Category: Daily Monitor

The phrase “nobody wake us up, please” was a famous quote by Claudio Ranieri during Leicester City’s improbable 2015-16 Premier League title win.

Ranieri used the phrase to describe the team’s incredible form, which felt like a dream, and his desire for the fans to continue enjoying the experience without the pressure of reality.

After Leicester beat Everton and lifted the trophy, he told fans to “keep dreaming, why wake up?” Juxtapose that scenario from nine years ago with the present day!

Back in April, it was almost enough for the Uganda Cubs to celebrate reaching the Fifa U-17 World Cup for the very first time, winning the qualifying playoff against The Gambia 2-1.

Enjoy the moment

When the moment to rub shoulders with the elite arrived this month, many would have just loved for Uganda to compete and enjoy the moment.

In fact, some could only demand that Uganda makes a habit of qualifying for the World Cup, after all it’s now annual and 48 teams-heavy, up from 24 for the previous nine editions.

It was even much smaller before that, going back to 1985, or even 1977 when this tournament was inaugurated as the Lion City Cup in Singapore.

With every result, the Cubs have shown that they belong here and there is no better way to show it than against Burkina Faso in the round of 16 on Tuesday. The enjoyment phase must be long gone.

Victory here will put coach Brian Ssenyondo among the best eight sides in this age group. Definitely, the pressure is going to go up a notch. How do you deal with it?

First, they must fill the void left by talisman James Bogere. He is suspended after receiving a yellow card in the 1-0 victory over Senegal in the round of 32 on Saturday.

Margins

It is also evident that the margins have narrowed for this team who came through a tight group K with a loss to Canada (1-2), a -1all draw against Chile and a 1-0 victory against 2001 champions France.

Just to emphasize how razor thin the margins might be, goalkeeper Edrisah Waibi had to deliver a performance for the ages to knock out the Young Lions of Teranga.

‘I am proud of my goalkeeper Edrissa. He kept us in the game in those first thirty minutes. When everyone is beaten, you need your keeper to stand big in the goal. The small man today stood big in the goal,’ Ssenyondo said.

Now, Ssenyondo needs to spread his options without Bogere. Derrick Ssozi is one having come off the bench to get the leveler against the gritty South Americans to keep Uganda in the tournament.

‘It’s a knockout stage,’ Ssenyondo noted. ‘Like we played France, two different games but almost of the same kind of magnitude because against France it was a knockout game as well, if you won, you stayed, if you did not win, your home. I believe we know what is at stake – that we need to win to progress – no other chance, and I am certain we shall present ourselves very well.’

Depth

Uganda’s squad depth will be tested after four games in under 10 days. Back to the top. Ironically, Ranieri himself was known for using a different “wake up” call during training sessions.

When players were not paying full attention, he would ring an imaginary bell and say, “Dilly-ding, dilly-dong, wake up, wake up!”

This catchphrase became famous and he even bought the players and staff a small bell for Christmas as a joke. Ssenyondo, known for rings on several of his fingers, does not need a bell.

Tangier’s Grand Stade de Tanger will cast a harsh, honest light on the Cranes Tuesday night as Uganda’s steady rise meets Africa’s top-ranked side in a friendly that feels heavier than the term suggests.

The fixture – the second warm-up in four days – offers Uganda their sternest measure yet of what the Paul Put rebuild looks like against elite opposition.

Africa’s standard

Morocco, sharpened for a home Afcon in December, are still the continent’s gold standard.

Ranked 12th globally, they’ve won their last 10 matches, grinding out a 1-0 win over Mozambique on Friday.

Their 2022 World Cup fourth-place run remains Africa’s benchmark, and Walid Regragui’s team rolls with that same efficiency.

Youssef En-Nesyri should spearhead the attack, likely reclaiming the spot from Ayoub El Kaabi after his missed penalty last time out.

Yassine Bounou keeps goal behind a backline missing Achraf Hakimi but steadied by Mazraoui and new boy Anass Salah-Eddine.

Sofyan Amrabat’s steel, Azzedine Ounahi’s glide and Brahim Diaz’s invention add to a side that plays like a mission statement.

Uganda bring grit

Uganda, now 61st in the world, counter with form and grit. Put’s side finished runners-up to Algeria in their World Cup qualifying group and secured Afcon 2025 as Group K runners-up behind South Africa.

Unbeaten in four of their last five, they edged Chad 2-1 on Friday – a workmanlike win, not a spectacle, but one that stretched their legs and revealed character.

Uche Mubiru Ikpeazu’s cool penalty, his first goal in Cranes colours, and Melvyn Lorenzen’s instinctive second-half finish delivered the goods for Uganda.

Lorenzen, returning after his 2016 cameo debut, also bagged his first Cranes goal.

Debutant goalkeeper Denis Kiggundu had a mixed night – gave away a penalty, then saved another – but earned Put’s appreciation.

‘We could’ve been better,’ stand-in captain Jordan Obita admitted. ‘We turned the ball over too easily. Afcon’s quality demands more.’

Put echoed the sentiment: ‘Morocco’s another level. We must be at our best.

Who steps up?

Put is expected to restore experience for this one. Denis Onyango should regain his gloves, while midfielder Khalid Aucho’s return – either in place of or alongside new boy Al Hassan Baba and Kenneth Ssemakula – would steady the centre.

Ikpeazu and Lorenzen have made their cases to start again, though Steven Mukwala and Joseph Mpande push for roles, too.

The spine – Obita, Toby Sibbick and Allan Okello, the latter a second half substitute on Friday – remains firm despite absences of injured Aziz Kayondo and Rogers Mato.

A bigger picture

For Morocco, Afcon 2025 on home soil is a mission. They last won it in 1976.

For Uganda, it’s about charting a new arc. The Cranes reached the 1978 final and made the 2019 round of 16, but Group C – Tunisia (Dec 23), Tanzania (Dec 27), Nigeria (Dec 30) – is no small climb.

Tuesday is not about matching giants stride for stride. It’s about stretching belief. Testing the ceiling. Knowing where the cracks are before December.

And history reminds us it’s not impossible. Uganda famously thrashed Morocco 3-0 at Afcon 1978, and beat them again 1-0 in a 2011 friendly.

Morocco’s two Chan wins – 3-1 in 2014 and 5-2 in 2021 – add colour to a fixture that has never lacked edge.

In Tangier, the Cranes measure themselves against Africa’s best – and find out what their own best might become.

Uganda Cranes international friendlies

Nov 14 result: Uganda 2-1 Chad

Nov 18: Morocco vs Uganda, 10pm EAT

Afcon 2025

Group C matches

Dec 23: Tunisia vs Uganda

Dec 27: Uganda vs Tanzania

Dec 30: Uganda vs Nigeria

More details have emerged about the circumstances that led to Ms Phiona Nyamutoro being declared unopposed for the Nebbi District Woman parliamentary seat.

Mr Simon Byabakama, the Electoral Commission (EC) chairperson, declared Ms Nyamutoro elected unopposed last Thursday after he cleared a petition that sought to nullify the nomination of her opponent, Ms Mercy Rebecca Abedican. Mr Godfrey Ongiera, one of the two petitioners who denied having endorsed the candidature of Ms Abedican under the National Unity Platform (NUP) party flag, is her uncle. Mr Ongiera, whose appeal gifted Ms Nyamutoro victory, confirmed his ties with Ms Abedican, whom he accused of using his credentials for her nomination without his knowledge.

He added that Ms Abedican knew he was a staunch supporter of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party. But the NUP party officials in Nebbi District said Mr Ongiera willingly endorsed their candidate but changed his position after some ‘handsome’ promises were made to him. Mr Keriko Kizito Kerpou, the Nebbi District NUP party coordinator, in a interview with Daily Monitor, also accused the EC of availing the list of Ms Abedican’s seconders to her opponents, who they said called all of them with the aim of compromising them. Our efforts to get a comment from the EC proved futile last evening because the known number of the spokesperson, Mr Julius Mucunguzi, and his deputy, Paul Bukenya, were all unreachable by press time.

Ms Abedican said she was on the road en route to meeting the NUP officials and promised to address the issue later, but had not by press time. Trouble for Ms Abedican emerged when Ongiera and Bediic petitioned the EC on November 4, denying seconding her parliamentary candidature. In a November 13 ruling, the EC stated that Ms Abedican’s nomination did not satisfy legal requirements of being supported by at least 10 voters from the district. Part of the ruling said that during cross-examination, Mr Ongiera presented evidence showing he is a member of the NRM party and could not have supported Ms Abedican, a NUP candidate.

The ruling added: ‘The Commission interacted with candidate Mercy Rebecca Abedican at the hearing of the complaint, but she did not provide satisfactory evidence in rebuttal of the assertion by Godfrey Ongiera and Jimmy Bediic that they did not support her nomination. As a result, candidate Mercy Rebecca Abedican did not provide the minimum of 10 persons registered in Nebbi Electoral District as required under Section 28(1) (c) of the Parliamentary Elections Act, Cap 17.’ ‘Accordingly, the decision of the Returning Officer, Nebbi District, nominating candidate Mercy Rebecca Abedican is hereby reversed, and candidate Phiona Nyamutoro is to be declared elected unopposed as a Woman Member of Parliament for Nebbi District,’ the EC ruled.

But Mr Kerpou said attempts to remove Ms Abedican from the ballot started before her nomination when an opponent allegedly asked her to bury her parliamentary ambitions and instead accept some unspecified liberal offers. When this failed, efforts were reportedly channelled towards her parents, where a top district leader was sent to convince them to pressure her, but in turn asked the emissary to directly speak to Ms Abedican. ‘Even on the nomination day, we were frustrated and only cleared for nomination at about 7pm as the officials kept on disturbing us until we had to carry computers and printers to the nomination centre. They even asked us to come the following day, but we protested and refused, and that was why they nominated her,’ he said.

Ongiera responds

But Mr Ongiera in an interview last evening, denied ever meeting junior Energy minister Nyamutoro or even taking from her money. He said whatever he did was because he is a strong NRM member who has never associated with the NUP party.

‘Rebecca [Ms Abedican] started her politics in 2016, when she stood for the same position as an Independent and then under FDC party in 2021, and this time on a NUP ticket. Personally, I have never believed in her as my leader despite being my daughter. But what she did was a big mistake, using my credentials for her nomination without my consent,’ he said.

Mr Ongiera added: ‘I am a popular NRM party leader here and even contested for LC3 chairman in Abenyo Division, but I later heard her on the radio bragging that I supported her. I complained to the EC in Nebbi, who forwarded my issue to Kampala and was summoned and I explained everything.’ Mr Robert Kyagulanyi, the NUP party president, described the ejection of his party’s flagbearer as an act of impunity being done by a ‘weak and partisan EC’.

‘In many cases, they have been abducting people who signed for our candidates, intimidating them, and parading them before the EC to claim they never signed for those candidates. These cowards cannot stand fair competition,’ he said, adding that NUP would challenge the action.

It has been a week of memes, all manner of jokes, and ranting on social media. At the centre of it all was the Ugandan President, HE Yoweri Museveni. Museveni’s remarks were interpreted as ‘laying claim to Kenyan territory using threats of war.’

Interestingly, Museveni was among others emphasising the importance of unity of regional states and African countries in harnessing resources for the prosperity of its people. In this case, the access to the sea by landlocked countries like Uganda for the sake of trade and defence. ‘That ocean belongs to me; I am entitled to that ocean. In future, we are going to have wars.’There is nothing preposterous about what Museveni said if one looks at Article 125 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). It grants landlocked countries like Uganda, right to access the sea and freedom to transit through states like Kenya and Tanzania, which border the ocean.

Interestingly, you did not hear as much emotional venom from Tanzania. The country is just fresh from a shambolic election that allegedly ended with the death of thousands of people. Social media being what it is, many netizens picked out what they thought would make a story and ran with it. Even Lee Njiru, the former press secretary of the 2nd Kenyan president, Daniel Arap Moi, chastised Museveni for being ungrateful by ‘issuing war threats.’ He talked about how Kenya and its army assisted him during his war in Luweero, which helped him grab power in 1986.

The Kenyan media and several politicians had their say too. The age of social media and high unemployment is interesting. The world wakes up and lurches on what is trending, comments exhaustively, even if it means taking things out of context. That is, until something new comes up. Museveni, in this case, got the stick for various reasons. He is the father of the Chief of Defence Forces, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who in the past raised a diplomatic storm by threatening war against Kenya on his X handle. Museveni even apologised to Kenya for his son’s remarks.

Museveni himself is a gunman by profession. He leads a country that has a history of invading and interfering militarily in neighbouring countries like Tanzania in 1979 by Idi Amin, DR Congo, South Sudan, etc. Idi Amin even threatened to annex part of Kenya back in 1976.The charged Kenyans have, from time to time, viewed Museveni with suspicion. In 1987, the Uganda-Kenya border was closed temporarily after armed clashes. Each country accused the other of supporting rebel groups. Kenya’s Moi ostensibly accused Museveni of supporting the underground Mwakenya Movement, which was advocating for the return of multiparty politics. Ugandan youthful leaders, fresh from the bush, claimed that Kenya’s dictatorship was apprehensive that the Ugandan revolution fever would infect Kenya. The remnants of the forces from past armies that the NRA had defeated were allegedly holed up in Kenya.

In 2007, during the post-election violence, it was claimed that ‘Ugandan troops’ had been sent to help the Mwai Kibaki regime, which had just stolen an election from the late Raila Amolo Odinga. Several Ugandan cargo trucks were burnt or looted in Kenya as they transited.

Recently, during the Gen Z uprisings, the accusation against the Ugandan president and army resurfaced. Many young people were abducted, and others shot dead by the Kenyan police. The Gen Zs claimed Uganda was shoring up the embattled Kenyan president William Ruto like it had done repeatedly with Gen Salva Kiir Mayadit’s government in South Sudan.It does not make matters any better that Museveni made the remark at a time when he also lightheartedly disclosed the whereabouts of two Kenyan activists. Museveni said that Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo, who went missing for 38 days in Uganda, were actually abducted by the Ugandan security and kept in the ‘fridge.’ That is an ungazetted detention centre where they allegedly found another about 150 prisoners who had never been to court.Over a year ago, in November 2024, Ugandan opposition stalwart Kizza Besigye and Obeid Lutale were abducted in Kenya and handed over to Ugandan security agents. Many Kenyans think there is a conspiracy in the two East African states to suppress the rights of individuals. All of these are unsubstantiated.That said, it is inconceivable that Museveni would contemplate any form of force to access the sea for all reasons ‘national interests.’

This is not just because over the last 40 years, most interests that keep a lot of Ugandans at all levels awake are parochial and personal. That sense of higher purpose and groupthink is waning.It is not practical to force your way through another country to do things like trade, as you would need their physical, economic, and security infrastructure to transit safely.

Coming at the time they did and the way they successfully elicited response and debate, the Indian Ocean remarks should be treated like the metaphorical red herring. In 1807, William Cobbett wrote about using strong-smelling smoked fish to distract dogs from a rabbit trail. Museveni is in an election seeking a seventh term. 40 years after taking office, he can hardly blame anyone for the many things that are amiss in the country. He is the past that he criticised. The terrible roads. The lack of clean drinking water. Children studying under mango trees. Insecurity in some areas. Land grabbing. Nepotism in the allocation of national resources. Corruption. The failure to provide justice in the courts of law. The abduction of opposition supporters and abuse of other freedoms. Bad elections. Hospitals without medicines and medical personnel. The armies of youth without jobs. The visibly high levels of poverty, etc. Museveni is still promising to solve these problems that have persisted for 40 years under his watch.It is difficult to take him seriously. He must reinvent himself, something that he has done over and over again. He has seemingly reached the end of the tether.

He needs a distraction. Something that explains Uganda’s failure to progress. Access to the Indian Ocean and the unity of states is now one of the stumbling blocks to progress. It apparently needs a strong and experienced leader like him to sort it out in the next five years. The hint about war is understandably drawn from the most successful side of him. It supposedly provides hope, for he has a proven track record there. Otherwise, there is nothing serious. Kenyans should relax and enjoy their ugali. Museveni’s Indian Ocean is a red herring for the Ugandan voters.

President Museveni has appointed former Inspector General of Government (IGG) Beti Kamya as Senior Presidential Advisor, just a month after she left her previous role.

Kamya, who served as IGG until last month when she was replaced by High Court Justice Aisha Naluzze Batala, has been appointed Senior Presidential Advisor with benefits personal to the officeholder.

‘.. Yes, it is true that the President appointed her [Beti Kamya] as his advisor on general duties,’ said Faruk Kirunda, deputy Presidential press secretary, confirming the development during Museveni’s campaign rally in Bugweri District.

The president signed the instruments of appointment on October 31 and instructed the Ministry of Public Service to formalise Kamya’s appointment.

The said Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Catherine Bitarakwate, confirmed receipt of the directive but declined further comment.

‘As a ministry, we received the [Presidential] directive [about the appointment] and we are simply implementing it; we have no official comment to give,” she added.

According to sources, the benefits that accompany the appointment are unique to Kamya and will not apply to future holders of the position.

Monitor reached out to Kamya for comment, but she did not respond to repeated calls.

Kamya last appeared at a public activity on October 12, a week after leaving office as IGG, when she pledged to focus on family life.

‘For now, I just want to enjoy my family. I plan to enjoy my family, and then I will see what God brings because when you pray, God does things for us. I am not thinking of standing, seeking any elective position for now, but I will engage in politics as a civic duty to campaign for my candidate, pay my taxes, vote, and I will do everything as my civic duty requires, but I will not be seeking election,’ she said.

Reflecting on her tenure, Kamya acknowledged the challenges of leading the IGG office saying: ‘I have had a very challenging four years, but by the Grace of God, I have come out happy that I served, did my best. No job does not have a challenge, likewise the IGG job, but the biggest challenge here is being under-resourced; that institution requires to be funded to work towards the masses’ expectations.’

Kamya was appointed IGG on July 15, 2021, replacing Justice Irene Mulyagonja, who served from 2012 to 2019.

She previously held cabinet positions including Minister for Kampala and Minister for Lands, Housing, and Urban Development. She now joins the ever-growing list of Museveni’s presidential advisors amid public calls for downsizing.

Rebecca Chelangat unlocked a new level of confidence in her elite long-distance running career after pocketing the 10000 metres gold medal on Day One of athletics at the Islamic Solidarity Games in Saudi Arabia.

Chelangat on Monday night opened athletics’ medal count for Uganda with a well-calculated run over the 25-lap race to emerge victorious in a time of 32 minutes and 11.42 seconds at the Prince Faisal bin Fahd Sports City Stadium in Riyadh.

‘I am very happy to be number one,’ said Chelangat after picking up her gold medal. The national anthem had played under the Riyadh lights for a third time at these Games.

For athletics, this marked the country’s second gold from the discipline since inception at the Mecca 2005 edition in Saudi Arabia. Uganda moved its tally to seven medals from four disciplines in Riyadh.

‘And I want to congratulate my partners with whom I have been training together. I think without them, I would not be number one so I am happy for this gold medal,’ said Chelangat, who was delighted yet still calm and collected.

Bar the 10000 metres final at the Tokyo World Athletics Championships which she did not finish in Japan back in September, Chelangat had made a top-four placing in every other race this year.

She walked onto the light blue track in Riyadh confident and when the bell rang, Chelangat was tucked behind Bahraini Violah Motosio with Djibouti’s Samiya Hassan Nour behind her.

Chelangat then moments after kicked to deliver the victory, Motosio taking silver in 32:13.59 while Nour got 32:17.72 ahead of Ugandan Annet Chemengich Chelangat who clocked 32:51.33.

‘Yeah, I had hope since I was seeing I had some strength,’ added Chelangat, who in January rewrote the 21km national record thanks to victory at the Sevilla Half-Marathon in Spain with a time of 1:07:18.

Prior, it had been a fateful evening for Leonard Chemutai who miscalculated his race to finish fourth in the men’s 3000 metres steeplechase final in a time of 8:55.94.

Chemutai took the lead in the closing moments but he was overtaken by Moroccan Salah Yazide and Algerian Seraiche Omar and while the Ugandan seemed to be in frame for the bronze medal, he was beaten over the final water-jump by Djiboutian Mohamed Ismail Ibrahim.

Yazide raced to gold in 8:51.64, Ibrahim got the silver in 8:51.89 while Omar came third in 8:51.96. Chemutai remained crestfallen on the floor for moments after the race, pondering over a missed medal opportunity.

Further back in the terraces, Josephine Lalam was shedding tears after her painful right knee gave way during her second attempt in the women’s javelin competition.

The 25-year-old who pocketed bronze at last year’s African Games with a national record throw of 57.01 metres. However in Riyadh, Lalam could not continue further and her first throw of 43.66 metres only got her sixth position of all six participants on the night.

Nargizakhon Kuchkarova of Uzbekistan took the gold medal with her best throw 59.39m off her fifth attempt of six on the night.

2025 ISLAMIC SOLIDARITY GAMES

DAY ONE – ATHLETICS RESULTS

MEN’S 1500 METRES HEAT 1

1 Anass Essayi (MAR) 3:59.53

2 Salih Teksoz (TUR) 3:59.85

3 Nursultan Keneshbekov (KGZ) 4:00.57

4 Tom Dradriga (UGA) 4:02.37

MEN’S 3000 METRES ST. FINAL

1 Salah Yazide (MAR) 8:51.64

2 Mohamed Ismail Ibrahim (DJI) 8:51.89

3 Seraiche Omar (ALG) 8:51.96

4 Leonard Chemutai (UGA) 8:55.94

WOMEN’S JAVELIN THROW FINAL

1 Nargizakhon Kuchkarova (UZB) 59.39 metres

2 Esra Turkmen (TUR) 56.19m

3 Eda Tugsuz (TUR) 55.58m

4 Zahra Najafi Ashraf Abadi (IRN) 51.3m

5 Shereen Hussein (EGY) 47.72m

6 Josephine Joyce Lalam (UGA) 43.66m

WOMEN’S 10000 METRES FINAL

1 Rebecca Chelangat (UGA) 32:11.42

2 Violah Motosio (BHR) 32:13.59

3 Samiya Hassan Nour (DJI) 32:17.72

4 Annet Chemengich (UGA) 32:51.33

UGANDA’S MEDALS AT THE ISG

2005 Mecca: Boniface Kiprop (Athletics – 10000 Metres Bronze)

2017 Baku: Halimah Nakaayi (Athletics – 800 Metres Silver)

2021 Konya: Abel Chebet (Athletics – 5000 Metres Silver and 10000 Metres Gold), Kirabo Namutebi (Swimming – 50 Metres Freestyle Silver), Husnah Kukundakwe (Swimming – 100 Metres Breaststroke SB4-SB9 Gold, 200 Metres Individual Medley SM5-SM10 Gold, 50 Metres Freestyle S4-S10, 400 Metres Freestyle S6-S10 Silver, 100 Metres Backstroke S6-S10 Silver, 100 Metres Freestyle S4-S10 Bronze)

2025 Riyadh: Alfred Ojok (Boxing – 80kg Bronze), Gloria Muzito (Swimming – 50 Metres Freestyle Gold, 100 Metres Freestyle Gold, 200 Metres Freestyle Silver), Jesse Ssengonzi (Swimming – 100 Metres Butterfly Bronze), Jemimah Nakawala and Judith Parvin Nangonzi (Table Tennis – Women’s Doubles Bronze), Rebecca Chelangat (Athletics – 10000 Metres Gold)

At just 19 years old, Resty (not her real name) from Namisindwa District faced a nightmare no girl should ever endure. One evening, while walking along a bushy path near her home, she was ambushed and raped by an unknown man.

When she later missed her period, she dismissed it as normal; her cycle had always been irregular. But as the days went by, morning vomiting and persistent illness set in.

Slowly, the reality she dreaded became clear.

She was pregnant. Caught between shame, fear, and the trauma of sexual assault, Nabulobe felt she had no safe options.

In the end, she chose to seek an abortion, joining hundreds of girls and women in Uganda who turn to unsafe methods every single day.

According to a study by the Guttmacher Institute and Makerere University, an estimated 840 abortions occur daily in Uganda.

Of these, about five women die each day from complications. Annually, unsafe abortions are responsible for more than 1,500 maternal deaths.

With no access to professional care, Nabulobe visited a traditional healer who prepared a concoction of crushed leaves, tree bark, and water. She was instructed to drink the bitter mixture. The outcome was devastating.

‘The next four days were a nightmare,’ a relative recounted.

‘She bled heavily, suffered unbearable pain, and grew too weak to move. She eventually lost both the pregnancy and her life.’

Her story reflects a widespread yet silent tragedy across Uganda, especially in rural communities where myths, poverty, and restrictive laws push girls into life-threatening situations.

While Ugandan law allows abortion only to save a woman’s life, national guidelines broaden this to cases such as rape, incest, severe foetal anomalies, or when the mother is HIV-positive.

However, accessing safe and legal abortion remains extremely difficult, particularly outside urban centres. Ms Olive Kawala, a social worker in Bududa District, said many women facing unwanted pregnancies resort to the same dangerous routes that killed Nabulobe.

‘Poor and rural women cannot afford skilled providers or travel long distances to hospitals,’ she said.

‘They rely on untrained individuals or attempt self-induced abortions. Some drink petrol. Others swallow unsafe mixtures of herbs or drugs. Many die quietly,’ she added.

Ms Kawala argued that inconsistent interpretation of the law leaves both women and health workers trapped in fear and confusion. Uganda’s Constitution states that no person has the right to terminate the life of an unborn child except as permitted by law.

The Penal Code, Sections 141 and 142, imposes harsh penalties: up to 14 years in prison for anyone assisting an abortion, and up to seven years for a woman who terminates her own pregnancy.

Although the 2006 National Policy Guidelines for Sexual and Reproductive Health allow abortion in specific circumstances, many health workers avoid providing these services because they fear arrest or public condemnation.

Ms Rhodine Kitandwe, the project advocacy officer at CEHURD, says the current legal environment forces women into risky alternatives.

‘As a country, we need to expand grounds for safe abortion and improve access to sexual and reproductive health services,’ she said.

‘The law should not trap healthcare workers in a criminal justice system that prevents them from offering essential care,’ she added. Medical professionals echo this concern.

Dr Lettica Tumusime, a gynaecologist in Mbale, said stigma and fear drive hundreds of young women to terminate pregnancies under unhygienic and dangerous conditions.

‘A lot of girls misuse misoprostol, an ulcer drug that causes uterine contractions. When used wrongly, it can cause excessive bleeding, sepsis, or death,’ he warned.

Retired midwife Roseline Nanbafu urged women to seek medical help, saying unsafe practices continue to claim young lives unnecessarily. For some, the problem runs deeper than legality, it is tied to culture and religion.

Mr William Okello, a medical officer in Mbale District, said abortion debates in Uganda rarely move forward because they collide with deeply rooted beliefs.

‘Medical evidence shows that access to safe abortion saves lives and empowers women; but because of religion and tradition, it remains one of the most divisive health issues,’ he said.

Mr Okello added that Uganda must confront the realities facing women and girls.

‘Teenage pregnancies don’t come from moral decay alone. They also come from sexual violence, poverty, lack of information, and gaps in reproductive health services. Ignoring these causes won’t solve anything,’ he said.

As long as the law remains unclear and access to safe abortion limited, health experts warn that more women will die from preventable complications.

Grim picture

A Guttmacher-Makerere study found that in 2013, at least 314,300 abortions occurred in Uganda, 57,000 of them among adolescents. More than 93,000 women were hospitalised due to complications.

Globally, the World Health Organisation estimates that 22 million unsafe abortions occur annually, accounting for between 4.7 percent and 13.2 percent of maternal deaths.

WHO notes that restrictive abortion laws are a major driver of unsafe procedures; countries with strict laws report unsafe abortion rates four times higher than countries with more liberal policies.

More than 2,000 medical students across Uganda are protesting what they call an unjust ‘no-retake policy,’ which bars them from progressing to their final semester if they have any outstanding retakes from previous semesters.

The affected students, now in their second-last semester, say the directive threatens to delay their completion dates and impose unexpected financial and emotional burdens.

The contested guideline is one of 11 directives contained in an October 21 circular issued to principals of Health TVET institutions by Ms Hellen Mukakarisa Kataratambi, the executive secretary of the Uganda Health Profession Assessment Board (UHPAB).

The Board, formed after merging the Uganda Nurses and Midwives Examination Board (UNMEB) and the Uganda Allied Health Examination Board (UAHEB), now oversees assessments for both nursing and allied health trainees.

The circular states: ‘All trainees who still have retakes should not be registered for the final semester assessment before passing the preceding semester load. This guideline exempts only the Allied Health trainees whose final semester ends in December 2025.’

Under this rule, students pursuing two-year certificate or three-year diploma programmes who were due to complete their studies early next year will be blocked from registering for the final semester if they have even a single retake. UHPAB officials declined to comment when contacted.

Principal public relations officer Agnes Wadda said she needed more time to review the specific guideline before issuing a statement.

Courses most affected include diploma and certificate programmes in Pharmacy, Clinical Medicine, Laboratory Technology, Dental Studies, Orthopaedics, Public Health Dentistry, Anaesthesia, Radiography, ENT, Environmental Health, Psychiatry, and Ophthalmology.

Student leaders representing the more than 2,000 affected trainees told the Monitor that the guideline unexpectedly extends their study period, increasing tuition and accommodation costs.

Ryan Kajubi, one of the student representatives, appealed for urgent intervention.

‘We politely ask you to exempt students who enrolled during the UAHEB era, those in Year Two and Year Three, so they can finish within the expected timeframe. The guidelines should instead apply to students who joined after the merger,’ he said.

The broader guidelines also state that candidates who fail ’50 percent or less’ of their semester papers must retake them within six months while remaining at the training institution.

Students argue that this approach differs sharply from previous UAHEB procedures.

‘When we were under UAHEB, a student could proceed to the next semester with retakes as long as they had not failed half their papers,’ said Pius Ocieng.

‘The old system allowed progression without being pushed back. The new guideline is unfair and catastrophic,’ he added. Alarmed by the implications, the students petitioned Ms Kataratambi on October 28, urging her to revise or suspend the directive.

In their letter, they warned that even students without retakes were at risk, as the outcomes of the November examinations were still unknown. Any new retake, they argued, would automatically halt progress to the final semester.

Universities and other higher education institutions across Uganda are rapidly adopting Artificial Intelligence (AI) and diverse e-learning tools, a shift officials say is reshaping the learning environment and redefining the country’s educational future.

While experts welcome the growing integration of digital systems in teaching, research, and student support, they warn that deliberate implementation is essential to safeguard the quality of graduates entering the workforce.

Dr Fred Muhumuza, an economist, policy analyst, and lecturer at Makerere University Business School, believes universities should embrace AI, but with a thoughtful approach.

‘Students must learn to customise AI-generated insights, ask tailored questions, and interact with the technology in ways that strengthen independent thinking,’ he says.

He notes that digital learning is no longer new territory for universities, pointing to the experience gained during the Covid-19 lockdowns, when institutions were forced to experiment with online teaching.

Administrators from multiple universities say the pandemic accelerated the digital shift, embedding AI and online learning into long-term academic strategies.

Many now view technology as a permanent fixture and a vital component of education delivery.

At Victoria University (VU), this transition has been formally anchored in a bold five-year strategic plan running from 2025 to 2030.

According to Vice Chancellor Prof Lawrence Muganga, the plan positions technology, particularly AI, at the heart of the university’s transformation.

Titled ‘Empowering the Future: Collaboration, Innovation and Impact’, the strategy aims to merge classroom instruction with real-world learning, strengthen employability, and cultivate a culture of research and innovation.

Prof Muganga says the plan is driven by a central question: What future should universities create? He argues that institutions must stay ahead of global trends by offering education that is immersive, data-driven, and competence-based.

‘We are preparing graduates who solve real problems rather than memorising theories. Technology enhances human expertise; it does not replace it. Our goal is to ensure students use digital tools responsibly, ethically, and creatively,’ he adds.

Victoria University Secretary Katusabe-Ssemwezi describes the plan as a blueprint for building one of East Africa’s most modern universities.

She notes that although institutions apply technology differently, they share common goals: increasing access, improving flexibility, supporting research, and strengthening academic integrity. At the Islamic University in Uganda (IUIU), similar transformations are underway.

Dr Ahmed Kasule Twaha, the director of IUIU’s Kampala Campus, says the virtual systems developed during the pandemic proved so effective that they have become a permanent part of teaching.

‘Almost every class at IUIU can now run both physically and online. When a lecturer is unavailable, they simply teach remotely, even if it is late in the evening. Students appreciate that learning continues uninterrupted,’ he says.

IUIU has also expanded access to digital research materials, offering online journals, e-books, and data repositories. Dr Kasule highlights the university’s internally developed Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, which securely manages coursework submission, marking, and student-lecturer interactions.

‘With the ERP, no student can claim their script got lost. Everything is uploaded, archived, and accessible,’ he says. Makerere University is also advancing rapidly in this direction.

Dr Sarah Ssali, the deputy vice chancellor for Academic Affairs, notes that technology is helping African institutions overcome traditional barriers linked to the production and importation of textbooks.

‘Textbooks remain important, but the high costs of printing and distribution have long limited access for poor learners,’ she says. Digital resources, ranging from e-books and open-access journals to podcasts and short videos, are widening how knowledge is produced and consumed.

‘A concept that once required two days of reading can now be explained in a five-minute video. Technology simplifies and democratises learning without lowering standards,’ Dr Ssali adds.

In March, Makerere launched its Artificial Intelligence and Data Science Lab, which focuses on developing AI-based solutions to challenges in health, environment, and food security.

The university is also using virtual smart rooms, remote teaching, and multimedia tools that allow scholars to communicate their research more effectively.

‘A professor can teach from anywhere in the world, yet students still benefit. Technology has made geography irrelevant,’ Dr Ssali says.

The decade-long fierce political wrangle between the incumbent Kayunga District Woman MP Idah Nantaba and her longtime political rival, Mr Moses Karangwa, has been reignited ahead of next year’s polls.

Mr Karangwa is a prominent businessman and also the Kayunga District National Resistance Movement (NRM) chairperson.

Mr Karangwa and Ms Nantaba were once close friends. But they broke ranks in 2012, with both politicians attacking each other in public.

The breakup resulted in the creation of pro-Karangwa and pro-Nantaba camps, which have been re-awakened and are active in the vote-hunting campaign for the 2026 General Election.

Residents in each of the two camps usually hurl insults at each other and often don’t see eye to eye. In 2021, Mr Karangwa fronted his daughter, Ms Jacklyn Birungi to contest for the Kayunga District woman MP seat against Ms Nantaba, but she lost.

Ms Birungi, the former Buvuma resident district commissioner (RDC) and five other candidates want to unseat Ms Nantaba next year. Ms Birungi’s re-entry into the race has sparked competition between supporters of the two rival camps.

Ms Nantaba accuses Mr Karangwa of being a land grabber and also being behind her political woos, among them her being dropped as a minister.

On the other hand, Mr Karangwa accuses Ms Nantaba of undermining other leaders and spreading falsehood against him.

Early this year, Ms Nantaba surprised residents when, at the last minute, she declared her intention to contest for the NRM Kayunga chairperson seat. However, Mr Karangwa, the incumbent district NRM chairperson, trounced her by a big margin.

‘By electing Karangwa as NRM chairman, you have sold your district to land grabbers, and one day you will regret your actions,’ Ms Nantaba told residents after Mr Karangwa emerged victorious.

She added: ‘My loss is partly because I entered the race very late.’ Her loss to a political rival she claims to be ‘unpopular among voters’, seemed to have intensify their rivalry. Things took a turn for the worse on Thursday, November 13, during a campaign rally organised by Ms Nantaba in Twegalire Village in Kitimbwa Sub-county.

Several youth she claimed were Mr Karangwa’s agents attending her rally with an intention of causing havoc, were beaten.

Sources said Ms Nantaba’s army guards beat up the youth and later bundled them onto a pick-up truck and took them to a health centre and then Kayunga Central Police Station.

Although Ms Nantaba did not comment on the incident, one of her political agents claimed that the youth had been sent by ‘political opponents’ to create havoc.

The fracas at the campaign rally is said to have been caused by some residents who protested Ms Nantaba’s persistent claims that they should re-elect her so that she can fight land grabbers.

‘You are using land wrangles to hoodwink us into re-electing you. You have never resolved any land wrangle,’ a youth reportedly told Ms Nantaba, who is seeking her fourth term as Kayunga Woman MP.

The queries reportedly angered Ms Nantaba, prompting her bodyguards to search for those responsible, culminating in them rounding up and beating some youth.

‘Tell us who has sent you to destabilise our rally? Is it Karangwa?’ one of Ms Nantaba’s bodyguards asked as he approached a youth. The soldiers reportedly used electric wires to beat up the residents.

Ms Nantaba, who was dropped as the State minister for ICT in late 2019, was assigned Special Forces Command soldiers to guard her shortly after she was appointed State minister for Lands in 2012.

Despite being dropped as minister, she has continued to have the soldiers from the elite unit who also protect the President and members of the First Family.

As the soldiers pounced on those questioning Nantaba, a stampede occurred as residents fled the scene last Thursday.

Four people, among them a 27-year-old Tonny Okiria, a barber in Nkokonjeru Village, Mr Bernard Etyawo, and two other unidentified women, were beaten and later rushed to Kitimbwa Health Centre by the MP’s bodyguards.

Mr Okiria sustained big cuts on the head and chest, which necessitated stitching. The soldiers removed the four people from the health centre after they had received treatment and took them to Kayunga Central Police Station.

‘We had gone to attend her [Nantaba] rally and also ask her questions, but we were surprised when her soldiers instead beat us,’ Mr Okiria said.

‘I am requesting the President’s intervention because our MP is not using the soldiers correctly. Why beat a person who wants clarification from you?’ Mr Etyawo said. The assaulted residents reported the case at Kayunga Central Police Station.

Ms Hellen Butoto, the Sezibwa Region Police spokesperson, in a statement issued last Friday, explained that during the campaign rally a group of youth allegedly threw stones at Ms Nantaba’s bodyguards before they fled the scene.

But Mr Okiria denied any involvement in the alleged stone-throwing incident, saying that he supports Ms Nantaba.

‘In response, two of Hon Nantaba’s guards, who are known to the victims by appearance, reportedly assaulted a victim identified as Tonny Okiria using sticks before taking him into custody,’ Ms Butoto said in a statement.

She added: ‘Another identified as Musa Odele who had brought drinking water to Okiria was also assaulted under suspicion of being involved in the stone-throwing incident.’

Ms Butoto said the victims-turned suspects have been released on police bond. She added that investigations are ongoing into the incident. Ms Nantaba is said to have gone to Kayunga Central Police Station last Thursday night to record a statement on the incident.

Mr Karangwa has also rejected claims made by Ms Nantaba that he was responsible for the havoc at her rally. Last Thursday’s incident followed an earlier one on Tuesday during the same week in Kayonza Sub-county where former Kitimbwa Sub-county speaker, Francis Ntambi was beaten at Ms Nantaba’s campaign rally.

The cause for his assault was not readily established. Ms Mariam Seguya, the Kayunga RDC, has cautioned residents and politicians against engaging in acts of violence. Efforts to reconcile Mr Karangwa and Ms Nantaba since 2013 have not yielded much fruit, sources said.