Category: Daily Monitor

Throughout the different coffee farming districts, coffee seedlings ready for supply to farmers are on display, possibly catch the eye of the suspecting farmer.

Farmer experts now claim that not all coffee seedlings on display at the different nursery beds meet the standards.

Mr Eriya Ssembajwe Ssuubi, a retired agriculture officer and coffee farmer based at Namakofu village in Zirobwe Subcounty, Luweero District says the existing gap between the farmer extensionists and the farmers, coupled with the increasingly high demand for the coffee seedlings is a time bomb for coffee farmers that could easily plant substandard coffee seedlings.

‘A section of the coffee nursery operators have little knowledge about the different coffee varieties, soil conditions and are simply setting the suspecting farmers in a future irreversible trap that will be realized after a long period.

While the science of grafting and setting up the coffee nurseries is not very complex, a nursery operator should plant the standard seedlings.

Farmers are unable to differentiate between the right and wrong seedlings without help of coffee experts,’ he says.

It is now common to find a coffee nursery bed with ready seedlings set up within a period of one week at a section of the road reserve.

While the explanation could be that the seedlings were possibly transferred from mother seed beds, standards traceability is often compromised.

The coffee nursery operators are supposed to be licensed and supervised by representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) but a likely loose supervision is blamed for the reported uncertified coffee nurseries, Mr Ssembajwe tells this publication.

But Mr Abdul Kato Ssembiro, a farmer based at Namayumba Subcounty in Wakiso District is among several of the unlucky farmers forced to replace more than 800 coffee tree plants at his coffee garden on the advise of a farmer extension worker after he fell victim to poor coffee variety seedlings purchased from a nursery operator.

‘After a period of three-years, despite application of fertilizers and ensuring that the plants remained disease free, the coffee trees yielded a few coffee beans. Independent coffee farmer experts that visited my garden explained that my garden had a mixture of coffee varieties that were not likely to give a good yield. I was advised to uproot the coffee trees and purchase seedlings from a certified nursery operator,’ he told this publication.

Ssembiro had spent at least Shs6m on the coffee garden that failed his plans. But he luckily owns separate coffee gardens earlier planted on a 3-acre piece of land with good coffee yields.

He now reminds farmers to seek expert advise from extension workers and experienced coffee farmers that can help locate the certified coffee seedlings’ nursery operators.

For Robusta Coffee nursery seedlings (Clonal) variety, farmers are advised to identify nursery operators with well established premises that include the working coffee nursery shed, nearby water source, coffee rooting shed, coffee hardening shed, office and store, rubbish pit, coffee working shed, coffee demonstration plot and a mother garden.

Mr Edward Bazira, a former supervisor staff under the defunct Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) says establishment of coffee nurseries must follow particular procedures that are later inspected by designated officials from the MAAIF.

‘For clonal coffee propagation, the operator should meet the standards before a certificate for propagation is issued. One must identify land near a water source, identify a mother garden for cuttings, and establish a working shed, propagation shed, hardening shed, a rooting shed, rubbish pit among other essential facilities,’ he says.

A certificate issued by MAAIF for certification must be displayed at the coffee nursery office while the different coffee varieties must be clearly marked at the nurseries, Bazira explains.

The government had a coffee seedlings distribution programme launched in 2014 where coffee seedlings sourced from certified coffee nursery operators were distributed to farmers.

But through the years and possibly because of the big demands that the government could not fulfill under the NAADS and Operation Wealth Creation, the seedlings distribution was scaled down.

Over 280 tea nursery bed operators in Kanungu District have denied allegations that they were defrauded by their lawyers and association leadership. The farmers clarify that a 30 percent deduction from their recent Shs14.9 billion government payout was a voluntary contribution, not an illegal extortion scheme.

In a signed petition addressed to President Museveni, dated May 26, 2026, the farmers under the Kanungu Tea Nursery Bed Operators Association clarified that they received their full entitlements on their respective bank accounts. They noted that the 30 percent deduction was willingly remitted to cover legal fees, administrative expenses, and operational costs incurred during their multi-year legal battle with the government.

The statement, witnessed by the lead plaintiff, Mr. Frank Byaruhanga, was a direct response to an earlier petition dated November 12, 2025. In that petition, eight individual farmers accused the association’s leadership and legal counsel of executing unauthorized deductions from the farmers’ compensation.

“On May 10, 2018, during our association’s general meeting held in Rukungiri District, it was unanimously agreed that members make a contribution of 30 percent of the money demanded from the government,” the farmers’ statement reads in part. “This was to meet legal fees, administrative costs of the lead plaintiffs, and the daily running of the association activities.”

The dispute traces back to 2019 when the nursery bed operators sued the government for failing to pay Shs143 billion for tea seedlings supplied under a state-backed agricultural transformation initiative.

While Kanungu is one of southwestern Uganda’s primary tea-producing hubs, delays in government clearing of arrears have frequently sparked friction between local suppliers and the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries.

Speaking on Saturday, Mr Byaruhanga, who also chairs the association, dismissed the fraud allegations as malicious and unauthorized fabrications that do not reflect the position of the wider membership.

“In 2019, we sued the government. After a long court battle, a consent judgment was reached in 2021 where the government committed to paying the money,” Mr. Byaruhanga explained. “In the 2021/2022 financial year, the government paid only Shs39 billion. We returned to court for redress.”

Mr Byaruhanga added that following a lengthy legal standoff, President Museveni intervened in 2025 and ordered the release of the remaining Shs112 billion, which the farmers are yet to receive.

“However, in December 2025, the government paid us Shs14.9 billion, which accumulated as a 10 percent interest on the principal amount. Following our 2018 agreement, each farmer voluntarily paid 30 percent of what they received to cater for our legal and administrative costs,” he said.

The internal rift caught the attention of the State House Anti-Corruption Unit (SHACU) late last year after the breakaway faction of eight farmers petitioned the President, prompting detectives to launch an investigation into the management of the funds.

Mr Byaruhanga welcomed the ongoing probe, expressing confidence that the association would be cleared of any wrongdoing.

“I am happy that officials from the State House Anti-Corruption Unit have started investigations. So far, 310 out of the 313 legitimate members of our association have signed to confirm they voluntarily paid the 30 percent,” Mr Byaruhanga said, adding that the members are eagerly awaiting the unit’s final report.

In a landmark judgment set to shake up the financing of multi-billion-dollar infrastructure developments across East Africa, the Tax Appeals Tribunal (TAT) has ordered Bujagali Energy Limited (BEL) to pay nearly Shs157 billion ($41.5 million) in additional taxes to the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA).

The ruling not only hands a massive financial victory to the government treasury but effectively plugs a lucrative tax loophole previously exploited by large-scale infrastructure developers to aggressively minimize their tax obligations through currency manipulation.

In Application No. 4 of 2024 (Bujagali Energy Limited vs Uganda Revenue Authority), a three-member tribunal comprising Mr. Siraj Ali, Mr. Willy Nangosyah, and Ms. Christine Katwe upheld a revised assessment by the URA. Consequently, BEL-the special purpose vehicle that operates the 250MW Bujagali Hydroelectric Power Station-must now pay Shs155.3 billion in Income Tax and Shs298.3 million in Withholding Tax (WHT).

The core of the dispute

At the heart of the high-stakes legal battle was a disagreement over how to calculate the capital cost base of the Bujagali dam in Uganda Shillings to claim tax deductions, specifically “depreciable asset allowances.”

Because the dam was constructed over several years using foreign currency (primarily US dollars), the project was heavily exposed to macroeconomic shifts and exchange rate fluctuations.

BEL argued that it should be permitted to aggregate its total US dollar expenditures over the entire construction period and convert the lump sum into Uganda Shillings using the exchange rate prevalent on the exact day the project was officially commissioned in 2012.

However, because the Uganda Shilling had depreciated significantly against the dollar between the start of construction and 2012, using the later exchange rate artificially inflated the recorded asset cost in local currency. In the world of corporate taxation, a higher asset cost translates directly to larger depreciation deductions, which aggressively slashes a company’s taxable profits-and by extension, the tax revenue paid to the state.

The URA objected to this accounting methodology during a subsequent audit. The tax body argued that because capital was injected incrementally over many years, BEL was legally required to use the historical, date-specific exchange rate for the exact day each individual expenditure was incurred.

The tribunal’s verdict

The tribunal firmly sided with the tax authority, rejecting BEL’s attempts to retroactively “reverse-engineer” past costs using a later, more favorable exchange rate.

The panel ruled that for tax purposes, the ‘original cost’ of an asset must be established in local currency progressively as the project is built, rather than being recalculated at the end of the project or during commissioning.

“Entities executing infrastructure projects in Uganda can no longer group past expenses together to convert them using a later exchange rate,” the tribunal noted, cementing a principle that prevents artificial tax deductions caused by currency fluctuations over long construction periods.

Furthermore, the tribunal reaffirmed the URA’s legal mandate to issue fresh tax assessments whenever new, vital information is uncovered during routine or forensic audits. BEL must now meticulously audit its historical books, identify the exact dates funds were spent, and apply the corresponding Bank of Uganda exchange rates for those specific days.

A major precedent

Legal and financial experts have described the ruling as a structural game-changer for project financing in developing economies.

According to a detailed technical analysis by MRT Tax, a specialist tax advisory firm, the decision establishes an uncompromising precedent for foreign-funded infrastructure assets.

“The ruling speaks directly to the tax assumptions that sit beneath project finance models,” noted Mr. Mark Ruhindi, a prominent corporate and tax lawyer and the Founding Managing Partner of MRT Tax.

“Moving forward, the TAT ruling ensures URA taxes projects based on real, historical costs at the time they were incurred, rather than later revaluations. Developers can no longer group years of construction costs together and apply a single, later exchange rate-such as the project’s commissioning date-to artificially lower their tax bill,” Ruhindi explained.

Regional reverberations

While the judgment is grounded specifically in Uganda’s Income Tax Act, its financial waves are expected to reverberate well beyond Uganda’s borders, impacting the wider East African Community (EAC).

Across East Africa, mega-infrastructure ventures-ranging from Kenya’s standard gauge railways and Tanzania’s standard gauge rail networks to regional oil pipelines, deep-water ports, industrial parks, and hydro-power plants-share identical commercial DNA. They are almost exclusively offshore-funded, heavily reliant on Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) or private equity, structured via Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), and managed by Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) that maintain accounts in US dollars.

Tax analysts argue that the Bujagali decision will quickly become a central reference point for international engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractors, financial lenders, and regional governments.

By drawing a hard line on foreign currency conversion rules, Uganda’s Tax Appeals Tribunal has signaled to international investors that financial modeling for African infrastructure must adapt to stricter transparency standards. Project models will now have to factor in real-time local currency conversion from day one, shifting how financial risk and tax obligations are calculated in the region for decades to come.

BEL has yet to formally indicate whether it intends to appeal the tribunal’s decision to the High Court.

Residents and business owners in Mukono District are witnessing major changes in their livelihoods following the ongoing construction of the Ntenjeru-Bule Road.

During an inspection tour by district officials on Thursday of the 7.8-kilometre road project under the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area Urban Development Programme (GKMA-UDP), leaders said the project is already sparking revival in the area.

Alice Nakimuli, a resident of Bujiji village, said for years the area struggled with poor accessibility, especially during the dry season when deep gullies caused by erosion made roads nearly impassable. Transporting goods to nearby markets such as Ggaba, 2.5 kilometres away, was costly and unreliable, eating into traders’ profits.

‘We could barely move vehicles or even motorcycles,’ she said. ‘Most of the money they earned went straight into transport costs.’

However, since construction works began, the situation has dramatically improved. Mobility has eased, businesses are reopening, and new opportunities are emerging.

The community liaison officer, Mr. Emmanuel Mbonye, said the improved road network has triggered a rapid increase in population, with local leaders estimating that the number of residents has nearly doubled within months of the project’s commencement.

Education institutions are also benefiting. Kamda Secondary School, which previously had about 230 students, has seen enrollment surge to approximately 700. New private schools are also being established in response to the growing population.

Mr Mbonye said tourism and hospitality businesses, once crippled by poor road conditions, are bouncing back. Beaches such as Mutora, Mutima, and Adventure Park, along with Lagoon Resort, had previously shut down operations but are now undergoing renovations in anticipation of renewed business.

Rental housing demand has also skyrocketed. ‘Previously, the cost was between Shs20,000 and Shs70,000, but now better rentals range from Shs150,000 to Shs200,000,’ he said.

The area has been earmarked as a future satellite city, an extension of Kampala, due to increasing urban pressure in the capital.

Local leaders are now advocating for additional infrastructure, including a ferry docking site to enhance connectivity. Discussions are ongoing with landowners to secure land for the proposed facility.

‘If the road ends here without a ferry connection, it will look incomplete,’ Mr. Mbonye said. ‘But with the ferry, this will become a major transport link.’

According to Martha Rwaboona, a representative from China Railway No. 5, the contractor handling Phase One of the 7.8 kilometres, the project began on July 9, 2025, and is scheduled to run for 18 months.

As of now, the project stands at approximately 30 per cent completion, slightly below the expected 32 per cent progress mark.

Key infrastructure components such as culverts are nearing completion: 12 out of 13 cross pipe culverts are completed, 2 out of 6 box culverts are completed, with 1 midway.

Despite minor delays caused by heavy rains and challenges related to physical cultural resources, contractors remain confident the project will be completed within schedule. Phase One of the road is valued at Shs35.7 billion, funded by the World Bank.

The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) has finalized a draft Bill seeking a total ban on single-use plastics in Uganda. The bold legislative move is the government’s latest attempt to tackle rampant plastic pollution, severe urban flooding, and widespread environmental degradation.

The proposed Bill, which is currently awaiting presentation to Parliament, aims to completely phase out “problematic” single-use plastic products, popularly known as kaveera. These materials have long been blamed for choking drainage channels, polluting wetlands, and fueling recurrent, destructive flash floods, particularly in Kampala and other rapidly growing urban centers.

Speaking about the development, NEMA Executive Director, Dr Barirega Akankwasah, emphasized that the environmental watchdog is already promoting alternative packaging materials to ensure a smooth transition once the law takes effect. These include fabric bags, craft packaging, recyclable plastics, and biodegradable products manufactured from organic materials.

Dr Barirega also appealed to corporate Uganda to lead by example, urging hotel owners, government institutions, and private companies to phase out plastic water bottles in favor of glass. He extended the same call to beverage giants, urging a structural shift back to glass bottling systems.

“The Bill is coming to ban single-use plastics. This Bill is already in process. Very soon, we shall say bye-bye to single-use plastics, which are very problematic to the environment,” Dr Barirega stated.

“We call upon all producers, manufacturers, and citizens to embrace this new journey of transitioning from problematic single-use plastics to alternative sources of packaging and recyclable, non-single-use plastics.”

Recognizing the economic anxieties of manufacturers, the Executive Director clarified that the law does not target the entire plastics industry. To level the playing field, the government has introduced fiscal incentives, such as an excise duty on virgin plastic granules, to give sustainable, alternative packaging a competitive edge in the market.

“We cannot say that we shall phase out all plastics, because most items utilize plastic. But we shall phase out single-use plastics, which are highly problematic. Plastic is here to stay, but plastic that is safe for the environment is what we shall promote,” Dr Barirega explained.

According to NEMA statistics, Uganda generates more than 600 metric tonnes of plastic waste daily. Shockingly, less than 40 percent is properly collected and managed. The remaining 60 percent is routinely dumped, ending up in drainage channels, fragile wetlands, vital water bodies, and open public spaces.

The upcoming legislative battle marks the government’s sixth attempt to rid the country of plastic bags. Similar bans launched in 2007, 2009, 2015, 2018, and 2021 all collapsed or suffered from a severe lack of enforcement.

During these past cycles, banned plastic bags continued to be manufactured locally, imported openly, or smuggled across Uganda’s porous borders. Even after a strict 2021 Cabinet directive, enforcement stalled. NEMA later admitted it lacked sufficient teeth after the National Environment Act 2019 inadvertently transferred key regulatory powers to the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS), whose mandate prioritizes product certification over environmental protection.

NEMA Public Relations Officer, Mr William Lubuulwa, revealed that previous interventions failed because they only targeted plastics below 30 microns, creating an enforcement nightmare.

“The earlier approach was difficult to implement because differentiating between 30, 40, 50, or even 80-micron plastics was nearly impossible for officers in the field,” Mr. Lubuulwa explained. “The new Bill seeks a total ban on single-use plastics, making enforcement much clearer and more effective.”

Mr Lubuulwa added that NEMA has conducted exhaustive stakeholder consultations and technical studies to ensure the proposed law is legally airtight, practical, and capable of finally resolving Uganda’s waste crisis. If passed, stakeholders believe the law will drastically improve climate resilience, safeguard public health, and protect the country’s decaying ecosystems.

Hopes of finding more survivors are rapidly fading as rescue teams enter their second day of combing through the debris of a multi-storey building that collapsed on Friday afternoon in Kisota Zone, Kikaya Parish, Kisasi. By Saturday evening, the death toll had risen to three, while nine survivors remain hospitalized.

Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson, Rachel Kawala, confirmed that two of the deceased have been identified as Jonathan Kivumbi and James, popularly known as “Rasta.” The identity of the third adult male remains unknown. Their bodies have been transported to Mulago City mortuary for postmortem examinations.

The three-storey structure, which had been under construction for approximately eight months, suddenly caved in from the top floor at around 1:00 PM on Friday, trapping several casual laborers beneath a mass of concrete bricks and twisted iron bars.

As the Police Fire and Rescue Services, alongside the Uganda Red Cross, continue search operations, the spotlight has firmly shifted to regulatory negligence and poor enforcement by local authorities.

The Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) Executive Director, Sharifa Buzeki, revealed that the structure was completely illegal.

“The building was being constructed illegally because its plans had not been approved,” Ms Buzeki said. “The developers were issued a stop notice in April, but they defied it and continued with construction, mostly operating at night to evade enforcement officers.”

Engineer Justus Akankwasa, the KCCA Director of Engineering and Technical Services, attributed the disaster to a catastrophic mix of poor structural design and the deployment of substandard materials.

Police have launched a manhunt for the culprits behind the site. “We are tracking down the site owner and the site engineer,” Ms. Kawala stated, noting that criminal investigations regarding negligence have commenced. “They must present their KCCA approved plans and professional qualifications.”

The disaster has reignited a fierce public debate regarding KCCA’s oversight and supervision capabilities. Kawempe Division Mayor, Emmanuel Sserunjogi, acknowledged the enforcement crisis, pointing out that KCCA’s physical planning and engineering departments are crippled by severe administrative challenges, including a lack of substantive leadership and staffing gaps that make routine field inspections nearly impossible.

This collapse adds to a grim trajectory of structural failures across the capital. National Building Review Board (NBRB) data indicates that Uganda registered at least 41 structural failures between 2019 and 2025, resulting in more than 90 fatalities. High-profile incidents-such as the 2020 Lukuli-Makindye collapse that claimed 13 lives-were similarly blamed on unqualified contractors and a total absence of routine KCCA field oversight.

The tragedy occurs just two months after the enactment of the Building Control (Amendment) Act 2026, which raised penalties for non-compliance to 12 years in prison. Yet, critics argue that until KCCA enforces rigorous, proactive on-site supervision rather than reactive post-disaster statements, Kampala’s booming construction sector will remain a death trap.

On April 1, the Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) released a circular to all heads of primary and secondary schools, district education officers and school inspectors across the country, in which it guided on registration of students for national examinations right from primary to higher secondary education.

Registration fees for Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) were set at Shs34,000, while late registration for PLE was set at Shs68,000; registration fee for each Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) candidate was set at Shs164,000; addition fees for each private UCE candidate was set at Shs15,000; registration fee for each Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) candidate was set at Shs186,000; additional fee for each private UACE candidate was set at Shs18,000.

The circular stated that late registration fees for each UCE and UACE candidate can attract a surcharge of between 50 and 100 percent of the total registration fee, depending on the payment period.

This particular provision means that late registration fees would range between Shs246,000 and Shs328,000 for a UCE candidate and between Shs279,000 and Shs372,000 for a UACE candidate.

Unfortunately, many schools have ignored the provisions of the circular and are demanding late registration fees of up to Shs450,000 for UCE candidates and Shs600,000 for UACE candidates.

That means that they are demanding Shs130,000 more than the official fee prescribed by Uneb for UCE candidates and more than Shs227,778 more than for UACE candidates. This is unacceptable.

These extortionist demands come at a time when most ordinary Ugandans are going through tough times.

Most parents have only been able to send their children back to school for the second term of the academic year by entering into some arrangements with the schools to have the school fees paid in a staggered manner.

The Ministry of Education and Sports, which is supposed to regulate the education sector, is and has been missing for quite a while now.

The failure to enforce an August 31, 2023, declaration that schools were not allowed to hike school fees without clearance from the permanent secretary, the chief administrative officers or the town clerks is testimony enough.

The government is constitutionally mandated to provide basic and higher education as a social service to its citizens.

The failure to regulate has increasingly turned education into a money-making enterprise and not the social service that it is meant to be.

Officials from the Ministry of Education must wake up and smell the coffee.

The Education and Sports ministry has stated that secondary school learners nationwide will only be allowed to possess smartphones and other ICT-related gadgets in schools after the government enacts specific policies permitting their use.

The revelation was made this week by Mr Abubaker Bbuye, a principal education officer at the ministry, during the launch of a new report on the readiness of Uganda’s secondary schools to implement digital learning. Mr Bbuye warned that allowing secondary learners to bring smartphones and mobile gadgets to school for ICT integration, without proper ministry gatekeeping, could have serious consequences.

‘I do not want to commit myself until we come up with the right kind of guidelines, because giving them the computers or the machines in their hands without guidelines would be the worst case. We are coming up with guidelines to allow that to happen, not simply just giving them out,’ Mr Bbuye explained.

He added: ‘Some schools are letting this happen-the students even have phones, but they only use them on strong school-based policies that dictate when, where and how to use these gadgets.’ Mr Bbuye was reacting to calls by education sector stakeholders that the ministry should reconsider its position that banned possession of smartphones by learners in schools, arguing that it would significantly boost ICT learning in schools across the country.

Mr Robert Magemeso, a senior official at the Uganda National Institute for Teacher Education (UNITE), Kampala, while reacting to the findings of the research report, explained that allowing students to own the gadgets will close the urban and rural divide between learners and boost their performance.

‘If possible, the ministry should consider permitting secondary school learners to have gadgets like telephones and tablets, and parents could be permitted to acquire those gadgets for the learners,’ Mr Magemeso said. He added: ‘As we look into that, we need to put into our minds that the issue of disparity between the urban parents and the rural environments will come in the future, but the ministry should consider looking into this capability; otherwise, we might see the gap widening.’

Under consideration

For more than a decade, the government has maintained the ban against handheld mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, etc., for use by learners on school premises. This, it adds, is until a guiding policy is developed and passed. The policy will ensure teachers are taught how to use the machines in the classroom, and they will be able to design class activities and control how learners use the gadgets. Some schools have policies where learners go with laptops, and they are stored in the classroom and are only pulled out for use once a teacher has prepared a lesson that requires ICT, Mr Magemeso further revealed.

On Tuesday, Education ministry officials, heads of schools, and other education stakeholders gathered in Gulu City for the launch of a report titled From Unplugged to ICT-Ready, a Digital Readiness Assessment of Secondary Schools in Uganda. The new report by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef), conducted in 3,257 schools countrywide, points to critical gaps that continue to constrain learners from embracing e-learning.

Ms Janet Akao, an education officer at Unicef Uganda, called for the fast-tracking of the policy since allowing individual students to own their personal gadgets will boost ICT learning among them.

‘With ICT, once you have access to it (equipment), you are more likely to know how to use it better and faster, and I know that, but what we are seeing is that there is a need for guidelines and frameworks for how devices are used in schools, especially in secondary schools, and the ministry should speed it up.’

‘The ministry is making efforts with the development of the digital agenda strategy. There are also efforts to develop guidelines for specific things like cyber security, data privacy, use of phones in schools, and for us to localise our digital learning, we need to mine about the educational resources,’ Ms Akao added.

Findings

The study established three distinct digital readiness profiles of Uganda’s secondary schools, where it categorised 671 (20 percent) of the schools as ICT-ready with reliable electricity, stable internet, and better device ratios. It also classified 1,372 (41 percent) as semi-connected schools with electricity and some connectivity, but experiencing frequent disruptions, making consistent digital integration difficult for teachers.

Another 127 schools (39 percent) were classed as completely unplugged schools, with no internet, limited electricity, and the highest learner-to-device ratios. ‘Government-aided schools form the largest group and account for the highest share of semi-connected schools, while private community schools have the highest share of unplugged schools, which are more prevalent in rural areas and in the Eastern and Northern regions,’ the study said.

While the findings show that Uganda has solid foundations to build on for its digitalisation agenda, the report reveals that such foundations remain uneven.

‘Learners across secondary schools have very different experiences of digital learning depending on their school’s profile. One-size-fits-all approaches that disregard these differences can be inefficient for ICT-ready schools, or insufficient for unplugged schools, and may widen gaps rather than closing them.’

The researchers explained that the situation was influenced by electricity reliability, internet access, and device allocation.

The factors that the researchers reckon are also closely interrelated include: unreliable power makes internet access volatile, and internet access without adequate devices limits its value for learners. Understanding them together, the researchers added, is important for designing effective interventions.

Fifty percent of schools were found to have high access (16+ hours per day), 35 percent moderate (5-15 hours), and 15 percent low access (under 5 hours per day). ‘Among schools not connected to the national grid (17 percent), 72 percent rely on solar and generators (23 percent) for electricity access. These schools experience power disruptions daily.

A school with fewer than 5 hours of daily power cannot meaningfully run a computer lab, charge devices, or deliver internet-based lessons,’ Ms Akao revealed. When power is unreliable, digital learning risks complicating rather than supporting teaching and learning, and geographically, the gap is most pronounced between rural and urban schools, and between the Northern region and the rest of the country, she said.

Power deficits

Government-aided schools, which are more concentrated in rural areas, were found to be twice as likely as private schools to have low electricity access. Only 39 percent of government-aided schools reach high-level electricity access, compared to around 60 percent of private schools. Among connected schools, internet reliability was also found to vary considerably. Ms Akao said nearly one in three experience daily disruptions and a further 26 percent experience them weekly.

‘This reliability gap is what distinguishes ICT-ready schools from semi-connected ones. The no-internet gap and reliability challenges are more concentrated in rural areas and in Eastern and Northern regions,’ she said. The core challenge is not the number of devices in isolation, but the number of learners per device. Device ratios differ across readiness profiles: ICT-ready schools have a median of 29 learners per device, compared to 36:1 in semi-connected schools and 50:1 in unplugged schools, she added.

The study was commissioned last year by Unicef and the Ministry of Education with funding from the Mastercard Foundation to assess the ICT infrastructure needs in secondary schools, to find out information related to access, use and the capacities of schools for ICT integration. It is meant to guide the strategies of implementing the Leaders in Teaching Uganda programme, a five-year (2025 -2030) initiative that seeks to transform secondary school education in Uganda by improving the quality of teaching and learning in 2,091 schools across the country.

Of the 3, 257 schools in which the assessment was conducted, 1527 were government-aided secondary schools (47 percent), 1040 were private community schools (32 percent), 521 private faith-based schools (16 percent), 17 were universities and one UNITE (Uganda National Institute for Teacher Education) campus.

What next?

Giving the example of her own school, Sr Hellen Lamunu, the headmistress of Sacred Heart (Girls) School in Gulu City, explained that unless the government invests in deploying more professional ICT teachers, fixing the gaps in ICT learning in secondary schools will remain a challenge. Uganda has placed digital transformation at the centre of its national education agenda, committing through the National Digital Agenda Strategy (DAS) and the Education Sector Strategic Plan 2026-2030 (ESSP) to leverage technology to improve education quality and prepare learners for an increasingly digital labour market.

Ms Proscovia Aber, the Gulu City Inspector of Schools, said: ‘These findings, for the case of Northern Region Uganda, are worrying, because as the region is trailing in almost everything- internet connectivity, we are at the lowest, ICT infrastructure and electricity connection, we are still at the lowest, including the capacity of our teachers.’ However, she expressed optimism that the education departments in districts across the region and stakeholders are working on policies that can help bridge the gap in ICT learning in secondary schools.

Meanwhile, Mr Bbuye admitted that the country lacks professionals and that a few who the government trained left for greener pastures. ‘We recruited a big number, and we gave them (instructors) the opportunity to go and study; they used their two years to get better qualifications and went elsewhere for greener pastures. If you had 106 recruited, only about 46 are in service; the rest went for better opportunities,’ Mr Bbuye said. When reacting to the inadequacy of human resources, Mr Bbuye said the government is banking on a yet-to-be-disseminated research by the World Bank on the ICT-readiness in schools across the country.

Even before the 12th Parliament gets down to the real business, there are real question marks over the political future of Ms Shamim Malende, the Kampala District Woman Representative (DWR). The uneasiness in the relationship between Ms Malende and the leaders of her party, the National Unity Platform (NUP), was on display when she made a rare appearance at the party’s headquarters during the unveiling of Jinja South East legislator, Mr Paul Mwiru, as their candidate in the speakership race. When Ms Flavia Nabagabe Kalule, emcee of the function, was introducing Ms Malende, she said they hoped that the Kampala DWR would remain a permanent fixture in NUP activities.

‘We hope she will remain with us in the coming days,’ Ms Kalule, who lost the Kassanda DWR seat in January, said. Ever since Ms Malende was retained as the Kampala DWR, she has neither appeared at any NUP activity nor issued any statement explaining her absence. Ms Malende, it is said, jetted out of the country as soon as she secured a second term in Parliament to get specialised treatment. Still, she kept silent until the week of her swearing-in function.

Sources within NUP said as much as Ms Malende has claimed that she has been sick, her disappearance has angered foot soldiers. ‘We are not convinced that she is just sick,’ a foot soldier said on condition of anonymity.

Feebleness

The relationship between Ms Malende and the party had sunk so low that those within NUP had expected that she would be one of the lawmakers who would defy the party’s position and attend President Museveni’s swearing-in ceremony at Kololo Independence Grounds in Kampala last month. ‘We had got information that she would join those celebrations, but she eventually didn’t attend. We don’t plan with her for the future,’ a NUP member said on condition of anonymity, adding that the party is not short of worthy replacements for Ms Malende, including Ms Shamim Nambassa, the former Makerere University guild president, who has just been elected to represent Kawempe South as the Woman LC5 Councillor at Kampala Capital City Council Authority (KCCA)

By the end of last term, sources said NUP leaders were ready to move on from Ms Malende.

This was shown when NUP leadership asked Ms Zahara Maala Luyirika to first set aside her ambitions to represent Makindye West and take an interest in the Kampala DWR slot. ‘We are in a democratic country, and NUP is a democratic party. I’m not standing against my sister Shamim Malende. I saw a vacuum, and I’m stepping up to fill it,’ Ms Luyirika said at the time. She added: ‘I recognised my strength and believe I have served well as KCCA speaker alongside my fellow councillors. Now, I want to take the next step and serve the people of Kampala. I am a loyal person who respects my party’s procedures.’

Once Ms Luyirika showed interest in replacing her, Ms Malende, who was seeking specialised treatment in Nairobi, Kenya, had her posters put up in every corner of Kampala with the NUP election slogan: protest vote. This was a message of defiance in the context that she realised that NUP’s honchos had been reconsidering the party’s position on who should be its flag-bearer in the Kampala DWR race. Ms Malende, who, like several NUP legislators, was a debutant in the 11th Parliament, spent most of her tenure bedridden either in Kampala or Nairobi.

Despite her inconsistent health situation, Ms Malende insisted on standing in the 2026 polls, forcing her to send political messages from her hospital bed as a way of keeping in touch with the electorate. For instance, when the government moved to make amendments to the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) Act that would reintroduce the trial of civilians in military courts, in complete defiance of a Supreme Court judgment, a visibly frail Ms Malende sent a political message from her hospital bed.

‘I concur with the Supreme Court that civilians shouldn’t be tried in the Court Martial. If the State suspects that civilians have done something wrong, they should be taken to a civilian court. We know that many people, including the president, [Robert] Kyagulanyi, have been threatened with being taken to the basement to learn Runyankore,’ Ms Malende said. With Ms Malende insisting that she was strong enough to go through another gruelling campaign, NUP leadership was resigned to having her on the ballot. ‘It would look insensitive if you dumped her right now. How can a party dump a party member just because she is sick?’ one of the NUP honchos told this publication late 2025, on condition of anonymity.

The catch-22 for NUP was that Ms Malende framed her hospitalisation through the lens of violence inflicted on her by the State as she engaged in the political struggle. ‘I was beaten during the standoff in Parliament as we rejected the Coffee Bill. I have had operations here in Nairobi, and I think I will recover,’ Ms Malende said. Ms Malende jumped out of her hospital bed last year to join Ms Luyirika in picking forms from NUP’s headquarters, asking to represent Kampala women. This left the party in a fix. If the flag was to be handed to Ms Malende, as it eventually was, a solution around the Makindye West constituency had to be found.

Mr Ali Nganda Kasirye, alias Mulyannyama, and Mr Allan Ssewanyana, the then incumbent, looked set to lock horns. To solve this impasse, NUP leaders gave Mr Mulyannyama the Makindye East slot, though he had not applied for it. As a result, Ms Luyirika was given Makindye West, though she hadn’t formally applied for it, and then Ms Malende retained the Kampala DWR slot. Lady luck smiled on NUP in the sense that, despite this clearly dangerous political game of changing candidates from one constituency to another, as if they were playing chess, Mr Mulyanyama, Ms Luyirika, and Ms Malende all emerged victorious in the January 15 elections.

History repeats self

Ms Malende isn’t the first Kampala woman legislator to come under pressure after falling out with her party. Her predecessor, Ms Nabilah Naggayi Sempala, who got three terms, was also accused of not effectively representing the women in Kampala. Politically, Ms Naggayi’s downfall came after her fallout with the Opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party top brass that accused her of being a mole. By 2015, it was apparent that Ms Naggayi had fallen out with FDC leaders, that she placed adverts on radio stations calling people of Kampala to turn up in big numbers as former Prime Minister John Patrick Amama Mbabazi, who had fallen out with his boss President Museveni, was being nominated to run for President in 2016.

Yet days later, when then FDC’s presidential flagbearer Dr Kizza Besigye was being nominated at Namboole stadium, Ms Naggayi showed up at the Electoral Commission offices and sat next to Dr Besigye. The seat had been reserved for Dr Besigye’s wife, Ms Winnie Byanyima, who wasn’t in the country. Mr Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, then Kira Municipality lawmaker, would later disclose that he wanted to dislodge Ms Naggayi from the seat, but he was stopped by Dr Besigye. Internally, though Ms Naggayi had been nominated as an FDC candidate, the party had resolved to support Ms Shifrah Lukwago, then a close ally of the then Lord Mayor of Kampala,Mr Erias Lukwago, but she has since retired from elective politics after Mr Museveni appointed her a commissioner at the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC).

During the final stretch of the campaigns, Dr Besigye, a crowd puller, stormed Kampala, and this is when Ms Naggayi muscled her way to get a vantage seat from which she was able to often stand alongside Dr Besigye on his car’s rooftop and wave to the crowd. With Kampala voters voting mainly for candidates that had the key-FDC’s symbol-Ms Naggayi retained her seat after garnering 174,125 votes. The Democratic Party’s Florence Nakiwala Kiyingyi-who had the backing of the Mengo establishment-came second with 101,763 votes. Elsewhere, NRM’s Asia Kinaabi Nabisere came third, and Ms Lukwago placed fourth with 84,574 votes.

Having won the race, Ms Naggayi would go on to disappear when FDC launched what it termed the defiance campaign against Mr Museveni’s government after another contested poll. Ms Naggayi would also disappear when the Opposition tussled with NRM party over eliminating presidential age limits from the Constitution, something that ensured Mr Museveni would effectively rule Uganda for eternity. ‘Why didn’t you die?’ Mr Nathan Nandala Mafabi, FDC’s secretary general, [in]famously pushed back against Ms Naggayi’s claim that she missed the age limit showdown because she was sick during a talkshow on NTV Uganda, this publication’s sister TV station.

With that, FDC tapped Mr Museveni’s virulent government critic on social media and researcher Dr Stella Nyanzi, but she wasn’t able to overcome the umbrella wave as Ms Malende stormed to victory with 314,865 votes in 2021. If Ms Malende then represented a new crop of Opposition leaders, the start of her new term in Parliament kind of represents an end since she hasn’t been appointed to the Shadow cabinet and/or to lead or deputise any leader of the parliamentary committees. In January 2023, Ms Malende was appointed Shadow minister for human rights.

‘We assign responsibilities to people who are available and are committed to the struggle; not those who are just interested in parliamentary positions,’ one of NUP’s leaders explained why Ms Malende wasn’t assigned any responsibility in the shadow cabinet. Her future looks bleak. But Mr David Lewis Rubongoya, NUP’s secretary general, on Thursday gave this publication a general comment, saying: ‘ We are looking at all our members to see how they will perform in this term. The party is interested in strong performers.’

Over the past decades, countries around the world adopted laws that permit someone to hold more than one citizenship.

The definitive legal evidence for one’s claim to citizenship is a national passport or, internally, a national identity card. When a Ugandan living and working in, say, Germany maintains his/her Ugandan citizenship, or a German who marries a Ugandan takes on the latter’s citizenship, that person becomes a dual citizen.

Poor countries in the so-called global south came around to appreciate the rewards from allowing individuals who are citizens of, say, Britain, but had to renounce their original citizenship of, say, Ghana, to hold passports of both countries.

In the past, if a Ugandan moved to Canada and became a citizen of that country, he/she had to give up their Ugandan citizenship.

Uganda’s immigration law prohibited keeping a Ugandan passport when taking up citizenship of another country.

In effect, this Ugandan, now Canadian, would return to Uganda as a foreigner.

They had to apply for a visa, pay for it and enter the country under the same status and legal conditions as any other foreign national.

This is not just inconveniencing, it is utterly humiliating – entering your ancestral homeland as a foreigner when socially, economically, politically and everything else, you are as Ugandan as any other citizen!

Substantively, there are invaluable benefits that accrue to a poor country when its nationals abroad can retain their legal status as citizens.

It is easier to do business, buy property, undertake investment ventures, proudly and proactively mobilise resources from abroad when you do not have to deal with the displeasures of being a foreigner to the very country of your ancestors.

As a universal policy and practice, national laws tend to be discriminatory against non-nationals in a variety of ways.

Ironically though, by dint of our colonial mentality, it is common for Ugandan authorities, the average Ugandan too, to grant preferential treatment to a foreigner, especially a White!

Being a national confers certain exclusive privileges and rights, including participating in national politics and engaging in commerce without restrictions that otherwise apply to a non-national.

All things considered, there is every good reason for a government, particularly of a poor country struggling to break out of the shackles of poverty, to let their nationals simultaneously hold two or more citizenships.

But governments or specifically states, as enduring entities with certain institutional interests, have political considerations and calculations that inevitably lead them to impose some limitations on dual citizenship. This can be couched in terms of national security.

All countries, whether developed or underdeveloped, global north or south, democratic or otherwise, practice some form of citizenship discrimination, how one became a citizen or if they hold citizenship of another country.

In the case of Uganda, the subject of so much brouhaha following President Museveni’s Cabinet announcement last week is whether a Ugandan holding citizenship of another country qualifies to be a member of Cabinet.

I know nothing about Uganda’s laws, but from media commentaries, dual citizenship is a disqualification for appointment as a government minister regardless of one’s ethnicity, race, qualifications and competencies.

The core controversy turned on one Dr Lawrance Muganga (PhD), currently Vice Chancellor of Victoria University in Kampala, who is no stranger to controversy, as not too long ago he was arrested on allegations of working for a foreign government!

In fact, at the time of his arrest, it was alleged that he was a ‘foreigner’ working illegally in Uganda. Apparently, Dr Muganga carries passports of Canada and Rwanda but insists he was born and raised in Uganda, which would make him a Ugandan like any other compatriot. Under the current legal regime, however, he cannot be a member of Cabinet.

There were other cases of nominees for Cabinet who reportedly held dual citizenship but told Parliament they had renounced and retained only the Ugandan one.

But renouncing citizenship is a process, not a mere self-declaration or something that is merely waved away.

Whatever ultimately happens, including all the noise getting swept aside and the nominees taking their seats in Cabinet or dropped, there is quite a bit of egg left on the face of the appointing authority and apparatus of State.

Often, there’s little regard and respect for the law, certainly not consistently, in the way Museveni’s government operates, so it is possible to sweep aside or even find a way of bypassing any legal obstacle.

But if members of Cabinet must go through the rituals and motions of vetting by Parliament, surely, the State’s intelligence and counterintelligence agencies should first thoroughly vet them.

In the case of Dr Muganga, predictably, much of the noise is on his Rwandan roots, which he spiritedly denies, insisting he is not anything other than a Ugandan of Rwandan descent.

This shouldn’t be an issue as Banyarwanda are Ugandans and have served in prominent public positions, especially under Museveni’s regime, but dating back to the dawn of independence.