By agencies The Hague, November 22, 2010 (AFP) – Democratic Republic of Congo former vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba denied charges of war crimes Monday as his trial opened with prosecutors blaming him for his army’s campaign of rapes and killings. Bemba is charged at the world’s top war crimes court …

By Eriasa Mukiibi Sserunjogi New pressure group emerges to oppose Ssuubi When retired Col. Kizza Besigye appeared with two former Buganda Kingdom prime ministers at the launch of the ‘Ssuubi 2011’ pressure group on June 7, most observers concluded that he had put the Buganda block vote in the bag. …

By Andrew M. Mwenda I am in Rwanda to attend a dialogue between journalists and government on the state of media freedom in Rwanda. The subject of press freedom in Rwanda evokes strong passions especially given that democracy in Africa has been constructed like a religion. Debate ignores critical reforms …

By kabona esiara PricewaterhouseCoopers hired to entice investors for the US $700m project It is common during peak days to find passengers queuing outside the terminal building at Kigali International Airport as they wait to be checked before boarding their flight. The long lines are just one indication that Kigali …

By the independent team Fear of the army loyalty worries voters   Growing cracks in IPC   So far all the eight presidential candidates have restricted themselves on telling Ugandans what their governments would do when voted into power. But the factor of managing the military is coming into play. In …

By Andrew M. Mwenda With the nominations for LC5 candidates done, Sunday Vision reported that the ruling NRM has candidates in all the 112 districts; FDC has candidates in only 40 districts, UPC 27 and DP 13. The combined opposition has candidates in only 80 districts. Meanwhile, there are 118 …

By Independent Investigations His dealings with Museveni, Mbabazi, ESO America puts pressure on Uganda over tycoon On Friday Nov. 5, the Army Council convened for an unusual meeting. On top on the agenda was the behaviour of civil security agencies especially the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) and the External Security …

By Kabona Esiara A record 5,800 businesses registered in six months Every seat at Rwanda Development Board’s (RDB) registrar general’s office is occupied with people registering and incorporating businesses. Julius Ssekajja of Remera is one investor who registered his businesses between May 28, last year and October 2010. ‘It took …

By Andrew M. Mwenda On October 24th, I went to Entebbe Airport to catch a South African Airways flight via Johannesburg to Namibia. Airline officials said I needed a transit visa through South Africa. I explained that I was not going to enter the country, only to change flights in …

By kabona esiara  Projects worth Rwf 219 billion registered  The experts are busy. Some are attending to clients trickling at intervals, while others are scrutinizing a pile of documents submitted by people seeking construction permits. These architects, engineers, surveyors and environmentalists who used to be scattered in different parts of …