There was a radio presenter called Desire on Radio Rukungiri who used to host the children's program, Program ya'Batto.
She once hosted the show with me when I was in Primary Five. I had the biggest crush on her voice back then.
Wherever she is today, I hope I can find her someday if only to say hello and thank her for being part of such a special childhood memory. 🌚
RED PEPPER @25: THE PAPER THAT REFUSES TO DIE:::::::::::::::
By Dr. Arinaitwe Rugyendo
THE @RedPepperUG has turned a quarter of a century.
ON June 19, 2001, a very small newspaper of 16 pages, hit the then dusty streets of Kampala and fundamentally changed the Ugandan media terrain forever.
In the mold of the British Tabloid, The Sun, it was in all aspects different. Very brush, loud, unafraid, and probably nobody, including the state, quite knew what to do with it.
25 years later, Red Pepper is still here. Battered, raided, temporarily silenced, but still soldiering on in a nation marked by both a polycrisis and a sense of hope.
THERE are contestations and constant debates as well as worry about what the future holds not only for the media in constraines setting but the nation.
DESPITE all this, there is reason to celebrate resilience, courage, independent journalism and the promise of a better future.
WHEN the month of June arrived, it got me thinking deeply about what it means for a newspaper in this part of the world to survive a quarter century. Not just survive, but survive that kind of life; the kind where armed police officers with Kalashnikovs show up at your newsroom at their whim and day of choosing.
THE kind where your editors end up in the dreaded Nalufenya Detention Centre for simply doing their job- journalism.
THE kind where you get squeezed, rebranded a trrason suspect, and dragged into court more times than most people change jobs.
AND yet, every morning, the paper found a way back onto the streets. That is not an accident. That is character.
JUNE 19, 2026 in particular, got me thinking about whether journalism schools in Uganda, and much of Africa, are still relevant in a constrained and illiberal democratic setting.
RED PEPPER was ushered on the streets of Kampala by young people reeling off Musevenist capitalist ideals of self-employment and wealth creation. I was 23. The eldest and our MD/ Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Richard Tusiime was probably 28. The rest of us- @JamesMujunij Patrick Patrick Mugumya and @byarabaha (Johnson Musinguzi)- were aged anywhere between 23 and 27.
WE launched Uganda's first English-language tabloid. Our mid was product differentiation in form and substance.
WE were trying to build something people actually wanted to read. Something that mixed scandal, politics, entertainment and, yes, the occasional brush headline, in a way that spoke to ordinary Ugandans. Something close to today's social media.
THE formula worked. Almost immediately, Red Pepper was everywhere: in taxis, in salons, tucked under the arm of every boda-boda rider who wanted to know what the powerful were getting up to. It became the paper of the street. And the street loved it back.
OVER 25 years, Red Pepper did not just cover news. It made news. Some of those moments were deeply controversial. Some other moments exposed the intrigue, machinations and the contestations that exposed the character of the state.
THE paper got into the crosshairs of the Ugandan government more than once for publishing material about presidential succession, foreign affairs, and internal security matters that nobody else dared touch. It also got into crosshairs of the opposition and in both cases, paid a heavy price for that courage, repeatedly.
PERHAPS, nothing in Red Pepper's history captures its spirit better than what happened in May 2013.
On May 20 of that year, squadrons of armed police officers descended on Red Pepper's Kampala offices, and simultaneously on those of the Daily Monitor, in search of a letter written by General David @sejudav.
THE letter alleged a plot to assassinate senior government officials who opposed the so-called "Muhoozi Project," the widely discussed idea that President Museveni was grooming his son to succeed him. Both newspapers had published material related to the letter. Both were shut down. Police under Gen Kalekyezi Kayihura, raided.. SEE: https://t.co/LOjqeKyRkl for More of this story!
I totally agree. Bishop Johnson Twinomujuni is a great candidate. He commands alot of ecumenical respect especially in Western Uganda. I feel proud as a Catholic that his teachings touch me a great deal. @Rwebiita
Messi does brilliant things game after game it’s just ridiculous. You know he’s going to do it, you almost expect it, but you’re still blown away when he does. What a magician!
@tobyasky@cfc_tayo He wasn't injured and he had a problem with the manager over that to the point that he deleted everything from his Instagram, he is Egyptian, Tunisian and French lol but chose Egypt, he was supposed to feature last game against Iran but forced subs due to injuries ruled him out.
Seeing so many tweets about Chris Obore being in jail.
The problem for me is the name Chris. Out there is another Chris who’s supposed to be in jail too