Muniini K. Mulera

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 ...

Uganda's post-election question: "What Next?"

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaMarch 31, 20160 comments

In a unanimous ruling read by Chief Justice Bart Katureebe, Uganda's Supreme Court has upheld the declaration by the Electoral Commission that President Yoweri Museveni was re-elected on February 18, 2016. All nine justices of the Supreme Court dismissed a petition by former ...

Rift Valley Fever in Kabale, Kigezi contained

By Muniini K. MuleraUgandaApril 15, 20160 comments

Key words and abbreviations: Zoonosis: a disease that normally occurs in animals but can be transmitted to humans. CDC: Centers for Disease Control RVF: Rift Valley Fever RVFV: Rift Valley Fever Virus WHO: World Health Organization A multidisciplinary team, led by Dr. Patrick ...

Tei Tei and the Ugandan Diaspora’s role in national development

By Muniini K. MuleraTingasigaAugust 7, 20180 comments

One of the most enduring lessons I learnt in medical school was about the death of an African migrant worker in England. His name was Tei Tei, a Nigerian whose death more than 60 years ago was masterfully recorded by Professor Cedric Keith Simpson in “Forensic Medicine,” his ...

Mugabe and the blindness of political cult leaders

By Muniini K. MuleraTingasigaJuly 31, 20180 comments

Zimbabwe’s Robert Gabriel Mugabe held court at his home in Harare on Sunday July 29, the eve of an election that did not have his name on the ballot. Watching the live televised event via South African Broadcasting Corporation was a riveting experience. The 94-year-old former ...

Politics of the royal spit and spear in the Kingdom of Nkore/Ankole

By Muniini K. MuleraTingasigaJuly 24, 20180 comments

The power contest between Abahima and Abairu elite of Ankole is as exasperating as it is fascinating. The history of their monarchy (Obugabe) is a subject that rarely lends itself to a dialectical consideration without igniting combustible emotions. It is little wonder that, ...

Ugandan Diaspora do more than post brave stuff on social media

By Muniini K. MuleraTingasigaJune 19, 20180 comments

Kampala, Uganda at night Two days ago, Joachim Buwembo, a distinguished Ugandan journalist posted a provocative and stimulating paragraph on his Facebook wall that generated vigorous debate. Buwembo, who has served as editor of this and other East African newspapers, wrote: ...

Simukai! Wake Up and Fight for Your Rights

By Muniini K. MuleraTingasigaMay 24, 20180 comments

(Originally published on August 19, 2013, my thoughts have not changed.) Dear Tingasiga: My very dear friend Hope Chigudu muhara wa Bagyendera, a Ugandan-Zimbabwean, has a son called Simukai, a name that exhorts us to stop crying about human rights abuse; to rise up and do ...