The Independent Team The challenge behind the numbers Belt-tightening without suffocating the patient; that is the balancing act Finance Minister Maria Kiwanuka is attempting in the 2012/13 financial year budget. It will not be easy. For the first time in two decades, the minister of Finance is unable to report …

By Andrew M. Mwenda How BIDCO’s investment is changing the lives of people in the district and the potential it has to transform agriculture Uganda today consumes 250,000 tonnes of vegetable oil per year, up from 100,000 tonnes in 2005. Of this, 16,000 tonnes was produced locally from oil palm …

By Agather Atuhaire NRM favourite for speaker loses to a “rebel” as parties assess damage, victories and future The National Resistance Movement (NRM) party was supposed to be the ultimate victor in the election of Uganda’s delegates to the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA). Of the nine seats, it took …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Given Museveni’s long rule and potential for family succession, is Uganda now vulnerable to an `Arab Spring’ I argued in this column last week that Africa has almost similar structural conditions as the Middle East on the eve of the Arab Spring – sustained economic growth …

By Andrew M. Mwenda How realistic is the risk of political upheaval in Africa and what can be done about it? Two weeks ago, I was in Nairobi, Kenya to attend a conference on Africa’s political risk profile. The moderator of the first session posed four questions for discussion: Is …

By Mubatsi Asinja Habati Research World International (RWI) published its first ever political opinion poll on May 22 which has become controversial. Dr. Patrick Wakida, who is the chief researcher and RWI chief executive, spoke to The Independent’s Mubatsi Asinja Habati. What motivated you to do this political poll? It …

By Mubatsi Asinja Habati Hardly two months after an Afrobarometer opinion poll indicted President Yoweri Museveni’s management of Uganda and provoked the ire of First Lady Janet Museveni, another poll has arrived at a similar conclusion: Most Ugandans want the old man out. Near the top of the list of …

By Andrew M. Mwenda How one of Africa’s distinguished scholars has been misled to become hostile to a government that should be his natural ally Prof. George Ayittey is one of the most thoughtful and influential intellectuals on contemporary Africa. He has been consistent in his condemnation of Rwanda’s President …

By Haggai Matsiko A Minister threatens to evict 2,000 as big-wigs scramble for public land in oil region Somewhere in Hoima district the small sub county of Kyangwali is home to one of the Albertine’s biggest oil fields — Kingfisher – said to be one of the largest oil wells …

By Andrew M. Mwenda A combination of sound technocratic management with a good dose of political skill will do the job I argued in this column last week that any attempt by Kampala City Council Authority (KCCA) to carry out transformative reforms in our city will create high political tensions.  …