Only a few weeks ago, African leaders were breathing a sigh of relief as the new coronavirus skipped the continent to lodge in Italy, Spain and other European countries. “Whether it’s a matter of faulty detection, climatic factors or simple fluke, the remarkably low rate of coronavirus infection in African countries, with their fragile health…

Hardworking African journalists are facing threatening phone calls, cyberattacks and other forms of intimidation as they attempt to report on government dysfunction and the actions of security forces tracking terror groups. According to Reporters Without Borders, journalists around the world are seeing increased fear and violence and sub-Saharan Africa has not avoided the latest decline…

Zimbabwe is experimenting with a bold attempt to make parents prioritize education and bring down drop-out rates. Harare has amended its laws to make the first 12 years of schooling compulsory. Children are now required by law to stay in school for an extra five years to 16 years of age. It is also now…

Promises promises. I’m all through with promises promises. That’s the Dionne Warwick tune South African public servants will be singing bitterly if a three-year wage deal signed in 2018 is headed for the recycling bin. The promised wage hike was due to start next month, April 2020. President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his weekly newsletter, said…

It’s a day of action and global solidarity. SheDecides Day takes place annually on March 2 as feminist activism is on the rise in Zambia and around the world. This year, wearing red t-shirts, some 90 young women took to the streets in a silent march through Lilongwe, Malawi’s capital. This year’s theme was ending…

The coronavirus is spreading fast beyond its China borders, with cases now rising in parts of Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Some 90,000 people have been infected in over 65 countries and 3,000 worldwide have died of Covid-19. As soon as the virus emerged, the World Health Organization named thirteen countries in Africa (Algeria,…

She’s one medical anthropologist, activist and poet you don’t want to wrestle with. Dr. Stella Nyanzi is apt to say exactly what’s on her mind – even if the object of her verbal dart is the President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, or his wife Janet, the First Lady. What set off the rockets this time…

Desperate East African governments are weighing their options as farmers beg for the most deadly agro-chemicals in a last ditch effort against swarms of desert locusts which have already begun to eat into thousands of acres of pasture and farmland. “This is the best time to kill them,” said Mehari Tesfayohannes Ghebre, Information and Forecasting…

Murder charges against the Prime Minister of Lesotho, Thomas Thabane, will be reconsidered in light of a novel appeal for immunity to be heard by the country’s High Court. If his appeal is rejected, Mr. Thabane would be the first African leader to face domestic murder charges while in office. Mr. Thabane, 80 years of…

Nigeria is rounding up journalists who investigate corruption – jailing them for indefinite periods of time and accusing them of treason. Agba Jalingo, publisher of Cross River Watch, was arrested and jailed last August 2019 until this month when a Cross River court granted bail. He faces trial over a report written by the newspaper…