NEWS ANALYSIS

Kampala, Uganda | LINDA-GAIL BEKKER | There have been great strides and many important victories in the fight against HIV. Scientific innovations and sustained investment have been the most important weapons in this ongoing battle. Nevertheless the epidemic retains a powerful grip – especially on people in Africa. In sub-Saharan Africa, 19.4 …

Unlocking economic growth by breaking through both cost and planning barriers of physical infrastructure COMMENT | FARHAD KHAN | The African Development Bank projects that Uganda’s GDP will grow from 5.1% in 2017 to 5.8% in 2018. Among other factors, the government has highlighted the role of information communications technology (ICT) as …

Not about profits and interests of multinational companies COMMENT | MICHAEL J SSALI | The recent article in The Independent magazine (October 31 2017) titled “Tears and Cheers over New GMO Law” left me, as a farmer and a science journalist, disappointed. It carried negative and misleading sentiments about agricultural biotechnology. …

According to new research, female leaders may be more likely to provoke military coups COMMENT | RAJ PERSAUD  &  PETER BRUGGEN | Recently, Zimbabwe’s generals took President Robert Mugabe into custody in an effective coup (though they insist on not calling it that). Days later, the country’s ruling party, the Zimbabwe African National …

Parliament to probe communications regulator over its media cuts and bans Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | What, really, is the mandate of the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC)? On its face, UCC’s mandate appears clear; it is the country’s communications regulatory agency. It is supposed to promote and safeguard the interests …

Will new president Amuriat lead FDC forward or backwards to Besigye? Kampala, Uganda | IAN KATUSIIME | With the election of Engineer Patrick Oboi Amuriat as president of Uganda’s biggest opposition party,  the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) behind him, Grant Senabulya, a delegate from Nakaseke district who looks to be in his …

How American bribery case sucked in Museveni Kampala, Uganda | HAGGAI MATSIKO | Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa is likely to come under fire from Parliament following exposure of a deal in which he received a dodgy “donation” of US$500,000 (Approx. Shs1.8 billion) from a Chinese NGO cum think tank. The …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | By arresting Darfur’s powerful militia chief Musa Hilal, Khartoum has tightened its control over Sudan’s strife-torn region but analysts say it might open a new chapter of violence. Hilal, a former aide to President Omar al-Bashir, was arrested last week by Sudan’s counter-insurgency forces near …

THIS WEEK: Zimbabwe gets new president after 37 years Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | History was made in the South African country of Zimbabwe on Nov.24 when a new president – Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa was sworn in a ceremony held in the country’s capital of Harare. Zimbabwe had not seen …

Ankara, Turkey | AFP | President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday said Turkey could never be “condemned by virtual courts” in the US after he was implicated in a scheme allegedly designed to subvert US sanctions on Iran during a trial in New York. Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab had …