COLUMNISTS

By Ben Rawlence The Westgate attack should spur Kenya’s leaders to re-think their approach toward Somalia The attack that killed more than 70 people at Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall on Sept.21 was, according to al-Shabaab, the Somali Islamist militant group that carried it out, retribution for Kenya’s intervention in Somalia. …

By Bob Kasango Such attacks show why the world must widen the frontiers of freedom and promote democracy In May 2011, soon after the killing of the leader of Al Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden, in Pakistan by US Special Forces, the Economist Magazine ran a special feature titled, “Now, kill …

By Andrew M. Mwenda How the US president has swallowed his idealism and transformed from a critic of his Ugandan counterpart into an ally Barack Obama’s election as president of the United States in 2008 was a moment of great hope. It is difficult to recapture the emotional tone of …

By Barbara Unmuessig Putting a price tag on ecosystem services could lead to adverse financialisation of nature Today, few people retain any illusions that United Nations conventions like the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity can avert global warming, the loss of biodiversity, and the …

By Silver Bugingo Disguised xenophobia against presumed Rwandans has put their alliance under the spotlight When Joseph Kabila, (apparently, upon advice from Jakaya Kiwete and Jocob Zuma) convinced the UN Security Council to establish a “Special Intervention Brigade” to the DRC Eastern Juggles, it was like a soccer hat-trick score …

By Joseph Bossa It would improve matters a bit if land registries desist from issuing multiple titles over one piece of land Despite numerous government interventions to stop them, evictions from land continue apace all over the country. Armed with guns, some land owners, usually new ones, chase occupants off …

By Esther Dyson In the field of diet and nutrition, it is possible to work out what is best for you – if you think about it Recently I met with two nice slim men who have just launched a weight-loss app that provides daily menus and recipes, and offers …

By Enock Nyorekwa Twinoburyo Increased Chinalisation of Uganda is expensive and could boomerang Economic ties between China and Africa have grown steadily as reflected in the increasing aid to Africa in recent years. The latest official disclosure of China’s aid indicated that it had provided over US$7 billion to Africa; …

By Yusuf Serunkuma Owning a phone can be more oppressive than not having one; let’s spare our high school children The argument for high school students to own mobile phones at school pitches two views: The calmest speaks the language of communication, that is, to friends and family.  The other …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Opening the black box of East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa to expose the initial conditions in each region in 1960 The Nobel laureate in economics, Robert Lucas, once said that when you begin thinking about development, you cannot stop. I suffer this disease as well. One …