The News Today

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Users of mobile phones will effective Thursday, July 1, have to pay a 12 per cent Excise Duty on the value of data, airtime and other value-added services they use, each time they top up. The tax which has until now been charged at 20 …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT & URN |  COVIDEX, a local herbal medicine, has finally been approved by Uganda’s National Drug Authority (NDA) as a supporting treatment for viral infections including Covid-19. The development comes a week after attempts were made to halt the distribution of the medicine that Ugandans were …

Washington, US | THE INDEPENDENT | The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a 36-month arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) for Uganda in an amount equivalent to US$1 billion to support the post-COVID-19 recovery and the authorities’ plan to increase households’ incomes and inclusive growth by …

Experts say regional body is ‘club of suspicious people’ Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | President Samia Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania’s recent call for the evaluation of the East African Community legal instruments to reflect current times has elicited mixed reactions among regional analysts. When President Suluhu recently met top …

How Museveni succession intrigue is shaping up Kampala, Uganda | IAN KATUSIIME | President Yoweri Museveni’s reshuffle of the army top brass picked up from where he left off with his new cabinet: rewarding loyalty, continuity of the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) tradition, and springing up a few surprises. …

Why French Oil giants are now called TotalEnergies Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | Last month, shareholders of the French oil and gas giants, Total SE, unanimously agreed to change the company’s name to TotalEnergies complete with a new visual identity. Top company executives said the change in name was …

But safety concerns remain Uganda develops five herbal drugs to manage covid-19, was one of the main headlines in news media on June 08. The accompanying story listed the five products: Warbugia Ugandensis, Cypress oil, Cypress herbal tea, propolis tincture and propolis throat spray. The story said the drugs had …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT & URN | President Yoweri Museveni has said the pathetic situation in which Africa finds itself looking to their ‘friends’ in the developed world for COVID-19 vaccines, is a timely reminder that the continent should find solutions to its own problems. He told delegates at …

Zurich, Switzerland | THE INDEPENDENT | The Director-General of the World Health Organization Dr Tedros  Adhanom Ghebreyesus has expressed concern over the COVID-19’s delta variant, which he called the most transmissible mutation to date. Dr Ghebreyesus told journalists at a regular briefing last evening that Delta has been identified in at …

Stanbic defies energy transition, promises to finance oil and gas developments Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Stanbic Bank says it will give capital for oil and gas developments in Uganda. The bank’s stand comes amidst growing opposition against fossil fuels including oil and gas in favor of renewable energy. …