HOW DO YOU LOOK AT THE GLASS?

The situation is never so dire that it can not be turned around, I don't think so, I know so!

A good start is to try and look at your situation from another perspective. A trusted friend would be useful.

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NOT ONLY THE HARDWARE BUT THE SOFTWARE TOO

In the middle of September the United Nations released its annual Human Development Indicator (HDI). This index serves as an indicator of the quality of life of a country’s people by measuring the health, education, inequality, poverty and security standards. Aside from the statistical measures of development like GDP growth, this is obviously a better measure of how people are actually doing. In this year’s HDI report Uganda was ranked 162 out of 189 countries with a HDI score of 0.516. The index goes from zero to one, the nearer you are to one the better. Our score puts us in the low human development category. But as bad as that sounds we have been worse. In 1990, the earliest year that these figures were compiled our score was 0.311 even the UN recognises that we have improved 66 percent in the last three decades. According to the UN figures life expectancy has risen to 60.2 years from 45.5 in 1990; expected years of schooling has doubled to 11.6 fr...

A STITCH IN TIME

Last week the Bank of Uganda raised its key Central Bank Rate (CBR) a percentage point to ten percent from nine percent. This was the first increase in more than a year, a move prompted by BOU’s projection that price increases coming around the corner. Increasing oil prices, a weaker shilling and new taxes on mobile money services were cited as reason for this anticipated increase. We know that in the last year or so there has been a cash squeeze, money has been hard to come by. While the economy has been growing this has not been spread around evenly. It was hoped that if the economy can keep growing we can all begin to feel the joy. The Bank of Uganda has helped on this front by lowering its CBR from a high of 21 percent about seven years ago when inflation hit record levels. This allowed more borrowing by the private sector which has helped keep our economy ticking. But just when the economy was beginning to gain traction BOU has slammed on the brakes. We may ...

FINANCING OUR ENTREPRENEURS, A CHALLENGE WE CANNOT IGNORE

In recent weeks the issues of financing for business has been in the news, in one form or the other. We have seen the challenge a past minister is facing with having to hang onto his home. The case is in court, so we can’t discuss its merits and demerits, just to say he may have fallen prey to some predatory practices, with the lender skirting dangerously on the edge of the law. Across the border in Kenya a cap on bank lending rates has been repealed. Three years ago Kenya’s parliament passed a law restricting lending rates to two percentage points above the rate at which the central bank lent money. In reaction banks pulled back their lending to businesses, depressing the economy and prompting the reversal. So now banks can “properly” price their loans, often to the discomfort of small and medium sized businesses. The two incidents are related and speak to the availability and cost of credit. In my business career I have benefitted immensely from credit. It is next...

OUR HISTORICAL SITES SHOULD NOT GO UNATTENDED TO

Recently I was at Makerere University to attend a wedding ceremony. I hadn’t been on the university’s grounds in a while. I was shocked at how run down Mary Stuart and Lumumba Halls were. They are in need of serious work. These thoughts were reawakened with the recent launch of the coffee table book “Beyond the Reeds and Bricks” promoted by the tourism ministry, the cross cultural foundation of Uganda and the European Union Delegation. The book which is aimed at the protection of historical sites and buildings in Kampala, Entebbe and Jinja, is a moving collection of pictures of buildings and sites we know, but probably take for granted when we pass them as we go about our business. "Entebe za Mugula in Entebbe, Mackay’s Cave, the post office in Entebbe, the Stanbic Bank Branch in Jinja, Hamu Mukasa’s house in Mengo, the main building at Makerere , the Bahai Temple, Kibuli mosque and many other sites have pride of place among the 60 pictures in this book, which is ...

PATRICK BITATURE ... TO ROAR LIKE A SIMBA

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