Muniini K. Mulera

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Shaka Ssali: The Kabaare Kid who made good very good – Part 3

By Muniini K. MuleraApril 14, 20252 comments

#Shaka #Ssali #VOA #Ndiho #Kabila

Photo: Right to left: Dr. Shaka Ssali with President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete of Tanzania   When the 43-year-old Kabaare Kid walked into the Voice of America in the Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building at 330 Independence Avenue, Washington DC at the beginning of 1992, he planted his ...

Shaka Ssali: The Kabaare Kid who made good very good (Part 2)

By Muniini K. MuleraApril 8, 20252 comments

#Shaka #Ssali #Mushakamba #Kabaare #Kabale #Albaby #UCLA #Suruma #Kakumba #Lutaakome #Kayiira #Korvin #Butobere #Kigezi #Kigyezi #Wamala

Photo: University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) campus   Once he had slept off the jetlag after arriving in New York City on July 4, 1976, Mike Ssali found people who were willing to believe in him. Besides Dr. Ezra Suruma, an early contact was Frederick W. Kakumba, a Ugandan ...

Shaka Ssali: the Kabaare Kid who made good very good (Part 1)

By Muniini K. MuleraApril 1, 20255 comments

#Shaka #Ssali #Igabiro #Abatimbo #Kigyezi #Kabale #Kabaare #Kigezi #Turyagyenda #Mushakamba #Butobere #Wamala #Masulita #Buganda

 Photo: Kikungiri Primary School graduates who joined Junior 1 (Grade 7) at Kigezi High School in January 1962. Front: L to R - Geoffrey Dutki (forester), Kagambirwe (cobbler), Shaka Ssali (journalist). Back: L to R - Francis Tusingwire (veterinary doctor), Alfred Nyesigire (teacher), ...

When two elephants fight …. a proverb revisited

By Muniini K. MuleraFebruary 25, 20250 comments

#Elephants #Uganda #Raila #Odina #Ruto #Mibali #Uhuru #Kenyatta

  “Ndlovu wawili wakisongana, ziumiazo ni nyika.” When two elephants fight, it is the grass that gets hurt. This great proverb, coined by an ancient Gikuyu person, is a truth that few, if any, would dispute. A fight between the powerful invariably hurts those around ...

Who is responsible for the collapse of Kiteezi dump?

By Muniini K. MuleraAugust 20, 20240 comments

#Kiteezi #Kampala #Uganda #garbage

In the aftermath of the deadly collapse of the garbage mountain at Kiteezi near Kampala, President Yoweri Museveni asked: “Who allowed people to live near such a potentially hazardous and dangerous heap?” I believe that the president asked this question in good faith. ...

On Biden, Trump and the question of age

By Muniini K. MuleraJuly 22, 20240 comments

#Biden #Trump #Kamala #Harris #America

The news that Joe Biden, the president of the United States of America, had withdrawn from the race for re-election, arrived with an aroma of hope, and a smile-inducing sound of America restored. It is too early to tell, for the American voter is very unpredictable. They may yet return ...

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 ...

Why Kenya’s Gen. Omondi Ogolla’s death needs independent investigation

By Muniini K. MuleraApril 24, 20240 comments

#Kenya #Omondi #Ogolla #Ruto

The death of General Francis Omondi Ogolla, Kenya’s Chief of Defence Forces, has sent shockwaves through his country, with ripples that have extended to all who care about stability in our region. His death in a helicopter crash on Thursday April 18, along with Brigadier ...

Another African president joins small club of democrats.

By Muniini K. MuleraNovember 20, 20230 comments

#Libera #Weah #Boakai #Mandela #Khama #Mogae #Masire #Mkapa #Mwinyi #Kikwete

Photo: Monrovia, Liberia ****  Sixty-five years after the fabled wind of change blew across Africa, genuine democracy remains elusive in most countries in our beloved continent. Democratization efforts of the 1990s retreated to the more comfortable swamps of choreographed rituals ...

Honouring the dead with humility, and simplicity

By Muniini K. MuleraNovember 13, 20230 comments

#Cook #Nomvula #Mashoai #Odera #Wangalwa #death #funeral #Uganda #Kenya #South #Africa

George Otis Cook Jr (1934-2023) and his wife Nomvula Mashoai-Cook. (Photo © Nomvula Mashoai-Cook) ************* Recent telecommunication advances enabled me, sitting in our living room in Toronto, Canada, to attend two funerals in Africa on Saturday. Mrs Winifred Wangalwa Odera, ...

Memories of Kampala's Katanga Valley

By Muniini K. MuleraAugust 7, 20230 comments

#Katanga #Wandegeya #Kampala

(Photo: An example of Kampala's urban anarchy. This not Katanga Valley. The latter is worse than this.) ***  On an Old Budonians’ WhatsApp Forum, Daudi Mutaaga asked whether we knew why the area between Wandegeya and Mulago Hospital in Kampala was named Katanga. I ...

British are not our enemies

By Muniini K. MuleraSeptember 19, 20220 comments

#Britain #Elizabeth #Charles #Nkrumah #Mandela #Nyerere #Kaunda #Tutu #Ghana #South #Africa #Kenya #Tanganyika #Diamond

A photograph is a wonderful thing. It tells a story better than the finest wordsmith. It emits emotions that the pen can hardly bring to life. It forces the truth on those who flourish on emotion and supposition.    There is a beautiful black and white photograph, captured at ...

Hand over election management to the Commonwealth or United Nations

By Muniini K. MuleraAugust 15, 20220 comments

#Kenya #election #IEBC #Ruto #Raila #Odinga #Tanzania #Chebukati

Writing about this year’s presidential election in Kenya was akin to chasing a bouncing, curving tennis ball. Now you see it. Now you don’t. Signs of hope. Signs of despair. Not because of who was leading, but because of the cumulative evidence of fraud within the work ...

​ Lessons from Kenya’s history of political assassinations

By Muniini K. MuleraAugust 8, 20220 comments

#Mboya #Pinto #Kenya #Ngala #Kodhek #Kariuki #Kenyatta #Moi

Tom Mboya Statue, Nairobi. Photo: © Muniini K. Mulera   Tuesday August 9, 2022   Kenya votes today. Theirs is a real election. The president of Kenya has been on a hunt for votes for Raila Odinga. No overt state violence against opposition candidates. The two main ...

How will history judge Uhuru Kenyatta?

By Muniini K. MuleraAugust 1, 20220 comments

#Uhuru #Kenyatta #Raila #Kenya #Ruto

The Kenyan political marathon enters the home stretch with the country, and the world, in Olympic-size suspense. Will the next president of Kenya be Raila Amolo Odinga or will it be William Samoei arap Ruto? Will the result reveal a decisive winner, or will there be a runoff, complete ...

British, African and Sri Lankan rulers’ disconnect with reality

By Muniini K. MuleraJuly 13, 20220 comments

#Boris #Johnson #Dos #Santos #Angola #Gotabaya #Sri #Lanka

I am in a summer mood, enjoying much longed-for sunshine. A cheerful smile is in permanent residence on my face. I laugh easily and take news of painful events in stride. I watch human folly with a shrug, unbothered by most things beyond my control. However, I confess that some things ...

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. ...

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 ...

Bishop James Ssebagala wrong about pregnant schoolgirls

By Muniini K. MuleraJanuary 18, 20220 comments

#Pregnancy #teenager #adolescence #Ssebagala

“Block pregnant girls from attending school, bishop tells teachers.” This headline, in the Daily Monitor of Monday January 10, 2022, was quite startling. Anglican Bishop James Ssebagala of Mukono was reported to have declared war against pregnant and breastfeeding ...

Kampala bombing: my nephew’s very close call

By Muniini K. MuleraNovember 16, 20210 comments

#Phillip #Kimumwe #Kampala #bombing #Uganda

Images and reports of perfectly innocent people killed or injured in the suicide bombing in Kampala today ignited emotions of anger, helplessness, and renewed incredulity at humanity’s self-destructive nature. My anger turned to transient paralysis when I learnt that my nephew ...

Suite Española, Op. 47 by Isaac Albeniz - Essential Classical Music record

By Muniini K. MuleraMy Kind of Music Classical MusicAugust 4, 20210 comments

#Albeniz #Suite #Espaola

Title: Suite Espanola, Op. 47  Composed: 1886 Composer: Isaac Manuel Francisco Albeniz y Pascaul (May 29, 1860 – May 11, 1909) Conductor: Rafael Fruhbeck De Burgos (September 15, 1933 – June 11, 2014) Orchestra: New Philharmonia Label: DECCA – SXL 6355  Recorded:  July ...

Who will tell the story of Ugandan musicians and broadcasters of my youth?

By Muniini K. MuleraMy Kind of MusicMarch 30, 20210 comments

#Uganda #Budo #music #musicians #Rugundana #RutaroKatabaazi #Ndugga #Ssonko #Kawalya #Wamala #Masagazi #Kyakamala #Mugula #Kanyike #Sebaduka

One of my worldly passions is listening to music and learning the story behind the compositions and the performers. The conditions under which the musicians lived; the political conditions at play; the specific events that inspired the compositions; the journeys travelled; and the ...

Pete La Roca: Basra is an essential Blue Note Jazz recording

By Muniini K. MuleraMy Kind of Music Jazz MusicFebruary 16, 20210 comments

#Pete #La #Roca #Basra #Blue #Note #Malaguena #Joe #Henderson #Steve #Kuhn #Steve #Swallow

I was bawled over when I first heard this music on the Music Matters Jazz 45 RPM reissue of this classic Blue Note in 2012.  The opening track – Malaguena – immobilized me with a dropped jaw and a smile. It immediately reminded me of the North African ...

Academic qualifications not a measure of leadership ability

By Muniini K. MuleraDecember 1, 20200 comments

#Kyagulanyi #Bobi #Wine #Mukula #Uganda #leadership

I rolled with laughter when I read a report in the Daily Monitor last week in which a ruling party politician was quoted as having declared: "Someone with a diploma in Music Dance and Drama wants to lead this country called Uganda. This is not a theater."    I immediately ...

Makerere fire and the nakedness of the pot calling the kettle black

By Muniini K. MuleraSeptember 22, 20200 comments

#Makerere #Kampala #Janet #Museveni #Stockholm #syndrome #Fire #Nawangwe

Naked. That is the depressing image in my mind as I think of Makerere University Main Hall, desecrated by a force that torched the magnificent 79-year-old building this past weekend, leaving it physically headless and its innards gutted. In a matter of hours, the iconic building was ...

Kampala on fire! - from the archives

By Muniini K. MuleraSeptember 21, 20200 comments

#Kampala #Fire

Here is a letter I wrote to my Kampala Friend  4 years ago:    10 MAY 2016 The Monitor (Kampala)   OPINION   By Muniini K. Mulera Dear Tingasiga,   Quick! Stop reading now. Put the paper down. Look out the window. There is a huge fire burning in the ...

Prevent destructive floods with good stewardship of God’s Earth

By Muniini K. MuleraMay 11, 20200 comments

#Landslides #Floods #Environment #Uganda #East #Africa #Lake #Victoria #Nalubaale #Kampala

My heart goes out to those whose lives and possessions have been disrupted by the swollen rivers and lakes of East Africa. Special condolences to those whose relatives have perished in the floods. Coming in the midst of the new Coronavirus pandemic, the pain of disruption is magnified ...

Random thoughts about fear in Uganda ahead of 2021

By Muniini K. MuleraMarch 9, 20200 comments

#Uganda #Tumukunde #fear #Museveni #Mukula

 Sunny morning in Toronto, albeit the chill of late Winter discourages a much-desired stroll along the shores of Lake Ontario, the smallest of the five Great Lakes of North America. We content ourselves with bright rays of sunshine streaming into our house. It is not the real ...

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 ...