By Andrew M. Mwenda In December 2010, The Independent celebrated its third birthday. Given the high mortality rate of newspapers in Uganda, it is really a miracle that we are still alive – and growing. Over the last three years, The Independent has consolidated its place within the Ugandan news …
Read More »A new look at corruption
By Charles Onyango-Obbo Inside the belly of the beast I have just spent a few days in the countryside, and I noticed one change from just five or so years ago; everyone is talking about “how bad corruption is in Uganda”. Some refer to the various incidents of corruption involving …
Read More »When terrorists struck Kampala
By Mubatsi Asinja Habati , Joyce Mirembe Nakayima & Rukiya Makuma The year 2010 will probably be remembered most for the terror attacks on Kampala. On July 11, Ugandans came to a painful reality with the gruesome twin terror attacks at Ethiopian Restaurant in Kabalagala and Kyadondo Rugby Club in …
Read More »Ivory Coast crisis has lessons for Uganda
By Mubatsi Asinja Habati The political impasse in Ivory Coast following presidential elections has caught the world’s attention. President Laurent Gbagbo refuses to quit after losing the election to opposition candidate Alassane Ouattara who the Ivorian electoral commission declared winner. The Independent’s Mubatsi Asinja Habati spoke to Godber Tumushabe, the …
Read More »The Al Shabab threat
By Andrew M. Mwenda A special investigation into a joint Uganda-Kenya security hunt for terrorists Just before the December 20, 2010 grenade attack on a Kampala-bound bus in Nairobi, two major incidents had taken place in the Kenyan capital. First, on the morning of December 3, 2010, attackers suspected to …
Read More »S. Africa and Rwanda: tale of majority failure and minority success
By Andrew .M.Mwenda Two epoch-making political transitions in Sub-Sahara Africa simultaneously dominated global news in April 1994, South Africa and Rwanda. South Africa’s was a transition from white minority rule to black majority rule; Rwanda’s from ‘Hutu majority’ rule to ‘Tutsi minority’ rule. The transition in South Africa was peaceful, …
Read More »French court lifts arrest warrants over Habyarimana plane crash
By the independent team & agencies Former judge Bruguire admits he conferred with French government over decision A French judge placed Rwanda’s defence minister and five other aides of President Paul Kagame under investigation in a probe into an attack seen as sparking the African country’s 1994 genocide, legal sources …
Read More »Opinion poll Politics
By eriasa mukiibi sserunjigi How accurate is Museveni’s 66% poll score? IPC survey says Besigye has 60%. Does he? The heated debate over the credibility of the recent pre-2011 election survey by Afrobarometer that gave the incumbent, President Yoweri Museveni, a commanding lead of 66 percent has obscured assessment of …
Read More »WikiLeaks expose Onek, Museveni, Mbabazi
by mubatsi asinja habati The documents were designed as a new form of journalism that gives readers the original documents on which the stories are based. So why the denials? US Assistant of State for Africa, Johnnie Carson, who has over 40 years of foreign and diplomatic service, is one …
Read More »The outspoken spokesman
By Matthew Stein Up close with AMISOM’s “Somali expert” This upcoming January, Maj. Barigye Ba-Hoku, the Africa Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) spokesman, will have completed three years in Somalia. “I’m now in my own right an expert on Somalia,” he recently said during an impromptu visit to The Independent. …
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