NEWS ANALYSIS

Report shows how dictators exploited COVID-19 to quash opposition Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | In 2018, the American democracy advocacy NGO, Freedom House, gave Uganda a score of 37% in its Freedom in the World Report and labeled the country “partly free”. Then in its 2019 report, Uganda’s score …

 Experts say linking event to oil exploration is far-fetched Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | When hundreds of elephants crossed from Queen Elizabeth National Park to Congo’s Virunga National Park late last year, Congolese conservationists were excited to see the big numbers of the jumbos back after a long time. …

Museveni, CEC, ethnicity feature in second face off Kampala, Uganda | IAN KATUSIIME | The second battle for the Speakership of Parliament between Rebecca Kadaga and Jacob Oulanyah threatens to be more bruising than the first in 2016. Speaker Kadaga and her deputy Oulanyah are wooing a House that has …

  How the government is hindering them Kampala, Uganda | PATRICIA AKANKWATSA | An unfavourable national legal policy framework and ignorance of the policy implementers are among issues stopping Ugandans from enjoying their digital rights. Dorothy Mukasa; the Executive Director of Unwanted Witnesses, a civil organisation that defends and protects …

Samia Hassan Suluhu becomes first woman president in traditional East Africa ANALYSIS | THE INDEPENDENT & AGENCIES  | As stipulated in the Tanzanian constitution, Vice President Samia Hassan Suluhu was on March 18 sworn in as the country’s 6th President following the death of John Pombe Magufuli on March 17. …

  OBITUARY | BY RAILA ODINGA- The Citizen Tanzania | When rumours started going around about the health and whereabouts of my friend President John Pombe Magufuli, I placed several calls to him. Later, I sent him a text message. Both went unanswered. I then resigned to expect the worst …

What you need to know | BRUNO BUONAGUIDI | If you are the owner of a credit or a debit card, there is a non-negligible chance that you may be subject to fraud, like millions of other people around the world. Starting in the 1980s, there has been an impressive …

Rallies donors to respond to refugee funding crisis Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees returned to Uganda after three years to morale-boost donor support for Uganda’s faltering refugee response. The UN refugee agency which Grandi heads is grappling for resources to meet …

Total pledges to limit footprint but conservationists want disaster fund Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | French oil giant, Total, which is finalizing crude oil production and export infrastructure in Uganda’s oldest conservancy and top tourist destination, Murchison Falls National Park, has unveiled plans to minimize environmental damage. In a …

What lessons for Uganda? Kampala, Uganda | MUBATSI ASINJA HABATI | On March 5, Kenya began implementing a ban on importation of maize from Uganda and Tanzania citing high levels of aflatoxins which makes maize unfit for human and animal consumption. But on March 11, Kenya’s minister for agriculture turned …