THE LAST WORD

By Andrew M. Mwenda Do the suffering people of Burundi a favour in their ongoing civil war; don’t help them Burundi seems to be sliding into chaos. Innocent civilians are being killed in droves. News reports from the capital, Bujumbura, are both sickening and horrifying. Everyone wants the international community …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Inside the struggle by Rwandans to get their president to run again in 2017 And so it was that on December 6, I was present at a Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) meeting to discuss the “third term”. Attended by over 3,000 party delegates, members wanted President …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) presidential candidate, Dr. candidate Kizza Besigye and his supporters claim President Yoweri Museveni has destroyed Uganda and their campaign is to save the country from catastrophe. Yet Besigye is making campaign promises that will require trillions of shillings to fund. If …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Why the belief that his campaign promises are workable is an admission that Museveni presidency is a success Dr. Kizza Besigye and his supporters say President Yoweri Museveni has destroyed Uganda. So their campaign is to save it. As part of this, Besigye is making campaign …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Why the U.S. president always feels compelled to lecture to Africans and my obsession with his meddling It has become custom for U.S. President Barak Obama to constantly volunteer unsolicited advice to African people whenever a given country is going through some major event. So when …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Why Besigye’s promise to cut down the number of political appointments in government is a pipedream Opposition presidential candidate, Kizza Besigye has promised a 50% increase in public sector wages. According to his handlers, he will save money by cutting wasteful spending on political appointments like …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Why this is likely to be a two horse race between Museveni and Besigye leaving Mbabazi a distant third Last week the three frontrunners for the presidency kicked off campaigns showing their political muscles with crowds. If this was a measure of potential performance in the …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Why the chaos and violence in the ruling party are a signal of its strength and weakness of the opposition The just concluded parliamentary and district primaries of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) were characterised by unprecedented violence, vote rigging and organisational chaos. For many analysts, …

Why the chaos and violence in the ruling party are a signal of its strength and weakness of the opposition The just concluded parliamentary and district primaries of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) were characterised by unprecedented violence, vote rigging and organisational chaos. For many analysts, this is evidence of …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Does beating, jailing and killing of opposition supporters improve Museveni’s electoral fortunes? There is one thing on which President Yoweri Museveni and his opponents agree: that employing violence against them gives the president an advantage. Museveni and his handlers use violence perhaps in the sincere belief …