By Jocelyn Edwards Children pushed and shoved each other, with their hands outstretched, as Joseph Makwa, the head teacher at the secondary school where victims of the Bududa mudslide have been sheltered, handed out biscuits. Last week there were signs that bureaucracy and corruption have prevented villagers from getting the …
Read More »Coartem stocks run out, 300 die daily
By Mubatsi Asinja Habati Ugandans pay high price for governments failure to prosecute Global Fund thieves Rachael Nalubega, 10, sits on her mothers lap near the entrance into one of the childrens wards at Uganda’s top medical facility, Mulago National Referral Hospital. Nalubega’s eyes are motionless and unblinking. The crowded …
Read More »When an entire village lives on one borehole
By Mubatsi Asinja Habati A round wattle hut painted black at the bottom and gray at the top stands 200 metres ahead. As one gets nearer, four circular unbaked brick but grass thatched huts emerge. A young woman in her late teens is baby-sitting one yard from the kitchen door. …
Read More »Jobless super-graduates
By Mubatsi Asinja Habati What use is a First Class degree if holder cannot earn a living? When the Music Dance and Drama (MDD) degree course was introduced at Makerere University in 1971 many students looked at it with contempt. They coined a derogatory name for whoever enrolled for the …
Read More »Private clinics have worst anti-malaria drugs
By Mubatsi Asinja Habati But should National Drug Authority be celebrating that? A new report has found that 26 per cent of anti-malaria drugs in use in Uganda are substandard. That should be very bad news for a country where on average 12 people, mostly children, die of malaria every …
Read More »Time for young hens to crow?
By Rukiya Makuma The womens movement in Uganda yearns for renewal Dr. Sarah Ntiro, Rhoda Kalema, Specioza Wandera Kazibwe, Miria Matembe and others They had there time, held the stage and gathered lots of support from the women in the country; but now some might say – the time has …
Read More »Besigye, Otunnu face tough times without FM radio
By Mubatsi Asinja Habati & Joshua Masinde Is it cynical to say opposition leaders should use adverts in the media, emails, sms, and fliers? While in Pader recently, Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) President Kizza Besigye was scheduled to be hosted on the local radio station, Luo FM radio. He …
Read More »City youth dance, skate away trouble
By Séverine Koen Breakdancing and skateboarding suffer from bad reputations as they are commonly associated with foreign influences in Uganda. Yet, they are now being used as forces for good by two groups, Breakdance Project Uganda and the Uganda Skateboard Union. A look at these groups and how they were …
Read More »11,678 kilometres away: Protests mount against Museveni
By S©verine Koen The arrest, on January 18, of about 35 women who were protesting at the Electoral Commission (EC) headquarters in Kampala, is just one recent example of the difficulty and danger of staging a demonstration in Uganda. Yet, in this pre-election year, the ability to voice ones opinions, …
Read More »Why the big number of first class degrees at Makerere?
By Mubatsi Asinja Habati Two weeks ago Makerere University held its 60th graduation ceremony in which some 13,766 students graduated in various disciplines with different degrees. One thing that got many people talking is the high number of first class degrees doled out at this graduation ceremony – 220 in …
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