In The Magazine

By Onghwens Kisangala Last week a conference of women activists from The Greater Horn of Africa took place at Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala to discuss the plight of women in conflict. Participating countries were Uganda, Kenya, Sudan, Somalia, Somaliland, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti. The conference was sponsored by Club …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Last week, I was in Lagos, Nigeria and witnessed the tragedy of African politics. Nigeria is home of anything between 140m to 160m people. It has some of the most educated, intelligent, innovative and hard working Africans. However, its politics promotes leaders who are venal, greedy …

By Rukia Makuma On November 3, 2009, government announced a plan that will criminalise Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), a cultural practice among the Sabiny of Kapchorwa and Bukwo districts, and a few communities in Moroto and Nakapiripirit districts. FGM involves partial or total removal of a womans external genitalia without …

By Mubatsi Asinja Habati & Joshua Masinde Some receptionists earn higher salary than govt doctors When Shs 900 million was stolen from under the bed of now interdicted National Forestry Authority (NFA) executive director Damian Akankwasa, the question was how he could have earned such big money when he is …

By Jocelyn Edwards Will the Marriage and Divorce Bill finally give women hope? Sitting in a legal aid clinic on Mawanda Road in Kamwokya, a Kampala City suburb, 25-year-old Harriet pulls out a handkerchief to wipe her tears as she relates how the man she considers her husband threw her …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Member of Parliament for Ndorwa East David Bahati wants homosexuals imprisoned for life or hanged. I am deeply conscious of the fact that the vast majority of Ugandans support him. But debate on homosexuality is being conducted largely out of ignorance and prejudice. For example, a …

By Akena P’Ojok Why Uganda should not be short of electricity It should be a blessing for a country to have natural energy resources such as petroleum, gas, coal, water with fast running rivers and falls. But this is not always the case; in fact the contrary may occur. This …

By Mubatsi Asinja Habati At the age of 11, Nina Nahabwe underwent open heart surgery in the USA in 2003. Her parents could not have afforded the cost without the help of Kampala Rotary Club and Gift of Life International, a humanitarian body allied to overseas rotary groups that help …

By Ariel Rubin While section 140 of the colonial-era Penal Code Act already criminalises “carnal knowledge against the order of nature”, this new legislation will attempt to give teeth to that dictum Being gay in Uganda has never been easy, but a new draft bill tabled in Parliament on October …

By Independent Team Shs 500bn spent on army per year but soldiers live in huts, lack toilets, dead bodies kept in patients wards President and commander-in-chief of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF), Gen. Yoweri Museveni, has publicly said he cherishes the army and is a strong believer in the …