Africa

19 Sep

Grassroots Reporting on Youth Issues on the Eve of the 72nd UNGA

The 72nd United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) will be kicking off today at the UN Headquarters in New York City. There are a lot of world and international issues that are on the table for debate, discussion and clarification. The leader of the free world, President Donald Trump, is set to take the world stage on Tuesday, September 19th – and the international community awaits to hear the clarification over some of the rhetoric he conveyed, both pre-and post [...]

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12 Aug

Youth Involvement & Participation in Providing Scalable Solutions to the SDGs

Africa and Its Youth Population Africa is considered the youngest continent. In 2016, the World Economic Forum indicated that the “world’s 10 youngest populations are all in Africa”. This youth bulge on the African continent should be harnessed positively to avoid a Malthusian disaster, given that food and agricultural production on the African continent is yet to be maximized. According to the World Bank the youthfulness of the African continent could potentially yield a 11 – 15 percent of [...]

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03 Jul

Is Global Peace Hanging on the Precipice?

This article first appeared on YourCommonwealth Prime Minister Theresa May’s bid for early elections flowed directly from the 2016 EU referendum. On the other side of the Atlantic, 2016 campaign rhetoric relating to U.S. foreign policy on China, Syria and Russia had been at odds with the recent sharp turns President Trump made on his journey as president of the United States. President Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on April 7th, 2017, and days later stated in an interview that China [...]

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16 May

Politics, Elections, Opposition Parties & Leaders: A Look at Different Country-Contexts & their Elections between the years 2016 – 2018

Citizens of different regions of the world are bracing themselves for democratic elections that will be taking place in the year 2017. The United States underwent its democratic duty in November 2016 by electing President Donald Trump of the Republican Party into office after what was a hotly contested campaign and election between him and Democratic Party former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The whole world watched to see the ultimate outcome of that election, the famed 2016 US elections. Whereas [...]

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12 Apr

Malawi Caught Up in Unhealthy Political Party Pluralism?

Introduction It is certainly encouraging that over the years virtually all African countries have embraced democratic systems. What used to hang on the balance was ruling party’s ‘inability’ to lose elections and as a result step down; however, in recent years, we have seen more incumbent governments step down after losing elections: recall Nigeria, The Gambia, Ghana and Malawi being good examples. However, democracies have allowed the proliferation of small parties, which I argue, are failing to make a significant [...]

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17 Feb

Is Corruption Engrained in the African Soil?

10 years ago, in the first year of my undergraduate studies, one of the lecturers asked each of the students to brainstorm an idea for a feature story which would also be presented to the rest of the class. One idea for a feature story by one of my classmates particularly stood out. “I want to discuss the benefits of corruption,” one young female student confidently articulated her idea. The class erupted in laughter and before she could complete her [...]

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31 Jan

Marrying 22

I had hoped to get married to 22 men. Yes, and I say this very frankly. I had thought and hoped that getting married to specifically 22 men would change the whole world and put in place all the wonderful values that guarantee the presence and existence of an ideal and balanced society. Before I dive deeper into this and before you, the reader, misunderstand me and jump to conclusions, I need to add some details and contextualize this previous [...]

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20 Jan

Africa’s Elderly Presidents in a Young Continent

America (as the beacon of democracy) has in the recent campaign trail arguably resembled African politics in some ways. The 2016 campaign for the US presidency was what many would call ‘brutal’, and I argue almost as ‘brutal’ (figuratively) as it gets in some African countries. Why do I say that? Simply because, it was one where on numerous occasions arguments deviated from rational policy debates; to rather focus on individuals’ temperaments. Here we are in 2017 and the campaign [...]

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15 Jan

Nigeria’s Market Women Express their Views on Matters Relating to Nigeria’s Economy

In this second edition of The Global Communiqué’s ‘Grassroots Reporting’ section, we take you – the reader – to Lagos, Nigeria, specifically to the vigorous and energetic Ikotun Market – a marketplace in the Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos state. The Global Communiqué engaged in conversation with three different market women. Nigeria, one of Africa’s largest economies, slipped into an economic recession in 2016. Nigeria was particularly hit the hardest by the decline of global oil prices which make [...]

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Malawi’s first female president
07 Dec

Africa’s Indecision on Female Presidents

The world had its first elected female leader in 1960 – Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike. Africa’s chance of an elected female president only came in 2006 when Liberia’s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf contested in the presidential election and won. In 2015, Mauritius had its first elected female president, Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, who was elected through a parliamentary vote. Out of nine female heads of state and government that Africa has had, only these two secured an actual vote to [...]

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