COLUMNISTS

By Andrew .M.Mwenda The 2011 elections are being contested against the background of an almost virtual collapse of the public spirit in Uganda. With our infrastructure and public services largely malfunctioning, with corruption the key organising principle of power, and with nepotism and personalism dominating our lives, we must ask …

By Yusuf k. Serunkuma The battle to shape the future of Africa’s politics; put its growth on the correct line and ensure the security of its future generations is one filled with trials and tribulations.  January 2011 will see Africa’s largest country, Sudan; get divided into two fragile dominions. (The …

By Mwambustya Ndebesa President Yoweri Museveni has applied to the Registration Service Bureau for exclusive intellectual property rights over the Banyankore Children’s rhyme song under the title “Another Rap”. For the non-Banyankore the general perception is that the two songs/rhymes/poems were a composition of Museveni. Those two songs/rhymes are old …

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 Jerry P. Lanier Violence against women touches Uganda just as it does every other nation. Gender-based violence is a global pandemic that cuts across all borders – ethnic, racial, class, religious, and educational level.  It can threaten women and girls at any point in their life cycle – from …

By Jon Qwelane I respond to the article ‘Apartheid in post-apartheid South Africa’ by Andrew M. Mwenda (The Independent, November 12-18, 2010). Mwenda’s piece is much like the proverbial curate’s egg “ it is good in places. My summation is that it is very bad in the places where it is …

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 Justice Prof. G.W. Kanyeihamba My friend, Dr Abel Rwendeire, was one of my opponents in the Constituent Assembly elections which I won. In the 1996 Parliamentary elections, I did not stand but supported his opponent whom he defeated. Nevertheless, before and after those elections and minor differences, we have …

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 Joseph Ossiya You cannot change what you will not confront. When one considers the historical aspects of the birth of the entity Uganda, they are fraught with political landmines and buried skeletons, the types of which have the capacity to unravel its very identity and challenge its existence. The …