By Sharon J. Tibenda – 9^th-15^th Aug 2010

Traitor?

The death of former Uganda President Godfrey Lukongwa Binaisa QC [RIP] on 5^th August 2010 has elicited mixed reactions from members of the general public with others calling him a “ traitor” for his role [as the then Attorney General] in the 1966 Buganda Crisis.

Such negative outbursts are, however, rare in Africa.  In most parts of Africa, and certainly in Uganda, it is still considered impolite, and perhaps, even a “taboo”, to say bad things about people who have passed on.   On this occasion however, some ultra loyal Baganda monarchists who are still angry at Binaisa’s 1966 role, have dispensed with that cultural norm of decency and attacked the late Ex-President of Uganda in death. (more…)

By Timothy Nsubuga – 9^th-15^th Aug 2010

EC Boss Kigunddu

The opposition’s struggle to have the Kiggundu-led Electoral Commission [EC] disbanded and replaced before the next general elections scheduled for February 2011 took a new and ugly twist last week.

Some young extremists within the opposition IPC alliance who spoke to Uganda Correspondent in Kampala said as far as they were concerned, EC Boss Badru Kiggundu’s children are now legitimate targets for abduction and even torture.  This, they said, would now be their tactic of last recourse to force Kiggundu and his fellow EC Commissioners to resign and pave way for a new and credible EC. (more…)

By Dennis Otim – 9^th-15^th Aug 2010

NRM Campaign Bus

When news broke last week that Museveni’s government was going to pay $14.2 million [approx Shs31.3 billion] to the government of Burundi “as compensation for material and financial support it had offered to the National Resistance Army [NRA] before the rebel group seized power in 1986”, alarm bells rang immediately.

A US based Ugandan called Robert Ojwang, for example, wildly suggested in an email to Uganda Correspondent that “…the Shs31.3billion Burundi war debt is actually money that the NRM is taking from the treasury to fund its campaigns in 2011”. (more…)