When humanity destroys its forests, it cries about ‘big loss’, then cuts down more
Environmental organisations and the civil society have turned the spotlight on lack of effective regulations against wanton destruction of forests, warning that humanity faces serious self-destruction. Speaking at a virtual press conference ahead of the March 21 International Day of Forests 2021 and the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030,...
Tales of ‘palace’ rivalry look to dominate Tanzania President Magufuli’s death
East Africa is bracing for the first female president following the death of Tanzania President John Pombe Magufuli on Wednesday evening. For two weeks, the fallen president’s health and whereabouts have been the subject of speculation until Wednesday night, when a sombre Vice President Suluhu Samia Hassan appeared on national...
Angola’s $530m power project will grow renewable energy, regional connectivity
Angola will construct a 343km, 400kV central-south power line that will connect the north and south transmission grids in Angola and allow for the distribution of clean energy between the two regions. The project will be completed in 2023. The electricity transmission line will cost $530 million that has been...
Memoirs: How different would Kenya be today had Mboya not been assassinated?
To Tom Wolf, a pollster who arrived in Kenya as a US Peace Corps Volunteer soon after independence in 1963, the current volatile political atmosphere in Kenya evokes memories of the lead up to the assassination of the astute minister for Economic Planning in founding President Jomo Kenyatta government, Tom...
US accuses Morocco of pervasive money laundering, terror financing
Morocco has been placed on a grey list for countries with pervasive money laundering or terrorist financing concerns. The remarkable designation by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global intergovernmental money-laundering watchdog, puts Morocco in the same category with Syria, Yemen and Pakistan. Morocco’s FATF designation is a significant...
New plastics law likely to have severe unintended consequences in Mauritius
The government of Mauritius have proposed bold new measures to curb plastic waste. While the intentions behind the mooted regulations are commendable, we are firmly of the view that the proposed new policies for the management of PET Plastic Waste, if implemented as per the timelines, logistics and technicalities, could...
Energy industry is going to be the bedrock of Africa’s road to recovery
African Energy producers and the governments are facing an unprecedented economic crisis caused by coronavirus, unemployment, economic recession and energy poverty and energy transition concerns. The African Energy Chamber’s Road to Recovery: How the African energy industry can reshape itself for a post-Covid comeback offers a common-sense strategy for the...
Kenya: US copyright law, fake Gmail accounts used to censor gambling story
On February 4, Emmanuel Dogbevi turned to Twitter with a plea for help. He tagged press freedom groups and colleagues in a series of tweets, lamenting how allegations that he violated US copyright law had prompted his news website to be taken offline. Dogbevi told CPJ via phone that Ghana...
Despair: Some African countries can’t afford shots outside the Covax system
Most African countries are almost entirely reliant on Covax – the initiative backed by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the vaccine alliance Gavi and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations that offers vaccines cheaply to developing countries. Covax began distributing vaccines to countries such as Ghana and the Ivory Coast...
Africa holds key to keeping the world free from a pandemic that’s on the rise
As the rest of the world prepares for a vaccine-driven return to normal over the next few months, at her community health centre in a poor, working class neighbourhood of Cape Town, Andrea Mendelsohn is dreading the arrival of April and May – that’s when the weather will get cooler...
