A Judicial probe into the mismanagement of grants to Uganda from the Geneva-based Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has recommended that former health ministers and other managers of the funds be investigated for possible criminal prosecution. Former health minister Jim Muhwezi and his two deputies, Mike Mukula and Alex Kamugisha, have all been implicated in the mismanagement of funds.

The United Nations refugee agency has halted the repatriation of Sudanese refugees from Moyo District in northern Uganda over safety reasons. This move follows reports that Liri, Nyepo and Limolo payams (sub-counties) in the refugees' Kajo Keji home land are riddled with explosives.

Follow the link for an open letter to The President of Uganda from the Uganda Peoples Congress in regards to extreme human rights abuses and the call for a Truth and Reconcilation Commission.

Uganda's president has moved to consolidate his power by naming his young brother, Salim Saleh, and his childhood friend-turned-foe, Eriya Kategaya, to his new Cabinet announced last week. The country had been without a Cabinet since Museveni dissolved the old one a few hours before he was sworn in for another five-year term on May 12.

Conflict between the government and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has displaced 1.6 million northern Ugandans. The LRA has abducted an estimated 28,000 children, destroyed schools and forced children to become 'night commuters' by moving every evening from their homes into towns to sleep. Peace will not be possible without greater focus on education.

The number of new HIV infections in Uganda has increased from 70,000 in 2003 to about 130,000 in 2005, Uganda AIDS Commission Director-General Kihumuro Apuuli said Thursday, the Monitor/AllAfrica.com reports. Apuuli, speaking on HIV/AIDS Vaccine Awareness Day, said that despite financial support from donors, the incidence of new HIV cases in Uganda still is increasing.

A refugee camp guard in northern Uganda has shot dead at least 10 displaced people with 13 others in hospital, some with their legs shattered. An army spokesman said the attack at Ogwete in Lira district, was carried out by a local defence militiaman. He is reported to be on the run. The man apparently shot his victims after an argument over a woman.

Uganda will increase its budget allocation to the energy sector by over Ush100 billion ($57.1 million) in the 2006/07 financial year. According to Ministry of Energy officials, the sector will be allocated Ush240 billion ($137.1 million) which is 80 per cent higher than the Ush133 billion ($76 million) given in the 2005/06 financial year. The money will deal with key sector priorities, such as hydropower generation.

In a departure from its traditional role of protecting and aiding refugees (people who have crossed international borders in their flight from persecution), the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, is now helping internally displaced people in Uganda. One of its efforts in Uganda is to work with the government to allow for greater freedom of movement and to help displaced people return to their original homes.

The International Criminal Court has said it expects Uganda to meet its obligation to arrest the leader of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army rebels. Joseph Kony is wanted for war crimes by the court, but on Wednesday Uganda's president offered him a peace deal. Yoweri Museveni said Mr Kony had until the end of July to end the war and said his safety would be guaranteed. But the ICC says Uganda's government referred the case to the court and must honour its commitment.

Uganda, praised for its fight against HIV/AIDS, also makes homosexuality illegal. How, asks Victor Mukasa can any HIV/AIDS policy be successful if it excludes a sector of the population from its programmes.

HIV/AIDS is an epidemic and in order to control and eradicate it, all individuals no matter their sex, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, race, or any other status, must be included in all policies against the scourge. Uganda has been praised for her ‘excellent’ HIV/AIDS policy by the international community.

But the politics of pretence in Uganda is leading to the deaths of many Ugandans from HIV/AIDS. The main group that is suffering as a result of this pretence are homosexuals. The Ugandan government has previously asserted that homosexuals do not exist, yet it is clear that these people do exist. No wonder there are laws against homosexuality put in place. Even the few officials who openly admit that homosexuals exist in this country claim that they (homosexuals) do not deserve any kind of care when it comes to the AIDS scourge.

As a result, homosexuals in Uganda have been excluded from the National AIDS Policy. Simple logic is that once a particular group is not catered for in terms of HIV/AIDS then it cannot be claimed that the scourge is being effectively fought. If one chose to cater for only the male population, for example, that would be a waste of time and resources. Same with catering for, say, only southerners, and ignoring northerners, when there is the aspect of intermarriages. Likewise, once one caters for only heterosexuals, ignoring homosexuals, then one is wasting time. The uncatered (homosexuals) will still spread the disease to the catered (heterosexuals).

It is a fact that homosexuals exist in Uganda and that there are very harsh laws in place against their sexual activities. Among homosexuals are bisexuals. These will have sexual relationships with people of either sex. As if that is not enough, because of the harsh laws, homosexuals either engage in relationships with people of the opposite sex in order to disguise their criminalized nature or are forced into marriages with people of the opposite sex by family and/or friends.

The elimination of homosexuals from the Uganda AIDS Policy has therefore done more harm than good.

There is also the politics of intimidation. In conjunction with deliberately ignoring sexual minorities on matters of a deadly, worldwide health epidemic, the Ugandan government actively discourages agencies that may counsel and treat sexual minorities on HIV. In November of 2004, the government of Uganda warned UNAIDS not to assist sexual minorities in organizing a campaign that may reach out to members of its own group in an effort to stem HIV infections. The government defended its actions of exclusion by reminding UNAIDS that homosexuality is illegal.

Intimidating UNAIDS from assisting Ugandan sexual minorities had a domino effect on other NGOs: organizations who are otherwise willing to assist these minorities with HIV treatment and counseling do not dare to do so because they may lose their license as an NGO.

But why and how could an entire government comprised of individuals who claim to love their people come to this sort of decision? Even if they didn’t love their people, is it not the duty of the Ugandan government to protect Ugandans? Is not every Ugandan entitled to life?

In Uganda, public outreach and advertising campaigns address heterosexual HIV transmission only. This narrow-mindedness lethally deceives and disadvantages the entire sexual minority population. A qualified Ugandan physician who frequently treats patients for HIV complains that sexual minorities are an ignored key population: unprotected anal sex is – according to scientific research – the most risky behavior for spreading HIV. Yet, without government outreach, the key population of those who practice anal sex (often homosexual men, but heterosexuals too) is becoming infected unaware. Government advertising campaigns that depict HIV as a disease transmittable only through penal-vaginal contact put many couples – regardless of sexual orientation - unaware that HIV can be transmitted through anal sex.

It is important to note the size and importance of this anal sex “key population”: outside of intravenous drug users, anal sex (often associated with, but not exclusive to, male homosexual activity) is the most effective method of transmitting HIV. Yet, HIV/AIDS policies allow citizens to unknowingly contract HIV despite all of Uganda’s outreach efforts. This deletion, please note, is unlike any HIV/AIDS outreach program in America or Europe: other countries and regions protect their anal sex population specifically. The fact that the Ugandan government asserts that homosexuals do not exist within its territory and outlaws homosexual activity contributes to this deadly deletion in HIV/AIDS outreach.

Another government-influenced deletion concerning HIV/AIDS that affects Ugandan sexual minorities is a lack of available HIV prevention information suitable only for these minorities. That is, because sexual practices of homosexuals differ from those of heterosexuals, and Ugandan HIV/AIDS organizations are equipped by mandate to concern only penal-vaginal transmission, these minorities cannot receive HIV prevention counseling that may save their lives. Gay men will not receive needed advice about using lubricants that do not destroy condoms. Lesbians will not receive counseling on dental dams. In fact, if a lesbian seeks counseling at an HIV/AIDS outreach organization in Uganda, she will receive advice concerning her boyfriend. Any person can agree that mitigating the effects of a deadly, worldwide epidemic involves treating every patient and potential patient with relevant information, regardless of the circumstances under which he/she caught the disease. The Ugandan government clearly discriminates when it agrees with the preceding statement in regards to many criminals, yet not sexual minorities.

In this era the issue of whether homosexuality is immoral, un-African or a crime, etc, should be dropped when it comes to the control of HIV/AIDS. The fact is, homosexuals exist in Uganda and are a key population in the spread of the scourge. They should be catered for in the National AIDS Policy, be included in all prevention advertisements and in every activity designed to combat the epidemic. The Ugandan Government should give up on its politics of pretence and intimidation and embark on the protection of its population from the deadly epidemic.

* Victor Mukasa is the chairperson of a human rights organisation called Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG).

* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

All workers in Uganda will have to pay at least four percent of their salaries towards a mandatory Social Health Insurance starting next financial year, according to a scheme recently approved by Cabinet. If endorsed by parliament, the SHI scheme will compel employers to match each employee's deduction with an equal percentage. The ministry of health says about $30 million (about Shs54.9b) will be collected from employees and employers every year, a move which the outgoing health minister says will help improve service delivery.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has given the leaders of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) a two-month ultimatum "to peacefully end terrorism" or face a combined force of Ugandan and southern Sudanese troops. Although the Ugandan government has offered amnesty to LRA members who surrender, Museveni has repeatedly rejected the possibility of pardoning any high-ranking officers. However, according to a government statement, "[I]f he [Joseph Kony, LRA leader] got serious about a peaceful settlement, the government would guarantee him safety."

Tajudeen Abdul Raheem returns home to Kampala just as Yoweri Museveni is inaugurated for his third term. It’s a case of ‘no change’ that history will judge severely.

I was ' home' in Kampala last weekend. And what a time to be back, with all the reverie and revulsion in some quarters about the 'inauguration' or 'coronation' of President Museveni for his 'sad term' or his 'first term' under the new multi-party democratic framework.

Contrary to innocent speculations that I had come specifically for the big day itself, I was in Uganda for two meetings. My first meeting - on inauguration day - was one hour away in Jinja and organised by HURIPEC and the Political Science Department of Makerere University. The theme of the workshop, whether by design or mere coincidence was 'Debating Form and Substance in Africa's New Governance Models'. It was a meeting of the usual and the not so usual suspects on the activist-scholar circuits of this continent.

On the 'usual side' were the conveners themselves, my good friend the shoe professor (he had sworn that if Museveni did not win the Presidential elections he would [eat] his shoes), Joe Oloka Onyango, Yasin Olum, Susie Nansozi and others. From across Africa there was Adebayo Olukoshi, head of CODESRIA. Jibo Ibrahim, newly appointed Director of the Abuja-based Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD); Cherryl Hendricks, from the Institute for Security Studies in Johannesburg; Muthoni Wanyeki, Director of FEMNET in Nairobi and several others were also present. The veteran Mzee Dan Nabudere was there lending his wisdom and insight. On the 'unusual' side were a bright group of up and coming scholar-activists from Makerere. I had agreed to participate at the last minute, selfishly hoping to catch up with old friends and comrades. But the workshop did surprise me most pleasantly in terms of originality. For as long as Africans continue to think profoundly about our condition and possess the courage to offer solutions and act on them Africa will never surrender.

Needless to say that events in Kampala cast their shadows over the discourse. The presence of a dozen African heads of state and/or heads of government in one city, plus numerous other representatives of reportedly more than thirty states, cannot go unnoticed even by the most cynical group of activists and scholars. Kololo Hill (venue of the inauguration), between Museveni and his guests, on 12 May had all the forms of emerging models of governance. I had joked to the organisers that it was not possible to model governance without governors and there were governors of governors in town.

By the time I left my scholar-activist colleagues in Jinja and got to Kla, the swearing in was over but the 'swears' in some quarters and ululations in others. The long march back to their various villages and poor slums by the numerous supporters of the sworn-in candidate was in full force.

The publicists have been spinning the 'coronation' as an epoch-making new dawn. Although the initial enthusiastic announcement of 30 heads of state being expected turned out to be grossly inflated the turn out was no less impressive. But their claim before the event that 30 heads of state were coming is what made the turn out of 12 look like a failure. The other presidents of the East African community were there. The growing influence of Rwanda and a new realism in the relationship between Uganda and Rwanda was evidenced by President Kagame's presence and the special mention and excitement it received in the media. As regional powers go, Thabo Mbeki, South Africa's philosopher king, was there. The grand old man of anti Western belligerency loathed by the West but always a winner with many Africans, Uncle Bob, was there. The DRC compensated for the absence of Kabila Jr, (obviously held back by his own scheming for a 'first ' term in elections due soon) by sending two surplus vice presidents. There was also the president of Djibouti and the president of Somalia. Toss in the president of Burundi and other dignitaries and you cannot begrudge the National Resistance Movement their few hours in the sun. To crown it all Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, who could not make it for the coronation, came in for the after party.

I could not help recalling that there was a time when Museveni’s visionary leadership was the beacon of hope for many Africans and the envy of many of his colleagues. Every one wanted to be his friend then. But now he needs to be everybody's friend, hence the long list of would be visitors. A regime that depended so much on internal support is now running on an artificial supply of energy from other African leaders. A president that used to be envied by his fellow presidents for being western-friendly has now returned back to the fold as anti-western, albeit in a very selective way. A man who used to be feted is now desperate to fete others. On the other hand those same leaders who used to deride him as a 'western stooge' are now best pals with him. What is form and what is substance?

The day after the inauguration I went for my second meeting. It was a preparatory meeting for CSO’s involved in the UN Conference on Least Developing Countries, of which Uganda (in spite of decades of HIPC, AGOA, donor-support, etc), along with 33 other African countries, are members. By coincidence the coordinator was a comrade from Nepal very active in the popular struggles for democracy in Nepal. Understandably many participants wanted to know more and get better information beyond what we have seen on our televisions recently. The irony was not lost on many of us that while the Nepalese were trying to remove the monarchy and enthrone democracy, in many African countries the challenge is in preventing democracies from becoming monarchies or elective dictatorships. People used to come and consult Museveni on new ideas, now the likes of Obasanjo are visiting him to find ways of conspiring against the wishes of their own peoples. History will judge and do so most severely. How times have changed even as the supporters of Museveni cry 'No Change'!

* Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem is General-Secretary of the Pan African Movement, Kampala (Uganda) and Co-Director of Justice Africa

* Please send comments to

Uganda has been seen as a model for development, but must now make a commitment to uphold the rights of the more than 3 million children who remain vulnerable to poverty, disease and insecurity, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said as President Yoweri Museveni’s new government took over. Speaking on the occasion of Mr. Museveni’s inauguration to his third term as elected President on Friday, a UNICEF representative in Uganda praised the policies and legislation that had resulted in an increase in primary school enrolment from 3 million in 1997 to 7.3 million in 2005.

Britain is waiting for a European Union report on Uganda's February presidential and parliamentary elections, before deciding on whether to release 15 billion pounds ($9.375 billion) withheld last year. The money was part of $73 million that donors cut or diverted from aid to the government citing concerns over the high public administration costs and the talk of a level political playing field.

Four years after it was established the Rural Communications Development Fund (RCDF) is yet to realise the dream of helping Ugandan villagers join the global village. Sustained by a one per cent levy off gross annual revenue of communications and service providers, the RCDF was established to ensure rural communications development through growth of infrastructure networks in the country. This was done after the government realised that there were likely to be imbalances in communication services between the rural and urban areas.

Tens of thousands of Ugandan schoolchildren have enrolled in 'True Love Waits' clubs that promote sexual abstinence as the way to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. Each student member has pledged "commitment to God, myself, my family, my country, my friends, my future mate and my future children to be sexually pure until the day I give myself only to my marriage partner in a convenient marriage relationship." However, "as a feminist, I strongly think the abstinence programme doesn't take into consideration the reality in the country, which is that women's sexuality is controlled by men," said Salome Nakaweesi Kimbugwe, coordinator of the Uganda Women's Network (UWONET).

Long-term humanitarian ‘care and maintenance’ programmes have a reputation for ignoring human and social needs. A new strategy designed for Sudanese refugees in Uganda was meant to address these failings by applying a more ‘developmental’ approach. However, political security, refugee participation and respect for human rights have been lacking.

Uganda is pushing for "regional cooperation" in its efforts to hunt down and apprehend the leadership and remaining fighters of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group, who are believed to be hiding in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In November 2005 UPDF operations against LRA bases in Sudan forced a group of fighters led by the second-in-command, Vincent Otti, to cross into the jungles of eastern DRC and set up camp in the Garamba National Park. The Ugandan army claims the group has since been joined by the elusive LRA leader Joseph Kony and is formulating a plan to mount further attacks on Uganda. The LRA has traditionally launched its attacks on northern Uganda from bases in southern Sudan.