How the opposition leader has blundered on the chance to promote his political project – if he has any By Andrew M. Mwenda Media reports have recently indicated there are attempts to organise talks between the government and the opposition. For such talks to be meaningful, they have to involve …
Read More »LIVE: Jeff Koinange Live….on NBS TV
Jeff Koinange, and equally combative Ugandan journalist Andrew Mwenda, will be guests in tonight’s NBS TV Frontline show. The Kenyan journalist and talk show host of Jeff Koinange Live will feature in what is expected to be an explosive analysis of social media, freedoms and corruption in East Africa. The one and only …
Read More »THE LAST WORD: Manufacturing still matters
Why very few poor countries will escape poverty by taking gigantic leaps into the service industry By Andrew M. Mwenda Two weeks ago, I had a disagreement with the president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, at a conference in Kigali, Rwanda. Kim had argued that increasing automation and …
Read More »THE LAST WORD: Africa through North Korean eyes
Why this communist state, with per capita income like ours, manufactures nuclear weapons and satellites while we can’t By Andrew M. Mwenda Last week the U.S. announced its intelligence showed North Korea was planning to test another nuclear weapon. If it does, it will be the sixth nuclear test by …
Read More »Trump, trade, and the middle powers
COMMENT: Trump’s rejection of international trade rules by executive order and renegotiation foreshadow likely trade tensions By Oonagh Fitzgerald and Hector R. Torres Donald Trump’s presidency is posing fundamental challenges to the rule-based international trading system that has buttressed global growth for decades. But while America’s protectionist maneuverings threaten a …
Read More »COMMENT: Where has all the water gone?
COMMENT: Surface water resources, such as desalinated seawater or recycled wastewater, will not close the global gap between supply and demand By Yasmin Siddiqi We live on a parched planet. Farmers till arid pastureland, and policymakers fret over empty reservoirs, dry rivers, and thirsty cities. And that only scratches the …
Read More »COMMENT: Analysis of Bridge Academies
BRIDGE ACADEMIES: Legal/regulatory pitfalls and lessons for impact investors in Uganda By Stephen Tumwesigye In November 2016, the High Court in Uganda made an order closing the Bridge International Academies schools following an order by the Ministry of Education. The Bridge International Academies are set up under a relatively …
Read More »THE LAST WORD: Why Museveni will rule for life
How, barring a major surprise, the current power structure in Uganda makes lifting presidential age limit inevitable By Andrew M. Mwenda Those debating the succession issue in Uganda should refer to Rome in 44BC. Rome had been a republic since 509BC when the patricians rose in revolt and deposed King …
Read More »THE LAST WORD: Rethinking Africa’s development
Why our intellectual elites need to begin an entirely new conversation about our nations By Andrew M. Mwenda African intellectual elites exhibit a conceptual contradiction. When economic performance is poor they argue that the major source of the problem is bad leadership. And when they talk of leadership, our intellectual …
Read More »THE LAST WORD: Trump’s war with the press
By Andrew M. Mwenda How the new US president is bursting the Washington bubble and annoying the nation’s hypocrites For many decades, American journalists have deluded themselves into the belief that they are unelected representatives of the people. They are convinced that their profession places them above politics as impartial, …
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