COMMENT | GEORGE ARODI | The quest for economic integration of Africa is finally here. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) represents a historic milestone in the economic integration of the continent. The FTA which entered into force in May 2019, is poised to be among the world’s largest …
Read More »OFWONO OPONDO: Money heist in parliament and Mpuuga’s fight for political life
OPINION | OFWONO OPONDO | Uganda’s mainstream media houses with nearly 100 journalists accredited to cover Parliament all couldn’t sniff the stench from what appears to be fictitious expenses payouts until volunteer digital warriors exposed it in the ongoing #UgandaParliamentExhibition. Out of embarrassment they’re now diverting debate to the little …
Read More »SPIRE: My problem with Mwenda’s analysis
COMMENT | JIM SPIRE SSENTONGO | Andrew Mwenda’s article about the #UgandaParliamentExhibition (Inside parliamentary corruption) that is making rounds is interesting and makes some insightful macro political connections. However, it mainly falls short in its implicit glorification of political cynicism and concentration on analysing how the animal is chewing us …
Read More »Why Trump can’t win
COMMENT | REED GALEN | Donald Trump was the unlikeliest of American presidents. When he launched his campaign in 2016, the closest he had come to executive authority was pretending to fire contestants on a business-themed reality show. As ridiculous as it seemed, the image of Trump sitting behind a …
Read More »Addressing daily emergency of access to health care
The world’s leading market-shaping organisations must unite with urgency and ambition to make medical products affordable COMMENT | MICHAEL ANDERSON | Lower prices for health products in low- and middle-income countries have been a global priority for the past quarter of a century. The movement was kickstarted by outcry at the …
Read More »The US is jeopardising the open internet
People everywhere must urge their leaders to protect the internet from aggressive digital-sovereignty measures COMMENT | NATALIE DUNLEAVY CAMPBELL & STAN ADAMS | Last October, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) abandoned its longstanding demand for World Trade Organisation provisions to protect cross-border data flows, prevent forced data localisation, safeguard source …
Read More »Time to repurpose local governments for fiscal resilience
Local governments shouldn’t be solely administrative but position their districts as strategic investment hubs COMMENT | WALTER AKENA | Local governments in Uganda have traditionally functioned as administrative entities, responsible for delivering public services to citizens within their jurisdictions. However, they have grappled with financial difficulties. Despite experiencing a minor rise …
Read More »Judgment days for democracy
COMMENT | NICHOLAS REED LANGEN | Day by day, week by week, courts are increasingly becoming the front line in the struggle to preserve democracy from populists and authoritarians. In the United States, the Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments on a decision by Colorado’s highest court that Donald Trump is …
Read More »COMMENT: Alexei Navalny did not die for nothing
COMMENT | IAN BURUMA | On January 17, 2021, when Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny boarded a plane to Moscow from Berlin, where he had been treated after being poisoned in Russia with the nerve agent Novichok, he said he was pleased to be going home. But he knew the risks …
Read More »UCC AT 25: How shall we pay for our more connected life?
COMMENT | DAVID BIRUNGI | This year marks 25 years since the reforms that have progressively transformed the communications sector in this country. We join in celebrating the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) that has presided over most of these reforms – some bad, most of them transformative. In 1989 when …
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