In a sense, both the Government and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) emerged victorious last Monday during the vote on the second reading of the budget.
By clearing the first hurdle over the Budget vote for its survival, the Government showed it was retaining its majority no matter what hype was being created about its downfall.
This column has for sometime focused on three fundamental issues confronting the economy-inflation, fiscal imbalance and foreign borrowing. These three issues have been understandably the focus of the latest State of the Economy 2007 report of the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS). The policy perspectives on these issues are indeed enlightening.
Hearing about the efforts of the foreign ministry to discredit this column of two weeks ago and reading some of the ensuing correspondence, I could well understand why the Roman emperor Gaius, popularly called Caligula, wanted to make his horse a consul.
What I found most amusing in the ordinary Ugandan's reaction to the 2007 Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (CHOGM) held in Kampala last week was exemplified in one resident's remark when, tired of the blaring sirens, closed roads and suddenly exorbitant prices of ordinary goods, she snapped irritably that CHOGM was to her, nothing more than 'chewing gum.'
The Government managed to survive the first round of the voting on the Appropriation Bill in Parliament last Monday but as the Legislature warms up for the next round of voting on December 14, there is no telling which friend will turn foe and vice versa on the decisive day.
How credible is a world leader's judgment when he publicly embraces a universally-acknowledged military dictator as "truly somebody who believes in democracy"?
Last week President George W. Bush virtually went into raptures over the Pakistani President when he said that Pervez Musharraf hasn't crossed .....
Last week this column highlighted UPFA parliamentarian Basil Rajapaksa hinting that TNA's Suresh Premachandran security could not be guaranteed when travelling in the East, if he supported the LTTE.
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In a sense, both the Government and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) emerged victorious last Monday during the vote on the second reading of the budget.
By clearing the first hurdle over the Budget vote for its survival, the Government showed it was retaining its majority no matter what hype was being created about its downfall.
This column has for sometime focused on three fundamental issues confronting the economy-inflation, fiscal imbalance and foreign borrowing. These three issues have been understandably the focus of the latest State of the Economy 2007 report of the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS). The policy perspectives on these issues are indeed enlightening.
How credible is a world leader's judgment when he publicly embraces a universally-acknowledged military dictator as "truly somebody who believes in democracy"?
Last week President George W. Bush virtually went into raptures over the Pakistani President when he said that Pervez Musharraf hasn't crossed ..... 
Last week this column highlighted UPFA parliamentarian Basil Rajapaksa hinting that TNA's Suresh Premachandran security could not be guaranteed when travelling in the East, if he supported the LTTE. 