News analysis Health Business

The little things that make Sex and the brain: How does Banks court small lebrating
Kampala the best city one impact the other? borrowers Ce

Issue No. 516 April 13 - 19, 2018 Ushs 5,000,Kshs 200, RwF 1,500, SDP 8
Years

Mutebile survives
'coup' at central bank
Fly on the wall at Mutebile,
Kasekende lunch
Heated top executive meeting

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Tel: +256-312-637-391/ 2/ 3/ 4 | Fax: +256-312-637-396 | E-mail: editorial@independent.co.ug,
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INBOX

Mutebile survives
coup at central bank
Issue No. 516 April 13 - 19, 2018

Fly on the wall at lunch between

Mutebile and Kasekende
Heated top executive meeting

The Week The Last Word Analysis Business Arts &

Culture
4|Cheptegei, On Africa’s big 14|Crime 24|Mutebile’s
Chesang bag gold preventers and economy optimism:
at Commonwealth
dreams: the pretenders: Governor projects
35|Speaking
vernacular
Games Why our Museveni 6.5% economic
for modern
continent needs struggles to growth in three years
artists:
find space for but private sector
4|Deputy Chief to rethink her his `election concerns remain
Contradictions in
decolonising art
Justice warns overenthusiastic machine’
training in Africa
politicians over age
limit petition
attitude
towards
4|Cholera hits foreign direct
Hoima, Kagadi 16|Kampala as 25|Banks court
investment best city: small borrowers: 37|AMG to
The little things Centenary becomes ditch V12
that matter third bank to engines
4| Ochola orders unveil micro-loans
more audits in to customers via
Police mobile phones

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, Agather Atuhaire, Julius Businge.
DESIGN/LAYOUT: Sarah Ngororano, Harriet Jamwa.

PUBLISHER: Independent Publications Limited, Plot 82/84, Kanjokya Street, P. O. Box 3304, Kampala, Uganda
Tel: +256-312-637-391/ 2/ 3/ 4 | Fax: +256-312-637-396 E-mail: editor@independent.co.ug | advertising@independent.co.ug
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2 April 13 - 19, 2018

 Offline

President Yoweri
Kaguta Museveni (L)
shakes hands with the
Archbishop Cyprian
Kizito Lwanga shortly
before their meeting
at the State Lodge in
Nakasero on April 8.

“Dialogue is the only way to solve

conflicts. Use of weapons of mass
destruction such as missiles only causes
loss of lives as well as financial, social and
religious losses.”Sheikh Shaban Mubajje in
letter to King Salman of Saudi Arabia

Members of
opposition
standing outside
Mbale high
court before the
age limit case
hearing on April
8.   INDEPENDENT/
JIMMY SIYA
“I really do not care about parties. What
matters is that you make a contribution
to the transformation of this country.”
Kizza Besigye, opposition leader

Thousands participating in
the Kabaka’s birthday run
on April 8. The run was
to raise funds to the sickle
cell patients.   INDEPENDENT/
JIMMY SIYA

“If nothing is done, 50% of Nalubaale

dam may have to be decommisoned by
2022.”Irene Muloni, Minister for Energy
warning about the cracks and leaks on
the dam.

94 23000 Shs417billion
Firms licensed Jobs that remain Government
to export vacant in 73 tax arrears URA
workers districts wants to write off

April 13 - 19, 2018 3

week
Cheptegei, Chesang bag gold at Commonwealth Games
Long distance runners Joshua Cheptegei
and Stella Chesang flew Uganda’s flag high
when they won gold at the ongoing Com-
monwealth Games in Australia. Cheptegei
won the men’s 5000m final while Chesang
triumphed in the women’s 10000m final at
the games held in the city of Gold Coast. It
was double joy in the latter race as another
Ugandan, Mercyline Chelangat emerged
third to scoop a bronze medal. Chesang did
her sprint in 31:45.30 minutes to announce
her arrival on the global athletics scene.
For Cheptegei, it was further banishing the
memory of his collapse just shy of the finish
Joshua Cheptegei
4 April 13 - 19, 2018
line at the World Cross Country Champion-
ship in Kampala in March 2017. In August
2017, he won silver in the IAAF Athletic
Championship in London. The 21-year-old
athlete ran his race in 13:50.83 minutes beat-
ing Mohammed Ahmed of Canada and
Kenya’s Edward Pingua Zakayo who won
silver and bronze respectively. The other
Ugandan runners in the men’s 5000m race
were Thomas Ayeko and Phillip Kipyeko
who finished fourth and sixth respectively.
Cheptegei has vowed to take part in the
10,000m race slated for April 15.
Stella Chesang
Deputy Chief Justice
warns politicians over
age limit petition
Alphonse Owiny-Dollo, the Deputy
Chief Justice, warned politicians during
the hearing of a petition against the
constitutional amendment where a cap
on the presidential age limit was lifted.
Owiny Dollo told politicians; both
petitioners and respondents against
politicking in the constitutional court case
being heard in Mbale. “As the head of this
court, I will not tolerate any politicking,
you did your politics last year and we did
not intervene so I would like to remind
you that this is a judicial institution and
not a political institution,” said Owiny-
Dollo who is head of the Constitutional
Court. Some of the politicians included
Deputy Attorney General Mwesigwa
Rukutana, representing government.
Other politicians included Kampala Lord
Mayor Erias Lukwago, MPs Ibrahim
Semujju, Mubarak Munyagwa, and
Allan Sewanyana. Some of the issues
being raised in the petition include the
issue that citizens were not consulted
on the amendment, the extension of the
parliamentary term from five to seven years,
and the attack on parliament by officers of
the Special Forces Command (SFC).
*terms and conditions apply

Deputy Speaker Oulanyah demands report on UPDF Somalia deaths
Jacob Oulanyah, the Deputy
Speaker of Parliament, has
tasked government to table
a report on the UPDF opera-
tions in Somalia since the army
deployed in the country eleven
years ago. Oulanyah’s directive
was prompted by the recent
deaths of UPDF soldiers in
Museveni quashes
URA move on
customer data
President Museveni has
ordered Uganda Revenue
Authority to back off a
demand it had issued to
banks for information of their
customers including account
name, Tax Identification
Number (TIN), National
Identification Number (NIN),
address, telephone number
and email addresses. The
banks under their umbrella
body, Uganda Bankers
Association had already
dragged Uganda Revenue
Authority (URA) to court over
the directive. In a March 16
letter, URA’s commissioner
of Direct Taxes Henry Saka
asked commercial banks to
provide information to URA
on all account holders from
January 1, 2016 to December
31, 2017. Museveni issued
the directive after a cabinet
meeting on April 9.
Somalia after the army spokes-
person Brig. Richard Karemire
and President Museveni gave
conflicting accounts of the num-
ber of soldiers who were killed
in a recent attack. This hap-
pened during a presentation in
parliament by Gilbert Olanya,
the MP for Kilak South, on
Cholera hits Hoima, Kagadi
For two months now, chol-
era has hit residents of Hoima,
Kagadi and Kyegegwa includ-
ing the refugee settlements.
Number of people affected
with the disease in Hoima has
reached 2000 and an estimated
40 kiled while Kyegegwa about
300 cases and 22 deaths have
been reported. In Kagadi, James
Olowo, the district health officer
told media that over 20 cases
had been reported by early
the attack by Al Shabaab. The
legislator tasked government to
provide more details regarding
the soldiers who were killed.
Olanya also demanded for a
comprehensive report on the
phased withdrawal of UPDF
under the African Mission in
Somalia (AMISOM).
April at Kitebere landing site
on the shores of Lake Albert but
the number is expected to go
up. Some of the samples have
been taken to the Government
Analytical Laboratory in Wan-
degeya, Kampala. Symptoms
of the disease include diarrhea,
vomiting, fever and general
body weaknesses. Reports indi-
cate that a team from World
Health Organisation based in
Hoima has delivered emer-
April 13 - 19, 2018
Week
Shs30billion stolen in
local governments
The Local Government
Committee of Parliament
revealed that over Shs30billion
was stolen in local governments
in the 2015/2016 financial year.
The findings were based on the
report by the Auditor General
and investigations done by the
committee. Reagan Okumu,
the committee chairperson
presented the committee report
in parliament with a raft of
recommendations. Okumu
said many local governments
lack records of what has been
collected, citing it as a cause
of mismanagement. The
worst performing districts
in management of revenue
collection were Abim, Kamuli
and Tororo. Okumu said district
leaders of Mbale, Apac, Mayuge
and Pader were notorious
for misappropriating funds.
He also said the committee
made 79 referrals to the office
of the Director of Public
Prosecutions to those suspected
of embezzlement.
gency drugs in Kagadi, anti-
biotics, intravenous fluids and
disinfectants. Olowo revealed
that the district had constituted
a team comprising two senior
clinical officers with vast expe-
rience in infection control ad
management, district disease
surveillance focal person, lab
technicians and a Uganda
Red Cross Society emergence
response team.
5
Week

Ochola orders more
audits in Police
In more changes aimed
at professionalising the
Police, Martin Okoth Ochola,
the Inspector General of
Police, has ordered for
a headcount in Uganda
Police Force to establish the
actual number of serving
officers countrywide. In
the headcount, officers will
be required to submit their
bank account number, Tax
Identification Number,
National Identification
Number and other
paperwork regarding
promotion. Ochola ordered
the Professional Standards
Unit (PSU) commandant
William Okalany to
coordinate the exercise.
The personnel headcount
will start with Kampala
Metropolitan Police
and proceed upcountry.
The exercise is aimed at
streamlining the police
payroll among other things.
Ochola also ordered Police
directors to submit reports
about the state of their
respective directorates.
The IGP also tasked the
Police director of Counter
Terrorism, Abbas Byakagaba
to name all persons being
guarded by Police. The
officers who perform this role
fall under Very Important
Persons Protection Unit
(VIPPU) headed by Ludovic
Awita. The VIPPU however
falls under the Counter
Terrorism directorate.
Simon Kinobe elected Uganda Law Society President
Uganda Law Society elected
a new President- Simon Kinobe
(pictured) during its annual
general meeting held on April
7 at Imperial Resort Beach
Hotel, Entebbe. Kinobe beat off
competition from Alice Namuli
winning 760 of the lawyers’
votes against Namuli’s 268.
Kinobe promised to build on
Facebook under fire over data breaches
Social media giant
Facebook is under heavy
criticism over a data
breach where information
of 87million users could
have been shared with
Cambridge Analytica, a
data mining firm, based in
the UK. The UK firm and
Facebook were already
facing severe criticism
when reports emerged
that Cambridge Analytica
had obtained millions of
profiles of US citizens and
used the data to build a
software program to predict
the success of his predecessor
Francis Gimara. He also vowed
to negotiate guarantee pacts
with sector players to ensure
that members get equal access
to business opportunities
including more trainings on
mergers and synergies. Other
challenges that Kinobe will face
as ULS President are increasing
and influence voters for
the election of now US
President Donald Trump.
disregard of the constitution
by the government, human
rights violations and arbitrary
arrests of government critics.
In the other members of the
ULS Cabinet, Pheona Wall
was elected Vice President,
and Aaron Besigye as the
Treasurer.
Most of the 87 million users
were US citizens. Facebook
CEO Mark Zuckerberg
(pictured) admitted
Facebook’s data breaches
saying it was a “huge
mistake” for the company
to fail to take responsibility
over the data breaches.
Facebook has always been
lambasted for its lax privacy
laws and Zuckerberg is
expected to appear before
the US Congress to explain
the social media company’s
measures to strengthen its
privacy regulations.

6 April 13 - 19, 2018

Humour Did you know?
Men more likely to think
they are more intelligent

A study from Arizona State

University published in the
journal Advances in Physiol-
According to a report by the Parliament’s committee on the National ogy Education, found that
Economy, Uganda will take 94 years to clear its national debt. gender greatly influenced how
intelligent a person thought
they were, especially when
compared to others. The study
asked 250 students in a college
biology classroom to estimate
their own intelligence and
compare it to others in the
class.
In the results, men said on
average they were smarter
than about 66 percent of the
class, whereas for women it
was 54 percent (even when
both had a 3.3 GPA). Male
students were 3.2 times more
Five government agencies such the Inspector General of Government, State House, Auditor likely than females to say they
General, Financial Intelligence Authority and Committee on Statutory Authorities and State were smarter than the person
Enterprises are all investigating Bank of Uganda.
they worked with most, no
matter if they were male or
female.
“Over and over again,
women would tell me that they
were afraid that other students
thought that they were
‘stupid’,” says Katelyn Cooper,
the study’s lead author, “I
never heard this from the men
in those same biology classes;
so I wanted to study it.”
“It’s a mindset that has likely
been engrained in female
students since they began
Archbishop Cyprian Kizito Lwanga held talks with President Museveni their academic journeys,” she
to discuss allegations of the government recruiting clergy as spies. added.
April 13 - 19, 2018 7
 News analysis Health Business
Is Africa continent Uganda scientists Uganda’s banks brace lebratin
splitting into two? find new viruses for tough year gain? Ce g

Issue No. 515 April 06 - 12 2018

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

Years

DFCU profits expose

BoU 'sweetheart deals'

Inbox
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Museveni, Archbishop Lwanga meeting good

Letters are
welcome !
The Editor welcomes short and
concise letters from our esteemed
readers on topical issues. Please
send them to:
The Editor, The Independent
Publications Ltd,
P.O Box 3304,
Plot 82/84 Kanjokya St,
Kamwokya.
Kampala,Uganda.
Email: editor@independent.co.ug
In recent weeks, Archbishop
Cyprian Kizito Lwanga of Kam-
pala archdiocese has alleged
spy activities by government on
him. The archbishop has used
the church fora to make such
allegations with total disre-
gard to the right procedures of
addressing the same. Whereas
the archbishop’s fear could be
genuine, it is not totally unusual
for the legally established gov-
ernment spy agencies to carry
out their duties, especially if
they have reasons to believe
that they should do it. The arch-
bishop should be reminded that
‘spying’ as he calls it, is a nor-
mal routine by any responsible
government in the interest of
the state and its citizen. Besides,
it could be a normal monitoring
mechanism of citizens by the
state. The Vatican, I believe, also
monitors whether the clergy
and its subjects observe the
canonical principles laid down
to ensure its core values are
kept intact.
All that aside, we applaud
the gesture extended by Presi-
dent Yoweri Museveni to reach
out to the arch bishop to talk
about the allegations. He has
demonstrated that the govern-
ment needs the church in its
smooth operation, and there
is always the right forum for
addressing such grievances
among leaders at different
levels.
Bernard Odida
Kampala

Museveni asks right Spying on religious leaders is no surprise.

question on Umeme anKampala Archbishop Cypri-
Kizito Lwanga has com-
Refer to: “Uganda’s new vil-
lain” (The Independent April
06). Even with my extreme
hate for president Museveni’s
politics, I am not blind enough
not to ask myself, “What is it
that has made him rule for this
long?” President Museveni is
not a “random” person, he’s
a “thinker.” That does not
mean that he’s always right but
rather that he can be a sophist
at times. Looking back to his
question, “The investor claims
to have invested $500 million
in distribution infrastructure. If
they invested so much money
why do the technical losses not
decline?” It is a fundamental and
legitimate question borne out
of a long standing frustration.
What could have happened? It
is very possible for government
officials to connive with inves-
tors (a case in point, Bank of
Uganda officials conniving with
DFCU in the sale of Crane Bank.)
It wouldn’t, therefore, be uncom-
mon if UMEME connived with
ERA officials to state that the
investment was worthy $500m
if there were to be a “substantial
cut” for ERA officials. It is also
not uncommon for government
officials to be “frontrunners” of
“International businesses.”
Rajab Kakyama
government of Yoweri Kaguta
Museveni to contest against
ter (opposition) intelligence
services is the norm. I can only
plained about an unavoidable the latter in 1996 before hand. sympathise with the archbishop
thing; spying in the Catholic Spying, call it intelligence is the if truly the information sources
Church. To say the least, state craft of gathering enemy infor- are cooking up false reports,
spies are everywhere in the mation. It is as whole as warfare because that is very dangerous
world. itself. and archaic.
In late 1995, I worked at the The best way of operat- The Arch Bishop should rest
Pope Paul VI Memorial Com- ing and communicating with assured that the Catholics or
munity Centre (PPVIMCC) sources of information world- religious stakeholders shall not
under then-Auxiliary Bishop wide does not exclude religious allow intimidating and or false
Kizito Lwanga and there were people, in all denominations; intelligence operators who are
multitudes of state information including the Moslem world. geared to confuse the principal
collectors at the centre. We actu- Skills or methods on the part (fountain of honour) the Presi-
ally knew through the same of the intelligence officer to dent.
networks the planned resigna- operate and communicate with Nabendeh Wamoto S.P
tion of Dr. Paul Kawanga Ssem- sources without being detected Email: simonwamoto@yahoo.
wogere from the movement by either the enemy or coun- co.uk
Umeme has improved Umeme, the boda boda
Refer to: “On Museveni’s Umeme missive”
(The Independent March 30). I have over 16
and rolex men
Umeme Yaka meters and none has cost me Refer to: “On Museveni’s Umeme missive” (The
more than Shs150,000. There are very clear Independent March 30). Mwenda’s basic assumption is
guidelines for new connections pinned in all that there are only two possible motives for President
Umeme offices all over the country. So the Yoweri Museveni’s action on Umeme; One: A logical
figures being quoted could be bribes people analysis of the matter (what Museveni should have
are offering. Customer service at Umeme has done) and two: An emotional response (what Museveni
greatly improved. did). The Bodaboda men and rolex seller down the road
If you find the inquiries desk challenging, from my home, as well as the elite lot at my Kafunda,
try getting them through their WhatsApp. all have a different reading of the matter. The Kafunda
You will be surprised at the attention you will group is an erudite set who have been “solving” Ugan-
receive. It looks like the experience people had da’s problems since their Makerere University days
in 1989 have greatly shaped there perception decades ago. The rolex seller has a humbler CV; he can-
about Umeme in 2018. Umeme has improved not even afford a newspaper but saw the headline. He
greatly. If I were the President of this country I summarised everyone’s analysis very succinctly: “Ha,
would renew the Umeme contract. era bagenda kulya” (Ha, they are set to eat again!).
Peter Rusongoza Abwooli Sserukeera

8 April 13 - 19, 2018


On Africa’s big dreams
By Andrew M. Mwenda
Why our continent needs to rethink her overenthusiastic
attitude towards foreign direct investment
L
ast month, Rwanda hosted the
African Union’s summit on the Con-
tinent Free Trade Area (CFTA). The
discussions were as inspiring as they
were frustrating. Leaders from government
and the private sector talked big about the
benefits of integration. Some even sug-
gested an African crypto-currency. There
is a mistaken belief that the existence of a
common interest is sufficient to promote a
collective effort to achieve it. This is rarely
true.
African nations are young; they lack
entrenched interests and profound national
culture to drive consistent policy. So they
sacrifice broader national interests over
petty squabbles. For instance, I attended a
discussion where South Africa’s president,
Cyril Ramaphosa, was a panelist. The
summit was being held in Rwanda. Rama-
phosa spoke eloquently on African integra-
tion. Yet South Africa imposed a visa ban
on Rwandans because of a disagreement
between Kigali and Pretoria during the
Jacob Zuma administration. Why punish
ordinary Rwandans over a quarrel with
their government?
The challenge to integration in Africa is
the tendency to seek big dreams when our
governments have failed to fix small things.
For example, it is very hard for Africans to
travel, leave alone to work, within Africa
due to poor air connectivity; difficult visa
and working permit requirements. Ugan-
dans need a visa to travel to the Democratic
Republic of Congo and South Sudan next
door. So the gap between rhetoric and
action in Africa is huge.
One of the reasons many people admire
President Paul Kagame is he matches his
words with government policies. Rwanda
is the only country in Africa that allows all
Africans to get a visa on arrival. How can
Africa integrate when small things like ease
of travel to visit or work by Africans within
Africa are very difficult for our govern-
ments to implement? Does it need a summit
of heads of state to remove visa require-
ments for Africans traveling within Africa?
Without such a summit, most African coun-
tries allow Europeans and North Americans
to apply for visas at the port of entry.
There were many discussions of how to
make Africa hospitable to Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI), by which they meant
attracting American, European, Indian, Chi-
The Last Word
nese and Middle Eastern capital. There was
zero (and I mean zero) discussion of how to
harness domestic capital as a driver of trans-
formation. FDI has become the obsession of
every African country and leader. It is easier
for even a conman pausing as a foreign
investor from China, America, Europe, the
Middle East or India to meet a president of
an African country than a big genuine local
investor.
The CFTA is meant to promote continent
trade. But we must remember that interna-
tional trade is a value chain: some countries
produce cotton; others weave cloths while
others market high fashion. Some coun-
tries mine iron ore; others produce steel
while others sell automobiles. How much
a country earns from trade depends on its
position in this value chain. The poorest
countries export raw cotton and iron ore;
middle-income countries weave cloths and
produce steel. The richest countries market
high fashion like Dolce and Gabbana, Val-
entino, Hugo Boss and Louis Vuitton and
Toyota, Ford and Audi.
If you export raw cotton, you earn 1.9% of
the international price of the final product
– a Louis Vuitton shirt. If you weave cloths,
you earn about 15% of the final value. For
labeling the same cloths Louis Vuitton,
the designer takes about 60 to 65% of the
final value – the rest going as a margin for
transportation, retail, storage etc. The same
applies to those who export iron ore. To
be producer and exporter of unprocessed
goods, as Africa has done for the last 100
years, is to render oneself perpetually poor.
This has harmful implications for the wel-
fare of our people and the politics of our
nations. Poor countries are characterised by
“bad politics”.
Therefore, the process of moving from
a poor to a rich country is a process of
upgrading from being exporters of low
value unprocessed goods to high value
manufactured products. Yet there was little
discussion of manufacturing as a driver
of our transformation. Indeed, if you look
across Africa, the continent is actually dein-
dustrialising i.e. the ratio of manufacturing
to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is
declining in many countries or has been
stagnant for decades or is growing mar-
ginally – except for Ethiopia. Even South
Africa, Africa’s industrial giant, is deindus-
trialising.
Opinion
Now why is FDI a poor vehicle for
Africa’s transformation? As a rule, multi-
national corporations do not shift the most
valuable aspects of their business to their
subsidiaries. Apple is not going to shift
the design and marketing of the iPhone
to her subsidiary in Nairobi. Forget it. It
will remain in California. However, it can
outsource assembling, which it has done to
China. Design and marketing of the iPhone
constitutes 60 to 65% of the total value,
assembling only 15%, the rest going into
retail, transport, insurance etc.
Therefore, while America is eating the big
pie, China eats the smaller portion. DRC,
which exports Coltan, the mineral from
which mobile phones are made, only eats
the crumbs of about 4%. This is the reason
DRC is wretched poor. It is also the reason
China is aggressively penetrating the global
smart phone market with her own brands.
The trick is that one has to position them-
selves in a global niche with the highest
value addition on her products.
I am not arguing against FDI. It should
be welcome into non-priority sectors of our
economies. But in those sectors we consider
critical to our transformation and future
prosperity, it should only come through
joint ventures with local firms where the
terms of engagement make it possible to
transfer technology and progress to pro-
ducing the greatest value locally. Otherwise
FDI often displaces local firms or stifles
their development that if facilitated to grow
would become the future Samsungs and
Toyotas of Africa. It is such local firms that
would transform our continent.
Just imagine if South Korea had invited
Nokia and Ericson to build assembly plants
for mobile phones and thereby displaced
or stifled Samsung? Today Samsung pro-
duces about 27% of South Korea’s GDP
and 40% of her exports. How many African
Samsungs have we displaced or whose
emergence stifled with our blind embrace
of FDI? FDI gives us highly attractive short-
term benefits (jobs, taxes, skills, technology)
at the price of displacing/stifling local firms
that are key to our transformation and
future prosperity. I hope someone in Africa
takes this lesson seriously.
amwenda@independent.co.ug
April 13 - 19, 2018 9
cover story

Mutebile survives
'coup' at central bank
Fly on the wall at lunch between
Mutebile and Kasekende
Heated top executive meeting

10 April 13 - 19, 2018


I
By Haggai Matsiko
t is 1:30 PM April 04. Governor
Emanuel Tumusiime Mutebile,
wearing a charcoal grey suit,
white shirt and blue-checkered
tie, is having lunch together
with other bank executives
in the Governors’ Dinning located
on the extreme end of the Eastern
wing of the Central Bank building
on Kampala Road. His gold-rimmed
glasses hang perilously over his nose
as he occasionally takes a glance at
other officials while chatting with his
neighbour, who is also his deputy,
Louis Kasekende. The latter looks
dapper in rim-less glasses, a dark-blue
suit, white shirt, and matching tie.
The Governor likes to have lunch at
his home. And although he has had
some lunch dates with his deputy and
other executives in the recent past, this
has not happened much since Feb.8
when he transferred staff in a major
shuffle that was seen as a snub of his
deputy, some top executives and even
board members.
That is part of the reason why the
few top officials who are having lunch
with the two men on the same table—
albeit at a distance—are paying close
attention.
A few who steal a glance from time
to time look at the body language
for indications of the situation
between the two big men. Some hope
to tap into what the two men are
saying to each other to get a sense of
direction of their relationship. The
smiles appear genuine, the situation
awkward.
Stakes are high. A board meeting is
coming up the next day and there is
anxiety over how the thorny issue of
transfers of staff by Mutebile will be
dealt with. Rumour is rife that several
board members have conspired to
walk out should Mutebile invite
in his top appointee, Tumubwine
Twinemanzi, the Executive Director
Banking Supervision who replaced the
controversial Justine Bagyenda.
This is not the bank’s finest
hour—BoU finds itself a subject
of investigation by the Financial
Intelligence Authority, the Inspector
General of Government, Auditor
General, and parliament— and
intrigue within the walls of the bank
is fuelling a fire that is razing its
reputation which, the Governor has
says is its most “critical resource”.
The members of staff know that
Mutebile and Kasekende have just
emerged from a heated meeting of top
executives of the Bank.
Fire over Independent article
That meeting started at 11:20AM
in the Governor’s boardroom on the
Seventh Floor—the same floor, where
both the Governor and his Deputy sit.
On the face of it, the meeting was
the regular gathering by the top
Executive Committee also internally
known as EXCOM, which comprises
the Governor, his deputy, Bank
Secretary, and all the Executive
Directors. Only Adam Mugume, the
Executive Director Research did not
attend.
But sources tell The Independent
that at the centre of the meeting
was issues surrounding an article
we published in The Independent
on March 30 titled `Mutebile Vs
Kasekende’ which lifted the lid off a
silent fight between the two men and
opposing loyal factions.
The article drew heavily from
minutes of BoU board meetings,
loads of internal memos, internal
investigation reports and multiple
interviews with insiders.
The leakage of these documents
and willingness of top officials to talk
openly to the press, The Independent
understands, is part of a desire for
major reforms at the bank.
The Independent shines a spotlight
on this relationship and the intrigue
at the central bank because it believes,
revealing the same, advances open
debate of the issues and possible
resolution before they heavily
undermine the ability of the central
bank to play its critical roles in giving
the country’s fragile economy a sense
cover story
Justine Bagyenda Tumubwiine Twinemanzi
of direction.
The article stirred debate within the
walls of the bank about their future
and management reacted sharply.
A general memo that came the
afternoon of April 04 criticised staff
members who leak information and
proclaimed institutional integrity and
personal cordiality. The memo was
later expanded and sent out to the
press in the name of the Governor—
stirring even further debate at the
bank.
In his opening remarks at the
meeting, Mutebile reportedly told his
lieutenants that a lot had been going
and that the team needs to forge ahead
and see how to work together.
Kasekende had spoken next,
dwelling on lack of trust, a breakdown
in communication, leakages of
information and reluctance by staff to
participate actively in discussions.
Sources tell The Independent
that Kasekende, while chairing the
Financial Markets Subcommittee
meeting the previous day, had faced
awkwardness among the staff. Many
appeared to hold back.
Talking specifically about the
April 13 - 19, 2018 11
cover story
Governor Tumusiime Mutebile and his deputy, Louis Kasekende
leakages, the Executive Director
Administration, Solomon Oketcho,
said the confidentiality clause in the
regulations of the bank needed to
be enforced with penalties against
anyone leaking information.
Oketcho reportedly said an earlier
planned team-building retreat needed
to be prioritised to enhance team
building and unity. Reacting to the
details of the meeting, some inside the
bank, however, said that the intrigue
and scheming against each needed to
be dealt with directly first.
Several officials agreed and David
Kalyango, who Mutebile recently
made the Chief Internal Auditor,
said efforts aimed at penalising staff
for leaking information need to be
mindful that the whistleblower policy
allows staff to leak information when
they feel that certain things are not
going well.
Staff surveys, he added, had showed
that staff needed rotations. But now
that the rotations had been done, some
people are complaining.
The newbie— Tumubwine
Twinemanzi, the Executive Director
Banking Supervision, also stepped
12 April 13 - 19, 2018
in. He said leakage of information
could be down to people looking for
alternative ways of communication
because of the breakdown of channels
of communication.
Another official said many were
concerned that it has become a crime
to come to BoU’s seventh floor—where
the governor sits—as anyone seen
here is seen as looking to report to the
governor.
The Independent can authoritatively
report that some officials had been
stopped from attending certain
meetings because they were suspected
of “leaking information to the
governor”.
But while Oketcho talked penalizing
leakers, insiders say, he has not done
much to stop leakages within his
docket.
Trouble for Oketcho is that,
following Mutebile’s staff transfers,
the first round of leakages to the
media came from administration.
They revealed private records of
some of those who had been promoted
and insiders intimated to The
Independent that they felt the officials
leaking their records were trying to
create the impression that they did not
deserve the promotions or transfers.
Given that Oketcho was also
opposed to these transfers, many felt
that he had not done enough to protect
their records.
The meeting ends at 1PM just
about time for lunch. An hour after
lunch, a rumour starts circulating that
something is coming.
Then a staff memo appears. It hits
staff emails at 3:45 PM. It reads ‘Office
of the Governor’ but it is unusually
from the secretary to Deputy
Governor, Kasekende.
The Independent has seen the memo
which reads: “This morning, EXCOM
met to discuss matters that have been
the subject of much media reporting,
arising from the staff changes I carried
out in February 2018”.
It assures staff that a special
committee will handle the unresolved
issues arising from the said changes.
Apart from this, the memo also
disparages the article by The
Independent of March 30.
The memo reads in part: “Of
particular concern to me is the
possibility that this article and other

similar ones especially on social
media are the handiwork of a section
of staff who are privy to high level
internal discussions, processes and
correspondences, and have for reasons
best known to themselves chosen to
pervert the gist of such discussions to
achieve unprincipled aims, played out
in the media.
This has grossly called into question
the reputation of the Bank, and its
top management, and led many in the
public to question the Bank’s ability to
carry out its mandate.”
That very evening, the same memo
is edited and sent out to media houses.
What rattles many inside the bank is
that contrary to standard procedure,
the article that ends up in the press
is also warning staff. For some, it is a
sign that the article has been hurriedly
edited and sent out. The article’s main
intention is to show that there is no
fight between the governor, his deputy
and some board members.
But even before the article is
published, reality sets in. The
governor’s allies learn of a plot by
some board members to walk out on
him during the board meeting the
following day.
Their reason; the Governor has
planned to get his new Executive
Director Banking Supervision,
Tumubwine Twinemanzi —to speak
to them about the Crane Bank case
amongst others.
Boardroom games
So, despite a picture being painted
at this table of two men cordially
dining, staff at the bank told The
Independent that suspicion remains
high.
If the governor is concerned about
the planned walk out by board
members, he shows no concerns at all
at the lunch date.
And if his deputy, who is also
opposed to the transfers, is aware
of the plans by protesting board
members, he too makes no mention
of it, insiders say. The two men go
through their lunch seemingly happy.
But speculation was high among the
two major camps—those seen as loyal
to Mutebile and those seen as loyal
to Kasekende on what the governor
and his deputy each has up his sleeve.
Calls were made.
There is anxiety because, at a
previous meeting, some of the board
members openly opposed Mutebile’s
transfers.
One of the board members had even
volunteered information to Inspector
General of Government (IGG), Irene
Mulyagonja and was ready to appear
President Museveni
Keith Muhakanizi
before her inquiry into these transfers
as a witness.
However, President Museveni in
a March 26 meeting at State House
Nakasero asked Mulyagonja to stay off
the issue and let a special committee
deal with any issues that emerged as a
result of the transfers.
The Independent has learnt that
some board members; led by former
Attorney General, James Kahooza,
oppose Twinemanzi because he was
appointed in the contested Feb.8
reshuffle, which they say is irregular.
And, many people say, when
Kahooza is opposed to something—
he is known to be rigid and means
business. They cite the January 2012
case when he was board chairman of
Uganda Development Bank (UDB) and
instituted an internal investigation
into the poor performance of trade
finance loans at the bank.
When the results of the
investigations arrived, on April 20,
cover story
2012, the Kahooza-led board resolved
to caution the then CEO, Gabriel Etou
and suspended him for 15 days. Etou
would later lose the job.
So when, in February, Kahooza
openly told Governor Mutebile at the
inaugural board meeting that he was
opposed to the transfers, many sensed
trouble. “They should be reversed,”
Kahooza shot at the Governor without
mincing his words.
Apart from Kahooza, the other
members of the Mutebile-chaired
board are; his deputy, Louis
Kasekende, Bank Secretary, Susan
Kanyemibwa, William Kalema,
Judy Obitre-Gama, and Josephine
Okui Ossiya, who replaced Ibrahim
Kabanda in November last year.
Secretary to the Treasury, Keith
Muhakanizi also sits on the board.
Of all these members, it is only
Muhakanizi who is seen to be firmly
in Mutebile’s corner. The others are
either in opposition or can swing
either way especially on the issue of
transfers. That is why the planned
coup was a potential disaster for
Mutebile.
But, having learnt of the plot early,
Mutebile tactfully laid a counter plot.
When the meeting opened
the following day, the governor
announced to the surprise of the rest
of the board members that the Legal
Counsel would address them instead.
Twinemanzi was nowhere. There were
silent murmurs and some sighs of
relief.
“Oh. This saves the situation!”
muttered one member.
The meeting proceeded smoothly.
Amidst all this scheming and
counter scheming, many had hoped
that Mutebile would have his hands
full, addressing the crisis at BoU. But,
The Independent has learnt, he instead
insisted on travelling to Washington
DC for the April 16-22 International
Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank
Spring meetings.
The meetings will bring together
central bankers, ministers of finance
and development, parliamentarians,
private sector executives,
representatives from civil society
organisations and academics to
discuss issues of global concern,
including the world economic outlook,
poverty eradication, economic
development, and aid effectiveness.
In Mutebile’s absence many eyes
will be on the actions of Kasekende,
his allies in management, and the
board. Until Mutebile returns.
April 13 - 19, 2018 13
rwanda
Kigali city lit at night
Electricity changes lives
Rwanda has implemented one of the most
comprehensive electrification programmes in the world
By Jörg Peters
M
ore than 1.1 billion people in
developing countries lack access
to electricity. Some 590 million
live in Africa, where the rural
electrification rate is particularly low at only
14%.
A lack of access to electricity hampers
development. It affects everything from
people’s ability to learn to the creation of
enterprises and the provision of public ser-
vices like health care. This lies behind the
United Nation’s goal of countries achieving
universal access to electricity by 2030.
But the investment requirements to meet
this goal are enormous. According to the
International Energy Agency investments
worth $640 billion will be needed if the UN
goal is going to be met. About $19 billion is
required every year in sub-Saharan Africa
14 April 13 - 19, 2018
alone.
In spite of the importance of electrifica-
tion, little evaluation has been done on the
socioeconomic impact of investments into
providing power. We set about plugging
this gap in our paper that focuses on Rwan-
da. We looked at the effects of electrification
on households, firms, health centres and
schools in rural areas.
Rwanda has implemented one of the
most comprehensive electrification pro-
grammes in the world. In 2009 only 6% of
Rwandans had access to electricity. The
government’s aim is to lift this to 70% by
2018.
We studied the connection behaviour
and electricity consumption patterns of
households and looked at socioeconomic
outcomes – such as education, income
and health. We also explored the effects of
electrification on the uptake of appliances as
well as on rural firms and on health centres.
We found that electrification had wide-
ranging effects on the living conditions of
households whose daily lives were made
easier on a range of fronts. We also found
that the supply of power had some positive
effects on certain businesses and clinics.
Overall, our research confirms the impor-
tance of electrification has for the rural poor.
Yet, in our final analysis we had two
major reservations. The first was that the
provision of electricity hadn’t significantly
improved the economic lives of people –
which is often used to justify the massive
costs involved in expanding the grid to all
areas of the country.
The second insight was that, given
people’s very low levels of consumption
(households consume on average around

2 kWh per month per person which is less
than 6% of the electricity an average US-
American consumes per day), it would
make much more sense to extend electricity
coverage by promoting off-grid solutions
such as solar. This would lead to govern-
ments and citizens getting much more bang
for their buck.
These reservations aside, our research
showed how electricity in the home changes
lives, sometimes in the most unexpected
ways.
Impact on household level
Among the households we studied we
found that lighting consumption had more
than tripled among connected households
around two years after connecting to the
electricity grid.
We also found that having electric light-
ing yielded significant benefits for house-
holds who have done away with torches,
wick and hurricane lamps. For example,
kids’ study time at home increased by
between 19 and 44 minutes after nightfall,
although the total time children study did
not increase. The reason is that children
shift their study time from daytime to night-
time, which nonetheless is an important
indication for increased flexibility.
rwanda
Electricity also had an impact on access A mixed solution
to information. The most frequently bought Our research showed that electricity is
electrical appliances after connection were highly appreciated by rural communities
TVs, radios and mobile phones. in Rwanda, often leading to cost reductions
Another major effect of electrification and increases in convenience. But it does
was that it significantly reduced expendi- not significantly transform economic activi-
tures on energy. The average amount that ties and income generation in rural areas.
connected households spent on grid elec- The fact that electricity consumption lev-
tricity was 1,500 FRW (about $2) per month els are generally very low raises the political
after they had replaced traditional energy question of whether the high investment
sources like kerosene and batteries. And cost of on-grid electrification is justified
they no longer needed to spend money on compared to the lower cost of off-grid solu-
charging their mobile phones outside their tions. Especially the cost of off-grid solar
homes. In total, they reduced expenditures technologies have decreased considerably
on energy by around $2.50, which is an in recent years and, while their performance
equivalent of about 4% of their total month- is obviously lower, they still improve the
ly expenditure. living conditions quite substantially.
These observations suggest that instead
Impacts on enterprises and health of rolling out the grid to every rural village,
centres on-grid investments could be concentrated
Another major impact was that it in certain thriving rural regions with high
extended people’s average waking hours business potential to create industrial
by nearly an hour. We found that people zones where firms could relocate to.
were awake for 50 minutes per day more Off-grid solar could serve as a bridging
on average because they had better access technology for the majority of rural areas,
to lighting and entertainment devices. potentially accompanied by subsidies to
People didn’t necessarily use this addi- ensure access for the poor who cannot
tional time to pursue income generating afford paying cost covering prices. Such
activities. In fact, we didn’t find that elec- an integrated on-grid-off-grid strategy
trification affected how people, many of would enable industrial development and
whom were farmers, generated income. at the same time achieve broad access to
We found that it had only a tiny effect on electricity at relatively low cost.
micro enterprises like mills, hairdressers,
copy shops and welding shops. Mills were Jörg Peters is professor, University of
the main beneficiaries of being connected to Passau. Dr Maximiliane Sievert from RWI
the grid. Most switched from diesel engines - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research
to electricity. And new mills emerged coauthored this article.
because input costs were dramatically
reduced and productivity increased.
Hairdressing shops also benefited
for cost and convenience reasons. They
used electricity for razors, phone charg-
ing services and radio or TV to entertain.
Before grid electricity they had used power
sources such as car batteries which were
expensive and cost a lot to run.
Small kiosks, bars and restaurants most-
ly used electricity for lighting and in a few
cases for radio, TV or refrigeration. Electric-
ity meant that they were more attractive to
customers.
Overall, we observed only a slight
increase in business activities in connected
communities. Some enterprises emerged
while existing operations marginally
extended their operating hours or their
range of products and services.
In the case of health centres, those that
had been connected to the grid said their
work had improved. According to answers
to an open question, the main use of grid
electricity was for lighting (100%), followed
by use for medical machines (79%) and for
administrative tasks (43%). Nearly 30%
cited medicine storage and sterilising.
The most important benefit was that it Men transporting a large bag in the Muvumba
reduced costs. Centres that weren’t connect- river valley in Kigali. A massive Rwandan
ed paid three times more for power because electrification programme sets out to benefit
they used diesel. rural communities. Shutterstock
April 13 - 19, 2018 15
rwanda

Country marks 100 days of Kwibuka

16 April 13 - 19, 2018


President Kagame calls
for openness and truth
By Stephen Nuwagira & Francis Byaruhanga
P
resident Paul Kagame used the
launch of the annual Kwibuka
genocide against the Tutsi com-
memoration to urge Rwandans to
be open and truthful about it.
“Rwanda’s truth can neither be erased
nor be forgotten,” he said at 24th com-
memoration of the genocide against the
Tutsi (Kwibuka24) event at the Kigali
Genocide Memorial in Gisozi, Gasabo Dis-
trict. “Remembrance reminds us that some
problems were caused by ourselves and it’s
another way of confronting Rwanda’s tragic
past,” he said, “It’s also a reminder that the
Rwandan people have primary responsibil-
ity of addressing the challenges they face,
which is why we must unite for the com-
mon goal of restoring and rebuilding them-
selves and our country.”
Kagame also said commemoration is
about the fight against external challenges,
a veiled reference to foreign influence dur-
ing the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi and
current challenges the country faces from
external forces.
The president had earlier lit the `Remem-
brance Flame’ to mark the beginning of
the Genocide Commemoration Week from
April 07 to April 13. The flame symbolises
remembrance as well as the resilience and
courage of Rwandan people decades after
the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.
It is an austere week with flags at govern-
ment buildings, foreign embassies and high
commissions flying at half-mast. No enter-
tainment is allowed.
Instead a solemn event is held overnight
in the Amahoro National Stadium in Kigali
at which testimonies of perpetrators of the
genocide and survivors are punctuated by
songs and poetry. Up to 100 names of Geno-
cide victims are read. This event is preceded
by an afternoon ` Walk to Remember’
through Kigali led by President Kagame in
procession with citizens from all walks of
life.
As remains of victims of the genocide
continue to be found all the time in forlorn
pits and forests, the Kwibuka perios is also
the time when new burial locations are
found for them. Muyira in Nyanza district is
where a memorial has been constructed for
the remains of about 90,000 murdered vic-
tims. People who suffered various traumas
during the genocide also receive support;
material, physical, and emotional, from
other residents.
The United Nations named April 7 as
the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of
the Rwanda Genocide to commemorate the
deaths of over 800,000 people who were
murdered during the 1994 genocide in
Rwanda.
Kagame also said that commemoration is
about Rwandans making a commitment to
continue working together to improve their
livelihood and contribute to the country’s
development.
“Commemoration is about us continuing
to work together and united as Rwandans;
it’s about fighting against wrong elements
to avoid repeat of what happened in 1994,
and is also about developing ourselves and
country,” Kagame told a small gathering
that included foreign envoys, local leaders,
and Kigali residents. Government represen-
tatives from Senegal, the UK, and Estonia
attended. Faki Mahamat, the chairperson of
African Union Commission also attended
the session held amidst light early April
rain.
Before the president’s speech, a minute
of silence was observed in memory of those
who died during the genocide.
The Kwibuka24 commemoration period
is for 100 days and will end on July 6.
According to Julienne Uwacu, the Sports
and Culture Minister, there will be different
activities conducted during remembrance
week, including daily sensitisation pro-
grammes at village level to discuss and edu-
cate Rwandans, especially the youth, about
the genocide and the importance of unity
rwanda
and peace. The commemoration period is
being held under the theme; `Remember,
Unite, and Renew”.
Meanwhile, Dr Jean Damascene Bizima-
na, the Executive Secretary of the National
Commission for the Fight against Genocide
(CNLG), has said it is especially important
that the young generation understand what
happened in 1994 as one of ways to fight
genocide and genocide ideology.
He said some of the perpetrators of the
1994 genocide against the Tutsi are being
wrongly released from jail before complet-
ing their sentences and that their prison
terms were reduced. This, he said, was a
big problem as “these people were released
without consulting the government”.
He says some international judges are
giving lesser penalties to the top genociders
and pointed at a recent court decision that
reduced the penalty of Col. Theoneste Bago-
sora from life to 35 years. The official added
that of the 77 genocide cases, 66 perpetra-
tors were convicted, while 16 were released
before finishing their penalties, which he
termed as a “great challenge and impunity”
to the fight against genocide.
In a related development, Bizimana
lauded efforts that are geared at supporting
the fight against genocide and the genocide
ideology, including Pope Francis’ apology
on the Catholic Church’s involvement in the
1994 genocide against Tutsi, and initiatives
by the African Union to institute laws to
fight genocide ideology.
April 13 - 19, 2018 17
news analysis
President Museveni addressing crime preventers at Lugogo Indoor stadium in Kampala on March 28.
Crime preventers
and the pretenders
Museveni struggles to find space for his `election machine’
By Ian Katusiime
W
e undertake to protect the
President and help him
keep this country safe. A
crime preventer can give his
life for the President. We can kill for the
President.”
Those were the loaded words of Blaise
Kamugisha, the national coordinator of
the National Crime Preventers Forum
(NCPF) when President Yoweri Museveni
on March 28 attended a function they
organised at the Lugogo Indoor Stadium in
Kampala on March 28.
Kamugisha; a lanky man in his late 20s,
with an intense look and a penchant for
fashionable pants and mismatched jackets,
reminded the President of the value of
crime preventers; especially at election
time.
“We protected the votes, voters, and also
voted,” he said as he urged the group not
to ever betray Museveni “because we know
him as a friend and we must protect him as
our friend.”
Kamugisha’s pledge of loyalty drew
18 April 13 - 19, 2018
wild cheers from the sea of mainly young
men and a few women in the arena which
seats about 900 (but the official press
statement from State House said up to 3000
were crammed into it). Outside the arena,
however, Kamugisha’s words became
controversial, once again evoking a slew of
questions about the character and motives
of the group.
Why did Kamugisha have to state an
already well-known allegiance to Museveni
so controversially and so publicly? That
is a question many have been asking
since. It is even more poignant because
Kamugisha’s pledge to kill is believable.
Since the presidential election two years
ago, crime preventers have been a hit by
a barrage of negative press; especially
their alleged involvement in crimes such
as theft, violence, robbery, torture, and
even murder. Human rights organisations,
including Human Rights Watch (HRW)
and Amnesty International, have called
them a tool “aimed at intimidating
or reducing support for the political
opposition” through means, including
torture. Maria Burnett, senior researcher
in HRW’s Africa Division, has called them
young unemployed men, enticed to joining
the crime preventers program by the
prospect of being paid at the end of it.
For most people, the explanation for
Kamugisha’s pledge appears to be that
he and his camp are desperate. Founded
in 2013 in the run-up to the 2016 general
election, the National Crime Preventers
Forum has always seen its role as an
election machine of Museveni and attached
to the Uganda Police. But when Museveni
in March fired their main benefactor,
the former Inspector General of Police,
Gen. Kale Kayihura, the crime preventers
appeared lost and abandoned. And the
timing could not have been worse.
Desperate for money
Apparently, two years after the 2016
elections and with the new elections
expected in 2023, the crime preventers were
fumbling around for relevance even before
Kayihura’s sacking. With new police boss
Okoth Ochola indicating clearly that he had
no time or plans for them, their favourite
activities – hanging around police stations

and parasiting on the police budget – were
no longer viable. Yet the group is desperate
for money – actually Shs16 billion from the
Uganda Police.
Since its founding, the National Crime
Preventers Forum has lobbied for and got
a number of gigs aimed at supplementing
the handouts they were receiving from
Kayihura. Innocent Manuku, the head
of Communications at NCPF, told The
Independent that they, for example,
formed a Savings Cooperative and Credit
Organisation (SACCO) called Mwangaza
which was awarded a tender to supply
food to all deployed and operational forces
in the country in 2016.
Manuku says Mwangaza, joined forces
with Exodus; the Police SACCO, to supply
food to all deployed and operational forces
in the country in 2016 in a deal sold as a
food cost-cutting move.
“We collected money and invested it in
the supply of food to police during the last
presidential elections and the next eight
months after the elections,” Manuku says.
But, he says, police still owes Mwangaza
Shs16 bilion for the catering services
rendered. That is money which can only
be paid if Museveni sanctions it. And,
despite Kamugisha’s voluble pledges of
loyalty, President Museveni did not make
any public pledges of financing for the
desperate group. Instead, Museveni spoke
vaguely about what he perceives to be the
future of the group.
“A few weeks ago, I saw in the papers
and somebody said that the fate of the
crime preventers is to be decided by
the new Inspector General of Police. I
called the IGP and told him that this is
not your problem,” Museveni told the
Lugogo gathering as he explained that he
sees them as “militias who would guard
villages” and combat crime. But Museveni
appeared to throw them several lifelines.
“I now regard you as a Reserve Army of
the UPDF,” he told them.
So the police was conspicuously absent
at the Lugogo meeting. Instead Museveni
was flanked by army types, including the
Deputy IGP, Brig. Sabiiti Muzeeyi and the
Minister for Security, Gen. Elly Tumwine.
Museveni, however, instructed the army
and police command to work together on
streamlining the crime preventers’ new
placement under the UPDF.
Although Museveni did not elaborate,
this offer has been dubbed either oblique
or impractical. In reality, the national army
does not have stations scattered all over
the country from where crime preventers
can hang around and launch their pseudo
crime preventing ventures. While,
the group could claim – even without
evidence – that it has 30 members in each
of the 56,000 villages in Uganda who are
linked directly to a police station, they
cannot now make the same claim under
UPDF. In any case, army operations are so
regimented that crime preventers probably
would not easily fit.
In any case, Museveni’s pronouncement
has been criticised by many; including
Crispy Kaheru, the coordinator of an
NGO, the Citizens Coalition for Electoral
Democracy.
“The legal anchoring of crime preventers
has not yet been sorted. So the President’s
pronouncements may remain largely
political, intended to calm anxious crime
preventers.”
However Mike Mukula, the NRM Vice
Chairperson for the Eastern region, says as
Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces,
Museveni can constitute any force under
the UPDF reserve force.
And Museveni offered crime preventers
another morsel of the cake.
“Crime preventers should lead in the
revolution of being crime preventers and
wealth creators. You should work with
Okoth Ochola
OWC to single out those who can become
model farmers so that they do not only get
out of poverty but also become examples,”
he counseled.
And the Crime Preventers Forum is, on
paper, ideally set up for that. According to
Manuku, they are already organised into
economic units. Apart from the Mwangaza
SACCO, which according to Manuku is
in 60 districts and should be rolled to each
district across the country by May, they
have units of civil engineers and other
professionals ready to grab wealth creation
entrepreneurial opportunities offered by
Operation Wealth Creation (OWC); the
government poverty fighting programme
that doles out cash and production inputs.
According to Manuku, through their
SACCO, crime preventers have block-
making machines they used to supply
blocks to the police construction unit. They
news analysis
also provide labour and have ventured
into activities like bee keeping in Kween
District. So, it appears, crime preventers
could easily tap into OWC funding.
Problem is that although the National
Crime Preventers Forum appears solid on
paper and in functions such as the one at
Lugogo and elsewhere during recruitment
drives, they appear very thin on the
ground. The so-called National Crime
Preventers Forum (NCPF) is nothing more
than a band of opportunistic mobilisers
peddling influence to get government
contracts and jobs.
To their critics, their claim to have about
12 million is a concoction of pretenders.
Critics claim Kayihura elevated the crime
preventers’ numbers to exaggerate his own
significance and prominence especially
when he involved them in political
mobilisation against the opposition. Even
their claim to be doing various projects in
60 districts is a stretch.
Instead, descriptions by Forum leaders
such as Adam Sankara are more believable.
Sankara told The Independent that he was
recruited as a crime preventer in 2014.
The following year he was promoted to
the position of Coordinator for Kampala
Metropolitan under the National Crime
Preventers Forum. The position put him in
charge of Kampala, Wakiso and Mukono
where he says he oversees 21 people;
three in those particular areas and 18 who
preside over the divisions in Kampala
Metropolitan.
“My role is to mobilise and organise
various individuals and link them to
a Community Liaison Officer who is
attached to every police station across the
country,” he says.
Sankara says his other roles include
sensitization of the public about crime
prevention. “This is done with local
leaders and councilors in all those areas.”
He describes a crime preventer as any
responsible citizen concerned about his
or her social, political and economic
empowerment. In other words, it could be
me and you. Should that mean we are all
members of the Crime Preventers Forum?
Possibly, it should not. That is why the
Forum numbers are being hammered.
Given the contradictions, according
to Hassan Kaps Fungaroo; a member of
the Parliamentary Committee on Internal
and Defence Affairs, for now the crime
preventers can only survive “if Museveni
needs them”.
“These informal groups (crime
preventers, among others) were a creation
of Museveni and Kayihura. If Museveni
needs them, the new leadership will have
to find a way of keeping them. They have
served Museveni well,” said Fungaroo.
Will Museveni remember his election
machine now, especially with the next
election five years away?
April 13 - 19, 2018 19
news analysis
Congestion and traffic jam are a major headache for many Kampala residents but many expatriates
find living in the city better than other cities in East Africa.  INDEPENDENT/JIMMY SIYA
Kampala as best city
The little things that matter
By Ronald Musoke
A
woman walks alone along the
street at night. The weather is great
and the fruits and vegetables fresh.
People discuss the latest political
issue without fear, the entertainment scene
is vibrant, and the sweet smell of food is
everywhere. Everyone appears bold, confi-
dent, and friendly.
Michael O’Hagan, a foreign journalist liv-
ing in Kampala city knows what these little
things mean to him.
“It is the people that make Kampala a
great place to live,” he says, “People in
Kampala are bold, friendly and confident
which gives the city a great character and
makes for an excellent social life.”
He adds: “Since I moved here two and a
half years ago, I’ve made lots of new friends
many of whom will be friends for life. I like
to cook and thanks to Uganda’s wonder-
ful climate, the fresh fruit and vegetables
available are among the best in the world. I
really value that.”
But O’Hagan is also aware of a different
feeling, especially from the locals.
“Kampala’s rolling hills make for
spectacular views - especially at sunset -
but sometimes I think people who have
always lived here forget to appreciate
how beautiful the cityscape can be,” he
told The Independent.
It is a sentiment shared by Germany’s
new ambassador to Uganda, Albrecht
Conze. In an interview early this year,
20 April 13 - 19, 2018
he told The Independent that he found it
“amazing” that he could sit outside on the
street and have a coffee or walk through
any shopping mall in Kampala freely.
“May be many Ugandans don’t see it that
way because for you it has become normal
to live in a peaceful country despite some
other challenges,” he said.
The value of such sentiments came alive
recently when Mercer, a New York based
human resource consultancy firm, ranked
Kampala as the best city to live in, in East
Africa. Reactions were mixed and many
locals were skeptical.
In its 2018 report published on March 20,
Mercer ranked Kampala at position 172, 14
places ahead of Nairobi (186) while Kigali
was ranked the third best city to live in, in
East Africa, with a global position of 190.
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s commercial city
is ranked 199 out of 230 cities in the world.
Interestingly, it is not only the “Mercer
chaps” who find Kampala more attractive
for expatriates to live in. The 2017 Ease of
Settling in Index report by `Expat Insider’,
a Munich-based human resource consul-
tancy firm, ranked Uganda the eighth best
country in the world for expatriates to
settle in.
The survey carried out in 65 countries
asked participants to rate up to 43
different factors on life abroad with
emphasis on personal satisfaction; both
emotional (making friends abroad) and
factual (personal safety).
Report not serious!
Frederick Golooba-Mutebi, a political
researcher and regional analyst who has
been living in both Kampala and Kigali over
the last 20 years, says the Mercer report is
simply “not serious” to rate Kampala ahead
of cities like the Rwandan capital, Kigali.
He described what he liked about Kigali:
“There is no risk of waking up and finding
that someone has opened up a pub or night-
club or even a church in your neighbour-
hood and that they are happy to keep you
awake at night or interfere with your plans
to lie in on a Sunday morning as they attend
to their clients’ needs or praise their god at
the top of their voices with complete mega
sound systems”.
Amanda Ngabirano, a lecturer of urban
planning at the Department of Architecture
and Physical Planning in Makerere Univer-
sity also sounds frustrated about Kampala.
“It is incredibly difficult for people to
travel, the anguish on Kampala roads and
the flooding when it rains a little bit is still a
challenge,” she says adding that unpredict-
ability and inefficiency pile extra costs on
city residents.
But a retired Ugandan journalist who has
frequently travelled across the East African
cities told The Independent why Kampala
scores highly for him.
“In this town, you can find women walk-
ing with their bags at midnight; that does
not happen in other cities. I feel safer walk-
ing in Kampala.
“Kampala is one city where a foreigner
can say anything about this country’s politi-
cal issues without thinking twice. There
is also some level of tolerance in terms of
political dissent and public criticism.
“At Entebbe Airport, foreigners will dis-
cuss how corrupt Ugandan officials are or
how inefficient the system is and nothing

will happen. In other countries, you cannot
do that.
“Those little things sell Kampala more
than the cleanliness and orderliness of other
cities (because) having a sense of freedom
matters a lot to individuals,” he concluded.
Fortunately for Kampala city, it appears
more people are increasingly feeling nice
about it. Mercer has for three years in a row
ranked it as the best city to live in East Afri-
ca. That cannot be an accident or chance. So
what, according to Mercer, makes Kampala
city great?
Mercer analyses a city’s living conditions
based on 39 factors grouped in 10 catego-
ries. These include; political and social
environment (political stability, crime, law
enforcement); economic environment (cur-
rency exchange regulations, banking ser-
vices); socio-cultural environment (media
availability and censorship, limitations on
personal freedom) and medical and health
considerations (medical supplies and ser-
vices, infectious diseases, sewage, waste
disposal, air pollution).
Other indicators include; schools and
education (standards and availability of
international schools); public services and
transportation (electricity, water, public
transportation, traffic congestion); recre-
ation (restaurants, theatres, cinemas, sports
and leisure); consumer goods (availability
of food/daily consumption items, cars);
housing (rental housing, household appli-
ances, furniture, maintenance services) and
natural environment (climate, record of
natural disasters).  The scores attributed to
each factor are then weighted to reflect their
importance to expatriates.
For the general user, it offers few details
on how individual cities perform on each
ranking. As a business, it promises to offer
such details to its clients – mainly organisa-
tions involved in paying expatriate workers.
Therefore, it is not clear why Kampala is the
best city according to Mercer.
Don’t ignore rankings
Possibly resulting from the lack of detail,
the Mercer survey has been welcomed and
derided in equal measure by many people.
But Belinda Namutebi, a branding expert
told The Independent on April 09 that Ugan-
dan planners need to take rankings and
endorsements from firms like Mercer seri-
ously. In a globalized world and for mar-
keters of the country, she said, “the product
is the experience of Uganda.”
“This is even more so for those selling
Uganda as a tourist destination,” she said,
“Before tourists come, they research about
the destination they intend to visit.
“Ugandans are not the consumers of the
Uganda experience and we are not in full
control of what they (tourists) hear,” she
said.
The Mercer global city rankings has been
conducted annually for the last 20 years to
mainly enable multinational companies and
other organisations to determine fair pay
when placing expatriates on international
assignments. The survey is influenced by
one main determinant of any city’s future
in a globalised world; the ability to attract
people and investments.
“Decision makers increasingly acknowl-
edge that globalisation is challenging cities
to reform, innovate and compete to attract
people and investments,” says Slagin Para-
katil, Principal at Mercer and Global Prod-
uct Owner for its Quality of Living research.
Parakatil notes that younger generations;
millennials in particular, often have high
expectations in terms of lifestyle, leisure and
entertainment opportunities.
So what makes Kampala a better city to
live in than Nairobi, Dar, or Kigali?
Vincent Mugaba would know as the
Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) publicist. He
told The Independent that besides the vibrant
entertainment scene and food, Kampala
scores highly on security and safety.
Gaël Grilhot, a French independent
journalist who has been filing stories for Le
Monde Afrique and Radio France International
for the last two years from Kampala, would
agree.
“Even if I know that there are some
places where you don’t have to walk alone,
especially at night, it is the thing I like the
most in Kampala,” he says, “I know there
are some cities in East Africa, like Nairobi
and Dar es Salaam, where this is not the
case.”
For Emmanuella Batamula, 23, a Diplo-
macy and International studies Master’s
student at Uganda Martyrs University
Nkozi who has alternated living in Nairobi
and Kampala all her life, thanks to the itin-
erant working life of her expatriate parents,
Kampala’s vibrancy is the main attraction.
She says Kampala beats Nairobi, another
vibrant city, hands down.
“Although Nairobi is equally vibrant,”
she says, “the Kenyan capital is more expen-
sive.”
news analysis
Amin Tamale Kiggundu, a lecturer of
urban planning at the Department of Archi-
tecture and Physical Planning in Makerere
University says Mercer’s rankings of the
East African cities are spot on only in some
aspects.
“The cost of living is relatively lower in
Kampala especially when it comes to avail-
ability, accessibility and affordability of a
variety of food,” he says.
Although the Kenyan capital remains
one of the biggest economies in Africa (and
a key destinations in terms of foreign direct
investments, especially when it comes to
real estate), Kiggundu says Nairobi plan-
ners have failed to keep pace with the infra-
structure needs of the residents.
“Nairobi is bigger than Kampala and
Kigali so infrastructure development poses
a far bigger challenge for Nairobi,” he says.
Challenges ahead
He warns Kampala not to land in the
same ditch and lists areas that need to be
fixed, including decentralisation of eco-
nomic activity across the city’s five divisions
in what he calls “mini-towns.”
The Kampala Capital City Authority
(KCCA) appears to be working on it. In
2016, it hosted an international debate on
“What Policies would make Kampala a
Great 21st Century City?” Paul Collier, the
renowned professor of economics and pub-
lic policy and director of the International
Growth Centre was the main speaker. He
said making Kampala work requires mas-
sive investments in residential, commercial,
and industrial structures, and infrastructure.
The French journalist Grilhot agrees. He
wants more sidewalks and places without
pollution or traffic jam.
“It is very complex and sometimes dan-
gerous to walk alongside roads. So I am
forced to take a bodaboda even for a short
distance,” he says.
He says if Kampala wants to attract more
tourists or expatriates, KCCA needs to cre-
ate an interior which is quiet, green and vast
park just like the Central Park in New York.
Such a place already exists in Kampala,
he says, “it is called the Kampala Golf
Course, but it is forbidden for most resi-
dents. It only benefits a few rich people.” He
says transforming the Golf Course into a big
park would make Kampala a less stressful
city where family members can stroll about
during weekends.
Grilhot also says he finds it interesting
that Kampala has an asset it does not use
at all—Lake Victoria. It would be nice if
KCCA set up lakeside walks to allow peo-
ple to come to rest on weekends.
Meanwhile Kampala is growing fast and
needs to invest in better public services
in the poorest communities - particularly
roads, drainage, and electricity.
“I think Kampala has more potential;
there is so much Kampala can be but it is
not yet there,” says Batamula.
April 13 - 19, 2018 21
Mutebile’s economy optimism
Governor projects 6.5% economic growth in
three years but private sector concerns remain
O
By Julius Businge
n April 09, the Bank
of Uganda Governor,
Emmanuel Tumusiime-
Mutebile, arrived at
the Bank’s conference
room on the 7th Floor
to announce the Monetary Policy
Statement for April past the usual time,
12:00pm.
The Governor, who usually keeps
time, came 40 minutes late. Looking
calm and in protection of Deputy
Governor, Louis Kasekende and newly
appointed Director of Communications,
Charity Mugumya alongside other
senior staff, Mutebile read the
statement without responding to any
questions from journalists.
Instead, he requested the Bank’s
Executive Director for Research,
22 April 13 - 19, 2018
Adam Mugume, to respond. However,
Mutebile, in his statement, said for the
next three years, the economy will be
growing in the region of 6.5%, higher
than the average 4.5% recorded in the
past six years.
Mutebile said the growth will be
supported by the positive growth trend
of the agriculture sector, Foreign Direct
Investments and planned investments
in oil and gas.
The country’s agriculture sector,
according to Mugume (the ED for
Research), grew from -0.4% in 2016
to 6.1% last year while Foreign Direct
Investments (FDI) grew by 28% in the
twelve months up to February 2018.
In money terms, Mugume told The
Independent the country recorded
US$742million up from around $541
million in 12 months to February
2018 as FDI. In the previous year,
the country had recorded less than
US$500million.
The other supporting factor, Mugume
said, will be growth in exports that
would stabilise the local currency and
support business activities.
He said exports, in the 12 months
to February 2018, increased to about
US$3.4bn up from US$2.5bn in the
same period of 2016/17. However,
opportunities from the exports maybe
hindered by expanding the import bill
which grew to around US$5 billion in
the period up to Feb.2018 compared to
US$ 4.7billion in the same period up to
Feb.2017.
This coupled with the planned
investment in oil and gas sector and
projected growth in banking and
insurance, Mugume said would support
the projected growth rate.
“The only challenge is that we have not

seen good growth in the industry sector
which is posting [growth] in the region
of 4-5%,” Mugume said. “But overall all
indicators show that growth will continue
picking up.”
BoU’s optimism came one week after
the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS)
released its quarterly GDP estimates for
the final quarter of 2017 indicating that
a strong recovery of the economy had
been underway since early 2017.
In the year ending February 2018,
the Composite Index of Economic
Activity (CIEA), which is the BoU’s high
frequency indicator for real economic
activity shows that in the year to
Feb.2018, CIEA projects growth of about
6.4%. In addition, the quarterly GDP for
2017 indicates economic growth of 6.3%
in 2017 compared to 3.0% in 2016.
“The economic growth outlook is
more positive than was forecast at the
Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)
meeting of February 2018 and there are
signs of increased business confidence,”
Mutebile said, before announcing that
he was maintaining the Central Bank
Rate – a key signal rate for interest rate
movements – at 9% starting April to
June, ahead of the FY2018/19 budget
reading.
He said the current MPC decision
was based on an assessment of the
current and evolving macroeconomic
situation and that it was consistent
with supporting economic growth and
achieving the inflation target.
Previous CBR cuts have seen
commercial bank prime lending rates
drop from an average of 28% [when the
CBR was at 23%] at the end of 2011 to
around 21% as at end of April 2018.
Mutebile, however said, there
are downside risks to this outlook
as indicators of aggregate demand
including fiscal absorption and private
sector credit (PSC) growth remain weak.
Currently, PSC is growing at 5%, far
lower than the 15-20% growth that was
posted in the period 2012 - 2015.
On inflation, Mutebile said the forecast
remains 5% by end of 2019. However,
he warned that the planned increase in
indirect taxes, especially on fuel pump
prices and financial services during
FY2018/19 may contribute to the rise in
inflation. The other risks to inflation, he
said, are evolution of the exchange rate,
food crop and international oil prices.
“Although the economic growth
forecast has improved, demand pressures
in the economy are not assessed to pose
significant risks to the inflation outlook at
the moment,” he said.
Deputy Governor Kasekende had
earlier told a gathering at a Uganda
Securities Exchange dinner in Kampala
on April 06, that the most important
contribution that BoU can make to the
economy is to ensure that inflation
remains low and stable, so that investors
can draw up business plans for the
future.
He said this would put investors in a
comfortable position that their investment
projects will not be jeopardised by
macroeconomic instability and that
households will not see their hard earned
savings eroded by inflation.
Thinking of private sector
Gideon Badagawa, the executive
director at Private Sector Foundation
Uganda, said projections by Mutebile
might be right but the challenge for
agriculture – which is one of those sectors
Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile
Gideon Badagawa
expected to contribute to the projected
growth – is dependent on seasons.
“If we are going to have sustained
production in the sector, we need to
invest in water for production [irrigation]
to avoid likely shocks that might hit us
mid-way,” Badagawa told The Independent
on April 09.
On the sluggish growth of the private
sector credit, Badagawa said that the
answers are known to Mutebile and the
other officials in government.
He said PSC is not growing largely
business
because government has refused to exit
domestic borrowing – a scenario that has
kept interest rates high and expensive.
Going forward, he said there has to
be a ceiling on government’s domestic
borrowing.
Currently, the government’s domestic
borrowing stands at around Shs900bn for
FY2017/18. Government says the amount
will reduce going forward.
Badagawa also said PSC is not growing
because the only Development Bank
– Uganda Development Bank – is still
undercapitalised.
“You cannot achieve the 6.5% growth
without supporting the private sector to
borrow cheaply,” he said.
“We are competing with our colleagues
who borrow at 2-3%,” he said in reference
to the Chinese businesses that acquire
cheap capital back home for investment
in Uganda.
Mugume, however, said they hope PSC
will pick up soon. He said the problem
with PSC was the high Non-Performing
Loans that increased in the period after
2015 largely because of some challenges
experienced with now the defunct Crane
Bank.
This, he says, was worsened by a slow
growth of the economy as commercial
banks tightened lending requirements in
response to high NPLs that had jumped
to over 10% from below 5% earlier.
Julius Mukunda, the national
coordinator of the Civil Society Budget
Advocacy Group (CSBAG) also shared
Badagawa’s views.
He said the agriculture sector’s growth
would double if government cared to
supply seedlings under Operation Wealth
Creation that germinate (instead of the
40% that don’t) in addition to investing
heavily in irrigation farming.
Commenting on investment in oil and
gas, Mukunda said, the sector cannot be
relied on because it is always speculative
in nature and that anything can happen
to make investors halt operations and
leave.
He however, called for good land
reforms that would attract foreign and
local investors in all sectors of production.
He said the government and the private
sector should also focus on implementing
financial services sector reforms including
Islamic banking to bring about financial
deepening and inclusion.
Mukunda added that the government
also needs to carefully think about the
enforcement of recent directives like
one on taxing social media and the
other on the ban of SIM card vending.
He said strategic mistakes in these
directives could negatively impact the
performance of the services sector and
thus hurt the economy.
April 13 - 19, 2018 23
business
Banks court small borrowers
Centenary becomes third bank to unveil micro-
loans to customers via mobile phones
By Isaac Khisa
D
espite talk that micro-loans may
not create a big impact on the
economy, the scramble for a share
of the small loans business by
Uganda’s banking industry continues to
gain momentum.
Centenary Bank and a fintech firm have
become the latest financial institutions to
unveil a mobile platform for micro-loan
applications known as Cente Mobile Loan.
The product comes via a partnership with
Craft Silicon, a Kenyan-based software
company.
Cente Mobile Loan Service runs on iOS,
Android, Windows devices as well as USSD
for those with non-smart phone devices,
enabling customers registered with Cente
Mobile to borrow instant loans from as low
as Shs5, 000 to a maximum of Shs2million.
The loans are payable within 30 days at
an interest rate of 5%, which translates into
60% per annum. It will not require one to
pay for loan applications as well as process-
ing fees as is the case with traditional loans.
Robert Conwat, the head of micro-credit
at Centenary Bank, said potential borrow-
ers using the new service will be required
to hold an account with the bank and also
acquire a financial card.
“Once loan processing is complete – usu-
ally taking less than 10 seconds – the money
will be wired directly to the customer’s bank
account,” he said. “It is from here that the
account holder can decide to either with-
draw the money using an ATM Card, Cente
Mobile or transfer directly to another person
or account.”
He said the loans are mainly meant to
cater for emergency needs such as paying
school fees, purchase of goods and services,
paying medical bills, buying fuel among
others.
The Bank’s Managing Director, Fabian
Kasi, said the introduction of the new ser-
vice is intended to promote financial inclu-
sion. “We serve over 1.4 million customers,
majority of whom are low income earners
located in rural areas,” he said, adding that
the service is meant to enable the customers
to access small instant loans, conveniently
using mobile phones wherever they are,
without the need to fill any paper work or
visit the branch.
The entry of Centenary Bank, the coun-
try’s largest bank in terms of customer base,
into the micro-loan business demonstrates
commercial banks’ appetite to grow their
business through such innovations.
24 April 13 - 19, 2018
Craft Silicon CEO Kamal Budhabhatti (L) and Centenary Bank Managing Director, Fabian Kasi, exchange
MoU symbolising the lunch of CenteMobile Loan service on April 4, 2018.  INDEPEDENT/ ISAAC KHISA
In August 2016, Commercial Bank of
Africa (CBA) unveiled MoKash – a micro-
savings and loans platform – in partnership
with MTN Uganda, and has seen customers
grow up to over 2.5million.
The product, which enables customers
get loans of up to Shs 1 million repayable
within 30 days at an interest rate of 9% per
month or 108% per annum, has so far seen
the bank’s loan book grow within a year by
more than Shs30bn.
Finance Trust Bank, unveiled Loan Ku-
Ssimu service through its Trust Bank’s
mobile banking platform dubbed Trust
Mobile in March last year, and has seen a
surge in the product uptake,  with the cus-
tomers hooked onto the system now stand-
ing at 5,420 as at the end of July last year.
The bank had disbursed Shs371million
ranging between Shs100, 000 and Shs1mil-
lion via mobile phones, charging a 5% inter-
est rate per month or 60% per annum, pay-
able within three months during the same
period under review.
Ramathani Ggoobi, a policy analyst and
lecturer for economics at the Makerere Uni-
versity Business School (MUBS) had earlier
told The Independent that banks are trying
to be innovative so as to capture everybody
who would want to get into the credit area
for them to make money but is not good for
the economy.
He said the interest rates for micro-loans
are very high compared with the rates being
charged on conventional banking credit
products, a scenario that is likely to make
the population lose more money in interest
payments.
However, financial institutions have
argued that the high risks involved with
micro-loans are the reasons for the high
interest rates.
Banking profits slowed down
This development comes at the time com-
mercial banks are looking for avenues to
attract more customers into the borrowing
category as the banking industry grapples
with slow private sector credit uptake as
well as profit growth.
Data from Bank of Uganda shows that
the country’s banking industry recorded a
10% growth in net profit to Shs 673bn for
the year ended last December up from Shs
611bn in 2016 excluding Crane Bank and
Shs541bn in 2015.
The slow growth has been attributed to
slow private sector credit uptake as well as
declining interest rates. In 2014, the banking
industry, consisting of 25 commercial banks,
recorded Shs485bn in net profit.
The industry’s deposits grew by 12% to
Shs18.2 trillion last year, up from Shs16.2
trillion and Shs 14.2 trillion during the same
period under review.
This is the same trend with loans and
advances that increased to Shs 11.7 trillion
last year, up from Shs11.5 trillion in 2016
and Shs10.8 trillion in 2015. The Non -Per-
forming Loans fell to 4.9% from 10.5% and
5.3% during the same period under review.
Going forward, increased uptake for
micro-loans is expected to contribute more
to loans and advances for banks.
Executive Style
Jumia revolutionalising
e-commerce in the region
What is your assessment
of the growth of
E-commerce in Uganda
E
and the region?
-commerce is
growing at an
incredible speed
in the region,
recording double digit
every year. One of the
best examples is Kenya,
where the prevalence of
E-commerce is very high.
In terms of Uganda, it is
probably where Kenya
was five-seven years ago.
People are still hesitant to
embrace online shopping
but that is usually the
process.
So how are you dealing
with this slow customer
response to your platform?
We are ensuring that
our platform is easy to
navigate and that the deals
are attractive. We are
offering incentives such as
cash on delivery as well as
free returns within a period
of seven days in case the
customer is not comfortable
with the product. We also
check prices on our site daily
to ensure that they are even
better than those being offered
in the brick and mortar shops.
In addition, we are in the
process of expanding our
range of products. We plan
to have four to five more
products on our site than we
do at the moment estimated
to be about 15,000 and this
includes bringing on board
new brands that are very
popularly in Asia, Europe, and
China to Uganda. We are in
touch with the manufacturers
to ensure that the population
has options. We hope that
a combination of these will
drive E-ecommerce in this
country.
Sefik Bagdadioglu is the Regional Manager for
Jumia, an online shopping platform. He spoke to
Isaac Khisa about the growth of E-commerce in
the region and its future outlook.
At the moment, you are
working with the local
sellers or producers for
quick deliveries of various
products to customers. How
will you quickly respond to
an order whose product is
far away probably in China
or Asia?
We have a wide range of
distributors that we work
with in Uganda and the 11
other countries where we are
present. We have contacts of
distributors in these countries
and some of the products
that customers might require
here, might probably be
already being sold in these
other markets where we
have operations. This implies
that we may not need to
import, for instance, a specific
product directly from China
because a similar products
might be already being sold,
for instance in Nigeria. What
we shall only need is to
link up with the distributor
of these brands in these
countries, negotiate, and the
product is brought for the
customers on our behalf.
How has been Jumia’s
revenue growth trend like
over the past few years?
Our revenue growth is
good, but to be honest, that is
not our focus at the moment.
We want to ensure that Jumia
can expand so that more
people can benefit from it.
Then, how do you benefit
from this business initiative
given that it is not charity?
We normally charge a
April 13 - 19, 2018
small commission and
vary from category to
category. However, it is
usually less than 10% of
the value of the product
that is brought via our
platform.
Some challenges, if
any, that your company
encounters on the
Ugandan market?
The biggest challenge
is addressing the system
for easy location of
customers. The other
is trust that we are
trying to overcome and
there’s a lot of issues
like reconciliation given
that many people prefer
paying cash receiving the
product.
What are the future plans
as Jumia?
We want to grow and
become more relevant.
We should be able to
provide a product that a
customer is looking for
and at a better price. In
the future, we simply want
to make your people’s lives
easier.
Where do you see
E-ecommerce in the next five
years?
I see more and more
people using E-ecommerce
in their day to day lives
because of its convenience.
With internet, one can do
anything anywhere. For
instance, one can order food,
can make bookings, can
order goods and do banking
without necessarily stepping
out of his or her comfort
zone. This is going to be
trend going forward.
25
 business
equity
EA governments urged to use Stock Market to raise capital
banking
Barclays planned change of name to ABSA in Kenya challenged
B
arclays Bank of Kenya’s
planned change of
trade name to ABSA
has run into strong
headwinds after a local com-
pany went to court to stop the
shift on grounds that it reserved
and has been using the name
for more than a decade, accord-
ing to the BusinessDaily.
ABSA Kenya Limited is seek-
ing to permanently restrain
Barclays from adopting ABSA
csr
Airtel fulfills
pledge to
Karamoja girls
I
n line with what it
had promised earlier,
Airtel Uganda hand-
ed over 100 goats to
50 girls in Moroto district
in a bid to join in the
fundraising campaign
#GOATSFORGIRLS that
aims at keeping young
girls in the Karamoja re-
gion in school. The com-
pany said in a notice that
was circulated on April
04 that this contribution,
amounting to Shs 11mil-
lion is part of its efforts to
support education of the
girl child. The campaign
is being run by Interna-
tional Institute of Rural
Reconstruction (IIRR)
and is targeting disad-
vantaged girls especially
in pastoral communities.
26 April 13 - 19, 2018
T
he East African govern-
ments have been urged
to use the Stock Ex-
changes to raise capital
especially through issuance of
large Initial Public Offers (IPOs)
that can only come from the
public sector.
Geoffrey Odundo (Pictured),
the CEO for the Nairobi Secu-
rities Exchange (NSE), said
there is need for collaboration
between the East Africa govern-
as the trade name in line with
the recent changes in the bank’s
ownership at the continental
level. ABSA Kenya, which was
incorporated in 2005, says it
reserved the name with the
registrar of trademarks for
exclusive use and that it has
incurred huge financial losses
since Barclays announced plans
to rebrand.
The losses, it says, arise from
the confusion that the com-
transport
Safaricom-backed Little Ride joins taxi-hailing
industry in Kampala starting next month
S
afaricom- backed online
taxi-hailing app Little
Ride is set to unveils its
services in Uganda mid
next month, marking its first
expansion outside Kenya.
Little, developed by technol-
ogy firm Craft Silicon, says it is
in the advanced stages to rollout
the tax-hailing app in Kampala.
“We are currently finalising
plans with the relevant authori-
ties ahead of the rollout of the
app possibly in the middle of
ments and the Exchanges.
“Governments needs to
use Exchanges to raise capital.
There is opportunity and liquid-
ity to support those IPOs,” he
said during the celebration to
mark the 20 years of existence of
the Uganda Securities Exchange
in Kampala on April 06.
“The Exchanges need to
work with the regulators and
the government to ensure
regional exchanges become the
ing into the market of another
entity with a similar name has
and is bound to cause among
its clients.
Last Month, a Barclays Africa
Group announced plans to
rebrand to Absa Group by 2020,
subject to regulatory approval
in all ten countries that it oper-
ates in. This follows the suc-
cessful sale of Barclays PLC’s
stake in the bank’s Africa’s
operations.
next month,” Kamal Budhab-
hatti, Craft Silicon founder, tod
The Independent in an interview.
The firm’s expansion plans
to Kampala is set to transfer the
taxi price wars that Little has
sparked back in Kenya to the
American rival Uber and the
Estonian-based Taxify.
Uber and Taxify started their
operations in Uganda in 2016
and 2017, respectively, to tap
into the growing demand for
city transport services.
engine of driving alternative
source of income.”
Deputy Governor, Bank
of Uganda, Louis Kasekende
said there’s need to carry out
research into the obstacles that
hinder companies from listing
so that possible solutions can
be found. USEs Market Capi-
talization currently stands at
US$6billion compared to NSE’s
US$ 28.2billion.
aviation
Finally, RwandAir
gets new CEO
I
t is exactly a year since the
Rwandan government fired
John Mirenge as the chief
executive officer of national
carrier, RwandAir, replacing him
with Col Chance Dergano in an
acting capacity.
The good news now is that the
national carrier has a substantial
CEO following the appointment of
Yvonne Manzi Makolo (Pictured)
on April 06.
She takes over at the helm of the
airline alongside a growing number
of professional women in the coun-
try who hold similar leadership
positions, the latest such appoint-
ment being that of Michaella Rug-
wizangoga as CEO of Volkswagen
Rwanda.
Yvonne was for the past year part
of the top team in the national air-
line, holding the position of Deputy
CEO in charge of Corporate Affairs.
She takes over the mantle at the
time when the airline is looking to
expand their African and interconti-
nental destination.
RwandAir currently flies to 24
destinations in Africa, Europe and
Asia, with the maiden flight to
China set for June this year.
 business
New ICT policy targets
telecom companies
By Julius Businge region even as the government

T
recently undertook steps to
he cost of internet and have it lowered.
related services could The government, through
soon drop further if the its agency, the National Infor-
proposed sector broad- mation Technology Authority
band policy is implemented, Uganda (NITA-U) on Oct. 30,
according to the Minister of 2017, announced a reduction in
Information Technology and the price of internet bandwidth
Communications, Frank Tum- for government offices from
webaze. US$190 per Mbps to U$70.
Tumwebaze, who spoke on However, this is still high com-
the sidelines of the 19th ordinary pared to around US$50 per
session of the African Telecom- Mbps in Rwanda.
Frank Tumwebaze, the Minister of Information Technology and munication Union Administra- Fred Otunnu, who represent-
Communications speaking to the press at the 19th African tive Council meeting held in ed the Executive Director of the
Telecommunications union council of administration at Hotel Africana Kampala from April 4-5, said Uganda Communications Com-
on March 4. He ascertained that government should taxi Facebook and the policy will soon be dis- mission, said one of the pur-
whatsapp to promote local innovations.  INDEPENDENT/JIMMY SIYA cussed in Cabinet. poses of the ATU meeting, is to
He said that the new policy help harmonise regional polices
which may possibly be out in to match those implemented
the coming months will ensure at the global level through the
that telecom companies cover International Telecommunica-
the whole country while offer- tion Union (ITU).
ing internet and voice call ATU brings together African
services. countries and mobile com-
He said they will urge munications providers to
telecom companies to share spearhead the development
infrastructure as a measure of of the continent’s information
cutting operational costs which and communication technology
would further lead to reduction infrastructure. Currently, it has
in consumer tariffs. 46 member states and 16 asso-
Tumwebaze’s announcement ciation members – consisting of
comes at the time the cost of fixed and mobile telecom opera-
internet and related services tors. The 19th meeting was orga-
remain high compared with nized by the UCC on behalf of
the rest of the countries in the the government of Uganda.
Winner of 1million worth of Fuel in the recently concluded Eastern Shell
Saving race Mukose Musa of Toyota Premio 1600cc (2nd R) pose for
a group photo with Vivo Energy HSSE Manager Allan Kibaya (R) and
his co-driver after their successful completion of the race from Shell
Amber Court in Jinja to Shell Iganga and back in the Shell Do More
campaign.  INDEPENDENT/JIMMY SIYA
Weekly share price movement (March .20)
Security March 20 March 12 Movement
BATU 30000 30000 00
BOBU 120 120 00
CENT 1,679 1,626 3.2
DFCU 711 710 00
EABL 9,099 8,639 5.3
EBL 1,841 1,726 6.7
JHL 19,138 18,544 3.2
KA 411 469 12.4
KCB 1,841 1,762 4.5
NIC 17 16 00
NMG 3,683 3,687 0.1
NVL 510 510 00
SBU 29 29 00
Reagan Okumu, the Parliamentary chairperson of Local government Committee UCHM 95 95 00
addressing the press after the release of the assessment of accountability UCL 29 29 00
structures study by Civil Society at Golf Course Hotel on March 4. They urged
UMEME 410 405 1.2
government to embrace more meaningful partnership and engagement with
CSOs to enhance accountably functions in Uganda.  INDEPENDENT/JIMMY SIYA ALSI -- -- --

April 13 - 19, 2018 27

comment
By Samantha Lakin
Rwandans commemorate genocide
Reflect on the history of policy and practice of memory,
justice, and recovery in the country over the past 24 years
R
wanda is commemorating the
24th anniversary of the 1994 Tutsi
genocide. This claimed the lives of
between 800,000 and one million
Tutsis and moderate Hutus over 100 days.
This is a good time to reflect on the his-
tory of policy and practice of memory,
justice, and recovery in the country
over the past 24 years. Two questions
are especially pertinent: how have
Rwandans engaged in various forms of
memory after genocide? How have these
processes been meaningful?
From a series of nearly 60 interviews
conducted in the country since 2015, I
have learned from a diversity of perspec-
tives about memory and justice.
The findings suggest that genocide
memory in Rwanda is diverse and
dynamic. The interviewees’ often offered
surprising and unexpected perspectives.
These could not have been assumed
from reading secondary reports or by
observing the commemorations from a
distance.
For example many people – including
genocide survivors and former perpetra-
tors – have a more holistic concept of
justice than punishing perpetrators. And
there is a huge desire for spaces for dia-
logue about how memories of genocide
emerge and impact everyday life. These
spaces would bring together survivors,
perpetrators, returnees, and ordinary
citizens. There is also a great desire for
knowledge about how to use these mem-
ories to seek justice, validation, and pro-
mote coexistence; especially for future
generations.
What we learnt
I interviewed genocide survivors,
former perpetrators and ordinary
citizens who were neither targeted for
genocide nor took part in killing. Offi-
cials engaged in memory processes in
Rwanda were also interviewed.
The commemoration ceremonies take
place over 100 days, known as the Kwi-
buka period, beginning on April 7 each
year. During this period, Rwandans visit
village, district, or national memorial
sites known as urwibutso where geno-
cide victims are buried. There they hold
28 April 13 - 19, 2018
memorial ceremonies which include lis-
tening to survivor testimonies and repre-
sentatives from survivors’ organisations.
Local and national leaders relate the
history of the genocide, and sometimes
perpetrators give testimonies.
Bodies of victims are still being found
to this day, in pits or on farms. These
bodies are reburied in communal memo-
rial sites during the kwibuka period.
Sometimes icyunamo (time of mourning)
is observed. This is the cultural practice
of informal mourning that takes place
throughout the night, usually around a
fire.
Regardless of the programme of kwi-
buka, each process ideally pays respect
to genocide victims and works to bring
Rwandans together.
But not all acts of memory are nec-
essarily guided by the intention of
achieving peace and justice, unity and
reconciliation. Some of this is because of
individual differences in perspective and
resilience. Simply put, some people cope
better with the harms that they suffered
for various reasons, among them faith,
education, and economic gains since the
genocide.
Some individuals do not feel particu-
larly connected to the memorial sites.
Yet they still attend the ceremonies. This
can cause conflicts of memory, especially
when what is being remembered differs
according to an individuals’s experience
of the genocidal process. So it is impor-
tant to ask Rwandans how urwibutso
and kwibuka have or have not led to
senses of justice, and what aspects of
these processes are meaningful.
Local cultures of memory
It is also important to go back into the
culture of Rwanda to inform the process
of reflecting on and remembering the
genocide. That serves to ensure that these
processes are salient to Rwandans them-
selves, regardless of their backgrounds.
Achieving these goals is not an easy
process. For example, proximity mat-
ters, as genocide survivors, genocidaires,
returnees, and others still live together in
close contact, in local communities and
villages in Rwanda.
In addition, the genocide took place
during a time of a civil war (1 October
1990-4 July 1994) and it was planned by
a government that had abandoned its
people. The government coerced many to
participate in the killings. It used years of
deliberate propaganda, hate speech, and
dehumanisation tactics to indoctrinate
others into hate ideology.
Many of the survivors were born of so-
called mixed marriages, with one Hutu
and one Tutsi parent. This reality chal-
lenges the binary nature of victimisation
and perpetration of genocide in Rwanda.
Meaning making and memorialisation
The interviews raise further questions:
what are Rwandans empowered by and
what do they find meaningful about
memorial sites and kwibuka, in order to
sustain these processes over time?
For example, the research shows that,
although some survivors feel validated
when former perpetrators join them at
commemoration ceremonies, others fear
that requiring former genocidaires to
attend when they still do not accept their
guilt might result in a backlash.
Some individuals attend kwibuka to
support their neighbours but do not
consider it their “own story.” Others con-
sider it to be one of the most significant
and emotional days of their lives each
year. Some embrace kwibuka as a chance
to remember their loved ones among the
comfort of friends and neighbours. Yet,
others fear it, because of the retraumati-
sation, grief, depression, and anger they
might feel.
These are some examples of the diverse
perspectives of kwibuka, all of which are
valid and coexist in the same physical
and emotional space every April in
Rwanda.
Samantha Lakin is a PhD Candidate,
Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide
Studies; Fulbright Scholar, Clark University.
Eric Ndushabandi, Director, Institute of
Research and Dialogue for Peace, Rwanda,
co-authored this article.

By Morrison Rwakakamba
WhatsApp tax and democracy
How progressive is Uganda’s tax code for an
economy that has been hurting since 2016?
A
s we approach the 2018/2019
Financial Year and the statecraft
colour that comes with it - the State
of the Nation address and reading
of the national budget; the dress rehearsals
are taking shape.
For the first time, Ugandans are debating
the revenue side of the budget. For a
number of years, debate on the public
budget - through the circle of consultations
in districts, civil society boardrooms, gov-
ernment and parliamentary hallways – has
been about what to spend on, where to
spend, why and how to spend on things!
That we are now talking and circling on
sources of public revenue is a good thing.
I hope our buzzing talk on a number of
mainstream, social, and get-together plat-
forms - finds space into ambers of public
policy.
First, the recent ‘thinking out of the box’
WhatsApp tax, the proposed 15% tax on
money transfers, the directive to Banks
to lay open citizen’s bank accounts for
purposes of taxation have really got me
thinking about our country’s tax code. It’s
logic of ages that a country’s tax code can
break or boost its economy. These hasty,
non consultative and policy by slogan
tax proposals are a response to an open
secret – that the economy has been hurting
since 2016, that the 6.7% GDP rebound
that Deputy Governor, Bank of Uganda
Dr.Louis Kasekende recently mentioned at
a Uganda Securities Exchange event is not
a concrete story, that it is not felt in people’s
pockets.
Kasekende knows that the wellness of the
economy should in fact be more at the core
and measured on number of meaningful
jobs it creates, the purchasing power of citi-
zenry – and the health of current account.
Since independence, Uganda has seldom
operated a current account surplus.
According to open source datasets from
Central Intelligence Agency, as of January
2018, Uganda’s current account deficit was
at -$1.476 billion. Precisely, we continue
to import more goods and services and
export less goods and services. This speaks
to the state of our strategic and productive
capacity as a country – and even for the
talk about spending and spending – are we
are spending on the right skillsets (person
bytes) and known productive sectors of
the economy like industry, research and
agriculture? More evidence points to more
spends’ on re-current expenditure and over-
adminstration.
Secondly, Internet (data) in Uganda is
already taxed – to therefore tax use of What-
sApp, Facebook, and Twitter etc. is double
taxation. Even then, taxing information plat-
forms, which means effectively constraining
free flow of information, comes with gover-
nance implications.
To use tax to restrict debate and flow of
ideas even when one disagrees with those
ideas is an onslaught on democracy. Make
no mistake; economies that thrive are those
that are open- that allow imagination and
unfettered exchange of ideas, experimenta-
tion and execution.
People have amazing capacity to dis-
cern helpful information and non-helpful
information. Local content /innovation
promotion is not achieved through ret-
rogressive taxation of Internet platforms
but rather strengthening of local capacity
through delivery of tax rebates and venture
financing to ICT developers etc.
Harnessed properly, information flow
through Internet is also critical to law
enforcement, national security and accen-
tuating of entrepreneurship. In fact, in
Buwate, Kira, Wakiso, the community has a
vigilante WhatsApp group with police per-
sonnel operating in the area as members.
Security updates on this platform has been
helpful for the community and police to
reduce crime in the area. Recently, a Wat-
sapp Group named “ Concerned Citizens’
launched ‘Fortune500’ savings and invest-
ments’ group. Physically unknown to each
other, members are people who have been
linked by WhatsApp and are now working
together to build various tax paying corpo-
rations in Uganda.
Internet taxes should, therefore, instead
be removed to help Uganda achieve uni-
versal coverage of Internet and thus allow
innovations and growth of businesses.
Taxing WhatsApp, Facebook etc. is regres-
sive, anti-development, and undemocratic.
Our policy makers and agencies must
understand that the collection of tax not
only requires substantial coercive power,
but also more importantly requires a state
to be legitimate since the vast majority of
tax is collected when there is a high level of
voluntary compliance.
Thirdly (Sadly), the Uganda Revenue
Authority (URA) directive to have banks
expose private bank account details of its
clients is not only an attempt at blatant
invasion of privacy – but also ant-logic! It is
COMMENT
common sense that the soul of any banking
system is TRUST. Without trust, there are
no banks.
Implementation of such a directive
will ensure that the country retreats into
informal economy. With Uganda’s tax to
GDP ratio at less that 15% (This percentage
is very low compared to other East African
Community and Sub-Saharan African coun-
tries which are at 20% of GDP on average),
one would imagine that URA and other
government agencies would be pursuing
policies and incentives that would drive
citizenry into formalised ways of life in
order to be able assess and collect more tax
revenue.
Edmund Burke remarked; ‘Revenue is the
chief preoccupation of the state. Nay more
it is the state’ (quoted in O’Brien (2001, p.
25). Taxation is inherently political. In the
early 20th century, Joseph Schumpeter once
wrote: ‘Taxes not only helped create the
state; they helped form it. Whereas I agree
with Burke and Schumpeter that largely
the process of tax collection is one of the
most powerful lenses in political economy
to assess the distribution of power and
the legitimacy of the state and of powerful
interest groups in civil society, it is impor-
tant to note that sustainability of taxation
enterprise relies on fairness, inclusiveness,
and justness of taxation regime. It is also
important to note that the ambition of
increasing domestic tax revenue in order to
provide public goods, develop infrastruc-
tures needed to speed up national develop-
ment is met with the reality that develop-
ment actually happens and that there is no
leakage of tax money through corruption.
When people feel their taxes are put to
good use, voluntary compliance in pay-
ment of taxes increases. A tax code that
that sucks blood and freedom out of the
economy/country is regressive and counter
productive. As we embark on the journey of
balancing the budget, we are required to act
judiciously and build a progressive tax code
where everyone pays a fair share, a tax code
that will grow the economy for the many,
expand social services, boost national secu-
rity, inspire innovation - and political and
social economic freedoms. May the force of
God be with you.
Morrison Rwakakamba is a resident of
Nyeibingo village, Kebisoni, Rukungiri,
mrwakakamba@gmaiol.com
April 13 - 19, 2018 29
COMMENT
By Otaviano Canuto
Manufacturing in the global south
How declining global labour costs and increasing
robotics are conspiring against manufacturing there
I
n emerging markets, manufacturing
has historically been a source of produc-
tivity, growth, and jobs. Since the 1950s,
industrialisation has kept economies in
Latin America, Asia, and Eastern Europe
on a steady glide toward higher stages of
development.
But as a growth strategy for low-income
countries, the efficacy of traditional manu-
facturing is waning. To compete in the
technology-driven global economy of the
future, developing countries will need new
models to increase productivity and put
people to work.
Two factors are conspiring to cast doubt
on the wisdom of manufacturing-led devel-
opment. The first is competitiveness: attract-
ing production to low-income countries has
never been harder. Labour costs, exchange
rates, and infrastructure are all fiercely con-
tested, which has led to a consolidation of
global manufacturing hubs.
The second factor is technology. As
robotics and artificial intelligence lower
labour costs, the rationale for transferring
manufacturing to emerging economies has
diminished. This is particularly problematic
for countries, such as those in Sub-Saharan
Africa, that are just now turning to industri-
alisation to spur growth. In the near term,
developing countries that are dependent on
manufacturing can compete by improving
business environments and training more
skilled workers. But sooner or later, wages
and workforces will stop offering a com-
parative advantage.
With traditional manufacturing unlikely
to fuel future economic growth in the
Global South, economists are exploring
new models of productivity. One idea is to
encourage a transition toward services such
as banking, finance, telecommunications,
and insurance. Some even predict that man-
ufacturing centers could become locations
for the “production” of services. For devel-
oping countries in particular, technology-
dependent activities are being championed
as an economic panacea, given the low mar-
ginal costs of expanding production.
But embracing the service sector in
isolation will not solve the economic and
employment-related challenges that the
30 April 13 - 19, 2018
Global South faces. Unlike traditional
manufacturing, which employs legions of
low-skill workers, an expanded services
sector will not offset the jobs lost to shut-
tered factories. With a few notable excep-
tions – including construction and tourism
– nonmanufacturing industries cannot
deliver productivity gains while also ensur-
ing adequate employment. For this reason,
a full departure from the status quo would
be unwise.
But there is a solution: emerging markets
may be able to develop more nuanced
strategies that merge elements of produc-
tion processes for both physical and non-
physical goods. If, however, the future of
production is a melding of manufacturing
and services, low-income countries will
have to adapt.
The world has much to learn about the
interplay of manufacturing and services,
but one thing is certain: technology lies at
the center of the transition. As my World
Bank colleagues Mary Hallward-Driemeier
and Gaurav Nayyar recently noted, “inter-
connected manufacturing” – whereby
machinery and equipment are connected to
The world has
much to learn
about the
interplay of
manufacturing
and services,
but one thing
is certain:
technology lies
at the center of
the transition
each other and to the Internet – is the future
of production. These so-called “smart facto-
ries” will drive manufacturing forward, and
if emerging markets are to compete in this
new production landscape, those driving
policy will need to raise the levels of auto-
mation, competitiveness, and connectedness
in their economies.
The coming “servicification of manufac-
turing” will confront policymakers every-
where – but especially in the developing
world – with hard choices. Not all econo-
mies will benefit from manufacturing-relat-
ed services, and it will require creativity to
determine how services might complement
evolution on the factory floor.
But as Hallward-Driemeier and Nayyar
note, regardless of where output occurs,
tomorrow’s production lines will be smarter
than today’s. “The agenda, therefore,
should be to prepare countries to use syn-
ergies across sectors to participate in the
entire value chain of a product, while also
exploiting standalone opportunities beyond
manufacturing.”
It is more difficult than ever to boost
employment of low- and unskilled workers
while maintaining healthy levels of growth.
Globalisation and new technologies are dra-
matically changing the world’s manufactur-
ing landscape, forcing leaders in emerging
economies to reconsider their paths toward
prosperity.
Fortunately, there is more that unites
manufacturing and services than separates
them. If the “smart factory” transition is
managed wisely, economies in the Global
South could find new opportunities for
growth. The alternative – joblessness amid
sputtering economic engines – is an out-
come no one can afford.
Otaviano Canuto is an executive director at
the World Bank.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2018.
 COMMENT
By Asaf Bitton
Benefits of primary healthcare
Effective systems can address today’s
four major global health challenges

W
e have four major global
challenges in health care. And
I think the unsung hero of the
health-care system – primary
health care – can help us solve them all.
pneumonia care to having my blood
pressure controlled, and much more? And,
The third more important, can someone know me as a
whole person and not just as a pathology?
challenge And that relates to the fifth core function:

we face
The first challenge is the rise of chronic person-centeredness. Are we able to create
noncommunicable diseases such as trusting relationships over time that help
hypertension, which is the world’s leading
killer. is the people attain their health goals?
We can address today’s four major global
The second challenge is fragmentation
of care. Complex systems are unable to
persistence health challenges by building effective
primary health-care systems. That means
integrate care for patients with multiple
conditions. We see this when trying to get
of building clinics and supply chains while
not losing sight of the real goal: creating a
test results to patients, or during the risky preventable reliable source of accessible, competent, and
period when patients are discharged from
hospital to home. infectious trusted care to promote and maintain health
over a lifetime.
The third challenge we face is the
persistence of preventable infectious and
and chronic
chronic diseases. One-third of deaths in the
U.S. are preventable, as are up to 80-90% of
diseases Asaf Bitton is Director of Primary Health Care
at Ariadne Labs, a joint center of Brigham and
deaths in low-income countries. That means Women’s Hospital and the Harvard T.H. Chan
that most of the 17,000 children under the School of Public Health.
age of five who die every day could have
been saved. Source: Project Syndicate, 2018.
That brings us to the fourth challenge:
low-quality care. Imagine a woman in
Nigeria seeking care for her pneumonia-
stricken child. If she can find a clinic, there
is a 50% chance that someone will be there
when she arrives. If there is, that person
correctly diagnoses pneumonia, a leading Affordable
cause of death, 50% of the time. Even with &
the right diagnosis, the right treatment is innovative
technology
available and will be administered 50%
Community
of the time. In other words, the rate of Water,
participation
successful treatment rate is about 12%. nutrition
&
Seen against in this background, and
health
sanitation
improving primary health care is essential. education
Primary care is not just about building
clinics or implementing disease-specific
programs. It is really about five core Strengthening
functions (the 5 Cs).
The first is contact access. Where do I go
primary
for the majority of my health needs and Health care
health care Appraisal
infrastructure incentive &
when I need something more acutely? training
The second is continuity. Does someone
know me over time? Do they know my
allergies so that they don’t give me the
wrong antibiotic?
The third is coordination. Can someone Increasing Preventive
help navigate across my lifespan and public care &
address my multiple health and social health health
expenditure insurance
needs?
The fourth is comprehensiveness.
Can I get a range of services, from acute

April 13 - 19, 2018 31

Sex and the brain
How does one impact the other?
H
By Maria Cohut body are actually tied to the way in
aving sex can flavor
our nights, and days,
with sweet pleasure and
excitement, relieving
stress and worry. And,
of course, sex has been
key to ensuring that the human race
lives on. In this article, we ask, “How
does sex impact what happens in the
brain?”
Sexual intercourse is known to
impact the way in which the rest of
our body functions.
Recent studies have shown that it
can have an effect on how much we
eat, and how well the heart functions.
As has previously been reported on
Medical News Today, sex has been
cited as an effective method of burning
calories, with scientists noting that
appetite is reduced in the aftermath.
Also, a study published in the
Journal of Health and Social Behavior
in 2016 found that women who have
satisfying sex later in life might be
better protected against the risk of
high blood pressure.
Many of the effects of sex on the
32 April 13 - 19, 2018
which this pastime influences brain
activity and the release of hormones in
the central nervous system.
Here, we explain what happens
in the brain when we are sexually
stimulated, and we look at how this
activity can lead to changes in mood,
metabolism, and the perception of
pain.
Brain activity and sexual
stimulation
For both men and women, sexual
stimulation and satisfaction have been
demonstrated to increase the activity
of brain networks related to pain and
emotional states, as well as to the
reward system.
This led some researchers to liken
sex to other stimulants from which
we expect an instant “high,” such as
drugs and alcohol.
A 2005 study by researchers
at the University Medical Center
Groningen in the Netherlands used
positron emission tomography scans
to monitor the cerebral blood flow of
male participants while their genitals
were being stimulated by their female
partners.
The scans demonstrated that
stimulating the erect male organ
increased blood flow in the
posterior insula and the secondary
somatosensory cortex in the right
hemisphere of the brain, while
decreasing it in the right amygdala.
The insula is a part of the brain that
has been tied to processing emotions,
as well as to sensations of pain and
warmth. Similarly, the secondary
somatosensory cortex is thought to
play an important role in encoding
sensations of pain.
As for the amygdala, it is known
to be involved in the regulation of
emotions, and dysregulations of
its activity have been tied to the
development of anxiety disorders.
An older study from the same
university — which focused on brain
regions that were activated at the
time of ejaculation — found that there
was an increase in blood flow to the
cerebellum, which also plays a key
role in the processing of emotions.
The researchers liken the activation
of the cerebellum during ejaculation

to the pleasure rush caused by other
activities that stimulate the brain’s
reward system.
“Our results correspond with
reports of cerebellar activation during
heroin rush, sexual arousal, listening
to pleasurable music, and monetary
reward.”
The brain and the female orgasm
In a study of the female orgasm that
was conducted last year, scientists
from Rutgers University in Newark,
NJ, monitored the brain activity of 10
female participants as they achieved
the peak of their pleasure — either
by self-stimulation or by being
stimulating by their partners.
The regions that were “significantly
activated” during orgasm, the team
found, included part of the prefrontal
cortex, the orbitofrontal cortex, the
insula, the cingulate gyrus, and the
cerebellum.
These brain regions are variously
involved in the processing of emotions
and sensations of pain, as well as
in the regulation of some metabolic
processes and decision-making.
Another study previously covered
on MNT suggested that the rhythmic
and pleasurable stimulation associated
with orgasm puts the brain in a
trance-like state. Study author Adam
Safron compares the effect of female
orgasms on the brain with that
induced by dancing or listening to
music.
“Music and dance may be the
only things that come close to sexual
interaction in their power to entrain
neural rhythms and produce sensory
absorption and trance,” he writes.
“That is,” he adds, “the reasons we
enjoy sexual experiences may overlap
heavily with the reasons we enjoy
musical experience, both in terms of
proximate (i.e. neural entrainment
and induction of trance-like states)
and ultimate (i.e. mate choice and
bonding) levels of causation.”
Sex and hormonal activity
So what does this all mean? In
essence, it means that sex can impact
our mood — normally for the better,
but sometimes for the worse.
Having sex has repeatedly been
associated with improved moods
and psychological, as well as
physiological, relaxation.
The reason behind why we may
feel that stress impacts us less after a
session between the sheets is due to a
brain region called the hypothalamus.
The hypothalamus dictates the
release of a hormone called oxytocin.
Higher levels of oxytocin can make
us feel more relaxed, as studies have
noted that it can offset the effects of
cortisol, the hormone linked with an
increased state of stress.
Not only does oxytocin make us
calmer, but it also dampens our sense
of pain. A study from 2013 found that
this hormone could relieve headaches
in individuals living with them as a
chronic condition.
Another study from 2013 suggested
that a different set of hormones that
are released during sexual intercourse
— called endorphins — can also
relieve the pain associated with cluster
headaches.
Can sex also make us feel down?
The answer to that, unfortunately, is
“yes.” While sex is generally hailed as
a great natural remedy for the blues,
a small segment of the population
actually report an instant down rather
than an instant high after engaging in
this activity.
This condition is known as
“postcoital dysphoria,” and its causes
remain largely unknown. One study
conducted in 2010 interviewed 222
female university students to better
understand its effects.
Of these participants, 32.9 percent
said that they had experienced
negative moods after sex.
The team noted that a lifelong
prevalence of this condition could be
down to past traumatic events. In most
cases, however, its causes remained
unclear and a biological predisposition
could not be eliminated.
“This draws attention to the unique
nature of [postcoital dysphoria],
where the melancholy is limited
only to the period following sexual
intercourse and the individual cannot
explain why the dysphoria occurs,”
the authors write.
health
Sex may lead to better sleep
Studies have shown that sexual
intercourse can also improve sleep.
After an orgasm, the body also
releases higher levels of a hormone
called prolactin, which is known to
play a key role in sleep.
Researchers from Central
Queensland University in Australia
also hypothesized that the release
of oxytocin during sex may act as a
sedative, leading to a better night’s
sleep.
In the case of men, ejaculation has
been found to reduce activity in the
prefrontal cortex, which is a brain
region known to benefit particularly
from a good night’s sleep.
In sleep, the prefrontal cortex
exhibits the slowest brainwave activity
compared with other brain regions,
which supports the proper execution
of cognitive functions during the
daytime.
Researchers say that sex may lead to
better cognitive functioning in older
age, protecting people from memory
loss and other cognitive impairments.
Studies have shown that “older men
who are sexually active [...] have
increased levels of general cognitive
function.”
For women, being sexually active
later in life appears to sustain memory
recall, specifically. These effects may
be due to the action of hormones such
as testosterone and oxytocin, which
are influenced by intercourse.
So, next time you’re about to slip
between the sheets with that special
someone, just know that this moment
of passion will spark a whole neural
firework show, releasing a special
hormonal cocktail that will, at its
best, charge a whole set of biological
batteries.
Source: Medical News Today
April 13 - 19, 2018 33
health
Want to de-stress?
Delete Facebook, study suggests
I
By Ana Sandoiu One group was asked to refrain from using
f Cambridge Analytica didn’t put
you off Facebook forever, this might:
a new study says that quitting the
social media network can drastically
lower your stress levels.
The Cambridge Analytica scan-
dal — also known as the largest data leak
in Facebook history — caused the social
network to lose around a million daily users
from the United States and Canada.
If you’re not one of these users, and the
thought of your personal data being used
to manipulate voters is not enough to make
you abandon the platform, perhaps this
new study will change your mind.
Researchers at the University of
Queensland in Brisbane, Australia — led by
Prof. Eric Vanman, who is a senior lecturer
at the university’s School of Psychology —
wanted to investigate the impact of quitting
Facebook on the users’ stress levels and
overall well-being.
The results, which have just been pub-
lished in the Journal of Social Psychology,
may convince you to #DeleteFacebook — if
not in protest, then out of concern for your
health.
Cortisol levels dropped
Prof. Vanman and his colleagues exam-
ined two groups of active Facebook users,
comprising 138 study participants in total.
34 April 13 - 19, 2018
Facebook for five days, while the other
group continued to use Facebook as usual.
The researchers took saliva samples
from the participants both at the beginning
and the end of the intervention, in order to
measure their levels of the stress hormone
cortisol.
Prof. Vanman sums up his findings,
reporting, “Taking a Facebook break for just
five days reduced a person’s level of the
stress hormone cortisol.”
Cortisol is known to soar when a person
is stressed. In fact, the hormone is consid-
ered to be the key player in stress, regulat-
ing how our body responds to it.
Too much cortisol can compromise our
immune system, making us more vulner-
able to infections, impairing our memory,
and predisposing us to obesity, among oth-
er things. Further negative effects of chronic
exposure to cortisol over prolonged periods
of time may include “impaired cognition,
decreased thyroid function, and accumula-
tion of abdominal fat, which [...] has impli-
cations for cardiovascular health.”
However, staying away from Facebook
might also make you sadder — at least
in the beginning. As Prof. Vanman says,
“While participants in our study showed an
improvement in physiological stress by giv-
ing up Facebook, they also reported lower
feelings of well-being.”
“People said they felt more unsatisfied
with their life, and were looking forward to
resuming their Facebook activity.”
Findings may apply to all social
networks
Prof. Vanman speculates on what may
have led to these results. He says, “People
experienced less well-being after those five
days without Facebook — they felt less
content with their lives — from the resulting
social disconnection of being cut off from
their Facebook friends.”
“Abstaining from Facebook,” continues
Prof. Vanman, “was shown to reduce a per-
son’s level of [...] cortisol, but people’s own
ratings of their stress did not change — per-
haps because they weren’t aware their stress
had gone down.”
Finally, he suggests that the findings may
apply to all social media networks. “We
don’t think that [the findings are] necessar-
ily unique to Facebook,” he explains, “as
people’s stress levels will probably reduce
anytime they take a break from their favor-
ite social media platforms.”
“Facebook has become an essential social
tool for millions of users and it obviously
provides many benefits. Yet, because it
conveys so much social information about
a large network of people, it can also be tax-
ing,” says Prof. Vanman
Source: Medical News Today
 ART | BOOKS | SOCIETY | TRAVEL | CULTURE
Speaking
vernacular
for modern
artists
Contradictions in decolonising
art training in Africa
F
By Dominic Muwanguzi
ormal western art training in
the East African region started
with Mrs. Margaret Trowell, a
Christian missionary, who first
lived in Kenya and later Uganda.
It is in Uganda during early 1937
that Trowell established her first art classes
on the verandah of her home in Mulago,
Kampala.
Her teaching emphasised African tradi-
tional techniques of making art. She wanted
her students to be independent of the west-
ern modernist approach of art production.
She emphasised practical rather than theo-
retical forms of learning. Students were to
form their own interpretation of day to day
situations and apply such understanding in
their artworks. This method produced art
that was localised. In 1940 she convinced the
head of Makerere College (now university)
to start teaching art.
But Trowell’s approach or `vernacular art
teaching’ was interrupted when she retired
from the art school in 1958. Since then, art
teaching has concentrated on equipping
students with theoretical materials in form
of European art history and acquisition
of studio skills; including `proper’ picture
construction and colour theory. Art training
became passive with no hands- on work for
students. Art lost relevance and interested
students.
To return to vernacular art teaching or
decolonising art education, scholars across
Africa are advocating renewed emphasis on
an art and the community approach instead
of the colonial method of art education at ter-
tiary institutions. This intervention makes art
more practical than theoretical and encour-
ages students to think beyond the classroom
and be independent-minded.
It is argued that art learning is impeded
when English, a colonial language, is used
in teaching, in literature, and in the physical
space- the classroom.
So, teachers of art address learners in the
local language. This happened at the `Anoth-
er RoadMap for Arts Education’ workshop
held at Nagenda International Academy of
Art and Design (NIAAD) in July 2015.
But it soon ran into challenges: the
scholars at the conference were trained in
western art colleges and live abroad, the
project emphasised structural policies, and it
lacked funding. Although it was funded by
NIAAD and similar art institutions, these in
fact solicit funding from western art colleges
or cultural institutions. So the west was still
promoting its own ideology through tar-
geted support.
Secondly, art colleges like Makerere Uni-
versity traditionally perceive art as elitist
and not for the average person in the com-
munity. It is a contradiction afflicting the art
and the community schemes at Makerere.
Recent efforts to integrate the local commu-
nity through exhibitions of artworks by or
for the deaf and blind by both Dr. Angello
Kakande (All the Light We Can See 2017)
and Dr. Amanda Tumusiime have been suc-
cessful. But the academic approach impedes
their effectiveness. Community integra-
tion is treated like a research project for the
academia and not a communal venture that
benefits the grassroots.
Tusiime Mathias’ community art project;
the Uganda Community Art and Skills
Development Recycling (UCASDR), is
different. It is located in the community.
Tusiime an artist with no formal art train-
ing is a casual labourer at the School of Fine
Art and Design, Makerere and through his
indigenous art practices, he established a
platform to train the local community in art
skills through apprenticeship. This scheme
promotes innovation and experimentation.
It has created barkcloth paper. It is devoid of
academic pretensions.
Thirdly, the emergence of academic art
platforms like Thirdtext Africa and recently
Startjournal makes vernacular art teaching
inefficient if not ambiguous. The editorial
teams and policies used to document and
censure art from the continent and western-
based yet many artists and practitioners do
not have the “relevant” qualifications to do
art.
Some local artists, such as Eria Sane Nsub-
uga an artist – a Phd student at Southamp-
ton University in England - argues that aca-
demic knowledge is essential to safeguard
the disciplinary aspect of art. The surge in
the interest of art from Africa and in art festi-
vals in Europe and North America is seen as
a threat not a boon. It shouldn’t be.
April 13 - 19, 2018 35
Left-handers less likely to believe in God
In a study published in the journal
`Evolutionary Psychological Science’,
scientists have discovered an inter-
esting connection between atheism
and certain genetic traits, including
left-handedness, schizophrenia, and
autism. It all comes down to the DNA
and something they refer to as “muta-
tional load”. Essentially, people who
identify as religious tend to have fewer
genetic mutations. They are, therefore,
less likely than their non-religious
peers to be left-handed, according
to lead author Edward Dutton of the
Ulster Institute for Social Research.

Did Pope Francis deny Man raised by

existence of hell?
The Vatican communications
department has been working
overtime the past few weeks.
They are scrambling to contextu-
alize a remark attributed to Pope
Francis by an Italian journalist
at the newspaper La Repubblica
that hell does not exist. Speak-
ing to the newspaper’s founder,
journalist and atheist Eugenio
Scalfari, Francis was quoted as
saying of those who die in a
state of mortal sin: “They are
not punished. Those who repent
obtain God’s forgiveness and
take their place among the ranks
of those who contemplate him,
but those who do not repent and
cannot be forgiven disappear.
A hell doesn’t exist, the disap-
pearance of sinning souls exists.”
If the Pope indeed said those
words, the consequences would
be catastrophic for the Catholic
Church, which — according to
its own catechism — “affirms
the teaching of hell and its eter-
nity,” including “eternal fire,”
although it stresses that the “The
chief punishment of hell is eter-
nal separation from God.” The
Vatican immediately critiqued
Scalfari’s account, saying the
quotes in the article were not “a
faithful transcription of the Holy
Father’s words.” Scalfari is a
longtime friend and intellectual
sparring partner of Pope Francis.
wolves disappointed
with humans
Marcos Rodríguez Pantoja
lived among wolves for 12 years
in the mountains of Spain’s
Cordoba province, says his life
apart when he was rescued and
brought among humans who
have cheated and abused him
and laughed at by his peers
because he doesn’t know much
about things like soccer and
politics. He was 19 when he
was rescued and is now 72 years
old but still has not completely
adjusted to life among humans.
He says he was happier among
the wolves. Sadly, he says, the
wolves don’t welcome him
either now. “I smell like people, I
wear cologne.” Rodríguez is one
of the very few recorded cases of
Can this boy’s body really light up LED bulbs? humans raised by animals, away
from civilization. He has been
the subject of various anthropo-
A 9-year-old his body went people speculate logical studies, books and docu-
boy from Kerala, viral online. Abu the story is fake mentaries.
in India, has Thahir’s father, news. However,
become a social Nizar, who hap- expert Joshy
media sensa- pens to be an K Kuriakose
tion after videos electrician, told told Manorama
of him lighting reporters that Online that the
rechargeable LED when he touches unusual phe-
light bulbs just a LED bulb to nomenon could
by touching their any part of his be caused by the
electrical contacts son’s body, it just high salt content
with any part of lights up. Some in his body.
Why is Manhattan becoming a ghost town?
If you want to see the future arguably the world’s most tan. Surveys claim that Manhat-
of storefront retailing, walk famous avenue, lies a shopping tan’s overall vacancy is only just
nine blocks along Broadway wasteland. Yes, there are bank 10 percent. Why? Apparently
in New York city, USA, from branches, restaurants, fast-food shopping from home or on a
57th to 48th Street and count the outlets, theaters, but mainly it smartphone is a lot easier than
stores. The total number comes is empty spaces covered with shopping in a store. At this rate,
to precisely one — a tiny shop signs touting `Superb corner we face a future where streets
to buy drones. That’s right: On retail opportunity’. The same will be mostly dark at sidewalk
a nine-block stretch of what’s crisis blights the rest of Manhat- level for miles on end.

36 April 13 - 19, 2018

AMG to ditch V12 engines
By Agencies
S
ay it isn’t so! Mercedes-AMG ex-
pected to adopt hybrid turbo V8 as
its flagship engine
As the march of technology con-
tinues and emissions regulations begin to
bite, automotive juggernauts will fall by the
wayside. Case in point, the Mercedes-AMG
M279 engine, known outside Benz nerd
circles as the biturbo 6.0-litre V12.
Capable of generating an immense output
of 463kW at 5400rpm and 1000Nm 2300rpm
while retaining a creamy-smooth power
delivery, the V12 engine is reserved for top-
shelf AMG models such as versions of the
S-Class coupe and sedan and the G-Class
SUV.
However, in an interview with U.S. pub-
lication `Car and Driver’, Mercedes-AMG
boss Tobias Moers effectively confirmed
that the big turbo V12 will be axed.
“Eventually, the 12-cylinder engine will
be phased out at AMG,” Tobias revealed.
He said that Mercedes-Benz high-per-
formance division would instead “follow
another path”.
The new direction of travel for Mercedes-
AMG is towards an electrified powertrain.
Mercedes-AMG has already confirmed it is
readying a petrol-electric hybrid version of
its smaller but newer twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8
that powers its AMG 63 models today.
This will spell the end of the 463kW SL65
and S65 AMG models, although these will
at least stick around until the end of their
current life cycles, the U.S. publication
reported. At this stage there is no word on
whether there will be a new-generation G65
AMG as a last-hurrah for 12-cylinder AMGs,
although this report certainly makes that
seem less likely.
Although he didn’t elaborate on what this
path will entail, the logical assumption is
that some of the 4-litre twin-turbo V8 mod-
els will be paired with an ‘EQ Boost’ hybrid
system, similar to that featured in the new
straight-six ‘53’ AMG models
Mooted 12 months ago at the 2017
Geneva motor show, AMG’s new hybrid V8
will pump out around 600kW, significantly
more than the V12’s 463kW.
The naming convention for the ludicrous-
ly powerful AMG hybrid engine could be
73, given that AMG recently trademarked S
73, GLS 73 and G 73 in Europe.
At the time, the German hot haus insisted
the hybrid V8 motor will propel the new
Mercedes-AMG GT 4-Door Coupe to
100km/h in less than three seconds.
Currently the highest state of tune for that
car is in the GT 63 S model, which bangs out
470kW/900Nm and is good for an stomach-
churning 3.2sec sprint to 100km/h.
The AMG GT 53 4-Door Coupe already
has a mild hybrid (48-volt) system, a 3.0-litre
inline six-cylinder turbo worth 320kW and
520Nm, and it’s only a matter of time before
we see a flagship hybrid version of the V8.
The AMG GT 53 4-Door Coupe runs a
mild hybrid powertrain to boost power and
reduce emissions
Moers recently told journalists that “…
in the performance segment I think that
hybridisation and electrification is going
to be the key,” which will sound the death
knell for the V12 in the AMG line-up.
But the V12 won’t be completely binned,
not just yet.
The colossal V12 is built on the AMG
assembly line and is expected to continue to
power some Mercedes-Benz and Mercedes-
Maybach models. Some customers won’t
accept anything less than 12-cylinders.
Moers said “We will continue to build the
engine for other sub-brands,” which is in
line with comments made by his Mercedes-
Benz colleague Ola Kallenius in 2016.
Mercedes-Benz’ research and develop-
ment kingpin, Kallenius stated that the V12
won’t die – not completely.
He reckons that certain rusted-on custom-
ers only buy the top-end models because of
the colossal V12 engine.
“The V12 is a segment for connoisseurs,
it’s a small and exclusive segment and we
will continue to offer that,” said Kallenius.
April 13 - 19, 2018 37
Profile
Karitas Karisimbi on return to TV
By Agnes E Nantaba and did an afternoon show and later a and Hill Side International. At the time, she

K
morning show. She also worked with East says, she wanted to be a lawyer.
aritas Karisimbi insists on being African TV until she quit the media to in “I liked speaking for others and helping
referred to as `Nalongo’ - for 2006, to concentrate on her production, them to seek justice,” she says, “But I
having had twins eight years K-files and her hair products business. realised that it was a very long journey
ago. Three months ago, Karitas Karitas is among the last of the nine so I took on a second option in the media
returned to TV screens; specifically NBS children of Rwandan parents raised by something I don’t regret.”
TV, after a break. a single mother. The family moved a lot She did a Journalism course in Nairobi
She says it’s partly because her twins under the care of guardians. That is and IT in UK.
are now grown and also because TV is her how she ended up starting
passion. school in Nairobi,
“During all this time while I was away, I Kenya. She returned
matured,” she says, “I wanted to come back to Uganda for
with a much bigger impact; with my own her secondary
idea, having a finished product so I could school at East
have control of my show.” Kololo and
She says it is her way of maintaining Namugongo
relevance but TV few stations were willing in Kampala.
to allow her free rein. She says even NBS She also
TV which liked her concept switched a went to City
few things in the `Chat room’, which is the High, Royal
name of her show. She hosts celebrities College,
mainly although she says anyone with a
relevant and influential story is welcome.
She explains although the target audience
is largely female, she doesn’t want to leave
men out.
“I want to talk about things that are
relevant such that my guests can answer
the things that they never want to answer,”
she says.
Karitas also plans to start something
with the youth and one of the avenues is to
share her life story in a way to inspire them.
She says it is a work in progress.
“I am not where I want to be in terms of
concept execution but I am too ambitious
and know that I will get there,” she says.
Karitas hit Uganda TV in 2000 as a
sizzling host of then famous `Show time
magazine’ on WBS TV. She says she
was working as a waitress at Hotel
International in Kampala when she
met Elvis Sekyanzi, a budding
entertainment entrepreneur
whose father Gordon
Wavamunno owned WBS TV.
After going through some
test, she landed the `Show
time magazine’ gig on
WBS TV. She describes
the three years on WBS
as “amazing”. She met
and networked with
lots of people and has
never looked back.
While still at WBS,
she joined Sanyu FM
presenting a midnight.
Then after she quit WBS
TV she joined Capital FM

38 April 13 - 19, 2018


Karitas Karisimbi’s Liteside
Any three things that we don’t
I
know about you?
am a shy person which
many people find hard to
believe because I always
look direct into people’s
eyes when holding conversa-
tions.
I am also selfless although
sometimes the decisions I make
in that regard are stupid.
I am a dancer because danc-
ing is my happy place. Over
time, I have learnt that there is
so much that we can do with
everything, so I don’t stress
myself thinking about doing
everything. Because as you
grow old, the race against time
sets in and almost everything
matters.
What is your idea of perfect
happiness?
My boys are miracle children
and with them, my faith was
renewed.
What is your greatest fear?
I fear disappointing others
because when I make a prom-
ise, I feel that I should hold onto
it. There is also the fear and
pressure to raise my children
into good citizens.
What is the trait you most de-
plore in yourself?
I procrastinate a lot; there is
so much I would already have
done by now if not for procras-
tination.
What is the trait you most de-
plore in others?
I can carry other things but
not lies.
Which living person do you
most admire?
My Mum Gertrude, is more
than strong because she suf-
fered two strokes but you can’t
tell. She sets her goals and sticks
to them, loved one man was
disappointed and quit to raise
her children. I also admire my
little sister Maria; she turned
her life around and has never
looked back.
My other person is President
Kagame; I love his strong head,
he is cool and always smart. He
also managed to unite a country
that was at the verge of collapse
and disunity. He managed to
unify people, get his country
back through instilling a culture
or organization; so I just admire
him. He commands power and
authority.
What is your greatest extrava-
gance?
I used to spend on shoes and
at one time, I had 410 pairs of
shoes but may be because I was
always in the limelight. But
now days, my extravagance are
my kids because this is their
time.
What is your current state of
mind?
I am happy though not ful-
filled yet.
What do you consider the most
overrated virtue?
Gossip and social media are
things we could use to our gain
but we instead misuse them to
preach hate, demeaning each
other because at the end of the
day, we all end up in one place.
What does being powerful
mean to you?
Starting from the home,
power comes with influence
and with it, you may demand,
oppress, and abuse which is
why with power, many get
lost and end up controlling
and abusing it. The fact that
someone has power makes
them think that they can own
anything not knowing that its
misuse.
On what occasion do you lie?
I try not to tell lies because
chances are that I will tell the
truth unknowingly. Even when
I tell lies, it doesn’t sit down
well with me.
What do you most dislike
about your appearance?
Not anymore.
Which living person do you
most despise?
I despise people in positions
of power that abuse them.
What is the quality you most
like in a woman?
The fear of God is the begin-
ning of wisdom and under-
standing.
What is the quality you most
like in a man?
Knowing God is the center of
everything.
What or who is the greatest
love of your life?
My boys are the reason my
faith in God was renewed so I
love them to bits.
When and where were you
happiest?
Bringing my twins back from
hospital after birth prematurely.
Watching my first show
upon return to the media early
this year.
The time I discovered that
God has a purpose for me that I
haven’t yet tapped into.
Which talent would you most
like to have?
I like to sing but not to per-
form on stage. I just want to
sing songs that people just love
listening to.
If you could change one thing
about yourself, what would
it be?
Anything that I want to
change, I can change but not
anymore.
What do you consider your
greatest achievement?
I don’t know if I have
achieved it yet but for now, it
is returning to TV and still be
appreciated, relevant and loved.
I still have an audience that
loves and supports me. I have
also achieved big steps with my
boys.
Where would you most like
to live?
April 13 - 19, 2018
Q&A
I am attached to Uganda and
it has also been good to me. I
don’t know how to stay any-
where else.
What is your most treasured
possession?
I treasure life everyday.
What do you regard as the low-
est depth of misery?
Sleeping on an empty stom-
ach; especially the children. The
lowest point for a youth is not
having control of a situation
when you could easily take
control of it.
What is your favorite occupa-
tion?
TV is my first love and it
allows me speak to many peo-
ple spontaneously.
What do you most value in
your friends?
Honesty and respect.
Who are your favourite writ-
ers?
John Grisham and biogra-
phies of different people; espe-
cially women.
Which historical figure do you
most identify with?
Princess Diana was in a posi-
tion of power but seated on fire
with all the criticism and pres-
sure. She disregarded all that
and went ahead doing charity.
I put her in the same category
with Michael Jackson for the
amount of power that he had.
What is your greatest regret?
One thing I regret is not using
my position in the media to the
fullest; for instance like giving
back to society.
How would you like to die?
In my sleep after having
good moments with my people.
What is your motto?
Make every day that you live
meaningful, give it your best
and leave the rest with God at
the center.
39
Global comment
By Sania Nishtar
How corruption impedes healthcare
Today, some 800 million people spend at least 10%
of their household budgets on health payments
H
alf of the planet cannot access es-
sential health services. For many
people, paying to see a doctor,
obtaining medications, seeking
family-planning advice, or even getting
immunised against common illnesses is a
choice between staying healthy and slip-
ping into poverty. And, more than ever,
the health-care options that poor people do
have are being degraded by a familiar foe.
In many low- and middle-income coun-
tries, corruption, inadequate spending,
and wasted resources pose enduring
challenges for health-care systems.
Growing up in Pakistan, I saw people
forced to go to extremes to secure health
care. For example, families might be
forced to sell off cattle and other valu-
ables to pay exorbitant medical bills.
What is shocking is that the scourge of
health-related poverty continues to claim
victims today. Indeed, in some countries,
people falling into poverty due to the
high cost of health care is an everyday
reality.
On a recent trip to Africa, I heard a har-
rowing story of a hospital where women
and their newborns are routinely held
hostage – often for months – until families
can find the money to settle their bills.
According to researchers at the University
of California, San Diego, corruption, waste,
and unethical billing cost patients and
health systems billions of dollars annually.
In the United States, as much as 10% of
public-sector spending on health care is
lost to fraudulent billing, and tens of mil-
lions face significant economic barriers to
health care.
Clearly, improving health outcomes
requires both increased government
spending and an end to shady practices
that siphon crucial resources from the
health system. But how?
Around the world, corruption and
collusion are institutionalised in many
health-care systems. Of the $6.5 trillion
spent annually on healthcare, an estimated
$455 billion is lost, misused, or stolen.
Simply put, health costs are bankrupting
some of the poorest people in the world,
because many of the richest are lining
their pockets.
There is growing consensus that
affordable, quality health care is a basic
human right. The United Nations Sustain-
40 April 13 - 19, 2018
able Development Goals include universal
health coverage as a target. And it is not
only rich countries that have embraced
this goal: from Thailand to Costa Rica to
Rwanda, countries with mixed health sys-
tems and limited resources have dedicated
funds and political capital to making uni-
versal health care a reality.
Steps are being taken to help these coun-
tries succeed. Last year, Japan pledged $2.9
billion to help developing countries achieve
universal health coverage. And the World
Bank has indicated that a country’s ability
to borrow from it could eventually be tied
to investments in human capital, including
health spending.
But such gestures, however laudable
– and overdue – will not be enough to
remove the barriers to quality health
services. Until corruption, theft, and
wasteful and inefficient spending are
addressed more vigorously, universal
health coverage will remain aspirational.
Fortunately, governments are increas-
ingly committed to solving the corrup-
tion crisis. Tax evasion and fraud – both
common crimes – are drawing closer
scrutiny from law enforcement agencies.
Tax evasion doesn’t just enable money
laundering; it also robs the public sector of
important resources. This is one reason why
Today, some
800 million
people spend
at least 10% of
their household
budgets on
health, often
going into debt
to fund the
treatment they
need
the UN has made reducing illicit financial
flows a key component of achieving the
Sustainable Development Goals.
With broad agreement on the need to
combat corruption in the health sector,
the harder challenge will be developing
workable remedies. National treasuries,
finance ministries, and anti-corruption
agencies need to strengthen their efforts
to cooperate on prevention, detection,
and enforcement. Improving transpar-
ency in financial systems could also
help curb corruption, while civil-society
groups, journalists, and patients should
push for greater accountability from gov-
ernments and medical providers.
In the future, new technologies like
data mining, artificial intelligence, and
blockchain could offer new ways to detect
wrongdoing in the health sector; these and
other tools should be investigated fully.
Expanding health-care access and
protecting the sector’s finances are dual
challenges that the international com-
munity must address together. There
is an urgent need to act without delay.
Rates of noncommunicable diseases like
cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular dis-
ease are increasing almost exponentially,
and lack of access to quality care will
add to many countries’ governance chal-
lenges.
Development strategists understand
that poor health is a harbinger of poverty
and a barrier to eliminating it. Today,
some 800 million people spend at least
10% of their household budgets on
health, often going into debt to fund
the treatment they need. The fact that
so many people cannot afford to visit
a doctor is truly shameful. The world
needs universal health coverage; but to
achieve it, the world’s health sector must
undergo treatment of its own.
Sania Nishtar is a co-chair of the World
Health Organization’s Independent High-level
Commission on Noncommunicable Diseases,
a former federal minister of Pakistan, and the
founder and president of Heartfile. Find her on
Twitter at @SaniaNishtar.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2018.
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