COLUMNISTS

By Dr. Ahmed Heikal A lot has been written and said about the potential impact the collapse in global oil prices might have on East Africa’s nascent hydro carbon industry. After five years of exciting new discoveries, the region had become one of the most promising new exploration frontiers, creating …

By Mwesigwa Herbert Greater collaboration between telecom companies and financial institutions needed There is a statistic that is so compelling it cannot be missed when it comes to the growth and usage of mobile phones especially in Uganda. In 2003, they were less than two million people with a mobile …

By Okodan Akwap The mightily deceptive allure of Hollywood is that many black actors would be dying to play villains Among local commentaries on America’s problematic race relations, Andrew Mwenda’s article, ‘Beyond America’s façade of democracy’ (The Independent, December 8), stands out. He notes that, “The ‘democratic’ process … consistently …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Why we should stop complaining about what our country has failed to do and ask what we can do It is very hard to get things done, even at the smallest level. But it is very easy to sit and complain about things. Reading social media, …

By Andrew M. Mwenda The obstacles to building an effective opposition and advancing democracy without “regime change” Last week, the NRM and opposition leaders agreed on 43, out of 48 proposed electoral reforms. This is contrary to the doomsday scenarios its hecklers have been presenting that there is no chance …

By Silver Mugisha Paying affordable and fair water prices also helps to promote efficient allocation of homestead resources A multifaceted discourse has been raging on various platforms of the media regarding water tariffing and how it impacts the socio-economic life of citizens, especially the low income segment. I have observed …

By Sam Akaki It is not a defeatist attitude but a realistic one amid changed national, international climate As someone who once emotively entertained the dream that Museveni could, and would indeed be toppled through an armed rebellion, I am writing to enumerate the reasons why those who are dreaming …

By Victor Ochen It was shocking and difficult to be seated in the same room with a killer and hear calls for amnesty While at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, I received many phone calls from Uganda, coming from people whose family members and relatives were abducted …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Why poor countries may need a more activist president, one willing to intervene to get them to work Let me do what the Germans call Gedanken (a thought experiment). Political power in most of post-colonial Africa has tended to be personalised. We feel that this is …

By Andrew M. Mwenda How it has facilitated a politics that has undermined the ability of public institutions to serve the common good To explain the dysfunctions in the public sector in Uganda, we need to understand how political power in our country is organised, how it is exercised and …