Category archives for: Op-Ed

Debate on ditching CFA begins as Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger forge new path

Amid talk of ditching the West African franc, a colonial-era legacy, analysts unpack what it means for the three troubled Sahel states. HANNANE FERDJANI Since Niger’s July 30 coup, fissures within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have become bigger. In September, Niger along with fellow ECOWAS members Burkina Faso and Mali formed […]

Mr. President and the EC – Implement ROPAA for the 2024 Presidential Election

KOFI A. BOATENG (Kofi ROPAA)                                                   There is a high-level game in Ghana called IGNORE. Yes, the government and its institutions choose to ignore laws made by parliament and judgements given by the courts.  I am talking about Act 699 – Representation of the People Amendment Act (ROPAA) passed by Ghana’s parliament and assented by […]

My Church Was Part of the Slave Trade. This Has Not Shaken My Faith.

RACHEL L. SWARNS For more than a century, Catholic priests in Maryland held Black people in bondage. They were among the largest slaveholders in the state, and they prayed for the souls of the people they held captive even as they enslaved and sold their bodies. So after the Civil War, the emancipated Black families […]

American English Needs Immigrants

IlAN STAVANS Mr. Stavans is Lewis-Sebring professor at Amherst College and a consultant to the Oxford English Dictionary. He is the author of the forthcoming book “The People’s Tongue: Americans and the English Language.” The immigration debate often centers on who should be welcomed into our country. Some even argue that multiculturalism dilutes our national […]

Nigeria’s Obama Moment?

UCHENNA EKWO When the late Ted Kennedy, the influential Democratic US Senator from Massachusetts endorsed the relatively unknown and young Barack Obama over a superior name brand – Hillary Clinton,  he changed the course of the 2008 US presidential election.  In his fiery speech that late January, 2008 at the American University, Kennedy said “…there […]

Carving a cultural identity in the US: Africanism or Americanism?

KOFI AYIM Africa’s impact on world civilization – science, religion, etc. – has been confined to the doldrums of history. Africans everywhere – pre, during, and post slavery – have been struggling to rediscover their identities and place them on the pedestal step of natural order in development. Contemporary African Immigrants, especially in the US, […]

COVID-19 policies need to be inclusive of undocumented people

European countries have not done enough to ensure safe access to vaccines and certificates for undocumented migrants. ALYNA C SMITH In July 2021, the European Union implemented a COVID-19 vaccination certificate mandate for intra-EU travel. Subsequently, a growing number of countries across Europe have adopted COVID-19 certificates as passes granting access to a host of […]

Rule of Law and ‘Africanization’ of Terrorism

The changing tide in the fight against bandits in Nigeria UCHENNA EKWO As recent security challenges demonstrate, fragile states and conflict-regions of the world are increasingly becoming safe havens for terrorists and transnational organized crimes. In Africa, terrorism is shrinking the continent’s investment space, and, in some cases, certain African countries are losing ground in their […]

A very American riot

It is time for the world to see through the American claims of exceptionalism. PATRICK GATHARA If the past four years of the Donald Trump presidency had dented America’s carefully cultivated – if inaccurate – reputation as a bastion of democracy, the November 2020 election, its aftermath and, especially the events of January 6 have […]

Africa must unite to demand stolen art’s return

African nations need to work together to pressure Europe to return looted art held in its museums, such as Germany’s newly opened Humboldt Forum, says DW’s Harrison Mwilima. Among the priceless works held by Germany’s new Humboldt Forum museum, a massive cultural complex in Berlin, are 75,000 African artifacts. It’s not clear how some of […]

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