There were always signs that the opposition, led by Nelson Chamisa, was going to implode soon after the August 2023 general elections. These fears were based on its internal polls to elect representatives, but no one had foreseen anyone resigning from parliament. For the first time in post-independence Zimbabwe, MPs resigned from parliament in solidarity with their haunted leader. These two were MPs from the capital, Harare: Rusty Markham and lawyer Fadzai Mahere. They wrote their letters of resignation and were duly out of the august house. The duo’s resignation from parliament was triggered ..read more

On 16 September 2023, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, three West African nations led by military juntas, announced the creation of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES). This move marked a significant shift in the political landscape of the region, particularly when these nations made good their threat to withdraw from ECOWAS in January 2024. The formation of this alliance has raised concerns about the future of regional integration and democracy in Africa. The withdrawal of these countries from ECOWAS disrupts decades of regional integration efforts. With an annual commerce and service flow worth ..read more

By Moudjo Tobue Cameroon is gearing up for a pivotal election in 2025, an event that promises to shape the country’s future. For several decades, Cameroon has grappled with multiple crises across social, economic, and political fronts. Many citizens are hopeful that this upcoming election will usher in a change of leadership, bringing much-needed transformation. Battle Lines Drawn In the Democratic Rally of the Cameroonian People (RDPC), the incumbent party, internal factions have been quietly clashing. However, the opposition’s movements are more conspicuous. Political parties and civil socie ..read more

By Moudjo Tobue For several days, Cameroon has been rocked by a moral scandal of significant proportions. Nearly a hundred testimonies have emerged implicating Hervé Bopda, purportedly a businessman, in a series of heinous crimes including kidnapping, assault, and rape of over a hundred women and men in Yaoundé and Douala. The cascade of allegations began with an anonymous report on the platform of whistleblower Nzui Manto. This initial account detailed an incident where a woman was allegedly slapped and threatened at gunpoint for rebuffing advances. Subsequently, a flood of more harrowing tes ..read more

By Maria de Deu The moment Tidjane Thiam succeeded the late Henri Konan Bédié as the leader of Pdci-Rda, he was promptly positioned by his party as their candidate for the 2025 presidential elections. This strategy was never kept under wraps. His recent and notable active re-entry into his party, Pdci-Rda, and the broader Ivorian political scene has garnered attention both nationally and internationally. After over two decades abroad, Tidjane Thiam has returned to his native Ivory Coast, eager to contribute to the development of national policy and specifically that of the Pdci-Rda. However, h ..read more

By Maria de Deu The Ivory Coast’s last month’s triumphant win of their third gold medal in the African Cup of Nations (CAN) football tournament not only united the 27 million Ivorians divided by politics and the tough economic conditions but also seems to have rallied them around their country and its leadership. On the evening of February 11, 2024, as the referee of the final match of the 34th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations between Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire, Mauritanian Dahane Beida, blew the final whistle, a wave of joy swept over the 27 million Ivorians. The Ivorian people were ecsta ..read more

By Belinda Jamela In the tumultuous political landscape of Zimbabwe, democracy remains an elusive ideal. The recent withdrawal of Nelson Chamisa from his role as president of the Citizens for Coalition Change (CCC) underscores this harsh reality. This development is not a standalone incident but rather a stark reminder of a long-standing history marked by the systematic suffocation of opposition parties, orchestrated by the ruling Zanu PF party. On January 25th, 2024, Chamisa announced his resignation through a comprehensive 13-page statement shared across social media platforms and the party ..read more

By Otiato Guguyu He had directly been involved with the conceptualization of the Eurobond post-2008 crisis, its inaugural issue when he became President in 2013 and had been responsible for the aggressive procurement of debt over the last decade. Kenyatta had then handed his deputy the poisoned chalice and watched him choke over it. Kenya’s former president Uhuru Kenyatta’s defeat at the hands of his spurned deputy was complete. No one captured this humiliating capitulation better than Dennis Galava, one of my former editors, who incidentally was sacked at Mr Kenyatta’s behest in 2016 when he ..read more

The Orwellian spectre of mass surveillance is becoming an alarming reality as governments across Africa are increasingly employing Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras under the pretext of traffic control and security. What is touted as a tool for public safety could, in fact, be a wolf in sheep’s clothing, threatening our privacy and civil liberties. Take Uganda’s Intelligent Transport Monitoring System, launched in November 2023, as an example. On the surface, it appears to be a step forward in managing traffic by using CCTV cameras to track all vehicles across the country in real time ..read more

By Brenda Guchu In her acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize in Literature 30 years ago, the author Toni Morrison summarized the purpose of language thus: The vitality of language lies in its ability to limn [describe] the actual, imagined and possible lives of its speakers, readers, writers. If language cannot accurately describe people’s lived reality, or worse if it misdescribes it, then language becomes a tool of reality distortion, which inevitably spawns a new reality. In Kenya corruption permeates many facets of the public discourse, be it in the media or in day-to-day chit ch ..read more