COMMENT | ANDREW GALLUCI | Amid the recent maelstrom of political news was an important development for the future of technology-enabled public money. During the BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia, the Bank for International Settlements revealed that it was withdrawing from the digital-asset and payments initiative Project mBridge. Conceived in 2022 as a …
Read More »The sources of Japanese resilience
COMMENT | CHRIS PATTEN | I first visited Japan as a young member of the UK Parliament in the early 1980s. Yukio Satoh, an ambitious and forward-thinking diplomat who would later serve as Japan’s ambassador to the United Nations, had recently been posted to the country’s London embassy. Recognizing that the …
Read More »The presidential convoy: From progress to regression
COMMENT | Olivia Nalubwama | Dear reader, the presidential convoy is a most curious perk — whether understated or unrestrained. In Uganda, it is a fast and furious display of grandeur. Through the presidential convoy, one can track the metamorphosis of President Yoweri Museveni’s regime. The convoy could tell the …
Read More »Ending violence gender-based violence
Political will needed to end acts and omissions of governments to address violence against women and girls COMMENT | BETTY KABARI | This week Africa celebrates the 19th anniversary of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (the …
Read More »COMMENT: Empty commitments to Africa reveal why ‘America First’ leaves Africa last
How far can Biden’s Africa commitments go? LUANDA, Angola | COMMENT – Xinhua | Outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden visited oil-rich Angola from Monday to Wednesday, fulfilling a two-year-old promise to visit Africa, just as his term draws to a close. The trip marks the first time a sitting U.S. president …
Read More »A requiem for Europe
The costs and consequences of American primacy on a continent that gave birth to the modern world THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | By 1900, there was no part of this planet that was not directly (or somewhat indirectly) ruled from a European capital – London, Paris, The Hague, Berlin, Rome, …
Read More »The East African Revival – A legacy of transformation or an agent of stagnation?
COMMENT | Gertrude Kamya Othieno | The East African Revival, which swept through Uganda in the 1930s, is often celebrated for its spiritual renewal and moral reformation. Yet, beneath the veneer of unity and salvation lies a more complex legacy. While the Revival brought undeniable benefits, its long-term consequences raise important questions …
Read More »Why Bidenomics did not deliver at the polls
What accounts for Vice President Kamala Harris’s disappointing electoral performance, especially with working-class voters? COMMENT | DANI RODRIK | As US president, Joe Biden charted a new economic path for the Democrats by siding unabashedly with the working class and introducing a wide range of industrial policies to reinvigorate manufacturing, reshore supply chains, …
Read More »Uganda’s Global Magnetism – From Tukutendereza Yesu to matooke cuisine
COMMENT | Gertrude Kamya Othieno | Uganda’s allure, both spiritually and culturally, has been growing ever since the days of the East African Revival, and this magnetic force is not just felt within East Africa but extends well beyond its borders. Uganda’s distinctive cultural and spiritual heritage, embodied in its agricultural practices …
Read More »Time, Quality, and Status – Lessons from the East African Revival
COMMENT | Gertrude Kamya Othieno | The East African Revival, born in the 1930s, transformed faith, community, and morality across the region. Its enduring call to humility and accountability remains a guiding light. Yet, in modern contexts, this legacy often collides with cultural practices that prioritise ceremony over substance. Uganda, as …
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