Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Former senior cabinet minister and NRM political ideologue Nuwe Amanya Mushega has said it is not too late for Uganda to turn course, after admitting that, “We are not in the best of state. This violence which is going on is not nice.” Mushega said he …
Read More »Under attack in South Sudan, Kony’s toilet armories, a journalist’s tears
By Patrick Kamara In our last episode, I described how in the early 2000s my then-editor at The Monitor newspaper, Ogen Kevin Aliro and his friend, then-Commander of the UPDF, Gen. James Kazini, flew me to cover the fight against Joseph kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army rebels in South Sudan. I …
Read More »Emma Kato plays Justice Ssebutinde, Gen. Kazini takes me to South Sudan
By Patrick Kamara When I quit Voice of Tooro FM radio, I joined then-Monitor FM. Soon I became close to the then-Managing Editor of the Daily Monitor newspaper, the late Ogen Kevin Aliro. Kevin was a founding member of the Monitor Publications Ltd that had started operating in a rented …
Read More »Shaka Ssali’s rebel contacts call first, army next, and Brig. Kazini outruns ADF
By Patrick Kamara I had always wanted to speak to the rebel Allied Democratic Force (ADF) commanders. I wanted to ask them about their war strategy and why they were killing people in cold blood; moreover unarmed civilians. Since they always talked to Shaka Ssali; the Ugandan host of the …
Read More »Museveni angry, Brig. Nyakaitana furious, reporters locked up
By Patrick Kamara I was on my way to Kampala from Fort Portal when hell broke loose. I had gotten a seat in the Kampala bound mini-bus at the Fort-Portal taxi park when the driver tuned our station for the 10am news bulletin and there was a breaking news story. …
Read More »Rebel attack exposes tales of cannibalism in land of beauties
By Patrick Kamara Information about an attack by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels on Hakibale Sub-county in Kabarole district came very early. I was told there had been an attack in a village called Rwembogo on the edge of Semuliki National Park and above the rift valley. I rushed …
Read More »Attack on Katojo prison, skimpily-dressed women, and UPDF’s trembling commander
By Patrick Kamara Katojo is one of the biggest government correctional facilities or prison in south western Uganda. Located about seven kilometres from Fort-portal town it is sandwiched between the Muhoti Military Barracks and one of the deepest crater lakes in East Africa, Saka. This is also the home of …
Read More »Meeting the commander in chief and visiting Katuramu
By Patrick Kamara I was contemplating my next move while grazing our cattle when my cell-phone rang. It was the voice of the Voice of Tooro radio station manager back in Fort-Portal. They needed me without fail the next day. The same day when my elder sister Elizabeth was having …
Read More »Assassination of a prince
By Patrick Kamara When priests carried guns to office and I met Princess Bagaya Prince Happy Kijjanangoma from the Royal household of Tooro was a physically disabled man and very bright and daring too. This was the time when Tooro Kingdom had broken into factions after the death of Omukama …
Read More »Rebels attack, army covers up, everyone else panics
By Patrick Kamara In the very late 1990s, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebel force was clearly gaining momentum and stretching the entire Ugandan army along the difficult terrain only the Rwenzori Mountain can offer. They were no longer just at the border points or in the jungle; Jamil Mukulu’s …
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