Uganda - The African Mirror

Sep

2020

Uganda says to re-open airport and resume international flights on October 1

ELIAS BIRYABAREMA UGANDA has announced that it would reopen its sole international airport to commercial flights on October 1, more than five months after its closure as a measure to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus in the East African nation. The move is the latest in a series of steps by the government of President Yoweri Museveni to gradually lift one of Africa's tightest lockdowns and rejuvenate the economy, badly hurt by the shutdown. "We're preparing to open for resumption of flights on October 1," spokesman for the country's state-run Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Vianney Lugya, said of…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Why Uganda’s ban on open-air campaigns could tilt the 2021 poll in Museveni’s favour

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

GEOFFREY SSENOGA, Lecturer of Mass Communications, Uganda Christian University UGANDA is going to conduct its first digital and mass media campaigns ahead of its 2021 general elections. This comes as the country contemplates holding a “scientific election” wherein social distancing guidelines will be observed. On 16 June 2020, the Uganda Electoral Commission issued a press release banning public rallies for the 2021 political campaigns as part of the country’s COVID-19 containment measures. Campaigns will now be conducted on radio and television, in newspapers and on the internet. This caused an immediate protest especially among opposition-leaning political groups and civil society…

Aug

2020

By The African Mirror

Projects to transform Kampala

AFRICITIES

UGANDAN President Yoweri Museveni has launched two major projects that are set to transform the country’s capital Kampala. Museveni officiated at the launch of the Kasubi Market, in central Kampala and later presided over the start of a major infrastructure project. “ As part of efforts to make Kampala a more organised city, I presided over the commissioning of the new Kasubi Market and the launch of construction works on the Lubigi and Nakamiro drainage channels “Kasubi Market will house over 1,400 traders though currently only 800 are using it because of SOPs on social distancing. With this facility functional,…

Aug

2020

By The African Mirror

U.S. imposes sanctions on four Ugandans over adoption scam

NEWS

MOIRA WARBURTON THE United States imposed sanctions on four Ugandans on Monday, including two judges, accusing them of participating in a fraudulent adoption scam, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement. The Treasury accused Ugandan judges Moses Mukiibi and Wilson Musalu Musene, lawyer Dorah Mirembe and her husband, Patrick Ecobu, of participating in a scheme that removed Ugandan children from their families under a promise of "special education" programs and study in the United States and instead offered them to American families for adoption. "Deceiving innocent Ugandan families into giving up their children for adoption has caused great suffering,"…

Aug

2020

By The African Mirror

Ugandan presidential hopeful says police used bullets to disperse supporters

NEWS

ELIAS BIRYABAREMA UGANDAN pop star and presidential hopeful, Bobi Wine, said some of his supporters were injured on Saturday after police fired teargas and live bullets to disperse a crowd in the country's east. Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, is seeking to end the 34-year-rule of ageing President Yoweri Museveni in polls due to be held early next year. Police spokesman Fred Enanga did not reply to Reuters' repeated calls seeking comment. In a post on his Facebook account, Wine said he had travelled to the eastern Ugandan town of Mbale to appear on a radio talk show…

Aug

2020

By The African Mirror

40 push-ups; no problem

MULTIMEDIA

President Museveni of the Republic of Uganda challenges his grandchildren to 40 push-ups. After work last night, I challenged my Bazukulu to an indoor work-out. We did Forty Push-ups.Just like I have always advised, even at your own home, you can stay safe, and remain fit and healthy. pic.twitter.com/LKjqwViwlE— Yoweri K Museveni (@KagutaMuseveni) August 5, 2020

Aug

2020

By The African Mirror

Uganda’s tough approach curbs COVID-19, even as Africa nears a million cases

NEWS

ELIAS BIRYABAREMA UGANDA's crumbling public hospitals, doctors' strikes and corruption scandals make its success in the fight against the new coronavirus all the more unlikely. But the nation of 42 million people has recorded just over 1,200 cases and five deaths since March, a strikingly low total for such a large country. As the number of cases in Africa approaches one million, Uganda's experience shows what can be accomplished when a government with a firm grip on power acts quickly and enforces a strict lockdown. But its success came at a cost, critics say. Jobs were lost, and economic growth…

Jul

2020

By The African Mirror

Uganda’s Museveni picks up papers for re-election push

NEWS

ELIAS BIRYABAREMA UGANDA'S long-serving President Yoweri Museveni has collected papers to seek nomination as the ruling party's candidate in next year's presidential election, the party said on Tuesday. Securing a new term would potentially extend the 75-year-old Museveni's rule of the east African nation to four decades. "Yes, we can confirm he has picked nomination forms for our flagbearer position," Rogers Mulindwa, spokesman for the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), told Reuters, adding that no-one else had yet shown up to contest him within the party. Though no date has yet been fixed for the 2021 vote, it is typically…

Jul

2020

By The African Mirror

‘Who is going to stand up for us?’ A trans sex worker in Uganda on life under lockdown

LGBT+

LGBT+ rights in Uganda have long faced social and cultural hurdles. Last year, the "Kill the Gays" bill – so-called as it would introduce the death penalty for gay sex – was raised again by Ugandan lawmakers, despite having provoked international condemnation on its first airing in 2014. The proposal was dismissed by the government, but the controversy sparked by the bill's new backers shone a spotlight on the problems faced by the LGBT+ community in the country. Transgender people living in Uganda, many of whom earn a living as sex workers, face particular difficulties, as Anna Xwexx Morena explains.…