Sunshare Investments is known for production of the Lucky brand of juices including mango, pineapple and orange flavours.

Laboratory analysis carried out by UNBS on product samples submitted for testing indicated high level of Free Chlorine in the product contrary to the requirements of the Standard (US 47: 2011) for juices and other non-carbonated drinks.

According to the standard, juices and non-carbonated drinks should be free from chlorine because of its adverse effects on human health. Chlorine reacts with water to form acids which are poisonous to human body once consumed.

Chlorine is an active ingredient used in disinfectants such as JIK to sterilise water and kill bacteria and other micro-organisms. However, high levels of chlorine results in production of toxic substances that may lead to damage of internal body organs.

The premises of Sunshare factory shall remain closed until when the company directors have demonstrated that they have put corrective measures in place to ensure that such contamination does happen in future.

UNBS will continue to perform its mandate of enforcing standards to protect consumer health and safety and the environment against dangerous and sub-standard products.

UNBS would like to urge the public to remain vigilant and report any cases of substandard products on the market on our toll-free line: 0800 133 133.

At the event, held at Sheraton Hotel, Kampala (Lake Room), the Hon. Minister applauded PRAU for being a strong association in Uganda and promised to support PRAU in tabling a draft bill for statutory recognition.

He also stated that PR was important in the brand building of several businesses and therefore the association was doing the right thing in promoting the profession in Uganda.

Finally, Hon. Minister tasked the new Governing Council to set up a permanent home for the association and organize a fundraising event where partners and sponsors would commit their support in helping build a PRAU Headquarters.

The new Governing Council was elected during the Association’s 41st Annual General Meeting, held on Saturday 1st September 2018 at Fairway Hotel in Kampala.

Ms. Sarah Kagingo, Managing Director of Soft Power Communications LLC, who was sworn in as President, promised to lead the new Governing Council to pursue statutory recognition, improve media and external stakeholder relations, form strategic alliances with PRAU’s sister associations, champion the formation of a fully functional secretariat, increase membership of the association, get a PRAU permanent home, among others.

Other officials who were sworn in included Eddie Oketcho as Secretary General; Sheila Naturinda Deputy Secretary-General; Charles Nsamba, Treasurer; Sumin Namaganda as Director of Programmes; Alfred Geresom Musamali as Director of Discipline; Kezia Koburungi and Roland Ssebuliba as the new student representatives.

The PRAU Vice President, Valery Okecho and PRAU Director PR, Simon Kasyate were absent with apologies.

The Public Relations Association of Uganda (PRAU) is the umbrella public relations body of Uganda having been set up to uplift the standards in and promote the public relations profession in the country. Membership is open to all PR and communications practitioners, business enterprises, SMEs, government bodies, PR agencies, NGO’s, students pursuing PR related courses and in-house PR departments.

Information and communication technology is developing at an unprecedented pace sweeping us into a digital era, where information has become a more important resource than raw materials and energy. The information economy is characterized by processing and developing data, instead of industrial production. Access to information is now essential for individuals’ development and national inclusive and sustainable growth.

The African Union Agenda 2063 has acknowledged the importance of digital inclusivity to bring the continent on par with the rest of the world as an information society. Many African countries have embarked on their individual digital transformation journeys, by providing government services digitally and expanding access to ICT to cover more areas.

However, there are still many people on the continent especially from rural areas which still lack basic access to information. According to the GSMA, in 2017, the number of unique mobile subscribers reached the symbolic mark of 5 billion, with 3.5 billion of them using mobile networks to access the internet. Despite this achievement, there are still 3.8 billion people who remain offline, out of which 1.2 billion are not covered by a broadband capable network – the vast majority of this uncovered population lives in the rural areas in developing countries. Africa is home to the largest number of developing countries. On average, 69 percent of the African population do not have access to internet, with many of those unconnected living in rural areas.

A few months ago I travelled to Zambia where I visited Mushindushi, a small village 300 kilometres from Lusaka. There I heard that people usually climbed 2-story high ant hills to get network to make a call. Due to poor coverage, locals don’t usually carry their mobile phones with them including teachers at a local primary school. Since we were planning to cover the area, I talked with one of the teachers and asked him what he was expecting the future to be with adequate network and access to Internet, he hesitated for quite a while without eventually giving me an answer. This reminds me of a survey conducted by Facebook in 11 countries, which found that over two thirds of people who are currently offline did not know what Internet is, let alone how to benefit from this powerful tool.

Rural coverage is an universal challenge not only for countries in Africa; deploying infrastructure in remote areas can be twice as expensive, while revenue opportunities are as much as 10 times lower, a combination that deeply affects the business case for carriers to deploy communication infrastructure. In other words, high prices of deploying infrastructure in rural areas, combined with a relatively weak demand for mobile internet services, results in a supply-demand equilibrium with low population coverage.

Governments usually require carriers to cover specific locations in rural areas from the perspective of social development and realization of basic human rights. It is true that it is a social obligation to cover rural areas, but it is also true that there must be a sustainable commercial imperative for rural coverage.

According to GSMA’s report titled Enabling Rural Coverage, coverage obligations that are too ambitious and disregard the realities of the market will be impossible to attain, “without creating any incentive to expand coverage”.

To break this vicious cycle and help carriers go the last mile for rural coverage, Huawei leveraged its global R&D resources and come up with a site solution called RuralStar. With this innovation, a base station can be deployed within one week, shortened from one month, with total costs reduced by around 70{0945c2a372ac1e8bbfe7cc3e10f9b82eb0b8ae872b07368d754f0396b6ef2afe}. Moreover, it uses special equipment to cut down the power consumption to about 200 watts, equivalent to the power of about five regular light bulbs. This allows it to use solar panels in areas with little or no electric power.

For carriers, this innovation means that instead of covering a wide area including those sparsely populated places with costly base stations, operators can now flag and cost-effectively target relatively populous areas, where there is a larger user base for revenue generation; the payback period of investment in rural coverage can be shortened by up to 70{0945c2a372ac1e8bbfe7cc3e10f9b82eb0b8ae872b07368d754f0396b6ef2afe} from 10 years to less than 3 years. This makes rural coverage a profitable business which in turn will benefit rural areas socially and economically.

This transformation means dynamic economic performance stimulated by active flows of information, goods and capital; it means agricultural produce can be sold in time and at good price, and teaching materials can be available at any time in any place; it also means health workers which are usually scarce resources in rural areas can be just a phone call away.

Innovation opens a door for the unconnected and under connected people to a world of numerous possibilities for development. With this innovation-driven connectivity comes opportunity and the potential for more inclusive growth and sustainable development.

The show however, features a lot more. It will be a cultural festival, where all tribes and cultures from the west will be represented through music and cultural drinks and other forms of entertainment. According to Paul Edyau, MD of Legends Ventures and Marketing Agency, the organizers of the Mega Fest, the lineup is being led by diva and dance hall queen; Cindy Sanyu, Vampiino, Washington, comedian Swengere and the best comedy export from the East, Emma Napoleone.

“The event will be about three aspects. It will be an avenue for OB’s and OG’s from all the traditional schools in the East to meet up and network. People from schools like Mwirri College, Butiki, Jinja College, Ngora SS, Nabumali SS, Namasagali, Tororo Girls, Teso College and many more will reunite at the festival. Secondly, it will be a chance for everyone in the East to share culture. A reason traditional performances are being prepared to the same cause. Expect a lot of Embaile, Kadodi Drums, Adungu, Malwa, Millet, among a panoply of things that symbolize the different tribes in the East. It will also be a platform for domestic tourism promotion, “ relayed Edyau.