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Archive for June, 2010
Salva Kirr Re-appoints Riek Machar
Sudanese state media reported on Saturday that the President of South Sudan Salva Kiir has reappointed his deputy Riek Machar. This is a major political step ahead of the forthcoming referendum through which the people will decide whether or not to break away from the Bashir-led North. Southern Sudan won semi-autonomous government under the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement [CPA] that ended more than two decades of bitter civil war with the north.
Mr Kiir won overwhelmingly in the April election to stay on as president of South Sudan. He is now expected to name the rest of his new cabinet in the next few days, seven months before the referendum scheduled for January 2011. Further north, President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir is also expected to announce the country’s national coalition government soon. President Bashir said the key Ministry of Energy and Mining would be led by a member of Mr Kiir’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement [SPLM]; a move that might strengthen the “No” campaigners in the referendum.
While most analysts agree that the proponents of the “Yes” campaign will carry the day in the referendum, they also acknowledge that Southern Sudan still faces major challenges. The people in the South are still buried in abject poverty, food security is still a major problem, and the new government will have to deal with rebellions from at least three militia leaders who bitterly dispute the outcome of the last election. In fact, Sudan’s army reported that fighters who are loyal to David Yauyau on Thursday kidnapped four government guards in Boma wildlife park near the country’s border with Ethiopia.
Col. Ogole Breaks 25yr Political Silence
By Staff Writer
Uganda Correspondent
Col. John Charles Ogole
In terms of stature, he is most definitely not your typical Ugandan. For a start, he is very well built; throughout in fact! Secondly, going by my rudimentary estimation, I would say that standing, he easily hits above 6ft mark. Thirdly, I think he probably weighs something that the Doctor would say is perfectly proportionate for that sort of stature; so you work it out for yourself. Fourthly, his hands are blessed with long and larger than average fingers that give you more than just a firm grip when you greet him. For most small people, I am sure a handshake with him would feel like a “David and Goliath” hand-squeezing contest. His head is now covered in neatly trimmed silver-white grey hair. And yet, only a few minutes with him will tell you that his grey hair is very deceptive. Beneath that grey covered skull lies a brain that could put that of many Ugandan graduates to shame. It is, in other words, a head that is still firing on all cylinders; like a brand new car! (more…)
Mo Foundation Cancels 2010 Prize
Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim
The 2010 Mo Ibrahim Prize for outstanding leadership by African leaders is off. The Prize Committee met yesterday to discuss the award of the 2010 Mo Ibrahim Prize. Following its deliberations, the Prize Committee informed the Board of the Foundation that it had not selected a winner. Last year the Prize Committee announced that it had considered some credible candidates, but after in depth review could not select a winner. This year the Prize Committee told the Board that there had been no new candidates or new developments and that therefore no selection of a winner had been made. The Mo Ibrahim Prize recognises and celebrates excellence in African leadership. The prize is awarded to a democratically elected former African Executive Head of State or Government who has served their term in office within the limits set by the country’s constitution and has left office in the last three years. The first winner of the Prize was Joaquim Chissano, former President of Mozambique in 2007, followed by Festus Mogae, former President of Botswana in 2008. (more…)
Mao is Stuck at a Political Crossroad
Sources within the Mao faction of the Democratic Party say that their leader Norbert Mao is finding it very difficult to decide whether or not to join the Inter Party Cooperation [IPC], a coalition of Ugandan opposition parties that are pushing for crucial reforms before the 2011 general election. The “Namboze Factor”, we are told, is one of the biggest causes of Mao’s indecision. Namboze, you will recall, attributed her recent election victory in the Mukono North by-election to the support she got from the IPC as opposed to DP; her own party. That, we understand, has made Mao see the importance of the IPC but that he is also struggling to bring his unwilling DP faction along; a faction dominated by equally ambitious young politicians who enjoy a lot of power in that faction. The other big factor we understand is the fact that Mao, being the ever ambitious politician, has not yet worked out a strategy that will ensure that he becomes the IPC’s flag bearer in the coming elections; something that he desperately wants.
No NRM Support, No Job?
Unconfirmed reports that reached Uganda Correspondent News Desk last week suggests that increasingly, membership of the ruling NRM-O Party is fast becoming the hottest ticket in town. The grapevine has that membership of the NRM now gives one a decisive edge in the daily struggles of unemployed Ugandans to get work in most government departments. A young man who talked to us on condition of anonymity said before he and others were recruited to work for the National Identity Project, they first had to sign up and swear to vote for the NRM-O Party come the next general elections scheduled for February 2011. Interesting times indeed! Has anyone else faced such demands from people responsible for recruitment into government departments? We would like to hear from you.
Is there such a thing as “self-imposed exile”?
By Charles Ochen Okwir
I have heard the media, friends, and foes alike, persistently using the term “self-imposed exile” when referring to some Ugandans who, for whatever reason, somehow find themselves in exile and unable to return to Uganda. Examples of such references are plentiful. When, for example, in 2005 Dr. Kizza Besigye returned from exile in South Africa, most Journalists who covered that great political epoch were quick to declare that Dr. Besigye was returning from, and I quote, “his self-imposed exile”. Only last week, it was reported that FDC’s International Envoy Anne Mugisha had returned from her “self imposed exile”. It is one those passively made insinuations that I have never been able to understand. So let me ask you the esteemed readers of Uganda Correspondent: In all honesty, is there such a thing as “self-imposed exile”? (more…)
Identity Crisis Hits “Ugandans” in the Diaspora
By Timothy Nsubuga,
Uganda Correspondent
For many Ugandans, being Ugandan is something that they consider to be fairly straight forward; hardly debatable in fact. For them, it is as simple as either being born in Uganda to Ugandan parents, [or at least one of them] or by registration as a citizen. For Miss Brown however, [not her real names] it is not that straight forward. For a long time, she considered herself to be Ugandan without much question. After all, she was born and raised in Uganda and both her parents were Ugandans through and through! But she began to question her uncritical, almost dogmatic beliefs recently when she was granted citizenship in a European country. Her nationality identity crisis story goes like this: (more…)
A New Dawn of Liberal Debate Has Broken
The year was 1997. The skies were just turning red in the horizon as the sun rose across the River Thames from the Palace of Westminster in London. The young Tony Blair, MP for Sedgefield constituency had just pulled off a landslide election victory for Britain’s Labour Party and was about to march into Number 10 Downing Street as Britain’s new Prime Minister. To capture the symbolism of the moment politically, he declared to the world, with an infectious smile, that “a new dawn has broken”! We at Uganda Correspondent are experiencing something very similar. It is a wonderful day! It is a wonderful day because today, after months of hard work, a brand new and totally independent people’s platform for liberal debate has been born; and you are reading from it now! (more…)
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