How politics in Kinshasa has united with interests in the “international community” to sustain Congo as a failed state THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Rwanda is a very unlucky country. It is the most developmentalist state in Africa. Yet its ambitions to modernise do not depend entirely on its own …
Read More »Paul Biya’s embarrassing video
Why we need to remove Western lenses when analysing politics in Africa THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | During the USA-Africa summit in December last year, President Paul Biya of Cameroon was videotaped in a highly compromising situation. Old and senile at almost 90, he entered the conference hall unaware of …
Read More »Lessons for Uganda from Afghanistan
It is now time to allow Al Shabab take over power in Somalia and form a government THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | It is almost two years since the United States withdrew from Afghanistan with its tail between its legs. This was in spite of spending $2.01 trillion on that …
Read More »The coming electricity disaster
How the nationalisation of Umeme is going to cause massive disruption in the distribution of electricity THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | The decision by the government of Uganda to nationalise Umeme is yet another disaster on the same scale as the one to absorb UNRA into the Ministry …
Read More »Law that criminalised Stella Nyazi, Kakwenza kicked out
Constitutional Court boosts challenge of Nsereko amendments of Computer Misuse Act Kampala, Uganda | MUBATSI ASINJA HABATI | When former Makerere University Research Fellow Stella Nyanzi was in April 2017 picked by security agents from a fundraising function at Mackinnon Suites Hotel in Kampala, her case provoked heated debate locally and …
Read More »A peep into the future of our roads
Why the merger of UNRA back into the Ministry of Works is going to be an unmitigated disaster THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | In the last few years, the government of Uganda has been latching from one bad policy move to another with incredible consistency. One of such policy …
Read More »Why my mother has never trusted me again with her monthly earnings
COMMENT | Alfred Geresom Musamali | When finance minister Matia Kasaija admitted in Parliament last week that some governmental offices were facing funding shortages and could not pay before this past Christmas their workers’ salaries, I remembered December 1979 when I lost my mother’s salary. My mother Mrs Eleanor Mwassa of …
Read More »African festivities are about eating chicken, but revellers object to “Rastafarian” birds
COMMENT | Alfred Geresom Musamali | African native festivities are to a great extent about eating chicken. The stature and trait of feathers on an indigenous chicken may, however, determine the Ugandan consumers’ preference for its meat during this festive season. Some revellers in Uganda are craving for or even willing …
Read More »Uganda’s risky fiscal fires
How government’s recent borrowing and spending binge has put us on the highway to Ghana THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Ghana is in a serious economic crisis. In November, its inflation rate was 50.3%. On December 19, it all but declared bankruptcy. In a press statement, its government announced …
Read More »What is UNECL’s electricity service promise?
COMMENT | David Birungi | The announcement of the government’s position not to renew Umeme’s concession coincided with the Electricity Regulatory Authority’s annual public hearing on 2023 tariff proposals. Both events are important for the country, the latter being a subtle ritual. The statement issued by the ministry of energy and …
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