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Ambassador Scientists find new Bad start for Uganda’s

Malac’s last word blood component stock market

Issue No. 607 Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020 Ushs 5,000,Kshs 200, RwF 1,500, SDP 8

Museveni and
Mbabazi
Historicals, party leaders,
cadres speak out

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inbox

Issue No. 607 Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020

News analysis Business Health Arts Motoring

Cover story
Museveni and Mbabazi
Historicals, party leaders, cadres speak out

5 The Week
30 Comments
World mourns NBA
legend Kobe Bryant Potential drivers of election-
violence: What Uganda should
do to address new and old
9 The Last Word
forms of negative political
Why economic growth matters: drama ahead of 2021 elections
Evidence of how GDP growth has
led to improved wellbeing of the 32 Health
majority of Ugandans
New component in
blood: Discovery could
14 Analysis lead to improvements
US watching 2021 in treatment ofdiseases
election - Malac

35 Arts & Culture

27 Business Nommo Gallery reborn:
Budding Phillip Balimunsi
Bad start for Uganda’s stock market: bring international approach
Executives hope that the future is bright to premier local institution
as listed entities post profits

MANAGING DIRECTOR: Andrew M. Mwenda WRITERS:Ronald Musoke, Ian Katusiime, Patricia Akankwatsa, Julius Businge.
MANAGING EDITOR: Joseph Were DESIGN: Sarah Ngororano
BUSINESS EDITOR: Isaac Khisa CARTOONIST: Harriet Jamwa

PUBLISHER: Independent Publications Limited, Plot 82/84, Kanjokya Street, P. O. Box 3304, Kampala, Uganda
Tel: +256-312-637-391/ 2/ 3/ 4 | Fax: +256-312-637-396 E-mail: editor@independent.co.ug | advertising@independent.co.ug
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2 Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020

 inbox

“We have also requested for the

yellow fever vaccines from the
international coordination group
that manages global stock piles
of yellow fever and meningitis
The Executive Director Transparency International Uganda Peter Wandera (3rd L), says Government’s
vaccines. We anticipate that within
failure to prosecute the corrupt public officials is one of the major challenge to fight corruption. This was the next two weeks, the vaccines
during the launch of Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2019 on Jan, 23. indicating Uganda currently will be available”Jane Aceng, minister
ranked 149 with the score of 26.  INDEPENDENT ALFRED OCHWO
for health
Attorney General William
Byaruhanga (L), shakes
hand with Rtd. Maj.
General Kahinda Otafiire,
former minister of justice
as Ephraim Kamuntu
(L), his successor looks
on. This was during the
handover office of the
ministry of Justice and
Constitution affairs held
on Jan. 22.  INDEPENDENT/
ALFRED OCHWO
“Whoever plans to be corrupt will
definitely contend with my wrath. I
will not even use a carrot, it will be a
stick.”Principal Judge Flavian Zeija

The Permanent Ministry

of the Ministry of Health,
Dr. Diana Atwine (3rd L),
handed over 70,000 Long
Last Insecticide Treated
mosquito nets (LLIN) to
the UPDF in efforts to
control malaria. The nets
will be distributed in the
greater Luweero region
as part of the activities to
“Mr Chairman, I beg for your
mark the 39th Tarehe Sita protection.” Justin Lumumba, NRM
anniversary celebrations. secretary general after NRM delegates
heckled her at the delegates conference
at Namboole

Head teachers whom Money Masaka Diocese Loan India is giving

13 Kalungu district
transferred causing uproar
Shs950m is seeking for organizing
Martys Day celebrations
Shs750bn to Uganda to boost
electricity transmission

Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020 3

week

The New Forests Company

Growing Africa
The New Forests Company congratulates His Excellency the President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the Government
and People of Uganda on this auspicious occasion of the 34th NRM Anniversary Celebrations.
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The New Forests Company remains committed to the development of Uganda and the region. High-quality utility poles,
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Commitment to our forest adjacent neighbour communities is reflected in our unwavering support towards the forests for
prosperity approach.
We join all Ugandans in working towards a prosperous future with renewed hope and confidence.

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Plot 1 Kololo Hill Drive Block B 5th Floor Office 5A Kololo Kampala
Suppliers of untreated poles or buyers of treated poles, sawn timber and biomass please contact: roland.
nkwitsana@newforests.net

Out of contract Police directors under pressure to leave office

The Inspector General of Police
(IGP) Martins Okoth Ochola has
ordered six police directors who are
out of contract to hand over office
and vacate immediately. Traffic Police
Director Steven Kasiima handed over
office to his deputy, Commissioner
of Police Bazir Mugisha. Director of
Logistics Godfrey Bangirana has been
under pressure from the IGP Ochola
to leave office immediately. Ochola
issued a letter to Bangirana mid last
year to leave office after his contract
expired but the police director defied
the directive. At the rank of Assistant
Inspector General of Police (AIGP),
Kasiima and six of his colleagues had
no contracts over the last one year
and have been working on a promise
letter issued by Internal Affairs
Minister Jeje Odongo. The others are
AIGPs Erasmus Twaruhukwa, the
Director of Legal Affairs, Lemmy
Twinomugisha, Director for Welfare
and Production, Joseph Mugisa-The
Director Fire and Emergency Rescue
Services, Police Attaché to New York
Haruna Isabirye and Interpol Special
Representative to African Union
Francis Rwego.

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4 Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020

 week
Uganda to start yellow fever vaccination
The Ministry of Health of yellow fever after two ing areas. The ministry
has announced that there men died of the disease of health has applied
will be routine yellow in Moyo district in the to GAVI and WHO for
fever vaccinations as a West Nile region and the inclusion of the vac-
measure to counter the another one succumbed cination on the routine
deadly disease after the in Buliisa district in immunisation schedule.
latest outbreak became Bunyoro sub region. The Ugandans are used to
the fourth. Health ministry has dispatched taking yellow fever vac-
minister Ruth Aceng response teams to both cine only when they are
confirmed the outbreak districts and surround- crossing borders.

Uganda under locusts threat

An invasion by locusts is on the cards with the
deadly crop eater said to be ravaging plantations in
parts of Kenya. Last week, minister for agriculture
Vincent Sempijja, said two swarms of locusts were
advancing towards Uganda. Sempijja said one swarm
was 300km away from the north eastern part of Ugan-
da. A statement from the UN Food and Agriculture
Organisation (FAO) warning Ethiopia, Somalia and
Kenya were dealing with swarms of “unprecedented
size and destructive potential.” FAO warned that
unusual conditions have favoured rapid locust repro-
duction and if no responses are put in place, the locust
invasion could, the FAO added that the swarms could
strike Uganda and last till June.

UPDF jet crash kills 2
Two crew members of the
Uganda Peoples Defence
Air Forces (UPDAF) were
killed in a jet ranger crash in
Butambala. The jet was on
a training mission when the
crash happened on Jan. 28,
Brig. Richard Karemire, the
UPDF spokesperson revealed
in a Twitter post. Karemire
revealed that the army is
investigating the matter. The
crash brought back memories
of eight years ago when the
four UPDF choppers crashed
in Kenya as they were headed
for Somalia.
Burundi’s Nkurunziza promises to step down in May
Burundi President Pierre
Nkurunziza in a surprise
move, promised he would
step down in May once his
current term ends. This is in
spite of widespread belief that
he backed a new constitution
extending term limits in a
bid to cling to power. The
president told supporters of
the ruling CNDD-FDD party
in Gitenga, central Burundi
that “our work ends in 2020”.
The country has approved a
retirement package for him
worth half a million dollars.
Nkurunziza’s bid for a third
term in 2015 plunged the
country into chaos. That year,
he survived a coup while
attending an EAC Heads
of State summit in Arusha,
Tanzania. Nkrunziza has
skipped EAC summits as he
has had bad relations with
Paul Kagame of neigbouring
Rwanda. The Burundian
president also accused his
Ugandan counterpart Yoweri
Museveni of partiality when
the latter was chairman of the
EAC two years ago.

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Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020 5

week
World mourns NBA legend Kobe Bryant
A helicopter crash that killed Amer-
ican basketball legend Kobe Bryant
and his 13-year-old daughter Gianni
in California, U.S. shocked the world.
Thousands of tributes poured in for the
retired basketball star and his family
after the fatal crash. Bryant retired in
2016 with a heartfelt ode titled ‘Dear
Basketball’ and was hailed as one of the
6 Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020
greatest players of the game. Fellow leg-
end Michael Jordan said Bryant was like
a “little brother” to him. He died at the
age of 41 and played for the Lakers all
his career winning six NBA champion-
ships. Bryant was a coach to his daughter
who had taken up love for the game and
the videos of them in basketball sessions
went viral when news of his death broke.
Guidelines for new
secondary school curriculum
The revised Lower Secondary
School Curriculum is due to start in
2020 with Senior One and these are
implementation guidelines: A School
may identify up to 15 subjects; 11 of
which are compulsory in Senior 1 and
2, plus 4 elective subjects depending
on the capacity and availability of
resources. The learner is free to choose
one elective subject in Senior 1 and 2,
which will give him/her a total of 12
subjects. On transition to Senior 3 and
4, the learner will study 7 compulsory
subjects plus a maximum of 3 electives
as per the subject grouping shown
below. The rest of the classes will
continue with the curriculum of 2008
(for UCE). In a bid to provide quality
secondary education to all school going
learners in Uganda, the Ministry of
Education and Sports reviewed the
Lower Secondary School Curriculum.
The review aimed at reducing
content overload, contact hours in the
classroom; fostering learner centred
pedagogy, competence based approach,
and criterion referenced assessment.
Humour Did you know?
Microsoft Windows 7 is
exposed to malware

Microsoft Windows 7 –
Dr. Stella Nyanzi. a prominent Ugandan academic, writer and feminist activist has been launched in 2009 – came to the
awarded the Oxfam Novib/ PEN International Award for Freedom of Expression 2020.
end of its supported life on
Jan.14. This means Microsoft
will no security patches. This
does not mean that your longer
update it with Windows 7 will
stop working. It will work. But
it will stop receiving security
updates. This will leave users
exposed to malware attacks,
particularly from `ransomware’.
This can be quite dangerous,
especially for a big business or
institution – say a government
department, hospital, bank or
supermarket.
On the second Tuesday of
every month, Microsoft releases
security patches that should
be installed automatically by
Windows Update. The malware
Uganda’s opposition figurehead Kizza Besigye was detained at Nalufenya industry analyses these patches
Police Station after being arrested in Jinja making it his 50th time. to find the holes, and then looks
for ways to exploit them. That
is why it is not wise to leave
your devices unsupported.
Your sensitive data is at high
risk. Also note that browser
suppliers such as Google will
sooner or later stop testing
their browsers on Windows
7. The best option at this time
is for users of Windows 7 to
move to Windows 10, Linux,
or CloudReady. This is based
on Google’s Chromium OS
and, in effect, turns your PC
into a Chromebook. Windows
10 is the best option for most
ordinary Windows 7 users. It
will run most, if not all, of your
existing software, and you will
have to do the least amount of
The electoral commission has  given an ultimatum to the Government to avail sh518.9b this financial year or risk relearning.
having no elections in 2021.

Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020 7


Inbox
Letters are
welcome !
The Editor welcomes short and
concise letters from our esteemed
readers on topical issues. Please
send them to:
The Editor, The Independent
Publications Ltd,
P.O Box 3304,
Plot 82/84 Kanjokya St,
Kamwokya.
Kampala,Uganda.
Email: editor@independent.co.ug
Kampala-Jinja
Expressway disaster
Refer to: “Museveni opens a Pan-
dora’s Box: How the president’s
intervention to halt the procure-
ment of Kampala-Jinja Expressway
is a disaster” (The Independent
Jan.17). Mwenda, I agree with your
observation indeed I have always
been suspicious about people who
dash to seek remedies from the
powers that be yet there are clear
avenues of dispute settlement
under the Public Procurement and
Disposal of Assets (PPDA) .I also
believe some companies; especially
from the oriental countries do bud-
get for ‘kickbacks ‘to get awarded
the project and it would not affect
the quality of the works. The Kam-
pala-Jinja Expressway is likely to be
the scandal of this century.
Pius Epaju
* T&C apply * Regulated by Uganda Communications Commission.
8 Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020
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Follow us on Facebook @
www.facebook.com/TheIndependentMagazineUganda
e-passports will reduce corruption
I was happy about the
changes the Minister of State
for Internal Affairs Obiga Kania
says are happening in the Min-
istry of Internal Affairs Direc-
torate of Citizenship and Immi-
gration Control. For a very long
time we have seen scandals at
the Ministry involving people
being lied to by conmen and
some staff at the Ministry
involved in bribery. People
complain that their passports
Museveni, Bobi Wine’s international visits
It is now almost three years
since the Kyadondo East Mem-
ber of Parliament, Ssentamu
Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi
Wine has been in politics of
Uganda. His message against
President Museveni and the
NRM government and his
political music have attracted
a lot of foreign attention and
opportunities to travel all over
the world. The level of his trav-
els escalated from the time he
showed interest in standing for
presidency in the coming gen-
eral elections which has also
landed him international media
appearances.
However, Bobi Wine’s inter-
national visits are full of indi-
are not delivered in time and
the large numbers that have to
be attended to by few staff.
This all has been happen-
ing in the era of manually
providing passports. Thanks
to the leadership, this Minis-
try has embarked on efforts
to improve service delivery,
immigration and citizenship
services through automation. I
was glad to hear that ever since
the launch of the e-passports
vidual, family and close friends
benefit. Even when he appoint-
ed his People Power coordi-
nators, Bobi Wine has been
traveling with his family, close
friends like Nubia Lee and Joel
Senyonyi. Does this mean that
all the people he appointed
on his team cannot explain or
market people power ideology
outside the country?
His message at the interna-
tional level has been concen-
trated on President Museveni’s
weaknesses. Bobi Wine misses
parliamentary sessions and
causes his constituents unfair
representation. One would
think that all those travels and
international engagements
BUNDLES IN TOWN
DATA
News analysis Health Business
UK’s late coming Consequences of Majid Al Futtaim opens
to Africa summit fake medicines Carrefour store in Kampala
Issue No. 606 Jan. 24 - 30 2020
Ushs 5,000,Kshs 200, RwF 1,500, SDP 8
Joint 2021
opposition candidate
impossible
Why Bobi Wine, Besigye,
Muntu can’t unite
www.independent.co.ug
on December 19, 2019, up to
83,233 passports have been
issued as of Jan.27 compared
to 15,000 passports that were
issued in 2018 during the same
period while we were still
using manual application. The
new system is reducing the
levels of corruption since even
payments are made online and
the time of delivery is not long.
Kevin Seguya
Kelvinsegz@gmail.com
are done to benefit his voters.
He should not paint a bad
image against Uganda if he
calls himself a patriot and true
Ugandan. When we look into
the international travels of
President Yoweri Museveni,
we see a leader who loves to
transform his nation. Last year
alone, President Museveni
attracted 291 investors to come
to Uganda for business and
employ Ugandans. Ugandans
should demand for the reasons
and accountability from leaders
who travel a lot.
David Serumaga
@david_serumaga
Kampala
CONNECTING COMMUNITIES

Why economic growth matters
By Andrew M. Mwenda
Evidence of how GDP growth has led to improved
wellbeing of the majority of Ugandans
C
ritics have been accusing me of
being simplistic by focusing on
economic growth as a major success
of President Yoweri Museveni’s
administration. Uganda has sustained an
average annual rate of growth of nearly
7% over the last 34 years. Some argue that
the country could have done better by
comparing us to China, which had a growth
marathon of over 10% per year between
1978 and 2008. Yet China is different from
Uganda; especially when we look at factors
that drive rapid growth such as a shared
national consciousness (leading to high
levels of trust), the existence of a strong
state, high levels of human capital, diffusion
of technology, and access to the sea and
proximity to large markets.
Most indicators would predict that Uganda
could actually have performed worse. We
lack a shared national consciousness; making
a shared vision difficult to craft. It has had
low levels of human capital development
(measured by the number of years an
average citizen has spent in school). We
have a very high dependency ratio (median
age is 16 years); so most working Ugandans
spend a large share of their income looking
after kids instead of investing in productive
activities. The country was engulfed in
myriad civil wars for the first 20 years of her
growth marathon (1986 to 2005).
Uganda is located far away from the sea,
making access to international markets
expensive. Our country was surrounded by
Kenya to the east, and Tanzania to the south
both of which were stagnating in the 1980s
and 90s; Rwanda to the south, which was
civil war between 1990 and 2001; DRC to the
West which was economically retrogressing
and later in civil war from 1996 to now; and
Sudan to the north which was also in civil
war. Beyond our immediate neighbors are
Burundi, Somalia, Ethiopia and Central
Africa Republic all of which were in civil
war. Your neighbor’s growth adds about
1-2% on your growth through positive
externalities. It is, therefore, a miracle that
Uganda sustained such impressive rates of
economic growth between 1986 and 2010.
Critics say that growth has increased
inequality; that incomes have been
concentrated in a few hands. This is only
partly true. First, for most countries, early
periods of growth tend concentrate income
The Last Word
in a few enterprising hands. But when most
labour moves out of agriculture in rural
areas to industry and services in urban areas,
political agitation for income redistribution
gains momentum. But it would be
dangerous for Uganda to begin a massive
income redistribution program at low levels
of development; the country would be
redistributing poverty.
The measure of income inequality is
the gini-coefficient spread between zero
(complete equality i.e. everything is owned
equally) and one (a few own everything i.e.
total inequality). Uganda’s gini coefficient is
0.395, among the best in its income bracket.
It is better than Africa’s leading democracies:
Zambia (0.575), Botswana (0.65), Ghana
(0.423), South Africa (0.625), Nigeria (0.488),
Kenya (0.485), Senegal (0.403) and Malawi
(0.461). Only Tanzania (0.376), Benin (0.365)
and Ethiopia (0.33) do better. Our neighbors
Rwanda (0.504) and Burundi (0.424) are not
better.
Indeed, evidence shows that Uganda’s
growth has been widely shared, the failure
of Museveni’s government to articulate this
consistently notwithstanding. For instance,
we can measure things that indicate
improved living standards and wellbeing
of the population such as education,
health, quality of housing, access to clean
water, electricity, food security and access
to modern amenities such as televisions,
cars, radios, motor cycles etc. On each of
these indicators, the numbers speak for
themselves.
For instance, life expectancy at birth is the
best indicator of improved health. This has
increased from 39 years in 2000 to 65 years
today. Life expectancy is greatly affected
by infant and child mortality. The biggest
influence on reduced infant and child
mortality is not medical services (curative
medicine) as most people would think but
improved nutrition (a proxy for increased
incomes allowing for access to better food),
improved hygiene (a proxy for improved
education hence awareness of the germ
theory of disease), improved sanitation,
access to clean water and improved
conditions of living; especially the quality of
housing.
The quality of housing is also a good
proxy for improved incomes and thus
better standards of living and wellbeing.
Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020
opinion
In 1991 only 12% of Ugandans lived in a
house with permanent walls. In 2014, it was
43%. Houses whose roofs were built with
permanent materials were 40% in 1991 and
70% in 2014. Houses whose floors were
made of rammed earth floor were 77% in
2002 and in 2014 had fallen to 32%. It is
almost six years since the last population and
hosing census. These numbers must have
greatly improved since. Other factors such as
access to clean water (76% nationally), access
to electricity have greatly improved.
Other indicators of wellbeing and
increased standards of living such as
access to television, mobile phones, cars,
motorcycles, access to education (UPE and
USE have been very successful even though
quality is not as good) and access to medical
services (like the average distance from
a home to a health center) have all seen
remarkable improvements. It makes little
sense for us to get bogged down into a litany
of statistics to prove these points.
Therefore, the claims by critics that
economic growth has not been translated
into improved living standards and
wellbeing are spurious. As someone who
grew up in the Uganda of the 1970s, 80s
and 90s, I am always impressed, though
not satisfied, with the improved quality
of housing, dressing and even physical
appearance (better fed) of Ugandans after
these three decades of sustained growth.
Regardless of the weaknesses people cite
about using GDP and per capita GDP to
measure success, all of which are legitimate
and convincing, I still believe it remains the
best instrument available to measure the
standards of living of a population.
There is no country in the world with a
per capita income of $800, which has a life
expectancy of 75 years. Equally no country
of such per capita income has provided its
citizens with a large basket of public goods
and services to the quality and reach of
countries with per capital income of $50,000.
This is not to say that money is all you need
to make your citizens live a good life. Rather
it is to demonstrate that high income (which
is a result of sustain economic growth) is a
fundamental prerequisite for achieving most
of the human welfare goals we seek.
amwenda@independent.co.ug
9
COVER STORY

Amama Mbabazi and President Museveni at Kisozi ranch on New Year’s Eve.  PPU

Museveni and
Mbabazi
Historicals, party leaders,
cadres speak out

By Ian Katusiime

10 Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020


F
ormer Prime Minister
Amama Mbabazi likes to
keep people guessing. In the
run-up to the 2016 election,
he created a famous tongue-
twister to answer whenever
he was asked if he would run against
President Yoweri Museveni.
“I will tell you when I tell you what
I will tell you,” he would say with a
chuckle.
Four years later and a year to another
election in 2021, Mbabazi’s future is
once again a point of speculation. Will
he or will he not – rejoin his former
senior colleague, Museveni, in the
National Resistance Movement (NRM)?
The Independent tried severally to get
a comment from him with little success.
But if we had succeeded, he could
possibly have had another tongue-
twister.
The return of Amama Mbabazi
to the NRM, his political home of
40 years, looked a likely possibility
when on Jan.23 the NRM Secretary
General, Justine Kasule Lumumba,
told journalists that Mbabazi had
been invited to be a “special guest”
at the meeting of the NRM’s second
top most body; the National Executive
Committee (NEC) of Jan.24 and
National Conference on Jan.25.
Museveni in his capacity as NRM
chairman invited Mbabazi together with
four other special guests; former vice
presidents Speciosa Wandira Kazibwe
and Gilbert Bukenya, former Prime
Minister Kintu Musoke, and former
minister and NRM Central Executive
Committee member, Francis Babu.
Bukenya, Babu and Kazibwe showed up
at the National Delegates Conference
held at Namboole stadium on Jan. 25.
But Mbabazi did not attend, sparking a
flurry of phone calls with one question,
“why?”
Sources familiar with the highly
secret arrangements at State House
say Mbabazi skipping the meeting is
typical. He thrives on intrigue, secrecy,
and keeping everyone guessing –
including President Museveni this time.
That the two men have been in
contact since they contested against
each other in the 2016 presidential
election is well known. However, it
appears Mbabazi is determined to be his
own man and not at the beck-and-call of
Museveni.
In fact, on the two occasions that the
two have appeared together publicly, it
has been on Mbabazi’s turf and terms.
On August 04, 2018, President Museveni
made the trip to Mbabazi’s home in
Kololo Kampala to attend the marriage
ceremony of Mbabazi’s daughter. South
African President Cyril Ramaphosa
whose son was the groom was in
attendance and decorum possibly
Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020
COVER STORY
required Museveni’s presence.
Recently, Museveni and Mbabazi
met in the Togolese capital Lome for
the France – Africa summit on drug
trafficking and counterfeit medicines
on the continent. It was organised by
the Brazzavile Foundation; a charity
organisation based in the United
Kingdom led by Sir David Richmond
with HRH Prince Michael of Kent as
patron. The foundation is managed by
an international advisory board that
includes Mbabazi.
As seen, the meetings were miles
away from politics, but speculation
remained. Tit-bits even hinted on secret
meetings between the two at State
House to discuss what role the former
prime minister and NRM secretary
general, and `super minister’ will play
if he formally returns to the party.
In reality, what the public meetings
communicated is an image of Mbabazi
thriving quite comfortably outside of
Museveni’s orbit and possibly willing
to engage on his own terms. That
could not be said of Museveni who has
six years later failed to find a `super
minister’ of Mbabazi pedigree and
clout.
NRM problems
Talk of the return of Mbabazi to
NRM is coming at a time when the
party is facing deep organisational
dysfunction. Party cadres have fallen
out with current secretary general Justin
Lumumba accusing her of arrogance
and incompetence. While speaking
at the delegates’ conference, party
members heckled her to a point of her
requesting protection from the party
Ayatollah, Museveni.
Lumumba, a source who is a party
cadre says, bungled up the transport
logistics of delegates from the newly
created districts. When they arrived at
Namboole, they had already hatched a
plan to disrupt her in revenge for what
they say was sheer disorganisation.
She reportedly mishandled finances
from the 2016 election and as a result,
the president moved work away from
the party secretariat at Kyadondo in
Kololo to the chairman’s office which
operates from Kyambogo, Kampala.
Lumumba as the top party executive
carries out her duties from the
Kyadondo office but has been out of
work allegedly due to Museveni’s
dissatisfaction from her performance in
the 2016 elections. The chairman’s office
is run by Milly Babirye and has since
2017 been carrying out the bulk of NRM
work as directed by President Museveni
leaving Lumumba frustrated.
Previously the chairman’s office was
run by Molly Kamukama who after
11
cover story
NRM Delegates at Namboole on Jan. 25. Mbabazi snubbed the invite to attend the event.  PPU
an impressive performance in the last
presidential campaign, was elevated to
the post of Principal Private Secretary
to the President. Kamukama’s latest
ascent is Minister of state for economic
monitoring.
The NRM delegates conference
was convened officially to make
amendments to the way the party
votes. The party adopted voting by
lining up of candidates as opposed to
secret ballot. Museveni and other senior
members of the party are convinced that
lining up of candidates will do away
with the do or die nature that NRM
primary elections have become over the
years. The internal party elections have
been marred with violence in 2010 and
2015.
Unofficially, the conference was seen
as a welcome party for its prodigal
son Mbabazi and others like Gilbert
Bukenya who have fizzled out of the
ruling party. At the event, Museveni
largely talked about economic issues
such as over taxation and steered clear
of Mbabazi.
The NRM conference happened at
the same time when another political
juggernaut in the region, the Chama
Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), the ruling party
in Tanzania was holding a similar event
among its rank and file.
Tanzanian President John Pombe
Magufuli, also chairman of CCM, was
meeting district and regional party
leaders listening to their concerns.
12 Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020
The retreat at the Julius Nyerere
International Convention Centre was
aimed at forming strategies for the 2020
presidential election.
Although Mbabazi was not seen at
the NRM meetings, his returning to the
NRM would not surprise because his
fallout with President Yoweri Museveni
in 2014 was not an acrimonious one.
It is also not unusual for Museveni
to reach out to those he has fallen out
with. The President has a history of
returning comrades to the fold. Lt.
Gen. (Rtd) Henry Tumukunde was
rehabilitated and returned government
as seen by the clandestine role he
played for NRM in the 2016 presidential
campaign.
After his victory in the 2006 election
was announced, Museveni invited
Mathew Rukikaire, Eriya Tukahirwa
Kategaya, Amanya Mushega, and
Richard Kaijuka for a meeting at his
country home in Rwakitura to persuade
them to re-join government. The group
had fallen out with him over lifting
of presidential term limits and other
critical issues.
After quitting NRM, Kategeya played
a role in the formation of the Forum
for Democratic Change (FDC) which is
currently the largest opposition party in
Uganda. But in 2006 he was reappointed
a minister in Museveni’s government.
Comments on the uproar over his
about-face focused on a comment that
Kategaya famously made soon after
his sacking. He said: “A man can only
turn in bed but cannot go back on his
word,” a loose translation of a famous
Kinyankore proverb. Clearly, a man
can turn on his political word. So is
Mbabazi about to turn on his?
In 2018, Mbabazi said in spite of
Museveni attending his daughter’s
marriage ceremony, he was not about
to return to Museveni’s government.
He said, however, despite challenging
Museveni in the 2016 general elections,
their relationship was cordial.
“We may disagree politically, but the
association we have is not affected. This
is what I call maturity in leadership,” he
said in a speech at the ceremony.
Party leaders react
Talk of Mbabazi returning to the
NRM has been well-received.
Mike Mukula, a staunch Museveni
supporter and NRM vice chairman for
the eastern region told The Independent
that NRM is a mass party and people
are free to come back.
“Mbabazi played a historical role in
the NRM,” he said, “He may have had
his own political direction and that is
his decision but he; like he has said
before, never left the Movement.”
Francis Babu, an NRM historical and
former minister, told this newspaper
the NRM doors are always open. “How
he comes back is his business…he has
only talked to the chairman but I am not
impressed at all.”

“I don’t think he has any added
value. He definitely has a few
followers,” he added, “I don’t think
there’s anything quite additional; it’s
always good though to mend fences.”
Mukula used the adage of no
permanent enemies but permanent
interest in politics to explain the
overtures to Mbabazi and also
mentioning the reconciliation between
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta
and his rival in two elections, Raila
Odinga.
“Political reconciliation is
fundamental in developing African
democracies,” he says. “Amama has
ideological clarity, his tactics could
have changed.”
Mukula, who once declared his
intentions to challenge Museveni for
the top seat, says the most important
thing is that the party is bigger than
the individual.
On the contribution Mbabazi can
make at this stage, Mukula who is a
former minister of state for Health in
the NRM government, preferred to
speak broadly.
“Realigning the political strategy
and maintaining the vision is key,” he
said. “NRM is a strong party and is
not about to recline on its interests.”
To Mukula, the larger goal is to
bring in more people. “He can irrigate
and nurture the younger generation.”
“If he (Mbabazi) chooses to sit
and advise from the sidelines, that
is okay,” he added. “I know him
personally and he is someone who
has scored tremendously for the NRM.
For him to have risen to those ranks of
prime minister, he must be someone
vital.”
Ofwono Opondo, the government
spokesperson who doubles in a similar
role for the NRM explained the party’s
stance towards Mbabazi. “The NRM
bends over backwards for building
consensus.”
Even if Mbabazi’s talked about
return to the NRM would not surprise
many, questions abound on what
he can bring to the party. He is 71,
and has been out of government for
six years now. By the time he left
government in September 2014, after
Museveni sacked him, Mbabazi had
cultivated more foes than allies.
Senior figures in NRM like Speaker
of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga, Foreign
Minister Sam Kutesa, former security
honcho Gen. Jim Muhwezi, the
Minister of East African Affairs Gen.
Kahinda Otafiire, First Deputy Prime
Minister Gen. Moses Ali, and former
vice president Gilbert Bukenya had
long standing disagreements with him.
Museveni and Mbabazi at the latter’s home in Kololo during the give-away ceremony of his daughter in 2018.
Francis Babu Mike Mukula
Man of intrigue
In February 2014, Mbabazi was kicked
out of the party in humiliating fashion.
Mbabazi’s knifing was orchestrated by
current Minister of State for Investment
and Privatisation, Evelyn Anite.
Although just a lowly MP at the time,
Anite hatched a scheme that put her
at the centre of ensuring that Mbabazi
does not challenge Museveni within
NRM and is humiliated and hounded
out.
Anite pulled a surprise move
with the so-called Museveni sole
candidature resolution at a party
retreat in Kyankwanzi and Mbabazi
was humiliated when Anite compelled
him to sign on the resolution although
he had indicated intention to challenge
Museveni. Later in December, a
forlorn Mbabazi looked on as the party
amended rules to have an appointed
secretary general as opposed to an
elected one. He had been elected as
secretary general in 2005 and 2010.
At the height of his powers, Mbabazi
was the de facto number two in NRM
and the larger government. At one time,
occupying the positions of Attorney
Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020
cover story
General and Defence Minister, he
earned the moniker of `super minister’.
Museveni severally praised him and
liked that Mbabazi, just like him, was a
teetotaler.
However, the closer he got to
Museveni, the further he alienated other
figures in the party and in cabinet. There
were claims that ministers were irked by
his work style. He had frosty relations
with many bush war comrades from the
NRA liberation war of 1981-1986. Many
accused him of arrogance from the days
he was a member of the external wing
of the liberation war while based in
Nairobi.
As a powerful party official, Mbabazi
had built a reputation of sponsoring
his favoured party candidates against
other members of the NRM during
parliamentary elections. This sowed
division and was the start of accusations
against Mbabazi as a divisive figure
and someone who thrives on fomenting
intrigue. Although Mbabazi as Prime
Minister had nudged some colleagues in
cabinet to do his bidding, all this came to
naught when Museveni fired him.
When Mbabazi declared his
presidential bid in 2015, Col. Samson
Mande, who is in exile described
Mbabazi as a mastermind of intrigue,
deception and manipulation in an
interview with The Independent. That
someone in exile could say that about
a candidate planning to oust Museveni
from the party leadership and the
presidency was telling.
What Mbabazi can bring to the party
having been down and out, with a
battered reputation, and a forgettable
performance in the last election may be
difficult to fathom for some.
13
news analysis

US watching 2021
election - Malac
Deborah Malac, the outgoing American ambassador to Uganda spoke to the press for the
last time on Jan.23. She said she had “thoroughly enjoyed her time” and would carry many
warm memories of the ‘Pearl of Africa,’ particularly its friendly people, beautiful landscapes
and amazing wildlife. Ronald Musoke attended and captured some of her reflections.

M
alac who is retiring from
Malac’s take on: be treated with the values that I believe
diplomatic work after almost Her best moments in; to ensure that I stay true to the foreign
40 years of service said she was policy objectives and national interests of
leaving Uganda with several I have lots of good memories. I met the United States. More importantly, it is
accomplishments in the health, business, incredible Ugandans across Uganda; in really the element of being
education, and security sectors. rural communities, in urban slums, candid because as
The ambassador said the U.S. had government offices, and civil soci- friends, we have
helped move Uganda nearer to HIV ety. I was always struck by the to be able to
epidemic control and progress toward real energy and enthusiasm speak frankly
the goal of “90/90/90.” The U.S. also of people and that made me to our part-
helped the country to successfully feel energized and hopeful. ners, oth-
contain two Ebola outbreaks in the Despite the criticism and erwise;
last year alone through strengthened despite the fact that people it leaves
laboratory diagnoses, disease surveillance, did not always agree with a lot of
vaccination, community sensitization, and what I had to say, you always room for
investment in its network of treatment made me feel at home. misinter-
units. Uganda has become a champion of That is not something you pretation.
the global health security agenda, Malac always find everywhere. I don’t
said. know how
Yet, Malac said, Uganda still faces Run-ins with senior to do my job
many challenges because it is one of government officials any other
the youngest countries by population way. People
age. She said Uganda’s continued 6% When you are in the public are entitled to
economic growth rate reflects Ugandan’s eye, you know that not every-
entrepreneurial spirit and attractiveness body is going to like you and
as a destination for foreign investment. not everybody is going to say
But improvement is needed in the positive things about you. But
bureaucratic processes and corruption. one thing I have tried
Malac said she was also happy about to do through-
U.S investments in the country and the out my
link of Ugandans to markets in America. career
She said she had laboured tirelessly to is to
help a U.S led consortium win the right to
build, operate and maintain Uganda’s first
oil refinery.
Within the education
sector she said progress
had been registered while
America pushed hard to
force action to end the
scourge of gender-based
violence.
Malac said America
also supported the training,
equipping and deployment of
nearly 25,000 Ugandan military
personnel to Somalia to improve
regional security and stability. Malac
noted how Uganda continues to be
one of the leaders regionally and
across the world for its progressive
refugee hosting policies.

14 Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020


their opinion but you have to learn and
build a thick skin over time. I figure if
some people are happy and others are
unhappy about what I have said and what
I have done then I must be doing my job
right.
2021 general election
Obviously the world will be watching
what happens in the 2021 elections. Giv-
en what occurred in 2016 (and I am not
talking about the outcome); the many
irregularities, the reports of inappropriate
actions from the actors, if that happens
again in 2021, and to be frank there are
a lot of us who are concerned that that is
exactly where we are headed, this will be
yet another stain on Uganda’s image. We
continue to urge the Electoral Commis-
sion to fulfill its mandate; to do what it is
designed to do. We understand the polit-
ical environment, not just in Uganda, but
in other countries where you have regimes
that have been in power for a very long
time. It becomes more and more likely that
manipulation of the electoral process will
happen even if it does not necessarily have
to happen. We are gonna closely watch
this election. We will continue to invest in
helping building the capacity of civil soci-
ety and Ugandans to be able to participate
and understand their role as citizens.
Police crackdown on the opposition
There are guidelines and regulations for
implementing the Public Order Manage-
ment law but obviously there is a lot of
creative and selective implementation of
this law. Certainly citizens have an obliga-
tion to act peacefully because violence is
not in anyone’s interest wherever it comes
from; whether it is people destroying
property or the police force beating some-
one up or dragging someone off the street.
Police have an obligation to protect people
and their property and they need to do
so in a way that makes sense. In so many
ways, security forces should exercise even
more restraint because they are the force
of the government. We hope that there
will be some effort exerted to help the
police understand the proper inter-
pretation and implementation of the
Public Order Manage-
ment Act.
Military’s role in law
enforcement
We are also concerned
about the fact that the mil-
itary or elements of the UPDF
are more frequently seen engag-
ing in law enforcement and
their excesses being explained
away as, “oh they are not
trained as police officers.”
Then don’t put them into those situations
because those things do end badly.
Erosion of civil liberties
We as the American government have
been clear; we share the hopes and desires
of Ugandans;the freedom of expression,
assembly and speech— are protected. The
government has an obligation to create
space where citizens can say what they
think but those people who wanna stand
up and say what they think also have an
obligation to be good citizens. Ugandans
have a right to be heard. The government
has an obligation to protect the constitu-
tion and the citizens’ rights.
Violence
Violence and destruction is not in
anyone’s interest because picking up the
pieces takes some time and can be very
difficult. I know this having served pre-
viously in Liberia right after the civil war.
You have a lot which is very valuable here
in Uganda already and none of us wants to
see that disappear.
Presidential succession debate
If you look across history, governments
and regimes that stay in power for a long
time and do not plan for what comes next,
it often will end badly. None of us are
immortal. The failure to plan creates frus-
tration; particularly against a backdrop of
a country like Uganda that has never had
a peaceful transition of power since inde-
pendence. The government has a role to
play in not feeding that concern.
Corruption
The corruption issue is a really difficult
one. We all know it is a problem in Ugan-
da; it results in lesser economic growth
and a lot of distortion of the market place.
But it cannot only be the government to
fight this (problem) because if you standby
and allow somebody to engage in some
corrupt activity, you are equally complicit.
It’s a difficult vice to root out, it does take
concerted effort by the government and
they must hold people accountable but
you also have a role as citizens to hold the
government accountable.
Growing role of women in society
Having spent so much time in devel-
oping countries largely in Africa, I have
heard the opportunity to meet with wom-
en; from market women, poor rural wom-
en living on subsistence farming to very
accomplished women who are doing very
incredible things in the private sector, gov-
ernment and civil society. We know that
what works is giving those girls opportu-
nities that the boys have; that the girls get
an education and are kept in schools; that
they are not married off at a young age.
Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020
news analysis
So we collectively need to redouble our
efforts but we cannot relegate this to sim-
ply a women’s issue. Men have to be part
of the equation. We know that countries
cannot develop and reach their full poten-
tial when they leave half the population
behind.
Chinese influence in Uganda
Certainly we are concerned about Chi-
na’s growing role in Uganda’s economy
because it is not in Uganda’s long term
interest to have its economy dominated
by one actor (but) we remain Uganda’s
largest bilateral foreign assistance partner.
As we have documented every year over
the last three years to the Ugandan people,
we have put significant amount of money
largely investing in Ugandan people, not
in infrastructure, but in people’s liveli-
hoods, health, education and economic
opportunity. The U.S government made a
decision a number of years ago that invest-
ing in people (soft side of development)
has greater reach and impact but it is also
not tangible. It is much easier to see the
road, the buildings or the dams that the
Chinese or any other actors are willing to
invest in. We just don’t do that through
government funding any longer because
we believe the private sector is a better
approach. What we don’t wanna do is see
Uganda continue to saddle itself with debt
which all of you will have to repay for
many more years. It is an issue we contin-
ue to watch and it is conversation that we
continue to have with many in the Ugan-
dan government. We are trying to create a
more level playing field because we know
some of our competitors don’t always play
by the rules.
The future of Uganda
The future of the country must be and
has to be determined by Ugandans. It is
not gonna be determined by what we as
the United States do or say; or what I as
the ambassador or the next ambassador
does or says. We want to take our cue from
Ugandans. You are the ones to make the
decision about where you want your coun-
try to go or what you want the future to
look like. We can support you in different
ways but only on the margins. Ultimate-
ly it is up to all of you to find that space
and to demand to be heard. Finding that
voice is important and that voice can be
expressed in very many different ways.
One of the fundamentals of democracy is
that the government derives their author-
ity from citizens so that means citizens
have a right to express themselves. There
is power in collective voices, so finding
ways of standing together helps increase
the volume and intensity of the message
that you’re trying to give.
15
news analysis
Black China
Africa’s first superpower is
coming sooner than you think
By Sam Hill
I
t’s midnight in a medieval palace in the
oldest city in West Africa: Kano, Nigeria.
A thousand years ago, this was one of
the richest cities in the world, the termi-
nus of the cross-Saharan trade that brought
guns and salt to exchange for slaves, gold
and ivory. The palace has 5-foot thick walls,
floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, stone pathways
and ornate mosaic domes. On the walls are
large colour photographs of a serious-look-
ing man wearing a white turban with a veil
across the bottom of his face. The two tails
of the ceremonial knot that holds the veil in
place look like bunny ears.
The man is Muhammadu Sanusi II, the
14th emir of Kano, the second most import-
ant religious position in Nigeria. I watch as
his assistant crawls across the carpet on his
hands and knees. Bowing his head to the
floor, he hands my business card up to the
emir, then crawls away backward. Sanusi
motions me to sit.
I’m here to find out what the future holds
for Nigeria. I’ve been told the emir is one of
the “three or four” people who may know
the answer. It’s an important question, and
16 Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020
not just for Nigerians. In 30 years, Nigeria
will be, by population, larger than the U.S.
By the end of the century it will be the third
largest nation in the world, behind India and
China, and the most densely populated large
country, with more people per square mile
than even India. It will have more Muslims
than any other country in the world, and
more Christians. And if it can get its socio-
economic act together, it may also be the first
superpower in the Southern Hemisphere.
It’s got a tremendous number of advantages
that should help it do that: resources, scale,
talent, work ethic and a democratic gov-
ernment, but it has an equally long list of
challenges.
I’m hoping Sanusi can tell me which will
win out.
The emir has a degree in Sharia, Islamic
law. He also has a master’s in economics.
Before becoming emir, he was head of the
Nigerian equivalent of the Federal Reserve.
His reform agenda was so aggressive it was
known as the Sanusi tsunami. It earned him
recognition as the top central banker in the
world. He has an equally ambitious agenda
for his emirate. I listen as he describes a
future that has stronger rights for women
and children; he also explains how to use
education and child support laws to end
child marriage and slow population growth.
He talks about modernising agriculture and
investing in its value chain. Can it happen?
State of the State
When you’re standing on a dusty street
ankle-deep in trash, watching young men
load a cart with 20-litre jugs of water that
they will sell door to door to homes that lack
indoor plumbing, it’s not easy to envision
Nigeria as a superpower. Expectations for
the country have been high before: just after
independence in 1960 and during the `Africa
Rising’ enthusiasm of a decade ago.
And yet, despite having had so much
going for it, Nigeria has remained stuck near
the bottom of the indexes used to compare
nations—social progress, human develop-
ment, peacefulness, governance, innovation,
fragility, corruption and ease of doing busi-
ness—while Asian nations have taken off.
Nigeria is not a failed state, but neither is it
a successful one. Oge Onubogu, who leads
the Africa programs at the U.S. Institute of

Peace, says, “Nigeria lurches from one cri-
sis to another, but whenever you think it’s
about to topple over, it pulls itself back.”
It’s in one of those crises at the moment.
Yemi Koyejo of the Nigerian-American Mul-
ticultural Council in Houston says that all
Nigerians want is “a decent life.” She says
this comes down to basic services. “It’s really
bad right now in Lagos, and if it’s bad in
Lagos, imagine what it’s like in the rest of the
country. The average person wants shelter,
security, health care and electricity.”
Meanwhile, the population is exploding,
growing more than twice as fast as the world
average. That is especially true in the North,
where fertility rates are typically around
seven children per woman. Except in Lagos,
local governments struggle to collect taxes
and provide basic services. “Middle class” is
defined as the ability to afford bottled water
and a generator. Even more worrying to
most Nigerians is the security situation. On
average, seven middle-class Nigerians and
oil field workers are kidnapped and held
for ransom every day. Only a few years ago,
most people made the short trip from the
capital Abuja to Kaduna by road. Now, most
go by train. At Christmas, an ISIS offshoot
of Boko Haram released a video showing
10 Christians being beheaded in Maiduguri.
Every conversation about traveling ends
with two words: be careful. Amenities in
luxury condos include bulletproof glass.
Most say that the security situation is
linked to the economy and that those who
commit cyber fraud, extortion, piracy and
robbery do so because they have no legit-
imate way to participate in the economy.
They are entrepreneurs of violence. “If
you have something at stake, you won’t be
enticed to wear a suicide vest,” says Fareed-
ah Yahuza Yashe, who runs the Community
Engagement and Social Development Initia-
tive. (CESDI is a nongovernmental organisa-
tion in Maiduguri that helps female victims
of the militant group Boko Haram.)
It’s hard to make progress anywhere, but
it’s particularly hard in Nigeria. A complex
set of policies and agreements keeps the
peace between Nigeria’s many constituen-
cies—a population of over 250 ethnicities
split evenly between Muslims and Chris-
tians. In practice, that makes it hard to get
anything done. A bill to increase transpar-
ency in the oil industry has been stuck in the
National Assembly for 19 years. And many
are resistant to change. In 2014, Sanusi was
fired from his banking post for exposing cor-
ruption. Soon after his appointment as emir,
Boko Haram suicide bombers and gunmen
attacked the mosque next door to the emir’s
palace, killing over 120 people. Now, the
governor of Kano state and a frequent target
of Sanusi’s criticism, Abdullahi Ganduje,
wants to break up the emirate to reduce
Sanusi’s power.
Many of the issues, and much of the grid-
lock, come back to oil. Roughly $100 million
worth of oil pours out of the ground each
day. Spread across that huge population,
that’s only about 50 cents per person per
day. That’s not enough to make everyone
rich, but more than enough to make some
very rich. It’s estimated that 80 percent of
the proceeds from oil has gone to 1 percent
of the population. It’s money worth fighting
over, and that’s what Nigerians do at every
level of the economy. Oil has given politics
an outsized importance. As Onubogu says,
“If you’re excluded from politics, you’re
excluded from the economy.”
Oil accounts for 97 percent of Nigeria’s
official exports. Over the past 21 years, the
benchmark price of oil has roller-coastered
between $17 and $145 per barrel. High oil
prices have encouraged fiscally irresponsible
Transforming an
economy isn’t
easy, but it can be
done. When Mao
Zedong died in
1976, China was
one of the world’s
most backward
and impoverished
nations
policies, like excess spending, vanity public
works, subsidised imports of refined petro-
leum products, currency manipulation and
high levels of protectionism. During boom
times, Nigeria splashed around oil money
hosting international events like the 2003
All-Africa Games. It spent on grandiose
projects like the Moshood Abiola National
Stadium in the new national capital of Abuja
and the Nigerian space program, which has
now launched five satellites. During periods
of low prices, Nigeria has been forced to
borrow.
Oil has also been ruinous for the environ-
ment. Although progress has been made,
there’s a long history of less than best prac-
tices by international companies, like gas
flaring, which contributes significantly to
climate change, as well as the environmen-
tal disasters caused by bandits who steal
oil from pipelines and entrepreneurs who
operate illegal (and dangerous) kerosene
and diesel refineries and dump their waste
product into the land and waterways.
Another Economic Miracle?
OK, here’s the shocker. Despite the
violence and the red tape and the greed,
Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020
news analysis
Nigeria’s economic success could match Chi-
na’s. The country could finally live up to its
huge potential. And it has the same route to
success as China: the economy. That seems
almost unthinkable. But it’s only because the
China we know is the China of 2019. Few
of us remember the sleepy panda that was
China 40 years ago. We’ve now seen five
East Asian economic miracles, so it’s easy to
position China as part of a trend. It’s hard
to imagine an African economic miracle
because none of us has ever seen one.
Transforming an economy isn’t easy, but
it can be done. When Mao Zedong died in
1976, China was one of the world’s most
backward and impoverished nations. Gross
domestic product per capita, essentially a
measure of average income, was about $200
(adjusted for inflation). Two years later,
Deng Xiaoping came to power and dereg-
ulated the economy. It exploded. Average
annual income is now close to $10,000; 850
million people were lifted out of poverty.
The transformation was accomplished with
astonishing speed. Uche Orji, a former Wall
Street investment banker who’s now CEO of
the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority,
says he first went to China in 1998. When he
went back five years later, it was “pleasantly
unrecognisable.”
Nigeria’s numbers today are surprisingly
close to where China’s were before reform.
In 1978, China’s poverty rate was 55 percent,
almost identical to the most recent statistics
for Nigeria. And adult literacy in China was
only 65 percent, comparable to Nigeria’s
62 percent. Today, China’s poverty rate is
almost zero, and literacy is at 97 percent.
If a comparison to China seems too ambi-
tious, how about India? Nigeria and India
have more than a few similarities: Both are
ex-British colonies and have an extraor-
dinary number of ethnic groups (2,000 in
India), endemic corruption, religious con-
flicts and a loyal and highly educated dias-
pora. Before 1991, India had a heavily regu-
lated socialist economy, with extreme levels
of protectionism for domestic industries and
notorious levels of red tape and bureaucracy.
Facing default, Prime Minister P.V. Nara-
simha Rao and Finance Minister Manmohan
Singh began a reform program of reducing
tariffs, opening the economy to competi-
tion and foreign investment, and slashing
bureaucracy. GDP per capita rocketed from
$368 to $2,010. Between 2014 and 2018, India
grew faster than China.
As with China and India, much of the
case for Nigeria’s potential comes down to
one word: size. Large countries have huge
advantages over small ones, both in terms
of economic efficiency and in their ability
to attract investment. It was the potential of
China’s huge domestic market, not its use-
fulness as a source of cheap products, that
attracted foreign investment in the 1980s.
Nigeria is the “last major open market on
earth,” says Randy Buday, DHL Express’
17
news analysis
regional director for West and Central Africa.
It has around 200 million people, 10 times
that of an average African nation and almost
twice that of the second largest, Ethiopia.
One out of every seven black people on earth
is Nigerian. Nigeria’s population is already
larger than Russia’s and in 30 years will pass
that of the U.S. According to the U.N., by
the end of the century, Nigeria will have 733
million people. It has what Folasope Aiyes-
imoju, CEO of the conglomerate UAC and
formerly with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts in
London, calls “demographics to die for.” In
other words, a young population. Nigeria is
Africa’s largest economy as well, surpassing
South Africa. According to Canback Con-
sulting, which focuses on emerging econ-
omies, it already has a small but growing
middle class.
Of course, like China in 1978 and India in
1990, Nigeria has in place a set of economic
policies that stifle innovation and efficiency.
The government provides too much control
and not enough support, such as infrastruc-
ture and basic services. One CEO says off the
record, “Businesses pray to not be noticed
by the government.” Another describes a
“continuous parade of government types
coming through my office trying to shake
me down.”
Andrew S. Nevin of PwC points out that
the public sector in Nigeria is tiny compared
with those of most countries. True. But if
Nigeria removes the barriers to growth, its
economy could explode too.
Secret Weapons
Some pieces of the puzzle are already
falling into place. Nigeria has a functioning
stock exchange and capital market. Pockets
of the country are thriving. Sanusi points
to Lagos state, which provides an excel-
lent model for what Nigeria could be. It’s
dynamic and things work, in part because
the government collects taxes and reinvests
them in improving infrastructure and pro-
viding services.
The export economy is diversifying. Nev-
in says Nigeria’s most valuable export is
now people, not oil. Around 5 million Nige-
rians live abroad, mostly in the U.K. and the
U.S. The diaspora is highly educated. Almost
a third of the Nigerians in America have
advanced degrees. This diaspora is also pas-
sionately loyal. Nigeria gets more each year
from remittances, money sent home by those
working abroad, than it does from foreign
aid. Nevin estimates that formal and infor-
mal remittances could total as much as $40
billion. But the diaspora provides more than
just money. It is a real-time link to Western
know-how and technology.
Nigeria also has a booming arts and
entertainment industry, which is a source of
both export earnings and pride. Nigeria has
produced an astounding number of first-
rate novelists, including Nobel Prize winner
Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe—whose
18 Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020
`Things Fall Apart’ has been translated into
57 languages—Biyi Bandele and Chimaman-
da Ngozi Adichie.
The Nigerian film and television industry,
or Nollywood, is reckoned to be the second
or third largest in the world, after Holly-
wood and India’s Bollywood. It produces
around 50 movies each week, in every genre.
Nigerian movies are shown in homes, movie
theaters and video parlors throughout the
country, as well as across Africa and the far-
flung Nigerian diaspora. They are consumed
by all levels of society, from those wealthy
enough to have satellite dishes to those who
flock to “community viewing centers”—in
essence, mini-theaters using flat-screen TVs.
TV stations in many African countries buy
Nigerian programming. It’s common to
encounter Nigerian soaps and sitcoms on
TVs in cafés and bars across the continent,
even in francophone countries. Vendors
walk the streets of Sierra Leone’s Freetown
wearing plastic ponchos containing Nigerian
DVDs, often pirated.
Most are hastily shot and low-budget—
some by what actor and director Ali Nuhu
calls “roadside filmmakers.” But Nigeria
also has an upmarket segment. The film
`Lionheart’ was entered this year for an
Oscar for best foreign film, before being dis-
qualified for having too much English dia-
logue. The irony, of course, is that Nigerians
speak English.
The Nigerian arts industry has been so
dominant that artists in other African nations
have paid it the ultimate compliment: com-
plaining about “Nigeriasion.” Nollywood
is important as a source of jobs and export
earnings, but even more than that, it is a
reminder to Nigerians of what they can do
when they set their minds to it.
Entrepreneurs everywhere
But there’s even more in the plus col-
umn. Oil, movies and the diaspora are well
established. However, the future belongs
to companies that aren’t even on the radar
yet. Nigeria has a robust and vibrant entre-
preneurial ecosystem. Yaba, in Lagos, is
Nigeria’s Silicon Valley. It has attracted sup-
port from international technopreneurs like
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. Nigeria is par-
ticularly strong in fintech and telecoms. And
the high-tech explosion is not just in Lagos.
Amal Hassan has built Outsource Global
Technologies into a world-class organisation
that provides outsourced call center opera-
tions. Her company is located in the North,
in Abuja and Kaduna.
There are thousands of startups in Nige-
ria, and they’re not just producing high-tech
products targeted at the upper and middle
classes. Some are trying to get traction in
that tricky ground between making a profit
and taking on big social problems. After
finishing her MBA at MIT, Bilikiss Adebi-
yi-Abiola started WeCyclers, basically a
motorbike-based trash collection business
that serves the 60 percent of Lagos’ popula-
tion that lives in slum neighborhoods where
people are too poor to pay for trash collec-
tion. WeCyclers takes their waste and pays
them with money it earns from recycling.
The spirit of small business is every-
where. The informal sector—street vendors,
local businesses and tradespeople—is
booming as well, particularly in Lagos.
Nigerians have a work ethic that makes
Scandinavians look like slackers. No one
sits in Nigeria. It’s impossible to walk down
the street without being approached by
someone selling something, from peanuts
to windshield wipers to an on-the-spot
manicure. In Kaduna, the governor has con-
verted a section of the market into a “recy-
cling program” to provide employment
for youth. It’s backbreaking and dangerous
work: smashing old alternators to pieces
with hammers to pluck out the copper wire
inside; bending old, razor-sharp roofing
sheet metal to make bread bins; and melting
down aluminum cans to recast them into
cooking pots. The program has no shortage
of applicants, many of whom are less inter-
ested in getting the basic skills the program
provides than in earning money to pay their
school fees so they can move on to better
jobs. Nigerians are passionate about educa-
tion and self-improvement.
That’s all great. But movies, high tech
and street retail are not enough to support
three-quarters of a billion people. As Aiyes-
imoju says, “Google’s been a great success,
but it hasn’t transformed the American econ-
omy” alone. Transformation will require
addressing core industries like petroleum,
manufacturing and agriculture, making
them more efficient and competitive. In the
case of petroleum, there’s also the need to
streamline the state company that oversees
the industry, the Nigerian National Petro-
leum Corp. In the case of agriculture, it’s

moving away from subsistence farming
using almost Stone Age tools and techniques
toward modern high-yield farming and
redeploying those displaced workers in
what Tufts University economics professor
Margaret McMillan calls the “modern sec-
tor.” So far, progress is spotty.
But Nigeria has a secret weapon: democ-
racy. Academics Daron Acemoglu and
James Robinson, authors of `Why Nations
Fail’, argue that authoritarian states that free
up their economies get a short-term boost,
but it doesn’t last because sustained success
requires “inclusive capitalism” and democ-
racy. That’s what is happening in China
now. A wave of autocratic leaders post-Deng
hasn’t been able to resist reasserting control
of the economy and reversing many of his
reforms. As they have done so, growth has
cooled.
Nigeria’s democracy may be imperfect,
but it’s democracy. Since the end of military
rule in 1999, Nigeria has had five elections
of increasing validity. In 2015, an opposition
candidate won and came to power peace-
fully—no small achievement in sub-Saharan
Africa. An entire generation of Nigerians has
no memory of un-democratic government.
It has a mostly free press and a vibrant civil
society. Successive civilian governments
have moved to protect democracy by reduc-
ing what has traditionally been the greatest
threat: the military. They have deliberately
coup-proofed the country by weakening the
army, retiring its senior leaders and reposi-
tioning it as an internal security force that is
scattered across the country. According to
GlobalFirePower.com, the Nigerian army
now ranks 44th out of 137 countries, which
puts it somewhere between Peru and Den-
mark, and well behind South Africa.
Investors aren’t moving into Nigeria yet,
but they’re watching. The talk used to be
about the economic potential of the BRICS
countries—Brazil, Russia, India, China and
South Africa. Now it’s MINT—Mexico,
Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey. “Right now,
Nigeria is seen as just too hard, but there’s a
wall of money waiting to come in if it gets it
right,” Aiyesimoju says. According to Orji,
Nigeria is “just a few tweaks away” from
being an attractive place for investors. “Look
at South Korea,” he says. “All it took was
changing one thing—the landholding law.”
(That change allowed larger farms, which
enabled farmers to invest in mechanisation.)
Jeff Schlapinski of the Emerging Markets
Private Equity Association, an industry
group for private capital in emerging
markets, ticks off some of the changes that
would make Nigeria attractive. “Corruption
is a nonstarter for Western investors. And
they don’t like uncertainty.”
It’s worth noting that, according to the
Corruption Perceptions Index, Nigeria’s
corruption problem is no worse than that
of fellow oil state Russia and only slightly
worse than China’s. The current president,
Muhammadu Buhari, was elected on an
anti-corruption campaign. Schlapinski says
ending the policy of propping up the curren-
cy would be a good start.
Ready? Or Not?
The path to superpowerdom is not easy.
The economy can be the catalyst, but it will
take more than economic reform to create
the Nigeria that Nigerians want. Sanusi
believes it will require a change in society.
Asked why he accepted the role of emir rath-
er than going into politics, he says, “I didn’t
accept it. I sought it out. I’m trying to change
the entire worldview of a society. I can only
do it from this role.”
There are also political issues. The country
will need to navigate the same gauntlet and
deal with the same maturity challenges as
China, India and even the U.S. For example,
keeping the country together. The U.S. faced
11 rebellions in its first 100 years. China has
had rebellions in Tibet, Xinjiang and now
Hong Kong. Experts have long predicted
that Nigeria could break into pieces. As
Nigeria prides
itself on being the
most religious
nation on earth.
In 2014, a man
was sent to a
mental institution
for admitting to
being an atheist
former U.S. Ambassador John Campbell
explains, “The (Christian) South is exasper-
ated with what they see as the North’s stub-
born refusal to leave the Middle Ages and
join the modern world.” But Nigerians scoff
at the idea of breakup. Nigerian lawyer Sam
Kargbo says, “Oil holds this country togeth-
er. As long as there’s oil, no one’s going any-
where.” But there are too many geographic,
ethnic and religious divisions to rule it out.
Politicians often exploit religion, both to
stir up support for themselves and to distract
voters from issues like the economy. Nige-
ria prides itself on being the most religious
nation on earth. In 2014, a man was sent to a
mental institution for admitting to being an
atheist. Nigeria has a raft of traditional reli-
gions, like Islam, Protestant Christianity and
Catholicism. It also has a booming “prosper-
ity gospel” sector complete with rock star
pastors who provide salvation-tainment. Just
a few miles from the national mosque in the
Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020
news analysis
capital is the Dunamis Glory Dome, which
has the world’s largest auditorium, capable
of seating 100,000. At least it’s the largest
until this year, when the Hand of God
Cathedral in the Rivers state is finished.
Nigeria will also be forced to deal with
thorny social issues like pollution, climate
change and inclusivity. Many prominent
Nigerian women are in business and gov-
ernment, but women overall do not have
the same rights and opportunities as men.
In rural areas, they are often the target of
violence. In Borno state last year, herdsmen
gang-raped five girls. Police dropped the
case, and many believe they were paid off,
according to Rebecca Dali, who in 2017
won a U.N. Sergio Vieira de Mello Award
for her humanitarian work. CESDI’s Yashe,
who lives in Borno, says Nigeria is three to
five generations behind the U.S. in terms of
women’s rights. She’s talking about Lagos. It
will take longer in the North, she notes.
But Sanusi says things are already start-
ing to change. “A generation ago, the emir
would have told his daughter who to marry.
But my daughter has been to school. For her,
things are different.” Still, he says, Africa
isn’t “ready” to take on LGBT rights.
Nigeria could take off. But will it? And if
so, when? It’s hard to say, of course. Wheth-
er it finally breaks through will come down
to leadership. The president, Buhari, is not
naturally inclined to make the economic pol-
icy changes that would jump-start growth.
As Judd Devermont, director of the Afri-
ca Program at the Center for Strategic and
International Studies, says, “Buhari has a
retrograde and unorthodox view of how to
run a modern economy. Import substitution.
Currency manipulation. Protectionism.”
A senior government official has a more
positive assessment: “It’s a matter of priori-
ties. Buhari’s first trying to mend the social
fabric of a nation.” Either way, Buhari will
likely step down in 2023. As one expert says,
“It’s hard to know what happens next. Nige-
rian politics are like a snow globe.”
Nigeria could become the next China. It
may not. It may be something in between.
My granddaughter may be writing the same
article 50 years from now. Maybe Nigeria
will always be the country of tomorrow.
Yes, Nigeria is overpopulated and poor
and loud and dirty and unsafe. It’s not the
Africa of travel magazine spreads, with peo-
ple in open-topped Land Cruisers snapping
pictures of lions as a red sun dips behind
an acacia tree. But there’s something about
Nigeria. An it factor. A throbbing energy that
is palpable. An exceptionally high self-re-
gard and belief in its own exceptionalism. In
Nigerian-ness. As one of my sources says,
“We like to beat our chests.” I would not bet
against it.
Sam Hill is a Newsweek contributor, best-selling
author and consultant. He wrote about Sierra
Leone forNewsweekthis past October.
19
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congratulate the National resistance
movement and the people of
Uganda in commemorating 34
years of liberation.
LONG LIVE UGANDA

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 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SPORTS

Directorate of
Industrial Training
P.O. Box 20050 Kampala Uganda Plot 97/99 3rd Street Industrial Area
Tel: +256 414 251256, +256 414 259412 Email: info@dituganda.org, industrialtraining@yahoo.com
www.dituganda.org

HE Yoweri Kaguta Museveni Hon.Janet K. Museveni Hon. Dr.J.C. Muyingo (MP) Dr. Joseph Muvawala Mr. Patrick Byakatonda
President of the Republic of Uganda Minister of Education & Sports Minister of state for Higher Education Chairperson Industrial Training Council Ag. Director DIT

The Industrial Training Council, Management and Staff of Directorate of

Industrial Training Warmly Congratulate H. E President Y. K Museveni and all
Ugandan on the 34th anniversary of NRM Government.
Theme “Celebrating NRM/NRA Patriotic Struggle that Ushered in National Unity and Socio - Economic Transformation”

The Directorate of Industrial Training (DIT) is a skills quality assurance body in the Business, Technical,
Vocational Education and Training (BTVET) sub-sector under the Ministry of Education and Sports.
MANDATE: Accredit assessment centres, Assess and their welfare and empower them
The Directorate of Industrial Training Award Uganda Vocational Qualifications as economically. The president facilitates
(DIT) is mandated to develop Occupational provided for in the BTVET Act of 2008. their practical skills training in
Standards, Regulate work based Training  In line with our mandate we are proud different occupations of their choice
Schemes, apply and expand the Uganda to be associated with the work of the and thereafter registered with DIT for
Vocational Qualifications Framework, Presidential Skilling Initiatives for competence based assessment and
the Girl and Boy Child to improve certification.

The President of the Republic of Uganda, H.E. Gen. Yoweri

Kaguta Museveni officiating at a graduation ceremony for
The President of the Republic of Uganda, H.E. Yoweri girls under the Presidential Initiative for Skilling the Girl Child at
Museveni and the Ag. Director DIT passing out skilled Kololo Independence grounds in Kampala.
grandaunds under Sseninde Foundation, in Wakiso District.

A ghetto youth displaying

The Ag. Director DIT, Mr. Patrick Byakatonda with candidates products during competence The ghetto youth undergoing competence based
under the presidential skilling initiative during assessment in based assessment by DIT at assessment by DIT in the occupation of Carpenter and
the occupation of Baker at Sub-Way, in Kampala. Wabigalo Centre in Kibuli. Joiner at Wabigalo Centre, Kibuli in Kampala.

Promote Employable Skills

news analysis

The new China

coronavirus
Should Ugandans be worried about it?
By Independent Team & Agencies nese New Year which falls in the last week of easily the virus spreads between people.

O
n 31 December 2019, a cluster of
pneumonia of unknown cause
was reported in Wuhan City, Hu-
bei Province of China.
On Jan.09 Chinese authorities reported in
the media that the cause of this viral pneu-
monia was initially identified as a new type
of coronavirus, which is different from any
other human coronaviruses discovered so
far.
The clinical signs and symptoms of the
patients reported in this cluster are mainly
fever, with a few patients having difficulty
in breathing, and chest radiographs showing
bilateral lung infiltrates.
Wuhan city, a city of 11 million people, is
a major domestic and international transport
hub and China was experiencing heavy
movements of people travelling for the Chi-
January. The outbreak is all occurring during
peak influenza season in China so there
were some illnesses around that appeared
similar to coronavirus. Some potentially
were carrying the virus to new places, as the
cases showed. The risk of cases being report-
ed form elsewhere was high.
Initial information from preliminary
investigations suggested no significant
human-to-human transmission, and no
infections among health care workers had
occurred. More information was required
to better understand the mode of transmis-
sion and clinical manifestation of this new
virus. The source of this new virus is not yet
known but some of the initial cases were
operating dealers or vendors in Huanan Sea-
food Market.
Soon person-to-person spread started
occurring, although it remained unclear how
What started as a cluster of 27 people
with pneumonia – with common symptoms
including fever, dry cough, chest tightness
and difficulty breathing – had spiraled to
thousands of confirmed cases, including
medical staff and hundreds had died. The
cases span all 33 provinces in mainland
China. Hubei was the most hit followed by
Guangdong Province in the south. Guang-
dong Province is important to Uganda
because its capital Guangzhou is a popular
destination for traders from Kampala.
By Jan.26 there were no reported cases
of the virus in Uganda but the Ministry
of Health was stepping up screening on
inbound travelers, especially Ugandans and
foreigners from China.
The Minister of Health, Dr. Jane Ruth
Aceng, said health teams at the airport were
screening for symptoms such as flu, cough,

22 Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020


and fever, running nose, and breathing dif-
ficulty. She said the move was prompted by
the high number of Ugandans and Chinese
shuttling between the two countries for busi-
ness, education, and other purposes.
The minister said Entebbe International
Airport already had thermo scanners in
place for purposes of screening for viral out-
breaks such as Ebola but travelers now had
to fill forms with questions specific about the
coronavirus.
By this point more details about the novel
coronavirus were emerging. Coronaviruses
are a large family of respiratory viruses that
can cause diseases ranging from the com-
mon cold to the Middle-East Respiratory
Syndrome and the Severe Acute Respiratory
Syndrome (SARS).
We already live among coronaviruses
Some Coronaviruses cause illness in
people and others that circulate only among
animals, including camels, cats and bats.
Rarely, animal coronaviruses can evolve
and infect people and then spread between
people such as has been seen with MERS
and SARS.
Four other human coronaviruses (HCoV-
22E, HCoV-OC43, HCoV-NL63 and HCoV-
HKU1) cause colds, flu-like illnesses and
more severe respiratory diseases such as
pneumonia. Viral pneumonia is a combina-
tion of virus infection of the lungs and our
body’s immune response to that damage.
When person-to-person spread has
occurred with SARS and MERS, it is thought
to have happened via respiratory droplets
produced when an infected person coughs
or sneezes, similar to how influenza and
other respiratory pathogens spread.
Spread of SARS and MERS between peo-
ple has generally occurred between close
contacts. Past MERS and SARS outbreaks
have been complex, requiring comprehen-
sive public health responses.
Preliminary information suggested that
older adults and people with underlying
health conditions could be at increased risk
for severe disease from this virus.
By Jan.28, a number of countries, includ-
ing the United States, that were actively
screening incoming travelers from Wuhan,
confirmed human infections with the virus.
Immediate confirmation came from Taiwan,
Thailand, Japan, and South Korea, and
Macau. Others were Canada, France, Nepal,
Cambodia, Germany, Malaysia, Singapore,
and more. Cases were popping up every-
where.
Development of a diagnostic test
China was extraordinarily efficient and
open in identifying the virus, a new strain
of coronavirus, within just over a week. Chi-
nese scientists sequenced the virus’s genetic
code and, within days, shared that informa-
tion with the world.
This allowed researchers from Germany
to rapidly develop and openly share a suite
of specific nucleic acid tests that sensitive-
ly identify the virus by detecting small
amounts of its ribonucleic acid (or RNA,
similar to DNA). Researchers in Hong Kong
and from the Chinese Centre for Disease
Control then published their own different
tests.
The new Wuhan coronavirus at first
seemed to cause less severe disease than the
SARS coronavirus, which is now extinct after
its single dramatic outbreak in 2002-4.
MERS was less severe than either, unless
the patient was already burdened with
underlying disease. MERS continues to
transmit from camels to humans, but it’s rel-
atively easy to avoid infection and vaccines
are in development.
Because it was such an early stage of
discovery and characterisation of the new
Wuhan virus, it was very difficult to com-
pare it to other viruses or to draw any strong
conclusions about how it transmits, and its
impact on humans.
It seems to be
a respiratory
virus, given the
disease primarily
involves the
lungs, so it’s
likely to spread
through the same
routes as colds
and flu: sneezes
and coughs
How does it spread?
We don’t know where the new virus came
from originally. We think it originated in ani-
mals, but testing so far has not confirmed a
specific animal host. Analysis of the genome
suggests it has only recently emerged in
humans. So which host were humans
exposed to? And how was it transmitted to
humans? Once we know where it came from
we can track down and remove the source of
the virus.
Some evidence suggests it can also spread
between people. We don’t yet know how,
but we can make some guesses.
It seems to be a respiratory virus, given
the disease primarily involves the lungs, so
it’s likely to spread through the same routes
Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020
news analysis
as colds and flu: sneezes and coughs propel-
ling droplets into the air or onto hands that
then touch other surfaces, or by touching our
eyes, nose or mouth after contact with con-
taminated surfaces.
We also don’t know how easily it spreads.
Initially it seemed to require prolonged and
close contact, making it harder to catch in
day-to-day life. However, there are more
recent indications that it spreads more easily
between people.
What we know and don’t know
Up to January 22, 17 deaths had tragically
occurred from 582 cases (about 3%). Scien-
tists said this is lower than the proportion
who die from influenza-associated pneumo-
nia, which one study estimated to be 10%.
It’s a crude comparison, but one we can at
least mull over for now.
The number of virus cases is likely to be
an underestimate, but we don’t know by
how much.
So far, we know the new Wuhan corona-
virus causes pneumonia and therefore places
an extra burden on hospitals. It’s transmit-
ting from human to human, but may also
still be transmitting from animal to humans.
And it can be tested for by professional lab-
oratories.
For now, health authorities are ensuring
we are prepared and watching the situation
while we await further details.
The Centres for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) in the USA on Jan.22
issued a travellers health advisory in which
it indicated that the outbreak in in China
was at Level 2, the second highest which
encourages travellers to “practice enhanced
precautions”.
According to WHO, countries should
screen entry from areas with infections and
encourage suspected cases among travellers
to seek medical attention. Countries should
ensure they have appropriate trained
staff, space, screening equipment, and safe
transportation of symptomatic travellers to
hospitals or designated facilities for clinical
assessment and treatment.
People are advised to apply measures
often used to reduce the general risk of
acute respiratory infections. These include
avoiding close contact with people suffer-
ing from the infection, hand-washing fre-
quently, avoiding close contact with live or
dead farm or wild animals, practice proper
cough etiquette (maintain distance, cover
coughs and sneezes with disposable tissues
or clothing, and wash hands).
You can protect yourself in the same way
as you would against other respiratory ill-
ness: by being vigilant about hand-washing
and practising good cough and sneeze eti-
quette, which means coughing or sneezing
into your flexed elbow or into a tissue, and
washing your hands.
23
L-R: Jacqueline Kiwanuka, the chief finance officer at UCL, George Inholo, the MD, Paul Bwiso, the CEO for USE and
Andrew Mwima, the head of trading at USE addressing journalists during the 20 years celebrations for UCL trading on the
USE. The fanfare event took place on Jan.14 at the USE headquarters in Nakawa.  INDEPENDENT/J.BUSINGE

Bad start for Uganda’s

stock market
Executives hope that the future is
bright as listed entities post profits

C
By Julius Businge
ompanies trading on the
Uganda Securities Exchange
have opened the New Year
with poor performance.
Umeme, Quality Chemical
Industries Limited (CQCIL)
shares have fallen below the Initial Public
Offering (IPO) price.
This seems to have prompted Enock
Twinoburyo, an economist on Jan.14 to
post on his Facebook page saying “spent
100million on CIPLA and now it is about
40million. Stocks can break hearts.”
Umeme and CQCIL are the latest
entrants on the stock market having been
listed in 2012 and 2018 respectively. And, as
a usual, the public expected their presence
to cause a buzz on the stock market.
Umeme which went public at a price
of Shs275 has seen its price drop to 233 at
the end of last year, the same level that has
been recorded since the beginning of 2020.
On the other hand, CQCIL has seen its
price decline from Shs256 initial public
offering price in August 2018 to Shs102 per
share.
Other companies including Development
Finance Bank of Uganda (DFCU) has
not had its price shift from Shs645 per
share recorded on the last day of trading
(December 31, 2019) as at January 27.
Stanbic Bank has had its price oscillate
between Shs24-26 per share from December
31, 2019 to Jan.27. Uganda Clays (UCL) on
the other hand, has had its price remain flat
at Shs9.5 in the same period.
Bank of Baroda has its price kept at
Shs125 in the same period. National
Insurance Holdings Limited counter has
kept its price almost at the same level of
Shs10 per share while New Vision Limited
counter has recorded a price of between
Shs315 – 319 in the same period.
The insignificant price movements at
the market for all the counters means that
there is little activity in terms of buying
and selling of shares, a trend that has
characterized the market over the years,
according to market analysts.
Trade statistics from the USE indicates
that a total of 5, 317 deals were sealed by
nine main counters out of the 17 listed
companies from January to December 2019.
A turnover of Shs127bn was recorded out
of 1.8bn shares traded in the same period.
However, executives for listed companies
are optimistic that the future performance
on the USE will improve as they work on
innovations to grow the business.
Uganda Clays – makers of construction
tiles – which was the first to list on the

24 Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020


USE in 2000, celebrated 20 years of trading
on the market on Jan.20. The company’s
managing director, George Inholo told The
Independent that whereas the stock price has
remained flat, the company is growing and
he hopes that shareholders will earn more
value going forward.
He, for instance, said the company’s
turnover has since 2000 jumped from just
Shs3.7bn to Shs30bn last financial year,
representing more than 800% growth.
He also said they are working to
improve performance of the two factories
(Kamonkoli and Kajjansi) to meet the
growing demand and make money for
shareholders.
He also said that in the year 2000, the
company paid Shs250million as dividends
but in 2018 the company gave out a total of
Shs900million.
“The business has been going through
challenges,” he said, adding that going
forward, the company has a fully
constituted Board of Directors and well
trained management team to support
growth.
In addition, the company is having a five
year strategic plan that will see it become
the leading brand for building solutions
and innovations, Inholo said.
“This is good news for those wanting to
own part of the company,” he said.
He added: “We are very optimistic that
the future has never been brighter than
what we feel currently and we have an
ambitious plan of ensuring that this year
things will be driven differently. Buy into
the company when the price is still low.”
Paul Bwiso, the chief executive officer for
USE told The Independent in an interview
that despite the bad beginning of trading
on the market, the future is bright for as
long as listed entities improve business
performance.
He said the USE’s management plan is
to be more out-word looking in terms of
innovations and engaging listed companies
to ensure that investors get value for their
money as they participate in trading at the
securities market.
Commenting on CQCIL performance,
Bwiso said that their observation is that it is
the small investors who are trading due to
their need for cash to exit. This scenario, he
said has seen them get priced down by the
different market players.
He also said that after the company
announcing poor financial results on the
USE for the year 2019, many investors
could have chosen to wait for good results
before investing in the company.
The company’s maiden full-year results
as a listed company on the USE were
weighed down by disappointing FY2019
earnings. Profits plunged 84.79% due to
reduced sales to Global Fund (GF), higher
cost of inputs and the price competitive
anti-malaria (ACTs) and antiretroviral
(ARVs) market.
The company’s results fared poorly
compared to last year with return on assets
free-falling to 4.03% while return on equity
dropped to 2.36% in 2018.
Earnings per share weakened to Shs1.86
($0.0005) down 84.79% from Shs12.22
($0.003) in 2018. The company’s net asset
value per share also slipped to Shs46.09
($0.012) compared to Shs47.67 ($0.013) in
2018.
The company’s management hope
to bounce back after securing a tender
awarded by U.S President’s Malaria
Initiative (PMI) for the supply of anti-
malarials to an undisclosed African based
manufacturer.
In relation to Umeme, Bwiso said the
conversation around its license renewal
remains one of the factors for its current
performance on the USE. In addition, Bwiso
said, there are few institutions who are
willing to buy at the current market price
now viewed as unattractive.
In relation
to Umeme,
Bwiso said the
conversation
around its
license renewal
remains one
of the factors
for its current
performance
He also said that most investors could
have preferred to wait and see how the year
ends for the company before making key
investment decisions.
He also said that there are investors
who came in at the Umeme IPO whose
investment horizon has reached and are
exiting the market.
Asked to explain what the USE
management is doing at the moment to
bolster trade on the market Bwiso said:
“We are actively engaging companies
at management level to find out how their
needs are and how we can support them to
thrive. Creating awareness is key. We are
also introducing a training division for the
public to learn how the market operates
and create more awareness.”
Bwiso said the USE remains an important
platform for companies to raise capital and
Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020
business
expand their operations.
He explained that whereas investors
with capital are willing to invest in
companies and earn dividends with the
positive outlook of the capital gain, access
to capital at listing time and continuing
to raise capital through rights issue from
shareholders or capitalising the reserves by
bonus issue, creates a big opportunity for
companies.
The other opportunities are that listed
companies have an opportunity to attract
high skilled staff, a well constituted Board
of Directors that can guide company
operations to achieve good growth.
He also said listing at the USE still
gives chance to companies to have diverse
shareholders, operate a more transparent
and open business that is well regulated by
the capital markets authority.
Market analysts such as William
Nyakatura, a former employee at African
Alliance and now working for Kinsman
Advisory concurs with Bwiso and his team
on the idea that they have put in place a
robust infrastructure for companies to list,
raise capital and expand their operations.
Nyakatura told The Independent that extra
effort to market the USE must be put in by
stock brokers that meet investors regularly.
“…for now, people are buying stocks at
their leisure, price,” Nyakatura said.
Market problems
However, Nyakatura said companies
like CQCIL are not doing well because
management has not done enough to cut
operational costs.
On Umeme, he said, its performance
has been fairly good over the years and
shareholders have been earning dividends
in addition to the company meeting
performance targets set by Electricity
Regulatory Authority.
“Shareholders of Umeme have got to be
content with the company performance,”
Nyakatura said.
Generally, he said that there are more
attractive investment platforms in foreign
markets where most investors are choosing
to invest instead of concentrating on the
USE that is still struggling to be active.
Going forward, he said companies like
CQCIL have got to do more marketing for
their products in new and old markets so as
to increase sales and become profitable.
The other option for CQCIL, according
to Nyakatura, is to hold the good premium
price for its products, and find premium
clients/governments who are willing to pay
that premium price.
To shareholders, Nyakatura said: “I
would rather be patient on a company
whose earnings are growing than one
whose earnings are declining.”
25
business

Strategies to deliver on the

Sustainable Development
Goals in Africa
By Belay Begashaw

W
ith one-third of
the 2030 Agenda
journey already
complete, it is an
opportune time to examine
Africa’s progress on the Sus-
tainable Development Goals
(SDGs) so far as well as assess
what adjustments to strategies
are needed to overcome the
remaining obstacles. The SDGs
provide time-bound targets in
key sectors—including health,
education, employment, en-
ergy, infrastructure, and the
environment—for all nations to
achieve. Nowhere is the need to
achieve these targets larger than
in Africa.
While progress in some areas
and countries is encouraging,
overall, the region will need
to redouble its efforts if it is
to achieve the SDGs by 2030.
To be successful, there is need
for effective and coordinated
partnerships to domesticate Botswana, Ghana, and Rwanda. 27 per 1000 over the same peri- sustained. In particular, North
the SDGs—i.e., to fully trans- However,18 countries (of 46 od. North Africa had already Africa is poised to meet the 2030
pose the SDG ecosystem into total) in sub-Saharan Africa are, reduced under-five mortality target, and the other African
national and regional planning on average, less than 50 percent rates to fewer than 35 deaths per regions are also within range.
and implementation mecha- on the way towards meeting 1000 births by 2015, and is likely However, the net enrolment rate
nisms—as well as the African the best possible outcome on all to meet the goal of fewer than 25 for lower secondary education
Union’s (AU) Agenda 2063, and SDGs. deaths per 1000 births by 2030. has fallen slightly from 28.9 in
to bridge the large financing and Overall, at the indicator level, With an intensified and acceler- 2015 to 28.3 in 2017.
data gaps. these countries are off track on ated response, the other African
most of the SDGs, reiterating the regions could feasibly meet Infrastructure and service
Progress so far on the SDGs urgency for countries and global this target. Large-scale progress delivery improved but needs
has been notable but falls partners to jointly accelerate on both health and education
reforms and implementation. remain a concern, though, given are apparent and pressing
significantly short that most Africa countries have To house and serve Africa’s
Progress so far on the imple- Gains in health and not carried out demographic young and fast-growing pop-
mentation of the SDGs has education show promise, but health and national surveys over ulation—expected to increase
been uneven across countries, the SDG period. from 1.3 billion today to over
goals, and targets. According gaps linger The net enrolment rate for 2.5 billion by 2030—govern-
to the Africa SDG Index and Notably, the under-five mor- primary school in sub-Saharan ments must address sorely
Dashboard 2019, the best-ranked tality rate for Africa (excluding Africa has increased marginally needed infrastructure and
country, Mauritius, had an North Africa) has fallen from from 77.4 percent in 2015 to 77.6 service requirements quickly.
aggregate score of 66.19—imply- 85 deaths per 1000 in 2015 to percent in 2017. More than half There have been improvements
ing that the country is, on aver- 76 deaths per 1000 in 2018, of the countries in Africa have a in recent years: For example,
age, 66 percent of the way to the an encouraging sign, but still primary school enrolment rate access to clean drinking water
best possible outcome across the double the global average of of over 90 percent and are likely in sub-Saharan Africa has
17 SDGs. 38. Neonatal deaths have also to meet the target of 100 percent increased from 59 percent of the
Other top performers include improved from 29 per 1000 to by 2030 if current efforts are population in 2015 to 61 percent

26 Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020


in 2017. Access to electricity
increased from 39.4 percent
to 44.6 percent over the same
period. At the same time, Afri-
can urban areas will need 565
million additional housing units
between 2015 and 2030 just to
keep up with rapid population
growth and urbanization. This is
about 40 million new houses per
annum over that time.
Poverty and hunger persist,
exacerbated by climate
change
As of 2015, sub-Saharan Afri-
ca had the highest concentration
of the world’s poor, with 41.3
percent of people living under
the poverty line. An estimated
600 million people do not have
access to electricity, and millions
die every year from preventable
diseases. Relentless population
growth and climate change also
present two major threats to con-
tinued economic progress.
Thirty-one African countries
need food aid, and more than 30
percent of the 830 million people
worldwide suffering from inad-
equate food supply are in Africa.
The prevalence of undernour-
ishment, in fact, increased from
234.6 million in 2016 to 256.1
million in 2018.
In addition, experts predict
that a temperature change of
two degrees Celsius could con-
tribute to farmers losing 40 to 80
percent of cropland conducive
to growing maize, millet, and
sorghum by the 2030s-2040s.
Main obstacles to progress
Given the complexities caused
by rapid population growth and
climate change, African nations
must attempt to achieve the
SDGs with urgency, as many of
the challenges will become hard-
er to manage if left unattended.
Even with Africa’s
enthusiasm, without a
robust global and localized
governance structure the SDG
agenda will falter
One major reason to be hope-
ful for Africa’s progress is that
the SDGs are in direct align-
ment with the African Union’s
Agenda 2063—the continent’s
long-term social and economic
transformational blueprint for a
prosperous continent.
In fact, the two ambitious
agendas align on over 85 per-
cent of their goals, and African
countries have shown enormous
enthusiasm and endeavors in
implementing the SDGs, with
90 percent of countries main-
streaming the SDGs into their
national development plans.
At the same time, many weak
links in the SDGs—largely due
to the lack of a global gover-
nance structure—are waiting
to be addressed. Despite data
innovations embedded in the
SDG formulation, the data gap
remains wide and manifests
into poor planning and, conse-
quently, poor decision making
and results. There is neither a
defined reporting nor account-
ability mechanism, nor clarity
on pathways and interventions,
and little experience or scalable
practice when it comes to social
inclusiveness. Not much has
been done in changing mind-
sets; we are continuing to do
new things the old way. Like
in decades past, key stakehold-
ers continue to work in silos,
duplicating interventions with
little coordination. Finally, the
world only agreed on goals and
targets, leaving solutions to be
developed locally.
State fragility and large
financing gaps hinder
progress
The continent is disadvan-
taged with a low starting point.
Fragility—which manifests in
many forms such as weak insti-
tutions and economic, political,
and social insecurity—remains
prevalent in parts of the region,
with 80 percent of the world’s
fragile states found in Africa.
Despite being one of the fast-
est-growing regions in recent
decades, 40 percent of African
countries are still classified as
“low income,” with a GNI per
capita of below $1,025 per year.
Financing continues to be a
constraint as well. The financing
gap for SDGs is large for low-in-
come countries, estimated to
be, on average, in excess of 14
percent of GDP. Alone, sub-Sa-
haran Africa’s annual additional
spending requirements are
estimated at 24 percent of the
continent’s GDP, approximately
$420 billion. This financing gap
is a sizeable challenge for many
Africa countries given that, as
of 2018,over 20 of the 54 African
countries are either in or at a
high risk of debt distress. Com-
pounding this challenge, official
development assistance, though
Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020
business
rising overall, is declining in per
capita terms, and foreign direct
investment has been dwindling
in recent years. Furthermore,
while more than a third of the
required financing for the SDGs
was expected to come from the
private sector, the actual contri-
butions from the private sector
so far are significantly smaller,
at only 4 to 8 percent.
Looking ahead: The time for
action is now
Going forward, leaders at
all levels must tackle the SDGs
head-on with a comprehensive
and interconnected approach to
effectively optimize resources.
Since such an approach seeks
high-level horizontal and ver-
tical coordination, it requires
persistent and logically framed
action plans for ensuring
synergies. The domestication
process must thus go beyond
just mainstreaming the SDGs
into national plans; it must now
strive to contextualize both
the target and its indicators to
local socio-economic realities.
Our strategy must be changed
from the conventional pres-
ent-to-future to future to-present
planning, cascading from 2030
backward.
Firmly determined to take
its future into its own hands,
Africa is growing out of adopt-
ing agendas to, instead, setting
the agenda. Agenda 2063 is one
mechanism for doing so. So is
the African Continental Free
Trade Area, which will integrate
a market of 1.2 billion people
with a GDP of over $3.4 trillion,
creating new opportunities for
Africa and its business partners.
In addition, many African coun-
tries are embarking on ambi-
tious development plans that are
driving the adoption of technol-
ogies and new sources of ener-
gy. Countries are also showing a
greater appetite for information
technology and knowledge.
While Africa should remain
committed to working with its
development partners over the
next decade and beyond, achiev-
ing the SDGs should primarily
be its own responsibility.
Belay Begashaw is Director General
- The Sustainable Development
Goals Center for Africa
27
business
Kampala tenants opt
for small office space
Rental rates expected to drop as property supplies
exceed current market demand Kampala
By Isaac Khisa
R
ent for office space in prime loca-
tions in Kampala City has recorded
a 10% as tenants opt for small space,
latest data from property agency,
Knight Frank, shows.
Rent has dropped to as low as US$11.7
per metre square from as high as US$16.6
per metre square in some properties over
the past six months.
The rents for the prime office space is
expected to decline further owing to surge
in supply, the report notes.
“The total volume of office space in the
pipeline is increasing, hence prime office
rents are expected to decline owing to
increasing supply,” the report says.
The occupancy rates for the prime office
space registered a 3% year-on-year decline
from 86% in the second half of 2018 to 83%
as at December last year, as multinationals
and large corporates opt for smaller office
space amidst an additional 18,000 square
metres of office space on the property mar-
ket.
“As a result, Knight Frank has observed
a 4% increase in leasing activity for smaller
office occupiers (less than 200square metres)
particularly start-ups, who prefer flexible
office terms and solutions (including shared
and serviced offices) which best suit their
requirements,” Knight Frank Managing
Director, Judy Rugasira, said.
She said the biggest percentage of office
space was leased to government funded
projects in the road sector, start-ups particu-
larly in the Information and communication
technology and insurance firms.
In relation to residential flats, rental rates
for prime residential apartments in prime
locations such as Kololo, Nakasero and
Naguru have recorded a 1.25% decline to
US$1,750 for a two-bedroomed apartment,
US$2,750 for a three-bedroomed apartment
and US$5,000 for a 4-5 bedroomed apart-
ment during the period under view, as land-
lords strives to attract tenants who would
have otherwise chosen to live in secondary
suburbs like Muyenga, Mutungo and Ntin-
da.
“Additionally, we have registered an
increase in enquiries for 2 bed apartment
units which expatriates who are single and
28 Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020
young couples are showing a preference
for,” the report says, adding that the vari-
ance between asking and achievable rents
for apartments in the prime residential sector
is widening in response to the increase in
supply of private rented accommodation,
and thus putting downward pressure on
rents.
On the other hand, the Knight Frank
report also notes that the real estate sector
has not registered any change in the prime
residential sales market, with sellers and
buyers adopting a “wait and see” strategy
dependent on the macro-economic con-
ditions and thus leading to stagnation of
absorption rates of properties available for
sale.
Similarly, rents for the older stock of ware-
house space declined from an average rate of
US$5.50 per metre square registered during
second half of 2018 to US$4.75 per metre
square during the second half of 2019 due to
a slow leasing activities.
However, rents for the newly built or refur-
bished industrial space have stagnated at an
average rate of US$5.75 per metre square.
The report indicates that the Kampala
Industrial Business Park (KIBP) remains a
preferred location for owner occupiers and
big space users.
Meanwhile, rental rates in properties
leased by retail businesses remained stable
during the past six months as property
demand almost equalled supply.
Metroplex Mall, for instance, commenced
with its redevelopment that will see an
upgraded mall open in the first half of 2020,
with new and improved access.
The mall will be anchored by international
traders being Carrefour Hypermarket (their
second store in Kampala), Century Cine-
max Cinemas, and a new and improved
Woolworths amongst numerous local and
multi-national retailers.
Acacia Mall saw the expansion of Wool-
worths from a 550 metres square store to
an 830 metres square store as LC Waikiki,
the Turkish departmental store confirms
its planned entry into Uganda on the same
property.
Similarly, Village Mall, in Bugolobi saw
the opening of East Africa’s, home grown,
Cafesserie and Lintons during the period
under review.
Victoria Mall in Entebbe has seen changes
in the tenant mix of the line stores with more
fashion and curio stores opening therein. On
the other hand, Arena Mall in Nsambya is
nearing completion, and is due to open in
the next six months.
Future outlook
Going forward, Rugasira says residen-
tial rents are expected to drop further as
landlords of recently completed apartment
blocks compete for the limited pool of corpo-
rate and expatriate tenants who can afford
prime residential properties.
She says the total volume of office space
in the pipeline is increasing, a development
that is likely to drive rental costs downwards
owing to increasing supply.
“Above all, the current uncertainty asso-
ciated with the Landlord-Tenant bill has
continued to negatively affect new develop-
ments and leasing activity across the entire
real estate market, as many international
investors are still adapting a “wait and see
approach” and monitoring the real estate
market,” She said.
“We anticipate the same trend to be car-
ried forward in first half of 2020 with further
reduction in the intensity of leasing activity
and pipeline development completions in
the entire real estate sector if the bill is signed
into law in its current state.”
Parliament in June last year passed the
Landlord and Tenant Bill, 2018, that seeks to
among other things regulate the relationship
between landlords and tenants in commer-
cial and residential properties. However,
President Yoweri Museveni is yet to assent to
it to officially become law.
 business
TELECOM BANKING

Nokia eyes east African market Afreximbank gets equity boost

N
okia phone
maker HMD
Global is eye-
ing the larger
East African market.
HMD Global Chief Ex-
ecutive, Florian Seiche,
said during a media
briefing in Nairobi that
Kenya was a key market
for the new brand of
Global management position to continue its
team has been on a tour growth in line with its
in Kenya meeting regu- strategic plan, particularly
lators and government in the wake of the recently
officials in a bid to wid- launched African Conti-
en its grasp of the com- nental Free Trade Area,
petitive mobile devices the largest free trade area
market. created worldwide since
presence in the three Currently, the the formation of the World
hubs,” Seiche said. mid-market smartphone Trade Organization.
“In Kenya we will across the region has Prof Oramah The Bank continues to

Nokia devices and act
as a hub.
“South Africa, Kenya
and Nigeria are the key
markets in Africa. We
want to build our own
AVIATION
Burundi’s airport set for upgrade
T
deepen partnerships been dominated by monitor market conditions
and develop other East Huawei, Tecno and he African Ex- to find the appropriate
African markets such as Oppo, which target the port-Import Bank window to re-launch its
Uganda and Tanzania trendy mass market has announced initial public offering in
from here,” Reports with feature-loaded that the existing London.
indicate that HMD devices. shareholders, including the “The equity injection
Federal Republic of Nige- reflects the confidence
ria and the Arab Bank for which our existing share-
Economic Development in holders have in the Bank
Africa, have invested $200
million through Class A,
and the Bank welcomes
their decision to rapidly

B
urundi’s
Melchior Nd-
adaye Interna-
tional Airport
is set for a major facelift
and technological up-
grade in the few coming
months.
The initial work scope,
according to reports,
includes rehabilitation
of the runway and the
B and C shares and $300 take up additional equity,”
upgrade of the airport serving Bujumbura, million in callable capital, the Bank’s President, Prof.
control tower. China such as Uganda Air- bringing the total value Benedict Oramah, said.
is expected to fund the lines, Ethiopian Airlines, of new shares issued by “We are well positioned
activities. Brussels Airlines – once the Bank in 2019 to $500 to take advantage of our
It is also understood a week only – and Air million. relationships with our
that a second phase will Tanzania. The majority of the pro- member states to provide
then focus on the mod- Burundi has no ceeds of the capital raise a platform for trade and
ernization and upgrade national airline. No was used by the Bank to investment flows across
of the passenger termi- passenger numbers are retire warrants that were the continent, delivering
nal. available for the airport issued in December 2018. returns for the Bank
Presently are few nor are overall arrivals The new equity also and growth for African
international airlines into Burundi. puts the Bank in a strong businesses.”

RETAIL IT

Jumia sees better Innovation Village to open three more hubs

days a head

J
umia, the first technology start up in
Africa to list on the New York Stock
Exchange, is focused on becoming
profitable after a troubling 2019, ac-
cording to a Reuters news agency.
“We’re going to be extremely disciplined
and very focused on our path to profitabili-
ty,” said Jumia Co-Founder, Jeremy Hodara.
Hodara said the eCommerce firm — at
one time valued at nearly $4 billion — will
60,657 indirect jobs (20%)
will be created, skilling
230,000 young people and
facilitating 163,010 new link-
ages,” he said.
“We believe that this
move to expand to other
regions outside of Kampala
will enable us these ambi-
tious targets.”
CK Japheth CEO & Founder of The Innovation Village Addresses The launch of these brand

move to increase earnings from third-party
merchants.
Jumia’s NYSE shares have dropped
almost 70 percent since its initial public
offering (IPO) in April 2019.
Jumia closed its online shopping platform
in Cameroon and Tanzania and also stopped
its food delivery service in Rwanda.  countrywide. The hubs will
The company’s earnings before interest,
tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA)
in the third-quarter stood at €45 million, up
27 percent compared with the previous year.
T
The Press At The Launch of The Game Changers Roadshow
he Innovation Vil-
lage, an incubation
hub for start-up
businesses based in
Kampala, plans to unveil
three more innovation hubs
be located in the busy towns
of Gulu, Mbarara and Jinja.
CK Japheth, Founder
and CEO of The Innovation
Village said the new venture
will see the incubation firm
start a new era in doing
more for Ugandan youth by
covering more geographical
space than before.
“By 2024 we aim at
achieving the following
targets: creation of 300,003
direct new jobs for young
people from which another
new innovation spaces
will be executed through a
three month activation plan
dubbed “The Innovation
Village Game Changers
Road Show” where budding
youth entrepreneurs and tal-
ented youth will be exposed
to various events and activ-
ities that will enable them
discover and develop their
potential.

Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020 29

business

Uganda Airlines to add

10 more destinations
By Isaac Khisa codeshare agreements that will

U
ganda’s national car-
rier, Uganda Airlines,
is planning further
growth in its network
this year with an additional 10
new destinations.
The carrier is already serving
eight destination in the East Afri-
can region – Nairobi, Mombasa,
Zanzibar, Dar es Salaam, Juba,
Bujumbura, Kilimanjaro and
The MD Liberty Life Assurance Joseph Almeida and Country Head
of Health, Frank Tindyebwa hand over a dummy cheque worth Mogadishu – taking competition
Shs5million to David Onyango, Uganda Breweries Corporate Relations to the doorsteps of Kenya Air-
Manager. The contribution is for the UBL ‘Running out of trees’ ways, Rwanda Air and Precision
campaign aimed at galvanizing private companies to participate in the Air that dominated those routes.
National Tree Planting Day. The Uganda Airlines new
line-up destinations include;
Johannesburg, Lusaka, Harare,
Kinshasa, Goma, Lubumbashi,
Khartoum, Kigali, Hargeisa and
Addis Ababa.
Cornwell Muleya, the airlines’
acting Chief Executive Officer
said the airline also plan to
unveil inter-continental flights to
Europe, Asia and in the Middle
East, with the arrival of its first
A330-800 NEO aircraft in Dec
2020 and the other in January
next year. “We are (also) work-
ing forward to synergies with
other airlines under a frame-
work of alliances, interline, and
The Vice President, Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi shakes hand with
Sadolin Sales head Ashish Devani at the launch of 39th Tarehe Sita
anniversary on Jan.28 . Sadolin donated 2000 liters of paint for the
day’s activites.  INDEPENDENT/ ALFRED OCHWO
enable us extend our services to
offer our passengers global con-
nectivity,” he said.
This development comes as
at the time the government is
also seeking for a substantial
chief executive officer to operate
one of the continent’s youngest
airline.
The former CEO, Ephraim
Bagenda, who was at the helm
of the airline during its revival in
2018, was moved to the position
of Director of Engineering and
Maintenance, a similar position
he served at RwandAir for six
year. This was followed up with
the appointment of Muleya as
CEO in the acting capacity.
Uganda Airlines currently is
pinning its growth on the local
population that is estimated to
spend more than US$400million
on flights annually. Entebbe
International Airport handles
more than 1.8million customers
but shared among more than 18
airlines.
Government executives
believe that the revival of the
carrier, which currently has four
aircrafts, will boost growth of
other sectors including trade,
tourism and agriculture.

Share price movement (Jan.08)

Security Jan. 08 Nov.25 Movement
BATU 30,000 300 00
BOBU 125 125 00
CENT 1,085 1,075 0.9
QCL 102 127 19
DFCU 645 650 0.7
EABL 7,235 7,352 1.5
EBL 1,999 1,752 14
JHL 12,838 12,922 0.6
KA 77 104 25.9
KCB 1,971 1,790 10.1
NIC 10 11 9
NMG 1,443 1,450 0.5
NVL 319 321 0.6
SBU 25 24 4.1
The head of the State House Anti-Corruption Unit Lt Col Edith Nakalema
(standing) addresses Nansana Municipality Council officials on corruption. This UCHM 10 12 16
was on Jan. 24 at the municipality head quarters. The municipality has lost Shs UCL 9.5 10 5
1.7billion in corruption cases.  INDEPENDENT/ ALFRED OCHWO UMEME 239 297 19.5
ALSI -- -- --

30 Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020

D
By Agencies
oes the blood we thought
to know so well contain
elements that had been un-
detectable until now? The
answer is yes, according to
a team of researchers which
has revealed the presence of whole func-
tional mitochondria in the blood circulation.
The discovery may deepen our knowledge
of physiology and open up new avenues for
treatment.
Researchers at the Montpellier Cancer
Research Institute (IRCM) have discovered
the new component in blood that has never
been detected there before. Mitochondria
are normally found inside cells, but the team
has now discovered them floating around on
their own in the bloodstream.
Often referred to as the power houses of
cells, mitochondria are organelles; the tiny
cellular structures that perform specific
functions within a cell. Mitochondria play
a key role in metabolising; or processing the
food, minerals and more that we consume
into new cells, energy and waste products
by means of chemical processes. The new
mitochondria revealed in blood are involved
in metabolising energy and cell signaling.
Occasionally they are found outside of cells,
but usually only as fragments within the
tiny disc-shaped cell fragments in blood
called platelets. After a seven-year study,
an IRCM team has now found complete
and fully-functioning mitochondria in
blood plasma, contained inside highly-sta-
ble structures. Using electron microscopy,
the researchers analyzed plasma samples
from about 100 people, and found up to 3.7
million of these mitochondria-containing
structures per milliliter of plasma. The team
was originally tipped off to the presence of
mitochondria in blood by previous studies,
which found that a person’s blood plasma
can contain up to 50,000 times more mito-
chondrial DNA than other types of DNA.
That implied that whole mitochondria were
circulating through the bloodstream inside
stable, protective structures.
“When we consider the sheer number
of extracellular mitochondria found in the
blood, we have to ask why such a discov-
ery had not been made before,” says Alain
Thierry, lead researcher on the study. “Our
team has built up expertise in the specific
and sensitive detection of DNA in the blood,
by working on the fragmentation of extracel-
lular DNA derived from the mitochondria
in particular.” The discovery means that
this extracellular mitochondria must be
playing some kind of biological role. The
Scientists find new
blood component
Discovery could lead to improvements
in treatment of diseases
team hypothesises that it may be helping to
induce immune and inflammatory respons-
es, and helping cells communicate with each
other.
Mitochondria are organelles that are
found in the eukaryotic cells. A place of cel-
lular respiration, they are the cells’ “batter-
ies” and play a major role in energy metab-
olism and intercellular communication.
Their particularity is to possess their own
genome, transmitted solely by the mother
and separate from the DNA contained in the
nucleus. The mitochondria can sometimes
be observed outside the cells in the form of
fragments encapsulated within microvesi-
cles. Under certain very specific conditions
the platelets are also capable of releasing
intact mitochondria into the extracellular
space. The work of a team led by Inserm
researcher Alain R. Thierry at the Montpel-
lier Cancer Research Institute (Inserm/Uni-
versité de Montpellier/Montpellier Cancer
Institute) has now revolutionised knowledge
of this organelle by revealing that whole
functioning extracellular mitochondria are in
fact found in the bloodstream.
The researchers used previous findings
which showed that the plasma of a healthy
individual contains up to 50,000 times more
mitochondrial DNA than nuclear DNA.
They hypothesised that for it to be detectable
and quantifiable in the blood in this manner,
the mitochondrial DNA had to be protected
by a structure of sufficient stability. In order
to identify such a structure, plasma samples
from around 100 individuals were analyzed.
This analysis revealed the presence in the
blood circulation of highly stable structures
Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020
containing whole mitochondrial genomes.
Following examination of their size and
density, as well as the integrity of their mito-
chondrial DNA, these structures observed
using electron microscopy (up to 3.7 million
per ml of plasma) were revealed to be intact
and functional mitochondria.
Throughout the seven-year research peri-
od, the scientists used as many technical and
methodological approaches as possible to
validate this presence of circulating extracel-
lular mitochondria in the blood.
But what is the role of these extracellular
mitochondria? The answer to that could be
linked to the structure of the mitochondri-
al DNA, similar to that of bacterial DNA,
which gives it the ability to induce immune
and inflammatory responses. Based on this
observation, the researchers hypothesize
that these circulating mitochondria could
be implicated in many physiological and/or
pathological processes requiring communi-
cation between the cells (such as the mecha-
nisms of inflammation). Indeed, recent stud-
ies have demonstrated the ability of certain
cells to transfer mitochondria between them-
selves, such as the stem cells with damaged
cells. “The extracellular mitochondria could
perform various tasks as messenger for the
entire body,” Thierry explains.
In addition to its importance to our
knowledge of physiology, this discovery
could lead to improvements in the diagnosis,
monitoring and treatment of certain diseas-
es. In fact, the research team is now devoting
its attention to evaluating the extracellular
mitochondria as biomarkers in non-invasive
prenatal diagnosis and cancer.
31
HEALTH
Baby and adult brains
It’s not your imagination -- you and your
baby really are on the same wavelength
By Agencies
A
team of researchers
has conducted the first
study of how baby and
adult brains interact
during natural play, and they
found measurable connections
in their neural activity. In other
words, baby and adult brain
activity rose and fell together
as they shared toys and eye
contact.
Have you ever played with a
baby and felt a sense of connec-
tion, even though they couldn’t
yet talk to you? New research
suggests that you might quite
literally be “on the same wave-
length,” experiencing similar
brain activity in the same brain
regions.
A team of Princeton research-
ers has conducted the first
study of how baby and adult
brains interact during natural
play, and they found measur-
able similarities in their neural
activity. In other words, baby
and adult brain activity rose
and fell together as they shared
toys and eye contact. The
research was conducted at the
Princeton Baby Lab, where Uni-
versity researchers study how
babies learn to see, talk and
understand the world.
“Previous research has shown
that adults’ brains sync up when
they watch movies and listen
to stories, but little is known
about how this ‘neural synchro-
ny’ develops in the first years
of life,” said Elise Piazza, an
associate research scholar in the
Princeton Neuroscience Institute
(PNI) and the first author on a
paper published Dec. 17, 2019, in
Psychological Science.
Piazza and her co-authors
-- Liat Hasenfratz, an associate
research scholar in PNI; Uri Has-
son, a professor of psychology
and neuroscience; and Casey
Lew-Williams, an associate
professor of psychology -- pos-
ited that neural synchrony has
32 Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020
important implications for social
development and language
learning.
Studying real-life, face-to-face
communication between babies
and adults is quite difficult.
Most past studies of neural cou-
pling, many of which were con-
ducted in Hasson’s lab, involved
scanning adults’ brains with
functional magnetic resonance
imaging (fMRI), in separate ses-
sions, while the adults lay down
and watched movies or listened
to stories.
But to study real-time com-
munication, the researchers
needed to create a child-friendly
method of recording brain
activity simultaneously from
baby and adult brains. With
funding from the Eric and
Wendy Schmidt Transformative
Technology Grant, the research-
ers developed a new dual-brain
neuroimaging system that uses
functional near-infrared spec-
troscopy (fNIRS), which is high-
ly safe and records oxygenation
in the blood as a proxy for neu-
ral activity. The setup allowed
the researchers to record the
neural coordination between
babies and an adult while they
played with toys, sang songs
and read a book.
The same adult interacted
with all 42 infants and toddlers
who participated in the study.
Of those, 21 had to be excluded
because they “squirmed exces-
sively,” and three others flat-out
refused to wear the cap, leaving
18 children, ranging in age from
9 months to 15 months.
The experiment had two
portions. In one, the adult
experimenter spent five minutes
interacting directly with a child
-- playing with toys, singing
nursery rhymes or reading
Goodnight Moon -- while the
child sat on their parent’s lap.
In the other, the experimenter
turned to the side and told a
story to another adult while the
child played quietly with their
parent.
The caps collected data from
57 channels of the brain known
to be involved in prediction,
language processing and under-
standing other people’s perspec-
tives.
When they looked at the
data, the researchers found
that during the face-to-face ses-
sions, the babies’ brains were
synchronised with the adult’s
brain in several areas known to
be involved in high-level under-
standing of the world -- perhaps
helping the children decode the
overall meaning of a story or
analyze the motives of the adult
reading to them.
When the adult and infant
were turned away from each
other and engaging with other
people, the coupling between
them disappeared.
That fit with researchers’
expectations, but the data also
had surprises in store. For
example, the strongest coupling
occurred in the prefrontal cortex,
which is involved in learning,
planning and executive func-
tioning and was previously
thought to be quite underdevel-
oped during infancy.
“We were also surprised to
find that the infant brain was
often ‘leading’ the adult brain
by a few seconds, suggesting
that babies do not just passively
receive input but may guide
adults toward the next thing
they’re going to focus on: which
toy to pick up, which words to
say,” said Lew-Williams, who
is a co-director of the Princeton
Baby Lab.
“While communicating, the
adult and child seem to form
a feedback loop,” Piazza add-
ed. “That is, the adult’s brain
seemed to predict when the
infants would smile, the infants’
brains anticipated when the
adult would use more ‘baby
talk,’ and both brains tracked
joint eye contact and joint atten-
tion to toys. So, when a baby and
adult play together, their brains
influence each other in dynamic
ways.”
This two-brain approach to
neuroscience could open doors
to understanding how coupling
with caregivers breaks down
in atypical development -- such
as in children diagnosed with
autism -- as well as how educa-
tors can optimise their teaching
approaches to accommodate
children’s diverse brains.
The researchers are continu-
ing to investigate how this neu-
ral coupling relates to preschool-
ers’ early language learning.
Source: Science daily

By Patrick Omony
Reform of accountancy market
The government’s intervention is critical for the emergence
of accounting bodies to champion local consumer interests
T
he recent Economic Summit organ-
ised by NTV saw the Minister of
Finance make a desperate plea for
ideas that can spur the economy to
enable him increase his revenue collection to
service the alarming national debt.
The minister should consider an idea of
a quid pro quo intervention to bolster the
performance of the accountancy market.
This sector is totally insensitive to the
economic misery of, especially, small
accounting firms. It is also experiencing
alarming unemployment of accounting
related skill labour estimated at 10,000
and projected to reach over 25,000 by
2030, according to provisional figures
from the National planning Authority.
The Ugandan accountancy market
is conservatively estimated to have a
current potential of Shs600 billion with
capacity to generate over Shs190 billion
in taxes while creating over 18,000 direct
and indirect new quality jobs at an over
10% growth rate in its initial stage if the
right strategy and approach is applied to
this sector.
Despite this potential, the sector’s
strategy to generate market demand for
its services through hype, drama awards
and legal coercion has continued to
post miserable results. The 2018 sector
performance figures showed that firms
generated less than 20% of this market
potential in total revenues and only con-
tributed 40 billion in total taxes. “A clear
case of doing what they ought not to do
and leaving undone that what they ought
to do”.
Whereas the bulk of the untapped
market is within the market niche of the
small certified and uncertified firms, over
80% of them are in an economic survival
mode with weak negotiating power. This
is due to their market offerings of low-
value low-demand heavily commoditised
services most of which are being phased
out by automation or can be done by low
skilled persons using new software tech-
nology.
Whereas the market is increasingly
demanding new forms of accounting
services that add real value to them, the
accountancy fraternity has continued
to demonstrate a lack of character and
vision to conjure up the right strategy
to deliver. This inability stems from a
colonial-mindset-build that has blinded
accountants to their local context and
gotten them pride fully fixated on doing
things (compliancy) as dictated to them
by their foreign masters regardless of its
benefit to local consumers who are now
fighting back.
Small firms, especially, are continu-
ously losing hope as they face a future
of greater economic decline. Accounting
firms are expected to drop 20% in annual
revenues in the wake of this looming
global economic slowdown which is
pushing consumers to value scrutinise
their spending on accounting services.
The threats of job loss for those in
employment are growing and gainful job
prospects for fresh graduates are dwin-
dling as automation reaches high gear.
The colonial mindset, insincerity and
the low entrepreneurial spirit in the sector
is the major cause of resistance to positive
change.
Meanwhile mothers who sacrifice the
most in educating their children but
are increasing getting concerned about
what is happening are wondering if they
The local market
is presenting a
Shs450 billion
gold mine for
those with
accounting
skills to work
with others to
mine and make
a good life for
themselves and
family
Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020
comment
should continue hoping that their chil-
dren, who are sitting at home, will find
gainfully employment to support the
family and give them rest.
The government’s intervention is not
only very critical but noble at this time
to help especially suppress colonial ideo-
logically bankrupt resistances and create
the right propensity and impetus to effec-
tively bolster the sector’s transformation
effort towards growth where all benefit.
This can be achieved if government sup-
ported the emergence of other accounting
bodies to champion local consumer’s
interests and stimulate the move towards
building an accounting infrastructure that
is lacking in this economy.
Improvements in the business of
accountants and job prospects are result
of greater strategic cooperation with other
professions such as IT, marketing and
sales, engineers, and lawyers etc. These
augment skills in order to offer con-
sumers superior services whose value is
genuinely demanded for, appreciated and
voiced by them, not through pointless
accountancy award gimmicks observed in
this space.
The local market is presenting a
Shs450 billion gold mine for those with
accounting skills to work with others
to mine and make a good life for them-
selves and family. Many local businesses
are in dire need for tailored accounting
solutions and advice. The profession
needs a renewed wave of career guidance
for especially practicing and employed
accountants. It should focus on mindset
renewal to sustainably tap into this
opportunity.
The profession is in search of new ways
and skills to offer superior tailored ser-
vices for the local market that naturally
generate own non-coercive demand by a
well sensitised rational consumer.
The writer is the C.E.O and Principal
consultant
Omony Consulting Co. Ltd
jwauditors@gmail.com
33
comment
By Crispin Kaheru
Potential drivers of election-violence
What Uganda should do to address new and old forms
of negative political drama ahead of 2021 elections
U
ganda’s general election is now a
little less than 12 months away. But
politicians and some government
elements alike are already trading
the politics of 2021 as though polling day is
tomorrow.
Just when we were trying to get to grips
with police blocking Bobi Wine’s political
consultations came the NRM delegates’
conference. While both hyped up the
political sensation in distinctive ways,
there were indeed parallels to draw; on
one hand you had consultations of a pres-
idential aspirant botched at the hands of
those mandated to keep law and order,
while on the other, you had a party event
or a series of events that enjoyed the full
support, or may I say backing of those
responsible for law and order.
With the constellation of political events
in the last weeks, one can accurately
predict what the mood and tone of the
country will look like, especially after
January 2020.
The just concluded NRM national
delegates’ conference has set in motion
the party’s internal activities potentially
including the election or ‘selection’ of the
party’s flag bearers for the much antic-
ipated 2021 polls – sometime soon. Of
course there are compelling reasons why
the whole country has to pay attention to
NRM’s internal political processes – first,
it is because; not only is it the outfit in
power, but also, who knows, maybe, each
of us (taxpayers) underwrites the party’s
activities – in one way or another. NRM’s
political activities are normally accompa-
nied with superfluous adrenaline. Some-
times they fight, other times they party.
Whichever way they choose to show their
feelings, the end is never so different.
We are living in emotionally impulsive
times. Like we’ve seen before, we will
probably witness more and more events
where politicians and police thought-
lessly provoke each other alike. Unfortu-
nately, we are likely to see new and old
forms of political intimidation, hate-lan-
guage, intolerance, incitement and polit-
ically motivated brawls. All these have
happened in previous elections; and they
are beginning to manifest in the context
of the 2021 elections. Not much has been
done to change the course. Therefore, it
34 Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020
is not a matter of “if” such negative polit-
ical drama will happen again but rather
“when”, and “how” intense it will be.
The laws that would have stimulated
a potentially new electoral course for
Uganda have stagnated in Parliament.
The current legal framework remains
too weak to effectively detect, deter and
mitigate complex electoral fraud and mal-
practices, which often times arouse anger.
Take for instance; amid an environment
that lacks campaign finance regulations,
it remains difficult to stop the undue use
of state resources (by a political party in
power) to create an imbalanced political
playing field – especially during electoral
periods.
Most of the programmes aimed at
kindling positive mindset change have
remained more on paper and not in prac-
tice; which partly explains why values
like integrity, empathy, tolerance, and
peaceful coexistence continue to elude us
as a country. Given the election-triggered
violence that has in the past rocked areas
such as West Nile, Rwenzori, parts of the
East and Northern Uganda, one would
expect to see tailored efforts to defuse any
sort of tensions in those particular areas.
Not much of that seems to be happening.
The country will soon go through a
Within the
context,
making 2021
a semblance
of a normal,
peaceful
election will
require serious
work and
commitment
raft of important electoral activities.
Presidential aspirants’ consultations,
political party candidates’ identification
processes, the display of the voters’ roll,
and elections for special interest groups
are all lined up in the next couple of
months. These activities could be sources
of unnecessary disturbances if not well
handled. In fact, given that there doesn’t
seem to be a coordinated mechanism of
systematically monitoring and reporting
election conflict indicators is even more
concerning. Remember Uganda is coming
from a bad place where even small,
constituency-based by-elections that
took place between 2016 and 2019 were
marked by unprecedented election vio-
lence and multiple forms of offences.
Within the context, making 2021 a sem-
blance of a normal, peaceful election will
require serious work and commitment. It
will require a mix of mindset change and
immediate actions – including: assessing
pertinent long-standing political and soci-
etal grievances; making efforts to address,
to the extent possible, such underlying
grievances before the election, reducing
the potential of mobilising those griev-
ances into election violence or political
tensions, fine-tuning the election process
through building public trust and con-
fidence in both the electoral institutions
and systems (this includes rationally
de-militarising and de-monetising elec-
tions), encouraging an open, consultative
approach that fosters collective responsi-
bility for the electoral process, facilitating
a level playing field for participants in
the elections (including enacting and
enforcing progressive election laws), and
investing in a dispute resolution pro-
cess that is fair, prompt and accessible.
Election administrators will also have to
ensure that each and every part of the
election is executed transparently and
professionally.
Can all this be done within the time left
to the next election? May be yes, only if
government genuinely lends its support
and commitment to those identified aspi-
rations – and works in concert with citi-
zens to address them.
Crispin Kaheru is an independent expert on
elections

By Helen Parish
Married Roman Catholic priests
After a thousand years of being
celibate could change be coming?
F
or almost a thousand years, Roman
Catholic priests have been required to
be celibate. But this age-old practice is
now under fire, with the suggestion
that the rules should be relaxed for the Latin
American Catholic church.
In response to such rumblings, a new
book sets out a vigorous defence of
priestly celibacy against the “fashionable
errors” of its detractors. The book is par-
ticularly notable for being described as
co-authored by Cardinal Robert Sarah
and the former pope, Benedict XVI, who
since his resignation in 2013 has avoided
public intervention in the time of his suc-
cessor, Pope Francis.
Although the former pope has since
asked that his name and signature be
removed from the book, its publication is
evidence of the divisions that exist within
the church. The relationship between
the two popes is already very much in
the public eye following the release of a
fictionalised biography about them. The
publication of the book, with Benedict
XVI’s name on its original cover, coin-
cides with an expected response from
Pope Francis to the recommendations
made at the synod – church council – held
in the Amazon region in October 2019.
Within Protestant congregations and the
Eastern Orthodox church, the ordination
of married men has long been accepted.
But for the best part of a millennium, cel-
ibacy has been required of priests in the
Roman Catholic tradition. Any decision
to ordain married men to the priesthood
would be a highly visible and controver-
sial break with the disciplines and tradi-
tions of the church.
The Amazon synod opened the door to
high-profile discussions of the place of
celibacy in the modern Roman Catholic
priesthood. For the first time, an open
statement was made in favour of the
ordination of married “viri probati” (men
of proven virtue) as priests. Although
Pope Francis has yet to accept the Synod’s
recommendations, he has made known
his sympathy with problems faced by the
church in the Amazon.
So far, the ordination of married men
has been presented as a solution to an
acute shortage of priests in the Amazon
region. The synod recognised the value of
celibacy as a “gift of God” but suggested
that the pressures faced by the church in
the Amazon, justified a “legitimate diver-
sity” in practice.
But any precedent established in the
Amazon will raise further questions
about the future of the compulsory cel-
ibacy of the Roman Catholic clergy in
other parts of the world. The final docu-
ment made clear that many participants
of the synod were in favour of broad-
ening the scope of its recommendations to
the rest of the Roman Catholic Church.
Celibate for a millennium
The universal requirement to celibacy
was imposed upon the clergy with force
in 1123 and again in 1139. But those
decrees reflected a much longer tradition
in the Church in which the self-imposed
discipline of asceticism – including sexual
continence, poverty and abstinence –
became the defining characteristics of
piety, and of the priesthood.
This view was first challenged in the
16th century with the rise of Protes-
tantism. The Protestant church’s mark-
edly different view of the priesthood
– and rejection of priestly celibacy –
allowed both the ordination of married
men and the marriage of those already in
holy orders.
Whatever their views on the rest of
Protestant theology, those priests who
chose to take wives were making a visible
statement against the discipline of the
Catholic church. That statement was not
always welcomed by more conservative
congregations, for whom a married priest
was an unwelcome symbol of religious
change. The legalisation of clerical mar-
riage in England in 1549 did little to pro-
tect clergy wives from being denounced
in the street as whores and concubines.
Martin Luther, the founding father of
the German Reformation, wrote that his
much satirised marriage to a former nun
“made the angels laugh and the devils
weep”.
The reassertion of compulsory clerical
celibacy in the Catholic church at the
Council of Trent (1543-1563) established
the issue as a permanent marker of the
divisions within Christendom. These
decrees still possess a symbolic value in
Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020
comment
the context of modern debates. Isabelle
de Gaulmyn, editor-in-chief of La Croix,
has argued that the recommendation of
the Amazon synod statement on celibacy
marks the “end” of the Roman Catholic
Church as it was defined at the Council
of Trent.
What next?
But if the recommendations of the
synod are accepted, this would not be the
first time that a local exception has been
made to the discipline of celibacy in the
Roman Catholic church.
Those married priests who left the
Church of England after its decision
to ordain women in 1994, for example,
were permitted to be ordained as Cath-
olic priests without making any com-
mitment to celibacy. By 2014, former
Anglican clergy accounted for up to one
in ten English Catholic priests, and in
the United States, more than 100 mar-
ried former Episcopal clergy have been
ordained in the Catholic church.
Such precedents hammer home the
importance of the distinction between
the marriage of priests and the ordina-
tion of married men to the priesthood.
It is important to note that, as in these
cases, the synod’s recommendations on
the ordination of “viri probati” do not
make celibacy voluntary for the rest of the
ordained clergy. Instead, the recommen-
dation is presented as a direct response to
the needs of the Amazon region, and the
shortage of priests to serve its communi-
ties.
But days before the Amazonian synod
opened, the Canadian Cardinal Marc
Ouellet, president of the Pontifical Com-
mission for Latin America, argued that
married priests cannot be seen as a quick
solution to pastoral problems in Latin
America and beyond The publication of
this new book – and the furore around
it – is a warning that watering down the
requirements of celibacy for priests is
not universally accepted as a positive
response to the needs of the church.
Helen Parish is Professor in History,
University of Reading
Source: theconversation
35
 ART | BOOKS | SOCIETY | TRAVEL | CULTURE
T
By Matt Kayem
alk of message
colliding with mo-
ment. “Long Wait”
is the title of a new
landmark exhibi-
tion at Nommo
Gallery in Kampala; the once the
premier art show venue in the
country which has finally got a
makeover after a long wait. The
exhibition took place on Dec.20.
The gallery has just gotten
a few renovations inside and
acquired the services of, a bud-
ding ambitious curator who also
happens to be the first to take up
the prestigious title at the once
run-down institution. For the
last decade or more, the premier
institution on the industry had
been rotting away in misman-
agement and neglect. Over this
period, artworks have been dis-
played on the floor and thrown
around packed on the walls in
un-curated displays. It had been
a disgusting sight. There has
been a longing for someone to
A guest standing in the middle of Balimunsi’s installation and behind him, Romano Lutwama’s painting.
36 Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020
Nommo Gallery reborn
Budding Phillip Balimunsi bring international
approach to premier local institution
get the institution from the brink
of death and the recent show
breathed some air and hope of
resurrection to the gallery.
The man at the centre of it all,
Phillip Balimunsi, has always
been interested in history and it
shows in the exhibition which
features artists representing
different generations on the East
African scene. The exhibition
covers a rich scope of history,
focusing on past glory.
There were works by the
late Romano Lutwama who
stood out for his then popular
modernist toned paintings. If
you’ve seen Duchamp’s “Nude
Descending A Stair Case”, just
add colour to it and get a Lutwa-
ma. One of his pieces occupies
a cubicle in the gallery where
the installation is. The painting,
which the curator confided had
to be restored, shows some crack
marks. But they do not take
away its beauty or the sophisti-
cation in Lutwama’s brush and
technique.
There was also an excellent
installation of catalogues of past
exhibitions at the gallery on one
side. On another side hangs cata-
logues from international exhibi-
tions; most especially those from
the last Venice Biennale where
the curator was for training.
Balimunsi takes pride in the
documentation at Nommo
Gallery, which he says is
done at a high level on the
international scene. He says
records are a good way to start
the conversation; most especially
for a curator starting out at the
gallery and hoping to revamp it.
With the catalogues,
Balimunsi tries to pass on a
message, one of education and
hope about Ugandan art. There
is hope because, as the exhibition
shows, Nommo Gallery has had
a good record in the past and
there is no reason for it to fail
now or in the future.
Matt Kayem is a contemporary
artist/art writer and critic

Rukikaire’s view of history
Former cabinet minister and NRA
ideologue on politics and leadership
By Ian Katusiime
M
athew Rukikaire has seen it all.
Born into an aristocratic family
and educated in the best in-
stitutions that the colonial era
could offer locally and abroad, Rukikaire
has either made or participated in histo-
ry-making. Therefore, when he records
his life’s events in a book, political and
history buffs may want to get his account
of events.
One of the major events of Uganda’s
history was him playing host to the start of
a liberation war of 1981-86 and the forma-
tion of the National Resistance Movement
(NRM) which has become one of the most
influential political organisations in Ugan-
da. The events happened in his homes in
Kampala and Nairobi respectively.
Rukikaire has had a front row seat at
many critical junctures in Uganda’s histo-
ry. He witnessed how power was struc-
tured as a child, with a warrior grandfa-
ther during the time of the Nkore kingdom
and an uncle who was a colonial era county
chief in the 1950s. His book `70 Years A
Witness’ is a narrative by the 81-year-old
Rukikaire on how he saw events before and
after independence, his two periods in exile,
his role in liberating Uganda from what he
terms bad leadership and the promise of the
NRM under President Yoweri Museveni and
how it lost the plot.
He writes that the exposure he had due
to his background played a role in his selec-
tion as head prefect of Ntare School by the
famous headmaster William Crichton. He
had been to Kampala and visited Rwanda
and Burundi which broadened his view. In
1956, he was among the pioneers of Ntare; a
school that produced a generation of leaders
in the country and beyond.
Rukikaire’s leadership journey took
another step when he joined Kings College
Budo in 1959 and was selected to be head
prefect again. He was also in the pioneer
class of Budo for the Higher School certifi-
cate (A-level). Rukikaire takes pride in the
positions he occupied in his formative years.
On the day of his book launch in Decem-
ber 2019, he reiterated that he was the first
non-Muganda head prefect at Budo; joking
that although Wako Muloki, a Musoga, and
later Kyabazinga of Busoga, had been a head
prefect, many people associated Basoga with
Baganda.
It was during his time at Budo that Ruki-
kaire took a critical view of national politics
which got him apprehensive. He decried the
polarisation of the country along religious
lines and he was increasingly distraught at
the nature of politics played by Milton Obote
who was soon to be elected Prime Minister
of Uganda. He refers to Obote as “insecure”
and as someone who had an intention “to
politically tribalize the north of the country
for the purpose of securing himself in pow-
er….”
In spite of his distaste for Obote, Rukikaire
joined Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC), a
party that was falling in Obote’s grip. He
saw it as the best vehicle for leading Uganda
because many of his cronies were already
there. Rukikaire’s political activism saw him
elected guild president at Makerere Univer-
sity which he sought to use as a stepping
stone for more influential roles.
Throughout the book, the reader gets
a sense of Rukikaire’s consciousness and
desire to play a role in his nation’s affairs.
Later he took a role in UPC as National
Organising Secretary.
Obote’s purge of opponents in 1966
forced Rukikaire into exile in Kenya in 1966.
Luckily he got a job there and was even
luckier that he shortly got another job as East
Africa’s Representative to the European Eco-
nomic Community. Based in Brussels, part
of his staff were an elder British secretary
and an Irishman driver.
His job as a manager with Shell in Ugan-
Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020
book
da after returning from exile helped him
ground his understanding of macroeco-
nomics in the turbulent 1970s under Idi
Amin. Later, Rukikaire met Museveni and
as he searched for his ideological orien-
tation, he became skeptical of those who
expressed Marxist ideals feeling they were
full of rhetoric.
In February 1981, young men led by
Museveni assembled in Rukikaire’s home
in Makindye, Kampala for “the greatest
enterprise of their lives”. He writes wist-
fully recalling the young men pacing up
and down his house brimming with revo-
lutionary fervour.
Another significant event took place
when in June 1981, a document merging
PRA led by Museveni, and UFF, led by
Yusuf Lule, was concluded and signed in
Rukikaire’s home in Nairobi. This led to
the birth of the NRM. Rukikaire was then
chairman of the external committee based
in Kenya in his second period in exile.
In his memoir, Rukikaire stresses the
role of the External committee with the
support abroad it canvassed for- a neces-
sary ingredient for the success of the lib-
eration war of 1981-86. He was disturbed
that Museveni and other guerilla fighters
had started to disparage the work of the
external committee.
The intrigue against the external commit-
tee marked the start of his fallout with the
NRM. The maligning went on years after
the capture of power, to Rukikaire’s chagrin.
His home in Nairobi besides sheltering
his young family, was a meeting point for
wounded comrades and a planning centre
for high-level missions such as the trip to
Libya to secure arms.
However he writes gladly about a time in
2016 when President Museveni invites him
to State House and in a way of righting a his-
torical wrong, he praises him and acknowl-
edges the role of the committee.
Rukikaire’s frustration with Museveni’s
government grew when he was minister for
privatisation and Uganda Commercial Bank
(UCB) was sold dubiously as he was left
out of the loop. He looked on in disbelief as
NRM discarded presidential term limits. He
writes of Museveni’s attempts to woo him
back to government but he was already dis-
illusioned. Rukikaire is also disappointed by
the many in NRM who share his views on
the misdirection under the party but remain
silent.
70 Years A Witness is an intimate portrait of
the journey of Uganda from independence
and also serves as a clarion call for other wit-
nesses of the country’s history to pen their
accounts.
37
Shop charges people Shs60,000 just for trying on suits
A tailoring shop in the Span-
ish city of Bilbao has sparked
a heated debate online after
it was reported that it start-
ed charging people 15 euros
(Approx. Shs62,000) just for
trying on clothes. “Many people
visit all the local shops in the
business… They ask for advice
in styles, models, accessories,
and then go elsewhere to buy,”
Camino Pascual told El Correo
newspaper, adding that some
Man fakes
kidnapping to
avoid wedding
When it comes to backing out
of a wedding, faking your own
kidnapping sounds like overkill,
but that didn’t stop a Colombian
man from using this technique
to avoid attending his own wed-
ding. The unnamed 55-year-old
man, from the Colombian town
of Pitalito was scheduled to
marry his fiancee, but got cold
feet. Together with his friends,
they faked his kidnapping.
What they didn’t plan for was
for authorities to launch a full
scale operation involving the
police and the army. After see-
ing the manpower and resourc-
es that had been mobilised for
their lie, the “victim’s” friends
confessed. Authorities decided
to keep the man’s identity secret
but he and friends face jail terms
of up to six years. The bride and
her family were shocked.
Old iPhones getting
can last an average of two hours.
a new lease of life
Suits at Pascual Bilbao can range
between 800 and 1,500 euros An Apple iPhone is only
(Approx.Shs3 million and 5.5 meant to live for five years
million), so the two siblings are before becoming obsolete.
confident that whoever really Now it’s been claimed the tech
wants to buy isn’t going to giant is going to grant some
be put off by the 15-euro tax. of its ageing smartphones a
Besides, the tax is deducted new lease of life. Under the
patrons are even worse – using from the bill, so they end up normal run of things, Apple
all the advice they receive in the paying just for the clothes and/ will release a new iPhone
shop to buy a cheaper suit on or accessories. But the tax has this September along with a
the internet. Each appointment caused an uproar. new operating system which
is not compatible with the
iPhone 6S. But a French Apple
website has claimed the next
mobile operating system – iOS
14 – will be compatible with
the iPhone 6S. This means the
phone will be supported for at
least six years, rather than the
usual five. However, at this
stage, the claim is little more
than a rumour and Apple’s
real plans will be revealed at
its annual WWDC conference
in June.
Parents barred from naming baby `Lucifer’
An attempt to name a child after the Devil has won no sympathy
from Iceland’s official naming committee, telling the parents that it
“is one of the names of the Devil, and could cause embarrassment”
for the child in later life. It was a second attempt after trying to the
name the infant `Lucifer’ was rejected because it violates the require-
ments of the Personal Names Act “through its Satanic association
and the fact that the Icelandic alphabet does not have a letter ‘c’”.
The latest bid tried to get round the linguistic rule by spelling the
name with an “s”, to no avail.

Woman `locks’ husband to prevent cheating

A Ukrainian man nearly lost
his genitals after his wife put
him in a painful home-made
chastity belt for being unfaithful.
The unnamed man in his 40’s,
from the city of Zaporizhia, in
southern Ukraine, told doctors
that he woke up one morning
earlier this week to find a big
metal nut screwed onto his wie-
ner. He said it was strangulating
his organ and tried removing
it himself, but the nut didn’t
budge. So he had no choice but
to call an ambulance. A special-
ist team of rescuers used a circu-
lar saw to slice the piece of metal
in two, while pouring water on
it to keep it from overheating
because of the friction.
“We often face similar inci-
dents and are quite trained
in removing rings, handcuffs
and other objects off people’s
bodies. In this case, we actually
saved the man’s penis. He will
be able to become a father in
the future,” rescuer Eduard
Nekhoroshev said. The man is
considering a divorce.

38 Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020

 Auto-tricycle driving safety
Should operator have only class `A’ driving permit?
By Motoring Guru
S
omeone recently described bodabo-
das, the two-wheeled motorcycles
common allover Uganda, are a
necessary evil. What they meant is
that almost everyone agrees that chances of
a bodaboda getting involved in a crash are
very high.
Some statistics show that 50% of road
crashes in Uganda involve motorcyclists.
Some of that data can be got from police
annual crime and traffic road safety reports.
About 25% of all people who died in road
accidents are motorcyclists. The percentage
for those injured is higher. But there is a new
menace on the block called “tricycles” or
three-wheeled motorcycles.
In one study of patients admitted after
road traffic crashes, 73% were found to be
due to bodaboda crashes. According to
the World Health Organisation (WHO),
although many people assume that most
motorcycle accidents occur in urban areas,
there is evidence that in comparison to
urban areas, traffic crashes in rural areas
may have a two to three times higher death
rates. Biomechanical studies from Nigeria,
where auto tricycles are common, have
shown that they have limited crashworthi-
ness. Even a crash speed as low as 30km
per hour, the occupants are at risk of severe
injuries. This risk of severe injury to the
occupants is further increased by being an
open vehicle without seat belts and airbags.
Auto tricycles also hit pedestrians and inflict
severe injuries.
Under the Uganda Traffic and Road Safe-
ty Motorcycle Regulations, a “motorcycle”
means a motor vehicle with less than four
wheels, and its unladen weight does not
exceed four hundred kilograms. According
to the law, therefore, an auto-tricycle is a
motorcycle.
Under the same law, anyone operating
a motorcycle must have a driving permit
and their cycle must have a road license.
That means all that the driver of a tricycle
is a Group A driving permit, which is the
lowest level of permit given to motorcycles.
Drivers of everyday one-drive cars need a
Group B permit. This is possibly what a
tricycle rider ought to have. After all, they
occupy the same space on the road and face
the same conditions as drivers of everyday
cars. Unfortunately, many operators of both
motorcycles and auto-tricycles do not have
even a basic driving permit.
Although the Inspectorate of Vehicles, a
police department, is mandated to test all
applicants for motorcycle driving licenses
after they are recommended by driving
schools, there is not a single motorcycle or
auto-tricycle rider training school in Ugan-
Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020
da. Instead, the Uganda Driving Standards
Agency, Uganda Red Cross Society, and
Vivo Energy provided some training as part
of their corporate social responsibility.
Most of them learn by riding motorcycles.
Some switch between riding boda-boda and
riding tricycles – mainly to ferry cargo (beer,
soda, water, retail merchandise and more).
These untrained riders have brought the
unruly bodaboda habits to a vehicle which
functions almost like a car. They speed
excessively, brake without caution or warn-
ing, zigzag in traffic and are a total absolute
nuisance. Some overtake dangerously, jump
traffic lights, ride of pavements and pedes-
trian walkways, ride on wrong side of the
road, carry excess weight, and do not have
appropriate lighting for night driving. This
behavior is dangerous because although
they are bigger than motorcycles, the tricy-
cles also lack the metallic cage protect users
and easily lose control.
There should be better regulation, regis-
tration, and licensing, and enforcement of
road safety laws for tricycles. Studies show
that riders who are unlicensed tend to be
involved in crashes more than those who are
licensed. In 2017 the government introduced
licensing rules for motorcycles, including
tricycles. But the net effect was merely to
enforce registration and collect revenue
from number plate sales.
39
global comment
By Kevin Watkins
Closing the SDG gap
If progress over the next 10 years mirrors that of
the last decade, the 2030 targets will be missed
A
s global business and political
leaders gathered in Davos for
the World Economic Forum’s
annual meeting from Jan-21 to
24, many were asking themselves one
big question: Will the world achieve the
ambitious Sustainable Development Goals
for 2030? Or will the SDGs – with their
targets for eradicating extreme poverty,
ending preventable child deaths, expanding
educational opportunity, and averting
a climate disaster – join the long list of
enthusiastically endorsed global pledges that
go unfulfilled?
Those suffering from early new-decade
SDG blues might take comfort from Harvard
psychologist Steven Pinker. Building on
the core theme of his influential book
`Enlightenment Now’, and citing a familiar
barrage of statistics on human progress,
Pinker has offered an upbeat assessment:
“Progress toward (the SDGs) is continuing,”
he wrote. “It is unlikely to do a sudden
U-turn.”
He is right, up to a point. Since 2000, there
have been extraordinary improvements
in human-development indicators.
Poverty has been decreasing at historically
unprecedented rates: the share of the
world’s population living on less than
$1.90 per day has fallen from 28% to 10%.
The risk of children born in Africa dying
before their fifth birthday has been halved,
saving millions of young lives. Out-of-
school numbers have fallen dramatically,
and gender gaps in school attendance are
shrinking. Over 1.6 billion people have
gained access to clean drinking water. Such
achievements refute the pessimism that
often pervades public debates about aid and
international development.
So far so good. But here’s the catch: if
progress over the next ten years mirrors
that of the last decade, the world will fall
catastrophically short of the 2030 targets.
Consider child survival. On current
trends, there will still be over four million
child deaths worldwide in 2030. The
vast majority of these fatalities could be
prevented through improved nutrition and
basic health-care interventions. But progress
toward eradicating malnutrition, which is
implicated in half of child deaths worldwide,
has been glacial, and millions of children are
living beyond the reach of health systems.
40 Jan. 31 - Feb. 06 2020
Pneumonia, which is now the single biggest
infectious killer of children, claiming a life
every 40 seconds, can be prevented with
vaccination and treated with basic antibiotics
(costing less than $0.50) and oxygen. Yet, the
fatality count is falling far too slowly.
There is a similar yawning gap between
current trends and the 2030 targets for
education. Although governments have
committed to ensuring universal secondary
schooling and improved learning, progress
toward universal primary education has
stalled. In an increasingly knowledge-based
global economy, a combination of restricted
access to education and abysmal learning
outcomes will leave one billion children
lacking the skills they need to flourish, and
that their countries need to drive dynamic
and inclusive growth.
Likewise, for all the success in combating
poverty, past performance is no guide to
future outcomes. The pace of progress has
slowed, and the goal of eliminating extreme
poverty by 2030 is drifting out of reach. That
is largely because of slow growth, inequality,
and demographic trends in Sub-Saharan
Africa, where the number of people living
in poverty is increasing. Research by the
Overseas Development Institute suggests
that more than 300 million African children
will be living below the $1.90-per-day
threshold in 2030 – and these children
will account for more than one-half of the
world’s poor.
The specter of climate change threatens
the SDGs just as surely as it does the
receding snow line around Davos. If the
2015 Paris climate agreement held out the
promise of concerted international action to
limit global warming, last month’s COP25
climate-change conference in Madrid was
a case study in inertia. The emissions gap
between current policies and those needed
to keep global warming below 1.5º Celsius is
widening, and the world’s poorest and most
vulnerable people are bearing the brunt of
the consequences, as the recent droughts in
Zambia and the Horn of Africa illustrate.
This is the decade of no return for the
climate emergency. Failure to price carbon
out of the world’s economies, safeguard
carbon sinks, and – critically – protect the
world’s poor against the effects of global
warming that are now irreversible will first
slow, and then stall and reverse, gains in
poverty reduction, nutrition, and health.
We cannot allow these challenges’
daunting scale to foster passive acceptance
of the inevitability of the SDGs’ failure.
Nor should we tolerate the paralyzing
complacency that now pervades gatherings
like Davos, World Bank-International
Monetary Fund meetings, and United
Nations summits. There is an alternative.
Nothing would do more to bring the SDG
targets within reach than a concerted drive
to narrow the social disparities currently
acting as a brake on progress. To take one
example, closing the gap in national death
rates between children from the richest
and poorest 20% of the world’s population
would save more than two million lives
between now and 2030. That will require
further investment in universal health
coverage, more equitable public spending
and service provision, and greater emphasis
on the diseases that kill the poorest children.
Greater equity is the rocket fuel for
achieving the SDGs. Instead of issuing vague
pronouncements about “leaving no one
behind,” governments should report on how
quickly they are reducing inequalities.
International action has a critical role
to play. From Jan.28 to 31, Save the
Children, UNICEF, and other partners
convened a global forum on pneumonia
aimed at expanding access to life-saving
interventions. Toward the end of this year,
the United Kingdom and Japan will host
global summits on climate and malnutrition,
respectively. And former UK Prime Minister
Gordon Brown, the United Nations Special
Envoy for Global Education, has developed
a proposal for a new international financing
mechanism that could boost education
spending by $10 billion. These initiatives
represent real opportunities.
Galvanising action on the SDGs would
narrow the chasm between the human
condition we can achieve and the world
we tolerate. We need smart politics, new
partnerships, and bold campaigning.
Success is not guaranteed – but failure to
act is not an option.
Kevin Watkins is CEO of Save the Children UK.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2020.
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