NEWS ANALYSIS

New York, United States | AFP | Steven Mnuchin is hardly a household name, but US President-elect Donald Trump’s new pick for Treasury secretary has close ties to Wall Street that could prove a double-edged sword in the current populist era. A former Democratic Party donor, the 53-year-old surprised his …

Intelligence body’s annual wages are only Shs. 38 billion For the last six months intelligence operatives working for the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) have not received salaries and the agency is stuck with no operations’ money, raising concerns in the security establishment, an investigation by The Independent reveals. Officials had …

Museveni’s new team at Electoral Commission in trouble even before it starts work When outgoing Electoral Commission Chairman Baddru Kigundu announced the Presidential election results on Feb. 20, there was a sizable backlash from a cross-section of Ugandans. Many of them did not believe the results were a true reflection …

Why the police can’t win Since Nov.12, when Mathew Kanyamunyu; a young flamboyant businessman in Kampala City and a female companion, Cynthia Munwangari, were arrested as suspects in the death of a young man called Kenneth Akena, Jinja Road Police Station where investigations into the case are centred has become …

Lagos, Nigeria | AFP |  It’s not Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s fault that Nigeria’s economy is inextricably tied to the global price of oil, now half of its 2014 peak of over $100 per barrel. But the president’s response to the economic crisis has a growing number of people concerned …

New York, United States | AFP | Donald Trump’s election jolted liberal America, but perhaps nowhere more than in his native New York, where city-dwellers are processing their woe with everything from yoga to body art to demonstrations. Many residents of the cosmopolitan cultural mosaic — where 79 percent of …

Butembo, DR Congo | AFP | The question is so absurd that Butembo’s deputy mayor misses a beat before answering. What is the town’s unemployment rate? “Unemployment is the norm around these parts,” says Godefroid Kambere Matimbya. “There aren’t any businesses.” Butembo is no ghost town, but a city of …

Dakar, Senegal | AFP | Above the sacks of seeds and coal, three kerosene lamps gather dust in the tiny shed that Kenyan chicken farmer Bernard calls home. He prefers to use solar energy to light up his evenings, listen to the radio or watch television, after abandoning a diesel …

President Yoweri Museveni’s recent reshuffle of Permanent Secretaries is the latest sign of his ad hoc way of appointing government officials which experts warn is detrimental to public service.Museveni on Nov. 04 reshuffled permanent secretaries, dismissing some of the longest serving permanent secretaries and transferring others. Prominent among those removed …

Berlin, Germany | AFP | A Protestant pastor’s daughter who grew up behind the Iron Curtain, Angela Merkel rose to become the “chancellor of Europe” who has outlasted a generation of world leaders. Unlike her one-time partners on the global stage, George W. Bush, Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac and Silvio …