Andrew Mwenda in Foreign Policy Magazine on Barak Obama’s speech in Ghana a week ago …
The lesson for Obama is that Africa is likely to get better with less meddling in its affairs by the West, not more — whether that meddling is through aid, peacekeeping, or well-written speeches. Africa needs space to make mistakes and learn from them. The solutions for Africa have to be shaped and articulated by Africans, not outsiders. Obama needs to listen to Africans much more, not lecture them using the same old teleprompter.
Full article here.
Corruption is the way the system works…..not the way it fails!
Smart!
Socks fellows!!!
Hmmn
I hear Andrew’s opinion
But i don’t hear yours Tumwi…
OBAMA rocks! wether he sez wats rite o not!
I am tired of the tele-prompter.
i stopped taking Andrew seriously the minute i heard about his relationship with a certain neighboring government. If his own medium(the independent) is getting paid to paint a rosy picture of a certain government and indeed if he is running his entire paper like a glossy supplement, he loses any moral ground to make any such statements even if they might hold any water.
Thanks for the link, I hadn’t seen it.
@antipop: I don’t agree with everything Andrew says/does, but I don’t think it’s fair to dismiss a publication because it sells supplements to the Rwandan government or others. The NRM has also bought supplement space, as has the EU, etc. Monitor and New Vision also have done supplements on Rwanda. Andrew can say whatever he wants in his column, it is an opinion after all. If you take issue with other coverage of Rwanda outside of supplements and opinions (of which there is relatively little), that is another thing altogether and I am more than happy to hear your concerns. Andrew is the managing editor, but there are several other editors who make most of the decisions regarding editorial content. You can disagree with Andrew, but know that the person and the publication are not one and the same.
@MP: let’s remember that Andrew was the source of Monitor’s lucrative contract with the Rwandan government, and that he got a sizable commission for orchestrating that deal, I hear.
My wariness with Andrew Mwenda comes from the lack of disclosure regarding his relationship with Rwanda. (We all know the Independent wouldn’t survive with out Rwandan funding.) He writes provocative, flamboyant articles that laud the achievements of those in Kigali, but never discloses his financial interests. This is basic journalism ethics. (Where in the “developed” world would such behaviour be excused?) The problem is that for a while, Mwenda’s columns were starting to read like supplements themselves. Perhaps there are a number of subeditors who wield some influence in the newsroom of the independent, although Andrew no doubt remains the figure-head. The point is that clearly, there are certain political lines that will never be crossed within that publication. And by choosing to publish the pieces that he has written, Mwenda has inserted himself into a political debate, which – given his financial dealings as managing editor – he has absolutely no business participating in (at least without publicly disclosing his conflict of interest). This is not a matter of personal disagreement, as you say — it is much more serious than that. While the writers at the independent may choose to overlook such things, the rest of us cannot, and should not.
@ MP, supplements is a metaphor. I am well aware that other newpapers do run supplements infact even of particular political parties. My concern is indeed the editorials and or the other coverage that Rwanda enjoys in that paper/magazine. Maybe Mwenda is right, and maybe a lot of what he says is a heck of sense, but then certain actions and decisions he makes make him less of an authority on corruption and such…
Just as a side note, not a commentary on any of these opinions at all (HAHA I didn’t read the full article and haven’t listened to Obama’s speech yet!!!!!!), this is one of my favorite quotes about “development”:
Before we can make poverty history, we need to get the history of poverty right. It’s not about how much wealthy nations can give so much as how much less they can take. Vandana Shiva
Word. Now go read your President’s speech, will you ?