US$4bn project fails to get investor again KAMPALA, UGANDA |HAGGAI MATSIKO| President Yoweri Museveni’s oil refinery project has once again suffered a major blow with a major Chinese contractor quitting. As has happened in many major infrastructure deals, frustration over in-fighting, intrigue and lobbying had already taken root with cabinet officials, …
Read More »The secrets behind the Sudhir saga
How BoU is overseeing the biggest asset grab ever Kampala, Uganda | HAGGAI MATSIKO | On July 3, Crane Bank which is under receivership by Bank of Uganda (BoU) sued its former owner, Sudhir Ruparelia, and a company called Meera Investments Ltd also owned by Sudhir in what might turn …
Read More »OIL: Uganda is mineral rich and has a lot of potential
Delays and shattered hopes: Uganda still waiting for oil riches BULIISA, Uganda | AFP | It was the promise of oil — billions of barrels of black gold, discovered locked beneath Lake Albert — and the riches to follow that brought electricity to Buliisa. Roads, piped water, and other …
Read More »Museveni criticised, Kagame unveils fancy party headquarters
ANALYSIS: Museveni criticised, Kagame unveils fancy party headquarters Kampala, Uganda | HAGGAI MATSIKO | On June 17, President Paul Kagame unveiled the complex of buildings comprising the headquarters of his party, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) in Nyagahinga Cell in the Rosoro sector of Gasabo District. The centerpiece of the US$10 …
Read More »America, China in US$ 4bn Uganda refinery deal race
Kampala, Uganda | HAGGAI MATSIKO | President Yoweri Museveni and technocrats at the Energy Ministry are set to pick an investor for Uganda’s $4 billion refinery but details of what is emerging from negotiations and due diligence meetings is troubling. Insiders say the in-fighting, intrigue and lobbying that has undermined previous infrastructure …
Read More »ANALYSIS: Scramble for Shs900bn oil deals
Ugandan firms in fight against foreigners Uganda’s nascent oil and gas sector is entering an intense three-year development phase, or what everyone is calling phase II since it follows phase one of exploration. As excitement builds, so does anxiety. “I hope to approach this phase differently. It is much …
Read More »COVER STORY: Pipeline politics
Behind Museveni, Kenyatta, Magufuli moves in US$ 3.5bn deal In what has become a tension and release pattern, the plan to construct Africa’s longest heated oil pipeline from Uganda to the Indian Ocean coast hit a milestone with the signing on May 26 of a construction agreement deal between …
Read More »ANALYSIS: Business feels Chinese pinch
Indians, local traders struggle as red dragon invades retail If any one place can be described as the heartbeat of Uganda’s retail business, it is Kikuubo Road; a half kilometer road in down town Kampala, that is an open market yard. At any time of day it is so packed …
Read More »Nalufenya: Tortured mayor and others
Police brutality cases that shocked the nation The worst known victim of torture in the Nalufenya police dungeons so far is the LC-III chairman of Kamwenge town council, Geoffrey Byamukama whose case shocked the country when gruesome pictures, showing deep wounds on his kneecaps surfaced. The red open wounds looked …
Read More »Nalufenya: Where innocents are tortured to confess
Stories from victims of police brutality put Kayihura, Muhoozi, Museveni on the spot March 23 started like an ordinary day for Godfrey Musisi, 52, until, out of nowhere, police officers descended on his compound in a Kampala city suburb. A few hours later, he was a prisoner in the notorious …
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