This study examines the complex and contested terrain of plural marriage — commonly termed polygamy — within Uganda's local governance structures and family systems, situating this examination within the broader global politics of abolition and the resistance that formal legal prohibition encounters in practice. Drawing on feminist and postcolonial theoretical frameworks, and employing a phenomenological qualitative methodology involving twenty- eight in-depth interviews with local government councillors, women's rights advocates, married women in polygamous unions, and male heads of polygamous households, the study reveals that plural marriage persists not despite legal ambiguity and social criticism but through intricate webs of economic rationality, cultural legitimacy, religious sanction, and institutional accommodation that local government structures have proven unable or unwilling to dismantle. Participants described plural marriage through multiple and often contradictory framings: as a cultural inheritance deserving respect, as an economic arrangement enabling resource pooling in agrarian communities, as a site of gendered suffering and power asymmetry, and as a target of Western-influenced legal reform that inadequately engages with African family complexity. The study concludes that abolition politics, without structural economic transformation and genuine cultural dialogue, are unlikely to reduce plural marriage's prevalence and may paradoxically drive it further underground, reducing legal protections for women in unregistered unions.

This study examined the relationship between workplace stress and job satisfaction among employees of Mityana Town Council, Uganda. Workplace stress is a pervasive feature of modern work and a recognised threat to employee wellbeing and job satisfaction, yet its effects among Ugandan local government employees remain under-examined. The study investigated how workload pressure, role ambiguity, work-life conflict, and interpersonal strain relate to job satisfaction. A cross-sectional survey design with a mixed-methods approach was adopted, and data were collected from 165 respondents comprising staff across departments using structured questionnaires and interviews. Descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, Pearson correlation, and structural (path) analysis were used. Factor analysis confirmed the construct validity of the stress dimensions, which loaded onto coherent factors and explained 67.8% of the variance. The results revealed a strong negative and significant relationship between workplace stress and job satisfaction (r = −0.66, p < 0.01), with the stress dimensions jointly explaining 64.0% of the variance in job satisfaction (R² = 0.640). Work-life conflict (β = −0.31) and workload pressure (β = −0.29) emerged as the strongest path predictors. The study concludes that workplace stress significantly reduces job satisfaction and recommends measures to manage workload, clarify roles, support work-life balance, and improve workplace relations.

This study examined the role of front-desk services in guest loyalty in 3-star hotels in Kampala, with reference to Sky Hotel International. The front desk is the primary point of contact between a hotel and its guests, and its services are widely regarded as decisive for guest satisfaction and loyalty, yet their contribution has been under-examined in the Ugandan hospitality sector. The study investigated how check-in/check-out efficiency, staff responsiveness, complaint handling, and personalized service relate to guest loyalty. A cross-sectional survey design with a mixed-methods approach was adopted, and data were collected from 170 respondents comprising hotel guests, front-desk staff, and hotel management using structured questionnaires and interviews. Descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, Pearson correlation, and structural (path) analysis were used. Factor analysis confirmed the construct validity of the front-desk service dimensions, which loaded onto coherent factors and explained 68.9% of the variance. The results revealed a strong positive and significant relationship between front-desk services and guest loyalty (r = 0.68, p < 0.01), with the dimensions jointly explaining 66.0% of the variance in guest loyalty (R² = 0.660). Staff responsiveness (β = 0.33) and personalised service (β = 0.29) emerged as the strongest path predictors. The study concludes that front- desk services significantly enhance guest loyalty and recommends strengthening staff responsiveness, personalised service, and complaint handling.

This study examined the role of the media in influencing public attitudes towards environmental sustainability in Uganda, with reference to radio campaigns on waste management in Kampala City. The media, and radio in particular, are widely regarded as powerful shapers of public attitudes and behaviour, yet their influence on environmental attitudes in the Ugandan context remains under-examined. The study investigated how message frequency, message content quality, audience reach, and interactive engagement relate to public attitudes towards environmental sustainability. A cross-sectional survey design with a mixed-methods approach was adopted, and data were collected from 185 respondents comprising radio listeners, campaign producers, and environmental officials using structured questionnaires and interviews. Descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, Pearson correlation, and structural (path) analysis were used. Factor analysis confirmed the construct validity of the campaign dimensions, which loaded onto coherent factors and explained 68.3% of the variance. The results revealed a strong positive and significant relationship between radio campaigns and public attitudes (r = 0.67, p < 0.01), with the campaign dimensions jointly explaining 65.0% of the variance in public attitudes (R² = 0.650). Message content quality (β = 0.32) and message frequency (β = 0.30) emerged as the strongest path predictors. The study concludes that radio campaigns significantly shape public attitudes towards environmental sustainability and recommends strengthening message content quality, frequency, and interactive engagement.

The intersection of academic life and sports betting has emerged as a significant and under-researched dimension of university student experience in Uganda, where the rapid expansion of betting shops, mobile money platforms, and online sports wagering applications has created pervasive gambling environments that penetrate the rhythms of academic semesters, financial management, and peer relationships. This qualitative study explored how undergraduate students at a Ugandan university experience, rationalize, and are affected by sports betting, with particular attention to the dynamics of the academic calendar, European football's Champions League as a gambling event, and the consequences of gambling behaviour for academic discipline and performance. Employing interpretive phenomenological analysis with twenty-two participants, the study documented a gambling culture structured around the semester's financial cycles, the social rituals of collective watching and wagering, and the complex moral economies through which students justify, conceal, and rationalize their gambling practices. Findings revealed that gambling represents simultaneously a social bonding practice, a financial management strategy, an entertainment resource, and a source of significant financial distress and academic disruption for a meaningful minority of participants. The study calls for university pastoral care systems to develop gambling-specific support resources and advocates for national regulation of predatory gambling marketing practices targeting young people.