COLUMNISTS

By G. Pascal Zachary The writer is the author of three books, Endless Frontier, The Diversity Advantage and Married to Africa. He was columnist for The New York Times, was foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and had taught journalism at stanford University and is now a visiting scholar …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Many people believe the existence of multiple institutions for accountability in public procurement provide ‘checks and balances’ on the process. This belief is born of the efficacy of such checks and balances in Western democracies rather than an objective study of how they work in a …

By Kalundi Serumaga There are times when a moment of silence can seem louder than actual noise. The current silence of those who were previously the vigorous advocates of imposing the Western neo-liberal economic doctrines of ‘donate, privatise and sell’ on Uganda, is one such moment. What little commentary they …

By David Chandi Jamwa I have read carefully the reasons why I was supposedly sent on suspension as Managing Director of the National Social Security Fund (NSSF). I admit that I am not perfect. Indeed, no one ever is. Yet my alleged faults are of a tactical, not a strategic …

By G. Pascal Zachary In a dusty remote village in eastern Uganda, I stare across a mud-hut at a retired government worker who echoes the millions of people across of Africa, young and old, women and men, who want Barack Obama, the next American president, to be their leader too. …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Next week, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) will celebrate 23 years in government. The NRM revolution was born in a moment of great hope. It is difficult for me to capture the emotional tone of that moment. But there was great hope in most of this …

By Charles Onyango-Obbo A Ugandan analysts whose views I respect, told me recently that the ‘Opposition to the [President Yoweri] Museveni is getting exhausted, and it would seem many people now believe he cannot be removed’. He anticipated that while Museveni’s rule is discredited daily by corruption and incompetence, and …

By Patrick Matsiko Wa Mucoori One time two Bahima friends left their small village in Nyabushozi and went for shopping in Lyantonde town on the Masaka-Mbarara Road. They entered a restaurant for breakfast. When tea was brought, one of them, Rwetsiba, tasted and turned to his friend Rucurumbukana and said: …

By Andrew M. Mwenda A common joke about our roads in Uganda goes like this: If you see someone driving zigzag, then you know he is sober; and if you see someone driving straight, they must be drunk. Why is the logic of driving inverted? Because we have too many …

By Obed K. Katureebe In early February 2006 President Yoweri Museveni called an urgent meeting with the Sembabule district NRM leadership at State House Nakasero. High on the agenda was who should be the NRM’s official woman candidate for Sembabule district in the February 2006 parliamentary elections? Museveni, who was …