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Why firing top leaders at KCCA is an excuse and not a solution to the problems of our capital city THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | This week, President Yoweri Museveni fired the top leadership of Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA). This was because a report by the Inspector General of …

How this newspaper’s work is laced with endemic racism that may even be unconscious to the author THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Most Western journalism on Africa has always been ghetto journalism. Now in last week’s story about Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, this British newspaper, The Telegraph, took journalism to the …

Why blaming Museveni for runaway corruption is politically appealing and why it is misleading THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | President Yoweri Museveni has presided over the worst levels of public sector corruption in Uganda’s history. The scale and scope of corruption grows every year. Indeed, corruption could easily be the …

Why the disaster at the KCCA landfill for city garbage is a sign of worse disasters to follow THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | The collapse of the garbage-filling dump at Kiteezi is symptomatic of the wider governance crisis that has engulfed our country. Uganda is in disarray, without a central …

How Kenya’s Gen Z have exaggerated expectations of their government and president THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | I am writing this article from Nairobi where young, educated Kenyans are keeping President William Ruto busy. At the beginning of these protests, naïve commentators commended Ruto for conceding to the demands of …

How our political debates over development focus on peripheral issues while ignoring the fundamental problems THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | I believe that human beings are inherently religious. We have axiomatic faith in particular beliefs based on our moral intuitions. These are kept alive through narratives. The great British economist, …

Why our president is caught in contradictions that he can neither grasp nor overcome THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | So, President Yoweri Museveni declared a “tough war” on corruption; promising to apprehend all thieves and send them to jail. Then young people decided to march onto parliament, the seat of …

The software that has gone into producing post genocide Rwanda and how it has shaped voting patterns THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | President Paul Kagame of Rwanda won re-election with 99.18% of the vote. Over 98% of the registered voters turned out to cast their ballot. I was in Rwanda …

What the July 15 presidential elections tell us about how Rwandan citizens view President Kagame THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Yesterday Rwanda celebrated its 30th year since liberation. It has been an incredible journey. In 1994, no one gave this country a chance. The state had been dismembered, the economy …

Why the Kenyan president may have opened the pandora’s box that will grievously impair his government THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Many people have hailed President William Ruto of Kenya for yielding to popular pressure not to sign the controversial Finance Bill. A friend in diplomatic circles in Kampala texted …