By Charles Odongtho

My name is Charles Odongtho, a Ugandan trained journalist with eight years of practice. I hold a Bachelor Degree in Mass Communication from Makerere University and a Diploma in Journalism from the Uganda Management Institute-UMI.

I am interested in issues of human rights, environment, governance, media and development, peace and corruption.

I am also a fellow of the Radio Netherlands Training Centre (RNTC).

Currently I work with a news agency in Uganda called the Uganda Radio Network-URN.

My interest in journalism goes beyond just the coverage of events and issues as they unfold.

I am an ardent believer in justice, peace, exposing issues of corruption and generally working to see that there is fairness in every sector of society. I joined journalism to get a channel through which I can be able to put politicians and other news makers under the spotlight to explain why they cannot provide social justice to their society.

As a journalist I am amazed at the gap that exists between the rich and the poor in our society to the extent that within the urban centres, you can find hundreds of people who are excessively rich and have everything going right for them. They can send their children to the best foreign schools, give them the best health care, and yet I have travelled extensively through Uganda and I have met thousands who cannot even afford a meal a day. Millions of Ugandans live on less than a dollar a day and we are all within the same country. Many of the poor in the countryside cannot even send their pregnant wives to the health care centres for ante-natal care.

As a journalist I have the opportunity to bring all these issues to a public discussion for possible solutions.

Here’s a short piece of audio created by me about my involvement in the event:

Download / open a low bandwidth file here.

Download / open a high bandwidth file here.

(A transcript will be posted shortly)

By Elizabeth Kameo

My name is Elizabeth Kameo. I am a 28 year old freelance journalist based in Uganda. I am currently working on a web publication that will cover women’s health issues in the East African region and which in time will be extended to the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa.

I chose to set up a web publication simply because media is fast embracing the world wide space. Further still, women’s health issues are not given enough coverage in the mainstream media in Uganda and many other African countries, yet they need to be addressed if we are to achieve development in Sub-Saharan Africa.

My journalism career began seven years ago at the New Vision, a government owned daily newspaper in Uganda where I worked for close to two years before moving on to the Daily Monitor an independent daily.

In 2004, ten journalist colleagues and I set up the Weekly Observer Newspaper. I was a Director and editor for two years before I moved on to freelance journalism.

Being a part of the people’s forum blog is a great opportunity for me to further explore blogging as a way of information provision and not just fun. I hope that at the end of this event, I will be able to use experience gained and incorporate it into my work as a journalist. I am glad to be a part of something that is a first in Uganda and also during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. It is always an honour for me to provide information to people who would otherwise not have been able to get access to it; that is why I am a journalist.

Here’s a short piece of audio created by me about my involvement in the event:

Download / open a low bandwidth file here.

Download / open a high bandwidth file here.

(A transcript will be posted shortly)

My name is Emmanuel Gyezaho. I am a 27 year old political journalist based in Kampala, Uganda. I work with the only independent daily, The Daily Monitor.

I grew up in uptown Kampala and I am the second of five children. I have two brothers and two sisters.

Growing up in a country where political corruption has stifled human development through bad governance, just as it has across the developing world, I studied journalism at university so that I could expose the excesses of our political class.

I am blogging with the British Council because it offers me and the rest of the Commonwealth people, a platform to interact, share experiences and exchange ideas on how best we as people, individually and collectively, can deal with the problems we face in our lives.

It is a privilege, I must admit, to be part of an ingenious idea to participate in the People’s Space this year, as my country hosts fifty three heads of state and government representing a third of the world’s population.

I am relishing the prospect of interacting with millions of people, in conversation on issues that affect their day to day lives. I hope that in the process, we can all learn from each other and make the best out of our lives by making the world we live in a better place.

In the end, I hope you guys can teach me how to be a better person, by sharing your culture and knowledge, and in turn you can learn from my own experiences.

Those of you not attending the Commonwealth People’s Forum don’t you worry. Expect all the happenings across the event, as it breaks, right here on the People’s Forum Blog.

Sit back, relax, and join the conversation.

Here’s a short piece of audio created by me about my involvement in the event:

Download / open a low bandwidth file here.

Download / open a high bandwidth file here.

(A transcript will be posted shortly)

My name is Joel Besekezi, I work with UBC-TV as a news anchor and talk show host. I am the first born in a family of four. I reside in Kisaasi, one of the most outstanding suburbs in Kampala City.

Currently I am also pursuing a business course at Makerere University, the best there is in East Africa and South of the Sahara. I am a multi-talented young man with a go-getter attitude. I can sing quite well, which explains my moving voice because when I sing, people move out!

I like several things, among which are sports, public presentations, politics, to mention but a few. The latter explains my great ambitions of becoming President of this gallant nation Uganda. I am a born-again Christian who loves the Lord with a great passion.

I like to face challenges head on, no wonder I killed a dog (read rat) with my bare hands when I was six years of age. I have travelled to several parts of Uganda and elsewhere in the world including Kenya and United Kingdom. I therefore have no doubt that if I asked to become the next Commonwealth Secretary-General, I would be given the green light.

Here’s a short piece of audio created by me about my involvement in the event:

Download / open a low bandwidth file here.

Download / open a high bandwidth file here.

(A transcript will be posted shortly)

By Naomi Kabarungi

My name is Naomi Kabarungi, 26 years old. I graduated from Makerere University with a Bachelor of Mass Communication early this year but had long before discovered, and exploited an interest in communicating with people.

I believe that everybody has a story to tell, whether politician, peasant, street kid or beauty queen! Actually all the stories I have had published in the local newspapers are human-interest personality profiles.

There has been a lot of hype about the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Kampala. I figured that the Commonwealth People’s Forum was one place that would be easily and largely accessible to me as a common person; and to share what other people outside the political sphere think of the whole event.

I hope to publish a blog and keep it going even after CHOGM is over. I am looking forward to conversations with people all over the world, about topics that they are passionate about. I also hope to learn new skills in audio and video recording, and definitely blogging, which is a whole new experience for me.

Here’s a short piece of audio created by me about my involvement in the event.

Download / open a low bandwidth file here.

Download / open a high bandwidth file here.

(A transcript will be posted shortly)

One thing I didn’t mention yet. This blog is being run by a local team of Ugandans. The following posts have all been composed by the core of five writers.

These people will be working hard, using their own voices to bring you ideas and opinions on events as they unfold.

This is your chance to tell them what you think.