In The Magazine

By Mubatsi Asinja Habati Kabula County MP James Kakooza, who is also Minister of State for Health, has sparked controversy with a proposal to extend the five-year term of elected politicians at all levels of government to seven years.  He spoke to The Independent’s Mubatsi Asinja Habati about it. Why …

By matthew stein Where are the Somalis as AMISOM troops pay the ultimate price? Somewhere in Nairobi there is a Somali man, a member of parliament or a minister perhaps, who has his hand wrapped around a good drink or his mouth filled with the smoke of a fine cigar …

By Charles Onyango-Obbo People have lost faith in elections and stayed away in 2011. That’s why he did not use violence this time because people were not fighting back. President Yoweri Museveni’s victory in the February 18 elections, and the fact that his percentage of the vote increased from 58 …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Will Museveni use his 2011 national victory to retire gracefully like Mandela and Nyerere or entrench himself in power like Fidel Castro and Gaddafi? Now that President Yoweri Museveni has won re-election with an increased mandate, what should he do? This election has been important for …

By Eriasa Mukiibi Sserunjogi Rtd Col. Dr Kizza Besigye was the presidential candidate for the Interparty Cooperation, a grouping of some opposition parties in the Feb. 18 election. He is contesting the outcome of the election. The Independent’s Eriasa Mukiibi spoke to him You have said the election was stolen. …

By eriasa mukiibi sserunjogi Budadiri was not the only place where bigwigs in the government, like Wabudeya, fought to avoid defeat “In President Museveni’s home district of Kiruhura, where he garnered 94 percent of the valid votes, the District Returning Officer, Apollo Musinguzi, was forced to cancel results from four …

By Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed As early as 2015, the average Arab will be forced to survive on less than 500 cubic meters of water per year, a level defined as severe scarcity Economic want and inequality, as much as political repression, incited the Egyptian and Tunisian revolutions. It is, of …

By Mubatsi Asinja Habati Edward Scicluna, a member of European parliament and former electoral commissioner in Malta was the Chief Observer of the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) of Uganda’s Feb.18 elections. He spoke to The Independent’s Mubatsi Asinja Habati about the EU EOM’s preliminary statement in which …

By Andrew M. Mwenda “Where Besigye projected himself as a national statesman, Museveni positioned himself as a local politician. Where Besigye articulated a grand, national vision, Museveni focused on mundane local issues. Besigye came across as idealistic with a high sense of morality; Museveni was realistic, pragmatic and practical if …

By Joseph Were “Unfortunately for Besigye, his team missed even the well known view that polls, even bogus ones, create the so-called “herd” mentality of voters swing to the side of the one reported to be winning.” “A voter told The independent: “Besigye forgot that he has to get the …