Vol 57 No 20 | KENYA Jubilee unites ahead of poll 7th October 2016 A divided opposition lacking ideas is in danger of handing victory to the ever more confident ruling party The political battle lines for next August's general elections have been drawn. President Uhuru Kenyatta's Jubilee Party, which grew out of the governing Jubilee coalition and combines twelve...
Vol 57 No 20 | KENYA Safe choice, vexed process 7th October 2016 After three political attempts to undermine the selection process, the Judicial Service Commission has named a new Chief Justice An uncontroversial Appeals Court Judge of 64 from Kisii, David Kenani Maraga, has been named as the new Chief Justice. After two weeks of open interviews and three...
Vol 57 No 20 | SOMALIAUGANDA Coordinated exit 7th October 2016 In June, General Edward Katumba Wamala, Chief of the Defence Forces, announced plans to withdraw Ugandan troops from Somalia by the end of 2017. That echoed recent signs...
Vol 57 No 19 | TANZANIA Push-ups and pushback 23rd September 2016 The President wants to root out corruption and regain control of the economy but bad habits prove hard to break This time last year, John Magufuli was on stage in Karagwe in the north-west doing push-ups before a mass rally of supporters. The idea was to show he...
Vol 57 No 19 | UGANDA Age cannot weary him 23rd September 2016 The President is mobilising his supporters to remove the age limit so he can stay in office As memories of February's much-criticised election fade, attention turns to the next challenge facing President Yoweri Museveni: his age. Under the 2005 constitution, the upper age limit for...
Vol 57 No 19 | SOUTH SUDAN Salva and Riek in the dock 23rd September 2016 Pressure is mounting on the government after well-documented accounts of murder, rape and theft Two detailed reports last week on corruption and rights abuses by the Juba government and its adversaries could reinvigorate the peace agreement signed over a year ago. An...
Vol 57 No 19 | ETHIOPIA New meetings, old answers 23rd September 2016 Despite almost constant meetings of the top levels of the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), there are no signs of any real policy shift over the...
Vol 57 No 18 | KENYA Uhuru goes banker-bashing 9th September 2016 The interest rate cap is a blatantly populist measure but banks were risking retaliation against notoriously high profit margins President Uhuru Kenyatta opted to ditch the advice he received from senior economists at the Central Bank of Kenya and the Treasury and signed the Banking (Amendment) Bill...
Vol 57 No 18 | KENYA Moi après Kenyatta? 9th September 2016 Baringo Senator Gideon Moi has announced that he hopes to follow in the footsteps of his father, Daniel arap Moi and become President at the next election. 'I...
Vol 57 No 17 | ETHIOPIA The centre holds on 26th August 2016 Cooperation between Amhara and Oromo oppositionists presents the government with one of its most serious challenges in 20 years The latest major jolt to Ethiopia's security and its ruling elites has come in the form of a protest in the north-western city of Bahir Dar, the seat... READ FOR FREE