Vol 59 No 25 | NIGERIA Election bored game 21st December 2018 Two familiar veteran candidates are failing to strike a chord with the voters ahead of a critical presidential race next February As political leaders loudly debate the ethics of signing up to a code of conduct and President Muhammadu Buhari throws back, for the fourth time, an electoral reform...
Vol 59 No 24 | GHANA Hey, big spender! 7th December 2018 The debt overhang and over-priced projects threaten the government’s social programmes and industrial policy As Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta rose to his feet in Parliament on 15 November to deliver his 2019 budget statement, he faced scepticism about his arithmetic from the... READ FOR FREE
Vol 59 No 24 | NIGERIA Clean-up gets murky 7th December 2018 Hold-ups in promised action against pollution in Ogoni region in the Niger Delta are multiplying and tension is rising A long-delayed environmental restoration programme in Ogoni is finally in the works after decades of oil spills and fires left it one of the most polluted places in...
Vol 59 No 24 | NIGER Détente derailed 7th December 2018 Government moves to change electoral law to keep a presidential challenger off the ballot paper have reinvigorated the opposition The road to compromise has proved short in Niamey, and now the opposition is mobilising a fresh campaign of protest over the government's attempts to reform electoral law...
Vol 59 No 24 | TOGO Boycott threatens landslide 7th December 2018 President Faure Gnassingbé's ruling party, l'Union pour la république (Unir), promises to sweep the board in the parliamentary election on 20 December – but only because the...
Vol 59 No 24 | SÃO TOMÉ & PRÍNCIPE End for Trovoada 7th December 2018 On 3 December, Jorge Bom Jesus, the leader of the Movimento de Libertação de São Tomé e Príncipe/Partido Social Democrata (MLSTP/PSD), was sworn in as the new Prime...
Vol 59 No 24 | MALI Blow to jihadists 7th December 2018 Intelligence analysts believe Malian jihadists suffered a serious setback when French troops of Opération Barkhane killed Amadou Koufa, the militia leader. Koufa, who was among 34 suspected jihadist...
Vol 59 No 23 | NIGERIA Promises, promises 23rd November 2018 Both main presidential contenders pledge millions of jobs and billions on infrastructure but there are real differences in their policies and strategies With ninety days to go before national elections in February, formal campaigning started on 18 November with a flurry of extravagant pledges and policies, almost all of them...
Vol 59 No 23 | SENEGAL A well-oiled machine 23rd November 2018 The President deflects criticisms of the management of oil resources while deftly removing all credible challengers to his re-election The flies are buzzing around Senegal's highly promising offshore fields even though there have been no major announcements of new oil and gas discoveries in 2018. The juniors...
Vol 59 No 23 | GUINEA BISSAU Vaz kicks it into touch 23rd November 2018 Hopes that parliamentary elections on 18 November would end more than three years of political paralysis caused by the conflict between President José Mário Vaz and the majority...