Bearing in mind that the Covid-19 pandemic is not yet behind us, paying school fees through a digital platform provides more than just convenience but it is also a safety measure that is well in line with the Covid-19 Standard Operation Procedures especially social distancing.

As schools in Uganda re-open following their closure as a preventive measure against the spread of the deadly Corona virus early last year, parents and guardians have to make school fees payments for their children. This week will see Senior One students report to school, right after their Primary Four and Five counterparts who returned to school last week.

With the government encouraging people to limit their movements, Mobile Money payments come in handy as they limit the movement of hard cash that could potentially spread the virus as cash moves from one hand to the other.

Stephen Mutana the General Manager of Mobile Financial services said that today’s Mobile Money technology provides sophisticated and secure payment solutions for educational institutions to collect and manage fees transactions. On the other hand, parents, guardians and students are afforded the convenience of paying fees from anywhere at any time without having to waste time queuing up in banking halls especially during these times when social distancing is still critical in the fight against the deadly virus.

“Our MTN Mobile Money platform is designed in such a way that parents and guardians can pay school fees for their children safely and securely without having to leave their homes, work places or offices. It also limits the exchange of currency notes which elevates our endeavors against the covid-19 pandemic,” Mutana said.

Although this innovation has been around for a while now, this covid-19 crisis makes it even more useful as it limits human contact which remains key in the fight against covid-19.

Jacinta Mukebezi who has been working from home since last year was impressed at how seamlessly she paid her son’s school fees last week as schools reopened their doors for Primary Four and Five pupils.

“I was worried of having to drive all the way to the bank, queue in the line yet I had a busy week. I simply called the school for my son’s student code and in a matter of minutes, I had paid his school fees without having to leave my house or drive to the bank,” Said Mukebezi, “I received a confirmation code with my son’s name and details.”

Like Mukebezi, many parents encounter several inconveniences to their schedules while paying school fees for their children. Other parents have to commute miles to the nearest bank, thereby foregoing a great portion of their daily commitments for the day which in turn impacts their income, in addition to the money and time lost in transport to and from the bank.

 However, a GSMA study about the Mobile Money use in Uganda revealed that Mobile money has the potential to extend the limited nature and reach of the formal financial sector. Besides helping to organize the hitherto chaotic scene of domestic money transfers, mobile money can improve the national payments system by providing innovative ways to meet the transaction needs of ordinary people

Emmanuel Mafabi, a tomato farmer in Manafwa district for instance doesn’t have to leave his farm to pay school fees for his four children.

“I pay their fees in small instalments. So if I had to go to the bank, it would mean many days of me not tending to my farm. After selling my tomatoes, I simply deposit the money on my phone and pay school fees,” He says, “Infact during school fees time, I gladly ask my clients to pay me through Mobile Money so that I simply pay school fees without touching the money.”

Catherine Akello who pays school fees for two of her nieces in Lira lauds MTN MoMo school fees platform for making the process easy for her. “I don’t have to run around looking for bankslips nor do I risk sending money to my alcoholic brother who simply wastes the money. I directly pay to the school and that way, my nieces can attend school,” Akello says.

Winnie Nansamba, a school bursar says that this mode of payment is convenient and easy for schools to work with since the notifications are captured online: “It is easier to track payments on this system as opposed to looking through stacks of paper.”

How to pay school fees using MTN Mobile Money

Mutana explains that; to pay fees, the customer dials *165*4*3#and selects a payment option. The customer will depending on the payment option, for example,be prompted to enter the student code, which is provided by the school administration. Upon entering the code they will receive a prompt with the student’s name, class, and the amount due.

The customer should then enters the amount they wish to pay and then the PIN to confirm payment. The customer will receive an SMS showing them the amount they have paid and the balance on their account. The school is also notified about the payment.

Customers who wish to pay school fees using the MyMTN App can simply log into MTN MoMo app, select Pay Bill and go ahead to School Fees and follow the prompts thereafter. After payment is effected, customers get confirmation SMS with details of payment, which can be sent or presented to school for reconciliation.

Mutana notes that this method of payment can be used across all levels of education from Primary schools to tertiary institutions.

“I urge parents and guardians to confirm their children’s student’s codes from the schools before making payments using our secure, affordable and seamless school fees payment platform. I also remind you to safely guard your Mobile Money PIN,” Mutana says.

Two days ago, Spotify released a statement that it would be launching in several new 80+ markets including in Uganda, with a launch scheduled for the next few days after the announcement was made.

Today, the Company has finally become available in Uganda, releasing with it pricing options for its premium available products.

Several users in Uganda have taken to social media to express their excitement about the launch with some saying they would be quitting Apple Music.

Spotify has also provided two subdomains “spotify.com/ug-en” for English and “spotify.com/ug-sw” for Kiswahili speakers in Uganda, all dedicated to the Ugandan audience.

In a blog post on the company newsroom website, the “world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service”, Spotify announced that it will be expanding its “international footprint” and bring its sound to 80+ new markets in the next coming days, including in Uganda.

“As part of our ongoing commitment to building a truly borderless audio ecosystem … Spotify is embarking on a sweeping expansion that will introduce the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service available to more than a billion people” reads the statement in part.

According to the statement, the 80+ countries being added to the count represent a billion people in the new markets, and with it will be 36 additional languages added to the platform in order to accommodate the new multilingual countries.

These new countries are from Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Europe and Latin America. The full list includes;

Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chad, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, Curaçao, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Liberia, Macau, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Micronesia, Mongolia, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Spotify will launch with free and premium plans allowing for family, duo and student plans offering a music catalog and podcasts to its new users. For the creators, the company promises to work with local creators and partners in order to expand their reach to global audiences with a “Spotify experience that meets the unique needs of each market”.

Previously and currently, any access to the platform in those countries has only been possible with VPN (Virtual Private Networks) that have widely been used in Uganda to access social media platforms that have continuously faced government shutdowns.

The National Medical Stores (NMS) has called upon all government health facilities to submit their medicine requests within the set deadlines according to the Store’s delivery schedule to enhance availability of medicines in the country.  

“Currently, we serve over 3,000 health facilities across the country and while a great number of them submit their requests on time, we still face challenges in some places where requests are submitted outside the set submission deadlines and this therefore affects availability of medicines in these particular places,” said NMS Public Relations Officer, James Odong.

“We therefore call upon all health facilities to help us help them by adhering to the delivery schedule guidelines available in the health facilities and the NMS website to enhance transparency and medicine availability,” he added.

Odong appreciated Government for the continued support in enabling the store execute its mandate and urged all Government health facility leaders to submit timely requests for deliveries to avoid inconveniences.

“The Government has been very supportive in ensuring we have a conducive environment for logistics and supply which enables us operate efficiently,” he said.

Odong further noted that the deliveries are made as part of the Store’s predetermined bi-monthly delivery schedule but considerations are made for emergency requests.

“NMS delivers drugs to various government health facilities across the country based on a pre-determined schedule every two months which translates into six times every year. Of course there are emergency deliveries but that does not happen regularly,” he emphasised.

“The purpose of these scheduled deliveries is to enable us manage the available resources efficiently and for accountability purposes especially now considering the COVID 19 pandemic and related effects on transport restrictions and availability of medicines globally,” Odong said.

The NMS delivered drugs, vaccines, soaps and fluids between 1st to 9th February 2021 to Omoro District, Otuke District, Lamwo District, Kitgum District, Oyam District, Lira District, Kwania District, Kole District, Dokolo District, Apac District, Alebtong District, Agago District, Kapelebyong District, Arua Regional Hospital,  Mulago National Burns Unit, Lira Hospital, Gulu Hospital, Kitagata Hospital, Katakwi District/Katakwi General Hospital, Moroto Hospital, Naguru Hospital, Mbarara University Hospital and Kabale Regional Hospital.

Other areas which received drugs during this aforementioned period are Soroti Regional Hospital, Mbale Regional Hospital, Jinja Regional Hospital, Ntlp, Kibuku District, Karenga District, Bukiwe District, Abim District/Abim Hospital, Mulago Hospital, Kayunga District, Bugweri District, Kotido District, Kampala National Burns Unit, Kaabong District/Hospital, Kamuli District, Moroto District, Napak District, Katakwi District/Katakwi General Hospital, Moroto Regional Hospital, Kayunga Hospital, Abim Hospital, Nakapiripit District, Nabilatuk District, Manafwa District.

NMS’ mandate is to procure, warehouse and distribute essential medicines and medical supplies, primarily to Government health facilities.

Medicine availability across the country currently stands at 85percent with a target of reaching 90 percent within the next 1-2 years.

NMS recently hired clerks to follow up on drugs from the districts up to the rural health facilities under what is known as the last mile delivery model. 

The institution is set to open a state-of-the art pharmaceuticals warehouse in Kajjansi off Entebbe road to increase bulk store capacity area from the current 8,000 pallet locations in the existing premises, to a minimum of 30,000 pallet locations.

The facility will also increase cold chain capacity to a maximum net storage volume of 2,500m3 purpose built as a Drive-in cold room (DICR). 

“One of our main objectives is to consolidate, centralize and operate NMS services and infrastructure in one modern, purpose built and efficient building, with a minimum sixty-year lifespan, on the specified site,” said NMS General Manager Moses Kamabare.

In the year 2017/2018, NMS achieved higher than target score of 90 percent stock availability for Essential Medicines and 86percent for Tracer items against a target of 75 percent set by Ministry of Health. 

This media house understands that in the financial year 2018/19, NMS attained 92 percent stock availability for 41 Tracer Medicines at Central level against a target of 80 percent from Ministry of Health. Hi

In 2020, a watchdog, the Unwanted Witness released a report wherein it made allegations that Safe Boda, a ride hailing app, was conducting practices that breached Uganda’s data protection laws, principally, the “Data Protection and Privacy Act 2019 (DPPA)”.

Following the release of the report, a concerned citizen Obedgiu Sammy appealed to the speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kagada, petitioning that the Company should be investigated and penalised for sharing user’s personal data without their consent. The speaker then directed Uganda’s National Information Technology Authority (NITA) Uganda to conduct the said investigation and report back to it in due time for action.

A report from that investigation was released at the end of January last month and the findings have been made available online. While the Authority did not find evidence to fault the company for selling any user data, it found that Safe Boda specifically breached section 35 of the DPPA when it;

“…unlawfully obtain(ed), disclose(d) or procure(d) the disclosure to another person of personal data held and processed by a data collector, data controller or data processor”.

The basis for the above guilt was premised on the findings that the consents that the Company claimed to have acquired when the users registered for the Safe Boda application, were not sufficient enough to enable the end user make an informed consent as “the ‘consents’ relied upon for the disclosure were not specific because they did not disclose the parties with whom the information was going to be shared with”.

One of the third parties that the information was shared with was CleverTap to which the company claims it shared data with for “behavioural analysis” purposes.

“NITA’s finding is that Safe Boda’s disclosure of its users’ personal data to CleverTap contravened the Data Protection and Privacy Act”, reads part of the findings. The report however goes on to note that there was no evidence to support allegations that the company sells its users’ personal data.

While the Company was found to be in breach, NITA (U) did not recommend any prosecution or penal action to be taken against the spirit of the DPPA, that would have found the company liable and penalised it.

Under the above section, it is stated that any person that breaches the above provision “commits an offence” and when convicted, a fine not exceeding two hundred and forty currency points shall be payable or imprisonment for 10 years or both, the fine and imprisonment.
The breach has been found, but the company has been let off.

Following recommendations in the report, Safe Boda has released an updated set of terms and conditions that have since gone viral on social media, as the company excludes itself from any form of liability arising from the use of its platform. It has also highlighted the names of third parties with whom user personal data is shared.

The actions to be taken by Parliament are yet to be ascertained given that the speaker requested that the findings be furnished to her.