In The Magazine

By Andrew M. Mwenda I was in Kigali last week when the Rwanda government released the report on ‘The Investigation into the crash of the Dassault Falcon 50 on April 6, 1994 carrying former President Juvenal Hanyarimana.’ It was both a triumph and a humiliation for the Rwanda Patriotic Front …

By Rukiya Makuma For nine long months, 27-year-old Francis Nkugwa was convinced his wife was pregnant. Like an ardent parent who was expecting a child, he took it upon himself to look after the expecting mother till her due date. However this hope made a U-turn on Tuesday, January 8, …

By Joshua Masinde When Forum for Democratic Change President Kizza Besigye was nominated in absentia last week, some party officials criticised the party for allegedly relying on foreign funding. Besigye was away on a mobilisation tour in Europe. But FDC party Spokesman Wafula Oguttu told The Independent that government officials …

By Mubatsi Asinja Habati An inside look at thetop positions in most government bodies While opening the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party National Executive Council meeting at State House Entebbe on January 12, President Yoweri Museveni warned delegates that his government will not tolerate anybody propagating and practising sectarianism. ‘We …

By Independent Team and Agencies How one man’s action could change the way the world looks at a continent The relatively affluent upbringing of the Nigerian would-be bomber Umar Abdulmutallab is not too dissimilar to that of some of the Sept. 11 attackers or Al Qaeda recruits for other attacks, …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Last week, a friend brought me a pirated copy of the recently released Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon movie, Invictus. It is a gripping story of how Nelson Mandela used rugby to assuage the fears of white South Africans regarding the dawn of majority rule. As …

By Matsiko wa Mucoori The riddle of his retirement story On January 9, Bukenya called NRM supporters to his hotel in Garuga in Entebbe and denied he intended to retire from politics this year. Instead he stamped his resolve to stay in politics much longer than the public thinks. I …

By Mubatsi Asinja Habati Every delegate at this year’s 5th National Executive Council (NEC) meeting at State House on January 12 must have been aware of the rifts threatening to tear the ruling National Resistance Movement apart. Talk of factions had been in the news all week before. There are …

By Independent Team Buganda, security, opposition leaders speak out Basing on current statistics, a first round win for President Yoweri Museveni in the 2011 presidential elections appears unlikely. His margin of victory against the opposition has shrunk from 52 percentage points in 1996 when he got 76 percent of the …

By Independent Team Kyanjo is not the first to warn of war if the 2011 elections are mishandled. On April 27, 2009, the Chairman of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Jaberi Bidandi Ssali, who is former Museveni campaign strategist and confidante, wrote an open letter to Museveni warning of rebellion. …