The election was bad tempered even before it began and a car
crash made it worse
A road crash recalled the bad old days, dramatically opening the race for presidential and parliamentary elections due on 7 December. The victim was Alhaji
Mohamed Mumuni, set to run for the vice-presidency alongside
John Atta Mills for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC). His mysterious accident occurred on 28 September; the parties must file their nominations with the Electoral Commission by 21 October. Mumuni was apparently returning home in the middle of the night after answering a telephone call, when his car ended upside down in a ditch. He is recovering in hospital with his left thigh in plaster. NDC General Secretary Nii Josiah Aryeh, referring to the elephant symbol of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), claimed 'I smell an elephant'. NDC members including Youth Organiser
Haruna Iddrisu sought to make political capital out of the incident. But no other car was involved, and
John Dramani Mahama, Mumuni's rival for the vice-presidential slot, called for an end to speculation until Mumuni could explain what had happened.
Both Chadians and donors want President Déby to spend
his oil revenues wisely
Everyone in N'djamena is worried about where the oil revenues are going. Opposition parties, advocacy groups, even the oil companies, whose splendid isolation behind the walls of K...
The World Bank's scheme for ensuring the oil revenue is spent on poverty alleviation is necessarily complex. Some 85 per cent of royalties and dividends go to priority sectors such...