THE LAST WORD

By Andrew M. Mwenda How economic performance indexes contradict assumptions about the corruption and ineptness of our government Sometime in 2001, former Costa Rican President Jose Maria Figueres visited Uganda. At that time he was Managing Director of the World Economic Forum. At a conference also attended by President Yoweri …

By Andrew M. Mwenda How the selection process in our politics tends to produce low caliber leaders I am inclined to believe countries get leaders they deserve. I am also inclined to believe that countries don’t get leaders they deserve. How does one reconcile this apparent paradox? Well, each statement …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Museveni’s opponents have employed the same tactics as their adversary – and Ugandans no longer see a difference In the 1990s, the enemy of the government of Uganda was the government of Sudan in Khartoum. The Monitor newspaper I worked for was moderately critical of the …

By Andrew M. Mwenda The closure and reopening of Daily Monitor and Red Pepper exposed the weaknesses, not the strength, of the state Finally, the government re-opened Daily Monitor and its affiliate radio stations KFM and Dembe on the one hand and the Red Pepper and her sister newspapers Kamunye …

By Andrew M. Mwenda With Museveni seeming invincible for now, the only hope of succession is ironically a Muhoozi project Since Gen. David Sejusa aka Tinyefuza kicked off a storm by claiming President Yoweri Museveni wants to make his son, Brig. Muhoozi Kainerugaba his successor, Uganda has not stopped talking. …

By Andrew M. Mwenda How overreaction to Tinyefuza by closing down Daily Monitor and Red Pepper may launch yet another presidential candidate Since the Coordinator of Intelligence Services, Gen. David Sejusa aka Tinyefuza, kicked off a storm by alleging that there is a plan to have Brig. Muhoozi Keinerugaba succeed …

By Andrew M. Mwenda How NRM’s level of organization has made it impossible for the Opposition to mobilize the masses against Museveni Sections of the opposition in Uganda have been arguing that it is through violence that President Yoweri Museveni has been able to sustain his political power. While this …

By Andrew M. Mwenda How Museveni has shifted from reliance on military force to coerce political support to the use of money to rent it My article, “What keeps Museveni in power” (The Independent April 12-18), attracted the most intense debate on our website. Apparently, most critics of President Yoweri …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Why African countries should follow the example of Rwanda, Ghana and Zambia by moving from foreign aid to bond markets Last week, the government of Rwanda issued an international 10-year bond to raise $400 million for infrastructure development. Within two days, the bond had been oversubscribed …

By Andrew M. Mwenda How our admiration of Western systems has more do with how it perceives itself than the reality of its being I still cannot explain what got into my head recently to re-read William Shirer’s, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, a 1,200 pages tour …