Category: Daily Monitor

On Monday, police fired tear gas canisters and live ammunition to disperse hundreds of people who had turned up in Kawempe in Kampala for campaign rallies of Mr Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine, the presidential candidate of the Opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) party.

The pandemonium raged on as he campaigned in Mukono on Tuesday, Buikwe on Wednesday and Kayunga on Thursday. There was nothing new about it. Scenes of Opposition politicians and their supporters scurrying for cover amid tear gas smoke are expected every time the Electoral Commission (EC) calls an election. What was new here was the decision by police to deploy dogs and unleash them on NUP supporters as a crowd control measure.

Indictment

The events of the first three days of the week came a few months after the release of the Bertelsmann Stiftung’s Transformation Index (BTI) 2024. The BTI index, which evaluates how developing countries and countries in transition go about changes aimed at moving them towards greater democracy and free market economies, accused security agencies of infringing on the right to assemble. ‘The right to associate and assemble is a fundamental part of Uganda’s bill of rights. However, it is also one of the most frequently violated rights by State actors, particularly the police and military,’ the Index notes. It added that political space has shrunk so much that the parties cannot operate freely.

Double standards

The Index also alludes to the fact that there seems to be one set of rules and laws for supporters of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), and another set for those of the Opposition, even when Article 21 of the Constitution clearly stipulates that ‘all persons are equal before and under the law’ and ‘deserve equal protection of the law’. Given that the Index was released several months before the campaigns kicked off, one would have thought the indictment of the Force would have prompted its officers to do better.

At the start, they did so well that civil society actors, among them Mr Livingstone Sewanyana, the Executive Director of the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative, lavished praise on them. ‘I was appreciating the police officers for restraining themselves and at the same time urging them to restrain themselves because I was mindful that things could change so fast and get out of hand,’ Mr Sewanyana says. Well, they changed very fast on Monday.

No surprise

Several watchers of the Ugandan political space believe it had always been a case of when the tear gas would come out, and not whether it would come out at all.

‘I was not surprised that violence broke out at some point. At the time we praised the police, the presidential campaigns had just begun. They were upcountry. The excuse that the police usually come up with when it comes to Kampala and the neighbourhood is that they were preventing a disruption of business, which they would not tolerate,’ Mr Sewanyana says.

Mr Dan Wandera Ogalo, a constitutional lawyer, who participated in the writing of the 1995 Constitution and represented Bukooli North in the 6th Parliament, says he too was not surprised by the return of tear gas, which he thinks is linked to the NRM’s long stay in power. ‘After 40 years, your support wanes, and as it wanes, it frightens your campaign strategists and the security forces, who essentially have failed to understand their role. If they see this big crowd following Bobi Wine here, or they see Nandala (Mafabi) whom they may have thought was nothing, but they see him drawing lots of crowds, it frightens them, and their answer is what they know best – violence,’ Mr Ogalo says.

Mr Nathan Nandala Mafabi is the presidential candidate of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC). Others believe one of the outcomes of the NRM’s long rule has been that the institutions of State such as police and the Internal Security Organisation, have been so fused with the ruling party that it makes it impossible for their officers not to act like functionaries of NRM.

So is the violence by design?

Mr Kituuma Rusoke, the spokesperson of the Uganda Police Force, doubts that anyone benefits from violence. ‘I doubt even NRM would support incidents of that nature. Ordinarily, nobody would wish to see people falling in ditches,’ Mr Rusoke says, but Mr Ogalo disagrees. ‘That is a way of intimidation. It is a way of subverting the election. It ensures that the topic of the Opposition having many followers is contained. When you later steal the election, you can always say that, ‘but really, where was their support?” Mr Ogalo argues.

Collusion?

Claims that police work to sabotage the ruling NRM have been going on for a while now, and they were recently repeated by Mr Emmanuel Dombo, the director of communication at the NRM Secretariat. He is inclined to believe that police brutalise the Opposition not only to make NRM get a bad name, but also to enable Opposition to get sympathy. ‘Some of us actually are suspicious that perhaps the Opposition is actually working with police. Common sense would just show that. What is the objective of harassing the Opposition?’ Mr Dombo asked in a previous interview.

But Mr Rusoke does not agree. He instead thinks that it is the Opposition that provokes police. ‘We have to focus on the trigger issues – the underlying causes of the violence. You have to admit that there are politicians who love to see chaos by inciting the masses, and the masses are easy to manipulate. Once they are in that charged state, they will unleash their anger on the coercive instruments of the State. In the end, you find a counter reaction,’ he says. Prof Paul Wangoola, a former member of the National Consultative Council (NCC), which was Uganda’s Parliament following the ouster of the Idi Amin regime, has previously blamed acts of violence on the ruling party.

However, Mr Odwe, while speaking in an August 2024 interview, attributed violence, lapses and bad judgment calls on the part of police officers to deficits in training and failure to nurture and develop police officers. ‘People are recruited from different communities and backgrounds. They have different cultures and education. Others can be bad, but it is the police to transform them. The transformation begins in the training schools, but that is not where it ends. It ends in the field,’ he argued.

He added, ‘Transforming a character into a good law enforcement officer is a process that takes time, but it should be a progression towards value. If somebody was like 50 percent good, he should, over time, progress to 75 percent, 80 percent or even beyond. They should not be at 50 percent and then regress to 40 or 25.’ Mr Rusoke insisted back then that there were no deficits in training, but does that training apply to soldiers deployed in the army?

Some of Mr Museveni’s critics describe this as militarisation of the police. Those deployments of people who have no training in aspects of say crowd control, they argue, are causes of the kind of mayhem that has been seen for most of last week. But Mr Rusoke, does not think so. ‘Anybody who has experience with crowd control as an officer will tell you that it is usually a very charged moment. It is not an ordinary situation. So, those transgressions are common but our encouragement is that commanders must always come to the ground and discuss the post operation incidents,’ Mr Rusoke says.

Mr Ogalo laughs off Mr Rusoke, saying most of the people who ended up in the Force after Mr Museveni declared his intention to sanitise the Force are responsible for most of the acts of violence because of their mistaken belief that their duty is to the NRM and not the country. ‘Those people [security personnel] failed to understand their role. They see their role as sustaining the regime,’ he argues.

Pleasing NRM

Given the President’s remarks in Kitagata more than 14 years ago, there is a thinking that some police officers are too eager to disperse Opposition crowds in order to catch the eye of Mr Museveni. Mr Dombo thinks that some of them do it inadvertently. ‘The security at times may sympathise with the incumbents. If somebody is abusing the President as he is looking for a vote and the President is the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, police may misconstrue that to be an attack on the Fountain of Honour and the person might be dealt with differently,’ Mr Dombo argues. Mr Dombo recommends rolling out civic education to include even the men in uniform.

Bigger challenges

Mr Ogalo does not believe that civic education is the way to go. He argues that a country which is going into the seventh election cycle under the watch of the NRM and the fifth under a multiparty political dispensation should ordinarily have been improving in the conduct of elections and the practice of democracy, but that has not been the case. Others think that what was witnessed in Kawempe, Mukono, Buikwe and Kayunga, in the week coupled with what happened in various parts of the country in the 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011, 2016 and 2021 elections point to an even bigger problem – that the country has caught a culture of violence.

Mr Ogalo insists that it goes beyond a culture of violence. He argues that there could be something fundamentally wrong with the systems and national fabric.

‘Remember that it was because of bad elections that Mr Museveni took us through a civil war. Since 1980, we can’t resolve the question of intimidating Opposition ruling parties. This goes far deeper than simply tear-gassing Bobi Wine. There is something fundamental,’ Mr Ogalo says. That might call for some soul searching on the part of all stakeholders, but mostly those in the drivers’ seats.

Provoking police.

We have to focus on the trigger issues – the underlying causes of the violence. You have to admit that there are politicians who love to see chaos by inciting the masses, and the masses are easy to manipulate. Once they are in that charged state, they will unleash their anger on the coercive instruments of the State. In the end, you find a counter reaction – Mr Kituuma Rusoke, spokesperson of the police

Intimidation: That is a way of intimidation. It is a way of subverting the election. It ensures that the topic of the Opposition having many followers is contained. When you later steal the election, you can always say that, ‘but really, where was their support?” Mr Dan Wandera Ogalo, a constitutional lawyer

Misconstrued: The security at times may sympathise with the incumbents. If somebody is abusing the President as he is looking for a vote and the President is the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, police may misconstrue that to be an attack on the Fountain of Honour and the person might be dealt with differently,” Mr Emmanuel Dombo, the director of communication at the NRM Secretariat.

In 2006, I was an administrative officer at Luweero Industries Limited (LIL), Ministry of Defence. One of my first initiatives in that office was to partner LIL with a United States Agency for Development (USAID) drive called Health Initiatives for the Private Sector (HIPS) project. Thereafter, HIPS was training LIL personnel on how to avoid the scourge of HIV/Aids. Being strapped for cash, however, LIL strictly provided its space for training peer educators and accommodation for HIPS facilitators.

During one HIV/Aids drive at Kisenyi Village in Kalungi Sub-county, Nakasongola Barracks, we were asked by HIPS to provide fuel. We didn’t have any. So, I liaised with Air Defence and they gave me 300 litres for this effort. After the successful completion of that initiative, the general manager LIL, Ms Jacquelyn Susan Mbabazi, asked me how I got the fuel, and I told her. She then replied, ‘Good, life is about managing scarcity.’

With furrowed brow, I ostensibly accepted this as flawed logic. I took it for a scarcity mentality. It’s only years later, after I left LIL, that I finally cottoned onto this threaded thought, as it were. I was watching the bout where Muhammad Ali broke his jaw in the fight against Ken Norton on March 31, 1973, in the first round. Ali went on to fight 14 more rounds before being defeated by unanimous decision. The pain Ali suffered must have been excruciating. But Ali shrugged it off. After all, he was the man who said, ‘I don’t count my sit-ups. I only start counting when it starts hurting, because that’s when it really counts.’

He seemed to revel in his own suffering.

Then I heard basketballer Kobe Bryant make a famous statement during his 2013 Achilles tendon injury recovery, captured in the documentary Kobe Bryant’s Muse, saying, “I love the pain.’ That’s when it struck me. Accomplishment was born in the furnace of suffering. The club-footed cousin of suffering is deprivation, scarcity. The less we have, the more we ache for more. How we manage this, Ms Mbabazi said, is what life is about. Even on a spiritual plane, this made sense. Jesus Christ suffered and died on the cross for our salvation.

Suddenly, everywhere I looked, suffering and scarcity were indwelt with great accomplishment. And the reverse proved to be true. Abundance seemed to be the cause of Africa’s colonisation, in part. We had so much on the continent that we didn’t require that much innovation. Necessity being the mother of invention, we didn’t need to mother invention because we were blessed with abundance. Furthermore, in postcolonial Africa, the “resource curse” is an economic phenomenon where African nations heavily reliant on natural resource exports often experience slower economic growth and development.

On balance, human beings fight for what they lack. So a lack of rights, economic progress and life abundant have made us warriors for democracy, economic and political. Our demand for democratic standards being driven by necessity and the need to leapfrog traditional stages in political development to attain this. In other words, we are fighting for democracy and progress because we do not have it. Scarcity, in this sense, has breathed life into our yearning for better times.

However, how we manage this will determine the future of our country, nay, continent. Do we adapt our ingenuity to our political environment or allow our adaptation to eternal political realties spur our political culture? It’s a Hamletian dilemma we must navigate with the mindset that embraces scarcity and suffering as prerequisites to greatness. As Sir Winston Churchill once said, when you’re going through hell, keep going.

The Indian Ocean does not speak any of the 21 modern Indian languages: Assamese, Bangla, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kashmiri, Kannada, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Santali, Sindhi, and Urdu.

Thus, one wonders how it became the Indian Ocean. Did somebody ask it in Luganda or Swahili if it was an ocean and it kept quiet? Thereby forcing the asker to conclude that, since it does not know Swahili or Luganda, it must be Indian? Or did its siblings, the Pacific and Atlantic, deport it in 1972 to its current location? We might never know.

But what we do know are a few facts about the Indian Ocean that are sure to blow your mind. Are you seated? Good. Because these facts are stubborn and will not change because you have stood up to admonishingly wag your index finger at them.

One: The Indian Ocean is the world’s third-largest ocean and covers around one-fifth of the Earth’s surface. It spans over 27 million square miles, which, in square miles, is the same number of guns that it took to make Obote’s government run a mile. Mzee says if these 27 miles are the preserve of Kenya, then so will the revolution be. Yet Kenya couldn’t recognise a revolution if it fell in love with it and called it ‘Boo’ and the revolution replied in the same fashion. Only to realise that ‘Boo, Kenya’ is a Muganda or a country that’s being frightened by a ghost.

Two, the ocean may have first begun to open around 140 million years ago, most of its seafloor is less than 80 million years old. That’s young in terms of earth’s geological timeline. However, this makes it old enough to vote. That’s why Kenya and Uganda want it.

Their regimes need voters. Especially Uganda. We are in our election cycle, and old voters must counteract the power of the Gen Zs. Also, old is gold. And so Mzee believes that it must be mined or whatever they do to get it. Karamoja’s gold cannot sustain the country. The ocean must be captured to keep Mzee blinged up sufficiently to have the swag that convinces Gen Zs that old is also young, if we’re to audit it in earnest.

Three, a unique fact about the Indian Ocean is that the water currents in its northern part change direction twice a year. So, part of the year, they face Mt Kenya like Mzee Kenyatta once did and the other part of the year, they turn their back on Kenya to face off with Uganda like Mzee Kenyatta’s suspected father Kabalega once did. In other words, the water currents are two-faced and this year, their two faces resemble Mzee and his counterpart, whose name rhymes with Bhutto.

The Indian Ocean is home to Tromeline Island (a French territory). It is uninhabited. In 1761, a French ship that was carrying slaves was wrecked on Tromeline Island, and while the French crew was saved quickly, around 60 enslaved people were left behind. Fifteen years later, a French rescue mission returned and amazingly found a few survivors – seven women and one baby boy. It is believed that these seven women gave birth to a single baby and these are the true Abaseveni, the women.

As for the baby, he is believed to be somewhere in Entebbe or Nakasero. Named after his seven mothers, amid cows that go Moo to provide the first syllable in his name, his whereabouts are sketchy. The seven mothers are believed to be immortal, like the baby. Bachwezi never die; they multiply. That’s how seven mothers and a baby turned into 40 years in power and counting, until you inevitably lose count.

If none of these facts have made any sense to you, then you could be the problem; set adrift on the tropical waters of your own oceanic indifference to what’s truly going on. Kenya and Uganda have not agreed on anything.

They have only agreed to disagree with whoever agrees that the Indian Ocean belongs to either country when it’s not called the Kenyan or Ugandan Ocean. It’s Indian and, therefore, must be handled Delhi-cately.

The lobby of Hotel Africana hums softly with mid-afternoon chatter. The scent of freshly brewed coffee lingers as waiters glide between tables. Grace Munyirwa, the proprietor of Vine Pharmaceuticals, settles into one of the seats across from me, his smile calm, the kind that hides both history and hard lessons. The city outside is alive, but here, time feels slightly suspended. ‘When we began Vine on August 3, 1999, it was really to feed my family. I had a new family but no job to put food on the table,’ he says

Munyirwa had worked with a pharmaceutical company before, SmithKline Beecham, and initially, he sold medicine to pharmacies. With this new venture, he was to build pharmacies. With his savings worth Shs11m and a top-up of Shs26m from his father, the journey begun. The first branch was in Kamwokya, Kampala. Then the second was at what was then Kampala Pentecostal Church. The growth spiralled to another branch on Wandegeya Road, and another on Dewinton Road. At its peak, the Vine Pharmacies branch had grown to about 36 branches.

He laughs, remembering. ‘Actually, Vine came about purely by mistake, if I may put it that way. The initial idea was to buy distressed companies – juice them up, fix what needed fixing such as aesthetics, restock, improve customer service (hire trained staff) and then sell. That was the model.’ He adds: ‘I never believed in holding on to a business if a good bidder came along. If I got a good price, I’d sell and move to the next thing.’ Once a salesman, always a salesman. He had moved to controlled selling to a higher-risk, higher-reward venture. He had learned the art of seeing beyond the façade and this had come from experience but also training, which had helped him understand what it takes to run a business.

‘Some people came to us saying, ‘look, I want to offload this’. We also approached some ourselves, ‘you run a nice business, would you consider selling?’ And many did,’ he recalls. However, there were some whom the team turned down because the repair would drain them. ‘We were not,’ he says, ‘resurrecting the dead-but healing the sick.’ So if they invested Shs20m, they sold it at a Shs20m profit, which worked as capital for another two. The idea was to work with a SWAT staff who were self-driven and self-managed, with whom he later shared the profits. These also scouted for lucrative ventures. ‘I had the idea of how to redesign while they implemented the vision.’

Art of sales

But how does someone sell off a good business? Munyirwa says it is flattering when someone tells you that you have done well and they are willing to buy you out, should you think of selling. The beauty about it is that you are not competing with anyone, and so the negotiations are not that stiff. ‘I once went to a man’s office, told him that I loved how he ran his company. ‘While I know that you are not selling, should you ever consider it, give me a call’. He looked at me sheepishly, saying he did not think of selling in the near future. Six months later, he reached out, and we closed the deal.’

That takes boldness, and Munyirwa had it in tonnes. But, soon, he was accumulating more than he was offloading, and this realisation came when he had 10 pharmacies. He realised the buying-and-selling model wasn’t sustainable. He branched into retaining and hired people to run the pharmacies. That’s how Vine Pharmaceuticals grew-by mistake. He leans back. ‘We scaled so fast, and I was now forced to take some bank loans, which turned bad. We were akin to a healthy man with hypertension and diabetes. You don’t see the illness from the outside,’ he says as he sips his coffee.

Then a private equity fund approached them in 2012 and invested $1m (Shs3.6b) and later another $250,000 (Shs901m). Sadly, seven years later, they ran into problems. ‘When the parent company coughs, the children sneeze. All the companies they’d invested in struggled.’

A new partner

With a shaky private equity (PE) deal, the PE firm appointed a liquidator (another PE firm in the UK) to collect the investment on their behalf. Munyirwa approached people who wrote their business teaser-it is shared to interest buyers. ‘A few PE firms wanted to invest, but there was also another who wanted equity. With enough merry-go-rounds with PEs, I opted for equity, though it was heavily discounted. We were just signing to their terms,’ he says. He adds: ‘We needed someone who would walk with us through all the ups and downs, not seeking interest.

This was Mutti, with presence in 12 African countries, who took 55 percent of the company. Then we co-branded to Vine Pharmaceuticals, a Mutti Pharmacy, hence the move from blue and white to orange and white.’ This transition was not one Munyirwa was accustomed to, but he learned how to swim against the tide. ‘While you are not paying interest with a shareholder, it is tough; it’s like sharing the same bed, blanket, pillow-constantly pulling ropes. I wasn’t used to writing emails, waiting 48 hours for a response, and then chasing a decision that’s already expired.

And they did not understand our market; what worked in Nigeria or Malawi didn’t always work in Uganda. Their policies were copy-paste-and we suffered losses.’ While Munyirwa still has a stake, the branches have reduced. That was inevitable because Mutti also faced turbulence in other markets. Lessons picked This journey has not left Munyirwa the same as several lessons were gleaned. For instance, he learned that it is better to grow slowly and organically than to rush for private equity or venture capital (VC).

‘PEs and VCs will bring the money and expertise, but no one knows your company like you do. Nothing hurts more than watching that dream get diluted,’ he says.

His voice turns reflective, saying in the inception, they prided themselves in two things-exceptional customer service and sourcing hard-to-find medicine. Anyone who couldn’t get medicine elsewhere had his number. And he found it-from anywhere in the world.

‘I’ll never forget one gentleman who needed a rare drug only available in South Africa. I didn’t know him, but he’d been referred to me, and the arrangement was for an upfront payment. Two days later, I was on a flight to Johannesburg. Our name became synonymous with hope,’ he shares. He pauses. ‘Another time, a customs officer stopped me at the airport. I thought I was in trouble. But he said, Grace, you helped my mother when she was ill. Though she later passed away, we’ve never forgotten what you did.’

He looks down for a moment.

‘Once, I brought in medicine for a child with cancer at a hospital. The mother couldn’t afford it, so I gave it free of charge. That was the Vine dream-not just profit, but purpose.’ He exhales deeply. ‘When that dream breaks, a part of you dies in frustration.’ From a dream of providing cutting-edge solutions for their clients, to dealing with people who are only about financials, he says half-jokingly, ‘I have no heart.’ Nonetheless, he can afford a smile to say he is restarting, more like having a third life. He is building something new – small but growing, within his means.

Word to entrepreneurs

If you want to grow, to access capital but keep your dream intact, Munyirwa says time is your friend. None of the companies we admire made it in five years.

‘Stay the course and grow. It’s glamorous to say you’ve attracted millions in funding, especially in a country like ours, but don’t be too quick to dilute yourself. Only bring in investors when you have gained the capacity to walk away from the negotiation table. Don’t be desperate.’

He looks out towards the pool area, sunlight spilling through the glass.’Find family who can invest in you. Find friends, even fools, who believe in you,’ he laughs. Munyirwa says ‘investors don’t steal your dream, you just allow them to dilute it. However, when you have stabilised your dream to have enough leverage, you can attract the right kind of investor. But too often, many are flattered when they get a letter of interest, ‘Oh, so and so partners from Johannesburg knows I exist!’ And before you know it, you’ve signed away your dream.’ He emphasises that every entrepreneur must grow lest they easily sell their dream cheaply.

Mistake

Actually, Vine came about purely by mistake, if I may put it that way. The initial idea was to buy distressed companies – juice them up, fix what needed fixing such as aesthetics, restock, improve customer service (hire trained staff) and then sell. That was the model. I never believed in holding on to a business if a good bidder came along. If I got a good price, I’d sell and move to the next thing – Grace Munyirwa, the proprietor of Vine Pharmaceuticals.

The government has given universities and other institutions of higher learning up to the 2027/2028 academic year to fully align their teaching programmes with the national competence-based curriculum, marking a major shift in the country’s higher education landscape.

The directive was issued by the First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports, Janet Museveni, whose speech was delivered by Mr Timothy Musoke Ssejjoba, the Acting Commissioner for University Education and Training, during the 8th graduation ceremony of Muni University on November 29.

Government rolled out the competence-based curriculum in February 2020, starting with the Lower Secondary Curriculum (LSC) in a phased approach.

The curriculum is intended to move Uganda away from a purely knowledge-based, exam-oriented education system to one that prioritises practical skills, critical thinking and innovation for 21st-century competitiveness.

‘As a ministry, we are on an ambitious journey to fully implement the competence-based curriculum. This is a transformation in how we teach and learn, moving from simply acquiring knowledge to demonstrating capability,’ Mr Ssejjoba said. ‘It focuses on critical thinking and problem solving, creativity, innovation, collaboration, digital literacy and practical skills needed in the real world.’

He emphasised that universities must now ensure their academic programmes prepare learners with the competencies currently demanded by industries.

‘Our goal is not only to produce learners who are knowledgeable but capable,’ he said. ‘All programmes in universities must directly align with the country’s competence-based curriculum by the start of the 2027/2028 academic year. Universities like Muni should serve as a bridge between foundational skills and advanced competencies demanded by industries.’

During the ceremony, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, represented by State Minister for Investment and Privatisation Evelyn Anite, urged students to shun reckless behaviour and instead focus on technology, creativity and entrepreneurship.

‘I urge you to abstain from recklessness and dangerous lifestyles such as drunkenness, sexual promiscuity, extravagant spending and others,’ the President said. He stressed that discipline and innovation remain key to achieving Uganda’s socio-economic transformation agenda.

‘In this journey, institutions like Muni play a vital role through programmes in Science, Technology, Health, Agriculture, Education and ICT. They should breed thinkers and practitioners who can lead our country into a more competitive and equitable future.’

The graduation ceremony was presided over by the university’s Chancellor, retired Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi.

Several graduates shared their experiences.

Michael Abusa, who completed a Master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence, said his research focused on predicting refugee arrivals in Rhino Camp.

‘The research feeds into refugee work and can support planning before emergencies occur. Communities need to embrace technology to understand the problems,’ he said.

Night Zahara, a graduate of Tourism and Management Science, said she pursued the course after observing limited exploitation of tourism potential in West Nile and poor connectivity in the sector.

Despite growing student numbers, Muni University continues to grapple with inadequate staffing. According to the administration, the institution currently operates at only 24.4 percent staffing capacity, out of 305 staff, half of whom are academic employees. The Ministry of Education estimates that Shs8.2 billion is required to close the staffing gap.

‘Madam Guest of Honor, our population has expontially kept growing, we started with 722 students, and in last academic year, and currently our enrollment is 3142 students, thus we are request government to give us more support to admit the growing numbers of students. Our staffing levels stands only at 24.4% which is very low’- vice chancellor Prof Simon Anguma Katrini

482 students graduated in various disciplines including diploma in education leadership and management, Masters of Science in artificial intelligence and Masters in Climate change and disaster management among others.

322 of the grandaunts are males representing 66.9 per cent while 159 are females represent 33. 1 per cent.

The 14th Century gave the world an amazing gift, a poet who was born in Shiraz/Iran, a master of lyric poetry also known as Gazal, a poet who has inspired generations upon generations of people and who is still considered among the best poets in the world. His poems are translated into many languages and when translated into English, he influenced Western writers such as Goethe, who admired him, I am referring to Shams-ud-din Muhammad Hafiz, better known as Hafez.

My relationship with Hafez and his poems goes back to many years ago. I don’t remember any other poet who has captured my attention to this degree, except for my father’s poems, and over the years, his poetry book finds its place alongside my prayer book on the nightstand next to my bed.

So, how does it work with Hafez? Besides enjoying his poems whenever I want inspiration, he has a book titled Fal-e-Havez. It is a collection of some of his poems, each with very deep mystical meanings. It is what is called a Divination book. This is where you have a peek into the future, and look for hidden knowledge, try to interpret your current situation and look for answers on the way you should take forward. It is as if you are standing at a crossroad, and have no idea which road to take.

Sometimes you seek divine intervention from God, but you cannot always ask Him for help. At some point, you have to find your own way too. For me, this is where Hafez comes to help with his mystical Sufi themes that sometimes feels like supernatural powers are at work. Coming out of difficult situations, and sometimes only by way of consultation, Hafez never let me down, and it is almost unbelievable that with the hundreds of different poems, the one that suits my need has popped out.

Hafez’s poems are mostly based on encouraging love and joy and boycotting hypocrisy and mediocrity. Fal-e-Hafez is available in English too, often accompanied by a footnote explaining the meaning of the poem, after all, such poems can be quite complex with abstract concepts. And this is where we need a bit of help from experts to ease and uncover the meanings.

This book is often placed on traditional table layouts that Persians use to celebrate a special occasion, such as the new year and wedding ceremonies. And as I strongly believe in this book, I often bring it out while among friends and family. I ask them to make a wish or formulate a question they have for Hafez, and they randomly choose a poem. The book is then opened and the poem and its meaning are read. This may sound a bit weird, but if you trust Hafez, he will always give you the answer that suits you.

I will end by quoting one of my favourite Hafez poems which shows love at its highest peak.

‘Look upon all the gold in the world’s Mart, on all the tears the world has shed in vain; shall they not satisfy the craving heart? Shall they not satisfy? I have enough of loss, enough of gain; I have my love, what more can I obtain? Mine is the joy of her companionship whose healing lip is laid upon my lip- This is enough for me’.

About a fortnight ago in Riyadh – Saudi Arabia, Gloria Anna Muzito won Uganda her first ever gold medals in conventional swimming at the Islamic Solidarity Games.

Before swimming could end at the Games, Jesse Ssengonzi added 100m butterfly bronze to Olympian Muzito’s 50m and 100m freestyle golds, plus 200m freestyle silver to become the first Ugandan male swimmer to win an international medal of any kind.

“I am very proud of being able to get a medal for team Uganda,” Ssengonzi said at the time.

“Getting 5th in the 50m fly was a good wakeup call and I learned so much from the preliminaries, semi-final, and final that I was able to apply in the 100m fly. In both events I was not seeded to contend for a medal so getting so close in the 50m, which is currently my weaker event, gave me some confidence that I had it in me to perform well. We also narrowly missed getting a medal in the mixed 4x100m free relay, so by the time it was time for the 100m fly I was raring to go,” Ssengonzi said.

The feats were a depiction of growth as it was the second consecutive time Ugandan swimming was achieving medal status at the Games.

In Konya – Turkey in 2022, Olympian Kirabo Namutebi bagged silver in 50m free while Paralympian Husnah Kukundakwe got two golds in the SM9 200m IM and SB8 100m breaststroke, then silver in the S9’s 400m free, 100m backstroke, and 50m freestyle, plus bronze in S9 100m free – making them the first Ugandans to win international medals in the sport.

Before that, Uganda were mere participants at the Games in the previous four editions.

Uganda is no powerhouse in world swimming but what cannot be underestimated is the systemic rise. From regional dominators to Islamic Games medallists, the growth has followed a certain pattern for the past 10 years.

Building from the ground up

In 2014, Uganda hosted the joint Cana (now Africa Aquatics) Zone III and IV Championships in Kampala and finished 6th with then young swimmers Nabil Saleh (seven gold medals) and Kimberly Hind (four gold medals) as the best performers for the hosts. Ssengonzi’s sister Rebecca (three silver and two bronze) and brother Jethro (one bronze) were the other medal winners as Uganda finished behind Kenya, South Africa, Zambia, Angola, and Mauritius.

Since then, there has been an agenda to dominate regional swimming and become a powerhouse in continental swimming. However, there was an outlier in Rebecca as she bagged 400m IM bronze and 100m fly silver at the Africa Juniors in 2015 in Egypt and later 50m fly bronze at the 2018 Africa Youth Games in Algeria.

In 2015, the two Zones elected to have independent events. Uganda won the 2015 Zone III (basically eastern Africa) Championships in Kampala but for the next five editions leading to 2021, the competition was won by the host nation because they presented more swimmers to win points.

Since they chose to restrict each country to two scoring swimmers per race, Uganda has dominated the competition – winning the last five editions since 2021 on the bounce.

While at it, Uganda has been attending the Zone IV (mostly southern Africa) competitions as a guest nation. The goals at Zone IV have always been different since Uganda cannot field a team big enough to compete for honours. So, usually, this is a test of how many medals Uganda can win – a chance to compare times with arguably the fastest age group swimmers on the continent.

It was undoubtedly competitive as Uganda managed only six bronze at the 2015 Zone IV edition in Luanda, Angola.

In 2016, Saleh got Uganda’s first Zone IV gold in Port Louis, Mauritius in the 13-14 boys’ 100m backstroke.

In 2017, Kirabo Namutebi got Uganda’s only three silver and two bronze medals at the competition held in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

In 2018, Saleh won his and Uganda’s second gold in southern Africa from the 15-16 boys’ 50m freestyle. By then it was unheard of for a Ugandan swimmer to manage 25 seconds in 50m free yet Saleh clocked 24.55 in Lilongwe, Malawi.

Uganda had another two silver and five bronze medals then from Saleh and musician Chameleone’s son Abba Marcus Mayanja, swimming in the 12 and Under age group.

Gold medals became a usual occurrence for Uganda going forward. In Windhoek – Namibia in 2019, Namutebi became the first female swimmer to win gold – with 13-14 girls’ 50m fly and 50m free triumphs. The latter came with a 27.74 meet record but overall, Uganda added four silver and eight bronze medals.

In Gaborone, Botswana in 2020, Namutebi won 100m and 50m free gold in the 15-16 girls’ age group. But Uganda also had one silver and three bronze medals.

When the competition returned in 2022 in Lusaka – Zambia, after Covid-19, Namutebi bagged three gold medals; 100m and 50m free, plus 50m breaststroke.

Uganda also had three silver and four bronze medals in the pool while Adnan Kabuye also got open water swimming silver. For the first time, Uganda also fielded masters’ swimmers at the competition.

In 2023, Zara Mbanga bagged three gold medals in the 50m, 100m, and 200m breaststroke with the latter coming with an age group meet record (2:58.56) while her teammate Peyton Suubi added another in 200m fly as Uganda recorded its best ever performance. There were another two silver and five bronze medals before Uganda jetted out of Luanda.

Then at Windhoek 2024, Heer Usadadiya became the second male swimmer to win Zone IV gold – achieving it in the 15-16 boys’ 200m backstroke with an age group record of 2:14.13. Uganda bagged another three silver and three bronze medals.

Continental achievements

Through her Zone IV exploits, Namutebi built confidence and a base strong enough to challenge for continental trophies.

First were the 2019 Cana Junior 50m free and breaststroke gold medals and 100m free silver in Tunisia . She also bagged 50m free silver at the Cana Junior and Senior Championships in Ghana in 2021.

In 2022 she got Africa Aquatics Seniors 50m free silver in Tunisia becoming the first swimmer to win a senior continental medal. Last year in April, she won 50m free silver and 50m breaststroke bronze at the Africa Aquatics Championships in Luanda.

At the same event, Muzito bagged 50m free bronze and 100m free gold. A month earlier, Muzito had also won 100m free bronze at the 13th African Games in Ghana.

With such experiences, there is much evidence to show that Uganda has worked its way up to bag medals at the Islamic Games.

They could be cluster Games but they bring some of the best athletes from Asia and Ugandan swimming has every right to celebrate the gains made there.

“It was definitely a strong field. I knew going in, there would be a couple of guys faster than me. The butterfly events were quite deep this year. This was a great opportunity to race against and try to beat some world-class talent,” Ssengonzi said.

If the same trajectory is followed, then it will not be long until Uganda makes waves at the world stage.

The continued struggle to directly qualify a swimmer to the World Championships and Olympics is a major blemish. But Ugandan swimmers now have enough reason and demand to address this.

“I am aware of the significance of my performance and I understand how difficult of an achievement this is. Competition at these international meets is fierce on the male side and getting an international medal for Uganda has been a long time coming.

“I am proud to have been able to achieve this bronze but also it has lit a fire to keep pushing hard and progressing. I am heavily inspired by the performance of my teammate Gloria, who is topping podiums at the international level on the female side. To be the first male Ugandan to get an international gold will certainly take a step function of improvement, but it is my new and singular focus, for games at this level,” Ssengonzi said. He was speaking for the converted in the fraternity.

Jesse Ssengonzi’s major medals

Islamic Games – Riyadh 2025: 100m fly bronze

Gloria Muzito’s major medals

Africa Champs – Angola 2024: 50m free bronze and 100m free gold

African Games – Ghana 2024: 100m free bronze

Islamic Games – Riyadh 2025: 50m and 100m freestyle gold, 200m freestyle silver

Kirabo Namutebi’s major medals

Africa Jrs – Tunisia 2019: 50m breast and 50m free gold

Africa Jrs. and Snrs – Ghana 2021: 50m free silver

Islamic Games – Turkey 2022: 50m free silver

Africa Snrs – Tunisia 2022: 50m free silver

Africa Champs – Angola 2024: 50m free silver, 50m breaststroke bronze

Rebecca Ssengonzi major medals

Africa Juniors – Algeria 2015: 400m IM bronze, 100m fly silver

Africa Youth Games – Algeria 2018: 50m fly bronze

Africa Aquatics Zone IV Medals

Luanda 2015: 6 bronze

Port Louis 2016: 1 gold, 3 silver, 6 bronze

Bulawayo 2017: 3 silver, 2 bronze

Lilongwe 2018: 1 gold, 2 silver, 5 bronze

Windhoek 2019: 2 gold, 4 silver, 8 bronze

Gaborone 2020: 2 gold, 1 silver, 3 bronze

Lusaka 2022: 3 gold, 3 silver, 4 bronze. 1 open water silver

Luanda 2023: 4 gold, 2 silver, 5 bronze

Windhoek 2024: 1 gold, 3 silver, 3 bronze

I have listened to discussions and read articles on economic growth during this political season. I’m compelled to write this article to explain how countries grow and ultimately develop. I will also answer ‘whose GDP growth?’ and state what more can be done to further grow our economy.

Economic growth, whose main measure is Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is the increase in the productive capacity, or potential output, of the entire economy of a country.

The ingredients of economic growth are capital (earning interest), labour (wages and salaries), entrepreneurial (or enterprise) earning profit, and sometimes land (where they have it) earning rent.

Based on GDP and other measures of the economy, I wish to state that Uganda is growing and should be supported by citizens, investors (domestic and foreign), academia, media and others. It is true that in 1986, her total output of the economy was estimated at around $3.9 billion. It has now exceeded $60b as of June 2025 and is targeting $500b by 2040.

Given our history and our location geographically, with most countries suffering a peace and stability deficit all around us, the growth rate has been impressive. Uganda has maintained a growth rate above 6 percent for several decades.

Source of funds

For the private sector, sources of funds include own money, support from friends and family, selling shares on the stock exchange, loans from banks, and sometimes government support. What are the government’s sources of funds to run the country?

Sources include taxes, levies, government investments, sometimes government or its agencies undertake consultancy for other countries or agencies, consular fees, private sector investments (DDI and FDI), exports, grants, and loans.

Let me state that all countries are always seeking investors for their countries. Countries are competing for investors all the time. US President Donald Trump is traversing the globe, wooing investors.

A government has created an enabling environment, and firms have invested; it is expected that they pay taxes, create jobs, bring in technology and sometimes corporate social responsibility, and expand and widen the export base to bring in more foreign exchange.

No government can force an investor on how to enjoy profits and where they should enjoy them. Moral suasion will be required to have investors re-use their money in re-investing in this country.

What more can be done to continue sustained growth for Uganda?

A leadership that keeps ensures peace and stability is paramount.

We need to continue with maintained security to avoid joining our neighbours in the peace deficit. The economy cannot grow without security for people and their property. Money hates noise. It will move away when noise escalates.

Continue efforts in critical infrastructure and power development (roads, power, railways, water, etc.,).

There is need to continue our membership in regional integration for peace and markets. Let us understand that as a country our market is not enough market, more markets continue to be gained by our membership in the EAC, COMESA, and recently AfCTA.

Role of the state and the private sector. The government has cautiously undertaken operations of organisations with government shares to push the private sector development; with the private sector supported to become competitive.

Market-friendly policies should continue to spur private sector competitiveness by promoting competition, standards, exports, investments, tourism, ICT, among others.

Continue investment promotion and facilitation has enhanced the size and quantity of industries and business domestically and for exports. Uganda is ranked by some countries as one of the best investment destinations.

Export promotion and tourism promotion as marketing pivots for the country should continue.

Continued economic and commercial diplomacy efforts by our missions in different parts of the world is important for investments, exports, tourism, and diaspora remittances.

Wishing you peaceful campaigns and elections. I have already voted for peace and stability.

Former Electoral Commission boss Prof Badru Kiggundu has been installed as the third chancellor of Busitema University for a four-year term, pledging transparency and strengthened governance at the eastern Uganda-based government institution.

The swearing-in took place on Friday during the university’s 16th graduation ceremony at its main campus in Busitema Sub-county, Busia District, overseen by Tororo High Court Judge Henry Kaweesa.

University Vice Chancellor Prof Paul Wako said the institution has maintained discipline among students, a factor he credited with a growing enrollment.

‘As we talk now, we have attracted many students from other countries including Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and many others, therefore we want to call upon the government to increase funds for better performance,’ Prof Wako said.

He noted that graduation numbers are steadily rising as 1,600 students completed their studies last year, while this year 1,915 students graduated across different faculties.

Prof Wako also highlighted new vocational skills courses in irrigation, building and concrete practice, tailoring, and plumbing, aimed at equipping youths with employment-ready skills.

‘We introduced these courses to empower the youths to ensure that they can also get employment opportunities rather than waiting to be employed by the government,’ he said.

Despite progress, the vice chancellor flagged challenges including insufficient infrastructure across seven campuses and a severe shortage of faculty staff, currently at only 10 percent.

He called for government support in laboratory equipment and research funding.

Eng Prof Kiggundu, addressing the graduates and staff, pledged to facilitate resources for the university’s smooth operations.

‘I want to appreciate the leadership of this university for maintaining discipline, and producing highly skilled students,’ he said, promising transparency and a collaborative approach with staff and government.

Representing President Museveni, Defence Minister Jacob Oboth Oboth praised the university for using dialogue to maintain peace and urged graduates to uphold professionalism.

‘The NRM government has invested a lot in youth projects because we believe that the youths have the ability to transform this country if they are guided well. Get involved in the youth projects as you wait for your professional jobs,’ Oboth said.

He added that the government is exploring ways to create jobs, including constructing factories in every sub-region.

About Kiggundu

After 14 years as head of the Electoral Commission, Eng Kiggundu retired in November 2016.

She speaks with a calmness that feels earned, the kind that comes from years of learning the rhythm of land, animals, and seasons. Ask her to introduce herself to a stranger, and Peace Kayezu takes a moment, as though choosing the truest version of herself.

A family woman who is into farming, recreation and culture. Her friends describe her differently: an inspiration, especially those who knew her at 13 when she was already tinkering with plants and curious about farming.

To them, she is a reminder that passion can be steady, soft, and transformative. Some call her creative, but she shrugs it off. She knows the truth of her life: the land has always spoken to her.

Her story into farming began with a question that kept tugging at her: why do young people think farming is boring? Ten years ago, the thought grew stronger. She watched a generation drift away from the soil and wondered why agriculture lacked excitement in their eyes.

‘They think it’s not fashionable,’ she says.

‘They don’t see value in it.’ She wanted to change that. She wanted a farm where learning didn’t feel like punishment, and where agriculture could be playful and modern without losing its roots.

‘Something you want to do’

Her solution was bold: blend farming with recreation. If young people thought farms were dull, she would build one that felt alive.

At her farm, you milk a cow and then cool off in a swimming pool, plant in the garden and then head to a basketball court and prune an orchard and then take a quad-bike ride.

She wanted farming to feel like something you want to do, not something you escape from. That vision would eventually become Kaynela Farms Limited, a place where agriculture, leisure, culture, and tourism live under one sky.

The name Kaynela itself is a quiet treasure. It comes from her and her children. The dream began much smaller. They started with banana plantations, pineapples, and fishponds. After Covid-19, the economics of matooke shifted; they were giving away more than they sold.

Kayezu did her research and discovered plantain had better returns. They switched, adapted, and thrived. That adaptability became a hallmark of her entrepreneurship.

Today, Kaynela Farms, located in Kayunga, stretches across 200 acres and feels like its own world. The orchard alone is a fruit lover’s passport, with apples, dragon fruit, kiwi, coconut, citrus, grapes, strawberries, as well as vegetables, poultry, rabbits, goats, cows, donkeys, horses, ostriches, and even crocodiles.

There is a black soldier fly station, where protein-rich larvae become sustainable animal feed.

There is an aviary so large and varied that the proprietor only hints at the species inside, smiling as though the mystery is part of the charm. And then there is the sports hub: a football pitch, basketball court, tennis court, volleyball pitch, and netball court.

It feels less like a farm and more like a living campus, a place where farming meets play, culture meets curiosity and a visitor can walk through orchards, pat a llama, eat traditional food, and finish the day enjoying a basketball game.

In her bloodline

Interestingly, Kayezu did not formally study tourism or agriculture. She studied Business Administration. ‘It’s just passion,’ she says. But farming is in her bloodline.

Her mother and siblings are farmers. She was raised in a tempo of planting and harvest, the quiet certainty of soil and seasons. And then there is her partner, Faisal who is born and raised in urban Kampala and craved a village setting somewhere close.

He loves animals while she loves plants which makes the harmony of their work clear and complementary.

To fine-tune their idea, the couple did research and learnt by visiting people within and outside Uganda. Ultimately, they sought to put together a place which would give visitors a semblance of homeliness. She says: ‘When young people come here, they feel like they are home, not in a lodge where you’re restricted.’

That feeling, the freedom to explore, touch, try, and play, is her real accomplishment. She believes agritourism is Uganda’s next frontier. ‘Tourism is changing. People have seen the animals.

After that, then what?’ she asks. Kayezu believes farms can offer experiences traditional tourism cannot: cultural immersion, food storytelling, hands-on participation and authenticity. She adds, ‘If we add agritourism to our itineraries, we will sell better than just safaris. We have cultures that are not talked about.’

GASTRONOMY IS A JOURNEY

One of the most distinctive experiences at the farm is the food, not the taste alone, but the philosophy behind it. Peace Kayezu is particular about calling it gastronomy, not culinary. ‘Gastronomy is a journey from the garden to the table,’ she explains. It begins when matooke is harvested. It continues with the peeling, steaming, wrapping, smoking, and storytelling.

The final meal, eaten on banana leaves, under an orchard, surrounded by the scent of firewood, is part of the narrative. ‘This is not a restaurant in Kampala,’ she says. ‘I want you to feel like you are home in the village.’ The presentation is rustic, beautiful, and meaningful. Banana leaves are abundant at the farm; using them is practical, cultural, and aesthetic.

The juice is fresh from the garden. The food reflects Uganda’s heritage in ways that feel both old and newly appreciated.

Every December, the farm hosts a three-day cultural gastronomy festival from December 24-26 during which chefs from all regions of Uganda are invited to prepare indigenous foods and storytellers to relive traditions.

There are band performances, dances, bonfires, and cultural exhibitions. When she looks back at everything she has built, Kayezu smiles. ‘I am very happy, proud of the team, and excited for the future.’

The farm establishment is not simply a business to her but a way of reshaping how young people see farming, a place where culture sits on the table, visitors can feel at home, and Uganda’s past and future meet. Before she ends the conversation, she adds one last line- soft, humble, and inviting: ‘Thank you for thinking about Kaynela. And please come and visit so you can have the real experience.’