New African articles from March 2007

New African archives from March 2007

We need to go back to our African ways.(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Congratulations on your 40th anniversary. Like the 300th issue milestone of your sister magazine, African Business, this one showed the extent you have gone to chalk a way for our continent. In the December issue there was a letter from one...

Ethiopia embassy replies.(Union of Islamic Courts )
March 1, 2007... It is a great pity that Cameron Duodu chose to base his article (Somalia: Why the new American blueprint is dangerous in Africa, NA Feb) on ill-founded political punditry. As a result, it relies far too heavily on secondary sources. As...

Look East, my son.
March 1, 2007... Please allow me to comment on the recent visit to Africa by the Chinese president and the so-called US military command in Africa. Agence France Presse (AFP) has been in our ears all the time for the past several months about China's...

Kenya correction.(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2007... A caption of a photograph appearing on page 81 of New African's January 2007 issue read: ".... a certain Mwai Kibaki went from being a foreign minister to president." Not quite. President Mwai Kibaki has never been a foreign minister. ...

Slavery: apology not necessary.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2007... I don't think there is any need for Tony Blair to apologise for Britain's part in the slave trade (NA, Feb), because the habits of centuries past cannot be compared with the standards of the 21st century. In those days, there was little rule of...

A pride for all Africans.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2007... May I take this opportunity to send belated congratulations to New African on your 40th anniversary. That an African magazine has come so far must be a pride for all Africans. I have been reading New African since the early 1980s and I have...

'Gay marriages are human'.(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2007... I would like to comment on your story: South Africa: Are gay marriages really African? (NA Jan 2007). African churches should think twice when declaring gay marriages not to be "African". Is Christianity really "African"? Nevertheless, there is...

Christianity should be respectful.(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... It disturbed me when I read Trevor Johns' letter, Gay marriages are un-African, in your last issue. He concluded his letter by stating that what might come next is necrophilia, bestiality and other scary things. To even compare...

Why visions fail: once a vision misses its time and season, it disintegrates into mere wishful thinking. Nothing proves more fatal for vision than shifting attention.
March 1, 2007... I have counselled leaders to acquire a third eye--the eye to see an ideal future state for their organisations. I mean the capacity to conceive and implement visions of developmental changes. For vision is the hub of leadership. Leaders who...

African Union: from non-interference to non-indifference.
March 1, 2007... Gradually, a radical rethink of how Africa should conduct its affairs is taking root in the hallowed halls of the African Union. In the first decades of independence, the African Union's predecessor, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), sat...

'They want to dominate us, we shouldn't fall into the trap again'.
March 1, 2007... AU summits without the Libyan leader, Mummar AlGathafi, are dull affairs. And this time, he did not disappoint. As usual, his beautiful female bodyguards attracted as much attention to themselves as their chief. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

'Mr Smith, you have been using a borrowed head'.(Column)
March 1, 2007... The presence of President Thabo Mbeki at the funeral of P. W. Botha last November, the arrest and imminent trial of the former Liberian president, Charles Taylor, and the execution of Saddam Hussein and his half brothers in Iraq, have crudely...

Sierra Leone & Liberia: Taylor's trial still causing controversy; The trial of the former Liberian president, Charles Taylor, will now start on 4 June despite objections by his defence team to move it to 3 September in order to give them enough time to prepare his defence. Osei Boateng reports.
March 1, 2007... In a ruling still being disputed by Charles Taylor's defence team, the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) said on 23 January that Taylor's trial will now begin on 4 June, a hugely controversial date in West African history, instead...

Kenya: from 'terrorist' to national hero.
March 1, 2007... Field Marshall Dedan Kimathi, the legendary commander of the Mau Mau freedom fighters in Kenya, was called a terrorist by the British colonial government. On 18 February 2007, the man who once said "it is better to die on our feet than to beg...

West Africa: being fleeced at the borders; Seun Akioye travelled by road from Ghana to Nigeria recently. What he experienced, courtesy of immigration officers, does not make pleasant reading. West African leaders will have to do something dramatic to stop the fleecing of their citizens at the entry points, he writes.
March 1, 2007... The fat officer in the green uniform of the Togolese immigration department sat at the extreme edge of the table blocking the narrow passage that served as the entry point into the Republic of Togo. The room was small and stuffy. A giant...

Ghana celebrates, Africa rejoices.
March 1, 2007... Fifty years ago, on 6 March 1957, Ghana (then called the Gold Coast) became the first sub-Saharan African country to gain its independence. Britain, the colonial master, lowered its flag, packed its bag and baggage, and left... sorry, it left...

Ghana: we couldn't wait for independence!
March 1, 2007... Cameron Duodu and his ambitious generation of Gold Coasters couldn't wait for the good prospects that the advent of independence suddenly opened up for them. "We were ambitious and on the way! Let 1957 come! So far as many of us were concerned,...

Ghana: five decades of independence 1957-2007.(Chronology)
March 1, 2007... The ups and downs of the golden nation Ghana from 1957 Ghana gained independence from Britain on 6 March 1957 with kwame Nkrumah as prime minister. He sought to develop Ghana into a modern, industrialised unitary state, and set about...

Ghana: the diaspora presence that made such a huge difference; If Ghana under Nkrumah was a huge success, part of it was due to the presence of Diasporic Africans who heeded Nkrumah's call to return and help rebuild the ancestral homeland. Dr Yvette Marie Alex-Assensoh reports.
March 1, 2007... Six years before Ghana's independence, Dr Kwame Nkrumah (who would become Ghana's first prime minister and president) visited the USA in his capacity as "Leader of Government Business" of the then Gold Coast. Nkrumah's trip started on 30 May...

Africa: unsung heroes of independence.
March 1, 2007... Little did I know that when I started researching the case of James Ewusie-Mensah, an unsung hero of Ghana's independence, that I was uncovering the long-hidden details of the murder of the grandfather of one of my close female friends, writes...

Ghana: politics of betrayal.
March 1, 2007... In his exiled years in Guinea after his overthrow in February 1966, President Kwame Nkrumah made strenuous efforts to return to power. But, as Dr A. B. Assensoh, who worked with Nkrumah in Conakry reveals, some stalwarts of Nkrumah's party (the...

Joseph Project: calling all Diasporan Africans.(Joseph Project by Ghanaian government)
March 1, 2007... Diasporan Africans who have yearned for years to return to the motherland but have not been able to do so, can now have no more excuses to stay back. An innovative programme launched by the Ghanaian government, called The Joseph Project, is all...

Over one million tourists targeted this year: any tourist worth his salt will have to visit Ghana this year or forget about his salt. 2007, being Ghana's golden jubilee year, has more in store for all visitors. Prince Dennis Klintings reports.
March 1, 2007... Tourism has proven over the years to be an emerging sector with great potential. The sector has manifested major growth as it keeps churning out impressive results in both visitor numbers and revenue. For example, this year the sector...

Gates of return: once upon a time, the gangways of the castles and forts leading to the slave ships appeared to be "the doors of no return", but thanks to the new spirit of reconciliation, the gates have now become "a new Akwaaba" (welcome) for the African Diaspora, the "Gates of Return" into their second home, their real home, in Africa.
March 1, 2007... The saga of European fort-building in Ghana spans three centuries from 1482 to 1787. Although several of these have fallen into a state of decay or have totally disappeared, many others have been conserved and adapted to new usages. The...

Ghana: ecotourism is becoming a major revenue earner; Neglected for a long period, ecotourism is now fashionable in Ghana. Tourists are encouraged to visit unique and interesting destinations, to have fulfilled cultural exchanges, and contribute to the conservation and sustainable development of the environment.
March 1, 2007... The Ghana Tourist Board (GTB), the regulator of the tourism industry in the country, has drawn up land use plans to guide investors to lands around 21 selected attraction spots as priorities for development. According to Frank Kofigah,...

All you need is love: Lovers of Valentine's Day, which is a big hit in Ghana, have a new treat in store. The Ghana Ministry of Tourism and Diasporan Relations has just launched its alternative to Valentine's Day called National Chocolate Day. Sweet, isn't it?
March 1, 2007... In an attempt to make use of Ghana's rich cocoa, especially the health benefits of consuming cocoa products, the Ministry of Tourism and Diasporan Relations has instituted Ghana's own version of Valentine's Day, "National Chocolate Day" to be...

Hohoe, where tourism makes sense: if prizes were to be given for the most forward-looking district assembly in Ghana in terms of tourism development, the Hohoe District Assembly will have a clean sweep. It is, without a doubt, the most progressive, tourism-oriented district in the whole country. Prince Dennis Klintings report.
March 1, 2007... The Hohoe District is located in the Volta Region of Ghana. Over the last three years, tourist numbers to the district have more than quadrupled. Encouraged by this success, the district assembly is pulling out all the stops in building a model...

Wli Falls, the wealth of Hohoe: Wli Falls is steadily establishing Hohoe, in the Volta Region of Ghana, as one of the preferred tourism destinations in the country.
March 1, 2007... Visitors started to come to Wli Falls on a regular basis as early as 1973. This encouraged the Hohoe District Assembly to develop a district-wide community-based ecotourism initiative in 1997, using Wli as the pilot site. A year later, the...

An irreplaceable love: Nana Yaa Difie of Kokofu (popularly known as Beryl Karikari) was my dear wife of 43 years. She was snatched away from me on 9 February 2007. May the Almighty hold her hand and sing her softly softly to sleep--to sleep, perchance to dance.
March 1, 2007... Everyone knew her as Beryl Karikari. But to herself, and me, who was closest to her, she was Nana Yaa Difie of Kokofu, Asante, Ghana. That's what her father taught her--that he had named her after Nana Yaa Difie of Kokofu, a queen-mother and...

Nigeria: the power behind the throne (Part 2); Ola Sheyin continues with the countdown to Nigeria's general elections in April, by looking at the power equation in the country and why the same people keep coming up election after election.
March 1, 2007... In the first part of this countdown to the Nigerian elections (see our last issue), we began the process of reexamining the pieces that make up the national puzzle of Africa's most populous nation. We had done this with the hope that perhaps by...

Rwanda: Paul Kagame wins African Gender Award; The African Gender Award, given biennially by the Geneva-based African NGO, Femmes Africa Solidarite (FAS), has been awarded to President Paul Kagame of Rwanda for his country's achievements on women's issues. Baffour Ankomah reports.
March 1, 2007... Every two years, Femmes Africa Solidarite (FAS), through its Pan-African Centre for Gender, Peace and Development based in Dakar, Senegal, gives the African Gender Award to an African leader or group in government who demonstrate outstanding...

Namibia: sting like a BEE; On 21 March 2007, Namibia will be 17 years old as an independent nation. Uazuva Kaumbi, writing from Winhoek, tells how Namibia is struggling to make Nkrumah's dictum: "seek ye first the political kingdom, and all the other things shall be added unto you", a reality.(Black Economic Empowerment )
March 1, 2007... In seeking solutions to Namibia's economic problems, some people have come up with several theories and strategies, among them Black Economic Empowerment (BEE). BEE has become very topical of late, with several high-profile deals raising...

Diego Garcia: David Cameron joins the fray.
March 1, 2007... In December 1966, Lord Chalfont, a British Foreign Office minister, signed a contract in Washington giving the Pentagon a 50-year "lease" on Diego Garcia with an automatic extension of 20 years. On 24 January 2007, David Cameron, the leader of...

And James Brown marched!
March 1, 2007... Today, the majority of people think that every black person in America was out there marching along, doing their civil rights thing. But they were not. Many black people wouldn't go near black rights. Couldn't be bothered, didn't want to, too...

Buruli the flesh-wasting disease: despite the increasing prevalence and morbidity of Buruli Ulcer in Cote d'Ivoire, a large section of the population remains ignorant of its existence. Josephine Akarue finds out why.(Saint Padre Pio Centre)
March 1, 2007... It is almost midday. Outside, the well-manicured, serene gardens capture the picture of an ideal holiday resort. But this is not a vacation camp. This is a world where the reality of the flesh-wasting disease, Buruli ulcer, has etched grim...

Amazing grace: Beverly Andrews reports on a new initiative bringing relief to poor schools in Africa, started by a small UK-based charity group, Schools 4 Schools.(Organization overview)
March 1, 2007... There is a Buddhist expression which says that "Great things can come from small beginnings"--a statement that the actress, Tara Lonnen, has taken to heart and which has served as the inspiration for her charity, Schools 4 Schools, an education...

Kayira's ghost returns to haunt Kampala.(Andrew Kayira)
March 1, 2007... 5 March 2007 marks exactly 20 years since the Ugandan lecturer and guerrilla leader, Andrew Kayira, was gunned down in the home of Henry Gombya, the Ugandan journalist and former BBC reporter. Even from his grave, Kayira is causing as much...