/OpEd/OpEdColumnists/AllanTacca/-/878694/878694/-/uo8qxsz/-/index.html http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/OpEdColumnists/AllanTacca/Has+modern+man+put+too+much+value+on+leisure+/-/878694/1409136/-/v3lj4r/-/index.html Once Adam, Eve and other humans abandon their fruit gathering ways in forests and start living in settled farming communities, peace cannot be maintained by a community merely defending its territory, but also if members of that community work to feed their households. Otherwise, food raids would be rampant. The clever fellows who put together the biblical Genesis described this “sweat for food” condition as a divine punishment; a painful necessity; the price for the greater enlightenment that came with disobeying a god who had immense power but was afraid of reason. 2012-05-19T21:00:00Z http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/OpEdColumnists/AllanTacca/Of+disciplined+soldiers+and+Uganda+s+thieves/-/878694/1404344/-/llnx1tz/-/index.html I do not know why May, but the government decided to launch the festivities marking 50 years of Uganda’s independence this month. Five months of “festivities” (to October 9) should be enough for filling all the important belies that might have started shrinking since the end of the bonanza called Chogm 2007. 2012-05-12T21:00:00Z http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/OpEdColumnists/AllanTacca/Can+NRM+choose+the+right+successor+for+Uganda+/-/878694/1400008/-/uwea3g/-/index.html I must immediately register a qualification: “right” is relative. There is no President Exactly Right anywhere; but of course there are many examples of President Very Wrong. Especially in Africa, even those who started off as President Fairly Right often grow scales and become dinosaurs. 2012-05-05T21:00:00Z http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/OpEdColumnists/AllanTacca/-/878694/1395598/-/8tvh3jz/-/index.html The most boring cliché in Uganda politics must be the line that it is voters who decide. The ruling NRM has made so many fake meals from this argument that you get nauseated when you smell the next one from one mile away. 2012-04-28T21:00:00Z http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/OpEdColumnists/AllanTacca/-/878694/1391024/-/8tydgtz/-/index.html After over quarter-a-century of watching President Museveni’s dance of leaving and not leaving power, a raft of very senior religious leaders seem to have woken up to what many un-ordained, un-anointed and even ordinary mortals realised long ago. 2012-04-21T21:00:00Z http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/OpEdColumnists/AllanTacca/-/878694/1386580/-/8uhbosz/-/index.html All right, Cuba is a pot, but Pope Benedict should not forget that his organisation has also accumulated plenty of soot. Unlike North Korea, whose huge military establishment and geopolitical connection with communist China makes it sound like a very dangerous puncher, Cuba’s proximity with the USA makes it look vulnerable. 2012-04-14T21:00:00Z http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/OpEdColumnists/AllanTacca/-/878694/1382084/-/8uk7vnz/-/index.html If you are old enough and remember, or if you have access to international media archives referring to Uganda in the 1970s, you will note that when Uganda’s ubiquitous government spokesperson was quoted, a qualifier was sometimes added: “who is believed to be President Idi Amin himself”. 2012-04-07T21:00:00Z http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/OpEdColumnists/AllanTacca/-/878694/1377550/-/8v36clz/-/index.html Last Sunday, a typing error must have left my readers somewhat confused. I was looking at the section of rebellious politicians who are disturbing President Museveni and getting at lot of media attention in the process. 2012-03-31T21:00:00Z http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/OpEdColumnists/AllanTacca/-/878694/1372860/-/8v6kk7z/-/index.html Some may remain completely silent, especially opportunists who believe they can jump onto any wagon for a free ride, whichever way the chaos gets resolved. Some will blow hot and cold, depending on the balance between the pressure from different directions and their instinct to survive. Some will relentlessly push their agenda, whether it is reactionaries defending the status quo or champions of change trying to overturn the gravy train. 2012-03-24T21:00:00Z http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/OpEdColumnists/AllanTacca/-/878694/1368278/-/8vo384z/-/index.html When we are still strong and the going is good, it is very tempting to believe that the ride can only get better. If pride (which sometimes precedes a fall) has the better of us, every human obstacle will look like a ball for kicking. 2012-03-17T21:00:00Z http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/OpEdColumnists/AllanTacca/-/878694/1363388/-/8vrj0mz/-/index.html There was something elegant about the phone the Post Office people fixed at your residence. It had a clear bell – krr… krr – ringing at a speed that gave the signal an air of purpose. Call it boring, if you like; that is, if you didn’t quite like it. You often had to walk to the phone to make or receive a call, even if you had several extensions. 2012-03-10T21:00:00Z http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/OpEdColumnists/AllanTacca/-/878694/1358438/-/8wakn2z/-/index.html Just over a week ago, I stumbled into a local radio talk show where one of the President’s men, RDC Fred Bamwine, was the guest, sounding like he still had a lot of faith in President Museveni. 2012-03-03T21:00:00Z http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/OpEdColumnists/AllanTacca/-/878694/1334794/-/8xld7sz/-/index.html Regardless of any larger regional interests the two men might have had in mind, Uganda’s northerners, as Luos, were watching. And it is through this Kenyan side door that Museveni was last week fully rehabilitated by being installed as a “Luo Elder”, complete with regalia. It was an elaborate colourful joke, coming at a time when primitive greed, institutionalised Mafia-like corruption, frightening inequality and the militarised police war of attrition against the opposition have made the overall picture under Museveni’s rule almost as troubling as when the “primitive dictators” were in power. 2012-02-25T21:00:00Z http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/OpEdColumnists/AllanTacca/-/878694/1330220/-/8xo9l3z/-/index.html He hit the scene in the heat of the 2001 general election. He was young; he had good looks; he came from a family that had been influential in politics, public administration and business; 2012-02-18T21:00:00Z http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/OpEdColumnists/AllanTacca/-/878694/1320106/-/8yatbgz/-/index.html There are two intriguing statements President Museveni made recently. Thoroughly impressed by the adventures of Ms Jennifer Musisi, the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) Executive Director, the President declared that if Uganda had 2,000 Ms Musisis, corruption would be history. 2012-02-04T21:00:00Z http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/OpEdColumnists/AllanTacca/-/878694/1315438/-/8yst6tz/-/index.html At a meeting during the recent struggle between Kampala City Traders Association (KACITA) and Uganda’s banking establishment over high interest rates, Bank of Uganda Governor Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile .... 2012-01-28T21:00:00Z http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/OpEdColumnists/AllanTacca/-/878694/1311400/-/8yvljez/-/index.html As I have expressed before, I cannot stop worrying that South Africa’s Jacob Zuma might be carrying the genes of a political dinosaur. 2012-01-21T21:00:00Z http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/OpEdColumnists/AllanTacca/-/878694/1305518/-/90fccgz/-/index.html However, the case of Basajjabalaba now presents a special Museveni-made problem. If indeed he referred to State House Mafiosi working for Basajjabalaba, then he (Museveni) is not fully in charge; he is in effect a tool of Basajjabalaba. 2012-01-14T21:00:00Z http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/OpEdColumnists/AllanTacca/-/878694/1301392/-/90i605z/-/index.html December 31. The year was 2011. Nambole Stadium. About four hours to the midnight fireworks, a con artist has taken the stage. The heat in his explosive voice is very intense. He invites… No; he demands that a hundred people come forward with Shs100,000 each. He was going to utter a prophecy of satisfaction, and to say a special prayer for them. 2012-01-07T21:00:00Z http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/OpEdColumnists/AllanTacca/-/878694/1298082/-/9dw8t4z/-/index.html Because public trust in government is dying, people generally suspect that Executive action (or inaction) is driven by selfish motives. 2012-01-01T21:00:00Z http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/OpEdColumnists/AllanTacca/-/878694/1294860/-/9dytuyz/-/index.html Last Sunday, my plea for an Executive Director for the Republic of Uganda (like Kampala) was of course in jest. But for that reason, the President, the fountain of honour, is ultimately responsible for redeeming the integrity of government and the dignity of his office. 2011-12-24T21:00:00Z http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/OpEdColumnists/AllanTacca/-/878694/1291060/-/9e2445z/-/index.html President Museveni perhaps thought: “Let my comrades grab a few coins from here and there for a little while. Then I will stop the dirty habit and restore decency.” I am always amused to hear some people saying that corruption in high offices is a recent development, part of the succession struggle in the NRM. Circumstantial evidence suggests that the tales of procurement in security-related departments could have been gutter grade from the day the NRM took power. 2011-12-17T21:00:00Z http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/OpEdColumnists/AllanTacca/-/878694/1287128/-/9ejgeaz/-/index.html First, I must beg you not to forget the distinction between a kondo (a violent robber) and an embezzler of public funds. Briefly, the kondo and the embezzler used to be hated and despised. But under President Museveni, ... 2011-12-10T21:00:00Z http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/OpEdColumnists/AllanTacca/-/878694/1283560/-/9em5ftz/-/index.html As anticipated in this column three weeks ago, President Museveni was subsequently taken for a ride in the Kiira EV, a rechargeable battery-powered vehicle made by students and staff at Makerere University’s College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology. 2011-12-03T21:00:00Z http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/OpEdColumnists/AllanTacca/-/878694/1279688/-/9f4hknz/-/index.html An otherwise gifted and versatile journalist, Andrew Mwenda’s biggest but (fortunately) curable flaw in live broadcasts is that he rifles off his arguments at such high speed that the relentless pressure suffocates his opposite number(s), blocking the chances of a lively but tame discussion. 2011-11-26T21:00:00Z