About me.

Andrew M. Mwenda is the founding Managing Editor of The Independent, Uganda’s premier current affairs newsmagazine. One of Foreign Policy magazine 's top 100 Global Thinkers, TED Speaker and Foreign aid Critic



Tuesday, October 26, 2010

THE TROUBLE WITH DEMOCRACY IN AFRICA.

Last Saturday, October 16, I was a guest on Capital Radio’s Capital Gang programme and our debate settled down to the subject of democracy in Africa – specifically on Uganda and Rwanda. Like most debate on anything in Africa, the discussion did not use the facts of a case i.e. the actual dynamics driving a country. Rather, it relied on a set of assumptions drawn from the experience of others which were super-imposed on our reality.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

THE ICC AND PERVERTED JUSTICE IN AFRICA.

Last weekend, we celebrated 48 years of independence. Sadly, many Ugandans (and Africans generally) do not appreciate the political significance of this event largely because of the failures of post independence governments. The resultant frustration has given vent to sections of the international community, largely from the West, to seek to wrestle control of our affairs from African decision makers to international institutions.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

WHEN REALITY STRIKES PREJUDICE.

The common message against President Paul Kagame of Rwanda is that he is a “media predator.” The Ugandan “democracy” crowd claim I cannot host a show like Andrew Mwenda Live in Rwanda. Yet the threat to the show would not be Kagame perceived intolerance. The show would fail if it adopted the Ugandan format because of poor strategic positioning largely due to the fact that Rwanda’s political context is different.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

WHY NRM LOSERS SHOULD JOIN FDC.

An important feature of the recently concluded NRM election primaries was the violence and fraud that characterised the process across almost the entire country. This produced a large number of aggrieved NRM politicians who have declared they want to run as independents. This is intriguing because in spite of the unfairness with which their party treated them, none has sought to join opposition parties.