Browsing: Uganda

• During the last quarter of 2022, the EAC hit an intra-trade value of $10.17 billion. This was a 20% proportion of intra-trade to world commerce.
• The revision of the EAC three-band structure aims at aligning the tariff rates.
• On July 1, 2022, the EAC enforced a new tariff structure that included a 35 percent duty on finished products imported into the region. 

The East African Community’s $18.9 million trade plan is facing obstacles as partner states seek preferential tax treatment under the bloc’s revised Common External Tariffs (CET).

This development is threatening to jeopardize the implementation of the proposed four-band tariff structure. On July 1, 2022, the EAC Secretariat enforced a new tariff structure that included a 35 percent duty on finished products imported into the region.

The secretariat, in a report from January 2022, highlighted the potential benefits of the fourth band, arguing that a maximum tariff of 35 …

• President Yoweri Museveni is optimistic that Uganda’s oil revenue will finance mega roads, railways and other infrastructure projects.
• Uganda expects to ship the first consignment of oil in 2025.
• The government will hasten the acquisition of the right of way for the construction of Standard Gauge Railway. 

Uganda’s oil revenues will finance roads and railway among other key infrastructure projects to revamp the country’s productivity. 

Uganda has significant oil reserves, particularly in the Albertine Graben region, which is located in the western part of the country.

The country discovered commercially viable oil deposits in 2006, and since then, exploration and development activities have been ongoing. According to estimates, Uganda’s discovered oil reserves are around 6.5 billion barrels. These reserves consist of both crude oil and condensates.

There have been efforts to establish a legal and regulatory framework to govern the sector and ensure transparency, environmental sustainability, and equitable distribution …

• A rising number of informal women traders in border towns are resorting to corruption to survive.
• Corruption, harassment, and sexual bribes is threatening the success of enterprise between African economies.
• The World Bank estimates small-scale cross-border trade provides income to 43 percent people in Africa.

Small-scale trade remains vital in securing livelihoods in East Africa, but rampant cross-border corruption is posing a serious threat to a vital cog in this enterprise—thousands of informal women traders.

This is unlike during pre-colonial period when African communities used to travel long distances, crossing today’s “borders” to barter their goods with traders from a different ethnic group.

Why informal women traders resort to corruption

Today, enterprising communities—mostly informal women traders—at border towns resort to corruption to survive, the World Bank explains. Quite often, official border posts are marred with service delays and congestion, the perfect fodder for cross-border corruption.

With suppressed cross-border trade …

• Millions of pensioners in Uganda will continue decrying delayed payment of their monthly dues.
• A new Bill seeking to streamline the pension system in Uganda was withdrawn for further scrutiny by the Executive.
• The objective of the new Bill was to provide for the establishment of a public service pension fund and a public service pension scheme.

Pensioners in Uganda may have to continue decrying delayed payment of their monthly dues while the government continues to battle ghost claims on the payroll following the withdrawal of a new Bill. 

The Public Service Pensions Fund Bill, 2023, introduced on March 14, and aimed at implementing a mandatory contribution system for public servants’ pensions has been withdrawn. 

Uganda pensioners payment shall be prompt

This is despite the proposed law undergoing significant changes during the committee review. The withdrawal aggravates the pain for pensioners who were banking on the new law to get …

• An estimated 90 percent of African women do not use the internet, UNICEF reveals.
• UNICEF report says millions of girls are less prepared for the digital revolution in Africa.
• Governments in Africa urged to increase women’s safety online

While the digital revolution is believed to be reducing gender inequality globally, in Africa, the internet is largely a preserve of men. According to UNICEF, up to 90 percent of African women do not use the internet yet their male peers are twice as likely to be online.

Titled “Bridging the Digital Divide: Challenges and an Urgent Call for Action for Equitable Digital Skills Development” the survey warns that girls in Africa “are being left behind in the digital world and are the least likely to have the opportunities to develop the skills needed for 21st-century learning and employment.”

Girls less likely than boys to access internet

Released on the International Day …

• Uganda’s Ministry for East African Community Affairs is seeking $900,000 for the coordination and promotion of Kiswahili as an official language.
• The plan is part of the recommendations of a report of the Committee on the East African Community Affairs on the sector Ministerial Policy Statement for Financial Year 2023/24.
• The report cites the lack of a uniting language [Kiswahili] as a huge stumbling block to communication, a key ingredient of EAC integration.

Uganda’s Ministry for East African Community Affairs (MEACA) is seeking $24 million for the coordination and promotion of Kiswahili as an official language.

This is part of the recommendations of a report of a Committee on the East African Community Affairs on the sector Ministerial Policy Statement for Financial Year 2023/24.

The report presented to the House on Wednesday, 19 April 2023, by the Chairperson, Kisembo Basemera cited the lack of a uniting language [Kiswahili] as a …