Category: Daily Monitor

Increasingly, media like the Daily Monitor and others must exercise caution and a measure of self-censorship in how they report on the President and First Family. And yet, there is no way around this. Everybody who is anybody in media, politics, and civil society knows that the National Resistance Movement (NRM)’s Uganda is increasingly resembling the West African States of Gabon and Togo 20 years ago, in which the president’s family was the de facto government.

It’s becoming so glaring, public, and obvious, it’s hard to imagine which media house would get into trouble by pointing it out. That’s why it was important last month for leading politicians, security officers, and businessmen to be seen to take part in the MK Charity Run, and the reason the same people dutifully travel to Gulu from time to time to meet Gen Salim Saleh. In the latest Cabinet, no less than six relatives and in-laws are included. This is important, not so much that Museveni’s relatives are necessarily unqualified for these government jobs, but for what it does to the country.

Civil servants and other technocrats start to calculate their prospects of appointment or promotion in terms of their perceived proximity or loyalty to the First Family and not in their technical performance on the job. We used to see this spectacle every May from 1981 to 1985, when senior civil servants made a point of travelling to Bushenyi in western Uganda to attend the Heroes’ Day celebrations for President Milton Obote.

As Google’s AI chatbot put it on June 2, 2026: ‘Rather than strengthening institutions, Museveni prefers a chaotic, overlapping governance structure where everything routes back to him. Ugandans complain bitterly about the decay of public health facilities (like Mulago hospital) and the state of Kampala’s potholed roads, while billions are spent on a bloated Parliament and a network of presidential advisors who rarely see him…The very traits that enabled him to save Uganda from systemic collapse-unyielding discipline, tactical flexibility, and a fierce consolidation of authority-are the exact traits that now constrain the country’s democratic evolution. His legacy remains a deeply polarising study in how a revolutionary liberator can gradually morph into the vanguard of the status quo.’

This line, ‘Rather than strengthening institutions, Museveni prefers a chaotic, overlapping governance structure where everything routes back to him,’ was in full public view last week when the new Cabinet was announced. First, Justine Kasule Lumumba was named the Government Chief Whip in Parliament even though she is not an MP, as the position requires the office holder. And then there was the endless confusion about several appointees who, it was discovered, hold citizenship of other countries as well as Uganda’s. Even after 40 years in power and several election victories (or ‘victories’) later, State House still can’t seem to get basic details of procedure and law right.

A CIA report on Uganda in July 1984 described the then national army, the UNLA, in terms that sound much like the NRM government today – bloated, overstaffed, indisciplined, split into bickering factions. The dramatic fall from power of the Speaker of the 11th Parliament, Anita Among, was the biggest story of the first half of 2026, bigger, even, than the general election in January. Among’s excesses and lack of modesty in displaying her wealth attracted resentment in the country, her fall being welcomed, although many were quick to note that her purge seemed more driven by a political need to clip her wings than a genuine clampdown on corruption.

Turning to Ugandan society itself, the bloated, inefficient, and corrupt NRM State is complemented by the weak and lacklustre mentality of the population. If we use searches on Google as an indicator of interests and aspirations – which certainly I do – in most measurements of elite taste, Uganda ranks near the bottom, not just in Africa but in the world. From golf to philosophy, milk to tennis, books to tourism, libraries, credit cards, poetry, insurance, restaurants, microwave ovens, and Artificial Intelligence, and dozens others, the more elite or ‘sophisticated’ the topic or product, the more likely Uganda ranks among the bottom 10 or 15 countries in the world.

I first used Google data in my State of the Nation report in 2024, and nothing has changed about Uganda’s relative global ranking. The state of the nation, thus, is one of a low-calibre people led by a wasteful and corrupt government. As I argued last week in my examination of Jinja, the only hope for a revival and streamlining of Uganda will have to come from external sources, probably a combination of a Chinese infrastructure and European funding undertaking.

A Kampala-based school has been compelled to pay school fees for a learner with albinism until completion of their education after the institution allegedly refused to admit the child to its boarding section on grounds linked to harmful myths about albinism.

The intervention by the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) followed complaints from the learner’s family after school administrators reportedly barred the child from joining the boarding section in Primary Five despite having studied at the school since nursery level.

The identity of the school has been withheld to avoid victimization.

According to the EOC, the school cited fears rooted in superstition and misinformation, claiming that people with albinism could transform into lions at night and harm other learners.

Speaking to journalists in Lira City on Thursday, EOC spokesperson Yusuf Muziransa described the school’s actions as blatant discrimination.

“This child had studied in the school from nursery up to Primary Five. When the time came to join the boarding section, the administration refused to admit them because of their disability,” Mr Muziransa said.

“The parents kept asking what the problem was until they eventually learnt that the school believed people with albinism turn into lions at night and eat other learners,” he added.

According to Mr Muziransa, the school informed the family that the learner could either remain a day scholar or transfer to another institution.

The decision left the child and parents distressed and highlighted the misconceptions that people with albinism continue to face in many communities.

The EOC, a statutory body mandated to eliminate discrimination and promote equal opportunities, engaged the school and successfully negotiated a remedy for the affected learner.

“We told the school that this child has a disability and should be treated like any other learner. Because the child had already become aware of the reasons for the discrimination, we directed the school to pay their fees until they complete their education,” Mr Muziransa said.

He revealed that the learner, who is now in Senior Two, is currently benefiting from the arrangement.

However, police said the matter did not amount to a criminal offence.

North Kyoga Regional Police spokesperson, Superintendent of Police Patrick Jimmy Okema, said law enforcement could not prefer criminal charges against the school over its decision regarding accommodation.

“There is no criminal case. The school is saying it cannot accommodate someone in the boarding section, and police cannot institute charges on that basis,” Mr Okema said.

The EOC nevertheless maintains that the conduct amounted to discrimination prohibited under Uganda’s laws and policies on equal opportunity and inclusion.

Mr Muziransa used the incident to call for greater public awareness about disability rights and the challenges faced by persons with albinism.

“We all risk becoming persons with disabilities at any moment. It is unacceptable to discriminate against anyone because of their appearance or disability,” he said.

The Commission also raised concern over continued reports of children with disabilities being hidden from society by their families.

Mr Muziransa said some parents lock children with disabilities inside homes, deny them access to education and social interaction, and prevent them from participating in community life.

“They do not want to be seen as parents of children with disabilities. Some keep these children locked in houses and do not allow them to go to school or even interact with others,” he said.

The EOC has called upon media organisations to play a greater role in exposing discrimination and promoting the inclusion of persons with disabilities.

The appeal was echoed by Lira City Principal Assistant Town Clerk Rebecca Acen, who urged journalists to use their platforms to raise awareness and support development initiatives aimed at protecting vulnerable groups.

Advocates say that while the Commission’s intervention has brought relief to the affected learner and family, the case exposes persistent prejudice against persons with albinism and highlights the need for continued public education to challenge harmful stereotypes.

“Every child deserves a chance to thrive regardless of their abilities or physical appearance,” Mr Muziransa said. “As a society, we must break down barriers and ensure that all children are treated with dignity and respect

The High Court has dismissed with costs a case filed by Makerere University seeking to evict city pastor Daniel Walugembe from disputed land in Katanga Valley, ruling that the institution was improperly pursuing parallel litigation over matters already before the Court of Appeal.

In a decision delivered by Justice Samuel Emokor of the Land Division on June 4, the court struck out the university’s 2021 suit after finding that the issues raised had substantially been determined in an earlier case and were already the subject of a pending appeal.

“The respondent (Makerere University), in my considered opinion, appears to be fishing on two fronts; before the Court of Appeal and before this court with the hope of succeeding in at least one of them,” Justice Emokor ruled.

The judge added that any orders obtained by Makerere University in either court would have the same effect of granting the university possession of the disputed property, creating what he described as an absurd situation.

‘This is because the orders obtained in favour of the respondent (Makerere University) in any of the two courts would have the same net effect of granting the respondent possession of the suit property. I would therefore not risk overplaying my hand in this matter. In the result, the instant application succeeds with orders issuing that HCCS No. 1051 of 2021 is res judicata and an abuse of the court process,’ the judge held.

The ruling followed an application filed by Pastor Daniel Walugembe and Mr Abdu Ssekajja seeking dismissal of the suit on grounds that it constituted an abuse of court process.

Through Mwesigwa Rukutana and Company Advocates, the applicants argued that the matters raised in the 2021 case had already been determined by the High Court in a judgment delivered in July 2015 and were currently pending before the Court of Appeal.

Justice Emokor agreed, finding that Makerere University had failed to prove that the land at the centre of the 2021 case was different from the property litigated in the earlier proceedings.

“The respondent has not been able to present credible evidence that the suit property in Case No. 857 of 2000 is different from the suit property being litigated in Case No. 1051 of 2021,” the judge held.

“What is clear to this court is that the suit land litigated in Case No. 857 of 2000 is the same land referred to in the other cases.”

Makerere University had sought declarations that no kibanja interest existed on approximately 5.13 acres of land in Katanga Valley and that Pastor Walugembe, Mr Ssekajja and their agents had trespassed on and illegally developed part of the university’s freehold land from around 2019.

The dispute traces its roots to a long-running battle over ownership and occupation of land in Katanga Valley near Wandegeya.

In 2015, the High Court ruled that four family members and their licensees occupying the land were bona fide occupants entitled to remain in possession under the Land Act.

The beneficiaries included Jonathan Yosamu Masembe, Bulasio Buyisi, George Kalimu, and Samalie Nambogga, who had challenged Makerere University and the Commissioner for Land Registration over the cancellation of their land titles and ownership claims.

In that judgment, then High Court Land Division Judge Alphonse Owiny-Dollo held that the occupants qualified as bona fide occupants under the Land Act, which protects persons who have occupied land for at least 12 years without challenge.

Although the court recognised Makerere University as the registered proprietor of the land, it also affirmed the occupants’ rights to remain in possession.

Court records indicate that a central issue in Makerere University’s pending appeal is the finding that the occupants and their licensees, including Pastor Walugembe, are bona fide occupants legally entitled to continue occupying the land.

Speaking after the ruling, Mr Brian Kupper Rubihayo, counsel for Pastor Walugembe, welcomed the court’s decision.

“We filed an application asking the court to dismiss Makerere University’s case on grounds of abuse of court process because the university was pursuing two cases simultaneously,” Mr Rubihayo said.

“The court agreed with us that the issues concerning the existence of kibanja interests on the Katanga land had already been determined in the earlier case.”

He argued that the university’s decision to pursue fresh proceedings while an appeal was pending amounted to an abuse of court process.

“The position now is that our client has successfully defended the suit and cannot be evicted on the basis of the dismissed case,” he said.

Court documents show that the disputed Katanga land comprises three zones covering approximately 37 acres occupied by the families and their licensees.

However, the university maintains that it owns a much larger area of about 277 acres, a claim that has remained contentious in the protracted land dispute.

The latest ruling leaves Makerere University’s appeal before the Court of Appeal as the primary avenue through which it can challenge the 2015 High Court decision.

Police have arrested three people in connection with the murder of rugby player Sydney Gongodyo, 27, who was killed by a mob in Kira on Friday.

The suspects, two males and one female, are being held at Kira Road Police Station as investigations continue.

Police said the deceased was allegedly subjected to mob action by members of the public who accused him of snatching a woman’s handbag.

”Preliminary investigations indicate that the deceased was allegedly subjected to mob action by members of the public who accused him of snatching a woman’s handbag. However, the exact circumstances surrounding the incident remain under active investigation,” police said in a statement on Sunday.

Gongodyo succumbed to injuries at Mulago National Referral Hospital, where officers who intervened had rushed him for treatment.

Gongodyo played for the Rugby Cranes and Stanbic Black Pirates as a forward. His death forced the postponement of this weekend’s Uganda Rugby Premiership semi-final between Black Pirates and Heathens.

He was a student at Makerere University. Earlier, Uganda Rugby Union president Godwin Kayangwe described his death as a monumental loss to the sport, saying he had served Uganda with honour, discipline, and exceptional commitment through his contributions to Black Pirates and the Rugby Cranes.

Gongodyo featured in Pirates’ 2025 Premiership title win and travelled with the squad for last week’s Enterprise Cup final against Kabras Sugar in Nairobi.

June 3 is always a national public holiday in Uganda because of Martyrs’ Day. It commemorates a group of young men – Catholic and Anglican – who were killed between 1885 and 1887 in the kingdom of Buganda, the present-day central Uganda. But this year’s Martyrs’ Day was not celebrated in the usual way as would-be pilgrims in Uganda and those who were to come from neighbouring countries, have not been allowed to converge at Namugongo, where the martyrs were killed, because of concerns over Ebola. According to the Ministry of Health, Uganda has confirmed 15 cases and reported one death since the Ebola outbreak was first reported in May in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

Ebola is one of the most dangerous diseases and has ravaged Uganda from time to time. In 2000, the country suffered its worst outbreak, which saw 224 people killed in months, according to the World Health Organisation. The DRC, where the rampaging virus originated, is particularly prone to Ebola and has lost far more people than many of its neighbours combined. The WHO estimates the country has lost no fewer than 3,000 people to Ebola since the first outbreak in 1976.

Each time Ebola strikes, people look to healthcare providers and global public health institutions, such as the WHO, to bring the virus under control. They do not turn to God even though religious people insist he loves people. Without healthcare providers and the scientific knowledge they rely on to manage Ebola, the situation would quickly get out of hand, and thousands of people would die at every turn. Religious people will continue telling us that God loves us all. But Ebola and many other forms of suffering people have to endure strongly suggest we live in a world where we are our own protectors.

Let us begin from the simple premise that Ebola is not even created by people. It is caused by a virus. While some viruses can be manufactured in labs, the Ebola virus is part of nature, part of the many things God has created. As the creator of everything living and non-living, He takes credit for making the Ebola virus. And He created the Ebola virus knowing full well – He is supposed to be all-knowing – that it would kill people. It does nothing but kill. It kills indiscriminately. Children who are too young to know what life means, why they are on this planet, can be victims.

Ebola will only fail to kill if it is stopped by people, not God. And we all agree that science has been and remains our most effective defence against it.If we have to use science to defend ourselves against a virus we did not create, we would be wrong to go around claiming that the Lord loves us. He does not. Science has protected us in ways that deserve more recognition and appreciation than they get. God may be all around us 24/7, as religious people claim, but He will never tell someone suffering from high blood pressure that they have a serious health problem.

The reason healthcare providers call high blood pressure a ‘silent killer’ is that it damages your organs, like the heart when you do not know. If you know nothing about how blood pressure is diagnosed, you can easily be killed by this disease even when you kneel down every day to pray for longevity. If God did not want people to suffer from high blood pressure, he would eliminate it. But if people can only find out they have the disease after being examined by doctors, it just shows science is the real protector.

As Ugandan healthcare providers continue the fight against Ebola, they should always remember that the best protection comes from systems humans build. They should leave nothing to chance. God loves and protects people in theory; never in practice.

East African Community member states have signed off on new measures to strengthen regional trade and industrialisation, a move Uganda’s manufacturers and exporters say could finally cut red tape and open bigger markets for ‘Made in Uganda’ goods.

The most important outcome from the ministers’ meeting is a renewed commitment to dismantle non-tariff barriers and fast-track value addition for locally made goods.

For Ugandan businesses, that translates to fewer delays at Malaba and Busia borders, lower transit costs, and smoother access to Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, and South Sudan markets.

With Kenya already Uganda’s largest EAC export destination, and South Sudan plus DR Congo relying heavily on Ugandan processed goods, the reforms could mean more orders and more jobs in Kampala’s Namanve Industrial Park and upcountry processing plants.

EAC Secretary General Amb. Stephen P. Mbundi, speaking during the meeting, said the Council was convening at a time of heightened geopolitical tension, disrupted maritime trade routes, growing protectionism, and supply chain vulnerabilities affecting global trade.

‘To cushion the region against these shocks, he called for a stronger internal market, a reduced cost of doing business, and faster implementation of regional integration commitments, including the resolution of all outstanding Non-Tariff Barriers,’ he stated.

One of the biggest wins for Ugandan traders is the agreement to harmonise documentation and expand electronic cargo tracking across all EAC borders.

For years, trucks leaving Kampala for Mombasa or Kigali have lost days at Malaba and Busia due to duplicated paperwork and manual inspections.

Ministers now want those processes digitised and aligned so that a single set of documents works from Uganda to any other EAC state.

Uganda Revenue Authority and the Uganda Manufacturers Association have repeatedly flagged border delays as the top cost driver for exports.

If clearance times drop, Ugandan maize, cement, dairy, and steel products will become more competitive overnight because transport and storage costs will fall.

The Council also adopted new regional incentives aimed squarely at agro-processing, textiles, pharmaceuticals, and building materials.

The strategy is to make it more profitable to process raw materials within the region instead of exporting them unprocessed.

Uganda is well placed to benefit, given its large coffee, grain, and dairy output, plus growing steel and cement plants in Namanve and Tororo.

If factories can access tax breaks and cheaper inputs under the new EAC framework, ‘Made in Uganda’ products will have a stronger shot at replacing imports from outside the bloc.

That shift is central to the EAC’s long-term plan to industrialise and create manufacturing jobs for East Africans.

Another major barrier coming down is product standards. Ministers agreed to push faster mutual recognition, meaning a product certified by the Uganda National Bureau of Standards in Kampala will be accepted in Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, and Kigali without fresh, costly testing.

For small and medium manufacturers who struggle to meet multiple testing requirements, this cuts both time and money.

A soap maker in Jinja or a juice processor in Mbarara will be able to get UNBS approval once and sell across the region.

That change directly addresses complaints that inconsistent standards have kept intra-EAC trade stuck at about 20% of the bloc’s total trade.

The meeting adopted a framework to help small factories access regional funds and credit guarantees. Access to affordable capital has been the missing piece for many Ugandan SMEs trying to scale from supplying local markets to exporting regionally.

Under the new EAC arrangement, a furniture workshop in Njeru or a pharmaceuticals firm in Kampala could tap guaranteed loans to buy machines and meet larger regional orders.

The goal is to make sure small businesses, not just large conglomerates, can plug into regional supply chains.

The EAC Secretariat now has six months to report back on border clearance times and the number of new industrial projects registered under the incentives.

For Ugandan manufacturers watching their trucks idle at Malaba, implementation will be the real test. But with ministers locked into specific timelines, the region’s push to trade more with itself – and make more of what it consumes – just received its strongest political backing this year.

Former councillors in Namutumba District have petitioned the Minister for Local Government, seeking intervention to compel authorities to pay outstanding salaries, allowances and emoluments owed between May and June 2021.

The petition follows a mediation meeting held last Thursday between former councillors and district technical staff led by Chief Administrative Officer Mr Emmanuel Ofwono, which ended in chaos after the district auditor informed them they had been overpaid.

“The district overpaid you and, in the process, some of you defrauded the district. It is the district demanding money from you, not the other way round. Each councillor is required to refund Shs350,000,” the auditor said.

In their June 4 petition, copied to the Regional Inspectorate of Government office in Jinja and other agencies, the former councillors demand an explanation regarding the alleged mismanagement of Shs300 million reportedly released in April to clear their outstanding salaries and allowances.

The councillors contend that although each member was entitled to Shs250,000 per month, they received only Shs175,000 after Pay As You Earn deductions, and want district authorities to account for the shortfall.

‘The purpose of this letter is to request your intervention and enforcement of the advice issued by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government, who directed the Chief Administrative Officer to pay the former councillors their outstanding salaries. However, the CAO has declined to implement the directive, saying he will make his own decision on the matter,’ the petition reads in part.

Ms Winnifred Nabirye, the councillor representing workers and a former youth representative in the fourth council, said the decision to seek intervention was taken as a last resort after efforts to resolve the matter at district level failed. ‘Our repeated efforts to secure payment of our arrears and obtain explanations for the shortfalls have fallen on deaf ears,’ she said.

In April this year, councillors in the fourth council declined to pass the 2026/27 district budget, citing failure by the social services committee to pay their salaries and allowances. After the swearing-in of new councillors on May 14, the fifth council convened on May 21 and passed the 2026/27 financial year budget that had been expected to be handled by the outgoing fourth council.

Councillors said several promises had been made in the past, including a recent assurance by Mr Geoffrey Mugoya, the district vice chairperson in the fifth council and former speaker of the fourth council. Ms Mary Mukyala said before Mr Mugoya was sworn in as district vice chairperson, he had informed them that each councillor who served in the fourth council was entitled to Shs1,050,000 in arrears, covering salaries, allowances and emoluments.

‘He was our speaker in the fourth council. While we were preparing the district handover report to the incoming council, he told us our money would be paid before the fifth council resumed business. However, to date we have not been paid,’ she said.

According to Mukyala , the councillors also reached out to the District Speaker of the fifth council, Simon Peter Wakudumira, who previously served as chairperson of the Finance Committee, for assistance, but he denied the allegations, insisting that all councillors from the fourth council had been fully paid their salaries.

‘He, who was our chairperson of the Finance Committee in the fourth council, told us not to pass the budget because we were demanding our salaries. But now that he is the Speaker in the fifth council, he is backing the technical staff who are withholding our money,’ she said.

When contacted, the District Communications Officer, Mr Noah Kiire, declined to comment on the matter and referred the Monitor to the District Speaker.

‘I am not in a position to comment on the matter. You can talk to the District Speaker, Mr Simon Peter Wakudumira,’ he said.

The District Speaker, Simon Peter Wakudumira, had also declined to comment on the matter.

The enforcement of search and seizure orders on properties of Ms Anita Annet Among, which have culminated in, among others, the impounding of her Shs3.4 billion Rolls-Royce, has opened up a can of worms. The prominent role played by Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba in tightening the screws on the Speaker of the 11th Parliament has sparked debate

Gen Muhoozi, the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), who is also the son of President Museveni and his advisor on Special Operations, has been front and centre of an operation that got underway on May 16. This has raised questions about whether the fight against corruption falls within the national army’s remit. ‘You go back to Article 209, which talks about the functions of the army. There is no role for the army in investigating these (corruption) matters whatsoever. Just look at the Constitution,’ Mr Dan Wandera Ogalo, who has served as a lawmaker in both the national and regional legislative branches, says.

Article 209 spells out the functions of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) as, firstly, to preserve and defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Uganda; secondly, to cooperate with the civilian authority in emergency situations and in cases of natural disasters; thirdly, to foster harmony and understanding between the defence forces and civilians; and, fourthly, to engage in productive activities for the development of Uganda.

Mr Godber Tumushabe, an associate director at Great Lakes Institute for Strategic Studies (GLISS), says: ‘That joint security operation is also part of the corruption because there are institutions of State created under the Constitution. They have their mandates. The UPDF, CDF, you are supposed to be out there in Garamba, in DRC, in Somalia, where we have our forces deployed and fighting. What reason do you have to be there doing law enforcement work?’

Mr Ogalo thinks Gen Muhoozi is being populistic. ‘To me, if you see the army going into investigating Parliament, that is simply a power grab because we have institutions for that. You have the Inspectorate of Government. You have laws like the leadership code. You have the Auditor General who checks on Parliament.’

Evasive

Mr Marlon Agaba of the Anti-Corruption Coalition begs to differ. ‘Of course, for the CDF to intervene, if it does really help the fight against corruption, then I don’t have any issues with that. It is welcome. I think from the Executive, especially the President, there has been frustration with the statutory anti-corruption agencies that have been there.’ Mr Meddie Mulumba, a former MP for Luuka County, who is also the chairperson of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party in Luuka District, is more critical, accusing the anti-corruption agencies of lack of visibility in the fight against corruption.

‘There are so many institutions that were put in place to fight corruption. We have the DPP (Director of Public Prosecution), we have the IGG (Inspector General of Government), we have the Auditor General, we have financial intelligence, we have accounting officers, we have ISO (Internal Security Organisation), we have ESO (External Security Organisation). It is so terrifying to see what these institutions have been doing. We are asking ourselves, where are these institutions? Have they been compromised? Have they been sleeping?’ Mr Mulumba wonders.

In March 2024, Ms Beti Kamya, then the ombudsman, announced that her office had opened up an unprecedented investigation into allegations of widespread corruption and unethical conduct at Parliament. Ms Kamya’s revelation came at a time when Agora Center for Research had just carried out an online campaign that was known as #Ugandaparliamentexhibition on X, formerly Twitter. The campaign illuminated illegal recruitment of staff at the House, withdrawals of large sums of cash from Parliament’s corporate social responsibility kitty, and other cases of abuse of public funds. ‘The issues have obviously generated significant media and public interest. No one can ignore them,’ Ms Kamya said.

However, within less than a month of making those comments, she had backtracked, hiding behind the cover of the need to avoid duplication of work. ‘I am also told that the Auditor General is also investigating Parliament. Normally, in our working methods, we do not crowd. Once somebody (another investigative arm) has been there before you then you wait for their report… if somebody is handling an investigation you don’t crowd it. You do not duplicate work and resources,’ Ms Kamya told our sister television station, NTV Uganda.

Back then, Ms Munira Ali, the spokesperson of the Inspectorate, claimed that the ombudsman had not backtracked. ‘We work together under a forum known as an inter agency forum. We communicate. Where one of the agencies is already investigating, another does not open up an investigation because it is bound to delay the other agency’s work. Besides, there have also been complaints that multiple agencies are investigating one institution at the same time, yet we oftentimes require the same sets of documents and information,’ she said.

Shielding

One of the things that has been coming up is the Inspectorate’s handling of petitions related to requests for the disclosure of public information regarding declarations of assets and liabilities of public leaders. Whereas the Constitution and the Access to Information Act 2005 guarantees the right of citizens to access information in possession of the State and its organs, and whereas Section 7 of the leadership Code Act, 2002, provides that, ‘the content of a declaration under this code shall be treated as public information and accessible to the public…’, the IGG has previously ignored requests that would have enabled the public to access this information.

On July 1, 2024, for example, Agora’s top brass wrote to the ombudsman requesting access to declarations of incomes, assets and liabilities that had been filed by 13 leaders. These included Ms Among; and her Deputy, Mr Thomas Tayebwa; and the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Mr Joel Ssenyonyi.

Others were former Bugweri County MP Abdu Katuntu; Kachumbala County MP Opolot Patrick Isiagi; Lwengo District MP Cissy Donizia Namujju; former Kira Municipality MP Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda; Bukooli Central MP Solomon Silwanyi; Ms Among’s husband, Mr Moses Magogo; Director of Ethics and Integrity Alex B Okello; the ombudsman then, Ms Kamya; Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) president Patrick Amuriat Oboi; and Masaka Resident City Commissioner Hudu Hussein.

‘The IGG did not provide us with the said information. They wrote back claiming that it was for our own safety,’ Mr Godwin Toko, the deputy team lead at Agora, told Weekend Monitor. Ms Munira Ali had, by press time, not responded to questions why Agora’s request for information has gone unanswered.

Performance issues

Those who think the anti-corruption agencies have been sleeping on the job point to the annual outputs. ‘If you’re an institution like the [Inspectorate] and you’re getting maybe Shs90b a year, what do you have to show for that? In the Financial Year 2024-2025, the IGG only had three convictions. How do you explain that?’ Mr Agaba wonders. He thinks most of the money that should have been expended on the fight against corruption is instead used to pay salaries and allowances and buy cars. Previously, there have been questions regarding Mr Museveni’s commitment to fighting corruption.

Critics argue that whereas the ‘elimination of corruption and misuse of power’ was number seven on the 10-point programme, a governance blueprint put together during the guerrilla war in Luweero, the government has spectacularly failed on that front. In fact, the NRM has, they add, lowered the bar from ‘elimination’ to simply ‘fighting’ corruption. While giving his inaugural speech on May 14, soon after he was sworn into office, Mr Museveni declared that his seventh elective term is one of ‘no sleep, no corruption’. His critics, however, say the fight will be met with the same abysmal success as has been met in each of the previous six terms. What is it that has failed the NRM’s fight against corruption?

While Mr Mulumba insists that it is the institutions that have let Mr Museveni down, Mr Ogalo disagrees. The latter thinks it is the President who has, by his own statements and actions, been letting himself down. ‘Ask yourself why those agencies are not doing much. Do you remember what Justice [Irene] Mulyangoja [former ombudsman] told us about where the thieves hide? Do you remember what happened when Beti Kamya tried to bring a lifestyle audit? What did Mr Museveni publicly tell her? ‘Go slow!’ So, you constrain these institutions, which are supposed to carry out investigations. Then we turn around and blame them, yet we praise those who have constrained them,’ Mr Ogalo says.

On December 9, 2021, during the launch of the lifestyle audit campaign at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds in Kampala, Mr Museveni told Ms Kamya, then the ombudsman, to go slow on her plans to conduct lifestyle audits on public servants as part of a plan to fight corruption. The President rationalised that it would force thieving public officials to hide their loot abroad.

‘The lifestyle audit is good, but be careful because we are still lucky that our corrupt people are corrupt here. But if they realise that their lifestyle is being audited, they will instead take what they stole abroad, and it will be hard to track them,’ Mr Museveni, who was the chief guest on that year’s commemoration of the International Anti-Corruption Day, said.

It is because of such comments that the feeling that Mr Museveni is not committed to fighting corruption pervades. Those who have been left frustrated by the apparent evasiveness of the government have been quick to laud Gen Muhoozi’s apparent intervention. That is fuelling the debate around whether he should continue involving himself in what is meant to be a function of the police. Whether he continues doing so and what it means for the anti-corruption agencies and their future should perhaps be of more concern to the citizenry.

The triple heritage is a sociological and cultural theory coined by the renowned scholar Dr Ali A. Mazrui. It posits that modern African identity and society are the result of the complex interplay and synthesis of three distinct cultural, political, and historical forces. Namely, the indigenous African heritage, Islamic heritage and Western heritage. In Uganda, this triad heritage does apply in dribs and drabs. It is the product of political socialisation or the lifelong process by which individuals acquire their political beliefs, values, and ideologies. This process is evidenced by the fortunes and faculties of three distinct generations.

At independence, my father’s generation was known as the silent generation (sometimes referred to as traditionalists), which is generally defined as the demographic cohort born between 1928 and 1945. All our former presidents belong to this generation, too. This demographic was democratic insofar as democracy guaranteed their freedom and its related liberties. They were idealists, trained by the colonialists to uphold governance standards and reflect the cultural values the colonial system of divide and rule bequeathed them.

Their silence was broken, as it were, in 1966. When Uganda’s military forces, acting on the orders of Prime Minister Apollo Milton Obote and commanded by Idi Amin, attacked the Lubiri (Kabaka’s Palace) in Mengo, Kampala, on May 24, 1966. After that, they were conflicted by their allegiance to a unified Uganda and the place it in for Buganda Kingdom. They were cured of this somewhat schizophrenic state when Mr Obote effectively turned Uganda into a one-party State between 1966 and 1969. Following a violent 1966 constitutional crisis, Obote’s Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) officially outlawed all Opposition political parties in 1969, consolidating his absolute rule. The daggers were drawn.

In these heady times, Gen Amin overthrew President Obote in a military coup on January 25, 1971. The coup took place while Obote was out of the country attending a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Singapore. Subsequently, guerilla warfare was introduced to our political culture by forces ranged against Amin. They felt he had gone back on undertakings given to a democratic promise at Independence. A twenty-year war erupted, and the children of these resisters were force-fed on the Dark Times which came to the light in 1986.

We were told by our parents that if we did not follow our parents’ advice, Uganda would be placed on a greasy pole. Which is exactly what certain elements from the North of Uganda felt when Mr. Museveni took power in 1986. The north and east took up arms, believing the country had gone south; literally and metaphorically. Consequently, my generation was not taught to exercise its rights; it was taught to guard them. Thus, our thinking paralleled our parents’ thinking until the former devolved into a survivalist ethic. This ethic foreshadowed the unbridled greed we see today.

After we survived Obote’s return, something that was used as a spook story to keep us in line, we tried to survive period. We are Generation X or the Star Wars Generation. Our idealism in coma, owing to our belief that opposition to the status quo doesn’t win unless the government loses. Our children were now caught in the headlights of an uncertain future as they adopted the Silent and Generation X’s principles, along with the third heritage of social media. This Triple Heritage ensured they had more heat than light to their political thinking, due to the friction between the three heritages.

Out of this, a dialectic between the heritages could take on the essential feature of a democracy designed to protect minority rights and ensure stable laws.

A 38-year old man identified as Charles Faustine Okonye died on Saturday from injuries sustained during a fight at his in-law’s place over a woman, identified as Rose Apio.

Police say the deceased, a resident of Kadoki Village, Akadot Parish in Pallisa District, had visited his in-laws to settle their marriage affairs and had to spend the night with the woman in a gazetted room.

However, on the fateful night, another man, believed to be the woman’s lover, stormed their house at night, leading to a confrontation which ensued into a bitter fight that left Okonye with several injuries.

Okonye died at Mbale Regional Referral Hospital, where he was rushed for treatment. The woman had reportedly returned to her parents following a domestic disagreement with the deceased.

Bukedi North Regional Police Spokesperson ASP Wilfred Kyempasa said on Sunday that preliminary investigations indicate that while the couple was asleep, the man stormed their house.

“The two men reportedly fought both inside and outside the house, sustaining injuries during the confrontation.” ASP Kyempasa said.

Adding that: ”Family members and neighbours who responded found Okonye critically injured and rushed him to Pallisa General Hospital before he was referred to Mbale Regional Referral Hospital, where he died on Sunday afternoon. ”

He explained that the case was first registered as attempted murder but has since been upgraded to murder following the victim’s death.

He confirmed that police have arrested two suspects to assist with ongoing investigations.

The body of the deceased has been taken to Mbale City Mortuary for a postmortem examination as investigations are ongoing.