Reading Time: 3 minutesWith all the excitement about Black Panther, I caught up with Derrick Kibisi, founder and director of Talking Films. This is the Ugandan production house that worked on Disney’s Queen of Katwe and coordinated the aerial shots gave the Marvel film some of its breathtaking portrayals of Wakanda (the fictional civilisation in Black Panther). I
Reading Time: 5 minutes“You can’t have organized crime without law and order” is a quote in the popular television series “Gotham”. But it may as well have been about the legitimacy racket that is the familiar story across the continent where agile but aging strongmen have discovered the secret to staying power is embracing democracy not fighting it.
Reading Time: 5 minutes My last two meetings with Arinaitwe Rugyendo – one of the founders of the Red Pepper Publications involved urging him (for a journalistic fellowship that he eventually was too busy to apply for) to offer a defense of the tabloid as a form of contemporary Ugandan journalism. Indeed, defend the quintessential test of
Reading Time: 2 minutesSouthern Sudanese refugees in the districts of Moyo and Adjumani now outnumber locals in those areas according to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). In a monthly internal report ( for November) by the agency seen by this blogger, at the end of October 2017 there were one million, four hundred thousand, two
Reading Time: 2 minutesReaders of this blog deserve an apology for the long period between posts. This often happens when I am traveling. This summer it meant a two-month long stay at home in Uganda, which tends to be crowded with work, home visits and scouting for new projects. My partnership on TV/Film is one such enterprise. It
Reading Time: 3 minutesHere is a post from July 2005 It is twelve years since I wrote this. But you may find it familiar if you follow the debate over succession in Uganda which has pivoted to a chattering over the age of President Yoweri Museveni Niccolo Machiavelli Visits Kyankwanzi The Monitor (Kampala) OPINION July 3, 2005 Posted
Reading Time: 5 minutes The purging of age limits from the Uganda constitution will cost approximately $50 million. This is what MPs are demanding from the NRM according to several interviews – and the gravy rumour mill at Parliament Avenue. Divided up, most MPs will take home at least $100K with regional political kingpins and fixers raking in
Reading Time: 4 minutesThe failure of the US backed plan to capture or kill the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, Joseph Kony, is not the only blemish on the soon to start trial of LRA fighter Dominic Ogwen at the Hague. There are many issues with his prosecution for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. Firstly,
Reading Time: 3 minutesContinued testimony from Uganda’s Human Rights Commission Report – 1962-1986 led by late Justice Arthur Oder. Sula Kiwanuka. Witness We was transferred from Nile Mansions to Argentina House and thrown completely naked into a room. That was evening and mind you we had not eaten that Saturday, Sunday at Nile Mansions; that was
Reading Time: 6 minutesWitness testimony from the Uganda Human Rights Commission led by Justice Arthur Oder. James Namakajo ( journalist and intelligence officer. Inmate and witness) “ I am of the view that Mutukula in my mind symbolizes the worst that man could do to man. I think the architect of Mutukula is a very, very