{UAH} Uganda in 2020 -- The first week
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Uganda in 2020 -- The first week
Jan. 7, 2020
By Timothy Kalyegira
- The country welcomed the New Year on Jan. 1 with the usual fireworks, partying and excitement.
There was still much anger boiling over from the previous day when the veteran South African singer Yvonne Chaka Chaka was deported ahead of a concert appearance in Kampala.
By the 6th, the population was boiling with even more anger when a scheduled political meeting organised by the People Power pressure group was halted by the police and People Power leaders arrested in Kampala.
Meanwhile, President Museveni and his veteran guerilla military and political apparatus went on a political foot tour of their old frontlines in central Uganda.
The population, especially town residents, was frustrated by these political developments and the blatant double standards on display by the ruling NRM government.
But beyond expressing their disgust and anger, the Ugandan political class and media remained unable to articulate an explanation for these events or think a way out of the present situation.
People Power employed the tactics used by the FDC and could not seem to work out an alternative strategy for operating in a de facto one-party state.
On 7th Jan., People Power figurehead Bobi Wine cancelled a planned political visit to Gulu.
Also on 7th Jan., seven Rwandans were acquitted of espionage charges by the military court in Kampala.
This lead to hope that the message to Rwandan President Paul Kagame from President Museveni in late December might have been an olive branch intended to ease the tensions that had developed since Aug. 2017.
Most New Year resolutions by Ugandans, as expressed on social media and by others phoning into radio stations, as usual centred around the wish for more money.
The same lacklustre Ugandan content on social media published all year round in 2019 made its way into 2020.
The Ugandan version of the rape-shaming Me Too movement ignited social media in the first few days of January, with several media and entertainment personalities named.
But by the end of the first week of the year the naming and shaming had toned down somewhat.
The English Premier League football matches, now completely localised into a Ugandan national obsession, took up much broadcast time in local language radio stations all over the country, both driven by and driving the national sports betting industry.
In what is usually a dry and dusty first month of the year, on the afternoon of 7th Jan. there was a heavy downpour over Kampala and other parts of central Uganda, suggesting that 2020 might continue with the higher-than-average rainfall recorded in 2019.
ENDS
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-- Jan. 7, 2020
By Timothy Kalyegira
- The country welcomed the New Year on Jan. 1 with the usual fireworks, partying and excitement.
There was still much anger boiling over from the previous day when the veteran South African singer Yvonne Chaka Chaka was deported ahead of a concert appearance in Kampala.
By the 6th, the population was boiling with even more anger when a scheduled political meeting organised by the People Power pressure group was halted by the police and People Power leaders arrested in Kampala.
Meanwhile, President Museveni and his veteran guerilla military and political apparatus went on a political foot tour of their old frontlines in central Uganda.
The population, especially town residents, was frustrated by these political developments and the blatant double standards on display by the ruling NRM government.
But beyond expressing their disgust and anger, the Ugandan political class and media remained unable to articulate an explanation for these events or think a way out of the present situation.
People Power employed the tactics used by the FDC and could not seem to work out an alternative strategy for operating in a de facto one-party state.
On 7th Jan., People Power figurehead Bobi Wine cancelled a planned political visit to Gulu.
Also on 7th Jan., seven Rwandans were acquitted of espionage charges by the military court in Kampala.
This lead to hope that the message to Rwandan President Paul Kagame from President Museveni in late December might have been an olive branch intended to ease the tensions that had developed since Aug. 2017.
Most New Year resolutions by Ugandans, as expressed on social media and by others phoning into radio stations, as usual centred around the wish for more money.
The same lacklustre Ugandan content on social media published all year round in 2019 made its way into 2020.
The Ugandan version of the rape-shaming Me Too movement ignited social media in the first few days of January, with several media and entertainment personalities named.
But by the end of the first week of the year the naming and shaming had toned down somewhat.
The English Premier League football matches, now completely localised into a Ugandan national obsession, took up much broadcast time in local language radio stations all over the country, both driven by and driving the national sports betting industry.
In what is usually a dry and dusty first month of the year, on the afternoon of 7th Jan. there was a heavy downpour over Kampala and other parts of central Uganda, suggesting that 2020 might continue with the higher-than-average rainfall recorded in 2019.
ENDS
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"When a man is stung by a bee, he doesn't set off to destroy all beehives"
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