Opinions | MINISTRY OF ICT AND NATIONAL GUIDANCE

05 October 2025

BWANA GAWAYA TEGULLE, THIS IS WHY UGANDANS HAVE CONTINUOUSLY VOTED YOWERI MUSEVENI

In his Sunday Monitor column of 30th September 2025, Gawaya Tegulle outed a piece, titled, ‘2026 polls: Gen Muntu the stone that builders rejected’, where he made very patronising observations about Ugandans especially the many millions that have continuously voted for president Yoweri Museveni and the National Resistance Movement party over the years. Using a barrage of overbearing English words, Bwana Gawaya thinks Ugandans are dimwits and carry no brains to chose what is good for themselves. In his view, Ugandans should accept to suffer whatever form ‘indignations’ that come their way because they are permanently making wrong decisions of choosing President Museveni to be their leader time and again. How wrong he can get. Simple facts should inform Bwana Tegulle to appreciate why majority Ugandans are forever grateful to Yoweri Museveni and hence the continued trust. President Museveni inherited a complete failed state in 1986 and there is no debate about it. Imagine taking over a country that had had 7 presidents in a period of just 24 years. Indeed, we weren’t changing leadership through a democratic process, but changes were occasioned through military coups and brutal takeovers like the one championed by Milton Obote in 1966. The story of the Idd Amin’s and his reign of terror is well known to Ugandans and the rest of the world especially among the baby-boomers and Generation X like Gawaya Tegulle. Since 2006, when the last group of war mongers of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) were completely defeated and fled to the Central African Republic (CAR), Uganda has had total peace from all corners of its territory. As a result, we are now home to over 1.6 million refugees from across the world and second refugee hosting nation in the whole world. This is on top of being ranked number one in the world with the best refugee hospitality policies. Those troubled in their countries find peace in Uganda courtesy of Yoweri Museveni. This total peace and stability witnessed for the first time in very man years is what has led to massive Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) in Uganda hence creating the much-needed jobs, skills, innovations plus growing the size of our economy. Then one wonders why Ugandans are still voting Museveni…? Uganda’s economy has strengthened its resilience to domestic and external shocks and been growing at estimated 6% over the last 30 years. In nominal terms, the size of the economy is now USD 66.3 billion compared to 1.5USD billion in 1986. This growth is broad-based, including in agriculture, industry and services like ICT. Uganda is on course to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning through Universal Education from Primary to Secondary levels. In this way, we have been able to restore gender parity with the enrollment of females and males almost balanced. Science and Technology remain high on the agenda of the country. Following the launch of UPE in 1997, gross enrolment in primary schools increased from a total of 2.5 million in 1996 to now over 8.6 million in 2023, according to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics. Government has increased funding to the education sector, more classrooms have been constructed, teachers deployed, the number of primary school teachers almost doubled in years from 81,564 in 1996 to 136,819 in 2023. The Universal Education programme in Uganda demonstrates that a country with a committed NRM government can fight poverty through ensuring access to education for its citizens. Energy investments are transforming Uganda's economy by promoting new industries, creating jobs, enhancing energy access, and driving economic diversification through renewable energy and oil production. Uganda's total electricity generation is 2,052 megawatts (MW) following the completion of the 600-MW Karuma Hydropower Plant compared to only 750 megawatts that were available in 1986. The electricity transmission capacity has now increased to 4,218 km of high voltage. More plans are underway to generate more electricity to meet our ever-increasing demands because of rapid industrialization we are experiencing. The investment in infrastructure to support regional and international trade includes upgrading Entebbe International Airport and designating other airports for international traffic. The focus is on creating a seamless, sustainable multi-modal transport system aligned with national and regional development goals is unimaginable. The national paved road network has grown to approximately 6,850 from 1000 by 1986. Uganda’s tenfold growth strategy government is stepping up efforts to accelerate diversification of the economy, add value to raw materials to boost exports and import substitution to continue reducing our import bill, and also build more basic industries to produce items that Ugandans use on daily basis such as sugar, soap, cooking oil, clothes, medicines, construction materials, etc. Uganda continues to register improvements in the health sector. Access to and utilization of health services has significantly improved over the years, with the population living within a 5km radius of a health facility increasing 86 percent. Uganda's overall routine immunization rates show improvement up to 2022, with DTP3 coverage at 89% and BCG and rotavirus coverage above 80% for children aged 12-23 months. Therefore, as we prepare to go into the General Election come January 2026 President Yoweri Museveni’s progressive leadership will be without a doubt rewarded abundantly with another resounding vote. The writer is the AG Executive Director Uganda Media Centre

BY OBED KATUREEBE

20 September 2025

CHURCH, RELIGION AND THE WORSHIP OF FALSE TEACHINGS IN UGANDA

Last week, the Independent Electoral Commission, led by Justice Simon Mugyenyi Byabakama, announced a ban on fundraising in churches, mosques and other places of worship during these five months of the general election campaign season. It should be curious that religious institutions and priests have not made noise, but taken it lying low as if during the election God doesn’t need the money from politicians seeking office. However, I am not sure that Byabakama is in position to monitor or prevent politicians or their agents quietly passing financial donations to religious institutions and priests, in which case even a superficial accountability will be hard to obtain. During COVID-19 lockdown 2020-22, priests shifted prayers to people’s homes, where tithe and donations simply got tucked into their personal pockets. This should all be well, after all, over the years, experience has taught us that church, mosque, religion, and priests leading them, have not all been truthful or even correct in universal upliftment, emancipation and liberation of humanity. Religion, of every shade particularly as practiced in Uganda, is mostly superstition, invented to manipulate and control the mind, and keep us in failure. Poor people have donated the only pence they have to their church, mosque, and these days to predator ‘pastors’ who live large lifestyles, only for the givers to beg total strangers for money for food, health, or children’s school fees, while those priests give no damn. Religious faith has for centuries been a business model, often with no start-up capital, that no one has ever told you about or publicly admitted, and it is the reason religious institutions and leaders are rich, opulent yet most of their followers wallow in extreme poverty and want basic necessities of life. Yet it is in seasons like this that the religious, civil society and so-called democracy groups raise the tempo of their dubious activities, in such of money, usually under the dubious claims that Uganda is on the brink of election chaos, violence, and perhaps disintegration. Africans, especially Ugandans, should stop hiding behind prayers as a possible solution to many of the intractable problems we have historically gone through or are currently doing so. The God of Europe, Arab, or Asia, we have worshiped so much since the advent of colonial domination, subjugation and exploitation just like the gods of Africans who did not protect us from foreign predators, do not owe us a miracle just because we avoid our own responsibilities. Ugandans should stop honoring their priests than planning, hard creative work, and productivity. Religion and unquestioned faith are nothing more than mere imagination and manipulation that have built empires around obedience and loyalty. See, it is absurd that in Uganda today we can question the government, state institutions, and their leaders who hold instruments of coercion, yet we cannot vigorously question a man wearing a white collar passing for a religious priest. Churches, mosques and their leaders now raid our government coffers of the taxes you have paid in order for them to live in additional opulence including brand new SUVs, yet public schools and health facilities are not fully equipped, and you blame the government. Now don’t wonder anymore that schools under religious institutions, called “Church Founded” are declining in academic, management and discipline standards, while churches, cathedrals and bishops’ residential houses are expanding and looking really magnificent. And when church-run medical facilities confiscate dead bodies whose owners have not paid up the bills, it is a business model, not philanthropy as we had been made to unquestionably believe. Likewise, when priests refuse to preside over burial of the dead because they are not fully paid up, it amounts to retributive justice.

BY OFWONO OPONDO

13 September 2025

NRM MUST CLOSE RANKS; FIRMLY BLOWOUT SO-CALLED INDEPENDENTS

The just concluded NRM primaries to elect flag-bearers from village to parliamentary candidates who are not set to face opposition groups, and the so-called ‘independents’ should now be behind us, especially to the committed party loyalists, regardless of the fallouts. NRM leaders at various levels, must now invite winners and losers to work jointly for harmony, unity and a collective NRM election victory in 2026. Speaker of Parliament, and Second National Vice Chairperson (Female), Member, Central Executive Committee (CEC), Annet Anita Among, the new ‘girl’ on the NRM political bloc, has this week, created, a WhatsApp group, “NRM MP Flag bearers 202631,” pledging, joint and coordinated election campaign, to ensure a most effective outcome, which should be embraced. By Thursday, 318 flag-bearers had joined in. This could be replicated, down the ballot, with appropriate modifications. It is my submission, that in 2025, at the onset of the return to multiparty dispensation, NRM entrapped itself, and the country, by cozying-up to ‘independents’, many of whom, were simply disgruntled political indisciplinados, fair-weatherizes and opportunists. This phenomenon, has now become a thorny curse, in our collective walk, towards a functional multiparty democracy. While persuasion is still inevitable, it ought to be conducted on a case-by-case basis, as an exception to the rule, rather than the general principle, if NRM is to progress forward. The two decades, now, of NRM’s political stitch-ups with ‘independents’, has brought in so little dividends, except to entrench conveyor-belt self-serving convenience, and extremely inefficient patronage. People who are enjoying senior leadership position in NRM, and government like ministers ought to be made to retreat from running as ‘independents, or else be forced out of NRM so as to enforce internal party rules. And in fact, many of these touting being so-called ‘independents’ need the NRM political cover, than NRM needs them. Without President Yoweri Museveni’s personal political cuddling, they are destined to collapse like wet clay. In the more established electoral democracies like Britain, United States, India, Japan, Singapore and South Korea, we have recently witnessed the de-selection and dismissals of errant party leaders including from legislatures. Close-by Uganda, like Tanzania (CCM) and African National Congress (ANC), that the NRM calls ‘fraternal’ and travels regularly for ‘bench-marking’ with, even the slightest disagreement with the agreed party policy position, let alone constitution, attracts heavy sanctions that includes outright dismissal. In the dingy corner of Uganda, even the National Unity Platform (NUP), loosely cobbled has been able to show its former vice president in charge of Buganda, its only base, and Leader of Opposition in Parliament (LoP) Mathias Mpuuga, the exist without much political qualms. Yet in the NRM, many fear to call out these hangers-on, for what they really are, and instead are each, getting emboldened upon losing election, to run as an ‘independent’, and usually receiving covert financial support, from some top NRM leaders. The nomination returns for Isingiro district local government elections, released mid-week, by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) chaired by Justice Simon Byakama Mugyenyi, where, the district chairperson and all thirty-two councilors were elected unopposed, is indicative of NRM’s support countrywide. If MPs Anthony Akol (Kilak county East) Amuru district and Dr Twaha Kagabo (Bukoto South) Lwengo district, formerly FDC and NUP respectively could boldly discard those tickets to join NRM, there is no reasonable excuse, for the NRM not to boot out its political renegades. Uganda’s multiparty democracy, on trial and tribulation, since 2005, cannot be refined, made more functional, responsive and consolidated, when the political front men and women, are allowed freewheel style each time they lose an election.

By Ofwono Opondo

01 September 2025

UGANDA IS NOT HOMOPHOBIC; WE ARE ONLY AGAINST THE DELIBERATE PROMOTION OF THIS DEVIANT BEHAVIOR

On 15th August 2025, four of their colleagues attacked them accusing them of promoting homosexuality tendencies amongst the student community. School administration was quick to react, and the four boys weren’t harmed in any way. Since then, some human rights defenders have castigated government making all manner of accusations. The saddest accusation was that Uganda is beginning to weaponize the Anti Homosexuality Act 2023. On May 2, 2023, the Parliament of Uganda passed the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023, which had been returned to parliament for more improvement. President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni accented to the bill. Hell broke loose largely from the Global North, which was calling the leadership in Uganda all manner of names. World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced the withdrawal of their support, and more sanctions were being planned until President Donald Trump assumed office as President of the USA and things changed dramatically. To them, curtailing the promotion and funding of LGTBQ campaigns within our communities is to commit gross human rights abuses like committing genocide. For the record, Uganda and Ugandans are not homophobic. For clarity’s sake, Ugandans have never killed their few homosexuals that exist within their communities. In fact, they treat them as unfortunate people with deviant behavior and then manage them with care and sympathy. The Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 is intended to manage homosexuals in a way that can lead to rehabilitation and restoration. The Act, more importantly, curtails the deliberate campaign of spreading homosexuality among our children. For some time now, some entities from the Western world were funding the promotion of this vice among our poor and vulnerable communities using many uncouth approaches. They take advantage of our poor and needy communities, where they will throw some money, but with clear conditions that the recipients must promote LGBTQ campaigns among our people especially children. Of course, this behavior is not in our norms, and those assigned to promote it on behalf of the global community tend to land into problems that are at times fatal. The values of a society are significant because they determine the contents of its norms, which help maintain social order. Each value has a corresponding norm, or put differently, all norms express social values. Every individual, every family, and indeed, every society has principles and standards that are appreciated and held in high regard, as well as those that are abhorred. In fact, the main social challenges Uganda is facing are drug abuse by the youth and not homosexuality, i.e., alcoholism and drug consumption. However, Uganda has put in place laws and regulations to handle such challenges. Our Penal Code offers effective punitive measures to curtail such challenges. Besides, there are institutions and organizations that are professionally and technically equipped to counsel and guide such victims. Rehabilitation centers have been put in place. There are some that are run by the government and others by private organizations. They tackle such victims of abuse. Butabika National Referral Hospital has been expanded and equipped to handle victims of drug abuse. Therefore, it is not right for human right defenders to keep throwing themselves around with condemnations every time we take decisions that are meant to protect our social values. As a country, we took firm resolutions to refuse the idea of promoting the Gay Agenda to be part of our human development. To those that thought that by freezing us out of their development loans, we would bend on our knees and repeal the Anti homosexuality Act, must have now realized that that was a wrong idea. It is years now down the road and we are going strong economically. Finally, it is a wrong belief among our Western friends to think that to be civilized and humane is to swallow the Western way of life; to be barbaric and cruel is to be non-western. There is a racist tinge in this cultural rhetoric that presents the particular as universal. It echoes the spread of Christianity during the colonial encounter: African religions were called satanic. To have faith was to be Christian. As Africans, we have no identity except as carbon copies of "Western men." The Western effort to shape African nations and societies in their own image is written all over the place for everybody to see. While many Western actors in these endeavors genuinely believe they have our best interests at heart, and while they have many local allies who share their vision, they are not any different from their colonial ancestors who came here claiming to spread the three Cs: Christianity, Commerce, and Civilization. These efforts to shape us according to their fancies show contempt for our uniqueness. Africa needs to be given space to shape its future. The writer is the Acting Executive Director Uganda Media Centre

By Obed Katureebe

30 August 2025

CDF, TAME ERRANT OFFICERS MISUSING SOLDIERS AND FIRE ARMS IN ELECTIONS

As the next election campaign season approaches, the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba should reign in on UPDF Generals, and senior officers, serving and retired, who misuse personal guards to meddle in civil elections. Often, these officers who have connections with military installations around the country obtain unofficial soldiers who they deploy in support of their friends or relatives who are candidates. Without appearing to bad-mouth the UPDF, some are said to be on for hire by politicians in election campaigns. It is unclear how the UPDF reached this low point. In the just concluded NRM internal elections we witnessed such illegal deployments of UPDF soldiers in Busia, Gulu, Butaleja and Sembabule districts where they obstructed candidates, their supporters, and police officers on duty. There was a recently retired General from Karamoja who was so notorious in Busia where police officers were so hapless in the face of his bullying. Earlier, the country had watched in consternation and embarrassment when UPDF got overtly involved including the deployment of heavy military war hardware in the Kawempe North parliamentary bye-election, and act that dented NRM support and image too. Like the ongoing cracking of the whip on suspected corrupt officers including several Generals now in custody as investigations roll, errant behaviour by soldiers in civilian elections is bringing the UPDF into disrepute. For avoidance of any doubt, the official known role of the UPDF in securing stability including during elections is not contested. It is also imperative, that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Abbas Byakagaba, provides strong and professional leadership and guidance to his officers and men so they can have confidence while in command to calmly withstand bullying and intimidation by these soldiers on illegal personal errands. A timid police officer in command, but unsure of his own orders, trembling and sweating in their uniform before an errant army officer, or irate politician, is a recipe for chaos during an election season, particularly bad on polling day. Similarly, over-board conduct by police officers, especially the District Police Commanders (DPCs) who sometimes take over the role of election officers upon being bribed by candidates, to announce the winners, must be checked. But as the old adage goes, “it takes two to tangle,” and so to have a clean election season, we the politicians, especially candidates and supporters must check ourselves as a collective. While election politics is emotive, in Uganda today, it seems that anything goes, violence, intimidation, blackmail, open bribery, and extortion are all wrapped-up in the name of freedom and democracy. Free speech is a cornerstone of democracy, but we have taken political rabble rousing down the line of slander and defamation against rivals in contests. Harmonization meetings often descend into shouting matches, or break-up even before they start, and so no mutual ground rules to govern the campaigns. Abrasive conduct by candidates and supporters even against the police, law enforcement officers and election officials has become normalized, and so few respect the rules, yet surely Uganda is not a jungle. And with opposition activists on a hostile confrontational path, emboldened by the open mischievous conducts of some elements within NRM, it is hard to see how a trajectory of respect for common rules will be engendered. The NRM is a huge party whose heart beats, but with a weak pulse because those at the centre probably do not feel or believe that they are powerful enough. To bring back discipline in the electoral process, my one pence proposal is that the NRM Secretary General, Richard Todwong, should hand every flagbearer a golden rule on election misconduct. In this era of capricious digital warriors playing by their own rules and constantly conveying mischief, the NRM must, as of necessity, be more alert and two steps ahead to deliver a cleaner election.

By Ofwono Opondo

23 August 2025

MUSEVENI, NRM CONFERENCES AND PROTECTING UGANDA’S GAINS OF FORTY YEARS

It has been three months of non-stop political activities in Uganda as the National Resistance Movement (NRM) undertook internal electoral renewal of leaders from the villages to national level that is concluding this coming week with the holding of its National delegates Conference. Hopefully, the vetting will weed out the chaff from the wheat so that NRM restores clean leadership that serves the country purposefully and diligently. NRM last held internal elections in 2015, and skipped 2020 due to the COVID19 global pandemic. The meetings, and conferences began on Wednesday this week with the Central Executive Committee (CEC), its apex organ vetting candidates for national offices including President Yoweri Museveni as presidential flagbearer for the 2026 elections. In open-dirty war, is Speaker Emeritus Rebecca Kadaga, on CEC for two decades seeking to maintain her seat, while the current, Annet Anita Among seem determine to inherit the throne. CEC was followed by the meeting of the National Executive Council (NEC) of eight hundred delegates among them all NRM MPs, NRM and local government Chairpersons and the top leadership at the party Secretariat. Tomorrow 24,845 delegates will swamp Kampala to participate in series of elections to choose national leaders of the eight different leagues comprising Elders, Women, Youths, Persons With Disabilities (PWDs), Workers, Veterans, Entrepreneurs, and Historicals which takes place on Monday. At the conclusion of these elections, the delegates will then participate in the two-day National Conference that will end on 28 August 2025 at Kololo Independence Grounds. These events should provide many opportunities, if not windfall, especially for the middle and lower business communities in Kampala, Mukono and Wakiso as NRM delegates whose pockets will be healthy, courtesy of the party, seek accommodation, food, entertainment, transport, and local tourism. Mid-week, NRM unveiled a new portrait of a younger-looking Yoweri Museveni, that will be used for the forthcoming presidential campaigns. Some critics were quick to jeer and sneer, although in the NRM we shall brush it off as being driven mainly by jealousy of potential political bad-losers. Alongside the presidential candidate’s portrait, NRM also launched its forthcoming election campaign theme “Protecting the Gains,” of the last four decades under President Museveni. Over this period, NRM political activities have dominated the ground, media landscape and opinion narratives, which in public relations practice is good. NRM also now seems to have put aspects of election fiasco neatly behind, especially with non-dramatic ways in which its election tribunal handled and disposed off the hundreds of petitions. And maybe, NRM leaders at the top could start considering overall evaluation of its internal elections, including the possibility of amend its constitution to down size its structure, revert to electoral college, and revert to secret ballot elections. With these elections NRM now has close to three million six hundred leaders countrywide, which, if put to effective use should deliver a credible and convincing electoral victory come 12 January 2026. These numbers could also keep in touch with population, mobilize for better uptake of government programs for socio-economic transformation, supervise and monitor effective implementation, and as well detect and curtail corruption incidences early enough, but alas. NRM, could thus, leave its many opponents and detractors including the opposition parties as mere sulking spectators with no credible direction or agenda of their own, although some of them may soon begin to menacingly swing their hockey butts aimlessly. And of course we look forward in disdain to their self-false pompousness as they seek political validation. Nevertheless, as we look towards the nominations for president and parliament by the Justice Simon Byabakama Mugyenyi Electoral Commission, slated in early October for next year’s general elections, NRM as a vanguard party, holding a revolutionary, liberation, emancipation and transformative agenda, must keep to the high expectations it gave Ugandans when it assumed leadership four decades ago.

By Ofwono Opondo

16 August 2025

RUNNING PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION CAMPAIGN ON A THIN BUDGET

Three months ago when I declared my intention to run for parliament, one UPDF General called me up to say he was sending five million shillings to kick-start my election campaigns for MP Older Persons Eastern Region. He kept his word on the dot. Next, a senior minister called to say his political assistant would deliver three million shillings the next day, and he too kept his word. By the third day since declaration that I was running to get the NRM flag at the national delegates conference due between August 22-28, another senior minister delivered five hundred liters of diesel, and so my campaign got rolling in a non-stop roller coaster. I have so far done all the forty districts, seven municipalities and six city divisions that constitute the Eastern Region electoral area stretching from Jinja to Kaberamaido, Kapelebyong, Katakwi to the hills and valleys of Sebei, Bugisu and Bukedi. Ministers, MPs, NRM comrades, and friends, many of them also running their own election campaigns, keep dropping in some small amounts, mostly what Americans would call small donations, ensuring that my campaign trail does not get glitches.in the last week of July, a senior police officer delivered five million shillings and offered one hundred liters of diesel for the five weeks to the end of elections. Must of the money received has been spent on basic items directly related to the elections like transport cost for self, personal staff, delegates, meeting venues, coordination, publicity and refreshments. I have been able to meet nearly all the delegates in face-to-face consultations at their respective districts. For some, I traveled to their homes where we have had meals with their families. The experience has been so refreshing especially getting to know people up-close. Because of my recent farming activities in Kapelebyong, Teso region seem to treat like a wonderful son of the soil. The thirty-nine years I have been in NRM affairs, starting with being a military trainer and political education lecturer at our institutions, work in journalism, and media, have given me an illustrious name, voice and face recognition that there is no single district NRM I have not found people who already know me. Most of them believe and say I would make a good MP, advocate for Older Persons issues, and indeed strengthen the NRM voice in parliament, but whether they will deliver, will be tested on polling day. In every region and district, I found volunteers among our NRM older persons league committees, who on account of the silence and dumbness of the incumbent, believe it is time to change for a strong, bold, loud and consistence advocacy, lobbying and forward planning for older persons. It is important that we stop treating parliamentary seats for special interest groups (SIGs) as ‘welfare’ for the office-holders as seems to be today, in the case of older persons. We should utilise these seats to boldly raise the voice of older persons especially on health, welfare, sustainable income and security of personal property particularly for the most vulnerable who are increasingly becoming fewer in Uganda’s decision-making platforms. The younger people who constitute the majority in policy-making positions ought to be persuaded to know they will one day become old, vulnerable, and in need of government support unless they plan their personal lives adequately. This election campaign has exposed me to the deep ordeals older persons silently suffer from, and many eventually get buried into the earthly dust without even their own close associates knowing, and it is painful. There is urgent need to start brooding specialised attention to this category of Ugandans especially considering that free labour from relatives and community is becoming scarce as people pay more attention to things that bring income to their households rather than charity.

By Ofwono Opondo

13 August 2025

THE WAR ON TERROR IS OURS TO LOSE; THE UN EXPERT REPORT WON’T DERAIL OUR MOMENTUM

In July 2025, the UN team of experts on the conflict in DR Congo presented a report to the president of the UN Security Council alleging that Uganda and Rwanda were supporting the M23 rebel group in the Democratic Republic of Congo. M23, is a rebel movement fighting the regime in Kinshasa and have since taken control of a big area of the Kivu provinces in Eastern DR Congo. This rather unfortunate report made far-fetched allegations totally unsubstantiated and full of hearsays. The deployment of UPDF in DR Congo for the Operation Shuja seem to have made it easier for the UN investigators to make many misrepresentations. For the record, Uganda’s deployment in DR Congo was agreed on by the two governments i.e. DR Congo and Uganda and the mandate to be there has been continuously renewed by the government of DR Congo. As a result, the war on terrorism has picked momentum ever since we made the decision to follow the ADF in the jungles of eastern DRC in Dec 2021. Peace has since been established in that region and Congolese are back to their homes going on with their lives. The ADF terrorists weren’t only pausing a threat to Uganda through regular cross border attacks, they were committing genocide on the helpless Congolese citizens in the Ituri Province. Therefore, no amount of UN noise is going to stop Uganda’s war on terror, be it in DR Congo or beyond. Similarly, the UPDF in recent weeks has been engaged in bitter battles with the Al shabaab terrorists in Somalia. Reports coming in indicate heavy losses on the part of Al Shabab. They are losing ground and towns that they had recaptured ever since troop contributing countries downsized their numbers or withdrew completely like Burundi did from now phased out Africa Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in 2022. This famous quote from former US president could give us a more enriched perspective. “These terrorists kill not merely to end lives, but to disrupt and end a way of life. With every atrocity, they hope that America grows fearful, retreating from the world and forsaking our friends. They stand against us because we stand in their way. We're not deceived by their pretenses to piety. We have seen their kind before. They're the heirs of all the murderous ideologies of the 20th century. By sacrificing human life to serve their radical visions, by abandoning every value except the will to power, they follow in the path of fascism, Nazism and totalitarianism. And they will follow that path all the way to where it ends in history's unmarked grave of discarded lies”, President George Bush Junior. This was his speech to the nation 9 days after the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the US. The moral value of this famous quote is that any country worthy of its name must be firm and decisive in dealing with terrorism within its borders and beyond. The hunt for these ADF terrorists therefore has been stretched beyond our borders. As we speak the Uganda Peoples Defense Force ( UPDF) together with the DR Congo national force, FARDC are in Ituri province of eastern hunting down the ADF terror outfit and will eliminate them once and for all however long it takes. Defeating terrorism requires both regional and international cooperation and now that Uganda has both, we can only count days before we extinct these criminals. Cooperation in such operations is so critical. ADF is no longer a rag tag rebel outfit in the jungles of DR Congo. It is now fully allied to international terrorist group of ISIS. When ADF terrorist struck in the middle of Kampala in November 2021, the ISIS publicly claimed victory over the operation. Caution should be made to some of our Western allies who have been hoodwinked by some phony human rights organizations that quite often derail such firm approaches to defeat terrorism. Unfortunately, they tend to find allies in some quarters both within political opposition and their funders in the outside world. For example, some have already begun castigating Uganda’s security agencies on its firmness while handling these criminals. No country has defeated terrorism with kid gloves. Be it the USA, UK, France, Russia, China etc. These countries have had to take strong decisive decisions to counter such terror organizations and those who sponsor them. Finally, no amount of misleading reports from any quarter should derail this struggle. The UPDF record talks for itself. When the NRA which later morphed into UPDF were liberating Uganda from the hands of tyrants, they only relied on Ugandans who clearly understood their cause. After all, the world knows what some African countries especially in West and Central Africa are reaping from not taking firm decisions while handling terrorists. Terrorists threaten our collective security and we must collectively as Africans handle this threat to reaffirm our territorial integrity. Short of that we can only prepare for the worst. The writer is the Acting Executive Director Uganda Media Centre

By Obed Katureebe

09 August 2025

BRUTAL POLITICS; FDC SHMABLES, NANDALA MAFABI AND MUNTU’S RETURN

In the brutal world of politics, FDC president, Patrick Oboi Amuriat, has been left to kick the trashcan down the dusty road, as he swapped positions with party secretary general Nathan Nandala Mafabi now incoming flag-bearer candidate for the 2026 presidential elections. It has been a low-key affair of Nandala and Amuriat show, with Nandala as the real frontman, in what used to be the lead opposition party now a ghost lying down in embarrassments. When Amuriat was elected FDC president, and later handed the flag to run for president of Uganda, the political world told FDC that he did not have fire in his belly, but for convenience was ignored. Now the grapevine has it that Amuriat has lowered his ambitions to Kanyum parliamentary constituency, Kumi district. Personally I think that after a quarter of a century as MP Budadiri East constituency, with so little to show on the ground in socio-economic transformation, coupled with recent accusations by estranged FDC elements, Nandala may be finding a half-clever way to quit parliament, and the presidential bid could be a stunt. The NRM elections and its prolonged foggy aftermath, has momentarily concealed the miseries in opposition ranks. Mathias Mpuuga’s Democratic Front is limping more as a tribal clan, while DP and UPC are embroiled in inconclusive wars. Mpuuga has settled nicely in his new role of relative obscurity from the limelight of LoP, and like Betty Aol Ocan, the last LoP under FDC who so few even remember. Maj. Gen. (rtd) Greg Mugisha Muntu of the Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) returning as a 2026 presidential candidate and to what end after not finding his political gravitas. Forced out of FDC by Kizza Besigye and his wolves, yet unwilling to publicly rock the opposition sinking boat, many wonder what Muntu is really up to. Never-the0less, you have to admit and admire Muntu’s brute political courage, maybe a better second, third chance. Besigye tried four times, but is now washed out. Aggrey Awori (RIP), Beti Kamya, Dr. Abed Bwanika, and Gen. (rtd) Henry Tumukunde all eyed the presidency, collapsed and returned to seek parliamentary seats. It is a good habit when men and women in straw hats learn to cut their losses. Muntu’s installation by ANT as a presidential candidate, could be one way to thwart PFF boss, Eras Lukwago’s ambition for the same flag considering that ANT and PFF only recently signed an election ‘cooperation agreement’ whose details remain cagy. Some pundits think that ANT and PFF could be seeing their ‘cooperation’ as a possible antidote on NUP in Buganda, to occupy a vacuum. With NUP’s miserable performance in and outside parliament, except for tormenting bullish prime minister Robina Nabanja on the floor, by Joel Senyonyi, a man with a constant sense of superiority, sneer and arrogance, there is little to write home about. And the flair of Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, Medard Segona and Mohammed Muwanga Kivumbi, the threesome of perpetual condescension and swipe, occasionally taking advantage of parliamentary immunity to slander, has cowed many in NRM into silence. Vice president Jessica Alupo has chosen to limit any probable damage to her reputation and has kept her head low while in parliament yet she ought to use her protocol to clarify contentious issues. In that brutal it’s everyone to themselves, yet opposition parties, although not in government, have too recorded many failures of their own to defend, and shouldn’t be left to roll in fantasies. With many ministers and MPs having been thrown out in the NRM primaries, it is now time to see who, indeed how many more will get the shoutouts in the coming graveyard during the general elections. Apparently unnoticed, a quiet revolution is underway within NRM as voters eat the money but reject the spendthrifts.

By Ofwono Opondo

05 August 2025

UGANDA CO-HOSTING CHAN 2024 IS A LANDMARK ACHIEVEMENT IN THE COUNTRY’S SPORTS

The opportunity for Uganda to co-host the 2024 African Nations Championship alongside Kenya and Tanzania transcends football. It is a chance for African players to showcase their talent on the continental stage since CHAN features only local talent. This tournament boosts morale and pride in homegrown athletes and encourages investment in local leagues. In Uganda one of the most unifying and proudest moments is during national or international football matches. This is a time Ugandans put aside their political, religious, and cultural differences to rally behind their national team or country. Roads leading to the hosting stadiums are always awash with spectators and boda bodas loudly blowing vuvuzelas and chanting slogans of praise and support for their teams. This brings traffic to a standstill. Many people leave their cars at home and join others to trek to the stadium because it is an exciting experience. Football in Uganda is more than just entertainment. It brings out a strong spirit of nationalism. The flags, songs, and celebrations connect rural and urban, rich and poor communities under one shared interest. It is a platform for positive nationalism, especially among the youth who often feel disconnected from political processes. Uganda’s co-hosting of CHAN 2024 means we meet international standards in infrastructure, logistics, and hospitality. Taking part in organizing a major Confederation of African Football (CAF) event positions Uganda as a serious player in continental affairs, earning diplomatic capital and influence in East Africa and beyond. To host CHAN, a country must meet specific strict requirements set by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). These range from having suitable stadiums with adequate seating capacity and training facilities todemonstrating the capability to handle logistics, security, and accommodation for participating teams and fans. While launching CHAN 2024 at Kololo Independence Grounds, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni said hosting CHAN has provoked Uganda in a positive way to act. To qualify to host CHAN, Uganda had to undertake heavy sports infrastructure upgrades and development that included renovation of training facilities like Wankulukuku, Kyambogo, Kadiba, and KISU grounds. Mandela National Stadium Namboole underwent significant renovations, including upgrading of the playing surface, dressing rooms, spectator amenities, and media facilities to bring it to the modern CAF standards. Uganda stands to benefit from enhanced cooperation between hosting countries beyond the formal diplomatic structures of interaction. The coaches, the players, and the service providers will create rapport that high-level treaties and tripartite may not achieve. As political leaders are still haggling in boardrooms for regional cooperation, the organizers of this event are already maneuvering national differences to deliver a successful tournament to the eager fans across Africa and the world at large. By the end of this tournament strangers will leave as friends with deeper trust, lessons, cross-border collaborations, and opportunities. The public will enjoy affordable access to world-class football, as food vendors, artisans, and entertainers are set to reap big from the influx of fans, teams, and officials as football excitement has a bearing on how people spend. Transport and accommodation sectors around the match venues are enjoying a boost in business. Hosting CHAN is a strategic dry run for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), which Uganda will co-host with Kenya and Tanzania. By successfully organizing CHAN, Uganda proves its readiness to handle even bigger sporting events. With CAF’s confidence in Uganda, we hope to host more continental competitions in the future. To be proactive, Uganda should create a sports fund to support football and other disciplines, identify and prepare local talent, and train coaches, referees, and administrators to align with international standards. This is so that our hard work towards hosting CHAN doesn’t go to waste should opportunities find us unready. As food for thought for our politicians, given the period we are in as a country, what if you too picked some lessons from CHAN? Try replacing individualism with collective effort for teamwork, consider your actions on international perception of Brand Uganda, engage the youth beyond your campaign strategies, create for them opportunities to showcase their talents, consider performance as the only currency and shun corruption, and let the policies that you make bring people together around shared goals. Remember, empty promises like poor game plans will eventually lead to losses. As we turn out in big numbers to enjoy the tournament, let us keep the peace and security of our neighbors, visitors, and our country. We go Uganda, we go! Carolyne Muyama Uganda Media Centre edit the article

By Carolyne Muyama

03 August 2025

PROMOTING COFFEE GROWING IN KARAMOJA, ACHOLI, LANGO, AND WEST NILE IS GREAT INITIATIVE

Efforts to promote coffee cultivation in Karamoja, Acholi, Lango, and West Nile represent a significant advancement. This initiative will enable residents of these subregions to benefit more from coffee profits, similar to established coffee-growing areas such as Buganda (Central region) and Bugisu. Hats off to the National Coffee Research Institute (NaCORI) for spearheading this effort through its initiative known as WALK—an acronym for West Nile, Acholi, Lango, and Karamoja. NaCORI has adopted innovative strategies to raise awareness, including the use of art to highlight the economic benefits of coffee farming. This creative approach is particularly effective, as visual art often resonates deeply with audiences and captures their attention. Another unique strategy employed by NaCORI is coffee aerobics, where participants engage in 30 minutes of vigorous physical activity, followed by enjoying a fresh cup of coffee. This fusion of health and coffee culture not only promotes coffee farming but also encourages greater local consumption, which in turn increases returns for farmers across the coffee value chain. These initiatives come at a crucial time. Uganda has emerged as Africa’s leading coffee exporter, surpassing Ethiopia in export volume. The country is now the second-largest coffee producer in Africa and ranks eighth globally. In May 2025, Uganda exported 47,606 tons of coffee, earning $243 million, compared to Ethiopia’s 43,481 tons for the same period. Uganda also exported 793,445 bags of coffee in that month alone. By the end of 2025, coffee exports had generated $2.09 billion, a milestone driven by enhanced quality standards and sustained government support. Coffee is the second most traded commodity globally after oil and is among Uganda’s top traded products, benefiting from a fully liberalized marketing system. To maximize its potential, coffee farming should adhere to standardized production and processing practices to ensure both quality and economic sustainability. As Uganda’s leading cash crop, coffee plays a vital role in generating foreign exchange and creating employment. It contributes between 20% and 30% of the country’s foreign exchange earnings, despite the government’s broader efforts to diversify the economy. Coffee was introduced to Uganda by foreign settlers, with Arabica coffee first cultivated in 1914. Since then, coffee farming has evolved into a profitable industry, with significant gains during global coffee booms. The Central region (Buganda) remains Uganda’s top coffee producer, particularly the Greater Masaka area, which contributed significantly to the 594,188 bags of Robusta exported in April 2025, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry. The southwestern highlands also produce notable quantities of Arabica coffee, albeit in smaller volumes. Northern Uganda is now poised for transformation, thanks to NaCORI’s ongoing promotion efforts. Coffee farming has the potential to provide a stable income, stimulate local economies, and improve livelihoods. At the national level, it remains a crucial source of foreign exchange. The expansion of coffee farming in Karamoja, Acholi, Lango, and West Nile is expected to significantly increase production and uplift the quality of life for farmers and communities in these regions. To conclude, we turn to a popular saying from Buganda: “Emwanyi Telimba”—“Coffee doesn’t lie.” This timeless wisdom continues to affirm the value and truthfulness of coffee cultivation across Uganda.

By Nanteza Sarah Kyobe

03 August 2025

THE NRM PRIMARIES PROVED THAT IT IS STILL A POPULAR POLITICAL PARTY WHICH IS HERE TO STAY

Under Uganda’s multiparty system, political parties are expected to hold primary elections to allow their members to choose competent candidates who will then compete against flag bearers from other parties in the general elections. Since 2006, the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) has consistently organized such primaries at both local and national levels, including during the 2011 and 2016 electoral cycles. On July 17, 2025, Uganda took a significant step toward the 2026 general elections as the NRM conducted its primary elections across 72,000 villages in 519 counties, with over 9.2 million registered voters participating by lining up behind candidates or their agents. Although the process was not without flaws, it demonstrated a transparent and grassroots approach to promoting democracy and delivering justice within the party. The lining-up method, introduced in 2020 following approval by the NRM Central Executive Committee (CEC) at a meeting held at State House Entebbe, was adopted to address logistical and organizational challenges experienced during the 2015 primaries—such as delays in the distribution of voting materials and election mismanagement. Ironically, members of the opposition have criticized the lining-up method, yet the NRM remains the only political party in Uganda that has consistently offered its members a democratic platform to elect flag bearers through open primaries. Despite facing logistical hurdles and electoral disputes, the mere successful completion of this large-scale process is noteworthy and commendable. Over the years, NRM primaries have showcased the party's unique ability to register, mobilize, and engage its members across the country. The recent primaries reflected a level of organization and energy that gave the impression that Uganda's general elections were already underway. This further affirmed NRM’s position as a dominant political force in Uganda and across Africa. As the father of Uganda’s democracy, seasoned leader, Chairperson of the NRM, and President of the Republic of Uganda, His Excellency Yoweri Kaguta Museveni Ssabalwanyi Ssemalungu has offered critical feedback and guidance following the primaries. In line with his commitment to fairness, he established an NRM election tribunal to handle grievances and resolve disputes arising from the elections—a significant step toward preserving internal democracy. In contrast, many opposition parties remain unwilling or unable to learn from the NRM’s experience. They continue to struggle even with organizing basic internal elections at the village level. Parties like the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), Democratic Party (DP), National Unity Platform (NUP), JEEMA, and others still lack the internal structures necessary to entrench democratic norms within their ranks. How can these parties claim to champion democracy nationally when they fail to uphold it within their own operations? Simply awarding a party card to someone in place of a transparent electoral process is inherently undemocratic. It is especially disappointing that NUP leaders, despite consistent media complaints about NRM’s political conduct, have failed to practice the very democracy they demand. Their internal processes lack credibility. Decisions made by a small group of individuals meeting behind closed doors in Kavule, Magere, or Kamwokya cannot reasonably be viewed as legitimate or representative. Primaries are essential to democratic development—they provide political representation, encourage participation, and ensure accountability. NUP’s vague approach to leadership selection resembles a nomination-by-committee, not a true electoral process. Reports that party cards have allegedly been sold to the highest bidder at critical moments raise serious concerns about the party’s commitment to democratic values. Such practices are unacceptable in a modern democracy. Can the Bobi Wine–Chemutai–Fred Nyanzi commission credibly claim to represent the people when they bypass the very electorate whose mandate they seek? Should Bobi Wine and his team ever assume national leadership, one might fear that their first course of action would be to dismantle Article 59 of Uganda’s Constitution, which guarantees the right to vote to all citizens aged 18 and above. In contrast, the NRM continues to uphold this constitutional right, enabling members to freely vote for their preferred candidates in open primaries. Meanwhile, NUP’s closed-door committee decisions exclude the broader membership from meaningful participation. Consider the case of Johnmary Ssebuwufu, who is both contesting for LC5 Nakawa West and serving on the NUP vetting committee. In a transparent system, someone in this dual position could help model integrity and fairness. However, in a closed and opaque process, even capable leaders like him cannot effectively foster internal democracy. In conclusion, party primaries are the foundation of democratic governance. The NRM, through its imperfections, continues to demonstrate a functioning model of internal democracy that should serve as an example. Uganda needs political parties that not only preach democracy but also practice it—openly, fairly, and consistently.

By David Serumaga

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