COLUMNISTS

By Andrew M. Mwenda I hope that my prediction is wrong because future generations of Libyans will be happy that I was wrong. I am writing this column on the morning of Monday August 22nd. By the time it is read, Libyan leader Muammar El Gaddafi might no longer be …

By Barak Barfi Qaddafi’s fall holds great promise for a people bereft of freedom for 42 years. But, the NTC having stumbled so far, it will have to redouble its efforts to ensure it wins the peace it fought for. Six months after Libyan rebels took up arms against the country’s …

By Prof George Joffe Many believed that Colonel Gaddafi’s regime in Libya would withstand the gale of change sweeping the Arab world because of its reputation for brutality which had fragmented the six million-strong population over the past 42 years. Its likely disappearance now is all the more surprising because …

By Andrew M. Mwenda In an ethically diverse state, change in government is not change in governance; it’s replacement of one looting coalition by another. A lot of studies show that societies, nations and communities that have high levels of ethnic, racial or religious diversity tend to be poor at …

By Joseph Rwagatare No country in this world has ever developed solely on ideas generated by its citizens. Talking or writing about famine can elicit unexpected reactions, including jokes. There was this one reported in the Tanzanian Mail on Sunday of August 7, 2011 by a correspondent on the current …

By Barry Eichengreen The US debt-ceiling fiasco has raised doubts about the advisability of holding dollars, while Europe’s debt crisis has fueled doubt on the euro’s survival. For more than a half-century, the US dollar has been not only America’s currency, but the world’s as well. It has been the …

By Elia Kisembo The role of cultural leaders needs to be revised to cater for both the traditional and modern states. Recent years have witnessed a resurgence of pre-colonial political institutions across Africa. The governments of both Uganda and Ghana took a lead in constitutional reforms in the 1990s restoring …

By Andrew M. Mwenda  Politics everywhere tends to be rigged in favour of the powerful. But in Uganda it has been made worse. Last week, the mass media reported that the vast majority of rural Ugandans are at risk of malnutrition, especially in the northern region. It was a simple …

By Omar Ashour His public trial shows what united demands can achieve. Unity can bring justice and freedom later. Polarisation will bring none. August 3, 2011, will be remembered as a historic day in Egypt. Former President Hosni Mubarak was put on public trial, together with his two sons and …

By Deogratias Harorimana The African development model is increasingly moving towards the Asian Tigers’ to seek solutions from within. When the North African public protests escalated into the greatest mass social revolution in the Arab world’s history, Western powers were surprised and many development partners remained cynical about its success. …