News analysis Health Business

ICC comes Eat fish, live Pension assets nearly Tackling economic
of age at 20 longer double in three years growth bottlenecks

Issue No. 531 July 27 - Aug 02, 2018 Ushs 5,000,Kshs 200, RwF 1,500, SDP 8

Saleh’s hand
in Sudhir
BoU fight
revealed
Links with recent
uproar over
Bagyenda, dfcu

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Issue No. 531 July 27 - Aug 02, 2018

News analysis Business Health Arts Motoring

Cover story
Saleh’s hand in Sudhir BoU fight revealed
Links with recent uproar over Bagyenda, dfcu

4 The Week
29 Comments
Museveni calls for lining
up in NRM primaries Tech and healthy activism can
curb fake news: Keep your
personal data to yourself and be
9 The Last Word
cautious when using large social
Our nation’s next disaster: media websites or search engines
How the re-launch of Uganda
Airlines is most likely going to 33 Health
bring our country to tears – unless
Eat fish, live longer:
16 Analysis New study explains the
secrets
After NRM `swept’ LC elections:
Living among villagers divided
by party colours
35 Arts & Culture
23 Business
Astonishing creations at Tadooba
Pension assets nearly doubles in three years: Gallery: Creative and bold
Financial experts concerned with the 70% of students grab rare opportunity
pension funds invested in government securities
at the time country’s debt servicing costs are high

STRATEGY & EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: Andrew M. Mwenda
MANAGING EDITOR: Joseph Were
INVESTIGATIONS EDITOR: Haggai Matsiko
BUSINESS EDITOR: Isaac Khisa
PHOTOGRAPHER: Jimmy Siya
WRITERS:Ronald Musoke, Flavia Nassaka, Ian Katusiime,
Agnes Nantaba, Julius Businge.
DESIGN/LAYOUT: Sarah Ngororano
CARTOONIST: Harriet Jamwa

PUBLISHER: Independent Publications Limited, Plot 82/84, Kanjokya Street, P. O. Box 3304, Kampala, Uganda
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2 July 27 - Aug 02, 2018

 Offline

Former FDC
president and
flag bearer, Kizza
Besigye arrives in
Kanekye village in
Sheema municipality
to campaign for
Sheema Municipality “I want to appeal to district civil
MP aspirant Virginia
Mugyenyi.
servants to ensure that these
traditional birth attendants do not
continue with their work because they
are partially responsible for the high
maternal mortality.” Sarah Opendi, state
minister for health

President Museveni
greets a mango grower
during the launch of
a new agricultural
Programme known
as ‘Kisoboka’ [it is
possible] in Mityana
District on July 22.
Looking on is the State
Minister for Tourism,
Kiwanda Geoffrey “I am German when I win and an
Ssuubi. immigrant when I lose,”Mesut Ozil
quits German national soccer team over
racism and disrespect

The minister of state for

cooperative, Frederick
Ngobi Gume, (2L)
together with Matovu
Vianney Ngoma, (R) Chief
whip National political
commissar FRONASA
inspecting the HIV testing
and cancer team led by
Bukonko Wilbert force “When it became known that I
the chairman Busoga would seek a second term, the
FRONASA Veterans
cooperative. environment became so toxic
that on July 14 I decided to step
down”Ben Misagga, former SC Villa
President on why he resigned

UPDF Cattle government Money Indian

3 officers killed
in Arua over 16266 has distributed to
families in Karamoja Shs523bn Prime Minister
gave to Uganda
theft claims sub-region in loans

July 27 - Aug 02, 2018 3

week
Museveni calls for lining up in NRM primaries
While canvassing for votes
for the National Resistance
Movement (NRM) party candi-
dates in the Kotido municipal-
ity mayoral and parliamentary
race on July22, President Yoweri
Museveni suggested that the
party considers using the lining
up method to vote as a solution
for irregularities complaints.
The party parliamentary
Gunshots at Bugiri rally leave one dead
The newly created Bugiri
municipality goes to the polls
on July27 in which voters are
choosing between JEEMA’s
Asuman Basalirwa, NRM’s
John Francis Oketcho, FDC’s
Eunice Namatende and an
independent candidate Joel
Wamono. This brings to
end a month long campaign
which has been marred with
confrontations between
police and supporters with
the latest being on July 19,
4 July 27 - Aug 02, 2018
candidate is Peter Abraham
Lokii while Ismael Muhammad
Lomuar holds the flag for the
mayor. However, Museveni
made the remark of bringing
back the lining up method
when he learnt that Lokii’s
rival, Jean Mark Aporu who
is now standing as an inde-
pendent is disgruntled that he
has cheated in the primaries
when a person was shot.
The 30 year old Ramadhan
Walyendo a supporter and
body guard of Basalirwa
was shot in the chest as the
police dispersed supporters
at a rally held at Busoga
University grounds.
Speaking shortly after
the incident Basalirwa said
he suspected that the shot
was targeted at him since
he was standing next to
the deceased. This race has
claiming he stuffed the bal-
lots.
But, Museveni’s mooted
method which was recently
employed when voting
for local council leaders is
dreaded by members of the
opposition, rights bodies and
analysts for breeding voter
apathy because of the intimi-
dation involved.
been referred to by many
analysts as a faceoff between
JEEMA and FDC whereas
to others it was testing
strength of Kyaddondo East
legislator Robert Kyagulanyi
Bobiwine who threw his
weight behind Basalirwa and
FDC’s Dr. Kizza Besigye. The
comparisons continued even
on social media although the
two remained silent about
the issue.
Judiciary dispels
promotion of
judge rumor
Solomon Muyita (Pictured),
a communications Officer of
the Judiciary on July23 said
that they had not yet received
any communication regard-
ing the appointment of Justice
Remmy Kasule to the Supreme
Court. Muyita was respond-
ing to media reports that the
judge who is also among the
panel of five who heard the age
limit petitions was given a new
appointment even as he just
have months to retire.
“If the president makes such
an appointment, the judiciary
has to be notified by parliament.
There is also supposed to be
arrangements for office space
and others. We have not yet got
any communication from any-
where and we are treating it as
fake news”, Muyita said.
However, the news of the
promotion coming just a week
before July26 age limit verdict
day sent the public into mur-
murs about what is likely to
come out of the ruling where
petitioners are against the
removal of presidential age lim-
its from the constitution and the
extension of MPs term of office
from five to seven years.
*terms and conditions apply

Kiyingi dropped off Mukulu’s charge sheet
Australia based Ugandan cardiologist
Aggrey Kiyingi has been cleared of ter-
rorism, murder and aggravated robbery
charges after the Director of Public Pros-
ecutions (DPP) amended Ex-Allied Demo-
cratic Forces Rebel Leader Jamilu Mukulu’s
charge sheet and dropped those that have
never been arrested.
Reading out the submissions to court,
Senior Assistant of the DPP John Baptist
Asiimwe said they had withdrawn three
Controversial Excise Duty bill re tabled
The controversial Excise Duty Amend-
ment Bill was re tabled in parliament on
July 19. Finance Minister Matia Kasaija pre-
sented the bill for its first reading less than
three weeks before the previous amend-
ments came into force. The amendments
that were passed by Parliament on May 30
provided for levying a 1% tax on all mobile
accused persons and filed the letters to Jinja
and Mbale Magistrates courts. He also said
they had added two new suspects to the
case making the number of accused persons
38.
The court is currently conducting a pre-
trial session to determine whether the case
in which Mukulu is accused of launching a
rebellion that led to deaths in the Rwenzori
region should go to full trial. The hearings
are to be conducted again on Aug.15.
money transactions and Shs200 daily
on social media usage but with the new
amendments they are seeking to reduce the
tax on mobile money transactions to 0.5%
and only on cash withdrawal transactions.
When the 1% was implemented on July01, it
caused controversy that activists and some
members of parliament took to the streets to
Week
David Emong
Emong takes the
night at USPA gala
The Uganda Sports Press Association
(USPA) held a gala on July20 recognizing
those that excelled in different sports activi-
ties in 2017. The gala also aimed at celebrat-
ing the association’s forty eighth birthday
was graced by the speaker of parliament
Rebecca Kadaga and saw para–athlete
David Emong winning the biggest trophy of
the sports personality of the year.
Emong who won the men’s 1500 T46
World Para Athletics Championship gold
medal at the games in London came out vic-
torious of the other three nominees – Peace
Proscovia of the She-cranes netball team,
Uganda Cranes’ forward Geoffrey Sserun-
kuma and Rugby Cranes 7s’ star Phillip
Wokorach.
About thirty other trophies were given out
in which Geoffrey Sserunkuma and Vanesa
Edith karungi were the year’s best in football
whereas Ronald Rugumayo was the best in
golf. Peace Proscovia won the netball trophy
and the Motocross rider of the year was Isa-
bella Blick. The tennis player of the year was
taken by Duncan Mugabe
protest whereas others including the Kasaija
admitted that they had approved the levy
in error.
Now, the new reforms come after a presi-
dential directive requiring parliament to
review the tax on mobile money and keep
the shs200 daily charge on social media as
amended.
July 27 - Aug 02, 2018 5
Week
Zimbabwe election scheduled for July30 Rukungiri women in
The people of Zimbabwe will
on Monday go to the polls for
last year when the army and his
party ZANU PF kicked out the
poll as none of the top candi-
dates garnered a 50% required
another legal battle
the first time since 1980 without 94 year old over plans to have for one to win in the research
ex -President Robert Mugabe his wife Grace Mugabe succeed carried among 2,400 voting-age Two contestants in the
on the ballot. Mugabe had been him. Mnangagwa is competing Zimbabweans. According the Rukungiri woman Member
president of the country since with 22 others but his biggest poll 40% answered they would of Parliament in the recent
the beginning of the presiden- challenger is Nelson Chamisa vote for Mnangagwa whereas by-election might be headed
tial system in the country. of the opposition Movement for 37% said would vote for for another legal battle after
On the ballot this time will Democratic Change. Chamisa. 20% were undecided the looser petitioned court
be his successor President Results of an opinion poll and yet the 3% said they would citing irregularities including
Emmerson Mnangagwa who released by Afro barometer on for the other 21 candidates. intimidation, voter bribery
came to power in November July20 predicts a run off in the and donations. NRM’s
Winfred Komuhangi Matsiko
was defeated by Forum for
NGOs urge government Democratic Change (FDC)’s
Betty Muzanira.
on Apaa land conflict In her petition last week,
Matsiko said her opponent
Non-governmen- Authority and Ugan- used abusive language
tal organisations da Wildlife Author- during her campaign
under their umbrella ity. As a measure of and had hooligans who
organization, Ugan- settling the conflict, scared away people from
da Land Alliance government some-
showing up to vote. She
(ULA) are calling on time back placed
also alleges that through
government to opt mark stones to form
for dialogue and not
violence and use the
a demarcation for
the two districts, a
Two schools win in her agents, Muzanira was
giving out money and
available laws on move that residents Buganda, Airtel games building materials to people
and asking for votes in
land management of the two districts
and administration and leaders con- Following a two-day display of talent, in the central exchange. Among those
to manage the land tinue to oppose and region of Buganda Kingdom – Masaka – two teams she pointed is Buhweju
conflict that has been interpret as outright were crowned champions of the Buganda region in Member of Parliament
on for years. The ‘land grabbing’. the Airtel Rising Stars soccer games, Airtel said in Francis Mwijukye who gave
land at the centre of Government has a July 22 notice. The two schools are; Rays of Grace contribution of Shs500, 000
dispute is claimed maintained security Junior School, Buikwe and Mpigi Divine Stars. In to building a catholic church
by the Uganda personnel in Apaa to the boys’ games, Rays of Grace Junior School played and in his speech asked the
Wildlife Authority, deal with any likely against Mpigi Mixed School while Pride College congregation to vote for the
Amuru district, and conflict that might School faced Mpigi Divine Stars. The games were key, a symbol of FDC.
Adjumani district. emerge. The ULA presided over by Fred Mukasa Mbidde, the Mem- The two had been in court
The land also draws members also want ber of Parliament of the 3rd East African Legislative after the 2016 election where
in the Acholi people government to with- Assembly. Mbidde applauded Airtel for its efforts in Muzanira was challenging
in Amuru who claim draw security in the advancing football across the country and for involv- Matsiko’s win. A by- election
ancestral/custom- area so that dialogue ing females in the games. Remmie Kisakye, the Airtel was held after another court
ary ownership. The can be embraced to Uganda head of brand and communications said they struggle at the appeals court
other claimants end the conflict. It is are committed to further supporting Ugandan foot- as initially the high court
are Madi leaders, not clear when this ball from the grassroots. Both winning teams received had dismissed Muzanira’s
National Forest will happen trophies, goodies and a cash prize of Shs1mn each. petition a thing she appealed.

6 July 27 - Aug 02, 2018

Humour Did you know?

People who feel guilt

are more trustworthy
A number of studies have looked into
why people do or do not trust each other,
but little research has addressed what,
exactly, makes someone trustworthy. A
Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Maj.Gen. Kahinda Otafiire attacks new study suggests that, when considering
Ugandan leaders on greed and failure to fight poverty among their people who is worthy of our confidence, we may
want to look to those likely to feel guilty.
In the study led by the University of
Chicago Booth School of Business in
Illinois, Emma Levine and team set out to
investigate what makes a person worthy
of others’ trust. After conducting several
experiments, the team identified one key
trait to be a good predictor of whether
or not someone is likely to behave in a
trustworthy manner: guilt-proneness.
Unlike feelings of guilt, which are
likely to emerge after a particular act has
been committed and to lead to reparative
behaviors, guilt-proneness predates any
act that might result in guilt. As the study
authors explain, guilt-prone people will
anticipate that they will have feelings of
guilt as a result of performing a certain
act, which will deter them from doing
it. In short, they are more likely to feel
accountable and therefore to avoid
Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi was detained at Central Police wrongdoing. The team’s findings are
Station for illegal assembly and theft of police handcuffs reported in a paper recently published
in the `Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology’.
Who is trustworthy?
Levine and found that people who
had high guilt-proneness were likely to
return higher amounts of money to others,
compared with participants with low
proneness to guilt.
Also, guilt-proneness was found
to be a better predictor of a person’s
trustworthiness than many other
personality traits, including their
extraversion, openness, agreeableness,
proneness to neuroticism, and
conscientiousness.
“Our findings,” say the study authors,
“extend the substantial literature on
trust by deepening our understanding of
trustworthiness: when deciding in whom
to place trust, trust the guilt-prone.” This
might have important implications for
President Museveni has rejected the Tax Procedures AmendmentAct 2018 and demanded MPs to erase a employers and team leaders when it comes
provision that would have allowed Uganda Revenue Authority to charge interest on tax arrears to them choosing who to work with.

July 27 - Aug 02, 2018 7

President Paul Kagame and visiting President Xi Jinping of China at Kigali
International Airport on July 23. Rwanda First Lady, Jeannette Kagame
and China First Lady Peng Liyuan in background   Courtesy/ photo

Our nation’s next disaster
By Andrew M. Mwenda
How the re-launch of Uganda Airlines is most likely
going to bring our country to tears – unless
T
he decision by Uganda government
to re-establish a state-run airline is a
strategic blunder. More than two de-
cades ago, Uganda took a strategic
decision to get government out of business.
It disbanded state monopolies, privatised
state run enterprises, liquidated others (like
Uganda Airlines) and largely restricted itself
to the role of overseer/regulator of private
enterprise.
Government held onto some enterprises
many of which have been very successful
– The New Vision Printing and Publishing
Corporation, National Water and Sewerage
Corporation, Post Bank, Housing Finance
Bank, National Social Security Fund, Pride
Micro Finance, etc. are prominent examples.
However, these have been successful in
large part because they are very few.
Across most of the world, airlines are
losing money – including our neighbors
Kenya and Rwanda. Why is Uganda
entering a failing industry? Analysts have
argued that the choice of planes Uganda
is buying, the routes it intends to fly and
the liberalisation of passenger and cargo
handling, in-flight catering services, com-
petition from the big boys in the industry,
etc. all limit the business opportunities this
airline can rely on to succeed.
However, these criticisms address tactical
not strategic risks. If government were
totally committed to building a successful
airline, these mistakes would be corrected
with time. The strategic challenge is polit-
ical: the ideology of government bureau-
crats, the behavior of our legislators – both
in government and opposition – and the
attitude of Ugandan elites towards the state.
How?
Given our knowledge of Uganda’s poli-
tics and fully aware of the challenges of
building a business from scratch, the initial
years of this airline are going to be char-
acterised by nepotism, favouritism, fraud,
corruption and gross incompetence. These
weaknesses (in-and-of-themselves) are not
unique to Uganda or even a strategic risk
to the airline. They are part of the process
of growth and learning, which many suc-
cessful businesses have historically faced.
In fact they are an inevitable short-term cost
for a long-term goal.
The issue is the bureaucratic and political
response to them. The award of contracts
and hiring of staff, however honestly and
transparently done, will evoke suspicions
The Last Word
and intense contests among the different
factions of our body politic. The losers in
the contracts-and-jobs-lobby will run to
parliament, the media, the IGG and other
oversight institutions to complain of foul
play. These will kick off the dust, which will
now pollute social and traditional media.
The management of the new airline will be
besieged.
In this politically charged environment,
Uganda’s international creditors will
weigh in. IMF and World Bank will argue
that they knew all along this was going to
happen and threaten to cut aid and other
support. Uganda’s bureaucrats at the Min-
istry of Finance and central bank will spot
their quarry. Being free marketers hostile
to the state doing business, they will make
public statements against the airline. MPs
(including those of NRM) will exploit this
to grandstand by refusing to approve the
budget of the airline.
We must remember that in the initial
years, the airline will have invested heavily
in capital expenditure and have high oper-
ating costs yet business will be low. So the
losses will be very high –up to $50 mil-
lion per year. These losses will have to be
funded from the budget. The strategic chal-
lenge is whether the Ugandan body politic
can accept taxpayers’ money subsidising
a loss making state enterprise accused of
nepotism, corruption, incompetence, and
mismanagement.
In this politically and diplomatically toxic
atmosphere, President Yoweri Museveni,
will withdraw his support from the airline.
Money to the airline will be cut, its ambi-
tious growth strategy like flying more
routes, will be halted. Then the service will
decline and the mechanical condition of the
planes will deteriorate. In short, the political
debate will have created a self fulfilling-
prophesy. After four or five years in opera-
tion and over $400 million or even more
lost, the airline will be closed, the critics
proved right.
Yet it does not have to be like this. Every
young business behaves like an infant. In
the early years it is helpless and fragile.
The parents have to feed it while it pees
everywhere. As it begins to walk, it breaks
things in the house, wrecking havoc. Par-
ents have to spend more than two decades
feeding, clothing, housing, and educating it
while the child brings zero returns and the
parents are unsure whether the investment
Opinion
in upbringing and education will yield
expected results.
Successful nations that midwifed great
businesses went through these challenges.
For example, the government of Japan sub-
sidised Toyota, a private company, for 20
years before it broke even. Three times the
company came to the verge of bankruptcy,
three times the government bailed it out.
Today Toyota is the second largest automo-
bile company in the world. What we see in
Japan is patience and understanding, quali-
ties that Uganda lacks.
Many Ugandans think this deep-seated
suspicion of the state is because of the way
Museveni has managed the country. There
has been a lot of corruption, which has led
people to lose faith in the benevolence of
the state. I used to think this way too. But
that is only partly true, mostly an excuse not
an explanation of the suspicion. Ethnically
diverse societies tend to have deep-seated
suspicions of “the other” – making it hard
to manage public goods. Museveni is not
the president of Kenya, Malawi, Ghana,
Zambia, Nigeria, Congo DR, USA, etc. yet
similar suspicions dominate.
I have learnt from Rwanda that building
a national airline needs a grand national
vision, backed by a political commitment
to succeed against all odds (by taking a
very long term and broad view of the
business) buttressed by a politics where
citizens believe in the state. RwandAir has
faced many challenges. It has made losses
for years. President Paul Kagame has
constantly changed managers and/or man-
agement, all the time trying many things
without letting tactical challenges cloud his
strategic objective.
For Uganda airlines, Museveni will need
to do with it exactly what he has done with
oil: build a highly competent technical team,
insulate it from political – and most espe-
cially democratic – pressures, by making
it accountable directly to him. He will also
need a person of the caliber of Allen Kagina,
someone who can hold her own and fend
off wheeler-dealers that may seek to scav-
enge on the airline. But this airline is small
and cannot attract such political commit-
ment from Museveni as oil did. Hence, the
project may be “dead on arrival” i.e. headed
to failure even before it begins.
amwenda@independent.co.ug
July 27 - Aug 02, 2018 9
cover story

Saleh’s hand in Sudhir

BoU fight revealed
Links with recent uproar
over Bagyenda, dfcu

10 July 27 - Aug 02, 2018


G
By Haggai Matsiko
en. Caleb Akandwanaho
aka Salim Saleh is
urgently seeking to sort
out the Crane Bank,
BoU, and dfcu Bank
saga, The Independent
has learnt.
Sources close to the General
who is the de facto Number Two
in his brother, Yoweri Museveni’s
government, say he most likely is
acting on the President’s instructions.
The Independent has learnt that
Gen. Saleh has this month been closely
looking into the issues surrounding
the closure of Crane Bank and the
on-going court cases it sparked.
Sources tell The Independent that
Saleh has hosted a select group of
officials from the central bank in an
effort to properly understand what the
stakes are in the fight between BoU
and tycoon Sudhir Ruparelia.
President Museveni has for some
time wanted to end the saga over Bank
of Uganda’s takeover of tycoon Sudhir
Ruparelia’s Crane Bank in October
2016 and eventual sale to dfcu Bank
in January 2017 in a deal that sparked
several court cases.
Now it appears, Gen. Saleh is the
man to deliver the President’s wish.
The question is why Museveni is
sending Saleh now?
The Independent understands that
some government officials have been
convincing Museveni that Sudhir
should not be allowed to get away
with his alleged transgressions at
Crane Bank.
These officials feel that BoU has a
good chance to win the cases against
Sudhir. But Sudhir equally feels he can
win the cases.
Stakes are high for the officials at
the central bank. If they lose the case,
they stand to lose over Shs 500 billion,
part of which they pumped into Crane
Bank before selling it to dfcu at Shs
200 billion. The transaction wiped out
the central bank’s capital.
Stakes are high for tycoon Sudhir
too. He could pay BoU the same
amount should he lose. He stands to
lose property too. Having lost the
bank, Sudhir appears keen to keep his
properties and hinges his hope on the
fact that BoU breached an agreement
he had entered with them.
Part of the explanation could also be
that the parliamentary Committee on
Commissions, Statutory Authorities
and State Enterprises (COSASE) is
expected to publish findings of its
investigations into BoU soon.
Although various aspects of the
Governor Tumusiime Mutebile talks to Sudhir at a Crane Bank function before it was liquidated
President Yoweri Museveni
report have either leaked or been
released, intense debate and scrutiny
of the same is expected in parliament.
It could also tie in with two stories
that have recently dominated the news
and appear unconnected.
One story claimed the one of
Uganda’s top banks, dfcu, is in
trouble over liquidity following an
announcement that one of its long-
term shareholders was bailing out. It
was a false alarm.
The other was that the embattled
former BoU Director Supervision,
Justine Bagyenda has been
reappointed to the board of the
Financial Investigations Authority
(FIA) – which, ironically, is
investigating her for alleged breaches
committed at BoU. There is already
uproar over this in parliament.
Amidst all this, sources close to Gen.
Saleh say he is now closely looking
into the issues surrounding the closure
of Crane Bank and the on-going court
cover story
cases it sparked.
Anticipation appears to tie in
with recent strident statements by
BoU officials that they have acted
appropriately; especially in the take-
over and sale of Crane Bank.
In the most recent case, BoU
Governor Tumusiime Mutebile has
spoken publicly—emphasising that
BoU did not have a choice but to take
over Crane Bank because its managers
had mismanaged its capital.
The belief by each side that it
can win could partly explain why
arbitration talks between Sudhir and
BoU agreed in 2017 before Principle
Judge Yorokamu Bamwine have
stalled.
Just this month on July 17, Bamwine
sent the case file back to the head of
the Commercial Court, Justice David
Wangutusi for further action, and
citing failure of both BoU and Sudhir
to make meaningful input.
It is not clear whether Saleh falls
in the camp of those convinced that
Sudhir can be defeated and punished.
But sources tell The Independent
that when Saleh in early July hosted
a select group of officials from the
central bank, he reportedly told
them that although he has read the
documentation about the issues,
he wanted to hear from them what
exactly was at stake.
An officials who attended told
The Independent on conditions of
anonymity, that the venue of the
meeting was at Saleh’s favoured
venue for such critical meetings—
Serene Suites—a boutique hotel
on top of Mutundwe Hill on the
edges of the Kampala city owned by
Esther Ampumuza, a middle-aged
businesswoman, who works closely
with Saleh.
In the past, The Independent has
July 27 - Aug 02, 2018 11
cover story
Tycoon Sudhir Ruparelia with his lawyers at the Commercial Court
reported that Saleh has since late 2014
been occupying the only presidential
suite at Serene Suites that costs
US$1,000 per night.
Saleh also maintains an office at
the hotel and, since he hosts visiting
delegations of the nation’s Who
is-Who, it has led Serene Suites to be
called “the other State House”.
dfcu lawyers fear loss
The Independent understands that
due to the controversy surrounding
aspects of the case, dfcu’s lawyers
have advised the bank that it was
likely to lose the case on former Crane
Bank branches to Sudhir.
While previously BoU and dfcu
appeared in control of the situation,
the wheel started turning against
them.
But at the meeting, the source said,
the officials stuck to BoU’s script—that
Crane Bank shareholders mismanaged
its capital and that the central bank
acted legally when it took it over and
later sold it to dfcu. Even if some
officials might have made some
mistakes, they told Saleh, these did
not absolve the shareholders of Crane
Bank.
Going into the Serene Suites
meeting, a source told The
Independent, some of the officials
already knew some of the details of
the COSASE reports and that might
have led them to be confident to deal
12 July 27 - Aug 02, 2018
with any fallout.
Instead, many were anxious to know
Saleh’s position.
At the meeting, Saleh reportedly
appeared keen to know whether BoU
stood a chance to trounce the tycoon.
Saleh is not one of Sudhir’s
sympathisers, at least from what he
has said about the tycoon in the past.
“I asked Sudhir to lend me
money and he refused,” Saleh has
told those close to him, “he missed
an opportunity to control me the
same way he controls politicians
in this town. He also missed the
opportunity to cultivate an important
relationship.”
Saleh was right. But he is also
pragmatic.
He knows that earlier on March
26, President Museveni directed BoU
to settle the case with Sudhir out of
court.
Back then, Museveni had called a
meeting at State House to crack the
whip on what were seen as feuding
camps. Museveni warned that he was
tired of seeing BoU matters in the
press.
The BoU Governor Tumusiime
Mutebile, his Deputy Governor
Louis Kasekende, the Inspector
General of Government (IGG), Irene
Mulyagonja, and a few members of the
parliamentary Statutory Authorities
and State Enterprises (COSASE)
attended.
At the time, Mulyagonja was
threatening to launch an investigation
into BoU after being petitioned over a
reshuffle, which affected over 50 top
executives including nine executive
directors, 13 directors and 24 assistant
directors, amidst a host of internal
scandals at the bank.
The most affected official in this
reshuffle was the Executive Director
Banking Supervision Justine Bagyenda.
Mutebile had fired her but she
protested and refused to leave. But at
the meeting, Museveni hinted that she
should leave.
“I hear Bagyenda does not want to
go,” Museveni reportedly said with his
characteristic laugh and the message was
not missed. Bagyenda had been packing
her bags – but not exactly leaving the
Bank.
She clung on and has only left the
bank recently, in early July. In fact, The
Independent has learnt, officially she
went on leave pending her retirement.
For Saleh at least, Bagyenda’s
departure is mistimed. She is the most
qualified official to explain to Saleh what
really happened at Crane Bank since
she supervised it for almost as long as it
existed.
Could her reappointment at FIA
suggest she is not totally out?
Who is influencing Saleh?
But Saleh is not without potential
allies on the matter. He can rely on

William Byaruhanga, who is now
the Attorney General and a major
Sudhir foe. He used to be Saleh’s legal
advisor, was handed his current job
by Saleh, and is a major influence on
the government’s views on the Sudhir
case.
Significantly, Byaruhanga was in
the past a lawyer for Sudhir, but they
fell out following a fight over prime
property in Kampala.
Byaruhanga, also happens to be
business partner with BoU’s lawyer,
Timothy Kanyerezi Masembe of top
law firm MMAKs Advocates, and
obviously shares a view that the BoU
case against Sudhir is solid.
At the height of Sudhir’s problems,
insiders said Byaruhanga was working
with BoU officials to prefer criminal
charges against him. President
Museveni blocked this.
This forced BoU to instead slap a
civil suit against the tycoon.
In the July 03, 2016 suit, BoU alleges
that Sudhir and his other company
Meera Investments Limited, on several
occasions and over many years,
fraudulently took money totaling
over Shs300 billion out of Crane
Bank where he was the dominant
shareholder.
It alleges that in 2013, Sudhir
fraudulently shifted ownership of the
48 Crane Bank branch buildings from
Crane Bank to his other company called
Meera Investments. Sudhir allegedly
then proceeded to charge his own bank
very high rent, among others.
BoU also claims that the tycoon
owned and controlled Meera and Crane
Bank 100% even if he deceived BoU, his
customers, and auditors about this.
BoU also alleged that Sudhir
concealed his 100% ownership of Crane
Bank by introducing fake shareholders
including his wife and three adult
children, one Kasiklal Kantaria of
a phantom company called White
sapphire, one Jitendra Sanghani, and
businessman Godfrey Kirumira.
The basis of these allegations was
reportedly a forensic audit by Price
Waterhouse Coopers, commissioned
by the Central Bank.
In his counter suit, Sudhir accused
BoU of breaching a Confidential
Settlement and Release Agreement
(CSRA) agreement of March 20
agreement in which the two parties
had agreed to settle their differences
amicably.
The agreement stated that if Sudhir
gave BoU US$60 million in cash and
properties, BOU would ensure that
he is not sued by any claimant either
in a civil or criminal court. Under the
agreement, BoU undertook to secure
Sudhir from any prosecution and
compensate him for any harm or loss
caused by prosecution.
Sudhir had paid US$8 million to
cover one case in which he allegedly
lent himself money from Crane Bank,
which is not allowed under banking
law. After paying this amount,
according to the agreement, BoU was
supposed to return some properties to
him but did not.
Instead, in a letter dated May 29,
Mutebile informed the government,
through the Attorney General William
Byaruhanga that he had instructed
lawyers to start criminal charges
against Sudhir because he had refused
to comply.
Through Meera Investments Ltd
(MIL), the tycoon also sued dfcu Bank,
seeking to reclaim leasehold titles and
developments for 48 banking halls
taken over by the latter when Crane
Bank was liquidated.
MIL also sued the Commissioner for
Land Registration, accusing them of
conniving with dfcu Bank to transfer
the leases into the latter’s names
without its consent.
Justine Bagyenda David Mpanga
The Independent has seen a lease
agreement showing that the properties
belong to MIL, which valued them at
Shs. 100 billion but dfcu Bank acquired
these documents at Shs 10 billion and
immediately valued them at Shs47
billion much to Sudhir’s chagrin.
The Independent understands that
due to the controversy surrounding
the properties, dfcu’s lawyers have
advised the bank that it was likely to
lose them to Sudhir.
Also, BoU and dfcu have suffered
major setbacks in their court case,
albeit of a technical not substantial
nature.
For instance, Justice David
Wangutusi, kicked off the case the two
key BoU lawyers Timothy Masembe
Kanyerezi of MMAKS Advocates
and David Mpanga of AF Mpanga/
Bowmans on grounds of conflict of
interest.
Sudhir had asked that the two are
cover story
removed from the case because they
represented Crane bank until October
20, 2016, when BOU took over its
management and thus the law firms
shared confidential information with
the central bank, which they were now
using against him.
In response to this charge both
Masembe and Mpanga had argued
that there was no conflict since they
represented Crane bank, which is a
separate entity from Sudhir, who was
now being sued as an individual.
However, the judge pointed out that
the two, in their main pleadings while
acting on behalf of BOU, had accused
Sudhir not only of being the sole
owner of Crane Bank, which is against
the Financial Institutions Act but
also running the bank on his whims,
suggesting that he was running its
day-to-day activities.
“The meaning of this, is that
Crane bank and Sudhir were one
and the same person,” Justice David
Wangutusi noted adding, “ So going
by that it means that there was a
fiduciary relationship between the
applicant (Sudhir) and first (Masembe)
Timothy Masembe William Byaruhanga
and second (Mpanga) respondents.”
Even the third law firm BoU hired
suffered almost a similar fate—almost
bringing the BoU case to a standstill.
As the central bank was still reeling
from these losses, an agreement BoU
had entered with dfcu over the sale of
Crane Bank leaked, raising a storm.
This storm fuelled tensions at BoU
resulting into the February reshuffle
in which Mutebile fired Bagyenda and
shuffled top officials at the bank.
A combination of all these saw
Museveni intervene and put in place
a committee to resolve this chaos. It
is this committee that had quieted the
storm at BoU and bought officials at
the central bank time to re-strategise
against Sudhir. It appears the contest
is about to resume. What is not clear
is whether Saleh will be an arbiter or a
contestant.
July 27 - Aug 02, 2018 13
news analysis

Residents of Bukasa lining up to vote their L.C.1 chairperson.   INDEPENDENT/JIMMY SIYA

After NRM 'swept'

By Flavia Nassaka

O
n the evening of July 10 when
Local Council One elections

were held across the country,
Justine Kasule Lumumba; the
Secretary General of the ruling NRM
party of President Yoweri Museveni
said, they had won. She said preliminary
results put them in the lead.
“We have provisional results from
42 districts. NRM has won 7224 of the
10,789 villages. We have swept even the
so-called opposition strongholds like
Kasese and Kampala,” she said.
Jubilations, parties, and NRM victory
speeches started almost immediately.
Watching from his constituency in
Gulu district, the Tochi County MP Peter
Okot, says it became immediately clear
that holding Local Council One elections
along party lines was a mistake.
Okot who sits on the Local
Government Committee of Parliament,
says his constituency has 91 villages and
his Democratic Party won 17 and the rest
were taken by Independents, the Forum
for Democratic Change (FDC) and NRM.
He says conducting LC One
elections along party lines has divided
communities that are supposed to be one
and solve issues amicably as the village.
LC One elections
Living among villagers
divided by party colours
According to him, the village is the first
unit where justice can be cheaply and
easily dispensed. But the election has
resulted in LCs becoming double edged.
“LC leaders have to be impartial as
they adjudicate on village issues. But
now you will hear stories of people
benefiting from programmes because
they wear Yellow. It will be chaos,” he
says.
The situation is compounded because,
Roland Mugume Kaginda of the
opposition FDC says, the NRM claim of
victory is baseless because they basically
“bought the election”.
Mugume is referring to money NRM
splashed on campaigning and paying for
the requirements of the party candidates
and agents.
According to NRM Deputy Secretary
General Richard Todwong , the party
spent Shs11 billion. That is almost
as much as the Shs15 billion that
the government gave the national
Electoral Commission to conduct
the election. Loyal NRM MPs also
received Shs3 million each - to conduct
mobilization activities in their respective
constituencies.
“This is where they derive the
confidence of throwing around figures
since the commission handed the role
of handling the election to the party
secretariat,” says Mugume, who is the
Rukungiri Municipality MP.

14 July 27 - Aug 02, 2018


NRM’s plan
For him, the rush by the NRM to
announce speaks of the pressure and
uncertainty that the election had put
on the party considering its increasing
unpopularity at the grassroots.
“They hatched plan after plan. They
kept postponing these elections until
they were ready,” he says.
He cites a petition by one James
Tweheyo; a member of the NRM and
employee of State House, that led to
court stopping the election just a day
before the set poll day in November
2017.
Mugume says considering the
importance and the time the country had
taken without validating these leaders,
such excuses as some students were at
school could not have led to extension
but they gave NRM time to organise
itself and get an appropriate strategy.
In the end, Mugume and Okot say, the
system of lining up behind candidates of
choice which was used was wrong. They
say it was a strategy to intimidate voters
and in the process win the ruling party
seats.
According to Mugume, people were
warned to either vote the NRM or face
being locked out of village-level projects
like the popular Operation Wealth
Creation which are directly sponsored by
the government.
“They chose intimidation and cutting out
those who can’t be intimidated,” Mugume
says worrying that this trend may continue
even into how the leaders elected along
party colours operate.
For Mugume and Okot, the ideal would
be for party colors in politics to start from
LC 3 councils. Below these, he says there
should be leadership attained on individual
merit.
He says the NRM also deployed vote
rigging tactics, including ensuring that
the Electoral Commission uses NRM
registers in the village as the voters’
register. Mugume who also seats on the
parliamentary Public Service and Local
Governments, says as a result many
opposition party supporters failed to
vote because their names were not on the
register.
“In Rukungiri, where we had just
concluded a by election, some people
missed on the register yet they had just
voted in another election less than a month
ago. What would explain that?” Mugume
said, “People came with their valid national
IDs but were not allowed to vote”.
His constituency, Rukungiri Municipality
is an opposition stronghold and is the birth
home of opposition leader Col Dr. Kizza
Besigye. There, Mugume says, of the over
800 villages, 250 FDC flag-bearers and nine
FDC-leaning independents won.
EC not sure who won
Mugume’s claims are critical because
the issue of which party won and where
has become contentious and divisive.
When, a week after the LC One election
on July 18, The Independent asked the
Electoral Commission which party had
won the election, the Commission’s
Deputy Spokesperson, Paul Bukenya, said
they did not know for sure.
“We are still receiving data from
villages. We can’t tell yet which party
performed better than the other,”
Bukenya said.
The mandate of announcing this win
is for the electoral commission and
according to Bukenya, at the closure of
elections, 635 villages of the 60800 that
registered to vote did not go to the polls.
At the time of the interview, this
number had reduced to 165 since the
Commission had Okayed villages that
had experienced irregularities to repeat
the exercise the next day.
“I don’t know about NRM figures.
Once we are done with data collection
and all villages have voted we will
be able to do the categorisation and
announce the result,” Bukenya said when
asked about where the NRM was picking
the figures they were announcing.
Despite this, the NRM released a
statement seemingly confirming the
claims of its secretary general. It has been
news analysis
congratulating its members for winning
the majority posts amidst what they
called endless criticism from opposition
leaders that the regime had lost popularity.
Todwong says the NRM is confident
because it had a better structure than that
of the EC.
“While the EC has coordinators up to
the parish level, ours go up to the deepest
village. We had tally centers in these areas;
so getting this data wasn’t a problem,” he
says.
He also dismisses claims that the
NRM bought the election and locked out
opposition supporters. He says instead,
the NRM had a strategy of aggressive
mobilisation that ensured that every
member of the party participated. He
says the mobilisation gobbled up to Shs11
billion.
It was also a huge departure from 2001
when the last LC elections before the
recent ones were held. Back then, there
were no parties and not a penny was spent
on vote mobilisation. The elections were
held under a de facto one party system
also called the Movement System. And
when the LC One election were first
mooted in 2006, after the country switched
to multiparty elections, the Constitutional
Court ruled in petition by then opposition
member of Forum for Democratic Change
(FDC), Rtd Maj Rubaramira Ruranga, that
the law needs to be changed. Rubaramira
had argued that a new election law was
needed because the system had changed.
The law was never amended and
instead, over three cycles of general
elections, the country went without
choosing these grassroots leaders.
When the law was amended in 2016, the
dates would be set and cancelled either
because there was no money to conduct
the polls or because of contestations over
the mode of either using secret ballot or
lining up behind candidates.
Now, it appears that although the
elections ended without the feared
election violence, there is fear that the
divisions they created between members
of the same tiny communities might take
longer to heal – or even worsen.
Todwong says the NRM is aware of
this fear and has designed a solution
already. Todwong says he was also
against voting along party lines at the
village level. But now that it was done,
he says aggressive programmes will be
conducted to sensitise elected leaders
on where party colors should stop
while conducting village business. For
him, village issues are not ideological
in nature to require that those with
divergent views are locked out.
“They handle land disputes, family
problems, and minor village thefts,”
Todwong says, “These have no party
colors.”
July 27 - Aug 02, 2018 15
news analysis
Dominic Ongwen attends a confirmation of charges hearing session at the ICC in The Hague.
Ongwen is facing several counts of charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the ICC
ICC comes of age at 20
But what is its future in Uganda?
By Ronald Musoke
T
he International Criminal
Court’s 20 year anniversary
on July 17 has been a day of
reflection for experts on justice
and victims of injustice.
As the day, which also marks the
World Day for International Justice,
was being marked in the Dutch city
known as The Hague by dignitaries
from 30 states and parliaments,
Victor Ochen; a northern Uganda
war survivor watched with mixed
emotions.
Ochen is a survivor of the Lord’s
Resistance Army (LRA) rebellion that
raged from 1987 to the mid-2000s
when it peaked until its leader was
driven into the jungles of eastern
DR Congo where he remains a lethal
fugitive and looming threat to peace.
Ochen told The Independent on July
24 that until the ICC indicted five LRA
commanders in 2005, many victims of
war in northern Uganda believed they
would never get justice.
“There was evidently lack of
commitment from the government to
protect civilians,” he says.
But the ICC indictment changed
that.
“The arrest warrants issued by
16 July 27 - Aug 02, 2018
the ICC scared both domestic and
overseas supporters of the LRA,”
Ochen says.
He adds that the consequent cut-off
of all support, including the supply
of weapons and the provision of
intelligence services, is among the
most important reasons for the LRA
fleeing northern Uganda for the DR
Congo jungles.
Another watershed was when, after
years of pursuing the indicted LRA
commanders, the ICC got hold of
Dominic Ongwen in 2015 and he was
transferred to The Hague to face trial.
Ongwen was captured by UPDF
forces in the Central African Republic.
But it is his handover to the ICC that
excited Ochen most. He recalls it as
a moment that brought more interest
in the affairs of the ICC and the LRA
conflict.
“It gave the people in northern
Uganda much hope,” Ochen says.
Jackson Odong, the programme
manager conflict, transitional justice
and governance at the Makerere
University-based Refugee Law Project
says the ICC scored even higher when
it placed victims of the northern
Uganda conflict at the centre of
Ongwen’s trial.
In 2017, the ICC partnered with the
Danish Embassy in Uganda to provide
television sets, portable public address
systems, and generators to enable free
public screening of the Ongwen trial.
It also flew several cultural, religious,
and opinion leaders and journalists
to The Hague to witness the trial first
hand and launched outreach radio
programmes called ‘Justice Matters’
which targeted to reach 11 million
people in northern Uganda so that war
victims in the remotest villages are
able to follow the proceeding in The
Hague. The ICC even set up a Victims
Trust Fund, to provide financial relief
for victims.
Odong says the outreach unit was
the ICC’s way of dealing with its
limited and selective approach to
justice. But it was good.
Africans protest
Ongwen, together with Kony,
Raska Lukwiya, Okot Odhiambo,
and Vincent Otti in 2005 became the
first people to be indicted by the ICC.
That was just two years after the ICC
was set up in 2002 and its first judges
appointed in 2003. Uganda became
the first country in the world to refer a
case to the ICC on December 13, 2003.
Ratified by over 120 countries,
the ICC was designed to prosecute

individuals for crimes of genocide,
crimes against humanity, and war
crimes; especially when national
judicial systems fail, are unwilling, or
unable to prosecute the criminals.
The ICC is currently investigating
cases in Burundi, Central African
Republic; Côte d’Ivoire; Darfur,
Sudan, the DR Congo, Georgia,
Kenya, Libya, Mali, and Uganda. It
also has preliminary examinations
in Afghanistan, Colombia, Gabon,
Guinea, Iraq, the United Kingdom,
Nigeria, Palestine, the Philippines,
Comoros, Greece, Cambodia, Ukraine,
and Venezuela.
But the court suffered a backlash
when, in 2009 and 2010, it indicted
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir
and issued summons to appear for
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta
in 2014. African states accused the
court of bias and whipped up anti-
ICC sentiments among the continent’s
leaders.
It was a build-up from 2009,
when the African Union had urged
its member states not to cooperate
with the court regarding al-Bashir’s
warrants, leading to what the AU
called a withdrawal strategy in
2017. So far, the AU threat has not
led to a walk out but it has ensured
constructive engagement.
But some experts, like Allan Ngari; a
senior researcher at the Pretoria-based
Institute of Security Studies, believe
the threat of AU withdrawal is the
greatest challenge the ICC faces.
Ngari says this is because
cooperation is an essential cog in the
Rome Statute wheel of justice, and
without it the ICC cannot deliver on
its mandate.
Odong puts it more directly: “There
are states that feel that they are bigger
than global justice.” For him, that the
ICC cannot go for individuals from
member states that do not subscribe
to the Rome Statute remains a bigger
challenge, even if the UN Security
Council could deal with such cases.
But Dr. Livingstone Sewanyana,
the executive director of the NGO;
Foundation for Human Rights
Initiative, says it should not be
surprising that the ICC has indicted
more leaders from Africa than
elsewhere.
“That is not surprising because
African leaders have been at
the forefront of abusing those
fundamental rights,” Sewanyana who
also doubles as the United Nations
Human Rights Council’s independent
expert on the promotion of democratic
and equitable international order, told
The Independent in an interview.
He says the ICC has been an
important development in dealing
with crimes against humanity because,
before it, the world did not have an
international mechanism to address
this problem. He says the ICC has
achieved a lot in its 20-year lifespan
given that it requires cooperation from
heads of state.
But going forward, Sewanyana,
says the ICC needs to rethink how
to address the global challenge of
impunity. He says a lot of violations
and abuse go unpunished in DR
Congo, Sudan, Uganda and others. He
says a better approach would be for
Ongwen was arrested in the jungles of Central African Republic by the African Union Regional Task Force
the ICC to decentralize its activities
around the world instead of being
cocooned in The Hague. He says the
ICC’s presence would be felt more if it
were decentralized.
The future
Today, peace has returned to
northern Uganda and Ochen heads
an NGO, the Africa Youth Initiative
Network, based in Lira town. It
rehabilitates victims and survivors of
the LRA and Ochen is happy.
But Odong says the Victims Trust
Fund that the ICC set up to cater for
survivors like Ochen should be spread
across all northern Uganda, instead
of being limited only to those areas
under investigation.
For Lina Zedriga Waru, the secretary
of the Uganda National Committee
for the prevention and punishment
of Genocide and Mass Atrocity
(UNCP-GNA) it is the slow pace of
news analysis
the ICC’s justice system that she finds
frustrating. She says, as a result, the
ICC is still not understood by many
of the victims of the northern Uganda
conflict.
“In terms of victim participation
in the ICC, the system remains too
technical and too slow and limited for
the victims,” she told The Independent
on July 23.
Back in The Hague and to the 20
year anniversary celebrations, ICC
Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda stressed
that although the international
criminal justice system is ever
evolving, the ICC is its central pillar.
“A more rule-based global order
where mass atrocities are checked
through the force of the law and the
progress of humanity demand it,” she
said.
Nigerian President Muhammadu
Buhari who was the chief guest
told the guests that ICC’s biggest
achievement has been giving hope for
justice to so many victims.
Buhari urged all states that have
not yet done so to, as a matter of
deliberate state policy, accede to the
Rome Statute of the ICC so that it can
become a universal treaty.”
As part of the commemoration,
representatives of the Assembly, the
Court, the Trust Fund for Victims,
civil society and counsel planted a
tree on the Court’s premises in The
Hague in remembrance of the victims
of the most serious crimes as well as to
symbolize a deep-rooted commitment
to end impunity for such acts.
July 27 - Aug 02, 2018 17
news analysis
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Museveni during the talks at State House Entebbe.
Modi’s visit to Kampala
A tale of a bond sealed with blood
By Ian Katusiime
W
hen India’s Prime Minister
Narendra Modi landed
at Entebbe International
Airport on July 24, very
few Ugandans possibly recalled that
he had been here before – in 2007.
The visit back then was the result
of a tragic event which resulted in a
strong bond of friendship between
Modi and Uganda’s President Yoweri
Museveni.
As Nimisha J. Madhvani, Uganda’s
High Commissioner to United Arab
Emirates, who was formerly posted
to India, tells it, Modi and Museveni
share a more than 10 year-old
relationship. And it is an unfortunate
incident in Uganda that ignited the
relationship between the two leaders.
Nimisha told The Independent
that the relationship of the two men
goes way back to 2007 when riots
over the proposed giveaway of part
18 July 27 - Aug 02, 2018
of the Mabira tropical rain forest to
the Indian-owned sugar producing
company resulted in the death of an
Indian national in Kampala.
President Museveni had proposed
to give away 7100 hectares of Mabira
to Sugar Corporation of Uganda
(SCOUL), which is owned by the
Mehta family that originated from
India. The young man was killed by an
angry mob as he rode on a motorcycle
in Kampala during the riots.
His killing led to tensions between
Ugandans and the Indian community
in the country. Following the strained
relations between the two countries,
Madhavni says Ruhakana Rugunda,
then the Minister of Internal Affairs,
led a delegation to India to extend an
olive branch to the Indian government.
Other members of the delegation
included Fred Beyendeza, then Acting
High Commissioner to India, his
deputy Nimisha Madhvani, Singh
Katongole NRM Deputy Treasurer,
then Tororo municipality MP Sanjay
Tanna, Sanji Patel deputy head of
the Indian association in Uganda,
and Mukesh Tahkrar the MD of the
company the slain Indian national
worked for.
Madhvani says Rugunda’s
delegation conveyed President
Museveni’s apology to the Indian
government, who included the
Minister of Foreign Affairs. The
delegation also assured the Indian
government then led by Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh, that the
days of Idi Amin would not return to
Uganda.
During the reign of Amin in
Uganda, tens of thousands of Indians
were expelled from Uganda in 1972
which threw many of them into a
life of destitution although some of
them, including the Madhivani family,
prospered.
The Rugunda-delegation followed
up with a visit to the state of the

Modi being entertained by a traditional dance troupe at State House Entebbe on July 24.
deceased Indian national, Gujarat,
and were received by its then chief
minister, Narendra Modi. The
Ugandan delegation expressed their
condolences and handed $10,000 to the
bereaved family.
As a sign of improving relations
between Uganda and India, Museveni
invited Modi to Uganda and the
chief minister honoured the invite in
November 2007.
So, when Modi landed at Entebbe
this time on July 24, it was literally the
second coming.
Modi emerged from his plane
at Entebbe International Airport at
2:20pm and was received by Sam
Kutesa, Minister of Foreign Affairs.
He held talks with President
Yoweri Museveni at State House
Entebbe, addressed Parliament and
met the Indian community at Kololo
Independence Grounds during his
two-day state visit to Uganda from
July 24-25.
Museveni described Modi as “an
old friend” and thanked him for
the cooperation between the two
countries. In a joint statement at State
House, Museveni said he and Modi
discussed mainly trade, tourism, and
investment because the three enhance
mutual prosperity. Museveni told the
congregation that the trade imbalance
between Uganda and India was
reducing.
On tourism, the President revealed
that Uganda Airlines is being revived
and said the national carrier would fly
directly to Bombay, a city in India, due
to the many people he knows there.
He said the many tourists flocking to
Uganda would fill the country with
dollars.
On investment, Museveni said India
has pledged to invest in Uganda’s
healthcare system since Ugandans go
to “India a lot for medical treatment.”
Modi said the healthcare investment
would be in form of a modern cancer
therapy machine. “The machine will
not only benefit Uganda but other East
African countries.”
The two countries also signed a
defence pact which will see Uganda
Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) get
training from India’s Ministry of
Defence.
Modi also travelled with a
60-member delegation of the
Confederation of Indian Industry
(CII). These signed bilateral
agreements with the Ugandan
government in the areas of trade,
tourism and investment.
The CII is a body whose primary
news analysis
goal is to develop industry in India
and abroad for the growth and
development of the Indian nation.
Modi extended credit worth
$200million to boost investments in
several sectors of Uganda’s economy,
including energy, infrastructure, agro
processing.
India is a key trading partner of
Uganda and the value of exports
to India in the last five years has
grown from $15million to $43million,
according to statistics from Bank of
Uganda.
On the other hand, the value of
imports from India to Uganda has
ranged from $1.2billion to $600million
in the last five years.
The imports trend indicates a sharp
decline and analysts say Modi visited
the country to open up more markets
for India’s fast growing economy
which has been overtaken by its Asian
rival, China as a trading partner to
Uganda.
The Indian Prime Minister was on a
five-day tour of three African nations;
he visited Rwanda before Uganda and
attended a BRICS summit in South
Africa. BRICS is an acronym for the
five global emerging markets. It was
the first time an Indian prime minister
was visiting Rwanda and Uganda.
July 27 - Aug 02, 2018 19
FEATURE
An agricultural success story
Dairy sector takes off in western Uganda
By Rinus van Klinken
A
s the prospect of
Uganda reaching
middle income status
seems to be receding,
it might be worthwhile for
policy makers to examine
the experiences of the dairy
sector. Dairy has for long
been seen as a static sector,
dominated by pastoralists
and subsistence farmers.
Hardly the commodity that
is a shining example of the
much talked about, but rarely
showcased, commercialisation
of agriculture. Yet, the
sector has in the past few
years been catapulted to the
forefront of the (agricultural)
economy. Two interrelated
developments have
greatly contributed to this
transformation of the dairy
sector; the meteoric rise of
export of dairy products, and
the professionalisation of
production.
For the second year
running, dairy was the third
agricultural export commodity
in 2017. The leading export
crop is coffee, and has been
so for many years, though
any rise in the value of the
crop has been rather modest
considering the fairly strong
government support. Fish as
second agricultural export
commodity is fluctuating,
depending on the catches from
Lake Victoria, but ultimately
is showing a gradual decline.
Dairy is only a recent export.
Initially growing slowly with
exports to neighbouring
countries, it has grown
exponentially in the last three
years.
While exports in 2016 had
reached a credible US$50
million, in 2017 they are
thought to have increased
to some US$120 million. If
current trends and industry
predictions are anything to go
by, they could reach US$200
million in the next three to
five years. With that, Uganda
20 July 27 - Aug 02, 2018
is set to become the largest
dairy exporter in the whole
of Africa, by-passing South
Africa, who now holds that
position.
The dairy export is mainly
driven by the three large
processors, dominating the
sector. Pearl, part of the
Midland Group, has quickly
grown in the four years
since it started operations;
exporting to many countries
(from Nigeria in West Africa
to Japan in the east, with a
sizeable portion going to
Arabian Gulf countries).
Its Lato brand has recently
penetrated the Kenyan market
with its long shelf life milk,
providing strong competition
to Brookside. Amos, owned
by Indian and international
investors, is exporting casein
to the American market,
and has recently added
whey powder and UHT (for
the Kenyan market) to its
products. Brookside, owned
by the Kenyan company of
the same name, has been the
longest in the market, and is
using the privatised factory
of the defunct National Dairy
Corporation. It produces for
the domestic market and
exports only to its mother
company in Kenya. There
are a number of medium-
sized companies that are also
combining production for the
domestic market with exports
to neighbouring countries, of
which the most important are
JESA and Lake Side Dairies
(both of which have also been
expanding or have plans to
do so). It is significant, that
of these processors, it is only
JESA that is fully locally
owned and that the rest are
all foreign investors, and
the product of government
policy to deliberately foster
such investments (including
receiving tax and other
favours).
It is not by co-incidence that
all the exporters are either
based in or near Mbarara,

or are sourcing most of their milk from
there. This has a lot to do with government
investment, the natural conditions as
well as the changing composition of the
farming community. While government
attention for the dairy sector is limited
(certainly compared to other agricultural
commodities, like coffee and tea), the sector
has benefitted from recent investments.
Construction of roads in Kiruhura and
neighbouring districts (the main source
of milk) may have been done for political
reasons, but it has certainly opened up
these areas for milk transporters. This,
coupled with the fact that more than one
third of all milk coolers in the country can
be found in just one district (Kiruhura), has
created the conditions for a huge increase
in milk marketed from the area and was a
major incentive for the dairy processors to
set up shop here in the first place.
The dairy farming system is also very
conducive. With fairly large land holdings
and good grazing conditions (though
seasonal), milk can be produced cheaply
and in large quantities. Dairy farmers
have invested into upgrading their stock,
crossing the Ankole cow with the higher
producing Friesian/Holstein. This has
increased productivity of dairy milking
cows from 3-5 ltr/day to 6-10 ltr/day.
Costs remain fairly limited, making dairy
literally a cash cow for dairy farmers in
Southwest Uganda, enabling them to
produce milk at one of the lowest costs in
the world.
However, the current dairy farming
system is close to reaching its productivity
limit. To increase productivity even
further, farming practices need to
change. The key changes required to
bring productivity to the next level are
conservation of feeds and increasing access
to water. These changes are demanding,
but feasible. Many farmers in Southwest
Kenya are already taking up these
innovations and are transforming their
practice. Growing of maize for making
silage was unheard of just a few years ago,
but is now being practised by an increasing
number of farmers. Many farmers have in
the recent past invested in getting water on
their farm, by digging valley dams, and are
now starting the process of distributing the
water within the farm, in order to reduce
the burden for cows to walk long distances
to drink water.
Increasing milk prices are making
these investments feasible. In Southwest
Uganda, milk prices have always
fluctuated with the seasons. But the
new element of increased competition
for milk that is exported is causing a
gradual structural increase in the price
of milk. The upper limit in these prices
is the world market and Kenyan milk
market developments. But if there are no
drastic changes in either, and for as long
FEATURE
Rinus van Klinken is based in Mbarara as Project Manager for the TIDE dairy
project, implemented by SNV and funded by the Government of The Netherlands
Text box: Transforming dairy practice
Agricultural exports of Uganda ($million) by default to dairy farming as a vocation.
The most exciting are a young group of
Commodity 2011 2017 Increase farmers. With university education behind
1 Coffee 467 555 19% them, they have made the deliberate
choice to make dairy farming a profession.
2 Fish 142 134 -6% Whether a business, vocation or profession,
3 Dairy 17 120 606% they all have in common that they are at
4 Maize 27 88 222% the vanguard of the transformation of
dairy farming in Southwest Uganda. The
5 Tea 72 79 10%
big question is whether they can pull the
6 Beans 27 78 185% sector along with them. If they do, the best
7 Flowers 52 58 11% is yet to come.
8 Cocoa 44 54 22% Farmers often complain about the
price of milk and the cost of investment.
9 Hides and skins 33 53 60%
But farming as business is now a distinct
10 Cotton 86 50 -42% possibility in SW Uganda. Take a farmer,
11 Tobacco 55 46 -16% who owns 60 acres of pastures (including
12 Fruit & Vegs 12 37 216% some matoke) and milks 10 cows that give
him 70 litres per day for sale. At a market
13 Rice 18 27 47%
price ofShs700 per litre (the average over
the past two years), his revenue will be
Shs1.5 million per month. The costs of
as Uganda keeps on exporting its milk, it production in that grazing system are fairly
should be feasible for processors to pay limited, mainly labour and veterinary care,
Shs800 – 1,300 for a litre of milk produced so a net income ofShs750,000 (dairy only)
in Southwest Uganda. per month is feasible.
There is a small, but growing set Now, if the farmer invests Shs30 million
of farmers, that are eyeing these in water and other farm infrastructure and
developments and are transforming the equipment required for growing silage,
face of dairy. For long the dairy sector has he can easily (with improved husbandry)
been dominated by ‘traditional’ farmers, increase production to 150 litres per day.
whose prestige was based on the number At a constant price, this will increase his
of animals. They used this social capital to revenue to Shs3.15 million per month. With
cement their position in politics. production costs only slightly increasing,
Now, a new class of farmers is and accounting for the financing costs of
emerging. They are entering dairy farming the investments, net income will increase
from a different perspective; not aiming to Shs1.3 million per month (or 70%).
for prestige but for profit. They come from The current increase in market prices
diverse backgrounds. A significant number makes this calculation only more attractive.
are recently retired, and rather than relying It demonstrates that with increased
on their investments in town, are taking up production, unit costs decline and create
dairy farming as a business. Others have an attractive return of investment.
made the transition from keeping livestock
July 27 - Aug 02, 2018 21
advertorial
Rwanda Social Security and Revenue bodies
launch joint declaration portal, reduce
employer burden in meeting obligations
RSSB's Director General Jonathan Gatera(left) and RRA's Pascal Bizimana Ruganintwali
at a press conference to announce the PAYE unified platform in Kigali recently.
A
s a Human
Resources Manager
of the Rwanda
Red Cross Society,
Esther Mukamurenzi’s
roles are largely to
support the organization’s
employees deliver on their
responsibilities through
offering a supportive
environment which includes
ensuring benefits and
remunerations are remitted
on time.
A big chunk of her work
time is spent on managing
the payroll, which includes
remitting employee
remunerations, declaring
and ensuring the payment
of the Pay as You Earn
(PAYE) tax and declaring
and remitting social security
contributions to all mandatory
schemes including pension,
22 July 27 - Aug 02, 2018
occupational hazards
insurance, maternity leave and
medical insurance scheme.
All these tax and social
security contributions are
supposed to be declared
and remitted not later than
the 15th day of the month
following the one for which
they are being made.
Coupled with handling
salaries for the over 100 staff
employed by the organization,
Mukamurenzi says that at
least 2-3 weeks of her office
time are taken up by these
very important tasks.
In her office during these
weeks, she is busy entering
data in spreadsheet after
spreadsheet to ensure that
every employee of the
organization has had their
declarations and remittances
made and without any
alterations on how much is
expected to be made.
“It is very time-intensive
and during these days, I
sometimes leave the office
as late as 9pm to ensure
that I maximize on time and
be able to deliver in other
responsibilities expected of
my position other than this.”
But Mukamurenzi is not
alone. According to the
Rwanda Revenue Authority
(RRA) there are over 11, 800
taxpayers or contributors
concerned with PAYE and the
mandatory social insurance
contributions and a big
majority of them continue to
go through hefty procedures
to declare and meet their
employee’s tax and social
security obligations.
To facilitate employer
compliance with the law and
reduce the financial and time
costs incurred by taxpayers
and contributors to social
security, RRA in partnership
with the Rwanda Social
Security Board (RSSB) recently
launched a new online-based
unified declaration for Pay
as You Earn (PAYE), and
contributions to pension,
occupational hazards, medical
and maternity leave benefits
insurance schemes dubbed
“PAYE-Unified”.
With the innovation,
taxpayers will no longer
queue in order to pay PAYE
tax or make social security
contributions.
The new system was
developed from RRA’s
already existing E-tax
platform and according to
officials from RSSB and RRA
who recently had a joint press
briefing with journalists in
Kigali; the digital system
will ensure that employers
effectively remit their
workers’ PAYE and social
security contributions.
Previously, some employers
according to the officials
would only pay RRA taxes
and not remit their workers’
contributions to RSSB, or vice
versa, which was difficult to
control or monitor because
previous systems were largely
manual.
Speaking to journalists,
RSSB Director General
Jonathan Gatera said that
the two institutions decided
to combine declaration
systems in view of the fact
that they serve the same
clientele of taxpayers and
contributors which was only
logical and important that
they combine efforts to make
their (taxpayers) work quick
and simultaneous instead of
the previous back and forth
transactions between the
two Government of Rwanda
bodies.

‘’The new automated system is
envisaged to reduce the workload
of filling out three or four separate
annexures since one single annexure will
henceforth be filled out and uploaded
instantly”.
The RSSB Director General added that
“The online portal will not only allow
RSSB and RRA to contribute to improving
Rwanda’s doing business environment
by lowering costs related to meeting tax
obligations but also influence efficiency in
collecting taxes and compliance with tax
obligations for taxpayer”.
Pascal Bizimana Ruganintwali,
RRA’s Deputy Commissioner General
acknowledges that the former system was
too procedural and involved unnecessary
extra paper work but noted that the new
development comes to make the E-tax
system seamless.
Describing the former system,
the tax body’s official noted that it
made the workload of paying PAYE
and contributing to social security
unnecessarily cumbersome for the
taxpayer.
“The taxpayer would come to RRA to
declare PAYE taxes. After filling required
forms, they would go to the bank to pay
due tax. Later, they would go to RSSB to
declare due contributions, and then go
to the bank to make payments, which
was both time and money consuming,”
Ruganintwali says.
With the new PAYE Unified portal,
possession of a computer connected to the
internet will be all a taxpayer needs.
“With a computer in the comfort of
their office or home, the taxpayer will be
able to log into the RRA website, fill out
RSSB and RRA officials speak to journalists in Kigali recently regarding the new payment portal
PAYE Unified
to contribute
to improving
Rwanda’s
doing business
environment
by lowering
costs related
to meeting tax
obligations
only one form and enter all necessary
data for both PAYE and social security
contributions at once, as well as pay using
already available mobile phone-based
payment solutions to finalise payments,
or make e-payment through a bank
account” Ruganintwali added, stressing
that this would make the previously
burdensome activity seamless increasing
efficiency and the possibility for more
compliance by taxpayers.
Using PAYE Unified
According to Mr. Gatera, for a taxpayer
to use the new system, they are required
to log into RRA’s e-tax system (available
on www.etax.rra.gov.rw) where they will
input all necessary information including
names and National Identification
numbers of their employees.
advertorial
However, he affirmed that there
will be no replacement on the already
existing system, but rather, they will work
concurrently, given that there are RSSB
contributors who are not necessary PAYE
registered.
In the pilot phase of the PAYE Unified,
804 contributors and taxpayers have used
it and filed returns since 2016 and the
results indicate that the platform is easier
and resource saving for the taxpayer to
meet its obligations.
However, this number of current users
of the system represent only about 6.9
per cent of the over 11, 800 taxpayers
or contributors who ought to use it
according to Ruganintwali.
There are about 600,000 employees
contributing Rwf75 billion to the public
pension scheme annually. However, this
number represents less than 10 per cent of
the people in the workforce. The informal
sector, especially small private businesses,
constitutes a large part of those who are
not covered by the various social security
schemes run by RSSB as they do not make
contributions.
The Government of Rwanda has
been making significant efforts towards
using Information and Communication
Technologies such as the internet to
improve on affordability and access to
services to its population.
PAYE Unified adds to the score
of services that are already online
through the Rwandan Government’s
online portals to contribute to reducing
bureaucracy that makes service
delivery in most developing countries
slow and inefficient.
July 27 - Aug 02, 2018 23
rwanda
RwandAir to fly direct to Maputo
Mozambique president’s visit to Rwanda yields cooperation deals
President Kagame and President Nyusi on July 20 hold a press conference at Village Urugwiro in Kigali  Courtesy photo
By Daniel C. Ntwari
E
conomic and politi-
cal relations between
Rwanda and Mo-
zambique are firming
following the signing of mul-
tiple cooperation deals dur-
ing President Filipe Nyusi’s
recent state visit to Kigali.
Among deals agreed is one
to enable the national car-
rier, RwandAir, to start direct
flights to the Mozambique
capital, Maputo.
President Nyusi was on July
20 in Kigali on his first state
visit to Rwanda.
During his visit, up to five
bilateral agreements were
signed, mainly to expedite
doing business and political
relations between the two
countries.
They include agreements on
bilateral political cooperation,
exemption of visa require-
ments for diplomatic and
service passports, bilateral air
services agreement (BASA),
exchange of technology, sci-
ence and technical higher
learning, and Memorandum
between Rwanda Develop-
ment Board and Mozambique
Investment Promotion Agency.
Under the BASA deal,
Rwandans travelling to
24 July 27 - Aug 02, 2018
Mozambique by air will no
longer have to go through a
third country, meaning the
journey from the southern
central African country will
no longer take 16 hours from
Kigali International Airport
and involve many stopovers.
Rwanda’s national carrier
RwandAir will now officially
fly direct to Maputo using
the already existing routes to
which each has direct flights
and code sharing.
This means that the over
4,000 Rwandans living in
Mozambique and business
people traveling travelling to
the country will find it easier,
convenient, and more afford-
able when RwandAir starts
direct flights between Kigali
and Maputo in the near future.
RwandAir flying directly to
Maputo also means more busi-
ness for the carrier and expan-
sion of its existing 26 routes.
The air agreement comes
at a time when Rwanda has
similar agreements with other
southern African nations and
brings the number of African
countries that have accepted to
open their airspace to Rwan-
dAir to 25 out of the 54 coun-
tries on the continent. Rwanda
has over 60 BASA agreements
globally.
President Nyusi said stron-
ger cooperation will support
trade and growth of the two
countries going forward.
“We need triangle relations
so that we can speed up the
growth,” he said, “We have
tea and sugar, but Rwanda has
expertise in innovation which
we want to explore.”
Nyusi was addressing a
joint press conference at Vil-
lage Urugwiro in Kigali. Also
speaking at the press confer-
ence, Kagame said that his
earlier visit to Mozambique
in 2016 was beginning to bear
fruits, adding that he had held
mutually beneficial discussions
on matters of national, regional
and continental interest with
Nyusi.
He said he was hopeful
that the bilateral agreements
signed between the two
nations will benefit their citi-
zens and development initia-
tives.
Rwanda will now open an
embassy in Maputo which
has hitherto been covered by
Rwanda’s High Commission
to Zambia.
President Kagame said the
embassy will help to carry on
with the work of strengthen-
ing our cooperation.
Rwanda also hopes the
strengthening of ties between
the two countries will enable
it to track down fugitives of
the 1994 genocide against
the Tutsi, some of whom
are believed to be hiding
in Mozambique and have
eluded justice for the past 24
years. Rwanda Justice Min-
ister Johnston Busingye said
cooperation in justice was
a key aspect of the Kigali-
Maputo relationship.
Supporting continental
free trade zone
The Mozambican leader
said they would speed up
signing of many protocols
and agreements on the con-
tinental level, including the
African Continental Free
Trade Area (CFTA) agree-
ment.
He said Mozambique has
a lot of potential and busi-
ness opportunities in areas of
energy, tourism, infrastruc-
ture and agriculture that both
countries can tap to boost
growth.
Nyusi travelled to Kigali
with a delegation of private
sector leaders who met and
signed a memorandum of
understanding with local
counterparts during the
Mozambique and Rwanda
Business Forum in Kigali on
July 20.
During his stay, Nyusi also
visited the Kigali Special Eco-
nomic Zone, Kigali Genocide
Memorial site, meeting young
innovators, and was treated
to State banquet hosted in his
honour by President Kagame.
“There is no better way
to continue our liberation
journey, than to combine
our respective strengths and
capabilities and transform the
lives of our people,” he told
reporters.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping
and Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi also visited
Rwanda early this week; Jin-
ping was in the country July
22-23, and Modi followed
from July 23-24.

Abused and dumped
The pain of Rwanda’s underage mothers
By Elias Hakizimana
T
he teenage mothers
number over 17,000.
Most are from the
poorest backgrounds.
Most are abandoned by the
men who got them pregnant.
Many are suffering with trauma
and stress.
Those are some of the
harrowing results of a
nationwide study on teenage
pregnancy released recently in
the Northern Province city of
Musanze.
The study was carried out
in 2017 by Reach Children
Rwanda and Rwanda Religious
Leaders Forum. And the
Rwanda Gender Monitoring
Office (GMO) says the figure
for 2018 could be even higher.
Under Rwanda law, any
person who engages a child
below the age of 18 in sexual
activity commits the crime
of defilement and is liable on
conviction to life imprisonment
with provisions.
Not surprisingly, many civil
society organisations (CSOs),
faith-based organisations, and
government agencies in the
country are angry about the
“17,000 children who gave birth
to other 17,000 children”.
They want concrete action
to be taken to stop the negative
trend which endangers the lives
of both the teen mothers and
their children.
They are angry that while all
the surveyed teen mothers aged
around 16 years old and their
children are currently being
exposed to harsh conditions
of life, the men responsible
for their plight a roaming free
without being held accountable
for their actions, according to
the authors of the report. Of the
17,000 teenage mothers, only
about 800 or 5% receive any
support from the fathers of their
children. About 23% or 3900 of
the teen mothers do not know
the fathers of their children.
This is possibly because,
according to another study
carried out by civil societies and
Human Rights Watch, up to 9%
of all teenage pregnancies in
Rwanda are a result of sexual
violence, including rape.
The researchers interviewed
818 teen mothers under 18
years old from 52 sectors in 10
districts, including Bugesera,
Rwamagana, Kamonyi,
Huye, Nyamasheke, Karongi,
Gicumbi, Nyarugenge,
Kicukiro and Gasabo.
Their report indicates that
64% of the teenage mothers
are enticed by money. This is
mainly because they are from
poor backgrounds.
Another batch are not guided
properly by their careless
parents (13%), and others lack
knowledge on reproductive
health with 9% , while 5% are
from families embroiled in
dispute-riven families.
It was revealed that 88%
of victims do not get support
from the perpetrators and
99% of victims do not get any
legal support in regard to the
unwanted pregnancy.
Some are repeat
victims since 10%
have two children
and 1% has more than
two children. Up to
89% of the surveyed
teen mothers have
one child
Some are repeat victims since
10% have two children and 1%
has more than two children.
Up to 89% of the surveyed teen
mothers have one child.
While speaking at the
launch of the report, Musanze
Vice Mayor in charge of
Social Affairs, Marie Claire
Uwamariya, said her district
recorded about 724 teenage
July 27 - Aug 02, 2018
rwanda
pregnancies last year.
“This means that 724
children gave birth to other
children,” she said, adding that
the local government currently
has 1, 448 children who need
socio-economic integration.
“We are trying to look for
support from partners to
address the issue,” she said and
added that the district had put
in place interventions to reverse
the trend.
Call for action
Paul Jabo, the Executive
Secretary of Northern Province,
castigated irresponsible men
who take advantage of poor
teenage girls and then abandon
them after discovering that they
are pregnant.
He called on religious based
organizations to intervene and
help the community.
He said families need to
embrace their responsibilities
to their children and religious
organisations need to fight vices
like drug abuse among young
generation.
He said it is wrong to engage
children in child labour and
appealed to membersof the
community to report abusers.
Caritas Mukandasira, the
deputy chief gender monitor
in Gender Monitoring Office
(GMO), noted that children
and youth represent over 60%
in the country’s population.
Mukandasira said they need
to inherit better values and life
away from child labour, sexual
abuse, early pregnancies, and
other forms of child abuse.
Bishop John Rucyahana, the
chairman of Rwanda Religious
Leaders Forum (RRLF), said
perpetrators of sexual crimes
against children should be
reported so that they are
prosecuted.
He challenged church leaders
and parents to play big role
in ensuring peaceful families,
educating children and
imparting good moral values
to their children; and also urges
them report perpetrators so that
they are prosecuted.
 “Some of the children are
being affected by trauma and
stress caused by their parents’
conflicts in home,” he said, “I
ask churches to take action and,
together, we work to stop these
disasters.”
25
rwanda
President Kagame (R) and President XI.
Xi Jinping’s historic visit
Deepening bilateral relationships, financing development
By Daniel C. Ntwari
C
hinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to
Rwanda between July 22 and 23 is
being hailed as a boon for business
cooperation, financing deals signed,
and a strong foundation for bilateral and
trade relations between the two countries.
During bilateral talks at the President’s
Office at Urugwiro Village in Kigali, the two
leaders; the host President Paul Kagame
and Xi Jinping, witnessed the signing of
15 bilateral pacts between the two nations,
including, visa exemption for diplomatic
and service passport holders, culture and
scientific operations, as well as Silk Road
Economic Belt cooperation, investment
cooperation and e-commerce.
Others included civil air transport, law
enforcement cooperation and human
resource development, exchange of geology
surveys, expansion of Masaka Hospital in
Kicukiro district, plus concessional loans for
the construction of Huye-Kibeho road and
26 July 27 - Aug 02, 2018
First Lady Jeannette Kagame and First Lady Peng Liyuan.
a loan agreement for the Bugesera Interna-
tional Airport access road (16km) project
that is tipped to cost $54 million.
This is a four-lane 14-kilometre road,
stretching from Sonatube main roundabout
in Kicukiro district, through Nyabarongo
Bridge between Gahanga and Nyamata sec-
tors to Bugesera International Airport.
These road construction projects, once
completed, will make a total of 1,200km
of road built by Chinese in the last 12. The
ongoing first phase of the airport is to cost
$418 million, according to the ministry of
Infrastructure.
Aviation boost
Under the civil air transport agreement,
Rwanda’s national carrier, RwandAir, will
start operating flights to China’s economic
city of Guangzhou. The national carrier is
scheduled to commence flights in Febru-
ary 2019, adding on the airline’s ambitious
expansion bid to over 26 destinations,
including Gatwick International Airport,
London in the UK, and Brussels in Belgium,
which were opened last year.
Historic visit
President Xi, who was accompanied by
China’s First Lady Peng Liyuan’s arrived
in Kigali aboard Air China for the two-day
state visit on July 22.
The visit heralded the beginning of stron-
ger cooperation between the two countries,
and the African continent generally.
They were welcomed by President Paul
Kagame and First Lady Jeannette Kagame
at the Kigali International Airport.
As a result of the visit, China will sup-
port Rwanda’s development efforts financ-
ing projects infrastructure, health, cultural
exchange and capacity building for Rwan-
dans.
Under 2018-2020 culture exchange and
scientific cooperation deal, Rwandans will
benefit from the expansion of Chinese
medicine and medical training opportuni-
ties which are currently being implemented

(L-R) First Lady Jeannette Kagame, First Lady Peng Liyuan, President XI and President Kagame.
at the Masaka Hospital in the outskirts of
Kigali city.
Rwanda is also expected to benefit from a
memorandum of understanding on the Silk
Road economic belt in 21st century Martine
Silk Road initiative, while mineral surveys
will also be conducted by the Chinese in
Kibeho in Nyaruguru district. These will be
an addition to other Chinese investments in
the country, which amount to about $352.6
million in tourism, mining and construction
sectors.
Building partnerships and learning
from China’s experience
Speaking after the signing of the deals,
President Kagame said he appreciates the
contribution of China historically to the
development of Rwanda and Africa in
many areas that are very important to its
citizens.
“We look forward to building more part-
nerships and gaining from China’s experi-
ence and capacity in many fields.
“I look forward to more cooperation and
deepening of our bilateral relationships in
different field of development, working
together not only bilaterally but also on the
global scene and supporting cooperation
between China and Africa. The signing of
bilateral agreements speaks for itself for
what is possible between our two countries
and between China and the continent of
Africa,” he said.
Kagame said that China relates to Africa
as an equal.
“We see ourselves as a people on the road
to prosperity. China’s actions demonstrate
that you see us in the same way. This is a
revolutionary posture in world affairs, and
it is more precious than money,” he said.
He added that the growing relationship
with China was based as much on mutual
respect as on mutual interests as evidenced
by Xi Jinping’s personal commitment to the
continent.
On his part, the Chinese leader said the
bilateral relations will strengthen the two
countries, noting that Kagame has champi-
oned the Africa integration and the devel-
opment of Rwanda.
“It’s a win-win cooperation and other
African leaders and Kagame will gather in
Beijing to discuss further ways of imple-
menting how to yield more fruit in future.
We had an in-depth talk on the Beijing sum-
mit and reached a broad common under-
standing,” Xi said.
China retains the largest amount of
foreign direct investments in Africa with
Rwanda having a good share with 61
investment projects and joint ventures
worth amounting to $419.556 million over
the last 12 years.
Chinese-African trade, projected to dou-
rwanda
ble by 2020, already totals over $200 billion,
more than twice the level of US-African
trade.
In 2014, the US committed to invest-
ing $14 billion in African aid over the next
decade compared to China’s commitment
to invest an additional $175 billion over a
10-year period. Nearly half of China’s total
foreign aid goes to African nations.
Busy week for Kagame
Rwanda also hosted India’s Prime Min-
ister Narendra Modi from July 23-24, who
was expected to donate 200 cows to Rwan-
dan farmers in Bugesera district.
Earlier, that country had hosted President
Filipe Nyusi of Mozambique who also
signed five bilateral agreements which will
speed up the process of doing business and
political relations between the two coun-
tries.
Deals signed between Mozambique and
Rwanda during Nyunsi’s visit centred on
bilateral political cooperation, exemption
of visa requirements for diplomatic and
service passports, bilateral air services
agreement (BASA), exchange of technology,
science and technical high learning, and a
memorandum of understanding between
Rwanda Development Board and Mozam-
bique Investment Promotion Agency.
July 27 - Aug 02, 2018 27
Pension assets nearly
double in three years
Financial expert concerned with 70%
investment in government securities
U
By Julius Businge
ganda’s pension sector is
continuing to grow with the
latest figures indicating that
assets – a major indicator
of growth – have increased
from Shs5.2trillion in 2014 to
Shs10.04trillion in 2017. This represents 93%
growth.
This is lower than Tanzania’s Shs20 tril-
lion and Kenya’s Shs37.8 trillion pension
sectors.
The Uganda Retirement Benefits Regula-
tory Authority (URBRA) report for 2017
released on July 18 at the Imperial Royale
Hotel in Kampala shows that out of the total
assets recorded, the National Social Secu-
rity Fund has about Shs9trillion. The rest is
owned by the other small saving schemes.
The increased assets means employees
are saving more with pension schemes, and
that more money is available for borrowing
through commercial banks to among other
things power the economy and create jobs.
Releasing the report, the Acting Chief
Executive Officer, Martin Nsubuga, said
the compound asset growth rate for the last
four years was 15.46% driven by contribu-
tions, investment earnings from govern-
ment bonds, deposits, and listed equity.
“This was a commendable performance
given the declining interest rate environ-
ment and depressed equity market condi-
tions witnessed in 2017,” Nsubuga said
adding, “At sector level there is no distress.”
The country’s interest rates have fallen
from as a high as 20.3% per annum in
December last year to around 17% at the
moment.
Nsubuga added that amidst the growth,
they remain cautious given that while some
investments saw positive returns, they lost
value on the original capital at the same
time. He said the sector’s return on invest-
ment increased from 11.6% in 2016 to 14%
in 2017. This, however, is lower than the
18.2% return on investment recorded in
2015 and 16% in 2014.
The new report comes at the time the
government is considering amending the
28 July 27 - Aug 02, 2018
Martin Nsubuga
1985 NSSF Act to incorporate issues that
were raised earlier by different players dur-
ing attempts to liberalise the sector.
Andrew Kasirye, the URBRA’s board
chairman, said the sector’s growth reflects
the board’s efforts for building the founda-
tion for effective discharge of the authority’s
functions.
To date, the sector is comprised of two
mandatory, eight umbrella (with 104 par-
ticipating employers) and 53 segregated
schemes.
The authority has so far licensed nine
administrators, seven fund managers, five
custodians, four corporate trustees and 415
individual trustees to ensure segregation
of duties with the goal of mitigating opera-
tional and governance risks.
Kasirye added that professionalism and
strategic approach has built confidence
in the regulator, resulting into a number
of positive attributes – among them is
increased asset growth.
“We are also vigilant in implementing
our supervisory framework. I therefore
reiterate URBRA’s oversight responsibility
over all retirement benefits schemes and
service providers, and I reassure the public
that their savings are under well-managed
schemes,” Kasirye said.
Investment areas
According to the report, government
securities takes the largest share of total
investment by asset class (71.7%) followed
by quoted equities (15.4%), property (5.3%),
fixed deposits (2.6%), unquoted equities
(2.2%), corporate bonds (1.3%) and other
investments (1.4%).
However, some market analysts have
raised concerns on this investment cluster.
Joseph Lutwama, the policy, legal and
regulatory specialist at Financial Sector
Deepening Uganda (FSDU) was concerned
about the 70% of funds being invested in
government securities yet the country’s
debt servicing costs are close to 30% of the
national budget.
He said this would pose a big risk in the
event that government finds it difficult to
meet its debt obligations and that the earn-
ings would also drop in the event that inter-
est rates on bonds decline.
However, Nsubuga said in a bid to avoid
the risk of poor stewardship, they issued
targeted information and guidance to the
various parts of the regulated community,
spanning all areas of the business.
Beyond Uganda
The sector asset to GDP ratio was quoted
at 14% for Uganda, 10% in the case of
Kenya and 11% for Tanzania. Workers cov-
ered were 20% for Kenya compared with
14% and 10% for Uganda and Tanzania,
respectively. The number of mandatory
schemes for Uganda currently stands at two
compared with one in Kenya and seven in
Tanzania. Similarly, occupational schemes
stands at 1,302 in Kenya, 61 in Uganda and
seven in Tanzania.
However, Tanzania has the highest num-
ber of informal sector schemes (05) followed
up with Uganda and Kenya, with two and
one, respectively.
Going ahead, Nusbuga said they envi-
sion a well regulated and performing
retired benefits sector for Uganda through
the current regulatory framework and tech-
nical competence of the regulator and other
sector players.
He said the regulator has also come
up with a training programme aimed at
improving standards of scheme gover-
nance, administration and compliance with
the URBRA Act

Afreximbank’s online platform
connects investors to banks
Failure to submit and update relevant documents
risks making the platform irrelevant
By Isaac Khisa
D
espite the fact that Africa contin-
ues to receive high levels of inter-
est as an investment destination
from investors across the globe,
access to data remains a big challenge to en-
able them make final investment decisions.
As such, a Cairo-based lender, the Afri-
can Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has
unveiled its new customer due diligence
(CDD) platform, called Mansa, which seeks
to provide a single source of primary data
required for prospective investors and
banks to conduct CDD and know your
customer (KYC) checks on counterparties
in Africa.
George Elombi, the bank’s executive vice
president for governance, legal and corpo-
rate services, said the new platform will
make it easier and more cost-effective for
African businesses, large and small, to be on
boarded by financial institutions.
He said the bank hopes to “end the sub-
jective evaluation of customers and elimi-
nate the perceived, and often unfair, risk in
trading with African counterparties.”
He said the entities set to use the platform
are either contributors – African financial
institutions (FIs), corporate or SMEs who
will upload their information to the reposi-
tory using standardised KYC templates, or
users, specifically financial institutions that
provide banking facilities and are looking
for information on a particular company.
“For every client that provides some
information about their company some
degree of validation is done before that
is taken onto the platform,” Elombi said
on the side-lines of the just concluded 25th
Anniversary and Annual General Meeting
held in Abuja, Nigeria on July 11-14.
“Care has been taken, but obviously it’s
not going to be 100% sound proof – there
will be some slippages. But these are the
steps we have taken.”
Maureen Mba, the associate director
compliance at Afreximbank said firms are
currently free to join the platform, and that
it will remain so, for a year.
Thereafter, and the bank is “attracting
enough customers on the platform”, it will
introduce fees based on different categories
of use.
Benedict Oramah, the President and
Chairman of the Afreximbank, said the goal
of Mansa is to facilitate access to informa-
tion necessary for conducting KYC, anti-
money laundering and counter terrorism
valuations thereby reducing compliance
costs with respect to African trade and proj-
ect finance costs.
“Our new Mansa platform is a natural
extension of Afreximbank’s mission to
expand, develop and diversify African
trade. Mansa will enhance African trade
by enabling the efficient on-boarding of
customer’s whilst reducing both operational
workloads and the costs of compliance by
counterparts,” he said.
He said the new digital service is a win-
win for all participants, contributors, sub-
scribers, national and international partners
advocating for good governance.
Louis Kasekende Benedict Oramah
Commenting on the new development,
Louis Kasekende, the deputy governor,
Bank of Uganda, told The Independent in an
interview that the new platform will ensure
that banks do not deal with sanctioned
entity.
“If one is able to check who he or she
is dealing with online, then, one is able to
know the other party that he or she is deal-
ing with and that is how it is going to help
Small and Medium Enterprises in accessing
finances,” he said.
He said the platform will also help finan-
cial institutions ensure that they do not deal
with UN or US sanctioned parties.
Challenges that lies ahead
A section of banks and exporters, though
Business
welcomed the initiative, cautioned that its
success would depend on industry support
and the accuracy and validity of the infor-
mation it provides.
“I think Mansa has the potential to help
fill the information gap that many consider
to be at the heart of the wider trade finance
gap,” Duarte Pedreira, the head of trade
finance at Crown Agents Bank, told Global
Trade Review.
However, he added, “the devil is always
in the detail”. For one, platforms only work
as much as the involved parties allow them
to. “So, if banks and corporates do submit
and update their relevant KYC/CDD docu-
ments in Mansa, then the platform will be
as relevant as it can be,” Pedreira said.
But if they don’t, the platform risks
becoming “yet another empty channel that
never materialised its potential”.
The platform is named after Mansa
Musa, the powerful ruler of the West Afri-
can Malian Empire in the 1300s who was
responsible for placing Africa on the map
and opening up trade across Africa by
establishing Timbuktu as his commercial
hub.
Trade volumes
Meanwhile, Afreximbank released its
2018 Africa trade report that showed that
trade deficit narrowed to $96.9 billion last
year compared with $132.5 billion in the
previous year.
Exports increased to $405.3 billion in
2017 from $344 billion a year earlier, while
imports advanced to $502.3 billion from
$476.6 billion.
The report also notes that whereas
Africa’s trade with the rest of the world
expanded 11% to $907.6 billion last year,
the portion of trade within the continent
declined to 14 % of the total.
South Africa, Namibia and Nigeria
accounted for more than 35 % of intra-Afri-
ca trade last year.
South Africa contributed a quarter of the
region’s domestic commerce in 2017, mostly
in oil imports from Nigeria and Angola.
The report, however, notes that if African
Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA) is
implemented on time, the intra-Africa trade
could increase by at least 50% in the next
four years.
July 27 - Aug 02, 2018 29
Business
Tackling economic
growth bottlenecks
National Planning Authority boss outlines weaknesses
in Uganda’s development agenda, shares solutions
By Julius Businge
K
isamba Mugerwa, the chairperson
of National Planning Authority
(NPA), is a well-known speaker on
matters Uganda’s journey to the
middle income status.
It was the same on July 18 as he delivered
a keynote address to 380 accountants who
had gathered at Imperial Resort Beach
Hotel in Entebbe to take part at the two-
day 6th CPA economic forum that was
organised by the Institute of Certified
Public Accountants of Uganda (ICPA-U).
His talking point centered on the
‘prospects and challenges of achieving
Uganda’s growth and development agenda
in the medium term,’ linking his views to
Vision 2020 where the government target
to achieve the lower middle income status
with a per capita income of US$1,039 and
Vision 2040 where it targets to achieve
upper middle income status with a per
capita income of US$9,500.
However, this target is way above the
current per capita income of approximately
US$760.
Economic challenges
Mugerwa admitted that the country’s
growth momentum has slowed over the
first two years of the NDPII that started
in FY2015/16 averaging only 4.4% growth
compared to the required NDPII period
average growth of above 6.4%.
He said there is still slow growth in
a number of areas including; domestic
revenue mobilisation, exports and private
sector credit as a percentage of GDP, which
stood at 14%, 12% and 8% in FY2017/18,
as opposed to the target of 15.8%, 14% and
15% respectively.
“The low economic growth performance
for the last two years of NDPII
implementation puts the country at the
risk of not being able to achieve the NDP II
targets by 2020,” Mugerwa said.
Mugerwa said ineffective financing
of development priorities remains a big
bottleneck, which manifests in various
ways such as misalignment between the
intent of the budget and the actual budget
allocations and poor budget discipline,
30 July 27 - Aug 02, 2018
Kisamba Mugerwa CPA Fredrick Kibbedi
leading to frequent supplementary
expenditures, off budget financing, public
borrowing and high interest payments
crowding out budget allocations to key
sectors that are key in driving growth
and improving competitiveness of the
economy.
He said delays to realise oil and gas
revenues, high population growth and
increasing dependence burden are the
other challenges hindering progress.
New strategy
Mugerwa said NPA is engaging other
government agencies on the need for a new
strategy that focuses on design of holistic
programmes that cut across all government
jurisdictions in order to fast-track the
implementation of priority programmes
and projects.
“The other is maintaining sound
macroeconomic environment – single
digit inflation, stable exchange rate regime
and low interest rates,” he said, adding
that prioritising industrialisation to build
on existing resources including power
generation, iron ore and agriculture could
stimulate faster economic growth.
Mugerwa added that there is a need
to strengthen the linkage and synergies
between planning, budgeting and resource
allocation of the development budget in
addition to enhancing domestic revenue
mobilisation to finance the plans.
Once that is done well, attaining middle
income status which has three major
dimensions –growth and incomes, social
transformation and economic vulnerability
– would be a walkover, he said.
Experts are in agreement with Mugerwa
saying for country to achieve the two
visions of growth, it requires GDP growth
rate averaging to 6.4% over the five years
of NDPII implementation while keeping
population growth rate at not more than
3%.
Mugerwa said the focus of the Uganda
Vision 2040 and the NDPs has been
on strengthening the fundamentals –
infrastructure, human capital development,
physical and human resources such as
agriculture, tourism, minerals, oil and gas
and more.
He said some of the high profile
projects such as Bujagali hydro-power
dam (250MW), Entebbe Express Highway
(37KM) and the new Nile Bridge at Jinja
are on course and destined to support the
economy to grow further.
Going forward
CPA Fredrick Kibbedi, the president of
ICPA-U said the accountants in Uganda
applaud government for the achievements
recorded so far in terms of socio-economic
transformation.
He, however, said more effort need to be
focused on the development of a long term
plan for infrastructure development by
building local capacity.
He called for the revision of procurement
laws to remove delays in handling
projects, more recapitalisation of Uganda
Development Bank, revival of Uganda
Airlines, revival of cooperative societies and
supporting information communication
innovations.
In separate interviews, the Private
Sector Foundation Uganda Executive
Director, Gideon Badagawa and the Senior
Economics Lecturer at Makerere University
Business School (MUBS), Isaac Nkote
shared similar views.
They said government needs to show
commitment in fighting corruption, dealing
with low absorption of funds for different
projects and programmes, cutting its
domestic lending and above all, increasing
domestic revenue mobilisation.
 Executive Style
Free trade pact to boost
intra-African trade
What progress have you reg-
istered in the implementation
W
of AfCFTA?
e are making good
progress. In March
this year in Kigali,
Rwanda, we had
44 signatories and at the mo-
ment we have 49 signatories
including South Africa. We are
confident that before the end
of the year, the rest of the six
remaining countries will have
signed.
Which countries are these that
are yet to sign?
We have Nigeria, Benin and
Guinea Bissau in West Africa,
Eritrea in East Africa, and with
the peace process underway, I
think they are in a good posi-
tion to sign. In Southern Africa,
we have Botswana and Zam-
bia. We have been talking to all
these countries and they have
given us assurance that they are
going to sign soon.
What stage follows upon sign-
ing this agreement?
The next stage is ratification.
We need at least 22 ratifica-
tions for AfCFTA to come into
force. We have six deposits of
instruments of ratifications and
remaining with sixteen. We
expect the 16 ratifications to be
generated by the end of Decem-
ber and eventually coming into
force of the agreement on Janu-
ary 31, 2019.
What preparation are you
making ahead of the coming
into force of the agreement?
We are working on the
structure of the permanent
secretariat. We are also encour-
aging member states to make
tariff offers so that we begin
negotiation on the removal of
90% of the tariffs. Once that is
done, the market will become
operational. We are also going
to come up with a mechanism
of monitoring non-tariff bar-
riers like corruption. This is
in addition to working with a
Pan African Quality Institute to
come up with ‘Made in Africa’
brand so that those who qualify
can label their products ‘Made
in Africa’.
But why should we care about
AfCFTA?
AfCFTA is important in
that manufacturers in Uganda
should not look at a market of
a population of only 40million.
They should look at a market
as 1.2billion Africans. The chal-
lenge for them now is how to
increase supply and open up
market in other parts of Africa.
AfCFTA therefore provides
huge opportunities for busi-
nesses to grow either on their
own or through joint ventures
with other countries.
What is your assessment of the
level of trade on the continent?
Africa has the lowest level
of intra-regional trade, at just
18%. We intend to increase
this by at least 52% by 2022.
The greatest opportunity is in
manufacturing because 42%
of intra-African trade is in the
manufactured goods. When
we liberalise, there will be an
Albert
Muchanga is the
commissioner
for trade and
industry at the
African Union.
He spoke to The
Independent’s
Isaac Khisa on
the progress made
with the planned
African Continental
Free Trade Area
on the sidelines
of Afreximbank’s
25th Anniversary
and Annual
General Meeting
recently held in
Abuja, Nigeria.
incentive for value addition and
so manufacturers in Uganda
should prepare themselves to
come up with new manufactur-
ing products to sell in larger
markets.
The private sector claims they
haven’t been involved in this
exercise yet are supposed to be
part of implementation?
They are involved. We invit-
ed the private sector to the Afri-
can Business Forum in Rwanda
and a number of them includ-
ing private sector players in
Uganda participated. This was
during the signing of AfCFTA
agreements. It is actually the
private sector that wanted the
whole exercise to be institution-
alised and we are going to have
another private sector forum
next year. The summit has also
approved that each country
should have a national commit-
tee on the AfCFTA so that they
are aware of the operation.
Mistrust remains a big issue in
matters regarding cooperation
among countries. How do you
plan to handle this?
We have a dispute resolution
July 27 - Aug 02, 2018
mechanism. If one country
feels like it is being unfairly
treated by a fellow African
country, first of all, they will
discuss among themselves. If
they fail to agree, they go to
the next stage involving the
third party.
Is there a clause for exit?
There should be no need
for any country to consider
exiting AfCFTA because
of the advantages of free
trade area. The industries
in Uganda, for instance,
should adapt to the grow-
ing competition and look
for mechanisms on how to
thrive beyond the country’s
market.
Don’t you think we are
moving fast in implement-
ing AfCFTA yet we still
have challenges of poor infra-
structure…?
Infrastructure is not a prob-
lem. The problem is market
information, and we are creat-
ing a pan African trade observa-
tory to establish a platform for
real time information market
opportunities including pricing
of those commodities.
What have been some of the
challenges, if any, in imple-
menting this agreement?
Mindset is the biggest chal-
lenge. Most people still don’t
believe that we have created
a large market as most people
still believe in their own nation-
al markets. We have to change
people’s mindset to think big.
People are also not sure if they
can thrive in this wider mar-
ket. The other challenge is the
risk of trader getting paid as
soon as the transaction is con-
cluded. Therefore, challenges
will always be there and will
remain. So far, we have a list of
55 challenges and they are still
increasing.
31
business
csr ict

First winner of City Tyres Pirelli promo drawn New ICT firm opens

A office in Kampala
one Twiine is the partnership with Italian

first of the eight
lucky winners
who will watch
the Formula One finale at
the Yas Marina circuit in
Abu Dhabi come Novem-
ber. Twine was drawn
during the official launch
of the City Tyres Pirelli
promotion held at City
Oil gardens, Kamwokya.
The promotion is spon-
sored by City Tyres in
Some of the officials who attended the event
Investment
US investment group commits US$58m to Uganda
A
tyre maker, Pirelli, to give
Ugandans a rare Formula ndela,
0ne treat. The exercise is the
now in its third year. global
Some of the prizes en-
for the runners in the gineering
first draw included four organisation
new Pirelli tyres, full car
has opened its
service, and dinner for
operations in
two. To enter the draw,
Kampala, seeking to equip the
one has to buy four Pirelli
next generation of technologists
tyres from any City Tyres
and innovators with expertise
outlet.
they need in software develop-
ment.
The office that was opened on
July 19, will house Andela’s 110-
strong world-class developers
and staff in a work space aimed

O
verseas Private
Investment
Corporation (OPIC),
the US government’s
development finance
institution, has committed
US $58m to Uganda to invest
in motorcycles and taxi
business, tourism, agriculture,
hydropower plant and in
technologies that provide
access to information through
csr
telecommunications.
Ray Washburne, President
and CEO of OPIC, said the
money will be provided in
terms of loans to various
businesses to promote
investment in the country.
This comes a few days after
the US government doubled
the investment portfolio of
OPIC from $30bn to $60bn,
Ray Washburne Washburne said.
Aviation
at fostering collaboration of tech-
nology leaders across Africa.
Jackie Ochola, (Pictured)
Andela’s director in Uganda
said they are targeting to equip
over 100,000 software devel-
opers in Uganda, Kenya and
Nigeria. “I am excited to create
opportunities for Ugandans,”
Ochola said. Albert Mucunguzi,
the Board Chair of the Uganda
ICT Association, said Andela’s
work would boost Uganda’s
efforts of achieving growth tar-
gets through information tech-
nology innovations.

UBL, Majestic Brands donate Shs50m

for Kabaka’s anniversary Uganda Airlines orders for six planes

T
18 at Bulange Mengo, he long awaited Ugan-
UBL Marketing da Airlines could soon
Director, Juliana be in the skies once
Kagwa, said the again after Uganda
beer firm has had a National Airlines Company
long standing rela- signed an order for four Bom-
tionship with the bardier CRJ900 aircrafts.
Buganda kingdom The order valued at
and that they were $190million, will see the air-
pleased to be part line operate the CRJ900’s in
regional jet, and we look for-
Kagwa (c) handing over a Shs50 million dummy of an activity that dual-class configuration, with
ward to providing the most
cheque to Mayiga. Looking on is Catherine promotes the pres- 76 seats, including 12 first
Twesigye, the brand manager for Ngule Beer. modern passenger experience
ervation of cultural class seats.

U
in regional aviation to the
heritage. Also, the company signed
ganda nation anniversary people of Uganda and across
Mayiga thanked for two A330-800neo, the new
Breweries slated for July 31, Africa,” said Ephraim Bagen-
UBL for their con- version of the best-selling
Limited 2018. The two firms da, CEO, Uganda National
tribution towards A330 wide body airliner,
and Ma- jointly produce Airlines Company.
the coronation featuring new wings new
jestic Brands – the Ngule, the official Uganda Airlines, which
dinner adding that Rolls-Royce’s latest-genera-
investment arm of beer of Buganda started its operations in 1977
the kingdom had tion Trent 7000 engines, new
the Buganda King- Kingdom. during the Idi Amin admin-
dedicated the whole systems and a new Airspace
dom has announced Handing over the istration, was liquidated in
year to celebrate the cabin interior.
a Shs 50million con- contribution to the 2001, after failing to attract
Kabaka’s 25th coro- “We are delighted to have
tribution towards Kaitikkiro of Buganda, investment from several for-
nation anniversary. ordered the world’s leading
Kabaka’s 25th coro- Peter Mayiga, on July eign carriers.

32 July 27 - Aug 02, 2018

 business

Banks demand quick

reforms in insurance, ICT
By Julius Businge NPL stands at 5.8% according

C
ommercial banks
under their umbrella
organization, Uganda
Bankers Association
(UBA) are demanding reforms
from government in key sectors
of agriculture, information
technology; insurance and
debt repayment to enable them
thrive in tough economic times.
Patrick Mweheire, the
chairperson of UBA and
CSBAG National Coordinator, Julius Mukunda (R) speaking to the media on the the Chief Executive, Stanbic
implications of the newly introduced mobile money tax on July 18. He said Bank, said during the 2nd
the mobile money industry has lost Shs 5bn in the past weeks, with agents Annual Bankers Conference
expected to receive Shs 2.5bn less in commission  INDEPENDENT/JIMMY SIYA in Kampala on July 17 that
banking sector in Uganda is
operating in a challenging
environment of high cost to
income ratios estimated at
60% as of 2017, low coverage
and penetration among
the bankable population,
increasing regulatory
requirements and a population-
hungry for alternatives.
This situation, he said, has
been worsened by several
borrowers with significant loan
exposure due to delayed or
non-payment for their services
from government. Currently,
to Bank of Uganda.
“NPLs can impact interest
rates upwards as pricing for
risk,” he said. “This constrains
lending appetite and private
sector credit which in turn
affects trade and economic
growth, since government is
the largest business driver.”
The other concern is
Agricultural Credit Facility
(ACF) that banks says are yet
to benefit fully from the 50%
guarantee to claim recoveries
due to new and burdensome
approval process for write off
claims.
Mweheire said there is
need for government to link
insurance to agro–finance as
well as pass laws related to
data privacy and protection
to instill customer confidence
in the banking industry.
However, the Bank
of Uganda Governor,
Emmanuel T. Mutebile
simply said banks must
invest in systems that ensure
sound risk management to
among other things protect
customer deposits.

Sheraton Kampala Hotel General Manager, Jean Phillipe Bittencourt (R) and his
staff address the media during the opening of the hotel’s La-Terrasse Lounge on
July 18.   INDEPENDENT/JIMMY SIYA

Weekly share price movement (July 17)

Security July 17 June 25 Movement
BATU 30,000 30000 00
BOBU 145 155 6.5
CENT 1,277 1,429 10.6
DFCU 970 870 11.5
EABL 7,574 8,211 7.8
EBL 1,792 1,870 4.2
JHL 19,451 19,300 0.8
KA 402 437 0.8
KCB 1,755 1,851 00
NIC 17 17 00
NMG 3,456 3,606 4.2
NVL 450 450 00
SBU 32 32 00
UCHM 45 55 18.1
Fresh Diary Marketing Executive, Monica Kulabako (R) hands over yoghurt to UCL 23 21 9.5
a lucky customer, Andrew Bingi Rwakaikara at Shoprite Supermarket on July
UMEME 350 300 16.7
17. The milk firm has been running a promotion to sensitise customers on the
newly branded Fresh Diary Yoghurt.   INDEPENDENT/JIMMY SIYA ALSI -- -- --

July 27 - Aug 02, 2018 33

comment
By Co-Pierre Georg, Christoph Aymanns, Jakob Foerster
Tech, activism can curb fake news
Keep your personal data to yourself and be cautious when
using large social media websites or search engines

T
he term “fake news” has
become ubiquitous over the
past two years. The Cambridge
English dictionary defines it as
“false stories that appear to be news,
spread on the internet or using other
media, usually created to influence
political views or as a joke”.
As part of a global push to curb the
spread of deliberate misinformation,
researchers are trying to understand
what drives people to share fake
news and how its endorsement can
propagate through a social network.
But humans are complex social
animals, and technology misses the
richness of human learning and
interactions.
That’s why we decided to take a
different approach in our research.
We used the latest techniques from
artificial intelligence to study how
support for – or opposition to – a
piece of fake news can spread within
a social network. We believe our
model is more realistic than previous
approaches because individuals in our of fake news in a social network in one adversary determined to spread fake
model learn endogenously from their of two ways. news might first read your Facebook
interactions with the environment and In the first instance, you could model profile and see what you believe,
not just follow prescribed rules. Our what happens when people observe then tailor his disinformation to try
novel approach allowed us to learn a what their neighbours do and then and match your beliefs to increase
number of new things about how fake use this information in a complicated the likelihood that you share the fake
news is spread. calculation to optimally update their news he sent to you.
The main take away from our beliefs about the world. We learnt a few new things about
research is that when it comes to The second approach assumes that how fake news is spread. For example,
preventing the spread of fake news, people follow a simple majority rule: we show that providing feedback
privacy is key. It is important to keep everyone does what most of their about news that’s been shared means
your personal data to yourself and be neighbours do. that it’s easier for people to detect fake
cautious when providing information But both approaches have their news.
to large social media websites or shortcomings. They cannot mimic Our work also suggests that
search engines. what happens when someone’s mind artificially injecting a certain amount
The most recent wave of is changed after several conversations of fake news into a social network can
technological innovations has brought or interactions. train users to better spot fake news.
us the data-centric web 2.0 and with it Our research differed. We modeled Crucially, we can also use models
a number of fundamental challenges humans as agents who develop their like ours to come up with strategies on
to user privacy and the integrity of own strategies on how to update how to curb the spread of fake news.
news shared in social networks. But as their views on a piece of news given There are three things we have
our research shows, there’s reason to their neighbours’ actions. We then learned from this research about what
be optimistic that technology, paired introduced an adversary that tried to everyone can do to stop fake news.
with a healthy dose of individual spread fake news and compared how
activism, might also provide solutions efficient the adversary was when he Fighting fake news
to the scourge of fake news. had knowledge about the strength Because humans learn from their
of other agents’ beliefs compared to neighbours, who learn from their
Modelling human behaviour when he didn’t. neighbours, and so on, everybody who
Existing literature models the spread So in a real world example, an detects and flags fake news can help

34 July 27 - Aug 02, 2018


prevent the spread of fake news on the
network. When we modeled how the
spread of fake news can be prevented,
we found the single best way was to
allow users to provide feedback to
their friends about a piece of news they
shared.
Beyond pointing out fake news,
you can also praise a friend when
they share a well-researched and
balanced piece of quality journalism.
Importantly, this praise can happen
even when you disagree with the
conclusion or political point of view
expressed in the article. Studies in
human psychology and reinforcement
learning show that people adapt their
behaviour in response to negative and
positive feedback – particularly when
this feedback comes from within their
social circle.
The second big lesson was: keep your
data to yourself.
The web 2.0 was built on the premise
that companies offer free services
in exchange for users’ data. Billions
followed the siren’s call, turning
Facebook, Google, Twitter, and
LinkedIn into multi-billion dollar
behemoths. But as these companies
grew, more and more data was
collected. Some estimate that as much
as 90% of all the world’s data has only
been created in the past few years.
Do not give your personal
information away easily or freely.
Whenever possible, use tools that
are fully encrypted and very little
information is collected about you
online. There is a more secure and
more privacy-focused alternative for
most applications, from search engines
to messaging apps.
Social media sites don’t yet have
privacy-focused alternatives. Luckily
the emergence of blockchain has
provided a new technology that could
solve the privacy-profitability paradox.
Instead of having to trust Facebook to
keep your data secure, you can now
put it on a decentralised blockchain
that was designed to operate as a
trustless environment.
Co-Pierre Georg is Senior Lecturer,
African Institute for Financial Markets
and Risk Management and Director, UCT
Financial Innovation Lab, University
of Cape Town, Christoph Aymanns is
Assistant Professor, University of St.
Gallen - School of Finance, University of
St.Gallen, and Jakob Foerster is Doctoral
student, Artificial Intelligence and
Machine Learning, University of Oxford.
comment
By Samuel Murangi
Fort Portal medical varsity
Founded by an orphan, it will now
train both nurses and doctors
M
y dear friends, while com- a graduate medical education insti-
pleting high school in tution in the Toro Kingdom which
Uganda in the late 80s, I encompasses the seven districts of
came across a small book Kabarole, Kyenjojo, Kyegegwa, Bun-
with tattered covers lying on the yangabu, Kamwenge and Ntoroko and
desk in the school library. Fascinated extending to other districts such as
by the title of the book, “Great Men Bundibugo
and Women” I opened the pages and It is one of the goals of the Fort Portal
began to read. Medical University to train a new
One story caught my attention: It generation and grow a new generation
was a story of Florence Nightingale, an of medical practitioners through a rig-
English lady who changed the outlook orous five years of study and clinical
of the nursing profession. Little did I experience at this university and
know that one day I would find myself various other health providing facili-
establishing a tax ties in the commu-
exempt, charitable nity. The goal is to
non- profit organ- educate and mentor
isation, High Hope the most ethical and
International, and As in many competent clinical
helping a young
orphan, Victor developing practitioner, with a
lifelong study habit,
Kalenzi, paying his nations, the and a societal per-
tuition from middle
current statistics
spective to support
school through uni- the health of the
versity. My efforts
have not been in
indicate the people and to meet
society’s expecta-
vain! ratio of nurses tions.
In less than a
month I will be
to patients as It is also our
major goal to help
travelling to Fort 1:1000 the Government of
Portal in Western Uganda and other
Uganda for an governments in
exciting occa- East Africa, in pro-
sion: presiding viding the research
over a graduation and international
ceremony and collaboration cur-
awarding diplomas and certificates rently not available in the nation. This
to over 300 nurses who have success- way, we shall be helping reduce the
fully completed training at what is cost and improving the effectiveness of
now Fort Portal International Nursing healthcare which only the government
school. The institution was founded by and a few individuals can afford.
Victor, and his wife Ester Philomenah, This is a huge task for me as I have
approximately five years ago. been given the honor of serving as
On the same occasion, I have been Chancellor of the newly established
asked to be the guest of honor and to University. It is also a huge endeavor
launch a new institution, a new Med- for the founder, Victor and all those
ical University which is an extension called to serve this New Medical Uni-
of the Nursing School. versity.
As in many developing nations, the My task of promoting and repre-
current statistics indicate the ratio senting the Institution has begun. I
of nurses to patients as 1:1000 and covet your prayers and support.
medical doctors 1: 25725 (WHO).
The healthcare situation is worse in The Very Reverend Samuel Murangi,
rural areas in Uganda which lack well MSW, MDiv. is Chancellor, Fort Portal
equipped medical facilities, as well as Medical University
training institutions.
Until recently, there never existed
July 27 - Aug 02, 2018 35
comment
By Jason Furman
Immigration and economic Success
The choice between paying the economic price of
exclusion and reaping the benefits from openness
O
ne of the central challenges facing
the world’s advanced economies
is slowing growth. Over the
last decade, growth rates in the
advanced economies have averaged 1.2%,
down from an average of 3.1% during the
previous 25 years.
History shows that slower economic
growth can make societies less generous,
less tolerant, and less inclusive. So, it
stands to reason that the past decade
of sluggish growth has contributed to
the surge of a damaging form of popu-
list nationalism that is taking hold in a
growing number of countries.
As in the darker decades of the twen-
tieth century, today’s nationalism takes
the form of heightened opposition to
immigration and – to a lesser degree
– free trade. Making matters worse,
today’s toxic nationalism will exacerbate
the economic slowdown that fueled its
emergence.
Turning this vicious circle into a vir-
tuous one – in which increased openness
drives faster growth – will depend, at
least in part, on making immigration
more compatible with inclusionary forms
of nationalism.
The economic evidence on this issue is
clear: immigration makes a strong con-
tribution to economic growth. Moreover,
immigration is more necessary than ever,
because population aging and lower
birthrates across advanced economies are
producing a retirement boom without a
commensurate cohort of native prime-
age workers to support it.
For example, Japan’s working-age
population has been shrinking since
1995. In the European Union, immi-
grants accounted for 70% of labour-force
growth from 2000 to 2010. And in the
United States, immigration is the pri-
mary reason the workforce will continue
to grow; if the U.S. relied only on native-
born workers, its labour force would
shrink.
Faster growth is beneficial even if
it must support a larger population,
because working immigrants pay
taxes that help support pensioners and
retirees. In general, it is much better to
be a fast-growing country with a vibrant,
expanding population than a country
with a dwindling population, like Japan.
Moreover, in addition to expanding the
36 July 27 - Aug 02, 2018
workforce, immigrants actually boost per
capita GDP by increasing productivity –
that is, the amount that each worker pro-
duces. The reason is that immigrants are
much more likely to be entrepreneurial
and to start new businesses.
In Germany, for example, foreign-
passport holders started 44% of new
businesses in 2015. In France, the OECD
has estimated that immigrants engage in
29% more entrepreneurial activity than
native-born workers do, which is similar
to the average for the OECD as a whole.
And in the U.S., immigrants take out pat-
ents at 2-3 times the rate of native-born
citizens, and their innovations benefit non-
immigrants as well.
There can be little doubt that immigrants
expand the overall pie; but what about their
effect on how that pie is shared? Here the
evidence is less clear. There are certainly
winners and losers. Yet, on balance, the
available evidence suggests that immi-
grants do not reduce wages for native-born
workers. In fact, it is more likely that immi-
grants increase wages overall.
One recent study of France, for example,
found that each 1% increase in immigrants’
share of employment within a given
département raises its native-born workers’
wages by 0.5%. It would seem that in addi-
tion to contributing to the size and produc-
tivity of the workforce, immigrants also
often complement the skills of native-born
workers, helping them earn more.
We need to
establish
a cultural
expectation
that immigrants
will not just
bring diverse
perspectives
My professional focus is on economics, so
I have emphasised the role of growth. But
that clearly is not the only factor behind the
rise of populist nationalism. The fact that
developed countries are changing cultur-
ally also matters, perhaps even more so. In
the US, for example, the foreign-born share
of the population has risen from 5% in 1960
to around 14% today. As Harvard Univer-
sity’s Yascha Mounk notes in his insightful
new book, `The People vs. Democracy’, that
is the highest share since the last major anti-
immigrant backlash in the U.S: the early
twentieth-century “yellow peril.”
The trends are similar, and sometimes
even more dramatic, in other developed
countries. The foreign-born share of the
population in Sweden, for example, has
gone from 4% in 1960 to 19% today, repre-
senting a much larger shift than that in the
U.S.
All countries face a choice when it comes
to immigration. They can pay an economic
price to follow a more exclusionary course,
or they can reap the economic benefits from
greater openness. But while public policies
can help ensure that the benefits of open-
ness are realised, we should not lose sight
of their political and economic limitations.
Looking beyond policy solutions, we
also need to establish a cultural expecta-
tion that immigrants will not just bring
diverse perspectives, but also join their
new country as citizens. That means
speaking the language, honouring
national traditions, and – as I saw first-
hand while discussing these issues at
Les Rencontres Économiques in Aix-
en-Provence, France – cheering for the
national soccer team.
In the U.S., in particular, that is
the vision of immigration and inclu-
sive nationalism that we should be
working toward – including the better
soccer team.
Jason Furman, Professor of the Practice of
Economic Policy at the Harvard Kennedy
School, was Chairman of President Barack
Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2018.
Eat fish, live longer
New study explains the secrets
By Tim Newman question, “Does eating fish impact mor-
A
16-year study, which dove into
the data of almost half a million
men and women, concludes
that a diet rich in fish predicts a
longer life.
Consuming fish has long been recom-
mended as part of a nutritious diet. Rich
in high-quality proteins, vitamins, and
healthful oils, fish is roundly considered
a healthful choice.
Oily fish are rich in omega-3, and, over
recent years, this oil has received a great
deal of attention from medical research-
ers and supplement manufacturers alike.
Evidence is far from overwhelming,
but scientists have already searched for
any associations it might have with low-
er cancer risk, improved cardiovascular
health, and reduced inflammation.
Other studies have tried to find links
between omega-3 and mental health,
aging, and vision. Work is ongoing, but
because findings are often contradictory
or weak, the relationship between a fish-
heavy diet, omega-3 intake, and good
health are still up for debate.
Fishing for details
Recently, a team of researchers set out
to gain more clarity on the important
tality risk, and how does omega-3 fit in?”
The scientists delved into data from
the NIH‐AARP Diet and Health Study,
which is the largest study on health and
diet ever carried out. In all, they followed
240,729 men and 180,580 women for 16
years.
Participants provided information
about their dietary habits, and their
health was monitored. Over the course of
the study, 54,230 men and 30,882 women
died. The results have been published
recently in the Journal of Internal Medi-
cine.
The main finding is that consum-
ing more fish and long-chain omega-3s
reduces total mortality.
And, looking further into these data,
the researchers found that men who ate
the most fish had a 9 percent lower mor-
tality risk than those who ate the least.
When the researchers drilled down
into specific causes of death, they
found that males who ate the most fish,
compared with those who ate the least
fish, had a: 10 percent reduction in
cardiovascular disease mortality, 6
percent reduction in cancer mortality,
20 percent reduction in respiratory dis-
ease mortality, 37 percent reduction in
chronic liver disease mortality.
Comparing the highest and lowest fish
consumers among female participants,
they measured an 8 percent reduction
in overall mortality and a: 10 percent
reduction in cardiovascular disease
mortality and 38 percent reduction in
Alzheimer’s disease mortality.
The scientists switched their analy-
sis to look specifically at the level of
omega-3 intake calculated from the
participants’ food intake surveys. They
discovered that men and women who
consumed the most omega-3 had 15 and
18 percent reductions in cardiovascular
mortality, respectively.
The results are intriguing and add to
the evidence for the health benefits of
omega-3 and fish in general. However,
not all fish was protective.
Avoid the frier
Importantly, these results did not
apply to fried fish. Among men, the
consumption of fried fish had no impact
on mortality risk. Among women, how-
ever, higher consumption of fried fish
increased the risk of cardiovascular mor-
tality, respiratory disease mortality, and
overall mortality.
This is probably for a number of rea-
sons. For instance, frying the fish creates
trans-fatty acids and also increases the
energy density of the end product, both
of which could potentially undo any
good work that omega-3s carry out.
Overall, the authors conclude:
“Consumption of fish and (omega-3s)
was robustly associated with lower mor-
tality from major causes. Our findings
support current guidelines for fish con-
sumption while advice on non-frying
preparation methods is needed.”
The study does have some shortfalls,
though. For example, it was observa-
tional, so it is difficult to tease apart
cause and effect. Also, the participants
— on average — did not consume a
great deal of fish when compared with
those in other studies.
However, the project was large — it is
the largest study to investigate dietary
fish and mortality to date — and the
long follow-up duration was key; simi-
larly, there were a relatively high num-
ber of deaths, making the analysis more
robust.
For these reasons, the results provide
a welcome boost to the evidence in
favor of the protective power of fish-
based foods.
July 27 - Aug 02, 2018 37
health
Treating vitiligo
New approach might works for disfiguring skin disease
I
By John Harris
n many parts of the world there is
great shame and stigma tied to vit-
iligo, an autoimmune disease of the
skin that causes disfiguring white
spots, which can appear anywhere
on the body. In some societies, indi-
viduals with vitiligo, and even their family
members, are shunned and excluded from
arranged marriages. The rejection is so crip-
pling that one person suffering from the
disease even requested an amputation of
his forearm affected by vitiligo because he
could marry with only one arm, but could
not with vitiligo.
I am a physician-scientist and director of
the Vitiligo Clinic and Research Center at
the University of Massachusetts Medical
School and I have witnessed my patients’
suffering and depression. Some are so
ashamed of how they look; they refuse to
leave their homes in daylight, they quit their
jobs, and they lose relationships. Some of
those afflicted with vitiligo have committed
suicide. I began studying vitiligo in 2008
because this devastating condition affects
about one percent of all people – over 75
million worldwide – and patients deserve
better treatments. In a recent report pub-
lished in Science Translational Medicine, we
describe a new therapy that is showing par-
ticular promise in mice with this disease.
Your skin has a memory
Existing treatments such as topical ste-
roids and light therapy, which are used
“off-label” because they have not been
FDA-approved to treat vitiligo, can be effec-
tive for patients. These treatments reverse
the disease by stimulating brown spots
to appear around hair follicles within the
affected white patches of skin. As these
brown spots increase in number and size
they merge until the white patch is replaced
with normal skin color. This takes between
one and two years, depending on the loca-
tion of the body being treated. However, in
most cases the white spots reappear at the
same location, often within just one year
after stopping the treatments. This recur-
rence can be just as devastating as when the
white patches first appeared.
We wanted to find out why these spots
reappear. Our research team suspected that
“memory” forms within the skin when the
white spots first appear, so that the spots
“know” where to return when treatments
are stopped. Working separately, we and
three other laboratories led by Liv Eidsmo,
Mary Jo Turk, and Julien Seneschal searched
38 July 27 - Aug 02, 2018
This African woman suffers from an
autoimmune disease called vitiligo which
causes the loss of skin pigment.
for the source of this memory in the skin.
These three other labs first found cells
in vitiligo skin from mice or humans that
looked a lot like the memory cells that
protect the skin from a second exposure to
a viral infection, suggesting that the body
“thinks” it is fighting a viral infection when
it “misfires” at the patient’s normal cells,
killing the pigment-producing cells in the
skin called melanocytes and causing vitili-
go. These cells are called “resident memory
T cells.” Because immune responses to
a virus act in a similar way to immune
responses that cause autoimmune diseases,
it seemed reasonable that these cells might
also be the source of this remaining disease
memory in the skin.
Disease memory can be erased with
new treatment
We used a technique called skin blister-
ing to isolate skin and skin fluid directly
from the spots of my vitiligo patients and
isolate the disease-causing memory cells
so we could analyze them more closely.
Similar to the other labs, we also found the
virus-like memory cells, and we were able
to also determine that these cells specifically
targeted the melanocytes. We hypothesised
that if we could remove these memory cells
from the skin using a new treatment, then
treatments to repigment the skin would be
long-lasting and possibly permanent.
We then tested our hypothesis on mice
we specifically engineered to develop vit-
iligo. Like humans, mice also have memory
T-cells so we looked for their “Achilles heel”
to see if we could knock them out without
harming other cells. Our team figured
out that the vitiligo-causing memory cells
require a special protein called “IL-15” to
survive. We injected the vitiligo mice with
an antibody that blocks the IL-15 protein
from interacting with the memory cells.
After just a few weeks we discovered that
the treatment wiped out the memory cells
from the mouse skin, allowing the brown
pigment to return in a spotty pattern, just as
we see in patients who respond to therapy.
Importantly, just two weeks of antibody
treatments caused repigmentation that
lasted for months, suggesting this strategy,
unlike existing treatments, might provide
long-term benefit for vitiligo patients.
Human clinical trials may begin next
summer
During our study we also found that
the vitiligo-causing memory T-cells in both
mouse and human skin seem to require
IL-15 more than other types of T cells –
which means they are more sensitive to lev-
els of this protein. This is important because
it means we might be able to selectively
remove the vitiligo-causing cells without
harming other important immune cells too.
In the treated mice, the vitiligo-causing cells
became undetectable, but the other T-cells
responsible for fighting infection remained
unharmed and present, suggesting that
our antibody therapy might be safer for the
immune system than first thought.
Based on these results, we are working
with the National Institutes of Health-fund-
ed Immune Tolerance Network (ITN) to
develop a clinical trial to test this antibody
treatment in human patients. We are hope-
ful that we can begin recruiting patients
next summer.
Although this antibody drug has only
been proven to work in mice with vitiligo,
we are excited to test it in humans because
it could represent a significant advance over
existing treatments. The partnership with
the ITN will allow us not only to test wheth-
er it works for vitiligo patients, but also how
it works. This will help us know when and
in whom to use this new therapy.
John Harris is Associate Professor of
Dermatology, University of Massachusetts
Medical School
 ART | BOOKS | SOCIETY | TRAVEL | CULTURE
H
By Dominic Muwanguzi
ow do you get students of
art to understand an artist’s
work in the real world? For
Dr. Emmanuel Mutungi,
Head of Department Art
and Industrial Design at
Kyambogo University in Kampala, the
answer is clear; make them do a real art-
ist’s work in the real world aka industrial
training. Mutungi sees industrial training as
a perfect gateway for learners to enter the
world of work.
For this season, he has got his students
to stage an exhibition at the Tadooba Gal-
lery in nearby Mukono town under the
general theme of `Rhymes of Astonishing
Creations’.
Unlike previous exhibits where the
students showed technical incompetence
and lacked confidence on canvas, this time
round, the second and third year students
show they can draw and be innovative.
Many applied the right studio skills in pic-
ture construction, tonality, perspective and
depth as captured in their self-portraits, cap-
ture of still life, and imaginative (abstract)
compositions. The young artists clearly
wanted to present paintings that match the
professional standards of other work exhib-
Young talent at
Tadooba Gallery
Creative students grab rare opportunity
ited in the gallery.
Tadooba Gallery Founder/ Director
Weazher Mayanja Richard was impressed
by how the trainees worked together to cre-
ate different expressions of the theme. He
says Mutungi’s approach is a major depar-
ture from the western modernist approach
of art teaching that entirely excludes the
hands-on approach and independent think-
ing. At Tadooba Gallery art is practiced as
it should be; as a practical subject. Students
get skills beyond the classroom space. In
this case they got hands-on knowledge on
studio establishment and management,
studio technology in their field of spe-
cialisation, and art entrepreneurship and
marketing strategies. Those are some of the
most important skills they need for the job
market.
By engaging students in this professional
approach to art production, the gallery
is echoing its objectives to train students
beyond the academic understanding and
appreciation of art. This form of industrial
training prepares the student to excel at
each task they will face outside the school
environs. The exhibiting artists are all from
Kyambogo University and include, Gilbert
Natwijuka, Agnes Ajambo, Nambalirwa
Sharon, Mminge Mark, Takan Raymond,
Emmanuel Adoli, Tonny Bongole , Atu-
hairwe Fred and Kimuli Farahat.
The exhibition opened on July 13 and will run
until August 25 at Tadooba Gallery, Mukono.
July 27 - Aug 02, 2018 39
Chinese village where women marry as many men as they fancy
In the foothills of the Himalayas lies After a coming of age ceremony, Mosuo home. Couples do not live together, and
picture-perfect Lugu Lake, the home of the females can choose their lovers, having as babies are reared exclusively in the female’s
Mosuo people and the gateway to a myste- many or as few as they wish within their family, with brothers and uncles providing
rious land often dubbed ‘The Kingdom of lifetime. During these ‘marriages’, men visit the fatherly role. “In Mosuo culture,” one
Women’, according to the BBC. the woman’s home upon invitation, and woman explained, “relationships are all
One of the most unique cultural tradi- stay the night in a designated ‘flower room’, about mutual affection. When it fades, we
tions is zouhun or ‘walking marriages’. leaving at daybreak to return to their own move on.”

Most expensive France’s Mbappe donates Shs1.9 bn World Cup money

girlfriend in 19-year-old Kylian
Mbappe will donate
very good relationship
with children, he always
the world? money earned from
featuring in the 2018
finds the right words
to encourage them. “I
Yang Yizhen, a young World Cup tournament sometimes even feel that
online influencer, in Russia to a sports he takes more pleasure
livestreamer and free- charity that works with to play with the kids
lance model is being disabled and hospital- than the kids them-
labeled the most expen- ised children, Premiers selves.”
sive girlfriend after de Cordee. Mbappe Mbappe was named
her boyfriend squan- was paid £17,000 per Young Player of the
dered US$10.5 million game (Approx. Shs83 World Cup and became
(Approx. Shs38 billion) million) and pocketed tournament. Speaking to manager, Sebastian Ruf- the first teenager to score
of his family’s fortune £265,000 (Approx.Shs1.3 Le Parisien, Premier de fin said: “Kylian, he’s a in a World Cup final
on her in all kinds of billion) for being part of Cordee charity general great person. “He has a since Pele in 1958.
expensive presents, the team who won the
from designer clothed
and accessories to jew-
elry, cars, and trips to
What a boss, what a worker! Woman MP kicked out hotel
Dubai. Chinese media
reports that to keep
Walter Carr, an employee of Bellhops Movers in Alabama,
U.S. had a scheduled job when when his car broke down. Rather over marriage certificate
up with the constant than call-in to cancel, and with no other way to get there, Carr
expenses, the 29-year- decided to trek the 33km to his client’s house, leaving at mid- A hotel
old reportedly borrow- night to arrive by 8am. With the help of some kind police offi- in Kericho,
ing more friends. cers, he made it to the client, Jenny Lamey’s home, where he did
Kenya,
Zhang Xiaoen, the not even take a break before getting to work. “I just wanted to
recently
son of a successful prove that I was determined, that nothing would stop me from
kicked
businessman from getting there,” he said.
Catherine
Hangzhou, became her Lamey shared Carr’s story on Facebook and started a
Waru-
boyfriend two years ago GoFundMe page to get his car fixed. Her post got the attention
of Bellhops CEO Luke Marklin. And guess what? The boss gave guru, the
and spared no effort Laikipia Woman Kenyan women,
in making sure Yang is the worker his very own car! “I think the car will do him more
good than it’ll do me,” the boss said. Representative, is suing the hotel.
happy. Unfortunately, out of her room Hotels have no
even for a rich boy because she came business with
like him, Yang’s needs
were apparently too
`Smartest’ man in Africa in with a man what a grown up
and they failed to man and woman
much to handle. He James Maina wearing a green suit,
produce their mar- do in their hotel
resorted to gambling to Mwangi turns he must match it with
riage certificate. rooms, they say.
win money. Instead he heads with his “green shoes, green
Sunshine Upper- “Let couples enjoy
accumulated a debt of fashion sense. The shirt, green cap, green
hill Hotel has a what they have
US$26 million (Shs98 man from Nairobi handkerchief, green
clear notice on its to enjoy. What
billion). Unable to pay has about 160 suits, underwear, green
300 caps, and 200 pen, and a green main entrance: “It business does a
back his debts, he was
pairs of shoes. A cover of my phone” in is against our rules receptionist have
eventually arrested
native of Nairobi, Kenya, monochrome style. He said for a man and with what a man
and jailed. His high-
Mwangi describes himself as when he first came to Nairo- woman outside and a woman are
maintenance girlfriend
the most stylish and smart- bi, he had one shirt and peo- wedlock to sleep up to in their hotel
started posting photos
of herself with other est man in Africa because of ple laughed at him because of in one room”. room?” The hotel
men on Facebook and is his unique dress style. In an his poor background. So he Never mind that requires couples
collaborating with pros- interview with BBC Africa, he asked God to bless him with the MP was with to produce a mar-
ecutors to build the case said he has a matching outfit something different from her husband, Wil- riage certificate
against him. for every occasion. If he’s other people – his style. liam Kigen. The before they can be
MP, and other to accommodated.

40 July 27 - Aug 02, 2018

Why do modern cars look alike?

D
o modern
cars look
irritating-
ly alike?
Of course
they do.
Just take a look at your
Range Rover Evogue and
your neighbour’s Ford
Edge or the Toyota Prius
and the Honda Insight.
It is a real tussle telling
who did the design first.
And the fight sometimes
gets ugly. The Germany
government, for example
once banned the sale of
the Shuanghuan s-CEO
– because it was so alike
the BMW X5.

The BMW looks like

a Subaru which looks
like a Toyota Altezza.

So why do the car manufacturers

not save us the hustle of telling the
Toyota Rav4 from the Ford Kuga
or the Mercedes Benz CLS and the
Volkswagen CC or the Hyundai
i20 and Vauxhall Corsa? Why,
according to one blogger, do these
cars all have slit-like windows and
massive front ends?
Apparently, it is for two reasons;
aerodynamics and safety. One
saves fuel and the other saves lives.
The Mercedes Also, while car buyers accuse car
looks like designers of laziness, the designers
Honda. counter that the buyers are resistant
Check out to change. Give them anything too
this Honda unusual and they reject it.
E-Class

So the modern car is streamlined for the most

This Honda
efficient aerodynamics possible to save fuel. Accord is not so
These days the line from the hood of the car to the different from a
windshield to the roof must transition in gentle Mercedes C-Class.
and smooth fashion. The less the glass and the This Mercedes
bigger the door pillars, the safer the car. The main SL and a future
considerations are comfort, safety, efficiency. S2000 Honda
But the philosophers have the final word, might look alike.
possibly. Every generation goes through these
phases. First the cars become similar. Then some
radical designer comes up with someone a
little different. If the market lights up, the other
designers soon copy it and before long, all cars
end up looking the same again. That is the reason
all cars look the same these days, possibly.

July 27 - Aug 02, 2018 41

Profile
Solome Basuuta: The queen of love
By Agnes E Nantaba acting which was reinforced at like that. It meant moving to an second musical concert.

S
Makerere College School where industry full of uncertainties. “I kind of knew what I was
olome Basuuta is com- she had her advanced level of “My parents questioned my going into although I didn’t
monly known as the school. choice but I had made up my know how hard it would be,”
`queen of love’. It is all “I was always in the space of mind to focus fully on music,” she says. “I wouldn’t trade
she sings about. She also dancing, singing and acting,” says Basuuta. And even when where I am for anything and so
calls her music the ‘love genre’. she recalls. several years after, the move I don’t regret the decision,” she
Her debut album was titled She studied a computer sci- hasn’t paid off, she is opti- adds.
`The Song Love’ and features a ence degree at Makerere Uni- mistic about the
poem and her hit song `Nz’ani’. versity Kampala and on gradu- future. She has
“My music reminds people ation joined the central bank of just held her
that they are loved and deserve Uganda in the IT department.
to be loved because love is She stayed for eight years.
universal and everyone has an She joined an a cappella
aspect of love,” she says, “It’s group called Talitha and in
one thing that touches people’s 2008 was a back-up singer
lives and it has affected me as for renowned crooner
well so it’s very close to my Maurice Kirya, and in
heart.” 2010 joined Pragmoja
Basuuta is a singer/songwrit- Band as the lead
er and performing artist of soul singer. She wrote
music with a bluesy or Jazzy and released
feel. She is also a lady of colour her first
and flowers and, for most of song called
her performances, appears with ‘Dance’ in
flowers tucked in her natural 2013. In 2015
hair or sometimes locks. Her she held her
performances are usually lit first sold out
and filled with a fusion of tra- concert and
ditional African talking drums embarked on a
which form the base around solo career the
which a body of other western same year.
musical instruments compose. “After my con-
She sings with energy and a big cert, doors started
voice that belies her not so big opening and I did
physic. It is a package accentu- events like blankets
ated with colors to make any and wines, comedy
audience yearn for more. meets music, Quella
She says she picked colour junction and many
and the art from her mother more,” she says.
who is a visual artist and In 2016, Basu-
teacher. uta released ‘can
“I grew up in a very vibrant we stay’ which
home,” she says, “My mother used she co-wrote
to sing in choir and always appreci- with two oth-
ated art but I never saw myself end ers. Her most
up as a musician.” recent song
Basuuta is the last born of is titled
five children of Prof. Mugambe ‘Ndeete’.
and his wife, Lydia. Tak-
Basuuta believed she was ing on a
more like her father whose musical
life revolved around science career
and math. But at Gayaza High meant
School where she had her leaving
ordinary level, Basuuta was profes-
introduced to choral and clas- sional
sical music which she says laid work
a foundation for her music. and her
While at the girls’ only school, family
Basuuta was also introduced to did not

42 July 27 - Aug 02, 2018


Solome Basuuta’s Liteside
Any three things that we
I
don’t know about you?
am a colorful person
and also spontaneous;
I can wake up to
do anything and
sometimes I never think
through the bigger
picture or the details.
I love colours which is
also shown in the way I
express my music because
it is complemented by
several instruments.
I also have a big heart
that accommodates too
much. On one hand it’s a
good thing as I take in a
lot of people’s good but
also sometimes, I end up
taking in a lot of people’s
crap.
What is your idea of
perfect happiness?
Being in a space where I
am loved and appreciated
What is your greatest
fear?
Fear of failure. I also
have a fear of reaching
a time when I have no
people in my life
What is the trait you
most deplore in yourself?
I am too
accommodative but it
is a character that can
be remolded. I need to
learn how to sieve and
have boundaries on
acceptance. don’t mind it much.
What is the trait you
most deplore in others?
Failure to give feedback
rubs me the wrong way
because I love two way
communication.
Which living person do
you most admire?
My mother Mrs. Lydia
Mugambe is one woman
who has been the strong
pillar at home and
one who brings us all
together. She has taught
us a lot about morals
and how to treat people
regardless of their status.
She has loved my father
all the time and is so
artistic in every move.
She has taught me to be
myself.
What is your greatest
extravagance?
I spend quite a bit on
makeup and jewelry.
What is the greatest
thing you have ever
done?
Graduating with an
Upper Second class
degree at the university
was not a joke. Doing
my concert and starting
my solo career were also
great moves.
What is your current
state of mind?
I am happy and excited.
What do you consider the
most overrated virtue?
Wasting too much
time on social media
makes me feel like there
is no privacy and people
bonding.
What does being
powerful mean to you?
Having wealth or riches
and knowing how and
when to use them.
On what occasion do you
lie?
It usually happens
when I want to protect
myself.
What do you most
dislike about your
appearance?
I would like my side
hair to grow because it
would look better. I also
have a lazy right eye that
comes up usually when
I’m stressed.
Which living person do
you most despise?
Despise is too hard and
strong a word.
What is the quality you
most like in a woman?
A woman needs to have
an identity of who she is
and celebrate herself.
What is the quality you
most like in a man?
Cleanliness and
sensitivity to other
people’s feelings and
how his actions can affect
them.
What or who is the
greatest love of your life?
My family, Pastor Jack
Barlow and Ron Michael.
When and where were
you happiest?
May 1, 2015 when I
held my first concert,
singing at Blankets and
Wines the same year. I
was also happy the day I
had my first flight.
Which talent would you
most like to have?
Acting and baking.
If you could change one
thing about yourself,
what would it be?
My lazy right eye is
interestingly a nice starter
for a conversation so I
Where would you most
like to live?
I would love to travel
the world but come back
home.
What is your most
treasured possession?
My phone is a gift and
with it I can do lots of
things in one space.
What do you regard
as the lowest depth of
July 27 - Aug 02, 2018
Q&A
advertorial
misery?
There is being poor
where you lack food
or walk the streets but
poverty without dignity
is the worst. It equates to
being worthless.
What is your favorite
occupation?
I can’t trade where I
am and what I do for
anything so it has to be
music.
What do you most value
in your friends?
Being yourself and
honesty
Who are your favorite
writers?
I like Sunday Adelaja;
especially in his book
‘The Church shift’. It
is about the church
that goes out to impact
communities.
Who is your hero of
fiction?
Taraji Penda Henson;
she brings out different
characters in human
beings.
Which historical figure
do you most identify
with?
Princess Diana had
the heart for people.
She gave honour to the
lowest person and that’s a
legacy that I want to leave
behind.
What is your greatest
regret?
I don’t have regrets.
How would you like to
die?
It could be nice to die
when people are singing
around me.
What is your motto?
You are loved.
43
Global comment
By Gaspard Koenig
Leaving the data dark ages
When our personal data enriches a few digital
companies, property rights are ripe to be revolutionised
D
uring the High Medieval Period,
from the eleventh to the thirteenth
century, serfs in France had no
property rights. Instead, those
with land had to hand over most of what
they produced to the local seigneur (lord)
who could confiscate their land upon their
death (“mainmorte”). In return, they did
receive services, such as protection from
conflict and access to a mill or village
oven. They had little choice: opting out of
the deal and, say, building their own mill
would have been strictly forbidden. This
dynamic arrangement – which continued
until the French Revolution, when peasants
gained full property rights – looks a lot
like consumers’ relationships with Internet
firms today.
In this age of digital feudalism, we
have little choice but to agree, with
one click, to an impenetrably long and
convoluted set of terms and conditions,
which subjects us to constant monitoring
by the platforms we use. The platforms
collect our personal data and sell them to
many more actors, including advertising
companies that can then serve us
targeted ads.
For Internet firms, this is a highly
lucrative practice: the value of users’
personal data is expected to reach 8% of
European GDP by 2020. In exchange, the
firms offer “free services,” such as social
media, to the digital serfs who produce
the data.
This is not a “sharing economy,” but
an optimised extractive economy –
based on the near-infinite availability of
raw material (our personal data) – that
enriches a few companies at the expense
of consumers. And, like the economy of
the High Medieval Period, it is ripe to be
revolutionised through property rights.
Property rights have protected and
empowered individuals for millennia,
evolving as technology does. For
example, the printing revolution brought
intellectual property rights (thank
you, Beaumarchais), and the Industrial
Revolution popularised the patent
system. What the digital revolution
must bring is the right to personal
data ownership, including the classic
44 July 27 - Aug 02, 2018
elements of property rights: usus (I use
my data as I wish), abusus (I destroy my
data as I wish, without any fancy “right
to be forgotten”), and fructus (I sell my
data for profit if I wish).
Personal data ownership would spur
the emergence of a personal-data market,
with some of the world’s 3.5 billion
Internet users claiming remuneration for
sharing their data, according to the value
they produce. Other users, prioritising
privacy over profit, would pay a fair
market price to benefit from a service
anonymously. This is what the U.S. tech
executive Sheryl Sandberg was hinting at
recently, when she suggested that a full-
blown opt-out from data collection on
Facebook would be a “paid product.”
The change would be profound,
and the practical challenges could be
overcome with existing technological
solutions. For example, to support
data management, users could each
have a “smart account” that stores
the information and the contractual
conditions for its use. As for pricing,
intermediaries would likely emerge to
negotiate directly with the big platforms
on behalf of millions of users, leading
over time to the creation of a proper
marketplace.
Effective legal implementation of the
right to personal data ownership will
certainly take work. Yet personal data
ownership remains a more rational
and realistic solution than other
approaches that have been put forward,
such as the right to “informational
self-determination” established by
Germany’s constitutional court in 1983.
The potential benefits of giving
individuals more control over their
digital lives extend beyond economic
fairness. Such a system could also crack
open the much-maligned “filter bubbles”
that have arisen as a result of social-
media algorithms, which show users
content that reinforces their existing
biases and beliefs. In this sense, personal
data ownership could help to ease the
dangerous political polarisation that now
afflicts many countries.
Today, not a single legal system
recognises personal data ownership. But
the idea is gaining ground all over the
world.
Brittany Kaiser – an executive-turned-
whistleblower at Cambridge Analytica,
the political data firm that allegedly
misused users’ data from Facebook and
other platforms to influence political
campaigns – now advocates that users
treat their data as property, just like their
houses. Owning a house doesn’t make
you a greedy real-estate speculator; it
allows you to participate fully in what
the philosopher John Rawls called a
“property-owning democracy.” The
same goes for data.
In France, the think tank I created,
GenerationLibre, issued a 150-page
report on personal data ownership,
which prompted a fierce public debate.
At the European level, the General Data
Protection Regulation, which has just
come into force, prepares the ground
for property rights by guaranteeing the
portability of personal data.
In the United States, the author and
researcher E. Glen Weyl, together with
legendary virtual reality pioneer Jaron
Lanier and others, recently argued
that data should be treated (and
remunerated) as labour. (I would prefer
to treat data as capital, as they originate
from our self-owned personality,
but this is essentially just semantics.)
And, on a practical level, a growing
number of startups are developing data-
monetisation services.
In his bestselling book Homo Deus, the
historian Yuval Noah Harari anticipates
the advent of “dataism,” whereby
personal free will is sacrificed at the altar
of the algorithm. But humans do not
have to be at the mercy of data flows. By
establishing personal data ownership,
the very notion of individuality could be
fortified, bolstering the liberal values that
have made our civilization succeed.
Gaspard Koenig, a philosopher, is founder
and president of GenerationLibre.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2018.
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