In The Magazine

By Mubatsi Asinja Habati Government Primary schools opened for third session without teachers in classrooms and Makerere University remains closed. Teachers and lecturers are demanding pay rises which the government has rejected. The Independent’s Mubatsi Asinja Habati spoke to renowned educationist Prof. William Senteza Kajubi about this and more. When …

By Mubatsi Asinja Habati University’s problems go beyond pay and strikes Prof. Venasius Baryamureeba, 42, likes to be photographed with a smile. Lately, however, the smile has not been eye-deep. His hair, which he likes to keep in a close-cut afro, is still neat but anyone will tell you that …

By Andrew M. Mwenda The assumption behind a lot of literature on democracy is that people would care more about their welfare in elections Africa’s poor performance at delivering public goods and services impersonally to anonymous citizens is often attributed to the continent’s democratic deficit. Democratic theory expects that if …

By Ian Buruma The two things that get people most excited in cultural conflicts are religion and sex Many people still believe that the attacks of September 11, 2001, were not just acts of political terrorism, but part of a cultural war, a clash of civilizations. The two things that …

How Museveni’s success is creating conditions for his fall On March 16, 1989, six thousand workers on the Seoul subway system in South Korea’s capital went on strike, paralysing the city’s transport system and turning the morning’s rush war into chaos. About 3,000 workers occupied the roundhouse from which the …

162 Members of Parliament want the highly guarded Production Sharing Agreements exposed Uganda’s parliament has been on fire for more than a week now with a group of parliamentarians, both opposition and ruling party (NRM) working around the clock to have the contents of the agreements reached by the government …

By Eriasa Mukiibi Sserunjogi New US law to expose details of Shs 1.3 trillion Tullow deal When Tullow Oil pays US$140 million (Approx. Shs 395 billion) to the government this month, it will mark the first time such a deal will have been struck without secrecy in Uganda. It will …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Since April, Ugandans have sustained protests over many issues including wages, commodity prices and foreign exchange rates Here is widespread discontent in most of Uganda against President Yoweri Museveni and the NRM. The mainstream opposition should, however, not think that this automatically means there is widespread …

By Gordon Brown Global policy coordination key to building sustained growth and employment Politics trumped sensible economics in the United States this summer, when Congress and President Barack Obama could not agree on taxes, entitlements, deficits, or an investment stimulus. Europe’s leaders were also paralyzed – ruling out defaults and …

By Mubatsi Asinja Habati One of the intriguing cables leaked by WikiLeaks on Uganda is where NRM Eastern Region Vice Chairman Mike Mukula vents his frustration about his party to US ambassador Jerry Lanier. In a 2009 diplomatic cable Mukula reportedly told the American diplomat that President Yoweri Museveni was …