News analysis Health Business

Money in From disease treatment China-US rivalry Economy to remain

elections to health promotion heading to East Africa strong in 2019

Issue No. 553 Jan. 04 - 10 2019 Ushs 5,000,Kshs 200, RwF 1,500, SDP 8

Fighting Bobi Wine

Can banning the MP’s concerts
cripple him politically?

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Jan. 04 - 10 2019
INBOX

Issue No. 553 Jan. 04 - 10 2019

News analysis Business Health Arts Motoring

Cover story
Fighting Bobi Wine
Will banning the legislator’s concerts cripple him politically?

4 The Week
30 Comments
Sudan protestors call
for Bashir’s resignation Globalisation 4.0 for whom?:
Popular anger in many countries’
politics in recent years is rooted
9 The Last Word
in the failure of neoliberalism
Museveni and African hairstyles:
Why the President’s emphasis on
hairstyles to assert the African identity
32 Health
addresses the form not substance
From disease treatment to
health promotion: Health
14 Analysis ministry plans major
switch in 2019 healthcare
Money in elections: It doesn’t
mean what you think it does

35 Arts & Culture

27 Business
A dismal step so far taken
China-US rivalry heading to East Africa: Who’s buying art in Uganda?
Donald Trump’s administration to focus
on development finance and lending for
infrastructure projects in Africa

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2 Jan. 04 - 10 2019
 week
Museveni’s nine
point 2019 agenda After Wakiso raid, Nakalema’s unit heads to Kyangwali
The newly appointed unit by the President to Nakalema said that the land dispute is between
President Museveni deliv-
fight corruption started its work by raiding the residents and the office of the Prime Minister over
ered his new year’s speech on
Wakiso district land office on Dec.20 where they land where people were evicted in 2013 to provide
Dec.31 at his country home in
Rwakitura, Kiruhura district. He confiscated equipment and interrogated several settlements for Congolese refugees. She said over
told the nation that the govern- officials. The team led by Col. Edith Nakalema 53 houses were burnt in a brawl that happened on
ment would focus on nine issues stormed the office after a tip off by a whistle Dec.26. As a result of that dozens of residents were
which will enable the country blower of dubious works going on in the zonal brutalized and others arrested.
achieve the status of middle offices. A report of their findings has not yet been On reaching Nakalema immediately arrested
income. He spoke of popular- released and the team comprised of police and the incharge of the local police station, ordered
izing African integration more army officials on Dec.29 went for the next assign- arrest of the refugee camp commandant and
so that the country’s goods and ment in Kyangwali Bunyoro region. It’s said that another soldier who is said to be threatening resi-
services get more market. Oth- they went to intervene after the president received dents and extorting money from them with the
ers he highlighted are political information that houses had been burnt over a promise of relocating them on the contested land.
discipline, youth development, land dispute in the Kyangwali refugee camp.
economic growth, fighting
crime, corruption, handling
land evictions, modernizing
agriculture with a focus on solar
powered irrigation and coming
up with a SACCO for grass root
leaders as most of the work they
do is voluntary and are living in
poverty.
Without mentioning the
amount of money that will be
put in the SACCO, the President
said the cooperatives will be
formed at district level and will
benefit both present and past
local council leaders. He also
urged the youth not to go to
worship centers to seek quick
health but engage in projects
that can earn them money.
In a message that was seen to
Fired MAK lecturers to seek legal redress
directly hit at Kyaddondo East Makerere University in December announced Some were insubordinate. We did this legally.
MP Robert Kyagulanyi and his that they had fired 45 academic staff a move that Those people were given a fair hearing to defend
youthful following, Museveni saw controversial Researcher at the Makerere themselves by the appointments board”, he said.
said he will in the New Year not Institute of Social Research Dr. Stella Nyanzi and But, some of the affected lecturers said they
tolerate political hooliganism. “I lecturer implicated in the sexual harrasement were sacked unfairly and that it’s because of the
see politicians staging fist fights, scandal Dr. swizen Kyomuhendo of the School of intrigue within the institution that they lost their
fighting security operatives. This Social Sciences losing their jobs. jobs. Dr. James Ocita a Literature scholar and
will not be tolerated. Those who Vice Chancellor Prof. Barnabus Nawangwe formally a research fellow at the Institute of Social
are not clear on this point should said those affected had either a absconded from Research said he would seek legal redress. Ocita
get it clearly. Uganda patriots duty for over five years yet the rest had engaged has on several occasions come out to criticize VC
have invested a lot of energy in in some kind of indiscipline unacceptable accord- Nawangwe’s method of work and maladministra-
creating stability. Nobody will
ing to University rules. “They were tarnishing the tion at the Institute.
be allowed to destabilize it”.
name of the university and we can’t tolerate that.

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Week
Mixed feelings as
Kadaga extends term
of COSASE leaders
Leaders of the Parliamen-
tary Committee on Statutory
Authorities and State Enterprises
(COSASE) Abdu Katuntu and
Deputy Anita Among were
supposed to handover to new
committee chairperson Mubarak
Munyagwa and Deputy Moses
Kasibante on Jan.15. But speaker
Rebecca kadaga sought to
extend their term for a month to
DR Congo goes to polls amidst protests Feb.20 in order for them to finish
an ongoing investigation into the
The Democratic Republic of Congo went to ments still didn’t happen in three cities after the circumstances under which Bank
polls on Dec.30 amidst an outbreak of the deadly Electoral Commission delayed it to march 2019 of Uganda closed and took over
Ebola hemorrhagic fever, protests in various parts citing violence and disease outbreak something commercial banks.
of the country and an armed militia overrunning that sparked protests up to voting day in which She told parliament that
several polling stations in the eastern part of the some people lost their lives and property was changing leadership before the
country. In the capital Kishansa, the election was destroyed. probe is concluded might jeop-
marked by long delays because of inadequate vot- Apart from president, voters also elected repre- ardize its results something that
ing materials after fire gutted a warehouse where sentatives for the national and provincial assem- some members of the opposi-
equipment was being kept. blies and preliminary results for the presidential tion didn’t buy into saying that
21 candidates stood to be elected in the presi- vote are expected on Jan 06 before the official incoming Deputy Kasibante for
dential election where more than 46million Con- final results being announced on Jan.15. Outgo- instance has been a member of
golese registered to vote for a replacement of ing president Kabila has been leading the country the committee which means he
incumbent President Joseph Kabila whose term since 2001 after the assassination of his father can carry on from where they
constitutionally ended in December 2016. How- Laurent Kabila. have left. Leader of Opposition
ever, the vote that has suffered several postpone- in Parliament Betty Aol said the
proposed extension of the term
was ill perceived and selfish say-
Law society speaks out on Bobi wine’s blocked shows ing that committee work is end-
less and that the new team are
Musician and Kyaddondo condemning this as being Bebe Cool a ruling NRM capable of continuing since they
East MP Robert Kyagulanyi unconstitutional. They said apologist was given a go ahead have been actively involved and
Bobiwine couldn’t hold a music Article 40 of the constitution and the president went ahead following the probe.
show on Boxing Day at his One gives every Ugandan a right to encourage Ugandans to go When the new leaders were
Love Beach in Busabala as he to perform their profession or take part in the concert held in appointed in August, there fol-
usually does on 26th of every trade. The same constitution Kiwatule.
lowed frenzy especially on social
December. He was blocked by they say provides for equal According to ULS, the police
media with sections saying such
Police and this was the latest treatment of all persons by overstepped their mandate by
an accountability committee can-
after he was stopped from Security personnel. stopping Bobi’s shows and that
not be headed by Munywagwa
performing at another show This arises from the fact that security operatives involved in
who is seen by some as a joker
in Jinja earlier. Lawyers’ body while the opposition legislator’s the violations should be held
Uganda Law Society (ULS) shows were cancelled his accountable personally. who can’t articulate issues as
released a statement on Dec.29 colleague singer Moses Ssali well as the incumbent has been
doing.

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Bobi wine is African personality of the Year
Musician and Politician Robert
Kyagulanyi Sentamu aka Bobi wine has
been declared African Personality of
the year 2018 by the African Leadership
Magazine. He beat Rwanda President Paul
Kagame and Ethiopia Prime Minister Abih
Ahmed who too were nominated in this
category in awards that are held annually.
The vote conducted on-line saw Bobiwine
who was chosen for his recent political
activism winning with 85% of the vote
followed by Abih with 7%, Kagame 4% and
the Ebola fighters of the DR Congo also
coming out with 4%.
Bobi wine started his political activism as
soon as he won the Kyaddondo East MP slot
in parliament where he started with a fight
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in parliament not to amend the constitution
to remove presidential term limits at
the end of 2017, then he resisted the
introduction of taxes on mobile money and
social media and the latest was the Arua
Saga where after a campaign rally, he and
colleagues were arrested and tortured by
security operatives for allegedly attacking
the presidential motorcade. Because of his
political activism, he has had several of his
music concerts cancelled.
Others who have won this award before
are writer and activist Kemi Seba who got it in
2017 and Dr. Dennis Mukwege a 2018 Nobel
Peace Prize winner and Congolese gynecologist
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Sudan protestors
call for Bashir’s
resignation
Sudan’s President Omar
al-Bashir has asked police to
abstain from using excessive
force against anti-government
demonstrators as the UN called
for a probe into deaths dur-
ing the violent protests. This
is according to a Dec.30 news
report by AFP.
At least 19 people have been
killed since Dec.19 during pro-
tests sparked by Khartoum’s
decision to hike the price of
bread, according to the govern-
ment. Rights group Amnesty
International says 37 people
have died.On Sunday, Bashir
met top police officers in Khar-
toum and instructed them to
refrain from using excessive
force against demonstrators.
“We want to maintain security
and we want the police to do
that by using less force,” Bashir,
dressed in a blue police uniform,
said.
Protests started following
increasing food prices and
slowing down of business as
the country continues to face
an acute foreign exchange crisis
and soaring inflation despite
Washington lifting an economic
embargo in October 2017.
Inflation is running at 70%
and the Suaganese pound
has plunged in value, while
shortages of necessities like
fuel and food have also hit.
“We admit we have economic
problems...” Bashir said,
“But they can’t be solved by
destructions, lootings and theft.
We don’t want our country to go
the way other countries in the
region have gone”.
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COMMENT
By Simon Mutungi
Danger in Bank of Uganda probe
COSASE shouldn’t sacrifice economic stability at the
altar of publicity as it could collapse the economy
T
he Chairman of the parliamen-
tary Committee on Commis-
sions, Statutory Authorities and
State Enterprises (COSASE)
Abdu Katuntu (MP Bugweri County)
rejected President Yoweri Museveni’s
advice to hold the committee proceed-
ings on Bank of Uganda (BoU) opera-
tions in-camera, behind closed doors
instead of doing it publicly. While
Katuntu’s intentions of opening the
probe to the public for transparency
purposes are noble; especially in cor-
ruption riddled Ugandan institutions,
they could be equally disastrous.
The banking and finance industry
is at the heart of a country’s economy
in that it plays the intermediary role
of allocating financial resources from
suppliers of capital to the users of cap-
ital. If this vehicle of capital flow were
to be or appear to be compromised,
there would be economy-wide impli-
cations. Therefore, the finance sector
is a highly sensitive one and extreme
caution must be exercised when delib-
erating the issues affecting it.
A closed door probe ensures this cau-
tion in as much as it gives some degree
of control over which information
should be released to the public. An in-
camera probe will prevent any false or
unverified information from entering
the public space which will hurt the
sector, regardless of whether that data
is later recanted or not. Even if the
information is actually correct and
true, releasing some of it to the public
may equally be disastrous. This is due
to two main reasons namely: public
panic and information contagion.
Hypothetically, if tomorrow, during
the probe, BoU Governor Emmanuel
Mutebile while under oath, publicly
disclosed that some bank was strug-
gling, there would be widespread fear
among that bank’s clients. This would
cause a run on that bank, that is,
almost all its customers would rush to
withdraw their respective deposits.
Although this may seem rational,
it actually is needless, considering
depositors money is insured by the
Uganda Deposit Protection Fund.
Such a run on the bank is also poten-
tially catastrophic to the economy. This
6 Jan. 04 - 10 2019
is because it could likely result into the
bank shutting down if it cannot simul-
taneously meet the liquidity demands
of all its clients. If this bank was a
big institution (Systemically Impor-
tant Financial Institution), its closure
could pose systemic risk to the entire
economy. This is the possibility that it
could trigger severe instability or col-
lapse an entire industry or economy.
Further, due to information contagion
between banks accruing from common
counterparty exposures and common
asset holdings, the public release of
bad information about one bank pro-
vides information about other banks.
Therefore, bad information about one
bank causes depositors to suspect
common shock which will resultantly
provoke a run on these other banks
regardless of their health.
This can also lead to cash-hoarding
by the healthy banks out of fear of
being illiquid which could greatly
reduce the flow of credit in the
economy. Banks are highly interlinked
through the payment system. With the
net settlement systems, for instance,
banks send many payment orders to
other banks and these are netted and
settled. If a bank were to hoard cash
COSASE can
still get to the
bottom of the
alleged rot at
BoU behind
closed doors
without risking
a financial
and economic
crisis
and fail to settle the payment obli-
gations it has accumulated to other
banks, those other banks would default
on their respective payment obliga-
tions. This, as one can imagine, would
lead to a banking crisis, which in light
of the above explanation and vast lit-
erature and research, could easily turn
into an economic crisis.
This is best evidenced by the Great
Recession of the 1930s when due to
destroyed public faith in American
banks, millions rushed to banks to
have their deposits withdrawn. How-
ever, the banking system was unable
to keep up with the panicked with-
drawals that customers were making
from their bank accounts, rendering
banks incapable of providing money
many customers had deposited and
performing their intermediary func-
tion. This only exacerbated the reces-
sion forcing then U.S. President,
Franklin Roosevelt to declare a bank
holiday where a moratorium on bank
deposit withdraws was issued so as to
save the banks and consequently the
economy.
Some information; especially in the
finance sector needs to be treated as a
genie in a bottle, for once it is released,
it will cause instability. Much as we
seek answers, we should not sacri-
fice economic stability at the altar
of publicity. COSASE can still get to
the bottom of the alleged rot at BoU
behind closed doors without risking
a financial and economic crisis. This
can only be achieved by a closed door,
in-camera probe where the committee
comes up with resultant report and
recommendations. This procedure
would control information outflow,
sieving out the potentially dangerous
data without compromising the spirit
of the investigation.
Simon Mutungi is a PhD candidate
(Banking and Finance) at the University
of Cape Town.
Contact: shakamara@gmail.com

Museveni and African hairstyles
By Andrew M. Mwenda
Why the President’s emphasis on hairstyles to assert the
African identity addresses the form not substance
O
n December 30, 2018, Presi-
dent Yoweri Museveni tweeted
thanking Miss World Africa,
Quiin Abenakyo, for heeding his
“advice” to keep her hair “natural”. Mu-
seveni claimed that this asserts her “African
identity”. “God beautifully created Africans
and there is no need to add or subtract any-
thing,” the President tweeted.
I replied saying he had tweeted his com-
ment in English, itself a foreign language,
yet he could have done this in Runyankore,
Lusoga or Swahili. Many responded saying
the President used English to reach all
Ugandans since it is not only our lingua
franca but also the official language of
Uganda. Granted! But Museveni could have
tweeted in all the languages of Uganda, and
they are not many.
We must note that language in an expres-
sion of a people’s culture. Therefore lan-
guage is the most effective instrument to
destroy the identity of a people. As Amilcar
Cabral argued, to dominate a nation by
force of arms is, above all, to take up arms to
destroy, or at least neutralise and paralyse
its culture. Culture is much more expressed
through language than through hairstyles.
The two biggest assaults on African iden-
tity during colonial rule were religion and
language. Adopted foreign hairstyles, dress
codes, bleaching etc. were merely deriva-
tive. Chinua Achebe’s `Things Fall Apart’
presents the impact of the Christian reli-
gion on African society in one of the most
compelling dialogues of African literature.
Obierika tells Okonkwo: “The white man
is very clever. He came quietly and peace-
ably with his religion. We were amused at
his foolishness and allowed him to stay.
But now he has won our brothers and our
clan can no longer act like one. He has put a
knife on the things that held us together and
we have fallen apart.”
The Christian conquest of our souls was
made more effective through language. In
the English language, everything negative
is black: blackmail, blacklist, black book,
black market, black sheep or black Monday.
Meanwhile words like whitewash give
positive imagery of whiteness. Hence the
African Christian can be heard praying
loudly: “Wash me redeemer, I shall be
whiter than snow.”
Indeed, there are very many contradic-
tions regarding Africanising names, lan-
The Last Word
guages, practices, institutions, dressing and
hairstyles. For example, Museveni always
wears suits, which are not an “African”
dress code. The institutions of the state of
Uganda that he leads are not an assertion
of African identity but a copy and paste
from Western nations. The ideologies he
has always embraced – initially Marxism
and later neoliberalism – are not African. He
is a Christian, a religion that was imposed
on us through colonial conquest. His name
Yoweri is the vernacular version of Joel from
the Bible. Indeed, the names of his daugh-
ters – Diana, Natasha and Patience – are not
African either.
Secondly, in `Sowing the Mustard’,
Museveni blames former president, Milton
Obote, for not promoting Swahili as a
national language for Uganda the same
way Julius Nyerere and Jomo Kenyatta had
done in Tanzania and Kenya respectively.
Obote led Uganda for a combined period
of 14 years while Museveni has done 32
years. Therefore, according to Museveni’s
standard, he carries the blame for keeping
English as our lingua franca for this long.
So if we have accepted a non-African
language as our official language (in spite
of its degradation of everything African or
black), adopted a non-African dress code,
embraced non-African religions (Christi-
anity and Islam), and use non-African insti-
tutions, why should we not use non-African
hairstyles? Indeed, non-African institutions
dominate our policy-making processes to
wit the International Monetary Fund, the
World Bank and bilateral donors such as
USAID, DFID, SIDA, etc.
We have naively embraced Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI) as the strategy for our
development and international competitive
bidding as the method for selecting those
who build our infrastructure. Hence, for-
eign firms own the commanding heights of
our economy just as they win all major con-
struction contracts. This is largely because
we believe that foreigners can manage and/
or build things better than ourselves. This
lack of faith in ourselves is much more dam-
aging to the long term prospects of devel-
oping our country and asserting our African
identity than Miss World Africa wearing an
Indian weave on her hair.
The reader should not mistake me to be
suggesting that we abandon English, chase
foreign investors and contractors and drop
Opinion
our foreign names. Indeed, I am a proud
bearer of the name Andrew, often dress in
European clothes and English is the only
language I am fully fluent in. The Japanese,
Koreans and Chinese wear Western suits
and speak English but have not lost their
identity. As Aime Cesaire put it in his essay,
`Discourse on Colonialism’, civilizations
that withdraw into themselves end up suf-
focating themselves in their self-enclosure.
And as Ngugi Wa Thiongo has argued,
cultural contact is the oxygen of any civili-
zation.
The real question is how do we adopt,
digest and use foreign cultural, political
and economic resources for our benefit? We
should attract FDI not to supplant but sup-
plement our local investors. For example,
Kiira Motors can partner with Hyundai
(giving them a 20% stake) in order to benefit
from their capital, skills, technology, experi-
ence, global market networks etc. Foreign
construction firms are welcome if we can
ensure they help us develop our skills and
diffuse their technical knowledge locally.
But Museveni has presided over a state that
has handed the entire economy to foreign
firms, displacing existing local firms and/or
stifling their growth.
So the fundamental question is: who
chooses which aspects of the African iden-
tity we should uphold and which should
we ignore? I have not seen Museveni
wearing traditional Kinyankore/Hima dress
leave alone the kanzu (tunic) in decades.
Our president treats traditional Africa reli-
gion as superstition as if Christianity is not
equally superstitious. I, therefore, found his
emphasis on the hairstyle arbitrary – not so
much aimed at promoting some “authentic
African identity” (whatever that would
mean) – but rather to conform to his tastes.
Therefore, to address hairstyle and ignore
language and religion, ideology and insti-
tutions in identity is to chase the rat and
ignore the elephant in your plantation. The
use of foreign languages and religions is
more culturally damaging to the African
identity than wearing a “non-African”
(whatever that means) hairstyle. The over-
zealous reliance on foreign investors and
contractors, often at the expense of local
ones, is more damaging to our economy
than wearing foreign hairstyles.
amwenda@independent.co.ug
Jan. 04 - 10 2019 7
cover story

8 Jan. 04 - 10 2019

Fighting Bobi Wine
Will banning the legislator’s
concerts cripple him politically?
Y
By Haggai Matsiko
oung. Muganda.
Catholic. Pop star. This
combo makes singer
turned politician Robert
Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine
the most complicated
political opponent President Yoweri
Museveni faces a head of the 2021
elections.
But while the first three place Bobi
Wine in the three biggest political
constituencies, the last—pop star— it
has become clear, is the fuel that powers
the legislator’s political potency. This
is why, experts say, President Yoweri
Museveni’s government has made it
their biggest target.
At 37, Bobi Wine appeals to the
youth who could easily be 70 percent
of the voters come 2021. And as a
catholic and a Muganda, Bobi Wine
belongs to Uganda’s biggest political
constituencies.
Indeed, while there were many other
significant politicians in attendance at
Rubaga Cathedral on Christmas Eve,
Buganda Prime Minister, Peter Mayiga
took time to recognise mainly Bobi Wine
who was accompanied by his wife Babra
Kyagulanyi.
“At one point,” Mayiga noted looking
at Bobi Wine, “We were worried about
what was happening to our legislator
Kyagulanyi Sentamu.” He was referring
to the events of October last year that
saw Bobi Wine arrested, beaten and
detained for allegedly disrupting the
president’s convoy during the Arua
by-election campaigns in which he was
campaigning for Kassiano Wadri, who
later won the Arua by-election.
Bobi Wine’s touch is credited for
Wadri’s victory and that of three other
legislators, part of the reason many see
him as a kingmaker hardly a year after
he joined elective politics—becoming
the Kyadondo East legislator-- through
a landslide victory in which he trounced
both the ruling party NRM and the
Forum for Democratic Change (FDC),
also the biggest opposition political
party.
But more than anything, what has
got Bobi Wine this far is undoubtedly
his music. While most of his music has
always been socially conscious, it was
always largely apolitical.
Then in the build up to the 2016
elections, he made the switch focusing
mainly on political music, and
targeting President Yoweri Museveni’s
government. In just two years, he has
been christened Uganda’s king of
protest music in Uganda.
In a country of growing discontent
over President Museveni’s overstay in
power, Bobi Wine’s music has become
a lethal mobilisation tool. And the
musician who could not fill a small
venue on his own now pulls crowds that
can fill several stadiums. His November
Kyarenga concert at the One Love Beach
in Busabala, which he owns, is to-date
the biggest concert by any Ugandan
artist.
“Seems @HEBobiWine doesn’t
understand the “treason” he committed
with his Nov. 10 Kyarenga Concert
& and why his Boxing Day show is
being blocked,” Tweeted political
commentator Charles Onyango Obbo,
“He got easily the largest PAYING
crowd in Ugandan history & @
KagutaMuseveni might never get such
numbers even if he paid them.”
Obbo was commenting after police
forcefully blocked another of Bobi
Wine’s concerts accusing him of using
his music to push a political agenda and
incite violence.
But it appears no one is fooled. Many
say President Museveni is looking to
cripple Bobi Wine both financially and
politically by banning his concerts
because he now sees him as the biggest
political threat ahead of the 2021
elections.
Indeed, over the last 32 years he has
been in power, President Museveni
has deployed a number of methods
to kill off competition and frustrating
their business, business partners and
cover story
blocking their mobilisation efforts
continues to top the list.
Before Bobi Wine came onto the
political seen as a contender, former
Prime Minister and 2016 presidential
contender, Amama Mbabazi had been
the freshest victim.
In the build up to the 2016 elections,
President Museveni wrote to Bank of
Uganda Governor Tumusiime Mutebile
raising concerns about the National
Bank of Commerce.
Apparently, President Museveni
claimed that he had received
information that Mbabazi was
laundering money through the bank,
which he intended to use as financial
war chest in the 2016 elections.
Within no time, NBC was closed
and sold to tycoon Sudhir Ruparelia.
Around the same time, the government
machinery made it impossible for many
of Mbabazi’s close associates to carry
out business.
Companies linked to him were denied
business and other business and close
associates were forced to inform him
that if he was going ahead with plans
to challenge President Museveni, they
would not be with him.
While Mbabazi was directly
involved in politics, former central
bank Governor, Sulaiman Kiggundu
was not but suffered the same fate
when rumours emerged that he was
nursing presidential ambitions and
was wielding heavy political influence
through his bank—Greenland Bank.
The bank had its own liquidity
challenges but there was a feeling
that the politics could have quickened
its demise. Just as was suspected,
Kiggundu would later turn out a major
player in the founding of Uganda’s
biggest opposition political party, the
Forum for Democratic Change (FDC).
The initial meetings around the
formation of an outfit to oust President
Museveni from office took place at
Kiggundu’s house in Kololo. Kiggundu
would later become FDC’s first national
chairman.
Jan. 04 - 10 2019 9
cover story
But if Kiggundu never realised his
ambitions to contend against Museveni,
Kizza Besigye, who would later lead the
FDC is easily the best case study of how
President Museveni fights opponents.
Since 2000 when Besigye announced
he would be challenging President
Museveni in the 2001 elections, security
operatives have beaten, arrested, jailed
him and his supporters countless times.
Away from this, FDC insiders say the
state made sure Besigye supporters lost
business or found it hard to operate.
Some of the key names include that of
Musinguzi Garuga, a party stalwart that
also funded the party.
Garuga lost business until he pledged
to stay away from Besigye. Dan
Mugarura another FDC stalwart claims
that the state frustrated his businesses.
Bobi Wine is the latest victim.
In October last year, police banned
cross-country concerts that Bobi Wine
had been staging ever since his election
in June 2016.
The shows attracted mammoth
crowds. And for these crowds he
articulated his political message through
songs like Freedom, Situka (Rise Up),
which he released shortly after the
disputed 2016 general elections.
It was not long before police pulled
out its favourite charge against those
10 Jan. 04 - 10 2019
who threaten President Museveni’s
hold onto power—inciting the public to
violence—which they continue to use to
block his concerts.
To save himself, Bobi Wine took
the matter to the floor of parliament
towards the end of last year. But even
when Speaker Rebecca Kadaga tasked
Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda
to explain why security forces were
harassing Bobi Wine and blocking his
concerts, nothing was forth coming.
Bobi Wine accuses police of
unlawfully disrupting his musical
events and even barring him from
attending social functions, including
church.
“Besides my role as a Member of
Parliament I am also a musician and
that is how my family survives and
indeed through that trade, I employ
hundreds of Ugandans,” Bobi Wine told
parliament.
But Security Minister Gen Elly
Tumwine appeared to give a hint that
targeting Bobi Wine was deliberate.
Rather than explain why security
operatives were blocking the legislator’s
concerts, he instead tasked Bobi Wine to
explain how he was going to balance his
music from politics.
Kadaga got irked. “I think the
minister takes this as a joke,” Kadaga
charged, “Why won’t the state allow
Kyagulanyi to conduct his business?
The form we signed when we were
elected does not say if you are a dancer,
stop dancing; if you are a teacher stop
teaching.”
Government saved its response for
Dec. 26 when another major concert by
the legislator was slated. They blocked it
too—this time a little more forcefully.
Police cordoned off the venue,
sprayed people who had come to do
business at the sidelines of the concert
with teargas and dispersed them.
Observers say this is the clearest
indication that Bobi Wine has become
a major threat to President Museveni’s
hold onto power – the reason he is being
dealt with the way previous opponents
have been dealt with. But while
President Museveni has previously
been confronted with opponents with
conventional tactics he can easily deal
with, Bobi Wine’s—music—could pose a
tougher challenge.
Music has always been a powerful
channel for political mobilisation
world over and countrywide. President
Museveni was able to keep the morale
of rebel group and overthrow the sitting
government partly through songs like
`Moto wa waka’.
Across Africa, musicians have used

their music to challenge authorities.
In South Africa, Miriam Makeba
challenged apartheid through protest
music. In Senegal, the rapper Serge
Bambara, aka, Smockey founded Balai
Citoyen, or Citizen Broom, a movement
of artists and musicians that called
on youth to rise up against a bid by
longtime president Blaise Compaoré, to
change the constitution and extend his
rule.
The songs Smockey wrote and
recorded during this period, analysts
say, led to the president’s political
demise. Fela Kuti became a legend
across Africa for fighting corrupt
military dictatorships in Nigeria.
Back to Uganda, musicians and other
artists have effortlessly surfed the wave
of their popularity and beaten several
tested politicians to political office.
Some of these include Gospel artist
Judith Babirye and comedian Kato
Lubwama.
Bobi Wine himself won his seat with
a landslide against candidates of both
the ruling NRM and Uganda’s major
opposition party FDC. Riding on his
victory, he campaigned for four other
legislators who too trounced candidates
of both the NRM and FDC—the reason
he is being seen as a kingmaker of sorts.
But even before Bobi Wine became a
player on the political scene, President
Museveni had already taken to music
himself in a bid to win the support of
young voters.
This is how he embraced the rap song
titled ‘You Want Another Rap?’ which
some analysts have partly credited for
his 2011 victory.
After realising high yields from the
2011 effort, Museveni went all out to
reap from music in the 2016 elections by
recruiting music stars to campaign for
him. They composed `Tubonga Nawe’
(We’re With You) for him, which became
his campaigning song.
Around that time, Bobi Wine
distinguished himself by staying away
Bobi Wine
accuses police
of unlawfully
disrupting
his musical
events and even
barring him
from attending
social functions,
including church
from Museveni. Rather than join those
singing President Museveni praises, he
positioned as an independent voice—
calling for peace in `Dembe’, a song
released on the eve of elections.
Shortly after, he got emboldened and
released `Situka’ (Rise Up), calling on
Ugandans to rise up and fight for the
change they desire. Then months later
he got even bolder and sang `Freedom’,
calling on Ugandans to fight for their
freedom. For months the song was
banned by government—mainstream
media could not play it.
Thanks to the ban the song enjoyed
massive circulation on social media and
helped spread Bobi Wine’s message
further and further.
But Bobi Wine’s political vigour
became even clearer once he got into
parliament. When soldiers belonging to
the Special Forces Command invaded
parliament to force through debate
cover story
to scrap presidential age limits from
the Constitution to clear the way for
Museveni to extend his 32-year rule,
Bobi Wine was at the forefront of
fighting them.
Months later, Bobi Wine would find
himself in another clash with SFC that
nearly cost him his life but that also
thrust his struggle onto international
stage. On Aug.13, SFC soldiers
kidnapped and tortured him together
with other legislators who were
campaigning for a colleague.
Bobi Wine was detained and denied
access to his family, doctors and
lawyers. Security operatives accused
him of endangering the President’s
convoy claiming one of the presidential
cars was stoned. They also accused him
of illegally possessing firearms, a charge
that was later withdrawn as soon as he
was arraigned before the military court
martial.
The entire ordeal earned Bobi Wine
major sympathy both locally and
internationally. Touched by Bobi Wine’s
experience, Rikki Stein, the former
manager of Fela Kuti, called on his
international networks to exert pressure
against Museveni’s government to
release Bobi Wine. Consequently,
overwhelming international pressure
led to Bobi’s release to allow him go
abroad and secure medical treatment.
While Bobi Wine was in the U.S., his
international lawyer Robert Amsterdam
held a press conference for him at
which the legislator addressed the
international press cementing his place
on Uganda’s political stage.
At the time, government
spokesperson, Ofwono Opondo said
Bobi Wine was “a passing cloud
that will soon fade away with time”.
Kyagulanyi meanwhile pledged win
the fight for freedom or die trying. How
he deals with the current ban of his
concerts will determine how far he is
willing to go with this pledge.
Jan. 04 - 10 2019 11
NEWS ANALYSIS
Money in elections
It doesn’t mean what you think it does
By Suzanne Robbins
M
oney is indispensable in
American electoral campaigns.
Without it, candidates cannot
amplify their message to reach
voters and it’s harder to motivate people to
take interest and vote.
Nevertheless, a May 2018 Pew survey
revealed a bipartisan 70 percent of respon-
dents said individual and group spending
in elections should be limited.
But does the American public understand
the actual role played by campaign spend-
ing?
I’m a political scientist who studies
American politics. Here are the answers to
fundamental questions that voters should
ask about the role of money in elections.
How much do elections cost?
Running for federal office is expensive.
According the Campaign Finance Institute,
the cost of winning a U.S. House seat in
12 Jan. 04 - 10 2019
2016 was over US$1.5 million (Approx.
Shs5.6 billion) All told, approximately $816
million was spent by 723 major party candi-
dates for the U.S. House.
The average amount a House candidate
spent in 2016 was $1.2 million (Approx.
Shs4.5 billion). However, there’s a lot of
variation depending on what type of candi-
date you are.
Republicans and incumbents, for exam-
ple, spent more on average than challengers
and those running in open-seat contests in
2016. In fact, the average challenger spent
less than half a million dollars, or about one-
fourth the amount an incumbent spent.
Those figures don’t include money spent
by parties and outside entities to influ-
ence the election. Federal law dictates that
groups, parties and individuals – including
the groups known as super PACs – can
make what are called “independent expen-
ditures” for or against a candidate, so long
as they do not coordinate with the candi-
date.
Spending from the major parties and
super PACs in House and Senate races
more than tripled between 1998 to 2016,
growing from $267 million to $978.6 million.
Can money buy an election?
Money is necessary for a candidate to be
competitive, but it doesn’t ensure success.
A lack of money can eliminate less capa-
ble candidates, but having money does not
guarantee that a particular candidate’s mes-
sage will resonate with the voters. As Cam-
paign Finance Institute researchers Michael
Malbin and Brendan Glavin write, “If voters
do not like what they are hearing, telling
them more of the same will not change their
opinion.”
So how does money matter?
Money can affect which candidates run.
Specifically, early money – or money raised
before the primary – matters especially in
this regard.
Candidates can prove their viability by
raising significant sums before the first
advertisements air. Landing some big
donors before the first advertisements or
primary allows candidates time to build
campaign infrastructure. Insiders refer to
this as the “invisible primary.” Media sto-
ries on the invisible primary for the 2020

presidential election are well underway.
Money matters more for challengers than
it does for incumbents. Decades of political
science research demonstrates that the more
a challenger spends, the more likely he or
she is to win.
That’s because incumbents have many
advantages, not the least of which is name
recognition and free media. So, challengers
must spend more to overcome the obstacles
they face, from name recognition to formi-
dable incumbent war chests meant to scare
off a challenger. Unfortunately for challeng-
ers, those barriers are high enough that they
rarely raise enough money to compete.
Yet money does not guarantee a victory.
Simply looking at the average amount spent
by winners and losers obscures the fact that
many races have no real competition.
In 2016, winning incumbents far outspent
their challengers, but the winners in open
seat contests spent nearly the same amount
as their opponents, while those incumbents
who lost outspent their winning opponents
half of the time.
In short, incumbents who spend more
than their opponent in contested races are
more likely to be the candidates who are
vulnerable and lose.
Does money buy influence?
Money matters in the most competitive
races, open seat races that have no incum-
bent and those with high profile candi-
dates. More money will be spent by the
candidates in these races, but also by those
who would like to influence the outcome.
One concern that is often expressed is
that winners answer to their donors and
those organisations who support them.
Since 2010, the role of outside money, or
money from super PACs and political non-
profits, has raised alarms in the media and
from reform groups.
Some assert that self-financed candidates
or those candidates who can demonstrate
widespread support from small donors can
allay concerns about the potential influ-
ence of donors on candidates and elected
officials.
The Center for Responsive Politics notes
that outside organisations alone have
outspent more than two dozen candidates
in the last three electoral cycles and were
poised to outspend 27 in 2018.
However, it’s not always clear how use-
ful that spending is: The 2012 election pro-
vides many examples.
Billionaire Republican donor Sheldon
Adelson backed a super PAC supporting
former House Speaker Newt Gingrich after
Gingrich was no longer a viable presiden-
tial contender. It extended the Republican
presidential primary at a time when Mitt
Romney could have been raising money
and consolidating support for the general
election.
The libertarian, conservative PAC Ameri-
cans for Prosperity, founded by the Koch
brothers, often ran ads at odds with the
Republican message. Other outside groups
poured money into races that simply were
not winnable.
By 2016, it appears that super PACs were
spending for more calculated effect, focus-
ing on competitive races. In addition, much
of that “outside money” comes from the
super PACs associated with the two main
parties.
For example, in California’s 7th congres-
sional district, outside groups spent approx-
imately $9.1 million, in roughly equal
amounts between the incumbent, Democrat
Ami Bera, and challenger, Republican Scott
Jones. The vast majority (85.7 percent) of the
outside spending came from party organ-
isations – the National Republican Congres-
sional Committee, the Democratic Congres-
sional Campaign Committee, Congressional
Leadership Fund and House Majority PAC
– not from interest groups. Bera won re-
election with 51.2 percent of the vote.
Some candidates use their own money
for their campaigns to avoid appearing
indebted to donors.
For example, wealthy Florida Republican
Gov. Rick Scott has given his current U.S.
Senate campaign $38.9 million dollars – 71.3
per cent of all funds raised.
But self-funding does not resolve the
democratic dilemma of responsiveness.
NEWS ANALYSIS
First, Daily Kos found that most self-
financed candidates lose – and the more
they spend, the more likely they are to lose
the election. Generally, the only exceptions
are candidates like Rick Scott, who already
hold elective office.
Second, this way of improving respon-
siveness is limited because it effectively
precludes anyone but the wealthy from
holding office.
Small donors seem like a democratic
solution to wealthy donors dominating elec-
tion giving. Several recent campaigns – Ber-
nie Sanders, Rand Paul, Barack Obama and
now Donald Trump – have created effective
small-donor fundraising machines.
More small donors means more wide-
spread support, at least in theory, but that
theory has limitations.
Small donors are not yet giving enough
to counter big money. In fact, the share
small donors contribute relative to big
money is declining.
Moreover, political science doesn’t yet
know enough about who small donors are
– whether they are economically representa-
tive of the U.S. as a whole or even if they are
more ideologically motivated to give, con-
tributing to polarisation in politics.
What’s so good about money?
Yes, incumbents can amass huge war
chests to scare off opponents, and money
can be most effective in competitive races.
All that extra spending translates into
additional advertising and get-out-the-vote
efforts.
In the end, what does that mean?
It means more information about the
candidates and issues for voters, increased
interest in the campaign and increased voter
turnout.
That’s good for democracy.
Focusing on the putative evils of money
diminishes the importance of other things
that may help or hinder a candidate. Other
major elements that can influence the out-
come of a campaign: candidates who face
national political and economic tides and
local political concerns; candidates who
choose to challenge formidable incumbents;
and many candidates who simply aren’t
viable.
It’s easy to see a correlation between win-
ning and fundraising because money flows
to likely winners and competitive races.
But, as scholars like to say, correlation is
not causation. In the world of politics and
campaigns, money is meaningful. It just
may not mean what, and as much as, most
people think it means.
Suzanne Robbins is Assistant Professor of
political science, University of Florida
Source: The Conversation
Jan. 04 - 10 2019 13
NEWS ANALYSIS
Uganda’s deadly highways
Poor road design leading cause of fatalities
By Ronald Musoke
W
henever there is a fatal accident
on any of Uganda’s highways,
traffic police almost always
blames “human error.”
Uganda is a landlocked country and
available statistics show that every year,
97% of goods and almost 100% of passen-
gers are transported on Ugandan roads but
the lack of safety claims tens of thousands of
lives every year.
Dr. Godfrey Mwesige, a traffic engineer-
ing and road safety expert who also lectures
in the Department of Construction Econom-
ics and Management at Makerere Univer-
sity’s College of Engineering, Design, Art
and Technology says many of the accidents
could actually be attributed to poor road
design.
Mwesige was on Dec. 6 in Kampala pre-
senting a World Bank Global Road Safety
Facility-funded road inspection report for
the North Eastern Road Corridor—a 340km
stretch that starts on the Uganda-Kenya
14 Jan. 04 - 10 2019
border at Malaba in eastern Uganda, and
meanders northeastwards through Tororo,
Mbale, Soroti, Lira up to Kamdini Corner.
Mwesige led the team that inspected the
road between March and June this year to
assess safety concerns based on specific fea-
tures along the highway. The findings are
meant to inform the scope and scale of the
World Bank-funded rehabilitation project
that is scheduled to start next year.
Don’t drive at night
Using data collected on accidents along
this road corridor, Mwesige found a high
frequency of accidents involving motor-
cycles at or close to trading centres, espe-
cially on the Tororo-Mbale-Soroti sections.
These have significant volumes of motor-
cycles during day in comparison to motor
vehicles.
“If you are not familiar with this road,
don’t drive (especially) at night and if you
know it, drive at 50km/hr,” Mwesige said.
Mwesige said his team had identified
98 black spots, 28 of them in trading cen-
tres along the corridor, meaning that for
a stretch of 340km, there is a black spot
for every 3.5km. A black spot along a
road is where at least three accidents have
occurred.
One such area is at Busiu, where there is
a 1.5km steep descent as one approaches
River Manafwa and a bend that many driv-
ers at night fail to negotiate, leading to He
says although the recommended speed
limit is 80km/hr at the spot, drivers most
times drive at 110km/hr.
For this section, Mwesige recommended
installation of guard rails and breaking the
road in two using an island. In other sec-
tions, he recommends improving signage
and shortening the tangent of some sections
of the road, particularly at Awoja and Aber
on the section between Mbale and Soroti.
Some sections need roundabouts and others
speed bumps. Railway crossings also need
special attention.
“Near the junction to Butaleja District is
an overtaking section but there is a petrol
station. It is also a built up area but drivers

do speeds of 97-105km/hr and whoever is
knocked here dies instantly.”
In some sections like the one between
Lira and Kamdini, Mwesige found the road
“eaten up” thanks to an unusually higher
water table. He said this section requires an
extensive hydraulic modelling.
“The engineers need to raise the vertical
alignment to go above the flood levels,” he
said. In some sections, he found that tem-
peratures can rise above 60°C meaning that
if road constructors use lighter bitumen, the
road would keep “bleeding” making it hard
for drivers to stop when they want to.
Mwesige said the Uganda National
Roads Authority (UNRA) urgently needs
to partner with the Uganda traffic police to
develop a proper system of safety appraisal
design and maintenance of the highway.
Roads deadlier than HIV/AIDS
Mwesige’s report came out at the same
time the World Health Organisation
released its report on road accidents around
the world. The report notes that road inju-
ries have now become the biggest killer of
children and young adults (15-29) world-
wide; higher than HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis
or diarrheal diseases.
With a fatality rate of 27.4:100,000,
Uganda is among the 20 worst performing
countries around the world. The Global
Road Safety Status report notes that up to
80,000 people perish in road accidents while
thousands more end up lying in hospitals
for months stretching the public health sys-
tem and the economy.
According to the World Bank between
2014 and 2015, road traffic injuries were the
fourth leading cause of deaths with more
than 50% of those deaths occurring on acci-
dent spots.
The World Bank says close to 62% of the
public health system resources are com-
mitted every year to handling referrals and
surgeries that arise from road accidents.
Over Shs 4 trillion is lost annually in road
accidents and this human suffering and
economic cost is unacceptable.
Antony Thompson, the Country Man-
ager for the World Bank Group in Uganda,
said experiences from across the world
have shown that it is possible to adopt effec-
tive policies and interventions that greatly
reduce traffic deaths and injuries and their
effect on society.
“Uganda has made important strides in
the past decade to reduce communicable
diseases, maternal deaths and improve the
overall life expectancy,” he said, adding
that concerted action on road safety would
bring additional far-reaching benefits for the
public health sector, and economic develop-
ment.
World Bank experts say reducing road
traffic deaths by 10 % could raise per capita
real GDP by 3.6% over 24 years. The study,
“The High Toll of Traffic Injuries: Unaccept-
able and Preventable,” finds that countries
that do not invest in road safety lose any-
where between 7-22% in potential per capita
GDP growth over the same period, which
underlines the importance of investing in
road safety.
Mwesige says one of the challenges road
designers are dealing in Uganda is the ever
mushrooming illegal private property near
the highways.
“You have sections where schools are
built in a high speed section of the highway
yet the schools have no perimeter fences
and school children just run into the roads
eventually getting knocked.”
Improving road user experience
In order to reduce the risks on the high-
way, Mwesige came up with several recom-
mendations to improve the user experience
on this road corridor.
Mwesige says a change in cross sec-
tions from two-lane to four-lanes with
raised medians and guardrails would, for
example, reduce accidents by between
Over
Shs 4 trillion
is lost annually
in road accidents
and this human
suffering and
economic cost is
unacceptable
11-15% and installing gates on rural sections
approaching trading centres would reduce
accidents by up to 75%.
He said flattening road sides in some
sections of the highway would cut out acci-
dents by 58% while delineation of horizon-
tal curves with reflective chevron warning
signs could reduce accidents by 25%. On the
other hand, improving junctions with prop-
er signage would cut out accidents by up to
30% especially if the junction is channelized
with splitter islands and medians.
He said sections between Tororo and
Mbale, Mbale and Soroti as well as Soroti
and Lira should be dual-carriageways.
He said dealing with safety design on
roads is similar to what doctors do to fight
disease outbreaks; “they identify patterns
and fix the anomalies”.
“Currently anything being done on safety
is based on guesswork,” he said, “There is
need for UNRA to develop a proper acci-
dent data collection and storage mechanism
NEWS ANALYSIS
as part of safety appraisal of the designs and
maintenance. This can be done internally
with Uganda Traffic Police.”
Allen Kagina, the UNRA executive direc-
tor says unplanned land use, indiscriminate
licensing of driving schools and inadequate
road designs are among the top causes of
road accidents.
“The challenge we have is that even after
safety measures have been done on the
roads, petrol stations, schools, hotels and
churches emerge and they all want access to
the highways,” she said.
Kagina said road safety can only be
achieved if there are collaborative efforts
amongst the full range of the road safety
partners including road users, police, courts
of law, legislators, schools and communi-
ties, contractors, consultants and develop-
ment partners.
She said UNRA’s traffic and road safety
department will play the leading role in the
implementation of the safety interventions;
particularly the education and support to
enforcement aspects.
AIGP Steven Kasiima, the director of
Traffic and road safety noted that the spe-
cialist’s study was important and asked the
World Bank to help in doing a similar audit
on the Kampala-Masaka-Kabale highway
which is probably one of the deadliest high-
ways in the world.
Kasiima said some of the interventions
such as the “Fika Salama’ check points and
the erection of islands in some black spots
like the one at River Katonga along the
Kampala-Masaka highway have reduced
accidents.
Aggrey Bagiire, the Minister of State for
Transport agreed with Mwesige saying the
designs need to change to reflect the chang-
ing circumstances in the country.
Giving the example of the recently reha-
bilitated Nansana-Busunju section on the
Kampala-Hoima highway, Bagiire said the
independent road inspections are help-
ing the government to correct the design
anomalies.
“If roads are safe by design, it is possible
to reduce road accident deaths by as much
as 30 percent,” Bagiire said. But he quickly
added that the attitude and character of
Ugandans road users must also change.
“Vandalism of road furniture, for
instance, must stop and this can only be
achieved if communities are sensitised or
mobilised to ensure that such acts are pre-
vented or reported.”
Bagiire insisted that human error con-
tributes significantly to road accidents in
Uganda and says he is baffled by Ugandans
who drive under the influence of alcohol
and drugs.
“Uganda’s road safety policy says the
road network should be safe for all users
including; pedestrians, cyclists, motorcy-
clists and motor vehicles irrespective of their
sizes,” he said.
Jan. 04 - 10 2019 15
feature
The decisive mind
You make decisions
quicker and based on less
information than you think
By Nadav Klein
W
e live in an age of
information. In theory, we
can learn everything about
anyone or anything at the
touch of a button. All this information
should allow us to make super-informed,
data-driven decisions all the time.
But the widespread availability of
information does not mean that you
actually use it even if you have it. In
fact, decades of research in psychology
and behavioral science find that people
readily make data-poor snap judgments
in a variety of instances. People form
lasting impressions of others in the
span of milliseconds, evaluators judge
teachers in less than a minute and
consumers make shopping decisions
based on little deliberation. Even voting
decisions can seemingly be predicted
from preliminary impressions formed
during incredibly brief time periods.
If these findings seem remarkable to
you, recent research by my colleague and
me suggests that you are not alone. The
immediacy of human judgment generally
surprises people. Individuals fail to
anticipate how little information they
and others use when making decisions.
And this disconnect can have
implications in daily life: After all,
recognising how much – or little –
information people actually use to make
judgments and decisions could influence
how much you try to share with others.
A job candidate should have a sense of
how much of her resume prospective
employers will actually read so she can
prioritise her efforts accordingly.
And it would help when you’re
deciding how much information
to acquire when making your own
decisions. How long should you try out
a subscription service before deciding
whether you like it enough to pay?
How much time should you date a love
interest before deciding to tie the knot?
Comparing predictions and reality
In our research, my co-author Ed
O’Brien and I tested whether people
16 Jan. 04 - 10 2019
can correctly anticipate how much
information they and others use
when making varied judgments. We
consistently found that people were
surprised by how quickly they make
judgments and how little information
they use doing so.
In one study, we asked participants to
imagine having pleasant or unpleasant
interactions with another person. In
comparison, we asked another group
of participants to predict how many
of those interactions they would need
to experience to determine someone’s
character. We found that people believed
they would need many interactions to
make this judgment, when in fact the
first group needed few.
In another study, we asked MBA
students to write applications for
hypothetical management positions,
and then asked actual HR people to read
their materials. Our applicants wrote
and shared much more material than the
hiring professionals cared to read.
We also asked people who have never
been married to predict how long, after
meeting their future spouse, it would
take them to decide that this person
is “the one.” Fully 39 percent of these
never-marrieds thought they would
need to date this person more than one
year before they’d feel ready to spend One possibility is a belief that the
the rest of their lives with him or her. In human mind processes information
contrast, married people reported having incrementally. A naive perspective
made this judgment much more quickly, might imagine that new information
with only 18 percent stating that it took stacks on top of old information until
them more than a year to do so. some mental threshold is reached for
Similar mispredictions occur when making a decision. In reality, however,
evaluating subscription services based preliminary research suggests that
on trial periods, tasting novel beverages, information aggregation is much closer
and evaluating streaks of luck, athletic to an exponential function; the first few
performances and academic grades. In pieces of information are weighted much
all cases, people believed they would use more heavily than later information.
more information than they actually did. Another possibility is that people
fail to realise how rich and engrossing
Misunderstanding this human each separate piece of information is. In
tendency psychology, this is called an empathy
gap. Consider the question of how
There are several reasons why people many interactions are necessary for you
might have the wrong impression about to decide whether you like and trust
how quickly they and others make someone. It may be tempting to believe
judgments. you’ll rationally evaluate each interaction

as you would a dry statistic. But social
encounters are vivid and engaging,
and the first experience may simply be
so absorbing as to tilt your judgment
irrevocably, making future interactions
unnecessary.
Recognizing the rush to judgment
It’s not clear that quick decisions are
always bad. Sometimes snap judgments
are remarkably accurate and they can
save time. It would be crippling to comb
through all the available information
on a topic every time a decision must
be made. However, misunderstanding
how much information we actually use
to make our judgments has important
implications beyond making good or bad
decisions.
Take the problem of self-fulfilling
prophesies. Imagine a situation in which
a manager forms a tentative opinion
of an employee that then cascades into
a series of decisions that affect that
employee’s entire career trajectory. A
manager who sees an underling make
a small misstep in an insignificant
project may avoid assigning challenging
projects in the future, which in turn
would hamstring this employee’s career
prospects. If managers are unaware
how willing they are to make quick
and data-poor initial judgments, they’ll
be less likely to nip these self-fulfilling
destructive cycles in the bud.
Another example might be the human
tendency to rely on stereotypes when
judging other people. Although you
may believe that you’ll consider all the
information available about another
feature
person, people in fact are more likely to
consider very little information and let
stereotypes creep in. It may be a failure
to understand how quickly judgments
get made that make it so hard to exclude
the influence of stereotyping.
Modern technology allows virtually
any decision made today to be more
informed than the same decision made a
few decades ago. But the human reliance
on quick judgments may forestall this
promise. In the quest for more informed
decision-making, researchers will need
to explore ways to encourage people to
slow down the speed of judgment.
Nadav Klein is Postdoctoral Researcher at
Harris Public Policy, University of Chicago
Source: the conversation
Jan. 04 - 10 2019 17
INTERVIEW

The demise of
specialist reporters
Why it is a loss for any democracy
By Glenda Daniels
Associate Professor in Media Studies, University of the Witwatersrand
The newspaper industry in many countries is in the doldrums. Retrenchments have become the
norm with experienced journalists who specialise in a particular reporting area – known as “beat
reporting” – are among the first to go. An ongoing global journalism survey, The New Beats,
explores, among other things the steady decline of beat
journalism. The Conversation Africa’s Natasha Joseph
spoke to Dr Glenda Daniels, who is heading the
South African leg of the research, about why
beat reporting matters and why it’s at risk.

What is a “beat” journalist, What’s the state of beat

and what’s their value as journalism globally?

A
reporters?
beat journalist
specialises in a
particular field.
They have covered
a particular “beat” or area
and know it inside out. Beats
include areas like politics,
business, environment,
education, science, labour,
local government, courts and
health. When people read a
beat reporter’s byline (their
name on the story) they expect
expert and factual news and
analysis. It’s the opposite of
generalist reporting.
Beat journalism worldwide
is disappearing. There are
several reasons for this,
among them the corporate
and commercial pressures of
going digital and competition
from social media. Media
companies retrench
experienced reporters first
to cut their salary bills – and
beat reporters tend to be
among the more senior staff. I
attended a symposium on the
New Beats project in Australia
earlier this year which
highlighted a decrease in beat
reporting across countries
ranging from Finland, Brazil,
Indonesia, US, Netherlands,
and Canada. This has
consequences. In a discussion
paper at the symposium based
on his research, Professor
Matthew Ricketson from
Deakin University showed
that without “boots on the
ground” – beat reporters
covering, for example, court
or rural issues – indigenous
people’s issues are
disappearing from media
coverage. For the most
part in Australia, news
about indigenous
groups comes
from activists’

18 Jan. 04 - 10 2019
 INTERVIEW

tweets or from research conducted

by academics, rather than from the
mainstream media.

How does South Africa stack up?

South Africa appears to be following
a pattern established in the western,
developed world. There have been
several waves of retrenchments.
Experienced professional journalism
staff are down to a minimum. Certain
specialist sections or pages have been
cut altogether – a books page, for
instance, is increasingly rare. And
certain beats have been abandoned,
for example labour reporters haven’t
been replaced. This beat is covered by
politics desks. The lack of magistrate
court reporters and local government
reporters – which used to be important
beats – means there’s a lot going
on, on the ground, which the public
misses out on.

What do journalists think of this

trend?
Some of the South African
respondents in the Job Losses/New
Beats survey had scathing things
to say about what happens when
specialisation or “beat” reporting
is lost. One said: Journalism has
become increasingly undervalued as a
profession. Too many bad writers and
too few beat specialists, which means
that people in power are getting away
with murder.
Another said: I don’t read
newspapers anymore, but I find some
excellent pieces on online publications.
Generally, (media is) under-resourced,
underfunded and a lot of (the) time
lacks specialised writers. …The
specialised photographer was made
redundant years ago…
Another spoke of the tensions
between media investors who want
commercial success, and journalistic
ethics: The level of under investment,
resultant juniorisation and low quality
outputs do a disservice not just to
investors and those who practice
(journalism), but to democracy
at large. Juniorisation refers to
the practice of newsrooms hiring
inexperienced journalists who have
not, usually, gone through traditional
training in a cadet school.
I was very struck by this response.
Democracy demands that we have
access to information, freedom of
information, freedom of expression,
factual and reliable information.
Instead, the current transition to
digital media is throwing up a lot of
unreliable information that must be
waded through before we get to the
facts; misinformation and propaganda;
hate speech, and bigotry. It’s a messy,
sometimes bloody transition – and
beat journalism is among the victims.
What does this all mean for
audiences?
There’s been a decline in in-depth
news coverage of any particular
field and a corresponding rise
in superficial array of news on a
variety of topics. Infotainment gets
passed off as “news”. Celeb gossip
and sexy pictures sometimes fill
pages. Media companies hire young
generalists or all-rounders who
can do 24/7 reporting, uploading
of video, blogging, tweeting and
brand or celebrity journalism –
where the reporter is part of the
story. It appears that journalism is
chasing technology and social media
appears to lead journalism. That’s
especially dangerous in this era
where “fake news” –which includes
misinformation and disinformation
– has become a common complaint –
and, as research shows, travels fast.
Readers are often left asking whether
they can trust what they’ve read, or
if they’ve been fed misinformation or
propaganda.
So what’s the solution?
The best case scenario or ideal
situation for journalism to serve
democracy is to restore journalist
beats. It’s crucial for newsrooms
to start going back to basics. For
instance, training programmes need
to be re-instituted; most newsrooms
have scrapped these, as my colleagues
and I have outlined in several “State of
the Newsroom” reports conducted in
South Africa in recent years.
Another approach is to cut executives’
and managers’ salaries, and to pay
senior journalists to mentor younger
reporters on specialised beats. In this
way, good journalism can be saved.
*The full results of the international
New Beats survey, including those from
South Africa, are due out in 2019.
Source: The Conversation

Jan. 04 - 10 2019 19
US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

China-US rivalry
heading to East Africa
Donald Trump’s administration to focus on development
finance and lending for infrastructure projects in Africa

T
By Ronald Musoke
he US will step up efforts
to counter China’s growing
influence in Africa this year,
according to a recent report
that shows the growing rivalry
between the world’s two largest
economic giants.
The report released on Dec. 11 by
Control Risks— a global risk consultancy
that forecasts political and security risk
for business leaders and policy makers
around the world— notes that while the
US continues to be vocal on the danger of
Chinese debt in Africa, China continues
to broaden its engagement across the
continent with particular focus on East
Africa.
“Support for China or the US has not
emerged as a defining issue in African
politics, with most countries keen to pursue
closer ties and seek financing from both
sides rather than falling neatly on one
camp,” he added, “In 2019 we might see
this changing,” said George Nicholls, the
senior partner for southern Africa.
Nicholls said whereas the US is still the
largest investor in Africa, its engagement
on the continent is narrowly focused
on security matters under the current
administration.
In contrast, China has made formidable
inroads in sub-Saharan Africa specializing
in trade and investment over the past
decade.
Chinese development finance institutions
and export credit agencies have accounted
for 53% of investments flowing into African
power projects, according to the U.S based
law firm, Baker McKenzie and the UK
financial data provider IJ Global.
Though official Chinese data on loans
lent to African countries remains scanty
as a result of little or no transaction
transparency between China and most
African countries, figures from the China-
Africa Research Initiative at the Johns
Hopkins University show that the Chinese
government, banks and contractors
have doled out U.S $143bn to African
governments since 2007. The six East
African Community states are believed
to owe China a combined US$30 bn as at
April, 2018, sunk mainly into construction
of modern railway lines, hydro power
dams and other hardware infrastructure.
But perhaps in a bid to counter the
narrative that China’s influence in
Africa is solid, the U.S’ Donald Trump
administration is believed to have hatched
a plan to counter Chinese clout on the
continent, with particular focus on East

20 Jan. 04 - 10 2019

Africa.
This development comes
as reports indicate that China
could take over the Port of
Mombasa incase Kenya fails to
repay the US$3.23bn acquired
from the China’s Exim Bank in
2013 toward the construction
of the Standard Gauge
Railway.
“(The year) 2019 will
show revived US interest in
development finance and
lending for infrastructure
projects on the continent,
and a more concerted US
commercial strategy towards
Africa is likely to take shape,”
Nicholls said.
He said increased rivalry
will therefore open up
additional investment
opportunities but will also
present African countries with
increasingly starker foreign
policy and commercial choices.
Control Risks’ prediction
also comes at a time when
the U.S administration
has pledged to double its
development investment
budget in Africa to US$60
billion following the creation of
a new agency that will be able
to take equity stakes and other
financial tools to invest in local
businesses.
Interestingly, U.S businesses
and investors still have a
formidable presence on
the continent. EY Global’s
2018 Africa Attractiveness
report notes that U.S entities
increased the number of
American FDI projects in
Africa by 43% to 130 in 2017
nearly twice that of China.
In general, African countries
saw FDI numbers rise by 6%
to 718 projects up from the
previous year’s 676, which
was the lowest in 20 years.
More than three quarters of
the expansion was driven
by real estate, hospitality
and construction. East Africa
became the single largest
beneficiary as a region for FDI
with I97 projects (27% of total
projects) with Ethiopia, Kenya
and Rwanda particularly doing
better.
These findings, however,
seem to contradict the current
narrative that the U.S corporate
sector is losing interest in
Africa as China’s influence
rises.
EY says, in the recent past,
the U.S economic ties with
Africa have been driven
by the African Growth and
Opportunity Act (AGOA),
which grants 40 African
countries, duty-free access to
the U.S for approximately 6,400
products—and programmes
such as Power Africa.
East Africa’s charm
Many economic experts
The Independent has talked
to say the strategic location of
East Africa is the main reason
behind the growing U.S-
Chinese interest.
Ramathan Goobi, a lecturer
of Economics at Makerere
University Business School
told The Independent that the
East African region is quite
strategic in the sense that it
is one of the regions on the
continent that many consider
to be “virgin territory” for
economic expansion.
Leading beneficiaries of FDI in Eastern Africa in 2017
Country 2017 2016
Kenya 67 40
Ethiopia 62 16
Tanzania 35 22
Uganda 14 9 +6
Rwanda 12 11
Source: EY Attractiveness programme Africa Report (October, 2018)
“East Africa has also
positioned itself as one of
the fastest growing regions
thanks to its liberal economic
outlook,” Goobi said, “For
countries like China and the
U.S which are looking at
consolidating their economic
power, East Africa is the
region to court.”
Similarly, Ambassador
Nathan Irumba, the
executive director of the
Southern and Eastern
Africa Trade Information
and Negotiations Institute
(SEATINI) told The
Independent that besides
East Africa’s strategic
location, the region is also
an emerging oil and gas
province, and the struggle
for natural resources is
always tempting for the
global powers.
Scramble for Africa jitters
But not everyone is
enthusiastic about the new
“scramble for Africa.” Social
justice commentators are
fiercely debating the nature of
China’s role on the continent.
Some argue that while
GDPs have soared to new
heights in this unprecedented
boom, the stark reality is a
growing inequality between
the continent’s majority and
African ruling classes, many
of whom are enthusiastic
partners with global capital.
Africa Kiiza, the programme
officer in charge of trade policy
and negotiations at SEATINI
says the US-China rivalry has
already come to the region.
He told The Independent
that the U.S wants to negotiate
a trade agreement with the
East African region like the
EU (EPAs) while China has
already entrenched herself
in East Africa. “If you just
Up/Down 2017 Share
+3 9%
+7 9%
+1 5%
2%
+2 2%
consider the trade deficit the
EAC has with China, that
is quite instructive,” Kiiza says.
However, according to
Goobi, much as the battle
will play out in the region, he
sees one “winner” as the U.S
appears to have ceded so much
ground to China over the past
decade.
“It will be a very long battle
because African leaders are
so far quite happy with China
and remember China has
excess capital; the U.S does not
have it,” he says, “China has
taken over Africa and there is
no way back for the U.S or the
West.”
Goobi adds that the only
way America could claw back
some ground is if it does what
China is doing—pursuing
business at all costs including
“turning a blind eye” to
African politics. He says
Jan. 04 - 10 2019
business
the American people would
never allow the American
government to do what China
is doing.
“China can bring money
here and finance a dictatorship
without much farce back
home.”
Dr. Fred Muhumuza, an
economist based at Makerere
University also told The
Independent that in terms
of trade he doubts the U.S
can dislodge China from this
region.
“They do not have that
muscle (that China) seems to
have. China has foot soldiers
on the ground which America
does not.”
The foot soldiers Muhumuza
is referring to are the hundreds
of Chinese companies, actors,
and individuals with direct
linkages with the governments.
“The Americans may have
similar engagements with
the governments but they are
donor-development in nature;
these are different,” he says,
“But America has strategic
interests to stay in this region. I
see them trying to protect their
small interests including their
pharmaceutical business.”
Prof. Augustus Nuwagaba,
a consultant at Reeve Consult
International says the rivalry
could end up being beneficial
to the region as it will bring
about competitiveness, boost
investments and lower the cost
of borrowing.
But Amb. Irumba says
competition among the two
giants will only be beneficial to
the region if the East Africans
know what they want to get
from these two economic
powers. “Our biggest problem
has always been not knowing
what we want and dealing
with powers not so much for
what they are but what they
are offering,” he told The
Independent, “As a region, we
should know what we want,
whether it is with the Chinese
or Americans.”
“Our relationship with
these powers should be at
business arms length…Of the
two offers, who has better
terms? Am I mortgaging
my independence and who
serves our interests without
necessarily falling into their
global supremacy wars?”
21
business
Good outlook for insurance but
some players face uncertainity
Brokers, agents told to prove their relevance
By Isaac Khisa
P
redictions for Uganda’s
insurance industry this year is
positive but some players are
likely to face uncertain future in
their operations.
The consensus view among industry
players is that the industry will put a
strong performance this year, carrying on
the momentum of 2018.
However, this does not mean that
every player or the insuring public will
be trouble-free.
Following the coming into force of
the Insurance Act of 2017, no insurance
broker or agent, will effective January
this year, collect any premiums from the
insuring public either in cash or cheque
on behalf of the insurance company or
Health Membership Organisation as has
been the case before.
This is based on the view that a section
of brokers and agents use premiums
collected to carry out their own other
business, resulting into late payment
of premiums and hence affecting claim
settlement.
Latest statistics from the industry
regulator, Insurance Regulatory
Authority (IRA) of Uganda show that the
insurance premiums collected through
the brokerage distribution channel stood
at Shs238.1bn in 2017. This accounts
for 32.68 % of the insurance industry
premium collected during the period
under review.
With insurance brokers and agents
standing at 35 and 1, 296, respectively,
their gross commission increased by 21%
to 40bn during the same period under
review.
However, Mariam Nalunkuuma, the
senior communication officer at the IRA
told The Independent in an interview
that the new development is not
intended to drive insurance brokers and
agents out of business but to show their
relevance in the industry.
She said insurance brokers as well as
agents do not have a role to play with
regard to premium collections on behalf
of insurers.
“We are only interested in ensuring
that each player in the industry performs
22 Jan. 04 - 10 2019
his or her role,” she said. “The role of
insurance brokers is to give professional
risk advice to prospective insurance
customers, their prices as well as claims
processing.”
Uganda has 22 non-life and nine life
insurance firms, one re-insurance and
five Health Membership Organizations.
This development comes as the region
tries to harmonise financial laws and
regulations with the drafting of the East
African Community Insurance Bill, 2018.
2018 overall performance
Overall, the insurance industry
is expected to maintain the growth
momentum driven by uptake of
agriculture and life insurance policies
and investment in government
infrastructure.
From January 2017-September 2018,
the total number of farmers enrolled on
the agricutlure insurance scheme was
70,111 with the government contribution
to the subsidy amounting to Shs6.38bn.
Similarly, the improvement in the
economy is expected to drive investment
in various sectors, further boosting
growth in insurance premiums.
Over the past financial year, Uganda’s
economy grew much faster compared
with the previous year. The Gross
Domestic Product expanded by 5.8%
in real terms, 1.9 percentage points
higher than the outturn for Financial
Year 2016/17 of 3.9%. This is expected
to improve further into 2019 based on
continuous improvement in the global
economy.
Also, successful implementation of
local marine insurance purchase could
also see the insurance industry record
huge premiums on imports.
This comes as the country’s insurance
market is projected to record a 12%
growth in insurance premiums to
Shs825bn in 2018.
This is nearly triple the amount of
premiums earned in seven years ago
though less than Kenya’s Shs7.2trillion
and South Africa’s Shs172trillion.
The projected growth in insurance
premiums is to be driven by increased
uptake of agriculture, medical,
infrastructure, oil and gas insurance
policies as well as widened insurance
distribution channels.
So far, 15 commercial banks have
been offered licenses to operate as
bancasurance agents since November
2017.
Meanwhile, in the area of agriculture,
it is expected that the popular Kungula
product which was launched in 2013
by a consortium of 10 insurance firms,
targeting crop, livestock and fish farmers
will be the silver bullet for its growth.
Also, government was and continues
to be a major client through development
projects among them is ongoing
construction of 183MW Isimba and
the 600MW Karuma Hydropower
Dams; the Standard Gauge Railway
and the USS$1bn (95km) Jinja-Kampala
Expressway.
Another hope is in the oil and gas
sector where insurance players are eying
opportunities.
It is anticipated that investments in the
region of Shs56trillion-75trillion will be
made in the next two-four years ahead of
oil production in 2023.
 business

Economy to remain resilient

But risks to inflation including future direction
of food crop prices, exchange rate prevail
By Julius Businge

U
ganda’s economy is projected to
grow faster this year subject to a
number of fundamentals.
These include; continued
investment in public infrastructure which
will in turn have positive spillovers on
private sector investment activity and
spending and the growth in private sector
credit.
In its latest monetary policy statement,
Bank of Uganda said the country’s Gross
Domestic Product grew between 7-8%
in the first 10 months of 2018 and that
it is expected to sustain growth in the
coming years supported by the ongoing
investment in public infrastructure.
The bank said economic growth in
FY2018/2019 could be higher than the
previous projection of 6%, with core and
headline inflation forecast to peak to
6-6.5% and 5.1% in the second half of this
year, which is lower than the previous
forecast by 1 and 0.7 percentage points, based on last year’s judgment of the Twinoburyo said.
respectively. Constitutional Court and is filed by several He said oil prices and other commodity
But in the medium term, core inflation lawyers including Male Mabirizi. prices will still play a role in the country’s
outlook, the target for BoU’s monetary Mabirizi and others are among other economic growth – in that high oil prices
policy remains within the target of 5%. things opposed to the removal of the could slow down growth in the economy
However, there is a fear that the growth presidential age limit in the constitution. and vice versa.
in private sector credit, though on a Enock Twinoburyo, a senior economist International rating agency
recovery path, remains below its historical at the Sustainable Development Goals Center Standard and Poor’s (S&P) has already
trend and that its contribution to economic for Africa in Kigali, Rwanda said he is acknowledged that key infrastructure
growth could be weighed down by optimistic that Uganda’s economy will projects like hydropower projects of
increased public borrowing requirement perform better in 2019. Isimba (183 megawatt) and Karuma (600
and the associated further increase in “2018 is a good foundation for a positive megawatt) that are planned for completion
interest rates. outlook in 2019,” he told The Independent. in 2019 would result in greater availability
The bank also says there are risks to Twinoburyo said 2019 is an election and efficiency of power generation,
inflation including the future direction of budget year and that overruns in the increase in usage and hence stir economic
food crop prices, the path of the exchange administrative budget are expected to play growth.
rate that could affect this year’s economic a role in the country’s growth path. “In our view public-sector-led
growth. He said that more generation of hydropower projects will boost the power
Economic experts, however, have mixed electricity should be coupled with supply in the next few years, helping
views on the anticipated economic growth tangible transmission and distribution growth prospects,” the agency says in its
for this year. infrastructure.  latest report.
Isaac Nkote from Makerere University In addition, he said the projected growth The rating agency also credits the
Business School told The Independent that in the global economy is expected to have government for making notable progress
the economic activities could increase in spill-over effects to Uganda’s economy. in reducing the percentage of the
2019 partly supported by money for the Twinoburyo’s views are linked to the population below the poverty line.
2021 elections that could start flowing in. International Monetary Fund’s forecast However, the agency says the other
He also notes that the Supreme Court that suggest the global economy will grow negative side of the poverty story is
ruling on presidential age limit case would at 3.9% in 2019 compared with 3.7% in the fact that majority of the workforce
enable investors analyse the economic 2018 supported by increased trade and being employed in agriculture have their
and political environment ahead of 2021 investments. incomes volatile and are subject to climate
general elections before making their “China in particular has the highest change and fluctuations in export prices.
investment decisions. correlation…any slow down would
The hearing of the age limit case is impact Africa and Uganda negatively,”

Jan. 04 - 10 2019 23
Executive Style
Equity Bank sees a good 2019
What are your expectations
in this New Year in the
W
banking industry?
e expect to
deliver double
digit growth in
profits. We will
show good balance sheet
and growth in our core
areas of impact in terms of
number of customers that
we want to grow by 50%. It
is looking positive enough
for us.
How was 2018 with regard
to developing a good foun-
dation to deliver growth?
2018 was a good year
from our perspective. Equity
Bank’s mission and vision
focuses on social economic
transformation. The emer-
gence of agent and digital
banking will help us a lot
in driving growth. Our
‘Equiduuka’ outlets under
agency banking are doing very
well and helping us reach more
people that are far from our
physical branches.
What opportunities do you
envisage from the economy
that is being reported as
performing beyond earlier
projections?
It is a good sign that we
are dealing with the chal-
lenges faced in the recent
years. Anualised growth of
7-8% for the first 10 months
of 2018 means sectors like
manufacturing, real estate,
agriculture, oil and gas are
creating opportunities for the
economy. We do not expect
to have general elections in
most of our good markets in
the region and that means
economic activities will go
on smoothly. We also believe
that technology and infra-
structure developments will
boost economic activity.
What makes Equity Bank dif-
ferent from others?
Our aim is inclusion for
all in the financial services
sector. Our accounts have no
minimum account balance
24 Jan. 04 - 10 2019
Equity Bank is one of the 25 commercial banks
offering financial services in Uganda. The
Independent’s Julius Businge spoke to the Bank’s
Executive Director, Anthony M. Kituuka on their
strategy to deliver good growth in 2019 and beyond.
and no monthly charges.
We only have transaction
charges. We think we should
not charge people for keeping
money with us. From our dig-
ital side of business, we are
now lending money to our
customers on mobile phones.
We have online banking ser-
vice for corporate customers.
Our Equiduuka outlets are
very popular and our cus-
tomers can locate them with
ease anytime, anywhere.
How is Equity Bank faring
in terms of Non-Performing
Loans?
The banking sector had a
correction over the last few
years. Through the guid-
ance of our regulator, non-
performing loans at industry
level are down to around
4-5% from around 10% a few
years back. The Credit Refer-
ence Bureau has helped a
lot to identify creditworthy
clients and related services.
Our loan book has grown
tremendously. The bank
closed its net loan book at
around Shs240bn in 2015
and Shs400bn in 2017 we
had anticipated Shs800bn in
2018. We believe traditional
sectors like real estate, manu-
facturing, agriculture, trade,
construction, oil and gas and
related activities will con-
tinue to drive lending going
forward. We are looking at
tourism and its value chain
as one other area to focus
our lending given its poten-
tial and contribution to the
economy.
What sector challenges does
Equity Bank face?
The level of saving in
Uganda is low. People have
money but prefer keeping it
in their pots and mattresses
at home. We are looking at
how to encourage people
have bank accounts, and this
is the reason for growing up
our branches and rolling out
Equiduuka outlets. However,
we believe that savings will
go up and the cost of loans
and services will drop as
more people join the banking
industry. Cybercrime is a true
risk given that we are part of
the global financial market.
We have built data centres
to protect and monitor data.
Insurance also does for us
great work in managing these
risks.
Why is Equity Bank not using
a shared platform for agent
banking?
We have the option (to join
the shared platform) and the
window is open. We have
2,000 agents countrywide and
our aim is to have 6,000 by
the end of 2019. We are doing
transactions in the range of
12,000 – 15,000 at the agents
per day yet a single bank
branch does half of that. In
Kenya, the channels outside
the branch conduct 97% of
the transactions. In Uganda,
we are now doing 20-30% of
our transactions outside the
bank branches. Our hope is
that we shall reach where
Kenya is at the moment as
Equity Bank in the next three
years.
Why haven’t you ventured
into bancassurance?
Our focus is to first grow
distribution channels –Equi-
duuka and the branches
– before going into bancas-
surance.
What defines your manage-
ment ethos?
My management principles
are linked to our mission
and vision where we believe
in professionalism, integrity,
creativity and innovation,
teamwork, unity of purpose,
respect and dignity for our
customers.
 Business
sports aviation

Betting firm, SportPesa Uganda revises aviation law

U
eyes Brazilian Market ganda has revised its aviation as private aerodromes and their service

K
enya’s betting firm, SportPesa, is
planning to enter the Brazil’s gam-
bling market following the South
America’s decision to review its
law to legalise online and on-land betting.
SportPesa CEO Ronald Karauri, howev-
er, told BusinessDaily that it is still too early
to disclose further plans on the planned
new market.
It is said that the Brazilian Congress
has two years to formalise the regulation
that will open the market for firm such as
SportPesa, Betway and Betin.
President Michael Temer signed the Bill
into law ending a 68-year period when the
country banned all gaming activities to
increase productivity during its industri-
alisation period in 1946.
regulations, giving more powers
to regulator Uganda Civil Aviation
Authority.
Under the Civil Aviation Amendment
Bill 2017 that was recently passed by
parliament, the CAA now has oversight
over all public and private aerodromes as
well as civil aviation training schools in the
country, according to online publication
256businessnews.com
The Bill also proposes the establishment
of an accident investigation unit within the
transport ministry that is independent of the
CAA.
Once it becomes law after presidential
assent, all aircraft operating within
Uganda’s airspace whether they are
registered in the country or not as well
providers will be subject to regulation by
the CAA.
Legislators say the Bill will harmonies
Uganda’s aviation laws with international
ICAO conventions and expand the scope of
the CAA’s oversight role.
This development follows a 2014
ICAO audit that found gaps in Uganda’s
regulatory framework stating that it could
potentially compromise security and safety
of civil aviation operations at all levels.
The ICAO audit covered the country’s
Uganda’s legislation, operations, and
accident investigation, security, licensing
and airworthiness inspection capacities.
The Bill also gives the regulator unlimited
powers to access and to inspect all aircraft
and to issue on spot penalties to fenders

grants banking

Ugandan win grants for Environmental Research KCB auctions Rwanda’s

K
etty Adoch, a
Ugandan innovator
to provide funds to innova-
tors for research on global
Ubumwe Grande Hotel

R
in the Agriculture environmental challenges wanda’s Ubumwe Grande Hotel
sector has been in the key focus areas of
fetched $34.053 million in as auc-
named among eleven in- climate,agriculture, water
tioneers that was held on Dec 24
novators nominated for and biodiversity conserva-
to recover money owed to Kenya
the Artificial Intelligence tion.
Commercial Bank’s Rwandan unit. The
(AI) for Earth Innovation The grants are awarded
winning bid for the property was offered by
Awards. to research teams and
Adoch, a geographical organizations working Umubano Industries.
information systems spe- across five continents Reports indicate that more than a dozen
cialist in agriculture works to advance scientific interested parties put in bids for the property
neer from Denmark who exploration and research that went under the hammer over an out-
towards monitoring change
applies AI to improve crop on critical environmental standing US$19 million loan the shareholder
detection for Land Cover
water efficiency in Uganda challenges with the power took from the lender for the hotels construc-
Mapping around the areas
using machine learning. of Artificial Intelligence. tion.
surrounding the Murchison
The Artificial Intelligence Each recipient will be given Ubumwe was put under receivership in
Falls National Park.
(AI) for Earth Innovation access to Microsoft Azure September last year, after a shareholder dis-
Also on the list of grants
Awards are organized by and AI tools that includes pute stalled loan repayments.
is Torsten Bondo, a business
Microsoft and the National in the National Geographic The $34 million bid is the highest value
development manager and
Geographic Society (NGS), Explorer community fetched in any auction in Rwanda. The prop-
senior remote sensing engi-
erty had also been lined up for re-branding
aviation as a Double Tree by Hilton in 2017 but the
raging shareholder dispute halted the plans.
Air Tanzania takes delivery of Airbus A220

T
anzania’s national
carrier, Air Tanza-
nia, has delivered its
first Airbus A220-
300 aircraft, making it the
first airline in Africa to take
on the type.
The name The Wings of
Kilimanjaro was given to
the aircraft – a fitting name
to complement their other
aircraft. The airlines acting
CEO, Tito Kasambala, said
“The A220s unrivaled pas-
senger comfort combined
with its remarkable perfor-
mance and economics will
be an excellent asset to fur-
ther develop Air Tanzania’s
network.” Air Tanzania
plans to use the aircraft
on domestic and regional
routes from Dar es Salaam
and will investigate addi-
tional routes when the time
is appropriate. Key destina-
tions on the planning board
are locations in the Middle
East and India.
This delivery makes
the airline the fifth airline
in the world to operate
the Airbus A220, after
Asia, Europe and recently
America.
The new aircraft is the
first of two on order by the
airline and will comple-
ment the single Boeing
787 Dreamliner recently
acquired.

Jan. 04 - 10 2019 25
Business

African SMEs get

US$30million boost

T
he African Export-
Import Bank (Afrex-
imbank) has signed
an agreement with
the African Guarantee Fund
(AGF) for a US$30 million re-
guarantee facility to support
African small and medium-
sized enterprises (SMEs) in
the trade value chain to access
funds for their activities.
Gwen Mwaba, the direc-
tor for Trade Finance, signed
the agreement on behalf of
Afreximbank, while Constant
Nzi, Chief Risk Officer of AGF,
Trade Minister Amelia Kyambadde addressing participants at a stakeholders’ signed for the Fund, during a
dialogue on trade issues happening within the Common Market for ceremony held on the sidelines
Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) at Serena Hotel on December 18.  of the recently-concluded
Independent/Julius Businge
Intra-African Trade Fair in
Cairo.
The agreement provides
for the facility to be used to
support the financing needs
of African SMEs by enhanc-
ing their access to long-term
financing, thereby acting as
a catalyst to enable them to
grow, create more jobs, sustain
the existing labour force and
develop intra-African and
extra-African trade.
The re-guarantee facility is
aimed at providing comfort to
financial institutions in lend-
ing to SMEs, which tend to be
Equiduuka client (in black jacket) seeking help from Equity Bank’s employee regarded as a risky segment;
under its agent banking function in Kampala on December 20. The bank is
recording transactions in the range of 12,000 – 15,000 per day across the
country.   Independent/Julius Businge
enabling the financial institu-
tions to transform their short-
term deposits into long-term
financing to SMEs; and sup-
porting Afreximbank’s SME
support initiative and AGF
strategic plan.
The facility is expected
to support positive social-
economic changes among the
more than 6,000 SMEs that are
expected gain access to guar-
anteed loans from African local
banks, thereby contributing to
trade development, economic
growth and poverty reduction.
Small and medium enter-
prises (SEMs) are notably the
engines that drive economic
development. The SMEs busi-
nesses account for almost 90%
of businesses in both leading
and developing economies
through job creations, employ-
ment, tax provision and con-
tribution to Gross Domestic
Product (GDP).
Once supported, experts say
SMEs will contribute to Afri-
can development and position
the continent as a competitive
and innovative and create jobs
to unemployed communities
thereby providing income and
essential goods and services
the over 1.2 billion Africans,
forming a huge market.

Weekly share price movement (Dec.03, 2018)

Security Dec. 03 Nov. 19 Movement
BATU 30,000 30000 00
BOBU 139 139 00
CENT 980 1,015 3.4
QCL 249 255 2.3
DFCU 845 845 00
EABL 6,862 6,017 14
EBL 1,434 1,422 0.8
JHL 13,507 15,225 11.3
KA 347 349 0.5
KCB 1,434 1,413 1.5
NIC 15 15 00
NMG 2,487 2,519 1.3
NVL 337 340 0.9
Afreximbank Director for Trade and Finance, Gwen Mwaba (L) and
SBU 31 32 3.1
African Guarantee Fund Chief Risk Officer, Constant Nzi, during
UCHM 24 23 52
the US$30million signing ceremony in Cairo to support SMEs
recently.   Courtesy Photo. UCL 20 20 20
UMEME 321 340 5.5
ALSI -- -- --

26 Jan. 04 - 10 2019

By Naomi Schalit
Your deeply held beliefs
which may just be wrong
E
ditor’s note: As we came to the
end of the year, Conversation
editors took a look back at
the stories that - for them -
exemplified 2018.
Our job at The Conversation is to
work with scholars to publish analysis
that helps readers make sense of the
world. And if we demolish a few
popularly held – but erroneous or
misplaced – ideas and assumptions in
the process, that makes me especially
happy.
Hence my list, here, of stories from
2018 that use facts to interrogate
popular wisdom – and the ideas they
proved wrong:
  Women can’t possibly vote for
Republicans
In an era when leading Republican
political figures – from the president
to a Supreme Court nominee – are
accused of sexual assault, can women
“both be Republican and insist upon
women’s rights,” ask Rochester
Institute of Technology scholars
Christine A. Kray, Hinda Mandell and
Tamar Carroll.
Yes, the scholars write.
“Republicanism encompasses
different visions of womanhood that
allow women to feel that they can be
Republican and also strong women.”
  Kavanaugh will yank the Supreme
Court far to the right
Brett Kavanaugh’s appointment
to the Supreme Court was widely
predicted to plunge the court –
and American law with it – into a
new conservative era. But, writes
University of Oregon law professor
Ofer Raban, “these prognoses fail to
heed some fundamental distinctions
among the decisions of the Supreme
Court, and may create a mistaken
impression of the court’s power and
the inevitable trajectory of American
law.” Simply put, Raban wrote,
“Supreme Court rulings are often not
the last word on a matter.”
  Campaign spending is ruining
democracy in the US
Seventy percent of Americans believe
there’s too much money in politics and
that spending in elections should be
limited. That includes both Democrats
and Republicans, according to a recent
Pew survey.
But campaign spending plays an
important role in democracy, helping
get candidates’ messages out and
educating the public. Columbia Law
School scholar Richard Briffault
writes that “the volume of campaign
spending is not the main problem with
our campaign finance system. The real
challenge for our democracy is where
so much of this money comes from.”
“The private dollars that drive the
system come from a tiny fraction of
our society,” writes Briffault, from a
donor class that is not “representative
of the broader community whose
interests are all at stake in an
election.”
For all the
noise around
gun control
versus gun
rights, there
was a story
that was
missed by non-
gun owners
like me
COMMENT
  Trump is another Hitler
Scholar Sylvia Taschka of Wayne
State tackled the countless references
to President Donald Trump as this
era’s Hitler.
Taschka acknowledges that some
historians have made legitimate
comparisons of the “few striking
similarities between the rise of fascism
in Germany then and the current
political climate in the United States.”
But, such comparisons are false
equivalencies that “not only risk
trivializing Hitler and the horrors
he unleashed,” she writes, but “also
prevent people from engaging with
the actual issues at hand.”
  Gun owners are crazy people
On “an ordinary day” in 2011,
writes criminal justice scholar Connie
Hassett-Walker, she found her
husband watching a firearms video.
She sat down with him, and that
moment was the beginning of five
years of research into videos made by
gun owners that culminated in a book.
“For all the noise around gun control
versus gun rights, there was a story
that was missed by non-gun owners
like me: how much these guns mean to
those who own them,” writes Hassett-
Walker.
Americans live in a time of political
polarisation on a variety of social
issues, she writes. “Both gun control
and gun rights supporters would
benefit from understanding how those
with opposing political and social
views see their identity and their
culture.”
Naomi Schalit is Senior Editor, Politics +
Society, The Conversation U.S.
Source: the conversation
Jan. 04 - 10 2019 27
From disease treatment
to health promotion
Health ministry plans major switch in 2019 healthcare
A
By Flavia Nassaka
s 2018 ended, President
Museveni was seen getting
more involved in the
country’s healthcare. First
he launched the Presidential
Fast Track Initiative to
encourage men to get tested for HIV and
enroll on treatment and then he went into
distribution of insecticide treated mosquito
nets. There was also the launch of the
National day of physical activity. The efforts
were aimed at tackling three illnesses –
HIV, malaria and now lifestyle illnesses
which seem to be what will top healthcare
28 Jan. 04 - 10 2019
managers’ agenda in 2019.
Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng says
their focus in the New Year will be more
into health promotion and education. This
means we could be seeing teams of people
visiting homes in door-door programs
to see whether children are immunised,
whether family planning methods are being
taken up, whether people are eating right or
if there are any strange illnesses that people
are noticing. Aceng says the model, which
is being adopted in the whole of Africa, is a
robust system on surveillance.
“We realized people need to get involved
in their own healthcare. It’s cheaper to
prevent than to control,”she told the
Independent on Dec.19 giving an example
of an Ebola outbreak that caught countries
in West Africa unaware.
She said because of the huge investment
that went into control over the two years of
the outbreak, the three countries – Guinea,
Liberia and Sierra Leone are still just
recovering from the shock. In preparedness
alone, to keep the country on guard against
the active Ebola outbreak in Congo, Aceng
says Uganda had by end of 2018 spent over
$19 million coming mainly from donors.
In the New Year, while she predicts
Uganda will register a hemorrhagic fever
outbreak, she says they will be able to
control it without much damage.

“These fevers are called emerging and
re-emerging diseases. Chances are high
that you will register an outbreak each year.
For Ebola it’s usually between August and
December. The country is prone to these
outbreaks,” she says.
Aceng says with surveillance, they
are cataloging threats and are speedily
discovering new viruses that even when
outbreaks happen they can be easily
identified which in turn helps to decrease
intensity and length of such outbreaks.
Also, with advancements in research,
those that will be infected have higher
chances of survival. She says this is because
there are many therapeutic treatment
trials which might give good results like
the experimental drug – ZMapp which is
already showing some degree of efficacy.
With the surveillance and health
promotion agenda, government is planning
to train more health workers and also
recruit Community Health Extension
Workers (CHEWs). The extension workers
were supposed to be introduced in
2018 when, in the 2018/2019 budget, the
government allocated them Shs3.2billion for
their monthly allowances as the programme
was to be piloted in 750 parishes in North
and Eastern Uganda districts where each
of the parishes was to be allocated two
individuals.
The Commissioner in charge of Health
Promotion at the Health Ministry, Dr.
Richard Kabanda, says the CHEWs will
soon start being deployed. By December,
both the recruits and their tutors were still
being oriented. He says they will work
hand in hand with the already existing
VHTs who are also being trained in disease
surveillance.
Kabanda says his docket will majorly
focus on prevention and creating awareness
on how to deal with non-communicable
diseases. He calls them Uganda’s next
public health crisis that people have not
realised yet.
“Now that we have brought HIV
prevalence down, malaria is being tackled,
the President is telling us to go into
prevention of new threats. We are seeing
the number of people with heart disease
and cancer swelling. He told us the country
will not afford to treat them. We just have
to prevent them,” he said, “We are realising
they are a public health crisis in waiting.”
Seeking treatment at UCI
The Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI)
seems to be already feeling the pressure.
Dr. Jackson Orem, the Institute’s Executive
Director says with the bulging number of
people requiring treatment, they will no
longer offer some treatments free of charge.
At a press conference on Dec.10, he told
journalists that the government cannot
afford to offer treatment for all who need it
and that they have resolved that they start
generating money to supplement the small
share funds they get from government.
For Financial year 2018/19, he said they are
required to generate Shs1.6 billion to add on
their allocation of Shs40.2 billion.
Starting January, he said another
radiotherapy machine will be in place but
users will be required at pay a fee to access
radiology treatment. Ugandans seeking
the service in the General category are
supposed to pay Shs300,000 whereas those
on the private plan will pay Shs500,000.
International patients are charged US$2000.
Other services to be paid for are ultra sound
scans and X-rays.
With these fees and a more efficient linear
accelerator machine expected in March,
Orem promises a better service than what
patients have been experiencing. He says
long queues and sometimes having to
spend nights at the radiology department
awaiting chance of treatment which at times
can come in weeks or even a month should
end or reduce.
Like in cancer treatment, the HIV sector
is also going the direction of finding its own
funds. Dr. Nelson Musoba, the Uganda
AIDS Commission Director General, says
in addition to the government directive
to all ministries to allocate 0.1% of their
budgets to the HIV/AIDs response, they are
engaging the private sector to raise funds to
health
enroll more people on treatment through a
campaign dubbed `One Dollar Initiative’.
Launched in 2017, it aims to engage
members of the public to contribute a dollar
so that US$1billion is raised in five years in
order to deal with stock outs and ensuring
that all those who need treatment get it.
Though 2018 witnessed several positives
on the HIV fight front, with prevalence
brought down, more people being able
to access treatment, centers offering
antiretroviral drugs increased, and viral
load testing for those already on treatment
becoming easier with more testing centers
introduced in the regions from one at
the Central Public Health laboratories in
Kampala, Musoba says they are operating
in an unpredictable environment. He
says 90% of HIV funding still comes from
donors.
Proposals for self-reliance such as having
the HIV/AIDS Trust fund in place despite
many years of pushing have failed. Though
the regulations for operationalising the
fund were approved by parliament in 2017,
nothing has ever become of it. The hope is
to have a fund in place in this New Year.
Re- opening Mulago
Meanwhile, the main Mulago hospital
will also be re-opened this month, according
to Health Ministry Permanent Secretary
Dr. Diana Atwiine. The promise is that this
comes with a lot changes; including starting
to conduct major surgeries like kidney
transplants that would otherwise be treated
abroad and handling only cases that are
referred from lower facilities.
If fulfilled, this could fulfill health
managers’ long agenda of decongesting
health facilities like Kiruddu and Kawempe
general hospitals where patients had taken
refugee as renovation works were being
done. It also means the facilities will now
operate on their own in the end bringing an
end to the unnecessary filling of the national
hospital even with minor illnesses that can
be handled at lower health centers.
*terms and conditions apply
AfricellUG @AfricellUG
Jan. 04 - 10 2019 29
 ART | BOOKS | SOCIETY | TRAVEL | CULTURE
A dismal step so far taken
Who’s buying art in Uganda?
I
By Dominic Muwanguzi
n 2011 former Germany Ambassador
to Uganda, Klaus Houderbaum,
showcased his private collection at
the now defunct MishMash art gal-
lery in Kololo, a Kampala suburb .
His collection included diverse art
paintings, wood-cut prints and sculptures
from some of the best known artists from
Uganda’s modern and contemporary art
scene. That show provided an opportunity
to open up conversation on the topic if
there’s any one who is buying art in Ugan-
da and what type of art they are buying.
Klaus who has been living in Uganda for
now more than three decades is arguably
Uganda’s most celebrated art buyer with a
collection dating many decades back.
Uganda art buyers are private individuals
like their contemporaries elsewhere in the
world.  They are never in the news bragging
about what they have bought or hardly ever
invite photographers into their living rooms
to photograph their latest acquisition. They
mostly buy through private arrangements
with respective art galleries or studios
and the price of art is more often than not
a secret shared between buyer and seller,
and probably art dealer. Nonetheless, this
arrangement shifts when it comes to art
auctions like the Circle Art Auction where
prices are published in catalogues  and
buyers interviewed in the international and
local press.
In Uganda, art buying remains exclu-
30 Jan. 04 - 10 2019
sively at the gallery and studios, and clients
are inspired to buy for either investment
or cultural, and sometimes archiving pur-
poses. In the latter instance, a buyer may be
interested in the concept of a specific artist’s
work like Fred Mutebi’s art on barkcloth
and will buy his artworks to document it for
research purposes. In light of such diverse
interests, Kaddu Sebunya, President of
African Wildlife Foundation, buys art on
the premises of cultural preservation. Sebu-
nya has an impressive collection of some
of Uganda’s prestigious artists like Fabian
Kamulu Mpagi, David Kigozi, and Joseph
Ntensibe whose art integrates indigenous
art practices and motifs of Uganda’s diverse
cultures.  ers, probably with only one platform, Start-
Similarly, many white expatriate collec-
tors will be drawn to an artwork of such
cultural significance, authenticity, and
uniqueness.   In this light, art buyers are
traditionally want something original and
appeals to their specific taste. It is impos-
sible that all art buyers are buying the same
type of art and gallerists know this.
Nonetheless, art buying remains a small
activity on the Kampala contemporary art
scene because of two factors: Firstly, the
fragile economy with a small middle class
that can afford buying art. Local firms like
Mukumbya Musoke Advocates penetrate
the art market through organizing annual
prizes for emerging artists in order to create
competition and motivation among young
talent but also critically to expose the indus-
try to other corporate organisations thereby
growing a local clientele for them ( artists). 
Secondly, there’s dismal critical art writ-
ing; an aspect that consequently affects
art buying on the local art scene.  With no
critics of art, it is difficult to grow a critical
audience that can appreciate and subse-
quently begin to purchase art. 
An art industry like Johannesburg (S.A)
has a number of art critiquing platforms like
ArtAfrica, Artthrob and Thirdtext Africa
with numerous writers that regularly pub-
lish reviews on exhibitions which inspire
diverse conversations on art and, therefore,
grow an art clientele base. The Ugandan
situation has hitherto hardly any such writ-
journal.org.
But there is hope for the growth of the
local art market, a departure from what was
witnessed ten years ago where the market
was dominated by western art patronage.
With the above mentioned interventions
and if seriously sustained, including a
couple of individuals who travel around
the world and are exposed to the benefits
of art buying, the Uganda art scene will
soon register its own art patrons who buy
and consequently support establishment of
other art infrastructures like art museums,
art consultants, Art Fairs and critical art
writing journals.
 Image of Kaddu Sebunya’s private collection
courtesy of Startjournal.org
New Land Rover Defender
to be unveiled this year
Manufacturer touts more visual details and on-sale dates
By Agencies
L
and Rover has confirmed a long-
awaited Defender replacement will
be unveiled in full this year before
reaching global markets in 2020.
As the British manufacturer resumes test-
ing of camouflaged prototypes this month,
stakeholders say they have taken the new
Defender to the ends of the earth to ensure
it “is the most off-road capable Land Rover
vehicle ever”.
“There are a handful of automobiles that
are beloved around the world and stand for
a brand, a country and a distinct way of life.
The Land Rover Defender is such a singular
vehicle,” said Kim McCullough, vice presi-
dent of marketing for Jaguar Land Rover
0783 614 601 / 0753 614 601
North America.
Having originally proposed a 2018 unveil
date, Land Rover now says 2019 will be the
year it shows the world its new creation.
As emerging camouflage pics show, the
reinvented Defender — codenamed L663 —
will be a radical departure from the model
it replaces, and the original Series I Land
Rover released in 1948.
Beneath its more rounded body, the 2020
Defender will ride on a tougher version of
the D7u aluminium platform employed
by the Discovery and Ranger Rover – not
a steel ladder frame as before. Also for the
first time, it will be powered by 48-volt
mild-hybrid (MHD), plug-in hybrid (PHEV)
and even pure-electric (EV) powertrains.
The Largest 7 seater 4x4 In Uganda
Only available at spear Motors Limited
Mercedes Benz GLS
sales@spearmotors.co.ug
Boasting wholesale change to its almost
33-year-old exterior design, the new
Defender will feature the latest driver assis-
tance and connectivity features, Land Rover
says. And in a remark that could potentially
spook brand purists, Land Rover says
the next-gen model will be a “revolution-
ary product” with “even broader public
appeal”.
“When it debuts in 2019, the new model
will represent 70 years of innovation and
improvement in just one model year;
honouring the model’s history for rugged
durability, while thoroughly remaining a
Defender for the 21st century,” the com-
pany said in a release.
“All will be revealed in 2019.”
Driving you into the Future
www.spearmotors.co.ug
Jan. 04 - 10 2019 31
Global comment
By Winnie Byanyima
Globalisation 4.0 for whom?
Popular anger in many countries’ politics in recent
years is rooted in the failure of neoliberalism
I
magine a world in which women and
girls have their rights respected, climate
change receives the attention it so ur-
gently requires, and poverty has been
eliminated. Never before have we had the
means that we have now to make this vi-
sion a reality. In Africa, for example, I am
excited to see how off-grid solar energy
is expanding rapidly. In Kenya, mobile
banking has significantly improved finan-
cial inclusion, particularly for poor women.
These and other technologies associated
with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR)
have the potential to boost productivity,
incomes, and leisure time for workers,
while also decarbonising our economies
and freeing women from the hold of unre-
munerated care work. But, to realise this
potential, we will have to adopt an entirely
new approach to globalisation.
The World Economic Forum’s theme for
its annual meeting in Davos next month is
Globalisation 4.0, which comprises many
of the competing narratives now shaping
our world. In the dominant narrative of the
last 40 years, GDP was king, and countries
pursued deregulation, loosened capital
controls, cut corporate taxes, and liberalised
their labour markets.
The eruption of popular anger that has
roiled many countries’ politics in recent
years is rooted in the failure of that neolib-
eral model. But there is no economic law
requiring globalisation to be a race to the
bottom. On the contrary, for humanity to
have any hope at all, Globalisation 4.0 must
break with neoliberalism for good.
I fear that business and government elites
gathering in Davos do not seem to have
grasped this fully. Until they do, globalisa-
tion will continue to fuel inequality and
sow discontent around the world.
Rising inequality threatens much of the
progress that we have made over the past
half-century. While the world’s richest 1%
took home 82% of all new wealth last year,
the World Bank reports that the “decline in
poverty rates has slowed, raising concerns
about achieving the goal of ending poverty
by 2030.” Even more shocking, extreme
poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa is actually
increasing; and almost half of all people
worldwide are one medical bill or crop
failure away from destitution.
These realities will persist as long as bil-
32 Jan. 04 - 10 2019
lionaires in Silicon Valley, Africa, and else-
where are writing the future narrative of
globalisation. We need new stories to chal-
lenge the status quo. Consider that of Budi,
a shrimp-processing worker in Southeast
Asia who must peel 950 shrimp per hour to
earn a minimum wage. It would take Budi
more than 5,000 years to earn what a U.S.
supermarket CEO makes in one year.
Or, consider the women farmers in my
village of Ruti, Uganda, who wonder if
economic growth will ever result in free,
quality education for their kids. Rich
countries owe much of their prosperity
to universal education. But in developing
countries around the world, fees charged
by for-profit schools are driving families
deeper into poverty.
One person whose story must be heard
is Berta Cáceres, an indigenous-rights
leader in Honduras who was assassinated
in March 2016 for resisting a destructive
hydroelectric dam project. In November, a
court ruled that Cáceres’s murder was car-
ried out with the knowledge and consent
of executives from Desa, the corporation
behind the dam.
When globalisation has no rules or ref-
erees, the bullies will always win. Even
research by the International Monetary
Fund now shows that financial globalisa-
tion has led to “significant increases in
inequality,” as has increased trade in some
developing countries. Likewise, climate
change is symptomatic of a grossly unequal
economy in which the rich exploit the envi-
ronment for private gain.
Globalization 4.0 must offer a new nar-
rative to replace the abusive, extractive,
and sexist neoliberalism of the past few
decades. We will need far more cooperation
among governments to rewrite the rules of
finance, trade, wages, and taxation. Only
then can we ensure that the 4IR benefits
ordinary people.
To that end, we should welcome pio-
neering new technologies, but we should
also ask tough questions about their owner-
ship and the interests they serve, especially
as new monopolies emerge. We will need a
smart mix of incentives, public ownership,
and regulation to manage the changes that
are upon us.
We will also need a new approach to
taxation and public spending. The richest
households and corporations have avoided
paying their fair share for too long, while
also stymieing meaningful reform. It was
particularly disappointing to see busi-
ness leaders at the last Davos meeting
celebrating U.S. President Donald Trump’s
trillion-dollar tax cuts. If well-meaning
elites are serious about ushering in a more
inclusive form of globalization, they will
need to back their words with deeds.
Multilateralism remains the only way to
manage these policy challenges. But the
framework for international cooperation
must become much more democratic, femi-
nist, and people-centered. When discussing
the future trajectory of globalisation, a
woman smallholder farmer in Nakuru,
Kenya, should be valued just as much as a
corporate executive in Manhattan. We need
multilateral institutions that can rein in cor-
porate abuse and steel civil society against
rising authoritarianism.
Responsive, bold leadership from
national governments will also be needed
to manage Globalisation 4.0. Rather than
simply trying to manipulate citizens’ anger,
politicians need to understand and address
the root causes of their discontent.
Fortunately, such leaders are not mythical
creatures. South Korean President Moon
Jae-in is tackling inequality with a com-
bination of taxes on the wealthy and cor-
porations, a higher minimum wage, and
increased social spending. New Zealand
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern also has an
ambitious agenda to reduce inequality, and
she has made citizens’ wellbeing a central
metric of her government’s success. And
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
has openly embraced a feminist global-
development policy.
These leaders are living proof that globali-
sation can be managed in a way that ben-
efits everyone. They put those beholden to
toxic neoliberalism to shame, and they offer
hope that a more human global economy is
within reach.
Winnie Byanyima is Executive Director of
Oxfam International.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2018.
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