Monthly Archives: May 2012

Why Charles Taylor deserves his 50 years in prison

Posted on May 30, 2012 by

By Lansana Gberie As Charles Taylor awaits the outcome of his appeal after being sentenced to 50 years in prison for war crimes and crimes against humanity, Lansana Gberie responds to Taylor’s attempt to defend his actions in Sierra Leone. On 16 May, convicted war criminal, Charles Taylor, delivered a 30-minute speech – part plea for clemency, part lubricious defence of his actions, and part grandstanding – before his trial judges at The Hague as he awaits sentencing on 30 May. Because the address has been seized upon by crypto pro-Revolutionary United Front’s (RUF) activists and supporters to discredit the carefully-deliberated ruling against Taylor, it is important to respond to … Continue reading →

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How one conviction in nine years dented Ocampo’s stature

Posted on May 29, 2012 by

Researched and written by Robert Asketill On June 16, 2012, Luis Moreno-Ocampo will be replaced by Fatou Bensouda, a former Gambian justice minister who has been his deputy at the ICC since 2004. She will be perfect, he says. (She will certainly enjoy warmer relations with the African Union.) In the meantime, he likes to talk about changing paradigms. He even invokes the struggle against slavery as an analogy for what he thinks he’s doing, and if you suspend cynicism for a moment, you can see why.  “I saw the change of the world,” he says. “I started this job when the Iraq war started – one model, go to … Continue reading →

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Is Bensouda the right person to replace Moreno-Ocampo?

Posted on May 24, 2012 by

By Robert Asketill Moreno-Ocampo was well presented Thursday’s World Service (24/05/2012) seemingly eager to take over as the commander of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Listening to her we were apparently in the company of yet another African long departed from the real Africa with its vast number of tribal problems, without water and for many on the verge of starvation whilst victims of corruption where their mineral wealth is, and has been sold, to European billionaires. Her praise of Uganda’s President Museveni, who has a long history of employing boy soldiers and heading a corrupt government, fails to mention. Her praise was given for his action of employing 100 … Continue reading →

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Unemployment sending Ugandans into gambling

Posted on May 24, 2012 by

By Nangayi Guyson in Kampala, Uganda After making a tour around the capital Kampala on Sunday, on a building known as Mukwano Arcade before reaching the old Taxi Park, sits a crowd of people shouting at the top of their voices, persuading me to go there thinking that they are protesting since Kampala, the Ugandan capital, has for over a year now been now known as the ‘city of protests’. However, when I come close, I discover it is a sporting betting place after reading their persuasive  slogan “You Bet- we pay” on the sign post hanging in front of the entrance to the live sport betting center where you … Continue reading →

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History of Buganda Part 66:
How Sudanese troops were introduced in Buganda

Posted on May 19, 2012 by

By Robert Asketill We now see events in Buganda as recorded in the British War Office. Here we are clearly to see what Kabaka Mwanga had to stand against to prevent his kingdom being colonised. The military records are essential for students of Buganda history. We see the secret move in investigating Lugard. Kabaka Mwanga and the Catholic party, acting perhaps under the advice of the French missionaries, were becoming increasingly hostile to the Company, and realizing that his own forces were too small to take independent action, Lugard allowed the incident of a gun stolen by one faction from the other to develop into a ‘cause celebre’ (reason for … Continue reading →

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Wave of tribalism threatening South Africa’s infant democracy

Posted on May 12, 2012 by

By William Gumede A new wave of tribalism is threatening to unravel South Africa’s infant democracy, destroy economic development and unleash devastating ethnic violence if not stopped decisively. This apparent new upsurge in tribalism in South Africa appears to be driven by a number of factors. There has been appallingly poor political leadership at the helm of South Africa. A perception has now taken root that to be successful in South Africa, whether securing a job or a tender in the public and private sectors depends mostly about whom you, rather than one’s talents. South Africa appears to have now become a patronage based society, which fuels tribalism, rather than … Continue reading →

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History of Buganda Part 65:
Capt Lugard, the Maxim Gun and Sudanese fighters

Posted on May 12, 2012 by

By Robert Asketill So far we have seen the hard courageous fight Kabaka Mwanga made to serve his kingdom and keep out the European colonisation. We now present the mainly unknown military history in the building up of Buganda and later Uganda. We have discussed briefly how towards the end of 1890 Captain Lugard, who had taken service with the Imperial British East Africa Company, arrived in Buganda. Pressure from the British Government and the general interest aroused in the country by Stanley had obliged the Company to reconsider its cautious attitude, and Lugard came to assure Mwanga of the Company’s protection and assistance. By this time Gedge (Part 44) … Continue reading →

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Bingu’s legacy and the political future of Malawi

Posted on May 10, 2012 by

By Steve Sharra The late President Mutharika was hailed at home and abroad. But after the 2009 landslide re-election victory, his quest to engineer the election of his brother to succeed him in 2014 and increased autocracy astounded many. Questions about dead presidents’ legacies are best left to historians writing a generation removed. But for the late Malawian President Prof. Bingu wa Mutharika, we can be sure of a few things that will be part of his national and international memory. On the bright side, he gained worldwide fame with the farm input subsidy that ended Malawi’s chronic food crises. The first decade of the 21st century started on a … Continue reading →

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History of Buganda Part 64:
The execution of Moslems in Kiweewa’s palace

Posted on May 2, 2012 by

By Robert Asketill We saw in Part 63 how Kiweewa was hesitant in becoming Kabaka and still wavered strongly towards the Kiganda religion and that he was a great traditionalist. He was also aware that the Moslems wanted to impose their religion along with circumcision on him and if he did not strike at them first they would do so first. He therefore plotted to assassinate all the Moslem leaders. If that plot had succeeded, it would have been the beginning of a widespread persecution of Moslems. He organised a bodyguard of about a hundred fearless men, armed them with swords and spears and hid them in his house. He … Continue reading →

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