News analysis Health Business

How Sudan’s protesters Baby with DNA from Behind African Alliance’s move
forced al-Bashir out three people born to quit brokerage business

Issue No. 568 April. 19 - 25 2019 Ushs 5,000,Kshs 200, RwF 1,500, SDP 8

`It cannot happen

here’
How accurate are claims by
Ugandans on Bashir coup?

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April. 19 - 25 2019 1
INBOX

Issue No. 568 April. 19 - 25 2019

News analysis Business Health Arts Motoring

Cover story
`It cannot happen here’
How accurate are claims by Ugandans on Bashir coup?

5 The Week
30 Comments
ICC rejects war crimes
investigation in Afghanistan
The future of economic
growth: It depends on
9 The Last Word working-age population which
is predictable and productivity
The fall of Omar Bashir: Why the which is uncertain
Sudanese leader is a hero not a
villain for nurturing the progressive
32 Health
forces that removed him
Baby with DNA from three
people born: Doctors behind
14 Analysis the treatment say the technique
could be applied more broadly
How Sudan’s protesters forced
as a fertility treatment
al-Bashir out: The protesters were
calling for freedom, peace, justice
35 Arts & Culture
27 Business Endless boundaries
of community art
Behind African Alliance’s move to quit brokerage
business :Why brokerage firms must diversify
investments to cope with emerging stock market trends

STRATEGY & EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: Andrew M. Mwenda WRITERS:Ronald Musoke, Flavia Nassaka, Ian Katusiime,
MANAGING EDITOR: Joseph Were Agnes Nantaba, Julius Businge.
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2 April. 19 - 25 2019
 Offline

“There are small differences in the

opposition, however focus on the person
you want out of power. Look at how
Museveni does his things, he is very careful.
Forget about him, focus on the population.
Opposition is always angry, you need
to tone down.”Gen Benon Biraaro, former
presidential candidate

“Naked Beach” is one of the hottest properties at MIPTV, the world’s top
television market taking place in Cannes on the French Riviera

Tiger Woods
crowned his
comeback from
a near two-year
injury layoff “I don’t want to believe what I am
on April 14 by hearing that there is no money to cater
claiming victory
in the Masters at for the President’s security. We must
Augusta National, do everything in our power to find
winning his 15th
career major
this money.”Jessica Ababiku, Chairperson,
nearly 11 years Parliamentary committee on presidential affairs
after his last
triumph, at the
2008 US Open.

After holing up
in Ecuador’s
London embassy
for seven years,
WikiLeaks
founder Julian
Assange was
arrested by “Women have now taken on a different
British police role. They are now the ones paying rent,
on April 11 on
a US extradition school fees, feeding the family and
request, helping their husbands as well.”Beti Kamya,
outraging press Minister for KCCA during belated Women’s Day
freedom groups.
celebrations organised by KCCCA

Suspects held I
Money URA has Money gov’t will
8 Shs18bn Shs600bn
connection with
Queen Elizabeth failed to collect in inject in banks in
tourist kidnap custom taxes next financial year

April. 19 - 25 2019 3
week

Uganda Airlines flights start in July

The long awaited flights by Uganda
Airlines will happen in the month of
July, Minister for Works and Transport
Monica Azuba Ntege announced at a
press conference at the ministry. The two
purchased aircraft, Bombardier CRJ900
planes are expected in the country on
April 23 and then after the airline will start
the process of getting Air Operator Cer-
tification. This process takes about three
months beginning with the application
of a flight license, document evaluation,
demonstration and inspection of aircrafts
and issuance of air operation certification.
Azuba said Uganda Airlines will have
franchise agreements with other airlines
flying to countries where the national car-
rier will not reach. The minister said there
were other important activities to com-
plete such as acquisition of spare parts,
signing supplier contracts, branding and
setting up of commercial offices.

IGG, State House Soroti fruit factory opens; jobs and ready market for farmers
Anti-Corruption Residents in Soroti are
excited about the new factory
growing. The President said
he discouraged the practice
through its development
agency, Korea International
Unit face off in the district with hopes for
more jobs created to cater for
of growing cash crops in Teso
sub-region saying it was only
Cooperation Agency (KOICA)
gave a grant of $7.4 million for
The two bodies are meant to be the youth and a ready market benefitting colonialists. The construction and machinery.
allies in tackling corruption but for farmers. President Yow- factory was set up in a joint The Shs48bn factory will pro-
in the last few days, they have eri Museveni commissioned venture between the govern- cess fruits produced by farmers
aimed their respective guns at Soroti Fruit Factory on April ment of Uganda and South in nine districts in Teso. Fruits
each other. Whistleblowers have 13 and told area residents that Korea. The government pro- and mangoes will be the main
complained to the IGG about ille- fruits have a big global market vided land, utilities, and infra- processing items at the factory.
gal recruitment that went on at and encouraged more fruit structure while South Korea,
the State House Anti-Corruption
Unit whose operations started
last year. Now reports indicate
that a whistleblower has asked
the unit led by Lt. Col. Edith
Nakalema to investigate the IGG,
Irene Mulyagonja over alleged
abuse of office. The whistleblow-
er alleges that there are irregulari-
ties in the way the procurement
is being done for construction of
new headquarters for the office,
recruitment of staff especially in
upcountry offices. On the other
hand, some MPs have criticised
the way in which the State House
recruited staff since it was just
instituted and began its opera-
tions immediately.

Electoral Commission calls for regulation of independent candidates

Every election cycle
presents a headache for
the Electoral Commission
and political parties and
now the two are tasking
Parliament to come up
with tough legislation to
deal with independent
candidates. After party
primaries, a number of
candidates who have lost
or feel cheated opt to run as
independents, causing party
divisions and sometimes
Justice Simon Byabakama
leading to poll violence.
EC chairperson Justice
Simon Byabakama said
there should be a properly
streamlined system on how
independents participate.
He added that just as there
is a law on how political
parties are financed, there
should be a similar one on
independents. EC Secretary
Sam Rwakoojo said there
is more need for regulation
of independents because
they have grown from
each election and now 62,
them being more than the
entire number of opposition
MPs combined. The urge
for regulation was made
at a retreat in Entebbe
organised by the National
Consultative Forum (NCF),
a constitutional umbrella
body for all registered
political parties.

4 April. 19 - 25 2019

Vivo Energy ends Shs400m promotion
On April 12, at the Kampa-
la Old Taxi Park, Vivo Energy
Uganda Managing Direc-
tor, Gilbert Assi (Pictured)
officially handed over two
brand new taxi vans and two
motor bikes to lucky winners
to mark the end of the four
months ‘Juzza Akameez’a
promotion. The promotion
cost about Shs400million and
sought to reward taxi and truck drivers
who use both Shell Rimula Diesel Engine
oils and Shell Fuel Save Diesel. Assi said
the rewards are aimed at supporting the
Week
social life of their clients while
at the same time appreciating
their continued loyalty towards
consuming the company’s fuels.
He said Shell fuels are designed
with dynaflex technology to
deliver more value to the drivers
and reduce their operation costs
so they can have more money
left over for themselves and their
families. “Vivo Energy remains
committed to the taxi and truck drivers
and additional offers are being lined up
for this segment during the course of this
year,” Assi said amidst jubilant onlookers.

ICC rejects war crimes investigation in Afghanistan

Pope kisses feet of
South Sudan leaders
In a move that shocked many, Pope Fran-
cis bowed down and kissed the feet of South
Sudan president Salva Kiir and his two
vice presidents; Riek Machar and Rebecca
Nyandeng de Mabior. Kiir and Machar
are often rivals and recently signed a peace
agreement. “To you three, who have signed
a peace agreement,” the Pope said, “I ask
you as a brother, remain in peace.” The
South Sudanese politicians were staying at
the Pope’s Vatican residence in a two-day
spiritual retreat. The Vatican released a
statement describing the Pope’s gesture as
“surprising and moving,” one that “cannot
be understood except in the climate of recip-
rocal forgiveness that characterized the two
days of retreat.” Kiir and Machar first fell
out in 2013 when Kiir dissolved his govern-
ment accusing then vice president Machar
of plotting to overthrow him. A bloody civil
war followed killing thousands and displac-
ing several thousands of others. With the
pope’s act, there is hope that the new peace
agreement will hold out.
A ruling by a pre-trial
chamber of the Interna-
tional Criminal Court
(ICC) rejecting an inves-
tigation in alleged war
crimes committed in
Afghanistan has sparked
debate on the future of
war crimes investigations.
The judges decided that an
investigation into the situ-
ation in Afghanistan at this
stage would not serve the
interests of justice. Some
however interpreted this
as a decision influenced by
the US. A few days before,
the US revoked the visa
of ICC Prosecutor Fatou
Bensouda. (Pictured) This
decision has been seen
as a move by the court to
avoid further confronta-
tion with the US because
Bensouda was going to
actively investigate the
role of US troops in the
invasion of Afghanistan.
On November 20, 2017,
Bensouda had requested
authorisation from Pre-
Trial Judges to initiate an
investigation into alleged
war crimes and crimes
against humanity in rela-
tion to the armed conflict
in Afghanistan since May
2003, as well as regard-
ing similar crimes related
to the armed conflict in
Afghanistan allegedly
committed in the territory
of other States Parties to the
Rome Statute since July 1,
2002. According to a state-
ment issued by the ICC,
the prosecutor’s request
establishes a reasonable
basis to consider the crimes
within the ICC jurisdiction
but the amount of time lost
and the changing political
landscape in Afghanistan
made the investigation a
likely failure. “Thus the
Chamber concluded that
an investigation into the
situation in Afghanistan at
this stage would not serve
the interests of justice and
rejected the Prosecutor’s
request for authorization to
investigate,” the statement
read. Some observers not-
ed that the position of the
court meant that a similar
outcome could result from
a mooted investigation of
war crimes elsewhere.

AfricellUG @AfricellUG

Dial *133*2# *terms and conditions apply |

Regulated by Uganda Communications Commission

for more bundles

April. 19 - 25 2019 5
Week
Heart Institute in
need of Shs7bn
Uganda Heart Institute
(UHI) has appealed to the
government for Shs7billion
to construct its Intensive
Care Unit (ICU) and create
more space in the facility. Dr
John Omagino, the executive
director of UHI said the
completion of the ICU will
enable the centre to operate
on more patients. He said an
operation at UHI costs about
Shs20million compared
to the Shs80million spent
with treatment abroad. UHI
alongside other medical
bodies like Uganda Blood
Transfusion Services,
Uganda Virus Research
Institute and Uganda
Medical Stores were meeting
the Parliamentary Health
Committee. Omagino told
the committee that the
Shs9billion will also boost
the returns made by the
institute.
6 April. 19 - 25 2019
Oxfam warns World Bank on private education
A new report by
Oxfam International
titled “False
Promises” published
ahead of this year’s
World Bank and
IMF Spring meetings
says the Bank
should immediately
stop promoting
Public Private
Partnerships (PPPs)
that expand private
education. Oxfam
says the World
Bank has been
steadily increasing
its support for
privatized education
in lower-income
countries despite
mounting evidence
that this approach is
freezing out poorer Oxfam’s Winnie Byanyima
children, especially
girls, and doesn’t improve
education quality. Oxfam
analyzed the Bank’s
primary and secondary
support to governments
for private education.
The report says WB is
also actively advising
governments to invest
in PPPs via its “Systems
Approach for Better
Education Results”
(SABER) program, for
instance telling countries
to provide start-up
funding and public
land for private schools,
reduce regulations
and expand for-profit
schooling. According
to the report, there is
no evidence that PPP
schools consistently
perform better than
public schools. Instead,
studies show they
increase educational
inequalities. In countries
like Uganda, they have
education portfolio been criticized for
between 2013 and 2018 employing under-qualified
and found more than one- teachers and having poor
fifth of projects included education outcomes.
Humour
The Sudanese President Omar – al – Bashir has been
deposed by the military after months of protests
Parliament has attacked the Land Ministry for selective
issuance of land titles and eviction of wetland encroachers.
Following the release of the American tourist and her guide,
the government has tightened security in all national parks.
Did you know?
India election has
nearly a billion voters
India is conducting the world’s
largest-ever election. It is a phased
contest involving up to 900 million
eligible voters, more than the next five
largest democracies combined. The
voting lasts six weeks.
It started on April 11 with voters
in more than 20 states casting their
ballots in the first phase of the
country’s marathon polls, and results
are expected on May 23.
The contest in the vast country of
1.3 billion people is a phased election
process to allow federal security
personnel to be shuttled around the
country to secure the integrity of a
contest involving up to 900 million
eligible voters, more than the next five
largest democracies combined.
Voters make their choice using
machines that display a paper record
of their selection that is then stored in
an attached locked box. Their fingers
are marked with indelible ink to
prevent anyone voting twice. Symbols
and pictures are displayed next to
candidate’s names to aid the country’s
estimated 266 million illiterate citizens.
This time the election is dominated
by local issues but also viewed as
a referendum on Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, a staunch Hindu
nationalist who rode a wave
of popularity five years ago to
become the first leader of a majority
government in decades.
Polls opened in more than 90 seats,
about a sixth of the total in the Indian
parliament’s lower house, with six
more voting days to be held before the
results are announced on 23 May.
The first weeks of campaigning
were overshadowed by a car
bombing in February that killed 40
paramilitaries in disputed Kashmir
and triggered the first aerial dog-fights
and air strikes between India and
Pakistan in half a century.
April. 19 - 25 2019 7
 News analysis Health Business
Kidnap in the park: Crisis Best sleep position Uganda Airlines: Good
Management Unit needed for pregnant women investment, wrong timing

Issue No. 567 April. 12 - 18 2019

Ushs 5,000,Kshs 200, RwF 1,500, SDP 8

The bad in Shs40

trillion budget
Experts expose how Museveni

Inbox
is destroying economy
Follow us on Twitter @
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www.independent.co.ug

Letters are Bobi Wine will succeed Museveni

welcome !
The Editor welcomes short and
concise letters from our esteemed
readers on topical issues. Please
send them to:
The Editor, The Independent
Publications Ltd,
P.O Box 3304,
Plot 82/84 Kanjokya St,
Kamwokya.
Kampala,Uganda.
Email: editor@independent.co.ug
Refer to: “Museveni
succession” (The
Independent April 05).
Ugandans are very, very,
very ready to put His
Excellency President
Bobi Wine into power
constitutionally although
the barking of those dogs
sound higher. About 85% of
Bobi’s votes will come from
youths, 10% from adults
while 5% from oppositions
themselves. The ruling
party (NRM) members
have long waited for both
change and succession all
in vain. Therefore, the rise
of president Bobi made all
Ugandans celebrate.
Onyango Jeff
Museveni must
choose a successor
Refer to: “Museveni succession”
(The Independent April 05). President
Yoweri Museveni has been a great
leader but his position in history may
be determined by how he leaves pow-
er. The best he can do now is to train
and groom his successor. We’ll offer the
chosen successor our support.
Paul Muwanga

Museveni The trivial matters over DP Bloc targeting Besigye

successor must
ensure peace
Refer to: “Museveni succes-
sion” (The Independent April
05). I do not see anyone capa-
ble of moving Uganda further
among those aspiring for
presidency other than Presi-
dent Yower Museveni. Being
angry at the one in power
because of what you see is
different from being able to
change what you see. Let the
aspirants bring on table what
they want to be changed and
how. Uganda was led by
many people in the past who
just wanted to be in power
than improve the nation. We
have moved from endless
wars to peace and that’s key
because all progress starts
from having an environment
that favours it. Our economy
is improving day by day. Of
course there are some things
we are discontented about but
is the one you want to put in
power able to fix them? How
much have they changed their
own area? What do they hope
to put in place? I want change
but that which is realistic i.e.
will improve us. It’s all about
Uganda.
Angela Nalwadda
registration of Uganda
Airlines company
Refer to: “Uganda’s storm
in a teacup” (The Independent
April 05). Mwenda’s defense
of corruption (both done and
attempted) is now public
knowledge. He can aptly be
called the ‘devil’s advocate’. He
does not blink an eye when he
is telling his yarn; knowing as
he does that his publication is
read by high-brow people but
criminally continues to pull
their legs. These people (minis-
ters) whose due diligence is so
assured that they cannot even
be short-changed in a super-
market; cannot overlook such
grave matters which Mwenda
wants us to treat as trivial, cor-
rigible and negligible. Quote:
“The MPs reached the height of
absurdity when they asked why
a company registered last July
2019 could have its documents
certified in March 2019. Really?
I will not honor this stupidity
even with a comment.” End
quote. I believe Mwenda meant
July 2018 (not 2019) as date
of registration and it took a
whole seven months to certify
the company; the planning that
goes into such a big heist takes.
Rwasubutare
Refer to: “Questions
over Mao, Bwanika
coalition” (The
Independent Online April
14). The “coalition” is
a no-brainer. It is made
out of haste and to cause
“panic, intimidation,
confusion” and out of
an “isolationistic” intent
for a Kizza Besigye
presidential bid. It is a
ploy purely out of bad
faith to blackmail a viable
opposition and hoodwink
the international donor
community into believing
that they are “united
force” to be reckoned with.
The main focus and only
target is “Bobi Wine.”
They are reading the times
together with Mugisha
Muntu’s Alliance for
National Transformation.
The anticipation of the
“opportunistic opposition”
is to “eliminate” part of the
opposition. Their thinking
is that Besigye and his
group (those within
and out of FDC) is the
stumbling block that has
prevented the opposition
from taking power. In
their political calculus it
is vital to deal with this
group first. The irony
with their strategy is that
when every one of them
takes to the podium the
message is a sole chorus
“let’s all unite in order to
defeat the dictator!” It is
clear that they hold one
message on their hearts
and another one that they
display on their hats.
Besigye has cultivated his
following simply because
of the politics at play. For
him to lose that following
it will take a “fundamental
change” in the way NRM
plays its politics. The
thinking of Muntu’s ANT
is one of intimidation.
They are intending to do
this through the use of
money and the “ability
to organise.” The other is
to use NRM introduce a
Bill to Parliament where
the party with the most
numbers in Parliament
automatically picks the
President. Since Muntu
does not command a large
following yet Bobi Wine
is a crowd puller, they
intend to use Bobi Wine to
do the donkey work but
upset him in Parliament.
The only smudge in their
sight is the FDC and
Besigye.
Rajab Kakyama

8 April. 19 - 25 2019

The fall of Omar Bashir
By Andrew M. Mwenda
Why the Sudanese leader is a hero not a villain for
nurturing the progressive forces that removed him
F
inally prolonged popular protests
have brought down the 30 years
long rule of Sudanese president,
Gen. Omar Al Bashir. This was
inspiring news for the Ugandan opposi-
tion who wish President Yoweri Museveni,
who has ruled Uganda for 33 years now,
suffers a similar fate. Sadly, these wishes
are unlikely to yield anything because
actions, not wishes, are what really bring
down governments. Most likely Sudan
may provide Museveni an opportunity to
look for ways to manage future uprisings
better.
Be that as it may, for those of us inter-
ested in a meaningful transition in Khar-
toum, there are some worrying signs. The
Sudanese military, without whose support
the protesters would never have removed
Bashir, took over power and promised to
rule for two years in order to organise a
transition to a civilian administration. The
protesters are suspicious, and legitimately
so, of the army’s intentions. So they have
remained on the streets, insisting the mili-
tary hand power to a civilian government.
But who selects this civilian government
and how? This is a critical issue activists on
social media seem indifferent to.
It is rare in human affairs to have a per-
fect solution. Hence, in making decision
we always have to make a trade off. In this
case, the choice facing Sudan is not simply
to transfer power to a civilian administra-
tion but how to achieve such a goal in a
reasonable way. It is, therefore, absolutely
necessary to risk military rule for two years
than plunge the country into the unknown.
The protesters on the streets are united by
one thing – to see Bashir and the military
leave power. Beyond that, there is little ide-
ological or policy harmony among them,
leave alone an organisation, for anyone
to imagine they can be given power and
it does not lead to internal quarrels and
recriminations over the spoils.
Secondly, there is no evidence that the
protesters represent the will of the Suda-
nese people as opposed to the wishes and
ambitions of a few elites in Khartoum. It is
possible there are many people who still
identify with Bashir in Sudan, and they
may constitute a majority in that country.
The fact that urban protests brought down
his government does not mean he lacked
The Last Word
popular support; it could be that the pro-
testers held the political center of gravity.
Therefore, Sudan needs a transition organ-
ised by the army that ensures different
competing groups organise to demonstrate
their political muscle. The fear of the mili-
tary later changing its mind and seeking to
cling to power should not blind us to this
reality.
There is a common but mistaken view
that the fall of tyranny automatically leads
to the triumph of democracy. Unfortu-
nately this view is born of naïve hope
rather than historical experience. All
too often, the fall of a dictator has led to
renewed tyranny (as in Egypt in 2014, DRC
in 1997) or to chaos – as was the case of
Uganda in 1979, Somalia in 1990, Liberia
in 1990 and recently in Libya after the fall
of Muammar Gadaffi. Rarely, as in Tunisia
and Burkina Faso, have street protests pro-
duced a smooth transition of power.
There is hope Sudan is more likely to go
the way of Tunisia than Libya or Somalia.
The protests against Bashir were organised
by that nation’s middleclass made up of
professional associations including edu-
cated women, not by some primitive and
violent groups organising around fanatical
religious identity such as Boko Haram and
Al Shabab. This is evidence of his contribu-
tion to the cultivation of democracy and
enlightenment in that country.
I suspect this outcome has largely been
because Bashir presided over a rapidly
growing economy in Sudan. Between
1989 and 2013, Sudan was the 4th fastest
growing economy in the world – at an
annual rate of 8.41%. Today with a GDP
of $120 billion and only 43 million people,
Sudan’s economy is larger than the
combined economies of Kenya, Uganda,
Rwanda and Burundi with a population of
over 100 million souls. This growth led to
increased urbanisation, increased educa-
tion and therefore exposure of the popu-
lation. It nurtured the professionals that
have led the protests. The lesson we draw
from this is that a transformative leader
has greater potential to precipitate his own
downfall than a stagnant predator – Karl
Marx called this the gravedigger problem.
One reason transformative leaders are
susceptible to causing their own downfall
is that development tends to nurture social
Opinion
forces that develop interests that transcend
initial growth. These social forces are thus
able too convert their new social position
into a powerful political force. Stagnant
economies do the opposite: they stifle the
emergence of social forces like a large and
diversified middle class, a large labouring
class in cities, and a large and educated
population with sufficient exposure to
seek greater change. Peasants tending to
jiggers in villages are unlikely to lead a
mass uprising. As a relief to many frus-
trated Ugandans, in Museveni’s pursuit of
growth, he is nourishing his own enemy.
Therefore, I look at Bashir as a democ-
ratiser in that country. A democratising
leader need not personally and consciously
organise a transition to democracy, how-
ever attractive such a proposition is in our
religious approach to politics these days.
All he needs to do is preside over a state
that nurtures the social forces that advance
democratic politics. I do not share the
religious view that great leaders should be
judged by what they intend to consciously
do. Rather the greatness of a leader is
based on what they produce – whether
they intended it or not is irrelevant.
A capitalist does not innovate and invest
because he/she wants to serve some noble
social objective of creating jobs or paying
taxes to the state. Instead he/she inno-
vates and invests purely out of a selfish
motive to make money for him/herself
and become rich. However, his/her selfish
actions produce an outcome with many
socially beneficial objectives – such as jobs
and paying taxes to the state. This is how
capitalism, whose foundational creed is
that everyone should seek that which is to
their immediate monetary advantage has
led to unprecedented prosperity.
This logic applies to Bashir as well. May
be he wanted to cling to power forever.
That for me is really irrelevant – in the
wider scheme of things. To keep power,
Bashir’s government pursued policies and
programs that nurtured enlightened social
forces, which have toppled him and have
potential to bequeath Sudan a democratic
government.
amwenda@independent.co.ug
April. 19 - 25 2019 9
cover story

`It cannot happen

here’
How accurate are claims by
Ugandans on Bashir coup?

O
By Independent Team

n April 16, five days after

Field Marshal Omar Al-
Bashir was kicked out in
Sudan, President Yoweri
Museveni’s Senior
Advisor and Personal
Assistant, Milly Babalanda, wrote in
the New Vision that “Museveni knows
when he will leave power” and that
his government “is still strong and can
defend its authority using civilian and
military means”.
“There is a set of rules to follow for
one to make an extended stay in power
work. That rule book is written by
President Museveni,” Babalanda wrote.
She listed the toxic combination that
gets a leader kicked out as meddling
by foreign powers, incompetence of
the military, failure to strike the right
balance between use of coercive muscle,
and failure to keep the population happy
and prosperous.
Interviewed earlier by The
Observer newspaper, the Government
Spokesperson Ofwono Opondo
reportedly described as “simple minds”
those who argue that Ugandans can
copy Sudan and try to end President
Museveni’s 33-year grip on power
through protests.
“There are no two similar conditions
for two countries,” he reportedly said
“the situation (in Uganda) is very
different in a positive sense. You need
to read about the internal ingredients of
governance within any of these countries
where such uprisings are happening.”
But Kyadondo East MP Robert
Kyagulanyi aka Bobi who is the self-
styled leader of the so-called “People

10 April. 19 - 25 2019

Power” movement; the amorphous
but potent anti-Museveni force, took
to social media to mock those claiming
protests cannot kick out Museveni.
“When #PeoplePower is bringing
down despotic Field Marshals, then
despotic Generals should be put on
notice,” he wrote.
Ofwono and Babalanda’s views
also appear to be in contrast to what
a Sudanese commentator noted at the
height of the anti-Bashir protests.
The popular Sudanese blogger, Dr.
Mahmoud a. Suleiman wrote: “Omar
Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir, though not
different from his ilk of oppressive
tyrants, he boasts as superior to them.
It is beyond doubt that tyrants do
not learn from history and live in the
illusion that they are able to overcome
difficulties.”
Uganda like Sudan is no stranger to
unconstitutional transfers of power.
Seven of Uganda’s leaders since
independence in 1962 have taken power
via unconstitutional means. In
Sudan, there was a coup on October
21, 1964 against Gen. Ibrahim
Abboud, another against Jaffer
Mohmed Nimeiri, and the latest
against Bashir on April 11.
And the parallels between Bashir
and Museveni are many.
Bashir, like Museveni, was born
in 1944. Bashir like Museveni had
been declared sole presidential
candidate in the next election by
their dominant ruling party. Bashir
came to power in 1989, three years
after Museveni in 1986. Museveni
has so far been in power for 33
Gen. Awad Ibn Auf
years, three years longer than Bashir
who was kicked out after 30 years.
The leading opposition group in Sudan
is called the Forces of the Declaration
of Freedom and Change (FDFC). The
leading opposition group in Uganda is
called the FDC.
And in Sudan, whenever one thought
of a military coup, all eyes were on
capital Khartoum. In Uganda that
would be Kampala. But uprisings spring
surprises.
Despite turbulence that had been
raging, the force that kicked Bashir
from power did not start in the capital.
It began in a small town called Atbara,
in River Nile State, about 350km from
Khartoum on December 19. And a
history of ideologically-driven political
consciousness, combined with perceived
current oppression, appears to have
been a factor. That is why the protests
came to be known as “The Revolution of
December 19.”
With a population of about 100,000
people, Atbara is a rural city. It is known
for the 1898 famous `Battle of Atbara’
against the combined colonising force of
the Egyptians and British. The Sudanese
lost the battle but their pride remained.
Then Atbara became home of the
first trade union in Sudan, formed in
1946 and as the headquarters of the
Sudanese National Railway Company.
But it has fallen on hard economic
times. Although it is still regarded as
the “Railway City”, few rail wagons
are made here these days. Instead,
it appears, only the spirit of trade
unionism and communism remains.
It is a hot hungry place. So when the
government removed wheat and fuel
subsidies and the price of bread shot-up
there was public anger which flowed
onto the streets.
“No to hunger! No to hunger!” the
protesters chanted before setting fire
to the local office of Bashir’s ruling
National Congress Party (NCP)
headquarters.
Coincidentally, Sadiq al-Mahdi; the
ex-prime minister who Bashir drove out
Lt. Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan
in his 1989 coup, returned from exile
the same day. The next day, the protests
spread to Khartoum and other cities.
Pound for Shilling, Uganda is a far
poorer country than Sudan which has a
GDP Per Capita of US$ 4,900 compared
to Uganda’s US$1900. But in November
2017, Sudan released the results of its
2014-2015 poverty survey, putting the
nationwide rate of poverty at 36.1%.
This mean income inequality is quite
high in Sudan and contributed to rising
resentment against the government
In its Africa Economic Outlook (AEO)
2019 report, the African Development
Bank (AfDB) also noted the Sudan
economy was in trouble.
“Sudan is in debt distress,” it noted
with external debt an estimated 62% of
GDP in 2018.
Soon the protests moved beyond
food. Many protesters spoke against
a government which only cares about
itself preservation, is ridden with
corruption, and has militarised all facets
cover story
of life.
They danced to protest music by
Sudanese musicians. One of the songs,
titled ‘Tasgut Bas!’ (Which translates
to ‘Just fall, that is all!’) became their
anthem.
A rapper called Gofran, sang:
“Been waiting for this moment
forever,
never thought it’ll start at the end of
December
I’m out for freedom.
I’m out for justice.”
Sudan’s slippery economic slope
Sudan had been on a slippery slope
when South Sudan successfully seceded
in July 2011. Sudan was a major oil
producer from 2000 to 2011. Over this
period, it was touted as one of the fasted
growing economies in the world by the
World Bank with rates of growth over
12% in some years. But the oil revenue
this growth depended on came from oil
wells that became part of South Sudan
in early 2012.
That single move wiped out
80% of Sudan’s oil production.
That meant Bashir would now
not have up to 60% of the money
he had got used to using to buy
support, especially from the army
generals. Domestic debt grew at
an unsustainable rate. The debt-
to-GDP ratio rose to over 140% in
2018. As the country started feeling
the pinch of foreign exchange
scarcity, the government could
barely raise money to import fuel
and wheat to make bread.
Rather than cut spending, Bashir
opted to fill the fiscal gap by
printing money. The increase in
money supply without matching
increases in production, caused inflation
to spiral. Without foreign exchange, the
central bank set an overvalued exchange
rate peg. The Institution of International
Finance ( IFF ) estimates that Sudan’s
real GDP contracted by 1.1% in 2018.
People were becoming poor and private
consumption was down nearly 5%,
according to IIF.
November 8, 2018 is known in
Khartoum, the capital of Sudan as the
“Day Money ran out”. On that day,
most ATMs in the city run out of cash.
Inflation was over 70% and money
was losing value by the minute. But
the central bank was not printing
new money fast enough. There was
a liquidity crunch. People could be
seen queuing up helplessly outside the
empty ATMs. Account holders were
bribing cashiers to cash their cheques.
Others were chasing after any vans seen
delivering money to the banks.
“Why are we suffering like this to
get our money?” Ahmed Abdullah, a
April. 19 - 25 2019 11
cover story
42-year-old government worker was
heard asking.
The government was staring
economic collapse in the face and public
anger was mounting. Bashir was losing
control of the country. His regime was
bankrupt and unpopular.
The Sudanese central bank had been
controlling the depreciation of the
Sudanese pound against the dollar
by restricting on access to foreign
exchange. In October 2017 the U.S.
had offered some reprieve by lifting of
two decades of trade sanctions. But it
appears to have been too late for Bashir.
In October 2018, Bashir desperately
hiked the exchange rate from 29 to 47.5
Sudanese pounds per USD. Its objective
was to make it realistic because that
was closer to the kibanda parallel forex
market rate. The move sent inflation
even higher. The price of a kilo of
flour rose 20%, beef 30%, and potatoes
50%. Sudan’s inflation stood at more
than70%. It was one of the world’s
highest rates. Now the central bank’s
policy was backfiring. People were
losing trust in the banks.
Political upheaval and uncertainty,
economic mismanagement, and rampant
corruption destroyed the economy
and Bashir’s regime. Combined with a
large and young population plagued by
unemployment, these factors became a
powder keg.
Bashir must also have realised that
he could not easily fix the economy. Sudanese protesters in the streets of Khartoum.
He appealed to the Arab world; Doha,
Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, and Cairo but 2020 but there were reports of divisions not fooled. Even more poured on to the
returned empty handed. He turned to within the ruling National Congress streets where they were met with teargas
Moscow and got only promises. Even Party (NCP). But senior party members and live bullets from the security forces.
African leaders appeared to desert were reportedly mooting a move to According Human Rights Watch, over 50
Bashir. censure Bashir. The Islamist wing, people were killed over this period.
Instead U.S. senior envoy, Cyril specifically reportedly favoured giving
Sartor, who is the Senior Director for the protesters actual concessions. Retreat to military repression
Africa at the National Security Council, Bashir could offer concessions. In 2013, When the politics failed, Bashir
was in Khartoum late February and following large protests by university decided to resort to the military. Bashir
Qatar’s Minister of Defence, Khalid students unhappy with the state of had always courted the military. He
bin Mohammad Al Attiyah was there the economy, Bashir promised not to attended the funerals and weddings of
in March. One issued Bashir with a stand for election in 2015. But he also military officers with diligence, often
stern warning not to use force on the unleashed paramilitary troops that killed sending presents of sugar, tea or dried
protesters and the other reportedly hundreds of protesters. And he had gone rations to the families.
counseled substantial changes in state on to stand and win reelection by 94% of “Bashir even had an “open house”
policy before any rescue money. the vote in a roundly condemned sham policy once a week where commissioned
But he was unwilling to let anybody election. officers could drop in and meet with
else step in. This time Bashir sent security forces him,” said Alex de Waal, a professor
to ransack offices of professional bodies at the Fletcher School of Law and
Divisions in ruling party such as doctors who were leading Diplomacy at Tufts University.
Bashir had appointed a new central the protests. Security forces arrested So when on Feb.22 Bashir addressed
bank governor to deal with inflation. He numerous opposition leaders and the nation, he was banking on the
had also named a new prime minister protesters in overnight swoops and military. His strategy was to sound
and announced a 15-month economic morning raids. tough and in charge but offer some
reform plan. So he turned to what he When protesters did not bite the bait concessions to the protesters. He would
thought he was best at fixing – the of national dialogue Bashir made another allow a national dialogue. But he made
politics. concession. The Parliament, which is no mention of resigning as head of the
Bashir’s ruling party had already dominated by his ruling party, would National Congress Party (NCP) and,
nominated him to run unopposed as its now not amend the constitution to allow therefore, ruling himself out of the 2020
presidential candidate for reelection in him to run in 2020. But the voters were presidential as his intelligence chief,

12 April. 19 - 25 2019

Gen. Salah Gosh had already announced.
Bashir’s strategy appeared to confirm
the view that his main goal had been
to dissolve the government and declare
the emergency as it would frustrate any
palace coup against him.
Under the emergency, Bashir could
ban opposition groups, deploy more
troops, mount more roadblocks, and
block people’s movements. The army
would also have unrestrained power to
raid people’s homes and offices. Bashir
said a state of emergency would be
on for one year. It was vintage Bashir
brinkmanship. He was trying to block
a coup from within his NCP party,
appease the protesters with pseudo-
concessions and placate the soldiers with
powerful postings. And it had saved him
before.
“He is like the spider at the centre
of the web...he could pick up on the
smallest tremor, then deftly use his
personalised political retail skills to
manage the politics of the army,” de
Waal told The New York Times. Would it
work this time?
The opposition had declared Thursday
every week as a day of protest. The next
Thursday Feb.22 would test that. This
time the protests were even bigger.
“Bashir must go”, they chanted. “We
want freedom, peace and justice!”
And the army, which was previously
charged with enforcing Bashir’s ban
on opposition gatherings, was absent.
Bashir’s decree had failed.
Videos had also emerged of units
of the army in Port Sudan siding with
the protesters. Only Bashir’s most loyal
forces, in the National Intelligence
services, remained with him.
To lure them back, he appointed 18
military generals as state governors.
Most, like himself, were on the list of
51 indicted in 2004 by the International
Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague,
the Netherlands for crimes against
humanity. He appointed Lt. Gen. Awad
Mohamed Ahmed Ibn Auf, the Defence
Minister as First Vice-President. He had
been head of Sudan’s notorious and
hated Military Intelligence and Security.
He kicked out First Vice-President
Bakri Hassan Saleh. He transferred his
leadership of the National Congress
Party (NCP) to Ahmed Muhammed
Harun, the man who in the 1990s
became known as the “Butcher of Nuba”
and in 2003 –as State Minister for the
Interior, executed the Darfur atrocities.
He and Awad Ibn Auf coordinated the
notorious Janjaweed militias that killed
thousands in Darfur and displaced 2.5
million people.
Unity of women, youth,
professionals
What appears to have caught
Bashir’s government unawares was the
determination of the protesters. The
logic previously was that hunger and
desperation would drive them off the
streets. Dispersing protesters would be
faster, it was assumed, if the government
offered token concessions.
This time, however, the protesters
refused to quit. And they were a
surprising mix from all walks of society.
The rich marched with the poor. Doctors
and engineers joined together with
Girifna; a coalition of youthful anti-
regime university students formed in
2009. Under the Sudanese Professionals
Association (SPA), they spearheaded the
protests and in January agreed with the
Declaration of Freedom and Change.
March 08 was a Friday – a day
of prayer in this predominantly
Muslim country. The protest leaders
– the FDFC- used the pulpits in the 47
mosques of Khartoum to call for street
demonstrations. And the people poured
onto the streets.
It also coincided with the International
Women’s Day, Friday March 08, 2019.
This fed into another remarkable and
unexpected element of the Sudan
protests - the high profile presence of
cover story
women. The have since been dubbed the
“Sudanese Women Queens”, kandakes.
When students from the National
University joined, they were threatened
with dismissal. Female students were
expelled for wearing the white gowns;
the Toub, symbol of protest.The security
forces attacked the university and tear-
gassed and battered students. Hundreds
of students were arrested.
For 77 day across the country, the
protests continued. And the security
forces attempted to infiltrate the
protests. They masqueraded as civilians,
rode in unmarked vehicles, and masked
their faces during attacks in so-called
“Shadow Battallions”. They hit the
protesters with tear gas and live bullets.
Many were killed, many more arrested.
Even the Sudanese in the Diaspora
joined in. In the USA, Canada, Europe,
and Australia, they held protest vigils
in front of Sudanese embassies and
made pitches before parliaments there.
Bashir appeared bamboozled. He issued
directive after directive. None was
effective.
Bashir, it appears too tried to execute
a power transition formula that long-
staying authoritarian regimes are
increasingly adopting. It starts with
grabbing power and holding on to it
by any means for as long as possible.
When holding on becomes impossible
for whatever reason; civilian protests,
sickness, or old age, pass it on to
someone within your inner circle.
That locks out the true opposition. It
had worked in Egypt, Zimbabwe, DR
Congo, and lately Algeria where ailing
Bouteflika was kicked out on Fools Day
April 01. Executed by a panicky Bashir,
however, it was a failed fumble. Bashir
had a month earlier contemptuously
referred to the young men and women
as “rats that should go back to their
holes,” insisting he would only move
aside for another army officer, or at the
ballot box.
“They said they want the army to take
power. That’s no problem. If someone
comes in wearing khaki, we have no
objection,” he said, “When the army
moves, it does not move in a vacuum. It
does not move in support of traitors. It
moves in support of the homeland.”
But Gen. Awad Ibn Auf, the former
Defence Minister, First Vice-President
and head of Sudan’s notorious and
hated Military Intelligence and
Security, served a single day. He was
replaced by Lt. Gen. Abdel-Fattah
Burhan. He is considered cleaner than
the others. But the protests continue. It
is not clear if Burhan will offer a clean
transition from Bashir.
April. 19 - 25 2019 13
NEWS ANALYSIS

How Sudan’s protesters

forced al-Bashir out
The protesters were calling for freedom, peace, justice
By Andrew Edward Tchie Al-Bashir also dissolved federal and to crack down on demonstrators. Through-

F
ollowing months of protests, and a
prolonged sit-in outside the military
headquarters in Khartoum, Suda-
nese president Omar al-Bashir was
placed under house arrest on April 11 as
the country’s military prepared for a transi-
tional government.
Many have described the Sudanese upris-
ing as a “bread protest” against a rise in
inflation. In fact the Sudanese people took to
the streets for much more than a struggling
economy, or the price of bread. They have
been calling for freedom, peace, justice and
the downfall of the regime.
And they have finally won.
The generation leading the uprising was
born and raised during al-Bashir’s 30-year
rule. The protesters are mostly young pro-
fessionals who have been directly affected
by the regime’s Islamisation and Arabisa-
tion policies. These policies have been par-
ticularly harsh against women’s freedoms
and rights, which explains why young
Sudanese women are at the heart of the
uprising. The policies have also resulted in
multiple years of conflict and insecurity in
Darfur, South Kordofan, and the Blue Nile.
Sudan’s governing system has already
deteriorated because of years of state autoc-
racy, nepotism, corruption and violent
conflict.
Al-Bashir’s removal may bring down the
state if a strong successor isn’t positioned
to replace him. But in my view, given how
Sudan has historically been run, the demo-
cratic preferences of many young protesters
is unlikely to come to fruition. Their expec-
tations for a functioning democracy, with
free and fair elections, and constitutional
freedoms will not be met unless the next
leader of Sudan is a reformist.
Al-Bashir’s first responses
The regime responded to the protests in
three ways.
First, al-Bashir tried to quickly reconsoli-
date his power by proposing constitutional
changes that would have allowed him
to stand for reelection in 2020. That was
quickly taken off the table. He then declared
a year-long nationwide state of emergency.
The emergency state prohibited “unauthor-
ised” gatherings and movements. Violence
followed as the state deployed heavy-hand-
ed tactics to break up the protests.
state governments, replacing almost all of
Sudan’s 18 state governors with army offi-
cers. And he ordered parliament to delay
deliberations over proposed constitutional
amendments that would allow him to run
for an extra-constitutional term in next
year’s elections. When the protests didn’t
subside he called for broad-based dialogue.
In a bid to stay in power, al-Bashir also
Omar al-Bashir
reached out to those who had backed him
financially on previous occasions. These
included the Persian Gulf states as well as
Egypt and Russia. However, these allies
have done little more than offer him vague
statements of support.
He also began to lose the support of
Western backers. Once warm to al-Bashir,
they recently began to issue stern repri-
mands.
The protests
By the time al-Bashir stepped down pro-
tests had taken hold in more than 35 cities
across the country. People took to the streets
in more and more places following the first
demonstration in the northern Nile-side
town of Atbara.
The current uprising was triggered by
a government decision to lift subsidies on
essential commodities and to drastically
increase bread prices. In a matter of weeks,
the protest in Atbara would reach the capital
Khartoum 349 kilometres away.
As protests erupted across the country
agents of the powerful National Intelligence
and Security Service and riot police began
out, however, the army refrained from
intervening. Rumours began to surface that
al-Bashir was ready to hand over power
to the armed force. But this was swiftly
rejected by the Minister of Information and
government spokesman of the government,
Hassan Ismail.
In the final days before al-Bashir stepped
down thousands of demonstrators reached
the ministry compound in Khartoum. This
also houses al-Bashir’s residence, the secret
service headquarters and the defence min-
istry. Protesters then upped the stakes by
trying to gain support from the army. What
began to emerge was that senior officers
were possibly weakening, or that they were
hoping to use the protests to pressure fac-
tions within the ruling elite.
Protesters used a number of tactics to
keep the momentum going. These included
using social media such as Facebook, Twit-
ter and WhatsApp. All evolved during the
uprising despite the government’s attempts
to block the user, and Virtual Private Net-
works were used to access the women’s
only Facebook group called “Minbar Chat”.
Videos recorded by the protesters became
important in documenting the crimes per-
petrated by the security forces during the
peaceful protests. They also became the
main means of informing the Sudanese peo-
ple and the international community about
the brutality of al-Bashir’s regime.
Now that al-Bashir has resigned he will
probably be required to leave the country
by agreeing to safe passage to a friendly
state, possibly somewhere like Egypt, or
Qatar. The only way he can remain in
Sudan is if he had prior agreement with the
military to ensure his safety. It’s possible
that the new generals he appointed after the
declaration of a state of emergency might
side with him.
Their support could have been one of
the reasons why he felt that he could step
down. Looking ahead, with or without
Bashir, there’s also a possibility that the pro-
tests could continue if the people of Sudan
feel that the swamp has not been drained of
all the regime’s oppressive leaders.
Andrew Edward Tchie is Editor, Armed Conflict
Database; Research Fellow, Conflict, Security
and Development at International Institute for
Strategic Studies, University of Essex
Source: The Conversation

14 April. 19 - 25 2019

Omar al-Bashir:
a military autocrat
with a shrewd
sense of politics
By Martin Plaut
T
he reign of Omar al-Bashir is over.
His 30 years of rule are finally at an
end. Like previous Sudanese lead-
ers, he was finally toppled by the
army, which finally sided with the people
over the president.
But it was the presence of vast numbers
of ordinary citizens on the streets of Khar-
toum and other cities and towns across the
country that precipitated the change of gov-
ernment. Women played a critical role in
his downfall, as did a range of professional
organisations which refused to accept the
president’s rule any longer.
There is a long history of coups in Sudan.
The first, in 1969, saw Colonel Gaafar
Nimeiry in power. In an early analysis of
African coups, anti-apartheid activist and
author Ruth First, who was killed by the
apartheid regime, wrote in her book, Barrel
of a gun: “The young officer coup of 1969
wrenched power not from a feudal-based
aristocracy but from traditional political
parties enmeshed in sectarian religious
politics”.
After several failed coups, Nimeiry was
finally overthrown by the head of the army,
Field Marshal Suwar al-Dahab. The subse-
quent election ushered in the government
of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi. In turn,
he was toppled by Omar al-Bashir in June
1989.
Al-Bashir, in a sometimes troubled alli-
ance with Islamists of the National Islamic
Front, has held power ever since. He leaves
a country that is far from at peace with
itself. Almost half of the population lives
below the poverty line. For a long time the
president’s recipe of repression and govern-
ment handouts worked. But the people of
Sudan reached a point where they’d had
enough. Human rights groups estimated
that around 40 people had died in the
protest since last December, yet still they
continued.
Al-Bashir, born in 1944 to a peasant fam-
ily from Northern Sudan who moved to the
capital, rose to prominence when he joined
the army. He went to study in an Egyptian
military college and fought with the Egyp-
tian army in the 1973 war against Israel.
Early life and rise to power
Returning to Sudan, he was rapidly
promoted and took a leading role in the
military campaign to try and crush south-
ern rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation
Army. In February 1989 a group of army
officers presented Prime Minister al-Mahdi
with an ultimatum demanding that he
either find a political settlement to the civil
war or give the military the means to seek a
battlefield victory.
Frustrated by the prime minister’s refusal
to do either, al-Bashir overthrew the govern-
ment. At the time he was described in the
West as a “little-known officer identified
as Brig. Omar Hassam Ahmed al-Bashir”
who announced over Omdurman radio that
a new Revolutionary Council had taken
control.
There was no return to civilian rule.
Despite being a military autocrat, al-Bashir
had a shrewd sense of politics. Not only did
he survive the complex political intrigues of
Khartoum, he saw off a number of severe
challenges. The first was the southern rebel-
lion. The mainly African south had resented
the domination of the predominantly Arab
north since the independence of Sudan in
1956 from the joint British and Egyptian
NEWS ANALYSIS
government that administrated the country.
The bitter struggle finally led to the
independence of South Sudan in July 2011.
Khartoum’s long war to resist this had been
unsuccessful, yet al-Bashir managed to sur-
vive this defeat: he even attended the inde-
pendence celebrations on 9 July 2011.
There was a second revolt from the
eastern region of Darfur, which had long
enjoyed considerable autonomy from the
centre. The conflict erupted in 2003, when
rebel movements attacked government tar-
gets, accusing the Sudanese government of
oppressing Africans in favour of Arabs.
The fighting was to displace some 2.7 mil-
lion people and led to the deaths of some
300,000.
At one time Darfur won international
attention. Al-Bashir has faced charges of
war crimes and genocide from the Interna-
tional Criminal Court since 2009, allegations
which still hang over his head.
But the concerns of international celebri-
ties like George Clooney gradually faded,
leaving bitterness in their wake.
The President also offered sanctuary to
Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda,
who made his home in Khartoum from the
1990’s. But intense diplomatic pressure from
Washington led to bin Laden being forced
out of Sudan and relocating to Afghanistan.
In return the U.S. provided support for
the Sudanese government – backing that
was strengthened under President Barack
Obama.
It was this ability to play a skillful com-
bination of internal and external balancing
acts, plus ruthless repression and a divided
opposition, which kept al-Bashir in power
for three decades.
The denouement
Finally it was something as simple and
essential as bread that led to his downfall.
Protests in the northern city of Atbara in
December 2018 lit the fuse that finally
brought tens of thousands onto the streets.
What started as a fight against the tri-
pling of bread prices led to a challenge to
the entire regime and the downfall of the
dictatorship. President Omar al-Bashir is the
second of Africa’s longest serving leaders to
be forced from power by a popular upris-
ing. Earlier this month Abdelaziz Bouteflika
was forced out of office.
But removing dictators is easier than ush-
ering in democracy. The Egyptian case is all
too familiar across the Middle East. Mass
demonstrations on 30 June 2013 brought
tens of millions of Egyptians took to the
streets to denounce Mohamed Morsi. They
got General Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in his place.
He now intends to hold power until 2034.
Martin Plaut
Senior Research Fellow, Horn of Africa and
Southern Africa, Institute of Commonwealth
Studies, School of Advanced Study
Source: The Conversation
April. 19 - 25 2019 15
INTERVIEW

'We shouldn’t use political

will as a blanket excuse
and fail to fight corruption'
Valentine Namakula, the Director of SUGAR-TAF recently spoke to The
Independent’s Ronald Musoke on the ever-changing face of corruption in Uganda.

S
What is SUGAR all about? aware are people about the cost of corrup- Uganda?
UGAR refers to “Strengthening tion to them. In many ways, if you take an I think we have to start with what role the
Uganda’s Anti-Corruption Re- example of corruption in elections, if you media wants to play in the anti-corruption
sponse.” It is a programme funded elect a leader who is not qualified but you crusade. Is it more of flagging? Is it con-
by both the UK government and are only thinking of the immediate gain in sistent engagement with the public to
the European Union and it was designed terms of a piece of soap or any other entice- change the course— which means staying
in response to a government request to ment they have given you, in the long run, the course? The fight
strengthen mechanisms of responding to that is a cost to a borehole or access to safe against corruption is
corruption in Uganda. The programme water, education and many other public going to be a joint effort.
essentially provides technical advisory goods. We need to look at our own behav-
services. We are looking at reducing levels iour, break the cultures and practices that
of corruption through two mutually re- sustain corruption. But we also need
enforcing mechanisms. One is increasing to support those who are proactive
the risk of engaging in corruption and the enough to fight against corrup-
other is looking at reducing opportunities tion. That is why at SUGAR-
for corruption. If you look at the causes of TAF, for instance, we sup-
corruption and what sustains it; sometimes port those public sector
it is outright greed and other times it is inef- institutions that have over
ficiencies in the public institutions. time deliberately and pur-
posely put in place mech-
Uganda has over the last two decades anisms and policies to
taken steps against corruption through en- reduce corruption. But
actment of laws and creation of adminis- they are not many and
trative and institutional frameworks yet, it they need support
appears, the public sees the fight as a ‘lost because they con-
cause.’ What explains this weariness? tinuously have risks
First, we need to understand what causes and threats against
corruption, what sustains it and why it is them. We should
endemic. Corruption happens in private, re-enforce and cre-
there are two beneficiaries and it is a win- ate a bigger group
win situation for them. So to root out some- of like-minded anti-
thing like that is not only a responsibility corruption people
of the institutions that we have put in place in every sphere
(the Inspectorate of Government, the Direc- including; civil
torate of Public Prosecutions, the Uganda society, academia,
Police Force), it is a collective responsibility. and the media.
The public institutions; starting from the
legislation to the institutions, cannot fight What is your
corruption on their own without getting view on the
support from the private sector or the citi- way the
zens. It is good to look at where we started media
and acknowledge progress. We started reports
from a situation where we did not have the on cor-
legislation or the institutions. The next step rup-
should be supporting these institutions to tion
work. in

What does the Ugandan citizen need to do

to fight corruption?
I think it starts with awareness. How

16 April. 19 - 25 2019

The media has a reach-out that is much
broader than what the anti-corruption insti-
tutions have. The media has a role to report
on instances of corruption but also to report
where progress has been made so that
people know that it is not all pathetic. The
media also needs to challenge where more
can be done; rally forces alongside public
sector institutions, the academia and civil
society. It is fine to challenge ourselves if we
don’t hit the mark but, we should not trash
everything that has so far been done.
In the past, corruption was limited to fa-
vours and bribes to a few public officials;
but it is now syndicated, with the corrupt
devising ways to go around government
systems. What explains this evolution?
It goes back to how the public financial
management systems have evolved from
the manual to the automated systems. One
person cannot be the beginning and the
end of a transaction. Different people must
get together to enable funds flow and that
is how organised crime happens. That is
what the institututions that are investigat-
ing crime should be looking at. You need to
have mechanisms where you have red flags
going off. And that is not the role of the
anti-corruption institutions; the people who
are managing the resources on a day-to-day
basis have a responsibility through their
internal audit functions. Secondly, where
it has happened and there is a criminal ele-
ment in it, it should be investigated and
prosecuted to its actual conclusion.
Would you say there is enough political
will to fight public-sector corruption in
this country?
Can we say in all the cases where cor-
ruption has occurred across the country, it
is because of the absence of political will?
Is it political will that is forcing you to
pay a bribe to a police officer? We started
this programme in 2016, just as President
Museveni was getting out his messages of
zero-tolerance to corruption (Kisanja Hakuna
Mchezo). I think there has not been absence
of political will in terms of delivering mes-
sages against corruption. It is the capability
and who takes responsibility for it. I think
we use political will as a blanket excuse and
fail to find opportunities to fight corrup-
tion where we can as citizens. Of course,
there are political considerations but that
aside; there is still room for us to reduce the
opportunity for engaging in corruption if
we all assumed our responsibilities geared
towards fighting corruption. If we leave the
fight against corruption to the leaders or to
the public sector and we make it external,
then we have all lost the fight.
What mechanisms has SUGAR-TAF come
up with to help institutions involved in
the anti-graft fight perform their roles in a
coordinated manner?
We have two mutually re-enforcing
mechanisms; one revolves around increas-
ing the risk for those engaged in corruption.
This is in terms of raising the likelihood
of detection, investigation to the point of
prosecution and adjudication in court. We
have also added another component of
recovery of assets because corruption is an
acquisitive crime— people get into corrup-
tion because there are gains— and because
of that, we are focusing on sanctions and
asset recovery. We are also looking at mak-
ing sanctions work. For a long time, the
focus has been on criminal sanctions where
people pay fines or they are taken to prison,
and after many years in jail, they go back
and enjoy the proceeds of crime. So we
are now trying to integrate sanctions. We
are supporting the institutions involved in
detection, investigation, prosecution and
the courts. The other aspect of our work is
preventive in nature. We have been looking
at what causes inefficiencies in the public
sector institutions which then allows cor-
ruption to happen. We have identified good
practices and identified several institutions
Can we say in all
the cases where
corruption has
occurred across the
country, it is because
of the absence of
political will?
that have worked over time to reduce cor-
ruption and have also delivered services.
We have studied what makes them stand
out; including the vision they set, the leader-
ship styles and practices; the new ways of
working they introduced in their institu-
tions. Unfortunately they are very few.
What are some of the public institutions
that have excelled in recent times?
We always take the Uganda Revenue
Authority (URA) as a case study. Twenty
years ago, the East African Bribery Index
rated it as one of the most corruption-prone
institutions. Twenty years later; it is ranked
the least of them all. What have they done
over the years and what can we learn from
them?
In terms of detection, asset tracing, pros-
ecution, sanctions and asset recovery, how
have you been engaging the various insti-
tutions to achieve results?
These institutions have not been in this
field for a long time. There is a body of
INTERVIEW
knowledge out there which they should
utilize. We are training them in the area of
knowledge and skill. The second one is col-
laboration across these institutions. These
institutions cannot stand alone. The Finan-
cial Intelligence Authority, which is one of
the 12 institutions we support is providing
financial intelligence from the banks and
making it accessible to investigators across
law enforcement institutions. We have also
supported the high profile investigation
unit in the Inspectorate of Government, to
adopt new practices.
Could the fact that most of these institu-
tions are young explain why investiga-
tions and prosecution of corruption cases
often go wrong leaving the corrupt walk
free on the streets?
The response to corruption is multi-
faceted. You also need to understand its
nature. Is it lack of compliance with sys-
tems? If this is the case, then we should
have other remedies as opposed to going
to court. If it is incompetence in terms of
the people manning the systems, then there
should be remedies in terms of continuous
training of the people manning those sys-
tems. Low-level corruption, in my opinion,
should be administratively handled. The
criminal sanctions element should come
at the very end; and it should only pun-
ish the extremes; it should not be taken as
a carry-all for all corrupt crimes. Still, the
anti-corruption institutions have followed
through a number of good cases and I think
that needs to be applauded.
Soon, there will be enormous amounts
of oil revenues pouring into Uganda’s
economy. How are you preparing the anti-
corruption agencies to deal with corrup-
tion in the oil and gas sector?
Unfortunately we are a very small pro-
gramme. Right now we are looking at
sectors that have a very close connection
to service delivery and we are exploring
work in health and education. But we also
know that there are different organisations
that are working in the oil and gas sector.
The recent development of the government
agreeing to join the Extractive Industries
Transparency Initiative (EITI) is a step in the
right direction in terms of promoting trans-
parency and anti-corruption.
Your last word?
I have talked to people in the private sec-
tor, in civil society and even in the public
sector institutions, and they all say, they are
challenged. Corruption is something that
must be fought but we are not all coming
together to fight it yet it affects all of us. So,
remembering our beginnings, focusing on
where we are going and then finding mul-
tiple ways and all of us owning our respon-
sibilities will take us somewhere.
April. 19 - 25 2019 17
INTERVIEW

BBC Staff in their Nairobi Bureau, the largest office in the world outside the UK

Global media expansion in Africa

spells doom for local players
Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard, the founder and chairman of APO Group, a top media relations consultancy and
press release distribution firm in Africa and the Middle East was in Kampala in early April to talk to journalism
students about the current media landscape on the continent that has seen international media organizations
such as the BBC, CNN, The Washington Post, CGTN, Al Jazeera invest massively in Africa. Before he left for
Lusaka, Zambia, Pompigne-Mognard shared his reflections with The Independent’s Ronald Musoke.

W
hen the British Broadcasting
Corporation last November
opened its US$370 million
state-of-the-art bureau in
Nairobi— the largest office outside
the UK—Pompigne-Mognard sat back
and fretfully reflected on the new
development.
The BBC’s outlay only added to the
growing list of big international media
companies that are deliberately investing
millions of dollars on the continent.
Pompigne-Mognard, a French-
Gabonese entrepreneur says the
international media is being lured
to the continent by the fast-growing
population.
A recent UN demographic report, for
instance, shows that Africa’s population
will double to 2.4 billion by 2050 and that
40% of all humanity will live in Africa by
the turn of the century.
Similarly, global management
consultancy firms like McKinsey have
also predicted that Africa is poised for
economic acceleration similar to the
Asian boom; something that Pompigne-
Mognard says is shown by the recent
investment trends of large multi-national
companies on the continent.
For decades, he says, hundreds of
American and German companies have
been operating in South Africa but most
of them are now planning to expand
north of the River Limpopo to get a slice
of the untapped market.
“This will obviously translate into
more media spending, especially if
you consider a growing trend where
communicators are re-evaluating
their mix of advertising versus public
relations,” he says.
“The Washington Post recently
announced that they would be
expanding in Africa. In France, so many
media outlets like Le Monde are opening
African sections; The Huffington Post
launched its version in North Africa
not to mention CNN which now has six
programmes dedicated to Africa,” he
told The Independent.
“They are coming or expanding not
in Paris, Washington, or Beijing but in
Africa.”
Tough times for local media
Regrettably, this development is
coming at the time the media industry
in Africa is struggling with digitization,
monetization and talent management.
To make the situation even worse, more
Africans are turning to the international
media outlets for news and other
services.
“If the trend of Africans wanting to
spend more time watching international
media persists, the advertisers of
multi-national companies will end
up advertising with the international
media,” he says.
“If I am Coca Cola and I have a
choice between several media houses
in Uganda, Kenya or Nigeria and one
international outlet like CNN which has
a far bigger reach, I would choose CNN.”
“The French say when there is a crisis,
the fat grow thinner and the thin just die.
We know the media in Africa is already
thin, so what happens when you give
more money to a competitor?” he added.
These thoughts, Pompigne-Mognard
says, have pre-occupied his mind since
he left his position as Chief Executive
Officer of APO-Group towards the end of
last year.
He has now embarked on a mission,
travelling around the continent to meet
with media owners, practicing journalists
and journalism students.In March this
year, he travelled to Senegal, before
crossing to Uganda and Zambia.
“We are discussing what sort of
impact this outlay of investments by

18 April. 19 - 25 2019

international media organizations could
have on the media landscape in Africa,”
he said.
“You have an African media already
facing challenges and then you see so
many international media coming from
outside Africa and investing massively,
if they manage to attract and divert some
of the revenue which could have ended
up in the coffers of several local media, it
will be extremely detrimental to African
media.”
This trend, he says, will reshape the
media landscape in ten years’ time
because, “we unfortunately live in a
world where those who have more
money usually win.”
“By the way these media companies
are not coming here for philanthropy,
they are here for business; they see
potential on the continent,” he said.
“It means, for instance, that the
African media will not have the means
to finance digitization or invest in
funding the relevant models to make
money. Secondly, they will not be able
to pay top talent because the best talent
will end up at BBC, CNN or CGTN.”
It is not the first time Pompigne-
Mognard has peered into the future
and made a prediction. Ten years ago,
while still a budding journalist, he
visited the European headquarters of
PR Newswire, in London which at the
time was considered the leading global
press release distribution service.
“I explained to several of their
senior managers how Africa would
soon represent a huge market for press
releases and why it was time for them
to invest in the continent.”
Pompigne-Mognard says the
managers just laughed. Ten years later,
APO Group is receiving purchase
offers, strategic partnership offers,
merger and acquisition transaction
offers from some of the leading players
in the industry.
Since its inception in 2007, APO
Group has quickly become the most
influential and reputable media
relations consulting firm in Africa and
the Middle East through its pioneering
press release distribution and
innovative monitoring solutions.
Its global advisory services allows
organizations all over the world to
harness the potential of media by
developing strategic communications
plans that help to build positive
connections with key audiences.
His clients include companies like
Facebook, Uber, Marriott, Hilton, GE,
Orange, DHL, Philips, Coca-Cola,
Standard Chartered Bank, Siemens,
Canon, PwC, EY, McKinsey &
Company, Accor Hotels, flydubai, DP
World, just to name a few.
At the same time, the company’s
Advisory Division also serves clients
like Aliko Dangote, the International
Criminal Court, Microsoft, Samsung,
Total, Merck, Société Générale, L’Oréal,
Ernst & Young, Orange, Government of
Dubai, Greenpeace, Rotary, Al Jazeera,
Western Union, Heineken, and Ericsson.
Prior to becoming an entrepreneur,
Pompigne-Mognard worked as the
European correspondent for Gabonews,
a Gabonese online publication when he
realized how difficult it was to get Africa-
related press releases, press briefings and
official statements issued by European
institutions, NGOs, embassies and
governments.
“As a journalist, I needed to receive all
this information in order to stay on top of
everything that was happening between
Europe and Africa at a diplomatic,
economic or even cultural level. To
access press releases, I had to subscribe
to all the mailing lists,” he says.
But Pompigne-Mognard soon realized
Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard
he was spending hours and days trying
to reach the relevant people so they
could send him their press releases.
Soon he realized that if receiving press
releases issued by these organizations
was difficult for him, it was extremely
problematic for any journalist to get
Africa-related press release content.
First, he says, the inability of African
journalists to access this information just
re-enforced their dependence on Western
media and press agencies. Secondly,
most of the press releases issued by
African governments and institutions
never reached the international media
community at all.
Pompigne-Mognard says this was the
period when international institutions
like the African Development Bank,
the World Bank and the International
Monetary Fund were having serious
discussions about the role of African
INTERVIEW
media in the promotion of good
governance.
Months later, with an initial
investment of €10,000, APO was signing
strategic agreements with Bloomberg,
Reuters and other international
players to guarantee the worldwide
distribution of thousands of Africa-
related press releases in a standardized,
internationally-recognized News ML
format for the first time.
Need to study media trends in Africa
It is with this kind of foresight that he
wants Africans to study and understand
the current media trends on the
continent. Besides the business woes that
the international media might inflict on
the African media, he also sees a problem
of sovereignty.
“I am explaining to journalism
students that there is no such a thing as
“international media,” these are national
media with an international coverage,”
he says.
“When you say they are
“international” you put a spoon
of objectivity in it; that they are
international and they are for the good
of everybody but they are essentially
national in outlook.”
“When you think about the worst case
scenario, it is really bad and it has the
potential of re-establishment of a form of
colonialism via the international media.
Africa is the next big thing in terms of
population.”
“What happens when 50% of the
population learns about what is
happening in their country through the
international media?” “What happens
to a Ugandan teenager when they learn
about what’s happening in Morocco or
Nigeria through CNN?”
“The more I think about this and the
more I interact with people, the more I
am convinced that the current situation
threatens to have a setback of the gains
made on the continent.”
But is it all a lost cause?
May be not.
Pompigne-Mognard says in some
of the engagements he has had with
media managers on the continent, he
has been told some of their programmes
are quite popular with their audiences
and the common thread with all
these programmes is that they are
“authentically” African.
“May be we are making a mistake by
copying the international media,” he
says, “We need to find our unique selling
point or what makes us different and
concentrate on that.”
April. 19 - 25 2019 19
L-R: Onegi Obel (the founder of the USE), Sejjaaka, Bwiso, Kitariko addressing reporters at the USE headquarters in Kampala on April 11.   INDEPENDENT/JULIUS BUSINGE
Behind African Alliance’s move
to quit brokerage business
Why brokerage firms must diversify investments
to cope with emerging stock market trends
O
By Julius Businge
nce upon a time, being
a stockbroker was
comfortable, genteel
and lucrative, according
to Andre Cappon, the
chief executive officer,
CBM Group, a management consultant
firm specialising in financial services
based in New York.
He says brokers, as members and
owners controlled the exchanges and
that the exchanges were run as quasi-
non-profit clubs or utilities to support
their members.
“Exchanges had monopoly on
liquidity and brokers controlled access.
By providing investors access to
markets, brokers earned commissions
and also received trading fee rebates
from the exchange,” he says.
Cappon’s analysis best describes the
situation that Uganda’s stockbrokers
20 April. 19 - 25 2019
were in a few years ago.
However, in 2015, with the
evolution of the stock market driven
by technology adoption and the
continued change in the market
structure, brokerage firms now seem
to be anticipating more declines in
revenue streams ahead as the cost of
intermediation in the process of serving
investors fall.
This could be worsened by the USE’s
planned unveiling of an electronic
platform later this year that will enable
prospective investors to access market
directly including making payments.
This move is already triggering
brokerage firms to think outside the
box for survival.
On April 11, African Alliance Uganda
Limited, which has been in operation
for the last 15 years, announced that
it was exiting the brokerage industry
effective April 30.
The company’s Chief Executive
Officer, Kenneth Kitariko, said at the
Nakawa based USE that the “ stock
brokerage business is not making
money.”
“…when the business is not making
money, you have to plan for the
future,” he said, “the shareholders will
not be happy to subsidise the stoke
broking business in Uganda…it is an
issue of survival,” he said.
However, Kitariko said they have a
lot of good prospects and will be more
engaged in the advisory business that
is now easier to manage.
Figures from the Capital Markets
Authority indicate that Uganda has 14
firms engaged in investment advisory
services and seven stock brokers. The
figure of 14 means African Alliance
will need to think hard to overcome
competition in a minute market.
Kitariko said that investors in many
markets are leaning more towards fixed
income instruments as countries use

fiscal policy to bolster their currencies
or borrow at relatively higher interest
rates.
As a policy recommendation,
Kitariko said market regulators should
engage in conversations geared
towards allowing the stock exchange
and stock brokers engage and invest in
the fixed income market.
In fact, he said, that if that was the
case today, African Alliance would
have kept in the trade.
Meanwhile, a company note had
earlier indicated that clients with SCD
accounts or documents of title (with
or without cash balances) that will not
have transferred by Monday May 06
to another firm of their choice, would
have their accounts and cash balances
transferred to UAP Old Mutual
Financial Services Limited that had
been cleared by the regulators for this
transaction.
For the last 15 years, market analysts
have hailed the African Alliance for
being active at the bourse.
According to figures The Independent
obtained from the USE, the company
traded Shs458.8billion from 2010 to
date and had 5612 registered investors.
It was the lead sponsoring broker
for the popular power distributor,
Umeme IPO in 2012 (that raised about
Shs44.7bn). It participated in dfcu and
Uganda Clays rights issues in 2017 and
2008 respectively.
It was also in charge of Stanbic’s
bonus issues of 2010 and 2012. It was
the lead advisor for Nation Media
Group cross listing both in Uganda
and Rwanda in 2010. It was the lead
transaction advisor and sponsoring
broker for Equity bank in 2009, It was
a co-sponsoring broker for Stanbic
IPO in 2007, lead transaction advisor
and sponsoring broker for PTA bank
in 2009, Bank of Baroda bonus issue
2011, Housing Finance bond for 2012
and African Development Bank bond
(2012).
The company was also the lead
transaction advisor for a number of
transactions in Rwanda such as one
for Bralirwa and Bank of Kigali among
other transactions.
Paul Bwiso, the USE chief executive
officer, said he is confident that UAP
Old Mutual will continue offering the
necessary investment services to their
old and incoming clients.
In terms of future of the market and
its performance, he said: “The outlook
is bullish and positive.” He added that
current brokers in the market are well
capitalised and are able to operate.
“We monitor their operations and
when we see any broker getting near
the red line, we advise them to boost
their capital to continue with the
business,” Bwiso said.
This new development is coming at a
time trading figures are declining at the
Nakawa bourse. According to Bwiso, in
2014 Shs460bn was traded, in 2015, the
figure reduced to Shs363bn, it further
went down to Shs187bn in 2016 before
registering its worst mark of Shs46bn
in 2018.
Bwiso attributed the sharp 2018
decline to Umeme’s trading which
underperformed compared to years
before because of the conversations
surrounding the renewal of its current
concession expiring in 2025.
However, going forward, Bwiso said
that they have been approached by
two entities from the financial sector
with intentions to list. They are also
optimistic that the President’s directive
on telecoms to list on the market will
boost trading and performance of
the remaining stock brokerage firms.
According to
figures The
Independent
obtained
from the USE,
the company
traded
Shs458.8billion
from 2010 to
date and had
5612 registered
investors
In terms of sustaining business for
the exchange, he said that they have
diversified their revenue to keep in
business.
He said they have gone into data
vending, registry services and are
setting up a training division.
“We should be able to see non-
trading revenue to keep the exchange
running,” Bwiso said.
Can Old Mutual handle?
Samuel Sejjaaka, an economist, who
also serves as the chairman board of
directors for Old Mutual Financial
business
Services Limited, said with 176 years
of consistent growth and strong values
demonstrated world over, they are
ready.
“As you will come to learn, it is more
than the trade for us, it is a partnership
and moreover one that you can count
on,” he said, “we are extremely
delighted at this opportunity and our
aim is to build on the foundation that
African Alliance has laid over the
years.”
He added that it is a question of
synergies which they are bringing
to the table besides insurance, fund
management, property management
and other businesses they do.
Commenting on the entire market
performance, Sejjaaka said there is no
velocity and that speaks to the fact that
most people holding investments in
the Ugandan market are institutional
investors who are not interested in
selling their stocks.
Simon Kusiima Mwebaze, the
general manager for UAP Old Mutual
said they have a strong team that can
churn out research that can spur some
of that activity needed in the market.
He said they would continue
partnering with African Alliance
particularly in regards to churning out
opportunities regarding advisory and
related investments.
So, what can brokers do to remain
in business?
Cappon says brokerage firms need
to embrace institutional brokerage
business models offering full service
intermediation, including investment
banking, research, trading and sales
and asset management. In addition, he
says, they should offer low-cost, high –
speed, high tech execution platforms.
“It is clear the institutional brokerage
business requires specialisation.
Successful firms have each found a
unique combination of customer focus
and products/services that match the
needs of the targeted customers,” he
says.
On the issuer side, Cappon says,
firms may focus on certain industry
sectors such as technology, healthcare,
financials or any other niche.
On the investor side, firms may focus
on traditional active asset managers
and hedge funds.
Regarding products and services,
firms also need to specialise. He says
that whereas some have remained
traditional full-service, many have
become narrowly focused on areas such
as research.
April. 19 - 25 2019 21
business
Stanbic’s new revenue stream
The bank is eying fin-tech, insurance, fund
management and stock brokerage cash
By Julius Businge
O
n April 10, Stanbic Bank might
have given hope to its sharehold-
ers that they will earn more mon-
ey in the near future estimated to
be more than Shs300bn in net profit.
The announcement came as the bank
officially changed its trading name from
Stanbic Bank Uganda Limited to Stanbic
Uganda Holdings Limited.
This was revealed by Japheth Katto, the
Bank’s Board of Directors chairman flanked
by Samuel Fredrick Mwogeza, the bank’s
chief financial officer and Paul Bwiso, the
chief executive officer of the Uganda Securi-
ties Exchange that hosted the event.
The changes had been approved by the
two regulators, Bank of Uganda and the
Capital Markets Authority, a process that
started last year.
The new changes had a week earlier
forced the USE to voluntarily suspend
trading of company shares until the entire
reorganisation process is formalised and
completed.
The counter was reopened on April
10, trading under the new name ‘Stanbic
Uganda Holdings Limited’.
Katto said the ultimate objective of the
reorganisation was to move from the then
legal and operating structure where SBU
was a public company listed on the USE
that provided banking services directly to
customers, to a group structure that com-
prises a holding company now listed on the
USE and several subsidiaries, including the
banking subsidiary.
He said the reorganisation was largely
aimed at creating new business subsid-
iaries beyond banking to deliver several
benefits that would enhance their customer
22 April. 19 - 25 2019
value proposition, increase the returns for
shareholders and deliver on their promise
to shareholders.
The good thing, Katto said that already
80% of their transactions are digital which
means opening up more opportunities for
the fin-techs would create more jobs and
related opportunities.
He also said by venturing into other non-
banking activities would add more jobs into
the economy, and contributes additional
tax. “We are very positive about the impact
on jobs and the economy,” Katto said.
The new move now enables the institu-
tion to undertake non-banking financial
services including stock brokerage services,
insurance brokerage and fund manage-
ment.
He said that the bank already has a
significant number of customers, good con-
tacts, reliable data and information which is
critical for offering a one stop service in the
market. “We are not diluting the rest of the
bank,” Katto said. “We are taking advan-
tage of what we have now to be able to give
a better proposition to the shareholders by
adding other lines of business,” he added.
He said it is up to the market, sharehold-
ers to see that actually there is more that is
coming for them to make informed deci-
sions. “These new lines of business are well
structured and will be well governed,” he
said. Paul Bwiso, [the USE CEO] welcomed
the new holding company at the Nakawa
based bourse and insisted it would bring
greater shareholder value to the investors.
In terms of value added to the USE, Bwi-
so said that he would love to see the new
company earn more revenue and translate it
into more trading and turnover at the stock
exchange. This would also come along with
new levies for the market.
Bwiso used the platform to explain why
the market (with 16 trading companies) is
dormant.
“The structure of our market is domi-
nated by institutional investors. These large
Funds buy into companies for the long term
(7-10 years)…and they do not easily sell
shares.That mops up liquidity that would
otherwise be available for trade.”
Going ahead, he said that for the market
to improve performance it needs more
issuances or more listing which should be
skewed to retail and less to institutions.
Samuel Fredrick Mwogeza, the bank’s
CFO said they will have all their branches
operating within “our holding company
which will allow us to optimise the space
to use at our branches and use some of it
[space] for other activities.”
He said this is a very exciting time and
that Stanbic has a very strong brand in the
market.
Mwogeza said that although the share
price of the company has remained flat
(Shs30) for many years at the bourse, the
business remains profitable and has re-
corded a dividend payout ratio of between
40-50% in the last five years.
The management has proposed a
dividend of Shs97.5bn for the year 2018
following a 12% profit before tax increase to
Shs297 billion in 2018.
It recorded Shs215billion as net profit
for the year 2018 compared to Shs200bn a
year before. The bank increased its earnings
from its core business of loans (net interest
income) from Shs352bn in 2017 to Shs370bn
in 2018.
Time will tell whether the new lines of
business created under the new holding
company will cause a substantial impact on
the bank’s profitability trend.

African free trade area
could be operational in July
The agreement will have to dodge a patchwork of trade
regulations and tariffs that make intra-African commerce costly
E
By Shoshana Kede
xcitement was palpable
throughout the region as the
dream for a continental free
trade area in Africa got the final
ratification needed to become a
reality this month.
Gambia became the 22nd African country
to ratify the African Continental Free Trade
Area agreement (AfCFTA), meaning the bill
now has the minimum number of ratifica-
tions needed to come into effect.
On March 21 Ethiopia became one of the
last African nations to ratify the AfCFTA,
bringing the tally of endorsing countries to
21.
The trade bloc spanning 49 countries with
a combined GDP of $3trillion, will facilitate
inter-regional trade, boost growth and help
to alleviate poverty, its supporters say.
The news was tweeted by the African
Union Commissioner for Trade and Indus-
try Albert Muchanga:
“Good news! The Parliament of The
Gambia has approved ratification of
AfCFTA Agreement making us meet the
minimum threshold,” he said.
“The AfCFTA market is being born and is
one step ready for launch of its operational
phase in July this year.
The agreement, signed by 49 of the 55
African Union nations in March last year,
will dodge a patchwork of trade regulations
and tariffs that make intra-African com-
merce costly, time-consuming and cumber-
some.
Its promotion of tariff-free movement of
goods, people and services across the conti-
nent is also expected to favour SME’s, who
account for 80% of Africa’s employment
and 50% of its GDP, according to the World
Bank.
But skeptics have pointed to the impend-
ing challenges of uniting countries with the
greatest level of income disparity between
them, under the umbrella of one trade bloc.
For example, over 50 percent of Africa’s
cumulative GDP is contributed by Egypt,
Nigeria and South Africa, while Africa’s six
sovereign island nations collectively contrib-
ute just 1 percent.
The motion was brought before Gambia’s
parliament by Lamin Jobe, Gambia’s trade
minister who highlighted the trade benefits
of deeper regional integration:
“This document will definitely serve as a
take-off point to enhance the free movement
of people, good and services.
“By using this there is a lot of advantages
that we can gain from the implementation
of this agreement,” he said.
This comes as Uganda’s private sector
hope that new agreement will stimulate
trade and investments across the continent.
Gideon Badagawa, the executive director
business
of the Private Sector Foundation Uganda
also told The Independent last year in an
interview that the Ugandan manufacturers
and producers now have a market platform
beyond the EAC and COMESA.
He said the government now needs to
work with its counterparts to invest in a
Common Infrastructure Fund to facilitate
the building of infrastructure that link
countries to enable private sector trade and
investment across borders.
Data from African Import Export Bank
in its 2018 Africa trade report shows that
the trade deficit narrowed to $96.9 billion in
2017 compared with $132.5 billion in 2016.
Exports increased to $405.3 billion in
2017 from $344 billion a year earlier, while
imports advanced to $502.3 billion from
$476.6 billion.
The report also notes that whereas
Africa’s trade with the rest of the world
expanded 11% to $907.6 billion last year,
the portion of trade within the continent
declined to 14 % of the total.
South Africa, Namibia and Nigeria
accounted for more than 35 % of intra-Afri-
ca trade last year. South Africa contributed a
quarter of the region’s domestic commerce
in 2017, mostly in oil imports from Nigeria
and Angola.
Adapted from the African Business Magazine
.Isaac Khisa contributed to this article.
April. 19 - 25 2019 23
 Executive Style
‘Uganda still safe for tourists’
First, can you briefly
I
describe your company?
opened a tour
company in Uganda
in 1999 called Pearl
of Africa, Tours
and travel Limited.
Our intention is to
help market the entire
country, all the hotels
and tourism potentials
to the local and
international visitors.
What is your
management style as
the executive director?
My management
approach is more like
what (the 35th president
of the United States)
John Kennedy had. I
surround myself with
the best and brightest
people and let them do
what they do. This is
a business where you
can’t do everything. I
cannot be the driver, the
one to answer emails,
buy tickets, go to a
tradeshow and deliver
a speech. I hope my
staff likes how I handle
things and many of
them have worked for
me for years. I would
also like to know
what my employee is
going to do so that we set
parameters. So, we often
have meetings and discuss
what we going to do, and of
course as ED, I would have
the right to have a final say.
However, I often let things
happen to see if their way
is right. I also believe in
consultation.
What is your assessment of
Uganda’s tourism sector?
Uganda’s tourism
industry has recorded
tremendous improvement
over the last 20 years. Back
24 April. 19 - 25 2019
Kelley Mac Tavish is the Executive
Director Pearl of Africa, Tours and travel
Limited. She spoke to The Independent’s
Patricia Akankwatsa about the state of
Uganda’s tourism opportunities
in 1999 when I had just
started this business, most
of the visitors to Uganda
were backpackers, overland
trucks, and some few
middle class tourists. Most
of the lodges in the country
were not refurbished and so
is online marketing. Now,
there’s a lot of effort coming
in from different players
to promote the industry.
Some are coming from
the government, private
sector, and others from
strong individuals within
the industry to try and
promote the industry like
started and grow to
the next step. I think
every Ugandan has
a responsibility to
promote tourism.
What challenges (if
any) have you faced or
are you facing in the
tourism business?
The number one
issue that Uganda has
been trying to recover
from over the last 20
years is to guarantee
security. I think the
government has done a
great job in maintaining
security. The recent
incidences (of tourist
kidnap) has shown
as that something we
consider to be a non
issue can become an
international issue,
and really be turned
out of proportion.
The kidnapping was
a very sad thing but
I can assure you that
Uganda is a very safe
country to visit. I have
been all around the
country and I have
never felt threatened.
From a private sector
side, many individual
companies are unable to
our counterparts in Kenya, access credit.
Tanzania and Rwanda.
What do you think can
In your view, is the be done to address these
government doing enough issues?
to promote the tourism It is always good for
sector? government and private
When you ask whether sector to work together
the government has done and map out directions
enough or not, this in that work not just from
my opinion, is not a fair a theoretical, political-
question. Government sociological point of view.
has very many things to We have a long way to go as
do and tourism is one of a country. We must tell the
that. Have they done all government when we are
I want them to do? No. not happy, comfortable or
However, they have given when we think they are not
us an opportunity to get doing enough.
 Business
CSR CSR

UBL announces scholarships for tertiary education CBL unveils a Shs 4bn
management, entrepre- consumer rewards campaign

C
neurship and informa- rown Beverages Limited (CBL),
tion Communication the bottler of Pepsi has unveiled
Technology and DAT- a Shs 4 billion campaign branded
AMINE institute based in Tukonectinge with Pepsi.
Kampala. Through the campaign, Pepsi will
UBL Communications reward its consumers with a total of; 24
Manager, Rhona Arinait- fully-paid trips to Dubai in the United
we, said one of their key Arab Emirates, 25 Toyota Wish cars, 24
priority areas is skilling Home Fridges as well as instant mobile
the youth and that it is money cash and airtime in different
the reason the company denominations, among other prizes
(L-R)Enterprise Uganda's, Ronald Mukasa, Kabale District Educational continues to offer spe- Crown Beverages CEO, Paddy Murami-
Director, Adrian Ndemere, Mary Odongo and Rhona Arinaitwe during the cial opportunities to the irah, said the new campaign seeks to pro-
scholarship announcement. Photo by Patricia Akankwatsa nation’s brightest schol- mote and strengthen relationships among

U
ganda Breweries
Limited (UBL) an-
nounced a schol-
arship scheme for
the academically deserving
yet economically disadvan-
taged students in western
and central Uganda in a bid
to curb high rates of school
drop outs.
Under this scholarship
programme UBL will pay
a total of Shs.115million for
40 students to study from
African College of Com-
merce and Technology
(ACCT) Kabale, a training
institution in business,
ars but less fortunate.
She said UBL does not
stop at awarding these
scholarships but goes
ahead to provide career
guidance and mentorship
support for the beneficia-
ries on business startups
and expansion skills.
Pepsi consumers, their families, peers and
friends, as they commemorate the Easter
Holidays, Ramadhan, and Martyrs Day.
He said the campaign is expected to end
in July. He said the company has invested
Shs 20bn in marketing campaigns over
the last five years. CBL has in the past
carried out various campaigns including;
Twangula, Sala Puleesa, Chamuka,
Motozela and Mirindarific.

CSR CONSTRUCTION

Over 30 children receive free Hima Cement to employ over 1000 in Kabarole
neuro-surgery in Mbale

R
otary Club of Muyenga Breeze in
partnership with Cure Childrens
Hospital of Uganda and Orient
Bank, successfully concluded a
week-long neurosurgical camp during
which over 30 disadvantaged children
suffering from hydrocephalus and spina
bifida were successfully operated.
Hydrocephalus, a condition in which
an accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid
occurs within the brain affects 1 to 2
children in every a thousand births while
spina bifida affects 0.1 to 5 children per a
thousand live births globally. (L-R) Kabarole Woman Member of Parliament Sylvia Rwabongo, LC V Chairman Rwabuhinga,
Nicolas George, Hima CEO and Julius Byamukama Chairman Pozzolana Association

O
Speaking at the closing ceremony of
the neurosurgical week at Cure Hospital ver 1000 miners ing the supply of pozzolana incomes. “What we request
in Mbale, Mr. Tim Ericson, the Executive in Harugongo, to the Hima plant by the is that the highest standards
Director of Cure Childrens’ Hospital of Kabarole District mining community. of health and safety are
Uganda said the hospital receives 110- under their um- Pozzolana is a natural maintained so that people
120 patients per month, having success- brella association, Pozzola- siliceous and aluminous are safe at all times. The
fully worked on 1300 surgeries in 2018. na Miners Transporters and material used in the manu- quarry therefore must be
Speaking on behalf of sponsors, Orient Drivers Association are to facture of cement. fenced and only accessible
Bank’s Manager for Corporate Com- benefit directly from a new The beneficiaries include to people working as
munications- Emmanuel Njuki said partnership with Hima Ce- miners, loaders and drivers miners and loaders,’’ he
the efforts are part of their community ment and the local artisanal who will deliver pozzolana said. Julius Byamukama,
investments. mining community. to the Hima Cement factory the Chairman of the
“As a bank, while looking for solutions This follows the sign- in Kasese District. Association said the miners
to the challenges in our communities, we ing of a memorandum of Hima Cement CEO, were committed to working
came up with a very affordable health understanding between the Nicolas George, said the closely with Hima to
and life insurance product in partnership cement manufacturer and partnership will empower ensure that the terms and
with IAA and Prudential accessible in the local miners’ association locals financially by conditions stipulated in the
several parts of the country.” with the aim of re-establish- strengthening household agreement are respected

April. 19 - 25 2019 25
Business

Stock market set for

online trading system
By Isaac Khisa the market in real-time and

U
ganda’s stock market
brokers will now
need to focus on pro-
viding value added
services instead of brokering
trades when a new online mar-
ket system goes live in October
this year.
Paul Bwiso, the chief execu-
tive officer at the Uganda Secu-
rities Exchange said piloting
the platform is expected to
start in August. “Initially, an
investor had to pay money in
Ziria Tibalwa Waako, the chief executive officer of Electricity Regulatory the bank, scan the document,
Authority addressing a workshop for energy sector reporters at Golden send it to the broker, who will
Tulip hotel in Kampala on April 11. Waako said that equipping reporters then verify thereafter execute
with the sector knowledge would not only improve their reporting but the trading. Now this used to
also support the sector’s growth.   INDEPENDENT/JULIUS BUSINGE take a lot of time due to back
and forth,” he said on April 09
while presiding over the award
ceremony for 2018 winners of
the University Challenge.
“This will now be done
online including making pay-
ments via USSD, website or
electronic money transfer.”
Bwiso, however, said bro-
kers will still remain relevant
in the market especially in pro-
viding advice to the investors
to avoid making losses on the
stock market during trading.
The online trading platform
will allow investors to access
Paddy Muramiirah (R), CEO Crown Beverages after test-running  one of
the cars while Isaac Sekasi (L) and other Crown Beverages looks on
during the media launch of the Tukonectinge with Pepsi Campaign at the
company’s headquarters in Kampala on April 11.   COURTESY PHOTO.
trade shares directly at their
convenience. Brokers offering
the online service will still earn
commissions on trades.
The new system comes
as part of market reforms to
attract more investors in the
market especially on the Ugan-
dan youth. Meanwhile, USE
rewarded winners of last year’s
USE University Challenge. The
competition that attracted more
807 participants, up from 204 in
the previous year, saw Rodney
Agaba, a student of Kyambogo
University emerge winner.
Agaba walked away with
Shs10 million worth of shares
to start trading.
Aaron Mwebaze and Joan
Nannozi, both from Kyambogo
University, emerged as 1st and
2nd Runners-up respectively.
They were awarded Shs 7.5mil-
lion and Shs5million worth of
shares, respectively.
Martha Nabaasa, a Uganda
Christian University Student,
emerged as a 3rd Runners-
up and walked away with
Shs2.5million worth of shares.
USE unveiled the Challenge
in 2017 to impart students with
knowledge on how to invest in
the stock exchange.

Weekly share price movement (April 05)

Security April 05 March 29 Movement
BATU 30,000 30000 00
BOBU 130 130 00
CENT 1,178 1,182 0.3
QCL 180 190 5.2
DFCU 670 670 00
EABL 7,758 7,610 1.9
EBL 1603 1,487 7.8
JHL 15,045 15,202 1.0
KA 180 185 2.7
KCB 1,656. 1,619 2.2
NIC 14 13 38
NMG 2,297 2,214 3.7
NVL 334 334 00
(L-R) Airtel Uganda Communications Manager, Sumin Namaganda, Joweria SBU 30 30 00
Nabakka and Head of customer usage and retention, Nellie Mwandha, at UCHM 19 22 00
the launch of the new and revamped voice and data bundles on April 15. UCL 16 16 00
The new voice bundles dubbed “Mega-Tok” will enable customers purchase UMEME 297 298 0.3
45 minutes valid for 7 days at Shs2, 000.   COURTESY PHOTO. ALSI -- -- --

26 April. 19 - 25 2019

A young girl walks through a field of failed maize crops in the semi-arid Kitui County in southeastern Kenya.   EPA/DAI KUROKAWA
Kenya’s hunger games
Why some Kenyans are going hungry
months after a bumper maize crop
By Timothy Njagi Njeru
W
hy are people going hungry in
April after a bumper crop of
staple maize was harvested last
year?
Distribution remains a persistent chal-
lenge when it comes to food access in
Kenya. There has been systemic market
failure in moving food from surplus regions
to deficit regions. Economic theory predicts
that in a functioning market system, incen-
tives through higher price will be offered to
attract suppliers from surplus areas.
In Kenya’s case, the expectation is that the
price of food in deficit areas will be higher,
attracting traders who buy from producers
in surplus areas to sell in the deficit areas.
This goes on until there is equilibrium –
the demand in the deficit areas is met and
prices return to equilibrium.
But the market system consistently fails to
deliver this outcome in Kenya. And deficit
areas remain under supplied. In addition,
the government fails to correct this market
failure, in spite of an effective early warn-
ing system coordinated by the National
Drought Management Authority.
The authority releases seasonal assess-
ments and monthly reports on the drought
and famine hot spots, including the current
scenario facing the country.
Reports of severe hunger amid plenty
highlight the fact that there’s coordination
failure in government. The government’s
failure to coordinate the efforts of various
actors at both the national and county levels
is what has led to this situation.
What should happen to ensure food
flows from production to deficit areas?
The National Drought Management
Authority releases early warning reports
for famine prone areas. Other important
reports, such as those by the Famine Early
Warning Systems Network, provide fore-
casts not only for Kenya but for the region.
But, as is often the case in Kenya, key
policy decisions don’t follow.
The media started reporting the current
famine in early January. Reports escalated
in March, after which there was an imme-
diate response by the government. This
response must obviously be welcomed.
But why is the government always reac-
tive? Back in August last year the drought
assessment reports was warning that about
food shortages based on the Kenya Meteo-
rological Department’s warning about rain
shortfalls.
In addition, reports by the regional early
warning system were also available.
All these reports should have prompted
measures to improve surveillance in the hot
spot areas and action planning should have
started by the end of 2018. None of this has
happened.
It’s not too late. But the government
needs to act quickly to identify citizens’
food needs in areas affected by the drought.
It needs to put measures in place to ensure
access of food. Already, the National Cere-
als and Produce Board has released 450 tons
of maize to be distributed in the affected
areas. But that might not be enough. The
government was work out what’s still need-
ed until the famine stress is over, then plan
to make food available in these areas.
There isn’t a shortage of maize: farmers in
the maize basket regions have a lot of grain
in their stores. In fact, most farmers are still
trying to offload their stocks.
Effective delivery systems don’t imply
that the government should start sending
trucks loaded with food to affected areas.
Business
Innovative approaches should be used. For
instance, the market is likely to respond
faster than the government. The govern-
ment could kick start a virtuous cycle by
providing cash transfers to affected citizens,
enabling them to buy food. This in turn
would lead to farmers who have maize
in their stores to start selling to suppliers
attracted to delivering food in famine areas.
Why is this not being done and who is
responsible for any failures?
There is a lack of coordination and clear
lack of implementation of the strategies for
ending drought emergencies. Although
food security is a national government func-
tion, county governments should play their
part. County governments are, after all, the
“first responders” when it comes to food
security.
For this to happen, data on food produc-
tion and consumption must first be updat-
ed. The availability of data and evidence is
critical for decision making. But the capacity
of county governments to collect reliable
and accurate data is weak. And the capacity
at the country’s meteorological centre needs
to be strengthened. Without proper data
neither the national nor the county govern-
ments can plan for famine and drought.
Secondly, policy makers should already
be getting into gear to take action in areas
likely to be affected by the fact that forecasts
for the long rains season, expected from
March to May, have been revised to suggest
that some areas won’t be getting adequate
rainfall.
This would ensure that national and
county governments don’t land up
struggling to deal with an emergency.
By preparing adequately they can avoid
situations such as the one the country
currently finds itself in.
Timothy Njagi Njeru is a Research Fellow,
Tegemeo Institute, Egerton University
April. 19 - 25 2019 27
comment
By Musa Mayanja Lwanga
Eyes on Uganda economy
Weather conditions, trade disruptions
hit first Quarter of 2019 performance
D
espite forecasts
predicting robust
growth for Uganda’s
Economy in 2019,
performance in the first
quarter has been mixed.
Growth in quarter 1 has been
characterised by falling export
earnings, rising inflation and
a slowdown in private sector
credit growth. Expectations
about the health of the
economy and the business
Figure 1: Credit to Private Sector and Government (Shs. Billion)
Source: Bank of Uganda, 2019 Real Sector Indicators
environment remain positive
and optimistic, despite risks
to the outlook tilting towards
the upside due to unfavorable
weather conditions, trade
disruptions and other
international developments.
Monetary Policy, Inflation
and Interest Rates
Inflation has been on the
rise with the annual headline
inflation increasing from 2.7
percent in January to 3 percent
in March 2019 having ended
the year at 2.2 percent. This
trend has largely been driven
by core inflation, prompting
28 April. 19 - 25 2019
the Central Bank to maintain
its policy rate the Central
Bank rate (CBR) at 10 percent.
Inflationary risks continue
to rise due to delays in rains
and the heat wave that hit
some parts of the country. The
prevailing weather conditions
are likely to affect agriculture
production and overall food
prices. Inflation is also likely to
be influenced by exchange rate
movements due to reduced
export earnings resulting from
trade disruptions particularly
from border tensions with
Rwanda as well as declining
financial inflows from donors.
However, the rise in inflation
is expected to stay within
range of the Central Bank’s
target of 5 percent. As such,
the accommodative monetary
policy is expected to continue
in the near future.
Government Borrowing and
Private Sector Credit
Private sector credit
saw a 0.6 percent decline
from Shs14,223.7 billion in
December 2018 to Shs14,135
billion shillings in February
2019. Sectoral analysis shows
that whereas agriculture, trade,
transport and communication,
Electricity and Water,
Community, Social and Other
Services saw a decline, there
was growth in credit extended
to Mining and Quarrying,
Manufacturing, Building,
Mortgage, Construction
and Real Estate, Business
Services as well as Personal
Loans and Household Loans.
The overall drop in private
sector credit was driven by
cyclical reductions in demand
following the festive season
and the rise in lending rates.
On the other hand, credit
to government rose by 14.9
percent from Shs2,862.1 billion
in December 2018 to Shs3,288.0
billion in February 2019
despite an observed decline
in treasury bill rates and a rise
in lending rates. The 91-day
Treasury Bill Yield and the
364-day Treasury Bill Yield
averaged 10.3 and 12.4 percent
respectively in the first quarter
of 2019 compared to 11.1 and
13.3 percent recorded in last
quarter of 2018. However,
these rates are expected to
rise due to expected increase
in government borrowing to
fund supplementary budgets
as we come close the end of
the financial year and the
budgeting cycle. The increase
in government borrowing
could further affect lending
interest rates as well as the
growth of private sector
credit.
Real sector indicators
show increased optimism
and positive expectations
regarding the health of the
economy. The Business
Tendency Index and
the Composite Index
of Economic Activity
collected by BoU have
been on an upward trend
throughout the quarter
under review. The monthly
Business Tendency Index
increased from 59.5 in
January 2019 to 59.8 in
March 2019. However,
there is pessimism
regarding access to credit
and the financial situation
of businesses.
External Sector
Performance
Total exports of goods
declined by 0.7 percent from
US $ 304.2 million in December
2018 to US $ 300.4 in February
2019 while exports of services
declined by a wider margin of
-26.1 percent from US $ 161.9
to US $ 128.4 million over the
same period. Disruptions in
regional trade particularly
with Rwanda and the changes
in global demand as well
international commodity
prices, are likely to further
impact on Uganda’s export
earnings. Meanwhile, the
import bill declined faster
than the fall in export receipts

pushing the trade deficit
down from US $ 267.2 million
in December 2018 to US$
203.8 million in February
2019. Imports of services
reduced by 2.7 percent US
$ 224.5 million to US $ 218.6
million over the same period.
Inflows from Donor Loans
and Grants have also been
on the decline from US $
million 164.3 in December
2018 to US $ 60.8 million
and US $ 88.5 million in
January and February 2019
respectively. The reductions
in financial inflows are likely
to impact on the exchange
rate and consequently other
macroeconomic variables
in the medium term unless
marched by decreased
financial outflows.
What can be done
If the country is to continue
on a path of robust growth,
policies and actions that
mitigate against the rising
risks to the economic outlook
have to be employed.
Government and other
stakeholders need to
improve complementary
services that support the
sector that employs most
Ugandans-agriculture. This
could be attained through
increasing the coverage of
the agriculture insurance
scheme, as well as investment
in the water for production
in agriculture. Regional
disputes that disrupt trade
need to be resolved quickly
to ensure growth in exports.
In additional, government
needs to adopt policies that
crowd in the domestic private
sector; especially when it
comes to the procurement of
large infrastructural projects.
Furthermore, improvement
in domestic revenue
mobilisation, a reduction
in domestic government
borrowing, fighting
corruption and improving
project implementation will
improve the effect of public
spending on the economy.
Musa Mayanja Lwanga is
Head of Research and Market
Development, Uganda Bankers’
Association
By Patrick Ajuna
New National Teacher Policy
should be comprehensive
A
new National Teacher Policy on
training and recruitment has
been approved by cabinet for
implementation. The Ministry of
Education and Sports (MoES) drafted it in
2017 following consultative studies. One
done in 2013 by the Teacher Initiative for
Sub-Saharan Africa which found that there
were very low academic entry requirements
into the teaching profession, inadequate
quality assurance standards, and under-
professionalisation.
The Commissioner of Teacher Instruction,
Education and Training, Dr. Jane Egau, says
the policy is intended to professionalise
the teaching profession to the levels
comparable with other professions. The
plan is for students intending to join the
teacher training institutions - Primary
Teacher Colleges (PTCs), National
Teachers’ Colleges (NTCs) and Universities
to undergo entrance examinations
administered by a government body.
This may be one of the best education
policies in Uganda in recent years and if all
the necessary arrangements are made for
its effective implementation, it can improve
quality of education in the country and
answers many questions concerning the
state of our teachers. However, beyond
recruitment and training, the policy should
be as comprehensive to address teacher
quality and performance.
The existing arrangement in Public
service is that a Grade Three certificate
and its corresponding salary Scale U7 and
a bachelor’s degree and its corresponding
salary scale U4 are the maximum
recognised and directly rewarded
educational levels for a primary school
teacher and a secondary school teacher
respectively. Any academic pursuit beyond
the fore mentioned respective levels is not
directly rewarded if one chooses to remain
teaching.
Unless the new policy provides for very
attractive and meaningfully rewarding
incentives, it will not make teaching
as competitive as other professions.
Introducing entrance examinations with no
serious justification is likely to be a turnoff
to the-would-be teachers; especially those
who join at university level where there are
many career options. There must also be a
clear path in terms of career development
within the profession.
Similarly, there is need to re-orient our
education curriculum and syllabi at all
comment
levels of education; including that for
teacher training institutions to demand-
driven training. This requires getting
employers’ input into such curricula. This
would address the problem of mismatch
and gaps between the job requirements
and what individuals in the labour market
offer. This is one of the major causes of
unemployment in the country.
The problem of unemployment exists
alongside unfilled job vacancies in some
sectors. Some employers cannot find
skilled employees on the labour market.
While some job seekers lack technical
competencies, others lack generic (soft)
skills or both skills required on the job.
Development is a function of higher
quality of human resources that create
and sustainably utilise resources to cause
economic growth and development. While
the government acknowledges that teachers
have a very crucial role to play in shaping
the country’s human resources to realise
Uganda’s Vision 2040, there are limited
provisions and strategies for creating the
necessary human capital among teachers.
Teachers need to constantly acquire
new knowledge and skills in this rapidly
changing and globalised world. It is he only
way they will provide relevant knowledge
and skills to the learners and lay a strong
foundation for creating and molding a
special calibre of professionals and leaders
capable of driving the economy.
Such teachers will be able shape the
learners to meet the ever-emerging needs
of the society in this rapidly changing
world. Our education system will be able
to produce critical and creative thinkers
who can solve societal problems. As rightly
observed by former US President Benjamin
Franklin; an investment in knowledge and
skills pays the best interest.
Only justifiable and meaningful reasons
will attract the bright students to withstand
the stress of another avoidable examination
to join the teaching profession. Good
incentives to teachers from the government
will convince the public to appreciate
the necessity and relevance of entrance
examinations to the teaching profession.
Teachers deserve the support they need
to become great, and the National Teacher
policy is indeed a step in the right direction
in this endeavour.
Patrick Ajuna is a Policy and Research officer at
the Federation of Uganda Employers
April. 19 - 25 2019 29
comment
By Ian Buruma
The revolt against virtue
The virtuousness of progressive politics, often
accompanied by privilege, can be hard to tolerate
A
common explanation for the rise
of right-wing demagogues around
the world is that many people feel
“left behind” by globalism, tech-
nology, deindustrialisation, pan-national
institutions, and so on. They feel abandoned
by the “liberal elites,” and so they vote for
extremists who promise to “take back” their
countries and “make them great” again.
This account is plausible in seedy parts
of eastern Germany, the bleak old mining
towns in the north of Britain, or the Rust
Belt in the American Midwest. But it
leaves out the large number of populist
voters who are relatively prosperous.
These people are often past middle age,
and overwhelmingly white. They, too,
might feel left behind by changes that
bewilder them: the rise of non-Western
powers and the increasing prominence of
non-white minorities; hence the loathing
of U.S. President Barack Obama and
the receptiveness to myths – spread by
Trump, among others – that Obama
wasn’t really born in the US.
Harder to explain is the extraordinary
success of a new far-right party in the
Netherlands. The Forum voor Democratie
(FvD) didn’t even exist three years ago,
but it gained some 15% of the vote in
recent provincial elections, making it one
of the largest factions in the upper house.
Polls suggest that it could soon become
the largest party in the country.
Compared to most places, even in
Western Europe, the Netherlands is
exceedingly wealthy and, for the most
part, quite calm and peaceful. Some
people who voted for the FvD might
feel relatively left behind, but many are
as comfortable as the highly educated,
urbane party leader, Thierry Baudet.
Neither he, nor many of his most vocal
followers are disgruntled provincials.
Many resemble what Americans call
typical frat boys, members of student
fraternities who celebrate the privileges
of wealth and status.
But Baudet is a type of politician more
often seen in Europe than in the U.S: a
right-wing dandy, dressed in the fop-
pish manner of a vintage car dealer. His
thinking leans heavily on early-twen-
tieth-century ideologues, who worried
30 April. 19 - 25 2019
about the decadence of Western civiliza-
tion, which in their view could be saved
only by authoritarian leadership. Like
Mussolini, Baudet believes in “direct
democracy,” where the voice of the
people is expressed in referendums.
In his view, immigrants, especially
Muslims, dilute the purity of native pop-
ulations and undermine Western cultures
with their alien ways. He thinks that
European civilization is equally threat-
ened by “cultural Marxists,” who should
be purged from schools and national
institutions. Baudet wishes to safeguard
the national identity by pulling the Neth-
erlands out of the European Union. And,
like Trump, whom he admires, Baudet
thinks that climate change is a hoax.
Why should this appeal to so many
people in such a stable, prosperous
country? And why do politicians who
worry about immigrants and national
decline almost automatically assume that
climate change is not a problem? I found
a possible answer, not in Amsterdam, but
in London, where I marched a few weeks
ago with hundreds of thousands of UK
citizens in protest against Brexit.
The crowd was utterly civilized, almost
genteel even, and exuded a kind of vir-
tuousness. There was a mostly unspoken
assumption that Brexiteers were not
just wrong, but bigots and xenophobes.
This may be true of many Brexiteers,
and especially of some of their loudest
official cheerleaders. My own sentiments
were entirely with the marchers. But
the assumption of virtue among those
who count themselves as progressive
may help to explain the popularity of
right-wing agitators, as well as the link
between anti-immigrant sentiment and
denial of climate change.
Left-of-center parties used to represent
the economic interests of the industrial
working class. The focus began to change
in the last decades of the twentieth cen-
tury, when race, gender, and ecology
became more important concerns of the
left. Anti-racism, equal rights for women
and sexual minorities, as well as the
health of the planet – all worthy goals
– injected a strong sense of virtuous-
ness into progressive politics. We knew
what was best for people, and those who
opposed us were either stupid or wicked.
This attitude can be hard to tolerate,
especially when it is accompanied by
social and educational privilege, which
it often is. The Netherlands has a long
tradition of virtuous rule. You can see it
in portraits by Frans Hals of seventeenth-
century Dutch worthies dressed in sober
but expensive black clothes. These fig-
ures, who were indeed often inspired
by noble motives, held a firm belief that
their innate Protestant virtue gave them
the right to govern.
Something of this tradition survived
in the Netherlands for a long time. The
liberal and social democratic parties, in
particular, would tell people that good
citizens should believe in European inte-
gration, welcome “guest workers” and
refugees, eat and drink healthily, and
do everything possible to mitigate the
damage of changing climate conditions.
The reaction to this type of paternalism,
sensible and well-meant as it usually
was, came in the form of petulant popu-
lism. Like a child who refuses to eat his
spinach, just because his mother claims
it is good for him, supporters of Trump,
Brexiteers, or Baudet want to give the
finger to the politics of virtue. That is
why Nigel Farage, the chief promoter
of Brexit, likes to be photographed with
a glass full of beer and a smoldering
cigarette: if the virtuous elite want us to
drink less and quit smoking, let’s have
another and light up.
And that personal rebellion quickly
turns political. If “they” tell us to stay
in Europe, let’s get out. If they tell us to
accept immigrants, let’s turn them away.
If they tell us that climate change is a
serious threat, let’s deny it. Anything, it
seems, is better than admitting that the
experts are right. This is true in Trump
country, and it is just as true in the
placid, affluent Netherlands.
Ian Buruma is the author, most recently, of
`A Tokyo Romance: A Memoir’.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2019.

By Jim O’Neill
The future of economic growth
It depends on working-age population which is
predictable and productivity which is uncertain
L
ast month, I wrote about the growing
divide between economic theory and
real-world economic conditions, and
reminded readers that economics
is still a social science, despite whatever
loftier ambitions its practitioners may have.
Nonetheless, when it comes to the specific
question of what drives economic growth
in the long term, one can still offer rigorous
predictions by focusing on just two forces.
Specifically, if one knows how much a
country’s working-age population will
grow (or shrink), and how much its produc-
tivity will increase, one can predict its future
growth with considerable confidence. The
first variable is reasonably predictable from
a country’s retirement and death rates;
the second is more uncertain. Indeed, the
reported slowdown in productivity across
advanced economies since 2008 is widely
regarded as an economic mystery.
Is it really a mystery, though?
Consider the following table, which WORLD GDP POTENTIAL TO 2030
shows GDP growth since the 1980s Economic region 1981-1990 1991-2000 2001-2010 2011-2020 2011-2017*
for the larger economies, the BRICs
(Brazil, Russia, India, and China),
and the “Next Eleven” (N-11) most
populous developing countries.
With the fourth column (2011-
2020) showing what my col-
leagues and I had projected back
in 2001 when we coined the BRIC
acronym, one can observe differ- *2011-2017 range as decade to date
ences between what was forecast Source: IMF,GS Global ECS Research and GSAM
and what has happened this decade
(2011-2017*). For the world as a whole, we
predicted growth of just over 4% in the
current decade, owing to the rise of China
and the other major BRICs. And it is pre-
cisely for that reason that growth in the
2001-2010 period was stronger than in the
preceding decades, when the persistence of
3.3% annual growth led some economists
to conclude that the global economy had
reached its full potential. Now consider
what has actually happened. Growth in the
United States, the United Kingdom, Japan,
China, and (arguably) India has come close
to what we predicted. But the same cannot
be said for the eurozone, Brazil, and Russia,
whose poor performance must reflect weak
productivity, given that our predictions had
already accounted for demographic trends.
It is worth noting that no major country
or region has performed better than we
predicted back in 2001. The table shows
that there can be some asymmetry between
comment
actual and potential growth, and that be quite extraordinary.
such divergences are not random. On the It is equally predictable that India will
contrary, the eurozone, Brazil, and Russia start to grow at a much faster rate than
clearly have underlying problems that need China, simply because its workforce still has
to be addressed. a lot of growing left to do. The real ques-
Of course, we also may have been too tion is whether India can implement strong
optimistic about these economies’ long-term productivity-enhancing reforms. If it can, it
potential in the first place. Such is the nature could be the one major economy to exceed
of a social science. Whether any of them can expectations in the next decade. But even
achieve strong productivity growth will failing that, India will soon overtake the
depend on a variety of factors, not least the UK and France to become the world’s fifth-
policies they have in place. At this point, it largest economy; it will overtake Germany
would be a pleasant surprise if any of them at some point in the next decade, possibly
achieved the level of growth that we pre- by 2025.
dicted for 2021-30. Meanwhile, unless Brazil and Russia
It is also worth noting that the U.S. and reduce their dependence on the commodity-
the UK registered growth close to the level price cycle, they will only ever experience
we predicted despite their weak produc- strong growth during price spikes. With or
tivity gains, owing to the rapid increase in without reform, Russia is already heading
employment in both countries. But with for another disappointing decade as a result
of its demographics. Brazil, on
the other hand, could register
growth close to what we origi-
2021-2030 nally predicted if it could imple-
World
USA
3.3
3.3
3.3
3.4
3.7
1.7
4.1
2.5
3.5
2.1
3.5
2.1
ment difficult social and health
UK 2.8 2.5 1.7 2.0 2.1 2.0 reforms. But that is a big “if.” As
Euro Area 2.4 2.3 1.2 2.0 1.1 1.5 for the eurozone, we appear to
Japan 4.6 1.2 0.8 1.0 1.1 1.0
China 9.3 10.5 10.5 7.5 7.5 5.0 have been too optimistic, even
India 5.6 5.6 7.6 7.5 6.8 6.5 though we foresaw a decline
Brazil 1.6 2.6 3.6 5.2 0.5 3.5
Russia - -2.1 4.9 5.4 0.9 3.0 in potential growth to 1.5%.
BRICs 5.3 5.5 7.9 6.6 5.9 5.4 Nowadays, most forecasters
N-11 4.5 4.4 4.1 5.3 4.3 5.2
put the region’s growth poten-
tial at around 1%. If Germany
cannot shift to a more domestic-
demand-driven growth model,
the unemployment rate having reached that projection will probably turn out to be
near-historic lows, and with public policy correct. Yet while most press coverage has
turning against immigration, it will be focused on Germany’s falling exports and
mathematically impossible to achieve the manufacturing output, the country’s ser-
same level of employment growth in the vices sector remains strong. For its own sake
decade ahead. For overall growth to con- as well as for Europe’s, Germany should
tinue, productivity must improve. embrace that strength permanently.
When it comes to the next decade, much Among the loose assortment of N-11
of the focus lately has been on China, whose countries – most of them in Asia and Africa
current slowdown seems to have taken – are some fast growers like Vietnam.
markets by surprise. It should not have. As Others, especially Nigeria, have remarkable
we predicted almost 20 years ago, China potential given their demographics, but
will struggle to attain growth above 5% in will never reach it unless they undertake
the 2021-2030 period, for the simple reason significant reforms. In that, they have
that its workforce growth will have peaked. something in common with many of the
While pessimists will no doubt find valida- advanced economies.
tion in the further Chinese growth disap-
pointments that are to come, optimists can Jim O’Neill, a former chairman of Goldman
point to the fact that 5% annual growth in Sachs Asset Management and a former UK
China is nominally equivalent to 15-20% Treasury Minister, is Chair of Chatham House.
growth in Germany. At this stage in China’s Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2019.
development, faster growth would actually www.project-syndicate.org
April. 19 - 25 2019 31
Health workers put their Personal Protective Equipment on before entering the zone where people suspected of having
Ebola are held in quarantine to be monitored and treated at the Ebola Transition Centre   COURTESY PHOTO
WHO won’t declare DR Congo
Ebola a global emergency
Threat remains of spread to Rwanda, Uganda, South Sudan
A
By Agencies
meeting of an emergency
World Health Organisation
Committee (WHO) com-
mittee has said the current
outbreak of the deadly Ebola
hemorrhagic fever in the DR
Congo does not constitute a Public Health
Emergency of International Concern (PHE-
IC) even if it has infected a possible 1206
people and killed 764.
Some commentators immediately said
the Emergency Committee decision is likely
to “trigger substantial debate as the virus
continues to spread unabated”.
The death toll makes the DR Congo Ebola
outbreak the second most deadly ever. The
first ravaged West Africa and killed 11,300
people in Senegal, Liberia and Guinea.
The Emergency Committee was con-
vened on April 12 in Geneva- Switzerland
by the WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros
Adhanom Ghebreyesus, under the Interna-
tional Health Regulations (IHR) (2005).
Before the meeting, there was speculation
that the DR Congo Ebola outbreak could
be declared a Public Health Emergency of
International Concern (PHEIC). That would
have triggered increasing international
32 April. 19 - 25 2019
attention and donor funding. However, the
Emergency Committee fell short of that.
“There is no added benefit to declaring a
PHEIC at this stage,” the committee said in
a statement after the meeting.
According to some reports, Tom Ingles-
by, director of the Center for Health Security
at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of
Public Health, disagreed with the Emer-
gency Committee decision.
“I do think it’s a mistake. I do think con-
ditions have been met for declaring it. It’s
at least as serious as public health emergen-
cies of international concern that have been
declared so in the past,” Inglesby told STAT.
“And I think it’s a mistake because I think
it could have drawn in more international
attention, political will and support.”
More must be done to contain this out-
break, he insisted. “It needs to be made
clear to all those who are involved that the
current course that we’re on, despite the
resources being brought to bear, despite
WHO being completely in and flat out, it’s
not enough,” Inglesby said.
The WHO, which along with DRC’s
ministry of health is leading the outbreak
response, has been under pressure for some
time to declare a PHEIC, which is a tool
of the International Health Regulations, a
treaty to which WHO’s member states are
party. Its first decision not to do so came in
October.
Part of the problem is that the outbreak
is occurring in what is effectively a war
zone with multiple armed factions fight-
ing the Congolese army as ineffective UN
peacekeepers watch. Ebola treatment camps
have been attacked and personnel killed by
militias. As a result, some countries, includ-
ing the U.S, have refused to send personnel
to the outbreak zone to help. Highly experi-
enced experts from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, for instance, have
been barred from working at the epicenter
of the outbreak.
Threat of spread to Rwanda, Uganda,
South Sudan
However, the Emergency Committee
said it was concerned about current levels of
transmission and that the evolving situation
requires close attention. It advised the WHO
Director General to continue to monitor the
situation closely and reconvene the Emer-
gency Committee as needed.
To be declared an international health
emergency, it must be serious, unusual or
unexpected and threaten to infect other

countries and require immediate interna-
tional action. In the view of the Emergency
Committee, the DR Congo Ebola outbreak
does not meet that criterion.
However, the Committee said it wished
to express “deep concern about the recent
increase in transmission in specific areas,
and therefore the potential risk of spread to
neighbouring countries”.
The outbreak, which is occurring on DR
Congo’s porous eastern border, threatens to
spill into neighbouring Rwanda, Uganda,
and South Sudan. Because of the very high
risk of regional spread, the committee said,
neighbouring countries should continue to
accelerate current preparedness and sur-
veillance efforts, including vaccination of
health care workers and front-line workers
in surrounding countries. Cross-border col-
laboration should continue to be strength-
ened, including timely sharing of data and
alerts, cross-border community engage-
ment and awareness raising. In addition,
work should be done to better map popula-
tion movements and understand social net-
works bridging national boundaries. The
committee, however, repeated its previous
advice that it is particularly important that
no international travel or trade restrictions
should be applied. “Exit screening, includ-
ing at airports, ports, and land crossings, is
of great importance; however, entry screen-
ing, particularly in distant airports, is not
considered to be of any public health or
cost-benefit value,” it said. The committee
strongly emphasised that strengthening
currents efforts in both preparedness and
response was critical and would require
substantial, immediate and sustained
additional financial support. The WHO
has recently said it needs up to US$148 mil-
lion to tackle the outbreak for the next six
months but by March had received only
US$74 million.
The committee advised a redoubling of
efforts to detect cases as early as possible,
identify and follow up all contacts, ensure
the highest level of coverage vaccination of
all contacts and contacts of contacts.
“Sustained efforts must be made to pre-
vent nosocomial transmission and to short-
en time between onset of disease and access
to high standards of care and therapeutics
at Ebola treatment units,” the committee
statement said. Special emphasis was to be
placed on addressing the rise in case num-
bers in the remaining epicentres, notably
Butembo, Katwa, Vuhovi, and Mandima.
Latest data indicates a total of 1,206
confirmed and probable cases of Ebola in
this latest deadly outbreak in DRC which
began last August, while 764 people had
died by April 10. It is the worst outbreak in
DR Congo history. On April 10 alone there
were 20 new cases reported.
Up to the end of March, more than
320 patients had recovered and been dis-
charged from treatment centres, according
to the Government’s health ministry.
Baby with DNA from
three people born
Doctors behind the treatment say the
technique could be applied more broadly
By Agencies
A
baby with DNA from
three people has been
born in Greece following
a controversial fertility
treatment. The experimental IVF
treatment, known as mitochondrial
donation, involves using an egg from
the mother, sperm from the father
and another egg from a female donor.
The vast majority of a person’s genes
– about 99.8% – are found on the 23
pairs of chromosomes that sit inside the
nucleus in each cell in the body, and
in the IVF procedure this DNA comes
from the two parents.
However, a tiny proportion of
genetic material also resides in a cell’s
mitochondria, small structures that act
as the cell’s batteries and float around
freely in the cell body. In mitochondrial
donation,
the mother’s
mitochondria
are removed
from her egg and
replaced by a
donor’s.
The treatment
was originally
developed as a
treatment that
could prevent women with debilitating
or even fatal mitochondrial diseases
from passing them on to their children.
The treatment was made legal in the
UK in 2015, but so far no other country
has introduced laws to permit the
technique. There is only one known
instance of the technique being applied
clinically, in which a family from
Jordan were treated by U.S. doctors at a
Mexican clinic, prompting controversy.
The doctors behind the latest treatment,
from Greece and Spain, say it marks
a historic advance – it is the first time
an IVF technique involving DNA from
three people has been used with the
aim of addressing fertility problems.
They say mitochondria also play
a role in successful pregnancy and
suggest that the technique could be
applied more broadly as a fertility
treatment.
health
But UK experts criticised the decision
to proceed with the treatment, which
they said was not backed by evidence
and involved unjustifiable risks.
The baby boy, weighing 2.9kg was
born on April 09 and both he and his
mother, who is 32, are said to be in
good health.
The 32-year old woman in the latest
case had previously undergone four
unsuccessful rounds of IVF. Nuno
Costa-Borges, the Spanish embryologist
who collaborated with the Institute
of Life clinic in Greece, where the
treatment took place, said it could
help “countless women” to become
mothers and described the advance as a
revolution in fertility treatments.
However, others said these claims
were entirely untested.
Tim Child, an associate professor
at the University of Oxford and the
medical director of the
Fertility Partnership,
said: “The risks of
the technique aren’t
entirely known,
though may be
considered acceptable
if being used to
treat mitochondrial
disease, but not in this
situation.
“The patient may have conceived
even if a further standard IVF cycle
had been used. Without a proper
well designed study, with the use
of controls, it is not possible to say
whether this technique has benefitted
the patient.” A spokeswoman for the
Human Fertilisation and Embryology
Authority, the UK fertility regulator,
said that in the UK each application
for treatment is considered on an
individual basis and only for patients
who have a very high risk of having
a child with a life-threatening
mitochondrial disease. “There is
limited evidence on risks and success
rates, and it should only be used
cautiously in cases where alternative
treatments would be of little or no
benefit,” she added.
Source: Internet
April. 19 - 25 2019 33
 ART | BOOKS | SOCIETY | TRAVEL | CULTURE

T
By Dominic Muwanguzi

here is an eccentric exhibition

planned at the Makerere Art
Gallery in Kampala. It’s eccen-
tric because its main attractions
are works by community art-
ists and children from Kalerwe;
the famous low income high population
suburb of Kampala city.
From its narrow- winding paths to the
bustling farmers market where freshly har-
vested leafy vegetables, mounds of potatoes
and thick fingered green bananas on sale
attract throngs of buyers, maverick Ugan-

Endless boundaries
dan artist Mathias Tusiime has nurtured an
art community he wants the world to see.
Seven years ago, the poverty, filth and
crime of Kalerwe caught Tusiime’s atten-

of community art
tion. The urban poor who live in the shanty
homesteads of Kalerwe and along the 5km
stretch from Bwaise to Mulago cannot even
afford the cheapest vegetables in Kalerwe
Market.
Tusiime thought
their plight is so Makerere. sculptor Dr Lillian Nabulime and UCADS-
bad that he cre- Kalerwe LC Chair- DR founder Mathias Tusiime alongside that
ated an NGO; man, Sulaiman of community members and children. Bur-
Uganda Commu- Kigongo, is happy. He ton had a sculpture made from household
nity Arts Skills says the project averts objects like Television aerials, piggy banks
Development idleness that often times and sisal brooms, Tusiime had paintings
and Recycling leads to crime and foster and the children brought pottery.
(UCASDR) to talent development among The interaction bridged boundaries of
help. Its mission the children. art teaching. Classroom art learning was
is to transform “Kalerwe is widely integrated into community based practice.
the community known as a crime area Nabulime proclaimed that she learnt new
through art skills because of large numbers techniques from the community artists and
development. It of youth who are unem- was now incorporates the broom- making
would use art to ployed. The project helped to techniques in in her sculptured figurines.
raise incomes and curb this vice through engag- Tusiime experimented with bark-cloth
recycle waste to clean ing them in creative activities paper as a substitute to synthetic canvases
up the neighbourhood. and in the long –run change the used by artists. It is now catching on and
Willing residents are image of the area,” says the com- many art students buy it. It has also sprout-
taught to make decorative munity leader. ed a partnership with the College of Engi-
pottery, weave baskets, and The Makerere University College of neering, Design and Technology, Makerere
make brooms and tyre Engineering, Design, Art and Technol- University (CEDAT) and New Castle Uni-
rubber sandals. Some ogy (CEDAT) has also worked with versity, UK who have regularly conducted
are organised in groups UCASDR and the Problem Based workshops in the communities.
such as one in the Mula- Learning project from Alto University, Now into its seventh year, the project
go’s Nsoba zone that Finland. Students engage with the that started as a small idea to give back to
produces long multi- community and produce art that is the community has grown. It has plans to
coloured sisal brooms inspired, relevant, and demanded by reach more communities across the country
and brushes. Women, the community. and sustain its achievements through art
youth, and even children In 2015 Prof. Andrew Burton con- auctions and exhibitions. The Makerere Art
gather in small groups to pro- ducted and facilitated workshops in the Gallery exhibition is the first. Be there.
duce the craft materials. Then Kalerwe Community that culminated in a
they hit the road to sell them multi-disciplinary Art and the Community The UCASDR Art Auction and Exhibition is
in neighbouring villages of 2015 exhibition that showcased diverse on May 02 at Makerere Art Gallery Kampala
Kamwokya, Wandegeya and artworks by Burton, renowned Ugandan

34 April. 19 - 25 2019

Mamdani’s rap Grandma
New video by Ugandan-born rapper features
celebrated actress and foodie Madhur Jaffrey
By Ligaya Mishan
T
he halal cart was shaking. Inside the
hot tin box, the 85-year-old actress
and cookbook author Madhur Jaf-
frey, masked in giant sunglasses and
a rippling white wig, was hopping up and
down and making profane gestures with
both hands.
It was Day Two of the video shoot for
“Nani,” a rap song by Zohran Mamdani, a
young Queens M.C. who calls himself Mr.
Cardamom. The elegantly feline Jaffrey —
best known for her roles in the Merchant-
Ivory film “Shakespeare Wallah” (1965)
and, more recently, the NBC sitcom “I Feel
Bad” — was incarnating a gangster granny
who refuses to submit to her son’s bleating
demands for less meddling and more duti-
ful child care.
In the video, which debuted online, the
character describes herself as “85 years
gold” and “the best damn Nani that you
ever done seen,” among other assertions
too colorful for this newspaper. She is prone
to slapping bothersome men on the street
(who cower even as they loom over her)
and insisting that restaurant maîtres d’
come grovel and refill her water glass.
“It’s like playing Lady Macbeth,” Jaffrey
said. “If you’re an actress, you have to play
everything.”
In what may be the unlikeliest pairing
since Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg, Ms.
Jaffrey agreed last spring to appear in Mr.
Mamdani’s video after he wooed her over a
cup of chai.
“I thought, I can do this,” Jaffrey said.
“Then I read the words.”
She watched rap videos as research, and
grew nervous. The biggest challenge: to
mouth the lyrics at top speed, while stay-
ing on the beat. The song was written two
years ago as a homage to Mamdani’s then
85-year-old nani (grandmother), Praveen
Nair, a former social worker in Delhi, India,
and a founder of the Salaam Baalak Trust,
which helps underprivileged children liv-
ing on the streets. “She has gone against the
grain in so many different ways,” he said.
This manifests in the video as a fantastical
vision of her running a crime syndicate and
recruiting children at Khan’s tutoring center
in Jackson Heights, Queens, who are sup-
posed to be preparing for the city’s Special-
ised High Schools Admissions Test.
“It’s an Indian ‘I Will Survive’ kind of
song,” Jaffrey said.
For many in the desi diaspora, Jaffrey is
a revered figure, almost single-handedly
Madhur Jaffrey, known for her elegantly feline
performances, plays a gangster granny in “Nani,”
Mamdani’s homage to his grandmother in Delhi, India.
responsible for introducing the complexities
of Indian food to the West, and asserting
its place in the pantheon of great world
cuisines. A mutual friend approached Jaf-
frey on Mamdani’s behalf, and she was
intrigued. The two met, and he pleaded
his case, then proceeded to build the video
around her, weaving in clips from her mov-
ies and TV cooking shows.
Mamdani, 27, was born in Kampala,
Uganda, and moved to New York at age 7.
In his official, buttoned-up life, he counsels
homeowners facing foreclosure.
But he has always had an alter ego as
a musician. As a junior at the Bronx High
School of Science, he ran for class vice presi-
dent with a rapped platform promising
freshly squeezed juices for all. He lost.
Four years ago, he reinvented himself as
Young Cardamom, and with his childhood
friend Abdul Bar Hussein (a.k.a. HAB)
recorded “Kanda (Chap Chap),” a rap
about the fatty, greasy splendor of Ugan-
dan-style chapati. (At one point in the video,
the flatbread spins on a turntable.)
“#1 Spice,” the duo’s biggest hit, was
written for the 2016 movie “Queen of
Katwe,” where it is first sung by a child
art
in Uganda selling salt, then blasted as a
full-fledged rap over the credits: “Bring the
flavor to the fish, bring the flavor to the rice
/ Who’s the number-one spice?” (The film
was directed by Mamdani’s mother, Mira
Nair, whose work includes the Oscar-nomi-
nated “Salaam Bombay!”)
Mamdani wanted his first solo video as
Mr. Cardamom (“Better drop the act that
I’m young,” he said) to be “a love letter to
desi New York.” So the crew wound its
way from an apartment in Parkchester in
the eastern Bronx, a neighborhood home to
many Bangladeshi immigrants, to Kabab
King, a nostalgically dingy 24-hour diner
and cabby sanctuary in Jackson Heights.
“The service is horrendous, and it’s beau-
tiful,” Mamdani said. “You can make direct
eye contact with someone and they will not
come to your table.” The owners let him
shoot without charge.
There were few frills on set. Mamdani
asked a friend to arrange Jaffrey’s transpor-
tation, and was horrified to learn later that
she’d had to share a Lyft from her home in
Greenwich Village.
“Somebody carried my shoes,” Jaffrey
recalled. Between takes, she swapped reci-
pes with the crew and offered tips on diffi-
cult ingredients like bitter gourd: “We don’t
cut down on the bitterness — we think it’s
good for you.”
The shoot took place last May, during the
holy month of Ramadan, a difficult time for
a Muslim rapper to make a video celebrat-
ing food. Mamdani fasted for the first day,
but couldn’t make it through the second,
not with kebabs so close at hand.
It took nearly a year to finish the video.
Among other obstacles, one would-be edi-
tor pocketed Mamdani’s hard drive and
was never heard from again.
In the meantime, Jaffrey shot the first
season of “I Feel Bad” (the series is await-
ing renewal) and wrote a cookbook, out
this May, dedicated to the pleasures of the
Instant Pot. “If you follow my directions
— not the Instant Pot directions — any rice
comes out perfect,” she said.
When Mamdani tried to pay her for her
work on the video, she refused. But she kept
the yellow beret he had bought as a final,
Che Guevara-esque touch for her costume.
Mamdani likes to imagine her wearing it
every now and then, eyebrow cocked, still
prowling the streets as Nani.
Source: The New York Times
April. 19 - 25 2019 35
Newly married woman divorces “cheap” husband on their honeymoon
A newly-married woman from the UAE the unnamed asked to divorce her Iranian the woman said, adding that even though
recently filed for divorce from her hus- husband, who is 13 years her junior, asked she bought all the furniture in their house,
band, who she accused of being too cheap her to pay for everything, including grocer- instead of showing his appreciation, her
and making her pay for everything. The ies and bills for electricity and water. “He husband started neglecting her.
Arabic newspaper Al Baiyan reports that didn’t spend a penny on this marriage,”

Mom styles son’s Man fasts solid

meals as edible
works of art
Laleh Mohmedi is an
acclaimed food artist with
hundreds of thousands of
fans on social media, but few
people know her career began
as a way to make food more
appealing for her son. It all
started one day when she
decided to mold her three-
year-old son’s spelt pancake
in the shape of a lion, to
make it more appealing. He
loved it, and, inspired by his
reaction, Mohmedi continued
experimenting with food art.
After posting some of her best
works on social media, she
learned that her son wasn’t
the only one who loved food
sculptures shaped as popular
cartoon characters and
various celebrities. She now
has over 150,000 followers on
Instagram alone and works
with some of the world’s
biggest brands.
Japan’s Aquarium toilet gains fame
If you love exotic fish and
don’t mind hundreds of them
eyeballing you while you
answer nature’s call, you’ll
probably love using this unique
aquarium toilet in Akashi,
Japan. Hipopo Papa Cafe,
used to be known as one of the
most popular dating spots on
Hayashizaki Matsue Coast. It
still is, but ever since the owner
decided to do something spe-
cial with the women’s toilet,
it’s become famous primarily
for being the only cafe in Japan
food, lives on beer
alone for Lent
Inspired by 17th century
German monks who allegedly
survived on a rich beer called
doppelbock during Lent, a man
in Ohio, USA, is on a 46-day
beer diet, dropping all solid food
until Easter Sunday.
Many Christians choose not
to consume beer during Lent, as
a way of abstaining from some-
thing they find pleasurable, but
Dell Hall, the director of sales at
Fifty West Brewing Company
in Cincinnati, Ohio, is doing the
exact opposite. He is getting his
nutrients only from beer and
vitamin supplements. Although
he admits the first few days
were rough, Hall claims he now
feels amazing and is 11kglighter
than when he started.
– and probably the world – to
feature an aquarium toilet.
It’s technically surrounded on
three sides by a giant aquarium
filled with hundreds of exotic
fish and a male turtle. It has
been around for over 12 years
now, but it’s still one of the
most popular tourist attractions
in the Akashi area. The owner
reportedly spent $270,000
(Approx. Shs1 billion) creat-
ing this marvel to recreate the
sensation of relieving yourself
while swimming.

Shock as groom’s ex turns up at his marriage in wedding dress

The groom was just about
to kiss the bride during
a wedding ceremony in
China when the most
bizarre thing happened.
His ex-girlfriend walked in.
Wearing a bridal dress, the
ex-girlfriend got down on
her knees and shouted ‘it was
my fault’. She then started
begging for forgiveness and
asking for another chance.
Meanwhile, the real bribe
first looks on in shock before
walking off in anger. The
master of ceremonies can be
heard saying “we have an
unexpected situation here”.

36 April. 19 - 25 2019
 How to tell if your
vehicle airbags work
By Motoring Guru
A
lmost all vehicles these days boast
airbags – for passenger safety.
Some vehicles have them in front,
rear, and side. Unfortunately,
many vehicle owners never check to know
if the airbags are either in place or in good
working. Many assume the only way to
find out is when they deploy in case of
an accident that causes an impact which
crosses a predetermined threshold or is at a
certain speed.
But you can check easily if your vehicle
has airbags and if they are in the right
working order. There is an airbag indicator
light on the dashboard. To see it, simply
turn the ignition key to the first position,
and pause there. This is the indicator
light test position. You should see all the
indicator lights turn on, including the airbag
light. Next, turn the ignition to the start
position and start the vehicle. Take note of
the airbag indicator light. If the airbags are
fine, the airbag indicator light should come
on momentarily and go out. If the light
stays on or flashes, there is a problem with
the airbag system. Take the car to a good
mechanic.
Such problems are common in second-
hand cars. You buy it but the seller hides
information from you about an accident
that caused the airbags to deploy.
You might find that after the airbag
deployment over a not-so serious accident,
the modules and the cover were replaced.
But the electronics involved in airbag
deployment were not replaced. Instead,
the airbag cover was merely repainted or a
cosmetic one was fixed. Not that cosmetic
airbag covers often do not have the vehicle
manufacturer’s emblem and the SRS (Safety
Restraint System) logo on it. If the SRS logo
is missing, those are cosmetic airbag covers
and there is no airbag inside it.
This is because when an airbag deploys,
the airbag cover splits apart. The split cover
can be repaired. But it might not be as even
and smooth as the original. Check for such
abnormalities.
In some cases, a vehicle might have a
dashboard that looks newer than the rest
of the car. In such as a case, look out for
indicators of airbag deployment because,
when there is an airbag deployment, both
the driver and passenger side airbags will
have deployed. Since the passenger side
airbag is located inside the dash, an airbag
deployment will split the dash open. That
means a dashboard replacement is required.
The other problem is when airbags
deploy accidently. This can be dangerous
for people in the vehicle. It is also an
expensive problem to fix. So what causes it?
Each vehicle airbag has a sensor system
that determines its airbag threshold. In
case of an accident, the increase in pressure
in the sensor area as the metal and other
parts of the vehicle become compressed
causes the sensor to adjust. When a certain
threshold is met, the sensor activates
the airbags to deploy. Airbags deploy
accidentally when the sensor threshold is
set improperly. Have a mechanic test it. A
good mechanic can test the sensor without
activating the airbags. The sensor threshold
can be reset to a higher level if necessary.
But if the sensor is faulty sensor, it is best to
replace the system wholesale rather than
attempt to adjust it.
April. 19 - 25 2019 37
Isaiah Katumwa: On
authentic Ugandan jazz
‘Taste of music, like any other product, is not based on class but exposure’
By Agnes E Nantaba his first concert in 2007 in an event that has not,” he says.

I
saiah Katumwa is a renowned saxo-
phonist and jazz promoter. For close
to two decades, he has been growing
enthusiasm for jazz in the country and
region. He is widely known for his smooth
African jazz creations.
His experience and passion for the saxo-
phone dates back to childhood.
It all started with a street hawker sell-
ing imitation saxophones for children.
Katumwa was nine years old and had just
been introduced to his guardian by his
mother. His guardian could tell how much
Katumwa loved music as he danced and
sang and had already introduced him to
music instruments like trumpets, guitar,
and piano. So he bought him the saxophone
from the hawker.
Katumwa says when faced with the actu-
al woodwind instrument, he was fascinated
by the many buttons and his guardian just
let him figure out how it is played. He did.
Later he was exposed to performances
by different groups and individuals like
legendary Moses Matovu of Afrigo Band.
Alongside the saxophone, Katumwa
was taught to play the bass guitar
and several other instruments.
By 1995, Katumwa was ready
for his first performance with Wak-
aWaka Band at Sheraton Gardens.
Although he would have loved to
play the saxophone, he was assigned
to play percussions. But he relished
the exposure.
“It was like a dream come true having
looked at those people at a distance,”
he recalls, “I didn’t mind even when I
wasn’t paid.”
Katumwa worked with different genres
and groups; including the defunct Eagles
Production, Afri-Diamonds, Kadongo-
kamu legends like Fred Sebaata and others.
In 2000, he joined church ministry under
Miracle Centre Cathedral and the following
year, released his first album titled ‘I will
worship you’. He kept releasing albums
every single year until 2006 when he broke-
through with ‘Sinza’ meaning ‘praise’.
The song made its way to worldwide
recognition by being aired on BBC. When
he returned from the UK, Katumwa staged
since turned out to be held annually. At 16 years, one of his sons is already
This year which marks the 12th time the doing music and is one of the music direc-
concert, which feature top international tors of the band.
artists, will be held at the Kampala Serena Katumwa went to Rev. John Foundation
Hotel. This year it is on April 30th and will School and Kyambogo College School. He
feature Angelique Kidjo and Darren Rahn. later pursued a degree in Sound Engineer-
Katumwa has played with global icons like ing, Music Technology and Music business
Jonathan Butler, Hugh Masekela, Jimmy in England.
Dludlu and Seweto Kinchy. His passion is to see young lives changed
Katumwa was exposed to different through music.
genres of music from which he chose to “If I could make it to where I am today,
bring out a style that reflects him so well. then anyone else can with God,” he says.
“I dig from the uniqueness of being Katumwa is married
authentic Ugandan and I mix that to the with two children.
influence of slow jazz and the gospel ele-
ment,” he says.
Katumwa denies jazz is for the rich. He says
taste for music, like any other product,is not
based on class but exposure.
“Many other people might have loved
jazz but they have never listened to it,” he
says,“The people who have listened to jazz
are those in urban areas and successful
people and therefore it has branded itself to
the successful and fulfilled people.”
Katumwa says Uganda’s music indus-
try has grown, with more money, pro-
fessionalism, and credibility.
“It is no longer a
question of
whether we
deserve
respect or

38 April. 19 - 25 2019

Isaiah Katumwa’s Liteside
Any three things that we
I
don’t know about you?
am passionate about
humility, gentleness and
kindness. Those are vir-
tues I pursue and in my
prayers, I keep asking God to
help me be humble, kind, and
an inspiration.
What is your idea of perfect
happiness?
My joy is my family of chil-
dren because they remind me
of where I am coming from.
I also think that they are my
future. It’s joyful to have them.
What is your greatest fear?
Missing heaven because
I have learnt that the world
we live in is nothing. We just
come, stay a few years and we
are gone.
What is the trait you most
deplore in yourself?
I am too kind that I carry
people’s burdens and later
realise that mine are heavier
than theirs.
What is the trait you most
deplore in others?
You cannot help people who
combine ignorance and arro-
gance.
Which living per-
son do you most
admire?
I admire
Kirk
Whalum’s
godliness,
humility
and skill
and yet
he’s is
such a
big star.
I also
admire Darren Rahn who
gave me my first working
saxophone in 2000. I admire
his love for God, joyful, per-
sonality but yet principled in a
godly way. He has shown me
what love means and wish I
can be that.
What is your greatest extrava-
gance?
Loving and giving to people.
I have even got to spend what
I don’t have just because I
am passionate about helping
somebody who is in the same
place of need that I was some
day.
What do you consider the
greatest virtue?
Integrity; we don’t have
enough integrity so you don’t
know who to trust. We have
forgotten the basics of being
Ugandans to the extent that
what makes sense to us are the
colours. We need to get back to
what it means to be Ugandans.
What does being powerful
mean to you?
Positive influence; when
someone has positive influ-
ence, then they are powerful
and it doesn’t matter the level.
Someone can inspire or touch
others even without money.
On what occasion do you lie?
Telling lies is not something
I love to do. I would rather not
comment because lies eventu-
ally come back to you.
What do you most dislike
about your appearance?
None because the best
designer is God. When he
designs, he doesn’t stop.
Which living person do you
most despise?
I despise someone who
crashes people’s dreams and
tells them it’s impossible
without evidence. I despise
especially those who use their
influence to crash people’s
faith and hope. Such people do
the opposite of inspiring.
What or who is the greatest
love of your life?
My wife and two sons.
When and where were you
happiest?
When my mother (RIP)
visited me in school after a
long time. The birth of my chil-
dren were unique and happy
moments too.
Which talent would you most
like to have?
I am driven by relevance
because I have played football,
badminton and basketball
some of which have been at
the national level but later
dropped them. I would love
to do motivational speaking
because with it, I am able to
inspire people with my influ-
ence. I intend to work out all
my gifts.
If you could change one thing
about yourself, what would
it be?
At least nothing.
Where would you most like
to live?
Uganda because home
is home and I can never
change who I am. As long as
I am Katumwa, my home is
Uganda. I will always love my
heritage.
What is your most treasured
possession?
I am blessed to be multi-
talented in different areas
including painting, song writ-
ing and being a good speaker.
God has gifted me in so many
areas which I don’t know yet
how best to use them.
What do you regard as the
lowest depth of misery?
Betrayal; especially when
someone considers you impor-
tant because of circumstances
and after that, you are nothing.
It’s painful because it limits
you from trusting other people
April. 19 - 25 2019
Q&A
news analysis
including friends and relatives.
What is your favorite occupa-
tion?
I don’t have a choice with
music.
What do you most value in
your friends?
God chooses and we connect
through different situations.
Friendship depends on how
we met.
Who are your favorite writers?
For me it’s not about the
style of writing but the content.
I have a lot of respect and hon-
our for Dr Myles Munroe and
TD Jakes because their writings
speak to my heart. Writing is
about getting the platters into
pictures.
Which historical figure do you
most identify with?
They are parts and pieces
because my priority is godli-
ness but also, I know that
success is something we’ve
got to pursue constantly. I
admired Elly Wamala so much
because of how successful and
yet humble he was. I am also
inspired by the life of Myles
Munroe because he keeps me
going.
What is your greatest regret?
I don’t think that there is
anybody who has no regrets
because that means they are
perfect. We use the past to
learn from it and what was
painful will remain painful. It
is only positive living to draw
lessons from our past. There
are definitely regrets but we’ve
got to move on.
How would you like to die?
I wouldn’t answer that.
What is your motto?
‘I refuse circumstances to
dictate my future’ and ‘Success
is the best platform to use to
influence lives.’
39
Global comment
By Abhas K. Jha
Cities for the people
With careful planning, collaboration, communication,
and consensus, cities can transform residents’ lives
D
ante’s Divine Comedy describes
one level of hell (the City of Dis)
as “Satan’s wretched city … full
of distress and torment terrible.”
He could well have been describing many
modern-day metropolises.
The world, especially Sub-Saharan
Africa and Asia, is experiencing a mas-
sive wave of urbanisation. And yet it is
occurring largely in the absence of urban
planning, with even those municipalities
that attempt to create plans often failing
to enforce them effectively or account
properly for the needs of the majority.
The result is overcrowded, dirty, and dis-
orderly cities that undermine residents’
health and happiness.
In planning our cities, we have put
the needs of cars over those of people,
too often emphasising accessibility for
private vehicles (while penalising pedes-
trians and bicyclists for jaywalking) – an
approach that creates near-permanent
gridlock and heavy pollution. The
average driver in Los Angeles spends 102
hours per year in peak traffic. In Jakarta,
the average driver starts and stops more
than 33,000 times per year.
Partly because of such congestion,
cities account for 70% of global carbon
pollution. The World Health Organisa-
tion estimates that around 90% of people
worldwide breathe polluted air. In low-
and middle-income countries, 98% of
cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants
do not meet WHO air quality guidelines.
As for shelter, poor land-use plan-
ning means that what should amount
to a living wage in many cities falls
far short of what is needed to pay for
decent housing. According to the United
Nations Human Settlements Program,
nearly one billion people live in slum
conditions, and this figure could double
by 2030. Moreover, as recent research
shows, neighborhoods are often seg-
regated by race, ethnicity, and income
– a major obstacle to social mobility,
including across generations.
But we have a chance to change this.
Over the next 20 years, the world will
build as much urban housing and related
infrastructure as has been built in all of
human history. And many cities in both
rich and poor countries already offer
examples of sustainable, inclusive, liv-
able, and beautiful urban design.
40 April. 19 - 25 2019
Singapore has implemented what
Jan Gehl calls “human-scale design.”
The bottom-up design of neighbor-
hoods empowers citizens and empha-
sises diversity, thereby preventing the
emergence of poverty ghettoes through
mixed-income housing, along with
access to high-quality public transport,
health, and education.
Likewise, despite strong resistance,
then-New York City Mayor Michael
Bloomberg and Transport Commissioner
Janette Sadik-Khan invested in protected
bike lanes and public transport. London,
Singapore, and Stockholm have long
used congestion pricing to discourage
driving. In March, London will take this
a step further – as Chengdu, Madrid,
Paris, and others have already done – by
banning cars altogether in core areas
of the city, creating ultra-low emis-
sion zones. Amsterdam, Tokyo, and
Copenhagen show us that designing city
roads to be narrower slows down traffic,
boosting the safety of pedestrians and
bicyclists.
From Bogotá, Colombia, to Dar es
Salaam, Tanzania, cities around the
world have implemented bus rapid
transit, which essentially functions like a
metro system, but is cheaper and faster
to build. Dense urban corridors are
Over the next
20 years, the
world will
build as much
urban housing
and related
infrastructure
as has been
built in all of
human history
emerging along the designated bus lanes.
Some cities have also introduced the
types of parking reforms long advocated
by UCLA’s Donald Shoup. These include
abolishing minimum parking require-
ments for buildings and introducing
dynamic pricing that keeps 5-10% of
parking spots vacant and channels rev-
enues back to the neighborhood.
Meanwhile, housing no longer needs
to be positioned and promoted as an
investment asset; instead, rental housing,
for all income segments, but especially
for those in need of affordable shelter,
can be given priority, as is the case in
Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
Moreover, zoning and regulatory bar-
riers to building new affordable housing
should be dismantled, with high-density
mixed-use areas developed close to
public transport. To this end, following
Copenhagen’s lead, more cities can use
public-private partnerships to tap into
the large stock of unused land owned by
public agencies. Careful design of build-
ings can make them energy positive, so
that they produce more energy than they
consume. Norway is a pioneer in this
area.
Finally, to fund these investments,
cities need stable revenue sources. Too
often, cities fail to tap the full potential of
land-based financing, especially property
tax. Yet satellite imagery and drone map-
ping can now produce for tax authorities
a “fit for purpose” cadaster – showing
how land is occupied and used – in a
matter of weeks.
With careful planning, collaboration,
communication, and consensus, cities
can transform the lives of their residents.
Initiatives like the World Bank’s Global
Platform for Sustainable Cities and the
City Planning Labs are supporting cities’
efforts, by facilitating knowledge sharing
and evidence-based urban planning. If
we do what it takes now to ensure inclu-
sive, resilient, and sustainable urbaniza-
tion, Dante’s City of Dis can remain in its
imagined hell.
Abhas K. Jha is Practice Manager, Urban
Development and Disaster Risk Management
(East Asia and the Pacific) for the World
Bank.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2019.
www.project-syndicate.org
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