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To truly understand that small can be as beautiful and functional as a large space, you have to step inside Essy Kyarikunda’s home. It is a masterclass in balance, where the entire living area feels intuitively “just right.” The genius of the design lies not in what it contains, but in how each element serves a purpose. A kitchen island is both a prep station and a dining table; a sofa defines the living area without dominating it.

Here, function is woven so seamlessly into the form that the space feels curated, not crowded. Nothing is extraneous, yet nothing is missing. It is a testament to the idea that a home’s comfort comes not from its square footage, but from the thoughtful harmony of its parts.

Many people believe a big house is the only way to live a comfortable and successful life. Kyarikunda was originally one of them when she set out to build her home.

She designed her home with separate rooms, each divided by walls; a small kitchen, a dining area, and a living room all closed off from one another.

“The original plan I chose was very common,” she explains. “It had a small, closed-off kitchen, a spot just for a dining table, and a formal living room with a large sofa set.”

This common layout, however, used space in a very inefficient way. The walls that were meant to create different rooms actually made the home feel tight and cramped. “There was no easy room to walk through; I was always squeezing around furniture,” she remembers. “The rooms always looked cluttered and messy, without any feeling of calm.”

It took a fire that damaged her kitchen, to change her space. It allowed her to completely rethink her home’s design. She decided to move away from the old-fashioned layout and embrace a modern, open floor plan. This was not just a small change; it was a complete new vision for her home, turning it from a series of small, boxy rooms into one continuous, flowing space.

Collecting great design ideas

The plan for her new home did not come from a single magazine. Instead, it was built from a collection of smart ideas she gathered during her stays in different countries. Her travels showed her clever solutions for living comfortably in smaller areas.

From a stylish rental apartment in Dubai, she learnt the value of a kitchen island that does more than one job. This single item worked as a counter for preparing food, a table for eating meals, and a central point for the whole living area.

“The island was brilliant because it combined uses,” Kyarikunda notes. “It meant I did not need a separate dining table, which saved a lot of floor space. Also, the stools could be pushed completely under the counter when not needed, keeping the area looking clean and open.”

Later, while staying in an apartment in Kenya, she saw another smart idea; using simple chairs placed against a wall instead of big, bulky sofas that curve into the room. This choice showed that you can still have comfortable seating without letting the furniture take over the entire space, keeping the room feeling light and easy to move through.

Opening up

Kyarikunda chose the open floor plan because she understood how it affects how we see and feel in a space. “The biggest advantage is how it changes the feeling of the room’s size,” she says.

“Without walls blocking the view, your eyes can move freely across the whole area. This makes your brain think the space is much larger than it truly is.”

Beyond just looking bigger, the open plan creates a more connected and social way of living. For someone who likes a neat and tidy home, the layout makes it easy to keep an eye on everything from one spot. It also makes life more sociable.

“There is no longer a hard separation between the person cooking and the guests relaxing,” she explains.

“I can talk with visitors in the living room while I am cooking in the kitchen, or I can watch my favourite TV shows from the kitchen counter. The space encourages people to be together instead of being stuck in separate rooms.”

Key ingredients for an open home

Making an open design work well is not as simple as just taking down walls. It requires a thoughtful plan where every detail works together. Kyarikunda focused on several important areas to make her home both beautiful and functional.

A careful colour plan

Her first step was to choose a simple and elegant colour scheme. She picked soft and rich colours such as warm whites, soft golds, and pops of turquoise, for her cabinets and main furniture. This choice does two important things; the light colours help bounce light around the room, making it brighter, and using the same colours throughout helps all the different areas feel like one connected space, which makes it seem larger. The overall feeling is both open and luxurious.

Layered lighting

Kyarikunda sees lighting as a crucial tool, not just something practical. Her plan has two parts. To use as much sunlight as possible, she made her windows and doors bigger. These larger openings now act as big light sources, filling the home with daylight and making the inside feel connected to the outdoors. For nighttime, she created a detailed plan with eight different lights.

“Some of my furniture is dark, which is nice, but without enough light the room could feel dark and small at night,” she says. “I use a mix of overall light, light for specific tasks, and accent lights to make sure the whole space feels warm, bright, and open even after the sun goes down.”

Furniture arrangement

In an open room, the furniture creates areas for different activities without using walls. Kyarikunda chose every piece for its size, shape, and where it would be placed.

She passed on a beautiful, curved sofa because it would have broken up the space, and instead chose a straighter one that sits neatly against the wall. This smart choice helps mark the living area while keeping the floor open, allowing for a coffee table and, most importantly, creating clear and easy walking paths so the room never feels difficult to move through.

A trick for the eyes

As a final touch, Kyarikunda plans to add a very large mirror that stretches from the floor to the ceiling.

This is a classic and effective trick in design.

By placing the mirror across from a large window or door, it will make the room look like it goes on further, reflecting both the light from outside and the view, creating a convincing and beautiful illusion of a much bigger and deeper space.

Clutter

Kyarikunda is very strict about avoiding clutter. In one open room, every item that is left out is visible.

To manage this, she has plenty of hidden storage, especially in the kitchen, where cabinets hold anything that would make the space look messy. This effort to keep things tidy not only makes the home feel organised but also makes it feel more airy and spacious, allowing the room itself to feel calm and open.

The dream of a perfect plot of land in the perfect neighbourhood often collides with a hard reality; scarcity and soaring costs. If you find yourself in this situation, it may be time to reconsider what “starting” your homeownership journey looks like. One increasingly attractive and pragmatic option is the semi-finished house. This is the path Yuventines Ogwal chose. After a fruitless months-long search for an available plot in Ntinda, he shifted his strategy. Instead of searching for empty land, he found a property that included a long-stalled, semi-constructed house.

Stephen Bogere, his valuation surveyor, assessed the total value of the prime land and the existing “shell” of a house at Shs750m. Ogwal successfully negotiated a purchase price of Shs700m, securing not only the land but also the mature trees gracing it and the foundational structure already in place. Ogwal is now carefully weighing his options; should he demolish the existing structure to build his dream home from the ground up, or can he transform this shell into the house he truly desires?

Kenneth Isiko, a civil engineer, explains that a shell building is advantageous because it offers significant flexibility to transform the structure according to a client’s precise specifications. Here other key benefits of a semi-finished house.

A cheaper option

Shell building is cost-effective compared to traditional construction. By eliminating the need for expensive finishing in the initial phase, one can save substantially. These funds can then be reallocated to customise the interior finishes according to personal taste and budget.

Timely completion

Since the core structure of the building is already in place, completing a shell house is typically faster than starting from scratch. This accelerated timeline ensures the building can be occupied and used much sooner.

Isiko strongly advises that shell building projects be entrusted to professional engineers who possess the necessary expertise. He highlights two critical reasons for this:

First, professional engineers ensure regulatory compliance and quality control. They navigate the complex web of building codes and standards, managing the necessary approvals from local authorities. Furthermore, they conduct rigorous site inspections at every stage to guarantee that all work strictly adheres to their design specifications, safeguarding the project’s integrity from start to finish.

Second, engineers are fundamental to ensuring safety and structural integrity. They design and build structures to withstand local weather conditions and the test of time. By calculating loads and stresses, they ensure that foundational elements, beams, and other critical components are properly sized and connected, guaranteeing the building’s long-term stability and safety. This professional perspective was crucial for Ogwal. The structural engineer’s inspection confirmed the shell was technically sound, revealing its potential to be transformed into a comfortable, personalised home. This assessment suggested a path that could be both faster and more affordable than constructing an entirely new building from the ground up.

What is a shell house?

A shell house is a building that has been constructed to an incomplete state, typically featuring finished exterior walls and a roof, but with unfinished interior spaces. The core concept is to complete the structure through extensive customisation that aligns with the owner’s specific interests and needs. This approach allows the owner to leverage the existing investment in the core structure, focusing their finances and efforts on the interior and other specific sections without the burden and cost of starting from zero.

Blick Obita, a member of the Engineers Registration Board (ERB), says there are four distinct levels of shell buildings.

Basic shell

This is the most fundamental level, consisting of the foundation, exterior walls, and roof. The interior is entirely unfinished, lacking insulation, electrical wiring, or plumbing.

Completed shell

This level builds upon the basic shell by adding insulation, exterior windows and doors, and the initial rough-in for electrical and plumbing systems, though these utilities are not yet finalised for use.

Semi-finished shell

At this stage, the building progresses further to include interior walls, doors, and basic floor finishing. The space is enclosed and taking shape, but still lacks the final touch-ups like paint, fixtures, and appliances.

Turnkey shell

This is the most complete level, including all components of the semi-finished shell plus the installation of all fixtures, appliances, and final finishing touches, making it essentially ready for immediate occupancy.

Before constructions progresses, Obita recommenda conducting professional soil tests before any work begins is imperative. This step guarantees that the foundation is designed for the specific soil conditions, ensuring it is built on stable ground capable of supporting the entire structure. And strongly urges following the officially approved architectural plans, which should be supervised by an engineer, to avoid compromising the design’s integrity, safety, and regulatory compliance.

President Museveni has paid tribute to Bishop Martin Charles Wamika of Jinja Catholic Diocese, describing him as a humble and devoted servant of God who dedicated his life to spiritual growth, unity, and national development.

In a condolence message delivered by 3rd Deputy Prime Minister Rukia Isanga Nakadama during the send-off ceremony on Tuesday, the President said Bishop Wamika would be remembered for his ‘love for the Church and his commitment to service.’

‘I received with profound sadness the news of the demise of Bishop Martin Charles Wamika, Bishop of Jinja Diocese,’ Museveni said. ‘

He added: ‘On behalf of the Government of Uganda, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) Party, and on my own behalf, I extend my heartfelt condolences to his family and to the Catholic Church.’

The president noted that since his appointment as bishop in 2010, Wamika guided the diocese ‘on a progressive path of both spiritual and economic growth,’ working closely with government to promote peace, unity, and development.

He praised him for urging believers to embrace government programs to fight poverty and for spearheading several development projects within Busoga sub-region.

‘I, together with Mama Janet, stand with the family of the late Bishop during this difficult moment. We pray that you find comfort and solace in God’s promise of eternal life,’ Museveni added.

Bishop Wamika, who died on October 22, 2025, aged 72, was remembered by fellow clergy as a man of faith and perseverance.

Bishop Emmanuel Obbo of Tororo Diocese, who led the requiem mass, said Wamika ‘suffered with humility and found spiritual growth through submission to prayer.’

‘He accepted the hardship of sickness as part of life,’ Bishop Obbo said, adding: ‘Even in his pain, he remained cheerful and faithful.’

Family representative Caroline Kiwala revealed that Wamika had battled illness since 2022 but continued his ministry quietly, choosing to keep his condition private.

‘He wanted to lead the 2023 Uganda Martyrs celebrations when Jinja Diocese was in charge – and his dream came true,’ she said.

Fr. Charles Bikina, President of the Board of Consultors of Jinja Diocese, said the board would temporarily oversee diocesan administration until a new bishop is appointed.

Bishop Wamika was buried inside St. Joseph Church at Rubaga Cathedral, becoming the first African bishop to die while serving in Jinja Diocese. The burial drew government officials, cultural leaders, and clergy from across Uganda.

About Bishop Wamika

Born on August 12, 1953, to Bartholomew and Catherine Naula Wamika, he hailed from the Baisekisige clan of the Bagwere.

Educated at Nagongera Seminary, Katigondo, and Ggaba Major Seminary, Wamika was ordained in 1979.

He served as a teacher, rector, and later as Vicar General of Tororo Archdiocese before his episcopal ordination in 1994. He became Bishop of Jinja in 2010.

Namuwongo Blazers are back in business after winning Game Three of the National Basketball League finals.

Tuesday night’s 80-70 victory ensured the challengers avoided going 3-0 down against the perennial winners.

Tonny Drileba, who sat out the first two games with injury, played his first in the finals and provided Stephen Nyeko’s charges with the much-needed control down in the stretch in the fourth quarter.

The first two games were characterized by Namuwongo’s failure to hold onto leads when the stakes were high.

The statistics will reflect Drileba as having contributed nine assists, five rebounds and two points but his role went beyond that.

He was defensively sharp and played a big part in limiting Oilers’ offense. He also ensure the ball was safe in his hands despite seemingly playing with pain in the fourth frame.

Momentum shift

The Blazers had their backs against the wall on Tuesday, with the thought of going 3-0 down unimaginable.

Both sides went pound for pound in the first half, with the opening 10 minutes ending in a 24-24 tie.

City Oilers edged the second quarter 20-18 to lead 44-42 going into the halftime break.

It was in the second half that the Blazers gained control of proceedings and unlike what was seen in the first two game, the regular season’s top seed held on for victory.

Peter Obleng scored 20 points and collected nine rebounds to lead the charge for the Blazers on the night.

Arthur Wanyoto came off the bench to record 18 points and eight rebounds while Anthony Chuckwurah had 14 points and eight rebounds.

With the victory, the Blazers will now go into Friday’s Game Four with the momentum and looking to level the series.

Poor returns

City Oilers starters did most of the lifting as the bench players struggled to get into the game all night.

Rogers Dauna, who converted a free throw, was the only player to come off the bench and register a point.

Titus Lual, Ben Komakech and Edgar Munaba all failed to register any point in the game.

Moses Maker (20), Kurt Wegscheider (18), Chad Bowie (17) and Fayed Baale (12) led the way for Andrew Tendo’s charges but their points were not sufficient for the team to stretch their lead in the series.

Game Four will provide the platform for the defending champions to re-establish their two-game cushion in the series.

National Basketball League Finals

Game Three results

Women: JKL 77-59 JT L. Jaguars (2-1)

Men: Nam Blazers 80-70 City Oilers (1-2)

A man has been released from jail after being on remand without trial since 1997. It was at 11:13am on Monday, when the court clerk read out Alfred Byamukama’s file and presented it to the Mbarara High Court Judge for a ruling on the application for dismissal of his case. It is alleged that Byamukama had a physical altercation with a village-mate in March 1997, whom he struck in the head before the victim died on the way to the hospital. Byamukama is said to have had a mental challenge at the time of the incident.

At the time of his incarceration, then aged 27, Byamukama was first detained at Mwizi Police Station for one week in the then Mbarara District, present-day Rwampara District. From Mwizi, Byamukama was transferred to Mbarara Central Police Station, then Kyamugorani Prison, before being transferred to Luzira Upper Prison in Kampala in 2001. While making her ruling, Mbarara High Court Judge Joanita Bushara Mugerwa dismissed the case on grounds that the prosecution delayed to handle the matter, the case was on file for a long time, and Byamukama’s right to a fair hearing was violated.

‘The application of dismissal has been granted, and the order of detention is set aside. This case is dismissed due to gross unconstitutional delays on the side of prosecution and the violation of the applicant’s right to a speedy trial. The applicant shall be released immediately and unconditionally, unless he’s being held for other cases,’ the judge said. ‘I have spent most of my productive and energetic years in prison. I don’t know where to start from but the mission is to build afresh. I feel like I have been reborn, and I will do all it takes to make the rest of my life meaningful,’ Byamukama said shortly after he was released from prison.

What the law says

Hakim Ngobi, a lawyer, said Byamukama’s case took so long to be handled because he was found to be of unsound mind after his arrest in 1997. With an unsound mind, court proceeded under Section 43, Clause 1 of the Uganda Trial on Indictments Act (originally the Trial on Indictments Decree, 1971), which says if someone is of unsound mind and is unable to make their defence, court is mandated to send them to detention and forward their file to the (Justice) minister for them to make their orders.

‘Byamukama’s file got lost in the system because he was treated and got well before 2005. The minister responsible did not follow up on him because there are many prisoners like him and nobody knows about any orders made by the minister. This caused the delay in finalising his case,’ Ngobi said. Article 28 of the Constitution provides for a right to a fair hearing that comes with a speedy trial, depending on the case. ‘For someone of unsound mind, one may argue that they aren’t ready to make their defence.

However, the breach was from the minister’s office not making such orders. On the side of prisons, they didn’t make timely updates on the health status of Byamukama. They later made the updates, and it is the reason he was arraigned in court and released. ‘The right to a fair hearing is non-derogable, meaning no one can take it away from anyone at any cost. It was the basis on which the judge dismissed the case because Byamukama’s right was grossly taken away, given the time frame that has passed,’ Ngobi added.

Ngobi added that prisoners of unsound mind, who may require the minister’s order, fall into different categories. They include those who are discovered unable to make their own defence during trial. Under Section 46 of the Trial and Indictment Act, they are sent to prison to be treated and be taken back to court after recovering. As such, the trial can commence from where it stopped. The second category of prisoners under the same Act, are those known to be already insane by the time of committing the offence.

Courts send such people into detention to be treated after making a special finding of not guilty due to insanity. ‘If it comes to the court’s attention that they are well, the minister is empowered to discharge these people without going back to court or the court can discharge them without any other trial. The challenge is that the minister responsible hasn’t been making such orders, meaning prisons get stuck with such people even after treatment.

Until his dismissal, Byamukama was the latter,’ Ngobi said. Until 2018, there were more than 35 inmates awaiting the minister’s orders. When the minister started making orders in 2022, a total of 29 prisoners have since been released. Byamukama is the latest ex-prisoner whose case was dismissed and set free.

Legal help

Ms Canaan Nkamuhabwa, the legal officer at Justice Defenders Uganda, an organisation that offers legal aid to the most vulnerable poor people who cannot afford lawyers, said the organisation started working on cases of prisoner’s awaiting the minister’s orders in 2018. These have been in prison for long periods and neither been tried, nor convicted because they were found to be of unsound mind at the time they committed the offence.

‘We have been representing his case and many others since 2018, writing letters to the minister, courts and the Director of Public Prosecution for remedy. The petition in court and at Parliament was done on their behalf and Byamukama was the chief petitioner. He finally got cause-listed for trial in September 2025 and we put in an application for his release that was decided in our favour,’ Nkamuhabwa said.

Both Uganda and Tanzania are gripped by election campaigns, but Tanzania goes to the vote first today, with Uganda following in January 2026. Both countries’ campaigns are similar in that the opposition is being brutalised.

In Tanzania, unmarked vans (“drones” in Uganda-speak) are abducting opposition supporters. Both countries also torture. They also arrest East African activists who show solidarity with the opposition. Two Kenyan human rights activists, Bob Njagi (chairman of the Free Kenya Movement) and Nicholas Oyoo (the movement’s secretary general), were abducted in Uganda on October 1, 2025, shortly after attending Bobi Wine’s rally.

Uganda pulled a page straight out of the Tanzanian playbook of repression. Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi and Ugandan journalist and lawyer Agather Atuhaire were abducted in Dar es Salaam in May 2025 while observing opposition leader Tundu Lissu’s trial. They were tortured, and Atuhaire was sexually assaulted, before being driven and dumped near their countries’ borders with Tanzania-Atuhaire near Mutukula. I never thought I would ever say this, but here we are: in their violence and madness, Uganda seems “better” than Tanzania, or the latter is worse.

Consider this: in the months leading to the vote in Tanzania, over 80 opposition members have disappeared, more than 600 have been jailed, and at least five have been killed. No 600 opposition supporters have been detained in Uganda, and the number reported to have disappeared so far this year-mostly foot soldiers of Bobi Wine (Robert Kyagulanyi) ‘s National Unity Platform-is about 12. Leading candidates like Chadema’s party’s Lissu were arrested on April 9, 2025, and charged with treason for social media posts alleging election rigging. His trial drags on.

ACT-Wazalendo’s presidential candidate, Luhaga Mpina, was also arrested in April. With that, Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan effectively became unopposed, having neutralised her primary challengers. In Uganda, they will tear-gas the candidate and his supporters on nomination day. In the end, though, you will get nominated-unless you are Kizza Besigye, of course. There is also an unwritten rule in Uganda: you don’t touch pastors, priests and bishops who criticise election malpractices and abuses. You can rebut or even insult them, but you don’t lay a hand on them.

Not so in Tanzania. Father Charles Kitima, a Catholic priest and outspoken critic of state repression, was brutally attacked in his Dar es Salaam office, his jaw broken after he denounced electoral injustices. Days later, Father Emmanuel Mshana met the same fate, beaten by unidentified assailants believed to be tied to the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) for his fiery anti-corruption sermons. In Arusha, Pastor Mchungaji Steve, known for fiery prophecies against the ruling party, was abducted, beaten, and dumped in Kilimanjaro, barely alive.

These events took me five years back, during the Covid-19 lockdown. I was involved in an Africa trend-tracking exercise for an international organisation, following patterns of infection and vaccination across the continent, minus Tanzania, which refused to acknowledge the virus and stopped releasing data after about a month. We would plot the rise or fall of infections and vaccinations. We also tracked the pandemic’s effect on education, the economy and society in general-for example, a sharp rise in cybercrime, gangs, and transnational crimes like human trafficking as fewer security forces patrolled borders.

We also tracked lockdown enforcement. There was a considerable increase in abuses by police and military, and a rise in the killing of journalists across Africa.

There was one exception in East Africa: Uganda. Excluding journalists shot, injured or beaten while covering Bobi Wine’s campaigns, the rest were not molested. Uganda had the lowest figures for abuse and obstruction. I was struck by that and looked back 10 years, finding that far more journalists and activists had been killed in other African countries-including those that are demonstrably more democratic than Uganda, such as South Africa.

That is when I began to suspect that Uganda must have a manual for brutalising journalists and opposition supporters-probably one approved by the Commander-in-Chief himself. The likelihood of this first became apparent in how Museveni spoke about Bobi Wine’s detention and torture in Arua in August 2018, and later what we learnt about the abduction and torture of the acid-tongued writer Kakwenza Rukirabashaija in early 2022.

It seems the manual says things like: “break only one leg and arm, not both”; “hit the head and face, but don’t pluck out the eyes”; “lash the back with wire, don’t slice with a blade”; “for women, beat and then humiliate by exposing their intimate parts”; “break no more than half the ribs”; and “but whatever you do, don’t kill.” Cruelty in East Africa has become both a language and a craft. Tanzania’s version is raw and total. Uganda’s is methodical, selective and coldly bureaucratic. The difference is not moral; it is only tactical. And that might be the most terrifying part.

Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) presidential candidate, retired Maj Gen Mugisha Muntu, failed to hold two scheduled campaign rallies on Tuesday in Bundibugyo and Ntoroko districts of Uganda’s Rwenzori sub-region, leaving supporters disappointed.

Supporters, who had waited from morning until late evening, were informed in the afternoon that the events had been cancelled. Later, Muntu addressed a press conference in Fort Portal City, attributing the cancellations to ‘logistical anomalies,’ without providing specific details.

‘Today, we were scheduled to go to Bundibugyo and Ntoroko districts. Unfortunately, we encountered a logistical anomaly and were unable to make it. We have now decided to write to the Electoral Commission to request a reschedule,’ Muntu said, adding that the rallies would be rescheduled for December and January 2026 to ensure all party supporters are reached.

The ANT flag bearer noted that since the start of the presidential campaign, he has visited 32 districts and two divisions of Kampala, reaffirming his commitment to reach all 147 districts and cities before the election on January 15, 2026.

‘It is unfortunate that the people who expected us today could not meet with us. We sincerely apologize. Such inconveniences happen in campaigns of this nature – you face challenges along the way, but flexibility is key,’ he said.

Muntu also addressed the party’s financial constraints, noting that ANT relies solely on contributions from citizens, as the party does not yet hold parliamentary representation to access government funds.

‘We don’t have any member of parliament yet to get money from the government. We rely on contributions. If people believe we are the right solution, they should support us financially,’ he said, emphasizing that daily operational costs for reaching voters across the country remain high.

Muntu highlighted urgent local issues in Ntoroko District, where over 10,000 residents have been displaced by recurring floods from Lake Albert since 2019 and remain in makeshift camps despite government promises of resettlement.

He cited similar cases in Buliisa District, where flood-displaced residents at Wansenko Landing Site have relied on short-term government relief with little long-term support.

‘It is unfortunate that for about six years, hundreds of displaced citizens have continued to suffer without proper housing or support. Instead of allocating funds to address such crises, public resources are being embezzled, leaving people in endless misery,’ Muntu observed.

Outlining his priorities if elected, he pledged to focus on environmental conservation and invest in long-term flood control measures, including tree planting and constructing protective structures to prevent further displacements.

He also proposed water extension projects to channel water from Lake Albert and River Semuliki to homes, livestock, and farms to mitigate the effects of prolonged dry spells.

Muntu further addressed widespread public grievances, noting that citizens in all visited districts have complained about corruption in public service recruitment and shortages of medicines in health facilities.

‘In every district we have covered, people lament the sale of government jobs. Parents sell their property to educate their children, and later sell remaining land to buy jobs. In my government, anyone caught selling jobs will face imprisonment,’ he said.