By Andrew M. Mwenda Most of this week has been consumed by the debate on the progress poor countries have made in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). I have never been an enthusiast of MDGs because I see them as part of the increasing efforts by the international community …
Read More »Africa at 50
By Rukiya Makuma Independence babies that wont grow up 2010 is the year for Africa as 17 countries celebrate 50 years of independence since colonial rule. Africans resisted the colonialists on grounds of segregation, slavery, exploitation and domination. But 50 years after, how have these countries performed? Are they still …
Read More »The second scramble for Africa (Part 3)
By Timothy Kalyegira Africa has become important not just as an intelligence listening post and army and naval base for counterterrorism originating in the Middle East, but also as a haven and breeding ground for home-grown terrorism ranging from the Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb that acts to destabilise North Africa, …
Read More »The second scramble for Africa (Part 2)
By Timothy Kalyegira These new discoveries of oil have increased Africa’s strategic importance on the world stage, but there is even more to this than these mineral deposits. The last 15 years have also seen countries like China, Brazil, Russia and India registering strong economic growth and with that lifting …
Read More »Africa is democratising; here is how
By Andrew M. Mwenda On March 16, 1989, over 6,000 workers at South Korea’s ultra modern subway system in the capital, Seoul went on strike turning the city’s morning rush hour into chaos. About 3,000 workers occupied the roundhouse from which the locomotives were dispatched. The strike took place …
Read More »Africa’s richest men in 2009
By The Independent Team Mohammed Al Amoudi (Ethiopia) African Rank No.1 – World Rank No. 43 – Wealth $9 billion Ethiopian born Mohammed Al Amoudi is this year the Richest Man in Africa. Al Amoudi who is based in Saudi Arabia has kept his US $9 billion fortune through these …
Read More »Zoellick on his Africa tour
By Patrick Kagenda The World Bank president Robert B. Zoellick just ended an African tour that took him to Sierra Leone, Cote d’Ivoire, and Ethiopia.He told the African Union meeting in Addis Ababa that an estimated 64 million people worldwide will fall into extreme poverty because of the global financial …
Read More »Why Africa is losing its best
By Andrew M. Mwenda Finally, I have settled down at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut where I will be a post-graduate fellow for the next couple of months. The place is below freezing but it offers the best environment for someone to indulge in intellectual speculation. With few public …
Read More »Conservatism blocking dynamic thinking in Africa
By Awel Uwihanganye My political commentaries, which sometimes are published in The Independent Magazine, mostly analysing Uganda’s political trends and supporting President Museveni on a number of issues, have been a source of nasty words thrown at me, with many responses and unfairly harsh and negative reactions from those who …
Read More »Commodity revival offers hope for Africa
By Agencies Resurgent mineral exports and foreign investor demand look set to support African currencies in 2010, but an array of local factors, ranging from bad weather to anti-gay legislation, could upset that trend. The region’s high-yielding debt and strong economic growth prospects are likely to lure foreigners into frontier …
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