Category: Daily Monitor

On November 25, I was invited by the National Girls Summit to the official launch of the 16 Days of activism against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) as we marked the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls. The global orange campaign was started 34 years ago by activists at the Centre for Women’s Global Leadership at Rutgers University in New Jersey, USA, with the core objective of syncing violence against girls and women with broader human rights observation.

During a networking session at the event, a very prominent chief executive shared her terrifying experience with me. She asked if I ever noticed that we run the 16 Days campaign when excluding boys and men. ‘We give a lot of attention to women’s experiences, but I am a living testimony of GBV. My biological father was killed in cold blood because of gender-based violence,’ she said. ‘In a society where women are the sole holders of the ‘victim’s card’, to date, my father has never received justice, even after 15 years.’

In the same week, a prominent journalist, through his official X handle, claimed he was a victim of gender-based violence. ‘I am part of the unreported statistics of men who experience domestic violence from partners with uncontrolled anger issues, but because we are men in the corporate world, we stay silent, show up every day,’ he posted. His claims were swiftly denied by his estranged wife, who herself posted that she was, in fact, the victim of gender-based violence. As to who is right or wrong in their marriage might never be known to the outside world.

And as to whether the journalist is only buying into public sympathy or not, one thing remains true; there are unreported statistics of men who experience domestic violence from their partners. According to statistics from the Mankind Initiative Organisation in the UK, ‘One in 15 men (6.5 percent) said they were a victim of domestic abuse in 2024/2025 (1.5 million men). The figures for women were 9.1 percent and 2.2 million respectively. Men consist of 41 percent of all victims.’

The systematic feminisation of GBV is becoming an entrenched culture in our public institutions, development agencies and multilateral bodies such as the European Union, the Commonwealth, the African Union and the United Nations. Society has successfully centred the GBV fight around the female gender alone, thus ignoring the male gender. Society needs to understand that boys and men are human beings and potential victims of injustices, social stigma, inequities and inequalities. Men equally feel pain, misery, despair and all emotional and physical agony that come with human nature. Unfortunately, on so many occasions, men have been portrayed as the most insensitive and evil.

While there are countless cases of boys and men violently mistreating girls and women, the reverse is also true; history has shown many convicted cases of prominent men killed by their wives. I don’t discredit or dismiss the efforts of society towards ending violence against girls and women, but the systematic practice of tailoring the GBV fight as a female issue is not sustainable in the broader human rights approach and observations. It’s time to demystify one gender sided efforts in the fight against gender-based violence with inter gender open dialogues, mindset change, empowerment of the boy child through financing, strategies and inclusive policies.

As formal employment opportunities continue to narrow in both the public and private sectors following hard economic times, the chairman of the Indian Association Uganda, Paresh Mehta, has advised the people of Uganda to consider utilising available resources to set up their own businesses.

This, he said, will not only sustain their source of income and enable them to fend for their families with ease, but will also create job opportunities for those who will be hired to run such enterprises.

‘Take courage and be determined to start something even when the business road seems not to be smooth. Success comes to those who dare to start something and work hard towards achieving their desired economic status,’ Mr Mehta told hundreds of guests who graced the grand opening of Le Man’s Auto Works at Lugogo, Kampala on December 6, 2025. The even was attended by Indian Community in Uganda and representatives from the Indian High Commission in Uganda.

Mr Mehta said that most of the Indians had mastered the art of creating their own jobs and they are hardly hit by the unemployment crisis.

The recent aid freeze by the President of the United States of America, Mr Donald Trump, that saw thousands of organisations lose donor support, saw thousands of employees lose jobs, worsening the unemployment crisis in many countries, including Uganda.

The COVID-19 crisis that paralysed economies worldwide and left employers limping, necessitated employees to think out of the box, by creating their own jobs using personal resources or those provided by the government.

According to MasterCard Foundation, existing impact evaluation studies suggest that specific programmes, such as the Uganda Youth Livelihood Program, the Uganda Women Empowerment Program, and the Presidential Women Skilling Program, have demonstrated positive outcomes in creating employment opportunities for different categories of Ugandans, enabling them to generate income.

Most young Ugandans with innovative ideas lack the capital to start green businesses.

A report from the National Planning Authority (NPA) indicated that 4.2 million youths in Uganda are neither in employment, education, nor training, representing 41 percent of the country’s younger population.

‘What Le Man auto works brought is very unique. They are not only opening a motor garage, but also building a dream to give a great investment in the country and by repairing many lives by creating more job opportunities. This is a great way of giving back to the nation. Let us support each other,’ Mr Mehta said.

Mr Arshad Bholim, the Chief Executive Officer, Le-Man Authoworks, advised clients to seek services from trusted sources to avoid falling victim.

According to his column, Mao is back. He’s a writer again. Oh yes, he writes for Sunday Monitor. That’s right, a whole minister in a whole newspaper with more than half a chance of winning a seat in a less-than-wholesome Parliament. According to haters, the man is only writing because nobody bothered to write the Democratic Party’s (DP) manifesto. It all started when he, Mao, decided that being a Member of Parliament was better than being a member of the First Family as family head. Or what Mbidde would call Pater familias.

By selling himself short, Mao fulfilled the phrase “bumper sticker on a Bentley”. This is a metaphor for doing something tacky or inappropriate to an expensive, luxury item. It became famous from a 2017 interview where Kim Kardashian used it to express her disdain for tattoos, comparing them to bumper stickers on a Bentley. Later, Kardashian got a small, discreet tattoo on the inside of her lip, which she referred to as having “finally put a bumper sticker on a Bentley’.

Anyway, the Bentley in this case is Mao’s career, and the bumper sticker is presumably the MP seat. The man is supposed to be president of Uganda. However, he decided that the leopard should never be assaulted via the rear. Mzee warned us all that the Big Cat’s external opening of the rectum, located inside the intergluteal cleft, should not be touched. Mzee used to be a domestic cat when he was in the bush.

Then he grew into a big cat as soon as January 26, 1986, rolled around. Thereupon, the big cat also became the big dog. Mao reportedly took note. Mao thus transformed himself into an attack dog. He then went from being a rebel without a pause to being a rebel on paws. I meant, pause. So he couldn’t write the DP manifesto. This brought him to Sunday Monitor. He is writing it here and the editors are reportedly limiting him to a word count that will abruptly transform into a full stop as soon as his manifesto starts sounding like the National Resistance Movement’s (NRM) manifesto.

It makes sense, seeing that the DP bossman once said he was going to vaccinate the country against the yellow fever spread by NRM’s party colours. However, Mao is famously stubborn. He is sure to fumble, being a former student of Namilyango College. The CDF will agree; the epithet ‘fumbler’ was coined by Namilyango’s rivals from St Mary’s College Kisubi (SMACK), where the CDF used to dine on posho and beans. Now he’s enjoying the UPDF’s menu, bulleted to shot for his culinary tastes. As for Mao, he is now on two diets.

One does his palate justice while the other leaves him in a position to eat his words once his column is documented and then used against him by his red detractors. By putting his words into cold print, Mao risks being correctly quoted and thus being denied the plausible deniability every politician subsists on. However, Mao is not bothered. He wants to be quoted. He has nothing to hide. The emperor is wilfully naked. His column, his critics say, will not last longer than his MP campaign run. It is just a seriated manifesto. After he gets to Parliament, it will vanish like a certain minister’s orange shirt.

Then he is likely to be made Mzee’s immediate underboss, which is what he means when he says: ‘Power is not for everyone. That’s why I said the transition will not be based on elections. These things are already happening in the rooms which matter. And those rooms are not your TV studios.’ Now we know why Mzee turned up missing at the NTV presidential debate.

Mao had warned us, but we ignored it. The man is now going to be warning us every Sunday, and if we do not listen, Mzee will be given a column in the Monitor. He has been reportedly negotiating his contract. Mzee has told this satirist that his official monthly salary is Shs3.6 million, so Monitor should add at least 1m and the leopard will be given more oomph to its pounce.

Last week, on November 30, during a meeting with a group of youth, they asked President Museveni about the nearly five-year ban on Facebook in Uganda.

Replied the President: ‘We will consider. We had to teach Facebook a lesson. They thought Uganda wouldn’t survive without them. You can see that Uganda is thriving and unstoppable.’ The confidence with which the President expressed his satisfaction that Facebook had been taught a lesson shows that he really believes Facebook is inaccessible in Uganda.

Now, anybody who knows half a thing about the Internet and social media knows that there is a way around the sort of blocking of websites that the President referred to. The public has simply downloaded virtual private networks (VPNs), a technology that works like a glove, masking users’ location to evade this kind of ban. This is not just Millennials and Gen-Z, but ministries, agencies, and other official bodies, Cabinet ministers, National Resistance Movement (NRM) MPs, military officers, and even State House itself.

The only time Facebook could not be accessed was the four-day period starting on Wednesday evening, January 13, 2021, when the government shut down the entire Internet on the eve of the general election. The Internet shutdown was lifted at about 11am on Monday, January 18, 2021. There are some things that can be debated and spun. We can argue about whether or not the GDP growth figures given by the government are real. We can question if the general election results declared by the Electoral Commission (EC) reflect the will of the people.

We can argue over whether Uganda is better off under the NRM government or worse off. But we can’t debate the clear fact that Facebook not only continues to be used inside Uganda, but the number of users has increased significantly since 2021. As of October 2019, there were about 2.9 million Facebook users in Uganda. Today, in December 2025, there are an estimated 3.5 million users. So, why does the President keep repeating this erroneous position that Ugandans have no access to Facebook? To analysts who study governments and political actors, President Museveni’s position on Facebook reveal a leader out of touch with both global technological trends and Ugandan society itself.

Over the past 20 or so years, the media has published reports about presidential advisers who say since their appointment, they have never met President Museveni. We are starting to see its effects on the President. Just by listening to his advisers, he would be better informed. But even if we put presidential advisers aside for a moment, how about the intelligence services like the Internal Security Organisation (ISO)? In their reports to him since 2021, hasn’t there been a single mention of the fact that Facebook is still alive and well in Uganda?

If not, why not?

All this suggests the isolation in which the most powerful person in Uganda lives. As I argued in the Sunday Monitor around August 2021, he is both powerful and powerless. One of the reasons many countries have term limits or an age limit on the presidency, apart from using it as a tool to check unrestrained power, is that most human beings, after some time or as they get older, start to lose touch with the latest trends. Their knowledge of the past remains intact, but recent trends in fashion, technology, cultural tastes, and so on become harder to keep up with as we grow older.

We see this in the mismatch between parents and their teenage children. Certain services and products are so critical to a society that the population will flout any laws that cut them off. Social media, and Facebook in particular, is one of these. The black market in foreign currencies in the 1970s and 1980s was the best example before this, of how the general population will flout arbitrary laws and restrictions in matters crucial to their day-to-day lives. Thus, the biggest ‘protest vote’ today is not the one proclaimed by the National Unity Platform (NUP) .

It is the daily decision by millions of Ugandans of all stripes and political persuasions since 2021 to continue using Facebook despite the government’s ban.

Finally, since President Museveni believes a lot in wealth creation, here is a list of the world’s 10 largest companies by market capitalisation, as of November 2025: 1) NVIDIA, 2) Apple, 3) Google, 4) Microsoft, 5) Amazon, 6) Broadcom, 7) Facebook, 8) Saudi Aramco, 9) Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, 10) Tesla.

Of the 10 companies, only the Saudi national energy company, Saudi Aramco, is not a technology one.

The rest either produce technology hardware (microchips, smartphones, laptops) or services (cloud data servers, social media, AI, online shopping). Facebook is, by far, the world’s largest and most influential social media platform. About a third of the world’s population is on Facebook. As for the President’s belief that he trimmed Facebook’s wings, nothing of the sort happened. Facebook and Google basically make no money in Africa. Their presence in Africa is mainly because it gives the impression of them as global companies.

In terms of revenue, about 45 percent of Facebook’s revenue comes from North America, 25 percent from Europe, 23 percent from Asia-Pacific, and 15 percent from the rest of the world. What is the benefit of Facebook to Ugandans, apart from communicating with friends, family, and colleagues? So, contrary to President Museveni’s blissful confidence that he dealt Facebook a decisive blow, nothing of the sort happened.

The battle for Tororo Municipality has intensified, with job creation, vocational skills training and education emerging as the defining issues of the 2026 parliamentary race.

The contest has drawn a crowded field of six challengers: Odaka Asuman Marijan (NEED), Valentine Owor (NUP), Shyam Tanna (Ind), Annette Nandala Kimbowa (Ind), Edward Okware (Ind) and Patrick Ochom Oguta (Ind)-seeking to unseat incumbent MP Yeri Apollo Ofwono, who is bidding for a fourth term.

Ofwono told supporters that Tororo voters face ‘two things to do in the 2026 general elections’-to ‘massively vote for President Museveni’ and return him as MP.

He insisted the municipality has ‘valid reasons’ to back the president, pointing to Museveni’s recent executive proposal to elevate Tororo Municipality to city status.

The incumbent also cited his personal contributions to ‘places of worship, schools, communities and social groups,’ saying these efforts have driven local transformation.

‘I’m a man of action and all my actions speak for themselves and I promise to do more if re-elected,’ he said.

But independent candidate Shyam Tanna, widely viewed as the main challenger, has placed education and practical skills at the centre of his message.

He promised to expand vocational training for young people unable to afford formal schooling.

‘I will support skills development for those who can’t afford pursuing formal education so that they can be able to acquire life skills to earn a living,’ he said.

Speaking at a rally at Tororo Children’s Lions Park, Shyam recently urged voters to rally behind him, pledging to push policies targeting poverty, disease and ignorance.

He also vowed to strengthen emergency health services by supporting the acquisition of an ambulance for every division.

‘I am not coming to start from scratch,’ he said, adding: ‘Our family has laid a strong foundation in Tororo Municipality. My goal is to build on that to modernize, expand, and bring in new opportunities using the knowledge and networks I have gained.’

Independent candidate Annette Nandala Kimbowa has framed her run around women and youth empowerment, saying she will use her personal savings to help groups access start-up capital.

‘I decided to join this mental dominated seat to show them that women are tired of promises but to deliver services,’ she said.

Other contenders, Odaka Asuman Marijan (NEED), Valentine Owor (NUP), Edward Okware (Ind) and Patrick Ochom Oguta (Ind), have also centred their campaigns on job creation, education and community uplift, positioning the race as a test of who can best respond to Tororo’s economic pressures.

The parliamentary contest unfolds as Uganda prepares for its General Election on January 15, 2026.

Seasoned politician and Democratic Party (DP) president, who is also the minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Mr Norbert Mao, in one of those philosophical and witty remarks described leading/ruling Uganda as tough as riding a mad tiger. Meaning you have to be very brave and extraordinarily skilled to remain on the back of the mad tiger, or else the tiger would throw you off in a second, and you would die.

Mr Mao made the observation in positive praise of President Museveni, who has led Uganda for close to 40 years. To Mao, this is no mean achievement given Uganda’s history and, therefore, urged Ugandans to give him the respect he deserves. Mao could not have described Uganda in any other phraseology than that. Imagine, from 1962 when Uganda attained independence, to 1986 when President Museveni came to power, Uganda had changed presidents for a record seven times. Those changes were sometimes achieved through violent military interventions.

The reason Uganda became a ‘mad tiger’ is largely associated with its history. Uganda was never a single political entity at the time of its creation by the British colonialists. The colonisers forcefully created the Ugandan State through merging several kingdoms, chiefdoms, tribes and clans. In fact, these kingdoms and chiefdoms were always at war with each other. Therefore, the colonialists forced us into a union that literally became difficult to unite. Consequently, the post-independence elites who took the reins of power failed to achieve that much-needed unity and coexistence.

Leaders such as Milton Obote, Edward Muteesa, Grace Ibingira, and John Kakonge, among others, failed to achieve unity among these nations, and what followed until 1986 is everybody’s knowledge.While canvassing for votes across the country in the ongoing electoral campaigns, Mr Museveni’s catchword is preserving the peace that Ugandans have enjoyed for some time now. In fact, it is the biggest gain that must be jealously protected because it is the anchor for other gains in our socioeconomic transformation journey.

Without a doubt, for Uganda to witness radical transformation, we have to keep on attracting foreign capital because we are still a small economy to do it ourselves. It took a lot of persuasion and guaranteeing security in Uganda for investors to begin bringing capital and the much-needed expertise that Ugandans are benefiting from. Peace is a fundamental component of development, acting as both a prerequisite and a result of progress, as violent conflict disrupts essential systems like education, healthcare, and commerce.

A peaceful environment fosters social stability, trust, and cooperation, which are essential for development to occur. This relationship is recognised in global frameworks like the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically SDG 16, which aims to promote a peaceful and inclusive society. For some time, none of the global investors thought of investing in Uganda. Uganda was synonymous with civil wars and military coups. All that scepticism has since changed. Big investors are comfortably flocking to the country for big investments.

Take the example of companies such as Total and CNOOC, and, until recently, Tullow. These are investing billions of dollars in oil extraction in the Albertine region.

Uganda has witnessed massive Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) in the telecoms sector, in the banking sector, agro-industrialisation, manufacturing and the services sector. All these are taking place because of the prevailing peace in the country. Uganda remains the island of peace in the region. It is no wonder that Uganda is the second country in the world to host the largest number of refugees.

These trek into from across the world because of guaranteed peace and, of course, the best and hospitable refugee policy that Uganda extends to refugees.

Question is, as we roll to January 15 to elect our leaders, should we maintain this progress or…? My honest take is that Ugandans should maintain the status quo since the driver is still full of stamina and has the correct vision.

In a small village of Ntungamo, where the red earth meets endless green hills, lived a boy named Kashanku. He was 12 years old and known throughout the village for his quick temper. When other children played football and laughed under the mango tree, Kashanku often sat apart, scowling. If anyone teased him, he would shout or throw stones. Some said he had ‘fire in his heart.’

His mother, Teopista, worried endlessly.

‘My son,’ she would sigh, ‘anger will burn you faster than the sun.’

But Kashanku would glare and stomp away. ‘You don’t understand!’ he’d shout.

His father, Mureefu, believed discipline would fix him. ‘A boy must learn respect,’ he said. ‘If he misbehaves, he must face consequences.’ So when Kashanku broke things or yelled at older people, Mureefu would force him to fetch water for the entire family or weed the garden on his own. However much chores he did, it only made the fire in the heart of Kashanku stronger.

In school, it was not any better. Kashanku was annoyed by Madam Fulugensio, his teacher, who tried to help him, but he frequently quarrelled with his teacher as well. He threw his books and stormed out of the classroom when other children mocked him because of his errors. Very soon, he was recognised as the angry boy.

Mureefu got impatient one day after having another fight at school. ‘You are dishonouring this family!’ he shouted.

Kashanku’s eyes filled with tears. ‘You never listen! You just shout! You don’t care how I feel!’ he screamed back before fleeing to the shamba.

The following week, Teopista brought Kashanku to meet with the Rev Fr Dodovido, a church man with a reputation of assisting troubled young people.

After many weeks of counselling, his parents observed the transformation. Gradually, the shoutings had become less, and the silence at supper had reverted to laughter. Kashanku had not lost his anger yet, but he was learning to master it.

Anger is a normal emotion to which all people feel, including children. It may be as a result of frustration, disappointment or being misunderstood. Although anger is not a negative feeling on its own, the way in which it is displayed can go a long way.

Uncontrolled anger may cause hurtful feelings, ruined relationships, or even violence. The ability to control anger will teach children to gain emotional strength, self-control, and positive communication skills. Thus, anger management instruction among children is a significant aspect of emotional and social growth.

Children have a tendency to be unable to control anger simply because they are yet to learn how to interpret and share their feelings about life. As opposed to adults, they may not have the vocabulary or feelings to describe what they are experiencing. A child that feels ignored or embarrassed may throw tantrums or break out physically, since he or she does not know how to otherwise express frustration. Devoid of guidance, these behaviours may turn out to be habits that may be difficult for the child to overcome in adulthood.

Caregivers, teachers, and parents play a significant role to make children learn anger management skills through different ways.

Emotional awareness

This makes children aware of their emotions and naming them. Children are in a better position to discuss any of these emotions such as anger, sadness, and fear when they learn to recognise them. An example is when a teacher tells the child that he or she seems angry because he or she did not understand in order to explain to the child and name the emotion.

Coping techniques

Such mechanisms can consist deep breathing, counting until 10, leaving the situation or speaking words rather than acting. It has been shown that some children have a so-called calm-down space where they go to relax until they are prepared to communicate.

Children can also be encouraged to use creative outlets (drawing, playing music, and writing) to get out anger in healthy ways.

Model relaxed behaviour

Most children observe their adult caregivers, parents, and guardians. Children will emulate the behaviour of their parents or teachers when the parents or teachers act with calm and respect towards others with anger. Conversely, when adults react by screaming or being aggressive, the children might also learn that hostility is the way to show anger.

Regular, relaxed instructions allow the children to understand that anger is a problem that can be managed and solved not through confrontation but through the process of communication.

Positive reinforcement

Complimenting children when they deal with frustration in proper ways, such as walking out of an argument or use of words to explain their emotions, makes them repeat such behaviours. This accumulates emotional maturity and confidence in them over time.

To recap it all, anger management among children is not concerned with holding back feelings, but rather, teaching the children to know, interpret, and express anger in a constructive manner.

We can make children use anger as a growth and self-control tool rather than a destructive power by teaching them emotional control and coping methods along with positive adult role models. Early anger management can teach children to be calm and respectful in dealing with future problems. It is a foundation for having a good relationship with others and emotional stability.

On Friday, November 28, the KFM Hot Seat Friday panel of journalists, as we know it, belted out its swansong. This is ironic because it often operated below the belt, at least according to the government. I was honoured to be on this last show of what was an iconic media fixture. I didn’t gatecrash, as my haters would have you believe. I was invited. Imagine me, of all people. I am not knocking my abilities or stature. To the contrary, I am impressed with myself.

You see, I used to listen to Andrew Mwenda Live and the Friday panel of journalists religiously. Both were various incarnations and predecessors to the Hot Seat show. I recall when Mwenda had former president Godfrey Binaisa (derided as Bin Issa of Zanzibar to his haters) on the show. Mwenda asked him about another former president, Milton Obote. The late Binaisa, always calm and collected, praised the late Obote as astute, along with a number of other favourable adjectives.

After Binaisa’s encomiums, as he would call them, Mwenda told Binaisa what Obote had said about him. It was documented in a book, and it was not charitable.

Thereupon, Binaisa, right in the Monitor FM studios, KFM’s previous brand name, changed tack and declared Obote an unsavoury character or words to that effect.

It was a clever tactic by Mwenda. The before and after versions of Binaisa with respect to what he said about Obote and what he thought about Obote captured the variety which is the spice of life.

Mwenda didn’t stop there. His other provocations got him thrown behind bars where he was visited by the current Chief of Defence Forces with cameras and journalists in tow. One could not help but admire Mwenda. He was (and is) well read, boldly analytical, with a mouth that seems to run on rocket fuel. It never ran on empty, unlike some of his guests. On Friday, when the coven of journalists sat to analyse the events of the week, it only got better. Timothy Kalyegira, a man who is no stranger to controversy himself, would also show up. He came across as subdued, somewhat.

His voice was always dialled down so he could orally wring the neck of anybody who had the misfortune of being caught in his intellectual crosshairs. He was often more forthright than Mwenda. He hosted the last show, but this time without the fire and brimstone of an analytical messiah seemingly cross with the world. On the panel of journalists’ last dance, as it were, he was full of cheer. It being a Friday night, I thought he had sipped something. But Tim is a teetotaller.

So he was just high on the memories the show embalmed in him. Raymond Mujuni was also in the house. That guy is whip-smart and eloquent, too. I always thought he was a little effete, but in person he is the exact opposite. He knows exactly when to launch and land the knockout pitch. Also in the studio were Frank Mugimba and Isaac Kayonde, along with Jimmy Odoki Acellam. They all held different views and political stances, but got along famously.

Suddenly, I realised what the true heritage of the show was. It was not the show’s iconoclasms, nor was it the show’s guests, several of whom were presidents and former presidents. The show’s significance came from its purveyance and promotion of contrary standpoints, thereby crystallising the unity in diversity we must all embrace if Uganda is to achieve its destiny.

Police in Jinja City have blocked Busoga One Radio’s annual concert despite a clear directive from Internal Affairs Minister Maj Gen (Rtd) Kahinda Otafiire authorising the event to go ahead, escalating tensions around public gatherings in the run-up to Uganda’s 2026 elections.

Security officers on Saturday stormed the Jinja Agricultural Show Grounds, ordered workers to vacate, and halted preparations for the ‘Endigito Mudido Tunga Ntunge 2025’ festival.

The station, based in Jinja City, is owned by Paul Mwiru, the National Unity Platform (NUP) chairperson for Busoga South East and a parliamentary candidate in the area.

Police cited what they called a ‘highly sensitive political period,’ but the move directly contradicted a December 5 directive issued by Gen Otafiire in reference BOR/E/2/2025.

The minister had intervened after receiving a complaint from Mwiru, saying the grounds used to block the event were unjustified.

‘I have received a complaint regarding the matter, and I note that the event was stopped simply because this is a political period,’ Gen Otafiire stated.

He instructed security to lift the suspension, adding: ‘The event should be allowed to take place. Even during this political period, political statements are not banned, and we must ensure that space is given for political expression.’

Before the minister’s directive, the Jinja City Security Committee had issued a formal advisory postponing the December 7 concert.

In a letter signed by chairperson Richard Gulume Balyaino, the committee said it based its position on a Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) report.

‘An extended City Security Committee meeting was convened to review the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) security assessment report,’ the letter to Busoga One General Manager Innocent Anyole read.

The committee recommended the show be pushed to ‘a later date, preferably after the elections.’

Uganda heads to the polls on January 15, 2026, and the dispute has triggered confusion among fans, performers and vendors who had already committed to the festival.

By Saturday morning, dozens of small-scale traders had transported food and merchandise to the grounds, expecting brisk business.

Many said the sudden police action left them facing severe financial losses.

‘I had prepared over 200 chapatis and brought all my ingredients. Now everything is wasted, and I don’t know how I will recover the money I spent,’ chapati vendor James Kakaire told Monitor.

Sarah Kayaga, who sells soft drinks and snacks, described the operation as abrupt and costly. ‘We hired transport and extra help for today. The police came and cleared the venue without any warning. All our stock is going bad, and we may lose everything,’ she lamented.

Food vendor Ms Ruth Naigaga added: ‘Events like this are how we survive. Today, I had meat, vegetables, perishable food, and charcoal ready, but I cannot sell anything. We are left with huge losses for no reason.’

The fate of the festival remains unclear as Busoga One Radio prepares to issue further communication.

Recently, there were botched and violent elections in Tanzania. Uganda is currently preparing for a general election next month. I wish it well. May these elections be credible, fair, free, and transparent. I’ve lived in Canada for more than two decades. May I pull a leaf out of Canada’s book vis-à-vis how to conduct clear, credible, fair, and free elections? For it offers positive insights.

First, elections in Canada aren’t cut-throat and corrupt. Voters choose policies, not parties and personalities. To win an election in Canada, you must present sound policies that respond to voters’ aspirations and interests. Hence, the system here doesn’t allow, accommodate, or tolerate any sort of corruption or malpractices. Candidates squarely get what they deserve. Second, there aren’t expensive or pompous campaigns. In my town of approximately 4,400 people, I’ve never seen any campaign meeting in about 17 years. Not one, not once.

When it is time for elections, Elections Canada, the electoral commission here, sets a date for elections. Public places are used to cast votes. There are four ways of voting in Canada. One can vote on election day by going to a polling station and casting one’s vote or by advance polling days, which are before the voting day. If one doesn’t want to or can’t vote in the above category, one can do so at any Elections Canada office or by mail. For those who want to vote in the last category, they provide their postal address to Elections Canada, which posts a voting kit ready for casting.

Third, with such a system, there are no huge campaign meetings everywhere in the country. There is also no chaos or rigging. Furthermore, there are no inducements or coercion since people vote for policy, not personalities or parties. This system has proved to be efficient and effective for both candidates and voters. Fourth, Canada started voting in 1867. Canada is a multiparty country.

It has many big and small political parties such as the Liberal Party of Canada, a centre-left political party that has historically been one of the two dominant parties in Canada; the Conservative Party of Canada, a centre-right political party that emerged from the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party; and the New Democratic Party (NDP), a left-wing party that advocates for social democracy and progressive policies.

Others are the Bloc Québécois, a federal political party that promotes Quebec nationalism and advocates for the interests of Quebecers; and the Green Party of Canada, which focuses on environmental issues and sustainability, advocating for green policies and practices, among others. These are among the big parties which are a must-have in every general election. Due to being corruption proof, I have never heard of any electoral corruption case. I tried to research and got none whatsoever. So why is there no corruption in Canada’s elections?

There are many answers, among which is the fact that in Canada, as opposed to Africa, politics isn’t a moneymaking endeavour. People run for political positions to serve people, and not to serve themselves and their families. Second, no politician, even though there can be a few, stays in a position for a long. Finally, no party has ever won more than 50 percent in four decades. Therefore, in Canada, neither party nor its leader has ever dreamt of winning with a bigger percentage as we recently saw in Tanzania where the re-elected president, despite a bloodbath, miraculously ‘won’ with 98 percent!