Governments must learn how to enhance productivity and employment in labour-intensive service sectors COMMENT | DANI RODRIK | Conventional economics has always had a blind spot when it comes to jobs. The problem goes back to Adam Smith, who placed consumers, rather than workers, on the throne of economic life. …
Read More »Banks respond to rising mass affluence in Africa
Demand for goods and services expected to surge as continent’s middle class spend hits US$2.5 trillion by 2030 COMMENT | MARGARET SOI | The purchasing power of Africa’s middle class is expected to grow significantly in the coming years: the continent’s middle class is expected to spend US$2.1 trillion by …
Read More »COMMENT: Electricity pricing in Uganda
Winning the war of tariff affordability and losing the war of sustainability of electricity sub-sector COMMMENT | HARRISON MUTIKANGA | A decade after Andrew Mwenda’s article, “Electricity cost going up 40%: but who benefits most from subsidies to UMEME?” in the Independent (Issue No.196 January 13-19, 2012), the details of electricity …
Read More »Powering Uganda to 52,000MW: Challenges and prospects
Despite many achievements, Uganda still faces daunting challenges, particularly with an installed generation capacity per capita of 40 MW per million people—one of the lowest in Sub-Saharan Africa. COMMENT | By DR HARRISON MUTIKANGA | The strides made in Uganda’s electricity subsector over the last two decades are commendable; witnessing a …
Read More »What Google and Facebook owe news publishers
By basic principle; if you reap massive profits by using others news content, you should pay for it COMMENT | HAARIS MATEEN, HARIS TABAKOVIC & PATRICK HOLDER | It’s the same story around the world. Faced with an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation online, declining trust in media and government, and …
Read More »We can avoid the many dangers that come along with the exciting month of December
COMMENT | Samson Tinka | As the year closes in, the public is occupied with many activities – some personal, work related, government or non-governmental. These activities are associated with huge numbers of people at same places, movements, shopping and merrymaking. Every person is rushing to close the year on a positive note. …
Read More »Merriam-Webster’s word of the year is ‘authentic’
It reflects growing concerns over the ability of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to deceive and dehumanise COMMENT | ROGER J. KREUZ | When Merriam-Webster announced that its word of the year for 2023 was “authentic,” it did so with over a month to go in the calendar year. Even then, the …
Read More »War is what Hamas and Iran want
But those on both sides of the war who want peace have long known what needs to be done COMMENT | BERNARD HAYKEL | Following the end of the recent weeklong ceasefire, Israel has resumed its war in Gaza, and dropped leaflets urging Palestinians to head toward the Rafah border crossing …
Read More »Electricity Pricing: Winning the battle but losing the war
COMMENT | By DR HARRISON MUTIKANGA | A decade after Andrew Mwenda’s article, “Electricity cost going up 40%: but who benefits most from subsidies to UMEME?” in The Independent (Issue No.196 January 13-19, 2012), the details of electricity pricing, subsidy policies, and their ramifications remain a concern. Mwenda’s call to …
Read More »Catalysing precision medicine by Africa, for Africa
Tapping into its vast genomic research potential will require steady investment, capacity-building, and collaboration COMMENT | COLLEN MASIMIREMBWA | Africa is the continent with the most genetic diversity, but is gravely underrepresented in genomic research, with only 2% of global genomic data coming from people of African ancestry as of 2021. …
Read More »