THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | On Friday October 11, 2024, lawyer and human right activist, Nicolas Opiyo, posted a tweet of his “short musing.” It was a very personal attack on the intellectual competences of Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the Chief of Defense Forces (CDF) of the Uganda People’s Defense Forces …
Read More »Remembering Onapito Ekomoloit
The life of a reporter, editor, lecturer, media proprietor, legislator, presidential press secretary and corporate guru THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | On Friday, September 27, Ivan Okuda called me announcing the death of Onapito Ekomoloit. It was as shocking as it was surprising. I had talked to Onapito only a …
Read More »How to make Kampala better
Why firing top leaders at KCCA is an excuse and not a solution to the problems of our capital city THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | This week, President Yoweri Museveni fired the top leadership of Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA). This was because a report by the Inspector General of …
Read More »The Telegraph’s hit job on Muhoozi
How this newspaper’s work is laced with endemic racism that may even be unconscious to the author THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Most Western journalism on Africa has always been ghetto journalism. Now in last week’s story about Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, this British newspaper, The Telegraph, took journalism to the …
Read More »Africa and the curse of foreign ideas
How our nations’ pursuit of foreign ideologies is an impediment to our growth and transformation THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | By Andrew M. Mwenda | My friends and I have been engaged in a debate about the role of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in development. There is widespread belief that development requires …
Read More »Governance and corruption in Uganda
Why blaming Museveni for runaway corruption is politically appealing and why it is misleading THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | President Yoweri Museveni has presided over the worst levels of public sector corruption in Uganda’s history. The scale and scope of corruption grows every year. Indeed, corruption could easily be the …
Read More »On Uganda’s neoliberal revolution
How we lost our collective identity through the glorification of money and what can be done about it THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | I argued in this column last week that the neoliberal attack on the state in Uganda eroded public ethics in public service. Some readers feel I did …
Read More »Kitezi as tip of an iceberg
Why the disaster at the KCCA landfill for city garbage is a sign of worse disasters to follow THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | The collapse of the garbage-filling dump at Kiteezi is symptomatic of the wider governance crisis that has engulfed our country. Uganda is in disarray, without a central …
Read More »Understanding Brand Rwanda
What the inauguration of Kagame for another term told about the Rwanda he is building THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | And so it was that on August 11 we were in Kigali for President Paul Kagame’s inauguration. It happened that a well-known Rwandan with Ugandan roots hosted a wedding of …
Read More »Kenya’s misguided protestors
How Kenya’s Gen Z have exaggerated expectations of their government and president THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | I am writing this article from Nairobi where young, educated Kenyans are keeping President William Ruto busy. At the beginning of these protests, naïve commentators commended Ruto for conceding to the demands of …
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