THE LAST WORD

By Andrew M. Mwenda   Last week, President Yoweri Museveni gave his State of the Nation address in a grandiloquent fashion. He was detailed in showing off the key achievements of his administration, not just over the last year but since he came to power. The economy has been growing …

By Andrew M. Mwenda The government of Uganda has written a Media Law Amendment Bill which, even a committee composed of Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Idi Amin, Benito Mussolini and Pol Pot would find rather stringent. Yet it is not the law that I find the problem but rather the …

By Andrew M. Mwenda   Recently, the Uganda government decided to spend about US$1 billion shopping high tech jet fighters and the accompanying missiles and armament from Russia. There has been outcry from the media, the donor community, the opposition and the wider public against it. How can a country …

By Andrew M. Mwenda So we pick our story from last week. For the elite, it matters little whether you fought him yesterday or insulted him last week. As long as you want a job in exchange for either your silence or support, President Yoweri Museveni is always willing to …

By Andrew M. Mwenda   As we move towards next year’s presidential election, it is important that we establish how President Yoweri Museveni and his ruling party, the NRM, have organised his support base. For most African governments to survive, they need support from the society over which they rule …

By Andrew M. Mwenda   Recent events in Rwanda have filled my inbox. For example, a journalist in Uganda wrote to me on Skype in celebratory mood: ‘Finally your Rwanda (sic) is unravelling; pretty fast, very dramatically: Newspapers suspended ahead of elections, grenade blasts, senior army officers arrested, endless talk …

By Andrew M.Mwenda With next year’s presidential election looming, President Yoweri Museveni continues to hold the strategic initiative in spite of his diminished credibility. While most of the country is silently hostile to his continued stay in power, there is little enthusiasm for the opposition. Save for a blunder by …

By Andrew.M.Mwenda Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf had promised not to run for a second term. However, she recently changed her mind. In 2002, Mwai Kibaki of Kenya had made a similar promise only to renege on it immediately after his election. Now, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, has abandoned …

By Andrew M. Mwenda As the elections for next year get closer, the contours of its alignments are becoming apparent. The election of Norbert Mao to lead DP and Olara Otunnu to lead UPC ‘ Uganda’s founding political parties ‘ adds an important dimension to the leadership of NRM by …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Mugisha Muntu’s challenge to Kizza Besigye for the presidential candidature of FDC reveals the major dilemma facing the opposition in Uganda. Besigye has twice demonstrated extraordinary courage by challenging President Yoweri Museveni. Yet the factors that made him galvanise Ugandans in support of his candidature also …