Business

By Patrick Kagenda After failing to take over the National Insurance Corporation (NIC) in 2005 in the teeth of competition from Nigeria’s Industrial and General Insurance (IGI), the Kenyan firm Apollo Pan African (APA) Insurance has at last made its way on to the Ugandan financial market. APA, which owns …

By Patrick Kagenda US gives Shs 1.8 trillion for rail link from Dar to Kigali Businessmen and women importing and exporting goods into Uganda often complain about high taxes. But they complain more about the high cost of transport. They say transport costs are the single leading cause of high …

By Independent Reporter AU experts reject Pan-African stock exchange, South Africa goes it alone When the African Union surveyed its members on the viability of a Pan-African stock exchange, it got a wake up call. It sent out 139 questionnaires to 53 state members but only 29 returned them. The …

By Independent Team & Agencies Suruma prays to God as Davos delegates tackle worst slump Global economic growth in 2009 is expected to fall to 0.5% when measured in terms of purchasing power parity and to turn negative when measured in terms of market exchange rates. That verdict is contained …

By Patrick Kagenda When Housing Finance Bank last week signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Royal Palm Estates to offer mortgages to its clients to buy houses in Butabika, a Kampala city suburb, the housing sector got a rare buzz. Interested buyers of the houses still have to fork …

By Independent Team The money will be used to strengthen its balance sheet and fund investment in its oil discoveries and prospects in Ghana and Uganda. January is turning out to be Tullow Oil’s best month. In a space of two weeks it has struck the biggest oil well in …

By Patrick Kagenda Kenya, Uganda governments stuck with bad concession over legal complications When it was signed in November 2006, the Uganda and Kenya governments’25-year concession to Rift Valley Railways (RVR) to run the operations of the Uganda Railway Corporation and the Kenya Railway Corporation was hailed as the “deal …

By Agnes Asiimwe Government is helpless as Ugandans are out-competed, investors bring their staff, senior posts held by foreigners Two years from now, if negotiations succeed, the East African Community Common Market Protocol should come in force on January 1, 2010. The protocol will allow free movement of services, capital, …

By Patrick Kagenda & John Njoroge Weak company law fails to protect the poor and gullible from fake saving schemes To Gauda Tushabomwe, it seemed like a brilliant way to invest her money. Tushabomwe, at the time an accountant with Kabale Diocese, was introduced to a microfinance organisation called COWE …

By Patrick Kagenda As the global financial crisis continues to affect economies worldwide, The Independent’s Patrick Kagenda talked to Gideon Badagawa, Executive Director Uganda Manufacturers Association on how it is affecting Uganda’s manufacturing sector. How will the global financial crisis affect Uganda? Uganda cannot escape the global economic crisis. There …