By Andrew Mwenda The common message against President Paul Kagame of Rwanda is that he is a ‘media predator.’ The Ugandan ‘democracy’ crowd claim I cannot host a show like Andrew Mwenda Live in Rwanda. Yet the threat to the show would not be Kagame perceived intolerance. The show would …
Read More »Should defending media be left to foreign activists?
By Eriasa Mukiibi Sserunjogi I recently moved from New York to Nairobi to protect you better; to be closer to you,” declared Tom Rhodes of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) at a press briefing at Hotel Africana on September 23. Rhodes was part of an international joint mission on …
Read More »Why NRM losers don’t join FDC
By Andrew M. Mwenda An important feature of the recently concluded NRM election primaries was the violence and fraud that characterised the process across almost the entire country. This produced a large number of aggrieved NRM politicians who have declared they want to run as independents. This is intriguing because …
Read More »Toro queen mother’s ‘stolen’ Shs 4.5bn hs 4.5bn
By Independent Investigations When Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura ordered the arrest of top city lawyer, Bob Kasango on Aug. 26, he believed he was executing an order by the President, Yoweri Museveni. He was wrong. Kayihura had been told by Toro Queen Mother Best Olimi Kemigisa, who has a money …
Read More »MDGs: Let Africa shape her destiny
By Andrew M. Mwenda Most of this week has been consumed by the debate on the progress poor countries have made in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). I have never been an enthusiast of MDGs because I see them as part of the increasing efforts by the international community …
Read More »African countries must brace for end of US-funded HIV treatment
By Henry Zakumumpa I was travelling through Frankfurt airport when, bored with the long wait for my next flight, I decided to peruse the headlines in one of the ubiquitous bookstores at the airport. I chanced on an August 2010 issue of Foreign Policy, the influential American magazine. I have …
Read More »Why Besigye is right, Otunnu wrong
By Andrew Mwenda The fallout between FDC leader, Kizza Besigye, and UPC leader Olara Otunnu, has been as dramatic as it was expected. The major sticking point in the breakup was whether to participate in the forthcoming elections. Otunnu says the opposition should insist on a free and fair election …
Read More »NRM elections and Uganda’s agony
By Andrew M. Mwenda The continuing primary elections for the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) provides an important insight into the political health of our country. For more than two weeks now, we have been witnesses to a political party election that is both a sham and a farce. The …
Read More »Sedition judgment victory for all
By Andrew M. Mwenda Last week, the Constitutional Court declared the sedition law unconstitutional. The judgment marked a major and symbolic watershed in Uganda’s democratisation process. For almost a century, the law of sedition has been used by successive regimes in Uganda to stifle free speech. Although introduced by the …
Read More »The crisis of democracy in Africa
By Andrew M. Mwenda It is rare to read an opinion about politics in Uganda in our media whose premise is our reality. Largely because of the hegemonic influence of Western ideas, most commentators begin with an abstract theory of politics based largely on a context other than our own. …
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