News analysis Health Business

When refugees The coming Community Surge in tourism Shs139bn URA Tower
out- learn hosts Health Workers revenues nears completion

Issue No. 527 June 29 - July 05, 2018 Ushs 5,000,Kshs 200, RwF 1,500, SDP 8

Finishing off
Kayihura
And the hunt for Crime Preventers’ boss

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INBOX

Issue No. 527 June 29 - July 05, 2018

News analysis Business Health Arts Motoring

Cover story
Finishing off Kayihura
And the hunt for Crime Preventers’ boss

4 The Week
29 Comments
Indecent dressing not cause for
sexual harassment-new MAK report Why host the world cup?:
All revenue from ticket sales,
international broadcasting
9 The Last Word
rights, and sponsorships
Museveni leadership of economy: goes directly to FIFA
How the president’s successful
economic stewardship is now in the 33 Health
past with little direction on the future
The coming Community
Health Workers:
16 Analysis Experts query their cost and
compare them to current VHTs
When refugees out- learn hosts:
Uwezo study finds children in some refugee schools
at higher learning level than their Ugandan hosts
35 Arts & Culture
23 Business When Makerere’s art giant’s show
off: Freshness, technical dexterity,
Shs 139bn URA Tower nears completion: innovation, experimentation at
Tax body to save Shs3.8bn upon completion first alumni exhibit
of the project

STRATEGY & EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: Andrew M. Mwenda
MANAGING EDITOR: Joseph Were
INVESTIGATIONS EDITOR: Haggai Matsiko
BUSINESS EDITOR: Isaac Khisa
PHOTOGRAPHER: Jimmy Siya
WRITERS:Ronald Musoke, Flavia Nassaka, Ian Katusiime,
Agnes Nantaba, Julius Businge.
DESIGN/LAYOUT: Sarah Ngororano
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PUBLISHER: Independent Publications Limited, Plot 82/84, Kanjokya Street, P. O. Box 3304, Kampala, Uganda
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2 June 29 - July 05, 2018

 Offline

President
Yoweri
Museveni
addressing
Parliament
on the
state of
security in
the country “We are very upset about the decision
during a by the police to send them (suspected
special
sitting at
spies) to Rwanda without our
Parliament approval. So we missed on prosecuting
on June them.”Hilary Onek, Minister for Disaster
20. Preparedness

Huawei’s new
Managing Director
Liu Jiawei (L)
receiving a book
about Uganda from
the First Lady Janet
Museveni at a
recently concluded “You don’t unveil a security plan while
Seeds for the everything is being telecast like you
Future event are launching a manifesto.” Semujju
at State House
Nakasero on June Nganda, Opposition chief whip in parliament
19.   INDEPENDENT/ on President Museveni’s security address to
JIMMY SIYA Parliament

A lady packing
polythene bags
at a garbage
collection
point in Kireka
on June 25.
Garbage has
become a “We are totally opposed to having
big issue in sitting public servants allowed
Kireka and the to contest in these elections.
surrounding
areas in Kira For the first time, you are going
division.   . to see an RDC, a permanent
INDEPENDENT/ secretary showing their political
JIMMY SIYA
colours.”Nobert Mao, DP President
General

60 1295 45, 211

Years Nakivale UPDF soldiers Barrels of oil in Buliisa
Refugee Settlement who will and Nwoya districts
is marking retire in July government will sell

June 29 - July 05, 2018 3

week

(R-L) South Sudan President Salvar Kiir, President of the Republic of Sudan Omar Bashir, President of the Republic of Uganda Yoweri Museveni and the
former Vice President of South Sudan Riek Machar hold hands in solidarity shortly before addressing the delegates and the media during the Khartoum
Round on Facilitating IGAD Peace Process for South Sudan in the Sudan capital, Khartoum on June 25.

Besigye urges medics to reject working under filthy conditions on Kiruddu hospital visit
The opposition’s
Forum for Democratic
Change former party
President Dr. Kizza
Besigye visited Kirud-
du hospital an exten-
sion of Mulago Nation-
al Referral hospital on
June25. Besigye who
was talking to a crowd
that surrounded him as
he went to visit fellow
opposition politician
and legislator Betty
Nambooze said health
workers, patients and
the hospital neighbors
will soon start suffering
from hygiene related
diseases if management
of the hospital doesn’t
properly manage the
waste that keeps fol-
lowing from the hospi-
tal to the open.
“I don’t know why
my fellow medical
workers are continu-
ing to work amidst this
filth. They should reject
it. People will come to
be treated for malaria
but will end up catch-
ing cholera from here”,
he said.
However, since
December last year,
residents have been
protesting against the
overflow of raw sewage
which recently prompt-
ed Kampala City Coun-
cil Authority to issue a
notice threatening to
close the facility

*terms and conditions apply

4 June 29 - July 05, 2018


Indecent dressing not cause for sexual harassment-new MAK report
The Makerere University sexual
harassment report was released on
June25 with recommendations for
lecturers to avoid dating students.
While the University has no policy
barring students from going into
consensual sexual relationships with
their professors, Prof. Sylvia Tamale
the leader of the team that has been
investigating into sexual harassment
at the country’s oldest institution of
higher learning said avoiding these
relationships would help sort those
that claim they are framed for raping
or sexually harassing students and
yet they are actually consensual
relationships gone sour.
Tamale said they found no
evidence to show a relationship
between indecent dressing and sexual
harassment even as many believe that
students dressing in seductive ways
Week
can lure lecturers into wanting to have
sex with them. “There are reports of
Muslim students who dress in the hijab
wear facing some challenges as those
that don’t. There is no relationship
at all between dress code and
harassment”. The investigation was
launched earlier in the year after media
reports showed that lecturers were
asking students for sex in exchange for
good grades.

Pension and occupational hazards

insurance schemes
How were pension and occupational hazards benefits
changed by Presidential Order No 069/01 of 16/4/2018?

Ask RSSB The Presidential Order increased pension and occupation hazards benefits as follows:

From benefits of 5,201 to 10,000, a 149.85 to 101.04% increase was made while
ranges from 10,001 to 20,000 received raises of 100.9% to 63.02%.

From 20,001 to 50,000, benefits paychecks rose by between 63% and 34.22% while
benefits from 50,001 to 100,000 were increased by 34.2% to 22.1%.

From 100,001 to 200,000, benefits were raised by 22.08% to 13.56% and those who
were earning from 200,0001 to 500,000 in monthly benefits were given rises of
between 13.54% and 5.74%.

Between 500,001 and 1,000,000 the increase made ranged from 5.74% to 0,504% and
benefits from 1,000,001 and above got a rise of between 0.502% and 0.071%.

www.rssb.rw @RssbInfo info@rssb.no 4044

June 29 - July 05, 2018 5

Week
Medical Board approves Nambooze’s travel
request amidst calls for her release
Mukono Municipality legisla-
tor Betty Nambooze has been
admitted at the government’s
hospital at Kiruddu after her
condition deteriorated while
detained by the police. The
MP had been held over what
she posted on social media
following the assassination of
Arua Municipality MP Ibrahim
Abiriga.
Though on June 25, the medi-
cal council gave her clearance to
travel, Nambooze says she was
supposed to travel for treatment
on June 15 but was arrested two
Zimbabwe's Mnangagwa survives bomb attack at rally
Emmerson Mnangagwa
As Zimbabwe readies for the
first polls after the departure of
President Robert Mugabe, the
campaigns are tense but observ-
ers say President Emmerson
6 June 29 - July 05, 2018
days before that date, and her
spine problem has been deterio-
rating ever since.
However, her condition has
attracted criticism from dif-
ferent groups including the
youth who demonstrated at
parliament on June25 holding
Mnangagwa appears to be
having the majority support.
However, on June23, it got the
country by surprise when a
bomb blast went off at his rally
placards calling for her release.
Also, Simon Peter Kinobe the
president of Uganda Law Soci-
ety called for her immediate or
else he said they will sue those
responsible for her incarcera-
tion. The MP was also a subject
of discussion by the Masaka
Arch Bishop John Baptist Kag-
gwa as he marked 23years of
service. “Do you think Nam-
booze killed Abiriga? Does she
have a gun?” he wondered call-
ing for government to intervene
before the country’s security
situation gets out of hand.
in the capital of Bulawayo.
International reports show
that Mnangagwa was whisked
to safety by his security detail
although some of his sup-
porters including ZANU PF
party officials were injured and
rushed for treatment. Speaking
shortly after visiting these, the
president said he survived an
attempt on his life and that he is
used to it.
“The object exploded a few
inches away from me but it was
not my time. It has affected my
vice-presidents, especially com-
rade Mohadi”, he said.
The election is scheduled for
July30 and the biggest competi-
tion is between Mnangagwa
and his closest challenger Nelso
Chamisa of the Movement for
Democratic Change party.
EC responds to
Achola’s court
petition challenging
disqualification
Catherine Achola the former
Forum for Democratic Change
(FDC) Party candidate for Pal-
lisa district woman MP seat on
June19 petitioned the civil divi-
sion of the high court challeng-
ing her disqualification from the
race by the Electoral Commis-
sion (EC) over changed names.
In his response to the case on
June25, the EC Chairman, Justice
Simon Byabakama Mugenyi,
said the candidate did not pro-
vide the Electoral Commission
with any evidence indicating
that there was compliance with
the law when she adopted the
said names during the national
identity card enrollment exercise
in 2015. While her academic
papers bear the names Catherine
Achola, her national Identity
Card bears Achola Catherine
Osupelem who according to the
EC could be a different person.
However, when Achola was
disqualified, her competitor of
the ruling National Resistance
Movement Party Faith Alupo
was declared MP unopposed
something that FDC is now chal-
lenging in court.
Humour Did you know?
What causes drip
drip tap

It’s one of the most recognisable and

annoying sounds of modern life. Now
scientists are claiming to have ‘solved
the riddle’ of what makes taps drip
and how the solution to stopping the
Chief Justice Bart Katureebe has reacted to President Museveni’s infernal noise could be lurking in most
directive to the Judiciary and police to deny suspects bail or bonds. people’s cupboards.
Researchers from the University of
Cambridge said the ‘plink, plink’ sound
produced by a water droplet hitting
a liquid surface is not caused by the
impact of the falling blob of liquid. It’s
actually the result of the movement of
a small bubble of air beneath the water
which forces its surface to vibrate.
This means it can be stopped
by reducing the surface tension of
the water, which is the name for a
phenomenon which allows objects and
some creatures to float on top of water.
Dr Anurag Agarwal of Cambridge’s
Department of Engineering, who led a
study to record drops in slow motion
using high-speed cameras, says thanks
to modern video and audio technology,
they could finally find out exactly where
the sound is coming from, which may
help us to stop it.
President Museveni has reappointed Lt Gen Andrew Gutti as the Chairman of the General Court Martial He was inspired to investigate this
perennial problem after visiting a friend
whose roof was leaking.
‘While I was being kept awake by
the sound of water falling into a bucket
placed underneath the leak, I started
thinking about this problem,’ he said.
This study is significant because it’s
the first direct glimpse of the oscillation
(movement back and forth in a regular
rhythm) of the trapped air bubble which
forms when a drop hits a surface.
The scientists were able to directly
observe the oscillation of the air bubble
for the first time, showing that the air
bubble is the key driver for both the
underwater sound, and the distinctive
airborne ‘plink’ sound,’ said Phillips,
who is now a PhD student in the
Department of Engineering.
The simple way to stop a leaking tap
from annoying you is just to add some
dish soap to the water sitting in a sink or
The government has sent a delegation of 10 members led by the Minister of lands , Ms Betty Among to the bucket, which should stop the sound by
United Kingdom for the colonial map to establish the actual boundaries of Tororo Municipality reducing surface tension.

June 29 - July 05, 2018 7


Inbox
Letters are
welcome !
The Editor welcomes short and
concise letters from our esteemed
readers on topical issues. Please
send them to:
The Editor, The Independent
Publications Ltd,
P.O Box 3304,
Plot 82/84 Kanjokya St,
Kamwokya.
Kampala,Uganda.
Email: editor@independent.co.ug
Correction
Mr. Godfrey
Mwesigye’s photo
In our
Issue 523
(June 01-07-
2018) on
Page 29 we
published
an article
titled “Pro-
tecting data
and Privacy: Why parliament
should pass the Data Protection
and Privacy Bill in 2015 to end
digital exploitation”. However,
the photo attached to the article
is not that of the author, Godfrey
Mwesigye. The correct photo is
attached. We regret the error. –
Editor
Laws in Uganda don’t discriminate
I have started to believe that
laws in Uganda do not discrimi-
nate due to the recent arrest of
the former Inspector General of
Police Gen. Kale Kayihura and
other police officers. The arrest
speaks out loud that nobody is
above the law even if you are
powerful and well-connected
like to the level of former IGP.
Kayihura must be accorded
to fair trial in courts of law but
the irony is that it is alleged that
Kayihura might be implicated
in cases that include murder
and denying victims their rights
8 June 29 - July 05, 2018
Follow us on Twitter @
http://twitter.com/#!/ugandatalks
Follow us on Facebook @
www.facebook.com/TheIndependentMagazineUganda
Sad day for Africa
The two explosions in Ethio-
pia and Zimbabwe recently are
nothing less than vicious acts
of terrorism against Africa’s
new day. Condolences to the
families and the people of these
two countries for the loss of life.
Prayers for Zimbabwe, Ethio-
pia, and Africa at large.
What is clear is that there is a
new reality to face. One that we
Presidential address on security was timely Confusion over RDC
Following the past cases of President Museveni went appointees
insecurity, murders, kidnaps,
President Yoweri Museveni on
June 20 met addressed Parlia-
ment about security. It was
timely and the President listed
points on how to strengthen
and revive the security of
Uganda.
I believe that there should be
no undetected crime after gov-
ernment has taken the measures
that the President talked about
for example; finger printing
all guns in Uganda, electronic
monitoring of all motor vehicle
and motorcycles, and banning
cyclists wearing jackets with
hoods covering their faces.
These will help passengers or
the eye witnesses to identify
any cyclist involved in criminal
activities.
before the law, massive arrests,
torture among other cases.
It’s ironical that opposition
politicians and the civil society
organisations are now demand-
ing that Kayihura’s rights
should not be violated and he
needs to be treated as a good
carder of the NRM and a senior
officer at the rank of a general.
Gen. Kayihura’s arrest
should send a message to those
who have authority and power
not to misuse them but to know
that time will come when what
they did catches up whether
thought we would not see again
in Africa. Clearly dark forces
are busy at many unknown
levels. That is why Ethiopia and
Zimbabwe should thoroughly
investigate today’s events with
a 360° view approach. And do
everything to apprehend and
prosecute those behind such
heinous terrorist acts. But equal-
ly important is that they should
ahead and promised the urgent
installation of cameras all over
the town, streets, and on the
highways. This will help to
monitor all criminals in the city
and it will help police to gather
evidence.
Having a modern forensic
laboratory and more scanners
to cover all land borders, land-
ing sites, the airport, and asking
the police to revive the police
999 was a right move from the
President. Therefore, Ugandans
shouldn’t worry because the
police, other security organs,
and the President are doing
whatever it takes to make sure
that everyone in Uganda is
secure and peaceful.
Catherine Namuddu
Kampala
negatively or positively. They
should serve this nation dili-
gently without causing harm to
the people.
We should not pretend that
this is new in Uganda because
we have had senior servants
being arrested, including Gen.
Sejjusa, former Vice President
Gilbert Bukenya, Mike Mukula,
Gen. Henry Tumukunde, Gen.
Jim Muhwezi, and more.
Catherine Atugonza
Kampala
News analysis Health Business
Goodall sees future for New app to ease Uganda’s ambitious revenue Uganda going
Uganda’s chimpanzees medical access target for FY 2018/19 deeper into debt
Issue No. 526 June 22 - 28, 2018
Ushs 5,000,Kshs 200, RwF 1,500, SDP 8
Kayihura’s
fall
His enemies and the
traps that got him
www.independent.co.ug
not let these vile acts change
the progressive course their
countries have embarked on in
recent times for their people.
There must be a renewed deter-
mination to make that lamp of
hope shine even brighter and
further around starting today.
Hussein Lumumba Amin
Kampala, Uganda.
How come embarrassing
games, scenes continue to engulf
the Presidency’s restructuring
exercise of deploying central
government district representa-
tives (RDC & DRDCs) since
June 18? Could this be deliber-
ate, sabotage, error, intentional
betrayal or outright malice to
the President? Have the state
security vetting teams entrusted
by the head of state failed to
do battle (duties) or have they
just collapsed? The ping pong
of identifying, recruiting and
deploying “dead”, resurrected,
or non-existent human resource
in a country where over 60%
unemployed youth are avail-
able is to say the least despicable
and surprising. Truly, there
are malicious elements around
the Presidency. I was once their
victim. They split my names into
two (Nabendeh deployed in one
district and Wamoto in another
one!). Later some solicited for
money in order to remind the
President to redeploy us.
When I was first inducted in
security strategies classroom, I
was told that without detective,
skillful, courageous and intel-
ligent leadership, society stands
still. The question is where did
these sharp, intelligent officers
go?
Nabendeh Wamoto S.P (0776-
658433)
Email: simonwamoto@yahoo.
co.uk

Museveni leadership of economy
By Andrew M. Mwenda
How the president’s successful economic stewardship
is now in the past with little direction on the future
P
resident Yoweri Museveni has been
named 12th among 24 leaders glob-
ally whose individual contribution
has had a significant positive im-
pact on their countries’ economic growth.
This was in a study by Professor William
Easterly of New York University and Steven
Pennings, a researcher at the World Bank.
The rankings placed Museveni above Lee
Kuan Yew of Singapore and Park Chung
Hee of South Korea, the most successful
leaders to preside over the economic trans-
formation of their nations from poverty to
riches within a generation.
The study did not generate any excitement
among elite circles in Uganda. Except for a
lead story in the state-owned New Vision,
there was little said about it. Indeed most
people on social media simply ignored it.
Had the report presented Museveni among
the worst leaders in the world, it is highly
probable that it would have made headlines
in Daily Monitor and gone viral online. So
why is no one interested in blowing Musev-
eni’s trumpet? This will be a debate for
another article.
Museveni has presided over economic
success when measured by the rate of
growth of the Gross Domestic Product
(GDP). Between 1986 when he came to
power and 2014, our GDP grew at an
annual average rate of 6.74% while per
capita income grew at annual average rate
of 3.5%. This is an impressive performance
by both global and historic standards.
Uganda’s high GDP growth rate is even
more impressive given that between 1986
and 1996, most economies in the region
were suffering slow, stagnant, or negative
growth. For example, over this period,
Uganda’s GDP grew at an annual average
rate of 5.67% – the 25th fastest growing
economy in the world and 5th in Africa
behind Equatorial Guinea (7th), Botswana
(10th), Mauritius (12th) and Swaziland (13th).
During this period, Uganda’s immediate
neighbours were not doing well with Tan-
zania (62nd), Kenya (67th) and Rwanda (178th)
globally.
The performance of your neighbours has
powerful implications on your growth, a
factor that this study underlines. This is the
reason Singapore’s Lee who performed
much better than Museveni is ranked below
our president. The study argues that there
were other factors such as geographical
The Last Word
location and initial endowments like human
capital that contributed to growth more
than Lee’s individual leadership ability.
Economists discount the first six to eight
years after civil war to mark a particular
date as a base year to measure growth. This
eliminates high growth spikes resulting
from initial recovery. In Uganda’s case, we
can discount the first seven years and use
1993 as our base here. Here Uganda ran a
growth marathon for twenty years from
1993 to 2012, with annual GDP growth rate
averaging 7.2%, one of the best in the world.
This growth marathon ended in 2011.
While Uganda’s growth between 2012 and
2017 has been mediocre, averaging 4.1%,
nations in the region – Ethiopia (9.5%),
Rwanda (7.2%), DR Congo (6.9%), Tanzania
(6.7%) and Kenya (5.5%) have been doing
better. Uganda needs to worry because
this slow growth has lasted six years. With
annual population growth rate at 3.12%,
growth in income per capita has fallen
from 4.1% between 1993 and 2014 to 1.01%
between 2012 and 2017. Indeed, this also
explains the increase in the percentage of
people living below the poverty line from
19% in 2013 to 27% in 2017.
What has happened? The country has lost
its position as a leading reformer. Previ-
ously, Uganda was the policy innovation
hub not only for Africa, but other devel-
oping countries as well. It was in Uganda
that policies were incubated. Upon success
here, they would be taken to other devel-
oping nations by international development
institutions as best practice. Not anymore.
Ethiopia and Rwanda, the number one and
number two growth superstars of today, are
now the policy innovation hubs.
A friend from the international develop-
ment community who has worked on
Uganda since the 1990s visited recently
and his comments were discouraging
but equally illuminating. “In the old days
senior people from the ministry of finance
and Bank of Uganda were always thinking
about, and fine tuning policies,” he told me
over a glass of wine, “I have not seen much
evidence of that in the recent few years.”
“Gone are the days when policy makers in
Uganda set the agenda on how low income
countries can improve their economic
outcomes,” he went on, “Those were the
days when Ugandan officials led the way
in looking for new sources of growth, ways
Opinion
of enhancing budget formulation, efficient
spending allocation, monetary policy con-
duct etc. I could not find anybody thinking
about lifting growth rates in policy making
circles.”
As a result, the budget-making process
has become ad hoc, he said. The recurrent
budget has become consistently insufficient
thereby making supplementary budgets the
norm. Capital expenditures in the budget
are driven by projects for which money
is available rather than projects with the
highest rate of return. There is little effort
to push boundaries. Focus is on short term
and often, small measures like the social
media tax. Overall, Uganda has a fatigued
and tired policy making body.
He told me that from his experience of the
“good old days”, there was active owner-
ship and deliberation of policies. Nowa-
days, it seems as if everyone is waiting for
oil to come on board hoping that somehow
everything will then right itself. Govern-
ment is massively investing in infrastruc-
ture – roads, railways and dams. While this
hardware is necessary, it is not sufficient
to sustain growth because the software
of policy innovation is missing. Then he
asked me to contrast this with Ethiopia and
Rwanda.
He felt leadership at the ministry of
finance and central bank needs to be
refreshed big-time so that new thinking
and energy can be infused into the system.
Uganda has a lot of human capital, he told
me, but equally so much pent-up talent. But
how do we get new thinking and energy
into the system that has been captured by
self-interested groups and individuals with
a vested interest in the perpetuation of the
status quo?
Secondly, one wonders whether at 74
years and after 32 years in power, Museveni
is still capable of mounting any serious
reform initiative to redirect Uganda’s
economy towards more policy innovation
and dynamism. This is theoretically pos-
sible but whether it is practically feasible is
another thing. The fact that a study placing
Museveni among the world’s best leaders
did not excite popular excitement shows
how the government’s intellectual support-
base is suffering from lethargy as well.
amwenda@independent.co.ug
June 29 - July 05, 2018 9
cover story

Finishing off
Kayihura
And the hunt for Crime
Preventers’ boss
By Haggai Matsiko
The noose around besieged former Inspector of Police Kale Kayihura continues to tighten as a
joint Internal Security Organisation (ISO) and Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) operation
pursues more of his close associates. The latest target is Blaise Kamugisha, the former Nation-
al Coordinator of the National Crime Preventers Forum (NCPF). This is the same man who, in a
March 28 meeting of President Yoweri Museveni and coordinators of crime preventers from all
over country, pledged his loyalty to the president.

Gen. Kale Kayihura, Blaise

Kamugisha and Brig. Abel Kandiho

10 June 29 - July 05, 2018

N
ow, reliable sources have
told The Independent that
Kamugisha ran to exile last
week on Thursday, after
a tipoff that ISO and CMI
operatives were closing in
on him. He fled to Kenya.
Insiders say while in Kenya, Kamugisha
contacted President Museveni who advised
him to return to Uganda. By press time, The
Independent had learnt that Kamugisha
had returned but then again went into hid-
ing unsure if he can survive the clutches of
ISO – that is he cannot feel safe unless and
until he meets Museveni directly.
In March, Kamugisha stunned the nation
when he said: “We take it on ourselves to
protect the president and help him keep his
country safe... We can kill for the president”.
Until now Kayihura, who remains half-
way between military detention and house
arrest, has only been interrogated once since
his arrest on June 13. And the only charge
that has been read to him is that of allegedly
murdering the former Assistant Inspector
General of Police (AIGP) Andrew Felix
Kaweesi on March 17, 2017.
It is clear that investigations around the
police chief continue to take that definite
shape. But Kamugisha’s involvement sig-
nals another more political case forming
against Kayihura.
Given that Kayihura was the main bene-
factor of the crime preventers, whose num-
bers he personally put at 11 million, it is
clear to see how any suspected rebel activity
by the group can easily be connected to
him.
Kamugisha was a close Kayihura associ-
ate and had been given the lucrative billion
shilling deal of supplying food to the police
force. Now, state media report that this
contract is part of the investigations govern-
ment is conducting linking Crime Preven-
ters with plans to organize a rebel group.
Kamugisha joins two other Kayihura
associates who have fled imminent arrest.
Kiyihura’s former personal assistant, Jona-
than Baroza, whom he had dispatched as an
attaché to Algeria, went missing in transit in
when he was summoned back to Kampala.
Insiders say Baroza had been expected
to return to Uganda but disappeared at an
airport in Istanbul, Turkey, where he was
supposed to connect to Entebbe. According
to the passenger manifest, Baroza boarded
the plane in Istanbul bound for Entebbe. A
large contingent of police and security offi-
cers were deployed at the airport to arrest
him as soon as the plane landed. But when
the plane landed at Entebbe, Baroza was not
on board.
Baroza became a controversial figure
when one of his bodyguards was spotted at
the Kaweesi murder scene. It was alleged
that this bodyguard and later Baroza him-
self were tampering with the scene of crime
to erase evidence since they had not been
assigned the case and were not in the foren-
sics department.
However, sources familiar with the
Kaweesi murder case say Baroza was at the
scene because he was in charge of witness
protection and was that day providing cov-
er to some witnesses, who had been given
the white overalls—forensics uniform—to
disguise who they were so as to prevent
them from being targeted by those behind
the murder.
But even senior police officers like AIGP
Fred Yiga, who was at the scene of crime,
appear not to have had this detail. So they
ended up clashing with Baroza and con-
cluding that he was trying to tamper with
the scene of crime.
Whatever the case, Baroza’s disappearing
act follows that of another Kayihura ally,
Amos Ngabirano, the former police direc-
tor of Information and Communication
President Museveni
Technology (ICT). Ngabirano went missing
immediately trouble started unfolding and
his whereabouts remain unknown.
Kandiho’s mission
The Independent understands that Kayi-
hura is fighting back. He has said he does
not feel safe that the people investigating
him are the same people who have been
forging all sorts of allegations to implicate
him.
The team interrogating Kayihura
includes three people who are said to have
daggers drawn against him already; CMI
boss Brig. Abel Kandiho, ISO boss Maj.
Kaka Bagyenda, and Director Criminal
Intelligence and Investigations (CIID) Grace
Akullo.
Among these three, sources tell The Inde-
pendent that Kandiho is the one Kayihura is
concerned about the most.
Having been appointed only in January
cover story
2017 to head CMI, it has taken Kandiho just
a year and a few months to disrupt Ugan-
da’s entire security system.
On June 13, the day Kale Kayihura was
arrested, of the senior military officers
who landed in a helicopter at his home in
Kashagama, Lyantonde District, one man
stood out.
Tall and pencil-thin, Kandiho approached
the task with a unique precision.
He travelled with his senior, Lt. Gen.
Wilson Mbadi, but Kayihura must have
known that this was Kandiho’s mission. For
example while interrogating Kayihura at
his home, Kandiho spotted a document in
the former IGP’s briefcase and asked for it.
Kayihura refused to hand it over insisting
that it was meant for the president only.
When Kandiho insisted on taking it, Kayi-
hura handed it over to Mbadi.
Even as they searched Kayihura’s house
in Kashagama, flew him to Entebbe, drove
him to Makyindye Military Barracks, where
Kayihura was interrogated and later his
house in Muyenga, more than anyone else,
Kandiho maintained the quiet intimidating
presence of a man on a mission.
Kandiho’s mission against Kayihura
appears not to be personal. Instead, it
appears to follow the pattern of most of the
people who have dominated the security
docket under Museveni; from Gen. David
Sejusa aka Tinyefuza, the late Noble May-
ombo, and lately Kayihura. These have
been Museveni’s enforcers and Kandiho
appears to be the next in line.
When, soon after Kaweesi’s murder,
Kayihura’s men nearly exchanged fire with
an ISO force posted by Kaka at the home of
one Christine Mbabazi Muhoza, Kandiho
remained in the background.
Muhoza is said to have been an intimate
friend of Kaweesi – and, therefore, a pos-
sible source of valuable information. Kaka’s
force was allegedly protecting her as a wit-
ness but Kayihura said the police had the
mandate to interrogate her. The standoff in
Lungujja, a Kampala city suburb was only
resolved when President Museveni sent in
his personal Special Forces Command.
Kayihura and Kaka again pointed fingers
at each other over the investigation into the
murder of two foreigners in top Kampala
hotels in February this year. Kandiho stayed
out of it.
He also did not clash with Kayihura as
Akullo did.
The frosty relationship between Akullo
and Kayihura had reportedly worsened
because of her closeness to President
Museveni and First Lady Janet Museveni.
Kayihura reportedly preferred to be the
only one with access to the First Family.
For that Akullo reportedly feared Kayihura
wanted her out of the way.
The tension between them reportedly hit
the roof when top government prosecutor
Joan Kagezi was assassinated in 2015. Akul-
June 29 - July 05, 2018 11
cover story
lo, who was driving a few metres behind,
feared that she had, in fact, been the target.
Where Akullo is said to have even openly
confronted Kayihura, Kandiho concentrated
on digging up the dirt.
Kandiho Vs Kayihura
Although the tension between Kayi-
hura and Kandiho has not been as open as
between Kayiura and Kaka or Akullo, it has
been the biggest factor in Kayihura’s down
fall, according to insiders.
Those close to Kayihura feel that Kandiho
has almost single-handedly brought down
the former police chief.
Kandiho’s name first hit headlines when
he was named head of CMI in January 2017.
Kaka was appointed Director General of
ISO at the same time. The two joined former
Security Minister, Henry Tumukunde, to
form a camp Kayihura considered hostile.
They are all protégés of President
Museveni’s influential brother, Gen. Caleb
Akandwanaho aka Salim Saleh and the
mission given to them appears to have been
to uproot Kayihura and his associates from
police and, if possible, prosecute and jail
them. According to this narrative, Kaweesi
was the anointed Kayihura successor. But
then he was assassinated and the game plan
changed and also gained pace.
Historically, the Uganda People’s
Defence Forces (UPDF) has always been on
top of Uganda’s security system control-
ling both internal and external security. The
UPDF also controlled intelligence through
control of ISO and CMI—military officers
have always headed these entities.
And at every turn in his 32 years in pow-
er, President Museveni has had an enforcer
in one of the security agencies.
These enforcers are notable for crashing
threats to Museveni’s power. In his tenure,
Kayihura had dealt with many of the secu-
rity chiefs that had become a problem for
President Museveni.
For instance, when former ISO boss, Jim
Muhwezi got into trouble with Museveni,
it is Kayihura who raided his home com-
manding other soldiers in an effort to arrest
him.
Again when former Security Minister Lt.
Gen. Henry Tumukunde got into problems
and was charged offences of abuse of office
and spreading harmful propaganda, it is
Kayihura who commanded at least 50 sol-
diers to arrest him.
Tumukunde was then driven to a military
detention facility, where he was incarcer-
ated for nearly 2 years.
Kayihura was also instrumental in the
downfall of former Coordinator of Intelli-
gence Services, Gen. David Sejusa.
Gen. Kayihura is said to have gathered
intelligence showing that Sejusa was plan-
ning to overthrow Museveni. Sejusa would
later in 2013 run into exile in London before
reconciling with Museveni and returning
12 June 29 - July 05, 2018
two years later.
Kayihura’s fourth victim was former
Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi. More
than anyone else, Kayihura is said to have
provided the decisive intelligence that
exposed how Mbabazi was planning to
overthrow his boss. Kayihura then led the
effort to infiltrate and neutralize Mbabazi’s
political networks ahead of the 2016 elec-
tions.
Apart from the four, Kayihura has been
the biggest frustration to perennial Musev-
eni challenger, FDC’s Kizza Besigye.
Before Kayihura, CMI had been Musev-
eni’s enforcement in the late 90s to early
Amama Mbabazi 2000s. That was the period when the late
Brig. Noble Mayombo was at its helm. May-
ombo replaced Tumukunde.
At the time, CMI was not only central in
cracking down on hard criminals and ter-
rorists; it was at the centre of the politics and
would hound Museveni’s opponents.
Indeed, opposition leaders like FDC’s
Kizza Besigye experienced their baptism of
fire under Mayombo.
A staunch loyalist to Museveni, May-
ombo would stop at nothing to protect the
President’s power. In 2001, Mayombo over-
saw the brutal arrest of his younger brother,
Okwiri Rwabwoni, at Entebbe airport in
2001 on his way to West Nile to campaign
alongside Besigye. Mayombo would later
be appointed Permanent Secretary, Ministry
Lt. Gen. Henry Tumukunde of Defence before dying in what was feared
to be a murder in May 2007.
After Mayombo, CMI was never the
same. That is how Kayihura rose.
Kayihura expanded his influence by
patronising networks of known criminals
some of whom he integrated into the police,
groups like crime preventers and Boda
2010, a group of thousands of boda boda
cyclists.
He became so effective at crushing the
opposition that he has told confidantes that
by the time he left, the opposition did not
appear capable of successfully mobilising.
Indeed, the last serious opposition protests
by the opposition were the walk to work
protests in 2011.
Gen. David Sejusa Having conquered internal politics,
Kayihura had also emerged a major player
in regional politics—occasionally entering
arrangements with the police leadership of
South Sudan and Rwanda. That is where he
and Kandiho met.
Kandiho’s rise
When Kayihura was first appointed IGP
in 2005, Kandiho was a lowly officer posted
to Kigali, Rwanda.
He was reportedly deployed at the Ugan-
da-Rwanda border when he developed bad
blood with Rwandan security operatives
because of his uncompromising trait.
But it was when he was an attaché at
Entebbe Airport in June 2012 that Kandiho
Col. Kizza Besigye is said to have clashed directly with Kayi-

hura. At the time, one Portia Mbabazi; the
daughter of then exiled former Rwandan
spymaster Col. Patrick Karegeya caused
a diplomatic standoff between Kigali and
Kampala when her Rwandan passport
was withdrawn by the authorities. In such
case, an individual would be deported to
the passport issuing country to resolve the
issue. Instead, Kandiho reportedly hur-
riedly processed a passport for her against
Kayihura’s wish. The passport was later
hurriedly withdrawn but Kandiho’s anti-
Rwanda credentials had become indelible.
Soon Kandiho appears to have got into
problems with his then boss, Brig. Charles
Bakahumura who recalled him CMI head-
quarters in Kampala and made him head
of the once-notorious Joint Anti-Terrorism
Task Force (JATT).
But even here, Bakahumura appears
to have found even more problems with
Kandiho. Clashes between the two men
reportedly often got out of hand. Instead of
support, Bakahumura started receiving calls
from senior army officers encouraging him
to “work better with Kandiho”.
One of these calls came from the current
Commander of Defence Forces (CDF), Gen.
David Muhoozi, who at the time was the
Commander Land Forces (CLF).
Before Bakahumura knew it, Kandiho
was moved to military police. When Brig.
Kayanja Muhanga, who was heading it,
was shuffled and moved to head the 4th
Division, Kandiho became the Acting Com-
mander Military Police.
Brig. Bakahumura’s shock must have
come when Museveni reshuffled heads of
security agencies again in January 2017,
and replaced him with Kandiho, who was
a colonel. Museveni later in 2017 promoted
him to brigadier.
However, all along, Kandiho had been
close to President Museveni. He is a young-
er brother to Adonia Ayebare, Uganda’s
Permanent Representative to the United
Nations, and they are related to Museveni.
His former boss, Bakahumura on the
other hand, was seen as an intellectual,
who was good at handling the big pic-
ture—regional security aspects in the global
context.
Aware of his strengths, President Musev-
eni always travelled with Bakahumura
whenever he would be meeting global lead-
ers with an interest in regional security.
For instance, sources say when President
Museveni met U.S. President Barack Obama
in Ethiopia to talk regional security in 2015,
Museveni travelled with Bakahumura.
Around 2017, however, several factors
appear to have conspired to dent Baka-
humura’s position and propel Kandiho
forward.
Internationally, in late 2016, Donald
Trump had won the election to succeed
Barack Obama as U.S. Trump immediately
showed less interest in Great Lakes regional
security issues, and Bakahumura’s currency
lost value.
At the same time, fixing the volatile secu-
rity situation in the country, which required
the Kandiho kind of officer, became more
urgent. Since mid-2015, the country had
been rocked by unsolved murders of sev-
eral female university students in Kampala.
At a 2013 High Command meeting,
Museveni expressed concerns that military
intelligence had not exposed “the subver-
sive activities of Tinyefuza”.
“Military intelligence has some gaps,”
Museveni said.
Insiders say in Museveni’s calculation,
the decline in CMI effectiveness might have
been one of the reasons that rendered Baka-
humura less relevant.
Interestingly, around the same time, ten-
sions with Rwanda appeared to be getting
out of hand.
Some suspect that what seems to have
endeared Kandiho to Museveni is his ability
Brig.
Bakahumura’s
shock must
have come
when Museveni
reshuffled heads
of security
agencies again
in January 2017,
and replaced
him with
Kandiho, who
was a colonel.
Museveni later
in 2017 promoted
him to brigadier
to gather serious intelligence on intelligence
operatives of other countries in the region
based in Uganda. Those who have worked
closely with him say he is good at working
on the nuts and bolts of an issue.
He reportedly dug up and started deliv-
ering topnotch intelligence on Rwanda.
Indeed when after he was appointed and
Kaweesi was killed in March 2017, Kandiho
brought CMI to the centre of investigations.
Police protested and inter-agency fights
broke out. Suspects in the case in police
cover story
custody claimed they were being tortured
to implicate Tumukunde and those in the
custody of ISO and CMI, claimed they were
being tortured to implicate Kayihura.
Kandiho did the same when the killings
of women in the Entebbe-Katabi area start-
ing mid-2017 and the so-called kijambiya
killings in Masaka.
Hardly months on the job, Kandiho
cracked down on the suspects of some 23
women who had been murdered in the
areas of Entebbe and Wakiso.
Recently, Kandiho’s CMI is also said to
have gathered intelligence, led the raid on
Usafi mosque and captured the suspects in
the murder of 28-year old Suzan Magara,
daughter of a prominent businessman close
to Museveni, before handing them to police.
If by this time there was still confusion
about who was running the security show
and taking down Kayihura, that doubt was
all erased when in October CMI started
picking one by one, top cops that had been
close allies of Kayihura.
In one swoop, CMI arrested; Senior
Superintendent of Police Nixon Agasirwe,
the former commander Special Operations
Unit, Senior Commissioner of Police Joel
Aguma, the commandant of the police
Professional Standards Unit, Assistant
Superintendent of Police Magada, crime
intelligence; Benon Atwebembeire, Sgt Abel
Tumukunde, the Kampala Metropolitan
Police flying squad commander, Faisal
Katende, flying squad and Amon Kwari-
sima.
These were taken to the Court Martial
and charged with unlawful possession of
firearms and grenades ordinarily a monop-
oly of the Defence Forces.
They are also accused of handing to
the Rwanda government two prominent
persons; one Lt. Joel Mutabazi; a former
presidential guard for Rwanda President
Paul Kagame who had sought refuge in
Uganda, and Jackson Kalemera. The two
were reportedly handed to Rwanda without
their consent.
In another swoop, Kandiho’s CMI went
for Abdullah Kitata, the self-appointed
patron of Boda Boda 2010. While Kitata was
arrested as part of the investigations into
the murder of the Case Clinic accountant,
Francis Ekalungar, his outfit—Boda Boda
2010 would later be linked to the issues with
Rwanda.
In yet another swoop, CMI rounded up;
Richard Ndaboine, the former head of cyber
intelligence, Col. Ndahura Atwooki, the
former head crime intelligence, and Herbert
Muhangi, the former head of Flying Squad,
among others.
By this time, it was clear that it was only a
matter of time until Kandiho came for Kayi-
hura himself and replaced him as the new
enforcer in Museveni’s security apparatus.
By bringing down Kayihura, Kandiho also
appears to have claimed CMI’s spot back.
June 29 - July 05, 2018 13
news analysis

10 assassinations
that shook Uganda
By Independent Team a tussle between tively, on February 16, 1977. Amin paraded

T
he June 08 killing of then-Arua Mu-
nicipality MP and NRM stalwart,
Col. Abrahim Abiriga on June 08 in
Kawanda near Kampala brought
back memories of some killings believed
to be assassination that have happened in
Uganda. Below are some of them.
Brig. Pierino Okoya - 1970
Brig. Pierino Okoya was a young army
officer who rose through the ranks to
become deputy army commander in the
first government of President Milton Obote.
At the time of his assassination, he was also
the commander of the Second Infantry Bri-
gade based in Masaka. He travelled to Gulu
on a personal errand on January 23, 1970.
It was a tense period. In December 1969,
Obote had survived an assassination which
was said to be engineered by then army
commander Idi Amin, who was Okoya’s
boss. In the heavily tribalised army, Okoya –
an Acholi, was seen as a bitter rival to Amin
and likely to succeed him.
Amidst all this, on the evening of January
25, Okoya made a brief visit to the Air Force
Officers Mess in Gulu where he had a con-
versation with the Base Commander Capt.
Smuts Guweddeko, who was very close to
Amin. A few hours later, Okoya was shot
dead with his wife at their home in Gulu,
a few kilometres away from the army bar-
racks. Following the killing, two inquiries
were instituted; one by the army and one
by police. Both probes heavily implicated
Amin. But Capt. Smuts Guweddeko and
another officer were jailed over it in Luzira
prison. His murder remains unresolved but
is believed to have marked a crucial junc-
ture in post-independence Uganda as his
boss, then army commander Maj. Gen. Idi
Amin, is said to plotted it as a forerunner for
his coup against Obote a year later in 1971.
Amin released the two officers and promot-
ed them whereas those behind the inquiries
that implicated him were killed.
Chief Justice Benedicto Kiwanuka - 1972
Benedicto Kagimu Mugumba Kiwanuka
was the first prime minister of Uganda
(March 01 – April 30, 1962). He was 40 years
old at the time. New elections were held in
April 1962 and the Uganda Peoples Con-
gress (UPC) party of Milton Obote allied
with the Kabaka Yekka party of Baganda
loyalist to Kabaka Edward Mutesa II to
defeat Kiwanuka’s Democratic Party. The
contest has sometimes been described as
Catholics repre-
sented by Kiwanuka
and DP and Protes-
tants represented by
Obote and Buganda
and favoured by the
British. When Obote
was shot in an assas-
sination attempt in
1969, Kiwanuka was
suspected to have
organised it and Obote imprisoned him in
1969. Two years later in 1971, then Army
Commander, Maj. Gen. Idi Amin toppled
Obote in a military coup. He immediately
freed Kiwanuka from Luzira Prison and
appointed him chief justice on June 27,
1971. Soon, however, Kiwanuka became
known as a critic of Amin’s disregard of
the rule of law and brutality. His ambition
and fearlessness made him a target in then-
president Idi Amin’s reign of terror and on
September 21, 1972 he was picked his office
at the High Court chambers in Kampala
by state agents. He was reportedly shot
dead by Amin at State Lodge Nakasero. His
remains have never been located. His mur-
der resulted into international condemna-
tion of Amin’s regime and led to more fear
and anarchy locally as several critical people
were killed and many others fled into exile.
Among the many honours of the former
Chief Justice is a street in Kampala named
after him.
Janani Luwum (1977)
Then-Archbishop
of the Metropolitan
Province of Uganda,
Rwanda, Burundi and
Boga (in Zaire), Janani
Jakaliya Luwum,
was killed in Kam-
pala on February 16
or 17, 1977. Luwum,
who was very highly
respected internation-
ally, was very critical
of Amin’s disregard
for rule of law, brutality, and murderous
streak. In January 1977, he boldly delivered
a note of protest to Amin. Days earlier, sol-
diers had raided and searched his home for
alleged caches of arms.
Amin reacted by arresting him, together
with two other officials; Erinayo Oryema
and Oboth Ofumbi, the Inspector General
of Police and Minister of Defence respec-
them before journalists and accused them of
treason and said they were agents of former
President Milton Obote who, after being
ousted by Amin in 1971, was using Tanza-
nia as a base to launch military operations
to remove Amin. They were then driven off
by state agents to an unknown destination.
The next day, it was announced that they
had died in a motor vehicle accident as they
were allegedly escaping from State Lodge
Nakasero where they had been detained.
People who buried them said their bod-
ies bore bullet wounds. The general view
is that they were already dead when they
were placed at a scene arranged to look like
an accident.
Luwum’s murder marked a turning
point as the world was shocked by Amin’s
brutality and efforts to remove him gained
pace. Two years later, in April 1979, a joint
force of exiled Ugandans and the Tanzanian
army drove Amin out of power.
In 2015 the government and Church of
Uganda agreed to celebrate the life and hon-
our the martyrdom of the former archbish-
op every February 16 as St. Janani Luwum
Day. On Jan. 12, 2015, Archbishop Stanley
Ntagali launched the Janani Luwum
Memorial Charity at Namirembe Cathedral
in Kampala. The church also asked the
government to designate the birthplace and
resting place of Luwum- Mucwini village
in Kitgum district, as a pilgrimage and tour-
ism site. A new 16-storey commercial suite
built by Church of Uganda on Kampala
Road is also named after Luwum. However
the West Minster Abbey Cathedral in the
U.K., which is the parent to the Church of
Uganda province has for the last 41 years
celebrated Luwum’s life and martyrdom. A
chapel was named after him right from
when he was martyred and a statue to him
unveiled in July 1998.
Maj. Gen. David Oyite-Ojok (1983)
Oyite-Ojok was
the Chief of Staff
of the Uganda
National Liberation
Army (UNLA) in
the second regime
of then president
Milton Obote and
effectively the lynch-
pin of the army.
On the morning of
December 03, 1983,
he prepared to fly to

14 June 29 - July 05, 2018


the jungles of Luweero to oversee fighting
to flush out then-rebel commander Yoweri
Museveni forces of the National Resistance
Army (NRA) guerillas. Oyite-Ojok set off
from Nile Mansion (now Kampala Serena
Hotel) with five other army officers in a Bell
Augusta-412 helicopter. Col. Alfred Otto
was the officer flying the helicopter. Shortly,
the chopper crashed in Luweero not far
from rebel territory, killing all on board.
The incident dramatically changed the
fortunes of Museveni’s guerilla war and led
to the eventual collapse of the Obote gov-
ernment as inter-tribe conflict between the
Langi and Acholi weakened it and resulted
in a coup against Obote – a Langi by the
Acholi army generals. The incident also set
off a slew of conspiracies on what could
have transpired; from faulty mechanics to a
plot by then vice president Paulo Muwanga,
or Obote to eliminate Oyite-Ojok. The three
were mired in power struggles. President
Museveni visited the scene of the crash in
September 2007.
Andrew Lutakome Kayiira (1987)
On the night
of March 6, 1987,
Kayiira – a for-
mer leader of the
Uganda Freedom
Movement, a rebel
group was having
dinner with Henry
Gombya who
worked for BBC
at the time, and
the latter’s wife and three children when the
house was attacked by gunmen.
In the ensuing melee, Gombya fled the
house while his wife and children hid in the
bedroom. It is alleged that the gunmen bust-
ed Kayiira from one of the rooms and shot
him in the arms and left side of the body.
Kayiira, like Museveni, had in the early
1980s led an army of guerrillas to fight
then-president Milton Obote’s government.
While in the bush, Kayira and Museveni
had on and off alliances and generally
disagreed on tactics. Kayiira, an ethnic
Muganda, often felt he had to be the rightful
leader of the armed rebellion against Obote
since the vanguard of the fighting was in
Buganda. After Obote was ousted on July
27, 1985, several rebel forces; including that
of Kayiira and Museveni challenged the
Tito Okello government for supremacy in
Kampala. When Museveni emerged winner
in January 1986, Kayiira made peace and
was even appointed minister of Energy on
January 30, 1986. He was arrested on Octo-
ber 1986, charged with treason, and locked
up in Luzira Prison. On February 24, 1987,
Kayiira was released from prison after the
government withdrew the case against him.
Ten days later he was shot dead.
The murder of Kayiira sparked several
investigations including one by Scotland
Yard, a special British investigations unit,
at the request of President Museveni. The
report by Scotland Yard has never been
released. In January 2007, the Democratic
Party, to which Kayiira was associated,
released its version of the report which
implicated the government of Uganda. The
government also released its version absolv-
ing it any of any wrongdoing. It almost
turned into a circus as various reports did
the rounds claiming to be the authentic
report of the murder investigation. In 2009,
responding to a request to Kayiira’s friend
Gombya, Scotland Yard officially declined
to release the report stating that releasing
it could jeopardise diplomatic relations
with Uganda. Gombya, however, is said to
be convinced that the NRM government
orchestrated the murder.
Prof. Dan Mudoola (1993)
Prof. Dan Mudoola was killed in a gre-
nade attack in Wandegeya, a Kampala sub-
urb. He was killed together with Dr. Francis
Kidubuka, who was a literature lecturer at
Makerere University Kampala. Mudoola
was also a lecturer at the same university.
Significantly, however, Mudoola was at the
time the vice chairman of the Constitutional
Review Commission. It was speculated that
his slaying was connected to his work on
that commission.
Lt. Michael Shalita (1997)
Lt. Michael Shalita, a prominent officer in
the Internal Security Organisation, was shot
dead in Kamwokya. It is believed he was
killed because he was investigating cases of
massive corruption involving top govern-
ment officials. Nothing was ever confirmed.
But his killing was the first of its kind and
sent a chill among investigators.
Maj. Gen. James Kazini (2009)
Kazini, a
battle hardened
former army
commander
was found dead
at dawn in a
shanty house in
Namuwongo,
Kampala, with
a deep cut to
his head on
November 10, 2009. Immediately after, a
woman named Lydia Draru, turned herself
in confessing to have murdered Kazini.
She was tried and convicted for his murder
but speculation remained rife on who the
actual killers were. Many doubted how a
young woman of average size like Draru
could have physically subdued Kazini
who had fought many gun battles, to the
point of bludgeoning him to death. Kazini
was disgruntled at the time he died. He
had been un-deployed since 2003 and was
facing a possible conviction in the General
Court Martial for abuse of office and insub-
ordination. In short, he had fallen out with
news analysis
the security establishment. Speculation still
abounds that he was bumped off by highly
trained assassins.
Brigadier Noble Mayombo (2007)
Brigadier Noble
Mayombo fell ill
on April 27, 2007.
Four days later, on
May 01, 2007 he was
dead. He was only
42 years old. The
death certificate
issued by Agha
Khan Hospital in
Nairobi was never
made public. But
it is believed that
Mayombo was suffering from complica-
tions due to acute pancreatitis. However,
speculation still abounds that he was assas-
sinated using poison.
Mayombo death is often cited whenever
any leader fears for their life in Uganda.
This is partly because he had come to epito-
mize loyalty to President Yoweri Museveni
and the determination to do his work with
unflinching resolve. This was on show
when, in 2001, Mayombo oversaw the
brutal arrest of his younger brother, Okwiri
Rwabwoni, at Entebbe airport. Okwir was a
staunch supporter of Museveni’s perennial
opponent Dr Kizza Besigye. At the time,
Mayombo was head of Military Intelligence.
Later he was appointed Permanent Secre-
tary, Ministry of Defence.
AIGP Andrew Felix Kaweesi (2017)
The former
Assistant
Inspector Gen-
eral of Police
(AIGP) was
shot dead in his
car on March
17, 2017 as he
left home in
Kulambiro,
Kampala at
9am. His assas-
sins were riding on motorbikes when they
opened multiple rounds of fire on Kawee-
si’s car killing his bodyguard and driver too.
He had served as commandant of Kabalye
Police Training school in Masindi, com-
mandant of Kampala Metropolitan Police
and Police spokesperson, his last posting.
His killing saw President Museveni make
an unprecedented assertion: that the police
was full of criminals- which was a scathing
indictment of then Inspector General of
Police Gen. Kale Kayihura. It resulted into
the start of Kayihura’s troubles as his right
hand men were arrested one by one, includ-
ing those belonging to a rogue outfit called
Boda Boda 2010 which was in bed with the
police. It climaxed with the sacking and
arrest of the former police chief on March 4
and June 13 respectively.
June 29 - July 05, 2018 15
news analysis
By Ronald Musoke

A
new Uwezo study, which com-
pares literacy and numeracy
outcomes among refugee children
and Ugandan children in the
neighbouring communities, has found that
despite the many challenges refugees face,
their learning levels are nearly at par with
their Ugandan peers outside the settle-
ments.
For the first time the Uwezo study— the
seventh since 2010— gives insight into the
learning outcomes and the conditions for
learning in refugee settlements with those
outside the camps has been done.
Uwezo, is a citizen-led organisation
that does regular assessment of education
outcomes in East Africa. It carried out the
study in October 2017 in four refugee host
districts of Isingiro in southern Uganda, and Refugee pupils in a make-shift classroom
Arua, Adjumani and Yumbe in northwest-

When refugees
ern Uganda. These are the biggest refugee
hosting districts as per the 2016 UNHCR
statistics.
The survey sampled 103 schools and over

out- learn hosts

2000 households.
Data for over 5000 children between the
ages of 3-16 were collected although 4156
children aged 6-16 were assessed in literacy
and numeracy skills.
The findings were presented in Kampala
on June 19, a day to the World Refugee Day.
Mary Goretti Nakabugo, the Uwezo
regional manager, said their aim was to try
to understand the conditions both at school
and home for refugee children and those in
the host communities and their impact on
their learning.
The report shows that despite significant
differences in education inputs between
schools inside and outside refugee settle-
ments, learning outcomes are quite similar
in both places. They all perform poorly.
Uganda’s refugee burden
The United Nations High Commission
for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Norwegian
Refugee Council’s internal displacement
monitoring centre say Uganda hosts about
1.4 million refugees.
Many are South Sudanese who flee
conflict back home. UNHCR says 61% or
610,000 of these are children and youth
below the age of 18 years.
When they arrive and settle, they are
expected to get into school as per the 1989
Convention on Rights of children and the
1951 refugee convention which all stipulate
that education is a human right.
Violet Alinda, the Advocacy Manager
at Uwezo says considering that refugees
spend about 17 years in host countries, for
children, this means that they spend the
early years (time meant for them to be in
school) in these refugee settlements.
Providing access to quality education for
all school-going age children is a strategic
Uwezo study finds children in some
refugee schools at higher learning
level than their Ugandan hosts
intervention because knowledgeable and
skilled refugees reduce the burden on host
countries when they join the labour market.
Uganda’s refugee asylum policy and
refugee settlement approach is often cited as
an example for other countries around the
world. But Uganda has been struggling to
meet most of its obligations, including pro-
vision of education for refugee children. By
the end of 2017, about 345,000 children were
reported by the UNHCR to be studying in
all the 13 refugee settlements.
But they study in overcrowded class-
rooms, with insufficient learning materials
and other resources. These impact their
learning.
Low learning levels
The Uwezo study found that less than
10% both Ugandan pupils and the refugees
in the settlement schools are able to read
and comprehend a P.2 story. The same
number of pupils is also not able to do a
simple division task.
It is only at P.7 level, the final year of
primary education, where all the refugee
children assessed reached the highest level
(100%). In the host communities, only 87%
had acquired these competences even after
going through seven years of primary edu-
cation.
Full competence is acquired when a child
assessed at this level is able to read a story
and answer at least one of the questions set
and two of the division tasks set.
Nakabugo told The Independent that in
the Ugandan curriculum, division is one of
the arithmetic operations that are deemed to
be at the highest level.
However, the study found that in some
settlements, refugees performed better
than their peers in the host communities. In
Adjumani District, for instance, all refugee
children can read, comprehend and divide
by the time they reach P.7 compared to 87%
of children in P.7 outside refugee settle-
ments. In the same district, both boys and
girls are at par in performance while in
Isingiro District, girls outperform the boys.
Outside the refugee camps, boys generally
tend to do much better than the girls.
Somalis outperform other refugees
The Uwezo study also assessed per-
formance amongst the refugees based on
nationality and duration of the refugees in
the country.
According to the survey, 65% of Somali

16 June 29 - July 05, 2018


pupils in P.3 – P.7 (65%) living in refugee
settlements in Uganda are more likely to
be able to read, comprehend and divide
than Congolese (13.5%), Burundian (18.7%),
South Sudanese (20%), Rwandan (20.3%) or
even Ugandan children (27%). Uwezo did
not give any possible reasons for the excel-
lence of Somali children but noted it calls
for further research.
The study also found that the duration
of a refugee’s stay in the country has an
impact on their learning, although this is
only up to some point. For instance, refugee
children who have been in Uganda over
one year are more likely to have P.2 literacy
and numeracy skills than those who have
been here for less than a year.
Among refugee children who had just
settled into Uganda, only 23% were able
to read and comprehend a story as well as
divide but for the refugee children who had
now stayed in Uganda, 39% of them were
able to perform much better.
This could mean that when the children
have just come, they have language issues,
they are getting used to the curriculum and
they are also trying to settle in a new envi-
ronment.
Interestingly, the performance deterio-
rates when they stay for more than three
years. The explanation Nakabugo gives
is that it is possible the factors that affect
the larger Ugandan population have set
in affecting the refugee children in higher
classes.
“It is possible these children are more
integrated in the Ugandan community but
there could be a bit of complacence mean-
ing that they are not working harder,”
Nakabugo said.
Home and School conditions
Uwezo’s study found that school condi-
tions and services are generally poor inside
the refugee settlements with 61% of non-
refugee children living in better permanent
houses compared to their counterparts in
the refugee camps (22%) while the pupil-
teacher ratio, for instance, in refugee settle-
ments is desperately high.
According to the Uwezo study, a teacher
handles an average of 107 pupils inside
refugee camp schools compared to 57
pupils for every teacher outside the refugee
camp schools. In Arua District, the ratio is
190:1 inside the refugee camp compared
to 78:1 in the host community schools. In
Isingiro District, inside the refugee camp,
one teacher handles 83 pupils compared to
28 pupils for every teacher outside the host
community schools.
The international standard is about 30
pupils for every teacher.
Unfriendly school conditions
The Uwezo study found appalling school
conditions in refugee settlements although
in many instances, they are comparable
with schools in host communities.
For example, although the government
ideal is for a classroom to have at least 40
pupils, in refugee settlements in Arua Dis-
trict, one classroom holds up to 350 pupils
compared to 127 pupils per classroom
outside the refugee camp. In neighbouring
Adjumani, the figures are 139:1 compared
to 85:1 outside the camps.
There are also many more pupils per
teacher inside refugee settlements com-
pared to schools outside the camps. In Arua
there are 190 pupils per teacher inside settle-
ments compared to 78 per teacher outside.
In Yumbe District, in an average class-
room inside a refuge settlement there are
233 pupils per classroom compared to 140
outside. In Isingiro, there were 164 pupils
per classroom inside the camps compared
to 48.
When it comes to access to school facili-
ties, children inside and outside settlements
are equally likely to have to sit on the floor
(28% do in settlements and 30% do outside);
to have exercise books (93% inside, 100%
outside) and have pens or pencils (88%
inside and 93% outside).
A text book for 50 refugees
It was not surprising that the pupil-text-
book ratio was quite high when compared
to that outside the settlements. Where as in
schools outside the refugee camps, there is a
P.2 English language textbook for every two
pupils, within the camps, a book is shared
by 51 pupils.
Little food, poor housing
The study notes that, refugees are more
vulnerable when it comes to food and hous-
ing. When it comes to access to food, the
study found that 34% of non-refugee chil-
dren eat at least three meals a day compare
to 7% of the refugee children. The World
Health Organization (WHO) sets three
news analysis
meals a day for a child to maintain a healthy
body.
In all the districts surveyed, only 7% of
refugees (compared to 34% of non-refugees)
eat three or more meals per day. The major-
ity (77%) of those living in refugee settle-
ments have dwellings made out of mud /
stick / polythene.
When it comes to water access, refugees
had more piped water than the communi-
ties outside the camps; borehole access was
almost at par while for trucked water, refu-
gee pupils boasted more access (22%) com-
pared to only 0.2% in host communities.
When it comes to energy access, almost
65% of refugee households had access to
solar power, and 67% of electricity com-
pared to 40% and 10% in host communities.
As far as school supplies are concerned,
within the refugee settlements, 28% of
pupils sit on the floor while outside the
camps, 30% of the pupils sit on the floor.
Outside the camps, 100% of pupils have
exercise books.
Whereas 93% of pupils in the host com-
munities have pens and pencils, 88.4% of
pupils have these utilities in the refugee
camp schools. Within the refugee camps,
only 28% of schools have other supplemen-
tary materials (chats and other learning
aids) compared to 46% in schools outside
the refugee settlements.
Joyce Ayikoru, the settlement manager
for Windle Trust, an NGO that supports
refugee education in conjunction with
UNHCR and the government of Uganda
told The Independent on June 25 that in
all the 13 refugee settlements in Uganda,
refugee children still face overwhelming
challenges with few classrooms, latrines,
and food.
“Most times when the children go back
home, they may not find any food and as a
result they fail to come back for afternoon
lessons.” she said.
This impacts on overall performance
because teachers and pupils struggle.
Nakabugo said there is need for a
minimum provision of utilities in schools to
enhance learning itself and what conditions
are needed for the pupils to learn.
“It is important to find out what is it that
the Somali pupils excel more than the other
nationalities,” Nakabugo said, “We might
actually be looking for solutions very far yet
they could be within the communities.”
Rosemary Seninde, the State Minister
for Primary Education says the Ministry
of Education and Sports has developed
a three-year education response plan to
ensure that refugee children and adoles-
cents and their counterparts in the host
communities have access to good quality
education at all levels, irrespective of the
country of origin of the refugees and their
location in Uganda.
June 29 - July 05, 2018 17
FEATURE
Africa at the World Cup
An opportunity to talk about the identities
and unity of a divided continent
By Mahfoud Amara
A
frica is the world’s second
most populated continent;
it is home to 54 countries.
Yet, according to football
umbrella body FIFA’s rules, only five
African countries can qualify for the
World Cup tournament which is held
every four years.
In the 2018 tournament Africa is
18 June 29 - July 05, 2018
represented by Nigeria and Senegal
from West Africa, and Egypt, Tunisia
and Morocco from North Africa.
Countries like the Democratic
Republic of Congo, Ghana, Cameroon
and Burkina Faso – which all feature
in the top 60 of FIFA’s ranking of its
206 member states – will be watching
the 64 matches in Russia from home.
All of this raises questions about
more than just football. It’s a chance
to reflect more broadly on identity.
For instance, is there a shared African
identity from the north to the south
of the Sahara desert? Is the Sahara
desert, in addition to being a natural
separation between north and south,
also a wall that separates two cultures:
black Africa and Arab-Berber Africa?
The term “black” is not used here
as a pejorative, although as someone
who’s originally from Algeria I must

acknowledge that blackness with
its rich culture and history is not
celebrated enough in North Africa.
The region suffers still from orientalist
vision and a colonial legacy that
constructed north Africa as nomadic
or a place of “Arabic charm”. There is
also a false idea in north Africa about
the rest of Africa as a place of “black
magic”, poverty and military coups.
And some North Africans would
consider themselves closer to Europe
(which they consider “the norm”) than
to sub-Saharan Africa.
The World Cup and the events
surrounding it offer a useful chance
to consider all of these biases and
misunderstandings. After all,
football and all sport offer powerful
opportunities for divided people to
unite – even if it’s just over a sports
tournament.
African disunity
The 68th FIFA Congress in
Moscow, held in the week before
the tournament’s kicked off, was
another test for African unity. The
question was: who to vote for as
host of the 2026 FIFA World Cup? A
North African country, Morocco was
bidding for the fifth time. They were
competing against the joined Canada,
the US and Mexico bid. The so-called
“United 2026” bid received 134 votes
compared to Morocco’s 65.
There was also very little sign
of African unity behind Morocco.
Many sub-Saharan African countries
gave their vote to the American bid,
including Guinea, Benin, Burundi,
Liberia, Mozambique, Namibia, Sierra
Leone, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
The all-Arab solidarity did not
help either as many Arab nations
did not vote for Morocco. Economic
and political interests overtook
considerations of belonging to the
same continent, race and ethnicity.
Having said this, there is mutual
fascination about football culture and
history, uniting Africa across its four
corners.
Morocco’s progress to the second
round of the 1978 World Cup
tournament held in Argentina was
a milestone for African football.
Algeria’s performance in Spain in
1982 made an impact that changed the
World Cup tournament forever. The
North Africans were on the receiving
end of one of the worst cases of match
fixing, involving West Germany and
Austria. FIFA’s limp response to
calls for punishing the Europeans or
staging a replay was to rule that from
then on, the last pair of games in every
FEATURE
group must be played simultaneously.
Algerian striker Lakhdar Belloumi
said afterwards: “Our performances
forced FIFA to make that change, and
that was even better than a victory.
It meant that Algeria left an indelible
mark on football history.”
Eight years later all of Africa
celebrated and danced with the then
38-year-old Roger Milla in 1990. The
brilliant Cameroonian forward scored
four goals in the tournament, hosted
by Italy. Four years later in the U.S.,
he became the oldest player to score a
goal at a World Cup tournament.
Nigeria’s Super Eagles, with
five World Cup appearances and
performances, led by Jay Jay Okocha,
Rashidi Yekini and Daniel Amokachi,
have inspired generations of young
Africans from the north to the south.
Many young Africans wanted to be
goalkeepers following role models like
Joseph-Antoine Bell (Cameroon) and
Badou Zaki (Morocco).
More chances for unity
At this year’s tournament in Russia
fans from across the continent, and
of course beyond, had placed great
hope and prepared to cheer on the
new emerging star of African football,
Egypt’s Mohamed Salah. As a proud
African, I know that most fans on our
continent have been like me during
this tournament: supporting Africa’s
five teams, whether they lie north or
south of the Sahara.
Mahfoud Amara is Assistant
Professor in Sport Policy &
Management, Qatar University
June 29 - July 05, 2018 19
advertorial
News of digitalized Mutuelle de
sante payments received with delight
O
ne of the biggest achievements
of the post-genocide
government in Rwanda has
been increased delivery of
public goods to its citizenry, allowing
people to enjoy their country and the
services on offer leaving no one behind
as they promise.
And perhaps the most innovative
service delivered to date has been
the national coverage of medical
insurance for the country’s population
of 12+ million especially thanks to the
community based health insurance
(CBHI) scheme that was established
around 2004, 14 years ago to boost access
to health services by ensuring they are
affordable and proximal.
Proximity would be a topic for
another day but in this present article,
it would be sufficing to mention that
RSSB joined locals of Nyamagabe in community work where new digital payment platforms established for Mutuelle de sante were explained to Rwandans
June 29 - July 05, 2018
Rwanda’s health ecosystem includes
health posts which are based at the
cell level, the second smallest of the
country’s administrative units, a health
centre that covers a sector, district and
regional referral hospitals, and national
referral hospitals not mentioning some
specialized health facilities like the
cancer institute that have been set up to
deal with 21st century ailments that need
specialized care.
Without any insurance of sorts,
Rwanda’s poor often left sicknesses
untreated or ran to the rescue or better
put exploitation of opportunistic
traditional healers, crippling the
population’s health and certainly
affecting the nation’s own progress both
socially and economically.
With the advent of CBHI commonly
known as Mutuelle de santé, Rwandans
seeking professional medical services
have significantly increased and services
to special groups like pregnant mothers
and infants boosted all contributing
to the envisioned improvement of the
quality of life in the country.
Back to the issue of affordability,
Mutuelle de sante subscriptions are
determined based on a family’s income
levels with insurance costs for the
lowest income households in category
1 of Rwanda’s social stratification,
UBUDEHE, met by Government and its
partners.
Households in categories 2 and 3
pay Rwf3,000 per head while families
in category 4 considered well off pay
Rwf7,000 under the scheme. These
stratifications of income levels are
regularly updated to ensure that changes
in people’s lives are captured and

mirrored in the expected payment for the
following year.
These updates are made by the
Ministry of Local Government through
local administration authorities at the cell
and village levels.
Taking an example of a family of
five, the CBHI scheme which operates
against the principle of solidarity –
shared responsibility –requires that each
member of a household make or have
made their contributions before any
member can benefit from health services.
The challenges that the scheme faced
in the past have ranged from long
payment queues at health centres that
to some were deterrents from making
the payments, sub-quality services
to beneficiaries as a result of poor
fund management that resulted into
dissatisfied service delivers who ended
up denying or giving substandard
services to subscribers among others.
With the appointment of the Rwanda
Social Security Board (RSSB) as the
scheme’s manager, so much has changed
in ensuring that service providers are
paid on time and that beneficiaries
are given good services albeit that
there is certainly still more room for
improvement especially regarding
the need for more medical service
providers at the health centre level to
minimise delays in service provision and
ensure good quality health services to
subscribers.
Using digital payments to ensure
seamless services in Mutuelle de sante
For challenges related to ease of
paying subscription fees to the scheme,
RSSB has also made significant progress
with the latest being the introduction of
mobile based payment options that will
save the scheme’s subscribers the trouble
of trips to and from health centres,
banks and local authority offices over
payments.
First, it is now easy for one to know
their household’s updated income
category by using the Government of
Rwanda’s mobile phone based Irembo
service which can be accessed by dialling
*909# and following prompts.
With information on income category,
the beneficiary will now be able to
make their payment via Mobicash, a
Visa International Inc. service, Mobile
Money services offered by various
telecommunication services starting with
MTN Mobile Money which is already
on Board and through the Irembo
e-government service portal.
At a recent community work Saturday
in Nyamagabe district, State Minister for
social welfare in the Ministry of Local
Government Alvera Mukabaramba told
locals that with the new service, they will
be able to make their payments on time
State Minister for social welfare in the Ministry of Local Government Alvera Mukabaramba
mobilising the community on new mutuelle payment platforms
and save them the trouble of travelling to
and from many offices.
“We are always looking for ways to
give you good services, we are hopeful
that this new payment platform will
make access to the services you are
entitled to seamless,” she told the
enthusiastic crowd that had gathered
at the district’s sports stadium for a
meeting following community work
done every last Saturday of the month in
Rwanda.
Rulisa Alexis, the in charge of
CBHI in RSSB took locals through
the steps of paying for mutuelle de
sante via the mobile based services
introduced highlighting that even other
telecommunication service providers of
mobile money platforms will soon enlist
mutuelle payments too.
Spearheaded by the district Mayor
Uwamahoro Bonaventure, 146 residents
who participated in the community work
raised Rwf438,000 to support payment
of Mutuelle de sante subscriptions for
lower income earning households in the
district.
With the digitalisation, residents were
also informed that they will no longer
need to take Mutuelle cards of all family
members to health centres for validation
or have them at every visit but rather
just the National ID or that of the head
of household for minors will now be
all needed to crosscheck in the system
before services are given.
Digitalised mutuelle payments
excite locals
For Uwizeyimana Donatila a mutuelle
subscriber, paying via mobile money
comes as a sigh of great relief from the
advertorial
troubles of moving up and about which
costs them money and time which they
could use for other needs.
“We are hoping that this service will
be maintained and improved to ensure it
is instant. We don’t want it to be on and
off. It is exciting to know that I can just
pay all my instalments at my pace on my
phone anywhere.”
Similarly, Mujawayezu Marie Claire
another resident who participated in
the community work where the new
platforms were launched said “We are
happy with how services are going
online in Rwanda. There is no reason
for me to go looking for someone to
do something for me sometimes for
days when there is a possibility to do
it myself. Thanks to all those involved
in making self-service possible with
different government services.”
For Uzayisenga Placide who uses
another RSSB run medical insurance
scheme for salaried workers but who
sometimes pays health insurance for
extended family members, the mobile
based payments for mutuelle will be a
game changer.
“Sometimes you give someone money
for mutuelle but they end up using it
for other needs that they may be having
only to discover later when a member
of their family or themselves falls sick
that they never subscribed. If this new
service becomes popular, it will be
easy for me to just pay for all of them
directly without having to send money
anywhere.”
Clearly, RSSB will need to mobilise
further to get word out to more people so
that this service that takes queues away
from health centres and local authority
offices gains popularity.
June 29 - July 05, 2018
rwanda

Parliamentary elections set

But political temperature remains low as
potential candidates collect signatures
By John Mbaraga

I
n just over two months
Rwandans head to the polls to
choose their next parliamentary
representatives, but the political
temperature is yet to rise as
potential candidates move around
constituencies collecting signatures to
support their candidature.
Rwanda’s National Electoral
Commission (NEC) estimates that 7.2
million voters will participate in the
elections in which candidates from the
ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF),
Social Democratic Party and Liberal
Party, among others, will be seeking
people’s mandate.
Currently, RPF dominates both
chambers of parliament. Rwanda
runs a bicameral parliamentary
system with two chambers; the Lower
Chamber and the Senate (Upper
Chamber).
In telephone interview with The
Independent last week, NEC executive
secretary Charles Munyaneza said
preparations for the poll are going on
well, adding that the electoral body
and was currently consulting with
different stakeholders, including
political parties, the civil society, local
leaders and donors, among others, to
ensure the exercise runs smoothly.
Already, the commission has
received six potential aspirants
seeking documents allowing them
to collect signatures to support their
candidature, he said. “We are already
receiving individual candidates
seeking NEC documents to go and
collect signatures in constituencies
to endorse their candidacy,” he said,
adding the commission was receiving
different interested people.
Seats up for grabs
Parliamentary elections are
scheduled to kick off on September 2,
with Rwandans living abroad casting
their ballots first, and the following
on September 3 the exercise will be
carried out within the country. There
are 80 seats in the Lower Chamber
that are up for grabs, 53 of which are
for directly elected MPs belonging to
different political organisations.
NEC executive secretary Charles Munyaneza
A total of 24 seats are reserved
for women representatives, who are
elected through the National Women
Council structures, while two seats
are for youth representatives, and one
goes to an MP for people living with
disabilities.
Presently, seven political parties
have representatives in the current
parliament and senate. Overall,
Rwanda Parliament consists of 106
parliamentarians, including 80 in the
Lower Chamber and 26 senators in
the Upper House. MPs served a 5-year
term, while senators have an 8-year
term of service. Senate polls are for
next year. Rwanda’s Parliament is
largely dominated by women, taking
64% of the total seats in all chambers.
Preparedness level
Munyaneza added that the
commission was in final process of
updating voters’ list, an exercise that
started in May. He said that civic
education was ongoing, adding that
youth and persons with disabilities
have already been sensitized on
the electoral process and rights as
citizens as they prepare to elect their
representatives to parliament.
“Starting from July 12-15, they will
be receiving candidates from both
political parties and independent
candidates and evaluate them. Those
who will meet the requirements will
start to campaign thereafter,” the NEC
chief explained.
Independent candidates can only be
eligible to compete for a parliamentary
seat after securing 600 signatures of
voters supporting the candidature,
according to the electoral code.
Munyaneza said that the elections
will cost a total of Rwf5.4 billion. “The
activities we have so far done this
fiscal year and those that are in the
pipeline, the total budget will be over
Rwf5.4 billion,” he explained.
Election observers
Munyaneza said that they are
receiving election observers, and
the commission has already issued
documents to many groups allowing
them to observe the forthcoming
elections. The NEC official said the
commission is also currently holding
consultative meetings with different
institutions and stakeholders who
“play a big part in elections” such as
donors, foreign envoys and civil society
organisation. “We are organizing
a meeting with local civil society
organisations to be held soon, and
we will later meet leaders of political
parties,” he said, adding that they have
already met with diplomats.

22 June 29 - July 05, 2018


Iwawa rehabilitation centre for young male delinquents. Female delinquents will soon get a similar place where they can wean themselves and learn new skills
First female delinquents
rehab centre to open
Currently, female offenders are housed
in transit centres and released
By John Mbaraga
Y
oung women and girls who have
veered off the right path and have
fallen into life of crime will have a
chance to rebuild their lives after
government unveiled plans to establish a
rehabilitation centre target females.
The centre, to be based in the Eastern
Province district of Bugesera, is part of
efforts by the government to ensure every
Rwandan achieves their full potential and
contribute to national development, officials
said.
It also seeks to reduce vices like prostitu-
tion, alcoholism and drug abuse among
young women and girls in Rwanda. Cur-
rently, Rwanda has three rehabilitation
centres, but none of them handles female
delinquents.
The Rwf3 billion centre is being con-
structed by developing and expanding the
Gitagata Rehabilitation Centre, and works
are expected to be completed in December
2019, according to the National Rehabilita-
tion Service. It will accommodate a total of
1,000 delinquents, 500 young female and
500 females below 18 years old.
“The centre targets to rehabilitate pros-
titutes, drugs users, and other females
involved in different illegal activities that
can destabilize the general order of society,”
says Aime Bosenibamwe, the National
Rehabilitation Service (NRS) director gen-
eral.
He explains that, currently, those female
offenders involved in such activities are
housed in transit centres for about two
months and released.
“Currently, we have no centre that reha-
bilitates adult female delinquents. Those
who pass through to transit centres are
rehabilitated and, presently, some are work-
ing in cooperatives,” he adds, noting that
NRS works with partners who rehabilitate
female delinquents.
“Alongside rehabilitation, we will train
them in various vocational skills trades to
ensure that when they go back home they
can be useful citizens and fend for them-
selves instead of engaging in crimes and
becoming a burden to communities and the
country,” says Bosenibamwe.
Bosenibamwe, notes that the institu-
tion doesn’t have exact figures of females
involved in these illegal acts, saying that
NRS will conduct research to establish the
numbers to guide planning and level of
intervention.
“I believe we will have the number of
female involved in delinquency by Febru-
ary 2019... For us to be able to identify the
root causes of delinquency, we need to carry
out a scientific study,” he said.
rwanda
Impact of rehabilitation services
According to Bosenibamwe, the youth
that have been rehabilitated and reintegrat-
ed in communities are doing well “as they
were trained on vocational skills”.
The relapse rate is about 10% of those
who were rehabilitated returned to life in
crime, while 20% have been readmitted
to Iwawa Rehabilitation Centre. Since the
centre started operations about six years
ago, 15,803 youth were rehabilitated and,
presently, 4,000 youth are admitted and
undergoing rehabilitation. A total of 4,485
were rehabilitated trough other rehabilita-
tion centres.
Bugesera-based Gitagata Rehabilitation
Centre handles children below 18 years of
age, and currently has over 400 juveniles
undergoing rehabilitation and training, says
NRS.
Bosenibamwe say; “Our mission is to
reach a state where delinquency will no lon-
ger be a problem or burden in this country.
Though we might still have some few cases,
we want to ensure that the problem will be
under total control.”
He adds that NRS goal is to ensure
Rwandans live in peace without threats
from such young criminal individuals to
“promote national security or national
development”
June 29 - July 05, 2018 23
rwanda
Mitrelle Group to construct
10,000 housing units in Kigali
Sector players call for more incentives
to ensure low cost segment benefits
By Stephen Nuwagira
T
he recent signing of
a Memorandum of
Understanding between
Rwanda Development
Board (RDB) and Mitrelle Group,
to construct 10,000 housing units
in Rwanda has led major players to
demand reassessment of priorities.
The Israel-based global
conglomerate that specialises in
large-scale and long-term turn-key
projects, says the planned units will
be affordable housing, according to a
statement from RDB.
But Eric Hajabakunzi Uwinshuti,
a Kigali-based real estate consultant,
says that most so-called affordable
housing units on the market are
24 June 29 - July 05, 2018
usually out of reach of the intended
beneficiaries, costing much higher
than what their “affordable tag”
indicates.
Another prominent player, David
Mushabe, who is the executive
director of Abadahigwa ku Ntego
Limited, a subsidiary company of
Kigali Veterans Co-operative Society
(KVCS), said subsidies are needed to
ensure that the low cost segment is
served.
Abadahigwa ku Ntego is already
developing three bed-roomed flats in
Kabuga, Masaka sector in Kicukiro
District that will cost Rwf24.6 million
each, which Mushabe said is among
the lowest offers on the market.
But, Mushabe says, the firm was
only able to reduce the cost of the
units because the Rwanda Housing
Authority (RHA) subsidised them by
servicing the estate with roads, water
and electricity among others.
Uwinshuti said other developers
sell two or three bed-roomed units
at between Rwf30 million to Rwf75
million and rent per month swings
widely from lows of Rwf200,000 to
highs of Rwf700,000 depending on
location.
Access to affordable housing is one
of the key priorities of government but
it is clear that innovative interventions
are needed to achieve it.
For Uwinshuti, formation of housing
cooperatives by urban dwellers
interested in homeownership is one
such intervention that could help fast-
track the delivery of affordable homes.

He said if residents of Kigali and
provincial cities organised themselves
in groups and pool funds together,
it would be cheaper and easier to
develop their own low-cost housing.
“The government should initiate
and support such arrangements and
also provide incentives,” he says, “It
is also important to understand that
pooling funds together is an easier
way to realise what an individual
cannot achieve alone.”
Uwinshuti says Rwandans can use
an already existing strong cooperative
movement to build affordable housing
cooperatives by interested town
residents countrywide.
The government could also partner
with private investors on some
projects because many real estate
developers lack funds enough to
undertake affordable housing because
it often requires undertaking big
project to reduce cost per unit.
Other key interventions by the
government that could help ease
access to affordable housing include
subsidising of construction materials,
especially those sourced from outside
the country.
There is also need to invest in
research to find innovative and low-
cost housing technologies that can
help real estate sector players to
develop housing projects and deliver
rwanda
to the market at affordable prices.
The Government of Rwanda has
put in place a number of strategic
incentives to attract local and
international investors in the sector.
Last year, Rwanda unveiled a multi-
million dollar Affordable Housing
Fund with an initial investment of
$200 million, targeting developers of
low-cost housing to help bring down
prices of these homes.
Therefore, the entry of new
affordable housing investors could
fast-track delivery of decent homes
in Kigali city and provincial cities,
according to Uwinshuti.
While signing the deal, Haim
Taib, the Mitrelli Group founder and
president, seems to have had this in
mind, saying the project was a ‘very
nice’ challenge for them.
“We have the knowledge, the
funds, the expertise and the ability
to complete this project, and make
it the best project for the people of
Rwanda,” he said.
Clare Akamanzi, the RDB chief
executive officer, lauded the
partnership, saying Mitrelli is the kind
of investor wanted in Rwanda.
Mazen Al Sawwaf, the CEO and
founder of Global Investment Holding
Company, a Saudi Arabian holding
company, also participated in the
signed.
A 2012 Housing Market Study in the
City of Kigali showed that 340,000 new
housing units are needed by 2022.
Of these, 43,436 units (12.6%)
are required for social housing
and 186,163 units for affordable
housing (54.1%) for Kigali alone.
Another112,867 units for midrange
housing (32.8%), while premium
housing needs are projected at 0.5%
(1,601 units).
The city’s population stands at over
1.2 million residents but is projected to
hit 3.8 million by 2040, which calls for
provision of more housing facilities to
accommodate the growing population.
The level of urbanisation has
increased from 15.8% to 26.5%
between 2002 and 2015, meaning that
almost two million people live in
towns.
The construction sector has been
experiencing some lows over the past
two years but rallied to grow by 8% in
the first quarter of 2017/18 FY.
Mushabe also said Abadahigwa ku
Ntego welcomes Mitrelle’s entry.
He said the market is still largely
underserved, especially for young
graduates and corporates looking for a
decent affordable home.
June 29 - July 05, 2018 25
rwanda
Agric shifts fertiliser, seed
distribution from RAB
By Stephen Nuwagira
R
wanda’s agriculture ministry is
changing the process of seed and
fertiliser distribution, according to
the Minister of State minister for
Agriculture, Fulgence Nsengiyumva.
Nsengiyumva said Rwanda Agriculture
Board (RAB), which has hitherto been cen-
tral in the process, will no longer be directly
involved, leaving the distribution of inputs
to be handled by sector and district authori-
ties.
The RAB retains its supervisory role to
ensure accountability.
“This strategy is good for business and
also supports our targets to improve crop
output, but it doesn’t mean that we are
removing RAB from its accountability role,”
he said.
Only farmers registered with local
authorities will access the subsidised seeds
and fertilisers, in a move the minister said is
intended to ensure proper monitoring and
accountability.
Smart Nkunganyire, a portal for input
distribution, monitoring and reporting, has
also been developed to strengthen the deliv-
ery system and ensure farmers get input
timely.
The moves are part of a push for new
approaches to enhance agriculture pro-
duction to ensure food security and boost
incomes of farmers.
The shift to the new system is intended to
address the problem of delays in seed and
fertiliser distribution.
“We adopted this approach because the
old one has been causing delays as suppli-
ers were not being paid in time, making it
hard for them to import and deliver inputs
in time,” Nsengiyumva said.
Addressing local leaders and extension
staff from the three districts of the City of
Kigali - Gasabo, Kicukiro and Nyarugenge
ahead of the start of season C next month,
the minister urged local leaders and exten-
sion staff to ensure that farmers plant in
time.
“Ensure that every square inch of land
that’s currently redundant is cultivated.
Also encourage people, especially those
prone to weather vagaries in marshlands,
to embrace quick growing and high value
crops like vegetables and fruits,” Nsengi-
yumva said. Local leaders from Kigali said
the problem of delays in seed and fertiliser
delivery had previously hurt production.
26 June 29 - July 05, 2018
Challenge of flooded marshlands
Earlier, the vice mayors in charge of eco-
nomic development from the three districts
expressed concern over rampant flooding
in key marshlands in Kigali, saying it has
delayed land preparation for the coming
planting season.
Many farmers in Kigali cultivate in
marshlands, growing mostly rice, vegeta-
bles, maize and some beans.
The recent long rains left most marsh-
lands flooded, including Kajevuba, Kinyin-
ya, Rurambi, Rugenge and Bumboga,
flooded affecting land preparation plans for
season C.
Kicukiro District Vice Mayor in charge
of Economic Development, Angelique
Mukunde, said innovations were required
to pump water from the marshlands so that
farmers can use them.
The district is implementing a policy
where “every piece of idle land” is being
reclaimed for agricultural production as
part of efforts to boost output and house-
hold income, and ensure food security.
The government is also banking on the
sector to boost export volumes and earn-
ings.
Agriculture contributed 31% to GDP in
the first quarter of the year after services
that added 47%; industry sector 15%.
The minister encouraged local authorities
to find solutions to their problems instead
of “running” to the central government for
help every time.
“You are in charge of the budget; you are
responsible; you are local government; the
budget is in your hands, be proactive and
stop waiting for RAB or central government
to find solutions for you. That’s the only
way we can achieve out targets,” the minis-
ter advised.
He said they should encourage farmers to
embrace irrigation and water harvesting to
mitigate effects of climate change.
The government provides a 50% subsidy
on small irrigation equipment to encourage
framers to adopt modern farming practices
and also spur crop productivity and make
the sector more sustainable.
“We have to work together with people
to uplift the agriculture sector because it
is key the country’s development,” said
Parfait Busabizwa, the City of Kigali vice
mayor in charge of economic development.
Farmers speak out
Anonciata Mukafunka, a farmer and peer
educator in Jabana sector Gasabo district,
called on government to include beans on
the list of subsidised seeds, saying a lot of
people grow the cereal but lack money to
buy quality seeds. “Most people want to
grow beans but they cannot afford better
seed at the current market prices, affecting
country’s efforts geared at food security and
boosting household income,” Mukafunka
said.
Government provides seed subsidies for
only maize, soya and wheat under the crop
intensification programme, paying half the
cost. A kilogramme of improved maize is at
Rwf2,300 and beans cost Rwf800 each kilo
on the open market, which Mukafunka said
is too high for ordinary farmers especially
rural areas.

`Let Rwandans eat cheese’
Munyankindi's lone journey to creating a Rwandan cheese
​By Elias Hakizimana
T
heoneste Munyankindi, a priest Mu-
sanze District of Rwanda’s Northern
Province, has unusual approach to
business as his thriving cheese ven-
ture shows.
It all started with a dream that Mun-
yankindi had – to produce a locally made
Rwandan cheese.
For that, he realised he had to build a
factory. But first he also had to produce the
milk. He could easily have bought the milk
from other farmers but Munyankindi has
one unusual trait; he is a stickler for quality.
That meant he could not easily trust other
farmers to give him the quality milk he
needed.
That is why in 2010, he started raising
dairy cattle. The short shelf life of milk and
milk products he produced on his diary
farm made his dream of making cheese
even more urgent.
He had laid the foundation for the enter-
prise but spent another five years refining
the idea. It is only in 2015 that he started
construction works on his milk processing
factory, Fromagérie la Lumière.
Today, Munyankindi is what is called a
model farmer; one who practices his farm-
ing by following very strict guidelines. He
supplies cheese to top supermarkets and
hotels in Kigali, Musanze, and Gisenyi.
Though he had planned to initially use
milk from his 10 dairy cows, production
was low. So he soon started training neigh-
bouring farmers to produce the quality of
milk he wanted. He trained them in better
animal husbandry practices to increase milk
production and quality. When he felt they
had attained his grade, he started buying
some milk from them.
He says although the decision to buy
milk from other farmers in the locality to
ensure sustainable production, it was also
his desire to lead by example supporting
other residents to improve their enterprises
and livelihoods.
His project was driven by seeing how
Rwanda’s economy is based on agriculture
and livestock, and yet most of the produce
goes to waste because of lack of processing
avenues.
“I wanted to contribute to the develop-
ment of the sector by helping increase the
shelf life of milk products through value
addition,” he says, “It would also benefit
other farmers.”
His factory processes 1,000 litres per day
and about 5,000 litres per week. The factory
spends over Rwf1 million on payments
for milk suppliers every week and buys
Rwf200,000 worth of milk daily. It produces
100 kilos of cheese every day.
nsuring safety
As ever, Munyankindi remains deter-
mined to improve quality of his cheese. He
wanted to have the cheese certified with
standardisation mark (S-Mark) by Rwanda
Standards Board (RSB) the standards watch-
dog. That proved to be difficult in a country
without a history of producing cheese. But
Munyankindi says since he believes that to
boost the marketability of the cheese and
create confidence among the public, he
needed quality certification, his company
approached RSB and guided the regulator
on how to implement safety standards.
The 42-year-old priest believes that cer-
rwanda
tification adds value to products, which
motivates him to improve the business on
daily basis.
Munyankindi says acquiring the quality
has made the cheese more competitive, add-
ing that the price has risen from Rwf2,500
to between Rwf3,000 and Rwf3,500 after
receiving the S-mark three years ago.
“The S-mark guarantees its quality, indi-
cating that our cheese meets the required
standards and is safe,” he says.
Though their market share has grown,
the entrepreneur says they currently serve
30% of the targeted market.
Therefore, they are looking to reach more
people and use different channels to deepen
our market reach.
“This way, more farmers will gain from
an expanded market and earn better from
their farming activities,” he adds.
In the meantime, the factory is also
working hard to get what is called the Haz-
ards Analysis and Critical Control Point
(HACCP) certification. This will ensure that
their products can be trusted and marketed
regionally and internationally.
The cheese maker is confident to make it
on the big stage in regional and global mar-
kets as the firm plans export the cheese after
getting HACCP certification.
Fromagérie la Lumière has also benefited
from government support to the dairy sec-
tor; such as capacity building and trainings
of its employees, as well acquisition of better
equipment and processing facilities. Mun-
yankindi says his dream is far from fulfilled.
He wants to produce between 200 and
300kg of cheese every day going forward.
The factory plans to increase the production
five times in three years.
June 29 - July 05, 2018 27
A German-‐speaking media team gets debriefed at the UWA offices in Bwindi Impenetrable National
Park after returning from a gorilla tracking adventure.  COURTESY PHOTO

Surge in tourism revenues

Sustained marketing in America, Germany and the UK boosts
tourist numbers but questions on validity of figures persist

U
By Ronald Musoke
ganda has registered a surge
in tourist numbers over the
last one year, with many of
the visitors coming in from
key source markets of the
USA, United Kingdom, In-
dia and Germany.
Data from the Uganda Tourism Board
(UTB), the national tourism marketing
agency, shows that the country recorded a
1.5% growth in international tourist arrivals
to 1.32million in the 2016/17 financial year.
In the most coveted high-end market,
the U.S.A is said to have remained the top
contributor to visitor arrivals to Uganda
with 57,959 visitors, followed by the United
Kingdom (39,539), India (30,210), China
(19,175) and Germany (10,586).
In Africa, Rwanda contributed the big-
gest visitor arrivals with 362,865 visitors,
followed by Kenya (352,817), DR Congo
(90,148), Tanzania (86,091) and Sudan
(35,353). Of all the total arrivals during the
year, 18% visited for purposes of leisure,
recreation and holiday, 22% visited for
business and professional conferences, 38%
visited friends and relatives and 22% visited
for other reasons such as transit, education
and medical.
As a result, tourism remained the coun-
try’s leading foreign exchange earner
bringing in US$1.4bn (about Shs 5.1trillion)
last year compared with US$1.35bn in the
previous year. This is almost three times the
tourism revenue Uganda earned a decade
ago (US$ 498.3m).
However, Kenya, which has a more
robust tourism sector in the region besides
Tanzania, recorded US$1.2bn in earnings
compared with US$989 million in the pre-
vious year as a result of a 9.8% growth in
international tourist arrivals to 1.4million.
Similarly, Tanzania recorded US$2.2bn,
up from US$2.1bn during the same period
under review. This followed the growth in
tourism arrivals from 1.28million in 2016 to
1.3 in 2017.
Executives in the sector who spoke to The
Independent linked the sudden interest in
Uganda as a top tourism destination to the
recent recruitment of three marketing firms
that have been selling Uganda in Europe
and North America.
The three firms hired by Uganda in 2016
include PHG Consulting for North Ameri-
ca, Kamageo for the UK and Ireland market
and KPRN for the German-speaking mar-
kets of Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Vincent Mugaba, the UTB publicist noted
that as a result of the PR firms’ marketing
of Uganda in the last one year, at least 133
operators in the UK now offer Uganda as a
top tourist destination. That is a rise of 33%.
Mugaba said there also appears to have
been a consistent media campaign by the
UK media. Besides Uganda featuring exten-
sively on ITV breakfast TV and national
newspapers, online platforms, YouTube,
OK magazine, AOL, MSN, the UK top
travel media house Rough Guides declared
Uganda a top destination to visit in Africa in
2017, a credit which was picked up by other
media across the Atlantic with the CNN also
rating Uganda highly.
Also, tour operators and travel media
were invited to Uganda and taken around
tourist attractions to enable them get a first-
hand impression of the country, a set-up
that saw a spike in the number of tourism
campaigns abroad.
While reading the national budget for
the FY 2018/19 on June 14 in Kampala,
Matia Kasaija, the Minister of Finance, Plan-
ning and Economic Development said the
procurement of the “market destination

28 June 29 - July 05, 2018


representation” firms is yielding substantial
results.
Going forward, Kasaija said the govern-
ment expects to rake in twice as much (US
$2.7bn) every year by 2020 from the sector
riding on the hope that the tourist arrivals
will have hit four million.
Tourism experts say Uganda stands out
as a top tourist destination thanks to its
stock of natural attractions that a tourist can
enjoy in the country’s 10 national parks,
12 wildlife reserves and other sanctuaries.
The country, for instance, has more than
50% of the world’s remaining population of
Mountain gorillas, over 1,060 bird species,
constituting 11% of the global population of
bird species.
Uganda also has the Source of River Nile,
the longest river in the world, Lake Victo-
ria, the largest fresh water lake in Africa
and Mountain Rwenzori— the renowned
mountains of the moon— which is also the
only mountain in the world with a snow
cap astride the equator.
But officials in the sector say it is the
Mountain gorilla that remains Uganda’s
cash cow since many tourists are fascinated
by these endangered primates.
Bashir Hangi, the Communications
Officer of the Uganda Wildlife Authority
(UWA) told The Independent on June18 that
they have noticed that foreign tourists have
shown more interest in Ugandan gorilla
permits over the last one year.
“If you are looking at getting a gorilla
permit (right now), the fact is, you may not
get one until September,” he said. A single
Ugandan gorilla permit costs about US$600.
Amos Wekesa, the executive director of
Great Lakes Safaris, one of the leading local
tourist agencies told The Independent that the
overbooking of Uganda’s gorilla permits
bodes well for Uganda’s tourism sector. He
attributes this to marketing tourism abroad,
especially in the UK.
He said in Kibaale National Park, in west-
ern Uganda, for instance, where he owns a
lodge, it is impossible to get accommoda-
tion this whole year.
“People say it is because Rwanda recently
increased its gorilla permit prices to US$
1500 but Rwanda’s gorilla permits have
always been more expensive than Ugan-
da’s,” he said.
“Rwanda’s gorilla permits were at
US$750 when Uganda’s were at US$400 but
Uganda never had the demand.”
But despite the recent gains in the sector,
Wekesa says Uganda should not relax. He
says it is high time the government empha-
sized promotion of Uganda’s other unique
attractions.
“We have less than 38,000 gorilla permits
in a year but a serious country cannot be
content with 38, 000 vistors,” he said.
“Now we should be marketing attrac-
tions like Mountain Rwenzori and Elgon
which can take tens of thousands of visitors,
Kidepo, Murchison Falls, Lake Victoria and
River Nile.” He said the world should know
that the Nile begins in Uganda and that
Lake Victoria is in Uganda.
A 2013 World Bank report titled “Har-
nessing Tourism for Improved Growth and
Livelihoods,” categorizes Uganda as being
on the verge of tourism success, but at the
same time cautions the country against
complacency if it is to move into the select
group of sub-Saharan countries like Kenya,
Tanzania, South Africa, Mauritius and
Namibia that have deepened their tourism
sector.
“It is not enough to have interesting
natural and cultural attractions and friendly
people,” the report said, adding that tour-
ism is one of the largest and fastest growing
sectors of the world economy, and is now
ripe for development in Sub-Saharan Africa.
According to the report, countries
around the world have recently cashed in
from tourism as international arrivals have
grown but expansion of tourism in sub-
Saharan Africa faces a number of obstacles
with issues such as land ownership and
availability being at the forefront.
Stephen Asiimwe Amos Wekesa
Specifically, Uganda’s key constraints
include poor access to tourist sites, inad-
equate tourist information, and low levels of
ICT provision of tourist services and inad-
equate specialized human resources for the
hospitality industry.
The report urges governments to form
partnerships with the private sector—and
vice versa at local, regional and national
levels to plan and develop tourism infra-
structure, increase transparency in land
ownership and create a business-friendly
environment for tour operators and other
companies.
“To become competitive worldwide,
African governments and the private sector
must work together in planning tourism
infrastructure, promotion and financing,”
the report notes.
When sustainably managed, tourism
fuels economic transformation, accelerates
reform, triggers infrastructure improve-
ments and empowers women and minori-
ties in countries throughout Africa, the
report notes.
Tourism has been identified and pri-
oritized by the government as a primary
growth sector in Uganda’s National Devel-
business
opment Plan and Vision 2040 with the gov-
ernment reckoning that if well nurtured, the
sector has the potential to yield up to $12bn
annually which is close to half of Uganda’s
current GDP.
Government allocate Shs 32bn to
unlock tourism sector
During the budget reading for the FY
2018/19 on June 14, Kasaija said the govern-
ment intends to consolidate the gains made
in the sector. He allocated Shs 32bn to fur-
ther unlock the sector.
Lobbyists in the tourism sector had called
for the sector to be allocated at least Shs
29.5bn. A chunk of this allocation (Shs 17bn)
will go to UTB to showcase the country as
a top tourist destination in six international
fairs among other activities, according to the
Board’s publicist.
In the second year, Mugaba said the firms
will build on the successful media and PR
engagements, which increased destination
awareness in the respective markets.
The firms will also continue to provide
in-depth trade knowledge and training to
travel professionals for both tour opera-
tors and travel in the international source
markets and domestically in Uganda. UTB
is also planning to recruit another three
PR firms to market Uganda’s tourism in
China, the United Arab Emirates and Japan
markets.
Wekesa told The Independent that Uganda
can compete with Kenya and South Africa if
it invests more money in marketing its tour-
ism abroad.
“The challenge for us is that we don’t
quantify our earnings. UWA should now
be saying that we have sold this number of
gorilla permits and Uganda has earned this
much,” he said.
It would be easy for us to say that if we
have invested this much in marketing and
we have earned this much, how much
should we now invest back, Wekesa said.
“Image building of a country is a national
responsibility,” Wekesa said. “Having a
product is not enough. If you do have a
product but I don’t know about you and
your product, how will I buy it? That is
Uganda’s biggest problem now,” he said.
Data from Kenya’s Tourism Ministry
shows that the country spent KShs 4.5bn in
promoting tourism last year. On the other
hand, South Africa increased its tourism
budget from R1.14bn to R1.23bn in Febru-
ary this year to promote tourism in and out
of the country.
Wekesa told The Independent that
there is also need to reform the UTB,
get the right people in the right posi-
tions and get on board more interna-
tional PR firms.
“It is important for UTB to work
like other tourism boards around the
region,” he said.
June 29 - July 05, 2018 29
business
URA, Japan agency boost
South Sudan taxman
AfDB hires Commissioner General to
implement tax reforms in war-wrecked nation
By Ian Katusiime
S
outh Sudan is a young
nation beset with many
troubles especially the
continuous outbreaks
of war.
But that has not deterred
Africa’s newest nation from
building its institutions, with
the National Revenue Author-
ity being one of those getting
a head start to enable the
country have a semblance of a
functional state.
Uganda Revenue Authority
(URA) in partnership with the
Japan International Coopera-
tion Agency (JICA) has in the
past one year provided logisti-
cal and human resource sup-
port to South Sudan customs
officials in Kampala.
JICA has conducted train-
ing sessions for South Sudan
customs officials particularly on
a program called Harmonised
System (HS).
HS is an internationally
standardized system of names
and numbers to classify traded
products. It came into effect
in 1988 and has since been
developed and maintained by
the World Customs Organisa-
tion (WCO) (formerly the Cus-
toms Co-operation Council), an
independent intergovernmental
organisation based in Brussels,
Belgium, with over 200 member
countries.
This comes nearly two
months since the African Devel-
opment Bank (AfDB) recruited
Olympio Attipoe, a Ghanaian
national as the commissioner
general of the South Sudan Rev-
enue Authority.
Attipoe said he plans to have
selected a maximum of five
banks to collect revenue on
behalf of South Sudan Revenue
Authority (SSRA) by mid next
month.
30 June 29 - July 05, 2018
Olympio Attipoe
During the past two financial
years, the South Sudan Ministry
of Finance collected revenue on
behalf of government with the
help of 10 commercial banks.
“I revoked all the contracts
and now we are screening
banks to do the collection,”
said Attipoe during a capacity
development meeting for South
Sudan customs officials at the
URA Training Centre in Kam-
pala on June 18.
The training was attended
by Mitsunori Numaguchi, the
JICA Deputy Chief Advisor
of the Capacity Development
Project for South Sudan among
other JICA officials.
Among other reforms Atti-
poe wants to implement is a tax
audit investigation which will
look out for multinational com-
panies that have been declaring
zero profit in the conflict-ridden
country.
“This one will be headed by
a commissioner,” he said.
Attipoe, who has been resi-
dent in South Sudan for the last
seven years, said he appreciates
the many challenges the coun-
try is facing especially war. He
said the reform process will be
a long and tiring one.
“There is a fragile political
situation and even oil produc-
tion which the country heavily
relies on, we will have to diver-
sify,” he explained.
Transition period
He also said as commissioner
general, he is in a transition
period as the hiring process
for the initial 650 new staff at
the revenue body is underway
with the help of an international
recruitment agency.
The period also involves
the Ministry of Finance hand-
ing over the tax collection role
to the South Sudan Revenue
Authority.
However, he could not state
the amount of revenue that the
finance ministry had collected
in the financial year 2017/2018
as some of the contracted
banks could not provide reli-
able data.
Meanwhile, Attipoe
revealed that prospective
applicants will have to careful-
ly read the terms of reference
for their jobs if they are to have
a chance at succeeding at their
new jobs.
So far, 10 HS trainings for
approximately 100 customs
officers and other sessions for
Clearing Agents have been
carried out.
They have also developed
explanatory notes for South
Sudan through case studies
and learned ways of classifying
the commodities execution.
Statistics trainings have been
conducted for another 100 cus-
toms officers by JICA experts
and URA officials. The South
Sudanese received training on
how to apply correct and accu-
rate trade statistics. They have
also received mentoring on
principles of basic mathematics
and computer skills.
South Sudan descended
into conflict in December 2013
following a power struggle
between President Salvar Kiir,
and his former vice president
Riek Machar.
Power struggles between
President Kiir and Dr Machar
have led to a huge tax default.
The two country’s top officials
were in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
recently for negotiations to end
the long running conflict.
The SSRA was established
as part of reforms in chapter 4
of the 2015 peace agreement.
It is tasked to ensure that all
revenues are remitted to a
“single treasury account,”, and
expenditures are conducted
in accordance with the law
and budget. The SSRA is also
mandated to assess, collect,
administrate and enforce
laws relating to taxation and
revenues.
 business

Shs 139bn URA

Tower nears
completion
Tax body to save Shs3.8bn
upon completion of the project
By Julius Businge

U
ganda Revenue Authority (URA)
is expected to save at least
Shs 3.8bn in annual rent upon
completion of its office complex in
Nakawa, Kampala.
The ongoing construction works of the
Shs 139bn URA Tower is set for completion
in August this year. It is expected to be the
tallest building in Kampala with 22 floors
divided into four podiums and 18 tower
floors totaling 26,021 square metres.
The recently launched Pearl of Africa
Hotel, Crested Towers and Mapeera House
have 19 floors while Uganda House has 16
floors.
Ian Rumanyika, the manager for public cooling of the building as well as house main tax offices in Kampala East, North,
and corporate affairs in the Commissioner modern forensic and science laboratories Central, Entebbe and Mukono.
General’s office told The Independent that support tax investigations, customs and In terms of improving work efficiency
in an interview that the overall physical domestic taxes operations. for the tax body, Rumanyika said the office
progress of the project is 85% complete, complex will facilitate a full integration of
with Ms Seyani Brothers & Co. (U) Ltd as Who will occupy the building? the back office service to support the self-
the contractor. Rumanyika said the overall objective service business model of e-transactions,
He said the office complex will also of the project is to converge its entire staff under one roof, while maintaining only tax
provide for a car parking structure for 360 in Mukono, Kampala and Entebbe at the payers’ service centres. 
cars and surface parking for 710 vehicles. headquarter for efficient service delivery. “It is expected that URA will offer faster
The total area of the parking structure At peak in 10 years’ time, the building is and better services to clients resulting
is 12,923 square metres with five levels for expected to accommodate up to 1,700 staff. from process integration while reducing
parking, with the sixth floor designed to However, only tax information centres administrative costs to the taxpayer and
house a crèche for breastfeeding staff, gym, will remain operational in central Kampala URA,” Rumanyika said.
Sauna and Unisex Salon. and its environs after the closure of the The building will also improve the URA
It also has an auditorium or multipurpose image and corporate brand in the public
high end conference hall for 300 people and domain based on the fact that it has been
mini-meeting rooms at every floor. The ongoing construction works of the only revenue administration body
“The building is designed to be green in the EAC region without a befitting
the

with an Intelligent Building Management
System (BMS) and other ICT innovations,
making it a high performance building,”
Rumanyika said, adding that BMS will
manage all services like access control,
lighting, water, security, firefighting,
modern ICT network infrastructure and air
conditioning.
In addition, the office complex has a
central core atrium to enhance natural
ventilation and minimise mechanical
Shs 139bn
URA Tower is set for completion in
August this year.It is expected to be
the tallest building in Kampala with
22 floors divided into four podiums
and 18 tower floors totaling 26,021
square metres.
headquarters building.
The tower will provide modern office
facilities that support URA’s current
and future work methods of different
departments. It will also improve security
of vital URA computer and other records
through provision of state-of-the-art and
round the clock security.
Construction of the URA Tower started
on Feb. 04, 2015.
June 29 - July 05, 2018 31
business
Economy INSURANCE

Higher taxes may hurt businesses aYo customers

B reaches one million

usiness executives under their um- ment at PSFU said during a private sector
brella, Private Sector Foundation post-budget luncheon at the Uganda Manu-

U
Uganda, are worried that the newly facturers Association.
introduced taxes in the FY 2018/19 “This is like double taxation and will in gandans
National Budget that start next month may the end discourage ICT innovations. We seem to
choke the private sector growth. encourage the government to leave opera- be ap-
The executives said the 1% proposed levy tional taxes out not to choke innovations.” preciat-
on all mobile money transfer transactions Ogwal said although taxes are important, ing the value of
will also discourage innovations. the government needs to realise a point at micro-insurance
“The new mobile tax taxes airtime, data, which taxes are harmful to growth. as one million
tax income for operators, the sender, the Currently, Uganda has more than 200 people have al-
receiver, paying bills and all that,” Moses new ICT innovations, with majority yet to ready registered
Ogwal, the director Private Sector Develop- be operationalised, according to PSFU. for aYo micro- Edwin Kwesiga
insurance service
Construction in a period of one “It is an exciting
year. venture,” he said
Crown Paints to invest Shs 17bn in Uganda, TZ Edwin Kwesiga,
the chief execu-
adding, “We target
to reach two million
According to Kenya’s Business Daily, tive officer for aYo customers soon.”
Rakesh Rao, the Group’s chief executive, Uganda told media He, however,
said the firm is looking at investing Shs on June 20 that firm remained cagey on
11.5bn in Uganda and Shs 5.5bn in Tanzania has recorded 977 as the total number
to meet the growing product demand. claims and paid out of gross premium
He hopes to capitalise on the political Shs295million as underwritten. aYo
stability in the region that will attract inves-
compensation with in partnership with
tors in the construction and infrastructure
the average pay- MTN opened its
projects. “The Kenyan government has
ment being Shs300, doors to the Ugan-
indicated interest in providing one million
000 per claim. dan insurance mar-
Rakesh Rao low-cost houses and we expect that this will
He attributed ket in January 2017

T
create a significant demand for paint,” he
he Nairobi Securities Exchange said. The manufacturer in its 2017 annual the increase in the with two products
(NSE)-listed paints manufacturer, report disclosed that the Uganda and Tan- number of clients to – aYo recharge with
Crown Paints, is set to invest Shs zania subsidiaries incurred a loss of Shs 68.8 awareness and edu- care and aYo send
17bn in its Uganda and Tanzania million and Shs 2.9bn respectively, during cation campaigns. with care. 
subsidiaries. the year ended December 31, 2017.
ECONOMY
ENTREPRENEURSHIP

SEED roots for partnerships Weakening shilling pushes prices of processed products

S A
gradually weak- tics at the Uganda Bureau against the dollar since
EED, an institution that promotes ening shilling of Statistics. “In the re- the power generated is
entrepreneurship for sustainable against the Unit- viewed year, we saw the charged in foreign cur-
development is urging the gov- ed States dollar price for utilities going up rency by the generators.”
ernment, private sector and civil has slightly pushed up by 1.4% and that of the Data from Bank of Ugan-
society organizations to work jointly to prices for manufactured manufactured goods ris- da shows that the inter-
achieve business success. goods and utility services, ing to 0.8%,” he said.“For bank average exchange
Speaking on the sidelines of the ‘Prac- according to Peter Opio, the utilities, prices were rate for May 2017 stood at
titioner Lab on Climate Finance’ event the director for Busi- driven up by the deprecia- Shs 3,607 compared to Shs
organised by SEED, on June 20 at the ness and Industry Statis- tion of the local currency 3,768 last month.
Sheraton Hotel, Jonas Restle, a senior offi-
cial from SEED said government should tech
provide incentives related to finance, land,
tax and others to support growth of the Infinix unveils AI-powered Note 5 in Uganda

I
enterprises that are key in creating new nfinix, the Transsion and Google Lens. The phone has
jobs and growing the economy. Holdings premium a glossy back and it’s being hailed
He also said partnerships should look smartphone brand, as the best Infinix device so far.
at building capacity in financial manage- committed to bringing In partnership with Google on
ment, market access and related oportu- cutting edge technology Android One, we will provide the
nites.  and stylish devices has young generations with unprec-
Meanwhile, Restle said as businesses introduced the Note 5 edented mobile experience and
seek strong partnerships, they should smartphone powered by revolutionise their life with the
also be innovative, have corporate Google Android. The Note Note 5,” said Benjamin Jiang, MD
governance structures and above all 5 comes with secure and of Infinix Mobile. The Note 5 was
pay taxes to government.  About 50 AI-powered innovations launched in Uganda on June 25 at
people from private sector and financial like the Google Assistant Hotel Triangle, Kampala.
institutions attended the event.

32 June 29 - July 05, 2018

 business

UBL unveils a Shs13bn

glass bottling line ahead
of sachet’s ban
By Julius Businge Octti said that the new

I
nternational Distillers
Uganda (IDU), a
subsidiary of Uganda
Breweries Limited, has
opened a glass bottling line
at its spirits manufacturing
plant ahead of the alcohol
ban sold in sachets in
March next year.
The new facility has a
U.S. Ambassador to Uganda, Deborah R. Malac (L) hands over a certificate capacity to handle 6,000
to Evelyn Zaliwango, the winner in the category of women in business bottles per hour compared
during the Women for Women awards at the French Ambassador's with the 1,440 of the
residence in Nakasero on June 21. She also won a trip to France. The previous plant that is said
awards target women who have little exposure in areas of politics, art and to have been installed
culture, sports and academics.   INDEPENDENT/JIMMY SIYA nearly six decades ago.
UBL Managing Director,
Mark Ocitti, said the new
line will allow the company
to not only grow its beer
volume but also increase
the number of products
processed locally.
“Demand for spirits
has grown significantly,”
he said, “and this plant
supports government’s
policy of Buy Uganda Build
Uganda.”
plant will produce various
products including Gilbeys,
Richot, and Smirnoff that
are currently imported
from neighbouring Kenya.
This new development
comes at the time Nile
Breweries Limited (NBL) is
investing US$22million in
upgrading its two plants in
Jinja and Mbarara to meet
the booming beer demand.
Amelia Kyambadde,
Minister of Trade, who was
the chief guest promised to
work with UBL and other
beer industry players to
fight illicit alcohol on the
market.
She said her ministry
has already prepared the
principles of Alcoholic
Drinks Control Bill set to
be presented to Cabinet for
approval to pave way for
effective regulation of the
sector. At the moment, UBL
produces 140 million litres of
beer compared to NBL’s 245
million litres per annum.

aYo CEO Edwin Kwesiga and Gerhardt van der Merwe, aYo holdings
group Executive Country and business development director,
addressing the press at a celebration to mark 1 million customers at
Kati-Kati Restaurant on June 20.  INDEPENDENT/JIMMY SIYA Weekly share price movement (June 25)
Security June 25 June 12 Movement
BATU 30,000 30000 00
BOBU 155 160 3.1
CENT 1,429 1,435 0.4
DFCU 870 895 2.8
EABL 8,211 8,387 2.0
EBL 1,870 1,860 0.5
JHL 19,300 18,890 2.2
KA 437 362 20.7
KCB 1,851 1,851 00
NIC 17 18 5.5
NMG 3,606 3,778 4.5
NVL 450 450 00
SBU 32 31 3.2
UCHM 55 62 11.3
UCL 21 25 16
UMEME 300 300 00
Julius Mukunda, CSBAG National Coordinator briefing the press on June 21 after
a post budget dialogue at UMA .  INDEPENDEMNT/JIMMY SIYA ALSI -- -- --

June 29 - July 05, 2018 33

comment
By Andrew Zimbalist
Why host the world cup?
All revenue from ticket sales, international broadcasting
rights, and sponsorships goes directly to FIFA
W
hom would you trust more,
Russian President Vladimir
Putin or Chicago Mayor Rahm
Emanuel? Whereas Putin
is reveling in the attention that Russia is
receiving as host of the 2018 World Cup,
Emanuel has informed the U.S. Soccer
Federation and FIFA that Chicago has no
interest in serving as a host city when the
event comes to North America in 2026.
Canada and Mexico will each host ten
matches, and the United States will host
another 60. So why is the third-largest U.S.
city taking a pass?
To understand what it means to host a
global sporting event, consider the fact
that Putin’s government spent $51-70
billion to stage the 2014 Winter Olym-
pics in Sochi, and is projected to spend
at least $14 billion hosting the current
World Cup, which runs through July
15. Russia’s budget provided for the
construction of seven new stadiums –
including one in St. Petersburg that cost
around $1.7 billion – and renovations
to five other venues. And that does not
even account for the additional expenses
for training facilities, lodging, expanded
infrastructure, and security.
Chicago, having already hosted the
opening ceremony and first match of
the 1994 World Cup, has adopted quite
a different mindset. Emanuel’s spokes-
person, Matt McGrath, recently issued a
statement explaining that, “FIFA could
not provide a basic level of certainty on
some major unknowns that put our city
and taxpayers at risk.” FIFA, McGrath
alleges, was demanding something tan-
tamount to a “blank check,” including
an “open-ended ability to modify the
agreement … at any time and at their
discretion.”
Moreover, FIFA would have required
that Soldier Field – home to the Chicago
Bears football team – be taken out of use
for two months prior to the tournament.
In the end, Emanuel’s office concluded
that, “The uncertainty for taxpayers,
coupled with FIFA’s inflexibility and
unwillingness to negotiate, were clear
indications that further pursuit of the bid
wasn’t in Chicago’s best interests.”
In addition to holding anywhere from
two to six games – potentially over the
34 June 29 - July 05, 2018
course of a number of weeks – World
Cup host cities are expected to throw
a “fan fest,” furnish training facilities
for the teams, and provide extensive
tax exemptions for a range of activities.
In fact, FIFA prohibits both direct and
indirect taxation on all income from the
event, exempting continental soccer con-
federations, host-country broadcasters,
and FIFA member associations, service
providers, and contractors. It is little
wonder, then, that Minneapolis and Van-
couver have joined Chicago in declining
the hosting honor.
To justify its imperious behavior, FIFA
points out that, “[the] World Cup is a
major sporting event that attracts global
attention to the Host Country/Host
Countries and provides the opportunity
for significant financial investment in
sporting and public infrastructure.” And
that added attention and investment,
FIFA claims, “may contribute to signifi-
cant mid- and long-term socioeconomic
benefits … as well as economic growth.”
But note the carefully qualified lan-
guage. FIFA only goes so far as to
promise an “opportunity for significant
financial investment” in infrastructure,
as well as attention and investment that
For example,
consider what
Russia gets
in exchange
for its $14
billion-plus
investment
in this year’s
event
“may contribute” to growth. In reality,
scholarly evidence shows that the World
Cup rarely benefits host countries and
cities as much as FIFA would like the
public, and public officials, to think.
For example, consider what Russia
gets in exchange for its $14 billion-plus
investment in this year’s event. While all
of the revenue from ticket sales, interna-
tional broadcasting rights, and sponsor-
ships will go directly to FIFA, Russia
will be left with seven new stadiums and
five refurbished facilities that it does not
need. And unless it demolishes these
venues, it will have to spend tens of mil-
lions of dollars every year to maintain
them. Meanwhile, hundreds of acres of
scarce urban real estate will have been
forfeited as sites for white elephants.
To be sure, images of sleek new facili-
ties are being disseminated worldwide.
But the optics are not necessarily
working in Russia’s favour. Apparently,
there was no hiding the 6,000 empty
seats at the Uruguay-Egypt match on
June 15.
If history is any guide, it is highly
unlikely that the 2018 World Cup will
increase Russia’s international invest-
ment or trade, boost its tourism industry,
or strengthen its people’s commitment to
physical fitness.
What it will do is instill a fleeting sense
of national pride among a significant
portion of Russians, while offering an
ephemeral distraction from the country’s
mounting problems. With or without the
World Cup, oil-price volatility and inter-
national sanctions imposed in response
to Putin’s 2014 annexation of Crimea will
continue to darken Russia’s economic
prospects and diminish ordinary Rus-
sians’ standard of living.
So, whom should you trust? I’m going
with Emanuel.
Andrew Zimbalist, a professor of
economics at Smith College, is the
author of `Circus Maximus: The
Economic Gamble Behind Hosting the
Olympics and the World Cup’.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2018.

By Odongo Kodongo
The economic cost of corruption in Kenya
The theft jeopardises the country’s short-term skills
provision objectives and causes irredeemable long-term
opportunity costs
K
enya is perceived as one of the
world’s most corrupt countries.
It ranked 143 out of 180 countries
on Transparency International’s
2017 corruption perception index. The
only African countries that scored worse –
among them Somalia, South Sudan, Libya,
Eritrea, Burundi, and Zimbabwe – were
either politically unstable or in conflict.
This poor showing shouldn’t come as a
surprise. Kenya has been plagued by a long
list of corruption scandals. One of the more
infamous was the Goldenberg heist which
occurred in the 1990s during then President
Daniel Moi’s tenure. The government was
found to have subsidised exports of gold far
beyond standard arrangements by paying
a company called Goldenberg International
35% more in Kenyan shillings than their
foreign currency earnings.
More recently, in 2014 millions of dollars
were misappropriated from funds that
were secured by the government through
a Eurobond, which is an international loan
that was secured from foreign investors. A
second Eurobond was secured in 2018 and
questions have been raised here as well.
Yet, the looting of public coffers is more
commonly reported in recent times and
the amounts involved are growing. During
May and June 2018, reports about grand
corruption have dominated Kenyan news.
This haemorrhaging of public funds will do
enormous damage to the country’s already
struggling economy.
The scourge of corruption in Kenya must
be urgently addressed otherwise it could be
bring the economy to its knees. As things
stand, Kenya is already struggling to pay its
debts.
The economic cost of corruption
The role of human capital on economic
growth has long been established. So when
human capital takes a hit the impact is also
felt on economic development and growth.
Let’s take Kenya’s National Youth Service
as an example of a public organisation
where corruption is believed to be rife.
In 2015, approximately USD$17 million
was stolen from its coffers by a network of
companies that supplied goods and service
at inflated prices.
And this year, billions of shillings
earmarked for the service were embezzled
by a shadowy network of dubious service
providers.
This money was all earmarked for
youth vocational training. The theft not
only jeopardises the country’s short-term
skills provision objectives: it also portends
irredeemable long-term opportunity costs.
Corruption compromises people’s futures
and their development. It also costs a
fortune. Rampant corruption will drain
any economy of the resources needed for
projects like infrastructure development.
To illustrate, let’s take a look at the misuse
of funds from the Kenya government’s
2014 Eurobond, which was believed to be
Africa’s largest such issuance at the time.
Reports indicate that some of the
money may not have been deposited
into the national Treasury. In economic
parlance, this would qualify as an illicit
financial “outflow”: an illegal cross-border
movement of money or capital. The illegal
transfer of funds out of African countries is
a recognised constraint on the continent’s
economic development because it denies
local populations the use of that money for
national development.
The Global Financial Integrity report
estimates that from 2005 to 2014 Africa lost
between USD$36 billion and USD$69 billion
in illicit financial flows. This represents
about 74% of all financing required
(approximately USD$93 billion per year)
to develop infrastructure to service Africa’s
growth needs.
In Kenya’s case, the Eurobond swindle
was more than just a missed opportunity
to expand the country’s inadequate and
dilapidated infrastructure. It also led to a
sovereign rating downgrade on the basis of
its increasing inability to service ballooning
public debt.
A sovereign rating is a measure of
a country’s creditworthiness. And a
downgrade signals that the country has
not optimally invested money borrowed
on capital projects, such as infrastructure.
Capital projects typically increase national
income and better a country’s ability to
repay its debts.
comment
Finding solutions
Given these observations, what measures
can Kenya take to stem the debilitating theft
of public resources?
First, a national ethos that inculcates the
value of work as the only means to wealth
accumulation must be built. A possible
way of achieving this is for education
policy makers to emphasise social ethics as
a compulsory subject right from primary
school all the way up to the university.
Second, Kenya’s legal system must make
corruption expensive and unattractive for
perpetrators by the imposition of stiff fines,
and mandatory jail sentences. Another step
in the right direction would be to grant
both the auditor general and the ethics and
anti-corruption commission prosecutorial
powers.
Third, the law could be reviewed to
ensure that those convicted of economic
crimes suffer lasting embarrassment and the
greatest possible financial loss. To achieve
this, all the proceeds from corruption must
be repossessed by the state and channeled
back to public use. Convicts would then be
barred from holding public office or doing
business for several years after their release.
Fourth, strict standards of ethical conduct
could be imposed for anyone seeking public
office. This would entail full disclosure
on the sources of campaign funds, public
declarations of wealth and lifestyle
audits, and enforcement of voter bribery
legislation.
Fifth, the national fight against poverty,
ignorance and disease must be intensified
to improve quality of life, and empower
citizens to perform their civic duties, such as
the choice of legislative representatives, in a
more meaningful way.
Finally, it would be worthwhile for
the national public prosecutor to sign
treaties with “tax haven” countries
to block or repatriate illicit financial
outflows from Kenya.
Odongo Kodongo is Associate professor,
University of the Witwatersrand
June 29 - July 05, 2018 35
comment
By Ahmed Ayub
Bright future for transport sector
UNRA’s expressways, flyover projects, and more
will lead to reduction in traffic congestion in the city
O
n many fronts in the recent
past, we have seen the artistic
impressions of various projects
and most astounding of all the
beautiful impressions that the Uganda
National Roads Authority has promised
to deliver as part of its mandate since
inception in 2008.
A publication by researchers at Center
for International Development at Harvard
University titled “New 2025 Global
Growth Projections Predict China’s
Further Slowdown and the Continued
Rise of India,” demonstrated that
economic growth moved from China
to India, further, providing interesting
information on how growth in emerging
markets is predicted to outshine that
of advanced economies. The same
research flashes the torch on Uganda
indicating optimism about the whole
new growth hubs in East Africa and
highlighting Uganda as one of the fastest
growing economies to 2025 at 7.7 percent
annually. The report, further apportions a
significant fraction to population growth
with Uganda making presence on the list
of those 10 fastest growing countries in
the decade ahead.
However, this growth can’t be listed
without identifying the fundamental
factors which determine the ability of the
economy to achieve economic growth
which among other things include
economic resources available to the
society and efficiency of their use.
Uganda government has recently
invested heavily in the road infrastructure
with the roads sector bagging the biggest
chunk of the monies annually. The
whole idea about the heavy investment
is aimed towards providing good road
infrastructure that will be able to spur
economic growth with the hope that this
will merge the expectations and the rate
of growth. Since its inception Uganda
National Roads Authority has been
mandated to develop a road network of
about 21,000km within the borders and
linking to its neighboring nations.
Overtime, the rate of economic growth
in mostly the capital Kampala, has
seen the increase in purchase of motor
vehicles for both personal and commercial
(taxis,buses and boda bodas) use. This has
increased competition for the small space
36 June 29 - July 05, 2018
and yet the urge for many urbanites to
make ends meet also grows by the day.
Road infrastructure has overtime proved
to affect the flexibility and mobility of
the workforce, which is reflected in
the employment level with time loss
being a major indicator. Moreover,
higher employment level makes the
standard of living grow. The level of
infrastructure development has an impact
on various economic key areas, such as
the development of the tourism industry,
influx of foreign investments and the
recent non-tariff barrier of regional
development among others. However
traffic congestion in and out of Kampala
which is the integral business base for the
nation threatens its very own potentials.
In coping with these growing demands
and traffic growth, the roads authority
(UNRA) has reached out in sourcing
for funds to provide expressways and
a flyover that are expected to manage
better the traffic and also spur more
transformation.
With the major towns along the business
transport corridors the ease in link
between major towns seeking to harness
regional and international business
through the export and import of various
goods and services stand vital in its recent
reforms of a business like module in
operation.
UNRA with full understanding that a
well-developed network of roads and a
superior road infrastructure (motorways
and expressways) aims towards a better
future for the nation has developed plans
that involve a fly over, road upgrading,
pedestrian bridge, junction upgrades and
an underpass at Nsambya.
This coupled with the Kampala-
Northern bypass that is right now under-
going a second phase of expansion that
will link to the 51km Kampala-Entebbe
Expressway with a spur towards the
affluent Munyonyo neighborhood.
The authority, has also embarked on
ensuring through phases the delivery of
a 77km Kampala-Jinja Expressway that
links with the iconic first cable stay bridge
in the country over the Nile river that is
undergoing construction with a projected
completion in 2018. The same expressway
which is a toll road like the Kampala
Entebbe Expressway will provide road
users with an easy link between the
international airport and the beautiful
home of the Nile River through the
bustling business capital, Kampala.
Under the new management, the zeal
has also undertaken to focus on the
Kampala Southern by-pass, Kampala-
Mpigi Expressway, Kampala-Bombo
Expressway, a Kampala outer beltway
through Seeta-Matugga-Wakiso-Buloba-
Nsangi which is projected to manage the
haulage business and a VVIP Nakasero
bypass that will end the traffic disruption
in the city. All these, are intertwined to
oversee the reduction in traffic congestion
and also grapple with the projected
economic development that is expected
to be boosted by the oil production in the
Albertine region that UNRA is currently
with all hands on deck working to see a
network of approximately 700km new
roads developed by 2020.
With such projects delivered and
management’s focus towards reducing
the cost of road construction, improved
service delivery, an excellent time proved
leadership of patriotic transparency and
corruption free team the nation only
with bated breath await the potentials
that are within the new national roads
authority. The management which
believes and has indeed kick-started the
building of internal capacity to form a
construction unit and also providing
more support to local contractors, the
business cloud in the country is about to
be provided with boundless opportunities
that will provide employment to the fast
growing employable section of Ugandans
hence cascading the ability to drive a
nation towards indeed a middle income
standard.
It was the theoretical physicist Stephen
William Hawking who said “the past, like
the future, is indefinite and exists only
as a spectrum of possibilities.” Let us as
individuals provide the support needed
to the new management that seeks to
drive a new team of young Ugandans
towards the spectrum of possibilities that
will be integral in national development.
Ahmed Ayub is Senior Officer Media
Relations at the Uganda National Roads
Authority
A VHT during a home visit. CHEWs will also be tasked do similar activities
The coming Community
Health Workers
Experts query their cost and compare them to current VHTs
F
By Flavia Nassaka
lue, cough, headache, or diar-
rhea; these simple ailments can
be quite uncomfortable. But are
they worth going to a health
facility to get treated, especially
if it is far away, crowded, and
the doctor might be away? Possibly not.
Unfortunately, they sometimes are symp-
toms of dangerous conditions like malaria,
dysentery, or cholera which kill, especially
children.
That is why the government wants to
tackle them quickly, conveniently, and cost
effectively.Under the plan, starting this July,
the government is to introduce Community
Health Extension Workers (CHEWs) to
provide basic health services such as sensi-
tization about immunization programmes,
sanitation, and contraceptives, and to man-
age such simple common medical condi-
tions.They will engage the sick and their
caretakers.
Dr. Sarah Byakika, the Commissioner
for Planning at the Ministry of Health, says
the move is part of the strategy to shift
healthcare from focusing on treatment to
prevention. The idea is to ensure adequate
universal health coverage.
The CHEWs will be members of the
communities where they live. They will be
trained to also link those who need special
treatment to health facilities.
Byakika adds that CHEWs will not only
treat but will teach communities how to
prevent another illness because they know
the people in the area well.
The programme to be piloted in 750 par-
ishes in North and Eastern Uganda districts,
will involve recruiting 1500 CHEWs; two
per parish. They will be given a monthly
allowance for their work and Shs3.2 billion
has been set aside for the job.
Dr. Charles Olaro, the head of the Clinical
Services Division at the Ministry of Health
says the plan is to spread the CHEWs pro-
gramme all over the country in five years.
Same as VHTs?
On the face of it, the CHEWs model is not
completely new.It is sometimes called the
`Cuban Approach’ to healthcare which has
become the world’s best example of achiev-
ing high health indicators on very small
budgets and a policy emphasis on preven-
tion, primary care, service in the commu-
nity, and active participation of citizens.
Many countries, including Ethiopia, have
adopted this approach and CHEWs have
June 29 - July 05, 2018 37
health
VHTs being trained on proper nutrition at a health facility in Namutumba district
been placed within the system to handle
issues of malaria, nutrition, and contracep-
tives.
Reports show that just five years after
their deployment, Ethiopia saw a rise in
contraception use among women from just
15% to 30%. Other developing countries like
Malawi and India, where millions of social
health activists have been accredited, are
seeing similar positive changes. Hospital
admissions are decreasing as people learn
to prevent some infections. This leads to
decreasing government expenditure on
healthcare.
In Uganda, it is somewhat similar to the
Village Health Teams (VHTs) who are cur-
rently the lowest hierarchy of healthcare
facilities (Health Centre 1s) and have been
in operation for more than 15 years. The
VHTsare voluntary and are not required to
have any qualification to work.
Even the idea behind establishment of
VHTs was similar - to provide accurate
health information, mobilise communi-
ties, and provide linkage to health services.
Many have since moved into providing
some treatments as an element of case man-
agement was introduced where VHTs are
allowed to administer treatments for minor
ailments. So isn’t the government adding
an unnecessary layer where VHTs already
exist?
Take Alex Olengo, for example. He has
since 2005 been a VHT in Atyang village,
five kilometers from Lira town in Northern
Uganda, speaks like an expert on the effec-
tiveness of such grassroots-based interven-
tions in medical work, and narrates how
VHTs have helped the Ministry of Health
achieve its targets of reducing child, infant,
and maternal mortality in his area. He
says tackling diseases such as malaria and
hygiene related infections are the solution
and that members of the community now
depend on VHTs.
“When we give them medicine they take
it because they trust us,” he says.
38 June 29 - July 05, 2018
He says the VHTs busiest time is when
there is a disease outbreak because they are
sent to collect data on the outbreak which
involves a lot of activity and movement.
Normally, however, they handle issues of
family planning, hygiene, and HIV/AIDS.
He says VHTs can do an even better job
with training. Until now, Olengo says, the
little training VHTs have had has come
mostly from NGOs.
Figures by a local NGO; THETA, show
that only 60,000 of the 180,000 VHTs work-
ing as volunteers are trained. Many are not
accountable to any qualified medical super-
visor who monitors their work.
That is unlikely to change because the
CHEWs will also be trained by UNICEF,
the Swedish International Development
Agency, and UNFPA.
Olengo says his bicycle – the only item
he ever received to do his job, is also getting
old. It is unlikely he will get a new one soon.
Part of the reason is that when we spoke,
Olengo did not know about the govern-
ment’s plan to introduce CHEWs.
That is possibly because, according to Dr.
Olaro, the CHEWS programme is recruiting
people who must have attained at least an
Ordinary Level Certificate of Education.
“The best candidates are those that peo-
ple run to when they need help. When you
go to those parishes they know them and
can suggest for you names of people they
trust,” he says, “Trust is a very important
aspect of treatment.”
Although Olengo scores highly on trust,
the 40-year old farmer who never com-
pleted primary school is knocked out over
academic qualifications.
More pressure on health wage bill
Beatrice Nyangoma, a Communications
and Advocacy Officer at a local NGO –
HEPs Uganda, says people like Olengo
should possibly not be locked out of the
new programme.
“The VHTs have done a good job even
when they are not paid. It’s absurd that
most of them cannot be integrated into the
CHEWs strategy because of the age and
education limitations,” she says.
She says introducing CHEWs is a good
move because it will increase accessibility
and availability of services to the popula-
tion. But, she says, the government should
ensure that CHEWS are given the medi-
cines and supplies.
“It is one thing having them in place but
it’s another having the required tools to
actually work,” she says, “They must be
trained thoroughly and there must be con-
tinuous monitoring of their work by senior
health officers in the districts. If this is not
done, we may find the whole strategy fail-
ing to work out.”
Other experts like Dr. Peter Waiswa, a
Lecturer at Makerere University’s School
of Public Health, say while promoting
Primary Healthcare is a good strategy; the
CHEWs could be adding a big burden to
the wage bill. It is also not clear to him how
they will be sustained when development
partners have not yet committed to fund-
ing them or if others who are promising to
fund the project pull-out eventually because
there is currently no law to define their role
in the healthcare system.
Waiswa who has worked as a doctor in
Ethiopia and evaluated their model says it
is clear there that a CHEW can upgrade to
become a nurse. He says the challenges are
also different; with health facilities in Ethio-
pia too far apart and with limited numbers
of staff.
He says instead of putting in place
another strand of primary health workers,
the government should have focused on
strengthening VHTs, paying hospital staff,
and availing sundries and drugs.
“With VHTs, we have managed to reduce
child and maternal mortality,” he says
“There’s no need to rush here. The majority
of Ugandans are just five kilometers away
from the health facility and we have doc-
tors. We only need a few fixes.”
The staffing level for medical workers,
according to Ministry of Health figures, is at
73% with 45,000 health workers employed
in the public sector. They have set a target
increasing to 76% in the new financial year
and 80% by 2020. Hitting these targets is
always limited by wage bill ceilings. Add-
ing CHEWs to this burden is not a good
idea, from a financing perspective, accord-
ing to Waiswa.
But Olaro, who will have the final say
on the issue, says CHEWs will be differ-
ent from VHTs. He says the Ministry of
Health did an assessment and found that
VHTs were being challenged by the lack
of skills. He says CHEWs will receive
more comprehensive training than the
VHTs and will also move longer distances
and will be facilitated to cover bigger
numbers of patients.
 ART | BOOKS | SOCIETY | TRAVEL | CULTURE

W
By Dominic Muwanguzi

hen you go to an
exhibition by alumni
of any art school,
you expect to see an
exciting showcase of
diversity in approach
by the artists; as each show off what
has made them so successful since
graduation. The ongoing exhibition
at Makerere at Gallery in Kampala by
alumni of the Margaret Trowel School of
Industrial and Fine Art does exactly that.
The brainchild of Ronex Ahimbisibwe,
the exhibition features artists like
Kwizera aka Kwi-ezra, Margaret
Nagawa, Mzili Mujunga, Yakuze Ivan,
Sheila Nakitende, Arnold Birungi, Ismail

When Makerere’s
Ddamba, Paul Kasambeko, Ismael
Kateregga, and Peter Oloya.
Each of the exhibiting artists
has acquired a certain specialty, in

art giant’s show off

a particular genre, be it painting,
installation, sculpture, fashion, or
photography.
Their mastery is an embodiment of
technical dexterity that the art school
emphasises, while the innovation that
is visible in Mzili, Ronex and Oloya’s
work is reminiscent of the tenacious
nature of the individual artist to push the
boundaries of art making.
Whatever your artistic preference,
Kwizera aka Kwi-ezra’s political-
social activist painting will leave a
powerful impression. As an illustrator
cum painter, he often finds insight
in the political landscape, sometimes
injecting a comic twist into the narrative.
This is a good time to see him tackle
abuse, resilience, love, and liberation.
His human figures are mere metaphors
and their facial expression a study in the
diversity of human anatomy.
This time he is tackling human rights
abuses in a political-social environment
in which the phrase “order from above”
is not a random cliché but a menacing
threat belted out every time the wielders
power and authority commit an atrocity
on the citizenry.
The painting is packed with emotion
in the expressionistic in style. A larger
than life human face with blood-shot
eyes hoovers above two chained men
in military uniform; with one headless
and the other brutalising a journalist by
way of peeing on him. A huge thumbs
up dominates the background in which
a religious figure fades. The painting
Freshness, technical dexterity, innovation,
experimentation at first alumni exhibit
is aptly titled `Orders from above’, its
message clear and bold.
Meanwhile Mzili is almost Kwizera’s
opposite as he emphasises technique
rather than message. His conceptual
painting titled `Drill master Vs the
hitched, sower and the ripper’ is
inspired by a powerful theme of
gender; its history and fluidity. But it
is application of different media in one
painting; pastels, acrylics, and a mix of
expressionistic and abstract drawings,
that any audience with discuss. A
typical query will be about the place of
experimentation and innovation in art.
Another technically dexterous artist,
Ronex has an installation titled `Gwaliwo
negufa’ an assemblage of tactile material
and organic collage tapestry. It feeds
into the narrative of experimenting
with both the usual and unusual while
subtly delving into the subject of the
subconscious. It is the perfect platform
for artistic inquiry; rousing the attention
of the audience into, for example, the
dissimilarity or sometimes similarity
of art and its functionality. There is
also a contrast between sophistication
and naivety, beauty and ugliness, and
aesthetics verses free expression.
Finally, the wildlife paintings of Arnold
Birungi and Ismail Ddamba provide
respite from the experimentation. Their
nature drawings; of the rare white Rhino
portrait by Ddamba and the lioness on the
prowl with Kobs lurking in the distance
by Birungi, showcase technical dexterity
in terms of brilliant picture construction,
perspective and tonality respectively.
Their message of nature conservation
and preservation is pertinent when there
seems to be renewed threat to wildlife
and its sanctuary.
The Alumni exhibit is a timely
platform to encourage artists to dialogue
on the emerging vibrancy of the
Kampala art scene. It is also a gesture to
challenge the creative capabilities of the
artists from time to time and knock them
out of comfort zones. The exhibit should
inspire art lovers and professionals, in
and out of art school.
The exhibition is showing now at the
Makerere Art Gallery, located within the
University campus.

June 29 - July 05, 2018 39

Meet the sewing
machine painter
Arun Kumar Bajaj has a very unusual
skill – he can paint with a sewing machine.
Technically, it’s embroidering, not painting,
but his artworks are so incredibly detailed
that they could pass as hyper-realistic paint-
ings to the untrained eye. And the fact that
he does it all with a sewing machine just
makes It took him a while to master this
unique art form, but today he is recognized
as the world’s only sewing machine artist.
Akon builds own Wakanda city
He’s probably best
known for his chart-busting
hits, but that may not be the
case for much longer with
Akon.
As it’s now been revealed
that the Lonely hit-maker
has decided to basically
build his own version of
Wakanda. Yes, the 45-year-
old singer and songwriter is
legitimately going real-life
Black Panther with his new
project, a Crypto City. He
already has his own crypto
currency the AKoin. Built
on 2,000 acres of land gifted
to the singer and producer
by the President of Senegal,
the city will spring up five
minutes away from the
country’s new international
airport, close to Dakar. The
city will be ‘the first 100%
crypto-based city’, and will
plant the AKoin at the ‘the
center of transactional life’.

Alcoholic ice cream here

Alcoholic ice-cream treats have been
around for a while, but actually getting
drunk, or even a bit tipsy on them is a
challenge, because, well, they aren’t very
alcoholic. Enter, Buzz Pop Cocktails, a range
of gourmet Italian sorbets that pack that
punch you’ve been looking for.
Buzz Pop Cocktails are made from fresh
fruits and premium liquors, but what
really sets them apart from other boozy three times stronger, at 15% ABV, which
frozen treats is the alcohol content. While means one is probably enough to get your
most so-called alcoholic ice-creams have head buzzing. But licking your way to a
an alcohol content comparable to beer – hangover is apparently a lot more expensive
around 4.5% ABV – Buzz Pop Cocktails are than just chugging booze.

Village without
thieves!
Eibenthal is an idyllice
village of ethnic Czechs
nestled in the Banatului
Mountains of Western
Romania. But what really
makes it stand out from
other villages in the area,
or pretty much anywhere
else in the world, for that
matter, is its reputation as a
theft-free community. There
is no police station in Eiben-
thal but people in this area
are famously peaceful and
respectful of each other, and
the crime rate is consider-
ably lower than the national
average. People are per-
fectly comfortable leaving
money in bags on the streets
for the bread delivery man.
In over 20 years, no one has
ever reported any money of
bread missing.
Son buys mum same car she sold to support him Man needs police
A son has warmed hearts after
shocking his mum with the car
she sold to help him when he
was a struggling musician. Ross
Rothero-Bourge, 30, who is now
a successful sound engineer,
always promised himself that he
would return the Ford StreetKa
his mum Lynette sold to help him
when he was a cash-strapped.
After searching high and low
on eBay Ross surprised his
permission for sex
mum with the StreetKa – which
although wasn’t the exact same
car, it’s almost identical. ‘The
same colour, same year, same
everything,’ said Ross, “‘Lots of
people have been saying what
I’ve done is amazing but it’s noth-
ing compared to what my mum’s
done for me over the years.’
“I have the best son in the
whole wide world,” said Lynette.
Aaron Sutcliffe, 29, from
Fleetwood, Lancashire, has
been told that he is a sexual
risk to the public and must
get authorisation, both in the
UK and abroad, before having
intercourse. His Sexual Risk
Prevention Order from the
police covers ‘vaginal, oral, and
anal sex’. The order issued on
June 21 covers both male and
female sexual partners. In order
to get permission he must also
give the contact details of the
person he intends to have sex
with and is not allowed to have
any form of intercourse with-
out a condom. This after the
man allegedly infected women
with HIV. Police will get in
touch with any of his sexual
partners to make them aware
of his sexual past.

40 June 29 - July 05, 2018

How old is your new car really?
How to spot vehicles whose mileage has been changed
By Motoring Guru
T
he mileage of a motor vehicle affects
its value on the market. Generally
speaking; the higher the mileage, the
lower is the value. Unfortunately,
mileage tampering is a very common prac-
tice in all used car markets, in and outside
Uganda. Part of the problem is that it is very
easy to do with the right equipment.
The most common way to tamper with
a motor vehicles mileage involves resetting
the odometer or odograph; an instrument
for measuring the distance travelled by a
wheeled vehicle. Most odometers work
by counting wheel rotations and assume
that the distance traveled is the number of
wheel rotations times the tire circumference.
They may be digital or mechanical. It is no
longer necessary to manually roll back the
numbers on a mechanical instrument, Since
odometers became digital in the early 2000s,
they can be rolled back by using very basic
equipment that hooks right into the vehi-
cle’s electronic circuit. So don’t be fooled.
The odometer may be reset, the numbers
altered, or replaced. These changes are often
done together with others intended to make
a vehicle appear newer than it is and, there-
fore, fetch a better price. Other alterations
might include reconditioning of the external
appearance of the vehicle.
To avoid being cheated, make sure you
look to see if the wear and tear matches up
with the reported mileage.
A low mileage car should still have the
original tyres and brakes supplied by the bers, and there are no scratches and screws
manufacturer. It should also not show any that don’t match or have been replaced.
wear on parts such as the steering wheel, Some auto makers program odometers to
gear lever, and pedals. Most mechanics will show an asterisk if the mileage is changed.
easily spot these. Get one to go with you on If there is any indication that the dashboard
the buying trip. may have been removed, then suspect
You can also inspect the odometer odometer tampering. Beware if the car has
for signs of tampering by ensure that all new parts that ordinarily would not be
the numbers are easily readable and not replaced until 60,000 miles. This may indi-
crooked, there are no gaps between num- cate odometer tampering.
Also remember that the mileage on mod-
ern vehicles is tracked via both the physical
odometer, and the control module. The
Never expect control module does not control the number
displayed on the dash. In some cases of
the numbers fraud, the number visible number on the
you see on the dash will be altered, while the control mod-
ule still holds the accurate mileage. Check-
dashboard to be
ing the module requires a special tool, but it
is possible.
the true mileage Even if a car looks and sounds great, it
of a used vehicle. doesn’t mean there’s nothing to be con-
cerned about. Never expect the numbers
The odometer can you see on the dashboard to be the true
be rolled-back to mileage of a used vehicle. The odometer
can be rolled-back to take hundreds or
take hundreds or even thousands of kilometres off the num-
ber displayed. An everage vehicle travels
even thousands of 10,000kms per year in Japan. Therefore, a
kilometres off the 60,000km odometer reading is only appro-
priate for a car manufactured in 2012 or
number displayed later. The rest are shams. Remember, how-
ever, that this average accounts for both
long-distance commuters and weekend-
only drivers. So combine this info with your
instincts when you inspect the vehicle.
June 29 - July 05, 2018 41
Profile
Raphael Kasule’s eccentric fashions
By Agnes E Nantaba

R
collection of a mix of kitenge and fashion house for a while, and then
aphael Allan Kasule is one of barkcloth alongside top designer Santa switched to Santa Anzo, and finally into
Uganda’s top fashion illustrators, Anzo of Arapapa who offered a platform launching his K-Rafael Couture brand in
pattern makers and designers. for the young ambitious designer. 2010.
He has spread his wings To further grow his skills, Kasule “I was already more into costumes
and is flying the Ugandan flag high enrolled at the Evelyn College of design and things that look strange to the eyes,”
internationally through his K -Rafael in Nairobi and while there, he topped Kasule says.
Couture brand. the class in which he was the only boy Kasule was born and raised in
In April, he was contracted to make among girls. He also Kampala to Alex Ssebbowa (RIP) and
customised outfits for team Uganda won the Redds Ntongo Elizabeth (RIP). He went to
at the opening ceremony of the African Fashion Kabojja Primary School, Mengo
Commonwealth games in Australia. Design Award senior school, Bishops SSS, Lubiri
He designed red slim fit kikoyi replica in Kenya, high school and Evelyn College of
shirt with black trousers for males and 2007. design in Nairobi Kenya.
modernised gold gomesi with a gold Prior Uganda’s fashion industry
sash for females fit for the spectacular returning according to him has grown to a
ritual of the parade of nations. The to Uganda level of international recognition
design according to Kasule was meant to after the and no struggle for clients’ trust.
tell stories about Uganda’s rich heritage. three year “We have also moved away
Kasule is also remembered for making course, from sitting on a veranda to
team Uganda slay in the bright themed Kasule becoming a respected job and of
red jackets matched with striped lapels applied course that comes with business
at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. For and was dynamics,” he says.
this particular one, the team was named selected His plans include starting a
among the seven best outfits by Canada’s to be an fashion school to supply a market
the Globe & Mail. assistant at he says is available but lacking
He has also designed costumes for top Sylvia Owori expertise to produce unique designs
musicians like Radio and Weasel, Sauti fashion house and outfits.
Sol, Sheebah Karungi, Iryn Namubiru, in Kampala.
and Swahili Nation. He also does bridal He worked
wear on order. at the top
“We keep on re-inventing ourselves
working on fabrics that are not known to
many and always have something new
for every season and event,” he says.
His exquisite designs are a
manifestation of the time he has spent in
the industry - having started the career
at only 13. During that time, Kasule says
he would try out on his mother’s sewing
machine that was passed down from
his grandmother, princess Nnalinya
Nakabiri; a sister to Kabaka Edward
Muteesa II (1942 -1966), who herself was
a prominent designer in her days.
But, he says, his turning point was
when he was sent away from school for
three weeks during his Senior Four at
Mengo Senior School. To occupy himself,
he Kasule made a denim rucksack and
bag.
“Fellow students liked them, so I
was forced to start making the same for
them and orders grew from my school
to neighboring schools,” says Kasule. “I
would get old jeans, cut them out and
make the bags selling between Shs3000
and Shs5000”.
Later during the Senior Six long
holiday, Kasule showcased his first

42 June 29 - July 05, 2018


Raphael Kasule’s Liteside
Any three things that we don’t
H
know about you?
umility defines me
because it helps me
learn new things eas-
ily. The push from my
side is very hard, so is tenacity
to keep on even when things
don’t show results as you
would want them. My life has
always been based on prayer
because I come from a very
pastoral family.
What is your greatest fear?
Settling down for marriage
and people understanding who
I am. We usually get a bad per-
ception from people due to the
nature of our work - working
more with models and having
female clients. It has an impact
on people’s trust in you.
What is the trait you most de-
plore in yourself?
I am too patient and at times,
I tend to be the kind who gives
allowance for people and they
usually get away with it
What is the trait you most de-
plore in others?
Looking down on others gets
me off very easily. Telling lies
affects me very much.
Which living person do you
most admire?
Pastor Michael Kyazze is a
senior pastor but on one partic-
ular event while travelling with
him, we came across a stalled
car and the speed at which he
moved out to push it was very
touching. That moment was
humbling and taught me that,
regardless of whom you are,
you can still be like any other
person.
What is your greatest extrava-
gance?
I love learning new things;
for instance, I’m currently try-
ing to do animations. So discov-
ering new ideas takes more of
my money.
What is the greatest thing you
have ever done?
There are quite many but the
patience to expand my business
without being coerced, having
to compete with fellow design-
ers and accepting that everyone
has their timing is the greatest
thing I have done. My fashion
expansion journey has been
gradual with setbacks but we
are getting there.
What is your current state of
mind?
I am fulfilled.
What do you consider the most
overrated virtue?
There are quite a number but
the whole thing about showing
off what we own or possess is
overrated. Ugandans have a
problem of attaching posses-
sions to class forgetting that it
has a lot to do with the making
and character.
What does being powerful
mean to you?
Having a character checked
and power under control. For
instance if a king or leader steps
out of his convoy or car to push
someone’s car that has stalled
shows humility and power
under control which is a true
definition of being powerful.
On what occasion do you lie?
I love being truthful but if
I am behind time, I can give a
white lie. However, regarding
more serious things, I like to be
honest.
What do you most dislike
about your appearance?
I am a bit short.
Which living person do you
most despise?
Those who think they are
great because greatness is rela-
tive. Someone who is humble
is actually greater. We’ve seen
people like Solomon and Job
in the bible who were great
but were very humble. Great
and humility should be coined
together.
What is the quality you most
like in a woman?
Being Godly, having social
and cultural values and the
ability to maintain them. It
keeps them human and reduces
the burden to others. A woman
must also be charming and
energetic.
What is the quality you most
like in a man?
It has to do a lot with the
background.
What or who is the greatest
love of your life?
I used to love my grand-
mother and mother the most
but since they are all gone, I
love my work the most. Also
depending on the season and
the moment, I am liberal in lov-
ing people.
When and where were you
happiest?
My birthdate is a happy
moment for me. My real joy
came when I won the Redds
Award in Kenya because the
moment meant a lot to my fash-
ion journey. But I am also one
person who takes everything
whether small and big achieve-
ment the same
Which talent would you most
like to have?
I am a very handy and gifted
person. But even with that, I am
currently doing music instru-
ments.
If you could change one thing
about yourself, what would
it be?
I have been small or huge
before so I have experienced
both and wouldn’t change any-
thing for now.
What do you consider your
greatest achievement?
Achievements have been
many but being chosen to pro-
duce for a country is serious. It
comes with a lot of responsibil-
ity because it carries the identity
of the country. I am humbled
June 29 - July 05, 2018
Q&A
advertorial
by that opportunity.
Where would you most like
to live?
The years I spent in Nairobi
made me blend in very easily
and I got attached to the place.
What do you regard as the
lowest depth of misery?
I have been through divorce
which made me realise that it
takes a lot from the individuals
and changes them in so many
ways. It’s also a very strenuous
process.
What is your favourite occupa-
tion?
Animations or sports like
rugby and basketball. Unfor-
tunately, they might not pay
enough for survival so I end
up spending more time on
survival.
What do you most value in
your friends?
Time and experiences bond
us together.
Who are your favorite writers?
I usually read TD Jakes and
Myles Munroe; there is a lot of
wisdom in their teachings and
form my background. I emulate
them.
Which historical figure do you
most identify with?
Shaka Zulu knew who he
was and the fact that he stood
up against the British was great.
He died an honorable death
and his name still stands high
up to now.
What is your greatest regret?
I don’t have regrets because
they have all been lessons
which I find very valuable.
How would you like to die?
In old age when I know
about it.
What is your motto?
Endurance in good or bad.
43
Global comment
By Joseph Munyambanza
The power of empowering refugees
An experiment in refugee education from Kyangwali
in Uganda, shows the way to self-sufficiency
I
n a small community on the
equator, children from diverse
backgrounds attend classes in one
of the region’s top primary schools.
The school has a brass band, a farm,
an artists’ collective, microfinance and
literary clubs, and support groups for
victims of domestic violence. There is
even a mentorship program to help
girls affected by conflict continue their
studies.
This educational paradise is not in a
rich country with unlimited resources; it
is in a refugee camp in western Uganda.
It is funded not by infusions of foreign
aid, but by refugees operating on a
tight budget. And it is a blueprint for
empowering refugees everywhere.
This experiment in refugee education
began in 2005, when I and other
children were living in the Kyangwali
refugee settlement in Uganda’s Hoima
district. With little food and limited
access to health care, we struggled
to survive; formal schooling was
out of the question. But, because we
understood that education was the key
to prosperity, we taught each other
what we could. Older students tutored
younger students and everyone worked
to earn money to buy textbooks and
uniforms.
In time, these seeds of grassroots
learning eventually blossomed into
CIYOTA, a youth-led, volunteer
organisation that runs training
initiatives as well as the COBURWAS
school, named for the countries of origin
of the children in the refugee settlement:
the Democratic Republic of Congo,
Burundi, Rwanda, and South Sudan.
Today, more than 1,500 students are
enrolled in primary schools started by
CIYOTA and CIYOTA alumni. More
than 700 graduates have attended
secondary school, and more than 40
alumni are pursuing advanced degrees
at universities around the world.
Our graduates have been honoured
as Mastercard Foundation Scholars
for their academic aptitude, social
consciousness, and leadership qualities.
And alumni have even attended the
44 June 29 - July 05, 2018
African Leadership Academy, one of
Africa’s preeminent training colleges.
This organisational relationship is
particularly important, as it has greatly
enhanced CIYOTA’s professional
network.
Many young Africans have already
benefited from the CIYOTA initiative,
but our work does not stop at the
classroom door. Because we understand
that children learn better when they
have strong support systems behind
them, we also work with parents and
community members to make education
a higher priority. In this way, we hope
to reach even more children in need of
quality education.
Our organisation may have humble
roots, but our plans are grand. We want
to transform Africa by broadening poor
students’ access to knowledge. In our
view, finding a seat in school is only the
first step; we want to inspire children
to become leaders and entrepreneurs,
and to apply skills learned in school
to improving their communities and
countries. As refugees, our goal has
always been empowerment through
The longer
refugees are
away from
their homes,
the more they
need access
to institutions
that enable
self-
determination.
self-sufficiency.
But executing even the best-laid plans
requires significant resources, and
CIYOTA would still be an idea were
it not for the generosity of others. For
example, during a chance encounter
years ago, I met a well-connected
fundraiser at the African Leadership
Academy who helped us raise $20,000 in
seed money. And the office of the prime
minister donated land so CIYOTA could
cultivate bananas, maize, and other
produce to feed students and generate
income.
These gestures are all the more
remarkable given the growing number
of refugees flooding into Uganda.
Today, some 1.5 million displaced
people live in the country, and that
number is only likely to increase as
regional conflicts intensify. At a time
when other countries are turning
refugees away, Uganda is swinging its
doors open.
We want refugee youth around the
world to be inspired by our experience.
Newly displaced people need food
and emergency support, but the longer
refugees are away from their homes, the
more they need access to institutions
that enable self-determination. With
jobs, land, and schools, refugees can
recapture something lost when they
fled: hope. If the world is ever to achieve
universal primary education, a goal the
international community committed
to nearly seven decades ago, it will
need many more schools like ours. The
refugee-run education programs in
Kyangwali are examples of what can
happen when young people are given
the tools to manage their own destiny.
Joseph Munyambanza is Executive Director
of CIYOTA and a Mastercard Foundation
Scholar.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2018.
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