August, 2020 |

The African Union and regional bodies like ECOWAS seem to be Africa's problems on this continent, because not until African countries begin to go up in flames do they start to intervene. These are early warning signs of conflicts, and something genuine needs to be done. The Ecowas and the AU will sit and keep an arms-length against these deteriorating situations in Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Gambia and many of the regional countries. In Togo, the President there is also seeking to change the constitution to extend his term, yet African leaders are quiet. Where is the leadership and voice of our continental powers: Nigeria, South Africa, and Ethiopia?

It’s time for the African Union to put a stop to ‘third-termism’ now!

August 24, 2020August 24, 2020 admin2Africa, Coup, Third Terms0 comment

The AU needs to take action against the Guinean president’s attempt to change the constitution and extend his rule. Two issues have dominated the attention of the African Union (AU) in the last weeks: the upheaval in Sudan and the launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area. In the midst of these, a brewing crisis in Guinea seems to have skipped attention. Guinean President Alpha Conde, the West African country’s first democratically elected leader, who is currently serving his second five-year term, is supposed to leave office in 2020 under the…

News

‘Third Term’ is Also a Coup – Guinea Bissau’s President tells ECOWAS leaders to their faces

August 24, 2020 admin2Coups, Guinea Bissau, Third Terms0 comment

At the virtually emergency summit meeting held on the 20 August 2020, the ECOWAS member states in their resolution on the ongoing crises in Mali denounced the action taken by the military to depose embattled President Ibrahim Keita, something the regional leaders’ term as a negative and obstructive insolence towards the democratic order of the Malian State and West African region. The videoconference was hosted by the president of Niger Mahamadou Issoufou, current leader of ECOWAS. Former Mali’s President, Mr Ibrahim Keita, was arrested last week along with…

Yes, my father claimed to have played the clarinet with Artie Shaw, but, sitting in the 1957 Chevy as he wheeled us to the drive-in burger joint when at long last the family had abandoned the barren wastes of the high islands of the North Sea for the easier lands of the mountains in America, he frowned as I would turn on the car radio to listen to the turns of the day, The Platters, The Four Tops, The Shirelles. Always bitter, that man, he who had lived in the era of grand music. At least he had a nice car. Me? Well, I had the music.

Music

King of Swing: Count Basie

August 23, 2020 admin2Count Basie, Jazz, Music0 comment

By Dag Walker Long ago, back when my father was a ten-year-old, his father announced one evening that he was going to town to buy an automobile the next morning. My father was so excited he could hardly sleep that night. He woke before dawn and walked with my grandfather to the top of the hill while my grandfather strode to town to buy his first car. My father sat on the hilltop awaiting his return. My father sat and watched and waited; and every hour or so…

Op-ed

Mali: AU & Ecowas are disconnected from the African people

August 21, 2020August 21, 2020 admin2AU, Coup, Ecowas, Mali0 comment

By M. Uneh Yahmia The reaction of the AU and ECOWAS to the military putsch in Mali only shows how disconnected these regional bodies are from the African people. In fact, the conduct of ECOWAS is a reflection of how each member state treats its people: playthings that must be denied the right to a dignified and secured life to the advantage of the African political elites and international finance capital. And when the consciousness of the people awakens and they take matters into their own hands to resolve historical…

Ellen Chimz from Harare said she was happy to hear the apology. She explained why she participated in the booing of Ramaphosa. "We are very angry about what South Africans are doing; we must unite, not kill one another. We are human beings like them," she said. "They must not kill people like dogs," added Chimz. Another Harare native, Malik Mperieki, dismissed the apology, raising concern over the lives of roughly 20% of the Zimbabwean nation who have headed south seeking better opportunities amid a struggling economy and a battle to find good employment.

Public Policy

The African Union’s crisis of legitimacy: Africans are concerned

August 21, 2020 admin2African Union, Human rights0 comment

If it cannot address systematic human rights abuses on the continent, what really is the purpose of the African Union? On May 29, just four days after George Floyd’s death in police custody, African Union Commission’s Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat issued a scorching statement condemning the Black man’s “murder … at the hands of law enforcement officers” and reaffirmed “the African Union’s rejection of the continuing discriminatory practices against Black citizens of the United States of America”. A few weeks earlier in April, following the news of the Chinese…

No one in their right mind believes that a Ramaphosa government, whose own credibility is increasingly threadbare because of its bungled response to the coronavirus epidemic, its corruption and its economic incompetence, has the stomach to bring this about. We can expect fine words and promises and raised hopes, but lamentably little action until the next crisis comes around, when the charade will start all over again.

Public Policy

Repression in Zimbabwe exposes South Africa’s weakness

August 17, 2020 admin2South Africa, Violence, Zimbabwe0 comment

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa’s despatch of envoys to Zimbabwe in a bid to defuse the latest crisis, in which the government has engaged in a vicious crackdown on opponents, journalists and the freedoms of speech, association and protest, has been widely welcomed. Such has been the brutality of the latest assault on human rights by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s regime that something had to be done. And, as the big brother neighbour next door, South Africa is the obvious actor to do it. It may be guaranteed that Ramaphosa’s…

Beyond this end, does Chief ‘Ponofalo’ Dr. Jewel Howard-Taylor really have a future in CDC ahead of 2023 elections? It is likely that the Coalition for Democratic Change may severely crack if she is ousted. History is not too far from documenting this CRACK which puts the Liberian people in a better position of reclaiming their socio-economic and political destiny. It will be more advantageous for Liberia and Liberians if CDC crumbles under its own weight ahead of 2020 and 2023 elections. The struggle to redeem Liberia and Liberians remain unabated.

Editor's Desk

The poor deplorable conditions of our hospitals.

August 17, 2020August 17, 2020 admin2Covid19, Healthcare, Liberia0 comment

EDITORIAL _____ The current deplorable conditions of the Liberian HEALTH CARE SYSTEM is beyond deplorable, broken and stretched, as Liberian citizens continue to die of preventable diseases and care, all because the national leaders who are misappropriating and appropriating the megre national purse are paying themselves TOO MUCH exorbitant salaries, perks, emoluments and crazy bonuses, while our poor people have no way out, but to suffocate under a punishing and draconian system that continue to deny them better lives in their own country of birth, this is denying them peace…

Back in the year 1772 a bad guy, a wretched man, sat down and did something good for once. He’d been an English slave-trader until he was 30, such a wretched man that even his companions in an evil business hated him. He was so bad that his ship-mates one day sold him to the notorious slaver Amos Clowe at Sherbro Island. Slaver John Newton became a slave himself in 1748. Not that it made him a better man. He was freed and continued to be as evil as before. That changed by 1772.

Music

Gospel: Mercy, Forgiveness, and ‘Amazing Grace’

August 16, 2020 admin2Amazing Grace, John Newton, Paul Coffee0 comment

By Dag Walker Sometimes, a sinner becomes a saint. For ordinary folks like me, it hardly matters, I still want to strangle bad guys. Forgiveness is too hard. So, it’s better to step aside and allow that vengeance is for the Lord. Let the Lord deal with sinners and saints. He might know more about such things than I do. Back in the year 1772 a bad guy, a wretched man, sat down and did something good for once. He’d been an English slave-trader until he was 30,…

Not many people can reach through when your soul is battered, make you feel seen, communicate genuine care, and move you to laughter in those low moments. Thomas Jaye possessed this generosity of spirit. There was gentleness at his core. In an ancient, pre-colonial time, one can imagine him being a great healer, teacher, or wise, benevolent ruler. He was at once dignified, witty and humble, a calming physical presence in that special way the truly great sons of Africa are.

Tributes

Of Grief and Memory: Mourning Big Brother Comrade Thomas Jaye

August 16, 2020 admin2stephanie Horton, Thomas Jaye, Tribute0 comment

By Stephanie C. Horton “The duiker will not paint ‘duiker’ on his beautiful back to proclaim his duikeritude,” Wole Soyinka wrote, “you’ll know him by his elegant leap.” Not many people can reach through when your soul is battered, make you feel seen, communicate genuine care, and move you to laughter in those low moments. Thomas Jaye possessed this generosity of spirit. There was gentleness at his core. In an ancient, pre-colonial time, one can imagine him being a great healer, teacher, or wise, benevolent ruler. He was…

AFP---At least four people have been killed in clashes in Ivory Coast as hundreds took to the streets following President Alassane Ouattara's decision to run for a third term this October. Three people were killed in the central town of Daoukro in clashes between Ouattara supporters and backers of rival candidate Henri Konan Bedie, a security source and witnesses said.

Public Policy

Four killed in clashes in Ivory Coast, as Ouattara seeks 3rd term: AU & Ecowas quiet, yet again

August 16, 2020August 16, 2020 admin2AU Ecowas, Ivory Coast, Ouattara, Third Term0 comment

AFP—At least four people have been killed in clashes in Ivory Coast as hundreds took to the streets following President Alassane Ouattara’s decision to run for a third term this October. Three people were killed in the central town of Daoukro in clashes between Ouattara supporters and backers of rival candidate Henri Konan Bedie, a security source and witnesses said. On Thursday, an 18-year-old died in the southeastern town of Bonoua, 50km (30 miles) from the economic hub, Abidjan, in violence between demonstrators and security forces, said Mayor Jean-Paul…