Closing and merging public agencies

Why the new government reform measures should not throw away the baby with the bathwater

The decision by government of Uganda to reduce the number of semi autonomous government agencies, commissions and other bodies is a very good and long over due. Beginning the mid 1990s until only recently there has been a proliferation of these bodies many of which duplicate roles and functions. Therefore the justification for merging some of them and taking others back to their mother ministries is agreeable. However, and like many reforms, this one runs the risk of throwing away the baby with the bathwater.

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The strategy of radical extremism

On the night of Friday August 31t, one of our top musicians, Bebe Cool aka Moses Ssali, was nearly lynched by supporters of Bobi Wine aka Robert Kyagulanyi, the rising star in Uganda’s turbulent politics. They hurled bottles, chairs and other objects at him. They would have killed him were in not for intervention of the Uganda police. Bebe Cool’s only crime is that he holds a contrary view from theirs.

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How Besigye and Bobi Wine play directly into Museveni’s hands

So two things happened yesterday. First I read a letter by President Yoweri Museveni to Speaker Rebeca Kadaga, where the president referred to Bobi Wine supporters as “terrorists.” Throughout the letter the president kept referring to the violent activities of his opponents to justify military intervention in politics.

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How people power threatens our freedom

In the 20th century, strong states like the Soviet Union, fascist Italy and NAZI Germany were enemies of freedom. This led to the development of the idea of freedom as entirely a struggle against the state. This idea was then transplanted as common sense reality to the rest of the world. Yet the reality in most poor nations is that the main threat to freedom is not necessarily the strength of the state but its weakness.

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Who will stop the hooliganism of people power?

And so it was that on Friday night Bobi Wine supporters physically assaulted Bebe Cool by throwing bottles filled with urine at him, literally chasing him away from a concert. Bebe Cool’s only crime was to hold an opinion different from that of Bobi Wine and his hooligan supporters.

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Kayihura, Kagame, Museveni

Behind the worsening relations between Kampala and Kigali

On August 24, former Inspector General of Police in Uganda, Kale Kayihura, was charged in a military court martial with kidnapping (by omission or commission) “Rwandan exiles” aided by junior officers between 2012 and 2016. Although the accusation is in plural, only one victim was named – a Lt. Mutabazi. This same charge was made against police officers close to Kayihura last year.

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