May 16, 2022
South Africa: Land Reform - What the Real Debate Should Be About
Land reform in South Africa is an emotive and politically fraught subject. That's because land was at the heart of the dispossession of Africans by colonial settlers. Successful… Read more »
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 »
Ghana: Ghana's High School System Sets Many Students Up for Failure - It Needs a Rethink
Around the world, educational research has found that students' achievement and experiences largely depend on which school they attend and the resources available to support… Read more »
Senegal: How Senegal Is Decolonising Its Heritage and Re-Imagining an African Future
On the morning of 5 September 2017, the inhabitants of Saint-Louis, a regional capital on Senegal's northwest coast, woke to a strange scene. The statue of Louis Faidherbe that had… Read more »
Nigeria: Social Media Can Be a Force for Good in a Crisis - Lessons From Lagos
In times of crisis, it is especially crucial that governments share accurate, up to date information with their citizens. Social media can play an important role in disseminating… 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: Xenophobia Does Not Tell the Full Story of Migration in South Africa
The dominant story of migration in South Africa is that of xenophobia. The subject is regularly in the news with the focus on both incendiary political rhetoric and acts of… 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 »
South Africa: South Africa's Covid School Closures Hit Girls Hard - but They Showed Resilience Too
South Africa's school dropout rate was high even before the COVID pandemic. Research shows that around 60% of young people effectively drop out of school, with no school-leaving… Read more »
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 »
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 »
May 15, 2022
Nigeria: Blasphemy in Nigeria's Legal Systems - an Explainer
A court in Kano, northern Nigeria, recently convicted an atheist for making social media posts it found to be blasphemous against Islam. After a lengthy trial, Mubarak Bala pleaded… Read more »
Kenya: Big Infrastructure Projects On the Continent Should Work for Everyone
Big infrastructure projects should be based on the needs of people and communities. Often, they are criticised for benefiting the wealthy only. These projects reflect specific… Read more »
May 14, 2022
Kenya: Kenya's Fuel Crisis - How the Country's Subsidy System Works
Oil is an essential commodity for Kenya's transport and industrial production, electricity generation and water provision. In 2008, as the world grappled with high oil prices,… Read more »
May 13, 2022
South Africa: Was Nation's Corruption Commission Worth Four Years of Work?
South Africa's judicial commission into state capture, known as the Zondo Commission, recently handed over the fourth part of its voluminous and scathing findings to President… Read more »
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 »
East Africa: UK Plans to Send Asylum Seekers to Africa Raise Red Flags
Like many others, I was surprised and upset to hear about the UK's new deal to offload its responsibility to tens of thousands of asylum seekers to Rwanda. The plan is for Rwanda… Read more »
May 12, 2022
Somalia: A Sense of History and Urgency As Somalia Moves to Elect a New President
Somali lawmakers vote for the country's new president on May 15, marking the end of a long-delayed and controversial process. The Horn of Africa nation of 16 million has been… Read more »
South Africa: Black Farmers Need Support - How It Could Be Done
Most countries in both the rich and the developing world have some sort of programme to help early career farmers (mostly, but not exclusively young people) to get established in a… Read more »
Tanzania: Dar es Salaam's Bus Rapid Transit - Why It's Been a Long, Bumpy Ride
Infrastructure projects are often subject to political aspirations. But when they are not realised as promised or their costs multiply over the years, the projects turn into public… Read more »
South Africa: What School Textbooks in South Africa Say About the Cold War - and Why It Matters
South Africa's stance on Russia's invasion of Ukraine isn't that surprising in light of its treatment of the Cold War in the school history curriculum and textbooks. In these it's… Read more »
Africa: Jazz - South Africa's Shane Cooper and His Band Mabuta Make Borders Irrelevant
South African jazz seems to be having another international moment. Recently, for example, the Blue Note jazz label launched a new imprint, Blue Note Africa dedicated to the… Read more »