By Peter Nyanzi Extravagance, high expenditure eroding workers’ savings As the NSSF top bosses sing high praises about their financial statements for 2011, financial experts have started punching holes in it. In a statement issued last week, NSSF managing director Richard Byarugaba said for the first time in 10 years, …
Read More »The middle class goes global
By Johannes Jütting Fostering societies in which people feel protected, trust one another, and efforts are rewarded is the key to realising its members’ dreams In the twentieth century, the American dream of a middle-class life inspired the world. Now, in the twenty-first, we are moving at high speed toward …
Read More »Entrepreneurship funds not enough
By Emmanuel Keith Kisaameh Government should not be tempted to throw money at a problem and think of it as a solution Unemployment is without doubt a leading development challenge in Uganda, engulfing people from all age brackets and making the fight against it noble. With the recent Makerere University …
Read More »Makerere’s murky fight
By Mubatsi Asinja Habati Uncertainty over Baryamureeba’s vice chancellor job taints the university Between 2001 and 2005, Venansius Baryamureeba’s name was synonymous with the bright future of Uganda’s oldest university, Makerere, in Kampala. He was the smart young head of the Faculty of Computing and Information Technology. When he took …
Read More »Quality check
By Pearl Natamba Suspension of UNBS boss, Terry Kahuma, exposes how failures at nation’s quality standards body endanger unsuspecting consumers Kigozi Sebaggala, the executive director of the Uganda Manufacturers Association, bought a neatly packaged 50-meter electricity cable from a shop in downtown Nakasero to use at his father’s burial. It …
Read More »Besigye has the right vision
By Mubatsi Asinja Habati Francis Mwijukye has been an aide of Dr Kizza Besigye, the leader of Uganda’s biggest opposition party, the Forum for Democratic change (FDC) since 2001. He has been by Besigye’s side during numerous clashes with police. On Feb. 21 police shot Mwijukye with a rubber bullet …
Read More »More Trouble for Museveni
By Agather Atuhaire President desperately fails to control a rebel parliament Barely a year into his fourth five-year term, President Yoweri Museveni for the first time in his 26-year rule appears to be losing his grip. Ten of his 15 top ministers have either resigned over alleged corruption or face …
Read More »Crackdown was the word of the year in 2011
By Miriam Mukama Police, army make the media’s mission impossible I shouted, “Don’t shoot me, am a journalist please don’t shoot me”. I begged and almost lost my breath. But before I could finish saying it, a security operative had already fired a bullet through my knee. Gideon Tugume, a …
Read More »First Grades: The myth and the reality
By Rukiya Makuma Education experts, students, parents, and schools disagree on excitement around top students in national exams When heads of government-owned schools met in Kampala on Feb.16 to select the next batch of senior five students, fate was not on Robert Ayesiza’s side. Though he passed in Second Grade …
Read More »Nursing Mulago’s staff shortage
By Annah Natukunda One nurse is expected to care for 100 acutely sick patients as ministry loses Shs400 million per year on “ghost” workers You get up! Go and sit outside,” orders a man dressed in light blue trousers and a white shirt with a Mulago Hospital staff ID. He …
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