President Museveni has assumed the chairmanship of the East African Community (EAC) Summit, taking over from Kenya’s William Ruto. Museveni will chair the regional bloc for the next year. During the EAC summit in Arusha yesterday, leaders also approved the appointment of Ambassador Stephen Patrick Mbundi of Tanzania as the new secretary general of the…
Leaders of the East African Community (EAC) are set to meet today in Arusha, Tanzania, for the 25th Ordinary Summit of EAC Heads of State where they will appoint new leadership to steer the regional bloc and advance cooperation among partner states. The summit will bring together leaders including Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, William Samoei…
In Tanzania, something snapped this year. Protests followed the October 29, 2025, elections. They are unprecedented in their scale, national breadth, and political content since the country’s independence in 1961. But the repression unleashed by newly re-elected President Samia Suluhu Hassan has also been unprecedented. She has gone further than her autocratic predecessors in closing…
Raila Amollo Odinga, who has died at the age of 80, was something of a paradox in post-independence Kenyan politics. A leader who repeatedly ran for president, he never won – in part due to the 2007 election being manipulated in favour of Mwai Kibaki. Despite this, Odinga will be remembered as a figure who…
By Patrick Gathara Kenyans are wont to refer to Raila Odinga, the long-reigning 80-year-old opposition leader who died on Wednesday, as the “Enigma of Kenyan politics,” a reference to the title of a 2006 biography of him penned by the Nigerian author, Babafemi Badejo. His unequalled ability to survive, even thrive, at the top of…
Raila Odinga, Kenya’s former Prime Minister and a towering figure in African politics, passed away this morning at the age of 80 in Koothattukulam, Kerala, India. Authorities confirmed that Odinga suffered a cardiac arrest during his daily morning walk and was pronounced dead at 9:52 AM at Sreedhareeyam Ayurvedic Eye Hospital and Research Centre. Odinga,…
Uganda and Somalia on Wednesday signed three new memoranda of understanding (MoUs) to strengthen bilateral cooperation in key sectors. The agreements were signed in Kampala during the second Joint Permanent Commission meeting between the two countries, covering security, education and sports, immigration, and labor. Officials said the new pacts are expected to bolster regional trade,…
Uganda remains committed to an agreement it signed with the United States to receive deportees, despite criticism at home and abroad, a senior government official said on Monday. Charles Ouma, deputy solicitor general, told reporters that it is common practice for countries to enter into agreements on matters of mutual interest. “I know it may…
At a national consultation meeting held at the Kampala Serena Hotel, Joselyn Bigirwa, head of Mission for the IGAD Secretariat in Uganda, reaffirmed the authority’s commitment to fostering economic integration among its member states. The discussions focused on developing IGAD’s fifth strategic plan for 2026–2030, aiming to address trade barriers, high tariffs, and taxes on…
The East African Community (EAC) has officially launched the EACBond, a groundbreaking regional customs guarantee instrument designed to streamline the movement of goods across member states. Unveiled Monday in Kampala, the EACBond replaces multiple national customs bonds with one unified system, allowing traders to secure their cargo journey under a single guarantee. The EAC said…
The East African Community (EAC) faces a daunting $42 billion annual infrastructure deficit, stalling progress in transportation, energy, and communication systems critical for regional integration and economic growth. To address this, Standard Bank Group affiliates—Stanbic Bank Kenya, Stanbic Bank Uganda, and Stanbic Bank Tanzania—recently convened the 2025 East Africa Institutional Investors Forum in Arusha, Tanzania,…
The president of the Common Man’s Party, Mubaraka Munyagwa, has said he will withdraw Uganda from the East African Community (EAC) if elected president in 2026. The former Kawempe South MP, made these remarks in an interview with Bbeg Media two weeks after launching his political party. “I accuse the architects of the East African…
Presidents Museveni of Uganda and William Ruto of Kenya have signed seven new bilateral agreements, increasing the total number of trade and cooperation accords between the two East African neighbors to 25. The agreements, signed during Museveni’s visit to Nairobi, cover diverse sectors including tourism, property rights, fisheries, aquaculture, agriculture, transport, and investment promotion. At…
Kenya’s President William Ruto has ordered police to shoot protesters targeting businesses in the legs, ensuring they are incapacitated but not killed. The UN and human rights groups have accused the police of using excessive force in the recent wave of anti-government protests – 31 people were killed on Monday, according to a state-run body….
A Kenyan blogger who died in police custody was hit on the head and his death was likely to have been caused by assault, a post-mortem has revealed. This contradicts earlier police claims that Albert Ojwang “sustained head injuries after hitting his head against a cell wall”. His death has sparked widespread outrage in Kenya,…
Leading Kenyan lawyer and activist Martha Karua was deported from Tanzania to prevent her from attending the court case of opposition leader Tundu Lissu. Two colleagues accompanying her were also reportedly detained and deported after flying in from neighbouring Kenya. Tanzanian authorities have not yet commented. Lissu, the leader of Tanzania’s main opposition Chadema party,…
Kenya’s President William Ruto is a man of many nicknames. El Chapo, Kasongo, Hustler, Deputy Jesus and Chicken Seller are just some that he has acquired in recent years. As is often the case when people are given alternative monikers, some are affectionate but some are intended to mock, while others reflect a profound anger….
South Sudan’s First Vice-President Riek Machar, a long-time rival of the country’s President Salva Kiir, has been placed under house arrest, his party says. An armed convoy led by top security officials, including the defence minister, entered Machar’s residence in the capital, Juba, and disarmed his bodyguards late on Wednesday, said the Sudan People’s Liberation…
Police in Kenya have fired tear gas to disperse protesters who tried to occupy a church that was recently given a substantial donation by President William Ruto. The gift to the Jesus Winner Ministry in the Roysambu suburb of Nairobi of Kshs 20m (UGX 570 million) drew criticism from some young Kenyans struggling with the…
A delegation from the Forum of Parliamentarians in the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (PF-ICGLR) is in Uganda as part of a fact-finding mission on peace and security in the Eastern DR Congo. The delegation led by the Speaker of the National Assembly of Zambia and President of PF-ICGLR, Nelly Mutti Butete will…
The arrest of an army general from South Sudan’s main opposition is a “grave violation” of the peace deal that ended a five-year civil war, an opposition spokesperson has told the BBC. Gen Gabriel Duop Lam was arrested earlier this week, along with other senior officials of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO)….
When Benedict and his family arrived in Uganda from the Democratic Republic of Congo in late 2024, Jesuit Refugee Services became his compass, offering more than just food aid. The English lessons he received turned a foreign place into a navigable pathway to independence. So last week’s news of the closure of the organization set…
The European Union Special Representative for the Great Lakes Region, Johan Borgstam, is visiting Uganda as part of a broader mission to the region. The European Union views regional political processes as indispensable in addressing the escalating crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and attaches great importance to Uganda’s central role….
Former Kenya Prime Minister Raila Odinga has lost the bid to become the next chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC). In the vote conducted on Saturday afternoon, Raila was narrowly eliminated from his bid to replace Moussa Faki in the sixth round. Mahmoud Ali Youssouf of Djibouti was voted the seventh AUC chairperson since…
The Commonwealth Voters Privileges Rights Association (COWE VOPRA) and KUUNGANA KUJENGA KENYA (KKK) (Sauti ya mnyonge) are registered non-governmental organizations whose registration purpose was among other things to promote peace and justice. We have noted that the African Union (AU) has said its summit will be held between February 15–16, 2025 at its headquarters in…
