Andrew Mwenda

How Israel’s plan to enter Gaza ignores the lessons of history and will only lead to tears THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Israel is preparing a ground invasion of Gaza in a vain effort to destroy Hamas. It is incredible how stupid human beings can be, especially our inability to …

Why Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should call President Paul Kagame of Rwanda for some advice THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | As Israel prepares for a ground invasion of Gaza to “destroy” Hamas, it is important to remind Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his confederates that this is an exercise in …

How Hamas and the hardliners in Israel politics need each other for their political survival and success THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | The successful attack by Hamas on Israel last week illuminates the folly of the human mind. Israel has been boasting of having built an “Iron Dom” to protect …

How and why Kagame’s enemies have been successful at branding him a tyrant THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | I asked a young friend to visit Rwanda and assess the state of the country. He returned last week completely mesmerised at how a poor country can have such excellent infrastructure, a …

Lessons for NUP from the continuing crisis in Uganda’s previously largest opposition political party THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) continues to tear itself apart. This is perhaps the final phase of the party’s existence. When time comes to write its postmortem, what would have …

Why democracy crusaders should worry less about Putin and more about its home front, the West THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Since Russia invaded Ukraine last year, the liberal democracies of the West have been on a “moral” crusade against President Vladmir Putin. According to them, Putin is a tyrant, …

Why the big crowds at his rallies are misleading indicators of actual voter behavior at the ballot box THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | As expected, police have “suspended” the countrywide mobilistion tour by Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine. After pulling large crowds across the country, I am sure government got …

How governance in Africa reflects structural imperatives, not the personalities of our leaders THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Recently, someone posted an article on our WhatsApp chatgroup about the persistence of “corruption” in Africa. It said on June 13, 1988, Pini Jason Onyegbaduo, a popular Nigerian columnist, propounded a “Hypothesis …

Why the Gabon coup is a wake-up call to intellectuals in Africa to rethink politics on the continent THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | There has been yet another a successful military coup in Africa, this time in Gabon. This is a country that has not known a military coup in …

The transformation of democracy from a political form to a religious movement THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda |  Last week, I had an encounter with a democracy jihadist called Jeffrey Smith during a debate on Twitter (X) Spaces. The next day, he took to Twitter (X) accusing me of supporting despotism …