Pearl Bank is sending a purple-suited Santa mascot to branches across Uganda to vibe with customers and hand out festive cheer as part of their rebrand from PostBank. Marketing head Priscilla Akora said the mascot matches their corporate purple color scheme and represents their commitment to better service under the new identity.
The visits run through late December at select locations where Pearl Santa will cut cake and chat with people about the bank's transition. Bank of Uganda approved the licensing switch, and the institution plans more customer-focused initiatives built around financial inclusion and entrepreneurship support for Ugandans.
Kampala cops grabbed 25 people during a sting operation along the Northern Bypass near Double Q after they were caught yanking phones from drivers and passengers stuck in gridlock. Police impounded eight motorcycles that the suspects apparently used to pull off the heists, and they collected witness statements plus video evidence showing the crew in action.
Deputy PRO Luke Owoyesigyire confirmed all suspects are sitting at Nateete Police Division while authorities promise to keep running similar operations through the holidays. Enhanced deployments during rush hour traffic jams will continue as part of efforts to shut down criminal networks targeting commuters in high-traffic zones.
Mbarara University of Science and Technology busted someone pretending to be a pharmacy student after she spent who knows how long sitting in lectures and blending in with actual enrolled people. Jacinter Hamba was using a fake student number and claiming she belonged to the medicine faculty, but staff ran checks and confirmed zero records existed for her anywhere in their system.
The school put out a warning with her photo, telling everyone to avoid contact and stay alert, since the whole thing raises questions about how she accessed secured academic spaces without detection. Officials tightened security protocols around lecture halls and admin buildings while investigations continue to figure out if criminal charges are coming.
Police stopped Bobi Wine from hitting campaign spots in Nwoya and Amuru after he allegedly tried switching up his route and heading toward the Elegu border instead. Security forces say the NUP candidate ditched the agreed-upon rally location that his team previously confirmed with authorities and other stakeholders.
Wine claims he ran into youth squads wearing ruling party gear and holding insulting signs in Nwoya, so his convoy bailed and pushed toward Elegu before cops blocked them there. He posted about what he called deliberate harassment designed to mess with his momentum, but police spokesperson David Mudong Ongom maintains they just told him to circle back to the original venue.
Crowds apparently showed up along roadsides to...
Lawyer Dennis Paulo Kavuma launched Gravitas Leadership Institute this year to help young Ugandans figure out what they actually want from life and build some kind of plan around it. The program targets everyone from high schoolers to career switchers and retirees who need direction, mixing biblical stuff with practical leadership tools and mentorship networks.
Kavuma attended Saint Mary's School in Nairobi with future Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, studied law in the UK, then worked his way through media gigs at Cablesat Television before jumping into telecom at Celtel, MTN, and Uganda Telecom. He noticed people had massive dreams but zero roadmap to get there, which bothered him enough to start the institute.
The whole thing runs...
The Public Relations Association of Uganda handed out trophies at their ninth annual awards ceremony at Protea Hotel in Kampala, with 13 winners getting recognized for creative communication work. Association president Irene Nakasiita said the event celebrates people who pushed boundaries in strategic messaging, and South African High Commission rep Solly Mollo showed up to congratulate everyone while pitching future collaboration between the two countries.
Sarah Kagingo scored the lifetime achievement trophy for decades of PR hustle. Student winner Danniella Makiika from Uganda Martyrs University took home her category, while Serene Beauty grabbed both best social/digital campaign and best overall campaign awards. Other winners ranged...
Museveni rolled into Bundibugyo, promising a cocoa processing plant that he says will create jobs and turn the district into an industrial hub similar to Namanve, which employs 24,000 workers. The area produces over 70% of Uganda's cocoa exports, and the president claims investors are locked in after Americans ghosted him years ago when he pitched the same idea.
He name-dropped local success stories like cocoa farmer Benard Kacuro, who pulls in 75 million shillings monthly during harvest season, and cattle guy George Matongo from Nakaseke, who clears 250 million shillings annually despite living miles from paved roads. Museveni pushed his four-acre farming model from the 1996 playbook while taking shots at teachers striking for raises...
UN human rights boss Volker Türk is sounding alarms over hundreds of dead civilians in Sudan's Kordofan region, where the Rapid Support Forces and Sudanese Armed Forces have been going at it since late October. At least 269 people got killed through airstrikes, shelling, drone hits, and straight-up executions, but the real number is probably way higher because internet blackouts are blocking anyone from reporting what's actually happening on the ground.
An RSF drone smoked a funeral tent in El Obeid and took out 45 people, mostly women, while an SAF airstrike in Kauda killed 48 civilians. More than 45,000 people bounced from their homes, and aid groups say famine has already hit Kadugli, with Dilling not far behind, since armed groups...
Sudanese refugee women based in Uganda are begging African leadership to step in and stop the bloodbath back home, where sexual violence has become a tactical weapon against civilians. Rayan Abdallah Mohammed from Darfur spoke at an International Conference on the Great Lakes Region workshop in Kampala, saying her people are getting absolutely wrecked by systematic rape, gang assaults, and forced marriages carried out mostly by the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group.
The fighting between the RSF and the Sudanese Army kicked off in April 2023 and has tormented the lives of 14 million displaced people while killing tens of thousands. Dorah Byamukama from ICGLR confirmed that chaos and zero law enforcement have turned sexual...
