New African articles from June 2007

New African archives from June 2007

Thank God for New African.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2007... The May issue of New African came this morning, and as usual I at once read it through. I am so glad you've put the record straight on Zimbabwe and on the many other issues, the truth about which we seldom hear. What would we do without New...

Zimbabwe report stole all the thunders!(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2007... I have read many fine articles in your magazine, but your May 2007 issue simply stole all the thunders--pardon the cliche. By comprehensively reporting and analysing the issues at stake in Zimbabwe, and by giving all the stakeholders space to...

'When will you sack Baffour?'.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2007... I was a New African subscriber about three years ago, but I refused to renew my subscription due to the nauseating anti-white racism of some of your writers. Racism is bad enough, but what is just beyond belief is Baffour's sickening, truly...

The African sell-outs.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2007... It is unfortunate that the Zimbabwean opposition is unable to grasp the significance of what is truly going on in their country today. President Mugabe has had the courage and the wisdom to take the liberation struggle to the next level. As a...

Simply brilliant.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2007... Your coverage and interviews concerning the plight of Zimbabwe is simply brilliant! It is well balanced, very informative, and it gives the readers an unbiased coverage of what is truly happening in Zimbabwe. Of course, we missed Beef. I...

Great stuff.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2007... You've outdone yourself in the May edition of New African. The Zimbabwe supplement, aah! I get butterflies in my stomach just thinking about it. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Pity about the part of Africa where I live, South Africa. What's...

Lessons from history.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2007... Baffour's Beefs (NA May, "But we have President Kufuor"), refers. That the present political leadership in Ghana, coming from the anti-independence and anti-African unity Danquah-Busia party line, has been pathetically pro-West is obvious to us...

Thank you, New African.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2007... I thank you New African for making your magazine available to every black man and woman. I have been buying it since 2002, and I have made many people buy it since then. I have been using it as learning and teaching material. I carry it...

A tale of two countries: "owned by no-one. Free to say anything"--motto of the British daily, The Guardian.(Baffour's Beefs)(Editorial)
June 1, 2007... I ike to think of The Guardian as New African's big neighbour. Big in terms of reach, and you may add global influence. Their big, brown building at 119 Farringdon Road in EC1 is just two minutes walk from New African's much smaller block of...

African government now!(Comment)
June 1, 2007... As the African Union meets in Accra in early July to deliberate on the formation of an African union government, the question facing us all is: "What is the lesson that our leaders have learnt since October 1965, the OAU summit that deliberated...

"There is hope for Africa".(Jakaya Kikwete)(Interview)(Cover story)
June 1, 2007... President Jakaya Mrisho 159, the fourth president of Tanzania, came to power on 21 December 2005. In this wide-ranging interview, he tells our editor, Baffour Ankomah, what his government has achieved in 15 months in office, how the country is...

Nigeria: new wine in old wineskin? New wine in old wineskin? Old wine in new wineskin? Old wine in old wineskin? Or new wine in new wineskin? These are the questions that stud the hearts of Nigerians and an expectant international community as Africa's most populous nation once again changes its leader. Ola Sheyin reports.
June 1, 2007... Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, a reticent ex-chemistry teacher, who is consistently underrated because of his mild-mannered looks, withdrawn disposition and quiet demeanour, is the new man at the helm of affairs in Nigeria. Like the immediate past...

Nigeria: what an election!
June 1, 2007... Well before Nigeria's elections in April, President Olusegun Obasanjo had declared them a "do-or-die affair". Many Nigerians now say the elections were programmed to fail, and, as Pini Jason reports from Lagos, the failures delivered...

'Umaru, the rumour here is that you are dead. Are you dead?': Pini Jason profiles Nigeria's new president, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.
June 1, 2007... Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has risen to Nigeria's presidency from obscurity to overnight fame. Even as the governor of his home state, Katsina, the most that was known of him was that he was the younger brother of the late Major-Gen Shehu Musa...

Obasanjo: 'I did my best'; Nigeria's outgoing president, Olusegun Obasanjo, a born-again Christian, looks over his eight years in office and says the day he meets God, he will tell him, "not everything was perfect but I did my best".
June 1, 2007... I did my best," Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said in an interview with AFP as he looked back on eight years in office and rejected foreign and domestic criticism of the country's flawed elections in April. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]...

Celebrating Nigerian beauty: Anna Rosenberg reports on the 2007 Nigeria Top Model Competition held in London in mid-May.(United Kingdom)
June 1, 2007... At three o'clock in the morning the results were finally revealed: Olabimitan Adeyinka Adegoke is Nigeria's new face in the UK. This was not an easy victory. She had to compete with 14 other contestants all eager to impress through beauty,...

Idi Amin: the last king of Scotland? The award-winning film, The Last King of Scotland, has brought a new depiction of Idi Amin to screens around the world, and in the process, brought back memories for many in Uganda. But, asks Stuart Price in Kampala, does the film really capture the true character of the man?(Feature)(Essay)
June 1, 2007... It was the fear. People just didn't know how to escape the fear," recalls Elizabeth Nakigudde, 49, the manageress of a bookshop in the Ugandan capital, Kampala. "During Amin's time, it was very frightening with all the drunken soldiers manning...

Liberia/Sierra Leone: at last Taylor's trial begins; After much pre-trial legal wrangling, the trial of Liberia's former president, Charles Taylor, begins in The Hague on 4 June. Osei Boateng and Jarlawah Tonpo report.(Feature)
June 1, 2007... Charles Ghankay Taylor, the former president of Liberia, has been in pre-trial detention for 15 months, first at the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) facility in Freetown, and later transferred to the International Criminal Court (ICC)...

Ghana: electricity crisis worsens; Ghana has been rationing electricity since August last year, and the situation is getting worse. In mid-May, the Committee for Joint Action (CJA) called a press conference in Accra to make proposals to the government. Here are excerpts.(Analysis)
June 1, 2007... Ever since President John Kufuor's NPP government, without any notice to the people of Ghana, embarked on a load shedding exercise on 27 August 2006, the electricity situation in the country, instead of improving, has grown from bad to worse....

One major thing: communication; Are you a leader at the helm of your organisation? And you think you've got all it takes to keep the organisation running and moving up? But if good communication skills aren't among your credentials, your leadership is heading for storms. Effective leadership without effective communication is impossible.(Nuggets in a Nutshell)(Column)
June 1, 2007... I have written on attributes of effective leaders in my last two columns. And I did mention the indispensability of good communication skills in effective leadership, but deferred its treatment till another day. This is the day. A leader...

Tanzania takes the breath away: bigger than France and Germany combined, and almost four times larger than the UK, Tanzania has a history as long and as fascinating as its physical assets are wild and wonderful, reports Graham Mercer.(Special Report: Tanzania: A country on the march)(Country overview)
June 1, 2007... Formerly colonial "German East Africa" and later British-controlled Tanganyika, and centuries earlier part of the remarkable Land of Zinj, Tanzania's coastal strip, known since Biblical times to sailors and merchants from lands as distant and...

Tanzania: the economy goes marching on; President Jakaya Kikwete met members of the Tanzania Bankers Association on 3 April and gave them a report on the state of the economy. "The prospects for 2007 are good and GDP is projected to grow at around 7% and inflation at around 5%," he told them. Here are excerpts.(Special Report: Tanzania: A country on the march)(Statistical data)
June 1, 2007... We have a common goal of improving the competitiveness of our economy and eventually achieve better life for all Tanzanians. Most of the reforms we have made have produced positive results. The financial sector reforms are now firmly...

Tanzania: an investor's haven; If you are looking for a place to do business, Tanzania is one such place you can't afford to overlook. It is a country where investors are made to feel at home. Baffour Ankomah reports.(Special Report: Tanzania: A country on the march)
June 1, 2007... There is a cardinal rule in government circles in Tanzania: "You joke with investment promotion and you have no job to come to tomorrow." Investment and investors (both local and foreign) have a special place in Tanzania. And their number one...

Finance minister: 'we are on course'; In the past, Tanzania was heavily dependent on donor funding to run its affairs, even to pay government salaries. Now no more, thanks to the determination of President Kikwete's government to be self-sufficient. Baffour Ankomah reports.
June 1, 2007... Foreign aid still constitutes 40% of Tanzania's "development" budget which goes into the building of the general infrastructure as opposed to the "recurrent" budget which finances government procurement, payment of salaries, and other...

The green revolution takes root: Prof Mark Mwandosya, Tanzania's environment minister, talks to Baffour Ankomah about the quiet green revolution going on in the country which has seen 100 million trees planted in the past four years.(Special Report: Tanzania: A country on the march)(Interview)
June 1, 2007... Baffour Ankomah: What's your green policy like? Prof Mark Mwandosya: I like your term 'green policy'; we call it 'environment policy'. But it is a green policy all the same. And let me start with a disclaimer: Things are not as beautiful as...

Investing in tomorrow's leaders today: how do you prepare talented young people to become Tanzania's future leaders?(Special Report: Tanzania: A country on the march)
June 1, 2007... The International School Moshi (ISM) in the Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania is attempting through its Student Scholarship Programme to address the issue of how the country trains its future leaders today. With generous support from Barrick Gold...

Golden Tulip--the place to be.(Special Report: Tanzania: A country on the march)
June 1, 2007... The Golden Tulip Dar es Salaam is situated in the tranquil green area of the Msasani Peninsula. The seaside location gives guests a fantastic view of the Indian Ocean. The architecture is inspired by the Arabic influences of the Swahili Coast...

Telecoms: Centel Tanzania sets the pace; Tanzania has a vibrant cellular market, and one of the three major players is Celtel. Bashar Arafeh, managing director of Centel Tanzania, talked to Baffour Ankomah.(Special Report: Tanzania: A country on the march)(Interview)
June 1, 2007... Baffour: Can you give us a brief history of Celtel Tanzania? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Bashar Arafeh: Celtel Tanzania was launched in November 2001 and was the fifth entrant into a highly competitive cellular market in Tanzania. Over the...

Ghana: 'Limann was not a traitor'; Alex Bokuma, a relative of Ghana's late president, Hilla Limann (pictured), takes issue with our article in the March issue (Ghana: Politics of betrayal) written by Dr A. B. Assensoh.(Comment)(Viewpoint essay)
June 1, 2007... A lot has been done in the recent past, covertly and overtly to rewrite the political history of Ghana. The crudest aspects of this campaign are the use of so-called intellectuals and the attempt to denigrate the role of some of our heroes. One...

Lewis Hamilton is top class: Lewis Hamilton is sending a very useful and positive message to black kids that if they are talented and remain focused, their aptitude can be recognised and they could be given the chance they need to succeed.(Under the Neem Tree)(Biography)
June 1, 2007... It is difficult, if you're a black person living in Britain, not to acquire a certain amount of interest in a young man called Lewis Hamilton. This is because, if, like me, one has been a motor racing aficionado for any length of time, the...

The gasman cometh: interest in African energy resources used to focus almost entirely on North and West African oil but while oil still attracts the lion's share of investment, natural gas is steadily catching up in terms of importance. Neil Ford reports.(Focus on Oil & Gas)
June 1, 2007... The continent's power sector prospects have yet to attract much interest from foreign investors, yet there are signs that the impetus for power development could come from within the continent. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) trains are either in...

East Africa the final frontier: East Africa is often described as the continent's final oil and gas frontier. Exploration activities have increased markedly as the higher oil price and rising global demand have spurred the search for new reserves. Stephen Williams reports from Nairobi.(Focus on Oil & Gas)
June 1, 2007... The annual UNCTAD Africa Oil & Gas Trade and Finance Conference and Exhibition, (AOGC), probably the most important oil and gas conference on the continent, takes place this year in late May in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. Many of Africa's...

Health and fitness, the African way: type in health and fitness into your web browser and you will be inundated with thousands of results, all pertaining to health and fitness in the Western world. Try keying in health and fitness in Africa; you get nothing, completely zilch. Does this mean health and fitness is exclusive to the West? Regina Jere-Malanda tries to find the answer.(Focus)
June 1, 2007... It was a good discovery. After frustratingly yielding nothing on how and why Africans stay fit, exercise or go to the gym--or lack thereof--there it was. NTPowerHouse--local gyms, fitness and bodybuilding African style. The key word was...

Love and hate, which? What you think and what you do. What you say and what you do. What you feel and how you behave and react. It is my profound belief that Africans are simply unable to sustain anything other than short-term conflict between these mind-body actions.(Not in Black or White)(Viewpoint essay)
June 1, 2007... When I wrote in May's column that I am now prepared to kill any person, anybody, who attacks my brain, I am quite sure that there will be people who think that I am joking. That I am, perhaps, using the word "kill" as people do when they say...

Britain 'not in our name'.(Diaspora)(Viewpoint essay)
June 1, 2007... Toyin Agbetu is the founder of Ligali, a London-based pan-African human rights organisation challenging the misrepresentation of the African people in the British media. On 27 April, during a church service organised by the British...

The 'small mama' with the big football boots: Kikelomo Ajayi is a legend in Nigeria, having won five continental football titles. But as Osasu Obayiuwana reports, she and her colleagues get only a fraction of the adulation and allowances given to their male colleagues.(Football)
June 1, 2007... You might expect a player who has achieved the incredible feat of winning five continental titles--all in succession--to be deservedly immodest about her exploits. But Kikelomo Ajayi, captain of Nigeria's Super Falcons, the reigning African...