April 17 2013

Remembrance of Things Fall Apart

Apr
15
John Otim

The British academic who in 1948, in the sprawling city of Ibadan, pioneered Nigeria’s first institution of higher learning wanted a college that would be the equal of any in the world. Nothing but the best is good enough for Africa (his words). It was a tall order. But against all odds, within a few years, within limits, and to a good measure, Kenneth Mellanby succeeded.

 

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Times Fall Apart in Africa over Chinua Achebe

Apr
13
Okello Oculi

In February 2010 Ngugi wa Thiongo, one of Africa’s potential candidates for a Nobel Prize, accepted my plea for him to address students of Literature at Makini Secondary School in Nairobi. It was an awesome event for students and staff ... Ngugi had travelled from America to appear in a Nairobi court over a case of violent assault on him and his wife

 

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Why Economies in Muslim Middle East would not shift into top gear

Apr
13
Jonathan Power

In one of history’s great ironies the Muslim world of the Middle East, once so far ahead of Europe and the rest of the world, in science, medicine, astronomy and mathematics has today fallen so far behind. Most of it has never industrialized. Had it not been for the oil the region has in abundance, most of these countries would still be living in the poverty they lived in the early years of the twentieth century.

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On a visit to the Atlantic Ocean

Apr
13
Okot Nyormoi

Spring had come round again. At Wrightsville Beach (North Carolina) in our fourth floor room a large glass door opens to a balcony overlooking the Atlantic. As far as the eye could see there was nothing but endless expanse of water. Away from the shore there was calmness. The crystal blue waters shimmered. In the far distance the water appeared to rise, curve and merge with the sky. Nearby at the shoreline white waves rose and crashed in a perpetual attempt to overrun the beach.

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Ancient Ecological Wisdom on the Nile Revealed in Acholi Folklore!

Apr
12
Ekkehard Doehring, David Achaye, John Sampers, Sabine Becker, + 2

Last December a group of us set out on a field trip in the Murchison Falls Park Area, the largest such game reserve in Uganda and one of the finest environmental resort in all East Africa. Among the Acholi people of the area we encountered a tale that rose out of the land from the wisdom of the ages.

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Party monopolies in Africa: Bad for business

Apr
12
Adam Green

Party monopolies reduce African firms' productivity, according to new research. While infrastructure and access to finance are much-cited constraints on African firms' competitiveness, a new study has identified a less obvious

 

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