East African Business Notifier

  BY PAUL TENTENA Diageo, the majority shareholders of East African Breweries Ltd, the parent company of Uganda Breweries Ltd, have been fined $750,000 by the COMESA Competition Commission (CCC). The COMESA CC, said in Nairobi that it concluded its investigation into Diageo over allegations of market allocation and anti-competitive practices within the Common Market for Eastern and Southern African countries whose membership is 21 countries . Market allocation refers to agreements signed between competitors to divide markets, customers, or territories reducing competition and increasing prices while anticompetitive practices are business practices that restrict or distort competition, harming consumers and the economy. These practices may be price fixing, bid rigging, market sharing, abuse of dominance and exclusive agreements. According to Dr. Willard Mwemba, the COMESA Competition Commission Chief Executive Officer, they initiated the investigation on 21 June 2021 and ...

BY PAUL TENTENA NAIROBI, KENYA- The COMESA Competition Commission (CCC) has said in 2024, it observed a notable increase in consumer complaints across the aviation sector, particularly relating to flight delays, overbooking, cancellations, and baggage issues. The Commission said, the complaints were received directly through various online platforms. In response, Dr. Willard Mwemba, the COMESA Competition Commission Chief Executive Officer said they conducted a regional survey to assess the scale of the problem, airline responsiveness, and to propose remedial measures aimed at strengthening consumer protection. “ The survey, administered online and through Member State authorities, received 141 responses covering 350 complaints. Delayed flights emerged as the most common issue at 31.71%, followed by rescheduled flights, baggage problems, cancellations, and unfair booking conditions. “ Kenya Airways recorded the highest number of complaints, followed by Ethiopian Airlines, Air...

Ugandan companies registered a further expansion in business activity midway through the third quarter, extending the current sequence of growth to seven months as the headline Stanbic Bank Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) remained above the positive threshold mark of 50.0 .  At 53.3 during August, the Stanbic Bank PMI was down slightly from 53.6 in July, but maintained a trend of improving private sector conditions on a monthly basis since February.   Christopher Legilisho, Economist at Stanbic Bank  said, "The Stanbic Bank Uganda PMI showed ongoing strong economic conditions in the private sector in August. Sustained new order and output growth imply business conditions were supportive across all sectors. Furthermore, quantities of inputs purchased increased, and inventories grew. Meanwhile, companies were still optimistic about future output.” He said, “Employment conditions were robust in August, except for manufacturing where staffing numbers were unchanged on the mo...

  Airtel Uganda’s latest financial results paint a clear picture, Ugandans are choosing data over voice calls, and the shift is transforming the telecom industry. In its half-year results for the period ending June 30, 2025, Airtel reported a 30.4% jump in data revenue to Ushs 525.7 billion, making up nearly half of all service revenues. Just a few years ago, voice calls were the telco cash cow. Today, they’ve taken a back seat to data bundles. This change is showing up not just in the number of new customers but also in how much data existing users are consuming. Airtel’s data subscribers grew by 25.9% to 7.5 million, while average usage per user climbed 22.6% to nearly 6GB per month. And the network is feeling the heat. Overall traffic surged 57.4%, forcing Airtel to accelerate its infrastructure rollout. Over the past six months, the company has added 176 new 4G sites, rolled out 1,793km of fibre, and installed 150 additional 5G sites to keep pace with demand. One striking metri...

Kaushik Basu ITHACA, NEW YORK – In a 2022 paper, I introduced an allegory I called the  Incarceration Game  – an academic exercise that explores how authoritarian leaders, when their popularity falters, consolidate power through increasingly oppressive tactics. My analysis drew inspiration from a 1948 paper on the so-called “ surprise test paradox ,” which showed how rational expectations can unravel under certain conditions. US President Donald Trump, grappling with waning public support, seems determined to follow this authoritarian playbook. The most striking example is the administration’s attempt to bring mortgage fraud charges against prominent critics – most notably Federal Reserve Board of Governors member  Lisa Cook , Democratic US Senator Adam Schiff, and New York Attorney General Letitia James. At the  center of these efforts  is Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, a major Trump donor who now oversees the US mortgage industry. Naturall...

  T he water cycle has become increasingly erratic and extreme, swinging between deluge and drought, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). It highlights the cascading impacts of too much or too little water on economies and society.   The  State of Global Water Resources report  says only about one-third of the global river basins had “normal” conditions in 2024. The rest were either above or below normal – the sixth consecutive year of clear imbalance.   2024 was the third straight year with widespread glacier loss across all regions. Many small-glacier regions have already reached or are about to passthe so-called peak water point - when a glacier's melting reaches its maximum annual runoff, after which this decreases due to glacier shrinkage.   The Amazon Basin and other parts of South America, as well as southern Africa were gripped by severe drought in 2024, whilst there were wetter-than-normal conditions in centra...