Recently Ugandan elections left many suspicious, but in short, the majority party remained in power. The 9th parliament (of 375 members) was sworn in this week, and President Museveni gave his State of the Nation Address speech yesterday. He began two hours late, on typical Africa time, and spoke for over two hours. I have seen the appreciation of Ugandans when I can contribute to their conversations, and am making a point to check the news when I get to work too!
The top print news sources in Uganda are the government run New Vision and independently run Daily Monitor; definitely check these out if you have a moment of curiosity!
Why do you think politics is such a more popular topic for conversation than here for you? Are they discussing because they are happy/unhappy? Discussing because they feel connected to and involved in the process? Or do you think you are just hanging around a different crowd there than you would be here? When they seem appreciative, does that mean appreciating that you have an interest in their political climate?
ReplyDeleteI think it is for the sake of being informed, some shared interests similar to discussing who made it to the next round of American Idol. Uganda just received its independence as a country in 1962, and the people can directly feel the effects of the young and somewhat small government. There are some people happy, some unhappy, my host sister claimed the other day "but the corruption will never end" as the newscaster reported on some officials being arrested for corrupt uses of money. Connected is a good way to describe the attitude towards politics. It is a different experience than in the rural areas, where some people do not have TVs, let alone electricity. But the radio and newspaper still reaches them.
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