June 23, 2023
Africa: The Folly of Making Art With Text-to-Image Generative AI
Making art using artificial intelligence isn't new. It's as old as AI itself. Read more »
Africa: Dirty Tea Towels Are Breeding Grounds for Harmful Bacteria - Here's How to Clean Them Properly
Kitchens can harbour all sorts of germs and bacteria. These can arrive via humans, pets, uncooked food or even plants, meaning that a high proportion of foodborne infections are… Read more »
June 22, 2023
Sierra Leone: Sierra Leone Has Been At Peace for 20 Years After a Brutal Civil War - What Went Right
Sierra Leone's June 2023 parliamentary elections are the fifth since the end of the civil war in 2002. Read more »
Sierra Leone: Sierra Leone Elections - Survey Reveals What Voters Care About Most
Sierra Leoneans go to the polls again on 24 June, in the country's fifth post-conflict electoral contest. Read more »
Uganda: U.S. Talks Sanctions Against Uganda After a Harsh Anti-Gay Law
Uganda recently signed an anti-gay bill into law. Called by some the "worst of its kind in the world," the law imposes life imprisonment for same-sex relations while using colonial… Read more »
Africa: Human Organs for Transplant - 5 Steps Africa Must Take to Improve the Supply Chain
Medical science has made tremendous advancements over the past 70 years. One of these is the transplant of human organs from one person to another. The first transplant - a kidney… Read more »
Africa: Cities Are Central to Our Future - They Have the Power to Make, or Break, Society's Advances
We live in tumultuous times. In the space of just a few years, we have witnessed a surge in populist politics across the world, a global pandemic, a spike in environmental… Read more »
June 21, 2023
Ghana: Ama Ata Aidoo - The Pioneering Writer Left Behind a String of Feminist Classics
Prolific author and former Ghanaian education minister Ama Ata Aidoo passed away on 31 May 2023 at the age of 81. News of her death reverberated around… Read more »
Southern Africa: Unicorns in Southern Africa - the Fascinating Story Behind One-Horned Creatures in Rock Art
One-horned creatures are found in myths around the world. Although unicorns in different cultures have little to do with one another, they have multiple associations in European… Read more »
South Africa: Bathrooms Are Political - How Gender-Inclusive Toilets Can Combat Indignity and Violence
A new hate crimes bill is inching closer to the possibility of becoming law in South Africa. The bill entrenches human dignity as a foundational value of the country by providing… Read more »
Kenya: Kenya's Population - 5 Key Findings in the Past 20 Years of Research
Like many countries on the African continent, Kenya's population is growing - fast. The country's population was 8.1 million in 1963; today it stands at about 55 million people.… Read more »
South Africa: Sign Language Is Now Official in South Africa - How This Will Help Education in Schools for the Deaf
South African Sign Language is set to become the country's 12th official language. Parliament approved a constitutional amendment in a bid to "promote the rights of persons who are… Read more »
Rwanda: Rwanda - Paul Kagame Is a Dictator Who Clings to Power but It's Not Just for His Own Gain
Rwanda's president Paul Kagame recently said he was looking forward to his retirement after 23 years in power. Speaking to the press in April 2023, he claimed he "may join… Read more »
June 20, 2023
South Africa: Milisuthando - a Powerful Documentary That Will Get South Africans Talking About Identity
Milisuthando is a debut feature length documentary film by Milisuthando Bongela. Taking the form of a personal essay, it's an intimate story about family and ancestors, about… Read more »
Sierra Leone: African Leaders in Sierra Leone Played a Key Role in Ending the Transatlantic Slave Trade
Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone on the west African coast, was named for the freed slaves who were returned to Africa by British members of the movement to end slavery.… Read more »
Nigeria: Nigeria's New Foreign Exchange Policy Is Good News - but It Can't Work Wonders for the Economy On Its Own
The Central Bank of Nigeria recently announced changes to the way the country's foreign exchange market will work. Foreign currencies can now be bought and sold at rates determined… Read more »
West Africa: Last of West Africa's Legendary Wax Cloth Traders Has Left Her Mark
Dédé Rose Gamélé Creppy, who has died aged 89, was one of west Africa's most influential wax cloth traders. She was the youngest, and the last living,… Read more »
Africa: Scientific Fraud Is Rising, and Automated Systems Won't Stop It. We Need Research Detectives
Fraud in science is alarmingly common. Sometimes researchers lie about results and invent data to win funding and prestige. Other times, researchers might pay to stage and publish… Read more »
June 19, 2023
South Africa: Climate Change Journalism in South Africa Misses the Mark By Ignoring People's Daily Experiences
South Africa's media houses rely too heavily on events like conferences, climate disasters and the release of scientific papers in their reporting on climate change. That's a… Read more »
Tanzania: Tanzanian Students Who Struggle With English Feel Bullied - a Major Barrier to Learning
In many postcolonial contexts, early learning is conducted, and assessed, in a language that is unfamiliar to learners. About 40% of the world's population cannot access schooling… Read more »
Nigeria: Health Workers and Absenteeism - Study Shows How Personal and Political Relationships Protect Offenders
Absenteeism of health workers contributes to poor quality of care. A study in Uganda, for example, showed that it reduced the likelihood of people using primary health centres by… Read more »
Africa: African Cities and Climate Change - the Real Debate Is Who Should Pay to Fix the Problem
For most city mayors and managers in Africa, the debate about whether climate change is real is a moot topic. They know it is. They are on the front lines dealing with the impact… Read more »
June 18, 2023
Kenya: Gold Fraud - the Goldenberg Scam That Cost Kenya Billions of Dollars in the 1990s - and No One Was Jailed
The Goldenberg scandal in the early 1990s is Kenya's largest documented gold fraud. The scheme involved Goldenberg International Limited, which pretended to export gold and… Read more »
South Africa: South Africa's Ruling Party Is Performing Dismally, but a Flawed Opposition Keeps It in Power
As power cuts continue, the economy falters, unemployment rises and the currency tumbles, South Africa's political commentators tend to agree that support for the governing African… Read more »
Ghana: Customary Land Governance Holds in Ghana but Times Are Changing and Not for the Better
Ghana went into colonisation with two broad types of customary land arrangement. In one, a traditional leader was the custodian of the land and gave his followers equitable access… Read more »