By Andrew M. Mwenda The best way to improve service delivery in Uganda is to concession most of it to the private sector Since 1995 the government of Uganda has been trying to build a hydro-power dam at Karuma. Attempts to get a private company to do the work ended …

By Andrew M. Mwenda On June 17, President Yoweri Museveni visited the family of his arch-rival, the late former President Milton Obote, and held talks with the widow, and former presidential candiate Miria Obote. This visit has since been a source of speculation. What has not been said is how …

By Andrew M. Mwenda The complexity of Kigali’s relationship with Kinshasa and the possible way tensions between the two countries could be reduced As fighting recently flared up between Tutsi rebels and government forces in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Rwanda government has found itself, once again at …

By Haggai Matsiko Fears of popular resistance fueling army, intelligence deployments In less than a month, the UPDF top brass and top spies have held two unusual security meetings in the oil region. During one of the meetings, on May 5 Gen. Aronda Nyakairima, the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Having removed Mubarak, the revolutionaries in Tahrir Square are realising that the struggle for democracy has just began Last week, Egyptians went to the polls to vote in the second round of their presidential elections. The first round had produced two candidates: Ahmed Shafiq, a former …

The Independent Team The challenge behind the numbers Belt-tightening without suffocating the patient; that is the balancing act Finance Minister Maria Kiwanuka is attempting in the 2012/13 financial year budget. It will not be easy. For the first time in two decades, the minister of Finance is unable to report …

By Andrew M. Mwenda How BIDCO’s investment is changing the lives of people in the district and the potential it has to transform agriculture Uganda today consumes 250,000 tonnes of vegetable oil per year, up from 100,000 tonnes in 2005. Of this, 16,000 tonnes was produced locally from oil palm …

By Agather Atuhaire NRM favourite for speaker loses to a “rebel” as parties assess damage, victories and future The National Resistance Movement (NRM) party was supposed to be the ultimate victor in the election of Uganda’s delegates to the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA). Of the nine seats, it took …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Given Museveni’s long rule and potential for family succession, is Uganda now vulnerable to an `Arab Spring’ I argued in this column last week that Africa has almost similar structural conditions as the Middle East on the eve of the Arab Spring – sustained economic growth …

By Andrew M. Mwenda How realistic is the risk of political upheaval in Africa and what can be done about it? Two weeks ago, I was in Nairobi, Kenya to attend a conference on Africa’s political risk profile. The moderator of the first session posed four questions for discussion: Is …