“[I]f they say that there is a lot of gold here…the obvious thing is that Tanganyika will be rich and there will be no more loans…” – Ali Saidi Mtaki, Parliamentary Hansard: 7 June 1962 President John Magufuli has recaptured the attention of the international media. “Shares in London-listed Acacia Mining”, Reuters observes, “were set
READ MOREGory images from Uganda’s torture chambers have gripped the nation. Many are still struggling to fathom why cold-blooded torturers would descend on human beings and unleash such untold horror on them. In response, President Museveni penned a tepid open missive advising police and other law enforcement agencies to cease the use of torture. He accurately
READ MOREPolitics in Kenya has from late 70s been a game of ethnic numbers. This game was perfected by the advent of multiparty democracy in early 1990s when former President Daniel arap Moi allowed for the repeal of Section 2A of the then Kenyan Constitution. Political alignments since then have involved ethnic communities ganging up against
READ MOREFor the first time ever in recorded history, the source of the once might Zambezi is dry. Even more surprising is the fact that this has happened at a time when, water levels in the region are supposed to be at their highest on account of the good rains experienced in the past six months. A
READ MORELast week I was invited to what was described as a “Global Think In” event, basically a series of conversations between academics on Columbia University’s New York campus and scholars and participants in nine Columbia Global Centers in cities around the world. The question we were asked to ponder was: What issue relating to the
READ MOREMuch has been made about the alleged flooding of the Kenyan coast with illegal drugs. President Uhuru Kenyatta has vowed to stop them and to prosecute all involved in the trade. But like his “war” on alcohol, his stance against illicit drugs is informed less by reasoning and evidence but rather by hysteria. Kenya is
READ MOREIt is by standing up for the rights of girls and women that we truly measure up as men. Desmond Tutu When activists stand up and sound out a call to respect the girl child and the Ugandan woman let us not make this a partisan call like as if the high maternal rates affect
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