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 …
Read More »Tinyefuza’s disappointing performance
By Andrew M. Mwenda How Gen. Sejusa has, through a series of letters, proven to be much less than what I always expected of him I read with disappointment a letter allegedly written by Uganda’s former coordinator of intelligence services, Gen. David Sejusa aka Tinyefuza, in late August in which …
Read More »America’s Syrian blunder
By Andrew M. Mwenda Why Obama’s proposed military strike against the government of Assad is likely to make a bad situation worse President Barack Obama’s decision on a military strike against Syria demonstrates the triumph of politics over policy, fear over reason and tactics over strategy. Obama had drawn a …
Read More »What drives economic success?
By Andrew M. Mwenda Development is more a result of the activities of many anonymous individuals than a product of a visionary leader Common sense should predict and human nature would dictate that every leader of a poor country would desire to go down in history as a great transformative …
Read More »Shame of the 9th parliament
By Andrew M. Mwenda How the Legislature has joined the Executive in a spree of anarchical grabbing of public resources in Uganda It is now coming to two years since parliament in Uganda set up a committee to investigate allegations that ministers Sam Kutesa (Foreign Affairs) and Hillary Onek (then …
Read More »Reflecting on African leaders
By Andrew M. Mwenda Our intellectuals need to broaden the debate on our failures from individual presidents to our elite class generally I think I have lost my faith in the wickedness of African leaders. A significant amount of debate on the failure of Africa to develop as rapidly as …
Read More »I am not dying to be president
By Andrew M. Mwenda Former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga spoke to The Independent’sAndrew Mwenda about life after losing the presidential election. You are no longer in Parliament, no longer a prime minister, are we seeing the last of Raila Odinga the politician? Raila Odinga the politician is still around …
Read More »Behind Mugabe’s landslide
By Andrew M. Mwenda Why Zimbabwe’s ageing president won an election he should have lost and lessons for the opposition in Uganda So at 89 years, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe won a seventh term of office to remain president of his troubled country. Having been in power for 33 years, Mugabe, …
Read More »Rwanda’s intriguing experience
By Andrew M. Mwenda You cannot choose whom you were born to but you can choose which person you want to be Every time I read a book about Rwanda or experience its daily life as a regular visitor attending official and informal gatherings, or by travelling to the countryside …
Read More »The price of politics
By Andrew M. Mwenda Why Uganda’s large cabinet, numerous presidential advisors and new districts are politically lucrative And so it was that inside the New Vision of Monday July 22 was a printed list of our ministers – a 78-strong cabinet – up from 71. The biggest “ministry” is the …
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