News analysis Health Business

National health Prostate cancer Behind Russia’s growing

insurance scheme treatment influence in Africa

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Fight over
UTL
The powerful people behind it

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July. 05 - 11 2019 1
inbox

Issue No. 579 July. 05 - 11 2019

News analysis Business Health Arts Motoring

Cover story
Fight over UTL
The powerful people behind it

5 The Week
30 Comments
NSSF opens Shs3.6bn
Mbarara city house World Bank; rethink
scrapping PLE : Children have
a right to meaningful education
9 The Last Word
and not a right of simply
Uganda’s budget dilemma: How walking through the system
our government’s attempts to do too
many things for all citizens spreads
32 Health
our meager resources too thin
Prostate cancer
14 Analysis treatment: New urine
test might show whether
National health insurance scheme: Is it you need it
targeting the wrong people?

35 Arts & Culture

27 Business
Getting away with `bad’
Behind Russia’s growing influence in art: A perfect excuse to
Africa: Why the new development could revisit originality
be bad news for the US, Europe and India

STRATEGY & EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: Andrew M. Mwenda WRITERS:Ronald Musoke, Flavia Nassaka, Ian Katusiime,
MANAGING EDITOR: Joseph Were Patricia Akankwatsa, Julius Businge.
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2 July. 05 - 11 2019
 inbox

“They wanted to come up with a special

list of categories of people, including
lesbians and homosexuals, who should
be considered as vulnerable but we asked
them about other categories of people
suffering from cancer, HIV/Aids; we
argued that this is discriminating against
them,”Pius Bigirimana, the Gender ministry
permanent secretary on withdrawing special
status of sexual minorities
Uganda Cares have donated medical goods worth Shs110million in response to reported
Ebola cases in Kasese district. The goods were handed over to the director of general health
services in the ministry of health at a ceremony held on June 25 in Kampala.   INDEPENDENT/
ALFRED OCHWO

The Uganda
Revenue Authority
Commissioner General
Doris Akol (2nd R),
revealed that Uganda’s
revenue collection
has greatly improved “I want to assure you we are going
from Shs15trillion nowhere and we shall slowly deal
in 2017/2018 to with all those. NRM has a good
Shs16.8trillion in the
FY2018/2019.. This foundation; we planned it well
was said during the when we were in the bush,”NRM vice
central region budget
conference held on chairman Al Hajji Moses Kigongo
June 24 at Hotel
Africana.   INDEPENDENT
/ALFRED OCHWO

Celebrated City Pastor

Aloysius Bugingo of
House of Prayer Ministries
International suprised
guests after graduating
with a certificate in “The reality downtown is when
Christian Culture Mentor- someone’s performance sales is
ship at Kayiwa International
University. Bugingo plans
high, the landlords increase rent.
to marry a TV presenter All other countries have capped rent
Susan Makula Nantaba as increment. It is not bad to increase
his second wife.
rent but there should be a limit on
the percentage.”Kampala Central MP
Muhammed Nsereko on Landlords and
Tenants Bill

Joint contribution by workers Head teachers in Agago Candidates who

10% and employers towards National
Health Insurance Scheme
13 district probed over
loss of PTA funds
50% failed public
accountants exams

July. 05 - 11 2019 3
week
Cranes qualify for last 16 despite losing to Egypt
Uganda Cranes sealed a
round of 16 spot at the on-going
2019 Africa Cup of Nations
despite losing 0-2 to Egypt on
Sunday. Sebastien Desabre’s
side had as many as 17 shots on
goal but could not find the back
of the net on a disappointing
night. Mohammed Salah gave
Egypt the lead before Ahmed
Elmohamady doubled it before
halftime. Needing just a draw
to seal a spot in the round of
ICPAU releases May 2019 exams
On June 26, the Institute of
Certified Public Accountants of
Uganda released the May 2019
examinations that were held
in seven centers of Arua, Fort
Portal, Gulu, Kampala, Mbale,
Mbarara and Nkozi.
The exams covered three
courses – Accounting Techni-
cians Diploma (ATD), Certified
Tax Advisor (CTA) and Certified
Public Accountants (CPA). A
total of 6,324 candidates attempt-
ed the examinations compared
to 6,202 candidates in Novem-
ber, 2018. There was an increase
of 122 candidates, representing
2% increment. For ATD course,
a total of 225 candidates sat for
the May 2019 examinations
compared to 247 in Novem-
16, Uganda started strongly but
was reduced to shots from dis-
tance. Both Farouku Miya and
top scorer-Emmanuel Okwi
struck straight at Muhammad
El Shanawy but their efforts
never looked like finding the
net. The Cranes have looked
dangerous from set plays and
Miya had a first half, free kick
just clear the cross bar after
Allan Kyambadde was fouled.
Egypt were dealt an early
Frederick Kibbedi (CPA) and
ICPAU’s president present a copy of
the results at Imperial Royale Hotel
in Kampala on June 26
ber 2018, representing a 1%
decrease. The average pass rate
was 51.1% compared to 49.4%
in November 2018, translating
into a 2 percentage point incre-
ment. For CTA, 107 candidates
blow as Ahmed Hassan who
had earlier suffered a kick on
the calf by Khalid Aucho, was
stretchered off on 25 minutes
and replaced by Morwan Mosh-
en. Uganda were the better side
in the opening half an hour and
with Egypt all over the place
defensively, Kyambadde tried
his luck from distance but just
like Miya and Okwi earlier, El
Shanawy was behind the effort,
comfortably.
sat compared to 102 in Novem-
ber 2018, representing a 4.6%
increase. The average pass rate
was 57.7% compared to 53.3% in
November 2018, representing a 4
percentage point increment. For
CPA course, 5,992 candidates
sat compared to 5,853 who sat
in November 2018, representing
an increase of 2.4%. The average
pass rate was 36.7% compared
to 39.7% in November 2018, rep-
resenting a 3 percentage point
decrease. Keto Kayemba (CPA),
the chairperson of the Public
Accountants Examinations
Board congratulated those that
passed and encouraged those
who failed to persevere and pur-
posely aim at passing next time.
FDC calls for Mutebile’s
resignation
The Forum for Democratic
Change (FDC) last week
called for the resignation
of central bank governor
Emmanuel Tumusiime
Mutebile following a string
of scandals reported at the
institution.
The call followed the
recent currency saga that is
currently being investigated
by police and state house with
some of the bank’s senior
officials already charged
and remanded by the Anti-
corruption court over alleged
corruption.
Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda
the party spokesperson said
that Mutebile should resign
because he has failed to
contain different scandals that
keep happening one after the
other in the bank.
“I am sure he also doesn’t
know how they happen since
he just wakes up and some
things have happened”, he
said.
“Mutebile should have
gone long time ago but the
current government does
not want him to leave.
Since president Museveni
appointed Mutebile, he
should lay him off”, he
added.
Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda

Yield Uganda Investment Fund invests in Raintree farms

Yield Uganda Investment fund
announced its fifth investment in Uganda
by making a commitment to invest Shs. 3.9
billion to Raintree farms limited a pioneer
agri-ceutical enterprise specializing in the
production and processing of organic mor-
inga.
Raintree farms are based in Masindi,
Uganda and were co-founded in 2012 by
the CEO Teddy Ruge the COO Pamela
Nyakato. The company’s business operation
is centered on the growing and processing
of moringa in order to produce premium,
organically certified moringa leaf powder
and moringa oil.
In order to satisfy the increasing market
demand for moringa products, Raintree
introduced an innovative programme (SIP)
for new to market smallholder moringa
farmers. A programme which is designed
to stabilize incomes and reward farmers for
their commitment and application in the
growing of moringa.
Raintree through Yield Fund’s investment
is projected to support over 1,300 farmers
throughout the course of the investment.

4 July. 05 - 11 2019

Kampala Serena
hotel staff stage sit
down strike
Last Saturday, hundreds of
staff of Kampala Serena hotel
staged a sit-down strike para-
lyzing the top hotel in the city.
The staff, who abandoned and
left hundreds of guests stranded,
accuses management of mis-
treatment, failure for manage-
ment to listen to their grievances
and favoritism for expatriate
staff.
Managing Director Mahmoud
Jan Mohamed flew in from the
Serena group Headquarters try-
ing to get control of the situation.
An upset Mahmoud was
filmed lashing out at staff, telling
the truth that they have embar-
rassed the hotel and its guests.
“You cannot hold me at gun-
point and say you want me to
do this or that, then we as man-
agement wouldn’t be in charge.
If this is how you behave, I will
close down the hotel for two
weeks and start all over again”,
he fumed.
The staff left beds unmade,
and food un served as they
gathered in the parking area to
protest against the mistreatment,
with anger directed towards the
hotel management. Police were
deployed at all entrances and
exits to control the staff.
week
NSSF opens Shs3.6bn Mbarara city house
The National Social Uganda. Richard
Security Fund has Byarugaba, the
solidified its presence managing director at
in the Western region NSSF said projects
town of Mbarara by such as these
officially opening enable the Fund
Mbarara City House,
a modern retail
to give members
a reasonable and
and office complex consistent return
comprising of four while preserving
floors. L-R: Richard Byarugaba, Fred Bamwesigye, the NSSF board
member and Chris Baryomunsi opening the commercial house
their savings, paying
Chris Baryomunsi, them an annual
the state minister for making informed towards creating return which is 2%
housing said at the investments in the value for its members above the ten-year
opening on June 27 real estate market. through constructing inflation. The real
that Mbarara City He said through commercial buildings estate segment for
House is a milestone such investments and housing estates the Fund currently
for the Fund that is NSSF was working in major towns of stands at 6%.
NIC supports university games
National Insurance
Corporation (NIC Holdings
Limited) for the first time is
partnering with the Association
of Uganda University Sports as
the official insurance partner
for the 30th World University
Games happening in Napoli,
Italy.
The games began on July
03 and will end on July 13.
Speaking to journalists at the
company’s headquarters in
Kampala on July 01, NIC’s
Managing Director Bayo
Officials display the $4.7million dummy cheque.
Folayan said the partnership
involves a policy cover for the medical transportation. Uganda Christian University,
47 participants hailing from “Sport is one of the areas Ndege and Bugema
Ugandan universities. we participate in to support will engage in athletics,
The package is a travel youth development,” Folayan swimming, tennis and more.
health insurance worth said. Vincent Kisenyi, the “We thank NIC for the
$4.7million and it covers vice president for AUUS support,” he said, “For the
against emergency medical said that participants chosen team to travel it needed to be
expenses, legal fees and from Makerere, Kyambogo, insured.”
AfricellUG @AfricellUG
Dial *133*2# *terms and conditions apply |
Regulated by Uganda Communications Commission
for more bundles
July. 05 - 11 2019 5
week
Donald Trump steps into North Korea with Kim Jong Un
Trump became the first
sitting US President to step
into North Korea. He met
North Korean leader Kim
Jong Un at the demilita-
rized zone (DMZ), and the
two leaders held a private
bilateral meeting before
Kim returned to North
Korea.
Trump crossed the low
stone curb separating the
North and South, making
his way alongside a grin-
ning Kim into a country
that's long been a global
6 July. 05 - 11 2019
Kim as they shook hands.
"I am OK with it”, Kim
replied. While inside North
Korean territory, Trump
and Kim shook hands and
patted each other's backs
before returning across the
border to the South after
about a minute.
"I never expected to meet
you at this place," Kim,
who appeared overjoyed
in the moment, told Trump
through an interpreter.
pariah for its nuclear ambi-
Later, Trump said he
tions and dismal record on
was "proud to step over
human rights.
the line" and thanked Kim
The event, seemingly
for the meeting. He invited
spontaneous and broadcast
him to the White House,
live, took to a new level
though later acknowl-
Trump's showman instincts
edged such a visit would
and view of diplomacy as a
likely not come soon.
test of interpersonal skills.
The North Korean leader
Afterward, Trump said he
said he was surprised by
agreed with Kim to revive
Trump's request to meet,
staff-level talks that had
and accepted the offer due
collapsed after their last
to their "excellent relation-
summit in February.
ship" and the significance
"Would you like me to
of meeting at the border.
step across?" Trump asked
Uganda and UAE sign
labour export MOU
The government of Uganda signed a Mem-
orandum of Understanding (MOU) with the
United Arab Emirates (UAE) to formalize
exportation of domestic workers.
According to the minister of Gender,
Labour and Social Development, Janat Muk-
waya, labour export earns Uganda $600m
(Shs.2.2 trillion) per year. The MOU was
signed by Mukwaya and Nasser Bin Thani Al
Hamli, the minister of human resources of the
United Arab Emirates. “Let me hasten to add
that the United Arab Emirates hosts the high-
est number of Ugandan workers in the Middle
East with more than 40,000 who have been
recruited through official channels. We are
also aware of some few others who are there
illegally”, she said. The minister said that the
MOU would help to ensure safe and orderly
regular migration to the United Arab Emirates.
She also said that with MOU, workers will not
have to incur costs of recruitment. “One stick-
ing issue has been the role of middlemen who
end up taking up a huge share of the recruit-
ment and placement costs “, she added. A joint
committee will be set by both governments to
look for Ugandan workers in the UAE illegal-
ly. Hamli said that there are more than enough
Ugandans in the UAE that are welcome.
Humour Did you know?
Brain structure
controls your
love for music

President Yoweri Museveni visited China once again for a four- day working visit From serene ballroom rhumba to heavy
dance soukous , music of all genres has
the ability to play on our heartstrings,
although new research shows that some of
us are more susceptible to the emotional
power of songs than others. It appears in
the `Journal of Neuroscience’.
The scientists from the University
of Barcelona (UB) and the Bellvitge
Biomedical Research Institute
(UB-IDIBELL) were looking into a
condition called musical anhedonia;
which refers to an inability to feel any
pleasure whatsoever when listening to
music, despite being able to enjoy other
rewarding stimuli such as food and sex.
The researchers recruited 38 volunteers,
around a third of whom suffered from
musical anhedonia, and used functional
magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
to scan their brains while they listened
The National Health Insurance Scheme. Bill 2019 has been approved and to classical music. At the same time,
employees will contribute 10%of their salaries participants were also asked to state how
much they enjoyed the music on a scale of
one to four.
Results showed that individual
differences in the amount of pleasure
derived from hearing music correlates
with the level of connectivity between
a part of the auditory cortex called the
supratemporal auditory cortex and the
ventral striatum, which forms part of the
brain’s reward circuit.
Participants who suffered from
musical anhedonia had less white
matter connecting these particular
brain regions than those who did not
have the condition, indicating that this
communication stream is responsible for
our ability to enjoy rhythmic sound.
So, if you find that music doesn’t quite
do it for you, it could be down to a lack of
connectivity between your supratemporal
auditory cortex and ventral striatum. Or
it could just be that you need to listen to
The Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga has warned MPs against leaking secret information to the President better music.

July. 05 - 11 2019

Inbox
Letters are
welcome !
The Editor welcomes short and
concise letters from our esteemed
readers on topical issues. Please
send them to:
The Editor, The Independent
Publications Ltd,
P.O Box 3304,
Plot 82/84 Kanjokya St,
Kamwokya.
Kampala,Uganda.
Email: editor@independent.co.ug
New landlord-
tenant law is unfair
Refer to: “Parliament passes
Landlord-Tenant Bill” (The Inde-
pendent Online June 27). It is
an unfair law. How do you give
someone who has been default-
ing six more months without
payment? Bye bye to the real
estate sector!
Henry Ssegawa
Are African
presidents in charge?
Refer to: “Uganda’s trending
fashion: How popular senti-
ments have undermined our
journalism and blinded our
intellectuals from reality” (The
Independent June 21). If we
agree that the Presidents of Afri-
can nations are “Governors” for
the West and now China, then
those denouncing President
Yoweri Museveni are wrong
because he is not in charge. They
should understand that he is
merely carrying out the orders
of his “Presidents” of the West
and he is not responsible for
what happens. If we agree that
he is in charge, then we must
reflect on whether we are happy
with the socio-economic trans-
formation of our people.
Muwanga the Ugandan
8 July. 05 - 11 2019
Landlords deserve better protection Official on trial for corruption
Refer to: “Parliament
passes Landlord-Tenant
Bill” (The Independent
Online June 27). The
Landlords are pretty much
screwed. I’ve been helping
a friend with his properties
and the law here in Amer-
ica regarding tenants is
Knight Frank
boss right
Refer to: “Parliament
has destroyed property
market-Knight Frank” (The
Independent online June 27).
We need to be objective and
Judy Rugasira; the managing
director Knight Frank-Uganda
is right though she makes her
point in an arrogant man-
ner. When Knight Frank are
charging rent, it will now be at
the ongoing dollar rate which
is Shs3800 and will increase
over time. That is much more
expensive. Don’t you think?
Sarah Mukebezi
Knight Frank wrong on paying rent in dollars
Refer to: “Parliament has
destroyed property mar-
ket-Knight Frank” (The Inde-
pendent online June 27). Judy
Rugasira said the law is also a
blow to low-cost housing dream.
Low cost housing is principally
aimed at the low socioeconomic
classes who desperately demand
it. Yet they pay rent in the very
strong U.S. dollar that is always
appreciating against the Uganda
shilling. Allowing this would
mean the government is com-
plying and agreeing with the
rich to willful steal from the suf-
fering poor.
These rich should not for-
get that Uganda is some sort
of a democracy and however
News analysis Health Business
A look at EAC as Uganda scores in CEOs take on
DRC wants to join Hepatitis B fight the new budget
Issue No. 578 June. 28 - July. 04 2019
Ushs 5,000,Kshs 200, RwF 1,500, SDP 8
BoU’s printing
money saga
Behind Nakalema, Akullo investigation
Follow us on Twitter @
http://twitter.com/#!/ugandatalks
Follow us on Facebook @
www.facebook.com/TheIndependentMagazineUganda
www.independent.co.ug
on the side of tenants and Refer to: “Three local gov’t officials face
landlords end up losing trial for embezzling UGX 222 Million”
thousands over the course
(The Independent online June 28) Let the
of a year. Granted there are law take its course. We Ugandans are so
wicked Landlords but the much perturbed by such great messes
good ones deserve better and yet people are losing their lives in vil-
protection laws for land- lages due to poor health service delivery.
lords all across the world.
Jacquelene V Lively
Gilbert Ecima
6 months’ vacation notice for
tenants too magnanimous
Refer to: “Parliament passes three months would have been
Landlord-Tenant Bill” (The
Independent Online June 27).
better. Then on charging rent in
shillings not dollars, I think it
I really think six months that a gets better for the tenants given
landlord must give a tenant to the unstable state of the shilling
vacate premises are too magnan- as related to the dollar.
imous for a tenant as these result
into massive destruction of the Wamala Nicholas Kisaakye
landlord’s property. At least
Landlords, tenants lacked regulation
Refer to: “Parliament passes landlords and tenants have not
Landlord-Tenant Bill” (The been having legal regulations.
Independent Online June
27). This Bill is good because Mubangizi Sumaili
flawed this democracy maybe subsidies to the construction
somehow the politicians will industry.
always prioritise the interests And this lady bragging about
of this poor majority. If not the how with the presidential veto
government will have to heavily they will defeat the people’s will
tax these stealing rich to provide i.e. tenant/landlord’sBbill just
low cost housing the poor. The like they did with Sugar Bill is
government doing otherwise myopic and indicates a lack of
also risks social instability for vision and poor understanding
the sake of a few rich who in of politics and the legislative
any case stand to lose the most process. Parliament can still pass
in case total anarchy breaks out. a law even when the president
As such the rich should instead has refused to assent to it. Also,
be pushing /lobbying for policies the President is an astute politi-
that can enable them borrow at cian with an eye on 2021 re-elec-
low interest rates(less than 10%) tion and the potentially destabi-
in Uganda shillings and scrap- lising demands of these greedy
ping taxes on building materials, and myopic rich `elites’.
land transactions, rental income
or even government offering Mukasa

Uganda’s budget dilemma
By Andrew M. Mwenda
How our government’s attempts to do too many things
for all citizens spreads our meager resources too thin
P
oor countries suffer a fundamental
contradiction in both design and
aspiration. The state is designed
and thus seeks to perform functions
exactly like states in rich countries. Citizens
expect and politicians promise to provide
free and universal healthcare, primary
and in many cases secondary education,
clean water, electricity, roads, agricultural
extension services etc. These public goods
and services are far beyond the classical
functions of the state i.e. to provide law and
order, infrastructure and the administration
of justice.
However, a simple look at the financial
and human resources available to
governments in poor countries shows
that they are too poor to perform the
aforementioned welfare functions.
There is a wide gulf between design and
aspiration on the one hand and capacity
on the other. The state is overdeveloped
in functions but underdeveloped in
capacity, so its reach goes far beyond
its grasp. That is the source of all the
constant frustrations in our nations. In an
ideal world, the state would have been
more functional if it focused on classical
functions and left many welfare functions
to the private sector and/or private
charities.
Take the example of Uganda’s 2019/20
Budget, which is Shs40.5 trillion.
Shs10.6 trillion of this money will go to
debt service of which Shs6.5 trillion is
domestic rolled-over debt, Shs3.2 trillion
is statutory interest payments and Shs900
billion is debt service on external debt.
Therefore, the actual money available for
spending on public goods and services by
the government of Uganda this financial
year is about Shs30 trillion.
Uganda’s population can be estimated
to be 41 million people today, giving us
public spending per person of Shs730,000.
That is $190 in nominal dollars, $665 in
Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) dollars. I
have added the PPP value here because I
intend to compare it with other countries
and market exchange rates tell us little
about the purchasing power of different
currencies in their domestic markets.
This amounts to government spending
Shs2,000 per person per day. Yet listening
to debates on traditional and social
media, Ugandan elites argue as if there
The Last Word
is no limit to what government can
deliver on this shoestring budget. They
expect free, universal and high quality
healthcare, education, roads, clean water,
electricity, security, justice, agricultural
extension services etc. And our problem
is not just money. The bigger challenge is
the human resource to deliver these basic
public goods and services. Essentially, a
country that is poor financially will also
have poor human resource capabilities.
Many people can legitimately say that
it is me who always claims Uganda’s
economy has been growing rapidly. After
33 years, why hasn’t it produced huge
revenues to pay for better public goods
and services? The explanation is simple
but fundamental: Uganda has grown
from a very low base. In 1986, total public
revenues were Shs5.0 billion, which,
when adjusted to 2017 prices, comes to
Shs32 billion. This financial year, public
revenues are estimated to reach Shs20.5
trillion, Shs56 billion collections per day,
nearly double annual revenues in 1986.
Again, one can legitimately say that
1986 is a wrong base year to use because
the country had just come out of civil
war. So we can use 1992/93 financial year
when Uganda Revenue Authority (URA)
became operational. This is six years after
the civil war and gives us a reliable base
year. URA collected Shs281 billion which,
when adjusted to inflation, is Shs1.26
trillion in 2017 prices. Given that in 1992
Uganda’s population was 19 millon, this
is Shs66,000 per person. Today, revenue
per person is Shs500,000 i.e. an annual
rate of real growth in public revenues of
26%; an impressive rate.
In fact to appreciate how impressive this
number is, we can compare the annual
average rate of growth in Uganda’s public
revenues with that of the best private
companies in Uganda and the world.
Over the last five years this growth in the
revenues of the leading companies has
been as follows: Uganda Breweries 6%,
Nile Breweries 11%, Crown Beverages
14%, Stanbic 6%, Bidco, 10%. Over the
last five years, the annual rate of growth
in revenues of the three world’s most
valuable companies has been Microsoft
7.2%, Apple 9.2% and Amazon 8.6%.
So growth in Uganda government’s
revenues beats the best local and global
opinion
companies.
Now we can do comparisons with other
economies. The United States government
has the best records of its budget history
since it’s founding in 1889. This financial
year, federal, state and local government
spending will be $7.6 trillion for a
population of 330 million people. That is
$23,000 (Shs87 million) per person. This is
121 times what Uganda spends nominally
or 35 times using PPP. I have also looked
at the figures from Senegal, Kenya and
Tanzania from 1986 to 2015 and Uganda
beats them all.
Thus our government cannot provide
a large basket of public goods and
services to all its citizens in the quality
and quantity the US does for its citizens.
Secondly, the USA and Uganda cannot
have similar governance strategies.
To really understand the challenge in
governance poor governments face, one
has to compare Uganda with the USA
when it had similar per capita spending.
The USA federal, state and local
government spending in 1860 was $178
million which, when adjusted to inflation,
comes to $5.5 billion in 2019 prices. Given
a population of 30 million people in that
year, America was spending $185 per
person, almost the same figure as Uganda
today. Yet if you look at the budget of
that time, the USA government did not
spend a penny on healthcare, education,
pensions or welfare. The entire budget
went into the classical state functions
such as national defense, public works,
law and order functions and a very
minimal administration of justice.
It is not until 1890 when it was rapidly
transforming into an industrial giant and
when it had overtaken Great Britain as
the world’s largest economy that the USA
began spending on healthcare, education
and welfare but not on pensions. The
problem with poor countries is that they
adopted the spending structure of rich
countries at very low levels of income.
That is the biggest source of failure to
serve their citizens appropriately. They
spread their meager human and financial
resources too thin. Ugandans need to
develop more realistic expectations of
their government.
amwenda@independent.co.ug
July. 05 - 11 2019 9
cover story
Fight over
UTL
The powerful
people behind
Bemanya
By Haggai Matsiko
Uganda Telecom Ltd (UTL) looks like a typical company in shambles. In
April 2017 it run to court to block a petition seeking to wound it up partly
owing to Shs709 billion debts it had accumulated over the years.
B
ut UTL’s image of financial
woes is a facade. Pick it up and
dust it and you have yourself a
money-minting gem.
The company is currently
ranked very low in the
telecoms market; with an estimated 3% of
subscribers. It runs on near obsolete 2G
technology where the competition is on 4G.
Its offices in the centre of town are drab, with
a thick sheet of brown dust.
But UTL has a prized asset: UTL is
the only telecom in Uganda that owns
an undersea cable—it owns 9% of the
submarine cable company, West Indian
Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC).
Throw in other assets like land, buildings,
machinery, and spectrum, and you have an
asset value estimated at $84 million (Approx.
Shs300 billion).
Highly placed people in politics and
business, locally and internationally, know
this. That is why some of them want to buy
UTL and others want to collect a commission
from selling it.
Dust is rising in a fight between the
contenders and their promoters.
10 July. 05 - 11 2019
At the centre of it all are Evelyn Anite;
the minister of state for Finance in charge
of Investment and Privatisation and the
man she appointed as UTL administrator
Bemanya Twebaze; the Chief Executive
Officer of the Uganda Registration Services
Bureau (URSB) who is one of the little
known most powerful people in Uganda. As
URSB boss, no business or major financial
transaction can be done in Uganda without
Bemanya’s knowledge and signature.
So most people want to be in Bemanya’s
good books, others want to control him. But
Anite wants him out as administrator of
UTL. She accuses him of insubordination.
But Bemanya has his own ideas. He has told
Minister Anite that she has no power over
him and cannot remove him.
President Yoweri Museveni has been
sacked into the fight. He was expected to
resolve the same at a cabinet meeting on
July 1. But he didn’t chair cabinet that day
because he had a state visitor—Sierra Leone
President Julius Maada. The next day he
met Anite. But details of this meeting were
still scanty by the time we went to press.
The main question was whether Museveni
Bemanya (L) with President Museveni and Anite.
would back Anite and kick out Bemanya or
leave him in his place.
Going into the meeting Anite was saying
it was Museveni who advised her to kick
out Bemanya. This was contained in a June
28 letter to him detailing her long running
fight with Bemanya, his refusal to have UTL
audited, a breakdown in communication,
and his refusal to give the Finance Ministry
updates on the operations of UTL.
“We have lost confidence in the current
administrator, and I am convinced that he
can no longer effectively perform the role,”
reads Anite’s letter in part.
She concluded the letter by calling on the
President to intervene and offer guidance.
Anite ran to Museveni after being
rebuffed by the Deputy Attorney General,
Mwesigwa Rukutana.
Apparently on June 26, Anite had written
to the Attorney General’s Office for legal
support to remove Bemanya. She wanted
the AG to petition court to remove Bemanya
because UTL is under administration and is,
according to the law, is supervised by court.
Rukutana wrote: “The Minister of Finance
Planning and Economic Development as a

shareholder of UTL has no locus to apply to
court to remove the administrator and any
such application is bound to fail. Relatedly,
the Minister of Finance Planning and
Economic Development has no supervisory
powers over the Administrator. Even if he
had locus, there are no grounds to remove
the Administrator of UTL from office.”
Under the law, creditors, a provisional
administrator or administrator are the
ones who can petition court to eject an
administrator if he is not fulfilling their
obligations. The Finance Ministry is a
shareholder—owns 31 % of UTL, the rest
69 % is owned by a Libyan company called
Ucom. However, several government
entities are creditors to UTL because it is
indebted to them. URA demands Shs. 157
billion from UTL, NSSF Shs. 10 billion,
and UCC Shs.33 billion. Owing to this,
Anite argues that government is both
a shareholder and a creditor. But both
Bemanya and Rukutana argue that these
entities—URA, UCC, and NSSF—are
separate legal entities and cannot be treated
as government. It is on this ground that they
claim Anite or the Finance Ministry are not
creditors and therefore, have no locus, to
cause Bemanya’s dismissal.
Not convinced by this argument Anite
had first gone to parliament. She told
Parliament that although she is supposed to
supervise UTL operations as minister, she
has been left in the dark about the operations
of the company.
Both Anite and Kasaija had severally
requested to audit UTL but were blocked.
The first time, in November 2018, it is
Kasaija who requested the Auditor General.
Six months later, in April 2019 the Auditor
General replied noting such an audit would
pose legal challenges given that the UTL
administration was now a court matter. He
also noted that it was not prudent to audit
the company given that the administrator
was trying to look for investors.
Anite attempted to send in Finance’s
auditors. They too were blocked. Bemanya
wrote to officials at Finance saying he shared
the Auditor General’s view.
“The watchman (Bemanya) has stopped
the owner (government) from accessing the
company,” Anite told parliament in June.
But the Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca
cover story
Kadaga piled frustration on Anite when she
noted that Anite could not remove Bemanya
because the High Court was the supervisor
of the UTL administrator.
So Rukutana warned that Anite’s
request could tantamount to contempt of
parliament.
He added that interfering with the
administrator could undermine the process
of sourcing a new investor and lastly, that as
advised by the Auditor General on April 24,
it would not be prudent to audit UTL at a
time the administrator is trying to search for
an investor.
A day later, the Attorney General William
Byaruhanga also weighed in on the side of
Bemanya.
Until 2012 when he was appointed
Registrar General, Uganda Registration
Services Bureau (URSB), few Ugandans
knew Bemanya. But he did not just chance
on that job.
Bemanya’s powerful backers
The fight over control of UTL reveals that
Bemanya is not a lone wolf. He has very
powerful backers.
July. 05 - 11 2019 11
cover story
In what Anite’s camp says is a show of
his influence and power, Bemanya last year
managed to secure a renewal of his contract
as Administrator of UTL in spite of rejection
by Anite and her boss, Finance minister
Kasaija.
Apparently, Bemanya first approached
Kasaija, who raised concerns that he was
not providing UTL periodical performance
reports as required by law, and refused to
extend his contract.
While Kasaija was away, insiders say,
Bemanya got the Minister of State for
Finance (General Duties), to give him a one-
year contract extension.
However, Bemanya argues that it is not
the minister that extends his contract. There
are two ways to extend the administrator’s
contract. One is through approval by a
creditor’s meeting. The other is by getting a
green light from the shareholders. However,
both are still part of a court process.
Once the administrator gets a green light
from the creditors or shareholders, he or she
has to submit this documentation to court
and court bases on this to offer the extension.
While Anite argues that it is the Finance
Ministry officials who has been extending
Bemanya’s contract, Bemanya disagrees. He
insists it is court that has been extending his
term.
Away from the legalese, in another classic
tale of Bemanya’s power, sometime this
year, the Minister of Finance Matia Kasaija
and two other ministers summoned him or a
meeting at the Finance ministry.
But when Bemanya arrived, he apparently
went to the office of Secretary to the
Treasury Keith Muhakanizi. The ministers
sat waiting for Bemanya in vain. Almost
an hour later when Bemanya emerged,
Muhakanizi was holding his hand.
“The matter has been resolved,”
Muhakanizi told the ministers who were left
in shock. Bemanya left Finance just like that,
a source told The Independent.
So when the latest tussle started, Anite
was forewarned about Bemanya’s powerful
connections in her own backyard. But she
possibly underestimated his tentacles in
Uganda’s legal circles.
While Anite claims she is looking to eject
the administrator on the advice of President
Museveni, Bemanya is unshaken. And he
has the law on his side; in the form of the
Attorney General Byaruhanga and the
Deputy AG Rukutana.
The very day Anite went to parliament,
Byaruhanga had told her together with
officials at Finance in a meeting at their
ministry that according to the law Bemanya
was independent and couldn’t just be kicked
out anyhow. Anite resorted to politics—she
hoped to rally parliament and turn the tide
against Bemanya. It didn’t work.
In the past, Rukutana has been at the
centre of many mega toxic government
deals; including the deals surrounding
12 July. 05 - 11 2019
preparations for the preparations for the
Commonwealth Heads of Government
Meeting (CHOGM) in 2007.
In this particular case, he was together
with other ministers--John Nasasira, and
Sam Kutesa—accused and charged with
causing loss of Shs14 billion before they
were all acquitted in November 2012.
Early last year, Rukutana made headlines
when he appeared dismissive of Justice
Catherine Bamugemeire and her Land
probe.
Bamugemeire’s probe had invited
Rukutana to explain circumstances under
which Shs24.6 billion was about to leave the
treasury following his legal opinion.
The money was for land comprising of
12 plots, which is being claimed by one
Muhammad Kasasa, 80, and was purchased
by government at a cost of Shs2.4 billion
in 2002. The figure had since jumped
to Shs24.6 billion. The compensation
award was part of the wider dispute the
Commission was investigating.
“Are you going to be respectful to this
Commission?” Justice Bamugemereire
asked Rukutana during the hearing.
“My position is very clear. As long as I
am respected, I will be respectful. If I am
not respected, I will not respect anybody,”
Rukutana shot back forcing Bamugemereire
to end the session.
Bamugemereire said she would refer the
matter to His Excellency the President of
Uganda probably the appointing authority
would find a body that the learned attorney
general respects enough.
“I don’t give a damn. Let her tell the
president, she can even tell God,” Rukutana
told journalists when they asked him for a
comment as he left the probe venue.
Rukutana is no ordinary folk. He joined
parliament as MP Rushenyi County in 2001
and has since held several cabinet positions.
In the Attorney General’s office, he is a major
force to reckon with.
In a trade where connections matter more
than anything else, Rukutana who taught
at the Law Development Centre from 1984
until 1992, taught many senior lawyers
today, some judges and studied with several
others. In government, his colleagues are
senior cabinet ministers like Justice Minister
Kahinda Otafiire and Foreign Affairs
Minister Sam Kutesa.
In terms of contributions to Museveni’s William Byaruhanga Mwesigwa Ruku
stay in power, while serving in his current
role, Rukutana was part of the legal team she said she was not seeking advice but had
that argued before the Supreme Court and “instructed” the Attorney General’s office.
won the 2016 Presidential Elections petition The powerful lawyers’ lobby group--
in which former Prime Minister Amama Uganda Law Society (ULS) jumped on
Mbabazi sought to challenge President that single word to defend the Attorney
Museveni’s victory. It was not a one off. General’s office.
Rukutana is always directly defending “Under our laws, no minister has the
Museveni’s government in court. mandate or power to order the Attorney
If all this was not enough armor for General to undertake any action,” the ULS
Rukutana and his protege Bemanya, Anite said.
appeared to boost it when in a June 28 letter Meanwhile, Anite ’s only claim to fame in

utana Gabriel Ajedra Aridru
the ruling party is that she led a campaign
for Museveni’s single candidature in 2015
eliminating the possibility of an internal
part contest against Museveni, and in 2017
championed another campaign to eliminate
the presidential age-limit, clearing the
last huddle for president Museveni’s life
presidency.
In the latest fight, therefore, Anite, a
newbie in government appears to be taking
on deeply entrenched forces. But she is not
known to run away from a good fight.
She is emboldened by a belief that she is
fighting elements within government who
are looking to dissolve UTL, a strategic
company, and benefit from a mega asset-
stripping bonanza.
Anite beats Bemanya
Initially Anite and Bemanya were not
enemies. They would start bickering much
later after he became administrator in 2017.
At the time, a Libyan company called
Ucom which had pumped some money
into UTL after former Libyan leader, Col.
Muammar Gaddafi assassination posted
officials to run it who management it
badly.
UCOM, a subsidiary of Libya’s Lap
Green Network controlled up to 69%
shares. It was succeeded by Libyan Post
Telecommunications & Information
Technology Company (LPTIC) and the
government 31%.
Anite was in talks with LPTIC to pump
$250 million into UTL in what was referred
to as a Turn Around Strategy.
However, due to delays by government
and other frustrations, LIPTIC on
Feb.24 2017 informed Anite that they
had lost confidence in government’s
ability to conclude an agreement with
them. They said they would not release
any more funds to UTL and asked all
their representatives to resign from the
company.
However, a parliamentary investigation
found that the company’s senior
management was hemorrhaging its
finances by paying themselves hefty
billions every year while the company
struggled to meet its other critical
obligations.
Following these revelations, four senior
management officials were kicked out.
The Libyan investors also left leaving
government as the sole shareholder.
On January 09 2018, President Museveni
wrote to Prime Minister Rugunda that
he had learnt of a scheme to devalue the
assets of UTL by corrupt officials that had
been sucking that company and paying
themselves huge salaries.
“The situation of the company is not that
bad. Therefore, I direct that there should
be no more sales of assets of the company.
Instead, I fully accept Hon. Anite’s
proposal.”
He directed that all money UTL owed
to government departments and agencies
be converted into shares held by Uganda
Development Corporation (UDC) on behalf
of government.
On March 1 Anite informed LIPTIC
that government would take control of the
company
But with debts said to be over Shs 709
billion at the time against assets estimated
at Shs150 billion, UTL was on the verge of
cover story
collapse, an April 3 PWC report concluded.
There were three options. One was
to restructure the debt amongst the
shareholders but this had just failed. The
other was to appointment an administrator,
whose job would be to recover it.
And the other was to liquidate the
company voluntarily or wait for it to be
liquidated forcefully by court following a
petition by a concerned party.
As government was still weighing its
options, a company called Cameo Techedge
Services, which had been offering services
to UTL and hadn’t been paid petitioned
court seeking to wound up UTL. Anite
rushed to court and blocked this petition.
She requested court to allow government
call a special board meeting to resolve
UTL issues. Justice Mugambe granted her
request on April 18. The same day, a UTL
board appointed Bemanya as a provisional
administrator, he accepted the appointment
the following day and on May 22 the parties
entered an Administration Deed making
Bemanya a permanent Administrator.
Bemanya, as the administrator, soon
solicited bids from potential strategic
investors in an effort to revamp UTL.
Several companies including Mauritius’s
Mauritius Telecom, Nigeria’s Taleology,
Neubacher Montage LLP, Telecel Global,
and Bayliss Consortium put in their bids.
Months later at a cabinet meeting, Anite
stunned everyone when she accused
Bemanya of attempting to bribe her on
behalf of one of the competitors--Taleology.
Those close to Bemanya say Anite had been
pushing him to award the deal to Mauritius
Telecom but he had refused.
Anite was vouching for state-owned
Mauritius Telecom. Anite warned that
Taleology had neither cash nor technical
expertise. A May 25 2018 due diligence
report undertaken by the Financial
Intelligence Authority (FIA) noted that
Taleology would not be an ideal partner in
the deal. FIA noted that Mauritius Telecom
was a viable partner.
A casual check online reveals that
Taleology has no internet presence beyond
the headlines it made while it was bidding
for the project and the others for failing to
raise the cash it had pledged. Taleology had
strategically offered $70m emerging the best
bidder and was offered the deal at an Oct.1
cabinet meeting.
With 1.3 million subscribers leading
Mauritius’s market, Anite’s Mauritius
Telecom’s had offered only $45m but
emerged the second.
However, a month later Anite was
proved right. Taleology couldn’t even
raised 10 percent of the cash as it had
pledged. Three months later, it had not
raised the pledged $ 70 million and was
kicked out taking government to square
one—looking for new investors.
July. 05 - 11 2019 13
news analysis

Tourists aboard a boat up the Murchison Falls on the Nile.  FILE/PHOTO

Fury over
By Ronald Musoke

M
urchison Falls, one of
River Nile’s remaining

spectacular waterfalls tops
the “bucket list” of iconic
sceneries in Uganda that hundreds of
thousands of tourists covet when they
visit the country.
At Murchison Falls, the Nile
explodes through a narrow gorge and
pours billions of cubic metres of water
downstream turning the white pristine
water into an expansive placid river
course as it flows on its journey to
Sudan and farther afield to Egypt.
Unlike the furious and fast moving
sections upstream the Nile, for several
kilometres after the Murchison Falls,
boatfuls of tourists can cruise up the
Delta to see the waterfalls up close
but also view hundreds of hippos,
crocodiles and thousands of birds on
the river’s banks.
Simply put, to local tourism
operators, Murchison Falls is the
Murchison Falls
Govt proposal to build a sixth power
dam on the Nile kicks up storm
sacred cow that cannot be touched.
So, it was not surprising that a notice
published on June 07 by the Electricity
Regulatory Authority (ERA) about an
April 25 application for a feasibility
study for a 360MW hydro power
plant riled the tourism operators and
environmentalists. The prospective
builder of the dam is South African
firm, Bonang Power and Energy (Pty)
Limited.
Days after the social media storm
that also attracted an online petition
signed by thousands of Ugandans,
ERA said in a statement issued on June
12 that “it is yet to issue any licence
(to Bonang Power and Energy Ltd and
encourages all stakeholders to submit
their comments and/or objections in
writing to the Secretary to ERA within
30 days.”
“Only formal submissions are
considered by the Electricity
Regulatory Authority while

14 July. 05 - 11 2019

undertaking a decision on applications
for licences.”
Diana Nambi the ERA publicist
added that ERA’s notice only served
to inform Ugandans about Bonang’s
intention to develop a hydro power
project at Murchison Falls.
She said, under the Electricity
Act, 1999; ERA is mandated to
receive proposals from investors like
Bonang Energy and Power. However,
ERA can only issue a licence to a
prospective firm after receiving
and reviewing views from agencies
such as the National Environment
Management Authority (NEMA), the
Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA),
the Directorate of Water Resources
Management, in addition to views
from the general public.
“In line with Section 31 of the Act,
ERA may or may not, after the receipt
of the comments under Section 30 issue
a permit to the intended applicant.”
Angry reactions
But Lilly Ajarova, the executive
director of the Uganda Tourism Board
(UTB) called the move “madness”
while Amos Wekesa, one of Uganda’s
top tour operators called the proposal
“nonsense.”
“First was Bujagali, then Karuma.
You cannot destroy everything in one
generation,” Wekesa said in reference
to several water falls on River Nile
that have been given to hydro
electricity power developers over the
last 20 years in an attempt to cure the
country’s electricity deficit.
Even Evelyn Anite, the State
Minister of Privatization and
Investment said June 15 that the
issue of Murchison Falls Dam is
“very wrong.” Speaker of Parliament
Rebecca Kadaga too added her voice
on June 19 demanding an assurance
from the government that plans of
constructing the dam be halted.
The Murchison Falls or Kabalega
Falls are found in the northwest of
the country on the course of the River
Nile and are within Uganda’s largest
conservation area—the 3,893 sq km
Murchison Falls National Park.
Named after Sir Roderick
Murchison, the then president of the
Royal Geographical Society (1851-
1853), the park is not only famous for
these stunning waterfalls but is also
renowned for nurturing a diversity of
rare wildlife including lions, leopards,
elephants, giraffes, hartebeests, the
Uganda Kobs, chimpanzees, and
several bird species.
The tourism sector remains one of
Uganda’s leading foreign exchange
earners and tourism promoters
say Murchison Falls in addition
to Murchison Falls National Park
(MFNP) are some of the major tourist
attractions in the country contributing
to the high earnings.
“One of the scenic beauties that
attract tourists to Uganda is the
Murchison Falls,” Evarest Kayondo,
the chairman of the Association of
Uganda Tour Operators (AUTO) told
journalists in a hastily arranged press
conference following the ERA notice.
But the government’s unwavering
need to develop all its known energy
resources continues apace.
According to Uganda’s development
blue print, Vision 2040, besides looking
at other energy sources like geothermal
with the potential to produce
1,500MW, nuclear (2,400MW) and solar
(5,000MW), biomass (1,700MW) and
thermal (4,300MW), the government
intends to exploit the country’s hydro-
power potential which is estimated
at 4,500MW along several rivers
including the Nile.
In the June 13 budget reading for the
2019/20 financial year, Matia Kasaija
said total installed generation capacity
news analysis
now stands at 1,200MW following the
completion of several hydropower
generation projects including Isimba
Hydropower dam.
Going forward, Kasaija said the
government will in partnership with
the private sector develop in the
medium to long term hydro power
stations at Ayago (840MW), Oriang
(392MW), Kiba (330MW) and the
Uhuru (600MW) hydro power projects.
“With the rate at which we are
industrializing including the increase
in demand for power by the population
for various uses, we plan to have more
power production to avoid falling into
a shortage.”
But not everyone is convinced.
Ugandans rose up in arms; especially
on several social media platforms
following ERA’s publication of
the feasibility study notice in the
government’s New Vision newspaper
saying Murchison Falls cannot be left
to disappear like other spectacular
waterfalls did.
In the 1950s, the Rippon Falls were
submerged and disappeared forever
after construction of the Owen Falls
Dam near the Source of the Nile was
favoured by the British government.
Just 10km from the Source of the
Nile in Jinja, the Bujagali Falls were
suddenly flooded when the 250MW
Bujagali hydro electricity power station
was built in the late 1990s, killing off
a water rafting industry that tourist
operators say used to attract water
sports enthusiasts like kayakers and
rafters.
Farther upstream, still in Jinja
district, another dam, the 183MW
power Isimba dam was built and
launched early this year. Another
hydro electricity power station, the
600MW dam at Karuma, still on the
Nile, is in its final stages and should be
switched on later on this year.
Construction of each of these
projects has been met with public
outcry citing loss of tourism revenue
and cultural sentiment but the
government has always pressed on
arguing that the country needs to have
enough electricity in order to attract
industrialists.
Niagara and Victoria Falls
Some Ugandans have even wondered
why Uganda’s waterfalls cannot
generate electricity but also serve their
tourism function, citing the Niagara
Falls in Canada/USA and the Victoria
Falls in Zimbabwe/Zambia— waterfalls
which have maintained their natural
allure but also generate electricity for
these four countries.
It is even more intriguing that the
July. 05 - 11 2019 15
news analysis
developers of hydro electricity projects
over the Niagara and Victoria Falls did
so at the beginning of the 20 th century
when technology was not as advanced
as it is today.
Evarist Asiimwe, a local engineer
told The Independent on June 21 that it
is impossible to have the dam and the
water falls in the same place.
But Alex Kwatampora Binego, a geo-
technical engineer who has worked on
feasibility studies of the Bujagali and
Isimba hydro electricity power projects
told The Independent that the submersion
of the Rippon Falls after the construction
of the Owen Falls Dam was because
the level of engineering was not quite
advanced as today.
He told The Independent that when
engineers are looking at building hydro
electricity dams; they always look for the
highest point from where a good volume
of water can be harnessed to run the
turbines.
Kwatampora has in the past been
involved with surveying and assessing
the best sites for the Bujagali and
Isimba hydro power stations on the
Nile.
He told The Independent that
when tourism enthusiasts raised
similar concerns about Isimba
Dam submerging both Kalagala
and Itanda Falls in Jinja, which are
farther upstream of the project, he
worked alongside German engineers
to find a suitable site where enough
power would be generated without
tampering with the integrity of the
waterfalls upstream of the project.
He told The Independent that the
spot where Isimba dam stands today
is about 300 metres away from what the
government technocrats had initially
proposed as the best site for the dam.
Kwatampora says that with a very
good design, the dam and the falls can
co-exist but for Murchison Falls, it can
never retain its original scenic beauty
since its geology has to be chiseled away.
Whatever the case, Dickens
Kamugisha, the head of the Africa
Institute for Energy Governance, a
Kampala-based non-profit told The
Independent that any proposal therefore
to allow a feasibility study for the
development of a dam at Murchison
Falls must be rejected.”
On June 17, AFIEGO wrote to the
head of ERA, Eng. Ziria Tibalwa Waako,
saying ERA should not approve the
application to undertake studies for the
development of a hydropower dam at
the Murchison falls citing the waterfalls’
importance in providing employment,
foreign exchange and sheer national
pride.
“It is “unthinkable” that at a time
16 July. 05 - 11 2019
when tourism remains one of the
biggest sources of the government
revenue and at a time when Murchison
Falls and the entire Murchison landscape
is being threatened by oil activities,
ERA allowed companies to commence
discussions to conduct feasibility studies
that may inevitably lead to destruction
of the Murchison Falls,” AFIEGO wrote.
“The above services cannot be
replaced by electricity moreover which
Ugandans cannot afford to consume.”
AFIEGO explained in its response
that ERA has failed to sell excess power
from Isimba and other dams and as
a result Ugandans including both
power consumers and non-consumers,
are being forced by ERA and the
government to pay for redundant excess
power tariffs and through repayment of
the national debt.
AFIEGO said only 20.5% of Ugandans
have access to electricity yet the
Amos Wekesa Lilly Ajarova
electricity sector contributes to over 30%
of the national debt.
AFIEGO tasked ERA to explain the
relevance of electricity in the country
that ordinary citizens and manufacturers
cannot afford to use.
“Manufacturers continue to complain
about power prices being too high
constraining industrialization efforts
and therefore the sector’s ability to offer
sufficient and decent employment.”
Murchison Falls National Park also
happens to be the host of over half
of Uganda’s oil resources with over
70% of the 400 oil wells under Total
E&P (U) Ltd’s Tilenga project. The
government went ahead and approved
the project despite tourism operators
and conservationists arguing that the
oil project will fundamentally affect
tourism.
“Before the above challenges are
addressed, ERA is commencing the
process of allowing the destruction of
Murchison Falls through allowing a
dam,” Dickens Kamugisha, the head
of AFIEGO said, “Once a feasibility
study is conducted, destruction of the
waterfalls will commence.”
Kamugisha says electricity generated
in Uganda is too expensive. He says
for its 40 million people, industries and
commercial consumers, the country
consume a mere 500MW during peak
hours and far less during off peak
hours.
He adds that the hope that Uganda
will export its surplus power to
neighbouring countries under the East
African Power Pool arrangement may
also not succeed because neighbouring
countries might find it cheaper to
buy power from Ethiopia which is
building the 6,000MW Grand Ethiopian
Renaissance Dam.
“What is the rationale of investing
in more dams at the expense of
biodiversity and tourism yet Uganda
should be aiming at tapping into
other energy sources to diversify the
country’s energy mix?”
Kamugisha says Uganda is richly
endowed with alternative energy
resources such as solar and wind
but these resources remain largely
unexploited mainly because Uganda
is concentrating on hydropower.
He says it is only Ugandans who
have the power under Article 1 of
the Constitution that can save the
Murchison Falls.
“Only the citizens can stop the
single biggest challenge facing
our country today, the dominance
of politics over governance
institutions,”he says, “Institutions
such as the National Environment
Management Authority (NEMA),
UWA, National Forestry Authority
(NFA), ERA and others that are
entrusted with the responsibility
of conservation and ensuring that
developments benefit citizens without
destroying the environment have been
pushed on the sidelines by selfish and
corrupt politicians.”
“The institutions are being used by
politicians to destroy the environment;
this is why the country is in an
environmental mess characterised
by loss of forests, wildlife reserves,
wetlands, river banks, lake shores and
others.”
Kamugisha wants Ugandans to
campaign against the destruction
of Murchison Falls and all critical
biodiversity areas of Uganda.
“We encourage companies like
Bonang Power and Energy to desist
from being part of destruction. Instead,
they should invest in other clean energy
sources such as off grid solar.”

Fake pictures online
Identifying them online is harder than you might think
By Mona Kasra
I
t can be hard to tell whether
a picture is real. My col-
laborators and I recently
studied how people eval-
uate the credibility of images
that accompany online stories
and what elements figure into
that evaluation. We found that
you’re far less likely to fall for
fake images if you’re more
experienced with the internet,
digital photography and online
media platforms – if you have
what scholars call “digital me-
dia literacy.”
Who is duped by fakes?
We wanted to find out how
much each of several factors
contributed to the accuracy of
people’s judgment about online
images. We hypothesized
that the trustworthiness of the
original source might be an
element, as might the credibility
of any secondary source, such as
people who shared or reposted
it. We also anticipated that the
viewer’s existing attitude about
the depicted issue might influ-
ence them: If they disagreed
with something about what the
image showed, they might be
more likely to deem it a fake
and, conversely, more likely to
believe it if they agreed with
what they saw.
In addition, we wanted to see
how much it mattered whether
a person was familiar with the
tools and techniques that allow
people to manipulate images
and generate fake ones. Those
methods have advanced much
more quickly in recent years
than technologies that can detect
digital manipulation.
Until the detectives catch up,
the risks and dangers remain
high of ill-intentioned people
using fake images to influence
public opinion or cause emo-
tional distress. Just last month,
during the post-election unrest
in Indonesia, a man deliberately
spread a fake image on social
media to inflame anti-Chinese
sentiment among the public.
Our research was intended
to gain insight on how peo-
ple make decisions about the
authenticity of these images
online.
Testing fake images
For our study, we created six
fake photos on a diverse set of
topics, including domestic and
international politics, scientific
discovery, natural disaster and
social issues. Then we created
28 mock-up compositions of
how each of those photos might
appear online, such as shared on
Facebook or published on The
New York Times website.
Each mock-up presented a
fake image accompanied by a
short textual description about
its content and a few contextual
cues and features such as the
particular place it purportedly
appeared, information on what
its source was and whether any-
one had reshared it – as well as
how many likes or other interac-
tions had happened.
All of the images and accom-
panying text and information
were fabrications.
We used only fake images to
avoid the possibility that any
participants might have come
across the original image before
joining our study. Our research
did not examine a related prob-
lem known as misattribution,
where a real image is presented
in an unrelated context or with
false information.
We recruited 3,476 partici-
pants from Amazon Mechanical
Turk, all of whom were at least
18 and lived in the U.S.
Each research participant first
answered a randomly ordered
set of questions regarding their
internet skills, digital imaging
experience and attitude toward
various sociopolitical issues.
They were then presented with a
randomly selected image mock-
up on their desktop and instruct-
ed to look at the image carefully
and rate its credibility.
Context didn’t help
We found that participants’
judgments of how credible the
images were didn’t vary with
the different contexts we put
them in. When we put the pic-
ture showing a collapsed bridge
in a Facebook post that only
four people had shared, people
judged it just as likely to be fake
July. 05 - 11 2019
news analysis
as when it appeared that image
was part of an article on The
New York Times website.
Instead, the main factors that
determined whether a person
could correctly perceive each
image as a fake were their level
of experience with the internet
and digital photography. People
who had a lot of familiarity with
social media and digital imag-
ing tools were more skeptical
about the authenticity of the
images and less likely to accept
them at face value.
We also found out that
people’s existing beliefs and
opinions greatly influenced
how they judged the credibility
of images. For example, when
a person disagreed with the
premise of the photo presented
to them, they were more likely
to believe it was a fake. This
finding is consistent with stud-
ies showing what is called “con-
firmation bias,” or the tendency
for people to believe a piece of
new information is real or true
if it matches up with what they
already think.
Confirmation bias could help
explain why false information
spreads so readily online – when
people encounter something
that affirms their views, they
more readily share that informa-
tion among their communities
online.
Other research has shown that
manipulated images can distort
viewers’ memory and even
influence their decision-making.
So the harm that can be done
by fake images is real and sig-
nificant. Our findings suggest
that to reduce the potential
harm of fake images, the most
effective strategy is to offer more
people experiences with online
media and digital image editing
– including by investing in edu-
cation. Then they’ll know more
about how to evaluate online
images and be less likely to fall
for a fake.
Mona Kasra is Assistant
Professor of Digital Media
Design, University of Virginia
Source: theconversation
17
news analysis
Patients waiting to be tended to at a hospital
By Patricia Akankwatsa
F
alling ill and having to visit a
healthcare facility is a frightening
experience for most people. Feeling
anxious, uncertain and maybe even
helpless is common even among people liv-
ing in countries with highly developed care.
In Uganda, a poor country, a sick person
endures additional pain of not knowing
whether they will get treatment, of good
quality, and at a cost they can afford. What a
report on health service provision in Uganda
by the Institute for Health Metrics and Eval-
uation (IHME) in Washington calls `ABCE’:
Access, Bottlenecks, Cost, and Equity.
This is mainly because, according to the
report, accessing healthcare in Uganda can
be quite expensive. A visit to a health centre
averagely costs about Shs12,000 (Approx.
US$3) and Shs110,000 (approx.US$30) in a
private clinic. The cost of delivery, which is
among the costlier procedures, can swing
between Shs90,000 (Approx. US$23) at
health centre and Shs650,000 (Approx.
US$207) at referral hospital. That is in a
country where over 40% of the population
lives on less than a dollar (Approx. Shs3800)
daily. Most of this money is paid by individ-
uals in cash.
That is why a decision in late June by the
government to approve the National Health
Insurance Scheme (NHIS) Bill is attracting a
lot of interest.
Universal health insurance has been on
the cards since 1999 when the government
first presented a National Health Policy.
At the time the government spoke of intro-
18 July. 05 - 11 2019
National health
insurance scheme
Is it targeting the wrong people?
ducing a social health insurance scheme to
address challenges in ensuring equitable
health financing in a sustainable manner.
The main target was the poor and vulnerable
who were not able to access private medical
care. In 2006 the Ministry of Health (MoH)
was asked to design the social health insur-
ance scheme. The plan has since then been
on and off. But could 2019 be the year when
it is finally implemented?
Details of the plan
According to the plan, the Bill is set to be
tabled before parliament for discussion in
two to three months’ time. It is all part of a
global push by the World Health Organiza-
tion (WHO) for universal health coverage.
According to WHO, all people should obtain
the health services they need without suffer-
ing the financial hardship of incurring out
of pocket expenses to pay for said services.
Already, however, the proposed insurance
scheme is attracting a lot of criticism mainly
on its affordability.
Just like in 2006 when it was first mooted,
scheme has faced stiff criticism from major
stakeholders who describe it as another bur-
den on people in formal employment. They
say is should target the poorest and most
vulnerable instead.
People like 32-year old Hadija Nabukeera;
a housewife and mother of seven, whose
husband is a taxi driver.
Nabukeera speaks of the day her young-
est daughter, Dorothy, fell ill. She says,
together with her husband, they decided to
treat Dorothy at home – with quinine tablets
because they assumed she had malaria and
knew quinine was the standard treatment.
Also they dreaded the cost of going to the
clinic.
But then Dorothy’s condition worsened
and they had to go to a nearby small area
clinic. When tests showed Dorothy had
typhoid fever, she was admitted and put on
an intravenous drip for two days. But when
she did not get better, the doctors referred
them to a private hospital in the city.
Nabukeera knew that private hospitals are
expensive and was worried that they would
not be able to afford it, she wanted to try to
give her child the best care possible.

When they got to the private hospital, the
doctors asked the family to pay Shs15, 000
for a blood test to confirm the typhoid fever
diagnosis. She was then told that admission
to the hospital would be Shs110, 000. This
was out of reach for them. So off they went
again - to a government hospital where Dor-
othy was admitted at a lower cost.
She had gotten so weak at this point that
the doctors immediately ordered blood
transfusions, something that cost even more
money to buy blood.
Dorothy recovered and they were able
to go back home a few days later. But the
process had taken three weeks at four differ-
ent health care facilities and cost the family
Shs300,000. That was equal to two months’
income for her husband.
This sum doesn’t take into account the
family’s lost income over that period since
the family paid for the treatment using the
family’s savings and a microfinance loan
her husband had just received. So the family
business was disrupted and they became
economically insecure. Stories like this are
common but it is unclear how the proposed
government scheme will fix them. That is
why contributing to it is seen as another
burden.
Contribution
Similar to other Insurance schemes, it
involves saving and depositing money with
an insurance company such that when one is
sick, they can receive health services without
picking money from their pockets. It will
be implemented in an integrated approach
through social and private community based
health insurance schemes.
According to the Bill, civil servants and
formally employed Ugandans will be
required to annually contribute 4% of their
annual salary. Employers will top up with
1% to make 5%. The contribution will be
split into monthly contributions towards
the scheme. According to the plan, each
individual above the age of 18 years shall be
required to remit a certain amount of money
to the National Health insurance scheme and
acquire an insurance card. People in infor-
mal employed aka farmers, business people,
and peasants will be required to contribute.
No specific amount has been set says
Sarah Byakika, the Commissioner Planning,
Financing and Policy at the Health Ministry .
“It shall depend on one’s earnings,” she
says. But the common figure being talked
about is Shs100,000 annually and Byakika’s
uncertainty shows that details of the propos-
al are still being formed. It is also obvious
that people in formal employment offer the
easiest catchment cohort.
The government also hopes that through
this scheme, it will be able to mobilise funds
to subsidise the cost of provision of health-
care services to promote social protection.
The plan is to start with small insurance
packages covering malaria and hypertension
among others, according to Byakika.
“The scheme is very important because
a healthy life is not always guaranteed and
people need to be prepared for when they
fall sick such that they don’t hustle to find
money for health care,” she says.
The cost of the proposed insurance is far
less than what individuals on private health
insurance schemes currently pay. Accord-
ing to information in the health insurance
sector, every individual remits averagely
Shs600,000 annually.
However, most people see the govern-
ment scheme as quite expensive - because
they are low income earners.
Byakika explains that vulnerable people
and indigents shall be exempted from the
insurance contribution but still benefit.
Among the vulnerable people are poor
orphans, people with disability, street chil-
dren, and individuals above 18 years of
age but still studying and the unemployed
among others.
People in the
formal sector are
to contribute 4%
of their monthly
salary whereas
those in the
informal sector are
to contribute Shs
100,000 annually
Beneficiaries
Byakika says for every contributor, a
spouse and children below 18 years will
access the defined benefit packages irrespec-
tive of the amount of contribution. A wife
and husband working in the formal sector
will have to contribute to the scheme indi-
vidually.
She adds that vulnerable people and indi-
gents will benefit on the contributors they
are staying with.
However, she says individuals without
the national insurance card will not access
health services since they are going to phase
out free medication in all their hospitals once
the Bill becomes law.
In other words, Byakika says, individuals
currently subscribing to private insurance
companies will have to drop that scheme
and enroll on the government scheme.
“Once the law has been enacted, all Ugan-
dans will be required to contribute to the
government scheme since private insurers
news analysis
failed to take off. They are only covering
individuals in the formal sector,” she says.
Ibrahim Kaddunabbi Lubega, the Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) Insurance Regula-
tory Authority, does not like that. He says
people already on a private insurance should
not be compelled to join the national insur-
ance scheme.
“The idea is good only that it lacks pro-
fessional advice. This scheme should not be
taken as a tax, an additional obligation that
someone is incurring for the services that he
is not even going to consume,” he says.
Most people are not excited about the
insurance scheme because they do not
expect services in government hospitals
to improve. This is partly because, for the
scheme to succeed, the government needs
to pump more money into the sector to
improve infrastructure, human and finan-
cial resources. Otherwise the country will
remain with one district hospital serving
500,000 and one regional referral hospital
serving two million people. The health facil-
ities will have few on no medical personnel
and hospital drug stores will remain empty.
Most people will continue going to private
facilities.
The government has been doing its best.
In FY 2012/13 the health sector received
Shs852 billion and Shs940 billion in 2013/14).
That was about 7.2% of the national budget
of Shs13.1 trillion. In 2014/2015, the health
budget was 9% of the total national budget
and in 2015/2016 it was 8.2%. All the alloca-
tions have been far less than the agreed 15%
of the national budget pledged by the gov-
ernment as a State Party to the Abuja Decla-
ration. In total, according to statistics from
Ministry of Health, the government only
contributes 15 % of the cost of health services
in the country. Up to 42% is covered by
donors. Individuals meanwhile cover 41% of
expenditure on health services. This leaves
only 2% of medical expenditure covered by
health insurance.
Despite these grim statistics, any national
health insurance scheme will lead to a surge
in hospital visits by patients.
That is why critics of the proposed gov-
ernment scheme say, by going after people
in formal employment, it is going after the
wrong target. This crowd already either
has private insurance or it can pay out of
pocket for services. The government scheme
should, therefore, target the poorest people
and the most vulnerable.
It should also be piloted and rolled out
gradually as has happened in Tanzania,
Ghana, Rwanda, Nigeria, and Senegal. Nige-
ria started an insurance program in 2005 and
now covers about 3 million people, Tanzania
5% and Rwanda, where the social scheme is
co-managed by facilities–community part-
nerships with promotion from local govern-
ments, covers more than 70% of its popula-
tion. Uganda could learn from them.
July. 05 - 11 2019 19
news analysis
EU killing African immigrants
Africans quiet as the EU builds an invisible but vicious wall of
torture, slavery and blood in the deserts of North Africa
By Hussein Lumumba Amin
M
any African refugees,
including women and
toddlers, drowned recently
after their boat capsized
in the vast Mediterranean Sea. They
were attempting to migrate to Europe.
At the same time, Italy became the
first European Union (EU) country to
pass fascist legislation where anyone
who helps such African migrants and
refugees from certain death at sea will
face court, jail, and a huge fine.
I know that at this moment that
Africans and their leaders are blissfully
more concerned about the Africa Cup of
Nations (AfCON) football than the lives
of our brothers and sisters but I would
like to call on the EU and USA to put an
end to their vicious and heartless hate
policies against immigrants.
Compared to the physical wall U.S.
President Donald Trump is building on
the US-Mexico border, the EU has built
an invisible but far more vicious wall of
torture, slavery and blood in the deserts of
North Africa and in the Mediterranean Sea.
20 July. 05 - 11 2019
I call on these nations to lead in
showing respect for human dignity
rather than love for cruelty and barbaric
mistreatment of migrants and refugees.
You cannot preach respect for humanity
and applaud Uganda’s open door policy
for refugees when you are busy seeing
that migrants and refugees fleeing
persecution and biting poverty are
killed.
The EU is reportedly funding slave
camps in Libya and all over North
Africa where migrants and refugees
are bundled, mistreated, denied
safe sanctuary, tortured and/or even
murdered on their behalf simply because
of growing western xenophobia against
immigrants.
It also turns out that today’s African
leaders; including the entire African
Union itself, all are colluding to
persecute African political and economic
refugees fleeing to Europe through
North Africa. And these African leaders
are doing so on behalf of the EU. That is
how meticulous Europe is in organising
and concealing the killings and vicious
human rights abuse that they instigate
against migrants. But why?
Well, extreme selfishness is one reason.
They are willing to have Africans killed
and/or tortured so that African refugees
and economic migrants do not travel to
Europe.
Yet for centuries, Europeans have
travelled the world, lived anywhere
they wished, worked there, exploited
the countries and even ruled the foreign
indigenous nations while plundering
their human and mineral resources in
the name of conquest and empire.
Now as we have been increasingly
seeing for the last half century, they
cannot stand foreigners (especially
people from Africa) coming to live
and work in Europe. With the revival
of purported European nationalism in
recent years (since the so-called 2015
migrant crisis that was largely created
by Europeans and Americans bombing
Middle Eastern nations to rubble and
thereby forcing millions of innocent
civilians to flee for their lives), there
has since emerged a rise in political
populism in Europe and America
that sees hatred against migrants and

refugees as the quick way to leadership.
This is the same path taken by
Adolf Hitler in 1930s Germany, with
the consequences that we all know;
especially for minority groups like black
people, gypsies and Jews.
Since 2016, the EU has stepped up
measures to stop African migrants of
all categories from entering Europe
altogether. Compared to Trump’s
physical wall on the US-Mexican border,
the EU has built an invisible but far more
vicious wall of torture, slavery and blood
in the deserts of North Africa.
In the last couple of years I have been
asserting to whoever cared to listen
that it is the EU (and their draconian
anti-immigration policies) which is
knowingly fuelling the disturbing slave
trade in Libya. It is a deliberate attempt
to discourage and prevent Africans from
heading to Europe.
However, it is sad to see that not
a single African leader, nor our 21st
century neo-panafricanists or human
rights activists have stood up to
condemn the barbarity displayed in
the actions of the Europeans against
migrants and refugees. The same anti-
immigration hate policies that are also
now being practiced in Israel, Australia.
In New Zealand the bigotry resulted
in a radical extremist anti-immigration
terrorist attack in Christ Church where
over 50 innocent worshippers were
brutally murdered by terrorist Brenton
Tarrant, the heinous monster who killed
them all live on social media simply
because of their faith and their ethnic
origins.
Today’s African leaders are all most-
likely under the shackles of mental
slavery, having been individually
silenced by the billions of Euro’s that
pour annually into state coffers as
foreign aid. Not even the African Union
and the Pan-African parliament have
uttered any condemnation.
Yet the despicable anti-immigration
behaviour keeps growing before our
very eyes. Their silence is possibly
because these African institutions
budgets and salaries are funded by the
European Union and the U.S.
Now instead of African leaders and
the continents institutions, it is a group
of international lawyers in Europe who
have finally filed a case for investigation
against the EU at the International
Criminal Court. The same court
which just recently was despotically
obstructed by the current White House
administration from investigating
probable American war criminals in Iraq
and Afghanistan.
The international lawyers lawsuit filed
at the ICC says that EU anti-immigration
policies have resulted in: (i) the deaths
by drowning of thousands of migrants,
ii) the refoulement of tens of thousands
of refugees attempting to flee the Libyan
conflict, and iii) the EU is complicit in
the subsequent crimes of deportation,
murder, imprisonment, enslavement,
torture, rape, persecution and other
inhumane acts taking place in Libyan
detention camps and torture houses.”
Personally, and as far as I know, all
this is part of the European wall against
immigration. And the African Union
itself is an accomplice to the barbarity
happening against African migrants.
The AU receives funding from Europe
to implement this brutal EU anti-
immigration policy against Africans.
Some of it is disguised as anti-terrorism
activities in North Africa and the Sahel
but is quietly designed to catch migrants
before they make it to the Mediterranean
Sea. This is going on behind the backs
of the African populations who are
never told the full scale of what is being
Remember
that in recent
months the ICC
came under
attack by the U.S.
for investigating
potential U.S.
war criminals
and their
unlawful killings
in Iraq and
Afghanistan
plotted with the EU in the corridors of
the African Union headquarters. Today’s
African elites are in the same ideological
bankruptcy/mental slavery when it
comes to facing European Union, U.S.
and others.
Meanwhile US asylum officers are
complaining against their own regime,
saying that the current immigration
policies of the White House are
“fundamentally contrary to the moral
fabric of our nation and our international
and domestic legal obligations”.
I have searched in vain for one single
African, Arab or Asian leader who has
stood up on any international forum,
news analysis
be it the UN or elsewhere, to condemn
the horrendous slave trade still taking
place in Libya and in other EU detention
centers across North Africa, plus the
shocking anti-immigration policies
being pursued across Europe, the U.S.,
Australia, Israel, New Zealand and
elsewhere. As if all western countries are
suddenly coordinating anti-immigration
hatred and bigotry as national policy.
Meanwhile, our African leaders all
seem to be acting like political slaves
against our own people, and would
not dare say or do anything against
their foreign masters’ wishes. In fact
they have become the enforcers of the
tyranny against African migrants. Isn’t
that exactly what is happening in North
Africa, the Sahel countries and a few
others in West Africa?
Documents from the international
lawyers’ case at the ICC go on to say that
the EU’s crimes against humanity “were
consciously perpetrated by EU member
states in the belief that sacrificing
migrant lives at sea would deter African
refugees from making the voyage across
the Mediterranean”.
How inhumane and barbaric can one
get against migrants and refugees?
Now it would be quite interesting
to hear what public position African
leaders take in this case. Our media is
not asking them the tough questions.
It would also be interesting to hear the
response of the EU if any.
Remember that in recent months
the ICC came under attack by the U.S.
for investigating potential U.S. war
criminals and their unlawful killings
in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not a single
African leader commented when the
Trump administration slapped sanctions
on the court, including visa ban against
the Chief Prosecutor herself Mme Fatou
Bensouda, for doing their mandated
job; an action that ostensibly amounted
to blatant obstruction of international
justice.
After African countries complaining
of ICC racism for a whole decade, we
kept quiet when the court was prevented
from investigating western war
criminals.
Now here we have the EU facing
serious accusations of modern day
slave trade, torture and mass murder
of Africans on land and at sea with
impunity in broad daylight and under a
policy code-named Operation Sophia.
Hussein Lumumba Amin is social-political
commentator based in Kampala
July. 05 - 11 2019 21
NEWS ANALYSIS
By Oluseye Jegede

N
igeria’s Otigba Computer
Village is arguably the biggest
information, communications
technology (ICT) market
in Africa. It started off as a one-man
business on a street called “Otigba” in
Ikeja, the capital of Lagos State. Within
a short time it grew to a few thousand
businesses occupying a vast area in
the state. It represents an ICT solution
centre for Nigeria as well as West
Africa.
Three years ago Nigeria’s National
Bureau of Statistics estimated that the
informal sector had accounted for as
much as 41% of the country’s economy
in 2015. The informal sector in Nigeria
continues to grow for numerous
reasons. These include: limited ability
of the formal economy to absorb
surplus labour (largely dominated
by people aged between 15 and 50
years), barriers to entry into the formal
economy by young entrepreneurs
who have ideas but little capital to
compete with large firms in the formal
sector, weak government institutions
(regulatory bodies), and poor economic
conditions which are forcing many
consumers to demand cheap goods and
services.
The Otigba cluster is no exception.
It remains largely informal despite
its size, the volume of economic
transactions being done daily and the
technical knowledge put to use in the
market. Numerous studies have been
done to evaluate the size and capacity

Nigeria’s
of the cluster, its evolution, mode of
operation, performance, sustainability
and constraints.
But before my research there had

‘Computer Village’
been no studies on how businesses
within the cluster identified new
and useful knowledge and how they
applied that knowledge to innovation
to increase their performance and
profitability by scaling-up their
operations.
Research across the world shows
And lessons on what it takes
there is bound to be an exchange of
knowledge when businesses cluster
to help small firms thrive
together. This can be through spillovers
or conscious transfers. With more
than 4000 businesses, Otigba should
be no exception. So, I set out to test refers to significant technical changes technology upgrading and net export).
this by surveying 200 business units, in the product, services, production The study used these indicators
representing about 5% of the size of the processes or delivery method. because they are yardsticks for
cluster. I wanted to understand how To measure the scaling up of measuring growth in firms in the formal
knowledge is being identified, acquired, businesses, the study examined: sector.
developed, used and diffused in the inputs (access to more finances,
cluster. number of employees), activities Some interesting findings
The study also sought to understand (sub-contracting, outsourcing and When businesses operate in close
how the spread of knowledge within the collaborations), outputs (turnover, proximity, as they do in clusters,
cluster led to innovation and the scaling quality, quantity) and impacts knowledge sharing is inevitable. I
of business operations. Innovation here (compliance to international standard, found this to be true in Otigba. This is

22 July. 05 - 11 2019

mainly because the daily routine of the
businesses involves: rotation of tasks
and the regular training of employees
(mainly apprentices) by highly skilled
technical personnel, usually the owner
of the business or someone appointed as
senior manager.
Most businesses didn’t give
preference to employees with relevant
experience when hiring. Instead,
they used the expertise of qualified
technicians to train new employees. As
a result apprentices learnt on the job.
By and large, it took new employees
less than two years to acquire all the
necessary knowledge they needed to do
the jobs they were hired for. The result
is that apprenticeship has become one of
the major channels for skills acquisition
and knowledge diffusion within the
cluster. Apprenticeship involves on-the-
job learning by young employees under
the supervision of experts. During this
period, tacit knowledge is passed on
to the apprentices until they become
experts themselves. These apprentices
thus graduate, ready to start their own
businesses or they secure employment
as technicians in the formal sector.
The other channel for diffusion
of knowledge within the clusters is
the trade association and the unions.
These have enabled collaborative
innovation in the cluster which has
made it possible for firms to compete as
a cluster against international players.
This is because of the monitoring
role played by trade association and
unions such as the Computer and
Allied Product Dealers Association of
Nigeria. The union ensures that new
knowledge about new technologies
(product and process) are made known
to all it members. The union facilitates
collective importation of expensive
equipment as well as sharing to tools
and technicians among its members.
Because of knowledge sharing in the
cluster, the majority of new businesses
were able to scale up their operations
within the first three years of operation.
This is remarkable given that research
shows that a third of new small
business die within two years, and half
NEWS ANALYSIS
within five years of starting up. Thus
knowledge sharing through clustering
is organic incubation – one viable way
to survive the first three years as a
start-up.
Knowledge sharing also enabled
most of the enterprises to increase
their capital resources within three
years of start-up. They did this either
through their own generated resources
or through loans. The main source of
loans came from commercial banks
followed by co-operative societies,
business angels and micro-credit
organisations.
Most enterprises increased their
work force to run their businesses
because of good business performance.
During the scaling-up period, there
was lots of collaboration between
firms within the cluster as well as with
other businesses, organisations and
institutions outside of the cluster. This
facilitated the transfer of knowledge
among cooperating firms.
Finally, the effects of scaling-up
enhanced the ability of businesses
to: satisfy customers’ demands,
comply with Nigerian regulations
and standards, develop more
environmentally friendly products/
processes, and improve product
quality.
Also, knowledge sharing that
happened during the scaling up
enabled businesses to extend their
product range, deal successfully with
new competitors abroad, and lower
their production costs.
Conclusion
My research found that openness
and proximity increased access to
information, customers, new domestic
markets, tools and technology,
suppliers of raw materials and inputs.
In addition, all the enterprises that
benefited from proximity in the cluster
were involved in at least one form of
innovation.
In conclusion, the study posits that
knowledge need not be protected
in clusters or in the informal sector
generally. Instead, it should be shared
widely so that other businesses can
adopt, or adapt, it. This in turn spurs
further innovation and the rapid
development of the sector. Openness
will also aid the development of
other sectors through knowledge spill
overs. This, in turn, will create healthy
competition among businesses.
Oluseye Jegede is a Senior Researcher,
SARCHI Industrial Development Unit,
University of Johannesburg
July. 05 - 11 2019 23
Prostate cancer treatment
New urine test might show whether you need it
A
By Agencies
man who learns he has pros-
tate cancer faces a difficult
choice: whether to immedi-
ately treat the cancer despite
potential side effects or wait
and see if it’s a slow-growing
tumor that never needs treatment.
Men may soon have help making that
decision. Researchers from the United King-
dom report that they have created a urine
test that can predict the aggressiveness of
a prostate cancer far sooner than standard
methods.
The new test is called the prostate urine
risk test, or PUR. The researchers said it
spots men who are up to eight times less
likely to need radical treatment within five
years of diagnosis. PUR also offers clues
about who might need treatment five years
sooner than current tests.
Dr. Durado Brooks is vice president of
cancer control interventions for the Ameri-
can Cancer Society. He was not involved in
the current research, but said the study was
“really intriguing.”
“Anything that helps us predict who will
have more progressive disease, or who will
be less likely to progress, would be helpful,”
he said. “And, it appears, based on a modest
sample size, that this tool may offer some
24 July. 05 - 11 2019
promise.” Prostate cancer typically grows
slowly and may never need treatment in a
man’s lifetime. However, predicting which
men do need treatment isn’t easy.
The commonly used prostate specific anti-
gen (PSA) test falsely raises cancer concerns
in some cases and misses prostate cancer or
aggressive cancers in other cases, the study
authors noted. Currently, when men choose
active surveillance -- a wait and watch strate-
gy -- they often need repeated testing. Those
tests can include blood tests, digital rectal
exams, MRI scans and biopsies (surgical
removal of a small piece of prostate tissue).
These invasive procedures and constant
reminders that they have cancer leads many
men to choose treatment, even if they are not
sure they need it, the researchers explained.
To try to better predict who has riskier
prostate cancer, the PUR test relied on
sophisticated computer technology.
Urine samples were collected from more
than 500 men. Most had prostate cancer, but
nearly 100 did not.
The researchers, Shea Connell of the Uni-
versity of East Anglia’s Norwich Medical
School and colleagues, looked at the expres-
sion of 167 genes in the samples. They found
35 genes that can help predict how danger-
ous a prostate cancer might be.
The investigators also tracked the men’s
health for an average of six years. The pro-
files of 23 men whose cancer progressed
were significantly different than those whose
cancer did not progress.
Brooks said these findings are “promising
enough that additional research in a larger
population would be worthwhile.” But, he
said a commercially available test would
likely be a number of years away.
Dr. Manish Vira, vice chair for urologic
research at Northwell Health’s Institute for
Urology in Lake Success, N.Y., also reviewed
the new research.
“This is a very interesting study as it rep-
resents the first multigene panel assessment
of prostate cancer through a urine-based test.
The new PUR test has potential to identify
potentially aggressive prostate cancer earlier
than traditional assessments in patients with
low-risk disease,” he said.
Vira added that a potential future use
would be to test patients repeatedly over
time. Changes in the results might mean a
change in a man’s tumor.
“While certainly the results are excit-
ing, the test needs to be validated in a
larger group of patients,” Vira said. And
researchers would have to show that the
test is cost-effective, too, he added.
The study was published June 26 in
BJU International.
Source: medicinet
 health

Breast cancer screening

3-D mammograms are popular, but are they better than 2-D?
By Agencies be found, because it would never

I
n recent years, women getting a
mammogram have had a new
decision to make: 2-D or 3-D?
Some breast-care centers have
touted the newer 3-D mammogra-
phy technology as more accurate.
But while initial research suggests
that it may be a more sensitive diag-
nostic test, evidence that the tech-
nology actually reduces the number
of deaths from breast cancer better
than 2-D imaging is lacking.
Even so, use of this technology
has skyrocketed in recent years,
according to a new analysis of pri-
vate insurance data. Also known
as digital breast tomosynthesis,
three-dimensional mammography
was the primary screening method
in 43.2 percent, or 763,982 out of
close to 1.8 million exams in a pri-
vate insurance database in the sec-
ond half of 2017, researchers report
online June 24 in JAMA Internal
Medicine. That’s up from only 12.9
percent, or 187,885 out of about 1.5
million, in the first half of 2015.
Both 3-D and 2-D imaging meth-
ods rely on X-ray technology. And
a woman undergoing either meth-
od experiences breast-squeezing This image-combo shows a 3-D and 2-D mammogram of an abnormal Screening Trial, or TMIST, has
discomfort. But three-dimensional breast. Initial studies suggest that 3-D technology is more sensitive
mammography takes images from than traditional 2-D imaging, but it’s unclear if that helps reduce the
number of deaths from breast cancer.
many different angles around the
breast, which a computer then combines to
make a 3-D image. The standard 2-D mam-
mography, which usually takes images from more information, making it easier to dis-
two angles, offers a flat image of the breast.
When 3-D screening is used, the radiologist
gets both a 3-D and a 2-D image.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration,
which approves medical devices, gave 3-D
mammography the green light in 2011.
But the American Cancer Society and U.S.
Preventive Services Task Force do not yet
recommend the new technology for routine
screening, citing lack of evidence.
Initial research suggests that three-dimen-
sional imaging reduces the mammogram
recall rate — how often a radiologist identi-
fies a suspicious result that needs follow-up
imaging. Higher recall rates are associated
with increased false-positives, when a
radiologist thinks a woman may have cancer rate improved from 4.2 cancers per 1,000
but further screening shows she doesn’t .
Some liken a 3-D screening to having the
follow-up test during the initial mammo-
gram, says Ilana Richman, a general internist
at Yale School of Medicine. The idea is that
the 3-D images provide the radiologist with
tinguish normal from abnormal areas. This
saves women the time, cost and stress of
another screening, says Richman, a coauthor
on the JAMA insurance analysis paper.
A 2014 JAMA study that looked at more
than 450,000 mammograms and compared
those taken with 2-D versus 3-D imaging
found a statistically significant reduction in sary diagnoses and treatments.
the rate of screening recalls. There were 107
recalls per 1,000 screenings after 2-D imag-
ing versus 91 per 1,000 for 3-D imaging, the
researchers report.
The newer technology may also be more
sensitive, research suggests, which means
that 3-D imaging may catch more cancers. In
the 2014 JAMA study, the cancer detection
cases for 2-D imaging to 5.4 cancers per 1,000 widen existing racial disparities in breast
cases with 3-D imaging, also statistically
significant.
But if the diagnosed cancer didn’t need to Source: Science news
have caused health problems, it
can lead to unnecessary and poten-
tially harmful treatments. “Finding
more cancer sounds good,” Rich-
man says. “But we know from a
long history of screening in breast
cancer and other cancer types that
not every cancer is one that we
need to worry about.”
Early findings in favor of 3-D
mammography have come from
observational studies or after-the-
fact analysis. Now, several ran-
domized controlled trials in which
women are randomly assigned
a screening method, allowing
researchers to make a direct com-
parison, are under way. These
trials “should provide more clarity
about the benefits and harms of
digital breast tomosynthesis over
the next few years,” says Joy Mel-
nikow, who heads the Center for
Healthcare Policy and Research
at the University of California,
Davis in Sacramento, and wrote
an accompanying editorial in the
same JAMA Internal Medicine
issue.
One, called the Tomosynthe-
sis Mammographic Imaging
begun enrolling, with a goal of
165,000 women in total. It will
assess whether the 3-D technology
reduces the number of women diagnosed
with advanced breast cancers, those most
likely to spread to other parts of the body
and cause death. The trial measure is a proxy
for improvements in breast cancer mortality
rates. If it turns out that 3-D mammography
isn’t more beneficial, the fact that it’s already
gained such popularity means that “it will
likely take some years for its use to decline,”
Melnikow says. That could mean unneces-
And if evidence does support the use
of the new technology, the way that the
technique has spread could be a problem.
Richman and her colleagues found that 3-D
imaging was primarily employed in higher
income areas that have a larger percentage
of white residents, which largely held true
when the researchers looked at Medicare
insurance data, too. This pattern of use could
cancer mortality, Melnikow says.

July. 05 - 11 2019 25
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with Angola’s President Joao Lourenco on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, South Africa July 26, 2018
Behind Russia’s growing
influence in Africa
Why the new development could be
bad news for the US, Europe and India
A
By Isaac Khisa
s Russia’s President, Vladimir
Putin, hosts more than 50
African presidents for the
first-ever Russia-Africa
Summit in Sochi on Oct. 24,
top on the agenda will be
how to sustain the economic and political
ties between the two trading blocs in the
wake of declining oil prices and increasing
isolation of the transcontinental nation.
Russia’s economy has been on a standstill
for a while, with statistics showing that from
2014 to 2018, its GDP grew at an average
of 0.4% per annum, with real disposable
incomes declining by 10.7% leaving 19
million of the 145million Russian population
in poverty during the same period under
review.
To make the situation worse, in 2018
alone, thousands of Russian companies are
said to have closed their operations thanks
26 July. 05 - 11 2019
to diplomatic isolation from Europe and
the US over Syria. This is in addition to
Russia’s aggression towards Ukraine in 2014
(annexation of Crimea).
On the other hand, Africa’s GDP has been
growing at an average of more than 3%,
making it one of the fastest growing regions
in the world. Faced with this situation
amidst growth prospects in Africa, Russia
seems to have remained with no alternative
but to seek for a renewed partnership with
the continent.
Moscow, which had a strong influence in
Africa alongside US and China, had frozen
its relations with the continent following the
collapse of the Soviet Union (USSR) in 1991.
However, Putin seems to be having new
aspirations in Africa with the restoration of
his country’s strong links with the continent
top on the agenda.
It however remains to be seen how far
Russia’s reconnection with the continent will
go given that China, India, and especially
the United States have intensified their
involvement in Africa over the last three
decades.
The past relations between Russia and
African countries placed an emphasis on
political ideology, but now, this has shifted.
Moscow wants to deepen its understanding
of the business climate and explore trade
and partnership opportunities on the
continent.
Data from the Russian Export Centre
(REC), a state institution that provides
Russian exporters and their foreign partners
with a wide range of financial and non-
financial support measures, shows that
Russia’s export values to Africa have nearly
doubled over the last five years from
US$9.3bn in 2014 to US$17.5bn in 2018. Most
of the exports to Africa are medicine, food,
forestry products, automotive and mixed
fertilizer.
On the other hand, Russia’s imports from
Africa have stagnated, having increased
 business
from merely US$2.8bn to US$2.9bn during
the same period under review.
Russia’s trade volumes with Africa (US$)
Afreximbank meeting 20
It is this prevailing condition that
when Russia hosted the Annual General
Meeting for the African Export Import
15
Bank (Afreximbank) on June 20-22, the
second AGM to be held out of Africa since
2012 in Beijing China, Prime Minister
Dmitri Medvedev, said it provided a good
momentum ahead of the planned Russia- 10
Africa Summit.
Russia, through the Russian Export Center
(REC), purchased shares in Afreximbank in
2017 at an undisclosed amount, becoming 5
the bank’s third-largest non-African financial
institution.
Other shareholders in the Bank that now
boasts of US$15bn in asset include a mix
of African governments including Uganda, 0
central banks, regional and sub-regional 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
institutions, private investors and financial
institutions, as well as non-African financial
Exports Imports
institutions, export credit agencies and
private investors.
Medvedev said Russia and Africa must
Russia’s imports from selected African
harness their immense resources, which countries (US$ in millions)
account for half of the world’s resources
–diamond, gold, graphite, pozzolana, iron Country 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
ore, phosphates and copper, among others
– to foster a greater economic future for its
South Africa 690 565 521 628 783
people. Morocco 608 466 567 568 547
He said whereas Russia’s presence in
Africa had weakened in the 1990s, the
Egypt 540 413 374 505 526
country had since then done a great deal Ivory Coast 230 193 235 180 190
of groundwork on joint projects in geology
Tunisia 130 93.8 110 135 136
and mining, energy, industry, agriculture,
fishing and telecommunications, with total Kenya 150 170 137 137 124.9
investments now standing at US$20bn.
Tanzania 50.4 47.4 48.5 48.2 42.2
Some of Russia’s companies that have
made inroads in Africa include; Gazprom, Uganda 13.9 16.3 14.8 27.9 11.4
Lukoil, Rostec and Rosatom, with most of
Rwanda 2.4 2.7 2.6 2.3 3.6
their operations in Uganda, Algeria, Angola,
Egypt and Nigeria. Burundi 1.6 1.2 1.2 1.4 1.0
Egypt has also finalised negotiations
with Moscow to build the country’s first
nuclear plant, while in Namibia, Moscow
Russia’s exports to selected African countries (US$)
is developing one of the world’s largest
deposits of platinum group metals.
Country 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Russia has also been re-establishing links Egypt 4.9bn 3.67bn 3.78bn 6.2bn 7.14bn
with Angola and Botswana, where Alrosa,
the Russian giant, mines diamonds. Algeria 875millon 1.99bn 3.96bn 4.62bn 4.8bn
Similarly, Russia has interests in
Morocco 933million 547million 724million 895million 929million
Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Morocco,
Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, and Nigeria 351million 285million 379million 385million 733million
the Central African Republic.
Kenya 203million 161million 129milllion 201million 217million
Matters security Tanzania 103million 89milllion 79million 149million 179million
Since 2015, Russia has signed over 20
bilateral military cooperation agreements Uganda 51million 48milllion 28million 63million 62million
with African states including; Rwanda,
Rwanda 50million 94million 12milllion 20million 30million
Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Guinea,
according to the Swedish Defence Research Burundi 8.7million 1.2million 6.3million 5.6million 10.4million
Agency.
The agency says there is also heated Source: Russian Export Centre
speculation about the potential for
establishing military bases in several

July. 05 - 11 2019 27
business
countries including Burundi,
Mozambique, Eritrea,
Somaliland, Egypt, Libya and
Sudan.
According to the Stockholm
International Peace Research
Institute (SIPRI), between 2012
and 2016, Russia had become
the largest supplier of arms
to Africa, accounting for 35%
of arms exports to the region,
followed by China (17 %), the
United States (9.6%), and France
(6.9 %).
The arms export, the Institute
says, is considered as a lucrative
area for Russian economic
growth, especially in the context
of continued Western sanctions
and a stagnant economy caused
by falling global oil prices.
The Institute says that exports
of Russian-made weapons and
military equipment to Africa
amount to US $4.6bn annually,
with a contract portfolio worth
over US$50bn.
The main importers of
Russian arms in Africa,
according to the Swedish
Defence Research Agency,
are Algeria (helicopters, main
battle tanks, submarines), Egypt
(combat aircraft, long-range air
defence systems, helicopters),
Angola (fighter jets, main
battle tanks, artillery, arms and
ammunition), and Uganda
(tanks, air defence systems).
Other importers of Russian
arms are Mali, Mozambique,
Nigeria, Sudan, and Rwanda,
and lately Tanzania and
Somalia have also made
requests for Russian military
equipment.Currently, Russia
is involved in training Central
Africa Republic’s army and
presidential guard.
“We are promoting
humanitarian ties, both as
part of international assistance
to Africa’s comprehensive
development and on a bilateral
basis,” Medvedev said.
“In this new era of Russia-
African cooperation, the
government of the Russian
Federation will do everything
in our power to make our
partnership a success.”
Medvedev said globalisation
had shifted growth to
developing countries, making
Africa a more important partner
for Russia. He said Africa could
tap into Russia’s decades-old
business and industrial expertise
28 July. 05 - 11 2019
Military Cooperation Agreements in Africa since 2015 countries can benefit from trade
partnerships including Russia
Country Date Note
is to not only diversify their
Botswana August 2018 Peace-keeping and military training. economies but also specialise
Burkina Faso August 2018 Cooperation on countering terrorism. Deal not yet in force. in producing and exporting
Burundi August 2018 Cooperation on counter-terrrorism and joint training of troops.
commodities for which they
have a comparative advantage,
Cameroon April 2015 Military and technical cooperation.
while importing those for
Central African Republic August 2018 Training of armed forces.
which they lack comparative
Chad August 2017 Anti-terrorism cooperation and joint training exercises. advantage.
Egypt November 2017 Deliveries of equipment and weapons for counter-terrorism operations. She said diversification also
Eswatini
February 2017 Supply of weapons, maintenance and other military assistance.
increases a country’s ability
(former Swaziland)
Training and cooperation on peace-keeping and counter-terrorism and anti-
to meet objectives such as job
Ethiopia April 2018 piracy efforts. Deal not yet in force. creation and improvements in
Gambia September 2016 Training of armed forces, deliveries of military equipment. income distribution.
Ghana June 2016 Military and technical cooperation. Deal not yet in force.
Guinea April 2018 Cooperation on peace-keeping, counter-terrorism, search and rescue at sea. Exercise caution
Prof. Theo Neethling, the
Deal not yet in force.
head of Political Studies and
Mozambique January 2017 Deliveries of military equipment, spare parts and component.
Niger August 2017 Working meetings of military experts and cooperation on military education.
Governance in the Humanities
Nigeria August 2017
Cooperation on military training, peace-keeping and efforts to counter-
terrorism and anti-piracy. Faculty, at the University of
Rwanda October 2016 Supply of weapons and other military equipment. the Free State in South Africa
Sierra Leone August 2018 Supply of weapons and other military equipment as well as the provision of wrote in Quartz Africa on Feb.08,
other military technical assistance.
this year, that a combination
Sudan February 2018 Develop the Sudanese armed forces
of Russia and China will
Tanzania January 2018 Arms shipments as well as joint training and research and development. surpass the combined North
Zambia April 2017 Provisions for the supply of weapons and delivery of spare parts. America and Europe in terms
Zimbabwe October 2015 Supply of weapons and cooperation on producing military products.
of global power – based on
GDP, population size, military
spending and technological
Sources: Reuters, Jeune Afrique, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation.
This text is a part of a forthcoming FOI report on foreign military bases and installations in Africa and the strategic interests behind
investment.
to boost domestic capacity and Africa needed to develop its
their presence. Twelve state actors are included in the report: the United States, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Spain, Russia, “For African leaders, the key
exploit opportunities. infrastructure and could transfer word is agency and the question
China, Japan, India, Turkey, and United Arab Emirates.
FOI critical technology in digitisation
Telephone: +46 8 5550 3000 is how to play the renewed
China and India
Swedish Defence Research Agency
SE-164 90 Stockholm and in mining and processing
www.foi.se/africa
Russian attention to their
This development comes of raw materials. It could also countries’ advantage, and not to
as Afreximbank’s latest trade be a source of non-debt creating fall victim to the contemporary
report shows that the continent’s investments in key areas such “geopolitical chess” game
total merchandise trade grew as rail, aviation, healthcare, and played by the major powers on
from US $907.63bn in 2017 to US petrochemicals,” he said. the continent,” he said.
$997.9bn in 2018, making it one “The traditional international And as Putin hosts African
of the fastest growing regions in relationships of the African head of states for business deals
the world. continent are changing rapidly in October, Prof. Ha-Joon Chang
The report also notes that as we forge ever closer links from Cambridge University
whereas EU remained Africa’s with emerging partners who said it is critical that developing
main continental trading partner are eager to assist the economic countries remain cautious
in 2018 – accounting for 29.8% development of Africa through as they enter into new trade
of total trade, African trade with sectoral and infrastructure partnerships with developed
the South grew significantly investments across the continent countries.
over the last decade to account and embrace ever stronger “We must reject the idea of
for more than 35% of the trading links.” a level playing field between
continents total trade in 2018. “Russia, in particular is developed and developing
However, China and India forging a new relationship countries. Free trade is only
consolidated their positions with Africa, as are other South- beneficial between countries
as Africa’s first and second South emerging partners, with the same level of
single largest trading partners, which, in tandem with the development, which is why the
accounting for over 21% of the African Continental Free Africa Continental Free Trade
total African trade in 2018. Intra- Trade Agreement, gives me Area is so important,” he said
African trade also increased great confidence that Africa in his keynote address during
steadily in 2018, growing by 17% is well positioned to ride this Afreximbank AGM in Moscow.
to reach US $159bn. era of global trade tensions The AfCFTA that is
Prof. Benedict Oramah, that threaten to damage other expected to provide a market
the president of Afreximbank continental economies,” Oramah of more than 1.2billion people,
said the Russian Federation added. with a combined GDP of
represents one of such partners Vera Songwe, the executive US$2.6 trillion, enters into
that Africa looks up to. secretary for the United Nations force during the next African
“Russia could be a source Economic Commission for Union Summit to be held in
of investment goods that Africa, said the only way African Niamey, Niger on July 07.

We need more tourism
incentives - operators
UTB says offers are good but the process must be transparent
By Julius Businge
U
ganda’s tour operators are request-
ing government to offer them more
tax incentives to boost investment
in the sector even as trade experts
say the move denies the economy of huge
sums of money.
Operators told The Independent during a
reporting on tourism training held at Bugala
Island in Kalangala District from June 25-28
that incentives related to tax and land have
potential to create more jobs and strengthen
tourism, a sector that is reported as the coun-
try’s number one foreign exchange earner.
Last year, the tourism sector attracted
1.6million tourists, earning the economy
$1.602bn. “The government should think
more about giving the sector incentives and
reviewing the already existing ones,” said
Geoffrey Baluku, the director operations at
Treck East Africa a leisure, travel and tour-
ism company.
He said the initial cost of starting a busi-
ness in Uganda is high and that tax holiday
and land incentives would encourage new
investments in the sector.
He said the existing tax incentives have
benefited the hoteliers who have brought in
equipment and related sector materials.
“My company has benefited from tax-free
imports for tourism vehicles,” he said, add-
ing that tour operators should be supported
to attend international trade fairs and exhibi-
tions to market the country.
Baluku also urged the tourism ministry
and the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA)
to use a working strategy to arrest individ-
uals who purportedly dodge paying import
tax for personal vehicles claiming that they
are meant for tourism business.
“We have raised this issue several times as
players and we hope it will be dealt with,”
he said.
This comes at the time the tourism sector
is already enjoying a cocktail of incentives
including among others; duty and tax free
import on plant and machinery; initial tax
allowance on hotel, hospital and industrial
building; stamp duty exemption on instru-
ments for mobilising funds for tourism
development and materials exclusively not
available locally for construction of premises
and required infrastructure.
Other incentives relate to hotel furnishings
and fittings of high value and tax exemp-
tion on the supply of movie production for
films shoot in Uganda. There are also land
subsidies for investors in the sectors of infor-
mation communication technology, minerals
processing and agro-processing that are
linked to tourism sector.
Herbert Byaruhanga, the vice president
of Uganda Tourism Association urged tour
operators working informally to register
with Uganda Registration Services Bureau
(URSB) and get known by the ministry of
tourism and Uganda Tourism Board to be
able to benefit from the sector incentives.
“Incentives are good but local investors
should be given priority,” he said.
Bradford Ochieng, the deputy managing
director at Uganda Tourism Board said
incentives are good but, added, the process
of offering them must be transparent.
He said that they are working with the
tourism ministry, URA, Civil Aviation
Authority and other agencies to ensure that
vehicles imported specifically for tourism
activities are custom built, branded and
engraved to prevent abuse of the incentive.
UTB is currently working with about 400
tour operators, according to Ochieng.
Jean Byamugisha, the executive director
of the Uganda Hotel Owners Association –
another key player in the tourism sector, said
offering incentives to hoteliers would boost
their operations.
She said 95% of hotels in Uganda are built
using bank loans at an interest rate of 20%
per annum, a cost that is passed onto the
guests in form of high prices.
In addition, she said a hotel investment
needs a consistent 40% occupancy rate per
year to easily break-even – yet only a few
hotels in Kampala record this rate. Those
operating upcountry record 7%.
Stephen Asiimwe, a tourism, media,
business
marketing and management consultant and
former chief executive officer for UTB said
incentives are good for tourism.
But he said the government should pick
lessons from the incentives that it gave to
investors in 2007 ahead of CHOGM meeting
so as to make informed decisions.
“You saw the likes of Speke Resort Mun-
yonyo coming up,” he said, “Many more of
such hotels can easily come up and serve our
visitors.”
He said the government could think of
revising the terms of incentives given in the
event that the beneficiary reports consistent
growth in profits.
However, a section of civil society orga-
nizations have argued that extending tax
incentives to attract investments is costing
the economy millions of shillings that would
have otherwise been used to fund the
national budget.
A recent study conducted by the Southern
and Eastern Africa Trade Information and
Negotiations Institute (SEATINI) shows that
Uganda lost Shs1.4trillion in tax incentives in
the year 2017/2018 alone.
Experts say that designing incentive poli-
cies requires government to link the tourism
sector to other economic indicators for it to
be able to achieve positive results.
For instance, a World Bank survey for
Uganda conducted in 2013 says that, attract-
ing 100, 000 additional leisure tourists into
the country would add 11% to exports and
1.6% to GDP.
It adds that persuading a tourist to spend
one additional night in Uganda would add
7% to exports and 1% GDP, and that an 8%
annual growth in leisure and conference
tourists would generate an additional $220
million in receipts per year.
Key facts about tourism (Source UTB)
 It employs 700, 000 people
 Number of hotels is 3, 400
 Number of hotel rooms is 250, 000
 Number of hotel beds is 300, 000
 Number of national parks is 10
July. 05 - 11 2019 29
 Executive Style
“We are ready to serve the
growing paint market”
What opportunities have
you outlined in the new
budget whose implemen-
I
tation began on July 01?
t is a good budget. It is
a development budget.
We hope to see many
projects coming up. We
are ready to supply paint
and to work with partners
to benefit the people.
What is your general de-
scription of Plascon Ugan-
da limited?
Plascon is widely accept-
ed as the most trusted
quality paint product in
Uganda and is available at
over 400 dealers countrywide.
With a strong dealer network,
trusted products and trend
setting colours, Plascon has
become the largest paint compa-
ny in Uganda with 60% market
share. The Plascon brand is well
established throughout Africa
and is the largest paint brand in
Southern Africa. The company
is part of the Kansai Paint Group
which has its head office in Osa-
ka, Japan.
Why should buyers trust your
paint?
For over 50 years, the business
has delivered the best quality
products and the best possible
price to Ugandans. In August
2017 when Kansai Paint bought
out the previous company, a
promise was made to deliver the
same or better-quality products,
colours and services to the mar-
ket. Delivering over two million
litres of quality paint to a market
every month requires skilled
staff, quality materials and
industry leading manufacturing.
For sustainability purposes, we
opened the Plascon Namanve
site in 2016 costing $10 million.
How profitable are the markets
that you are dealing with?
These are exciting times for
30 July. 05 - 11 2019
the construction industry. Ugan-
da is a growing economy and
with it, many of its industries are
thriving. The expectation is that
the construction sector will grow
at double the rate of GDP. This
means we are looking at growth
in excess of 10% per annum over
the next few years. Additional-
ly, opportunities lie in the fact
that Uganda has a very young
population with over 50% of
the population under the age
of 20 providing a high demand
for housing. Industries are also
growing, fostered by improved
infrastructure, the discovery of
oil in Hoima, stable electricity
and other energy and a growing
middle class. As a result, the
demand for industrial paint and
associated coatings will grow.
We are currently serving Ugan-
da, South Sudan, DRC, Rwanda
and Burundi markets.
Apart from shareholders, who
else is benefiting from your
business?
One of the major activities we
do is the painters training ses-
sions carried out across Uganda,
Rwanda, Burundi and South
Sudan. In these sessions people
are given the skills necessary
to become a painter. We train
around 13,000 painters every
Santosh
Gumte is the
Managing
Director for paint
maker, Plascon
Uganda Limited.
He spoke to The
Independent’s
Julius Businge
about the
company’s
business and
related sector
issues
year in order to ensure they have
the skills to earn a living and
partner with us in delivering the
Plascon experience. We currently
employ over 500 Ugandans at
our production site in Namanve
and sales office at 2nd Street in
the Industrial Area. Being part
of a global group means more
employment opportunities for
people.
How is your business strategy
responding to government’s
call on protecting the environ-
ment from pollution?
The Namanve plant has a
world class water treatment and
waste treatment facility on site.
Some of the biggest challenges
in the paint and coatings indus-
try are the problems faced with
the disposal of waste water and
excessive water consumption,
and the associated cost and sus-
tainability implications. Through
the system at Namanve, the
hard or slug waste is able to be
removed, the water be treated
and the environment protected.
Most firms are increasingly
spending on corporate social
responsibility areas. How are
you faring?
At the launch of Plascon
anti-mosquito paint, a pledge
was made to contribute
Shs1, 000 for every litre of
anti-mosquito paint sold
between February and
April this year. We raised
Shs16million which we
donated to Sanyu Babies
Home. Plascon paid the
electricity and water
accounts, donated bed-
ding, linen, consumables
and a hearing-aid for one
of the children. As part of
the “Hold My Hand to 5”
activity Plascon recent-
ly painted schools and
NGOs across Uganda.
This activity joins initia-
tives such as annual paint
donations, the sponsorship of
the Uganda Conservation Foun-
dation as well as support sport
in Uganda through the spon-
sorship of Kansai Plascon FC
and the Plascon Mongers Rugby
team of Entebbe.
How are you planning to deal
with the ever changing con-
sumer tastes and preferences?
Ugandans love colour. Lime
green sits on top of the list,
then yellow tints and shades
combined with clashing accents
of terracotta and purple. These
unusual combinations have
inspired the UK, Europe and
America to make innovations on
colour ideas and design. Plascon
releases a Colour Forecast annu-
ally which is collected through
studies and global trends and
are shared across all Kansai
Paint companies. We are proud
to bring this to Uganda every
year and help our customers
remain on trend and get the best
colour advice in the region.
Your final word?
We will continue to innovate
and invest in areas that are bene-
ficial to the people and the com-
pany. We will strengthen our
relationship with our partners in
this business.
 business
OIL ACQUISITION

Campaign groups accuse Mauritius firm acquires Metroplex shopping mall

M
Total of breaching law auritius based firm, Gateway Toit told URN that the deal would have

F
Delta, has bought Metroplex gone through earlier but was delayed by
rench and Ugandan campaign shopping mall, according to a uncertainty about the Land and Tenants Bill
groups including Friends of the Earth property agent Knight Frank 2018 that sought to restrict rents in dollars.  
have filed a legal notification with Uganda. Knight Frank said the company is Tukonectinge Promo reward customers
Total, claiming it has failed to address will soon commence redeveloping the mall. with Shs500million
the human and environmental impact of its “The major redevelopment of the Metro- Crown Beverages Limited, the bottler of
Ugandan operations as required by French
plex shopping mall will commence shortly soft drinks; Pepsi, Mirinda, Mountain Dew
law, according to Reuter’s news agency.
with the intended reopening of all phases of and Nivana Water has so far rewarded its
Reuters said under France’s Corporate
the development in April 2020,” customers with Mobile Money and Air-
Duty of Vigilance regulation, large French
Knight Frank said in a statement.   The time worth Shs500 million, in the ongoing
companies are obliged to publish annual
redevelopment, according to Marc Du Toit, Tukonectinge with Pepsi consumer reward
plans that address the adverse impact of
their activities, and those of subsidiaries and the head of retail at Knight Frank, will cost promotion.
suppliers, on people and the environment. an estimated $21 million.
The campaign groups say in their June
24 notification that Total’s 2018 plan makes
no specific reference to its Ugandan Tilenga
project, and thereby violates the law.
A spokeswoman said Total was waiting
to receive the group’s full notification before
commenting, and said Friends of the Earth
had not responded to an invitation to discuss
the firm’s projects in Uganda and neighbour-
ing Democratic Republic of Congo.
The six groups claim Total has intimi-
dated and failed to properly compensate
local land-owners, and has failed develop
adequate environmental safeguards to pro-
tect the surrounding national park through
which the Nile River flows.

AVIATION ICT

Efforts underway to return Boeing 737 MAX to service afriQloud cloud service

T
now in Kampala

he International Air
Transport Associ-
ation urged state
aviation safety regu-
lators to continue to align on
technical validation require-
ments and timelines for the
safe re-entry into service of
the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.
The announcement came
at the conclusion of the
second Boeing 737 MAX
Summit organized by IATA
in Montreal on June.26.
“The Boeing 737 MAX
tragedies weigh heavily
on an industry that holds
safety as its top priority. We
trust the Federal Aviation
Administration, in its role
as the certifying regulator,
to ensure the aircraft’s
safe return to service.
And we respect the duty
of regulators around the
world to make independent
decisions on FAA’s
recommendations,” said
Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s
Director General and CEO.
IATA reiterated the need
for alignment on additional
training requirements for
Boeing 737 MAX flight
crew.
Representatives from more
than 40 airlines, safety reg-
ulatory authorities, original
equipment manufacturers,
training organizations, avi-
ation-related associations
and aircraft lessors attend-
ed the second Boeing 737
MAX Summit.
P
an-African connectivity provider,
BringCom, in partnership with sci-
ence and technology investor, Impri-
matur Capital, and European edge
cloud software company, GIG Technology,
have together introduced afriQloud to pro-
vide the African technology industry with
cloud sovereignty.
On June 25, afriQloud was unveiled in
Kampala and will provide local and inter-
national customers with “an innovative and
secure distributed edge cloud service.”
Hans van Linschoten, founding partner
of Imprimatur Capital Africa and chief
executive officer of afriQloud said: “We see
significant potential in the growing African
cloud market where an estimated $2 billion
is being spent in cloud this year, and we’re
excited to bring this service to the continent.
By the end of 2019 we will complement the
few developed markets clouds with a pow-
erful and local distributed cloud in at least 15
countries. This ensures data sovereignty for
institutions and governments within Africa’s
shores.”
According to afriQloud, most of Africa’s
content on the internet is currently hosted on
servers outside the continent.

July. 05 - 11 2019 31
business

Afreximbank to avail
US$1bn credit to support
AfCFTA implementation
By Isaac Khisa Domestic Product of approxi-

A
frica’s multilateral
lender, African Im-
port Export Bank, is
in discussion with
the African Union to extend
US$1bn credit facility to African
countries that will be in need of
finance to smoothly implement
the Africa Continental Free
Trade Area. The AfCFTA will
enter into force during the next
African Union Summit slated
The Actuarial Association of Uganda partnered with the Insurance for Niamey, Niger, on July.07.
Institute of Uganda in a two day training on Risk Based Capital to
finance professional and university students. It was held on June 29 Prof. Benedict Oramah, the
at the institute where Ibrahim Kadunabi Lubega (5th L), the CEO of Bank’s President and Chairman
the Insurance Regulatory Authority said the initiative would reduce of the Board of Directors, said
work on claims. Independent/ Alfred Ochwo during the Annual General Meet-
ing in Moscow Russia on June. 21
that the credit facility is to make
it easier for countries to comply
with their commitments on
tariff concessions and make the
AfCFTA more impactful.
The decision to establish the
AfCFTA was initially arrived at
in the 18th Ordinary Session of
the Assembly of Heads of State
and Government of the AU in
January 2012, with the official
launch in March 2018. The
AfCFTA agreement is expected
to create a market for over 1.2
Shell select rewards five customers with a kitchen makeover including fridges, billion people, with a Gross
12kg gas, lite cylinders microwaves, blenders, kettles and coffee markers.
Evelyn Driciru (centre - dressed in red top), the brand manager for convenience
and retail said the promotion was meant to revamp their shell select stores by
offering a wide range of services.   INDEPENDENT/ ALFRED OCHWO
mately US$2.6 trillion.
However, Nigeria – Africa’s
biggest economy – alongside
Benin and Eritrea are yet to rati-
fy the agreement.
Prof Oramah said the Bank is
also implementing the Intra-Af-
rican Trade Strategy in which it
plans to disburse US$25 billion
on a revolving basis in support
of intra-regional trade between
2017 and 2021. So far, US$8bn
have been disbursed to support
trade and investment flows
across borders.
Afreximbank has also com-
pleted the development of an
Africa Customer Due Diligence
Repository Platform (MANSA)
which will make it possible
for KYC (Know your custom-
er) and AML (Anti Money
Laundry) checks to be quickly
done on counterparties there-
by reducing risk perceptions
that hinder trade and financial
flows into Africa. It has also
completed the development of
a Pan African Payment and Set-
tlement System that will enable
intra-African trade to be paid
for in African currencies.

Weekly share price movement (July 01)

Security July 01 June 10 Movement
BATU 30,000 30000 00
BOBU 128 128 00
CENT 1,169 1,225 4.5
QCL 160 170 5.8
DFCU 650 670 2.9
EABL 7,211 7,593 5.0
EBL 1,390 1,474 5.6
JHL 14,432 14,666 1.6
KA 142 132 7.5
KCB 1,377 1,470 6.3
NIC 13 14 7.1
NMG 1,745 2,023 13.7
NVL 330 330 00
Thebe Ikalafeng (L), the chairman for Brand Africa hands over a certificate to
Mariam Limo, the Coca Cola head of marketing and Joseph Kanyamunyu from SBU 29 29 00
Publics Africa at a function held on June 27. Brand Africa in partnership with UCHM 18 18 00
Brand Leadership, Geopoll and Publics Africa announced the results of the most UCL 15 15 00
admired brands in Uganda. Independent/ Alfred Ochwo UMEME 300 300 00
ALSI -- -- --

32 July. 05 - 11 2019

By Stephen Grenville
The coming Libra panics
Why governments must slap a new financial
transaction tax on Facebook’s new digital currency
F
acebook’s unveiling of a new digital
currency, Libra, has produced a
tidal wave of skeptical, critical, and
outright hostile responses. That is
understandable, given Facebook’s reputa-
tion for carelessness about user data and
personal privacy. Nonetheless, public angst
won’t stop the company that once prom-
ised to “move fast and break things” from
forging ahead – and possibly breaking entire
national economies in the process.
We don’t yet have a full account of how
Libra will work. For all its revolutionary
hype, it could turn out to be just another
variation on existing payment schemes.
Apple Pay, PayPal, WeChat, and other ser-
vices already each offer a basic payment
method, including various convenience-en-
hancing features to lure customers and
businesses. But, in substance, these services
are merely an additional link in the chain of
existing payment channels, ultimately con-
necting to the conventional banking system.
If Libra simply competes with these
existing players, there could still be rich
pickings for Facebook, not just transfer and
foreign-exchange transaction fees, but also
in terms of data collection. Amassing the
payment and transaction details of the social
network’s huge user base would be a glit-
tering prize in itself.
But, of course, Libra is being sold as much
more than this. As one Facebook executive
puts it, “We want sending money to be as
easy as sending a text message.” Given that
Libra will take the form of private money
linked to a basket of stable major currencies,
how would this work in practice?
If the people of Argentina could switch
from pesos to a basket of stable currencies
with a single touch of their smartphones,
wouldn’t they then pour into that safe asset
at the first hint of trouble in the domestic
economy? A standard “efficient market”
analysis does not help us answer that ques-
tion, because in perfect markets, such flows
would be self-correcting. According to this
view, if the Argentine public abandoned its
peso holdings, the peso would depreciate,
and arbitrageurs would step in to support
the now-undervalued currency. The peso
would return to its initial value, and all
would be well. Far from posing a threat to
financial stability, frictionless international
flows would create the “efficient market” par
excellence.
Unfortunately, the real world doesn’t
work that way. During a spasm of domestic
panic, international capital flows in a system
without the equivalent of deposit insurance
are more likely to follow the logic of a bank
run. When depositors fear the possibility of
a bank failure, the sensible ones withdraw
their money. If the bank fails, they avoid a
loss; if it survives, they can simply redeposit
their money at little cost. But when enough
depositors do the sensible thing and with-
draw their funds, the bank will fail.
The same type of self-fulfilling prophecy
can also occur in a national economy. If
a peso depreciation seems imminent, all
rational holders of pesos will dump them for
a readily available stable currency, thereby
causing the rapid depreciation they feared.
In today’s world, such massive shifts
between currencies are rare, because there is
substantial friction in international currency
transactions. Even with major currencies,
the spread between buying and selling rates
for a foreign currency is typically around
10% (for retail customers). Moreover, there
are also substantial transfer fees, such as
those charged by Western Union for foreign
workers’ remittances. And though large
One partial
solution is a
small universal
financial
transaction
tax of the type
proposed 50
years ago by the
Nobel laureate
economist
James Tobin
COMMENT
financial-sector players can and do carry
out destabilizing transactions, such as in the
2013 “taper tantrum,” the currency flows in
these cases are still constrained by regulatory
requirements.
We don’t really know what would happen
if the general public suddenly had access to a
low-cost, unregulated method of exchanging
a volatile local currency for a basket of safe
currencies. But the risks are obvious. Coun-
tries with a long record of devaluations,
like Argentina, as well as any middle-size
country with a floating exchange rate, would
be highly vulnerable to capital flight.
Proponents of the efficient-markets theory
have long pushed for more frictionless
transactions, in order to maximise the scope
and benefits of the price mechanism. But so
far, we have been saved from the disastrous
consequences of frictionless international
currency flows by the inefficiencies of the pre-
vailing system. Exorbitant transaction fees
and anti-money-laundering (“know-your-
customer”) regulations have thrown enough
sand in the gears to make international cur-
rency runs a rare occurrence.
But if Facebook introduces seamless
international transactions for the general
public, runs will become commonplace.
Inevitably, governments will have to step
in to introduce a new form of friction to
the system. One partial solution is a small
universal financial transaction tax of the
type proposed 50 years ago by the Nobel
laureate economist James Tobin. Though a
“Tobin tax” wouldn’t address all the issues
concerning privacy and financial stability,
it could discourage short-term speculative
flows without undercutting incentives for
more beneficial transactions such as foreign
direct investment.
Policymakers around the world have
been discussing a Tobin tax for decades.
Now that Libra is looming on the horizon,
it is time to put words into action – before
Facebook does.
Stephen Grenville, a former deputy governor of
the Reserve Bank of Australia, is a non-resident
fellow at the Lowy Institute in Sydney.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2019.
www.project-syndicate.org
July. 05 - 11 2019 33
comment
By Cecilia Malmström
End trade in tools of torture
Why should tools with no purpose beyond inflicting
pain and suffering on humans cross borders freely?
T
here is no scenario where torture
is acceptable or appropriate. Any
practice that destroys its victims’
bodies and minds in order to
control their will is an affront to the
dignity of human beings. And research
indicates that torture is, at best, an
ineffective means of gathering intelligence;
at worst, it can elicit false information,
making it counter-productive.
Though torture is strictly forbidden
under international law, it remains
widespread. On the United Nations’
International Day in Support of Victims of
Torture, commemorated on June 26, the
best way to honor victims and survivors
was to take real action to end – or, at least,
impede – the practice globally. A good
place to start is through international
trade.
Though many countries have committed
in recent decades to abolishing capital
punishment and inhumane treatment and
practices, the instruments of torture – such
as finger screws, thumb cuffs, leg irons,
restraint chairs, spiked batons, and whips
embedded with barbs, hooks, or spikes –
are still being traded freely across borders.
These tools have no purpose beyond
inflicting pain and suffering on human
beings, yet they continue to cross borders
just like any other good.
This is not the case everywhere.
Since 2005, the European Union has
strictly regulated trade in certain types
of equipment and products – such as
gallows, electric chairs, and lethal-injection
systems – that can be used for capital
punishment, torture, and other inhumane
treatment. Such goods may never cross EU
borders, even for transit.
Such restrictions have made it more
difficult to secure the tools needed to carry
out inhumane activities. Nonetheless,
producers and merchants ultimately
manage to circumvent the restrictions, say,
by rerouting shipments. Even if this results
in higher prices, the deterrent is far from
sufficient.
Experience shows that banning trade in
34 July. 05 - 11 2019
tools of torture works. But it also shows
that such bans need to be implemented
globally to have the maximum impact. As
long as most countries do not limit trade
in instruments of torture, there will always
be ways to avoid those that do.
That is why, in September 2017, the EU,
Argentina, and Mongolia launched the
Alliance for Torture-Free Trade, aimed
explicitly at putting an end to trade in
goods whose only purpose is to inflict pain
on humans. Today, the Alliance includes
nearly 65 countries, representing every
inhabited continent.
At its first ministerial meeting last
September, the Alliance moved to turn
political commitments into action. In a
joint communiqué, members agreed to
work to create a UN instrument, such as
a binding convention, to end trade in the
The UN General
Assembly is
expected to pass a
resolution aimed
at abolishing
trade in
equipment whose
only practical
use is torture,
with the ultimate
goal of ending
the production of
such equipment
tools of torture.
Less than a year later, we are
approaching the first milestone on this
journey. This month, the UN General
Assembly is expected to pass a resolution
aimed at abolishing trade in equipment
whose only practical use is torture, with
the ultimate goal of ending the production
of such equipment. The resolution
would effectively launch the process of
establishing international rules on these
activities, bringing us one step closer to a
world without torture.
Getting from resolution to binding
international rules will not be easy. But
international conventions like the Arms
Trade Treaty and the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species
of Wild Fauna and Flora prove that, with
broad international commitment, trade can
be made more responsible and humane.
Achieving similar success on trade in the
tools of torture will require support from
more governments around the world.
The EU, which has been in the vanguard
of this process from the start, is committed
to upholding its leadership role, and it
will continue to work with countries
everywhere to secure binding rules on
trade in tools of torture. This is a central
feature of our broader values-based trade
agenda.
Of course, rules barring trade in the tools
of torture would not end the practice.
But they would make things significantly
more difficult – and expensive – for
torturers, while squeezing producers’
profits enough to encourage them to
pursue other opportunities. That would be
a major victory. For the sake of those who
have endured – and continue to endure
– torture, all governments worldwide
should come together to achieve it.
Cecilia Malmström is EU Commissioner for
Trade and former Swedish Minister for EU
Affairs.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2019.

By M. G. Katusabe – Ssemwezi
World Bank; rethink scrapping PLE
Children have a right to meaningful education and
not a right of simply walking through the system
T
he New Vision paper of May
31 quoted the World Bank’s
(WB) 13th Edition of the
Uganda Economic update
report, recommending to the Uganda
Government to scrap the Primary
Leaving Examinations (PLE) and
implement the policy on automatic
promotion. The WB’s advisor on
global education was reported
to have acknowledged that the
recommendation was controversial
and would not come easy. He said the
recommendation would save millions
of money and improve the quality of
education.
The recommendation springs from
the Bank’s finding that the rate of
transition from primary to secondary
has continued to drop. Repetition in
lower primary has led to a bulge in the
early classes. The report argues that
this leads to inefficiency and affects the
quality of education. Therefore, the WB
prescription is that PLE be scrapped
and pupils should transit to another
level – regardless of attained standard.
It is a shame that we cannot offer
acceptable attainment standards to
our children particularly those in
rural Uganda. When I went to primary
school in the 1960s, I started by writing
on banana leaves with a pencil and
even a sharpened stick could do the
same job. That is right; a stick. I then
“transited” to writing on a slate.
Another transition declared me worthy
of writing in a half exercise book with
a pencil until I graduated to using a
whole exercise book and a fountain
pen. The rest is history.
Why was this possible at Bunena
Primary School, located in Kitagwenda
County of Kamwenge District; a
typical rural setting but is not the
case today? Simple response - we had
great professional dedicated teachers
who cared for our education and who
enjoyed their work. Their productivity
was high.
A miserable teacher in poor working
conditions cannot deliver quality
education. Period. The sorry state
of many of our schools is common
knowledge. Just travel a few kilometres
into a rural setting and verify this.
Back then, we worked hard to
achieve; read, write, get the arithmetic
correct and speak English. What is
the scenario today? We have illiterate
children if they are not among the
privileged class going to good private
or international schools. But WB
recommends they should transit in
that state! How will scrapping PLE
and automatic transition help the child
make progress?
WB recommends continuous
assessment to replace PLE. This is a
The repeaters
are blamed
for attracting
big bills and
rendering
teachers
exhausted
through over
working but
WB does not
say why in the
first place this
condition exists
comment
good thing to do but if those meant to
implement it are not motivated it will
come to naught.
The repeaters are blamed for
attracting big bills and rendering
teachers exhausted through over
working but WB does not say why in
the first place this condition exists.
Uganda subscribes to the United
Nations Convention on the Rights
of Children (UNCRC) yet appears to
be in cahoots with the WB to violate
the rights of children to education.
If the children were able they would
challenge the system and drag the
perpetrators to the International
Criminal Court for trial.
A child will be happy to learn from
a conducive environment. These poor
schools lead to apathy and disaffection
about school leading to high dropout
and decreasing rates of transition.
Children have a right to meaningful
education and not a right of simply
walking through the system in a bid to
improve transition rates.
Today we are in the e-world. How
many of the repeaters have ever
touched a computer button in our
schools let alone the teachers. If the
beneficiaries of our system cannot
even make good use of the traditional
pen and paper, what are their chances
of surviving in the e- world? Provide
adequate and appropriate teaching
materials. If the WB cannot look into
the question of funding the factors
which lead to low transition, then the
WB is taking this country for a ride in
the wilderness.
The children are thirsty for real
education. Therefore, WB if your
intention is to help the child, think
again: what leads to low transition?
M. G. Katusabe – Ssemwezi is the
Academic Registrar of Victoria University
July. 05 - 11 2019 35
comment
By Maxwell Gomera
Wrong environmental assessments
Action is needed to ensure that investment decisions
account for projects’ real environmental consequences
W
alhi, Indonesia’s largest environ-
mental organisation, recently
took the government to court
for issuing construction permits
to a Chinese company based on what they
allege was a “deeply flawed” environmental
impact assessment. In fact, Wahli contends,
the $1.5 billion Batang Toru dam project
will have severe ecological consequences,
including the likely extinction of the world’s
rarest great ape, the Tapanuli orangutan.
Batang Toru is just one of many planned
infrastructure projects worldwide that
are officially deemed environmentally
sound, despite posing serious environ-
mental risks. For example, construction is
nearly complete on a railway line through
Kenya’s famous Nairobi National Park,
despite public outrage over an “incom-
plete and incompetent” environmental
impact assessment.
Similarly, in Guinea, the government
has approved plans for another Chinese
company to build a dam inside the Moy-
en-Bafing national park, a chimpanzee
sanctuary. The environmental impact
assessment that was carried out, experts
say, significantly underestimates the
number of chimpanzees that the project
threatens.
This is a dangerous trend, and it could
unravel the biodiversity and ecosystem
services – including the production of
food and water, the cycling of nutri-
ents, and the natural regulation of crop
pests and pollinators – on which all life
depends. Already, some 60% of those
services are degraded. With the world
expected to invest around $90 trillion in
infrastructure (including roads, dams,
and power plants) in the next 15 years
alone – resulting in more new infrastruc-
ture than is currently in existence globally
– action is urgently needed to ensure that
investment decisions account for projects’
real environmental consequences.
That is the purpose of strategic environ-
mental assessments (SEAs). In 1991, par-
ties to the United Nations Economic Com-
mission for Europe agreed to a conven-
tion on SEAs in transboundary contexts.
In March this year, the UN Environment
Assembly, the world’s highest-level deci-
sion-making body on the environment,
adopted a resolution requiring all govern-
ments to conduct SEAs before approving
36 July. 05 - 11 2019
any infrastructure projects.
These moves reflect a recognition that
SEAs are needed to ensure that the
decisions taken by governments and
companies do not cause undue damage
to the natural environment or the people
who depend on it. Many countries now
acknowledge the relationship between
economic activities and environmental
outcomes, and require SEAs to be con-
ducted before greenlighting projects.
But, as the examples cited above reveal,
SEAs are not fulfilling their purpose
reliably. This is because, as it stands, tech-
nical specialists typically conduct SEAs
at the behest of project developers – a
practice that, as activists have repeatedly
pointed out, is grossly unethical. With
the assessors frequently basing their con-
clusions on only a superficial appraisal
of the ecological and market value of
the affected ecosystems, it should be
no surprise that damaging projects are
often approved, despite failing to adhere
to broadly agreed green development
guidelines.
To play an effective role in protecting
the planet and its people, SEAs must be
rigorous, credible, and transparent. This
means that they must be conducted by
well-regulated, impartial professionals.
To some extent, the laws and institutions
needed to make this happen already exist:
In 1991, parties
to the United
Nations
Economic
Commission for
Europe agreed
to a convention
on SEAs in
transboundary
contexts
SEAs are legally required in many juris-
dictions, and the International Associa-
tion for Impact Assessment could provide
self-regulation. But a clear framework
for regulating the conduct of those who
carry out impact assessments, like bar
associations for legal professionals, is still
missing.
Here, the evolution of the accounting
profession can offer useful lessons. While
accounting can be traced back thousands
of years to Mesopotamia, it wasn’t until
the end of the nineteenth century that
the profession was recognised. In the
United States, an 1896 law dictated that,
to earn the title “certified public accoun-
tant” (CPA), one would have to pass state
examinations and accrue two years of
working experience.
In April, lawmakers in the United
Kingdom moved to improve transpar-
ency and prevent conflicts of interest in
bookkeeping by urging the Competition
and Markets Authority to prohibit the
“Big Four” accounting firms from offering
consulting services to customers they are
auditing. This comes after audit failures
at the construction company Carillion
and the retailer BHS, and a pledge from
three of the four firms to phase out advi-
sory work for their audit clients.
The evolution of the accounting profes-
sion has been driven by the recognition
that imprudent financial management
jeopardises social and economic stability.
But imprudent environmental manage-
ment poses at least as serious a threat;
similar action is needed to establish clear
requirements for those carrying out rele-
vant assessments.
Governments must wake up to the
conflicts of interest allowed by the cur-
rent approach to SEAs, and compel real
change. Only by ensuring that infrastruc-
ture-investment decisions are based on
rigorous and credible impact assessments
is it possible to reconcile economic devel-
opment with the preservation of the nat-
ural environment.
Maxwell Gomera is Director of the
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Branch
at UN Environment and a 2018 Aspen New
Voices Fellow. Follow him on Twitter: @
GomeraM
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2019.
 ART | BOOKS | SOCIETY | TRAVEL | CULTURE

Getting away
with `bad’ art
D
By Dominic Muwanguzi its execution. After all, Andy
Warhol had a factory and so
amien Hirst’s does Jeff Koons who has several
name spells
real money in
A perfect excuse assistants working for him.
So should artists simply make
the global art
fraternity. A
to revisit originality copies of their art and commod-
ify it for huge sales? Locally,
recent report Hood Juuko and Edison Mugalu
listed him among the 1000 have successfully commercial-
richest people in the UK with ised their art. Their approach to
a net worth of about US$300 art is to sell as many works as
million. His art commands possible.
high prices though he has Mugalu paints the water-
other business invest- scapes and city scenery pre-
ments. Some feature his dominantly with a touch of
art as a main attraction. perspective and light control.
And most of it is “con- His work is repetitive, predict-
troversial” – because able and obviously bland. Yet
it belongs to him but the artist has over the years
is not created by him emerged as one of the most
and some of it is selling artists on the Uganda
banal and repetitive; contemporary art scene- the
created by an army of subject of price remaining
Hirst’s assistants. relative.
Death, for exam- Similarly his contem-
ple, is his favourite porary, Juuko is an iconic
subject. He did a figure for his art that prolifi-
platinum skull work cally captures wild beasts on
titled `For the Love of his canvases in realistic style.
God 2007’ that evokes Few artists are as intuitive
feelings of morbidity. and flexible as Juuko. His
But ironically, the eclectic repertoire includes
skull is covered in sculptures and paintings.
8,601 diamonds He is also an art manager,
and belonged to a gallerist and property
European who died owner. In 2017, the artist
in the 17th century. landed an advertising deal
Some say this makes from Canon Camera’s latest
Hirst’s art not original series.
and disgusting. He is The notion of commodifica-
considered a sell –out tion of art has relentlessly been
who “only appeals to rich fought in certain circles of the
art collectors with question- global art market. Its critics
able taste”. Yet Hirst contin- claim it compromises quality
ues to make mind-boggling and originality. But of what
sales and his art often graces relevance is yesterday’s attitude
international museums and to today’s markets- including
art auction houses. those of art- that are more lib-
The artist is not bothered by eral? Today, the market shifts
extreme criticism. “I can‘t wait almost every second of the hour.
to get into a position to make That means producers of any
really bad art and get away commodities have to change
with it,” he once said. their wares rapidly. So Hirst and
For him the real creative others are possibly just paying
act of art is its conception, not attention to the unprecedented
market and writing history.

July. 05 - 11 2019 37
Macron and Trump’s ‘friendship tree’ dies
It was a gift that symbolised the friend-
ship between two world leaders but now,
much like the bond between them, it is no
more. French President Emmanuel Macron
gave the young oak to US President Donald
Trump during a state visit to Washington
DC in April last year. The tree came from
Belleau Wood in northern France where
almost 2,000 Americans died in June 1918,
near the end of World War One. Macron
had said that the tree and its poignant ori-
gins would be “a reminder at the White
House of these ties that bind us”. But a few
days later, the tree was pulled from the
ground and taken away. It emerged that,
like all living organisms imported into the
US, it had to go through quarantine. The
tree died there.

Man names Samsung tablet

son `Google’
A baby in Indonesia has been
awarded the title of “world’s
strangest name” after it was
revealed that his parents legally
registered him as “Google”;
no surname or middle name,
just Google, just like the search
engine. The eight-month-old
boy’s father, 31-year-old Andi
Cahya Saputra, says he had
considered more common
names or names mentioned
in the Quran, but in the end
he decided that a tech-related
name was better. So he looked
at names like “Windows,
iPhone, Microsoft and iOS”,
and ultimately settled on Goo-
gle. Although the mother didn’t
really like the idea at first, she
ultimately agreed and now
they have a boy named after
the world’s most popular inter-
net search engine. She says she
hopes her son will become “a
leader” of “many people”. Peo-
ple who joke the boy’s name
say when the parents ever have
another child they’ll name it
“WhatsApp” because they
don’t understand the “mean-
ing” of Google’s name.
How tech-obsessed humans
might look in 2100
Experts have examined the
way technology will affect the
human form, suggesting the
body may change dramatically.
Creating a 3D model of a future
human called “Mindy”, scien-
tists said people living in 2100
may have hunched backs from
hours of sitting over computers
and looking at smartphones.
Mindy also has bigger neck
muscles to compensate for her
poor posture, a thicker skull to
protect from radiation and a
smaller brain that has shrunk
from leading a largely sedentary
lifestyle. Humans in fewer than
100 years may also have claw-
like hands from gripping their
phones. Kasun Ratnayake, of the
University of Toledo, also said
the human body could change
to limit the amount of damaging
light eyes are expose to – possi-
bly resulting in a second eyelid.
`burns through bed’
A schoolboy had a lucky
escape when his Samsung
tablet reportedly overheat-
ed – and burned a hole in his
bed, just inches from his face.
Mum Amy Hewkin, 33, said
she was woken by son Callum,
who believed his tablet was
stuck to his bed. Amy and
husband Stewart, 32, claim
they found the tablet minutes
from catching fire and filling
their son’s room with white
smoke, leaving a melted hole
in his bedding and mattress to
the metal springs. The couple,
from Burntwood, Staffordshire,
had no idea their son had snuck
the four-year-old gadget into
his room after they went to bed,
leaving it on charge for up to
nine hours.

Woman arrested for nagging husband to do housework

Valerie Sanders, a 58-year-
old woman from the UK, spent
17 hours in jail after being
charged with “controlling
behavior” after allegedly
nagging her husband to clean
the house instead of his car.
Her husband, 58-year old
Michael Sanders, complained
to law enforcers that his wife
was constantly asking him to
clean and polish the family
home and complaining that
he spent too much time at
the gym and cleaning his car.
Apparently, this qualified
as “coercive or controlling
behavior”, an offense
punishable by law, so police
turned up at the Sanders
residence in Catterick, arrested
Valerie and threw her in
jail. She was charged with
controlling behavior and was
forced to fight a legal battle for
over a year. They are getting
divorced.

38 July. 05 - 11 2019
 Vehicle fuel economy ratings
Mitsubishi Triton case shows
why you should be concerned
By Motoring Guru
F
uel economy ratings given by vehicle
manufacturers are being questioned
following a landmark decision by a
consumer tribunal in the Supreme
Court of Victoria State in Australia.
The Victoria consumer tribunal awarded
a full refund to a Mitsubishi Triton owner
who claimed the fuel economy rating label
was not an accurate reflection of real world
consumption.
The owner of the Mitsubishi Triton GLS,
Zelko Begovic, claimed he could not achieve
the same fuel economy on open road driv-
ing as the figure published on the rating
label, and that the discrepancy was greater
than what was expected or could be deemed
reasonable.
The label stated that the vehicle could
offer “6.8L/100 km on Extra Urban”. How-
ever, although Begovic bought it knowing
he could possibly not get that because of
various road driving issues, he was disap-
pointed that he could not get even achieve
8.5 litres per 100 km on Extra Urban
(highway driving). Instead, the vehicle
consumed 12.44L/100km in Extra Urban
driving during tests.
The car was taken back to dealers numer-
ous times to check fuel consumption, but no
faults were found. During the dispute, tech-
nical experts from Mitsubishi also inspected
and tested the vehicle. Data was also pre-
sented to the tribunal from an independent
company, ABMARC, which measured the
consumption of his Mitsubishi Triton in real
driving conditions using advanced on-board
test equipment, similar to that used in
Europe to measure consumption and emis-
sions.
The testing used different standards to
achieve a result, including vehicle load, fuel
quality standard and the tests were outside
laboratory conditions as they utilised porta-
ble testing equipment.
Finally, the difference between the real-
world driving measurements versus the
manufacturer’s fuel economy rating label
data was deemed “unusual and excessive”,
the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tri-
bunal (VCAT) ruled in favour of the owner
of the Mitsubishi Triton. He was awarded a
full refund on the $39,500 new-car purchase
price due to discrepancies over fuel econo-
my claims.
The ruling is now being challenged in the
Supreme Court. But the car industry fears
it could set a precedent for other states to
follow.
“The precedent that this might set is a
concern for the industry. We’ve urged for
many years that motor industry consumer
matters should be dealt with by a special-
ised tribunal with adequate technical com-
petency,” said David Blackhall, CEO of the
Australian Automotive Dealer Association.
He argued that, as previous cases have
highlighted, the average consumption fig-
ures on fuel economy labels are determined
by laboratory tests rather than real-world
driving.
The laboratory tests were created so all
vehicles could be assessed in identical con-
ditions. However over the years the gap
between lab results and real world figures
has widened.
The ruling comes at a time when new
rules being rolled out in Europe will soon
require all car makers to provide fuel
economy estimates based on real-world
driving tests.
July. 05 - 11 2019 39
global comment
By Ceyla Pazarbasioglu
Bad news for the world’s poorest
What the World Bank lowering of its 2019 global
growth forecast to the lowest in three years means
T
he global economic mood is souring.
At their meeting in Fukuoka, Japan,
earlier this month, G20 finance
ministers and central bank gover-
nors warned that economic growth remains
weak, with risks still tilted to the downside.
Just a few days before that gathering, the
World Bank had lowered its 2019 global
growth forecast to 2.6% – the lowest rate
in three years – and predicted that growth
would remain tepid in 2020-2021.
These headlines conceal an even
gloomier story: the worsening plight
of the world’s poorest people. With a
weaker global economy making their
climb out of poverty even harder, the
world must support a range of bold poli-
cies to help them.
We know from recent experience what
needs to be done. Between 2001 and 2019,
the number of low-income countries –
where annual per capita income is below
$995 – fell by almost half (from 64 to 34),
as 32 low-income countries attained mid-
dle-income status, whereas only two new
countries joined the group of low-income
countries. This remarkable progress in
just one generation – the result of strong
growth, better policies, and in some cases
plain luck – lifted millions of people out
of poverty.
Faster growth is crucial to reducing
poverty. From 2001-2018, the 32 econ-
omies that moved from low- to mid-
dle-income status grew by an average
of roughly 6% per year. That was about
60% faster overall than growth in middle-
and high-income emerging market and
developing economies in that period,
and some 25% faster than in countries
that remained stuck in the low-income
bracket.
A favourable external environment sup-
ported rapid growth prior to the global
financial crisis, while the commodities
boom of 2001-2011 fueled heavy invest-
ments in exploration and production
in many low-income countries. The
resulting increase in export earnings
improved their governments’ finances.
Furthermore, nine low-income coun-
tries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
rebounded from deep recessions in the
1990s as they moved from planned to
market economies. Separately, multilat-
40 July. 05 - 11 2019
eral debt-relief initiatives in 2001 helped
some low-income countries to stabilise
their budgets and economies. Conflicts
in some African countries eased, leading
to a steady decline in violence-related
casualties. And further trade integration
boosted exports, attracted foreign invest-
ment, and spurred reforms. Low-income
countries were thus able to invest more
in their people: since 2001, secondary
education enrollment rates have doubled,
and the investment-to-GDP ratio has
increased by five percentage points in
low-income countries since 2001.
Some countries got a bigger boost than
others. Those that moved up the income
ladder also had better policy frameworks,
governance, and business environments.
They had more developed infrastructure,
greater improvements in human capital,
and more abundant fiscal resources.
Finally, geography was another key
advantage. Only about one-third of
the countries that moved out of the
low-income group in 2001-2019 were
landlocked, and those that did often had
wealthier neighbours. By contrast, almost
half of the remaining low-income econo-
mies have no access to the sea.
Rapid economic expansion helped to
reduce the number of people worldwide
living in poverty (living on $1.90 or less
per day) by one-third between 2001
and 2015. However, these declines were
mostly in countries that progressed to
middle-income status. The number of
people living in poverty in the remaining
low-income economies was broadly
unchanged.
Today’s low-income countries must
jump higher than their predecessors
did to escape poverty. Their per capita
incomes are further below the middle-in-
come threshold, and most of these coun-
tries are fragile states, marked by conflict
or political instability. They rely heavily
on agriculture, making them vulnerable
to extreme weather. And demand for
their commodity exports is weakening
as major emerging markets grow more
slowly and shift toward less resource-in-
tensive industries.
Moreover, many poorer countries are
saddled with heavy debt burdens. Debt
service absorbs revenues that could oth-
erwise finance growth-enhancing infra-
structure projects, or expenditures on
health and education.
Because the world’s remaining low-in-
come countries have poverty rates above
40%, their projected per capita income
growth is highly unlikely to be sufficient
to help reach the United Nations Sus-
tainable Development Goal of reducing
extreme poverty worldwide to 3% by
2030.
These countries therefore need a bold
agenda for boosting growth to gen-
erate more and better jobs. They need
to become more integrated into global
trade flows, diversify their exports, and
attract more foreign direct investment.
Their governments could improve skills
and technologies by investing in human
capital and infrastructure (but must do so
within tight budget constraints).
Measures to enhance financial inclusion
and strengthen financial systems would
also help. So would mobilising domestic
revenues to make government finances
more sustainable.
Other priorities should include
improving governance and the business
climate, enhancing competition policies
to raise productivity and international
competitiveness, and supporting pri-
vate-sector activity.
This challenging agenda is necessary
in order to lift today’s low-income coun-
tries out of poverty. Yet they cannot and
should not do it alone. The rest of the
world has a responsibility to help – not
least because of the impact of entrenched
poverty and unfulfilled aspirations on
global security and migration.
The global economy may be strug-
gling, but that is no excuse to ignore the
world’s poorest people. On the contrary,
it is the most important reason to do
more, and the Osaka summit provides a
good opportunity.
Ceyla Pazarbasioglu is World Bank Group
Vice President for Equitable Growth,
Finance, and Institutions.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2019.
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