THOUGHT LEADERSHIP - The African Mirror

May

01

2021

OPINION: As India battles COVID-19, I fear Africa will be the next hotspot

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

ROWLANDS KAOTCHA One of the most challenging parts of managing this pandemic as part of a global organization has been watching as waves of cases crush country after country. Now I am eying India with trepidation. India—like Malawi and much of Africa—had much lower case counts than expected in the beginning but is now suddenly in the midst of a tremendous battle. India had access to vaccines. I fear that the next hotspot will be in Africa where vaccines are short in supply. The World Health Organization and others estimate that Africa will not have enough vaccine supply to reach…

Jun

13

2021

By The African Mirror

The G7 must place women at the heart of build back better agenda

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

BOGOLO KENEWENDO THERE is an African saying: empower a woman and empower a community. As the G7 leaders meet in Cornwall, the acknowledgement of this simple truth has never been more vital. The UN estimates that the COVID-19 pandemic has dumped 47 million more women and girls below the poverty line. Women are particularly vulnerable to the pandemic’s impact because they tend to work and run businesses in the informal economy where there is no state-provided safety net of any sort. This disproportional impact extends to access to capital. In sub-Saharan Africa, 40% of businesses are owned by women but…

Apr

25

2021

By The African Mirror

Chad’s new President Deby inherits crisis

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

AARON ROSS and DAVID LEWIS GENERAL Mahamat Idriss Deby had been tipped to take over Chad's leadership from his father some day. But the elder Deby's death on the battlefield has meant that day came sooner than expected. Although the army leadership put on a show of unity when the 37-year-old was presented on national television on Tuesday as the country's new president and army commander-in-chief, holding them together will be his prime challenge, analysts say. Most of the senior officers are of the same battle-hardened generation as his father. Mahamat Idriss Deby - also known as Mahamat Kaka -…

Jun

12

2021

By The African Mirror

INSIGHT-With military victory elusive, W.African nations quietly back talks with Islamists

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THIAM NDIAGA and AARON ROSS TWO years after local emir Djibril Diallo fled his home in northern Burkina Faso following death threats from Islamist militants, he received an unexpected request: to return and take part in peace talks with the same people who wanted him dead. Adama Ouedraogo, deputy mayor of Diallo's hometown of Thiou, called him in January to help negotiate an end to years of attacks by jihadists against local militias and civilians that forced thousands of people to flee the area. "I told them that if everyone was sincere, I could return," said Diallo, a traditional chief…

Jun

11

2021

By The African Mirror

Nigeria’s Twitter ban is part of a larger attack on civil society

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

NELSON OLANIPEKUN FOUR years ago, Omoregie* and his friends were arrested without cause and taken into custody. When they got to the station, Omoregie watched as the police began to beat his friends. Afraid, he began to discreetly tweet about the attacks as they took place. I and many other Twitter users could read his fears while he called for help through his tweets. Taking action as a lawyer, I was able to secure his release within a few hours with the help of other activists through the police unit responsible for citizen complaints. I had been thinking of Omoregie…

Apr

25

2021

By The African Mirror

South Africa is set to appoint a new chief justice. The stakes have never been so high

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

BY October, South Africa’s Chief Justice, Mogoeng Mogoeng, will have finished his 12-year term at the helm of the Constitutional Court. How will his successor be selected, and what qualities are needed by the holder of this high office? HUGH CORDER, Professor of Public Law, University of Cape Town To answer these questions we need to understand the context. This is because the country’s judiciary has been increasingly drawn into party political wrangling and contestation. Any form of constitutional democracy which allows judicial review of the exercise of public power thrusts the courts into the political limelight. Inevitably, acts and…

Jun

09

2021

By The African Mirror

Twitter ban will harm Nigeria as a technology investment destination

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

IN recent years Lagos, Nigeria’s biggest city, has become Africa’s most attractive tech hub for investors. But that could be imperilled by the government’s decision to suspend Twitter’s operations in the country. TOLU OLAREWAJU, Lecturer in Economics, Staffordshire University Although no direct connection has been drawn, the ban came two days after Twitter took down a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari. Twitter claimed the message had been deleted because it violated its rules against “abusive behaviour”. The ban could be in retaliation. A new chill entered into the relationship between Nigeria and Twitter in mid-April when the social media platform…

Jun

07

2021

By The African Mirror

TB Joshua, Nigeria’s controversial Pentecostal titan

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE controversial Nigerian televangelist, faith healer, and neo-Pentecostal pastor Temitope Balogun (TB) Joshua has died at the age of 57. He was the leader of Nigeria-based The Synagogue Church of All Nations. DION FORSTER, Associate Professor of Ethics and Head of Department, Systematic Theology and Ecclesiology, Stellenbosch University Many will remember him, and his church, from the widely publicised 2014 tragedy in which 116 people died when a church building collapsed in Nigeria. His handling of the tragedy was problematic. He initially claimed that the building’s collapse was caused by a “strange aircraft”. Leaked audio recordings later suggested that he…

Apr

26

2021

By The African Mirror

South Africa remains a nation of insiders and outsiders, 27 years after democracy

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

TWENTY seven years into democracy, South African politics is still for the few. And those who complain the most have the least to grumble about. STEVEN FRIEDMAN, Professor of Political Studies, University of Johannesburg Since South Africa is highly unequal and remains divided into insiders and outsiders – those who benefit from the market economy and those who can’t – we might expect its politics to be a loud battle between those who have and those who don’t. Most commentators believe it is. Within the governing African National Congress (ANC), a battle rages between the “radical economic transformation forces”, who…

May

31

2021

By The African Mirror

Rwanda genocide: Macron forgiveness plea resets historic ties

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

FRENCH president Emmanuel Macron has just paid his first state visit to Rwanda. While many world leaders have visited the central African nation of 13 million, including past French presidents, such as President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2010, this trip was going to be different. JONATHAN BELOFF SOAS, University of London Sure enough president Macron would come the closest to apologising for France’s involvement during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis. At the Kigali Genocide Memorial, Macron asked for forgiveness for France’s involvement in the genocide. He also expressed his desire to combat genocide ideology and denial in order to foster…