BY HAGGAI MATSIKO Long-serving Ministry of Energy Permanent Secretary, Fred Kalisa, is considered by many people to be very smart. However, if he was employed in the private sector, he would have been fired for the various failures in his ministry. He was in charge when, despite protests and advice …

By Independent Team A few days ago someone asked me why has Rwanda been so successful and what has made it so. He was partly reacting to an article I wrote elsewhere, outlining the reasons to which I attribute the strong emotions debates about Rwanda tend to provoke. A few …

By Eriasa Mukiibi Sserunjogi I recently moved from New York to Nairobi to protect you better; to be closer to you,” declared Tom Rhodes of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) at a press briefing at Hotel Africana on September 23. Rhodes was part of an international joint mission on …

By the independent team With just four months to the February 2011 elections, queries are being raised on multiple registrations in the national voters’ register. The Independent last week published a story in which a casual survey of the e-register showed staggering double registration in three constituencies. But the Electoral …

    By Peter Guest His response to the global economic downturn has transformed the African Development Bank Quiet streets greeted the African Development Bank’s return to Abidjan, its former headquarters, this May for its 45th annual meetings. The bank left in 2003, precipitated by the deteriorating security situation in …

By Isaac Mufumba Muhlbauer  EC voter registration system cannot catch double registration Former Soroti Municipality MP Mike Mukula, who is fighting to claw back the seat in the 2011 parliamentary elections, is getting support from an unlikely quarter  the Electoral Commission. It has given his wife two voter numbers, meaning …

By Mubatsi Asinja Habati Sam Mugumya, a Forum for Democratic Change youth activist and Dr Kizza Besigye’s personal assistant, has borne the brunt of police wrath during political demonstrations. Whenever Mugumya has participated in a demonstration pursuant to his constitutional right, the police have either clobbered him or threatened to …

By Independent Investigations When Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura ordered the arrest of top city lawyer, Bob Kasango on Aug. 26, he believed he was executing an order by the President, Yoweri Museveni. He was wrong. Kayihura had been told by Toro Queen Mother Best Olimi Kemigisa, who has a money …

By John Howse The Constitutional Court is under pressure. The Independent has found that currently 123 petitions stand unresolved before the court with only 41% of cases being resolved since the court’s inception in 1996. This year, an unprecedented 40 petitions have been filed in the court. The last highest …

By Ella Rychlewski Soon after I arrived in Uganda, I had the opportunity to visit Kyangwali Refugee Camp in Hoima district, western Uganda. COBURWAS, a partner organisation of Educate where I work, is based in the camp. The journey from Hoima district town to Kyangwali takes over four stressful hours …