Alpha Condé was elected president of Guinea two years ago; but this West African nation does not have a parliament to check his power. by Al Hassan Sillah The discord in Guinean politics grows by the day in the absence of a national assembly. Blame both sides of the political divide: this government gridlock serves both their interests. Alpha Condé was elected president in 2010 in Guinea’s first proper polls since independence from France in 1958. But his victory was controversial. None of the candidates won a 50% majority in the first round, but Cellou Dalein Diallo, a former prime…
GGA Dev
How a fisherman had to take the Electoral Commission to court in Ghnana to win a term as assemblyman In 2014, when Ghana’s Electoral Commission (EC) announced a round of district assembly elections to be held in 2015, Benjamin Eyi-Mensah, a local fisherman and businessman resident in the coastal city of Winneba, decided to contest the election. Winneba is the capital of Effutu Municipal District in Central Region of South Ghana. Located about 60 kilometres west of Accra, the capital city, it has a population of about 60,000. Centered on an historic fishing community, Winneba formerly served as a port…
While only 11% of Africans have bank accounts, some 80% have mobile phones: a huge new mobile banking market beckons across the continent
Africa’s longest-standing monarchy sidestepped the Arab Spring. by Larbi Sadiki Morocco’s kings have perfected the art of simulating change while ensuring that things stay the same. This smoke and mirrors act has enabled this North African monarchy to maintain its stranglehold on power for centuries and most recently to adapt to the Arab Spring’s winds of change. Mass demonstrations in the Arab Maghreb, first in Tunisia in December 2010, followed a month later by Egypt and then Libya, led to the toppling of long- time dictatorships. Protests for political equality and participative governance also hit Morocco. But here, by comparison,…
Democratic Republic of Congo: Allied Democratic Forces Another little-known rebel group wreaks havoc in the eastern Congo The M23 is the armed group which has featured most prominently in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the past year. This rebel group of several thousand, with close links to Rwanda and a long history of destabilising North and South Kivu provinces, recently ended its 18-month insurgency. But just a bit further north, up the road towards the commercial trading centres of Beni and Butembo, in what is known as the Grand Nord, is the home of one of the…
Angola: Lunda Tchokwe One apparently self-funded organisation is fighting for the autonomy of Angola’s diamond-rich but poverty-stricken eastern provinces. by Louise Redvers Angola, endowed with both kimberlite and alluvial diamond deposits, is the world’s fourth-largest diamond producer by value. Its diamond industry generates an estimated $1 billion in revenues annually. But for all the money the precious stones bring in, most of the people living in Angola’s eastern provinces, where the mines are situated, live in grinding poverty. Official economic statistics for the four eastern provinces – Lunda Norte, Lunda Sul, Moxico and Kuando Kubango – are scarce, but a…
Nigeria’s opposition fails to convert public discontent into victory. by Adeyeye Joseph Inside Nigeria’s cacophonous public buses, spontaneous and passionate state-of-the-nation debates are common. Consensus, however, is rare. Of all the views readily expressed, only one always seems to enjoy majority support: the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is more of an albatross than a national asset. This sentiment is as prevalent on the streets as it is in the country’s internet and media watering holes. “Nigerians would be very glad to kick out the PDP and pave the way for a new government that will take care of their…
The Africa Rising narrative is an example of how a number or a small set of statistics can be both informative and misleading
Tunisia’s post-revolutionary ruling party juggles sharia and secularism. by Farida Ayari In late October clashes between Salafist protesters and security forces in Tunis left one protester dead and three security officers seriously injured. Since then, clashes have continued and soldiers have been deployed to keep the peace in Tunisia’s capital. The Arab Spring began in 2010 and led to the toppling of dictator Zine el- Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011. This revolution kindled a debate around the role of religion in government, which has divided Tunisian society. State-imposed secularism and modernisation since independence in 1956 led many to view…
The South African government’s plans to redraw a municipal boundary raise questions of gerrymandering When in November last year the South African high court ruled against objections to the merging of a small efficiently managed municipality with its much bigger, financially strained neighbour, many in the community greeted the judgment with derision, saying that it was a forgone conclusion. The two local municipalities, the smaller Umjindi and the bigger Mbombela, are situated in the country’s north-eastern province, Mpumalanga. Mbombela incorporated towns such as White River and Hazyview after the the first post-apartheid local elections in 1996. It is also the…
