The law has not been passed yet, but the Local Government Permanent Secretary Erastus Negonga seems to suggest that regional governors will no longer be elected regional councillors, but people appointed by the President. He told the Namibian that the procedure of governors being elected by the regional councils would change and that no elected […]
The Namibian parliament is debating a law that will give President Pohamba the power to appoint regional governors. Given the ruling South West People’s Organizations’ (SWAPO) electoral advantage in the parliament, it is given that the law will be passed. This means that soon the new regional councilors to be elected in the regional elections […]
An article in Sunday’s City Press, “Mandela ching-ching,” has put the Nelson Mandela Foundation in a fighting mood. The article basically accuses the Foundation of cashing in on Madiba’s legacy. Here is the Foundation’s response. The gist: They believe the author, Khadija Bradlow, is wrong on the facts and is wrong on the merits of […]
Last week the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) “proposed a radical overhaul of [South Africa’s] monetary and financial policy, calling for controls over commercial bank loans and capping gold exports to increase national reserves.” There is little to no chance of this happening. COSATU knows this. So what the proposal amounts to is […]
On Thursday I wrote the following: Nigeria’s January elections promise to be intensely fought. Which means that the specter of upheaval, interparty violence, and voter coercion looms. The process will start in October when the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) holds primaries for the presidential race in zones around the country on three consecutive days […]
African Presidents head to Atlanta for the Africa Policy Forum organized by Ambassador Andrew Young and the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation (http://www.thesullivanfoundation.org/). Titled “the Africa Policy Forum: A Vision for the 21st Century,” the forum will take place on September 24-28, 2010, in Atlanta, Georgia. One of the largest gatherings of its kind, the September […]
There are several significant elections coming up across the African continent. Some of the races to watch: Nigeria’s January elections promise to be intensely fought. Which means that the specter of upheaval, interparty violence, and voter coercion looms. The process will start in October when the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) holds primaries for the […]
After a six-month boycott over last year November’s election results, nine politicians of the Rally for Democracy Party (RDP) and Republican Party (RP) were sworn in as members of the National Assembly yesterday. I must admit…that’s where I want the RDP (as the official opposition party) to be, representing the aspirations of its constituencies, and […]
Bahrain’s football team wondered why the Togolese team they had just beaten 3-0 last Tuesday played so poorly. Togo, after all, had been one of Africa’s representatives in the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Well, it turns out that the reason Togo’s team did not seem very good was that they weren’t. Bahrain had played […]
With the exception of American policies toward Africa I tend to keep my Americanist punditry separate from my African commentary on this blog. Nonetheless, since it seems apt, can I just remind those conservatives who have latched onto President Obama’s supposed “Kenyan Anti-Colonialism” that the Kenyan Anti-Colonialists were right? That they were the good guys? […]
South African writer Andre Brink (A Dry White Season, inter alia) is unhappy with the potential encroachments on the media with which the ANC appears to be tinkering and seems dismayed by the general direction of things in South Africa. Naturally he invokes Nelson Mandela, because everyone who wants to establish (or remind us of, […]
On Sunday September 19 citizens of Guinea are supposed to go to the polls to choose their new president in a run-off vote after June’s presidential elections did not reveal a clear winner. The two candidates for what observers hope will be the final stage of Guinea’s first truly democratic election are veteran opposition leader […]
One doctor, two nurses and a volunteer — affiliated with California-based Allen Temple AIDS ministry were scheduled to appear before a judge in Zimbabwe on Monday over AIDS drugs. The aid workers were arrested on Thursday after being charged with distributing AIDS drugs without a license. This is a developing story, and information is still […]
Mozambique’s government has reversed the increase in the price of bread, a decision that directly led to deadly riots in that country last week. It is the right course of action. But it does raise the question: Did officials really not foresee problems with unilaterally raising the price of an essential commodity? We’ll forget for […]
The court case in which the Rally for Democracy Party-led (RDP) opposition coalition is challenging the presidential and parliamentary election results held on November 27 and 28 last year has been sent back to the High Court which struck the case from the court roll on technical merits in March this year. The ruling gives […]