How politics in Kinshasa has united with interests in the “international community” to sustain Congo as a failed state THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Rwanda is a very unlucky country. It is the most developmentalist state in Africa. Yet its ambitions to modernise do not depend entirely on its own …
Read More »Kicking out human rights
Why is Uganda on a slippery slope? COVER STORY | THE INDEPENDENT | On Feb. 08, the government announced it was not renewing the mandate of the UN Office of Human Rights in Kampala. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is mandated to promote and protect the …
Read More »Trade-based money laundering
New report sheds light on illicit activity in Uganda Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | A new report analysing the scope and characteristics of global trade-based money laundering has found that the illegal activity poses complex problems for law enforcement and undermines development; especially in poorer countries like Uganda. The study, …
Read More »New look at Kampala, Kigali and Addis Ababa
They are changing fast: new book follows their distinct paths Kampala, Uganda | ASTRID R.N. HAAS | Kampala, the Ugandan capital where I live, is naturally the city I have studied and worked on the most as an urban economist. Yet even with this background, reading Tom Goodfellow’s recently published book, …
Read More »Africa’s pay-TV wars
Local content and lower subscription rates create a competitive market Kampala, Uganda | CONRAD ONYANGO | Africa’s pay television industry is projected to add 16 million new viewers over the next five years as top players step up the battle for compelling and affordable local content. Between 2022 and 2028, the continent’s …
Read More »Weak Ugandan passports and powerful passports
New rankings show world is opening up – but not for everyone Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Imagine nine east Africans, one from each of the regional countries, travelling to Hong Kong on a business trip. The Ugandan, Kenyan, and Tanzanian would not need a visa. But the Rwandan, Ethiopian, …
Read More »Putting bat meat on the table
Hunt for Ebola in the Rwenzori mountains turns into discussion of nutrition, love, and sex The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is funding a five-year project known as the “Strategies to Prevent Spillover” in seven priority African and Asian countries whose aim is to strengthen their capacities to identity, …
Read More »African guns on Ukraine frontline
Used as cannon fodder by Russia Wagner mercenaries COVER STORY | AGENCIES | Hundreds wailed as the body of a 33-year-old Tanzanian man, Nemes Tarimo, who was killed fighting in Ukraine as part of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s `Shadow Army’; the Wagner Group mercenaries, was on Jan. 24 returned home for …
Read More »Tarehe Sita in the age of Muhoozi
The once significant army anniversary has been overshadowed by the rabble rousing General Kampala, Uganda | IAN KATUSIIME | On Feb. 6, the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) will mark the 42nd anniversary of its existence as a fighting force on a day popularly known as Tarehe Sita. It commemorates the …
Read More »Attorney General “Confused” About trial of civilians in Military Courts
Kampala, Uganda | THEINDEPENDENT | The Attorney General, Kiryowa Kiwanuka has said that court rulings on whether the military court should try civilians plunged his chambers into confusion. Kiwanuka, in a speech at the opening of the New Law Year 2023, said the confusion is arising from the judgments from the …
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