How Museveni family politics plays out Kampala, Uganda | IAN KATUSIIME | In December 2022, President Yoweri Museveni flew to London with a business delegation en route to the U.S. Africa summit in Washington D.C. In his delegation was one individual who loomed large: his son-in-law Odrek Rwabwogo. Rwabwogo’s presence on …
Read More »Politics in plural societies (Part 2)
How good institutions become dysfunctional in heterogenous countries with deep interethnic divisions THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | So, we begin from where we stopped last week with lessons from my former lecturer at the University of London, Mushtaq Khan. Studying South Korea and Pakistan, he found that what makes …
Read More »Law’s struggle for dignity
Democracies are dispensing with the ideal that judges are not supposed to be a direct source of political controversy COMMENT | NICHOLAS REED LANGEN | One telling development in the popular demonstrations against the Israeli government’s proposed judicial reforms has been the concentration of protesters on a small side street in …
Read More »UHRC tribunal hears Dr. Besigye’s case seven years later
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Uganda Human Rights Tribunal has finally commenced the hearing of Dr. Kiiza Besigye’s case regarding alleged human rights violations, seven years after it was filed. The case stems from a 2016 incident when the police raided the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) headquarters …
Read More »Playing politics with the Budget
Experts speak on 2023/24 allocations, taxes, borrowing COVER STORY | ISAAC KHISA | The government’s plan to spend more money next financial year which it hopes mainly to borrow because it cannot raise it otherwise, has led to accusations that “it is playing politics with the budget”. “Our government should not …
Read More »The collapse of Kampala roads
Inside the politics that have led our capital city to move from potholes to giant craters on its streets THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | The road infrastructure in Kampala is in shambles. We can no longer even talk of our city roads being dominated by potholes. In fact, today we …
Read More »Makerere University guild elections set for Friday
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Makerere University will on Friday hold virtual guild presidential elections. There were doubts among students if the elections will take place following the disqualification of two candidates; National Unity platform- NUP flag bearer Margaret Nattabi and independent candidate Suleiman Namwoza for allegedly holding a …
Read More »Makerere under fire for disqualifying two Guild Candidates
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Makerere University has come under fire for disqualifying two guild candidates for allegedly holding an illegal electoral debate at the University. On Thursday, the University’s Electoral Commission Chairperson, Levi Tshilumba said the two candidates were disqualified for holding a “Kimeza” which is contradicting 10 (b) …
Read More »Pulsating state politics shapes U.S. more than Trump’s legal woes: CNN
New York, US | Xinhua | Donald Trump may be getting all the headlines, but partisan struggles in state capitals across the United States may do far more to change the country than the drama surrounding the first ex-president to be charged with a crime, reported CNN on Thursday. “Clashes …
Read More »Sam Mugumya: Unbowed in dissent
COMMENT | Olivia Nalubwama | “I think of you as the freest person I know…Then everyone you know is a slave.”This haunting line is from the Ayi Kwei Armah’s classic book, The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born, on the failure of post- independence African leaders. Enter Sam Mugumya. In 2014, …
Read More »