Andrew M. Mwenda

Kampala

Managing Director at The Independent (Uganda)

The Old Man of the Clan against common nonsense

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Articles

Africa: Trump's Gift to Africa

1 week ago | allafrica.com | Andrew M. Mwenda

The Last Word — Many people are angry with President Donald Trump for canceling the visas of many students studying in the USA. This is bad for individual families and students. I have friends whose children have been denied visas to return to America to study. I feel their frustrations. However, for Africa, Trump has done the right thing. I hope it changes our attitudes. African elites are outward-looking.
Dangers of Western paternalism

1 month ago | independent.co.ug | Andrew M. Mwenda

Why Ugandans of all political persuasions should reject European interventions into our domestic affairTHE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | On Wednesday, May 21, I attended a meeting of Gen Salim Saleh with EU ambassadors in Gulu. What was reported in the press and social media video clips, were fragments that stripped my argument of its context. First, Europeans have no moral right to interfere in internal political affairs. Secondly, it is against international law to do so.
Trump has a point on Gaza

2 months ago | independent.co.ug | Andrew M. Mwenda

Why the US president’s seemingly crazy suggestion is the only viable solution to the Palestinian problemTHE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | For one and a half years, the world has watched in utter helplessness the merciless genocidal campaign Israel is conducting in Gaza to cleanse it of Palestinians. South Africa’s attempt to seek international justice was not based on hope but desperation.
The likely future of UEDCL

2 months ago | independent.co.ug | Andrew M. Mwenda

How this well-structured and managed organization may turn into a political battlefield, leaving Ugandans in the darkTHE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | On Monday March 31, 2025, the Umeme concession will come to an end. Its assets will revert to their owner, UEDCL. It is possible UEDCL will manage the electricity distribution network well, improving and expanding the network. But I have little optimism this will be the case.
NRM and violence in Kawempe

Mar 23, 2025 | independent.co.ug | Andrew M. Mwenda

Why the president and his handlers are misguided on their party’s electoral prospects in KampalaTHE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | I have been asking myself why someone in UPDF unleashed the violent crackdown on journalists and the people of Kawempe during recent byelection in that area. I talked to the CDF, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who told me that he did not order the crackdown. During a cabinet meeting on Monday March 10, President Yoweri Museveni condemned the crackdown.
Uganda: Museveni's Sweet Victory

Mar 10, 2025 | allafrica.com | Andrew M. Mwenda

Since he was abducted from Nairobi, Dr. Kizza Besigye has been involved in a series of tactical battles in court. Yet each victory he has secured has left his strategic position very weak. Consequently, he has quite inadvertently handed President Yoweri Museveni the rope to hang him. Besigye believes that Museveni is a tyrant destroying Uganda. He argues that Museveni has personalised the state and made Uganda a private estate for him and his family.
Museveni’s sweet victory

Mar 8, 2025 | independent.co.ug | Andrew M. Mwenda

How every action taken by Besigye since his arrest has played into the president’s handsTHE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Since he was abducted from Nairobi, Dr. Kizza Besigye has been involved in a series of tactical battles in court. Yet each victory he has secured has left his strategic position very weak. Consequently, he has quite inadvertently handed President Yoweri Museveni the rope to hang him. Besigye believes that Museveni is a tyrant destroying Uganda.
The costs of neighbouring Congo

Mar 6, 2025 | independent.co.ug | Andrew M. Mwenda

Inside the complicated relationship between Uganda, Rwanda and the CongoTHE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | The economist, Prof. Paul Collier, calculated that, holding other factors constant, economic growth in a neighbouring country can add up to 2% on the economic growth of your country. Therefore, a country having neighbours that are prospering economically gets coincidental additional growth even when doing very little.
Uganda: On Besigye's Hunger Strike

Feb 21, 2025 | allafrica.com | Andrew M. Mwenda

opinionI had restrained myself from speaking or writing about Dr. Kizza Besigye's hunger strike and the campaign to present him as a victim of a mean and cruel dictator. I am compelled to break my silence in large part because I think Besigye's sympathisers are hypocrites and delusional. I just saw them in court chanting that President Yoweri Museveni will die and his son, Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, will cry. Clearly, they know what Besigye was/is plotting.
On Besigye’s hunger strike

Feb 21, 2025 | independent.co.ug | Andrew M. Mwenda

Why Besigye and his supporters are cowardly and dishonest about their political aims and means to achieve themTHE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | I had restrained myself from speaking or writing about Dr. Kizza Besigye’s hunger strike and the campaign to present him as a victim of a mean and cruel dictator. I am compelled to break my silence in large part because I think Besigye’s sympathisers are hypocrites and delusional.