Africa Here and NOW

Martine Dennis
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Africa Here and NOW

The conversation you've always wanted to have about Africa.Combining in-depth knowledge with exclusive analysis of events and trends affecting the continent. Our team has vast experience in Africa and has an extensive network of contacts from Cape Town to Cairo and from Addis to Accra, which will help us provide fresh commentary presented with wit and style.We believe there is a growing demand for accurate, incisive information about Africa and we are dedicated to asking the questions that matter and offering, at least, some of the answers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. Are Botswana's diamonds forever? Unrecognised Somaliland, Tarzan - why didn't he have African friends?

    2 DAYS AGO

    Are Botswana's diamonds forever? Unrecognised Somaliland, Tarzan - why didn't he have African friends?

    Africa here and Now's PATRICK SMITH has rocked up in Gaborone to gauge the mood in diamond-rich Botswana as people prepare to vote. He finds that this month's election could present the most serious challenge to the ruling party's almost 60 years in power. Have the books been cooked in Mozambique's election? The stakes are high, a $150billion gas project is on the cards. Somaliland- the breakaway republic which has no international recognition - is in the eye of a growing storm in the Horn of Africa. A new alliance between Eritrea, Egypt and Somalia threatens to isolate Ethiopia. But it's tiny Somaliland that's central to the current tensions. Its deal with Ethiopia to offer a stretch of its Gulf of Aden coastline in exchange for official recognition has upset everyone in the region. We find out more with PROFESSOR EID ALI AHMED, a senior advisor to the government in Hargeisa. The well-being of Cameroon's 91 year old president has been on our minds; a recent rumour that he had died went viral. The Yaounde government rubbished the rumours and decreed that Cameroonians be banned from discussing the health of their leader or risk prosecution. Africa Here and Now's DONU KOGBARA shares her thoughts on nonagenerian leaders and Orwellian decrees. And why did Tarzan, the legendary apeman, have no African friends despite being raised in an African jungle? That's the kind of question being considered by BARBARA ANGOPA on her new podcast HOLLYWOOD AFRICANS. Along with her co-host, AMAKA UGWUNKWO, Barbara dissects the way black people are portrayed in the movies. Check out HOLLYWOOD AFRICANS, available on all major audio platforms. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    40 min
  2. Will Africa Get Seats on the UN Security Council? The Politics Behind Ghana's Illegal Gold Mining, The Return of South Africa's Fallen Heroes.

    OCT 2

    Will Africa Get Seats on the UN Security Council? The Politics Behind Ghana's Illegal Gold Mining, The Return of South Africa's Fallen Heroes.

    Talk at this year's General Assembly about reforming the UN has gathered pace. Meeting in the shadow of war: Sudan, Ukraine and the Middle East, the idea of changing the makeup of the Security Council took on more urgency. Support for Africa to get two permanent seats on the Council has grown. We asked Kenya's former UN ambassador, MARTIN KIMANI, if and when that's likely to happen. Ambassador Kimani, now Executive Director of NYU's Centre on International Cooperation, explains the responsibilities of being a Security Council member, and questions whether any African country is sufficiently prepared. Galamsey has become a byword for corruption in Ghana. The word 'galamsey' is derived from the phrase 'gather them and sell' and refers to the increasingly widespread practice of illegal gold mining. Thousands of hectares of farmland have been destroyed, reducing Ghana's cocoa harvests dramatically. The country's waterways are being polluted to the extent that some have predicted that Ghana may soon have to import drinking water. And people are getting sick, poisoned by the heavy metal bi-products of irregular mining. Ghanaians have been protesting against what they see as the connivance of politicians in galamsey and just weeks before the next presidential election. We speak to DR YAO GRAHAM, Coordinator of Third World Newtwork-Africa. During the years of apartheid, many South Africans were forced into exile abroad from where they continued their fight against the racist regime. And many of them died abroad, unable to return to the homeland for which they had so tirelessly fought. Now, in a joint operation between the governments of South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe the remains of almost 50 freedom fighters have been repatriated. DUMA NOKWE, a lawyer and former ANC Secretary General, died in Zambia more than forty years ago. his daughter, NOSIZWE NOKWE, tells us about the emotional return of her father's remains. #Africa #amplifyafrica #africanunion_official @AMBMKimani @YaoGraham Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    40 min
  3. The Horn on the Brink of War? What could Trump 2.0 mean for Africa?

    SEP 18

    The Horn on the Brink of War? What could Trump 2.0 mean for Africa?

    The complex web of hostilities in the Horn deepen as Egyptian troops prepare to enter Somalia on peacekeeping duties. Ethiopia makes clear its opposition. Some are warning of a coming proxy war fuelled by Ethio-Egyptian animosity. We get the views of Mogadishu-based journalist MOHAMMED SHEIKH NOR. How would a second Trump administration deal with Africa? A question for former Trump Africa ambassador J.PETER PHAM. Nigerians always have something to say about their president's comings and goings. Just back from China and a royal rendezvous at Buckingham Palace, PRESIDENT TINUBU is getting under the skin of his country men and women for his 'imperial style' and the size of his presidential convoys. DONU explains. And PATRICK reveals details of his misspent youth as he heartily welcomes the launch of the iconic US magazine, ROLLING STONE's new edition devoted to African music and culture. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    40 min

  4. SEP 4

    China's Africa Summit, Djibouti's GM Mosquitos, Morocco's Gnawa Music

    Can Africa's leaders gathering in Beijing for the Forum on the China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) get more out of the relationship than in the past? Historically, China has imported African raw commodities with little or nothing added to the value of the metals and minerals. Now, with demand on the rise for Africa's vast supply of critical metals and minerals that are vital for the transition to net zero carbon emissions, the continent's leaders could demand greater benefits for their own economies. We ask COBUS VAN STADEN, of the China Global South Project, what to expect. Oxitech, a British biotech firm, has begun releasing genetically modified mosquitos in Djibouti in a bid to curb the surge in malaria cases there. We ask the firm's CEO, GREY FRANDSEN, whether it is actually possible to create a 'friendly' mosquito. ASMAA HAMZAOUI has become Morocco's first female master of gnawa music - a genre that dates back centuries and was introduced by West African slaves. Asmaa tells us how she's been received by her fellow gnawa masters who are, and always have been, men. And for those who are unfamiliar with gnawa, Asmaa explains it and we see her perform with her all-female band, Bnat Timbuktu. DONU tells us about the Africans who have volunteered to fight in the Ukrainian army against Russia. And PATRICK has been to Portugal to assess the official review of its colonial past, and the movement to counter that rosy narrative with a far less flattering account of Lisbon's exploits in its former colonies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    45 min

  5. JUL 24

    PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST...at 90

    Legendary Ghanaian artist, ABLADE GLOVER, talks exclusively to Africa Here and Now on the occasion of his 90th birthday and the opening of his 10th exhibition at London’s October Gallery, Inner Worlds, Outer Journeys. He takes us through seven decades of loading his palette knife with oils to create dense, mainly urban scenes. He explains his love of Accra life and the hustle and bustle. His work has been described as extracting order from disorder. “I seem to study the aesthetic of the chaotic phenomenon” he’s reported to have once said. Ablade recalls that it was independent Ghana’s first President, KWAME NKRUMAH, who helped him get his first scholarship to study in the UK. Not only famed for his vibrant paintings, Ablade Glover is renowned for encouraging and inspiring younger artists. His gallery, the Artists Alliance, on Accra’s seafront, is one of the great spaces in which their work is featured. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    36 min
  6. Ecowas’ Uncertain Future, Daddy Hope turns rapper to get Zim youth to vote, How tech is helping Sierra Leone improve its schools and how will the UK’s new Prime Minister change course on Africa?

    JUL 10

    Ecowas’ Uncertain Future, Daddy Hope turns rapper to get Zim youth to vote, How tech is helping Sierra Leone improve its schools and how will the UK’s new Prime Minister change course on Africa?

    We talk to ADAMA GAYE, former ECOWAS director of communications, and journalist and Chatham House consulting fellow, PAUL MELLY about the West African bloc’s future as Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali form their own breakaway group. Adama tells us the 15 member ECOWAS is facing a ‘death threat’ because of the loss of three of its founding countries. Senegal’s new president BASSIROU DIOMAYE FAYE is given the job of trying to woo them back to the clan. Has he been given a fool’s errand? Zimbabwe’s best-known journalist and activist, HOPEWELL CHIN’ONO tells us about his campaign to get young people to register to vote. We ask him whether there’s an appetite in Zim to follow the lead of Kenya’s Gen Z after their protests succeeded in getting a much-hated bill withdrawn. Hopewell spells out the repressive conditions under which Zimbabwe’s young people live. Daddy Hope himself has been jailed at least 3 times merely for doing his job and exposing corruption. Education minister, CONRAD SACKEY tells us about an app he’s rolling out in Sierra Leone’s schools to get accurate information about both students and teachers. He’s found more than half the teachers on the government’s payroll of participating schools were more absent than their pupils! The app is called Wi De Ya – We are Here in Krio. Hear me have a go at Wi De Ya. On day one KEIR STARMER dropped the controversial policy of sending those who’d entered the country unofficially to Rwanda. His Foreign Secretary, DAVID LAMMY, has promised to ‘re-engage’ with Africa. PATRICK speculates (intelligently, of course) about what that could mean for the continent. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    48 min
  7. Is Somalia at a turning point? How can tech and AI benefit ordinary Malawians? What does the rise of the far right in France mean for Africa and Africans? Cameroon’s insurgents splinter

    JUN 26

    Is Somalia at a turning point? How can tech and AI benefit ordinary Malawians? What does the rise of the far right in France mean for Africa and Africans? Cameroon’s insurgents splinter

    Battered by drought and flooding, laid low by more than 30 years of civil war, as SOMALIA prepares to accede to a seat on the UN Security Council and joins the East African Community, we ask a senior member of the Prime Minister’s Office could the hostilities between Mogadishu and Addis Ababa over Somaliland descend into all -out war? Plus, why are so many Somali baby girls being named Istanbul? ABDIHAKIM AINTE, Director of Climate Change and Food Security talks to Africa Here and Now. MALAWI’s government has embarked on an ambitious programme of digitisation and AI to improve service delivery and governance. We ask MARTIN KALIMA, Manager for Tech and Digital Transformation in Malawi for the Tony Blair Institute, how is digital transformation even possible when fewer than 20% of Malawians have access to electricity? Guest panellist, VERONIQUE EDWARDS, recalls the introduction of the Double Decker Bus and how locals were perplexed by the absence of an additional driver on the top deck. VERONIQUE also draws our attention to the ongoing conflict in her home country, CAMEROON which is enduring an insurgency whose fighting groups have now splintered, and few know who is fighting for what. What started as a secession bid by Anglophone Cameroonians has now descended, Vero says, into chaos with millions of people too afraid to return to their villages. PATRICK, with a very intermittent connection in Paris, manages to tell us about the mood in France as the far right look set to make advances in legislative elections and why that matters to Africa and to Africans. Even Les Blues are concerned. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    48 min
  8. A pivotal moment in South African politics Africa’s leaders in demand: South Korea and the G7 Sudan: 3 million lives at risk of shelling and starvation Why is MultiChoice Nigeria being forced to give customers a month free?

    JUN 12

    A pivotal moment in South African politics Africa’s leaders in demand: South Korea and the G7 Sudan: 3 million lives at risk of shelling and starvation Why is MultiChoice Nigeria being forced to give customers a month free?

    In South Africa the race is on to find a government of national unity. Parliament must sit by June 16 to elect a new president. Will the ANC appease the markets and investors by joining with the DA and risk widening the rifts in its ranks? Or will it take the ‘Chernobyl option’ of joining with the leftists of Malema’s EFF and former president Zuma’s MK party? We get the views of lawyer, businessman and author OYAMA MBANDLA whose new book ‘The Soul of a Nation’ reflects on where the ANC has gone wrong and proposes a new season of national dialogue. THE SOUL OF A NATION by Oyama Mbandla, published by Tafelberg. WALEED MADIBO, Sudanese Governance and International Development expert, founder and President of Sudan Policy Forum outlines the contours of his country’s civil war. After more than a year of fighting, almost 3 million people in the west are at risk of being shelled or of starving to death. The battle for El Fasher could determine the outcome of this brutal war that is ravaging Sudan. Patrick explains why a slew of African leaders have been feted in Seoul and a handful are invited to Georgia Meloni’s G7 party in Italy. Why is the TV provider, Multi Choice Nigeria being rapped over the knuckles for increasing its charges? It’s been fined $100 million and told to give all its customers a free month….just in time for a big, international football tournament. Is that a coincidence? A question for economist KELVIN EMMANUEL. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    40 min
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About

The conversation you've always wanted to have about Africa.Combining in-depth knowledge with exclusive analysis of events and trends affecting the continent. Our team has vast experience in Africa and has an extensive network of contacts from Cape Town to Cairo and from Addis to Accra, which will help us provide fresh commentary presented with wit and style.We believe there is a growing demand for accurate, incisive information about Africa and we are dedicated to asking the questions that matter and offering, at least, some of the answers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Information

  • Creator
    Martine Dennis
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2024
  • Episodes
    27
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Martine Dennis
  • Show Website
    Africa Here and NOW

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