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New accusations Exercise is 2018/19 budget Insurer’s minimum capital

against Kayihura medicine proposal requirement goes up

Issue No. 558 Feb. 08 - 14 2019 Ushs 5,000,Kshs 200, RwF 1,500, SDP 8

Rebel ghosts haunt

DP, Norbert Mao
His 2021 plan now involves dealing
with Mabikke, Bwanika return

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INBOX

Issue No. 558 Feb. 08 - 14 2019

News analysis Business Health Arts Motoring

Cover story
Rebel ghosts haunt DP’s Norbert Mao
His 2021 plan now involves dealing with Mabikke, Bwanika return

4 The Week
30 Comments
Court to rule on Nyanzi’s
case on Feb.15 Personal commitment to fight
cancer: Whoever you are, you
have the power to reduce the
9 The Last Word
impact of cancer for yourself, the
Wrong thinking on health services: people you love and for the world
Why expecting a Ugandan peasant to
have the same quality of healthcare
32 Health
as an American is madness
Exercise is medicine:
Doctors should be
14 Analysis
prescribing it
Wanted: Genuine oil investors:
How pressure on oil refinery, pipeline
pushed Uganda to agree to end secret deals
35 Arts & Culture
27 Business
Different But One 23: Annual
2018/19 budget proposal: academic-artists’ exhibit emphasises
Economists welcome debt repayment but research and collaboration
decry budget cuts for social sectors

STRATEGY & EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: Andrew M. Mwenda
MANAGING EDITOR: Joseph Were
INVESTIGATIONS EDITOR: Haggai Matsiko
BUSINESS EDITOR: Isaac Khisa
PHOTOGRAPHER: Jimmy Siya
WRITERS:Ronald Musoke, Flavia Nassaka, Ian Katusiime,
Agnes Nantaba, Julius Businge.
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PUBLISHER: Independent Publications Limited, Plot 82/84, Kanjokya Street, P. O. Box 3304, Kampala, Uganda
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2 Feb. 08 - 14 2019
 Offline

“I am proposing that courts have

their own security officials to carry
out execution. I am proposing that
evictions should be carried out under
strict supervision of court.”Justice
Remmy Kasule while appearing before the
Bamugemereire Land Commission

Prayagraj, India: Newly

initiated holy men sit on
the banks of the Ganges
during the Kumbh Mela

“My team and I are seriously considering

challenging President Museveni in
the next presidential election.”Robert
Kyagulanyi, MP for Kyadondo East

Taipei, Taiwan:
Commuters ride
motorcycles across
a bridge from the
Sanchung district. The
mass of bikers moving
down the bridge has
been nicknamed the
Motorbike Waterfall. It
attracts many tourists
and photographers
every morning “I will request that everybody who
does legal training from a recognised
Herzliya, Israel: High university is given an opportunity to go
school students to Law Development Centre (LDC) and fail
training for the Israeli
military crawl through
under their own weight.”Kahinda Otafiire,
sand dunes on their Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs at
bellies the opening of the Law Year

Suspects arrested in
1825
F4 Candidates whose results Pieces of ivory
17 connection with attacks on
motorists on Lugogo bypass
are being held by UNEB over
alleged malpractice
2000 URA intercepted
last week

Feb. 08 - 14 2019 3
week
Government
clarifies on new
e-passport
After a rant on social media
over the new e-passport, gov-
ernment clarified on Jan.01 that
they are in the process of notify-
ing all foreign embassies and
consulates about the change in
travel documents.
This was after a Ugandan
travelling to Denmark was
denied a visa over using the
East African Community
e-passport.
Anne Ostman, a Danish
Consular officer in Nairobi told
the applicant that “you have
applied using the new Ugan-
dan EAC passport that was
launched in December 2018.
Unfortunately, this passport is
Court to rule on Nyanzi’s case on Feb.15
not yet approved by the Danish Jailed Makerere University Researcher Dr. disturb their peace, quiet and right to
authorities therefore we cannot Stella Nyanzi who has been in prison since privacy.
issue a visa for this passport.” December over posts she made on social The law provides that a person who
Ostman further told the media appeared again to Buganda road wilfully and repeatedly uses electronic
applicant that “we do not know court last week but without applying for communication to disturb or attempts to
how long it takes for this new bail she was returned to Luzira prison until disturb the peace or right of privacy of
passport to be approved… we Feb.15. This is when they will rule whether any person with no purpose of legitimate
will inform VFS in Kampala
she has a case to answer or not. communication is liable on conviction to
not to accept applications with
Earlier, the researcher through her lawyer a fine not exceeding twenty-four currency
the new passport for the time
Isaac Semakadde had raised a primary points or imprisonment not exceeding one
being.”
objection against the charges that they year or both.
According to Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, this rejection by do not disclose the specific offence she In regard to cyber harassment, a person
the Danish government is only allegedly committed, rendering it defective. who wilfully, maliciously and repeatedly
temporary as the process of its Nyanzi is charged with two counts uses electronic communication to harass
clearance is almost complete. of cyber harassment and offensive another person and makes a threat with the
The issuance of the regional communication in regard to her alleged intent to place that person in reasonable
e-Passport started on December indecent communication against President fear for his or her safety commits the crime
10, 2018 when government Yoweri Museveni and his late mother of cyberstalking and is liable to a fine or
announced that they are phas- Esiteeri Kokundeka. Prosecution led by imprisonment term not exceeding five years
ing out of the current national Janat Kitimbo alleges that on September or both.
passports an exercise they 16, 2018, Nyanzi posted indecent words Nyanzi was arrested in November and
anticipate to end in 2021. By against the president and his late mother has never gotten bail. She recently revealed
this time, they expect every on her Facebook wall. According to the that she suffered a miscarriage while in
Ugandan travelling to be using prosecution, the posts were intended to incarceration.
the new passport.

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 Week

Parliament speaks out on Kadaga witchcraft claim Kagame is new head

Documents stamped by the High court of Jinja it that Kadaga procured his services so that she of the EAC summit
have been making rounds on social media in could immediately become an MP, get appointed
which a one Damiano Akuze accuses speaker of minister and speaker of parliament and be driven After several
parliament Rebecca Kadaga for not paying his in a convoy like the president in exchange for a postponements, Presidents
debt of Shs200million. payment of shs.204,500,000. He did this but his of the East African
Akuze, a witch doctor from Kamuli district services were never paid for, Akuze claims. Community (EAC) met
claims Kadaga used his services in the 1990s but “We hope and pray that Akuze’s comical and in the Tanzanian city of
never paid. A statement was released by parlia- fraudulent allegations will be dismissed by court”, Arusha on Feb.01. The
ment on Feb.01 responding to these claims calling Kibirige said any sober minded person can dis- summit which has aborted
them defamatory. cern the malice aforethought that is embedded in twice – first on Nov. 30
In the statement, Clerk of parliament Jane this mischief by the speaker’s detractors. when Burundi pulled out
Kibirige says that Akuze’s litany of claims has forcing its cancellation and
Dec.27 when the meeting
didn’t happen due to
Uganda marks world cancer day unclear reasons focused
on among others, non-
tariff barriers, integration
of South Sudan into the
cooperation and verifying
the admission of Somalia.
During the meeting
Rwanda President
Paul Kagame was
named chairman of the
community summit
replacing Uganda’s Yoweri
Museveni who has been
holding the position
since 2017. Before them,
Tanzania’s John Pombe
Magufuli was the head.
Burundi’s Pierre
Nkuruziza and South
Sudan’s Salva Kiir
A work out event was one of the activities organized to mark the day. Inactivity is one of
the reasons cited by experts as to why more people are reporting with cancer. didn’t make it but
sent representatives.
Nkurunziza however has
World Cancer Day is is driven towards individual one’s chance of succumbing been the reason as to why
celebrated every Feb. 04. It is a efforts in the fight against if they test positive. As it is the previous meeting
day when organizations and cancer where they implore now, an estimated 9.5 million couldn’t take place as he
people around the world unite everyone to ask themselves people worldwide died of protested because leaders
to raise awareness about cancer what they should do to fight cancer in 2018 – about 26,000 hadn’t paid attention
and work to make it a global cancer. cancer deaths a day - a number to Burundi’s worsening
health priority. This year, the The focus for Uganda predicted to grow. At the relations with Rwanda
day was marked under the was on cancer screening as Uganda Cancer Institute, 80 out following an attempted
theme, ‘I am and I will’. This early detection means early of every 100 people diagnosed coup in Bujumbura in 2015.
theme according to activists treatment which can reduce with cancer die every year.

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Feb. 08 - 14 2019 5
Week
We are seriously considering challenging Museveni, Wine
Kyaddondo East legislator Robert Kyagu-
lanyi Bobi Wine has revealed in an inter-
view with CNN that he is considering run-
ning against Museveni in the next election.
“Many people have come to me calling
for me to stand. We have been discussing
this issue with my team and I must say I
and my team we are seriously considering
challenging president Museveni …” he said
that many Ugandans registered as voters
but overwhelmingly Museveni looks like he
is the only way out.
In many of his Facebook posts, the musi-
cian and politician has been urging Ugan-
dans to go register for their national Identity
6 Feb. 08 - 14 2019
card which is a requirement for one to be
able to vote. This has been picked up by
his supporters who too are rallying people
to get their documents although until last
week many had not yet been clear on why
they are being asked to.
According to a roadmap released by the
Electoral Commission, the electoral process
starts in April with the demarcation of poll-
ing stations and end in January 2021 with
elections.
Now, in some opposition circles, there
is a plan to front only one candidate to
challenge president Museveni. Will this be
Bobiwine?
Parliament intervenes
in Apaa land wrangle
An on-going land conflict in Apaa
where over 600 have been displaced was
discussed in parliament on Jan.31 follow-
ing a brawl between the conflicting par-
ties. Recently, hundreds of grass thatched
houses were burnt injuring scores.
The Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kad-
aga has now directed the government to
intervene by initially providing food and
protection to the displaced persons. The
speaker’s directive came after Kilak North
MP Anthony Akol said that the army and
Uganda Wildlife Authority-UWA were
involved in evicting residents.
In 2015, Government planted mark
stones in Apaa Village in Amuru district as
it demarcated the boundaries between the
two neighbouring districts amidst protests
from Amuru residents.
Residents and leaders of Amuru
claimed the mark stones were planted 31
kilometres inside Amuru district. More
than 21 people were injured when police
used live bullets to disperse those opposed
to the demarcation exercise.
*terms and conditions apply
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Humour Did you know?
Facebook is merging
WhatsApp, Messenger,
and Instagram

Facebook is planning to integrate its

three instant messaging apps, WhatsApp,
Singer turned politician Bobi Wine is seriously considering to Facebook Messenger, and Instagram’s direct
go against Yoweri Museveni for presidency in 2021. message function, it has been revealed. The
plans come from Mark Zuckerberg, Face-
book’s CEO, himself, The New York Times
reports.
The three apps have, historically-
speaking, targeted different audiences, had
different uses, and different structures.
Zuckerberg even insisted when Facebook
first acquired them that Instagram and
WhatsApp would have a certain amount of
autonomy from their new owners. Lately,
certain functions have begun to appear in all
three of them – Instagram stories and Face-
book stories for example, and the equivalent
WhatsApp status – but the underlying
structure of the apps has remained different
and distinct. Not for long, apparently. The
change is expected between the end of the
year and the beginning of the next.
Zuckerberg has said that while the three
apps will continue to be standalone and sep-
Parliament has given Government up to the end of April to table electoral reforms. arate, their technical infrastructure will be
the same. This change will also allow users
to message each other from any of the three
apps without having to switch platform.
This move requires that every communi-
cation will be end-to-end encrypted, visible
only to the users and no-one else. Currently,
only WhatsApp provides that as a default
option. Facebook messenger allows encryp-
tion only in secret conversations, which can
be accessed from the app, but it’s not the
default. Instagram doesn’t have anything
like it. So, this is good news for privacy but
only if it is done properly. And given Face-
book’s track record, people have every right
to be skeptical.
This close integration is a significant
U-turn on the way the three platforms
have been run until today and many
speculate it is part of the reason why both
Instagram and WhatsApp’s founders
Makerere University staff have defied Vice Chancellor Prof stepped down from their board positions
Barnabas Nawangwe’s call to end strike and return to class. at Facebook last year.

Feb. 08 - 14 2019 7
New York, US: A Rubens drawing ‘Nude Study of Young Man with Raised Arms’ was auctioned for a record $8.2 million at Sotheby’s, New York.

Wrong thinking on health services
By Andrew M. Mwenda
Why expecting a Ugandan peasant to have the same
quality of healthcare as an American is madness
L
ast week, I attended the Advo-
cates Coalition for Development
and Environment (ACODE)’s
monthly State of the Nation sem-
inar on public spending and governance
on the health sector in Uganda. Like
all such conferences on African issues,
context is always missing. So we discuss
the state’s ability to deliver public goods
and services as if poor countries have
the same resources – both human and
financial – as rich nations.
To understand our frustrations with
our governments, one has to first
appreciate the mind-set. For most of
the educated elites in Africa, we have
been indoctrinated with the ideology
of a welfare state i.e. that government
should provide a large basket of public
goods and services to all her citizens for
free – health (especially medical), clean
water, education, electricity and roads.
When these services are poorly pro-
vided or not provided at all, we assume
that it is because of lack of “political
will”, or corruption, or greed and self-
ishness of our leaders.
This explanation for poor delivery is
even found in the works of the most
sophisticated academics and intel-
lectuals in Africa and the Western
world. Yet the problem is very simple:
poor countries simply do not have the
resources – both financial and human –
to provide a large (or even small) basket
of public goods and services to all their
citizens and for free in the quantity and
quality they demand and desire.
Corruption, absenteeism, incompe-
tence, etc. are consequences of the state
trying to do too much for everyone,
everywhere, all the time on a string
budget, not a result of “cruel, selfish and
greedy African leaders who don’t care
about their people” as the common nar-
rative in the media and academia, both
in Africa and the West, has postulated.
Put simply, the state in most of Africa is
over-developed in functions but under-
developed in capacity, so its reach goes
far beyond its grasp. That is the main
source of all our continent’s frustrations
and recriminations.
Let me illustrate. This financial year,
Uganda’s total revenue is Shs16.2 tril-
lion ($4.3 billion). Divided by a popula-
The Last Word
tion of 40 million people, you have per
capita revenue of Shs405,000 ($107) – in
Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) it is
$353. That is not enough to provide us
with all the public goods and services in
the quantities and quality we demand.
So government goes to international
creditors and the domestic market to
borrow where it raises an extra Shs10
trillion. So this gives us a budget of Shs
26 trillion ($7.1 billion or $22.7 billion in
PPP). This brings public spending per
person to Shs 650,000 ($173 or $567 in
PPP).
Compare Uganda with the USA. This
year, its budget is $7.56 trillion for a
population of 328 million people, giving
it public spending per person of $23,000.
It matters very little how wasteful the
USA can be. This money is enough to
provide a large basket of public goods
and services in large quantities and
of high quality. Even with all the best
intentions and efficiencies, Uganda
simply cannot match this level of pro-
viding for her people. Yet Uganda’s ide-
ology of a welfare state and its policies
on social service provision to its citizens
is modelled on that of rich nations like
the USA.
Coming to health specifically, look at
what our most elites expect and what
the government of Uganda promises:
to provide every citizen, everywhere in
the country, every time they are ill with
all the treatment they need – for free.
Anyone looking at Uganda’s resources
and not burdened with the ideology of
a welfare state and not blinded by the
mind-set that the state has to do this
would consider our government insane
in making such a promise given the
resources at its disposal.
Let us look at the numbers. This finan-
cial year the USA will spend $1.7 trillion
on health, Uganda Shs2.3 trillion ($612m
or $2.0 billion in PPP). This gives the
USA per capita health spending of
$5,200 while Uganda’s is Shs57,000
($15.3 or 50.2 in PPP). I have constantly
adjusted figures to PPP because it tells
us better the number of hospitals, medi-
cines, equipment, nurses, doctors etc.
that Uganda has to procure and the
prices it has to pay in her own national
currency.
Opinion
I have used the USA here because her
budget and its distribution are easily
available online – but it represents a
typical rich country. In fact her peers
in Europe do much better with slightly
less spending. The point is that we are
expecting Tadeo Mukasa, a peasant in
Masaka, to provide his children the
same quality of healthcare and educa-
tion like Bill Gates does his. Its mad-
ness!
The solution for poor countries in
fixing their healthcare problems has to
begin by identifying important priority
areas where they can have the highest
impact with their meagre resources i.e.
prioritisation. Prioritising everything
means you have prioritised nothing.
And they can begin with what we know.
The biggest cause of low life expectancy
is high infant and child mortality rates.
Too many kids die before their first and
fifth birthday. This is where we need to
have the most effort.
The founder of social medicine,
Thomas McKoewn, drew a series of
famous diagrams (on Europe) showing,
for a whole series of diseases, that
mortality rates were falling before the
introduction of effective treatment and
continued to fall almost at the same
rate after its introduction. McKoewn
found that medicine was not very
useful in improving health. This led
him to conclude that the root of health
improvement lay in economic and social
progress; especially better nutrition and
living conditions.
The Nobel laureate in economics,
Angus Deaton, in his book: `The Great
Escape’ shows that improvement in
health is best realised by improvements
in public health interventions such as
sanitation, access to clean water, vector
control and primary health interven-
tions such as immunisation and vaccina-
tion. These interventions are effective
and cheap yet positively impact the vast
majority of the people. They are also the
only affordable interventions by govern-
ments of poor countries
amwenda@independent.co.ug
Feb. 08 - 14 2019 9
cover story

Rebel ghosts haunt

DP’s Norbert Mao
His 2021 plan now involves dealing
with Mabikke, Bwanika return

(L-R) Micheal Mabikke, legislators Muwanga Kivumbi and Kyagulanyi Ssentamu and DP's spokesperson Samuel Kakande at the party reunion meeting.
M
By Flavia Nassaka
ichael Mabikke is
a distinctive figure
in the Democratic
Party (DP). Chatty
and squat and
plumb with mid-age,
he recently returned to his “mother
party”, DP, after a long sojourn. And
that, a DP insider who knows Mabikke
well recently told The Independent,
means there is trouble ahead for DP.
Apparently, it is a generally held
belief within DP that whenever
Mabikke shows up at the City House
party headquarters in Kampala, it
usually signals trouble ahead. So when
we met him on Jan.30, we asked him if
his recent return to City House, once
again spells trouble. He smiled briefly,
and then curtly said: “Not this time”.
It had been ten days since Mabikke
announced that he had returned after a
long sojourn that begun in 2005. Over
that period, he had entered parliament
as an independent, formed his own
party in 2010, attempted to change
its name in 2014, was sued, joined
an amorphous coalition in 2015, and
backed a presidential candidate who
flopped in 2016.
Mabikke’s fumbles often happen
around national election time. He
had left the party in 2005 just before
the 2006 national elections after
disagreeing with then-DP President
General, John Sebaana Kizito. Then,
Mabikke said Sebaana Kizito was a
conservative who had no space for
vibrant members like him. He says
the party had sectarian tendencies,
and moved at a very slow pace. The
2006 polls were the first election under
the multiparty dispensation and DP
did not name him its flag-bearer in
his Makindye East constituency.
So Mabikke ran as an Independent
candidate and trounced both the DP
and ruling NRM party candidates.
A year to the next election in 2011,
Mabikke formed his own party; the
Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 2010.
He ran for parliament and lost. Then in
2014, two years before the 2016 national
elections, he first attempted to change
the SDP name to the `Party of National
Unity’ and in 2015 switched to join The
Democratic Alliance (TDA) coalition
with former Prime Minister Amama
Mbabazi’s Go Forward group.
This time, it appears, he has set his
sights on finding significance in the
2021 elections with DP as his base.
He announced his return to the DP
in the company of another perennial
presidential election figurehead, Abed
Bwanika; the president of the Peoples
Development Party (PDP) who got
0.9% of the vote in the 2016 presidential
race – his third attempt. Together, with
Mabikke, they believe they are natural
leaders of DP; having been founder
members of the party youth wing –
the Uganda Young Democrats (UYD).
That is partly the reason they walked
out of DP when, in 2010, Norbert
Mao who some consider of lesser DP
pedigree won the party presidency at a
controversial delegates conference.
UYD regroups
Mabikke says his group has realised
that UYD has been around for some
time and has groomed leaders who are
everywhere - even in the ruling NRM
party. For him, that cadreship alone is
enough to create change.
cover story
In May last year, Mabikke who has
struggled for relevance since losing
his parliamentary seat in 2011, silently
championed a meeting of DP members
from across the country. His agenda, he
said, was to attract those that had left
to return and solve the party’s internal
wrangles.
Many defiant DP stalwarts, like
Masaka Municipality MP Mathias
Mpuuga and Butambala MP Muwanga
Kivumbi who have for long been
opposed to Mao’s leadership at City
House attended the reunion meeting at
Makerere University Rugby Grounds
in Kampala on Mabikke’s persuasion.
Later, in September, another reunion
was held in the party stronghold region
of Masaka. Opposition politicians from
other parties attended but it ended in
chaos.
Mabikke says they had planned a
number of caravans across the country
but were briefly put on hold following
the violence in Masaka. Since then, he
says, he has been working behind the
scenes on his “greater plan” to ensure
that come 2021, the opposition gives
the ruling NRM a tough defeat.
“Even if we didn’t want to reunite,
the circumstances now dictate that,”
he told The Independent. In his book,
he says, returning to DP is step one to
achieving his greater agenda.
Since Mabikke’s departure from the
party, many others; especially vocal
members of parliament and other
politicians either left the party or came
up with pressure groups within the
party.
Opposition firebrand and Kampala
City Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago,
Mpuuga, Kivumbi and Mukono
municipality MP Betty Nambooze
Feb. 08 - 14 2019 11
cover story
Mabikke (c) during a press briefing where he declared his return to DP.
Bakireke in 2011 formed the Ssuubi
Coalition with top figures of the
Buganda kingdom establishment. They
agreed to support FDC presidential
candidate Col Dr. Kizza Besigye even
when their party, DP, had fielded
Norbert Mao.
But Mabikke says those shenanigans
are now behind them. This time, come
2021, he and colleagues have thought it
wise to reunite.
He says the need for a return to
the DP fold was started by deceased
Secretary General Mathias Nsubuga
in the lead up to the 2016 elections.
Nsubuga, says Mabikke, left the work
half done and the mantle was handed
to Issa Kikungwe who has also since
passed on.
When the unity plan was recently
reignited, Mabikke says they tested it
on the recent by-elections where they
resolved to initially lookout for UYD
members that are scattered all over.
“We went to Jinja, DP had a
candidate but we put our weight
behind Paul Mwiru even as his party
FDC wasn’t supporting him. In Bugiri,
we chose to rally behind JEEMA’s
Asuman Basalirwa. In Arua, we
decided to back Kasiano Wadri. He
wasn’t a UYD but he played a great
role in the DP parliamentary caucus,”
Mabikke says.
Some cynics would say Mabikke is
clinging on other people’s victories,
after all success has many fathers.
Norbert Mao’s plan
12 Feb. 08 - 14 2019
But if, as is being predicted, Mabikke
has returned to cause trouble in DP,
the person who has to clean up that
mess is party President Nobert Mao. At
the press briefing, Mao sounded like
one who has thought deeply about the
issue. He said the returnees, who he
calls “defectors” must have realised
that DP is not a party that can be easily
washed away. He also said he runs an
open door system where he can never
block other democracy seeking forces
from joining DP.
“We have had deep and serious
talks with them and have solved our
differences to a large extent. You know
we have learnt from our history and it
dictates doing things differently. We
are now trying to think outside the
confines of the region, personal egos,”
he said.
“DP is well entrenched and has a
good international network, and only
requires little to refocus”.
Mabikke seems to agree.
He said they realised that the DP is a
superior organisation to the Forum for
Democratic Change (FDC) which has
been the leading opposition party for
the last 15 years.
“The opposition has suffered many
setbacks in these 15 years, because
FDC didn’t have tested cadres and the
organisational prowess DP has,” he
says, “In fact FDC actually brought
rivalry in areas that had been covered
by DP instead of going to areas that
had not yet been liberated from the
NRM.”
He says, despite this, DP had
surrendered its role to FDC - a newer
party, and a mere break away from
NRM. Now he says, the FDC “is
disintegrating” with internal fights
and breakaways by the Gen. Mugisha
Muntu faction.
“Most of them are soldiers, they
don’t know civilian organisation. They
are more conversant with military
organisation,” he says.
Mabikke says his current plan, after
bringing back active but scattered
members, is to set up a strategy that
will involve other opposition political
parties. The plan is to launch what
they have called ‘One to One Model’
at the center of which is fronting one
opposition candidate against Museveni
in the 2021 presidential polls and one
candidate for both local government
positions and the parliamentary slots
across the country.
The “zoning” as they are calling
it, is already done according to
Samuel Walter Lubega; a 2011
presidential candidate. He adds that
the “collective forces of change will
agree on one candidate who has the
biggest advantage to trounce an NRM
candidate”.
Under the zoning approach,
Mabikke and company have allocated
constituencies to parties according to
areas where, according to them, the
parties have a comparative advantage.
According to their already announced
preliminary planning, DP will take
 cover story
charge over Buganda, parts of Busoga,
Bukedi, Acholi and parts of west Nile.
FDC will reign in Kigezi, Ankole,
Bugisu, Bunyoro and Sebei regions,
the yet to be registered group of Maj.
Gen. Mugisha Muntu will take over the
Rwenzori region whereas Karamoja
and Lango will be covered by the
Uganda People’s Congress.
“There is no reason why DP should
go to Kigezi in a general election
yet there’s an opposition party with
comparative advantage. We are
borrowing this from economics but
we know it will help minimize inter-
opposition party rivalry. It’s not
healthy and has partly been responsible
for our loss to NRM in some areas,”
Lubega says.

Unrealistic coalitions
According to Lubega, their next
move is to sell this plan to colleagues in
other opposition parties. Lubega says
under the approach, the opposition
will have to next year conduct primary
elections where whoever wants to
stand for presidency in the general
election will be asked to stand and
then voters make a choice by standing
behind the candidate of their choice.
“We can’t afford an expensive
primary but if we agree, whoever
emerges victorious will be the one
to stand and defeat the dictator
(Museveni),” he said. TDA, it was an issue of egos where all
He says they have learnt from the candidates wanted to be leaders.”
previous experience with coalitions
that most of the decisions failed DP will take “I was more of an observer in that
alliance. I told them disagreements
because they were made in boardrooms
and did not involve voters and the charge over should be for advancement not to
stifle,” he says.
grassroots supporters.
“That’s why the likes of Col. Dr. Buganda, parts For the One to One approach to
work, he says, leaders of the different
Kizza Besigye could afford to disagree
with the TDA – The Democratic of Busoga, political organisations need to
harmonise their policies and agree
Alliance chosen candidate in 2016,” he
says, “all coalitions we have had before Bukedi, Acholi on what they need to achieve in an
election since they already know the

and parts of
haven’t been realistic.” country is in a crisis and yet they are
He reasons that even if they don’t faced with a very powerful ruling

west Nile. FDC

defeat the NRM at the top, they will be party.
able to get more slots at parliament and For him, even if the president

will reign in
at the local government level. remains but the opposition gets more
Currently, of the 459 MPs in representation in parliament, it would

Kigezi, Ankole,
parliament, only 60 slots belong to the help persuade government to pay
opposition combined, smaller than attention to the needs of the people.

Bugisu,
independents who are the second Mabikke has been in many coalitions
biggest group at 67. The rest belong to and tested all ideas. In 2011 he threw

Bunyoro and
the NRM. Some 91 slots were just gifted his weight behind Col. Kizza Besigye
away by the opposition to the NRM but crossed to John Patrick Amama
as they didn’t front any candidates in Mbabazi in 2016 where he was the
those constituencies.
Zachary Olum; a DP historical
Sebei regions spokesperson for their GO- Forward
pressure group. How he handles his
and former member of the National return to DP will show what lessons he
Resistance Council believes a coalition has learned.
can work well for the opposition. But,
he insists, there must be “good will”.
“Those involved should put aside
their selfish interests,” he says, “In

Feb. 08 - 14 2019 13
news analysis
New accusations
against Kayihura
Better evidence or desperation by ISO, CMI?
By Haggai Matsiko
S
ince August 27 last year when
he was released on bail,
embattled former inspector
General of Police, Gen. Kale
Kayihura has appeared to be on the
road to rehabilitation and possible
freedom.
Many observes assumed his
privileges to have been partly restored
when he received two brand new
Toyota Land Cruisers—one from the
army and another from police as part
of his privileges for serving the two
institutions.
Kayihura appeared to have
unimpeded travel within the country
and State House aided him as he
applied for visas to travel with four
others including his wife and a military
officer to Germany for medical
treatment.
Kayihura’s road to freedom was
even marked with an important
milestone, on Feb.04. That is
when he would appear again
before the Military Court
Martial at Makindye military
barracks in Kampala on three
charges; failure to protect war
materials, aiding and abetting
kidnap, and illegal repatriation
of Rwandese exiles. The Court
Martial is yet to give a hearing
date for the case and Kayihura
appears at every beginning of
month as part of the terms for his
bail.
The same court was set to decide
on the bail applications of Kayihura’s
co-accused; Herbert Muhangi, the
former commander of the defunct
Flying Squad Unit and
14 Feb. 08 - 14 2019
that of Col. Ndahura Atwooki, the
former director crime intelligence.
Both officers have been under military
detention since when CMI arrested
them together with Richard Ndaboine,
the former head of cyber intelligence.
They are also facing charges of failure
to protect war materials, aiding the
kidnap, and illegal repatriation of
Rwandan nationals.
But, The Independent can exclusively
report, that Kayihura is not free to
travel around as was assumed and new
charges again him are being prepared
by the Internal Security Organisation
(ISO) and the Chieftaincy of Military
Intelligence (CMI).
Details remain scanty but The
Independent has learnt that the
intelligence bodies are now
investigating Kayihura over allegations
that he instructed Herbert Muhangi to
work with Congolese to steal vehicles
from Uganda to sell them in DR Congo
and raise Shs200 million per month for
an unstated purpose.
Apparently, the security organs have
Congolese who are ready to confess
that Kayihura, through Muhangi, was
working with them.
In another charge, the security
agencies allege that Kayihura
instructed Abdul Kitatta; the jailed
former head of the defunct Boda Boda
2010 to kill people with machetes in
Kampala and its suburbs. The goal was
allegedly to discredit President Yoweri
Museveni’s record on security.
Kitatta and 12 others were remanded
to Kigo prison in January last year by
the army’s Unit Disciplinary Court
over charges of failure to protect war
material, being in possession of military
stores, among others, following their
arrest the same month.
Connecting Kitatta and Kayihura to
gangs that used machetes to kill people
is a major accusation. The machete
wielding gangs sent shock waves
across central Uganda in 2017 forcing
police to carry out a sting and arrest
scores, some of who claimed they were
working with police.
The killings by these gangs caused
a security crisis that saw President
Museveni instruct CMI to take over
many police functions including
arresting and detaining police officers
accused of working with criminal
elements.
Resurrecting dead charges
That the security agencies are

resurrecting these charges speaks
volumes about the direction they intend
to take in terms of pinning the accused,
insiders say. Capt. Charles Ssekayita,
who is representing Muhangi, based on
Kayihura’s freedom to plea for bail for
Muhangi at the last court martial sitting.
Ssekayita argued that Muhangi faces
the same charges with former Police
chief Gen. Kale Kayihura who was
granted bail. “I pray that court follows
the same precedence and grant Muhangi
bail,” Ssekayita said.
Ssekayita pointed out that Muhangi
had spent 290 days in detention at
Makindye military barracks without trial.
“If the person is remanded for over 180
days, the Constitution stipulates that he
is entitled to mandatory bail,” he said.
He added that his client suffers from
peptic ulcers that cannot be treated in
detention.
With Kayihura out of jail and on the
path to rehabilitation and freedom,
everything appeared to point to possible
freedom for Muhangi and others.
But the fresh investigations mean that
these officers and the former police are
not yet off the hook. The new charges
mean they can be re-arrested even if they
are granted bail.
Insiders say the security agencies have
arrested many low ranking officers to
implicate Kayihura. The plan according
to highly placed sources is to get the
arrested officers to confess crimes against
Kale in exchange for their release.
Kayihura’s lawyer, Elison Karuhanga
told The Independent that he was not
aware of the fresh investigations but
would not be surprised.
“What we have always been aware
of is that there is an industry that
manufactures fake news against him,
why and by whom we do not know,” he
said.
Karuhanga says that, no one asked
Kayihura about the new accusations
during the 70 days he was under military
interrogation at Makindye Military
Barracks and no one has asked him about
the same ever since he was granted bail.
Yet at one point Kayihura faced up to
19 charges, according to his other lawyer,
Jet Tumwebaze.
The latest charges follow others that
appear intended to keep a noose around
Kayihura.
Insiders say the ISO boss; retired
Col. Kaka Bagyenda, in January sent a
radio message to President Museveni
and other security agencies that Gen.
Kayihura has links to Australian-based
Australia-based Ugandan cardiologist,
Dr Aggrey Kiyingi. Kiyingi has been
linked to rebel activities.
According a source familiar with the
intelligence reports, ISO intelligence
indicated that Kale had also formed
a new terrorist group called People’s
Agency and that the same group has
been throwing leaflets around the
country.
Apparently, ISO arrested a boda
boda rider linked to the group. Upon
interrogation, the rider took them to his
house, where ISO found a drone and
boom-making materials. ISO claimed to
have credible evidence that Kale is the
one who formed People’s Agency.
It is not the first time such accusations
are emerging. In July, Kaka paraded
before the press two youths who
confessed to have participated in
President Yoweri Museveni
Gen.Salim Saleh
murdering people using machetes/
pangas.
The youths accused Kayihura of
having released such suspects when
reported to him. Kaka said he would
investigate.
The CMI had earlier arrested
other Kayihura’s close aides; Senior
Superintendent of Police Nixon
Agasirwe, the former commander Special
Operations Unit, Senior Commissioner
of Police Joel Aguma, the commandant
news analysis
of the police Professional Standards
Unit, Assistant Superintendent of Police
Magada, crime intelligence; Benon
Atwebembeire, Sgt Abel Tumukunde,
the Kampala Metropolitan Police flying
squad commander, Faisal Katende,
flying squad and Amon Kwarisima.
They were charged with unlawful
possession of firearms and grenades
ordinarily a monopoly of the Defence
Forces.
The group was also charged with
handing to the Rwanda government
two prominent persons; one Lt. Joel
Mutabazi; a former presidential guard
for Rwanda President Paul Kagame
who had sought refuge in Uganda,
and Jackson Kalemera. According to
court proceedings, the two officials
were handed to Rwanda without their
consent. But Rwandan authorities say
these were handed to them through
official channels.
Bogus charges history
Kayihura was initially arrested over
allegations that he was responsible for
the murder former Assistant Inspector
General of Police (AIGP) Andrew Felix
Kaweesi.
Kaweesi was murdered together with
his bodyguard Kenneth Erau and driver
Godfrey Mambewa on March 17 when
assailants showered with bullets the car
he was driving in on their way from his
home in Kulambiro, a Kampala surburb.
And on June 13 the military led by the
Deputy Chief of Defence Forces, Lt. Gen.
Wilson Mbadi and the head of CMI Brig.
Abel Kandiho arrested Kayihura at his
farm in Kashagama, Lyantonde District.
Following his arrest, Kayihura was
told that he was being charged with the
murder of AIGP Kaweesi.
According to sources, President
Yoweri Museveni had in June last year
said the charges against Kayihura were
of a serious nature.
The President’s explanation followed
a request by Kayihura through the
Chief of Defense Forces; Gen. David
Muhoozi for a meeting with the head of
state. But when Muhoozi passed on the
information during a meeting of senior
army officers with the president at State
House Entebbe, President Museveni
declined to see him.
He told the army officers that he
preferred to keep emotional distance
and explained that if he met Kayihura
personally, he could be swayed by
kindness and emotion towards him.
At the time the team investigating
Kayihura comprised eight officers; four
from police, two from the CMI and two
from ISO.
Those from police were Grace Akullo,
the Director Criminal Investigations
Feb. 08 - 14 2019 15
news analysis
and Intelligence Department (CIID), as
chair, her deputy; Senior Commissioner
of Police (SCP) Elly Womanya, and two
other police detectives. From ISO, it was
Lt. Churchill Mutatina and another, and
from CMI, it is the Joint Anti-Terrorism
Task Force (JATT) Director, Charles
Asiimwe, and another agent.
The team concluded its investigations
and submitted its report to President
Museveni.
The most significant piece of evidence
in this report was a recording in which
Kayihura was allegedly talking to the
assassin, who ISO claimed was Muhangi.
Kaka had also assembled witnesses
who claimed to have participated in the
planning and execution of the murder.
But when a joint team of investigators
from police, ISO and CMI further
interrogated the said witnesses, they
admitted that ISO operatives had coached
them. The investigating team also found
that the recording was not authentic. In
their report to President Museveni, the
joint investigating team concluded that
the evidence against Kayihura up until
this point was bogus.
“They found the claims against Kale to
be fabricated,” a source knowledgeable
about the investigations told The
Independent on condition of anonymity
because of the sensitivity of the matter,
“They have also recommended that
Kayihura’s allies who were arrested over
the same allegations should be released.”
Indeed, when President Museveni
was presented with a report from this
investigation, he also concluded that the
charges were bogus.
Then on Aug.27, a day before Kayihura
was granted bail, President Museveni
met his family members and told them
that the authorities would soon get to the
bottom of the issues.
Apart from meeting President
Museveni, Kayihura’s family also
met the Senior Presidential Advisor
on Defence and Security, Gen. Caleb
Akandwanaho, aka, Salim Saleh.
Apparently, Gen. Saleh told them that
16 Feb. 08 - 14 2019
he had not believed the audio recording,
which operatives at the Internal ISO
had availed as part of the evidence
pinning the police chief in the murder of
Kaweesi.
Kayihura would later be released on
bail on Aug.27. Since then, some felt that
he was on the verge of being a free man.
Indeed, while he was initially not
allowed to travel outside Uganda,
around the same time, State House
aided him as he applied for visas to
travel with four others including his
wife and a military officer to Germany
for medical treatment. His travel plans
Col.Kaka Bagyenda were only frustrated when on the day
he was supposed to pick his visa from
the Germany Embassy in Kampala, he
received a phone call informing him that
his application had been declined.
Insiders said the former police chief
could be facing a travel ban as a result of
his work as police chief.
They pointed to the case over the
forcefully deportation of a group of
Rwandan nationals back to Rwanda,
which apparently, President Museveni
was forced to act against the police chief
and others following complaints from
UN diplomats over the same.
This was especially because in March
last year, a group of Rwandans took
Brig.Abel Kandiho Kayihura to the International Criminal
Court (ICC) over crimes against
humanity that he allegedly committed
along with his men when they forcefully
deported a group of Rwandan nationals
back to Rwanda. Also, over the years,
several pressure groups both local and
in the diaspora have petitioned the
U.S. and European Union countries
to put travel sanctions against senior
security officers in command positions
who have been at the centre of human
rights violations. But away from the
international trouble, it appeared like
Kayihura had less pressure internally.
Reports about fresh accusation could
mean fresh internal pressure for the
Herbert Muhangi former police chief.

You cannot forge scientists
Students cannot pass without being taught, experts tell the
government as 2018 UCE results show high failure rates
By Flavia Nassaka & Julius Businge
W
hile releasing the results of
the 2018 Uganda Certificate of
Education (UCE) examinations
on Jan.31, the Chairperson of
the Uganda National Examinations Board
(UNEB), Mary Nakandha Okwakol pointed
at two trends; first that more students are
failing science subjects. And two, that there
is little science teaching going on in schools.
Okwakol said the 2018 results show
that chemistry remains the worst done
subject overall. She noted improvements
at distinction level for subjects like
mathematics, physics and biology, but
almost half of the students did not achieve
the minimum Pass 8 level.
“That should tickle teachers and
government to think about what is not
being done right,” she said, “These results
are an indicator that there is little science
teaching.”
At the same function, the Executive
Secretary of UNEB, Daniel Odongo,
pointed at another problem related to the
examination of science subjects. Odongo
said the highest cases of examination
malpractices were registered in physics,
chemistry, biology and mathematics.
A total of 335,435 students sat for the
2018 examinations, up from 326, 212 in
2017. Of these 27,696 passed in division
one compared to 31, 338 in 2017, 52,706 in
division two compared to 53, 665 in 2017
and 70,347 in third division compared to70,
797 in 2017. Those that passed in fourth
division were 137,058 compared to 131, 660
a year before.
Odongo said impersonation and
substitution were the common cases of
examination malpractices which led to
results of 1,825 students being withheld.
He said the affected students were given
external assistance while some candidates
colluded to cheat.
Commenting on these developments,
Robert Mugambwa, an education
researcher working with Uwezo says
students fail science subjects because they
are taught badly.
He explained that passing sciences
requires a learner to understand theories
and laws, yet most schools in Uganda
use the cramming method; a form of rote
learning that merely prepares students to
quickly pass exams.
“Cramming does not help in the sciences
and yet it seems to be what is happening,”
he told The Independent soon after the
results were released.
He says that it is not that Ugandan
students cannot to grasp science theories
and laws; the problem is with the teaching
system, it does not guide students enough
to be able to learn the subject content, bring
out their potential, and pass exams.
“You cannot forge a scientist, he has to be
made,” he says.
According to Okwakol, many schools;
especially in rural areas, are attempting to
teach sciences without having the necessary
apparatus and chemicals to conduct
practical lessons.
Herbert Asiimwe Mutamba, a retired
sciences teacher turned author told The
Independent that the government is at a loss
when half of the students fail to score even a
pass eight in the subjects.
“With such a mark, they can’t pursue a
sciences combination at advanced level,”
Asiimwe said.
Mutamba blames the government policy
of making sciences compulsory for all
students in lower secondary school. He
says the intention of the policy was good,
but the worsening performance of science
subjects shows that the government should
have found another way of achieving the
agenda of grooming more scientists. He
says imposing the subjects even on those
that do not have the ability to pass them
was wrong. He says, in any case, most
students still go on to study arts fields at
A-Level.
“That is why you see we still almost
record the same percentages of students
offering arts subjects at A - level, 15 years
EDUCATION
after government came up with the policy,”
he says.
He adds that the government should
pick lessons from this continuous bad
performance.
“One would say those that fail sciences
are not smart but why then do they score
distinctions in the arts. They fail because
they know it is not the career path of their
choice,” he says.
He adds that imposing these subjects
on students is only straining government
resources and the difference the policy is
creating on the type of science professionals
on the labour market is very minimal if any.
But Grace Baguma, the executive director
of the National Curriculum Development
Center (NCDC) says the policy of making
sciences compulsory is not the problem but
the challenge is with the way it is taught.
She says when, in 2004, the government
moved to ensure that all students that go
through the Uganda education system
must have basic knowledge in science,
it was because no country has taken off
economically without the involvement of
scientists.
“With the change of curriculum they
thought they would fix a few things and
ensure that we get more numbers of
scientists graduating,” she says.
She says Uganda has already trained
many good scientists who are competing
favourably on the international stage.
Baguma says there have been reports of
scrapping or changing the policy before but
she says the government should instead
be looking into ways of improving the
method of teaching science subjects, get
more science teachers trained on the job,
and ensure that schools have the necessary
facilities to understand the subjects.
“We are talking of driving the country to
middle income but we do not want to train
those engineers and technologists to drive
that economic development. Without more
scientists we will remain the way we are or
become worse”.
Mutamba also commented on the
Secondary Science and Mathematics
Teachers (SESMAT) programme that the
government introduced to give science
teachers refresher courses around the
same time the policy was introduced, but
which has not changed much in terms of
the preparedness of science teachers to
teach science.
Feb. 08 - 14 2019 17
EDUCATION

By Independent Reporter

I
n 2018, schools under the Universal
Primary Education (UPE) sat more
students for Primary Leaving Exami-
nations (PLE) than non-UPE schools;
476,130 (or 70.9%) out of 671,923 candidates.
It was another sign that it was as right to
start UPE 20 years ago as it makes basic
education accessible to every child.
As a result, UPE enrolment has soared
from about 3.06 million pupils in 1996 to
about 8.84 pupils in 2017 with more girls
going to school for the very first time than
before.
Such successes are the subject of a com-
memorative book by the Ministry of Educa-
tion and Sports titled `UPE (Universal Pri-
mary Education): Transforming Uganda’.
The 226-page, coffee table style volume is
a near-full account of how UPE was born,
the people who implemented it, the key
policy frameworks, the critical investments,
and its impact on the education of girls, spe-
cial needs learners, refugee and host com-
munities, business and economy, household
health and earnings, among many others.
The Minister of Education, Janet K.
20 years of UPE
Museveni, in the foreword to the book notes
that UPE has shown potential to brighten Focus moves to quality of learning
Uganda’s future. She explains how it opens
various paths to opportunities for pupils
to acquire “knowledge and skills that will first and prioritise them. Museveni says of libraries and latrines. This has reshaped
make them self-reliant adults that meaning- to prioritise is both a skill and a discipline pupil-classroom and pupil-teacher ratios to
fully contribute to socio-economic transfor- which the NRM does by listening to what 69:1 and 54:1 respectively. The target is 45:1
mation of our country”. ails the wanainchi. pupil-classroom ratio.
For a long time, it has been said that “The NRA would never have been able Another 138 primary schools have been
introducing UPE was motivated by politics; to capture power with 27 guns if its nucleus planned through the Uganda Teacher
given how President Yoweri Museveni of leaders did not embody the virtue of and School Effectiveness Project. Each of
unexpectedly announced it in May 1996 at a prioritisation within resource constraints,” the schools will get seven classrooms, one
campaign rally in Masaka. Museveni says in the book’s preface. administration block, two blocks of five-
However, in the book, former education To kick-start UPE, the government had to stance latrines for boys and girls, and one
minister Namirembe Bitamazire says it was revise its funding priorities away from ter- block of two-stance latrines for teachers.
preceded by proper and well-researched tiary education to primary education. UPE has had impact outside beyond the
planning. Success was expected but chal- Today, the primary school subsector schools. The work on infrastructure has
lenges too were anticipated. Bitamazire takes the lion’s share of the education bud- been monopolised by Ugandan companies,
was minister of state for primary education get, which in FY2016/17 was Shs2.47 tril- putting money in thousands of households
between 1998 and 2004 and directly charged lion or 11 percent of the national budget of and improving lives.
with the implementation of UPE. Her zeal Shs18.3 trillion. By comparison, a year after But the poor grades of UPE pupils in PLE
and passion earned her the pet title ‘Mama UPE had begun (that is FY1998/99) the edu- and the high dropout rates expose the teeth-
UPE’. cation sector’s allocation was Shs403 billion ing challenge that led to neglect of quality as
Dr John C. Muyingo, a long time educa- out of Shs1.5 trillion. focus went to getting every child to school.
tionist, who is currently the state minister “It means that in [FY]2016/17 when UPE Out of the 476,130 pupils who sat exams
for higher education, makes the same point. clocked 20 years, the education sector was in 2018, only 38,148 (or 6.6 percent) passed
“The argument that government was not being allocated more money than the entire in Division One. Both numbers are tiny
prepared for UPE is clearly not true. There national budget when the programme was fractions of those who started out in P.1 as
were clear roadmaps and planning, unlike a year old,” Museveni says. many fell off.
what most people think. The government The money has gone into the welfare The government does not hide its head
did not start UPE from the blue,” he says. of teachers, school infrastructure and to in the sand over these problems. Permanent
To be sure, UPE was neither the brain- some extent instructional materials. Science Secretary Alex Kakooza, says the Ministry
child of Museveni personally nor his gov- teachers and those in hard-to-reach areas of Education is focused on raising the qual-
ernment’s collectively – a fact both are quick are entitled to a 30 percent top up over their ity of learning. The Education Sector Strate-
to concede. The idea was first introduced salary. gic Plan has identified interventions such as
in 1962 by the Uganda People’s Congress In infrastructural terms, there are over increasing teacher numbers, training them,
(UPC). But, the NRM says, earlier govern- 160,000 classrooms compared to 45,000 improving their welfare, supplying more
ments failed to implement UPE because that existed at the start of UPE in 1997. and better instructional materials, and con-
they could not put the interests of citizens Additionally, there has been a scaling-up struction of more schools.

18 Feb. 08 - 14 2019

PLE results expose system
Experts blame outdated UNEB Act for failure rates
By Agnes E Nantaba
T
he recently released 2018 Primary
Leaving Examinations (PLE) caused
excitement for many pupils, parents,
and schools. But for some top elite
schools Jan. 17, the day when the Uganda
National Examinations Board (UNEB) re-
leased the results, was full of frustration.
These are schools where parents pay
high fees expecting high quality teaching,
learning, and examination grades. Classes
expect and have previously scored a 100
percent pass rate. Not this time. To the sur-
prise of many, scarcely known performed
unexpectedly far better than the top aca-
demic giants. And conspiracies have been
swirling since. Some blame the new mark-
ing system introduced by UNEB, although
it is not clear how it could discriminate
against top schools.
But according to Mary Okwakol, the
UNEB chairperson, the new system; the
Education Information Management Sys-
tem, is based on anonymity of school names
during the marking process. Instead of the
school names, it uses numbers given by the
Ministry of Education and Sports (MOES).
The idea is to improve on efficiency and
effectiveness in the processing of results.
The previous system required candidates
to write their names, index numbers, name
of the school and district but this changed
last year.
This time, anonymous numbers were
given out during the registration of schools
for the exam to remove identifiable informa-
tion from the examination script at the time
of sitting.
“The system helps relieve pressure felt by
examiners while dealing with top schools,”
said Okwakol.
In addition to anonymity, the system also
incorporates a ‘conveyor belt’ system where
examiners only wait for scripts rotating on a
conveyor belt. The examiner marks which-
ever scripts come his or her way. They also
only mark a small portion of numbers and
pass the script to someone else to mark
other sections. Up to five examiners mark a
script compared to one previously.
Away from the grumbling by specific
schools, focus has this time focused on the
high failure rates. Of the 646,190 candi-
dates that sat the exams, only 57,198 or
8.85% passed in First Grade, 293,977 in
second grade, 128,573 in third grade, 91504
in fourth grade and 57,354 walking away
ungraded or failed. This officially translates
into 9% failure rate, although pupils in third
and fourth grade typically find difficulty
advancing in good secondary schools.
Up to 476,131 pupils were from govern-
ment sponsored Universal Primary Educa-
tion (UPE) schools and 195,792 from private
school.
According to the results, the pass rate for
non-UPE schools was 22% while that for
UPE schools stands at 4%.
Robert Mugambwa, a national trainer
with Uwezo Uganda; an NGO that
researches ways of improving learning,
says that the disparity in pass rate results
from different abilities of pupils to read. He
says the Uwezo surveys have consistently
shown that children in UPE schools are
inadequately taught to read and, therefore,
fail to comprehend and interpret questions.
He says even the failure to pass math-
ematics, can be attributed to read.
“There is a word question and compre-
hending it was a challenge,” he says, “Some
pupils especially those in rural schools are
not introduced to English early, so asking
them to write a story which involves a lot of
English becomes a challenge.”
Uwezo is a five year initiative that aims
to improve competencies in literacy and
numeracy among children aged 6-16 years
old in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Several
reports it has done point to failure of learn-
ers in numeracy and literacy.
According to Uwezo Uganda Sixth
Learning Assessment Report 2016 titled ‘Are
our children learning’, 60 percent of P3 – P7
pupils in private schools could read and
understand a P2 English story and P2 divi-
sion with only 49 percent in private schools
and only 45 percent in community schools.
The report indicates that non-participation,
late entry and delayed progression are still
challenges in primary education in Uganda.
There are also slight differences in learning
EDUCATION
outcomes between children from high and
low socio-economic status households with
42 percent from wealthier household being
able to read and understand an English
story compared to 38 percent from poorer
households.
Details in the report also point to an
annex of Uganda pupils that is not learn-
ing for instance in Eastern Uganda and
parts of Northern Uganda that are getting a
raw deal in education. These translate into
non-alignment or imbalance in terms of
what is taught and examined thus failure
to comprehend and learn on the side of the
learners.
“In our assessment, pupils in private
schools were able to do better numeracy
and literacy and it’s now reflecting in the
UNEB PLE results,” says Mugambwa.
Unmatched assessment policy
Focus has also been placed on the lack of
a standard examination system on which
UNEB would base to set questions. Many
experts say the examiner bases on a 1983
UNEB Act to assess learners yet it is inad-
equate.
The current 30 year old system bases on
summative system of assessment, where
learners are evaluated at the end of an
instructional unit. But the standard on
which their performance is compared is
not systematically set. The experts say this
contributes to the disparity in performance
from year to year.
Patrick Kaboyo, the National Secretary of
Federation of Non-State Education Institutions
(FENEI) says there is need for clear and profes-
sional assessment policy. Even the little efforts
made towards amending the UNEB Act, Kaboyo
says, have been done without consulting key
players; like parents associations.
UNEB has also been calling for an
amendment of the 1983 UNEB Act; but
mainly citing its weakness in curbing exam-
inations malpractices.
UNEB Executive Secretary Dan Odongo
revealed that the law was outdated and in
conflict with other laws. But the amend-
ment has not been done.
Although the examiner has worked hard
to curb examination malpractices, Okwakol
noted that the main challenge still lies in
teachers assisting learners with answers in
the course of writing exams with eight cases
registered in Bundibugyo district during
the sitting of exams on November 4 and 5
last year. According to Kaboyo, this means
the security leaks in the examinations are a
systemic problem.
Feb. 08 - 14 2019 19
news analysis
Wanted: Genuine oil investors
How pressure on oil refinery, pipeline pushed
Uganda to agree to end secret deals
By Ronald Musoke
F
or ten years, civil society has been
trying and failing to push the
government to join the Extractives
Industries Transparency Initiative
(EITI), a global mechanism that requires
governments and companies to be open
about their oil, gas and mineral deals.
Then on Jan.29, the government
abruptly announced it was joining EITI.
So what had changed?
Onesmus Mugyenyi, the deputy
executive director of the Advocates
Coalition for Development and
Environment (ACODE), a Kampala-based
think tank told The Independent that the
government could have finally realised
that for Uganda to gainfully exploit its
oil, gas and mineral resources, it needs
to build investor confidence by creating
an environment that attracts genuine
investors.
“Attempts to get investors to build an
oil refinery, and other infrastructure have
been a big challenge,” Mugyenyi told The
Independent, “Government has perhaps
realised that creating an environment
that is conducive for investors is very
important.”
Mugyenyi who also doubles as
the manager of the environment and
democracy programme at ACODE told
The Independent that genuine investors do
not like places where there are no clear
mechanisms in doing business.
Mugyenyi told The Independent
that by Uganda joining the EITI— a
global standard for transparency in
the extractives sector—it means the
government has agreed to subject its
management of oil, gas and mining
revenues to scrutiny beyond the internal
20 Feb. 08 - 14 2019
government mechanisms.
Whatever the reason, Paul Twebaze, a
member of the Mineral Audit Committee
of the International Great Lakes
Conference Against illegal Exploitation
of Natural Resources told The Independent
that he hopes Uganda will now be viewed
with favour in the region considering that
it has severally been accused of frustrating
efforts geared towards streamlining
minerals trade in the region.
Twebaze told The Independent that DR
Congo and Rwanda officials in charge
of mineral certification have consistently
blamed the lackluster performance of
the regional mechanism on the laxity in
Uganda in implementing the process.
“Since things will now be in the open,
that accusation will now stop,” Twebaze
told The Independent.
According to Global Witness, a
London-based non-profit that advocates
for transparency in the extractives sector
around the world, over 50 countries are
now implementing the EITI and 80 of the
world’s largest oil, gas and mining firms
also actively participate in the initiative.
The initiative has also won the support
of over 80 global investment institutions
that collectively manage assets worth
over US$ 19 trillion. Global Witness has
also noted that since its inception in 2002,
companies have disclosed over US $ 1
trillion in revenue payments
through EITI reports.
An August 2013
Global Witness paper
titled, “The benefits
for Uganda of joining
the emerging global
transparency
standard

for extractive industry revenues,” noted
that the introduction of initiatives like the
EITI were intended to bring about a new
global transparency standard for oil, gas
and mining revenues into being.
In 2013, the EITI standard was revised
and strengthened to tackle corruption
in the natural resource sector, boosting
development and creating more stable
investment climates.
For instance, Global Witness notes
that the introduction of the Dodd-Frank
Act (Section 1504) in the U.S, the new
Accounting and Transparency Directive
in the EU; government commitments
to introduce similar mandatory rules
in Canada and Norway, and a new
implementing requirements for the EITI,
have brought a new global transparency
standard for oil, gas and mining revenue
into being.
By 2016, EITI countries were required
to publish information on the ultimate
beneficial ownership of entities with oil,
gas and mining rights. The standard
encourages governments to publish
contracts, production figures while
state-owned companies and regional
transfers are also covered by the disclosure
requirements.
EITI benefits
But the next three years will be critical
to gauging the government’s commitment
on EITI. The government must start work
on the procedural formalities of joining
the EITI, including formally notifying the
EITI Secretariat in Oslo, Norway of the
resolution.
Thereafter, at national level, a multi-
stakeholder group consisting of the
government, industry and civil society
representatives will be constituted to form
what is technically called the “national
multi-stakeholder group.”
With the multi-stakeholder group
in place, the government will approve
an administrator who will be charged
with the day-to-day activities on EITI
such as ensuring participation of all
stakeholders; receiving data on revenue
payments by companies and receipts by
the government, facilitating the multi-
stakeholder group to develop a report,
and disseminating the report, among other
roles.
Such project-by-project reporting,
experts argue, helps investors improve
their ability to assess risk and make
decisions about the allocation of capital,
as well as fostering more stable operating
environments that enhance prospects for
investment return.
Winfred Ngabiirwe, the former
coordinator of Publish What You Pay and
the current head of Global Rights Alert told
The Independent on Feb.01 that she hopes
Uganda’s joining the EITI will bring an end
to the secrecy that surrounds the deals in
Uganda’s extractives industry. She said the
endless disputes between the government
and oil companies such as Tullow over
Capital Gains Tax are partly due contracts
done in secret and kept a secret.
“With the EITI requiring disclosure of
such transactions, it will certainly help,”
she said, “What we now need is action.
The working group (on EITI) must be well
constituted and we hope the government
will afford it the necessary goodwill and
we look forward to being part of the
process.”
Advocates of the EITI mechanism have
always urged the government to adopt the
international voluntary initiative citing its
multiple benefits.
They have, for instance, argued
that project level disclosures provide
communities that live near extraction sites
with details of the financial contributions
that the industry makes and enable
By 2016, EITI
countries
were required
to publish
information on
the ultimate
beneficial
ownership of
entities with
oil, gas and
mining rights
citizens, MPs, civil society groups
including media to hold governments to
account for how the revenues are spent.
They have also argued that transparency
over oil and mineral revenues can
contribute to the prevention of natural
resource-related conflict.
Project-by-project reporting under EITI,
experts say, is beneficial to the companies
because it strengthens companies’ “social
licence” to operate by showing host
populations the financial contributions
they make to public revenues which in
turn reduces the likelihood of resentment
and conflict. Local unrest can severely
impact the reputation and finances
of extractives companies, and cause
news analysis
interruptions to supply.
Big step forward
There is no doubt Uganda has made a
big step towards rooting out the culture
of secrecy in the oil and mining sectors.
This is the general view of donors and
civil society activists following cabinet’s
approval on Jan.28.
Government spokesperson, Ofwono
Opondo, announced the cabinet decision
on Jan.29 saying it is intended to minimize
oil, gas and mining revenues being
mismanaged or lost to corruption.
James Muhindo, the national
coordinator of the Civil Society Coalition
on Oil and Gas (CSCO), a consortium
of local and international NGOs told
The Independent on Jan.31 that Uganda’s
intention to join the transparency initiative
is a “big milestone” on Uganda’s path
towards transparency and accountability
in the oil, gas and mining sector.
In a statement released on Jan. 30, the
EU also applauded the Cabinet for the
public pronouncement saying this was a
positive step towards improved financial
management and accountability of
Uganda’s natural resources.
“The European Union Delegation
to Uganda welcomes the Government
of Uganda’s decision to formally join
the Extractive Industries Transparency
Initiative (EITI) as a member state,” said
Attilio Pacifici, the EU Ambassador to
Uganda, “Uganda’s decision to become
a fully-fledged member state is an
important step for improved accountability
particularly as the country continues to
prepare for oil production.”
Publishing and reconciling data on
oil, gas and mining revenues ensures
transparency but government officials
have often said the mechanism is not all
that necessary and it makes foreigners
interfere with Uganda’s internal affairs.
In 2008, during the formulation of the
national oil and gas policy, the government
put joining the EITI as its sixth objective
but it later appeared as though it had
a “change of heart” on the voluntary
transparency mechanism.
At one time, President Museveni
sounded dismissive of the EITI
arrangement saying he would prefer a
continental mechanism. But civil society
and donors have often reminded the
government of joining the mechanism.
Ngabiirwe also told The Independent
that she now hopes the government will
work on structures to help people in the
grassroots follow the important discourse
in the sector. It is important to have the
information but what you do with the
information is another issue, she said.
Feb. 08 - 14 2019 21
news analysis
Much to celebrate about UPDF
As young people, we need to avoid being duped into
forgetting or ignoring our history and say never again to chaos
By Natasha Mariam
O
n February 6 Ugandans joined the
UPDF to celebrate Tarehe-Sita, a
day which marks the attack on
Kabamba barracks by 27 armed
and a few unarmed patriots. They stormed
the barracks marking the start of the strug-
gle by the Ugandans against the misrule
that they had witnessed characterised by
dictatorship, unconstitutional governance,
and state oppression and violation of hu-
man rights.
This liberation struggle started in 1981 to
January 26, 1986 when Uganda was finally
liberated, after taking over Kampala. Tare-
he-sita which literary means the sixth day is
always celebrated with a long week of activ-
ities in different districts around Ugan-
da and this year’s celebrations started
on January 31 and ended on February
6 in the Acholi sub region; particularly
in the districts of Agago, Lamwo,
Gulu, Omoro, Pader, Nwoya ,Amuru
and finally Kitgum to crown the week.
A number of activities including com-
munity cleaning and health drives
among others were conducted by
UPDF medical and engineering teams.
The most significant activities occurred
in the hosting districts.
Unlike the post-independence gov-
ernments and their armed forces that
were characterised by extra-judicial
killings, impunity, indiscipline, torture
of the wanainchi, incarcerations, and
outright disappearances of citizens
merely suspected of being opposed to
those in power at the time, the new breed
of NRA/UPDF maintained its principle of
discipline. This is the main reason it has
continued not only winning the hearts of
Ugandans but the entire region.
After the overthrow of Idi Amin in April
1979 by a combined force of the Tanzanian
army and Ugandan freedom fighters from
Tanzania, the killings and state persecution
of citizens did not end. Instead it continued
to grow out of control. The successive gov-
ernments; including that of Apollo Milton
Obote and their armies failed to win the
hearts of Ugandans because they were not
any different from the Amin army and did
not know how to relate with the wanainchi.
In January 1986, after the National Resis-
tance Army led by Gen. Yoweri Museveni
seized power after a protracted five-year
22 Feb. 08 - 14 2019
resistance war against dictatorships, they
came with a new dawn that had never been
seen in any armed force before. The his-
tory of the NRA/NRM revolution is firmly
anchored in the positive relations the free-
dom fighters were able to achieve with the
population of Uganda.
In his swearing-in speech of January
1986, President Museveni clearly pointed
out his new position on security of person
and property and in his statement he said
that “The security of the people of Uganda
is their right and not a favour bestowed by
any regime. No regime has a right to kill
any citizen of this country, or to beat any
citizen at a roadblock. We make it clear to
our soldiers that if they abuse any citizen,
the punishment they will receive will teach
them a lesson. As for killing people, if you
kill a citizen, you yourself will be killed.”
This alone was enough for all the citizens
to have faith and belief in their army which
sparked off a very good working environ-
ment for the forces and the wanainchi.
Since then, despite a few incidents of civil
unrests in northern Uganda caused by the
Lord’s Resistance Army rebels of Joseph
Kony, and their precursors, there is peace
in the whole of Uganda today. It is evident
to everyone that Ugandans do not face any
threat on any boarder and this is partly due
to the good working relation of the UPDF
and the Wanainchi.
Therefore, as we celebrate the Army Day,
we do not only celebrate NRA which was
in the lead of the liberation fight but all the
previous armies which merged to form
one national army that we now have as a
country.
The NRA/UPDF has been at the helm of
Uganda because of the discipline that was
instilled in them right from the onset of the
liberation war. The ideological and political
grounding is another aspect of training in
UPDF which has set itself apart from previ-
ous armies which never understood their
reason for being.
I quote: “Political education has given
UPDF that mighty weapon which when
brought on to the battle field you cannot
defeat. Other armies take weapons like heli-
copters, tanks, and engineering equipment
as the most important force multipliers. Yes,
they are force multipliers, but the UPDF’s
biggest force multiplier is its political con-
sciousness,” said the late Gen. Aronda
Nyakairima who was also an
army commander.
As young people, we need to
avoid being duped into forget-
ting or ignoring our history.
There are a number of critical
lessons which the present and
future generations must take
seriously if Uganda is never
again to slide back into chaos it
was in before 1986. The peace
and stability we enjoy today was
born through sacrifice and must
be guarded jealously at all times.
Over the years, the UPDF has
continued as the most active
force, not only in peace and
stability but economic and social
development. More officers of
the force are now in charge of some depart-
ments and projects in government. A case in
point is the Operation Wealth Creation, the
newly created Anti-Corruption Unit, Inter-
nal Affairs, and Ministry of Works where
they are currently constructing houses for
the recent Bududa landslide victims. In
health, during the doctors’ strike the UPDF
came in to save the situation saving a num-
ber of Ugandans all over the country. The
greatest of all that the army has contributed
to the region is by making sure there is
peace in Somalia, Congo, and South Sudan.
Therefore as we celebrate Tarehe-Sita
this year, we commend the gallant soldiers
not only in providing peace and stability in
Uganda but the entire region.
Natasha Mariam works with Uganda Media
Centre
2018/19 budget
proposal
Economists welcome
debt repayment but
decry budget cuts for
social sectors

T
By Julius Businge

he government is seeking to
increase spending by 5% to
Shs34.3 trillion in the next fi-
nancial year that starts in July
amidst proposed budget cuts for
critical sectors including secu-
rity, education, health, social development,
water and environment and agriculture.
The new proposal that is detailed in the
Budget Framework Paper (BFP) for the
2019/20 comes four months to the reading of
the national budget.
It has already sparked off
debate among the followers of the
budget making process and its
implementation. important when it comes to effective payments and non-revenue funds for
One group supports government’s undertaking of projects like roads, domestic debt refinancing.
move to cut expenditure for the critical power dams and oil projects. Interest payments will increase to
sectors to favor debt repayments and According to the BFP, the Shs2.9tn (11.4% of the total budget –
infrastructure projects. total allocation to social sectors second largest share) up from Shs2.5tn
Another group is opposed to of education, health, social in the FY2018/2019.
the new move saying it is wrong development, water and environment The domestic revenue is expected
to allocate less money to social and agriculture will reduce by to increase by 12.3% to Shs18.3tn
sectors because they support human 12% from Shs7.7tn to Shs6.8tn in following GDP growth projection of
capital development that is linked to the FY2018/2019 and 2019/2020 6.2%. This implies that 66% of the new
performance of the economy. respectively. In addition, security budget will be financed by domestic
“This is not good news for sector will also suffer a cut. revenue where taxes will contribute
addressing social inequality,” This, however, contradicts the World Shs17.8tn to the total domestic
said Enock Twinoburyo, a senior Bank human capital development revenue.
economist. “The poverty that has view that advises countries to invest Julius Mukunda, the coordinator
increased in the past few years heavily in early healthcare and child of the Civil Society Budget Advocacy
requires government to invest more in education. Group (CSBAG) said the local
human capital.” Government’s plan is to spend population needs not to be excited ‘for
The new allocations, he said Shs12.6trillion or 37% of the total the Shs34 trillion since almost half of
should take into account issues like budget on development expenditure. the items that comprise it are of no
institutional capacity and human The rest of the resource envelop will direct benefit.”
resource development which are be used for debt repayment, interest He also said the government needs

Feb. 08 - 14 2019 23
business
to fast track the development of the
medium-term revenue strategy as
well as present new tax measures to
generate the extra revenue (Shs1.9tn)
for the proposed budget.
Debt burden queries
The country’s total public debt
stock both domestic and external as
at the end of 2018 stood at US$10.7bn
(equivalent to Shs41.3tn). This is
equivalent to 41.5% of the GDP of
which 13.3% is domestic while 28.2%
is external.
While this is still below the 50%
threshold, some analysts say it worries
given that it can exceed the 50% limit
if government implements other debt
financing of huge projects such as
Standard Gauge Railway, new roads
and the planned oil pipeline.
The good news for the private sector
is that the government plans to reduce
its domestic borrowing from Shs1.7tn
to Shs534.9bn – a welcome move
The projected interest rate – growth
differential up to 2025 is expected to
remain over 5% per annum.
While data on debt exists,
Twinoburyo says, there is not
holistic understanding of how much
government owns in terms of the
assets which provide a buffer to
mitigate debt crisis.
In terms of capacity to raise revenue,
Twinoburyo says given that 90% of
revenue is coming from the top 1,000
taxpayers, taxes are collected from a
relatively narrow base.
At sector level, agriculture
which accounts for quarter of GDP
contributes less than 1% of tax
Winners
Works and
transport sector
revenue, while the service sector
which accounts for half the annual
GDP contributes two thirds of the
tax collections and the remaining is
contributed by industry sector.
This scenario reiterates the fact
that informality is a major constraint
but also could lend credence to the
fact that evasion increases with self-
employment, both at the individual
level and beyond.
From the policy and administration
front; digitalisation of the informal
sector and key economic activities
as well as establishing a transparent
and stringent mechanisms for tax
expenditures will deliver quick wins,
Twinoburyo said.
He adds that establishing a strong
culture of compliance, improving
the tax structure, and enhancing
the productivity and capacity of the
tax administration too are critical to
attaining Uganda’s revenue objectives.
On the other hand, Kasirye, says

will have its

aimed at not crowding out the private
sector in the credit market.
Twinoburyo and the Makerere
University based Economic Policy
Research Centre senior research
fellow, Ibra Kasirye told The
Independent in separate interviews
that the new budget should be thought
out carefully in terms of avoiding
debt accumulation and medium term
budget theme of ‘industrialization for
job creation and shared prosperity’.
“Allocation and operational
efficiency is critical in this process,”
Twinoburyo said. “We seem to be
good at budgeting on paper but not at
implementation,” he said.
On borrowing, Twinoburyo said the
government needs to take into account
the changing cost of borrowing
brought about by interest rate hikes
and the volatile exchange rate.
He said the interest payments
annually are fast approaching 3%
of GDP (nearly 20% of domestic
revenue), which is one of the highest.
This implies that only 80% of the
though it is bad news to reduce
expenditure for social sectors, it is also
budget allocation a good idea of paying off current debt
to avoid their accumulation.
increased from He says debt repayment protects
government from becoming
Shs4.7tn to uncreditworthy, and borrowing at
Shs5.3tn; interest much higher rates.
Kasirye supports the idea of hiking
payments from revenue collection targets domestically
for URA as long as projections are in
Shs2.5tn to line with anticipated performance of
Shs2.9tn, energy the economy.
“I believe that they (government)
and mineral think they will have a larger port
to collect taxes in the new financial
development year,” Kasirye said.
from Shs2.4tn to Beyond debt, another item to watch
is the creation of a Youth Livelihood
Shs2.6tn. Program vote in State House of
Shs130bn in 2019/2020 which CSBAG’s
Mukunda says should be handled
Losers carefully given that the President’s
office is prone to compromising
Education politically such initiatives because
of limited public and parliamentary
budget is scrutiny.

revenue is being invested in other 16
sectors amidst other risks.
“Utilisation of loans is marred with
cost and time overruns…feasibility of
projects is lacking in most cases,” he
reduced from
Going forward, Mukunda says
that as the country approaches the
Shs2.7tn to 2020 final year of the NDPII, the
middle income status targets appear
Shs2.6tn; health far in the horizon, signaling the

from Shs2.3tn
says. need for prudent fiscal management
Overall, he adds that the medium with realistic targets to achieve the
term debt risks are pronounced – and
the average weighted interest rate on
to Shs2.2tn and aspirations.

debt is higher than the rate at which security from

the economy is growing suggesting
an eventual unsustainable trend if the Shs2.0tn to
pace of debt growth is not contained
in the medium term as well sequenced Shs1.9tn.
in tandem with capacity to efficiently
absorb loans.

24 Feb. 08 - 14 2019

Insurer’s minimum capital
requirement goes up
The move could see major mergers and acquisitions
By Isaac Khisa
U
ganda’s insurance regulator
has increased the minimum
capital requirements for
insurers, a move that is
intended to strengthen their capacity
to handle risks.
The Insurance Regulatory Authority
of Uganda requires insurers to boost
their capital in the next five years,
according to its Chief Executive
Officer, Ibrahim Kaddunabi Lubega.
Non-life insurers will now be
required to boost their capital to
Shs 6bn from Shs 4billion, while life
insurers will pay Shs 4.5bn from Shs
3bn.
Health Membership Organisations
that among others includes Case
Medical Centre, St. Catherine’s Clinic,
AAR and IAA will double their
minimum requirement to Shs 1bn.
The re-insurance firms are now
required to have Shs 9bn and Shs 6bn
as minimum capital for those dealing
in Non-life and life respectively
compared with the previous Shs10bn
for either of the re-insurers.
This is the second time that the
IRA-U is raising the minimal capital
requirements for insurers in a period
of five years.
In 2013, IRA-U raised the minimum
capital requirements from Shs 1bn to
Shs 3bn for life and Shs 1bn to Shs 4
billion for non-life.
Ivan Kilameri, the actuarial officer
at the IRA-U told insurers during a
Risk Based Supervision Workshop
held on Jan. 29 in Kampala that the
new dispensation in the industry
means that only strong companies
will remain in the market with the
potential to pay the claims.
“These new capital requirements
as we move to implement risk based
supervision means that insurers with
low capital will have to inject in more
capital,” he said adding that “there is
likely to be mergers and acquisitions
as firms strive to meet the legal
requirement.”
Kilameri said six non-life
companies, three life insurers and
Uganda’s insurance premium growth
Year 2011 2012
Gross Premiums 296.83 351.23
Underwritten (Shsbns)
18.3
Source: IRA-U
all the five HMOs are required to
inject additional capital into their
operations within three years to meet
the requirement.
Currently, Uganda has 31 Insurance
companies, one Micro Insurance
Company, one National Reinsurance
Company, six HMOs and 35 Insurance
brokers.
This new development comes after
few years since the IRAU ordered all
insurers to separate their life and non-
life insurance business as part of the
changing relations in the East African
Community.
However, a section of insurers said
the new initiatives could see firms
have excess capital with limited usage.
But the regulator said it is time for
insurers to be vigorous and grow their
business.
Earlier in an interview with The
Independent, the Sanlam General
Insurance, Chief Executive Officer
business
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
463 502.65 611.13 634 737
31 8 21 3.6 16
Gary Corbit, said they were ready
to implement the new capital
requirements.
“We will look at the new minimum
capital requirement that will be given
to us. If it means that we up our
capital, then, our shareholders shall
exactly do that.”
Countries that have already
embraced Risk Based Supervision
in Africa includes; Kenya, Tanzania,
Rwanda, Zambia and Malawi.
Latest data from IRA-U shows that
the industry recorded an increase in
premiums from Shs566.4bn for the
nine months ending September, 2017
to Shs 658.4bn in 2018 driven by the
increase in government investments in
infrastructure, uptake of agriculture
insurance and improvement in the
economy.
Non-life gross written premiums
increased from Shs404bn to Shs452.7bn
while life gross written premiums
increased from Shs120bn to Shs150.9bn
during the same period under review.
Similarly, Health Membership
Organisation recorded an increase in
insurance premiums from Shs42bn to
Shs54.79bn. Overall, the industry’s
net premium earned a recorded 21.5%
growth in premiums to Shs410.8bn.
In 2017, the industry registered a
16% growth in insurance premiums
to Shs737billion last year, up from
Shs634billion 2016. In 2016 premiums
were recorded at Shs611billion.
However, the insurance penetration
remains at less than 1% compared
with Rwanda’s 1%, Tanzania’s 2.3%
and Kenya’s 3.4%.
Feb. 08 - 14 2019 25
Business
aviation accountancy

Emirates excites ICPAU moves to advance accountancy

T
travellers he state of the trade. In terms of

E
mirates served over 20,000
plant-based meals across all
classes in January, known
to Vegans worldwide as
Veganuary. This was in line with
the worldwide movement aimed at
encouraging Veganism especially
in the month of January which saw
on board requests for vegan meals
increase by over 40%. The airline
caters for all its customers and has a
range of dedicated menus for medi-
cal or religious meal requirements
which are designed with a team of
nutritionists and chefs. Vegan meals
rank as the third most commonly
requested special meal in economy
class. The Airline has over 170
plant-based recipes in its kitchen to
cater for its vegan customers.
accounting in
Uganda is set to
improve following
initiatives that are being
pushed by the Institute
of Certified Public
Accountants of Uganda
(ICPAU) – all targeting
practitioners. Speaking
at the 9th Practioners
Forum held in Kampala
at the end of last month,
Frederick Kibbedi
(CPA), the President of
the ICPAU said several
initiatives including staff
training, outsourcing
services in which one
has no competence,
specialisation, leveraging
technology and
CPA Kelemensio Busingye (L) received of the profession is critical
a certificate during the forum.
promoting more public
awareness of accounting
services are being pushed
as one way of boosting
improving audit quality,
the institute is looking at
initiatives such as having
a training of trainers,
conducting joint firm
trainings, encouraging
promotion based training,
introducing practical
sessions to the continuous
professional development
programmes and
encouraging peer review
schemes. Officials said that
improving the performance
because it supports growth
of the economy. Uganda
currently has a total of
about 3,516 qualified
accountants and slightly
above 2000 are active.

insurance
csr

Total Uganda announces StartUpper challenge finalists NIC renews

Anold (Seatpack), Geoffrey
partnership
Omoding (Sayans Academy), with FUFA

Hilda Asiimwe (digital health
access), Vicent Nemeyimana
(Swapafrica) among others. The
selection of the winners was
based on the applicant’s age,
nationality, project age (two
years), social and community
impact, innovation and poten-
tial and feasibility. Speaking
at the unveiling ceremony in
N
IC Holdings limited
has renewed its four
year partnership with
the Federation of
Uganda Football Association of-
fering new and better insurance
sponsorship package for the
association, the Uganda Cranes,
the Junior League and the FUFA
drum tournament. The new con-

T
he 15 finalists who
participated in the
second edition of the
StartUpper of the year
challenge by Total Uganda
(2018-2019) have been an-
nounced. The aim of the chal-
lenge is to turn young people’s
banking
Stanchart launches online digital bank
innovations and passions into
sustainable businesses. Initiated
by the Total Group in 39 Afri-
can countries simultaneously,
the challenge will support
innovative projects which are
less than 2-years old. Some of
the winners include Mugagga
Kampala on Jan.30, Patrick
Mweheire, the CEO of Stanbic
bank who is the Jury Ambas-
sador of the initiative and Obi
Imemba, the MD for Total said
that the overall winners will
take home Shs75million, the
first runner-up Shs40m and
second runner up Shs35m.
tract covers all players, coaching
staff and team doctor against
death and injuries resulting into
permanent disability sustained
while on official duty. The
sponsorship includes Shs660m
annually for the Uganda Cranes,
Shs800m for the FUFA Junior
League annually, Shs960m for
the FUFA Drum Tournament,
Shs10m for FUFA awards annu-
ally and US$18,000 for a genera-
tor. On Jan.24, the NIC manag-

S
tandard Chartered
Bank Uganda has
launched the first fully
digital online banking
solution aimed at giving
its clients access to over 70
self-service requests making
banking accessible, hassle-free
and convenient. Core among
these services is the ability for
anyone to join the bank by
downloading the Standard
Chartered Mobile App and
opening an online Standard
Chartered Digital Life Account.
According to the bank’s CEO,
Albert Saltson this is a key
milestone on their digital
journey and a justification for
the bank’s commitment to
invest in modern technology,
build systems and up skill
“our people whilst tapping
into our global expertise to
make digitisation a reality
in Uganda.” Meanwhile, on
Jan.29, the bank unveiled
the popular comedian Anne
Kansiime as its Digital Bank
Ambassador.
ing director, Bayo Folayan said
the package is in line with NIC’s
continued support of sports in
Uganda. “We believe the youth
are the future of the country and
that is why this partnership goes
a long way in supporting the
efforts of government in the area
of youth and sports develop-
ment,” Folayan said.

26 Feb. 08 - 14 2019
 Business

FAO moves to boost fishing

community’s incomes
By Isaac Khisa to sustain the benefits.

T
he Food and Agricul-
ture Organization of
the United Nations in
partnership with the ag-
riculture ministry has unveiled
a Technical Cooperation Project
to support women and youth
groups in fishing communities
around Lake Victoria.
The pilot project dubbed ‘In-
tegrated Livelihood Support to
Fishing Communities around
Lake Victoria’ is in response to
Bank of Uganda Governor Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile (2-L), chats with the government’s recent initia-
Stanchard Chartered Bank Board Chairman Robin Kibuuka (L) and Albert tive to deploy military on the
Saltson (R) during the launch of the bank’s digital online banking solution at lake to stop illegal fishing and
Kampala Serena Hotel on January 29.  Independent/Julius Businge boost fish production, a situ-
ation that has denied the two
groups of their livelihood.
The 2-year project worth
US$277,000 to be implemented
in Kalangala, Kalungu and
Masaka Districts, will support
interventions aimed at promot-
ing legal fishing methods and
gears to vulnerable groups,
providing non-fishing liveli-
hood options, efficient post-
harvest handling and value ad-
dition technologies, economic
empowerment of women and
youth through savings and co-
operative societies and building
the capacity of the beneficiaries
Juma Kisaame, the former chief executive officer for dfcu bank
handing over a commemorative plaque to his successor Mathias
Katamba during his [Kisaame’s] farewell dinner at Kampala Serena
Hotel on Feb.01.  Independent/Julius Businge
FAO Representative in
Uganda, Antonio Querido, said
the project beneficiary com-
munities will be supported to
boost their incomes through
additional streams resulting
from alternative livelihood op-
tions that are at the same time
expected to reduce pressure on
capture fisheries resources.
 “It is our sincere hope that
this project will contribute
to addressing inadequate
diversification of livelihood
options among the rural poor
fishing communities, especially
women and youth, as well as
improving the resilience of live-
lihoods to threats and crises,”
he said.
Vincent Ssempijja, the minis-
ter for agriculture said the gov-
ernment is also planning to set
aside a substantive amount of
money in this coming national
budget to boost aquaculture.
Latest data from Directorate
of Fisheries Resources in the
agriculture ministry shows that
the country’s fish export earn-
ings fell from US$134.79million
in 2015 to US$113million in
2016 due to a decline in fish
harvests.

Weekly share price movement (Jan. 28)

Security Jan. 28 Jan. 14 Movement
BATU 30,000 30000 00
BOBU 134 135 0.7
CENT 1,247 1,049 18.8
QCL 200 174 15
DFCU 800 822 2.6
EABL 6,108 5, 941 2.8
EBL 1,474 1,346 9.5
JHL 15,789 15,135 4.3
KA 286 290 1.3
KCB 1,479 1,345 10
NIC 14 14 00
NMG 2,181 2,296 5.0
NVL 337 338 0.3
Some of the winners of the Beera Millionaire with Airtel Money SBU 29 30 3.3
promotion celebrate upon receiving their goodies at the Airtel offices UCHM 29 31 6.5
in Kampala on Feb. 01.   Courtesy photo. UCL 19 19 00
UMEME 300 300 00
ALSI -- -- --

Feb. 08 - 14 2019 27
Exercise is medicine
Doctors should be prescribing it
T
By Scott Lear
here is a movement afoot (pun
intended) to get more people
exercising by involving their
doctors.
In the United Kingdom, the
government released `Moving
Medicine’ — an online resource to help doc-
tors talk to their patients about the impor-
tance of exercise in relation to conditions as
diverse as cancer and dementia. This is a
welcome initiative given that physical inac-
tivity is the fourth leading cause of death in
the world, according to the World Health
Organization.
The benefits of exercise have been proven
over and over again: Exercise reduces risk
of depression, type 2 diabetes, heart disease,
stroke and many cancers, and prevents
early death. If it was a pill, exercise would
be a trillion-dollar money-maker prescribed
to everyone.
Exercise as a therapy is mentioned in
almost all prevention and treatment guide-
lines, which are written by doctors them-
selves. Still, most patients never hear their
doctor talk about it. And most people do
not achieve current guidelines for physical
activity, which recommend that people par-
ticipate in moderate (such as brisk walking)
and vigorous (such as jogging, swimming
or running) activity for at least 150 minutes
per week.
Part of the reason is that most doctors in
practice today received little, if any, training
on the role of exercise in managing disease.
Years ago I taught a 30-minute lecture on
the topic at a Canadian medical school and
this was all the students got over their four-
year program.
In recent years, Canadian medical schools
— such as the Cumming School of Medi-
28 Feb. 08 - 14 2019
the benefits of exercise and how to counsel
patients.
The need for this change in approaching
health and disease comes from two key
realisations. One is that there are a grow-
ing number of people with preventable
chronic illness, and our health-care system
cine at the University of Calgary — have
is not adequately prepared to deal with all
revised their curricula to incorporate aspects
these patients. Our system is reactionary;
of exercise in the prevention and treatment
it is designed to wait until someone has a
of disease.
disease instead of preventing it. But chronic
This is one part of growing initiatives like
illnesses are not like diseases of old. They
`Exercise is Medicine’ that advocate for the
cannot be cured, although many can be pre-
role of exercise and encourage doctors to
vented. Exercise is increasingly recognised
prescribe it.
as important to this change.
Similarly, the `Prescription to Get Active’
program in Alberta allows doctors to pre-
scribe free 30-day gym memberships to
Exercise for cancer care
Second, we have greater knowledge
patients.
about the benefits of exercise in treating
A grassroots program called `Walk with
disease in addition to preventing it. Exercise
a Doc’ has local doctors walking with their
is used for cardiac rehabilitation, after a
patients. The program was begun by Dr.
heart attack.
David Sabgir, a cardiologist in Columbus,
Exercise works as well as drugs that
Ohio, who was frustrated with his inability
lower cholesterol and blood pressure in
to affect behaviour change in the clinical
preventing early death. And diabetics who
setting and invited his patients to go for a
exercise require less medication to manage
walk with him in a local park one Saturday
their blood sugar.
morning. More than 100 people showed up,
Even in treating cancer, exercise can
and there are now 400 chapters worldwide.
reduce the side-effects of treatment, such
There have also been calls for exercise to
as anxiety, depression and fatigue. This has
be considered a vital sign, much like blood
prompted the Clinical Oncology Society
pressure and heart rate. Health insurance
of Australia to release a position statement
provider Kaiser Permanente requires doc-
recommending exercise as part of regular
tors in the United States to record how
cancer care. It is believed to be the first of its
much physical activity a patient does.
kind in the world, but hopefully not the last.
Patients who receive exercise prescrip-
Doctors would benefit from additional
tions and counseling from their doctors are
incentives such as specific billing codes that
more likely to be active, so these initiatives
allow for prescribing of exercise as well as
are a good start. More needs to be done,
more continuing medical education sessions
however, when only one-third of doctors
on how to do so.
talk to their patients about exercise.
Educating current and future doctors that
exercise is as good, if not better, than many
Reactionary health-care system medications will be essential to prevent the
Not surprisingly, doctors who exercise
increasing burden of chronic illnesses.
themselves are more likely to counsel their
patients about physical activity. Therefore,
Scott Lear is Professor of Health Sciences, Simon
targeting doctors to be more active may
Fraser University and writer of the weekly blog
provide a substantial population effect.
`Feel healthy with Dr. Scott Lear’.
At the same time, doctors say they need
more and better training with respect to

By Joyce Moriku Kaducu
Personal commitment to fight cancer
Whoever you are, you have the power to reduce the impact
of cancer for yourself, the people you love and for the world
E
very February 04, Uganda joins the
rest of the world to commemorate
World Cancer Day, to raise aware-
ness of cancer and to encourage
its prevention, detection, and treatment.
Nearly every family in the world has been
affected by cancer, which is now respon-
sible for one in every six deaths globally.
Worldwide, approximately, 9.6 million
people die each year from cancer. That is
more than HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuber-
culosis combined. In 2018, Kampala Cancer
Registry registered 32,617 new cancer cases,
and 21,829 deaths. Unfortunately, many of
the cancer patients come to Uganda Cancer
Institute with advanced disease when
nothing much can be done to cure it. Sensi-
tisation of the public is, therefore, important
so that in addition to prevention measures,
cancer is diagnosed early. This year, World
Cancer Day was held under the theme ‘I
AM and I WILL’ to resonate, inspire change
and mobilize action against Cancer both
nationally and globally.
This is an empowering call-to-action
urging for personal commitment and repre-
sents the power of individual action taken
now to impact the present and future cancer
prevention efforts.
Whoever you are, you have the power to
reduce the impact of cancer for yourself, the
people you love and for the world. It’s time
to make a personal commitment.
Cancer can be prevented by adopting
simple lifestyle changes such as;
 Stop consumption of tobacco
 Limit harmful use of alcohol
 Eat healthy, for example foods rich in
fruits and vegetables – these foods are
readily available in our farms, gardens,
and markets.
 Engage in physical activity for at least
30 minutes per day such as running,
jogging, dancing etc
 Vaccinate yourselves and your children
against Hepatitis B and Human Papil-
loma Virus (HPV) to prevent cancer of
the liver and cervix respectively
According to current evidence, between
30% and 50% of cancer deaths could be
prevented by modifying or avoiding key
risk factors such as tobacco use, harmful
consumption of alcohol, physical inactivity,
unhealthy diets and obesity.
More than one third of cancer cases can
be prevented. Another third can be cured
if detected early and treated properly. The
Ministry of Health has prioritised cancer
control and is committed to ensuring that
the communities are educated on how to
prevent cancer, access cancer screening and
treatment services including palliative care
everywhere in Uganda. This commitment is
evidenced by;
 Providing an enabling legal framework
for cancer control through The Uganda
Cancer Institute Act of 2016.
 Establishment of the Center of Excel-
lence for cancer treatment in East and
Central Africa at the Uganda Cancer
Institute (UCI) with support from Afri-
can Development Bank. The need for
referrals abroad for cancer treatment
has been mitigated.
 Increased funding for the Uganda
Cancer Institute to UGX 8.4 billion in
2018/19 budget
 Increased availability and accessibility
of cancer treatment medicines. Uganda
Cancer Institute medicines supply is
now at almost 100%.
 Providing vaccination against cancer
of the cervix at each sub county and
immunisation post in Uganda. Current
HPV vaccination is at 70%. Girls aged
10 years are protected from getting can-
cer of the cervix in future.
 Enacting the tobacco control act; Tobac-
co is known to cause almost 60% of all
cancers. The Government is currently
in the process of enacting the alcohol
control law.
 Investment in cancer diagnostic and
treatment services. Uganda Cancer
Institute has a state of the art labora-
tory and imaging equipment for cancer
diagnosis.
 In addition, with support from the
Indian Government, we have acquired
a second radiotherapy machine. Gov-
ernment of Uganda has also procured
the third radiotherapy machine which
will be shipped into the country by
March 2019. Construction of the bun-
kers to house the machines has been
completed. This means all patients who
need radiotherapy services will receive
it in a timely manner
 UCI is now a centre of excellence in
Oncology in the whole of the East Afri-
can Region and Uganda is proud to
host the East African Oncology Institute
that trains cancer treatment specialists.
 Increasing the human resources for
cancer treatment. In addition to the best
doctors present at the Uganda Cancer
Institute, the Ministry of Health with
support from African Development
comment
Bank is training an additional 208 can-
cer treatment and care specialists and
researchers. Uganda Cancer Institute
has also trained 500 health workers
from district Local Governments and
regional referral hospitals on how to
educate communities about cancer and
provide cancer screening services in the
country.
 This financial year, 169 additional staff
from Regional Referral Hospitals will be
trained further in cancer screening and
treatment.
 Government is in the process of estab-
lishing Regional Cancer Centers in
Gulu, Arua, Mbarara, Mbale. Mbarara
Regional Cancer Center is already run-
ning and caring for over 20,000 cancer
patients. Gulu Regional Cancer Center
will open doors to people of the Acholi
region in 2019/2020.
 Plans are underway to extend cancer
awareness and screening services at
every Health Center III in the country.
The Government of Uganda recognises
and appreciates the role and contribution
of Uganda Cancer Society, the American
Cancer Society and other partners in the
fight against cancer in Uganda. You have
supported us in raising cancer awareness,
providing patient support and accommo-
dation, counseling services and palliative
care. On behalf of Ministry of Health, we
immensely appreciate your effort.
I thank the development partners espe-
cially the International Atomic Energy
Agency, Fred Hutch Research Center and
African Development Bank for their sup-
port towards cancer control in the country.
I thank my staff here at the Ministry
of Health, the management and staff
of Uganda Cancer Institute for the pas-
sion and great effort they put in to help
cancer patients. And I thank the Uganda
Cancer Society for mobilising the civil
society in the fight against cancer. I call
upon all individuals, communities, civil
society and development partners to sup-
port Government to strengthen efforts
that stimulate powerful cancer advocacy,
action and accountability at every level.
I finally thank the members of the press
for helping us reach the population with
cancer prevention and control messages
and urge them to do more so that cancer
stops killing our people prematurely.
Dr. Joyce Moriku Kaducu is the Minister of
State for Health – Primary Health Care
Feb. 08 - 14 2019 29
comment
By José Antonio Ocampo
Decision on future of Corporate Taxation
In Paris this month, developing countries must
understand what is at stake and speak up
A
t first glance, it appears to be a
bureaucratic meeting like any
other. But the discussions at
the OECD in Paris at the end of
this month are of the utmost importance,
because the world’s richest countries will
present new proposals for taxing digital
multinational companies such as Google,
Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Netflix, and
Uber.
Back in 2012, when scandals related
to tax-avoidance schemes by Apple,
Amazon, and Google unleashed public
anger and forced the G20 to act, the
OECD was called on to reform the inter-
national corporate tax system. That led,
three years later, to a package of reforms
known as the “Base Erosion and Profit
Shifting” Project, or BEPS. The reform
process was led by OECD countries and
opened up to developing countries only
after this initial package was unveiled.
Today, 125 countries are involved,
forming a group called the “Inclusive
Framework.”
BEPS was undoubtedly an important
step toward tackling some of the most
egregious tax-avoidance strategies
used by multinationals. It initiated, for
example, the sharing among tax authori-
ties of country-by-country reports on
these companies’ profits and tax pay-
ments. Unfortunately, however, this norm
will apply only to very large multina-
tionals, and the reports will not be pub-
licly available, depriving civil society of
an essential tool of transparency.
Furthermore, BEPS failed to reach the
root of the problem: companies are still
permitted to move their profits wherever
they want and to take advantage of very-
low-tax jurisdictions. Google, for example,
moved €19.9 billion ($22.7 billion) through
a Dutch shell company to Bermuda in
2017, and in the same year Facebook paid
just £7.4 million ($9.6 million) in corpora-
tion tax in the United Kingdom, despite
generating £1.3 billion in revenue there.
Multinationals can do this legally by
using so-called transfer pricing: a parent
company sets the prices of transactions
among its subsidiaries to guarantee that
profits are registered in low-tax coun-
tries, rather than where the economic
activity that generated the profits actually
30 Feb. 08 - 14 2019
occurred. For example, Vodafone, the first
big multinational to publish country-by-
country data voluntarily, revealed that
nearly 40% of its profits for 2016-17 were
allocated to tax havens, with €1.4 billion
declared in Luxembourg, where the com-
pany is taxed at an effective rate of 0.3%.
Tax avoidance can be found in all eco-
nomic sectors, but digital companies best
demonstrate how outdated the current
international tax system is. Because these
companies’ marginal cost of production
is zero, the revenue accruing to them is
equal to a rent, and it is therefore impor-
tant to tax this rent effectively. And, con-
trary to what these companies’ leaders
claim, this taxation would not negatively
affect the supply of digital services.
The Independent Commission for the
Reform of International Corporate Taxa-
tion (ICRICT), which I chair, believes that
the BEPS process has achieved what it
could, given the political muscle of big
corporations and the army of lawyers and
accountants who have a vested interest
in maintaining the status quo. In our
latest report, we take stock of what has
been achieved and highlight what should
happen in the next phase of reform,
“BEPS 2.0.”
BEPS was
undoubtedly an
important step
toward tackling
some of the
most egregious
tax-avoidance
strategies used
by multinationals
The upcoming OECD meeting will be
decisive in this respect. For the first time,
the OECD will present to the Inclusive
Framework, including developing coun-
tries, the outlines of the BEPS 2.0 plan
and its vision of a deeper transformation
of the tax system in response to the chal-
lenges posed by the digital economy. It is
a unique opportunity for all 125 govern-
ments in the Inclusive Framework to urge
the OECD to repudiate transfer pricing
and move toward a fairer and more effec-
tive system.
The lack of consensus so far on how
to tax digital multinationals has led
numerous countries to implement (as
India, Italy, Spain, and France have done)
or promise to implement (in the case of
the United Kingdom) turnover-based
taxes as a stop-gap measure to raise rev-
enue. But unilateral action is not enough.
The ICRICT supports all discussions
that move toward unitary taxation of
multinationals, which would eliminate
multinationals’ use of transfer prices to
shift profits, because their global income
would be consolidated. Global profits and
associated taxes could then be allocated
geographically according to objective fac-
tors such as the company’s sales, employ-
ment, resources, and even digital users in
each country. We also strongly support
the introduction of a global minimum
effective corporate-tax rate of between
20% and 25% on all profits earned by
multinationals.
The overriding priority now is to estab-
lish an international corporate tax system
fit for the digital economy. The OECD
BEPS process was essentially conceived
by developed countries for developed
countries. In Paris this month, developing
countries must understand what is at stake
and make their voices heard, to ensure that
any new proposal benefits all.
José Antonio Ocampo is a board member of
Banco de la República, Colombia’s central
bank, professor at Columbia University, Chair
of the UN Economic and Social Council’s
Committee for Development Policy, and Chair
of the Independent Commission for the Reform
of International Corporate Taxation.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2019.

By Kristalina Georgieva
Right investments for human capital
Focus on productivity-linked indicators such as child
survival, stunting, learning-adjusted years of school
F
or 75 years, the World Bank has been
at the forefront of development,
helping countries make smart
investments to prepare their citizens
for the future. It has been particularly
focused on the poorest and most vulnerable
– their access to infrastructure, health,
education, assets, jobs, and markets. In
recent years, it has embraced policies and
investment in areas critical for the world’s
future, such as combating climate change
and making technology work for the poor.
Everywhere I travel – from Rwanda
to Zambia, or from Indonesia to my
home country, Bulgaria – I see the
difference that technology can make in
people’s lives. The impact is apparent
in a multitude of ways, such as digital
payment systems or the emerging gig
economy, leading to remarkable success
stories.
But just as technology is improving the
lives of millions around the world, it is
also changing the nature of work. Our
2019 World Development Report focused
on how innovation is changing or doing
away with existing jobs and launching
entirely new fields of employment that
didn’t exist a few years ago.
This raises some difficult questions:
What jobs are people going to do? How
will they support their families? How
will they fulfill their potential in an
increasingly complex world?
We have powerful new tools to help
developing countries answer those
questions. At the World Bank Group-IMF
Annual Meetings in Bali in October,
2018, we launched the Human Capital
Index. Initially covering 157 countries,
the Index is a summary measure of the
human capital that a child born today
can expect to attain by age 18, given the
risks of poor health and education where
he or she lives.
The Index focuses on outcomes in three
key areas. First, survival: What is the
probability that a child born today will
survive to age five? Second, health: Will
children be stunted before age five? Will
they be healthy into adulthood, ready
for work, with a foundation for lifelong
learning? And third, education: How
much schooling will children complete,
and more importantly, how much will
they learn?
The Human Capital Index is unique
because it focuses on productivity-
linked indicators such as child survival,
stunting, learning-adjusted years of
school, and adult survival, and it draws
a direct line between future economic
growth and better health and education
outcomes. Above all, it paints a clear
picture for leaders of how much more
productive their workers could be when
they are healthy, educated, and equipped
with the skills needed for a rapidly
changing labor market.
A country can score between 0 and 1 on
the index, with 1 representing the best
possible frontier of complete education
and full health. In our first index, the
average value for the world was just 0.56.
This means that, across the 157 countries
covered, children born today will grow
up to be roughly half as productive as
they could be.
The implications for growth – and
therefore poverty reduction – are
enormous. If a country has a score of
0.50, its future GDP per worker could be
twice as high if that country reached the
frontier. Over a half-century, this works
out to 1.4 percentage points of GDP
A country can
score between
0 and 1 on the
index, with 1
representing the
best possible
frontier of
complete
education and
full health
comment
growth every year.
Investing in people is even more
urgent because of two challenging
global trends. First, global growth is
slowing. Our Global Economic Prospects
report, released earlier this month, is
appropriately titled Darkening Skies.
Global growth has moderated – in 2019,
it is expected to slow to 2.9%, from 3% in
2018. And growth in emerging markets
and developing economies is expected to
stall at 4.2%, the same pace as in 2018.
Second, the pace of poverty reduction
is slowing. Our Poverty and Shared
Prosperity report found that in 2015,
the most recent year with robust data,
extreme poverty reached 10%, the lowest
level in recorded history. But the 736
million people still living in extreme
poverty will be harder to reach. The
poverty rate in areas suffering from
fragility, conflict, and violence climbed
to 36% in 2015, up from a low of 34.4% in
2011, and that share will likely increase.
Investment in human capital can help
drive inclusive, sustainable economic
growth. But this is not just the domain of
health and education ministers. Heads
of state, finance ministers, CEOs, and
investors need to make these investments
an urgent priority.
If we act now, we can create a world
where all children arrive at school well-
nourished and ready to learn; where
they can grow up to be healthy, skilled,
productive adults; and where they have
a chance to fulfil their potential.
The children of today deserve this
future. The employers of tomorrow will
demand it. The leaders of the world owe
it to them to act now.
Kristalina Georgieva is Chief Executive
Officer of the World Bank.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2019.
Feb. 08 - 14 2019 31
comment
By Nathan Were
Behind micro-credit loans
No one deserves to die from excessive peer pressure
because of failure to re-pay a micro-credit loan
T
he Daily Monitor newspaper
of February 02, 2019 led
with a sad story of Gubindi
- a resident of Jinja town in
eastern Uganda who, after failure
to re-pay a micro-loan of 300,000
($81) that he obtained from Pride
Microfinance Limited, took his own
life in a police cell.
The story of Gubindi and many
other people who are hurting silently
because of unethical lending practices
and brutal recovery methods by
lending institutions, brings in question
the intended outcomes of micro-credit
and responsible lending.
Micro-credit - mainly delivered
through joint liability groups (JLG)
has for many years been hailed by
social impact experts as a channel
through which poor households that
lack collateral securities can access a
micro-loan and invest in their micro
and small enterprises. The industry
has hailed the methodology for a
near-zero default rate and many
financial institutions have become
profitable and rapidly grown as a
result. However, repayment (or its
lack thereof) presents an incomplete
picture in assessing whether these
joint liability loans help customers
achieve original goals or even improve
their financial situation.
A trail of deaths, shuttered families,
broken marriages and migration out
villages are just some of the many
pitfalls that these group guaranteed
loans continue to leave behind in
the name of empowering the poor. A
number of studies from around the
world have consistently highlighted
how excessive peer pressure from
group members has caused some
to flee their homes, abandon their
businesses or even take their own
lives.
When micro-credit was created,
it’s intended outcomes were to build
and not destroy lives of the poor.
However, along the way, the industry
has been hijacked by capitalists whose
quest for profitability supersedes its
original outcomes. Mohamed Yunus
32 Feb. 08 - 14 2019
the Nobel peace Laurent and founder
of micro-credit has continued to argue
that what he founded nearly 30 years
ago, has taken a completely different
course. The desire to make excessive
returns for shareholders is driving
many institutions into unethical
practices, excessive pricing, and fierce
recovery methods.
It is not just about people taking
their own lives, group loans are also a
big inconvenience. A study conducted
by one of the global financial inclusion
think tanks five years ago found that
people lose a lot of time and money in
weekly meetings. Group borrowers are
required to meet weekly, sometimes
bi-weekly for several hours to discuss
their loan repayment situation. For
some, they must close their businesses
as a result and lose income in the
process. One of the clients during the
same study indicated that “taking a
group loan from a microfinance is like
being in prison. You have no life, no
privacy and no peace”.
But how did we get here? The poor
have limited options when it comes
to financial services. They have no
When micro-
credit was
created, it’s
intended
outcomes were
to build and not
destroy lives of
the poor
collateral, no credit history or a
trace of tractions to determine their
cashflow. They must form groups
to borrow. It is this vulnerability
that micro-finance institutions are
exploiting and hurting the poor in the
process.
These loans are not even cheap. A
recent Bank of Uganda loan pricing
matrix for micro-deposit taking
institutions showed that some MFIs
are lending at as high as 65% effective
interest rate per annum. No business
can generate such returns. Infact, for
many micro borrowers, these loans
are eroding their working capital and
slowly killing their businesses. But
because they juggle many things from
which they earn, it is not obvious for
them to see the impact of this pricing.
Can the industry be redeemed? This
remains an open question with very
few answers. A few organisations
have tried to advocate for responsible
lending and social performance – but
their efforts are not yielding the much-
expected results. MFIs are at cross-roads
struggling to balance the social outcomes
with profitability. Some microfinance
lending vehicles – the source of debt and
equity funding for many MFIs - care less
about social impact but concentrate on
return on investment at whatever cost.
The regulators are mainly concerned
with financial and sound health of
these institutions and less about how
they treat their customers. With these
contradictions, it is unlikely that we shall
see microfinance return to its original
intentions of empowering the poor.
Mr. Were is an Access to Finance
Specialist based in Nairobi.
Email: were.nathan@gmail.com
 ART | BOOKS | SOCIETY | TRAVEL | CULTURE
I
By Dominic Muwanguzi
t is time for `Different
But One’ - the annual
exhibit by art lecturers of
Margaret Trowell School
of Industrial and Fine art
which has been running
for 23 years!
Every beginning of the year,
the lecturers come together to
exhibit their art, concepts, and
latest innovations. The idea is
to inspire their students and
reflect on what it means to be
an artist.
Exhibiting academics
include Associate Prof. Phillip
Kwesiga, Prof. F. X Ifee, Fedelis
Nabukenya, Assoc. Prof. Kizito
Maria Kasule, Dr. Ronald
Mpindi, Raymond Nsereko,
Dr. Rose Kirumira and Dr.
Kyeyune George.
The idea to showcase
different artworks or ideas
in an annual exhibit can be
challenging; especially if it
involves academic artists who
beyond their primary role of
teaching and researching on
the subject of art at university,
also have to produce art.
This challenge to multi-task
at the same time is visible in
the exhibition. With such a
perennial cycle, it is inevitable
that ideas and art will be
recycled or reproduced.
Sometimes it is conceptual,
other times it is old art
trumping new for any number
of reasons; including tight
deadlines.
This year, as usual, exhibition
founder RivkaUziel brings
freshness. This time it is collage
fabrics ( Kitengi) as a metaphor
to her attachment to Uganda,
a country she considers her
third home after Bulgaria
and Israel respectively. The
Kitengi is often perceived
as a local garment by many
people and its appropriation
in Uziel’s work `The Home
Crane’ perfectly serves the
purpose. Its bright colours and
diverse patterns allude to the
vibrant and colourful rhythm
Different But One 23
Annual academic-artists’ exhibit
emphasises research and collaboration
that pervades the country. The
home theme is further visible
in the painting `The Home lll’
which depicts a rather small
rugged shelter, constructed
with hardwood. The image
conjures settlements that reside
in the Bulgarian countryside,
over- looking the Bulgarian
sea. Suffice to say, the artist,
Uziel, paints it with a sea – blue
palette in the background to
evoke the idea of the sea. She
appropriates sand from the sea
in the painting.
Noteworthy also is Prof.
Phillip Kwesiga’s display of
earthenware titled `Perfume
Pot’ (Mishomingi) and Milk
Pot (Ekyanzi) that suggest the
idea of cultural preservation
in this era of modernity
where synthetic household
objects are taking over the
traditional organic utensils in
many households. Kwesiga
says these objects “have
continued to survive and offer
new possibilities in terms of
resilience and chance in the
Feb. 08 - 14 2019
social and cultural spaces
of Uganda.” In light of such
statement, these artifacts are
still very visible in traditional
introduction ceremonies like
Okuhingira(Okwanjura) in
western Uganda. On the
contrary, these pots contribute
to the subject of material culture
and the conversation that
surrounds it. These were both
functional objects and artworks
in their own right.
An interesting aspect
of this year’s exhibit is the
inclusion of a guest artist,
Moses Nkonge, whose work
`Egypt’ and `Spirals’ also
offers remarkable ideas on the
subject of art making; especially
with particular emphasis on
themes of studio dexterity and
experimentation. He works
with stained glass, a seldom
used medium among artists
practicing on the Kampala
contemporary art scene. Stained
glass is an ancient medium
that is principally used in
the designing of cathedrals
(windows and doors). It
requires a certain level of studio
deftness in usage because of
its fragility and the complex
process of construction and
reconstruction on particular
surfaces. In the exhibit, the
artist nimbly demonstrates
this procedure with an
astonishingly captivating
image.
The `Different But One’
dons make art that is research
oriented inspired to meet the
demands of global standards.
The `Different But one 23’
exhibit is showing until Feb.19
at Makerere Art Gallery in
Kampala.
33
feature
Romance is dead
A psychologist’s reflections on today’s
dating scene and what comes next
By Maryanne Fisher
O
ne of my main areas of
research is on how women
compete amongst each
other for mates. So, as I
was having lunch with a girlfriend
recently, we somehow ended up on
the topic of romance and the current
dating scene. By the end of lunch, we
reached the conclusion that romance is
pretty much dead. I was devastated at
the thought, but I think we’re right.
As part of my work, I often ask
women about their perceptions of the
dating market - what they have to do
to acquire a good prospect in light of
the fact that there are other women
out there trying to win the same prize.
A comment I routinely hear is that
34 Feb. 08 - 14 2019
they greatly dislike the dating scene
today. There are three main sources
of concern - the quality of the mate,
the energies they have to undertake
to self-promote and the competition
they face. I should preface the rest of
this article by saying that I don’t know
much about men’s views of the dating
world, as it’s not part of my research,
so I’m going to focus on women here.
Women usually begin by
complaining about the available men.
There seems to be two main problems.
First, they meet men who are already
in relationships but who take off their
wedding ring to appear available.
Or, there are men who say that they
are single but then secretly text their
girlfriend saying that they are still out
with the guys and will be home late.
Second, many complain about meeting
men who only want sex; some of these
men pretend to want a relationship,
but ultimately it’s a deception. In
general, there seems to be a perception
that there are only a few good men
out there left. To win these few good
men, they have to improve themselves
and compete with other women who
are trying to get the same guy. And,
because there are only a few good ones
out there (at least in their eyes) they
don’t want to be overly demanding.
When questioned about what they
would ask for if they could, most
women mention romance - they want
to feel that they are the center of his
world, that he can’t help but fall in
love with them, and it’s them and only
them that he wants.

They want him to be clear about his
love, not sending some cryptic text
that is laden with ambiguity. Some
do mention sex, but usually it follows
from falling in love. Basically, these
women want to live the plot of any
romantic comedy movie or romance
novel.
When I asked whether the women
thought they themselves were
romantic, the answer seems to be
no - so the women want the men to
be romantic, but aren’t themselves.
They seem to believe that men really
don’t care if they are romantic, so
why bother? Overall, then, there is
a perception that there aren’t many
good men out there, and if a woman
finds one, she doesn’t want to place
many demands on him because it
might scare him off.
Cost of self-promotion
The second issue is one centered
on the women themselves. Many
feel exhausted from all the various
activities they undertake to look good
and to make themselves seem as
desirable as possible. In research, this
is called self-promotion because one is
trying to promote herself as being the
best option out there.
Listening to a group of women
who are active daters talk will often
reveal the effort that is involved
simply in terms of improving
physical appearance. Then there is
the financial cost of that undertaking
- gym memberships, clothing, salon
visits, teeth whitening, cosmetics
and wonder creams are not cheap.
Many women also feel unsure how to
‘be’ when dating - what personality
characteristics should they display and
hide? Is it ok to have a loud laugh or
not? Is it ok to be intelligent, or does
playing dumb improve one’s chances?
Should they be honest about their
profession if it’s one that is high in
status, given that it might mean they
are too competitive or challenging?
Together, trying to put the best foot
forward is not an easy undertaking
if you are making the effort to find
a good mate, especially if you are
particularly self-conscious or have
been away from the dating scene in a
while.
Weighing the competition
The third issue is competing with
other women for a good mate. This is
where the issue of romance resurfaces.
Yes, by using good clothes and a
winning personality one is competing
against potential rivals for a keeper
of a man. However, that pales in
comparison to the competition women
Some
women don’t
necessarily
want to have
sex, they just
don’t want to
be single again
or they want
to have a little
more time to
see if he’s a
keeper
are in when it comes to sex. One of the
most significant issue that I’m hearing
these days is how men are not really
displaying any romance, and women
are feeling increasingly pressured to
have sex earlier in the relationship.
When I ask them why, I often hear
something like, “if I don’t have sex
with him, he’ll find someone else who
can.” These women don’t necessarily
want to have sex, they just don’t want
to be single again or they want to
have a little more time to see if he’s
a keeper. And these days, it seems
that the ‘sex’ date is number two or
three - a far cry from the courting days
of 1900 when one used only a finely
tuned wit to woo. I should mention
that most of my research is based on
young women, between 18-28 years of
age. Perhaps the situation is different
among older crowds.
Related to this issue of competition
is that many women try to determine
what potential rivals are doing so that
they can be unique, but not too unique
as to become freakish. Friends who
are active daters have reported to me
feature
some of the backstabbing things they
have done to each other, like saying
“you look super” when they think
their friend doesn’t looks that great,
or telling a friend that a guy they both
like is unavailable, just to deter the
friend from competing. The majority
of women I’ve talked to undertake
considerable effort to think about their
rivals, and what they will be facing in
terms of competition. Sugar and spice,
and everything nice, that’s what girls
are made of? I think not.
What does this all mean? Well,
basically, in today’s dating scene,
romance has been pushed to the
side. Women tend not to display it,
and they tell me it’s because the men
they are meeting don’t care about
romance at all. Men aren’t displaying
it because women don’t expect them
to - or at least that’s how it seems.
For the men reading this, I’d advise
you to use romance (as so long as
it’s not paired with a tan line from
where your wedding ring should be)
because you might seem like a very
good catch to prospective mates, and
you’ll stand out as being different,
but in a good way. I can hear critics
saying “nice guys finish last” and
equating romance with nice guys, so
it’s important to note that the research
is really not well supportive of this
idiom.
Future of romance
If romance is dead, what comes
next? I really don’t know, but it’s
looking like the routine is to have
sex and then hope that there is some
emotional connection afterwards.
This pattern is not true for everyone,
of course, but it is becoming more
prevalent among the women I’m
talking with these days. Maybe I’ll
be proven wrong, but it seems to me
that as our society has streamlined
everything imaginable (even social
relationships are now efficient thanks
to facebook), there’s just no room left
for romance. The only solution I can
see, at least on theoretical grounds, is
that women need to start demanding it
from potential mates, and males who
want to seem like good catches should
start offering it. Maybe, just maybe,
we can start to resuscitate romance.
Maryanne Fisher, Ph.D., is a Professor
in the Department of Psychology, and a
member of the Women and Gender Studies
Program, at Saint Mary’s University in
Halifax, Canada.
Feb. 08 - 14 2019 35
Indian wants to sue parents for giving birth to him without his consent
A 27-year-old man from New Delhi, abstain from procreation because giving me for their joy and their pleasure. My
India, wants to take his parents to court birth to sentient beings without asking life has been amazing, but I don’t see
for bringing him into this world without for their consent is morally wrong. He why I should put another life through the
first asking for his consent. The 27-year considers himself a victim of life without rigamarole of school and finding a career,
old Raphael Samuel is an-antintalist, a “forced life”. “I love my parents, and we especially when they didn’t ask to exist.”
person who believes that people should have a great relationship, but they had

World’s boldest Man spends millions on surgery to look like Michael Jackson
biohackers plans to live Leo Blanco, a watching the King of
to at least 180 years! 22-year-old man
from Buenos Aires, in
Pop as a young child
and knew very early
Argentina, has report- on that he wanted to be
Dave Asprey is one of the
edly spent over $30,000 just like him. At age 15,
world’s boldest biohackers - a
(Approx.Shs110 mil- Leo turned to plastic
person who alters their own body
by implanting do-it-yourself cyber- lion) on plastic proce- surgery to fulfill his
netic devices; that is, devices that dures over the last sev- dream of becoming a
control genes and how a person en years, in an attempt lookalike of his idol.
interacts with their environment. to mimic Michael He’s had four surgeries
The 45-year-old Asprey’s ambition Jackson’s look. Blanco on his nose, operations
is to live to at least 180 years, longer is one of the thousands on his cheekbones, jaw
than any human. He eats uncon- of Michael Jackson and chin. “I put my
ventional diets, uses smart drugs, impersonators around body, my soul, and all
miracle substances and uses hun- the world, but what my money to be the
dreds of gadgets in a quest to opti- sets him apart from all world’s best Michael
mize his health and overall lifestyle. the rest is his obsession Jackson impersonator,”
He meditates, drinks a cocktail of with looking just like the 22-year-old says.
supplements spiked with modafinil his idol. He started
(a drug for “wakefulness”) and
testosterone every day, and uses an
EEG machine to train his brain to MP resigns after trying Company sells kits that
be less reactive. He got a surgeon to
extract half a litre of bone marrow to forcibly kiss TV host `help’ people get sick
from his hips, filtered out the stem
cells, and then injected them into A morning TV host had to push Most people would Vaev bills itself a
his joints, spinal cord and into his away a male politician when he never use a tissue that “wellness brand”
cerebral fluid, scalp, and face and attempted to forcibly kiss her someone else sneezed although technically it’s
uses a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, on her show. Martha Hinojos in, let alone pay $80 for helping people get sick
sleeps in a bed bathed in infrared kicked her legs in the air as she one, but one Los Ange- by selling them tissues
light, uses an atmospheric cell tried to get away from Jose Maria les startup claims to that complete strangers
trainer that reproduces the effect of Armenta after he pounced on her have already sold close sick with the cold have
climbing to the top of Mount Ever- during a broadcast of ‘El Mejor to a thousand sneeze- allegedly sneezed into.
est and dropping back down to sea Dia’ (The Best Day) on Telemax, filled tissues to people But who in their right
level in a matter of minutes, and in Mexico. The man first gave who want to catch a cold mind would pay $79.99
even wears yellow-lens glasses that Alejandra Leon’s co-host Martha virus now so they don’t (Approx.Shs300,000) on
allegedly filter out “the bad light”. Hinojos a kiss on the cheek. He get sick with the same a germ-contaminated
Is living a long time a kind then tried to kiss Ms Leon on the cold later. Does that used tissue? Well, that
of superpower? “Yes,” he says, lips but she was having none of make any sense? would be “open-minded
“Although I might die trying.” it. She tried to shove him off and people” who appreciate
he eventually released her. But the luxury of being able
then he asked her for a kiss on the to get sick “on their
cheek, which she agreed to. But own terms”.
she was visibly shaken.
“I need to say something,” she
said, “The devil will take you. My
boyfriend is going to beat you up,
you will see.” The MP resigned
from his government role after he
was criticised for his actions.

36 Feb. 08 - 14 2019
 Uncrashable
Mercedes-
Benz
High-tech ESF safety concept car coming mid-
2019 to showcase life-saving safety tech
By Agencies
T
he idea of zero road deaths sounds
like a pipe dream. But Mercedes-
Benz says an uncrashable car is pos-
sible. That’s the opinion Mercedes-
Benz global R&D chief, Ola Kalennius,
who is excited about his new ESF (formerly
ESV), or Experimental Safety Vehicle.
“Safety is the core DNA of Mercedes and
the ultimate goal is zero accidents in traf-
fic,” said Ola Kalennius.
In an interview with Australian media
at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show,
where autonomous and even flying cars
were in abundance, Kalennius confirmed
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that a new ESF would be revealed mid-
2019.
Improvements in autonomous driving
tech and collision prevention are expected,
as are new occupant protection systems
designed to reduce injury in the advent of a
car crash.
“Things like autonomous driving and
sophisticated driver assistance are all
enablers to reduce traffic accidents. Because
virtually all traffic accidents are human
error,” he said.
The idea is that if cars are controlled by
constantly-learning AI and a huge amount
of cloud computing brawn that can see all
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riding inside a car.
It is not known if the new ESF will be a
concept car like this, the Mercedes-Benz
IAA Concept, or based on the new S-Class
production car but Kalennius said the new
concept car will be a jaw dropper.
He suggested many of its safety features
are almost showroom ready.
“Having been in engineering for a couple
of years, I’m absolutely amazed at the
ingenuity and creativity of the engineers.
It never stops. We will do something in the
middle of this year, to demonstrate what
the future of safety is going to look like.”
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Feb. 08 - 14 2019 37
Pastor Martin Ssempa
on Bobi Wine
`In this country, you are judged basing on whether you are pro or anti-government’
By Agnes E Nantaba
P
astor Martin Ssempa is a familiar
name in circles of activists and
Makerere University Kampala. For
over 20 years, he has run a congre-
gation of mainly Makerere University stu-
dents through his Prime Time fellowship
at Makerere Community church. His style
involves preaching through entertainment.
He is very outspoken. But his campaign
against homosexuality has been the most
controversial.
In 2010, he got international prominence
after a video of an anti-homosexuality pre-
sentation he made at his church went viral
online. He has also campaigned for separa-
tion of the church and state, condom use
and abstinence as key prevention mecha-
nisms against HIV/AIDS.
Ssempa has recently made headlines for
criticising singer turned prominent politi-
cian Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu alias
Bobi Wine who made a political cover of a
church hymn ‘Tuliyambala Engule’. Ssem-
pa and others accuse the singer of desecrat-
ing the Christian heritage of the hymn for
political gain. “We have strong attachments
to these songs because they map out the
journey of a pilgrim’s progress,” he says.
But, in a viral debate that ensued on
social media, many accuse Ssempa of
working for the government to silence the
opposition. He denies it, maintaining that
his accusations against Bobi Wine set a new
narrative which is not for only today but
also for tomorrow.
Ssempa’s activism journey dates more
than two decades ago when he converted to
Evangelical Christianity at the Wandegeya
Baptist Youth Center. Previously a catholic,
his initial intentions for attending fellow-
ship at the centre was to get close attach-
ment to some of the beautiful girls but this
was cut short by his reception of Christ. He
reveals that continuous attendance revealed
to him a whole different paradigm of godly
young people, something that set into
motion a one year process of self-reflection
in his final year of high school at Namily-
ango College School.
As a teenage young boy, Ssempa was
awarded East African break dance cham-
pion which he used to compose drama skits
to educate students around the country
38 Feb. 08 - 14 2019
about AIDS and the good news of Jesus assumes to be an Indian or Asian trader.
Christ. He says, “I am a child of an illicit rela-
About the same time he joined Makerere tionship that was disapproved of racially
University to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in and religiously”.
Social Sciences majoring in Sociology. Sem- He remains a strong critic of abortion
pa’s brother and sister contracted HIV and after his mother chose to keep him despite
after their death, Ssempa started activism several threats and orders to do so. Ssempa
against HIV/AIDS through abstinence. was named after his maternal grandfather.
He says, “I was lucky to have made a He spent the early years of school in Masa-
decision to get saved and was challenged to ka before completing primary at Nsambya
be part of the response team”. Police. He later joined Rubaga Boys where
He started Prime Time Fellowship about he completed ordinary level and Namily-
the same time to strengthen his ministry ango College for advanced level.
among the young people and save many
from contracting the scourge. The fight
would mean traversing the country with
several drama shows using the bible to
counsel people.
In 1992 right after graduating from
Makerere University, Ssempa married
Tracey. Together, they have five
children. He later received a Mas-
ter of Arts degree in counselling
from Philadelphia Biblical Univer-
sity and in 2006, that same university
awarded Ssempa an unaccredited honor-
ary doctorate for his work with people
with AIDS.
In October 2012, Ssempa and five other
individuals were convicted in Buganda
Road Court of conspiring to tarnish a rival
pastor’s reputation by falsely accusing him
of engaging in homosexuality. The guilty
verdict stemmed from a May 2009 incident
in which Ssempa and the others engaged
against Pastor Robert Kayanja of
Rubaga Miracle Center Cathe-
dral. Ssempa and others were
sentenced to a fine of ShsI
million and 100 hours of
community service.
Ssempa was born in
Naluzaale, Masaka Dis-
trict to Dorothy Namuli
a teacher . He never
had an opportu-
nity to meet with
his father
who he

Pastor Martin Ssempa’s Liteside
Any three things that we don’t
I
know about you?
am courageous, original,
and faithful.
What is your idea of per-
fect happiness?
I am always happy. But I also
love a good joke and I don’t
take life too serious even when
I go through very tough times.
What is the trait you most de-
plore in yourself?
Sometimes I love and share
too much because I am too
trusting. I have discovered that
not everybody is trustworthy.
What is the trait you most de-
plore in others?
Being a devil agent; I can’t
work with people of such char-
acter.
Which living person do you
most admire?
I admire people of courage,
those who promise and fulfill;
especially when their cour-
age is tested. I admire Speaker
Kadaga; especially at a time
when she signed the Anti-
homosexuality Bill because she
did it for the children of Ugan-
da. I also admire President John
Pombe Magufuli for standing
up against homosexuality. I
admire Jennifer Musisi for
doing an incredible
job in Kampala
under great
difficulty.
What is your greatest extrava-
gance?
I like electronics and
technology.
What is your current state of
mind?
I am a happy person.
What do you consider the
most overrated virtue?
We are obsessed with poli-
tics to the extent of making it
appear like the only thing that
we should look at. There are
many other things like religion
and culture that require more
time. In this country, you are
judged basing on whether you
are pro or anti-government.
What does being powerful
mean to you?
Being righteous, prayerful
and listening to God. Such
people are disproportionate
with what they are in the physi-
cal world.
On what occasion do you lie?
I tell lies but I also try to cor-
rect with the truth as fast as i
can.
What do you most dislike
about your appearance?
My appearance is a heavenly
job.
Which living person do you
most despise?
I despise wicked people
because God tells me and Satan
has made them be what they
are. I also despise people who
are not faithful; those say some-
thing and do the reverse.
What is the quality you most
like in a woman?
God fearing and industrious-
ness.
What is the quality you most
like in a man?
God fearing, faithful and
responsible.
What or who is the greatest
love of your life?
My wife and children.
When and where were you
happiest?
The day my wife said yes to
my marriage proposal in 1990
while seated at the mosque in
Wandegeya. I was very excited
on my wedding day in 1992.
Every moment that I return
home to meet my wife and chil-
dren brings me great joy.
Which talent would you most
like to have?
I wish I could sing and
preach at the same time. I
would communicate better.
If you could change one thing
about yourself, what would
it be?
I would like to get more
muscles so I could breakdance
again.
What do you consider your
greatest achievement?
Being faithful to my wife for
27 years despite coming from a
society whether polygamy is a
way of life.
Where would you most like
to live?
I love Uganda; there are
many problems within but its
beauty is unmatched.
What is your most treasured
possession?
My bible is food for my
spirit, food that guides me and
sharpens me.
What do you regard as the
lowest depth of misery?
Not having good washrooms
is dehumanising. Everybody
should have access to good
washrooms but it’s not some-
thing that we think about as a
Feb. 08 - 14 2019
Q&A
priority.
What is your favorite occupa-
tion?
I like teaching people the
truth.
Who are your favorite writers?
One of the most valuable
books is one written by John
Roscoe; he wrote the ‘Culture
and Peoples of Buganda’
which documents the DNA of
a muganda. There is no book
that has helped me understand
myself and my people better.
Martin Luther King is also
rhetoric.
Which historical figure do you
most identify with?
Alexander MacKay came
into this country when the king
called for missionaries. He
was a faithful and industrious
young man who made such
incredible sacrifices for this
country. Uganda is built on
Christian foundations because
of him.
Who are your heroes in real
life?
My mother did incredible
stuff with great difficulty.
What is your greatest regret?
Sometimes I look back and
conclude that I have been too
dramatic. At times I think that
I shouldn’t have presented my
thoughts that way.
How would you like to die?
I would like to write a list of
my procession and sleep away
in the company of my family
and friends like personal pas-
tors.
What is your motto?
If you stand by me, I will
stand by you.
39
Global comment
By Célestin Monga
Benefits of African Economic Integration
With the right balance of audacity and pragmatism,
regional integration could yield larger dividends
W
hen Kwame Nkrumah, under
whose leadership Ghana
became the first African
country to claim independence
in 1957, was overthrown by a military coup
in 1966, few of his fellow citizens shed a tear
for his regime. But one aspect of his legacy
remains relevant to this day and merits
careful consideration.
Nkrumah was a visionary and
charismatic leader whose focus was on
modernising Ghana and on campaigning
for Africa’s political unity. His most
brilliant idea was to integrate the
continent and create the United States of
Africa. But he favoured the development
of costly, capital-intensive projects,
which led to unsustainable foreign
debt and deficits while creating few
employment opportunities. Economic
contraction led to widespread unrest
and to a loss of credibility for the idea of
African integration, and to fallout with
his famous economic adviser, the future
Nobel laureate W. Arthur Lewis.
Nkrumah’s intuition about the
potential benefits of Africa’s integration
was based on a sound economic
rationale, which he failed to articulate
convincingly. With 16 landlocked
countries, Africa is more fragmented
than any other continent. The small size
of many countries and the resulting
fragmentation of domestic markets
result in various diseconomies of scale,
impeding economic development. In
2017, more than three-quarters of African
countries had fewer than 30 million
people, and about half had a GDP of less
than $10 billion.
After Nkrumah’s fall from power,
other African leaders took up his
goal of building the United States of
Africa, based on the Organisation of
African Unity. The OAU subsequently
adopted a series of treaties to make
economic integration a reality. The
African Economic Community was
created in 1991, and, after the OAU was
disbanded in 2002, leaders adopted the
African Union Agenda 2063 in 2015. The
continent’s leaders also created a large
number of regional institutions to make
incremental progress toward Nkrumah’s
goal.
40 Feb. 08 - 14 2019
Unfortunately, overlapping and
often contradictory regional economic
communities have constituted a
mostly ineffective “Spaghetti bowl” of
institutions with little authority and
weak analytical capacity. This has made
African integration sound like an empty
political promise used by leaders who
have little will to make it happen.
Moreover, researchers have cast doubt
on the goal of integration. All African
economies combined still represent
only about 3% of global GDP, and
purchasing power remains low. Why,
then, devote limited financial resources
to building costly infrastructure aimed at
integrating the continent? While creating
a single African market is a desirable
goal, pursuing it must not distract
national policymakers’ attention from
the huge potential gains to be had from
integration into the global economy.
A new study from the African
Development Bank provides evidence
that both objectives are not mutually
exclusive; in fact, they could be mutually
reinforcing. The report also examines
the potential gains from regional public
goods, such as synchronising financial
governance frameworks, pooling power,
opening skies to competition, and
opening borders to free movement of
people, goods, and services.
The study shows that a borderless
continent that enables agricultural and
industrial production across national
boundaries is the foundation of a
globally competitive African market,
because it would offer economies
of scale to investors, while creating
much bigger markets and providing
new opportunities for small firms and
large. It would also help eliminate
monopoly positions and enhance cross-
border spillovers between coastal and
landlocked countries.
Moreover, integration can improve
regional security, because the
expansion of international trade often
correlates with a reduction of conflict.
Deeper market integration for goods,
infrastructure services, and key factors
of production (labour and capital) is
especially important – both economically
and strategically – for Africa’s small and
fragmented economies.
In a world where 60% of trade occurs
through global value chains, Africa
must industrialise to diversify away
from natural resources and create jobs
for its fast-growing young population.
By boosting intra-continental trade,
consumption, and investment, regional
integration can be a strong vector for
improving productivity, building
manufacturing powerhouses, and
developing credible African brands.
Open regionalism could also stimulate
connections between small and medium-
size enterprises and international value
chains, thereby enabling these firms to
enter global markets.
In particular, five trade measures could
bring total gains worth 4.5% of Africa’s
GDP, or $134 billion a year – almost the
amount of all official development aid
in 2017. The first is elimination of all
bilateral tariffs. Second, country-of-origin
rules (needed to determine the source
of a product) should be kept simple,
flexible, and transparent. Third, all
nontariff barriers on trade of goods and
services should be removed on a most-
favored-nation basis. Fourth, the World
Trade Organisation’s Trade Facilitation
Agreement should be implemented to
reduce the time it takes to cross borders
and the transaction costs associated
with nontariff measures. Lastly, tariffs
and nontariff barriers applied to trade
with other developing countries should
be reduced by half on a most-favored-
nation basis.
The economic rationale for Nkrumah’s
dream was stronger than previously
thought. The adoption of the African
Continental Free Trade Area by
African leaders in 2018 is giving it new
momentum. With the right balance of
audacity and pragmatism, regional
integration could yield large dividends
for Africa and the world alike.
Célestin Monga is Vice President and Chief
Economist of the African Development Bank
Group.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2019.
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