When Sheebah Karungi Samalie held her maiden concert that attracted multitudes of people to Hotel Africana People’s Space arena, it was a dream coming true for the 27 year old and the culmination of 12 years of struggling to prove to doubters she could not only dance but also sing. …
Read More »THE LAST WORD: Uganda’s real oil curse
THE LAST WORD: By Andrew M. Mwenda How our overblown expectations of what oil is going to do for our country are likely to cause trouble I had always thought about the “oil curse” in terms of the “Dutch Disease” and the adverse incentives it creates that foster corruption …
Read More »Maro: Proud of his rags to RnB tale
When Ronald Magada aka Maro, who is one of Uganda’s top RnB musicians, tells his life story, the pain is unmistakable. His mother died when he was only three years old in 1990. That left him at the mercy of everyone in the large extended family of his father, James …
Read More »THE LAST WORD: Uganda’s agricultural crisis
THE LAST WORD: By Andrew M. Mwenda How politics, not the drought, explains the current famine our country is experiencing According a report by the government of Uganda last week nearly 11 million people in this country do not have enough food to eat. I have concerns with the …
Read More »PROFILE: Nana Kagga on chasing originality
Kaggale Nana Nabateregga Kagga is a film maker, actress alone, chemical engineer, mother of three, wife and daughter to Mwagale Nalongo Beatrice Kagga and Abdul Kagga from the royal lineage of King Kiggala of Buganda kingdom. Commonly known as Nana Kagga, she was born in Nairobi, Kenya. She comes from …
Read More »COMMENT: Africa’s new medical school
COMMENT: By Michael Fairbanks It is founded on the principle that every member of a community deserves the same care and opportunity Rwanda has achieved some of the most dramatic gains in health and poverty-reduction in the world. This small, landlocked African country (the size of Massachusetts, but with …
Read More »PROFILE: Beverly Nambozo hungers for poetry
Beverly Nambozo Nsengiyunva is an inspiration to herself. She is the brain behind Beverly Nambozo Poetry Award. At only ten years, Nambozo was a bibliophile consuming books like food. Even when her mother pushed her to sleep she would read under the covers late into the night. Born in Kampala …
Read More »PROFILE: Gen. Edward Katumba Wamala
On the greatest lesson in life His dream as a student at Old Kampala Senior Secondary School was to become a doctor but he ended up at Bukalasa Agricultural College. “I did sciences for prestige and ended up performing poorly, and not being admitted to Makerere University – the only …
Read More »INTERVIEW: Ssemujju took roundabout route into politics
Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda’s dream was to become a lawyer but he failed to make the cut at A-level. He was instead admitted to study journalism at Makerere University – which he did not like and opted to study a BA Education. But this plan too failed. “I made attempts to …
Read More »THE LAST WORD: In defense of oil cash bonanza
OPINION: Why it was morally right to reward public officials for winning Shs1.6 trillion worth of government revenues By Andrew M. Mwenda “It is not easy to stand apart from mass hysteria, to argue against something that everyone, especially the most respected political leaders, academics, and experts are saying and …
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