COLUMNISTS

By Andrew M. Mwenda On Monday, I was invited to speak at an Africa-China conference under the theme ‘China’s partnership with Africa: improving aid architecture for policy effectiveness.’ By sustaining rapid economic growth over the last two decades, China has emerged as a major global economic power. The major driver …

By Sverine Koen January 20 was the one-year anniversary of Barack Obama’s presidency. It has provided analysts and critics an opportunity to reflect on the President’s achievements and failures, in domestic and foreign policy alike. As an American with a Kenyan father, Obama’s foreign policy could have been expected to …

By Dr. Izael Pereira da Silva The youth have very little concern for abstract concepts such as honesty, justice, sincerity, chastity… Unless they see these qualities incarnated in a person they can admire and imitate, they will most likely ignore them. It is rather obvious that they are the first …

By Andrew M. Mwenda I was in Kigali last week when the Rwanda government released the report on ‘The Investigation into the crash of the Dassault Falcon 50 on April 6, 1994 carrying former President Juvenal Hanyarimana.’ It was both a triumph and a humiliation for the Rwanda Patriotic Front …

By Independent Team and Agencies How one man’s action could change the way the world looks at a continent The relatively affluent upbringing of the Nigerian would-be bomber Umar Abdulmutallab is not too dissimilar to that of some of the Sept. 11 attackers or Al Qaeda recruits for other attacks, …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Last week, a friend brought me a pirated copy of the recently released Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon movie, Invictus. It is a gripping story of how Nelson Mandela used rugby to assuage the fears of white South Africans regarding the dawn of majority rule. As …

By Rukia Makuma A report on the Transitional Justice Bill that seeks protection for victims and witnesses and prosecution for war crimes perpetrators in Uganda has distributed responsibility among the LRA and government forces. The UNDP report, ‘Transitional Justice in Northern, Eastern Uganda and some parts of West Nile,’ was …

By Jocelyn Edwards At the Imperial Hotel in Entebbe last month, MP David Bahati moved around the room handing out copies of his anti-gay bill to religious leaders of all the major faiths and denominations. Muslim imams in their embroidered skull caps, Anglican and Catholic priests in their collars were …

By Andrew M. Mwenda The opposition parties’ agreement to field one presidential candidate come the 2011 elections is possibly a good move. However, previous presidential elections have shown that there is no need for a joint opposition candidate. Indeed, the combined vote of third candidates has always been statistically insignificant …

By John Njoroge UETCL says company is not competent But State House, Migereko want deal done In November 2008, a public hearing was held at Sunset Hotel in Jinja. Its purpose was to get feedback from stakeholders over an application for a licence to generate and sell electricity. The application …