In The Magazine

By Mubatsi Asinja Habati John Okumu was recently recruited as a guard with Saracen Uganda Limited, a private security firm. Okumu says his financial situation has been harsh ever since he began his job. After the six weeks of training Okumu and his colleagues spent  footing the rent and feeding …

By Okello Lucima I have been wondering what in military parlance and war tradition, it would mean for a private to single-handedly slay a general on the battlefield. Would one be promoted from private to, say, Captain; Major; Lieutenant Colonel or Brigadier? Surely, those who understand military customs and practices …

By The Independent Team Mysterious deaths under Museveni, Obote regimes Someone dies in a motor accident; another person is hit on the head by a woman; while another is shot dead. Death could visit anyone in Uganda, anywhere, anytime. So why will people not accept it when it happens to …

By Bob Roberts Katende Margaret Namuyanja, 60, lives in a one-room house with her grandchildren along Salama Road in Makindye, a Kampala suburb. It is midday and she is hurriedly preparing food for her two grandchildren, who are about to come home from school. Namuyanja finds her life troubling trying …

By Onghwens Kisangala All elections in Uganda since independence have been marred by rigging and other malpractices perpetuated mostly by state agencies such as the Electoral Commission and security organs. However, for the first time, civil society has joined the fight against election malpractices and misinformation under their platform Citizens’ …

By John Njoroge Your next caller could be a fraudster Sometime in August, operatives attached to the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) arrested one of Uganda’s biggest fraudsters ever.  The 21-year-old Michael Mugarura had for over three years been impersonating President Yoweri Museveni by imitating his voice. He would use …

By Charles Byaruhanga On October 9, 2009, Uganda celebrated her 47th Independence Anniversary. Most opposition politicians did not attend because national celebrations have turned into NRM functions, where the party functionaries dress in yellow colours and dry banana leaves to signify support for the nth term for President Museveni. In …

By Andrew M. Mwenda The death of Maj. Gen. James Kazini reveals the major institutional weakness in Uganda. Kazini died like a petty thief allegedly bludgeoned to death by a ‘malaya.’ This is not an isolated incident. As President Yoweri Museveni said at the funeral, the best of NRA/UPDF commanders …

By Joshua Masinde Power, sex and scandal have been known to go together since man started living in organised communities, the first recorded incidents being in biblical times. Often, the mix has ended in tragedy but more often in blushes and a little embarrassment  depending on how high the personalities …

By Andrew M. Mwenda He was trying to avoid one death when he fell into another Maj. Gen. James Bunanukye Kazini spent most of Monday evening November 9 out with his girlfriend, Lydia Draru a.k.a. Lydia Atim Draru. At about 5am, the former Uganda People’s Defence Forces army commander dropped …