Author: user user

Africa possesses enormous energy potential. The continent has nearly 60 percent of the world’s best solar resources, yet more than 600 million Africans still lack access to electricity while billions of dollars are spent importing fuel each year.

This contradiction continues to constrain industrial growth, discourage investment and leave businesses dependent on unreliable electricity. Rolling blackouts disrupt production, reduce productivity and erode public confidence.

Although often framed as a technical issue, the energy challenge is fundamentally one of political will, regulatory certainty and regional coordination. Reliable, affordable and domestically produced energy is more than a utility; it is the foundation of economic competitiveness. A factory without dependable electricity cannot secure export contracts.

A hospital reliant on diesel generators struggles to retain specialists. A data centre without consistent power cannot earn investor confidence.

Energy reliability underpins every productive sector. While energy is often overlooked when discussing the cost of doing business, overshadowed by taxation, labour and logistics, across sub-Saharan Africa, firms lose an estimated 5-15 percent of annual revenue because of power disruptions.

These losses accumulate through idle machinery, spoiled goods, emergency fuel costs and missed production targets. This invisible energy tax discourages investment and weakens competitiveness. Businesses factor in the cost of self-generation before they hire staff or expand operations, increasing costs from the outset. In a global economy driven by efficiency and reliability, competitiveness is relative.

A region that resolves its energy constraints can quickly become more attractive to investors, drawing industries away from less reliable markets. Energy security is therefore not simply a development objective but a strategic economic advantage.

This is crucial for Africa because for decades, our story has been one of exporting raw resources without creating value. Crude oil is shipped abroad for refining before returning at a premium, while natural gas is flared as households continue relying on charcoal. Regional competitiveness requires a different approach.

Energy resources should first power domestic industries, enable local processing of raw materials and generate the electricity needed to produce higher-value manufactured goods.

This is not resource nationalism. It is recognition that a kilowatt-hour powering a cement factory, textile mill or cold storage facility creates greater long-term value than exporting unprocessed resources.

Cross-border power pools, shared transmission infrastructure and coordinated renewable energy development provide the scale needed to make this transformation possible. The regions that will shape Africa’s industrial future will not necessarily be those with the greatest natural resources, but those that convert those resources into reliable electricity and industrial capacity. And the answers are not a far-off dream because Africa has already established five regional power pools to facilitate cross-border electricity trade and make better use of available resources.

Yet no country can build a globally competitive energy system in isolation. Large-scale renewable projects require regional demand to become commercially viable, while transmission infrastructure becomes more economical as the market expands. Investors also have greater confidence when projects are backed by regional frameworks rather than the finances of a single country.

Where cross-border electricity trade has been supported by effective pricing and regulations that encourage private investment, the benefits are clear: lower costs, stronger system resilience and a better environment for industrial investment. Strengthening these arrangements and expanding participation should rank among the highest-return investments regional organisations can make.

The global shift towards renewable energy presents Africa with both a challenge and an opportunity. The continent has contributed least to global emissions yet faces some of the worst climate impacts while being urged to bypass the fossil fuel development path followed by industrialised nations. That imbalance deserves recognition in international discussions. However, the opportunity should not be lost in the debate.

The cost of solar and wind power has fallen by more than 80 percent over the past decade, while battery storage continues to become more affordable. These trends increasingly favour regions with abundant sunshine and wind resources, giving Africa a structural advantage in the energy systems that will power future industries.

In that vein, governments must create regulatory environments that encourage private investment through efficient licensing, bankable off-take agreements, transparent pricing and credible dispute resolution. They must also invest in transmission and distribution infrastructure, harmonise regional standards and strengthen cross-border electricity markets.

A tax dispute between Continental Tobacco Uganda and Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) has laid bare tensions between negotiated tax settlements and continued enforcement action, with a case before the Tax Appeals Tribunal revealing contradictions in the handling of a multi-billion shilling assessment. The dispute, according to documents before the Tribunal originated from an initial tax liability exceeding Shs10b.

Tribunal records show that Continental Tobacco had been assessed Shs2.2b in Value Added Tax (VAT) and Shs7.89b in Income Tax, forming the basis of URA’s enforcement actions. However, the dispute took a significant turn on January 30, 2026, when both parties entered into an Alternative Dispute Resolution agreement executed by the URA Commissioner Legal Services, which substantially altered the company’s tax position.

Under the settlement, the VAT liability of Shs2.2b, documents show, was vacated to nil, while the income tax assessment was revised from Shs7.89b to Shs2.14b. Despite the revised obligations, Continental Tobacco argues that URA continued to enforce recovery measures that were premised on the original, higher assessments. According to filings before Tribunal, these actions included the issuance of agency notices to banks, sealing of business premises, and placement of caveats on properties belonging to the company and its directors. The company contends that these enforcement measures remained in place even after the Alternative Dispute Resolution agreement had redefined its tax liabilities, raising questions about the legal effect of such settlements within the tax administration framework.

Under the Tax Procedures Code and Alternative Dispute Resolution Regulations, a settlement agreement is recognised as binding and enforceable. Continental Tobacco argued that once the January 2026 agreement was concluded, URA was obligated to adjust its enforcement actions in line with the revised figures, including lifting restrictions tied to the initial assessments. URA, however, defended its actions by pointing to new information that allegedly undermined the the settlement.

Tribunal records indicate that URA informed Continental Tobacco that it had received intelligence suggesting that the Alternative Dispute Resolution agreement may have been concluded based on misleading disclosures. In particular, URA claimed that Continental Tobacco disclosed only one bank account held at KCB Bank, while allegedly maintaining additional accounts in Centenary Bank and Stanbic Bank that were not revealed during the Alternative Dispute Resolution process.

Following these findings, URA initiated further investigations and, in April 2026, formally notified Continental Tobacco while requesting additional documentation covering a review period from 2014 to 2022. The move reopened scrutiny of the company’s tax affairs, signalling URA’s position that settlement agreements may be revisited where fraud or misrepresentation is suspected. The dispute, however, presented a series of legal questions for determination, key among which included whether the Alternative Dispute Resolution agreement remained valid and binding, and whether URA’s continued enforcement actions, despite the revised tax figures, were lawful.

Continental Tobacco argued that allegations of fraud had to meet a high evidentiary threshold, insisting that such claims could not be presumed and must be pleaded and proven. The company further contended that URA lacked the statutory authority to unilaterally revoke or disregard a concluded settlement agreement, describing the continued enforcement as an abuse of process. Continental Tobacco also maintained that the persistence of enforcement actions, such as business closures, despite compliance with the revised obligations, amounted to a breach of its rights to fair hearing.

Tribunal settles the dispute

In its ruling, the Tax Appeals Tribunal found URA’s actions unlawful and upheld the integrity of the settlement agreement, affirming that the Alternative Dispute Resolution was valid, binding and enforceable, and ruled that the revocation letter issued on May 26, 2026 was null and void. It further held that the continued sealing of the company’s premises and the maintenance of caveats were unlawful, ordering URA to immediately unseal the business premises and directed URA to remove and vacate all caveats, effectively restoring the company’s control over its properties.

In addition, the Tribunal issued a permanent injunction restraining URA from taking any further enforcement action in respect of the liabilities covered under the settlement agreement, unless the agreement is set aside by a competent court or the Tribunal itself. The Tribunal also awarded the company general damages of Shs50m with interest at 6 percent per annum until payment in full, and granted costs of the application to Continental Tobacco. URA is also expected to submit a report to the Tribunal by August 15, 2026, detailing the execution of the orders, but in the event that it wishes to challenge the settlement agreement, it must formally apply to the Tribunal, where the matter would be considered in accordance with the law.

Uganda’s ambition to grow its economy tenfold from roughly $50 billion to $500 billion by 2040 demands more than incremental improvement. It requires a fundamental shift in how we identify, regulate and connect productive sectors.

The Tenfold Growth Strategy is clear: Uganda must expand exports, mobilise private investment, formalise more economic activities, deepen technology adoption and strengthen the country’s human, physical, financial and natural capital. It must also build stronger linkages across agro-industrialisation, tourism, minerals, and science, technology and innovation, the ATMS pillars.

Within this agenda, gaming deserves a more deliberate place in Uganda’s growth conversation. Gaming should not be viewed only as a source of revenue. If well facilitated, it can become a broader economic platform supporting employment, tourism, sports, hospitality, digital payments, media, technology and investment.

From a regulated industry to a growth asset

The direct contribution is already visible. Gaming sector revenues have risen from Shs17.4b in FY2015/16 to Shs323b in FY2024/25 an almost nineteen-fold increase in nine years. In FY2025/26 alone, the sector generated Shs368b, and this is expected to reach Shs450b in FY2026/27.

The industry also employs more than 24,000 Ugandans, provides rental income to over 2,500 property owners, and women account for more than 85% of its workforce. These figures matter, but they tell only part of the story. The larger opportunity lies in what a formal, transparent and technologically supervised gaming industry can enable around it.

Achieving tenfold growth will require Uganda to broaden its revenue base without placing an excessive burden on a narrow pool of taxpayers. It will also require more businesses, transactions and economic activities to operate within transparent, regulated and taxable systems.

Gaming can advance both objectives by bringing operators, premises, devices, payments and transactions into a more accountable regulatory framework. In this sense, the sector also provides a practical test of how fast-growing, technology-driven industries can be formalised without suppressing innovation, investment or enterprise.

The purpose of regulation, therefore, is not simply to constrain economic activity. It is to convert that activity into a legitimate, measurable and sustainable national value.

How gaming can accelerate Uganda’s ATMS growth agenda While gaming is not formally listed among the ATMS pillars, its cross-cutting contribution to each of them remains insufficiently understood and appreciated.

Too often, the sector is reduced to sports betting, yet gaming is a much broader economic ecosystem encompassing lotteries, casinos, online and mobile platforms, e-sports, digital payments, data analytics, cybersecurity, hospitality, entertainment, media, sports sponsorship, tourism and technology-enabled regulation.

Seen in this wider context, gaming is not a peripheral activity but a potential enabler of investment, jobs, innovation, destination development and economic formalisation. Its clearest connection is with tourism. Modern gaming economies increasingly combine casinos with hotels, restaurants, conventions, live entertainment, retail, sports and cultural experiences.

Uganda can selectively adapt this integrated approach around Kampala, Entebbe, Jinja and the Lake Victoria corridor and several other tourism corridors while linking visitors to the country’s wildlife, heritage, nightlife and conference tourism offering. This matters because Uganda is targeting tourism revenue growth from $1.45 billion (about Shs5.47 trillion) to $5b (about Shs18.87 trillion) by FY2028/29. Achieving that ambition will require more compelling reasons for visitors to stay longer, spend more and return.

Well-regulated entertainment and gaming destinations could complement wildlife and cultural tourism, strengthen Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) and sports tourism, and broaden Uganda’s appeal beyond traditional safari products.

Macau (an autonomous region on the south coast of China) offers perhaps the clearest illustration of both the economic power of gaming and the risks of allowing it to dominate a destination’s identity.

According to reports from the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, the regulatory body of gaming in Macau, in 2025, the territory welcomed more than 40 million visitors and generated MOP247.4b, approximately $30.9b (about Shs115.9 trillion), in gross gaming revenue. More instructive for Uganda, however, is Macau’s effort to use that gaming strength to diversify its wider tourism economy.

Under the ten-year concessions that took effect in 2023, its six casino operators committed MOP108.7 billion to developing international visitor markets and non-gaming projects more than ten times the amount committed to gaming investments.

These projects span conventions and exhibitions, entertainment, sporting events, culture and art, health and wellness, themed attractions, gastronomy and community tourism. South Africa presents a different and more geographically distributed model.

The country recorded gambling turnover of approximately R1.5 trillion approximately $86.5b (about Shs324.6 trillion) in FY2024/25, with betting accounting for about 75% and casinos contributing 19.5%.

Although casinos now represent a smaller share of gambling activity, many operate as components of broader destination properties that combine hotels, restaurants, conferencing, concerts, retail and family entertainment.

Their value to tourism therefore extends beyond the gaming floor to the wider hospitality, leisure and entertainment economy that develops around them. For Uganda, the lesson is not replication, but selective adaptation.

Uganda’s 19-year-old long-distance prodigy Charity Cherop delivered a masterpiece at Hayward Field, storming to gold in the women’s 5000m at the ongoing World Athletics U20 Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

Cherop, born July 4, 2007, executed a tactically brilliant race, stopping the clock at 15:03.88. She outpaced Ethiopia’s Shito Gumi (15:07.91), who took silver, and Kenya’s Joyline Chepkemoi (15:09.08 PB), who settled for bronze, according to World Athletics. The triumph represents a massive upgrade for Cherop, who previously secured silver at the World U20 Championships in Lima.

“Charity Cherop said, ‘Silver was just a warm-up!’ The Ugandan star has upgraded her Lima silver to World U20 gold… From Lima to gold, Charity came, ran, and collected!” the Government of Uganda celebrated on X.

The performance drew high praise from legendary long-distance runner Joshua Cheptegei, who won gold at the same iconic venue 12 years ago.

“So proud of this little girl Charity Cherop!! Winning a gold medal from the ongoing World U20 Championships at the historic Hayward Field!!… The future is so bright and we will guide you towards your journey!!” Cheptegei posted on X.

Cherop currently holds world rankings of #32 in women’s cross country and #53 in the 5000m.

A recent spell of prolonged drought across several parts of the country threatens to plunge millions of Ugandans into a severe food crisis after scorching sunshine caused widespread crop failure.

Farmers in the worst-affected areas say they have lost much of their harvest, with the situation leading to higher food prices and uncertainty over the second planting season.

In south-western Uganda, the prolonged dry spell, which persisted between May and July, has taken a heavy toll on farmers, livestock keepers and rural communities.

It has contributed to declining crop yields, drying water sources, rising food prices and increasing transport costs. Coffee farmers say the prolonged dry spell has had both positive and negative effects on production.

Mr Alex Bahikiriwa Nyakatete, a coffee farmer from Mpaama Village in Ntungamo District, said that while the sunny weather had been ideal for drying harvested coffee beans, improving their quality and reducing post-harvest losses, the dry conditions are now threatening the next harvest.

He explained that after harvesting, coffee plants naturally begin to flower in preparation for the next production cycle. However, the flowers have been drying up before developing into coffee cherries because of the prolonged drought.

‘With this prolonged dry spell, many flowers are drying up, and if the rains delay further, next season’s harvest will be much lower. That will be a double tragedy because in the previous season, I had lower coffee harvests as the coffee berries dried immediately after flowering due to a dry spell,’ he said.

Farmers growing tomatoes, watermelons, passion fruit, oranges and vegetables say they are struggling to keep their crops alive because of a lack of water. Those without irrigation systems have watched their crops wither before harvest, while those with irrigation face high pumping and fuel costs.

Mr Joshua Mujuni, a tomato farmer, said the reduced supply of fresh produce during the dry spell has driven up market prices.

He added that farmers who irrigate during the dry season must do so consistently because if irrigation is interrupted, crops that had begun recovering often wilt and dry up under the intense heat.

‘When you irrigate today and fail to water again because, for example, the water source has dried up or fuel has become too expensive, the crops suffer even more. The soil becomes too hot and hard, making it difficult for the roots to access moisture. Consistent watering is necessary to keep the soil moist and cool,’ another farmer said.

Mr Felix Tusiime, an agronomist, advised that irrigation should be accompanied by practices such as mulching, which helps the soil retain moisture, reduces evaporation and keeps it cooler, enabling crops to withstand prolonged dry conditions. Adding subheadings will improve readability without changing the story. Here’s Phase 2 with appropriate newspaper-style subheadings.

Climate change effects bite

Agricultural experts and United Nations agencies warn that extreme weather conditions caused by climate change are likely to worsen food insecurity and push thousands of people who depend heavily on rain-fed agriculture deeper into poverty.

Mr Jimmy Owiny Eron, the agricultural officer for Alango Sub-county in Otuke District, said climate change is no longer a distant threat but a persistent reality affecting farming communities in different ways.

‘Climate change is real and it is affecting the farming community in different ways. Last year, during the first planting season, there was a lot of drought, and most of the crops that farmers planted dried up.’ Mr Owiny added that the beginning of this year’s first planting season was no different, with rainfall lasting for only about two weeks. ‘From June to July, it was totally dry in Otuke, which greatly affected all the crops.’

Karamoja faces worsening hunger crisis

An acute food crisis is unfolding across several parts of the greater Karamoja Sub-region following widespread crop failure caused by prolonged drought. In Rengen Sub-county, Kotido District, scores of people are reportedly surviving without proper meals after their households ran out of grains and cereals.

Mr Elijah Lokoribok Lobur, the LC3 chairperson of Rengen Sub-county, said several elderly people and children had died from hunger because there was nothing left for residents to eat.

‘All the sorghum and maize fields, as well as the local cucumber used as sauce, which were planted in early April, were scorched by the relentless heat,’ he said.

Mr Lobur confirmed that parish chiefs were compiling data on the reported deaths before submitting it to the district, which would then forward it to the Office of the Prime Minister.

Mr Paul Lotee Komol, the LC5 chairperson of Kotido District, said they had briefed the central government on the situation on the ground and that some relief supplies had already been delivered.

He confirmed that grain fields and other crops had been scorched, warning that the district expected even more difficult times ahead.