THE LAST WORD

By Andrew M. Mwenda Why Africa needs trade and investment from America, not lectures on democracy and human rights Last week, we were in Washington DC to attend the America-Africa Summit. China, the European Union, India – even Turkey – have all held summits on Africa and with African leaders …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Will the anti gay community try to write a new bill and mobilise quorum in parliament to pass a new law? Last week, the Constitutional Court in Uganda declared the Anti Homosexuality Act null and void because it was passed illegally i.e. without quorum. Since then, …

By Andrew M. Mwenda How power sharing in Rwanda has worked and the lessons Ugandan politicians can draw from it for our good Just imagine that you wake up tomorrow morning and find the following in Uganda: Yoweri Museveni is still president of the country. His vice president is Mugisha …

By Andrew M. Mwenda How the internet has led to the growth of radicalism and the erosion of restraints associated with democracy The growth of social media has created an important avenue for people to express themselves to audiences freely without the restraining hand of the governance structures of traditional …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Although bar gossip and street rumours can be true, here is why journalists should always look for proof Yusuf Serunkuma is a PhD candidate at Makerere University’s Institute of Social Research. In that capacity he also teaches students. He regularly writes commentaries in newspapers and features …

By Andrew M. Mwenda  How Rwanda’s growth since 1994 measures against other economies and what explains the figures Rwanda seems to be a country of extremes. Its turnaround since the genocide has been as astounding as the tragedy itself. The scale and speed of the Rwanda genocide was unprecedented. Rwanda’s …

By Andrew M. Mwenda East Africa has been billed as the next manufacturing hub for global markets. Will our politics allow it? The South Korean ambassador to Uganda, Park Jong Dae, recently referred me to an article by George Friedman in the online journal, Geopolitical Weekly titled The PC16: Identifying …

By Andrew M. Mwenda The changing face of the Ugandan army and what it says about Museveni’s plans for the future Imade my career in the late 1990s and early 2000s in large part by investigating and reporting on corruption and incompetence in the Uganda Peoples’ Defense Forces (UPDF). The …

By Andrew M. Mwenda How Lincoln made history on slavery and Museveni succumbed to the pressures for social conservatism I have been forced by friends and fans to reply to Joseph Bossa’s otherwise good defence of former U.S. president Abraham Lincoln (The Independent May 02-08 and Daily Monitor May 11). …

By Andrew M. Mwenda How the arguments advanced to explain nations that have rapidly transformed are the same for the nations that failed What made South Korea (and Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia) develop so rapidly that was absent in sub-Sahara Africa and South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri …