Vol 6 (AAC) No 2 | NIGERIACHINABRIEFING More dam delays 4th December 2012 Two new large dams will be built before President Goodluck Jonathan’s first presidential term expires in 2015, according to the government. The companies constructing the dams, however, admit...
Vol 6 (AAC) No 2 | NIGERIA Zainab Ibrahim Kuchi 4th December 2012 Minister of State for Power, Nigeria Only weeks into her new role as Minister of State for Power, Zainab Ibrahim Kuchi announced a major project to address Nigeria’s chronic power shortfall. In early November,...
Vol 53 No 24 | SIERRA LEONE Clouds over Koroma’s victory 30th November 2012 Claims of electoral fraud and threats of militant protest by the opposition shadow the start of the President’s second term President Ernest Bai Koroma avoided a potentially contentious second-round in the presidential poll by defeating Julius Maada Bio outright on 17 November. It was announced on 23 November...
Vol 53 No 24 | NIGERIA Boko Haram looks to Mali 30th November 2012 As the army steps up its crackdown, the Islamist militia’s leaders are strengthening their ties with northern Mali The bombing of a church in Kaduna State on 25 November and attacks on a police station in Abuja on the following day seemed designed, at least in...
Vol 53 No 24 | NIGERIA How politicians help insurgents 30th November 2012 The federal government has played politics with the Boko Haram insurgency, using it to silence opposition from northern politicians who claim that President Goodluck Jonathan has broken the...
Vol 53 No 23 | GHANA Elections 2012: Mahama ahead by a hair 16th November 2012 Oil, gas, gold, education and health dominate a landmark election in which the main contenders may again be fewer than just 50,000 votes apart It has been Ghana’s longest-ever campaign and electors are being offered a real choice of policies and people but still the two major parties are running neck-and-neck ahead...
Vol 53 No 23 | GHANA Contributions gratefully received 16th November 2012 Foreign campaign contributions are illegal in Ghana but are not properly tracked because the main anti-corruption agency, the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice, lacks the capacity....
Vol 53 No 23 | SIERRA LEONE Elections 2012: Koroma in front 16th November 2012 The elections should crown peace in the country but worries about vote-buying and violence persist Ahead of the 17 November elections, the country is starkly split between the two main parties, the governing All People’s Congress and the Sierra Leone People’s Party. These...
Vol 53 No 23 | SIERRA LEONE Sesay and the city 16th November 2012 The youth of Freetown helped to swing victory for Ernest Bai Koroma in 2007, runs the conventional wisdom. Overwhelming support in the capital was decisive in convincing even...
Vol 53 No 23 | LIBERIA What price the Unity Party 16th November 2012 The member of parliament and former Speaker Edwin Melvin Snowe has renewed the offensive against Robert Alvin Sirleaf, Chairman of the National Oil Company of Liberia, and President...