Muniini K. Mulera

Ugandans for Peace must insist on non-violence

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaJune 17, 20160 comments

The news of the multiple murders of people in the military barracks at Makindye, Kampala, has left me deeply saddened. While the circumstances of the killings remain to be fully explained, the irreversibility of the deaths is a dark certainty that concentrates our minds on the ...

Scrap academic requirements for MPs and other leaders

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaJune 15, 20160 comments

Academic qualifications are overrated as a measure of ability in political leadership. It was my stated view during the Constitution debates in 1994/95 that no citizen should be denied the right to seek any office simply because of arbitrary academic requirements. I continue ...

Uganda Cabinet Ministers on June 6, 2016

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaJune 6, 20160 comments

The following list of cabinet minister nominees is doing the rounds. It may or may not be correct. Cabinet List Published in The Monitor Newspaper on June 6, 2016 As of 21:00 hours (East African Standard Time), the Official Cabinet Ministers list on the State House Website ...

Meaningful patriotism through community volunteerism

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaMay 31, 20160 comments

In the months leading up to my brother’s wedding in 1992, very many of his friends and work associates offered him substantial amounts of money in support of his budget. Though he had not planned to hold a kasiki (bachelor’s prenuptial party), his friends insisted on fully funding ...

Uganda Leader of Opposition in Parliament debate settled

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaMay 26, 20160 comments

The debate is settled. The Party President of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) will appoint the Leader of the Official Opposition in Parliament (LOP.) Since Wafula Oguttu, the LOP in the 9th Parliament, lost his seat in the February 18 exercise, we expect a new person ...

African solution to Africa's democratization problem

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaMay 17, 20160 comments

With his arrest last week, Dr. Kizza Besigye joined a growing list of African politicians incarcerated because they declared themselves the duly elected presidents of their countries. Nigeria’s Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola declared himself president in 1994 after Gen. Ibrahim ...

FDC's debate re: Leader of the Opposition in the Uganda Parliament

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaMay 24, 20160 comments

The debate by Uganda's Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) leaders regarding the position of Leader of the Opposition in Parliament has triggered some questions in my mind. Too lazy to read the Constitution and the laws that govern parliament, I seek guidance from my learned friends. First ...

My hoe is all I have

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaMay 13, 20160 comments

My hoe is all I have By Muniini K. Mulera I watch my king and president Toast his guests resplendent In garb that fits the best Who rule over the rest They wine and dine and toast Unbothered at all by cost Of life beyond our dreams Reserved for royals it seems I ...

Kampala is burning!

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaMay 10, 20160 comments

Quick! Stop reading now. Put down your iPad. Look out the window. There is a huge fire burning in the south of town. See the huge smoke billowing up with all the pent up rage of mother Earth? No, it is not teargas. That is kid’s play compared to what is upon you now. And no, ...

Stella Nyanzi’s nudity and the hypocrisy of the morality police

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaApril 26, 20160 comments

The nude protest by Dr. Stella Nyanzi, a research fellow at the Makerere Institute of Social Research (MISR), in response to the closure of her office by Dr. Mahmood Mamdani, her boss, has triggered an understandable public uproar. Yet she was not the first woman to use her nakedness ...

On the Mamdani-Nyanzi Standoff

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaApril 21, 20160 comments

The events at the Makerere Institute of Social Research (MISR) are of great concern to me as an alumnus of the great university. I confess to being possessed of limitless pride in Makerere, both because I am a lucky beneficiary of that university and the memory of people who ...

Ugandans should say no to violence, yes to dialogue

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaApril 5, 20160 comments

Letter to a Kampala Friend By Muniini K. Mulera In Toronto Dear Tingasiga: It has been a while since I wrote. My friends and I have been working on a website that we trust will broaden our dialogue and give voice to many who are unable to be heard through the traditional ...

Museveni-Besigye contest: how I saw it 16 years ago

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaApril 19, 20160 comments

From the Daily Monitor Archives: November 6, 2000 (Background: Dr. Kizza Besigye wrote a landmark critique of the NRM in late 1999. He was threatened with court-martial. He was spared after intervention by elders from Rukungiri. Plans were afoot to arrest him in late 2000. Although ...

State-of-the-art health services an affordable necessity

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaApril 16, 20160 comments

My wife and I spent the whole of January 2012 in Kigezi, falling in love all over again with my homeland and her adopted home in Uganda. Most of our stay was very pleasant, the hospitality a sweet reminder of what we missed most about our country. However, three heartrending ...

MUGISHA MUNTU: A democrat in words and deed

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaAugust 15, 20170 comments

Gregory Mugisha Muntu, the President of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), likes to remind his fellow politicians that they cannot give what they don’t have. This is usually said in the context of demands for democracy and transparent leadership that are his party’s raison ...