The US dollarisation of Zimbabwe’s economy has a caused a crisis over small change. There are plenty of US$100 and $50 notes but not enough of the lower...
A year after the flawed elections, much of the fire has gone out of the once radical opposition Orange Democratic Movement. Odinga, the firebrand ODM leader, held a meeting for his constituents in Nairobi’s Kibera’s slum to thank them for voting for him. He yelled the rallying cry ‘ODM!’, expecting the crowd to respond as it used to ‘Chungwa!’ (Orange!), the party colour and symbol, but they roared back ‘Unga!’, the maize flour that makes up the staple diet of ugali.
Politics is now taking second place to overwhelming concerns about the economy. Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement had promised lower rents and food prices, but its...
The latest constitutional changes abolish presidential term limits and weaken parliament
If the willingness of a parliament to rubber-stamp the extension of presidential powers and the diminution of its own signals the atrophy of a country’s political system, then...
Ethiopia argues that its withdrawal from Somalia will help the power-sharing talks brokered by the United Nations Special Representative Ahmadou Ould Abdallah. A principal condition for the participation...