We have plenty cheerful notes in this week’s publication. First, despite the lull in the global economy, Africa has raised two new billionaires who have made the Forbes Fortune magazine. Incidentally, one of the duo bears a tale-telling name, Strive. You need to read this to understand it.
In East Africa, what looks like the template of the defunct East African Community, EAC, has emerged. Rwanda and Tanzania are forging closer ties and who knows, Kenya and Uganda could show interest in the arrangement.
Time and again, pointers indicate that women are their own worst enemies. Women dominate the electorate around the world but they hardly use their vote to elect one of their own gender. Even when an exception occurs, women prefer to stand aloof rather than moving in to exploit the closeness of gender solidarity. Click on Women Issues and you will see what has happened to the Mrs. Doe Market in Liberia.
Human Rights can be a sensitive issue but it should be all-inclusive. There should be no double standards in this regard. African leaders are not happy with the ICC. Why? They believe the Court uses one standard for Blacks and another one for Whites. In this week’s column, we have a case that buttresses this view.
We have a must-read report under Central Africa. The new leader of Angola may have been hand-picked by ex-President Eduardo Dos Santos but he is capable of being his own man. Those who predicted that it was only a matter of time before President Laurenco turns to the dossier of corrupt members of the past regime are right. The man has fired the son of his predecessor and ordered a probe into the dealings in Sonangol, the country’s sole oil conglomerate.
President Donald Trump shoots with both his tongue and hands most of the time. But he always shoots over the bar, scoring no goal in the process. That his statements have embarrassed millions of Americans is not in doubt. Many want him out of the White House. Now, he has also embarrassed millions of Africans. And angry words are flying across the dividing ocean. See our Diaspora Matters column.
In Sports, this year’s World Cup is almost five months away but this appears not to matter. Handlers of each participating team want to acquire strategies to enable the team to do well in the Mundial. Almost all of them believe in exposing the players to friendly matches, especially with teams that are also participating in the global competition. We have a report on the Nigerian squad.
News in Africa Online this week is particularly geared towards informing and entertaining you. Embrace it. In our bid to serve you better, we are planning to start publishing twice in a week instead of once. From Tuesday, January 30, 2018, we will be coming your way every Tuesday and Friday. Our pledge still stands. We are still your one-stop shop for infotainment on Africa.
Pat I. Chukwuelue
Editor-in-Chief
