Patrick Smith
We start in Harare where President Robert Mugabe's exit and the takeover by Emmerson Mnangagwa are dominating the news across the continent. It is particularly important for politics and business in neighbouring South Africa. As political violence intensi...
Blue Lines
The end of President Robert Mugabe's reign in Zimbabwe – whatever else it presages – sends a clear message to other power families in the region. As Southern Africans were musing over the fin de règne in Zimbabwe, the new President in Angola, João Lourenç...
Patrick Smith
This week we start with a Kenya-style election-on-hold in Liberia and the sacking of one of President Mugabe's oldest lieutenants for disloyalty in Zimbabwe. In South Africa, Jacob Zuma's spies have reverted to apartheid-regime tactics to ban a critical b...
Blue Lines
Are democrats getting stronger or weaker in Africa? That depends on where you're sitting. In Tanzania, where President John Magufuli's government arrested Zitto Kabwe, the outspoken oppositionist, on 31 October, political freedoms are under siege. Kabwe's...
Patrick Smith
We start with a set of dour forecasts from the IMF sounding alarms about debt and political turmoil. On cue is the latest round of ructions coming out of Liberia's and Kenya's national elections. Up in Abuja, President Muhammadu Buhari is stepping up acti...
Patrick Smith
All eyes are on Kenya's political dispute and the re-run of the presidential election which looks to be going ahead on Thursday (26 October). By contrast, the second round of the Liberian election due on 7 November should be a quieter affair. South Africa...
Blue Lines
In terms of its economic impact and geo-political weight, the Congress of China's Communist Party this week matters more for Africa than a presidential election in the United States. Already regarded as the most powerful Chinese leader since Deng Xiaoping...
Patrick Smith
This week, the breaking news comes from Kenya with opposition leader Raila Odinga's withdrawal from planned fresh elections. The constitutional mess there contrasts tellingly with President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf's elegant exit from power in Liberia as com...
Blue Lines
Presidential and parliamentary elections in Liberia on 10 October raise again the matter of presidential term limits.After a crowded career in commercial and development banking as well as director of the United Nations Development Programme in Africa, Pr...
Patrick Smith
The election countdown is on in Liberia with the field still wide open. Across in Kenya, the main parties argue over how to reform the electoral commission before the presidential election of August can be re-run. In neighbouring Uganda, veteran President...
