Andrew Mwenda (born 1972) is a Ugandan print, radio and television journalist, and the founder and owner of ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', a current affairs
newsmagazine
A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published magazine, radio or television program, usually published weekly, consisting of articles about current events. News magazines generally discuss stories, in greater depth than do newspapers or new ...
. He was previously the political editor of ''
The Daily Monitor'', a Ugandan daily newspaper, and was the presenter of Andrew Mwenda Live on KFM Radio in
Kampala
Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...
, Uganda's capital city.
Background and education
Mwenda was born in 1972 in
Fort Portal
Fort Portal or Kabarole is a city located in the Western Region of Uganda. It is the seat of both Kabarole District and historically of the Toro Kingdom.
Location
Fort Portal in Kabarole District is located approximately by road, west of Kampal ...
,
Kabarole District
Kabarole District is a district in Western Uganda. Kabarole District is part of the Kingdom of Toro. Its main town was Fort Portal before 1st July 2020 when it was elevated to a city, separating it from Kabarole district Government.
The new Kabar ...
, in the
Western Region of Uganda. His father is ''Mzee Phillip Muhanga'' of Fort Portal. Mwenda is a younger brother to
Major General
Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...
Kayanja Muhanga
Lieutenant General Kayanja Muhanga (born 1965), is Ugandan army officer. He currently serves as Commander Of Land forces in UPDF . He was appointed to that position in October 2022 by the President of Uganda and Commander in chief of the UPDF, ...
, a senior
UPDF military officer.
After attending primary school locally, Mwenda entered
Nyakasura School where he completed his O-Level studies. He was then admitted to
Busoga College Mwiri
Busoga College Mwiri, commonly known as Busoga College, is a boarding secondary school located in Uganda.
Location
Busoga College Mwiri is located on Mwiri Hill in Wairaka Parish, Kakira Town Council-Jinja District, Eastern Region of Uganda, a ...
in the
Eastern Region of Uganda for his A-Level education. He graduated with a
High School Diploma
A high school diploma or high school degree is a North American academic school leaving qualification awarded upon high school graduation. The high school diploma is typically obtained after a course of study lasting four years, from grade 9 to gra ...
from Mwiri. He was admitted to
Makerere University
Makerere University, Kampala (; Mak) is Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922. It became an independent national university in 1970. Today, Makerere University is composed of ni ...
, Uganda's oldest and largest
public university
A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national universit ...
, where he graduated with a
Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.
Later, he won a
Chevening Scholarship
The Chevening Scholarship is an international scholarship, funded by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, that lets foreign students with leadership qualities study at universities in the United Kingdom.
History
The Chevening Scholarship ...
and was admitted to the
School of Oriental and African Studies
SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ar ...
at the
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
, where he graduated with a
Master of Science in Development Studies. He was a visiting fellow at
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
, in 2010. He also studied as a fellow at
Saïd Business School
Saïd Business School (Oxford Saïd or SBS) is the business school of the University of Oxford. The School is a provider of management education and is consistently ranked as one of the world's top business schools.
Oxford School of Management ...
at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
in 2009. Mwenda was a John Knight Fellow at
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
between 2006 and 2007. He was a visiting lecturer at the
University of Florida, Gainesville
The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...
, in 2005, and a visiting fellow at the Africa Study Centre of the
University of Leiden
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Le ...
, in the Netherlands in 2003.
In 2008, the World Economic Forum selected Mwenda as a Young Global Leader (https://blog.ted.com/mwenda_shikwati/) and in 2010, Foreign Policy Magazine named him among the 100 Top Global Thinkers (https://foreignpolicy.com/2010/11/23/the-fp-top-100-global-thinkers-5/). In 2011, President
Paul Kagame
Paul Kagame (; born 23 October 1957) is a Rwandan politician and former military officer who is the 4th and current president of Rwanda since 2000. He previously served as a commander of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a Uganda-based rebel ...
of Rwanda nominated Mwenda to serve on his Presidential Advisory Council (https://nilepost.co.ug/2019/09/23/kagame-drops-mwenda-as-advisor/). In 2012 and 2013, Mwenda was named by Foreign Policy among the global top 100 most influential persons on Twitter (https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/08/13/the-fp-twitterati-100/). In 2013, he cofounded a social enterprise, Tugende, with Michael Wilkerson and Matt Brown, a company dedicated to helping young people own assets from which they derive their livelihoods. Tugende has since been one of the fastest growing companies and now boasts of over 25,000 customers who are owners of such assets and another 30,000 who are in the process of securing ownership through micro finance loans.(https://digestafrica.com/andrew-mwenada-tugende-opic)
in 2011, Mwenda helped negotiate a truce between President
Yoweri Museveni
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni Tibuhaburwa (born 15 September 1944) is a Ugandan politician and retired senior military officer who has been the 9th and current President of Uganda since 26 January 1986. Museveni spearheaded rebellions with aid of then ...
of Uganda and Kagame of Rwanda, bringing the two leaders together and helping end their intractable conflicts between them and their two countries. Between 2011 and 2018, he worked as a de facto envoy of each president to the other and helped maintain a cordial relationship between them as individuals and also between the two countries. This arrangement finally collapsed in 2018, unleashing a new round of hostilities that led to the closure of the Uganda-Rwanda border for three years. (https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/richard-dowden/reconciliation-for-kagame_b_943271.html)
In 2005, he was among sixteen senior journalists invited by the British government to discuss with Prime Minister
Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
the forthcoming report of the
Commission for Africa
The Commission for Africa, also known as the Blair Commission for Africa, was an initiative established by the British government to examine and provide impetus for development in Africa. Initiated in Spring 2004, its objectives include the generat ...
.
Work history
Mwenda is the managing director of ''Independent Publications Limited'', the publishers of
''The Independent'', a current affairs newsmagazine. An admirer of
Socrates
Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...
,
Karl Popper
Sir Karl Raimund Popper (28 July 1902 – 17 September 1994) was an Austrian-British philosopher, academic and social commentator. One of the 20th century's most influential philosophers of science, Popper is known for his rejection of the cl ...
, and
Frederick Von Hayek, he is an activist, a journalist, a columnist, a part-time poet, a businessman, and a social entrepreneur.
Mwenda is a recognised African voice in the global debate on the failures of foreign aid to Africa and the need for investment and trade as drivers of growth. A
TED speaker, he is a regular speaker at conferences across the world.
Mwenda worked as a political editor of the ''
Daily Monitor
The ''Daily Monitor'' is a Ugandan independent daily newspaper. Its name is shared by the ''Saturday Monitor'' and ''Sunday Monitor'', which are also published by Monitor Publications Limited. ''Daily Monitor'' averaged a daily circulation of 24,2 ...
'' and general manager of its affiliate on FM radio, KFM, before establishing ''The Independent'' in 2007. He has worked as a consultant for the
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
, the
World Resources Institute
The World Resources Institute (WRI) is a global research non-profit organization established in 1982 with funding from the MacArthur Foundation under the leadership of James Gustave Speth. WRI's activities are focused on seven areas: food, fore ...
, and
Transparency International
Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil ...
. He has also written for international news media like ''
Der Spiegel
''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...
'', the ''
International Herald Tribune
The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France for international English-speaking readers. It had the aim of becoming "the world's first global newspaper" and could fairly be said ...
'', ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', and ''
Foreign Policy
A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...
''. He also has produced documentaries for
BBC World
BBC World News is an international English-language pay television network, operated under the ''BBC Global News Limited'' division of the BBC, which is a public corporation of the UK government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and S ...
television and radio.
Mwenda has also authored and co-authored articles for international academic journals like ''Africa Affairs'', the ''Journal of Modern African Studies'', the ''Review of African Political Economy'', the ''Journal of Commonwealth Studies'', the ''Journal for Contemporary African Studies'', and the ''Journal of Democracy'' on top of publishing chapters in several books.
In August 2005, he was charged with
sedition
Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or insurrection against, estab ...
for broadcasting a discussion of the cause of death of Sudanese vice-president
John Garang
John Garang de Mabior (June 23, 1945 – July 30, 2005) was a Sudanese politician and revolutionary leader. From 1983 to 2005, he led the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) after the Second Sudanese Civil War, the comprehensive peace agreement ...
. Garang was killed when the Ugandan presidential helicopter smashed in a storm over a rebel area, on the way back from talks in Uganda. During his radio programme, the journalist accused the Ugandan government of "incompetence" and said they had put Garang on "a junk helicopter ... at night ... in poor weather ... over an insecure area".
In April 2008, he was arrested and released on bail by the Ugandan government for "being in possession of seditious material and of publishing inflammatory articles".
Community activism
In July 2006, Mwenda appeared before the British House of Commons committee on Global Poverty to testify against aid to Africa. He has written widely on the effects of aid on the development process in Africa and been published in such prestigious newspapers as the ''International Herald Tribune'' and ''
Der Spiegel
''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...
'' and done radio and television documentaries for the BBC on this subject. Mr. Mwenda has also been widely quoted in international media, including the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
'', and many other newspapers, radio and television networks in Europe and North America.
He has criticised aid agencies and charities for what he says is their ineffectiveness and collusion with corruption. He believes that western aid has been largely unhelpful for African development, since it encourages dependency, sustains wars and fuels corrupt states.
He argues that aid goes to the least deserving states, those that have failed their people, rather than those that have reformed. In June 2007, he gave a speech about these issues at the
.
.
On 3 February 2019, Mwenda launched the Uganda National Peoples' Democratic Revolutionary Front (UNPDRF) in the bushes of Kanyandahi in western Uganda with six men and five sticks. He declared himself supreme shogun of the UNPDRF and Charles Onyango Obbo its chief ideologue. On social media, he declared that the cause of the UNPDRF was "battle Museveni's corrupt dictatorship, Besigye's radical extremism and Bobi Wine's empty-headed demagoguery."
The UNPDRF shares a similar name with a left wing political coalition in Ethiopia, The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF)led by Ethiopian prime minister Ahmed Abiy, but it is unlikely that the UNPDRF is supported or associated to the EPRDF.
, "in tribute to his commitment to a free press in Uganda and the whole world".
* 2007: Investieren Geht uber Schmieren, Entwicklungspolitik, December 2007, Nr. 12 62 Jahr.
* 2007: Personalizing power in Uganda, Journal for Democracy, July 2007, Volume 18, Number 3
* 2006: "Sustaining Growth and Achieving Deep Reductions in Poverty: How Uganda Recovered from Conflict"; in Attacking Africa's Poverty: Experience from the Ground Edited by Louise Fox and Bob Liebenthal, World Bank, Washington DC.
* 2006: Foreign aid the Weakening of Democratic Accountability in Uganda (a policy briefing paper for the
: 'Politics, Donors, and the Ineffectiveness of Anti-Corruption Institutions in Uganda', Journal of Modern African Studies, 44, 1 (2006)
* 2005: With
: 'Patronage Politics, Donor Reforms, and Regime Consolidation in Uganda', African Affairs, 104, 416 (2005), 449–67.
* 2003: With
: "Military Corruption and Ugandan Politics since the late 1990s." in the Review of African Political Economy No. 98, 2003.
* 2001: With Prof.
, Corruption and Cronyism in Uganda's Privatisation in the 1990s, Africa Affairs 100–398 (2001) 87–103