Gaborone, Botswana | AFP | Botswana voted Wednesday in a cliffhanger election set to test the decades-long dominance of the ruling party and challenge the country’s image of stability. The southern African nation’s 2,200 polling stations started closing at 1700 GMT as many were still waiting in queues to cast their …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT  |  The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development has drafted an ambitious roadmap for the transformation of the energy sector from dependence on Biomass to modern forms of energy. Under the new policy, quality solar and electric pressure cooking technologies will be cheaply promoted for homesteads …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT  |  Farming households in Uganda are increasingly staying away from growing millet and beans, with the yields of both crops dropping since 2008, Uganda Bureau of Statistics has shown. Instead, the households are turning to cassava, maize, and bananas. These revelations are contained in the annual agricultural …

Kapchorwa, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT  |  Kapchorwa District Councillors have locked the Chief Administrative Officer Simon Peter Kandole out of office.    A team of 11 people, led by youth councillor Collins Musau, stormed the District Headquarters and blocked the entrance to the CAO’s office on Wednesday, in protest of his …

Kampala, Uganda | Isaac Khisa  |  Russia’s President, Vladmir Putin and his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, on wednesday opened a two-day first ever Russia-Africa Economic Summit in Sochi, taking on rivals US, the European Union, China and India that have lately dominated  trade with the continent . President Putin told more …

Thessaloniki, Greece | AFP | Opposition politicians, archaeologists and locals have denounced Greek government plans to displace the fragile remnants of an ancient city district unearthed during work on a subway tunnel in Thessaloniki. Experts say the early Byzantine site, which includes the city’s main 6th-century highway, ancient buildings and hundreds …

Gaborone, Botswana | AFP |  Botswana goes to the polls on Wednesday in a hotly contested general election that could test the country’s traditionally stable politics, as the ruling party faces its toughest challenge yet. The historic Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) — whose rule has been unfettered since independence from Britain …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT  |  Farming households in Uganda managed to increase the population of pigs, sheep, and rabbits between 2008 and 2018 at a faster rate than they did for cows and goats, new statistics have shown. The figures, published on Tuesday by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) …

  Industry experts foresee a competitive, innovative and technology driven sector   Kampala, Uganda | JULIUS BUSINGE | Rivalry in Uganda’s banking sector is expected to tighten following the central bank’s decision to grant two entities licenses to start banking business. These are Afriland First Bank Uganda Limited, a Cameroonian …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT  |  The King of Tooro Kingdom, Oyo Nyimba Rukidi IV, has warned that Uganda’s future is lost due to teenage pregnancies.  Oyo, who was speaking at Reach a Hand Uganda –RAHU’s fifth Inter-Generational Dialogue –IGD on Tuesday at Serena Hotel, called for an end to teenage …