By Eriasa Mukiibi Sserunjogi Civil society to put political parties on the spot over citizen-centered election pledges Political parties will come under pressure as the extent to which their election pledges reflect the aspirations of the people comes under closer scrutiny weeks before nomination of candidates to contest next years …

By Henry Zakumumpa If you were born today, which country would provide you the very best opportunity to live a healthy, safe, reasonably prosperous, and upwardly mobile life? This was the intriguing question posed in an unprecedented study by Newsweek, a leading American international magazine. The study was conducted between …

By Eriasa Mukiibi Sserunjogi But what makes Uganda’s lone nominee for Africa Microfinance Institution of the Year awards tick? If Ruth Wamulo, 55, of Iganga town in eastern Uganda were on the African Banker of the Year awards panel, she knows she would close her eyes to all the other …

BY HAGGAI MATSIKO Long-serving Ministry of Energy Permanent Secretary, Fred Kalisa, is considered by many people to be very smart. However, if he was employed in the private sector, he would have been fired for the various failures in his ministry. He was in charge when, despite protests and advice …

By Independent Team A few days ago someone asked me why has Rwanda been so successful and what has made it so. He was partly reacting to an article I wrote elsewhere, outlining the reasons to which I attribute the strong emotions debates about Rwanda tend to provoke. A few …

By Eriasa Mukiibi Sserunjogi I recently moved from New York to Nairobi to protect you better; to be closer to you,” declared Tom Rhodes of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) at a press briefing at Hotel Africana on September 23. Rhodes was part of an international joint mission on …

By the independent team With just four months to the February 2011 elections, queries are being raised on multiple registrations in the national voters’ register. The Independent last week published a story in which a casual survey of the e-register showed staggering double registration in three constituencies. But the Electoral …

    By Peter Guest His response to the global economic downturn has transformed the African Development Bank Quiet streets greeted the African Development Bank’s return to Abidjan, its former headquarters, this May for its 45th annual meetings. The bank left in 2003, precipitated by the deteriorating security situation in …

By Isaac Mufumba Muhlbauer  EC voter registration system cannot catch double registration Former Soroti Municipality MP Mike Mukula, who is fighting to claw back the seat in the 2011 parliamentary elections, is getting support from an unlikely quarter  the Electoral Commission. It has given his wife two voter numbers, meaning …

By Mubatsi Asinja Habati Sam Mugumya, a Forum for Democratic Change youth activist and Dr Kizza Besigye’s personal assistant, has borne the brunt of police wrath during political demonstrations. Whenever Mugumya has participated in a demonstration pursuant to his constitutional right, the police have either clobbered him or threatened to …