Politics

Perhaps there is no politician, other than President Museveni, who in recent memory has punished those who have criticised him or her more than the Speaker of Parliament, Annet Anita Among. The list of culprits is extensive. It includes Mityana Municipality MP Francis Zaake, who was impeached as a commissioner for tweeting against the Speaker, and the State Minister for Housing, Persis Namuganza, who was also impeached, primarily for actions that displeased the Speaker. Then there’s former Kamuli Municipality Member of Parliament contestant, Moses Bigirwa, who was imprisoned for unclear reasons but relating to the Speaker, and journalist Moses Mugalula, also imprisoned for several days for reasons also relating to the Speaker. Not to forget social media user, John Ssentamu, aka Kerry Slend...

By Muhimbise George Three facts about Dr. Besigye; His contribution to the struggle for change in the past two decades is unmatched, he has a good vision for Uganda and has been persistent in pursuing this vision. Unfortunately having a good vision is not good enough unless it is backed by the right strategies. As Maxwell said “everything rises and falls on leadership”, Gen Museveni led 27 young men to the bush to remove an entrenched regime, that's leadership! The dream of any leader is to see his organization grow. Therefore, Dr Besigye’s role in FDC cannot be ignored because as a founding President, he is the vision bearer of an organization he founded. Following the loss of 2006 & 2011 elections, Dr Besigye lost confidence in the Ugandan electoral process! He opted for walk to work de...

President Museveni used a televised Independence Day eve address last night to rally Ugandans to reject tribalism,saying the country needs unity to glue it together and expand markets to enable citizens to prosper. “You should reject the serial idea of politics of identity, but join politics of value and ideas. Those who emphasise tribes, religion, sectarianism, and gender chauvinism want to turn us into a Latin America in Africa and yet we the freedom movement want to build a United States of Africa in Africa. Latin America is very rich in terms of natural resources, much richer than the United States but they are fragmented and not organised. This environment doesn’t encourage business,” Mr Museveni said. He outlined eight areas, among them fighting corruption and protecting the environm...

The Constitutional affairs minister, Nobert Mao, who doubles as the Democratic Party-DP president has challenged President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, to deliberately spearhead the processes for him to peacefully handover of power. While spearheading DP grassroots mobilization drives in Jinja city over the weekend, Mao pointed out that Uganda has never experienced any peaceful change of power, with each transition resulting into blood, which overly retards the country’s progression. He noted that it is high Museveni creates an alternative from the past trends set by his predecessors. He stressed that Museveni boasts of spearheading the country’s economic transformation in different aspects of life, which can be easily edified by the youthful generation, if he at all moots for peaceful power tr...

The newly elected Hoima district chairperson Uthuman Mughisha Mubarak has called for calm among the political and technical wing. The 26 year old says he has not come to fight wars but to work jointly with leaders for the growth of Hoima. His statements come at a time when most councilors including the District vice chairman who is in acting capacity Chiche Benson openly supported an independent NRM leaning candidate Muhumuza Savannah during the polls. We have the details Days after Uthman Mugisha Mubarak was voted as the new chairman for Hoima District, the 26 year old has spoken out on his priority areas, with unity, improving health services by ensuring availability of drugs, improving roads, education and easing access to water topping the list. This is in addition to the unending ca...

The National Resistance Movement (NRM) candidate, Mr Uthuman Mugisha Mubaraka, has emerged victorious in the September 14 Hoima district LCV by-election. The results were officially announced on Thursday night by Hoima District Returning Officer, Ms Merab Kasande, at Dwoli Primary School tally center, in the presence of the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Justice Simon Byabakama. Mr Uthuman, the son of the late Kadiri Kirungi, the former district chairperson who tragically lost his life in a road accident on March 17th along the Kampala-Hoima road, secured his victory by garnering a total of 18,353 votes.

The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) has rejected the request for funding the Extraordinary National Delegates Conference, which was called by the party chairman, Mr. Wasswa Birigwa on grounds that the party’s governing bodies were not informed in advance. In his letter dated August 24th, Birigwa had requested Shs638.2 million to support his conference scheduled for September 19th. In his letter, Birigwa stated, “The office of the party Chairman has called for an extraordinary National Delegates Conference on Tuesday, September in Kampala. The total number of expected participants is 1,970, including 1,560 delegates and 410 other guests.” According to the budget attached to the letter, the funds were intended for facilitating the attendance of delegates, providing security in the form of ...

President Yoweri Museveni has pardoned 200 inmates who have been serving various sentences in different prisons around the country. Frank Baine, the prison services spokesperson, said that the pardoned inmates include the former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Public Service Jimmy Lwamafa who was convicted in 2016. Lwamafa was convicted alongside, Kiwanuka Kunsa, the former head of the research and development department, and Christopher Obey, former chief accountant of the Ministry of Public Services and sentenced to 10, 7 and 5 years in jail respectively by the anti-corruption court after they were found guilty of causing financial loss, abuse of office, neglect of duty, embezzlement and connivance to defraud the Ugandan government. Baine revealed that Lwamafa was pardoned due to ...

The Secretary General of the Forum for Change (FDC), Nathan Nandala Mafabi, has slammed Speaker of Parliament Anita Among, accusing her of interfering in opposition party politics. He was responding to the speaker’s decision not to remove Kira municipality MP Ibrahim Semujju Nganda as the FDC party’s chief whip in parliament, as requested by a group of disgruntled FDC members led by Buhweju MP Francis Mwijukye. According to Mafabi, the members who petitioned parliament against Semujju Nganda’s dismissal and appointment of Yusuf Nsibambi are not members of the FDC’s working committee and even petitioned the wrong office without petitioning the party. “Madam Speaker, these members misled you because the functions of the National Executive Committee, National Council or National Delegates Con...

Speaker of Parliament Anita Among has declined the move to remove Kira Municipality MP Ssemujju Nganda from his role as Whip for the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) in Parliament. This comes after a faction of FDC MPs petitioned the Speaker requesting her to halt the proposed changes. On August 8, Nandala Mafabi formally notified Speaker Among of the party’s decision to dismiss Ssemujju Nganda from his position as Whip and replace him with Yusuf Nsibambi. Nine FDC MPs led by Francis Mwijukye, Nyakato Asinansi, and Atkins Katusabe, raised concerns over the decision made by the party’s Secretary General, Nandala Mafabi. In their petition to the Speaker dated August 15, the MPs alleged that Mafabi had taken the decision without proper consultation with the Party’s National Executive Committ...