Boda-boda, Youth Employment and Globalisation in Uganda

Formerly shunned due its notoriety for facilitating illicit trade and transporting criminals across Uganda’s international borders, the boda-boda transport industry gained fame in recent years and has become the second largest employer of youths all over Uganda, after agriculture. Recent scholarship on the bodaboda industry has however, concentrated on the risks embedded in it including high infection rates of HIV among the drivers and the daily accidents reported. Little attention has been paid to the contribution of the industry in youth employment. This paper discusses the role of boda-boda transport industry in solving the problem of unemployment among the youths in Uganda. The author interviewed seventeen boda-boda drivers in Uganda and thirty-four of their family members to establish how this transport business has impacted on employment opportunities, financial independence and globalisation of youths. The study revealed that whereas many youths have dropped out of school to take up the boda-boda business, profits of this trade have facilitated the education of some young people in Uganda and enabled them to globally connect with youths across the globe. The study recommends sensitisation, business skills training as well as adult and distant education opportunities for the youthful motorcycle drivers

Parliamentary elections held on May 26th, 1996 in Albania and the political crises they caused

Parliamentary elections of May 26th, 1996 in Albania were held in a deeply polarized political environment; they were associated with multiple tensions during the pre-election period, the Election Day and post-election period as well. The voting process and the results of the elections were opposed by the oppositions and criticized by the international institutions. Election processes in post-communist Albania have been associated continuously with multiple legal, procedural, administrating problems, but May 26th elections, as never seen before, were declared publicly and decisively as against election standards, Government’s responsibilities and political interventions in the process as stated by the international observers. According to them, 32 out of 79 election law’s articles were violated. The elections qualified as “a step backwards to the democratization process”, deepened the political crisis in Albania and ignored major problems already prevailing in Albania. This paper attempts to describe, analyze and evaluate the parliamentary elections held in May 26th, 1996 as seen from a legal, procedural and political point of view and their effects on political crisis in Albania. To reach this objective, the present descriptive - analytical paper was prepared through researching, synthetizing and analyzing efforts and based on documents and reports of Albanian and international institutions, studies conducted by Albanian and foreign scholars, testimonials and interviews of the protagonists, etc.

Analysis on differences in Canada and China's official attitude and perception on their minority nationalities

The government’s perceptions and attitudes of their ethnic minorities are in close relation with the ethnic minorities’ welfare policies, and also affect the public’s perception of ethnic minorities. Therefore a government’s definition and attitudes are crucial to maintaining national stability. For instance, Canada is a multi-nation state, comprising multiple ethnic groups in one country, with the two most influential as the French-Canadians and the English-Canadians. French and English Canadians are majority ethnic groups while there are many other minority ethnic groups such as the First Nations. The People’s Republic of China is also a multi-nation state, although the biggest ethnic group, the Hans, comprise 98% of the entire population.11 Although all nations have their own cultural cognition - common descent, history, culture, and language - both Canada and China have their own unique definition for their minority nations: Canada’s minority nations are the Aboriginal People of Canada 22, and China’s minority nations are the 55 officially recognized ethnic groups other than the Han people. This essay aims to compare the official perceptions and attitudes of ethnic minorities in China and Canada, hoping to clarify the relationship between ethnic minorities and mainstream ethnic groups, and help the general public to understand them, hence promoting harmonious societal development.