COLUMNISTS

 By Andrew M. Mwenda On June 25, fifteen companies submitted bids for a contract with the Electoral Commission (EC) to update the Voter Register. According to the bid documents, each bidder was supposed to submit three envelops: a technical proposal, a financial proposal and a third envelop was supposed to …

By Eric Kabera Critics of Rwandan President Paul Kagame – including complimentary ones – unfailingly cite two flaws: that he is illegitimate because he hails from the minority; two, he is intolerant of freedom of expression. The first charge is easily disposed of. Why for example has no one found …

By Charles Onyango Obbo Andrew Mwenda’s ‘A Tale Of Two Presidents, Two Nations and Two Revolutions‘ has generated a lot of debate. On one hand you have Rwanda’s President Kagame, who has the image of being iron-fisted, and leads a poor country that has been able to make far-reaching achievements, …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Last week, I was in Stanbic Bank to pay tuition fees for my niece, Cynthia. My sister Florence died when Cynthia was only seven. Now she is 19, pretty, vibrant, ambitious, intelligent and ready to take on the world and change it. Although she qualified for …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Colonialism is back; bold and unashamed. The West has decided to reclaim leadership in Africa. Only last week, I watched US Secretary of State, Mrs Hillary Clinton, give instructions to Kenyan politicians on how they should manage the affairs of Kenya. She demanded that the democratically …

By Andrew M. Mwenda For sometime now, my articles comparing Uganda and Rwanda have generated the most intense debate on our website, my private emails and my phone’s SMSs. President Yoweri Museveni’s supporters accuse me of doing PR for President Paul Kagame. Many people ask why I compare the two …

By John Njoroge LC V boss’ ordeal shows how unfulfilled promises endanger public officials At first, he is hit with a bottle top but within seconds, stones, sticks, dirty water and dust are hitting him from all directions. A crowd numbering in the hundreds has steadily gathered around him and …

By Prof Mahmood Mamdani This is an edited version of Prof. Mahmood Mamdani’s presentation at the Abu Mayanja Annual Lecture on August 7, 2009 at Kampala International Conference Centre. I am greatly honored to have been asked to give this lecture. I met the late Abu Mayanja in 1961. I …

By Andrew M. Mwenda  In this column last week, I argued that after every successive election in Uganda, the quality of government has tended to deteriorate. Many Ugandans think this is because our nation has a sham democracy. ‘Were we to have genuine democracy,’ my friend Erias Lukwago, MP for …

By Andrew M. Mwenda & Molly Lister Did minister Onek touch a live wire? Sometime early this year, then minister of state for micro finance, Gen. Salim Saleh, went to meet the Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Keith Muhakazi. He had a couple of documents with him …