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Friday, 14 June 2013 13:08 By Andrew M. Mwenda
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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 NRM even though its editors, especially Wafula Oguttu and Charles Onyango-Obbo, were at the time sympathetic to its cause.

Each time I debated Monitor with government functionaries, especially top officials in the security establishment, they would tell me that the newspaper is financed by Sudan.

 
Friday, 07 June 2013 11:49 By Andrew M. Mwenda
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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 and Hello Uganda on the other. For many observers, the closure of these newspapers was a blow to press freedom.

This is perhaps true for those concerned with short-term tactical maneuvers. Strategically, the closure of the two daily newspapers and government’s eventual withdraw was a triumph for the cause of a free press.

 

 
Friday, 31 May 2013 08:05 By Andrew M. Mwenda
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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. In 2002, Muhoozi authored a concept paper on the reform of the army.

Museveni invited him to present it to the army high command where Tinyefuza was. Apparently, it took precedence over another concept paper written by the generals. Someone leaked this to me. I wrote an article in Sunday Monitor suggesting the president was positioning Muhoozi to take over the army.

 
Friday, 24 May 2013 07:16 By Andrew M. Mwenda
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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 his father President Yoweri Museveni as president of Uganda, government has been eclectic.

Yet, more than what Tinyefuza said, it is the response of the government that is troublesome. It seems the government is determined to make a hero out of Tinyefuza.

 
Friday, 17 May 2013 12:26 By Andrew M. Mwenda
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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 may have been the case for the first decade, it has become increasingly counterproductive for the President to use violence as an instrument of rule.

Uganda has undergone both a structural and a political transformation. The claim that violence works for Museveni allows the opposition to find an excuse for their failure to organize effectively to reach the masses.

 
Friday, 10 May 2013 13:07 By Andrew M. Mwenda
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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 Museveni place disproportionate importance on the contribution of violence to his ability to hold power.

That may have been the case in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s but not anymore. Over the years, violence has lost its effect and increasingly become counterproductive. Yet, the opposition has been able to see that if they are ever to get a chance to defeat Museveni, they need to force the president onto a violent path.

 
Friday, 03 May 2013 14:34 By Andrew M. Mwenda
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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 as investors placed orders worth $ 3 billion for a piece of this pie. Given that Rwanda’s GDP is just $6.4 billion, this is a great show of confidence by self interested investors. It was also a slap in the face of the self-righteous merchants of charity who have recently shown low confidence in the country.

 
Friday, 26 April 2013 12:10 By Andrew M. Mwenda
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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 de force. I had first read the book in 1999. It left a lasting impression on me for the details on the Third Reich and the elegance of its prose.

But what intrigued me this time is Shirer’s adjectives in reference to Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin on the one hand and Frederick Roosevelt and Winston Churchill on the other.

 
Friday, 19 April 2013 14:27 By Andrew M. Mwenda
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How party’s tolerance of rebel MPs was typical of its tolerance of other ills and a danger to democracy

Finally, the NRM decided to expel it’s so called “rebel MPs”. Many critics of President Yoweri Museveni and the NRM have denounced this decision. The MPs themselves are challenging it in a constitutional court. Yet most of this criticism is out of ignorance or opportunism. These MPs were violating the Loi fondamentale of party politics. In most multi-party democracies, they would have suffered a similar fate.

 

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