Commentary

Writing in 1751 Voltaire described Europe as “a kind of great republic, divided into several states, some monarchical, the others mixed but all corresponding with one another. They all have the same religious foundation, even if divided into several confessions. They all have the same principles of public law and politics unknown in other parts of the world.”

First, we hope our readers survived 2020 in as good a shape as possible despite the COVID-19 pandemic. We wish to express our most sincere condolences to those who lost loved ones and empathy to those who suffered from COVID-19 symptoms or other problems associated with the pandemic. We hope that 2021 will be a better year than 2020.

Nancy Kalembe is one of 10 candidates running for the Ugandan presidency against the incumbent, Yoweri Museveni. The election is scheduled for January 14, 2021. The question often asked is whether Nancy Kalembe or any of her co-contestants have a prayer to dethrone the incumbent. It is an intriguing question since in its 58 years of independence, no Ugandan president has ever lost an election.

This has been a trying year, but somehow, we are making it to the end. Hopefully 2021 will be better since we now have vaccines which will most likely bring COVID-19 pandemic to an end as soon as possible.

In the October issue of Nile Journal, I stuck my neck out and predicted that President Trump would not be re-elected. My unstated expectation was that Trump would lose decisively. Unfortunately, that was not the case; it was a nail biter. 

If you were to ask people if they have values, the answer will without hesitation be in the affirmative. They have national, cultural, traditional, religious, moral values, on and on ad nauseum. The September issue of Nile Journal is devoted to discussions of different aspects of social values. People are always forced to choose between which values to respect and which ones to violate, when, why and how.

Bruce Blair died a few days ago at the age of 72- one of the great unsung heroes of the nuclear bomb age. In his twenties he had been an intercontinental nuclear rocket launch officer, spending his days or nights deep down in a below ground bunker waiting for the signal to fire and obliterate the cities and their people, the workers of all classes, pensioners and the totally innocent children of western Russia. The New York Times said in its obituary that “he sounded alarms about how easy it is to start a nuclear attack and about the lack of safeguards. A leading voice for nuclear arms control, he pushed for countries to adopt a no-first-use policy”

It has been 9 years since the idea of an online journal was conceived over tea on the serene lawn of the Guest House at the venerable Makerere University. The idea was subsequently baptized with the name Nile Journal and now known also by its unmistakable iconic picture of the rainbow over River Nile.