COLUMNISTS

By Naomi Wolf Redressing women’s underrepresentation in land ownership and politics requires individualised leadership and skills training Is it always offensive to advise women to change something about themselves in order to ensure that they can achieve their goals? To suggest the need for any self-scrutiny on women’s part is …

By Harold Brown The US is reducing defense spending and will likely avoid commitments of military forces in Africa The European Union already faces considerable risks concerning its structure, uncertain economic recovery, north-south imbalances, and British ambivalence about membership. Exposure to bad outcomes in Africa, with its myriad security problems, …

By Charles Onyango-Obbo The normal, the unusual, and very strange things about Kenya election Kenya went to the polls on March 4. It was the first election under the new and quite liberal constitution that was adopted in August 2010. For Ugandans seeking to understand how the election played out, …

By Andrew M. Mwenda In his willingness to change his mind in the face of new facts, he embodied the finest traits of intellectual self-confidence I spent most of Saturday March 2 night staring at my computer at home trying to write an obituary of the First Deputy Prime Minister …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Becoming the 1st revolutionary leader to leave voluntarily On February 8, 2012, Rwanda’s ruling party, the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) held a meeting attended by over 2,000 delegates. At that conference, President Paul Kagame introduced two subjects: the challenges facing the country from the international community’s …

By Andrew M. Mwenda The decision on whether Kagame stays or retires may be in the hands of international organisations The fortunes of a nation, especially a poor one, are determined not only by its leaders and people but also by the interests and whims of powerful nations. This fact …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Why the president must be happy with the current debate between him and his leading critic I have been following with keen interest the debate in the press between President Yoweri Museveni and opposition leader and activist, Dr. Kizza Besigye. From the standpoint of a democratic …

By Mwalimu Musheshe Open letter to the Minister of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries Dear Minister, on behalf of the NAADS Board of Directors of June 2009 to June 2012, I write to express our concern, demand an apology and show how consciously or unconsciously someone or you are killing …

By Andrew M. Mwenda The scandals in OPM and the ministry of Public Service show a breakdown of the government’s financial management system Two scandals were exposed in Uganda simultaneously as 2012 came to an end; one in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), the other in the Ministry …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Rugasira’s book shows the gulf between rhetoric about value addition and the outcomes of the actual policy process All too often, most of the literature on doing business in Africa is by non Africans mainly from the Western world whose lenses are colored by their institutional …