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 …
Read More »Uganda’s self-destructive impulses
THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | Since the NRM government fully embraced neoliberal reforms in 1992, Uganda has witnessed the growth to dominance of multinational capital in our economy and with that the equal decline to near-insignificance of local/national/domestic/indigenous capital. But this has only been successful because the …
Read More »Inside Uganda’s political delusions
How the hullabaloo and bruhaha over MPs allocating themselves Shs200bn for cars is much ado over nothing THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | It is July 2021 and as is custom, Uganda’s elites are going through a ritual they indulge every five years – complain about money …
Read More »Ethiopia’s failed reform
How Africa’s most successful economy has produced a political crisis that may tear it apart THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | It is eight months now since the armed conflict between the Ethiopian government and the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), began. Initially, government troops, supported by Eritrean …
Read More »South Africa’s slippery slope
Why the arrest and detention of Jacob Zuma is dangerous for the unity and stability of the “rainbow nation” THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | The arrest and detention of former South African president, Jacob Zuma, for contempt of court is a sad event. No wonder, many …
Read More »Lessons from imperial hubris
How the US and her NATO allies lost trillions in a vain effort to turn Afghanistan into Denmark THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | After twenty years of occupation and trillions of dollars spent fighting the Taliban, the United States and her NATO allies are beating a hasty …
Read More »Celebrating one’s misfortune
How public anger against Uganda government’s response to COVID is driven more by prejudice than facts THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | Last Saturday, I lost my auntie, Princess Damali Komukyeeya of Toro. I tweeted that although she had COVID, she was fairly fine Friday evening. She developed breathing …
Read More »The challenge of democratic politics
Who is a moral candidate for parliament: the candidate who promises electricity or one who distributes cash to voters? THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | Someone sent a quote allegedly from a one “Prof.” PLO Lumumba to an internet chatgroup I belong to. Lumumba seems to have run …
Read More »Inside the COVID resurgence
Why government needs to think differently about where it needs to invest in order to effectively contain the pandemic THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | COVID has returned with a vengeance and is now ravaging Uganda. In March and April, the virus seemed to disappear. Out of …
Read More »On Museveni’s new cabinet
The president’s choice of ministers and what it tells us about the factors that shape the character of cabinet THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | President Yoweri Museveni’s recent cabinet has excited a lot of debate. Many pundits question its competence to manage the country and lead it …
Read More »