Vol 49 No 2 | GHANA Show time for the spooks 16th January 2008 The sacking for Security Minister Francis Poku exposes a damaging battle for turf between the security agencies The politicians, police and spies could not have found a worst time to pick a fight with each other. It is a year of red alert for the...
Vol 48 No 25 | NIGERIA See you in court 14th December 2007 Judges are regaining confidence and striking out faked elections, right up to the top The paradox at the heart of Nigeria's latest political drama is that President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua credibly presents himself as a politician who is serious about reinstating the...
Vol 48 No 25 | NIGERIA The oil governor under arrest 14th December 2007 Ibori incarcerated after investigation Former Governor of Delta State James Ibori was arrested in the early hours of 12 December by officials from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) who have...
Vol 48 No 25 | GHANA Race to the top 14th December 2007 Cash, influence and a few policy debates enliven the selection of next year's presidential contenders For a day, peace broke out among the governing New Patriotic Party's (NPP's) presidential hopefuls. It happened at a grand rally at Kosua on 2 December: this was...
Vol 48 No 25 | SIERRA LEONE With a little help from his friends 14th December 2007 Election fever is over and President Koroma must start to deliver With new promises of debt relief, road-building deals, new power stations and Chinese credit, President Ernest Bai Koroma's government has been buoyed by overseas support since his election...
Vol 48 No 24 | GHANA Who spends, wins 30th November 2007 Free-spending candidates and their business backers dominate the governing New Patriotic Party's choice of a new leader The race to pick the New Patriotic Party's next presidential candidate is turning nasty, as millions of cedis are spent on the primary election campaigns and arguments over...
Vol 48 No 24 | GHANA The cedi and pesewa vote 30th November 2007 For many Ghanaians, the economics of the elections are more important than the politics. Most of the responsibility for these matters falls on the shoulders of the effervescent...
Vol 48 No 24 | SIERRA LEONE Koroma's Christmas present 30th November 2007 Two months after his election, life for Sierra Leone's new President Ernest Bai Koroma has been full of pageantry and confusion. Three hours late for his own inauguration,...
Vol 48 No 24 | SENEGALSOUTH AFRICA Two crocodiles 30th November 2007 Octogenarian President Abdoulaye Wade and his 65-year-old South African counterpart Thabo Mbeki seem to disagree about many things, especially the African Union and the New Partnership for African...
Vol 48 No 23 | NIGERIAANALYSIS All come to the aid of the party – and fight it out 16th November 2007 All the rival factions in the governing People’s Democratic Party hope to benefit from the postponement of its critical national convention, which has been rescheduled to January. Who wins out at the convention will determine the shape of the government for the next four years. The key issues are control of senior positions within the PDP hierarchy and the party’s support for political reform. Power-brokers on all sides in Abuja seem encouraged by the surprise announcement by the Independent National Electoral Commission on 8 November that the People's Democratic Party convention would...