The political biography of one of the most compelling politicians in postcolonial Africa THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | I admire Raila Odinga. I think he is one of the most dynamic politicians in postcolonial Africa. So, I wished he would win the 2022 presidential elections in …

A journey to a South Indian state and the contradictions in its egalitarian ideals THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | I had been battling continuous fatigue and exhaustion, largely mental and partly physical. A friend advised me to seek traditional Indian treatment. He chose ShinShiva, a treatment center in …

The factors and combinations that make that newspaper survive, flourish and promote democratic freedom THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | This week, Monitor Publications Limited celebrated its 30th Birthday. Daily Monitor (the newspaper) and its affiliate radio station, KFM, are the ground on which my teeth as a …

Why the cooperation agreement between NRM and DP should form the example in the evolution of our democracy THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | The cooperation agreement between NRM and DP is an important political innovation in our country’s politics. Uganda needs this kind of cooperation between competing …

  How our political elites waste so much time indulging in misguided debates about our development THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | President Yoweri Museveni and his critics have been locked in a debate on when or whether Uganda will achieve the much hyped “middle income” status. There …

How this South Asian country is transiting from a stable liberal democracy into a chaotic illiberal mobocracy THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | The news from Sri Lanka is intriguing and confounding both as politics and as economics. Let us begin with its politics. Sri Lanka has, since …

How low levels of skill impact our nation’s ambitions in government, private sector and our homes THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | A friend has lived in America for the last 15 years, having left the country in her early twenties. Before, during and after her graduate studies, …

Inside the discrimination, humiliation and mistreatment of Ugandans of Kinyarwanda culture THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M MWENDA | By And so it was that while going through the Ugandan section of my library this week, I picked a copy of President Yoweri Museveni’s autobiography, Sowing the Mustard Seed; the …

  How government may have opened a Pandora’s box by creating huge salary disparities among its employees THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | There seems to be haphazardness in the government of Uganda that is hard to fathom. One case in point is the way they have caused a …

America’s opportunities and main challenge as it seeks to contain China from dominating Asia THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M MWENDA |  In the April 17th column (see: “Aiding the enemy: How US involvement in the Russia-Ukraine conflict is helping the rise of China to surpass America as the world’s …