Vol 49 No 17 | GHANA The high price of political phones 22nd August 2008 Political controversy has dogged Ghana Telecom since the telecom sector was deregulated in the mid-1990s under the National Democratic Congress government. Its performance under the management of Telkom...
Vol 49 No 17 | GUINEA Iron ore, jaw-jaw 22nd August 2008 A tempting iron ore deposit on the Liberian border triggers fierce rivalries, national and international The shock must have been great when mining giant Rio Tinto was told on 4 August that it had just lost its greatest potential asset, the gigantic...
Vol 49 No 17 | NIGERIA Service shuffle 22nd August 2008 President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua's appointment of new service chiefs and a new Chief of Defence Staff on 20 August will further reduce the political power of former President...
Vol 49 No 16 | NIGERIA Yar'Adua's judges on trial 1st August 2008 Justice and politics are uneasy bedfellows under the hesitant President's new regime Since President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua came to power after a widely-criticised election and started extolling the rule of law much has changed. Yar Adua's own electoral case will...
Vol 49 No 16 | GHANA Presidents and lawyers 1st August 2008 The tortuous prosecution of a former state oil company boss raises questions about the independence of the judiciary Even his opponents concede that Tsatsu Tsikata is a gifted lawyer, whose ties with ex-President Jerry John Rawlings have kept him at the centre of Ghana's bitter political...
Vol 49 No 16 | CAMEROONNIGERIA Bogged down 1st August 2008 Cameroonian security forces in the disputed oil-rich Bakassi peninsula are on maximum alert after fatal attacks by the Niger Delta Defence and Security Council. The NDDSC, a little-known,...
Vol 49 No 14 | SIERRA LEONE Slow turnaround 4th July 2008 Slow progress on the economy and against corruption is rubbing the sheen off last year's free elections On election, President Ernest Bai Koroma gave himself three years to turn Sierra Leone around, but the first year has been unimpressive, and the smart performance of President...
Vol 49 No 14 | SIERRA LEONE Time to reshuffle 4th July 2008 Finance Minister David Carew, Foreign Minister Zainab Bangura and Lands Minister Benjamin Davies are generally held in high esteem. Other ministers are less appreciated. Rumours of corruption and...
Vol 49 No 14 | CÔTE D'IVOIRE Democratic deficit 4th July 2008 Leaders send out mixed signals on whether elections will take place this year President Laurent Gbagbo assured representatives of the United Nations Security Council - on a flying visit to Abidjan on 9 June - that the November election deadline would...
Vol 49 No 14 | CÔTE D'IVOIRE Skimming a bad system 4th July 2008 Côte d'Ivoire's Public Prosecutor, Raymond Tchimou, is leading a crackdown on corruption in the cocoa industry, which accounts for 40% of world supply. On 13 June, Tchimou announced...