By Andrew M. Mwenda How the UPDF generals are tackling the new challenge On July 26, I boarded a plane to Mogadishu, Somalia “to visit our troops” as the Americans would say.On the same flight was Lt. Gen. Andrew Gutti, overall commander of the Africa Mission to Somalia (AMISOM). I …
Read More »Tribal politics explodes
By Mubatsi Asinja Habati Kasese, Bundibugyo tense ahead of by-election On the morning of June 30, the king of the Rwenzururu, Omusinga Charles Wesley Mumbere Iremangoma, received an unusual phone call from President Yoweri Museveni. The Omusinga was that morning preparing for the 50th anniversary celebrations of his people’s declaration …
Read More »Politicians fueling conflicts in Rwenzori
By Mubatsi Asinja Habati In the past few weeks, there have been simmering tensions among the Bakonzo, Basongora and Bamba/Babwisi in Kasese and Bundibugyo districts over the jurisdiction of Rwenzururu kingdom. The Independent’s Mubatsi Asinja Habati spoke to Loice Biira Bwambale, the acting Prime Minister of Rwenzururu kingdom. The Bakonzo …
Read More »Rwanda’s donor aid cuts
By Andrew M. Mwenda Doesn’t a country that lost a million people deserve to protect its people against the threat of another genocide? In a space of one week in July, the Netherlands, Germany, UK and USA announced they would cut their aid to Rwanda over its alleged involvement in …
Read More »Uganda’s ageing cabinet
By Eriasa Mukiibi Sserunjogi & Mubatsi Asinja Habati With the average age of the top ministers at 70 years, what is the future for the country? When then 38-year old Moses Ali was in 1977 named finance minister by then-president Idi Amin and charged with revamping a free-falling economy, current …
Read More »Stiglitz’s Mubiru Memorial Lecture
By Andrew M. Mwenda Failure to define the necessary market regulation deprived lecture of the necessary nuance The lecture by economics Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz about the failures resulting from deregulation of financial markets in the United States and the need for a strict regulatory regime was engaging and frustrating …
Read More »Like father and prodigal son
By The Independent Team Museveni and Byanyima never had any major political differences, and now it seems they have resolved the personal ones One June 2011 day, about mid-day, a Toyota Land Cruiser drove through the gates of State House, Entebbe. There was nothing especially remarkable about the car, but …
Read More »Democracy holds NSSF hostage
By Andrew M. Mwenda How a tiny minority of trade unionists have used politics to wrest control from the majority of the fund’s subscribers. In his State of the Nation address, President Yoweri Museveni said government was going to borrow money from the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) to finance …
Read More »Burying the hatchet
By Andrew M. Mwenda Museveni and Kagame’s reconciliation about year ago was a diplomatic coup for the history books. After 13 years of rivalry and mutual distrust, with accusations of mutual sabotage and assassination plots, they rebuilt their friendship relying on the most rudimentary of diplomatic props, yet the simplest …
Read More »Mrs. Museveni’s life’s journey
By Andrew M. Mwenda If anyone wants a slice of the intimate life of the Museveni family, his wife’s autobiography delivers it I have spent eight months trying to shape my views on Mrs. Janet Museveni’s autobiography, My Life’s Journey. An autobiography is an attempt to tell others that: “This …
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