Presidential candidate who promises to legalise cannabis, export snakes is stealing the show in Kenya
Less than three weeks before Kenya holds a presidential election, analysts say the unexpected, growing popularity of one candidate could deliver some unpredictability to the outcome. George Wajackoyah ranks a distant third behind front-runners Raila Odinga and William Ruto. But according to one poll, his platform to legalise marijuana and...
Cameroon’s war economy: ‘This is no longer a struggle for the common man, but an economic venture’
Five years into a deadly separatist conflict in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions, hopes of finding a negotiated settlement seem more distant than ever as both the government and secessionist rebels dig in, according to civil society activists. It’s a conflict marked by spikes of extreme violence that invariably target civilians. The...
Violence against women: Media and researchers should stop revelling in calling South Africa ‘rape capital’
Researchers and journalists in South Africa tend to portray sexual violence as an ever-worsening crisis, focusing on either the latest police statistics or the most violent and horrific recent incidents. Since the late 1970s, the media has displayed a near obsession with reporting rape numbers and gruesome case details. The...
Milestone as US Marines get first Black four-star general after 246 years; to head Africa Command
In the late 1980s, Maj Ronald Bailey met a young Marine he knew had promise. Michael E. Langley was a powerlifter who dominated flag football games, an intellectual who set records for how many training courses he wrote and a problem-solver whose bosses frequently tapped him to mediate workplace disputes....
South Africa loses 5,000 licensed firearms every year, now mass shootings have become too common
In just two days in early July, 25 people were shot dead in four separate incidents at taverns across South Africa. In one of these shootings, in Soweto, 16 people lost their lives. The killings made international headlines and were shocking even in South Africa, a society with one of...
How Uganda’s despised ‘mini-Musevenis’ are the ‘eyes and ears’ that sustain ruling clique in power
Kampala, Uganda – When Ugandans next head to the polls in 2026, President Yoweri Museveni will have been at the helm for exactly 40 years. In the capital Kampala, renewed talk of a political transition is a now trending. For years, there have even been multiple reports about a succession...
South Sudan crisis: Kiir remains deeply suspicious of his deputy, even refusing to allow him to leave the country
In April, President Salva Kiir Mayardit and Vice President Riek Machar re-committed to the peace deal they signed in 2018 that ended five years of civil war. For that deal to work, efforts must be speeded up to unify the country’s security forces. Unfortunately, the political dynamics that stalled security...
Technology: Double-edged knife that’s depriving workers of rights, pumping pork to others
Rarely has such a robust labour market been so thoroughly scoured for signs of impending doom. Many workers landed their dream situation in the exceptionally tight labour market, which gave them uncommon leverage to gain flexibility, seniority and higher wages. Unemployment remains just above the half-century low reached in early...
South Africa’s fractured ruling party ANC has created room for social media to stoke fear
Last July South Africa was hit by a wave of devastating violence that left over 350 people dead and caused massive economic damage. Different people have used different terms to describe what happened: civil unrest, looting, food riots, uprising, rebellion or counter-revolution. Even government ministers were initially divided about what...
Experts say ‘Kamikaze drones’ in use in Russis vs Ukraine war is a preamble of future battlefields
An attack on a Russian oil refinery this week highlighted the use of loitering munitions by both sides in the Ukraine war to inflict targeted losses using cheap technologies capable of waiting for targets to emerge. When a Russian oil refinery worker pointed his camera phone into the sky earlier...
