Contador Harrison

If asked to describe this book, my reply would be it’s a gripping memoir by a resilient woman. Born in Colombian city of Bogotá and raised in France, Ingrid Betancourt gave a cold shoulder on her comfortable life to return to her native country of Colombia to contest for presidency. “Like Alice in Wonderland, I was falling, falling into a bottomless well,” Ingrid writes. “This was my black hole. I was being sucked down, dragged down into the bowels of the earth. I was alive only so that I could witness myself dying.” The Colombian native ordeal began in February 23rd 2002 when she was abducted by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia well known as FARC while campaigning in the isolated town of San Vicente del Caguán. She was a presidential candidate for Colombia’s Oxygen Green Party and after her capture, Ingrid would end up spending the next six and a half years in the jungle as a prisoner. FARC is known worldwide as quasi Marxist guerrilla organization notorious f...

Wednesday’s unveiling of a new berth at East Africa’s busiest port by President Yoweri Museveni accompanied by his Rwandan and Kenyan counterparts was a clear demonstration that the three countries are surging ahead with infrastructure developments that does not seem to involve Tanzania which is the region’s second largest economy. One agreement reached by Presidents Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni and representatives from South Sudan and Burundi was that relevant ministries finalize use of national Identity Cards as travel documents in the three countries before October 15 this year. They also agreed a common visa expected to ease travel plans for those intending to tour East African attractions. The region also has advanced plans to introduce a single currency under a monetary union in the regions with a combined estimated population of 135 million. The East African region has a collective Gross Domestic Product of $79 billion. To b...

Statistics never deceive and for the third year in a row, yours hometown of Melbourne that serves as the capital for state of Victoria has emerged top of the list for the most liveable cities in the world. Like it or not, as a Melburnian, I can tell you Melbourne has an enviable lifestyle and some of the most skilled and innovative workforce I have ever worked with. As my aunt recently told me, the city now offers the competitive business environment that makes Melbourne one of the most dynamic cities in the world let alone Australia. Since taking the mantle from Canadian city of Vancouver, Melbourne had consistently been in the top three positions of the 140 cities listed on Economist Intelligence Unit's Liveability Ranking. The survey is part of the Worldwide Cost of Living evaluation of living conditions in 140 cities worldwide through assigning a rating across five broad categories of stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructur...

East Africa’s regional and global importance is growing very fast buoyed by impressive economic performances of Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda are well known, while the expanding economic and political significance of East African community and its largest economies of Ethiopia and Kenya is increasingly attracting the attention of the world. It is with this in mind that I have to believe that today’s launch of joint infrastructure projects by Rwanda, Uganda and Kenyan president in the coastal city of Mombasa is to acknowledge the excellent relations between the three members of East African community. The region is witnessing the continued and growing importance of East African Community, a key pillar in fostering regional integration in East Africa and in Africa as a whole. The economic development of the EAC region is impressive. There are at least two main effects of the three countries economic cooperation especially in infrastructure. The first is a direct effect...