Tag Archives: Andrew M. Mwenda

By Andrew M. Mwenda An African leader who fights corruption will face resistance from powerful vested interests using democracy to subvert his reforms Next month, Rwanda commemorates 17 years since the genocide. Most of its citizens look back at what they have achieved with both pride and humility. The society …

We need to take responsibility for ourselves, to empower our people. External assistance is okay. But we need to begin with our own solutions. And so it was that on my flight from Amsterdam to Dubai I stumbled upon a documentary on poverty in Malawi by singer Madonna. Like most …

By Andrew .M. Mwenda Foreign intervention should not seek to win the war for Libyans. It should give them the tools to do so themselves. As street protests across the Arab world are forcing governments in that region to reform their authoritarian ways, the ones in Libya have degenerated into …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Thus like many millenarian cults, many people supporting Besigye believed in their own self-righteousness and assumed everyone shared their outrage Last week, opposition leader Kizza Besigye, claimed to have won the February presidential election. He claimed that by the time his own party’s tally centre was …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Will Museveni use his 2011 national victory to retire gracefully like Mandela and Nyerere or entrench himself in power like Fidel Castro and Gaddafi? Now that President Yoweri Museveni has won re-election with an increased mandate, what should he do? This election has been important for …

By Andrew M. Mwenda “Where Besigye projected himself as a national statesman, Museveni positioned himself as a local politician. Where Besigye articulated a grand, national vision, Museveni focused on mundane local issues. Besigye came across as idealistic with a high sense of morality; Museveni was realistic, pragmatic and practical if …

By Andrew M. Mwenda What Uganda needs to change is not just a political party; it needs a social movement whose organisation starts from the village. This has been the most peaceful campaign in Uganda ever but equally the most expensive in our history. President Yoweri Museveni requisitioned for Shs600 …

By Andrew .M. Mwenda The electoral promises President Museveni is making to win elections now – UPE and USE – are creating conditions like those of Ben Ali. The revolution in Tunisia that has toppled President Zine al Abidine Ben Ali is the most exciting event in Africa today. First, …

The best solution for that country is to allow Ouattara and Gbagbo to contest in the real court of effective state formation – the military President Laurent Gbagbo of Ivory Coast has refused to hand over power to Alassane Ouattara. Gbagbo is in effective control of the Ivorian state; Ouattara …

By Andrew M. Mwenda The recent indictment of leading and powerful Kenyan politicians by the International Criminal Court (ICC) presents as a serious dilemma. By all conventional accounts, Kenya is one of the most successful democracies in Africa. It has a free press. It has a multiparty political system. It …