Vol 61 No 21 | KENYA A DIY debt trap 22nd October 2020 The government has turned down debt deferral and plans to increase borrowing, prompting growing doubts about its judgement President Uhuru Kenyatta's government insists it will not take advantage of the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) offered by the Group of 20 wealthy nations to mitigate the...
Vol 61 No 21 | TANZANIAUGANDA Leaders seek poll boost from pipeline deal 15th October 2020 Election worries and weak oil prices persuaded Uganda’s President to make concessions on the oil export pipeline via Tanzania East Africa's leading resource nationalists – President Yoweri Museveni and John Magufuli – have signed one of Africa's biggest oil pipeline deals as they campaign fiercely in national...
Vol 61 No 20 | ETHIOPIA Tigray takes on the centre 8th October 2020 The northern province’s ruling council lays down the gauntlet with its refusal to recognise the Addis Ababa government After running an election for Tigray's State Council in defiance of federal authority last month, which the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) won by a landslide, the party's...
Vol 61 No 20 | UGANDA Bottling Wine 8th October 2020 Uganda's Chief of Defence Forces, General David Muhoozi, is in the spotlight over suspicious dealings with the man who is seeking to deregister a political party he...
Vol 61 No 20 | KENYA Raila's path to power 8th October 2020 After four unsuccessful election attempts, Raila Odinga's path to the presidency now rests on his improbable alliance with President Uhuru Kenyatta. Many in his Luo community still welcome...
Vol 61 No 19 | KENYA Keeping up with the Kenyattas 24th September 2020 As they take the field, the battle between the President and his deputy is testing the limits of ethnic politics 'You should go and insult your mother, not mine' said President Uhuru Kenyatta on 10 September to a small crowd just outside Nairobi. He was referring to two...
Vol 61 No 19 | SOUTH SUDAN Juba shops for new image 24th September 2020 The leaders of South Sudan, notorious for its civil war, inconclusive peace deals and corruption, have found $280,500 to hire a lobbyist to try to persuade the United...
Vol 61 No 19 | UGANDA Watering down the wine 17th September 2020 The failure of oppositionists Bobi Wine and Kizza Besigye to agree an alliance boosts President Museveni's electoral chances The country's opposition parties are divided over tactics and local rivalries ahead of national elections next year. The hopes that the political sensation Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine,... READ FOR FREE
Vol 61 No 19 | TANZANIA A government walkover 15th September 2020 Years of restrictions and violence against the opposition makes President Magufuli a shoo-in for re-election in October Tanzania is set for six weeks of phoney election campaigning before, as is widely expected, President John Pombe Magufuli secures a second five-year term on 28 October at...
Vol 61 No 18 | ETHIOPIA Regions take on the centre 10th September 2020 With mass protests and unofficial elections, oppositionists in Oromia and Tigray are demanding the federal system be redrawn Although Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government says it is trying to unite a divided Ethiopia, its opponents argue it is dismantling the multinational federation and replacing it with... READ FOR FREE