In The Magazine

In July 2012, President Yoweri Museveni asked The Independent’s Managing Director, Andrew Mwenda, to accompany him to visit the window of former President Milton Obote, Mrs. Miria Obote, at her home along Impala Avenue in Kololo. Mwenda is a close friend of the Obote family and an admirer of the …

By Joseph Were 2014 could be the best year for him, worst for the opposition Politically speaking, 2014 has started on a very quiet note; and that is very bad for opponents of President Yoweri Museveni in a year that must set the pace for the outcome of the next …

By Esther Dyson How do you cure the terrible inefficiency of NGOs that are typically run by people without management skills? Since starting my own nonprofit organisation, I look at other nonprofits with new eyes. There are far more of them than I ever realised. As an angel investor, I …

By Magelah Peter Gwayaka Media freedoms could be curtailed and individual’s privacy abused by police Recently Uganda Parliament passed two bills; the Anti-Homosexuality and the Anti-Pornography Bills, which purport to aim at protecting Uganda’s societal morals. However, what seems not to be in the debate is the fact that the …

By Simon Peter Kaye Mini-skirt brawls, Gen. Sejusa leaks, gay bashing, teargas, and World Cup in 2014 An in-depth analysis of anticipated trends and phenomena bound to shape Uganda’s socio-economic and political landscape this year reveals some interesting projections. Let me play the oracle and tell you what to expect …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Attempts to make Mandela a secular saint and set his actions apart from the general experience in Africa distort history Two weeks ago, I committed “sacrilege” on my television show on NTV when I said that many of the things former South African president, Nelson Mandela, …

By Haggai Matsiko & Andrew Mwenda Karegeya, Nyamwasa split In mid 2013, the Rwanda National Congress (RNC) had scheduled an election for its leaders in South Africa for Aug 8. However, in the weeks preceding the election, the party experienced infighting and consequently the election was postponed. Two camps had …

By Julius Businge The Governor of the Central Bank of Uganda, Prof. Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile has today (Jan. 3) announced that they will maintain the policy lending rate-the Central Bank Rate (CBR) at 11.5%, the same as that of December last year after inflationary pressures continued to abate in December, …

By Henry Zakumumpa How poor African countries unwittingly develop rich western countries About three months ago, the local press was awash with reports of a raging debate in parliament about Uganda’s proposed borrowing from China to build the Karuma hydro power dam. The legislators maintained that this would exhaust Uganda’s …

  By Prashant Thakker With forward-looking regulation and technology, MFIs can provide more access to financial services Microfinance is, at its heart, an effort to provide financial services to people who are not served – or are under-served – by the formal banking system. With appropriate, accessible, and fairly priced …