Category: Daily Monitor

Access to safe and reliable water is not a privilege; it is a basic human right and a public service obligation. The National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) was established to fulfil this mandate for Ugandans.

However, for many residents of Nebbi Municipality, access to water has increasingly come with an absence of dependable and satisfactory service delivery.

This open letter is written not to portray NWSC as a bad institution, but to present the lived realities of customers served by the Nebbi Branch and to call for urgent corrective action based on observable facts and everyday experiences.

Over time, customer satisfaction with NWSC services in Nebbi has steadily declined. This decline is not driven by unrealistic expectations, but by persistent service failures, unresolved complaints, and a growing perception among consumers that their concerns are neither prioritised nor adequately addressed.

Across the municipality, residents continue to experience prolonged water outages, irregular supply schedules, and consistently low water pressure.

In Nyangam Lower Village in Thatha Division, where I come from, residents last accessed piped water in October 2025. Even then, the water only flowed between two and three o’clock in the morning. Expecting households to wake up in the middle of the night to fetch water is neither practical nor humane.

Water services should be designed around normal human living conditions, not force communities to reorganise their lives around unpredictable supply patterns.

Despite these prolonged interruptions, billing continues without consideration of actual service delivery. Bills are issued whether water flows or not.

Many customers have also reported excessive charges, double billing, and meter readings that do not reflect real consumption. Attempts to resolve these billing issues are often slow and frustrating, further eroding public trust in the service provider.

In addition, customers have repeatedly raised concerns about persistent leakages that remain unattended for long periods. In several cases, water is visibly wasted through broken pipes while surrounding households remain without supply. This situation reflects not only operational inefficiency but also weak resource management at a time when water scarcity is an increasing national concern.

Communication and administration present another major challenge. In a functional service delivery environment, administrators are expected to proactively inform customers about service interruptions, maintenance works, or system challenges. In Nebbi, however, customers are often left uninformed. The branch administration established a WhatsApp platform to address customer grievances, an indication that the problems were recognised.

Unfortunately, the platform has instead become characterised by repeated complaints, frustration, and occasional altercations, largely due to delayed responses and unresolved issues. These challenges point to weaknesses in leadership and administration rather than the absence of systems or structures. Effective leadership should translate policy into practice, promote accountability, and place customer welfare at the centre of operations. Where this does not happen, even well-established institutions struggle to deliver on their mandate.

The impact of poor water service delivery goes far beyond inconvenience. It affects hygiene, sanitation, health outcomes, and household dignity. Women and children are disproportionately affected, often walking long distances in search of alternative water sources, exposing families to unsafe water and preventable diseases.

NWSC Nebbi Branch must take deliberate steps to restore public confidence by ensuring reliable and predictable water supply. Customer communication should be timely, transparent, and respectful, especially during service interruptions. Billing must reflect actual consumption, with disputes handled fairly and promptly. Leakages and infrastructure faults should be addressed without delay. Above all, leadership and administration must prioritise accountability and customer welfare.

NWSC remains a critical institution in Uganda’s development journey, and its successes in other towns demonstrate that effective service delivery is achievable. However, credibility at branch level depends on responsiveness, accountability, and respect for the communities served.

Access to water must go hand in hand with dependable service. The people of Nebbi are not asking for favours. They are asking for a service that works.

The National Unity Platform (NUP) Secretary General, Lewis Rubongoya, has declared that he will challenge Minister Minsa Kabanda’s victory for Kampala Central Member of Parliament.

Mr Rubongoya, who stood as the NUP flagbearer lost to Ms Kabanda, the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) candidate, in the January 15 parliamentary elections.

Ms Kabanda polled 22,332 votes while Rubongoya finished second with 18,242 votes, creating a difference of 4,090 ballots. According to Rubongoya, the election was marred by irregularities, including ballot stuffing and rigging in favour of Kabanda, who currently serves as Minister for Kampala.

He claims he won 17 out of the 20 parishes in Kampala Central Division, but that Kabanda influenced electoral officials to ‘rob’ his victory.

Rubongoya further accused Kabanda of colluding with security personnel at Summit View polling stations, including Nakasero State House, to inflate votes and secure an illegal win.

He said his polling agents were deliberately denied access to these stations to facilitate the alleged rigging. As a result, Rubongoya announced that he is pursuing legal action against Kabanda’s victory to ensure the will of Kampala Central voters is respected.

Although he admitted there is no guarantee of justice in the courts, he said he intends to submit the necessary evidence to have the case on record.

Efforts to get a comment from Ms Kabanda were futile as ourrepeated phonecalls and messages went unanswered. Meanwhile, NUP’s Kampala Lord Mayor-elect, Ronald Balimwezo, and Jinja South West MP-elect Paul Mwiru have slammed the Electoral Commission over alleged irregularities during vote tallying, which they say deprived many NUP candidates of victory.

Mr Mwiru claimed that the NRM candidate, aided by electoral commission officials, ‘robbed’ NUP of the Jinja City Mayor win by falsifying declaration forms. He added that at some polling stations, Declaration of Results (DR) forms reflected more votes than the actual voter turnout.

Meanwhile, NUP’s abducted and returned supporter, Raymond Asiku, claimed he found missing political activist Sam Mugumya in one of the safe houses where he had been held.

A decade ago, I spent several days in Majengo, a densely populated slum on the fringes of Nairobi City. The al-Shabaab terror attack on Westgate Mall a year earlier, in September 2013, had dealt a body blow to Nairobi’s middle-class lifestyle and national psyche generally and had raised many questions about what drove young (mostly) men to join terror groups.

The answers we found in Majengo were surprising. For instance, although al-Shabaab was an Islamic group, some of its young recruits were recently converted Christians and even agnostics. In addition, while the group is Somalia-based, many recruits were not Somali but from different communities across Kenya, including Luo, Kikuyu and others.

The question of what drove young people into violent religious extremist groups wasn’t local. ISIS, or the Islamic State, was reordering the political and religious order across the Middle East and reaching as far away as the Sahel for support and new members. Understanding the incentives for recruitment was an important first step in stemming the violence and stymying radical movements.

A popular theory at the time suggested that many of these young male recruits were simply sexually frustrated. Boris Johnson, who was then Mayor of London, captured this sentiment in an interview with the Sun after a visit to Iraq, where he proclaimed that the ISIS “Jihadis are porn-watching wankers”.

Popular as it was and remains, the “sexual frustration” theory was not new. In Europe in the Middle Ages, scholar Georgios Karras noted in 1998, it was believed that male sexual needs could build up and, if unmet, lead men to “commit seduction, rape, adultery and sodomy”. This was, of course, a self-serving and very narrow argument.

Subsequent research found that sexual frustration was mostly a proxy for and perhaps even a byproduct of socioeconomic frustration. These, and the young men we found being recruited in Majengo, were not getting any because they did not have anything.

Subsequent research has found evidence of a complex and intertwined relationship between political unrest and sexual frustration among young men, which leads to extremism, aggression and “militant masculinity”.

Anyone looking at the data from Uganda’s recent electoral process, the census, and other data sources — even unscientific anecdotal analysis of social media sentiment — can see the silhouette of angry young men who feel socially, economically and politically excluded.

We’ve made this argument in these pages before, but it is important enough to revisit. Between 2016 and 2024, an estimated 317,555 Ugandans migrated to the Middle East, mostly as labourers. Of these, official data show, almost eight out of every 10 were women.

This means 218,871 more Ugandan women got jobs than men in the Middle East in that period. The numbers might vary from source to source, but the trend analysis holds, as does the anecdotal evidence from the long export lines at Entebbe International Airport.

The impacts are beginning to emerge in interesting ways. First, as a friend told me recently, it has become much harder to find domestic help around Kampala — usually a young woman who’s dropped out of school, never had the chance to go, or is waiting on a better job.

At face value, this is a good problem. Scarce labour means higher wages for the few women willing to do domestic work. Many young women who previously drifted into the city to work as domestic labour are now expatriates, doing the same work but for better-paying clients in the Middle East. Many are still here physically, but mentally are in the departure lounge waiting for their passports and work permits.

This has created an arithmetic gender imbalance, but with other complexities. The average young Ugandan woman with exposure to external labour markets is likely to have a higher income and a more refined worldview than the boda boda-riding boyfriend she left behind in Lukaya.

One possible result is a surge in domestic and gender-based violence as these young men struggle to come to terms with changed power dynamics within relationships on account of economic inequalities. Another is crime, as the young men find alternative ways to patch up their masculinity, or an increase in militant rhetoric and political aggression as they seek to find ways to deal.

If this weren’t a God-fearing and morally upright country, one would suggest that more relaxed social mores would reduce the political (and other) tensions among angry young men. Instead, we advise that policymakers should think very intentionally about how to ensure that young men are not left behind. We can’t sleep soundly or avoid political unrest if angry and hungry young men are tossing around in their empty beds.

Justice Minister Norbert Mao yesterday appeared to throw his hat in the ring, ending speculation surrounding his potential candidacy in the race to become the Speaker of Parliament.

Mr Mao, the newly elected Member of Parliament for Laroo-Pece Division in Gulu City, said his decision on whether to seek the powerful parliamentary post will depend on consultations with the leadership of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party and other key political stakeholders.

Speaking to the media at the Democratic Party (DP) headquarters in Kampala, Mr Mao said although discussions about his running for the job have dominated public debate, he was not the source of the reports linking him to the contest.

‘I have never been afraid to declare interest in any position. But this speakership talk did not start with me. There is simply a lot of goodwill whenever my name is mentioned in relation to that office,’ Mr Mao said. But he was quick to clarify that any consideration of the race for Speakership should not be interpreted as abandoning his long-standing presidential ambition. ‘I have not abandoned my ambition of becoming President of Uganda. I still stand by it,’ he said. Mr Mao said he has increasingly felt public support while interacting with citizens, adding that he and DP cannot afford to ignore such goodwill.

He said some of the voices now urging him to consider the Speakership are the same people who were once critical of him.

‘Ugandans may be stubborn, but they also recognise certain qualities. There is a clear hunger in the country for a more accountable and institutionally strong Parliament,’ he said. Mr Mao also pointed to similarities drawn between him and the late Parliament Speaker Jacob Oulanyah, saying many people believe he represents continuity of institutional leadership, even though no one can replace the late Speaker.

‘That has put me in conflict with those who believe in ring-fencing positions, but I am not responsible for citizens saying Mao should be Speaker,’ he said.

Mr Mao said he qualifies for the Speakership under the law, noting that the position is open to any Member of Parliament. ‘I have experience, education, leadership skills and local and international networks, which are additional advantages. ‘A Speaker must belong to Parliament and not to any individual or party. That is why the Speaker heads an independent arm of government,’ he said.

Mr Mao revealed that shortly after being declared MP-elect, he received calls from several newly elected MPs encouraging him to contest for the post. However, he acknowledged political realities, including the NRM’s numerical dominance in Parliament. ‘NRM has the majority of MPs, and it is natural that those with numbers shape outcomes. That is why I am consulting, including with the NRM party leadership, and we shall talk openly. Everything we do must be in the interest of Uganda,’ he said.

Mr Mao also cited his political contribution in northern Uganda, particularly in Gulu, where he said support for President Museveni has shot up from about 44 percent to more than 80 percent. ‘That contribution cannot be ignored when national leadership questions arise,’ he said, describing himself as a pragmatic nationalist. On July 20, 2022, Mao led his party to signing a cooperation agreement with President Museveni and his NRM party.

NRM, DP pact

The pact outlined the sharing of political power and cooperation between the two parties, particularly in supporting the governance agenda and bolstering parliamentary votes for the full term, stretching from 2021 to 2026. Under the agreement Mr Mao was appointed Justice minister while other DP members were assigned various positions. However, many DP leaders rejected the agreement, arguing that Mao did not consult them before entering the agreement.

Whether this agreement will bolster Mao’s bid for the post of Parliament Speaker remains to be seen. But traditionally, the NRM party apex organ, the Central Executive Committee, has endorsed for two successive terms, both the sitting Speaker and Deputy. This remains to be seen whether Speaker Anita Among and her Deputy Thomas Tayebwa will enjoy the same privileges to serve out their two terms or be upset by Mao in the race to steward the 12th Parliament. Under Article 82 of the Constitution, the Speaker and Deputy Speaker are elected by MPs during the first sitting of a new Parliament, a process presided over by the Chief Justice.

DP election performance

On DP’s election performance, Mr Mao blamed limited funding and conflicts among political partners, particularly within the Inter-Party Organisation for Dialogue (IPOD). ‘We went into the election with no money. We paid nomination fees, but candidates largely funded themselves,’ he said. He said quarrels between NRM and UPC affected the release of the promised campaign funds. Despite the challenges, DP secured six parliamentary seats, defying predictions that the party would be wiped out after several sitting MPs who rode to Parliament on its ticket decamped to other political formations.

A dispute over a public access road in Mbiiro Zone, Kisenyi II Parish, Kampala Central Division, has escalated after landlords and traders petitioned the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), accusing a private developer of illegally encroaching on the road. More than 40 landlords and local leaders have jointly written to the KCCA executive director, demanding immediate intervention to halt and demolish what they describe as ‘illegal permanent structures’ erected on a public access road serving a busy commercial area.

The complainants accuse the family of Mr Mohammad Katimbo, the developer on plots 479 and 480, of constructing on part of the access road, leaving it dangerously narrow and restricting access to neighbouring properties. According to the petitioners, surveys conducted in 2022 and accompanying cadastral maps showed that about 6.9 metres had been reserved as a KCCA access road serving plots 511, 499, 500, 501, 478, among others, within Kisenyi’s commercial hub. They say the continued construction has denied traders and landlords an access road necessary for business operations and emergency services.

Mr Hamza Rwendeye, one of the petitioners, says residents have written several complaints to KCCA over the years without receiving any response. ‘Several petitions have been written to the executive director, but no action has been taken,’ Mr Hamza told Daily Monitor yesterday. In an August 18, 2023 letter, Mr Festo Kasajja, a registered proprietor of plots 505 and 506, expressed his grievances to the KCCA director of physical planning. In the letter, Mr Kasajja asked KCCA to stop what he termed illegal construction along the access road linking plot 511 to plot 489 (Dr Luumu Road).

‘I request your office to stop immediately the ongoing illegal construction which is blocking the access road. and to open up the boundaries bordering plots 479, 480, and 477 so that the access road is demarcated properly as it was surveyed before,’ the letter reads in part. Another landlord, Ms Matilda Katabarwa, also wrote to the KCCA executive director on June 3, 2025, raising similar concerns. ‘Construction encroaching on the above plots is ongoing even after notices to stop or demolish were issued in 2023,’ part of her letter stated.

She cited three separate survey reports (A1, A2, A3, and A4), which allegedly confirmed that the structure encroaches on two access roads, affecting residents and businesses in the area. The matter attracted the attention of the Minister for Kampala, Ms Minsa Kabanda, who, on September 4, 2023, wrote to the KCCA executive director, instructing the authority to stop the construction. ‘I have been approached by one Festo Kasajja with a complaint about an illegal permanent construction on a public access road,’ the minister wrote.

She noted that survey reports showed the development had encroached on a KCCA-planned access road, effectively blocking the public and neighbouring properties on either side. Despite the minister’s intervention, residents said no tangible action has been taken to date. ‘We even visited the site with the KCCA technical team, but nothing has changed,’ Mr Rwendeye claimed. Ms Kabanda last evening told this publication that she would revisit the site with the city technical team before the end of this week.

‘I was not aware that the directive was not implemented… What I am going to do is to team up with the technical team and revisit the said road to examine the real problem and see how we can solve it,’ she added Mr Mohammad Katimbo, a member of the accused family, yesterday told Daily Monitor that they plan to demolish all temporary structures along this access road to make it more accessible. ‘It’s an access road, which is available behind the building. Some of those who work along that road will have their temporary structures demolished to make the place more accessible,’ he said.

The Kingdom of Buganda and the central government have eulogised Prince Godfrey Musanje Kikulwe, hailing him as a man of deep humanity whose quiet leadership helped restore unity within the royal family.

The tributes were delivered today ( Wednesday) during a requiem mass held at the Lukiiko Hall in Lubaga, where mourners gathered to pray for the prince and reflect on a life defined by service, humility and reconciliation.

At exactly 9 am, Prince Kikulwe’s body was brought into the Lukiiko Hall amid emotional scenes, accompanied by members of the royal family and mourners, as prayers and hymns filled the historic chamber.

The mass was led by Rev Fr Emmanuel Ssebayiga, who described the late prince as compassionate, disciplined and selfless, noting that his humanity shaped both his private life and public service.

‘He was a gentle and respectful man who believed in unity, dialogue and service to others. Buganda has lost a true servant,’ Fr Ssebayiga said.

He credited Prince Kikulwe with playing a key role in bringing together members of the royal lineage who had previously grown apart, saying the prince consistently chose reconciliation over division.

Members of the royal family in attendance included princes and princesses, Abambejja, BaNalinnya, BaSaava and BaNaava, as well as officials from Mengo and representatives of the central government.

Speaking on behalf of the Kingdom of Buganda, the First Deputy Katikkiro Prof Hajj Twaha Kawaase said the prince was a calm and principled adviser whose guidance was valued during sensitive moments.

‘He was firm but humane, disciplined yet approachable. His contribution to unity within the royal family cannot be overstated,’ Prof Kawaase said.

On behalf of the family Joseph Kikulwe applauded Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II for the trust placed in their father. They said Prince Kikulwe raised them to value integrity, respect and service to humanity.

‘He taught us that leadership is about character and compassion. That is the legacy he leaves behind,’ Kikulwe said.

The central government was represented by Minister of State for ICT and National Guidance Joyce Nabbosa Sebuggwawo, who described Prince Kikulwe as a bridge-builder whose values resonated beyond Buganda.

‘We mourn a man of humanity who believed in dialogue and unity. Government stands with Buganda in this moment of loss,’ Ms Nabbosa said.

She added that the government remains committed to constructive engagement with the royal family and encouraged continued dialogue in the spirit the late prince upheld.

‘Prince Kikulwe will be remembered not for titles or position, but for his compassion, humility and enduring role in strengthening unity within the Buganda royal family.

He will be laid to rest tomorrow in Kasawo Mukono District

How job offer in Ukraine turned tragic for Kenyan

Like many young Kenyans, Clinton Nyapara Mogesa travelled to Doha, Qatar, determined to improve his family’s fortunes but fate took a tragic turn.

Grief has engulfed the quiet village of Riateri in Bonchari, Kisii County, following the death of 29-year-old Clinton Nyapara Mogesa in Russia, a tragedy that has left his family searching for answers. News of Nyapara’s death has left his loved ones grappling with disbelief, mourning a son who left home in search of opportunity, only to return in a casket. Driven by hope and the promise of a better future, Nyapara left his village in 2024.

Like many young Kenyans, he travelled to Doha, Qatar, determined to improve his family’s fortunes. Instead, fate took a tragic turn. According to a report by Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence, the agency tasked with safeguarding the Ukrainian state, Nyapara’s body was identified at a position held by Russian occupation forces. ‘Ukrainian military intelligence identified the body of Clinton Nyapara Mogesa, a citizen of the Republic of Kenya, born in 1997,’ the report stated.

The report further revealed that Nyapara had been living and working in Qatar before signing a contract with the Russian armed forces, where he was assigned to one of their assault units. After a brief period of training, he was killed in what was described as a ‘meat assault’ in the Donetsk region. Russian forces reportedly failed to evacuate his body. He was also found in possession of passports belonging to two other Kenyan citizens, believed to have been recruited under similar circumstances.

In its January 31, 2026, report, the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine warned foreign nationals against travelling to Russia or accepting work there. ‘We are warning foreign citizens against travelling to the Russian Federation or accepting any form of employment on its territory, particularly illegal work,’ the agency said. Back in Kisii, the pain of loss is compounded by shock and confusion. Nyapara’s brother Joel Mogere said the family had made significant sacrifices to support his journey abroad.

‘We had to sell part of our family land to enable my brother to travel to Qatar so he could support us later. We were never informed that he had travelled to Russia and been recruited as a soldier. He is our last-born and main breadwinner. His death has really shocked us. We sent him to Qatar, only to hear later that he ended up in Russia,’ Mr Mogere said. Their mother, Mellen Moraa, said her son had been her primary source of support, especially for her medical needs.

‘He used to help us with everything. I am pleading with the government to help us,’ she said. The family disclosed that they were unaware of the agent who facilitated their son’s travel abroad. They have appealed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to intervene, pursue justice for their son, and rein in individuals accused of luring young people into war zones under the guise of employment. They are also urging the government to assist in repatriating their kin’s body for a dignified burial at home.

Nyapara’s death comes amid growing reports of Africans, including Kenyans, being recruited to take part in the Russia-Ukraine war. Many are reportedly lured by promises of well-paying jobs, quick income or residency, only to find themselves coerced into military service.

President Museveni has lined up six witnesses to defend his victory in the January 15 presidential election that is being challenged before the Supreme Court.

The disclosure was made before a nine-man panel of judges of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Flavian Zeija as they adopted submissions from all parties and framed four key issues for determination in the petition. Mr Museveni’s win is being contested by Mr Robert Kasibante, a former presidential candidate of the National Peasants’ Party (NPP), who was present in court. He is being represented by a team of lawyers led by Mr Julius Galisonga, Mr John Isabirye and Mr Ivan Bwowe.

President Museveni, the first respondent, is represented by Mr Ebert Byenkya and Mr Edwin Karugire. Mr Kiryowa Kiwanuka, the Attorney General, appeared alongside Solicitor General Pius Biribonwoha and Deputy Solicitor General Charles Ouma, while the Electoral Commission (EC) was represented by Mr Mwesigwa Rukutana, Mr Eric Sabiiti, and Mr Edgar Ayebazibwe. EC Commissioner Stephen Tashobya also attended the hearing.

At the beginning of the session, Isabirye briefed the court on the status of filings, informing the justices that all parties had complied with the timelines set earlier.

‘The last time we were in court, we received directions and were directed to file submissions in support of the application by Friday last week, and we did. The respondents filed their responses by February 1, and we filed our rejoinder by yesterday,’ Mr Isabirye said. He told the court that the petitioner had received three sets of submissions from the respondents and prayed that the petitioner’s submissions, together with the rejoinder, be adopted as part of the record. Chief Justice Zeija reminded the parties that the court had earlier directed them to meet and agree on a joint scheduling memorandum. Mr Isabirye confirmed the meeting took place and a joint memorandum dated January 29, had been filed.

‘In that memorandum, we have four sets of agreed facts and proposed four issues for determination, and we pray that the court adopts them,’ he submitted.

Mr Isabirye told the court that Mr Kasibante had lined up eight witnesses. President Museveni, who has listed six witnesses, has the liberty to call additional ones with leave of court, while the EC has listed 12 witnesses. Among President Museveni’s witnesses are senior officials of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party, including Secretary General Richard Todwong, and the Director of Legal Services, Mr Enoch Barata, as well as polling agents from selected polling stations in Kampala.

The EC witnesses include its chairperson Justice Simon Byabakama Mugenyi, its Secretary Richard Baabo Kamugisha, and the Director of Technical Support Services, Mr Solomon Muhumuza. Justice Monica Mugenyi advised the parties to clearly highlight alleged instances of non-compliance with the electoral laws and specific electoral offences to aid the court in writing its judgment. ‘It would be a good idea to highlight the said non-compliance and electoral offences in question,’ she said as she directed the parties to exhibit all agreed documents and clarify which witnesses would tender them.

Mr Isabirye explained that the petitioner’s case on non-compliance largely rests on three areas, with the first concerning elections allegedly conducted at polling stations not duly gazetted. The second relates to the tallying, counting and transmission of results. ‘The specific issue is that the votes that were tallied at polling stations were not the ones ultimately transmitted for tallying,’ he submitted. The third area concerns the use of biometric voter verification kits (BVVKs). Mr Isabirye argued that although regulations governing the adoption and use of the machines had been gazetted, they were not complied with during the election.

Justice Catherine Bamugemereire pressed the petitioner’s lawyers to identify at least one polling station where voting allegedly took place without gazettement.

Mr Bwowe responded that while about 38,000 polling stations were gazetted and displayed on April 5, 2025, an additional 15,000 polling stations were allegedly created and displayed by the EC on April 21, 2025, without gazettement.

‘That is the gist of our application for discovery,’ Mr Galisonga said. ‘Once the order is given, we shall compare and contrast.’

But when asked to name a specific ungazetted polling station, the petitioner’s lawyers said they were unable to do so due to lack of access to EC documents.

Responding for Mr Museveni, Mr Byenkya argued that the allegations relating to tallying were too broad and non-specific. ‘The petitioner does not identify any district or tally centre. No case has been made on tallying,’ he submitted. The EC denied the allegations, with Mr Rukutana stating: ‘To sum it all, the Electoral Commission denies having any ungazetted polling stations.’

The court later framed four issues for determination, including whether there was non-compliance with electoral laws in the conduct of the 2026 presidential election, whether such non-compliance substantially affected the results, whether electoral offences such as bribery and use of derogatory language were committed by President Museveni or his agents, and whether the petitioner is entitled to the remedies sought. Chief Justice Zeija directed that cross-examination, if allowed, would take place on February 9, with the final submissions and rejoinders to follow before court announces the judgment date.

The dust is finally settling on the January 15, 2026, election. The chaos of the violence and the silence of the internet shutdown are slowly fading into the background. Now the hard reality of our perennial problems has arrived with the release of the Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) results.

The story is a familiar one. The data confirms a stubborn inequality in education: excellence remains a narrow privilege of the golden triangle of Kampala, Wakiso and Mukono, which swim in aggregate As, while the rest of the country scrambles for crumbs. The Daily Monitor’s reporting paints a grim picture of this divide. While Kampala and Wakiso shine, a district like Oyam has schools where no pupil scored in Division One. It is just the tip of the mountain, because further in the rural north and east, and the far-flung west, many schools have become factories for Division U (Ungraded), where a candidate failed to meet the minimum requirements to be placed in Divisions

One to Four in PLE, typically due to very low scores across subjects. We usually explain this as the result of a lack of teaching materials, poorly paid teachers, half-collapsed classrooms, corruption and hungry children from poor homes. To find a fix, we could look in many places, including the US state of Mississippi. According to an article in The Week, “How Mississippi Moved from the Bottom to the Top in Student Reading Achievement Scores,” January 14, 2026, for decades Mississippi was the poorest and least educated state in the US.

In national rankings, it was stuck at the bottom, often 49th out of 50. It had the same crushing poverty and low funding we see in most of upcountry Uganda. Yet over the last decade, Mississippi pulled off a literacy miracle, rising to the very top for student progress. The secret? They did not spend more money. They changed how children are taught to read.

Most Ugandan classrooms rely on a look-and-say method. Children are taught to recognise words by their shapes, like pictures. A child sees the word cat and memorises the image. But the human brain can only store so many pictures. When that child encounters an abstract word like planet, they hit a wall and start guessing. This guessing is where academic failure begins.

Mississippi switched to the “Science of Reading”. This method ignores a word’s shape and focuses on decoding its individual sounds. Instead of seeing, for example, “planet” as a single block, the child learns the sounds p, l, a, n, e, and t. Once they blend these six sounds, they are not memorising; they are cracking a code. Once a child has the code, they can read any ordinary word in the world.

This is critical for us because 83 percent of Ugandan children are learning poor. According to UNESCO, they cannot read a simple text by age 10, which is roughly Grade Four. This is our Primary Four gate. From P1 to P3, our children are taught in local languages. In P4, the system suddenly flips to English for every subject. If a child spent three years just memorising word shapes in their mother tongue, they are defenceless when they meet English textbooks. They cannot read the Science or Maths problems, so they fail them.

The urban-rural gap becomes a permanent, deep knowledge divide. Mississippi solved this by creating a Reading Gate at the end of the third year. If a child cannot read fluently by then, they do not move on. In Uganda, we prefer automatic promotion, pushing children forward regardless of whether they have learned anything. Mississippi stopped this.

If you cannot read, you stay at the gate. Crucially, staying at the gate is not a punishment. These weak students get immediate, intensive help in small groups. This is where the Ugandan approach needs to shift. Better results require a massive budget. Mississippi proved that innovation is cheaper than building more walls. In Uganda, an inspector is someone who arrives to find fault, check attendance or bark at teachers.

In Mississippi, the inspector became a coach. The coach sits in the classroom and helps the teacher manage a large group, demonstrating how to teach the Science of Reading. When a poorly paid teacher sees their students actually cracking the code, they find a professional pride that money cannot buy. To keep the system honest, Mississippi introduced a simple A-to-F grading system for schools.

A school’s grade was not based on its facilities, but on how much progress its students made in reading. In Uganda, we judge schools mostly by P7 results. This is like checking a tree’s health only after it has stopped growing. The Mississippi model would enable us to see failure years before PLE. It shows us that poverty is no excuse for illiteracy.

The long-running turmoil at struggling Fufa Big League club Mbale Heroes may have been temporarily paused but the deeper cracks threatening the club’s existence still remain wide unresolved. The club hurriedly patched up an emergency meeting on Saturday at the Mbale City to take stock of their season so far but it came short of providing lasting solutions to their crisis.

The club’s current chaos has been years in the making and is rooted in a prolonged leadership vacuum and mounting financial strain that has steadily eroded stability.

In July 2023, former chairman Counsel Andrew Wambi and his executive committee was elected following an AGM that tasked him with providing strategic direction and organising fresh club elections within six months.

Failed transition

At the time, Wambi was widely viewed as a transitional figure meant to steady the ship as Mbale Heroes pushed for consolidation after promotion ambitions.

However, the promised elections never materialized. Instead, Wambi remained in office well beyond the agreed timeline, presiding over a period characterised by growing internal divisions, governance disputes and a steady decline in fortunes on the pitch.

The instability intensified following Mbale Heroes’ ill-fated 2024/25 StarTimes Uganda Premier League campaign which ended in relegation. Results worsened, resources thinned and fractures within the club’s hierarchy became increasingly public. By the time Wambi resigned on June 30, 2025, citing personal and professional pressures, the damage had already been done. His exit left behind an organisation struggling to define ownership, leadership structures and a clear path forward.

Mwebaze’s gridlock

Interim management was handed to Vice Chairman Counsel Geoffrey Ojok alongside Jessica Muduwa but the challenges deepened. Financial obligations, most notably outstanding payments owed to former head coach Asaph Mwebaze has pushed the club into a legal standoff with Fufa.

The Dispute Resolution Chamber ruled that Heroes must pay Shs11.4m in salary arrears, a directive the club failed to honour within the stipulated timelines.

That failure prompted decisive action from the Fufa Ethics and Disciplinary Committee, which imposed an immediate ban on Heroes from registering new players. The ban came at the worst possible moment, with Heroes rooted to the bottom of the Big League table and already struggling to field a full starting eleven.Heavy defeats, including a humiliating 6-1 loss to Kiyinda Boys, have only highlighted the fragility of the situation. The team is rooted at the bottom of the table with 14 points from 15 first-round games.

Saturday’s crisis meeting was convened against this backdrop. According to interim chairman Counsel Ojok, members were briefed on the club’s precarious status, with urgent focus placed on clearing the Mwebaze debt to unlock squad rebuilding.

Reconciliations

‘The first crucial issue was how to revamp the squad so that it can be competitive but to do that we have to solve coach Asaph’s issue first,’ Ojok told Daily Monitor adding that reconciliation talks are underway to heal internal rifts including returning former chief executive officer Badru ‘Bado’ Chemisto.

Initial reports pointed at the club closing this process to return Bado, previously a key funder and mobiliser but the former administrator, in a short chat with this reporter ruled out any chances of him returning to the club.

Before Bado left, a gang of goons had been trailing him including destroying some property at his mother’s residence in Mbale.

Ojok also appealed to members to renew membership and support the cub financially as they seek to make up numbers to hold an elective general assembly to fil the gaps in the executive and secretariat.

The Saturday meeting may have frozen the chaos in the interim but without swift financial resolution and credible leadership reforms, the club’s uncertainty threatens to deepen on the pitch and beyon