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,
...
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...
Patrick Smith
This week we follow on from developments at the United Nations
General Assembly, which opened in New York last week and was attended
by most African heads of state. Ghana's President Nana
Addo Akufo-Addo had most to celebrate. Others were left
bewildered ...
