By Stephen Kafeero To boost their compensation awards, land owners are building in sections marked for demolition Plans to construct a modern highway have sparked a feverish property boom along Entebbe-Kampala Highway, as land owners construct new buildings, targeting to profit from generous compensation funds. Over the past three or …

By Charles Onyango-Obbo Recently I was visiting with Andrew Mwenda, the Strategy and Editorial Director of The Independent at his Butabika home when he squeezed me for a favour. He asked that I write about what I thought President Yoweri Museveni was trying to achieve with his “reconciliatory” actions towards …

By Mubatsi Asinja Habati One mother tells of fleeing to save her children, the screams of her dying husband ringing in her ears Sara Ndiozi lost more than her husband in Rutshuru, when fighting broke out between the M23 rebels and government troops in the eastern part of the Democratic …

By Haggai Matsiko Will a pact to check the illicit gun trade have an impact on Uganda? United Nations diplomats from over 190 countries, including Uganda, are at the organisation’s headquarters in New York discussing a pact to regulate the global arms trade. The Global Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) would …

By Dr. Pierre Damien Habumuremyi A lot more still needs to be done to prevent a culture of mediocrity The osition of the government relating to the need to improve customer service in Rwanda is simple.  A lot more still needs to be done. President Paul Kagame summarises the current …

By Esther Dyson Communities can measure the state, health, and activities of their people and institutions, and hopefully improve them. I have written previously about the Quantified Self movement – individuals equipped with the tools (monitoring devices and software) needed to measure their own health and behavior (and, by doing …

By Joseph Were Museveni’s schmoozing with Stiglitz bad news for Mutebile When President Yoweri Museveni spoke at this year’s Joseph Memorial lecture in Kampala of the desirability of a “hybrid” economy, he marked a retreat from the current free market regime to his mixed economy days of the 1980s.  Time …

By Eriasa Mukiibi Sserunjogi Can the opposition capitalise on recent wins to defeat Museveni? With five wins out of the six parliamentary by-elections held so far this term, opposition parties must wish they don’t wake up from this dream anytime soon. They must also wish more seats were up for …

By Eriasa Mukiibi Sserunjogi The issues, promises that shaped the Bukoto South campaign When the campaign for the Bukoto South by-election went to the wire, it had all the markings of the violence and controversy witnessed on election day, July 12. Police and opposition activists were pouring into the constituency …

By Rukiya Makuma A private member’s bill seeks to hit the corrupt in their softest spot, their loot The young, vibrant Member of Parliament for Makindye East, John Simbwa, has plucked the courage and taken on a fight that many proclaim cannot be won – against the corrupt. Simbwa’s private …