Muniini K. Mulera

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Equatorial Guinea and the curse of Macias Nguema Biyogo

By Muniini K. MuleraOctober 7, 20240 comments

#Nguema #Malabo #Equatorial #Guinea #Biyogo #Mbasogo

 Ruthless rulers have been part of the human story since the beginning of recorded history. Even in recent “civilised” times, numerous dictators have popped up to maintain the tradition. The twentieth century alone gave us a cast of brutal rulers that qualified for ...

Medical interns need help from their elders in their struggle for recognition as doctors

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaSeptember 2, 20240 comments

#Doctors #Uganda #Makerere #Mulago #Interns

Photo: left to right - E. M. K. Muwazi, E.S. Lubulwa, Banoba in 1934.  These doctors were officially called Senior African Medical Assistants. (© Makerere Medical School Archives)     From the first three graduates of Makerere Medical School in 1927 – Antonio ...

Government should change attitude towards medical doctors

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaAugust 5, 20240 comments

#Doctors #Uganda #Makerere #Mulago #Interns

Last week’s video recordings of some Uganda Police officers verbally and physically abusing Ugandan doctors caused great distress to many of us. The victims were fresh graduates from the famous Makerere University Medical School. Their crime? Peaceful assembly at the medical ...

Doctors D’Arbela and Owor, our unsung heroes turn ninety

By Muniini K. MuleraJuly 8, 20240 comments

#DArbela #Owor #Mulago #Makerere #Uganda #Kampala

Photo: Mulago Hospital and Makerere Medical School campus as it was when Dr. Paul G. M. D’Arbela and Dr. Raphael Owor were new graduates. (Unknown photographer)  ******************    Uganda has a very long list of distinguished and honourable men and women in ...

Choosing between funding Makerere and cultural celebrations

By Muniini K. MuleraApril 29, 20240 comments

#Makerere #Lango #WonNyaci

 Two headlines in the Daily Monitor caught my eye last week. The first informed us on Friday April 26: “Lango chiefdom seeks Sh. 2.8 billion for coronation of new Paramount Chief.” The next day, we read: “Makerere to reduce funding research and innovations.”    On ...

Do African lives in Congo matter to us?

By Muniini K. MuleraFebruary 12, 20240 comments

#Congo #Israel #Palestine #Gaza #M23

The war between Israel and Hamas has triggered great angst among many Africans. Many on social media platforms to which I belong have engaged in passionate debate about the horror in Gaza. Most have expressed sympathy with the Palestinians, and anger with the Israelis.  They ...

Dr. Aggrey Kiyingi, Dr. Joseph Bukenya and The Class of 1977

By Muniini K. MuleraOctober 23, 20230 comments

#Kiyingi #Bukenya #Makerere #Mulago #Class #1977

Photo: Dr. John Mary "Joseph" Bukenya    It has been a very dark October for The Class of 1977, that being the year that we graduated from Makerere Medical School, Kampala. Our ranks have been thinned once again, with the deaths of two dear brothers with whom we shared five ...

Topher Twesigye: Ugandan diplomat with a politically incorrect identity

By Muniini K. MuleraAugust 14, 20230 comments

#Twesigye #Topher #Budo #Nyakishenyi #Kigezi #Kigyezi #Uganda #Makerere #Ekwaro #Anyang #Nyongo #Mugyenyi #OporiaEkwaro

 In many countries, Topher Twesigye would have been a household name, an honoured and celebrated intellectual and leader of his people. In Uganda, most readers of this column probably have no idea who he was. Easily one of the brightest and most patriotic citizens, Twesigye’s ...

Dr. Edith Nakku-Joloba: an excellent choice as President of UMA

By Muniini K. MuleraDecember 19, 20220 comments

#Edith #NakkuJoloba #UMA #Uganda #Medical #Association #Makerere #Mulago

The election of Dr. Edith Nakku-Joloba on Sunday December 18 as the new president of Uganda Medical Association (UMA) is excellent news. It restores the 58-year-old organization to a path its founders and sustainers envisaged, namely, a robust organization that promotes and maintains ...

Corruption in Uganda: a marriage of the public’s need and officialdom’s greed

By Muniini K. MuleraJune 21, 20220 comments

#Corrruption #Uganda #kitu #kidogo #Museveni #nokofio #kutonyora #egunjechiokomuhomwe #kula #bribe #Nsibambi #Mazrui

Corruption. Inexhaustible subject of conversation and scholarly publications. The heart of darkness that engulfs humanity. The fall of man, described in the Judeo-Christian scripture, was an act of corruption that turned on a fire that still burns hot in every corner of Planet Earth. ...

No, Oulanyah was not poisoned

By Muniini K. MuleraMarch 29, 20220 comments

#Oulanyah #Lokori #Uganda #Mulago #poisoning #Opiyo #Oloya

Jacob L’Okori Oulanyah died of a devastating natural disease. He was not poisoned. How do I know? Dr. Opiyo Oloya said so.    When Opiyo Oloya speaks, I listen. When he tells me something, I know it is true. When he knows the truth, he speaks with confidence. When ...

Honour Oulanyah by addressing why he died in a distant land

By Muniini K. MuleraMarch 22, 20220 comments

#Oulanyah #Lokori #Uganda #Mulago

The premature death of Jacob L’okori Oulanyah, Uganda’s speaker of parliament, a few days shy of turning 57, has dampened my spirit. Another human being, a fellow citizen, silenced by ruthless death, reminding us of our mortality.    Oulanyah’s status in ...

Gen. Jeje Odongo’s undiplomatic moment

By Muniini K. MuleraFebruary 21, 20220 comments

#Jeje #Odongo #Uganda #Ursula #von #der #Leyen #Macron #EU #AU

Gen. Abubaker Jeje Odongo, Uganda’s minister of foreign affairs, has made international headlines that our country does not need. His undiplomatic behaviour at the Sixth European Union-African Union Summit Meeting in Brussels, Belgium on February 17-18, was a self-inflicted ...

Is Museveni’s life more important than that of a peasant farmer?

By Muniini K. MuleraFebruary 14, 20220 comments

#Museveni #Oulanyah #Uganda #Mulago

Uganda Parliament Speaker Jacob L’Okori Oulanyah’s reported evacuation to Seattle, USA for medical treatment has triggered a predictable backlash. The reported payment of $500,000 to Uganda Airlines to fly him to America has been the focus of the angry reaction from a ...

Blowing in from Chicago - Clifford Jordan & John Gilmore

By Muniini K. MuleraMy Kind of Music Jazz MusicNovember 6, 20210 comments

#Clifford #Jordan #John #Gilmore #Jazz #Bebop #Blue #Note #Chicago

Blowing in from Chicago Clifford Jordan – tenor saxophone John Gilmore – tenor saxophone Curly Russell – bass Art Blakey – drums   Blue Note BLP 1549 Mono Recorded March 3, 1957 Recorded by Rudy Van Gelder Hackensack, New Jersey Produced by Alfred Lion ...

Think twice before baptizing your child Caleb or Mary ​

By Muniini K. MuleraOctober 5, 20210 comments

#Names #Karwemera #Caleb #Mary #Amon #Zedekiah #Jehoiakim #Opio #Onyango

Omugurusi Festo Karwemera, who died thirteen months ago at the age of 95, has been on my mind. Karwemera, the finest researcher, documenter, author and custodian of the language and traditions of Abanyakigyezi, was one of my best lifelong teachers, a source of knowledge and wisdom ...

Dexter Gordon's indispensable Jazz record "GO!" turns 59

By Muniini K. MuleraMy Kind of Music Jazz MusicAugust 28, 20210 comments

#Dexter #Gordon #Jazz #Blue #Note #GO

Exactly 59 years ago today, tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon entered Rudy van Gelder’s studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, USA for his third recording session for Blue Note Records that produced what is generally considered his very finest record ever.  From the tape ...

Franco, Mobutu and the folly of power

By Muniini K. MuleraEast AfricaOctober 26, 20200 comments

#Franco #Luambo #Lwanzo #Makiadi #Congo #Zaire #power

Franco. A single word that needs no elaboration. In the Africa of my youth and young adulthood, Franco was the name of only one man. Mention of the name ignited the stored sounds of his music in one’s brain, and visions of the towering figure that he was. It still does for me.    I ...

Trump, Kenyatta and the autocrats’ invincibility

By Muniini K. MuleraOctober 5, 20200 comments

#Trump #Stalin #Kennedy #Brezhnev #Kenyatta #Njonjo #Nkurunziza #YArdua #Bongo #Mao #Zedong

If he had had his way, Donald J. Trump would have concealed the news of his Covid-19. However, his leaky White House having informed a journalist that Hope Hicks, one of his closest aides, had tested positive for the disease, Trump quickly announced his own diagnosis to the world ...

Rwamatego, Kanyonza and stories of a bull, blood and treachery - By Davis Ndyomugabe

By Holiness Edimandi ByomuhangiUgandaJune 12, 20201 comments

#Congo #Belgians #Colonialism #Rwamatego #Kanyonza

Whenever the story or the tale of the Belgian brutality in the Congo is told, it would appear to the world that it is only the people what now comprises the Democratic Republic of the Congo that are concerned. The short reply is that the Belgian leeches brutality extended as far ...

Void left by my father’s death filled with joyful thanksgiving

By Muniini K. MuleraNovember 11, 20191 comments

#Kisigo #Mulera #Muniini #Mulera #Kahondo #Rukooko #Nyamijumbi #Keiramibwa #Kigezi #High #School #Ezekiel #Balaba #Semu #Ndimbirwe

My father died last week. Tuesday November 5, 2019 has joined a list of dreadful dates whose memory will bring sadness of loss and the unfulfillable longing for another glimpse of a loved one. Yes, he had long run out of steam and had been in steady retreat for several years. The ...

Universities in Uganda

By Muniini K. MuleraOctober 26, 20190 comments

#Universities #Uganda #Makerere #Kyambogo #Mbarara #Kumi #Mukono #Ndejje #Uganda #Martyrs #UCU #Gulu #Muni #Soroti #Nkumba

Universities in Uganda Date: Saturday October 26, 2019 Source: Uganda National Council for Higher Education   Public Universities:   Busitema, Tororo, Bukedi Gulu, Acholi Kabale, Kabaare, Kigyezi Kyambogo, Kampala Lira, Lango Makerere, Kampala ...

Uganda's spectacular beauty and the ICOB Convention in the USA

By Muniini K. MuleraKigyezi Kigyezi TourismJuly 16, 20190 comments

#Kigezi #Kigyezi #Muhabura #Mugahinga #Sabyinyo #Bisoke #Karisimbi #Mikeno #Mikyeno #Nyamuragira #Nyiragongo #Neogy #Lapcek #Tourism #Uganda

(Photo: Ibirunga across Lake Mutanda © Muniini K. Mulera)   I write from Kabaare, the town of my childhood and early youth, which continues to be misspelt as “Kabale,” a meaningless word that was imposed by this area’s colonial rulers a little over a century ...

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Africa’s Great Lakes Region and Nyiragongo’s Curse

By Muniini K. MuleraEast AfricaMay 8, 20190 comments

#Birunga #Virunga #Muhabura #Muhabura #Gahinga #Mgahinga #Sabyinyo #Sabinyo #Sabinio #Bisoke #Visoke #Mikeno #Karisimbi #Nyamuragira #Nyiragongo

I am a child of the mountains, at once hopelessly enamoured by their beauty and intimidated by their silent, motionless and brooding majesty. It is a love affair that was ignited long before I knew what those big forested mounds that surrounded my childhood homes were called.    I ...

Redraw Africa’s Map

By Muniini K. MuleraJanuary 5, 20190 comments

#Africa #map #Congo

(Map of Africa in the late 19th century)    FROM THE ARCHIVES    Redraw Africa’s Map By Muniini K. Mulera August 31,1998    One of these days, the guns in Congo will fall silent, leaving the cities, villages, forests and rivers strewn with bodies ...

Congo, as it was, is now and ever shall be?

By Muniini K. MuleraJanuary 5, 20190 comments

#Leopolds #Ghost #Congo #Democratic #Republic #of #Congo #DRC #Mobutu #Kabila

The regular traveller along the Masaka-Kampala highway in Uganda is accustomed to a dangerous stretch of road that has claimed thousands of lives since it was built by the Europeans.   A road sign carries the grim warning: "WEKUUME LWERA", meaning "BEWARE OF LWERA." Many have ...

A surgeon's struggle to serve patients at Uganda's Mulago Hospital - By Dr. William Manyilirah, Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon Uganda Heart Institute

By Muniini K. MuleraUganda Uganda Health MattersOctober 29, 20181 comments

#Mulago #Manyilirah

Dear colleagues.   I don't normally write on this WhatsApp group, but I've been forced to do so. This morning, 26th October, my team and I went to the Main Operating Theatre (OT) of Mulago Hospital Complex to operate on two thoracic cases. The first patient was supposed ...

Why it takes a degree of insanity to be a surgeon at Mulago Hospital

By Muniini K. MuleraUganda Uganda Health MattersOctober 30, 20180 comments

#Mulago #Manyilirah #Buwembo #Uganda #Health #care #Uganda

When Dr. Joseph Buwembo, an Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, visited Uganda in 2012, his mission was not only to see his relatives and enjoy his homeland, but also to give back to his people. He offered free neurosurgery on a baby that ...

Remembering Kongo of Budo

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaJune 15, 20180 comments

#Kongo #Budo

A man who resembles Kongo of Budo.  [With permission]   During my time as an inmate of King’s College, Budo, Wednesday afternoons were free. No classes. No set activities. For some, an opportunity to be idle and disorderly. For others, time to do laundry, clean up ...