Blue Lines
After three months' medical leave, President Muhammadu Buhari's return to Abuja on 19 August has failed to inject a new spirit of dynamism into government business.
A cabinet meeting planned for 23 August was cancelled at short notice. That was, we were ...
Patrick Smith
We start in Freetown where rescue workers are trying to
prevent more loss of life with renewed downpours expected this week and
in Abuja, President Muhammadu Buhari is back on-seat
and addressing the country on security matters. In Angola,
the MPLA, heade...
Patrick Smith
We start this week with the smouldering aftermath of Kenya's elections last week, and then to moves by President Jacob Zuma and his allies in South Africa to hit back at dissidents in the governing party. A lethal attack on a restaurant in the capital of ...
Patrick Smith
We start this week with a couple of high-stakes votes – one in Kenya and one in South Africa. Then we have some insight on an impromptu secret meeting in Zimbabwe, some reservations about the grand pipeline plans in Uganda and Tanzania, and a look at econ...
Blue Lines
As Americans and Europeans prepare for their holidays, tens of millions of Africans prepare for elections this month while hundreds of millions more watch closely. Without prejudging the outcomes, democrats and civil rights activists are coming under heav...
Patrick Smith
We start in election land – namely Kenya and
Rwanda, which are holding elections in the
coming week, and Senegal, which held parliamentary
elections on 30 July. Then to Ghana where the newish
government of President Nana Addo Akufo-Addo has been
chalking ...
Patrick Smith
This week we start in Abuja House – the one in London where President Muhammadu Buhari has been staying for the past two months. Then to Kinshasa where Congo's opposition is planning to step up protests against sit-tight President Joseph Kabila. And in Ca...
Blue Lines
The list of international companies getting snarled in battles about
fraud and politics in Africa has lengthened this year to include
hitherto more pristine names, such as McKinsey, KPMG and Germany's SAP
software company. They have all been named in the ...
Patrick Smith
Our tour this week starts in Houston, where an assets seizure case could invigorate Nigeria's anti-corruption investigations. Still on anti-corruption, the International Monetary Fund has arrived in Mozambique to assess the damage caused by the US$2 billi...
Patrick Smith
We start with another election ruling by Kenya's
High Court which is pitting the Chief Justice David Maraga against President Uhuru Kenyatta. Then we look at the
row in Zimbabwe over a US$120 million maize subsidy scheme and the
latest multinational compa...