For the last 32 years, residents of Butambala have watched successive cabinet appointments come and go without seeing one of their own named minister. The last person from Butambala to serve in cabinet was the late Abbey Kafumbe Mukasa, who was deputy minister of Finance before his death in 1994. Kafumbe had represented Butambala in…
There have been some shocks and surprises about the cabinet list announced by President Museveni on Tuesday. However, the inclusion of Adonia Ayebare as the new minister of Foreign Affairs may not have come as a surprise to those who have been watching Uganda’s diplomatic space for some time. For years, Ayebare has been one…
The reappointment of Dr Chris Baryomunsi to cabinet and his elevation to the Ministry of Health is a sharp rebuke to earlier social media assertions by Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the first son and CDF, that the Kinkiizi East MP would be excluded from the next cabinet. After the January 15 elections, Muhoozi engaged in a…
President Museveni has often found ways to cushion former speakers of Parliament after they left the country’s third most powerful office. That long-standing political tradition appears to have ended yesterday after he excluded former Speaker Anita Among from his new cabinet. The move that has fuelled speculation on social media that her fallout with the…
The reshuffle of Ruth Nankabirwa from the cabinet yesterday, as the minister of Energy, has brought to an end one of the longest uninterrupted ministerial careers of any individual in Uganda’s modern political history. She was appointed senior presidential advisor. Nankabirwa had served continuously as a minister since 1998, making her the longest-serving minister in…
Over the last four years, the political and media ecosystem around Speaker Anita Among has operated like a well-rehearsed church choir. On social media, in parliament corridors, and on television talk shows, her defenders have been loud, energetic, and seemingly, permanently online. “Among has a very good sense of fashion. Even her critics will agree…
Justice Frederick Egonda-Ntende, who is set to retire from the bench soon, has been described as one of Uganda’s finest judges. Some have even said he is the “best chief justice that Uganda never had.” Yet as he prepares to hang his wig and robes, some say his career trajectory may have been different if…
There is a version of Yusuf Nsibambi that many Ugandans over the age of 40 remember with something close to fondness. For me, it was during the 2001 elections when he came to Bulo in Butambala district to campaign for Dr Kizza Besigye during one of the most heated and violent elections Uganda has witnessed….
Loice Natukunda Otafiire is young, stylish, beautiful, and ambitious. She is also the wife of Gen Kahinda Otafiire, the minister of Internal Affairs and a revered NRA bush war figure. From her posts on social media, there is no doubt that Loice is deeply religious. Otafiire, by contrast, has on several occasions publicly questioned the…
The arrest of Maj Gen Don Nabasa and Brig Johnson Namanya last week on the orders of Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba has raised more than a few eyebrows within Uganda’s political and security circles. Gen Nabasa once commanded the Special Forces Command SFC), and during the campaigns for the 2016 general elections, he was the overall…
Questions are mounting globally after a deadly strike on a girls’ school in southern Iran killed more than 160 people, most of them children, in one of the deadliest incidents since the start of the US-Israel conflict with Iran. The attack, which hit a primary school in Minab on February 28, has triggered international concern,…
Mawokota South MP, Yusuf Nsibambi, has told Bbeg Media he met President Museveni at State House, Entebbe, to try to find a peaceful way of resolving the conflicts between the different political players in the country. Nsibambi’s revelation comes after a photograph of him and other opposition leaders, Latif Sebaggala, and Moses Kabuusu of PFF…
One Friday afternoon in late 2019, about 150 employees of Next Media crammed the basement parking lot at Media Plaza to listen to Richard Byarugaba, the then managing director of the National Social Security Fund (NSSF). Byarugaba had been invited as a special guest at Next Media Talks, a monthly get-together for staff where the…
In 1993, 113 pupils out of 341 who sat for their Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) scored an aggregate of four at Buganda Road Primary School. For at least 30 years, that remained the best performance, in terms of aggregate fours, by any primary school in the country. The school was managed by Joseph Almeida, a…
Last week’s parliamentary elections brought some shocks. Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda was felled in Kira Municipality by NUP’s George Musisi. Abdu Katuntu’s long and tight grip on Bugweri was loosened by NRM’s Sadala Wandera, ending 25 years of his dominance there. Mathias Mpuuga, Medard Sseggona, and Muwanga Kivumbi, three of the most prominent leaders in Buganda,…
The appointment of Flavian Zeija as chief justice marks the culmination of his long, carefully managed rise through the judiciary and could open a new chapter for a crucial state organ that has increasingly come under public pressure to assert its independence and relevance. Zeija’s appointment follows the retirement of Alfonse Owiny-Dollo on January 18….
For more than two decades, Fred Mukasa Mbidde, the vice president of the Democratic Party, has been a familiar face on our political stage. Even in a crowd of 1,000 people, Mbidde is unmistakable. He has enhanced eye-brows, dresses smartly, speaks eloquently, is confident, and is battle-hardened. He rose through student politics as a guild…
When members of the 12th Parliament take their seats in May, two names will quietly mark one of Uganda’s most unusual political reunions. Susan Nakawuki, elected MP for Mawokota South, and Emmanuel Magoola, the MP-elect for Busiro East, will share the same political space after close to two decades of separation, reinvention, and rivalry. Magoola…
Jet Tumwebaze has spent years defending President Museveni’s election victories in court. He was part of the legal team from Kampala Associated Advocates (KAA) that represented Museveni in the 2016 presidential election petition filed by former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi. But last week, the lawyer found himself on the other side of the fence, crying…
Three days from now (January 22, 2026), voters in Kampala will make one of their most consequential decisions in years: whether to hand Erias Lukwago a fourth term or entrust the city to the National Unity Platform’s (NUP) Ronald Balimwezo. Many have dubbed it the “lawyer” versus the “engineer.” Does the city still need Lukwago’s…
At around 9.00 PM on January 15, when results from Kira Municipality began coming in on election night, many residents struggled to believe what they were hearing. At Comboni Missionaries Grounds in Kyaliwajjala, where the counting and tallying had been concluded, National Unity Platform’s George Musisi had beaten the incumbent Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda, with a…
“Just because people dance to your music on the streets, you think you can remove President Museveni from power.” That’s how Anita Annet Among brushed off Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine’s presidential challenge at a rally in Sheema Municipality, in December 2025. Among wears a lot of hats: she is the speaker of Parliament and…
Daniel Kalinaki, the General Manager, Editorial, of Nation Media Group in Uganda, is in a spot of bother after his PR firm was linked to a Shs 22 billion deal undertaken by the Ministry of Works and Transport, which has attracted public scrutiny. Zulu Media Limited, one of the entities in a joint venture that…
The decision by the Electoral Commission (EC) to throw Mathias Walukagga out of the Busiro East race for lacking the minimum academic qualifications has led to a heated public debate on whether or not he was treated fairly. Critics of the EC have pointed out that a few days before Walukagga was denominated, the commission…
Gen Kahinda Otafiire has labelled fellow ministers, Kiryowa Kiwanuka and Bright Rwamirama, as hypocrites and bad-hearted people. His stinging comments come in the midst of a raging dispute between him and the government over ownership of a portion of a piece of land in Njeru, where the government has a stock farm. For more than…
If Stanbic Bank Uganda were a person, it would be a 35-year-old Ugandan. Born in 1991, raised in a country finding its economic feet, shaped by hardship and opportunity, and determined to keep pushing forward. Its journey looks a lot like the life path of many Ugandans who share that same birth year. Early days…
Uganda’s media landscape has turned into a real battleground lately. As the Nation Media Group (NMG) clashes with the government, Next Media, one of the biggest broadcasters around, has been pulled into the mess too. But the Naguru-based media conglomerate has kept a safe distance. The trouble started earlier this year. Since March 2025, reporters…
In December 2015, when President Museveni held a rally in Soroti Municipality, he announced that Tirinya Health Centre IV would be converted into a general hospital. He also said that Kamuda Health Centre III would be upgraded to Health Centre IV by 2020. Yesterday at a rally in Soroti city, Museveni said, “We are upgrading…
President Museveni today congratulated Samia Suluhu Hassan, three days after she was declared the winner of a disputed election in Tanzania. Museveni’s congratulatory message came in today at 12PM, an hour after Suhulu, whose election has sparked riots in Tanzania, had been sworn. Museveni, who paused his presidential campaign to attend the inauguration of John…
Parliament has blocked access to reporters from Daily Monitor and NTV, multiple sources at the two institutions have confirmed to us. The two organisations are part of the Nation Media Group, one of the biggest multi-media organisations in East Africa. Chris Obore, the Director of Communications, said he had been informed that it was a…
Bugweri MP Abdu Katuntu’s long march to the NRM started in 2010. It had to do with the internal politics of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), a party he had helped found and of which he had been an active member. As FDC prepared for the delegates’ conference, Katuntu expressed interest in standing for…
Since September 30, Medard Sseggona, the Busiro East MP, has held 23 interviews on radio, television, and various social media channels, according to a count by Bbeg Media. In all these interviews, he has attempted to justify why he remains the better MP for the constituency compared to Mathias Walukagga, whom the National Unity Platform…
The National Unity Platform (NUP) has been in the news over its decision to join the Inter-Party Organisation for Dialogue (IPOD), which it spent years attacking as a “tool” controlled by President Museveni. In the eyes of some, the move has left NUP looking weak and without clear principles. On social media platforms, party supporters…
Uganda’s 2026 presidential race kicked off on September 29, 2025, like a motorcycle with no brakes. Eight candidates are gunning for the top job, promising everything from stars to your missing chicken. But hold your bananas! Some promises sound like the mutterings of that village drunkard at a funeral! First up, NUP president Robert Kyagulanyi,…
When Gen Kahinda Otafiire, the minister of Internal Affairs, ranted about the growing cases of injustice and the need to stop them at the inaugural Sam Kalega Njuba Memorial Lecture, many people read different things. Predictably, most people praised Otafiire on social media for his boldness and willingness to say things that many senior NRM…
Justice Aisha Naluzze Batala has been appointed the new Inspector General of Government (IGG), replacing Beti Kamya, who served for one term. Her appointment has raised hopes, but many people do not know much about her because she has mostly worked in the Judiciary. Uganda loses about Shs10 trillion every year to corruption, according to…
Over the past week, Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, the MP for Kira Municipality, has shaken delicate political tables. In short, he has called upon Uganda’s opposition parties to choose better, smarter candidates for Parliament in the 2026 elections. “We need MPs who can read budgets, understand laws, and argue well, not people who are good at…
As the editor of Bbeg Media and previously as a news reporter, I have covered many stories about Uganda’s oil sector over the years. But nothing prepared me for the eye-opening tour I joined with about 20 other editors and senior journalists from 30 September to 3 October 2025. Organised by the Petroleum Authority of…
Two former rivals from the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), Nandala Mafabi and Gen Mugisha Muntu, were nominated as presidential candidates for the 2026 elections today. Mafabi, the FDC’s long-time secretary general, was the first to show up at the Electoral Commission (EC) headquarters in Lweza. He promised to “put money in the pockets” of…
Paul Mawanda Kyabaggu, the founder of Bukoola Chemical Industries, one of Uganda’s top agro-chemical companies, has died. He was said to be in his late 80s. Close family members say he had been ill for some time with high blood pressure, which led to his death earlier this week. His passing marks the end of…
Airtel Uganda posted impressive results for the first half of 2025, showing how the company is riding the wave of digital demand while navigating challenges like falling voice call revenues. From the results, the telecom firm’s financial position as of June 30, 2025, reveals a healthier balance sheet with more cash on hand and less…
For over three decades, Northern Uganda was a fortress of opposition against the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM). The scars of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) conflict ran deep, turning elections into battlegrounds of resentment. Yet over the last three election cycles, the region has shifted, politically. Peace has washed away old grudges, and today,…
Dr. Patricia Ojangole, the managing director of Uganda Development Bank (UDB), has urged the government to support the scaling up of national development banks like UDB if they are to make a real impact in the lives of the people. Ojangole was speaking on the second day of the Uganda Development Finance Summit organised by…
President Museveni has dominated Uganda’s political scene for nearly four decades. This is not news. Here is what is: During this time, a pattern has emerged within the National Resistance Movement (NRM), a party that he leads and shepherds like a personal kiosk: prominent figures face humiliation, demotion, or even legal troubles, yet they rarely…
Climate activists from across Africa, united under Oilwatch Africa, convened in Uganda to strengthen their resolve for climate justice, challenge exploitation in the oil sector, and demand reparations for African nations grappling with the impacts of climate change. In a vibrant discussion co-hosted by the Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO), the activists issued a…
In a country and party (NRM) where loyalty to President Museveni often decides your political future, Rebecca Kadaga, the First Deputy Prime Minister, may have sealed her fate over the weekend with a rant that rubbed the president the wrong way. During a tense National Executive Council (NEC) meeting at State House Entebbe, Kadaga made…
As Uganda gears up for the 2026 general elections, political aspirants have startedrolling out posters and banners across the country. Go to any town or village in Uganda. All the electricity poles, walls and doors of shops, schools, fences are plastered with posters of aspirants vying for various positions during the 2026 elections. Some aspirants…
Cultural activisists from community groups, government, universities, and local communities have called for the preservation of Uganda’s intangible cultural heritage. The call was made at a national dialogue organized by the Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda (CCFU) with support from UNESCO. The major focus of debate was the UNESCO 2003 Convention, which Uganda joined in 2009….
Yesterday, at the National Resistance Movement (NRM) headquarters in Kampala, the ruling party unveiled a new campaign poster for President Museveni. This poster is for the 2026 elections. It shows Museveni smiling, wearing his famous white hat and shirt, against a bright yellow background. His campaign tagline for 2026-2031 is: “Protecting the Gains As We…
In the aftermath of the November 2016 massacres in Kasese, several things happened in the life of Lt Gen Peter Elwelu, who commanded the attacks. First, Elwelu maintained a straight face and justified the unreasonable use of force amidst condemnation at home and abroad. Second, President Museveni promoted him from Major General to Lieutenant General,…
