COLUMNISTS

Slavery in America may have ended but the US state has reproduced it through mass incarceration of blacks and police violence in poor black communities due to its hidden economic gains  THE LAST WORD: By Andrew M. Mwenda Recent events in the United States; where police shot and killed two …

What the uproar about her visit to a shrine tells us about the crisis of post-colonial Africa THE LAST WORD by Andrew Mwenda Rebecca Kadaga caused uproar when she visited a traditional shrine to thank the spirits of her ancestors for her election as Speaker of Parliament. Every pundit of …

In leaving power the president would cause Ugandans to re-evaluate his legacy with better perspective There is one thing I wish to request: That President Museveni and NRM should not amend the constitution to remove the age limit on the presidency so that he can run in 2021. There is …

Great countries don’t have a great government; they have great State machinery Where is the State”? This is a common question in Uganda; and it’s a legitimate one. Is the State ensuring the common good for all? When a law-abiding citizen desperately wants medical treatment, is the State there to …

 Stop faking holiness. You supported and defended a government that banned all activities of political parties THE LAST WORD: Last week, Oxfam Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima, accused me of losing my soul by “supporting dictatorship” and “defending gross human rights abuses”. I asked her to name a single incident where …

Why the competition for power is always a quarrel over delusions rather than a contest over public policy I argued in this column last week that governments in poor countries cannot govern by delivering a large basket of public goods and services associated with a modern state because they don’t …

Why leaders of poor countries are not as cruel and selfish as Western media portray them In a moment of madness, I toyed with the idea of running for president of Uganda. I had the hubris to imagine I am the guy who can solve its myriad problems because President …

OPINION Why we should downplay anecdotal evidence by looking at scientific data that gives a broader picture So last week the cancer machine at Mulago Hospital collapsed, causing uproar in mainstream and social media. Every newspaper columnist or television/radio pundit of any heft weighed in. Daily Monitor devoted its whole …

Buganda’s marked prince If one day can define the life of a man, then Tuesday March 28, 1995 is that day for Besweri Mulondo, who died on April 5, 2016 aged 90 years, writes Kavuma Kaggwa. Back in 1995, Ugandans were drafting a new constitution through delegates to the Constituent …

Why in spite of registering good welfare outcomes we have made little progress at structural transformation I have just been reading the National Population and Housing Census (NHPC) report for 2014. It shows Uganda has registered many welfare improvements, but also reveals that President Yoweri Museveni’s dream of transforming Uganda …