Africa

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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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

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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