Category: Daily Monitor

The mob has killed over 3,764 people in Uganda between January 2021 and December 2025, with most of the incidents caused by suspicion of theft, Uganda Police Force statistics show.

The latest incident was of a mob that committed murder by assault of a Rugby Cranes player Sydney Gongondyo, 27, in Nakawa Division, Kampala City last Friday.

According to the police, the mob accused Gongondyo of theft of a woman’s bag, but none of his accusers involved the law enforcement personnel or reported the case to the police.

Gongondyo’s case highlights the growing incidents of people taking the law into their hands despite the police warnings.

Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson SP Racheal Kawala confirmed officers rushed Gongodyo to Mulago National Referral Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries at approximately 7pm.

Three suspects, Noordin Ssebagala, Roden Ayebazibwe and Juliet Namukose are now in custody. Preliminary findings indicate he was subjected to mob action after being accused of snatching a handbag though police stressed the circumstances remain under active investigation.

Police spokesman, Mr Kituuma Rusoke, said some of the attackers use mob action to settle personal grievances with innocent victims.

‘The public is reminded that participation in mob action constitutes a serious criminal offence and may attract charges, including murder. We further caution the public against joining lynch mobs, as some individuals exploit such situations to settle personal grievances or target innocent persons under the guise of administering justice,’ Mr Rusoke said.

Last year, mob action cases contributed nearly a quarter of all homicide cases. At least 950 people were killed in mob action incidents, which was 22.4 percent of the total 4,238 homicide cases last year, according to the annual crime report of 2025.

The victims of mob action were mainly suspected of having committed offences such as theft, robbery, murder, witchcraft, and burglary, according to the 2025 crime report.

Most of the mob action cases were reported to the North Kyoga Police Region, which covers part of the Lango sub-region, with 73 cases.

Following closely is Kampala Metropolitan Police East Region with 71, West Nile Region with 68 incidents, Rwizi Region with 62 deaths and Albertine South with 57 cases. Luweero District registered the highest number of mob action cases among Ugandan police divisions/districts, with 30 deaths, followed by Naggalama Division with 22 incidents, and Mukono Division with 20 cases.

Mukono Division was followed by Katwe Division (in Kampala City) with 19 cases, and Kamuli District with 17 incidents.

Mr Rusoke cited the murder of Jacob Akankwasa, an employee of Kyambogo University, after he had a disagreement over transport fares with a boda boda rider on December 5, 2024 near the Catholic Shrine in Namugongo, Kira Municipality.

Several suspects in the killing of Akankwasa were arrested, and they are awaiting prosecution.

‘The Uganda Police Force strongly condemns all acts of mob justice. Such actions are unlawful, undermine the rule of law, and often result in the loss of innocent lives. We urge the public to refrain from taking the law into their own hands under any circumstances,’ he said.

In 2021, Aziz Bashir, 40, a former driver with the United Nations was lynched by a group of boda boda riders in an incident triggered by a minor road accident at Mengo-Katale in Rubaga Division, Kampala City, on Sunday.

The incident stemmed from an incident where a rider knocked Bashir’s car.

According to the police, Bashir jumped out of the car to complain to the boda boda rider, but other cyclists ganged up against the driver. Two riders were arrested on murder offences.

Despair and agony have gripped dozens of Ugandan families following revelations that at least 79 citizens were lured into the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, with several reported dead and others missing on the frontlines.

Seven months after formally petitioning the government and the Russian Embassy in Kampala for assistance, distraught relatives say they have been met with bureaucratic silence, leaving them in a agonizing state of limbo.

The crisis highlights a sophisticated, illicit human trafficking web spanning the Global South, where vulnerable young Africans are deceptively recruited under the guise of lucrative labor export, only to be deployed as frontline combatants or forced factory laborers in Russia’s war efforts against Ukraine.

For the families left behind, the psychological toll is devastating. Many of those trapped on the frontlines were primary breadwinners, leaving households struggling to survive.

“We have moved from office to office, but no help has come through,” Innocent Kato, the co-coordinator of an association representing the missing relatives, told Daily Monitor. “We do not know what befell our people. We do not know whether they are dead or alive. We wrote to the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, but we have not received any positive response.”

In the absence of official updates from either Kampala or Moscow, families have been forced to rely on gruesome social media notifications to learn the fate of their loved ones.

“Relatives of the people killed received the news through Facebook and WhatsApp. We were sent images of severed bodies of their loved ones, leaving us traumatised and struggling, but no one is helping,” Kato added.

Officials from Uganda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that approximately 79 Ugandans are known to have been funneled into the conflict zone via Russia. While acknowledging that an unspecified number have been killed, government officials admitted they are currently unable to repatriate the remains of citizens who died in active combat zones.

The brewing scandal lands directly on the desk of incoming Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Lt Gen Henry Tumukunde. Although yet to be formally sworn into office, the retired military general has vowed to dismantle human trafficking networks disguised as legitimate external labor companies.

Speaking to journalists minutes after being vetted by Parliament’s Appointments Committee, Lt Gen Tumukunde promised a radical overhaul of the country’s labor export framework.

“We want to check the competence and capability of the person, especially where they are going, and understand whether they are suited for the tasks of the new place,” Tumukunde said, pledging rigorous background checks on foreign employers and the recruitment agencies handling Ugandan citizens.

Uganda is not alone in this crisis. More than 20 countries across the Global South have reported citizens missing or killed in Russia. Nations such as South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt, Sri Lanka, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have all featured prominently on the list of trafficking sources.

Unlike Kampala’s sluggish response, some African nations are taking direct legal action. On Monday, Zimbabwean authorities arrested Leonid Koftov, a Russian national, at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport in Harare. Koftov was intercepted while attempting to board a flight with a local Zimbabwean man he had allegedly recruited for the war.

According to Zimbabwean police, Koftov was charged under the country’s Trafficking in Persons and Labour Acts. The court heard that Koftov had processed a Russian E-visa, air tickets, and hotel bookings for the recruit. The arrest came shortly after Harare confirmed that 18 Zimbabwean nationals had already been killed on the Ukrainian frontlines.

International pressure is mounting on the syndicates orchestrating the recruitment. Last month, the United Kingdom and the European Union (EU) slapped heavy sanctions on over a dozen individuals and entities accused of luring African men and women to Russia.

An intelligence report released alongside the sanctions revealed a gender-segregated exploitation pipeline: while young men are sent directly to the combat zones in Ukraine, young African women are trafficked to work under coercive conditions in the Shahed drone manufacturing factories located in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone in Tatarstan, western Russia.

Among those sanctioned on May 5, 2026, was Michel Ateba, a Cameroonian-French national, and his company, Enangue Holding. Ateba is accused of openly promoting the “Alabuga Start” program, a scheme targeting vulnerable migrants. In 2025, Ateba reportedly boasted to investigative journalists that his company had paid passport fees for at least 40 recruits from impoverished backgrounds.

The UK also sanctioned senior human resource officials driving the Alabuga Start program, including Elmir Saifullin, Savsan Yusupova, Anastasia Barysheva, and Konstantin Trifonov, all of whom have reportedly traveled to Africa to recruit workers.

Other operatives sanctioned for trafficking citizens from Cuba, Iraq, Bangladesh, India, Morocco, Yemen, Ivory Coast, and Syria include Polina Azarnykh, Abid Abid, and Elena Smirnova.

Civil society organizations in Uganda are urging the government to move beyond passive diplomacy and actively hunt down local collaborators aiding these international syndicates.

Kenneth Oloka, the Chief Executive Officer of Kyeyo Initiative Uganda-an organization advocating for the rights of Ugandan migrant workers-welcomed the international sanctions but stated they are insufficient on their own.

“Sanctions help, but they are not enough,” Oloka told this publication.”Governments should go ahead and arrest these people’s local collaborators in various countries. These traffickers do not work in isolation; they have local networks right here in Kampala facilitating the clearance and departure of our youth.”

With the economic hardships at home driving thousands of youth to seek employment abroad, experts warn that without immediate state intervention and the prosecution of local agents, more Ugandans risk being shipped off to foreign battlefields.

As the continent celebrated 63 years of the African Union recently with spectacular speeches from different leaders, the clarion call centred on Africa’s unity, solidarity and integration in the age of globalisation.

Against the backdrop of calls for unity and solidarity, however, is a continent divided along national lines, geopolitical intrigues, foreign ideologies, and race and ethnicity.

For instance, in Nigeria, there are divisions between Muslims and Christians, while in South Sudan, there is civil unrest occasioned by differences between the Nuer and Dinka tribes.

However, the most disappointing and shocking divisions on the continent are in South Africa, where nations are up in arms against fellow Africans.

Since the beginning of the year, a group of anti-immigration activists has led street demonstrations in business centres and residences in the low-cost communities of KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, Johannesburg, and Soweto in ‘Operation Dudula’ to send foreigners back to their countries of birth by June 30.

The operation is targeting fellow Blacks from Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Ghana, Zambia, Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique, citing a lack of proper documentation, crimes, jobs and opportunities being occupied by foreigners.

There is a possibility that a few Black foreign nations are guilty as charged, but the practice of exercising mob justice is so wrong.

South Africa prides itself on being a “Rainbow Nation’ because it is a diverse and multicultural society. In my view, it’s disingenuous for the Operation Dudula leaders to target only Blacks who are part the migrants who comprise about five percent of South Africa’s total population.

Amid, the anti-migration demonstrations, one prominent member of the National Assembly of South Africa and leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters party, Mr Julius Malema, has strongly come out to condemn the unfortunate events.

In a recent interview with Sky News Mr Malema boldly stated, ‘There is no xenophobia, but rather Afrophobia.’

Malema referred to the Operation Dudula leaders and demonstrators as clownish, charlatans and disruptors extorting Black foreigners, because they are an easy target compared to other races of foreigners.

Malema has consistently vowed never to be part of a parochial group haunting and taunting other Africans, just because they crossed to South Africa in search of greener pastures and an African dream.

As Martin Luther King Jnr stated, ‘The ultimate measure of man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands at the times of challenges and controversy’.

Malema has taken a stand at a very difficult time for any politician in South Africa right now to confront the anti-immigrant demonstrators and risks losing votes in the upcoming elections.

Lest we forget, South Africa is still living with racial, social and economic disparities because, as much as political power changed in 1994, the economic power did not change hands nor did it redistribute land and capital equally.

Has South Africa abandoned our common struggle of the united states of Africa, free from divisions, hatred, visa restrictions, trade embargos, foreign influence and dependency?

The persecution of fellow Africans erodes all the historical efforts of Marcus Garvey, Haile Selassie, Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere, Thomas Sankara and Nelson Mandela, who struggled to unite Africa.

Dear Operation Dudula leaders and misled demonstrators, we still have a bigger struggle of ending raw materials and minerals depletion, brain drain and decolonising Africa from foreign debt that has kept our continent under imperialism.

President Museveni has called for a joint report from the Head of Public Service and the Solicitor General on the fate of four minister-nominees whose citizenship stretches beyond Uganda’s borders.

Ms Lucy Nakyobe, the head of Public Service, said yesterday that she and the Solicitor General met the affected ministers designate before drafting a brief, which was submitted to the President for guidance.

‘Seventy-eight newly appointed Cabinet members are present and ready to take oath. One is indisposed. The four others, as guided by the President, were engaged over the weekend by myself and the Solicitor General. A brief has been submitted for further guidance from the President,’ Ms Nakyobe said.

Multiple sources tcld Monitor last evening that the President’s decision on the report could take up to two weeks, or less, depending on responses from the countries where the minister nominees are renouncing citizenship, as well as other due diligence steps.

On May 29, 2026, the Ministry of Internal Affairs sent a letter to the Clerk to Parliament after conducting a verification of the appointed ministers upon request by the Legislature.

The letter, seen by Daily Monitor, revealed that three ministers designate hold citizenships of other countries in addition to Uganda.

These are Ambassador Adonia Ayebare (Foreign Affairs), Shartsi Musherure (State for Micro Finance), and Dr Lawrence Muganga (State for Internal Affairs).

The document says although Mr Calvin Echodu (State for Foreign Affairs International Affairs) holds an American passport, there was no information on his dual citizenship status.

The four ministers skipped the oath taking yesterday. According to the Internal Affairs Ministry letter, Ambassador Ayebare holds both Ugandan and American citizenship, obtained on April 23, 2025.

Ms Musherure is also an American citizen, granted on March 14, 2025, while Dr Muganga holds Ugandan, Rwandan, and Canadian citizenship, with the Ugandan one obtained on November 12, 2024.

Uganda’s immigration laws are clear; a citizen with dual nationality cannot hold the positions of president, vice president, prime minister, cabinet minister, or other ministerial posts.

The same red line applies to the Inspector General of Government, deputy Inspector General, technical heads of the armed forces, commanding officers of battalion strength, and several other key posts. The affected ministers were expected to renounce their foreign citizenships and submit certificates of renunciation to the Uganda Immigration Board.

This publication understands that the ministers designate have already begun the process of cutting ties with their second passports and are burning the midnight oil to meet the deadline. In a June 1, 2026 letter to the Chief Citizenship and Immigration Control Office, Dr Muganga initiated the process of voluntarily renouncing his Canadian citizenship with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

‘This decision has been made freely and deliberately. My intention is to hold a single citizenship, being Ugandan citizenship, which I hold by right of birth, and which reflects my permanent roots, my national identity, and my enduring commitment to Uganda,’ reads part of the letter.

He further informed the officer that he had formally submitted his renunciation application to IRCC in Canada, in accordance with Section 9 of the Citizenship Act of Canada, which allows an adult refugee who has clocked 18 years of age to freely change their citizenship.

The strategy behind President Museveni’s Cabinet appointments has evolved significantly over the past four decades, shifting from an instrument of national reconciliation to a tool for regime longevity.

Following the 1981 to 1986 guerilla war, the initial Cabinet focused heavily on broad-based political integration, bringing together historical fighters, technocrats, and key leaders from traditional Opposition parties to stabilise a fractured nation.

As political Opposition intensified and the country transitioned to multi-party politics in the early 2000s, the Cabinet became a vital mechanism for political survival. Since 1986, women emancipation has been a source of pride for President Museveni’s ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party.

However, his Cabinet of 30 substantive ministers and 10 deputies named in April 1986, suggests that involving women in politics and management came much later in his administration.

At the time, the number of females was insignificant, with all the Cabinet ministers being men, with only Ms Victoria Ssekitoleko and Gertrude Njuba featuring on the list of deputy ministers for Agriculture, and for Relief and Social Rehabilitation, respectively.

President Museveni’s 30-member Cabinet in 1986 was dominated by ministers from the Central region (14), while the Eastern region got seven, Western region held six, in addition to the President, and the Northern region and West Nile only had two.

The Central region’s dominance in the Cabinet was, however, broken when it came to appointing the 10 deputy ministers, with the largest number of appointees coming from the East (six). Ms Njuba was the only appointee from the Central region, while the Western region was dominant.

Fallouts

A review of the 1986 Cabinet reveals that the ministers have since either fallen out with Mr Museveni, passed away or retired from politics. Those who fell out include the late Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere, Mr Jaberi Bidandi Ssali, Col Dr Kizza Besigye, and Ssebaana Kizito.

Maj Gen Kahinda Otafiire, Dr Crispus Kiyonga, and Gen Moses Ali is the only trio of the 1986 Cabinet in politics, having won seats to represent their constituencies in the 12th Parliament.

Dr Kiyonga recaptured the Bukonzo West seat after a decade out of the House, Maj Gen Otafiire was re-elected to the Ruhinda County seat, and Gen Ali won back his Adjumani West seat.

This year, the Cabinet has plateaued at more than 80 members, fully solidifying into a continuity machine where core power remains concentrated within a reliable inner circle while junior roles are used defensively to manage regional demands and balance internal pressure groups. President Museveni yesterday swore-in his Cabinet, which he announced in a May 26 reshuffle.

Despite previously being dropped from Cabinet, Dr Kiyonga has remained loyal to Mr Museveni and the NRM party until his reappointment, and so has Gen Otafiire, who has been appointed minister of Water and Environment, following a transfer from the Internal Affairs docket.

Among the ministers sworn-in yesterday, women hold 41 Cabinet seats out of the total, an increase from 36 in the 2021/2024 Cabinet, and representing a 6 percent rise.

Of the 32 senior positions, including the vice president, prime minister, and Cabinet ministers, women occupy 11 slots, a slight dip from 13 in the 2021/2024 Cabinet.

On the flip side, women now outnumber men among the State ministers, taking 30 out of 51 positions, up from 23 in the previous government.

Buganda emerged as the biggest beneficiary of yesterday’s swearing-in ceremony at State House, Entebbe, taking 21 of the 83 slots, making up 25 percent of the Cabinet.

Of the 30 full ministers named, Buganda got four substantive slots, including Gen Edward Katumba Wamala, who was moved from Works and Transport to Public Service; Ms Minsa Kabanda for Kampala Capital City and Metropolitan Affairs, Ms Judith Nabakooba for Lands, Housing and Urban Development, and Sam Mayanja, formerly State minister for Lands, who was elevated to Attorney General.

The rest of the 17 appointees from Buganda and the wider Central region are ministers of State. New entrants include Desire Muhooza for Agriculture, Robert Migadde for Fisheries, Cissy Mulondo for Finance (General Duties), and Amina Mukalazi for Finance (Privatisation and Investment).

Others are Shartsi Kutesa Musherure for Finance (Microfinance), Justine Nameere for Local Government, Suzan Nakawuki Nsambu for Tourism and Antiquities, Kiryowa Kiwanuka for Defence, and Dr Lawrence Muganga for Internal Affairs.

Buganda’s dominance

Under Mr Museveni, Buganda once held the prime minister’s office through Kintu Musoke, Apollo Nsibambi, and Samson Kisekka, who also served as vice president, alongside Edward Ssekandi and Gilbert Bukenya.

Governance researcher Job Kiija says this 83-member Cabinet represents a ‘severe financial haemorrhage’ on the Ugandan taxpayer and stands as ‘a direct structural betrayal of the government’s own highly-publicised rationalisation policy.’

He says it is impossible to look citizens in the eye and claim the State is merging agencies to curb waste, while simultaneously expanding the political front bench to historic highs.

‘From a governance standpoint, this bloated Executive is not engineered to improve public service delivery; rather, it functions as a state-funded patronage machine that deliberately dilutes institutional accountability,’ he says.

He adds: ‘Every single additional minister demands a luxury fuel-guzzling SUV, police escort, and a lifetime pension package, aggressively siphoning money away from critical public services while national referral hospitals routinely run out of vital cancer drugs.’

Mr Kiija says the current size of the Cabinet ‘does not make sense under any sound governance metric’, and that while the Constitution included a loophole allowing Parliament to approve variations to the ministerial limit, this exception has completely overridden the original rule.

He says while proponents frequently argue that a larger Cabinet is necessary to manage a growing national population, such logic falls apart under administrative scrutiny. Good governance, he says, relies on competent, well-structured technical directorates run by Permanent Secretaries, not ‘an ever-growing layer of political appointees’.

‘The current setup remains a structural distortion that compromises institutional efficiency solely for the sake of political accommodation,’ he says.

Today, however, the taxpayer is saddled with an oversized Parliament of more than 520 Members of Parliament, a staggering departure from the lean legislative body envisioned during the 1995 constitutional making process.

The 1995 Constituent Assembly (CA) explicitly drafted Article 113 and Article 114 to cap the total number of Cabinet and State ministers at 21 each in order to protect both the national treasury and the separation of powers.

Mr Dan Wandera Ogalo, a former CA delegate, says during the Constitution-making process, they limited the size of Cabinet to 21 ministers because an incumbent can use a big Cabinet to award his or her cronies and friends, the cost implication on the economy.

‘A big Cabinet would be expensive, and the incumbent would use the big numbers to overwhelm the Opposition,’ Mr Ogalo said, citing an example of between 1980 and 1985, where he said Parliament had around 126 legislators, including 75 belonging to the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC), and 50 from the Democratic Party (DP).

‘The fear was that with a small margin in Parliament, an incumbent can use it to bolster his party’s numbers and overwhelm the Opposition. Under the multiparty system, you can have a President with a majority in Parliament,’ he added.

Bloated Executive

Associate Prof Sultan Juma Kakuba, a senior lecturer in the Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences at Kyambogo University, is concerned that President Museveni’s Cabinet is not only ‘bloated’, but ‘broadens diverse interest, representation and political inclusion’.

‘It has both pros and cons. In Uganda where we have diversity, President Museveni has always used Cabinet appointments to balance regional, ethnic, generational and political interests, which has helped him to consolidate support and manage elite competition,’ Prof Dr Kakuba says.

He adds: ‘However, there are costs of having a big Cabinet; for instance, it increases public expenditure, creates some overlapping mandates, which may complicate coordination, and may weaken accountability as many of these ministers have almost similar responsibilities.’

Dr Kakuba says Cabinet positions have become more about political patronage than an administrative tool to drive service delivery.

‘The constitutional provision for ministers, in my view, adequately, is to have the limit of 21 if we are to effectively demand for efficiency and accountability.”

‘If you observe, moving from 21 to more than 80 ministers, in my opinion, raises the question whether the size of the Cabinet improves service delivery or is it for political convenience? It is imperative to justify the cost of having a huge Cabinet,’ he further explains.

More than two years after a catastrophic garbage landslide in Kiteezi buried his family alive, Joshua Ariho says he remains trapped in unrelenting grief, haunted by daily nightmares and struggling with his mental health. He says he feels stuck in life.

‘I lost my family, wife Justin Mutesi, and a son, Innocent Agasha,’ the pastor recounts.

‘Since that garbage buried my people, they have never retrieved the bodies.’

The Kiteezi landfill disaster in August 2024 left dozens dead or missing when tonnes of waste collapsed onto nearby settlements. For Ariho, the pain is compounded by the fact that his loved ones’ bodies were never recovered, loss of livelihood, struggles to get compensation from the government, and hardship accessing mental health support.

‘I am not okay,’ Ariho states. ‘Every day, I get bad dreams of my wife and child.’

Mental health experts note that the combination of sudden bereavement, failure to recover the body (and do proper burial in line with culture), and bureaucratic obstacles often intensifies trauma responses.

Symptoms like recurrent nightmares, intrusive memories, and emotional dysregulation are common in complicated grief and post-traumatic stress. These struggles affect the general well-being and productivity of the affected persons.

Ariho’s experience is not isolated. It is one visible fracture in Uganda’s deepening mental health crisis. Across the country, over 90 percent of people living with mental illness never receive treatment or required professional support.

According to mental health experts, limited awareness, deep stigma, and scarce services leave most to suffer in silence. For schoolchildren and adolescents facing declining mental health, the gap is even more painful. Many struggle without support, caught between academic pressure, family breakdowns, unemployment fears, and substance abuse.

The new value for money audit report by the Office of the Auditor General on mental healthcare in Uganda paints a stark picture. Mental, neurological, and substance use (MNS) cases rose from 468,005 in 2021 to 469,932 in 2022, then surged to 594,675 in 2023-a 26 percent jump in a single year.

Dr Juliet Nakku, the Executive Director of Butabika National Referral Mental Hospital, says cases increased by 70 percent between 2021 and 2025. Young people and adolescents account for 24 percent (nearly a quarter) of these cases.

Staffing and drug shortages

At the heart of the formal response sits Butabika hospital. Dr Nakku describes both progress and overwhelming strain.

She says staff positions at the hospital remain largely unfilled, although staff numbers have grown from 533 to 833, with plans to fill them incrementally, even as they struggle with a surge in the number of patients.

‘The doctor-to-patient ratio is very high. We have recently had only 10, but since the beginning of this financial year, we have had an extra four doctors, psychiatrist specialists. So, we have 14 psychiatrists for a population of 1,000, which is a drop in the ocean,’ she reveals.

Ideally, there should be one doctor for at least 30 patients. The current ratio is almost one to 100, which is really huge for psychiatry, according to Dr Nakku.

‘The nurse-to-patient ratio right now is also huge. We should have at least one nurse for every 10 to 15 patients at the max. But we have one to 60, which is very high for nursing because nursing is very intensive in mental healthcare,’ she adds.

Ms Mercy Gracy Omona, a clinical psychologist and the national coordinator and head of the secretariat of the Uganda Parliamentary Forum on Mental Health, citing studies in the country, observes that about 24.2 percent of adults and 22.9 percent of children in Uganda are estimated to have a mental disorder.

‘Conditions such as depression, anxiety, and trauma-related disorders are increasingly reported in communities. Yet despite the growing need for care, Uganda continues to face a severe shortage of mental health professionals,’ Ms Omona states in a statement.

Dr Nakku also says there is a slight improvement in the budget for medicines, but that this is very small compared to the need.

‘We have had an increase in our budget for medicines initially from Shs2 billion to Shs3.5 billion, but we note that is not enough for medication because of the numbers that we have,’ she says.

‘We have been working very closely with the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Health and Parliament to try and get that budget up,’ she adds.

Dr Irene Apio, a forensic psychiatrist at Butabika hospital, says she’s overwhelmed by the forensic cases she has to handle because she is the only psychiatrist trained in forensic psychiatry to handle mental health patients who have committed a crime.

Patients sleeping on floor

Information from Butabika also indicates that at any one point, the number of admitted patients is double the existing bed capacity, reflecting limited plan and poor strategies to respond to the mental health care needs of the population.

‘Official bed capacity is 550 beds. However, our bed occupancy rate has been up to 230 plus, which means we have a lot of floor cases,’ Dr Nakku reveals. ‘That requires that we find ways of getting people out of the hospital to other places where they can get care or increase the staffing. At any one time, you’ll find 1,200 plus.’

Dr Nakku says the government should operationalise the plan to provide mental healthcare in lower health facilities through recruiting necessary staff and providing facilities.

Drivers of mental health issues

Information from the facility indicates that addiction has emerged as a critical driver of mental health issues and admissions. About 25 to 30 percent of patients arriving at Butabika are young people struggling with alcohol and drug abuse.

Dr Nakku notes that broader societal pressures compound the problem. ‘There’s a lot of stress in the community. We believe, because of financial strain, maybe young people who have gone to school and are looking for jobs. High unemployment rates are another one.’

‘There are lots of issues in families. Families that are breaking up that are not supporting children well. There is also academic stress. The school programmes that do not allow young people to rest enough. You know, the prep starts at 4am. The child has slept at 11pm, then they are up at 4am to go to class. Those things cause a lot of academic stress, including the academic expectations from us the parents and the communities,’ she adds.

In March, a 20-year-old girl, who scored 19 points in the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) exams, committed suicide because she was told she should have scored 20 points as a scientist to qualify for the course she wanted.

‘So, these cases are many and we need to support our children. So, it’s a multiplicity of conditions, not to mention the alcohol and substance abuse problem,’ Dr Nakku observes.

When questioned about cases linked to witchcraft, she responds scientifically: ‘To be honest, I do not know much about witchcraft. Ours is scientific.’

Yet Dr Nakku expresses openness to collaboration with alternative providers, recognising the realities patients bring.

Dr Hasfa Lukwata, the acting assistant commissioner of Mental Health Division at the Health ministry, says according to studies in the country, Ugandans experience a range of mental health issues.

‘About 20 percent of the people of Uganda are mainly depressed, and this is taking a toll on many women. It’s mainly women who are depressed. Then, of course, we have anxiety,’ she notes.

‘Then there are people with severe mental illness, like maybe those who are walking on the streets and so on. But these, we are told, are about two percent. In Uganda, they may have schizophrenia. But what we know are the substances, for instance, we know that for alcohol, we are the highest in the region or Africa. For tobacco, we are seeing a tobacco reduction,’ Dr Lukwata adds.

Way out

Despite the crisis, frameworks exist. The Ministry of Health policy calls for mental health services at all levels of care. Regional referral hospitals have mental health units.

Dr Nakku, however, says the challenge lies in ‘functionalisation’, turning plans into accessible, staffed services so Butabika can evolve into a true centre of excellence rather than the default destination for every severe case.

Efforts are underway to decentralise. Staffing norms for health centre IIIs, IVs, and district hospitals now include social workers, counsellors, and psychologists. Integration into primary healthcare aims to catch problems early, before patients ‘decompensate so severely.’

‘There has been an effort to integrate mental healthcare into primary healthcare. So, if we ride on and we have the finances to support that, recruit the staff and provide that care, that should help even the children,’ Dr Nakku observes.

Schools are another frontier. Guidelines developed with the Ministry of Education seek to embed mental health support for students and teachers alike.

‘We have developed guidelines to help schools be able to provide mental health care within the school setting. It should be able to help u students,’ Dr Nakku says.

Workplaces, too, face calls to address burnout, which can spiral into depression, anxiety, substance use, and suicide.

‘We actually may be contributing to what is called burnout. Burnout is that condition in any workplace where if staff are severely stressed by the conditions of the workplace, they get burnout,’ Dr Nakku observes.

‘Burnout leads to depression, anxiety, suicide, and alcoholism in the workplace. So, if we are going to help our people, we need to also mandate workplaces to incorporate mental health care for their staff. Every workplace should have a mechanism to do that,’ she adds.

Patients with life-threatening diseases

Ms Susan Adikini, a clinical psychologist and quality assurance lead at Strong Minds Uganda, observes that patients with chronic or life-threatening diseases struggle with a wide range of mental health issues, yet medical professionals tend to only focus on treating the disease.

‘Oftentimes we find that the healthcare workers are able to attend to the medical needs of the patients. However, what happens to the depression, what happens to the anxiety, and what happens to the mental health needs?’ she says.

On May 8, Strong Minds Uganda partnered with the Uganda Cancer Institute and Mulago hospital’s paediatric oncology department to train 27 healthcare workers and volunteers in mental health screening and interpersonal group psychotherapy.

Dr Racheal Kansiime, a clinical psychologist and president of the Association of Psycho-oncologists in Uganda, says they are working with Strong Minds and other partners to train health workers on managing and helping patients with chronic diseases to cope with mental health challenges they are going through.

She says this month, they have trained 27 health workers from the Uganda Cancer Institute and Mulago hospital’s paediatric oncology department in mental health screening and interpersonal group psychotherapy.

‘Cancer as a disease not only affects the physical being of patients, it also has mental health effects,’ she observes. ‘Research has shown us that the patients who have cancer and also have psychosocial support are able to sail through, and they have better treatment outcomes.’

‘We have people who will have a diagnosis of cancer, and they will live for 10, 20 years after the diagnosis because they have the mental health and psychosocial support,’ she adds.

She says some of the common issues include depression, anxiety, and emotional distress, which hit patients and caregivers alike-spouses, siblings, neighbours, and medical staff.

Low budget for mental health

According to a new value for money audit report by the Office of the Auditor General on mental healthcare in Uganda, only one percent of the annual healthcare budget goes to mental health, mostly channelled to Butabika.

‘There is no national coverage of community mental healthcare since only 28 out-patient facilities can provide follow-up care; these facilities are thinly spread and are often starved of funds for even essential medication,’ the report reads.

The audit revealed a 27 percent increase in reported MNS cases between 2021 and 2023, indicating a growing disease burden.

Despite this concerning increase, Auditor General Edward Akol notes that the Ministry of Health’s interventions have limited effectiveness in reversing this trend.

He cites five major gaps. These include inadequate operationalisation of the Mental Health Act Cap. 308, which focuses on community mental health integration.

‘While the Mental Health Act, Cap 308, was enacted in 2019, the Ministry of Health had not developed regulations for community mental health integration and emergency and voluntary treatment to fully operationalise it six years later,’ the report reads.

‘The Mental Health Advisory Board and District Mental Health Focal Persons were not fully constituted during most of the audit period. As a result, mental health units in regional hospitals operated without standardised infrastructure, safety protocols, or clear management frameworks,’ the report reads further.

There is also inadequate resource allocation and staffing. ‘During the three years reviewed (2021-2023), only two percent (Shs1.1 billion) of the total mental health budget (Shs58.5 billion) was allocated to the Mental Health Division of the Ministry of Health, which is responsible for implementing MNS activities,’ the report reads.

In addition, Uganda had only 53 psychiatrists (one per million people), well below the WHO recommendation of 1: 10,000, according to the report.

‘Most regional and district facilities lacked trained personnel, medicines, and equipment to manage mental health conditions effectively,’ the report reads.

Mr Akol was also concerned about ‘weak treatment, rehabilitation, and supervision mechanisms.’ In the report, he states that health facilities lacked adequate infrastructure, specialised clinics for children and pregnant mothers, and functional rehabilitation programmes.

‘Only a few provided psychosocial support or follow-up services. Supervision by the Mental Health Division and regional referral hospitals was irregular, and monitoring reports were incomplete. Two hundred and sixteen unaccredited private rehabilitation centres were also operating without oversight, posing safety risks to patients,’ the report reads.

He also highlighted limited awareness and community outreach where only 19 of the 65 the sampled health facilities (29 percent) conducted mental health outreach activities, and the Ministry did not implement targeted awareness programs for faith leaders, traditional healers, or local governance structures.

‘Consequently, misconceptions and stigma remain high, with over 60 percent of individuals seeking care first from traditional healers. Most facilities and schools lacked Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) materials to promote awareness,’ the report reads.

Mr Akol also found weak multi-sectoral coordination. ‘Although MoH initiated plans to establish an inter-ministerial and technical working committee on mental health, there was no evidence that this committee was fully functional,’ the report reads.

Recommendations

In the audit report, the country can improve the mental health of the population by ensuring regulatory and institutional strengthening, and ensuring that the inter-ministerial and technical working committees on mental health are operationalised and fully functional.

‘Liaise with the relevant stakeholders to have the minimum standards for mental health units approved and fully implemented by all the Health facilities providing the MNS service,’ the report recommends.

The report also recommends improving funding and human resources through prioritising funding of mental health activities within the Ministry of Health budget, especially the service delivery (non-wage) activities.

‘Fast-track the operationalisation and filling of the new staffing structure, which provides for more mental health professionals at the different levels of delivery service,’ the report recommends.

The report also highlights how treatment, rehabilitation, and supervision can be improved through prioritising training of health workers at all levels in matters of mental health, which include.

Mr Akol also called for an increase in awareness and community engagement. ‘Enhance allocation of funds meant for mental health activities within the Ministry of Health budget to facilitate planned community sensitisations and dissemination of IEC materials to schools and health facilities,’ the report reads.

‘Fast-track and scale up the deployment of the Community Health extension works to supplement the VHTs in undertaking sensitisations within the communities. Review and enhance the current coordination frameworks and measures with a view of ensuring that coordination among stakeholders is more structured, harmonised, and more effective,’ the report reads further.

Dr Lukwata of the Ministry of Health says the Mental Health Division unit, which should coordinate these efforts, is struggling with low funding.

‘As a mental health unit, we should have a vote where we can really tackle the big problem of the mental health of Ugandans. Otherwise, for now, we are only dealing with the care of those who are sick,’ she says.

‘But we need to ensure that every person knows what mental health is, how they can maintain their good mental health, how they can work with other people to ensure that they are all well,’ she adds.

ISSUES

Only 28 outpatient facilities are provide follow-up care

In 2023 alone, 2,657 patients referred from Butabika hospital according to patient treatment, opened their files at KCCA. There are only 53 psychiatrists nationwide, resulting in approximately one psychiatrist for every one million Ugandans. The numbers are above the WHO minimum psychiatric-to-patient ratio of 1:10,000.

The medical and adolescent patients, the psychiatrists serve a population of 20 million.

The majority of the psychiatrists in Uganda practice at national referral hospitals, hence not accessible at the primary health care facility level (HCII, HCIII, and HCIV).

More than 90 percent of the mentally ill individuals in Uganda don’t receive treatment.

Only one percent of the annual healthcare budget is earmarked for national mental healthcare, primarily channelled to Butabika hospital.

Data from the Health Management Information Systems (HMIS) shows that the number of MNS cases reported in the same region from 148,005 in 2024 (30.5 per 1,000 pop) by 31 percent and to 594,675 in 2025 (up by 26 percent).

Drivers of mental health problems include poverty, unemployment, family break-up, academic-related stressors in children, and chronic or life-threatening illnesses like cancer.

Common adult conditions (admitted)

The most common conditions for admitted patients are severe mental health conditions, including:

Bipolar disorder/manic depressive illness

Schizophrenia

Severe depression (often with suicidal ideation)

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Severe anxiety (debilitating forms)

Alcohol and substance abuse (for rehabilitation)

Complications of epilepsy

Common child conditions (admitted)

For children, common conditions include:

ADHD

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Epilepsy

Autism

Conduct disorder

The ongoing trade order enforcement in many urban centres across the country has led to a surge in rental fees as thousands of evictees look for work space. Majority traders were previously operating on streets, verandas, pavements and other undesignated spaces in non gazetted areas.

In many municipalities and regional cities, some rental houses which had previously been shunned, are now fully occupied.

Acquiring space for business is now a hustle. Some traders who were previously operating in makeshift structures, have painfully secured loans to erect permanent buildings which conform to required urban standards.

Rent fees doubles in Mbarara City, Ibanda Municipality A snap survey in Mbarara City and Ibanda Municipality indicate that rent has almost doubled, leaving some tenants contemplating relocating their businesses to the outskirts of the central business area.

In some of the places in Ibanda Municipality for example, rent in commercial buildings along Main Street ranges between Shs1 million to Shs2 million, up from Shs700,000 to Shs1.5 million while on Jubilee Street, work space which was costing between Shs150,000 and 200,000 monthly six months ago, now costs between Shs200,000 and 350,000.

For accommodation, on average a single room which was costing Shs150,000 per month, has since increased to Shs250,000 while double rooms cost Shs300,000 up from Shs250,000.

According to Mr Godwin Tumuhirwe, a house broker in Ibanda Municipality, landlords are taking advantage of the sudden increase in demand for both business and residential spaces to raise rental fees.

‘People are scrambling for a few formal spaces that were not demolished and landlords are exploiting this desperation to abnormally increase rental fees. All commercial and residential houses are affected and some people are now moving to the outskirts like Nyabuhikye, Igorora and Bisheshe, looking for space,’ he explains.

Mr Steven Kazooba, a landlord in Bufunda II Ward, Ibanda Municipality says ome of their actions were unavoidable because the demolitions were abrupt and affected them economically.

‘I had to refund money to some of my tenants who had paid rent in advance, I have looked for money to renovate some of the structures which were affected and that is how some of us have been forced to increase monthly rental fees,’ he explains.

In Mbarara City, some spaces that were previously used for residential purposes have been converted into commercial spaces.

‘I saw a number of people looking for business space. I hatched an idea to convert my residential house into commercial rentals. I have four rental spaces now and each goes at Shs400,000 per month,’ Mr Bosco Asiimwe, a landlord on Biafra Street in Kakiika, Mbarara City North Division, says.

Mr Julius Besigomwe says he had a restaurant on Ntare Road, but the trade order evictions forced him to relocate his business to Biharwe Township on the outskirts of Mbarara City.

‘The landlord immediately gave us notice when the trade order enforcement had started, saying rent had increased from Shs300,000 to Shs500,000, which looked totally abnormal. I looked at an alternative space around the central business district, but I couldn’t get one and decided to relocate,’ he says.

Mr Julius Mwine, who had a retail shop on Katete Road, now operates during night on Kakoba-Buremba Road after failing to get an affordable space to house his business.

‘I used to pay Shs300,000 as rent when they demolished the premises. I tried to look for an alternative space in Katete Town, but here rent has been increased by almost half, a room that could go for Shs300,000 now costs Shs450,000,’ Mr Mwine says.

Mr Cosmas Deo Tugume, the Ibanda Municipality principal commercial officer, advises traders to form associations where they can influence rent or to shift businesses to other areas that are affordable.

‘The traders should know that as a council, we do not have control over rent, through their associations they can influence rent fees. However, the problem with them is that, they do not have associations that can help them advocate for their rights,’ he says.

The trade order was issued by the Ministry of Local Government on March 10 and it directs all local authorities to restore order in urban areas by relocating traders operating on streets and in undesignated spaces into formal gazzeted areas. In the central district of Wakiso, which is the most populous in the country, some buildings which were previously vacant have started to attract tenants and temporary structures have since been turned into permanent ones.

Mr Vincent Kasozi, Wakiso Traders Association chairperson, says rent has not yet increased, but there’s pressure to find space.

‘Getting work space is becoming difficult -which may force landlord to increase rental fees ,’ he says Mr Jude Mark Bukenya, the Wakiso District chief administrative officer, says trade order evictions are continuing in all areas they have not yet covered .

‘We have received reports that there are people in Kyengera Town Council who pose as district officials and bring back kiosks on the streets where they were earlier removed. I have already sent my enforcement team on ground to apprehend those fraudsters,’ he says

He advises the affected traders not to dare return to the road reserves, but occupy vacant spaces on buildings and in markets.

In Kabale District, the urgent need for working space has forced some landlords to increase rental fees by half the original rates and this has left some tenants stranded in Kabale Town pondering the next course of action after receiving rent increase notices.

Mr John Mutembi, who is operating a general merchandise shop in the Central Division of Kabale Municipality, says his landlady asked him to vacate the building because she wants to use the same place to run a business, but he later found out that another tenant paid double of the rent fees to influence the landlady.

‘When I asked my landlady about my remaining months that I had paid for, she said that she is ready to refund the money. I convinced her to allow me to pay any amount in case she increased the rental fees, but she insisted that she wanted to use the rooms I was occupying. I later found out that she had rented it out to someone else at double rental fees,’ he says.

Ms Jackeline Kyomuhendo, who operates a boutique in Central Division, Kabale Municipality, says her landlord has notified her that monthly rent fees have been increased from Shs150,000 to Shs250,000 effective June.

‘I am wondering why the landlord chose to increase the rental fees in the middle of the year. I am stranded because I cannot raise the amount required or get an alternative working space in the two weeks he has given me. After inquiring from my fellow tenants, I established that most landlords are being pressurised by traders whose working space was demolished as the municipal council authorities implemented the trade order,’ she says.

The chairperson of Bataka Cell Southern Division, Kabale Municipality, Mr Ivan Beigumamu ,who doubles as a commercial house owner in Central Division, attributes the surge in rental fees to increased taxes and costs of maintaining commercial premises. The Kabale Deputy Town Clerk, Mr Eric Sunday, advises landlords to follow the law while increasing rental fees.

‘Let them agree on the rental fees without causing any friction and in case of tenants’ evictions, the landlords should follow the law,’ he says.

A survey in Jinja City reveals that commercial buildings that had remained vacant for years are now fully occupied, while developers are renovating unfinished structures and converting residential premises into commercial units to meet the growing demand. Along Gabula Road, Main Street and Clive Road West in Jinja City, several previously empty buildings are being transformed into lock-up shops for traders looking for business premises.

Mr Isaac Nsubuga, a mobile phone accessories dealer on Main Street, said he was forced to relocate after enforcement officers removed traders operating on walkways and road reserves.

‘I was paying Shs150,000 a month for a small space. After relocating, I now pay Shs350,000 for a lock-up shop. The rent is high, but I have no option,’ he says.

Mr Ronald Bwire, a property owner in Jinja City, says all his commercial units are now fully occupied.

‘For nearly two years some shops remained vacant because traders preferred roadside structures. Since the trade order enforcement started, every available space has been taken up,’ he explains.

In Apac Municipality, traders are reeling from the aftermath of a trade order that led to the demolishing of their kiosks and lock-up shops. Many have been forced to rent houses in non-strategic locations, paying significantly higher rents than before.

Landlords are taking advantage of the situation, hiking rent prices despite the houses not being previously used for business. Mr James Otieno, a retail shop trader, says the new rent is eating into his profits.

‘I’m paying Shs170,000, yet I used to pay nothing. That’s money I could use for stock or school fees,’ he says.

Ms Irene Okello, a trader at Apac Hospital Gate, is now paying Shs200,000 for a room, up from Shs70,000.

‘I’m using my savings to pay rent, just to feed my family. No more money for development,’ she says.

Apac Municipality mayor Bonny McClean Odongo says demolished structures can be rebuilt with approved plans.

‘Some of the structures demolished were along the road reserve and others were erected without approved building plans. Those in the legal locations, but erected without approved building plans, we shall allow owners to get the approved building plans and reconstruct them,’ he says.

In Arua City, Ahmed Angulibo, who deals in second hand shoes on Onzivu Street, says he is still struggling to find new working space.

‘I have moved to most of the landlords in the city and in the suburbs of Ediofe, Awindiri and Mvaradri, but I have failed to get any room. Others are telling me to wait as they improvise,’ he says.

Similarly, Ms Flavia Adokorach of Wandiri Ward, who operated a salon business, says: ‘In my search to relocate, I found a room, but was asked to pay Shs350,000 per month, which I cannot afford.’

‘In the city centre people are being asked to pay Shs500, 000 to Shs800, 000 per month, this needs a stable business,’ he says.

Mr Moses Obeta, the chairperson of Arua City business community, says the elevation of Arua Municipality to a city came with opportunities, but there are challenges.

Across the city, unfinished commercial buildings stand alongside overcrowded arcades already bursting beyond capacity.

Mr Bisco Opejo, a mobile phone accessories dealer, told this paper that the issue of rent in Soroti City increased not just recently, but when the city was created a few years ago.

He said they are now paying Shs1.5 million for space on the main street that previously cost Shs500,000.

‘The issue we know is that we can’t realise the rent paid, often some months we cannot make sales worth Shs1.5m, so we operate on losses, ‘ Mr Opejo says.

In Masindi Municipality, displaced traders are also scrambling for formal business premises. As demand for working space continues to rise, landlords have increased rental charges. Mr Robert Byenkya, an electronics trader, says he was previously paying Shs150,000 per month for a small shop, but now pays Shs300,000 for premises in the town centre.

In Mbale City, the leadership has continued with enforcement operations aimed at evicting street vendors and removing illegal structures in a move intended to restore order, cleanliness, and sanity within the city.

Officials insist that the enforcement of the new trade order is not merely about clearing streets and easing congestion.

At the heart of the crackdown, they say, lies a bigger objective – strengthening local revenue collection and plugging long-standing financial leakages.

For years, informal street vending, unauthorised taxi stages, and boda boda riders operating in unregulated spaces have dominated major streets in Mbale City.

While this informal economy provides livelihoods for thousands, city leaders argue it has also undermined revenue mobilisation efforts. The town clerk for Industrial City Division, Mr Geoffrey Mugisa, says the informal nature of street trade has made it difficult to track and collect revenue efficiently.

‘Many vendors operating along road reserves and pavements reportedly do not pay daily market dues, trading licence fees, or operational permits. Because they operate outside designated markets, revenue officers often struggle to assess their businesses or enforce compliance,’ Mr Mugisa, says.

According to him, trade order is directly linked to revenue order.

‘If traders operate from gazetted markets, it becomes easier to register them, assess what they owe, and ensure accountability, ‘he says.

But for many street vendors, pavements and roadside spaces offer high customer traffic and quick sales, especially for perishable goods such as fruits and vegetables. Inside formal markets, vendors say foot traffic is lower, stalls are limited, and facilities are sometimes inadequate.

Mr Ivan Okech, an economist, says that Uganda’s urban workforce is heavily dependent on the informal sector.

‘Street vending, small retail trade, and transport services absorb large numbers of youth and women who lack access to formal employment,’ he says .

A critically ill mother arrived at Yumbe Regional Referral Hospital in north-western Uganda already slipping out of reach.

She was suffering from severe pre-eclampsia, a dangerous pregnancy complication that could become fatal within hours. By the time she reached the hospital, she was struggling to breathe. Doctors immediately moved to intubate her to keep her alive.In many urban hospitals, the next step would be straightforward: transfer her to an intensive care unit only minutes away.

In Yumbe, that option does not exist.

Dr Sarah Oworinawe, one of the few emergency medicine physicians serving the entire region, takes one look at the patient and makes a rapid decision: the hospital cannot provide the level of critical care she needs.

‘We had to move quickly because every minute mattered,’ she recalls.

An ambulance is arranged to transfer her to Gulu Regional Referral Hospital, more than 225 kilometres away. It is the only realistic option for advanced care.

But the emergency does not stop at the hospital exit. The journey becomes an extension of the resuscitation room.

On the way, the team is forced to stop several times. They manage her airway, administer medication, and try to stabilise her fragile condition as the ambulance navigates rough roads and long delays. At the River Nile crossing in Obongi, further hold-ups add to the risk.

Dr Oworinawe remains with the patient throughout the entire transfer.

‘She survived,’ she says quietly. ‘When a patient comes in at their worst and survives, that is the reward.’

One specialist for 1.6 million people

The case is not an exception in Yumbe; it is a reflection of how fragile emergency care can be in Uganda’s underserved regions.

Yumbe Regional Referral Hospital serves more than 1.6 million people across the West Nile sub-region, including large refugee populations from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Patients often arrive late, after long journeys with little or no stabilisation.

Yet within this vast catchment area, Dr Oworinawe is currently the only emergency medicine physician based at the hospital, one of just 27 in the entire country.

She chose Yumbe deliberately after completing her Master of Medicine in Emergency Medicine at Mbarara University of Science and Technology, supported by Seed Global Health and the Ministry of Health.

‘I knew these skills would make a difference where the need is greatest,’ she says.

Building order

When she arrived less than a year ago, emergency care at the hospital was largely unstructured. There was no formal triage system, no designated resuscitation area, and critically ill patients were not consistently prioritised based on severity.

‘One of the biggest challenges was that patients were not being prioritised based on how sick they were,’ she explains.

Her first major change was introducing a structured triage system that sorts patients into red, yellow, and green categories depending on urgency, ensuring those in the most critical condition are seen first.

Even in a resource-limited setting, she says, organisation can mean the difference between life and death.

A dedicated resuscitation area has since been set up for critically ill patients. She has also worked with neighbouring facilities, including Adjumani General Hospital, to strengthen emergency response and referrals.

But her work extends beyond the hospital walls. She is training frontline health workers to recognise danger signs earlier and respond faster before patients deteriorate.

‘Emergency care is not just about the doctor,’ she says. ‘It is about the entire system working together.’

In a region where malaria in children, obstetric emergencies, road traffic injuries, and severe infections frequently become life-threatening due to delays in care, early recognition is critical.

For many families, Yumbe Regional Referral Hospital is the only point of emergency care they can access.

‘If we identify critical illness early and intervene quickly, we can save many more lives,’ she says.

A system still under strain

But the work is constant and often overwhelming.

Like many rural referral hospitals in Uganda, Yumbe faces persistent challenges: limited staffing, shortages of equipment, and long referral distances for advanced care such as intensive care services. Critically ill patients are frequently transported hundreds of kilometres to reach higher-level facilities.

‘There are times when the workload feels overwhelming,’ Dr Oworinawe admits. ‘But you keep going because every improvement matters.’

Her experience reflects a wider national reality. Uganda has trained more specialists in recent years, but emergency medicine services remain thinly spread, especially in regions where the burden is highest.

As Uganda marks Emergency Medicine Day, Yumbe’s experience raises a difficult but necessary question: what happens when a critically ill patient arrives at a facility that is not yet equipped to save them?

In Yumbe, the answer is slowly changing, through a triage desk that brings order to chaos, a resuscitation area that creates space for survival, and one doctor working to build a system that can stand even when she is no longer there.

As Yumbe Regional Referral Hospital continues to adapt under pressure, the changes led on the emergency ward are beginning to show what is possible even in a constrained system.

The introduction of structured triage, stronger referral coordination, and targeted staff training is gradually shifting emergency care from reactive response to organised intervention.

While major gaps in staffing, equipment and intensive care access remain, the progress underway offers a glimpse of a more resilient system, one where critically ill patients are more likely to be identified early, stabilised faster, and given a better chance of survival, regardless of how far they live from the nearest advanced hospital.

Last week, I watched and read news stories of people being evicted from Kaliddubi Wetland, Busabala Parish, Makindye Ssabagabo in Wakiso District. The stories of the people whose homes were crushed to stone and rubble were heart-wrenching.

There was a young man, a boda boda rider, who told of how he had spent sleepless nights riding his bike just to make the extra buck to build his Shs23m house. He says he saved, skipped meals countless times, skipped sleep just to work the nights, rode through the rain and saved every shilling he would get with his savings club.

He also made use of some PDM money until, through all that sweat and pain, he was able to put up a structure for his six children. As he told this story, he was standing next to what used to be the proof of his ability to provide for his offspring and wife.

Another young woman said she has six children. Had hustled hard too and built a house for them, but alas, it had been destroyed. And before last year’s evictions, another had been a street vendor somewhere in the city centre. Then there was that video clip I wish I could ‘unsee’. The one of a woman who wanted to throw herself in front of speeding vehicles because of anguish from the demolishment but was held back by her little son.

As a veteran hustler, I know the pain that one goes through to survive these streets. Earth is hard! The involuntary fasts, wearing the same shoe for five years, wearing clothes that cost Shs3,000 not because you are frugal but because that is what you can afford. Losing friends because they do not understand that the reason you did not contribute to their wedding is that you actually did not have a dime.

Kwekazaring with the same synthetic hair braids for six months, never mind that the new growth is as long as the extensions or opting to stay home because going out means spending money you do not have, all because you are saving up to build something of importance such as paying up the mortgage for one of those nice town houses in Luboowa or in this case, that house in Busaabala.

Then when it is all done, when the suffering has as if paid off, the long arm of the law shows up and squashes your brick and clay accomplishments like a piece of paper. What would you do if it were you?

Me as me, I would not attempt to throw myself in front of a speeding car because the plan is to die in my sleep in a nice comfy bed, preferably at 98 years of age with Jesus by my bedside saying, ‘there there’, but yes, I too would be devastated.

I cannot help but wonder, though, who sanctions these constructions? Are they invisible to authorities when they are going up? Are they built overnight before anyone can stop them? Why allow them to build there in the first place, only to come years later and crash them? Why not avoid this whole messy situation by not allowing any constructions to go up in the first place?

Methinks the authorities or whoever enables those habitats to go up should be held accountable too. They too should share in the pain of the evicted encroachers. If the price for encroaching on wetlands and other gazetted areas is not shared along the lines of responsibility, it is going to keep happening. Whoever sells those people the illusion that they can build there should also pay for it.

We should not normalise anguish, especially from people who have lost everything or almost all. What do you think happens to one bitter young man with six mouths to feed? One who has tried to earn the right way but has been beaten down by the same law that should protect him?

One whose desire to provide for his family has been manipulated by a crooked system that allows him to build in a gazetted area?

Where do you think some of the merciless thugs that break into homes, workplaces or even open spaces to rob, maim and kill come from? If the goal is to conserve the environment, do it the right way.

Do not allow people to build and then come and demolish. Let there be no building at all. No action, however legal, lives in a vacuum. With such moves, the dominoes are bound to come crashing down, and again, like we always do, we will die in our own movie.

The enforcement of search and seizure orders on properties of Ms Anita Annet Among, which have culminated in, among others, the impounding of her Shs3.4 billion Rolls-Royce, has opened up a can of worms. The prominent role played by Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba in tightening the screws on the Speaker of the 11th Parliament has sparked debate

Gen Muhoozi, the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), who is also the son of President Museveni and his advisor on Special Operations, has been front and centre of an operation that got underway on May 16. This has raised questions about whether the fight against corruption falls within the national army’s remit. ‘You go back to Article 209, which talks about the functions of the army. There is no role for the army in investigating these (corruption) matters whatsoever. Just look at the Constitution,’ Mr Dan Wandera Ogalo, who has served as a lawmaker in both the national and regional legislative branches, says.

Article 209 spells out the functions of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) as, firstly, to preserve and defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Uganda; secondly, to cooperate with the civilian authority in emergency situations and in cases of natural disasters; thirdly, to foster harmony and understanding between the defence forces and civilians; and, fourthly, to engage in productive activities for the development of Uganda.

Mr Godber Tumushabe, an associate director at Great Lakes Institute for Strategic Studies (GLISS), says: ‘That joint security operation is also part of the corruption because there are institutions of State created under the Constitution. They have their mandates. The UPDF, CDF, you are supposed to be out there in Garamba, in DRC, in Somalia, where we have our forces deployed and fighting. What reason do you have to be there doing law enforcement work?’

Mr Ogalo thinks Gen Muhoozi is being populistic. ‘To me, if you see the army going into investigating Parliament, that is simply a power grab because we have institutions for that. You have the Inspectorate of Government. You have laws like the leadership code. You have the Auditor General who checks on Parliament.’

Evasive

Mr Marlon Agaba of the Anti-Corruption Coalition begs to differ. ‘Of course, for the CDF to intervene, if it does really help the fight against corruption, then I don’t have any issues with that. It is welcome. I think from the Executive, especially the President, there has been frustration with the statutory anti-corruption agencies that have been there.’ Mr Meddie Mulumba, a former MP for Luuka County, who is also the chairperson of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party in Luuka District, is more critical, accusing the anti-corruption agencies of lack of visibility in the fight against corruption.

‘There are so many institutions that were put in place to fight corruption. We have the DPP (Director of Public Prosecution), we have the IGG (Inspector General of Government), we have the Auditor General, we have financial intelligence, we have accounting officers, we have ISO (Internal Security Organisation), we have ESO (External Security Organisation). It is so terrifying to see what these institutions have been doing. We are asking ourselves, where are these institutions? Have they been compromised? Have they been sleeping?’ Mr Mulumba wonders.

In March 2024, Ms Beti Kamya, then the ombudsman, announced that her office had opened up an unprecedented investigation into allegations of widespread corruption and unethical conduct at Parliament. Ms Kamya’s revelation came at a time when Agora Center for Research had just carried out an online campaign that was known as #Ugandaparliamentexhibition on X, formerly Twitter. The campaign illuminated illegal recruitment of staff at the House, withdrawals of large sums of cash from Parliament’s corporate social responsibility kitty, and other cases of abuse of public funds. ‘The issues have obviously generated significant media and public interest. No one can ignore them,’ Ms Kamya said.

However, within less than a month of making those comments, she had backtracked, hiding behind the cover of the need to avoid duplication of work. ‘I am also told that the Auditor General is also investigating Parliament. Normally, in our working methods, we do not crowd. Once somebody (another investigative arm) has been there before you then you wait for their report… if somebody is handling an investigation you don’t crowd it. You do not duplicate work and resources,’ Ms Kamya told our sister television station, NTV Uganda.

Back then, Ms Munira Ali, the spokesperson of the Inspectorate, claimed that the ombudsman had not backtracked. ‘We work together under a forum known as an inter agency forum. We communicate. Where one of the agencies is already investigating, another does not open up an investigation because it is bound to delay the other agency’s work. Besides, there have also been complaints that multiple agencies are investigating one institution at the same time, yet we oftentimes require the same sets of documents and information,’ she said.

Shielding

One of the things that has been coming up is the Inspectorate’s handling of petitions related to requests for the disclosure of public information regarding declarations of assets and liabilities of public leaders. Whereas the Constitution and the Access to Information Act 2005 guarantees the right of citizens to access information in possession of the State and its organs, and whereas Section 7 of the leadership Code Act, 2002, provides that, ‘the content of a declaration under this code shall be treated as public information and accessible to the public…’, the IGG has previously ignored requests that would have enabled the public to access this information.

On July 1, 2024, for example, Agora’s top brass wrote to the ombudsman requesting access to declarations of incomes, assets and liabilities that had been filed by 13 leaders. These included Ms Among; and her Deputy, Mr Thomas Tayebwa; and the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Mr Joel Ssenyonyi.

Others were former Bugweri County MP Abdu Katuntu; Kachumbala County MP Opolot Patrick Isiagi; Lwengo District MP Cissy Donizia Namujju; former Kira Municipality MP Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda; Bukooli Central MP Solomon Silwanyi; Ms Among’s husband, Mr Moses Magogo; Director of Ethics and Integrity Alex B Okello; the ombudsman then, Ms Kamya; Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) president Patrick Amuriat Oboi; and Masaka Resident City Commissioner Hudu Hussein.

‘The IGG did not provide us with the said information. They wrote back claiming that it was for our own safety,’ Mr Godwin Toko, the deputy team lead at Agora, told Weekend Monitor. Ms Munira Ali had, by press time, not responded to questions why Agora’s request for information has gone unanswered.

Performance issues

Those who think the anti-corruption agencies have been sleeping on the job point to the annual outputs. ‘If you’re an institution like the [Inspectorate] and you’re getting maybe Shs90b a year, what do you have to show for that? In the Financial Year 2024-2025, the IGG only had three convictions. How do you explain that?’ Mr Agaba wonders. He thinks most of the money that should have been expended on the fight against corruption is instead used to pay salaries and allowances and buy cars. Previously, there have been questions regarding Mr Museveni’s commitment to fighting corruption.

Critics argue that whereas the ‘elimination of corruption and misuse of power’ was number seven on the 10-point programme, a governance blueprint put together during the guerrilla war in Luweero, the government has spectacularly failed on that front. In fact, the NRM has, they add, lowered the bar from ‘elimination’ to simply ‘fighting’ corruption. While giving his inaugural speech on May 14, soon after he was sworn into office, Mr Museveni declared that his seventh elective term is one of ‘no sleep, no corruption’. His critics, however, say the fight will be met with the same abysmal success as has been met in each of the previous six terms. What is it that has failed the NRM’s fight against corruption?

While Mr Mulumba insists that it is the institutions that have let Mr Museveni down, Mr Ogalo disagrees. The latter thinks it is the President who has, by his own statements and actions, been letting himself down. ‘Ask yourself why those agencies are not doing much. Do you remember what Justice [Irene] Mulyangoja [former ombudsman] told us about where the thieves hide? Do you remember what happened when Beti Kamya tried to bring a lifestyle audit? What did Mr Museveni publicly tell her? ‘Go slow!’ So, you constrain these institutions, which are supposed to carry out investigations. Then we turn around and blame them, yet we praise those who have constrained them,’ Mr Ogalo says.

On December 9, 2021, during the launch of the lifestyle audit campaign at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds in Kampala, Mr Museveni told Ms Kamya, then the ombudsman, to go slow on her plans to conduct lifestyle audits on public servants as part of a plan to fight corruption. The President rationalised that it would force thieving public officials to hide their loot abroad.

‘The lifestyle audit is good, but be careful because we are still lucky that our corrupt people are corrupt here. But if they realise that their lifestyle is being audited, they will instead take what they stole abroad, and it will be hard to track them,’ Mr Museveni, who was the chief guest on that year’s commemoration of the International Anti-Corruption Day, said.

It is because of such comments that the feeling that Mr Museveni is not committed to fighting corruption pervades. Those who have been left frustrated by the apparent evasiveness of the government have been quick to laud Gen Muhoozi’s apparent intervention. That is fuelling the debate around whether he should continue involving himself in what is meant to be a function of the police. Whether he continues doing so and what it means for the anti-corruption agencies and their future should perhaps be of more concern to the citizenry.