With a growth rate that increased from 2% to 5.5% in 2010, the President, Ali Bongo Ondimba, has announced the continuation of the policy of direct foreign investment, including the creation of a new framework for public-private partnerships and a national mining company. ‘We have had a good year in 2010, with the rate of [...]
The increasingly targeted attacks on gay people in a number of African countries, which are thought to have led to the murder here last month of outspoken gay activist, David Kato, will contribute to an increase in HIV infections, says Christian Aid. Kato, whose name and photograph recently appeared on the front page of anti-gay [...]
Fears are becoming reality as commodity prices rise following the rise in fuel prices announced by regulator the Petroleum Control Commission (PCC) at the end of last month. The price of fuel and electricity were increased by 15 percent. The PCC, announcing the increases, argued that the hike was in line with the upward trends [...]
Amnesty International has called on the government here to end its crackdown on demonstrations thought to have being inspired by those presently in Egypt and in Tunisia. At least 70 people have been arrested. One student is reported to have died, scores were injured after armed riot police and security services used batons and teargas [...]
Renaissance Capital’s forecast for 2011 paints a choppy road ahead for the country’s market and economy; depending on the weather it could go either way. A slowdown in the growth of the agricultural sector is thus projected for the year because of the lack of rain. The impact on hydropower generation is also likely to [...]
The genie, as they say, is out of the bottle in the Maghreb; the democratic change genie that is, and it will be hard to see how it can be bottled up again. The flames of democracy are burning and in the wider continent, political dinosaurs are quavering as their authority is challenged. Tunisia’s Ben [...]
Action taken by Kenya’s leadership following International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo’s recent naming of six suspects in the violence that followed the 2007 elections highlights how the political class in the country continues to support impunity, ignoring once again the cries for justice among victims and ordinary Kenyans. It seemed promising for Kenya’s [...]
The South African Broadcasting Corporation is caught up in a tug of war. The public broadcaster is financially strapped, and has also been accused of losing its sense of focus and accountability. A leadership and cultural crisis is said to exist in the company, both due to a lack of clarity over its strategic direction [...]
I make no apology for the emotive and partial comments that follow but they relate to issues close to my heart and, I hope, to the hearts of many who will read this. They are about the announcement on 26th January that the BBC World Service is to cut 650 jobs, abolish five language services [...]
In December ’10, the oldest incumbent leader in the world, President Robert Mugabe, who turns 87 in February, was once more endorsed by his party, ZANU-PF, as their candidate for the general elections he has impetuously called. He wants to free himself of the coalition government. Actual votes have not determined the outcome of an [...]
