COLUMNISTS

By Maya Prabhu On March 1, Speaker of Parliament Edward Ssekandi was presented with a petition bearing the signatures of 450,000 people calling for the rejection of the Anti Homosexuality Bill, 2009. The petition was written, and undersigned, by a group referring to themselves as AIDS service providers, spiritual mentors …

By Andrew M. Mwenda I was on a train at New York’s Grand Central Station on March 5 when a friend from my days at Stanford University entered. I was overjoyed yet embarrassed; one part of me wanted to hug her, the other to hide. She is a successful lawyer …

Ever since the publication of my article, ‘Otunnu must not lead UPC,’ (Daily Monitor), I have been the subject of attacks by Olara Otunnu supporters who view their candidate as a great intellectual. They have persistently challenged me to take on Otunnu at an intellectual level. I have also constantly …

By Kundhavi Kadiresan The development partners recognise that the 2010/11 budget is being developed in tandem with the National Development Plan. This provides an opportunity to focus the budget on Uganda’s development priorities. Past accomplishments by the government of Uganda have been remarkable. However, the real test of prudent and …

By Andrew M. Mwenda In The Audacity of Hope, Barack Obama says he has always been troubled by the gap between the magnitude of America’s challenges and the smallness of its politics. This makes even more sense in Africa. Nothing demonstrates it better than presidential candidate Victoire Ingabire and those …

By Andrew M. Mwenda As Uganda heads towards the 2011 elections, we are seeing the creation of more districts. I had exaggerated in a 2003 article that in ten years, Uganda will have 100 districts. The NRM has beaten me again turning what I used as hyperbole into reality; in …

By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba It is very wrong for people to portray polygamy as a Muslim thing yet it is well known that the Bible is pro-polygamy. Polygamy is one of the grand Bible-based values people don’t like to talk about. You will find nothing in the Bible, Old or …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Since her return to Rwanda as a presidential candidate, Victoire Umuhoza Ingabire has animated media interest. The main issue in her campaign is her claim that ‘those who killed the Hutu in the 1994 genocide have not been tried.’ This is another way of saying the …

By Jocelyn Edwards Despite a setback last week, activists and journalists in the campaign for the release of Uganda’s oil Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs) vowed to continue fighting, striking against the walls of government secrecy until they fall. Two Daily Monitor journalists will appeal the decision of a Nakawa court …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Finally, I have settled down at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut where I will be a post-graduate fellow for the next couple of months. The place is below freezing but it offers the best environment for someone to indulge in intellectual speculation. With few public …