By Kavuma-Kaggwa The government should negotiate a strong mutually beneficial trade policy with China Chinese influence has increased tremendously in East Africa and the whole of Africa. Even globally, Chinese influence has taken root. That was one reason US President Barak Obama recently saw it fitting to convene an African …

By Jenkins Kiwanuka In Sri Lanka, soldiers are fixing roads and bridges, remodelling cities, and selling vegetables President Museveni’s decision to give the controversial National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) to his former bush war veterans who, he claims, are living under abject poverty reminds me of an article I wrote …

In Sri Lanka, soldiers are fixing roads and bridges, remodelling cities, and selling vegetables President Museveni’s decision to give the controversial National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) to his former bush war veterans who, he claims, are living under abject poverty reminds me of an article I wrote in June last …

By Mark Esposito When the job market rewards whom you know more than what you know – the well-connected With Thomas Picketty’s controversial book Capital in the Twenty-First Century topping several bestseller lists, income inequality – which has been on the rise since the 1970s – is once again capturing …

By Julius Businge Business owners query new taxes on ICT, education, health, agriculture Francis Kamulegeya, the senior country partner for PriceWaterHouseCoopers in Uganda says “you cannot grow a sector without taxing it”. Kamulegeya’s view flips the common belief that “you cannot grow a sector without giving it incentives”. But Kamulegeya’s …

By Morris DC Komakech The debate raging between top American entrepreneur and former Microsoft CEO, Bills Gates, and the world celebrated micro-economist, Jeffrey D. Sachs of the Earth Institute at Columbia University touches on the core of Global Health. (Refer to Uganda’s The Independent magazine: Why Jeffrey Sachs matter by …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Why Uganda should move away from a winner-take-all electoral system in favour of proportional representation I argued in last week’s column that in Uganda’s specific context of mass poverty, electoral competition tends to eliminate public-spirited candidates (or patriots) in favour of crooks. Therefore as our democracy …

By Ronald Musoke Reality check for government’s quest for sciences As the Uganda National Examinations Board released the 2013 A-level results on March 27, the first insight into whether the government’s recent policy to force students pursue Science subjects was a wise move came to the fore. A total of …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Why parliament will either increase its term of office from five to seven years or raise its wages threefold Some Members of Parliament have proposed that their term be extended from five to seven years. This proposal is going to gain momentum. If it is not …

By Ronald Musoke When the results of the 2013 Primary Leaving Exams were released on Jan.31, Moses Edibu, a 13-year old pupil of VH Public School in Lira Municipality was devastated. He had hoped to score aggregate 4; the highest grade, but instead scored 5. He spent the whole day …