How Dubai, a city state ruled by an absolute monarch, challenges Western notions of rationalism and individual autonomy THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | I spent the whole of this week in Dubai, the second richest emirate of the United Arab Emirates. It is a city-state that …
Read More »Losing sight of grand strategy
How Kampala’s cold war with Kigali harms Uganda’s national interest and what can be done about it THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | Last week, Uganda’s Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) arrested the Vice Chancellor of Victoria University, Lawrence Muganda, apparently on charges of espionage. Muganga is not …
Read More »IN THE INDEPENDENT: Ssegirinya and Ssewanyana
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | These are the top stories in this week’s THE INDEPENDENT. COVER STORY Ssegirinya and Ssewanyana: Why is government targeting MPs over Masaka killings? THE LAST WORD Losing sight of grand strategy: How Kampala’s cold war with Kigali harms Uganda’s national interest and what can be …
Read More »Ethiopia’s failed reform
How Africa’s most successful economy has produced a political crisis that may tear it apart THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | It is eight months now since the armed conflict between the Ethiopian government and the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), began. Initially, government troops, supported by Eritrean …
Read More »IN THE INDEPENDENT: Big fight over COVIDEX
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | These are the top stories in this week’s THE INDEPENDENT. COVER STORY Fight over Covidex: Mistakes Prof. Ogwang, his lawyers, employers shouldn’t make THE LAST WORD South Africa’s slippery slope: Why the arrest and detention of Jacob Zuma is dangerous for the unity and stability …
Read More »Inside the COVID resurgence
Why government needs to think differently about where it needs to invest in order to effectively contain the pandemic THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | COVID has returned with a vengeance and is now ravaging Uganda. In March and April, the virus seemed to disappear. Out of …
Read More »On Museveni’s new cabinet
The president’s choice of ministers and what it tells us about the factors that shape the character of cabinet THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | President Yoweri Museveni’s recent cabinet has excited a lot of debate. Many pundits question its competence to manage the country and lead it …
Read More »Kadaga’s political suicide
How the former parliamentary speaker made a series of blunders that may sink her otherwise great political career THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | Rebecca Kadaga is a lady of many parts. For twenty years, she held sway over Uganda’s parliament: first as deputy speaker (20001-2011), and then …
Read More »Michela Wrong’s Rwanda hatchet job
How attempts to tarnish the name and record of Paul Kagame soils the reputation of a British journalist THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | Finally, I have finished reading Michela Wrong’s 516 memoir of Patrick Karegyeya; a former Rwandan intelligence chief who was killed on or about New Year’s …
Read More »Uganda’s COVID overreaction
How copying and pasting Western solutions to the pandemic was unrealistic for Uganda and Africa THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | When COVID-19 struck, the world held its breath. In early 2020, there were doomsday predictions that the pandemic would devastate Africa, given the continent’s poverty leading to …
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