03 December 2022
Cameroon: When Paul Biya came to power in 1982, “he promised political liberalisation, including democracy, civil and human rights and economic advancement” and he tried to achieve some of these aims at first. But after the 1984 coup attempt, he “became increasingly unyielding”. Though he had to put a multi-party system in place in the 1990s, he transformed it into “a monolithic system” that has kept him on the throne for 40 years due to “ruthlessness and political astuteness”. Elections are “little more than a procedural inconvenience” where Biya absolutely cannot lose. With more than 300 political parties, the Rassemblement Démocratique du Peuple Camerounaise faces no unified or consolidated opposition. Biya maintains a rent-seeking political class feeding on the country’s proceeds of cocoa and timber exports. And he is by no means squeamish about putting those who dare resist into jail. Overall, this leaves “no facet of public life untouched by the Biya regime”
https://theconversation.com/paul-biya-has-been-cameroons-president-for-40-years-and-he-might-win-office-yet-again-194856
02 December 2022
Kenya: The Governor of Nairobi has urged mosques and churches to reduce noise levels. “The city recently banned nightclubs from operating in residential areas” because of their high noise levels. Before possibly extending a ban to mosques and churches, there would first be dialogue with the places of worship.
BBC Africa Live 02 December 2022. 6:45
Ghana/Film: “Borga”, derived from “Hamburg”, refers to Ghanaians who have travelled abroad, return and show off their riches. Danny Damah’s film “Borga” is about two brothers who grow up on Accra’s Agbogbloshie e-waste dump site, extracting valuable metals by burning dumped devices, one of them making it to Germany. Filming in toxic Agbogbloshie during two weeks proved difficult: “We'd go there in the morning and by evening time we would have changed about four different industrial masks throughout the day, and we would have to wash and rinse our eyes and wash our skin.”
BBC Africa Live 02 December 2022. 12:29