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Why government’s biggest problem is not the size of its debt but its cost of borrowing THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Uganda’s 2023/24 budget, like all previous ones in the last few years, has generated a lot of controversy about the role of public debt in our national life. Growths …

How Western threats of sanctions are bad for the struggle for the rights of homosexuals in Uganda THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Last month, Uganda passed the most draconian and barbaric anti-homosexual law in the world. The law has a death sentence for some acts of homosexuality but does not …

Why UPDF, the AU and Western powers should let Al Shabab take over power in Somalia THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Last week, Al Shabab militants made a devastating attack on a UPDF base in Somalia. They claimed to have killed 138 of our soldiers and taken many more hostage. …

How good institutions become dysfunctional in heterogenous countries with deep interethnic divisions THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | So, we begin from where we stopped last week with lessons from my former lecturer at the University of London, Mushtaq Khan. Studying South Korea and Pakistan, he found that what makes …

Lessons for the rest of Uganda’s economy from the local content rules enforced in our oil sector THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | For over thirty years now, Uganda government generally and President Yoweri Museveni specifically, have promoted an open-door policy on Foreign Direct Investment. Foreign firms are given freedom to …

A dynamic intellectual of unsurpassed brilliance, great teacher, loving husband and doting dad dies THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | I was going through my Instagram on Thursday morning when I read that Prof. John Ntambirweki is dead. If someone asked me to describe him, I would say that John …

How political calculations have shaped the destinies of Kampala and Kigali THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | On Sunday April 2nd, I went running in Kigali from Serena Hotel to the airport at Kanombe and back a total of 20km. It was a comfortable and relaxing run. The streets were …

How prejudices have eclipsed facts in the NSSF investigation leading to unnecessary confusion THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | When the speaker of parliament, Anita Among, established a Select Committee of Parliament to investigate NSSF, I knew the battle for the truths about the Fund was lost. This is because when …

   How NRM and the ministry of foreign affairs have surrendered their political and diplomatic functions to intelligence agencies THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | Uganda government is at war on many fronts. It has locked horns with Western governments and their domestic institutional agents – Non-Government Organisations …

She was taken for a ride by Karegyeya, Kayumba, Sendashonga’s wife and the entire group of anti-Kagame haters THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | This is a second installment of my three-part review of Michela Wrong’s book, `Do Not Disturb’, about the murder of Patrick Karegyeya. Many readers …