Institutions and Economic Performance in Africa: A Comparative Analysis of Mauritius, Botswana and Uganda

developmental nationalism, economic performance, Africa

Gender and taxation: analysis of personal income tax (PIT)

the paper examines the gender dimensions of personal income tax (PIT) in Uganda with an eye on the possible gender biases that may be embedded in the tax system. It further addresses the issues of Uganda achievement of substantive gender equality rather than formal equality as regards the impact of taxes from a gender perspective. This is in line with Convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against all people as if they are the same and synonymous with equality of opportunity... we find that PIT paid by different household earning types increases gender inequality. We also find that some tax systems only worsens gender gaps and hardly is a useful tool that could be used to close the gender gaps. This paper proposes how PIT could be reformed with a view to using taxation as a tool for the realization of substantive gender equality.Gender equality, CEDAW, Taxation, Income tax, Kiiza, Bategeka, Guloba, Economic policy research center, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Financial Economics, Institutional and Behavioral Economics,

Youth empowerment against poverty in Yobe State, Northern Nigeria

Global efforts to end poverty and unfair development should focus on the empowered youth as the cornerstone. In Nigeria, the youth form 60 percent of the population. The majority of them are unemployed and ultimately poor. Poverty reduction requires empowerment to overcome the barriers to a better life. This study examined the nature of youth empowerment and its impact on the well-being of the youth in Yobe State, Nigeria. It used a quantitative method and administered questionnaires to 393 randomly selected respondents. Data was collected on youth's attitudes, views and experiences on various aspects of their lives and well-being and the nature of empowerment programmes in Yobe State. The study findings show that many empowerment programmes have been implemented but have had low impact on the youth. Poverty and unemployment remain high, mainly among the youth. In addition, youth attitudes and experiences show a lack of satisfaction with the nature of youth empowerment. Disempowered youth lack the confidence and belief that they have the opportunities to develop themselves or escape poverty and such disempowerment compromises their citizenry roles as the youth. Therefore, there is a need to improve the infrastructure and strengthen empowerment programmes to improve the well-being of the youth

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

The myth of local content in Uganda’s oil sector: an eclipse of economic liberalism?

This paper interrogates local content with specific reference to the oil and gas sector in Uganda. Three theoretical perspectives are reviewed – the local-content-as-national-content theory; local-content-as-good-corporate-governance; and local content as ‘smart’ industrial policy. It is this third perspective that guides our scrutiny of the local content credentials of Uganda’s oil policies and laws. To what degree is Uganda’s local content rhetoric reflected in the difficult but necessary task of skilling the nation (that is, the ‘citizens’); empowering local businesses, and, in short, creating a virtuous cycle of local ownership, job creation and inclusive development? The methodology adopted herein includes critical desktop reviews; scrutiny of the oil policies and laws; and key informant interviews. The emerging conclusion is that the demand for measurable local content dividends – defined in terms of job creation for nationals; use of national suppliers; utilization of local inputs; and, in short, the inclusion of nationals in the upstream, midstream and downstream of the petroleum value chain – is undoubtedly real. The supply, however, we contend, is disappointingly poor, leading to what we term the myth of local content. This is largely, but by no means exclusively, attributed to the eclipse of economic liberalism.Keywords: local content, oil and gas, economic liberalism, Ugand

Market-Oriented Public Management in Uganda: Benchmarking International Best Practise?

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RIGHTING RESOURCE-CURSE WRONGS IN UGANDA: THE CASE OF OIL DISCOVERY AND THE MANAGEMENT OF POPULAR EXPECTATIONS

Following Uganda’s discovery of oil deposits in 2006, the country’s development prospects look higher than ever before. Different stakeholders (discussed in the paper) have high development expectations. However, development experiences from oil-rich countries in Africa raise concerns that Uganda could suffer oil curse - a situation in which extraction of oilincreases poverty and misery to majority of the people instead of leading to improvement in livelihoods for all. The paper discusses management of popular expectations in Uganda that are associated with discovery of oil, with a view to assisting the country to avoid the dreaded oil curse. The oil curse is not because of the oil but due to economic and political mismanagement. Oil abundance typically generates valuable rents that tend to trigger violent forms of rent-seeking or “greed-based” insurgencies. Lack of transparency and accountability in Uganda’s oil sector are early signs of an oil curse. Uganda can avoid the oil curse by managing popular expectations better and by ensuring transparency and accountability in the management of the oil sector

Gender and taxation: analysis of personal income tax (PIT)

the paper examines the gender dimensions of personal income tax (PIT) in Uganda with an eye on the possible gender biases that may be embedded in the tax system. It further addresses the issues of Uganda achievement of substantive gender equality rather than formal equality as regards the impact of taxes from a gender perspective. This is in line with Convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against all people as if they are the same and synonymous with equality of opportunity... we find that PIT paid by different household earning types increases gender inequality. We also find that some tax systems only worsens gender gaps and hardly is a useful tool that could be used to close the gender gaps. This paper proposes how PIT could be reformed with a view to using taxation as a tool for the realization of substantive gender equality