Muniini K. Mulera

Muhabura- The Guide: a photo-essay

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaJanuary 11, 20170 comments

All photos in this essay shot with a cellphone. She straddles the Uganda-Rwanda border with a silent majesty. Muhabura (The Guide), an extinct volcano (or so they say), whose date of last eruption is unknown, was completely covered with mist and clouds when we arrived ...

Sun kisses Lake Bunyonyi goodnight

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaJanuary 9, 20170 comments

Lake Bunyonyi, Kigezi. The Sun kisses her good night on the evening of January 9, 2017. What words can express the visual experience? How does one convey the sense of peace and calm? Lake Bunyonyi, this 25 km long lake, with a perimeter length of 64 km, is Africa’s second ...

Poor roads stunt Kigezi's development

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaJanuary 9, 20170 comments

I am in Kigezi, enjoying the warmth and hospitality of Banyakigezi, renewing old friendships, catching up on developments in the lives of relatives and taking in the breathtaking beauty of this blessed land. For the most part, nearly every experience fills me with joy. Not even ...

My first pair of shoes

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaDecember 27, 20160 comments

My wife and I once shared an apartment with a Ugandan friend. Born and raised in Kampala, Nakalema (not her real name) was incredulous when, at a dinner conversation, I casually mentioned that I did not wear shoes in primary school. “Olimba! (You are lying),” she exclaimed. “They ...

Agaba’s death and the dark spirit in the land

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaDecember 13, 20160 comments

The death of George Ninsiima Agaba in a horrific motor accident on Saturday was a terrible tragedy for two reasons. George Ninsiima Agaba (photo credit: Red Pepper Uganda) First the loss of life, especially of a young person, is always heart breaking for the family, friends ...

Transformative education powers prosperity

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaNovember 29, 20160 comments

Fifty years ago this week, we completed Junior High School and entered history books as the last group to take the national juniour secondary school leaving examinations. In my day, there were six years of primary school and two years of junior high school. That ended in 1966, ...

Give evicted Kampala street vendors a soft landing

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaNovember 23, 20160 comments

Give evicted Kampala street vendors a soft landing I salute Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) leaders for firing four of their officers who tortured a woman and her two little children earlier this month. The four officers, now identified as Florence Nakiwala, Eva Nalukenge, ...

Dr. Michael Liri Amone Abongomera (1951-2016)

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaNovember 9, 20160 comments

Michael Liri Amone Abongomera MB ChB, DPH, MBA It is with deep shock and sadness that I have learnt of the premature death of my medical school classmate and colleague, Dr. Michael Liri Amone Abongomera MBCHB, DPH, MBA, on Monday November 7, 2016. The circumstances that led ...

Choices: Stand up for human rights or abet torture with silence

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaNovember 8, 20160 comments

A Facebook friend, posted a video recording last week of a very dangerous and chaotic scene where people wearing yellow tops, presumably Kampala Capital City Authority (KKCA) officers, together with other armed people in police uniforms, and others in plain clothes, very roughly ...

Memories of a great city before Kampalitis struck

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaOctober 31, 20160 comments

Uganda Parliament Building - was accessible to citizens I first set foot in Kampala 50 years ago. An indelible image of early 1966 Kampala is that of what looked like a very tall tree atop a hill, with many red lights, rising towards heaven, with an ominous presence at night, ...

Jinja triplet deaths compounded by news media distortions

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaOctober 4, 20160 comments

It appears that the Monitor report that triplets died last week because the mother had been refused admission to Jinja Regional Referral Hospital was a distortion of the facts. To be sure, I was angry when I read that the staff had refused to admit Ms. Monicah Wokobeire, the ...

Ugandan MPs and their demand for VIP funerals

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaSeptember 20, 20160 comments

Ugandan MPs continue to shock us with their shamefully unquenchable thirst for public cash. In a country where 67 per cent of the population is “vulnerable to poverty”, the legislators are awarding themselves nearly Sh. 68 million ($20,000) each to pay for their funerals. ...

Are Ugandan MPs’ junkets to Diaspora gatherings worth the taxpayer’s money?

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaSeptember 8, 20160 comments

A very large delegation of Ugandan MPs and other government officials spent this past weekend attending the Ugandan North American Association (UNAA) meeting in Boston, Massachusetts. The speaker of parliament and her deputy were the leaders of the delegation. Another group, ...

Professor Alexander Odonga: outstanding symbol of Ugandan professionalism

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaAugust 30, 20160 comments

Prof. Alexander Mwa Odonga (1922-2016) We lost Professor Alexander Mwa Odonga last week. Our friend and mentor, who taught us surgery at Makerere University Medical School, died at Mulago Hospital on Tuesday, August 24 after a very long and distinguished life of service to ...

Break the chains of dependency: Tusaba Gavumenti Tweyambe

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaAugust 16, 20160 comments

Tusaba Gavumenti Etuyambe is a cynical take on the pervasive culture of dependency, entitlement and unlimited power of the state. It speaks of a symbiotic parasitic marriage between ruler and subject. The government is the giver of everything. The citizen is the passive beneficiary. ...

Beware of the dark world of the Internet

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaAugust 9, 20160 comments

Social media like Facebook and WhatsApp are valuable tools for communication of positive and constructive information. However, they are also dangerous forums through which cowards and small-minded people merchandise lies that they would not dare state face-to-face. Once ...