My academic Journey so far.

Today, I begin my 1st semester in 3rd year. This means that I am left with one year to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism.

Through out my academic life I have gone through thin and thick. I thank my Mum for her efforts that have made me reach where I am. I believe I am on the right path.



This semester I have to set targets and work hard to achieve them.

First of all, I have got to decide subject combination to do. I have a great passion for print journalism than broadcast, so I have to go with newspaper editing, Photojournalism, Political Science, Public Speaking and if possible do one minor in Public Relations.


I have to read hard to excel in my academics. I will be in the library from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm, read textbooks for print and continue writing for our online paper www.theivorypost.com.

Always consult my Professors especially in areas where I am weak.

Raise my CGP to 4.2. I thank God that since joining this University, my CGP has been on a rise and I think I will keep it raising, this will help me join any world class University of my choice for my Masters.

I pray to God that he continue guiding me snd my parents .

If all goes well, you too can be invited for my graduation party.
Thank you

Why Uganda–Congo relationship will remain sour.

The hunter is now the hunted. Everyone knows that Uganda is a Military power force in the great Lakes Region, isn’t it? So why is Congo behaving so stubbornly? Why is the Lion so much despised by the antelopes? Who is the King of the jungle, Congo or Uganda?
Should we believe that there is a shift in the balance of power in favor of Congo?I think the root cause of the tension between these two neighboring countries is the discovery of oil.
It has soured the already volatile relationship between Uganda and Congo. Congo too believes that it has a big share of oil reserves under her Lake Albert waters.
Therefore, there is a feeling that if Uganda begins exploiting oil first, it will automatically be exploiting Congo’s oil since the two countries seem to share the same oil source.
The country exploiting oil first is likely to benefit much more than the other and that’s why Congo is ready to delay oil exploration by keeping the Albertine region insecure.

Rukwanzi Island. Uganda believes this disputed area belongs to Uganda.
The Congolese government too believes the island belongs to Congo. The Island is rich with resources like oil and fish.
Ugandans once inhabited the island but left it on orders of the Ugandan government in 1980s after it was found that the island could disappear in water. The Congolese saw this as an opportunity, they occupied the island and set up a military barracks.
I find this strange; if Ugandans left the island due to our fears why claim it now? I think this excuse is just strange; we should just blame ourselves for leaving. We were just postponing problems.

Now Rukwanzi Island, in the southern part of Lake Albert, is at the heart of a fire fight between DR Congo government troops and Ugandan forces, which has left a British contractor dead.Carl Nefdt worked for Heritage Oil, one of two companies prospecting for oil in the area.

He died when Congolese forces attacked a Heritage Oil barge – a long boat with a flat bottom, used for carrying heavy loads on rivers or canals – on Lake Albert. The Congolese armed forces have now occupied the disputed Rukwanzi Island, a move likely to further escalate tensions with Uganda.
Unless this issue is resolved these area will have no permanent peace.

President Kabila not a Congole. Very many Congolese believe President kabila is not a Congole. They think he is a Rwandan of Banyamulenge origin. To win their hearts, Kabila has to fight for their territorial integrity by taking over Rukwanzi Island. Therefore if Congolese see Kabila in conflict with Uganda and Rwanda there is no reason to doubt his nationality.

Bemba Factor. During last year’s elections in Congo, Uganda indirectly supported Bemba against Kabila, He lost elections but Jean-Pierre Bemba's camp said that the results, which gave incumbent Joseph Kabila a win, were fraudulent.
Bemba continued causing havoc in Kinshasa. Kabila defeated him militarily and he fled to Portugal where he is now nursing the wounds. There is a possibility that Bemba will still come back, as a former rebel leader. It’s also still possible that Uganda will support him to stage a guerilla war from Eastern Congo, which has a tradition for lawlessness.

LRA likely to join the fray. If Uganda continues its support for Bemba, there is a possibility that Lord Resistance Rebels of Joseph Kony who have got a safe heaven in Eastern Congo will find it easy to convince President Kabila to help them to continue terrorizing Uganda as a revenge on Uganda government for supporting Bemba.

This is likely to put the Juba peace talks between Uganda and the LRA rebels in limbo.

President Yoweri Museven has often protested against the presence of LRA rebels in Eastern Congo and he once made ‘inflammatory’ statement that Ugandan forces would be deployed to the volatile eastern Congo, unless Kinshasa government and the UN peace mission (MONUC) dealt with members of the LRA who had fled there.

But instead Congo has given a soft landing to LRA. Questions whether Congo government supports LRA still linger in Ugandan mind.

Twenty one years of warfare by the LRA has devastated northern Uganda and displaced more than 1.6 million people, causing one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. More than 10,000 children have been kidnapped by the rebels and forced to become fighters, porters and sex slaves. Uganda, at one point, chased the LRA up to the Sudan, with Khartoum's permission but never routed them.

There is much to fear, if Uganda re-enter Congo Rwanda is likely to do the same, as Congo also houses the Interehamwe Rebels who have terrorized Rwanda using Congo as their base.


UN-siding with kabila.? What is surprising the Ugandan government is that the UN hasn’t come up to condemn the Kinshasa government.

Congo also think that UN has failed to hold Rwanda and Uganda directly and unequivocally responsible for abuses committed by their own troops or by the forces of the factions they support in areas under their respective control especially during the 1996 Uganda-Rwanda invasion of Congo.

Despite UN deploying its largest peace keeping force in Congo, the mineral-rich eastern part of Congo, bordering Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, remains the most unstable area in the country, with violence breaking out regularly that often pits rival militias, including groups from neighboring countries, against each other and leaving civilians dead.

Great Lake conflicts continue to present the biggest security crisis in the continent, contributing to the worsening of the humanitarian situation in much of central, southern and Eastern Africa.

Just how Ugandan Media is shrinking !

With the government liberalizing media in 1993, a lot of private media houses were set up. Today we have more than 100 FM stations in Uganda, 10 newspapers and 20 television stations.
However, while the media is growing in Uganda, serious journalism is not.
Many of the stars of FM are not hardnosed muckrakers who are serious professionals. Most are musicians, comedians, pastors, even witch doctors with a personality for radio. Many are content to let callers "vent" their emotions, then take a break every so often for a two-minute "news bulletin." Other mix news with comedy and you can feel the dilemma.
Many of these FM stations emphasize the entertainment role more than the information role. They play music throughout the day and only spare an average of 20-minutes a day for news. This is very dangerous to journalism.
As a result people have remained in the shadows of information. People get less information on AIDS, poverty eradication, hygiene, farming, and governance. Rural based FM stations are not engaged in any serious kind of journalism, they read announcements and are tools used by witch doctors to advance witchcraft and other false beliefs.
People ultimately decide how their press should act. Perhaps Ugandans are no longer terribly interested in knowing the "deeper issues." They definitely aren't listening by the time you mention that the unseasonable rains that have swept away the roads, really have to do with a hole in something called the ozone layer. It is a general malaise that seems to taken root in East Africa and spreads to Africa as a whole.
Democratically, Uganda’s radio stations and print media have had a reputation for independence since the government loosened its controls of the media in the early 1990s, but their news coverage is fair minded and the popularity of interactive talk-shows and live public debates known as “ebimeeza” is due in large part to their respect for the rules of journalistic balance and the need to air all political views.
As a result, the privately owned media have won the public’s respect and have defended themselves effectively.
However, government controlled media have kept their stance as a government mouthpiece, UBC TV and Radio have continued to be used as a tool by the government to deny opposition the opportunity to advance their information to the grassroots.
Last month Gawaya Tegulle a program host of ‘Tonight with Tegulle’ on UBC television was suspended for hosting Col.Dr.Kiiza Besigye leader of the main opposition party FDC.
It has been reported that some ministers and an official from the president’s office called top UBC management protesting Besigye’s presence on the air. This caused panic among the managers, and it was reported that they considered stopping the show. Fearing that this was going to cause embarrassment to the government and their profession, they instead settled for simply blocking live telephone calls from the audience.
Unlike Kenya, Uganda opposition leaders face big challenges in accessing public media channels or those owned by NRM supporters. One can recall another incident two month ago when Dr. Besigye was due to appear on a Kitgum-based Kitti FM and the generator was switched off reportedly on the orders of the RDC, who phoned the manager threatening to close the station indefinitely.
The basics of an independent, accountable public broadcaster have yet to be achieved in Uganda, and UBC’s future is falling short.. We should select an independent board that is committed to rescuing the editorial integrity of the UBC. It is unlikely that with the current management people will have faith in UBC as a public broadcaster. The government is now happy with UBC because it’s the type of broadcaster it wants to have.
UBC is widely known to be a snakepit, where people of integrity fall victim to vicious power politics and are squeezed out, leaving mediocrity to thrive. The current management has not reversed this culture or put their mark on the institution. As a result, it may well prove to be a victim of its own inefficiency.
As all this happens, international bodies who measure press freedom are judging us. Their opinion is that freedom of expression in Uganda is shrinking. According to the 2006 Global Press Report by Reporters Without Borders, Tanzania is the region's best-rated country for press freedom. It is in 88th position. Uganda dropped from 80th to 116th on the index. Kenya is in the 118th among the 168 countries evaluated.
By this measure, Uganda is the most troubling case because of its steep decline to the lowest position it has occupied since the Index was launched five years ago.
Journalists should worry about their future, especially in Uganda, where anyone, even the, unprofessional, can go an a radio or television and do whatever comedy they want.

If we are to take the practice of journalism as a profession, then journalists must demonstrate that it is special, that it offers something of real value, and can prove its value to the public.
In Uganda, there is a need now, more than ever, among journalists to identifying sense amid the nonsense, sifting the important from the trivial, and, yes, for telling the truth.
These goals constitute the best mandate for a free press in a democracy and these goals are lacking among Ugandan journalists. Red Pepper is attacked for publishing all the sorts of lies; it continues to contaminate minds with trash every day. It’s such things that erode our values as journalists and keeps our profession questionable in the court of public opinion.
Today Africans live in more" democratic conditions" than ever before. This, again, might not mean much beyond the fact that we vote in elections but governments, in the end, may still steal. But at least more of us are voting, and have a wider choice of candidates to pick from.
The shabby state of press freedom is, therefore, a symptom of the democratic dead end Uganda seems to have hit. It's also a sign of how much the Ugandan media itself might have squandered its credibility as it struggled to find a new role after the heady 1990s and the falling away of many old-style dictatorships.
Talking about freedom of expression and press freedom as the foundations for a strong democracy is important, but it is also the task of responsible media figures to use this freedom to improve the everyday welfare of citizens.
Objectives such as the Millennium Development Goals, which include halving the number of people in the world living in extreme poverty and suffering from hunger, will remain routine, perhaps even forgotten, if the press fails to make them an issue.