By Mubatsi Asinja Habati Botswana discovered diamonds and transformed itself into a vibrant economy. Sierra Leone discovered diamonds and went to the dogs. Prof. Paul Collier, director of the Centre for Study of African Economies at Oxford University, thinks Uganda could go either way depending on how well it establishes …
Read More »Isolated?
By Eriasa Mukiibi Sserunjogi and Agather Atuhaire Defending the Prime Minister may have left Museveni with a narrowing circle of allies. Is he worth it? NRM members unhappy with the way their chairman and secretary general are running the party voice one common grudge: their “leader is surrounded”. Ruling party …
Read More »Tree farms; a mixed bag
By Mubatsi Asinja Habati NFA’s tree planting campaign may fetch fortunes in carbon credits, but residents displaced by the green farms are yet to find a home The beautiful, endless, lush greenery of young forest captures the eye as one enters Kikandwa trading centre. It goes all the way to …
Read More »Population growth in Uganda
By Mubatsi Asinja Habati The difference 30 years makes In 1980 Kamwokya was a bushy swamp, populated by hunters and migrant Bafumbira yam growers. The area of the Ministers’ Village in Ntinda looked like a forest reserve, its bushes alive with the music of playful monkeys. Kiwatule was then a …
Read More »One in 7 billion
By Rukiya Makuma An “unexpected” baby girl upsets her parent’s precarious livelihood and opens debate on whether Uganda can afford its population growth In the small one-roomed tenement, Mary Aheebwa lies on a small bed, her parents’ most valuable possession. Born early morning on Oct. 31, Aheebwa weighed in at …
Read More »NRM’s rebels
By Agather Atuhaire Might they be the key to a new Reform politics? President Yoweri Museveni could not have foreseen the hostility he has faced so far with in the 9th Parliament – not when his National Resistance Movement (NRM) party owns more than half the seats in the house. …
Read More »He told you so
By Eriasa Mukiibi Sserunjogi With NRM MPs reported to be poised to withdraw their support of the infamous oil resolutions, perhaps opposition MPs should have heeded their leader’s warning and stuck with the campaign that worked in the past On Oct. 21, the day Phase II of the Walk-to-Work protests …
Read More »Will American hand finally deliver Kony?
By Mubatsi Asinja Habati If you asked Gen Ham Carter, commander of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), he will tell you that all evil in this world “exists in the person of Joseph Kony”. On July 19, Gen Ham told Ugandan journalists at AFRICOM’s Stuttgart headquarters in Germany that he …
Read More »Cooking up rankings?
By Haggai Matsiko Experts say the Mo Ibrahim Index’s latest ranking of Uganda would be flattering if it weren’t so fictitious Experts have criticized the latest rankings of the Mo Ibrahim Africa Governance Index as a fiction, out of touch with realities in Uganda. The main bone of contention is …
Read More »Stoking the fires of impunity
By Andrew M. Mwenda Gaddafi’s pitiful death, the celebration of it, Obama’s speech and the looming tragedy of post “liberation” Libya Fate is a great joker, it always laughs last. And it did last week at former Libyan ruler Muammar El Gaddafi. He suffered a gruesome death at the hands …
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