Fighting the corona virus

What we should know about our public medical facilities and their professionals as we face a pandemic

THE LAST WORD | Andrew M Mwenda | The corona virus is finally with us. For a large and loud section of Ugandan elites, our country should have the facilities like Intensive Care Units (ICUs) and High Dependency Units (HDUs), Organ Transplant Units (OTU) in numbers and standards we find in German, France and Italy. The gulf between these expectations and the financial, institutional and human-capital capacity of our poor nations is something that never ceases to amaze me.

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Besigye as Museveni’s ally

How Uganda’s opposition leader helps the incumbent keep winning elections

THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | Opposition leader and activist, Dr. Kizza Besigye, has been consistent in denouncing the electoral process in Uganda as a sham. In a recent interview with Daily Monitor, he said: “[Lt] Gen [Henry] Tumukunde knows that in Uganda, the election cannot cause change and bring about the announcement of a different person as president. If he wants to join the struggle for change, he should know that it will take more than canvassing for votes.”

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Inside the American election

Why populists like Bernie Sanders fool themselves when they promise to change the way America works

THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | As the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries in the USA gather momentum, candidates have made healthcare a central issue in their elect-ability. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have made it their swansong.

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The paradox of Uganda’s oil curse

How our government built and has now almost destroyed the country’s oil industry

THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | Uganda’s upstream oil industry is dead. Ok, let me admit this is a bit of an exaggeration. It is more appropriate to say it is in a coma and will be very difficult to resuscitate. This conclusion is paradoxical because Uganda has spent years painstakingly building the best and most patriotic institutional and oil policy infrastructure in Africa – and one that meets best international practice. How can an ‘A’ student in institutional and policy design turn into an ‘F’ student in turning such advantage into a viable business?

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