Gaborone, Botswana | AFP |  Botswana’s government has moved to crack down on the multi-billion dollar trade in donkey skins following a spate of killings of the animals across the country fuelled by soaring demand from China. Export licences for donkeys and their products have been suspended indefinitely, the Ministry …

Abuja, Nigeria | AFP |  Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday faced a fresh call to quit, nearly two months after he left the country on indefinite sick leave. “I want to say that it’s time that the president throws in the towel and resigns and allows his country to …

Kampala, Uganda | Godfrey Ssali | Early tentative and unofficial results from the Kyadondo East parliamentary by-election indicate Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine has got a good start. Bobi wine had clear leads from about 5% of 93 polling stations, whose tallying was broadcast live on TV. At one centre,  Kazinga, tentative results show Bobi wine …

KADAGA: Stop the caution phase, stop the adverts on radio and TV as we wait for the committee to report Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT REPORTER| Minister  of  Works Monica Azuba Ntege has clarified that there will be no deadline for the ongoing countrywide motor vehicle inspection. Azuba told Uganda’s parliament today that …

In the Independent this week: Will Kabaka fire Katikkiro Mayiga?  COVER STORY Will Kabaka fire Mayiga?: Anger, anxiety, unease over Buganda monarch’s fights over land. NEWS ANALYSIS Muntu faces FDC boot: Defiant members plot to oust party president. THE LAST WORD The incongruence of the incongruence: How Ugandans get angrier …

FINAL RESULTS Uganda ??   67  Zambia ??  50 Malawi  71 Botswana 39 Zimbabwe 68  Namibia 37 Uganda’s She Cranes are Africa netball champions. With five wins out of five, the She Cranes capped a memorable tournament by beating Zambia 67-50 baskets on the final day of the six-nation event at Lugogo, …

Kampala, Uganda | Godfrey Ssali | Voters in Kyadondo East go to the polls today to elect a new Member of Parliament (MP). Voting ends at 4pm, after which tallying starts. The Kyadondo seat fell vacant in April following a Court of Appeal ruling that upheld an earlier ruling by the High Court which …

Botswana’s third President Festus Mogae has described Sir Ketumile’s leadership as “democratic to a fault.” Former President Mogae described Sir Ketumile Masire, Botswana’s second post-independence leader who died last week, as humble, considerate and very humorous. “His obsession was farming and food production,” he said at a memorial service to …

Kampala, Uganda | PWATCHUG|  A sec­tion of Mem­bers of Par­lia­ment have tasked gov­ern­ment to ex­plain its de­lay to ap­point a Con­sti­tu­tional Re­view Com­mis­sion to over­see an over­haul of amend­ment of the con­sti­tu­tion. Bu­li­isa County MP, Stephen Muk­i­tale Bi­rahwa, while rais­ing a mat­ter of na­tional im­por­tance recently, told the House that …

Sydney, Australia | AFP | Cardinal George Pell, one of the most powerful figures in the Vatican and Australia’s most senior Catholic, was Thursday charged with historical child sex offences, which he “strenuously denied”. Pell, the Vatican’s finance chief and the highest-ranking Catholic cleric to face such charges, had been …