THE LAST WORD

By Andrew M. Mwenda In the 1999/2000 financial year, the total budget of the government of Uganda (tax revenues plus foreign aid) was Shs 1.9 trillion. The budget for 2009/10 financial year is Shs 7.6 trillion ‘ a 400% increase. In dollar terms (the exchange rate of the shilling to …

By Andrew M. Mwenda The death of Maj. Gen. James Kazini reveals the major institutional weakness in Uganda. Kazini died like a petty thief allegedly bludgeoned to death by a ‘malaya.’ This is not an isolated incident. As President Yoweri Museveni said at the funeral, the best of NRA/UPDF commanders …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Last week, I was in Lagos, Nigeria and witnessed the tragedy of African politics. Nigeria is home of anything between 140m to 160m people. It has some of the most educated, intelligent, innovative and hard working Africans. However, its politics promotes leaders who are venal, greedy …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Member of Parliament for Ndorwa East David Bahati wants homosexuals imprisoned for life or hanged. I am deeply conscious of the fact that the vast majority of Ugandans support him. But debate on homosexuality is being conducted largely out of ignorance and prejudice. For example, a …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Over the last 50 years, public debate in Africa has been fixated on democracy or the lack of it as the primary cause of economic failure. Wars and elections have been fought over it; rebellions launched or quashed in its defence and coups have been carried …

By Andrew M. Mwenda On October 16, 2009, Oxford’s Prof. Paul Collier gave a talk at Serena Hotel in Kampala on the prospects of an oil windfall in Uganda. Unlike in most of his work, this time Collier did not focus on how the international community (read the West) can …

By Andrew M. Mwenda In October 2001, the United States and its NATO allies invaded Afghanistan, overthrew the Taliban, sent Al Qaeda in disarray and established a largely pro-Western government. There was a lot of promise at the time that Afghanistan would become a peaceful, democratic and stable nation within …

By Andrew M. Mwenda On March 16, 1989, the ultra modern subway system of South Korea’s capital Seoul came to a standstill. Six thousand workers went on strike; 3,000 of them defiantly occupied the roundhouse from which the locomotives dispatch. The president, Gen. Roh Tae Woo, ordered a crackdown: 6,000 …

By Andrew M. Mwenda For a long time now, Ugandans and foreigners have praised the government of President Yoweri Museveni for being ‘tolerant’ of press freedom. I have been inconsistent on this issue. Sometimes I believe we enjoy a relatively good level of media freedom and freedom of expression generally …

By Andrew M. Mwenda On September 9, the Doing Business Report of the World Bank Group ranked Rwanda as the world’s top reformer in creating a business friendly environment. The report also showed that within one year, Rwanda jumped from number 139 to number 67 out of 186 countries sampled …