Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Two vehicles belonging to Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine, the Kyadondo East Member of parliament and a grader are rotting away at Arua Police football grounds, two months after they were impounded by police. The vehicles include a Toyota Tundra registration number UAT 416X, Toyota …
Read More »Healthy wallets and unhealthy bodies
Findings on obesity and economic status Soweto, South Africa | SHUKRI MOHAMED & TILAHUNHAREGU | Africa is experiencing a demographic and nutrition transition. More and more people are moving to urban areas. Slum communities currently constitute about 56% of the urban population in sub-Saharan Africa. That’s more than 200 million …
Read More »Peter Nyombi, former Attorney General, dies at 64
Soweto, South Africa | IAN KATUSIIME | It is said being Attorney General is among the worst jobs in government. As the government’s legal advisor, one has to possibly take a number of untenable positions for the sake of the government. And one could say that Peter Nyombi who passed …
Read More »Hope as Isimba dam nears completion
Two units set to go live within three months Nairobi, Kenya |ISAAC KHISA | There lies a stretch of land in Isimba village on the Victoria Nile in Kayunga District, 44km downstream of the 250 MW Bujagali Hydroelectric Power Station where dust has never settled. In the past five years, …
Read More »More than 40 dead in Kenya bus accident
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | More than 40 people have been killed in a bus accident in western Kenya early Wednesday, police said. “Reports reaching me are that more than 40 people died on the spot but it could be more because the roof of the bus was ripped off,” …
Read More »COMMENT: What is threatening science?
Scientists in recent decades have felt increasingly compelled to oversell their research for funding COMMENT | JEREMY J.BAUMBERG | Scientific knowledge and technological innovation, as Yuval Noah Harariemphasises in hisbookSapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, are among the key drivers of economic progress. Yet there is remarkably little reflection taking …
Read More »COMMENT: Education in the age of automation
Formal education is teaching workers the wrong things, instead of digital, technical, and soft skills COMMENT | LEEJONG-WHA | As digital technologies and automation have advanced, fears about workers’ futures have increased. But, the end result does not have to be negative. The key is education. Already, robots are taking …
Read More »Rwanda: Nyamasheke; district where girls pay dowry
Kampala, Uganda | ALEXIS BIKORIMANA | Rwanda’s marriage customs are facing a test because of current rapidly changing norms. The traditional practice where young men intending to get married were expected to work hard and pay bride-price to their betrothed parents could soon become history in some parts of the …
Read More »Telecom listing
Good idea but needs to be cautiously handled Kampala, Uganda | JULIUS BUSINGE | Uganda’s plan to have telecom companies list on the stock market is a goodstep towards inclusive growth but should be handled cautiously to avoid discouraging investments. Financial and economic experts who spoke to The Independent said …
Read More »Why apes can’t talk
Study suggests they’ve got the voice but not the brains Kampala, Uganda | JACOB DUNN | We all know that parrots can talk. Some people may have even seen elephants, seals, or whales mimicking speech sounds. So why can’t our closest primate relatives speak like us? Our new research suggests …
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