Category: Daily Monitor

The Kyabazinga of Busoga, William Gabula Nadiope IV, has called on the Hotel and Tourism Training College (HTTC) in Jinja City to design short, practical courses targeting single mothers, school dropouts and other vulnerable youth, saying skills development is key to fighting poverty and reducing social vulnerabilities in the region.

In a speech delivered on his behalf by the kingdom’s second deputy premier, Mr Noor Osman, during the College’s 16th graduation ceremony on November 28, the Kyabazinga noted that many young people risk being left behind unless institutions intentionally support them.

‘We pledge to continue supporting this College but also appeal to its management to consider the kingdom’s subjects like the single mothers, school dropouts, and other vulnerable youth, so that they get skills, fight poverty and become ambassadors of Busoga’s culture and heritage,’ the Kyabazinga said.

Ms Florence Mutyabule, Busoga’s presidential advisor on poverty alleviation, told this publication on the sidelines of the event that many single mothers lack employable skills, leaving them unable to compete effectively for jobs.

The Principal of HTTC, Mr Richard Kawere, revealed that 66 percent of the College’s current student population is female, and that 82 of the graduands completed the apprenticeship programme, an initiative of the Ministry of Tourism under the government reskilling programme supported by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the ministries of Education and Gender.

‘Statistics show that 71 percent of the students who graduate as apprentices from the HTTC transition into employment within the first three months and another percentage within the next six months,’ Mr Kawere said.

‘We have not recorded unemployment out of the students who have undergone an apprenticeship programme; and today, I want to state that tourism and hospitality are at the centre stage of jobs. For every 100 jobs, 10 percent of the world population is employing tourism and hospitality professionals.’

He added that the College has strengthened its capacity through international partnerships, including one with the American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute, under which 22 academic staff were certified as international hospitality educators.

Col (Rtd) Tom Butime, the Minister of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, urged the newly graduated students to uphold high professional standards and praised HTTC for its strong partnerships and contribution to the growth of Uganda’s tourism sector.

He described tourism and hospitality professionals as essential to national development, noting that the sector is a ‘strategic pillar’ under Uganda’s Vision 2040 plan, which aims to generate $50 billion from tourism.

A total of 366 students graduated with Diplomas and Certificates in Pastry and Bakery, Hotel Management, Tourism Management and other disciplines. Of these, 81 (22%) were male and 285 (78%) female.

Sixteen students achieved first-class honours, with Ms Priscilla B. Mukisa, a National Certificate in Hotel Operations student, emerging best overall with a CGPA of 4.92.

The HTTC, formerly the Uganda Hotel and Tourism Training Institute (UHTTI), is a government institution mandated to train the tourism and hospitality workforce. It has produced more than 7,000 graduates now serving in the sector.

The institution adopted its new name in March following the enactment of the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Act, which restructured Uganda’s vocational training system.

Joseph Eyinu tends to his onion crop with care in Apitopat Cell, Kayago Ward, Namasale Town Council, Amolatar District. The 26-year-old gently picks onions from the nursery bed, taking great care not to damage the delicate plants. With the soil prepared and the irrigation system in place, Eyinu plants the onions in the garden, making sure they are spaced evenly and watered. To protect the young sprouting onions from the harsh rays of the sun, he covers them with dry maize leaves that have the dual purpose of providing shade and retaining soil moisture. This simple yet effective technique helps the onions to grow strong and healthy.

Eyinu is one of several farmers in northern Uganda who are embracing vegetable growing as a way to adapt to climate change. With unpredictable weather patterns and increasing temperatures, these farmers are turning to irrigation and innovative techniques to ensure their crops thrive. The demand for vegetables is high in Namasale, and Eyinu is confident that his onions will fetch a good price at the market. By growing vegetables, he not only supports his family but also contributes to the local food system.

Daniel Opito, a 27-year-old farmer, works at the Apitopat Solar Powered Irrigation Scheme in Namasale Town Council. He serves as a scheme operator and watchman, where he ensures a consistent water supply to local farms to boost productivity and food security. ‘For over a decade, I relied on rain-fed agriculture and fishing in the nearby Lake Kyoga to feed my family. However, I faced persistent hardships with the meagre income.

There were changes in the rainfall patterns, declining fish stocks due to overfishing, destruction of breeding grounds, exploitation by middlemen, and harsh enforcement by the Fisheries Protection Unit (FPU), which often resulted in the confiscation of gear and destruction of boats,’ he says. Opito struggled to meet basic needs such as buying clothes, paying medical bills, and school fees for his children and siblings.

Getting together

In July 2020, he was among dozens of residents of Kayago Ward who formed the Kayago United Farmers and Fishers Association. Their initial venture into agriculture involved purchasing a generator pump to grow onions on a small scale. However, the output was insufficient to meet the needs of all the members.

The turning point came when the association submitted a successful funding proposal to the Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE) through the Water for Production Regional Centre North (WfPRC-N).

In December 2024, the Apitopat Solar Powered Irrigation System was completed, marking a new chapter for the community. Opito joined the Apitopat Farmers Group, which comprises 40 members, including six landlords. ‘I was allocated two plots on a 12-acre farm and received extensive training in agro-entrepreneurship, including enterprise selection, nursery bed management, transplanting techniques, pest and disease control, post-harvest handling, and group dynamics,’ he says.

Diversification of crops and livestock

In January 2025, Opito planted tomatoes on one of his plots. By March, he had harvested the tomatoes and earned Shs3.3 million from their sale, an amount equivalent to what he had previously earned from fishing over 13 years. ‘After deducting expenses, I was left with a balance of Shs2.8 million, which I used to purchase two bulls for ploughing, a 21-inch television, pay school fees, and cover other personal needs,’ he says. Opito notes that before being trained by a team from MWE, he used to harvest five boxes of tomatoes from half an acre of land.

‘I had limited skills in pest and disease management, poor enterprise selection, and poor post-harvest handling. But with the training and exposure, I can now manage my crops, source better inputs, and market them profitably. This has greatly changed my life,’ he says. The farmer now advocates for horticultural production, citing its profitability compared to fishing. He plans to acquire more land, expand his agribusiness, construct a permanent home, relocate his family, and maintain the Apitopat Irrigation Scheme as a productive farm. Opito’s story reflects the transformative potential of sustainable agriculture and targeted development interventions in Uganda’s rural communities.

Irrigation efficiency

As in other districts in northern Uganda, climate change is no longer a distant threat in Amolatar District. The district peninsula has a total population of 188,715 people according to the 2024 National Population and Housing Census. Eighty percent of the population derives its livelihoods from agriculture and fishing. However, extreme weather events and increased pest and diseases have made agriculture in the area more challenging than ever. Benbella Opio, the agricultural officer of Namasale Town Council, says farmers in this administrative unit are mostly engaged in the production of cereal crops, cassava, and sweet potatoes.

‘They also engage in lake fishing, but not aquaculture. You expect rain to come in early March, but then it comes in April. Across northern Uganda, the dry spell sets in around May, at a time when we are about to harvest our crops. So, our production in the first season is always affected by drought,’ he observes. Opio explains that cereal crops are devastated by pests such as the fall armyworm. Nonetheless, he applauds the government for installing an irrigation facility in Namasale through the MWE. ‘This irrigation facility has helped farmers with a constant water supply. During the dry spell, production goes on. For instance, they have just finished the harvest,’ he says.

MWE, with funding from United Kingdom Export Finance and the Government of Uganda, is currently implementing the construction of the Solar Powered Water Supply and Irrigation Systems Project Phase I to increase access to safe and clean water and agricultural production and productivity through irrigation. The ministry contracted M/S Nexus Green Limited to design, supply, and install solar-powered irrigation across the country. The main objective is to demonstrate modern irrigation technology and sensitise beneficiary communities on the utilisation of available water sources to improve production and productivity, as well as sustainably combat the effects of climate change.

Eng. Rogers Masaaba, the deputy manager of Water for Production Regional Centre North, says the intervention is aimed at addressing the ever-growing demand for water supply in the face of climate change and its effects. ‘WfPRC-N under this project is implementing 31 solar-powered irrigation systems in the districts of Amolatar, Apac, Kwania, Dokolo, Lira, Otuke, Oyam, Omoro, Gulu, Adjumani, Amuru, Lamwo, Kitgum, Nwoya, Nebbi, Pakwach, Yumbe, Zombo, Madi Okollo, and Terego. Of these, ten are complete, and 21 projects are ongoing, he says.

Apitopat Solar Power Irrigation Facility has proven vital during the dry season. It covers ten acres of land and is installed with laser spray tape irrigation technology. Beneficiary farmers showcase thriving fields of tomatoes, cabbage, green pepper, and other horticultural crops. Several have reported strong sales, with some supplying produce directly to buyers at farm gate prices, while others transport their harvests to nearby markets, securing competitive prices and expanding their customer base.

‘Before this project, we struggled to grow anything when the rains stopped. Now, I harvest vegetables regularly and sell them to buyers who come straight to my farm,’ says Jessica Orech, one of the scheme’s beneficiaries.

Bosco Olum, another farmer, highlights the economic impact.

‘We do not have reliable rainfall. In other parts of the country, the second season starts in July and ends in December. Amolatar received rain in mid October. It is very difficult for farmers to thrive because of the changes in the rainfall patterns that have lasted close to 10 years. But now, with irrigation, I can afford school fees and better inputs for the next season,’ he says. To recover from climatic shocks, several farmers are adapting to horticulture.

Ronald Opio Orech, 36, says he started growing tomatoes in 2024, and in the first season, he sold his produce for Shs900,000, which he used to pay his sibling’s school fees. Bosco Okello, 48, used to grow millet in his two-acre garden, making Shs1 million after selling off the harvest. ‘I have realised that when you plant tomatoes in half an acre of land, you can get about Shs2 million. I regret wasting my time growing low-value crops,’ he says.

Semmy Achola, a 40-year-old tomato grower, says, ‘I used to grow simsim (sesame) in my two-acre garden, but I would get about Shs800,000 annually since simsim is grown once a year.’ Achola says in the first season this year, she planted tomatoes in a small plot measuring less than half an acre and managed to get Shs300,000. While the overall outlook is positive, farmers also voiced concerns about pest infestations and rising input costs.

Challenges

The lack of access to markets due to a poor road network is a huge challenge for farmers. During rainy seasons, several roads in northern Uganda become impassable, yet agriculture is the main economic activity in the north. When our reporter traveled to Namasale Town Council, about 130 kilometres from Lira City, he experienced firsthand how road users are suffering because of the terrible state of the Dokolo-Amolatar-Namasale road.

Two vehicles transporting produce and fruits were stuck in the mud on the road. Another challenge is fluctuating prices of agricultural produce. The prices are determined by middlemen. Despite these hurdles, the solar-powered irrigation scheme has led to notable improvements in crop yields, household incomes, and food security in Lango, Acholi, and West Nile sub-regions.

During the ongoing campaign season, it has become commonplace for National Unity Platform (NUP) candidates to adopt presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi’s campaign song titled ‘Eh Bobi Bobi’, which was composed by his long-term ally and music producer Daniel Oryewot, popularly known as Dan Magic.

One of the NUP parliamentary candidates who have effectively used the song has been Abedi Nasser Mudiobole who, for the fourth time, is attempting to wrestle Iganga Municipality from the firm grip of Peter Mugema, alias Panadol.

While Mugema is an Independent, he tilts towards the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) during parliamentary voting time.

Social media has been awash with videos showing hundreds of Mudiobole’s supporters dancing through Iganga Municipality in a carnival-like atmosphere that would make some of the presidential candidates jealous.

Though from afar the expectation is that Mudiobole would emerge victorious, considering that he is a crowd puller and also Iganga is now considered to be a NUP stronghold as the reception of Kyagulanyi on Friday attests, there is a lot to factor in and tame this expectation. Mudiobole is a veteran of Busoga politics, having thrown his hat into the Iganga Municipality race in 2011.

Back then, he lost to Mugema with a difference of 636 votes. Mudiobole, then a member of Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), challenged Mugema’s victory at the High Court in Jinja, claiming it was secured through bribing voters.

Justice Lameck Mukasa cancelled Mugema’s victory on the grounds that he had bribed voters when he gave out Shs100,000 towards the construction of St Gonzaga Prisons Chapel during the campaign period.

Lives of a cat

Mugema, through Kiryowa Kiwanuka, now the Attorney General, wasn’t satisfied and took the battle to the Court of Appeal, which confirmed his victory on the grounds that Mudiobole’s witnesses contradicted each other.

‘Having reviewed the evidence adduced and the position of the law, as set out above, I find that the versions of the respondent’s [Mudiobole] witnesses who claimed to have attended the same function at the same time are contradictory in the areas already set out and thus cannot provide proof of what exactly transpired.

The possibility that the appellant did what he did purely as a matter of the practice and manifestation of his faith cannot also be ruled out,’ Justice Remmy Kasule adjudged in a majority judgement, with other justices being Alice Mpagi Bahigeine and Augustine Nshimye.

Five years later, in the 2016 General Election, it was yet another showdown between Mugema and Mudiobole. Once more, Mugema emerged victorious with a difference of 1,291 votes.

Yet again, Mudiobole wasn’t convinced that Mugema had won fair and squarely. The challenger once again ran to the High Court in Jinja, alleging his arch-rival’s victory was a result of bribing voters.

There was drama in court when Abdallah Siraje, Pastor Julius Taleng, whom Mugema had taken as a part of his efforts to shore up his defence, turned around and sided with Mudiobole.

Taleng and Siraje separately told the court that they indeed coordinated the distributed bribery items such as cash, soap, and salt to sway voters to vote for Mugema. Based on such evidence, Justice Margaret Mutonyi not only cancelled Mugema’s victory but also ordered that Mudiobole should swear in as the Iganga Municipality legislator.

Mugema once again appealed, and once again the Court of Appeal, which took over 15 months to deliver, came to his rescue when it overturned Justice Mutonyi’s judgment.

The Court of Appeal Justices claimed that the Shs300,000 Mugema had given out at Bethel Healing church was just an offertory given as an act of religious dedication, not a bribe like Justice Mutonyi had ruled.

Mugema wins, again

In 2021, the showdown was for the umpteenth time between Mugema and Mudiobole. This time round, Mugema, having fallen out with the NRM, after he voted against the editing out of the age limits from the Constitution, an act that allowed Mr Museveni to stand for re-election, he stood as an Independent.

On his part, Mudiobole stuck with FDC, whose popularity had waned, but he supported Kyagulanyi’s presidential bid, having sensed that Iganga Municipality had turned into a NUP stronghold.

Still, Mudiobole, who had crowds attending his rallies, couldn’t translate this into a ballot paper victory since Mugema emerged victorious with a difference of 109 votes.

There were claims that Mugema won because he had distributed food during the pandemic-induced lockdown, but Mudiobole this time didn’t pursue this matter in court.

With FDC in free-fall, Mudiobole formally crossed over to NUP, and it is during this time that he has attracted the wrath of security agencies, who abducted him for several days earlier this year.

‘Our comrade, Counsel Abed Nasser Mudiobole from Iganga, was abducted yesterday evening from Kyaliwajjala. Mudiobole, who is an advocate, was invited to meet a client, and on reaching the premises, he was put at gunpoint by heavily armed men and driven away in a drone to an unknown location,’ Kyagulanyi said after Mudiobole was abducted.

Before the abduction, Mudiobole had been summoned by the police in Iganga to explain his role in the video that emerged showing NUP foot soldiers celebrating Kyagulanyi’s birthday by mimicking a military parade.

Later, the State charged him with unlawful drills, and the file is now gathering dust at Iganga Magistrates’ Court after Mudiobole was given bail. Mudibole was subsequently given the NUP ticket on the grounds that he has a good record of mobilising the opposition in Iganga.

In the 2021 election, though Kyagulanyi not only defeated Museveni in both Iganga Municipality and at the district level, the party couldn’t replicate this at the parliamentary level as it failed to win a single parliamentary seat. In the municipality, Francis Muganga, its candidate, came fourth with 2,935 votes.

Lulenzi up in arms

Though Mudiobole is a crowd puller, the decision by NUP to give him the ticket to try out his luck for the fourth time didn’t go down well with Bamu Lulenzi, another NUP member.

Lulenzi won the Iganga mayoral slot on a NUP ticket in 2021, and he wanted to set up and represent the area in Parliament.

Lulenzi, who prides himself on setting up NUP grassroots structures, had no kind words for NUP leadership when they rejected him in favour of Mudiobole. Consequently, he decided to stand as an Independent.

‘The flag was sold for Shs40 million. The party that we thought had been constructed based on transparency and accountability has decided to sell party cards,’ Lulenzi alleged.

NUP insisted that their Elections Management Committee (EMC) wasn’t involved in any kind of corruption since the choices they took were based on merit.

‘We think the process was free and fair, but we weren’t going to make everyone happy. Some people had to feel aggrieved after this process. That’s what politics is about, but it shows how people like NUP’s ticket,’ David Lewis Rubongoya, NUP’s secretary general, defended the party’s choices.

It remains to be seen if Lulenzi’s decision to stand as an Independent won’t spoil Mudiobole’s party, with his perennial rival, Mugema, lurking.

‘Lulenzi is popular with many people, especially the youth in Iganga [Municipality]. He is a certified foot soldier. That will be Mudiobole’s first roadblock to victory,’ a source familiar with Iganga Municipality elections said on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, Mugema, with his deep wallet, is still the man to beat since he was once again nominated as an Independent; never mind that in 2022, he had said he decamped to NUP after ‘seeing the light.’

Sticking to his jocular if not cavalier style, Mugema, who made that announcement of crossing over to the Opposition’s largest political party at a burial in Kamuli, didn’t follow up his words with action.

‘Besides using money, he knows how to play both the Opposition and the NRM. That’s how he wins by the thinnest of margins,’ a source familiar with Mugema’s strategies said on condition of anonymity.

About Iganga

Iganga is located in Uganda’s Busoga Sub-region. It lies approximately 45 kilometres (28 mi), by road, northeast of the city of Jinja on the highway between Jinja and Tororo. This is approximately 118 kilometres (73 mi), by road, southeast of Mbale.

Iganga comprises of one county of Kigulu and Iganga Municipality. Iganga District is composed of three constituencies of Kigulu South, Kigulu North and Iganga Municipality. It has nine lower local governments.

These include the sub counties of Nawandala, Nabitende, Nambale, and Kidaago located in Kigulu North. Kigulu South includes Bulamagi, Nakigo, Nawaningi and Nakalama. Namungalwe Town Council located in Kigulu North is the urban authority.

Iganga Municipality which is an independent authority from the district in terms of leadership and managemnt, has two divisions of Iganga Central and Northern.

According to the 2024 census, Iganga District has a popuation of 505,405. This figure includes 366,736 rural residents and 68,669 urban residents.

The District accommodates all tribes in Uganda, and the usual common languages being Lusoga, Luganda, English and Swahili.

The bulk of the population belongs to Basoga, characterised by choice of their own religious affiliations, i.e. Protestants, Muslims, Catholics, Faith based and Traditional Cultural beliefs.

The Traditional Foods being mainly potatoes, Cassava, Matooke, Rice and Maize flour, the people are very hospitable.

Efforts to expand access to safe and affordable clean water in Kampala’s informal settlements have received a major boost as the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC), working with the German government, begins installing 1,440 prepaid water meters across the capital.

The initiative targets communities where residents have long depended on private vendors who charge between Shs300 and Shs500 per 20-litre jerrycan, far above NWSC’s official commercial tariff of Shs25.

According to NWSC public relations manager Sam Apedel, the new system is intended to eliminate middlemen and ensure residents pay only the regulated price.

‘Many households in the informal settlements have relied on private vendors who charge between Shs300-Shs500 per 20-litre jerrycan, making clean water unaffordable for many, but with the prepaid meter, a customer decides how much water to buy paying the official rate, and right now we are in the process of installing 1,440 in Kampala,’ Apedel said.

He described the prepaid meters as ‘game-changing technology’ that puts customers in full control of how they consume and pay for water. He also praised the German government for its continued financial and technical support.

‘We are very grateful to our German partners for the work that they have helped us to achieve especially in informal settlements in Kampala, the direct contribution to treatment of sewage at Nalukolongo and one of the very good things about our partnership with the German government is that most of the money they provide, the funding they provide, is actually grants,’ he said.

National Housing and Population Census 2024 data shows that 18.9 percent of households still rely on unimproved water sources, while 49.7 percent have unimproved sanitation facilities.

Apedel said the prepaid system reduces household expenditure because customers purchase only what they need. ‘Everybody loads their money in their tokens the same way they use air time. So they go and get every time he needs water, if he wants a 20-litre jerrycan, he’s charged 25 shillings,’ he said.

From an engineering perspective, he added, the meters increase efficiency by serving many more people than traditional systems.

‘The normal meters. serve about 10-12 people but a prepaid meter serves 30, 40 households, over 100 people,’ Apedel observed.

NWSC said similar water interventions supported by Germany are underway in Gulu, West Nile, Arua and other regions.

‘These projects would not have been achieved without German support,’ Apedel said on November 27.

Philippe Roussel, the deputy head of development cooperation at the German Embassy in Uganda, said Germany has provided more than pound 200 million in grants to Uganda’s water and sanitation sector since 2001.

He said this funding has supported major infrastructure expansions including the Ggaba III and Katosi water plants, sewer networks and faecal sludge treatment facilities.

‘For many years now, we are operating with grants. The tremendous work we are doing here has a huge impact for the people of Uganda,’ Roussel said.

Uganda’s great political contest is probably not erupting in rallies or through slogans; it is unfolding quietly across village boundaries, homesteads and rising factory blocks. It is felt when a father divides his half-acre among five children or when a young graduate heads to Kampala because the soil at home can no longer sustain a dream, or when a bulldozer carves a new industrial road through land where cattle once grazed.

It is the story of land, not just as territory, but as inheritance, livelihood, identity and future. I can say with a fair degree of certainty that in 2026, the true winner will not be the one who speaks loudest, but the one who answers the question every Ugandan is silently asking around, how we turn land from a survival asset into a prosperity engine. Clearly, as things stand, we are on a collision course. Rapid population growth, historical land fragmentation and fast-paced urban-industrial expansion threaten to converge into a crisis.

If subsistence agriculture continues unchecked, Uganda will require an additional 16,000km² of agricultural land by 2040. This will have to be converted from grasslands and wetlands. It will fuel conflict, environmental degradation and could even affect investment. For a while now, we have owned land to survive. Uganda must shift from ‘survival through possession’ to ‘prosperity through purpose.’ The evidence is clear. Kampala (representing Uganda’s urban emergence) shows what order and planning can unlock.

A 31 percent rise in paved road coverage since Financial Year 2021, 64 advanced traffic-controlled junctions, and a 53 percent increase in city revenue over 10 years, with property rates contributing more than 50 percent of collections. Urbanisation, when planned, becomes development strategy, not disaster. Contrast that with Nakaseke. In Nakaseke, transformation is budding but constrained. With a youth-heavy population of 251,299 growing at 2.9 percent annually, 6,230 people employed in 87 factories, and an approved physical development plan running to 2040, the area is ripe.

But implementation struggles against weak infrastructure, waste management failures and inadequate community skill levels. The missing ingredients? Capacity, inclusion and partnerships. Nakaseke needs public-private partnerships (PPPs) not as slogans but as engines. Our industrialisation march adds urgency. Uganda currently hosts 690 companies across 13 national industrial parks, with 383 factories operational. In Kapeeka for instance, Liao Shen Park operates at 100 percent factory efficiency (32 out of 32). This is proof that where land planning meets investment and management, prosperity follows.

But national growth is being built on unsynchronised land regulation, environmental oversight, and inconsistent human capital alignment. Industry cannot grow while land policy drags behind. The next government must make land the nucleus of transformation. This means: consolidating land voluntarily and strategically, fast-tracking digital land demarcation and reforming tenure systems, harnessing urbanisation as a productivity accelerator, aligning industrial zones with logistics corridors, community engagement and environmental care and making human capital, not soil itself the most valuable land resource.

Embracing these reforms will turn land into the bedrock of industrial sovereignty, agricultural productivity, and social harmony. Whoever enters 2026 promising roads without a land strategy, factories without rural transformation, or prosperity without consolidation, is offering Uganda a raw deal.

The leader who understands that turning land into value is not about taking away, but about organising, empowering and modernising, will not just win an election, they will author Uganda’s next chapter. Because in the end, it won’t be the loudest campaign promise that shapes our destiny, but the one that dares to answer the people’s deepest national question: ‘How do we use the land that made us to build the Uganda we dream of?’

For Mzee Bwanika, film is more than craft; it is community, continuity, and courage, a lifelong act of advocacy dressed in the language of light and story. His life reads like a script that began in hardship, rose through self-discovery, and continues as a portrait of resilience.

He is a man obsessed with structure who will be described in some circles as a mentor. Mzee, real name Julius Bwanika, is a believer in people, possibility, and the power of storytelling to rebuild broken things.

Family and advocacy define who he is, and run through everything he has done. He has spent more than two decades inside Uganda’s film scene as an actor, producing, marketing, lobbying, and holding together the threads of a dream many gave up on. His story begins in the rough corners of childhood, where survival came before art.

He lost his father, a soldier, in 1992 and his mother three years later. After they departed, life became difficult. To survive, he joined army schools, Jinja Army Primary and later Nakasongola Army Secondary, where routine offered stability.

Somewhere between parade drills and homework, art found him. On stage, playing an old man, his classmates began calling him Mzee. The name stuck.

‘People think it’s a title, but it’s the mother christened me.’ The nickname became part of his identity. He later on got to learn that family can be chosen.

‘The arts became my family. I found a space where I could speak without being judged.’ By the late 1990s, Kampala’s youth theatre scene was alive. Groups like Black Pearls and Afri-Diamond performed on stage and in schools and churches. For many, theatre was escape and expression.

It gave Bwanika peace because after losing his parents, he longed and searched for something to make him feel alive. This was at a time when television was beginning to colonise living rooms.

‘I once told Andrew Benon Kibuuka, ‘TV is becoming a pathogen to theatre,” he laughs. ‘He said, ‘You’re too young to understand.’ But I knew things were shifting.’

Film bug bites

When a Christian organisation offered computer courses to youth, he joined to keep busy. It was there, at Oasis Network Academy, that a Scottish visitor suggested adding a film module. ‘It was like God had whispered my name,’ he says.

He was one of 12 students who studied to the end of the course, learning how to tell stories through a lens. His first film, Behind the Scene (2004), explored what happens to church youth when the singing stops.

‘We wanted to show the human side of ministry,’ he says.

The project, shot with borrowed cameras, became his first lesson in humility. He says: ‘We learned the camera isn’t the story. It’s how people feel the story.’

He followed it with I Was There (2005), his first serious project. ‘When I held the final DVD, I thought, this is my future.’

A television station offered $1,000 (Shs3.6m) for full rights, but he refused. He thought it was too little. Later, he was praying even for $100 (Shs360,474). The rejection taught him the cruel arithmetic of film.

‘The problem wasn’t filmmaking. It was distribution. Anyone can make a film. The real question is how to sell it,’ he recounts. That realisation drew him into advocacy. He joined the Uganda Federation of Movie Industry (UFMI), a collective created to protect filmmakers’ rights. There, he met veterans like Anita Seruwagi.

Mzee helped build databases, design structures, and learn the law. In 2013, he became vice president of the Producers’ Class. But soon he grew restless.

‘UFMI could regulate, but it couldn’t trade,’ he says. ‘We needed markets, not just meetings.’ By 2015, he left, tired of policy talk and hungry for progress. Out of that frustration came Afro Cinema, his boldest experiment yet. Every Monday, three Ugandan films premiered at the National Theatre.

For a while, it felt like the golden age. People were lining up to watch Ugandan stories again. But the triumph was brief. Rival groups began selling soft-copy films cheaply, treating cinema like music singles. ‘With music, people can replay and the artist still performs. With film, once it’s watched, it’s done. That killed the market.’

Disillusioned, he considered quitting altogether. Then, in 2017, a phone call pulled him back.

‘A colleague told me, ‘We need to build something that works for all of us,” he says. ‘That’s how the Association of Power Film Producers Uganda was born.’

Using his own cinema hall in Kyebando as a meeting space, he hosted producers who met from morning to dusk drafting laws and a constitution. Enter Pearlwood

By 2018, the association was registered, the first formal guild for producers in Uganda. But a guild needed a unifying name. Years earlier, in 2013, Mzee and colleagues had brainstormed an identity like other film nations: Bollywood, Nollywood and Riverwood.

‘We thought maybe Ugawood,’ he laughs.

‘But it turned out Ugawood was a timber company in Ndeeba.’ Finally, someone suggested, ‘If Uganda is the Pearl of Africa, why not Pearlwood?’ They registered it quietly. Five years later, the name would become the brand of Uganda’s united film front. ‘It became our identity,’ he says.

‘Pearlwood is the dream of a united Ugandan film industry.’ Under Pearlwood, producers created a regulated distribution network linking publishers to regional distributors. For the first time, revenue began trickling back to creators.

Still, the challenges loomed-piracy, foreign dominance, and broadcasters feeding on illegal content.

He says: ‘A poor Ugandan film costs about Shs3m to make. A pirated foreign film costs data worth 2,000. How do you compete with that?’ Even as they negotiated with telecom giants like MTN for digital partnerships, Covid-19 arrived, freezing cinemas and halting progress. ‘But we never stopped dreaming,’ he says. That dream has evolved into structure. Through the Pearlwood Production Hub, filmmakers now share cameras, lighting, and editing facilities.

‘Competitiveness requires quality,’ he says. ‘We must match global standards.’ He also helped create Screenlist Films, a digital marketplace owned collectively by producers. ‘It’s not for me,’ he insists. ‘My children can’t inherit Screenlist Films. They can only inherit my titles. These initiatives belong to the collective.’

His newest project, A Life for Lives, takes his advocacy back to young people. The programme visits schools, turning the life stories of alumni into feature films acted by current students, and mentored by professionals.

‘We want young people to see heroes in their own communities. They don’t have to look to Hollywood,’ Bwanika says.

Two decades after his first short film, he still speaks with the same quiet conviction that carried him through loss and laughter.

‘I’ve been filming for more than 20 years. I’m nowhere near quitting.’ He smiles, the kind of smile that has seen enough disappointment to understand endurance. He adds, ‘Anybody can make a film. But not everyone can make it survive.’

For Mzee Bwanika, the camera is more than a tool. It is a torch, lighting paths for others to follow, even when the set goes dark. His story reminds us that film, at its heart, is not about fame or fortune, faith in people, stories, and the endless power of light to reveal who we are.

For a while longer, storytelling is likely to remain both a prayer and protest, a way of saying, in the only language he knows: Uganda’s film dream will not fade to black.

Police have launched an investigation into a fatal electrocution incident that left a 19-year-old man dead and another critically injured at a construction site in Kampala, authorities said on Sunday.

The accident occurred on Saturday in Bruno Zone, Lower Konge in Makindye Division, where two workers were electrocuted after coming into contact with high-voltage electricity lines running close to an unfinished building.

The Kampala Metropolitan Deputy Police Spokesperson, ASP Luke Owoyesigyire, identified the deceased as Basalira, a resident of the area.

He said preliminary findings showed the teenager was plastering an exterior wall on the second floor of the building when he accidentally touched live three-phase power lines.

‘Preliminary findings show that he was working on the second floor of an unfinished building, plastering an exterior wall located dangerously close to high-voltage, three-phase electricity lines. He accidentally came into contact with the live wires and was electrocuted instantly,’ ASP Owoyesigyire said.

A second worker, identified as Emmanuel Owemugisha, was also electrocuted when he attempted to help the teenager.

He survived the shock but was rushed to Mulago Hospital, where he remains in critical condition.

Police say detectives and Scene of Crime Officers documented the site, recorded witness accounts and transferred the body to the City Mortuary at Mulago for a postmortem examination. No arrests have been made as inquiries continue.

The Uganda Police Force urged construction companies, engineers and site workers to adhere to strict electrical safety standards, warning that structures built too close to high-voltage lines continue to put lives at risk.

Authorities advised builders to maintain minimum safe distances from power infrastructure and consult the Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (UEDCL) or other licensed electrical bodies before constructing near live lines.

They also reminded employers to provide proper protective equipment to workers.

Police further cautioned the public against attempting to rescue electrocuted victims with bare hands, saying such actions often lead to secondary injuries. Instead, they advised switching off the power source or using dry, non-conductive materials to safely intervene.

Investigations into the Makindye incident are ongoing.

As the country prepares for the January 15, 2026, General Election, some political actors are urging their supporters to come out in large numbers, cast their votes, and remain at the polling stations to guard their votes. Urging people to turn up and vote for their preferred candidates is in itself a fantastic idea, but telling them not to leave the polling stations, on the pretext of guarding the votes, is tricky and might be dangerous to the voters, as it probably could disrupt the very voting and counting processes they intend to protect.

Organising popular elections is indisputably a challenging task. Bodies in charge of administering elections have the demanding function of ensuring many complex election and related processes are managed efficiently, impartially and transparently. This is because the entire process directly affects the quality and integrity of electoral processes and is a key to ensuring the rights of voters and contestants. Having a flawless voting process is, therefore, the main guardian of democratic elections, and their activities are central to fostering public confidence.

However, for a country to deliver such a clean election to the satisfaction of the voters and the candidates, it must facilitate the Electoral Commission (EC) with all the required logistical support it requires. As required by law, the EC will gazette the polling guidelines to Ugandans a few days before the polling date. These guidelines are meant to educate our people about the entire voting process and how they should conduct themselves during the voting period.

Such guidelines are not made in their boardrooms only; the EC looks at and compares other best practices across other democratic nations and then designs those that suit our system. The EC has been financed and facilitated to benchmark on how to deliver a smooth, flawless and impartial election. Therefore, it is very unfair for one to create mistrust about EC’s competence to deliver uncontested results. Consequently, all participants in the voting processes will be required to observe EC guidelines. It is perilous for one to ignore these guidelines, and these are the reasons.

First, telling people not to leave the polling stations after voting means that you are publicly declaring that you do not trust the EC and, therefore, the voters are now going to manage the voting process. This is dangerous. You cannot have people who have been emotionally charged during the campaign season, gathering in their thousands at polling stations, and you expect them to remain calm when the presiding officer begins announcing the winning candidates, to the detriment of the losers. What will you do if a nasty fight breaks out? Won’t the one police officer deployed at the polling station be overwhelmed?

For the purposes of guarding against any form of mischief, the EC deploys eight polling officials at every station, and each candidate (whether they are presidential or parliamentary) is allowed to deploy two polling agents to closely observe the whole process from material delivery, voting, vote counting and announcement. On top of these are journalists and observer groups, as long as they are accredited by the EC to witness the entire exercise.

Second, I do not think the EC has the capacity to provide sanitary requirements for hundreds of people gathering in more than 30,000 polling stations across the country! Many people overcrowding the polling stations, after voting, poses health risks as there might not be places of convenience nearby. Therefore, voters are required to vote, return home and follow the results from the many mediums of communication like radio, TV and the new media.

Trust in public institutions is a cornerstone of a functional society, because when that trust erodes, it can lead to significant disillusionment and a feeling of disempowerment. Healthy civic engagement often involves questioning institutions and holding them accountable for their performance and adherence to their mandates. Losing trust often leads to mob justice, and none of us wants this dear country to degenerate.

The Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) says it is working closely with international partners to secure the long-awaited arrest of fugitive Ugandan warlord and Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) leader Joseph Kony, so he can finally stand trial for atrocities committed in the country’s north.

Leonie von Braun, one of the trial lawyers on the Kony case, on November 28 urged victims not to lose hope, saying the ICC remains committed to securing Kony’s arrest despite years of frustration.

‘We are working with our partners to have him arrested and surrendered, but until that time, the next steps will not materialize,’ von Braun said during a virtual media briefing from The Hague.

‘The international community and victims of northern Uganda should not give up hope because we shall still succeed in arresting him,’ she added.

Braud declined to reveal the partners assisting with the hunt for the elusive rebel leader, citing sensitivity and security concerns.

‘I cannot share details with you about who our partners are or what information we are sharing. It’s too sensitive and too risky to share this type of information in the public domain,’ she held.

Her remarks came barely a month after the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber III confirmed all 39 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity against Kony – the first time in the court’s history that charges have been confirmed against a suspect in absentia.

Dahirou Santa-Anna, the ICC’s International Cooperation Adviser, described the decision as ‘historic’.

‘We consider this an important decision because in the history of the ICC, it’s the first time that judges have confirmed charges against a suspect in his absence,’ he said.

Why has the arrest taken decades

Braun explained that Kony’s evasion is largely due to his movement across territories where states are not party to the Rome Statute, making cooperation for his arrest difficult.

‘He has been operating in territories where members of the Rome Statute are not present, making it difficult for them to cooperate in his arrest,’ she said.

She added: ‘The ICC itself doesn’t have a standby military force. So, we rely on partners to assist in arresting and surrendering fugitives.’

Kony is widely believed to be hiding in the sparsely governed jungles of the Central African Republic.

What next after confirmation of charges?

Although the confirmation of charges is a major milestone, the ICC cannot proceed to trial without Kony’s physical presence.

‘This phase before the ICC judges is done. We will never have to redo it,’ Braun stated, noting that: ‘If he is arrested and handed over before The Hague, then we will move to the next phase – the full trial. But until he is physically present, the trial cannot proceed.’

She said the confirmation hearing was essential to ensure that, once arrested, Kony faces immediate trial without delays linked to preliminary procedures.

The charges

The ICC judges found substantial grounds to believe that Kony is responsible for 39 charges committed between July 1, 2002, and December 31, 2005.

These include crimes against humanity – such as murder, enslavement, torture, forced marriage, rape, sexual slavery, persecution, and forced pregnancy – and multiple war crimes including attacks on civilians, pillaging, and the conscription of children.

Kony is accused of directing systematic attacks on schools and internally displaced persons’ camps, and of orchestrating widespread abductions of children and women, who were forcibly integrated into the LRA.

Over two decades, the LRA insurgency led to the deaths of more than 100,000 people and the displacement of an estimated 1.5 million others across northern Uganda.

When I joined Cabinet in July 2022, I resolved to suspend my weekly column in the Daily Monitor. But wait a minute, I need to tell the story of my efforts to master the writer’s craft. I hasten to add that the mastery is still a work in progress. Even the greatest of writers admit that. But even before I share the journey on the writer’s path, I have to say something about the title of this column. Why have I decided to call the column ‘Wait a Minute.’?

One evening, I was sitting with Ms Anna Reismann, the country representative of the German Foundation, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, and we were talking about writing in many ways. How one acquires the skill and also why Norbert Mao hasn’t published his memoirs. About the latter, I will say nothing for now. Then I started narrating my story with ‘Wait a minute.’ Anna interrupts and says, ‘Wait a Minute? That is a great name for a column.’ I swore that I would write something the next week. The week became months, and the column was not written. Anyway, life happens.

Last week, we met again over dinner and we talked (again) about the column. I had even forgotten what the title was to be, so we had to jog each other’s memory until a eureka moment erupted and the name came out of the recesses of Anna’s mind. Again, I vowed that I was going to resume the column. Long before I became rich and famous (I feel my tongue pressing my cheek because the fame is like being famous for being famous and the riches are those of the heart rather than material opulence), I discovered the essence of human value. Experts have now given names to the four cornerstones of human value: education, experience, skills and connections. Blessed are those who have all four or at least most of them.

Fortunately, nobody lacks all. Unless one is sleepwalking through life, they are bound to have some experiences that can translate into some value. One is also likely to have some valuable skills, even if it be the one of Charles Dickens’s Artful Dodger! And the winding road brings me to what I promised earlier. I have to admit that by nature, I’m a talker, not a writer. Only that I hadn’t thought about it. Let’s say it hadn’t seeped into my conscious mind. How did a talker become a writer? It started in 2002 when I realised that I was more of a talker than a writer, and I needed to improve my writing skills.

I became strongly aware of the mismatch between my speaking and writing skills. It is easy to overlook one’s deficiencies when you’re being lauded for your other capabilities. At that time, I was in my second term in Parliament. I was also on the International Board of the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank. This was an organisation founded in 2000. Its inspiration was the Millennium Development Goals. Its goal was to unify parliamentarians worldwide to influence the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Thanks to Ms Winnie Byanyima, I had come across two books that I still often refer to. One was Art Buchwald’s memoir, I’ll Always Have Paris. The other was Harvey MacKay’s Dig Your Well Before You’re Thirsty. The former will teach you how to be serious and interesting in your writing, and the latter will teach you how to build a network. I’ll be the last to claim to be self-made. At every major turn in my life, some people gave me a hand up.

Through Jean Francois Rischard, the World Bank’s vice president for Europe, I learnt of the World Fellows Program at Yale University. He encouraged me to apply and gave me a recommendation. I needed two other recommenders. I turned to Prof Mahmood Mamdani, an academic colossus whose lectures attracted overflowing audiences in Makerere University. My other referee was Patrick Merienne, a Frenchman who then worked with International Alert. With that, I landed a spot in the second cohort of that programme. Of course, I had to field questions from interviewers half a world away.

At Yale, I enrolled on a semester-long writing course taught by Fred Strebeigh. The course he taught was curiously called Environmental Writing, and it consisted of three-hour seminars and writing workshops. I can never forget how we dug into John McPhee – in my opinion one of the best nature writers – a modern Henry David Thoreau if you ask me. That course turned me into a writer.