Category: Daily Monitor

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has defended Uganda’s decision to declare the end of its Ebola Bundibugyo outbreak before completing the conventional 42-day waiting period, saying the country prioritized stopping transmission over procedural timelines.

Uganda discharged its last confirmed Ebola patient from the National Isolation and Treatment Centre in Mulago on July 16, 2026, and officially declared the outbreak over on July 28, less than two weeks later. The move sparked debate, with some observers questioning why the country did not wait the standard 42 days after the last confirmed case.

Responding to journalists on Tuesday, WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Mohamed Yakub Janabi, said Uganda’s response should be judged by results, not timelines.

“Uganda’s actions should be judged by the effectiveness of its response rather than strict adherence to procedural timelines,” Dr Janabi said.

Dr Janabi, who is in Uganda with a delegation from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) led by Director-General Dr Jean Kaseya, noted that while Uganda had declared its outbreak over, the wider regional response was ongoing.

He said Uganda remains actively involved in efforts to contain the outbreak in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where authorities had confirmed 3,605 cases and 1,587 deaths by Monday.

Although Uganda and the DRC declared their outbreaks on the same day in May, Uganda registered only 20 confirmed cases. Fifteen of those were imported infections involving Congolese nationals who had crossed into Uganda seeking medical care.

Health Minister Dr Chris Baryomunsi said Uganda has since shifted focus to supporting the response in eastern DRC. “As of Monday, 58 Ugandan health specialists had been deployed to Kasenyi, on the western shores of Lake Albert in Ituri Province, as well as Aru Territory, which borders Uganda’s Arua District,” Dr Baryomunsi said.

Both WHO and Africa CDC described Uganda’s handling of the outbreak as a model for other countries. They noted Uganda recorded a case fatality rate of about 10 per cent, compared to approximately 44 per cent in the DRC, where nearly half of confirmed patients have died.

Despite the international praise, Uganda’s response faced criticism domestically. Some officials questioned whether an outbreak needed to be declared at all, arguing it would damage the economy.

Allan Kasujja, Executive Director of the Uganda Media Centre and the government’s communications lead during the outbreak, repeatedly argued that Uganda was being unfairly grouped with the DRC in announcements despite dealing largely with imported cases and a handful of infected health workers.

Asked about the concerns, Dr Janabi said WHO had been clear on Uganda’s situation. “WHO had consistently communicated that Uganda was responding to imported cases and rejected suggestions that the organisation had misrepresented the country’s situation,” he said.

Meanwhile, Africa CDC Director-General Dr Jean Kaseya criticised the United States for maintaining travel restrictions on Uganda despite the successful containment. Kaseya described the restrictions as unnecessary and accused the U.S. of applying double standards. “France had also reported an imported Ebola Bundibugyo case from the DRC but had not faced similar travel measures,” Dr Kaseya said.

Annual headline inflation rose to 4 percent over the 12 months to July, driven largely by increased costs of housing, water, and electricity. The increase marks the highest inflation level recorded since September 2025, reflecting a steady rise in the cost of goods and services across the economy.

Ms Juliet Nakyenga, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (Ubos) principal statistician for price statistics, said the increase was mainly influenced by rising prices in key consumption categories.

‘ … the main driver of the 4 percent inflation was housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, which rose by 6.7 percent in the year ending July, compared to 4.9 percent recorded in the same period June,’ she said.

The Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose framework enables economists to measure price changes across different categories of household consumption, providing critical data for policy formulation aimed at maintaining price stability. Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels carry a weight of 104.1617 in the Consumer Price Index, making it the second most influential category after food and non-alcoholic beverages, which has a weight of 270.5390. During the same period, food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation rose to 3.1 percent, up from 2.6 percent recorded in June.

Transport costs also continued to climb, with inflation in the sector increasing to 9.3 percent in July 2026 from 8.8 percent the previous month. Transport inflation reflects rising costs of moving people and goods, often driven by higher fuel prices, public transport fares, and freight charges. Ubos data further shows increases in other categories, with furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance recording a rise to 2.9 percent in July from 2.5 percent in June. Alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics inflation increased slightly to 1 percent from 0.6 percent, while clothing and footwear saw a marginal increase to 1.3 percent from 1.2 percent in June.

Education services inflation remained unchanged at 5.7 percent, while insurance and financial services inflation eased to 10.1 percent from 12.6 percent in June. Recreation, sports and cultural services recorded a slight decline to 0.7 percent from 0.9 percent, while restaurant and accommodation services inflation edged down to 3.2 percent from 3.3 percent. Health sector inflation dropped to 1.6 percent in July 2026 from 1.8 percent in June.

Information and communication services inflation remained relatively stable at 1.0 percent, compared to 1.1 percent in June. Personal care, social protection and miscellaneous goods and services inflation stood at 1.8 percent in July 2026, slightly down from 1.9 percent recorded in June. Despite the increase in headline inflation, annual core inflation, which excludes volatile items such as food and energy, remained unchanged at 3.2 percent. Bank of Uganda relies on core inflation as a key indicator for monetary policy decisions, targeting an inflation rate of 5 percent to ensure economic stability.

Every entrepreneur plans for growth. Few plan for the day the business cannot open its doors.

Yet disruption rarely gives notice. A landlord sells the building, as tenants across Kampala’s downtown arcades have learned. Roadworks cut off access.

A trusted employee resigns. A regulator changes the rules. As the pandemic reminded us, circumstances beyond management’s control can bring even a thriving business to a standstill.

The lesson is not that every disruption can be prevented. It is that resilience cannot be built after a crisis begins.

Too many businesses mistake an operation for an institution. An operation depends on people, relationships, and routine. An institution depends on systems that survive change.

Hospitality has offered me the clearest illustration. A business that remains closed for almost a year does not simply pause. Customers develop new habits. Employees find new opportunities. Supplier relationships weaken.

Costs change. Owners often imagine they are reopening the same business. In reality, they are building a new one. Sometimes, without the name, assets, and lessons of the old.

Some businesses never recover at all. Research using Uganda Bureau of Statistics business records puts average business survival at under five years. A major disruption is often the event that exposes weaknesses already present.

Those weaknesses usually have little to do with markets and everything to do with systems. Many businesses rely on a handful of individuals.

One employee knows every supplier. Another controls customer records. One manager understands the accounts. The owner approves every important decision. It appears efficient, until one of those people becomes unavailable.

A resilient business spreads knowledge instead of concentrating it. It documents critical processes, cross-trains employees and ensures that essential information belongs to the organisation, not to one person’s phone, notebook or memory.

The same principle applies to procurement. Businesses should not depend on one supplier or one employee’s personal relationships.

Strong systems compare prices, document purchases, establish approval limits and identify alternative suppliers before they are urgently needed.

Every enterprise should periodically ask itself a simple question: Could this business continue if the people, premises or routines we depend on today suddenly changed?

If the answer is no, the business has identified a risk while there is still time to reduce it. Whether the business is a restaurant, medical practice or media house, the challenge is the same.

Its value should not exist only in a building or in the owner’s head. It should exist in the systems, knowledge, relationships and culture that can survive disruption.

Growth without institutional strength simply creates a bigger fragile business.

The real test of a business is not whether it can operate on an ordinary Monday. It is whether, after the doors close unexpectedly, enough of the business remains to open them again.

Governments often embrace signature projects. Uganda’s mandatory monthly National Cleaning Day, however, revives an older model of state-directed mass mobilisation. Mirroring Rwanda’s Umuganda, it raises fundamental questions about liberty, civic responsibility, and the expanding reach of government. Clean cities are desirable.

Cleaner politics would be even better. The real question is not whether Uganda should be clean. It absolutely should.

The question is whether government should clean Uganda by commandeering the labour of every citizen or by creating an economy capable of employing people whose profession is keeping Uganda clean. That distinction is the difference between a market economy and a command economy.

Older East Africans have seen this movie before. In the 1960s and 1970s, President Julius Nyerere advanced Ujamaa-African socialism-as Tanzania’s development philosophy. Villagization schemes encouraged or compelled citizens into collective organisation under the belief that the State could better direct production and communal life than markets. The intentions were noble.

The economics were not. History remembers Ujamaa less for prosperity than for inefficiency, declining productivity, shortages, and excessive state control over ordinary life. Today’s Uganda is not Tanzania of the 1970s. Nor is a monthly cleaning exercise equivalent to Ujamaa.

Yet ideas matter because governments often reveal their governing philosophy through seemingly small policies. When government increasingly believes that national problems are solved by directing citizens rather than enabling enterprise, one begins to see echoes-not replicas-of the paternalistic state that characterised many post-independence socialist experiments.

The broom is only symbolic. The governing philosophy behind it deserves scrutiny. Economists have a simple observation. Whenever government can obtain labour for free, it has less incentive to build institutions that provide it professionally. Suppose one million Ugandans spend three hours cleaning.

That is three million labour-hours every month. Imagine instead if even a fraction of that effort were converted into paid employment. Thousands of sanitation companies could emerge. Youth-owned garbage collection firms. Community recycling businesses. Waste-to-energy startups. Private drainage maintenance contractors.

Urban landscaping companies. Environmental technology enterprises. Entire industries. Instead, Uganda has chosen the cheaper political option. Free labour. Nothing creates the illusion of governmental efficiency quite like persuading citizens to perform government services themselves. The roads remain unrepaired. Drainage remains poorly designed. Municipal waste management remains underfunded.

The countries admired for their cleanliness are rarely clean because citizens periodically receive orders to sweep. They are clean because markets function. Waste collection is an industry. Recycling is an industry. Environmental services are an industry.

Cleaning employs people. Garbage generates revenue. Innovation reduces waste. Entrepreneurs compete to provide better sanitation services. Government regulates. Businesses deliver. Citizens pay taxes. Everyone wins. That is how mature capitalist economies solve sanitation-not by temporarily converting lawyers, doctors, engineers, accountants and entrepreneurs into municipal employees one Saturday every month.

Uganda should aspire to become a corporate republic, where sanitation itself becomes an economic sector capable of employing tens of thousands of Ugandans. Imagine if government offered tax incentives to sanitation companies. Procurement opportunities to youth cooperatives. Municipal service contracts to startups.

Investment incentives for recycling plants. Innovation grants for waste management technology. The result would be cleaner cities, higher employment and increased tax revenue.

Capitalism, unlike compulsory civic labour, pays people to solve public problems. Uganda’s Constitution protects liberty, movement, and economic activity.

Any recurring nationwide restrictions must satisfy constitutional standards of legality, necessity, and proportionality. Governments should not normalise emergency-style governance for ordinary administration. Civic participation is strongest when inspired by trust, not enforced compliance. This is not an argument against civic responsibility.

Communities should care for their surroundings. Neighbours should organise, schools should teach environmental stewardship, religious institutions should encourage service. Voluntary community action strengthens democracy and compulsory civic labour strengthens the State. Those are different constitutional philosophies.

A confident republic builds institutions that make cleanliness ordinary. An insecure one periodically mobilises citizens to compensate for institutional failure.

Uganda deserves the former. Uganda needs a clean economy, not merely a cleaning day. Create sanitation jobs, strengthen municipalities, and reward innovation.

Young leaders from across Africa have called for greater investment in youth-led solutions, arguing that the continent’s future will depend on empowering young people to influence policy, create jobs and drive innovation rather than treating them as passive beneficiaries of development.

The message dominated discussions at the opening of the 2026 Billi Now Now (BNN) Youth Summit in Kampala today (Wednesday), where hundreds of young entrepreneurs, innovators, policymakers and development partners gathered to explore practical solutions to Africa’s development challenges.

Opening the three-day summit, Reach A Hand Africa Chief Executive Officer Humphrey Nabimanya said Africa’s greatest resource is not its vast natural wealth but the energy, creativity and resilience of its young population.

“Our future is not something we wait for; it is something we build,” Mr Nabimanya said, referring to this year’s theme, “Africa Recharged: Youth Power. Bold Voices. Real Change.”

He said despite making up the largest share of Africa’s population, many young people continue to be excluded from decisions that shape their future.

“For too long, young people have been invited into conversations after decisions have already been made. Too often, youth engagement has been symbolic instead of meaningful. Young people are not beneficiaries of development; they are the architects of Africa’s future,” he said.

Mr Nabimanya said the Billi Now Now Movement was founded to connect young Africans who are already solving problems through entrepreneurship, technology, community organising, advocacy and innovation.

According to him, the movement aims to strengthen collaboration among youth leaders while promoting locally driven solutions to challenges such as unemployment, poor access to education, climate change and limited economic opportunities.

The summit also marked the transition of Reach A Hand Uganda into Reach A Hand Africa, a move that expands the organisation’s work to Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia and Burundi.

Mr Nabimanya said the expansion reflects the reality that young Africans face similar challenges regardless of national borders.

“We are creating partnerships that allow young people to learn from one another and build solutions that respond to local realities across the continent,” he said.

He said that the summit was deliberately designed to move beyond speeches by encouraging participants to develop practical ideas that can be implemented within their communities.

“This is not another conference. We are here to build partnerships, influence policy and turn ideas into action. What starts as a conversation here should become lasting impact,” he said.

Mr Nabimanya added that the BNN Movement is entering a new phase following the exit of Planned Parenthood Global, creating an opportunity for African organisations to build a locally owned and sustainable youth movement.

Over the next three days, delegates will discuss six priority areas: health, education, climate action, entrepreneurship, creative and cultural industries, and responsible technology to produce practical solutions that can be adopted across the continent.

“We want every participant to leave with more than inspiration. We want them to leave with partnerships, mentors, opportunities and concrete commitments to improve their communities,” he said.

Hardy Ruremesha, Executive Director of Spring Communities in Burundi, said that African youth should view local challenges as opportunities to innovate rather than obstacles to progress.

He shared how his organisation transforms plastic waste into environmentally friendly products, creating jobs while tackling environmental degradation.

“We are not the leaders of tomorrow; we are the leaders of today. When young people are trusted and supported, they create jobs, improve education, protect the environment and inspire hope,” Mr Ruremesha said.

He urged delegates to return home determined to turn their ideas into practical solutions capable of improving lives within their communities.

The summit is expected to produce youth-led action plans and policy recommendations aimed at strengthening young people’s participation in governance, entrepreneurship, climate action and technological innovation across Africa.

Kenyan youth leader Rasheed Mutaha said that Africa’s young people must remain adaptable and embrace emerging technologies to remain competitive in a rapidly changing world.

“Our voices are here to create change. We are not simply participants; we are helping shape the next chapter of the BNN Movement,” Mr Mutaha said.

He described artificial intelligence and digital platforms as powerful tools for learning, innovation and civic participation, urging young people to use them responsibly to address community challenges.

Mr Mutaha cited consultations conducted in several African countries, which found that 85 percent of young people want greater access to resources and decision-making, while 84 percent believe technology and digital platforms are shaping their economic and social opportunities.

He said ideas generated during the summit would be developed into community projects, linked to funding opportunities and translated into policy recommendations.

About Bill Now Now

The Billi Now Now (BNN) Movement is a pan-African youth platform that connects young leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs and civil society organisations to co-create solutions to Africa’s development challenges. The 2026 summit, held under the theme “Africa Recharged: Youth Power. Bold Voices. Real Change.

Officials of the Opposition People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) party have welcomed a move by Uganda Law Society (ULS) leaders to join the search for its mobiliser and political activist Sam Mugumya, who went missing about a year ago.

Mr Harold Kaija, the PFF deputy secretary general, told Monitor that ULS made the right decision because Mr Mugumya deserves to regain his freedom.

‘We are optimistic that this search will yield results and have our comrade regain his freedom because he has suffered for almost a year detained in a place no one knows,’ he said.

Mr Kaija was moved to comment barely a day after Mugumya’s mother, Ms Edinansi Katungwesi, petitioned the ULS president to intervene in the matter.

Ms Katungwesi, in an August 3 letter to ULS president Isaac Ssemakadde, through his deputy, Mr Anthony Asiimwe, requested the law body to help her find her missing son.

‘My son Sam Mugumya was abducted on August 26, 2025 in Mbarara…from that day I have never seen him until recently when I saw a video and photo of him struggling to get up, and I got hope that he is still alive,’ the letter read in part.

It added: ‘When he disappeared, I reported the case to the police, but I have never gotten assistance to date. I don’t know where he is, I have never heard from him. That is why I am pleading with the Uganda Law Society to help me find him.’

The desperate mother handed over this letter to Mr Asiimwe, who had led a delegation of ULS officials to visit her at her Rukungiri-based home on Monday, August 3.

Mr Asiimwe told Monitor yesterday that ULS has already kicked off the process of fighting for Mr Mugumya’s freedom.

‘We have started by calling upon the relevant authorities who may be holding him to present him to court if he has any case to answer, or release him; and if that fails, we shall write to relevant authorities and use all other means to ensure that he regains his freedom,’ he said.

Mr Asiimwe added: ‘We call upon whoever is responsible to respect dignity and the rule of law, and to release Sam Mugumya. If he committed offences, let him be produced in court because he has rights.

But he is being mistreated, which is very bad.’ Mr Mugumya, a former Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) mobiliser, was reportedly abducted on August 26, 2025, while having breakfast at NIM Hotel in Nyamitanga, Mbarara City. Witnesses said armed men believed to be security operatives, bundled him into a van and drove away.

His family has since pursued habeas corpus applications, but authorities have neither produced him in court nor publicly acknowledged holding him. His disappearance came less than three years after his return from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he spent more than eight years in detention after his 2014 arrest on allegations of plotting rebellion against the government.

He was never formally tried and was released in October 2022.

Mr Ssemakadde recently wrote to Security Minister Gen Jim Muhwezi demanding the immediate release or presentation of Mr Mugumya in court in case he has a case to answer. This was after the Opposition National Unity Platform NUP) party president Robert Kyagulanyi on July 31 posted on his official X platform a video that appeared to show a person who looks like the missing Mugumya.

‘Here is a leaked video of comrade Sam Mugumya, who remains missing since his abduction in August last year. The video was apparently leaked from an unknown detention facility where he is held incommunicado,’ Mr Kyagulanyi said.

He added: ‘He appears crippled; unable to walk without a walking frame — evidence of the effects of the torture he has suffered since abduction.

Meanwhile, the regime continues to deny any knowledge of his whereabouts! But one day, those responsible for these crimes will be held accountable.’ Gen Jim Muhwezi, when contacted yesterday, declined to speak to Monitor about the matter during the phone interview.

‘I cannot discuss this sensitive security matter on the phone…,’ Gen Muhwezi said and hung up the call. President Museveni on Monday said he has never at any point ordered the torture of any of his opponents.

Mr Museveni, in a statement he wrote in response to journalist Andrew Mwenda’s claims that one of the informers of the President was a fraudster, said some elements in the country’s security organs have made it a habit to torture people, yet his government does not support that.

The President, in the Monday statement, described torture, maiming and extra-judicial killings as contrary to the ideals upon which the National Resistance Army (NRA) fought during the liberation struggle. ‘Coming back to torture, let alone maiming, these are immoral, counter-revolutionary, not strategic and not necessary for we the freedom fighters,’ Mr Museveni wrote.

He added: ‘In the last 56 years I have been fighting, I have never tortured, or ordered anybody to torture, an opponent.’

The President said the NRA and later the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) had always defeated opponents without resorting to torture, warning that security personnel should not commit abuses while enforcing the law.

‘Nevertheless, the UPDF and the other security forces, in fighting impunity, should not commit their own crimes, such as torture, extra-judicial killings, etc. As already said, those mistakes are not moral, ideologically correct or strategic.’

Legal experts and political players have now asked the President to walk the talk on torture and abductions.

‘I condemn the way security men abduct people and keep them with no whereabouts. I urge the government, through ULS, to help and produce Sam Mugumya,’ said Mr Mugyeni Gashom, the PFF Electoral Commissioner for Rukungiri District.

Mr Asiimwe said ULS is also demanding the release of other political prisoners being held without trial. Mugumya’s mother, Ms Edinansi Katungwesi, engaged with the ULS vice president, Mr Anthony Asiimwe, in Rukungiri District.

Omusinga Charles Wesley Mumbere, the Rwenzururu King, is demanding the release of the Kingdom’s vehicles and other property that were confiscated during the security raid on his palace in 2016.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the king expressed displeasure over the ongoing situation, revealing that the kingdom is currently operating from rented facilities.

“Two buildings belonging to the kingdom continue being designated as crime scenes while three cars are currently parked at the Kasese police yard,” the statement read.

He also accused the government of mismanaging assets that rightfully belong to the Kingdom, including land where the former palace was situated.

Mumbere clarified that the land is his personal property and that he had previously allowed the kingdom to operate there, but it is now being treated as a crime scene.

He directed the Kingdom’s Attorney General, Wilfred Makasi, to furnish him with an immediate report on the matter.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Kule Baritazara stated that the kingdom is finalising plans to resolve the issue swiftly. He acknowledged that the kingdom’s offices are now housed in rented premises.

“We are also moving out to mobilise for resources to enable the kingdom to establish new office spaces,” Baritazara said. He blamed the government for the current predicament.

Makasi informed the media that he has been in contact with the Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions but is currently occupied with the case involving opposition figure Dr Kiiza Besigye. However, he assured that he is following up on the matter, as directed by the king.

The Director of Public Prosecutions dropped all charges, including terrorism, murder, treason and malicious damage to property, against Rwenzururu King Charles Wesley Mumbere and his subjects.

When news of the Artemis II mission dominated headlines, most of us were fascinated by the rocket, the technology and, of course, the Moon. That is understandable. Humanity has always been captivated by space. But amid all the excitement, I couldn’t help feeling that we had missed the mission’s biggest lesson.

While many people were looking at the Moon, I found myself looking back at Earth. One statement by NASA astronaut Christina Koch stayed with me long after I had finished reading about the mission.

“When we saw tiny Earth, people asked our crew what impressions we had. Honestly, what struck me wasn’t necessarily just Earth, it was all the blackness around it. Earth was just this lifeboat hanging in the universe… Planet Earth, you are a crew.”

The more I thought about those words, the more I realised that perhaps we had all missed the biggest lesson. Planet Earth, you are a crew. Think about that for a moment. A crew survives together.

A crew depends on one another. When a ship is in the middle of an ocean, the people onboard do not spend their time creating enemies among themselves. They understand that if the ship sinks, everyone sinks with it. That is exactly what Earth is. Whether you believe the biblical story of creation or the scientific theory of evolution, there is one truth neither side can dispute: Every human story has happened here.

Every civilisation, every kingdom, every invention, every religion, every language, every love story and every war has taken place on this tiny planet. We spend so much time arguing about who owns pieces of Earth that we sometimes forget we do not own Earth at all. We simply live on it.

Human beings have never stopped exploring. From crossing oceans in wooden ships to landing on the Moon and sending spacecraft beyond our solar system, curiosity has always pushed us forward. That ambition is admirable. But perhaps the greatest discovery from space exploration is not another planet.

Perhaps it is a fresh appreciation of our own. Maybe that is what many of us didn’t learn from the Artemis II mission. From space, there are no visible borders separating Uganda from Kenya, Russia from Ukraine or Israel from Palestine.

The lines that consume our politics disappear, and with them the illusion that we are fundamentally divided by geography. When those imagined boundaries fade, it becomes harder to justify how much of our collective energy is still poured into defending them. Instead of investing in shared survival, we continue to channel vast resources into conflict and competition. What remains is one blue planet floating in an endless darkness.

Sometimes I wonder whether we have become so used to living on Earth that we no longer appreciate how extraordinary it is. After decades of exploration, Earth is still the only place where we know human life exists.

Scientists continue to search for life elsewhere, and perhaps one day they will find it. But until then, this remains our only confirmed home. That alone should change the way we think about one another. Perhaps that is why astronauts often return speaking less about space and more about humanity.

To me, that is what many of us didn’t learn from the Artemis II mission. The mission was never only about reaching farther into space. It was also about reminding us to look back at ourselves.

As we dream about building homes on the Moon or one day walking on Mars, maybe the first challenge is much simpler: learning how to live together on the only planet that has ever given us life.

A 28-year-old man accused of unlawfully practicing law and falsely presenting himself as a qualified advocate has been remanded to prison after appearing before the Buganda Road Chief Magistrate’s Court.

Andrew Nsubuga Sekibaamu Jenkins, a resident of Najjera in Kira Municipality, Wakiso District, was arraigned on Tuesday before Senior Magistrate Winnie Nankya Jatiko, who read the charges against him.

According to the charge sheet, Nsubuga faces two offences under the Advocates Act, Cap. 295.

The first count alleges that, contrary to Sections 70(1) and 85 of the Act, he acted as an advocate despite being unqualified. Prosecutors allege that between February and December 2025 at the High Court Land Division in Kampala, Nsubuga “directly acted as an advocate or agent for Nagadya Linda Witney in Civil Suit No. 188 of 2024, conducting and defending the matter while not authorized by law to practice as an advocate.”

The second count accuses him of, contrary to Sections 71(1) and 85 of the Advocates Act, knowingly holding himself out as a qualified advocate.

“The prosecution alleges that during the same period, he falsely pretended to be an advocate despite not being qualified or recognized by law to practice,” the charge sheet states.

He denied both counts and was subsquently remanded to Luzira prison until August 19, 2026.

When Esther Ainembabazi stepped behind her preferred candidate during Tuesday’s Local Council One (LC1) elections, she had no regrets. Unlike a secret ballot, where choices remain private, the queue voting system meant everyone in the village could see exactly where she stood. ‘I supported whom I believed in, and I was okay and loud about it,’ she says. She did not feel pressured by family members, neighbours or local leaders to vote a certain way. Yet, as the celebrations and disappointments faded, she noticed something else lingering in the village. ‘People took sides, and some family members and friends did not stand behind their own people, which ruined relationships.

I also saw arguments and name-calling after the results,’ she says. Her experience captures the debate surrounding Uganda’s queue voting system, where voters line up behind candidates instead of casting secret ballots. While supporters praise it for promoting transparency and making election results instantly verifiable, critics argue that exposing voters’ choices can deepen divisions long after polling ends. For Ainembabazi, and many others, both systems have strengths.

‘Public voting builds accountability, but a secret ballot gives people the freedom to choose without pressure,’ she says. She believes the openness of queue voting can make elected leaders more accountable to the communities they serve. At the same time, she warns that it may influence how people vote. ‘It increases accountability, but it can also make people vote out of fear, group influence or even because of bribery instead of their own choice.’

Politics should end with the election

The newly elected LC1 chairperson of Ssanga Village, Abdallah Ahmed, agrees that the system has advantages but believes it should evolve. ‘The queue voting system is simple, transparent and allows results to be known immediately. However, because votes are cast openly, some people felt uncomfortable expressing their true choice,’ he says. Although the election generated excitement and differing opinions, Ahmed says the village largely remained peaceful.

‘Now that the election is over, it is time to put politics aside and work together for the good of our village.’ Having won the election, he says his responsibility extends beyond those who stood behind him. ‘As the LC1 chairperson, I will represent everyone equally, regardless of how they voted. My door has always been, is and will always be open.’ He believes the system’s transparency should be preserved while introducing safeguards that better protect voters’ privacy.

People fear voting freely

Not everyone shares that view.

For Edith Kyomukama, the NRM flag bearer in Kigongi B, Kabale District, who lost to the incumbent, queue voting discourages free choice altogether. ‘It is not fair because most people fear voting freely,’ she says. According to Kyomukama, some voters feel obliged to support candidates from whom they accepted money, while others choose not to vote at all to avoid conflicts with neighbours and relatives. She also alleges that there were irregularities at her polling station, including people she believes were not on the voters’ register taking part in the exercise, and criticised what she described as inadequate security.

These claims could not immediately be independently verified. ‘I did not use money to get people on my side. The people who lined up behind me did so because they wanted to,’ she says. Despite losing, she says leadership should not be determined by political support alone. ‘If I am to get information from the government or serve this community, I have to work with everyone and that includes those who voted for me and those who did not.’

Chaos in some villages

In Gombe Village, Kagoma in Jinja District, residents did not vote on Tuesday after disputes reportedly broke out over voter eligibility. Namukose Saidah says disagreements emerged when some people attempted to vote despite their names allegedly not appearing on the voters’ register. ‘The chaos brought police, and voting was suspended,’ she says. Like other interviewees, Namukose believes queue voting has both advantages and disadvantages.

‘It is good and bad at the same time because it creates misunderstandings among people. You may think people are going to line up behind you, only to watch them join another queue,’ she says. She believes the public nature of the process can be emotionally difficult for candidates, particularly because the outcome is known instantly. ‘With a secret ballot, people only learn the results later when everyone has settled down. With queue voting, everything happens there and then,’ Namukose says.

Electoral Commission implement the law

Responding to concerns about the queue voting system, Electoral Commission spokesperson Julius Mucunguzi said the Commission does not determine how LC1 elections are conducted.

‘The method of voting is not determined by the Electoral Commission,’ he says. He explains that Section 123 of the Local Government Act requires LC1 chairperson elections to be conducted by voters lining up behind their preferred candidates. ‘The Electoral Commission implements the law as enacted by Parliament. If anyone has concerns about the voting method, the appropriate institution to petition is Parliament.’

Mucunguzi says Parliament is responsible for making and amending electoral laws, while the Commission’s role is to organise elections in accordance with the law. He also defended the credibility of the process, saying the vast majority of villages completed the elections peacefully. ‘LC1 elections were conducted in 71,214 villages across the country. In 98.4 per cent of those villages, people lined up openly and transparently and elected their chairpersons without violence or major disruptions.’

According to the Commission, only about 1.6 per cent of villages experienced challenges that prevented elections from being completed on Tuesday, with repeat polls scheduled where necessary. On reports of intimidation and post-election conflict, Mucunguzi says such matters fall under the mandate of the Uganda Police Force and the courts, although the Electoral Commission also receives and investigates written complaints related to the conduct of elections. He further clarifies that the voters’ register, not the voting slip, is the primary document used to verify eligible voters before they are allowed to participate.