AFRICA

“In many African countries, debt service payments take up more place in the budget than investments in education, health or social security. Not only do they lack the financial leeway to effectively tackle the corona crisis in their countries, but in the worst case, they are even threatened with national bankruptcy”

Women in Ghana closing the gender gap in internet access - but still miss out on benefits of digital technology. New research from Tim Berners-Lee's Web Foundation reveals a hidden digital gender gap holding women back online

The Public University Bill has been the cause for heated debate in Ghana, especially in academic circles. Germany-based journalist and scholar Tina Adomako explains how the new bill could herald the end of freedom of speech and research in government-owned institutions of higher learning in the country. While the global coronavirus pandemic has challenged educational institutions and universities around the …

The African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Court) ruled on Friday to reject the exclusion of former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo from the country’s upcoming presidential elections of 31 October — ordering the Ivorian state to “take all necessary measures to immediately remove all obstacles” hindering his participation in the race. The Ivorian Constitutional Council found the absence …

A new interim president has been inaugurated in Mali, an important step in resolving the political crisis in the West African country. Bah N’daw and Colonel Assimi Goita were sworn in on Friday (25 September) as President and Vice President of Mali’s Transition Government respectively at a ceremony attended by military officers and judges in Bamako. Goita led the military …

A new report on the new coronavirus pandemic in Africa, presented by Partnership for Evidence-Based COVID-19 Response (PERC), reveals the multidimensional challenges faced by the people on the continent and makes recommendations to governments on how to manage the public health crisis to lessen its burden on their citizens Most African Union (AU) Member States swiftly implemented public health and …

To those who keep on deriding Pan-Africanism as a hopeless dream, Fẹ̀mi Akọmọlàfẹ́, book author and political analyst, writing from Accra, Ghana, makes the case for a united continent that is stronger on the world stage —– The future, they say, belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. Stop confusing Pan-Africanism with African-Romanticism. Pan-Africanism is not …

“We will be allowing travel into and out of South Africa for business, leisure and other travel with effect from 1 October 2020,” President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Wednesday (16 September) in a national address on developments in the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. “It is time to move to what we will call our new normal,” Ramaphosa said. …

“The level of corruption that has become an integral part of multiparty democracy has created a general climate of stress and tension that may destabilise some areas in our region. It is unfortunate that the world is being forced into multiparty democracy with corruption and violence rather than other forms of democratic practices with none or minimal corruption. Unfortunately, the West appears to favour corruptible political tendencies in order to continue to dominate our security and economy”

NJ Ayuk, founder of one of Africa’s most successful law chambers, supports the Senegalese leader's call on the G20 to help African countries balance their obligations to international creditors with their obligations to their own citizens in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. He explains why debt relief is crucial to Africa's recovery from the economic fallout of the global health crisis

The Economic Community of West African States has postponed the planned launch of its single currency, the Eco. The body agreed to maintain a gradual approach for the launching of the currency. ECOWAS explained that a new date for the launch would be announced later. This was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of the 57th Summit of …

Ghana’s President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has been elected Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), at the 57th Summit held in Niamey, Niger, on Monday, 7 September 2020. The President, who was elected unanimously by his peers, takes over the mantle of leadership from the President Mahamadou …

On 3 September 2020, the Nigerian government specified the relevant coronavirus containment protocols for the resumption of international commercial flights at the Lagos and Abuja airports on 5 September 2020. The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, also released the list of foreign airlines allowed to fly in and out of Nigeria while speaking at the bi-weekly briefing of the Presidential …

Abdallah Baikie argues in this opinion piece why the EU should stop looking away as Nigeria continues to be plagued by relentless murderous violence and acts of terror, setting a potentially comparable scenario to the Rwandan genocide in the horizon ——- As the European Union prepares for the 6th African Union-European Union summit (AU-EU Summit), set to take place in …

Ghana’s Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has sent a six-page response to Nigeria over accusation of hostilities to Nigeria and harassment of Nigerians in Ghana. Nigeria, through its Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, had last Friday accused Ghana of hostility towards its citizens in Ghana and he also listed acts committed by the Ghanaian authorities against Nigerian interests in the …

Nigeria has criticised what it calls the “incessant harassment of its citizens in Ghana and the progressive acts of hostility towards the country by Ghanaian authorities”. “The Nigerian Government is deeply concerned by the incessant harassment of its citizens in Ghana and the progressive acts of hostility towards the country by Ghanaian authorities, and will no longer tolerate such,” Nigeria’s …

The Nigerian civil aviation authorities have postponed the resumption of international flights to 5 September. The earlier date for the restart of international operations at the country’s airports had been 29 August. Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Musa Shuaibu Nuhu, revealed the news during a Presidential Task Force COVID-19 briefing in Abuja on Thursday. He said while …

No matter how we throw it around, the coup in Mali represents a monumental setback to us as a people. If care is not taken, the initial euphoria might easily turn into a poisoned chalice. Military saviours have a long history of turning into vicious albatrosses!

A Nigerian international media entrepreneur has described as unfair the treatment being meted out to Nigerian retail traders in Ghana. In a press statement issued on Wednesday (19 August), Chief Dele Momodu, Chairman of Ovation Media Group, said the forced closure of some shops owned by Nigerians in Accra violates the spirit of pan-Africanism. “I note with sadness the viral …

The African Union has condemned the military take-over of power in Mali. Rebel soldiers arrested Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and Prime Minister Boubou Cisse on Tuesday afternoon following weeks of political tension in the country. A statement issued by the body on Tuesday said, “The President of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat strongly condemns the arrest of …