Stashed inside pickup trucks and guarded by armed militias and jihadists, every year billions of illicit cigarettes wind their way through the lawless deserts of northern Mali bound for the Sahel and North Africa.
The profits from their long journey fuel north Mali’s many armed conflicts, lining the pockets of offshoots of al-Qaida and the so-called Islamic State (IS) group, as well as local militias, and corrupt state and military officials. This violence is now spilling out across West Africa, displacing more than two million people in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, and Niger.
Cigarettes made by one of the world’s largest tobacco companies, British American Tobacco (BAT) and distributed with the help of another major, Imperial Brands, through a company partially owned by the Malian state, dominate this dirty and dangerous trade.
Nakaddu: The 19-year-old trying to dethrone Nantaba in Kayunga
Sunday January 10 2021
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Ssezibwa bridge which ushers you into the central district of Kayunga, gained fame in 2009 when security forces blocked then Katikkiro (prime minister) of Buganda John Baptist Walusimbi from entering the district, triggering off what came to be known as “Buganda Riots” in which scores of people were killed.
Eleven years later, Ssezibwa is, of course, tranquil, and it’s here that 19-year-old Brenda Nakaddu, who is vying for the Kayunga Woman MP seat, stood and welcomed Patrick Oboi Amuriat, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) presidential candidate. At only 19 years, Ms Nakaddu is probably the youngest MP contestant.
EC ban on campaigns a blessing – Opposition
January 6, 2021 Candidate Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine under police siege recently
For every dark cloud, there is a silver lining; so goes a familiar saying that seems to ring true after the recent ban on political campaigns in 20 districts and cities by the Electoral Commission.
On December 23, the Electoral Commission banned political campaigns in districts and cities with fast-rising cases of Covid-19. In three of the 20 districts where the ban was announced, the opposition has more support than the ruling National Resistance Movement.
Dr Kizza Besigye, who was the leading opponent against President Museveni in the 2016 elections, won three out of the 20 districts where the ban was announced. These are Kampala, Wakiso and Masaka. In this year’s presidential election, Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, the National Unity Platform candidate, is standing out in a crowded field of 10 as the
I like Kyagulanyi – Kantinti Apollo Kantinti
APOLLO KANTINTI is a former MP for Kyadondo East, which he lost to Robert Kagulanyi aka Bobi Wine in the 2017 by-election.
Kantinti is now wrestling with 10 other candidates to reclaim the seat left vacant after Kyagulanyi decided to take on President Museveni for the presidency. Quick Talk caught up with him recently.
Who is Apollo Kantinti?
Golfing! Where from?
When I have time I go to Entebbe Golf Club, but these days it’s not very conducive especially with the Covid-19 pandemic.
[Isn’t golf the most socially-distanced sport, though? Anyway…]
But even my reading these days is affected because there is a lot of negative stories in the newspapers; if it’s not about the pandemic, it’s about the negative things that are happening in the campaign. Life these days is generally depressing.