COLUMNISTS

By Andrew M. Mwenda What creates enduring political institutions that can ensure peaceful transfers of power from incumbents to new leaders? Two important events happened in Africa last week that provide important insights into our continent’s political evolution. First, was the death of the president of Zambia, Michael Sata. This …

By Peter Nyanzi For 100 new buses to rot away in the city is a gross national shame and embarrassment for all Ugandans What emotion do you get at the sight of a mass of Pioneer buses rotting away in the parking lot of Namboole Stadium? Every time I see …

By Dickens Kamugisha Common woman is greatest loser in judicial-political battle in Uganda The  High Court ruling in September that faulted the Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO) for bringing an application on behalf of those displaced by the government oil refinery in Hoima casts a dark shadow on the …

By Andrew M. Mwenda How the discourse on press freedom in Rwanda has missed the promising developments in that country Last week I attended President Paul Kagame’s lecture at Chatham House in London. It was without the usual hecklers i.e. mindless anti-Kagame fanatics. It attracted the more refined minds of …

By Abdul Tejan-Cole The world needs a flexible, adaptive, ethical, and transparent approach to treatment and prevention The Ebola epidemic is threatening not only West Africans’ lives, but also the progress toward democracy, economic growth, and social integration that Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea have made in the last decade. …

By Catherine K. Nabasirye Some lessons from the recently decided Nsenga case Sex can change everything. Jackline Uwera Nsenga, 36, was on 23 September 2014 convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison for the murder of her husband Juvenal Nsenga, 48. According to the trial judge His Lordship Duncan …

By Mukesh Eswaran Myriad human interactions produce practices that perpetuate a sexual hierarchy of wellbeing Until recently, there has been very little analysis of women’s role in the economy. Two centuries ago, Mary Wollstonecraft published her proto-feminist A Vindication of the Rights of Women, and in 1869 John Stuart Mill, …

By Dr. Jude Kagoro Prof. Ali Mazrui: Remembering the giant mind of Africa On October 13, the world woke up to the news that the life of Prof. Ali Mazrui, the eminent intellectual, had come to an end at the age of 81. The Kenyan, also a de facto Ugandan …

By Morris Ogenga-Latigo Leaders need to champion radical reforms not play politics to please voters In 1994, when supporting a candidate for the Constituent Assembly election, I extracted key issues in the Draft Constitution. On land, I was emphatic that former president Idi Amin’s 1975 Land Decree was the best …

By Andrew M. Mwenda It is a product of poor incentives rather than lack of professional competence The usual response of the international development community to public sector incompetence in poor countries is obvious – and makes sense. First they advise that we should put in place institutions of accountability …