Top stories in the Independent this week: COVER STORY Buganda land wrangles: Next fight between Kabaka, Museveni? THE LAST WORD Uganda’s declining growth: Why we need to think of how to develop national capacity to manage our economy. NEWS ANALYSIS Kaweesi murder investigation: Kayihura in tight corner as Museveni demands …
Read More »THE LAST WORD: The problem with term limits
As Sierra Leone’s president seeks to amend the constitution and extend his presidency, it is time for Africa to pause and reflect By Andrew M. Mwenda The president of Sierra Leone, Ernest Bai Koroma, wants to amend the constitution and remove term limits on the presidency. Koroma is not the …
Read More »THE LAST WORD: On Museveni-Besigye talks
How the opposition leader has blundered on the chance to promote his political project – if he has any By Andrew M. Mwenda Media reports have recently indicated there are attempts to organise talks between the government and the opposition. For such talks to be meaningful, they have to involve …
Read More »LIVE: Jeff Koinange Live….on NBS TV
Jeff Koinange, and equally combative Ugandan journalist Andrew Mwenda, will be guests in tonight’s NBS TV Frontline show. The Kenyan journalist and talk show host of Jeff Koinange Live will feature in what is expected to be an explosive analysis of social media, freedoms and corruption in East Africa. The one and only …
Read More »THE LAST WORD: Manufacturing still matters
Why very few poor countries will escape poverty by taking gigantic leaps into the service industry By Andrew M. Mwenda Two weeks ago, I had a disagreement with the president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, at a conference in Kigali, Rwanda. Kim had argued that increasing automation and …
Read More »THE LAST WORD: Why Museveni will rule for life
How, barring a major surprise, the current power structure in Uganda makes lifting presidential age limit inevitable By Andrew M. Mwenda Those debating the succession issue in Uganda should refer to Rome in 44BC. Rome had been a republic since 509BC when the patricians rose in revolt and deposed King …
Read More »THE LAST WORD: Rethinking Africa’s development
Why our intellectual elites need to begin an entirely new conversation about our nations By Andrew M. Mwenda African intellectual elites exhibit a conceptual contradiction. When economic performance is poor they argue that the major source of the problem is bad leadership. And when they talk of leadership, our intellectual …
Read More »THE LAST WORD: Trump’s war with the press
By Andrew M. Mwenda How the new US president is bursting the Washington bubble and annoying the nation’s hypocrites For many decades, American journalists have deluded themselves into the belief that they are unelected representatives of the people. They are convinced that their profession places them above politics as impartial, …
Read More »THE LAST WORD: Uganda’s real oil curse
THE LAST WORD: By Andrew M. Mwenda How our overblown expectations of what oil is going to do for our country are likely to cause trouble I had always thought about the “oil curse” in terms of the “Dutch Disease” and the adverse incentives it creates that foster corruption …
Read More »THE LAST WORD: Uganda’s agricultural crisis
THE LAST WORD: By Andrew M. Mwenda How politics, not the drought, explains the current famine our country is experiencing According a report by the government of Uganda last week nearly 11 million people in this country do not have enough food to eat. I have concerns with the …
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