Category: Daily Monitor

Just as Uganda’s tourism industry appeared to be regaining momentum after the devastation of Covid-19, a new combination of pressures is beginning to test the sector again. Renewed Ebola fears are unsettling travellers and triggering cancellations, while rising fuel prices are driving up the cost of air travel, safari logistics, accommodation, and domestic tourism.

For tour operators, hotel owners, and events organisers, the concern is not simply about isolated disruptions. It is the fear that Uganda’s tourism recovery, still fragile after years of pandemic-related losses, could once again lose momentum under the weight of both a health scare and an increasingly expensive operating environment brought on by US President Donald Trump’s war in the Middle East.

‘We are monitoring the situation closely and with the seriousness it deserves,’ says Francis Nyende, the Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) marketing manager.

‘Any health alert of this magnitude, particularly one declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the WHO [World Health Organisation], has the potential to influence traveller perception, and we are not in the business of downplaying that reality.’

Tourism remains one of the most shock-sensitive sectors in any economy because it depends almost entirely on confidence, movement, and disposable income. Unlike essential spending such as food or healthcare, travel is often among the first expenses households and tourists cut back on whenever uncertainty or costs rise. That vulnerability is now becoming visible across Uganda’s tourism value chain.

Fear travels faster than facts

Even before governments impose travel restrictions, disease outbreaks often begin affecting tourism through perception alone. Operators say international travellers, particularly first-time visitors unfamiliar with Uganda’s geography or health systems, are reacting cautiously to Ebola-related headlines, regardless of how limited the actual outbreak may be.

Patra Agassa of Express Safaris says the impact is already translating into lost business.

‘Just recently, we had a client cancel a 10-day itinerary out of fear of Ebola, despite being fully prepared to visit Uganda,’ she says.

‘The reality is that convincing a client to travel during these periods is an uphill battle. You either have to provide official documentation from the Ministry of Health proving that cases are low and contained, or watch them take their business to neighbouring countries like Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania.’

For many operators, the bigger frustration is not only the outbreak itself, but how quickly international perception shifts once Uganda’s name becomes associated with Ebola.

‘I appeal to the government and communication officials to be incredibly mindful of how they broadcast such alerts,’ Ms Agassa further opines. ‘A single, poorly framed announcement can destroy months of marketing effort and investment in minutes. Tourism benefits all of us, and public communication must protect the industry while keeping people safe.’

Ms Kedith Kanyesigye, a tour consultant at Safari with Edris, says the slowdown in enquiries has already become noticeable.

‘We are already experiencing cancellations from clients who had confirmed travel for June and July,’ she said. ‘We have also lost business deals that were close to being finalised because many agents and travellers became worried and decided not to continue. We are now receiving very few inquiries, which shows how much confidence in travel to Uganda has dropped.’

Ms Kanyesigye says Uganda’s tourism industry remains trapped in a cycle where every new crisis interrupts recovery before stability fully returns.

‘We keep falling every time there is progress in recovery, and yet each setback makes rebuilding even harder for the industry,’ she said. ‘The global headlines are louder than the positive information coming from Uganda, and this has greatly affected trust in travel to the country.’

The concern among tourism players is that foreign tourists often do not distinguish between isolated outbreaks and widespread national risk, especially when international media coverage amplifies fear.

Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) officials insist the situation remains under control and argue that Uganda’s health response systems are far stronger today than during previous outbreaks.

‘We want to be clear and factual: Uganda is not an Ebola epicentre,’ Nyende said. ‘The confirmed cases in Uganda are imported and linked to travel from the DRC [Democratic Republic of Congo], and our Ministry of Health, working with WHO and other partners, has responded swiftly and transparently. Uganda has successfully managed Ebola scares before, and our health response infrastructure has matured significantly.’

Still, even UTB acknowledges that perception remains one of tourism’s biggest vulnerabilities.

‘Some operators have reported increased traveller enquiries seeking reassurance before confirming bookings, and a number of prospective visitors are in a ‘wait and see’ mode,’ Nyende says. ‘We have also received isolated reports of cancellations, particularly from first-time visitors who may be less familiar with Uganda’s geography relative to the DRC.’

Fuel price squeeze

At the same time, rising fuel prices are increasing pressure across the tourism economy. Fuel costs influence almost every stage of tourism operations, from airfare pricing and safari transport to hotel logistics, food supplies, and electricity generation.

For airlines, jet fuel remains one of the biggest operational expenses, meaning rising global oil prices often translate directly into higher ticket prices. That creates another challenge for Uganda, whose tourism sector already competes against better-connected and sometimes cheaper regional destinations such as Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda.

Marvin Kiyaga of Pearl Afric Tours and Travel says operators are now being forced to rework pricing structures that had been agreed months earlier.

‘Rising fuel prices in the world and Uganda in particular have greatly caused financial strain to tour operators and how safari logistics run,’ he says. ‘A litre of fuel, which used to be at Shs4,500 is currently at Shs6,200, an increase of about 50 percent from the original price we used to quote for packages already sold to guests.’

Mr Kiyaga says the cost increases are now affecting transport, accommodation, and overall package pricing, making Uganda less attractive to budget-conscious travellers.

‘At the same time, the Ebola situation and poor management of information have caused a big threat and significantly dampened Uganda’s upcoming tourism season despite containment efforts,’ he adds.

For operators already operating on thin margins after Covid-19, the combined impact is becoming increasingly difficult to absorb.

‘For tour operators, this combination means tighter margins, unpredictable client flows, and the need to reassure guests that Uganda remains a safe destination,’ Mr Kiyaga adds.

Domestic tourism under strain

The pressure is not limited to international travel. Domestic tourism, which became a lifeline for many hotels and tour operators during and after Covid-19, is also beginning to slow under the weight of rising pump prices and broader inflationary pressures. Families are cutting back on leisure travel, shortening trips, or postponing holidays altogether as transport costs rise.

Peter Sebulime, alias Demo Riley, president of the National Tourism Events Organisers Federation, says the events industry is already seeing weaker turnout and declining ticket sales.

‘Our events industry is built around people and gatherings, but the Ebola outbreak is hurting business as authorities continue to warn against public events,’ he says. ‘Today, as I speak, events are underperforming, and ticket sales have dropped as rising fuel prices continue to strain the economy.’

He points to the postponement of the 11th edition of the Alur Cultural Festival after Zombo District was declared an Ebola red zone.

‘A member of our federation was forced to postpone the festival after a year of planning and investment,’ Mr Sebulime says.

The concern for industry players is that Uganda’s tourism sector supports thousands of livelihoods beyond hotels and tour companies alone, including transport workers, food suppliers, entertainers, craft sellers, and conservation activities. Any prolonged slowdown, therefore, carries wider economic consequences.

Govt betting on communication

Government officials insist Uganda can avoid another tourism collapse if communication is handled carefully and consistently. During the opening of the Pearl of Africa Tourism Expo (POATE) 2026 in Munyonyo last week, President Museveni sought to calm anxiety around the outbreak.

‘I really saw that many people were panicking,’ Mr Museveni said. ‘Ebola spreads through intimate contact, and an infected person only develops visible signs after several days.’

The President defended the government’s decision against sweeping border closures.

‘When we met with the task force, we did not agree with closing borders completely,’ he said. ‘We shall continue working, no cause for alarm.’

UTB says its strategy now focuses heavily on coordinated messaging between the Ministry of Health, the Uganda Media Centre, and tourism stakeholders.

‘The narrative must be unambiguous,’ Mr Nyende says, adding, ‘Uganda’s key tourism zones like Bwindi, Queen Elizabeth, Murchison Falls, and the Ssese Islands are safe, open, and fully operational. We will not allow misinformation or geographical conflation with the DRC to go unanswered.’

Mr Nyende argues that the successful hosting of POATE itself was intended to send a message of confidence.

‘That event was itself a powerful statement, that Uganda did not flinch, that our sector continued to do business, and that we convened an international tourism platform in the middle of a health alert with full confidence,’ he says. ‘Our message to the world is simple: come informed, not afraid. Uganda is open.’

But for many operators on the ground, reassurance alone may not be enough. The deeper concern is that Uganda’s tourism industry is once again being reminded how vulnerable recovery remains to shocks beyond its control. And after years of rebuilding from Covid-19, many fear the sector simply has less room left for another setback.

On August 11 last year, National Council of Sports (NCS) through a letter signed by general secretary Benard Patrick Ogwel expressed concerns over Fufa’s application to be re-registered as the federation running football in the country.

The 2023 National Sports Act and the National Sports Regulations 2025 require that all national sports organizations re-register with NCS and the process that is expected to climax on June 7 has been going on for over a year.

Fufa sent in their application on June 19 last year thereby pushing NCS into a physical due diligence exercise where they established through respective District Sports Officers and Chief Administrative Officers that Fufa indeed has a national character as it has activities in 114 of the 146 districts of Uganda (more than the 110 threshold that translates to the 75 percent required for national federations).

Fufa, which stated affiliation to Cecafa, Caf, and Fifa, is approved to have also elected its leadership as required by a general assembly composed of persons drawn from at least half of the districts in Uganda.

While NCS still required some proof in the form of signed documents to endorse Fufa’s submissions in the aforementioned areas, their main concerns with the federation are in contents of the Fufa constitution. The federation, through chief executive officer Edgar Watson on May 20, called for an online extra ordinary assembly due this week on June 4 to sort these concerns.

Registration

In the amendment previously submitted to NCS, Fufa still made mention of themselves in their constitution as a Trust yet if registration for corporate personality is to be done at NCS under the new law, continuing to identify as a Trust establishes a dual personality.

Fufa want the online assembly to now ratify that ‘Fufa is a private body Corporate register under the National Sports Act Cap 151 as the monopoly regulators and managers of the sport of football in the territory of Uganda.’

But in Clause 74, Fufa say that: ‘Registered Trustees of Fufa incorporated under the Trustees Incorporation Act, Cap. 165 shall serve as the asset-holding entity in which Fufa’s assets are vested and registered until such time Fufa is duly registered in accordance with the National Sports Act, Cap. 151 and the relevant assets are lawfully transferred and registered in the name of Fufa, the body corporate.’

Assembly vs. excom

NCS also noted that while the national law gives authority to the general assembly to approve budgets, Fufa contradicts this by giving power to its executive committee (excom) to amend annual budgets to not more than 30 percent of the total annual budget.

Clauses 24 f (approval of financial statements of previous year), g (approving budget for the next final year), and k (determining and passing of annual membership subscription fees) of Fufa’s constitution will now exclusively give financial appropriation to the assembly.

NCS want Fufa to specifically express in their constitution that the excom is supposed to implement the decisions of the general assembly through the secretariat and take decisions not reserved for any other body of the federation. These are all now established in Clause 36 of Fufa’s constitution.

NCS also want Fufa to provide for the publication of their annual audited books of accounts in media of wide circulation. Fufa now agree to this in Clause 75 (4).

Settlement of disputes

Fufa are also required to provide for the recognition of the jurisdiction of arbitrators appointed under the Act and obligating the settlement of sports disputes between it and its members or NCS through arbitration.

While at it, Fufa wrote in their constitution that decisions of the aforementioned arbitrators can be appealed at the Court of Arbitration for Sports (Cas) but this, NCS said, was contrary to requirement of national laws that say the decision of these arbitrators is final.

Fufa have cleared this in Clause 67 but still maintain in 67 (4) that ‘if the arbitration mechanism outlined in the Act is has not yet been fully operationalized as stipulated, Fufa and its members will recognize and refer their disputes to the independent Cas, headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland as the final appellate authority for decision issued by the Fufa Appeals Committee or nay other final decision of Fufa bodies.’

Fufa also stressed that settlement of disputes between it and its members ‘by courts of Judicature is prohibited unless it is specifically provided for by Fufa Regulations. Recourse to ordinary courts of Judicature for all types of provisional/ interim measures also prohibited.’

In fact Fufa will require all its member associations, clubs, leagues to insert a clause in their statutes stipulating the same.

Any appeals against decisions taken by Fufa bodies can be submitted to the national arbitrators but these ‘shall not have jurisdiction to deal with appeals arising from violation of the Laws of the Game’ and ‘suspensions of up to four matches, or three months, or fines of up to Shs1m expect in doping cases.’ Fufa also want appeals to the arbitrators ‘not to have a suspensive effect.’

One of the litmus tests of the narrative that President Museveni is slowly but surely handing over governance to his son, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, was going to be the shape that the Cabinet would take.

Gen Muhoozi has already shown that he has significant sway over how this country is run when he appeared to initiate a move that led to the ouster of former Speaker Anita Among – who is being investigated over alleged corruption and illicit enrichment – and also backed West Budama Central legislator Jacob Oboth-Oboth, who had been the minister of Defence, to replace Among as Speaker.

With Muhoozi’s top lieutenant, David Kabanda, leading the way in ensuring all the ruling Members of Parliament (MPs) of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) rally around Oboth-Oboth’s speakership bid, many members of the public made the conclusion that Uganda was witnessing power changing hands from father to son.

‘Thus, for me, I think as a country, it is about time we opened the discussion on Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba – not just the possibility of becoming president, but one who has already assumed co-presidency,’ Yusuf Serunkuma, a political commentator, says.

‘I will say one more time, unless something magical happens – like a revolution from nowhere – no one is prepared enough to stop his accession, except, of course, his father, who, despite subjecting him to a gruelling long wait, has no choice but to succumb to the vicissitudes of time.’

When President Museveni released his Cabinet on Tuesday evening, the message was sent that Muhoozi would have to wait a little bit longer for him to fully take over the reins of this country. While some of Muhoozi’s top lieutenants such as Mr Balaam Barugahara (minister for Local Government) and Lilian Aber (State minister for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees), were retained in Cabinet, many of the people close to him weren’t appointed.

Key among them is Kabanda, the Kasambya County MP, who has positioned himself as Muhoozi’s attack dog.

‘When you attack General Muhoozi, I come for you. There is no doubt about that,’ Kabanda, who is the secretary general of the Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU), Muhoozi’s pressure group, told this writer earlier this week.

Museveni also showed in his appointments that he is still relying on old loyal lieutenants such as Sam Mayanja (Attorney General), Rebecca Kadaga (First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of East African Affairs), Jim Muhwezi (minister for Security), Ephraim Kamuntu (minister for Internal Affairs), among others.

Yet one of the indicators of a full Muhoozi takeover from his father was the retention of Chris Baryomunsi, who has been in Cabinet since 2006, but this term he is going to serve as the minister of Health.

Though Muhoozi’s political influence is there for everyone to see, Baryomunsi, who served the last term as minister for ICT and National Guidance, had made it clear earlier this year that he isn’t about to kneel for Muhoozi.

The clash between the two stemmed from Muhoozi’s posts on X, formerly Twitter, in which he accused the United States government of helping his father’s rival, Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine, to escape from Uganda.

While Muhoozi later apologised and deleted that specific post in which he had announced that he had stopped security collaboration between the army and the Americans, Baryomunsi made it clear that the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) was making his job as official government spokesperson hard.

‘The CDF doesn’t speak for the Government of Uganda. But he likes X communications. He tweets, he deletes them, and I’m sure Ugandans have an informed opinion on those tweets. Other than purposes of politicking, I don’t think you should take them as the official position of the government,’ Baryomunsi said, but Muhoozi took offence at the statements, promptly telling him that he won’t make it in the coming Cabinet since, according to him, he is a traitor.

Not known for going down easily, Baryomunsi informed Muhoozi that he wasn’t dying to be in Cabinet since he is ‘self-made’.

‘My father trained me to believe in myself. He refrained from taking alcohol. I’m sober 24/7 and focused. He left me free, and I don’t suffer from Peter Pan Syndrome. Those attacking me on Twitter/ X don’t know the material we have. We, the original Bakiga,’ Baryomunsi fired back at the army chief, who is widely seen as Museveni’s heir apparent.

Baryomunsi’s verbal artillery wasn’t restricted to Muhoozi only, but also to his supporters.

Yet it’s not the first time Baryomunsi is going bare-knuckled with a person who is seen to be Museveni’s replacement within the ruling establishment. Baryomunsi rose to the political scene after clashing with John Patrick Amama Mbabazi, who had been portrayed as Museveni’s heir apparent, and also had direct say on who made it in Museveni’s Cabinet.

For instance, the 2011 Cabinet, it’s said, was largely influenced by Mbabazi with his supporters such as Saleh Kamba appointed minister of State for Bunyoro Affairs, but his appointment was rejected by the parliamentary Appointments Committee on grounds that he had no academic papers.

Another person who is said to have made it to the 2011 Cabinet as a result of Mbabazi’s influence was Peter Nyombi, who was appointed Attorney General. Despite Mbabazi’s influence, Baryomunsi had made it clear he wasn’t about to worship him.

Baryomunsi’s fallout with Mbabazi stemmed from the 2011 elections, where he accused Mbabazi and the Kigezi NRM leadership of backing a rival, Anglican Reverend Kenneth Kanyankole, against him.

Baryomunsi claimed they used religion to divide voters and employed military personnel to intimidate his supporters. Baryomunsi’s claims of Mbabazi’s using the army to win elections were plausible because in 2001, High Court judge Frederick Egonda-Ntende had annulled his Kikinzi West victory after his rival James Garuga Musinguzi, who has since passed on, proved that Museveni’s right-hand man had used the military to influence the elections.

‘There was heavy deployment of UPDF soldiers in the range of 2,000 on most routes leading to the polling stations, and with the aid of candidate Amama Mbabazi’s agents, my known and suspected supporters were either harassed and chased away. These troops were under the command of Lt Col Goa Kasiita, who came on the eve of the election day specifically to disorganise the election,’ Garuga-Musinguzi told Justice Egonda-Ntende, who went ahead to cancel Mbabazi’s victory though the by-election, which Mbabazi won, was also punctuated with violence, which later forced Garuga-Musinguzi to quit elective politics.

For Baryomunsi, Mbabazi wasn’t successful as he kept on winning elections, and it seems he had the last laugh in the sense that Museveni first appointed him State minister of Health for General Duties on March 1, 2015, at the time his sworn enemy Mbabazi had fallen out with the President over his presidential ambitions.

Baryomunsi would have more good news because when Mbabazi, under the banner of his Go Forward movement, performed abysmally in the 2016 presidential race by garnering only 1.3 percent of the final vote, approximately 132,574 votes. Museveni rewarded Baryomunsi, who had defended his Kinkizi East slot by appointing him State minister for Housing on June 6, 2016, and later as the minister for ICT and National Guidance in 2021.

Therefore, given Muhoozi’s recent threats, some had expected, however, that Baryomunsi wouldn’t be dropped entirely from Cabinet, but given an insignificant ministry.

‘I don’t see Museveni dropping Baryomunsi; that’s not how Museveni operates. He might put him in ministries that Museveni thinks are insignificant… because he doesn’t want to annoy the Bakiga [Baryomunsi’s ethnic group],’ outgoing Kira Municipality legislator Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda had predicted.

But with Museveni appointing Baryomunsi to a critical ministry such as Health, it means he hasn’t only had the last laugh but also put question marks on the Muhoozi takeover in the near future.

Yet in terms of military or security issues, it has become apparent how much influence Muhoozi has come to wield as his father ages. The army spokesperson, Chris Magezi, who is also the personal assistant of Muhoozi, has defended the First Son’s influence on military matters, citing the UPDF Act that allows the Commander-in-Chief, in this case Museveni, to appoint a military officer of the army to be known as the army commander, in this case Muhoozi, who might assist him in the administration of the army.

But there is no denial that of the nine army commanders – Elly Tumwine, Salim Saleh, Mugisha Muntu, Jeje Odongo, Aronda Nyakairima, Katumba Wamala, David Muhoozi and Wilson Mbadi – that Museveni has appointed ever since his guerrilla outfit, the National Resistance Army (NRA) shot its way to power in 1986, none has had as much power as Muhoozi, who he appointed Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) in March of 2024, has had.

No CDF in the current regime has been given leeway to promote officers to the extent Muhoozi has. Muhoozi, for instance, elevated senior officers such as Maj Gen Francis Okello to Lt Gen, alongside Brigadiers and other senior staff.

Muhoozi also promoted Joseph Musoke Ssemwanga from the rank of Major General and subsequently appointed him as the replacement of the dead Maj Gen Francis Takirwa, as the Deputy Commander of the Land Forces.

Also, a day after the death of Maj Gen Deus Sande, the commander of the army’s Armoured Division in the central district of Masaka, Muhoozi replaced him with Brig Jackson Pande Kajuba. Muhoozi also went on to promote Wilson Bagonza Rwakanara, who was part of the Special Forces Command (SFC), from Colonel to Brigadier, and he immediately appointed him the Deputy Commander of the Armoured Division, replacing Kajuba.

Muhoozi’s influence hasn’t just been in terms of the military but also the politics because he was among the first regime officials to tell people not to linger around polling stations during the recently concluded elections in which the army played a weighty role.

‘We appeal to citizens to cast their votes peacefully and go home. Don’t hang around polling stations. The vote counting and tallying process will be transparent, and it’s done in the open,’ Muhoozi said last December, a month before the elections.

Though the electoral laws allow Ugandans to stay at least 20 metres away from the polling station after voting, the Electoral Commission (EC) chairperson, Justice Simon Byabakama, who is still listed as a Court of Appeal judge, would soon parrot Muhoozi’s position.

‘I know the law allows voters to stay around, but I know it’s not practical on the ground because many of the polling stations are in crowded places,’ Byabakama said.

PLU dissatisfied with 17 ministerial posts

PLU this week expressed dissatisfaction with the positions they secured in the new Cabinet, saying said their members and allies got at least 17 ministerial posts in the 83-member Cabinet, an increase from the eight they held in the previous government.

PLU secretary general David Kabanda said although the number of posts had risen, their key figures were dispatched to ministries where they would be ‘dead in the water.’

‘We are unhappy as PLU. Our members were largely demoted or literally put on Katebe,’ he said.

Last week, I visited Jinja to shoot a video of the town, its people, places, and activities. For reasons I’m unable to put a finger on, Jinja depresses me every time I visit or think about it.

Most of the roads in the residential area are dilapidated; the Indian buildings on Main Street from the 1950s look their age; the Industrial Area has a rusty, cobwebby feel; and the town has lost its 1960s urbane, cosmopolitan culture.

Jinja looks ugly because its terrain is dominated by worn-out industrial assets. The only part of Jinja that looks world-class is nature – Lake Victoria, the River Nile, and the general greenery of the trees in the civil service residential quarters and the sugarcane fields on the outskirts as far as Kakira.

The faded, peeling, and rusted look is a poignant reminder of what Jinja Town once was: the industrial and cosmopolitan heartbeat of Uganda.

As traumatic as Jinja’s dilapidated look is to many of us, that’s not the worst part of the story. The crisis with Jinja, in my view, is at its core the death of the spirit. The older civil servants of the 1960s and 1970s retired or left the scene.

Jinja was essentially a European town in the 1950s, a town created by the biggest infrastructure project in Uganda up to that time – the hydropower Owen Falls Dam. Not only did the dam create a whole ecosystem of processing factories, copper smelting, and electricity distribution infrastructure, but it also created the best laid-out town in the country.

As with other towns such as Entebbe, Mbarara, Tororo, Gulu, Mbale, and so on, the departure, first of the Indians and gradually of the Europeans, saw the start of a decline from which upcountry Uganda has never quite recovered.

In recent years, there has been some rebuilding and remodelling of Jinja, but most of it is more a case of pouring new wine into old wineskins than of creating entirely new wineskins.

So, as with much of Kololo, Bugolobi, and Nakasero in Kampala, a good part of Jinja’s southern senior civil servants’ quarters is now hotels, bars, NGO offices, or kindergartens.

In Jinja’s central business district, the same pattern is seen: A new, multi-storey, glass-fronted building next to and overlooking the old Indian shops.

In Kampala, a few pockets of residential areas such as Kigo, Akright City, and Lubowa, attempted to have the appearance of urban planning, but others such as Najjera, Kira, and Naalya, have the same problem of new wine in old wineskins or new apartments arising from shabby surroundings.

Six decades after independence, urban planning is a concept and skill that still eludes Uganda. Reviving Jinja and other towns as part of a cohesive grand plan requires a level of imagination, dedication, teamwork, and purpose that does not exist in Uganda.

Which brings me to the main source of frustration, culture. Buildings, while important, are not the most important feature of a town. I attended Namasagali College in Kamuli, a school with buildings much more dilapidated than today’s Jinja, and yet a school with a glamorous culture that mesmerised the country.

Jinja today is more derelict in mentality and popular culture than in infrastructure.

This gets to the heart of most of present-day Uganda. The years of civil war, military coups, and scarcity of basic commodities are now behind us.

Are we back yet to where we were around 1968? In some ways, yes, but in most ways no.

Individuals in Jinja or Mbarara, Gulu, Mbale, Hoima, or Masaka have phones and can find most basic goods within walking distance. But they walk on dusty roads, live in congested quarters, and many even in these towns called ‘cities’ still fetch water from boreholes or communal pipes.

A new Cabinet has just been announced by President Museveni and, as usual, much national interest and scrutiny are in who’s in, who’s out, and if a particular district or region has gained a ministry.

What’s all this for?

It requires a level of seriousness, ambition, and admission that we are not good at urban planning, and with this admission, to seek help from overseas.

One of the first steps in admitting our limitations was with road construction, and we saved ourselves frustration by simply outsourcing the task of upgrading our roads or building entirely new ones to Chinese construction companies.

With the Chinese, there’s no news of scandals, embezzlement, or failure. The work gets done.

We might need to extend this into urban planning and bring in people and companies from countries with much experience and skill at some of these things.

That’s the only way our favourite towns like Jinja will, at last, shake off the cobwebs and rust, and return to the beauty they were in the 1950s.

Ugandan coach Benon Mugisha capped a remarkable season by guiding Rwanda Energy Group (REG) Volleyball Club to the 2026 Rwanda Volleyball League title after a dramatic 3-2 finals series victory over Police.

Mugisha’s road to the championship was built on resilience, tactical discipline and belief in his shorthanded squad.

Seen as the underdogs going into the finals, REG fashioned a comeback from a 2-0 hole in a five-game series to clinch the championship 3-2.

Back-to-back victories in Game Four and Five delivered the championship for a REG side that only got into the playoffs by winning their last regular season fixture against APR.

Having gone down 2-0, REG needed to be perfect to get back into the series and avoid a sweep.

And a 3-1 win in Game Three kept them alive, ensuring the series stretched to Game Four, and then a decisive Game Five.

With confidence restored, Mugisha’s side entered the decisive Game Five determined to complete the turnaround.

REG produced a composed display and swept Police aside in straight sets, taking the first 25-22, the second 25-14 and the third 25-to clinch the title.

Momentum shift

After two games of the series, there appeared to be one winner in the finals.

Police were cruising. REG could not find a response. Middle blocker Samuel Engwau was out nursing an injury.

A much-needed break came in the series as the two sides turned their attention to the CAVB Men’s Club Championship hosted in Kigali.

And as if to reemphasize the status quo in Rwanda, Police finished highest among the local teams, clinching silver after losing to giants Al Ahly in the final.

REG, meanwhile, defied odds again to win bronze and make it two medals for Rwanda in the competition.

Back to the league finals, nothing much had changed ate REG. Engwau was still unable to play from the start but was on the bench.

But Mugisha’s leadership stood out as he empowered the available options to get the job done.

Police started Game Three like a team facing elimination and cruised to the first two sets.

And despite losing the third, they still had enough in the tank to claim a 3-1 win and force Game Four.

Police reorganized themselves and started well in Game Four but REG came from two sets down to win the match 3-2 and force the series into a decisive Game Five.

Carrying the momentum into Game Five proved pivotal for Mugisha and his charges as Police struggled to get going in the winner-takes-it-all affair.

Led by former Sport-S star Thon Maker and eventual MVP Nicholas Matui, REG wiped the floor with Police in the decider.

Enhanced reputation

Mugisha took over a REG side that was struggling to rub shoulders with Rwanda’s best teams.

It was also a team in transition following a mass exodus of star players, including Ugandan international Gideon Angiro who crossed to Police.

Bringing in new talent meant patience would be needed. It was always going to take time for all the pieces to click.

But when they did, REG started asking questions of teams previously touted as favourites.

They locked APR out of the playoffs to take the final slot, defeated Kepler 3-0 in the semis before ensuring Police ended a second straight season with defeat in the finals.

It is the second time Mugisha is leading REG to league success. He was also part of the third title they won in 2023 but parted ways with the team midway through that campaign.

The title adds to an impressive year for the Ugandan tactician, who had already earned praise for leading REG to a continental bronze medal in Kigali.

For Mugisha, the triumph represented more than just another trophy. It was confirmation of his growing reputation as one of East Africa’s top volleyball coaches, capable of competing and succeeding at both domestic and continental level.

‘Winning the league means a lot to me and REG because it was like three years without winning it and we needed to put REG back where it belongs,’ Mugisha told Daily Monitor after Sunday’s celebrations.

He added: ‘The season has been the best so far in my career, winning Genocide Memorial Tournament, Kayumba Memorial and the league, then being number three in Africa. We really thank God for reaching this far, and the players for the maximum efforts they have put in.’

Since returning to the Rwandan side on a two-year contract, Mugisha has revitalized the team, combining tactical discipline, resilience, and strong leadership to get the team back to winning ways.

Little wonder that when the season’s Dream Team was named, REG had up to four players, with MVP Nicholas Matui, setter Crispin Ntanteteri, middle blocker Emmy Twagirayezu and outside hitter Merci Gisubizo all recognized.

Benon Mugisha

Accolades won this season

Rwanda Volleyball League, Genocide Memorial Tournament, Kayumba Memorial, Bronze at CAVB Men’s Club Championship

On April 2, at the Ggaba Early Childhood Development Centre, Christopher Okello Onyum hacked to death four children. The infants were aged between one year and two years, three of whom were male and one was female.

Okello was subsequently found guilty of four counts of murder by the High Court in Kampala and sentenced to death [He has since appealed against the sentence]. During the trial, Okello did not deny killing the four children, but stated that he did not act intentionally or deliberately. He stated that although he had been examined and declared mentally sane, he had a mental illness that was undetected, which caused him to kill the children.

Once a defendant raises the issue of insanity, the prosecution has the burden of proving beyond reasonable doubt that the accused was sane when the act was being committed. In law, an accused person is excused from punishment if, as a result of mental illness, he did not know the nature and quality of his act, or if he did know it, he did not know that the act itself was wrong. In some cases, however, the accused is exempted from punishment only in cases of extreme insanity involving a total loss of understanding.

The rule of insanity has further given the ‘irresistible impulse’ test by the courts of law. Under this rule, the defendant is immune from the consequences of his criminal act if it is proved that he was compelled to do the act by an irresistible impulse. That is, if his reasoning powers were so far dethroned by his diseased mental condition as to deprive him of the willpower to resist the insane impulse to perpetrate the deed, though knowing it to be wrong, he is not criminally responsible.

The case of Okello bears some similarity to that of Richard Trenton Chase, who killed six people in a span of a month, from December 29, 1977, to January 27, 1978. Chase earned the nickname ‘The Vampire’ because he drank the blood of his victims and ate their internal organs.

On December 20, 1977, Chase shot a 51-year-old man twice in the chest as he was retrieving groceries from his car. On January 23, 1978, he again shot dead a 22-year-old woman as she came out of her home carrying some garbage, and he then savagely mutilated her body. Four days later, police were called to a home in which the whole family was discovered killed. The woman of the house, a 36-year-old, was shot three times and her internal organs removed. Her 52-year-old companion was also shot in the head, as was the woman’s six-year-old son. A 22-month-old baby, whom the woman was babysitting, was missing from a bloodstained crib. The baby was later discovered dead.

Okello and Chase had a history of mental illness, and both were admitted to psychiatric units at some time in their lives. That Okello and Chase had a mental disorder at some time in their lives was, therefore, not in doubt.

The second pointer to a crime of insanity is the lack of motive in the commission of the offences; Okello and Chase apparently picked their victims at random. In all six murders that Chase committed, he acted alone. In the four murders that Okello committed, there was no evidence that he had any accomplices.

Crimes of insanity are typically bizarre and ghostly. Police investigating these murders committed by Chase were horrified to discover that he was carrying fast-food containers stuffed with human body parts and blood when he was arrested. Okello slashed the necks of four infants in the most bizarre and ghostly manner. Both killers made no attempts to hide the evidence of their crimes.

A crime in law consists of the mental aspect as well as the actual conduct. These two elements are derived from the Latin maxim actus non facit reum nisi mens rea, which, translated, means a person does not incur liability for a crime by virtue of an act unless he or she has, as well, a guilty mind. Mens rea refers to the state of mind, while actus reus is the act itself. Mentally ill persons may, however, experience a temporary period of resolution of the illness and during such a period, the patient may be held criminally liable if in conflict with the law.

In Uganda, the Penal Code Act states that a person is not criminally responsible if, at the time of the act, they are suffering from a disease of the mind that renders them incapable of understanding what they were doing or knowing that it was wrong. This principle reflects one of the foundations of criminal law, that liability requires both the act itself (actus reus) and the guilty mind (mens rea). Without intent, punishment loses its moral justification.

The cause of most of the mental disorders may not be pinpointed or remains unknown. However, a number of these illnesses have been associated with drugs such as cannabis, alcohol and cocaine. Stress conditions such as sudden bereavement or financial loss, may also trigger mental illness. Failure of the maturation of the brain may result in mental disorders that have their onset during infancy or childhood.

Psychopathy or psychopathic personality is a recently recognised mental disorder and is characterised by impaired empathy and remorse, persistent antisocial behaviour, along with bold, disinhibited and egocentric traits. It is now classified as an antisocial or dissocial personality disorder.

For a long time, the psychopath was thought to be or was considered an essentially normal individual who had deep-rooted abnormalities of personality, as a result of which he or she was unable to conform to conventional standards of behaviour. What was also known was that this personality disorder was often associated with criminal behaviour, without accompanying feelings of guilt or remorse.

The psychopath has an inclination to violence and psychological manipulation, impulsivity and narcissism. These traits are often masked by superficial charm and immunity to stress, which create an outward appearance of normality.

Causes of the psychopathic personality include genetic factors or experiencing neglect or maltreatment. Risk factors associated with the disorder include family history and adverse environmental stressors.

In the last four years, Uganda’s housing deficit has averaged around or over two million units, a figure that has barely budged, even as the population grows by more than a million people annually.

It is not that nobody is building. Drive through Naguru, Kololo, or Nakasero, the emerging elite areas, on any given morning, and the cranes are hard to miss.

But the homes popping up are rarely for the 80 percent of Ugandans economists call lower- and middle-income earners, which is to say, most people.

We examine the demand side: why those who need homes most cannot access the financing to get one, and what is beginning to change.

The second will tackle the supply side: why developers are not building enough for them, and what it would take to make them.

The arithmetic of exclusion

Uganda’s median urban worker earns between Shs220,000 and Shs230,000 a month. Rural incomes are lower still, at around Shs168,000.

To house someone at that level, the National Planning Authority estimates a home would need to cost between Shs14m and Shs24m. Nobody is building there.

What the market calls ‘affordable housing’ starts at around Shs90m and stretches to Shs350m and beyond, a label that, as the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) Deputy Managing Director Gerald Kasaato says, is ‘always going to be a very, very difficult thing to achieve against those kinds of numbers.’

Bridging that gap, therefore, requires a functioning mortgage market, patient capital, and a government willing to act on policy levers it has long left untouched.

Mortgages require payslips, documented salaries, and formal credit histories, things that most Ugandans have none of. Of 9.3 million workers, only about one million qualify for mainstream lending because their income is known monthly.

Broll Managing Director Moses Lutalo describes a mortgage market that is ‘almost comically thin.’

‘Fewer than 40,000 mortgages exist in a country of over 50 million people. Mortgage debt accounts for less than 1 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), compared to 65 percent in Britain, numbers that mirror much of sub-Saharan Africa,’ he says.

The price of borrowing

For the minority who qualify for a mortgage, the terms are punishing. Rates sit at between 16 and 18 percent per annum, roughly double the single-digit threshold at which housing finance specialists consider mortgages genuinely affordable.

Uganda Bankers Association Executive Director Wilbroad Owor blames this on the absence of patient capital.

‘Commercial banks are short-term funded institutions. The mismatch between the short-term deposits they hold and the long-term loans housing requires is inherently costly, and that cost is passed directly to borrowers,’ he says.

It is a structural problem that even Uganda’s largest institutional investor cannot easily solve alone.

NSSF manages assets worth over Shs26 trillion and holds what the industry calls patient capital, yet its real estate portfolio manager Matthew Rukaari is measured in his optimism: ‘We fully recognise that it’s difficult.’

The Mortgage Refinancing Act

The Mortgage Refinancing Act, signed in February and now awaiting a regulatory framework, is designed to fix the structural mismatch that hobbles both banks and the pension scheme approach.

The logic is that mortgage refinancing companies, regulated by Bank of Uganda, would sit between commercial banks and long-term capital markets.

Instead of a bank funding a 20-year mortgage out of short-term deposits, the refinancing company steps in with long-term capital, absorbs a portion of the default risk, and allows banks to price mortgages more competitively.

‘Banks will sell that mortgage to the refinance company. The refinance company can wait much longer. Initial capital would come from government, supplemented by concessional finance from institutions like the World Bank and the African Development Bank,’ Owor explains.

It is a model Kenya has used to develop its mortgage market. Lutalo argues that cheaper credit would send a signal to developers that real customers, with real financing behind them, are waiting at the affordable end of the market, a signal that has been absent until now.

But Uganda Retirement Benefits Regulatory Authority (URBRA)’s investment and risk analyst Eric Mugisha cautions that you ‘might have all these refinancing entities, but you will find that the capacity is restricted to a few. It may not be helping the low-income earners.’

His concern is that without deliberate design choices about who the institution is meant to serve, the benefits will again flow to borrowers who are already close to bankable, leaving the majority behind.

Owor is measured but less pessimistic, pointing to Bank of Uganda’s involvement as a sound foundation.

The caveat, he acknowledges, is that the Mortgage Refinancing Act is still just an Act. The regulations that would create and capitalise the actual refinancing institutions have not yet been gazetted.

A failed experiment

Before the Mortgage Refinancing Act, Uganda tried something else. Regulations under URBRA allowed pension scheme members to use up to half of their accrued benefits as collateral for a home loan.

Its logic was rational, but it barely moved the needle in practice. Mugisha explains that the 50 percent rule meant a member could pledge whichever was lower: half their accrued benefits, or the property’s market value. The problem was the underlying numbers.

‘The biggest portion of members have money that is less than Shs10m,’ Mugisha notes, adding that: ‘Against a market where the average house costs upwards of Shs250m, someone would need benefits worth at least Shs500m to make the facility work’.

‘The regulation, in effect, reached exactly the people who already had options and missed entirely those who did not,’ he says.

Banks ran into a deeper problem, too. Uganda’s pension laws protect member contributions from attachment, meaning lenders have no clean enforcement mechanism in the event of default.

‘There is nothing that gives comfort to bankers. With collateral they could not legally seize, lenders walked away. Uptake was negligible,’ Mugisha notes. The lesson here is that structural solutions that ignore the legal landscape and the actual asset levels of their intended beneficiaries will not work, however elegantly designed.

Patient capital

Another pool of capital could transform Uganda’s housing market, and it has been sitting largely on the sidelines.

Pension funds, Saccos, insurance companies, and asset managers collectively hold assets that are half the commercial banking system’s Shs61.3 trillion. NSSF alone manages over Shs26 trillion.

In Kenya, pension funds allocate up to 30 percent of their portfolios to real estate. In Uganda, the figure is under 5 percent.

The gap is about returns. A pension fund earning 12 to 15 percent on government bonds, with near-zero risk and minimal effort, has little incentive to take on the complexity of a housing development for a similar yield.

As Lutalo puts it, ‘the market has simply not brought them a product which is de-risked and makes business sense to them.’

A functioning mortgage refinancing framework changes that calculus. Lower risk makes housing more competitive as an asset class, which attracts institutional capital, which funds more mortgage lending and more development.

It is a virtuous cycle that the developed world has already taken advantage of.

Rent-to-own: A bridge or a bandage?

In the absence of a functioning mortgage market, NSSF has been developing a Rent-to-Own policy. A household moves into a unit and pays rent, a portion of which accumulates toward eventual ownership.

‘Your payments will be going towards the ownership of the home. There will be an effective interest rate, obviously, but the hope is that the effective interest rate will be less than the current mortgage rates,’ Rukaari says.

It is a genuinely innovative attempt to meet people where they are. However, Rukaari is also honest about its limits: ‘One hundred million is one hundred million. How you decide to finance one hundred million doesn’t change the fact that one hundred million is very expensive for so many people.’

Kasaato frames the challenge in regional terms, referencing a seminar at an International Social Security Association meeting in the Ivory Coast in 2024.

Sierra Leone, with a GDP per capita of just $521 (Shs1.9m), defines an affordable home at around $30,000, roughly Shs112m. Uganda is richer, yet its institutions have not yet built a product at that price point, let alone below it.

Demand that cannot yet speak

Uganda is urbanising at 5 percent annually, according to the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, one of the fastest rates in Africa.

Kampala and its satellite towns absorb hundreds of thousands of new residents every year.

The desire to own is not a middle-class aspiration, but a universal one. What is missing is the financial infrastructure to convert want into effective demand: the kind that developers can see, price against, and build for.

The Mortgage Refinancing Act, if properly operationalised and deliberately designed to reach beyond the already-bankable, is the single most important near-term intervention available.

Paired with serious engagement from pension funds and complemented by innovative products like rent-to-own, Uganda has the pieces of a solution.

What has been lacking is the will to assemble them in the right order, at the right speed, and the honesty, as Mugisha’s warning about capacity makes clear, to confront what a given tool cannot do.

Beyond this, there is also need to examine why fixing demand is necessary but not sufficient (we are working on an article).

Even if every Ugandan who needs a home could suddenly access affordable financing, there would still not be enough homes to buy.

The supply side of the housing crisis is, if anything, an even more complex problem.

Uganda’s notoriously passionate Arsenal fans reacted with unprecedented, nationwide euphoria, street parades, concerts and religious thanksgiving services after Mikel Arteta’s squad secured the 2025/2026 English Premier League title. This historic victory officially ended the club’s 22-year league drought. I won’t hurl the criticism of neo-colonialism at Uganda’s Arsenal fans for celebrating a team born in the heart of imperial England. Why be a spoilsport or party pooper when some Ugandans are as happy as their situation will allow them to be? And, indeed, they are happy.

Buoyant Rolex guys across Ntinda were giving out free Rolexes; after you paid for them! Barbers in the same suburb were cutting their own hair and paying onlookers for being there to witness it. I changed my social media handle to @arsenal and wound up with Mr Museveni’s number of followers. It was, in the words of a wise man, ‘bulaade’. Hyperbole aside, contrast this organic joy with what happened when President Museveni won presidential elections this year.

The celebrations following Mr Museveni’s January 2026 election victory were, first of all, official, meaning they were predominantly highly structured, State-backed events organised by the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) rather than spontaneous, organic public gatherings. While thousands of yellow-clad NRM supporters participated enthusiastically, the landscape of the celebrations was shaped by extensive top-down coordination, a countrywide Internet blackout, and heavy security deployments.

Of course, one might convincingly argue that Arsenal had waited 22 years to win the Premier League title, so the outpouring of genuine feeling was subsequently overflowing. Whereas the NRM is like Real Madrid on steroids, it has been winning for 40 years. So the reaction of its supporters to its continued rule is routinised by expected outcomes. However, every election result that returns NRM rule is a renewal of its mandate to rule. Thus, the NRM becomes new again each time it prevails in a political contest. So the celebrations of NRM supporters should be renewed every five years to reflect this renewal.

After all, according to government shills, the NRM exemplifies the immortal words of the 32nd president of the United States by being the ‘great arsenal of democracy’, by its own estimation. Oh yes, US president Franklin D Roosevelt coined the phrase ‘great arsenal of democracy’ during a radio broadcast and ‘fireside chat’ on December 29, 1940. Delivered nearly a year before the US entered World War II, his speech called for the country to massively increase military production to supply Great Britain and other Allied forces fighting Nazi Germany.

NRM has also increased its military budgets with the purport of defending Uganda’s ‘nascent’ democracy. By extension, one might conclude that the NRM is the great arsenal of democracy. But if the celebrations surrounding Mr Museveni’s umpteenth term were sedate when compared to Arsenal Football Club’s recent celebrations, it’s doubtful that the NRM would use its paramilitarised arsenal to defend a status quo which indicates its relative unpopularity.

Instead, the NRM’s verbal gunners, no pun intended, prefer to pick off opponents to their rule dressed to the nines in Arsenal FC colours.

Consequently, genuine celebrations are reserved for the National Unity Platform (NUP) supporters. I am talking about those NUP supporters who are released from detention and frequently given heroic, festive receptions by their families, party leadership, and community members. These celebrations-often featuring red Arsenal-esque party colours, traditional drumming, and public processions-regularly take place at the NUP headquarters in Makerere Kavule. Thereby proving that support for NRM rule is only as spirited as opposition to it.

The appointment of five ministers from the Busoga sub-region to Uganda’s new Cabinet has sparked optimism and heightened expectations among residents and leaders, who are now demanding greater focus on youth employment, infrastructure development, education, agriculture and the recovery of Busoga Kingdom assets.

The ministers include First Deputy Prime Minister Rebecca Kadaga, Third Deputy Prime Minister Rukia Isanga Nakadama, Minister for the Presidency Milly Babalanda, ICT and National Guidance Minister Justine Kasule Lumumba, and State Minister for Lands, Housing and Urban Development Persis Namuganza.

As the ministers settle into office, stakeholders across Busoga say the region expects the appointments to translate into tangible development gains after years of unfulfilled promises.

Mr David Lukakamwa, the deputy prime minister of Butembe Chiefdom, called on the five ministers to work as a united bloc in advancing Busoga’s interests.

According to Mr Lukakamwa, one of the biggest unresolved issues remains the recovery of Busoga Kingdom assets that were taken over by government when cultural institutions were abolished during the regime of former President Milton Obote.

‘As I speak now, the kingdom has not yet recovered even a quarter of its assets that the government promised to return because, in previous terms, ministers from the region were working in isolation,’ Mr Lukakamwa said.

He noted that although President Yoweri Museveni agreed in principle to return the assets after the restoration of cultural institutions, implementation has remained slow due to a lack of coordinated lobbying by leaders from the region.

Mr Abubaker Walubi, the NRM chairperson for Iganga District, said he expects the ministers to prioritise the legal recognition and operationalisation of Busoga University.

According to Mr Walubi, the delayed establishment of the university has denied the region educational and economic opportunities that could transform livelihoods.

‘When these five ministers from Busoga assume office, I expect them to fast-track the opening of Busoga University, which is expected to create many opportunities and drive the region forward,’ he said.

Mr Walubi also urged the ministers to use their influence to create employment opportunities for qualified residents within their respective ministries and government agencies.

He further called on them to remind President Museveni about his pledge to establish industrial parks across the region, saying such investments are essential for tackling unemployment, particularly among young people.

The improvement of roads leading to tourism sites should also feature prominently on the ministers’ agenda, he added, arguing that tourism has become an increasingly important source of revenue for communities.

Former Kamuli District LC5 chairperson Salaam Musumba challenged the ministers to serve with integrity and protect the image of Busoga.

She noted that several prominent leaders from the region had served in previous governments without being associated with corruption scandals.

‘Ministers from Busoga like the late Shaban Nkuutu, Henry Kyemba, John Kirunda Luwuliza and Basoga Nsadhu served in governments without leaving behind bad records of corruption, so these five ministers should pick a leaf from them to avoid associating our region with a bad image,’ Ms Musumba said.

She also observed that Busoga’s ministerial representation is entirely female, a development she described as both historic and demanding.

‘The appointment of only women ministers from Busoga implies that our hopes are embedded in them; therefore, they should serve without fear,’ she said.

Ms Musumba argued that the region’s future development and political stability will largely depend on how effectively the ministers use their positions within Cabinet.

For boda boda riders, the key concern is access to affordable financing.

Mr Eria Simon Musobya, the Busoga region boda boda riders coordinator, appealed to the ministers to lobby for increased government funding to SACCOs serving motorcycle operators.

According to Mr Musobya, many riders continue to rely on private lending companies that charge high interest rates because they have limited alternatives.

‘His Excellency the President promised to inject money into our SACCOs to reduce the exploitation we face when acquiring motorcycles from private companies. Therefore, I implore our ministers to push for the funds to be released,’ he said.

On Saturday, Mr Musobya also appealed to the ministers to address what he described as unfair tax assessments on boda boda riders and reduce the cost of obtaining driving licences.

Sugarcane farmers, who form a significant part of Busoga’s economy, also outlined their expectations.

Mr David Christopher Mombwe, chairperson of Busoga sugarcane outgrowers, called on the ministers to ensure enforcement of a government-backed minimum sugarcane price of Shs130,000 per tonne.

According to Mr Mombwe, although government and stakeholders agreed on the minimum price, millers continue to purchase cane at rates determined by market forces.

‘Sugarcane growing in Busoga caters for more than half of the population’s survival, so our ministers should ensure the minimum price set becomes a reality since millers are buying cane at prices of their own choice despite government directives,’ he said.

He argued that stable sugarcane prices would significantly reduce poverty levels in the region and improve household incomes.

Former Jinja City mayor Peter Okocha Kasolo, who belongs to the opposition National Unity Platform, welcomed the appointments and urged the ministers to focus on practical development priorities.

‘All those appointed as ministers have already been tested and know the problems of Busoga, which I hope they will handle effectively,’ Mr Kasolo said.

He said residents expect improvements in roads, schools and public services, adding that unity among the ministers will be critical if Busoga is to attract more government projects.

For many stakeholders, the appointments represent more than political recognition. They are viewed as an opportunity for Busoga to secure long-awaited investments, recover historical assets, strengthen key economic sectors and improve the livelihoods of residents.

Whether the region’s expectations are met will likely shape public perceptions of both the ministers and the government over the next five years.

With less than 30 days left to close the 2025/2026 financial year, Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) has urged taxpayers to clear outstanding obligations, file pending returns, and take advantage of tax waivers before the June 30 deadline.

URA Commissioner General John Rujoki Musinguzi said in a statement at the weekend that URA revenue target of Shs36.7 trillion was within reach and is expected to be achieved if taxpayers pay their outstanding.

‘We are confident that with the help of every taxpaying citizen, this target is possible. Compliance is a shared responsibility. When businesses and individuals pay on time, we can fund the services that drive Uganda’s growth,’ he said, noting that despite rising economic pressures, several taxpayers had paid their tax obligation.

He also noted that URA had, during the year, leaned on technology and service improvement, not just enforcement, to make compliance easier, a trend that is expected to continue in the next financial year.

‘Through our Digital Strategy, we hope to serve our clients better and faster. This technology will transform the entire tax administration by offering instant services, reducing queues and backlog. Our goal is to make it simple for you to do the right thing,’ he said.

Musinguzi also urged taxpayers to file all outstanding returns within the defined deadlines, noting that filing on time reduces penalties and demonstrates good faith.

‘Filing is the first step. It keeps you compliant and opens the door for us to work with you on manageable payment arrangements. Waiting only increases penalties,’ he added.

Taxpayers with arrears still have a window, with URA currently offering relief on penalties and interest for those who voluntarily disclose and settle principal tax arrears.

The waiver applies to taxes such as Value Added Tax, Pay As You Earn, and income tax, but only for payments made on or before June 30, 2026.

For many businesses, this means clearing old balances after the deadline; standard penalties and interest will apply in full.

‘Do not wait for the last minute to make payments; systems get congested, banks take time to process payments, and late action attracts penalties. Act now and keep your business running without interruption,’ Musinguzi said.

URA says it is prioritizing mediation, stakeholder engagement, and tax education over heavy-handed enforcement to recover revenue. It is also stepping up surveillance at borders to deter smuggling, which erodes the tax base.