How NRM’s level of organization has made it impossible for the Opposition to mobilize the masses against Museveni
Sections of the opposition in Uganda have been arguing that it is through violence that President Yoweri Museveni has been able to sustain his political power. While this may have been the case for the first decade, it has become increasingly counterproductive for the President to use violence as an instrument of rule.
Uganda has undergone both a structural and a political transformation. The claim that violence works for Museveni allows the opposition to find an excuse for their failure to organize effectively to reach the masses.
How Museveni has shifted from reliance on military force to coerce political support to the use of money to rent it
My article, “What keeps Museveni in power” (The Independent April 12-18), attracted the most intense debate on our website. Apparently, most critics of President Yoweri Museveni place disproportionate importance on the contribution of violence to his ability to hold power.
That may have been the case in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s but not anymore. Over the years, violence has lost its effect and increasingly become counterproductive. Yet, the opposition has been able to see that if they are ever to get a chance to defeat Museveni, they need to force the president onto a violent path.
Why African countries should follow the example of Rwanda, Ghana and Zambia by moving from foreign aid to bond markets
Last week, the government of Rwanda issued an international 10-year bond to raise $400 million for infrastructure development. Within two days, the bond had been oversubscribed as investors placed orders worth $ 3 billion for a piece of this pie. Given that Rwanda’s GDP is just $6.4 billion, this is a great show of confidence by self interested investors. It was also a slap in the face of the self-righteous merchants of charity who have recently shown low confidence in the country.
How our admiration of Western systems has more do with how it perceives itself than the reality of its being
I still cannot explain what got into my head recently to re-read William Shirer’s, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, a 1,200 pages tour de force. I had first read the book in 1999. It left a lasting impression on me for the details on the Third Reich and the elegance of its prose.
But what intrigued me this time is Shirer’s adjectives in reference to Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin on the one hand and Frederick Roosevelt and Winston Churchill on the other.
How party’s tolerance of rebel MPs was typical of its tolerance of other ills and a danger to democracy
Finally, the NRM decided to expel it’s so called “rebel MPs”. Many critics of President Yoweri Museveni and the NRM have denounced this decision. The MPs themselves are challenging it in a constitutional court. Yet most of this criticism is out of ignorance or opportunism. These MPs were violating the Loi fondamentale of party politics. In most multi-party democracies, they would have suffered a similar fate.
How the President’s success in retaining power rotates around his obsessive focus on all threats to it.
A friend recently sent me a text message saying: “Man, what’s up with the Mbuya and Bombo attacks and an attempt on Kale. Ankunda’s answers in the Observer and Tinye’s incoherence don’t inspire confidence. I hope I am very, very wrong.”
I told my friend that I too hoped he was wrong adding that initially I had thought it was an inside job by security organisations to create grounds for arresting opposition leader Kizza Besigye and charging him with treason and terrorism. I told him that I just cannot understand how any rebel would dare attack a UPDF military barracks like Mbuya unless they are suicidal.
Why Western attempts, genuine though they may be, to promote democracy in poor countries is anti-democratic
As I write this article, a debate is raging in America on gun ownership – indeed it has been raging for generations. Every other day, there is carnage in America. Some crazy person grabs a gun and goes on a shooting and killing rampage – in a school, kindergarten, train station, shopping mall or church.
Tens die, many more are injured. Americans have been debating how to stop this incessant carnage in view of the second constitutional amendment that gives that nation’s citizens a right to bear arms. Opinion polls show that most Americans prefer some restrictions on the purchase of automatic weapons. Yet the country has been unable to martial a politically weighted majority for gun-reform.
It is very unlikely that Museveni would trade US$ 404m to the treasury for a private bribe of $50m. Here is why.
Press reports that Tullow Oil discussed to bribe President Yoweri Museveni with a private cash payment of US$50 million for his 2011 re-election campaign in order to circumvent paying capital gains tax worth US$ 404 million have generated heated debate in the country. Although the emails refer to an inside suggestion among company executives, Museveni’s critics, hungry for any mud to smear on him, now claim that the President actually took the bribe.
Wednesday, 27 March 2013 06:23
By Andrew M. Mwenda
This is an expanded version of the original article “Power without responsibility”that was uploaded on Friday 8th Feb. 2013.
How the West is seeking to usurp Africa’s struggle for freedom and democracy using a humanitarian language
Since the end of the Cold War, a movement to save Africa from Africans has grown and gained momentum across the Western world. This movement is reflected in campaigns to end poverty by giving aid and canceling debt, to try African leaders at the International Criminal Court and to promote human rights. On the face of it, this movement seems humane and well intentioned.
But on close examination, this movement is an attempt to usurp the sovereignty and therefore democratic content of our continent’s struggle for independence. My interest in this article is the growth of a human rights police wielding a stick on the heads of elected African leaders.
Getting the best from your battery
A well maintained new battery should last for at least five years
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d policy w'd 've been better if all students were publicly sponsored coz d govt w'd pay immediately but look at a student paying 840,000 tuition who's parent is a primary teacher and earns 3oo,ooo/= p
Free press for an engaged society
Safe to Speak: Securing Freedom of Expression in All Media
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