Blogs

You may have noticed that things have sort of slowed down here, and if you are wondering what is going on, well it's life actually. There is just too much going on for me to pay attention to this blog right now. I would tell you what exactly is keeping me so busy lately but that is not what this blog is really about; just trust that is all socially constructive. Mostly.

You can still poke around the site and look through the Archives while I am away. And if you happen to wander off somewhere else, well, that is fine too. You'll be back. I hope.

Andrew Mwenda has set out to create something new and compelling in Uganda's news media industry. I cannot say whether he has succeeded in print, but on the web, he has failed. The Independent launched in December 2007 with some challenges, but its the newspaper's website that I will be discussing here. And not favorably.

If you have never been to Kampala let me spare you the suspense; it is a poorly planned city and there is little to see in the way of architecture. The good news though is that there is a blogger who is trying to do something about this.

In the news this week: a new Ebola virus has hit western Uganda; Kony has been given one month to leave the DRC; The falling U.S. dollar may harm Uganda's economy; Rising food prices have implications for the government's industrialization policies; and World Cup qualifiers.

Ebola returns

I am a big fan of great design, and I wanted to do something to promote the efforts some Ugandans are making to bring great looking sites to the web. So every month, if I see something great, I will applaud it here. And if I see something horrible, I will call that out too. I wont see everything though, so you are welcome to recommend a site you know and love, or hate.

Best Site: Node Six

On the subject of homosexuality in Uganda, opinions abound. Back in 1999, President Museveni made his position clear by asking the police to arrest gays. His authority notwithstanding, the Sexual Minorities Groups in Uganda held a press conference in August to demand for their rights.

For our regular visitors, the store front has been quite here this week, but we have been working feverishly in the back to bring you some new content and a better user experience along with it.

One of the things that many readers have requested in the past week is a way of finding out who writes for citizenuganda.com, and where else they can be found on the web. Well, we are now exposed for everyone to see and feeling quite vulnerable about it too, so be gentle.

For those of you who have been following this blog, I just want you to know that I will be away from the "editorial desk" for a few days. And since this is a one-man show at the moment, that means that there will be little content this week.

I hope to be back with something worth reading next week.

Ed

The Commonwealth Heads of State Meeting of 2007 is being described as a success. During the three-day summit, the organisation suspended Pakistan from its ranks and produced a climate plan. These are both modest achievements with little international impact except to remind the world that when it comes to human rights and the environment, the Commonwealth can still be a relevant association.