In The Magazine

Makano works with witty artistic imagery in his new body of work to elicit his audience’s attention to the suffering and brutality in his motherland. ART | DOMINIC MUWANGUZI | Abstract paintings hanging on the white washed walls immediately grip your attention as soon as you make your entry into Umoja …

These trade facilities are designed to serve as physical and institutional hubs that promote trade facilitation, investment promotion, and capacity building across Africa Abuja, Nigeria | THE INDEPENDENT | Africa’s multilateral lender, African Export-Import Bank, has unveiled plans to establish seven Afreximbank African Trade Centres (AATCs) across the continent in a …

Inside Uganda’s struggle to make insurance work for the ordinary citizen Kampala, Uganda | JULIUS BUSINGE | By the time Agnes Nakato’s (not her real name) husband died in a road accident, she had no idea that his employer’s life insurance policy could have supported their three school-going children. “No one …

Uganda’s tax overhaul draws praise—and alarm—from civil society Kampala, Uganda | JULIUS BUSINGE | A coalition of over 50 civil society organizations under the Tax Justice Alliance Uganda (TJAU) has raised critical concerns over the Government of Uganda’s proposed Tax Amendment Bills for the 2025/26 financial year, warning that certain changes …

Experts say the region’s mineral certification mechanism remains patchy, under-implemented, and hindered by political and regulatory gaps ANALYSIS | RONALD MUSOKE | Fourteen years since 12 governments in the Great Lakes region unanimously agreed to create a foolproof international system for certifying and auditing minerals that have been blamed for fomenting …

Fund aimed at creating 500,000 jobs annually and lifting 11million Africans out of poverty by 2030 ANALYSIS | IAN KATUSIIME | The Global AI Summit for Africa, held in Kigali, Rwanda from April 3–4, galvanized the continent’s ambition to harness the transformative power of artificial intelligence (AI) for sustainable development. A …

A region on edge leaves Ugandan leader with limited options ANALYSIS | IAN KATUSIIME | President Yoweri Museveni dashed to South Sudan in early April for a quick meeting with his South Sudan counterpart, Salva Kiir, due to mounting fears of an escalation that could plunge the fragile country back into …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | In a bold effort to democratize digital access, MTN Uganda has launched the Kabode Supa smartphone—an enhanced device available through its flagship “Mpola Mpola” device-financing scheme. With an upfront cost of just Shs 45,000 and daily payments as low as Shs 900, the telecom giant …

Why it could usher in economic catastrophe by reducing demand for US exports while increasing the cost of living domestically COMMENT | CHRIS LEHMANN | So far Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day”—his midweek announcement of a battery of reciprocal tariffs intended to punish longtime US trading partners—has been greeted with a ringing …

Analysts say the new tariffs suggest that the renewal of the initiative is extremely unlikely COVER STORY | THE INDEPENDENT & AGENCIES | In what has been described as one of the most disruptive moments in trade history, U.S. President Donald Trump on April 02 unleashed sweeping tariffs on nearly all …