THE LAST WORD

How journalists have allowed campaign rhetoric to obscure issues that are fundamental to the election President Yoweri Museveni’s campaign strapline; `Steady Progress’ sounds like a slogan from a communist pamphlet, not a marketing sound-bite in a competitive election. With it, the President is not promising anything new or spectacular but …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Last week, we were treated to a televised debate among Uganda’s presidential candidates. Although we face an immense task of transforming our country from a poor and backward nation into a rich industrial society, our presidential candidates’ arguments fell far below what is required to achieve …

By Andrew M Mwenda Why Tanzania’s new president is doing the right thing the wrong way and why he may fail Since early November 2015, newly elected Tanzanian president, John Pombe Magufuli, has captured the imagination of many African elites on social media by his brazen actions of cutting unnecessary …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Why we need to use the results of the referendum in Rwanda to think instead of relying on prejudice to judge In 2014, President Blaise Compaoré of Burkina Faso sought to amend his nation’s constitution and remove term limits so that he could run for the …

By Andrew M. Mwenda How the West has built a global incentive system that sustains a negative narrative against Africa Steve Biko once said the greatest weapon in the hands of an oppressor is not his armies and arms but the mind of the oppressed. Antonio Gramsci had made a …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Do the suffering people of Burundi a favour in their ongoing civil war; don’t help them Burundi seems to be sliding into chaos. Innocent civilians are being killed in droves. News reports from the capital, Bujumbura, are both sickening and horrifying. Everyone wants the international community …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Inside the struggle by Rwandans to get their president to run again in 2017 And so it was that on December 6, I was present at a Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) meeting to discuss the “third term”. Attended by over 3,000 party delegates, members wanted President …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) presidential candidate, Dr. candidate Kizza Besigye and his supporters claim President Yoweri Museveni has destroyed Uganda and their campaign is to save the country from catastrophe. Yet Besigye is making campaign promises that will require trillions of shillings to fund. If …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Why the belief that his campaign promises are workable is an admission that Museveni presidency is a success Dr. Kizza Besigye and his supporters say President Yoweri Museveni has destroyed Uganda. So their campaign is to save it. As part of this, Besigye is making campaign …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Why the U.S. president always feels compelled to lecture to Africans and my obsession with his meddling It has become custom for U.S. President Barak Obama to constantly volunteer unsolicited advice to African people whenever a given country is going through some major event. So when …