By Andrew M. Mwenda Why opponents of removing term limits should listen more to Rwandan citizens than their own theories and the preaching of America Last week, the United States issued a statement calling on Rwanda not to amend the constitution and remove term limits on the presidency. America carries …
Read More »On the FDC presidential debate
By Andrew M. Mwenda Why our frustration should’nt lead us to behave like a drowning man who clings onto a crocodile And so it was that on the night of August 30, NTV treated us to a debate between Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) contenders for party presidential flag bearer, …
Read More »Lessons for opposition from opinion polls
By Andrew M. Mwenda Ugandans seem unhappy with Museveni but they don’t seem to be willing to accept his opponents either. Here is why We are exactly six months away from elections and recent opinion polls are already giving us a glimpse of things to come. The polls reveal that …
Read More »The dilemma of Africa’s reformers
By Andrew M. Mwenda How corruption becomes a necessary vice for successful politicians who win elections by denouncing it Here is a thought experiment. Imagine you are a presidential candidate for the 2016 elections in Uganda. You have all the good policies and ideas. And you want to build a …
Read More »Why Obama cannot liberate Africa
This article was written for The Guardian How regurgitating stereotypes and prejudice about Africa easily gets you audience in Western media So I chanced upon an article by a one Patience Akumu (`Why Obama doesn’t understand the lust for power of our African leaders’, The Guardian UK, Aug.2). To Akumu, …
Read More »The problem with missionary politics
By Andrew M. Mwenda Why obsession with presidential term limits in Africa is a secular gospel based on faith than historic facts US President Barack Obama excited a section of Africa’s elite when he denounced African leaders who rule for very long, some even dying in office. This seems common …
Read More »Obama in Kenya
By Andrew M. Mwenda Although Obama behaved better in Nairobi compared to Accra, here is why I still have a bone to pick with him So finally, U.S. President Barak Obama visited his ancestral homeland of Kenya to a rousing welcome. This was understandable because for most of recorded history …
Read More »Against the democracy priesthood
By Andrew M. Mwenda Why Rwanda should follow the judgment or misjudgment of its citizens rather than the dictates of theory In mid-July, the World Economic Forum (WEF) published its Global Competitiveness Report where it listed Rwanda as having the 7th most efficiently ran government in the world. It was …
Read More »Shattering utopias of African elites
By Andrew M. Mwenda How political debate is divorced from our revenue and skills reality on state delivery of public goods and services When I was in boarding secondary school in the late 1980s and early 1990s, we used to eat maize porridge every morning for breakfast, posho and boiled …
Read More »The likely dynamics of 2016
By. Andrew M. Mwnda How Museveni and the opposition are likely to structure their campaigns and the risks and advantages of their likely strategies The battle between President Yoweri Museveni and his erstwhile ally and Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi is likely going to be nasty. The president’s handlers are likely …
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