Why every modern asset should be respected for its functionality and not merely its symbolism THE LAST WORD | ANDREW MWENDA | Whatever its critics say, capitalism remains the most consequential system (and ideology) of organising human affairs in history. Born in Western Europe, it has spread across the …
Read More »Africa’s politics of fiction
It is incredible how politics in our part of the world is far removed from reality THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | What determines the governance strategies elites employ in any given country? The philosopher, Karl Marx, argued that the way people organise themselves to solve their basic …
Read More »The strategy of fighting ADF
How to handle the new wave of terrorism without helping terrorist achieve their political objectives THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | On Tuesday, terrorists struck again exploding bombs that killed three innocent bystanders (may their souls RIP) and three people carrying the bombs. The initial suspicion was that …
Read More »On Museveni and his critics
What we always miss about the governance strategies employed by leaders of poor countries THE LAST WORD | Andrew M Mwenda | Last Sunday, a high school alumni found me at a cafe in town and with a sardonic smile gave me an unwelcome compliment. “Andrew,” he said as he bit …
Read More »I am shocked Ugandan journalists are angry
Museveni’s violence and what it should teach us THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Yesterday the NRM government, in characteristic style, used military police to unleash violence against a group of activists escorting Bobi Wine to the UN Human Rights office to deliver a petition. It was the same …
Read More »Bobi Wine’s dangerous duplicity
What the evacuation of his family from Uganda before elections reveals about Uganda’s musician turned politician Kyagulanyi THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M MWENDA | In 2018, I appeared on Frontline program of NBS television with Bobi Wine. In the heat of the debate he said that if there were chaos …
Read More »Uganda’s prosperity paradox
How rapid economic growth and improving quality of life are causing mass discontent THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | There is widespread anger especially among the youths in Uganda’s urban areas, but most pronounced in Kampala. Very many commentators on current affairs think this is a result of …
Read More »Why and how the opposition is playing right into Museveni’s hands
On Wednesday, Kampala went on fire after police arrested pop star turned politician/presidential candidate, Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine. The riots continued through yesterday (Nov.19). The partisans on either side are in overdrive. Critics of government post videos of police shooting at crowds where some people have, unfortunately, died. THE …
Read More »On Uganda’s election violence
How the president, the security services and the opposition are beneficiaries of this political pathology THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | Election season is with us and the police are in overdrive to beat the hell out of opposition candidates. The leading and perhaps most popular opposition presidential …
Read More »Col. Bantariza: A lion retires
THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | I woke up yesterday morning only to hear that the deputy head of the Uganda Media Centre Col. Shaban Bantariza is dead. The news struck me like a thunderbolt partly part because I least expected it but largely because Bantariza was not …
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