COLUMNISTS

By Andrew M. Mwenda Laetitia Bader from Human Rights Watch accuses me of justifying restrictions imposed on independent media in Rwanda by the RPF government. I do not know how she came to this conclusion. But I have a fundamental philosophical difference with her. I believe that freedom is not …

By Simwogerere Kyazze Affairs, reveal that corrupt employees have been finagling identity numbers of unsuspecting wenches from the national data bank, and passing them on to foreigners from all walks of life'”but mostly Bangladeshi, Egyptians, Pakistanis, Chinese and Nigerians (no surprise there). Once in possession of the ID details, the …

By Juma A. Okuku In the fourth part of our Insight series on late industrialization, Juma A. Okuku comes home to Uganda, examining whether the country possess what it takes to carry out an industrial transformation. The first part was published in Issue 035. Does Uganda possess what it takes …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Last week, I argued that President Yoweri Museveni has actively stifled the growth of a robust private enterprise sector generally though he has promoted the growth of individual businesses. He has pitted indigenous capital against non indigenous capital by giving preferential treatment to the latter and …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Finally, against opposition from his wife, brother and party, President Museveni literally bulldozed the National Resistance Movement (NRM) into letting ministers Amama Mbabazi and Ezra Suruma off the hook of censure despite glaring evidence that they arm-twisted the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) to buy Mbabazi’s …

By Andrew M. Mwenda I argued last week that there is a small but very vocal group of Ugandans who have taken their legitimate anger against the regime of Yoweri Museveni into a condemnation of the Ugandan society generally. This trend is beneficial to Museveni and company because a cynical …

By Andrew M. Mwenda In February 2007, I was invited by the Institute for African Development at Cornell University in the United States to give a lecture. My presentation was on’The in-humanitarian consequences of humanitarian intervention; a case study of the UN humanitarian intervention in Rwanda in 1994.’ The lecture …

By Juma A. Okuku In the last 20 years, President Museveni has continuously talked about the need for Uganda to industrialise so as to be able to provide for its people. In this five-part insight, Juma A. Okuku looks at why we have failed so far and what we must …

By Andrew M. Mwenda A few weeks ago, a Western diplomat invited a couple of us to lunch to discuss the major challenge facing our nation and what the West ‘should do’ (I would have preferred ‘should not do’) about it. As I listened to Ugandan colleagues speak, I got …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Presidential pledges in Uganda today stand at a record Shs 120 billion. These are promises of assistance the president makes to different groups, individuals and institutions and are paid for by the state. They have been accumulating over the years, some for over a decade. Intended …