By Andrew M. Mwenda Last week, a friend brought me a pirated copy of the recently released Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon movie, Invictus. It is a gripping story of how Nelson Mandela used rugby to assuage the fears of white South Africans regarding the dawn of majority rule. As …

By Independent Team Buganda, security, opposition leaders speak out Basing on current statistics, a first round win for President Yoweri Museveni in the 2011 presidential elections appears unlikely. His margin of victory against the opposition has shrunk from 52 percentage points in 1996 when he got 76 percent of the …

By Independent Team Kyanjo is not the first to warn of war if the 2011 elections are mishandled. On April 27, 2009, the Chairman of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Jaberi Bidandi Ssali, who is former Museveni campaign strategist and confidante, wrote an open letter to Museveni warning of rebellion. …

By Andrew M. Mwenda The opposition parties’ agreement to field one presidential candidate come the 2011 elections is possibly a good move. However, previous presidential elections have shown that there is no need for a joint opposition candidate. Indeed, the combined vote of third candidates has always been statistically insignificant …

By Joshua Masinde & Mubatsi Asinja Habati Vote rigging still a big worry, strengths and weaknesses of each side On December 15 last year, four opposition political parties signed a protocol in which they agreed to front a joint presidential candidate in the 2011 presidential elections. Fielding a joint opposition …

By The Independent Team  The news reporters made news themselves this year, with many journalists and editors feeling real heat. Three Monitor journalists including managing editor, Daniel Kalinaki and senior reporters, Angelo Izama and Grace Matsiko, were interrogated by the CID over an article published in Sunday Monitor titled, Reclusive …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Since Ndorwa West MP David Bahati introduced a bill to kill homosexuals, I have become wary of the behaviour of Uganda’s international donors. They have threatened to cut off aid if the government goes ahead with the bill. This way, they are literally using their money …

By Jocelyn Edwards  IMF report praises Uganda oil contracts, warns of loses Uganda’s contracts for foreign oil exploration, or the incomplete details known of them, have been largely criticised by observers.  But at least one analysis concludes they are favourable.   That is the determination of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Every discussion on how to improve the delivery of public goods and services in Uganda ends up focusing on how to fight corruption. In public services like health, education and infrastructure, public officials divert resources from their intended purpose to private pockets. We are thus saddled …

By Joseph Were Mbabazi, Rwakoojo, Kutesa deny personal interest as PPDA orders fresh tendering of voter machines At the height of the Temangalo saga in which Security Minister Amama Mbabazi, who is also the Secretary General of the ruling National Resistance (NRM) party was accused of corruption, he addressed the …