The pan-African magazine of choice since 2009
William Ruto, once a roadside chicken-seller in the rural Rift Valley, took office as president in September after narrowly defeating Raila Odinga in the August election. The vote was not settled until the Supreme Court dismissed Odinga’s claims of fraud, but the post-election period was relatively peaceful. Now, can Ruto’s government deliver prosperity to the …
Liverpool forward Sadio Mane says he will listen to the Senegalese people while deciding his future at Liverpool, the Premier League club, amid speculation that he could leave Anfield with just a year remaining on his current contract. Senegalese soccer star, Sadio Mane, who has been linked with a move from Liverpool to German champions …
To have an equal voice in global policies, Africans need more seats at the tables of global power, such as the United Nations and the Group of 20. The G20, a collection of the world’s largest economies, consists of 19 countries and the European Union. But if it includes the EU as a regional representative, …
Kenya Airways carried more than 5 million passengers in 2019, but lost more than $300 million in 2020, as COVID-19 curtailed travel. It wasn’t the first time Kenya Airways, like many larger carriers, needed a government bailout. Air travel is a crucial service, but in Africa, it might be more sustainable to have a few …
Burkina Faso is the third West African country to experience a military coup in the past two years. Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba ousted President Marc Roch Christian Kaboré amid widespread dissatisfaction with how he was running the country, particularly his handling of attacks by jihadists, who have killed some 7,500 people in the past seven years …
Fifty-eight years after African leaders rejected Ghanaian president Kwame Nkrumah’s radical African-union project, Europeans, via the European Union, have implemented all the nine proposals Nkrumah made in 1963, including a common currency and the ability for citizens to cross borders without a passport. At home in Africa, however, it has been more talk than action: …
When South Sudan became independent in 2011, many hoped that its oil wealth would provide a base for building the nation’s economy and lifting citizens out of poverty. Instead, politicians have purloined these revenues and put them toward patronage and personal enrichment, feeding internal conflict. Where the oil money goes is kept murky: Much of …
Kenya has had relatively stable governments in its nearly 60 years of independence, and has been democratically governed for almost 30 years. But underneath that surface is a system where personal deals, patronage, and ethnic bloc voting are often the road to power. With the 2022 elections coming up, citizens should demand more than ethnic …
The African Continental Free Trade Area was supposed to go into effect on January 1, 2021, but more than a year later, no trading under its provisions has happened. AfCFTA’s top official says it takes time for nations to reach complex agreements to cover more than 8,000 categories of products, as well as informing small …
False start for the African Continental Free Trade Area Read More »
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning icon, an uncompromising foe of apartheid and a lifelong activist for racial justice, died December 26 at 90. South Africans, world leaders, and people around the globe mourned the death of the man viewed as the country’s moral conscience. Without Tutu and Nelson Mandela, does South Africa …