June 07, 2022
East Africa: Four Novelists, One Ocean - How Indian Ocean Literature Can Remap the World
Novels make worlds. They create an intuitive sense and mental image of a place. And the senses of space produced by fiction shape how readers see the world itself, just like maps… Read more »
June 06, 2022
Somalia: Election Was Different - Why That's Not Necessarily a Bad Thing
At the end of a tough electoral process marked by intensified violence, Somalia has a new president. Read more »
June 03, 2022
Uganda: Martyrs' Day - How Life in Uganda Today Mirrors the Dark Old Days of Kabaka
Martyrs' Day in Uganda commemorates the bold decision of some early converts to Christianity to give up their lives for the sake of the gospel. The day, marked on 3 June every year… Read more »
June 02, 2022
Kenya: People Will Continue to Die of Rabies If Kenya Doesn't Educate Healthcare Workers
Rabies - a viral disease spread through an animal bite - has had an effective vaccine for more than a century. Yet people continue to die from it. Rabies kills nearly every known… Read more »
June 01, 2022
Kenya: Push for Affordable Housing Is Creating Opportunities Despite Barriers
In Kenya, the right to housing is embedded in the constitution, which provides that "Every person has the right to accessible and adequate housing, and to reasonable standards of… Read more »
Southern Africa: Enforcing Competition Would Ease Food Price Hikes in East and Southern Africa
Small and medium-scale farmers and agri-businesses in east and southern Africa are getting a raw deal. To succeed they need fair and integrated regional markets. Research by the… Read more »
May 31, 2022
Kenya: Political Debates in Kenya - Are They Useful or Empty Media Spectacles?
It is a few months to Kenya's August 2022 general election. That means it is time for the theatrical, skeleton-revealing spectacle also known as the political debate. Read more »
Somalia: Somalia's Election Raises More Questions Than Answers
Somalia now has a new parliament - and a president elected by its 329 lawmakers. This followed more than a year's delay. Read more »
May 30, 2022
Kenya: How 'Patriotic' Choral Music Has Been Used to Embed a Skewed Version of History
Choral music - patriotic choral music in particular - is a significant genre in Kenya's political history. Read more »
East Africa: What U.S. Re-Entry Into Somalia Means for the Horn of Africa and for Bigger Powers
The US has announced it will resume a limited military presence in Somalia. The former administration withdrew troops from the country in 2020. The mission of the American soldiers… Read more »
May 29, 2022
Somalia: U.S. Will Soon Redeploy Troops in Somalia - the Mission and Key Goals
The Biden administration in the US recently announced it would be providing a "persistent presence" in Somalia of up to "around 450" US soldiers, reversing a decision taken by US… Read more »
May 27, 2022
Somalia: Somalia's New President Hassan Sheikh - His Strengths and Weaknesses
Somalia has a new president. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud beat the incumbent Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo in a long-delayed election. It's not Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's first stint as leader,… Read more »
May 26, 2022
Kenya: Climate Change Isn't a Priority for Universities. It Should Be
Universities can play a vital role in shaping change in societies. They produce knowledge through research, train future decision makers, and contribute to public awareness of… Read more »
May 24, 2022
Rwanda: Commonwealth in Kigali - Another Chance for Rwanda's Kagame to Project Soft Power
Rwanda is getting its turn to host the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting from 20 June to 25 June 2022. The grouping of former imperialist Britain power plus its dismantled… Read more »
May 22, 2022
Uganda: Museveni's First Son Muhoozi - Clear Signals of a Succession Plan
On 8 March 2022, Ugandan politics was sent into a spin by 49 words tweeted by President Yoweri Museveni's only son, Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba. Read more »
May 16, 2022
Rwanda: LGBT Rights Are Protected On Paper, but Discrimination and Homophobia Persist
"From today, I no longer want to be called your mother, if you don't want to change you can leave my house and come back when you are a transformed person, when you are a man."… Read more »
Kenya: LGBTI Refugees Seeking Protection in Kenya Struggle to Survive in a Hostile Environment
Kenya is now the second biggest refugee hosting country in Africa. Of its over half a million refugees, over a thousand from neighbouring African states have sought asylum on the… Read more »
Kenya: Mombasa Port - How Kenya's Auditor-General Misread China's Standard Gauge Railway Contracts
In December 2018, a leaked letter from the Kenyan auditor-general's office sparked a rumour that Kenya had staked its bustling Mombasa Port as collateral for the Chinese-financed… Read more »
Africa: Ethnic Poverty - Dividing and Excluding People Keeps Them Poor
Sub-Saharan African countries are the most ethnically diverse in the world. Within each African country there are more ethnic groups than there are in most of the world's… Read more »
Kenya: Kenya's Judiciary Can Break the Cycle of Electoral Violence - If It's Independent
Kenya is no stranger to highly contested elections, including those pervaded by political and ethnic violence. Read more »
May 19, 2022
East Africa: Banana Paper Could Save East Africa's Potatoes From Devastating Worms
Potatoes originated in South America, where they were domesticated about 8,000 years ago. The plants were eventually brought to Europe in the mid-1500s, from where they spread to… Read more »
May 16, 2022
Kenya: #JusticeForSheila Highlights the Precarious Lives of Queer People in Kenya
Kenya is one of 32 countries in Africa that criminalise homosexuality. People who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) are frequently stigmatised,… Read more »
Tanzania: Heat and Health - Dar es Salaam's Informal Settlements Need Help #AfricaClimateCrisis
In the coming decades, heat will become one of the most significant and visible impacts of climate change, particularly in Africa, where temperatures are expected to increase… Read more »
Kenya: How Judiciary Can Break the Cycle of Electoral Violence
Kenya is no stranger to highly contested elections, including those pervaded by political and ethnic violence. Read more »
May 13, 2022
Mauritius: Pink Pigeons in Mauritius Made a Remarkable Comeback From Near-Extinction - but Are Still Losing Genetic Diversity
Back in the 1980s there were just ten or so pink pigeons left in the wild. Known to scientists as Nesoenas mayeri, the species is found only on Mauritius, the Indian Ocean island… Read more »