We look at the law differently.

These days, our news ecosystem is playing host to an amplified form of harmful bliss called Fake news which is apparently as old as journalism itself. Fake news is bliss because more people are adept to consume and pleasure in it as it feeds their human sensuality which sometimes presents as momentary urges to give or receive a rose or rogue tinted version of a story. Many people are innocent consumers of fake news which is why it spreads faster than real news. Research has shown that the truth takes approximately six times longer than fake news to reach people thereby underlining the fatal attractiveness of fake news. It is difficult to find any major story or event that can resist the drive    or manipulation of a lethal dose of false information or news even when there is no clear legal definition in Uganda, of what fake news is or is not. I believe this obtains courtesy of an often subjective test of some fake news which has also stained supposedly official...

HOW JUDGES IN UGANDA HAVE LOST THEIR JUDICIAL IMMUNITY The judiciary of Uganda just like other public sectors is dogged by many challenges. From low pay, low morale, understaffing, case backlog to suffering the indignity of renting significant office space from Court users. This list makes for a depressing read but to its credit, the judiciary has soldiered on. The situation may just have been made worse by the unmasking of judicial immunity which judicial officers have been enjoying as a matter of course in the discharge of their judicial duties. Unlike the other challenges mentioned above which are mainly caused by external factors like the underwhelming budget support they perennially receive from the Government, this time the new challenge which is a threat to their judicial immunity has been caused by the judges themselves. In a transitional Country like Uganda where members of Parliament use their legislative mandate to increase their pay and also illegally exempt that pa...

Our security will remain in a state of deliquescence if we don’t correct serious design defects which rely on the gun and not the rule of law to guarantee security. To many   people ,the term ‘Rule of law’ remains   in the   stable of legal   jargons   which neither puts food on the table nor delivers the security   dividend.  The reality is   that the   Rule of law is the foremost renewable public   resource that preserves   the peace and   to which   all public and private authority and power must yield.  The gun may be the most recognizable   trade   dress of   public authority and power but   it must   depend on the rule of law to keep   the peace .The rule of law is the   foundation of the modern   state without   which   neither   the state or the   citizens can   co-exist or function   properly.It is   the rule   of   la...

Dear Editor, Eagleonline. Just when Angelo was penning his response to my article on fakes and kidnaps where he tried to discount the menace of counterfeits, the Government of Uganda was declaring 3 days of mourning due to a nasty road carnage caused by fake brakes that left 22 dead in Kiryandongo District. I say fake brakes because I watched with dismay on TV when one of the lucky survivors lying in pain on a hospital bed narrated that the driver of the bus had tried to stop the bus but the brakes failed. A 2016 report by the Ministry of Transport indicated that 95% of road accidents are caused by human error and mechanical condition of the vehicles. This is where counterfeits in the form of fake driving permits and fake vehicle parts lurk. This is the savage image of counterfeits that most people choose not to see. Angelo’s views may appeal to many people who pay scarce attention to the immense devastation that counterfeits are causing to whole communities and economies i...

FIGHT FAKES TO FIGHT KIDNAPS   According to the Global Kidnap index of 2014, Uganda averaged 0.6 kidnaps per 100,000 people. This is just lower than Burundi but is far lower that the kidnap rates in Belgium, Canada, UK and France which stand at between 3.5-10.0 per 100,000 people. Each Country has unique factors that account for the incidence of kidnaps. There is a lot of talk of poverty and unemployment being the cause of the recent spate of kidnaps in Uganda. I have noticed that the media is reporting many cases of kidnap the same way as it is reporting many cases of fake and substandard products. I dont think this is a mere coincidence, there must be some relationship between the kidnaps and fakes. The fact of the matter is that there is no difference between a person who takes a ransom from a kidnapped woman or her family and a person who takes your money and dupes you with a fake product or service. Both set of actors are perpetrators of a crime, both take your mon...

Abid Alam petitions court over Bamugemereire’s land probe Abid Alam, a prominent businessman, has petitioned the Constitutional court, questioning the conduct and some of the orders issued by the Commission of inquiry investigating land disputes which is headed by Jutsice Catherine Bamugemereire. Through his lawyers Muwema and Company Advocates, the businessman claims the commission had overstepped its mandate when it issued some of the orders against him. In particular, Alam questions the powers of the commission to order his arrest like it did on November 8 on allegation that he was obstructing its work. Between September 11 and 14, the commission of Inquiry conducted public hearings during a visit to Mityana Farm Group enterprises, which is owned by Alam. Allegations were made that in 2008, Alam working with the police evicted 600 families from a 12 square mile piece of land in Mubende. Thereafter without listening to his side, Bamugemereire ordered police to arrest ...

Why other tertiary institutions should emulate Victoria University A man that needs scant introduction,Counsel Fred Muwema recently authored an article titled, ‘Uganda’s education paradox’ on The Nile Post where he made revealing observations about our education system and unemployment. Counsel Muwema agrees that there is need to skill Ugandans and the need for the powers that be to viciously invest in sectors such as;Agriculture,manufacturing and socio-economic services. I must also observe that for us to have people that can significantly add value even when employed in those sectors and more,access to quality tertiary education is key. Uganda’s tertiary education especially university ,is incessantly under steamy attack for Channing out graduates that are bereft of the right attitude,skills and competencies such as problem solving skills. The “tawdry” education devoid of the above is vilified as a being catalyst for the ever swelling unemployment levels in Uganda. I...

                                TO JAIL OR NOT TO JAIL A CIVIL DEBTOR In criminal justice punishment theory, people are sentenced to serve time in confinement or prison to achieve the deterrence of a repetition of a crime, rehabilitation of the offender or retribution by way paying for the crime committed against society through jail time. These are certainly beneficial tenets to the well-being of society and the reclamation of convicted criminals.  I am not sure if our civil justice redress system is designed to achieve the same objective for a civil offender who is committed to civil prison for failure to pay a civil debt. Uganda prisons sources indicate that by the end of last month, there were 340 civil prisoners in the 257 prison units across the country and this statistic is rising every year probably because of the growing poverty levels in the country. The recent jailing of NBS Simon...