By Michael C. Fairbanks Many of history’s greatest personalities; Eleanor Roosevelt, George Orwell, Franz Kafka all died of TB It surprises many people in Europe and North America that tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the great scourges in human history. One out of every three people in the world is …
Read More »Tech entrepreneur reflects on challenges of cashless economy
By: Andrew S. Kaggwa Financial technology experts from 40 African countries are converging this month in, Lagos, the commercial city of Nigeria, to share their innovations, rethink their current models and gain valuable market insight of the African digital financial services market. Stone Atwine, the Ugandan CEO and founder of …
Read More »There’s no better time to see Rwanda’s majestic gorillas
By Mary Holland This year marks an amazing feat in wildlife conservation: 50 years of dedicated efforts to save Africa’s rare mountain gorillas. Spearheaded by the extraordinary work of the late Dian Fossey and her Karisoke Research Center in Rwanda, these majestic animals, once at risk of extinction, are now …
Read More »Mental illness rising
New WHO report shows Uganda among hardest hit countries in the world Many Ugandans do not know about mental illness – they only know “madness”. They use the word to describe someone who is possibly running wild, throwing stones, attacking people, or engaging in some bizarre and scary activity. But …
Read More »High expectations in coffee sector
Good prices, increasing production excite UCDA A coffee replanting initiative, which started nearly five years ago, is expected to boost the country’s crop volumes starting this year. “We are seeing an increase in the coffee export volumes this year as the crops we started planting more than three years ago …
Read More »BUSINESS: Refinery offers golden opportunity
New $20mn firm welcomed but analysts say government must strengthen legal and monitoring framework of minerals sector President Yoweri Museveni’s launch of a $20 million African Gold Refinery Ltd (AGR) – the first in East and Central Africa – in Entebbe on Feb.20 was a bold step welcomed by …
Read More »UTL needs Shs 170.8bn in new turnaround strategy
Faisel Gergab, is chairman of the Libyan Post, Telecommunication and Information Technology Holding Company (LPTIC) that owns 69% stake in UTL. He spoke to The Independent’s Isaac Khisa on the issues surrounding the company’s poor performance and its future outlook, just before government took over its management. How do you …
Read More »ANALYSIS: Fast tracking Uganda’s oil
Government, oil companies finally appear to be chasing some useful deadlines Uganda’s oil sector might look dull and inactive to the uninformed eye but in reality it is now a bee-hive of activities with tight deadlines to be met. At least six major oil-related engineering projects are rolling concurrently at …
Read More »THE LAST WORD: Uganda’s real oil curse
THE LAST WORD: By Andrew M. Mwenda How our overblown expectations of what oil is going to do for our country are likely to cause trouble I had always thought about the “oil curse” in terms of the “Dutch Disease” and the adverse incentives it creates that foster corruption …
Read More »Muhakanizi, Isabalija ‘fight’ sparks Shs 30bn UEGCL audit
Finance PS controls government purse, but new Energy PS has Museveni’s ear A stealth fight is brewing between new Energy Ministry Permanent Secretary, Stephen Isabalija, and veteran Secretary to the treasury, Keith Muhakanizi, with insiders saying it threatens to hurt implementation of government projects worth billions of shillings, if not …
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