COLUMNISTS

By Andrew M. Mwenda The government of Uganda has written a Media Law Amendment Bill which, even a committee composed of Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Idi Amin, Benito Mussolini and Pol Pot would find rather stringent. Yet it is not the law that I find the problem but rather the …

By Andrew M. Mwenda   Recently, the Uganda government decided to spend about US$1 billion shopping high tech jet fighters and the accompanying missiles and armament from Russia. There has been outcry from the media, the donor community, the opposition and the wider public against it. How can a country …

By Dicta Asiimwe Makerere University’s new VC hopes a new governing law will give him control over a powerful University Secretary Who controls the purse at Makerere University? That is the question raised by an ongoing power struggle between the university’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Venansius Baryamureeba and the University Secretary …

By Courtney C. Radsch Although Uganda’s country’s constitution provides for the right to freedom of expression including ‘freedom of the press and other media,’ several laws negate these constitutional guarantees and the government is increasingly cracking down on critical journalists and media houses. Several statutes, like the Press and Media …

By Andrew M. Mwenda So we pick our story from last week. For the elite, it matters little whether you fought him yesterday or insulted him last week. As long as you want a job in exchange for either your silence or support, President Yoweri Museveni is always willing to …

By Abbey K.Semuwemba There are numerous coalitions, organisations and federations that have been formed regionally and worldwide. Some have worked and others have failed. The difference with the East Africa Federation is that some states are going through serious economic and political reformation particularly Rwanda and Kenya. Uganda appears still …

By Andrew M. Mwenda   As we move towards next year’s presidential election, it is important that we establish how President Yoweri Museveni and his ruling party, the NRM, have organised his support base. For most African governments to survive, they need support from the society over which they rule …

By Justice Prof. G.W. Kanyeihamba I received alarming documents, one entitled, “Principles for a Bill to amend the Press and Journalist Act with the main object of Regulating the media”dated May 6, 2009 and another dated January 29, 2010 and called The Press and Journalist (Amendment) Act 2010. The long …

By Mubatsi Asinja Habati Three things had to be proved: Was Kasirye murdered? Was his murder malicious? Did Kajubi procure or participate in the murder? When High Court Judge Justice Moses Mukiibi on April 24 acquitted Kampala businessman, Kato Kajubi, of the charges of murdering 12 year-old Joseph Kasirye, he …

By Andrew M. Mwenda   Recent events in Rwanda have filled my inbox. For example, a journalist in Uganda wrote to me on Skype in celebratory mood: ‘Finally your Rwanda (sic) is unravelling; pretty fast, very dramatically: Newspapers suspended ahead of elections, grenade blasts, senior army officers arrested, endless talk …