Category: Daily Monitor

The Kampala Capital City Authority is building more roads but also more heat and dirty air. Every new road project is celebrated as progress, rightly so, officials cut ribbons, Ugandans on X make noise about it, contractors move on. But what is rarely asked, loudly enough, is what those roads are costing the city environmentally, and whether anyone is being held accountable for that cost.

Because the truth is, kampala’s roads are not being built in a vacuum. They are being built in a city already struggling with poor air quality, rising heat, disappearing tree cover, degraded wetlands and chronic flooding. Yet far too often, the environmental safeguards meant to manage these risks seem to end where project approval begins. That is where the policy failure lies.

Before major roads are constructed, developers and agencies are required to undertake an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA).

In principle, this process should identify environmental risks and define mitigation measures, tree replacement, wetland protection, drainage management, dust control and long-term monitoring, among others.

On paper, the safeguard exists, in practice it’s a different reality. Trees are cut during road expansion and rarely restored in meaningful ways. Wetlands are backfilled, narrowed or encroached upon. Surfaces of asphalt, concrete and pavement grow wider, harder and hotter.

The road opens. The environment pays. The city absorbs the consequences. And then we act surprised when Kampala becomes hotter, floods faster and struggles to breathe. This should not surprise anyone.

Road surfaces trap and radiate heat, contributing to the urban heat island effect, the process through which built-up parts of the city become significantly hotter than greener surroundings. In Kampala, this matters because added heat does not exist alone. It worsens already difficult urban conditions shaped by traffic emissions, dust, waste burning and weak environmental control.

A hotter city is not only a more uncomfortable city, it is also one where the burden on air quality, health and everyday urban life grows heavier. Tree loss makes this worse. Trees are not cosmetic additions to a road reserve.

They are part of the city’s environmental infrastructure. They cool streets, reduce dust, improve air quality and make urban space more livable. When they are removed without serious restoration, we lose one of the cheapest and most effective defences we have against heat and pollution.

Wetlands serve a similar role. They are not empty land waiting for development. They are the systems that absorb runoff, store water, reduce flood peaks and support the city’s hydrology.

Filling them in or weakening them for the sake of road works and surrounding development is not planning. It is slow sabotage. This is why Kampala must stop treating roads, air quality and flooding as separate issues. They are all symptoms of the same governance problem, a city that too often builds first and mitigates later if at all.

Uganda does not necessarily lack environmental policy. What it lacks is serious enforcement after project approval. The real test of an ESIA is not whether it was written well. It is whether its recommendations are implemented, tracked and enforced over time.

If a project cuts trees, where is the restoration plan and who is checking compliance? If a wetland is affected, where is the protection and recovery mechanism? If a road corridor creates new heat and dust exposure, where is the monitoring and public reporting?

Without answers to those questions, ESIA becomes administrative theatre.

Supervising authorities must be judged not only by how many projects are approved or completed, but by whether environmental obligations are enforced once construction is underway and after it ends. A finished road is not automatically a successful road if it leaves behind degraded ecological systems and greater public health risk.

Recently, I read an article entitled “Why nations need stories to endure”, published by Africatalyst on Substack. It argued that shared myths are necessary for uniting diverse populations. Yet these foundational narratives are often strategic lies designed to cover up deep divisions.

Post-apartheid South Africa’s “Rainbow Nation” was one such invention, meant to foster unity despite glaring inequalities. These stories help states survive crises, but for genuine progress, they must eventually adapt to the realities of the world.

Uganda offers striking examples. Take the claim that the Nile’s source is Jinja. Geographically, it isn’t. Many tributaries feed Lake Nalubaale (Victoria). The Nile’s true source lies further upstream, in Burundi’s Ruvyironza River or Rwanda’s Nyabarongo, both of which feed into the Kagera River, the largest contributor to Lake Nalubaale. Jinja is simply the outflow, the point where the accumulated water breaks north towards the Mediterranean.

Yet the myth persists because it is a lucrative tourism asset, giving Uganda guardianship over one of the world’s legendary landmarks.

Another enduring tale is that “Waragi” comes from “War Gin”, supposedly coined by British soldiers during the World Wars. In fact, scholar and author Mahmood Mamdani traces the word to Sudanese and Nubian mercenary soldiers brought to Uganda by the British to enforce colonial rule in the 1880s and 1890s, who used “Arak” (araqi), the Arabic term for distilled spirits. Over the decades, Araqi evolved into “Waragi”.

The World Wars story survives because “War Gin” sounds rugged and patriotic, fitting modern marketing as “The Spirit of Uganda”.

Then there is the claim that Milton Obote once said: “The only good Muganda is a dead one”. No record exists; no Hansard transcript, audio, or media report. The phrase was attributed to him by Abu Mayanja during the sectarian heat of the 1966 Buganda Crisis.

It endured because it gave Buganda a shorthand for trauma and victimisation, simplifying a complex political crisis into a story of ethnic hatred.

Another myth is that Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army was a random cult of lunatics. In reality, the LRA emerged from deep grievances in the Acholi sub-region after the southern-led NRA took power in 1986.

Branding Kony as a madman allowed the state to deflect blame from its own heavy-handed military actions and internment policies, avoiding the harder task of addressing structural injustices.

You often hear that Uganda was a British “protectorate” rather than a colony because its societies were “more advanced”. In truth, the distinction was legal and financial. Colonies were annexed outright; protectorates were ruled indirectly through local leaders, which was cheaper.

Uganda was not unique. Zanzibar, Nyasaland (Malawi), and Bechuanaland (Botswana) had the same status. The myth only feeds a sense of regional exceptionalism.

Uganda also prides itself on being the “Pearl of Africa”, the first in East Africa to build a university and hospital. Makerere University and Mengo Hospital were trailblazers, but they weren’t rewards for inherent superiority.

The British concentrated infrastructure here because Uganda was their administrative hub and because missionary competition between European Protestants and Catholics for our souls was intense. Nairobi, meanwhile, was rapidly expanding rail and urban roads for settlers.

This “Firstism” sustains nostalgic pride, compensating for later decline, and lets Ugandans overlook current gaps by basking in colonial-era head starts.

Perhaps the most lurid myth surrounding Idi Amin is that he kept severed heads of enemies in his fridge. Amin was a family man with dozens of children. State House was a bustling home, not a Dracula fortress. He was not going to let a child run into a frozen head in the fridge.

The myth survived because it turned Amin into a supernatural monster so essential to media framing, reducing state terror to horror-movie imagery and letting the broader system off the hook.

Another persistent story is that Amin’s 1972 expulsion of Asians caused Uganda’s economic collapse. Yes, the expulsion shattered retail and wholesale sectors, but the collapse had deeper roots. Uganda’s economy was already shaken, unequal, and reliant on volatile cash crops (tea, cotton, coffee). Obote’s “Move to the Left” had triggered capital flight. Amin’s cronies looted businesses, infrastructure rotted, money was printed recklessly, military spending soared, and trade embargoes bit hard.

The collapse was due to serious mismanagement, not simply the absence of a single ethnic group. Yet the story persists because it simplifies a complex institutional failure into a neat race-based narrative. For Amin’s supporters, it was framed as an economic war for black empowerment; for critics, it was an easy way to blame a single decree.

Uganda’s myths hang around because they serve purposes beyond truth. They provide pride, identity, and political weapons. When a story affirms a group’s fears or triumphs, people stop asking for evidence. They turn trauma into digestible stories, and they make history easier to live with. But they also distort reality, masking structural weaknesses and absolving institutions of responsibility.

Nations need stories to endure, but Uganda shows how myths can become bulletproof-surviving not because they are true, but because they are useful.

Former Kampala Mayor and People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) president Erias Lukwago, has been charged with misprision of treason.

Misprison of treason, means an accused person knew of plans for unlawful change of government but didn’t report to lawful authority.

Appearing before the Makindye Chief Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday afternoon, Mr Lukwago denied the charges.

The veteran opposition politician and lawyer was arrested on Monday in an operation that drew condemnation from opposition leaders, lawyers and rights activists, with questions lingering over the circumstances of his detention.

He has been remanded to Luzira Prison until next Monday, June 22, 2026.

Concerns are growing over the future of service delivery in Mpigi District following the formation of a new political leadership team that has exposed deep partisan divisions within the district council.

The concerns come days after the district chairperson, Mr Peter Kawuki, unveiled his long-awaited District Executive Committee, ending weeks of speculation that followed his decision to delay appointments after taking office.

Mr Kawuki, a member of the Opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) party, had postponed naming his executive team shortly after councillors elected ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) members to the positions of speaker and deputy speaker, citing the need for wider consultations and consensus-building.

The delay had sparked debate among political observers, some of whom warned that prolonged uncertainty could affect the functioning of district committees and slow implementation of government programmes. However, the eventual appointments have done little to calm political tensions.

Under the new arrangement, Mr Frank Vicky Kawooya, an NRM councillor representing older persons, was appointed district vice chairperson. The three executive secretary positions were allocated to NUP councillors.

That include Mr Ronald Kaggwa Kibirige, the Kammengo Sub-county councillor and former speaker candidate, for finance, planning and administration.

Ms Cossy Nakabazzi, the female councillor for Buwama Town Council, was named secretary for works, production and technical services, while Mr Musa Bukenya, a councillor representing Mpigi Town Council, was appointed secretary for social and community-based services.

The appointments have effectively created a power-sharing arrangement at the top of the district leadership, with NRM controlling the speakership and deputy speakership while NUP dominates the executive arm.

Yet the appointment of Mr Kawooya as vice chairperson generated heated debate on several Mpigi-based WhatsApp groups, where some NUP supporters questioned why a district chairperson elected on the Opposition ticket would elevate a senior NRM cadre to one of the most influential positions in the district.

They argued that the move could weaken NUP’s political influence within the district administration and raised concerns about potential conflicts in implementing the party’s political agenda.

Others, however, viewed the appointment as a pragmatic attempt to bridge political divisions in a council where NRM enjoys an overwhelming numerical advantage.

Defending the decision, Mpigi District Woman Member of Parliament Teddy Nambooze said Mr Kawuki’s move should be understood in the context of governance rather than partisan competition.

“Kawuki wanted to smoothen his operations by bringing together leaders from different political parties to work together for the development of Mpigi. Leadership is about serving the people, not fighting political battles every day,” she said.

Political analysts warn that the balancing in appointing executive members by Mr Kawuka could either promote inclusiveness or trigger prolonged political rivalry that may ultimately affect service delivery.

Mr Hamza Kalyango, a political analyst, said the composition of the executive reflected the political realities facing the district chairperson.

“Mr Kawuki is leading a district where his party is a minority in council. Any major policy proposal or programme implementation will require cooperation from councillors belonging to another political camp. That creates both opportunities and risks,” he said.

According to the district council composition, NRM holds 19 of the 26 council seats, while NUP has only seven councillors.

The imbalance has already manifested itself in the formation of standing committees, where NUP reportedly secured only one committee chairmanship despite controlling the district chairperson’s office.

Political observers argue that such numbers could make it difficult for the executive to push through its agenda if relations between the two parties deteriorate.

Sheikh Taimia Kamyuka, another political analyst, said the challenge before the new leadership would be balancing political interests with public expectations.

“The electorate will judge leaders based on roads, health services, education and revenue collection, not political victories. If political disagreements dominate council business, service delivery will inevitably suffer,” he said.

Some NRM leaders have already questioned whether the executive appointments adequately reflect the numerical strength of their party in council.

Others, however, argue that the chairperson was within his mandate to appoint individuals he believes can effectively implement his agenda.

In an interview recently, Mr Kawuki defended his leadership approach, saying his administration would prioritise competence, accountability and service delivery over partisan considerations.

The chairperson has pledged to tackle corruption, improve supervision of public servants and strengthen accountability in the management of local revenue.

He has also announced plans for monthly outreach visits to sub-counties through a mobile office programme intended to bring district leaders closer to communities.

Despite those commitments, some residents remain cautious, saying political cooperation among leaders will be critical if campaign promises are to be fulfilled.

Mr Hannington Lumala, a resident of Mpigi Town Council, said leaders should focus on addressing poor roads and youth unemployment instead of engaging in political battles.

“We elected them to solve our problems. What matters now is service delivery, not which party controls which office,” he said.

Ms Teddy Nakyazze, a resident of Kayabwe Town Council, called for improvements in health and education services, citing persistent shortages of medicines and staff in government facilities.

The new district leadership assumed office at a time when residents are demanding better roads, improved healthcare services, enhanced education standards and greater accountability in public expenditure.

The Government of Uganda has introduced new measures to enforce budget accountability in the record Shs84.3 trillion national budget for FY 2026/27.

While presenting the budget on June 11, 2026, the Minister of Finance, Henry Musasizi, announced that, effective July 2026, all accounting officers must sign a budget discipline and accountability charter as part of their performance contracts.

The minister explained that the charter imposes sanctions for breaches of accountability rules in planning, budgeting, and the use of public resources.

He said the charter will strengthen public financial management, improve budget execution, reduce wasteful spending, and enhance allocative efficiency. This is exactly what we have been calling for. This notable convergence between the government’s new actions and our recommendations dating over a decade is, if implemented, a major step toward stronger fiscal discipline.

Both government and civil society have emphasised the need to use public resources more efficiently amid rising debt pressure and ambitions to transform Uganda into a $500 billion economy.

This renewed focus on fiscal prudence reflects years of advocacy by members in this space. As an organisation we have consistently called for an end to ‘budget games,’ stronger sanctions against underperforming officers, reduced reliance on borrowing, and increased emphasis on value for money and pro-poor spending.

Through position papers and public engagements, Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group (CSBAG) and its members have highlighted how budget shuffling, misallocation, and frequent supplementary budgets facilitate corruption, cause leakages, and erode public trust.

Armed with data from several studies, our resolve never wavered. We consistently called for decisive government action to end these practices.

For example, while addressing the 9th High-Level Economic Growth Forum in July 2025, we criticised persistent budget inefficiencies, including inflated costs, ghost items, and the misuse of supplementary budgets. I believe we cannot continue playing budget games.

The government must prioritise clearing domestic arrears and enhance transparency to ensure that every shilling delivers value for citizens.

In addition, in 2025, when responding to the decision to return the FY 2025/26 budget, we warned that Parliament’s reallocation of funds for personal or political interests is fundamentally wrong and amounts to ‘budgeting for corruption and self-preservation.’ This is because I strongly believe that budgets must serve citizens, not enable inefficiency, fund shifting, or personal enrichment.

However, questions remain about whether the government will fully implement these broader reforms. As execution of the FY 2026/27 budget begins in July 2026, stakeholders will closely monitor whether the new charter, alongside stronger action on debt and project planning, improves execution rates, reduces waste, and delivers better outcomes for citizens.

The government maintains that, together with priorities in commercialisation, industrialisation, and other growth enablers, these reforms will accelerate Uganda’s socio-economic transformation.

While I welcome the new charter, CSBAG urges the government to address debt management more decisively, as debt servicing consumes nearly 39 percent of the national budget and hinders essential service delivery. We also call for tighter control of non-productive spending to reallocate resources to priority sectors, emphasising that budget figures must translate into tangible improvements for Ugandans through better implementation and measurable impact.

Stakeholders, including Parliament, civil society, and the private sector, are expected to intensify oversight to ensure that these commitments translate into results.

‘Gone too soon’ is one of those phrases that we often pander around without much thought. It has become an almost automatic reflex response to every news of death. However, once in a while we experience a needless loss of a life so young, and the phrase becomes very appropriate.

The recent murder (yes let’s call it exactly what it is, murder) of Sydney Gongodyo Gyabi by a lawless mob is befitting of the expression ‘gone too soon’. I never met Sydney-perhaps fortunately, as his death would have been that much more painful had I known him personally-but I knew his father, James Gyabi, very closely. This article is about Sydney, yet I cannot help saying a few words about my dear friend James.

When I joined the Judiciary as a Magistrate Grade 1 some 32 years ago, my first posting was to Lira Chief Magistrate’s Court headed by His Worship Godfrey Namundi as he then was, Chief Magistrate, Lira. James Gyabi was the Resident State Attorney, Lira. We were a small, tight-knit community of lawyers and public servants and got close.

James was also my neighbour – our verandahs faced each other, and we would often wave at each other and share pleasantries – and we developed a close friendship.

James was extremely friendly and got along well with everyone. It is ironic that Sydney was a victim of mob action, as James was a strong preacher against it and believed that even the worst criminals deserved their day in court. He believed that every person was entitled to full rights.

I remember one instance when soldiers arrested a notorious thief in Lira who had been engaged in various robberies – somehow he always walked away scot-free despite facing the legal process. The ‘thug’ was paraded to James’s office with a big mob baying for his blood. James boldly came out of his office and addressed the riotous crowd.

He warned them of the dangers of taking the law into their own hands and advised them to report to the police and hand over the suspect.

He promised that as State Attorney, he would sanction appropriate charges and prosecute the case to the full extent of the law. They grudgingly listened to James. Unfortunately, as he was being led to the Police station, some kind of scuffle ensued (apparent escape attempt), and he was shot dead! James stood steadfast for the rule of law.

As Resident State Attorney, James prosecuted many hardcore criminals. He was a diligent prosecutor with a very high conviction rate. Naturally, he made quite a few enemies. One night, as he parked his car and headed to his house, a gunman appeared from the shadows and shot James in the head. Yes, in the head! The bullet tore through the skin on his head and grazed his scalp. James bled profusely and was rushed to the hospital for treatment.

Miraculously, he survived! It is sad that 30 years later, his son has succumbed to a cruel death at the hands of murderers. Sydney was just 27 years old.

A budding professional with a promising sporting career as a talented rugby player. His dedication to his sport, including relentless training regimes, is well documented. But more than that, he had a family. He was a son, a father, a loving companion with his whole future ahead of him.

I have learnt that Sydney was a Budonian – something we share in common, albeit a generation apart. Being a Budonian (which is different from having studied at Budo) inculcates values in you. Makes you believe in the inherent goodness of humanity and that justice will always prevail.

That probably explains why Sydney did not run away from his assailants, expecting that he would be accorded a fair hearing and that they would listen to his explanation that he did nothing wrong. That telling the truth would exonerate and save him. Being a Budonian led him to believe that his plea for the thugs to spare his life would be met with mercy and not fall on deaf ears as it did.

Even as we mourn Sydney, this is perhaps a time for us to have self-reflection as a society. How have we reached a phase where it is normal for a mob to take the life of an innocent young man on the streets? It is heartening to see that several suspects have been arrested in connection with Sydney’s murder. James eulogised that whatever happens, Sydney will never be brought back to life.

I empathise with the grieving father but hope that through due process – which the murderers never accorded Sydney – the perpetrators will face the full force of the law and, in some little measure, pay for their actions. We must ensure that Sydney is not forgotten. That he does not become yet another number in our endless statistics of violent deaths.

An unidentified man suspected of involvement in motorcycle theft was beaten to death by an angry mob in Angir Cell, Abindu Division, Nebbi Municipality on Tuesday evening.

According to local leaders, the suspect was intercepted in Parombo Town Council, about 40 kilometres from Nebbi Town, while in possession of a motorcycle whose ownership he allegedly failed to prove.

Mr Stephen Ongeyowun, chairperson of Palm Tree Boda Boda Stage on Kei Road in Nebbi Municipality, said the suspect was escorted to Nebbi by boda boda riders after promising to provide ownership documents.

“He failed to produce a logbook or any sales agreement when questioned by boda boda operators after he was intercepted. He promised that he would provide the documents once he reached Nebbi, but when he failed to do so, the crowd turned against him,” Mr Ongeyowun said.

He said efforts to protect the suspect were unsuccessful after the crowd overpowered those attempting to restrain it.

Mr Ongeyowun attributed growing frustration among riders to increasing cases of motorcycle theft and attacks on boda boda operators, particularly at night.

“In many cases, when motorcycles are stolen or riders are killed, the cases are not taken seriously. That is why riders become angry. However, mob justice is not the solution, and people should always seek justice through the law,” he said.

Residents described the deceased as a person who had previously been linked to theft allegations in the area.

Ms Joyce Alidong, a resident of Angir Cell, claimed that residents had frequently complained about theft incidents allegedly associated with the deceased.

By press time, police had not issued an official statement regarding the incident.

Mob action remains a recurring challenge in several parts of Uganda despite repeated warnings from security agencies that suspects should be handed over to police for investigation and prosecution through the courts.

Police have previously cautioned that taking the law into one’s own hands is a criminal offence and undermines the justice system.

Human rights defenders have warned that Uganda risks a further erosion of the rule of law if allegations of arbitrary arrests, unlawful detention and excessive use of force by security agencies continue unchecked.

The activists also criticised the Judiciary’s silence in the face of recurring reports of human rights violations, arguing that failure to enforce constitutional safeguards could normalise impunity and undermine public confidence in State institutions.

Their concerns follow the abduction on Monday of former Kampala Lord Mayor and senior lawyer Erias Lukwago by security personnel shortly after he participated in court proceedings linked to an application filed by Opposition politician Dr Kizza Besigye.

The criticism intensified after Chief of Defence Forces Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba posted on social media about the abduction and later shared photographs of a person he identified as Mr Lukwago, drawing condemnation from sections of the legal fraternity and civil society.

Fear and shrinking civic space Speaking to the Daily Monitor, human rights activist Agather Atuhaire described Mr Lukwago’s abduction as a troubling indicator of what she termed a growing disregard for the rule of law and human rights protections.

She argued that the Judiciary has not done enough to hold perpetrators of rights violations accountable, punish breaches of the law or provide justice to victims of torture and unlawful detention.

‘Every Ugandan should be worried about where this country is headed. If people are continuously abducted, subjected to force and inhumane treatment because they have condemned injustice or carried out their professional duties, then we should be concerned about the future generations,’ Ms Atuhaire said.

She also urged members of the legal profession to defend constitutional rights and the independence of their profession.

‘Lawyers must rise and defend their rights while they still can. If they do not, the profession itself risks being compromised, which could open the door to even greater human rights violations,’ she said.

The Executive Director of the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative, Dr Livingstone Sewanyana (PhD), condemned Mr Lukwago’s arrest, describing it as arbitrary and reflective of broader governance concerns.

He said Uganda’s laws provide clear procedures for arrests and detention, but implementation remains inconsistent.

‘The arbitrary arrest of Erias Lukwago comes against the backdrop of several arbitrary arrests we have witnessed in recent years,’ he said.

‘The fact that we continue to witness arbitrary arrests and detentions indicates that there does not appear to be a serious commitment by the government to addressing human rights concerns.’

Dr Sewanyana questioned why institutions mandated to uphold constitutional order appear reluctant to act whenever allegations of unlawful detention arise.

‘We need lawful procedures and a sense of freedom among the population. We cannot talk about socio-economic transformation when people are living in fear,’ he said.

The Executive Director of the Centre for Constitutional Governance, Ms Sarah Bireete, called on President Museveni to uphold his constitutional responsibility to protect citizens’ rights and freedoms.

‘The President took an oath to protect the Constitution and the people of Uganda. When we continue to see allegations of abductions and torture involving security agencies, it raises questions about constitutional governance,’ Ms Bireete said.

Human rights defender Margaret Nattabi said continued arrests of activists, Opposition supporters and government critics could discourage public participation and weaken freedom of expression. She said many young people have become reluctant to engage in civic activism due to fear of repercussions.

‘We are reaching a point where public officials can violate people’s rights and many citizens feel powerless to respond. Even the freedom to speak openly is increasingly under threat,’ Ms Nattabi said.

She also criticised Gen Muhoozi’s publication of images of detained individuals on social media, citing previous cases involving National Unity Platform party president Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine’s wife Barbara Itungo and his bodyguard Edward Ssebuufu, also known as Eddie Mutwe.

Another human rights defender, Ms Flavia Ramto, said many Ugandans now fear speaking out against those in authority.

‘In Uganda, speaking truth to power increasingly comes with the risk of detention or mistreatment because some leaders do not welcome accountability. We would not be witnessing this if democratic principles were fully respected,’ she said.

Lawyer Eron Kiiza described Mr Lukwago’s abduction as an attack on legal practitioners and the right to legal representation.

‘The latest in a series of illegal attempts by the State to harass, intimidate and silence Dr Besigye’s lawyers is a criminalisation of professional legal work. It threatens lawyers’ liberty, dignity and ability to represent their clients,’ Mr Kiiza said.

Human rights defenders said the latest developments present a critical test for the Judiciary, Parliament and the Executive in demonstrating their commitment to constitutionalism and the protection of civil liberties.

Stanbic Uganda Cup’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) Gadafi Wahab has scripted one of the most emotional and compelling football stories in Ugandan folklore – one defined by early promise, fading visibility, and a striking late resurgence that has now delivered him back to the summit of domestic football.

Wahab’s journey began more than a decade ago when he emerged as a lean, lanky, and technically gifted playmaker, carrying the aura of a future star.

Many first noticed him in the 2016 Uganda Cup final at Nakivubo Stadium, where he scored a marvellous freekick for Onduparaka in their 3-1 defeat to Vipers.

Even in loss, he looked destined for greater heights – composed on the ball, unusually elegant in tight spaces, and capable of dictating tempo with minimal effort.

Downward spiral

From that moment, expectations soared. Alongside his Onduparaka teammate Muhammad Shaban, Wahab was tipped to become a cornerstone of the Uganda Cranes’ next generation.

But football rarely follows scripts. While Shaban would go on to experience national team call-ups and glimpses of professional football – albeit inconsistently – Wahab drifted through a more complicated path.

He switched allegiance to South Sudan and began a slow, often unremarked journey through clubs including Arua Hill, Nec, and Wakiso Giants, where flashes of brilliance were overshadowed by inconsistency and a perception of underachievement.

At Wakiso Giants and Nec in particular, he often cut a forlorn figure – gifted but subdued, a player many felt was simply passing time rather than shaping a career. By the time he joined Kitara, he was widely viewed as a talent that had slipped through the cracks.

Second chance

Yet under coach Wasswa Bbosa, everything changed. Wahab was not only revived but repositioned as the creative heartbeat of a rising Kitara side that would go on to claim their second Uganda Cup crown in three seasons after 2024.

Alongside Yunus Sibira, Emmanuel Wasswa, Frank ‘Zaga’ Tumwesigye and Hussein Ssenoga, Wahab completed one of the most robust, dynamic midfield set ups domestically.

His influence was decisive throughout the campaign – controlling games, unlocking defences, and stepping up in defining moments.

The most symbolic contribution came in the semi-final against defending champions Vipers, where Wahab scored in the 1-1 return leg at Kitende, a goal that secured Kitara’s passage to the final on away goals.

From there, he orchestrated the midfield in the final against SC Villa, guiding Kitara to a 2-1 victory and sealing his individual brilliance with both the MVP and Best Midfielder awards.

‘He has been written off too early,’ Bbosa said. ‘The problem in Uganda is we are too quick to discard players. Experience and maturity are what set the Ugandan and Tanzanian leagues apart.”

According to Bbosa, Yanga and Cranes playmaker Allan Okello is finally setting tongues wagging after ten years of learning the hard way.

“Players like Patrick Kaddu, Murushid Juuko, Shaban, Isa Lumu, George Ssenkaaba, Wahab and Meddie Kibirige have all been labelled outdated, yet they form the backbone of our success.’

Ugandan football has seen many such cases – Steven Bengo, Augustine Nsumba, Dan Sserunkuma, Tony Odur, Sadam Juma, Jackson Nunda – talents whose potential never fully aligned with their output.

For Wahab, however, the narrative has turned again. From promise to obscurity and back to prominence, he now stands as a reminder that football careers are not linear – and that revival, when it comes, can be more powerful than early hype.

Individual Accolades

MVP: Gadafi Wahab (Kitara)

Best Midfielder: Gadafi Wahab (Kitara)

Best Goalkeeper: Meddie Kibirige (Kitara)

Top scorer: George Senkaaba (Kitara)

Best Defender: David Owori (SC Villa)

Wahab at a glance

Full name: Gadafi Wahab Thiago Ajuman

Born: December 11, 1995

Citizenship: South Sudan/Uganda

Position:Midfield – Attacking Midfield

Current club: Kitara

Previous clubs: Onduparaka, Arua Hill, Wakiso Giants, Nec

Dr Fred Muhumuza is not the kind of economist who retreats into abstraction.

When he talks about government spending, he talks about buses, fuel allowances per vehicle, the Minister of Health’s car parked next to the Minister of Energy’s car on a public holiday in Arua, both drivers on allowance, both burning public money into the red dust.

He was speaking at the NTV Uganda – Absa post-budget dialogue on Friday, a day after the Finance Minister read the National Budget, surrounded by business leaders who wanted to know, simply, what it meant for them.

His answer, characteristically, was that the question itself needs reframing. ‘You can benefit from this budget by either waiting for the delivery to come,’ he said, ‘or by being part of the delivery process.’

Uganda’s ten-fold growth strategy is the Agro-Industrialisation, Tourism Development, Mineral-Based Industrialisation (including oil and gas), and Science, Technology and Innovation (ATMS), which is a long-term blueprint aiming to expand the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from about $50 billion to $500 billion by 2040.

This ‘tenfold growth’ model focuses on four priority sectors: Agro-industrialisation, Tourism development, Mineral-based industrialisation, and Science, Technology and Innovation.

For a country still trying to build out its productive base, these are not surprising choices.

But Dr Muhumuza, who is also the director of the Economic Forum at the Makerere University Business School, was more interested in what the budget signals than what it says. This coming financial year, it signals reform.

These words appear repeatedly in the Finance Minister’s speech: procurement reform, salary reform, and the cancellation of certain public ceremonies.

And the number that Dr Muhumuza kept returning to is 10. As in, 10 percent GDP growth, double digits, which Uganda has not seen since the early 1990s, the last great era of structural reform.

‘Reforms stimulate growth,’ he said. ‘The last time we were in double digits was the period of reforms. Somewhere we left the reforms or brought in different ones. One of the major ones that got left behind was procurement.’

The proposed changes to government procurement are, he acknowledged, going to be ‘loved and hated equally.’

‘There are people who eat from the current system, who depend on its drag, its opacity, its capacity to delay and inflate,’ he said.

But there are also people, he argued, waiting on the other side: businesses owed government arrears, pensioners whose payments are caught in a bureaucratic tangle, civil servants whose real salaries have been quietly substituted with a labyrinth of allowances.

‘You’ve been waiting. It’s your pension. You delivered the business. Who knows? Savings from this reform of procurement may eventually resolve the pending arrears,’ he noted.

Fuel prices rising

The conversation turned to fuel. The government has added a levy of Shs200 per litre on petrol and diesel for the 2026/2027 financial year starting July 1, raising total duties to Shs1,750 and Shs1,430, respectively. This measure is expected to generate Shs450 billion. With the pump price already rising to Shs6,700, it looks set to settle somewhere around Shs7,000 per litre.

For businesses, this is a recalculation of every delivery, every commute, every operational line.

Dr Muhumuza was indifferent and impatient with the way the debate tends to close in on itself, pointing out that Parliament, which budgeted for its own inland travel allowances at the old fuel price, will almost certainly come back asking for a supplementary budget to cover the difference.

‘You’ll not be surprised to see Parliament asking for a supplement. In the spirit of reforms, Mr Parliament, you already have Shs1.2 trillion. Can you go and reform some of the ways you are doing things and absorb this necessary cost?’

Consistency

It is, he said, a question of consistency. If the legislature is demanding efficiency from the executive, the executive should demand the same in return. The buses-and-cars example is not incidental.

It is his central argument about what reform actually looks like when it isn’t just a word in a speech.

‘One bus. Put them on a bus because if each one drives their own car, you trigger a fuel allowance per vehicle. A driver’s allowance per vehicle,’ he said.

He imagined the aggregated schedule: officials going to Karamoja, to Arua, to Gulu, their trips consolidated, their costs pooled. ‘I would have had one driver for all of them.’

The savings from such reforms, Dr Muhumuza argued, have a destination. He has thought carefully about where they should go, and his answer is salaries.

The current system, in which civil servants supplement modest base pay with a proliferating array of travel allowances, per diems, and ceremonial payments, is both opaque and unstable.

‘An allowance you are waiting on, whether you’ll get it or not,’ he said. ‘But if it is your salary, you can plan better.’

His benchmark was specific. Uganda has set a national objective of living above a dollar a day per person. If a civil servant is the breadwinner for five dependents, he argued, their household needs at least six dollars (Shs22,495) a day, roughly $180 (Shs674,873) to $200 (Shs749,859) a month.

The minimum salary, on those grounds, should be around Shs2 million.

‘Where am I going to find the money? From the reforms, because now I’m taxing Shs2 million, not Shs700,000. So part of the money comes back,’ he said.

He was describing a virtuous cycle of higher wages, higher tax intake, higher household expenditure, and economic growth that has so far remained theoretical.

‘Economies grow out of household expenditure. The more I empower households to spend, the better I’m speaking to double digits,’ he said.

There is one point at which Dr Muhumuza’s measured tone gave way to something closer to frustration, and it is on the subject of environmental taxes and the people they fall on. The budget includes several taxes that are partly justified on environmental grounds, including a levy on second-hand clothing. This affects the mivumba market, which millions of Ugandans rely on for affordable clothing.

But something is troubling about the logic.

‘You are punishing the poor to cater for the environment. Which poor person literally survives on the environment?’

He was thinking about the charcoal burner, the swamp-dweller, the person who irrigates their onions from the wetland at the edge of their land. ‘They have no option.’

His concern was not that environmental protection is wrong, but that the burden keeps landing in the same place, on people with the least capacity to absorb it, and the money raised rarely finds its way back to environmental restoration.

‘It’s going to end up paying salaries,’ he said. ‘You’re going to have a procurement committee.’

What he wants instead is what he calls a ‘climate-smart way of life’, not a penalty, but an alternative. Something that gives the charcoal-dependent household a different option, rather than simply making their existing one more expensive.

‘Can we begin to make decisions with the common person at the back of our mind?’ he asked. It is, in some way, the question that underlies everything he has said: not just what the budget allocates, but who it imagines when it does so.

‘The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) used to say: can we build Uganda together?’ he illustrated. ‘These discussions are themselves an opportunity. We hear from the government but we also have an opportunity to talk back,’ Dr Muhumuza said.