News

Protection, Patronage, or Plunder? British Machinations and (B)Uganda’s Struggle for Independence

18 Dec, 2023

MOST short and long-stay visitors to Uganda, especially from Europe and Asia, are attracted to information about something else called ‘Buganda’. Noting the closeness of the two titles, ‘Uganda and Buganda’, many such visitors wish to touch base with the country and thus seek to find ‘Buganda’ which they assume is the real or at least the foundation of the country.

Mmengo Should Respond, Not React to Buganda’s Aspirations

05 Dec, 2023

There was something of an attempted response by Mmengo’s official spin doctor, Mr. Noah Kiyimba to my views touching on Buganda’s and Uganda’s current political plight. The pettiness with which he approached them can be laughed off because he was, in the long run, compelled to yield to the temptation of having ‘his’ reaction published twice; first, as “Mengo isn’t headquarters of any political party” and next, as “Mengo is Buganda Kingdom seat, not political party headquarters” in the Monitor of 7 and 14 March 2021, respectively.

On Visionless ‘Visions’ and the Need to Transcend Tantalising Myths

05 Dec, 2023

It is over three years since President Museveni launched Vision 2040 for Uganda. We need to revisit this ‘vision’ in light of recent plans (or hopes?) to ‘transform’ Uganda into a middle-income country by 2020 which is also part of the larger ‘Vision 2040’.

On the cover of this ‘vision’ document, Uganda’s territorial map appears partitioned into eleven segments, representing artistic impressions of transformations expected in key sectors by 2040. In the upper section, we have super-fast trains, space missions and mega-power installations.

Genealogy of African Debates on Decoloniality: Afrikaans and Kiswahili. Part V: Hindu Nationalism and Decoloniality

30 Nov, 2023

In this last part of our series, and in a bid to harness a broader conceptual reference of decoloniality beyond the Latin American and African decolonial thought, we can draw some key perspectives in this regard from Hindu nationalism as a politico-ideological and philosophical concept seeking to revitalize a national identity drawing inspiration from some fundamental ancient texts of Hindu civilizational ethos.

Genealogy of African Debates on Decoloniality: Afrikaans and Kiswahili. Part IV: Portuguese Tale in Colonial Brazil (1500-1822)

28 Nov, 2023

As earlier indicated, there is a need to de-universalize the Latin American colonial experience to some particular form. In this case, we can explore Brazil which was one of many episodes of Portuguese overseas expansion which began in the early 15th century following the arrival of the Portuguese at the coast of Brazil in April 1500. Although gold and spices were in high demand by the Portuguese in the 15th and 16th centuries, there were other goods like fish, meat, dyes, wood, medical herbs, and gradually, African slaves.

Genealogy of African Debates on Decoloniality: Afrikaans and Kiswahili Part III: Deciphering Decoloniality Conceptually

23 Nov, 2023

The preceding parts, I and II have attempted to frame the concept of decoloniality in two ways: liberatory and institutional. The former means that decoloniality is innately an emancipatory concept for the non-West or formerly colonized populations mainly Latin America and Africa in response to Western epistemic hegemony.