Across Africa opposition parties fight governments for power. In Swaziland, they are fighting simply to exist. by Louise Redvers Next year Swaziland is due to hold its eleventh election—but don’t expect a colourful campaign period of posters and rallies, because in Swaziland, Africa’s last absolute monarchy, political parties are illegal. King Sobhuza II outlawed political parties when he seized executive powers in 1973. He created the so-called Tinkhundla system of government, a decentralised structure comprising 55 districts. Members are elected to the National Assembly as individual representatives of these districts, instead of along party lines. This restricts organised challenges to…
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Nigeria’s commercial capital is much improved, offering lessons to the rest of Africa Approached at night, Lagos is a dull mass lit by the glow of countless cars. Locked in queues, their headlights slice apart the city like a knife. “You see that?” an air stewardess says looking out the window as her flight comes in to land. “That’s traffic. Welcome to Lagos.” Lagos, which calls itself a “Centre of Excellence”, is a megacity with problems. The exact population is unknown; Nigeria’s headcounts have always been hijacked by politics. The state government claims the figure to be over 21m. The…
Nigeria’s commercial capital is much improved, offering lessons to the rest of Africa Approached at night, Lagos is a dull mass lit by the glow of countless cars. Locked in queues, their headlights slice apart the city like a knife. “You see that?” an air stewardess says looking out the window as her flight comes in to land. “That’s traffic. Welcome to Lagos.” Lagos, which calls itself a “Centre of Excellence”, is a megacity with problems. The exact population is unknown; Nigeria’s headcounts have always been hijacked by politics. The state government claims the figure to be over 21m. The…
Scare tactics Conservation hyperbole leads to poor public policy Most professions demand formal qualifications of their practitioners. Often, the law prescribes these, but even if not, few customers would do business with unqualified accountants, engineers or lawyers. In today’s world, there are three notable exceptions: activists, journalists and politicians. While some in these lines of work have relevant qualifications, many do not, and justify their lay status by invoking the rights afforded people in free democracies. This however makes them uniquely susceptible to making wrong risk assessments, seeking out sensational stories and basing public policy on the strength of lobby…
Nigeria: Fulani militia As Nigeria fights jihadists in the north-east and militants in the oil-producing south, a third conflict is simmering at its centre
DRC: quo vadis? As Kabila fights to retain power, opposition politicians must put political differences aside in the interests of the electorate The 2006 elections marked the end of a dramatic decade in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after two wars (1996-1997 and 1998-2002) and a complex peace process. Joseph Kabila, who succeeded his assassinated father Laurent-Désiré in January 2001, was sworn in on December 6, 2006 as the first elected president of the Third Republic, in the country’s first reasonably fair and free multiparty election since independence. But the next election, in November 2011, was so contested that…
Kenya: out with the old By Mark Kapchanga On 6 February this year, Miguna Miguna, a Kenyan-born attorney and a solicitor in Canada tweeted that Kenya was in danger of becoming a Kenyatta-Moi private estate. “Patriots,” he added, would have to “mobilise” to stop the takeover of the country, by creating a “vibrant people-focused and merit-based society … built on the principles of social justice and governed by individuals of integrity”. In an earlier tweet, Miguna had claimed that certain “Anglo-American imperialists” were working with Kenya’s opposition leader, Raila Odinga, to “mutilate the Constitution” with the aim of turning President…
Child bride at 13 and a victim of female genital mutilation, Kenyan activist Rahma Wako liberated herself to become a powerful advocate of women’s rights Despite holding up half the sky, African women have for a long time existed within a society that does not allow them to simply be themselves, and prevents them from taking part in important discussions, even when they are affected by them. According to Kenyan Rahma Wako, African women are, more often than not, expected to conform to oppressive controls and are thus condemned to silence. Widely known as Mama Rahma, Wako, who lives in…
Africa in Fact Issue 46: Youth. Ronak Gopaldas on 4IR in Africa, read by Adrian Galley.
