Contador Harrison

Over the last two decades, drug abuse in Africa has been growing at an alarming rate with corrupt officials taking little or no action to stem the flow of illicit drugs, especially to the continent’s youthful population. Sub Saharan Africa has an estimated 50 million drug addicts today compared to just 2 million in 1990. I am on of those who believe drug dealers and, indeed, drug users are criminals who belong to jail. Most countries in Africa have unduly stringent policies against drug crime but they are not stringent enough to deter the criminals currently doing that illicit business with impunity. The reality is that African societies have failed and if nothing is done soon, various African countries are facing chronic drug addiction crisis. Statistics released earlier this year showed an increase in the number of drug users across the continent, amid easier access to narcotics, much of which is shipped to the continent from Latin America and Asia. Last year, the Un...

Latest data indicates that $62 billion was spent globally on IT security last year. Despite the heavy investments, companies and governments are continuing to face massive advanced persistent threats. In fact, close to 90% of organizations have active malware and more than half of them are not aware of any intrusions. Public authorities are the most vulnerable to cyber attacks as most African governments are unaware of the chronic dangers and sophisticated tactics used by advanced hackers. Surprisingly, a majority of government and corporate leaders are not even aware of methods employed by the hackers these days. There has been upsurge in cases where vital state and even military secrets obtained illegally by hackers have ended up being sold to other state spying agencies. This has also included crucial economic and commercial intelligence data of high value being shipped to business and state rivals. The young jobless techies and nerds in Africa are said to hack fo...

Yesterday, at about 4:30pm Australian time, I received a phone call from my friend who works for Channel 7, a leading Televisio station in Australia informing me that the woman I supported her actions three years ago has been ousted as Labor Party leader by the man she ousted. He was referring to Kevin Rudd, the bloke we like to call "Heavy Kevvy" back in Melbourne. My friend who happens to be an ardent fan of opposition leader Tony Abbot categorically told me that labor party is a farce and only diaspora community members like me supports their government. Frankly, I don’t and for the record Contador Harrison is member of the Green Party Australia. The caller also informed me that a party that cant manage itself, cannot expect Australians to trust them with management of the country. The developments of Gillard ousting left me wondering what do politician really want because I simply cant understand why a prime minister who has delivered low unemployment...

Advanced plans by the member states of East African Community to issue a single Visa to all foreigners touring the region could boost the region’s tourism sector that has remained largely under developed. The countries in the region have grown steadily in recent years and have a combined GDP of $80 billion. According to the data for 2012, international tourist arrivals have increased by an average of 15% a year and last year earned the region almost $3.5 billion in foreign exchange. The key driver of the region’s tourism sector is regional travel, which last year generated $5 billion for the five countries economies. The sector’s growth has been led by the private sector investments as regional airlines like Precision Air , Air Uganda , Rwandair and the popular Fly 540 that have all opened new routes and now hoteliers are following the same path. As with many other sectors in East Africa, tourism has hampered by poor infrastructure and connectivity challenges. Plan...

Uganda finance minister Maria Kiwanuka recently unveiled the country’s financial budget for the year ending June 2014. Most notable was her allocation towards the expansion of broadband services in unconnected hinterlands. That was a welcome move because Uganda needs to pay special attention to the digital world in order to better its economy and GDP that currently stand at $19.5billion. Minister Kiwanuka stressed on Uganda ameliorating its economy in the future and that is music to the years of digital industry players. Latest data shows that digital advertisements in Uganda account for only 8% to 12% of the total advertisements. It is important for the country to make good use of the digital world to seep into a greater consumer base especially the growing middle class. Over the past three years, Ugandan government has been encouraging the development of the country’s digital industry through workshops and exhibitions. For the digital industry to thrive and absorb ...