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 …
Read More »When Namibia stunned me
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 …
Read More »The quandary of de-dollarization
COMMENT | Charles Okello Ayai | This article is, in part, a response to Andrew Mwenda’s article titled “Time for Africa to wake up” in his column, The Last Word on February 14, 2025. In it, he makes what has become a popular exhortation by most who consider themselves Pan-African, namely, …
Read More »The White Man’s Burden
How the West seeks to dominate poor countries using the language of democracy and human rights THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | We return to EU ambassadors expressing concern over human rights abuses by the Uganda government at a meeting with Gen. Salim Saleh last month. The German ambassador made a …
Read More »On Museveni’s PDM tours
Government’s misguided plan to turn Uganda into a country of prosperous peasants THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | The government of Uganda has been promoting the “Parish Development Model” (PDM). The program seeks to draw farmers from subsistence farming to commercial agriculture and thereby make them rich. It gives each individual …
Read More »The legacy of Rajiv Ruparelia
Why this 35 years old kid will continue to live in the memory of many people for generations to come THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | On Saturday May 03 around 2.20am, fate struck. Rajiv Ruparelia, son of Uganda’s richest couple, Sudhir and Jyotsna Ruparelia, died in a horrible car accident. …
Read More »John Kazoora, a tribute
The life of a man whose political ideals were always in contradiction with his political analysis THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Maj. John Kazoora, who died on Easter Sunday April 20th, 2025, was a ferocious political animal. I met him in 1996 during the 6th parliament when I was a …
Read More »The foundation of Trump’s tariffs
How the American president is using the playbook his predecessors have used for far too long THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | I am an admirer of President Donald Trump because I find him more realistic about issues and brutally frank in the way he expresses himself. He lacks the hypocrisy and …
Read More »The dent in American’s soft power
How Donald Trump and Elon Musk are tearing America’s most insidious instrument of domination THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | The “reforms” to government spending by President Donald Trump and his newfound friend, Elon Musk, are the logical conclusion of the way “democracy” in America has evolved. America has, anyway, …
Read More »What 2025 portends for Uganda
The challenges and opportunity for Museveni at 80 years as he enters this important election year THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | This is an election year. President Yoweri Museveni has entered it with many tactical advantages. The leader of the largest opposition party, Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine, has …
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