KAYIHURA: How the former IGP became a victim of his own success, internal power struggles and changing geopolitics THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kale Kayihura, was the longest servicing officer in a top and sensitive security position under President Yoweri …
Read More »Uganda’s crime outrage
THE LAST WORD: How to renew our nation’s security architecture to cope with the new challenges of murder and kidnapping THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | The cold bloodied murder of Arua Municipality Member of Parliament, Ibrahim Abiriga, has reignited the debate on security in Uganda. Throughout last year, it …
Read More »Inside NRM’s Rukungiri debacle
How the bye-election shows us that Besigye is the best ally in Museveni’s pursuit of power THE LAST WORD |Andrew M. Mwenda | Last week, NRM lost a bye-election in Rukungiri in spite of (and I think also because of) deploying all its resources in the area. The …
Read More »Inside the Rwanda-Arsenal deal
How ignorance and stupidity combined to make the UK press hostile to a highly profitable sponsorship THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Last week Rwanda and Arsenal, an English Premier League football club, signed a $40m sponsorship deal for three years. According to the deal, a “Visit …
Read More »In defence of land grabbing
Why the greedy Ugandans we love to hate could be the key to our future prosperity THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Our country has a new villain: the land grabber! In the popular imagination, this is a rich and powerful individual grabbing land from poor helpless …
Read More »Inside Africa’s real tragedy
THE LAST WORD: How the ideology of a welfare state has destroyed our continent and impoverished its people THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Everywhere I turn these days, Ugandans (and Africans generally) are complaining about the sorry state of our education and healthcare systems. There is a …
Read More »Isaac Semakadde; Legal rebel Anti-clockwise thinker
Kampala, Uganda | AGNES E NANTABA | Isaac Kimaze Semakadde was in April named the most outstanding public interest litigation lawyer in Uganda by the Uganda Law Society. He describes public interest litigation as a special practice where an advocate sacrifices time, talent, resources, and energy that they could have rented …
Read More »Africa’s need for messiahs
Inside our belief that the salvation of our nations will come from the actions of one great man THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | If you follow discussions on politics in Uganda, or Africa generally, one factor is given as the cause of the slow rate of development – …
Read More »MP Francis Zaake: On justice, fighting age-limit, and loving Donald Trump
Kampala, Uganda | AGNES E NANTABA | 27-year old Francis Zaake Butebi combines controversy and success in the most unusual ways. He is one of the youngest MPs, shares a name with his home village, became an MP on the same day he graduated, and successfully juggled school and running a …
Read More »Understanding why nations fail
THE LAST WORD: How a book celebrated by the world’s leading economists is actually an intellectual absurdity THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Last Saturday, my intellectual friends and I held a thrilling debate on a book by James Robinson and Daron Acemoglu titled `Why Nations Fail’. The book …
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