THE LAST WORD

FROM THE ARCHIVES | ANDREW MWENDA |  I wrote this article about John Nagenda in THE MONITOR in 1996. If I was to write an eulogy of him today, I would still write the same.  ******* By Andrew M. Mwenda ( The Monitor 1996) Presidential Advisor on the Media and …

Why a lot of surmons about economic transformation are a mixture of oversimplification and moralising THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Kishore Mahbubani is a distinguished diplomat from Singapore and twice served as that country’s permanent representative to the United Nations. And he is also a brilliant intellectual and author. His …

How all sides to this conflict made strategic miscalculations that will reshape the world order THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Today (February 24th) marks one year since Russian tanks crossed into Ukraine in what President Vladmir Putin called a “special military operation.” Since then, the war has only proved …

How the infrastructure in our capital city has declined to resemble that of Mogadishu after 30 years of civil war THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Kampala has ceased to be a city. It now looks like a war zone. The roads around the city have literally fallen apart. Potholes rule …

How politics in Kinshasa has united with interests in the “international community” to sustain Congo as a failed state THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Rwanda is a very unlucky country. It is the most developmentalist state in Africa. Yet its ambitions to modernise do not depend entirely on its own …

Why we need to remove Western lenses when analysing politics in Africa THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | During the USA-Africa summit in December last year, President Paul Biya of Cameroon was videotaped in a highly compromising situation. Old and senile at almost 90, he entered the conference hall unaware of …

It is now time to allow Al Shabab take over power in Somalia and form a government THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | It is almost two years since the United States withdrew from Afghanistan with its tail between its legs. This was in spite of spending $2.01 trillion on that …

How the nationalisation of Umeme is going to cause massive disruption in the distribution of electricity THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda |  The decision by the government of Uganda to nationalise Umeme is yet another disaster on the same scale as the one to absorb UNRA into the Ministry …

Why the merger of UNRA back into the Ministry of Works is going to be an unmitigated disaster THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | In the last few years, the government of Uganda has been latching from one bad policy move to another with incredible consistency. One of such policy …

How government’s recent borrowing and spending binge has put us on the highway to Ghana THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Ghana is in a serious economic crisis. In November, its inflation rate was 50.3%. On December 19, it all but declared bankruptcy. In a press statement, its government announced …