ARTICLES 2008-2015

By Rukia Makuma On November 3, 2009, government announced a plan that will criminalise Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), a cultural practice among the Sabiny of Kapchorwa and Bukwo districts, and a few communities in Moroto and Nakapiripirit districts. FGM involves partial or total removal of a womans external genitalia without …

By Mubatsi Asinja Habati & Joshua Masinde Some receptionists earn higher salary than govt doctors When Shs 900 million was stolen from under the bed of now interdicted National Forestry Authority (NFA) executive director Damian Akankwasa, the question was how he could have earned such big money when he is …

By Jocelyn Edwards Will the Marriage and Divorce Bill finally give women hope? Sitting in a legal aid clinic on Mawanda Road in Kamwokya, a Kampala City suburb, 25-year-old Harriet pulls out a handkerchief to wipe her tears as she relates how the man she considers her husband threw her …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Member of Parliament for Ndorwa East David Bahati wants homosexuals imprisoned for life or hanged. I am deeply conscious of the fact that the vast majority of Ugandans support him. But debate on homosexuality is being conducted largely out of ignorance and prejudice. For example, a …

By Patrick Kagenda Two months after the ministry of Health recommended a ban on production, sell, and consumption of alcohol packed in sachets allegedly because it had killed 18 people, the measure remains controversial in parliament, Cabinet, and the public. The Independent’s Patrick Kagenda talked to the Uganda National Bureau …

By Amon B. Mbekiza Parliament is in a tag-of war with the Foreign Affairs Ministry over Shs 17 billion the ministry needs to build a market for Uganda traders in Juba, Southern Sudan. Whatever reasons parliament has, this money should not be passed. For starters, this is the wrong ministry …

By Patrick Kagenda Buoyed by returning off-shore investors especially in the oil sector, increased remittances from Ugandans working abroad, and inflows from exports, the shilling has appreciated 25% against the dollar over a six months ending October 31. Globally the dollar has seen some depreciation lately, against other currencies. It …

By Mubatsi Asinja Habati At the age of 11, Nina Nahabwe underwent open heart surgery in the USA in 2003. Her parents could not have afforded the cost without the help of Kampala Rotary Club and Gift of Life International, a humanitarian body allied to overseas rotary groups that help …

By Ariel Rubin While section 140 of the colonial-era Penal Code Act already criminalises “carnal knowledge against the order of nature”, this new legislation will attempt to give teeth to that dictum Being gay in Uganda has never been easy, but a new draft bill tabled in Parliament on October …

By Independent Team Shs 500bn spent on army per year but soldiers live in huts, lack toilets, dead bodies kept in patients wards President and commander-in-chief of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF), Gen. Yoweri Museveni, has publicly said he cherishes the army and is a strong believer in the …