In The Magazine

By Andrew M. Mwenda How BIDCO’s investment is changing the lives of people in the district and the potential it has to transform agriculture Uganda today consumes 250,000 tonnes of vegetable oil per year, up from 100,000 tonnes in 2005. Of this, 16,000 tonnes was produced locally from oil palm …

By Haggai Matsiko Thomas Richardson, the Senior Resident Representative for the International Monetary Fund who is leaving Uganda for a new posting in India in July, tells The Independent’s Haggai Matsiko about macro-economic management, managing oil money, and the need for a new generation of leaders. How has your tenure …

By Mubatsi Asinja Habati As senior judges retire and others pursue greener pastures the courts are left hopelessly empty As Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki prepares to retire next year and his deputy, Alice Mpagi Bahigeine, later this year, the delivery of justice in Uganda is hampered by staffing gaps in …

By Eriasa Mukiibi Sserunjogi With Uganda’s economic growth slowed down to zero, Maria Kiwanuka needs some magic to save the day A mixture of high expectations and anxiety will greet Finance Minister Maria Kiwanuka when she steps up on June 14 to read next year’s budget. There is likely to …

By Omar Mohammed In March 2006, Juma V. Mwapachu was in Paris; a few months away from completing his four-year stint as Tanzania’s Ambassador to France, when he received a call from State House telling him that President Jakaya Kikwete needed to see him. Mwapachu quickly bought a ticket and …

By Eriasa Mukiibi Sserunjogi Presidents of the two parties may pay the ultimate price for the EALA fiasco The full extent of the damage exacted by the controversial election of Uganda representatives to the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) will take some time to unfold. But the elections reopened old …

By Elamu Denis Ejulu We are seeing and hearing more tales involving deportation of Africans on planes amid screams and resistance News from the Middle East concerning the predicament of over 700 black Africans, most of them of South Sudanese and Eritrean origin, facing the prospect of deportation from Israel …

By Agather Atuhaire NRM favourite for speaker loses to a “rebel” as parties assess damage, victories and future The National Resistance Movement (NRM) party was supposed to be the ultimate victor in the election of Uganda’s delegates to the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA). Of the nine seats, it took …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Given Museveni’s long rule and potential for family succession, is Uganda now vulnerable to an `Arab Spring’ I argued in this column last week that Africa has almost similar structural conditions as the Middle East on the eve of the Arab Spring – sustained economic growth …

By Mubatsi Asinja Habati Varsity left short of 1,200 lecturers Makerere University is daunted by vacant academic staff posts leaving its few lecturers overloaded and fatigued, a 2011 value for money audit report by Auditor General reveals.  The university is supposed to have 2,491 academic staff in its eight colleges …