By Mubatsi Asinja Habati Intrigue delays appointment of an executive director at Uganda’s Forest Authority Remember Damian Akankwasa? He is the former executive director of the National Forestry Authority (NFA) who hit fame after he accused his wife of pinching Shs 900 million from him in a story that shook …

By Independent team Museveni’s trip to Israel excites media Haaretz, Israel’s oldest daily newspaper, which is considered to be very influential among government leaders, ran a headline:  “Ugandan President Museveni has quietly met with the head of Mossad”, it was reported that the visit on Nov.12 to 14 was prepared …

By Joseph Were Defending him has shredded the President’s armour of invincibility and unleashed the virus that will destroy him Prof. Waswa Balunywa of the Makerere University Business School in Kampala has entrenched views about the role of leadership that he likes to encapsulate in a single mantra; “leaders are …

By Bob Kasango Their `century’ shouldn’t be perceived as the end of men On Sept. 21 Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff became the first woman ever to give the opening speech at UN General Assembly session. She called this ‘the century of women’. Barely a fortnight later, three women won the …

By Haggai Matsiko Makerere University, the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development and the French Embassy held an international Conference on Land Policies in East Africa that brought many scholars. The Independent’s Haggai Matsiko spoke to Prof Maurice N. Amutabi of the Catholic University of Eastern Africa about land …

By Mukiibi Sserunjogi Have judges resorted to ‘judicial activism’ to address election rigging? Before the High Court session that is currently hearing election petitions arising out of the February elections opened, few politicians had faith in resorting to courts if they felt their votes were stolen. One of the pessimists …

By Rukiya Makuma What next after opposition leaders are accused of failure to organise? On Oct. 16, a day before what Walk to Work organisers promised would be a massive resumption of the protests that paralysed the country in April, the Jinja highway was crowded with police patrol cars zooming …

By Morrison Rwakakamba What does it tell you that Uganda is absent from the countries embracing ‘open’ government values? On September 20th in New York, USA, President Barack Obama launched the Open Government Partnership (OGP, see www.opengovpartnership.org) – a powerful, new effort to make governments more open to their citizens. …

By Mubatsi Asinja Habati Botswana discovered diamonds and transformed itself into a vibrant economy. Sierra Leone discovered diamonds and went to the dogs. Prof. Paul Collier, director of the Centre for Study of African Economies at Oxford University, thinks Uganda could go either way depending on how well it establishes …

By Mubatsi Asinja Habati NFA’s tree planting campaign may fetch fortunes in carbon credits, but residents displaced by the green farms are yet to find a home The beautiful, endless, lush greenery of young forest captures the eye as one enters Kikandwa trading centre. It goes all the way to …