News analysis Health Business

Kampala City Eating spicy food can Uganda most profitable Cipla joins
without its carnival make you feel `high’ market for Airtel in East Africa stock market

Issue No. 539 Sept 21 - 27, 2018 Ushs 5,000,Kshs 200, RwF 1,500, SDP 8

Merging agencies
Short memories, highly
paid agency bosses, timid bureaucrats

UMRA
UCI
UTB
UMRA
UEDCL

UHI
IRA
URF
UWA

UNRA
UEGCL
UIA
UEDC

NIRA
REA

UHI

blic Service
u
ry of P
Minist

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Issue No. 539 Sept 21 - 27, 2018

News analysis Business Health Arts Motoring

Cover story
Merging agencies
Short memories, highly
paid agency bosses, timid bureaucrats

4 The Week
29 Comments
Hearing of petition against having
army in parliament starts More on OTT and Mobile
money taxes: A tax which
is not in pursuit of clear
9 The Last Word
objectives is illogical and
Closing and merging public should be condemned
agencies: Why the new government
reform measures should not throw
36 Health
away the baby with the bathwater
Eating spicy food can make you
feel `high’: So, knowing that the
14 Analysis same “oh crap, you’re burning”
Kampala City without its carnival: East Africa’s sensation is activated when we
entertainment capital will be dull this October chew on chili peppers, why the hell
do we still insist on eating them?

39 Arts & Culture

27 Business
Mister lion shares a secret:
Uganda most profitable market for Airtel An unusual comment on
in East Africa: The telecom firm recorded a political and social injustices
53% growth in net profit to Shs 245bn

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 Sept 21 - 27, 2018

 Offline

“Bobi Wine is an offshoot of a fading

political group led by Dr Kizza Besigye.
He will fade.”Ofwono Opondo, Government
spokesman
Security Chiefs following President Yoweri Museveni’s address to the media on Sept.15 at State House
Entebbe. (L-R) Col. Rtd. Kaka Bagyenda of ISO, Brig. Abel Kandiho of CMI, Brig. Sabiiti Magyenyi of
Police, and Gen. David Muhoozi of UPDF.   Courtesy photo.

This file photo taken on

December 6, 2016 shows
Dominic Ongwen (C), a
senior commander in the
Lord’s Resistance Army
(LRA), whose fugitive
leader Kony is one of the
world’s most-wanted war
crimes suspects, sitting
in the court room of the
International Criminal “There are modalities for how the
Court (ICC) in The Hague. merging will work and we welcome
Ongwen’s lawyers open this move because rationalisation is
their defence on Sept.18 at
the ICC where their client is
good as money saved can be used to
charged with conducting a provide other services. As UNRA, we
reign of terror in northern shall continue to provide our services”
Uganda in the early Allen Kagina, UNRA executive director
2000s.   File photo

The exterior of the

New Mulago Women’s
Referral Hospital
which is ready for
commissioning. The
450-bed facility will
offer specialised care “Madam Speaker, I have been
for new mothers and receiving threats. I don’t feel safe.
their babies Some unknown people have been
trailing me.”Connie Galiwango, Mbale
Woman MP

Contract value PPDA Students who got Money MPs

30% wants Ugandan companies
to get from oil contracts
2950 government loans
for university study Shs1billion send on flights
every month

Sept 21 - 27, 2018 3

week
Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge greatest marathoner ever EU faults Uganda
Kipchoge is known as
a highly disciplined on human rights
athlete who gets up
at 5am and does his The European Union (EU) Par-
chores. The 33-year- liament has asked authorities in
old also loves reading Uganda to launch an investigation
Aristotle. Kipchoge into the several human rights viola-
first made a mark in tions that took place in Arua district
2003 when he won before and after the parliamentary
gold at 2003 world by-election.
championships In their 14- point resolution
over 5,000m at 18. dated Sept.13, the parliament asked
However joining the the executive not interfere with the
marathon category in work of parliament and drop what
2012 was his true call- they referred to as trumped up
ing and he has since charges against members of parlia-
won 10 of 11 races ment especially those who were
including Olympic involved in the Arua fracas and
Gold in Rio and now facing charges of treason.
three victories in the They also called for an investiga-
tion into the arrest and torture of
London marathon.
journalists and asked that journal-
Eliud Kipchoge, ran a stunning 2hr 1 2014 by an entire 78 Kenyans reacted with
ists should be given a conducive
Kenya’s long distance minute 39 seconds seconds. Kipchoge joy at Kipchoge’s
environment to execute their duties.
runner, cemented at the Berlin mara- set his new record triumph and his win
The parliamentarians who
his position in the thon on Sept. 16. He while running alone was a respite from
expressed displeasure with the
pantheon of sport- smashed the previ- in the last 17km of the divisive politics way security operatives handle
ing greats when he ous world record, the 42km race. “I lack that the country has protestors during demonstrations
broke the marathon set by fellow Kenyan words to describe faced since the 2017 where at times people are shot
world record after he Dennis Kimetto in this day,” he said. elections. at and hit with batons and guns
applauded Uganda Human Rights
Hearing of petition against having army in parliament starts Commission for investigating the
whereabouts of missing individuals
and visiting detention facilities in
On Sept.18, the constitu- Owiny-Dollo. (2) (a) of the parliamentary addition to reporting their findings
tional court began hearing a In the petition, Muyambi Elections Act that provides accurately.
petition filled in 2011 chal- said while Article 80 (2) of the for the house to have ten rep- However, this resolution wasn’t
lenging having representation Constitution provides that the resentatives of the army. well received by government who
of the army in parliament. army shall be non-partisan He also states that it’s said the country can’t take lessons
The petition filled by a and national in character, wrong for the army as public from foreigners on how to deal
human rights activist called their being in parliament officers to be elected in parlia- with domestic issues and that the
Ellady Muyambi is being makes them partisan and that ment yet the law provides resolution was an approval of indis-
heard by a Coram of five according to the functions that anybody holding a cipline by members of the opposi-
judges – Ezekiel Muhanguzi, and roles of the army, having public office or is employed tion. If it wasn’t for foreign support,
Kenneth Kakuru, Hellen representation in parliament by government to first resign government said the opposition
Obura, and Fredrick Egonda is not part. He therefore before engaging in parlia- would be focusing more on strate-
– Ntende headed by Dep- wants court to examine the mentary politics. gies to win them power other than
uty Chief Justice Alphonse constitutionality of Section 8 causing chaos.

*terms and conditions apply

4 Sept 21 - 27, 2018


Upgrading of Rukungiri-Kihihi, Masaka-Bukakata Roads begins
Civil works on the 78.5km
Rukungiri-Kihihi-Ishasha Road have
begun following the signing of the
contract between UNRA and China
Henan International Corporation
Group Company Ltd at a sum of
Shs207billion at a ceremony held at
UNRA headquarters on Sept.17. The
contractor is expected to complete
the upgrading from earth gravel
to bituminous standards within 36
months. At the ceremony, UNRA
also signed a contract with Arab
Contractors for the upgrading of
Masaka-Bukakata road at a contract
price of Shs195billion and the latter
is expected to complete works within
24 months. The projects are funded
through loans from the African
Development Bank and the Arab Bank
for Economic Development in Africa.
UNRA is also set to begin work on
Week
upgrading Kampala roads; Queensway
widening, Entebbe road improvement,
Nsambya road widening among others.
UNRA boss Allen Kagina thanked the
people of Kanungu and Rukungiri for
their patience during the procurement
process. Minister of State for Works
Gen. Katumba Wamala urged the
contractors to employ Ugandans but
urged Ugandans to have work ethics
once they are employed.

New parliamentary committee

heads urged to do research
At a two day induction work-
shop held on Sept.14, speaker
of parliament Rebecca Kadaga
urged in coming committee
chairpersons and vice chairper-
son to conducted government
business guided by informed
research.
The speaker who told legisla-
tors that they are facing a chal-
lenge of discussing issues that
aren’t considered priority by the
public said the committee heads
have to listen to the public views
whenever they are invited in,
she said this and research are
the only way through which
they will conduct discussions
that impact the people.
While other countries put
the public at the center of all
their business by making pub- WE ARE
HIRING!
lic inquiries before discussing
bills, Kadaga said the Uganda
model is that most of the bills
are introduced by government
and approved by cabinet before Are you a Photo Journalist?
being sent to parliament. The We are looking for someone with
public comes in later at com-
mittee stage yet for her the a great sense of imagination,
ideal would be to seek people’s an eye for detail and a knack for
views before going this far. “For
the British, they first go to the
following news events.
population and introduce the
proposed Bill; if the population
doesn’t support the Bill, it is
withdrawn,” she said that here,
all the people’s views have to be
delivered through committee
heads that’s why the need to
be vibrant as they take on their
new duties.
Among the new committee
heads is opposition FDC’s
Mubrak Munyagwa who heads
the Committee on Commissions, Send CV to:
Statutory Authorities and State
Enterprises (COSASE) who is E-mail: jwere@independent.co.ug
deputized by Rubaga division Tel: +256-312-637-391/ 2/ 3/ 4
North MP Moses Kasibante.

Sept 21 - 27, 2018 5

Week
Uganda’s only fully on-line university
to introduce new programmes
Prof. Maniple, other university officials speaking to journalists on Sept.12 at Serena Hotel.
Virtual University of Uganda (VUU), the
Sub-saharan Africa’s fully online university
is planning to introduce new courses in the
field of international relations, international
security, information systems, cyber securi-
ty, public health and more in addition to the
current courses it is offering to the over 130
students from Uganda and beyond, officials
said at a stakeholders engagement at Serena
Hotel on Sept.12. Currently, the university
is offering programmes in public health,
international development, business admin-
istration and management, information and
communication technology and oil and gas.
“We are moving cautiously,” Prof. Everd
Maniple, the University’s chancellor said
Parliament defends self over OTT tax payment controversy
Many social media users took to
their walls to criticize when it was first
reported that members of parliament
wanted government to pay their daily
Shs200 tax to access social media. It all
started when Obongi county legislator
Hassan Kaps Fungaroo raised a query
in parliament that they could no longer
access their social media on their iPads
ever since the OTT tax was introduced
in July. Following the outpour by the
6 Sept 21 - 27, 2018
adding, “We don’t want to be a degree meal
university…we have practical and theoreti-
cal elements.” Officials said they have an
international reach and tutors, lecturers
hailing from 13 countries - teaching students
from over 15 countries. “We are ready to
support policy makers and industry play-
ers to conduct research and training to
facilitate decision making in Africa and
beyond,” Maniple said. He added that
the university is already collaborating
with key players in government and other
agencies to aid in curriculum develop-
ment and ensure graduates have relevant,
quality and applicable skills.
public, parliament on Sept.14 released
a statement saying that the MP wasn’t
asking parliament to pay their tax but
rather wanted parliament to revisit
terms of the contract with their internet
service provider to ensure that MPs
access social media on their iPads which
are provided by the parliamentary com-
mission.
“Their restricted access is constrain-
ing their work and interaction with their
Museveni continues
tirade against Police
It started with the murder of Assistant
Inspector General of Police (AIGP) Felix
Kaweesi when President Museveni said
the Police is full of criminals. He tasked
then Police chief Gen Kale Kayihura to
clean up the force, then Museveni sacked
Kayihura a year later and said the force
was infested with bean weevils. Since
then, it has become a song for Museveni
to lambast the Police whenever he is
addressing matters of security. In two
addresses in a space of six days, Museveni
has told the public that police needs to
weed out elements and the latest comment
was that there are jiggers in the force.
Once seen as the biggest guarantor of
Museveni’s stay in power when Kayihura
was the Inspector General of Police (IGP),
the Police has now become a punching bag
of Museveni’s addresses. Observers have
been wondering to what end this will go
on even after he appointed a new IGP and
a new deputy. The Police has been under
heavy criticism for the unresolved murders
that have taken place in the last few years
with the latest being one of their own-
Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP)
Mohammed Kirumira who was a strong
critic of Kayihura. He was shot dead on
Sept. 8 near his home in Bulenga, Mityana.
constituents and the public” read the
statement in part explaining that by the
nature of the data contract signed with
Parliament before the advent of the OTT
Tax, it is only the service provider that
can load bundles on the MPs iPads.
Providing iPads to MPs was part
of the initiatives aimed at adopting a
paperless parliament and cutting costs
of printing bulky reports, statements
and other communication.
Humour Did you know?

Google’s Inbox app is

shutting down
President Yoweri Museveni tells the Ghetto Youth to shun the Google is bowing to the inevitable
opposition as he donates 1,000,000,000 Ugshs to their cause.
and shutting down the Inbox email app,
though users will have until March to
switch over to Gmail. It’s a little sad for
fans of the app, but it’s also not a very big
surprise.
Almost exactly four years ago, Google
launched Inbox as an innovative new
email app that lived alongside Gmail. It
brought a ton of new ideas to how email
could work, including old standbys like
snoozing and newer ideas like bundling.
Over those four years, Inbox gained a
small number of adherents who suffered
through too-rare updates so they could
have a better (or at least different) email
experience.
A lot of the features in Inbox were
well-loved, mainly because they were
so obviously lacking in Gmail without
dealing with hacky third-party solutions.
Inbox provided a way to manage the
Minister Jeje Odongo and the police spokesperson Emilian Kayima were onslaught of email with gestures that
chased away by angry mourners from Muhammad Kirumira’s burial.
made it easy to process messages on
the go. It was also generally seen as
a potential incubator for new email
features that could come to Gmail —
though, in practice, Inbox didn’t see
enough updates to justify its reputation
as a testing ground.
In April of this year, Google released
a complete redesign of Gmail that
incorporated nearly all of the key features
of Inbox: snoozing, connected tasks lists
(albeit in a sidebar), and more. If users
didn’t see the writing on the wall with
that release, the long delay of Inbox’s
iPhone X compatibility was another sign.
Google says that there are still a few
features due to make the migration
from Inbox, specifically the “bundles”
that group similar emails together into a
single block, like those related to a single
President Yoweri Museveni strongly emphasized the installation of the street trip. That’s coming to Gmail, but there’s
cameras as he addressed the nation, to curb the on-going insecurity in Uganda. no word yet on the timeline for it.

Sept 21 - 27, 2018 7

Sixty-six couples
dressed in
traditional clothing
take part in an
ancient-style love
ceremony of the
Mosuo people at
Lugu Lake, Sichuan
province, China

People in Valletta,
Malta hold
up photos of
assassinated anti-
corruption journalist
Daphne Caruana
Galizia and torches
on mobile phones
during a vigil to
mark 11 months
since her murder in
a car bombing

Closing, merging public agencies
By Andrew M. Mwenda
Why the new government reform measures should
not throw away the baby with the bathwater
T
he decision by government of
Uganda to reduce the number of
semi autonomous government
agencies, commissions and other
bodies is a very good and long over due.
Beginning the mid 1990s until only recently
there has been a proliferation of these
bodies many of which duplicate roles and
functions. Therefore the justification for
merging some of them and taking others
back to their mother ministries is agreeable.
However, and like many reforms, this one
runs the risk of throwing away the baby
with the bathwater.
It is important to understand the reasons
for the creation of specialised government
agencies. At the beginning of Uganda’s
reforms, in the early to mid 1990s the civil
service was poorly paid, poorly motivated
therefore inefficient and corrupt. Consistent
with President Yoweri Museveni’s principle
that to be effective amidst limited resources,
one must always prioritise, government
identified those areas like revenue mobilisa-
tion, facilitating investment and later invest-
ment in roads and energy as strategic sec-
tors that needed to be paid special attention.
This explains the creation of institu-
tions like Uganda Revenue Authority and
Uganda Investment Authority in the early
1990s and later in the 2000s, the creation of
Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA)
and Uganda Electricity Generation Com-
pany Limited (UEGCL), Uganda Electricity
Transmission Company Limited (UETCL),
Uganda Electricity Distribution Company
Limited (UEDCL) and Rural Electrification
Agency (REA). The idea was to attract very
good professionals by paying them above
the normal civil service scale so that they
can be agents of reform and implementa-
tion of functions that were critical for our
recovery.
In the early to mid 2000s, I was one of
the leading critics of this strategy. I argued
that government sought reform by addi-
tion to rather than transformation of the
civil service. This tended to create islands
of efficiency in a large sea of incompetence
and corruption. These islands would make
people in the mainstream civil service feel
neglected and demoralise them. For me, this
was likely to become a source of frustration
and envy, further undermining public sec-
tor performance. But with hindsight I was
wrong and was imposing theoretical knowl-
The Last Word
edge on a complex social landscape.
It is difficult to transform an entire civil
service; especially given the limited resourc-
es available to the state in poor countries.
Therefore, the benefits of an “islands of effi-
ciency” strategy exceed its costs. The cre-
ation of URA from the Ministry of Finance
was very successful and has been borrowed
by other nations of Africa. However, in
Uganda the creation of semi autonomous
agencies became a fashion. They mush-
roomed everywhere even in areas where
they were not a priority. It is this loss of
selectivity that discredited this strategy.
However, in reversing it, we should not lose
sight of its original justification, aims and
achievements.
I have two sectors in mind – roads and
energy. Uganda has sustained an impres-
sive rate of economic growth for over 30
years. This growth has brought a lot of pres-
sure on existing infrastructure; especially
on roads and electricity supply that were
beginning to chock future growth. Hence
there is a special need to invest in these
areas. Yet cabinet recommended UNRA be
dissolved and taken back to the ministry of
works, and that UEGCL, UETCL, UEDCL
and REA be merged to create an entity akin
to the old and inefficient Uganda Electricity
Board (UEB).
Now, the idea behind UNRA was to cre-
ate an agency to design, build and maintain
roads, so that the ministry can concentrate
on policy. UNRA, even with all its weak-
nesses, has performed very well. As the
president often boasts, one can now drive
from any border point of Uganda to another
on a smooth paved road. So why is govern-
ment dismantling a successful organisation
and taking it back to its parent ministry?
How is it duplicating the functions of policy
at the ministry of works? How does its dis-
mantling improve efficiency and effective-
ness in designing, building and maintaining
roads?
UNRA has a staff of 1,400 employees,
over 70% of them engineers. They are paid
salaries above the civil service scales. How
many would accept a pay cut? It is possible
most of them will leave and those who
accept pay cuts may do so because they are
expecting to compensate their official pay
with corruption. In any case, the sector will
suffer a second purging in three years. In
2015, the newly appointed Executive Direc-
Opinion
tor of UNRA, Allen Kagina, fired almost
80% of the staff, thereby losing all the accu-
mulated experience, memory, values and
skills in one stroke. She has been rebuilding
these almost from scratch. Now govern-
ment in yet another stroke may cause the
same loss. Does this make sense?
Let us come to the energy sector where
the Uganda government has been a lead-
ing reformer in Africa. A joint World Bank
and Africa Renewable Energy Program
for 2016 shows that of the 39 countries
they studied; only Uganda and Seychelles
were fully recovering their operational and
capital costs. Therefore, unbundling UEB
was good. It has attracted private investors
in both the generation and distribution of
electricity, making our country move from
energy production deficit to surplus and
has transformed our distribution network
from a dilapidated loss making sector into
a highly attractive one even by the leading
global equity funds.
For example, when Uganda sought to
privatise electricity distribution in 2002, all
the international firms that came to do a
due diligence refused to invest in the sec-
tor. Then Umeme came and transformed
the sector into a profitable business. In 2012
and 2015 when Umeme issued the Initial
and Second Public Offering respectively,
it was over subscribed by 168%. In fact it
is the success of Umeme that led to invest-
ment in generation that is responsible for
the surplus.
In my view, therefore, UEGCL and
UETCL should be left as they are. But UED-
CL can be merged with REA. However,
UEDCL should sell off all the remaining
assets it is managing like the pole treatment
plant. So rural electrification can become a
division of UEDCL. This way we can have
a lean institution that continues to develop
the distribution network in rural and other
areas where Umeme cannot go.
The overall aim of government is (or
should be) to deliver public goods and ser-
vices in an efficient and effective manner to
her citizens. This aim should not be lost the
pursuit of cutting costs. It is very possible
that in dismantling UNRA and recreating
UEB, government is going back to a bad
past, not a better future.
amwenda@independent.co.ug
Sept 21 - 27, 2018 9
cover story

Merging agencies
Short memories drive move from highly
paid agency bosses to timid bureaucrats
Transport
Boards
NGO
URF
Road Safety
NIRA BOARD Boards

UNRA
Ministry
of Internal Ministry of
Affairs Works

UMRA
UEDCL
URBRA
UETCL REA

IRA UEGCL
Accountability Ministry of
Sector Energy

UWA
UTB
UFZA UHI
UCI
EUFL

UWECT
UIA Ministry
of Wildlife, Mulago
Ministry of Tourism Specialised
Finance
Hospital

10 Sept 21 - 27, 2018


By Flavia Nassaka & Ian Katusiime
O
n Sept.09 a cabinet meeting
chaired by President Museveni
at State House Entebbe agreed to
merge several government agen-
cies, scrap some, and return others to the
sector ministries.
Although the decision had been hinted
on, it was such hot news that by the time
the Minister of Information and ICT, Frank
Tumwebaze, announced the list of affected
agencies on Sept.11, details had already
leaked.
Up to 36 previously stand-alone enti-
ties were merged to create 15 departments
under their sector ministries. Another
33 previously stand-alone entities were
returned to their sector ministries. That was
a big 46% chop out of the 150 stand-alone
agencies and authorities that had emerged
in less than 20 years and eclipsed their
mother ministries in money, manpower,
and political clout.
The decision potentially marks either
a shift or end of careers for thousands of
workers and an uncertain future for public
service delivery and function currently pro-
vided by the agencies. The only respite is
that the transformation is to be spread over
three years to 2022. But what is driving this
bold move by the government?
In affected agencies where the merger
decision landed like a letter bomb, insid-
ers say staff morale has sunk because the
mother ministries where they might end
up have different salary structures that are
very low. The top earner, the head of public
service earns Shs5 million, and permanent
secretaries Shs3.7million. The government is
offering to retain the bosses of merged agen-
cies as commissioners of their departments
within the parent ministries and to enhance
the salaries of others. However, no public
servant can officially earn more than Shs5
million per month and no enhancements
are likely to match the hefty paycheques
and perks the agency bosses have been
enjoying.
Top bosses in some of the affected
agencies like the Uganda National Roads
Authority (UNRA) reportedly earn Shs45
million per month, National Medical Stores
(NMS) Shs35 million, National Information
Technology Authority (NITA) Shs34, Ugan-
da Coffee Development Authority (UCDA)
Shs25 million, Cotton Development Author-
ity (CDA) Shs19 million, and the Rural Elec-
trification Agency (REA) Shs24 million.
That means most of the heads of agencies
are likely to quit working for the govern-
ment and, according to some analysts, that
is when the trouble will start.
UNRA a target?
Initially, there were indications that the
mother of all agencies; the Uganda Revenue
Authority (URA) would be returned to the
Ministry of Finance as a department. It sur-
vived. The same was expected of the Ugan-
da Communications Commission (UCC). It
too survived. Not so lucky was UNRA. This
jewel of road construction and maintenance
appears to have been knocked down by the
weight of numerous corruption scandals,
operational lethargy, and bad publicity that
even the appointment of superstar man-
ager, Allen Kagina, who is credited with
restructuring URA to greatness, failed to
reverse. According to the wording of Tum-
webaze’s list, UNRA is to be “collapsed into
a department in the Ministry of Works and
Transport.”
UNRA is cited first mainly because it is
the biggest, has an approved staff estab-
lishment of 1,740, has an annual wage bill
of Shs120 billion, and in what is seen as a
Allen Kagina
Salim Saleh
duplication of mandates, still shares work
with Uganda Road Fund and the mother
Ministry of Works.
There has also been talk about fights
between Monica Azuba Ntege, the Minister
of Works and Kagina over control of the
huge Shs1 trillion budget of UNRA. Until
now, UNRA has been the symbol of Musev-
eni’s determination to leave roads as his
legacy.
Over 12 years, he has pushed the annual
budget for roads from Shs398 billion in 2006
to Shs4 trillion in 2018. Along the way, he
has fought battles with donors who do not
favour investment in infrastructure over
social services.
cover story
Since it started operations in 2008, UNRA
has been the anchor of the development
of national roads and people could not
imagine that ten years later, government
would be planning to collapse it into a mere
department at the ministry of Works. Ana-
lysts say UNRA is making a huge contribu-
tion in spite of the general foot-dragging
and corruption that is rampant in govern-
ment.
Sam Mutabazi, executive director of
Uganda Road Sector Support Initiative,
a road sector NGO, is critical of the way
UNRA works but says returning it to the
Ministry of Works is not the solution.
“Kagina’s magic bullet has not worked.
UNRA spends about Shs120 billion on wag-
es per year and they have been inefficient,”
he says.
He faults Kagina who was appointed in
2015 for hiring many “sociologists” who are
obsessed with policy instead of engineers
who build roads. He accuses them of fail-
ing to do the Kampala Outer Belt; which is
the ring road from Kasangati to Matugga
and Wakiso and instead are talking about
flyovers. But he says there are ways of
improving UNRA and does not support
collapsing it because “it is a critical body”.
“I have worked with Ministry of Works
on several projects and even approving of
the smallest things will take not less than
two months, and these are decisions made
by the Permanent Secretary and Minister,”
he tells The Independent.
“Bureaucrats and civil servants are timid
and besides government is top heavy and
inclined towards politics,” he argues, “With-
out overhauling a ministry, you cannot
bring back an agency.”
Mutabazi like other analysts also criticises
the way the government has handled the
restructuring.
“They should have hired consultants,
economists,” he says, “Cabinet cannot sit
down and handle this because their role is
politics not this.”
He explains that consultants would have
visited the government agencies and done
audits, “It could be the reason they are not
touching UCC because it is political.”
He says there has been duplication of
functions for a long time between National
Environmental Management Authority
(NEMA) and National Forestry Authority
(NFA), the Uganda Wildlife Authority and
Uganda Tourism Board, and the Uganda
Investment Authority and Uganda Free
Zones Authority among others.
Saving Shs1 trillion
Critics have also often said most of the
150 agencies and authorities were created to
feed President Yoweri Museveni’s network
of patronage and Tumwebaze, while releas-
ing the list of affected agencies said the
government expects to cut costs by about
Shs1 trillion. This could be mainly what has
Sept 21 - 27, 2018 11
cover story
Albert Nile 1 ferry operated by UNRA. UNRA’s operations will be carried out by the Ministry of Works after the agency merger.   INDEPENDENT/IAN KATUSIIME
been spent on the operating expenses and
salaries.
But Fred Muhumuza, an economist and
lecturer at Makerere University Kampala,
says the government is unlikely to save any
money and the Shs1 trillion saving being
bandied around is wrong. He says expendi-
ture on public administration might, in fact,
go up as the ministries resort to outsourcing
expertise the government is throwing out.
Many heads of these agencies are experts
in their fields and were head-hunted from
abroad to come and “help” Uganda. By
throwing them out, it appears, President
Museveni is showing that he has a short
memory.
Some agency bosses have expressed dis-
appointment that they were not consulted.
Others have openly criticised the move say-
ing it will not work.
Others are watching how the government
will implement a move of this magnitude
where over 60 commissions, agencies, and
authorities are to be cut out. So far, the
immediate losers are affected agency bosses
and staff who have been earning huge, arbi-
trary salaries and, according to critics, show-
ing no clear returns on the investment. But
in the long term, experts are warning, the
public might be the loser as service delivery
deteriorates at the hands of the traditional
public service.
This is mainly because most of the agen-
cies being phased out are of the functional
12 Sept 21 - 27, 2018
type; designed to deliver a specific function
based on more management autonomy,
policy independency, and different struc-
tures.
There is also anxiety that Museveni is
returning to the 1980s slow, bureaucratic,
and politically-laced public administration
approach.
According to Muhumuza, even with the
mergers, the government’s operational costs
will remain unchanged and only the admin-
istrative costs will be saved.
“The recommendation of cutting costs
has been there for long, it is being imple-
mented now because the government needs
more money,” he says.
According to him, Museveni needs
money to deal with the declining security
situation that has seen many high profile
people assassinated and others taking on
additional bodyguards. The government is
also investing heavily in telecommunication
eavesdropping and surveillance technology,
and policing personnel and equipment.
For Muhumuza, therefore, the merger is
more political than economic.
To understand this, Muhumuza says,
one will need to look at the bodies that have
been retained. He points out Uganda Com-
munications Commission (UCC) which he
says under normal circumstances would
have been taken to the Ministry of ICT. He
says it was retained because it makes it easy
for Museveni to monitor citizens’ telephone
communication.
It might also explain why the huge parlia-
ment of about 450 members and more staff
and Museveni’s huge cabinet, raft of advi-
sors, and representatives in district have not
been touched.
Musa Mayanja Lwanga, a policy analyst
formerly at Economic Policy Research
Council (EPRC) at Makerere University
Kampala – which is to be merged with
others under the National Planning Author-
ity, says while the idea is good, it has been
solely based on cutting cost instead of doing
a cost –benefit analysis to see if these bodies
will perform better under mother ministries.
According to him, each entity should
have been evaluated not just on cost but
other parameters.
“Some entities needed improving, others
complete phase out, and some merging,”
he says.
He says agencies like Uganda Coffee
Development Authority (UCDA) have
been almost self-financing but have suf-
fered interference by the likes of Operation
Wealth Creation headed by Museveni’s
brother Gen. Caleb Akandwanaho aka
Salim Saleh and the National Agriculture
Advisory Services (NAADS).
“Putting them back to ministries will just
lower their efficiency because taking deci-
sions will take long with the bureaucracy
associated with civil service,” he says.
He says some entities like EPRC, a think

tank, need some level of independence to
work.
“Entities like UNRA, although it has had
scandals which are expected of entities that
handle a lot of money, they are more effi-
cient than the mother Ministry of Works,”
he says.
For Lwanga who also heads Research
and Market Development at Uganda
Bankers’ Association, instead of initially
targeting technocrats, cabinet should have
first thought of the likes of town councils,
districts that have no clear mandates but a
lot of money is spent on them.
He gives an example of cabinet that was
only composed of 22 ministers in 1994 but
shot to 56 after the 1996 elections, then to 67
after the 2001 elections. The cabinet now has
over 80 ministers.
Lwanga says the idea to come up with
these entities in the 1990s was that they hire
competent people who would be given
targets and contracts that could be easily
terminated if they failed to deliver. Their
salaries would be determined by market
forces.
Promoted by western donors, the idea to
create agencies took off with the formation
of the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) in
1991 out of the Ministry of Finance. URA
went on to improve revenue collection,
reduce corruption, and create efficiency.
The body was staffed by technical, well-
tried people. They were also paid well.
Following URA’s success, donors insisted
on more agencies.
But soon creation of agencies became
the norm even where it was not necessary.
Every cause that came up got an agency
and the wage bill bulged uncontrollably.
Lawrence Bategeka, a senior economist
and Member of Parliament for Hoima
Municipality who has researched on the
issue, says the entities soon got infiltrated
by politicians who rewarded people with
positions basing on their loyalty not com-
petence.
“That is why you see there was efficiency
at the beginning but now there are no gains
anymore,” he told The Independent, “some
bodies collect money and all of it is used to
pay employees. Then they keep saying that
they can’t perform because they are under-
funded.”
The other issues include weak leadership
at some of the agencies and the desire for
more political control over some of their
functions. At UNRA, for example, it has
been clear for some time that President
Museveni is happy to award road con-
struction contracts which should be the
job of UNRA. Despite having the Uganda
Investment Authority (UIA) Museveni’s
Statehouse has also become the de facto
one-stop-centre for major investors.
Bategeka says the government could no
longer afford to continue investing money
in these bodies yet they yield little. As early
as 2002, Museveni was appointing experts
to look into the situation and make recom-
mendations on how this expenditure could
be cut.
He says while still a research fellow at
EPRC, he conducted a study on the cost of
public administration and one of the find-
ings was that there was a lot of expenditure
on agencies that only duplicated work of
either the mother ministry or another gov-
ernment entity.
Back then, he says, they recommended
that some of these entities be phased out but
the President did not buy into the idea until
now. The recommendation was to do away
with entities that did not have clear man-
dates; especially those whose creation was
politically motivated and subsequently led
to a number of political appointees.
Museveni did not act on these recom-
mendations although, at that time, public
administration expenditure claimed the big-
gest share of the national GDP at 3.2% from
2.7% in 1988/99 and yet the total share of
public administration accounted for 20.2%
of the budget out-turn by 2000/2001.
The current move appears to be the crest
of a move that begun in 2014, when the
parliamentary committee on Commissions,
Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises
(COSASE) launched a probe into about 120
government agencies. They pored over staff
inventories, board membership, pay, and
contracts.
President Museveni in August 2017
instructed the Prime Minister Ruhakana
cover story
Rugunda to review the public service with a
view to merge some entities. He cited dupli-
cation of responsibilities between govern-
ment departments, agencies, and authorities
and boards for money consuming units.
But now, according to some reports, the
current merger is being executed by Salim
Saleh who is not a technical person and may
be unfamiliar with organisation restructur-
ing processes.
It is not helpful that, days after the lists of
affected agencies were released by the gov-
ernment; there has not been follow-up activ-
ity to indicate adequate pre-preparation for
the move. Although the creation of some
of these agencies lacked clear public policy
justification, it appears phasing them out is
also adhoc.
Gen. Saleh’s critics say the options of
improving, phasing out, and merging
some of them under the mother ministries
required thorough technical audits and not
the ad hoc political decisions being made.
Some argue that the move involves tech-
nical processes in parliament since most of
the agencies are statutory bodies.
Not a done deal yet
Meanwhile, the mergers are not a done
deal yet. So everyone appears to be batting
for their entity to be spared.
For example, Gideon Badagawa, the exec-
utive director of Private Sector Foundation
Uganda, the umbrella body for private sec-
tor players, says organisations like Uganda
Registration Services Bureau (URSB) and
Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) are
key for his sector.
“Some of these have not been picking
money from government. Two years ago,
URSB was collecting Shs5billion in non-
tax revenue. With our interventions under
World Bank programs, it now collects more
than Shs35billion a year.” URSB will be
mainstreamed under the Ministry of Justice
and Constitutional Affairs while IRA will be
collapsed under a department within Bank
of Uganda.
He says that URSB is needed to formalise
businesses which is crucial for boosting tax
revenue from the private sector.
Badagawa argues that there should be a
well-informed process guiding the mergers
to establish the impact of some of the agen-
cies on the economy.
“These decisions should be informed by
research, critical analysis, and there should
be benchmarking, what is Ethiopia, Kenya
doing?”
He says the restructuring should be
a principle beyond merely reducing the
cost of public administration adding
that the number of districts should be
included in the review. “If some of these
areas are not looked at, then it will not
make sense to the private sector as a tax
payer.” Hopefully, someone with a long
memory is listening.
Sept 21 - 27, 2018 13
NEWS ANALYSIS
An aerial view of Kampala city carnival revellers along Kampala Road.
Kampala City
without its carnival
East Africa’s entertainment capital will be dull this October
By Ronald Musoke
M
ake a date with East Africa’s
biggest street party during the
festival weekend from Oct.5-7.”
Well, not this year.
Kampala city, which carries the moniker
of “East Africa’s entertainment capital,”
will not be having savoury aromas of roast,
drinking binges, and electric vibes by sen-
sational artists entertaining thousands of
people with painted faces and outlandish
costumes on its streets this October.
As soon as the announcement was made
on Sept.12, the tears started to flow; espe-
cially from the young population who are
known for enjoying themselves at the slight-
est opportunity.
Youthful Michael Ssenabulya, from Kam-
pala’s poor neighbourhood of Kamwokya
has attended three of the past six city fes-
tivals. He is inconsolable about Kampala
Capital City Authority’s cancelling of this
year’s edition of the carnival.
“This event had become part of us. We
have grown to anticipate and plan for this
festival,” he said.
He says what he liked most about the
carnival was the opportunity for him to mix
with people from different parts of the city
in one place, throughout the day, freely and
without any fuss.
14 Sept 21 - 27, 2018
Sundays in Kampala are normally quiet
and laid back but residents had come to
associate the first week of October with
probably the biggest street party in East
Africa. Kampala Road, which is the city’s
main street, would come alive during the
carnival with music, dance, fashion and
fanfare.
But Jennifer Musisi, the executive director
of KCCA says this year, instead of parties
and merrymaking, carnival sponsor contri-
butions will go to KCCA projects; including
re-roofing schools with residual asbestos
roofs, improvement of city UPE schools and
construction of a maternity ward at Kiswa
Health Centre.
So what happened to the talk of the festi-
val preserving Kampala’s history and tradi-
tion, stimulating the local economy, enter-
taining and involving the community and
visitors in a fun-filled atmosphere? These
are the objectives of the carnival that Musisi
listed at its start six years ago in 2012.
Organizers had in fact modeled the Kam-
pala festival on the famous Rio de Janeiro
carnival in Brazil—an event which has been
going on since the 1830s.
Musisi says KCCA has recently had an
epiphany; that city residents could this year
benefit from investments into facilities that
serve them as a group.
“We realized it is the same people who
come to the carnival that come to our health
centres and send their children to our public
schools.
“We had to do something for them. We
love and enjoy festivities but we had to
choose our priorities,” she said.
Carnival comes to Kampala
When it first featured on Kampala’s busy
social scene in 2012, it was held as part of
the celebrations to mark Uganda’s golden
jubilee of independence.
The festival, however, made it back a year
later and KCCA has since then been throw-
ing one of the biggest street parties in East
Africa attracting multitudes to Kampala
residents every October to celebrate culture,
unity and social life.
In fact, according to Musisi, the festival
has been one of the fastest growing events
in terms of numbers and activities.
On the weekend preceding Uganda’s
independence anniversary celebrated on
October 9, Kampala would become animat-
ed with glitzy sights, thrilling sounds and
lively concerts complete with an array of
floats winding through Kampala Road—the
main route of the carnival. Some of Ugan-
da’s popular musicians with their queen
dancers would wiggle to some of the latest
hits working up the youthful audiences.
Carnival goers would be treated to acro-

The Kampala city festival has been popular even with children.  COURTESY PHOTO
batic shows, face-painting, a motor rally on
the city streets, and manufacturers would
showcase products, run promos and give
gifts. Everything would be washed down
with swigs of beer and soda after munching
barbeque meat and chicken mchomos.
Even the Uganda Wildlife Authority has
used the carnival to show wildlife to people
who cannot afford to visit national wildlife
parks.
The carnival was a good opportunity to
celebrate and network with people from
different walks of life and profession. The
little ones would have the bouncing castles
and enjoy performances from fellow chil-
dren as well as acrobatics. It was a weekend
to loosen up and dress in some of the most
flamboyant costumes.
Stephen Asiimwe, the executive director
of the Uganda Tourism Board told The Inde-
pendent that the Kampala city festival has
been part of the tourism social calendar.
“But from an institutional point of view,
we respect the position of the Kampala
Capital City Authority,” he said.
KCCA billed the carnival as an event
where revelers share, learn, and network
while acting as an economic engine for com-
panies, organisations and small businesses
to flourish.
“With Kampala in a constant state of
change and regeneration, the festival proj-
ects the image of the city as a happy, cul-
tural and warm place to be while promoting
positive change to its public realm.”
At last year’s carnival, KCCA brought in
top Tanzanian superstar, Diamond Plati-
num, but this year, Musisi says the event
has been about fundraising and not fun all
along.
“The creation of a platform for city resi-
dents of all backgrounds to network and
just make merry was secondary,” says Peter
Kaujju, the KCCA spokesperson in an inter-
view with The Independent.
“We know that they were used to at least
getting that one day off to be on the streets
and have fun. They will miss out this year
but subsequently, may be, they will have it
back.”
Auditing the carnival
In that case, says Amanda Ngabirano, a
lecturer of urban and regional planning in
the Department of Architecture and Physi-
cal Planning at Makerere University, “We
need it back but in another form.”
Ngabirano told The Independent that a city
carnival is good but it was “a little bit exag-
gerated because of the expenses involved.”
She says she did not like the fuss that came
with it because the amount of pollution
emitted on that day was so high from
trucks, vehicles and motorcycles.
“The noise was too much,” she says,
“Festivals are about people; and wherever
these festivals are successful, you don’t see
cars. It was actually a good idea that needed
polishing to standards of other cities.
“What does it help if you organize a city
festival and by the end of the day, the air in
that particular area is so polluted?”
Carnivals in cities like Rio de Janeiro in
Brazil, Cologne in Germany, Venice in Italy,
Quebec in Canada draw a lot from the city’s
history, tradition and culture.
The Carnaval de Quebec in Canada, for
instance, has a long history of celebrations
spanning from late January to mid-Febru-
ary and is often promoted as the “world
capital of snow.”
In Italy, Venice attracts tourists from all
over the world and every year, the city
transforms into a cocktail of parties and fun
with its distinct appointments of entertain-
ment, gastronomy and music. But it is the
world famous carnival in Rio de Janeiro that
keeps attracting the largest amount of fan-
fare from around the world.
From mid-January to mid-February, the
city literally stands still with hundreds of
street parties locally called “blocos.” The
carnival has blocos for everyone, from the
elderly to those that cater for people with
mental health problems.
NEWS ANALYSIS
In 2015, Brazil welcomed nearly a mil-
lion tourists to the city for the carnival who
according to Time magazine spent US$782
million paying for hotels and restaurants.
Michael Kabaziguruka, the shadow
minister of KCCA and also MP for Nakawa
Municipality, says the way the Kampala
festival was promoted and celebrated did
not make sense.
He told The Independent on Sept. 17 that
the festival would have made sense if it was
about celebrating Uganda’s culture. But, it
was about, “some people simply showing
off a few kilometres that have been reha-
bilitated; a fountain at Kampala Pentecostal
Church.”
Kabaziguruka who sits on the Presiden-
tial Affairs Committee of Parliament says he
wants the activities surrounding the Kam-
pala city festival investigated.
Has the money KCCA used previously
exclusively come from donors? Was the
balance from the festival invested in social
infrastructure? So how then can you can-
cel it to save money? If you are cancelling
the carnival, it means the sponsors are not
going to bring in money, he says.
“We shall invite KCCA management to
present to us how much they have received
and from which sources and how they have
utilized the money.”
“I don’t see why the sponsors would
now want to channel their money into
these activities without the carnival. The
reason why these advertisers would want
to see themselves associate with the carnival
would be to promote their businesses.”
“So under what circumstances would
they say, since the carnival has been can-
celled, we can forego that money?”
“This is like cancelling an advert, in
which case they would want their money
back. These entities are quite capable of giv-
ing charity on their own. Why would they
want to do that through KCCA?” Grumpy
Kabaziguruka, it appears, is determined to
add to the gloom in KCCA this October.
Sept 21 - 27, 2018 15
NEWS ANALYSIS
The story of
corruption
From our ancestors to modern leaders; all do it
By Asit K. Biswas & Cecilia Tortajada
C
orruption has existed since the
Egyptian dynasty and still persists
in almost every country around the
globe.
After huge corruption scandals in Malay-
sia and Brazil, Indonesia has just witnessed
one of its regions losing more than 90% of
its councilors as they are implicated in graft
cases.
Looking through history, corruption
seems inevitable.
Old myths on corruption
The Oxford Dictionary defines corrup-
tion as “dishonest or fraudulent conduct by
those in power, typically involving bribery”.
Corruption originates from a Latin word :
corruptus. The word is the past participle of
corrumpere, meaning “mar, bribe, destroy”.
Corruption is as old as human history.
The First Dynasty (3100–2700 BC) of ancient
Egypt noted corruption in its judiciary.
The practice also existed in ancient China.
In Chinese mythology, every household has
a Kitchen God who watches the behavior of
its members. A week before Chinese New
16 Sept 21 - 27, 2018
Year, the Kitchen God ascends to heaven
to present his annual report to the Ruler of
Heaven, the Jade Emperor.
The fate of the household, whether this
be reward or punishment, depends on
this report. In an attempt to ensure a good
report, many households smear a cake of
sugar and honey onto the picture of the
Kitchen God they keep in their homes
before burning the image, which in Chinese
mythology is how the Kitchen God can
ascend to heaven to meet the Jade Emperor.
In a similar vein, Greek historian Herodo-
tus notes the Alcmaeonid family bribed the
Oracle of Delphi priestesses, one of the most
powerful mystical forces of ancient Greek.
Dating back to 1400 BC, people all over
Greece and beyond came to have their ques-
tions answered by the Pythia, high priestess
of Apollo. The wealthy Alcmaeonid family
offered to lavishly rebuild the Temple of
Apollo with “Parian marble” after it had
been destroyed by an earthquake. In return,
Pythia convinced the nation-state Sparta to
help the family to conquer and rule Athens.
Since it worked, Aristotle noted even gods
can be bribed!
Corruptions around the globe
As the global economy expanded sig-
nificantly during the 20th century, levels of
corruption increased as well. It is difficult to
estimate the global magnitude and extent of
corruption since these activities are carried
out in secret.
The World Bank estimates international
bribery exceeds US$1.5 trillion annually, or
2% of global GDP and ten times more than
total global aid funds. Other estimates are
higher at 2-5% of global GDP.
Corruption permeates all levels of society
from low-level public servants accepting
petty bribes to national leaders stealing mil-
lions of dollars.
Transparency International estimates
Indonesia’s former president Suharto
siphoned off anywhere from $15 billion to
$35 billion. The Philippines’ Ferdinand Mar-
cos, Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire and Sani
Abacha of Nigeria may have embezzled $5
billion each.
Brazil’s greatest corruption scandal,
codenamed Lava Jato (carwash), unearthed
a vast and extraordinarily complex web of
corruption. Directors of Petrobras, Brazil’s
national oil company, used a slush fund to

pay politicians who had appointed them to
support the election campaigns of the gov-
erning coalition.
Lava Jato ensnared politicians and busi-
ness leaders from 11 countries, ranging
from Brazil to Peru. It sidelined Brazil’s
most popular resident, Luiz Inácio Lula
da Silva, now serving a 12-year prison
sentence. The case forced the Peruvian
president, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, to resign
when confronted with an impeachment
vote.
Another major recent corruption case is
in Malaysia. Former prime minister Najib
Razak is being investigated for misap-
propriation from the Malaysian strategic
company, 1Malaysia Development Berhad
(1MDB), which he chaired. The U.S. Depart-
ment of Justice has alleged $4.5 billion was
misappropriated from 1MDB. The lawsuit
has referred to Najib as “Malaysian Official
1”, who is alleged to have received more
than $1 billion in 1MDB funds. Najib, who
was accused of using some of the money
to buy jewelry for his wife, has denied any
wrongdoing.
Corruption cases involving national
leaders are not unique. In 2015, President
Otto Pérez Molina of Guatemala was forced
to resign after Congress stripped him of
immunity because of his alleged role in
a huge corruption scheme involving its
national customs service.
In South Africa, the ruling African
National Congress this year sacked Presi-
dent Jacob Zuma, who has been charged
with corruption.
In 2017, South Korea impeached its presi-
dent, Park Geun-hye, for bribery and other
charges. In 2018, she was convicted of abuse
of power, coercion and bribery and jailed
for 24 years.
Corruption as a way of life
Corruption has become a way of life in
numerous countries. In 2011, Transparency
International (TI) reported that two-thirds
of Bangladeshis and well over half of Indi-
ans had paid a bribe during the preceding
12 months.
In 2017, it further reported that glob-
ally one in four people had paid bribes in
the previous 12 months to access a public
service. Nearly 57% of people around the
world felt their governments were doing
badly to fight corruption. Only 30% thought
their governments were doing well.
Another TI study in 2017 showed global-
ly around one-third of people consider their
presidents, prime ministers, national and
local government officials, business execu-
tives, elected representatives and police
officers corrupt.
Police officers are seen to be most corrupt
in Sub-Saharan Africa (47%) and Asia Pacif-
ic (39%). This is a damaging indictment of
the extent and magnitude of global corrup-
tion perceptions in this age of Homo cor-
ruptus (very spoiled and marred persons).
The impacts
Corruption severely constrains poverty
alleviation and economic development.
In 2017, nearly 10% of Asians, around 400
million, lived in extreme poverty. Corrup-
tion siphons off funds intended for poverty
alleviation.
Countries like Bangladesh, China, India,
Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Thailand and
the Philippines all face pervasive corruption
problems.
If developing countries can control cor-
ruption and enforce the rule of law, the
World Bank estimates per capita income
could increase fourfold over the long term.
On average, the business sector could grow
3% faster. Corruption is also a de facto tax
on foreign direct investments, amounting to
around 20%.
Police officers
are seen
to be most
corrupt in
Sub-Saharan
Africa
(47%)
and Asia
Pacific
(39%)
Controlling corruption can improve
many socio-economic indicators, including
reducing infant mortality rate by 75%.
What we can do?
International financial systems have
made it possible for public officials to hide
their ill-gotten wealth in tax havens. In
2014, the Panama Papers leaked 11.5 mil-
lion files. These showed that two national
leaders among 143 politicians, their families
and close associates from all over the world
were using offshore tax havens to hide their
wealth.
Similarly, the Paradise Papers leaked 13.4
million files from two different offshore ser-
vice providers and 19 tax haven company
registries. It revealed offshore activities of
more than 120 politicians and world lead-
ers as well as financial engineering of more
than 100 multinational corporations.
Controlling corruption requires strength-
NEWS ANALYSIS
ening institutions and promptly upholding
the rules of law as some countries like Sin-
gapore have shown.
Singapore’s late prime minister, Lee
Kuan Yew, recounted that corruption was
commonplace in the civil service during
colonial times. When his party came to
power, its leaders enshrined anti-corruption
as a development priority since it was con-
sidered a prerequisite for good governance.
Even then, Keppel Offshore and Marine, a
unit of conglomerate Keppel Corporation
of Singapore, paid a staggering fine of $422
million to US, Brazilian and Singaporean
authorities for paying bribes of $55 million
to Petrobras and Sete Brasil. The bribes
were paid between 2001 and 2014 to win 13
contracts.
President Xi Jinping of China has
declared a war on corruption, which has
targeted both “tigers and flies”, a reference
to senior and low-ranking officials. Many
powerful Chinese politicians and bureau-
crats, who were previously considered
untouchable, are now in jail because of cor-
ruption.
In India, virtually no major political
leader has been jailed for serious corruption.
This has given many powerful politicians
and senior bureaucrats a licence to steal. A
2017 TI report noted nearly 70% of Indians
who accessed a public service had to pay
a bribe. A silver lining is that over half of
Indians now are positive about the govern-
ment’s efforts to combat bribery. How-
ever, more than 40% felt corruption had
increased over the preceding 12 months.
Developed countries are not immune to
corruption either. The latest high-profile
example is US President Trump’s campaign
manager, Paul Manafort. He has been
indicted on eight tax and bank fraud charg-
es, with more charges yet to be judged.
Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen,
has pleaded guilty to eight violations of
banking, tax and campaign finance laws.
These may prove to be the tip of the iceberg.
Gandhi said: “The world has enough for
everyone’s need, but not enough for every-
one’s greed.”
As the world’s economy expands, the
potential for corruption increases as well.
Corruption can never be eliminated.
Whether we like it or not, it has always been
a part of human nature and will continue to
infect society. As the age of Homo corruptus
continues, the best any country can do is to
keep it to a minimum.
Asit K. Biswas is Distinguished Visiting
Professor, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public
Policy, National University of Singapore
and Cecilia Tortajada is Senior Research
Fellow, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public
Policy, National University of Singapore.
Bimal Pratap Shah, an independent
consultant from Kathmandu, Nepal,
contributed to this article.
Sept 21 - 27, 2018 17
NEWS ANALYSIS
Want to easily spot
a corrupt politician?
Look at how wide their face is
By Agencies
A
n old joke says if you want to
know if a politician is lying, see
if their lips are moving. New re-
search shows that people can pre-
dict something about a politician’s honesty
just by looking at them, but it’s not the lips
they’re noticing.
A series of studies conducted by Caltech
researchers show that when people are
shown photos of politicians they are not
familiar with, they can make better-than-
18 Sept 21 - 27, 2018
chance judgments about whether those pol-
iticians have been convicted of corruption.
People can make these judgments even
without knowing anything about the politi-
cians or their careers. And one thing they
seem to be picking up on is how wide the
politicians’ faces are.
The individual people making these
judgments do only very slightly better
than if they were making a random guess
(although the difference is statistically sig-
nificant). However, the judgments become
much more accurate when they are com-
bined across a group of people.
Face wideness -- technically, the facial
width-to-height ratio -- has been shown
in previous research to be correlated with
aggressive behavior in men. That is, men
with wider faces have a greater tendency to
be aggressive and threatening toward oth-
ers than do men with thinner faces. Studies
have also shown that wide-faced men are
perceived by others to be more threatening
than men with thinner faces.
The new Caltech study is the first to show
that observers have a knack for picking out

corrupt politicians based on just a portrait
and that observers perceive politicians with
wider faces as more corruptible.
“It might be difficult to understand why
you can look at others’ faces and tell some-
thing about them,” says Chujun Lin, study
co-author and Caltech graduate student.
“But there is no doubt that people form
first impressions from faces all the time. For
example, on dating sites people often reject
potential matches based on pictures without
reading the profile.”
However, it’s important to note that the
researchers are not claiming that politicians
who look corruptible are inherently more
corrupt than those who look honest. Their
research shows a connection between facial
appearance and corruption, but, they say,
there could be many explanations. One
possibility is that if a face conveys a sense of
dishonesty, the politician might be offered
bribes more often. Another possibility is
that corruptible-looking politicians are not
any more corruptible than honest-looking
politicians, but because of their looks they
are more often suspected of, investigated
for, and convicted of corruption.
“If a jury is deciding whether or not a
politician is guilty, having a corruptible-
looking face might create a negative
impression, which might influence the
jury’s decision,” says Lin, who adds that
the “clean” politicians used in the study
might not actually be clean. “Maybe they
just haven’t been caught.”
The study, which appears in the journal
Psychological Science, consisted of four
parts.
Part 1: The researchers collected pictures
of 72 politicians who held office at the state
or federal level. Half had been convicted of
corruption and half had clean records. For
consistency, all of the politicians included
were male and Caucasian. All of the photos
were black-and-white; cropped to the same
size; and featured a frontal, smiling portrait.
The images were presented randomly to
100 volunteers, who were asked to rate
each politician on how corruptible, dishon-
est, selfish, trustworthy, and generous they
looked.
An analysis of the data collected showed
that the volunteers as a group were able
to correctly differentiate the corrupt politi-
cians from the clean politicians nearly 70
percent of the time based on their faces
alone.
Part 2: The second part of the study rep-
licated part 1, but used photos of 80 politi-
cians elected to state and local offices in
California. Half had violated the California
Political Reform Act -- a law that regulates
campaign finance, lobbying, and politi-
cians’ conflicts of interest -- and half had
clean records. As before, the data showed
that the volunteers could correctly differen-
tiate the corrupt politicians from the clean
politicians nearly 70 percent of the time.
Part 3: The third part of the study used
the images from part 1, but asked the vol-
unteers to judge the politicians on a new
set of criteria: corruptibility, aggressiveness,
masculinity, competence, and ambitious-
ness. The data from this study showed that
only corruptibility-related trait inferences
(inferences of corruptibility, dishonesty,
selfishness, aggressiveness, generosity, and
trustworthiness) differentiated corrupt poli-
ticians from the clean politicians. Inferences
of competence, ambitiousness, or masculin-
ity did not predict the politicians’ records.
Part 4a: In the fourth section of the study,
the researchers examined which of the
politicians’ facial structures the volunteers
associated with dishonesty and corrup-
tion. The faces were characterized by eight
measures that described things like distance
between the eyes, size of the cheekbones,
nose length, and face width. By compar-
ing the data from those measures against
the judgments made by the volunteers
and the records of corruption convictions,
the researchers found that politicians with
NEWS ANALYSIS
higher facial-width ratios were more likely
to be perceived as corruptible.
Part 4b: To double check that face width
was truly the characteristic driving negative
perceptions about a given politician, the
researchers gathered photos of 150 politi-
cians and digitally manipulated each into a
wide-faced version and a narrow-faced ver-
sion. The 450 resulting photos, including the
150 unaltered originals, were shown to 100
participants who were asked, as in the pre-
vious studies, to rate each image according
to how corruptible the politician seemed.
And again, face width made the difference.
The volunteers judged the wide-faced ver-
sions of the politicians to be more corrupt-
ible than their thin-faced counterparts.
“These findings raise many interesting
questions for future research,” says Lin.
“For example, what is the underlying causal
mechanism of the correlation between per-
ceived corruptibility and politicians’ records
found in our study? Are politicians who
look more corruptible more likely to be sus-
pected, investigated, and even convicted?”
The findings might make a person won-
der why corrupt politicians get elected in
the first place if people can tell they are
corrupt just by looking at them. Co-author
Ralph Adolphs (PhD ‘92), Bren Professor
of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Biology,
and director and Allen V. C. Davis and
Lenabelle Davis Leadership Chair of the
Caltech Brain Imaging Center, says that a
lot more than just a face goes into how you
feel about a person.
“In the real world, you’re not just seeing
a photo of a politician. You’re seeing them
talk and move,” says Adolphs, who is also
on the leadership team of the Tianqiao and
Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience.
“Their face might make a first impression
on you, but there are other factors that can
come in and override that.”
Before conducting this study, Lin
researched how politicians’ facial charac-
teristics relate to their success in elections
across different cultures. She plans to con-
tinue her research on the judgments people
make based on facial structures. Her next
study asks volunteers to judge people from
all walks of life on 100 different character-
istics such as helpfulness, meanness, and
healthiness, based on their faces.
The study, titled “Inferring Whether
Officials Are Corruptible From Looking At
Their Faces” was published in Psychological
Science on September 12. Michael Alvarez,
a Caltech political science professor, is also
a co-author. Funding for the research was
provided by the Caltech Conte Center for
Neurosciences and the National Institute of
Mental Health.
Source: Materials provided by California
Institute of Technology.
Sept 21 - 27, 2018 19
FEATURE
A rare photo of a Ground Pangolin taken in an African game reserve. Photo by David Brossard via Creative Commons
By Ronald Musoke
U
gandan conservationists are de-
termined to fight back against a
poaching assault on the pangolin,
a small, long-nosed mammal with
large overlapping keratin scales and the
focus of a multi-billion dollar illicit business,
fuelled by soaring Chinese demand.
Wildlife campaigners around the world
accuse China, where pangolin meat is a
delicacy and its scales are an important
component in traditional medicine, of push-
ing it towards extinction.
An investigation into the illicit trade took
us to Corner Kamdini; a bustling, small
trading centre 300 km north of Kampala
and a popular refreshment stop for travelers
to northern Uganda.
We had been told that Corner Kamdini
has a thriving trade in illicit wildlife meat
and products thanks to its location adjacent
to Uganda’s biggest wildlife reserve; the
5,360 sq. km Murchison Falls Conservation
Area straddling the River Nile.
Hawkers offer fruit, bottled drinks, and
skewers of sizzling chicken and goat meat
to those passing through. But our focus was
on pangolins; described by conservation-
ists as the most trafficked mammal in the
world.
In addition to the meat, Chinese consum-
ers also prize the powder from ground pan-
golin scales, made of keratin, like human
fingernails, and reputed to cure cancer and
asthma.
Although they are now protected by
20 Sept 21 - 27, 2018
Pangolins in peril
On the hunt for traffickers of
the hard scaled mammal
an international ban, the International
Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
estimates a million pangolins may have
been sold across international borders over
the last decade. It is now categorised as
“critically endangered” by the IUCN and
appears on its Red List of Threatened Spe-
cies.There are up to eight species of pango-
lins scattered across South-East Asia and
sub-Saharan Africa and zoologists say they
are among the most reclusive mammals on
earth.
In Uganda, part of the “pangolin belt” of
central Africa, the mammal is endemic to
the Murchison Falls National Park and areas
of northern and northwestern Uganda.
A 2016 report by the global conservation
NGO, WildAid, estimated that products
harvested from 4,340 pangolins were traf-
ficked from Uganda in the past year.
Some northern residents and conserva-
tionists have suggested that the trade in live
pangolin, meat and scales has been spurred
by an influx of Chinese workers. Corner
Kamdini is repeatedly mentioned because
of a sizeable number of Chinese dam con-
struction workers at Karuma. Close to 700
Chinese have been part of a 6,000 strong
workforce since December, 2013.
Scanty evidence
But evidence of such a link is scanty and
most people in the region discounted the
notion.
Most residents of Karuma we encoun-
tered said they saw pangolins once in a
while. Pangolins are a delicacy here too;
especially among older people. Their scales
are believed to have healing properties and
can be used to vaccinate children against
measles. When polished, the scales are used
as ornaments.
After several days, we uncovered what
appeared to be a link to illicit trade when a
bodaboda (motorcycle taxi) rider identified
a pangolin from a photograph and offered
to take us to an elderly man he said col-
lected scales of okong- the word for pangolin
in the local Luo dialect. But when we got to
our destination, we were told the man had
moved.
We got closer to the nub of the issue
when we received a call from a resident we

had met earlier saying a friend could get
us a pangolin within a day or two. But he
switched off his phone when we told him
that we were not buyers.
So why is it so difficult to find evidence of
pangolin trade?
Brian Opio, the chairman of Kamdini
Local Council, said a recent crackdown had
made traffickers wary.
“Residents are aware of the trade but
feign ignorance to avoid arrest,” Opio tells
us, “Most of the people in the community
are aware of the heavy crackdown on pan-
golin poachers.”
In a sting operation in March, undercover
wildlife authority officials arrested a resi-
dent in the nearby village of Nora with 13
kg of scales.
And in August, four Chinese nationals
were arrested at Entebbe Airport in pos-
session of trafficked scales. Initially caught
for trafficking in ivory, the police said they
found seven pieces of scales in the ivory
consignments and more was found in the
rooms of two suspects.
One investigator told us that it was the
first time Chinese nationals were found in
possession of pangolin scales from Karuma.
Still, it is believed that Uganda is a target
for traffickers because it has all four of the
African genus of the pangolin.
John Otim, 80, of Tenam village near
Kamdini, was a hunter until he retired in
the early 1990s. He says pangolins started
dwindling in the national park around 1982,
along with other species.
“I last captured a pangolin in 1988. It
was also the last time I ate pangolin meat
and yet in the 1960s I would find pangolins
daily in Tenam,” he said.
Nobody knows the pangolin population
in Uganda because there has never been a
baseline study, but Dr. Akankwasah Bari-
rega, the commissioner in charge of wildlife
conservation in the Ministry of Tourism,
Wildlife and Antiquities told The Indepen-
dent that pangolins were common in the
area.
“These pangolins are normally picked
from people’s gardens,” he said, “People do
not know that they are actually a protected
species.”
As a result, pangolin poaching remains a
“big threat” in Uganda.
Vincent Opyene, head of the Natural
Resource Conservation Network (NRCN),
an NGO that works alongside the Uganda
Wildlife Authority (UWA), the police, and
prosecutors to hunt down traffickers, says
his team has intercepted and arrested sev-
eral poachers.
His colleague, Amias Aryampa; the
NRCN projects coordinator, says close to
500kg of pangolin scales have been recov-
ered while up to 10 live pangolins have
been rescued since March 2015. This year
alone, he says, there have been five seizures
and 42.24 kg recovered.
Opyene traces the carnage to a 2014 court
Chinese actor, Jackie Chan, features in an advert displayed on a busy Kampala street opposite
Nanjing Restaurant.   INDEPENDENT/RONALD MUSOKE
ruling in favour of a local businessman who
wanted to export more than seven tonnes
of pangolin scales valued at US$4.2 million
(about Shs 11 billion). He says when details
of the monetary value of pangolins spread;
it sparked a killing spree as people were
misled into thinking that there was a lucra-
tive market for pangolins.
China to blame
Opyene links the rise in poaching to the
increased Chinese presence.
According to this narrative, promoted
by WildAid, a global conservation agency,
trade in pangolins has surged since the
1990s, when China ceased being self-suffi-
cient in meeting demand for the cat-sized
mammals. This is attributed to a boom in
the Chinese economy which gave rise to
a sizeable middle class with disposable
income and exotic tastes. China sought
imports from neighbouring Vietnam,
Myanmar and Laos, but they could not
sustain the market. Dealers looked to places
like Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Cameroon, and
Uganda.
In a 2016 study, ‘Pangolins on the brink,’
WildAid reported a rapid increase in the
retail price of pangolin scales over a 20-year
period.
Today, pangolin prices range from $22.5
for hunters like Otim, $45 for a low-level
trader, $80 for a middle-level trader, $265
for a high level trader and $350 for a res-
taurant in China or Vietnam, according to
research from TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade
monitoring network.
Saving pangolins
Conservationists have been devising
plans to save pangolins.
Jerry Burley, the general manager of the
Uganda Conservation Foundation, told
The Independent that his NGO has just com-
pleted the first-ever project on rescuing,
rehabilitating and releasing pangolins into
‘secret’ safe zones.
FEATURE
“The project is a very small beginning
that will hopefully snowball into a much
larger awareness programme that helps to
protect this critically endangered animal,”
Burley said.
“Very little is known about the Ugandan
pangolin and hopefully this then will be the
catalyst to encouraging much more activity
in terms of protecting it.”
On Kampala’s busy Lugogo Bypass
Street, a billboard depicts a golden brown
pangolin perched on the shoulder of Chi-
nese actor, Jackie Chan. Conservationists
say the advertisement targets Chinese
patrons who frequent a Chinese restau-
rant across the road and is part of a global
promo video titled “Kung Fu Pangolin”—
released last year in Beijing— aimed at pan-
golin consumers.
During an impromptu lunch-time visit,
we asked managers if they were aware of
the campaign and whether they served pan-
golin meat.
Marketing manager Fatuma Nanziri said
the restaurant offered prawns and crabs.
She knew nothing about whether pangolin
was on the menu.
In any case, she said, the restaurant
attracted more Ugandan patrons than Chi-
nese. That appeared to belie the Chinese
branding and characters around a complex
with supermarkets, a travel agency and
other businesses apparently aimed at a Chi-
nese clientele.
John Makombo, the conservation man-
ager of UWA, says the billboard had come
out just at the right time.
“We wouldn’t want to have people joke
around with pangolins,” he said.
This story was produced by The Independent.
It was written as part of Reporting
Transnational Organized Crime, a media
skills development programme run by the
Thomson Reuters Foundation in partnership
with the EU funded ENACT programme.
More information at http://enactafrica.org/
Sept 21 - 27, 2018 21
rwanda
Pardoning 2000 political figures
Ingabire, Mihigo release good for country, says civil society
By John Mbaraga
C
ivil society in Rwanda has
applauded President Paul Kagame
for pardoning key political figure
Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza and
popular singer Kizito Mihigo, saying the
move was good for Rwanda’s image.
The prisoners were set free on Sept.15,
2018 following a presidential pardon,
while over 2,000 other prisoners will also
be set free on parole.
Ingabire is the head of Unified
Democratic Forces (FDU)-Inkingi
opposition political party, which is not yet
recognised in Rwanda, and was serving
a 15-year jail term. Mihigo, a popular
musician before he was arrested and jailed,
had been sentenced to 10 years in prison
for crimes against the state.
The release of the dual and over 2,000
others was announced during a Cabinet
meeting on Sept.14 chaired by President
Paul Kagame.
The meeting also approved a Ministerial
Order granting release on parole to
2,138 inmates upon fulfillment of legal
requirements. The president has the
prerogative of mercy to commute prison
sentences of individual prisoners who seek
pardon and those recommended by the
Rwanda Correctional Services.
“Pursuant to the powers conferred on
him, His Excellency, the President of the
Republic of Rwanda informed the Cabinet
Meeting that he granted mercy to the
following persons; Kizito Mihigo, whose
10-year sentence  is wholly commuted.
Ingabire Victoire Umuhoza, who was
serving a 15 years in prison is wholly
commuted,” reads part of the statement on
Cabinet decisions released on Sept.14.
The Chairperson of the Rwanda
Civil Society Platform, Jean Leonard
Sekanyange, said in a telephone interview
with The Independent, the pardon was
“something to celebrate”.
He said those pardoned will contribute
to the development of the country.
“When a person messes up and
apologizes, it is meaningful to be
pardoned. First of all, the Head of State
clemency means that those pardoned
regretted their offenses. Secondly, it is
good to reintegrate in the society and
perform development activities because
when you are in prison you don’t
contribute to the country, rather you cost
it,” he explained.
Sekanyange added that, politically, the
22 Sept 21 - 27, 2018
gesture creates a positive image of the
country.
“They were not punished for who they
are, but rather for their crimes. Having
pleaded guilty and apologised and also
being pardoned, this shows that Rwanda
has reached to a certain step in politics.
This shows how human rights are
valued,” Sekanyange added.  being in opposition or understanding things
A look into Ingabire and Kizito’s cases
Convicted on various charges,
Ingabire was sentenced to 15 years in
prison in 2013 by the Supreme Court.
The vocal politician was arrested in
2010 after arriving in the country from
the Netherlands to compete in the
presidential elections. Ingabire was
convicted for inciting the public to revolt
against the government, forming armed
groups and collaborating with FDLR
to destabilise the country as well as
trivializing the 1994 genocide against the
Tutsi in Rwanda.
For Kizito, the court found him guilty
of a scheme to murder President Kagame
and more senior government officials.
During the hearing, Mihigo pleaded
guilty to all charges.
Mihigo had appealed the 10-year-jail
term in the Supreme Court, but on June
26 he requested the Supreme Court to
retract his case file, a decision which was
approved on Sept.10 just four days before
his release. Rwanda’s Ministry of Justice
announced that both Mihigo and Ingabire
had requested clemency in June, 2018.
Mihigo, Ingabire speak
After eight years in prison, FDU-
Inkingi’s Ingabire thanked the Rwanda
Correctional Services (RCS) and President
Kagame, saying that there is humanity in
Rwandan prisons.
“I hope that together, Rwandans may
achieve many things. I don’t doubt that
differently should be a basis of building
our country in harmony, supporting
sustainable development, as well as shaping
a good future for young people,” she told
the media shortly after stepping out of
Nyarugenge Prison in Kigali.
“I would like to thank the President of
the Republic for this decision… I think that
he (president) thinks that the goodness
of Rwandans is cooperation among
opposition and leadership towards national
construction,” she added.
Ingabire was non-committal on whether
she would carry on with her political
ambitions.
“Nothing I can say about that now… I
just want to thank all people who supported
me and president,” she said.
Ingabire requested Kagame to release
seven of her political party members;
including the party first vice-president,
Boniface Twagirimana, who were in
September last year arrested on charges of
collaboration with terror groups operating
in a neighbouring country.
“When I was in prison things went
well and I am optimistic that they will
also be released. I would like to use this
opportunity to request the president in
his discernment, as he releases me, to
consider releasing my colleagues who are in
prison for political reasons.”
I hoped to be pardoned
On his part, Mihigo thanked President
Kagame, saying the decision was good for
the country in general.
“I will continue to preach peace, unity,
reconciliation and forgiveness among
Rwandans. I believe that as, I was pardoned,
reconciliation will also become possible
between I and other institutions as we
continue to serve the country,” Mihigo said.
He explained that he retracted his appeal
because he hoped to be pardoned by the
president.
“I was not aware of the pardon, but I
hoped for it because I had much trust in the
president. That’s why instead of insisting on
the appeal, I preferred to seek for mercy,”
he explained.

More needed on Rwanda
Stock Exchange - experts
Rwandans must see it as a place to save and invest their money
By Stephen Nuwagira
C
apital markets experts say
Rwanda needs more prod-
ucts from the private sector
to be listed in order to de-
velop and deepen the Rwanda Stock
Exchange (RSE).
The recommendation comes on
the back of a central bank notice
announcing the second Treasury
bond re-opening barely three
months after reissuance of the first
bond in late June.
The bid notice issued last week by
the National Bank of Rwanda (BNR)
indicates that the central bank will
reopen the Rwf15 billion 10-year Treasury
bond on Sept.26 that will be redeemable in
9.65 years on May 12, 2028.
The government reissued the first Rwf10
billion 7-year TB late June and it was listed
on the RSE on July 03.
A bond reopening is “taping again” once
or several times into a previously issued
bond, with the same maturity and coupon,
to gradually build its outstanding volume
to the desired targeted level. The current
reopening is for the development of the
stock market, according to the National
Bank of Rwanda (BNR). The BNR has been
issuing quarterly Treasury bonds since
2014, an initiative the government says aims
at supporting growth of the RSE.
The local Capital Market Authority
(CMA) also plans to implement the 10-year
Capital Market Master Plan this financial
year, a move that is expected to strengthen
efforts to position Rwanda’s financial mar-
ket as the preferred financial economic cen-
tre for domestic, regional, and international
funds flow. The move also seeks to bolster
country’s efforts to increase savings level
to about 20% of GDP by 2020 from about
10.2% currently.
However, Fred Nyayieka; a pension and
investments consultant at Liaison Financial
Services Rwanda says, though bond reis-
suance is a good strategy for developing
young capital markets, more needed to be
done to attract private enterprises to the
capital markets.
He says the governments alone cannot
deepen the development of capital markets.
According to him, the two main reasons
why governments reissue bonds are; due
to undersubscription, or as a debt manage-
ment strategy.
Nyayieka also notes that though the
government’s quarterly TB issuance pro-
gramme has attracted huge investor appe-
tite, many SMEs, SACCOs and individuals
are yet to exploit this opportunity and wid-
en their investment portfolios. Instead, he
says, the private commercial entities deposit
huge sums of money in local commercial
banks that then invest the “excess liquidity”
in government bonds for higher returns.
“Some local investors do not even know
that they can invest in government paper
although they have huge capital savings
in commercial banks,” Nyayieka says, “So,
continued sensitisation of the investing
public about the opportunities presented by
the local exchange is essential to bring more
local investors to the market.”
He blames the lack of awareness and
capacity constraints on the part of ordinary
Rwandan investors for such practices.
Nyayieka says the local stock market is
also characterised by holding onto shares
and low activity, which results into low
supply on the buy side. The low activity
at the local exchange is also attributable to
limited number of product offerings, a fact
that keeps away would-be investors, espe-
cially Rwandans.
“Generally, the local capital market is
still young and shallow with the demand
side out-overweighing the supply side. This
means that whereas there is demand for
capital market products on one side, on the
other there is no supply. Whether on the
equities market or the bond market, there
is no sufficient supply and that means that
rwanda
most investors buy and hold as
they cannot trade due to lack
of alternative investments.
The central bank and stock
market stakeholders conduct
continuous drives to sensitise
Rwandans about the impor-
tance of saving and invest-
ing through the exchange,
including treasury bonds. But
as Nyayieka notes, these cam-
paigns need to be stepped up
so that the majority of Rwan-
dans understand the alterna-
tive options at their disposal to
save and invest their money to
gain a good return.
Despite these challenges, the bond mar-
ket continues to drive performance on the
local bourse, expanding 208.6 per cent in
value in 2017, thanks to government quar-
terly TB issuance programme started in
2014.
The equity market was up 2.64% over
the same period on the back of I&M Bank
listing in the first quarter of 2017. Rwanda’s
economy rose 10.6% in the first quarter of
the year compared to 1.7% during the same
period in 2017.
The country’s inflation rate was recorded
at 2.1% year-on-year in August, a slight rise
from 2% the previous month, while the
Rwanda franc lost 1.7% to the US dollar,
BNR half-year report shows.
The bond market currently has one cor-
porate bond and 16 government Treasury
bonds, one of which has been reissued. The
equity market has 8 listed companies, four
local firms – Bank of Kigali, I&M Bank,
Crystal Telecom and Bralirwa; while there
are regional cross-listed counters – Nation
Media Group, KCB, Uchumi Supermarkets,
and Equity Group.
RSE market reports indicate that the
Rwanda Share Index, which measures
performance of local counters, dropped to
131.07 points as at end of June compared to
the year’s opening of 135.8 points recorded
on January 3.
The All Share Index shed 1.95 points dur-
ing the same period, closing at 131.53 down
from 133.48 points on January 3.
However, this was higher year-on-year
as ALSI closed at 124.81 points at the end of
June 2017, RSE market reports indicate.
Sept 21 - 27, 2018 23
rwanda
Youth get money tips
Exploit opportunities on local exchange
to save and invest, Minister advises
By Stephen Nuwagira
L
earn money manage-
ment practices, discard
unnecessary spending,
save and invest a portion
of your earnings.
Emmanuel Bigenimana, the
Ministry of Youth Permanent
Secretary, gave this advice last
week to youth attending the
YouthConnekt Awards 2018
ceremony in Karongi, Western
Province.
The awards, organised by the
youth ministry and partners,
recognise the best young inno-
vators. The event is also used
to sensitise youth about money
matters. This year the focus was
on the local capital market.
“Don’t assume that you
will start saving when you get
‘excess’ money,” he advised,
“start now with whatever little
money you have and build on
that.”
Bigenimana noted that
Rwanda’s nascent financial
market offers enterprising peo-
ple immense opportunities, but
young people are yet to fully
exploit them.
He said young people
investing on the Rwanda Stock
Exchange (RSE) could secure
their financial future and con-
tribute to the country’s develop-
ment by accumulating money
to invest in other development
projects and create jobs for
other youth.
“A country that does not save
cannot develop,” Bigenimana
said.
The Rwanda government
targets to increase the country’s
savings level to about 20% of
GDP by 2020, up from about
10.2% currently and Bigenima-
na said the local capital market
provides a safe and secure envi-
ronment to save and invest. He
said youth can invest in stocks,
bonds and collective invest-
ments schemes, like RNIT Iter-
ambere managed by Rwanda
National Investment Trust.
24 Sept 21 - 27, 2018
On the sidelines of the
awards event Claude Muta-
bazi, a young innovator from
Karongi district who owns a
poultry business, said he now
would save some of the money
he earns from the enterprise in
stocks.
“As a small and young busi-
ness, one needs something
to fall back to in case of any
shocks,” he said in an interview
with The Independent, “I am
now aware that the stock mar-
ket can provide me that safe-
guard and assurance.”
Earlier, during a panel dis-
cussion, the hundreds of youth
who attended the event, learnt
tips on saving and investing,
how to discover the real value
of their businesses, enhancing
corporate governance (manage-
ment) practices among SMEs,
and use of shares as currency.
Magnifique Migisha, the
public relations officer at Rwan-
da’s Capital Markets Authority
(CMA) spoke of the organisa-
tion’s determination to create a
financially literate generation,
secure with effective savings
and investments on the RSE.
Migisha said the CMA has
a national public education
programme built on an inter-
active and educational forum
to enable the general public
understand the benefits of sav-
ings and investing through the
capital market.
“We educate the public
about the culture of saving and
investment because a well-
informed investor is a well-pro-
tected investor,” said Migisha.
The CMA’s public education
initiatives are to be extended
upcountry to bridge the finan-
cial literacy gap and enable
upcountry investors to start
saving and investing through
the capital market.
Meanwhile, Oscar Nzey-
imana Mico, a young entre-
preneur from Rubavu District,
was declared YouthConnekt
Awards 2018 winner for West-
ern Province. Mico beat other
two young entrepreneurs from
Nyamasheke and Karongi dis-
tricts and pocketed a cash prize
of Rwf1 million. He will contest
for national honours with other
provincial winners in coming
weeks.
Students learn about RSE
operations
In a related development,
students from Lycee de
Ruhango in Ruhango district,
Southern Province participated
in bourse trading activities on
Sept.11, and one of them rang
the bell to start the day’s trad-
ing.
The Senior Five accounts
students saw first-hand how
trading on the bourse is done,
and were also taken through
the processes that one goes
through to invest in stocks.
The visit by the students
is one of efforts by different
stakeholders aimed at increase
savings and the participation of
Rwandans in the market.
Though there are many
savings clubs in schools coun-
trywide, few or none invest in
stocks.
According to the Association
of Microfinance Institutions in
Rwanda that coordinates these
groups, there are over 64,000
student savers in 200 primary
and secondary schools country-
wide. The students had by 2013
accumulated Rwf45 million
worth of savings.
Members of the Rwanda
Bar Association also visited
the RSE on Sept.13 to learn
how the market operates as
part of their training on capital
markets in practice.

Make money from managing
your history, African advised
Rwanda intensifies push for UNESCO
recognition of four genocide memorial sites
By Alexis Bikorimana
O
f the 1,092 world heritage sites
recognised by UNESCO, Africa
has only 95 historical sites. That
needs to change, according to sev-
eral experts attending a training workshop
on the process and UNESCO listing require-
ments for workers of Rwanda’s National
Commission for the Fight against Genocide
(CNLG).
The training, which started on Sept. 10
was organised in partnership with Fonds
pour la Patrimoine Mondiale Africain
(FPMA) and Ecole du Patrimoine Africain
(EPA), both UNESCO-affiliated institutions
working in heritage management. It was
also attended by UNESCO board members,
among others.
Souayibu Varissai, the Director of African
World Heritage Fund, advised govern-
ments on the continent to exploit oppor-
tunities presented by these historical and
cultural sites to attract more local and for-
eign visitors as this will create more jobs for
citizens and drive up earnings.
“African countries must recognise, pre-
serve, and promote their historical and cul-
tural sites because this will attract tourists
and boost country’s earnings and also help
improve lives of those employed in the sec-
tor directly or indirectly,” said Varissai.
A world heritage site is a landmark or
area which is selected by United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organ-
isation (UNESCO) as having cultural,
historical, scientific or other form of signifi-
cance, and is legally protected by interna-
tional treaties.
Varissai added that creating awareness
about Africa’s historical sites will help raise
their profile and make them “visible and
known” by different people around the
world.
“We have to involve universities in this
struggle by training experts in this sector
because there are currently very few uni-
versities that teach history management,”
he added. In addition, the African Union
needs to address heritage issues to prop the
position of the continent’s historical and
cultural sites and objects by promoting and
showcasing them to the global audience.
The Director of Ecole du Patrimoine
Africain (EPA), Samuel Kidiba, urged
African countries to employ historians to
champion for the continent’s historical sites
recognised and train stakeholders on proper
management.
“In Africa we still have a low numbers of
historical sites recognised by UNESCO due
to mismanagement, lack of experts to put in
place requirement and filing documentaries
on the history” Kidiba said
By July this year, there were 1,092 sites
listed as UNESCO world heritage sites,
including 845 cultural, 209 natural, and 38
sites with mixed properties in 167 countries.
In Africa, Ethiopia, Morocco and South
Africa each has nines sites recognised as
UNESCO world heritage areas; Tunisia
(eight) and seven apiece for Algeria, Egypt,
Senegal, and Tanzania.
Dr. Jean Damascène Bizimana, the Execu-
tive Secretary of CNLG, said UNESCO
recognised African historical sites are still
few because Africans are not keen on mak-
ing them be recognised by UNESCO. He
says every African country should know the
benefits of making their history sites being
known internationally.
Rwanda is fronting four genocide memo-
rial sites of the 1994 Genocide against the
Tutsi in the country for recognition as
UNESCO world heritage sites. They are the
Kigali Genocide Memorial site, Murambi
Genocide Memorial in Nyamagabe district,
Nyamata Genocide Memorial in Bugesera
district, and Bisesero Genocide Memorial
site in Karongi.
“If UNESCO recognises Rwandan
memorial sites, it will enable the country’s
history to be understood as well as being
taught in different schools around the
rwanda
world,” Bizimana said.
Rwandal’s move could soon bear fruit
thanks to the specialised training on how
to improve management of such historical
places and meet UNESCO listing require-
ments. Rwanda started the process to list
the memorial sites four years ago and is
required to have submitted the final report
to UNESCO by February 1, 2019.
Bizimana said it was essential for CNLG
workers and memorial site managers
to acquire the necessary skills and more
knowledge on the guidelines and standards
required if the identified genocide memorial
sites are to be recognised by UNESCO.
The training, according to CNLG, will
help the institution to finalise the process of
listing the sites.
“CNLG has submitted provisional
documents with UNESCO requesting the
institution to recognise the four genocide
memorial sites and history museum, and
it recommended that we improve in some
areas,” Bizimana said, “We are working
hard to fulfill all the requirements by Febru-
ary 1, 2019.”
Bizimana said the files submitted to
UNESCO must explain clearly the man-
agement of the memorial sites and other
processes; and should have all historical
facts about them. The sites should also be
accessed digitally.
The CNLG says Rwanda’s genocide
memorial sites still need proper manage-
ment and digitisation, among others.
During the training, the participants
received on spot guidance to sharpen their
skills in areas that still fall short of UNESCO
listing standards.
Sept 21 - 27, 2018 25
rwanda
Rwanda targets zero
HIV transmission
National prevalence 3%, mother-to-child 1.5%
By John Mbaraga    Rwanda has 97% of health centres
E
fforts Rwandans have collec-
tively and efficiently invested
in prevention and treatment of
HIV/AIDS using all available
health and education channels are
bearing fruit.
First Lady Jeannette Kagame made
the revelation last week while launch-
ing the ‘Free to Shine Rwanda’; a
three-month campaign that seeks to
strengthen initiatives geared at ending
new HIV infections in children and
keeping their mothers alive.
The launch of the campaign was
attended by youth, health counselors,
local leaders and partners in fighting
against HIV/AIDS in Kigali.
The three-month campaign is
designed to lead up to the 2018 World
AIDS Day on Dec. 01. It will involve
sensitising youth about HIV/AIDS, its
dangers and prevention methods, and
offer free voluntary HIV testing and
counseling and encourage those who
test HIV-positive to enroll on lifelong
treatment.
Rwanda has been able to drive
down Mother-to-Child Transmission
(MTCT) of HIV mainly because of the
decentralisation of HIV prevention
and treatment services to the lowest
level of health service delivery units.
26 Sept 21 - 27, 2018
offering MTCT services, according to
the ministry. Currently, the rate of
MTCT is down to 1.5%, according to
2018 Ministry of Health figures.
But Rwanda has unveiled a number
of measures to help curb it farther
and is targeting zero new infections
by 2020 and eradication of the disease
among newborns by 2030.
“A free HIV Rwanda is possible. ‘My
child, my pride’, should be a contract
performance for every parent,” said
Mrs. Kagame at the launch of the lat-
est campaign.
According to health ministry offi-
cials, Karongi and Burera districts
have already recorded zero cases of
MTCT for the past five years.
The push to reduce MTCT is an
initiative by African Union in partner-
ship with the Organisation of African
First Ladies against HIV/AIDS, com-
monly known as OAFLA and seeks to
end mother-to-child transmission of
HIV at birth by 2030, especially in sub-
Saharan Africa.
The continental programme was
developed in 2015 and seeks to pro-
vide a framework and guide AIDS
response efforts with an emphasis on
the elimination of mother-to-child
transmission.
For achieving the target, Rwanda
introduced national HIV response
which offers a comprehensive pack-
age including HIV screening during
antenatal care, HIV screening in the
postpartum period for both mothers
and HIV exposed children. The pro-
grammes also offer nutritional support
for mothers and infants and pediatric
treatment protocols.
The First Lady said the interventions
and resources Rwanda has put into
these initiatives geared toward curb-
ing new infections have helped reduce
the national prevalence rate from a
double digit number to a 3% national
average presently. The HIV prevalence
in the City of Kigali is at 6.3%.
The First Lady advised parents liv-
ing with HIV and whose children were
also born infected to courageously
explain to them their status and why
they are on anti-retroviral medicine.
She said it is a way of fighting stigma.
“When they get to know by them-
selves, they get traumatised and com-
pletely lose hope,” she said.
HIV prevalence high among females
Speaking at the event in Kigali, Min-
ister of Health Dr. Diane Gashumba
said that HIV/AIDS prevalence was
higher among young females com-
pared to males, and called on parents
and guardians to properly guide their
children as part of efforts toward erad-
ication of new HIV infections.
Gashumba said the rate of young
females aged between 15-19 years
and 25-29 years that continue to get
infected with HIV/AIDS is higher than
that of their male counterparts. She
urged parents to impart their children
with right values and cultural norms
and also educate them about the dan-
gers of reckless behaviours, including
engaging in premarital sex without
using protection.
The United Nations Children’s Fund
(UNICEF) Country Representative, Ted
Maly, hailed Rwanda’s efforts toward
eradicating HIV/AIDS. However, Maly
called for increased efforts to curb the
disease among women and girls, say-
ing this will greatly help reduce moth-
er-to-child HIV transmission.
Uganda most profitable
market for Airtel in EAC
The telecom firm recorded a 53% growth in net profit to Shs 245bn
U
By Isaac Khisa
ganda is the
most profitable
market for the
Indian-based
Airtel in the East
African region,
according to the company’s
financial performance for the
year 2017/18.
Airtel Uganda recorded a
53% growth in net profit to US$
64 million (Shs 245bn) on the
back of growth in value added
services, data and mobile mon-
ey services.
However, Bharti Air-
tel Rwanda Holdings and
Airtel Kenya recorded a
30% and 74% growth in
losses from US$ 27,756 mil-
lion and US$15.5million
to US$36,196million and
US$27million, respectively,
during the same period under
review.
In Airtel Tanzania where
Bharti owns a 60% stake and
the Tanzanian government the
remaining shares, recorded
a drop in losses from US$
54.2million (Tsh124bn) to US$
47.6million (Tsh 109bn).
Airtel Uganda’s profit
growth is more than that of the
country’s largest commercial
bank – Stanbic Bank – which
recorded a mere 5% growth in
net profit to US$52.3million (
Shs200bn) last year.
Financial results that The
Independent has seen shows that
the firm’s revenue increased
from US$269,4bn (Shs 1.03tril-
lion) to US$ 303.4million (Shs
1.16trillion) during the period
under review.
Revenue from mobile money
services increased from US$
33.56million (Shs 128.42bn) to
US$49.8 (Shs 190.7bn) while
value added services such as
Airtel performance in the last five years
Year 2013
Net profit (Shs bns) 50.78
Source: Airtel Uganda financial statements
voice mail, phone back-up,
postpaid bill payment, and
data saw its revenue swell from
US$80million (Shs 306.28bn) to
US$ 97.3million (Shs 372.15bn).
The company’s earnings
from airtime sales, how-
ever, grew marginally from
US$131.6million (Shs 503bn) to
US$132.5million (Shs 506.9bn)
during the same period under
review as customers embraced
data services.
This development comes in
months after Airtel Uganda
became the latest telecom firm
in the country to unveil 4G LTE
internet, in a move seen as fol-
lowing in the footsteps of its
main rivals such as MTN and
Africell Uganda to facilitate
faster internet to customers.
The company said they have
upgraded 530 3G sites to 4G
countrywide, with 404 dotted in
the central region.
At the moment, customers
intending to join the 4G tech-
nology are required to visit the
company’s service centers to
swap their current 2G and 3G
2014 2015 2016 2017
131.3 86.3 160.45 245
at no cost. The firm has around
10million subscribers compared
with MTN’s 11.2million.
The company’s directors in
Uganda including, V.G Soma-
sekhar, said that the telco is
a going concern on the basis
that the company will generate
cash flows from operations for
at least the amount projected
in the management’s annual
operation plan.
“We will obtain funding from
third parties, and the company
will be able to obtain funding
from shareholders required
to meet its obligations as and
when they fall due,” the direc-
tors said.
Across the African continent,
Airtel Africa’s profit almost
tripled from US$ 57.5million
in 2016/17 to $154.52 million in
the financial year 2017/18, the
second positive margin in the
telcos’ eight years of operations
on the continent.
The superb performance was
driven by 88% in data demand
to 70 billion megabytes as com-
pared with 37 billion MBs in
Sept 21 - 27, 2018
the corresponding quarter last
year.
“Data customers increased
by 48 per cent to 24.9 million
from16.9 million in the cor-
responding quarter last year,”
said Airtel Africa chief execu-
tive Raghunath Mandava.
However, average revenue
per user, a key performance
metric, fell by 1.8 % to $3 year-
on-year. In 2017, Bharti Airtel’s
chairman Sunil Mittal admit-
ted that the telcos operations in
Africa had not been as success-
ful as anticipated, which had
seen it exit several markets in
West Africa, either through sell
offs or mergers.
“Our operations in the 15
African countries haven’t been
a successful experiment and we
now need a change of strategy,”
said Mr Mittal.
Mobile money, social media
taxes
Going forward, it remains
unclear on how Airtel Uganda
will perform this financial year
following the introduction of
0.5% tax on mobile money and
the daily Shs200 social media
taxes last July.
Bank of Uganda executives,
who had appeared before the
Parliamentary Finance commit-
tee alongside their counterparts
from telecom companies at
the end of July this year, said
because of the unpopular tax,
the mobile money transactions
had declined by US$175.78 mil-
lion (Shs 672bn) in the first two
weeks of implementing the tax.
But last week, BoU and min-
istry of Finance officials told
the Finance Committee that
they have agreed to support
the proposed tax on mobile
money, which had earlier been
condemned as discriminative.
27
Business
Cipla joins stock market
Company’s IPO was the most efficient with less than 5% of
advertising and promotional budget compared to previous offers
By Julius Businge
S
hares of Cipla Quality Chemicals
Ltd started trading at the Uganda
Securities Exchange on September
17, making it the first drug maker in
the region to list on the stock exchange.
The drug maker, whose Initial Public
Offering opened on August 14-30, started
trading at Shs256.5 per share. It now joins
the ranks of eight other local firms including
Uganda Clays Limited, New Vision, dfcu
and Umeme that have already done so.
The company raised Shs166.567bn
through the IPO that attracted 98.8% sub-
scription as it seeks to expand drug produc-
tion capacity and portfolio.
Cipla had planned to sell 657million
shares which represents 18% stake of the
entire shareholdings. Emmanuel Katon-
gole, the executive chairman for CiplaQCIL
described the offer as ‘extremely successful’
after 2,600 investors bought into the com-
pany. Of these 2500 are Ugandans.
Officials named the National Social Secu-
rity Fund (NSSF) of Uganda and Public
Investment Corporation of South Africa as
some of the top institutional investors that
bought into the company.
Katongole said that the money raised
through the IPO will help support the
company to meet its growth strategy and
become a center of excellence in the manu-
facturing of quality, affordable and newer
medicines to improve on the quality of lives.
He said that the many Ugandans that
bought into the company have trust in the
economy.
“We are excited,” he said. He added that
they are embarking on this journey with
many Ugandan individuals, investment
clubs, and institutional investors.
He assured the investors that manage-
ment will work hard to grow value for their
investment, meet customer demands and
improve lives in communities.
“We appeal to many Ugandans to trade
our shares and make the stock exchange
grow,” he said.
Paul Bwiso, the chief executive officer
of the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE)
welcomed Cipla as the first company with
Ugandan founders and entrepreneurs on
the bourse and said in the coming months
they expect to see the market busy and turn-
over growing.
He added that in the next three months,
they expect to have made steps towards
28 Sept 21 - 27, 2018
USE Board Chairman, Charles Mbiire, rings the bell to mark the inauguration of Cipla Quality
Chemicals Ltd trading at the Kampala Serena Hotel on Sept. 17.   INDEPENDENT/ Julius Businge.
having three companies listing on the
bourse.
John Porter, the chief business officer
for Renaissance Capital, the lead transac-
tion advisor, said the robust participation
by investors demonstrated confidence in
the CiplaQCIL story and Uganda’s capital
markets as an avenue for growing investors’
assets.
“It is our strong belief that the transaction
will also have economic and social impact
in the region by way of improving employ-
ment, national trade balance and ultimately
investment climate in general,” he said.
Robert Baldwin, the chief executive offi-
cer at Crested Capital, the lead sponsoring
stock broker, said more than 30 investment
clubs and SACCOs participated in the offer
hence deepening the engagement of the
investing public in Uganda’s stock market.
He added that this IPO was the most
cost-efficient with less than 5% of advertis-
ing and promotional budget compared to
previous public offers.
He said that the new listing is likely to
boost market activity going forward.
The company started operations in 2005
as a joint venture between Quality Chemi-
cal Limited (QCL), a Ugandan company
dealing in the importation and distribution
of pharmaceutical drugs, and Cipla Ltd, a
leading Indian pharmaceutical company
specialising in manufacturing anti-retroviral
drugs (ARVs) and Artemisinin-based Com-
bination Therapies (ACTs) to combat HIV/
Aids and malaria respectively.
Since then, the firm has initiated multiple
capacity expansion programs and portfolio
expansion, including the launch of new
therapies.
Cipla’s plant is currently approved by
drug authorities in 13 Sub-Saharan African
countries and its products sold in nine
countries – Uganda, Kenya, Cameroon,
Angola, Tanzania, Zambia, Namibia,
Mozambique and South Sudan. It also
hopes to sell its products to 19 countries by
the end of 2020.
The firm manufactured over 1billion tab-
lets – the highest volume in its history last
year, with a monthly production in Decem-
ber alone reaching a record of 124 million
tablets.
In terms of returns, the firm has consis-
tently recorded growth in revenues over the
last five years due to rapid expansions into
new markets.
For instance, its revenues have increased
from Shs89.7bn as at the end of March 2013
to Shs227.3bn as at the end of March 2018.
Consequently, the firm’s net profit
has increased from merely Shs8.28bn
to Shs44bn. Its assets have grown from
Shs106.7bn to Shs 209.29bn in the period
under review.
With this upward trend curve for net
profits, assets in addition to its planned
expansion strategy, one can easily conclude
that the company could be a good buy.
Additional reporting by Isaac Khisa

Unqualified accountants
could be hurting business
Deal with certified individuals to achieve growth targets
By Julius Businge
B
usinesses could be hurting their
growth prospects by using accoun-
tants who are not qualified, accord-
ing to the Institute of Certified Pub-
lic Accountants of Uganda (ICPA-U).
This warning come at the time the Insti-
tute is putting the number of the unquali-
fied accountants at 5,000 across the country.
John Linon Sengendo, the public relations
practitioner at ICPA-U told The Independent
that unqualified accountants are not trained
and that makes them not competent and
aware of the technical standards that a busi-
ness may need to efficiently operate.
He said the unqualified accountants are
unable to prepare financial statements that
are compliant with the set accounting stan-
dards.
“In turn businesses run a high risk of non
compliance, for example in terms of tax,”
he said.
He said unqualified accountants could also
provide poor quality services and advice to
their clients and this in turn force clients to
make bad business decisions that may affect
business growth.
He adds that in instances where a business
may need credit from financial institutions
or donors, the books of accounts presented
may be wrong and unacceptable, leading
to rejection and thus negatively affect the
expansion of the business.
“When an accountant is a member of ICPA-
U, his or her actions and behaviors are
monitored in their work, and therefore one
can make a formal complaint to the Institute
against that particular employee,” another
source familiar with this trade told The Inde-
pendent.
ICPA-U executives said most often many
businesses are lured into using unqualified
accountants because they charge lower
rates.
The executives urged the business own-
ers to always seek services of qualified
accountants to stir growth of their busi-
nesses.
This comes barely two months since
ICPA–U alongside Uganda Police Force
arrested 12 unqualified accountants and
closed seven accounting firms for engaging
in business without the relevant documents.
This was followed up with the publica-
tion of an official list of legally licensed
accountants, who stands at 1901, and five
practicing associate members on Sept. 06 in
Lekoa Solly (R), Kibeddi (CPA) attending the 23rd annual seminar
for CPA members at Imperial Resort Beach Hotel, Entebbe on Sept.05.
the media.
According to section 35(1) of the Accoun-
tants Act, 2013, a person shall not practice
accountancy in Uganda without a certificate
of practice.
The provision imposes a fine of up to
Shs10million or a two-year imprisonment
on illegal practitioners.
Acquiring an ICPA-U membership cer-
tificate cost Shs1million, annual certificate
renewal is Shs400, 000 while a practicing
license costs Shs1.2million annually.
Smell corruption
Speaking during the three day 23rd
annual seminar for CPA members that was
running from Sept.05-07 at Imperial Resort
Beach Hotel – Entebbe under the theme
‘shaping the future’, Lekoa Solly Mollo,
in his key note address, said it is time for
accountants to smell corruption while going
about their work so as not to aid practices
that would result into loss of revenue to
government and unfair competition to those
complying with the core values of the trade.
“Corruption denies development,” he
said, “Be brave because the future belongs
to the brave; you are the torch bearers… I
appeal to your conscience and please blow
the whistle…tell truth to power and stop
thinking selfishly,” he added.
He said accountants should think for the
future generation that needs freedom fight-
ers or patriots who will understand the new
technologies.
“Business owners are looking for current
data trends to inform their decisions…there
is a new generation of business owners that
Business
is emerging looking for new technologies to
enhance their business growth…that means
you have to be ready,” he said.
He mentioned three key things that
define accounting profession; reliability,
trustworthy and competence which he said
will continue to define the future of the
profession.
Fredrick Kibeddi (CPA), the president of
ICPA-U said the seminar was organised in
part to discuss contemporary issues shaping
the accounting profession and define the
future.
“Our role is to make sure that everybody
who is soldiering with us is rightly licensed,
equipped and positioned in terms of eth-
ics, integrity and the core values that we
embrace as a profession,” Kibeddi said.
He added that the members were fast
moving with new technology and systems
that are critical in fueling business growth
today and in the future.
He also warned accountants not to be
promoters of corruption but fighters of the
vice.
“The issue of fighting corruption is criti-
cal because we think that the first person
who can smell the vice is the accountant,”
he said.
On his part, Derick Nkajja (CPA), the
chief executive officer of ICPA-U said: “It is
more critical than ever before to be aware
that the future of the profession is not solely
about industry-specific fundamentals but
also about the future of our environments
that include technologies, community, gen-
der awareness as well as the wellbeing of
our societies.”
Sept 21 - 27, 2018 29
 Executive Style
New acquisitions boosts
Sanlam’s market share
What has been the impact
of Sanlam’s take-over of
Niko Insurance and Lion
T
Assurance Company?
he impact of the
Sanlam’s full
take-over of Niko
Insurance in 2014
and LAC in 2017 has seen
our gross underwritten
premiums increase from
Shs9bn in 2015 to Shs72bn in
2018. It has been a wonderful
moment. Uganda’s
population is growing with
the majority being young
and well-educated.
How have you been able to
incorporate LAC into the
Sanlam operations?
When two companies
merge, there are always
some losers. I mean at the
start, there were two CEOs.
However, the former LAC
CEO in Uganda is now
running one of Sanlam
businesses in Botswana.
There were also differences
in operations…the reason
there’s need to be careful
in making decisions on
who to acquire. This is
having similar values. But
acquisition of LAC was a bit
easier. We knew the owners
and we have been working
with them for decades.
They are our big partners
in Zimbabwe and Botswana.
The LAC’s workforce has
young bright Ugandans, and
we are working together.
The challenge was that these
two companies had different
application systems. For
instance, we were using
Premier application system
from India and LAC was
operating on a completely
different application. We
therefore have to migrate from
one system to another, and that
is not easy as it sounds.
What is your assessment of
the demand for insurance
30 Sept 21 - 27, 2018
The insurance regulator
has always argued that
insurers need to come
up with micro-insurance
products to stir uptake of
insurance. Regrettably, many
companies seem unbiased
to venture into that segment.
What explains this?
We have two specialized
micro-insurance companies.
But again, look, the micro-
insurance policies have a
stamp duty of Shs35, 000.
Selling a single policy worth
Shs10, 000 implies that a
client has to pay Shs45, 000.
Then add VAT and so on.
Now, that makes it difficult to
do business in that insurance
segment.
What do you think needs to
be done to change this?
We need to continue
South African-based, Sanlam Emerging Markets, doing the right things; we
entered the Ugandan market as a green field are a conservative society.
investment in 2009. Since then, the firm has We don’t want change.
acquired two firms – Niko and Lion Assurance However, a lot of people
Company (LAC) – in 2014 and 2017, respectively. now understand insurance.
What we need to do is to
This has boosted its market share from merely keep that door open and keep
2.7% to 14% market share in an industry that talking. It may take long but
boasts of 21 non-life insurance firms. The that shouldn’t mean we stop
Independent’s Isaac Khisa spoke with Gary talking.
Corbit, the CEO of the Sanlam General Insurance,
What is your comment on
on the opportunities and challenges ahead the Insurance Regulatory
Authority’s decision to shift
products in this market insurance one way or the other. away from Complaint Based
compared with other markets If for instance, you take a bank Supervision to Risk-Based
in Africa? loan, you have insurance. And, Supervision?
We tend to look at things if you look at that way, you Our regulator has a
rather negatively here in have got quite high coverage of difficult job. The previous
Uganda across the whole insurance. But, let’s go back to insurance law needed a serious
spectrum. For example, the traditional way of looking overhaul. Now we have a
in Zambia, they measure at it; we have low insurance new Insurance Act 2017. Risk-
insurance penetration uptake rates primarily in Based Supervision is exactly
completely differently. Here, the general insurance space the right direction. How can
we measure penetration as a because of many taxes. We a small underwriter have the
percentage of the GDP, fine, have Value Added Tax (VAT), same level of capital as the
a very good benchmark. But stamp duty, withholding taxes, biggest? That doesn’t make
other countries, they say, among others in the general sense at all. The minimum
‘they have 40 million people, insurance which hindered the capital that protects the policy
how many of those have got growth of the industry. We holders to depend on the size
insurance?’ If that is done here, are, however, seeing growth of the company is much more
you will probably find that over in medical insurance because sensible; it is the way to go.
15% of the population have there’s no VAT.

How prepared are you as Sanlam to
embrace the new model of supervision?
We will look at the new minimum
capital requirement that will be given to
us. If it means that we up our capital,
then, our shareholders shall exactly do
that. We are committed to the Ugandan
market. Insurance is a very long term
business, mostly in decades and not
years. As for the insurance industry,
I suspect, we are likely to see more of
global players coming in.
What strategies do you plan to
undertake to further grow Sanlam
insurance business in Uganda?
We have got various key strategies
for our growth. We are looking at going
digital – how a customer can use the
digital platforms to understand risk
in everything. From life to managing
medical insurance cover. We need to
integrate technology and people in our
operations.
Acquisitions seem to have been your
strategy in conquering emerging
markets. Are we seeing Sanlam doing
that in Uganda again?
I wouldn’t really rule it out…but I
think most of our growth will be more
organic. However, if we are to acquire,
then, it would not be in less than three
years.
What is the future outlook of Sanlam’s
operations?
We have good growth in life and
exceptional growth in medical insurance.
The problem with medical is that one
needs to get the pricing right. However,
we still have challenges with general
insurance. Despite that, we will continue
to be better; our people continue to work
tirelessly on what they can do, and we
are optimistic about the future.
Sanlam has continued to register growth
every other year. How do you normally
oversee subordinates to ensure that they
deliver based on the company’s vision?
I passionately believe that self
motivation is the only way to motivate
people; it is not me. I don’t know how
to motivate people. I give them tools
to get on to the job and they try to meet
our expectations. Indeed, they always
exceed our own expectations. We are
quite informal; nobody is important more
than anybody else, we are simply doing
different jobs. We expect everybody
to be brilliant, and everybody expects
everybody else, to be brilliant. We
therefore self- manage ourselves. And, I
enjoy myself and I expect everybody else
in our company to enjoy their lives. It is
not all about work.
Uganda improves
in World Bank
institutional ranking
Score for most African countries
remains unchanged
By Ian Katusiime
U
ganda has been ranked eighth
with a score of 3.6 in the latest
global bank’s annual Country
Policy and Institutional Assess-
ment (CPIA) index.
This shows a slight improvement by
one position although it maintained the
same score from 2016 signaling that the
country’s policies remain unchanged in
efforts to stir growth. Uganda scored 3.9
in 2008, the highest ever.
The CPIA score is a metric used by the
World Bank in measuring the quality of
policies and institutional frameworks
in efforts to sustain growth and reduce
poverty among countries.
It is measured on the scale of 1 to 6,
with 6 denoting high performance and 1
the lowest on policies in a given country
using four indicators; economic man-
agement, structural policies, policies for
social inclusion and equity, and public
sector management and institutions.
These indicators are subdivided into
other parameters like monetary and
exchange rate policy, debt policy, gender
equality and effective revenue mobiliza-
tion among others.
The report also revealed that the aver-
age quality of policies and institutions
in 38 Sub-Saharan Africa countries was
broadly unchanged since 2016.
Rwanda topped the index with a score
of 4.0 which was its exact same position
and score the previous year. Senegal
climbed up by one position from 2016
and came second with a score of 3.8. It
was closely followed by Cape Verde,
Kenya and Tanzania all posting 3.7.
The 2017 score also placed Kenya and
Uganda as the two leading nations in
mobile money transfer.
Albert Zeufack, the World Bank’s
Chief Economist for Africa, said on
Sept. 12 via Skye from Washington
DC, U.S. that the latest performance
shows that African countries were
recovering from the slump of declin-
Business
ing commodity prices.
He said the Ugandan government
needs to sustain reforms in its institu-
tional management especially during
this planned merger of more than 50
government agencies to improve the
country’s CPIA performance.
Zeufack said the World Bank uses the
CPIA score in measuring the quality of
policies and institutions which in turn
improves institutional governance.
He said there are financial returns
attached to good performance in CPIA
ranking owing to the fact that it is a for-
mula that the World Bank uses to allo-
cate resources to countries.
Debt burden
Punam Chuhan-Pole, lead economist
and lead author of the report, expressed
concern about the debt ratios which had
steadily risen in Sub-Saharan African
countries since 2013.
“In March 2018, nearly half of the
region’s low income countries were clas-
sified at high risk of debt distress or in
debt distress, more than twice as many
in 2013,” the report reads.
The release of the CPIA ranking
comes two weeks after China offered a
new loan package to the tune of $60bil-
lion to African nations during a China-
Africa summit in Beijing.
On whether the new round of debt
financing was not a setback to the CPIA
assessment, Pole said “Debt and borrow-
ing is not bad but what it is used for. Is
it financing needed infrastructure, well
prioritized projects or inclusive develop-
ment?” she paused a question.
Pole added that since more
countries can now access capital
markets, it means that they are
now borrowing on commercial
not concessional terms. She said
there would be trouble for the same
countries when interest rates go up.
She advised countries getting new
loans from China to renegotiate their
debt agreements.
Sept 21 - 27, 2018 31
Business
CSR aviation

UBL’s blood campaign Kenya Airways ups flights to South Africa, Mauritius
yields 400 units   bringing the overall services

T
to five a week.
he national blood bank has been The same will be the case
boosted with 433 units of blood with Seychelles where the
following a week long blood drive present three flights a week,
championed by Uganda Breweries operated with Embraer
Limited in partnership with Uganda Blood E190 aircraft, will go up
Transfusion Services (UBTS). to five a week following a
This was in response to an appeal for rise in demand for all the
more safe blood in country. The drive which named destinations.
was also aimed at raising awareness and This comes barely a

K
collecting blood for the Uganda Blood Bank month since the carrier
was held from Sept.03-8 in the areas of enya’s national The carrier plans to add announced a 28.8% reduc-
Nakawa, Luzira, Kireka and Mukono.   carrier, Kenya Air- two non-stop flights from tion in net losses to Ksh4
UBL’s Rhona Arinaitwe said the drive was ways, will effective Nairobi to Cape Town start- billion in the half year end-
a success. She added that more population next month in- ing October 01 whereas ed June 2018 on the back of
need to take part in donating blood to deal crease its non-stop flights to Mauritius will get an addi- cost-cutting measures and
with the annual shortfall of 100,000 units. South Africa and Mauritius. tional flight on October 28, revenue growth.

CSR PAY TV

Stanchart supports 250 girls Kwese TV drops

at the Sheraton Hotel on
subscription fees

Sept.11.
This follows an earlier
pilot project unveiled last
year targeting to empower
girls by adding a module
on entrepreneurship where
they provided with start-up
kits and financial education
to 250 out of school girls
with the aim of making
them financially indepen-
dent.
Gender Minister, Janat Mukwaya (center) hands over a
Shs420m dummy cheque. “The success of this pilot
E
conet’s subsidiary in Uganda,
Kwese TV, has dropped its sub-
scription fees by Shs 40,000 to Shs
66,000 to attract and retain new
customers in anew promotion.
“As a new and growing business on the
continent, it is important that we keep a
close eye on our audience’s viewing and
purchasing habits,” Econet Media CEO
and President, Joseph Hundah, said.
“We have seen that consumers are
increasingly opting for reasonably priced
subscription services, as opposed to high

S
is what has informed our end TV subscriptions.”
tandard Chartered lion) through the Goal pro- decision to invest a further He said while there’s clear appetite for
Bank in partnership gramme. Shs420million in start-ups alternative TV entertainment, Kwesé wants
with BRAC Uganda The fund was launched and the up-skilling of 3,000 to provide content that is both engaging
has launched a girl by the Minister of Gender, girl entrepreneurs with and inexpensive. Currently, Kwese sells
child empowerment fund Labour and Social Devel- financial education,” the a decoder and a dish for Shs 143,000 inclu-
of US$113,000 (Shs420mil- opment, Janat Mukwaya, bank said in a notice. sive of one month free subscription.

BANKING

Afrexibank’s US$850 loan facilities to boost African trade

T
he $850 million in financ-
ing facilities being made
available to the African
Export-Import Bank by
two Chinese financial institutions
will allow the African trade finance
bank to greatly expand its support
to African businesses seeking to
diversify and expand their trade
activities, according to the Bank’s
President Prof. Benedict Oramah.
Prof. Oramah, who was report-
ing on the Bank’s participation
in the recently concluded Forum
for China-Africa Cooperation
(FOCAC 2018), held in Beijing
from September 3-4, said the Bank
used the opportunity of that event
to sign agreements for a $500-mil-
lion facility with the China Devel-
opment Bank and a $350-million
facility with Bank of China.
The China Development Bank
facility is to enable Afreximbank
support trade enabling infrastruc-
ture projects across Africa while
the $350 million from the Bank of
China is targeted at direct bank-to-
bank loans, participation in syn-
dicated loans and trade finance,
among others. This development
comes barely two months since
Afreximbank entered into an
agreement that will see the African
Development Bank provide it with
a $500,000 grant from its African
Private Sector Assistance (FAPA)
programme to support emerging
factoring firms on the continent.

32 Sept 21 - 27, 2018

 Business

UEGCL boosts 20 staff with

contract management skills
By Julius Businge He also added that staff

U
training in different areas is
ganda Electricity good news as it will save bil-
Generation Compa- lions of shillings that the gov-
ny Limited (UEGCL) ernment would have paid on
says it is ready expatriates.
to handle matters contract Meanwhile, he said Isimba
management as the company that was to be completed this
nears completion of the two year will be commissioned in
flagship projects of US$1.4bn March next year.
Karuma (600MW) and the On the other hand, the
US$567.7million Isimba contractor for Karuma Dam
(183mw). This is after 20 of has submitted a request for an
its staff received an intensive extension of completion date,
five-days training conducted Mutikaga added.
by the American University of Evelyn Anite, the state min-
Safe Boda Co-Founder, Rapa Thomson Ricky (R in a black court and jean) and Cairo in Kampala. The train- ister in charge of investments
Kasiima Stephen, Director in charge of Traffic and Road Safety at the Uganda ing was in line with UEGCL’s and privatization who offici-
Police during the launch of SafeBoda Academy in Kyebando, a Kampala suburb strategic plan 2018-2023 that ated at the closing ceremony
on Sept. 13, 2018. The Academy will train their motorcyclists on road safety, includes improvement of said the training is anchored
customer service and mobile tech skills.   INDEPENDENT /Julius Businge knowledge, skills and abilities onto the National Develop-
to achieve the set goals. ment Plan II and Vision 2040
Harrison Mutikanga, the which focuses on ensuring
UEGCL chief executive officer, inclusive growth and socio-
said at the end of the training economic transformation.
on Sept.14 at Serena Hotel that Anite said that the collabo-
the skills acquired are in the ration with the American Uni-
areas of construction supervi- versity of Cairo is part of the
sion, contract administration, wider Egypt-Uganda bilateral
contract formation, delays collaboration which will see
analysis and claims analysis. more training in various fields.
“This will go a long way in She added that equipping
enhancing our supervisory Ugandans with skills will sup-
ability of existing and future port government’s effort of
projects,” Mutikanga said add- increasing power generation
ing, “Such training will help to support industrial growth
us get fit for purpose projects. and job creation.
Fresh Dairy Marketing Manager, Vincent Omoth, (middle in Fresh Dairy
jersey) and the Marketing Executive, Monica Kulabako (in white T-shirt)
together with Executives from the Uganda Secondary Schools Sports
Association during USSSA’s administration and management workshop held
on September 5-7 at Kololo Secondary School. The workshop was to build
capacity to oversee the recently signed 5-year contract between USSSA and
Fresh Dairy worth Shs 3.8bn
Weekly share price movement (September 07)
Security September 07 August 28 Movement
BATU 30,000 30000 00
BOBU 145 144 0.7
CENT 1,170 1,266 7.5
DFCU 900 900 00
EABL 7,269 7,634 4.7
EBL 1,658 1,862 10.9
JHL 18,322 18,657 1.8
KA 397 402 1.2
KCB 1,629 1,787 8.8
NIC 17 17 00
NMG 2,828 3,202 11.6
NVL 402 444 9.5
SBU 33 33 00
UCHM 48 52 7.7
UCL 23 23 00
Uganda Electricity Transmission Company technicians fix the Owen Falls
Dam transmission line that is alleged to have been vandalised on September UMEME 349 350 0.3
12, plunging most parts of the country into darkness.   Courtesy Photo. ALSI -- -- --

Sept 21 - 27, 2018 33

comment
By Alexandra Borchardt
Journalism’s comeback
Journalists are regaining their credibility and
trust is at its highest point in seven years
A
fter years of ill health, the news
industry is finally showing signs
of a modest recovery. According
to the Digital News Report 2018 –
the most comprehensive survey of digital
media consumption – subscriptions are
trending up while consumer confidence has
stabilised. For a much-maligned business
that trades in trust, these fragile gains
amount to meaningful progress.
To be sure, the world’s media remain
troubled; the report, produced by
the Reuters Institute for the Study of
Journalism, shows that only 44% of news
consumers believe what established
media brands publish. But that
represents an increase of one percentage
point from last year, suggesting that the
industry’s trust deficit has either stopped
growing or is actually narrowing.
Other surveys are even more bullish;
for example, the annual Edelman Trust
Barometer found that journalists are
regaining their credibility, while overall
trust in traditional and online-only
journalism is at its highest point in seven
years. These findings prompted the firm
to declare that “the return of experts” is
upon us.
Although it may be too early for
media executives to declare victory just
yet, these are clearly good signs for an
industry that has had its reputation
battered in recent years. Political
polarisation has made people suspicious
of media outlets that don’t support their
views, while cost cutting in newsrooms
has degraded the quality of journalism
on offer. But, as the new data suggest,
journalists appear to be finding ways to
address these challenges.
Perhaps the most revealing trend in
this year’s Digital News Report is the
growing distrust in news shared via
social media. For example, our study
found that only 23% of respondents trust
news they find on social media, and
just 34% believe what they turn up in
search engines. These figures will likely
trouble Google, Facebook, and other
tech giants whose businesses are no less
reliant on trust than traditional media
organisations.
But while platforms like Facebook
34 Sept 21 - 27, 2018
stumble, many traditional media outlets
are finding their footing; subscription
trends support this conclusion. Of the
74,000 survey respondents, 14% said
they paid for digital news at least once
during the previous 12 months, while
the average in the Nordic countries
was closer to 30%. In the United States,
President Donald Trump’s attacks on
so-called “fake news media” have had
the opposite effect, pushing more people
to support independent journalism than
ever before. In 2016, for example, only
9% of American consumers paid for
news online; that share rose to 16% in
2017 and has held steady this year.
Even in countries like the United
Kingdom, which has no shortage of free
news websites, people are investing in
quality reporting. The Guardian’s model
of soliciting donations or membership
payments is fueling a financial
turnaround. In nearly every country
surveyed, young people on the political
left demonstrate the highest propensity
to pay.
Some critics argue that the media’s
payment model contradicts the original
spirit of the Internet as a place for
our study found
that only 23%
of respondents
trust news they
find on social
media, and just
34% believe
what they turn
up in search
engines
the free exchange of ideas, news, and
information. Moving the best stories
behind paywalls, opponents say, will
give rise to second-rate news for second-
class citizens.
But this argument misses three key
points. For starters, the number of
digitally connected people who cannot
afford to pay for news at all can be
presumed to be quite small; willingness
to pay is much more a question of
spending priorities. Moreover, paying for
something that one perceives as valuable
helps make it so, as the move to prioritise
membership models over purely
transactional approaches illustrates.
Finally, for those who truly cannot
pay, there are viable options for bringing
quality journalism to low-income
households. For example, tax codes
could be reformed to make the practice
of journalism more affordable, while
government or foundation funding
could increase support for public media
programming.
When people pay for content,
journalists gain an incentive to deliver.
They scrutinise their products for
value, check facts thoroughly, innovate,
investigate, and cut down on the cheap,
attention-grabbing noise that plagues so
many social-media platforms. Best of all,
these trends are mutually reinforcing;
the better the journalism is, the more
consumers will value it.
It has been a long time since the media
industry had good news to report about
itself. Now that we do, it is imperative
that we work harder than ever to sustain
the trend toward quality, credibility, and
financial viability.
Alexandra Borchardt is Director of Strategic
Development at the Reuters Institute for the
Study of Journalism.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2018.

By Joseph Bossa
More on OTT and Mobile money taxes
A tax which is not in pursuit of clear objectives
is illogical and should be condemned
U
ntil recently, I had not taken
much interest in taxation. My
interest was aroused by the
debate, now over shadowed
by more hair-raising events happening
in our fair land, regarding OTT, which
means Over The Top and SVS, which
means services. All of that was OMH
(Over My Head) until some Good
Samaritan told me that it is simply
about taxes on use of social media.
A tax by whatever name it is called
is a duty, a fee, a rate or a toll etc.
Direct or indirect, it is a mandatory
financial charge upon a taxpayer by a
governmental organisation.
The new taxes introduced on the
above activities have generated more
heat than illumination. Discussion
has often degenerated into a shouting
match among the commentators,
experts and non- experts alike; those
who are blindly in support of and
those who are vehemently against the
taxes.
Of course there is also the majority
who are innocently clueless as to what
is going on. That is not the way public
discourse should be conducted.
It is time we went back to the basics:
the principles and considerations
upon which any tax should be based.
However, for the purposes of clarity;
a tax system may involve either
imposing a charge or removing it.
Whether a tax is being imposed or
removed, it must be in pursuit of
certain principles or objectives. To
the few to whom this may sound
obvious and elementary, I beg your
indulgence. A tax which is not in
pursuit of any of the following
objectives is illogical and should be
condemned as it is no different from
robbery.
Historically, the raison d’être of the
state was to provide security of person
and property to its citizens against
neighbouring states. With that narrow
role of government, the primary and
original objective of taxes and not
necessarily in form of cash because
that came later, was to provide
sustenance for the defenders of the
state, today called soldiers. With the
expansion of the role of government in
the affairs of its citizens, the primary
objective of taxes is now to enable
government provide services to its
citizens. The commonest of these is
provision of healthcare, education,
and infrastructure.
That should be clearly
understandable for the money to
finance such activities has to come
from somewhere. Today, apart from
maintaining a standing army even
when there is no war, taxes are also
manipulated in case of going to war,
offensive or defensive. In such a case,
government will remove taxes on
imported raw materials necessary
to make weapons. In the same vein
it may impose taxes on what is
considered luxuries, like hair pieces
for both women and men in order to
raise money to pay for materials to
make armaments.
Taxes may be imposed in order
to prevent or discourage behavior
deemed harmful to the population
both at individual and collective
levels; i.e. use of tobacco, excessive
Taxes may be
imposed in
order to prevent
or discourage
behavior
deemed
harmful to the
population both
at individual and
collective levels
comment
drinking of alcohol and importation of
old vehicles and machinery. This type
of tax can have multiple advantages;
it reduces avoidable health and
hazardous to the individual and
community, reduces accidents,
reduces expenditure on treatment of
those afflicted while at the same time
raising revenue to spend on worthy
causes.
A taxation regime is a coin with
two sides: on one side is imposition
and the other exemption. There are
occasions to seek revenue and there is
a time to forego it. Taxation is one of
the tools of social engineering which
the government uses to influence
social behavior of its citizens. From
what items to seek revenue (to tax)
and from which to forego revenue
(to exempt) is determined by the
priorities which are a reflection of the
values of the government. In much the
same way is government expenditure
a reflection of its priorities. In
summary taxes may be imposed or
removed with some of these objectives
in mind:
  To raise revenue for social services
  Reduce health hazards
  Enhance health
  Security
  Induce people to work in case of
poll tax (which was removed);
  Redistribution income e.g. estate
duty in the more sophisticated
economies.
The government is duty- bound
to honestly explain to Ugandans in
which slot OTT and SVS taxes on
mobile money transfer fall before
they are forced to ascribe their own
intentions.
Joseph Bossa is a leader of the opposition
Uganda Peoples Congress party
Sept 21 - 27, 2018 35
comment
By Ian Katusiime
Bobi Wine and American Support
Is being linked to Western powers a stunt or sign of the
MP’s potential to cause regime change in Uganda ?
S
ince Kyadondo East MP Robert Ky-
agulanyi together with his Canadian
lawyer, Robert Amsterdam, had
what they dubbed “an international
press conference”, in Washington D.C., U.S.
on Sept.6, some supporters of the singer-
turned-politician have hailed it as a mark
of his growing stature. It is a huge leap for
someone emerging to become the poster
boy of opposition to the long rule of Presi-
dent Yoweri Museveni.
The tongue-wagging went into overdrive
when he posted pictures early this year
while attending a one week course on
‘Leadership in the 21st century at Harvard
Kennedy School of Government, Harvard
University, USA. Since he won a hotly
contested by-election in 2017, Kyagulanyi
has been a sensation on the political scene-
he has been vital in three wins against the
ruling National Resistance Movement
(NRM) party in by elections in Rukungiri,
Bugiri and Arua. As an independent MP, he
has steered clear of the intrigue surrounding
party politics not to mention his youth and
musical background.
After he was arrested in Arua and alleg-
edly tortured by soldiers of the Special
Forces Command (SFC), the unit that pro-
vides security to President Museveni, his
case gained prominence and Kyagulanyi
became a symbol of fighting repression. On
Twitter and Facebook, #FreeBobiWine was
all the rage and the young politician made
a mark on the international scene going
by the outpouring of support he received
from across the world. In the last few days,
Amsterdam has been the face of Kyagu-
lanyi’s international campaign against
Museveni. At the press conference, the two
addressed journalists from BBC, CNN, Al
Jazeera among other foreign media. To his
critics, Bobi Wine’s press conference came
off as a stunt of someone who is being used
as a front by Western powers aiming to
cause regime change in Uganda. And the
statements by Kyagulanyi and Amsterdam
tended in that direction.
Amsterdam whose law firm has offices
in Washington and London said that he
would hold meetings with members of
the U.S. Congress, and officials in the U.S.
Department of State and table evidence
of the alleged brutality and human rights
violations perpetrated by the Ugandan
government. In what looked like a care-
fully choreographed moment, U.S. Con-
gressman Brad Sherman tweeted a photo
36 Sept 21 - 27, 2018
of his meeting with Kyagulanyi, and the
latter’s wife Barbie Kyagulanyi with a cap-
tion: “Today, I met with @HEBobiWine and
his wife, Barbara. During our meeting he
underlined the importance of the demo-
cratic process as well as those who have and
continue to suffer from political oppression
in #Uganda. #PeoplePower #FreeZaake
#Arua33”.
Although such events are sometimes mere
photo-ops with hardly any follow up, the
press conference and later international TV
interviews, fuelled the narrative from pro-
government voices of how Bobiwine was
in the U.S. to meet with his funders and not
seeking specilaised treatment for torture
traumas as he claimed.
Amsterdam was clearly pitching to the
international audience about his client’s
tormentors. “The military equipment we
(referring to the U.S.) are supplying to
Uganda is being used in a war of terror
against Uganda’s citizens,” he said and
threatened those involved in torture of
opposition politicians with being barred
from travelling abroad or holding property
outside Uganda under the provisions of the
Global Magnitsky Act. This is an American
law aimed at those who violate human
rights across the world.
Government spokespeople, including
Ofwono Opondo, did rounds of interviews
soon after to counter claims made by the
two at the press conference.
Responding to questions on Amsterdam,
Opondo told The Independent in another
interview that Amsterdam was “not an
issue”. “We have read in some media that
he works for criminal groups in former
Soviet Republics. We know that there are
always fronts of such negative forces but he
is not an issue.”
Social media has been awash with com-
mentary that Kyagulanyi appears to be a
puppet of a foreign power going by the
utterances of his lawyer, Amsterdam who
said America has the ultimate control of
Uganda. In a phone interview with The
Independent, Amsterdam said he met Bobi
Wine through Freedom Now, a U.S-based
non-profit organisation that works to free
individual prisoners of conscience through
focused legal, political, and public relations
advocacy efforts. Amsterdam’s law firm,
Amsterdam & Partners LLP, established
a website BobiWine.com which sums up
the politician’s current troubles with the
Ugandan government.
On why he set up the Bobi Wine website,
Amsterdam said: “We helped him get
medical care. We also want to expose how
the U.S. is aiding Museveni’s illegalities.
Frankly, U.S. is funding Museveni’s army
and we also want to expose to the world the
human rights violations that the govern-
ment is committing”.
Asked whether he is an agent for a for-
eign power to make Kyagulanyi’s case,
Amsterdam laughed it off. “They have got
it all pathetically wrong. The government
of Uganda should stop slandering me and
Bobi. I have represented Rupiah Banda
who is a good friend of Museveni. So it
is amusing.” He said he could not name
anyone yet of those who could be targets of
the travel ban due to their possible implica-
tion in torture but vowed action. According
to a statement on his website, Amsterdam
provides strategic counsel to corporations
and individuals in “politically challenging
and crisis-prone environments.” Regarding
the increasingly repressive political envi-
ronment in Uganda where journalists have
been assaulted and over 33 people detained
after the Arua by-election, it may not be
surprising how Kyagulanyi ended up on
Amsterdam’s radar.
Some of his other clients include Mikhail
Khodorkovsky, a Russian political prisoner
and Thaksin Shinawatra, a former Prime
Minister of Thailand among others across
the world. Those defending the young MP
against accusations of schmoozing with
the West say there is no bigger agent of
Western powers than Museveni. They cite
Museveni’s wars in Somalia funded by the
U.S. under their counterterrorism agenda
and the several forms of aid Uganda has
been receiving from the U.S. since Museveni
took power. “How about the meeting in
Beijing where African leaders paraded?”
one person asked on Twitter. Whatever the
case, Joseph Bbossa, veteran UPC politician,
says Ugandans must be vigilant. “At the
end of the day, the direction will depend
on Ugandans. If Ugandans take anybody
wholesale like they took Museveni, they
will end up naked,” he said, “Whether
the initial support comes from China or
America, you have to be vigilant.”
Bbosa cautions Ugandans not to give
a blank cheque to any leader. “That is
planting seeds of dictatorship and breeding
a sense of entitlement.”
Ian Katusiime is a journalist at The Independent
Eating spicy food can
make you feel `high’
So, knowing that the same “oh crap, you’re burning”
sensation is activated when we chew on chili peppers,
why the hell do we still insist on eating them?
A
By Agencies
colleague of mine concerned
about becoming 30 and sud-
denly having a low tolerance
to everything was wonder-
ing why he’s been feeling
increasingly woozy while
eating spicy food. He’s noted that he feels
buzzed, not unlike what others describe as
“getting high”.
So can you get or feel high from eating
spicy food? Well, it depends a lot on what
you mean by “high”, so let’s dig in.
The word “high” is certainly a nebulous
one. It means a range of things, and it’s used
in a fairly colloquial manner. The high you
get from taking ecstasy – an alert, buzzy
feeling where external stimuli seem more
intense – is certainly very different from the
high you get from cannabis; depending on
the strain and the varying amounts of CBD
and THC in it, this drug can make you feel
more chilled out or more spaced out.
You can also get a “high” after experienc-
ing an adrenaline rush, triggered by, say, a
skydive. If you enjoy running, the produc-
tion of endocannabinoids within your body
can give you a “runner’s high” not dissimi-
lar to the one you get from using cannabis
products.
According to Merriam-Webster, these all
generally refer to definition 12b: “intoxi-
cated by or as if by a drug or alcohol”, i.e.
“high on cocaine.” So now that’s clear, can
spicy food get you high, or make you feel
high, in this way?
It certainly seems that way, and the
blame can be laid with capsaicinoids, a fam-
ily of plant components that belong to the
Capsicum genus. The most well-known is
capsaicin – real name (6E)-N-[(4-Hydroxy-
3-methoxyphenyl)methyl]-8-methylnon-
6-enamide, by the way. These are found in
various parts of the fleshy innards of the
fruit of the plant, especially in the white
slithers to which the seeds, which don’t pro-
duce any themselves, are attached.
It’s already a little peculiar that we eat
chili peppers rich with the stuff, because
it’s thought that it evolved through natural
selection as a way of deterring animals from
eating it. Sure, if we pooped the seeds out
after eating the pepper, we’d help spread
the plant all over the place, but the mechani-
cal digestion of plenty of creatures – as in,
chewing – largely destroys such seeds. (As
this 2012 dispatch notes as an aside, though,
birds do not destroy the seeds of such
plants, which is why they are a key disper-
sal mechanism for them.)
Nevertheless, we enjoy eating them,
which means we enjoy the burning sensa-
tion these capsaicinoids produce. This is
related to the proverbial high, so let’s have a
look at the chemistry of these little beauties.
Per Helix, Northwestern University’s sci-
entific outreach blog, the sense of spiciness
we get from them isn’t a “taste”, as there are
no taste buds associated with them. Instead,
on your tongue (and elsewhere on your
body) you have a protein named TRPV1,
which is attached to the surfaces of nerve
cells. It’s like a periscope that lets the cells
know what’s happening.
Now, TRPV1 reacts to high temperatures,
letting your brain know to stop eating lava,
say. It also reacts in the same way when
it comes into contact with capsaicinoids,
which bind to the proteins through a mech-
anism we’re only just beginning to under-
stand. So, knowing that the same “oh crap,
you’re burning” sensation is activated when
we chew on chili peppers, why the hell do
we still insist on eating them?
Well, in order to numb the pain, our brain
releases endorphins, a multipurpose group
of neurotransmitters that are sometimes
referred to as “pleasure” hormones. Dopa-
mine, the “reward” neurotransmitter, is also
released. That is why you may feel “high”
after eating spicy food.
Plenty of drugs release endorphins,
including alcohol. MDMA releases a decent
amount of dopamine, as well as serotonin –
another neurotransmitter linked to feelings
of happiness – and norepinephrine, which
among other things ups your heart rate.
So yes, spicy food can make you feel
high, but in a way that’s different from
using drugs or doing a handstand and
unexpectedly pulling it off.
Source:IFLscience
Sept 21 - 27, 2018 37
health
Milk, yogurt, cheese
bad for your heart?
A new study says dairy products might,
instead, keep your heart healthy
By Ana Sandoiu Should dietary guide-
A
large observational
study recently
published in the
journal The Lancet
examines the link between
the consumption of whole-
fat dairy and cardiovascular
health.
The United States Depart-
ment of Agriculture and
American Heart Association
(AHA) both recommend
that adults do not exceed
three servings of low-fat
dairy per day.
The high content of
saturated fat found in dairy
products, they warn, may
raise the levels of “bad”
cholesterol, which poses
a threat to cardiovascular
health.
However, new research
is challenging these guide-
lines.
For instance, a recent
study has suggested that
the fatty acids found in
whole-fat dairy may have a
protective role against heart
disease and stroke.
Now, a large-scale obser-
vational study has reviewed
the dietary habits of over
130,000 people in 21 coun-
tries across five continents
and found that whole-fat
dairy correlates with a
lower risk of mortality and
cardiovascular disease.
Dr. Mahshid Dehghan —
from McMaster University
in Ontario, Canada — is
the lead author of the new
research.
Whole-fat dairy lowers
mortality risk
Dr. Dehghan and col-
leagues used food question-
38 Sept 21 - 27, 2018
naires to collect self-report-
ed data on the eating habits
of 136,384 people over a
follow-up period of 9.1
years. The people surveyed
were aged between 35 and
70, and the dairy products
they consumed were milk,
yogurt, and cheese.
For the purposes of the
study, a portion of dairy
comprised either a glass of
milk of 244 grams, a cup
of yogurt of 244 grams, a
15-gram slice of cheese, or a
5-gram teaspoon of butter.
Based on these intakes,
the team divided the volun-
teers into four groups: those
who consumed no dairy,
those whose intake did not
exceed one serving per day,
those who consumed one to
two servings daily, and the
“high-intake” group, who
consumed over two daily
servings — or 3.2 servings,
on average — every day.
The study revealed that
people in the high-intake
group were less likely to die
from any cause, less likely
to die of cardiovascular dis-
ease, and less likely to have
a stroke or develop major
heart disease.
Also, within the group
that regularly consumed
full-fat dairy only, the
researchers found that the
more whole-fat dairy was
consumed, the lower the risk
of mortality and cardiovas-
cular issues.
“Our findings support
that consumption of dairy
products might be beneficial
for mortality and cardio-
vascular disease, especially
in low-income and middle-
income countries where
dairy consumption is much
lower than in North America
or Europe,” said Dehghan.
lines be changed?
Although this is an obser-
vational study that cannot
confirm causality, the results
suggest that some saturated
fats in whole-fat dairy could
benefit cardiovascular health,
as do some vitamins and
calcium. Does this mean that
the current dietary guide-
lines should be changed?
Previous research that
found similar results sug-
gested that the guidelines do
need revising. However, a
linked commentary written
by Jimmy Chun Yu Louie,
at the University of Hong
Kong, and Anna M. Rangan,
from the University of Syd-
ney in Australia, explains
why that may not be such a
good idea yet.
“The results from the
[...] study seem to suggest
that dairy intake, especially
whole-fat dairy, might be
beneficial for preventing
deaths and major cardiovas-
cular diseases,” they write.
“However, as the authors
themselves concluded, the
results only suggest the ‘con-
sumption of dairy products
should not be discouraged
and perhaps even be encour-
aged in low-income and
middle-income countries.’”
“[The study] is not the ulti-
mate seal of approval for rec-
ommending whole-fat dairy
over its low-fat or skimmed
counterparts,” they add.
“Readers should be cautious,
and treat this study only as
yet another piece of the evi-
dence (albeit a large one) in
the literature.”
Source: Medical News Today
 ART | BOOKS | SOCIETY | TRAVEL | CULTURE
Mister lion shares a secret
An unusual comment on political and social injustices
I
By Dominic Muwanguzi
t is unusual for an artist with no
art background in this era to make
a mark on the local art scene. But
Andrew Arim defies such notion
with his ongoing exhibit of figurative
portraits at the Afriart on 7th gallery
based in Industrial area, on Seventh Street.
The artist’s forte is deploying his love
for comics- fictional characters- onto his
canvases alongside his style of portraiture to
stimulate an authentic narrative on the topic
of power, authority and control. His mes-
sage is veiled with the adoption of `Mister
Lion’ as the protagonist who is depicted
performing different roles. He poses and
parties with a bevy of women, pops expen-
sive champagne and projects himself as a
clergyman with two altar boys by his side.
These suggest to a critical mind the social
injustices that emanate from being in abso-
lute power and control.
Arim is clever with his approach to this
rather sensitive topic of autocracy and not
only does he adopt the image of the lion- a
symbol of absolute power and control-but
emphasises the idea of hyper realism in
his paintings. His paintings are, therefore,
layered with colour to inject in them a sense
of life- the characters in the drawings are as
if real, plucked from real life and not frozen
bodies on canvas. More so, his technique
to concentrate on the facial expression of
his subjects is a brilliant idea that comically
reveals the underlying message in his art to
the audience. For example, the painting of
Mister Lion seating in a comfy chair with
his legs crossed- a sign of being in control-
with a stash of money (USD bills) carefully
rolled up as he winks one eye to the audi-
ence. The drawing conveys the narrative of
one who has made it in life with nothing to
worry about. Yet the same drawing could
portray the corrupt tendencies that show
up when one is in a position of power. It is a
scenario that can be referenced to the most
powerful people a across the globe; espe-
cially in political and social circles.
Therefore, `Portrait of Power, Authority
and Control’ is partly a missive to the politi-
cal systems across the globe that keeps most
of their citizenry in socio-economic misery
while the small minority political elite
indulge in all sort of pomposity.
Arim avoids being overtly political in
order to make his art palatable to diverse
audiences. This approach makes his paint-
ings eye candy for everyone. Many joke
about its masked political rhetoric.
In this regard, the young artist succeeds
in engaging his audience on familiar issues
that continue to dog every citizen from
border to border. A `Portrait of Power,
Authority and Control’ is showing now at
Afriart on 7th, located on Seventh Street
Industrial Area.
Sept 21 - 27, 2018 39
Man steals dead neighbour’s bank card,
spends £6,000 on Domino’s pizzas
A 24-year-old man stole his dead neighbour’s bank card and
failed to notify anyone of her death for two years. Robert Shar-
key, who now lives in Grays Hill, Bangor, broke into Marie
Conlon’s house in August 2015, after she had died. He used
her bank card to pay for his phone bill, groceries and almost
£6,000 worth of Domino’s orders over the next two years.
Australians to rent graves for Shs13m
Australians in the New South Wales region have a new law;
the Cemeteries and Crematoria Act which requires them to rent
graves for 25-99 year periods if they can’t afford the leasehold
fees on a permanent grave. Burials are an expensive business, and
that a single grave can cost anywhere between $3,506 (Approx.
Shs13 million). The law means the headstones of the dead can be
removed if the lease of the plot is not renewed within two years of
expiration. The plot is rented to new tenants.

Artist carves incredible Schwarzenegger Avocado craze

Girl, 10, forces
Kellogg’s to change
‘sexist’ slogan
A schoolgirl has forced
Kellogg’s to change its ‘sexist’
wording on Coco Pops packets
after writing to in to complain.
Hannah-Marie Clayton, 10,
objected to the slogan ‘Loved
by kids, approved by mums’
on the boxes of the chocolate
cereal. Her letter to Kellogg’s
said she found the phrase
‘sexist’. Hannah-Marie said:
“My mum was away so I was
just with my dad when I saw
it on the cereal box. It made
me think that dads should
be included as well because
they are important too. Also
some people don’t have a
mum and they might find
it upsetting.” Kellogg’s has
written Hannah-Marie a letter
of reply confirming they will
be altering the wording on
the boxes because of her. The
boxes will now read ‘Approved
by parents’. Her mother said:
“James and I are both very
proud of her, as she’s only 10”.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
has been honored with several
statues throughout his long and
successful career, but few as
impressive as the one recently
carved by wood sculptor James
O’Neal out of a single black oak
Corrupt tax officials: Can family badge help?
Tax officials
in Uzbekistan
are to be
issued with
new identity
cards which
include a
photo of family
members, it’s
been reported. Management
at the State Tax Service in
the country’s south-western
Bukhara region have
approved the new badges
to remind officials that they
have families at home waiting
for them, should they be
trunk. Standing at 1.88 meters,
the statue took O’Neal six
months to complete, and bears
an uncanny resemblance to the
“Austrian Oak” in his prime
years, when he won back to
back Mr Olympia titles.
tempted to
“tarnish the
reputation of
the service”,
the Kuz.uz
news website
reports. It
also aims to
remind staff
of the partnership between
tax payer and tax collector
as part of Uzbek president
Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s
campaign to improve the
tax service and increase tax
revenues. The idea has been
ridiculed on social media.
in Europe
Avocado has become
a favourite fruit in New
Zealand and for export. The
love of the pulpy fruit has
seemingly fuelled a crime
wave. According to reports,
thousands of dollars-worth
of avocados are being
stripped from trees both
under the cover of night and
in broad daylight as a single
fruit sells for $1.95 (Approx.
Shs7000). At one point it
sold for $4.60 (Approx.
Shs18,000). Some people
have resorted to planting
their own and nurseries are
struggling to keep up with
demand for avocado trees.
People “are asking about
avocados all day, every
day,” nursery owner Lloyd
Houghton told journalists.
But nursery manager
Andrew Grilli points out
that it takes two years
to cultivate a plant from
scratch to the point that it
can be sold. And after that,
you could be in for a wait of
up to five years before your
tree bears fruit, he said.

40 Sept 21 - 27, 2018

Should you trust
your mechanic?
By Independent Reporter
I
recently had to send my car to the
mechanic – and things did not go
according to plan; mainly because
this was not my usual mechanic
but one supplied by the car dealer-
ship in the Banda neighbourhood of
Kampala city. I suspect this mechanic
is used for ease of access - because he
is located just a minute from the car
dealers.
Anyway, I got this creepy feeling as
soon I entered the premises. I, how-
ever, hoped the crew had not noticed
and proceeded to play along. Mean-
while, I googled about how to spot a
mechanic you should trust to share
with my Motoring Guru.
The best article I caught just sent
my heart racing because, according
to the writer, rule number of assess-
ing whether to trust a mechanic or
not is to ensure that the mechanic is a
specialist in a certain brand of vehicle.
He/She will be up-to-date with the lat-
est developments and changes on that
vehicle brand. My man scored zero
on cars of my type as there was none
in the garage, 30% on small trucks,
and 80% on motorcycles which had a
whole section.
On the second rule: Take the time to
explore the workshop and, in particu-
lar, look at the tools and equipment,
the functionality and general appear-
ance of the workplace. The place
did not have any permanent shed or
office. Just open ground, a bench, and
a tiny metal sheet shack.
On three: Ask questions on the type
of parts generally used and the staff’s
experience (certificates). It was not
possible but I assumed no certificates
because the crew could not speak Eng-
lish.
But it is Rule Four that broke the
deal. It says: Look for a workshop
that has been accredited by a repu-
table association. This will ensure you
are dealing with a workshop that has
been assessed and certified and there
is recourse should you not be satisfied
with the work carried out. Unfortu-
nately, Uganda does not have many of
these for quick jobs. So, many of us are
quite comfortable working with road-
side mechanics. Even then, we expect
some professionalism. I did not sense
any when the crew started tinkering.
I am wary of mechanics who dive in
without getting the case history first.
Today’s vehicles are mainly electronic
and diagnosing a problem can be com-
plex even with the onboard computer.
So I was not taking chances. I ordered
a stop and called the supplier. Was I
over-reacting? Should I have let the
guys carry on? May be.
But the online article consoled me.
According to it, I am not alone in dis-
trusting mechanics. It cited a survey in
which it polled readers on the question:
“How do you feel about mechanics in
South Africa?” Out of 20, 198 votes, up
to 5,203 said mechanics are “dodgy, the
lot of them” and only 1,370 reported
ever “having a great experience with
mechanics”. The majority, 8,770 said
“a few bad apples ruin it for the rest”
and 3,206 said they “sometimes receive
good service”. Only 1649 vote that “SA
has qualified, profession technicians. I
wondered what the figures for Uganda
would be.
Sept 21 - 27, 2018 41
Profile
Mariam Nagujja: Teaching
women about love
By Agnes E Nantaba

M
relationship and how men can use it to
ariam Nagujja is a communi- manipulate women. She also provides
cator, writer, ardent reader, a guide to women who are in pursuit of
life coach and inspirational more knowledge in the matters of love
speaker especially to women. relationships.
She recounts having read close to 600 “It exposes women to a whole gamut
books before embarking on her writing of ideas, such as when it is time to end an
career. abusive relationship, why being too nice
“Everything I do or say is referred to a can never guarantee a committed rela-
book,” she says tionship and time-tested rules on love,
“I have read about the body language such as never to tire oneself in order to
and actions of people”. She had early impress a man.
training – from her father. As early as “The beginning of all wrangles and
six years, her father would challenge her violence in relationships is failing to
to read sentences in the presence of his understand positions,” says Nagujja.
friends and she would rarely disappoint. “From that, you will know what to
Then he would gift her with books upon expect in such relationships and that con-
return from work travels. fusion is what I address in my book”.
Nagujja is talkative but she also eas- The book appealed to the marrieds,
ily grasps what she hears and was a top divorced and singles seeking solutions
student. about relationship challenges. She also
“Intelligence and wisdom paid for my started her counseling career and did a
education because everywhere I went, short course in psychology at the Uni-
I was always the best and they always versity of California. She is currently
wanted to have me around”. working on the second edition of the
She went on to excel in business book.
– until, she says, she was eventually “A book is like a project so
dragged down by “immature love deci- an edition can age out and
sions”. This would eventually lead to it ceases to be relevant,”
loss of her business and psychological she says.
torture. Nagujja took lessons from her She also founded
setbacks, realised they happen to many Focus Group Interna-
young people, and decided to build on tional to reinforce her
her challenges. That was eight years ago. idea of meeting the
“I started a working relationship with interests of women.
God and woke up to pursue my des- Nagujja is the
tiny,” she says. fourth born of
She went into frenzied reading and Aligizimba and Mar-
writing. She read mainly to find solu- garet Bamundaga.
tions. Her intent was not only to guard She went to Molly
and guide women against manipula- and Paul primary
tion from men but also help them to school, Progres-
regain self-confidence after a destructive sive Secondary
relationship. She committed to writing School Entebbe and
every night and one thing led to another. Makerere Univer-
Although the intention was not to pub- sity School (MUBS)
lish but to share her experience at wom- where she pursued
en conventions, one thing led to another a diploma in Sec-
and eventually Nagujja was guided to retarial and Infor-
publish. mation Manage-
Nagujja was introduced to an experi- ment. She later
enced author of over 36 books at some did a degree
investment conference who offered free in Information
editing and publishing services. Technology at
Her book titled ‘The Lady’s Guide’ Makerere Uni-
sold well. In it, Nagujja explains to fel- versity.
low women the workings of men in a

42 Sept 21 - 27, 2018

 Q&A
advertorial

Mariam Nagujja’s Liteside

Any three things that we refer to them. is true to his word. misery?

I
don’t know about you? Losing a relationship;
am a loner. What is your current What or who is the such an experience can
Surprisingly, I have a state of mind? greatest love of your life? affect your domestic and
lot of humour when I am very satisfied With my knowledge career life.
with people and yet I because this is what I and understanding of
prefer to be a loner in my have always wanted to life, I have not found a What is your favorite
private life. It explains be. human being reliable and occupation?
why it is very hard for an worth loving the most. Being paid for
individual to know my What do you consider the A relationship with God speaking.
real character. most overrated virtue? and the universe is the
I behave according to Talking too much most reliable and nobody What do you most value
circumstances; so I have without facts because we is worth loving the most in your friends?
many faces. don’t read. Most people apart from God. I can’t even have
do things out of gambling friends because with
What is your idea of as opposed to basing on When and where were my experiences, I have
perfect happiness? facts. you happiest? been disappointed and
Happiness is not in Whenever I am reading know for real that human
the things but a spirit What does being a book that is speaking beings can’t be trusted.
given by God. Happiness powerful mean to you? to me at that particular
cannot be quantified. Power is knowledge; moment. I also enjoy Who are your favorite
with wisdom, you have eating good food so writers?
What is your greatest power over anyone I make sure that I eat There is no favorite
fear? without it. With right and best daily. I am writer because I
I am a fearless person. knowledge, you talk or happy whenever my spirt read according to
act from authority to the and body are aligned circumstances.
What is the trait circumstance. together.
you most deplore in Which historical figure
yourself? On what occasion do you What do you consider do you most identify
I am too talkative and lie? your greatest with?
wish I could do less. I never tell lies because achievement? Napoleon Hill and
I also tell off people as a reader, I am not Becoming the best Robert Schuller; the
straight away, which allowed to keep or do female speaker; I love the latter taught me about
angers some people. stuff that compromises fact that I can even bring success when I was
my thinking. together all the many re-establishing myself
What is the trait you books I have read in one while the other created
most deplore in others? What do you most conversation. focus at my down time.
Poor time management dislike about your
and telling lies. appearance? If you were to die and What is your greatest
I don’t like the fact that come back as a person regret?
Which living person do I am growing fat. or a thing, what would The wrong decisions I
you most admire? it be? made in the past. I also
Most of my inspirations Which living person do The same person believe that with my
are dead. you most despise? although with knowledge and the way I
Anyone who looks at more money to do read, I would have made
What is your greatest material possessions as philanthropy. a very good lawyer.
extravagance? success.
Books and nothing else. What is your most How would you like to
I don’t keep junk that I What is the quality you treasured possession? die?
don’t need. For instance most like in a woman? Material possessions Death is a very good
I know that I have seven Self-improvement . don’t make sense and experience because you
pairs of shoes and 14 true value lies in an gain freedom as the soul
dresses. What is the quality you individual’s attitude leaves the body. If I can
most like in a man? towards life. I treasure achieve the remaining
What is the greatest Honesty and integrity; knowledge which part of my life of
thing you have ever a man who says he explains why I spend a touching souls, then I can
done? can’t is better than lot on books. go anyhow.
The ability to read one who promises and
many books and after never fulfils. Never What do you regard What is your motto?
so many years be able to underestimate a man who as the lowest depth of I mean everything I say.

Sept 21 - 27, 2018 43

Global comment
By Jayati Ghosh
The real problem with free trade
It is that free trade has enabled a few predatory
multinational companies to secure monopolies
F
or most critics of globalisation,
trade is the villain, responsible for
deepening inequality and rising
economic insecurity among workers.
This is the logic driving support for U.S.
President Donald Trump’s escalating tar-
iffs. Why, then, does the message resonate
far beyond the United States, and even the
advanced economies, to include workers in
many of the developing countries that are
typically portrayed as globalisation’s main
beneficiaries?
Free trade is hardly the only – or even
primary – source of inequality and
insecurity worldwide. Surprisingly, one
enduring problem that provokes far less
popular backlash is that finance con-
tinues to dominate the world economy,
generating substantial instability and
mounting risks like those that led to the
2008 global financial crisis.
Moreover, some countries continue to
pursue fiscal austerity, instead of consoli-
dating their budgets by, say, addressing
large-scale tax avoidance and evasion
by major companies and wealthy indi-
viduals. And labour-saving innovations
continue to be developed and deployed,
producing “technological unemploy-
ment” among some groups.
Some argue that free trade is being
demonised simply because people do
not understand what is in their own best
interest. But that is both patronising and
simplistic. Even if free trade is ultimately
broadly beneficial, the fact remains that
as trade has become freer, inequality has
worsened.
One major reason for this is that current
global rules have enabled a few large
firms to capture an ever-larger share of
the value-added from trade. Specifically,
the proliferation of global value chains
has enabled powerful multinational
firms to control the design, production,
and distribution of traded goods and
services, even as various segments are
outsourced to smaller firms far from final
markets.
These firms often benefit from intel-
lectual-property monopolies, reinforced
by free-trade agreements designed to
strengthen corporate power. These
enable them to collect massive economic
rents, especially at the pre-production
(including design) and post-production
44 Sept 21 - 27, 2018
(marketing and branding) stages, where
the most value-added and profit is gener-
ated.
Meanwhile, increasingly intense com-
petition in the production phase drives
down prices, so that the actual pro-
ducers, whether employers or workers,
receive diminishing shares of the value
pie. The upshot of this system is that
many developing countries that should
have benefited from the globalisation
of value chains have remained con-
fined to low-productivity activities that
yield only limited economic value and
do not even foster wider technological
upgrading.
The forthcoming Trade and Develop-
ment Report 2018 by the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development
(UNCTAD) captures how top firms have
steadily increased their share of total
exports, and now dominate global trade.
Ironically, this trend has intensified since
the 2008 global financial crisis, which
cast a spotlight on the disproportionate
market power of the few and the outsize
gains going to the top 1% of the income
distribution.
UNCTAD’s research also shows that,
for both developed and developing
countries, integration into global value
chains correlates with declining shares
of domestic value-added in exports. The
share of actual production in domestic
value-added has also declined, as has
the share of the remaining value-added
accrued by labour. One potential driver
of the latter trend is that, by drastically
enlarging the global labour supply, the
economic integration of countries with
large populations like China and India
has increased the bargaining power of
capital relative to labour.
The only significant exception to these
trends is China, which has designed
industrial policies specifically to increase
the share of domestic value-added and to
improve workers’ conditions. Ironically,
it is these measures, which have helped
offset some of the negative effects of free
trade, that Trump has condemned in his
pursuit of policies that will do little to
protect workers.
But the implications of allowing a
few global corporations to wield such
vast market power extend further. For
one thing, such concentrated economic
power makes it more difficult for coun-
tries to industrialise, because local com-
panies cannot expect to compete with
established multinationals. For another,
it prevents developing countries from
reaping the full benefits of rising com-
modity prices, though they gain no
protection from price downturns. The
ability of large corporations to under-
price natural resources also encourages
excessive extraction, pollution, and envi-
ronmental degradation – outcomes that
they disingenuously present as the “price
of development.”
Consumers also suffer. Yes, major mul-
tinationals can offer low prices. But their
massive market power leaves consumers
at their mercy in every sphere, from
manufacturing to financial services to
digital technologies.
The more power these companies
have, the more they can accrue, as they
use their influence to shape regulatory
systems, economic policies, and even tax
regimes. The result is a weakened state
that serves the interests of the few, rather
than protecting the many. Those who
claim that redistribution can adequately
address this problem must address the
fact that the “losers” of free trade have so
far received little, if any, compensation.
Globalisation’s detractors are right
that free trade has created serious
imbalances. But a trade war completely
misses the point. The problem is not
that free trade has led to too much
global competition, but rather that it
has enabled a few companies to secure
monopolies or near-monopolies. This
has given rise to massive inequalities,
blatant rent-seeking, and predatory
behavior. Only by addressing these
trends can the benefits of trade be
increased and equitably shared.
Jayati Ghosh is Professor of Economics at
Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi
and Member of the Independent Commission
for the Reform of International Corporate
Taxation.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2018.
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