Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa has taken over as Zimbabwe’s new leader, ending strongman Robert Mugabe’s 37-year reign and the country’s worst political crisis since independence. Here is a snapshot of two weeks of turmoil, from a military takeover to mass street protests and an …
Read More »COMMENT: Contextualising Odinga’s struggle
Why Kenya’s opposition resistance movement could be important for democracy COMMENT | SEKOU TOURE OTONDI | In his last address at Uhuru Park on the eve of Kenya’s October 26 election re-run, Raila Odinga announced the creation of what he called a National Resistance Movement. In a later interview with CNN, he clarified …
Read More »BOOK: Museveni doesn’t understand democracy
A rights activist view on the tension between the government and NGOs Kampala, Uganda | FLAVIA NASSAKA | The government’s renewed determination to tightly monitor Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in Uganda is meant to stifle other than enable civil society organisations do their work. The NGO Act passed in 2016 just …
Read More »Africa’s real intellectual crisis
Why Museveni is not the cause of the problems of Uganda but rather their product and reflection THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Last week, I accepted to join a whatsapp chat group of Ugandan “intellectuals”. The administrator told me that it discusses “serious issues.” I therefore …
Read More »AGE LIMIT: The full story from in, and out of parliament
THE FULL STORY: Chaos reigns in and out of Uganda Parliament as expected debate on motion on age limit removal is deferred Kampala, Uganda | GODFREY SSALI | The much anticipated motion for MP Raphael Magyezi seeking leave of parliament to introduce a Private Member’s Bill to amend the constitution …
Read More »LIVE: Ugandan MPs set for Age Limit showdown
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Ugandan legislators have started arriving at parliament for Thursday’s session that is expected to discuss constitution ammendments, including the lifting of the age limit for the presidency. Most Kampala television stations were broadcasting live from parliament, and several other spots in the capital that is …
Read More »The false gospel of governance
THE LAST WORD: How Africa’s obsession with ‘governance’ issues is too much ado over little or nothing THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Let me articulate a heresy: the argument that Africa’s failure to prosper economically is fundamentally due to “governance” i.e. that our leaders are greedy, selfish, …
Read More »ANALYSIS: Why Uganda democracy activists jubilated over annulment of Kenya election
Cost of democracy: Uganda democracy activists jubilate over court annulment of Kenya election Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | On Oct.17, Kenyans will get back into the long queues to vote again after the Supreme Court annulled the last presidential election which saw incumbent, Uhuru Kenyatta, declared winner. The next election will be exactly …
Read More »THE LAST WORD: Opening the Pandora’s Box
THE LAST WORD: How the nullification of the presidential elections in Kenya has put that country on a slippery slope Andrew M. Mwenda | THE LAST WORD | The Kenya Supreme Court annulled the election of President Uhuru Kenyatta and ordered a re-run because the balloting and transmission of results …
Read More »Trump’s mirror to America
How the U.S. president has exposed the hypocrisy of his nation’s media and academia Andrew M. Mwenda | THE LAST WORD | Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump did what he does best: hold a mirror to his country. And the American elite hate the image they see of themselves. …
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