And so, we have finally neared the summit of our journey from the Republic of Uganda to the Kingdom of Rwakitura under the Kaguta dynasty. The crowning moment of this journey was two weeks ago when President Yoweri Museveni appointed his wife, Mrs Janet Museveni, to cabinet. That there has …
Read More »Family rule in Uganda
By The Independent Team How Museveni’s ‘clan’ runs the government In his inaugural address as professor of history at Makerere University on June 18, 1986, the highly respected Ugandan historian, Samwiri Karugire, spelt out the problems of Africa. In a lecture titled ‘Wind of Change or Merely Change in the …
Read More »What does the new Dar rail link mean for Uganda’s export trade?
By Michael Madill Rift Valley Railways (RVR) is off the rails. The January 15 deadline for RVR to meet a Shs100b ($50 million) investment commitment expired, triggering action by Kenya and Uganda to revoke RVR’s concession and to negotiate the construction of a competing rail line. Though RVR is fighting …
Read More »Court ruling puts Uganda torture in the spotlight
By Rosebell Kagumire Questions about the clandestine operations of Ugandan security agencies have once again been raised after a Canadian court denied asylum to a former worker of the Internal Security Organisation (ISO). Fahad Huthy Mutumba, 35, a Montreal resident, claims to have worked as an office clerk with ISO …
Read More »The job market: Uganda faces influx of foreigners
By Agnes Asiimwe Government is helpless as Ugandans are out-competed, investors bring their staff, senior posts held by foreigners Two years from now, if negotiations succeed, the East African Community Common Market Protocol should come in force on January 1, 2010. The protocol will allow free movement of services, capital, …
Read More »Uganda won’t escape the global crisis
By Patrick Kagenda As the global financial crisis continues to affect economies worldwide, The Independent’s Patrick Kagenda talked to Gideon Badagawa, Executive Director Uganda Manufacturers Association on how it is affecting Uganda’s manufacturing sector. How will the global financial crisis affect Uganda? Uganda cannot escape the global economic crisis. There …
Read More »Uganda needs decisive economic policies to survive global recession
By Geoffrey Onegi-Obel Last week Dr Onegi-Obel described the limitation of the government’s `resource envelop’ budget driven response to the global economic slowdown including its impact on Uganda’s job creation, domestic savings and domestic direct investment. In this last of a two part series, he discusses possible solutions including a …
Read More »Uganda has a second chance to industrialise
By Juma A. Okuku In this fifth and second last part of our Insight series on late industrialisation, Juma A. Okuku looks at what role Uganda Investment Authority and Uganda National Council for Science and Technology can play in bringing about industrial transformation. The first part was published in Issue …
Read More »Uganda’s false start in building industries
By Juma A. Okuku In the fourth part of our Insight series on late industrialization, Juma A. Okuku comes home to Uganda, examining whether the country possess what it takes to carry out an industrial transformation. The first part was published in Issue 035. Does Uganda possess what it takes …
Read More »Can Uganda successfully industrialise?
By Juma A. Okuku After attaining independence in 1962, Uganda embarked on a process of industrialisation that would be disrupted by political turmoil in the intervening years. In the last 20 years though, President Museveni has talked about the need for Uganda to industrialise so as to be able to …
Read More »