In 2007, journalist Andrew Mwenda took the stage at TEDGlobal in Arusha, Tanzania, and decried the symptomatic disease affecting his home continent: aid. The surprising take certainly got the goat of some members of the audience, including U2 frontman Bono, who has devoted so much time to promoting the need for African aid and who […]
Anne Perkins of the Guardian UK offers a fascinating profile of controversial journalist and activist Andrew Mwenda, who in 2007 told his TEDGlobal audience that aid is poisoning African governments. Mwenda’s incendiary writings, which fearlessly confront corruption, have earned him 17 arrests and status as a symbol of free speech and transparency. Not to mention […]
Andrew Mwenda writes to the mailing list Africa Club: I want to thank all of you for your support and encouragement. I am now out and free, although reporting to police tomorrow, unsure of the outcome. The struggle for freedom in Uganda is not going to be easy. The challenges are enormous and so are […]
Reuters Africa is reporting that Andrew Mwenda and two other staffers of the Independent have been arrested by Ugandan officials. Reuters reports: KAMPALA (Reuters) – Ugandan security forces on Saturday raided the offices of a magazine seen as critical of President Yoweri Museveni’s government, arresting three journalists and taking computers, a lawyer said. Read more […]
[Updated 3/12, 10am] Crusading journalist Andrew Mwenda and think tank leader James Shikwati — both stars of TEDGlobal Africa last summer — as well as TEDGlobal Fellow Paul Van Zyl and architect Cameron Sinclair, winner of the 2006 TED Prize, have all been named Young Global Leaders for 2008 by the World Economic Forum. Each […]
You can now read journalist Andrew Mwenda‘s newspaper, The Independent, online. Based in Kampala, Uganda, the paper promises “uncensored news, views and analysis” — a promise that has already led to government threats against the paper’s printer. Mwenda spoke at TEDGlobal 2007 and was a panelist on the BBC debate hosted last week at TED […]
This week, journalist Andrew Mwenda (watch his TEDTalk) launched a weekly newspaper, The Independent, in Kampala, Uganda. His journalism has been critical of the Ugandan government, and he writes in an email that the president warned off his first printer. From his email: we have been through a lot of hell. our launch was supposed […]
Andrew Mwenda is a journalist from Uganda and an active critic of many forms of Western aid to Africa. In this provocative talk, he asks us to reframe the “African question” — to look beyond the media’s stories of poverty, civil war and helplessness and see the opportunities for creating wealth and happiness throughout the […]
On the first day of the conference, the discussion between Andrew Mwenda and Bono electrified the audience and those following the conference via blogs. Here’s what bloggers both inside and outside the conference had to say: Felix Salmon’s Market Movers blog for Portfolio.com gives an overview: … the conference kicked off with [William] Easterly-by-proxy Andrew […]