COLUMNISTS

How this South Asian country is transiting from a stable liberal democracy into a chaotic illiberal mobocracy THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | The news from Sri Lanka is intriguing and confounding both as politics and as economics. Let us begin with its politics. Sri Lanka has, since …

How low levels of skill impact our nation’s ambitions in government, private sector and our homes THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | A friend has lived in America for the last 15 years, having left the country in her early twenties. Before, during and after her graduate studies, …

Inside the discrimination, humiliation and mistreatment of Ugandans of Kinyarwanda culture THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M MWENDA | By And so it was that while going through the Ugandan section of my library this week, I picked a copy of President Yoweri Museveni’s autobiography, Sowing the Mustard Seed; the …

America’s opportunities and main challenge as it seeks to contain China from dominating Asia THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M MWENDA |  In the April 17th column (see: “Aiding the enemy: How US involvement in the Russia-Ukraine conflict is helping the rise of China to surpass America as the world’s …

  Lessons for Uganda’s opposition from the repositioning of the National Front, France’s far-right party THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M MWENDA | On February 8, 2022, BBC’s Steven Sucker hosted Marine Le Pen on the Hardtalk program. Le Pen is the leader of the National Front (FN), a right-wing …

How America’s current leadership is leading the world into a slippery slope towards nuclear war THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | The war between Russia and Ukraine has brought important insights. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the U.S. has become a bull in a …

Why public investments and appointments are economically inefficient in multi ethnic societies THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | Game theory has the concept of the “Prisoner’s Dilemma.” This refers to a situation where two members of a criminal gang (John and David) are arrested by the police and …

   Why the refusal to renew their concession is not a big loss to Ugandan workers and investors and a boom to foreigners THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | For some strange reason(s), President Yoweri Museveni has a very hostile attitude towards Umeme, Uganda’s main electricity distributor. Sources …

  How self-righteousness is far more dangerous than self-interest and leads to human disaster THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | Rolling Stone magazine in the U.S. published a story claiming former president Donald Trump wanted to close every embassy in Africa. This is revealed in a new book …

   Why every modern asset should be respected for its functionality and not merely its symbolism THE LAST WORD | ANDREW MWENDA | Whatever its critics say, capitalism remains the most consequential system (and ideology) of organising human affairs in history. Born in Western Europe, it has spread across the …