Obaa oh… this is our time. Obaa oh… this is our time. Oh, woman oh… this is our time! Oh, woman oh… this is our time! As I sat in the Spektrum Theater at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in downtown Oslo watching the glistening red, yellow, blue and green lights on the stage and...
Despite Nobel prizes, the time has yet to come for Liberia’s women
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A Zambian’s response to “You Lazy (Intellectual) African Scum!”
By Jacqueline Muna Musiitwa I read the “transcript” of your conversation with my compatriot with much intrigue. Your view of the “third world” is not only dated in nomenclature, it is also dated in reality. When was the last time you were in Zambia? The Zambia of the 1980s is not the Zambia of 2012!...
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Fighting for black gold in Africa: Liberians approach oil finds with caution
by Robtel Neajai Pailey News released at the end of February that Liberia was on the cusp of an unprecedented oil discovery garnered much more than just praise and adulation. Listservs and websites lit up one by one with lightening speed. Liberians reacted like rabid bulldogs frothing at the mouth, barking at the Liberian government,...
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Why South Africa is not the world’s gateway to Africa
By Jacqueline Muna Musiitwa and Charles Wachira South Africa’s election into the Brics bloc of big emerging economies (along with Brazil, Russia, India and China) comes with many expectations and obligations. As Africa’s only Brics member, we need to ask whether SA’s inclusion is solely for its own benefit or as the gateway to the...
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One man, two wars, one guilty verdict
by Robtel Neajai Pailey Much has changed since I covered the first day of Charles Taylor’s trial for Pambazuka News on June 4 2007. That day, he failed to show up to court, calling the case against him a “farce.” Last week, he was in full view, stoic, resolute and somber. As I sat in...
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Obama, please don’t break our hearts
by Bright Simons The enthusiasm that greeted the election of Barack Obama, the first and only American president with an African name, was palpable across Africa. Everywhere you travelled you heard and felt a new wave of positive sentiments about the possibility of a great new era for doing business between Africa and America. One...
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Scramble for Africa 2.0
By Marc van Olst An auspicious meeting took place at the Berlin residence of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck about 130 years ago. Foreign ministers of 14 European powers and the United States established ground rules for the future exploitation of the “dark continent”. It must have been a lively and tense meeting as the superpowers...
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The solution’s right under your nose
By Jacqueline Muna Musiitwa Africa must start by focusing on the low-hanging fruit. Innovation needs to be based on current needs. The more solutions for immediate needs are met, the more people will be encouraged to innovate for future needs. I recall that as a child my grandmother boiled guava leaves to treat me when...
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Who’s to blame for the M23 rebels in DRC?
By Arinaitwe Rugyendo The M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo have once again been accused of gross human-rights abuses by Human Rights Watch. An earlier accusation by the UN implicated neighbouring Rwanda and accused it of not only supporting the rebels but also of complicity. According to Human Rights Watch the rebels, which...
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Stop, Jonathan, before Nigerians lose their internet freedom
By Gbenga Sesan On Saturday, 6 April 2013, at a leadership workshop organised for young and emerging leaders in Ekiti State, south west Nigeria, I asked Nigeria’s finance minister and coordinating minister for the economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a simple question: Why does the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan prefer lazy solutions? My premise, at...
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Liberia’s children can help weed out corruption
By Robtel Neajai Pailey I remember the first time I stared corruption in the face. It was 2010, and I was chairwoman of a Liberian government committee responsible for reforming the awarding of international scholarships. We discovered that a group of 18-year-old boys had forged their national exam records to become eligible for a scholarship...
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‘Africans are so simple,’ he said
By Rachel Nyaradzo Adams Not long ago I was in a lobby in a Ghana hotel and overheard a western-sounding white male utter the following assessment to a listener on his phone: “The people in Africa are so simple, I can do whatever I like here. They never challenge me” (paraphrased). Stunned but not surprised...
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Remembering Mandela the feminist
By Ntombenhle Khathwane As a black woman, like other black women, I have it tough. Especially in the world of business, corporate and academia: black women have to work harder than any other, including black men, to gain recognition, promotion or even entry. Since I left formal employment and started building a business, I have...
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Imagine the Africa you desire
By Rachel Nyaradzo Adams Being a leadership development practitioner has allowed me to engage numerous profiles of current and aspiring African leaders — some who are already on their leadership path, and some who are still grappling with the potential and possibilities of their leadership journey. Being an advocate of the “leading through your strengths”...
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And what of African boys?
By Rachel Nyaradzo Adams As a woman who was once an extremely frightened girl, I know full well and appreciate the benefits that come with feeling empowered in a largely male-dominated world. Much of the abuse I experienced as a child was at the hands of angry, damaged, broken, lurid men. Much of the anxiety...
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In a world obsessed with passport tiers, citizenship is personal and political
By Robtel Neajai Pailey Late last week, I was informed that I would not be able to travel to Dubai for an important meeting scheduled months ago. Like other countries across the globe, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) halted travel for those with Guinean, Liberian, and Sierra Leonean passports during the height of the Ebola...
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They herded us into the aircraft like cattle
By Robtel Neajai Pailey I thought I’d become immune to the indignities of travelling with an African passport, but an encounter last month proved me wrong. After a series of meetings in Dakar, I travelled back to London via Madrid on a red-eye Iberia Airlines flight. Disembarking from the plane in Madrid in the early...
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The solution’s right under your nose
By Jacqueline Muna Musiitwa Africa must start by focusing on the low-hanging fruit. Innovation needs to be based on current needs. The more solutions for immediate needs are met, the more people will be encouraged to innovate for future needs. I recall that as a child my grandmother boiled guava leaves to treat me when...
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Who’s to blame for the M23 rebels in DRC?
By Arinaitwe Rugyendo The M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo have once again been accused of gross human-rights abuses by Human Rights Watch. An earlier accusation by the UN implicated neighbouring Rwanda and accused it of not only supporting the rebels but also of complicity. According to Human Rights Watch the rebels, which...
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Stop, Jonathan, before Nigerians lose their internet freedom
By Gbenga Sesan On Saturday, 6 April 2013, at a leadership workshop organised for young and emerging leaders in Ekiti State, south west Nigeria, I asked Nigeria’s finance minister and coordinating minister for the economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a simple question: Why does the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan prefer lazy solutions? My premise, at...
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