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Is democracy AIDS treatment East African AIG is back: Will American

dying in Africa? has progressed trade wars firm regain its top position?

Issue No. 550 Dec. 07 - 13 2018 Ushs 5,000,Kshs 200, RwF 1,500, SDP 8

No crooks
with cash
Museveni, MPs plot less
money in next election

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Dec. 07 - 13 2018
INBOX

Issue No. 550 Dec. 07 - 13 2018

News analysis Business Health Arts Motoring

Cover story
No crooks with cash
Museveni, MPs plot less
money in next election
4 The Week
30 Comments
Untreated nets not allowed
on the Market, PS Atwiine The world George H.W. Bush
made : His administration’s
foreign policy record compares
9 The Last Word
favourably with that of any
Uganda’s boat tragedy: Why other modern U.S. president
accidents like the one that
killed tens of revellers will
32 Health
continue to happen
The Septrin controversy:
Why those fighting to have
14 Analysis the medication might be
misguided
Is democracy dying?: Taking Africa’s
democratic temperature as a dozen
countries prepare for polls
35 Arts & Culture
27 Business
Top five artists
East African trade wars: Petty of 2018
rivalries blamed for regional
trade disputes

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.
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CARTOONIST: Harriet Jamwa

PUBLISHER: Independent Publications Limited, Plot 82/84, Kanjokya Street, P. O. Box 3304, Kampala, Uganda
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2 Dec. 07 - 13 2018
 Offline

“We are counting the number of months

we have reported here, should we clock
and hit the six months to report here and
the police continue to dilly-dally that they
are not yet through with investigation,
we shall use the force required and
provided within the law to stop coming
to court,”Arua Municipality MP Kassiano Wadri
on Dec.03 shortly after Gulu Magistrates’court
adjourned the treason case against him.

Guwahati, India:
Air force recruits
perform a drill during
a presentation of the
Indian president’s
standards and
colours at Borjhar air
force station

Kiev, Ukraine: A “I want to re-echo my words that

huge Soviet-era arch HIV is an easy disease to deal with
symbolising Ukraine because it is not contagious like flu. ”,
and Russia’s friendship
and union, where an
President Museveni in his World AIDs Day
unknown artist has commemoration speech on Dec.01.
added a crack following
recent tensions

Slavkov u Brna,
Czech Republic:
History enthusiasts
dressed as soldiers “I am very proud and humbled for
fight during a
re-enactment of having done this for my country. I
Napoleon’s battle believe all girls have dreams and goals
of Austerlitz to achieve”, Miss Uganda Quiin Abenakyo
after she and Uganda qualified for the first
time to participate in the final top 30 for Miss
World 2018.

Maritime rescue coordination Euros to be spent on a just launched Was fraudulently paid to

9
centers are set to be
constructed after Templar boat
accident on Lake Victoria.
28m
nutrition programme that will
support 100,000 malnourished
Shs270m some individuals affected
by construction of Akii Bua
children in Karamoja stadium in Lira district.

Dec. 07 - 13 2018 3
week
Roofings plants 300 Trees in Namanve Park
Roofings Rolling Mills, steel
manufacturing giant in Uganda,
has planted 300 trees around
Namanve Industrial Plant in
efforts aimed at environmental
conservation. Under its Forever
Forestry initiative that started
seven years ago, staff of Roof-
ings with spades, trucks of
loam soil in tow, and water
cans planted trees led by their
Executive Director Oliver Lalani
CCEDU’s Kaheru to head regional election observers’ body
Crispin Kaheru, the National
Coordinator for Citizens’ Coali-
tion for Electoral Democracy
in Uganda (CCEDU) has been
elected to chair the board of
East and Horn of Africa Election
Observers Network (E-HORN),
a regional network of East and
Horn of Africa election obser-
vation and monitoring citizen
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4 Dec. 07 - 13 2018
and Chairman Sikander Lal-
ani. “Forever Forestry is about
making Uganda green again.
It’s a seedling project where we
have a capacity of over 20,000
seedlings at a given time,” says
Oliver. Roofings has also been
conducting trainings and work-
shops especially in areas of har-
vesting honey. The company
has a model farm where other
farming projects take place as
organizations and institutions
whose headquarters are located
in Nairobi Kenya.
Kaheru was announced as
new boss on Nov.28 when the
network held its 3rd Council
meeting in Nairobi, Kenya to
deliberate on the strategies and
action plan for the 2019-2022
period. Being leader of the
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well. According to Nashila
Lalani, another director at
Roofings, sustainable envi-
ronment as a policy has also
been introduced at a nearby
primary school the company
adopted a few years ago. “We
have given the parents and
their children seedlings, they
are growing their own crops
and vegetables.”
organization, Kaheru will be
heading the team that will be
observing the 2021 election in
Uganda. However, his local
organization – CCEDU has had
its observation license suspend-
ed by the Electoral Commission
on grounds that the institution
is partisan something they have
objected in court.
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Untreated nets
not allowed on the
Market, PS Atwiine
Ministry of Health Permanent
Secretary Dr. Diana Atwiine has
called upon Uganda Revenue
Authority not to allow untreated
mosquito nets on the market.
Speaking at a dialogue orga-
nized by a Civil Society Organ-
isation HEPS Uganda, she said
that this matter has long been
referred to URA but no response
had been got yet it’s not enough
to just have a barrier against
mosquitoes without killing them.
“The head of state is annoyed.
He thinks we are not serious.
How can we fail to tackle such
simple issues. We are supposed
to set standards”, she said add-
ing that even the co-payment
model they ordered in provision
of anti malaria drugs has been
abused. According to this model,
private sector and government
had agreed to sell artesunate
based therapies like coartem at
a maximum of Shs3000 but this
is not happening with some
facilities selling the medication to
prices as high as Shs10, 000 and
many of the medicines are being
recovered in process of being
smuggled out of the country.
She said they have now set
up a committee with strict terms
to ensure that the co-payment
terms are being adhered to.
Malaria, despite efforts like
Indoor Residual Spraying and
provision of insecticide treated
nets remains the number one
killer in the country accounting
for 8 to 13 million episodes per
year and 50% outpatient visits
and 35% hospital admissions.

Arrest warrant issued against ex-Burundi leader
An international
arrest warrant was
issued on Nov.30
against Burundi’s
former President Pierre
Buyoya and 11 former
senior officials over the
1993 killing of Melchior
Ndadaye.
Buyoya now
an African Union
Representative in Mali
denounced the warrant
calling it politically
motivated and another
diversionary move
to bar him from
participating in tackling
unresolved questions in
the country.
He had come to
power in 1987 with the
help of the army but lost
the seat in 1993 when
Ndadaye a Hutu was
elected. However the
newly elected president
died four months
later in an attempted
coup spearheaded by
Buyoya’s Tutsi tribes’
men. Thereafter, a civil
war broke out leading
to death of an estimated
300,000 people.
Buyoya later become
president again ruling
the country from 1996
and 2003. He now
says the killers of his
opponent have already
been convicted.
Week
UDPF launches Ulinzi condoms
Uganda People’s Defense Force-UPDF
has unveiled a new brand of condoms as
part of its efforts to fight the HIV scourge.
Ulinzi condoms are packed in a digital
camouflage pack similar to UPDF uniforms.
The condoms, which are produced in
Thailand, were unveiled on Dec.01 during the
commemoration of the International World
AIDS day in Kawempe Division in Kampala.
Col. Ignatius Wamundu Cassette, the Director
HIV/Aids in UPDF, says they conducted a
study with the help of the Population Services
International to come up with a new strategy
of fighting HIV/Aids. He says they resolved
to produce Ulinzi condoms after realizing that
HIV/Aids have affected several soldiers in the
last 30 years. “We resolved to come up with
something different from what is available
on the market and decided to produce Ulinzi
(Swahili word for defense) condoms because
it resonates well with soldiers,” he said.
According to Col. Wamundu, the army
plans to distribute 7 million condoms this
year and next year to the general public.
About 170 million condoms are used in
Uganda annually, which means the army
will be contributing 2 percent of the total
condoms required. Sulaiman Kidandala, the
former Deputy Lord Mayor Kampala Capital
City Authority-KCCA has welcomed the
gesture by UPDF, saying the army isn’t only
providing security to the citizens but has
taken broad steps to fight HIV.
Some of the people who received the free
condoms distributed by the army said they
were eager to test them to discover the feel
behind them.

Opposition announces new cabinet

Leader of Opposition in parliament Betty
Aol Ochan announced on Nov.29 a new
cabinet comprising of members of Forum
for Democratic Change (FDC), Democratic
Party and Independents.
“It has been a question. They have been
asking me whether I will keep this cabinet
since I took over from colleague Winnie
Kizza”, she said announcing that she had
dropped 6 MPs – Micheal Kabazigu-
ruka, Robert Franco Centenary, Gilbert
Olanya,Edmund Ariko, Lucy Akello, and
Moses Kasibante.
Now, the new consists of 31 shadow
cabinet ministers. Shadow Attorney General
is Wilfred Nuwagaba, Medard Seggona
is incharge of Justice and constitutional
Affairs, Zaake Francis for East African
Affairs, Lutamaguzi Semakula is incharge
of lands housing and urban development
and Muwanga Kivumbi is in charge of
Internal Affairs. Local Government has been
handed to Betty Muzanira whereas Betty
Nambooze Bakireke is for Kampala City
Council Authority. Anne Adeke retained the
Youth and Children Affairs post.

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Week
Creation of new administrative units
detrimental to service delivery, survey
A new survey whose results were
released on Nov.29 has recommended
that there should be a set criteria and
standard for viability of creation of a new
administrative unit. It also recommended
that government should put aside an
autonomous startup fund for the new unit
so as not to share the little
resources with the mother
unit.
Conducted by Makerere
University professor of
Development studies –
Godfrey Berinde Asiimwe
and civil society Organisation
– Kabarole Research Center
(KRC), the survey conducted
in 635 households in the
Rwenzori Sub region sought
to find the impact of creation of new
administrative units on service delivery.
4 out of the 8 districts in the region were
sampled to establish the status of health,
education and public administrative
service delivery comparing how the
situation was in 2001 and 2015.
Prof. Asiimwe said they chose to focus
on Kabarole, Kyegegwa, Kamwenge and
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Bunyangabu districts because Kabarole
was the mother district from where all
the rest were curved. He said they found
while these units have reached the 75%
access rate set nationally, many of them
lacked necessities and kept piling pressure
on the mother facilities as many didn’t
have key experts. When it
comes to service delivery at
offices at the various local
government units like district
headquarters they found
major gaps in front line staff.
Responding to these
findings at the launch that
was attended by several
members of parliament from
the region and elsewhere,
State Minister for Agriculture
Christopher Kibazanga said the challenge
is brought about by the fact that new units
are created without alerting the Ministry of
Finance to plan for them.
The meeting proposed that the local
government budget be increased from the
current 14% to 40%, saying a lot happens
at this level and yet a lot of money is left at
the center.
CAF drops Cameroon
as 2019 AFCON hosts
The Confederation of African Football
(CAF) has withdrawn the hosting rights for
the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON)
from Cameroon. “Today [Nov 30], the
Executive Committee met in Accra, Ghana
and has decided that the Cameroon FA
could not host the 2019 Total Africa Cup of
Nations,” said a brief communication from
CAF. The development follows cries of
political instability in Cameroon and slow
progress on the readiness of the facilities.
“Cameroon has been stripped off rights
to host after the infrastructure has been
found not to be ready by June 2019 despite
commendable efforts. It has been a huge
and hard decision that CAF had to take,”
a CAF executive committee member told
URN.
He said another country will be
announced after the bidding and
evaluation by December 31. “It is open to
all other CAF members that can meet the
terms and conditions,” added the source.
The hosting of the 2019 AFCON has
become a contentious issue following
the Confederation of African Football’s
decision to expand the tournament from 16
to 24 teams. URN
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Samsung to release 5G
phone by June
Verizon has announced plans
to release a 5G smartphone in
Cctv footage pins former Executive Director in charge of supervision at Bank of
Uganda Justine Bagyenda for taking Bank of Uganda documents without authority. the first half of 2019. It will
be partnering with Verizon,
representing what will be one of
the most high-profile US debuts
for the new mobile networking
standard. There aren’t any details
yet on the device itself, but
Bloomberg previously reported
that the two companies were in
talks to bring a 5G version of the
upcoming Galaxy S10 to the US.
Samsung and Verizon already
have a proof-of-concept phone
using Qualcomm’s X50 5G
modem on hand. Separately,
Samsung is developing its own 5G
modem, the Exynos 5100, which
will presumably be used for
international 5G variants of the
Galaxy S10 based around Exynos
processors. Samsung recently
Socialite Bryan White was seen commanding the operation to announced the Exynos 9820
retrieve the wreckage of the boat that capsized on Lake Victoria. system-on-chip that will almost
certainly power those devices.
This is Samsung’s second
major 5G showcase in under a
week. South Korean carriers SK
Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus all
launched their 5G networks over
the weekend, with SKT CEO
Park Jung-ho using a prototype
Samsung phone to make video
calls around the country. “I feel
deeply moved by this first video
call on a 5G smartphone,” Park
said, in comments reported by The
Korea Herald. “It was much clearer
than on LTE and the response was
quick.” The carrier’s 5G network
presently covers 13 South Korean
cities and counties; Verizon’s is set
to go live in early 2019.
The office of the Prime Minister suggested that the
government workers be paid according to the hours work.

Dec. 07 - 13 2018 7
A statue of the German philosopher Immanuel Kant is splattered with pink paint, near one of the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University buildings in the city

Uganda’s boat tragedy 
By Andrew M. Mwenda
Why accidents like the one that killed tens
of revellers will continue to happen
T
he sinking of a boat in Lake Victoria
killing many revellers on November
24 was a classic tragedy. And typical
of the Ugandan character, social and
traditional media have been awash with
finger pointing and apportioning blame.
Pundits say the government failed in its ob-
ligation to save Ugandans from themselves.
It is a claim I have increasingly grown scep-
tical of and hostile to.  expensive, and brutal. The costs of suc-
The idea of a state as different from
the people who comprise it has over the
years gained ascendance in Africa, par-
ticularly Uganda. On practically every
failure on our continent and country, the
blame goes to the government and “our
leaders”. I have grown increasingly wary
of this reasoning in large part because
leaders and the states over which they
preside emerge out of the population. It
follows, therefore, that they are a reflec-
tion of that society.  hosted them to a mass rally at Clock
I do not want to blame the victims
of this death, but there is a lot in their
tragedy that reflects our national char-
acter. For instance, whenever I am
driving around Kampala, I come close to
knocking and even killing a boda boda
rider – often carrying three or four pas-
sengers, driving reckless on the wrong
side of the road, through red traffic lights
or overtaking from the left. Sometimes
I stop, get out of my car, and grab the
boda boda rider by the collar.
“Why are you risking the lives of
your customers,” I ask, “You owe them
a responsibility of care to drive them
safely.” In many of these unhappy
encounters, boda boda riders are intrigu-
ingly apologetic. However, in most cases
passengers insult me. They say I have
lugezigezi and that I am “wasting” their
time and urge the rider to continue.
Note: if an accident happened, it is only
my car that would be damaged and be
repaired by insurance. I would suffer no
physical or financial injury. The boda
boda rider and his passengers would
suffer bodily harm, the more reason they
should be concerned about their personal
physical safely than me.  board. The revellers had little regard for
What we are witnessing with boda
bodas is not a failure of the state but
a general societal tolerance of reckless
behaviour. Many young people from the
Western world who come to live and/
The Last Word
or work in Uganda and use boda bodas
buy helmets. Ugandans do not. Why?
The difference is in the social attitudes
towards safety.
States can only be effective at enforce-
ment if their laws, rules and regulations
are in sync with the shared mentalities,
values and norms of the people. Short
of this, enforcement becomes expansive,
cess would exceed the benefits sought. In
a democracy where the career of politi-
cians depends on placating the whims of
voters, it is hard to attempt such a feat.
One example stands out: in 2010, the
then Inspector General of Police, Gen.
Kale Kayihura, ordered a massive crack-
down on boda boda riders without hel-
mets and who drove recklessly. Police
swung into action. The riders petitioned
State House. President Yoweri Museveni
Tower. They made their case to him. In
his response, he allowed them to ride
without helmets and asked Kayihura to
back off. It is easy to blame Museveni for
such crass opportunism, and we should.
However, that is how democratic politics
works everywhere.  and until Ugandans – individually and
When Museveni left, the riders attacked
Kayihura and would have killed him. He
was by rescued by Special Forces Com-
mand soldiers. Kayihura and the police
took their lesson and made winning over
boda boda riders a cardinal goal in their
management strategy. Henceforth, boda
boda riders were above the law. It is in
this context that Boda Boda 2010 was
born, and took over the management of
the police. The voters had carried the
day.
So back to the tragedy on Lake Victoria:
Ugandans want their fun and the state
has limitations in enforcing its rules. The
state may be omnipresent but it is not
omnipotent. For example, police say they
tried to stop the revellers from boarding
the boat saying it was in bad condition
but were “overpowered” – a code-word
that respectable Baganda princes were on
their own safety. It is difficult to save a
person committed to committing suicide.
Every society has its norms, values,
habits, shared mentalities etc. These pour
into the state as laws and regulations.
Opinion
Effective law and regulatory enforcement
is not just because the state wishes. It
is largely because society treasures the
rules. In the absence of societal values in
favour of the rules, enforcement becomes
expensive. There is limited enforcement
of safety standards on cars, boda bodas,
boats etc. in Uganda because we pay lip
service to our safety. 
Whenever human beings suffer a loss,
they look for a villain to blame for their
misfortune: the devil, the scheming
gods, the neighbourhood witch, etc. In
Uganda’s (and Africa’s) case, the state,
the leaders or the president provides
considerable grist to the blame-others
mill. I am keenly aware this article spe-
cifically, and my arguments over the last
six years or so generally, get interpreted
as a disguised way to defend Museveni
and the “incompetent, corrupt and cruel
rogue state” over which he presides.
While I have no desire to make excuses
for Museveni, I have no apologies for
coming across as doing just that. 
The tragedy on Lake Victoria will
happen again and again regardless of
what the state pretends to do unless
collectively – begin taking safety seri-
ously. I take my safety on boda bodas
seriously. So when I sit on one, I dictate
how the rider will ride and they respect
my rules. No riding on the wrong side of
the road, no overtaking from the left, no
overtaking when another car is coming,
no riding through red lights. I have
never used Safe Boda because I ride boda
bodas with the best safety – my personal
insistence on how the rider rides. 
Ugandans need to take personal
responsibility for their actions and
stop blaming the government and/or
Museveni. Only then will our country
prosper with or without Museveni and
the state over which he presides. The
state in Uganda and the people who
manage it do not come from Spain,
Ecuador or Japan but from amongst us.
Their actions and inactions, therefore,
reflect our shared values, norms, habits,
attitudes, mentalities etc. Only a colonial
state can reflect values different from
those of the society it governs.
amwenda@independent.co.ug
Dec. 07 - 13 2018 9
cover story

No crooks
with cash
Museveni, MPs plot less
money in next election

P
By Independent Reporter

resident Yoweri Museveni’s

ruling NRM party spent Shs13
billion on the 996 national
election, Shs30 billion in 2001,
Shs50 billion in 2006 billion
and Shs75 billion in 2011. In the
2016 elections, the ruling party spent over
Shs120 billion.
Going by these estimates, the NRM
budget has been growing by a whopping
60% at every election. At that rates, the
NRM could spend up to Shs160 billion at
the next election in 2021.
The Members of Parliament have also
been increasingly opening their wallets at
elections. According to a 2016 survey by the
Alliance for Campaign Finance Monitoring
(ACFIM) which started compiling some of
these figures in, 113 members of parliament
spent close to Shs25 billion during the
February parliamentary elections.
To arrive at this figure, ACFIM
interviewed about 190 of the 432 MPs in the
10th parliament.
On average, ACFIM found that NRM
MPs interviewed spent Shs233 million,
opposition legislators spent, Shs187 million
and independents, about Shs189 million.
The highest declared spending by a single
candidate was Shs1billion while the lowest
was Shs10 million, according to the ACFIM
report.
By revealing the scale of the problem, the
report helped the mobilisation efforts of the
group seeking to deal with the problem of
commercialised politics.
At the launch of the ACFIM report, Fort

10 Dec. 07 - 13 2018

Portal Municipality, Alex Ruhunda,
also a member of the ruling party said
cash politics has hindered progressive
and credible leaders from joining
politics leaving it to crooks with cash.
In a bid to fight back, he said that
he and a group of more than 50 MPs
had already written to parliament’s
director for Legal Affairs and the
Legal Committee to draft a Bill that
will put a ceiling on how much a
candidate can spend in an election.
“We went through nasty experiences
during elections because our
relationship with the voters is about
money,” Ruhunda said, “If this trend
continues, we are doomed.”
That was the most frank confession
by an MP on record regarding how
frustrated they are about spending
more and more to win elections.
One MP told ACFIM that he spent
Shs1billion to win his seat.
Part of the frustration among
politicians with spending more and
more to buy votes, is the growing
realization that there is no clear direct
return on investment.
ACFIM shows that between
November and December 2015,
President Museveni spent almost
12 times more than his two closest
opponents combined on his
presidential campaign over the two
months.
Across the 16 districts that ACFIM
studied in November and December,
in 2015 ahead of the 2016 elections,
Museveni spent in excess of Shs27
billion or 91.6% of the total minimum
expenditure, Amama Mbabazi spent
Shs. 1.3 billion (4.6 %). Besigye spent
977 million (3.3 %). The rest of the
candidates spent less than 1.0%
combined.
President Museveni who spent
the most won with 61% of the vote.
However, he got 5.6 million votes
compared to the 5.4 million he won in
2011. That is a 3.8 rise, despite an 18%
jump in votes cast.
On the other hand, the 14% jump
went to his challengers; especially
Besigye who this time won 3.2 million
votes compared to 2 million votes in
2011.
Former Prime Minister, Amama
Mbabazi, previously expected to be
Museveni’s biggest challenger came in
third with only 1.4 percent of the vote.
All the other six led by Abed Bwanika
followed by Venansius Baryamureeba,
Maureen Kyalya, Benon Biraaro and
Joseph Mabirizi got under one percent.
No wonder the proposed Bill has
attracted almost unanimous support
cover story
even before it is drafted. The question,
however, is what tactics politicians
who appear to only know how to
win by buying votes will use in 2021.
Many are looking at Museveni and
wondering what new tactics he has
this time.
The Museveni money factor
The sponsors of the Bill are
also anxious about how President
Museveni will react to the Bill.
While many say Museveni has been
the single biggest spender throughout
all the elections, over the years, the
President has also been critical against
use of money in elections.
While addressing the NRM
delegates Conference in December
2014, for instance, Museveni noted
the use of money in elections was
a political mistake responsible for
distorting the purpose of leadership.
“A political leader is not a welfare
officer, he is not an employee of
the population, he is not a service
provider,” President Museveni noted,
“Many of the leaders have failed to
know this. They wrongly attempt
the extreme of futility to run their
constituencies using their personal
money, by providing petty sums of
money to their supporters.
Dec. 07 - 13 2018 11
cover story
President Museveni delivers a Shs.50m cheque to Kabuusu Welders & Traders Cooperative SACCO
I call this futile because an individual
cannot manage to support the families
in a constituency or a sub-county. They
attempt to fundraise for this church, the
other mosque, this other school, etc., etc.
What is the result? Heavy indebtedness
by the leader ─ to the extent of having
their properties sold off. This is not only
total failure of leadership but endangers
the security and independence of our
country.”
The following year, President Museveni
repeated the same comments in a
November 2015 commentary in Daily
Monitor.
Museveni wrote: “Coming to the
population, it is suicidal to start selling
your votes for meaningless benefits -
some little money or items. If you vote for
somebody who gives you some money,
that person may not have the capacity
to address your core interests - roads,
electricity, education, security, Naads, etc.
What will then happen? How will you,
sustainably, get out of poverty and under
development? Moreover, you, the voter,
by voting for the one who bribes you,
rather than for the one that can channel
(kukusakira) the resources from the
government to you, you disenfranchise
yourself.”
In June this year, President Museveni
also warned the ruling party District
Chairpersons against “unnecessary use of
money” in elective politics.
“I do not support the use of money in
politics,” he said.
His latest criticism came out at the
beginning of November.
“If you can bring money and you are
12 Dec. 07 - 13 2018
elected because of money not because of
your performance, that means the people
have no power to punish you. The vote
should be to punish or to reward you for
doing well,” said President Museveni on
Nov.11 at a meeting with a delegation of
members of the Inter-Party Organisation
for Dialogue (IPOD), a platform brings
together leaders of political parties to
discuss issues that affect them, at State
House Entebbe.
Many are not convinced. According to
legislator Winfred Niwagaba, for instance,
because President Museveni has made
handing out cash to citizens a culture,
people now expect that politicians must
dish out public resources.
Like Niwagaba, many critics feel that
legislators and other public officials are
now expected to give handouts to sick
people, schools, religious organisations,
women and youth groups, and individual
with personal financial requests for school
fees, wedding, and funerals.
Dr. Julius Kizza, in his paper titled
‘Money Matters: Financing Illiberal
Democracy in Uganda”, says political
finance “is the mega-explanation of
Museveni’s victory and Besigye’s loss”.
“Elections in Uganda have become
procedural rituals, not opportunities
for establishing government by
consent, thanks to the obscenely high
financialisation of the elections,” he
writes.
Although vote buying is proscribed by
law, the Commonwealth Observer Group
of the 2011 election, in their report, say
“the use of money in elections has become
a culture in Uganda and voters have
become accustomed to receiving bribes
for their votes.”
However, according to some insiders,
the ever-growing bill might explain
why President Museveni also appears
concerned about election spending.
Although the 2021 elections are two
years away, Museveni and his NRM
party are already deeply engaged over
campaign cash; how to get it and how to
spend it.
What is surprising, however, is that
this time around they are talking more
about regulating election spending. The
Independent has learnt that plans by a
group of legislators to come up with a law
aimed at curbing excessive use of money
in elections are gaining more momentum
two years ahead of the 2021 elections.
This became apparent on Nov.27, when
over 30 legislators met at Hotel Africana
in a bid to galvanise support for the effort
after several years of working behind the
scenes. Majority or 19 of the 30 legislators
who attended the event belong to the
NRM.
Alex Ruhunda, also a member of the
ruling party, is leading the effort under
the Campaign Finance Reform Group
of MPs. The Independent was unable
to speak to Ruhunda as he could not be
reached by phone.
However, insiders say they expect
him to table a motion in parliament
seeking permission to present a Private
Members Bill before the end of this
month. The plan is to have the law in
force by June next year.
The desire to have the law in force
within a few months and before
 cover story
campaigns for 2021 elections start partly seven years but not less than five are barred from making such
explains why the group opted to amend years. contributions.
the existing law rather than introduce a The Bill also provides for There is an exception to the effect
new law all together, an insider told The declaration of whatever candidates that a political party may make a
Independent. spend. According to the Bill, this is contribution to its candidates to
It also explains why officials are to be submitted as election expenses a tune of 100% of the spending
limiting their efforts to parliament. return. limit. Individuals are permitted to
According to insiders, some legislators “The import is that every candidate contribute only 30% of the candidate’s
preferred a blanket law targeting all that participates in an election has spending limit.
politicians; especially President Yoweri a duty to submit a return of their The Bill also prohibits foreign
Museveni, who they see as the biggest election expenses not later than twenty entities individuals such as foreign
money problem. one days after the declaration of governments, foreign companies and
However, the strategists behind this results,” reads the brief on the Bill in NGOs among others from making
effort felt that if President Museveni felt part. contributions to the campaign.
targeted, he would use the ruling party, A period of seven days is allowed The reasoning behind this is that
which he controls and which commands for candidates to correct their returns elections and politics should generally
a 60-percent majority in parliament, to after this period. They must also list be protected from foreign influence.
out fight such a bill.
The current laws do not prohibit
the excessive use of money in election
campaigns or regulate donations
to candidates participating in
parliamentary elections.
As such, candidates vying for
parliamentary sits, can raise unlimited
amounts of cash from any source, legal
or otherwise, and spend it on securing
election to parliament.
“Unrestricted campaign spending
has resulted in the commercialisation
of politics which caused unsustainable
levels of debt among MPs, macro-
economic volatility; growing levels of
corruption and an uneven playing field
in elections,” reads a brief prepared by
the sponsors of the bill.
According to the brief, the proposed
private member’s bill seeks to amend
the parent Act by introducing; limits on
campaign spending; transparency and
accountability for campaign finance; the
high court as the adjudicator of disputes
between candidates and tougher civil
sanctions against vote buying.
The proposed Bill covers campaign
spending for the period beginning 90 Kiiza Besigye addressed supporters at a political rally
days prior to nominations and through
to the declaration of results. all campaign contributions, in kind or While it is not yet clear how
in cash, that exceed Shs1 million. members of parliament will respond to
The spending formula The Bill also proposes that a the proposed Bill, a survey by ACFIM
The Bill seeks to put limits on candidate who wins but does not found that two thirds (66 per cent) of
campaign spending by introducing a submit returns, that his or her election MPs agreed that legal limits should
new section, which provides for a fair is overturned and he or she is barred be placed on campaign spending and
means to determine spending limits from contesting in any election for a almost eight out of ten (79 per cent)
for candidates during an electoral period of not more than seven years agreed that candidates found guilty
cycle. but not less than five years. of vote buying should lose their
According to the sponsors of the If the candidate has not won but seats and be banned from contesting
law, the proposed spending limits is found by a court to have failed future elections. Crispin Kaheru, the
shall be the result of a formula in to submit a return then he or she is coordinator of Citizens' Coalition
the first schedule to the amendment also barred from contesting future for Electoral Democracy in Uganda
based on the geographical size of the elections for a period of not less than (CCEDU), told The Independent that
electoral area and its population. five years and not more than seven. the Bill is progressive because it aims
The Bill proposes that a candidate The bill provides for contributions to stunt the influence of money in
who violates the spending limits generally to the effect that only politics and expand voting rights.
should have his/her election nullified, natural persons can contribute to the “Without regulating money in
and be barred from contesting in the campaign finance of a candidate either elections,” Kaheru said, “ (We) would
ensuing by-election and any other in cash or in kind. In other words, be (sending) Uganda’s politics to the
election for a period of not more than corporate entities like companies deathbed.”

Dec. 07 - 13 2018 13
news analysis

Is democracy dying?
Taking Africa’s democratic temperature
as a dozen countries prepare for polls
By John J Stremlau election observers to publicly monitor, Democratic theory prescribes credible

V
isiting Professor of International
Relations, University of the
Witwatersrand
More than a dozen national
elections will be held across Africa next
year. All 55 members of the African
Union (AU) are obligated to hold regular
and ostensibly democratic elections.
They must also invite teams of AU
assess and report the results.
Is all this electoral activity helping to
entrench democracy as the foundation
for national and regional security,
development and integration? Or
have elections become the means
for demagogues to grab power – or,
more typically, for powerful elites
and authoritarian rulers to entrench
themselves?
elections as a necessary, but insufficient
means, to consolidate real democracy.
Real democracy typically abets peace and
security. National circumstances vary.
But three additional conditions are also
vital. They are freedom of expression, the
right of assembly, and an independent
nonpartisan judiciary to resolve disputes
and ensure the rule of law predominates.
Most deadly conflicts in Africa occur

14 Dec. 07 - 13 2018

within – not between – sovereign states.
Recognising this, the AU has made
observing and assessing democratic
elections an integral part of its
operations. This often happens alongside
observers from regional economic
communities.
As observations improve, so do
opportunities to gauge whether electoral
violence and other severe human rights
abuses threaten regional peace and
security.
In mid-November, there were three
important developments at the AU
headquarters in Addis Ababa. These
promise to improve Africa’s long-term
prospects for collective self-reliance and
democratic peace. And this will happen
regionally, nationally and locally.
The first was a streamlining of the
continental body’s operations. The
second was a move to strengthen the
monitoring and evaluation of member
countries. The third was a renewed
commitment to improve the depth,
duration, and diligence of African
election observation missions.
Three Changes
President Paul Kagame of Rwanda
has been the chair of the AU this year.
He has driven a set of administrative
and financial reforms to improve its
efficiency and effectiveness.
Headline reforms include:
 Reducing the number of AU
Commission portfolios,
 Introducing merit-based hiring and
promotion procedures, and
 Reducing dependence on foreign
donors. This has been achieved by
revising the scale of member state
contributions and penalties for
nonpayment.
 The key structural reform will be
combining the portfolios of Political
Affairs and Peace and Security.
This makes sense strategically. It
will ensure that the lion’s share of
AU resources supports both urgent
peacemaking needs and creates
conditions conducive to developing
politically capable states. Failures
on either front could jeopardise the
AU’s strategic plan for the socio-
economic transformation of the
continent.
Two other developments
complement these shifts.
One is the Assembly’s decision
to strengthen the monitoring and
evaluation of key governance areas on
the continent. This promises substantial
improvements in the role and
functioning of the African Peer Review
Mechanism. The mechanism was
established in 2003. It aims to encourage
member states to critically and regularly
assess their progress in governance and
socio-economic development.
After much initial excitement, the
mechanism devolved into a largely
technical and widely ignored exercise.
Its governing Forum of Heads of State
sought to infuse it with greater political
clout and relevance in 2016. It mandated
its new director, Professor Eddy
Maloka, to produce an Africa-wide
comparative assessment of governance
challenges facing AU member states.
This will be presented to the next
regular AU Assembly of Heads of State
and Government in February 2019.
The final change involves beefing
up election monitoring. Ten years
ago the AU entered into a formal
partnership with the Electoral Institute
news analysis
for Sustainable Democracy in Africa.
The parties agreed on 16 November to
seek ways to extend and improve the
partnership.
The institute is based in
Johannesburg. It boasts an all-African
staff from more than a dozen nations.
It has helped AU missions on several
fronts. This has included the training
and application of:
 a common set of observation
principles and democratic election
standards, and
 more comprehensive, rapid and
technologically advanced tools and
training of AU observers.
The partnership has also helped
the AU to acquire a leadership role
among domestic and international
election observer groups pursuing
greater electoral transparency and
accountability. This is true even within
Africa’s most troubled states.
Is democracy dying?
These efforts would seem to
run counter to the question “Is
Democracy Dying?”, which has
become a preoccupation in the era
of U.S. President Donald Trump.
African politics, too, are vulnerable
to demagoguery, debauchery and
divisiveness. More notable is the
proliferation of progressive forces at
all levels of African politics. They are
exposing and combating corruption and
other egregious abuses of power.
Progress is slow, erratic, and
dangerous for democracy advocates and
activists to pursue. Yet in a year when
Freedom House’s latest global survey
concludes democracy is in decline,
Africa may well be bucking the trend.
The Mo Ibrahim Foundation’s 2018
Index of African Governance found
that “…governance on our continent,
on average, is slowly improving
… approximately three out of four
African citizens live in a country where
governance has improved over the last
ten years”.
Despite Africa’s many problems,
it continues to sustain a wide variety
of democratic experiments. Extensive
surveys by Afrobarometer, the non-
partisan research network, show the
majority of Africa’s citizens still prefer
democracy to the alternative. This is a
reality the African Union increasingly
recognises and is attempting to support.
John J Stremlau is Visiting Professor of
International Relations, University of the
Witwatersrand
Source: theconversation
Dec. 07 - 13 2018 15
news analysis
WorldVentures dream trips
Shinny opportunity or sham pyramids?
By Independent Reporter
C
hances are high that what we de-
scribe below has happened to you.
If it has not happened yet, chances
are high that it will happen soon;
especially if you work in the corporate or
business world.
It starts when you least expect. You could
be relaxing with friends at a restaurant,
bar, or lounge. Suddenly, someone in the
group will flip open a tablet or other smart
device, to reveal a slideshow promo of excit-
ing travel photos under a heading such as
“enjoy endless adventure, beaches, night-
life”. This will zoom into an online travel
club called WorldVentures, and its flagship
package; DreamTrips.
You will be told you can buy discounted
travel packages super cheaply if you just
pay WorldVentures entry fee, plus a month-
ly fee to earn points per dollar you invest.
And, you will be told, this is not just about
opportunities to travel at discounted rates.
You will be told you can actually make
money – by becoming an associate and
recruiting others to join WorldVentures/
DreamTrips.
That is a typical pitch of a Worldventures
agent; someone on the prowl to get at least
four people to become paid members of
WorldVentures/DreamTrips. These agents
labour under Worldventures promise that
as soon as the four people sign and pay,
WorldVentures/DreamTrips will waive
their monthly bill. Instead, they will sit back,
pick a dream trip from a package offered by
WorldVentures/DreamTrips, and start fly-
ing to the most exciting destinations.
What is rarely mentioned is that World-
Ventures/DreamTrips is a very controversial
business and does not cover the flight costs.
16 Dec. 07 - 13 2018
If you want to fly, you must pay for your
ticket. The WorldVentures/DreamTrips
offer only begins when you land at your
destination. Despite such caveats World-
ventures has been growing.
Founded in Plano, Texas, USA, in 2005,
WorldVentures has more than 500,000
members in nearly 42 countries with reve-
nue of US$947 million in 2016. In June 2018,
it announced surpassing cumulative US$2
billion in sales over the past three years
(2015 to 2017) and expanding to 12 new
countries. That is no mean achievement for
a company that many had predicted would
collapse under the weight of Ponzi schemes.
Uganda, where it started in July2017, is
one of the latest entrants to the WorldVen-
tures web. It is part of the Africa region,
headquartered under WorldVentures Mar-
keting South Africa.
In a statement at Uganda’s entry in July,
WorldVentures founder Wayne Nugent,
said it is part of a strategy to power growth
by creating new markets and changing the
landscape of existing ones.
“Africa is a strong area of focus and
expansion there demonstrates our ongoing
commitment to share the WorldVentures
opportunity with every person across the
globe,” Nugent said.
The statement said Ugandans with entre-
preneurial ambitions can join hundreds of
thousands of Independent Representatives
across the globe who are earning income by
selling WorldVentures’ flagship product —
DreamTrips™ Memberships. Additionally,
DreamTrips members in Uganda can enjoy
the curated group travel at competitive pric-
ing and exclusive, local dining and enter-
tainment experiences that are hallmarks of
the DreamTrips brand.
Early this year WorldVentures also
established operations in France as a branch
of its Dutch operations. “Today, we have
the vision and leadership to thoughtfully
enter into new markets to bring more fun,
freedom and fulfillment to people around
the world,” said WorldVentures CEO Josh
Paine. The company is also keen to grow in
Southeast Asia.
Trailed by controversy
But WorldVentures/DreamTrips has also
been running into trouble lately. In neigh-
bouring Rwanda, the government in Sep-
tember sent out an advisory against it.
Although WorldVentures was new and
not established in Kigali, it was picking up
pace pretty fast. But the Rwanda Develop-
ment Board which registers all businesses in
Rwanda kicked it out on three counts; first
it was not officially registered, two; it could
never be registered because, in RDB’s view,
Worldventures possess business practices
of a pyramid scheme, and three; pyramid
schemes are illegal in Rwanda.
According to a statement, RDB
researched extensively on WorldVentures;
including reaching out to the company’s
offices in South Africa and the United
States. The RDB said although the company
brands itself as a travel agency facilitating
international travel, investigations into
its operations revealed that majority of
its members were in it to earn money not
travel on so-called “DreamTrips”. Appar-
ently, many excited Rwandan were seeing
WorldVentures/DreamTrips as another job
opportunity.
World Ventures reacted to developments
in Rwanda with a terse statement that it
does not do business in Rwanda. But it
received similar caution in China last year
and was banned in Norway over similar

concerns.
So anyone looking to make money off
World Ventures/Dream trips could do well
to look into stories out of Durban, (South
Africa), Oslo (Norway), or Australia.
In South Africa, it is estimated World
Ventures signed up more than 20000
members, many of them based in Durban.
It was first registered there in 2009. Nine
years today, World Ventures South Africa
appears in deep trouble.
World Ventures has a catch line that says
`make a living while living’ and they use
promoters who pose in the most beautiful
places with banners saying “You should be
here.”
But the promise of fun and adventure
shrouds a venture which requires hefty
entry costs, depends on recruit-
ing others over actual sales, and
requires members to buy and
use company products; includ-
ing training events and materi-
als.
In South Africa, for example,
representatives allege they were
recently “scammed” into paying
US$160 (Approx. Shs600,000) for
a product called the Flye Smart
Card from WorldVentures,
which was meant to have several
benefits for members yet it could
not work in South Africa.
In August, members angered
by a slew of unfavourable prac-
tices; including non-payment of
commissions and being forced to
buy such useless World Ventures
products, started a campaign
against it. They posted placards
around cities with the words
“You should pay me. Share all
over social media. Don’t join this
movement. People are losing all
the way”. Founder Wayne Nugent
Making money
Well, possibly not all the way because
not everyone in World Ventures is losing
money. In fact, some are raking in tonnes of
money.
Among them are South African couple
Devraj Soojay and his wife Cassandra. They
were the first people to join in South Africa
and joined in 2009. And they have been
earning good commissions largely, as they
claim, 70% of World Ventures membership
in South Africa is due to their work. And the
way the World Ventures payment is struc-
tured, they are entitled to a commission
from money paid by each member below
them. So by July 2018, they collectively
demanded commissions worth more than
South African Rand 1.5 million (Approx.
Shs400 million). That puts them among the
top WorldVentures earners in South Africa.
And that is when their problems started.
World Ventures failed to pay them. And
Devraj Soojay and wife sued World Ven-
tures in a court in Texax, USA, in July. They
also quit WorldVentures.
According to reports in some South
African newspapers, they said that since
October 2017 WorldVentures had paid
them only US$65000 (Approx. Shs240 mil-
lion), instead of the US$156000 (Approx.
Shs580 million) due to them for commis-
sion earned. WorldVentures, through its
spokesperson Sophia Stoller, agreed to pay.
They blamed fraud in some of their markets
abroad for causing the delays in payouts.
Technically, WorldVentures can wiggle
out of being branded a pyramid scheme
because it sells actual products –vacations,
access to great deals on hotels and car
rentals, cruises and day trips, and other
CEO Josh Paine
WorldVentures activities. However, it has
a tough time shading another badge usu-
ally slapped on it by its detractors – that it
is simply a Multi-Level Marketing (MLM)
network of sales agents although the
DreamTrips are treated separately.
According to popular definition, an
MLM is a money-making venture where
a commission agent makes money not just
through their own sales, but from recruiting
other salespeople and making a commis-
sion from any sales that they make. When,
as Devraj Soojay and his wife Cassandra
did, you recruit enough people below you
and you can just relax and watch the money
roll in.
In World Ventures case, it has a payment
schedule build on two pyramid-shaped
hierarchies comprising seven ranks each.
The first pyramid is called the `lineage’.
The recruiter sits at the top and everyone
they have personally recruited is added
news analysis
directly them, and those they have recruited
is below them, and so on. That is a lot of
people if that pyramid cascades through the
seven ranks - which mean a higher rank for
the recruiter and bigger commissions.
The second pyramid meanwhile is called
the `binary organisation’ – because the
pyramid spreads out in twos—the top spot
sits directly above a left (reps you recruit)
and a right spot (reps they recruit), each
of which sits above its own pairs, and so
on. A recruiter can earn bonuses based
on sales made by the binary organisation.
If that sounds complicated, you can hire
an accountant to figure it out for you or
attempt to use the MLM Commission Cal-
culator on the internet.
Meanwhile, remember two facts; one
that World Ventures sits on top of all
pyramids – meaning it gets the big-
gest commission. Secondly, that you
pay World Ventures to offer you the
opportunity to become its agent. The
payment includes the one-off payment
of about US$100 and the monthly fee
of about US$11 (Approx. US$120 per
year). So you have to deduct that as
operating expenses as you count your
money.
According to one such calculation, a
WorldVentures agent needs to recruit
at least 30 sales representatives before
they can start making money. In the
process, you start climbing ranks from
`Enrolled Rep, Active Rep and Quali-
fied Rep, then to “Senior Rep, “Direc-
tor and “Marketing Director, before
finally reaching the lofty heights of
`Regional Marketing Director, National
Marketing Director and International
Marketing Director’.
Alternatively, you can get real and
simply read the reported statistics
of what this really means – that it is
possible to travel on World Ventures
dream trips (if you can pay the flight
fees and enjoy travelling in groups). But it
is very hard work if not impossible to make
money off World Ventures.
According to WorldVentures’ 2016 Annu-
al Income Disclosure Statement, 80% of its
independent representatives did not earn
a commission or override between January
2016 and December 2016. Of the 20% of
independent representatives that did earn a
commission or override, the middle figure
earned was US$200. (Source: Better Business
Bureau; an American business trust rating
organisation).
World Ventures is not shy about that.
Some of its promotional material states
there are “no guarantees regarding
income”. “The success or failure of each
Independent Representative in WorldVen-
tures, like any other business, depends on
the Independent Representative’s own skill,
dedication, personal effort, leadership quali-
ties, and market available,” it says.
Dec. 07 - 13 2018 17
Bags of sugar run off a conveyor belt after being packaged and weighed at Kakira Sugar Works in Jinja, eastern Uganda.
Tanzania is at the moment locked in a trade dispute with Uganda over sugar.   PHOTO/RONALD MUSOKE
East African trade wars
Petty rivalries blamed for regional trade disputes
E
By Ronald Musoke
ast African Community econo-
mies might be growing at an
unprecedented rate but experts
say emerging nationalism and
protectionism policies could
hurt integration in the long
run.
Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania are cur-
rently locked in several trade disputes and
experts are worried that unless the emerg-
ing trends are checked, these disagreements
could have negative implications in and
beyond the regional bloc’s borders.
In 2010, the five East African Commu-
nity partner states signed a comprehensive
Common Market Protocol, officially bind-
ing member states to open up their borders
for free movement of goods, labour and
capital across the region.
But, partner states have accused and
counter-accused one another of flouting
the rules spelt out in the protocol over the
years.
The latest incident happened on Nov.19
as Ugandan dealers in agricultural produce
ran out of patience and staged a demonstra-
tion at the southern border post of Mutu-
kula citing unfair treatment by Tanzanian
customs officials who for months have
18 Dec. 07 - 13 2018
denied them opportunity to ferry and sell
tonnes of beans and maize in Tanzania.
It was ironic that the demonstrations
were taking place at Mutukula where just
12 months ago, President Yoweri Museveni
and his Tanzanian counterpart, John Pombe
Magufuli, launched a magnificent one stop
border post complex— one of 15 facilities
built to ease trade across borders in the
EAC region.
The demonstration only fed into what
appears to be a hushed trade war brewing
between Uganda and Tanzania, that region-
al observers say, is one of several disputes
said to be eroding gains of the East African
Community Common Market Protocol.
Disputes over sugar, carrots and
chickens
In August, this year, Tanzania cracked
the whip on sugar imports from Uganda,
claiming the sugar had been sneaked into
Uganda from Kenya.
The Tanzanian government imposed a
25% import duty on Ugandan made sugar,
which the Ugandan government said was a
violation of the Common Market Protocol
and the EAC rules of origin.
At the same time, the cross-border
trade wars between Kenya and Tanza-
nia escalated when, Jerry Muro, a newly
appointed Arumeru District Commissioner
announced a blanket ban on Kenyan car-
rots in a bid to protect local producers from
competition.
Muro reportedly said that he and all Tan-
zanian carrot farmers would stand along
the Arusha-Moshi Highway to inspect all
lorries to ensure middlemen do not import
a single carrot from Kenya.
In the same month, Kenyans protested at
the Namanga border post after milk trad-
ers were arrested and placed in custody by
Tanzanian officials. And, in an apparent act
of retaliation, Kenya announced on Sept.15
that it would stop importation of rice from
Tanzania.
Prof. Adolph Mkendi, Tanzania’s Per-
manent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and International Cooperation told
The Citizen newspaper that the Kenyan gov-
ernment had stopped the importation of
rice from Tanzania over claims of standards
and packaging.
Kenya also imposed new tariffs on
Tanzanian products like flour after the
neighbouring country ignored a deal that
granted Kenyan-made confectioneries
unrestricted entry into its market.
The trade disputes between Tanzania
and Kenya, which are the biggest econo-

mies in the region, have also spilt into live-
stock and the tourism sectors.
‘Tourism sabotage’
In July, this year, Tanzania was forced
to deny claims by Kenyan tour operators
that it had deliberately started fires to delay
the migration of wildebeest gathering to
migrate from the Serengeti National Park to
Kenya’s Masaai Mara National Park—one
of the most spectacular events in the global
tourism calendar.
The sight of wildebeest crossing the Mara
River that straddles the border of both
countries has been described as a wonder
of the world and both countries earn mil-
lions from tourists watching the annual
spectacle. Apparently, the annual migration
was expected in mid-June when the fire
exploded.
“They (Tanzania are starting the fires
intentionally—may be with the hope that
the tourists will stay longer in Tanzania,”
Kenyan tour operator Frankras Karema told
the BBC. Karema said the delayed crossing
had disappointed tourists and could affect
business next year.
But Tanzania said the fires are a common
practice to allow fresh grass to grow. The
Tanzanian tourism officials added that the
longer rain season may also have led wilde-
beest to stay longer in the Serengeti.
In response, the Kenyan tour guides and
drivers blocked their Tanzanian counter-
parts from entering the Masaai Mara Game
Reserve, arguing that the Tanzanians had
also stopped them from gaining access to
the Serengeti National Park.
Meanwhile, in November, 2017, Kenyan
authorities were left furious after Tanzanian
police intercepted and burnt 6,400 one-day
old chicks from Kenya at Namanga border
post, on suspicion that they could spread
bird flu.
Earlier in the year, Tanzanian authorities
had also seized and auctioned 1,300 cattle
belonging to Masaai herdsmen from Kenya.
The cattle had strayed across the border to
graze in a region where herdsmen rarely
pay attention to territorial frontiers.
Rwanda-Burundi bickering
On a smaller scale, Burundi and Rwan-
da’s political differences shifted gears and
took on an economic angle when in July,
2016; the Burundian government banned
the export of fruits and vegetables to Rwan-
da and closed the border between the two
countries leaving hundreds of travellers
stranded.
Burundi particularly blocked the entry
of Rwandan and Ugandan registered buses
into the country, accusing the transport
companies of contravening the export ban.
Officials in Bujumbura said Burundi was
retaliating against Kigali for destabilizing
Burundi. Francois Kanimba, Rwanda’s
then Minister of Trade and Industry said
Burundi’s decision was a setback to regional
integration although he downplayed the
impact on the economy.
While regional integration has been the
tune of the EAC heads of state and regional
policymakers, the key question is whether
this dream will ever be realized, going by
the persisting trade wars among the mem-
ber states.
A statement released in March, this year,
by the East African Community Secretariat
noted that the regional bloc administrators
are working to enhance market access to
regional and international markets through
a comprehensive export promotion strat-
egy.
But then, what explains the endless trade
disputes even in the midst of a seemingly
functional Common Market Protocol?
Kenneth Bagamuhunde, the EAC Direc-
tor General, Customs and Trade said while
the community has developed a number of
key strategies and policies aimed at boost-
ing trade, the biggest challenge remains
how to implement them.
Africa Kizza, the programme officer,
trade policy and negotiations at the South-
ern and Eastern Africa Trade Information
and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI) told
The Independent on Nov.29 that the current
trade wars only go far to explain how the
EAC integration process seems to be stalling
as members appear not willing to open up.
A case in point, Kizza said, is when in
2016, the EAC issued a statement that it
would punish member states that had not
shown any effort to deal with non-tariff
barriers.
Interestingly, just two months after that
pronouncement, five new tariff barriers
were re-introduced and added onto the
business
already existing barriers by a member state.
He, however, declined to reveal the state.
Gideon Badagawa, the executive director
at the Private Sector Foundation-Uganda
(PSFU) said he thinks EAC integration is
ill-fated.
“When we sign protocols and agree-
ments in Arusha we need to come back and
abide by those protocols and agreements
but if a country goes back and instead lays
non-tariff barriers for another country—at
the pretext of being a sovereign partner—
that is very unfortunate because then we
cannot advance in integration.”
“While the politicians seem to agree on
how to move forward, the technocrats do
not seem to do what is required unfortu-
nately.”
Bigger constraints
Badagawa told The Independent that fol-
lowing eight years of the protocol coming
into force, one would have expected that
free movement of goods across borders has
been eased yet that is not the case.
“What we see now is a bigger constraint
especially when you look at countries like
Tanzania. Kenya is complaining about
Tanzania, Rwanda is complaining about
Tanzania and Uganda is complaining about
Tanzania whether you look at sugar, rice or
other goods,” he said, “This is a big chal-
lenge.”
Badagawa says it is the transport and
tourism business that are at the moment
most affected by some of the non-tariff bar-
riers that have been laid by some of these
partner countries.
“When you have a tourist truck that is
going to be charged US$500 before it is
allowed entry into Tanzania from Uganda,
how are you going to promote tourism in
the region with this attitude? The whole
issue is about political commitment from
the presidents.”
Badagawa said the private sector feels the
governments in the region are not “walking
the talk.”
“I cannot point to anyone in Kenya,
Uganda or Tanzania being fired for frustrat-
ing regional integration efforts,” he said.
Shrinking market space
But Fred Muhumuza, an economist
based at Makerere University told The Inde-
pendent on Nov.29 that the trade wars East
Africans are witnessing is as a result of a
shrinking market space.
“People are fighting for a small set of
buyers for whatever product that they
have,” he said, “So each country is trying to
leverage whatever they can and in this case
each one is trying to put up border barri-
ers.”
Muhumuza said when the Common
Market Protocol was passed, the assump-
tion was that this market would grow and
incomes would rise and that there would
Dec. 07 - 13 2018 19
business
be enough space for people to buy and sell
goods and services across the region.
“But that has not happened in reality, he
said; “Now each country is complaining
that the ‘other people’ are coming and tak-
ing away the economic space.”
“So what we see is that the economics is
becoming stronger than the politics because
economic realities will always be realities
which you can’t wish away.”
Enock Twinoburyo, a senior economist
at the Kigali –based SDG Centre for Africa
added that the inward looking national
policies of some countries, for instance—the
Buy Uganda, Build Uganda policy and the
Made in Rwanda policy is a clear manifesta-
tion of how the member states contravene
the EAC Common Market protocols.
Twinoburyo says member states could be
struggling with their import bills and some
non-tariff barriers are political and they
are mounted to ensure that the trade gap is
closed.
For example, trade between Tanzania and
Uganda shows that Uganda is exporting
more than Tanzania does here.
Ambassador Nathan Irumba who is the
regional executive director of SEATINI told
The Independent on Nov.30 that domestic
politics are partly to blame for the current
squabbles.
Irumba, who spent two decades in
Geneva and New York negotiating trade
agreements on behalf of Uganda, said
despite the public rhetoric, East Africans are
AIG is back
Will American firm regain its top position?
By Isaac Khisa
T
he American Insurance Group (AIG)
has re-entered the Ugandan market,
exactly two years after its exit, citing
a re-alignment of its global business
strategy.
Local industry players have naturally
warmed up to AIG’s re-entry into Uganda
saying it is an endorsement of the growing
potential of the insurance industry in the
country.
Ibrahim Kaddunabbi Lubega, the chief
executive officer at the Insurance Regula-
tory Authority of Uganda (IRA-U) told The
Independent that they had issued a licence to
AIG Uganda Limited to start operations as a
green field investment.
Prior to its exit and sale of its agents and
businesses to Lion Assurance Company,
which was later sold to Sanlam Emerging
Markets in 2017, AIG had offered non-life
insurance policies ranging from motor
20 Dec. 07 - 13 2018
not yet psychologically tuned to regional
integration.
“Whereas member states profess to the
EAC regional market, they seem to be con-
cerned more about competition between
themselves,” he said, “Instead of seeing
each other as complementary, they see each
other as rivals.”
Irumba’s sentiments were echoed at a
regional summit in November when some
senior officials in the region accused other
member states of undermining cross-border
trade, hence slowing down growth in the
region.
“How can we implement the AfCFTA
when politicians in some EAC countries are
holding onto protectionism and national-
ism? They think they will lose their power
if they let go,” said Matia Kasaija, the Ugan-
dan Minister of Finance, Planning and
Economic Development during the sum-
mit in Kigali on the implementation of the
AfCFTA in East Africa.
Kasaija noted that although the EAC was
performing well, it was not doing as expect-
ed, thanks to the persistence of non-tariff
barriers in the region.
“Some states do not recognize the essence
of trading with each other even when they
keep talking about the need to do so,”
Kasaija is quoted as saying by The East Afri-
can, “For example, Uganda has excess sugar
and maize of about five million tonnes, but
some of our EAC partners go and import
sugar from outside the region. If this can be
vehicle, home, travel to accident for over
50 years. And over the years, the American
firm remained a market leader in the East
African nation until the 2008 global financial
crisis that weighed down the firm, conse-
quently ceding its position to Jubilee Insur-
ance. At the time of its exit, it was operating
at a distant third, with 8.8% market share
out of 21 licenced insurance firms offering
non-life insurance policies.
Data from IRA-U shows that AIG’s
gross underwritten premiums stood
at Shs41.04billion in 2015, down from
Shs42.93billion in 2014 and Shs50billion in
2013 as the tough economic times took a toll
on the economy.
In 2012, the insurance firm generated Shs-
45billion in gross underwritten premiums,
Shs41.03billion in 2011, and Shs36.3billion
in 2010.
AIG’s slow growth in business followed
the 2008 global financial crisis that saw
its brand become an object of derision,
stemmed, real integration and the CFTA are
possible.”
This development comes as the economic
experts warn that although the East African
economies are growing at an unprecedent-
ed rate, the strong nationalist and protec-
tionist stances could have ramifications for
the implementation of the African Conti-
nental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
A recent report by the United Nations
Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)
noted that rising trading tensions among
East African Community member states
could result in the decline of intra-regional
trade, as the bloc now trades at just half of
its potential.
Possible solutions
Going forward, Irumba said it is high
time East Africans accepted the fact that
competition is good for growth of their
economies.
“If there is shortage in one country and
the traders in another country meet the
standards, they should be allowed to freely
supply the goods.”
“When we see Kenyan banks in the
Ugandan market, we should not say the
banks are taking the Ugandan market
because we have not developed our local
banks. But would we rather see Standard
Bank (South Africa) here than a Kenyan
bank?” He said there’s also need to create a
strong dispute resolution institution like it is
in European Union (EU Court of Justice).
especially in the US, with the spill-over felt
across its subsidiaries across the world.
The firm’s record $182.3 billion (Shs
626trillion) federal bailout and its subse-
quent payout of bonuses to employees of
a derivatives unit sparked public outrage
across the US , leading AIG units to erase
the logo from signs, employee identification
cards, and marketing materials.
In the wake of the September 2008 bail-
out, AIG renamed various units Chartis as
the parent firm’s financial condition dete-
riorated.
But four years later, Chartis Insurance
rebranded to its former name in a bid to
solidify its presence in the US and around
the globe, including Uganda.
Insurance experts say the comeback of
AIG signals growth potential for the coun-
try’s insurance industry.
Meanwhile, Kenya’s Mayfair Insurance
Company has also been granted licence to
open a new branch in Kampala as it seeks
to expand its footprint in the region. The
firm that started operations nearly 13 years
ago in Nairobi already has a foothold on
Rwanda, Tanzania and Zambia.
This development comes as Uganda’s
insurance industry continues to record per-
sistent growth, thanks to the government’s
ongoing investment in infrastructure and an
uptake of agricultural insurance cover.

‘No premium, no insurance
cover’ regulation starts in 2019
The move could see a slight reduction in
insurance premiums in the short run
By Isaac Khisa
U
ganda’s insurance
companies, will in
effect from January,
2019, implement
the ‘No premium, No cover’
regulation, as part of the new
measures intended to reform
the local industry.
This means that henceforth,
insurance companies have
to collect premiums upfront
before providing insurance cov-
er for all classes of insurance.
The insurance companies will
no longer be required to sell
insurance products on credit to
customers.
This is neither a creation of
the insurers or the regulator,
Insurance Regulatory Authority
of Uganda (IRA-U). It is a statu-
tory provision in the Insurance
Act 2017, whose implementa-
tion takes effect next month.
Section 63 (1) of the Act
requires that all insurance
policy holders pay in full all the
premiums payable under the
insurance contract on or before
the date of inception of the poli-
cy or renewal of the policy.
Ibrahim Kaddunabbi Lube-
ga, the chief executive officer at
the IRA told guests during the
industry chief executive offi-
cer’s breakfast meeting at Kam-
pala Serena Hotel on Nov. 29,
that the new move will ensure
that insurance firms have cash
at all times to meet their obliga-
tions.
“Once cash and carry is oper-
ationalised and implemented
strictly, it means insurance
companies will have money to
pay for claims, invest in market-
ing strategies and in innovation
which is the business of insur-
ance,” Kaddunabbi said.
“If one buys a policy and
does not pay it means he or she
has not availed resources to the
business
Life insurance companies’ gross written premiums in billions and be able to meet their obliga-
tions,” he said.
30
He said countries such as
Rwanda and Tanzania have
25 implemented cash and carry
regulations and the new ini-
20 tiative should also work in
Uganda.
Other measures contained
15 in the Act include; perpetual
licensing of insurance firms,
in that insurers will no longer
10 have to pay for annual licenses
but the issued license shall
5 remain in force until it is sus-
pended, varied or revoked by
the regulator.
0 Previously, insurers had
UAP Liberty ICEA Jubilee Sanlam Prudential to renew their licences every
year. However, intermediaries
Non -Life insurance companies’ gross written premiums in bns such as insurance brokers, loss
150 assessors, among others, shall
be issued with licences for two
years and may be renewed for
120
another two years. 
Similarly, there will be
implementation of Risk Based
90 Supervision where the insur-
ance firm’s capital will always
be re-adjusted at all times based
60 on the risk profile or businesses
that a particular insurer holds.
In the previous regime, com-
30 pliance involved checking for
and enforcing observance of
set rules in form of regulations
0 or policies which were mainly
Jubilee UAP Sanlam Britam Goldstar ICEA MUA applicable during licensing.
Insurance premiums up
12.7%
insurance company to invest panies or Health Membership
and pay the unlucky few.” Organisation and not to the Meanwhile, the country’s
He said insurance firms have insurance broker or insurance insurance industry is in an
outstanding premiums to the agent as the case has been upbeat mood as it recorded a
tune of Shs 200bn, a scenario before. 12.7% growth in premiums for
he says, is unacceptable as it Deepak Pandey, the CEO the nine months ending Sep-
disables insurance firms from Jubilee insurance said they tember, thanks to an increase
prompt settlement of claims welcome the new decision as it in government investment in
such as medical bills. will strengthen the industry’s infrastructure, uptake of agri-
The regulation also requires financial position. culture insurance and general
that the insuring public pay all “Prompt payment of premi- improvement in the economy.
their premiums, cash or cheque, ums will help insurance firms A statement on the financial
directly to the insurance com- have enough resources to invest performance of the industry
Dec. 07 - 13 2018 21
business
released by the IRA shows that the
local industry recorded an increase in
premiums from Shs 566.4bn in 2017 to
Shs 658.4bn in 2018.
Non-life gross written premiums
increased from Shs 404bn to Shs
452.7bn while life gross written pre-
miums increased from Shs 120bn to
Shs 150.9bn during the same period
under review.
Similarly, Health Membership
Organisations recorded an increase in
insurance premiums from Shs 42bn
to Shs 54.79bn. Overall, the industry’s
net premium earned a recorded 21.5%
growth in premiums to Shs 410.8bn.
Kaddunabbi said the increase in
government’s infrastructure such as
Karuma, Isimba, and other projects
helped the industry record a surge in
insurance premiums.
“Increase in the uptake of agricul-
ture insurance also boosted the pre-
mium growth,” he said adding that
24,407 farmers at a total premium of
Shs 5.98bn and a government subsidy
contribution of Shs. 3.45bn enroled for
the agriculture insurance during the
period under review.
In the period January, 2017, and
September, 2018, the total number of
farmers enrolled on the scheme stood
at 70,111 with the government con-
tribution to the subsidy amounting to
Shs. 6.38bn.
Insurers, however, said there is
need for the regulator to ensure that a
good portion of insurance services to
the prospective oil and gas industry is
insured locally.
Allan Mafabi, the chairperson of
Uganda Insurers Association and the
CEO, Britam Insurance, said a num-
ber of investments are already taking
shape in the sector with insurance
covers already taken with foreign
insurance firms.
In response, Kaddunabbi said
they are still engaging with various
stakeholders within and without the
country on how to tap into the oil and
gas industruy
“We are in engagement with the
ministry of energy officials, Solicitor
General, and I have got the impres-
sion that all of them are willing to
comply,” he said.
Fact box
IRA-U licensed 29 Insurance com-
panies (20 non-life or general insur-
ance companies and nine Life compa-
nies), one Micro Insurance Company,
one National Reinsurance Company,
six HMO’s, 35 Insurance brokers and
21 Loss Assessors for 2018.
22 Dec. 07 - 13 2018
Plug revenue
leakages-Museveni
By Julius Businge
U
ganda Revenue Authority must
install big scanners at all entry
and exit points to boost revenue
collection, according President
Yoweri Museveni.
President Museveni, who was speaking
during the recently concluded symposium
dubbed ‘first science model workshop’
organised by URA in partnership with the
African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF)
at Speke Resort Munyonyo, starting Nov.19-
23, said the taxman must install scanners at
the land borders, airports and railway points
to curb smuggling, concealing and under-
declaration
of goods that
leads to lose
of revenue.
Presently,
only two
border posts
–Busia and
Malaba –
have been
installed with
scanners
out of the
40 gazetted
entry and exit
points.
President
Museveni
said the
scanners Museveni interacts with a delegate during the symposium at
should Speke Resort Munyonyo on Nov. 23.  Courtesy Photo.
be linked
electronically to a central system to quicken
determination of what is in the trailers or
containers.
He also suggested that there should be
electronic monitoring and stamping of the
products in factories within and without the
country to minimize under-declaration of
taxes.
“There must also be electronic monitoring
of telephone calls because the telecoms have
been under-declaring their revenues,” he
said, arguing that URA might be losing taxes
from telecoms given that they rely on their
figures.
He also suggested that URA and Bank
of Uganda electronically monitor all
money transfers starting with the recently
introduced mobile money tax.
This comes as URA hopes to collect an
additional Shs1.9trillion to hit the new
Shs16.3trillion revenue target this financial
year amidst several years of missed targets.
URA Acting Commissioner General,
Patrick Mukiibi, said the taxman has been
using the science approach that involves
scientific and analytical tools since 2008 as
one of the measures to net those trying to
dodge paying taxes and thus complementing
conventional tax compliance initiatives.
He explained that the analytical science
helps them determine the composition of
products or goods and to understand their
exact value and the taxes to levy.
He said the goods that are being tested
using this approach include, rice, building
tiles, crude oil and textiles.
“Sometimes we need to interrogate the
books beyond
the financial
statements,” he
said adding, “the
more the URA
is empowered,
the more likely it
will discover any
hidden income.”
He said it is
on this basis that
the taxman is
bringing in digital
stamps to help
them trace the
origin of imported
goods to fight
counterfeit but
also collect more
revenue.
He also said URA
has two science
laboratories - one on forensics that deals
with document checks and the analytical
science lab that deals with testing the actual
composition of goods.
Tax payers speak out
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of
the workshop, the Uganda Manufacturers
Association Chairperson, Barbara Mulwana,
said the science approach is helping
taxpayers to predict their tax obligations.
Patrick Bitature, the chairman of the
Private Sector Foundation Uganda said they
welcome the new innovation.
He said it continues to enhance the way
URA collect tax but also help in leveling the
playing field for taxpayers.
He added that it is through science and
technology that all private sector players
would be compelled to pay taxes to enable
provision of social services.
Executive Style
Turning digital ideas into impact
How would you describe
Stalworth Consult-
S
ing Group, LLC?
talworth Consult-
ing Group (SCG) is
a management and
strategy consult-
ing firm offering advisory
capabilities that help organ-
isations effect meaningful
change through emerging
technologies. We focus on
digital strategy, technol-
ogy advisory and inclusive
financial services. Based
in Uganda with associates
located across Sub-Saharan
Africa, our services provide
high-level strategic, policy
and investment advice to
key institutions, corpora-
tions and governments that
are shaping emerging and
digital finance technologies.
Our work includes market en-
try and growth strategies, busi-
ness building, turnarounds and
developing new products for
key clients across sub-Saharan
Africa. We drive and support
clients in the public sector, so-
cial and private sector, among
others, helping them turn
digital start-ups and emerging
products into impact.
What do you normally do?
Our approach combines
industry experience in conduct-
ing due diligence, digital strate-
gy, business modelling, product
development and planning. We
provide the local content across
sectors and business functions
to develop new technologies for
all phases of the project’s life-
cycle. We advise clients on pro-
ductivity, competitiveness, and
growth in emerging economies.
 What were the key drivers to
venture into this market seg-
ment?
Our main passion has been
in technology, which is the
prevailing incentive for change.
Our objective is to grow emerg-
ing technologies for the upcom-
ing generation. We believe that
technology is changing fast
and there’s a need to harness
their potential for the country’s
economic development across
all sectors that is digital finance,
digital currencies, digital
agriculture, digital education,
digital health, digital insurance
and so on.
How do you promote/scale up
these technologies?
We provide the local content
for international partners and
work at the micro-level with
policy makers and regula-
tors and the private sector to
respond to the needs of the
people and the industry by
building capacity in form of
resources to scale the technol-
ogy idea from proof of concept
to market phase. We also
work with market entrants
and provide growth strategies
with industry agencies, the
individual private sector play-
ers like financial institutions,
banks, payment service provid-
ers (PSP) and mobile network
operations (MNOs) to explore
the innovations solutions that
befit the local context and local
market.
What is the state of emerging
technologies in Uganda and
the Sub-Saharan?
The sector is on the rise with
Ugandans and regional players
working very hard develop-
ing applications that actually
function and the developers
Patrick
Adengo is
the Managing
Director at
the Stalworth
Consulting
Group, LLC.
He spoke
to The
Independent’s
Isaac Khisa
about the
company
operations
and digital and
technology
sector related
issues.
are open to new types of ideas.
However, may be restricted
financially and/or lack the
resources needed to develop
the new technologies across the
sectors.
SCG seems to be virtually ev-
erywhere in the digital space,
in digital finance, digital cur-
rencies, digital health, digital
education among others. How
do you handle all that?
We have a team of experts
that we hire on contract basis
depending on the needs and
requirements of the project and
client. A designated team of
associate experts with special-
ist sector skill sets also operate
across the continent.
SCG appears to be a little
known company even within
Uganda. What is your claim to
fame?
SCG is an independent
contractor for Deloitte &
Touche, supporting Technol-
ogy Advisory Services line of
business, worked on the needs
assessment, asset evaluation
and strategy plan to determine
the operational performance
of Uganda Telecom (UTL).
We also worked on the Rural
Communications Development
Fund (RCDF II) study project to
identify and provide qualitative
Dec. 07 - 13 2018
and quantitative evidence of the
effects on the rural communi-
ties and the economy achieved
due to implementing the Rural
Communication Development
Fund (RCDF II) project in five
years. We provided technical
advisory support to financial
institutions, mobile network
operators (MNOs) and pay-
ment service providers to
expand digital financial servic-
es. We’ve also had the privilege
to showcase the Digital Finan-
cial Services (DFS) partnership
for financial inclusion to the
Vodafone Ghana team to get a
better sense of Vodafone Cash’s
(mobile money) operations and
share likely areas to collaborate
with Ecobank Ghana.
It is surprising that there are
so many buildings in town
yet decided to take one of the
virtual office spaces. What in-
formed you of the decision?
Virtual office is proving
that the workspace-as-a-
service industry thrives in
times of uncertainty. A lack of
excessive funds and a booming
entrepreneurial community
has encouraged businesses
like SCG to look for flexibility,
and the serviced office model
offers the most attractive and
appropriate solution to a devel-
oping environment. The flexible
co-working office space is the
future of work and becoming
the new norm in business due
to the numerous benefits it
offers to employees, employers
and customers. The modern,
flexible work space not only
fosters creativity but it also
improves productivity, reduces
costs and ultimately, increases
returns.
Where do we see emerging
technologies in Sub-Saharan
Africa in five years?
We are going to experience
an upsurge in the use of digital
currencies, digital credit, digital
savings digital loans and digital
insurance in sub-Saharan Africa
in the next five years. We live in
exciting and interesting times.
23
Business
tourism csr

UTB dines UN delegates  UBA Foundation unveils Each One Teach One initiative

I
n a bid to further promote Uganda’s photography, fashion
tourism, the Uganda Tourism Board design, music, reading,
(UTB) organised a cultural gala for UN writing and much more,
delegates who were in the country for to empower youths with
the IGAD Conference on Nov.29. knowledge, which in
Held at the Ndere Cultural Center, and future will facilitate their
attended by over 80 delegates, the gala financial independence and
showcased the beauty of the Pearl of Africa support entrepreneurial
through cultural performances from differ- development.
ent parts of Uganda, food, cuisine and more. (R-L) The Head Teacher Bugema Adventist Secondary School The lender held its first
Speaking on behalf of the UTB, the receives literature books from Paul Luyima, Head Retail UBA Community Service

P
Marketing Manager Claire Mugabi, said Banking at UBA Uganda.   Courtesy Photo Day on Nov .25, across its
Uganda is a culturally diverse and rich an African lender, continent. operations on the conti-
country— a key selling point for them United Bank for The aim of the initiative nent. In Uganda, the team
as a tourist destination. Rose Malango, Africa, through the is to create opportunities unveiled the project at
the UN resident coordinator in Uganda UBA Foundation, where UBA staff across Bugema Adventist Second-
said the east African nation is truly an the arm of the bank charged the continent voluntarily ary School in which UBA
endowed with diverse culture. with Corporate Social Re- commit their time to their staff donated literature
Tourism sector contributes 10% to sponsibility (CSR) has un- communities, teaching books, agricultural material,
Uganda’s GDP and contributes more veiled the ‘Each One Teach youths various skills such planted trees and trained
than $1.4b (Shs5.1 trillion) annually to One’ Initiative designed to as cooking, agriculture, students on financial litera-
country’s total earnings. benefit youths across the foreign languages, cy and entrepreneurship.

aviation pay- tv
RwandAir ups flights on European routes GOtv in X-mass bonanza

G
Otv Uganda has reduced the sub-
scription fee for its GOtv Max bou-
quet by Shs 10,000 to Shs 39000 till
March next year.
The company said its aim is to enhance
customer’s television experience and bring
families closer through great entertainment
during this festive season.
“This price reduction is one of the many
ways we ensure that our customers enjoy

R
wanda’s national airline, RwandAir,
will increase its weekly flights from
three to four for its European flights,
routing from Kigali via Brussels to
London Gatwick, starting Dec.14 and Jan.17.
The aircraft used remains an Airbus A330,
configured in Africa’s first three class cabin
layout of Business Class, Premium Econo-
my Class and Economy Class.
The flights leave Kigali at 08.00 hrs local
time, reach Brussels at 15.50 hrs local time
and finally end the journey at London Gat-
wick at 17.25 hrs local time.
The return flight operates on the same
routing, reaching Kigali the next day at
07.00 hrs.
The departure and arrival times in Kigali
ensure that a wide section of connecting
flights will be available from across the air-
line’s African network.
Meanwhile, the carrier will also be
upgrading capacity on its flights between
Kigali, Harare and Cape Town starting Dec.
28 to Jan.14, 2019.
The presently four flights a week, operat-
ed with a Boeing B738, will during that time
see an Airbus A330 deployed, which adds
substantially more seats on the route.
their experience of our service which we
continuously enhance to maintain its
unmatched quality,” Joseph Bogera, General
Manager GOtv Uganda, said.
This development comes a few weeks
since GOtv introduced exciting new chan-
nels on the package aimed at introducing
fresh, unique content to subscribers.
The new channels which include BET and
SuperSport Select 5 increased the number
of entertainment channels available only on
GOtv MAX including Fox Entertainment,
Starlife, ROK 2 and CBS Reality.

aviation

Kenya denies Ethiopian Airlines new route request

K
enya’s aviation
regulator, Kenya
Civil Aviation Au-
thority, has denied
Ethiopian Airlines a licence
to operate scheduled pas-
senger flights on the Johan-
nesburg-Nairobi–Brussels
route, saving Kenya Air-
ways from an imminent
battle for passengers in the
African airspace, according
to Business Daily.
KCAA said the Ethiopian
carrier had been denied a
licence to operate passen-
ger business from South
Africa through the Kenyan
airspace but declined to
disclose what informed the
decision.
Ethiopian Airlines want-
ed to fly B757 aircraft on Albert Nga (L) GOtv Marketing Manager and Tina
the new route if allowed to Wamala, PR Manager unveil the new bundled offer
operate out of Nairobi. for GOtv subscribers this festive season

24 Dec. 07 - 13 2018
 Business

China to connect 500 Ugandan

villages to satellite TV
By Julius Businge and 20 DTH decoders, and

T
he Chinese
government
is funding the
connection of
500 Ugandan villages to
satellite TV in an effort
to boost digital coverage
and increase access to
information.
The funding is part of
the US$10million project
intended to boost access
to satellite TV for 10,000
Airtel Uganda staff led by the Managing Director, V.G. Somasekhar (in white shirt) African villages. The
hand over necessities to ACCESS Uganda as part of 12 Days of Christmas initiative Ministry of Information
on Dec.01,2018. ACCESS Uganda is a community-based organization in Nakaseke and Communication
District dedicated to working with vulnerable groups.   Courtesy Photo. Technology and National
Guidance is leading the
project implementation in
Uganda.
Digital TV operator,
StarTimes, was chosen
to supply all hardware
for installation in all
the selected villages
countrywide.
StarTimes Uganda Chief
Executive Officer, Andy
Wang, said all the 500
villages across the country
would be aided with two
StarTimes projector TVs,
one 32 inch digital TV set
Roofings Group Chairman, Sikander Lalani, during a tree planting initiative
at the Kampala Industrial and Business Park, Namanve, on Dec.01, 2018.
Besides him is the Group’s Executive Director, Nashila Lalani.
satellite dishes.
The projector TVs and
digital TVs set will be
equipped with solar power
system and DTH access
units, he said.
“This project will
help improve on service
delivery especially in
schools and health centers
during video illustrations
and practical lessons,” he
said.
In addition, it will
create some jobs to
the youths working as
technicians in the villages
where the project will be
implemented.
Over 1000 youth will
be trained and hired
as   technicians to help in
installing and maintaining
of this equipment.
This development
comes at the time China
is funding several
projects including big
infrastructure projects
especially railway, airports
and power dams to boost
the country’s development
agenda.

Weekly share price movement (Dec.03, 2018)

Security Dec. 03 Nov. 19 Movement
BATU 30,000 30000 00
BOBU 139 139 00
CENT 980 1,015 3.4
QCL 249 255 2.3
DFCU 845 845 00
EABL 6,862 6,017 14
EBL 1,434 1,422 0.8
JHL 13,507 15,225 11.3
KA 347 349 0.5
KCB 1,434 1,413 1.5
NIC 15 15 00
NMG 2,487 2,519 1.3
NVL 337 340 0.9
Uganda Tourism Board hosts a cultural gala for UN delegates during the
SBU 31 32 3.1
Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) conference at the
UCHM 24 23 52
Speke Resort Munyonyo on Nov.29. Uganda earns US$1.4bn annually
from tourism and is projected to earn about US$2.7bn by 2020. UCL 20 20 20
UMEME 321 340 5.5
ALSI -- -- --

Dec. 07 - 13 2018 25
The Septrin controversy
Why those fighting to have the medication might be misguided
N
By Flavia Nassaka
ovember 27 marked a twist
in months’ long ping- pong
between government and
people living with HIV
over government’s failure
to provide the antibiotic
drug Cotrimoxazole – septrin as part of
the package of treatment to those picking
their medications. People living with the
virus decided to run to court such that the
National Medical Stores and government
is compelled to provide them with this
drug that they consider vital. And, in their
cause, they were joined by Health advocacy
NGO Center for Health, Human Rights and
Development (CEHURD).
CEHURD’s Muhumuza Abdul Kharim
told The Independent that in addition
to ordering government to immediately
supply the drug to all people living with
HIV picking drugs from facilities across the
country, they wanted the people who went
to court to be paid damages for violating
their right to healthcare.
“The government has a constitutional
duty to ensure that there’s uninterrupted
provision of this vital drug to those who
need it”, he said supplementing a testimony
by one of the petitioners from Lira district,
Chris Okwir.
26 Dec. 07 - 13 2018
Okwir had earlier told journalists that the
government needed to act quickly for fear
that, considering that they had not got their
Septrin stocks since March, they might soon
start suffering from opportunistic infections
that the drug had kept away.
Okwir has never suffered such infections
ever since he discovered he is positive,
neither has he ever had challenges with
medications despite starting treatment
in 2005. He is one of the unique cases;
especially at his facility Amach Health
Center IV in Erute South, where he picks
his medications from. But he testifies most
of the people he started treatment with
have since failed on first line and have been
moved to second line treatment. Others
have died, including his 17 year old son.
Now, even as he is virally suppressed, he
still takes septrin religiously.
“I fear getting those infections. I saw my
son die in pain. There was a second line
drug shortage, he ended up getting cancer
and died,” he says.
Okwir who is now a Community
Linkage Facilitator has transferred his fears
to his colleagues –such are clients that are
too involved in their treatments that they
are identified to guide their colleagues
struggling to keep swallowing their
medicines.
He told The Independent, that they
recently almost staged a demonstration
when they went to the clinic and were only
handed ARVs without septrin. He advised
them against it, and instead encouraged
colleagues like Grace Akite to join him
in suing government. About 4000 clients
pick medicines from his clinic he says, he
adds many of these are at risk of death as
only pregnant women and children below
15 years are the only ones who have been
getting septrin since March when stock outs
at the clinic set in.
“At private pharmacies, each adult
tablet of 960mg costs 500 and the 40mg for
children costs 200. You are supposed to
swallow that every day. You incur this daily
expenditure forever. We can’t afford it,” he
says.
Such cries have come out elsewhere.
For instance, Lawrence Kivumbi from
Kiboga who is also among the petitioners
and has been living with the virus since
2007 said he was already feeling the pinch.
He says whenever he does not swallow
septrin he gets strange pains that affect his
productivity at work.
Many more stories like this have been
coming out ever since government revised
its policy from providing septrin to all
to providing it to key groups that really
need it. And, since March, pressure over
government’s failure to provide the drug

has kept mounting until the Global Fund
offered to provide the National Medical
Stores with Shs14billion worth of septrin.
The cries didn’t stop. Instead more
threats and more pressure are being exerted
on the government to continue providing
the drug. But, is there really this huge need
for the drug? If there is need, why isn’t
government making efforts to provide this
drug to all? What risks exactly does it pose
when people continue missing septrin in
their HIV drug packages?
‘No science to prove their claims’
We put this to an HIV researcher, Dr.
Freddie Mukasa Kibengo; a scientist based
at the Medical Research Council (MRC)
Facility in Rakai. He says two major studies
have been done globally on the use
of the drug and MRC Uganda took
part in one dubbed the COSTOP
study where they found the drug has
no added value to those who have
been virally suppressed like Okwir.
He says according to guidelines,
the drug should be taken daily by
children below 15 years, pregnant
and breast feeding mothers, and
those that are poorly adhering to
their ARVs that they have failed to
lower their viral loads and have low
immunity.
He told The Independent that
while some refer to septrin as an
antiretroviral drug, it’s actually
an antibiotic designed to treat
some bacterial infections like
Pneumocystis; a type of pneumonia
common among people living with the
virus. He says the drug can also treat fevers,
abscesses, coughs and other opportunistic
infections that attack people whose
immunity is low.
In 2000, the World Health Organization
(WHO) recommended that all HIV-positive
patients with CD4 cell counts below 500
cells per mm3 in sub-Saharan Africa take
the drug to prevent infections. Following a
halving of death rates in a large randomised
study in an area with high levels of
resistance to the drug, this recommendation
was modified in November 2004 to include
all HIV-infected or -exposed children, until
immune restoration has occurred or HIV-
negativity is demonstrated.
People living with HIV in Uganda
were already using septrin when WHO
came up with that guideline, according
to Kibengo. He recalls while still a doctor
at Rubaga hospital in 1996, septrin is all
they had to give patients and that by 2000
ARVs were still inaccessible to many and so
people continued to take the drug to keep
opportunistic infections at bay. However,
this continued even when ARVs became
available.
A fellow physician, Dr. Stephen
Mpande who has also treated HIV since
the early days, says the irrelevance of
Freddie Mukasa Chris Okwir
Septrin in people who have been taking
their medications correctly became more
visible in 2016 when the country adopted
the Test and Treat Policy where people
were increasingly enrolled on treatment
immediately after testing positive even
when they still have not yet showed signs of
infection. With the policy he says there’s no
chance for people to deteriorate into getting
opportunistic infections because the virus is
arrested when one’s immunity is still high.
Now, Mpande says those that are asking
for Septrin are misguided and do not know
why they were taking septrin in the first
health
place.
“It’s fear. Its psychological I think because
there is no science to prove that septrin
provides energy to people living with HIV
or kills the virus”, he says,” Many of us
have swallowed septrin for other reasons,
cough and others.”
He says that the move worldwide is to
give septrin through a case by case basis
depending on each person’s needs. Even
with the guideline for those who have
suppressed infection to be removed from
the Septrin list, the directive to health
workers is to keep monitoring and assessing
clients on adherence whenever they go
to pick their monthly or three monthly
packages.
For him, the current battles to get people
to swallow septrin even when they
do not really need it shows the gaps
in sensitization where patients do
not know why they take certain
medicines yet for each medicine
there’s a risk of side effects which are
weighed against the relevance of the
drug before prescribing it.
He says the lack of knowledge to
him was first portrayed in May when
while reporting on a stock out of
septrin; major newspapers referred to
it as an ARV.
Kibengo agrees. He says all the
chaos might have been caused by
wrong interpretation of the guidelines
and the failure by health workers to
relay information from researchers
and government to the clients
correctly.
“I am sure many health workers told
them we don’t have septrin. You will only
get ARVs this time and yet for such a thing
where people know its where their life
rely need to be properly educated and
counseling”.
However, at the Ministry of Health, the
Programme Manager for AIDS Control,
Dr. Joshua Musinguzi, says they reached
that decision after a committee of scientists
advised them that it’s a waste and yet a
whopping Shs29billion was being spent
annually on procuring the drug.
*terms and conditions apply
AfricellUG @AfricellUG
Dec. 07 - 13 2018 27
health
Vaccinating against superbugs
By 2050 some 10 million people across the
globe could succumb to drug-resistant diseases
By Seth Berkley and Jeremy Farrar
W
hether you
live below the
poverty line in
the slums of
Karachi or work as a banker
on Wall Street, drug-resistant
“superbugs” are among
the gravest threats to your
health. But while the problem
is ubiquitous, we are not
entirely defenseless. On the
contrary, in the race to prevent
antimicrobial resistance
(AMR), the world has a potent
if underused tool: vaccines.
One epidemic currently
plaguing Pakistan illustrates
vaccines’ potential. For two
years, health professionals
have been trying to contain an
outbreak of extensively drug-
resistant (XDR) typhoid. Cases
linked to Pakistan have even
been reported among travelers
returning to the United States
and the United Kingdom.
Unfortunately, diagnosing
XDR typhoid is difficult,
and doctors often prescribe
antibiotics that are ineffective.
This, in turn, prolongs the
length and severity of the
illness, and can lead to death.
But what if doctors in
Pakistan could prevent
typhoid in the first place? We
believe they can. Gavi, the
Vaccine Alliance, is helping
to distribute a new vaccine,
and if the immunisation
drive is successful, it will
eventually lead to a reduction
in unnecessary antibiotic
use, which is the main
factor fueling the rise and
spread of deadly superbugs
everywhere.
Each year, some 700,000
people die from drug-resistant
infections worldwide. But
superbugs also pose a threat
to the effectiveness of modern
medicine; if left unaddressed,
AMR could make more
infections untreatable, cancer
28 Dec. 07 - 13 2018
therapies ineffective, routine
surgeries impossible, and even
childbirth unsafe.
We already know that
vaccines help reduce the
risk of AMR. For example,
immunisations against
bacterial brain and lung
infections – like childhood
pneumococcal illnesses and
Haemophilus influenzae type
b, or Hib – have dramatically
reduced the disease burden
around the world, lowering
the need for antibiotics in
the process. Most important,
while superbugs develop
resistance to medications, they
do not become resistant to
vaccines.
And yet, despite vaccines’
effectiveness in the fight
against AMR, we are not
taking full advantage of them.
For example, global coverage
for the Hib vaccine is 72%, but
only about 44% of the world’s
children receive the complete
course of the pneumococcal
vaccine. Universal vaccination
for the pneumococcal vaccine
alone would lead to an
estimated annual reduction of
11.4 million days of antibiotics
for children under five.
Simply put, there is an
urgent need to increase uptake
of vaccines that are already
available – including for
typhoid – and to develop new
ones. For existing vaccines,
the top priority should be to
ensure universal access, which
will require a huge expansion
in international coordination.
A new report commissioned
by Wellcome highlights many
further opportunities for
vaccines to make a positive
impact on global health and
AMR.
The World Health
Organization has created a
list of deadly pathogens that
require new antibiotics, with
those that cause salmonella,
gonorrhea, and shigella at
the top. But vaccines are
also needed to prevent these
diseases in the first place. To
accomplish that goal – and
stave off AMR in the process
– significantly more money
must be spent on vaccine
research and development. By
increasing investments now,
new vaccines will be available
to help care providers stay
ahead of superbugs.
Over the coming decades,
demographic shifts, climate
change, and human migration,
will compound AMR by
making it easier for pathogens
to spread. In fact, if the current
trajectory is not slowed or
reversed, by 2050 some ten
million people could succumb
to drug-resistant diseases
every year, costing the global
economy $100 trillion. We
have no time to waste in
bringing new vaccines to
market.
Although more needs to
be done to strengthen R&D
pipelines for new diagnostic
tools and antibiotics to treat
drug-resistant infections,
similar attention must be
devoted to vaccine discovery,
development, and uptake.
Wellcome is co-hosting an
event in Accra on November
19-20 to mobilise global
action on AMR. The “call to
action” event – organised
in partnership with the
governments of Ghana,
Thailand, and the United
Kingdom, as well as the United
Nations Foundation and the
World Bank – will seek to
translate disease-management
commitments into viable AMR
solutions.
When health professionals
have the right tools to tackle
AMR, millions of lives around
the world will be saved. And
when effective vaccines are
deployed widely, superbugs
will cease being so menacing.
Seth Berkley is CEO of Gavi, the
Vaccine Alliance. Jeremy Farrar
is Director of the Wellcome Trust,
a global charitable foundation
dedicated to improving health.
Copyright: Project Syndicate,
2018.

AIDS treatment has progressed
But without a vaccine, suffering still abounds
I
By Maureen Miller
mentioned to a friend; a gay man
nearing 60, that World AIDS Day,
which has been observed on Dec. 1
since 1988, was almost upon us. He
had no idea that World AIDS Day
still exists.
This lack of knowledge is a testament
to the great accomplishments that have
occurred since World AIDS Day was cre-
ated 30 years ago. It is also due to an acci-
dent in the timing of his birth that my friend
escaped the devastation wreaked by AIDS
among gay men in the U.S., before there
was antiretroviral therapy.
Many people have forgotten AIDS, but
there are consequences to forgetting. The
fight against AIDS is at a tipping point.
Increasingly, there are signs that we may be
heading in the wrong direction.
Many successes, yet the grand prize is
elusive
I am a social epidemiologist with more
than 20 years of research experience in HIV
and STD prevention. I am also the founder
of `The Basics with Dr. Mo’, a sex health
communications project that translates
prevention science directly for people who
need it most.
It is true that global HIV/AIDS success
stories abound: Mother-to-child transmis-
sion can be reduced to below 5 percent, 75
percent of people living with HIV know
their status and 59 percent receive antiretro-
viral therapy.
Most recently, Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis
(PrEP) – the use of antiretrovial drugs to
prevent HIV infection among those exposed
– has proved to be a successful prevention
approach.
Yet the prize – a vaccine that can prevent
HIV infection – remains elusive, and makes
impossible the use of the only known strat-
egy to have ever eradicated an infectious
disease: widespread vaccination. That dis-
ease was smallpox, in 1980.
The seeds of unease
Despite the lack of a vaccine, in 2016
United Nations member states adopted a
political declaration on ending the AIDS
epidemic by 2030.
As part of the accountability framework,
interim 2020 goals set a target of 500,000
new HIV infections for that year. A review
of the most recent data estimated 1.8 mil-
lion new HIV infections in 2017, exactly the
same number as in 2016.
Prominent scientists have already begun
to question the ability to eradicate AIDS
by the 2030 deadline, and concede that the
situation has stagnated. The attainment of
eradication looks bleak, without the aid of
either an effective vaccine or the immedi-
ate large-scale promotion and utilization
of existing prevention tools (i.e., condoms,
voluntary circumcision and potentially
PrEP). Given that the vast majority of new
HIV infections are sexually transmitted and
that condoms have played a decisive role
in the global control of HIV transmission,
ongoing condom availability and use will
be essential to future eradication.
health
Condoms – both male and female –
remain a highly effective mechanism of
HIV/AIDS prevention, as well as of other
sexually transmitted infections that greatly
enhance the risk of HIV transmission.
Condom use is also strongly advised by
global public health institutions, including
the World Health Organisation and the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
in conjunction will all other HIV preven-
tion tools including PrEP, because of their
lower levels of effectiveness in preventing
transmission.
Condom availability is a different matter
and varies greatly from country to coun-
try. Countries with the highest levels of
HIV often rely heavily on donor support.
According to the most recent data, in sub-
Saharan Africa in 2013, only 10 condoms
were available annually for every man
aged 15 to 64 (as compared with the recom-
mended 50 to 60), and, on average, there
was one female condom available for every
eight women. Funding required to maintain
– let alone scale up – HIV commitments,
particularly those dedicated to prevention,
are increasingly uncertain.
The hydra, sprouting new heads
Even though condoms are an extremely
effective barrier method, it is usage that
makes condoms efficacious in prevent-
ing HIV transmission. Reported condom
use varies considerably around the world,
and ranges from 80 percent use by men
in Namibia and Cambodia to less than 40
percent usage by men and women in other
countries, including some highly affected
Dec. 07 - 13 2018 29
health

by HIV such as Sierra Leone and Mozam-

bique.
Age plays a role, too. Among young
people aged 15 to 24, condom use at last
sex varies from more than 80 percent in
some Latin American and European coun-
tries to less than 30 percent in some West
African countries. In the U.S., condom use
is at the lower end of the spectrum: Only
one-third of the population uses condoms,
a number that has not changed signifi-
cantly over the past two decades.
The majority – 66 percent – of the
world’s HIV/AIDS cases are in sub-Saha-
ran Africa, where there has been much
progress, particularly with the provision
of antiretroviral therapy.
However, there are worrying signs in
other parts of the world. There has been
little change in new HIV infections in
countries outside of sub-Saharan Africa
between 1990 and 2017.
In fact, six of the 10 most populous
countries in the world have experienced
10 percent to 45 percent increases in new
HIV infections since 2010: Russia, China,
Brazil, Pakistan, Mexico and Bangladesh.
Even in countries such as the U.S., where
new HIV infections have decreased by
8 percent overall, the rates of change are
unevenly distributed. For example, young
African-American men who have sex with
men show no decrease in new infections;
African-American gay and bisexual men

New Ebola drug

represent the largest percentage of new
HIV infections: more than one-quarter.
The increased provision of antiretrovi-
ral therapy to people living with AIDS has

tried in DR Congo
had a huge impact on extending life and
in preventing new HIV infections. How-
ever, there remains 25 percent of the pop-
ulation who live with HIV, about 9 million
people, who do not know their status.
While we have been necessarily focused By Agencies “Combatting Ebola requires a com-

on the head of the hydra in sub-Saharan
Africa, other hydra heads are beginning
to make their presence known, many in
countries ill-prepared to deal with increas-
es in the number of new HIV infections.
In the absence of a vaccine, behavior
change in the form of condom use promo-
tion, acceptance and adoption, at a scale
that many gay men utilized during the
peak of the AIDS epidemic in the industri-
alized world, will need to occur. There are
many challenges: continued stigma and
gender inequality, not to mention issues
of availability, distribution and proactive,
nonjudgmental promotion.
We must not forget. Progress on reduc-
ing the rate of new HIV infection has been
done before. It can be done again, but only
if we take forceful, funded action now.
Maureen Miller is professor, Columbia
University Medical Center
Source: Theconversation
A
n international research team has
begun patient enrollment in a
clinical trial testing multiple inves-
tigational Ebola therapies in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The randomised, controlled trial is enrolling
patients of any age with confirmed Ebola
virus disease (EVD) at a treatment unit in
the city of Beni operated by The Alliance for
International Medical Action (ALIMA), a
medical humanitarian organisation.
The trial, which will expand to additional
DRC districts, is organised through an inter-
national research consortium coordinated
by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
It is led and funded by the National Institute
for Biomedical Research (INRB), part of the
DRC Ministry of Health, and the National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
(NIAID), part of the U.S. National Institutes
of Health, and also involves several addi-
tional international partners.
prehensive response that draws on the
strengths of all areas of public health.
Biomedical research can lead to critical
new tools, such as potentially life-saving
therapies,” said NIAID Director Anthony
S. Fauci., M.D. “Through scientifically and
ethically sound clinical trials, we hope to
efficiently and definitively establish the
safety and efficacy of these investigational
Ebola treatments, offering new ways to save
lives.”
On Aug. 1, the DRC Ministry of Health
declared the country’s 10th outbreak of
EVD. As of Nov. 25, 240 deaths out of 419
confirmed and probable cases of EVD have
been reported in the northeastern provinces
of North Kivu and Ituri.
Under the leadership of the DRC Ministry
of Health, the WHO has coordinated the
outbreak response with several international
partners. NIAID, along with the U.S. Cen-
ters for Disease Control and Prevention, the
U.S. Agency for International Development

30 Dec. 07 - 13 2018

(USAID), and other U.S. government part-
ners, have provided guidance and support
to the multi-sectoral outbreak response.
“We urgently need a safe and effective
treatment for this deadly disease,” said DRC
Minister of Health Oly Ilunga Kalenga,
M.D., Ph.D. “As we face a 10th outbreak of
Ebola, we hope this clinical trial will give us
more information about how best to treat
patients.”
The trial aims to compare mortality
among patients who receive one of three
investigational Ebola drugs with a control
group of patients who receive the investiga-
tional monoclonal antibody cocktail treat-
ment ZMapp, developed by Mapp Biophar-
maceutical, Inc. The therapies being tested
include: mAb114, a single monoclonal anti-
body developed by NIAID, with early sup-
port from the INRB; and remdesivir (also
known as GS-5734), an antiviral drug devel-
oped by Gilead Sciences, Inc. The trial has
been approved to begin enrolling patients in
these three groups, and plans are underway
to amend the trial to include REGN-EB3
(also known as REGN3470-3471-3479), a
monoclonal antibody cocktail developed by
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
The participating Ebola treatment units
will continue to provide all participants
with supportive care for EVD. Ebola care
includes supportive oral and/or intravenous
fluids, electrolyte replacement, maintaining
oxygen status and blood pressure, and pain
management.
The investigational treatments have
varying levels of data to support their use
from testing in the laboratory, animals, and
humans. However, none has been approved
for treating EVD. ZMapp is the only inves-
tigational treatment previously tested in
a randomised, controlled efficacy trial.
Results from that study, conducted in the
U.S. and West Africa during the 2014 to 2016
outbreak, suggested that ZMapp appeared
to be beneficial, but as the outbreak waned,
the trial ultimately could not enroll enough
participants to definitively establish the
drug’s efficacy.
The investigational treatments also have
been administered to most of the Ebola
patients in the current outbreak in the DRC
under an ethical framework developed by
the WHO called Monitored Emergency
Use of Unregistered and Investigational
Interventions (MEURI). However, this
emergency-use mechanism cannot yield
generalisable evidence on how well the
treatments work.
“A randomised, controlled clinical trial is
necessary to obtain reliable data about the
safety and efficacy of investigational Ebola
treatments,” said H. Clifford Lane, M.D.,
director of NIAID’s Division of Clinical
health
Research. “It is possible to conduct rigorous
clinical research in an outbreak setting, and
we anticipate this trial will provide useful
data.”
Prof. Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum,
M.D., Ph.D., director-general of the INRB,
and Richard T. Davey, Jr., M.D., deputy
director of NIAID’s Division of Clinical
Research, are co-principal investigators for
the study.
Trial participants will be randomly
assigned to receive one of the investiga-
tional treatments by intravenous infusion.
Site clinicians will monitor patients’ symp-
toms and take blood samples for labora-
tory tests. Patients will remain in the Ebola
treatment unit until they fully recover from
the disease. They will be asked to return to
the clinic approximately two months after
receiving treatment for a check-up and to
provide additional blood samples for labo-
ratory tests.
Plans are underway to expand the trial
beyond the ALIMA site in Beni to addition-
al Ebola treatment units operated by medi-
cal humanitarian organisations, including
International Medical Corps. The trial also
may be adapted to continue across more
than one outbreak and in several countries.
The number of participants enrolled in the
trial ultimately will depend on the evolution
of Ebola outbreaks. The study is designed to
enroll 112 patients per arm, potentially over
multiple outbreaks.
“This clinical trial marks a significant and
important step forward for the DRC and
our international partners,” said Dr. Muy-
embe. “We are eager to learn more about
each of these investigational treatments as
we continue to work tirelessly to identify
new cases, trace contacts and control the
spread of disease.”
An independent data and safety monitor-
ing board will regularly review the study
data.
NIAID conducts and supports research—
at NIH, throughout the United States, and
worldwide—to study the causes of infec-
tious and immune-mediated diseases, and
to develop better means of preventing,
diagnosing and treating these illnesses.
News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-
related materials are available on the NIAID
website.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH)
is America’s medical research agency, and
includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is
a component of the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services. NIH is the
primary federal agency conducting and
supporting basic, clinical, and translational
medical research, and is investigating the
causes, treatments, and cures for both com-
mon and rare diseases.
Source: National Institutes of Health
Dec. 07 - 13 2018 31
obituary
George H.W. Bush: America’s
last foreign policy president
Unlike every president who followed him, George
H.W. Bush had a background in foreign policy
By James Goldgeier
G
eorge H.W. Bush was the last per-
son elected president of the United
States with any prior foreign
policy experience.
Bush, who has died at age 94, entered
office with one of the most impressive
resumes of any president, having served as
director of the Central Intelligence Agency,
ambassador to the United Nations and Ron-
ald Reagan’s vice president.
He left office with an impressive list of
achievements, including managing the
peaceful collapse of the Soviet Union and
the unification of Germany. But a major
32 Dec. 07 - 13 2018
high point of his presidency was also the
harbinger of disappointments to come: the
swift military victory that reversed Saddam
Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait and seemed
to herald a new era in world affairs – but
left Saddam Hussein in power.
In 1991, it seemed America could do any-
thing it wanted to in the world. Twenty-sev-
en years after Bush left Saddam Hussein in
power, United States forces are still engaged
in Iraq, and the US is far less confident of its
global role.
A New World Order?
A month after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait,
in September 1990, Bush and Soviet leader
Mikhail Gorbachev issued a joint statement
noting that “no peaceful international order
is possible if larger states can devour their
smaller neighbors.” That same month, Bush
declared, “We’re now in sight of a United
Nations that performs as envisioned by its
founders.”
The problem was that while the United
Nations was set up to prevent powerful
states from invading weaker neighbors, as
Germany and Japan had done in the 1930s
and 1940s, the main challenges of the post-
Cold War world – prior to Russia invading
Ukraine in 2014 – were different. They were
mainly internal challenges: failed states and
civil wars in places like Somalia, Rwanda,

Balkans, Afghanistan and eventually Iraq
after the disastrous U.S. occupation follow-
ing the 2003 war.
The U.S. effort to put together an inter-
national coalition against Iraq in 1990 was
stunning. Secretary of State James Baker
met with every head of state or foreign min-
ister whose country held a seat on the U.N.
Security Council. That meant not just meet-
ing with those countries that had perma-
nent seats like the Soviet Union and China,
but also those holding rotating seats such as
Ivory Coast, Romania and even Cuba.
Baker’s efforts were successful. The Secu-
rity Council passed U.N. resolution 678 on
Nov. 29, 1990 and established Jan. 15, 1991
as the deadline for Iraq to withdraw its
troops from Kuwait or face a U.S.-led inter-
national coalition to force its withdrawal.
The coalition made good on the threat.
As Colin Powell told my co-author Derek
Chollet and me in an interview for our
book on the period, “The Gulf War was
the war against the Russians we didn’t
have. There were no trees and no hills, but
that’s what we were trained to fight. The
Iraqis sat there and we kicked the shit out
of them.”
For those who had suffered through the
morass of Vietnam and the crisis of Ameri-
can confidence that followed, it was the
ultimate feel-good moment. An estimated
800,000 people packed the National Mall
to cheer their military heroes. Bush came
out of the war with a 90 percent public
approval rating.
And yet, the following year, a candidate
with no foreign policy experience who had
avoided military service in Vietnam won
the presidency. He defeated the incumbent
president who was himself a war hero and
had led the Gulf War coalition to such suc-
cess. By 1992, the Cold War was over, and
Bill Clinton campaigned with the mindset
that it was “the economy, stupid.”
But while Clinton defeated Bush, he
inherited the Iraq problem from his pre-
decessor, who had chosen not to remove
Saddam Hussein in order to keep his U.N.
coalition together. Clinton was faced for
eight years with patrolling the no-fly-zones
established over the north and south of Iraq
to protect the Kurdish and Shiite popula-
tions.
Clinton passed the Iraq problem off to
George W. Bush, who in the aftermath of
the attacks of Sept. 11 went to war in 2003 –
this time without U.N. authorization. Bush
and his “coalition of the willing” removed
Saddam Hussein, leaving the United States
as an occupying power. And while Barack
Obama promised – a promise on which, for
a fleeting moment, he seemed to deliver – a
obituary
U.S. withdrawal from the country, he was
forced to go back in militarily with the rise
of the Islamic State, handing off the Iraq
problem to his successor to manage.
Thus the promise of the Gulf War – the
U.S. dominant like no other since ancient
Rome, confident that it could rule the world
on behalf of freedom and democracy – gave
way over time to doubt and confusion. In
the post-Cold War world, the U.S. military
was largely called upon to handle internal
conflicts – in Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo,
Afghanistan, Libya and, throughout it all,
Iraq – and the results have proved deeply
dissatisfying.
In 1991, George H.W. Bush declared vic-
tory and celebrated with a parade. In 2011,
there was no parade for Libya. There will be
no parade for Afghanistan. Stability in Iraq
remains elusive – the US could not celebrate
a clear-cut military victory there.
It’s fitting that George H.W. Bush, World
War II military hero and Cold War veteran,
was the last president to preside over what
at the time felt awesome: a major military
victory fought on behalf of the entire world
against a dictator. Instead, his successors,
none of whom served in the military and
all of whom have wrestled with post-Cold
War challenges, have been vexed not only
by Iraq, but by challenges posed by non-
state actors while trying to manage regional
threats emanating from China, Russia and
Iran. While Bill Clinton, George W. Bush,
Barack Obama and now Donald Trump
have each in their own way tried to define
American leadership, George H.W. Bush’s
presidency represents the moment at the
end of the Cold War when anything seemed
possible for the United States in world
affairs, and the underlying challenges were
only just beginning to become visible.
James Goldgeier is professor at the School
of International Service and Visiting Senior
Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations,
American University School of International
Service
Source: theconversation
Dec. 07 - 13 2018 33
COMMENT
By Richard N. Haass
The world George H.W. Bush made
His administration’s foreign policy record compares
favourably with that of any other modern U.S. president
I
have worked for four U.S. presidents,
Democrats and Republicans alike, and
perhaps the most important thing I
have learned along the way is that little
of what we call history is inevitable. What
happens in this world is the result of what
people choose to do and choose not to do
when presented with challenges and op-
portunities.
George H.W. Bush, the 41st president
of the United States, was presented with
more than his share of challenges and
opportunities, and the record is clear: he
left the country and the world consider-
ably better off than he found them.
I worked for and often with Bush for
all four years of his presidency. I was
the National Security Council member
responsible for overseeing the develop-
ment and execution of policy toward
the Middle East, the Persian Gulf, and
Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan. I was
also brought into a good many other
policy deliberations.
Bush was kind, decent, fair, open-
minded, considerate, lacking in preju-
dice, modest, principled, and loyal. He
valued public service and saw himself
as simply the latest in the long line of
U.S. presidents, another temporary occu-
pant of the Oval Office and custodian of
American democracy.
His foreign policy achievements were
many and significant, starting with the
ending of the Cold War. To be sure,
that it ended when it did had a great
deal to do with four decades of con-
certed Western effort in every region
of the world, the defeat of the Soviets
in Afghanistan, the deep-seated flaws
within the Soviet system, and the words
and deeds of Mikhail Gorbachev. But
none of this meant that the Cold War was
preordained to end quickly or peacefully.
It did, in part, because Bush was sensi-
tive to Gorbachev’s and later Boris Yelt-
sin’s predicament and avoided making
a difficult situation humiliating. He was
careful not to gloat or to indulge in the
rhetoric of triumphalism. He was widely
criticised for this restraint, but he man-
aged not to trigger just the sort of nation-
alist reaction that we are now seeing in
Russia.
He also got what he wanted. No one
should confuse Bush’s caution with
34 Dec. 07 - 13 2018
timidity. He overcame the reluctance,
and at times objections, of many of his
European counterparts and fostered
Germany’s unification – and brought it
about within NATO. This was statecraft
at its finest.
Bush’s other great foreign policy
achievement was the Gulf War. He
viewed Saddam Hussein’s invasion and
conquest of Kuwait as a threat not just to
the region’s critical oil supplies, but also
to the emerging post-Cold War world.
Bush feared that if this act of war went
unanswered, it would encourage further
mayhem.
Days into the crisis, Bush declared that
Saddam’s aggression would not stand.
He then marshaled an unprecedented
international coalition that backed sanc-
tions and the threat of force, sent a half-
million U.S. troops halfway around the
world to join hundreds of thousands
from other countries, and, when diplo-
macy failed to bring about a complete
and unconditional Iraqi withdrawal,
liberated Kuwait in a matter of weeks
with remarkably few U.S. and coalition
casualties. It was a textbook case of how
multilateralism could work.
Two other points are worth noting
here. First, Congress was reluctant to
act on Saddam’s aggression. The vote in
the Senate authorising military action
nearly failed. Bush, however, was pre-
pared to order what became Operation
Desert Storm even without congressional
approval, given that he already had
international law and the United Nations
Security Council on his side. He was that
determined and that principled.
Second, Bush refused to allow himself
to get caught up in events. The mission
was to liberate Kuwait, not Iraq. Fully
aware of what happened some four
decades earlier when the U.S. and UN
forces expanded their strategic objective
in Korea and tried to unify the penin-
sula by force, Bush resisted pressures
to expand the war’s aims. He worried
about losing the trust of world leaders
he had brought along and the loss of life
that would likely result. He also wanted
to keep Arab governments on his side to
improve prospects for the Middle East
peace effort that was to begin in Madrid
less than a year later. Again, he was
strong enough to stand up to the mood
of the moment.
None of this is to say that Bush always
got it right. The end of the Gulf War was
messy, as Saddam managed to hang onto
power in Iraq with a brutal crackdown
on Kurds in the north and Shi’a in the
south. A year later, the Bush administra-
tion was slow to respond to violence in
the Balkans. It might have done more to
help Russia in its early post-Soviet days.
Overall, however, the administration’s
foreign policy record compares favour-
ably with that of any other modern U.S.
president or, for that matter, any other
contemporary world leader.
One last thing. Bush assembled what
was arguably the best national security
team the U.S. has ever had. Brent Scow-
croft was the gold standard in national
security advisers. James Baker was argu-
ably the most successful secretary of
state since Henry Kissinger. And with
them were Colin Powell, Dick Cheney,
Robert Gates, Larry Eagleburger, Wil-
liam Webster, and others of standing and
experience.
All of which brings us back to George
H.W. Bush. He chose the people. He set
the tone and the expectations. He lis-
tened. He insisted on a formal process.
And he led.
If, as the saying goes, a fish rots from
the head, it also flourishes because of the
head. The U.S. flourished as a result of
the many contributions of its 41st presi-
dent. Many people around the world
benefited as well. We owe him our collec-
tive thanks. May his well-deserved rest
be peaceful.
Richard N. Haass is President of the
Council on Foreign Relations. His most
recent book is A World in Disarray:
American Foreign Policy and the Crisis
of the Old Order.
Richard N. Haass is President of the Council
on Foreign Relations. His most recent book
is `A World in Disarray: American Foreign
Policy and the Crisis of the Old Order’.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2018.
www.project-syndicate.org

By Morrison Rwakakamba
Behind National Dialogue
Is it a Piriton pain killer pill by President
Museveni to drug Ugandans into slumber?
S
ince talk and preparations for the
national dialogue were put in mo-
tion over a year ago by a host of
shepherds led by Inter-Religious
Council of Uganda, The Elders Forum
and Women’s Situation room; sections of
Uganda stakeholders have been throwing
around variety of doubt, skepticism and
sometimes outright conspiracy theories.
The most shrill and whispered but
deep conspiracy theory is that President
Museveni is using the dialogue to throw
cold-water on political resurgence driven by
mostly youth in many formations that seem
to have metastasized around the ‘People
Power Movement’. Merchandisers of this
theory argue that Museveni figured out that
post age limit removal in the constitution
would be a restless Uganda that sees no
pathway to peaceful and seamless transition
from Museveni; and as such, the President
badly needs a vent to push out anger and
a platform to re-ignite hope that peaceful
change is possible.
The national dialogue would provide that
vent and platform and in effect, get Ugan-
dans to hope again and sleep, allowing
Museveni time to plot and extend his rule
into infinity! Such theories find fertile
ground in Uganda because of many false
starts and a Country that remains a grave-
yard of many negotiated settlements- from
Lancaster to Moshi, Nairobi peace talks and
so on.
Yet I still believe that as a country, we
should pick lessons from the past and shape
a highbrid present and a golden future.
That’s why I have always argued that the
National Dialogue is Uganda’s golden para-
chute into the future.
Without giving in to inside NRM skeptics
and pandering to braggadocios and aloof-
ness of the massive NRM victory in recent
Local Council elections, President Museveni
and Prime Minister Rugunda have shown
consistent interest in the national dialogue.
They have met dialogue shepherds several
times and put their views across – they have
kept engaged with the process.
The only way other political actors and
social formations can make it work is to also
take on the process and engage in hard ball
and consequential negotiations instead of
dismissing the process. In the midst of dim
clouds, a well-structured dialogue could
be the only pathway to re-arrange power
in Uganda and strengthen the position of
citizens at the center of our discourse as a
country.
The shepherds of the process have consis-
tently argued that the national dialogue is a
structured mechanism through which citi-
zens reassert citizen agency as embedded
in Article 1 of our Nation’s Constitution.
During citizens’ consultations in 2017
and through 2018, aspirations articulated
during sessions were analysed together
with existing national vision documents
including Uganda Vision 2040. Considered
together, the proposals from the consul-
tations and the various national vision
documents articulate a vision of “a just and
morally upright society founded on socio-
economic justice, shared prosperity, popular
governance and respect for the rule of law”
The Uganda National Dialogue is also
rooted in our Nation’s constitutional his-
tory, constitutional culture and evolving
constitutional practice. Since independence,
the national constitution has been used as
the mechanism to establish consensus on
major national issues.
This is evident in the constitutional dis-
courses of the 1960s and 1990s. During the
1960s, constitutional reforms were pursued
as a purely technocratic process negotiated
by or between elite constituencies repre-
senting a variety of interest groups. The
people centered approach of the National
Resistance Movement (NRM) embedded
in its blue print document – The 10 Point
Programme – democratised the constitu-
tion making process that produced the 1995
Constitution. The sovereignty of citizens “
We the people” is now well embedded in
our constitutional framework and this sov-
ereignty cannot be overridden by any other
authority since citizens are the source of any
other such authority.
Importantly, the framers of the 1995
Constitution sought to bring to an end the
culture of violent change of Government by
prohibiting and criminalising the overthrow
of the constitution by force of arms. The
Constitution prescribes “regular, free and
fair elections” as the alternative and allow-
able mechanism through which citizens
should express their will and consent on
how and who should govern them. How-
ever, the electoral process has been severely
undermined by incidences of extreme
violence, vote rigging and obscene use of
COMMENT
money.
In some cases, national elections and
constituency elections have produced war-
like situations necessitating deployment of
military hardware and personnel and in the
process creating conditions that make a free
and fair election nearly impossible.
The growing contestation over elections
and electoral outcomes are combining with
electoral violence and obscene use of money
to undermine the legitimacy of elections
as a pathway to the future of sustainable
peace, equal opportunity and shared pros-
perity. The point here is that the 1995 con-
sensus needs a transition itself.
Whereas there are constitutionally
legitimate platforms to engage such as the
National Consultative Forum (NCF), Parlia-
ment or the Inter-Party Organisations for
Dialogue (IPOD)- and now the government
appointed Constitutional Review Commis-
sion – it is important to discern that these
platforms would not substitute the need for
a national dialogue process for at least two
major reasons. First, by their very nature,
these platforms automatically exclude direct
citizen representation largely because their
membership is prescribed by law or the
respective instruments by which they are
established. Secondly, these platforms are
inherently political platforms and mostly
held hostage by the current partisan polit-
ical gridlock. By their very nature, they pay
more attention to our political differences
while diminishing our collective citizenship
and hence stand in our way to building a
future that we all value and cherish.
To have a legitimate citizen driven dia-
logue process, the shepherds will have to
behave above suspicion for the platform
can be taken advantage of by any political
and social chess player. Good behavior
and accountability will ensure citizens
trust and fuel the process. Sticky issues
like source of funding for the dialogue and
modes of participation should be open.
Happy Hanukkah fellow citizens. May this
dialogue provide a million lights to illu-
minate Uganda’s future. Merry Christmas
and happy 2019.
Morrison Rwakakamba is coffee farmer from
Nyamubogere cell, Nyeibingo village in
Rukungiri District.
Dec. 07 - 13 2018 35
feature
Twitter’s ‘like’ button
Why cute, heart-shaped button isn’t so harmless
By A. Trevor Sutton
J
ack Dorsey, Twitter’s
founder and CEO, was
recently reported to have
questioned how the site
“incentivises people to want
(the number of likes on their
posts) to go up.” He also said
that “he was not a fan of the
heart-shaped (‘like’) button
and that Twitter would be get-
ting rid of it ‘soon.’” Twitter
has since released a statement
indicating that there are no
immediate plans to remove
the “like” button.
Whatever the future of
Twitter’s “like” button may
be, as a scholar of social media
and religion I’d argue that the
cute little heart-shaped but-
ton on Twitter and Facebook
is far more impactful than it
appears.
How people use the ‘like’
button
The “like” button is not
there by accident. Instead, this
one-click feature exists as an
intentional design decision.
Like most big tech com-
panies, Twitter has an entire
department dedicated to
understanding users. Every
feature and font, based on
their research, is there to maxi-
mise the overall user experi-
ence.
The design decisions fur-
tively influence users’ feelings
and behaviors. Chris Nodder,
a user experience researcher
and the author of `Evil by
Design’, explains how design-
ers must always ask the ques-
tion, “How do we influence
behavior through the medium
of software?”
In other words, design deci-
sions are made not only to
improve a users’ experience
but also influence their behav-
iors. The “like” button is one
example.
While the heart-shaped
button is seemingly only for
36 Dec. 07 - 13 2018
expressing appreciation for
the content of a social media
post, researchers have deter-
mined that people use the but-
ton for many other reasons.
A team of researchers, for
example, found that users in
the United States often chose
to like something for bonding
purposes rather than simply
liking the content.
Another study of Facebook
users found that the “like”
button is used to maintain
relationships with existing
friends or to develop new
relationships. People may use
the “like” button as a way to
publicly show closeness to
another person, or even as an
effort toward dating someone.
The point being that the
“like” button does far more
than just express how much a
person likes a particular pic-
ture or post.
Not so harmless
Social networking sites are
powerful tools for building
relationships. Nevertheless,
research has shown that cer-
tain social media features can
adversely affect users.
For instance, a study found
that impersonal gestures such
as the one-click “like” com-
munication may not promote
user well-being. According to
Facebook researcher Moira
Burke and Robert Kraut, an
emeritus professor at Carnegie
Mellon University, “simply
reading about friends, receiv-
ing text communication from
weak ties, and receiving one-
click communication did not
affect well-being.” On the oth-
er hand, more personal and
direct communication such as
a direct message or person-
alised comment can have an
impact on user well-being.
A particularly harmful
byproduct of the “like” button
is found in the way social net-
working sites foster negative
social comparisons. A review
of research on the topic has
found that social media use
correlates with measurable
increases in envy and depres-
sion.
These feelings of envy can
take two different forms:
malicious envy and benign
envy. Malicious envy involves
resentment and a desire to
harm the other person. Benign
envy involves admiration and
a desire to obtain what the
other person possesses.
One of the studies in the
review involved 194 college-
aged Facebook users in Ger-
many. In this study, research-
ers found that “the closer
the relationship, the more a
Facebook user will experience
benign envy.”
These digital showrooms
allow people to present the
best version of themselves for
everyone else to see. Often,
people use the number of likes
to judge others and them-
selves. That little heart-shaped
button becomes a publicly
quantifiable measure of social
support.
According to this research,
the “like” button works as a
“mechanism to compare one-
self with others.” The number
of “likes,” make social sup-
port quantifiable. It can then
be easily viewed for making
social comparisons.
Ripple effects of social
networking sites
Given the impact of social
networking sites on the feel-
ings and behaviors of billions
of users, I believe there needs
to be an ethical component to
designing these technologies.
As Twitter is busy “rethink-
ing everything,” the company
would do well to think about
how the platform is shaping
the feelings and behaviors of
its users.
Michigan Tech humani-
ties scholar Robert Johnson,
in his book, `User-Centered
Technology’, writes how tech-
nologies have “ripple effects”
that “shape culture in defining
ways.”
The same argument is true
for social networking sites. As
such, every design feature –
even that little heart-shaped
button – must be carefully
scrutinised.
Trevor Sutton is a Ph.D.
Student in Doctrinal Theology,
Concordia Seminary
 ART | BOOKS | SOCIETY | TRAVEL | CULTURE
Top five
artists
of 2018
By Dominic Muwanguzi
A
Musinguzi Gilbert
youthful budding artist
who graduated from
Kyambogo University
in 2014, invited
unprecedented attention
to his work at the Kampala
Art Biennale 2018 with his colossal
ephemeral artwork `Invasion’ that
interrogates the subject of migration to
new territory and its obvious impact to
that locale.
The soft spoken artist’s work can
be described as communal, intuitive,
and engaging, and inspiring an
authentic narrative on the theme
of experimentation and creativity.
His recent body of work, as part of
his artist residence at 32°East, is an
inspiration from the local community
of Kasokosoko; a Kampala city suburb
for poor urbanites. As such, his art is a
social-political commentary on issues
that affect the community he lives in.
Stacey Abe Gillian
Stacey Gillian’s name has been making
headlines on the continent’s art scene
since her ground-breaking performance
`Enya Sa’ performed in Johannesburg,
South Africa in 2016. Since then, the
lanky and mostly soft-spoken artist who
works in multi-media like ceramics,
glass, light photography and texture, has
gone on to install her art ( performance
art) at major art festivals across the
globe. In 2017, she performed Seat of
Honour and later Pareidolia that left art
critics across the world enthralled with
her unique style. Her work has been
described as a highlight of the strengths
and fragility of the female mind and
often critiquing the stereotypes faced by
black women in contemporary society.
Her receipt of the 2018 ABSA L’atelier
first merit award and now honouree
of the ‘Forbes Africa 30 under 30’ has
undoubtedly propelled her career to new
heights. She remains a reserved and
sincere character with a focus to inspire
young women in the industry to exploit
their art to explore their identity, gender,
and spirituality.
Arim Andrew
His debut solo exhibition `A Portrait
of Power, Authority and Control’ in
September at Afriart on 7th got everyone
on the local art scene talking: predicting
that Arim was the next big item on the
Kampala contemporary art scene. In the
exhibit, the artist showcased a masterly
in studio dexterity and innovation
with fictional and realistic characters
juxtaposed. His artistic process that
includes layering his paintings with
innumerable colours -portraiture -and
adopting comic characters in his work,
while navigating serious themes of
power and control, suggests a cheeky
feel in his work. This obviously makes
it palatable to larger audiences without
necessarily being propagandist.
Though it was easy to impress with his
first solo exhibit, the young artist is not
resting on his laurels. He is researching
on new materials for his next body of
work that is still inspired by his love for
comics. The artist shows there’s no limit
in creating art from sci-fictional material.
Ismael Kateregga
Kateregga made headlines this year
with a successful auction of his work
`Buikwe Fishing Boats’ at the Bonhams
Auction House, London. That feat alone
got the impressionistic artist, whose style
is subtle forms with controlled light on
canvas, a standing ovation from several
art managers and critics from the region.
That accomplishment echoes the
benefits of studio ingenuity the artist
is so skilled in and continues to be an
enduring character of his artistic practice.
As such, Kateregga offers inspiration to
young artists to be consistent, creative,
and authentic in their art.
Ocom Adonias
`Who’s your Saint’ is a series of
work that has got Ocom’s name on
everyone’s lips this year. The artwork is
an inspiration from societal prejudices
where sainthood or esteemed character
in the context of the exhibition, is
attached to someone who is socially
privileged in society. Ocom thinks
otherwise in this exhibit and goes on
to confer halos on unusual suspects
like food vendors, nubile women
and political villains like Benjamin
Netanyahu. His work is satirical; giving
a subtle narrative on complex subjects
of immigration, consumerism and neo-
colonialism.
The artist’s ability to interrogate such
widespread social- political inequality in
our society through figurative imagery
makes him and his work enviable to
larger publics. As such, Ocom has this
year featured in the FnB Johannesburg
Art Fair, participated in the L’atelier
competition and showcased at the
Kampala Art Biennale 2018.
Dec. 07 - 13 2018 37
Calling your partner with a pet name makes your relationship stronger
One aspect of being in a couple is when show that couples who give each other do use one. Some pet names are more
you enter that lovey-dovey stage and decide endearing pet names could have stronger acceptable than others. In Europe, ‘cutie’
that using each other’s real names is no lon- relationships. Whether it’s honey, babe or and ‘hun’ top the list. Americans preferred
ger a viable option But, next time someone something more unusual like an actual pet ‘pretty’, ‘beautiful’ and ‘gorgeous’. The
casts an evil eye in your direction as you name – kitten and chicklet, perhaps – the most hated are ‘papi’, ‘daddy’, ‘sweet
call your partner ‘baby’, you can tell them study reveals that you have a higher chance cheeks’ ‘muffin’, Cutie Pie, Sweet Pea,
that researchers support it – new findings of being happy with your partner, if you Princess, and Sweetie Pie.

Laptop thief sends apology

Silent discos ‘too noisy’
If you ever go to a silent
disco at some point it is
advisable to take your
headphones off. The out
of tune singing and grunts
of people as they dance
is hilarious. It’s not a
surprise to hear that as a
result of this cacophony
a council is considering
them. They are popular
in Edinburgh where there
are silent disco walking
tours and they’re very
popular with hen and stag
parties. However, the city
council has received a glut
of complaints. Councilor
Jo Mowatt said: “Silent
discos are not silent. There
is a lot of whooping and
screaming, especially
when you have 40 women
on a hen party.”
A university student who recently had
his laptop stolen was surprised to receive
an apology email from the thief, in which
the person tried to justify the crime by
claiming that they were really poor.
The apologetic email went viral on Twit-
ter after Birmingham-resident Stevie Val-
entine shared a screengrab of it. “I left your
phone and wallet, so I hope that slightly
makes up for something,” the email reads.
“I can see you are a university student. If
there is any files on here such as university
work on here that you need, let me know
and I will send them to you here,” the thief
adds before ending the email with “Once
again I am sorry.” Stevie Valentine’s tweet
has been liked over 26,000 times and has
received thousands of comments. The
feedback has been mixed, with some Twit-
ter users going as far as to say that they
like the thief, and others claiming that his
extreme poverty doesn’t justify the crime.

A woman Father Christmas? No way

Only a man can wear the red coat, white
beard and black boots of Santa Claus, local
councilors of Newton Aycliffe, County Dur-
ham, have decided. The role must continue
to be played by a male following a debate
about whether a female could step into
his boots. For around 50 years, Santa has
toured the town in a flatbed truck handing
out sweets to children on Christmas Eve.
However a great debate was sparked this
year when a woman offered to play Father
Christmas while her husband drove the
truck. That led to calls of political correct-
ness and a fear of disappointed children
who would expect a male voice to be ho-
ho-hoing. During a special meeting, one
councilor argued there was a short period
of time when children are innocent and
that wonder and magic could be ruined.
They rejected a recommendation from a
sub-committee to allow women volun-
teers to be Santa.

Town enforces `whatsApp’ curfew

Parajito, a town in northern Colombia,
recently announced a curfew forbidding the
transit and gathering of minors under the
age of 17 in public places between 7 in the
evening and 5 in the morning. The Mayor
Inocencio Perez said the move is to protect
them from evil spirits that have allegedly
been spreading through the popular
messaging app WhatsApp. Authorities in
the mainly Catholic town reported at least
14 cases of teenagers exhibiting strange
behavior, including threats of jumping
off bridges, self-lacerations, convulsions,
fainting and unexplained changes in their
voices. Like most youths these days, all
of the victims were reportedly using the
popular messaging app WhatsApp, and
rumors started going around that evil
spirits spreading through the app were
responsible for the unusual behavior.

38 Dec. 07 - 13 2018
Understand the `Overdrive’
It helps with overall driving in different
conditions and gas mileage
M
By Agencies
ost vehicles with an
automatic transmission
come with a standard
overdrive (O/D) func-
tion on their gear shifter.
Many of the newer ve-
hicles being produced are no longer being
built with these overdrive buttons, but they
do still have these features installed; instead
newer vehicles automatically turn on the
overdrive usually when the speed exceeds
70km per hour.
The overdrive function regulates the gear
system of your automatic vehicle. It helps
with both overall driving in different condi-
tions and gas mileage, allowing you to drive
further and use less gas. Although the over-
drive in the vehicles should almost always
be left on, there are occasions in which you
0783 614601/ 0753 614601
will have to turn it off.
On most cars, the Overdrive (O/D) button
is located on the gear selector. It is almost
always on the side closest to the driver’s
seat), below the large button that allows you
to shift gears. The button is much smaller,
but works the same way as your gear selec-
tor button. In mostly older model vehicles,
if you push it in to turn the O/D on, y will
notice the O/D light come on your dash-
board. Push it again to release it: This turns
the O/D off, effectively turning off the dash-
board light as well.
If you turn the O/D on and drive forward,
you will notice that the vehicle drives as it
normally does, gradually shifting at cer-
tain speeds. Leaving it on is better for gas
mileage because it is using all four gears to
operate, reducing stress on the RPM (revs
per minute). The O/D should be left on for
normal driving conditions.
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Turn the Overdrive off and you will feel
the vehicle suddenly jerk and the engine
rev up. The RPM will also shoot up. This is
because you are now limited to only three
gears, forcing the vehicle engine to work
harder.
However, having the O/D off is useful in
certain conditions:
• When driving up a steep hill, the
O/D off allows the vehicle to gain more
power
 When driving down a steep hill, it
relieves strain on brake usage (you may
also need to shift to second gear)
 In slippery conditions, it gives the vehi-
cle more traction (also shift into second
gear),
 When you want to accelerate quicker.
But you never want to switch the over-
drive from on to off or vice-versa while
in motion, except in extreme instances.
After all these situations, however,
turn the O/D back on and drive as usual.
Remember to check your dashboard to
ensure that the Overdrive is indeed in the
“on” position.
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Dec. 07 - 13 2018 39
Global comment
By Carl Manlan
Capitalising on Africa’s demographic
African governments are facing a deadline to
match job growth with skills training for the youth
A
frica is home to the world’s
youngest and fastest-growing
population. With as many as 20
million young people poised to
join the workforce every year for the next
three decades, the continent has an oppor-
tunity to shift the balance of local and global
growth with a purpose: jobs. But it is far
from inevitable that it will do so.
For African countries to capitalise on
this demographic dividend, the future
workforce must be educated, trained,
and have adequate employment oppor-
tunities. Putting all the pieces in place
will not be easy.
These are uncertain times for the global
economy. Trade tensions between the
United States and China are threatening
the integrity of global value chains, and
Britain’s looming exit from the European
Union has the potential to cause even
more disruption. The International Mon-
etary Fund’s October forecast warns that
as historic economic drivers stall, global
growth this year and next could fall to
3.7%, a decline of 0.2 percentage points
from previous estimates.
But as this slowdown gets priced in by
stock markets around the world, new
drivers of growth will emerge. Africa is
well positioned to become one of them.
According to the World Bank, six of the
world’s ten fastest-growing economies
are in Africa. Intra-African trade might
be the gateway to future local and global
growth, with the continent’s burgeoning
population forging new opportuni-
ties across borders. Most significantly,
Africa’s labour force is on the verge of
a dramatic expansion. Today, 60% of
Africans are younger than 25, and 41%
are under the age of 15. By 2050, Africa’s
youth population is expected to reach
840 million.
But this massive pool of potential talent
is a double-edged sword. Despite strong
GDP growth over the last ten years, the
majority of young people in Africa could
not capture economic opportunities.
Furthermore, the African Union/OECD
report Africa’s Development Dynamics
2018 highlights that if the underemploy-
ment trend continues, Africa’s young
people will suffer the most. Failing to
employ Africa’s young people fully
40 Dec. 07 - 13 2018
could marginalise an entire generation
and lead them down a path of disruption
for which we may not be prepared. For
countries to experience job-led long-term
growth, the provision of quality oppor-
tunities in agriculture is vital. If that does
not happen, and quality jobs remain
scarce, the economic expansion of which
Africa is capable will not happen.
In other words, African governments
are facing a deadline to match job growth
with skills training. Unfortunately, at the
moment, few countries are addressing
this challenge effectively.
According to the African Develop-
ment Bank, the unemployment rate
for young people in Africa is already
double the rate for adults. In fact, young
people are being let down even before
they start looking for work. Too many
primary schools suffer from crippling
teacher shortages, for example, and
gender discrimination prevents millions
of girls from even attending high school.
To overcome these shortcomings will
require significant investments of polit-
ical and financial capital.
Some leaders are moving in this direc-
tion. At the Paris Peace Forum (PPF),
held earlier this month, African and
One approach
to capitalising
on Africa’s
demographic
boom is to expand
the availability of
training initiatives
that pair
employers’ needs
with African talent
global leaders gathered to discuss the
powerful idea that international coopera-
tion is the key to tackling global chal-
lenges and ensuring durable peace.
On the sidelines of the PPF, the focus
fell on African youth. The AU-EU
Youth Cooperation Hub, one of 119
projects selected to participate in the
Forum, attended the meeting to discuss
the AU-EU Youth Agenda. Striving to
involve young people across Africa and
Europe in decisions that impact them,
now and in the future, this initiative
aims to showcase strategies for bringing
Africa and Europe together to address
challenges such as the demographic divi-
dend.
One approach to capitalising on
Africa’s demographic boom is to expand
the availability of training initiatives
that pair employers’ needs with African
talent. As a former fellow with the
Ibrahim Leadership program, I can attest
to the transformative power of top-tier
educational schemes and their value as
incubators for job-related skills.
Africa’s success relies on its ability to
harness its demographic dividend by
equipping its youth with technological
and innovative skills, which will be
a catalyst for economic growth. This
includes training and agriculture-focused
programs to absorb skills along the value
chains that connect raw materials to
industries and markets across Africa.
By 2030, one in every five people on
the planet will be African. Because of
its size alone, Africa’s labour force will
have the potential to drive global growth
for decades. But to do so, Africans must
implement the necessary reforms today.
As our demographic dividend matures,
governments, institutions, and organisa-
tions must help position young people
for success. If African countries can meet
this challenge, prolonged economic
growth – at home and abroad – will be
the reward.
Carl Manlan is Chief Operating Officer at
the Ecobank Foundation.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2018.
www.project-syndicate.org
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