The myth of Museveni’s rigging

Here is why if there was pre-ticking of ballots, it had little influence on the final results

THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | There is a myth in Uganda’s opposition that President Yoweri Museveni steals their votes. Opposition leader Dr. Kizza Besigye has been the principle promoter of this myth, claiming that he won all the electoral contests against Museveni in 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016. This has stifled the opposition in Uganda, locking them in victimhood where they indulge in self-pity and refuse to recognise their own internal weaknesses and design a strategy to overcome them.

Tweet

The price of shortsightedness

How Bobi Wine is turning his moment of triumph into a missed opportunity for strategic leadership

THE LAST WORD |  Andrew M. Mwenda | Bobi Wine is without any doubt a great guy. His greatness does not lie in his thinking but in his character. And that could be the problem. A little over three years ago, he was largely known as a weed-smoking Rastafarian who sings good music often with strong political undertones. Then by one stroke of political intuition, he transformed himself into a major national political figure and international star, totally eclipsing Dr. Kizza Besigye, the principled, courageous but belligerent leader of Uganda’s opposition. He then took on the indefatigable President Yoweri Museveni by the horns for the presidency and gave him a real run for his money.

Tweet

Bobi Wine’s dangerous duplicity

What the evacuation of his family from Uganda before elections reveals about Uganda’s musician turned politician Kyagulanyi

THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M MWENDA | In 2018, I appeared on Frontline program of NBS television with Bobi Wine. In the heat of the debate he said that if there were chaos in Uganda, I would be the first person to board a plane and run to exile. He said for him he has nowhere to go because his only home is Uganda. Right? This week Bobi Wine evacuated his entire family to the safety of America. Please note that he did not send them to Kenya or Rwanda or Tanzania, who are our immediate neighbours. He sent them to far away America. Why?

Tweet

A tribute to a great friend, Ezra Bunyenyezi

THE LAST WORD | ANDREW MWENDA |  And so it was that on the morning of December 24th, while going through Instagram, I saw a post on the wall of Lucy Bunyenyezi (Smize) announcing the death of her uncle Ezra Bunyenyezi.

For a brief moment I lost my balance. What? How? When? Why? I just could not believe it! How can Ezra, a man of boundless love and and an abounding generosity, die? He was so full of life and zest, the world needed more and more of him.

Tweet

Bobi Wine is selfish, power-hungry politician

He is leading his supporters and admirers to COVID-19 mass suicide with recklessness and irresponsibility

THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | Presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine has been hosting large rallies across the country. In all of them, tens of thousands of his supporters gather in close contact with each other and vast numbers are without masks, in total disregard for the COVID19 pandemic SOPs. In one video, which I have watched from the beginning to the end, he tells his supporters: “those with masks should wear them and those without masks it is okay”.

Tweet

Uganda’s prosperity paradox

 How rapid economic growth and improving quality of life are causing mass discontent

THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | There is widespread anger especially among the youths in Uganda’s urban areas, but most pronounced in Kampala. Very many commentators on current affairs think this is a result of poor economic performance, resulting in joblessness and poverty. These people argue that if we could sustain growth that creates jobs for the unemployed or underemployed, and if these jobs earned these youths good money, this anger would disappear. These arguments make logical sense but they are empirically wrong.

Tweet

Bobi Wine’s roaring campaign

The things Museveni needs to look at as he battles a youthful musician out to oust him

THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | I have just been re-reading President Yoweri Museveni’s 1981 masterpiece on why he chose a protracted armed struggle to fight the government of Milton Obote. It provides an incredible insight into how a weak group can employ its weaknesses as strengths and turn the strength of a powerful but oppressive state into handicaps. It is incredible how, even without strategic thought but sheer gut, Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine is using the same strategy and quite successfully against Museveni.

Tweet