The force is female: India’s women cops take a stand Jaipur, India | AFP | All-female police units are shaking up the male-dominated force in conservative northwest India, hitting the streets to combat sex crimes and a pervasive culture of silence around rape. One such squad in Jaipur has …
Read More »S.Africa circumcision ritual: a dangerous route to manhood
S.Africa circumcision ritual: a dangerous route to manhood Coffee Bay, South Africa | AFP | Naked, covered in white clay mud, and with his penis wrapped in leaves, Abongile Maqegu, 20, sits in a hut in South Africa recovering from his circumcision — a traditional ritual that can prove …
Read More »ARTS: Tasty githeri of art
Exhibition tackles Buganda totems and nostalgic paintings Kampala, Uganda| DOMINIC MUWANGUZI | Githeri is a Kenyan word that loosely means cooking different foods – usually maize and beans – in one bowl. When art borrows the concept, the resukt is a wonderful mixture of different ideas, techniques, styles, themes and …
Read More »PROFILE: Sarah Aporo on sharing her HIV positive status
At only 22 years, Sarah Aporo took the brave step of sharing her HIV-positive status on social media. Aporo used the Facebook platform to post a video of her taking antiretroviral drugs. Kampala, Uganda | AGNES E NANTABA | In the video, Aporo advises young people to test with their …
Read More »Colonial boundaries no solution to Tororo District split controversy
Kampala, Uganda | J OLOKA-ONYANGO | Recent newspaper reports about the issue of Tororo state that President Yoweri Museveni has directed that the matter be resolved using the “colonial boundaries” in order to determine where the municipality should be located in the event of a split of the district. Such …
Read More »BOOK: Mandela ambulance ‘caught fire’, his surgeon reveals
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | An ambulance carrying South Africa’s first democratically elected president Nelson Mandela caught fire as it was rushing him to hospital, his doctor revealed in a book published on Monday. The incident is one of several bizarre episodes contained in the book chronicling Mandela’s final …
Read More »OIL: Uganda is mineral rich and has a lot of potential
Delays and shattered hopes: Uganda still waiting for oil riches BULIISA, Uganda | AFP | It was the promise of oil — billions of barrels of black gold, discovered locked beneath Lake Albert — and the riches to follow that brought electricity to Buliisa. Roads, piped water, and other …
Read More »ARTS: Mayanja’s soot art excites
Common tadooba candle inspirations form avant garde mixed media exhibition Kampala, Uganda | DOMINIC MUWANGUZI | Experimental artist Weazher Mayanja has evolved another new technique. The Kyambogo University don is this time using soot from tadooba candle flames on canvas to create captivating art forms. In an ongoing exhibition at …
Read More »WORKERS: We cannot afford Uganda’s official dress code
Stella Nyanzi speaks out as strict new official dress code sparks anger in Uganda Kampala, Uganda | AFP | Ugandan public servants on Wednesday hit out at a list of strict new rules forbidding them from showing cleavage, having long nails, dyed hair or wearing skirts above the knee. But …
Read More »COMMENT: Museveni poses a threat
President’s self-Preservation tactics after 30 year in power are derailing development |Stephanie Nguyen| “I don’t know any other country more democratic than Uganda; our democratic structures are comprehensive, massive, and thorough.” This statement is representative of a few propaganda lines that filled television screens as President Yoweri Museveni gave his …
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