African leaders must treat plastic pollution as an urgent public health crisis ANALYSIS | SOPHIE MASIKA & LORRAINE MUGAMBI-NYABOGA | Microplastics are all around us. In the air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink. Those tiny fragments of broken-down plastic waste, are now part of our everyday …
Read More »Will Trump trigger a Eurozone debt crisis?
COMMENT | Desmond Lachman | At the first cabinet meeting of his second term, US President Donald Trump declared his intention to impose a sweeping 25% tariff on all imports from the European Union. But before opening a European front in his trade war, Trump might want to consider the continent’s …
Read More »DR Congo’s Crisis
Time for Dialogue, Not War ANALYSIS | MELODY CHIRONDA | The DR Congo’s ongoing crisis, fueled by the M23’s advances and regional rivalries, demands urgent action to prevent further escalation “I think we’re now at a point where we really have to make some strong decisions about what happens next. That …
Read More »Confronting Africa’s Cost-of-Living Crisis
Recent protests in Nigeria and Kenya should encourage governments to rethink constraints on public spending COMMENT | HIPPOLYTE FOFACK | The rising cost of living in Africa has triggered a wave of protests in recent months, underscoring the disproportionately higher economic and social costs of inflation on a continent with persistent …
Read More »Floods mounts pressure on a Kenyan economy already in a crisis
The government is already struggling to meet revenue targets due to a slowdown in economic performance ANALYSIS | TIMOTHY NJAGI NJERU | There were early warnings that Kenya’s long rain season – between March and May – was going to bring above-normal rainfall. The extreme intensity of the rain has resulted in devastating …
Read More »Africa’s intellectual crisis
How our mindless quest for development using Western institutions often leads our nations to disaster THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | I have always wanted to write a book about political governance in Africa. This is because [most of the time] whenever I read anything on governance in Africa: an academic …
Read More »Congo’s state of permanent crisis
Why the deployment of international forces without addressing internal problems will achieve nothing. THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | There is “fresh” fighting in the eastern Democratic DRC between government forces and the predominantly Tutsi rebel group, M23. I put fresh in inverted comas because DRC has been at war almost …
Read More »UN warns of deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza as donor support wanes
UNITED NATIONS | Xinhua | The United Nations is cautioning against a worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza due to dwindling donor support, a spokesperson said Friday. Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, highlighted a critical situation at the regular press briefing, citing a statement from Philippe Lazzarini, head …
Read More »MAK faces Chancellor vacancy crisis ahead of 74th graduation ceremony
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | In a last-minute twist, Makerere University found itself in a dilemma as the search for a new Chancellor remains inconclusive just a week before the much-anticipated 74th graduation ceremony, initially scheduled from January 22 to 26, 2024. The previous Chancellor, Professor Ezra Suruma, completed his …
Read More »IGAD Members convene in Uganda to address Sudan crisis
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | As tensions escalate in the Sudanese conflict, key members of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) are gathered in Uganda to deliberate on the ongoing crisis. The meeting, taking place at State House Entebbe and hosted by President Yoweri Museveni, also aims to address the …
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