OPINION

Finally, the verdict on the police killing of Afro-American George Floyd has been issued and was handed down on 20 April 2021, in the court of Minneapolis. The white former police officer Derek Chauvin officer was found guilty by the jury on three counts, including second-degree murder. For the first time in US history, the established jurisprudence acknowledges and acts …

Harrison Mwilima, Kiswahili correspondent for the German international broadcaster DW in Berlin, explains how Tanzania’s recent peaceful transition of power following President Magufuli’s death was not only a result of adhering to the constitution but also respecting the country’s political culture. When Tanzania announced the death of President John Pombe Magufuli on March 17, the East African nation went into 21 …

Prof. David Monda of the City University of New York in this opinion piece outlines the major challenges that the new president of Tanzania faces and how best she should address them and make the country work better —– An old Swahili proverb states, “Hata kiporo ni ugali – Even yesterday’s ugali, is still ugali”. While the legacy of President …

Dr Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana, Member of the European Parliament, representing Germany on the platform of the Green Party, writes on her efforts to make Europe leave up to its self-professed commitment to upholding the memory of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and work for the mitigation of its present-day negative legacies, such as racism and discrimination —– In June 2020, the European …

The following is a press statement issued by Dr Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana, Member of the European Parliament, on the ongoing protests in Nigeria against police brutality: Comment on #endSARS movement in Nigeria These last days, the hashtag #EndSARS has been highly visible in social media as well as to us in the European Parliament. First, Nigerian civil society, then people from …

Young people in Africa continue to be frustrated by their exclusion and exploitation in political processes. In order to build a mutually beneficial Europe-Africa Partnership that enhances youth trust in political processes, Zigwai Tagwai and Merryl Omondi* have come up with a few concrete points on building inclusive democracies VENRO, the Association of German Development and Humanitarian NGOs, has been …

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement was initially scheduled to enter into force in July 2020. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the commencement of the implementation of the continental deal has been postponed until January 2021. NJ Ayuk*, international legal practitioner and founder of one of Africa’s most successful law chambers, explains why the global health …

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 …

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 …

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

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 …

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 diplomatic row is brewing between Ghana and Nigeria, both members of the regional Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS ), on a Ghanaian law that requires foreign retailers to invest at least $1 million if they want to do business in the country. Femi Akomolafe, book author and newspaper columnist, comments on the lingering harassment of Nigerian …

Ivorian president Alassane Ouattara (78) has finally confirmed he’ll seek a third term in office in October. Within days of this, Guinea’s ruling party asked President Alpha Condé (82) to seek a third term. The actions signal that Africa is a long way from burying the ugly era of presidents for life. The period, which followed immediately after independence and …

Charles Negy, a professor at the University of Central Florida, caused a storm recently when he claimed that in a Twitter rant that “Black privilege is real”  and that people of African descent complaining of marginalisation in the United States should “stay in school”. A very short open letter to Charles Negy by Vienna-based writer and journalist Sarah Udoh-Grossfurther Dear …

Our contributing editor Eleonore Wiedenroth-Coulibaly reviews a book that impressively explores the roots of German concepts about race and race relations and their impact on the German perception of people of African descent in the course of history —— Schwarze Deutsche. Der Diskurs um Rasse und nationale Identität 1890 – 1933 (Black Germany. A discussion about Race and National Identity) …

Robert Ajani*, scholar, journalist and former Associate Editor of The African Courier , looks at the roots of anti-African racism in the West and the supremacist logic that degrade and devalue Black people The notion that Black people are normal human beings is a relatively new discovery in the modern West. The idea of Black equality in beauty, culture and …

The issue of mental health is one of those taboos among Black people. Even the World Bank identified that ‘Mental disorders, such as depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders, affect millions of people worldwide. They impose an enormous global disease burden that leads to premature mortality and affects functioning and quality of life’. It is high time, we in the …

The Democratic Republic of Congo marked its 60th independence anniversary on 30 June. Belgium’s King Philipe chose the occasion to apologise for his country’s horrendous atrocities against the Congolese people during its colonial occupation of the vast African country. How genuine is the apology? Femi Awoniyi takes a look at the situation of the troubled African country against the background …

NJ Ayuk, founder of one of Africa’s most successful law chambers, explains that “climate change — and the call to leave fossil fuels in the ground— is largely a western narrative”, which does not consider the situation of African countries whose oil and gas production earns export revenues, reduce energy poverty, create jobs etc. He explains how Western climate policy …