Andrew Mwenda

By Andrew M. Mwenda I was in Kigali last week when the Rwanda government released the report on ‘The Investigation into the crash of the Dassault Falcon 50 on April 6, 1994 carrying former President Juvenal Hanyarimana.’ It was both a triumph and a humiliation for the Rwanda Patriotic Front …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Last week, a friend brought me a pirated copy of the recently released Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon movie, Invictus. It is a gripping story of how Nelson Mandela used rugby to assuage the fears of white South Africans regarding the dawn of majority rule. As …

By Andrew M. Mwenda The opposition parties’ agreement to field one presidential candidate come the 2011 elections is possibly a good move. However, previous presidential elections have shown that there is no need for a joint opposition candidate. Indeed, the combined vote of third candidates has always been statistically insignificant …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Since Ndorwa West MP David Bahati introduced a bill to kill homosexuals, I have become wary of the behaviour of Uganda’s international donors. They have threatened to cut off aid if the government goes ahead with the bill. This way, they are literally using their money …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Every discussion on how to improve the delivery of public goods and services in Uganda ends up focusing on how to fight corruption. In public services like health, education and infrastructure, public officials divert resources from their intended purpose to private pockets. We are thus saddled …

By Andrew M. Mwenda  Gedanken is Latin for ‘thought experiments.’ Romans must have borrowed it from the Greeks; it is Socrates who began the practice of questioning dogmas and assumptions. Whenever Athenians claimed to have delivered justice or to have been honest, Socrates would ask, ‘totee?’ or ‘what is it? …

By Andrew M. Mwenda President Yoweri Museveni has been telling us that his government has built 750 health centres in the country. However, The New Vision revealed last week that there are more than 100 ‘ghost’ hospitals. Most of them have been ‘receiving’ drugs and funds from the government. And …

By Andrew M. Mwenda In the 1999/2000 financial year, the total budget of the government of Uganda (tax revenues plus foreign aid) was Shs 1.9 trillion. The budget for 2009/10 financial year is Shs 7.6 trillion ‘ a 400% increase. In dollar terms (the exchange rate of the shilling to …

By Andrew M. Mwenda The death of Maj. Gen. James Kazini reveals the major institutional weakness in Uganda. Kazini died like a petty thief allegedly bludgeoned to death by a ‘malaya.’ This is not an isolated incident. As President Yoweri Museveni said at the funeral, the best of NRA/UPDF commanders …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Last week, I was in Lagos, Nigeria and witnessed the tragedy of African politics. Nigeria is home of anything between 140m to 160m people. It has some of the most educated, intelligent, innovative and hard working Africans. However, its politics promotes leaders who are venal, greedy …