Aboneka Writes

Uganda has for long been without a chief justice since the re-appointment the former Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki which re-appointment did not go easily with the Public as many protested his re-appointment as he had attained his retirement.To futher the protest, a constitutional petition was filed in Court and this stalled the whole process of having a chief justice for long. Given various demands from the society for the need of a chief justice, the President has appointed Jsc. Bart Katurebe as new Chief Justice of Uganda and the judiciary can now have the father of the house as they have for long been orphans. I have heard so much noise about the new appointment with many doubting his partiality, his delivery among others. I think it is time to give the new chief justice opportunity and space to prove his worth rather than spend lots of time making pre-judicial statements and procrastination about his delivery. We sometimes need to watch first and then comment in context!! ...

I am disheartened that the President, fountain of honour can publicly blame break down of bridges, roads, health centers, absence of electricity on Opposition and painfully to the citizens who exercised their right to vote. This has been continuous especially in areas where the MP is not from the NRM. For a head of state to blame Ugandans for voting their choice of candidates is not only improper but abuse of their right. Further, the president knows well that the roles of MPs are not to construct hospitals, roads or extend power lines as this is solely the mandate of government and it is defeating to hear the presidentt shift this to area MP. It is also nonreligious to hold citizens for ransom and deny them services simply because they did not vote an NRM candidate! In a recent scenario while commission a road in Bukomansibi, the president regretted having given residents of Bukomansibi a district simply because they voted opposition MPs. This is wrong and undesirable.The citize...

Politics is the way society is organized and managed, a system of governance which entails having leaders on one side and subjects (citizens/voters) on the other side. According to Philip Wogaman in his book Christian perspectives on politics, he writes this about politics; “Politics is basic to the definition of crime and the determination of how it will be punished, it affects the degree to which people will be free to speak, to write, to worship. It also defines who will be accepted as members of community and who will be placed at the margins. It seriously influences the rearing of children by determining the circumstances of family life and establishing much of the subject matter of their education.” From this extract, it is clear that politics plays an important role in organizing society, managing it and also formulate principles on which relationships shall hinge on. Religion on the other hand is the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power; it is also a co...

On January 15th 2015, citizens across the globe gathered to launch Action 2015 as a marker to world leaders to deliver ambitious agreements to tackle poverty, inequality and climate change. In Uganda, the launch was organised by Civil Society organisations under the leadership of the Uganda National NGO Forum-an independent platform for NGOs in Uganda. With calm heavens, the launch was sparked off by a public march sandwiched with a melodious band and young skaters-15 years of age and below all clad in orange t-shirts with messages such as "Leave No one Behind", "I am Uganda, I am Africa, I am #Action 2015", " I am for Sustainable Development" among others The public march attracted enormous gatherings marching from Buganda road,to Bombo road, joining Kampala road and back to Buganda road with various young people reaching out to the masses with information about #Action2015, with skaters performing their giggs throwing the crowd into light moods-all ...

For long, food and nutrition has been given less attention and yet it is the major driver of human health. You cannot speak of a healthy nation and a vibrant economy while ignoring nutrition. Recently at the civil society review meeting of the Food and Nutrition Policy 2003, it was discovered that the responsible authorities are spending more time and money in the process rather than producing tangible results. It should be noted that more than two million children are malnourished and according to World Food Programme, malnutrition costs Uganda 5 per cent of its GDP and these are serious consequences on a nation like Uganda. I am aware that the ministries of Health and Agriculture have put in place strategies to tame this through various programmes but many are either pilots, or are still lacking the implementation infrastructure. In a bid to have a prosperous nation with happy and healthy people, the authorities should expedite the implementation of policies such as the mandat...

Religion is a belief with traditions and set facts that individuals hold or believe in and this affects their well being. Religion has taken center stage in many aspects of life that is social, political and economic being of individuals. The universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, wor¬ship and observance. This right is provided for every individual in any community of any nation and every nation domesticates this provision, for example Ugandan constitution provides for freedom of religion and even the penal Code makes it crime for anyone who sabotages one’s religion. Diana Deck in her teaching says that the most challenges in the world is trying to deal with this notion of diversity of religion. This i...

Many people perceive leadership in different ways but what is important is to ask the question as to whether whatever kind of leadership provides what the citizens want and demand from the leaders. The type of leadership that is commonly practiced is the political leadership where leaders hold a social contract with the citizens who elect them into power. According to Robert Rotberg, governance is performance and the delivery of high political goods to citizens. These political goods include security, rule of law, participation and human rights and development. These goods are translated into the basic services like good roads, quality education, good health, better salaries and that the Governments are obliged to provide these to the community who elected them into power-the social contract. What therefore makes poor leadership is when leaders relax providing the good to the citizens and the citizens too lose trust in their leaders, when the bridge between leaders and citizens is ...