African press review 26 April 2016

What makes us happy? That’s one question we all ask ourselves now and then, and one we might find an answer to with a look at the African press this morning. Kenya's education system gets laptop-friendly and technology is developing African economies. And there are hopes that beer could do the same in Tanzania.

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Uganda's Daily Monitor, brings us some food for thought, straight from the mouth of Dubai’s Export Port Authority, Mohammed Ali Kamali.

Speaking at a trade and investment conference in Kampala yesterday, he kindly advised Uganda's government to create a special ministry, to put in place things that make the people happy.

The Daily Monitor says his advice comes at a time when Ugandan employees are beginning to develop diseases related to stressful working conditions.

According to the United Nation’s 2013 World Happiness Report, the country is ranked 120 out of 156, marginally ahead of Kenya at 123.

Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi are in the last five.

Laptops for Kenya's children

If you think it takes more than a ministry to put a smile on a country's face, perhaps investing in education could do the trick.

The Daily Nation says the Kenyan government will supply 150 schools with laptops next month.

The initiative is one of the government's Jubilee development projects.

"We’re in an era that needs technology to remain relevant," said the country's Basic Education Secretary Belio Kipsang. "It's the government’s mandate to ensure every Kenyan child embraces it."

The Jubilee programme should be fully implemented in June, according to the Daily Nation.

It aims to see 22,000 public primary schools in 47 counties supplied with computers.

Africa's Silicon Savanah

If technology is the key to happiness, South Africa's Business Day has an interesting editorial this morning.

It says technology is playing a vital role in the development of African economies at large.

The paper talks of "stupendous growth" from startups and innovation hubs across the continent.

In fact 200 separate tech hubs and over 3,000 new tech companies have sprung up in the past few years.

Business Day traces this trend back to Kenya's capital Nairobi, which some are now calling the "Silicon Savanah".

Nairobi hosts two major major incubators, iLab Africa and mLab, and three co-working spaces.

According to Bloomberg reports, the city's tech scene could be worth as much as one billion dollars in the next three years. 

Beer for Tanzanian workers

But what if happiness boiled down to much simpler things, like a cold beer on a hot day?

Tanzania’s Citizen reports that local authorities in the region of Mwanza are asking the government to allow the sale of alcohol during working hours.

Legislation dating back to the 1960s prohibits the country's shopkeepers from selling alcoholic drinks on normal working days.

Addressing a public rally in Nyampuluko yesterday, the town’s local councillor said the law was hindering revenue collection.

He said it was written at a time when the market was flooded with dangerous local brews but that most vendors now sell beer - a drink which could lift people's moods whilst boosting the economy.