The Cemetery Scam is Kenya continues to be in the limelight both in Kenya and abroad. So what’s the real issue we’re dealing with? The city of Nairobi bought the land for a cemetery for 3.6 million dollars. As it turns out, the market value for the land in question was not higher than 10 [...]

This is exactly how harmful stereotypes of Africa continue to surface in mainstream media. One uninformed official here, another amateur there, and what he have at the end of the day is this story of Africa the capital of rape, crime and whatever wrongdoing you have in mind. Once again, the intentions might be good but the outcome is simply disgusting.

The Ugandan government announced that those teachers working in remote areas will get a 30 percent hardship allowance starting with the next school year (which is, in fact, February 2011). Basically, the basic teacher salary is 200,000 Shillings per month (100 US dollars) and will get an additional 60,000 Shillings (20US dollars) as a special [...]

Malaria is a real problem in Africa as many of us know. Personally, since I actually got sick twice because of this frustrating mosquito-spread disease, I have been paying close attention to the policy developments on malaria prevention and treatment, at least in East Africa where I normally spend at three month every year. In [...]

The second major fiber optic cable linking East Africa to the rest of the world, and specifically to Europe, known as the East African Submarine Cable System, was completed on Tuesday.The East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy) is supposed to actually have a direct effect on people’s lives starting in July 2010 when local residents in East Africa will allegedly have access to more affordable and higher speed internet.

A recent campaign initiated by the South African Apartheid Museum promises to bring high results in South Africa and beyond. It is a viral video campaign, with an extraordinary marketing strategy, that tries to fight the apathy average South Africans have towards their history and the oppression they experienced under Apartheid. The brilliant minds behind [...]

If Mr. George Mkuchika thinks Kiswahili is threatened by the use of English, then he has every right to try to reverse that process. But he shouldn’t do it in a pervasive way that will cost local companies money.

New and exciting times for the political spectrum in Tanzania (at least in theory): a new party has officially been registered in the country and it promises radical changes, new strategies and a more people-to-people approach to local politics. The name is also rather inspired: Chama Cha Jamii(CCJ) or the Party of Society. In Tanzania [...]

Life in Kenyan politics is quite harsh. It’s harsh because it requires navigating through myriads of discourses, practices, unfulfilled expectations for accountability and current often contradictory realities. In East Africa, a foretold conflict is still unfolding. The President of Kenya, Mwai Kibaki is in an open conflict with Prime Minister Raila Odinga. No matter what [...]

Tanzanians are going to polls later this year and this will be an event of great importance for this stable yet very poor East African country. Today’s BBC podcast had a section on a recent statement made by Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete. The president has requested the Anti-Corruption Bureau to look into media corruption citing [...]