Jimmy Cliff spent his life trying to explain something simple yet profound: that reggae was never just a rhythm, never just a genre, never merely a sound from a small Caribbean island that somehow conquered the world. To him, reggae was born out of necessity — a declaration of existence from people who had long been denied dignity.

“We formed this music out of the need for recognition, for identity, respect, love and justice,” he once said. Those were not abstract words for Cliff but the coordinates of his own life.

Born James Chambers into deep rural poverty in St. James, Jamaica, he grew up hearing the echoes of dispossession — the kind that leaves marks on a nation, not just an individual. Yet from those beginnings, he stitched together a voice and a worldview that would become one of the great moral and artistic forces of the 20th century.

When Cliff entered the industry, Jamaica had no reggae, no template, no global stage waiting. There was ska — fast, bright, restless — mirroring the energy of a young nation finding its post-independence footing. There was rocksteady — slower, steadier — reflecting a people exhaling after the storm of political and social upheaval.

Then came reggae: a new beat carrying an old longing, a cultural and philosophical ascent rooted deeply in Rastafari’s insistence on African consciousness, black pride, and human upliftment. Cliff didn’t just witness that evolution; he catalysed it. His early work gave reggae its emotional vocabulary, equal parts defiance and tenderness.

For Cliff, music was never entertainment alone. “The essence of my music is struggle. What gives it the icing is the hope of love,” he said. Few artists embodied this duality as naturally.

From Wonderful World, Beautiful People, which made global audiences dance even as it pleaded for decency, to Vietnam, which Bob Dylan hailed as the greatest protest song he’d ever heard, Cliff carried the conscience of a generation.

He sang about war, injustice, poverty, longing and resilience — but always with that unmistakable melodic warmth that made the listener believe that hope was still rational.

His starring role in The Harder They Come was more than a film credit. It was a cultural breakthrough, a cinematic and musical detonator that blasted Jamaican sound and struggle into international consciousness. Cliff played Ivan Martin, a young dreamer battered by a corrupt system — a mirror of countless real lives.

The film told the world where reggae came from. Cliff, through music like Many Rivers to Cross, told them why it mattered.

It is no exaggeration to say that without that film — without Cliff — reggae might have remained a regional sound instead of a global language.

Cliff’s accolades — the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Order of Merit, Grammy wins — were meaningful, but they were never the core of his legacy. That belonged to the countless people who found themselves reflected in his work.

“When we saw Jimmy Cliff, we saw ourselves,” Wyclef Jean once said. That sentiment spans continents. For decades, Cliff was a soundtrack for the marginalised, the ambitious, the spiritually searching, the people climbing their own mountains one slow, determined step at a time.

To hear You Can Get It If You Really Want was to be reminded that dreams are not an extravagance — they are a right.

With his passing at 81, the world loses more than a legendary artist. It loses a moral voice — one that sang about resistance without hatred, about identity without exclusion, about justice without despair.

We lose an elder who remembered the birth of reggae not as a commercial milestone but as a cultural awakening.
We lose a philosopher disguised as a singer.
We lose a carrier of memory — of a time when music itself was a rebellion.

Most of all, we lose the rare kind of artist who understood that every lyric could be a lifeline, every melody a shelter, every beat a declaration that a people long overlooked were, in fact, profoundly alive.

His death — from a seizure followed by pneumonia — closes a remarkable earthly journey. But it does not silence him. His songs remain global prayers for justice, identity, consciousness and dignity. They remain the sound of people rising.

Jimmy Cliff once said that Rastafari appealed to the world’s consciousness because it lifted humanity. In truth, his music did the same.

He leaves behind a world that still aches for the very recognition, respect and justice he sang into being.
And he leaves us with a simple instruction, whispered through decades:

Sing. Resist. Rise. Hope.

Jimmy Cliff has crossed over. But the movement he helped build — and the humanity he insisted we recognise — endures, steady as a reggae beat.

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Born in 1942 in Okwalongwen village in what is now Dokolo District, Uganda, Oculi began life in a rural setting that would deeply influence his writing—rich in folklore, keenly observant of everyday struggles, and steeped in communal ethics. His early education across Soroti, Tororo, and Kisubi schools placed him in Uganda’s top academic stream, culminating in a BA in Political Science from Makerere University in 1967. It was a path that led him through Stanford, Essex, and the University of Wisconsin–Madison, collecting intellectual tools he would later deploy in service of Africa.

But it was Nigeria that became both his stage and canvas.

After joining Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, in the 1970s, Oculi embedded himself in the Nigerian intellectual landscape. At ABU’s Department of Political Science, he was more than a lecturer—he was a curator of African thought. He introduced generations of students to the connections between politics, literature, health, and social justice, laying the groundwork for what we now recognise as an interdisciplinary Africanist approach. His courses—“Literature and Politics,” “Health Policy Analysis”—were ahead of their time.

Even after leaving formal academia, Oculi continued shaping ideas. From his base in Abuja, he became a fixture in editorial boardrooms, most notably at Daily Trust, where he provided unflinching pan-African analysis. He launched Africa Vision 525, a civic initiative that trained young African women in research and diplomacy, echoing his long-running model of OAU Mock Summits. He understood early on that political integration needed to be seeded in minds long before it could be realised in treaties.

In both writing and speech, Oculi bridged village and nation, tradition and modernity. His literary output—Kookolem, Malak, Orphan, Banana Man, among others—read like dispatches from a continent in flux, riddled with contradictions but rich with potential. His satire spared no one. His poetry, often deceptively playful, examined corruption, urban decay, and the collapse of communal values with a sharp but never cynical tone.

It is no exaggeration to say Oculi lived African unity—not as ideology but as practice. That he chose to settle permanently in Nigeria, marrying into the society, investing in its future, and always calling for African self-definition, speaks to a man who embodied the integration he espoused.

His death, though quiet, marks the departure of a distinctly African voice—intellectually rigorous, culturally rooted, and politically fearless.

He leaves behind a body of work that will serve generations of thinkers, and a legacy as one of the few who truly lived the African dream across borders.

Professor Okello Oculi is survived by his wife, a Nigerian media entrepreneur, and two sons. But he is also survived by a continent to which he gave his full measure.

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Permanent employment would be good from a socio-economic perspective, but its absence is not fundamental to labour welfare. Rather, it is the absence of a yardstick or standard for rewarding labour. For several years now, President Museveni has refused to assent to the Minimum Wage Bill. He has not explained his aversion to a minimum wage but speculation within labour circles suggests he fears it will stifle investment – and by extension job creation.

256 BN does not believe that establishing a minimum wage would equate to regulating the price of labour in a liberalised marketplace would violate the ethos of a free market. It would only be indicative of what should be the floor and not the ceiling of remuneration for contracted labour. Minimum wage rates are also practiced in the world’s major free market economies.

Casual employment is important in the labour market because it gives firms the flexibility to adjust to short-term or seasonal needs for labour. Forcing them to keep a headcount that is not aligned to output levels will make their products expensive and uncompetitive. Without adequate levels of profitability, firms will not expand or may actually fold, creating mass unemployment.

Casual employment also creates opportunities for youngsters to test the world of work. ALSO, requiring employment contracts in the absence of a standard or minimum wage, has the potential to trap workers in slavish working conditions.

That is why it is our conviction at 256BN that President Museveni should assent to the Minimum Wage Bill.

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Gangster Sobi died December 18, in Kibaale LC1, Maddu sub-county in Gomba district in clashes with a rival gang as he commandeered an illegal eviction.

This is the first indication yet of the breakdown of central authority in what was believed to be a criminal network spread across Kampala and its environs. Alternatively, the rapid disintegration could speak to the loose structure that Sobi coordinated but did not totally control.

Whatever the case, the vacuum left by Sobi’s sudden departure is dangerous both from a safety and security perspective. Residents are now exposed to a higher risk of dispersed lone-ranger, or small-cell criminal events. From a law enforcement dimension, more resources will be required to track and contain more dispersed incidents. Their access to routine crime intelligence is also compromised. So, we can anticipate a surge in crime as the criminal underworld gropes for leadership and direction.

The relationship between the demised Sobi and law enforcement agencies is not fully known. What has been visible to the public are the overt acts of impunity in which Sobi and his gang worked with the uniformed services to met out terror on hapless members of the public. This was symptomatic of a flawed approach to law enforcement’s collaboration with crime.

Call it a necessary evil. In general, the world over, law enforcement agencies do work with criminals but not in an official or legitimate capacity. Law enforcement agencies should engage with individuals who may have a criminal background, only in furtherance of their primary role upholding and enforcing the law, to maintain public order, and ensure the safety of the community.

Despite its risks as has been demonstrated by the case of Sobi and Ugandan security; individuals with a history of criminal activity can be useful informants to law enforcement, providing critical information about organized crime, and helping the police to prevent or solve crimes. This practice is controversial, and laden with ethical questions. But it could be the only way of getting access to information that may be difficult or impossible to obtain through other means.

Sometimes also, security agencies may engage with criminal activities to negotiate peaceful resolutions to conflicts within the underworld. This appears to have originally been the reason for law enforcement’s involvement with Sobi. The turn it took however, demonstrates the downside risks.

In the absence of tight legal and ethical oversight framework to ensure that undercover operations, informant relationships and law enforcement actions, remain within the broad boundaries of the law; things can easily get out of hand. Instances of corruption and collusion between law enforcement officers and criminals cannot be ruled out. Sobi appeared to understand this delicate balance very well and used it to frame law enforcement as partners in crime.

That is the enduring legacy Sobi leaves behind; his activities undermined the integrity of the justice system and public confidence in it. These are serious breaches of law enforcement ethics, which Uganda’s security system needs to address, as it rebuilds the architecture of its post-Sobi relations with the criminal underworld.

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to eliminate Hamas. The same calls have been echoed by many senior Israeli leaders and backed by Israel’s key allies.  While anger and anguish are understandable, success cannot be assured and the dangers of escalation are very real in the absence of meaningful efforts to address the underlying causes that have given rise to the establishment and growth of this militant group.

Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya (Hamas) that translates into English as the Islamic Resistance Movement was established in 1987. The organization was quickly designated a terrorist organization by a number of international organizations and countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Israel, Australia, Canada, Japan and the European Union.

There are countless examples where the elimination of such terrorist or rebel organizations created vacuums that were quickly filled by oftentimes more violent or radical groups. The transnational terrorist group Al-Qaeda responsible for the 9/11 attacks in the United States was supplanted in terms of notoriety and brutality by the emergence of the Islamic State (ISIS) that has engaged in widespread violence, including beheadings and mass killings.

The Hizbul Islam, an Islamist rebel group in Somalia, was replaced by Al-Shabaab known for acts of terrorism, insurgency and an affiliation with Al-Qaeda.  In Macedonia, the National Liberation Army (NLA), involved in armed conflict the early 2000s, was succeeded by the more radical Albanian National Army (ANA) that advocated for a Greater Albania.

Another prominent rebel group was the Maoist Insurgency in Nepal replaced by the Communist Party of Nepal that regularly employed more violent and radical tactics.  Political and economic pressures from Israel arguably played a role in the defeat of Fatah by Hamas in Gaza in 2007. History suggests sustainable peace is best assured by addressing the root cause of the conflict.

In an increasingly fractured world order, not altogether different from the lines predicted by Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations 30 years ago, the blatant double standards of the West simultaneously condemning the Russia’s invasion of Ukraine while supporting Israel’s occupation of Palestine have substantially diminished the moral authority of the West.

The vast majority of countries condemn the violence against civilians on both sides and call for a peaceful resolution.  People across Asia, Africa and Central and South America are divided in their sympathies contingent on their historical ties with Israel and the Middle East in addition to their geopolitical considerations often influenced by the patronage of Israel and its allies.

In an increasingly polarized world, already galvanized by the conflict in Ukraine, building the consensus necessary to effectively sanction radical organizations presents serious challenges.  The Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, in an interview with Al Jazeera, warned his country “cannot simply remain an observer.”  We must assume groups such as Hamas have ready access to diplomatic support and cutting edge weaponry.

The elimination of Hamas, in the current environment, cannot discount the emergence of another equally militant–if not more violent–group and will very likely result in an escalation of the conflict.  Reiterating his belief that Hamas be eliminated, U.S. President Joe Biden has also stated there should be a path to a Palestinian state.

William Zartman, Professor Emeritus at Johns Hopkins University described the situation where the protagonists’ engaged in a conflict see more benefit from peace than continuing with conflict as the “ripe moment” for a negotiated solution. While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the hawks within his government have not demonstrated any interest in talks, Hamas is undoubtedly ready for dialogue.

Despite the large-scale presence of Israeli troops in Gaza, an end to Hamas is far from assured and questions of what may follow if it is eradicated remain impossible to answer.  With the vast majority of international actors calling for a peaceful solution, the situation is undoubtedly ripe for talks and a peaceful settlement to the unfolding crisis.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill spent decades canvassing for the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine and famously advocated for jaw-jaw over war-war!  A clear and decisive commitment to a negotiated settlement is required to avoid further loss of life if there is to be any chance of a robust and sustained peace in the region.

Christopher Burke is an independent observer based in Kampala, Uganda. Christopher has a strong background in development, communications, governance, conflict transformation and peace-building with 30 years’ experience based in Africa and East Asia.

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At the time of writing this article, the Japanese Yen was trading at an average of 108 to the US dollar. Back in the nineties and well into the first decade of the new millennium, the exchange rate was a bitter issue between Japan and the United States. Japan was exporting more to the US not only on the strength of the quality of its products, but also because it was cheaper for US consumers to buy from Japan. So, every now and then, the US would pile pressure on Japan to revalue the Japanese yen because it was underpriced. In later years, China would face similar pressure from the US as the trade deficit between the two widened in China’s favour.

In recent weeks, Kenya-Uganda trade tensions flared up again when the former banned Ugandan maize imports, citing failure to meet phytosanitary standards. Coming against the backdrop of a ban on milk imports from Uganda a year earlier, citing similar concerns, the Kenyan government found itself facing fire both from within Kenya and Uganda. Kenyan consumers were aghast at the prospect of being exposed to higher prices for their staple food because of their government’s action. In Uganda both politicians and the business community were concerned about the likely economic and individual financial losses from Nairobi’s move.

The problems between Uganda and her EAC partners stem from three primary sources. Lesser developed than either Kenya or Tanzania, the country is virgin territory and is bound to attract more investors as the other markets reach saturation. That is largely true of agro-processing where opportunities for value-addition abound.

Uganda also has the cheapest currency in the region. For every one shilling, a Kenyan cross-border trader gets thirty Ugandan shillings. The trader from Rwanda gets four while one from Tanzania gets atleast one and half local units for each TZ shilling. Even without doing anything, without barriers, business people from neigbouring countries find sourcing from Uganda cheaper because of the exchange rate advantage. The third problem for neighbours is that with lots of arable land and good rains, Uganda’s agricultural production is largely organic and low-cost. Combined with a weak currency, goods from Uganda are difficult to beat on price.

In the context of the East African Common Market Protocol, Kenya has limited options for dealing with the perceived threat from its western neighbour. A quick fix would be to devalue the Kenyan currency to create price parity. But that would come with attendant inflation.

The more sober and long-term solution, would be to let the East African community be and allow it to work the way it is projected on paper. That way players like Brookside Dairies, and other Kenyan milk processors would set up processing plants in Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan, employ Kenyans and supply cheap milk to Kenyan consumers. Alternatively, they could truck raw milk from collection centres in Uganda for final processing in Kenya. That would create a win-win for everybody and allow the region to prosper in tandem.

The on and off trade tiffs in East Africa speak to an old problem and the refusal by our political leaders to take a leap of faith and believe in the long-term benefits of regional economic integration. In the short years of the East African Common Services Organisation EACSO from 1961 to 1967, Kenya was East Africa’s manufacturing hub because of a longer tradition of industrial development. Plans for industrial development in the region were premised on comparative advantage.

Hence, Uganda with its cheap electric power, would be the base for heavy industry while Kenya and Tanzania would run light industry. That is how Madhvani’s 30  million tonnes a year East African  Steel Corporation and the 9 million electric bulbs a year  East African Lighting in Jinja came to be. In return Kenya, virtue of the oil refinery in Mombasa became the base for foam mattress manufacturing and other petrochemical industries.

Ideally, Uganda, with its low cost of production should have been East Africa’s food basket and home to the food processing industry. Factors like labour already enjoyed free movement and one was as likely to find a Ugandan station manager at Voi Railway Station as one was likely to find a Tanzanian at Namwendwa rail station in eastern Uganda.

That plan unraveled three years after Kenya got independence as the partner states grappled with stalling economic growth, booming populations and spiking unemployment. Rather than address the underlying challenge, the leaders of the time thought allocation of economic opportunities was impeding national interest. Within a short time, uneconomic industrial units mushroomed across the region. Their inherent economic inefficiency meant they could not survive against their more established competitors without protection. That was the genesis of protectionism in East Africa and by falling back to old tools, Kenya is in effect setting up the East African Community for another split.

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Anxieties associated with COVID-19 vaccines in Africa are particularly high. However, perceptions that major pharmaceutical companies are out to exploit Africans to test drugs might not be informed by fact.  According to a large, but not conclusive US Federal Government register on clinical trials around the world, only 3 percent of global trials are conducted in Africa.  This is primarily attributed to lack of capacity, knowledge, infrastructure and access across the continent.  Clinical trials are the foundation of modern medicine. They provide scientists with the opportunity to test the efficacy and safety of pharmaceutical products and medical therapies.

The international clinical trials market is valued at over US$44 billion per year and expected to almost double to US$80 billion over the coming decade. Key drivers in this growth are the increased demands for new treatments and advances in technology.  The suggestion early last year by two French doctors for COVID-19 vaccine trials to be implemented in Africa sparked fierce controversy, accusations of racism and supported widely held beliefs that people on this continent are frequently exploited as guinea pigs. In reality, the vast majority of clinical trials are hosted by countries in the West.

The U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM) database on registered clinical trials around the world reports North America leading with 153,806 trials representing 42% of the world total.  Europe had 29% and East Asia 17%. Africa has only 11,315 registered clinical trials in the same period.  South Africa topps the fledgling clinical research sector on the continent with 2,480 registered trials closely followed by Egypt with 2,270. Next is Uganda with 595, Kenya 520, Tanzania 367, Tunisia 357, Malawi 257, Zambia 227 and Nigeria with 212 trials. Each of these countries today have small, but very robust medical research sectors.

Clinical trials of new pharmaceutical drugs and medical procedures are carried out in stages. The results of each stage are reviewed by ethics committees and relevant regulatory authorities before authorization to the next phase is provided.  New treatments undergo extensive research in laboratories prior to testing on animals before testing on humans is permitted. Clinical testing on humans is divided into four phases.  Phase I involves the evaluation of the drug to approved trials and identify interactions; Phase II determines the efficacy and optimum dosage; Phase III involves long term safety studies for registration, and Phase IV comprises of post-marketing surveillance following the market launch.  Trials sometimes comprise hundreds of thousands of people involving thousands of data points for each respondent over several years and generate incredible quantities of data.  Consistency and accuracy are critical.

The primary challenge to scaling up the implementation of clinical trials in Africa has been the decided lack of capacity to implement the programmes, manage data and ensure the integrity of the process and results.  The scarcity of personnel with sufficient technical skills, the paucity of regulatory authorities and prevalence of corruption all present obstacles. Though costly, compliance with International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and other standards is increasingly necessary as regulations become more strictly enforced in many parts of the world.  The regulatory authorities in East Africa function well.  In fact, the capacity of regulatory authorities to interpret and apply standards and guidelines is present across most of Africa, but of course varies from country to country.

Among the more prominent scandals was Pfizer’s 1996 drug trial in Nigeria where shortcomings in management and oversight tragically resulted in the death of 11 children. Other participants suffered blindness, deafness and brain damage as a result of untreated meningitis. The company denied culpability, but settled out of court paying compensation to the families involved and sponsoring health projects in the region.  Government attention to reinforcing appropriate policies and legislation accompanied with the strengthening of relevant regulatory authorities, ethics and other oversight committees will improve the safety and integrity of clinical trials and prove a sound economic investment.

Technological advances across the entire value chain, starting with research and development, have increased opportunities for the implementation of clinical trials across Africa.  Cheaper, more accurate, durable and easier to use field testing equipment has facilitated access. These advances have been accompanied by developments in digital technologies to record and manage data and information in real time at every step of the process.  Such features are used to further ensure the integrity and security of the data, and safety for the participants.  Data points as simple as the precise location, time and date of where data is captured can be used to track vital information on the health of the participants and readily cross referenced against a range of administrative data to confirm authenticity.  This data is invaluable to researchers, producers, regulatory authorities, ethics committees and consumers.

Clinical trials provide predominantly primary sector economies across Africa with an opportunity to engage in a lucrative tertiary sector export and earn foreign capital.  Clinical trials also facilitate the establishment of pharmaceutical and medical health sectors of excellence.  Many of the world’s leading research institutions including the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; the Pasteur Institute; and the University of California, San Francisco already have robust and productive partnerships with institutions across Africa grounded on clinical research initiatives.  These programmes provide unparalleled opportunities for exchange, training and capacity building.

The gross imbalance in the current global distribution of clinical trials accompanied by improved capacity across Africa, increased competition in the industry globally and rising price imperatives will inevitably lead to more clinical trials on the continent.  Unfounded fears concerning COVID-19 vaccinations and cynical references to biological experimentation must be put aside to allow for the health and safety of Africans and an objective understanding of the pharmaceutical industry.  There is an urgent need to strengthen appropriate norms, legislation and procedures to harness opportunities associated with clinical trials, negate potential dangers, deepen engagement with the global economy and contribute to medical science. 

Christopher Burke has been based in East Africa for over 20 years and is the Managing Director of WMC Africa, a communications and advisory agency in Uganda. 

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For the umpteenth time, Kenya and Uganda will in April meet in Kampala to try and resolve their tit-for-tat trade politics that have had a devastating effect on manufacturers and consumers. For years, Kenya had been throwing hurdles in the way of Ugandan manufactured output into its market. Uganda retaliated by imposing a 12pc duty on processed Kenyan fruit juices and pharmaceutical products, putting them at a disadvantage on retailers’ shelves.

In the past two years Kenya turned the screws, throwing various barriers in the way of Ugandan sugar and dairy products. Besides a comparative advantage because of scale and natural factors such as soils and climate, Ugandan enjoys a competitive advantage over Kenya because of a weaker currency. Even at the same cost base, with the Kenyan shilling trading at one to thirty Ugandan shillings, goods sourced from Uganda will always be cheaper for Kenyan consumers.

Tariffs come in handy in such situations but there is a cost to them. All over the world, protecting jobs and strategic sectors of the economy, is the most common reason advanced to justify restriction of competitors access to domestic markets. It is the reason Trump gave for his moves against China and it is the same justification used when the East African Community imposed a 75pc common external tariff (CET) on imported rice just under two decades ago.

With a few exceptions, member states such as Uganda, did not have a rice sector to protect although with focused interventions, the country had the potential to be self-sufficient in rice. So, what is the status a decade and half later?

The immediate effect of the CET was actually to raise the price of rice more than three-fold for Ugandan consumers. In the absence of a robust local supply, the higher prices for imported rice simply set a benchmark for the commodity. With such high prices, local producers had no incentive to expand since they could make a handsome profit off small volumes. And the local industry was so sensitive that they did not even want cheaper rice from Tanzania coming in. Just like Kenya and Tanzania suspected Uganda of importing and repackaging sugar and powdered milk, Uganda suspected its southern neighbour of repackaging imported rice and passing it off as its own. Never mind that a significant portion of so-called Tanzanian rice was actually planted by Ugandan entrepreneurs who rented land in Tanzania to take advantage first of the better natural conditions for growing rice there and second, the promise of an open regional market.

The standoff over rice created a lucrative black market for smuggled rice, sustaining the high prices for the commodity in Uganda. Prices have stabilized only recently after Uganda opened its market to Tanzanian rice.

In short, it is Ugandan consumers that have paid the hefty price of market protection by their government. The same can be said of Kenyan consumers paying for the inefficiency of their dairy sector when cheaper products by Uganda’s Pearl Dairy Farms are blocked.

The same is true of processed fruit juices. The price advantage between locally produced and Kenyan juices is negligible. But that does not mean that Ugandan processors are making a kill. The cost of packaging, which incidentally is supplied by Kenya based Tetrapak, makes up more than half the retail price of Ugandan processed products. Clearly therefore, the answer to competition with Kenya would be domesticate packaging, not tariffs against Kenyan juice.

Some commentators have argued that Ugandan dairy processors should focus on growing the domestic market instead of premising their business case on export markets. While that would be a good thing, the fact is that since the commencement of the East African Common Market in 2010, markets among the partner states are technically domestic. Selling milk to Kenya and vice-versa therefore represent the movement of goods and capital in a single market. The only distortion are the multiple currencies that confer advantages and disadvantages depending on where the goods are destined.

And that should be the focus of regional leaders. The current trade disputes, simply highlight the need to move faster on implementing the pending milestones of economic integration. In the protocols, the framers of EAC integration saw it as a vehicle for faster economic growth and development across the board.

To actualize that requires letting go of the past and adopting a liberal posture towards the four Freedoms of movement – Free Movement of Goods; Free Movement of Persons; Free Movement of Labour and Workers; Free Movement of Services; Free Movement of Capital and the two rights of Establishment and Residence.

If the partner states can move on actualizing the above and allow markets to determine investor choices, most of the issues eating up bureaucratic time, can actually resolve themselves.

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Interest rates on commercial loans offered by banks in Uganda and in fact across much of Africa, range between 18 to 22 percent per annum. Savings and credit cooperatives (SACCOs) provide loans with stratospheric interest rates of over 50 percent per annum.  These rates are justified as necessary to protect the financial institutions against market vagaries comprising of defaults, fraud, uncertainties related to the security of collateral and currency fluctuations. Few industries beyond illicit drugs and the arms trade provide returns sufficient to service debt at such rates and ensure a profit; certainly not from agriculture.   

Agriculture in Uganda remains primarily subsistence. Average per acre crop yields can often be as low as 10 percent of equivalent acreage in more developed countries.  While the necessary skills and know-how are accessible here, the inputs required to close this gap—improved seed stock, pesticides, fertilizers, water and irrigation systems, and even rudimentary mechanization—all require capital that is out of reach to the average Ugandan farmer.  However, a number of projects are underway that leverage technology to address the challenges associated with accessing capital and promote agricultural development.  

A promising pilot program currently being implemented in Kasese, western Uganda, by the American multinational development agency, Chemonics is harnessing technology to strengthen agriculture. The initiative is supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in cooperation with Standard Bank Group/Stanbic Uganda, the global tech giant Google, an innovative Ugandan based company Akorion and two local agricultural cooperatives in cooperation with the government.  Utilizing EzyAgricdigital software developed by Akorion, is helping to map land under cultivation as the cornerstone in assessing agricultural value chains. Farmers buy inputs and receive payment for produce they sell using mobile money through the digital application. The geospatial data relating to crops combined with the farmer’s financial transactions quickly establishes a profile for each farmer engaged in the programme. Financial institutions can then use this information to better understand the farmer’s cash flow, quantify the level of organization and more accurately assess the risk before adjusting interest rates accordingly.  With less risk, banks and other financial institutions can reduce the rates on capital extended to farmers.  

Similar initiatives linking geospatial data to agricultural land holdings, land users and financial actors have been implemented in other areas in Uganda. The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) under the Vegetable Oil Seed Development Programme (VODP) is doing so in eastern and northern Uganda. Other successful programmes in Ghana have linked land holding data to microfinance and rural housing.  

Initiatives are now being implemented across Uganda making use of similar software that can be installed on a smart phone or tablet.  The United Nations (UN) Global Land Tool Network (GLTN)/UN Habitat is using Social Tenure Doman Model (STDM); the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) is using a software called Open Tenure/Solutions for Open Land. Administration (SOLA); the German development agency GIZ is using its own open source software and the Washington D.C. based non-profit foundation Cadasta, has developed mobile and web-based applications for collecting and managing land rights data.  All of these platforms perform similar functions. Open source systems have nudged ahead in popularity among public sector stakeholders in recent years; however, certain benefits of proprietary software associated with capacity, system support and sustainability persist. Cost, efficacy and the ability of platforms to integrate with prominent complementary systems will undoubtedly prove key determinants of success in the competition among emerging software programmes and applications.    

In several of the cases noted above, the systems are being used to demarcate land and produce statutorily recognized Customary Certificates of Ownership (CCOs) or Certificates of Occupancy (COs). These legally recognized instruments address bottlenecks in the surveying of land necessary for freehold, leasehold and Mailo titles and are expected to facilitate a significant increase in the demarcation and registration of land in Uganda. The CCOs and COs are to be integrated into the National Land Information System (NLIS) and are as secure as freehold or leasehold land titles.  The NLIS is a computerized system that integrates land registration, administration and mapping within the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development (MLHUD). It was implemented during the past eight years by the French geo-matic company, IGN FI with support from the World Bank.  The NLIS is being increasingly integrated with the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) and National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA).  This will significantly reduce identity related fraud, which is prevalent among the drivers of high interest rates.    

Registration of land will contribute greatly towards security of tenure, reduce land related conflict which has been identified as a key challenge to agricultural development and strengthen the value of land as collateral facilitating access to capital. Capital invested in a secure land market also provides relief against currency fluctuations. Several banks and financial technology institutions (Fintechs) across Africa have engaged in initiatives of this nature to strengthen financial inclusion. The increased security of collateral combined with detailed information on individual farmers allows financial institutions to better know their customers. Banks can then make more informed decisions, reduce the risk and costs associated with lending in this environment and extend capital at more competitive rates to facilitate agricultural development. 

 Christopher Burke is the Managing Director of WMC Africa 

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