better tax compliance enforcement and
not attitude change is required.
Aug 03 - 09, 2018 21
news analysis
Asuman Basalirwa and Bobi Wine in Bugiri.
Bobi Wine beats
Besigye in Bugiri
NRM takes Kotido, Ibanda, Sheema, Nebbi
By Ian Katusiime
A
suman Basalirwa, the MP-elect for
Bugiri Municipality, confesses that
people had always addressed him
as a Member of Parliament before
the just concluded election that sent him to
the August House for the first time. During
a television interview on the morning of
July 30, Basalirwa revealed that officials in
government and those who meet him in the
various places his political work takes him,
constantly addressed him as “Honourable”.
He mentioned the times when he
appeared in court and was addressed as an
MP and at various events organised by the
Opposition. However he had stood three
times unsuccessfully for the parliamentary
seat of Bukooli North, in Bugiri district, and
lost.
“Winning an election is a very exciting
and satisfying thing because we go through
a lot,” he says now.
Basalirwa who is the president of the little
known JEEMA party bagged 3,928 votes to
beat his closest challenger, Francis Oketcho,
of the NRM who polled 3,267 votes. The
FDC candidate Eunice Namatende came
third with 928 votes and the party per-
22 Aug 03 - 09, 2018
formed dismally in several parliamentary
elections held in municipalities on the same
day, July 27.
The Bugiri municipality election got extra
attention because of the actors involved.
When Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagu-
lanyi backed Basalirwa three months ago,
it set the tempo for the election because he
was going to lock horns with FDC, a party
he allied with to defeat the ruling NRM in
two by-elections; Jinja Municipality East
and the Rukungiri Woman MP seat.
The contest in Bugiri was also seen as a
turf war between Dr Kizza Besigye, former
FDC president and four time presidential
flag-bearer, and Kyagulanyi also known as
Bobi Wine whose popularity as a musician
saw him romp to victory in 2017 in a parlia-
mentary by-election.
Before the nominations, JEEMA and
FDC were in talks to have Basalirwa as the
joint candidate but the talks yielded noth-
ing and the two camps traded some harsh
words against each other. Basalirwa’s camp
felt betrayed by FDC, saying Basalirwa
had always fought FDC legal battles on
the many instances party supporters were
detained on frivolous charges.
On the other hand Kyagulanyi had
clarified earlier in June on his support for
Basalirwa. “We have seen him crisscross courts
of law- from the lowest to the highest, defend-
ing opposition leaders, representing activists
and arguing the case for good governance and
human rights for all. In 2016, we saw him
aggressively argue the presidential election peti-
tion,” he wrote.
From the Bugiri election, Kyagulanyi has
emerged as a political force to reckon with
even though Basalirwa seems to downplay
it.
“Bobi Wine found me in the struggle
which I joined in 1998, what people need to
know is that we have been around for some
time. There’s nothing like a third force but
he represents a generation that believes,”
the former Guild president at Makerere
University said when asked about the influ-
ence of the singer turned politician on his
election victory.
However some sources in Bugiri say
Basalirwa has Kyagulanyi to thank for his
new fortunes. “He was not popular. He
only won because of the Bobi Wine effect,”
Waiswa Batambuze, who hails from Bugiri
told The Independent.
After leading a social media tax protest
in Kampala streets and helping Basalirwa
clinch a parliamentary seat in one month,
observers are looking out for the next card
Kyagulanyi will play in a field dominated
by Museveni and Besigye.
Tumwesigye takes Sheema
Meanwhile, Elioda Tumwesigye, the
Minister for Science and Innovation, was
declared MP-elect for Sheema municipality
after beating FDC’s Virginia Plan Mugyenyi
with a comfortable 2000 votes. In his first
press conference after the victory, Tum-
wesigye accused the FDC of rigging votes
whenever it takes part in elections.
Tumwesigye’s win means there will be
a by-election in Sheema North which he
represents.
But the FDC team protested the election
outcome. Supporters of Mugyenyi say she
was in the lead in the night of the election
count only for Tumwesigye to be declared
winner shortly.
Mugyenyi issued a statement a day after
the poll decrying a heavy presence of the
army, arrests of her agents, intimidation
and bribery of voters.
In Ibanda, Tarsis Rwaburindore of the
NRM was declared winner of the Ibanda
municipality parliamentary election with
a total of 13,331 votes. Peter Agaba, an
independent candidate came second with a
total of 12,850 votes and Alex Byarugaba of
the FDC came third. The ruling party also
won in Kotido with Peter Abrahams Lokii
scooping 4,248 votes against a measly 137
of FDC’s Moses Oriono Okot. In Nebbi, the
NRM’s Hashim Sulaiman trounced FDC’s
Robert Onega by 324 votes when he polled
4,483 against the latter’s 4,159 votes.

By Andrew Mold
Africa’s narrow growth path
That over 60 years Africa’s economy has been outperforming
the global average should be a cause for celebration
T
his year marks the 60th anniversary
of the establishment of the United
Nations Economic Commission
for Africa (UNECA). Against the
opposition of the former colonial powers,
UNECA was set up in Addis Ababa in
1958 to provide technical support and as
a platform for African countries to discuss
and find solutions to mutual challenges and
problems. It was an auspicious time. The
year before, Ghana had become the first
African state to achieve independence, in
what was soon to become a tidal wave of
African countries reclaiming their sover-
eignty. Yet at UNECA’s inaugural meeting
in December 1958, there were still only 10
independent African countries represented
on the continent – the four African founding
member states of the UN – Egypt, Ethiopia,
Liberia and South Africa, plus six newly
independent countries – Ghana, Guinea,
Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, and Sudan. The
population of the whole continent in 1958
was just 270 million.
How times have changed! Sixty years
later, Africa now comprises 55 indepen-
dent member states – and a combined
population of 1.2 billion - four times
larger than in 1958. But the economy has
expanded even more rapidly, and is 11
times larger (measured in real terms - i.e.
discounting the effect of inflation). Our
economies are also more dynamic.
According to the World Bank , six of
the ten fastest growing economies in the
world are currently located in Africa –
and Eastern Africa is especially blessed,
with three of those economies being
located in our sub-region (Ethiopia,
Djibouti, and Tanzania), with Rwanda
not far behind. It would not be too pre-
sumptive to claim that today the African
economy is stronger and more resilient
than at any other time in its history.
This is a useful juncture to look back
at some of the economic and social
trends which have got us where we are
today. Between 1958 and now, while
the African economy has expanded in
real terms 11-fold, the global economy is
only 8 times larger. This in itself should
be a cause for celebration, as Africa has
clearly been outperforming the global
average.
There is an important caveat, however.
The better performance of Africa com-
pared to the global average is explained
principally by our demographics, and
not income per capita growth, which has
been below the global average for the
period (2.5 vs. 3.2 for the world). When
we compare this performance to the so-
called ‘Asian giants’ (China and India)
over the same period, that trajectory has
been much less satisfactory - the average
per capita income in China today is 13
times larger, and India 6 times – com-
pared to incomes in 1958 (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Growth of Population, Economy and Incomes 1958-2018
(multiple times 1958 values, calculated using constant prices)
Source: UNECA, calculated from data
from the Maddison Project (2018)
In defence of that performance, it could
be argued that Africa has suffered during
the 1980s and 1990s from several decades
of lost growth, when the continent suf-
fered from a pernicious combination
of an adverse international economic
climate (particularly low commodity
prices), a period of politically instability
and heightened conflict against the back-
drop of the Cold War, as well as exter-
nally imposed programmes of austerity
(in the guise of Structural Adjustment
Programmes). Per capita incomes during
this period actually declined for the
majority of countries in Africa – living
standards were, in effect, deteriorating.
But those explanatory arguments can
only be taken so far. India and China
also suffered comparable ‘lost decades’
– in the 1960s and 70s, China suffered
all the dislocation associated with the
‘Great Leap Forward’ and the ‘Cultural
Revolution’. After the death of Chairman
Mao in 1976, it took several years before
political stability was re-established
and a reform-minded President (Deng
Xiaoping) finally took over.
In India, up until the early 1990s, the
country was considered to be suffering
from the ‘Hindu rate of growth’ whereby
an overregulated and sluggish economy
comment
never grew in excess of 2-3 percent –
barely enough to keep up with the demo-
graphic growth of the country. Only in
the 1990s did the economic performance
of India start to take off.
So the performance of the two Asian
giants does suggest that, in the face of
setbacks, rapid catch-up can be achieved
with subsequent bursts of sustained
growth.
The other big difference between the
African continent and the Asian Giants
is that for India and China, the demo-
graphic contribution to growth has been
small - just a quarter of all Chinese and
a third of Indian growth, compared
with nearly two-thirds in the case of
Africa (Figure 2). Income growth for the
Asian Giants has clearly been driving
the expansion of the economy in a way
which has been far more subdued for the
African continent.
Figure 2: Percentage Contribution of Income and Population
Growth, Africa, China and India Compared, 1958-1960
Source: UNECA, calculated from data from the Maddison Project (2018)
This last point is of course the real chal-
lenge. While the African economy has
expanded massively since the late 1950s,
by global standards continental income
growth has still been modest. To achieve
higher living standards and meet the
developmental aspirations embodied in
the African Union’s 2063 Agenda, over
the coming decades the growth of the
African economy should not be primarily
population but rather income-driven.
Over the long-run, that is the true conun-
drum which the continent must confront
and resolve.
Andrew Mold is the Acting Director Sub-
Regional Office for Eastern Africa of the
United Nations Economic Commission for
Africa
Aug 03 - 09, 2018 23
news analysis

Musician turned politician Robert Kyagulanyi (C) is joined by other activists on July 11, 2018 in
Kampala, Uganda during a protest against a controversial tax on the use of social media. /AFP

Africa’s attack on
internet freedom
While Washington turns a blind eye, autocrats across
the continent are muzzling their citizens online
By Hilary Matfess, Jeffrey Smith country was not there yet. muzzle free speech and dissenting

I
n August 2017, during a new media
roundtable between leaders from
China and Tanzania, the Tanzanian
deputy communications minister
praised the Beijing government for
blocking social media platforms
in China and replacing them with
“homegrown sites that are safe,
constructive, and popular.” The
Tanzanian minister lamented that his
Less than one year later, a number of
popular Tanzanian websites that had
been critical of the government were
taken down in June to avoid hefty fines
imposed as a result of the country’s new
internet regulations that were passed
in March. The new laws, including
similar ones imposed effective July
01 in Uganda, are the latest in a long
and troubling succession of restrictive
measures enacted across Africa to
political views.
Tanzania and Uganda are the latest
nations to fall victim to a wave of
internet censorship that has been
inspired and exported by autocratic
powers such as China and Russia, as
well as totalitarian regimes like North
Korea. These restrictions are often
implemented under the guise of public
order and security. These days, abusive
leaders with authoritarian tendencies

24 Aug 03 - 09, 2018


are no longer compelled to rely heavily
on baton-wielding security forces and
brute violence to entrench their personal
power and prevent criticism. This
“rule by law” method, popularised by
Vladimir Putin’s regime in Russia, allows
leaders to manipulate legal processes
for their own purposes while avoiding
the international condemnation that
typically comes with images of brutality.
In recent days, Uganda has seen
protests against a social media tax of
Shs200 (US5 cents) per day that would,
in the words of President Yoweri
Museveni, put an end to “gossip.” His
real objective, it seems, is to muzzle
dissenting voices. Both the unrest and
the government’s harsh response to
criticism (which included firing tear
gas and live rounds at demonstrators)
suggest that the current governance of
the internet and technology is not only
itself anti-democratic but might also
facilitate other anti-democratic practices.
It’s not surprising that elites feel
threatened. After all, vibrant social media
platforms, a critical and unflinching
press, and free expression have the
potential to level the political playing
field. Entrenched African leaders such
as Museveni — who has been in power
for 32 years — are exploring new
methods to block opposition forces and
halt political mobilisation.
The Tanzanian and Ugandan
governments demonstrate that
illiberal governments will go to
great lengths to restrict speech in the
digital realm. By doing so, they are
strengthening negative norms and
landing a formidable counterpunch
to the once perceived inevitability of
online mobilisation and the widening
of democratic space. No amount of
technological innovation will stop
anti-democratic governments from
co-opting and manipulating the internet
to entrench their power.
When legal restrictions — and old-
fashioned economic intimidation
— have failed to muzzle dissent and
popular mobilisation, governments
have turned to more extreme methods:
internet shutdowns. From January 2016
to December 2017, the internet advocacy
group Access Now documented more
than 180 such instances worldwide,
including a 93-day blackout in
Cameroon, the longest recorded over
There was a
time when
democracy
activists
in these
countries
could have
expected
backing from
Washington
this time period. Importantly, these
assaults on basic human rights do not
occur in isolation and often form part
of a broader campaign against freedom
and democratic principles. The concept
of internet sovereignty, promoted by
autocratic states such as China and
Turkey, means that the web is now a
censored spigot that can be turned on
and off at the government’s discretion.
China, for example, moved this year to
ban virtual private networks (VPNs),
which are often used to circumvent
government censorship of the internet;
in 2017, it was reported that the
government had demonstrated the
news analysis
ability to intercept and delete images
being sent electronically in one-to-one
chats. Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan called Twitter a scourge and
promised to eradicate it at a rally in
2013; since then, his government has
overseen multiple suspensions of access
to social media sites and prosecuted
citizens for political speech online.
Across sub-Saharan Africa, free
expression is being unjustly curtailed,
and the internet is increasingly being
used by authorities to censor and
surveil citizens, often with a focus on
independent journalists, civic activists,
and vocal opposition leaders who are
seen as threats to the government.
This sort of manipulation presents a
clear threat to democratic values by
constraining the internet’s potential to
act as a virtual public square and by
preventing the rise of a robust digital
fourth estate.
There was a time when democracy
activists in these countries could have
expected backing from Washington.
But despite mounting evidence of
authoritarian regimes flexing their
collective muscle online, the United
States has been asleep at the wheel.
The U.S. government — under
both Democratic and Republican
administrations — has traditionally
been a global standard-bearer for
freedom of expression. Today,
Washington’s failure to speak out and
stand up for internet freedom has global
consequences.
In addition to the harsh new laws
in Uganda and Tanzania, Zambia also
now requires WhatsApp and Facebook
group administrators to register with
the government — and is threatening to
punish users for promoting what it calls
“false information.”
In Zimbabwe, a new Ministry of
Cybersecurity, Threat Detection,
and Mitigation — reminiscent of the
North Korean model — will focus
on eliminating “abuse and unlawful
conduct” in cyberspace like a “trap
used to catch rats,” according to
a government spokesperson. At a
time when the country may be at
a democratic inflection point, the
continuation of such policies under
President Emmerson Mnangagwa
suggests that the anti-democratic
tendencies developed under deposed
President Robert Mugabe could
undermine the country’s democratic
transition. This anti-democratic
initiative revealed that Mnangagwa is
not so different from Mugabe when it
comes to curtailing freedom of speech.
Source: FP magazine
Aug 03 - 09, 2018 25
interview
ICC cannot exist without
support from African states
The International Criminal Court (ICC) marked its 20th anniversary on July 17. Maria Mabinty Kamara,
the ICC Outreach Officer for Uganda spoke to Ronald Musoke on why the court remains important
How would you rate the performance of
T
the ICC over the last 20 years?
he creation of the Rome Statute in
1998 was a historic event in itself,
marking a landmark in efforts
towards justice and accountability
for serious crimes. The crimes under the
ICC jurisdiction are the
most serious crimes
of concern to the
international
26 Aug 03 - 09, 2018
community. These include sexual violence,
destruction of cultural heritage, and use
of child-soldiers in hostilities, to name
a few. It took the work of thousands of
diplomats, human rights activists, and
lawyers to build a permanent International
Criminal Court and the Trust Fund for
Victims. Today, with 123 states parties,
with a fully-functioning ICC and very
busy Trust Fund for Victims, justice
is in motion. Our institution may
not be perfect and more work
surely needs to be done but
the global movement for
accountability that started
20 years ago is alive.
People worldwide are
now asking for their
leaders to be held
accountable. The
question is not if
trials
should be conducted, but where and when.
What’s your view on the continued
accusation by some African heads of state
that the ICC deliberately targets African
presidents yet the same violations happen
elsewhere in the world?
ICC’s focus is not on a specific continent,
country, party, or community. Its mission
is to prosecute the perpetrators of the most
serious crimes and to establish justice for the
benefit of victims and future generations.
The ICC is not a western institution
(because) over 120 countries are states
parties to the Rome Statute, representing
all regions. The perception that the ICC is
focusing on Africa is reducing the continent
to 20 suspects, instead of seeing Africa
in the face of thousands and thousands
of victims. Of the court’s on-going 11
investigations, five were referred to the
court by the concerned African states
parties themselves (Uganda, Democratic
Republic of the Congo, the Central African
Republic and Mali) recognising the inability
to address the crimes at stake at the national
level, and two were referred by the United
Nations Security Council (Darfur and
Libya) where African states are represented.
In addition to that, Côte d’Ivoire voluntarily
accepted the jurisdiction of the court, giving
the prosecutor the possibility to open an
investigation. In Kenya, it was the political
scene that prevented the Kenyan authorities
from self-referring the post-elections
violence to the court, so the ICC prosecutor
opened an investigation, with the chamber’s
authorisation, but only after thorough
discussions with the Kenyan authorities.
Moreover, the ICC-Office of the Prosecutor
(OTP) has also opened an investigation
in Georgia and developments in this
investigation should be up coming. The
ICC-OTP is also conducting preliminary
examinations on other continents,
including Afghanistan, Colombia,
Iraq, Palestine, and Ukraine. The
court would not exist without
the strong support of African
states and civil society who
were actively involved in
the court’s establishment.
33 African states have
ratified the Rome
Statute, making

Africa the most represented region in the
court’s membership. The court has also
benefited from the professional experience
of Africans. At the ICC, four out of the 18
current judges of the court are African.
What do you make of sentiments that until
some states that seem to be “bigger than
global justice” ratify the Rome Statute, the
work of the ICC will remain a farce?
Ratifying an international treaty is a
sovereign matter and all states have a
sovereign right to decide to join or not.
The ICC is, however, keen on promoting
the universality of the Rome Statute and
dispelling misperceptions about the ICC.
While 60 states were needed for the statute
to enter into force, over 120 nations have
now joined the system. The referral by a
unanimous decision of the UN Security
Council is a demonstration of the growing
confidence placed in the ICC as an
independent judicial institution by those
states.   Note that even though some states
are not parties to the Statute, it does not
prevent them from cooperating with the
court in a number of areas such as seizing
and freezing of assets, witness protection,
or arrest. One of the best ways to convince
states that are still reluctant to join the
statute is for the ICC to continue showing
that it is successfully fulfilling its mandate.
In Uganda, what would you say has been
the ICC’s proudest moment in delivering
justice to the victims of the war in the
north?
The opening of the (Dominic) Ongwen
trial marked a new phase in the court’s
activities in Uganda. This turning point
has had an impact on the intensity of our
outreach activities in Uganda. While they
had started long ago, our activities have
intensified with an actual trial ongoing
regarding alleged crimes in the region.
Any personal reflections from your
outreach work?
On a personal level, it brings me a
sense of pride to note the progressive
understanding communities have
reached on the ICC mandate and the
trial of Dominic Ongwen. We have been
together in this journey for over ten
years. I have witnessed an evolution of
questions and trends from the basic to the
sophisticated as well as growing interest
to follow ICC judicial proceedings. But
the other important aspect of the Rome
Statute impact in Uganda is the ongoing
activities of the Trust Fund for Victims,
with nine projects in 18 districts of northern
Uganda. Those projects developed
together with implementing partners have
included physical rehabilitation (such as
reconstructive surgery, general surgery,
bullet and bomb fragment removal,
prosthetic and orthopaedic devices;
The expectations
and challenges
are high. But I
hope the ICC will
benefit from a
stronger states’
cooperation
to meet these
challenges
screening, medical referral and support
for victims who have suffered from
gynaecological/reproductive complications)
and psychological rehabilitation (such
as individual and group-based trauma
counselling; community sensitisation
workshops; direct mental health services
and clinical mentoring to counsellors).
For many followers of proceedings at the
ICC, the process remains too technical,
slow and quite limited for the victims
of the northern Uganda war. How have
you helped ordinary people follow the
proceedings in a simplified manner?
ICC proceedings are indeed processes
of law that can be technical for the
general public. However, ensuring that
the communities most affected by the
cases before the ICC have access to and
understand the judicial proceedings
at all stages, is a priority for the court.
Special efforts have been made by the
court to render the proceedings accessible
to communities in northern Uganda.
While they had started long ago, our
activities have intensified with an actual
trial ongoing. We have launched the
“Access to Justice” project to respond
to the information demands of affected
communities on the ongoing trial, including
through video screening equipment at 23
locations; interactive radio programmes
and listening clubs with the affected people;
as well as activities with cultural, religious
leaders as well as journalists.  Furthermore,
as we have done in the past few years, the
ICC continues working in partnership with
local and international actors present in the
north to ensure the timely dissemination
of the information at different levels.
The victims formally participating in the
proceedings also have a privileged and
regular contact with their lawyers, helping
them to better understand the proceedings
but also to bring back their views and
interview
concerns in the courtroom. 
What do you make of the fact that some
victims have died without seeing justice
done to perpetrators like Dominic
Ongwen and Joseph Kony?
We understand the feeling of anxiety
of the victims and we have deep concern
and sympathy for them. However, the
ICC cannot try suspects in their absence.
The ICC has no police force and therefore,
the cooperation of states with the court
is highly needed to effect ICC arrest
warrants. What was created in Rome was
not an autonomous court but a global
system designed to incite states to assume
responsibility for investigating and
prosecuting the most serious crimes and
to cooperate with the ICC to implement its
mandate. As noted by a community leader
from Abok at a recent ICC outreach session:
“The community screening of the trial of
Dominic Ongwen not only demystifies the
complex judicial processes, it makes them
more relevant and meaningful to victims
and affected communities.”
What new mechanisms of criminal justice
is the ICC looking at to rein in more of
the perpetrators of gross human rights
violations?
In general, the ICC welcomes any
initiative to ensure justice for the victims
through genuine national and regional
judicial mechanisms as long as those are
compatible with the Rome Statute— the
court’s founding treaty. The ICC is not
meant to replace all other courts but to
complement them.The ICC is already
cooperating with regional and hybrid
courts, such as the recently-created special
court in the Central African Republic, in
the extent possible and in full respect of its
mandate and independence. 
Going forward, what will be the focus of
the ICC over the next 20 years?
 The expectations and challenges are
high. But I hope the ICC will benefit from
a stronger states’ cooperation to meet these
challenges. For example, regarding the
situation in northern Uganda, one suspect
is still at large, and the cooperation of states
with the court is highly needed to effect this.
This is the same for all other suspects who
have pending arrest warrants against them.
I hope the ICC will continue developing
as an innovative and impartial court of
law and acting as a model for the highest
standards of fair trials. Governed by the
complementarity principle, the ICC can
play a role in inciting the governments to
strengthen their national judicial systems to
build, collectively, a more just world.While
the ICC has two-thirds membership of
sovereign states, it would need more states
to join to become truly universal.
Aug 03 - 09, 2018 27
Uganda Airlines and the
‘orphaned’ Airbus A300-800 neo
Aircraft might be difficult to maintain, finance or resell
By Isaac Khisa
O
n July 18, Uganda’s aviation sec-
tor marked a new beginning. The
government signed agreements
with two aircraft manufacturers,
Airbus and Bombardier, for delivery of
six airplanes during the Farnborough Air
Show, ahead of the planned launch of a na-
tional carrier next year.
The Airbus is set to deliver A330-800 New
Engine Option abbreviated as A300-800neo
while Bombardier will deliver CRJ900.
But the announcement has elicited both
excitement and questions in equal measure
with regard to the choice of A300-800neo
aircraft. Launched at the Farnborough
Airshow in 2014, the A330 neo aircraft is a
replacement for A330-200, powered by new
Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engines and also fea-
tures zero-splice nacelles, titanium pylons
and new winglets.
While the aircraft was designed simul-
taneously with the A330-900 – the better-
selling of the two, with 214 orders – the 800s
have failed to attract buyers.
The 257 seater aircraft flies longer and
at less fuel compared with the A330-900,
although the latter carries 50 more passen-
gers. The sole customer -Hawaiian Airlines,
which had ordered six A330-800s in 2014 as
a strategy to replace its aging fleet cancelled
the deal in March this year, in favour of
Boeing 787-9s.
Hawaiian Airlines, which operates an
existing version of the A330 on flights to
Asia and the US, cited lack of interest for
the aircraft by other carriers as the main
reason for cancelling the deal. This followed
previous cancellations of similar aircraft by
TransAsia Airways before collapse.
The Boeing 787-9 is a stretched variant of
the 787-8 aircraft. The aircraft, with a seat-
ing capacity suitable for 250-290 passengers,
consumes 20% less fuel than any other air-
craft in its class.
28 Aug 03 - 09, 2018
Experts said Hawaiian Airlines was trad-
ing cautiously arguing that managing such
‘orphan’ aircrafts is more difficult to main-
tain, finance and resell.
But Monica Azuba Ntege, the minister
for works and transport insists that Uganda
made the right choice following a careful
analysis of technical and financial speci-
fications of the companies that expressed
interest. She said government received
proposals from Airbus, Bombardier, and
Boeing but after careful analysis, they chose
the first two. She said the government has
already paid US$400,000 to Bombardier and
US$800,000 to Airbus to facilitate the aircraft
manufacture. The government plans to
purchase the A330s at US$293 million and
CRJ’s at US$190 million each.
On cancellation of the A300-800 orders by
earlier carriers, Azuba said there are many
reasons as to why an airline may cancel an
aircraft order. “The change of order by the
(Hawaiian) Airline was mainly on political
grounds according to our sources,” she said.
She said the A330-800 variant will have
a shorter fuselage (the main body of an
aircraft) allowing it to fly longer and further
than the current 900 version.
This performance, she says, will enable
Uganda Airlines to operate non-stop flights
on long routes to China and the Middle
East. Uganda’s move to revive the national
carrier comes at the time the airline indus-
try in Africa is projected to make a loss
of US$100million this year, the same loss
recorded in 2017, according to the Interna-
tional Air Transport Association (IATA).
“While traffic is growing, passenger load
factors for African airlines are just over 70%
which is over 10 percentage points lower
than the industry average,” the report states
in part. “With high fixed costs, this low
utilization makes it very difficult to make a
profit. Stronger economic growth will help
in 2018, but the continent’s governments
need a concerted effort to further liberalise
to promote growth of intra-Africa connec-
tivity.” In addition, competition is grow-
ing as other African countries revive their
national carriers and plan major expansions.
For instance, Air Tanzania, which is
barely two years in operation, plans to start
direct flights from Dar es Salaam to Entebbe
and Bujumbura later this month, the routes
that have been dominated by Kenyan and
Rwandan national carriers.
Air Tanzania said it will charge US$363
for a return ticket to Entebbe, flying on
Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
Its Bujumbura customers will pay US$358
for Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday flights.
This is lower than the average of US$390
that travellers to Bujumbura and Dar es
Salaam via Nairobi, Kigali or Addis Ababa
pay, with an additional three to six hours
connecting time.
Enter President Museveni
Plans to revive the national carrier gained
momentum on Dec 31, 2016 when President
Yoweri Museveni said in his New Year
message that the government had finalised
a plan to revive the carrier in a bid to ease
travels in and out of the country and reduce
on Ugandans’ expenditure on foreign air-
lines. Started nearly four decades ago, the
Uganda Airlines, then popularly known by
its slogan ‘Flying Crane’, was liquidated by
Museveni’s government in 2001 as a result
of mismanagement and an accumulated
debt of $6million.
Government officials argue that more
Ugandans are now spending on air travel
amounting to US$420million per annum
and that it is time to tap into the sector.
Uganda’s international annual air traffic
has grown more than 10 fold to 1.5million
in 2017 and is projected to reach 7.6million
by 2033, according to the sector regulator,
Civil Aviation Authority.

Africa-India trade declines
to US$55bn-Report
Uganda plans to intensify relations in trade and investment
By Julius Businge
T
rade between Africa and India has
recorded a 30% decline in volume
from US$78billion in 2014 to about
$55 billion in 2017 citing a tough
economic environment.
However, this was more than seven times
higher 17 years ago when the trade volumes
stood at merely US$7.2bn.
These figures are contained in a report
jointly produced recently by the African
Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and
Exim Bank of India (Exim India) titled;
Deepening South-South Trade: An Analysis of
Africa and India’s Trade and Investment.
According to the report, these latest
figures make India, Africa’s fourth-largest
national trading partner.
More trading by the two counterparts
means increased demand for goods and
services, creation of job opportunities, tech-
nology and skills transfer which all feed into
the performance of the two economies.
The report notes that trade accounted
for more than 6.8% of total African trade
in 2017, up from 2.7% in 2001, with trade
with Africa now accounting for about 8% of
India’s total trade.
The report says that Africa’s exports to
India remain essentially concentrated in
crude oil and primary commodities while
India’s exports to Africa are more diversi-
fied and include more manufactured and
technological-content products.
It says that Africa’s ongoing efforts
at diversifying sources of growth and
structural transformation would see the
composition of trade evolve to include a
greater proportion of manufactured, non-
traditional and agro-processed exports from
Africa to India.
An assessment conducted as part of the
study estimated the value of the bilateral
trade potential between Africa and India to
be in excess of US$42 billion per annum.
The study also showed that the attractive-
ness of Africa and India as investment desti-
nations had risen in recent years, driven by
strong economic growth, an improved busi-
ness environment and better investment
climate and regulations, high rates of return
on investment, and a rising consumer mar-
ket, among others.
In terms of India’s foreign direct invest-
ment (FDI) stock in Africa, the report says,
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) and President Museveni at State House Entebbe
this rose from US$11.9billion in 2010 to
US$15.2 billion in 2014. Over the same
period, Africa’s FDI stock in India increased
from US$57billion to US$73.3billion, with
investments in such sectors as oil and gas,
agriculture, retail, healthcare and telecom-
munications.         Observers lauded Modi for his visit and
In addition, India’s development coop-
eration with African countries has evolved
to incorporate varied avenues such as trade
and investment, capacity building, technol-
ogy transfer, and grants and concessional
loans.
Below potential
Despite the growth in trade numbers
since 2001, the report indicates that the two
partners were not yet operating at their
full potential, attributing this to a number
of constraints, including finance, infra-
structure, capacity and market access, with
access to finance singled out as a major
inhibiting factor to trade.
The joint study was conducted by
Afreximbank and Exim India as part of
the ongoing collaboration to accelerate the
transformation of the economies of their
member countries through innovation in
trade finance and expansion of South–South
trade.
The timing
The report was released ahead of the visit
of India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi to
a few selected African countries – Uganda,
Rwanda and South Africa.
While in Uganda, Modi and President
Business
Yoweri Museveni held bilateral talks on
trade, investment and tourism among other
areas. Modi also met the Indian business
community in Uganda and also addressed
Members of Parliament on trade and related
matters.
were optimistic that his coming would
strengthen bilateral relations between
Uganda and India. The same is expected
between Indian and Rwanda, and South
Africa where, Modi met the presidents, the
Indian Community, other groups and dis-
cussed trade and related issues.
Modi announced that India would
extend credit worth US$200million to boost
Uganda’s investments in key sectors of
energy, infrastructure and manufactur-
ing. Analysts welcomed this facility which
would support priority sectors of develop-
ment detailed in the National Development
Plan II and Visions 2020 and 2040.
Critics however, say government should
strengthen mechanisms of spending and
monitoring projects that will be funded by
this credit facility so as to achieve desired
results.
For many years, Uganda has been a key
trading partner with India having recorded
about US$58million as total value of exports
for the last five years, according to data
from Bank of Uganda.
Similarly, the value of exports to Ugan-
da from India have totalled to approx.
US$1.5billion in the same period.
Additional reporting by Isaac Khisa
Aug 03 - 09, 2018 29
Business

Insurer boosts Uganda’s

renewable energy projects
The African Insurance Agency will support solar PV, hydro,
wind, geothermal, biomass and cogeneration technologies
By Isaac Khisa

T
he multilateral insurer, African
Trade Insurance Agency (ATI),
will provide up to US$10million as
financial protection to new small
and medium-sized renewable energy
projects in Uganda to facilitate their
smooth operations in times of delayed
payments.
ATI Chief Executive Officer, George
Otieno, said during the signing of an
agreement with the government in
Kampala on July 27 that the prospective
Independent Power Producers (IPPs)
will benefit from this initiative upon
payment of 3% of the value of the project
as premium.
The new initiative that targets IPPs
with up to 50MW, and in exceptional
circumstances up to 100MW, will be
extended through the Regional Liquidity
Support Facility (RLSF).
RLSF is a US$74million joint initiative
of ATI and KFW with funding from
the German Ministry of Economic
Cooperation and Development. It is
intended to protect IPPs in the Sub
Saharan Africa.
“ATI, as a manager of the facility, will
instruct a bank to issue letters of credit to
approved Independent Power Producers
(IPPs) with the backing of RLSF,” he said.
Otieno said although the letters of
credit are traditionally valid for a year, the
bank will issue letters of credit with tenors
of up to 10 years.
This comes as the GET FiT programme
report 2017 reveals that an installed
capacity of 158 MW of clean renewable
energy shall be added to the national grid
from 17 projects in the coming years.
The report noted that six of the 17
projects have been commissioned
with significant construction progress
registered on the majority of the
remaining projects.
Finance Minister, Matia Kasaija,
said the new development reflects the
government’s commitment to ensuring
the viability of small and medium sale
renewable energy projects.
“Uganda has a solid history of
supporting our public concession, with up
Minister of Finance, Matia Kasaija (L) and ATI CEO, George Otieno (C) displays agreements
signed on July 27, 2018. The agreement paves way for ATI to offer protection to new small
and medium-sized renewable energy projects countrywide
to US$500million spent in the last decade
on improvements to the grid,” he said.
“With this agreement, we see a RLSF
providing a perfect complement to our
ongoing strategy of accelerating the
delivery of clean energy to the national
grid.”Executives from the energy ministry
said the new initiative will help remove
liquidity risks and ensures success of IPPs.
Since it was established in 2001, ATI has
provided insurance coverage to projects
in virtually all sectors including energy
projects in Tanzania, Kenya and Zambia,
mining and oil projects in the Democratic
Republic of Congo, Malawi and Zambia,
manufacturing and infrastructure projects
in Rwanda, Uganda, and Kenya, and
telecommunication projects in Burundi,
and Madagascar. In Uganda, the agency
specifically provided coverage to, among
others, Kalangala Infrastructure Services,
Pearl of Africa Hotel and the ongoing
construction of the 600MW Karuma
Hydropower Dam. In Rwanda, the agency
provided support to RwandAir.
Profitability
Last month, ATI announced that it will
pay its African member governments and
other shareholders its first ever dividend
this year after recording a 55% growth in
net profit to US$9.9million in 2017.
The dividend payment came after the
General Assembly of ATI approved it at
the Annual General Meeting (AGM) held
in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
ATI has earmarked an initial
US$2.5million in payments to its
shareholders which include 14 African
member governments inclusive of Uganda.
The multilateral insurer recorded
gross exposures of US$2.4billion and, in
the same period, the company covered
investment and trade activities across the
continent valued at US$10 billion.
ATI owes its strong results in part to
growing demand from investors and
African governments for their products as
the continent continues to position itself as
an attractive destination for investors.
The African multilateral insurer also
announced the Indian government’s 5%
shareholding worth US$10million that will
be represented by Export Credit Guarantee
Corporation of India.

30 Aug 03 - 09, 2018

 Executive Style
Solar is Uganda’s best
energy solution
What is the significance of
the US$25,000 grant that you
received from TDB Group
for the people of Nakivale
Refugee Settlement and the
I
entire country?
n the refugee
settlements, access to
power, information,
and basic necessities
are inadequate. There are
numerous entrepreneurs,
students, and farmers who
can create opportunities for
themselves. However, the
lack of basic infrastructure
hinders many people in these
camps.  With access to energy
and internet we can raise the
standard of living for many
in this community. Access to
ICT services allows people
to earn income beyond the
confines of their communities.
Digital services push people
from informal to formal
businesses, establish financial
inclusiveness, and create tools
for self-reliance and exposure.
In Nakivale alone, 80% of
refugees own a phone; of
those 26% own a smart phone.
What emerging issues would
you share with us regarding
solar energy business in
Uganda?
Unlike solar energy, oil and
gas and hydro-power have
huge voices in terms of policies
and have a lot of government
support. Because there are
small solar companies, there
has not been a push for or
lobby for serious policies for
solar. We hope with more
solar companies coming into
Uganda there will be space for
policy formulation and making
solar business more attractive.
Some people think solar
products are fake…that is not
the case – it is the people who
are not informed. We need to
do more education on solar
products, technology space
and price. People should go
for solar because it is more of a
necessity and also the national
agriculture, and mobile
clinics where these would
run completely on solar
energy. In agriculture, we
are looking at solutions to
power milling plants.
How best can government
go about solar energy
in its service delivery
programmes?
Like I said earlier,
government has put a lot
of focus on oil and gas
and hydro-power. Solar
hasn’t got its day. There are
subsidies in other sectors
but solar does not have
such offers. If we have
voices pushing government
for better policies, the
investment in solar will
have to grow with time
Esteeri Kabonero is the managing director for Powah costs will decline as more
Limited, a solar solutions energy company operating and more people demand
in Uganda. She spoke to The Independent’s Julius for solar solutions. Uganda
has the best weather for
Businge about the recent grant that they obtained solar energy and we should
from Trade and Development Bank (TDB) formerly utilize it.
known as the PTA Bank to go about solar energy
needs in Nakivale Refugee Settlement. Being a manager, what
kind of management
philosophy do you
embrace to move things at
electricity grid hasn’t reached and do any other income Powah Limited?
some communities. Solar in the generating activity. We also As a leader, I inspire my
long run is actually cheaper focus on solar installations in team and try to be kind of a
than the grid. The reason why offices, homes and farms. We visionary. I try to show people
some people haven’t adopted have come across customers our vision mainly looking at
it is because the upfront cost who use solar as a backup where the company will go. I
is high; however there are in the event that power from bring in a team that balances
companies that are trying to national grid is off. There are with my management skills.
come up with friendly ways different solutions for different
of payment to make it easy for people. We also do product And lastly, what two major
people to access solar systems. distribution like affordable things do you envision for
lights, lanterns and others Powah Limited in the coming
How does Powah Limited’s especially to those who cannot few years?
work feed into the solar afford the high cost of solar I want to see Powah Limited
energy sub-sector in Uganda? installations. being one of the leaders in
Powah Uganda Limited is a the energy solutions in the
solar solutions company. We What other partnerships are country. In Uganda, 20% of
focus on solar for productive you eying that would directly the population has access to
use – we design our own or indirectly tackle energy the grid, so if we can increase
solar solutions just like the and related problems of the that, it will be great. We intend
Powah hub for Nakivale. The country? to expand to neighboring
hub is essential because it can There are numerous countries like Rwanda in the
help people have access to partners we are trying to look next few years.
their computers, charge their at. We are also looking at
phones, use mobile money going into health technology,
Aug 03 - 09, 2018 31
business
telecom
Airtel opens new service centers
Airtel officials attending to customers at the Ndeeba premium shop.
F
ollowing successful
network expansion
and countrywide
broadband
availability campaigns,
Airtel Uganda is expanding
its footprint across the
country to provide
one-on-one customer
care experiences to its
csr
MTN Foundation boosts
Arua’s Oriajin hospital
M
TN Uganda
Foundation on
July 26 donated
hospital equip-
ment to Oriajin Hospital
based in Arua as part of its
Access to Health Care initia-
tive project.
The donation will benefit
hundreds of patients from the
West Nile region and neigh-
bouring DRC who frequent
one of Northern Uganda’s
busiest public hospitals.
During the handover cere-
mony, the 20 hospital beds, 20
hospital mattresses, 20 hospi-
tal blankets and 20 mosquito
nets were received by officials
from Orijuan Hospital.
MTN Uganda’s Senior
Manager Corporate Affairs,
Justina Ntabgoba, said she
was delighted with the work
done by Oriajin Hospital in
provision of quality health
care in Arua since its incep-
32 Aug 03 - 09, 2018
subscribers via premium
shops.
This announcement was
made at a press conference
at the new premium shop
in Ndeeba-Kampala on July
25. Dorothy Kyeyune, from
Airtel, said having invested
heavily in infrastructure
“we now feel that it is
tion in 1984.
“We are happy to see that
Oriajin Hospital is playing a
huge role in the delivery of
health and medical services
to thousands of people in the
West Nile region,” she said.
The Arua District Medi-
cines and Supplies Inventory
Manager, Margaret Bayoru,
said MTN’s donation was
timely and the first in the
region.
“…we have been grappling
with poor facilities to host our
patients and doctors’ accom-
modation for a long while
now. The level of morale has
been noticeably low in the
past, but this is starting to
look up now,” she said.
The MTN Foundation
Access to Health Initiative is
a Shs 500m support program
aimed at improving the quali-
ty of health care countrywide.
important to enhance the
customer experience by
ensuring our physical
presence in as many areas
as possible.”
Kyeyune said the 18
premium shops will
further strengthen their
footprint in the country
by supplementing on the
already existing kiosks,
mini shops, distributor
locations and super
agencies.
Previously, Airtel Uganda
has opened premium shops
in Kampala, Entebbe, Gulu,
Lira, Kabale, Soroti, Jinja,
FortPortal, Mbale, Mbarara
and Arua Districts.
The shops act as a
one-stop center for the
company’s service solutions
such as SIM card purchases
and registrations, Airtel
Money, e-recharge and data
connectivity. Experienced
staff is in place to serve
customers.
csr
NBL lights Mulago children unit
NBL's Onapito Ekomoloit (C) hands
over a solar panel unit to Mulago
Hospital adminstrators on July 25.
O
n July 25, Beer maker,
Nile Breweries limited
through its Nutri-Kit
project, handed over a
solar panel unit alongside other
items to the Mwanamugimu Nu-
trition Unit.
The annual malnutrition cam-
paign, which was unveiled last
year is geared towards promot-
ing nutrition especially towards
women and children.
Handed over to Mwa-
namugimu which currently has
equities
Cipla IPO slated
for August 13
D
rug maker CIPLA-QCI
will soon announce
its IPO on the Uganda
Securities during the
first half of August with trading
in its stock expected to follow
a month later, according to the
media reports.
It is believes that the company
that is currently on a roadshow
to promote its stock in Europe
will make the announcement on
August 13.
The roadshow follows closed
talks with Ugandan institutional
investors that were meant to
help determine the share price.
Sources familiar with the
plans say, the price is the only
missing number in the prospec-
tus that will soon be submitted
to the Capital Markets Authority
for approval ahead of a public
announcement.
CIPLA’s move comes amidst
a determined push by the gov-
ernment to get more firms to list
on the USE. Currently, USE has
only eight local firms.
250 beneficiaries, are 250 Nutri-
tion Kits, 100 mosquito nets, one
solar panel unit, in total worth
Shs 60million.
“The kits we have provided
to these mothers and children
contain a rich variety of food
nutrients such as soya, silver fish,
groundnuts, rice, posho, potatoes,
beans and sugar as well as soap
and are to cater for their basic
nutritional and wellbeing needs,”
Onapito Ekomoloit, the NBL’s
Legal and Corporate Affairs
Director, said.
Reports from Mulago shows
that malnutrition is a major pub-
lic health concern in Uganda yet
proper nutrition is essential to
ensure the growth, health and
development of children to their
full potential.
David Nuwamanya, the prin-
ciple administrator at the referral
hospital thanked NBL for their
contribution saying it will con-
tribute greatly to the facilities
vision to be the leading centre for
health care services.
 business

BATU half- year profit

rises to Shs6.2bn
By Isaac Khisa The Uganda

H
igh operating
profits
coupled
with lower
financing costs helped
the tobacco maker,
British American
Tobacco, to record a
77% rise in net profit
to Shs6.2bn for the half
year ending June 30.
Brian Agaba, (L) Driver Taxify Uganda and Julian Byamugisha – Operations The latest financial
Manager Taxify Uganda unveil Taxify Go, an economy category that uses results shows that the
smaller 4-seater cars to allow customers pay a base fare of UGX 800shs which company recorded
is 400 UGX per km, 70 UGX per minute and a minimum fare of UGX 3000 on an increase in the
July 27.   INDEPENDENT/JIMMY SIYA operating profit from
Shs 5.3bn in June last
year to Shs 8.8bn this
year due to lower
costs attributable to
the absence of one-off
incurred in the first
half of 2017 to support
compliance with the
Tobacco Control Act,
2015.
On the other hand,
financing costs dropped
from Shs 291million to
Shs 103million during
the same period under
review.
Agnes Mubiru, (L) Manager E-Channels and Marketing with Vincent Omoth, (M)
Marketing Manager Fresh Dairy handover cartons of Fresh Dairy yoghurt to the
kids area instructor for kids as part of Fresh Dairy’s sponsorship contribution
towards the 7th CBA Classic and Vintage Auto show on July 28.   INDEPENDENT/
JIMMY SIYA
Securities Exchange
listed firm recorded a
relatively flat revenue
of Shs 73.7bn and
the value added tax
standing at Shs 40.4bn.
Nicholas Edimu, the
company secretary on
behalf of the Board of
Directors said they are
still engaging with the
government on how to
improve the tobacco
business environment.
“Our engagement
with the relevant
government agencies
continue to advocate
for a more stable
taxation regime,
reduction in the illicit
trade incidence and
regulation that are
sound, evidence based
and that have gone
through a formal
consultative process,
“he said
The firm has declared
an interim dividend
of Shs 126 per share,
up from Shs 71 in the
previous year.

Weekly share price movement (July 31)

Security July 31 July 17 Movement
BATU 30,000 30000 00
BOBU 140 145 3.4
CENT 1,218 1,277 4.6
DFCU 950 970 2.1
EABL 8,307 7, 574 9.7
EBL 1,846 1,792 3.0
JHL 18,460 19,451 5.1
KA 374 402 6.9
KCB 1,753 1,755 0.1
NIC 17 17 00
NMG 3,304 3,456 4.4
NVL 450 450 00
SBU 32 32 00
UCHM 64 45 42
MTN and Oriajin Hospital staff pose for a group photo in one of the Wards that UCL 23 23 00
benefitted from MTN Foundations’ donation under its Access to Health Initiative.
UMEME 330 350 5.7
ALSI -- -- --

Aug 03 - 09, 2018 33

comment
By Ssabalwanyi (President Museveni)
Judges without substance
The Judges should have taken into consideration the recent
L.C 1 and Women Councils elections which NRM won
Country men and women,
 I draw your attention to my two
recent short speeches: one in
Parliament on July 25 when HE
Narendra Modi, the Prime minister
of India addressed Parliament
of Uganda and the second one
on july 27 when I addressed the
10th BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India,
China and South Africa) Summit in
Johannesburg, South Africa. All of
them illuminate different angles of
NRM’s four principles: Patriotism
(anti-sectarianism), Pan-Africanism
(working for African Unity
economically and politically),
social-economic transformation
(modernising the African society),
and Democracy (the democracy of
substance, not mere form). We are
making good friends all over the
world that will help us to achieve
our goals, starting with unity of
our African brothers and sisters in
the form of the EAC and CFTA in
order to unite our markets.
 Unfortunately, our judges in
Uganda spend more time on form
and not substance, on procedure
and not substance. My freedom
fighter’s sense of justice in this
matter (the age limit ruling)
focuses more on the convenience
of seven years rather than five
year terms. With the current five
year term, a lot of time is spent
on electioneering and less time on
development. The first two years
settling in, the third year some
work in the constituency and, then,
by the fourth year, electioneering
again.
In the end, however, the judges are
not the ones in charge of the country.
If the NRM MPs follow my guidelines
and bond closely with the people
through wealth and job creation, we
can; together with the people, make
the necessary Constitutional reforms,
judges or no judges.
The Constitution should facilitate
the modernisation of Uganda and the
economic and political integration of
Africa for the survival of the people
of Africa as free people, not just the
34 Aug 03 - 09, 2018
theatre of democracy of form without
addressing substance.
The Judges should have taken into
consideration the recent L.C 1 and
Women Councils and Committees
elections which gave massive victory
to the NRM, soon after the age limit
and the seven years’ debate. This was
more or less a referendum. There was
open participation by the millions.
We shall harmonise and galvanise
our position. The undemocratic age
limit nonsense was clear. “Nibagaya
Engabo oti mwihemu abagurusi?”
(How can you say old soldiers should
be disqualified when everybody’s
Our judges in
Uganda spend
more time on
form and not
substance,
on procedure
and not
substance
efforts are needed because the good
soldiers are not enough?)
  I congratulate the NRM on
winning the four seats for MPs
and the five seats for mayors of the
seven new municipalities. The new
municipalities were: Apac, Nebbi,
Ibanda, Sheema, Bugiri, Njeru and
Kotido. It is a shame to hear of the
sectarian manipulation by some
elements of opposition in Bugiri-
using religion (Islamism) and
tribalism (Busogaism Vs Badaama).
Such nonsense grows when there
are weaknesses in the local area
of handling the social- economic
issues, service delivery, and lack
of sensitisation. The NRM leaders
need to deal with social- economic
issues, and the rest will be easy.
This year’s budget has focused on
these very issues.
Those who use sectarianism
of religion and tribe or gender
chauvinism are bankrupt ideologically
and dangerous for the future of Africa.
They were the problem of Uganda
in the past and they have no value
economically and, therefore, socially
(socio-economic transformation).
I went to the schools in the 1950s
and 1960s because my father was
able to pay the school fees of that
time by selling some of his cattle
in the monthly auction markets of
Ntungamo. Who were buying the
cattle? It was three businessmen
and none of them a Munyankore.
These were: Walusimbi-Mpanga from
Kampala, Bukyenya (Bukenya) from
Mbarara and Shear, a Muzungu,
operating out of Ishaka who was
taking cattle to Kilembe to feed the
miners there. Who, then, were the
supporters of my education apart from
my father? They were certainly not the
Banyankore or Church of Uganda; my
religious denomination.
Sectarianism is pseudo-ideology. If
we get evidence about the promoters
of sectarianism, we shall act against
them politically and criminally. I also
got alleged reports of importing voters
in Bugiri as happened in Kyadondo
and Jinja East. The case of Jinja East
is in the courts on the same issue of
importing voters from other areas.
Back to the question of sectarianism,
we should never allow identity to
eclipse or subvert interest. Down with
opportunists (Nalilawa, abanyaanda)
- those who do not have positive
(beneficial) principles that cause our
countries to grow.
President Yoweri Museveni gave this
written statement on July 30 on the
Constitutional Court ruling of July 26 in
Mbale on the so-called Age-Limit case and
new municipalities’ elections.
 comment
By Morris Komakech
Behind the Mbale constitutional ruling
The decision shows that in Uganda now, one can buy
parliament and get the judiciary for free as bonus

T
imes for seasonal sales are known
for cost cutting and savings. Some
stores urge consumers to “buy one
and get one for free.” This sales
principle seems to be the modus operandi
between the three arms of government -
The Executive (Museveni), Legislative (Par-
liament) and Judiciary.
There is a trade of conscience going on
between the three arms of government with
the masses standing by to watch helplessly.
The just concluded Constitutional Court
proceeding in Mbale is one case which
demonstrates that Ugandans are far from
getting either justice or good governance.
The ruling on the removal of age limit for
President (allowed), and arbitrary exten-
sion of Parliamentary term from five to
seven years (quashed) is a demonstration
that even the Judiciary is on sale. In law,
Machiavellianism is an exception, not the
rule. The general consensus is that the entire
process of Constitution amendment, the dictatorship. In short, both the legislature
subject of the Mbale contention was flawed. and judiciary have become the instrument
The outcome of a flawed process cannot
partially be valid. Period! The legislature for legitimising the impunity of a dictator-
ship.
The turn of events occasioned by this and Judiciary The legislature and Judiciary now feed
Mbale edict may call for a radical transfor-
mation of our society to reset our society to now feed the the monster which often plays them in the
manner a jilted lover plays his guitar. It is
a proper legal order. The way our society monster which here that we see the MPs taking cheap bait
is organised or disorganised does not serve to rubber stamp a lifelong tyranny over
the interests of Ugandans. In fact, the order often plays them Uganda, and the Judiciary, without fear
of business in Uganda militates towards a
shared vision for this country. Both the Leg-
in the manner a of contradiction, legitimizing a fraud for
free. Museveni feels no remorse because
islature and Judiciary are in the belly of the jilted lover plays he paid beforehand for his purchase - life
same beast, and are incapable of performing
their traditional roles for their pay grade.
his guitar Presidency.
And, the folly goes to the grassroots. If
Many commentators have questioned you won the grassroots election and lost
whether former regime ministers, ideo- the mind and heart of the people who once
logues, and cadres can exhibit impartiality cherished you; where else do you go? We
before the law which threatens the status now see that the army, parliament, judi-
quo. In the past, I likened such expectations depend on externalities because we exist ciary, investors, and local governments all
to whether monkeys could willingly agree because we have values. It is our values as tucked under the spell of the tyranny. That
with each other to cut down their forest. It humans that make us act rationally, with is how the man hoards power. But power
may never happen. respect to reason and purpose in acting. is not a currency for immortality. To the
Without going into the merits of the case In the circumstance under which Ugan- contrary, excessive power can mediate mor-
or its controversial ruling, the wise words dans subsist now, no one will openly con- tality when we start buying one with the
of Immanuel Kant, the 18th century German cede that they all live, and are governed by hope of getting two for free.
philosopher who argued that reason is the fear of obliteration by the system of dictator-
source of morality, should suffice. Kant ship presided over by, and for the person of Morris Komakech is a Uganda social critic
observed that rational humans should be Mr. Museveni. As such, we stand a terrible living and studying in Canada. Can contact via
treated as an end to themselves and not as a risk to expect either parliament or the judi- mordust_26@yahoo.ca
means to anything else. Kant explains that ciary to act rationally or virtuously so as to
if a person is an end, his existence does not counter the surging boundlessness of the

Aug 03 - 09, 2018 35

comment
By Kaushik Basu
A currency crash course for politicians
Why exchange-rate management is one of the
most complex areas of economic policymaking
O
ne major impetus behind U.S.
President Donald Trump’s pro-
tectionist policies is his belief that
China has artificially weakened
its currency in order to dump goods in the
United States. Trump harped on this issue
often during his presidential campaign.
But now that he is taking action to reduce
America’s bilateral trade deficit with China,
there could be grave consequences for the
world economy.
Trump is making a mistake. And
yet his views about China’s currency
should not come as a surprise, given that
exchange-rate management is one of the
most complex areas of economic policy-
making.
I learned this the hard way while
serving as an adviser to the Indian
government from 2009 to 2012. After
Standard & Poor’s downgraded U.S.
long-term sovereign credit from AAA to
AA+ on August 5, 2011, I was surprised
to see the dollar begin to strengthen. It
took me a while to understand what was
happening.
Investors were worried that the down-
grade could cause global turbulence
and began to pull their money out of
emerging markets. In earlier times, inves-
tors would then have parked some of
their money in strong European econo-
mies. But, because most of those coun-
tries had handed over monetary policy to
the European Central Bank and could no
longer print their own money there was
a heightened risk of default.
By contrast, the U.S. had its own cur-
rency and central bank, allowing it to
make good on its debt under almost any
circumstances. And investors were also
reassured by the fact that the world’s
second most powerful economy, China,
had a vested interest in a relatively
strong, stable dollar, owing to the fact
that a large portion of its massive stock
of foreign-exchange reserves was held
in dollars. Hence, the paradox: though
the source of the problem was the
U.S., money went rushing to the U.S.,
strengthening the dollar.
I have had a keen interest in exchange-
rate management ever since that episode.
In May 2013, when I was Chief Econo-
mist at the World Bank, my colleague
Aristomene Varoudakis and I published
36 Aug 03 - 09, 2018
a study examining different exchange-
rate policies across a wide range of coun-
tries. We found that almost all countries
occasionally buy and sell on foreign-
exchange markets in order to increase or
boost the value of their own currency.
In most cases, this is not done directly,
but rather by commercial banks acting at
central banks’ behest.
China, for its part, has pursued an
interesting exchange-rate policy over
the decades. Through the 1980s and
1990s, there is no doubt that China kept
its currency artificially undervalued so
that it could sell more goods interna-
tionally. From the mid-1990s to 2005,
the renminbi was virtually pegged to
the U.S. dollar in nominal terms, and
the dollar did experience real apprecia-
tion. The logic was simple: by buying
dollars, China could cause the relative
value of the dollar to rise, which meant
that the value of the renminbi would fall.
Accordingly, the People’s Bank of China
accumulated enormous dollar reserves
during this time.
As it happens, Switzerland pursued a
similar – albeit shorter-lived – strategy
after the 2008 global financial crisis,
and particularly after September 2011.
During that time, the Swiss National
Bank managed to hold down the Swiss
franc’s value while accumulating a huge
volume of foreign-exchange reserves.
Is this a good strategy? In China’s case,
Investors were
worried that the
downgrade could
cause global
turbulence and
began to pull
their money out
of emerging
markets
it certainly allowed domestically based
firms to export more, but only because
they were selling at below-cost prices,
thus incurring losses. This approach
makes sense if one is selling habit-
forming goods, because you can raise
prices and make up for earlier losses
once the customer has become depen-
dent on the product. Hence, if you were
starting a newspaper in the print era, it
was generally wise to underprice it until
you had built up a large base of loyal
readers.
Like certain products, buying from a
country can also be habit-forming. Once
you have mastered all of the rules and
regulations, as well as the culture and
politics, of a trading partner, you have an
interest in continuing to do business with
that country.
With the U.S. and many other nations
now hooked on buying from China,
Chinese policymakers no longer need
to maintain an undervalued currency.
And, indeed, China has been spending
down its foreign-exchange reserves since
mid-2014. Though the renminbi was
once kept artificially weak, there are now
many economists who believe that it is
actually overvalued. That, after all, is
what one would expect for the seller of
an addictive good.
In this context, Trump’s tariff war
comes far too late, and will prove utterly
self-defeating. But let’s assume that
Trump is right – that China is still selling
its products to U.S. consumers at a loss.
In that case, my advice to him is simple.
He should send a thank-you note to Chi-
nese President Xi Jinping.
Kaushik Basu, former Chief Economist of
the World Bank and former Chief Economic
Adviser to the Government of India, is
Professor of Economics at Cornell University
and Nonresident Senior Fellow at the
Brookings Institution.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2018.
Face-to-face with medicine
smugglers of the DR Congo
Uncovering the underworld of how Uganda’s
marked medicines are stolen and sold
By Flavia Nassaka

W
e have been waiting for close
to two hours when a man
emerges from a nearby thicket
with water from the afternoon
drizzle dripping like white beads off his
very dark face and compact body. He sig-
nals his colleague to join him at the other
side of the road from where we are standing
and they speak for about 20 minutes.
It’s July 25, and I am in Opia, a deserted
village in Vurra Sub County at the Uganda
– Democratic Republic of Congo border in
Arua district. My mission is to find out how
medicines and sundries from Uganda gov-
ernment stores end up in the DR Congo.
Finally, an agreement appears to have
been reached between the two men. The
man from DR Congo has agreed to talk to
me but with some conditions; including no
use of names or cameras. He asks to con-
firm that I am a journalist and I give him my Dr. Ojera displays stolen drugs to journalists in April
identity card.
come to his health facility and find he ties deeper in the DR Congo that buy them.
Finally, he suggests that we find a more
doesn’t have drugs, they will run away to Every month, he says, he buys fresh sup-
comfortable place, out of the drizzle, for the
other clinics. “That’s why I decided to get plies of medicines of up to Shs800, 000 from
interview. But as we ride on his number
an agent from Arua hospital,” he explains in Uganda. He wants more medicines.
plate less yellow bike on the Ugandan side
the difficult Congolese English. “You know Uganda drugs are cheap,”
of the border, the man from DR Congo
When we arrive at our destination, he he says, “They also tell us the expiry dates
is already telling me stories about how
opens a box which is covered in several when selling to us.” He says the Congolese
Ugandan drugs have become a savior in the
jackets in a sack. He has just purchased a trust Ugandan medicines and medical facili-
neighboring country – and a money maker
box full of, largely, the antimalarial drug ties. “My friends also ask me whether the
for him. The man confirms that he is Con-
Coartem, antibiotics, straps of Paracetamol, person bringing the drugs is a doctor,” he
golese and works for a health facility called
and gloves. All are labeled ‘Government of says.
Yofenyiri Health Center, just across the
Uganda, Not for Sale’.
border in DR Congo. He says drug short-
ages have worsened since the government
“These cost me 400,000 shillings,” he says. Threats to Uganda
The man from DR Congo says 80% of As he constantly combs West Nile
there contracted the supply to hospitals
cases at his Yofenyiri facility suffer from health facilities for these drugs, he appears
and health facilities in the Ituri province to
malaria and the medicines he has bought oblivious that their rightful beneficiaries in
an NGO of the Catholic Church – Malteser
so far are not enough to meet the demand. Uganda are going without their doses. He
International, from the island nation of Mal-
Yet, he says, his colleague from Ikara health might be a very small player in a very big
ta located in the Mediterranean Sea between
facility also in Ituri province of DR Congo racket, but does he even know that his busi-
North Africa and Italy.
had called him two days ago requesting for ness presents a serious threat to the already
Ituri province is huge; about the size of
anti-malarial medicines. fragile Ugandan health system?
northern Uganda and riven with warlords
“I will not be able to supply them,” he This financial year, the government of
and bandits – making it difficult for Malte-
says. His facility, he says, is located just Uganda plans to spend Shs277 billion on
ser to deliver medicines.
eight kilometers away from the border and drugs. It is not clear how much of that the
“You make an order today they will bring
he has used this proximity to his advantage. country will lose to theft as there is cur-
the drugs after two months, three months,”
He is now the link person between Ugan- rently no published data to show the exact
says my man, who adds that when patients
dan medicine dealers and the health facili- extent of the drug theft problem. However,

Aug 03 - 09, 2018 37

health
anecdotal evidence indicates a lot of drugs
are getting stolen.
At the Ministry of Health headquarters in
Kampala, for instance, Dr Jimmy Opigo; the
Manager of the Malaria Control programme
says last year, 21 million doses of antima-
larials were procured and only 14.5 million
doses were reported as used.
“We don’t know where the six million
treatments went,” he says, “There was a big
stock out.”
The Ministry of Health has since 2017
been subsidising anti-malaria drugs sold in
some private pharmacies. The medicines
which bear a green leaf are recommended
to be sold at US$1 or less per dose. Up to
US$4 million provided by the Global Fund
is to be spent on the subsidy each year until
2019. Another US$3.2million is to be spent
on monitoring supply and providing infor-
mation on malaria patient care.
If Dr Opigo’s numbers are correct, the
missing six million treatments represent
an addition US$6 million (Approx. Shs22
billion). That is money going to medicine
smugglers like my man from the DR Congo.
After our meeting, I headed to Arua
Regional Referral Hospital, where he claims
to be getting some of his drugs. But its Prin-
cipal Administrator, Michael Odur, says the
hospital is not connected to the DR Congo
medicine racket.
“I’ve been here since November (last
year). None of our hospital staff has been
arrested,” he says, “We only hear that Ugan-
da drugs are on sale in Congo but we have
not had a case here.”
Odur says Arua hospital, like many oth-
ers around the country usually gets stock
outs of the malaria drug, Artesunate and
others like Fragyl and antibiotics Amoxyl
and Ceftriaxone injection in addition to
gloves and stitchers.
But, he says, the constant stock outs are
not because drugs are stolen.
“We get a high number of unbudgeted
for patients from neighboring Congo and of
late refugees from South Sudan,” he says.
Every day, he says, the hospital handles
around 400 out patients and 350 in patients
and 33% of these are Congolese seeking
mostly care for HIV, Malaria, pneumonia or
maternal and child health services. Because
of the patient pressure, Arua hospital was
this year given an extra Shs240million on
top of its annual Shs1billion budget.
Odur says the Uganda-Congo border is
porous and given that the hospital is just
7kms away makes it very easy for them to
be targets by criminals. But he says he can-
not tell how, if at all, drugs could be stolen
from the hospital.
He speaks of a system innovated by the
Ministry of Health to control any leakages
at the hospital. It is called the ‘Daily Dis-
pensing Log’ where all patients that come to
the facility in a day are registered and given
patient numbers. The same log has provi-
sions where drugs and their quantities are
38 Aug 03 - 09, 2018
recorded to ensure accountability.
In addition to this, a medical worker is
supposed to sign a drug requisition form
which is authorised by the facility in charge
before being given medicines.
Odur says they follow this religiously.
But he also admits they have had recording
gaps he calls minor that they keep improv-
ing when they spot them.
He appears unaware that the criminals
could also be taking out drugs in very small
quantities to to be noticed. A package seen
by The Independent had medicines that
were not packaged in the usual dispens-
ing boxes or tins. The various medicines
appeared to have been poured randomly in
one big package.
Arua not alone
And Arua is not the only Ugandan bor-
der town with the DR Congo via which
stolen medicines and sundries are smug-
gled out. Kasese district in South Western
Uganda is another one.
Here, the Resident District Commissioner
(RDC), Lt. Col James Mwesigye, told The
Independent that he has battled medicine
thieves at the Congo - Mpondwe border in
the district.
Dianah Atwine Dianah Atwine
He said he has encountered techniques
where hospital workers would move out
with a small package each day, meet at
some point, and put the different medicines
together in one package for sale.
“We increased surveillance and held
operations every day,” Mwesigye said,
“One day we unpacked a truck full of fish
only to find medicines below them.”
He says, in his view, solving the problem
requires strict checking at border points
since not much can be done at the hospital
level.
Dr. Patrick Anguzu, the Arua District
Health Officer agrees. He says hospitals are
constantly working to tighten security mea-
sures against drug theft; including surveil-
lance, regular pill counts and room restric-
tions. But he says these are never enough to
stop drug thefts.
“It can be hard to anticipate the strategies
that criminals use,” he says.
He says the stolen drugs from Uganda
are now being sold in the DR Congo
because all efforts required to make it
impossible for these drugs to be sold in
Uganda have been done.
At the Health Monitoring Unit (HMU) of
State House, the Director Dr. Jackson Ojera
says their investigations have revealed that
drugs are mostly stolen at hospital level. He
gives an example of Kapchorwa where the
DHO was conniving with in-charges and
they would hide drugs in mattresses and
drive them out without raising any suspi-
cions until they got a tip off about this theft.
In its latest investigation, the HMU has
recovered stolen drugs and sundries esti-
mated at Shs25 million. The items were
found in a house in Nsooba; a village locat-
ed just a few meters away from Mulago
National Referral hospital in Kampala. They
included antimalarials Chloroquine and
Coartem, gloves, cannulas, antibiotics, and
gauze. It was not clear, whether the suspects
found with the drugs were government
workers or where they were going to sell
the drugs.
What is clear though according to observ-
ers is that at the root of this trade are poor
management and security lapses in the
country and the healthcare system that hos-
pital staff and medicine smugglers exploit.
Speaking to The Independent on July27,
Moses Kamabare; the General Manager of
National Medical Stores, said medicine theft
can be countered with simple practices. He
says to counter any leakages at the time
when drugs are transported to health facili-
ties, NMS has developed a tracking system
in their trucks that monitor movement of
the vehicle and the system will be notified
incase anything happens along the way.
“If you take a wrong route the vehicle
will be disabled. Once an order is made,
the in charge at the facility will be notified
about when the deliveries will be made.
They are also informed when the truck
leaves NMS,” he says. These constant
notices, he says, give no chance to the crimi-
nals to interfere with the stocks because the
in charges are expected to sign the delivery
notes confirming receipt.
Ojera also recommends more regular
audits at facilities. He says currently audits
are mainly done when there is suspicion
of theft. Also, to solve the problem of drug
theft and stock-outs, the Ministry of Health
has been piloting a programme dubbed
‘Results based Financing’ in West Nile and
parts of western Uganda.
During a post budget meeting at the Min-
istry of Health in June, Dr. Sarah Byakika,
the commissioner planning at the Ministry
of Health said, under the programme,
whatever medicine is dispensed is properly
accounted for as health facilities are obliged
to carryout quarterly assessments of the
outputs.
For Odur in Arua, however, this is a prob-
lem without quick fixes. “The Congolese
will be coming here anyway,” he says citing
the many panya routes from DR Congo into
Uganda where there are no checks at all.
All one needs is a numberless Boda Boda
like the one of my man in Opia village.
 ART | BOOKS | SOCIETY | TRAVEL | CULTURE
Nkole’s 5 minutes of history
And its monument gaining international significance
A
By Dominic Muwanguzi
bout 600 years ago, in
1520AD, three powerful
kingdoms thrived in pres-
ent day central and western
Uganda. Located in triangu-
lar formation with Buganda,
which occupied a long a narrow swath
along the shores of Lake Victoria facing
Bunyoro-Kitara to the northwest and Nkole
to the southwest.
Bunyoro was the biggest but its mar-
tial King; Olimi 1 Rukidi Rwitamahanga
wanted more. So he raided tiny Nkole and
easily overrun it; pillaging its cattle and
women, and causing a great famine called
“ijunga nyonga” within the Kingdom.
Nkole continued to fight back and during
one of the battles in broad daylight, some-
thing unheard of and never seen before
happened. Darkness fell on the battlefield at
Biharwe hill.
The Bunyoro soldiers, fearing that it was
an apparition of Ankore spirits intervening
on the side of the Nkole fighters, fled from
battle and out of the kingdom. The Nkore
kingdom soldiers celebrated the unusual
victory and the battle became etched in the
kingdom folklore. Today, of course, we
know that was the total eclipse of 1.30PM
on April 17, 1520 that lasted 5 minutes and
15 seconds. But that has not stopped the
Nkole people from celebrating Biharwe hill
as a “sacred and historic site” at the Biharwe
Eclipse monument shows. Constructed to
commemorate the incident, it stands atop
Biharwe hill approximately 6kms from
Mbarara town on the Mbarara- Masaka
highway.
To reflect the present day unity between
the once-warring kingdoms, the monument
is built in lineal form, with three pillars
symbolising the three kings of the period;
Olimi of Bunyoro, Ntare1 Nyabugarobwera
of Nkole, Nakibinge of Buganda. According
to folklore, Bunyoro had raided Buganda
with intent to bring back Buganda to Kitara.
In the centre of the monument, on top, is
an orange round figurine, symbolising the
sun that is synonymous with the eclipse.
On the upper exterior of the monument are
Ankole wall patterns that give it cultural
quality. The theme of cultural identity and
significance is very much on display in the
neighbouring Igongo Cultural Museum
which features cultural norms and practices
of the Ankole people in figurative and real-
istic forms. For example, the museum pre-
serves many utilitarian objects used by the
two Nkole tribes; the Bahingi (crop- farm-
ers) and Abarisa aka “Omutungi w’e nte”
(cattle-keepers) in their households. The
dissimilarity of objects they used in their
day to day life is striking. For example, in
the Bahingi household the women grinded
millet as the daily menu and there was a
fire-place to prepare it. On the other-hand,
within the Abarisa home, the inhabitants
fed only on milk and roasted meat, hence
the dominant presence of the milk gourd
used to carry and preserve the milk. The
women from this household
were also very ornamen-
tal in their physical
presentation, evi-
denced by their
hairstyles that
involved shav-
ing concen-
tric designs
within the hair and wearing bracelets
around their waists.
The traditional wall patterns on the
Nkole households- huts- suggested the resi-
dents’ lifestyle in the aspects of medicine,
astronomy, entertainment and spiritualism.
The huts decorated with such imagery,
were often used for official celebrations like
giving away a girl into marriage and, there-
fore, signified an element of purity and holi-
ness. They are true testimony to the overall
early civilization of this region.
The Ankole people were well organised
in four clans; Abahinda, Abashambo, Aba-
gahe and Abaishikatwa, a symbol of cul-
tural dynamism and commonality visible
African monarchs that decentralised politi-
cal powers through chiefs. Like Buganda,
the kings of Nkole distributed their political
powers through a prime minister and chiefs
who also wielded authority. The hairstyles,
thrones (chief’s official seats) and gourds
evoked such supremacy in their day to day
life. The Biharwe Eclipse monument and
installation might have been constructed
as a cultural museum, to bring to life the
cultural history of Nkole that mirrors their
cherished traditional norms and beliefs and
attract tourists to view their cultural iden-
tity and values. But in this post- modern
era of globalisation, Biharwe
monument is acknowledged
internationally. The auspi-
cious date is, for example,
used to calculate periods in
which the different Kings
of the Great Lakes region
reigned. The monu-
ment was constructed
by Joseph Ssematimba,
a Makerere University
senior Lecturer in the
Department of Indus-
trial and Fine Arts.
Aug 03 - 09, 2018 39
Ripped 81-year- The best time
old bodybuilder to have sex
Two recent studies of
Most octogenarians more than 800 million
would consider tweets over four years
themselves lucky to be discovered that people’s
able to not have a hip or rising and falling moods
back problem, but this are almost exactly matched
81-year-old Japanese to our daily psychological
bodybuilder is not body clock. 6am is for
only in perfect physical getting up – to lower rates
condition, he also looks of depression and better
better than a lot of goal setting, 8am is a
men a quarter his age. peak time for sadness and
Toshisuke Kanazawa who tiredness – so take a walk,
was multiple champion and 9am is best for coffee
bodybuilder in his youth, – as mood improves. 10am
took up the challenge is best for taking advice,
again at 50 years to make 11am is high point for the
his sick wife happy.
Who is behind this A-list selfie? brain’s analytical powers
and productivity, 12 noon
You might not know his faces. The talent manager was is for making important
name, but he’s one of the also joined by Woody Har- calls, such as negotiating
world’s most well-connected relson, McConaughey’s model a pay rise. Afternoons are
men. And Madonna’s man- wife Camilla Alves and French most unproductive, 8pm
ager Guy Oseary, 45, showed photographer JR for the star- is the happiest point, and
off his influence recently in a studded getaway to Château La the best time to have sex is
remarkable Instagram snap Coste, in the country’s southern 10pm if you are in your 50s
from his summer vacation in region. Others were Madonna, and 10.20pm if you in your
France, surrounded by his A-list Helena Christensen, Dakota 40s, according to circadian
pals. Sacha Baron Cohen and Johnson, and Tobey Maguire’s rhythm expert Dr Paul
Bono were joined by Matthew ex-wife Jennifer Meyer, and Kelley. Avoid midnight – it
McConaughey, Chris Rock and Oseary’s wife, Brazilian model is a time of anger and 1am to
Isla Fisher among a staggering Michelle Alves. 4am is peak sleep time.
array of many more famous

Catholic Church suspends rapping priest

On a typical Sunday at the St. Monica
Catholic Church in southwest Kenya, Father
Ogalo would be draped in his usual church
vestments for morning mass. Later in the
day, he would change into shorts, a long
t-shirt and tie a red bandana tied around
his head, spitting hip-hop rhymes into his
mic. Popularly known as ‘Father Masaa,’
he said music was to attract a young people
to his church, spread the message against
drug abuse, and bridge the generation gap.
But his unconventional preaching style
has landed him in hot water with Catholic
Church heads. However, his bosses dis-
agreed. Speaking to CNN, Bishop Philip
Anyolo, who heads the diocese in Migori
County where Father Ogalo serves, said the
antics had earned the priest a suspension.
“The use of rap music is not allowed in
preaching,” he said.

Sadness in marriage is If you don’t have

no ground for divorce
A woman who has been trying to divorce
her husband for three years was recently
denied the right to do that by the UK’s
highest court, which ruled that an unhappy
marriage that had broken down for years
was not grounds for divorce. 68-year-old
Tini Owens had been hoping to finally end
her 40-year marriage to Hugh Owens, 80,
but the five judges at the UK’s highest court
unanimously upheld rulings by a family
court and the court of appeal that the two
must stay married at least until 2020. The
decision has been met with criticism from
divorce lawyers. Tini claims the father of
her two children, Hugh Owens focuses only
on his job rather than his home life, doesn’t
show her love and affection, and is always
moody and argumentative.
a Zebra, fake it!
A new zoo in Cairo’s International
Garden municipal park has come under
fire for trying to deceive visitors by paint-
ing a donkey black and white to make it
look like a zebra. The fake was spotted
on July 21 by Mahmoud A. Sarhani, a
student who posted a photo of a strange-
looking zebra on his Facebook page after
hot weather caused the paint to smudge.
Most people found it hilarious, but some
were outraged. But the zoo’s manage-
ment denied the Zebra was a fake.

40 Aug 03 - 09, 2018

Buy this bullet-
proof car for MPs
S
ince President Yoweri
Museveni ordered the
Ministry of Finance to
provide army snipers and
bullet-proof escort cars for
MPs, the Daily Monitor
newspaper has been running stories
unpacking the implication of the
directive.
One of the stories pointed out
that the government could end up
spending as much as Shs866 billion to
protect the MPs.
The newspaper said in interviews,
some manufacturers had revealed that
a 2017/18 model bullet-proof Land
Cruiser pick-up could cost about
$520,000 (Approx. Shs1.9 billion) while
a 2017/18 model bullet-proof Hilux
pick-up costs about $166,000 (Shs630
million).
The course is, of course, mind-
blowing. But what got me really
thinking is the image of a typical MP,
cruising along the Kampala-Mbarara
Highway in their favourite vehicle,
the Toyota Land Cruiser TX – which
might be anything from the Third
Generation Prado of 2002-2008 or the
newer Fourth Generation Prado of
2009 to present which are bigger in the
five-door version and are in the TXL or
VXL grade. These luxury SUVs have a
base price of US$85,000 (About Shs320
million) minus taxes, insurance, and
freight charges (which could double
the cost and explains why most MPs
buy from the local used market at
between Shs50 million and Shs100
million). The local Toyota dealership
in Namanve has the Land Cruiser 200
VX-R, most likely from South Africa
where it goes for between US$75,000
and 100,000).
Meanwhile, depending of security
plan; either behind or in front the
MPs second-hand jalopy would be
the bullet-proof Land Cruiser pick-up
which costs Shs1.9 billion. Really, does
that make sense?
A look at President Museveni’s own
security detail makes clear the sheer
senselessness of the deal. Of course,
the President’s security is top secret.
But at one point the President acquired
a Mercedes Benz Pullman, a limousine
that combines top security functions
and luxury. This huge vehicle looks
ordinary but it can withstand bullets
and explosives and its interior can act
as a bunker in case of attack. In this
case, the President’s guards, with their
open pick-ups, have far less protection.
That means there is an easier way
to protect MPs – simply buy them
armoured vehicles which look like
civilian vehicles. My pick for them
is the Range Rover series since some
MPs already drive some ordinary ones.
They can upgrade to the 5.0-litre V8
armored version which has a bullet
resistant exterior and is capable of
still operating on flat tyres, with
self-sealing gas tank, and side blast
grenade and high caliber
bullet protection.
Aug 03 - 09, 2018 41
Profile
Prof. Ssentamu on his time
as VC Makerere University
By Agnes E Nantaba
P
rof John Ddumba Ssentamu is one
of Uganda’s long practicing econo-
mists. He is best known, however,
for serving as the Vice Chancellor
(VC) of the country’s oldest university,
Makerere University Kampala from 2012-
2017. He chose to bow out upon completion
of one term.
He says “I would have loved to continue
but, judging the situation ahead and the
politics within the recruitment procedures; I
chose to end it there”.
Ssentamu is an alumnus of the same
university founded in 1922 and he spent
most of his working life, more than 35
years, here. He rose from academic ranks
to administrator and finally to VC. Prior to
his appointment as VC, Prof. Ssentamu was
the Principal of the College of Business and
Management Science at the university.
Meanwhile, for the last 15 years, he has
served as chairman of the board at Cente-
nary Bank, the second-largest indigenous
commercial bank in the country with the
majority shareholding of the Catholic
Church. He has also been Caretaker VC
for Ndejje University; an Anglican Church
founded institution and is vice chair of the
council of Muteesa 1 Royal University; a
Buganda Kingdom founded institution. His
role is to steer the process of enabling the
university to acquire a charter.
His tenure at Makerere University was
characterised by having the highest number
of strikes but he says some were engineered
by people within the system because of
internal fights.
He cites an instance when he made a
decision to suspend some of the students
who led a strike but unfortunately some-
body within the system overturned the
decision.
He says this is why, at some point in
time, he appeared not to be moved by
student demands expressed through
strikes.
He prefers to dwell on his biggest
achievements at the great institution.
“I worked with the council to intro-
duce a system of external service pro-
viders for food so the strikes during
my reign were never about food,”
he says.
The other is that under him,
Makerere never went lower
that the 8th position on
42 Aug 03 - 09, 2018
continental ranking because research at the to pursue his doctorate degree, graduating
college of health sciences greatly improved. with the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
He also points at the improved road system (PhD), also in Economics
and the initiation of the construction of part Prof Ddumba was born and raised in
of the university perimeter wall. Masaka present day Lwengo district to
Today, he still lectures at post graduate Edward Patrick Ssentamu and Teresa
level at the university and also is the chair- Ssentamu Nakalema both deceased. He
man of the governing council for Kisubi went to Villa Maria Primary School and
University. Kabojja and Savio Junior School in Kampala
He prides in being a teacher who has and Wakiso districts, and St Mary’s college
shared and imparted knowledge with Kisubi for secondary school.
many lovers of economics both in Uganda
and other countries.
It’s a journey that he embarked on in 1977
after being retained as a special teaching
assistant at Makerere University. He had
just graduated with a bachelor’s degree in
economics at the same institution for which
he emerged the second best student. The
same year, he started teaching on part-time
basis at Caltec Academy.
He says, “That is when I started enjoy-
ing teaching and those are the years that
made me famous in economics because
I taught many students from different
schools; especially during holidays”.
About the same time, he furthered
education graduating with a Master of
Arts in Economics at the University of
Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. He returned
to Maker- ere to fill-up the shortage of
teaching staff at the time.
He married in 1983
but unfortunately his
wife passed on seven
years later leaving him
with two young children.
He then returned to
Makerere

Prof Ddumba’s Liteside
Any three things that we don’t
I
know about you?
am proud of integrity;
everywhere I have a
trace, the team can ac-
knowledge it. I am an
open person who would
not mind breaking it face to
face when things go wrong.
I am also a straight forward
person.
What is your idea of
perfect happiness?
Seeing things going right.
What is the trait you most
deplore in yourself?
Not being aggressive
enough because people
talked too much during my
tenure as VC of Makerere
University but I kept a deaf
ear. My predecessor was
very aggressive and I only
got to understand why he
acted that way during my
term of office. I wish I was
also more aggressive.
What is the trait you most
deplore in others?
Dishonesty.
Which living person do
you most admire?
Cardinal Emmanuel
Wamala is a straight
forward person, listens
and I believe that he is
spiritually right. I recall
one day when he invited
me to his office requesting
me to take on the position
of board chairman of
Centenary Bank; I still
admire his humility.
What is your greatest
extravagance?
I hate being shabby;
therefore, I spend some
good money on good
dressing.
What is the greatest thing
you have ever done?
In 1998, I was on
a council for Ndejje
University and about the
same time, the then vice
chancellor Prof Walusimbi
(RIP) had his contract
ending. My name was
forwarded to take over
from him in acting capacity
to which I agreed and my
first task was to organise
the first graduation. I did it
successfully regardless of
working in a very hostile
environment characterised
by opposition from some
sects of the Anglican
leadership since I was a
catholic. However, I was
very much appreciated
at the end of the tenure
and up to today, I am
remembered for turning
around the university. The
people of Ndejje University
still appreciate me.
What is your current state
of mind?
Many times, I am a happy
man.
What do you consider the
most overrated virtue?
We waste too much time
and money on luxurious
functions. We are wasting
this country and yet we
could devote the resources
elsewhere.
What does being powerful
mean to you?
Being morally upright,
honest and having integrity.
Unfortunately such people
are few in Uganda.
On what occasion do you
lie?
I hardly tell lies.
What do you most dislike
about your appearance?
I am not bothered about
my appearance.
Which living person do
you most despise?
Anyone who changes
goal-posts every time
and those are quite many
individuals.
What or who is the greatest
love of your life?
It has to be my children.
When and where were you
happiest?
The day I got married
in 1983. I was also happy
graduating with a PhD that
I pursued in very trying
times when my wife had
just passed on and being
torn into raising our very
young children that she
left behind. I was also very
happy being part of the
team that took a decision
to construct Mapeera
house and witnessing its
construction as well as
official opening.
If you could change one
thing about yourself, what
would it be?
I am too soft and some
people take me for granted.
So I wish I could be more
aggressive.
What do you consider your
greatest achievement?
Being a part of the
growth at Centenary Bank
and turning around Ndejje
University.
Where would you most
like to live?
Aug 03 - 09, 2018
Q&A
advertorial
Uganda is my country
so I have to live here
although I would love a
better Uganda, very well
organized.
What do you regard as the
lowest depth of misery?
As an economist, living
below the poverty line is
too much suffering. It hurts
that as an individual, I can’t
do so much to get such
people out of such abject
poverty.
What is your favorite
occupation?
Being an economist
although the challenge is
that our work is sometimes
not taken seriously because
of politicking in everything.
What do you most value in
your friends?
Sharing with them ideas
and issues let alone money.
Who are your favorite
writers?
Chinua Achebe wrote
things that touch our lives
as well as those that we
appreciate.
Which historical figure do
you most identify with?
Cardinal Emmanuel
Nsubuga was a straight
forward man, very
hardworking and made
genuine statements without
fear or favour.
What is your greatest
regret?
My regrets come in at
Advanced level; may be if I
hadn’t wasted so much time
in social activities I would
have become a medical
doctor.
What is your motto?
It’s about time.
43
Global comment
By Mahmoud Mohieldin and Svetlana Klimenko
Unlocking private-sector funds
One way to close the funding gap and catalyse
substantial investment for Sustainable Development
F
or the last three years, dozens of
countries have gathered each July
to present their national plans to
achieve the Sustainable Develop-
ment Goals (SDGs). At the latest of these
United Nations High-Level Political Fo-
rums, governments rolled out impressive
blueprints – almost none of which included
realistic budgets or revenue sources.
Estimates of the development investment
gap are typically in the trillions of dollars,
while official development assistance is
hovering around $140 billion per year. One
effective way to help close this funding gap
is to catalyse substantial investment from
the private sector.
The private sector has long played an
integral role in poverty reduction and eco-
nomic development – a role that extends
well beyond finance. Private companies
create 90% of jobs (the most effective way to
lift people out of poverty) in the developing
world and facilitate improved efficiency,
technological adoption and innovation, and
the distribution of goods and services.
Private-sector financing of the SDGs
would occur via established institutional
investors, including pension funds, sov-
ereign-wealth funds, and insurers, which
together represent trillions of dollars of
“patient capital.” Yet, as it stands, institu-
tional investors allocate only a small share
of assets to so-called impact investing, while
channeling huge sums toward a relatively
small number of public companies.
The key to achieving the SDGs is thus
to impel public companies – especially
the large firms that receive the majority of
institutional investment – to account for
environmental, social, and governance
(ESG) criteria relevant to the SDGs in their
decision-making. This approach recognises
the need to adopt a long-term perspective
when implementing the SDGs, even as we
respond to their urgency.
The good news is that ESG-anchored
investing is already on the rise, with most of
the major institutional investors integrating
ESG factors into their investment strategies,
at least to some extent. The 2016 Global Sus-
tainable Investment Review reported that
$22.89 trillion worth of assets were “being
professionally managed under responsible
investment strategies” worldwide, up
25% from 2014. Europe accounted for $12
44 Aug 03 - 09, 2018
trillion, and the US total was $8.7 trillion,
though the highest growth rates were in
Japan and Oceania.
Viewing ESG awareness as a way to miti-
gate risk and even as a source of upside
opportunities, institutional investors are
seeking to bring this approach into their
mainstream activities. This bodes well
for the SDGs, but there are still important
challenges to overcome, beginning with
an inadequate understanding of the link
between ESG standards and the SDGs.
Only a few investors and businesses
are currently using SDGs as the basis for
sustainability-focused strategies. But the
only way to boost shareholder value and
contribute to meeting the SDGs is for com-
panies and investors to ensure, in advance,
that they focus on ESG standards that are
both material to their industry or business
and useful to advance the SDGs.
In a recent paper, Gianni Betti, Costanza
Consolandi, and Robert G. Eccles map
the relevant ESG issues identified by the
Sustainability Accounting Standards Board
(SASB) in 79 industries in ten sectors,
grouped by SDGs. Companies that use this
kind of mapping will understand to which
SDGs they would be contributing – down
to the target level – by performing well on
Investors could
consider taking
a long-term view
with regard to
the financial
performance of
their ESG-based
portfolios
their chosen ESG criteria.
By reviewing data on companies’ ESG
performance, investors can see how their
funds are contributing to achieving the
SDGs. Based on this information, they may
decide to reallocate their resources or to
engage with better-performing companies.
In 2016, Mozaffar Khan, George Sera-
feim, and Aaron Yoon created portfolios
of companies that were performing well
and poorly on the material issues in their
industry. The firms with the highest annu-
alized active return (alpha) of 4.8% were
performing well on the material issues and
poorly on the immaterial issues. Those with
the lowest alpha, -2.2%, were performing
poorly on both. Critically, however, the
divergences did not start to appear until
after 7-8 years.
This demonstrates that executives must
balance attention to short-term performance
with a long-term perspective. That includes
an understanding of which ESG issues will
be material to their industry in the future,
and which SDG efforts in those areas they
may serve to advance.
Investors could consider taking a long-
term view with regard to the financial
performance of their ESG-based portfolios.
They can expect periodic reports on ESG
performance and its contribution to the
relevant SDGs – just as they receive periodic
reports on financial performance – in order
to monitor progress and make adjustments
if needed.
In many ways, private firms are already
contributing to the SDGs, but they are
doing so in an ad hoc manner that is not
adequately labeled or targeted. By creating
smart, comprehensive, and clearly defined
strategies, private companies can not only
get credit for their efforts; they can also help
governments to establish realistic budgets
and clear financing plans for the SDGs.
Mahmoud Mohieldin is Senior Vice President
at the World Bank Group. Svetlana Klimenko
is Lead Financial Management Specialist at the
World Bank Group.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2018.
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