COLUMNISTS

By Andrew M. Mwenda Let me speculate. There are always ominous signs when a leader or regime is about to collapse. Take the example of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar: There was the rum’s heart; then Cleopatra’s dream and later the soothsayer’s warning. There were equally also many ominous signs in 1969 …

By Article 29 Coalition Cabinet is currently reviewing the proposed amendments to the Press and Journalist Act 2001, which is the law that governs media practice. Like all citizens and well-meaning people in the government, every Ugandan journalist wants to work in a media industry that is responsible, respected, and …

By Isaac Mufumba The International Criminal Court Bill 2006, that was passed on March 10, (more than five years after it was first tabled before parliament) continues to raise eyebrows. If President Yoweri Museveni approves it, the Uganda’s War Crimes Court will become operational and pave the way for the …

By Andrew M. Mwenda The killing of three Baganda youths by President Yoweri Museveni’s security detail at Kasumbi tombs is shocking but not surprising. There is a quiet battle between Museveni and Mengo. The president knows that Mengo is becoming a major pillar of resistance to his authority. Although this …

By Isaac Mufumba On the night of February 28, 2010 Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kuteesa appeared on NTV to defend his credentials as ‘a good and highly disciplined cadre’ of the NRM. The following evening, NRM Secretary General and Minister of Security Amama Mbabazi to was in the media dismissing …

By Andrew M. Mwenda In his book, Weapons of the Weak, James Scott argues that studies of peasant resistance focus a lot on large scale revolts. ‘For the historical and archival records were richest at precisely those moments when the peasantry pose a threat to the state,’ Scott writes, ‘the …

By Harold Acemah In Issue No. 101 of The Independent (March 5 , 11, 2010), Abbey Kibirige in an interesting and otherwise balanced article raised, in my view, a false alarm about ‘Mao’s motives in taking over DP’ and concluded that Mao could have a hidden agenda to use his leadership …

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 …