News analysis Health Business

Kayihura sanctions Is that supplement Experts on NSSF’s

in perspective safe to take? Shs402billion loss

Issue No. 591 Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019 Ushs 5,000,Kshs 200, RwF 1,500, SDP 8

Pouyanné:
‘Total Oil
boss ready
to teach
Museveni
a lesson’

www.independent.co.ug
Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019 1
inbox

Issue No. 591 Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019

News analysis Business Health Arts Motoring

Cover story
Pouyanne: Museveni’s oil trouble has a name
`The man ready to teach Uganda a lesson’

5 The Week
30 Comments
NRM, Opposition face off in tight
Hoima Woman MP by-election Mugabe and importance of
finishing well: Like many self-
centred African freedom fighters
9 The Last Word
and revolutionaries, Mugabe
America’s human rights imperialism started well but finished badly
2: Why we should be suspicious of
America’s attempts to insert itself in
32 Health
our national politics
Is that supplement safe
14 Analysis to take?: This Artificial
Intelligence tool scours
Kayihura sanctions in perspective: Why we must research to find out
see America’s summons to Uganda about human
rights as an ideological weapon for domination
35 Arts & Culture
27 Business
Minimalist portraiture of
NSSF’s Shs402billion loss: Experts women: Young artist with
urge management to rethink bold views praised for
daring the status quo
investment strategy

STRATEGY & EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: Andrew M. Mwenda WRITERS:Ronald Musoke, Ian Katusiime,
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2 Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019

 inbox

“I am here to recognize the hard

work the Ugandan government
and its health ministry have done
to prevent the spread of Ebola
outbreak from the eastern DR
Congo” Alex Alazar, US Secretary of
Health and Human Services in Kampala
State Minister John Chrysestom Muyingo (L) speaks to National Council for Higher Education (NCHE)
officials during the 1.1billion launch of the Integrated Management Information System. NCHE executive
director, Prof Mary J N Okwakol (2nd L), said that the system will address data collection, verification
and dissemination of information for all institutions of higher learning.   INDEPENDENT/ ALFRED OCHWO

The State Minister

for Gender, Peace
Mutuuzo, announced
the cabinet’s approval
of the National Kiswahili
council in Uganda.
Kiswahili will be the
second official language
to be used in Uganda
reviled on Sept 18 at “The time is now for the young
UMC.   INDEPENDENT/
ALFRED OCHWO
generation to take over”Sam Kutesa,
minister for foreign affairs announcing his
retirement from politics

The Executive Director

Divine Bamboo, Divine
Nabaweesi (2nd R, holding
seedling) interacts with
some of bamboo farmers
at one of their nursery
beds in Bombo as they
commemorate World
Bamboo day on Sept “We are investigating reports that
18.  INDEPENDENT/ ALFRED President Museveni bribed our candidate
OCHWO
with Shs1.2bn to withdraw from the
race” FDC spokesperson Ibrahim Semujju on
FDC candidate pulling out of Kaabong MP race

Families in Students who have Digital system

300 Iganga facing
eviction
1100 petitioned gov’t over
missing out on tuition loans
Shs9bn judiciary unveiled
to track case files

Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019 3

week
NRM, Opposition face off in tight Hoima Woman MP by-election
NRM Chairman, President
Yoweri Museveni, and People
Power leader Robert Kyagulanyi
aka Bobi Wine held parallel
rallies on the same day in the
climax for the Hoima Woman
MP race. Museveni campaigned
for Harriet Businge Mugenyi, the
NRM flag bearer in the poll while
Bobi Wine stumped for Asinansi
Simon Akena,
another city murder
There is heightened anxiety
over the kidnaps and mur-
ders in Uganda. There is a
palpable resignation among
the public including among
security officers over the secu-
rity situation in Uganda. The
latest incident played out in
similar fashion; reports of a
missing person and days later,
the discovery of their body in
heart rending circumstances.
The body of Akena, a graph-
ics designer was discovered
by a fisherman on the shores
of Lake Victoria in Kitubu-
lu, Katabi Town Council in
Entebbe on Sept.18. It had
marks of strangulation on the
neck and a deep cut on the
forehead. Police have arrested
two suspects in connection
with the murder of Akena.
The incident is barely a month
after the kidnap and murder
of Maria Nagirinya, a social
worker who was killed with
her driver. President Musev-
eni and his government have
been under fire over the esca-
lating insecurity in the coun-
try. Security services remain
active and vigilant when it
comes to curtailing the activi-
ties of opposition politicians.
4 Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019
Nyakato, the joint opposition candidate for
the Sept. 26 election. Tensions have been rife in
Hoima since the seat fell vacant in July. The last
time Museveni and Bobi Wine were in the same
district in a by-election was in Arua district in a
charged environment that was characterised by
bloodshed and the arrest of several opposition
leaders. The venues for the last rallies for both
opposition NRM are less than a kilometer apart.
Asinansi Nyakato Harriet Businge
NRM set to win
MP Galiwango appeals to Kaabong MP race
Speaker over personal security The ruling party NRM
is set to win the Kaabong
MP race after the FDC
candidate Judith Adyaka
Nalibe quit the race a
week to polling day. Her
decision means NRM will
win the Sept. 26 election
unopposed. The seat fell
vacant after incumbent
Kaabong District Woman
MP, Rose Lilly Akello
opted to represent Karenga
District, carved out of
Kaabong District. Kaabong
district became operational
on July 1. Ibrahim Ssemujju
Nganda FDC spokesperson
claimed that Nalibe held
Mbale Woman MP Connie guards of my choice not ones a secret meeting with
Galiwango has appealed to dictated by people who want to President Museveni, the
Speaker Rebecca Kadaga over harm me,” she told the House. NRM chairman, in Moroto
the persistent threats to her life Galiwango says she is now fac- Town on Sept.12, the day
that she says started since she ing a threat from unidentified the President was scheduled
voted against the amendment people who threw leaflets in to sign a memorandum of
of the presidential age limit in her compound demanding for understanding with his
December 2017. She told par- a staggering Shs400m. Kadaga visiting Kenyan counterpart
liament last week that her two promised to convene a meeting Uhuru Kenyatta on cross-
guards were withdrawn under with Police and the minister for border movements in the
unclear circumstances. “I need internal affairs. area.
Defence ministry, MPs hold talks on security
The ministry of Zaake. Mwesige said
defence and veteran the atmosphere at
affairs and the par- Munyonyo Common-
liamentary commit- wealth Resort was
tee on defence and more conducive than
internal affairs had that of parliament.
a two day meeting Although journalists
discussing torture, were barred from the
safe houses, re-arrest Francis Zaake Gen. David Muhoozi discussions, some
of suspects, rampant MPs like Zaake com-
rama, (defence) Col. MPs included Doreen
murders and the secu- plained about the
Charles Engola, Chief Amule, the ranking
rity situation in the rampant torture in
of Defence Forces member of the com-
country. The meeting the country narrating
Gen. David Muhoozi mittee, Butambala
was attended by min- the ordeal he went
and other army County MP Muwanga
ister for defence Adolf through last year at
officers from Chief- Kivumbi, Mityana
Mwesige, (veteran the hands of army
taincy of Military Municipality Francis
affairs) Bright Rwami- officers.
Intelligence (CMI).

Is Justice Tibatemwa being targeted for age limit judgment?
Supreme Court Justice Lillian
Tibatemwa was appointed to
the Seychelles Court of Appeal,
the country’s highest court.
Ordinarily, this would be a rea-
son to celebrate in the judicial
community in Uganda. Not
the case though. Apparently
there is an issue regarding the
procedure in which she took
up the job. The Judicial Service
Commission (JSC) has denied
approving her appointment
to the Seychelles court. In a
statement, the JSC permanent
secretary Ronald Sekagya said
Tibatemwa’s appointment has
not been submitted for review
to the JSC by anyone. “This is to
Africa Logistics Properties tackles challenges in East Africa Region
APO Group Africa Logistics
Properties (ALP), a modern
warehousing solutions
company hosted a Supply
Chain Networking Breakfast
Forum in celebration of its
second anniversary since
the completion of phase
one - ALP North at Tatu
City’s Industrial Park. The
event brought together key
stakeholders in the Logistics
and Supply Chain sector
with the aim of generating
industry solutions. Speaking
at the event, ALP CEO Richard
Hough said, “Since setting up
operations in Kenya, we as
an organisation have noticed
various challenges in the
East Africa’s Supply Chain
ecosystem. We are delighted
to have our first supply chain
Lillian Tibatemwa
categorically refute the assertion
that the chairperson of the JSC
approved the appointment of
Justice Tibatemwa as report-
breakfast event as a way of
creating dialogue to solve some
of the key challenges many
business’s experience within
the Supply Chain ecosystem as
well as align key international
best practices that are relevant
and can be applicable to
the East African Region.”
ALP’s strategy is to identify
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ed,” the statement read. This
has prompted speculation that
Tibatemwa, a former deputy
vice chancellor at Makerere
University, is probably being tar-
geted for quashing the age limit
amendment in a petition before
the Supreme Court. The petition
was dismissed in a 4-3 verdict
and Tibatemwa was among the
three justices who ruled that
the process leading to the con-
ceptualization of Constitution
(Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, 2017,
which paved way for scrapping
of the presidential age limit
was illegal. The other justices
are Paul Mugamba and Eldard
Mwanguhya.
demand-led investment
opportunities within Africa
that will generate strong
returns for its shareholders
through the development of
industrial real estate projects
whilst improving logistics and
infrastructure in the markets in
which ALP operates.
Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019
week
Kayihura: Museveni
criticises opposition
President Yoweri Museveni
criticised opposition politicians
for celebrating the sanctions
slapped on former Police chief
Gen. Kale Kayihura by the
U.S. In a statement, Museveni
said the opposition have faulty
spectacles for jubilating over
such. “Why do they think that
going to the USA or indeed
any non-African country is so
important that if you are not
allowed there, it will amount
to a painful punishment?” he
asked. Museveni vowed that
those who have committed
crimes will be tried in Uganda
but can never be handed over
to the International Criminal
Court. However a few years
ago, Uganda handed over
Dominic Ongwen, a former
rebel commander under the
Lords Resistance Army (LRA)
to the ICC. Museveni however
expressed regret over the
possibility of Kayihura owning
assets in the U.S. saying it is
tantamount to “treason”.
AfricellUG @AfricellUG
*terms and conditions apply |
Regulated by Uganda Communications Commission
5
week
Why EU chose Makerere Climate change tops agenda at 74th UN General Assembly
for democracy day fete
The European Union Ambassador
to Uganda H.E Attilio Pacifici wants
as many young people as possible
to speak out on what they want
democracy in Uganda to look like.
This is why, on Sept.19, Makerere
hosted the international day of
democracy celebrations that was
facilitated by the European Union
Delegation to Uganda. Uganda
continues to grapple with gaps in
promoting democracy and rule
of law which have in many cases
resulted into several reported cases
relating to human rights abuse.
Issues like election malpractice, 2019 has been a year marked by climate General Antonio Guterres has mobilized
suppression of human and voting activism, the fires in the Amazon rain forest countries to cut their greenhouse gas emis-
rights, voter bribery, gaps in women have sparked fury among environmentalists sions and live up to the goals of the Paris
and youth empowerment, torturing the world over. The year has seen danger- Accord signed in 2015. Greta Thunberg, a 16
of opposition politicians and media ous floods, rising air pollution and more year old Swedish activist has electrified cli-
practitioners are some of the issues dangers to the planet become major issues in mate change activism with her passion and
that speakers talked about at the many countries. On the eve of the UN Gen- dedication. She sailed to New York over the
event. Pacifici said democracies today eral Assembly in New York, there were stu- course of two weeks to avoid flights which
face many challenges as countries seek dent protests over global warming in cities contribute to carbon emissions. US President
answers to serious questions on how across the world like Kampala, Lagos, Stock- Donald Trump snubbed a climate meeting
their system of government can adapt holm, Paris, Tokyo to demand for action in at the UN headquarters on Sept. 23 opting to
in a complex and changing world. combating climate change. UN Secretary attend a meeting on religious freedom.

6 Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019

Humour Did you know?
Huawei’s 5G phone lacks
Google-licensed apps

Huawei launched a new 5G flagship

smartphone lineup on Sept.19 without
pre-installed Google-licensed apps as
the Chinese tech giant faces fallout from
The former Inspector General of Police Kale Kayihura seeks an audience with a U.S. blacklist earlier this year.
the US government over the travel and economic sanctions imposed on him. The Mate 30 series, which was
unveiled at a launch event in Munich,
will operate on an open-source version
of Google’s Android operating system.
Huawei has been unable to license
the latest version of Android due to
restrictions imposed by the U.S. on the
Chinese firm.
That means the new phones won’t
come installed with key Google apps,
like Gmail, YouTube, Maps or the Play
Store. Instead, Huawei will offer its own
Android-based interface called EMUI10
and its own app store. Analysts said this
would put Huawei at a disadvantage
against rivals like Samsung and Apple.
Huawei pushed forward with the
Mate 30 launch this month despite
the U.S. restrictions. Huawei has been
working on its own operating system
called HarmonyOS, but it’s too soon to
The Uganda National Bureau of standards will soon start be put on the Mate 30.
regulating grasshoppers locally known as nsenene. The Mate 30 series is Huawei’s first
all-new phone series to launch since the
U.S. ban was announced. The lineup
includes the 6.62-inch Mate 30 and 6.53-
inch Mate 30 Pro, available in both 4G
and 5G models.
The Mate 30 will be powered by
Huawei’s new Kirin 990 processor, an
all-in-one artificial and 5G chip the
company calls its “most sophisticated
smartphone chipset launched to date.”
Smartphone makers are increasingly
competing to unveil new 5G devices.
Huawei first overtook Apple as the
second-biggest smartphone seller in the
world in 2018. Samsung is the world’s
biggest smartphone seller. It launched
the Galaxy Note 10+ 5G in August
and the Galaxy S10 5G in February.
Huawei’s Chinese competitors like
Xiaomi have also unveiled new 5G
devices this year. Apple, however, likely
Minister Sam Kutesa has picked his daughter as his successor for Mawogola North MP seat. won’t release a 5G device until 2020.

Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019

 News analysis Health Business
American interest in Ending HIV Reprieve to cane farmers as
Uganda’s GMO law stigma government allows export

Issue No. 590 Sept. 20 - 26 2019

Ushs 5,000,Kshs 200, RwF 1,500, SDP 8

America pins ex-IGP

Kayihura on torture
Who is next on

Inbox
sanctions list?

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http://twitter.com/#!/ugandatalks

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www.independent.co.ug

Let Uganda, not America, handle Kayihura

Letters are Refer to: “America’s human
welcome ! rights imperialism: How US
government sanctions against
The Editor welcomes short and Kayihura are a toxic mixture of
concise letters from our esteemed ignorance, prejudice and hypoc-
readers on topical issues. Please risy” (The Independent Sept.20).
send them to:
The Editor, The Independent Today I agree with Mwenda
Publications Ltd, on the point of the USA lacking
P.O Box 3304, moral authority to investigate or
Plot 82/84 Kanjokya St, punish anyone anywhere in the
Kamwokya. world for human rights abuses.
Kampala,Uganda.
Please understand that I believe
Email: editor@independent.co.ug the former IGP committed
certain offenses that he should
answer for. But on our terms
and not American terms.
The main reason why I
believe America should stay
out of the human rights cases
in the world is; this same state
department (of America) can-
celled the travel visa for the ICC
prosecutor about a month ago
because she launched investi-
gations of human rights abuse
in Abu Ghraib prison by U.S.
soldiers. U.S President Donald
Trump and his team said via
twitter that U.S. soldiers will not
be touched. They were so deter-
mined to protect these criminals
that they threatened the ICC. So
a country that protects people
that commit human rights abus-
es had better shut up and let
others that actually care to deal
with such cases. The torture
victims will never see justice
thanks to the U.S. government
protecting the torturers. And we
Ugandans should understand
that if this colonialism (neo-co-
lonialism is only a term used
to confuse us all) is to end, we
must be ready to deal with our
own challenges and not wait for
America to come and play “big
brother”. So Kayihura should
be dealt with but by us and not
those American pretenders.
Muwanga the Ugandan

American racism, laziness in Penalise fake labour exporters Mwenda right to

Kayihura sanctions really?
Refer to: “America’s human rights
imperialism: How US government
sanctions against Kayihura are a toxic
mixture of ignorance, prejudice and
hypocrisy” (The Independent Sept.20).
Reading this article, one gets the
impression that the U.S. government,
out of racism and laziness, is targeting
an innocent man. One would never
guess that the former Inspector General
of Police, Gen. Kale Kayihura is actually
facing criminal charges in Uganda.
Sserukeera
Kayihura should have known Americans better
Refer to: “America’s human rights imperi-
alism: How US government sanctions against
Kayihura are a toxic mixture of ignorance,
prejudice and hypocrisy” (The Independent
Sept.20). Unless former Inspector General of
Police, Gen. Kale Kayihura is not as bright as
he would want people to believe, he should
have known that the sanctions that American
slapped on him and his family would come
– that it was just a matter of that commodity -
time. Much greater men, among them former
presidents Saddam Hussein of Iraq and Mobu-
tu Sese Seko of then-Zaire (now DR Congo) ;
people with whom America had “killed” the
proverbial “mukago” , were dispensed with
Labour export companies that do not com- condemn USA on Kayihura
ply with the services they are supposed to
offer or render to the people should be pun-
ished. I watched on TV and a certain company
was being complained about. It does not make
sense to me - someone trusting you with their
money and then you refuse to offer a service
they asked for? Such companies need to be
sued in courts of law. People who are victims
complain that even after these companies have
failed to offer the service, they refuse to refund
the money or else they give you very little
money from the money you paid them. Such
companies need to be penalised seriously.
Kevin Seguya
when they outlived their usefulness. KK per-
haps thought the same could never happen to
him, because he is that much smarter. While
he was doing the dirty work for and with the
Americans he stupidly fancied himself and
thought that he was an equal with them and
that nothing would happen to him. The reason
he went ahead and did terrible things, thinking
that he had the “dirty” on them and they would
sink together. Kayihura, now even your boss
will leave you out to dry. Your children family
and friends are going to suffer because of your
deeds.
Ejakait Engoraton
Refer to: “America’s human rights
imperialism: How US government
sanctions against Kayihura are a toxic
mixture of ignorance, prejudice and
hypocrisy” (The Independent Sept.20).
I have said this before and I will say it
again. It is appalling and disgusting
to see some of the comments. Africans
and especially Ugandans in particular
would give away their own. I don’t
condone the actions of for Inspector
General of Police Kale Kayihura but
he was doing a very difficult Job.
Policing Uganda is a nightmare. Was
it OK to leave criminal to roam the city
unchallenged? Uganda has had a dif-
ficult history with criminality because
of frequently changing governments.
Criminal have always liked it when
governments change. Gen. Kale Kay-
ihura was an obstacle; the criminal
gangs in Kampala didn’t want security
to get in their way. Remember former
British Prime Minister Tonny Blair and
U.S. President George Bush are living
free after their armies killing 1,000,000
in Iraq. Can Uganda or the UN sanc-
tion them for human right violations
in the Iraq War? Let Africans; especial-
ly ugandans start discovering them-
selves. Andrew M. Mwenda is right to
condemn the unbalanced USA.
Wanjala

8 Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019


America’s human rights imperialism 2
By Andrew M. Mwenda
Why we should be suspicious of America’s
attempts to insert itself in our national politics
W
hy did the United States sanction
Uganda’s former Inspector
General of Police, Gen. Kale
Kayihura, on allegations of
violation of human rights, corruption and
smuggling without providing the evidence
for the allegations? Why after he has left office
and two years after its own Department of
Justice awarded him a medal for excellence
in fighting terrorism? Why is the indictment
coming one and a half years to the beginning
of the 2021 presidential election campaigns?
As I wrote in this column last week, the
Uganda Human Rights Commission and
the Parliamentary Committee on Human
Rights both visited Nalufenya (the alleged
place of torture in the American indictment)
and interacted with the prisoners. Both
concluded that the claims of torture were
not founded. Why did the U.S. Department
of State disregard the findings of Uganda’s
institutions? Given that the UHRC has
issued many reports detailing torture in
Uganda and even made government to pay
hefty compensations to torture victims, the
USA should have more confidence in our
institutions.
More critically, why does America seek
to enforce norms that it does not practice at
home, even though it claims they are its own
values? The American police are notorious
for killing innocent African American males.
Indeed every 28 hours a black man is shot
dead by police in America for no reason but
the colour of their skin. Doesn’t charity begin
at home? Why does America seek to enforce
international laws it has refused to be subject
to under international treaties like the Rome
Statute that created the ICC?
Last week I dealt with the substance of
these claims: first that Kayihura was a very
honest public servant who did not use his
official position to enrich himself. Second
that while security forces routinely torture,
Kayihura made efforts to put checks in place.
Third, that America has been complicit in
torture. This column and the article following
it on pages 16-17 seek to address America’s
motivations.
The sanctions against Kayihura are not
actually aimed at him. Americans want to
influence the 2021 elections. They sense
fatigue about President Yoweri Museveni and
a wave in favour of Kyadondo East legislator,
Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine, whom
The Last Word
they have adopted as their Trojan horse.
He is a catholic and a Muganda. Americans
know Ugandans, like most Americans, vote
largely based on identity: ethnic and religion.
Bobi Wine may add a significant share of
demographic votes because he is young,
fresh and a celebrity. He has a good intuitive
feeling of the frustrations of many ordinary
young Ugandans.
Of course we must ask why Americans
would support a novice like Bobi Wine
against Museveni. Our president has been
their kingpin in this region. He has promoted
free market policies of liberalisation and
privatisation that have stifled the growth
of and/or displaced local capital to the
advantage of multinational capital. He has
been central in promoting America’s security
interests in this region and fighting her
enemies (for many years the government
in Khartoum and over the last decade the
“terrorists” in Somalia).
While Museveni remains an important
instrument in the security orchestra of this
region, things have changed significantly in
Washington DC. President Donald Trump
is not interested in Africa. He has not even
appointed an Assistant Secretary of State for
African affairs. Africa policy has been left to
low-level diplomats at the State Department,
with little or no input from the Pentagon and
the National Security Council. The diplomats
at State are naïve and idealistic liberal
imperialists of the human rights variety. They
are schemers who lack the realism of people
at the Pentagon and NSC who understand
the complexity of geopolitics.
Back to elections and what I think are
America’s calculations: Museveni performs
better when there is low voter turnout. Voter
turnout would be low if people feel their
votes do not count because Museveni will
steal them. For many years, Museveni had
the most credible person for this message of
hopelessness – Kizza Besigye. He actively
told Ugandans that he won all the last four
presidential elections but Museveni cheated
him. This actually sucked energy, motivation
and enthusiasm out of the electoral process.
Thus while subjectively a strong critique of
the president, Besigye has objectively been
Museveni’s strategic ally.
Bobi Wine is different. He calls on
Ugandans to register and vote and gives
them hope of success. His youthful idealism
Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019
opinion
gives him strong appeal, his emptiness in
ideas and policies notwithstanding. His
populist rhetoric endears him to masses
of frustrated youths who feel ignored by
Museveni. He is therefore likely to increase
voter turnout. Having adopted him as their
Trojan horse, America’s liberal imperialists
fear that in the face of a strong wave in Bobi
Wine’s favour, Museveni might keep him off
the ballot or unleash such violence on a scale
that can make people opt out of voting.
I suspect Americans calculate that they
can pressure Museveni to accept Bobi Wine
on the ballot. This leaves the President with
the second option – violence. The sanctions
against Kayihura are meant to send a signal
to other officers in security about the evil
that would be visited upon those who use
their positions to crack down violently. They
calculate, and I think naively and wrongly,
that in the high stakes game of power politics
such threats can work. They forget that there
are many officials who prefer power and
the privileges that come with it, to visiting
America.
The tragedy is the response of Ugandan
elites in the opposition, “civil society”,
the mass media and academia. They
celebrate this as a victory, unable to see
that foreign intrusions into our politics are
unlikely to resolve our internal political
problems but rather accentuate them. I
personally have many frustrations with
Museveni’s government: its corruption and
incompetence, its lack of a vision for the
country, its prostitution to the interests of
multinational capital, its fatigue and inertia
and the pettiness of its politics.
Yet in spite of these frustrations, I am not
willing to support any local or foreign force
seeking change. Whoever wants to remove
Museveni must demonstrate that they share
my values, understand our national interest,
and can balance all this against local, regional
and global interests to secure the best for our
people. Yet for some Ugandans any change
from Museveni is welcome. This addresses
an emotion, not policy. The Americans
don’t care about the consequence of their
adventures. They supported the Misrata
Brigade to remove Muammar Gadaffi and
see where Libya is today!
amwenda@independent.co.ug
9
cover story

Pouyanné: Museveni’s
Oil trouble has a name
‘The man ready to
teach Uganda a lesson’

I
By Independent Team n a bid to get the deal done, Total ini-
tially arranged a transaction in which
Details emerging following the recent failure of major oil companies to it would carry 50% of Tullow’s CGT.
pressure the Uganda government to grant tax concessions before a But Total gave the government a con-
crucial sale and purchase deal are casting the country as a “nightmare” for dition that the money it was paying
oil firms. And the result is that the French oil major, Total, is determined to had to be tax deductible when Total
change that – by “teaching Uganda a lesson.” starts recovering the money it has invested
as soon as Uganda starts earning oil money.
Signing of the Sale and Purchase Agreements (SPAs) between Tullow Oil The government countered that Tullow’s
Plc, Total Exploration & Production (E&P) and the China National Offshore farm down was liable to a non-negotiable
Oil Corporation (CNOOC) would have paved way for a Final Investment CGT and any arrangements Tullow entered
Decision (FID). But Tullow insisted on getting a 51% waiver of the due with Total could not change the tax liability.
Capital Gains Tax (CGT) because, it said, the money from the US$900 Following that impasse; Tullow, Total,
and CNOOC allowed the SPAs they had
million farm-down was to be re-invested in the sector. agreed in 2017 to expire on Aug.29. Then
Total raised the ante when on Sept.05 it
announced that it was suspending activity
of the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline and,
together with its Joint Venture Partners –
Tullow and CNOOC, started laying off staff.
Based on these developments, several
news media in the North Sea region that
comprises the UK, Norway, Germany, The
Netherlands and Denmark, have carried
reports that Uganda is a “nightmare” for oil.
Total has been the second biggest player in
the North Sea oil mix since 2017 and Total
CEO Patrick Pouyanné has been a major
news maker since he paid US$7.5bn there to
acquire Maersk Oil.
Now the leading digital news platform
for oil and gas from Europe’s energy capital
Aberdeen in Scotland called Energy Voice has
been making the point that Total is deter-
mined to “teach Uganda a lesson.”
The news platform which boasts of being
read in over 100 countries around the globe
because of its influential in-depth research
and market analysis has been citing chal-
lenges Tullow has faced. It says from
the moment Tullow purchased
Heritage’s concession and got
entangled in tax disputes

10 Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019

 cover story
with the Uganda government, “it was a sign
that things would not be straightforward.”
“This is not the first time that Uganda has
proved challenging for Tullow. When the
company bought out Heritage Oil, it faced a
drawn out battle with the government over
tax,” Energy Voice said in one of its reports.
It quotes one Stephane Foucaud from
a firm called GMP First Energy, who says
Total E&P, is determined to change that by
freezing all activity in Uganda.
“Total is sending a clear message to the
Ugandan government that unless things are
changed, the company will not do anything.
Nobody can replace them. The alternative
option would be for Tullow to sell to a new
buyer at a much lower level. In the near term
everything will be stuck,” Foucaud reported-
ly told Energy Voice.
Total’s move could also be seen as a warn-
ing to other countries in the early stages of
development planning, according to the
report. “This could be seen as a salvo fired
at Kenya, a warning,” Foucaud reportedly
said. “For Total and Tullow just focusing
on Kenya would be easier – and there’s an
incentive to make sure things work.”

The Tullow-Total gamble

The gamble is that Uganda needs the oil
deal more than Total does.
The assumption has been that President
Museveni, who has been pegging most
government spending (including purchase
on loan of planes for the revamped national
airline) on “oil money,” would want the
money in a hurry to finance major infrastruc-
ture projects, bolster Uganda’s capacity to
manage its growing public debt, and finance
his 2021 re-election.
A June report on the state of the economy
by the country’s central bank, for instance,
said Uganda needs to export oil by 2023 if
the debt is to be sustainably managed.
The report said Uganda’s public debt
stock will grow from the current US$10.74
bn (Shs39 trillion) to US$13.4bn (Approx.
Shs49 trillion) in the 2019/20 financial year.
This is a rise from 42.2% of GDP to 45.7%.
The government has set a debt-to-GDP
threshold of 50%.
The Energy Voice report says “while Lake
Albert and the pipeline plan do represent a
major step for Uganda, it is less important
for Total.”
It adds: Total are also distracted by other
areas, where it has big ticket projects in the
works, such as Mozambique and Papua
New Guinea (PNG), with major Liquefied
Natural Gas (LNG) plans. The French com-
pany feels it has invested enough and is
holding out for change to come from Ugan-
da.
“And that has to come from the top, from
Ugandan President YoweriMuseveni. The
pipeline is not a simple undertaking. If
Uganda is not careful, they’ll miss the boat,”
says one James Hopkinson from a company
called Assaye Risks.
He says Total has a number of projects
that it is working on and it has already
moved key personnel from the Uganda
project to other roles. So too does Tullow,
which noted in its statement on the failure of
the sales process that it has exciting work in
Kenya and Guyana in South America.
The report cites the public comments by
Tanzanian President John Magufuli that
Uganda should give the oil firms the “small”
tax concessions and stand to gain the “big”
rewards when oil starts flowing.
It says pressure has been piling on Musev-
eni domestically about the oil developments
being slow.
“Uganda is moving towards elections
and this is one of the issues that have seized
attention. The government needs to demon-
strate progress. It has taken a number of
steps to support the oil plans, such as roads
and an airport construction, but local people
are questioning why it’s taking so much
time,” according to Tom Ogwang of Mbar-
ara University of Science & Technology’s
(MUST).
Museveni ‘ready to fight’
Other reports citing highly classified
diplomatic sources indicate that that
President Museveni has assured Tullow and
Total that they would not get a tax waiver.
Museveni reportedly said he was ready
to fight it out but would not let Uganda
become like Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and
Angola; countries he said are not getting a
fair share from their oil.
He reportedly explained that Uganda has
made many concessions and infrastructural
investments that the oil companies need to
appreciate. Museveni reportedly met them
on Sept.06 on the sidelines of the recent
Uganda-Tanzania Business Forum in Dar es
Salaam.
“You asked me for an airport; I went to
London and borrowed US$350 million. Now
you are saying you don’t want to invest even
after I delivered the list of things you asked
of me,” he reportedly said.
He reportedly also listed major roads,

Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019 11

cover story
including the so-called oil roads, an
international airport under construction,
numerous concessions on taxes and tariffs,
and laws that support the oil sector.
“You told me you had money to invest
if I fulfilled a list of conditions. I have
met those conditions, so why are you not
investing?” the president reportedly said.
He termed the tax waiver demands as
new pre-conditions to signing of the FID.
The oil companies also want to raise the
transportation tariff from US$12.2 per
barrel to at least US$15. According to the
Permanent Secretary in Uganda’s Ministry
of Energy and Mineral Development,
Robert Kasande, the oil roads alone require
Uganda to raise US$1bn.
President Museveni has also raised
eyebrows with recent remarks that implied
that Uganda could start pumping oil in two
years; this amidst a public face off with oil
firms – something many assume killed any
prospects for Uganda oil in the short-term.
The President was on Sept.12 speaking
at the signing off a joint cross-border
integrated programme for sustainable
peace and social-economic transformation
for Turkana, West Pokot, and Karamoja
in the far northeastern Uganda town of
Moroto. Museveni was explaining that the
integration requires a road to connect to
Ethiopia through Kenya when he made the
quip which has become a talking point. He
said, in any case, if the UN fails he would
build the road.
“Once my oil comes out in two years, I
will build the road myself,” he said.
The Permanent Secretary, Kasande, on
Sept.17 followed up Museveni’s remark
during an energy sector meeting in
Kampala. He said “the collapse of Tullow
Oil’s Sale and Purchase Agreement would
not end Uganda’s oil and gas industry.”
In the context of Museveni’s dispute with
the Joint Venture Partners in Uganda’s oil
development, their optimism has sparked
speculation.
Museveni’s remark is significant
because the road he wants would connect
to Turkana’s main oil producing town of
Lodwar. Kenya is developing an oil pipeline
from Lokichar to the Port of Lamu that
could be an option in case of failure of a
pipeline deal Uganda agreed with Total,
CNOOC, and Tullow. The agreed pipeline
would go through Tanzania and is designed
to run for 1,443 km from Lake Albert to
the Tanzanian port of Tanga and take three
years to construct.
Speculation has been rife that Museveni
could lock out Total and do a deal with
CNOOC which favours the Kenya route.
But analysts have spoken of secret meetings
between Total and CNOOC and the
Chinese frustration over Museveni slow
bureaucrats. In any case, CNOOC has
also pulled back on staff and activities in
Uganda. An oil rig worker talks to journalists during the exploration phase in 2012.   FILE PHOTO

12 Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019


Big fight coming
Analysts anticipate a tough tussle
between Museveni and Pouyanné;
the Total CEO whose personal and
professional lifestyle are marked by bold
deal making. The 56-year old Pouyanné
is known to be very smart and his
negotiation style has been described as
“hard charging.”
According to Anne-Marie Idrac,
a former French trade minister who
has been on Total’s board since 2012,
Pouyanné is a good deal-maker because
he “thinks quicker than most people,”
and is “a lot more straightforward than
other French bosses.” Pouyanne is known
to have an “eruptive temper” and with his
imposing size, he can be intimidating.
“A lot of people fear him” and working
with Pouyanné can be stressful, said
Thierry Defresne, the representative of the
CGT union in Total’s refining division,
according to one report.
Pouyanné has publicly mocked a
French junior minister who opposed his
plans, and publicly squabbled with other
oil sector CEOs over strategy. Unlike most
Western executives, he refused to boycott
an investment conference in Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia, in the wake of the murder
of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
He shares some traits with Museveni,
including a tendency to micro-manage.
Pouyanné is described as a “strategist
and a perfectionist” who wants to be
involved in everything that matters for
the company. Like Museveni, Pouyanné
keeps an unusually tight rein over his
deals. According to one report, Pouyanné
sometimes does work that should be done
by his in-house experts himself.
“You have to be quick and to be
discrete,” Pouyanné once reportedly told
a journalist.
Quite significantly, Pouyanné
understands how frustratingly slow
government decision-making can be.
In the 1990s he worked in the Ministry
of Industry and the office of the French
prime minister. He quit in 1997 to join the
private sector — because in the private
sector “you can take actions, you are
judged on results.”
He also understands Africa, having
worked in Angola and has visited
Rwanda to see the gorillas.
In February, this year, Pouyanné
told journalists in Paris that getting FID
would be his priority in 2019. At the time,
however, he had significantly quipped
that the project has “too many crocodiles
that need to be tamed.”
A story by the Reuters news agency
that reported the incident said Pouyanné
was alluding to various difficulties in
getting the Uganda project off the ground;
including logistics of a landlocked
Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019
cover story
country, lack of experience in a new
country to oil, and challenges of creating
everything from scratch.
But by April when the CEOs of Total
and Tullow had one of their several
meetings with Museveni, it had become
clear that getting the FID going would not
be easy because of disagreements over tax
issues.
As The Independent reported earlier
in our story “Museveni locks out oil
investors: It’s Total disaster,” the oil firms
wanted Museveni to direct the Uganda
Revenue Authority (URA) on how to
handle the tax dispute in their favour. But
when they gave him a take it or leave it
ultimatum to freeze activities in Uganda,
Museveni reportedly ended the meeting
prematurely. Museveni cancelled another
meeting that had beebn scheduled for June
05.
From that point, the FID appeared
basically dead unless the JVPs paid the
taxes. The JVPs let Sale and Purchase
Agreements (SPAs) they had signed to
expire on August 29 without a deal. Under
the SPAs signed on January 9, 2017, Total
and CNOOC were to acquire of 21.57%
out of Tullow’s 33.33% interest in the Lake
Albert licenses.
At the time, it was thought that the
expiry of the SPAs would delay but not
freeze the oil development. After all
Uganda first announced impending oil
production in 2011 but has kept pushing
the deadline for eight years.
Panmure Gordon analyst Colin Smith
summed up the thinking when he
advised investors that “given the national
importance of the project we expect a
resolution will be found and that the most
likely outcome is that the previous deal
or something similar with the existing
partners will be concluded.” But then
Total on Sept.05 ratcheted up things by
announcing that it was suspending all
activities, including tenders, on the East
Africa Crude Pipeline (EACOP). The JVPs
immediately started major layoffs of staff.
Despite all that, Total’s exploration &
production President, Arnaud Breuillac
said in statement that Total together
with its partners CNOOC and Tullow
will continue to focus on progressing
the development of the Lake Albert oil
resources.
Said Breuillac: “The project is technically
mature, and we are committed to
continuing to work with the government
of Uganda to address the key outstanding
issues required to reach an investment
decision. A stable and suitable legal
and fiscal framework remains a critical
requirement for investors.” In other
words, it appears, Total wants Uganda’s
oil but on Total’s terms. Museveni does
not like that.
13
news analysis

An Oranto Petroleum badge in western Uganda during the seismic data acquisition exercise in May, this year.   FILE PHOTO

Govt looks to
new oil deals
There is plenty to cheer than mourn
about after Tullow oil deal failed
By Ronald Musoke and CNOOC had been left to expire without was expected to be undertaken by Total,

F
ollowing the August fallout of Tullow
Oil Plc’s farm down to Total E&P
Uganda and China National Off-
shore Oil Corporation (CNOOC),
the government appears to be going after a
three-pronged come-back strategy: remain
bullish, handle activities leading to first oil
separate from Tullow’s farm down fumble,
and aggressively look out for new investors
in the oil sector.
The government’s bullish face was on
show at the recent annual Energy and Min-
eral Joint Sector Review (JSR) on Sept.17-18
at the Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort in
Kampala.
Many of the attendees trooped there
expecting to hear “concrete” updates on the
latest developments surrounding the Aug.29
announcement that the Sale and Purchase
Agreements (SPAs) between Tullow, Total
a deal and Total’s subsequent announce-
ment that it was suspending activity on the
East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP).
But it became immediately clear that
the people with the answers had skipped
the conference; starting with the Minister
of Energy and Mineral Resources, Irene
Muloni, to the country managers of Total,
Tullow and CNOOC. It was announced that
Muloni was in Austria on official duty but
the big names in Uganda’s oil; Total, Tullow
and CNOOC, who often hog the discussion,
were barely mentioned.
With the top voices away, the discussion
was left to Energy ministry officials and
members of the diplomatic community.
Cedric Merel, the Head of cooperation at
the European Union Delegation in Kampala
who led the discussion side of the diplomats
had one major question; what will happen
to the Final Investment Decision which
CNOOC, and Tullow?
Although Merel wanted answers to the
immediate concerns, the answers from the
government official took a long-term per-
spective.
Simon D’Ujang, the minister of State for
Energy and Robert Kasande, the permanent
secretary were determined to paint the coun-
try’s faltering oil and gas sector in rather
optimistic colours.
D’Ujang referred to the current stalemate
between the oil companies and the govern-
ment as a “small hiccup.”
“Although we have encountered a small
hiccup, we are engaging as partners and we
are discussing,” D’Ujang said, “This is not
strange at all in any business undertaking.”
Activities to continue
Meanwhile Kasande said the oil compa-
nies had not yet notified the government

14 Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019


with regards to the suspension of activities.
“The collapse of Tullow Oil’s Sale and
Purchase Agreement would not end Ugan-
da’s oil and gas industry,” he said.
Kasande said since Tullow has been look-
ing for resources to invest in the Ugandan
project, it expects the British oil firm to go
back to the market to look for these resourc-
es.
In the meantime, the Final Investment
Decision Management Committee which he
chairs and comprises CEOs from CNOOC,
Total and Tullow Oil, the Uganda National
Oil Company (UNOC) and the Petroleum
Authority of Uganda (PAU) will soon meet
in Kampala to determine the way forward
on several pending agreements.
These include the host government agree-
ments, the transportation and tariff agree-
ment and the shareholder agreement (for the
EACOP).
“These will continue until Tullow finds
the money and hopefully concludes the farm
down,” he said. The idea, Kasande said, is
to remain on course for the Final Investment
Decision which the government officials still
hope will happen by the end of this year.
“We had expected that first oil would
happen three years after FID,” he explained,
“If FID happens this year, we will still be
on course because most of the preliminary
activities have been undertaken.”
Kasande insisted the companies cannot
choose to walk away because they have a
proven oil resource which they have since
booked in their reserves and even the stock
exchange. The Lake Albert Development
Project is expected to pump out 230,000
The
collapse of
Tullow Oil’s
Sale and
Purchase
Agreement
will not
end
Uganda’s
oil and gas
industry
barrels of oil per day at its peak.
Kasande told The Independent on the
sidelines of the sector review that the
government is at the moment undertaking
road shows that are meant to promote the
second licensing round.
“After this has been done and the
companies have expressed interest in
exploration, they will have access to the
government database so that they can
evaluate the potential of the blocks,” he
said.
Thereafter, he said, expressions of interest
by interested companies will be accepted
followed by evaluation and due diligence.
“We expect that the conclusion of this
licensing will be in the last quarter of 2020,”
he added.
Kasande said besides international oil
prices, the two other factors that make
investing in exploration in oil and gas fron-
tier basins like Uganda are legislation and
potential of the blocks.
“On these two fronts, Uganda is doing
well,” he said. “While Uganda is still a
frontier basin, at least until we produce our
first oil, the potential has been proven and
all indications point in the direction that we
will have this infrastructure (pipeline and oil
refinery).”
The government officials said there is a
lot more to be cheerful about. Let’s focus on
the progress that had been made before the
recent Tullow announcement, they said.
They listed the Environmental and Social
Impact Assessment for the two upstream
projects of Tilenga and Kingfisher that had
been completed with the National Envi-
ronment Management Authority (NEMA)
approving Tilenga while Kingfisher was in
the final review stages.
They also mentioned the Route Alignment
and Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) imple-
mentation for the EACOP, the Products
Pipeline Corridors, the brand new inter-
national airport in the oil region, and the
Kabaale Industrial Park for oil related indus-
tries. These projects, the officials said, had
Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019
news analysis
either been completed or were underway.
Meanwhile, the lead oil refinery investor,
the Albertine Graben Refinery Consortium
(AGRC), has also made progress with the
Front End Engineering Design (FEED)
studies that will eventually inform the Final
Investment Decision of the project.
New oil investors
Irene Batebe, the Acting Commissioner
(midstream) in the Petroleum Directorate
noted that irrespective of the current chal-
lenges the government will continue pursu-
ing its targets.
The government expects more companies
to come and invest in the country’s upstream
(exploration and production) sub-sector.
On the new investment front, the Energy
ministry is looking at two licensees; the
Nigerian firm, Oranto Petroleum Ltd and
Australian firm Armour Energy pty Ltd that
are already carrying out seismic surveys.
The government is also reviewing appli-
cations for production licences over the Lyec
field in exploration area 1A, Mpyo and Jobi-
East fields in Exploration Area 1 operated
by Total. These could be approved in this
Financial Year 2019/20.
All eyes are on the second licensing round
which was launched in May at the East Afri-
can Petroleum Conference and Exhibition
held in Mombasa.
“We are very hopeful that prospective
investors will pick interest in the request
for qualification and participate in the bid-
ding process for the opened up exploration
areas,” Batebe said, “We seek to produce first
oil by 2022 and we hope that the crude oil
pipeline will be in place by 2022 and the oil
refinery will be up and running by 2023.”
“We seek to establish additional reserves
because this is very critical for the sustain-
ability in terms of additional crude oil over
and above what has been discovered so far,”
she added.
Uganda’s Albertine Graben is now a
mature oil and gas province with nine pro-
duction licences already issued to Total E&P
Uganda, CNOOC Uganda Ltd and Tullow
Uganda Operations Pty Ltd, she said.
Batebe said the government plan is to
continue to assess the country’s petroleum
potential, support the national content poli-
cy, and upgrade existing geochemical labo-
ratories, and supervise the FID and ESIA for
the oil refinery and the EACOP.
Before Tullow’s announcement that its
SPAs with Total and CNOOC had expired
and Total’s subsequent announcement that
it was suspending activities on the Pipeline,
the Joint Venture Partners were frantically
working to pump first oil by 2022. Although
the government remains determined to fol-
low that timeline, it also appears to be work-
ing on a longer-term plan.
15
news analysis
Kayihura sanctions
in perspective
Why we must see America’s summons to Uganda about
human rights as an ideological weapon for domination
By Andrew M. Mwenda
W
hen the US govern-
ment sanctioned
Uganda’s former
Inspector General
of Police, Gen. Kale Kayihura,
many Ugandans in opposition,
traditional and social media and
in “civil society” celebrated. This
is naïve. Western nations (Eu-
rope and her offshoots in North
America and Oceania) keep
governments and leaders in Af-
rica under pressure to govern in
particular ways. Yet they know
from their own experience that
you cannot impose other coun-
tries’ standards, which are alien
and totally disconnected with a
people’s history, culture, poli-
tics etc. and they work.
The common argument
among many of our elites is that
western nations intrude in our
(African) sovereignty because
they give financial assistance
to our governments. I think
this is a very small part of the
motivation. There are countries
in Africa, like Eritrea, which do
not get U.S. assistance but are
subjected to the same sanctimo-
nious summons.
The desire, nay the impulse,
to lecture and to scold African
countries and their leaders
on how to govern themselves
seems to form an important part
of white people’s psychological
DNA. The nations of Asia such
as Japan, South Korea and China
provide huge sums of money to
African countries. But they do
not lecture and scold our lead-
ers on how to govern. Neither
do they speak grandiloquently
about how awesome their polit-
ical institutions and their proce-
dures are and how we should
imitate them.
In any case, all of Western
Europe lives under the U.S.
security umbrella i.e. America
16 Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019
pays for their security. But it
does not tell them how to gov-
ern themselves. Norway, Swe-
den and Denmark have social
democratic policies that are
almost the opposite of America’s
free market system. However
America does not scold and lec-
ture their leaders on how to be
good free market copycats.  ment and make mistakes. They
The reason behind the sanc-
timonious summons to Africa
by the West is racial. There is
a deeply engrained, often sub-
conscious, though in some cases
conscious, racial superiority
Former Inspector General of Police Kale Kayihura was in 2016 awarded by
the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI for his fight against terrorism.
complex in the mind of many
white people. They believe that
Africans are children incapable
of self-government and, there-
fore, need the paternalist hand of
white superintendents. This was
the basis of colonialism and has
never gone away. The view of
many white people, consciously
or subconsciously, is exactly
like what Albert Schweitzer of
Gabon fame wrote in the 19th
Century: that “the African is a
child and with children nothing
can be done without authority.”
So deep is the impulse to
lecture and scold Africans; espe-
cially leaders, that this attitude
cannot be found anywhere in
the West’s approach, even to
child upbringing and education.
Many white people who indulge
in endless lectures, summons
and scolding of African lead-
ers give white children a lot of
autonomy to make decisions.
They pick the bills and yet give
the children freedom to experi-
recognise that mistakes are nec-
essary for learning.
The same applies to the West-
ern education systems. As one
who has benefited from it, I have
been impressed and inspired by
the attitude lecturers towards
students in the West. They allow
them to experiment, give them a
lot of autonomy and avoid exer-
cising authority over them.
At a personal level, I do not
dictate to my son or the many
young people I have fostered. I
help(ed) finance their education
and other needs but I do not see
this as a basis to dictate to them
how they should lead their lives.
Nations like individuals can
change and improve. But they
need time and space to do so
without intrusions from outside.
Besides there is nothing that
proves that the richest countries
are best placed to judge the
internal virtues and vices of
poorer nations. More than any
other country, the U.S. should be
understanding of the complexity
of social change.
America was born as a liberal
democracy, with a free press,
an independent judiciary, a par-
liament and a presidency held
by many checks and balances.
Yet it took them 56 years from
its Declaration of Independence
in 1776 (which said all man are
born equal) to granting poor
white men the right to vote, 88
years to end slavery, 144 years
to give women the right to vote
and 188 years to give black
people the right to vote. Slavery
was ended by a democratic
president using emergency
powers to issue the Emancipa-
tion Proclamation during a civil
war. Even then, America had
to endure another 100 years of
apartheid before black people
could be guaranteed the right to
vote. This is not to mention that
America evolved by genocide
of native peoples. Even today,
America is involved in torture
in her “war against terrorism.”
Americans are not ignorant
of this, their history. They know
how long it took their country
to fight and reduce most of its
evils, many of which still per-
sist. This is why we must see
America’s summons to Uganda
about human rights as an ideo-
logical weapon for domination.
To function as such, the human
rights ideology calls for the
rewriting of history, selective
indignation and arbitrary pri-
orities. The paradox is that the
more ethics advance towards a
genuine universality, the more
hypocritical America becomes.
In many ways Africa helps
white people build their identity
and self-confidence. Their sense
of superiority and their sense of
mission as the world’s civilizers

depend on presenting Africans as a barbaric
people who need white people to civilise
them. It requires a belief that Africans cannot
possess a civilisation and a culture equal to
that of whites. Because if white people felt
such equality with Africans, they would
have no purpose and no justification for the
domination they seek. They would lose their
sense of superiority. So their relationship
with Africa requires the reinvention of the
African, carrying with it a discourse and a
narrative that Africans are barbaric, their
leaders are murderous and thieves and
therefore need white people to come and
save them from themselves.
For Africans, there is a critical need to
challenge this moral superiority complex of
the West and its reinvention of who we are.
They write the script of who we are, what we
need and how we should get it. They control
nearly all the weapons of mass propaganda.
When I see our opposition politicians, “civil
society” (largely NGOs paid by the West to
do its bidding) and academia celebrating
Western attempts to set the narrative about
us (Africans), I am only reminded of what
the hero of the South African anti-apartheid
struggle, Steve Biko said: the greatest weap-
on in the hands of an oppressor is not his
army but the mind of the oppressed. Unless
we unwittingly (or knowingly out of person-
al self interest) acquiesce to such ideological
domination, we cannot be conquered.
American leaders in academia, diplomacy
and some in the mass media know from
experience that politics is much more com-
plicated in practice than in theory. There is
a difference between abstract political ideals
and actual politics as lived and participated
in by people. Governments function in con-
formity with the norms and traditions of the
society, not only on abstract principles of
government. Building a nation, a state and
its political institutions takes time and is nev-
er a result of a single instantaneous decision
or lectures from abroad. Political systems
develop over time and this always involves
mistakes from which participants have to
learn. Over time and by slowly responding
to circumstantial exigencies, societies devel-
op more mature forms of government.
One does not need to be a philosopher
or historian to see this point. Western pol-
iticians, journalists, diplomats, academics
etc. know this. They ignore it because it is
convenient to for them to rely on prejudice
to intrude into our affairs for their own
interests. This is not the main problem. The
real problem is the failure of African elites
to see through such attempts to capture our
nations and use them to serve interests other
than those of our people. Western coun-
tries hide their actual intentions behind the
smokescreen of human rights, democracy,
freedom and good governance.
There is an active effort by governments
and institutions in the West to capture us
ideologically, and they have succeeded to a
great degree. They have built elaborate sys-
tems to reward those who accept their inter-
ventions (as aimed at our own good) and
punish those who seek to expose the selfish,
often dark intentions that lie behind these
sanctimonious lectures. Decades ago, politi-
cal struggles were about the ability to control
and transmit scarce information. Today they
are about the creation and destruction of
credibility.
For instance, those who defend Africa
from these neo-colonial intrusions are often
presented as malcontents supporting tyrants
and thieves. The narrative that African lead-
ers are tyrants and thieves has sunk deeply
into our social consciousness. It is now the
weapon used to delegitimise the state we
won through our struggle for independence.
That narrative is now used to justify foreign
interventions with disastrous consequences
for our people as we have seen in Libya.
The spokespersons
of Western interests
in our countries are
well protected. If the
national government did
something bad to them,
they will be presented as
human rights defenders
Today, politicians, journalists, “civil soci-
ety” activists who defend Western intrusions
and regurgitate Western lectures to us are
openly supported, invited to conferences,
praised in their mass media, given awards
and their reputations are nourished. The
tragedy is partly the failure of Africa’s polit-
ical and other leaders to see this, and where
they do, to do anything about it. Critics
are right to point out that African leaders
jump onto Pan-African slogans as a defence
against Western attacks, not out of solid
commitment to it.
While no single president, political lead-
er, intellectual, academic or journalist can
win the war today, each one of us can play
a role in recasting the narrative about us.
The spokespersons of Western interests
in our countries are well protected. If the
national government did something bad
to them, they will be presented as human
rights defenders and democracy activists.
Their plight is exaggerated and movingly
told, their families taken care of, and given
asylum in the West. This is the subtle way
in which the West has used the language of
human rights to gain both intellectual and
ideological control over our national con-
versations. Human rights organisations are
Fifth columnists in America’s imperial proj-
Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019
news analysis
ect. Their reports create the justification for
America’s wars of aggression, which are sold
through its diplomacy and media as altruis-
tic missions to save the vulnerable from their
leaders. Their work today mirrors that of the
Christian missionaries of the 19th century
whose work justified colonialism as coming
to bring civilisation and commerce.
We must never forget that those who seek
to dominate others always claim to do so for
the benefit of their victims. This is not to say
that our leaders and the governments they
preside over are virtuous. Yet in spite of all
the ills they may inflict on us, our sovereign-
ty is important. While there can be sover-
eignty without democracy, there cannot be
democracy without sovereignty! Attempts
to undermine our sovereignty are, therefore,
acts to undermine our democracy.
Liberal thinking since the 17th century is
based on the idea that there are essentially
three forms of life in society: Hobbesian
anarchy (the war of all against all), The levi-
athan (an absolute sovereign who imposes
peace by force) and a legal democratic order
based on the rule of law and individual
liberty. Now the dictatorial regimes that the
USA and her army of human rights activists
denounces, have the advantage of the abso-
lute sovereign i.e. the ability to ensure order
by stopping the war of all against all. But the
disadvantage here is that such a sovereign
acts in his own interests. His authority may
not be accepted in the hearts and minds of
his subjects; the reason he relies on repres-
sion, which provokes protests and revolts
calling for more repression. This is the justi-
fication for a system based on the rule of law
and individual liberty.
All this makes sense when dealing with
the internal affairs of nations. But let us now
turn to international affairs. If we do not
respect national sovereignty, the sovereign
would be the USA. It is a great power that
engages in international affairs in pursuit of
her national interests. Its role in international
affairs is therefore exactly like that of a levi-
athan, an exercise of arbitrary power for her
own interests. America is not intervening in
Uganda to help Ugandans. It is intervening
in promotion of her national interests.
Sometimes her national interests converge
with ours. But often they don’t; the more
reason we need to be careful when America
comes knocking on our door as our liberator.
In any case, Americans have gone through
many political struggles but have never
called upon foreigners to help liberate
them. They have seen their struggles as
domestic, accepting foreign assistance (as
the help of the French during America’s
war of independence) as secondary and
coming on their terms. It is our responsibility
to liberate ourselves. So we must be
leading participants in the struggle for
our emancipation, not passive spectators
receiving international charity.
17
NEWS ANALYSIS
UNRA says it will have procured the operator for the Kampala Entebbe Expressway by January 2020.
UNRA’s challenges
Shs400bn needed to settle project affected persons
By Ian Katusiime
T
he insecurity at the Kampala Entebbe
Expressway could be no more as
soon as January 2020 according to the
Uganda National Roads Authority
(UNRA).
UNRA hopes to have procured the oper-
ator for the 57km Expressway by January.
The operator will be in charge of installing
lighting and cameras, patrolling the high-
way, and maintenance of the road.
“The operator will also attend to all the
incidents and accidents that happen on the
Kampala Entebbe Expressway,” said Patrick
Muleme, UNRA’s Head of Design at a press
briefing held on Sept.17 at UNRA head offic-
es in Kampala.
With the operator in charge, the tolling
among users of the Expressway will begin to
enable the maintenance of the four lane road.
The Expressway has been a major subject
of discussion in the works sector since it was
opened to the public in June 2018.
On Sept. 17, UNRA executive director
Allen Kagina flanked by other directors
addressed the press on the performance of
the roads agency in the last financial year
2018/2019. It was also a chance for Kagina
and her team to give accountability for the
budget of Shs3.4trillion that they were allo-
cated in the past financial year.
The team took turns answering questions
on roads affected by bad weather in the
eastern part of the country, stalled road
projects, compensation of Project Affected
Persons (PAPs), loan repayment, progress
on oil roads and boosting local contractors in
construction.
Kagina said the national road network
has increased by 312km from 20,544km to
20,856km in the last financial year.
Land acquisition headache
She said the complexity of land acquisi-
tion had created new challenges for UNRA.
18 Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019
“99% of funds allocated for Land Acquisition
were absorbed by the end of the second
quarter of the FY,” Kagina said.
A single project code for land acquisition
was created and this fast tracked the com-
pensation of PAPs however this ended in
December 2018, the second quarter. Kagina
said UNRA needs about Shs400billion this
financial year to settle compensation issues.
UNRA will have a busy year going for-
ward because of the contracts it awarded in
2018/2019 for the upgrade or rehabilitation of
roads. These include civil works for upgrad-
ing of Rukungiri-Kihihi-Ishasha-Kanungu
Road (75km) to bituminous standards to
facilitate tourism; civil works for upgrading
of Masaka-Bukakata Road (41km) from
gravel to paved bituminous standards to
facilitate agriculture.
There is also the Kampala Flyover Con-
struction and road upgrading project and
the civil works for the construction of Buse-
ga-Mpigi Expressway (23.7km) to decongest
Kampala city. In the last financial year,
UNRA awarded contracts for the packaging
of five critical oil roads to facilitate oil pro-
duction, in spite of the persistent setbacks in
the oil sector. This lot of upgrading includes
20km of town roads in Mbarara municipal-
ity and the rehabilitation of a 9km stretch of
the Kampala-Mukono road from the junc-
tion at Nakawa near Spear Motors.
More cash challenges
For the current financial year 2019/2020,
UNRA was appropriated Shs4.2trillion to
cover its recurrent expenditure, maintenance
and development of the national road net-
work. “By the end of FY 2018/2019, UNRA
had a debt of Shs474billion. In addition,
the ongoing projects under Government
of Uganda development have a deficit of
Shs500billion,” Kagina said in a statement.
She added, “This means that the allocated
budget to the 2019/20 work plan is short by
approximately Shs980billion.”
Of the Shs4.2trillion, Shs71billion will
be spent on wages of the over 1500 staff
employed by UNRA.
The cash challenges were apparent as
some of the directors fielded questions on
UNRA operations. On why UNRA goes
ahead to sign contracts with contractors
before obtaining right of way, which leads to
delays and financial penalties, UNRA Direc-
tor of Roads and Bridges, Sam Muhoozi
said the roads agency operates only one
budget. “We run one budget which is the
same for land acquisition, road maintenance,
paying for salaries; which is appropriated
at once and we cannot commit on only one
activity,” Muhoozi said.
“Procurement moves faster than acqui-
sition of land, we are in court sometimes,”
he added. Muhoozi told the press that some
contractors are so fast and UNRA cannot
stop them from working before obtaining
right of way. Muhoozi also spoke about the
challenges of local contractors. “Not all of
them have the capacity to mobilise equip-
ment and attract local financing.”
He said the Ministry of Works and Trans-
port is in talks with other stakeholders to
provide affordable loans and subsidised
equipment to local contractors.
Fred Omach, former minister of finance
and currently board chairperson of UNRA
said local contractors now get 28% value of
contracts awarded. “We are not fully satis-
fied but we will get there,” he said.
Rules set by Public Disposal and Procure-
ment of Public Assets (PPDA) state that 30%
of the value of any contracts taken by foreign
firms, must be handed to their Ugandan
counterparts.
Omach also spoke with optimism about
the performance of the board he leads. It was
inaugurated on March 14, 2017 for a three
year tenure. “It will be up to the minister to
see whether we have done a good job.”

It’s Ok to change your mind
It makes you seem intelligent - research
By Martha Jeong, Leslie K. John,
Francesca Gino, Laura Huang
H
ardheadedness seems
to be rampant. From
the boardroom to
politics to everyday
interactions, we often encounter
people (and may also find
ourselves) upholding a
stance despite evidence of its
inaccuracy. Take the many well-
educated and well-intended
individuals who, despite
overwhelming factual evidence
to the contrary, continue to
deny climate change or believe
that vaccines cause autism. But
what do people think of those
who refuse to change their
minds? How do leaders, in
particular, come across when
they steadfastly continue to
uphold a stance in the face
of contradictory evidence?
We performed a series of
experiments to find out.
First, we examined the
implications of refusing to
change your mind in a real-
world context with important
outcomes – an entrepreneurial
pitch competition. Consistent
with prior research, we found
that entrepreneurs had a
general tendency to dig their
heels in: 76% of entrepreneurs
refused to change their minds
when faced with contradictory
evidence. Unfortunately,
this tendency turned out
to be counterproductive to
their interests. Specifically,
entrepreneurs who changed
their minds during the pitch
were almost six times more
likely to advance to the final
round of the competition.
Next, we took our findings
from the pitch competition into
the laboratory to find out more
about what was driving these
outcomes. Participants played
the role of investors evaluating
entrepreneurs, where half of the
entrepreneurs were described
as changing their minds while
the other half were described
as holding their ground on an
initial stance in the face of valid
contradictory evidence. Similar
to what we observed in the
actual competition, participants
believed that entrepreneurs who
changed their minds should
advance in the competition,
compared to those who dug
their heels in. We also found
that participants perceived
those who changed their
minds as lacking confidence,
but demonstrating intelligence
— the results suggest that in
an entrepreneurial context at
least, showcasing intelligence is
ultimately paramount.
However, further research
suggests that there are contexts
in which stubbornness isn’t
penalized. For example,
in another study where
participants were evaluating
job candidates, participants
were more likely to agree that
a candidate who changed
their mind should be hired
if the job was one where
intelligence was valued (such
as engineering). However, the
preference was muted in jobs
where confidence was valued
(such as public speaking). We
believe these results shed some
light on why we sometimes
hold inconsistent opinions of
those who change their minds
— at times disparaging them
for their equivocation and at
times applauding them for
their thoughtfulness. Context is
everything.
Previous research has
demonstrated that we are often
loathe to change our minds for
various psychological reasons,
but we wondered if impression
management concerns were one
of them. In other words, do we
hold accurate beliefs on how
we will be perceived by others
when we decide to change our
minds? In another study, we
asked participants to make such
predictions and interestingly,
we found that people were
pretty accurate. Specifically,
participants believed they
would be seen as confident but
lacking intelligence if they dug
their heels in. This presented a
conundrum to us. If people are
generally accurate in how they
will be perceived, why is it that
they are still so often unlikely to
change their minds? We found
that part of the answer is that
it’s embarrassing to change
our minds in front of others.
Indeed, we demonstrate in our
last experiment that participants
were more likely to change their
minds in situations where they
could do so in relative privacy.
Given our research, what
should you do the next time you
are faced with this predicament?
Will it be more helpful for you
to change your mind or dig your
heels in? Much of that answer
depends on the context in which
you’re making this decision. Is it
one where demonstrating your
intelligence is more important
Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019
NEWS ANALYSIS
or one where showing your
confidence is critical? If it’s the
former, you’re more likely to
gain traction if you back down
and if it’s the latter, you’d be
better off sticking to your guns.
Our research also provides
guidance to managers and
leaders who want to promote
thoughtfulness in employees
— they should take steps to
ensure that people can change
their minds without losing
face. For example, in heated
decision-making meetings —
say, the vigorous debate that
can arise when considering
which of many talented job
candidates to hire — leaders
can elicit final votes privately,
helping those declaring their
stances from the get-go by
giving them the opportunity to
quietly and gracefully change
their mind after having heard
their colleagues’ counter
arguments. Leaders might also
try to model “mind-changing”:
in response to valid evidence
that their initial stance was
wrong, leaders might label their
behavior as being responsive to
facts or simply say, loudly and
clearly, “I was wrong.”
Martha Jeong is an assistant
professor of management at
The Hong Kong University of
Science and Technology, where
she researches negotiations,
social judgments, and decision-
making. Leslie K. John is an
associate professor of business
administration at Harvard
Business School. Francesca Gino
is a behavioral scientist and
the Tandon Family Professor
of Business Administration
at Harvard Business School
and Laura Huang is an
associate professor of business
administration at Harvard
Business School.
Source:HBR
19
news analysis

Millions of people have been displaced from countries like the DR Congo. Can a free trade zone create more security?

Africa’s trade and security

Why the continent’s free trade zone
can’t ignore its security issues

By Christian Abadioko Sambou to state sovereignty. States are facing are theatres of violence. States

T
he new African free trade zone
came into effect at the end of
May 2019. All of the African
Union’s (AU) member states
are now legally bound to allow African
goods to be traded without restraint
throughout the continent. But there
are some security concerns to be
considered.
Entering the African free trade
zone requires nations to relinquish an
important part of their sovereignty
at a time when widespread violence
is posing unprecedented challenges
opposition from rebel movements,
terrorist groups, jihadis, vigilante
organisations, transnational criminals,
and so on. These groups are known for
their mobility. They defy borders and
national territorial sovereignty.
Given that some states are being
asked to increase their presence in
border and remote areas, free trade and
free movement of goods and people
could become a real cause for concern.
Vast borders
The thousands of kilometres
of borders within the continent
experiencing armed conflict, among
them Libya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria,
Burkina Faso, the Central African
Republic, Sudan and the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC), share
thousands of kilometres of borders
with other nations.
This explains why conflicts in Mali
and the DRC impact the entire region,
resulting in millions of displaced
people and refugees. The Sahel-
Sarahan strip, the Gulf of Guinea, the
Great Lakes, and the Horn of Africa are
all conflict zones.
Therefore, problems with the

20 Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019


movement of goods and people
within these zones have less to do
with infrastructural issues than with
governance, peace and security.
Such frontier and remote zones are
vulnerable, due to a lack of state
presence. They are also used for all
kinds of traffic and transit and so
remain highly prone to conflict.
These security issues also apply
online. As Africa is undergoing
digitalisation, investments must be
made in security for electronic trade
to guard businesses and states against
cybercrime.
However, security concerns are
mainly physical. Even former hot
spots, like Chad and the Gulf of
Guinea, are still militarised, plagued by
mercenaries, bandits and transnational
criminals. Thousands of young people
make easy recruits and lands are rich
with exportable mining resources.
Fragile national armies and low per
capita income create conditions ripe for
the use of violence for economic and
political gains.
Since the beginning of the 2000s
terrorism has fed on internal conflicts
within states and underlying
frustrations linked to the absence
of identity recognition for some
groups and a lack of redistribution of
national wealth. For many nations,
the intensification of terrorist activity
precludes the opportunities potentially
offered by the African free trade zone.
The fight against terrorism has led
to the militarisation of vast areas.
Terrorist attacks, along with the
violence of traditional civil wars
associated with conflict between
communities, post-electoral and
secessionist violence, pose a significant
challenge that must be overcome if we
are to achieve equality of circulation of
goods and people within the African
free trade zone.
In a continent rife with competing
priorities, the security of people and
goods can no longer wait. Integration
into the free trade zone must go
hand-in-hand with peacekeeping
mechanisms for regions at high risk of
conflict. Integration must reinforce the
power of states.
But is the free trade zone really the
best way to achieve all this?
Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019
news analysis
Does trade promote peace?
While we await impact studies in the
African free trade zone, we can look
to integration on other continents. The
European Union, the North American
free trade agreement (now replaced
by the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement)
and the Association of South East
Asian Nations have all had a pacifying
effect on relations between nation
states.
Does trade promote peace? Could
achieving the AU’s 2063 Agenda goal
of “a peaceful and secure Africa”
be facilitated by implementing the
free trade zone? Of the 54 states who
signed the agreement, no fewer than
20 are directly or indirectly affected by
political violence of some sort.
But although they pose challenges to
the free trade zone, security problems
could be solved by the zone itself. In
the face of external interventionist
security and developmental
approaches, the zone could be seen as
a new paradigm for promoting peace
in Africa for several reasons.
First of all, the growth of trade
between people and nations will
generate mutual interests and shared
goods. These interdependencies
will encourage people to settle
disagreements with the help of
laws, according to the rules of the
market and competition. This will
generate perceptions and relations
of rivalry, not hostility. The business
environment, with its culture of
contracts and trade rules, would be
unwelcoming to the pillage of natural
resources carried out by illicit groups,
often aligned with governments.
All of these rules, norms,
interdependencies and mutual
interests will reinforce the institutions
that protect goods and people, on
the condition that the future wealth
generated benefits local populations.
A holistic approach to security issues
is required. Human security involves
military, economic, societal and
environmental issues. Free trade has
always given rise to security challenges,
and it would be reckless to ignore this
in the context of the largest continental
market in the world. But developing
Africa via intracontinental trade may
turn out to be the path to peace.
Christian Abadioko Sambou is from the
ATER Sciences politiques, Université de
Lille. This article was translated from
French by Alice Heathwood for Fast
ForWord
21
NEWS ANALYSIS
Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians with former Miss Uganda Quinn Abenakyo (in blue)
64th Commonwealth
Conference
Women participation, climate change dominate agenda
By Ian Katusiime
A
n estimated 1000 participants
from Africa, Asia, British islands
and the Mediterranean region,
the Caribbean in Kampala for
the 64th Commonwealth Parliamentary
Conference (CPC) from Sept.22- Sept.29
raised strong demands for increased and
equitable participation of women in public
offices.
The Speaker of Parliament Rebecca
Kadaga, who is also the Commonwealth
Parliamentary Association (CPA) President
Designate 2018-2019, has been praised for
being the perfect hostess.
Kadaga’s being on hand to receive the
participants as the jetted into the country
starting Sept. 22 together with Prime Min-
ister Ruhakana Rugunda at Entebbe Inter-
national Airport left most delegates prais-
ing Uganda’s hospitality. Some delegates,
such as those from the Caribbean, arrived
in the Uganda much earlier and toured
different parts of the country. They were
all in praise of Uganda’s beautiful scenery,
wildlife, and hospitality.
22 Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019
The theme of the conference; `Adaption,
engagement and evolution of Parliaments
in a rapidly changing Commonwealth,’
was also praised as relevant and well-
timed.
Hosting a successful 64th Common-
wealth Parliamentary Conference is a big
achievement for Uganda which is only
doing it for the second time and after 32
years. Uganda first hosted the CPC in
1967, five years after attaining indepen-
dence.
In the East African region, Tanzania
hosted the 55th CPC in 2009, while Kenya
hosted the 56th edition the following year.
On the second day, Sept.23, Kadaga
addressed Commonwealth Women Parlia-
mentarians. She called for more inclusive
leadership for women in parliaments and
governance. “Many countries have not
domesticated international instruments
and conventions that call for inclusive-
ness.”
During the Commonwealth Women
Parliamentarians Conference, delegates
discussed issues that affect women, their
involvement in leadership, boosting
numbers of female legislators, and main-
streaming of gender considerations in all
Commonwealth Parliamentary Associa-
tion activities.
There were also meetings of the CPA
Small Branches, the Steering Committee
and the Meeting of the CPA Regional
Secretaries. Small Branches are defined as
jurisdictions having a population of below
500,000 people. The CPA Secretariat works
closely with Small Branches to identify
their unique needs and requirements so as
to strengthen their parliaments.
At Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort
where the conference venue of the event,
Ugandans set up stalls where they sold
clothes in unique Ugandan designs, crafts
and other items. The Kiira EVS was also on
display outside the meeting halls to show-
case Uganda’s manufacturing potential.
Security was tightened around the ven-
ue including as far away as a kilometer.
Police and UPDF soldiers were dotted at
the venue and in surrounding areas like
Buziga and Bunga.
Sept. 24 marked the arrival of all dele-
gates, observers, Accompanying Persons,

Society-of-Clerks-at-the-Table, and the
arrival of other guests as they prepared for
the official opening of the conference on
Sept.26.
Paul Amoru, then Head of the CPC com-
munication sub-committee told the press
that over 50 Speakers were expected in
the country. These were Speakers of both
national and provincial assemblies.
On the opening ceremony, President
Yoweri Museveni, the vice patron of the
Commonwealth conference, welcomed
delegates and encouraged them to enjoy
the natural beauty of Uganda. He also
gave tips on democracy and the role par-
liaments play in national development.
The Queen of England is the Patron of the
Commonwealth.
In the middle of the week on Sept.25,
delegates were taken on tours in Kampala
city, the Source of the Nile in Jinja, national
parks, the Equator monument in Masaka
and other attractions in the country. On
the same day, members of the Executive
Committee of CPA were treated to a boat
cruise luncheon on Lake Victoria.
Parliament procured more than 60 cars
for the delegates’ travel in and around the
country. These included buses, Coaster
vans, double cabin trucks and other salon
cars. These attracted some public com-
ments over the expenditure on the cars
which has been termed as extravagant but
Kadaga said the cars will be part of the
national stock after the conference.
Topics discussed
There was a talk show panel where del-
egates discussed climate change; achieve-
ments, challenges and efficacies of parlia-
ment interventions. Speaker Kadaga has
been vocal about climate change urging
the Ugandan government and visiting del-
egates to make it a priority in their home
countries.
It has been a year marked with activism
on climate change. Climate change was
also top on the agenda at the 74th United
Nations General Assembly which hap-
pened over the same time in New York,
USA.
There was also a TED Talk on inno-
vation in parliament; and the impact of
science and technology on the work of
parliament.
More discussions were held on how leg-
islators can held People With Disabilities
(PWDs), the youth and refugees.
The Commonwealth conference could
not end without a discussion on Brexit and
its impact on other CPA branches. British
Prime Minister Boris Johnson caused con-
troversy this month when he suspended
Parliament for five weeks over the Brexit
impasse. The British Supreme Court ruled
that the suspension was unlawful.
Delegates also had discussions on sexual
harassment in parliaments. There was a
Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga addressing delegates
call to foster a culture of unity, fairness
and dignity.
In countries like the United States, Sena-
tors have been forced to resign due to their
history of sexual harassment of women
and girls. The vice is rampant in legisla-
tures around the world and even in Ugan-
da incidents have been reported.
The role of parliament in the doctrine of
separation of powers was also dissected by
delegates. Many countries in the Common-
wealth face a problem where the Executive
oversteps its powers usually interfering or
even usurping the role of parliament.
In Uganda this situation reached a cre-
scendo in 2017 when the army invaded
parliament over a contentious debate on a
constitutional amendment of the presiden-
tial age limit.
However, accountability committees like
Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Com-
mittee on State Authorities and Statutory
Enterprises (COSASE) have been instru-
mental in holding government accounting
officers to account for expenditure of pub-
lic funds.
On the main, the interplay between
the executive and parliament in Uganda
remains tense. The Speaker Kadaga, her
deputy Jacob Oulanya, MPS have had dis-
agreements with judges, the President and
the cabinet in execution of their various
roles.
Deliberations on the separation of pow-
ers included ways on strengthening the
oversight role of parliament. This is many
times hamstrung by a powerful executive.
As the 64th CPC drew to a close, dele-
gates tackled terrorism; its dynamism and
challenges in Eastern Africa. The topic was
Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019
NEWS ANALYSIS
significant because of the present danger
of Al Shabaab, an Islamist terrorist group
based in Somalia.
Al Shabaab has staged kidnaps, sieges
on malls and killed university students
in Kenya. It was also responsible for twin
bomb blasts that killed 74 people in Ugan-
da in 2010.
History of the CPA
The CPA was founded in 1911 as the
Empire Parliamentary Association and
was run in the United Kingdom. At the
time, there were not more than twen-
ty four nations that had parliamentary
democracies.
Women were not allowed to vote and
as a sign of how the parliamentary system
has evolved, most of the parliamentarians
were appointed rather than elected.
Originally, the CPA comprised Austra-
lia, Canada, Newfoundland, New Zea-
land, South Africa and the United King-
dom and later expanded.
Now it is an ever growing association
with 180 Branches which include fourteen
overseas territories, three Crown depen-
dencies and more than 125 sub-national
states, provinces and territories in federal
style countries all with their own parlia-
ments, according to CPA records.
The CPA exists to develop promote
and support parliamentarians to identify
benchmarks of good governance and to
implement the values of the Common-
wealth. Parliaments, their members and
officials learn from each other through
CPA activities such as the annual CPC,
regional conferences and inter-parliamen-
tary visits.
23
NSSF’s Shs402billion loss
Experts urge management to rethink investment strategy
T
By Julius Businge
he Shs402bn that the National
Social Security Fund (NSSF)
reported recently as a loss for
FY2018/2019 has been a subject
of debate by its members.
But the Fund’s top manage-
ment and pension sector experts and econo-
mists are not surprised that this happened.
They insist the Fund remains financially
strong and on the right path of growth.
Richard Byarugaba, the NSSF managing
director told reporters on Sept.17 in Kampa-
la that the Fund would this year pay a lower
interest rate to its members on account of a
drop in its total income compared to the pre-
vious year. In 2017/2018, the Fund paid 15%
interest rate, the highest in its history.
He said that whereas the Fund’s revenue
which includes interest, dividend and rental
income increased by slightly over 20% to
Shs1.3trillion, overall income reduced by
around Shs402 billion due to a decline in
regional equity prices and currencies. NSSF
is a shareholder in several listed companies
on the East African Stock Markets.
For instance, during the year, the Nairobi
Stock Exchange lost 14%, the Uganda local
share index shed 10% while Tanzania’s
plummeted by around 21%.
This meant that share prices closed below
the prices registered at the end of the previ-
ous financial year, which negatively impact-
ed the performance of the Fund’s equity
portfolio.
In addition, there was general deprecia-
tion of the regional currencies against the
Uganda Shilling – both the Kenyan and Tan-
zanian shilling depreciated by 6.1% against
the Ugandan currency.
Byarugaba however said that the Fund
would pay a competitive return, at least 2
percentage points above a 10 year average
rate of inflation – which has been delivered
since 2012/2013.
“The Fund is stable and financially sound
and continues to grow both in value and
membership,” he said.
During the year, the Fund’s assets under
management increased by 13% from 9.9tril-
lion to Shs11.3trillion at the end of June 2019.
This growth was mainly driven by
increased contributions and interest
24 Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019
Byarugaba and his deputy Patrick Ayota addressing journalists on the Fund’s performance.
incomes. Contributions increased by 15%
from Shs1trillion to Shs1.2trillion. The
amount of money paid in benefits increased
by 25% from Shs360bn to Shs450bn in the
period under review.
Cost of administration slightly improved
from 1.3% to 1.28%. Cost to income ratio
remained flat at 11.6%. The compliance level
based on one month was reported at 61%.
Customer satisfaction slightly dipped by 1%
from 85% in 2017/18 to 84% this year. Staff
engagement on the other hand increased
from 84% in 2017/18 to 88% in 2018/2019.
With this performance, the Fund still
remains the largest in East Africa by value
and the aim is to grow assets under manage-
ment to Shs20trillion by 2025.
The Fund has a total of 1.981 million regis-
tered members but only 830, 000 are active.
It has a total of 46, 000 registered employ-
ers and, 21, 000 are active. It has a total of 15,
000 as voluntary contributors. On a monthly
basis, the Fund records Shs102bn as contri-
butions.
The Shs11.3trillion is invested in three
asset classes – fixed income (79%), equities
(15%) and real estate (6%).
In separate interviews with The Indepen-
dent, Prof. Augustus Nuwagaba, a popular
economist and Aeko Ongodia, an invest-
ment expert and chief executive officer at
XENO Technologies Uganda Limited said
the Fund appears to remain financially
strong but more thinking on its investment
classes needs to be done.
Nuwagaba said for several years, equity
markets (listed companies) have not been
performing well.
But he also pointed out that profitability of
the company is not determined by earnings
per share (EPS) but depends on the decisions
of the owners.
“What NSSF needs to do is to look at other
asset classes like infrastructure bonds,” he
said. He cited popular projects like Karuma
and Isimba power stations and roads that
NSSF could invest in by lending to gov-
ernment instead of the latter depending on
loans from China and other foreign coun-
tries. He said this investment move succeed-
ed in developed economies like Singapore.
Nuwagaba supported Byarugaba’s view
and said the global economy has not been
performing well starting from China and
other influential markets which could have
affected performance of equities across the
EAC region.
“Because of slow growth, very high inter-
est rate, very high government borrowing,
very low export performance, generally eco-
nomic activity and growth is very limited,”
he said and added, “I am not surprised that
NSSF lost money on the equity side.”
He also said that the Fund could think
more about investing in real estate which is
good and bad. Good in the sense that it can-
not be eroded by inflation and bad in that it
cannot get quicker returns.
But since Byarugaba appears to be hap-
py with the Fund’s long term investment
strategy, isn’t this a good option to explore
further.
Nuwagaba recommended that since peo-
ple who save with NSSF take many years to
get back their money, the Fund could think
of somehow increasing its investment in that
portfolio as compared to equity markets that
are not dependable and not easily controlled.

When asked about these issues, Ongodia
first gave context to the performance.
He argued that for any investment that
one enters into, they hold onto it for some
period of time to generate cash flows or
increase the value over time.
Investments, he said happen when Funds
like NSSF lend to banks, government or
companies through standardised instru-
ments such as fixed deposits (for banks), cor-
porate bonds (in the case of companies) and
treasury bonds in the case of government.
In any case, he said investment is about
taking risk.
“Sometimes you can invest and earn a
decent return, sometimes an average return
and at times you may earn a below average
return – because you put that money to
work,” he said.
What becomes important, he said, is that
if an investor lends money to an entity, it has
to be paid back with the stipulated interest.
In the case of NSSF losing money in
stocks, he said it is a normal occurrence
because businesses record varying perfor-
mance periodically depending on the eco-
nomic performance.
“It is quite possible that the equity part
of the NSSF portfolio had a bad 2018/19…
indeed when you look at actual data in the
market, it has been bad across the board,” he
said, “And this is not because the fundamen-
tals of the businesses are wrong but because
people have been buying fewer goods from
them than what they did in the year before.”
“A lot of the time when you invest in
stocks,typically you wouldn’t undertake that
investment in a very short period of time,”
he said. “In our market, it makes a lot of
sense to make investments capped between
five to ten years,” he added.
Ongodia said that within those 10 years,
possibly one year or two will be bad but the
rest of the years will compensate the bad
performance for the two years.
The most fundamental thing to look at, he
stated, is the percentage of the Fund’s invest-
ment portfolio that is exposed to those risks.
In the case of NSSF, he said, it is important
to diversify investment within the equities
market by shifting investments to only com-
panies that have consistently been perform-
ing better than others.
Ongodia said that the losses suffered by
NSSF are just typically paper losses. That
they will only become realized losses if
they actually exceed the bottom line of the
market. He said the 15% equity portfolio for
NSSF is a good exposure because it is a seg-
ment that will make losses in the short term
and bounce back in the long term.
He said that performance on equities
could be made better if the law is changed to
allow the Fund to invest beyond East Africa.
Going forward, Byarugaba said that, NSSF
being a long term investor, they will con-
tinue to hold their investments even as the
equity market remains underperforming.
Eng. Mutikanga (in white helmet) commissioning the construction of the six housing units on
Sept.20.  INDEPENDENT/J.BUSINGE.
UEGCL wants Shs20bn
for Isimba workers
By Julius Businge
T
he 183MW Isimba Hydropower
station is a very important project for
Uganda that must be run efficiently.
First, it cost a lot of money –
$567million (Approx.Shs2trillion) and Ugan-
dans are already paying this money because
the larger part of it was a loan from China.
Secondly, it is supporting the economy by
powering industries and creating opportuni-
ties for businesses to thrive.
But since March 2019, when President
Yoweri Museveni commissioned it to start
commercial operations, there has been one
outstanding challenge regarding housing
for workers that could hinder its smooth
operation. In order to manage this challenge,
the government has to provide Shs20bn to
Uganda Electricity Generation Company
Limited (UEGCL) to put up houses for
employees who commute several kilometers
from Jinja and Kampala to the site to main-
tain and operate the power plant.
The workers say it is tedious and risky to
be regularly on the road to Isimba, located in
Kayunga district to work. They say it affects
their productivity.
UEGCL, the overseer for this power plant
has so far only been provided with Shs2bn to
start construction of the first phase involving
six housing units. The six will only house six
families out of an estimated 60.
Official construction of the six units start-
ed on Sept.20 and will last seven months,
according to Harrison Mutikanga, the
chief executive officer of UEGCL. “We are
requesting government to provide us with
more money so we are able to build and
Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019
business
complete the facilities so we can have a moti-
vated workforce that is settled on site and is
focused on running the plant more efficient-
ly,” Mutikanga said on Sept.20 at the ground
breaking ceremony for the construction of
the first six units.
Mutikanga said the government is aware
of this problem and has promised to provide
funding soon. Meanwhile, he said UEGCL
is developing a master plan that will have
facilities including roads, sewerage systems,
and recreation facilities to serve the families
residing on site.
“We want all our staff to be comfortable,”
he said. Krishna Construction Company
Limited, a local Ugandan company, is the
contractor for the Shs2bn housing project.
September 20 marked 183 days since
the plant was commissioned and UEGCL
officials including Mutikanga and George
Tusingwire, the chief operations manager,
said all is well and supply of power from
the plant is determined by a day’s demand.
On average, officials said they wire about
135MW to the national grid.
Isimba power station is located 4km
upstream of Isimba Falls on the River Nile,
approximately 50KM downstream of the
source of the Nile.The run-of-the-river plant
station is about 21km from Kayunga town
and about 65km from Jinja town.
Mutikanga said they have already started
invoicing Uganda Electricity Transmission
Company Limited that is buying the Isimba
dam electricity at US$ Cents 4.16 per kWh. It
is estimated that annually UEGCL will earn
about US$41.6million (approx.Shs150bn)
from the sale of electricity from this station.
25
business
Afreximbank Kampala office
starts business in October
The branch will promote intra and extra-
African trade in East African countries
By Isaac Khisa
A
frica’s multilateral
lender, African-Import
Export Bank (Afrex-
imbank) concluded
the formalities for the take-off
of its East Africa Branch Office
in Kampala as it signed the two
principal documents with the
government at State-House, En-
tebbe, on Sept.20.
Afreximbank President, Prof.
Benedict Oramah and Phile-
mon Mateke, Minister of State
for regional affairs, signed the
Branch Office Agreement while
Prof. Oramah and Matia Kasaija,
Minister of Finance, Planning
and Economic Development,
signed the Memorandum of
Understanding Concerning
the Temporary and Permanent
Premises of the East Africa
Branch Office in Kampala.
The signing ceremony was
witnessed by President Yoweri
Museveni and former Nigerian
President, Olusegun Obasanjo.
President Museveni com-
mended Afreximbank for choos-
ing to establish the Branch Office
in Uganda and promised the
support of the government to
ensure its success.
Museveni said that through
its provision of trade finance and
promotion of value addition to
Africa’s commodities and prod-
ucts, Afreximbank was helping
to address some of the major
deficits confronting Africa,
which he said were under-con-
suming and under-producing.
“If you don’t trade, you can-
not grow,” he said, highlighting
that without trade, the economy
would collapse as there would
be no jobs and social problems
would ensue.
This development comes
barely two years since the Bank
ditched Nairobi in favour of
Kampala to set up its regional
26 Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019
branch office following long
winding negotiations with the
Kenyan government that did not
seem to yield any positive result
within the shortest time possible.
The proposal to have an office
in East Africa was approved
at the same time with that of
Abidjan, Ivory Coast, which was
opened more than three years
ago.
Matia Kasaija
The issues that were under
contention in Kenya included
granting diplomatic immunity
for the bank’s top executives and
exempting them from paying
local taxes.
Obi Emekekwue, the head of
communications at the Afrexim-
bank said the bank has secured
space for its office in Rwenzori
Towers in the heart of the city
and that it will start business in
October with a formal launch in
November this year.
Afreximbank, which is head-
quartered in Cairo, currently
has branch offices in Abidjan,
Abuja, and Harare. Former
Nigerian President, Obasanjo
said the establishment of the
Afreximbank East Africa Branch
Office represented a signifi-
cant advance in ensuring the
provision and availability of
trade finance in the East Africa
region and in Uganda, describ-
ing Afreximbank as a typical
example of a strong African
institution.
He said the establishment
of the Branch Office would
boost the implementation of the
African Continental Free Trade
Area (AFCTA), adding that the
signing, ratification and launch
Benedict Oramah
of the AfCFTA was one of the
best things that has happened to
Africa in recent times.
Earlier, Prof. Oramah said that
the establishment of the Branch
Office represented a signifi-
cant milestone in the annals of
Afreximbank as the absence of
a physical presence in the East
Africa region had been a “yawn-
ing gap” in the Bank’s vision for
enhanced effectiveness in deliv-
ering its mandate in Africa.
He said that the establishment
of the Branch Office had set the
stage for deepening the Bank’s
operation across the East African
countries under its jurisdiction
and expressed gratitude to the
government of Uganda for
agreeing to host it and for work-
ing so hard for the realisation of
that goal.
He said the Branch Office
would have long-term impact
on Uganda and East Africa
with a lot of benefits accruing
to them. Also speaking, Kasaija
said that Uganda stood to reap
a number of benefits from the
establishment of the Branch
Office in Kampala, including
increased export and import
trade and enhanced access to
credit facilities.
It would also increase Afrex-
imbank’s portfolio in Uganda
and lead to job creation and
expansion of credit liquidity in
the country.
So far, Afreximbank has
extended lines of credit to the
Uganda Development Bank,
Standard Gauge Railway in
Tanzania, Kenya Airways and
RwandAir.
The Bank has also extended
credit to various bank insti-
tutions within the region for
onward lending to the Small
and Medium Enterprises in the
region.
Established in October 1993
in Abuja, Nigeria, to finance,
promote and expand intra-Af-
rican and Extra-African trade,
Afreximbank shareholders are a
mix of the public including the
Ugandan government through
the Bank of Uganda, and private
entities divided into four classes.
These consist of African gov-
ernments, central banks, region-
al and sub-regional institutions,
private investors and financial
institutions, as well as non-Afri-
can financial institutions, export
credit agencies and private
investors.
Last year, the bank recorded
a 24% growth in revenue to
reach US$806million, with the
net income increasing by 26%
to US$276million. Similarly, the
bank’s total assets include con-
tingent liabilities, which went up
by 15% from $13 billion in 2017
to $15 billion in 2018.
 business

Road to AfCFTA
By Julius Businge

J
uly 1, 2020 is an important day on the
calendar for all the 55 African coun-

implementation
tries.
It will mark the beginning of free
trade amongst countries. Trade under this
arrangement is going to remove trade taxes
on at least 90% of all trade between African
countries. Trade experts say cooperation is key
Officials across governments are making
progress on all the required trade docu-
ments and related infrastructure to ensure
that trade begins next year.
How possible will this be given that most
trading blocs in Africa still face implementa-
tion challenges because of selfish interests?
Speaking on the sidelines of the 11th
African Union Sub-committee of Directors
General of Customs Conference held at
Speke Resort Munyonyo on Sept.19, Albert
Muchang, the African Union Commissioner
for Trade and Industry said that state par-
ties are working on trade facilitation docu-
ments and electronic systems among other
things to be able to beat the 2020 deadline.
“I know it is a difficult task but we will
do it,” he said. Muchang said there would
be an extra-ordinary summit early next year
for member states to update themselves on
progress made and draw conclusions to
pave way for trade to begin. Kateshumbwa (right) hands over a gift to the WCO Secretary General, Kunio Mikuriya.
“There is a lot of expectation across Africa
from this project…it is Africa’s largest proj- “We need to work together to transform that Kwame Nkrumah, the former President
ect,” he added. the African continent,” Akol said. of Ghana did for the African Continent.
AfCFTA was launched on July 7, 2019 in Is Uganda ready? Asked this question, the In a speech read by Prime Minister
Niamey, Niger. Commitment was made in Commissioner for Customs at URA, Dick- Ruhakana Rugunda, President Yoweri
March 2018 when African Presidents signed sons Kateshumbwa said they are already Museveni said, the implementation of the
the AfCFTA framework agreement in Kigali, moving fast. AfCFTA requires tariff liberalisation and,
Rwanda. He said that Uganda will be building on implementation of the AfCFTA rules of
Since then, leaders have said that its the already supporting trade infrastruc- origin and trade facilitation measures that
implementation will be progressive and ture in place to actively participate in the ensure faster movement of goods on the
would in the end eliminate tariffs on AfCFTA. continent.
intra-African trade. He listed One Stop Boarder Posts, Single He said that the AfCFTA should be used
By July 2019, a total of 54 African Union Customs Territory, Electronic Cargo Track- by African governments to fully utilise the
member states had signed the AfCFTA with ing System, Electronic Single Window, immense resources available and to unite the
the exception of Eritrea which was about to Authorised Economic Operator that are people for the common good.
join. being implemented at the East African Com- “It is not enough to boast of the large pop-
According to the African Union data, the munity level as tools to build on as AfCFTA ulation if we cannot organise ourselves into a
AfCFTA has a vision of creating one market comes to pass. unified customer base,” Museveni said.
of 1.2bn people and a Gross Domestic Prod- Kunio Mikuriya, the secretary general for “A unified and strong customer base is a
uct of $2.5trillion across all the 55 member the World Customs Organisation said that precursor for investments,” he added.
states. Uganda remains a very important player in He said investors will always associate
So far, 29 countries had already signed global trade. with big economies with a large market base.
and ratified the treaty by September 2019. “It is known for connecting customs and He said member states must swiftly deal
Doris Akol, the commissioner general for business to the world,” he said. with trade barriers such as bureaucratic red
Uganda Revenue Authority said, the coming Implementing the AfCFTA will not only tape that one has to go through to start and
together of African customs organisation is a increase intra-African trade but will create a operate a business. The others are the
strong statement of cooperation and would firm ground for Africa to export to the other non-tariff barriers, uncoordinated services
offer solutions to African trade problems. markets. amongst economies, the slow manual pro-
She said all revenue efforts being put in by Meanwhile, Ghana has been chosen to cesses and the negative attitude towards
various member states are geared towards house the AfCFTA Secretariat where all trade amongst African countries.
increasing intra-Africa trade, strengthening activities of the bloc will be coordinated “Every investor must be given an
unity and partnerships amongst member from. opportunity to make profit,” he said,
countries. Akol said the Munyonyo meeting Rossette Nyirinkindi Katungye, the advi- “We therefore must make our market
would help member states to draw action sor on regional integration in the office of the attractive by categorically reducing the
plans leading to the beginning of trade in chairperson of the African Union said Ghana cost of doing business.”
July 2020. was chosen largely because of the good work

Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019 27

business
TECH OIL

Nokia unveils two Kenol Kobil to make changes to Uganda, Rwanda subsidiaries
new devices on structures.
Kenyan market “The integration of the
Kenol Kobil subsidiaries

M
is under way, with a
obile phone manu- new management team
facturer, HMD Glob- working to refocus the
al., has announced business on segments with
that consumers in higher margins and better
Kenya can now pre-order the visibility,” Rubis says in its
Nokia 6.2 and Nokia7.2 devices half year performance in
from selected retail partners. 2019 to date.
“We are happy to provide our Rubis adds that the first
fans with two phones powered quarter performance after

by AI and allowing customers
to have an enjoyable advanced
smartphone experience,”
Gopher Ogembo, the Senior
Business Manager for HMD
Global, said.
And for every successful
pre-order, consumers will
either receive complimentary
award-winning wireless ear
buds for the Nokia 7.2 or a
Nokia backpack for the Nokia
6.2 respectively – while stocks
last. Ogembo said Nokia 7.2
offers fans advanced tools to
R
ubis Energie is set
to make changes at
the 33 Kenol Kobil
petrol stations in
Uganda and Rwanda, barely
six months after acquiring
the entire stake of Kenya’s
largest oil firm, according to
Kenya’s BusinessDaily.
PAY TV
Azam TV cuts subscription fees
The French firm says
it has picked a new team
to work on “profound
re-organisation” of the
acquired subsidiaries to
bring them up to Rubis’
standards. The changes
will affect internal controls,
organisation and governance
completion of consolidation
in April was negatively
impacted by muted aviation
and retail sales margins.
However, it remains unclear
on whether or not the
reorganization will result
into job losses.

express their creativity.
Everything from the ZEISS
Optics, exclusive ZEISS bokeh
modes and powerful AI imag-
ing, to its breath-taking Pure
Display technology, makes the
Nokia 7.2 a device that truly
stands out,” he said.
The Nokia 6.2 comes with two
exciting firsts: a breath-taking
and immersive Pure Display
screen and a powerful AI-pow-
ered triple camera.
The Nokia 6.2 comes in
Ceramic Black and will be avail-
able from $230 while the Nokia
7.2 comes in either Cyan Green
or Charcoal and will be available
from $325 – both devices launch
at the end of September.
T
he first Pay TV service
provider to bring down
prices was DSTV who
recently announced
major cuts to a number of their
packages. Now, the Tanzanian
based Azam TV has followed
suit, slashing prices on most of
its packages.
Dennis Kalikwani, the Head
of Marketing at Azam TV Ugan-
da says the existing customers
will enjoy two months free sub-
scription when they pay three
months subscription up from
on any package of their choice.
Azam pure will be at shs 10, 000,
Azam plus at shs 25,000 and
Azam play at shs 37,000).
Dennis Kalikwani
“This is Azam TV’s way of
saying thank you to our cus-
tomers for years of loyalty. It is
the beginning of greater things
to come from Azam TV,” said
Kalikwani at their offices in
Kololo.
Kalikwani told the media that
to ensure that more customers
subscribe to Azam pay-tv ser-
vices, they have also announced
new price changes for the pay-
TV with immediate effect start-
ing Sept.17.
According to Kalikwani,
changes will be for the new
connectivity in their new pro-
motion. For the full kit, one will
have to pay UGX130, 000 down
from shs 199,000 and for the
decoder, one will pay as low
as shs 85,000 down from shs
138,500 and all new customers
will enjoy one-month free sub-
scription on Azam play package.

AVIATION

Ethiopian Airline’s revenue, passenger numbers up

E
thiopia’s national
carrier, Ethiopian
Airlines, has shown
that it remains Af-
rica’s leading carrier. The
company said it recorded
an 18% growth in net prof-
it to 210 million Euros for
the year ending June 30 as
other African carrier con-
tinue to record losses.
This comes amidst a
sharp rise in fuel cost
which are generally even
higher than world average
in Africa.
Ethiopian’s passenger
numbers for the first time
exceeded 12 million travel-
ers, 14% up from last year’s
10.6 million passengers.
Presently, Ethiopian
Airlines operates 117 air-
craft, both passenger and
freighters, and has indicat-
ed that they will continue
to take delivery of new
aircraft by in average one
new plane a month, need-
ed to continue the aggres-
sive rollout of additional
destinations across Africa
and the rest of the world.

28 Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019

 business

Diversify tourist attractions,

government told
By The Independent ly as souvenirs.

U
ganda needs to diver-
sify its tourism poten-
tial to reap maximum
benefits from the sec-
tor, according to Pearl Kakooza,
the President of Uganda Tour-
ism Association.
Kakooza, who also serves as
Uganda’s tourism ambassador
to Seychelles said during the
Uganda Marketers Society
meeting, held at the Kampala
Sheraton Hotel on Sept. 20
Chris Ebal, NWSC board chairman hands over a trophy to the best that the East African nation
employees during the corporation’s achievements ceremony. Ebal said the has relied a lot on marketing
massive expansion the corporation has achieved in the years is the reason mountain gorillas yet there are
why they reward performing departments.  INDEPENDENT/ ALFRED OCHWO
so many products that deserve
to be marketed to attract more
tourists. “We have religious
tourism, cultural tourism, agri-
cultural tourism that need to be
marketed as well,” she said.
“We need to tap into marine
tourism. We should have water
transport from Entebbe airport
to Speke Resort Munyonyo
instead of using road transport.
We need to have vessels sailing
on L. Victoria to Kalangala
Island and other islands. This is
an area that is yet to be tapped.”
Kakooza said Uganda should
also come up with a brand for
its tourism attractions including
artifacts that visitors value high-
Commissioner General of Prisons Johnson Byabashaija (C) receives
a dummy chenque of Shs10 million from Michael Jjingo (3rd L),
Centenary Bank general manager as the bank’s sponsorship for
Maroon football club. The event was held on Sept 24 at Uganda
Preson head Ofices in Kampala.   INDEPENDENT/ ALFRED OCHWO
She, however, said this can
happen with increased budget-
ing to the sector as is the case
with the Seychelles.
Kakooza’s comments come a
few days since the government
concluded the sector review
performance for the Finan-
cial Year 2018/19 and set up
targets for this new Financial
Year 2019/20. Data from the
tourism ministry shows that
tourist arrivals increased by
7.4% to 1.5million in 2018 due
to increased marketing efforts
locally and internationally,
good will form stakeholders,
stable political environment,
increased investment in tour-
ism enterprises and improved
conservation efforts that have
seen increases in stock of wild-
life. Subsequently, the sector
experienced an increase in
foreign exchange earnings from
US$1.45bn in 2017 to US$1.6bn
in 2018.
Daniel Irunga, the market-
ing officer at Uganda Tourism
Board, said the country pres-
ents immense opportunities
for those interested in invest-
ing in tourism and that the
marketing agency is trying its
best to boost tourism numbers
and sector growth.

Weekly share price movement (Sep. 03)

Security Sep. 03 Aug.08 Movement
BATU 30,000 30000 00
BOBU 130 128 1.5
CENT 1,037 1,157 10.3
QCL 130 130 00
DFCU 650 650 00
EABL 6,985 7,243 3.5
EBL 1,422 1,446 00
JHL 13,177 13,261 0.6
KA 89 105 15.2
KCB 1,430 1,411 1.3
NIC 12 12 00
NMG 1,356 1,609 15.7
NVL 325 329 1.2
SBU 28 29 3.4
L-R; Dr Sarah Byakika, Commissioner Planning Ministry of Health, Hennery UCHM 10 12 16.6
Mwebesa Acting Director General, Ministry of Health and Linden Murrison the
UCL 14 14 00
department head of Global Fund, speak during the Uganda Health Financing
Dialogue.   INDEPENDENT/ ALFRED OCHWO UMEME 297 297 00
ALSI -- -- --

Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019 29

 Is that supplement
safe to take?
This Artificial Intelligence tool scours research to find out

D
By Agencies
ietary supplements are
used by millions who
accept the occasionally
scarce evidence they help
out with some condition
or another. But also scarce
is documentation of potential harmful
interactions with other supplements or
drugs. A new tool called Supp.ai looks
through years of health research papers
to extract potential conflicts that may not
be listed anywhere else.
It’s not meant as a fear-mongering
anti-supplement thing, though. The
simple fact is that supplements don’t
face the same regulations, aren’t
studied as closely, and have less clinical
documentation than prescription
drugs. That leaves the door open for
scary situations where a little-known
supplement has a dangerous interaction
with a drug not commonly taken.
There are a handful of common
interactions that some people may know
to avoid, but many of them are hidden
behind medical industry paywalls,
and many not reported at all. But just
because they aren’t easily reported
doesn’t mean they haven’t been found —
the info is just buried somewhere in the
thousands of research papers out there.
How to find it?
Fortunately researchers at the Allen
Institute for AI (AI2) already did a large
part of the work with the creation of
Semantic Scholar, a natural language
processing system that ingests enormous
numbers of papers and identifies key
words, results, and other aspects,
making them able to be easily searched
and cross-referenced.
The team repurposed some of this
work, tweaking and augmenting it so it
could pick out evidence of interactions
between supplements and other drugs
and organising them into a single
searchable database: Supp.ai.
“Both supplements and drugs
are pharmacologic entities, with

30 Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019


the distinction more attributable
to marketing and social pressures
rather than functional differences,”
say the researchers in their paper
describing the new system. ”However,
due to this somewhat arbitrary
distinction, supplement entities are
less well represented in databases
of pharmaceutical entities, and less
information is publicly available on their
interactions. Our work is an attempt to
close this gap.”
For instance, deep in some paper
looking at a cross-section of the
diabetic population, there might be a
sentence noting that a person taking a
glucosamine supplement saw slower
uptake of insulin into the bloodstream.
In fact there is such a sentence — dozens
of them, actually, as I found out when I
searched for glucosamine on the tool.
gluco suppai
Supp.AI is smart enough to recognise
the search term and any abbreviations,
like GlcN, and liberally interprets
evidentiary sentences so that it errs on
the side of inclusion. An interaction may
be big or small, helpful or harmful — but
what matters is that it was documented,
and that a user be made aware of that
documentation.
Snippets are provided from the papers,
but they’re unlikely to be understood
by the average person searching for
info on a supplement they’re taking.
The intention, however, is more to raise
awareness of these potential interactions
so that the user can ask their doctor or
search for a specific combination they
might be worried about.
“Currently, no comprehensive tool
exists for consumers to determine if
their supplement might interact with
other medications. This information is
particularly important because there is
no law requiring supplement companies
to place supplement-drug interactions
on the label of dietary supplements,”
said Harvard’s Pieter Cohen, who has
addressed this before and whom AI2
asked to review the paper.
He suggested Supp.ai will become
“an essential resource for consumers,”
and that being able to select drug-
supplement or supplement-supplement
pairs to dive deeper into specific
interactions is a natural direction to
expand.
Supp.ai is free to use and should
be updated with new information
“periodically” as new papers are added to
the database, but the data used to create
the service is also freely available should
you want to build your own version or
examine the corpus yourself.
Source: Internet
Vegan diets and
weight loss
They lose weight, fat without cutting calories
By Agencies
E
ating vegan (avoiding all animal
products, eggs, dairy products) may
help people who are overweight
reduce body fat and promote weight
loss without restricting calories, a new study
suggests.
Researchers found a plant-based diet
changes the body’s microbiome, increasing
the healthy bacteria in the digestive system.
This improves gut health and can protect
against diseases like diabetes.
These findings support previous research
that vegan diets can have myriad health ben- number of calories.
efits, including protecting against diabetes
and improving metabolic health, although
there are also poten-
tial downsides.
There’s even more
evidence to suggest
switching to plant-
based eating may be
better for your health.
The new study
found that overweight
and obese adults who
switched to a vegan
diet had healthier
microbiomes, or good
Vegan salad: A plant-based diet high in fiber
gut bacteria, and bet- is good for your gut, research shows.
ter insulin sensitivity,
which protects against
diabetes, than non-vegans. As a result,
they also lost weight and body fat without
restricting calories.
For the study, researchers from the Physi-
cians Committee for Responsible Medicine
looked at 148 overweight and obese adults
over a period of 16 weeks, half of whom
were instructed to follow a low-fat vegan
diet.
Participants on the vegan diet lost a signif-
icant amount of weight compared with those nutrition plans, including the Mediterranean
who stuck with their ordinary, non-vegan
eating habits, according to the research,
which was presented at the 2019 annual
meeting for the European Association for the challenges. It can be difficult for some people
Study of Diabetes.
And, of the total weight loss by the veg-
an group, nearly two-thirds was body fat,
researchers found.
These findings support previous research
that plant-based diets can offer significant
health benefits and boost weight-loss efforts.
Importantly, though, the new research also
Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019
HEALTH
provides evidence on how this works: The
study found high levels of healthy gut bac-
teria were likely responsible for the health
benefits of vegan diets.
“Eating a plant-based diet with ample
fiber changes the gut microbiome composi-
tion for the better by feeding the right kind
of bacteria,” Dr. Hana Kahleova, lead author
and director of clinical research at the Physi-
cians Committee for Responsible Medicine,
says. She explained that the study’s goal
was to explain previous research showing
that vegans lost up to twice as much weight
as non-vegans while consuming the same
Kahleova’s team found that participants
on the vegan diet had more of a type of gut
bacteria called bacteroi-
detes, which digest fiber
and produce compounds
called short-chain fatty
acids. These fatty acids are
associated with metabolic
health.
A particular species
called Faecalibacterium
prausnitzii, which thrives
on the fiber found in plant-
based products, is linked
to weight loss, especially
a reduction in body fat.
It can also improve insu-
lin sensitivity, which is
important for metabolic health and prevent-
ing diabetes. This study specifically looked
at how a low-fat vegan diet can improve
metabolic health, but other studies have
shown there are benefits to high-fat plant-
based eating habits such as the Mediterrean
diet.
Kahleova says her future research will
look at participants’ gut bacteria to compare
a low-fat vegan diet with other types of
diet, a high-fat vegan diet, and a meal plan
recommended to manage diabetes.
However, veganism can present its own
to sustain because it restricts the use of all
animal products; nutritionists say sustain-
able diets are healthier in the long term.
Veganism may also make it difficult to get
enough of certain nutrients, such as B vita-
mins and iron, according to dietitians.
Source: MedScape Medical News.
31
comment
By Harold Acemah
Mugabe: Importance of finishing well
Like many self-centred African freedom fighters and
revolutionaries, Mugabe started well but finished badly
A
s if he wanted to go down in
history like the icon and great
African hero, Nelson Man-
dela, former president and
founding father of Zimbabwe, Robert
Mugabe, died on September 6 at the
same age as Madiba, 95 years. Both
men had wives named Grace (Graça).
I believe that is where the similarities
end.
The “breaking news” of Mugabe’s
death in Singapore was received with a
weird sense of jubilation in newsrooms
and political science departments
across Africa and the world. It pro-
vided and continues to provide a field
day and a feeding frenzy for journal-
ists, columnists, and political scientists.
Before I got to know the inner work-
ings of the media, I was often amazed
by how quickly media practitioners
publish lengthy and detailed obituaries
and commentaries on VIPs, so soon
after they die.
After some exposure on how the
media functions, I learnt that media
houses assign staff to prepare draft
obituaries of every Tom, Dick and
Harry among VIPs long before the
inevitable last day comes to pass. So
when “breaking news” occurs, obituary
writers simply download and fill in the
blanks, such as, date, cause and venue
of death of the deceased.
One can safely assume that media
houses have already prepared draft
obituaries of most African political
dinosaurs whose days are numbered,
such as, President Teodoro Nguema of
Equatorial Guinea and President Paul
Biya of Cameroon, to mention but a
few.
Mugabe has left a lamentable, tragic
and unenviable legacy. He eventu-
ally fell on his own sword. Power
corrupted him so thoroughly that he
believed he was invincible. I predict
the verdict of history on Comrade
Mugabe will be merciless. Except for
close relatives and cronies, nobody will
miss Mugabe. On balance, his record
leaves a lot to be desired and his legacy
is as worthless as the Zimbabwe dollar
32 Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019
which was abandoned as national cur-
rency in 2009.
Finishing well matters
The concept and goal of finishing
well is important for all human beings,
especially for believers. The apostle
Paul wrote extensively on this subject
and one of the classic passages on the
matter is contained in chapter 4 of
Paul’s second letter to Timothy. Paul
writes:
“For I am already being poured out
like a drink offering, and the time has
come for my departure. I have fought
the good fight, I have finished the race,
I have kept the faith. Now there is in
store for me the crown of righteous-
ness, which the LORD, the righteous
Judge, will award to me on that day –
and not only to me, but also to all who
have longed for his appearing.” (2 Tim-
othy 4 v 6-8 (NIV)
Like many self-styled and self-cen-
tred African freedom fighters and rev-
olutionaries, past and present, Mugabe
started well, but finished badly, in fact
so badly that one can almost hear the
racist former Prime Minister of Rho-
desia, Ian Smith, laugh in his grave and
whisper, I told them so!
Mugabe and
many African
leaders forget or
ignore at their
own peril the
fact that they are
servants of the
people to whom
power belongs
As I wrote in a previous opinion, I
first met Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo
in 1975 in New York when the co-Presi-
dents of ZANU-PF came to address the
UN Security Council on the situation in
Rhodesia which was locked in a bitter
and protracted liberation war led by
the two freedom fighters. Mugabe was
a cool, intelligent, and eloquent man
who left a positive impression on most
delegates.
When he became Prime Minister of
independent Zimbabwe in 1980, he did
not disappoint and confirmed the pos-
itive image he cut as a freedom fighter
and pan-Africanist. In 1986, I visited
Zimbabwe to attend a Non-aligned
Movement Summit in Harare and was
pleasantly surprised by the country
whose economy was booming and
Zimbabwe dollar was stronger than
the Uganda shilling, which contrasts
sharply with what prevailed a decade
or so later. The rest is history, but what
a tragic end to a promising beginning!
Mugabe and many African leaders
forget or ignore at their own peril the
fact that they are servants of the people
to whom power belongs. How dare he
tell Tony Blair, “Zimbabwe is mine,
keep your Britain, I will keep my Zim-
babwe” as if the country of which he
was a servant is his personal estate?
Paul compared Christian life with a
race and looked forward eagerly to the
prize which awaits those who cross the
eternal finish line. Mugabe failed dis-
mally to cross the temporal finish line
and has consequently been dumped by
wananchi into the dustbin of history. I
tell you, many others will soon follow
him in the hall of shame.
Harold Acemah is a retired former
diplomat based in Arua, Uganda

By Mashupye Herbert Maserumule
Xenophobia in South Africa
Why it puts rainbow nation’s moral
authority in Africa at risk
S
outh African President Cyril Rama-
phosa was heckled during the recent
funeral service of Zimbabwe’s erst-
while leader Robert Mugabe. It was
easy to guess why. When he stood to speak,
Ramaphosa apologised for weeks of violence
in his country targeted at non-national Afri-
cans.
Immediately after this apology, heckling
turned into cheers. His apology, a stroke of
ingenuity, defused the tension. But it didn’t
answer the key question that philosopher
and political theorist Achille Mbembe once
asked in relation to xenophobic violence in
South Africa: “When we say ‘South Africa’,
is ‘Africa’ an idea or simply a geographical
accident?”
To many, the answer appears pretty
obvious: recent events that have seen people
baying for the blood of “foreigners” makes
the meaning of Africa in South Africa mean-
ingless.
Importantly though, xenophobia is not a
uniquely South African phenomenon. Nor
is it simply a question of violence against
non-national Africans. It is the consequences
of the historical burden that colonialism has
bequeathed the continent. This refers to colo-
nially determined borders.
These borders separated African people
into different nationalities. They were main-
tained after Africa’s independence. This
spawned nationalisms. Xenophobia is the
function of the contests of these national-
isms. As the British social scientist Michael
Billig explains in his book, `Banal Nation-
alism’, “the triumph of a particular nation-
alism is seldom achieved without the defeat
of alternative nationalisms and other ways of
imagining peoplehood”.
Xenophobia negates the spirit of pan-Af-
ricanism, especially its laudable ideal that
Africans share a mutual bond regardless of
their geographical location.
That xenophobic incidents are increasing in
post-apartheid South Africa is unexpected.
In its formative years as a democracy since
1994, the country had assumed the lead-
ership of the African Renaissance cause. It
was championed by former South African
President Thabo Mbeki who advocated
pan-African “cohesion of economics, culture,
growth and development”.
Mbeki eloquently stated that, for African
countries to assert their influence in global
affairs, their governments should (forego
their) “atomistic nation-state, zero sum
sovereignty, and recognise their interdepen-
dence”.
Why then do impulses of aggressive
patriotism exist in the post-apartheid South
Africa? Shouldn’t this pan-African disposi-
tion have foregrounded the term “Africa” in
“South Africa” as an idea. Shouldn’t it even
have shaped the country’s nation-building
and state formation project?
Xenophobia and pan-Africanism are antin-
omies. They have opposite implications on
state formation and nation-building.
Xenophobia is a function of insularity –
lack of interest in others’ culture, outside
one’s own experience. South Africa’s insu-
larity was facilitated by the fact that it was a
pariah state for many years. The apartheid
system’s strong border control played a
role, too. The country internalised the intol-
erance of difference. This explains its social
disorientation, suspicious of foreigners as
“unknown others”.
In many instances, non-national Africans
are the primary target of this suspicion.
They are, therefore, more likely to be on the
receiving end of xenophobic violence. An
appropriate term for this is afrophobia. This
is the dehumanising of people of African
descent, and in the diaspora, because of
their physiques, colour of their skins and
behaviours.
The post-apartheid project of nation-
building is the by-product of the contra-
diction of insularity agitating for “South
Africanness”, and the African Renaissance
as an all-embracing crystallisation of the con-
sciousness of the whole of Africa’s people.
A system of organising society in which
individual rights and freedoms are pro-
tected, and the markets are left to their own
devices, spawned insular nationhood. This
trumps the pursuit of a common African
identity. It is because of this that, as the
socio-economic grievances of the nationals
increase, largely because of the economy’s
poor performance, nationalism morphs into
jingoism. The non-nationals become scape-
goats. Often, the consequences of this, as laid
bare in the streets of Gauteng province, are
pernicious.
Unfortunately, because of this, South Afri-
ca’s moral authority, which it earned after it
became a democracy by playing a prominent
role in Africa, is at stake. Hence its govern-
ment is at pains to accept that xenophobia
exists, and that it has been on the rise in the
post-apartheid South Africa.
Of course, in some instances this phenom-
enon is opportunistically used to obscure the
criminal activities of some non-national Afri-
cans in the country. But the suggestion by
Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019
COMMENT
some in government that attacks on foreign
nationals are sheer criminality rather than
xenophobia is not cutting ice.
Some South Africans also became the vic-
tims in retaliatory attacks.
Coupled with calls that South Africa
should be shunned, all these beget a cycle
of internecine hostilities. These fracture eco-
nomic, political and social relations.
Unfortunately, dissociation is not a solu-
tion. It’s a cop-out. If South Africa were
to become a pariah state – again – whose
interest would be served, and to what end?
Wouldn’t it be those who, in the Berlin Con-
ference of 1884-1885, negotiated the rules
about the scramble for Africa?
Their borders that balkanised Africa con-
tinue to stoke interstate acrimony. The xeno-
phobic flare-ups in South Africa should be
understood as the cumulative effect of this
historical burden.
Ramaphosa sent special envoys to the
countries whose citizens were mostly
affected by xenophobic violence – Nigeria,
Niger, Ghana, Senegal, Tanzania, the Dem-
ocratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia –
to mend relations. This is a good diplomatic
gesture. However, this shouldn’t simply be
a charm offensive, but instead a deliberate
pursuit to give meaning to the term “Africa”
in “South Africa”, which has waned after
Mbeki’s presidency. South Africa should
reclaim its leading role in Africa’s renais-
sance. Re-imagining the future of Africa
requires true commitment to pan-Afri-
canism, anchored in the African philosophy
of ubuntu (humanism), which decrees that “I
am because we are”.
The pan-Africanism spirit shouldn’t be
fostered only in the African leadership and
diplomatic circles, and used for political
expediency. It should be part of the psyche
of society and become a lived daily experi-
ence.
Xenophobia is a function of attitude. It
thus requires the intervention of social insti-
tutions, such as universities, to mainstream
pan-Africanism as a philosophy in their cur-
ricula and teaching.
It is important to shape the characters
of students, who are future leaders, to
understand that human co-existence is not
a function of nationality, but of humanity.
This should be part of the decoloniality
agenda in Africa.
Mashupye Herbert Maserumule is Professor of
Public Affairs, Tshwane University of Technology
Source: theconversation
33
feature
Babies for attachments with caregivers
Parenting practices
around the world
They are diverse and not all about attachment
By Sam Carr
M
ost parents would agree that
parenting is extremely complex
and challenging. What works
for one child, might not work for
another – even within the same family.
Parenting practices and beliefs around the
world can also be strikingly different. Japa-
nese children, for example, are often allowed
to go on the passenger train service by them-
selves from as young as seven. This would
be considered unthinkable to parents in
some other countries. Similarly, the idea of
children going to bed at 6.30pm is horrifying
to many Spanish or Latin American parents
who see it as critical for children to take part
in family life during the evening.
Researchers have explored cultural and
historical differences in parenting practices
for many years. Studies tend to agree that
three major factors often explain differences
in parenting style: emotional warmth versus
hostility (how loving, warm, and affectionate
parents are towards children), autonomy
versus control (the degree to which children
are given a sense of control over their lives),
and structure versus chaos (how much chil-
34 Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019
dren’s lives are given a sense of structure
and predictability).
Research shows that differences in these
key features of parenting can have signif-
icant implications for child development.
Indeed, the emotional bonds (“attach-
ments”) that children have with their parents
or caregivers can have lasting effects.
At the centre of the study of human rela-
tionships are ideas from attachment theory.
Essentially, attachment theory focuses on
the “psychological connectedness between
human beings.” The theory looks at the
quality of the intimate bonds we make
during the course of our lives, with a specific
focus on parent-child relations.
Attachment theory explained
John Bowlby formulated his ideas on
attachment theory during the 1950s. He
worked as a child psychiatrist at the Tavis-
tock Clinic in London during World War II
– noting the devastating impact of maternal
separation and loss on child development.
Working with Mary Ainsworth, a Canadi-
an psychologist, Bowlby provided support
for the idea that mothers and children are
mutually motivated to seek proximity to
one another for survival. He argued that a
mother’s sensitivity to her child’s desire for
closeness and comfort was a critical factor in
shaping attachment and child development.
This sensitivity relates to a mother’s abil-
ity and capacity to detect, understand and
respond appropriately to her child’s cues
around distress and threat. If her baby is
distressed, a securely attached mother is
attuned to the distress – she detects it, she is
motivated to alleviate it, and she offers a set
of soothing responses to do so.
Leading attachment researchers have
argued that a consistent lack of such mater-
nal sensitivity in infancy and early childhood
results in a belief that the world is unsup-
portive and that one is unlovable.
Since Bowlby’s initial volume, `Attach-
ment and Loss’, in 1969, there have been
more than 20,000 published journal articles
on the topic of attachment. The literature
strongly suggests that if we deny children
sensitive care during the early years, there
can be significant negative consequences for
their emotional and relational life.
The key principles of attachment theory
have become embedded in contemporary
Western ideas about parenting. And the lan-

guage of attachment theory underpins the
“attachment parenting movement” – which
advocates methods such as co-sleeping –
where babies and young children sleep close
to one or both parents – and feeding on
demand.
Attachment theory has also influenced
policies about time spent in day care and
time away from parents during the early
years – such as the generous maternity and
paternity leave entitlements that ensure
Swedish parents are able to care for their
children up to the age of eight. And it has
also influenced guidelines on early years
educational practice – in the UK for exam-
ple, the role of a child’s “key person” (their
main contact) within early years education is
informed by attachment theory.
This cultural tide reflects a profound
movement towards a “child-centred”
approach to parenting, which puts the needs
of the child at the centre of their learning and
development.
Some argue, however, that this has nega-
tive consequences. U.S. writer Judith Warner
suggests that attachment theory has fuelled
a culture of “total motherhood”, in which
mothers are placed in a demanding position
of “total responsibility” for their child’s
needs. Attachment parenting, she says,
pressures working mothers (particularly)
towards a life where they must perpetually
work a double shift – both at home and in
the workplace – in the interest of their child’s
development.
Nazi child rearing
In contemporary Western societies,
emphasis and value are placed on the devel-
opment of our unique “self” and a private
emotional world. And attachment theory’s
child-centred focus on the emotional needs
of infants – and how parents respond to
them – lends itself nicely to this value sys-
tem.
But this hasn’t always been the case. A
look at parenting in Nazi Germany and how
subsequent generations have struggled to
bond with their children raises questions
about what happens when societies engineer
beliefs about parenting that are starkly at
odds with the propositions of attachment
theory.
German historians and psychologists have
written extensively about the works of the
Nazi educator and physician, Johanna Haar-
er, whose baby-care manual, `The German
Mother and her First Child’ – published by
the prolific Nazi publisher Julius Friedrich
Lehmanns – sold around 600,000 copies by
1945.
Haarer’s manual is most notable for par-
enting strategies and beliefs that contradict
attachment theory. To some extent, her
work could be accurately described as an
“anti-attachment manual”. She said that
babies should be separated from their moth-
ers for 24 hours after they are born, and they
should be placed in a separate room. This
was thought to have the added benefit of
protecting the baby from the germs of those
outside the family. It was also said to allow
the mother the necessary time to recuperate
from the stresses of birth.
This separation, Haarer instructed, should
continue for the first three months of a
baby’s life. A mother could visit the baby
only for strictly regulated breastfeeding – no
longer than 20 minutes – and she should
avoid playing or dawdling around. Haarer
believed that such separation was a critical
part of a baby’s “training regime”. If a baby
continued to cry after it had been fed on
schedule, if it was clean and dry, and if it had
been offered a dummy, “then, dear mother,
become tough” and simply leave her to cry.
Haarer’s understanding of babies was that
they were “pre-human” and showed little
signs of genuine mental life in the first few
months after birth. Crying, she believed, was
simply a baby’s way of passing the time.
She strongly advised mothers not to carry,
Children could be better off if they form
attachment with other members of the community
rock or attempt to comfort crying babies. It
was suggested that this would lead babies to
expect a sympathetic response and ultimate-
ly to develop into a “little, but unrelenting
tyrant”.
Not giving too much attention to babies
was also, for Haarer, a critical part of their
training. She argued that it “is not a sign of
special motherly love if one showers one’s
child continuously with tenderness; such
doting love spoils the child” and will in the
long run “emasculate” young boys.
Haarer’s beliefs about parenting reflect
values that were deemed important for
life in the Third Reich. She believed that it
was necessary for every German citizen to
be “a useful member of the Volksgemein-
schaft (national community)” and strongly
opposed child-rearing practices that fur-
thered children’s individuality. A child had
to learn “to integrate into the community
and to subordinate his wishes and endeav-
ours for the sake of the community”.
Ultimately, her work reflected and shaped
Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019
feature
child-rearing practices that aligned with the
goals of the Hitler Youth movement. Parents
were encouraged to produce children who
could be integrated into the community,
showed no signs of self-pity, self-indulgence
or self-concern, and were brave, obedient
and disciplined. Advice centres and training
courses for mothers based on Haarer’s ideas
were a tool for the inculcation of Nazi ide-
ology.
Wider implications
Attachment theorists such as Klaus
Grossmann have suggested that the Nazi
child-rearing movement reflected a set of
social, historical and political circumstances
that probably ensured a generation of young
children were raised in the absence of attach-
ment security.
He argued that such large scale, national
neglect mirrored what was found in Roma-
nian orphanages under Nicolae Ceausescu’s
rule from 1965 to 1989. Here, many children
were brought up in terrible conditions –
where violence was used to humiliate and
control on a daily basis.
As a result, children who grew up in these
Romanian Orphanges were shown to have
a dramatically increased risk for major prob-
lems with insecure attachments, sociability
and indiscriminate friendliness – as well
as significant differences in brain develop-
ment. For these children, a lack of love and
connection was found to be associated with
anatomical differences in key regions of the
brain. A major difference though, is that
Haarer’s ideas reflected organised, intention-
al ideology cloaked in scientific credibility, as
opposed to being the byproduct of conflict of
displacement.
Sociobiologists Heider Keller and Hiltrud
Otto have questioned whether such periods
in German history have played a role in
shaping parenting for future generations.
In their book chapter, `Is there something
like German parenting?’, they argued that
it is difficult to say whether such powerful
historical trends in child rearing set a tone
that continues to exist as a dominant force in
Germany today.
Indeed, since World War II, child-centred
philosophies and practices from the Western
world have taken root in German society.
And high levels of immigration have meant
that there are many ideas and beliefs about
parenting in contemporary Germany that sit
alongside these generational trends. So it’s
likely that the influx of these different cultur-
al and historical beliefs has helped to create a
society with a myriad of parenting practices
that have diluted the impact of historical
trends.
Many caregivers
Much of the contemporary Western
evidence suggests that, in contrast to what
the Nazis thought, attachment still plays
an important role in many societies when
35
feature
Some communities encourage toddlers to forge loving relations away from the mother
it comes to raising children – even though
the ways in which such attachments are
arranged can vary dramatically. And while
researchers have provided evidence that cer-
tain features of attachment may be universal,
others can vary remarkably from culture to
culture.
It has been presumed, for example, that
there is a universal need and motivation for
all infants to form attachments to caregivers.
They are thought to be neurologically hard-
wired to seek close attachments and to be
equipped with a behavioural repertoire that
has evolved to facilitate this.
But how such attachments are formed
(and with whom) can differ. Bowlby’s
attachment theory emphasises the impor-
tance of an infant caregiver bond – most
exclusively with the mother or a primary
caregiver. But it is not universally true that
has to be mother or primary care giver and is
largely a reflection of Western middle-class
societies.
Research in other cultures has revealed
different ways of responding to the univer-
sal need for attachment security in infants.
Otto’s doctoral research, for example,
explored attachment patterns in 30 children
from the north-west Cameroonian Nso com-
munity. Her data revealed some fascinating
differences around attachment. Nso mothers
tended to have very different beliefs about
the value and importance of an exclusive
mother-infant bond. In fact, they often dis-
couraged maternal exclusivity, believing that
to provide optimal care, many caregivers are
best. As one mother noted: “Just one person
cannot take care of a child throughout.”
It was important to Nso mothers that
children did not develop an exclusive attach-
ment to them and developed equally close
bonds with older siblings, neighbours or
other children in the community: “(Follow-
ing only one person) is not considered good,
36 Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019
because I want her (the baby) to be used to
everybody and love everybody equally.”
And as one mother noted, higher mater-
nal death rates increased the importance
having many caregivers to look after chil-
dren: “Following only me? For me I don’t
think it’s too good for her, because like now
if she keeps on following only me, loving
only me, if I’m not by her side now or if I
maybe die, who will take care of her? She
needs to at least love everybody or try to be
used to everybody, so that in case I am not
around, anybody can take care of her”.
For the Nso, actively forcing their children
to develop close bonds with other mem-
bers of the community was seen as good
parenting, as was frightening children to
discourage exclusivity between a mother
and child: “I force him to go to other people.
When I see any person, I would like to force
the child to go to them, so that I should not
be the one who is taking care of the child.
Because it is not possible that I can be taking
care of him alone. He would be disturbing
me most often. It means I will not be able to
do any other thing”.
Otto explained that “Nso mothers train
their children towards Nso socialisation
goals”. This involves producing calm and
obedient children who are well suited (and
not resistant) to being loved and cared for
by many carers. To this end, they discourage
the maternal exclusivity that many attach-
ment-based Western parenting models
advocate.
Parenting values
Other researchers have identified similar
cultural differences. Anthropologist Court-
ney Meehan’s work with the Aka, a Congo
Basin tropical forest foraging community,
revealed that infants have about 20 care-
givers interacting and caring for them on
a daily basis. There’s also anthropologist
Susan Seymour’s work on Indian parenting,
where exclusive mothering is the exception:
“India provides an excellent case study for
examining multiple childcare. Even in a
context of rapid change and modernisation,
my research and that of others indicate that
exclusive mothering is the exception, rather
than the rule and that the concept of mater-
nal indulgence – that is, a mother focused
solely or primarily on responding to and
nurturing her child – is itself problematic”.
German researchers have also suggested
that mothers and fathers may have unique
ways of developing a secure attachment
bond with their children. The pathway
to secure attachment for mothers may be
through sensitive care-giving responses in
times of distress. But they identified that
fathers were more likely to build secure
attachment bonds through sensitive play –
play that was harmonious, attuned to the
child, and cooperative.
These studies show that child-rearing
values are a reflection of our culture. They
are not universal. And they are vulnerable to
generational changes.
In the contemporary Western world,
beliefs about attachment and parenting have
a strong connection to Bowlby’s original
framework. These ideas and beliefs have
played a critical role in the move towards
a healthier society for child development
and well-being. But given the historical and
cultural diversity in parenting and broader
social values, there should be caution about
advocating attachment theory as the “only”
way. In the end, perhaps it is comforting to
know that parenting is so diverse and that
there isn’t a one-size-fits-all model.
Sam Carr is Senior Lecturer in Education
with Psychology, University of Bath
Source: theconversation
 ART | BOOKS | SOCIETY | TRAVEL | CULTURE

Minimalist
portraiture
of women
Young artist with bold
views praised for
daring the status quo

T
By Dominic Muwanguzi

he figures are ebony- skinned

females - almost akin to tribal
figurines presented in minimal-
ist style. They capture the eye
with finely accentuated facial
features like curvy-like eyes, full
lips, large forehead and high cheekbones.
There’s also a deliberate use of negative
space such that only the profile of the subject
is shown or specific features are focused
on. This technique inspires curiosity among
viewers of the art. It also challenges the norm
that surrounds minimalistic portraiture;
often interpreted by elements in contempo-
rary art as boring or disengaging.
Almost all the paintings sit on a white
background, with the female subjects assum-
ing different postures. The artist, Sungi
Mlengera in Kampala from Tanzania, says
she focuses on women as representatives of
their societies.
“The central role of women as life bearers,
nurturers, caretakers and educators has
ensured stability of their communities,” she
says.
Sungi’s body of work portrays the images
of elegant ebony – skinned women within a
context of skin colour prejudices; including
skin bleaching.
Skin bleaching is common among many
young people; especially dark-skinned
women. Lighter skin is sought after as beau-
tiful or even classy. The number of people
clamouring for skin lightening creams keeps
rising. Changing skin colour is often hinged
on cultural stereotyping.
But Sungi’s black women allude to the
simplicity and naturalness of the black
skinned woman. This is her idea of a true
African beautiful woman – a typical African
princess. A reference can be made of the
painting of Nigerian Princess Tutu tilted
`African Monalisa 1974’ by Ben Enwonwu.
The portrait of the African Princess had the
subject with notable features like a gazelle-
like neck (long and elegant), high cheek
bones and a large forehead. These exact fea-
tures can be found in Sungi’s portraits of the
black female.
In this array of work, Sungi is deftly
responding to the day to day experiences of
contemporary life. A graduate of a Bachelors
Degree of Commerce in Finance, the artist
It is not surprising that
as many young women
embrace lighter skin,
Sungi bravely maintains
her ground, preserving
and promoting dark skin
complexions
only recently left the banking profession to
practice as a full time artist. The bold move
illustrates her tendency to contest traditional
norms of society and the status quo.
It is not surprising that as many young
women embrace lighter skin, Sungi bravely
maintains her ground, preserving and pro-
moting dark skin complexions. Her large
portraits are emblems of a universal message
against neo-colonialism, racism and the ram-
pant consumerism of global culture. Sungi
is celebrating the strength of the black wom-
an. Interestingly, with this type of art she
defiantly distances herself from the touristic
art that dominates Tanzania.
Sungi is a youthful artist with a lot of
promise regionally who gets positive
reviews from regional art critics and manag-
ers and appears set for the bigger global art
world. Her first exhibition in Kampala, held
at Afriart gallery has been well received and
so has her participation in the Latitudes Art
Fair, Johannesburg, South Africa 2019.
Sungi Mlengeya is represented by Afriart gallery,
Kampala and her work can be found at the
gallery. Images courtesy of Afriart gallery.

Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019 37

Ex-con wants to go back to prison so he can watch free TV
We’re no strangers to weird
stories here on OC, but this
one’s a bit too weird even for us.
A French burglar intentionally
left traces of DNA all over the
crime scene just so he would
end up in prison and watch
encrypted TV channel Canal+
for free. A monthly subscription
Kenyans, Nigerians
clash over Lupita’s
role in new movie
A war of words has erupted
between Kenyans and Nige-
rians on Twitter and the bone
of contention is why Lupita
Nyong’o was picked to play
a Nigerian character in a new
movie. The Kenyan-born star
actress was chosen by Ameri-
can movie giant WarnerMedia
Entertainment to play role of a
Nigerian character in the mov-
ie Adaptation of Chimaman-
da’s Americanah. WarnerMe-
dia’s decision infuriated Nige-
rians who trooped to Twitter to
express their displeasure and
demand answers. “They need
to stop doing this. We have
fine actresses from Nigeria
who can play these roles better.
Lupita is good but try other
people who are Nigerians. She’
is going to be told or taught
how to speak half-baked Igbo
instead of a real Nigerian?”
posed one tweep.
38 Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019
to French premium television
channel Canal+ costs around
10 euros (Approx. Shs49,000),
but inmates in French prisons
can apparently watch it for free,
which was apparently a good
enough reason for an ex-con to
commit a crime and get himself
caught. The unnamed 25-year-
Russians love `drug Bust’ marriage proposals
Imagine driving a car, mind-
ing your own business, when
all of a sudden a black van cuts
you off and slams the breaks
forcing you to do the same in
a split second. The van door
slides open and masked men
carrying assault rifles jump out
and violently pull you out of the
vehicle, while they go through
your personal belongings seem-
ingly searching for something.
Kardashian claims hubby Kanye West is born again
Reality TV star Kim
Kardashian has come
out to reveal her hubby
Kanye West has decided to
“dedicate his life to Christ”.
Kim K was a guest at The
View – an American talk
show - where she spoke on a
number of aspects of her life
including her hubby Kanye
West’s recent transitions.
old man committed a series of
burglaries in the Toulouse sub-
urb of Colomiers and on Sep-
tember 2nd, during a hearing
before the Criminal Court, the
burglar loudly proclaimed that
he wanted to go back to pris-
on so he could watch Canal+,
which shocked even his lawyer.
And then they find it – a small
plastic bag full of white powder
that they claim is illegal drugs.
You’ve never seen it before, but
they claim otherwise and you
feel your legs shaking under
you as you try to grasp the
implications of the situation.
Then, all of a sudden, one of the
threatening men drops down
to one knee, pops open a small
case and says “Marry me!” That
hardly sounds like the scenario
of a perfect marriage proposals,
but it’s apparently all the rage in
Russia. And psychologists say
that there’s a very logical expla-
nation to why that is.
“Humor is a way for society
to respond to what is happening
with it,” psychologist Polina
Soldatova said. “These pranks…
are a way of accepting the fact
that the security forces can
always come for you. People
need a way to reconcile them-
selves with this reality. The
would-be fiancées laugh and
smile out of relief that the men
aren’t real cops.”
She said Kanye has always
had strong religious beliefs
and has been on a personal
journey to healing himself.
“Kanye started this to really
heal himself and it was a
really personal thing, and it
was just friends and family,”
Kardashian West told host
Sunny Hostin, “He has
had an amazing evolution
Man paid millions to
sleep in top hotels
An influencer has revealed
he’s earned a staggering
£44,000 (Approx.Shs 160 mil-
lion) in just 18 months after
being paid to nap his way
around the world in luxuri-
ous hotels.
Alex Shannon, 35, who
was born in London but is
now based in Los Angeles,
launched his Instagram
account @followthenap over
a year-and-a-half ago — and
has since been inundated with
messages from hotels, luggage
companies, airlines, and paja-
ma brands eager to work with
him. He now lives the life-
style ofa millionaire and has
stayed in the likes of the Four
Seasons in San Francisco and
Armani in Dubai. At Beverly
Wilshire he was given over
£36,000 of jewelry from Jason
of Beverly Hills to wear (and
photograph) during his stay
and he has tried the 24K gold
cappuccino and Home Alone
ice cream sundae! Alex boasts
14.5K Instagram followers.
Alex’s top hotels Manda-
rin Oriental Paris - Parisian
Apartment ($35,000 per
night), Mandarin Oriental Par-
is - Penthouse Suite ($16,500
per night), Amangiri in Utah
(starting at $2,800 per night),
Beverly Wilshire Hotel - Pres-
idential Suite ($20,000 per
night),Taj Dubai Presidential
Suite ($5,000 per night) .
of being born again and
being saved by Christ.”
A video which has been
doing rounds online also
seems to suggest Kanye has
been making stopovers at
various churches to spread
the gospel through what is
being termed as “ministry
music”.
Toyota’s ‘luxury
taxi’: Quantum VX
F
orget the Kamunye, Kigege (as the
Toyota Hiace vans are called locally),
and the Coaster; the main taxi vehi-
cles that dominate Uganda’s public
passenger vehicle sector; Toyota has un-
leashed the 2019 Quantum VX, which is the
ultimate luxury taxi. The new Quantum VX
appears to have been modeled on the Toyota
Granvia.
The Quantum boasts better design; better
interior that sits nine, each with individual
climate control features and multiple USB
ports, and better safety features than the cur-
rent models. It boasts of Toyota’s audio-vi-
sual navigation touchscreen infotainment
system.
On the outside, it has chrome grille and
additional chrome garnish on the front
apron and tailgate. The interior boasts glis-
tening wood veneers and soft blue LED
mood lighting. The arrangement includes
a pair of captain’s chairs in the second row,
two more individual seats in the third row
and a bench for three in the final row. The
four Captain’s chairs feature armrests, reclin-
ing backrests and fold-out business class
type leg rests. This is the perfect shuttle van
for busy hotel airport runs. It has power-op-
erated sliding doors on either side.
Its comprehensive safety packages include
nine-airbags. It also has rear cross-traffic alert
that help avoid collisions as they warn driver
of an approaching vehicle when reversing
out of a parking bay. In a long vehicle such
as the Quantum, with its larger profile and
blind spots, the rear cross-traffic alert is a
great safety feature. Its side mirrors boast
power adjustment and blind-spot moni-
toring. Other features include pre-collision
safety system with pedestrian detection and
Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019
cyclist detection, “high-speed” active cruise
control, lane-departure alert, road sign assist
and automatic high beams. It has front and
rear parking sensors and a reversing camera.
Powering the Quantum VX is a 2.8-litre
four-cylinder turbodiesel engine with six-
speed automatic transmission. Toyota has
configured the 2.8 turbodiesel to boost
115kW and 420Nm. It claims cruising diesel
consumption is 8.7l/100km. The Quantum
is rear-wheel drive, which gives it superior
traction. It uses 17-inch alloy wheels for
235/60/R17 tyres.
The large chrome-effect grille with three
horizontal slats is flanked by standard LED
headlamps. The thin chrome-effect strip
links with the LED foglamps in the lower
bumper. There are chrome touches on the
exterior door handles, and side-mirror caps,
the VX badge and LED elements.
39
global comment
By Rachel Kyte
Climate Code Red
The world has 12 years to change the trajectory of
carbon dioxide emissions to limit global warming
W
hen emergencies strike, special
processes within governments
and communities swing into
gear. And everyone steps up to
help.
The world is now in a climate emer-
gency. At the United Nations Climate
Action Summit in New York on Sep-
tember 23, leaders from government,
finance, business, and civil society needed
to show far greater ambition in combating
global warming than they have done so
far. And a faster transition to clean energy
will be key to accelerated efforts.
Scientists have warned us of climatic
tipping points, yet we are starting to
move past them as if watching mileposts
through a train window. The Arctic is on
fire, droughts are fiercer, planting seasons
are disrupted, and greenhouse-gas emis-
sions are increasing.
True, the world is responding to the
crisis. Each day, new breakthroughs in
transport, industry, energy, agriculture,
and land use show that we can wean our-
selves off carbon. The financial sector is
also waking up to the climate risk and its
responsibility to address it. Large inves-
tors in the Climate Action 100+ initiative,
for example, are asking harder, more
pointed questions of the companies in
their portfolios. The credit-rating agency
Moody’s has acquired firms whose
detailed models forecast physical risks to
assets under various climate scenarios.
And a growing number of central banks
are addressing the implications of pur-
suing the goals of the 2015 Paris climate
agreement.
But, as UN Secretary-General António
Guterres has repeatedly said, the current
global response is insufficient. When
Guterres first called for the upcoming
climate summit back in the spring of
2017, the fear had been that the world’s
attention to the issue might waver, and
that listless national political leadership
would be no match for increasingly
severe climate consequences.
Since then, the summit has assumed
even greater importance. A report
released in October 2018 by the UN Inter-
governmental Panel on Climate Change
concluded that the world had 12 years in
which to change the trajectory of carbon
dioxide emissions in order to limit global
warming this century to 1.5 °C above
40 Sept. 27 - Oct. 03, 2019
pre-industrial levels – a goal of the Paris
agreement. Civil society, and young
people in particular, are demanding
answers and greater efforts to meet this
target.
Guterres therefore explicitly asked gov-
ernment leaders to come to the summit
with concrete plans, not empty speeches.
He threw down the gauntlet to the
world’s major economies: tell us when
you will phase out coal, end harmful fos-
sil-fuel subsidies, and shift taxation from
income to pollution. Those are the deci-
sions that will drive the transformation
the world needs.
At the heart of this transformation is
the energy transition, which, although
underway, is lagging or has stalled in
many parts of the world. A more ambi-
tious effort by energy providers and
major end users is critical, as is extending
affordable and reliable clean-energy ser-
vices to all who need them. There also
needs to be a major reform of how the
transition is financed.
Encouragingly, the September 23
summit highlighted that increased ambi-
tion in several ways.
For starters, a new club of pacesetters is
emerging to show how improving energy
efficiency is often the most cost-effective
way to reduce CO2 emissions and help
safeguard air quality. By improving
energy efficiency faster in order to tackle
climate change more aggressively and
meet the UN Sustainable Development
Goals, these countries will get access to
data, technical assistance, and advice –
including from the private sector. This
will help policymakers pinpoint the most
effective and appropriate fast-action strat-
egies for buildings, transport, and house-
hold appliances.
In addition, a sustainable cooling coali-
tion has emerged during the sweltering
northern summer of 2019. Governments
are committed to developing national
plans that aim to ensure access to cooling
for everyone, including those on low
incomes and the most vulnerable, in a
hyper-efficient way that is free of super
pollutants.
Another priority is to match investors
and clean energy projects more effec-
tively. Through development assistance
and climate finance, rich countries have
long dedicated funds to support such
projects in developing economies. But the
sheer number and complexity of these
facilities may prevent them from being
used. Project operators and government
officials complain that finance isn’t
flowing, while investors have difficulty
identifying suitable projects. A clean
investment platform should help to iron
out these kinks.
Renewable energy increasingly out-
competes coal, but storage capacity is
desperately needed if renewables are
quickly to become a reliable part of devel-
oping countries’ energy systems. Encour-
agingly, public and private partners
are coming together to scale up battery
storage, especially in Africa.
How the industrial and transport sectors
consume energy over the coming decade
will be critical to hopes of meeting the
Paris agreement’s goals. Many industries
are developing more ambitious plans
to mitigate climate change. In addition,
the electric vehicle revolution needs to
spread to goods transport, aviation, and
shipping.
One bright spot here is increased collab-
oration across the shipping value chain,
which will breathe life into the hard-
fought agreements reached at the Inter-
national Maritime Organisation. With
countries such as Denmark leading the
way, work is focused on developing the
zero-emissions vessels that must be at the
heart of a global carbon-neutral economy.
Many ship manufacturers and owners,
fuel companies, ports, and multinational
companies have adopted science-based
emissions-reduction targets. And efforts
are currently underway to establish a
global framework for responsible ship
finance under the Poseidon Principles.
The management guru Tom Peters has
said that “leaders don’t create followers,
they create more leaders.” If the world
is to meet its climate goals, it urgently
needs more inspiring role models. In
New York on September 23, we found
out who they are.
Rachel Kyte, a former World Bank Group Vice
President, is Special Representative of the UN
Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for
All.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2019.
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