Aboneka Writes

By Michael Aboneka Kampala has been a hive of activities since the last quarter of 2023 because it dawned on us that we were to host three big summits/conferences-the Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Common Wealth, Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit and the G77 3RD South Summit all to take place in January. We have never leant from doing last minute planning and implementation-up to January 14 th , we were painting roads, placing rubbish bins and doing last minute stuff including “planting” grown trees among others. Then come to communication about the traffic updates and the confusion it has caused-the “rescuing” of street children-which literally was like kidnapping them to Kampiligisa and the same had been done previously when we had “serious” visitors –after the visitors were gone, the street children were back happily smiling and begging from those who had made the decision. In record time, lights have been fixed at the Kampala Entebbe Expressway-after we have...

By Michael Aboneka In the social contract framework, citizens elect leaders whom they entrust to protect them, run the state for their benefit and govern them in accordance with the set legal rubric and the promises made. When politicians go around making juicy promises, upon being elected, those promises form part of the social contract.  The Constitution of Uganda, under  Article  17(i)  places a duty on the citizen to combat corruption and misuse or wastage of public property . This means, that a citizen should, at all times when they detect or suspect corruption tendencies or wastage of public property should do all things legally acceptable to thwart them. Citizens in Uganda have taken on various forms of expression and demand such as social media exhibitions, citizen organizing like the black Monday movement, petitions, writing letters, demonstrations among others. These means are acceptable in as far as demanding accountability is concerned. The public institu...

As the saying, the size doesn't matter but quality; the size of Uganda’s public administration does not correlate with services. Uganda, with a GDP of 45.57 Billion Dollars has 82 Ministers, 529 Members of Parliament, over 40,000 civil servants and over 1.56 million elected paid politicians which number is projected to grow to 3.3 Million of which 1.4 Trillion shillings will be spent on the 2026 general elections. According to the 2024/25 Budget Framework Paper, Ugandans will spend over 7.4 Trillion shillings on public administration alone. Turkey, with a GDP of 901.7 Billion Dollars has a cabinet of 18 while Kenya, with a GDP of 113.4 Billion Dollars has 21 cabinet secretaries (equivalent to ministers). Uganda, with a population of about 47.2 Million people has a parliament equal to India which has the biggest population in the world of 1.417 Billion people which is incomprehensible. There is no guarantee that having many officials leads to service delivery, but it is evident that...

By Michael Aboneka Uganda has over 20,000 persons with Albinism. Uganda recognised Albinism as a form of disability in 2020 which means that they too enjoy the same rights as those prescribed for persons with disability.  Uganda is a party to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability and its optional protocol since 2008, the African Charter,1986 and the African Disability Protocol in November 2023 which all enjoin Uganda to take all measures to ensure the effective protection of persons with albinism, and their family members, elimination of any type of discrimination and to accelerate education and public awareness-raising activities. This is further cemented by the United Nations Human Rights Council resolution 23/2013 and the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights resolution 263/2013 which in summation, call upon State Parties  to effectively protect the persons with Albinism. All the international and regional human rights systems and Uganda’s domest...

Uganda loses over 10 Trillion Shillings (Over 27 Million US Dollars) per year to corruption according to government sources. This alarming amount only indicates that Uganda is a rich country-we just chose to steal the money that is supposed to deliver services and develop the country. According to Transparency International's 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), Uganda scored 26 and is ranked 141st out of 180 countries and according to World Economics, Uganda's 2024 level of corruption perception stands at 13.5, compared to a global average of 48.4.  These indicate that the fight against corruption has not yet yielded the much-desired results. One of the 10-point programs of the NRM is the fight against corruption. The NRM Government has been in power for the last 38 years and yet corruption continues to grow bigger and bigger. Where is the missing link? There have been rampant exposes of corruption and cries from the citizens to have the corrupt charged and mo...

Uganda loses over 10 Trillion Shillings (Over 27 Million US Dollars) per year to corruption according to government sources. This alarming amount only indicates that Uganda is a rich country-we just chose to steal the money that is supposed to deliver services and develop the country. According to Transparency International's 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), Uganda scored 26 and is ranked 141st out of 180 countries and according to World Economics, Uganda's 2024 level of corruption perception stands at 13.5, compared to a global average of 48.4.  These indicate that the fight against corruption has not yet yielded the much-desired results. One of the 10-point programs of the NRM is the fight against corruption. The NRM Government has been in power for the last 38 years and yet corruption continues to grow bigger and bigger. Where is the missing link? There have been rampant exposes of corruption and cries from the citizens to have the corrupt charged and mo...

Education is a right. Everyone has a right to Education according to Article 30 of our Constitution. The government of Uganda has an obligation under Articles 13 and 14 of the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Article 28 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Article 17 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR), Article 12 of the African Charter on the Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol), Article 11 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) and Article 30 of the Constitution, Sections 3 and 57, of the Education Act to ensure every Ugandan accesses free basic education and that education at other levels is accessible for all. Education is not a commodity to be left to best seller and willing buyer, it is a right and Uganda bears the sole responsibility to provide!  This also mea...

By Michael Aboneka Uganda is 62 this Independence and as we celebrate as a country, we need to take a moment and reflect on the journey it has been to come this far.  Independence is more than just a date on the calendar; it is a profound reminder of the sacrifices made for freedom, justice, and dignity. At 62 years this October, are we able to boldly say Uganda is still on the right path of freedom, national cohesion, economic freedom and most importantly, that its people are free from all manner of oppression? Are we proud to march and sing praises of liberation with our heads high? It is this year that more than 100 Ugandans died from a garbage-slide and we are still figuring out about the garbage issue.  It is in this decade that Uganda’s Capital has had the worst flooding, bad roads, poor lighting, high crime rate and mushrooming buildings that leave you wondering whether we have a physical planning department.  Uganda has registered a tree loss of 917,555 hectares...

  By Michael Aboneka Uganda has a global and regional obligation to fulfill the right to political participation for its citizens under Article  25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR); articles 2, 9(2),10,13(1), (20) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Charter) and articles 3(7),4,10(2),17,27(2),30 of the African Charter on Democracy Elections and Good Governance (Democracy Charter).   The right to vote is a key facet of political participation. All Ugandans 18 years of age and above have a right to vote as provided for under Article 59 of the Constitution. Article 59(3) enjoins Uganda to take all necessary steps to ensure that all citizens qualified to vote register and exercise their right to vote . The only limit to the exercise of the right to vote is if one is not yet the age of 18 years. For many years, Ugandans in the Prison and Diaspora have bee...

By Michael Aboneka Uganda, 62 years after independence still faces the challenge of creating a more effective and responsive government that serves the needs of its people. The same government created various departments and agencies in a bid to foster service delivery. The government has today argued that it needs to take control of delivering services thus the need to rationalize various agencies such as UNRA, NFA with UCDA attracting heated and sharp differing opinions. Much as the government seems to be operating in good faith, by saving millions of money spent in the running of agencies, the question of efficient delivery of the same services has not been discussed. The Ministries have been limping before, with the return of the agencies to them, no one knows how exactly this is going to look like as we forgot to deal with the real patients, the Ministries. Be that as it may, if the government is serious about cutting the public wage and focusing on service delivery, why aren’t we...

By Michael Aboneka We have continuously talked about the need for constitutional reforms as a country and a lot has ended in talks rather than the actual work. Several people were appointed to the constitutional review commission in 2018 and up to date, unfortunately, the commission has never kicked off---this, again, is bad start off. There has also been a push for electoral reforms but we need to on the larger question of constitutional reforms which then will inform the necessary reforms such as the electoral reforms.  Some electoral reforms are anchored in the foundation of the Constitutional principles and norms and thus will require constitutional amendments. Elections produce leaders who must govern within the rubric of the Constitution, the need therefore to focus on the larger issues of the constitutional reforms with the same energy as is with the electoral reforms. Whereas it may not be apparent that a constitution by itself means full democracy, at least the legality of...