COLUMNISTS

By Joe Powell Reliable information in times of crisis is a precious commodity. For many Ugandans, however, news was hard to come by during the three days of rioting in Kampala and the surrounding area. A key reason for this was a significant media crackdown by state security operatives, the …

By Joe Powell On April 15th, 1966, self appointed President Milton Obote addressed an emergency session of parliament to present a new constitution and explain why he had suspended Kabaka Edward Mutesa II as President of Uganda. On September 10th 2009, President Yoweri Museveni addressed the nation on the stand-off …

By Andrew M. Mwenda As the confrontation between President Yoweri Museveni and Mengo reached a climax last Friday evening, it was the Buganda establishment that retreated. As the Katikiro announced that Kabaka Ronald Mutebi had cancelled his trip to Kayunga, it was clear that Museveni is the most overestimated man …

By Peter Otika Uganda and Chile may seem thousands of miles apart; different in cultures and climate, but they share something in common ‘” a history of brutal dictatorship. Since the return to Uganda of Dr Olara Otunnu, the former Ugandan foreign minster and United Nations Under-Secretary for Children, the …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Almost every two years we are treated to the spectacle of all the ills at the National Social Security Fund (NSSF). An inquiry into the Fund has always exposed rot leading to the board and top management getting fired, ministers responsible being reshuffled, sometimes the managing …

By Ashad Sentongo The apparent route President Yoweri Museveni has taken in Banyoro tribal conflict is a dead end yet the solution may be within his very government that now appears divisive. As quoted in the Daily Monitor newspaper of August 11, 2009, the suggestion by the Minister of State …

By Andrew M. Mwenda I have increasingly grown sceptical of international humanitarian intervention. Although largely driven by moral reasons, it has often inflicted more harm than good on its intended beneficiaries. It is with this view that I went for a public lecture by Prof. Mahmood Mamdani at Makerere University …

 By Andrew M. Mwenda On June 25, fifteen companies submitted bids for a contract with the Electoral Commission (EC) to update the Voter Register. According to the bid documents, each bidder was supposed to submit three envelops: a technical proposal, a financial proposal and a third envelop was supposed to …

By Eric Kabera Critics of Rwandan President Paul Kagame – including complimentary ones – unfailingly cite two flaws: that he is illegitimate because he hails from the minority; two, he is intolerant of freedom of expression. The first charge is easily disposed of. Why for example has no one found …

By Charles Onyango Obbo Andrew Mwenda’s ‘A Tale Of Two Presidents, Two Nations and Two Revolutions‘ has generated a lot of debate. On one hand you have Rwanda’s President Kagame, who has the image of being iron-fisted, and leads a poor country that has been able to make far-reaching achievements, …