Interview: Jonathan Kiwana on African Perspectives; Uganda and the Response to the COVID-19, for Upcoming Webinar "COVID-19 and International Affairs" (17 April 2020)

In the run up to the Webinar Conference Roundtable, Coronavirus and International Relations, a number of participants and contributors agreed to give short interviews around the conference themes and their own interventions. All Zoom interviews will be posted to the Coalition for Peace and Ethics You Tube Channel COVID-19 Conference Playlist. For our first interview, Flora Sapio spoke to the issues of COVID-19 in Italy and its wider implication. For our second interview, Larry Catá Backer spoke of COVID-19 and meaning making. Yuri Gonzalez was interviewed about COVID-19 and the developing situation in Cuba, which has been able to project medical assistance outward even as it faces the challenges of a developing state.  Alice Hong provided insight on COVID-19 from the perspective of a foreign student in the US. GAO Shan spoke to the way that the COVID-19 pandemic from a comparative context of Wuhan (where his family lives) and the US Midwest (where he now resides). And Keren Wang considered the ways in which each system framed the pandemic in ways that could be understood, noting how differences in those understandings could produce very different responses.

For our next interview, Jonathan Kiwana, a lawyer and constitutional scholar in Uganda (and a former student) speaks to the way that Uganda and neighboring states confronted COVID-19 and the pandemic. He spoke as well to the substantial differences in approach. He also considered the role of the African Union and IFIs, as well as the role of Multinational Enterprises in meeting the COVID-19 challenge. He ends with a reflection on the post pandemic future of international relations from an African perspective. 

Mr. Kiwana is a Senior Associate with Bowmans, a Corporate- Commercial, Top Tier, Pan-African law firm advising financial institutions, multi national companies and energy companies on commercial transactions in East Africa. I have: performed a securities review for three leading banks, advised on a dual listing on the Uganda Securities Exchange and the Nairobi Stock Exchange and advised an oil company on proposed off-shore operations. I have acted in the Supreme Court of Uganda for a former managing director of Uganda's largest pension fund accused of white collar crimes. For the last three years I have been invited to the African Leadership Forum hosted by former African presidents and have once addressed the general assembly. I am also passionate about matters of human rights, rule of law, good governance and constitutionalism and often write on these.

 

The interview may be accessed HERE:   Jonathan Kiwana interview

Conference Concept Note HERE

Registration (Free) HERE

Conference Website HERE.