THE LAST WORD

    How our president greatest failure has been inability to manage his own success THE LAST WORD |  ANDREW M. MWENDA | Recently, I drove to Busia, then to Bushenyi. I often drive to Gulu, Hoima and Fort Portal via Mubende. These experiences both stress and depress me. Kampala and …

How our country lacks the policies and institutional rules to achieve its ambitious development goals THE LAST WORD |  ANDREW M. MWENDA | The Ugandan government has set itself a very ambitious goal: to expand the economy by 1,000% in 15 years. This means the economy must grow at an annual …

How it is intriguing that Museveni’s campaign has not sought to use new information weapons effectively THE LAST WORD |  ANDREW M. MWENDA | Look at social media, where most Ugandans have migrated to for information about campaigns. Both campaigns, President Yoweri Museveni and his NRM and Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi …

Why “Protecting the Gains” demonstrates how the president and his communication team are talking to themselves THE LAST WORD |  ANDREW M. MWENDA | President Yoweri Museveni’s campaign strapline, “Protecting the Gains,” shows NRM’s lack of a vision for the future of the country. But let me begin with the truths …

  Lessons for Bobi Wine from Zohran Mamdani’s campaign to become New York City mayor  THE LAST WORD |  Andrew M. Mwenda |  Zohran Mamdani, son of our own Prof. Mahmoud Mamdani of Buziga, Kampala, is poised to win the race for New York City (NYC) mayor. At 34, Zohran has …

The costs and consequences of isolation by the very continent that globalized the world  THE LAST WORD |  Andrew M. Mwenda |  I have written before that Europe is facing an existential crisis and a creeping irrelevance. It has moved from a strategic dependence on the American security umbrella to a …

  Lessons for politicians from the life of a man who should have been president of Kenya  THE LAST WORD |  Andrew M. Mwenda | I have always been fascinated by Raila Odinga. It was therefore a big shock to me to hear of his death on October 15. Raila towered …

  How Angola’s legendary rebel leader, Jonas Savimbi, turned on his friends and killed them in droves THE LAST WORD |  Andrew M. Mwenda | A couple of months ago, while visiting Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the Chief of Defense Forces (CDF), I found him reading a book titled The Guerrilla and …

An African country without a strong leader that has managed to avoid the pitfalls of its contemporaries THE LAST WORD |  Andrew M. Mwenda | The Batooro have a saying: akaana katabuunga katekereza ngu nyinako nuwe acumba ebinura (a child who has not travelled thinks the mother is the best …

  How electoral democracy has prostituted our governance and undermined the public spirit THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA |  Uganda is facing a moral crisis, a loss of the public spirit in public service. Public policy and actions no longer embody the public spirit. Instead, they reinforce a pattern …