On my recent visit to Uganda I heard about an ICT conference and I thought I had to see this for myself. I still don't get ICT that much but last year I got to hang out with a few geeks and that has aroused my interest in this area.

NOTE TO SELF: please don't become a geek

There were the usual suspects ORANGE, APPLE, MTN etc. but the biggest surprise for me was the judiciary stand. a large banner read DELIVERING A FAIR AND JSUT JUDICIARY THROUGH ICT. I pitched up to get more details about this.

A young man one of the many manning the stand was all happy to talk me through what was on offer

computerised court systems to ensure accurate records of courts procedures/processes

ICT enable easy access to to records by the public

Public can follow h the progress of any case, especially those directly involved in a case

So Happy new year to you all and hope Xmas was enjoyable for you all


I have been away for a few weeks and things don't look quite the same

Christmas in Uganda was interesting, it rained all day on Christmas day
and at our lunch table the conversation was on climate change and how
the Copenhagen climate summit had been a flop and a wasted opportunity
with some laying the blame for rain in Uganda in December on the door step of the West

For you see December should be dry, the equivalent of August in the UK but instead
it rained for the best part and it felt more like April in England

Uganda held a diaspora summit after xmas and this was aime at Ugandans living
abroad to learn about investment opportunities in their home country. The Bank of Uganda
reproted a staggering statistic, the remittances (money sent by Ugandans in diaspora to their relatives) amounted $780M last year! WOW!

I also had a week in Rwanda and was really impressed with what is going on

I have found myself on this train a few times recently and for
some reason ended up sitting in the same carriage without much thought
about it.

The first time I noticed a woman making xmas cards
quite literally, you know the sort where she reads something
that looks like a word puzzle, but presumably
this is a thread count that she must follow to achieve
a certain design.

Another woman got on the train and was curious about
the woman's work, and they started speaking in a language
I didn't understand could have Welsh of Gaelic not sure which

Another time I got onto the same train and yes ended up in the same
carriage as the knitting woman, I got onto the train before her but
she came and sat with next to me. I noticed how tall and large she is, the sort
you would not mess with.

A young girl with a large suitcase was passing by in search of a seat.
the knitting woman got up and told her " sit down here"