News analysis
Health
Business
When refugees out- learn hosts
The coming Community Health Workers
Surge in tourism revenues
Issue No. 527 June 29 - July 05, 20 18
Shs139bn URA Tower nears completon
Ushs 5,000,Kshs 200, RwF 1,500, SDP 8
Finishing off Kayihura And the hunt for Crime Preventers’ boss
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Issue No. 527 June 29 - July 05, 2018 News analysis
Business
Health
Arts
Motoring
Cover story
Finishing off Kayihura And the hunt for Crime Preventers’ boss 4
The Week
29 Comments
Indecent dressing not cause for sexual harassment-new MAK report
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Why host the world cup?: All revenue from ticket sales, international broadcasting rights, and sponsorships goes directly to FIFA
The Last Word
Museveni leadership of economy: How the president’s successful economic stewardship is now in the past with lile direction on the future 16
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The coming Community Health Workers: Experts query their cost and compare them to current VHTs
Analysis When refugees out- learn hosts: Uwezo study nds children in some refugee schools at higher learning level than their Ugandan hosts
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Business Shs 139bn URA Tower nears completion: Tax body to save Shs3.8bn upon completion of the project
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June 29 - July July 05, 2018
OFFLINE
President Yoweri Museveni addressing Parliament on the state of security in the country during a special sitting at Parliament on June 20.
Huawei’s new Managing Director Liu Jiawei (L) receiving a book about Uganda from the First Lady Janet Museveni at a recently concluded Seeds for the Future event at State Sta te House House Nakasero on June 19. INDEPENDENT/
“You don’t unveil a security plan while everything is being telecast like you are launching a manifesto.” manifesto.” Semujju Nganda, Opposition chief whip in parliament on President Museveni’s security address to Parliament
JIMMY SIYA
A lady packing polythene bags at a garbage collection point in Kireka on June 25. Garbage has become a big issue in Kireka and the surrounding areas in Kira division. . INDEPENDENT/ JIMMY SIYA
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Years Nakivale Refugee Settlement is marking
“We are very upset about the decision by the police to send them (suspected spies) to Rwanda without our approval. So we missed on prosecuting them.”Hilary them.” Hilary Onek, Minister for Disaster Preparedness
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UPDF soldiers who will retire in July
“We are totally opposed to having sitting public servants allowed to contest in these elections. For the first time, you are going to see an RDC, a permanent secretary showing their political colours.”Nobert colours.” Nobert Mao, DP President General
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Barrels of oil in Buliisa and Nwoya districts governmentt will sell governmen
June 29 - July July 05, 2018
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WEEK
(R-L) South Sudan President Salvar Kiir, Kiir, President of the t he Republic of Sudan Omar Bashir, Bashir, President of the t he Republic of Uganda Yoweri Yoweri Museveni and the former Vice President of South Sudan Riek Machar hold hands hands in solidarity shortly before addressing the delegates and the media during t he Khartoum Round on Facilitating IGAD Peace Process for South Sudan in the Sudan capital, Khartoum on June 25.
Besigye urges medics to reject working under filthy conditions on Kiruddu hospital visit The opposition’s Forum for Democratic Change former party President Dr. Kizza Besigye visited Kiruddu hospital an extension of Mulago National Referral hospital on June25 Jun e25.. Besi Besigye gye who was talking to a crowd that surrounded him as he went to visit fellow opposition politician and legislator Bey Nambooze said health
workers, patients and the hospital neighbors will soon start suering from hygiene related diseases if management of the hospital doesn’t properly manage the waste that keeps following from the hospital to the open. “I don’t know why my fellow medical workers are continuing to work amidst this lth. They should reject
it. People will come to be trea treated ted for mal malari ariaa but wil willl end end up cat catchching cholera from here”, he said. However, since December last year, residents have been protesting against the overow of raw sewage which recently prompted Kampala City Council Authority Authority to issue a notice threatening to close the facility
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Indecent dressing not cause for sexual harassment-new MAK report The Makerere University sexual harassment report was released on June255 with June2 wit h recomme rec ommendati ndations ons for lecturers to avoid dating students. While the University has no policy barring barrin g studen st udents ts from f rom going g oing into consensual sexual relationships with their professors, Prof. Sylvia Tamale the leader of the team that has been investigating into sexual harassment at the country’s oldest institution of
higher learning said avoiding these relationships would help sort those that claim they are framed for raping or sexually harassing students and yet they are actually consensual relationships gone sour. Tamale said they found no evidence to show a relationship between betwe en indece in decent nt dressi dr essing ng and a nd sexual s exual harassment even as many believe that students dressing in seductive ways
can lure lecturers into wanting to have sex with them. “There are reports of Muslim students who dress in the hijab wear facing some challenges as those that don’t. There is no relationship at all between dress code and harassment”. The investigation was launched earlier in the year after media reports showed that lecturers were asking students for sex in exchange for good grades.
Pension and occupational hazards insurance schemes How were pension and occupational hazards benefits changed by Presidential Order No 069/01 of 16/4/2018?
Ask RSSB The Presidential PresidentialOrder Order increased pension and occupation hazards benefits as follows: From benefits of 5,201 to 10,000, a 149.85 to 101.04% increase was made while ranges from 10,001 to 20,000 received raises of 100.9% to 63.02%. From 20,001 to 50,000, benefits paychecks rose by between 63% and 34.22% while benefits from 50,001 to 100,000 were increased by 34.2% to 22.1%. From 100,001 to 200,000, benefits were raised by 22.08% to 13.56% and those who were earning from 200,0001 to 500,000 in monthly benefits were given rises of between 13.54% and 5.74%. Between 500,001 and 1,000,000 the increase made ranged from 5.74% to 0,504% and benefits from 1,000,001 and above got a rise of between 0.502% and 0.071%.
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Medical Board approves Nambooze’s Nambooze’s travel request amidst calls for her release Mukono Municipality legislator Bey Nambooze has been admied at the government’s hospital at Kiruddu after her condition deteriorated while detained by the police. The MP had been held over what she posted on social media following the assassination of Arua Municipality MP Ibrahim Abiriga. Though on June 25, the medical council gave her clearance to travel, Nambooze says she was supposed to travel for treatment on June 15 but was arrested two
days before that date, and her spine problem has been deteriorating ever since. However, her condition has aracted criticism from difdif ferent groups including the youth who demonstrated at parliament on June25 holding
placards calling for her release. Also, Simon Peter Kinobe the president of Uganda Law Society called for her immediate or else he said they will sue those responsible for her incarceration. The MP was also a subject of discussion by the Masaka Arch Bishop John Baptist Kaggwa as he marked 23years of service. “Do you think Nam booze boo ze kil killed led Abi Abirig riga? a? Doe Doess she she have a gun?” he wondered calling for government to intervene before bef ore the cou countr ntry’s y’s sec securi urity ty situation gets out of hand.
Zimbabwe's Mnangagwa survives bomb attack at rally
Emmerson Mnangagwa
As Zimbabwe readies for the rst polls after the departure of President Robert Mugabe, the campaigns are tense but observers say President Emmerson
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Mnangagwa appears to be having the majority support. However, on June23, it got the country by surprise when a bomb bom b blas blastt went went o at his ral rally ly
June 29 - July July 05, 2018
in the capital of Bulawayo. International reports show that Mnangagwa was whisked to safety by his security detail although some of his supporters including ZANU PF party ocials were injured and rushed for treatment. Speaking shortly after visiting these, the president said he survived an aempt on his life and that he is used to it. “The object exploded a few inches away from me but it was not my time. It has aected my vice-presidents, especially comrade Mohadi”, he said. The election is scheduled for July30 Jul y30 and the big biggest gest com compet petiition is between Mnangagwa and his closest challenger Nelso Chamisa of the Movement for Democratic Change party.
EC responds to Achola’s court petition challenging disqualification
Catherine Achola the former Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) Party candidate for Pallisa district woman MP seat on June19 Jun e19 pet petiti itione oned d the the civ civil il div diviision of the high court challenging her disqualication from the race by the Electoral Commission (EC) over changed names. In his response to the case on June25 Jun e25,, the the EC EC Chai Chairma rman, n, Just Justice ice Simon Byabakama Mugenyi, said the candidate did not provide the Electoral Commission with any evidence indicating that there was compliance with the law when she adopted the said names during the national identity card enrollment exercise in 2015. While her academic papers bear the names Catherine Achola, her national Identity Card bears Achola Catherine Osupelem who according to the EC could be a dierent person. However, when Achola was disqualied, her competitor of the ruling National Resistance Movement Party Faith Alupo was declared MP unopposed something that FDC is now challenging in court.
Humour
Did you know?
What causes drip drip tap
Chief Justice Bart Katureebe has reacted to President Museveni’s directive to the Judiciary and police to deny suspects bail or bonds.
President Museveni has reappointed Lt Gen Andrew Gutti as the Chairman of the General Court Martial
The government has sent a delegation of 10 members led led by the Minister of lands , Ms Betty Among to the United Kingdom for the colonial map to establish the actual boundaries of Tororo Municipality
It’s one of the most recognisable and annoying sounds of modern life. Now scientists are claiming to have h ave ‘solved the riddle’ of what makes taps drip and how the solution to stopping the infernal noise could be lurking in most people’s cupboards. Researchers from the University of Cambridge said the ‘plink, plink’ sound produced by a water droplet hiing a liquid surface is not caused by the impact of the falling blob of liquid. It’s actually the result of the movement of a small bubble of air beneath the water which forces its surface to vibrate. This means it can be stopped by reducing the surface tension of the water, which is the name for a phenomenon which allows objects and some creatures to oat on top of water. Dr Anurag Agarwal of Cambridge’s Department of Engineering, who led a study to record drops in slow motion using high-speed cameras, says thanks to modern video and audio technology, they could nally nd out exactly where the sound is coming from, which may help us to stop it. He was inspired to investigate this perennial problem after visiting a friend whose roof was leaking. ‘While I was being kept awake by the sound of water falling into a bucket placed underneath the leak, I started thinking about this problem,’ he said. This study is signicant because it’s the rst direct glimpse of the oscillation (movement back and forth in a regular rhythm) of the trapped air bubble which forms when a drop hits a surface. The scientists were able to directly observe the oscillation of the air bubble for the rst time, showing that the air bubble is the key driver for both the underwater sound, and the distinctive airborne ‘plink’ sound,’ said Phillips, who is now a PhD student in the Department of Engineering. The simple way to stop a leaking tap from annoying you is just to add some dish soap to the water siing in a sink or bucket, which should stop the sound by reducing surface tension. June 29 - July July 05, 2018
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Newsa News analysis
Healt Hea lth h
Goodallseesfut Gooda llseesfut ure urefor for Ugand ganda’schim a’schimpanz panzees ees
Newapptoe New apptoe ase medicalaccess medicalacce ss
Businesss Busine Uganda ’sambitous Uganda’sam bitousreve revenue target ta rgetforFY20 forFY2018/1 18/19 9
Issue No No.526 June 22 - 2 8, 2018
Inbo In box x Letters are welcome ! The Editor welcomes short and concise leers 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 Kanjokya St, Kamwokya. Kampala,Uganda.
Email:
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Correction Mr.. Godfrey Mr Mwesigye’s photo In our Issue 523 (June 01-072018) on Page 29 we published an article titled “Protecting data and Privacy: Why parliament should pass the Data Protection and Privacy Bill in 2015 to end digital exploitation”. However, the photo aached to the article is not that of the author, Godfrey Mwesigye. The correct photo is aached. We regret the error. – Editor
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Kay ihu ihura’s fall fa ll
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Sad day for Africa The two explosions in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe recently are nothing less than vicious acts of terrorism against Africa’s new day. Condolences to the families and the people of these two countries for the loss of life. Prayers for Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, and Africa at large. What is clear is that there is a new reality to face. One that we
thought we would not see again in Africa. Clearly dark forces are busy at many unknown levels. That is why Ethiopia and Zimbabwe should thoroughly investigate today’s events with a 360° view approach. And do everything to apprehend and prosecute those behind such heinous terrorist acts. But equally important is that they should
not let these vile acts change the progressive course their countries have embarked on in recent times for their people. There must be a renewed determination to make that lamp of hope shine even brighter and further around starting today. Hussein Lumumba Amin Kampala, Uganda.
Presidential address on security was timely Confusion over RDC Following the past cases of President Museveni went appointees
insecurity, murders, kidnaps, President Yoweri Museveni on Junee 20 Jun 20 met met add addres ressed sed Pa Parli rliaament about security. It was timely and the President listed points on how to strengthen and revive the security of Uganda. I believe that there should be no undetected crime after government has taken the measures that the President talked about for example; nger printing all guns in Uganda, electronic monitoring of all motor vehicle and motorcycles, and banning cyclists wearing jackets with hoods covering their faces. These will help passengers or the eye witnesses to identify any cyclist involved in criminal activities.
ahead and promised the urgent installation of cameras all over the town, streets, and on the highways. This will help to monitor all criminals in the city and it will help police to gather evidence. Having a modern forensic laboratory and more scanners to cover all land borders, landing sites, the airport, and asking the police to revive the police 999 was a right move from the President. Therefore, Ugandans shouldn’t worry because the police, other security organs, and the President are doing whatever it takes to make sure that everyone in Uganda is secure and peaceful. Catherine Namuddu Kampala
Laws in Uganda don’t discriminate I have started to believe that laws in Uganda do not discriminate due to the recent arrest of the former Inspector General of Police Gen. Kale Kayihura and other police ocers. The arrest speaks out loud that nobody is above the law even if you are powerful and well-connected like to the level of former IGP. Kayihura must be accorded to fair trial in courts of law but the irony is that it is alleged that Kayihura might be implicated in cases that include murder and denying victims their rights
Ugandag oin oingg deeper into debt
before the law before law,, massi massive ve arr arrest ests, s, torture among other cases. It’s ironical that opposition politicians and the civil society organisations are now demanding that Kayihura’s rights should not be violated and he needs to be treated as a good carder of the NRM and a senior ocer at the rank of a general. Gen. Kayihura’s arrest should send a message to those who have authority and power not to misuse them but to know that time will come when what they did catches up whether
June 29 - July July 05, 2018
negatively or positively. They should serve this nation diligently without causing harm to the people. We should not pretend that this is new in Uganda because we have had senior servants being bei ng arr arrest ested, ed, inc includ luding ing Gen. Sejjusa, former Vice President Gilbert Bukenya, Mike Mukula, Gen. Henry Tumukunde, Gen. Jim Muh Muhwez wezi, i, and mor more. e. Catherine Atugonza Kampala
How come embarrassing games, scenes continue to engulf the Presidency’s restructuring exercise of deploying central government district representatives (RDC & DRDCs) since Junee 18? Jun 18? Cou Could ld thi thiss be be deli deliber ber-ate, sabotage, error, intentional betray bet rayal al or out outrig right ht mal malice ice to the President? Have the state security veing teams entrusted by the hea head d of of state state fai failed led to do bale (duties) or have they justt coll jus collaps apsed? ed? The pin ping g pong pong of identifying, recruiting and deploying “dead”, resurrected, or non-existent human resource in a country where over 60% unemployed youth are available is to say the least despicable and surprising. surprising. Truly, there are malicious elements around the Presidency. I was once their victim. They split my names into two (Nabendeh deployed in one district and Wamoto in another one!). Later some solicited for money in order to remind the President to redeploy us. When I was rst inducted in security strategies classroom, I was told that without detective, skillful, courageous and intelligent leadership, society stands still. The question is where did these sharp, intelligent ocers go? Nabendeh Wamoto S.P (0776658433) Email: simonwamoto@y simonwamoto@yahoo. ahoo. co.uk
The Last Word
OPINION
Museveni leadership of economy By Andrew M. Mwenda
How the president’s successful economic stewardship is now in the past with little direction on the future
P
resident Yoweri Yoweri Museveni has been named 12th among 24 leaders globally whose individual contribution has had a signicant positive imim pact on their countries’ economic growth. This was in a study by Professor William Easterly of New York University and Steven Pennings, a researcher at the World Bank. The rankings placed Museveni above Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore and Park Chung Hee of South Korea, the most successful leaders to preside over the economic transformation of their nations from poverty to riches within a generation. The study did not generate any excitement among elite circles in Uganda. Except for a lead story in the state-owned New Vision, there was lile said about it. Indeed most people on social media simply ignored it. Had the report presented Museveni among the worst leaders in the world, it is highly probable that it would have made headlines in Daily Monitor and gone viral online. So why is no one interested in blowing Museveni’s trumpet? This will be a debate for another article. Museveni has presided over economic success when measured by the rate of growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Between 1986 when he came to power and 2014, our GDP grew at an annual average rate of 6.74% while per capita income grew at annual average rate of 3.5%. This is an impressive performance by bot both h glob global al and his histor toric ic sta standa ndards rds.. Uganda’s high GDP growth rate is even more impressive given that between 1986 and 1996, most economies in the region were suering slow, stagnant, or negative growth. For example, over this period, Uganda’s GDP grew at an annual average rate of 5.67% – the 25 th fastest growing economy in the world and 5 th in Africa behind beh ind Equ Equato atoria riall Guin Guinea ea (7th), Botswana th th (10 ), Mauritius (12 ) and Swaziland (13 th). During this period, Uganda’s immediate neighbours were not doing well with Ta Tannnd th zania (62 ), Kenya (67 ) and Rwanda (178 th) globally. The performance of your neighbours has powerful implications on your growth, a factor that this study underlines. This is the reason Singapore’s Lee who performed much beer than Museveni is ranked below our president. The study argues that there were other factors such as geographical
location and initial endowments like human capital that contributed to growth more than Lee’s individual leadership ability. Economists discount the rst six to eight years after civil war to mark a particular date as a base year to measure growth. This eliminates high growth spikes resulting from initial recovery. In Uganda’s case, we can discount the rst seven years and use 1993 as our base here. Here Uganda ran a growth marathon for twenty years from 1993 to 2012, with annual GDP growth rate averaging 7.2%, one of the best in the world. This growth marathon ended in 2011. While Uganda’s growth between 2012 and 2017 has been mediocre, averaging 4.1%, nations in the region – Ethiopia (9.5%), Rwanda (7.2%), DR Congo (6.9%), Ta Tanzania nzania (6.7%) and Kenya (5.5%) have been doing beer. be er. Uga Uganda nda need needss to to worr worry y becau because se this slow growth has lasted six years. With annual population growth rate at 3.12%, growth in income per capita has fallen from 4.1% between 1993 and 2014 to 1.01% betwee bet ween n 2012 2012 and 201 2017. 7. Ind Indeed, eed, thi thiss also also explains the increase in the percentage of people living below the poverty line from 19% in 2013 to 27% in 2017. What has happened? The country has lost its position as a leading reformer. Previously, Uganda was the policy innovation hub not only for Africa, but other developing countries as well. It was in Uganda that policies were incubated. Upon success here, they would be taken to other developing nations by international development institutions as best practice. Not anymore. Ethiopia and Rwanda, the number one and number two growth superstars of today, are now the policy innovation hubs. A friend from the international development community who has worked on Uganda since the 1990s visited recently and his comments were discouraging but equ equall ally y illu illumin minati ating. ng. “In the old day dayss senior people from the ministry of nance and Bank of Uganda were always thinking about, and ne tuning policies,” he told me over a glass of wine, “I have not seen much evidence of that in the recent few years.” “Gone are the days when policy makers in Uganda set the agenda on how low income countries can improve their economic outcomes,” he went on, “Those were the days when Ugandan ocials led the way in looking for new sources of growth, ways
of enhancing budget formulation, ecient spending allocation, monetary policy conduct etc. I could not nd anybody thinking about lifting growth rates in policy making circles.” As a result, the budget-making process has become ad hoc, he said. The recurrent budget bud get has bec become ome con consis sisten tently tly ins insuc ucien ientt thereby making supplementary budgets the norm. Capital expenditures in the budget are driven by projects for which money is available rather than projects with the highest rate of return. There is lile eort to push boundaries. Focus is on short term and often, small measures like the social media tax. Overall, Uganda has a fatigued and tired policy making body. He told me that from his experience of the “good old days”, there was active ownership and deliberation of policies. p olicies. Nowadays, it seems as if everyone is waiting for oil to come on board hoping that somehow everything will then right itself. Government is massively investing in infrastructure – roads, railways and dams. While this hardware is necessary, it is not sucient to sustain growth because the software of policy innovation is missing. Then he asked me to contrast this with Ethiopia and Rwanda. He felt leadership at the ministry of nance and central bank needs to be refreshed big-time so that new thinking and energy can be infused into the system. Uganda has a lot of human capital, he told me, but equally so much pent-up talent. But how do we get new thinking and energy into the system that has been captured by self-interested groups and individuals with a vested interest in the perpetuation of the status quo? Secondly, one wonders whether at 74 years and after 32 years in power, Museveni is still capable of mounting any serious reform initiative to redirect Uganda’s economy towards more policy innovation and dynamism. This is theoretically possible but whether it is practically feasible is another thing. The fact that a study placing Museveni among the world’s best leaders did not excite popular excitement shows how the government’s intellectual support basee is bas is sue suerin ring g from from let lethar hargy gy as wel well. l.
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June 29 - July July 05, 2018
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COVER STORY
Finish Fin ishing ing off
Kayihura And the hunt for Crime Preventers’ boss By Haggai Matsiko The noose around besieged former Inspector of Police Kale Kayihura continues to tighten as a joint joi nt Int Intern ernal al Sec Securi urity ty Org Organi anisat sation ion (IS (ISO) O) and Chi Chieft eftain aincy cy of Mil Milita itary ry Inte Intelli lligenc gence e (CMI (CMI)) oper operati ation on pursues more of his close associates. The latest target is Blaise Kamugisha, the former NationNational Coordinator of the National Crime Preventers Forum (NCPF). This is the same man who, in a March 28 meeting of President Yoweri Yoweri Museveni and coordinators of crime preventers from all over country, country, pledged his loyalty to the president.
Gen. Kale Kayihura, Blaise Kamugisha and Brig. Abel Kandiho 10
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COVER STORY
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ow, reliable sources have told The Independent that Kamugisha ran to exile last week on Thursday, after a tipo that ISO and CMI operatives were closing in on him. He ed to Kenya. Insiders say while in Kenya, Kamugisha contacted President Museveni who advised him to return to Uganda. By press time, The Independent had learnt that Kamugisha had returned but then again went into hiding unsure if he can survive the clutches of ISO – that is he cannot feel safe unless and until he meets Museveni directly. In March, Kamugisha stunned the nation when he said: “We take it on ourselves to protect the president and help him keep his country safe... We can kill for the president”. Until now Kayihura, who remains halfway between military detention and house arrest, has only been interrogated once since his arrest on June 13. And the only charge that has been read to him is that of allegedly murdering the former Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIGP) Andrew Felix Kaweesi on March 17, 2017. It is clear that investigations around the police chief continue to take that denite shape. But Kamugisha’s involvement signals another more political case forming against Kayihura. Given that Kayihura was the main benefactor of the crime preventers, whose num berss he per ber person sonall ally y put put at 11 mil millio lion, n, it is clear to see how any suspected rebel activity by the gro group up can easi easily ly be con connec nected ted to him. Kamugisha was a close Kayihura associate and had been given the lucrative billion shilling deal of supplying food to the police force. Now, state media report that this contract is part of the investigations government is conducting linking Crime Preventers with plans to organize a rebel group. Kamugisha joins two other Kayihura associates who have ed imminent arrest. Kiyihura’s former personal assistant, Jonathan Baroza, whom he had dispatched as an aaché to Algeria, went missing in transit in when he was summoned back to Kampala. Insiders say Baroza had been expected to return to Uganda but disappeared at an airport in Istanbul, Turkey, where he was supposed to connect to Entebbe. According to the passenger manifest, Baroza boarded the plane in Istanbul bound for Entebbe. A large contingent of police and security oo cers were deployed at the airport to arrest him as soon as the plane landed. But when the plane landed at Entebbe, Baroza was not on board. Baroza became a controversial gure when one of his bodyguards was spoed at the Kaweesi murder scene. It was alleged that this bodyguard and later Baroza himself were tampering with the scene of crime to erase evidence since they had not been
assigned the case and were not in the forensics department. However, sources familiar with the Kaweesi murder case say Baroza was at the scene because he was in charge of witness protection and was that day providing cover to some witnesses, who had been given the white overalls—forensics uniform—to disguise who they were so as to prevent them from being targeted by those behind the murder. But even senior police ocers like AIGP Fred Yiga, who was at the scene of crime, appear not to have had this detail. So they ended up clashing with Baroza and concluding that he was trying to tamper with the scene of crime. Whatever the case, Baroza’s disappearing act follows that of another Kayihura ally, Amos Ngabirano, the former police director of Information and Communication
President Museveni
Technology (ICT). Ngabirano went missing immediately trouble started unfolding and his whereabouts remain unknown.
Kandiho’s mission The Independent understands that Kayihura is ghting back. He has said he does not feel safe that the people investigating him are the same people who have been forging all sorts of allegations to implicate him. The team interrogating Kayihura includes three people who are said to have daggers drawn against him already; CMI boss Bri Brig. g. Abel Kan Kandih diho, o, ISO boss Maj Maj.. Kaka Bagyenda, and Director Criminal Intelligence and Investigations (CIID) Grace Akullo. Among these three, sources tell The Independent that Kandiho is the one Kayihura is concerned about the most. Having been appointed only in January
2017 to head CMI, it has taken Kandiho just a year and a few months to disrupt Uganda’s entire security system. On June 13, the day Kale Kayihura was arrested, of the senior military ocers who landed in a helicopter at his home in Kashagama, Lyantonde District, one man stood out. Tall Ta ll and pencil-thin, Kandiho approached the task with a unique precision. He travelled with his senior, Lt. Gen. Wilson Mbadi, but Kayihura must have known that this was Kandiho’s mission. For example while interrogating Kayihura at his home, Kandiho spoed a document in the former IGP’s briefcase and asked for it. Kayihura refused to hand it over insisting that it was meant for the president only. When Kandiho insisted on taking it, Kayihura handed it over to Mbadi. Even as they searched Kayihura’s house in Kashagama, ew him to Entebbe, drove him to Makyindye Military Barracks, where Kayihura was interrogated and later his house in Muyenga, more than anyone else, Kandiho maintained the quiet intimidating presence of a man on a mission. Kandiho’s mission against Kayihura appears not to be personal. Instead, it appears to follow the paern of most of the people who have dominated the security docket under Museveni; from Gen. David Sejusa aka Tinyefuza, the late Noble Mayombo, and lately Kayihura. These have been Mus Museve eveni’ ni’ss enfor enforcer cerss and and Kan Kandih diho o appears to be the next in line. When, soon after Kaweesi’s murder, Kayihura’s men nearly exchanged re with an ISO force posted by Kaka at the home of one Christine Mbabazi Muhoza, Kandiho remained in the background. Muhoza is said to have been an intimate friend of Kaweesi – and, therefore, a pospos sible source of valuable information. Kaka’s force was allegedly protecting her as a witness but Kayihura said the police had the mandate to interrogate her. The stando in Lungujja, a Kampala city suburb was only resolved when President Museveni sent in his personal Special Forces Command. Kayihura and Kaka again pointed ngers at each other over the investigation into the murder of two foreigners in top Kampala hotels in February this year. Kandiho stayed out of it. He also did not clash with Kayihura as Akullo did. The frosty relationship between Akullo and Kayihura had reportedly worsened becaus bec ausee of of her her clo closene seness ss to to Pres Preside ident nt Museveni and First Lady Janet Museveni. Kayihura reportedly preferred to be the only one with access to the First Family. For that Akullo reportedly feared Kayihura wanted her out of the way. The tension between them reportedly hit the roof when top government prosecutor Joan Joa n Kage Kagezi zi wa wass assa assassin ssinate ated d in in 2015 2015.. Akul Akul-June 29 - July July 05, 2018
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COVER STORY
lo, who was driving a few metres behind, feared that she had, in fact, been the target. Where Akullo is said to have even openly confronted Kayihura, Kandiho concentrated on digging up the dirt.
Kandiho Vs Kayihura Although the tension between Kayihura and Kandiho has not been as open as betwee bet ween n Kayi Kayiura ura and Kak Kakaa or or Aku Akullo llo,, it it has has been the big biggest gest fac factor tor in Kay Kayihu ihura’ ra’ss down down fall, according to insiders. Those close to Kayihura feel that Kandiho has almost single-handedly brought down the former police chief. Kandiho’s name rst hit headlines when he was named head of CMI in January 2017. Kaka was appointed Director General of ISO at the same time. The two joined former Security Minister, Henry Tumukunde, to form a camp Kayihura considered hostile. They are all protégés of President Museveni’s inuential brother, Gen. Caleb Akandwanaho aka Salim Saleh and the mission given to them appears to have been to uproot Kayihura and his associates from police and, if possible, prosecute and jail them. According to this narrative, narrative, Kaweesi was the anointed Kayihura successor. But then he was assassinated and the game plan changed and also gained pace. Historically, the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) has always been on top of Uganda’s security system controlling both internal and external security. The UPDF also controlled intelligence through control of ISO and CMI—military ocers have always headed these entities. And at every turn in his 32 years in power, President Museveni has had an enforcer in one of the security agencies. These enforcers are notable for crashing threats to Museveni’s power. In his tenure, Kayihura had dealt with many of the security chiefs that had become a problem for President Museveni. For instance, when former ISO boss, Jim Muhwezi got into trouble with Museveni, it is Kayihura who raided his home commanding other soldiers in an eort to arrest him. Again when former Security Minister Lt. Gen. Henry Tumukunde got into problems and was charged oences of abuse of oce and spreading harmful propaganda, it is Kayihura who commanded at least 50 soldiers to arrest him. Tumukunde was then driven to a military detention facility, where he was incarcerated for nearly 2 years. Kayihura was also instrumental in the downfall of former Coordinator of Intelligence Services, Gen. David Sejusa. Gen. Kayihura is said to have gathered intelligence showing that Sejusa was planning to overthrow Museveni. Sejusa would later in 2013 run into exile in London before reconciling with Museveni and returning 12
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Amama Ama ma Mbabazi Mbaba zi
Lt. Gen. Henry Tumukunde
Gen. David Sejusa
two years later. Kayihura’s fourth victim was former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi. More than anyone else, Kayihura is said to have provided the decisive intelligence that exposed how Mbabazi was planning to overthrow his boss. Kayihura then led the eort to inltrate and neutralize Mbabazi’s political networks ahead of the 2016 elections. Apart from the four, Kayihura has been the biggest frustration to perennial Museveni challenger, FDC’s Kizza Besigye. Before Kayihura, CMI had been Museveni’s enforcement in the late 90s to early 2000s. That was the period when the late Brig. Noble Mayombo was at its helm. Mayombo replaced Tumukunde. At the time, CMI was not only central in cracking down on hard criminals and terrorists; it was at the centre of the politics and would hound Museveni’s opponents. Indeed, opposition leaders like FDC’s Kizza Besigye experienced their baptism of re under Mayombo. A staunch loyalist to Museveni, Mayombo would stop at nothing to protect the President’s power. In 2001, Mayombo oversaw the brutal arrest of his younger brother, Okwiri Rwabwoni, at Entebbe airport in 2001 on his way to West Nile to campaign alongside Besigye. Mayombo would later be appo appoint inted ed Pe Perma rmanent nent Secr Secreta etary, ry, Min Minist istry ry of Defence before dying in what was feared to be a murder in May 2007. After Mayombo, CMI was never the same. That is how Kayihura rose. Kayihura expanded his inuence by patronising networks of known criminals some of whom he integrated into the police, groups like crime preventers and Boda 2010, a group of thousands of boda boda cyclists. He became so eective at crushing the opposition that he has told condantes that by the the tim timee he he left left,, the the opp opposi ositio tion n did did not appear capable of successfully mobilising. Indeed, the last serious opposition protests by the the opp opposi ositio tion n were were the wa walk lk to wor work k protests in 2011. Having conquered internal politics, Kayihura had also emerged a major player in regional politics—occasionally entering arrangements with the police leadership of South Sudan and Rwanda. That is where he and Kandiho met.
Kandiho’s rise
Col. Kizza Besigye
When Kayihura was rst appointed IGP in 2005, Kandiho was a lowly ocer posted to Kigali, Rwanda. He was reportedly deployed at the Uganda-Rwanda border when he developed bad blood blo od wit with h Rwa Rwanda ndan n secur security ity ope operat rative ivess becaus bec ausee of of his his unc uncompr ompromi omisin sing g trai trait. t. But it was when he was an aaché at Entebbe Airport in June 2012 that Kandiho is said to have clashed directly with Kayi-
COVER STORY
hura. At At the time, one Portia Mbabazi; the daughter of then exiled former Rwandan spymaster Col. Patrick Karegeya caused a diplomatic stando between Kigali and Kampala when her Rwandan passport was withdrawn by the authorities. In such case, an individual would be deported to the passport issuing country to resolve the issue. Instead, Kandiho reportedly hurriedly processed a passport for her against Kayihura’s wish. The passport was later hurriedly withdrawn but Kandiho’s antiRwanda credentials had become indelible. Soon Kandiho appears to have got into problems with his then boss, Brig. Charles Bakahumura who recalled him CMI headquarters in Kampala and made him head of the once-notorious once- notorious Joint Anti-Terrorism Anti-Terrorism Task Force (JATT). But even here, Bakahumura appears to have found even more problems with Kandiho. Clashes between the two men reportedly often got out of hand. Instead of support, Bakahumura started receiving calls from senior army ocers encouraging him to “work beer with Kandiho”. One of these calls came from the current Commander of Defence Forces (CDF), Gen. David Muhoozi, who at the time was the Commander Land Forces (CLF). Before Bakahumura knew it, Kandiho was moved to military police. When Brig. Kayanja Muhanga, who was heading it, was shued and moved to head the 4th Division, Kandiho became the Acting Commander Military Police. Brig. Bakahumura’s shock must have come when Museveni reshued heads of security agencies again in January 2017, and replaced him with Kandiho, who was a colonel. Museveni later in 2017 promoted him to brigadier. However, all along, Kandiho had been close to President Museveni. He is a younger brother to Adonia Ayebare, Uganda’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, and they are related to Museveni. His former boss, Bakahumura on the other hand, was seen as an intellectual, who was good at handling the big picture—regional security aspects in the global context. Aware of his strengths, President Museveni always travelled with Bakahumura whenever he would be meeting global leaders with an interest in regional security. For instance, sources say when President Museveni met U.S. President Barack Obama in Ethiopia to talk regional security in 2015, Museveni travelled with Bakahumura. Around 2017, however, several factors appear to have conspired to dent Bakahumura’s position and propel Kandiho forward. Internationally, in late 2016, Donald Trump had won the election to succeed Barack Obama as U.S. Trump immediately showed less interest in Great Lakes regional
security issues, and Bakahumura’s currency lost value. At the same time, xing the volatile secusecurity situation in the country, which required the Kandiho kind of ocer, became more urgent. Since mid-2015, the country had been roc rocked ked by uns unsolv olved ed mur murder derss of of sevseveral female university students in Kampala. At a 2013 High Command meeting, Museveni expressed concerns that military intelligence had not exposed “the subversive activities of Tinyefuza”. “Military intelligence has some gaps,” Museveni said. Insiders say in Museveni’s calculation, the decline in CMI eectiveness might have been one of the rea reason sonss that that ren render dered ed Bak Bakaahumura less relevant. Interestingly, around the same time, tensions with Rwanda appeared to be geing out of hand. Some suspect that what seems to have endeared Kandiho to Museveni is his ability
Brig. Bakahumura’s shock must have come when Museveni reshufed heads
of security agencies again in January 2017, and replaced
him with Kandiho, who was a colonel. Museveni later in 2017 promoted him to brigadier
to gather serious intelligence on intelligence operatives of other countries in the region based bas ed in Uga Uganda nda.. Thos Thosee who who hav havee work worked ed closely with him say he is good at working on the nuts and bolts of an issue. He reportedly dug up and started delivering topnotch intelligence on Rwanda. Indeed when after he was appointed and Kaweesi was killed in March 2017, Kandiho brough bro ughtt CMI CMI to the cen centre tre of inv investi estigat gation ions. s. Police protested and inter-agency ghts broke bro ke out out.. Susp Suspect ectss in in the the cas casee in in polic policee
custody claimed they were being tortured to implicate Tumukunde and those in the custody of ISO and CMI, claimed they were being bei ng tor tortur tured ed to impl implica icate te Kay Kayihu ihura. ra. Kandiho did the same when the killings of women in the Entebbe-Katabi area starting mid-2017 and the so-called kijambiya killings in Masaka. Hardly months on the job, Kandiho cracked down on the suspects of some 23 women who had been murdered in the areas of Entebbe and Wakiso. Recently, Kandiho’s CMI is also said to have gathered intelligence, led the raid on Usa mosque and captured the suspects in the murder of 28-year old Suzan Magara, daughter of a prominent businessman close to Museveni, before handing them to police. If by this time there was still confusion about who was running the security show and taking down Kayihura, that doubt was all erased when in October CMI started picking one by one, top cops that had been close allies of Kayihura. In one swoop, CMI arrested; Senior Superintendent of Police Nixon Agasirwe, the former commander Special Operations Unit, Senior Commissioner of Police Joel Aguma, the commandant of the police Professional Standards Unit, Assistant Superintendent of Police Magada, crime intelligence; Benon Atwebembeire, Sgt Abel Tumukunde, the Kampala Metropolitan Police ying squad commander, Faisal Katende, ying squad and Amon Kwari Kwari-sima. These were taken to the Court Martial and charged with unlawful possession of rearms and grenades ordinarily a monopmonop oly of the Defence Forces. They are also accused of handing to the Rwanda government two prominent persons; one Lt. Joel Mutabazi; a former presidential guard for Rwanda President Paul Kagame who had sought refuge in Uganda, and Jackson Kalemera. The two were reportedly handed to Rwanda without their consent. In another swoop, Kandiho’s CMI went for Abdullah Kitata, the self-appointed patron of Boda Boda 2010. While Kitata was arrested as part of the investigations into the murder of the Case Clinic accountant, Francis Ekalungar, his outt—Boda Boda 2010 would later be linked to the issues with Rwanda. In yet another swoop, CMI rounded up; Richard Ndaboine, the former head of cyber intelligence, Col. Ndahura Atwooki, the former head crime intelligence, and Herbert Muhangi, the former head of Flying Squad, among others. By this time, it was clear that it was only a maer of time until Kandiho came for KayiKayi hura himself and replaced him as the new enforcer in Museveni’s security apparatus. By bringing down Kayihura, Kandiho also appears to have claimed CMI’s spot back. June 29 - July July 05, 2018
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10 assassinations that shook Uganda By Independent Team
T
he June 08 killing of then-Arua Municipality MP and NRM stalwart, Col. Abrahim Abiriga on June 08 in Kawanda near Kampala brought back bac k memo memorie riess of of some some kil killin lings gs bel believ ieved ed to be assassination that have happened in Uganda. Below are some of them.
Brig. Pierino Okoya - 1970
Brig. Pierino Okoya was a young army ocer who rose through the ranks to become bec ome depu deputy ty arm army y comm command ander er in the rst government of President Milton Obote. At the time of his assassination, he was also the commander of the Second Infantry Brigade based in Masaka. He travelled to Gulu on a personal errand on January 23, 1970. It was a tense period. In December 1969, Obote had survived an assassination which was said to be engineered by then army commander Idi Amin, who was Okoya’s boss. bos s. In the hea heavil vily y trib tribali alised sed arm army, y, Oko Okoya ya – an Acholi, was seen as a bier rival to Amin and likely to succeed him. Amidst all this, on the evening of January 25, Okoya made a brief visit to the Air Force Ocers Mess in Gulu where he had a con versation with the Base Commander Capt. Smuts Guweddeko, who was very close to Amin. A few hours later, Okoya was shot dead with his wife at their home in Gulu, a few kilometres away from the army barracks. Following the killing, two inquiries were instituted; one by the army and one by pol police ice.. Both Both pro probes bes hea heavil vily y impli implicat cated ed Amin. But Capt. Smuts Guweddeko and another ocer were jailed over it in Luzira prison. His murder remains unresolved but is believed to have marked a crucial juncture in post-independence Uganda as his boss, bos s, then arm army y comm command ander er Maj Maj.. Gen. Gen. Idi Amin, is said to ploed it as a forerunner for his coup against Obote a year later in 1971. Amin released the two ocers and promotpromot ed them whereas those behind the inquiries that implicated him were killed.
Chief Justice Benedicto Kiwanuka - 1972
Benedicto Kagimu Mugumba Kiwanuka was the rst prime minister of Uganda (March 01 – April 30, 1962). He was 40 years old at the time. New elections were held in April 1962 and the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) party of Milton Obote allied with the Kabaka Yekka party of Baganda loyalist to Kabaka Edward Mutesa II to defeat Kiwanuka’s Democratic Party. The contest has sometimes been described as 14
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a tussle between Catholics represented by Kiwanuka and DP and Protestants represented by Obote and Buganda and favoured by the British. When Obote was shot in an assassination aempt in 1969, Kiwanuka was suspected to have organised it and Obote imprisoned him in 1969. Two years later in 1971, then Army Commander, Maj. Gen. Idi Amin toppled Obote in a military coup. He immediately freed Kiwanuka from Luzira Prison and appointed him chief justice on June 27, 1971. Soon, however, Kiwanuka became known as a critic of Amin’s disregard of the rule of law and brutality. His ambition and fearlessness made him a target in thenpresident Idi Amin’s reign of terror and on September 21, 1972 he was picked his oce at the High Court chambers in Kampala by sta state te age agents nts.. He He was was rep report ortedl edly y shot shot dead by Amin at State Lodge Nakasero. His remains have never been located. His murder resulted into international condemnation of Amin’s regime and led to more fear and anarchy locally as several critical people were killed and many others ed into exile. Among the many honours of the former Chief Justice is a street in Kampala named after him.
Jana Ja nani ni Lu Luwu wum m (1977) (1977)
Then-Archbishop of the Metropolitan Province of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Boga (in Zaire), Janani Jakaliy Jaka liyaa Luwu Luwum, m, was killed in Kampala on February 16 or 17, 1977. Luwum, who was very highly respected internationally, was very critical of Amin’s disregard for rule of law, brutality, and murderous streak. In January 1977, he boldly delivered a note of protest to Amin. Days earlier, soldiers had raided and searched his home for alleged caches of arms. Amin reacted by arresting him, together with two other ocials; Erinayo Oryema and Oboth Ofumbi, the Inspector General of Police and Minister of Defence respec-
tively, on February 16, 1977. Amin paraded them before journalists and accused them of treason and said they were agents of former President Milton Obote who, after being ousted by Amin in 1971, was using Tanz Tanzaania as a base to launch military operations to remove Amin. They were then driven o by stat statee agent agentss to to an an unkno unknown wn dest destina inatio tion. n. The next day, it was announced that they had died in a motor vehicle accident as they were allegedly escaping from State Lodge Nakasero where they had been detained. People who buried them said their bodies bore bullet wounds. The general view is that they were already dead when they were placed at a scene arranged to look like an accident. Luwum’s murder marked a turning point as the world was shocked by Amin’s brutal bru tality ity and eo eorts rts to rem remove ove him gai gained ned pace. Two years years later, in April 1979, a joint force of exiled Ugandans and the Tanzanian army drove Amin out of power. In 2015 the government and Church of Uganda agreed to celebrate the life and honour the martyrdom of the former archbishop every February 16 as St. Janani Luwum Day. On Jan. 12, 2015, Archbishop Stanley Ntagali launched the Janani Luwum Memorial Charity at Namirembe Cathedral in Kampala. The church also asked the government to designate the birthplace and resting place of Luwum- Mucwini village in Kitgum district, as a pilgrimage and tourism site. A new 16-storey commercial suite built bui lt by Chu Church rch of Ugan Uganda da on Kam Kampal palaa Road is also named after Luwum. However the West Minster Abbey Cathedral in the U.K., which is the parent to the Church of Uganda province has for the last 41 years celebrated Luwum’s life and martyrdom. A chapel was named after him right from when he was martyred and a statue to him unveiled in July 1998.
Maj. Gen. David Oyite-Ojok (1983) Oyite-Ojok was the Chief of Sta of the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA) in the second regime of then president Milton Obote and eectively the lynchlynchpin of the army. On the morning of December 03, 1983, he prepared to y to
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the jungles of Luweero to oversee ghting to ush out then-rebel commander Yoweri Yoweri Museveni forces of the National Resistance Army (NRA) guerillas. Oyite-Ojok set o from Nile Mansion (now Kampala Serena Hotel) with ve other army ocers in a Bell Augusta-412 Augu sta-412 helicopter. Col. Alfred Oo was the ocer ying the helicopter. Shortly, the chopper crashed in Luweero not far from rebel territory, killing all on board. The incident dramatically changed the fortunes of Museveni’s guerilla war and led to the eventual collapse of the Obote government as inter-tribe conict between the Langi and Acholi weakened it and resulted in a coup against Obote – a Langi by the Acholi army generals. The incident also set o a slew of conspiracies on what could have transpired; from faulty mechanics to a plot by then vice president Paulo Muwanga, or Obote to eliminate Oyite-Ojok. The three were mired in power struggles. President Museveni visited the scene of the crash in September 2007.
Andrew Lutakome Kayiira (1987)
On the night of March 6, 1987, Kayiira – a forfor mer leader of the Uganda Freedom Movement, a rebel group was having dinner with Henry Gombya who worked for BBC at the time, and the laer’s wife and three children when the house was aacked by gunmen. In the ensuing melee, Gombya ed the house while his wife and children hid in the bedroo bed room. m. It is all alleged eged tha thatt the the gun gunmen men bus bustted Kayiira from one of the rooms and shot him in the arms and left side of the body. Kayiira, like Museveni, had in the early 1980s led an army of guerrillas to ght then-president Milton Obote’s government. While in the bush, Kayira and Museveni had on and o alliances and generally disagreed on tactics. Kayiira, an ethnic Muganda, often felt he had to be the rightful leader of the armed rebellion against Obote since the vanguard of the ghting was in Buganda. After Obote was ousted on July 27, 1985, several rebel forces; including that of Kayiira and Museveni challenged the Tito Okello government for supremacy in Kampala. When Museveni emerged winner in January 1986, Kayiira made peace and was even appointed minister of Energy on Januar Jan uary y 30, 30, 198 1986. 6. He wa wass arre arrested sted on Oct Octoo ber 198 1986, 6, cha charge rged d with with tre treaso ason, n, and loc locked ked up in Luzira Prison. On February 24, 1987, Kayiira was released from prison after the government withdrew the case against him. Ten days later he was shot dead. The murder of Kayiira sparked several investigations including one by Scotland Yard, a special spe cial British investigations unit,
at the request of President Museveni. The report by Scotland Yard has never been released. In January 2007, the Democratic Party, to which Kayiira was associated, released its version of the report which implicated the government of Uganda. The government also released its version absolving it any of any wrongdoing. It almost turned into a circus as various reports did the rounds claiming to be the authentic report of the murder investigation. In 2009, responding to a request to Kayiira’s friend Gombya, Scotland Yard ocially declined to release the report stating that releasing it could jeopardise diplomatic relations with Uganda. Gombya, however, is said to be con convin vinced ced tha thatt the the NRM gov govern ernmen mentt orchestrated the murder.
Prof. Dan Mudoola (1993)
Prof. Dan Mudoola was killed in a grenade aack in Wandegeya, a Kampala subsub urb. He was killed together with Dr. Francis Kidubuka, who was a literature lecturer at Makerere University Kampala. Mudoola was also a lecturer at the same university. Signicantly, however, Mudoola was at the time the vice chairman of the Constitutional Review Commission. It was speculated that his slaying was connected to his work on that commission.
Lt. Michael Shalita (1997)
Lt. Michael Shalita, a prominent ocer in the Internal Security Organisation, was shot dead in Kamwokya. It is believed he was killed because he was investigating cases of massive corruption involving top government ocials. Nothing was ever conrmed. But his killing was the rst of its kind and sent a chill among investigators.
Maj. Gen. James Kazini (2009)
Kazini, a bale har bale harden dened ed former army commander was found dead at dawn in a shanty house in Namuwongo, Kampala, with a deep cut to his head on November 10, 2009. Immediately after, a woman named Lydia Draru, turned herself in confessing to have murdered Kazini. She was tried and convicted for his murder but spec specula ulatio tion n rema remaine ined d rife rife on who the actual killers were. Many doubted how a young woman of average size like Draru could have physically subdued Kazini who had fought many gun bales, to the point of bludgeoning him to death. Kazini was disgruntled at the time he died. He had been un-deployed since 2003 and was facing a possible conviction in the General Court Martial for abuse of oce and insubinsub ordination. In short, he had fallen out with
the security establishment. Speculation still abounds that he was bumped o by highly trained assassins.
Brigadier Noble Mayombo (2007)
Brigadier Noble Mayombo fell ill on April 27, 2007. Four days later, on May 01, 2007 he was dead. He was only 42 years years old. The Th e death certicate issued by Agha Khan Hospital in Nairobi was never made public. But it is believed that Mayombo was suering from complicacomplica tions due to acute pancreatitis. However, speculation still abounds that he was assassinated using poison. Mayombo death is often cited whenever any leader fears for their life in Uganda. This is partly because he had come to epitomize loyalty to President Yoweri Museveni and the determination to do his work with uninching resolve. This was on show when, in 2001, Mayombo oversaw the brutal bru tal arr arrest est of his you younger nger bro brothe ther, r, Okw Okwiri iri Rwabwoni, at Entebbe airport. Okwir was a staunch supporter of Museveni’s perennial opponent Dr Kizza Besigye. At the time, Mayombo was head of Military Intelligence. Later he was appointed Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence.
AIGP Andrew Felix Kaweesi (2017)
The former Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIGP) was shot dead in his car on March 17, 2017 as he left home in Kulambiro, Kampala at 9am. His assassins were riding on motorbikes when they opened multiple rounds of re on KaweeKawee si’s car killing his bodyguard and driver too. He had served as commandant of Kabalye Police Training school in Masindi, commandant of Kampala Metropolitan Police and Police spokesperson, his last posting. His killing saw President Museveni make an unprecedented assertion: that the police was full of criminals- which was a scathing indictment of then Inspector General of Police Gen. Kale Kayihura. It resulted into the start of Kayihura’s troubles as his right hand men were arrested one by one, including those belonging to a rogue outt called Boda Boda 2010 which was in bed with the police. It climaxed with the sacking and arrest of the former police chief on March 4 and June 13 respectively. June 29 - July July 05, 2018
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NEWS ANALYSIS
By Ronald Musoke
A
new Uwezo study, which compares literacy and numeracy outcomes among refugee children and Ugandan children in the neighbouring communities, has found that despite the many challenges refugees face, their learning levels are nearly at par with their Ugandan peers outside the selesele ments. For the rst time the Uwezo study— the seventh since 2010— gives insight into the learning outcomes and the conditions for learning in refugee selements with those outside the camps has been done. Uwezo, is a citizen-led organisation that does regular assessment of education outcomes in East Africa. It carried out the study in October 2017 in four refugee host districts of Isingiro in southern Uganda, and Arua, Adjumani and Yumbe in northwestern Uganda. These are the biggest refugee hosting districts as per the 2016 UNHCR statistics. The survey sampled 103 schools and over 2000 households. Data for over 5000 children between the ages of 3-16 were collected although 4156 children aged 6-16 were assessed in literacy and numeracy skills. The ndings were presented in Kampala on June 19, a day to the World Refugee Day. Mary Gorei Nakabugo, the Uwezo regional manager, said their aim was to try to understand the conditions both at school and home for refugee children and those in the host communities and their impact on their learning. The report shows that despite signicant dierences in education inputs between schools inside and outside refugee selesele ments, learning outcomes are quite similar in both places. They all perform poorly.
Uganda’s refugee burden The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Norwegian Refugee Council’s internal displacement monitoring centre say Uganda hosts about 1.4 million refugees. Many are South Sudanese who ee conict back home. UNHCR says 61% or 610,000 of these are children and youth below bel ow the age of 18 yea years. rs. When they arrive and sele, they are expected to get into school as per the 1989 Convention on Rights of children and the 1951 refugee convention which all stipulate that education is a human right. Violet Alinda, the Advocacy Manager at Uwezo says considering that refugees spend about 17 years in host countries, for children, this means that they spend the early years (time meant for them to be in school) in these refugee selements. Providing access to quality education for all school-going age children is a strategic 16
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Refugee pupils in a make-shift classroom
When refugees out- learn hosts Uwezo study nds children in some refugee schools at higher learning levell than their Ugandan hosts leve intervention because knowledgeable and skilled refugees reduce the burden on host countries when they join the labour market. Uganda’s refugee asylum policy and refugee selement approach is often cited as an example for other countries around the world. But Uganda has been struggling to meet most of its obligations, including provision of education for refugee children. By the end of 2017, about 345,000 children were reported by the UNHCR to be studying in all the 13 refugee selements. But they study in overcrowded classrooms, with insucient learning materials and other resources. These impact their learning.
Low learning levels The Uwezo study found that less than 10% both Ugandan pupils and the refugees in the selement schools are able to read and comprehend a P.2 story. The same number of pupils is also not able to do a simple division task. It is only at P.7 level, the nal year of primary education, where all the refugee children assessed reached the highest level (100%). In the host communities, only 87% had acquired these competences even after
going through seven years of primary education. Full competence is acquired when a child assessed at this level is able to read a story and answer at least one of the questions set and two of the division tasks set. Nakabugo told The Independent that in the Ugandan curriculum, division is one of the arithmetic operations that are deemed to be at the hig highest hest lev level. el. However, the study found that in some selements, refugees performed beer than their peers in the host communities. In Adjumani District, for instance, all refugee children can read, comprehend and divide by the the tim timee they they rea reach ch P.7 com compar pared ed to 87% of children in P.7 outside refugee selesele ments. In the same district, both boys and girls are at par in performance while in Isingiro District, girls outperform the boys. Outside the refugee camps, boys generally tend to do much beer than the girls.
Somalis outperform other refugees The Uwezo study also assessed performance amongst the refugees based on nationality and duration of the refugees in the country. According to the survey, 65% of Somali
NEWS ANALYSIS
houses compared to their counterparts in the refugee camps (22%) while the pupilteacher ratio, for instance, in refugee selesele ments is desperately high. According to the Uwezo study, a teacher handles an average of 107 pupils inside refugee camp schools compared to 57 pupils for every teacher outside the refugee camp schools. In Arua District, the ratio is 190:1 inside the refugee camp compared to 78:1 in the host community schools. In Isingiro District, inside the refugee camp, one teacher handles 83 pupils compared to 28 pupils for every teacher outside the host community schools. The international standard is about 30 pupils for every teacher.
Unfriendly school conditions pupils in P.3 – P.7 (65%) living in refugee selements in Uganda are more likely to be abl ablee to to read read,, compr comprehen ehend d and and div divide ide than Congolese (13.5%), Burundian (18.7%), South Sudanese (20%), Rwandan (20.3%) or even Ugandan children (27%). Uwezo did not give any possible reasons for the excellence of Somali children but noted it calls for further research. The study also found that the duration of a refugee’s stay in the country has an impact on their learning, although this is only up to some point. For instance, refugee children who have been in Uganda over one year are more likely to have P.2 literacy and numeracy skills than those who have been bee n here here for less tha than n a yea year. r. Among refugee children who had just seled into Uganda, only 23% were able to read and comprehend a story as well as divide but for the refugee children who had now stayed in Uganda, 39% of them were able to perform much beer. This could mean that when the children have just come, they have language issues, they are geing used to the curriculum and they are also trying to sele in a new envi ronment. Interestingly, the performance deteriorates when they stay for more than three years. The explanation Nakabugo gives is that it is possible the factors that aect the larger Ugandan population have set in aecting the refugee children in higher classes. “It is possible these children are more integrated in the Ugandan community but there could be a bit of complacence meaning that they are not working harder,” Nakabugo said.
Home and School conditions Uwezo’s study found that school conditions and services are generally poor inside the refugee selements with 61% of nonrefugee children living in beer permanent
The Uwezo study found appalling school conditions in refugee selements although in many instances, they are comparable with schools in host communities. For example, although the government ideal is for a classroom to have at least 40 pupils, in refugee selements in Arua DisDis trict, one classroom holds up to 350 pupils compared to 127 pupils per classroom outside the refugee camp. In neighbouring Adjumani, the gures are 139:1 compared to 85:1 outside the camps. There are also many more pupils per teacher inside refugee selements comcom pared to schools outside the camps. In Arua there are 190 pupils per teacher inside selesele ments compared to 78 per teacher outside. In Yumbe District, in an average classroom inside a refuge selement there are 233 pupils per classroom compared to 140 outside. In Isingiro, there were 164 pupils per classroom inside the camps compared to 48. When it comes to access to school facilities, children inside and outside selements are equally likely to have to sit on the oor (28% do in selements and 30% do outside); to have exercise books (93% inside, 100% outside) and have pens or pencils (88% inside and 93% outside).
A text book for 50 refugees It was not surprising that the pupil-text book rati book ratio o was was qui quite te hig high h when when com compar pared ed to that outside the selements. Where as in schools outside the refugee camps, there is a P.2 English language textbook for every two pupils, within the camps, a book is shared by 51 pup pupils ils..
Little food, poor housing The study notes that, refugees are more vulnerable when it comes to food and housing. When it comes to access to food, the study found that 34% of non-refugee children eat at least three meals a day compare to 7% of the refugee children. The World Health Organization (WHO) sets three
meals a day for a child to maintain a healthy body. body. In all the districts surveyed, only 7% of refugees (compared to 34% of non-refugees) eat three or more meals per day. The majority (77%) of those living in refugee selesele ments have dwellings made out of mud / stick / polythene. When it comes to water access, refugees had more piped water than the communities outside the camps; borehole access was almost at par while for trucked water, refugee pupils boasted more access (22%) compared to only 0.2% in host communities. When it comes to energy access, almost 65% of refugee households had access to solar power, and 67% of electricity compared to 40% and 10% in host communities. As far as school supplies are concerned, within the refugee selements, 28% of pupils sit on the oor while outside the camps, 30% of the pupils sit on the oor. Outside the camps, 100% of pupils have exercise books. Whereas 93% of pupils in the host communities have pens and pencils, 88.4% of pupils have these utilities in the refugee camp schools. Within the refugee camps, only 28% of schools have other supplementary materials (chats and other learning aids) compared to 46% in schools outside the refugee selements. Joyce Joy ce Ayi Ayikor koru, u, the sel selemen ementt mana manager ger for Windle Trust, an NGO that supports refugee education in conjunction with UNHCR and the government of Uganda told The Independent on June 25 that in all the 13 refugee selements in Uganda, refugee children still face overwhelming challenges with few classrooms, latrines, and food. “Most times when the children go back home, they may not nd any food and as a result they fail to come back for afternoon lessons.” she said. This impacts on overall performance becaus bec ausee teac teacher herss and and pupi pupils ls str strugg uggle. le. Nakabugo said there is need for a minimum provision of utilities in schools to enhance learning itself and what conditions are needed for the pupils to learn. “It is important to nd out what is it that the Somali pupils excel more than the other nationalities,” Nakabugo said, “We might actually be looking for solutions very far yet they could be within the communities.” Rosemary Seninde, the State Minister for Primary Education says the Ministry of Education and Sports has developed a three-year education response plan to ensure that refugee children and adolescents and their counterparts in the host communities have access to good quality education at all levels, irrespective of the country of origin of the refugees and their location in Uganda.
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FEATURE
Africa at the World Cup An opportunity to talk about the identities and unity of a divided continent By Mahfoud Amara
A
frica is the world’s second most populated continent; it is home to 54 countries. Yet, according to football umbrella body FIFA’s rules, only five African countries can qualify for the World Cup tournament which is held every four years. In the 2018 tournament Africa is 18
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represented by Nigeria and Senegal from West Africa, and Egy pt, Tunisia and Morocco from North Africa. Countries like the Dem ocratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Cameroon and Burkina Faso – which all feature in the top 60 of FIFA’s ranking of its 206 member states – will be watching the 64 matches in Russia from home. All of this raises questions about more than just football. It’s a chance
to reflect more broadly on identity. For instance, is there a shared African identity from the north to the south of the Sahara desert? Is the S ahara desert, in addition to being a natural separation between north and south, also a wall that separates two cultures: black bla ck Afric A fric a an d ArabAr ab-Ber Berber ber A fri frica? ca? The term “black” is not used he re as a pejorative, although as someone who’s originally from Algeria I must
FEATURE
African disunity
acknowledge that blackness with its rich culture and history is not celebrated enough in North Africa. The region suffers still from orientalist vision and a colonial legacy that constructed north Africa as nomadic or a place of “Arabic “Arabic charm”. There is also a false idea in north Africa about the rest of Africa as a place of “black magic”, poverty and military coups. And some North Africans would consider themselves closer to Europe (which they consider “the norm”) than to sub-Saharan Africa. The World Cup and the events surrounding it offer a useful chance to consider all of these biases and misunderstandings. After all, football and all sport off er powerful opportunities for divided people to unite – even if it’s just over a sports tournament.
The 68th FIFA Congress in Moscow, held in the week before the tournament’s kicked off, was another test for African unity. The question was: who to vote for as host of the 2026 FIFA World Cup? A North African country, Morocco was bidding bid ding for the fif th time . They T hey were competing against the joined Canada, the US and Mexico bid. The so-called “United 2026” bid received 134 votes compared to Morocco’s 65. There was also very little s ign of African unity behind Morocco. Many sub-Saharan African countries gave their vote to the Ame rican bid, including Guinea, Benin, Burundi, Liberia, Mozambique, Namibia, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The all-Arab solidarity did not help either as many Arab nations did not vote for Morocco. Economic and political interests overtook considerations of belonging to the same continent, race and ethnicity. Having said this, there is mutual fascination about football culture and history, uniting Africa across its four corners. Morocco’s progress to the second round of the 1978 World Cup tournament held in Argentina was a milestone for African football. Algeria’s performance in Spain in 1982 made an impact that changed the World Cup tournament forever. The North Africans were on the receiving end of one of the worst cases of match fixing, involving West Germany and Austria. Austri a. FIFA’s limp resp onse to calls for punishing the Europeans or staging a replay was to rule that from then on, the last pair of games in every
group must be played simultaneously. Algerian striker Lakhdar Belloumi said afterwards: afterwards: “Our performances forced FIFA to make that change, and that was even better than a victory. It meant that Algeria left an indelible mark on football history.” Eight years later all of Africa celebrated and danced with the then 38-year-old Roger Milla in 1990. The bril lian t Ca mer meroon oonian ian for forward ward sco scored red four goals in the tournament, hosted by Ita Italy. ly. Fou Fourr ye ars lat later er i n the t he U.S U.S.,., he became the oldest player to score a goal at a World Cup tournament. Nigeria’s Super Eagles, with five World Cup appearances and performances, led by Jay Jay Okocha, Rashidi Yekini and Daniel Amokachi, have inspired generations of young Africans from the north to the south. Many young Africans wanted to be goalkeepers following role models like Jos eph eph-An -An toi toine ne Bel Belll (C ame ameroon roon ) an d Badou Zaki (Morocco).
More chances for unity At this year’s tournament in Russia fans from across the continent, and of course beyond, had placed great hope and prepared to cheer on the new emerging s tar of African football, Egypt’s Mohamed Salah. As a proud African, I know that most fans on our continent have been like me during this tournament: supporting Africa’s five teams, whether they lie north or south of the Sahara. Mahfoud Amara is Assistant Professor in Sport Policy & Management, Qatar University
June 29 - July July 05, 2018
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ADVERTORIAL
News of digitalized Mutuelle de sante payments received with delight
O
ne of the biggest achievements of the post-genocide government in Rwanda has been increased delivery of public goods to its citizenry, allowing people to enjoy their country and the services on oer leaving no one behind as they promise. And perhaps the most innovative service delivered to date has been the national coverage of medical insurance for the country’s population of 12+ million especially thanks to the community based health insurance (CBHI) scheme that was established around 2004, 14 years ago to boost access to health services by ensuring they are aordable and proximal. Proximity would be a topic for another day but in this present article, it would be sucing to mention that
Rwanda’s health ecosystem includes health posts which are based at the cell level, the second smallest of the country’s administrative units, a health centre that covers a sector, district and regional referral hospitals, and national referral hospitals not mentioning some specialized health facilities like the cancer institute that have been set up to deal with 21st century ailments that need specialized care. Without any insurance of sorts, Rwanda’s poor often left sicknesses untreated or ran to the rescue or beer put exploitation of opportunistic traditional healers, crippling the population’s health and certainly aecting the nation’s own progress both socially and economically. With the advent of CBHI commonly known as Mutuelle de santé, Rwandans
seeking professional medical services have signicantly increased and services to special groups like pregnant mothers and infants boosted all contributing to the envisioned improvement of the quality of life in the country. Back to the issue of aordability, Mutuelle de sante subscriptions are determined based on a family’s income levels with insurance costs for the lowest income households in category 1 of Rwanda’s social stratication, UBUDEHE, met by Government and its partners. Households in categories 2 and 3 pay Rwf3,000 per head while families in category 4 considered well o pay Rwf7,000 under the scheme. These stratications of income levels are regularly updated to ensure that changes in people’s lives are captured and
RSSB joined locals of Nyamagabe in community work where new digital payment platforms established for Mutuelle de sante were explained to Rwandans June 29 - July July 05, 2018
ADVERTORIAL
mirrored in the expected payment for the following year. These updates are made by the Ministry of Local Government through local administration authorities at the cell and village levels. Taking Tak ing an example of a family of ve, the CBHI scheme which operates against the principle of solidarity – shared responsibility –requires that each member of a household make or have made their contributions before any member can benet from health services. The challenges that the scheme faced in the past have ranged from long payment queues at health centres that to some were deterrents from making the payments, sub-quality services to beneciaries as a result of poor fund management that resulted into dissatised service delivers who ended up denying or giving substandard services to subscribers among others. With the appointment of the Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB) as the scheme’s manager, so much has changed in ensuring that service providers are paid on time and that beneciaries are given good services albeit that there is certainly still more room for improvement especially regarding the need for more medical service providers at the health centre level to minimise delays in service provision and ensure good quality health services to subscribers. Using digital payments to ensure seamless services in Mutuelle de sante For challenges related to ease of paying subscription fees to the scheme, RSSB has also made signicant progress with the latest being the introduction of mobile based payment options that will save the scheme’s subscribers the trouble of trips to and from health centres, banks and local authority authority oces over payments. First, it is now easy for one to know their household’s updated income category by using the Government of Rwanda’s mobile phone based Irembo service which can be accessed by dialling *909# and following prompts. With information on income category, the beneciary will now be able to make their payment via Mobicash, a Visa International Inc. service, Mobile Money services oered by various telecommunication services starting with MTN Mobile Money which is already on Board and through the Irembo e-government service portal. At a recent community work Saturday in Nyamagabe district, State Minister for social welfare in the Ministry of Local Government Alvera Mukabaramba told locals that with the new service, they will be able to make their payments payments on time
Sta te Minister for social welfare in the Ministry of Local Government Alvera Alvera Mukabaramba mobilising the community on new mutuelle payment platforms
and save them the trouble of travelling to and from many oces. “We are always looking for ways to give you good services, we are hopeful that this new payment platform will make access to the services you are entitled to seamless,” she told the enthusiastic crowd that had gathered at the district’s sports stadium for a meeting following community work done every last Saturday of the month in Rwanda. Rulisa Alexis, the in charge of CBHI in RSSB took locals through the steps of paying for mutuelle de sante via the mobile based services introduced highlighting that even other telecommunication service providers of mobile money platforms will soon enlist mutuelle payments too. Spearheaded by the district Mayor Uwamahoro Bonaventure, 146 residents who participated in the community work raised Rwf438,000 to support payment of Mutuelle de sante subscriptions for lower income earning households in the district. With the digitalisation, residents were also informed that they will no longer need to take Mutuelle cards of all family members to health centres for validation or have them at every visit but rather just the National ID or that of the head of household for minors will now be all needed to crosscheck in the system before services are given.
Digitalised mutuelle payments excite locals For Uwizeyimana Donatila a mutuelle subscriber, paying via mobile money comes as a sigh of great relief from the
troubles of moving up and about which costs them money and time which they could use for other needs. “We are hoping that this service will be maintained and improved improved to ensure it is instant. We don’t want it to be on and o. It is exciting to know that I can just pay all my instalments at my pace on my phone anywhere.” Similarly, Mujawayezu Marie Claire another resident who participated in the community work where the new platforms were launched said “We are happy with how services are going online in Rwanda. There is no reason for me to go looking for someone to do something for me sometimes for days when there is a possibility to do it myself. Thanks to all those involved in making self-service possible with dierent government services.” For Uzayisenga Placide who uses another RSSB run medical insurance scheme for salaried workers but who sometimes pays health insurance for extended family members, the mobile based payments for mutuelle mutuelle will be a game changer. “Sometimes you give someone money for mutuelle but they end up using it for other needs that they may be having only to discover later when a member of their family or themselves falls sick that they never subscribed. If this new service becomes popular, it will be easy for me to just pay for all of them directly without having to send money anywhere.” Clearly, RSSB will need to mobilise further to get word out to more people so that this service that takes queues away from health centres and local authority oces gains popularity. June 29 - July 05, 2018
RWANDA
Parliamentar Parliam entary y elections set But political temperature remains low as potential candidates collect signatures By John Mbaraga
I
n just over two months Rwandans head to the polls to choose their next p arliamentary representatives, but the political temperature is yet to rise as potential candidates move around constituencies collecting signatures to support their candidature. Rwanda’s National Electoral Commission (NEC) estimates that 7.2 million voters will participate in the elections in which candidates from the ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF), Social Democratic Party and Liberal Party, among others, will be seeking people’s mandate. Currently, RPF dominates both chambers of parliament. Rwanda runs a bicameral parliamentary system with two chambers; the Lower Chamber and the Senate (Uppe r Chamber). In telephone interview with The Independent last week, NEC executive secretary Charles Munyaneza said preparations for the poll are going on well, adding that the e lectoral body and was currently consulting with different stakeholders, including political parties, the civil society, local leaders and donors, among others, to ensure the exercise runs smoothly. Already, the commission has received six potential aspirants seeking documents allowing them to collect signatures to support their candidature, he said. “We are already receiving individual candidates seeking NEC documents to go and collect signatures in constituencies to endorse their candidacy,” he said, adding the commission was receiving different interested people.
Seats up for grabs Parliamentary elections are scheduled to kick off on Sep tember 2, with Rwandans living abroad casting their ballots first, and the following on September 3 the exercise will be carried out within the country. There are 80 seats in the Lower Chamber that are up for grabs, 53 of which are for directly elected MPs belonging to different political organisations. 22
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NEC executive secretary Charles Munyaneza
A total of 24 seats are reserved for women representatives, who are elected through the National Women Council structures, while two seats are for youth representatives, and one goes to an MP for people living with disabilities. Presently, seven political parties have representatives in the current parliament and senate. Overall, Rwanda Parliament consists of 106 parliamentarians, including 80 in the Lower Chamber and 26 senators in the Upper House. MPs served a 5-year term, while senators have an 8-year term of service. Senate polls are for next year. Rwanda’s Parliament is largely dominated by women, taking 64% of the total seats in all chambers.
Preparedness level Munyaneza added that the commission was in final process of updating voters’ list, an exercise that started in May. He said that civic education was ongoing, adding that youth and persons with disabilities have already been sensitized on the electoral process and rights as citizens as they prepare to elect their representatives to parliament. “Starting from July 12-15, they will be rec receivi eivi ng can candid didate atess from f rom bot both h political parties and independent
candidates and evaluate them. Those who will meet the requirements will start to campaign thereafter,” the NEC chief explained. Independent candidates can only be eligible to compete for a parliamentary seat after securing 600 signatures of voters supporting the candidature, according to the electoral code. Munyaneza said that the elections will cost a total of Rwf5.4 billion. “The activities we have so far done this fiscal year and those that are in the pipeline, the total budget will be over Rwf5.4 billion,” he explained.
Election observers Munyaneza said that they are receiving election observers, and the commission has already issued documents to many groups allowing them to observe the forthcoming elections. The NEC ocial said the commission is also currently holding consultative meetings with dierent institutions and stakeholders who “play a big part in elections” such as donors, foreign envoys and civil society organisation. “We are organizing a meeting with local civil society organisations to be held soon, and we will later meet leaders of political parties,” he said, adding that they have already met with diplomats.
RWANDA
Iwawa rehabilitation centre for young male delinquents. Female delinquents will soon get a similar place where they can wean themselves and learn new skills
First female delinquents delinquents rehab centre to open Currently, female offenders Currently, of fenders are housed in transit centres and released By John Mbaraga
Y
oung women and girls who have veered o the right path and have fallen into life of crime will have a chance to rebuild their lives after government unveiled plans to establish a rehabilitation centre target females. The centre, to be based in the Eastern Province district of Bugesera, is part of eorts by the government to ensure every Rwandan achieves their full potential and contribute to national development, ocials said. It also seeks to reduce vices like prostitution, alcoholism and drug abuse among young women and girls in Rwanda. Currently, Rwanda has three rehabilitation centres, but none of them handles female delinquents. The Rwf3 billion centre is being constructed by developing and expanding the Gitagata Rehabilitation Centre, and works are expected to be completed in December 2019, according to the National Rehabilitation Service. It will accommodate a total of 1,000 delinquents, 500 young female and 500 females below 18 years old. “The centre targets to rehabilitate prostitutes, drugs users, and other females involved in dierent illegal activities that can destabilize the general order of society,”
says Aime Bosenibamwe, the National Rehabilitation Service (NRS) director general. He explains that, currently, those female oenders involved in such activities are housed in transit centres for about two months and released. “Currently, we have no centre that reha bilita bil itates tes adu adult lt fema female le del delinq inquen uents. ts. Tho Those se who pass through to transit centres are rehabilitated and, presently, some are working in cooperatives,” he adds, noting that NRS works with partners who rehabilitate female delinquents. “Alongside rehabilitation, we will train them in various vocational skills trades to ensure that when they go back home they can be useful citizens and fend for themselves instead of engaging in crimes and becomi bec oming ng a burd burden en to com commun muniti ities es and and the country,” says Bosenibamwe. Bosenibamwe, notes that the institution doesn’t have exact gures of females involved in these illegal acts, saying that NRS will conduct research to establish the numbers to guide planning and level of intervention. “I believe we will have the number of female involved in delinquency by February 2019... For us to be able to identify the root causes of delinquency, we need to carry out a scientic study,” he said.
Impact of rehabilitation services
According to Bosenibamwe, the youth that have been rehabilitated and reintegrated in communities are doing well “as they were trained on vocational skills”. The relapse rate is about 10% of those who were rehabilitated returned to life in crime, while 20% have been readmied to Iwawa Rehabilitation Centre. Since the centre started operations about six years ago, 15,803 youth were rehabilitated and, presently, 4,000 youth are admied and undergoing rehabilitation. A total of 4,485 were rehabilitated trough other rehabilitation centres. Bugesera-based Gitagata Rehabilitation Centre handles children below 18 years of age, and currently has over 400 juveniles undergoing rehabilitation and training, says NRS. Bosenibamwe say; “Our mission is to reach a state where delinquency will no longer be a problem or burden in this country. Though we might still have some few cases, we want to ensure that the problem will be under total control.” He adds that NRS goal is to ensure Rwandans live in peace without threats from such young criminal individuals to “promote national security or national development” June 29 - July July 05, 2018
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RWANDA
Mitrelle Group to construct 10,000 housing units in Kigali Sector players call for more incentives to ensure low cost segment benets By Stephen Nuwagira
T
he recent signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Rwanda Development Board (RDB) and Mitrelle Group, to construct 10,000 housing units in Rwanda has led major players to demand reassessment of priorities. The Israel-based global conglomerate that specialises in large-scale and long-term turn-key projects, says the planned units will be aff orda ble hous ing ing,, ac cord ing to a statement from RDB. But Eric Hajabakunzi Uwinshuti, a Kigali-based real estate consultant, says that most so-called affordable housing units on the market are 24
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usually out of reach of the intended ben eficia benefi ciaries ries , cost c osting ing muc much h high h igher er than what their “affordable tag” indicates. Another prominent player, David Mushabe, who is the executive director of Abadahigwa ku Nteg o Limited, a subsidiary company of Kigali Veterans Co-operative Society (KVCS), said subsidies are needed to ensure that the low cost segment is served. Abadahigwa ku Ntego is already developing three bed-roomed flats in Kabuga, Masaka sector in Kicukiro District that will cost Rwf24.6 m illion each, which Mushabe said is among the lowest offers on the market. But, Mushabe says, the firm was only able to reduce the cost of the
units because the Rwanda Housing Authority Authori ty (RHA) subsidised them by servicing the estate with roads, water and electricity among others. Uwinshuti said other developers sell two or three bed-roomed units at between Rwf30 million to Rwf75 million and rent per month swings widely from lows of Rwf200,000 to highs of Rwf700,000 depending on location. Access to affordable housing is one of the key priorities of government but it is clear that innovative interventions are needed to achieve it. For Uwinshuti, formation of h ousing cooperatives by urban dwellers interested in homeownership is one such intervention that could help fasttrack the delivery of affordable homes.
RWANDA
He said if residents of Kigali and provincial cities organised themselves in groups and pool funds together, it would be cheaper and easier to develop their own low-cost housing. “The government should initiate and support such arrangements and also provide incentives,” he says, “It is also important to understand that pooling funds together is an easier way to realise what an individual cannot achieve alone.” Uwinshuti says Rwandans can use an already existing strong cooperative movement to build affordable housing cooperatives by interested town residents countrywide. The government could also p artner with private investors on some projects because many real estate developers lack funds enough to undertake affordable housing because it often requires undertaking big project to reduce cost per unit. Other key interventions by the government that could help ease access to affordable housing include subsidising of construction materials, especially those sourced from outside the country. There is also need to invest in research to find innovative and lowcost housing technologies that can help real estate sector players to develop housing projects and deliver
to the market at affordable prices. The Government of Rwanda has put in place a number of strategic incentives to attract local and international investors in the sector. Last year, Rwanda unveiled a multimillion dollar Affordable Housing Fund with an initial investment of $200 million, targeting developers of low-cost housing to help bring down prices of these homes. Therefore, the entry of new affordable housing investors could fast-track delivery of decent homes in Kigali city and provincial cities, according to Uwinshuti. While signing the deal, Haim Taib, Ta ib, the Mitrelli Group founder and president, seems to have had this in mind, saying the project was a ‘very nice’ challenge for them. “We have the knowledge, the funds, the expertise and the ability to complete this project, and make it the best project for the pe ople of Rwanda,” he said. Clare Akamanzi, the RDB chief executive officer, lauded the partnership, saying Mitrelli is the kind of investor wanted in Rwanda. Mazen Al Sawwaf, the CEO and founder of Global Investment Holding Company, a Saudi Arabian holding company, also participated in the signed. A 2012 Housing Market Study in the City of Kigali showed that 340,000 new housing units are needed by 2022. Of these, 43,436 units (12.6%) are required for social housing and 186,163 units for affordable housing (54.1%) for Kigali alone. Another112,867 units for midrange housing (32.8%), while premium housing needs are projected at 0.5% (1,601 units). The city’s population stands at over 1.2 million residents but is projected to hit 3.8 million by 2040, which calls for provision of more housing facilities to accommodate the growing population. The level of urbanisation has increased from 15.8% to 26.5% betwee bet ween n 20 02 and a nd 2015 2015,, mean m eaning ing tha thatt almost two million people live in towns. The construction sector has been experiencing some lows over the past two years but rallied to grow by 8% in the first quarter of 2017/18 FY. Mushabe also said Abadahigwa ku Ntego welcomes Mitrelle’s entry. He said the market is still largely underserved, especially for young graduates and corporates looking f or a decent affordable home.
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RWANDA
Agric shifts fertiliser, seed distribution from RAB Mukunde, said innovations were required to pump water from the marshlands so that farmers can use them. The district is implementing a policy where “every piece of idle land” is being reclaimed for agricultural production as part of eorts to boost output and househouse hold income, and ensure food security. The government is also banking on the sector to boost export volumes and earnings. Agriculture contributed 31% to GDP in the rst quarter of the year after services that added 47%; industry sector 15%. The minister encouraged local authorities to nd solutions to their problems instead of “running” to the central government for help every time. “You “Y ou are in charge of the budget; you are responsible; you are local government; the budget bud get is in you yourr hand hands, s, be proa proacti ctive ve and stop waiting for RAB or central government to nd solutions for you. That’s the only way we can achieve out targets,” the minister advised. He said they should encourage farmers to embrace irrigation and water harvesting to mitigate eects of climate change. The government provides a 50% subsidy on small irrigation equipment to encourage framers to adopt modern farming practices and also spur crop productivity and make the sector more sustainable. “We have to work together with people to uplift the agriculture sector because it is key the country’s development,” said Parfait Busabizwa, the City of Kigali vice mayor in charge of economic development.
By Stephen Nuwagira
R
wanda’s agriculture ministry is changing the process of seed and fertiliser distribution, according to the Minister of State minister for Agriculture, Fulgence Nsengiyumva. Nsengiyumva said Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB), which has hitherto been central in the process, will no longer be directly involved, leaving the distribution of inputs to be handled by sector and district authorities. The RAB retains its supervisory role to ensure accountability. “This strategy is good for business and also supports our targets to improve crop output, but it doesn’t mean that we are removing RAB from its accountability role,” he said. Only farmers registered with local authorities will access the subsidised seeds and fertilisers, in a move the minister said is intended to ensure proper monitoring and accountability. Smart Nkunganyire, a portal for input distribution, monitoring and reporting, has also been developed to strengthen the delivery system and ensure farmers get input timely. The moves are part of a push for new approaches to enhance agriculture production to ensure food security and boost incomes of farmers. The shift to the new system is intended to address the problem of delays in seed and fertiliser distribution. “We adopted this approach because the old one has been causing delays as suppliers were not being paid in time, making it hard for them to import and deliver inputs in time,” Nsengiyumva said. Addressing local leaders and extension sta from the three districts of the City of Kigali - Gasabo, Kicukiro and Nyarugenge ahead of the start of season C next month, the minister urged local leaders and extension sta to ensure that farmers plant in time. “Ensure that every square inch of land that’s currently redundant is cultivated. Also encourage people, especially those prone to weather vagaries in marshlands, to embrace quick growing and high value crops like vegetables and fruits,” Nsengiyumva said. Local leaders from Kigali said the problem of delays in seed and fertiliser delivery had previously hurt production. 26
June 29 - July July 05, 2018
Farmers speak out Challenge of flooded marshlands Earlier, the vice mayors in charge of economic development from the three districts expressed concern over rampant ooding in key marshlands in Kigali, saying it has delayed land preparation for the coming planting season. Many farmers in Kigali cultivate in marshlands, growing mostly rice, vegeta bles, ble s, mai maize ze and some bea beans. ns. The recent long rains left most marshlands ooded, including Kajevuba, KinyinKinyin ya, Rurambi, Rugenge and Bumboga, ooded aecting land preparation plans for season C. Kicukiro District Vice Mayor in charge of Economic Development, Angelique
Anonciata Mukafunka, a farmer and peer educator in Jabana sector Gasabo district, called on government to include beans on the list of subsidised seeds, saying a lot of people grow the cereal but lack money to buy qua qualit lity y seeds seeds.. “Mos “Mostt peopl peoplee want want to grow beans but they cannot aord beer seed at the current market prices, aecting country’s eorts geared at food security and boosti boo sting ng hou househo sehold ld inc income ome,” ,” Muk Mukafu afunka nka said. Government provides seed subsidies for only maize, soya and wheat under the crop intensication programme, paying half the cost. A kilogramme of improved maize is at Rwf2,300 and beans cost Rwf800 each kilo on the open market, which Mukafunka said is too high for ordinary farmers especially rural areas.
RWANDA
`Let Rwandans eat cheese’ Munyankindi's lone journey to creating a Rwandan cheese By Elias Hakizimana
T
heoneste Munyankindi, a priest Musanze District of Rwanda’s Northern Province, has unusual approach to busine bus iness ss as as his his thri thrivin ving g chees cheesee venventure shows. It all started with a dream that Munyankindi had – to produce a locally made Rwandan cheese. For that, he realised he had to build a factory. But rst he also had to produce the milk. He could easily have bought the milk from other farmers but Munyankindi has one unusual trait; he is a stickler for quality. That meant he could not easily trust other farmers to give him the quality milk he needed. That is why in 2010, he started raising dairy cale. The short shelf life of milk and milk products he produced on his diary farm made his dream of making cheese even more urgent. He had laid the foundation for the enterprise but spent another ve years rening the idea. It is only in 2015 that he started construction works on his milk processing factory, Fromagérie la Lumière. Today, Munyankindi is what is called a model farmer; one who practices his farming by following very strict guidelines. He supplies cheese to top supermarkets and hotels in Kigali, Musanze, and Gisenyi. Though he had planned to initially use milk from his 10 dairy cows, production was low. So he soon started training neigh bourin bou ring g farme farmers rs to pro produc ducee the the qua qualit lity y of of milk he wanted. He trained them in beer animal husbandry practices to increase milk production and quality. When he felt they
had aained his grade, he started buying some milk from them. He says although the decision to buy milk from other farmers in the locality to ensure sustainable production, it was also his desire to lead by example supporting other residents to improve their enterprises and livelihoods. His project was driven by seeing how Rwanda’s economy is based on agriculture and livestock, and yet most of the produce goes to waste because of lack of processing avenues. “I wanted to contribute to the development of the sector by helping increase the shelf life of milk products through value addition,” he says, “It would also benet other farmers.” His factory processes 1,000 litres per day and about 5,000 litres per week. The factory spends over Rwf1 million on payments for milk suppliers every week and buys Rwf200,000 worth of milk daily. It produces 100 kilos of cheese every day.
nsuring safety As ever, Munyankindi remains determined to improve quality of his cheese. He wanted to have the cheese certied with standardisation mark (S-Mark) by Rwanda Standards Board (RSB) the standards s tandards watchdog. That proved to be dicult in a country without a history of producing cheese. But Munyankindi says since he believes that to boost boo st the mar marketa ketabil bility ity of the che cheese ese and create condence among the public, he needed quality certication, his company approached RSB and guided the regulator on how to implement safety standards. The 42-year-old priest believes that cer-
tication adds value to products, which motivates him to improve the business on daily basis. Munyankindi says acquiring the quality has made the cheese more competitive, adding that the price has risen from Rwf2,500 to between Rwf3,000 and Rwf3,500 after receiving the S-mark three years ago. “The S-mark guarantees its quality, indicating that our cheese meets the required standards and is safe,” he says. Though their market share has grown, the entrepreneur says they currently serve 30% of the targeted market. Therefore, they are looking to reach more people and use dierent channels to deepen our market reach. “This way, more farmers will gain from an expanded market and earn beer from their farming activities,” he adds. In the meantime, the factory is also working hard to get what is called the Hazards Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) certication. This will ensure that their products can be trusted and marketed regionally and internationally. The cheese maker is condent to make it on the big stage in regional and global markets as the rm plans export the cheese after geing HACCP certication. Fromagérie la Lumière has also beneted from government support to the dairy sector; such as capacity building and trainings of its employees, as well acquisition of beer equipment and processing facilities. Munyankindi says his dream is far from fullled. He wants to produce between 200 and 300kg of cheese every day going forward. The factory plans to increase the production ve times in three years. June 29 - July July 05, 2018
27
A Germ Germanan--sp -speak eaking ing med media ia team gets deb debrie riefed fed at the UW UWA A offic offices es in Bwi Bwindi ndi Imp Impene enetrabl trablee Nation National al Park after returning from a gorilla tracking adventure. COURTESY PHOTO
Surge in tourism revenu revenues es Sustained marketing in America, Germany and the UK boosts tourist numbers but questions on validity of gures persist By Ronald Musoke
U
ganda has registered a surge in tourist numbers over the last one year, with many of the visitors coming in from key source markets of the USA, United Kingdom, India and Germany. Data from the Uganda Tourism Board (UTB), the national tourism marketing agency, shows that the country recorded a 1.5% growth in international tourist arrivals to 1.32million in the 2016/17 nancial year. In the most coveted high-end market, the U.S.A is said to have remained the top contributor to visitor arrivals to Uganda with 57,959 visitors, followed by the United Kingdom (39,539), India (30,210), China (19,175) and Germany (10,586). In Africa, Rwanda contributed the biggest visitor arrivals with 362,865 visitors, followed by Kenya (352,817), DR Congo (90,148), Tanzania Tanzania (86,091) and Sudan (35,353). Of all the total arrivals during the year, 18% visited for purposes of leisure, recreation and holiday, 22% visited for busine bus iness ss and and pro profess fession ional al con confer ference ences, s, 38% visited friends and relatives and 22% visited 28
June 29 - July July 05, 2018
for other reasons such as transit, education and medical. As a result, tourism remained the country’s leading foreign exchange earner bringi bri nging ng in US$ US$1.4 1.4bn bn (ab (about out Shs 5.1 5.1tri trilli llion) on) last year compared with US$1.35bn in the previous year. This is almost three times the tourism revenue Uganda earned a decade ago (US$ 498.3m). However, Kenya, which has a more robust tourism sector in the region besides Tanzania, recorded US$1.2bn in earnings compared with US$989 million in the previous year as a result of a 9.8% growth in international tourist arrivals to 1.4million. Similarly, Tanzania recorded US$2.2bn, up from US$2.1bn during the same period under review. This followed the growth in tourism arrivals from 1.28million in 2016 to 1.3 in 2017. Executives in the sector who spoke to The linked the sudden interest in Independent linked Independent Uganda as a top tourism destination to the recent recruitment of three marketing rms that have been selling Uganda in Europe and North America. The three rms hired by Uganda in 2016 include PHG Consulting for North America, Kamageo for the UK and Ireland market
and KPRN for the German-speaking markets of Germany, Austria and Swierland. Vincent Mugaba, the UTB publicist noted that as a result of the PR rms’ marketing of Uganda in the last one year, at least 133 operators in the UK now oer Uganda as a top tourist destination. That is a rise of 33%. Mugaba said there also appears to have been a cons consist istent ent medi mediaa campa campaign ign by the UK media. Besides Uganda featuring extensively on ITV breakfast TV and national newspapers, online platforms, YouTube, YouTube, OK magazine, AOL, MSN, the UK top travel media house Rough Guides declared Uganda a top destination to visit in Africa in 2017, a credit which was picked up by other media across the Atlantic with the CNN also rating Uganda highly. Also, tour operators and travel media were invited to Uganda and taken around tourist aractions to enable them get a rstrst hand impression of the country, a set-up that saw a spike in the number of tourism campaigns abroad. While reading the national budget for the FY 2018/19 on June 14 in Kampala, Matia Kasaija, the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development said the procurement of the “market destination
BUSINESS
representation” rms is yielding substantial results. Going forward, Kasaija said the government expects to rake in twice as much (US $2.7bn) every year by 2020 from the sector riding on the hope that the tourist arrivals will have hit four million. Tourism experts say Uganda stands out as a top tourist destination thanks to its stock of natural aractions that a tourist can enjoy in the country’s 10 national parks, 12 wildlife reserves and other sanctuaries. The country, for instance, has more than 50% of the world’s remaining population of Mountain gorillas, over 1,060 bird species, constituting 11% of the global population of bird bir d speci species. es. Uganda also has the Source of River Nile, the longest river in the world, Lake Victoria, the largest fresh water lake in Africa and Mountain Rwenzori— the renowned mountains of the moon— which is also the only mountain in the world with a snow cap astride the equator. But ocials in the sector say it is the Mountain gorilla that remains Uganda’s cash cow since many tourists are fascinated by the these se enda endanger ngered ed pri primat mates. es. Bashir Hangi, the Communications Ocer of the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) told The Independent on June18 that they have noticed that foreign tourists have shown more interest in Ugandan gorilla permits over the last one year. “If you are looking at geing a gorilla permit (right now), the fact is, you may not get one until September,” he said. A single Ugandan gorilla permit costs about US$600. Amos Wekesa, the executive director of Great Lakes Safaris, one of the leading local tourist agencies told The Independent that the overbooking of Uganda’s gorilla permits bodes bod es well well for Ugan Uganda’ da’ss tour tourism ism sect sector. or. He aributes this to marketing tourism abroad, especially in the UK. He said in Kibaale National Park, in western Uganda, for instance, where he owns a lodge, it is impossible to get accommodation this whole year. “People say it is because Rwanda recently increased its gorilla permit prices to US$ 1500 but Rwanda’s gorilla permits have always been more expensive than Uganda’s,” he said. “Rwanda’s gorilla permits were at US$750 when Uganda’s were at US$400 but Uganda never had the demand.” But despite the recent gains in the sector, Wekesa says Uganda should not relax. He says it is high time the government emphasized promotion of Uganda’s other unique aractions. “We have less than 38,000 gorilla permits in a year but a serious country cannot be content with 38, 000 vistors,” he said. “Now we should be marketing aracarac tions like Mountain Rwenzori and Elgon which can take tens of thousands of visitors,
Kidepo, Murchison Falls, Lake Victoria and River Nile.” He said the world should know that the Nile begins in Uganda and that Lake Victoria is in Uganda. A 2013 World Bank report titled “Harnessing Tourism for Improved Growth and Livelihoods,” categorizes Uganda as being on the verge of tourism success, but at the same time cautions the country against complacency if it is to move into the select group of sub-Saharan countries like Kenya, Tanzania, Tanz ania, South Africa, Mauritius and Namibia that have deepened their tourism sector. “It is not enough to have interesting natural and cultural aractions and friendly people,” the report said, adding that tourism is one of the largest and fastest growing sectors of the world economy, and is now ripe for development in Sub-Saharan Africa. According to the report, countries around the world have recently cashed in from tourism as international arrivals have grown but expansion of tourism in subSaharan Africa faces a number of obstacles with issues such as land ownership and availability being at the forefront.
Stephen Asiimwe
A mo mos Wekesa
Specically, Uganda’s key constraints include poor access to tourist sites, inadequate tourist information, and low levels of ICT provision of tourist services and inadequate specialized human resources for the hospitality industry. The report urges governments to form partnerships with the private sector—and vice versa at local, regional and national levels to plan and develop tourism infrastructure, increase transparency in land ownership and create a business-friendly environment for tour operators and other companies. “To become competitive worldwide, African governments and the private sector must work together in planning tourism infrastructure, promotion and nancing,” the report notes. When sustainably managed, tourism fuels economic transformation, accelerates reform, triggers infrastructure improvements and empowers women and minorities in countries throughout Africa, the report notes. Tourism has been identied and pripri oritized by the government as a primary growth sector in Uganda’s National Devel-
opment Plan and Vision 2040 with the government reckoning that if well nurtured, the sector has the potential to yield up to $12bn annually which is close to half of Uganda’s current GDP.
Government allocate Shs 32bn to Government unlock tourism sector During the budget reading for the FY 2018/19 on June 14, Kasaija said the government intends to consolidate the gains made in the sector. He allocated Shs 32bn to further unlock the sector. Lobbyists in the tourism sector had called for the sector to be allocated at least Shs 29.5bn. A chunk of this allocation (Shs 17bn) will go to UTB to showcase the country as a top tourist destination in six international fairs among other activities, according to the Board’s publicist. In the second year, Mugaba said the rms will build on the successful media and PR engagements, which increased destination awareness in the respective markets. The rms will also continue to provide in-depth trade knowledge and training to travel professionals for both tour operators and travel in the international source markets and domestically in Uganda. UTB is also planning to recruit another three PR rms to market Uganda’s tourism in China, the United Arab Emirates and Japan markets. Wekesa told The Independent The Independent that that Uganda can compete with Kenya and South Africa if it invests more money in marketing its tourism abroad. “The challenge for us is that we don’t quantify our earnings. UWA should now be say saying ing tha thatt we we have have sol sold d this this num number ber of gorilla permits and Uganda has earned this much,” he said. It would be easy for us to say that if we have invested this much in marketing and we have earned this much, how much should we now invest back, Wekesa said. “Image building of a country is a national responsibility,” Wekesa Wekesa said. “Having a product is not enough. If you do have a product but I don’t know about you and your product, how will I buy it? That is Uganda’s biggest problem now,” he said. Data from Kenya’s Tourism Ministry shows that the country spent KShs 4.5bn in promoting tourism last year. On the other hand, South Africa increased its tourism budget bud get fro from m R1.1 R1.14bn 4bn to R1. R1.23b 23bn n in in Febru Febru-ary this year to promote tourism in and out of the country. Wekesa told The Independent that Independent that there is also need to reform the UTB, get the right people in the right positions and get on board more international PR rms. “It is important for UTB to work like other tourism boards around the region,” he said. June 29 - July July 05, 2018
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BUSINESS
URA, Japan agency boost South Sudan taxman AfDB hires Commissioner General to implement tax reforms in war-wrecked nation By Ian Katusiime
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outh Sudan is a young nation beset with many troubles especially the continuous outbreaks
of war. But that has not deterred Africa’s newest nation from building buil ding its insti instituti tutions, ons, with the National Revenue Authority being one of those geing a head start to enable the country have a semblance of a functional state. Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) in partnership with the Japan Inte Internat rnationa ionall Coopera Coopera-tion Agency (JICA) has in the past one year provided logistical and human resource support to South Sudan customs ocials in Kampala. JICA JIC A has has con conduc ducted ted tra trainining sessions for South Sudan customs ocials particularly on a program called Harmonised System (HS). HS is an internationally standardized system of names and numbers to classify traded products. It came into eect in 1988 and has since been developed and maintained by the World Customs Organisation (WCO) (formerly the Customs Co-operation Council), an independent intergovernmental organisation based in Brussels, Belgium, with over 200 member countries. This comes nearly two months since the African Development Bank (AfDB) recruited Olympio Aipoe, a Ghanaian national as the commissioner general of the South Sudan Revenue Authority. Aipoe said he plans to have selected a maximum of ve banks ban ks to col collec lectt reve revenue nue on behalf beh alf of Sou South th Sud Sudan an Rev Revenu enuee Authority Author ity (SSRA) by mid next month. 30
Olympio Attipoe
During the past two nancial years, the South Sudan Ministry of Finance collected revenue on behalf beh alf of gov govern ernment ment wit with h the the help of 10 commercial banks. “I revoked all the contracts and now we are screening banks ban ks to do the col collec lectio tion,” n,” said Aipoe during a capacity development meeting for South Sudan customs ocials at the URA Training Centre in Kampala on June 18. The training was aended by Mit Mitsun sunori ori Num Numagu aguchi chi,, the the JICA JIC A Depu Deputy ty Chi Chief ef Adv Adviso isorr of the Capacity Development Project for South Sudan among other JICA ocials. Among other reforms AiAipoe wants to implement is a tax audit investigation which will look out for multinational companies that have been declaring zero prot in the conict-ridden country. “This one will be headed by a commissioner,” he said. Aipoe, who has been resiresident in South Sudan for the last
June 29 - July July 05, 2018
seven years, said he appreciates the many challenges the country is facing especially war. He said the reform process will be a long and tiring one. “There is a fragile political situation and even oil production which the country heavily relies on, we will have to diversify,” he explained.
Transition period He also said as commissioner general, he is in a transition period as the hiring process for the initial 650 new sta at the revenue body is underway with the help of an international recruitment agency. The period also involves the Ministry of Finance handing over the tax collection role to the South Sudan Revenue Authority. However, he could not state the amount of revenue that the nance ministry had collected in the nancial year 2017/2018 as some of the contracted banks coul could d not not provid providee relireli-
able data. Meanwhile, Aipoe revealed that prospective applicants will have to carefully read the terms of reference for their jobs if they are to have a chance at succeeding at their new jobs. So far, 10 HS trainings for approximately approximatel y 100 customs ocers and other sessions for Clearing Agents have been carried out. They have also developed explanatory notes for South Sudan through case studies and learned ways of classifying the commodities execution. Statistics trainings have been conducted for another 100 customs ocers by JICA experts and URA ocials. The South Sudanese received training on how to apply correct and accurate trade statistics. They have also received mentoring on principles of basic mathematics and computer skills. South Sudan descended into conict in December 2013 following a power struggle between betw een Presi President dent Salv Salvar ar Kiir, Kiir, and his former vice president Riek Machar. Power struggles between President Kiir and Dr Machar have led to a huge tax default. The two country’s top ocials were in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia recently for negotiations to end the long running conict. The SSRA was established as part of reforms in chapter 4 of the 2015 peace agreement. It is tasked to ensure that all revenues are remied to a “single treasury account,”, and expenditures are conducted in accordance with the law and budget. The SSRA is also mandated to assess, collect, administrate and enforce laws relating to taxation and revenues.
BUSINESS
Shs 139bn URA URA Tower nears completion Tax body to save Shs3.8bn upon completion of the project By Julius Businge
U
ganda Revenue Authority (URA) is expected to save at least Shs 3.8bn in annual rent upon completion of its oce complex in Nakawa, Kampala. The ongoing construction works of the Shs 139bn URA Tower is set for completion in August August this year. It is expected to be the tallest building in Kampala with 22 oors divided into four podiums and 18 tower oors totaling 26,021 square metres. The recently launched Pearl of Africa Hotel, Crested Towers and Mapeera House have 19 oors while Uganda House has 16 oors. Ian Rumanyika, the manager for public and corporate aairs in the Commissioner General’s oce told The Independent in an interview that the overall physical progress of the project is 85% complete, with Ms Seyani Brothers & Co. (U) Ltd as the contractor. He said the oce complex will also provide for a car parking structure for 360 cars and surface parking for 710 vehicles. The total area of the parking structure is 12,923 square metres with ve levels for parking, with the sixth oor designed to house a crèche for breastfeeding sta, gym, Sauna and Unisex Salon. It also has an auditorium or multipurpose high end conference hall for 300 people and mini-meeting rooms at every oor. “The building is designed to be green with an Intelligent Building Management System (BMS) and other ICT innovations, making it a high performance building,” Rumanyika said, adding that BMS will manage all services like access control, lighting, water, security, reghting, modern ICT network infrastructure and air conditioning. In addition, the oce complex has a central core atrium to enhance natural ventilation and minimise mechanical
cooling of the building as well as house modern forensic and science laboratories that support tax investigations, customs and domestic taxes operations.
Who will occupy the building? Rumanyika said the overall objective of the project is to converge its entire sta in Mukono, Kampala and Entebbe at the headquarter for ecient service delivery. At peak in 10 years’ time, the building is expected to accommodate up to 1,700 sta. However, only tax information centres will remain operational in central Kampala and its environs after the closure of the
The ongoing construction works of the
Shs 139bn URA Tower is set for completion in Augu Au gust st thi this s ye year ar.I .Itt is is ex expe pect cted ed to be the tallest building in Kampala with 22 oors divided into four podiums and 18 tower oors totaling 26,021 square metres.
main tax oces in Kampala East, North, Central, Entebbe and Mukono. In terms of improving work eciency for the tax body, Rumanyika said the oce complex will facilitate a full integration of the back oce service to support the selfservice business model of e-transactions, under one roof, while maintaining only tax payers’ service centres. “It is expected that URA will oer faster and beer services to clients resulting from process integration while reducing administrative costs to the taxpayer and URA,” Rumanyika said. The building will also improve the URA image and corporate brand in the public domain based on the fact that it has been the only revenue administration body in the EAC region without a being headquarters building. The tower will provide modern oce facilities that support URA’s current and future work methods of dierent departments. It will also improve security of vital URA computer and other records through provision of state-of-the-art and round the clock security. Construction of the URA Tower started on Feb. 04, 2015.
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BUSINESS
ECONOMY
INSURANCE
Higher taxes may hurt businesses
B
usiness executives under their um brella bre lla,, Priv Private ate Sec Sector tor Fou Founda ndatio tion n Uganda, are worried that the newly introduced taxes in the FY 2018/19 National Budget that start next month may choke the private sector growth. The executives said the 1% proposed levy on all mobile money transfer transactions will also discourage innovations. “The new mobile tax taxes airtime, data, tax income for operators, the sender, the receiver, paying bills and all that,” Moses Ogwal, the director Private Sector Develop-
ment at PSFU said during a private sector post-budget luncheon at the Uganda Manufacturers Association. “This is like double taxation and will in the end discourage ICT innovations. We We encourage the government to leave operational taxes out not to choke innovations.” Ogwal said although taxes are important, the government needs to realise a point at which taxes are harmful to growth. Currently, Uganda has more than 200 new ICT innovations, with majority yet to be ope operat ration ionali alised, sed, acc accord ording ing to PSF PSFU. U.
CONSTRUCTION
Crown Paints to invest Shs 17bn in Uganda, TZ
Rakesh Rao
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he Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE)-listed (NSE)listed paints manufacturer, Crown Paints, is set to invest Shs 17bn in its Uganda and Tanzania subsidiaries.
U
gandans seem to be appreciating the value of micro-insurance as one million people have already registered for aYo microinsurance service in a period of one year. Edwin Kwesiga, the chief executive ocer for aY aYo o Uganda told media on June 20 that rm has recorded 977 as claims and paid out Shs295million as compensation with the average payment being Shs300, 000 per claim. He aributed the increase in the number of clients to awareness and education campaigns.
Edwin Kwesiga
“It is an exciting venture,” he said adding, “We target to reach two million customers soon.” He, however, remained cagey on the total number of gross premium underwrien. aYo in partnership with MTN opened its doors to the Ugandan insurance market in January 2017 with two products – aYo recharge with care and aYo send with care.
ECONOMY
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
SEED roots for partnerships
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EED, an institution that promotes entrepreneurship for sustainable development is urging the government, private sector and civil society organizations to work jointly to achieve business success. Speaking on the sidelines of the ‘Practitioner Lab on Climate Finance’ event organised by SEED, on June 20 at the Sheraton Hotel, Jonas Restle, a senior oo cial from SEED said government should provide incentives related to nance, land, tax and others to support growth of the enterprises that are key in creating new jobss and job and gro growin wing g the the eco economy nomy.. He also said partnerships should look at building capacity in nancial manage ment, market access and related oportunites. Meanwhile, Restle said as businesses seek strong partnerships, they should also be innovative, have corporate governance structures and above all pay taxes to government. About 50 people from private sector and nancial institutions aended the event. 32
According to Kenya’s Business Daily, Rakesh Rao, the Group’s chief executive, said the rm is looking at investing Shs 11.5bn in Uganda and Shs 5.5bn in Tanzania to meet the growing product demand. He hopes to capitalise on the political stability in the region that will aract invesinves tors in the construction and infrastructure projects. “The Kenyan government has indicated interest in providing one million low-cost houses and we expect that this will create a signicant demand for paint,” he said. The manufacturer in its 2017 annual report disclosed that the Uganda and Tanzania subsidiaries incurred a loss of Shs 68.8 million and Shs 2.9bn respectively, during the year ended December 31, 2017.
aYo customers reaches one million
June 29 - July July 05, 2018
Weakening shilling pushes prices of processed products
A
gradually weakening shilling against the United States dollar has slightly pushed up prices for manufactured goods and utility services, according to Peter Opio, the director for Business and Industry Statis-
tics at the Uganda Bureau of Statistics. “In the reviewed year, we saw the price for utilities going up by 1.4% 1.4% and tha thatt of of the the manufactured goods rising to 0.8%,” he said.“For the utilities, prices were driven up by the depreciation of the local currency
against the dollar since the power generated is charged in foreign currency by the generators.” Data from Bank of Uganda shows that the inter bank ban k aver average age exc exchan hange ge rate for May 2017 stood at Shs 3,607 compared to Shs 3,768 last month.
TECH
Infinix unveils AI-powered Note 5 in Uganda
I
nnix, the Transsion Holdings premium smartphone brand, commied to bringing cuing edge technology and stylish devices has introduced the Note 5 smartphone powered by Google Android. The Note 5 comes with secure and AI-powered innovations like the Google Assistant
and Google Lens. The phone has a glossy back and it’s being hailed as the best Innix device so far. In partnership with Google on Android One, we will provide the young generations with unprecedented mobile experience and revolutionise their life with the Note 5,” said Benjamin Jiang, MD of Innix Mobile. The Note 5 was launched in Uganda on June 25 at Hotel Triangle, Kampala.
BUSINESS
UBL unveils a Shs13bn glass bottling line ahead of sachet’s ban By Julius Businge
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U.S. Ambassador to Uganda, Deborah R. Malac (L) hands over a certificate to Evelyn Zaliwango, the winner in the category of women in business during the Women for Women awards at the French Ambassador's residence in Nakasero on June 21. She also won a trip to France. The awards target women who have little exposure in areas of politics, art and culture, sports and academics. INDEPENDENT/JIMMY SIYA
aYo CEO Edw in Kwesiga and Gerhardt van der Merwe, aYo holdings aYo group Executive Country and business development director, addressing the press at a celebration to mark 1 million customers at Kati-Kati Restaurant on June 20. INDEPENDENT/JIMMY SIYA
Julius Mukunda, CSBAG National Coordinator briefing the press on June 21 after a post budget dialogue at UMA . INDEPENDEMNT/JIMMY SIYA
nternational Distillers Uganda (IDU), a subsidiary of Uganda Breweries Limited, has opened a glass bottling line at its spirits manufacturing plant ahead of the alcohol ban sol sold d in i n sach s achets ets in March next year. The new facility has a capacity to handle 6,000 bottle bot tless p er h our com compar pared ed with the 1,440 of the previous plant that is said to have been installed nearly six decades ago. UBL Managing Director, Mark Ocitti, said the new line will allow the company to not only grow its beer volume but also increase the number of products processed locally. “Demand for spirits has grown significantly,” he said, “and this plant supports government’s policy of Buy Uganda Build Uganda.”
Octti said that the new plant will produce various products including Gilbeys, Richot, and Smirnoff that are currently imported from neighbouring Kenya. This new development comes at the time Nile Breweries Limited (NBL) is investing US$22million in upgrading its two plants in Jinja Jin ja and Mba Mbarara rara to mee meett the booming beer demand. Amelia Kyambadde, Minister of Trade, who was the chief guest promised to work with UBL and other bee r in dus dustry try pla players yers to fight illicit alcohol on the market. She said her ministry has already prepared the principles of Alcoholic Drinks Control Bill set to be presented to Cabinet for approval to pave way for eective regulation of the sector. At the moment, UBL produces 140 million litres of beer compared to NBL’s 245 million litres per annum.
Weekly share price movement (June 25) Security
June 25
BATU
30,000
30000
June 12
00
Movement
BOBU
155
160
3.1
CENT
1,429
1,435
0.4
DFCU EABL
870 8,211
895 8,387
2.8 2.0
EBL
1,870
1,860
0.5
JHL
19,300
18,890
2.2
KA
437
362
20.7
KCB
1,851
1,851
00
NIC
17
18
5.5
NMG
3,606
3,778
4.5
NVL SBU
450 32
450 31
00 3.2
UCHM
55
62
11.3
UCL
21
25
16
UMEME ALSI
300 --
300 --
00 --
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COMMENT
By Andrew Zimbalist
Why host the world cup? All revenue from ticket sales, international broadcasting rights, and sponsorships goes directly to FIFA
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hom would you trust more, Russian President Vladimir Putin or Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel? Whereas Putin is reveling in the aention that Russia is receiving as host of the 2018 World Cup, Emanuel has informed the U.S. Soccer Federation and FIFA that Chicago has no interest in serving as a host city when the event comes to North America in 2026. Canada and Mexico will each host ten matches, and the United States will host another 60. So why is the third-largest U.S. city taking a pass? To understand what it means to host a global sporting event, consider the fact that Putin’s government spent $51-70 billion to stage the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, and is projected to spend at least $14 billion hosting the current World Cup, which runs through July 15. Russia’s budget provided for the construction of seven new stadiums – including one in St. Petersburg that cost around $1.7 billion – and renovations to ve other venues. And that does not even account for the additional expenses for training facilities, lodging, expanded infrastructure, and security. Chicago, having already hosted the opening ceremony and rst match of the 1994 World Cup, has adopted quite a dierent mindset. Emanuel’s spokesspokesperson, Ma McGrath, recently issued a statement explaining that, “FIFA could not provide a basic level of certainty on some major unknowns that put our city and taxpayers at risk.” FIFA, McGrath alleges, was demanding something tantamount to a “blank check,” including an “open-ended ability to modify the agreement … at any time and at their discretion.” Moreover, FIFA would have required that Soldier Field – home to the Chicago Bears football team – be taken out of use for two months prior to the tournament. In the end, Emanuel’s oce concluded that, “The uncertainty for taxpayers, coupled with FIFA’s inexibility and unwillingness to negotiate, were clear indications that further pursuit of the bid wasn’t in Chicago’s best interests.” In addition to holding anywhere from two to six games – potentially over the 34
June 29 - July July 05, 2018
course of a number of weeks – World Cup host cities are expected to throw a “fan fest,” furnish training facilities for the teams, and provide extensive tax exemptions for a range of activities. In fact, FIFA prohibits both direct and indirect taxation on all income from the event, exempting continental soccer confederations, host-country broadcasters, and FIFA member associations, service providers, and contractors. contractors . It is lile wonder, then, that Minneapolis and Vancouver have joined Chicago in declining the hosting honor. To justify its imperious behavior, FIFA points out that, “[the] World Cup is a major sporting event that aracts global aention to the Host Country/Host Countries and provides the opportunity for signicant nancial investment in sporting and public infrastructure.” And that added aention and investment, FIFA claims, “may contribute to signi cant mid- and long-term socioeconomic benets … as well as economic growth.” But note the carefully qualied lan guage. FIFA only goes so far as to promise an “opportunity for signicant nancial investment” in infrastructure, as well as aention and investment that
For example, consider what
Russia gets in exchange for its $14 billion-plus
investment in this year’s event
“may contribute” to growth. In reality, scholarly evidence shows that the World Cup rarely benets host countries and cities as much as FIFA would like the public, and public ocials, to think. For example, consider what Russia gets in exchange for its $14 billion-plus investment in this year’s event. While all of the revenue from ticket sales, international broadcasting rights, and sponsorships will go directly to FIFA, Russia will be left with seven new stadiums and ve refurbished facilities that it does not need. And unless it demolishes these venues, it will have to spend tens of millions of dollars every year to maintain them. Meanwhile, hundreds of acres of scarce urban real estate will have been forfeited as sites for white elephants. To be sure, images of sleek new facilities are being disseminated worldwide. But the optics are not necessarily working in Russia’s favour. Apparently, there was no hiding the 6,000 empty seats at the Uruguay-Egypt match on June 15. If history is any guide, it is highly unlikely that the 2018 World Cup will increase Russia’s international investment or trade, boost its tourism industry, or strengthen its people’s commitment to physical tness. What it will do is instill a eeting sense of national pride among a signicant portion of Russians, while oering an ephemeral distraction from the country’s mounting problems. With or without the World Cup, oil-price volatility and international sanctions imposed in response to Putin’s 2014 annexation of Crimea will continue to darken Russia’s economic prospects and diminish ordinary Russians’ standard of living. So, whom should you trust? I’m going with Emanuel.
Andrew Zimbalist, a professor professor of economics at Smith College, is the author of `Circus Maximus: The Economic Gamble Behind Hosting the Olympics and the World Cup’. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2018.
COMMENT
By Odongo Kodongo
The economic cost of corruption in Kenya The theft jeopardises the country’s short-term skills provision objectives and causes irredeemable long-term opportunity costs
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enya is perceived as one of the world’s most corrupt countries. It ranked 143 out of 180 countries on Transparency International’s 2017 corruption perception index. The only African countries that scored worse – among them Somalia, South Sudan, Libya, Eritrea, Burundi, and Zimbabwe – were either politically unstable or in conict. This poor showing shouldn’t come as a surprise. Kenya has been plagued by a long list of corruption scandals. One of the more infamous was the Goldenberg heist which occurred in the 1990s during then President Daniel Moi’s tenure. The government was found to have subsidised exports of gold far beyond bey ond sta standa ndard rd arr arrang angemen ements ts by pay paying ing a company called Goldenberg International 35% more in Kenyan shillings than their foreign currency earnings. More recently, in 2014 millions of dollars were misappropriated from funds that were secured by the government through a Eurobond, which is an international loan that was secured from foreign investors. A second Eurobond was secured in 2018 and questions have been raised here as well. Yet, the looting of public coers is more commonly reported in recent times and the amounts involved are growing. During May and June 2018, reports about grand corruption have dominated Kenyan news. This haemorrhaging of public funds will do enormous damage to the country’s already struggling economy. The scourge of corruption in Kenya must be urg urgent ently ly add addres ressed sed oth otherw erwise ise it cou could ld be bring bri ng the eco econom nomy y to to its its knee knees. s. As thi things ngs stand, Kenya is already struggling to pay its debts.
The economic cost of corruption The role of human capital on economic growth has long been established. So when human capital takes a hit the impact is also felt on economic development and growth. Let’s take Kenya’s National Youth Service as an example of a public organisation where corruption is believed to be rife. In 2015, approximately USD$17 million was stolen from its coers by a network of companies that supplied goods and service at inated prices.
And this year, billions of shillings earmarked for the service were embezzled by a shad shadowy owy net networ work k of of dubio dubious us ser servic vicee providers. This money was all earmarked for youth vocational training. The theft not only jeopardises the country’s short-term skills provision objectives: it also portends irredeemable long-term opportunity costs. Corruption compromises people’s futures and their development. It also costs a fortune. Rampant corruption will drain any economy of the resources needed for projects like infrastructure development. To illustrate, let’s take a look at the misuse of funds from the Kenya government’s 2014 Eurobond, which was believed to be Africa’s largest such issuance at the time. Reports indicate that some of the money may not have been deposited into the national Treasury. In economic parlance, this would qualify as an illicit nancial “outow”: an illegal cross-border movement of money or capital. The illegal transfer of funds out of African countries is a recognised constraint on the continent’s economic development because it denies local populations the use of that money for national development. The Global Financial Integrity report estimates that from 2005 to 2014 Africa lost betwee bet ween n USD$ USD$36 36 bil billio lion n and and USD$ USD$69 69 bil billio lion n in illicit nancial ows. This represents about 74% of all nancing required (approximately USD$93 billion per year) to develop infrastructure to service Africa’s growth needs. In Kenya’s case, the Eurobond swindle was more than just a missed opportunity to expand the country’s inadequate and dilapidated infrastructure. It also led to a sovereign rating downgrade on the basis of its increasing inability to service ballooning public debt. A sovereign rating is a measure of a country’s creditworthiness. And a downgrade signals that the country has not optimally invested money borrowed on capital projects, such as infrastructure. Capital projects typically increase national income and beer a country’s ability to repay its debts.
Finding solutions Given these observations, what measures can Kenya take to stem the debilitating theft of public resources? First, a national ethos that inculcates the value of work as the only means to wealth accumulation must be built. A possible way of achieving this is for education policy makers to emphasise social ethics as a compulsory subject right from primary school all the way up to the university. Second, Kenya’s legal system must make corruption expensive and unaractive for perpetrators by the imposition of sti nes, and mandatory jail sentences. Another step in the right direction would be to grant both bot h the the aud audito itorr gener general al and the eth ethics ics and anti-corruption commission prosecutorial powers. Third, the law could be reviewed to ensure that those convicted of economic crimes suer lasting embarrassment and the greatest possible nancial loss. To achieve this, all the proceeds from corruption must be rep reposse ossessed ssed by the sta state te and cha channel nneled ed back bac k to to publ public ic use use.. Conv Convict ictss woul would d then then be barred bar red fro from m hold holding ing pub public lic oc ocee or or doin doing g busine bus iness ss for for sev severa erall year yearss after after the their ir rel releas ease. e. Fourth, strict standards of ethical conduct could be imposed for anyone seeking public oce. This would entail full disclosure on the sources of campaign funds, public declarations of wealth and lifestyle audits, and enforcement of voter bribery legislation. Fifth, the national ght against poverty, ignorance and disease must be intensied to improve quality of life, and empower citizens to perform their civic duties, such as the choice of legislative representatives, in a more meaningful way. Finally, it would be worthwhile for the national public prosecutor to sign treaties with “tax haven” countries to block or repatriate illicit nancial outows from Kenya. Odongo Kodongo is Associate professor, University of the Witwatersrand
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COMMENT
By Ahmed Ayub
Bright future for transport sector UNRA’s expressways, yover projects, and more will lead to reduction in trafc congestion in the city
O
n many fronts in the recent past, we have seen the artistic impressions of various projects and most astounding of all the beautifull impressions beautifu impressions that that the Uganda Uganda National Roads Authority has promised to deliver as part of its mandate since inception in 2008. A publication by researchers at Center for International Development at Harvard University titled “New 2025 Global Growth Projections Predict China’s Further Slowdown and the Continued Rise of India,” demonstrated that economic growth moved from China to India, further, providing interesting information on how growth in emerging markets is predicted to outshine that of advanced economies. The same research ashes the torch on Uganda indicating optimism about the whole new growth hubs in East Africa and highlighting Uganda as one of the fastest growing economies to 2025 at 7.7 percent annually. The report, further apportions a signicant fraction to population growth with Uganda making presence on the list of those 10 fastest growing countries in the decade ahead. However, this growth can’t be listed without identifying the fundamental factors which determine the ability of the economy to achieve economic growth which among other things include economic resources available to the society and eciency of their use. Uganda government has recently invested heavily in the road infrastructure with the roads sector bagging the biggest chunk of the monies annually. The whole idea about the heavy investment is aimed towards providing good road infrastructure that will be able to spur economic growth with the hope that this will merge the expectations and the rate of growth. Since its inception Uganda National Roads Authority has been mandated to develop a road network of about 21,000km within the borders and linking to its neighboring nations. Overtime, the rate of economic growth in mostly the capital Kampala, has seen the increase in purchase of motor vehicles for both personal and commercial (taxis,buses and boda bodas) use. This has increased competition for the small space 36
June 29 - July July 05, 2018
and yet the urge for many urbanites to make ends meet also grows by the day. Road infrastructure has overtime proved to aect the exibility and mobility of the workforce, which is reected in the employment level with time loss being a major indicato indicator. r. Moreover, Moreover, higher employment level makes the standard of living grow. The level of infrastructure development has an impact on various economic key areas, such as the development of the tourism industry, inux of foreign investments and the recent non-tari barrier of regional development among others. However trac congestion in and out of Kampala which is the integral business base for the nation threatens its very own potentials. In coping with these growing demands and trac growth, the roads authority (UNRA) has reached out in sourcing for funds to provide expressways and a yover that are expected to manage beer the the trac and also spur more more transformation. With the major towns along the business transport corridors the ease in link between major towns towns seeking seeking to harness harness regional and international business through the export and import of various goods and services stand vital in its recent reforms of a business like module in operation. UNRA with full understanding that a well-developed network of roads and a superior road infrastructure (motorways and expressways) aims towards a beer future for the nation has developed plans that involve a y over, road upgrading, pedestrian bridge, junction upgrades and an underpass at Nsambya. This coupled with the KampalaNorthern bypass that is right now undergoing a second phase of expansion that will link to the 51km Kampala-Entebbe Expressway with a spur towards the auent Munyonyo neighborhood. The authority, has also embarked on ensuring through phases the delivery of a 77km Kampala-Jinja Expressway that links with the iconic rst cable stay bridge in the country over the Nile river that is undergoing construction with a projected completion in 2018. The same expressway which is a toll road like the Kampala Entebbe Expressway will provide road
users with an easy link between the international airport and the beautiful home of the Nile River through the bustling business capital, capital, Kampala Kampala.. Under the new management, the zeal has also undertaken to focus on the Kampala Southern by-pass, KampalaMpigi Expressway, Kampala-Bombo Expressway, a Kampala outer beltway through Seeta-Matugga-Wakiso-BulobaNsangi which is projected to manage the haulage business and a VVIP Nakasero bypass that will end end the trac trac disruption disruption in the city. All these, are intertwined to oversee the reduction in trac congestion and also grapple with the projected economic development that is expected to be boosted by the oil production in the Albertine region that UNRA is currently with all hands on deck working to see a network of approximately 700km new roads developed by 2020. With such projects delivered and management’s focus towards reducing the cost of road construction, improved service delivery, an excellent time proved leadership of patriotic transparency and corruption free team the nation only with bated breath await the potentials that are within the new national roads authority. The management which believess and has indeed kick-start believe kick-started ed the building buildin g of internal internal capacity capacity to form a construction unit and also providing more support to local contractors, the business cloud cloud in the country country is about about to be provided provided with boundles boundlesss opportunities opportunities that will provide employment to the fast growing employable section of Ugandans hence cascading the ability to drive a nation towards indeed a middle income standard. It was the theoretical physicist Stephen William Hawking who said “the past, like the future, is indenite and exists only as a spectrum of possibilities.” Let us as individuals provide the support needed to the new management that seeks to drive a new team of young Ugandans towards the spectrum of possibilities that will be integral in national development. Ahmed Ayub is is Senior Senior Ocer Ocer Media Relations at the Uganda National Roads Authority A uthority
A VHT during a home visit. CHEWs CHEWs will also be tasked do similar activities
The coming Community Health Workers Experts query their cost and compare them to current VHTs VHTs By Flavia Nassaka
F
lue, cough, headache, or diarrhea; these simple ailments can be qui quite te unc uncomfo omforta rtable ble.. But But are they worth going to a health facility to get treated, especially if it is far away, crowded, and the doctor might be away? Possibly not. Unfortunately, they sometimes are symptoms of dangerous conditions like malaria, dysentery, or cholera which kill, especially children. That is why the government wants to tackle them quickly, conveniently, and cost eectively.Under the plan, starting this July, the government is to introduce Community Health Extension Workers (CHEWs) to provide basic health services such as sensitization about immunization programmes,
sanitation, and contraceptives, and to manage such simple common medical conditions.They will engage the sick and their caretakers. Dr. Sarah Byakika, the Commissioner for Planning at the Ministry of Health, says the move is part of the strategy to shift healthcare from focusing on treatment to prevention. The idea is to ensure adequate universal health coverage. The CHEWs will be members of the communities where they live. They will be trained to also link those who need special treatment to health facilities. Byakika adds that CHEWs will not only treat but will teach communities how to prevent another illness because they know the people in the area well. The programme to be piloted in 750 parishes in North and Eastern Uganda districts,
will involve recruiting 1500 CHEWs; two per parish. They will be given a monthly allowance for their work and Shs3.2 billion has been set aside for the job. Dr. Charles Olaro, the head of the Clinical Services Division at the Ministry of Health says the plan is to spread the CHEWs programme all over the country in ve years. Same as VHTs?
On the face of it, the CHEWs model is not completely new.It is sometimes called the `Cuban Approach’ to healthcare which has become bec ome the wor world’ ld’ss best best exa exampl mplee of of achi achieveving high health indicators on very small budget bud getss and and a poli policy cy emph emphasi asiss on on pre preven ven-tion, primary care, service in the community, and active participation of citizens. Many countries, including Ethiopia, have adopted this approach and CHEWs have June 29 - July July 05, 2018
37
HEALTH
VHTs being trained on proper nutrition at a health facility in Namutumba district
been pla placed ced wit within hin the syst system em to to hand handle le issues of malaria, nutrition, and contraceptives. Reports show that just ve years after their deployment, Ethiopia saw a rise in contraception use among women from just 15% to 30%. Other developing countries like Malawi and India, where millions of social health activists have been accredited, are seeing similar positive changes. Hospital admissions are decreasing as people learn to prevent some infections. This leads to decreasing government expenditure on healthcare. In Uganda, it is somewhat similar to the Village Health Teams (VHTs) who are currently the lowest hierarchy of healthcare facilities (Health Centre 1s) and have been in operation for more than 15 years. years. The VHTsare voluntary voluntary and are not required to have any qualication to work. Even the idea behind establishment of VHTs was similar - to provide accurate health information, mobilise communities, and provide linkage to health services. Many have since moved into providing some treatments as an element of case management was introduced where VHTs are allowed to administer treatments for minor ailments. So isn’t the government adding an unnecessary layer where VHT VHTss already exist? Take Alex Alex Olengo, for example. He has since 2005 been a VHT in Atyang Atyang village, ve kilometers from Lira town in Northern Uganda, speaks like an expert on the eeceec tiveness of such grassroots-based interventions in medical work, and narrates how VHTs have helped the Ministry of Health achieve its targets of reducing child, infant, and maternal mortality in his area. He says tackling diseases such as malaria and hygiene related infections are the solution and that members of the community now depend on VHTs. “When we give them medicine they take it because they trust us,” he says. 38
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He says the VHTs busiest time is when there is a disease outbreak because they are sent to collect data on the outbreak which involves a lot of activity and movement. Normally, however, they handle issues of family planning, hygiene, and HIV/AIDS. He says VHTs can do an even beer job with training. Until now, Olengo says, the lile training VHTs have had has come mostly from NGOs. Figures by a local NGO; THETA, show that only 60,000 of the 180,000 VHTs VHTs working as volunteers are trained. Many are not accountable to any qualied medical super visor who monitors their work. That is unlikely to change because the CHEWs will also be trained by UNICEF, the Swedish International Development Agency, and UNFPA. Olengo says his bicycle – the only item he ever received to do his job, is also geing old. It is unlikely he will get a new one soon. Part of the reason is that when we spoke, Olengo did not know about the government’s plan to introduce CHEWs. That is possibly because, according to Dr. Olaro, the CHEWS programme is recruiting people who must have aained at least an Ordinary Level Certicate of Education. “The best candidates are those that people run to when they need help. When you go to those parishes they know them and can suggest for you names of people they trust,” he says, “Trust is a very important aspect of treatment.” Although Olengo scores highly on trust, the 40-year old farmer who never completed primary school is knocked out over academic qualications.
More pressure on health wage bill Beatrice Nyangoma, a Communications and Advocacy Ocer at a local NGO – HEPs Uganda, says people like Olengo should possibly not be locked out of the new programme. “The VHTs have done a good job even
when they are not paid. It’s absurd that most of them cannot be integrated into the CHEWs strategy because of the age and education limitations,” she says. She says introducing CHEWs is a good move because it will increase accessibility and availability of services to the population. But, she says, the government should should ensure that CHEWS are given the medicines and supplies. “It is one thing having them in place but it’s another having the required tools to actually work,” she says, “They must be trained thoroughly and there must be continuous monitoring of their work by senior health ocers in the districts. If this is not done, we may nd the whole strategy failfail ing to work out.” Other experts like Dr. Peter Waiswa, Waiswa, a Lecturer at Makerere University’s School of Public Health, say while promoting Primary Healthcare is a good strategy; the CHEWs could be adding a big burden to the wage bill. It is also not clear to him how they will be sustained when development partners have not yet commied to fundfunding them or if others who are promising to fund the project pull-out eventually because there is currently no law to dene their role in the healthcare system. Waiswa Wai swa who has worked as a doctor in Ethiopia and evaluated their model says it is clear there that a CHEW can upgrade to become bec ome a nurs nurse. e. He says the cha challe llenge ngess are are also dierent; with health facilities in EthioEthio pia too far apart and with limited numbers of sta. He says instead of puing in place another strand of primary health workers, the government should have focused on strengthening VHTs, paying hospital sta, and availing sundries and drugs. “With VHTs, VHTs, we have managed to reduce child and maternal mortality,” he says “There’s no need to rush here. The majority of Ugandans are just ve kilometers away from the health facility and we have doctors. We only need a few xes.” The stang level for medical workers, according to Ministry of Health gures, is at 73% with 45,000 health workers employed in the public sector. They have set a target increasing to 76% in the new nancial year and 80% by 2020. Hiing these targets is always limited by wage bill ceilings. ceilings. Adding CHEWs to this burden is not a good idea, from a nancing perspective, accordaccord ing to Waiswa. But Olaro, who will have the nal say on the issue, says CHEWs will be dierdier ent from VHTs. He says the Ministry of Health did an assessment and found that VHTs were being challenged by the lack of skills. He says CHEWs will receive more comprehensive training than the VHTs and will also move longer distances and will be facilitated to cover bigger numbers of patients.
ART | BOOKS | SOCIETY | TRAVEL | CULTURE CULTURE
By Dominic Muwanguzi
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hen you go to an exhibition by alumni of any art school, you expect to see an exciting showcase of diversity in approach by the artists; as each show o what has made them so successful since graduation. The ongoing exhibition at Makerere at Gallery in Kampala by alumni of the Margaret Trowel School of Industrial and Fine Art does exactly that. The brainchild of Ronex Ahimbisibwe, the exhibition features artists like Kwizera aka Kwi-ezra, Margaret Nagawa, Mzili Mujunga, Yakuze Ivan, Sheila Nakitende, Arnold Birungi, Ismail Ddamba, Paul Kasambeko, Ismael Kateregga, and Peter Oloya. Each of the exhibiting artists has acquired a certain specialty, in a particular genre, be it painting, installation, sculpture, fashion, or photography. Their mastery is an embodiment of technical dexterity that the art school emphasises, while the innovation that is visible in Mzili, Ronex and Oloya’s work is reminiscent of the tenacious nature of the individual artist to push the boundaries of art making. Whatever your artistic preference, Kwizera aka Kwi-ezra’s politicalsocial activist painting will leave a powerful impression. As an illustrator cum painter, he often nds insight in the political landscape, sometimes injecting a comic twist into the narrative. This is a good time to see him tackle abuse, resilience, love, and liberation. His human gures are mere metaphors and their facial expression a study in the diversity of human anatomy. This time he is tackling human rights abuses in a political-social environment in which the phrase “order from above” is not a random cliché but a menacing threat belted out every time the wielders power and authority commit an atrocity on the citizenry. The painting is packed with emotion in the expressionistic in style. A larger than life human face with blood-shot eyes hoovers above two chained men in military uniform; with one headless and the other brutalising a journalist by way of peeing on him. A huge thumbs up dominates the background in which a religious gure fades. The painting
When Makerere’s art giant’s show off Freshness, technical dexterity, innovation, experimentation at rst alumni exhibit is aptly titled `Orders from above’, its message clear and bold. Meanwhile Mzili is almost Kwizera’s opposite as he emphasises technique rather than message. His conceptual painting titled `Drill master Vs the hitched, sower and the ripper’ is inspired by a powerful theme of gender; its history and uidity. But it is application of dierent media in one painting; pastels, acrylics, and a mix of expressionistic and abstract drawings, that any audience with discuss. A typical query will be about the place of experimentation and innovation in art. Another technically dexterous artist, Ronex has an installation titled `Gwaliwo negufa’ an assemblage of tactile material and organic collage tapestry. It feeds into the narrative of experimenting with both the usual and unusual while subtly delving into the subject of the subconscious. It is the perfect platform for artistic inquiry; rousing the aention of the audience into, for example, the dissimilarity or sometimes similarity of art and its functionality. There is also a contrast between sophistication
and naivety, beauty and ugliness, and aesthetics verses free expression. Finally, the wildlife paintings of Arnold Birungi and Ismail Ddamba provide respite from the experimentation. Their nature drawings; of the rare white Rhino portrait by Ddamba and the lioness on the prowl with Kobs lurking in the distance by Birungi, Birungi, showcase showcase technical technical dexterit dexterity y in terms of brilliant picture construction, perspective and tonality respectively. Their message of nature conservation and preservation is pertinent when there seems to be renewed threat to wildlife and its sanctuary. The Alumni exhibit is a timely platform to encourage artists to dialogue on the emerging vibrancy of the Kampala art scene. It is also a gesture to challenge the creative capabilities of the artists from time to time and knock them out of comfort zones. The exhibit should inspire art lovers and professionals, in and out of art school. The exhibition is showing now at t he Makerere Art Gallery, located within the the University campus. June 29 - July July 05, 2018
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Meet the sewing machine painter
Akon builds own Wakanda city
Arun Kumar Bajaj has a very unusual skill – he can paint with a sewing machine. Technically, Technical ly, it’s embroidering, not painting, p ainting, but his art artwor works ks are so inc incred redibl ibly y deta detaile iled d that they could pass as hyper-realistic paintings to the untrained eye. And the fact that he does it all with a sewing machine just makes It took him a while to master this unique art form, but today he is recognized as the world’s only sewing machine artist.
He’s probably best known for his chart-busting hits, but that may not be the case for much longer with Akon. As it’s now been revealed that the Lonely hit-maker has decided to basically build bui ld his own ver versio sion n of of Wakanda.. Yes, the 45-yearWakanda old singer and songwriter is legitimately going real-life
Black Panther with his new project, a Crypto City. He already has his own crypto currency the AKoin. Built
on 2,000 acres of land gifted to the singer and producer by the the Pre Presid sident ent of Sene Senegal gal,, the city will spring up ve minutes away from the country’s new international airport, close to Dakar. The city will be ‘the rst 100% crypto-based city’, and will plant the AKoin at the ‘the center of transactional life’.
Alcoholic ice cream here Alcoholic ice-cream treats have been around for a while, but actually geing drunk, or even a bit tipsy on them is a challenge, because, well, they aren’t very alcoholic. Enter, Buzz Pop Cocktails, a range of gourmet Italian sorbets that pack that punch you’ve been looking for. Buzz Pop Cocktails are made from fresh fruits and premium liquors, but what really sets them apart from other boozy frozen treats is the alcohol content. While most so-called alcoholic ice-creams have an alcohol content comparable to beer – around 4.5% ABV – Buzz Pop Cocktails are
Village without thieves! Eibenthal is an idyllice village of ethnic Czechs nestled in the Banatului Mountains of Western Romania. But what really makes it stand out from other villages in the area, or prey much anywhere else in the world, for that maer, is its reputation as a theft-free community. There is no police station in Eibenthal but people in this area are famously peaceful and respectful of each other, and the crime rate is considerably lower than the national average. People are perfectly comfortable leaving money in bags on the streets for the bread delivery man. In over 20 years, no one has ever reported any money of bread bre ad miss missing ing.. 40
three times stronger, at 15% ABV, which means one is probably enough to get your head buzzing. But licking your way to a hangover is apparently a lot more expensive than just chugging booze.
Son buys mum same car she sold to support him Man needs police permission for sex
A son has warmed hearts after shocking his mum with the car she sold to help him when he was a struggling musician. Ross Rothero-Bourge, 30, who is now a successful sound engineer, always promised himself that he would return the Ford StreetKa his mum Lynee sold to help him when he was a cash-strapped. After searching high and low on eBay Ross surprised his
June 29 - July July 05, 2018
mum with the StreetKa – which although wasn’t the exact same car, it’s almost identical. ‘The same colour, same year, same everything,’ said Ross, “‘Lots of people have been saying what I’ve done is amazing but it’s nothing compared to what my mum’s done for me over the years.’ “I have the best son in the whole wide world,” said Lynee.
Aaron Sutclie, 29, from Fleetwood, Lancashire, has been bee n told told tha thatt he he is is a sex sexual ual risk to the public and must get authorisation, both in the UK and abroad, before having intercourse. His Sexual Risk Prevention Order from the police covers ‘vaginal, oral, and anal sex’. The order issued on Junee 21 Jun 21 cove covers rs bot both h male male and female sexual partners. In order to get permission he must also give the contact details of the person he intends to have sex with and is not allowed to have any form of intercourse without a condom. This after the man allegedly infected women with HIV. Police will get in touch with any of his sexual partners to make them aware of his sexual past.
How old is your new car really? How to spot vehicles whose mileage has been changed By Motoring Guru
T
he mileage of a motor vehicle aects its value on the market. Generally speaking; the higher the mileage, the lower is the value. Unfortunately, mileage tampering is a very common practice in all used car markets, in and outside Uganda. Part of the problem is that it is very easy to do with the right equipment. The most common way to tamper with a motor vehicles mileage involves reseing the odometer or odograph; an instrument for measuring the distance travelled by a wheeled vehicle. Most odometers work by cou counti nting ng whe wheel el rot rotati ations ons and ass assume ume that the distance traveled is the number of wheel rotations times the tire circumference. They may be digital or mechanical. It is no longer necessary to manually roll back the numbers on a mechanical instrument, Since odometers became digital in the early 2000s, they can be rolled back by using very basic equipment that hooks right into the vehicle’s electronic circuit. So don’t be fooled. The odometer may be reset, the numbers altered, or replaced. These changes are often done together with others intended to make a vehicle appear newer than it is and, therefore, fetch a beer price. Other alterations might include reconditioning of the external appearance of the vehicle. To avoid being cheated, make sure you look to see if the wear and tear matches up with the reported mileage. A low mileage car should still have the
original tyres and brakes supplied by the manufacturer. It should also not show any wear on parts such as the steering wheel, gear lever, and pedals. Most mechanics will easily spot these. Get one to go with you on the buying trip. You Yo u can also inspect the odometer for signs of tampering by ensure that all the numbers are easily readable and not crooked, there are no gaps between num-
Never expect
the numbers you see on the dashboard to be the true mileage of a used vehicle. The odometer can be rolled-back to take hundreds or even thousands of kilometres off the number displayed
bers, and the bers, there re are no scr scratc atches hes and scr screws ews that don’t match or have been replaced. Some auto makers program odometers to show an asterisk if the mileage is changed. If there is any indication that the dashboard may have been removed, then suspect odometer tampering. Beware if the car has new parts that ordinarily would not be replaced until 60,000 miles. This may indicate odometer tampering. Also remember that the mileage on modern vehicles is tracked via both the physical odometer, and the control module. The control module does not control the number displayed on the dash. In some cases of fraud, the number visible number on the dash will be altered, while the control module still holds the accurate mileage. Checking the module requires a special tool, but it is possible. Even if a car looks and sounds great, it doesn’t mean there’s nothing to be concerned about. Never expect the numbers you see on the dashboard to be the true mileage of a used vehicle. The odometer can be rolled-back to take hundreds or even thousands of kilometres o the numnum ber dis displa played yed.. An ever everage age veh vehicl iclee trav travels els 10,000kms per year in Japan. Therefore, a 60,000km odometer reading is only appropriate for a car manufactured in 2012 or later. The rest are shams. Remember, however, that this average accounts for both long-distance commuters and weekendonly drivers. So combine this info with your instincts when you inspect the vehicle. June 29 - July July 05, 2018
41
Profle
Raphael Kasule’s eccentric fashions By Agnes E Nantaba
R
aphael Allan Kasule is one of Uganda’s top fashion illustrators, paern makers and designers. He has spread his wings and is ying the Ugandan ag high internationally through his K -Rafael Couture brand. In April, he was contracted to make customised outts for team Uganda at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth games in Australia. Australia. He designed red slim t kikoyi replica shirt with black trousers for males and modernised gold gomesi with a gold sash for females t for the spectacular ritual of the parade of nations. The design according to Kasule was meant to tell stories about Uganda’s rich heritage. Kasule is also remembered for making team Uganda slay in the bright themed red jackets matched with striped lapels at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. For this particular one, the team was named among the seven best outts by Canada’s the Globe & Mail. He has also designed costumes for top musicians like Radio and Weasel, Sauti Sol, Sheebah Karungi, Iryn Namubiru, and Swahili Nation. He also does bridal wear on order. “We keep on re-inventing ourselves working on fabrics that are not known to many and always have something new for every season and event,” he says. His exquisite designs are a manifestation of the time he has spent in the industry - having started the career at only 13. During that time, Kasule says he would try out on his mother’s sewing machine that was passed down from his grandmother, princess Nnalinya Nakabiri; a sister to Kabaka Edward Muteesa II (1942 -1966), who herself was a prominent designer in her days. But, he says, his turning point was when he was sent away from school for three weeks during his Senior Four at Mengo Senior School. To occupy himself, he Kasule made a denim rucksack and bag. “Fellow students liked them, so I was forced to start making the same for them and orders grew from my school to neighboring schools,” says Kasule. “I would get old jeans, cut them out and make the bags selling between Shs3000 and Shs5000”. Later during the Senior Six long holiday, Kasule showcased his rst 42
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collection of a mix of kitenge and barkcloth alongside top designer Santa Anzo of Arapapa who oered a platform for the young ambitious designer. To further grow his skills, Kasule enrolled at the Evelyn College of design in Nairobi and while there, he topped the class in which he was the only boy among girls. He also won the Redds African Fashion Design Award in Kenya, 2007. Prior returning to Uganda after the three year course, Kasule applied and was selected to be an assistant at Sylvia Owori fashion house in Kampala. He worked at the top
fashion house for a while, and then switched to Santa Anzo, and nally into launching his K-Rafael Couture brand in 2010. “I was already more into costumes and things that look strange to the eyes,” Kasule says. Kasule was born and raised in Kampala to Alex Ssebbowa (RIP) and Ntongo Elizabeth (RIP). He went to Kabojja Primary School, Mengo senior school, Bishops SSS, Lubiri high school and Evelyn College of design in Nairobi Kenya. Uganda’s fashion industry according to him has grown to a level of international recognition and no struggle for clients’ trust. “We have also moved away from siing on a veranda to becoming a respected job and of course that comes with business dynamics,” he says. His plans include starting a fashion school to supply a market he says is available but lacking expertise to produce unique designs and outts.
Q&A Q& A
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Raphael Kasule’s Liteside Any three things that we don’t know about you? umility denes me becaus bec ausee it it help helpss me learn new things easily. The push from my side is very hard, so is tenacity to keep on even when things don’t show results as you would want them. My life has always been based on prayer becaus bec ausee I com comee from from a very very pastoral family.
H
What is your greatest fear? Seling down for marriage and people understanding who I am. We usually get a bad perception from people due to the nature of our work - working more with models and having female clients. It has an impact on people’s trust in you. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? I am too patient and at times, I tend to be the kind who gives allowance for people and they usually get away with it What is the trait you most deplore in others? Looking down on others gets me o very easily. Telling lies aects me very much. Which living person do you most admire? Pastor Michael Kyazze is a senior pastor but on one particular event while travelling with him, we came across a stalled car and the speed at which he moved out to push it was very touching. That moment was humbling and taught me that, regardless of whom you are, you can still be like any other person. What is your greatest extravagance? I love learning new things; for instance, I’m currently trying to do animations. So discovering new ideas takes more of my money. What is the greatest thing you
have ever done? There are quite many but the patience to expand my business without being coerced, having to compete with fellow designers and accepting that everyone has their timing is the greatest thing I have done. My fashion expansion journey has been gradual with setbacks but we are geing there. What is your current state of mind? I am fullled. What do you consider the most overrated virtue? There are quite a number but the whole thing about showing o what we own or possess is overrated. Ugandans have a problem of aaching possespossessions to class forgeing that it has a lot to do with the making and character. What does being powerful mean to you? Having a character checked and power under control. For instance if a king or leader steps out of his convoy or car to push someone’s car that has stalled shows humility and power under control which is a true denition of being powerful. On what occasion do you lie? I love being truthful but if I am behind time, I can give a white lie. However, regarding more serious things, I like to be honest. What do you most dislike about your appearance? I am a bit short. Which living person do you most despise? Those who think they are great because greatness is relative. Someone who is humble is actually greater. We’ve seen people like Solomon and Job in the bible who were great but wer weree very very hum humble ble.. Grea Greatt and humility should be coined together.
What is the quality you most like in a woman? Being Godly, having social and cultural values and the ability to maintain them. It keeps them human and reduces the burden to others. A woman must also be charming and energetic. What is the quality you most like in a man? It has to do a lot with the backgr bac kgroun ound. d. What or who is the greatest love of your life? I used to love my grandmother and mother the most but sin since ce they are all gone gone,, I love my work the most. Also depending on the season and the moment, I am liberal in loving people. When and where were you happiest? My birthdate is a happy moment for me. My real joy came when I won the Redds Award in Kenya because the moment meant a lot to my fashion journey. But I am also one person who takes everything whether small and big achievement the same Which talent would you most like to have? I am a very handy and gifted person. But even with that, I am currently doing music instruments. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? I have been small or huge before befo re so I hav havee expe experie rience nced d both bot h and and wou wouldn ldn’t ’t cha change nge any any-thing for now. What do you consider your greatest achievement? Achievements have been many but being chosen to produce for a country is serious. It comes with a lot of responsibility because it carries the identity of the country. I am humbled
by that that opp opport ortuni unity. ty. Where would you most like to live? The years I spent in Nairobi made me blend in very easily and I got aached to the place. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? I have been through divorce which made me realise that it takes a lot from the individuals and changes them in so many ways. It’s also a very strenuous process. What is your favourite occupation? Animations or sports like rugby and basketball. Unfortunately, they might not pay enough for survival so I end up spending more time on survival. What do you most value in your friends? Time and experiences bond us together. Who are your favorite writers? I usually read TD Jakes and Myles Munroe; there is a lot of wisdom in their teachings and form my background. I emulate them. Which historical fgure do you most identify with? Shaka Zulu knew who he was and the fact that he stood up against the British was great. He died an honorable death and his name still stands high up to now. What is your greatest regret? I don’t have regrets because they have all been lessons which I nd very valuable. How would you like to die? In old age when I know about it. What is your moo? Endurance in good or bad.
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GLOBAL COMMENT
By Joseph Munyambanz Munyambanzaa
The power of empowering refugees An experiment in refugee education from Kyangwali Kyangwali in Uganda, shows the way to self-sufciency
I
n a small community on the equator, children from diverse backgroundss aend classes background c lasses in i n one of the region’s top primary schools. The school has a brass band, a farm, an artists’ collective, micronance and literary clubs, and support groups for victims of domestic violence. There is even a mentorship program to help girls aected by conict continue their studies. This educational paradise is not in a rich country with unlimited resources; it is in a refugee camp in western Uganda. It is funded not by infusions of foreign aid, but by refugees operating on a tight budget. And it is a blueprint for empowering refugees everywhere. This experiment in refugee education began in 2005, when I and other children were living in the Kyangwali refugee selement in Uganda’s Hoima district. With lile food and limited access to health care, we struggled to survive; formal schooling was out of the question. But, because we understood that education was the key to prosperity, we taught each other what we could. Older students tutored younger students and everyone worked to earn money to buy textbooks and uniforms. In time, these seeds of grassroots learning eventually blossomed into CIYOTA, a youth-led, volunteer organisation that runs training initiatives as well as the COBURWAS school, named for the countries of origin of the children in the refugee selement: the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, and South Sudan. Today, more than 1,500 students are enrolled in primary schools started by CIYOTA and CIYOTA alumni. More than 700 graduates have aended secondary school, and more than 40 alumni are pursuing advanced degrees at universities around the world. Our graduates have been honoured as Mastercard Foundation Scholars for their academic aptitude, social consciousness, and leadership qualities. And alumni have even aended the 44
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African Leadership Academy, one of Africa’s preeminent training colleges. This organisational relationship is particularly particula rly important, as it has greatly enhanced CIYOTA’s professional network. Many young Africans have already beneted from the CIYOTA initiative, but our work does not stop at the t he classroom door. Because we understand that children learn beer when they have strong support systems behind them, we also work with parents and community members to make education a higher priority. In this way, we hope to reach even more children in need of quality education. Our organisation may have humble roots, but our plans are grand. We want to transform Africa by broadening poor students’ access to knowledge. In our view, nding a seat in school is only the rst step; we want to inspire children to become leaders and entrepreneurs, and to apply skills learned in school to improving their communities and countries. As refugees, our goal has always been empowerment through
The longer
refugees are away from their homes, the more they need access
to institutions that enable selfdetermination.
self-suciency. But executing even the best-laid plans requires signicant resources, and CIYOTA would still be an idea were it not for the generosity of others. For example, during a chance encounter years ago, I met a well-connected fundraiser at the African Leadership Academy who helped us raise $20,000 in seed money. And the oce of the prime minister donated land so CIYOTA could cultivate bananas, maize, and other produce to feed students and generate income. These gestures are all the more remarkable given the growing number of refugees ooding into Uganda. Today, some 1.5 million displaced people live in the country, and that number is only likely to increase as regional conicts intensify. At a time when other countries are turning refugees away, Uganda is swinging its doors open. We want refugee youth around the world to be inspired by our experience. Newly displaced people need food and emergency support, but the longer refugees are away from their homes, the more they need access to institutions that enable s elf-determinati elf-determination. on. With jobs, land, land , and schools, sch ools, refugees refug ees can recapture something lost when they ed: hope. If the world is ever to achieve universal primary education, a goal the internationall community commied internationa to nearly seven decades ago, it will need many more schools like ours. The refugee-run education programs in Kyangwali Kyangwa li are examples of what can happen when young people are given the tools to manage their own destiny. Joseph Munyambanza is Executive Director Dire ctor of CIYOTA and a Mastercard Foundation Scholar. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2018.
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