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The EastAfrican is a newspaper with a regional outlook, having been launched 20 years ago. It has since become the go to source of news on everything East African. The paper is circulated in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. The paper is a good read because it has good analysis, detailed reporting and sometimes exclusive reporting on the East African region something that you cannot get from the other local dailies. Far from being one of those newpapers that are full of politics and gossip, it has something for everyone in the various sections. These include;

News

This section contains the stories that are making headlines across the regions like the budgets for all the East African countries which were read on the same day, the elections in Tanzania, third term limits for Presidents in Burundi and Rwanda. From this section I came to learn that the former VP Riek Machar might be reinstated in a new peace deal.

Opinion

This section mostly covers people’s opinions on the happenings across the East African region. These pieces are from some of the great writers like Charles Onyango – obbo, Elsie Nyakuze among others. It also has a letters to the editor section which allows readers to voice their issues. One post which had me cracking up is one by Joachim Buwembo who describes in a very comical way how Kampala has re-introduced bus lanes and how motorists had been using roads for parking “Like the confused Jews who wandered for 40 years in the desert, Kampala motorists have been parking cars on space for driving for 40 years”.

Outlook

This section gives insight about technology, science and development. This week the main focus was on the digital switchover whereby it was worth noting that only Rwanda and Tanzania have fully switched over. Our switchover on February 14 was yet to be registered by the Africa Telecommunications Union. Under the science section there is an interesting story about HIV positive children being given tasty ARV pills that can be mixed with food, such small mercies can make taking medication on a daily basis more bearable for a child. For the tech fans there is an article on Apple’s software, upgrades and apps. A story about how indigenous tree can boost farm yields also caught my attention due to the fact that it showcased instances whereby farmers in Nakuru, Niger and Malawi were able to increase their yields after planting the trees.

Magazine

This is more like the lifestyle section of the paper. The travel segment looks into the various places one can visit in the East African region. This segment can serve as a guide incase you wanted to tour any of the countries within the block. This week they featured the Mgahinga National Park in South west Uganda, home to half of the world’s population of mountain gorillas, even I didn’t know that. From this article I learnt an important tip that incase a gorilla gets agitated and starts beating its chest Tarzan style, simply look away. For book lovers like myself there is a section that analyses various books, this week’s selection was “Pray For Me” a book which gives readers a glimpse of Pope Francis’s soul, strengths, passion and tenderness. The culture section talks of matatus in Senegal so old that one will be showcased in a museum in France, yet here I was thinking that we had it badJ.

Short stories

If you love to stories this section will greatly appeal to you with, short but captivating stories that leave you yearning for more. If you usually feel too lazy to read a voluminous novel this section is for you with short but engaging stories full of drama, adventure and suspense which will have you at the edge of your seat the entire time.

Business

If you need information on the happenings in the business world across the East African region, this is the section for you. Doing business in Africa can be a daunting task even for the most determined investor, this section lets one know what to expect on the ground with their in-depth analysis of the business environments, rules, threats and information that makes it easier to do business in this region. It looks at the issues that affect business in the entire region for example the expected rise in the cost by 5 % of imported used cars after the finance ministers adopted harmonized new car importation and valuation rules. It also has development stories about infrastructure and donor co-operation from countries across the region.

Markets

Investors looking to invest in the financial markets will find a treasure trove of information here. It has information on government treasury bonds, enabling you to know how they performed that week.

It also has information on shares of listed companies in the four stock markets namely Dar Stock Exchange, Nairobi Stock Exchange, Uganda Stock Exchange and Rwanda Stock Exchange. This can enable one to make prudent investment decisions while investing in the region. You can be able to track your share portfolio over a period of 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months and a year. There is also a graphical representation of the All Share Index in the four stock markets with the addition of Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and Nigeria Stock Exchange (NGSE). This enables you to determine the direction of the stock markets before making your investment decision for example our share index (NSE) is seen to be on a downward trend most probably due to the capital gains tax while the index in NGSE is seen to be on an upward trend which shows that foreign investors moved from our market to Nigeria.

A graph showing the inflation rates within the region is depicted. Information on the commodity prices, exchange rates, Nairobi coffee exchange and the East African tea export auctions is also depicted.

As you can clearly see The EastAfrican paper has something for everyone, so make a point to grab yourself a copy of this weekly newspaper and be in the know.