News analysis
Health
Business
Pallisa: When is a candidate by another name not the same?
New drug to stop bleeding aer birth
Behind UIA boss sacking saga
Issue No. 528 July 06 - 12, 2018
Uganda: The sleeping giant of COMESA
Ushs 5,000,Kshs 200, RwF 1,500, SDP 8
Why can't Uganda build Standard Rail? Latest on why Chinese contractor faces boot as Kenya,Tanzania,Rwanda,go ahead
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24 Kwibo Kwi boho hora ra 24 TOGETHER WE PROSPER
Haa p p y Lib H Libera erati tion on Day “Our achievements are founded on our unity; all Rwandans are equal irrespective of where they are from or who they are. Our history has taught us the lesson that our past should not be our fu futu ture re.. We We are are wr writ itin ing g a new de dest stin iny y for our nation, one based on unity, hard work, truth and self-reliance.” — H.E Paul Kagame —
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Issue No. 528 July 06 - 12, 2018 News analysis
Business
Health
Arts
Motoring
Cover story
Uganda railway project runs into more trouble Chinese contractor faces boot 4
The Week
29 Comments
Social media tax starts to bite, some run to VPN
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Tanzania’s illiberal tilt: Magufuli came to oce with a reform-oriented agenda, but toda today y he he is just ano another ther African strongman
The Last Word
In defence of social media tax: Why taxing mobile money and social media is a politically revolutionary act that may help improve our democracy 16
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Health New drug for bleeding after birth: Study done in Uganda oers hope
Analysis The Pallisa Woman MP candidate case:
When is a candidate by another name not the same candidate? 23
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Business Behind UIA saga: Selsh interests threaten the country’s investment agency
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President Museveni receives a special recognition from Haji Basajabalaba, (R) and Prof Ssebuwufu, (2L) as Woman member of parliament for Bukedea district, Among A mong Ani Anitt a Anne t (2R) ( 2R) look l ookss on during the 18th graduation ceremony at Kampala International University on June 23. Julius Mukunda, CSBAG national Coordinator with Agong John Mark the budget policy specialist speaking to the press about public financing for refugees in Uganda on June 26 in Ntinda. They urged government not to treat refugee management in Uganda as a humanitarian disasterr rat her a disaste development issue with public financing model.
“A police officer will not affect an arrest unless a formal complaint has been made. All arrests must be done with the full authorisation of the unit supervisors or commanders.”IGP Okoth Ochola on new arresting guidelines
“I campaigned for Mr Museveni on Uganda Patriotic Movement in 1980 when he had nothing. I funded some of his campaigns, but I am opposing him because he deviated from what took us to the bush.” Dr Kizza Besigye during the Sheema Municipality by-election
INDEPENDENT/JIMMY SIYA
Minister of Finance Matia Kasaija, (R) and the A mbassa mbassador dor of China to Uganda Zheng Zhuqiang at the signing of Uganda Customs Systems modernization project and Uganda roads and Railway Polytechnic Project at Ministry of Finance in on June 27. INDEPENDENT/ JIMMY SIYA
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Years Uganda National Roads Authority is marking
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Years of independence Somalia is marking
“This work is going to be mainly done by the UPDF. Police guards that were guarding MPs were running away because they consider guarding MPs to be a risky business. That the circumstances under which they work endanger their lives.”MP Kaps Fungaroo
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Families facing eviction from the banks of River Nile in Kayunga
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WEEK
Social media tax starts to bite, some run to VPN
Social media users in Uganda have to pay a daily tax of Shs200
On July 01, Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) started collecting a Shs200 daily excise duty charge from social media users. Dubbed OTT or Over – The – Top services is popularly known as social media tax whereby one can choose to pay a daily charge or Shs1400 per week and Shs6000 per month. This tax has been contentious since it was mooted by president Museveni earlier in the year as a way of cuing down on what he referred
to as ‘Lugambo’ or rumor mongering as well well as as earning the country more revenue. Its implementation has also caused uproar with activists calling for abandoning of SIM cards and some telecom companies scrapping subsidized social bundles that have been providing access to platforms like WhatsApp, twier, snapchat, Facebook and Instagram. As a result some social media users against the new tax have resorted to VPN (Virtual Private Networks, an
application that can protect a person’s identity or location to stay anonymous on the internet to bypass it. However, Payment for social media, according to a joint statement statement by telecom telecom companies – MTN, Airtel and Africell can be made via mobile money. This can be done by dialing *185*2*5# for Airtel, and *165*2*5# for MTN. Government expects to collect up to 120 billion annually from the social media users who are estimated to be about two million.
Tension in South Sudan despite ceasefire deal Despite President Kiir and Dr Machar declaring a permanent ceasere countrywide last week, there was fresh ghting in dierent parts of the country soon after a peace agreement was signed in Khartoum, Sudan. The military oensive by bot both h sides sides cas castt doub doubtt abou aboutt the seriousness of the two leadlead ers to bring lasting peace to South Sudan. The Khartoum
Declaration Agreement has ve critical areas that will form the foundation of a comprehensive peace agreement to be realised by July July 10: A perm permane anent nt cea ceasesere; reforms in the security sector; rehabilitation of the oil wells; improvement of the South Sudan infrastructure connected with the livelihood of the citizens; and regional councoun tries invited to deploy necessary
forces to supervise the ceasere. “I am commied and respect all the documents that have been signed and will abide by all the agreements that will follow,” President Kiir pledged in a forum presided over by President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan on behalf of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) mediators.
Health Ministry puts rotavirus on vaccination schedule Until June26, you had to part with not less than Shs70,000 to have your child vaccinated against rotavirus, a leading cause of diarrhea among infants and children because it was not yet on the schedule critical childhood killer diseases that the government was looking at eliminating. Now the vaccine has become the 11th on the schedule of critical vaccinations and children will receive the two oral doses at 6 and 10 weeks of age, with an interval of at least 4 weeks betwee bet ween n dose dosess at at no no char charge. ge. “An estimated 10,637 children below bel ow ve yea years rs of age die in Uganda each year due to rotavirus diarrhea,” Health Minister Janee Ruth Jan Ruth Acen Aceng g said said add adding ing that the disease is among the top ten causes of morbidity in Uganda, with rotavirus being responsible for about 40% of all diarrheal cases. Experts say even as improved access to clean water and beer sanitation and hygiene practices are vital to preventing most diarrheal diseases, they have done lile to disrupt rotavirus infection.
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WEEK
Africa must integrate politically for survival-Museveni Africa must renew its view of political integration where pospos sible because to guarantee strategic security for the survival for its future. “Being developed alone does not make you immune from external threats. Integration will guarantee AfriAfri ca for our own future survival s urvival and security. Where possible, economic integration must take place alongside political integration,” President Museveni said while speaking at a joint press conference with President Alpha Conde at the Sheraton Hotel in Conakry, Guinea. The two leaders who had prior held
a bilateral meeting between their respective delegations had justt witn jus witnesse essed d the the sig signin ning g of of a Memorandum of Understanding for holding political and diplomatic entry between the two countries. Uganda was reprep resented by Uganda State Minister for Foreign Aairs Okello Oryema, while Guinea, ConaCona kry was represented by Defence Minister Mohamed Diane. Among other things, the two countries agreed to coorporate in the areas of agriculture, agro processing, livestock, energy, defence and security.
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Social media death threats worry Lord Mayor Lukwago Kampala City Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago’s security has been boasted following threats against his life. life. He said he had received threats on his social media from unknown individuals. “As the country continues to witness assassinations, we have received threats via social media particularly from Facebook,”Lukwago wrote in a leer to the Inspector General of Police Martin Ochola.
Lukwago’s complaints come after a post by a one Titas Seruga that assassins were in the country to kill another popular politician and said he predicted an opposition politician cautioning the likes of Lukwago, Forum for Democratic Change’s Kizza Besigye and Robert Ssentamu Kyagulanyi to be careful. However, on July02, the police said
they had launched an investigation to estab es tablis lish h the true true identity identity of Seruga Seruga who has of recent been posting security related information. Seruga like the popular TVO whose true identity has remained a mystery even as suspects have been arrested and released for failure of geing information to link them to the posts is found of releasing information that makes people panic.
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WEEK
Hundreds march in protest against women murders Women and men in black T-shirts carrying placards reading ‘all women lives maer’, ‘Justice for women’, ‘her body her future’ and other messages marched through the streets of Kampala on June30 protesting against the unexplained spate of kidnaps and murder of women. The demondemonstrators who included the US ambassador Deborah Malac and French ambasambassador Stephanie Rivoal demanded to know how
far the police had reached with investigations into the killings. One of the organizers Researcher Dr. Stella Nyanzi said as part of the activities, they plan to visit areas and families of the murdered women and talk to members of the community and meet members of parliament as they highlight the plight of women in the country. The march came at the time when the security
organs have been put on spot over assassinations, assassination threats and murder in the country. Just last week, the president was for the second time invited to parliament to answer questions relating to the same. His rst state of security address which was broadcast live was criticized for not answering critical questions and calls for another security meeting with the legislators were made.
Women marching in Kampala on June 30.
US Supreme Court upholds Trump’s travel ban The American Supreme Court on Jun e 26 June 2 6 up hel held d Pres P reside ident nt Don Donald ald Trump’s travel ban on countries mostly Muslim. The ban had been challenged in court on grounds that it was discriminatory and that Trump exceeded his authority. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the ruling that presidents have substantial power to regulate immigration. International reports show that after the 5-4 decision which is also the court’s first substantive ruling on the Trump administration policy, he said it was a moment of profound vindication following months of hysterical commentary from the media and Democratic politicians who refuse to do what it takes to secure the country’s border. bor der. The travel ban issued in September last year bans travellers from Syria, Somalia, North Korea, Libya, Iran, Venezuela and Yemen from entering the US. However, even with the ruling in place, several people protested the ban outside the court calling it unconstitutional and an attack on freedom and equality by the president.
Ex-police intelligence chief jailed Col Atwooki Atwooki Ndahura, former director of police crime intelligence is currently in detention at Makindye military prison over charges of interfering with the process of the law. He was charged before the Unit Disciplinary Commiee of the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) at Mbuya weeks after his arrest in a swoop of police
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ocers who worked closely with former Inspector General of Police Gen. Kale Kayihura. The former police boss is also in detention at the same prison with 26 other ocers as investigations into criminal activities in the police during his era continue. Col Ndahura was charged with interfering with the process of law contrary
to Section 166 of the UPDF Act, 2005. A person convicted of the oence is liable to imprisonment not exceeding seven years. The Mbuya-based disciplinary unit, chaired by Col Tom Kabuye, remanded Col Ndahura to Makindye Military Prison until July 13.
Humour
Did you know?
Winners have a ‘quiet eye’
Mukono Municipality Member of Parliament Betty Nambooze has said she is unapologetic in regard to the Facebook post that landed her in trouble.
The Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Kahinda Otafiire has praised former Buyende DPC Muhammad Kirumira for tipping the Government on the rot in police
The Finance Minister Matia Kasaija has blocked a high level government delegation from traveling to New York (USA) for the t he upcoming World Political Forum meeting meetin g scheduled to take t ake place from July 9-18. 9-18.
Want to know who will win a World W orld Cup game or Wimbledon match? Look closely at the athletes’ eyes — including when it seems they’re about to lose. Tennis star Serena Williams has done it many times. In each case, the extreme pressure, rather than causing her to crumble, only seems to sharpen her concentration. Psychologists and neuroscientists have now identied some of the common mental processes that mark out elite athletes such as Williams. And one of the most intriguing aspects appears to be a phenomenon known as the “quiet eye” – a kind of enhanced visual perception that allows the athlete to eliminate any distractions as they plan their next move. Intriguingly, quiet eye may even lead to the mysterious ‘ow state’ or ‘being in the zone’ – the sensation of eortless concentration, in which your mind is clear of everything except the task at hand. The quiet eye also seems to coincide to other physiological changes throughout the body. The heart rate temporarily decelerates, for instance, and the movement of the limbs themselves becomes smoother. All of this might seem to support the idea that the quiet eye lters distraction and calms the mind and the body at the critical moment, even under stress. The same laser-sharp focus can help doctors maintain their focus as they perform keyhole surgery, and it is of increasing interest to the military. Williams herself is under no illusions about what is most important. “I’ve won most of my matches – probably all of my grand slams – because of what’s upstairs, not anything else,” she told Sports Illustrated in 2015. A large part of that may be the kind of calm focus that comes from the quiet eye. “If you are behind in a game, it’s so important to relax, and that’s what I do – when I’m behind in a game, that’s when I become most relaxed,” she added. “Just focus on one point at a time… just that sole point, and then the next one, and the next one.” July 06 - 12, 2018
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World Cup 2018
Brazilian star Neymar is fouled by Mexican defender Edson Alvarez during their t heir round-of-16 16 match on Monday. Brazil won 2-0.EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty DUNAND/AFP/G etty Images Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo receives a yellow card from referee Cesar Ramos.Matt Ramos.M att hew Ashton Ashton/A /AMA/Getty MA/Getty Images A Japan Japan supp support orter er cri cries es after the match. Petr David Josek/AP Chadli slides the ball past Japan goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima to finish off Belgium’s 3-2 comeback victory. victory. Hassan Ammar/AP 8
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The Last Word
OPINION
In defence of social media tax By Andrew M. Mwenda
Why taxing mobile money and social media is a politically revolutionary act that may help improve our democracy
S
ince government introduced a tax on mobile money and social media, there has been deafening opposition to it from every quarter of Ugandan public opinion. Yet for economic and political reasons this is the most revolutionary tax decision this government has ever made. What is even more intriguing is that those making the loudest noise against it are equally that section of our society which actually pays the least taxes. Ugandan elites are always demanding that the state delivers a large basket of public goods and services – healthcare, education, clean water, electricity, good roads, railways, security, etc. to all citizens for free or very cheaply. Whence does the state get revenues to perform these functions other than by taxation? Even if/when it borrows to pay for these services, it has to generate revenue from taxes to pay back its creditors. The ratio of tax revenues to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Uganda is very low, at 14%. Why? First because the state’s tax administration infrastructure is very thin on the ground. Secondly, the state has a very limited economic map of the population to collect taxes from it. Thirdly a huge part of economic activity is informal, making it dicult to tax. Fourthly, many economic activities in this country are tax-exempt. Fifth, the government has always been afraid of the political backlash from taxing its people and this explains its predilection to borrowing. Indeed given the hullabaloo over this tax, I am afraid our government may panic and withdraw it. It is true our government lacks a plan for broadening the tax base. This has led tax policy to always seek to extract the last penny out of a few existing and compliant taxpayers instead of bringing more people and activities under the tax bracket. The beer be er str strate ategy gy shou should ld be to inc increa rease se pro pro-ductivity so that more taxes are collected from increased output. And quite imporimpor tantly, government has no strategy for creating incentives to aract people from the informal to the formal economy so that it can tax them. But be that as it may, the tax on receiving and sending mobile money and on social media is good because it makes very many people pay direct taxes. The new tax is
impossible to evade and expensive to avoid. It is collected electronically, making it easy and cheap to administer. Mobile phone companies become collection agents for the state, which can easily monitor the activiactivi ties on their network. There is, therefore, no need to hire more sta and build more elaborate infrastructure for tax collection. Secondly you can only avoid this tax by not consuming the service. Its demand is inelastic because alternatives cost many times more. If you decline to use mobile money to send money to your mother in Katakwi in order avoid this tax, the cost of taking it in person is much higher. The inconvenience of looking for a person who lives near your mother, to take it there for you is too much, not to mention the risk of it being bei ng sto stolen len.. The use of social media for texting and voice calls has reduced government revenues from Short Message Services (SMS) and voice calls. This tax is, therefore, one way to compensate for this. If anyone uses social media to earn money, surely they should pay a tax on their income. And I don’t see a problem with government using this tax to penalise those who use social media for lugambo lugambo and and to hurl insults at others. The great advantage of this tax is that is spreads the net widely thereby bringing many more Ugandans into the tax ambit. About 236,000 individuals with businesses are registered to pay taxes in Uganda. Yet only 24,600 actually pay taxes and a miniscule 4,150 pay 80% of it. The people who do not want to pay taxes are also the same people who vehemently oppose governgovernment borrowing and yet always demand more and beer public goods and services from the state. For far too long, the government of Uganda has been reluctant to tax the vast majority of its citizens for fear of a political backla bac klash, sh, lik likee the the one we are see seeing ing tod today. ay. Hence for many years it relied heavily on the generosity of its Western benefactors through foreign aid. However, when Uganda passed the Anti-homosexuality Act in 2012, most aid was cut. Rather than cut spending and/or increase taxes, government went borrowing on the domestic market and also turned to China on the interna-
tional credit market. Before 2012, government used domestic borrow bor rowing ing for mon moneta etary ry pol policy icy i.e i.e.. to to control money supply. After the aid cuts, government began borrowing from the domestic market for scal purposes i.e. to nance the budget. This has led domestic debt to rise to Shs12.5 trillion in 2018 with interest payments costing Shs1.9 trillion this nancial year. Yet the very Ugandans denouncing government for imposing this tax have been the same people denouncing it for increasing debt. Secondly, domestic borrowing crowded the private sector out of the nancial marmar kets. This discouraged private investment leading to the sluggish growth of the last ve years – from an average of 7.2% in the 20 years between 1993 and 2012 to 4.1% in the last ve years. Indeed by increasing the return on treasury bonds, interest rates for private rms skyrocketed causing many companies to default on their loans and some to go under. There are many problems – both economic and administrative – with the new tax. But regardless of the weaknesses, I think it is good. Its biggest ineciency (charging senders and recipients of mobile money and asking people on social media to pay the tax directly instead of deducting it from their airtime) is actually its greatest advantage – from a political point of view. Because many Ugandans are being taxed directly, they are now feeling the pinch. It is very likely that (holding many factors constant) they will now become more vigilant in holding government to account to serve them than they have ever done. For far too long, the government of Uganda had avoided making citizens pay for the public goods and services they demand and get by relying on aid. This disarticulated the state from citizens and made donors the most important inuence on public policy. Now that the state is seeking to rely on citizens for revenue, the opportunity for engaging them in public policy making and implementation has a chance to improve. This may contribute to consolidating our democracy.
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July 06 - 12, 2018
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COVER STORY
Why can't Uganda build Standard Rail? Latest on why Chinese contractor faces boot as Kenya,Tanzania,Rwanda,go ahead By Haggai Matsiko President Yoweri Yoweri Museveni is renegotiating the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) contract – again. And the negotiations are not going his way, way, meaning that once again the project is likely to be delayed even more.
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COVER STORY
East African leaders at the ground-breaking ceremony for the SGR at the Commonwealth Resort Munyonyo in Kampala in 2014.
T
he Independent has learnt that Museveni is once again negotiating directly with the contractor; China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC), after he red the previous head of the SGR project, Kasingye Kyamugambi. Kyamugambi’s crime, according to sources, is that he defended the $ 1.95 billio bil lion n pric pricee CHEC CHEC has quo quoted ted for the 273km line between Kampala and Malaba that Museveni does not like. Some insiders claim that Kyamugambi’s ring is the climax of intense lobbying by a competing rm—Yapi Merkezi Insaat VE Sanayi—which secured a similar contract in Tanzania and has managed to win the support of some within the walls of his oce, aides at State House and ocials at the Works Ministry. The main objective appears to get CHEC’s contract cancelled. Given that Kyamugambi was opposed to this, he became a target of the anti-CHEC campaign. Trouble for Kyamugambi is that some of his sta who appeared to support CHEC’s competitor are more inuential at State House. One of these is Miriam Kankunda, a former Senior Private Secretary, who was now working as Kyamugambi’s assistant in charge of Finance. This is the same Kankunda whom, when Joy Kabatsi, the former Head of Legal department at State House was red in 2012, said “was busy moving around
with papers reporting to the President, mentioning my name”. Kabatsi said Kankunda is the one who got her in trouble. “She has always wanted me out and I can assure you this brings in the Sembabule politics. She is a Hon. Sam Kutesa lady. He has people he has sponsored to really harass me in State House and my work here has not been easy,” Kabatsi was quoted in Daily Monitor interview in 2012. Kutesa’s close associates are once again being bei ng men mentio tioned ned amo among ng thos thosee who who wa want nt CHEC out and the Turkish Yapi in. It will be recalled that Kutesa’s son-inlaw, Albert Muganga was behind another company; China Civil Engineering ConCon struction Corporation (CCECC), which lost the SGR deal to CHEC. The losers even took the government to court but later apologised to President Museveni. Some insiders are basing on this to conclude that powerful forces were against Kyamugambi. They say powerful powerful forces have blocked documents supporting the CHEC case from reaching Museveni and created fake emails in Kyamugambi’s name and sent them out to potential suppliers showing that he was soliciting bribes. The SGR oce was forced to run adverts noting that this was a fake email. But their main plot has been a campaign mounted to show that the CHEC contract was inated. All this while, some ocials at the Works Ministry, aides at State House and even some sta at SGR have been reporting to Museveni that Kyamugambi is a stumbling block to the SGR.
Inflated costs? The Independent has learnt that in an aempt to get on top of the situation, Museveni on February 15 wrote to the Minister of Works and Transport, Monica Azuba, noting that after enquiring from multiple technical sources, he had found several possible weaknesses in the current SGR plan and concept. He directed her to form a commiee to investigate it and involve Dr. Badru Kiggundu; the engineer who previously headed the Electoral Commission, and later investigated construction anomalies at Karuma and Isimba dams, to investigate the deal. The Kiggundu’s commiee issued a damning report in May, which appears to have sealed Kyamugambi’s fate. According to Kigundu, CHEC tender is inated by over $600 million. Following this report, Museveni at a State House meeting ordered that Kyamugambi is red and replaced with Perez Wamburu, Wamburu, who has been the chief civil engineer in the Ministry of works. Interestingly, Wamburu was part of another team, which Azuba had set up earear lier on Museveni’s orders on the same issue. Wamburu Wambur u and team had travelled to Kenya investigated and concluded that the CHEC contract was okay. The team was led by Prof Edward RuguRugumayo and included former Uganda Railways Corporation managing director Daudi Murungi, Makerere University’s engineering don, Umar Bagambadde. July 06 - 12, 2018
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COVER STORY
The commiee noted that it would be technically erroneerrone ous to compare Uganda and Tanzania’s Ta nzania’s SGR because while Uganda’s railway is based on Chinese specications, Ta Tanza nza-nia’s is based on Arema standards, which is American. “We note that the total costs given by CHEC are within the cost estimates provided by JB Gaulf for the Kampala-Malaba line,” the experts noted, “These costs also include provisions for locomotives, rolling stocks and the Kampala URC station complex and the Tororo railway training school.” Kyamugambi’s camp says it is not clear whether President Museveni saw this report. Apart from the report, Prof. Rugumayo’s team had also prepared a memo for cabinet but eve every ry tim timee it it was was to be presented it would allegedly not appear on the agenda. The Rugumayo report that was availed was also allegedly heavheav ily edited. According to Kyamugambi’s camp, the clearest sign that Museveni had not been presented with the original paper is that he set up another commiee to do the same job. But others say it is not unusual for Museveni to do that.
Kyamugambi’s defence The SGR project recently appeared to be gathering speed when Museveni met his Kenyan counterpart in Nairobi at the end of June during the 14th Summit on the Northern Corridor Integration Project on June 27 and the two leaders made the right noises. But like most big infrastructure projects in Uganda that inevitably end up on Museveni desk, the SGR remains a centre of jostling by competing companies, their commission agents, presidential aides, mem berss of ber of parl parliam iament ent and eve even n technocrats who are all looking at a slice of the bounty. These bombard Museveni with a steady stream of new information all the time and, since he is not an expert in railway construction, the President tends to delay decision making. The result is endless postponement of project milestones, 12
Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta on the country's completed SGR route.
confusion, and uncertainty over when implementation of the project which has been 20 years at the planning stage will start. Kyamugambi,, the now Kyamugambi booted boot ed former former head of SGR, SGR, appears to be the latest victim of the jostling. A civil engineer, who previprevi ously worked with the NationNation al Planning Authority (NPA), Kyamugambi combined national planning experience and engineering expertise and was handed the job in January 2016. Knowing the complexity of interests around such projects, Kyamugambi had reportedly refused to take the job when Museveni rst gave it to him. Finally, he accepted the oer. At the time, Kyamugambi also happened to be one of the most knowledgeable technotechnocrats, having been part of the initial processes on the project even before the project was handed to CHEC. Kyamugambi was handed
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the job when the govern govern-ment had already agreed the US$1.95 billion contract price with CHEC. At that rate, the Ugandan SGR would cost $7.3 million per km. That is comparable to what Kenya paid for it recently completed Nairobi- Mombasa stretch. Kyamugambi was conconvinced that Uganda is geing a good deal despite a December 2016 report by members of a Parliamentary Infrastructure Commiee, which concluded Uganda’s cost was inated when compared to Ethiopia and even Kenya’s. Kyamugambi’ss team reacted Kyamugambi’ by defendi defending ng their their gur gures. es. They argued that in railwa railway y construction constructio n terminology, there is a dierence between “route km” and “track km” which the MPs missed. Track km includes the tracks on stations and passing loops. Route km is only the distance from
point A to B. Kyamugambi’s Kyamugambi ’s team said the MPs distorted gures when they divided the cost by route km for Uganda and by track km for Kenya. The MPs also reportedly included the cost of rolling stock and locomotives in the Uganda cost and excluded it in Kenya. Kyamugambi’s Kyamugambi ’s team argued that the cost should also factor in speed of trains, safety, qualquality of works, and construction peculiarities peculiariti es including gradient and curve radius. Apparently, while Uganda has 24km of bridges, the Dar es Salam to Morogoro stretch in Tanzani is semi-arid at terter rain, with two bridges and no swamps. Uganda has 53km of swamps with a hilly terrain. On safety, for instance, CHEC oered to construct a line that would limit accidents. This, ocials noted, required that there are no level crossing where the train meets any road at the same level or where a vehicle can possibly roll o a bridge brid ge and and land land on on the the train. train. Apart from this, the CHEC design has automatic signaling which removes human error. The train is computerised with one control room, with train drivers handling only emergencies. In the Uganda-Kenya comparison, Kyamugambi’s team argued that Uganda’s cost is cheaper because the Uganda railway will use electricity while Kenya’s will use diesel, which is more expensive. WithWithout the electric component, Uganda would be $6.9m. As always, there were also reports of personal conicts between betw een indivi individual duals. s. Dennis Dennis Sabiti, the chairman of Parliament’s Infrastructure Committee which wrote the report was said to have an axe to grind with the Works Permanent Secretary, Alex Bwangamoi. Sabiti, who had been workwork ing as a commissioner in the Works Ministry and did the due diligence of CHEC. Apparently, he had asked the Works ministry to sponsor a group of MPs for a two weeks trip to Ethiopia, Kenya Kenya and China and did not get it.
COVER STORY
None of this could be proved and was easily dismissed.
Chinese, Whitaker in trouble So far, however, Museveni has not ordered CHEC out – yet. In the latest meeting between him and CHEC on June 21 at State House, The Independent has learnt that he only managed to squeeze a 3% cut or over US$$ 50 million o the cost price. Insiders say the Chinese insist the price they quoted was the best and they only allowed the tiny reduction in order to look inexible before the President. The recent developments have put Museveni at odds with his main advi sor on the deal, the former US trade representative for Africa, Rosa Whitaker. Whitaker is a major broker for CHEC and was very instrumental in convinc ing Museveni to kick out other Chinese companies in favour of CHEC. But she appears to have rubbed Museveni the wrong way when she reportedly pleaded for Kyamugambi to be re taine tained d on the job and a nd failed. fa iled. With Kyamugambi out and Whitaker sidelined, CHEC is walking on a thin wire. In 2017, Museveni also threatened to kick out the Chinese. That was after his counterpart, Tanzania President John Pombe Magufuli told him that Tanzania is geing a beer deal of $5 million per km from t he Turkish rm Yapi. Yapi ocials even secured a meetmeet ing with President Museveni and con rmed to him that they could construct the railway at a much cheaper cost. Indeed, the anti-CHEC camp appeared to be winning when the Works Minister, Monica Azuba wrote to Aorney General William Byaru hanga on September, 14, 2017, seeking guidance on termination of CHEC’s contract. Byaruhanga wrote back on SepSep tember 27, 2017 cautioning that the decision required to be grounded on a solid basis, which the minister had not provided in her leer. In the end the contract was not terminated. Two factors appear to have swayed Museveni to retain the Chinese; one was because they could support Ugan da with a loan from their EXIM bank and two, they had Whitaker’s backing. Museveni has tried to borrow money for the SGR project from other nan ciers and failed. It is only China, which was willing to give Uganda money but on condition that the deal goes to a Chinese company. The trouble is that the SGR is not a Uganda only project. It is part of the greater East Africa region infrastruc-
Badru Kiggundu
Monica Azuba
Kasingye Kyamuga Kyamugambi mbi
ture project designed to be implemented almost simultaneously by Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda. The East African leaders held a ground-breaking ceremony for the SGR at the Commonwealth Resort Munyo nyo in Kampala in 2014. Kenya hit the ground running, three years later in 2017, had completed construc construc-tion of its Mombasa-Nairobi section of the SGR. Kenya is now constructing a 120km line from Nairobi to Naivasha at a cost of $1.7 billio bil lion, n, to be fol follow lowed ed by the 266 266km km lin linee from Naivasha to Kisumu Port at a cost of $3.6 billion. Depending on when Uganda nally takes o, Kenya appears ready to do the 107km line connecting Nairobi to Malaba at a cost $1.7, billion. Even Tanzania, which previous considconsid ered a laggard and locked out of the shortlived so-called “coalition of the willing, is now chugging ahead of Uganda. It is constructing the second phase of its 1,219km SGR which seeks to connect Dar es Salaam to the port city of Mwanza on the shores of Lake Victoria in northern Tanzania. Phase two involves construction of a 426-km line from Morogoro to Makutuporo region in Dodoma. Phase One whose ground-breaking was held in May last year, involves replacement of the old Dar es Salaam to Morogoro narrow gauge line with a new standard-gauge railway line. The line is being constructed for $ 1.2 billion by Yapi Merkezi and Portugal’s MotaEngil Africa. In January, Tanzania and Rwanda also launched the Isaka-Kigali standard gauge railway (SGR) line that will accommodate electricity-driven locomotives. Initially, it was the Uganda SGR—the western route—that was supposed to connect to Rwanda rst. However, with Uganda dragging its feet, Rwanda opted to connect to the Tanzania SGR. When he gave the State of the Nation Address recently, President Museveni only hinted about the SGR without any rm dates or nancial outlays beyond Shs50 billio bil lion. n. Uganda’s fumbling aects mainly Kenya’s plans to construct an SGR loop from Nairobi to Malaba. That line, experts say, only makes economic sense if it comes to Uganda and connects to a similar SGR from Malaba to Kampala. It is a condition that the Chinese nanciers, EXIM bank are insisting on to give both Kenya and Uganda a loan. Under the arrangement, each member state is supposed to do its bit. However, while the other countries make decision quickly and implement, Museveni’s camp appears stuck in contract signing bickering. July 06 - 12, 2018
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NEWS ANALYSIS
FDC-party-President-Oboi-Patrick-Amuriat-addresses-FDC-supporters in Pallisa District.
By Ronald Musoke
T
he people of Pallisa District were scheduled to go to the polls on June 28 to elect their Woman MP. But the Electoral Commission quashed it when it annulled the FDC candidate, Catherine Achola Osupelem’s nomination and declared Faith Alupo of the NRM unun opposed. Justic Jus ticee Simo Simon n Bya Byabak bakama ama Mug Mugeny enyi, i, the EC chairperson said in a statement that the EC had disqualied Achola from the race because the names on her nomination papers did not match those on her academic papers. While Achola’s academic documents bear the name “Achola Catherine,” she appears as “Achola “Achola Catherine Osupelem” on the voter’s register, the EC said. The events moved swiftly. Charles Rebero, the Pallisa District Returing Ocer, declared Alupo winner on Tuesday June 19 and three days later, on Friday June 22, she was sworn in as the new Pallisa Woman MP in the Speaker’s Chambers in Parliament. To compare, Paul Mwiru of FDC won the Jinja Municipality East MP seat on March 15, he was sworn-in two weeks later, on March 27. The Pallisa District Woman MP seat fell vacant following the former Woman MP, Agnes Ameede’s decision to shift to the newly created Butebo District which has been bee n carv carved ed out of Pa Palli llisa. sa. The nullication of Achola and the abrupt end to the Pallisa by-elec by-e lectio tion n has has lef leftt many many que questi stions ons.. The EC had on June 05 declared Achola duly nominated after she, supposedly met all requirements; including that she must be a registered voter in the constituency. Initially the race had aracted ve contestants 14
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The Pallisa Woman MP candidate case When is a candidate by another name not the same candidate? but thr three ee pul pulled led out out.. The The que questi stion on is why the EC waited two weeks after the nominomi nations, with just nine days to the polls to annul Achola’s candidature? Crispin Kaheru, the Coordinator of the Citizens Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda (CCEDU), an alliance which brings bri ngs tog togeth ether er ove overr 800 800 civ civil il soc societ iety y orga organinizations that monitor elections in the country says he is not sure the EC has ever quashed the candidature of a nominee as it has done in Pallisa to nullify Achola. “If you look at the technical grounds upon which the EC used to nullify the FDC candidate’s nomination, they seem very weak and not backed up by precedent,” he told The Independent on Independent on July 02. Kaheru said in late 2017, a similar case was brought before Court by the contescontes tants in the Buikwe election, but the Court of Appeal ruled that a change or tweak in name cannot cause someone’s nullication from an electoral process for as long as they can show that they followed formal proceproce dures to either remove or add a name. Another case was in the Kibanda North
NEWS ANALYSIS
petition between Sam Otada Amooti and Taban Taba n Amin where Otada petitioned High Court in Masindi to cancel Taban’s win, on ground that he used two dierent names on two separate legal documents. Kaheru says the EC has either been misled or acted in a way that does not conform to past court rulings on such issues. He says, moreover, the electoral body has a judge jud ge as as its its hea head. d. On June 21, Achola led a suit at the High Court in Kampala saying she was duly nominated by the EC on June 05. She says she was, therefore, shocked when the EC later cancelled her candidature following a complaint by the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party. That complaint was led on June 11 by the NRM’s directorate legal services saying Achola was illegally nominated yet she does not possess the required qualication to contest for the seat. The NRM says by the time of registering for her National Identication card, the FDC candidate adopted the name Osupelem on her other name of Catherine Achola that appears on all academic transcripts and certicates.
win that election. Wakida says that Achola commissioned Research World International to carry out a survey to gauge her support and help her re-orient her campaign strategy. Wakida told The Independent that Independent that the survey which The Independent has Independent has seen was, however, halted after three days by the PalPallisa Resident District Commissioner (RDC) owing to a lack of permission to carry out such an exercise. That survey showed AchoAchola in the lead in six of the seven sub-counties where the polling rm had already gathgath ered data. It was only in one sub-county where the two candidates tied. Wakida told The Independent that Independent that it was after the campaigns had started and the NRM had gauged their support base that the NRM wrote to the EC to nullify Achola’s candidature on condition that she did not
In early June, she conrmed that in the gazee before nominations then she gets duly nominated by the EC and the campaigns began in earnest. Wakida says the NRM has “shot itself in the foot” because whichever way the Court decides, NRM is going to suer a beating in Pallisa. “If the Court decides to reinstate Achola, NRM is going to suer a beating. If they don’t, still the people of Pallisa who are already crying with the proceedings will revenge.” Puing the issue into perspective, Kaheru wonders whether President Museveni who has changed the order of his names on the ballot bal lot,, has has swor sworn n an an ada adavit vit on eac each h of of those occasions. Kaheru says since 1996, President Museveni sometimes loses a name or changes the
NRM’s “cowardly “cowardly”” act Achola told The Independent on Independent on June 29 that she adopted her father’s name in 2015 at the time of registration for the national ID. “They just feared to lose,” she told The “They sti still ll bel believ ievee Pall Pallisa isa is Independent , , “They NRM which is not the case.” “And the people who think it is their duty that NRM remains dominant in Pallisa could not aord to take the shame. People are not happy with what is happening in NRM.” Dan Mugarura, the FDC electoral com mission chairman also told The Independent on July 02 that what happened in Pallisa is “daylight robbery.” “Achola just added her father’s name on her document and she swore adavits for it,” he said, “So she is still the same person in everything except the additional name and it had already been judged (in Court) that adding a name does not change a person.” He explained that the candidate provided the EC with all evidence indicating that there was compliance with the law when she adopted the said names during the enrollment for the national ID card in 2015 as she stated before the commission. “They saw the energy in Pallisa and the only way to deny FDC and Achola a win was to look for a imsy excuse to get her out,” Mugarura said. Dr. Patrick Wakida, the executive director of Research World International, a Kampala-based polling rm says the NRM party justt pani jus panicked cked beca because use all con condit dition ionss on on the the ground showed that they were not going to
Rebecca Kadaga hands copy of the Constitution and a copy of the rules of procedure to Alupo. Alupo.
have the required S.4 certicate. Wakida told The Independent that Independent that Achola got advice from her father to add his name (Osupelem) since it would aract a lot of mileage for her. Wakida says Achola went about that propro cess eciently. She was registered as a voter under those three names and she registered as a candidate under those three names in 2015. She did a statutory statutory declaration and she presented to the Electoral Commission and then the EC duly nominated her. But in 2015, the requirement of the law was to do a statutory declaration and go ahead to gazee it if you are adding a name. After 2016, if you wanted to add a name on your original names, you did not have to gazee those names. “This time around she comes to contest, she is advised to take away all possible maneuvers of the NRM party; she goes on to the gazee to declare all the three names.”
order of the names on the ballot paper to gain a favourable position on the ballot. “Ideally if the EC is taking on the Pallisa case that way, then we should see the president swear an adavit each time he changes the order of his name,” he said, “But let alone that, President Museveni has been called Yoseri, then Yoeri and then Yoweri. Yo weri. I am not sure all those changes have been bac backed ked by an ad adavi avit.” t.” “And even if they the y were, there is suspi suspi-cion bound to be created by such frequent changes in just a single name. For what rea son and to what end?” Kaheru wondered, “The question is how come we have not seen the EC take such a stern position?” “The reason would be that nobody has ever petitioned the president for the name change but if it is standard procedure then the EC should come out and pronounce itself on that anomaly even without anyone coming out to challenge that irregularity.” July 06 - 12, 2018
15
FEATURE
Cuban doctors in Kenya Why they don’t deserve the treatment they’re getting By Rich Warner
C
uban medical missions abroad are perhaps one of the most signicant legacies of the 1959 Cuban Revolution. The programme involves Cuban doctors oering health care services in host countries, often in impoverished rural 16
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communities where there’s lile access. The programme stemmed from Cuba’s foreign policy objectives of anticolonialism and humanitarianism in the 1960s. It became one way in which Cuba could avoid the isolation intended by the trade embargo imposed by the U.S. and its expulsion from the Organisation of American States (OAS).
Well over 131,993 Cuban doctors have taken part in international missions in 107 countries. Kenya is the latest. The rst 50 specialists arrived in the country recently, with 50 more to follow. All are expected to work in underserved rural areas. But their arrival has been met with a storm of protest. Some Kenyan health
FEATURE
Well over
131,993 Cuban doctors have taken part in international missions in
107 countries Kenya leaves a lot to be desired. But I would also argue that the services being provided by Cuban doctors are invaluable and the reasons for not wanting them in Kenya are not justied.
The national benefit is paramount The current fears of the Kenyan medical fraternity are understandable. But their fears may be based on misinformation. Prior consultations between Kenyan government ocials and the medical fraternity would have gone a long way to allaying these. Nevertheless, I believe that Kenyan doctors should focus on the national benets of the programme. Cuban doctors are sent to rural, under-served areas – areas that local doctors often refuse to work in. In these communities, the mere presence of a doctor can make a tremendous dierence in health outcomes. In addition, the Cuban doctors being sent to Kenya are highly specialised in areas such as oncology and nephrology; areas of medicine which are in demand the world over. Their presence can only improve access to specialised medical care while reducing congestion in referral hospitals.
Cuba’s healthcare missions professionals have strongly opposed their arrival on the grounds that they will be taking away local jobs. My understanding of the work of Cuban doctors has been greatly inuenced by the fact that I spent seven years studying medicine in Cuba, one of thousands of students from all over the globe who have had the opportunity to study medicine on the island. The experience gave me a keen understanding of how the Cuban health system works. It also helped me understand what lies behind the medical missions programme. I accept that the way the programme is implemented in countries like
Despite a level of economic stagnation, Cuba has managed to maintain a universal health care system viewed as a model for other countries. Current data shows the doctor to patient ratio in Cuba is well above the United Nation’s target of 1:1000, at 7.5:1000 in 2014. By comparison, Kenya has a ratio of 0.204 doctors per 1000 patients. Cuban trained doctors have been praised the world over for the level of service and compassion they oer. There are numerous examples of work that they’ve done. For example, Cuban doctors were sent to South Africa during a brain-drain in the post-apartheid era as white medical doctors left that country in droves.
They also helped develop medical faculties in Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, The Gambia and Haiti between 1963 and 2004. And they showed tremendous humanitarian spirit during the Haitian Earthquake in 2010, the Ebola outbreak of 2014, and even oered the U.S. assistance in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The oer was rejected. The argument that Kenya should invest in its own citizens rather than sign a multi-million dollar deal with the Cuban government is a fair one and should be addressed. But I do not believe that it is simply a question of one or the other. Studying medicine is costly and requires training for between six to seven years. This excludes specialisation. But what happens in the interim to sick, impoverished individuals in rural communities while doctors are being trained? Cuban doctors should be seen as a temporary reinforcement oering a level of service every Kenyan should demand.
Why Cuban doctors? Is a Cuban doctor beer than a Kenyan one? No. But Cuban doctors have specic expertise in dealing with tropical diseases such as malaria. This remains a major problem in Kenya even though it was eradicated in Cuba more than three decades ago. It’s also important to keep some perspective when it comes to the numbers. Foreign physicians make up below 10% of all doctors in Kenya. There are 939 foreign doctors in the country’s register – but the majority (358) is from the U.S. Only 100 are from Cuba. This is a tiny number. The presence of these foreign doctors should be seen as a benet to the country’s health care service. It oers the opportunity for Kenyan physicians to learn from the Cubans’ experiences working in a universal health care system with emphasis on preventative medicine. They could also learn from their integrated community medicine approach, how they have managed to eradicate various diseases as well as policies and guidelines in place in Cuba that could be implemented in Kenya. Cuban physicians will also be able to learn from their Kenyan counterparts how their system operates, diculties and challenges of working as a physician in Kenya as well as the cultural norms that Cuban physicians would have to consider when oering services to Kenyans. Ultimately, the Kenyan health care system and its people will reap the rewards of the presence of Cuban doctors. Rich Warner is a PhD Candidate, Anglia Ruskin University July 06 - 12, 2018
17
ADVERTORIAL
How ‘The ‘The Solar Revolution’ Revolution’ is tra tr ansf sfo orm rmiing li liv ves in rura rall Rw Rwa and nda a
I
n Gakenke district, Ruli sector, Northern Province, Patrick Munyaneza beams with a smile and the hope of rising out of poverty due to solar electricity installed in his shop by BBOXX Rwanda. Munyaneza 38, and father of three was singing and lled with enthusiasm while charging phones for more than 10 clients. “I am making a lot of money I never thought I would ever make. The only source of light in my small shop had been a kerosene lamp but now I have have an alt altern ernati ative ve sou source rce of income from charging phones since I have power in my house. Most people pass by the shop for a drink while I charge their phones. This way, I get to hit two birds with one stone.” Munyaneza, like many others in Ruli sector, now has electricity and feels secure operating late in the night. Three years ago, life was really tough for him. He had no electricity. The main sources of energy used were wood and charcoal for cooking and oil for lighting. Sourcing raw materials materials to produce energy is an increasingly important expense in many homes and aects the household budget. As a result, the potential for economic activity is reduced and reinforces the precariousness of some village inhabitants. However, life is fast changing for many rural folks, thanks to BBOXX Rwanda, a company that provides clean, aordable and reliable solar solutions to o-grid communities of Rwanda. BBOXX Rwanda is the largest and fastest growing solar energy provider in the country in terms of the number of households electried per day. It leads and manages all aspects of its business operations – engineered from its lab in London, manufactured in its factory in China, followed by distribution across all the four provinces across Rwanda reaching over 50,000 customers. “BBOXX Rwanda is not a solar company. It is more of a lifestyle company. What we mean by this is that we don’t sell products, we sell services. So, it is about creating a new lifestyle for millions of Rwandans. We started our operations in 2014 and we so far we have 27 shops spread across four provinces across the country,” said Dean Karemera, the Communications and Public Relations Coordinator at BBOXX Rwanda. In May, BBOXX Rwanda opened a new outlet in Rusizi district in a move to continuously align their work with the government’s National Electrication Strategy. In the strategy, o-grid solutions are expected to account for about 48% of national energy 18
July 06 - 12, 2018
provision to ensure that the national electrication plan 7-5-2 which aims at connecting all households in next seven years, by 2024, connecting all the productive users by 2022, and ensuring that the entire capital city is connected in the next two years by, 2019 is achieved. With a client base of over over 50,000, they are changing people’s aitude towards solar energy through provision of aordaord able and exible payment solutions. These payment solutions allow a client to pay on a monthly, weekly or daily basis depending on their nancial muscle. “Our major target is to ensure that our clients enjoy our services; we oer them lifetime aftersales services such as repairs, replacements, free installation, a 10-year guarantee and advisory services through our call centre. Additionally, we oer our customers the chance to grow with BBOXX. The end result is to give our clients a chance to envision a dierent future for themthemselves,” he added. While contributing to the ght against
climate change, BBOXX has opened the door for the creation of alternative sources of income for their clients such as charging phones, running sides businesses into late in the night and contributing to increased safety at night, general sanitary conditions, education, health and care and generally improved working conditions in the villages. For Munyaneza, Munyaneza, there’s no doubt that solar energy has empowered his business and completely changed his life. “Now I have a lot of money to supply my family’s needs and to pay the children’s school fees.” For BBOXX, as they continue revolutionizing the solar industry, they say the journey is just beginning. “The industry is still growing and with new innovations in the solar industry cropping up every so often, we are excited about what the future holds. As a company comprised of young people, exibility and adaptability are ingrained in us. Our clients can only look forward to the best services and products,” Karemera added.
ADVERTORIAL
How BDF enables disadvantaged disadva ntaged groups to access investment funds BDF funding helps 1,000s to bring ideas to life According to BDF Chief Executive OO cer, Innocent Bulindi, over Rwf72.5 billion has been invested in more than 25,340 entrepreneurship groups and start-ups. Rwf59 billio bil lion n of of this this mon money ey wa wass used used as gua guaran rantee tee for enterprising Rwandans, especially youth with bankable and scalable businesses, to secure loans from banks or SACCOs to expand or kick-start the ventures. Bulindi says ventures supported by the Fund have created over 112,000 jobs across dierent sectors of the economy. “The Fund has helped to close the nancial gap between rich and poor, and has empowered young entrepreneurs to grow and thrive.” Some of the beneciaries include former drug users, street vendors, unemployed graduates and people with disabilities and other disadvantaged groups, says Bulindi. He aributes the success of the Fund is to good leadership and collaboration with supportive partners, including ministries of trade and industry; nance, and that of labour, and other nancial institutions. “The government gave us over Rwf30 billion to invest in people’s projects; that trust is the foundation of our activities,” says Bulindi.
People-centric CEO BDF Innocent bulindi
A
few years ago, COMEKA, a cooperative of furniture makers, wanted to buy modern equipment to expand their business, but no bank was willing to fund them because they did not have collateral, according to Daniel Dushimimana, who heads the cooperative. The cooperative, which is made up of former unemployed youth, had almost hit a dead end when they were advised to approach Business Development Fund (BDF) for support. The advice proved to be vital and was the turning point for the Kamembe Sector, Rusizi District-based cooperative because BDF agreed to buy six modern machines worth Rwf43 million for the group’s carpentry workshop, Dushimimana adds. He explains that they had formed the cooperative following government programmes, urging Rwandans to work in
groups to access support, including funding and training. Later, government set up a workshop for the group; and it is this facility that they wanted to equip with modern machinery to improve operations and the quality of their furniture. The ocial says BDF intervention has facilitated the cooperative to make quality furniture, which has improved their earnings. “As we celebrate 24th anniversary of our country’s liberation, we are proud to say that we have been liberated from demanding, but unproductive jobs. Presently, our furniture is highly-sought after in Rusizi and beyond,” he notes.
He adds that members of the cooperative have also acquired news skills, enabling them to produce furniture that is very competitive on the market.
The CEO says that the Fund is people-centered, with a vision of extend services to majority of Rwandans, mainly youth, women and people with disabilities. To achive this goal, it has set up branches in all the 30 districts of Rwanda, and also partners with SACCOs to reach business operators and innovative people at the grassroots in both urban areas and villages. BDF also offers beneciaries advisory services
and trains others in new skills like use of ICT.
Currently, BDF provides collateral and funds through 508 nancial institutions including SACCOs. Broadly, BDF is disadvantaged Rwandans a lifeline, which has enabled thousands to turn ideas into successful businesses that benet founders, communities and contribute to the development of the country and its goal to become a self-reliant middle-income economy. July 06 - 12, 2018
19
ADVERTORIAL
How BDF funding is creating a new generation of young entrepreneurs By The Independent Reporter
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Niyongira, from Work Company exhibiting the firm’s products at the 13th Kigali Agrishow. BDF funding enabled the firm to increase its range of products. By Stephen Nuwagira. 20
July 06 - 12, 2018
hen Noelina Dusabe graduated from college about three years ago, looking for a job was not part p art of her plans. p lans. The enterprising young woman instead partnered with a friend, Juliet Ingabire, and they pooled funds and started an agro-processing venture making biscuits and dough nuts from sweet potatoes. The frm, Dusabe Enterprises Limited based in Rutarake Nyagatare district, also vends roasted groundnuts. The agroprocessing venture sells most of the biscuits in Kigali and Nyagatare supermarkets and retail shops. However, the initial stages of the business were not a walk in the park as Dusabe and Ingabire struggled to raise funds to stay aoat. Dusabe says they used to hire processing equipment, which always ate into their earnings and threatened the start-up’s survival. During that time, the start-up used to make about 300 packets weekly worth Rwf150,000. Today, the frm produces over 700 packets of biscuits and dough nuts, raking in more than Rwf300,000 per week. “The increase in production capacity and earnings was only possible after we secured funding worth Rwf11 million from Business Development Fund (BDF) to inject into the startup. The money enabled us to buy our own processing equipment that boosted output,” says Dusabe. “We
ADVERTORIAL
also bought more raw materials like sweet potato our, milk and eggs; as well as packaging materials. We also leased a bigger piece of land (for a year) to expand our potato gardens so that we reduce on the cost of operations,” Dusabe adds. She was speaking during the 13th Kigali Agriculture Show at Mulindi Agriculture showground in Gasabo District, where she exhibited her products. BDF supports entrepreneurs, providing funding and loan guarantees for promising start-ups operated by youth, you th, and a nd other ot her b usines usinesses, ses, cooperatives, and also renances SACCO, among other interventions. It also provides support services, including training, sensitization, and guidance. The agro-processor says the rm will now be able to satisfy growing demand, thanks to improved production capacity. “We are working to see h ow we can expand and grow the business so as to meet customer demand. This also means that we will be able to employ more youth in the near future.”
A customer customer enjoys enjoys bezella bezella juice juice during during the 13th 13th Kigali Kigali Agrishow Agrishow on on June 27. By Stephen Stephen Nuwagir Nuwagira. a.
Advice Dusabe urges young people particularly graduate not to sit back waiting for white collar jobs when they complete their studies. “It is important that young graduates and other youth use the skills and knowledge they acquired from school to create their own jobs and a nd employ e mploy other o ther youth youth.. Besides, Bes ides, it’s more rewarding to be your own boss; you earn e arn your yo ur own money and you don’t have to depend on anyone,” she explains. She, however, advises young entrepreneurs especially women to embrace best business practices, like bookkeeping bookke eping,, planning plan ning and proper pr oper money management if they are to thrive and grow. “We have been able to stay aoat and expand our business because of money disciple and BDF support that enabled us to buy our own processing equipment,” she says.
Dusabe is one of the beneficiaries of BDF funding. By Stephen Nuwagira
Other beneficiaries Work Company Limited, a beverages maker in Nyakabuye, Rusizi district, was able to expand product range and improve production processes after acquiring a Rwf10 million loan from BDF. The start-up now produces whisky, wine and two brands of juice; one from passion p assion fruit fruitss and another from bezella owers. Barisme Niyongira, a marketing ocer Work Company, says the rm used the money to expand and increase their product oerings. “We also bought beer equipment to process juice and acquired
more land to grow bezella and passion fruits, which will help us to become self-sustaining in the long-run in terms of raw materials.” “Generally, the loan has helped us to improve our production capacity and, will support our growth going forward,” explains Niyongira. The start-up now makes over 40 crates of the two brands of juice compared to about seven previously. Work Company Limited was one of the agro-businesses that participated in this year’s agrishow that run from June 26-July 03.
700 packets of biscuits and dough
nuts
Rwf 300,000 per week
July 06 - 12, 2018
300 packets weekly worth
Rwf
150,000 21
RWANDA
Rwanda to host African agric forum By Independent Reporters
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frica’s agricultural sector and food systems must rapidly and sustainable transform to deliver incomes, food security, nutrition, and wider economic opportunities if the continent is to achieve middle income status by 2050 2050.. Experience and evidence shows that achieving food secusecu rity targets and huge returns on agribusiness requires leaders that are visionary, accountable and that integrate eorts by diverse stakeholders including farmers, local and global private sector, civil society, investors, and development partners. The leadership must also be prepared for regular and rigorous progress assessments. This call was made on May 07, 2018 at the ocial announcement of Rwanda as this year’s host of the annual 2018 African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF 2018) to be held later in the year, 3-7 September. The unveiling event was held at the state-of-the art Kigali Convention Centre where the September Forum will be concon vened. Rwanda was selected to host the Forum due, in large part, to its leadership role in agriculture, both at home and across the continent. For example, in Januar Jan uary y 2018 2018,, at at the the AU Sum Sum-mit, the country was recognized by the the Afr Africa ican n Union Union Com Com-mission as the top performing nation on the continent in the pursuit of agricultural goals and targets. Organized under the leadership of H.E. President Paul Kagame and the theme of “Lead. Measure. Grow: Enabling new pathways to turn smallholders into sustainable agribusinesses”, the AGRF 2018 will build on the momentum in Africa’s agricultural transformation in recent years. It will also ensure that this is a mar22
Farmers occupy a place of honor for Silverback Coffee of Rwanda. Silverback Coffee of Rwanda
quee moment for both Rwanda and the continent to further advance inclusive agricultural transformation at the heart of the continent’s broader economic transformation agenda and Agenda 2063. “Agriculture is the economic mainstay of the majority of households in Rwanda and makes a signicant contribution to our country’s economy. The sector accounts for approximately 30 per cent of the GDP and employs about 69 per cent of the labor force. It will be key in propelling our country to middle income status by 2030 and high-income status by 205 2050,” 0,” sai said d H.E. H.E. Pre Presid sident ent Kagame. “We are delighted to host this year’s AGRF to learn from compelling evidence across the continent for further action. Rwanda is ready to share leslessons with other countries as well as gain new insights from its neighbors. We must continue to do even beer at underunderstanding new advances and deploying new solutions that will enable us all to tap into the full potential of our continent, increase value addition, create employment for our youth and nurture viable agribusinesses,” added President Kagame. Now in its 7th edition, the AGRF is considered the world’s
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most important and impactful forum for African agriculture. It pulls together stakeholders in the agricultural landscape to take practical actions and share lessons that will move African agriculture forward. In just the past two years, the Forum has seen major continental commitments on agriculture. The AGRF 2016 in Kenya, for example, resulted in commitments of more than US $30 billion dollars to support the continent with investments to increase production, income, and employment for smallholder farmers and local African agriculture businesses over the next ten years. The 2017 edition in Cote d’Ivoire, on the other hand, saw close to US $6.5 billio bil lion n wort worth h of of busi business ness dea deals ls in palm oil, pulses, potato, and rice by the private sector. The 2018 Forum will look at how Africa can meet its develdevelopment goals by tapping into the full potential of its smallholder farmers and the agri busine bus iness ss sect sector. or. Thi Thiss is is beca because use for all the signs of progress in recent years, the continent still needs to move from food shortage to surplus, drive benecial continental trade, and create millions of jobs and opportunities, particularly for women and youth. The Forum will advance this
agenda with several concrete outcomes in terms of knowlknowledge sharing, the announcement of new political commitcommit ments to agriculture by several governments, new programs and investments, and progress in unlocking billions of dollars in private investment and nance from the private sector. Speaking at the launch event in Kigali, Mr. Strive Masiyiwa, the Chairman and CEO of Econet Wireless, as well as Chair of the AGRF Partners’ Group, reinforced the comments by President Kagame, noting that, “Business and progress as usual is not enough for our aspirations as a continent; we must do more and do it more successfully. By scaling the right policies, programs, and investments, governments and partners in the African agricultural landscape can now transform the lives of millions of smallholder farmers and put a good number of countries on the path to a sustainable agricultural transformation, with signicant impacts on farmers’ food security, nutrition and improving their boom line and incomes.” “Given our theme and focus on the importance of evidence based bas ed lea leader dershi ship p in in driv driving ing progress, we could not ask for a beer host for the AGRF 2018 than the Government of RwanRwanda. With inspirational leadership that measures and tracks the progress we all want to see, we can chart and advance the journe jou rney y to to Afri Africa’ ca’ss futur futuree and and prosperity. We look forward to working together to ensure this is a transformative moment for Rwanda and the continent,” said Mr. Masiyiwa. The 2018 Forum will aract close to 2,000 delegates from across the continent and the world. These will include highlevel dignitaries, including current and former Heads of State and Government; Agriculture and Finance Ministers; eminent leaders of global development institutions; top industry captains from the national, regional, and global private sector; and lead representatives of farmer organizations and key non-governmental implementing partners.
GROWING AFRICA The New Forests Company congratulates His Excellency, the President Paul Kagame, the Government and the People of Rwanda on this auspicious occasion of the 24th edition of Rwanda’ Rwanda’ss Liberation Celebrations. The New Forests Company (NFC) is one of the largest forestry companies in East Africa, growing trees and supplying sustainable value-added timber products to the EAC. Following a recent audit by an accredited thirdparty auditor, New Forests Rwanda is the rst company in the country to be recommended for certication by
a globally prestigious, sustainable forestry management assessment scheme. We are proud to be contributing to Rwanda’s Vision 2020 through social and economic development. Inspired by the country’s clear vision and progress, we are striving to become the most successful vertically-integrated, sustainable forestry and value added timber-processing business in East Africa by 2020. Our workers and partners are the foundation upon which we can build this vision, so we continuously invest in them and build capacity.
NFC has been operating in Rwanda since 2011, proudly contributing to Rwanda’s growth and development: Over 100,000 electrication poles contributed to the national grid
1 500 jobs created permanent, casual and indirect employees
1.6 million high quality seedlings
Projects implemented in our community development programs in Nyanza, Nyamagabe and Nyamasheke districts include: •
Establishment of a tree nursery cooperative
•
Supporting 4 x bee keeping cooperatives with
were provided to 2000 outgrower-farmers to plant over 1200 hectares of new forests
equipment, equipme nt, facilities and training •
16 x clean water point projects
•
Construction of 4 double classroom blocks
•
Provision of 12 pit ablutions
•
Donation of transmission transmission poles for 2 x village village electrication projects
•
Road rehabilitat rehabilitation ion works near our faciliti facilities es
We are committed to providing our clients with the best possible service. We join all Rwandans in working towards a prosperous future full of hope and condence.
Email:
[email protected] Email: Website: www.newforest www.newforests.net s.net For product quotes: 0781462435 quotes: 0781462435 or Email:
[email protected] Email:
We are dedicated to providing our customers with high quality kiln-dried timber products including structural timber, large beams, plus nishing timbers such as tongue and groove, overlay and various mouldings.
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Rwandan car plant opens VW launches locally assembling cars By John Mbaraga
A
fter months of waiting, the rst batch bat ch of Vol Volksw kswage agen n cars cars as as-sembled in Kigali, rolled o the assembly line, opening a new chapter in Rwanda’s automotive industry and economy. The Volkswagen Mobility Solutions plant based bas ed in Kig Kigali ali Spec Special ial Eco Econom nomic ic Zon Zonee in Gasabo district unveiled its rst cars at an event presided over by President Paul Kagame, and local automobile industry dealers touted the development as a great move that will help cut costs importing new cars. “It takes us long periods to import cars from Japan or Europe; shipping costs and import taxes are also many. So, we are optiopti mistic that the new plant will bring tangible benet ben etss for for the car bus busine iness ss in in Rwa Rwanda nda,” ,” said Jean Luc Mugabo, the commercial director of RwandaMotor, the ocial dealer for Suzuki and Sinotruk in Rwanda. The $20 million plant is projected to assemble 1,000 cars per year during the rst phase, and according to Volkswagen’s South Africa chief executive ocer, Thomas Schäfer, the launch of the plant in Rwanda 24
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cements another pillar for Volkswagen subSaharan Africa expansion strategy. “Our goal is to play a leading role in the emerging automotive industry in Africa as we pursue a rapid and exible expansion strategy over the coming years,” he said at the launch on June 27. Schäfer said that the plant will locally assemble models, like VW Polo, VW Passat, VW Tiguan, VW Amarok and VW Teramont.
“As demand increases, we will move to phase two, where we will increase the capacity up to 10,000 cars, with the of manman ufacturing stage coming later on,” he said. There are about 300,000 cars in Rwanda as of last year, serving a population of 12 million people, according to RDB, but most of the vehicles on the roads are second-hand imports from Japan and Europe.
Boosting economy Speaking at the launch, Kagame said the plant strengthens Rwanda’s economic transtrans formation journey. “This facility undoubtedly represents a new chapter, in Rwanda’s journe jou rney y of of econo economic mic tra transfo nsforma rmatio tion. n. Ther Theree are also positive implications for Africa generally. Not only can global brands assemble
high-quality products in Africa, they can also nd customers here,” he said. Kagame used the opportunity and challenged Africans to change mindsets towards embracing use of new products. “Africa does not need to be a dumping ground for second-hand cars or secondhand anything. In the long run, you end up paying a higher price anyway. If you pay a high p rice for second hand, why not pay for some thing new. Africa and Rwanda deserve beer and this is one way of showing we can aord it,” Kagame noted.
More taxes, jobs expected Commenting about the launch, Vinay Gorajia, the Akagera Business Group general manager, said more people will now access new vehicles. “I don’t think that it will impact mar ket growth, but it will promote a s hift from buying used cars to n ew vehicles,” he said. Akage Akagera ra is i s the distri distribut butor or of of Toyota vehicles in Rwanda. For the taxman, starting of operations at the plant means more taxes will come into the national coers. “One, it will boost employment and
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when employment is in place, taxes will come up, that is the impact I see with the estabestab lishment of Volkswagen in Rwanda,” said Rwanda Revenue Authority Autho rity Commissioner General, Richard Tusabe, adding that it will also create new employment opportunities. Up to 1,000 jobs will be created in the rst phase of the project.
Residents According to Jean Claude Nzabonimpa, a Kigali resident, it may take longer for most Rwandans to aord the locallyassembled cars. But he is optimistic that people will support the plant. He requested the govgov ernment and Volkswagen to sell the vehicles at prices aordable to Rwandans, adding that this will encourage more residents to buy the vehicles. “This is a big milestone that every Rwandan should be proud of, own, and support,” he added.
Car sharing services Rwanda Volkswagen InteInte grated Mobility Solutions chief executive ocer, Michaella Rugwizangoga said the rm will start car sharing services, initially with a corporate car sharing scheme, targeting institutions, corporates and non-government organisations. “We will start with 40 vehicles for the car sharing service, and we look to increase this to 140 cars in future. Later, this will be folfol lowed by ride-hailing with initial eet of 150 vehicles,” she said. Next year, the rm will roll out the car sharing service to general public, with vehicles at dierent stations for self-drive. This will be folfol lowed by hire services and peer-to-peer car sharing service, the ocial added.
Price per brand The Volkswagen’s cheaper local assembled car model is VW Polo which is $23,881 (over Rwf20.7 million). For VW Passat is $37,674 (about Rwf32.7 million), VW Tiguan is $37,719 or equivalent of Rwf32.8 million); VW Amarok costs $44,559 or about Rwf38.7 million, and the VW Teramont model is at $48,156 (about Rwf41.8 million). m illion).
Sch S choo ooll ce celllph phon ones es ban Move to protect students draws mixed reactions By John Mbaraga
T
he ban on possession of cellphones by primary and secondary school students announced by the Ministry of Education in mid-June has provoked mixed reaction with some teachers and parents saying it was long overdue. Others, however, argue that mobile phones support studies as research tools and their use should be regulated but not outlawed. Rwanda’s Minister of Education, Dr Eugène Mutimura said no student from nursery to high school would be allowed to possess a cellphone at school as a way to avoid disturbance in studies. He says school inspections indicated that use of cellphones had been causing disruptions during classes and aecting student concentration on studies. Lycée de Kigali head teacher, Martin Masabo, is a strong supporter of the ban on phones in schools. He says there is no reason why stustudents should take phones to schools seemingly to use them for research because government has provided computers to schools. “Therefore, such claims are baseless since students can access computers, right from primary school level to secondary schools, to do their research,” he says. He adds that in a case a student wants to communicate with their family, the school management facilitate them, noting that some schools also have public cellphones installed at their premises. Masabo wants even more sustainable interveninterven tions to improve students’ concentration on studies, adding that it needs strong collaboration by all the stakeholders - government, schools, parents and the general public – to ensure students are not disrupted to focus on their studies. Some supporters of the ban argue that possession of cellphones has given rise to undesirable habits in schools, leading some children to be lured into drug abuse or premarital sex, which aects their studies and lives. The Education ministry had announced the ban over two years back but it was not fully enforced by some some scho schools ols,, whic which h allo allowed wed stu student dentss to use the gadgets for research purposes, according to the State Minister for Primary and Secondary Education, Dr Isaac Munyakazi. He says that it is necessary to ban the devices in schools, adding that students can access them at home. “However, parents and guardians should also always ensure that the children are using mobile phones only for research purposes. If such mea-
sures are not taken, it will have negative impacts on the kids and their studies,” he said in an interview with The Independent .
Some school head teachers back the t he move
Groupe Scholaire Kagugu Catholique head teacher, Jean Baptiste Habanabashaka, supports the decision but notes that if use of cellphones is well-controlled but not outlawed, it could support students in their studies. “A cellphone is like a computer, it should be used at school only when conducting research. Before the ban, we used to keep mobile teletele phones of our students because the school has internet, but we would allow the learners to use the devices for research purposes,” he suggests. “So, it is not fair for the ministry to completely ban pho phones nes in scho schools ols;; they they shou should ld con consid sider er allowing students to use them for research purpose. There is no problem with that, particularly in cases where schools have no computers,” says Habanabashaka.
No research constraints
However, Minister Mutimura is condent that the ban will not aect such eorts, saying pripri mary and secondary schools are equipped with computers. “Currently, a total of 950 or three quarters of the primary schools in the country, have computers. In fact, each school has over 100 computers. About 670 secondary schools have computers. In total, 67,000 computers were distributed to schools for students, while ICT teachers have their own computers,” he explains. Munyakazi notes that schools with no computers have “other ICT materials” they use to teach the subject.
Parents speak out
Esperance Kabanyana, a parent from Kicukiro District, says students do not need ‘luxuries’ to study. “This is a good decision because, currently, students are spending most of their time in unproductive discussions on social media networks like WhatsApp and Facebook. Imagine a student chatchat ting during lessons.This aects their concentration and performance,” she argues. For Jean Bosco Nsanzamahoro, as internet has not reached all corners of the country; phones could be permied but with stringent measures to regulate their use at school. “My son uses the phone to research on his classwork, and it has helped him to learn many things, which has improved his performance,” he says. He says for cases where students misuse phones, schools should regulate them. July 06 - 12, 2018
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By Stephen Nuwagira
F
ootprint Africa Business Solutions, a South African-based mineral processing company, has expressed interest in working with artisanal and small scale miners in Rwanda. This could be a game changer in a mining sector that has managed on 40% mineral recovery so far due to dependence on artisanal, small operators who lack skills and use of rudimentary tools. The Rwanda Miners Association (RMA) Executive Secretary, Frank Butera, says Footprint is looking to develop some of the abandoned mines that were left behind during during colonial colonial times. Until now, these mines have been the target of individuals who work them illegally and with risk of collapse, according to Butera. “So, we are hopeful that the South Africans will develop these mining sites when they nally start operations in Rwanda,” he said in an interview with The Independent. Rwanda has many abandoned mines scaered across the country; some of which could be protably redeveloped. Ocials from Footprint Africa, including a mining engineer and processing expert, were recently in the country, held discussions with RMA and also visited some of the abandoned mines in Gakenke district. Butera says they took samples from the abandoned sites to SA for testing to help them to determine the type of minerals and equipment that would be required. Butera says the South Africans were looking to work with artisans on how they can improve the current low recovery rate by providing the small miners with equipment, like rigs and washing tables, which can help reduce losses. They also want to improve the grade of mineral ore and add value to the minerals. They propose to form a consortium to work with end users, like tech rms, that buy the minerals and process them further. “If the deal nally pushes through, it will be good news for artisanal miners who make up 80% of the sector,” Butera says. He added that the challenge of small vanes (columns containing minerals in the earth crust) in Rwanda discourages big investors, leaving the eld open for small scale operators and artisans. He said the association is hopeful that if artisanal miners are supported and given the right equipment, this would greatly spur the sector’s production. The sector is important to the economy because it 26
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Top SA miner eyes ey es Rwanda Footprint Africa Business Solutions to support artisanal operators employs a lot of people. The mining sector brought in US$373 million (Rwf324.5 billion) in export revenue last scal year, according to gures from Rwanda Mines, Petroleum and Gas Board. They show that Rwanda shipped out 7,000 tonnes of minerals during 2017. The Rwanda Mining Board is looking to increase export revenues to over US$600 million this nancial year. Rwanda, which is the world’s leading producer of tantalum, also exports tin, tungsten, and gold, among others.
Small miners call for support Issa Nzambonimpa, the president of Dusuzume Imirimo, a cooperative of artisanal miners in Gakenke district, says if Footprint Africa sets up oces in Rwanda and provides them support; it will help improve their earnings and livelihoods. He says that small players do not access working capital to develop or
expand their operations. “Modern mining equipment requires a lot of money that artisanal miners cannot aord, so we continue using rudimentary tools which hurts recovery rates and output,” he said, “The government should nd ways to equip and train us to improve their operations.” Nzambonimpa says the group and other cooperatives of artisanal miners sell their minerals to big rm that can process and export them. Butera said bankers are reluctant to lend to the sector and do not accept concessions as collateral, arguing that miners do not know how much reserves they have in their exploration areas. “Conducting exploration activities is too expensive, so the government should undertake geological studies, and then give out contracts depending on the size and estimated amount of the resources,” he said.
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The Rwanda Development Board and the Rwanda Flying Club on June 25 unveiled paramotoring expeditions in Rwanda. By Stephen Nuwagira
D
iversifying product oerings is crucial to aract more visitors, drive growth of the tourism sector and boost earnings, says Ariella Kageruka, the director general of the Rwan Rwan-da Chamber of Tourism. She was commentcomment ing on the new paramotoring adventure for tourists that the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) introduced last week. Kageruka said the new product will expand what Rwanda has to oer as a destidesti nation. “It will complement other products and mechanisms put in place by the government and stakeholders to increase the length of stay by tourists in Rwanda,” she said. Paramotoring is the second product that RDB is launching this June. Earlier it launched the mountain biking and cycle tourism which includes 11 dierent trails across the country with a combined disdis tance of 760km. She thanked RDB and its partners for introducing the new product and said interest in adventure tourism was growing steadily across the Africa and around the world, generally. RDB in partnership with the Rwanda Flying Club and the Rwanda Civil Aviation Authority Autho rity introduced paramotoring, also known as powered paragliding, on June 25 in the Southern Province city of Huye. It will be ocially launched in six months and visitors will be able to enjoy paramotorparamotor ing in four sites - Huye, Rubavu, Karongi and Nyungwe National Park, according to the Chief Tourism Ocer at RBD, Belise Kariza. Kariza said the activity targets “adventurers seeking memorable and sustainable tourism experiences in Africa”. “We are happy to be soon introducing paramotoring, our new tourism experience. We will be the only country in East Africa oering such an experience, which will enable visitors to enjoy the vibrancy and beauty bea uty of our cou countr ntry y in in a fre fresh sh way. way. Vi Visit sit Rwanda and discover just why our country is the new adventure tourism mecca of
COURTESY PHOTO.
Paramotoring comes to Rwanda Rwanda Development Board once again expands offer to tourists Africa,” the ocial said at the launch.
Paramotoringexplained
Paramotoring is a form of paragliding where the pilot wears a motor on their back (a paramotor) which provides enough thrust to take o using an adapted paraglidparaglid er or paramotor wing. It can be launched in still air and on level ground, without assistance.
Exploring untapped opportunities
Meanwhile, Kageruka said the private sector, RDB and other partners were exploring the untapped opportunities in various tourism destinations in Rwanda, such as in the Kivu Belt region and heritage corridor (for cultural and nature tourism, among others), which can be developed and exploited further through public-private partnerships.
This way, the country can be able to increase average length of stay in the country by international tourists and, hence boost boo st ear earnin nings gs and and cre create ate new job jobss besid besides es aracting more local tourists. The Kivu Belt connects Rwanda’s Western Province to regional countries such as DR Congo, Burundi, Tanzania Tanzania and Uganda. U ganda. Rwanda targeted to generate US$444 milmil lion from tourism in 2017, up from US$404 million in 2016. Kageruka said domestic tourism was growing steadily, adding that the private sector continues to pack-
age activities targeting the local tourists; Rwandans or expats, with the aim to further increase the revenues from the domestic market. She added; “The private sector will continue to take advantage of various reforms by the government aimed at further fostering the growth of the tourism industry to increase revenues generated from leisure or business tourist arrivals.” This will enable tourism and related businesses to ourish and in the end contribute the socio-economic growth of the country, according to tourtour ism chamber chief. Kageruka urged Rwandans and other residents to visit the country’s various tourist sites, saying that eorts are place to cater for all market segments, noting that there is “easy and aordable access to tourism aractions countrywide”. Tourism infrainfra structure has been rehabilitated, while new roads were built, and the reintroduction of various animal species in Akagera National Park gives the local tourists the opportunity to do a day-trip for game drive to see the “Big Five” without having to travel out of the country, she added. “Our members are continuously designing packages for group travels to visit the country and it is bearing fruit,” according to Kageruka. Therefore, the introduction of paramotoring will further support eorts geared at aracting more visitors both local and forfor eigners and hence spur sector growth and revenues, she added. July 06 - 12, 2018
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Silverback Coffee of Rwanda’s cafe fuels a fashion hub.
JOSHUA LURIE
Coffee entrepreneur beats odds to give back to Rwanda Jack Karuletwa survived genocide, and now he donates the proceeds of his coffee cof fee to benet his homeland By Joshua Lurie
J
ack Karuletwa opened Silverback CofCof fee of Rwanda about a year ago with a distinct mission: to enable the poorest Rwandan coee farmers to become participants in the global economy. Built on the eastern edge of Downtown LA’s inin dustrial district — in a complex best known for fashion designers, garment makers, and models — Karuletwa’s coee bar keeps the prey people caeinated while its proceeds proudly benet his birthplace. Given his harrowing family history, it seems like a miracle that the company exists. Talking Tal king to Karuletwa, 40, today, it’s hard to envision what his family’s been through: to picture the genocide they survived. At a towering seven-feet-tall, the former basketbasket balll play bal player er has a shav shaved ed hea head d and and a larg largee smile. His friendly demeanor shines outward, seeming to touch all paths he crosses. When he starts to tell the story of his past, another side emerges. Karuletwa was 16 years old when the massive Rwandan genocide of 1994 occurred. He remembers the period leading up to it when his father was “always either coming or going in the 28
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night.” Karuletwa’s parents told him and his siblings that these travels were “business trips,” but the reality was that members of the Hutu tribe were hunting his father, who could have quickly been captured or killed at any point, even after the family ed to gain distance from danger. In hindsight, Karuletwa pieced together the truth: “They thought my dad had a successful business. They thought he must be sup suppor portin ting g the the reb rebel el mov moveme ement. nt. If you were successful and doing business outside your own country, they were suspicious. The suspicion then led to him always on the run.” His father ran a small trucking company called Transit Cargo Masters — shipping produce and anything else he could carry — and then started a farming business in Uganda in 1986. Thanks to valuable connections, his father became bec ame aw aware are of Rwa Rwanda nda’s ’s gro growin wing g dange dangerr early, while the menace was still building momentum. In the late 1970s, he moved the family from Rwanda, toggling between Uganda and Kenya. Jack’s father found the family safe places to live, but he personally remained a moving target, adopting aliases
and staying underground for weeks and months at a time. Unfortunately for the Karuletwas, many extended family memmem berss were ber weren’t n’t so luc lucky. ky. He los lostt many many of his aunts, uncles, and cousins to the genocide. Karuletwa somberly recalls, “Some refused to leave, and some didn’t have the ability to leave.” When the turmoil and destruction ended after 100 days, the estimated death toll reached 800,000 people. Survivors found bodies bod ies and skel skeleto etons ns ami amid d the the may mayhem. hem. “My mom and dad went back [to Rwanda] literally the day that President Kagame took over,” Karuletwa recalls. “They were there for two or three days to help [with the clean up]. Even then, there were still pockets of gunre and shooting and ghting.” “Today I have a cousin who lives with my mom (in Rwanda),” Karuletwa says. “Once in a while, she’ s he’ll ll just burst out screaming, ‘They’re coming!’ She’ll just start running and telling everybody, ‘You’ve got to hide, you’ve got to hide! They’re here. They’re here! They’re knocking on the door!’ She breaks out in sweats and just loses it.” Tragically, PTSD persists for far too many
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Rwandans, according to Karuletwa, who says: “It’s prey sad because there’s a lot of youth like that. They were very young at the time (of the genocide) and now they’re in their late 30s, but it’s aected them, and that’s the group that’s supposed to be leading the country and growing the country now.” Karuletwa moved to LA in December 1993 as a teenager from Uganda, living with a family friend who worked at U.S. EmbasEmbas sies in Uganda and Kenya. Initially, basket balll felt bal felt lik likee his his natu natural ral cal callin ling: g: Rw Rwand andans ans are known to be some of the world’s tallest people. Karuletwa aended Grand Canyon UniUni versity in Phoenix, where he studied physphys ics and joined the basketball team. Upon graduation, he traveled with the Harlem Globetroers and auditioned for the NBA’s Clippers and Nuggets. He injured his legs, however, which prevented a professional career. Then another calling rose to the surface. He acted on the television show Sparks and in the basketball comedy The 6th Man, but eventually found true purpose in coee. “I always wanted to give back not only to my country, but also here in the country that took me in,” he says. Karuletwa’s father would visit LA and say, “We should get into coee. Look at how much coee Ethiopia ships, and we have even beer coee.” At that point, Rwandan coee was largely unknown in America since the government was keener on keeping control than exportexport ing and promoting its goods. “I’ve always believed that coee brought people together and I wanted to help do that,” Karuletwa says. He pitched Peet’s Coee after noticing the company didn’t carry Rwandan coee and he and his brother Arthur supplied beans to them for a while. But the big break came when he and Arthur sold several containers of Rwandan coee to Starbucks. The comcom pany was so pleased that they hired Arthur to work in Seale, where he now serves as the company’s Director of Traceability. Jack Jac k rema remaine ined d set set on on a di diere erent nt pur purpose pose.. “I wanted to create my own brand. I didn’t want to just give them the coee,” Karuletwa says. “I have my own story, and the reason I wanted to open my own place was to connect with the farmers and concon nect with why I started.” He credits his mother with instilling his charitable leanings. She opened a sandwich shop within months of returning to Rwanda in 1994, but ended up giving away so many sandwiches to homeless children that the busine bus iness ss beca became me mor moree of of a foo food d bank bank.. Silverback Coee is following suit, also ben eting Rwandas, but from abroad. Karuletwa named his business for Rwan Rwan-da’s endangered silverback gorillas, gentle giants that are to Rwanda what pandas are to China. He sources coee from farms
Natural light complements a clean, stylish cafe in eastern Downtown LA
Jack Karuletwa in his Downtown cafe
in Musanze on the doorstep of Volcanoes National Park, where the mountain gorillas roam, and where his family is from. He raises money and serves on the board for Gorilla Doctors, an organisation based at University of California at Davis that provides life-saving veterinary care for silverbacks. Thankfully, these gorillas are not poaching targets, but do face dangers in the form of snares meant for other animals, infectious diseases, and other health issues. The charity extends to organisations that build schools in Rwanda and provide services to widows and orphans from the genocide. At rst glance, his café ts in with the trendy Los Angeles coee house set: all brick bri ck arc arches, hes, gla glass ss wind windows ows,, and and a silv silver er eco-friendly Loring coee roaster visible behind behi nd gla glass. ss. An aqu aqua, a, whi white, te, and sil silver ver Synchro T2 espresso machine anchors a wood bar with blue façade. Baristas crank out recognisable espresso drinks and brewed bre wed co coee, ee, pepp peppere ered d with with thr three ee dri drinks nks Karuletwa dedicated to the loves of his life. Jen’ss lae Jen’ lae is a whit whitee choc chocola olate te co coee ee dri drink nk named for his wife. Baby Wya, named for their son, features steamed milk, banana syrup, banana slices, and whipped cream. Gorilla’s eye is his take on a red eye: a drip
coee enhanced with a double shot of espresso. Karuletwa’s commitment starts at oriori gin. “Respect the farmers, take care of the farmers, and let them see that they’re being appreciated,” he says. He regularly sends pictures and video to farmers of people at Silverback enjoying their coee, since most farmers can’t see what happens to their beans bea ns beyo beyond nd pro process cessing ing.. “They “They wou would ld ask me, ‘Do they like the coee? I don’t know.” Those questions are a big part of what prompted Karuletwa to go beyond wholewholesaling, so that he could roast beans and add the café to his repertoire. Roasting in-house also makes sense nancially, allowing for higher prot mar gins because he can eliminate middlemen and practice direct trade with Rwandan farmers. This means beer pay to farmers and more charitable donations. “There’s no wrong or right way to roast,” Karuletwa says. “You “You can be dancing salsa. You can be dancing rumba. You’re still dancing.” He oers medium, medium dark, and extra dark French-style roasts. He doesn’t produce a light roast because that prole doesn’t work particularly well with his beans. He sources two dierent types of highaltitude coee from a women’s group in Musanze, favoring varietals and processing that yields two results: “Hints of lemon and orange and sweet citrus” and “bourbon coee that oers caramelized cane sugar with cinnamon chocolaty notes.” His coee roasting acumen accentuates these natural qualities in the beans. In the next year, Karuletwa plans to add beans bea ns fro from m othe otherr coun countri tries es in in the the mou mounta ntain in gorilla migration zone: Uganda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As for Rwanda, support for its revival will remain core to Silverback’s values. Its people still need to heal. It will take generations. But hope and support from Karuletwa will speed them on their way. Source: LA Eater
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UIA Chairman Emely Kugonza (M) and the interdicted executive director Jolly Kaguhangire (R) at a press conference. Left is a UIA board member.
COURTESY PHOTO
Behind UIA boss boot saga Selsh interests threaten the country’s investment agency By Ian Katusiime
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n the afternoon of Friday June 29, June 29, a rare rare sce scene ne vis visite ited d the head oce of the UganUgan da Investment Authority (UIA) at Twed Plaza in NaNa kasero, Kampala. What started as a planned handover of the interdicted Executive Director Jolly Jol ly Kag Kaguha uhangi ngire, re, to a new new adm admini inistr straator turned into an ugly scene and a public relations disaster for the country’s investment agency. By close of business that day, images of a handyman prying open the oce of the executive director were making rounds on social media after Kaguhangire failed to turn up for the handover, in an oce bale that is is likely to last longer than than earlier anticipated. This was the direct opposite of what Emely Kugonza, the Board Chairman of UIA had told The Independent on Independent on June 29 about the impending smooth handover. “I spoke to her (Kaguhangire) and she commied that she will hand over today at 3pm,” Kugonza said with an assured tone. At 3pm, board members were walking in one by one into the UIA oces and they could be seen huddled in deliberations in the glass-walled boardroom as they waited for Kaguhangire to make her way. However this never happened, and Kaguhangire is now considering a court injunction to stop her interdiction by the board. boa rd. 30
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The board accused her of abuse of oce, insubordination, corruption and closure of a UIA oce at Namanve without authoautho rization. At the time of her suspension, Kaguhangire had kicked o a restructuring exercise in April where every employee of UIA from the directors to the least ranking sta like receptionists would re-apply for their jobs. This restructuring was approved by the board boa rd and the lin linee mini ministr stryy- of of Finan Finance. ce. However it caused disgruntlement among UIA sta, majority of whom had already expressed their dissatisfaction with her management style since she came to oce slightly a year ago. Kaguhangire was accused of hiring a Personal Assistant, a cleaner, and a tea girl, outside the scope of her mandate. According to sources at UIA, these positions were previously non-existent but she personally hired them and paid them over and above what they should be earning. She was also accused of hiring a lead vehicle and spending excessively on travel.
Botched restructuring
When Kugonza, Kaguhangire and another board member, Fred opolot, addressed the press at the UIA oces on Aril 10, they were trying to quell a media storm that had erupted over the restructuring a week before. befo re. At the time, the board chairman and the executive director cut a perfect picture of executives working in sync when they
talked about a new organogram at UIA that would even nearly double its sta numbers to boost the country’s investment potential. However, the restructuring has now been reversed and every employee told to go about their work normally. Basir Ejir, formerly director Small and Medium Enterprises, was installed as the acting executive director. However, tension remains within the agency, according to sources. Insiders say Kaguhangire came up with a restructuring plan to shove out directors she did not want to work with. She had a troubled working relationship with Hamza Galiwango, the director Land Division, and Joseph Kiggundu, director One Stop Centre. The laer directorate was to be brought under the complete management of UIA after years of liaising with Ministry of Finance and Uganda RegistraRegistra tion Services Bureau. The two directors Galiwango and Kig gundu, however, passed the interviews after they re-applied for their jobs, as per the restructuring, to the dismay of Kaguhangire, sources say. When this happened, sources told The Independent, she accused the Board of corruption. Kaguhangire’s relationship with GaliGali wango is said to have been so bier that at one point, she caused the arrest of GaliwanGaliwan go by operatives of Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI), spending three days in police custody. When The Independent talked Galiwan Independent talked to Galiwan-
BUSINESS
go, he conrmed his arrest and detention but sai said d he he had had mov moved ed on fro from m UIA UIA aai aairs. rs. Meanwhile, the UIA board is now under scrutiny given it had previously approved of the restructuring plan and its dramatic U-turn on the restructuring after the sacking of Kaguhangire means that it will be watched for the decisions it makes in the next few months. To this eect, Evelyn Anite, the Minister of State for Privatisation and Investment, at the ministry of Finance had wrien a leer to the Board chairman of UIA, Kugonza on May 28 asking him to respond to the allegations of corruption raised against the board by the for former mer exe execut cutiv ivee dire directo ctor. r.
Lobbying
The ghts at UIA are not new and similar ones have played out at government organisations where lobbying tends to decide who gets to seat on which board or who gets the top job at any government agency. The most recent case is the one at Public
By Julius Businge
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ne of the key objectives of competition policy is to promote consumer welfare by encouraging healthy competition among busine bus inesses sses in the Com Common mon Mar Market ket for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). This is through establishing a legal framework that aims to prevent restrictive busine bus iness ss pra practi ctices ces and oth other er res restri tricti ctions ons that deter the ecient operation of the market, thereby enhancing the welfare of consumers in that relevant market. But Uganda alongside Eritrea and Libya of the 19 COMESA member states is yet to enact one or come up with a competition law despite the increasing mergers and acquisitions. Based on this, top executives at the COMESA Secretariat have labeled Uganda as a ‘sleeping giant.’ George Lipimile, the director general and chief executive ocer of the Lusaka based bas ed COM COMESA ESA Com Compet petiti ition on Com Commis missio sion n (CCC) told business journalists at the 5th regional sensitisation workshop held in Nairobi, Kenya from June 25-26 that without a competitive market, economies cannot produce positive results that would yield the popular talk about economic growth and social transformation. “These are issues we can’t avoid,” he said, “they are here with us. Uganda is a sleeping giant in that area,” he said. Francis Mangeni, a Ugandan working as the director for trade customs and monetary aairs at the COMESA secretariat, told The Independent on Independent on the sidelines of the workshop that Uganda has to speed up the process of forming the competition law and have an authority in place to be able to promote eciency, fair
Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority Autho rity (PPDA), which has not had a substantive executive director for more than a year. The appointment of the executive director, Anania Mbabazi was revoked by the board boa rd in Febr Februar uary y 2017 2017 on the ord orders ers of the line minister after he discovered intense lobbying eorts for Mbabazi’s appointment. The search is still on. For a number of parastatal bodies in Uganda, the jostling of such plum jobs has become bec ome a main mainsta stay y as as poli politic tician ianss seek seek to control organisations as part of the patronage network. Often the supervising minmin isters play a crucial role in these appointments. Back to UIA, on whether Galiwango would take back his job since the restructurrestructur ing was reversed, he stated: “I was interinterdicted, ask the Board chairman.” Sources say the UIA saga is not about to end because the board was also constituted by the sam samee lobb lobbyin ying g eor eorts ts tha thatt alle alleged gedly ly
got Kaguhangire the job. Reliable sources say the board chairman Kugonza was appointed by Matia Kasaija, the Minister of Finance as a token of appreappre ciation since the two have worked closely over the years. Kaguhangire, however, could not be reached for a comment as she wasn’t able to respond to our repeated calls. Observers also say it is inevitable for such ghts to occur as appointees do their political godfathers’ bidding and others get caught up right in the middle. Kaguhangire, it is also said, got the top job through the intervention of a powerful female politician who has pushed through similar appointappoint ments after some of the shortlisted candidates like Edgar Agaba, Morrison RwakaRwaka kamba were snubbed. For now, anxious local and foreign inves inves-tors will watch keenly as they wait for UIA to put its house in order.
Uganda a sleeping giant in COMESA Country faulted for delaying to formulate competition law to facilitate fair trade
George-Lipimile
competition, protecting consumers and small scale enterprises. “The competition law and authority are very essential for the development of any country,”Mangeni said. For instance, he said when Uganda had Celtel as the only telecom service provider; mobile phones, airtime, service fee and calling rates were very high. But when the market received South African-based MTN and later on other private players, prices fell by more than half, he argued. Mangeni said the quality of service and innovations improves when competition is monitored by an authority and law like it is done in most COMESA member states. Uganda started working on the Competition Bill in 2004 but it is yet to be passed into law. But in a rejoinder, Julius Onen, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Trade told The Independent on Independent on July 02 that they had made amendments to the bill and sent it back to Cabinet for approval. One key amendment in the bill, he said, was about creation of a unit in the ministry to manage competition related maers instead of creating an authority. July 06 - 12, 2018
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BUSINESS
“It is still work in progress but there is a bit of a challenge because it would require require creating an authority,” he said adding, “yet government has put a stop on creation of new agencies.” Onen said that hopefully in the next two months, the bill would be in Parliament for legislation. Asked to respond to comments about Uganda being a sleeping giant in COMESA, Onen said: “Each country is dierent. We are currently using the COMESA Competition Commission to go about competition maers and to me the many individual bodies do not make sense.” He suggested that if it were possible COMESA would have a single competition authority authority to avoid duplication duplication of roles and hiring people who would not have a lot of work to do. The Private Sector Foundation Uganda Executive Director, Gideon Badagawa has in several interviews with The Independent hinted on the need for this law to support business growth and grow the private private sector base. But it appears lawmakers and the executive are yet to give it the aention they have given to others. Learning from the neighboring countries like Kenya that already set up a competition Authority Authority and the law, the ease of doing business has been a major marketing point for the country because of the authority, according to Barnabas Andiva, an executive from the Kenya Competition Authority Authority (KCA). “The last study for the World Bank ranked us favorably because of the high levels of competitiveness,” he told The Independent. Commenting on the same maer, Willard Mwemba, the manager for mergers and acquisitions at CCC rst praised Uganda as a big economy within East Africa and COMESA. However, he said, the bigger the economy, the more the transactions involving corporate companies which require tight monitoring and supervision by an independent authority. He added that without that supervisory infrastructure, companies would easily hide transaction details in the case of mergers and acquisitions, hence causing losses to the government. “At the moment we are working with the ministry of trade in Uganda to get information about mergers and acquisitions but they are not experts and that is why we are insisting that we need the competition authority,”Mwemba said. In addition, he said having a competition law and an authority would build condence for more foreign investors to invest in the country. “They (companies) want that when there is an infringement of competition laws by another company there is a law to address that,” he said. In Uganda, he said, they have supported the government on formulating the competition bill “but we can only do what we can and leave the rest to Parliament and the Executive.” Ocials said that strengthening competition in Uganda amongst companies is one key market for Uganda because COMESA is the number one export market for a few countries – Uganda, 32
July 06 - 12, 2018
Rwanda and Kenya – in addition to the European Union market. Mergers and Acquisitions One core role of CCC is to manage transactions related to acquisitions and mergers. Mwemba said that since 2013, when CCC was established, it has successfully concluded a total of 175 with total turnover growing from US$5.3bn to US$17.6bn in the same period. The maximum amount of US$200,000 is the fee charged by the CCC to handle the transactions depending on the turnover that these companies derive in COMESA. The fee is shared by CCC and member states where transactions take place. Comparatively, from 1990 to 2018, the European Commission, which is one of the largest handlers of acquisitions and mergers has handled more than 6,950 merger transactions and only prohibited 27, according to CCC data. This picture is almost the same with the US anti-trust authorities. For COMESA, ve out of eleven sectors are leading in terms of total transactions. The energy sector has aracted the highest volume of merger activity in the common market, followed by banking and nancial services, insurance, construction, and agriculture. In terms of member countries, Kenya, Zambia, Mauritius and Zimbabwe form the top four member states receiving the highest number of merger activity since inception. Mwemba explained that the main reasons behind behi nd the these se tran transac sactio tions ns are tha thatt many many companies prefer to enter new territory where they do not have presence through acquisitions and mergers. He also said that some companies merge so that they can expand and become more ecient. “They know that united we are stronger,” he said, adding that CCC is yet to reject any merger since 2013. Mwemba defended this saying; a competition authority that prides itself in rejecting mergers is not a good authority. And that CCC as an authority supports new investments, commerce and the integration process. And that a merger in most cases does not raise competition concerns.
Beyond Uganda Competition experts say that mergers and acquisitions are now the most common form of investment as opposed to green eld investments world over. Worldwide, mergers and acquisitions activity exceeded US$3 trillion for the fourth consecutive year in 2017, with announced transaction volumes reaching US$3.7trillion. Cross-border mergers and acquisitions remained strong, accounting for 30% of total volume as companies looked for opportunities to innovate and mitigate technology disruption. However, the volume of withdrawn deals in 2017 was US$658 billion, partly reecting continued pressure from regulators.
Quick facts about COMESA
Intra-trade within COMECOMESA is now standing at around US$10bn in terms of formal exports; this is up from US$1.5bn in 2000 This gure is formal trade in goods; it does not include small scale informal trade which is also a signicant gure estimatestimated at 40% of trade This gure does not also include trade in services which is much more than trade in goods. More than 50% of the COMESA economies are made up of services COMESA has a population of over 450 million people
About CCC and facts
CCC’s mandate is to promote and encourage competition by preventing and prohibiting anti-competitive conduct by market players which deter the ecient operations of marmarkets partition and erode consumer welfare CCC ocials believe that access to and dissemination of information on competition maers is essential to enhance the compliance to the regulations and detection of infringements Since inception, the Commission has handled more than 175 merger transactions, worth at least US$92billion in transaction value This corresponds to a turnover of over US$73.7billion derived by the undertakings in the Common Market The Commission has received close to US$27.9million in merger notication fees, of which 50% is shared with the aected member states In 15 transactions, the Commission aached conditions to the merger approval in order to remedy competition concerns which were likely to arise after
Executive Style
RELOAD boosts RELOAD boosts agricultural value addition What is your management style as the Manager Product Development in Uganda? have a policy that all of us have equal size of brains and therefore when one comes up with a product, he or she is empowered to follow up that product all through with or without our support. Also expect the developer of the product to walk the talk. I prefer people to perform most of the duties freely. Above all, I encourage my team to communicate on how they are progressing with their projects so that we are all in the know.
Milly Kevin Spearheads Product Development of the German based RELOAD (Reduction of Post-Harvest Losses & Value Addition Addi tion)) project in Uganda. She spoke to Isaac Khisa about the state of agricultural value addition.
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Briey describe the ReducReduction of Post-harvest and Value Addition (RELOAD) project? RELOAD is an inter and trans-disciplinary African- German Research Network in Uganda, Kenya, and Ethiopia to address reduction of PostHarvest Losses and enhancing value addition. The selected East African countries are each characterized by specic domidominating commodity: Uganda (fruits and vegetable, Kenya (meat and milk), and Ethiopia (cereals and tubers). It involves involves working with universities – the generators of knowledge and skills – and Small and Medium Enterprises across the region. In Uganda, we are working with Makerere University and the Mbarara University of Science and Technology looking at how to reduce post-harvest losses. We are doing all this to prolong product shelf-life and therefore increased earnings to farmers and SMEs. What are some of the tangible results of this project? The project has sponsored a number of students to pursue PhD and Masters degrees related to value addition in agricultural products and agri-
cultural engineering. Working with Makerere University Departments namely: Forestry, Environmental and Geographical Sciences, Food Science & Technology, Technol ogy, Agricultural Engineering we have come up with over 30 value-added agricultural products from fruits and vegetables.We have, among others, pineapple: wine, dried snacks, pumpkin soup, banana yoghurt, moringa: tea, oil, powder, amaranth nutritious bar,, Soup bar Soups: s: spin spinach ach-gnu -gnut, t, bug bugaamix, fruit-veg, sweet potato porridge, Mushroom: wine, cake, beverage and banana: enhanced ketchup, porridge, soup, Mango ketchup, beetroot healthy drink. We are currently working with SMEs in this product development, certicacertication and eventual commercialization. What progress have you made in commercializing these products? Now that we have develdevel oped products that we believe are commercially viable, we are carrying out a number of activities including community and
university exhibitions seeking opinions of the prospective customers with regard to tastes and preferences. We are also planning to go to primary and secondary schools to ensure that the products developed suits all their preferences ahead of certication. Why did you choose fruits & vegetables over other agricultural products? The choice of vegetables over other agricultural products was based on the fact that once they are ready, they must be harvested. The same applies to fruits. Our aim was therethere fore to show that value can be added to these products and come up with new products such as juice, wine, ketchup, soups, whose value is high. We also wanted to demonstrate that vegetables can be dried and packaged. We wanted to demonstrate that there’s no harm to dry vegetables using the tunnel drier for concentration and preservation of the products and its nutrients to be cooked later. This is dierent when you dry the products
directly under the sun. This will make the consumer and the processor to even benet more. How are the organisatio organisations ns involved in all these initiatives going to benet? The organization’s main goal is to empower young graduates and SMEs. Already, some of our graduates have their products that they need to market so that they continue producing and selling them and thus grow their businesses. What else would these graduates need if their products are well branded, packaged and sold in supermarkets? The only thing left with us is to replicate this to more youth, farmers and SMEs. We have so far nurtured 20 SMEs and looking forward to nurturing and empowering more in the near future. What is your assessment of value addition for agricultural products in East Africa? Post-Harvest Losses (PHL) destroy between 20-80% of East Africa’s food production thus heavily contributing to the devastating nutritional situation, wastage of resources and rural poverty. PHL occur during harvest, drying, storage, transportation, processing, retail and consumer level. For milk, meat and a number of vegetables and fruits, roots and tubers, insucient cooling and unhygienic handling are the main causes. However, there’s now a slight reduction. Where do you see these innovations in the next few years? Our plan is to produce and market our products, with a plan to open up a stall in Kampala. We also plan to empower people in developing various products for local and international markets.
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BUSINESS
BANKING
PHARMACEUTICA LS
Shs100m up for grabs in dfcu investment challenge
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FCU Bank in partnership with NTV Uganda and Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) has launched the second season of their savings and investment club challenge dubbed ‘Bale for Cash’- a nationwide campaign aimed at instilling an investment culture in Uganda. In the second season, Shs100m has been staked for the most innovative investment clubs in Uganda. In 2017, dfcu held a six-month long campaign where its teams went around the country carrying out nancial literacy workshops. “Why and how to save, where to invest” were part of what was covered in the campaign. As a result, 200 clubs applied but only 20 were selected to take part in a competition where Geneber Outspan Organic Farmers emerged winners and bagged Shs25million. William Sekabembe, Chief of Business and Executive Director ocially launched season II of
Airtel, Kwese offer World Cup games
Airtel Air tel Man Managi aging ng Dire Directo ctorr, V.G Som Somase asekha kharr.
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NTV Uganda MD Johnson Omolo, dfcu Bank Chief of Business and ED William Sekabembe and Adam Sengooba, Associate Director PwC at the launch.
Bale for Cash Season. “Financial inclusion is a major agenda of dfcu Bank. We have been taking the lead on this since 2007 when we introduced the savings and inin vestment clubs.”
uel distributor, Vivo Energy has partnered with GoodLife Pharmacy to oer health related services across the country. The partnership will enable GoodLife Pharmacy to have its stores set up within the existing Vivo Energy serser vice stations for easy access to the population. This comes at a time Vivo is refurbishing some of its fuel stations so they not only sell fuels and lubricants but also oer services including shops, quick service restaurants bank ban k ATMs TMs,, tyre tyre cen centre tress and and car wa wash sh fac facili ili-ties. The rst pharmacy outlet was opened ocially at Vivo fuel station in Namirembe, Kampala on June 27. Gilbert Assi, Vivo’s managing director, said the partnership is part of their business strategy aimed at oeroer ing a one-stop centre for fuel and pharmaceutical services.
ICT
CSR
xecutives at Airtel Uganda have described their partnership with Kwesé iix as one aimed at giving their customers more services away from main telecom services. The two are partpartnering and enabling customers to downdownload an app on their mobile phones dubbed ‘Kweseiix’ so they are able to watch the World Cup soccer games currently ongoing in Russia. To subscribe for
Vivo Energy, GoodLife in pharmacy partnership
Kwesé iix and actiactivate a Kwesé iix video data bundle, Airtel customers need to dial *284*3# and select the pack of their choice. The app oers users live coverage of all the matches playing in Russia, according to the Airtel Uganda Managing Director V.G. Somasekhar. Kwesé iix CEO, Mayur Patel, said the Kwesé iix app oers customers the best in spor sports ts and and entertainment, anytime and anywhere. July 06 - 12, 2018
Liquid telecom hosts ICT gurus
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ver 100 information technology experts converged at Hotel African, BMK building for a regular networking session facilitated by information and telecommunication rm, Liquid telecom. The networking session, which is held every after two months under their umbrella association – the ICT Association of Uganda – give chance to participants to discuss contemporary issues in the ICT sector that can be used in making policy by government. Liquid telecom’s Barbra Nannono, who is the company’s sales and marketing manager in Uganda urged players to utilise the company’s internet services
including cloud solutions to run business. Nannono also said they are oering what she called ‘sky for business’ which facilitates hosting of online bigger meetings of over 2000 using high speed data network. “We are sensitising our clients on this solution so they can understand it and have as many clients as possible using it,” she said. James Saaka, the executive director for National Information Technology Authority Uganda (NITA-U), said they are looking forward to having more partnerships with private sector ICT players in ensuring that all Ugandans get access to the internet so they go about their business faster and eectively.
AVIATI A VIATION ON
Fastjet is on the brink as cash runs out
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ow-cost African airline Fastjet, which operates 13 routes in Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania Tanza nia and Zimbabwe, has warned it could go bust unl unless ess new fun fundin ding g is secured. The airline, which began bega n oper operati ating ng in 201 20122 and and wa wass once once majority owned by easyJet founder Sir SteSte lios Haji-Ioannou, said it remains “in active discussions with its major shareholders regarding a potential equity fundraising”. However, if the talks are unsuccessful Fastjet admied that “the group is at risk
of not being able to continue trading as a going concern”. “Whilst initial discussions with certain shareholders have been positive, discussions are ongoing and there can be no guarantee of a successful outcome,” it added. Fastjet now has merely $3.3million in cash, of which $1.75m is held in Zimba bwe and is not eas easily ily acc accessi essible ble.. The The car carrie rierr carried 535,363 passengers last year at an average load factor of 71 percent, up from 54 percent in 2016.
BUSINESS
NSSF unveils its Shs3.5bn Jinja property property By Julius Businge
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Sarah Kiyingi-Kaweesa,the founder of Bio jigsaw Ltd displays hair braids produced from banana fiber at her home in Buziga on Mutesa 1 road. Sarah has choosen to produce produce organic hair that has no side effects to the users. INDEPENDENT/JIMMY SIYA
ganda’s National Social Security Fund hopes to boost its income following the unveiling of its new property in Jinja, Eastern Uganda. The Shs3.5bn Jinja City House located in the city centre on plot 2-4 Lubas Road, is a 4-storely mixed-use complex with a total up space of 1,500 square meters. It is targeting corporate companies seeking prime oce space and retail shops. NSSF’s Managing Director, Richard Byarugaba, said on June 28 that that the buil building, ding, rst of its kind to be constructed outside of Kampala city is under their real estate business segment which accounts for 6% of its total assets. Apart from real estate, the Fund, which is worth about Shs9.5trillion, Shs9.5trill ion, has 77% of its cash invested in xed income assets and the other, 17% in equities. “We think Jinja must take its rightful place as the next city
apart from Kampala,” he said. Byarugaba said similar projects are being put up and planned for other towns including Mbarara, Gulu and Mbale. “We are slowly moving out of Kampala so that the whole of Uganda can benet from the fund,” he said. Patrick Byabakama Kaberenge, the Fund’s board chairman, commended the contractorss – Complant Trade contractor and Engineering Limited – and the Architects, Dimensions Architects Uganda Limited, for delivering the high quality facility within the 2 –year set timeline. Rebecca Kadaga, the speaker of Parliament, who presided over the ocial opening of the building, said Parliament Parli ament would speed up the process of amending the 1985 NSSF Act under the pension reforms to cater for among other things mid-term access of funds by the sick and disabled members. members.
Chief Marketing Officer of MTN Uganda, Olivier Prentout, listening to StarTimes Vice President, Brand and Marketing Manager Aldrine Nsubuga (M) during the launch of StarTimes MTN TV App. Looking on is David Lugayavu (R) (R) Digital Marketing Manager Manager StarTimes, Uganda.
Weekly share price movement (June 25)
Susan, (R) of Spice Africa attending to their guests during the Buganda expo on June 29. The expo attracted majorly SMes promoting buy Uganda build Uganda. INDEPENDENT/JIMMY SIYA
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 --
July 06 - 12, 2018
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COMMENT
By Teldah Mawarire
Tanzania’s illiberal tilt Magufuli came to ofce with a reform-oriented agenda, but today he is just another African strongman
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uring a recent phone call with a Tanzanian Ta nzanian journalist and human rights activist whom I know well, many of my questions were met with uncharacteristic silence. My friend is bold, bol d, plu plucky cky,, and and usu usuall ally y talk talkati ative. ve. But on this occasion, politics was too dangerous for her to discuss. With Tanzania’s Tanzania’s journalists being threatened, assaulted, and kidnapped, our conversation remained conned to the mundane. Tanzania, Ta nzania, one of Africa’s Af rica’s most stable democracies is sliding toward authori tarianism. For months, President John Magufuli has been targeting his political opponents, aacking journalists, and closing news outlets. While his moves have drawn international criticism, Magufuli continues his assault on free speech and political rights. Ta Tanzanians nzanians are being silenced like never before, and the world should be very worried. Until recently, Tanzanians believed their country was headed in the opposite direction. After taking oce in late 2015, Magufuli introduced a reform-oriented agenda that earned him high praise. Among his initiatives was a campaign to redirect public spending to ght cholera, and a payroll audit to identify “ghost workers” – non-existent government employees who drain some $2 million from the budget every month. The private sector was not spared with mining companies being accused of under paying their taxes. In fact, Magufuli’s anti-corruption eorts were so popular that many Tanzanians viewed their presipresi dent as the epitome of morality; on social media, the hashtag #WhatWouldMagufuliDo went viral. But today, that hashtag has become a parody. In banning protests, closing media organisations, and cracking down on his critics, Magufuli has shown TanzaTanzanians, who have never had a strongman leader, that he intends to follow in the footsteps of the many the region has known. Magufuli’s assault on press freedom has been particularly troubling. In June 2017, authorities ordered the popular Swahili language newspaper Mawio to cease publication for two years, after it 36
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ran a story about tax evasion by local mining companies. The article named former Tanzanian presidents Benjamin Mkapa and Jakaya Kikwete, which the government claimed was a violation of the Media Services Act of 2016. Then, in January, ve prominent televitelevi sion stations were ned for airing a state ment by the Legal and Human Rights Center regarding possible rights violations during local elections last year. Having muzzled traditional news organisations, the state then set its sights on online media. In March, the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority Author ity began requiring bloggers and digital publishers to register with the government and pay a $920 license fee. The Electronic and Postal Communications (Online Content) Regulations also require Internet cafes to install surveil surveil-lance cameras, and bloggers to report on-site visitors and other operational details. Anyone who posts content that is deemed to “cause annoyance, threatens harm or evil, encourages or incites crimes,” or jeopardises “national security or public health and safety” can have their costly license revoked. Tanzania’s High Court has issued a temporary injunction blocking the new regulations; nonetheless, the governgovern ment is still geing its way. For example, after the inuential online whistleblower site Jamii Forums stopped publishing in mid-June because it was in violation of the rules, other bloggers voluntarily followed suit. Media outlets are not the only victims of Magufuli’s crackdown; civil-society organisations are also being targeted. For example, in late 2017, the government began what it called an NGO “verica “verica-tion” exercise, ostensibly to update the federal database of non-governmental organisations, but more likely aimed at curtailing the number of groups operating beyond government control. Registration was so costly and timeconsuming that many organisations were forced to choose between closing and operating illegally. African governments have joined dozens of civil-society groups in calling
for Magufuli to reverse course. But at the moment, an atmosphere of impunity is emboldening those intent on silencing human rights defenders, journalists, and opposition leaders. In April, eorts to organise anti-government protests were met with ocial threats and intimidaintimida tion. One police ocial even warned that anyone who ignored the government’s ban on demonstrating would be “beaten like stray dogs.” Such threats come amid a surge in political violence. In September 2017, for example, Tundu Lissu, an outspoken government critic, was shot during a failed assassination aempt. Two months later, Azory Gwanda, a freelance jour nalist who wrote several news stories about the murders of local ocials and police ocers, was abducted and is still missing. And in February, machetewielding assailants murdered opposition politician Godfrey Luena outside his home. Why are Magufuli and his supporters so intent on stiing dissent? Some anaana lysts believe the president is aempting to cement power for the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party. Others argue that Magufuli’s anti-corruption drive pushed CCM elites into the arms of the opposition, and that his political survival depends on removing the threat they now pose. Whatever the reason, there is no excuse for government-sanctioned aacks on freedom of expression, association, and assembly. Two years ago, Magufuli – who is known as “The Bulldozer” – came to oce vowing to end graft and curb wasteful government spending. As noble as these goals are, they will be over shadowed if he continues his campaign against those who entrusted him with their hopes. Teldah Mawarire Mawarire is an advocacy and campaigns ofcer with CIVICUS, a global civil society alliance. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2018.
COMMENT
By Alex Turihohabwe
Local capacity in construction industry The claim that local constants and contractors lack funds, equipment,, and personnel for projects is a myth equipment
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he construction industry is getting much attention by the government of Uganda and other governments in East Africa; espe cially Tanzania and Rwanda. In the transport sector that comprises of water, roads, rail, and air; roads are the most pronounced. Because of this, a lot of funds are being allocated to this sector. In Uganda more than 30% of the national budget has been allotted to the roads; signifying the importance the government attaches to their construction. Roads are divided into majorly four types; National, District, Urban and Community Access roads. The national roads are managed by Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA), Districts roads by district local governments, urban roads by municipal or town councils, and Community Access roads by Subcounty local councils. Of the four types of roads, 80% of the axle load is on the National roads. As such national roads take the lions share on the allotted funds. Also most of the attention in the transport sector is given to them. Various Va rious projects are on-going and are being bei ng imp implem lement ent ed at t he sam e time t ime.. Many more are planned and are at different stages in project management cycle, including feasibility study stage, design, and so on. During the process of project management there three key p layers that include client, consultants, and contractors. Out of these projects it is k nown that at the pre and during implementation stages, the consultants and contractors are majorly foreign companies. They currently take over 95% of the funds allocated for these two stages of the road construction projects. So why are the consultants and contractors at these two stages majorly foreigners? It is presumed and has n ow been bee n take t aken n as a s g osp ospel el trut h that t hat the indigenous consultants and
contractors do not have capacity. This is the word that is be ing used by responsible offices on each and e very fora to justify failure to award work to the local consultants and contractors. To the majority, the context in which the famous word capacity is taken, it is in terms of luck of sufficient res ources; funds, equipment and personnel. At the surface of it; it sounds logical to assume that local consultants and contractors lack resources. But when you think deeper about it; you realise that it is illogical. Nobody is born with capacity to do something; capacity is built, bui lt, nurt ured , and a nd prot ect ected. ed. In terms of work, how do you therefore build, nurture and protect the capacity of local consultants and contractors? This is the question question that I believe should be occupying most of our minds; especially some officers who are so obsessed with the word capacity. Give the locals work constantly and you will get a difference in terms of operations and the word capacity will be his tory . To date, in terms of local technical
In Uganda more than 30% of the national budget has been allotted to the roads; signifying the importance the government attaches to their construction
personnel that are being prepared for consultancy and contractual work; we have many institutions involved. These include Makerere Un iversity Kampala, Uganda Christian University Mukono, Kyambogo University Kampala, Kampala International University, and Ndejje University. These award degrees in Engineering and more than 1000 young engineers are graduating locally every year. Training institutions for technicians include Bushenyi , Kicwamba, Elgon, and Lira technical institutes to mention a few. This, therefore, dispels the myth that there is no capacity in terms of personnel. To ensure that any contractor performs a project well, give them the work and pay them promptly. This will ensure that the contractor’s banker ban kerss have h ave trus t in him him/he /her. r. W hen this happens, the issue of lack of capacity in terms of equipment and inadequate funds will be laid to rest. Any kind of work; be it walking, starts with taking the first step. Similarly, for any kind of construction works; there are preliminary works that can be executed. For the determined contractors, who actually comprise the majority, payment of the Interim Payment Certificates promptly will improve their capacity tremendously. Let us, therefore, give our local consultants and contractors work constantly; pay them promptly and the question of capacity shall remain a myth. Alex Turiho Turihohab habwe we is i s th e ch air airman man of the Uganda Association of Consulting Engineers and Continental finalist 2017 CEO Global in the Business and Professional Sector.
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By Flavia Nassaka
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ver-bleeding after child birth is the lea birth leadin ding g caus causee of mothers dying at the Gynecology and Obstetrics Department of Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kawempe, Kampala, according to the department’s head, Dr. Annee Nakimuli. She said most of these mothers could be saved if Oxytocin; the lifesaving drug, is administered to them in time. However, there is a catch. The drug has restrictions of being stored under the cold chain and therefore is in accessible by some of the women. Oxytocin has guidelines to be strictly stored at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius or else it will increasingly become less eective with increased exposure to heat. Trouble is that most health facilities in the country lack refrigeration systems. As a result, Nakimuli said, most cases of over-bleeding after birth end up at Mulago. They often arrive when it is too late to save them, hence the high rate of mothers dying. The referrals also add a strain on resources that should be available for only critical patients who need care at the level of Mulago. Now, a new formulation of a drug called carbetocin could help sort this problem. It has been cleared to be as eective as oxytocin and yet it can be used under hot and and humid conditions. conditions. It does not require refrigeration. Experts say the drug comes at a time when they are looking for solutions for facilities that do not have constant supply of power. A study on the availability and aordability of sexual and reproductive health commodities, whose results were released by an NGO HEPs Uganda in March, showed that only 44% of the facilities across the country had consistent supply of Oxytocin. Results conrming the eectiveness of the heat stable carbetocin were released on Junee 28 Jun 28 afte afterr a stu study dy dub dubbed bed ‘CH ‘CHAMP AMPION ION’’ -- Carbetocin Haemorrhage Prevention trial done by the World Health Organization (WHO) showed that the formulation can last up to three years and is as eective as Oxytocin. The clinical trial, which is the largest of its kind, studied close to 30,000 women who gave birth vaginally in ten countries including 3,815 recruited from Uganda. Others that participated are Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Argentina, Thailand, Singapore, Egypt, India and the UK. Each woman was randomly given a 38
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Oxytocin injection should be given to a mother immediately after giving birth but it should be kept under refridgeration. An equally effective drug carbetocin doesnt require that.
New drug to stop bleeding bleedi ng after birth bir th Study done in Uganda offers hope single injection of either Carbetocin or Oxytocin immediately following the birth of her baby. There were two primary outcomes – the proportion of women with blood loss of at least 500ml or the use of additional uterotonic agents and the proportion of women with blood loss of at least 1000ml. The margin of whether the Carbetocin is not as good as Oxytocin was 1.16 and 1.23 respectively. Since both drugs in the study were kept in at the temperatures required to ensure maximum ecacy of Oxytocin, researchers say the trial may under estimate the benet expected with heat stable Carbetocin use in real life seings where Oxytocin may have degraded due to exposure to higher temperatures. It’s not yet known when the drug will hit the market as manufacturers are still in the process of registering it and thereafter, with approval from WHO, countries will come up with guidelines for use. Flavia Nambi, a midwife at Nankandulo Health Center IV in Kamuli district says
once approved for general use, the drug could become a life saver in facilities like hers. She says they have a refrigerator but are often put on pressure when they have to share such drugs as Oxytocin with other health facilities in the area that do not have a cold chain and cannot store the medicines on their own. Even health center twos that have gas refrigerators, she says, do not have reliable refrigeration. “They usually run around and when we all don’t have. We ask them to go to the main hospital in kamuli. Of course in the process we lose some mothers”, she said. However, as it is now, 336 women still die from pregnancy and childbirthrelated causes per 100,000 live births in Uganda. Though the number of those who specically die of bleeding is not clear, globally its estimated 70,000 women die every year of post partum hemorrhage increasing the risk of their babies dying within one month.
ART | BOOKS | SOCIETY | TRAVEL | CULTURE CULTURE
Indulgence at Close exhibition An exploration and challenge on stereotyp stereotypes es of sexuality By Dominic Muwanguzi
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hat art opens up conversations on traditionally forbidden topics is nothing new. It dates back to the stone-age; which had art that questioned the social and political terrain of the day. It did the same in the authoritarian era of monarchs. In recent liberal years, this practice has been further reignited with the mounting of exhibitions tackling critical and sensitive topics like sexuality and gender. One was held recently in Johannesburg, South Africa under the theme “Close”. Featured artists from the continent were asked to create artworks that conveyed the message of proximity. The artists, including Uganda’s Henry Mzili Mujunga and Abe Stacey Gillian produced paintings and installations, respectively that are selfreflective of indulgence - which became the subject matter to the multidisciplinary exhibit. Indulgence weaved multiple reflections on sexualities, genders, and desires. It explored their fluidities, contestation and evolutions. The artwork on display sought to deconstruct and raise deeper questions about femaleness, desire, and pleasure; performance of masculinities; shame and sexuality. Here, Indulgence plays with and reflects upon the dynamisms and fluidities in our societies that are often
considered un-African, un-natural, and against culture. In this context of reflection and questioning, Mzili’s nude and sometimes erotic series of painting that portray the subjects half- dressed in underwear or starkly nude and Abe Stacey’s installation of vagina sculptures served to the audience as a staple dietary (Enyasa) stimulated conversation on the taboo topic of sex and sexuality in
many African communities while confronting the traditional stereotypes on the subject. An installation of underwear, woven together into a long tapestry that dangled from the ceiling and provided a multicoloured canopy of fabrics to the empty metallic bed that lay beneath, aptly added to the narrative of indulgence. The underwear in the artwork titled “SA
Dirty Laundry” by Jenny Nijenhuis communicated a message of eroticism and more. The exhibition according to Violet Nantume, one of three curators of the event, was largely inspired by pre viou viouss acti a ctiviti viti es, including an exhibit on the theme of `Eroticism and Intimacy: Faces, Places and Paths’ that was organised in Kampala in 2016 by herself and colleagues. The exhibition’s prospect was “to bring the taboo subject of intimacy and se xual desire to the forefront as a means to highlight the place of sexual rights and personal liberties in women’s day forum”. Secondly, it borders on the conversation of academics and feminists like Dr. Sylvia Tamale Ta male and Ife Amadiaume who opened conversation about bodies, gender, and sexualities in Kenya, Nairobi. In tackling such subjects, art continues to play a crucial role in opening a lid on conversations that many think are restricted. It is an undertaking that requires knowledge, research, and innovative as witnessed in the `Close’ exhibit. It is the only way to fully engage audiences with an authentic narrative. It also provides an opportunity of introspection for the artists, curators, and public about how humanity reacts to cultural stereotypes in this age of global culture? The exhibition `Close’E opened on May 24 to June 24 at the Johannesburg Art Gallery and featured artists from East and South Africa.
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Woman sends 65,000 texts to man after first date, arrested Jacque Jac quelin linee Ades of Pho Phoeni enix x allegedly sent more than 65,000 text messages to a man after a rst date, according to The Washington Post. They had met on an online dating site for veried millionaires. The 31-year old woman says she sent her date so many texts because “loving him selessly brought
Rat chews Shs74m worth of Rupees in ATM Employees at a bank in Tinsukia, India, have a good reason to be cheesed o after at least one rat got into an ATM and ate $19,000 (Approx. Shs 74 million) worth of rupees. The incident was discovered when technicians arrived to x the bank’s ban k’s cas cash h mach machine ine,, acco accordi rding ng to The Associated Press. Inside the ATM was was one dead rat amid a bunch of Indian currency in 500-rupee and 2,000-rupee bills that had been chewed to shreds. Police Superintendent Mugdha Jyoti Jyo ti Mah Mahant antato ato tol told d repo reporte rters rs the rat had entered the ATM through a small hole for cables.
me his information. I felt like I met my soul mate”. But she has been cha charge rged d with with thr threat eateni ening, ng, stalking, and harassment. Police say many of the text messages Ades “selessly” sent included anti-Semitic insults and threats like, “Don’t ever try to leave me ... I’ll kill you ... I don’t wanna be a murderer!...Oh, what I would
London gets very first vegan Oktoberfest Vegans have traditionally been a bit bit left out at you yourr stan stan-dard Oktoberfest – not being able to partake in the bratwurst and never really knowing if their beer has sh guts in or not. Luckily this year, Camden is opening its edgy taed arms to a fully plant-based version, called Vegtoberfest, which will be the UK’ UK’ss rst rst eve everr full fully y veg veg-an Oktoberfest on October 06 at
Apple to produce smash resistant phone Most of us have experienced the sinking feeling which comes when a phone slips out your hand and smashes into the ground. Now Apple has revealed the latest development in its war to stop us from wrecking our expensive gadgets. It has just applied to patent ‘drop countermeasures for electronic devices’ which
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do w/your blood ... I’d wanna bathe in it. bathe it.”” She She als also o alle alleged gedly ly broke bro ke int into o the the man’ man’ss home home and took a bath in his tub and showed up at his work pretendpretend ing to be his wife. She said she thought she had sent more than 65,000 text messages. “Love is an excessive thing,” she said.
could protect smartphones as they plummet towards the merciless oor. Apple plans to use motion sensors to detect movement and proximity detectors to spot a ‘potential impact surface’. The clever technology will then rotate smartphones as they plummet so tougher parts of the gadget take the blow.
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Fest Camden in London. VegVegans will be able to take sweet sips of plant-based Bavarian beers bee rs and loc local al veg vegan an cra craft ft ale ales, s, as well as vegan wines, mulled wines and hot and cold cockcock tails. They will also get vegan bratwu bra twurst rst (n (nall ally!) y!) wit with h all all the trimmings, as well as a whole host of Bavarian-themed vegan wood-red pizza.
Britain’s man with most crimes! Britain’s most convicted man is back in prison after commiing his 668th oence in a criminal career spanning 48 years. Patrick Ryan, 62, has run up a staggering 469 convictions for a total of 668 oences, costing UK taxpayers a staggering £3 million (Approx. Shs15 billion) to take to court. His criminal record runs to 100 pages and is so long a police force once put a note on it warning workers not to print it out as it would waste too much paper. In the latest case, he exposed himself to a bus-load of appalled passengers, groped one and urinated. He was jailed for another 18 months. He has been bee n in in an an out out of cus custod tody y sinc sincee the the age of 14 and had spent 23 years behind beh ind bar barss befor beforee the the age of 50.
Indian man worships Trump as God An Indian man has been worshipping US President Donald Trump, the 45th President of America, for over the past three years. According to Indian media, 31 years old Bussa Krishna hails from Telengana near the capital of Hyderabad, was inspired by Don Donald ald Tru Trump’ mp’ss ‘Mak ‘ Makee America Great’ election campaign. He prays to Trump several times a day. He has also started a Facebook page to share his love of Trump with the world. Bussa regularly posts pictures and videos of himself worshiping at a shrine to the president. Meanwhile, Krishna said people in his village called him mad and suggested he visit a psychologist.
2018 Nissan Nissan X-Trail X-Trail ST-L ST-L Review Review
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evamped for 2018, the Nissan XTrail continues to grab a big slice of the medium SUV pie. The X-Trail ST-L is described as the model’s mid-spec variant, but it’s packed with enough comfort, convenience and safety features to give some top-spec SUVs a run for their money, comparable to the Mazda CX-5, Toyota RAV4, Hyundai Tucson, and Honda CR-V. Many of the vehicles in the segment are available in both 2WD and AWD variants, and this is the case with the X-Trail. It comes in ve trim levels (ST, TS, ST-L, ST -L, Ti and TL), with the ST-L model right in the middle of the range. While there are 2.0L petrol and turbodiesel engines in the range, as well as a manual or Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT), the ST-L is only available with a 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine mated to the Xtronic CVT. The X-Trail is also availavail able with seven seats, but this option can only be mated to ST and ST-L models with the 2.5L petrol engine and CVT. Despite its mid-spec standing, the X-Trail ST-L is loaded with equipment. Standard comfort and convenience features include
seven-inch colour touchscreen, six-speaker sound system with DAB+, Bluetooth phone connectivity, sat-nav with trac monitormonitor ing, six-way power-adjustable driver seat and four-way passenger seat, heated front seats, leather accented seat trim, leather accented steering wheel, heated and cooled centre console cupholders, keyless entry with push-buon start, cruise control, automatic headlights, two front 12V power outlets and one in the cargo area, secondrow air vents, speed-sensitive electric power steering, 17-inch alloy wheels, roof rails, privacy glass and heated door mirrors. Surrounded by lots of quality trim, soft touch materials and pleasant design, siing in the X-trail ST-L’s driver’s seat is a pleaspleas ant experience. The seat itself is covered in nice leather accent trim and oers a good range of adjustment including height and lumbar. The steering is adjustable for rake and reach and all of the controls and switches are logically positioned and clearly marked. X-Trail’s seven-inch colour touchscreen is nice and bright but navigating your way through some of the functions takes a lile geing used to. The ‘Nissan Connect’ app
isn’t as intuitive as Apple CarPlay/Android Auto,, but it does allow you to access certain Auto phone apps via the X-Trail’s touchscreen. What safety features does it get? The X-Trail was awarded a ve-star ANCAP score in June 2017. In ST-L specispeci cation the X-Trail is loaded with safety features including: ABS; EBD; BA; IntelIntelligent Trace Control; Intelligent Engine Brake; Intelligent Ride Control Hill Start Assist; Intelligent Emergency Braking; Blind Spot Warning; Rear Cross Trac Alert; LED DRLs; LED taillights; door mirmir ror LED turn indicators; rearview camera with predictive path technology; Intelligent Around-View Monitor with Moving Object Detection; front, front-side and side curtain SRS airbags; Vehicle Dynamic Control with Traction Control System; Forward Collision Warning; War ning; three-point Emergency Lock Lock-ing Retractor front and rear seatbelts; and outer ISOFIX and three top-tether child-seat mounting points. Packed with high-end equipment and safety features at a competitive price, it’s lile wonder the X-Trail is proving so popular. Source: Internet
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Profle
Edward Francis Babu: On why piloting tops his many trades By Agnes E Nantaba
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dward Francis Babu, one of Uganda’s leading politicians often has the tag `captain’ mention with his name but he is not a soldier. It comes from his professional piloting days. Although out of elective politics now, he held several ministerial positions. He is also an entrepreneur with several businesses to his name. But from all his trades, Babu talks most about his piloting days. “Being a pilot provided an opportunity to travel the world and work in dierent countries,” he says. And that taught him something important; that as most journey’s in life are; “no ight is the same and learning is on the job not the book”. boo k”. He started his ying journey in 1972 until about 1989. Flying started with his receivreceiv ing the British Commercial Flying license and instrument rating from the Oxford Air Training School in 1972. But the journey started in Kiwumu vilvil lage Kammengo Sub County in present day Mpigi district where Babu was born as an only child. His father Joseph Duet Babu passed on when he was in primary four and his memories of childhood include being segregated based on race. “My mother was very possessive having been bor born n in in a fam family ily of mix mixed ed her heriitage,” he says, “There was some sort of stigma but we eveneventually managed to live with it.” He went to Aggrey Memorial School,
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Nakivubo selement primary school, and Makerere College School, and later moved to Nairobi to the East African Engineering School under East African Airways. Towards the end of of the course, an opportunity to recruit pilots came up and Babu was among the ve chosen to study in Britain at Oxford Air Training School in 1970 for two years. Upon return to East Africa, Babu started work as a captain or co-pilot. He later returned to Oxford for a post-graduate qualication in ying and upon completion, graduated as a full captain. He then had to look for ying hours and more training. “I started ying within the region to Entebbe, Dar es salaam, Lilongwe, KinshaKinsha sa, Lusaka, Khartoum and Cairo,” he says. But his day would soon turn to dusk as, around the same time, the East African community was being unbundled. But Babu did not sink with the ship. He crossed to Nigeria Airways until 1984 when he switched to Saudi Arabian Airways. In 1984 he married Olive and together they had three children; including a set of twins. He says, “Unfortunately, marriage didn’t work out well and we separated”. He returned to Uganda in 1986 and worked with several companies in what he calls “ying adhoc”. He also managed to set up a home and raise a family in the upmarket Nakasero area of Kampala city. In 1989, residents of Nakasero voted him to be the chairman of their LC1. But the same afternoon, he was moved up to be cha chairm irman an LC2 LC2.. His His pol politi itical cal car career eer wa wass sparked. He rose through the ranks to city councilor and member of the Constituent Assembly in 1993/4 where he was one of those who made the 1995 Constitution. In 1994 during a ministerial reshue, Babu was appointed Minister of State for Education in charge of General Duties. He married Margret Zziwa Nantongo; who would go on to be the speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly and longtime Woman MP for Kampala District. They have two children. In 1998 he was transferred to the Ministry of Energy and later Ministry of Works. He also served as regional NRM chairman for Kampala Region. He has since retired from elective politics. “I might not stand for elective oce but I am am still still a poli politic tician ian,” ,” he says says.. Babu is also an entrepreneur with a MasMas ter’s degree in Entrepreneurship studies from the University of Stirling which he got in 2005.
Q&A Q& A
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Francis Babu’s Liteside Any three things that we don’t know about you? ome people say that I don’t give up on an issue and usually stay on the right side. They also say that I am too honest, like straight forward debate, and respect other people’s views.
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What is your idea of perfect happiness? I have done a lot for myself and my country. I came from a humble background, went to school, and came out as a senior pilot. I have beautiful children and grandchildren. There is no beer happiness. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? I think I am too honest and some people don’t like it; especially those in politics. Sometimes I feel I should keep quiet but my character doesn’t allow it. What is the trait you most deplore in others? Lying and stabbing others in the back annoys me. Which living person do you most admire? Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba is a professor in Kenya who gives interesting political analysis. I also admire John Nagenda because he is a very interesting writer of reality. What is your greatest extravagance? I read a lot. What is the greatest thing you have ever done? Flying was one but also my contribution towards this country indicates that I am not interested in just the politics because my patriotism is to this country. What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
We waste too much time with foreigners. We are not nationalistic, tend to get other people to decide for us. The way we do things including the writing is western and this is very unfortunate. What does being powerful mean to you? Not having poverty of the brain and this has nothing to do with the riches or wealth. Somebody should be able to connect brain power with his or her riches and successes. On what occasion do you lie? People who tell lies want to get a mileage but I run a strict regime of my life. What do you most dislike about your appearance? I am a very happy person with who and what I am. Which living person do you most despise? I despise people who change horses in midstream. What is the quality you most like in a woman? Ability to recognise that she is a pillar of everything; including marriage. What is the quality you most like in a man? Patience and the willingness to give and take. Which words or phrases do you most overuse? I speak Standard English and hate to use bombastic words. What or who is the greatest love of your life? I love my people equally. When and where were you happiest? When I became a pilot in Britain in 1972, I was very happy. When I had my rst child, Cedric, the twins and
all my children, I was very happy because children are blessings; especially the fact that I was born an only child. I like the families that we have. Which talent would you most like to have? Some of my friends say that I am a good orator. Where would you most like to live? Uganda is one of the most beautiful countries on this continent. It has very beautiful people who make up the country and not the politicians. What is your most treasured possession? I treasure my village home because the children know where they come from. I also treasure my children because they will continue my lineage regardless of their faults. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? My father passed on when I was very young in primary four so my mother took on the sole responsibility of raising me. I wouldn’t want any woman to go through the same. Unfortunately when I returned to Uganda, she passed on but I wish she had lived a lile bit longer to enjoy the fruits of her sweat. What is your favorite occupation? I have leanrt something from all my occupations. As a pilot, no ight is the same, learn from the job and not the book. What do you most value in your friends? Friendship in Africa is slightly dierent and I think it has a lot to do with culture. It’s more of lukewarm friendship which to me is not friendship. A friend if
somebody is who is short of being your blood brother or sister, not somebody to gossip with. Who are your favorite writers? It doesn’t maer who writes but the content. But I like Andrew Mwenda because over the years, he has wrien very good opinions and he does a lot of research. Which historical gure do you most identify with? Nelson Mandela; I liked his humility, acceptance and conclusion. After being put in jail for 27 years, he concluded it with magnanimity. He was a nationalist, wanted everything for South Africa and not for himself. After the struggle, he chose to retire. He was also a good time keeper who would arrive for an appointment ve minutes earlier. Who are your heroes in real life? Chesley Sullenberger landed the plane in the Hudson River on January 15, 2009 and saved
all the 155 people aboard, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere was very honest, saintly and loved Tanzania Tanz ania not position, and President Yoweri Museveni because he has managed to hold this country together for 32 years and he has become responsible for its failures and successes. What is your greatest regret? God has been very kind to me. How would you like to die? Peaceful with my family around; not a traumatic death. What is your motto? Think positively all the time.
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GLOBAL COMMENT
By Chuka Onwumechili
Africa and World Cup money It is about time to revisit the bang African teams get for the bucks they spend on this quadrennial tournament
E
ach World Cup year, African football teams arrive with renewed hopes of making remarkable progress and breaki bre aking ng the the vis visee grip grip tha thatt Euro Europe pe and South America have had on this qua qua-drennial tournament for nearly 100 years. Each time that hope invariably implodes. That surely has to leave African teams with some critical questions. The biggest is whether African teams – at the 2018 World Cup nals in Russia they were Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Tunisia, Nigeria and Senegal – are geing the best bang for the bucks they invest in their teams and coaches aending the competition. Some football fans may see football as recreational, while some politicians use it as a tool for national building. But football is without question question a business: the players are professionals, the coaches are paid a king’s ransom, and governments and umbrella body, FIFA, dole out huge sums to support fedfed erations and their teams. Taking Ta king part in the world cup involves both spending money, as well as earning money. Teams spend millions of dollars preparing for the month-long tournament. The funds go to paying coaches, many of whom are the highest paid professionals in the countries they serve. For example, a top government ocial in Egypt earns an estimated annual salary of US$ 28,294 while Egypt’s current football manager Hector Cuper gets a reported US$1.7 million annually. Egypt didn’t make it past the group stage in Russia. Players also earn well. In some teams foreign based players – for example a Senegalese who plays for a European club – can earn more. And they’re camped in ve star hotels and their pro gramme is supported by huge budgets. In the case of Nigeria, the annual budget is US$16.2 million. This is not a candy budget by any means. On top of this, FIFA pays countries that qualify handsomely. And the longer they stay in the tournament, the more they get. But is this money being managed wisely? Are the funds being invested in African teams worth it? And are there 44
July 06 - 12, 2018
wiser ways to manage the loot that comes from the game?
Big bucks There is seriously good money in the World Cup – and we’re not even talking rights and sponsorships. FIFA pays each team that make it to the World Cup US$9.5million – US$8million for taking part in the group stage and US$1.5 million for tournament costs. FIFA’s distribution of funds is based on how far each of the 32 teams is able to go in the tournament. Thus, by going further a team returns with more money. Just by progressing to the second round of 16 teams brings in an additional US$4 million from FIFA. Geing into the quar ternals brings a further US$4 million to each team, while the third placed team gets US$24 million and the fourth US$22 million. The winner of the 2018 World Cup nal gets US$38 million, with the runners-up paid US$28 million. This is up from 2014 when winners Germany received US$35 million and beaten nalists, Argentina, got USD$25 million. On top of this teams can land seriously
A top government government ofcial in
Egypt earns an estimated annual salary of US$ 28,294 while Egypt’s current football manager Hector Cuper gets a reported US$1.7 million annually
lucrative sponsorships. Take U.S. soccer for example - it qualied for the 2014 tournament and received US$49.7 milmil lion in sponsorships, television, licensing and royalties, according to their football federation’s tax form ling for 2015.
Options One of the ways in which teams can make beer use of the money that gets invested in national teams is by spending less. An easy way to cut costs would be for countries to decide to hire local managers and coaches since they cost quite a bit less than expatriates. There’s a strong case to be made for this. Several local ones have done as well as the expatriates. Take the example of Nigeria. Four years ago at the World Cup tournament in Brazil, Nigeria’s Stephen Keshi was paid less than his expatriate counterparts but took the Nigerian team to the second phase. It was a feat only a few expatriate Nigerian coaches have been able to achieve with the country’s team. But there’s also a case to be made in investing big, particularly if a country decides that it wants to make it past the rst round of the tournament. If the money that’s being spent on managers, in particular, isn’t geing them through to the second round, why keep them? Why not go for the very best managers and perhaps pay them a bit more. In addition, extra money can be put into creating a beer working environment to increase the probability of going beyond the rst phase. Governments and football associations should go back to their spreadsheets and do some serious recalculating in preparation for the next World Cup in Qatar in 2022. Serious investment might ultimately be the path to a beer payout and it may provide additional money to spend on sport development. The recent spate of early World Cup exits might just signal that the best time to reevaluate the investment is now. Chuka Onwumechili is Professor of Communications, Howard University
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