February 22
Africa: Africa's Public Finances Are in a Mess - a New Book Explains Why and What to Do
Public finance, or how governments at all levels raise and allocate money, is in evidence everywhere you look. That pothole destroying your car. The health clinic without medicine.… Read more »
South Africa: Invasive Mesquite Plants Do More Than Deplete Water Reserves - New Research in South Africa Shows They Damage Soil Too
Mesquite (Neltuma juliflora), a woody plant native to parts of South America, was introduced into South Africa's drylands in the 1880s with good intentions. Read more »
February 20
Ethiopia: Ethiopia and Eritrea Are On Edge Again - What's Behind the Growing Risk of War
The histories of Eritrea and Ethiopia have long been closely intertwined. Once part of Ethiopia, Eritrea launched an armed struggle for independence in 1961 that resulted in its… Read more »
February 19
Nigeria: Streetlights in Lagos Can Boost Safety and Grow the Economy. Why Not Everyone Benefits
Nigeria is urbanising at a remarkable speed. Some of the world's fastest growing cities are in the west African country. Read more »
February 18
Tanzania: Young Tanzanians Are Fed Up With Not Getting a Slice of the Economic Action - Research
When young Tanzanians poured into the streets on 29 October 2025, most observers saw an election protest. Protests in Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Mwanza and other cities were met with… Read more »
West Africa: Ecowas Without the Sahel States - How the Split Is Testing Free Movement and Regional Legitimacy
New governments in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso formally left the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) a year ago, having created the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).… Read more »
February 17
South Africa: South Africa's Foreign Policy Is Rooted in Negotiation With All Nations - a Shifting Global Order Makes This Difficult
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, South Africa's foreign policy has been under sustained international scrutiny. Read more »
Uganda: Kizza Besigye - the Firebrand Who Has Shaped Opposition Politics in Uganda
Uganda's Kizza Besigye has been described as possibly the most arrested man in Africa. Besigye was once President Yoweri Museveni's ally, and personal physician. He broke ranks… Read more »
February 16
Burkina Faso: Burkina Faso Has Dissolved All Political Parties - Why African Coup Leaders Often Turn On the People Who Supported Them
The end of January 2026 effectively marked the end of party politics in Burkina Faso. On 29 January, Captain Ibrahim Traoré's government formally dissolved all political… Read more »
Kenya: Sand Mining and Kenya's Building Boom - Better Rules Are Needed, but Not From the Top Down
The sun is rising in Kenya's Kajiado county, just outside Nairobi, and a truck is rumbling over dusty ground towards a riverbank. Young men guide the driver to a parking spot and… Read more »
South Africa: South Africa Is Moving Away From Coal - How Mines and Power Stations Could Be Used for Green Energy and Farming
Globally, nearly 7,000 coal mines, more than 2,400 coal-fired power plants and hundreds of coal rail networks, trucks and port terminals all make up the world's coal industry. When… Read more »
February 15
South Africa: Ramaphosa and a Stable Electricity System in South Africa - the Devils Are in the Detail
The strategic significance of the reference to energy reform in South African President Cyril Ramaphosa's State of the Nation Address cannot be overstated. Read more »
South Africa: Does South Africa Have a Future Without Power Cuts? Ramaphosa Intervenes, but the Drama Isn't Over
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his 2026 State of the Nation address, announced that the country's electricity transmission assets would move out of state-owned Eskom.… Read more »
South Africa: Digital Monitoring Is Growing in South Africa's Public Service - Regulation Needs to Catch Up
Government departments across South Africa are increasingly relying on digital tools to evaluate public programmes and monitor performance. This is part of broader public-sector… Read more »
February 12
South Africa: Water in the Dams, but South Africa's Taps Are Dry - Essential Reads On a History of Bad Management
It's become a common refrain in South Africa: there's no drought, dams and reservoirs are full, but the taps are dry. Read more »
February 11
Sudan: Sudan's Latest Peace Plan - What's in It and Does It Stand a Chance?
US president Donald Trump's advisor on Arab and African Affairs, Massad Boulos, announced in February 2026 that Washington and three Middle East states - Saudi Arabia, Egypt and… Read more »
February 10
Ghana: Activists in Ghana Are Forcing Extractive Firms to Account for the Harm They Cause - Corporate Abuse Study
Ghana has a long history of resource extraction that has caused socioeconomic and ecological harm. The mining of gold, stones, sand and salt has displaced people, polluted the… Read more »
South Africa: South Africa's Biggest Opposition Party Will Head to Municipal Elections With New Leaders - What Does It All Mean?
Speculation continues about why John Steenhuisen announced that he would not be available for re-election as the federal leader of South Africa's Democratic Alliance (DA) at the… Read more »
February 09
Ghana: Clergy Wives in Ghana Can Be Powerful - but It Takes Constant Bargaining With Men
There is a story in the Bible of a sick woman who held on to the cloak of Jesus amid an impenetrable crowd. She did get her healing, as Jesus immediately felt the loss of power… Read more »
South Africa: South Africans Are Leaving the Electricity Network - but Are Solar Mini-Grids a Fair Solution?
South Africa's electricity system is changing. After years of blackouts until 2024, the state-owned energy company Eskom is being unbundled into smaller companies, and the sector… Read more »
February 04
Cameroon: Anti-Poverty Programmes Can Change How People See the State and Each Other
When floodwaters washed away Woudou Oumar's home in northern Cameroon, he and his family lost not only shelter but hope. Then a government-supported cash transfer arrived. "The… Read more »
February 02
Angola: Angola's Lobito Corridor Is Being Revived - but Who Stands to Gain?
The Lobito Corridor is a massive infrastructure axis linking Angola's shore on the west of Africa to the mineral-rich interior. Built in the first three decades of the 1900s to… Read more »
February 01
South Africa: What's Stopping Sunny South Africa's Solar Industry? Court Case Sheds Light On the Wider Problem
A South African solar manufacturer, ARTsolar, is taking the government and several renewable energy developers to court. The case focuses on local content rules for renewable… Read more »
Sierra Leone: Freetown's Property Tax Is Designed to Plug Funding Gap - How Sierra Leone's Capital Went About It
Property taxes remain one of the most underperforming sources of revenue for urban development across Africa. One reason is that they are often opposed by the economic elites and… Read more »
January 26
Nigeria: Crime-Fighting in Lagos - Community Watch Groups Are the Preferred Choice for Residents, but They Carry Risks
Criminal activities have developed into a security crisis in Nigeria. Alongside the responses of security agencies such as the police and military, there has been a huge local… Read more »
