Why our continent’s faith in foreign direct investment as a solution to our poverty is a pipedream THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Many presidents in Africa believe the development of our nations will come from Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). If a “foreign investor” – most especially a white man …
Read More »Crisis of the state in Uganda
How foreign interests have captured Uganda’s politics thereby turning our people from citizens to clients THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Police recently raided the offices of some Non-government Organisations (NGOs) including Action Aid Uganda and Great Lakes Institute for Strategic Studies (GLISS) and froze their accounts. The government …
Read More »The tragedy of self-indulgence
THE LAST WORD | Andrew Mwenda | Diane Rwigara has been lionised by sections of the Western media and its cheerleaders in our region. She is the lady who announced her intention to run against President Paul Kagame in the August presidential election. Unfortunately for Rwanda but certainly fortunately for …
Read More »Uganda’s Donald Trump
How frustration with Museveni has led us to abandon reality and embrace demagoguery THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | October 20 | Last week, newly elected Member of Parliament for Kyadondo East, Robert Kyagulanyi, issued what he called a “Letter to Young Ugandans.” In it, he …
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 »Are Ugandans docile?
Why last month’s scuffles in parliament excited the public but did not lead to popular protests THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Last week, poorly trained security operatives entered the parliament’s main chamber and removed opposition members who were protesting plans by the ruling party to amend the constitution …
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 »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. …
Read More »THE LAST WORD: Inside Rwanda’s politics of unity
THE LAST WORD: Why other political parties in Rwanda have endorsed the candidacy of Paul Kagame The Last Word | ANDREW M. MWENDA| The government of Rwanda has been working with a concept called “Ndi’omunyarwanda” i.e. I am a Munyarwanda. It seeks to facilitate people to see themselves as Rwandans, not …
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