By Ali Twaha

Cabinet is looking into a proposal to have new monthly minimum wage for workers pegged at Shs 136,000.This is expected to end the apparent exploitation low-end workers, including domestic workers and security who earn as little as Shs 50,000 per month.

Minimum wage is the lowest amount a worker can legally be paid for his/her work. Chris Kanya, the chairperson of the minimum wage advisory board at the ministry of gender, said:

“The board took stock of existing literature for and against adoption of minimum wages in developing and developed countries. Given the extent of the informal sector, the board has recommended a single national minimum wage for Uganda of Shs 136,000 per month.”

In July 2015, cabinet approved the appointment of the minimum wages advisory board, to study and advise government on the feasibility of fixing a minimum wage and what form the minimum wage should take.

The board members include Chris Kanya as chairperson, Milton Turyasiima representing government. Juliet Nazziwa, Fred Wapakhabulo and Robert Namawa member representing employers while Hon Joram Bruno Pajobo and Kusasira Dinah represented workers.

President Museveni has on several occasions cautioned trade unions against intimidating investors over workers’ minimum wage and unionization.

The president may not give a green light to their suggestions for minimum wage as he thinks it chases away investors. High levels of unemployment in the country mean that employers can afford to pay workers peanuts. Minumum wage policy could force them to take on fewer employees – exacerbating the problem.

Proponents, however, say the move would improve productivity of workers.

Dar es Salaam — Halotel Tanzania is currently one of the fastest growing telecommunication companies in the country and its management believes the expansion is purely a result of its business strategy of focusing on the poor communities.

Going by Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) figures, Halotel – which started its operations in the country two years ago – has managed to register a total of 3.5 million voice subscribers during the period.

Until March 31, 2017, the two-year old company commanded a subscriber market share of nine per cent, outsmarting Zantel and Tanzania Telecommunication Company Limited – which have existed for over a decade – and Smart.

Halotel is now in the fourth position behind market leader, Vodacom, Tigo and Airtel.

“Basically, our growth is anchored in our strategy of focusing on poor rural communities. We also bank on the hard working spirit of our people,” the managing director, Le Van Dai, told The Citizen in an interview last week.

Halotel plans to invest $1.7 billion in Tanzania and latest updates show that at least $700 million of the planned investment has already been injected into the economy.

With the investment Halotel now covers 95 per cent of Tanzania. “Our network is now available in at least 3000 villages that did not receive any telecommunication signal before we came,” he said.

At a time when telecommunication companies are increasingly focusing on mobile money and data, Halotel says it is taking the challenge and would invest accordingly.

“Ours is a fast changing industry. If you operate for six months without investing more cash, consider yourself gone. Your competitors will invest in issues that matter during that particular time and outwit you. We pay attention to what is happening in the market,” he said.

Its mobile money (Halopesa) and data platforms are already active. The focus, he said, is now much on how to bringing added services to its Halopesa products.

“We have a comprehensive strategy with our Halopesa strategy which goes in line with the government’s wider financial inclusion scheme,” he said, adding that in partnership with other financial institutions, the focus now is to see clients getting loans through Halopesa.

Network expansion

A few weeks ago, Halotel announced that it would inject $100 million (about Sh223 billion on the prevailing exchange rate) in network expansion and service improvement in the move to grab an increased pie of both data and voice communication market.

It said that the aim would be ensure that it increases the number of its active Sim cards in the market to seven million by the end of this year.

By Jane Nyingi

The Ethiopian government has blocked mobile internet access, saying it wants to prevent exam leaks. Ethiopia has a record of censoring the country’s internet.

The nationwide mobile internet blackout started on Tuesday. Ethiopia’s internet service is entirely in the hands of Ethio Telecom, the state-owned telecom provider. It’s the third time within a year that Ethio Telecom has taken such action.

According to Ethiopian blogger Danel Birhane, the blackout has left very few companies and organizations online – only the ones that have alternative means of connectivity such as satellite communication. The capital, Addis Ababa, is home to the African Union and the UN’s Economic Commission for Africa headquarters.

Officials at both institutions said their internet was cut off but later returned. However, on Thursday afternoon most Ethiopians were still unable to communicate. “It’s not only mobile internet services that have been cut off but even landline. I cannot even monitor my own website, social media platforms or check emails; it’s really complicated,” Birhane said in an interview with DW.

According to internet giant Google, preliminary data suggested that there was indeed a big drop in Ethiopian internet traffic to its services from Wednesday afternoon. Birhane said the cut-off was unnecessary and violated the digital rights of Ethiopians. “Internet cafes have been closed. Sometimes I feel like we are 15 years back as a country. Something needs to be done,” he said.

Ethiopia has been censoring its internet for more than a decade, and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter have been blocked since unrest last year. Just last month, an Ethiopian court sentenced opposition politician Yonatan Tesfaye to six and a half years in prison for allegedly criticizing the government through his Facebook posts.

Ethiopia, which has one of the lowest internet and mobile connectivity rates in the world, was among the first countries to censor the internet to curtail political protests. Since November 2015, more than 500 anti-government protestors have been killed and thousands of others arrested while demanding land reform and an end to human rights violations.

Last year, activists leaked the papers for the country’s 12th grade national exams and called for the postponement of the exams due to a school shutdown in the regional state of Oromia. Mohammed Negash of DW’s Amharic service said it appeared the government had taken preventive measures to avoid a recurrence of the incident. Negash said he was hopeful it was only a temporary measure and that things would return to normal once the exams were over.

The government, through its public relations director in the Office for Government Communications Affairs, Mohammed Seid, said the move was ‘proactive.’ Speaking to Reuters, Seid said: “We want our students to concentrate and be free of the psychological pressure and distractions that this brings.”

About 1.2 million students are currently taking part in grade 10 national exams, with another 288,000 preparing for the grade 12 university entrance exams that will take place next week. Algeria’s government took a similar step in June 2016 when it blocked social media networks in order to curb cheating in secondary school exams.

PRESS RELEASE

Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, on Friday, listed steps that need to be taken to achieve energy security in the country that would lead to safe environment and uplift the social economic wellbeing of the people.

Saraki gave the recommendations in his speech at a one day workshop on the State of Energy Security in Nigeria, organized by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) climate policy and energy security programme for sub-Saharan Africa in Lagos.

He said that the country must look inwards to provide the required capital to invest in energy infrastructure by reforming the administration of current major source of revenue, improving other revenue generating sectors and instituting an economic diversification framework that could initiate a stepwise transition to a green economic development pathway.

Represented by his Chief of Staff, Hakeem Baba Ahmed, the Senate President, said it is key for the country to deepen strategic partnerships with countries that have more experience and resources to build capacity for policy coherence and technology transfer in order to generate made in Nigeria energy access innovations to grow the Naira.

He said while the 8th National Assembly firmly holds that the supply of adequate and affordable energy mix is essential, it should be a complimentary means to achieve energy security.

Saraki, according to a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Sanni Onogu, said: “Nigeria must deepen strategic partnerships with countries that have more experience and resources to build our capacity for policy coherence and technology transfer to generate made in Nigeria energy access innovations to grow the Naira.

“The 8th National Assembly and the Senate under my leadership believes that the supply of adequate and affordable energy mix is essential in the 21st century, and there cannot be any pretense about this.

“But it should be a complimentary means to achieve energy security because energy security can only be achieved through adequate investments that are coherent and consistent.

“Looking inwards to provide the required capital to invest in energy infrastructure means (1) reforming the administration of our current major source of revenue, (2) improving other revenue generating sectors and (3) instituting an economic diversification framework that could initiate a stepwise transition to a green economic development pathway. I believe that this is the best way to go if we truly want to achieve sustainable energy security in Nigeria,” he said.

He further stated that since revenue derived from oil is highly volatile, fixing gaps leading to revenue leakages in the petroleum industry need to be addressed before implementing any policy for energy sufficiency and sustainability.

He said that the passage of the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) by the 8th Senate is meant to reform the oil industry and make it more revenue efficient and investment friendly.

“Nigeria’s mono-economic revenue profile derived from oil is highly volatile as it depends on global oil price shocks thereby affecting government budgetary framework and by extension, the entire economy,” Saraki said. “Therefore, fixing the lacuna in the oil and gas sector have to be tackled first before implementing any policy frameworks and reforms that can give a robust energy base for the nation.

“As a result, last week Thursday, the 8th Senate made history by breaking a 17 years jinx by passing the first part of the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill for the reform of the petroleum industry.

“The bill established a framework for the creation of commercially oriented and profit-driven petroleum entities that fosters a conducive business environment for the petroleum industry operations that ensures value addition, promote transparency and accountability in the administration of petroleum resources of Nigeria.

“The bill applies to the rights, interests, obligations and liabilities of the petroleum industry in Nigeria and establishes a regulatory commission, the Ministry of Petroleum Incorporated, the National Petroleum Company, the Nigeria Asset Management Company and a Fund which shall defray expenditures of the commission,” he said.

The Senate President stated that if a village of less than 10000 inhabitants in Feldheim can cooperate to achieve 100 per cent renewable energy supply, states in Nigeria can replicate the feet by partnering with the private sector.

He said that his vision is for the country to liberalize the energy situation in such a way that all segments of the populace can have uninterrupted access to power to support and uplift their social, economic and educational wellbeing.

He said: “In March this year, I visited the 100% Renewable energy village of Feldheim near Berlin and was impressed by the fact that a small village of less than 1000 people was able to form an energy cooperative that generate energy from renewable sources such that surpluses are sold to the national grid. That experience was an eye-opener for my delegation that if a small village in Germany can develop such an energy model, why can’t one state in Nigeria do it in partnership with the private sector?

“The 8th National Assembly is working hard to pass the necessary laws to achieve energy security and we will continue to do this with effective support from partners like everyone in this room.

“We acknowledge that in order to fundamentally create a robust and secure energy base, strategic and deliberate government policy both short and long terms that will guarantee the present and future energy needs is necessary.

“Together we can help liberalize the energy situation in Nigeria in such a way that the rural woman can cook with a clean cookstove and fuel; the school pupil can wake up at night and have light to do his/her home-work; the farmer can power coolers to preserve his/her milk and prevent post-harvest losses; the barber and hair-dresser can make more money with regular energy access; the industrialist will no longer want to close shop and move to Ghana,” he said.

END

Signed

Sanni Onogu

Chief Press Secretary to the Senate President

By Alawi Masare

Dodoma — The government plans to spend Sh9.46 trillion on servicing the national debt, including paying contributions to social security funds in the next financial year, Finance and Planning minister Philip Mpango said as he tabled his ministry’s budget yesterday.

In the current financial year, the government set aside Sh8 trillion for the same purpose and up to the end of March, Sh6.5 trillion or 82 per cent of the approved budget had been released.

Dr Mpango tabled his budget asking the Parliament to approve Sh11.75 trillion for the ministry and its institutions.

He also said the national debt was sustainable even as MPs warned the government over the growing debt, especially due to its interest.

The National Audit Office will get Sh61.8 billion for recurrent expenditure with Sh44.5 billion being for operational charges.

The office will also get Sh11.8 billion for development expenditure compared to Sh12.2 billion set for the current budget.

In the current financial year, the government approved only Sh32.3 billion for recurrent expenditure of the audit office with just Sh18.5 billion set for operational costs.

The reduced budget raised fears that the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) would not be in a better position to audit development projects.

However, this time the government has almost doubled the recurrent expenditure for the CAG.

MPs speak out

Some MPs said the government should take precautionary measures over managing the national debt despite the government’s stance that it was sustainable.

Mr Peter Serukamba (Kigoma North-CCM) said the government should consider borrowing under a fixed interest arrangement to avoid the swelling of the national debt. “Our national debt is not sustainable if you measure it in terms of revenue collection. The government must also consider paying the domestic debt to help pension funds operate smoothly. I know the government has a good intention of consolidating the pension funds, but it must make sure it pays debts before joining them together,” he said.