To tell whether Prof. Mahmood Mamdani has failed to implement the doctoral programme at Makerere Institute of Social Research requires that one is either a doctoral student, a teacher on the programme, or has done fieldwork at MISR with a research question on Mamdani’s ambition and its logistical requirements. Anything other than that is sheer gossip.

The former Vice President is seeking election as Chair of the African Union Commission at next month’s summit in Kigali. Her excellent academic and leadership credentials surpass by far those of her two male rivals, Dr. Venson-Moitoi Pelonomi and Mokuy Agapito Mba, foreign affairs ministers of Botswana and Equatorial Guinea, respectively.

The joint university experiment, by pooling resources within the same sub-region and drawing on the different strengths of the three member colleges and their respective host countries, represents an early and instructive model of South-South cooperation. 

Pan-Africanism is not just a nice-sounding idea. It is a firm personal commitment to the lives of the peoples of Africa. When the latest Ebola crisis broke out in West Africa in 2014, Dr. Atai-Omorotu gathered some medical personnel in Uganda and headed to the region that everyone was running away from. She helped save many lives – only for her to die of pancreatic cancer two weeks ago.

State brutality is integral to the electoral cycle in Yoweri Museveni’s Uganda. There are campaign beatings, ballot beatings and post-election beatings. Ugandans this week witnessed pre-swearing-in beatings. They can expect swearing-in beatings, after which there is every chance there will be post-swearing in beatings. Then, the election cycle over, the country shall revert to ordinary beatings.

The ruckus kicked up by Dr. Stella Nyanzi’s nude protest against Prof Mahmood Mamdani, director of Makerere Institute of Social Research, refuses to die down. Responding to an article by three fellow graduate students in support of Dr. Nyanzi published in last week’s issue of Pambazuka News, another student now offers a different take on the controversial academic and the situation at the institute.

Uganda is still restless following the election of February 18 that was controversially won by President Yoweri Museveni against the backdrop of massive irregularities. Museveni, in power for 30 years already, will be sworn in for another 5-year term on May 12. Beginning today, the opposition has announced popular protests. Uganda’s future remains uncertain.

With opposition candidates roughed up, arrested and held in house detention for fear they might ‘disrupt’ the electoral process, the man who once preached that staying too long in power would lead to corruption has been “re-elected” for an incredible fifht term to stretch his 30-year reign - and now himself lives under a cloud of corruption and abuse of power. What can Ugandans do?

By all aounts, Uganda’s elections last month were far from free and fair. Many people find it difficult to aept that the declaration of Museveni as winner reflected the will of the people. Irregularities were massive. Repression of the opposition was shocking – to the extent that leading Museveni opponent Kizza Besigye was placed under house arrest to prevent him from lodging a petition at the Supreme Court. It is not clear how the post-election period will unfold.

It is necessary to look into indigenous African knowledge for solutions to the problems of food security and sovereignty. Purikeria Tindikahwa knew a wide variety of indigenous foods and how to produce and prepare them. There are millions of ordinary women across Africa who do exactly what she did. They feed the continent. We need to celebrate these women and learn from them.

The women say that presidential election data are impossible to explain logically and warrant immediate independent scrutiny by patriotic Ugandan citizens.

The BVR system worked well in Uganda’s recent elections. But BVR is not a silver bullet in solving all electoral issues. Inadequate voter education was a major problem as well as state interference and harassment of the opposition. The electoral commission was also perceived to be partisan in favour of Yoweri Museveni.

Several organisations have written to the African Union and regional bodies asking them to condemn the decision by Ugandan authorities to shut down Internet access during recent elections ostensibly for national security. Such an action – which is becoming widespread - violates human rights and international law. It must not be allowed to become the new normal in Africa.

For 30 years, the Ugandan leader who is poised to extend his rule in next week’s elections has presided over a militarized regime supported by the West. The citizens desperately need change but they have no way of achieving it through compromised procedural democracy. The forces for change in Uganda must re-strategize and keep up this struggle after the elections.

It is the final week to Uganda’s fiercely contested elections. President Museveni looks set to extend his 30-year rule. The campaign period has been grueling and deeply divisive. Museveni and his challengers and their respective supporters must ensure the elections pass off peacefully.

Ugandans are on edge as the election clock ticks. Yoweri Museveni, in power for 30 years now, is facing what many consider to be his toughest challenge yet. There are fears that he would attempt to rig the election or use force against the opposition to deny them victory. The country is polarized.

Uganda’s oil and gas are at the heart of campaigns for presidential elections taking place this month. But the resources are shrouded in mystery, as no one, except the Museveni regime, knows the details of the contracts the government has signed with multi-national companies. Ugandans need to keep an eye on these resources and demand answers on how they will be used to better their lives.

In the ruling party manifesto, peace and stability are presented as President Museveni’s legacy. However, it is ironic that a re-election campaign built on these claims is now widely associated with so much state-sponsored violence and intimidation.

There is clear evidence that the crime preventer program is linked to the ruling political party and that the crime preventers’ actions are frequently both unlawful and partisan, aimed at intimidating or reducing support for the political opposition.

Conversations with Ugandans reveal that people at the grassroots see ethnic federalism as one possible way of restoring and guaranteeing both socio-political accountability and economic security in a system that relies too much on increasingly narrow ethnic and political clientelistic networks.