On Monday August 31, 2015, Sophia Koetsier arrives at Entebbe airport in Uganda. She is 21 years old, bright and ambitious, with a great zest for life, about to embark on a new adventure in a faraway country, on a continent she has never been to. That summer she had acquired …
Read More »Sabiiti on the spot
Exposing the police boss’s biggest problem Seven months after his appointment as Deputy Inspector General (DIGP) of the Uganda Police, Maj. Gen. Steven Sabiiti Muzeeyi, was on Oct.15 put on the spot. President Yoweri Museveni ordered him to stamp out increasing urban crime in the Kampala Metropolitan Area, an assignment …
Read More »How illegal substances are smuggled into Butabika Hospital
INVESTIGATION | URN | Butabika National Mental Referral Hospital admits more than 100 people to their Drug and Alcohol Unit On an annual basis. The patients are in most cases battling substance addiction. As part of their treatment, they are kept away from substances that triggered their obsession for a …
Read More »Unseen victims of death penalty
Children with parents on death row cry over stigma, suffering Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | “Dear H.E Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, we the children of parents who are on death row, we are on our knees requesting you to abolish the death penalty, because if they kill our parents, …
Read More »Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed
He has won the Nobel Peace Prize but not everyone is excited NEWS ANALYSISI | THE INDEPENDENT | Since he became Prime Minister in April 2018, Abiy Ahmed has brought a breeze of happy air to Ethiopia and the Horn of East Africa region. Under him, most Ethiopians started to …
Read More »Why Museveni adores Nyerere
Historians and academics speak out on relationship between Museveni and his hero Nyerere on the 20th anniversary of the passing on of the former Tanzanian leader Kampala, Uganda | IAN KATUSIIME | On October 14 Tanzania marked Nyerere Day; an occasion when Tanzanians from all walks of life honour the …
Read More »Dairy is the new coffee
The dairy sector in transformation in Southwest Uganda NEWS ANALYSIS | RINUS VAN KLINKEN | Coffee has for a long time dominated the political, economic and social landscape in Uganda. Government policies, programming and budgeting is geared to supporting the coffee sector to propel the economy. However, a quiet …
Read More »Uganda economy gets bigger by 20%
Bigger Economy: Why could that be bad news? Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The recent rebasing of the national account series by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) has excited economists with many saying it presents the government an opportunity to make policy based on data that is a …
Read More »‘Kamikaze kids’: Youngs toasts England’s boy wonders
Oita, Japan | AFP | England scrum-half Ben Youngs described back-row marauders Tom Curry and Sam Underhill as “phenomenal” after they crushed Australian spirits in Saturday’s 40-16 World Cup quarter-final rout. Curry and Underhill, who England coach Eddie Jones calls his “kamikaze kids” because of their appetite for destruction, made …
Read More »What next for Tunisia’s new president?
Tunis, Tunisia | AFP | Tunisia’s president-elect Kais Saied has won a clear mandate to fight corruption and promote social justice, even though his role focuses on security and diplomacy. Here is an overview of key policy challenges facing the conservative newcomer: – Change in foreign policy? – A constitutional law …
Read More »