By Andrew M. Mwenda Although Obama behaved better in Nairobi compared to Accra, here is why I still have a bone to pick with him So finally, U.S. President Barak Obama visited his ancestral homeland of Kenya to a rousing welcome. This was understandable because for most of recorded history …
Read More »Against the democracy priesthood
By Andrew M. Mwenda Why Rwanda should follow the judgment or misjudgment of its citizens rather than the dictates of theory In mid-July, the World Economic Forum (WEF) published its Global Competitiveness Report where it listed Rwanda as having the 7th most efficiently ran government in the world. It was …
Read More »Shattering utopias of African elites
By Andrew M. Mwenda How political debate is divorced from our revenue and skills reality on state delivery of public goods and services When I was in boarding secondary school in the late 1980s and early 1990s, we used to eat maize porridge every morning for breakfast, posho and boiled …
Read More »The likely dynamics of 2016
By. Andrew M. Mwnda How Museveni and the opposition are likely to structure their campaigns and the risks and advantages of their likely strategies The battle between President Yoweri Museveni and his erstwhile ally and Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi is likely going to be nasty. The president’s handlers are likely …
Read More »The age of human rights imperialism
By Andrew Mwenda On May 20, the American Congress held a hearing on the “deteriorating human rights situation in Rwanda”. The timing was surprising because there have hardly been incidents of human rights abuse in Rwanda for a while. Instead the hearing took place against the backdrop of widespread demonstrations …
Read More »Thinking others behave like you
By. Andrew M. Mwnda How the arrest of Rwanda’s chief of intelligence in London shows the British government projecting its behavior on RPF Let us imagine a situation where a Spanish judge indicts 40 top Israel generals. The judge alleges that in 1933, Jews formed a terrorist organisation in neighboring …
Read More »Heresy about DR Congo’s Mobutu
By Andrew M. Mwenda Why there was never a South Korean but a Congolese miracle Let us present an alternative history of the world. The year is 1960 and we have two countries – Mexico and France – each with a per capita income of $100. Both countries have emerged …
Read More »The trouble with Mbabazi’s candidacy
By Andrew M. Mwenda In challenging Museveni, Mbabazi may have made his boldest political move ever but equally the most fatal one On Monday Amama Mbabazi declared his intentions to challenge President Yoweri Museveni for the leadership of the NRM and the country. The message launching his campaign was the …
Read More »Why Africa should leverage her strength
By Andrew M. Mwenda Our continent needs to focus on its positive attributes and use those to inspire future generations The definitive clash of wills during the Second World War that paved the way for the defeat of Nazi Germany was the battle of Stalingrad. Soviet leader Josef Stalin had …
Read More »African elites and Mzungu worship
By Andrew M. Mwenda Exposing the hidden bias behind our obsession with Western goodness and Africa’s dysfunctions The greatest triumph of the colonial state was not the integration of our economies and social/political systems into the international capitalism system. That could have been achieved without colonialism and via free trade. …
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