Category: Daily Monitor

The High Court in Kampala has sentenced Lujja Bbosa Tabula and Noah Lugya, alias Fake, to death for their roles in the February 2024 assassination of former Ndiga Clan leader, Engineer Daniel Bbosa.

The duo was convicted after pleading guilty to the murder charge and confirming the facts presented by the prosecution.

In handing down the maximum sentence, Justice David Matovu ruled that the premeditated and brutal nature of the murder demanded the harshest punishment under Ugandan law.

‘Given the motive and the various groups involved, this is one of the cases where a maximum sentence has to be passed,’ Justice Matovu stated.

The judge acknowledged that while both convicts were first-time offenders who demonstrated remorse and saved court time by admitting guilt, these mitigating factors were heavily outweighed by the gravity and calculated nature of the crime.

Prosecution evidence showed that Tabula supplied the firearm used in the execution and tracked Eng Bbosa to Katosi prior to the attack. Ballistic examinations later matched the weapon to spent cartridges recovered at the crime scene.

Eng Bbosa was shot dead on February 25, 2024, at Kikandwa village in Lungujja, Rubaga Division, as he returned home from presiding over a clan function in Katosi. Armed assailants riding a motorcycle intercepted his Toyota Prado near his residence, opening fire while he was traveling with his wife, Gladys, and their domestic helper.

Condemning the violence, Justice Matovu warned the public against taking the law into their own hands to settle rivalries or disputes.

The judge also cautioned against mob justice, citing the fate of Enock Sserunkuma, alias Munaku, an alleged co-conspirator who was beaten to death by angry boda-boda riders during a chase shortly after the shooting. Lugya was narrowly rescued from the same mob by security agencies and rushed to Mulago National Referral Hospital for emergency treatment.

Justice Matovu observed that the mob attack almost derailed justice, noting that if Lugya had died on the spot, crucial evidence regarding the assassination plot might have been lost forever. According to state prosecutors, the contract-style killing was fueled by a long-standing chieftaincy dispute within Buganda Kingdom’s Ndiga Clan. Tabula fiercely contested Eng Bbosa’s leadership, claiming the clan seat was his rightful birthright.

The court heard that the plotters disguised the registration plates of the motorcycle used in the hit and had been holding clandestine planning meetings since late 2023, where various execution methods were evaluated.

Emphasizing the national impact of the crime, Justice Matovu remarked that the assassination affected not only the victim’s immediate family, but also the broader Ndiga Clan, the Buganda Kingdom, and the country as a whole, given Eng Bbosa’s prominent professional and cultural status.

Tabula and Lugya were remanded to await execution as prescribed by law.

Meanwhile, three co-accused persons-Harriet Nakiguli, Joseph Nakabake, and Ezra Mayanja-maintained their innocence and denied the charges. The High Court has fixed September 8 for the commencement of their trial.

The government is finalising the process of cancelling 50 freehold titles which were erroneously issued in 50 plots that were illegally created on Mabira Central Forests Reserves (CFR)’s part that is located on Block 238 in Mukono District.

These titles are part of the 294 freehold titles that were issued on eight different CFRs in Mukono that are currently undergoing cancellation.

The other 244 freehold titles are located on Block 535 (Namyoya, Kifu and Nabugalo CFRs), Block 561 (Kolo CFR), and Block 558 (Bwebereza, Kitambwa and Namagombe CFRs).

Ms Judith Nabakooba, the Minister of Lands, Housing, and Urban Development, informed leaders from the Greater Mukono region that the government will soon complete the process in an effort aimed at restoring the forest reserves and protecting the environment.

‘We caveated this land and stopped any activity from being undertaken on it, and as the ministry, we don’t expect to see any activity going on it,’ she said.

Mabira Central Forest Reserve (CFR) is a 29,974 Hectares, situated in the Districts of Buikwe, Kayunga and Mukono.

Relatedly, the Namyoya Central Forest Reserve is a protected 389-hectare area in Mukono District, Uganda, managed by the National Forestry Authority, but faces severe threats from human encroachment, illegal construction, and land disputes. Prior to encroachment, the Forest Reserve, which stretches in the sub-counties of Kyampisi, Nama and Goma Division, initially measured 900 hectares.

Ms Nabakooba, who was shocked to hear that some officials from Mukono District Physical Infrastructure office were approving building plans in these plots on this forest, warned officials to stop what she described as ‘complicating’ the already ‘complicated’ situation.

‘The government is spending heavily to win back its land that has been encroached on by people, and now that we have already issued caveats on the land, you as the district planners, why would you go on and approve development plans in this land?’ he wondered, warning that heads will roll.

Ms Nabakooba, who was officiating at the Greater Mukono Regional stakeholder workshop on the development of the comprehensive government land inventory, informed the leaders that the speed of urbanisation has created pressure, forcing people to encroach on government land and other reserved areas like wetlands, forest reserves, among others.

Ms Fatuma Ndisaba Nabitaka, the Resident District Commissioner of Mukono District, revealed that a section of unscrupulous individuals is in total disregard of the law, going ahead to put up structures in the forest reserves even after being aware that the land is caveated.

‘We are wondering why a physical planner would go ahead to approve plans, yet the system clearly shows that the land has been caveated and we need to act professionally in service delivery,’ she said.

Caveating the land

The list of the 294 plots created in the eight central forest reserves was presented to the lands ministry top management on June 4, last year.

After this meeting, Ms Nabakooba told officials yesterday that they then mooted plans of rescuing it by initiating the process of cancelling the freehold titles that had been issued on them.

The Registrar of Titles, invoking the powers and duties conferred on them under Section 170(a) of the Registration of Titles Act, issued the caveats on the plots, thereby banning any dealings on the affected land.

The Registrar of Titles was moved to act after Ms Doreen Tumushabe, the then Principal Assistant Secretary and Zonal Lands Officer for the Mukono Ministry Zonal Office, forwarded the list of the certificates of the affected plots to the Ministry Permanent Secretary and Commissioner Land Registration in the August 12, 2025 internal memo.

She added that the erroneously issued freeholds were likely to affect unsuspecting members of the public who would be defrauded by people holding such irregularly created titles.

‘Following that, top management resolved that the certificates of title issued in the forest reserves be caveated pending cancellation. This serves to forward to you the list of the certificates of title in the mentioned forests for lodgment of the commissioners’ caveat,’ the letter reads in part.

Ms Nabakooba told the Monitor yesterday that her ministry will continue cancelling various titles on the land to ensure that the land register is cleaned systematically.

‘In Mukono alone, over the last five years on block 503 we cancelled over,1000 titles and that shows the extent of the problem we are tackling and remember in Mukono municipality we have a number of plots meaning that we have to handle and clean our register systematically to remove the over lapse and also double titling,’ she said.

In Masaka

In a related development, officials from the State House Anti-Corruption Unit, in collaboration with the police Criminal Investigations Directorate, yesterday arrested a senior lands officer at the Masaka Ministry of Lands zonal office, over alleged illegal issuing of 265 land titles on government central forest reserves and private land.

Mr Colbert Zziwa Tamale was nabbed following complaints from various residents from the districts of Sembabule, Masaka, Rakai, Lwengo, Lyantonde, Kalungu, Bukomansimbi and Masaka City to SHACU.

SHACU spokesperson, Ms Mariam Natasha, said that: ‘Zziwa is facing multiple allegations related to land issues, including the issuance of over 265 illegal titles in greater Masaka on Central Forest Reserve land, Private land and connivance with Sembabule land officials before court.’

She added: ‘Additionally, he [Zziwa] has been involved in a scheme of extorting money from more than 400 residents of Sembabule District under the false pretense of facilitating the titling process despite the fact that the Lands Ministry has been providing free titles to selected residents, especially those threatened with eviction due to land disputes.’

Notably, Natasha said Zziwa, together with other people she did not mention, created a fraudulent title for land owned by former Vice President Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi.

Investigators established that the suspects illegally reduced Mr Ssekandi’s 83-acre estate located in Kyanamukaaka, Masaka District, down to 34 acres before creating a fraudulent title and partitioning the seized land into separate plots for sale.

A Bank of Uganda official has told the Buganda Road Chief Magistrate’s Court that she returned to work after a weekend break to find offices ransacked, doors obstructed and laptops missing, as the prosecution continued presenting evidence against eight security personnel accused of neglecting to prevent a felony.

Tracy Murungi Amugine, 26, a banking officer in-charge of licensing and regulation at the Central Bank, was the second prosecution witness to testify in the case.

While giving her evidence, Murungi told court that she arrived at Plot 45 at about 6:45am on May 4, only to notice signs that the building had been broken into.

“I realized there were some changes. There were mud footsteps, I saw window louvres pulled out and put down,” Ms Murungi told Buganda Road Chief Magistrate Rehema Nsumba Kidaso yesterday.

She said she also found a grey laptop bag and a laptop lying in the corridor on the third floor where her office is located.

Ms Murungi said she had last been at the office on April 30, when she left at about 3pm. She had not left anyone behind when she departed, and her laptop was left on a desk in an office occupied by a colleague, who was away.

She testified further that on the morning of the incident, she collected keys to a store room and keys from the ground-floor desk and proceeded to the third floor using a lift.

She said she found the cabins in the office open and discovered that her laptop and that of her manager were missing.

“When I attempted to enter my office, I couldn’t enter directly from the door because a chair had been placed behind the door. When I entered the cabins open… I saw what appeared to be a foot-print on my desk which, in my view, could have been used to jump from open,” Ms Murungi narrated.

Murungi said she immediately alerted the administrative officer, Ms Agnes Nanyanzi, who went to inspect the scene and contacted security personnel.

Identifying laptops

She further told court that she could identify her laptop, describing it as a grey Lenovo ThinkPad. She explained that staff who joined the bank in 2024 were issued Lenovo ThinkPad computers, while employees who had joined earlier were given HP laptops.

During the proceedings, Chief State Attorney Joan Keko brought seven laptops to court and submitted them for identification, asking Ms Murungi to identify the computers they recovered.

Ms Keko, who is leading the prosecution, said the laptops were being tendered as part of the evidence in the case.

However, when Ms Murungi was asked to identify her stolen laptop from those presented, she was unable to pick it out.

She told court that she believed she could identify her computer based on its appearance and identifying details, although she acknowledged that the number she expected to see was not visible on the laptops presented in court.

Under cross-examination, Ms Murungi confirmed that security personnel were deployed at the bank and that there were CCTV cameras in the corridors. When asked whether she had retrieved the footage, she said she had not, but that investigators had access to it.

She also confirmed that staff use their card key to access the building.

Earlier, the court heard from Assistant Inspector of Police George Wamala, a 43-year-old police officer attached to the Counter Terrorism Directorate, Tactical Department and deployed at the Bank of Uganda.

Mr Wamala said on May 4, he reported for duty at about 6am. About half an hour later, his colleague, Henry Zziwa, informed him that there had been a break-in on Plot 45, Level Three.

He rushed to the scene and found the area cordoned off. Inside, he observed muddy brown footsteps, scattered laptop bags, what appeared to be glasses, and a laptop in the corridor.

He was instructed by the bank’s director of security, Innocent Mubangizi, to report the matter to police. He subsequently reported a case of office breaking and theft at Central Police Station before returning to the bank with officers from the Kampala CID team for further investigations.

During cross-examination, Mr Wamala said he did not know which gadgets had been stolen at the time he first arrived. He also said he did not know who had been guarding the premises when the break-in occurred or exactly when the offices were entered.

Prosecution case

The prosecution alleges that the eight accused security personnel failed to take reasonable means to prevent the commission of office breaking and theft at the central bank.

Ms Keko asked the court to issue summons for additional witnesses and adjourn the matter.

Chief Magistrate Kidaso adjourned the case to September 1 for further hearing.

According to the prosecution, the accused and others still at large on May 4, at Bank of Uganda headquarters in Kampala Central Division, allegedly failed to use reasonable means to prevent the commission of the felonies of office breaking and theft by unknown persons.

About the Suspects

The suspects include Sgt. Joseph Amone and police constables Wilson Ouma, Thomas Omach, Shafic Mungusho, and Brian Oryono, all officers deployed at the Bank of Uganda under the Counter Terrorism Tactical Unit.

Others charged are Alex Onduri and Sulaiman Orachi, both security guards attached to Ultimate Security Ltd, and Morish Ocen, a guard employed by Surazen Uganda Limited.

They are jointly charged with Boaz Michael Kule, a casual worker; Ramathan Kabuye, alias Rama, a bus conductor; Isaac Rubangakene, alias Izoo, a mobile phone accessories dealer; and Joram Jude Oado, a computer technician.

The suspects are accused of office breaking, while the security personnel face charges of neglecting to prevent a felony, contrary to Section 362 of the Penal Code Act.

After winning four of the last five Uganda Aquatics National Championships, there is no doubt that Gators are the standard bearers for swimming in the country.

We have mostly witnessed those standards in how they competed to win the Nationals from 2022 to 2025 and also stayed on the podium this year.

But from August 15-16, the most successful club in the recent past will also share how they organize when they bring the fraternity together for the inaugural Gators Invitational Gala at Kampala Parents School, Naguru.

“We wanted to do some thing less replicated,” coach Muzafaru Muwanguzi told Daily Monitor.

Most clubs have been organizing sprint galas which attract numbers especially for younger swimmers but Gators seem focused on quality.

“Initially, we wanted to also have preliminaries and finals but due to limited time we excluded that part.

“Our gala’s difference lies in the nature of events picked. It has sprint and middle distance events but also restricts in form of age categories. We start from 10 years, excluding swimmers that are nine years and below.”

Usually, Uganda Aquatics has run with the 10 and Under, 11-12, 13-14, 15-16, plus the 17 and Over age groups. Most clubs run the same but break down the 10 and Under to 9-10, 7-8, plus 6 and Under during junior competitions.

However, Gators will have 10-11, 12-13, 14-15, 16-17, plus 18 and Over. It means those that have been top of their age groups in other galas could face steep competition yet again.

Nothing is obvious yet but Muwanguzi hopes that “the way the age groups are set up brings more competition.”

Dates: August 15-16

Day One: 200m freestyle, 50m breaststroke, 100m backstroke, 100m individual medley, 50m butterfly, 100m freestyle, 200m breaststroke, 4x50m medley relay

Day Two: 200m butterfly, 50m backstroke, 100m breaststroke, 200m backstroke, 50m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 4x50m freestyle relay

The government has urged young Ugandans to embrace available economic opportunities, reject poverty and corruption, and take a leading role in driving inclusive growth.

The call was made as Uganda joined the rest of the world to commemorate International Youth Day on August 12. The annual celebrations were held virtually from the Office of the Vice President in Kampala under the theme ‘Empowering Young People for Inclusive Growth.’

Representing President Museveni at the event, Vice President Jessica Alupo stated that young people no longer have a reason to tolerate poverty, pointing to the government’s investments in infrastructure and market expansion to spur economic activity.

‘The youth and all Ugandans have no more excuses to tolerate poverty in their homes, now that infrastructure and markets are in place,’ Ms Alupo said.

Ms Alupo highlighted that the NRM government has systematically addressed historical development bottlenecks-such as ideological disorientation, a weak state, inadequate human capital, poor infrastructure, and limited market access. She congratulated the youth on their day and commended them for selecting a theme aligned with the NRM government’s ‘No More Sleep’ agenda for the current term.

Speaking at the same event, the Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Gen Henry Tumukunde, stressed that the commemoration should serve as a moment for national reflection on youth investments and challenges.

‘The day is also an opportunity for reconciliation-to assess whether young people have been given enough attention and whether sufficient investment has been made in them, considering their large population,’ Gen Tumukunde remarked, reminding young people of their critical role in national development.

Adding to the discussion, the Minister of State for Youth and Children Affairs, Dr Mercy Lakisa, noted that while the government has rolled out several empowerment initiatives, the real test lies in how effectively the youth utilize them.

Citing flagship initiatives like the Parish Development Model (PDM), Dr Lakisa questioned whether the intended beneficiaries were maximizing the opportunities.

‘Government has put in place programs, but we must ask whether young people are effectively benefiting from and utilizing them,’ she said.

Meanwhile, Sheillah Ainembabazi, President of the Uganda National Students Association (UNSA), revealed that the government plans to take youth leaders to the National Leadership Institute (NALI) in Kyankwanzi for mindset-change training aimed at fostering innovation and job creation.

However, youth representatives raised concerns regarding the tangible outcomes of these interventions. Hon Jonathan Tayebwa, a National Youth Leader, pointed out that despite substantial allocations to interventions such as the PDM and the Youth Livelihood Programme (YLP), their ground-level impact remains minimal.

‘We have advised the government to bring these youth programs under one umbrella so that they can be better coordinated and have a greater impact,’ Mr Tayebwa noted.

Youth leaders concluded with a collective call for increased investment in the country’s young demographic, better utilization of existing government resources, and streamlined coordination among implementing agencies.

The ambition to fully include women in the money economy could be derailed unless the government, cultural institutions and other stakeholders fix the cultural hindrances to women’s land access, the State Minister for Culture in the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Ms Mary Kamuli Kuteesa, has said.

Speaking at the closing ceremony of the Women Economic Empowerment for Green Transformation Project under the Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Programme (WEEG-UWEP) in Kampala on Thursday, Ms Kuteesa said cultural norms that prevent women from owning and inheriting land have left women, who are a large section of the population, unable to make meaningful investments, widen their enterprises and other land-based economic activities.

She explained that the lack of secure land rights discourages women from investing in permanent enterprise projects because they fear losing their investments if relationships break down or landowners reclaim the land.

‘For most women in this country, if they’re going to plant coffee for example, they’re on their husband’s land. They’ll tell them, ‘No, no, no, that’s my land, don’t plant your coffee there.’ Or if she plants it, the husband will take it over anyway,’ she said.

The minister added that women face similar restrictions in their parental homes, where cultural practices often prevent daughters from inheriting land.

‘On the women’s fathers’ side, the same story; you got married on the other side, so you can’t come here to plant on the land. The land is for the male clan members only,’ she said.

She said while government financing through projects like WEEG-UWEP can help women establish formalised enterprises, insecure access to land can prevent them from scaling up.

The minister also highlighted the importance of opening up economic opportunities for women beyond agriculture, including employment and leadership opportunities in institutions such as churches.

‘The other area is the church. The church is sustained by women generally. If you go to church on any Sunday, it’s the women that are in church, but when you look at the fraction of jobs that go to women in the church, women are left behind,’ she said.

The call came as women beneficiaries of the two- year WEEG-UWEP Programme showcased how it has enabled them to move from informal village activities into registered women-led enterprises.

Ms Stella Kaygi, a beneficiary from Bulambuli District, said a Shs6.5 million UWEP grant enabled their five-woman group to establish a sunflower cooking oil-processing business.

‘UWEP got us dealing in sunflower oil in Bulambuli District. We were working as just women in the village, but because of UWEP, we formed a group called Ungali Women Sunflower Cooking Oil Processors,’ she said.

Similarly, Ms Annet Oreta Redempter, a member of Kitagwenda Women Network, said WEEG-UWEP funding helped their group transform from an informal group making wine into a formalised women-led enterprise.

‘We were in a position to get formalised and our products certified by the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS). However, our capital is still minimal; we don’t have enough machinery, and we appeal to the government to help us with this machinery,’ she said.

To address such structural barriers, Mr Bernard Mujuni, the Commissioner for Equity and Rights, said the government is working towards linking women to other bigger programs like the Generating Growth Opportunities and Productivity for Women Enterprises (GROW) project to enable women to invest more confidently.

‘GROW is for lead entrepreneurs who have a certain level of capital, and these women have gotten there, and so connecting them to programs like the GROW project, we are ensuring they scale up, thus have continued access to market and opportunities,’ he said.

Launched in August 2024 under the theme, “Employment Promotion for Women for the Green Transformation in Africa,’ the UWEP project supported over 600 women’s groups to expand enterprises in sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, waste management, and eco-tourism.

The Weekend Monitor reported that Parliament’s Physical Infrastructure Committee has been asked to withdraw from investigating the Busega-Mpigi Expressway because security agencies are already examining the project. Committee chairperson Mwine Mpaka said the Speaker advised the committee to withdraw, leaving 202 prepared questions and a planned engagement with at least 10 parties in abeyance.

The decision may have been intended to avoid duplication or interference, but it risks confusing two enquiries that serve different public purposes.

The parliamentary committee had been examining the causes of delay and cost escalation, including reported weaknesses in design, changes in alignment and scope, and procurement initiated before a revised design was completed and approved. These are serious matters, but they are not, by themselves, proof that anybody committed a crime.

A criminal investigation asks whether somebody broke the law. Engineering forensics asks how the project broke down. Uganda needs answers to both. A charge sheet cannot reconstruct a design, and a technical calculation cannot establish criminal intent.

The Inspectorate of Government has publicly confirmed an investigation into alleged fund embezzlement and a value-for-money examination of the project. That work is legitimate and necessary. Investigators can examine possible theft, fraud, collusion, falsification, abuse of office or manipulation of procurement and compensation; trace money; secure documents; and assemble evidence that may support administrative action or prosecution. Nothing in the demand for parliamentary or technical examination should delay or weaken that work.

Engineering forensics begins from a different point. It reconstructs the project from the original need and brief through feasibility studies, ground and environmental investigations, design, cost estimation, procurement, construction, certification, variation, operation and maintenance.

According to the Weekend Monitor report, the committee’s preliminary scrutiny raised questions about incomplete interchanges, omitted toll facilities and link roads, the safety of the original Mpigi terminus, subsequent alignment changes and the expansion of the project scope. It also reported that works procurement began before the revised design was completed and approved.

These remain preliminary matters requiring evidence, but they point to the questions an engineering investigation must answer: Why was the original design accepted? What made the revisions necessary? Were the revised quantities and costs independently verified? Who authorised procurement before the design was final, and how were the resulting risks allocated?

The answers may reveal criminal conduct, but they may also reveal a chain of technical error, premature commitment, fragmented decision-making, inadequate financing or weak institutional control. Infrastructure projects commonly fail through several interacting decisions rather than one dramatic act.

If investigators search only for a thief, they may miss the system that made the loss possible. If engineers examine only the technical system and ignore possible wrongdoing, they may produce an elegant explanation that allows culpable people to escape consequences.

This is why the existence of another investigation should not automatically extinguish Parliament’s inquiry.

The immediate response should be coordination, not withdrawal. The Speaker can agree on rules with the committee and investigation leaders on preserving evidence, sequencing particular witnesses and protecting genuinely confidential material.

Parliament’s 202 questions can therefore be organised around four central issues. What was originally designed and approved? What changed, why did it change, and who authorised the change? What has actually been built and paid for? Which professional, administrative, financial and political controls operated, failed or were bypassed? These questions require the full contract, drawings, specifications, geotechnical and environmental reports, cost estimates, bills of quantities, variations, test results, payment certificates, land-acquisition records and the testimony of all the institutions that shaped the project.

The Uganda Institution of Professional Engineers has an important societal role in this moment. UIPE should not defend named engineers, accuse named officials or compete with investigators. It should insist that engineering evidence forms part of public accountability, help explain the technical questions citizens and Parliament should ask, and offer independent expertise where requested.

Politics determines what a nation wants to achieve; professional expertise helps determine whether it is actually being achieved. Uganda should therefore resist the idea that one investigation makes the other unnecessary.

A criminal investigation asks whether somebody broke the law. Engineering forensics asks how the project broke down. Busega-Mpigi needs answers to both, because Uganda must punish any wrongdoing that occurred and ensure that the same failure is not designed, procured and financed again.

Parliament has approved the deployment of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) as part of the proposed international stabilisation force in Gaza. Government presents this as another chapter in Uganda’s proud history of international peacekeeping.

Uganda has indeed carried significant security burdens in Somalia, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. But history alone is not a foreign-policy doctrine. The question is not whether peace in Gaza is desirable. Of course it is. The question is simpler and harder: What exactly is Uganda’s national interest in putting Ugandan soldiers in the middle of one of the world’s most politically, religiously and militarily explosive conflicts?

This is not an ordinary peacekeeping mission. The proposed force is expected to monitor the ceasefire, support security arrangements, facilitate humanitarian operations and help establish stability. But Gaza is not a conventional peacekeeping environment. What happens when armed groups refuse to disarm?

What happens when the force is attacked? What happens when its mandate conflicts with the security objectives of Israel or the political aspirations of Palestinians? At that point, Ugandan soldiers could move very quickly from peacekeepers to peace enforcers. And once soldiers begin using force, neutrality becomes considerably harder to maintain.

Uganda should therefore be cautious about entering a mission whose political end-state remains complicated and uncertain. Who commands our soldiers? Who defines the enemy? Who decides when force is necessary? Who pays for the mission? And who decides when Uganda comes home?

Our troops have spent years fighting al-Shabaab in Somalia, paying a significant price in blood and resources. Uganda has also intervened militarily in South Sudan and participated in operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo. These interventions demonstrate Uganda’s willingness to contribute to continental security, but they also demonstrate how easily military missions become prolonged, expensive and politically complicated. Gaza is arguably even more complex.

This is not simply an insurgency threatening a neighbouring government. It is a decades-old conflict involving competing national claims, territorial disputes, armed groups and powerful regional and international actors.

Israel, Palestine, Iran, the United States and several Arab states all have strategic interests in its outcome. Uganda risks importing that geopolitical complexity into its own foreign policy.

There is also a broader African question. Why must African armies continually become the infantry of international crises while Africa itself struggles to resolve conflicts on its own soil? Sudan remains at war. Eastern Congo remains unstable. South Sudan remains fragile. The Sahel continues to experience insecurity. Somalia still requires international military assistance. Uganda itself has security responsibilities in its immediate neighbourhood.

Sending scarce military resources to Gaza therefore requires more than an appeal to Uganda’s proud peacekeeping tradition. It requires a convincing explanation of Uganda’s national interest. There is nothing wrong with Uganda helping Gaza. But Uganda can contribute in ways that do not unnecessarily expose its soldiers to a highly volatile conflict.

Uganda could offer diplomatic support, humanitarian assistance, medical personnel, reconstruction expertise and political backing for a durable settlement. A Ugandan doctor treating a wounded Palestinian is a symbol of compassion. A Ugandan soldier shooting at an armed Palestinian is something altogether different. That distinction should not disappear beneath the comforting language of “peacekeeping.”

Soldiers are not diplomatic currency. Their lives belong neither to presidents nor foreign powers. They belong to their families and, ultimately, to the Ugandan people. Uganda can be a force for peace without becoming a force in someone else’s war.

Our foreign policy should therefore begin with a brutally simple question: Does this serve Uganda? If the answer is unclear, then the gun should stay in the barracks.

Uganda has enough unfinished wars it can assist with closer to home. We should not be searching for another one thousands of kilometres away.

The change in curriculum at all levels of education in the country has had many starts and stops since the conversation began more than 10 years ago. In January 2020, government announced that the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) would start the roll-out of the new Lower Secondary Curriculum with training for 1,600 teachers.

However, just before the roll-out could happen, Parliament stepped in February 2020 to halt the implementation of the curriculum, for the second time in four years. This was to allow government to fix deficiencies. The deficiencies cited included the lack of textbooks and teaching aids. Head teachers were also said to be green about the curriculum.

In spite of the hiccups, by mid-2022, many schools had registered for the new curriculum, an encouraging development.

Teachers pointed out though, that some of the challenges with this learner-centred approach were that it required Internet, textbooks to do research and materials to complete projects.

In 2024, the Ministry of Education, Uganda National Examination Board (Uneb) and the curriculum developers overcame many of the hitches that dogged the lower secondary school curriculum, succeeded in training more than 50,000 examiners and enabled O-Level finalists to sit examinations under the new curriculum for the first time in 2024.

After that, the challenge has been extending the benefits of the revised competence-based curriculum to A-Level and higher education levels, among others.

This process has had its own false starts. Many of the same challenges faced with the lower secondary school curriculum implementation have been cited with the latest curriculum change-a lack of instructional materials and trained teachers among them.

The National Council for Higher Education roll-out of the higher education curriculum change is due to conclude in 2028, the same year that (Uneb) has announced it will unveil the Senior Six grading after the conclusion of the curriculum reform process.

We have less than two years left to the conclusion of the curriculum reform process, the education authorities need to do better consultation, develop materials and carry out a massive public awareness campaign.

As the implementation of the Lower Secondary Curriculum change showed, education on the new curriculum should go beyond schools, ministry officials and examiners.

If we change the curriculum and grading, parents who are footing the education bills should be able to understand the aims of the change and the grades their children eventually bring home after the reforms.

For the pupils of King David Junior School, the trip to Sipi Falls was supposed to be an educational adventure. Instead, the journey ended in tragedy.

In July, the school bus carrying the children crashed in Kapchorwa as it returned from the trip. More than 20 pupils and an adult were killed, while several others were injured.

The crash renewed questions that Uganda has wrestled with for years: Are school buses safe? Are drivers working beyond their limits? Are vehicles properly maintained? And are traffic laws enforced before, rather than after, lives are lost? The questions are bigger than one school bus.

Uganda recorded 26,044 road crashes in 2025, up from 25,107 in 2024, according to the Uganda Police Force Annual Crime Report. Deaths rose from 5,144 to 5,383, while 18,444 people were seriously injured.

Motorcyclists accounted for 2,525 deaths, indicating that the road-safety crisis reaches far beyond buses and trucks.

Now, following a series of crashes and dangerous transport practices, government is tightening enforcement.

Police tighten the net

The Directorate of Traffic and Road Safety has intensified nationwide checks on public service vehicles, focusing on route charts, roadworthiness, driver qualifications and other transport regulations.

Traffic Police spokesperson SP Michael Kananura says officers intercepted and impounded 51 buses at highway checkpoints in one week. Of these, 41 were operating outside their approved route charts, while 10 failed to meet requirements, including valid driving licences, driver badges and identification photographs. Several drivers were taken to court.

Kananura says route charts are more than paperwork. They regulate departure and return journeys and are intended to prevent unauthorised trips, reduce driver fatigue and discourage competition that can encourage risky driving.

The enforcement has also exposed a wider problem: rules can exist on paper, but their value depends on whether they are followed consistently.

Police have warned that officers who knowingly allow non-compliant vehicles through checkpoints will also be held accountable.

Watching drivers closely

One proposed change could take road checks beyond the roadside. The Ministry of Works and Transport is considering an electronic clocking-in system for public service vehicle drivers to monitor their working hours.

The idea addresses a risk that a routine inspection cannot easily detect. A driver can have a valid licence, a roadworthy vehicle and all the required papers, yet still be too tired to drive safely.

An electronic record of when a driver starts and ends journeys could help authorities identify operators who breach working-hour requirements.

Road safety specialist Benson Kilama says monitoring driver hours could help prevent fatigue, particularly where drivers make return journeys. But, he says, such a system will only work if operators cannot bypass it and authorities follow up on violations.

For passengers, that distinction matters. A bus may look perfectly safe from the outside, while the person behind the wheel may have been driving for hours.

Children remain vulnerable

Recent enforcement operations show how easily children can be exposed to unnecessary risks.

On July 30, Traffic Police in Old Kampala stopped a Toyota HiAce carrying 36 pupils to a swimming activity after a member of the public raised an alarm. The driver was arrested and taken to court. The teacher accompanying the pupils was still being sought, while school administrators were summoned to record statements.

In Gomba, police intercepted a Fuso truck carrying 221 people, including pupils, teachers and support staff from two primary schools. They were travelling to Lugaaga Village for zonal ball games.

The pupils were returned to their schools using appropriate transport. The driver was detained, while the head teachers of the two schools, who authorised the journey, were also detained.

In Jinja, another Toyota HiAce carrying 28 pupils from Buikwe for a football tournament was intercepted.

The cases are a reminder that unsafe school transport is not simply a driver problem. School administrators, teachers, parents and transport providers all have a role in ensuring children travel in suitable, properly maintained vehicles without dangerous overloading.

Driving school instructor and road safety expert James Mulakha says vehicles should undergo thorough mechanical checks and be serviced before long trips.

Heavy trucks face tougher checks

Government’s response is also extending to heavy commercial vehicles. Authorities have introduced mandatory inspections for Sinotruk trucks amid concerns about the roadworthiness of heavy-duty vehicles.

Assistant Commissioner in-charge of Road Transport Regulation and Safety Apollo Kashanku says mechanical checks are necessary because defects on heavily loaded trucks can have serious consequences.

‘These trucks are accident-prone because they carry a lot of tonnage, and we need to inspect and clear them for roadworthiness,’ he says.

The issue, however, should not simply be whether Sinotruks are dangerous. The bigger questions are whether heavy trucks are properly maintained, correctly loaded and driven within safe limits.

Mechanic Richard Kilama says he often encounters problems involving braking systems and gearboxes. On a heavily loaded truck, a brake failure can be catastrophic because of the vehicle’s weight and stopping distance.

Mandatory inspections, he says, can identify defective vehicles before they return to the road and force owners to address problems through preventive maintenance.

Commissioner for Transport Regulation and Safety Winston Katushabe says the ministry will hold a consultative meeting with Sinotruk owners and operators, Traffic Police and other stakeholders on implementing the inspection programme.

The enforcement approach is expected to extend to other categories, including taxi operators, boda boda riders and motor vehicle bond operators.

Enforcement is only part of the answer

After a fatal crash, it is tempting to look for one culprit: the speeding driver, the defective vehicle or the poor road. But crashes rarely have a single cause.

A driver may be speeding while a vehicle has worn brakes, a road has poor lighting or markings, and pedestrians have limited safe places to cross. Each weakness adds to the risk.

This is where the Safe Systems approach becomes important. It treats road safety as a shared responsibility involving roads, vehicles, speeds, enforcement and road-user behaviour to prevent mistakes from becoming deaths.

Makerere University’s Centre for Trauma, Injury and Disability Prevention has brought together road-safety researchers, urban mobility specialists, KCCA, Traffic Police and others to examine why road deaths remain high despite repeated enforcement campaigns.

Road-safety advocate Ziraba Katende of Mukono says Uganda needs better driver training alongside stronger enforcement of vehicle mechanical standards.

He also points to the roads themselves, arguing that widening roads and improving their condition could reduce crashes linked to poor road infrastructure.

The public is increasingly becoming part of this enforcement system too.

Kananura says members of the public have become more vigilant in reporting traffic violations, particularly vehicles carrying children. In the Old Kampala and Gomba cases, public warnings helped authorities intervene before tragedy occurred.

Will the measures work?

Uganda does not lack road-safety laws. It has regulations covering vehicle roadworthiness, driver licensing, seat belts, motorcycle safety and other aspects of road use. The bigger challenge is consistent enforcement.

A route chart cannot prevent fatigue if operators find ways around it. Vehicle inspections mean little if defective trucks return to the road without repairs. Driver-monitoring systems achieve little if they can be manipulated.

The latest enforcement drive should, therefore, be judged by more than vehicles impounded or drivers prosecuted. If measures are consistently enforced, they could save lives. But if enforcement fades, the underlying problem will remain.