COLUMNISTS

Why Rwanda’s election campaigns are different and what others can learn from it THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda |  I am in Rwanda for the presidential election campaigns. The campaigns here are different. There are no billboards everywhere of candidates and posters do not litter city walls and buildings. Rallies are …

What the July 15 presidential elections tell us about how Rwandan citizens view President Kagame THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Yesterday Rwanda celebrated its 30th year since liberation. It has been an incredible journey. In 1994, no one gave this country a chance. The state had been dismembered, the economy …

Why the Kenyan president may have opened the pandora’s box that will grievously impair his government THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Many people have hailed President William Ruto of Kenya for yielding to popular pressure not to sign the controversial Finance Bill. A friend in diplomatic circles in Kampala texted …

Why Congolese leaders should be wary of US and UN involvement in their country’s affairs THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | We begin from where we stopped in this column last week. Staff at the U.S. embassy in Kampala deliberately distorted my discussions with them regarding M23 rebels. They claimed I …

How America uses the United Nations to falsify information in pursuit of its ulterior designs for the world THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Sometime in March of this year, I received a telephone call from an anonymous number. I rarely pick calls from numbers I do not know. By a …

The tragedy of power and politics that presidents Biden and Museveni must navigate to keep their jobs THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | U.S. President Jo Biden and Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni have a couple of similarities. Both were born during the second world war. Biden turns 82 in November; Museveni turns …

How there is an increasing reliance on war and sanctions as the main instruments of Western foreign policy THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Western nations are facing a foreign policy crisis. This is especially so with the United States and her poodle, the United Kingdom. Since 1991, they have increasingly …

Why the relationship between Museveni and the West is falling apart and little can be done about it THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | The honeymoon between President Yoweri Museveni and Western countries, especially the U.S. and UK, is over. It will be very difficult to rekindle the love between these …

Why the British government is lying about its true motives in imposing sanctions on the speaker. THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | And so, the British government has sanctioned our Speaker of parliament, Anita Among, and two of our ministers. They claim to have done this because she stole resources meant …

How reliance on misguided cultural and nationalistic sentiments are driving Uganda into a bad debt situation THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Our country is headed directly into the storms of economic crisis. And it is unlikely it can pull itself back from the brink. This is because too much sentiment …