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As Uganda readies for general elections in 2026, the ghosts of its past are making an unwelcome return to the present, promising an ugly election cycle. To be sure, the political playing field has never been level in Uganda since the return of multiparty politics in 2005. Those who dared to challenge President Museveni and […]

Ugandans have limited options when it comes to holding their political leaders accountable. Elections in the country have grown less and less credible over time. Civil society is vilified and intimidated by the state. News that Edward Awebwa, a twenty-four year old Ugandan, was sentenced to six years in prison for insulting the first family on TikTok is […]

While the Twitter war between Uganda and Kenya may be entertaining, the implications of a succession crisis in Uganda are serious.

The harrowing story of Kakwenza Rukirabashaija—a Ugandan writer whose tweets critical of President Yoweri Museveni and his powerful son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, landed him in detention—has made it impossible to pretend that the repression and political violence that accompanied the 2021 election cycle were temporary features of Uganda’s political landscape. Rukirabashaija, who was held incommunicado and […]

On January 14, Uganda will hold national elections, an exercise that is shaping up to be more of an opportunity for incumbent President Yoweri Museveni to demonstrate the repressive power of the state than a chance for Uganda’s population to express its political will. Museveni, in power since 1986, has taken no chances. Several of his […]

Last month, the contours of Uganda’s 2021 elections began to take shape, and they promise to meld longstanding problems with new constraints. The upcoming polls were always going to be consequential. President Yoweri Museveni has been in office since 1986, and a new generation of Ugandans has been calling for political change. But the global […]

Ugandans are scheduled to head to the polls early next year to select a president, parliamentarians, and local officials. But recent reports suggest that a shockingly large number of young Ugandans will simply not be able to participate in the election—a notable irony in one of the world’s youngest countries, where some 77 percent of the […]

Neil Edwards is the volunteer intern for CFR’s Africa Program in Washington, DC. He is a master’s candidate at the School of International Service at American University and is a returned Peace Corps Rwanda volunteer. Uganda is heading toward a debt crisis. According to a senior official at the Bank of Uganda, unless the country […]

Recently, Ugandan civil society organizations warned about the likelihood of increasing political violence leading up to the country’s 2021 general elections. Disturbing incidents of opposition figures like Bobi Wine being arrested and beaten, journalists being punished for covering those who challenge the state, and people associated with the new political opposition, like Michael Kalinda, being abducted, tortured, and even killed certainly support the case for sounding the alarm. Uganda is not doomed; it’s an impressive country in many respects and countless Ugandans are interested in working together to build a peaceful, more democratic, and prosperous future. But over the course of […]

Recent events have shone an international spotlight on Uganda, where the government’s treatment of parliamentarian and musician Robert Kyagulanyi, better known by his stage name, Bobi Wine, is bringing new attention to the repressive nature of Ugandan politics, and new energy to those resisting the status quo. He recently arrived in the United States to […]

Lately, the news from Uganda has been troubling. Rising crime rates have come to dominate the national narrative, as murders, robberies, and kidnappings have raised alarm among average citizens and elites alike. In the middle of this general insecurity, a number of apparent, targeted assassinations of prominent figures in politics and the security services are […]

Travis Bias, DO, MPH, DTM&H, is a family medicine physician in California and former visiting lecturer at Kabarak University and Busitema University Faculty of Health Sciences. He blogs at The Global Table. Fred Bisso, MMed, MBCHb, is an otorhinolaryngology consultant at the Mbale Regional Referral Hospital, part-time lecturer at the Busitema University Faculty of Health […]

United States Hunts Stolen Uzbek Assets The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is having a hard time collecting foreign officials’ ill-gotten gains. After finding evidence of bribery, the DOJ still needs to physically seize assets. The latest setback comes in the case against the Uzbek president’s daughter, Gulnara Karimova, for accepting bribes from Russian telecoms […]

Can India Avoid Emerging Market Slump? India outpaced China as the world’s fastest growing economy in 2015, with gross domestic product (GDP) rising 7.5 percent. Consumption by the nation’s 1.3 billion citizens drove the gains, along with public infrastructure spending to upgrade the nation’s roads, railways, ports, and power grids. India’s government is on track […]

This publication is now archived. Introduction Since rising to power at the helm of a rebellion led by his National Resistance Army in 1986, President Yoweri Museveni built a reputation as a “new breed” of African leader. The country has moved beyond the nightmare years of Idi Amin’s rule, during which one million people were […]

Last week, Tanzania’s government-appointed Commission of Inquiry handed over its report on the 2025 post-election violence to President Samia Suluhu Hassan. While some Tanzanians expressed appreciation that …

The just-concluded presidential election in <em>Uganda</em> was every bit as farcical as experts and commentators had feared. For the opposition, the circumstances could not have been more arduous, no …

How have you used your journalism career and training as a lawyer to inform your work in digital activism and as executive director of Agora Discourse? Well, I think my …

The spring and summer of 2024 have given a number of African governments a case of the jitters. First, the African National Congress lost its parliamentary majority in South Africa …

The Oscar and BAFTA-nominated Bobi Wine: The People’s President, is set during <em>Uganda</em>’s 2021 presidential election, where music star, activist, and opposition leader Bobi Wine, together with …