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, …
Read More »Museveni’s forever wars on corruption
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 …
Read More »Dear NRM, read the room!
COMMENT | Olivia Nalubwama | Dear National Resistance Movement (NRM), the July 23 ‘March2Parliament’ against corruption might be your best opportunity yet. Think not of it as a jigger you must crush with your brute force, tear gas, and stray bullets. A true yellow-blooded NRM member in the manner of …
Read More »Behind Rwanda’s elections
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 …
Read More »On Kagame’s campaign trail
Why Rwanda’s election campaigns are different and what others can learn from it THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | I am in Rwanda for the presidential election campaigns. The campaigns here are different. There are no billboards everywhere of candidates and posters do not litter city walls and buildings. Rallies are …
Read More »Rwanda, 30 years later
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 …
Read More »Ruto’s shambolically risky gamble
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 …
Read More »Challenge of the Congo
Why Congolese leaders should be wary of US and UN involvement in their country’s affairs THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | We begin from where we stopped in this column last week. Staff at the U.S. embassy in Kampala deliberately distorted my discussions with them regarding M23 rebels. They claimed I …
Read More »USA and the abuse of the UN
How America uses the United Nations to falsify information in pursuit of its ulterior designs for the world THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Sometime in March of this year, I received a telephone call from an anonymous number. I rarely pick calls from numbers I do not know. By a …
Read More »Leaders and the logic of strategy
The tragedy of power and politics that presidents Biden and Museveni must navigate to keep their jobs THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | U.S. President Jo Biden and Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni have a couple of similarities. Both were born during the second world war. Biden turns 82 in November; Museveni turns …
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