Column

  New Delhi, India | AFP |  India said Wednesday it will ban ministers and senior officials from using red beacons on their cars to cut through traffic, a longstanding privilege that has caused resentment and accusations of elitism. From May 1 only emergency services will be allowed to use …

Betty Nakibuuka Senyonjo is a gospel musician. Her most popular songs include ‘Baddu ba Yesu’, ‘Tukutendereza’, ‘Luyimba lwange’ and ‘Munene Munene’ among others. She is also the mother of stars in the music industry. Former music prodigy Gloria Murungi Senyonjo aka Baby Gloria, who is a household name; especially among …

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 …

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 …

Esther Kalenzi is the founder of Forty Days over Forty Smiles Foundation, a local NGO that helps the needy; especially children and youth. Helping the needy is a passion she first exhibited as a student at Aga Khan High School in Kampala when she raised funds from fellow students to …

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 …

Sheila Mukabakoba Kawamara Mishambi was the founding executive director of Uganda Women’s Network: a coordinating body for NGO’s involved in gender rights advocacy.  She says her formative years prepared her to be a very assertive person. She began to defy the status quo as a young girl and perhaps in …

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 …

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 …

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 …