Tag Archives: africa

By Ronald Musoke Oil companies prospecting for oil and gas in Africa need to ensure the very highest standards in environmental risk management, Tullow Oil’s director of exploration, Angus McCoss said recently. McCoss said minimizing the companies’ footprint through genuine consultation, design and technology is a first step. “The opportunity …

By Andrew M. Mwenda How the newly re-elected US president is not the solution but the problem for Africa Last week, Barak Obama was re-elected president of the United States. Since his first election in 2008, many African elites were happy that at least “one of us” has won the …

Kampala, Uganda | Ronald Musoke | The president of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Donald Kaberuka, has said the continental institution is in the process of convincing African states to use some of their savings held in foreign reserves to kick start several infrastructural projects to aid their economic transformation. Kaberuka who …

By Thierry Tanoh Continent needs better infrastructure in order to boost food production Last year, the international community recognised one of the worst humanitarian tragedies of recent times unfolding in the Horn of Africa, and moved in to ameliorate the widespread famine there. Now, poor rains, crop shortages, and continuing …

By Andrew M. Mwenda How realistic is the risk of political upheaval in Africa and what can be done about it? Two weeks ago, I was in Nairobi, Kenya to attend a conference on Africa’s political risk profile. The moderator of the first session posed four questions for discussion: Is …

By Andrew M. Mwenda Why South Korea succeeded where Uganda failed A common argument to explain (the better term would be to “caricature”) post independence failures in Africa is always in comparison to East Asia. It is often argued, for example, that by 1960, Ghana and South Korea had the …

By Ahmed M. Mohamoud Silyano Obsessed with Mogadishu, the UN and AU are blind to growing sanctuaries of progress in the Horn – escpecially Somaliland Drought, famine, refugees, piracy, and the violence and terrorism endemic to the shattered city of Mogadishu, a capital ruined by civil war: these are the …

By Donald Kaberuka The idea that a system can deliver economic development while closing avenues for democracy is not consistent with sustainability Twenty years ago, someone coined the term “Afro pessimism.” Those were the days of large macroeconomic imbalances, unsustainable debt, slow or negative growth and a rather chaotic beginning …

Mubatsi Asinja Habati Human Rights Watch, an international human rights organisation, works for the promotion and protection of human rights globally. The Independent’s Mubatsi Asinja Habati spoke to the organisation’s Africa Division Executive Director, Daniel Bekele. What do you make of Human Rights Watch work in Africa? In Africa we …

By Bob A. Kasango Whether Gaddafi outlives the NATO airstrikes or not, he is the wrong man for Libya and Africa must ask him to go as they ask NATO to stop the shelling. Rebel leaders rejected a plan presented by the African Union (AU) for a ceasefire and an end to …