Revisiting Museveni’s ideas about Uganda and our wider continent after his 35 years (and counting) in power THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | And so it was that recently, while perusing my library, I decided to reread President Yoweri Museveni’s book, What is Africa’s Problem. It is …
Read More »Inside Besigye’s pipedream
Why Besigye’s struggles are not about democratising Uganda but about making Besigye president THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | Opposition leader and activist, Dr Kizza Besigye, has launched a new pressure group, the People’s Front for Transition (PFT). Besigye said the strategic objective of the pressure group is …
Read More »No one size fits all
How Dubai, a city state ruled by an absolute monarch, challenges Western notions of rationalism and individual autonomy THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | I spent the whole of this week in Dubai, the second richest emirate of the United Arab Emirates. It is a city-state that …
Read More »The triumph of security agencies
How NRM and the ministry of foreign affairs have surrendered their political and diplomatic functions to intelligence agencies THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | Uganda government is at war on many fronts. It has locked horns with Western governments and their domestic institutional agents – Non-Government Organisations …
Read More »Museveni’s Covid paranoia
Why Uganda and other African countries have consistently taken extreme and inappropriate Covid interventions THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | This week, President Yoweri Museveni addressed the nation on Covid-19. With infection and death rates down, the President did little to open up the country. Most especially; he left …
Read More »Is Uganda’s economy failing?
Why Ugandan pundits are mistaken in their understanding of why some foreign firms have quit our market THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | A couple of multinational firms have pulled out of Uganda in the last one decade. Oil giant Shell sold itself to Vivo, Barclays Bank …
Read More »Losing sight of grand strategy
How Kampala’s cold war with Kigali harms Uganda’s national interest and what can be done about it THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | Last week, Uganda’s Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) arrested the Vice Chancellor of Victoria University, Lawrence Muganda, apparently on charges of espionage. Muganga is not …
Read More »Lokech; the passing of a giant
The life and work of the former Deputy Inspector General of Police who made a lasting contribution to Uganda THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | On the morning of Saturday August 21, I was driving to Fort Portal but got a puncture 20km before Mityana. While trying to …
Read More »The defeat of liberal imperialism
Why poorly armed Taliban triumphed over the US military after two decades of war THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | The rapid collapse of the Afghanistan government before a rag tag army of (apparently) “poorly trained, poorly armed, poorly resourced and poorly commanded Taliban” (or so the lords …
Read More »Obama’s `Promised Land’
How the former president’s memoirs show a good insight to US politics but provides prejudice on other nations THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | I find former U.S. president, Barack Obama, intelligent, thoughtful, insightful, socially intelligent, calm and reasonable. But I also find him pompous, pretentious, opportunistic, arrogant …
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