KAMPALA, UGANDA | Gertrude Kamya Othieno | Not long ago, I hailed an Uber in Kampala, expecting nothing more than polite small talk. But what the young driver told me lingered far beyond that ride: “Uganda is not my home; it’s my business place. I wake up, go out to …
Read More »The politicisation of development
COMMENT | Gertrude Kamya Othieno | Politics and development are deeply intertwined in practice, yet they are conceptually distinct and studied separately in most institutions of higher learning. Political science typically examines questions of power, governance, authority, and statecraft, while development studies explore economic growth, poverty reduction, social transformation, and human …
Read More »Lent Reflection: Were there other sons of God? Rethinking miracles, meaning, and memory
COMMENT | Gertrude Kamya Othieno | Lent invites us into a journey of remembrance and revelation—a time to reflect deeply on Christ’s ministry and the divine power he embodied. Jesus healed the blind, raised the dead, calmed the storm, and fed the multitudes. These acts affirmed his divinity and his profound …
Read More »Palm Sunday: Sacred processions and the power of symbol
COMMENT | | Today is Palm Sunday, marking Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Crowds gather, laying down cloaks and palm branches, singing “Hosanna!” It is a moment of joy and symbolism, filled with expectation. Yet it is also full of tension, the very same people who welcome him will, days …
Read More »Sankara and Traoré: Ancestral echoes and the politics of reincarnation
COMMENT | Gertrude Kamya Othieno | In many African cosmologies, time is not a straight line but a sacred circle. Life and death are not opposites but phases of a continuum. The departed do not disappear. They live on as ancestors, guiding the living, and sometimes returning through them. It is …
Read More »Busy but Broke: The curious case of Uganda’s enterprising women
Ugandan women top global entrepreneurship charts, but without real support, their hustle risks, becoming a lifelong struggle. COMMENT | Gertrude Kamya Othieno | In 2021, the Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs ranked Uganda second globally for the proportion of women-owned businesses, at an impressive 38.4%. Only Botswana ranked higher. It’s a …
Read More »Buganda and the Uganda State: A study in power, decline, and identity
COMMENT | Gertrude Kamya Othieno | This reflection is inspired by John Mary Odoy’s article, “No Buganda, No Uganda” (22 March 2025), in which the senior citizen and advocate for good governance raised concern over what he perceives as attempts to erase Buganda from Uganda’s national map, physically, politically, and …
Read More »The Name We Lost: Reclaiming the African woman’s identity
COMMENT | Gertrude Kamya Othieno |The World has recently celebrated International Women’s Week. African women must ask: What exactly are we celebrating? While progress in leadership, education, and economic inclusion is praised, one fundamental loss remains overlooked; the erasure of the African woman’s identity through imposed naming traditions and subjugation. Across …
Read More »Mugambe’s conviction is a mirror we must face
COMMENT | Gertrude Kamya Othieno | Dear Ugandan Policymakers, CEOs, Managers, and all those wielding power, Judge Lydia Mugambe’s conviction in the UK should be more than a headline. It should be a wake-up call. She, a judge of international standing, connived with Uganda’s former deputy high commissioner in London …
Read More »An Open Letter to Uganda’s Parliament: A Nation Bleeding, and You Look Away
COMMENT | Gertrude Kamya Othieno | Dear Honorable Members of Parliament. A young man was knocked down by a boda boda. His family and close-knit extended community, despite their own struggles, rallied together, fundraised tirelessly, and did everything in their power to save him. But it was not enough. He died. He …
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