COLUMNISTS

By Viswanathan Shankar Despite new prosperity, people in Sub-Saharan Africa who live in extreme poverty increased by 40% Euphoria abounds in much of Africa nowadays, and rightly so. Seven of the world’s ten fastest-growing countries are there. Recognising the potential and importance of the continent, US President Barack Obama is …

By Andrew M. Mwenda How power sharing in Rwanda has worked and the lessons Ugandan politicians can draw from it for our good Just imagine that you wake up tomorrow morning and find the following in Uganda: Yoweri Museveni is still president of the country. His vice president is Mugisha …

By Jos Van Steelandt How can NGOs avoid leading to the state avoiding its responsibilities and being deligitimised? Seven years ago, I visited Uganda for the first time. Since then, I have been frequenting the pearl of Africa and started to simultaneously love and hate this country. On the one …

By Kavuma-Kaggwa Kabaka Mutebi’s “quiet diplomacy” has brought prosperity to Buganda and Uganda On July 31, the Kabaka of Buganda, Sabasajja Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II and all the Baganda celebrated his 21st coronation anniversary at Mawoggola County Headquarters in Western Buganda. As in the past whenever the Kabaka appears in …

By Esther Dyson Facebook’s experiment raises the issue of manipulation and unintended consequences There has been a lot of fuss lately about the psychological experiment that Facebook conducted on nearly 700,000 of its users. In order to gauge how people’s Facebook “News Feeds” affect their moods, the company temporarily implemented …

By Andrew M. Mwenda How the internet has led to the growth of radicalism and the erosion of restraints associated with democracy The growth of social media has created an important avenue for people to express themselves to audiences freely without the restraining hand of the governance structures of traditional …

By Emmanuel K. Tabaro The government’s response in Kasese (or even the greater Rwenzori) should not be military To understand the Basongora – Bakonzo conflict — ignoring the obvious, simplistic narrative being peddled by different interest groups — it’s imperative we look at Garrett Hardin’s economic theory, “the tragedy of …

By Harold Acemah Romantic stories about tobacco sales paying school fees for our children is lopsided and short-sighted Right from colonial days, West Nile and the kingdom of Bunyoro-Kitara have been the major tobacco growing regions of Uganda and in the West Nile region, Terego County – where I come …

By Ian Goldin More, not less, cooperation is necessary to manage growing complexity and integration Recent evidence suggests that much of the world has entered a period of low financial-market volatility. But this is no time for complacency; more turbulent times are likely to lie ahead. Over the last quarter-century, …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Although bar gossip and street rumours can be true, here is why journalists should always look for proof Yusuf Serunkuma is a PhD candidate at Makerere University’s Institute of Social Research. In that capacity he also teaches students. He regularly writes commentaries in newspapers and features …