By Patrick Kagenda Will they lower the cost of phone calls? Starting November 1, Ugandans are to be charged uniform cross-network connection or call termination fees by all telephone networks, according to the Uganda Communications Commission. It is, however, unclear whether the stated objectives of the uniform tariff will be …

By Joseph Were Uganda, according to a United Nations report launched in Kampala last week, has grown the highest foreign direct investments in the East African region between 2006 and 2008. According to the World Investment Report (WIR) 2009 compiled by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Developed (UNCTD), …

By Patrick Kagenda MultiChoice Uganda General Manager Charles Hamya tells The Independent’s Patrick Kagenda why the Ugandan housing set-up and bench-marking the best internationally favours satellite against cable TV locally. How do you intend to use the fiber optic cable to ease access of your services to the Ugandans? The …

  By Patrick Kagenda Construction of Ovino Market is over and the market is ready for occupancy. The Independent’s Patrick Kagenda talked to Miraj Barot the head of marketing at the Tirupati Group which is behind the Ovino dream. Now that construction of the market is complete what is next? …

By Mubatsi Asinja Habati In 2000, a proposal to privatise some services at Entebbe International Airport was hatched. This came after a study, Big Push Strategy, by the UN Conference on Trade and Development recommended that Entebbe be transformed into a modern cargo handling centre in Africa. The study was …

By Patrick Kagenda The Independents Patrick Kagenda talked to Terry Kahuma, the Executive Director at Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) about the substandard and counterfeit goods on the Ugandan market. What are you doing about the substandard and counterfeit goods flooding the Uganda market? The first thing we try …

By Agencies Sale of Heritage Uganda assets to Shell more likely The oil exploration sector is rife with takeovers and speculation at the moment, and traders are currently hearing of another possible bid, Royal Dutch Shell for Heritage Oil. Initially, the value of Heritage shares rose over the news but …

By Patrick Kagenda After spending over one month making headlines in the African media, the impending sale of Zain Africa operations to Vivendi the French entertainment group appears to have been concluded. Business daily Africa of Kenya Saturday 4 July said Zain has been sold. “Europe’s largest entertainment group Vivendi, …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Writing about the 2009/10 budget in this column last week, I argued that Uganda has achieved allocative efficiency without realising technical efficiency. The result: Although large sums of the budget are allocated to priority sectors like health, education, infrastructure and energy, these funds are diverted by …

By Andrew M. Mwenda The 2009/10 budget in Uganda once again presents the puzzle to many analysts of our nation. In spite of a world-wide recession (advanced economies declined by 7.5% in the last quarter of 2008), Uganda’s economy grew by 7%, an impressive performance by any standard. Indeed, growth …