COLUMNISTS

By Philippe Dongier The time to act is now because rapid urbanisation will offer opportunities and present challenges In 2040, more than 20 million people, or one third of Uganda’s population will live in cities. The urbanisation clock has already started to tick: between 2002 and 2010, Uganda’s urban population …

By Andrew M. Mwenda How U S uses the language of freedom and human rights to undermine the cause of democracy in other countries Almost a month ago, Fareed Zakaria hosted Barack Obama on his CNN show, GPS. Zakaria asked the U.S. president why America supports dictatorships like the ones …

By Cissy Kagaba If we stop the leakages and exaggerations in bills of costs, we can save money and borrow less President Yoweri Museveni has been up and about in various corners of the country commissioning road projects. There is no debate that in this financial year (2014/15), government’s priorities …

By Emmanuel Kwezi Tabaro We do not try to assuage government responsibility and assemble the fire to burn it Writing in his `The Last Word’ column (The Independent Feb. 20), Andrew Mwenda did touch an area that has been a subject of debate recently – whether citizens or government should …

By Andrew M. Mwenda The pathologies of Uganda’s LC system and the need for a new conversation on how to reform it On the temple of Apollo at Delphi is inscribed the motto “meden agan” (nothing in excess) in honour of the ancient Greek statesman, Solon (circa 638 to 558 …

By Dr. Ahmed Heikal A lot has been written and said about the potential impact the collapse in global oil prices might have on East Africa’s nascent hydro carbon industry. After five years of exciting new discoveries, the region had become one of the most promising new exploration frontiers, creating …

By Mwesigwa Herbert Greater collaboration between telecom companies and financial institutions needed There is a statistic that is so compelling it cannot be missed when it comes to the growth and usage of mobile phones especially in Uganda. In 2003, they were less than two million people with a mobile …

By Okodan Akwap The mightily deceptive allure of Hollywood is that many black actors would be dying to play villains Among local commentaries on America’s problematic race relations, Andrew Mwenda’s article, ‘Beyond America’s façade of democracy’ (The Independent, December 8), stands out. He notes that, “The ‘democratic’ process … consistently …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Why we should stop complaining about what our country has failed to do and ask what we can do It is very hard to get things done, even at the smallest level. But it is very easy to sit and complain about things. Reading social media, …

By Andrew M. Mwenda The obstacles to building an effective opposition and advancing democracy without “regime change” Last week, the NRM and opposition leaders agreed on 43, out of 48 proposed electoral reforms. This is contrary to the doomsday scenarios its hecklers have been presenting that there is no chance …