COLUMNISTS

By Andrew M. Mwenda In the 1999/2000 financial year, the total budget of the government of Uganda (tax revenues plus foreign aid) was Shs 1.9 trillion. The budget for 2009/10 financial year is Shs 7.6 trillion ‘ a 400% increase. In dollar terms (the exchange rate of the shilling to …

By Okello Lucima I have been wondering what in military parlance and war tradition, it would mean for a private to single-handedly slay a general on the battlefield. Would one be promoted from private to, say, Captain; Major; Lieutenant Colonel or Brigadier? Surely, those who understand military customs and practices …

By Bob Roberts Katende Margaret Namuyanja, 60, lives in a one-room house with her grandchildren along Salama Road in Makindye, a Kampala suburb. It is midday and she is hurriedly preparing food for her two grandchildren, who are about to come home from school. Namuyanja finds her life troubling trying …

By Charles Byaruhanga On October 9, 2009, Uganda celebrated her 47th Independence Anniversary. Most opposition politicians did not attend because national celebrations have turned into NRM functions, where the party functionaries dress in yellow colours and dry banana leaves to signify support for the nth term for President Museveni. In …

By Andrew M. Mwenda The death of Maj. Gen. James Kazini reveals the major institutional weakness in Uganda. Kazini died like a petty thief allegedly bludgeoned to death by a ‘malaya.’ This is not an isolated incident. As President Yoweri Museveni said at the funeral, the best of NRA/UPDF commanders …

By Akena P’Ojok Why Uganda should not be short of electricity In part I, the author showed how the British built Owen Falls Power Station to serve their colonial interests, how they locked in an agreement for Uganda to supply cheap electricity to British settlers in Kenya, and how the …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Last week, I was in Lagos, Nigeria and witnessed the tragedy of African politics. Nigeria is home of anything between 140m to 160m people. It has some of the most educated, intelligent, innovative and hard working Africans. However, its politics promotes leaders who are venal, greedy …

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 Akena P’Ojok Why Uganda should not be short of electricity It should be a blessing for a country to have natural energy resources such as petroleum, gas, coal, water with fast running rivers and falls. But this is not always the case; in fact the contrary may occur. This …

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 …