🏥 The ISHU issue

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The coffee deal culprit is back in the news cycle, the anti-gay bill inches closer to becoming law, and your favorite foreign startup’s bank closed. A wild week in the weeds.

Let's do this 🚀

— Gloria Mbabazi, Shem Opolot

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Headlines

🏥 The ISHU issue

The Ministry of Health (MOH) tabled a UGX 31.8 billion supplementary budget before parliament to—among other things—finance the supervision of the works on the contentious 21-month late International Specialized Hospital of Uganda (ISHU) project in Lubowa.

Background: In 2019, Parliament approved an expenditure of $379 million for the construction of the 264-bed capacity hospital in Lubowa. The project was awarded to Italian investor Enrica Pinetti’s (of the contentious coffee deal kerfuffle fame) firm, Finasi/Roko Construction Ltd. However, 21 months later, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a smattering of incompetence, and Ugandanness, the project is about as complete as a canceled TV show you loved.

The completion of the project faces tough opposition from parliament as some committee members question the rationale for the financial investment at this point.

🥛 What’s the (a)mata?

In a flex of big coastline energy and likely great news for parents of milk-drinking toddlers in Uganda, Kenya pendulumed for the second time in less than a year and suspended the importation of milk from Uganda. The move aims to protect local milk processors from competition as expected rains portend surplus milk on the market. Despite President Ruto’s lip service to free trade in the region, the ban contravenes East African Community trade protocols, Common Free market trade protocols, and the African Free Continental Trade Area (AfCFTA).

⚖️ The anti-gay bill

The passing of the proposed anti-gay bill is nigh after the Ministry of Finance, Planning & Economic Development granted a Certificate of Financial Implication. The bill is being drafted for tabling before Parliament.

What’s the Certificate of Financial Implication?

The Certificate of Financial Implications issued by the Ministry of Finance indicates the impact of a Bill (proposed law) on the Ugandan economy and Government's commitment to implementation once the Bill is enacted into law. The Public Finance and Management Act, 2015 provides that every Bill presented to Parliament by Government or private Members of Parliament must be accompanied by a Certificate of Financial Implications issued by the Ministry of Finance, Planning & Economic Development.

Besides the obvious “we have bigger fish to fry” stance, this Twitter thread betrays our stance on this issue.

⚡ Power pay

To wrap the handover of the operations of both Nalubaale and Kiira power dams from Eskom to the Uganda Electricity Generation Company Ltd (UEGCL) in a nice expensive bow, government plans to pay out UGX 70 billion to Eskom. The takeover of Nalubaale is part of extensive reform in the electricity sub-sector through which the government also confirmed the end of UMEME’s contract in March 2025. Eskom’s concessions for operating the dams expire on March 31^st, 2023. Join us in a prayer circle as we chant “let there be light” like a Catholic mass responsorial psalm.

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Other headlines

Uganda Centenary bank granted a license to operate in Malawi

Eight local operators vie for air service licenses before aviation body

As the iron sheet saga vanishes from our attention-deficient news cycle, and President Museveni gaslighted us, the IGG vowed to prosecute all the culprits. Now, we wait…

New bill to deny unmarried couples access to fertility treatments

Justice Kenneth Kakuru, a legendary champion of human rights; often described as tough, opinionated, principled, and intolerant of bureaucracy, passed away

MTN launches locally unprecedented freedom voice bundles

Mbale school fakes results after UNEB withholds their UCE and UACE results

Ugandan veterinarian, Dr. Gladys Kalema Zikusoka shortlisted for the Indianapolis prize

Multichoice buries their head further in the sand and raises prices

Uganda Police responded swiftly to a bomb scare on Entebbe Expressway

Women protesting unfair/unconstitutional arrests get arrested unfairly…

Beyond Borders

🌍️ Africa

🇨🇩 🇪🇺 EU BandAid: After the city of Goma experienced renewed fighting between M23 militia and DRC government troops in a conflict that has caused a catastrophic refugee crisis, the European Union sent the first aid plane to the rescue. No prizes for questioning the EU’s motives.

🇷🇼 🇬🇧 UK/Rwanda exchange program: UK Home Secretary and immigrant who hates immigrants, Suella Braverman is expected to visit Kigali to discuss the multimillion-dollar deal the two countries struck last year in which Rwanda received large sums of money to resettle illegal immigrants the UK doesn’t want. This is business.

🇪🇹 Ethiopia: Disconnecting people: Social media in Uganda Ethiopia has been off since February 9^th, 2023. According to Amnesty International, the shutdown was sparked by tensions between the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church and the government. The disconnection of the internet was part of a government attempt to disrupt the mobilization of protests by members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

🇹🇿 Samia shade: While giving a speech on Wednesday, Tanzania’s president, Hon. Samia Suluhu Hassan channeled deft whataboutism and threw Kenya a neighboring East African country under the bus as she reassured Tanzanians about the country’s foreign currency reserves.

President Samia was likely not-so-subtly referring to Kenya, which has been facing a dollar shortage since March 2022.

Other headlines

Tanzanian DJ became the first man to play a 15-minute set atop Mt. Kilimanjaro

Popular South African rapper, Costa “Titch” Tsobanoglou died after collapsing on stage at Ultra Festival

🗺️ The rest of the world

🇮🇱 Israeli protests: Protestors in Israel carried out a planned day of resistance as the latest act in the ongoing demonstrations against judicial system reforms that aim to undermine the courts and aggrandize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

🇧🇪 Belgian heist: In a near-perfect crime, eight thieves masquerading as armed police officers cut through security fences at Brussels airport and boarded a Swiss-bound plane, where they stole 120 parcels of gems from the Antwerp global diamond hub nearby. Only one person has been convicted and sentenced to five years in prison, while another 18 were acquitted in 2018. A small portion of the loot, estimated to be about $67 million in 2013, was recovered. If you know where we can buy the movie rights to this action thriller, reply to this email with the deets.

🇲🇽 Cartel compassion: Two of the four American citizens who were kidnapped while traversing Mexican cartel territory en route to getting cosmetic surgery died, prompting the cartel to not only issue an apology but also turn over 5 people responsible. Cartels, whose operations are woven into the fabric of the nation, use PR campaigns when specific incidents threaten their “business”.

🇺🇸 Silicon Valley Bank collapse: In one of the worst bank failures in American history, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), the 16th largest bank in America at the end of last year, was closed by regulators this past week. If you’d like to know more, read this.

Other headlines

Indonesia began construction on their new capital city as major parts of Jakarta are expected to be fully submerged in the Java Sea by 2050

Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to kiss, make up, and reopen embassies in each other’s backyards in a deal brokered by China

China Prime Minister, Xi Jinping won an unprecedented third five-year term

UN signs a deal to protect marine life on the “high seas” after decades of deliberation

Bangladesh officials investigate the cause of a fire at the world’s largest Rohingya refugee camp that has displaced 12,000 people

Iran school poisonings accelerate and the first arrests are made

N’ebigenderako

Toblerone moves production to Slovakia and loses its Swissness

Slack owner, Salesforce becomes the latest company to incorporate ChatGPT into its products and tools

Creed III had the biggest domestic opening for a sports movie ever

Bing surpassed the 100 million active daily users mark after adding ChatGPT

Gary Lineker was suspended from BBC’s Match of the Day show after his comments via his personal Twitter account were deemed offensive

Games and Puzzles

This week’s challenge is courtesy of Braingle.

A man in a restaurant asked a waiter for a juice glass, a dinner plate, water, a match, and a lemon wedge. The man poured enough water onto the plate to cover it.

"If you can get the water on the plate into this glass without touching or moving this plate, I will give you $100," the man said. "You can use the match and lemon to do this."

A few minutes later, the waiter walked away with $100 in his pocket. How did the waiter get the water into the glass?

Answer at the bottom

Procrastination corner

📷 These mind-bending portraits will blow your mind

🙏🏾 Read: How beliefs shape your reality

🤖 Read: The false promise of AI (in case you’re worried about the machines taking over)

⛓️ The perfect prison? Don’t “do” crimes

📽 This thread of video techniques is wholesome

▶️ The worst cartoons ever

Riddle answer

Answer

First, the waiter stuck the match into the lemon wedge, so that it would stand straight. Then he lit the match, and put it in the middle of the plate with the lemon. Then, he placed the glass upside-down over the match. As the flame used up the oxygen in the glass, it created a small vacuum, which sucked in the water through the space between the glass and the plate. Thus, the waiter got the water into the glass without touching or moving the plate.
You can try this experiment at home with appropriate supervision.

Have a good week!

— Too Long; Didn’t Read (TLDR)

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