COLUMNISTS

By Andrew M. Mwenda Three weeks before the 2003 presidential elections in Rwanda, President Paul Kagame received a report from the Auditor General; 36 mayors (heads of districts) had misappropriated public funds. He ordered their arrest. But just before the police could apprehend them, senior Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) officials …

By Ronald Atinkson In this first part of our commentary revisiting Operation Lightning Thunder in Garamba, DR Congo, Ronald R. Atkinson weighs the failures ‘” and successes the incursion against UPDF’s stated objectives and accountability. On December 14, 2008, the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) began bombing camps of the …

By Andrew M. Mwenda An insightful visitor to Uganda today would confront a puzzle: there is a lot of activity in our country. The government has many programmes to develop the country and improve the living conditions of its people. There is Prosperity For All and the president moves around …

By Onghwens Kisangala It was yet another round of elections ‘” local council bye-elections on May 24, and as has become the custom, another round of allegations of electoral malpractices. The Electoral Commission (EC) and the security personnel were as usual at the centre of the blame game and for …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Last week, President Yoweri Museveni was campaigning for Peter Sematimba as chairman for Rubaga Division. The president told the electorate there that they lack public services like roads, hospitals and sewerage systems because they have been sending him ‘the wrong people’ through elections, i.e. have been …

By Julia Spiegel & Noel Atama In the months since the armies of Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Sudan launched Operation Lightning Thunder, a joint military offensive against the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, the threat to civilians in the region has dramatically intensified. Efforts to negotiate …

By Julia Spiegel & Noel Atama In the months since the armies of Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Sudan launched Operation Lightning Thunder, a joint military offensive against the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, the threat to civilians in the region has dramatically intensified. Efforts to negotiate …

By Odoobo C. Bichachi Why a limping Museveni remains solid against toothless opposition According to the recently published findings of the Uganda Afrobarometer Survey conducted between July and September 2008, most Ugandans are dissatisfied with the way the country is being run not just on issues of bread and butter …

By Andrew M. Mwenda The election of Jacob Zuma as President of Africa’s richest and most sophisticated country, South Africa, once again manifests the pitfalls of democracy in Africa. Zuma was on trial for rape (but was acquitted) and corruption (charges of which still remain). If he was a candidate …

By Margaret Wakuri Madanda Colin Barigye’s piece ‘œFreedom Vs efficiency’ that appeared in The Independent (Issue 058) made interesting reading. Barigye takes on Andrew Mwenda’s seeming inconsistencies. He cites examples that when President Kagame, for instance, punishes corrupt officers, Mwenda praises him yet when President Museveni does the same, Mwenda …