In The Magazine

By Mubatsi Asinja Habati Says after just four months in office, she has recovered over Shs58bn on fake accounts, improved garbage collection by 60%, and cut fuel wastage from Shs 250m per were to 80m. The Independent’s Mubatsi Asinja Habati spoke to her. Where do you feel you have been …

By Andrew M. Mwenda What does it mean for Museveni? Sometime last year, the then Libyan strongman, Muammar El Gaddafi sent an emissary to President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda. According to sources inside State House, Gaddafi’s messenger carried an ultimatum to Museveni: if you do not support my project of …

By Andrew M. Mwenda I hope that my prediction is wrong because future generations of Libyans will be happy that I was wrong. I am writing this column on the morning of Monday August 22nd. By the time it is read, Libyan leader Muammar El Gaddafi might no longer be …

By Barak Barfi Qaddafi’s fall holds great promise for a people bereft of freedom for 42 years. But, the NTC having stumbled so far, it will have to redouble its efforts to ensure it wins the peace it fought for. Six months after Libyan rebels took up arms against the country’s …

By Prof George Joffe Many believed that Colonel Gaddafi’s regime in Libya would withstand the gale of change sweeping the Arab world because of its reputation for brutality which had fragmented the six million-strong population over the past 42 years. Its likely disappearance now is all the more surprising because …

By Mubatsi Asinja Habati Demand for sugar to hit 700,000 tonnes in 10 years. Only 350,000 tonnes are being produced today. If President Yoweri Museveni gets his way, one-third of the 30,000 hectare Mabira rainforest will be mowed down to give way for the Mehta Group to plant sugarcane. If …

Mubatsi Asinja Habati Human Rights Watch, an international human rights organisation, works for the promotion and protection of human rights globally. The Independent’s Mubatsi Asinja Habati spoke to the organisation’s Africa Division Executive Director, Daniel Bekele. What do you make of Human Rights Watch work in Africa? In Africa we …

By Mubatsi Asinja Habati Somalia war enters new phase after Mogadishu is captured On the night of Saturday August 6, the al-Shabaab fled the Somali capital Mogadishu under the cover of darkness. Witnesses described truckloads of heavily armed Shabaab fighters driving away under the cover of darkness and the beleaguered …

By Andrew M. Mwenda In an ethically diverse state, change in government is not change in governance; it’s replacement of one looting coalition by another. A lot of studies show that societies, nations and communities that have high levels of ethnic, racial or religious diversity tend to be poor at …

By Joseph Rwagatare No country in this world has ever developed solely on ideas generated by its citizens. Talking or writing about famine can elicit unexpected reactions, including jokes. There was this one reported in the Tanzanian Mail on Sunday of August 7, 2011 by a correspondent on the current …