Justice Simon Byabakama laid down the law at Electoral Commission headquarters in Kampala, warning candidates and voters that Uganda's 2026 general elections will be tightly regulated. The EC chair confirmed that ballot printing is underway with both international and local companies, while 109,142 biometric verification kits have been procured to prevent fraud. Over 83,000 candidates were nominated for more than 45,000 positions, and the commission is processing hundreds of petitions daily.
Byabakama shut down the concept of vote protectors, saying anyone showing up with that label will be arrested since electoral law only allows polling officials, candidate agents, and police at stations. He defended police restrictions on campaign...
Uganda's economy is basically stuck in neutral right now. The country's factory and power station price increases held at 1.2 percent through the latest annual period, but that flat line hides some sketchy stuff happening underneath. Producer prices keep dropping, and demand looks pretty weak across the board.
Manufacturing inflation slid down a bit to 1.6 percent, with food processors and sugar makers seeing their price pressures cool off hard. Meanwhile, electricity generation keeps bleeding value at negative 5.6 percent, meaning power companies are getting paid way less than before. Month to month, things actually got worse, with producer prices sliding another 0.3 percent.
The real gut punch came from fish processing, where prices...
Gold hit its highest price ever at over 4300 dollars per ounce back in October, and Uganda made 4.2 billion from exports during the last financial year. The problem is that the country has zero gold stockpiled, even though the central bank keeps saying it wants to start buying. Bank of Uganda pushed its gold purchase program to next year again after saying the same thing in 2024, and the whole delay is getting sketchy because the reserves are basically all US dollars.
Governor Michael Atingi Ego admitted the dollar concentration creates risk, and he said the cabinet approved a domestic gold buying initiative that should start soon. Other African countries like South Africa and Egypt have already loaded up their reserves with physical...
ICC prosecutors confirmed Joseph Kony is still breathing somewhere in Central Africa, which basically kills off years of rumors about the LRA commander being dead. Senior trial lawyer Leonie Von Braun told reporters the court has intel proving he's alive, and they would have ditched the confirmation process if he wasn't. Judges wrapped up 39 charges against him last month for murder and sexual slavery, but the whole thing hits a wall because ICC rules won't let them run a full trial unless he shows up in The Hague physically.
The court has zero military power on its own, and Kony keeps moving through areas where governments never signed the Rome Statute treaty. Von Braun said they're working with partner states to grab him, but she...
Frank Ntwali got slapped on a terrorism financing list by Rwanda's Financial Intelligence Centre this month, and the opposition leader says the whole thing is fake. The Rwanda National Congress chairman has been living in South Africa for over 20 years, but Kigali keeps going after him anyway. He thinks the accusations dropped right before the G20 Summit on purpose to make critics look dangerous.
Rwanda keeps saying the RNC has ties to armed groups like the FDLR, but Ntwali says he has never worked with violent organizations, and his advocacy stays peaceful. He was born in Uganda to Rwandan parents, and he argues the sanctions are just Kigali trying to silence anyone who questions the government. South African authorities have not...
Bishop Serverus Jjumba from Caritas Uganda told young people they need to stop having kids they can't take care of because vulnerable children keep flooding in asking for help. He dropped this at a fundraising dinner at Hotel Africana in Kampala, where organizers wanted 200 million shillings for disadvantaged kids to get basic education. The event pulled in over 90 million between cash and pledges.
Jjumba said Caritas offices get hammered daily with requests for school fees, medical bills, food, clothes, and mental health support. One out of every four Ugandan kids isn't even in school because families are broke or dealing with constant emergencies. Dr Benon Sekamatte backed the mission and said both girls and boys need attention, and...
Ethiopia clapped back at Egypt over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam dispute, saying Cairo needs to drop its colonial mindset about controlling the Nile. The foreign ministry accused Egyptian officials of threatening destabilization across the Horn of Africa instead of actually negotiating, and they said Egypt keeps invoking old treaties that Ethiopia never signed. Addis Ababa pointed out that the Blue Nile starts on Ethiopian soil and makes up 86 percent of the river's total flow, which means they have every right to build hydroelectric infrastructure without asking permission first.
The statement called out Egypt for claiming the dam's reservoir is way bigger than necessary for power generation, but Ethiopian officials said the...
Uganda's defense minister told religious leaders in Kigezi they need to keep pushing the country's interfaith tolerance vibe because it keeps everything stable. Jacob Oboth hit up a symposium at Kabale Brainstorm High School with over 90 clergy types, and he said President Museveni deserves props for making sure Christians and Muslims can hit the same events without beef.
Oboth also met with veterans and hyped up better pension programs, plus healthcare access that apparently makes people less scared to retire. He laid a wreath at Kabale Stadium for three fighters who got executed back in 1973 under Idi Amin, and the government is building a monument there that the president will unveil at the Tarehe Sita celebration.
The minister...
Uganda's Royal Gospel Music Awards dropped details for their fourth ceremony at Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala, and King of Radio Wesley called the whole thing a way to throw some recognition at gospel artists who basically work for free. The awards company founder said musicians pour cash and effort into tracks but get zero financial return, and the ceremony is meant to change that dynamic.
Levixone is co-hosting with Nicole Estella, which marks the first time a gospel artist has handled hosting duties. Voting runs through their mobile app on both major platforms, and the event features 53 categories with every nominee coming from Uganda instead of pulling talent from across Africa like previous years.
The ceremony goes down...
