THE LAST WORD

By Andrew M. Mwenda East Africa has been billed as the next manufacturing hub for global markets. Will our politics allow it? The South Korean ambassador to Uganda, Park Jong Dae, recently referred me to an article by George Friedman in the online journal, Geopolitical Weekly titled The PC16: Identifying …

By Andrew M. Mwenda The changing face of the Ugandan army and what it says about Museveni’s plans for the future Imade my career in the late 1990s and early 2000s in large part by investigating and reporting on corruption and incompetence in the Uganda Peoples’ Defense Forces (UPDF). The …

By Andrew M. Mwenda How Lincoln made history on slavery and Museveni succumbed to the pressures for social conservatism I have been forced by friends and fans to reply to Joseph Bossa’s otherwise good defence of former U.S. president Abraham Lincoln (The Independent May 02-08 and Daily Monitor May 11). …

By Andrew M. Mwenda How the arguments advanced to explain nations that have rapidly transformed are the same for the nations that failed What made South Korea (and Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia) develop so rapidly that was absent in sub-Sahara Africa and South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri …

By Andrew M. Mwenda The problem is that economists, journalists, politicians, analysts, and everyone else think they know I am writing this article from Seoul, the capital of South Korea. Sitting on the reading table in my suite in my hotel, I can see through the window a forest of …

By Andrew M. Mwenda What the new executive editor at Daily Monitor is doing and what it means for our profession The new Executive Editor at Daily Monitor, Malcolm Gibson, has begun a very important conversation about journalism at that newspaper which may be important for our industry generally. He …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Why Uganda should move to privatise NSSF and other remaining publically owned or supervised enterprises Last week, Umeme issued a Secondary Public Offering (SPO) on the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE) to institutional investors (individual investors have their turn this week). The response by the market has …

By Andrew M. Mwenda How Museveni has centralised and personalised while at the same time decentralised and institutionalised it with the help of his opponents Last week, a very successful Ugandan businessman invited me visit a big project he is doing in collaboration with the government on one of its …

By Andrew M. Mwenda How the ombudsman has been misusing her office and thereby undermining its stature and prestige; and what can be done about it Last week the Inspector General of Government (IGG) issued a report on the dossier submitted to the office by a “whistle blower” regarding “corruption” …

By Andrew M. Mwenda How democracy in India has promoted the privileges of the powerful while China’s authoritarian state serves its poor citizens By any measure, India is a country that inspires as it disappoints. In spite of its poverty, it has sustained a stable democratic system of government since …