Pure Good Governance

President Museveni’s call for political dialogue with the opposition party’ leaders which hit the headlines of most local Ugandan media outlets this week reminded me of Winston Churchill’s famous quote: " Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing...after they have exhausted all other possibilities ."  Putting this in perspective, Ugandans too can always be counted on to do the right thing after they have exhausted all other possibilities.   When the opposition decided to go to the 2011 polls, the initial mood was greeted with the feeling that all opposition political parties were going to field a single candidate under the Inter-Party Cooperation (IPC). Essentially, this would have been one of the wittiest ways that the opposition would have strengthened its competitive position for the 2011 elections.  As seen in some countries such as Kenya, a broad spectrum of opposition groups have adopted the initiative of coalitions by forming a common front ...

The last few years seem to confirm that Uganda is a stratified ecosystem of unraveling social problems.    The different sub-regions continue to flounder in major social problems whose solutions seemingly simple have proved hard to find. Some of these problems have their roots in our colonial past while others are related to demographic changes, socio-political conditions and cultural processes. A quick recount will reveal the following.   In Acholi, the population continues to grapple with the uncertainty of sustainable peace in the region; the breakage in the moral fabric; and post-war trauma and infrastructural breakdown. The Ankole region is still trapped in the nascent problem of land acquisition by a majority of poor Banyankole; the unresolved ethnic conflicts between the Bahima and Bairu; the muffled restoration of the institution of the Obugabe ; limited access to clean and safe water; limited local markets of dairy products; declining agricultural productivity an...

There’s been a lot of talk on the key laws that parliament passed or considered to pass prior to the 2011 general elections.   Taking stock of the laws passed or brought before the Parliament of Uganda during the fore said period, you will discover that most of them reflect a deep distrust in the inherent fundamental freedoms and liberties of the people.   Laws including: The NGO Registration (Amendment) Act 2006; The Access to Information Regulations 2007; The Proposed Public Order Management Bill 2009; The Press and Journalist Amendment Bill 2010; Regulation of Interception of Communications Act 2010; and The Institution of the Traditional and Cultural Leaders’ Bill 2010, are seemingly an attempt to purge critical voices.   However not all the new laws are bad but their lack of efficacy seems to be very apparent.   Actually someone would not be far from the truth if they observed that most of these laws were introduced simply to make a political point and not to ma...

If you have just started following events in Ivory Coast, you might be tempted to think that Ivory Coast is just like any other African country that has plied through the standard road from Independence.  For many African states, the standard route from Independence to four or five decades down the road has been characterized by civil wars, coup de tats, guerilla war fares and many other political and economic catastrophes.  I call this standard, because out of the fifty three African countries, at least three quarters of these have taken this very path upon descending into the magnanimity of self-government. Ivory Coast taxied on a right note.  Gaining independence in 1960 under the leadership of Papa Félix Houphouët-Boigny , the country quickly turned itself into the world's leading producer of cocoa, pineapples and palm oil.   Unlike many countries, Ivory Coast used its foreign exchange earnings to develop first class infrastructure and also deliver high q...